As I'm painting these units up, in my mind I go through the different army options that are available and that brings me to the core of this topic. How do you go about setting up a nice playable and fun army list when you start a new army??
Right now I'm reading the codex and try to imagine what units have real good rules and what units might look nice on paper but actually suck when you play. The codex is a good resource for the background, story and available units for any army but will not give you a standard plug and play army list.
In the games I played I have taken some notes of units that worked really well against me and what units I would never take. I go mostly by memory but have a few opponents army lists from which I can draw inspiration.
At my gaming club I have seen players proxy about 50% of their 1500 points army when they started a new army. That's fine by me but it's always a bit awkward when you say "that unit of space marines are actually necron destroyers and that whirlwind is a monolyth". This way you will get a good feel of the different units without buying them. Personally I don't really like it.
When I started my warhammer fantasy army I just started with some units that seemed fun to paint. and it was fun to paint up all these units but when I had to make an actually playable armylist I got stuck. I needed more core units and had plenty of lords and hero's. I now have about 1500 points worth of Warriors of Chaos which have never seen the green felt of the battlefield. They are nicely painted units that look great in my cabinets but other then that they are no use to me.
Then of course there's the internet, a great source of information. but maybe a bit too much information because anyone can write anything.. If you post your armylist on the interwebs there are always enough people to shoot down your ideas with good argumentation so that you have to go back to the drawingboard over and over again.
So there are a lot of ways to start a new army but I'm curious to find out how you, the readers got to a good armylist that you are happy with. Please let me know and inspire me...
3 comments:
As a recent convert myself, please let me be the first to say that "orks is da best."
I do a lot more modeling and painting than I do playing, so I usually don't get a lot of practical playtest games in.
I'll start with an idea, and play around with the army book to see if it looks like it could work. Then I'll pop it up online a few places, esp. among some folks whose input I value, and see what kind of feedback I get. Most of it gets ignored, but sometimes there is some good advice, mostly pointing out options I hadn't thought of or more efficient distribution or wargear combos.
Then I'll put it aside and start the process over with the basic idea, the book, and with the feedback in mind and recreate the list. I'll compare the two versions and see if I think anything needs to be changed and run through theoretical scenarios in my mind. If it still works, I'll buy what I need if I don't already have it and start building. I'm pretty committed, and usually finished, by the time the list sees an actual game.
I usually build to a certain point level like 1850 or 2000, so there is "tweaking" for lower point levels involving what to drop or keep for 1500 or 1000pt games, but it usually doesn't involve actual new units, as by then I'm in the middle of building a different army.
Some armies are larger than the norm so there is some ability to adjust lists even at larger point levels, but most are built to a particular level. I have plans to add an odd unit here or there to some armies, but it's a slow process and those plans are low priority.
Hmm. I'm not sure if this will have any relation, as it's not 40K, and it's my first list for anything, but when I started building my Cryx forces I looked at what the best cost/reward ratio is, and what went well together. For example, if I have a bunch of Necrotechs, then I might want to stick in some Reapers, as they're the most "anti-warjack" unit in the Prime rulebook. Since I know I'm probably going to go up against Khador with The Butcher, I might set up something specifically for use against them, too. Anyway, those are my thoughts before play. I may post a follow up comment when I've actually gotten a chance to play.
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