The Art of Listhammer

[slobulous]

Foreword and Introduction

In this thread, cold, hard math and facts reign supreme. Opinions, feelings, emotions, fluff, and accusations of taking the fun out of the game (aka "cheese") have no place here, so leave those kinds of things at the door (please turn your sarcasm detectors on). The intent and purpose of this article is to give competitive players a better understanding of the importance of what they take in their army lists.

In an ideal setting, you and your opponent would have perfectly evenly-matched forces and luck would not play a role. Only sound strategies, tactics, and decisions would lead you to victory. This is not the case in Warhammer 40k.

During a competitive game, there are many important things that you simply do not have control over. A referee/moderator will have chosen how much and what kind of terrain you are going to play with. Although you can roughly predict the outcome of dice rolls with averages and so forth, in the end they are still random. You also do not have any control over your opponent's list, and enemy action will change how you play and affect the decisions you make in-game.

But, there is one element that you have complete control over before the game even starts, and that is your own army list. Any given army list has several innate values associated with it. These values include the amount of damage that the list can put out in one turn, how much damage it can recieve, what its average effective range is, how far it can move its troops, et cetera. What we are trying to do is maximize these to give ourselves quite a significant edge during the game.

To illustrate how to do this, I will go through my own thought process when I created my current army list. I play Imperial Guard, and they are a very straight-forward and easy to understand army. I play 2500pt games all the time, and that is the points value of the 'Ard Boyz national tournament, which many hold to be the golden standard of competitive wargaming.

The Core of the List

The strongest part of a properly built list is its core. This includes, but is not limited to, the compulsory 1 HQ and 2 Troops. In recent times, the most competitive types of lists have been of the well-rounded "take all comers" flavor, being able to effectively handle any threat thrown at it. So, let us begin. The best place to start is with your compulsory force, because you MUST take them. This can usually be done in under 500 points. You want these 3 units to be able to work together and support each other.

HQ:
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

Troops:
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

This is a very strong compulsory force for 475 points, and a great start for a larger list. It can handle both light and heavy vehicles, monstrous creatures, TEQs, MEQs, hordes, and has good mobility to capture objectives. Now, before we continue to build up our core, we must consider something called redundancy. From a list-building perspective, this means taking multiples of the same unit to help ensure that these units' tasks are completed, if, for instance, one of them gets destroyed, tied up in close combat, or is otherwise unable to do what it was supposed to. So, with that in mind, lets add a little bit of this redundancy:

HQ:
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

Troops:
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

We are starting to kick out some serious killing power while still maintaining our ability to capture objectives. These units would travel together on the battlefield to provide overlapping fire zones (or charge zones in the case of a close combat-oriented list). What this basically does, is create a "bubble" around your units. In this case, this bubble would have a 36 inch radius from the Chimeras. Any enemy unit that is inside this radius is in danger, and the closer they get, the more dire their situation becomes. Once they are within 12 inches, they are in serious danger of being obliterated by concentrated high strength, low AP weapons.

This 12-inch bubble is our range of maximum effect. We can cause the most damage when the enemy is within one foot. 12 inches is indeed quite close-ranged, though, which is the weakness of our core. We need something with great range to force our enemies to close in, which is where our auxiliary units come in.

Auxiliary Units

These units usually fall under the Elites, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support categories. They are taken to help the core of the list accomplish its goals, whether it be taking objectives, drawing fire away from them, or causing raw damage. Redundancy is still as important as ever. There are very few instances where taking just one of something is a good idea, as it will usually get focus fired and destroyed. We know that our core right now is very strong, but short ranged, so we need to add something with good reach and killing power:

HQ:
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

Troops:
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - 4x flamers
Special Weapon Squad - 3x flamers
Special Weapon Squad - 3x flamers
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher, Commissar w/ power weapon
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher

Fast Attack:
Vendetta
Vendetta
Vendetta

Now we have a long-range high strength, low AP punch. The vendettas are also very fast transports, so more specialized anti-horde squads were added to balance out all the hard-hitting stuff. Now our long ranged firepower can also score and/or drop off their squads to hose off anything that might survive the 12-inch bubble. We now have all of our niches filled except one; extreme resilience. We need something that can really take a licking and keep on ticking. That is where our heavy support choices come into play. They also just happen to pack some devastating weapons:

HQ:
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

Troops:
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - 4x flamers
Special Weapon Squad - 3x flamers
Special Weapon Squad - 3x flamers
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher, Commissar w/ power weapon
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher

Fast Attack:
Vendetta
Vendetta
Vendetta

Heavy Support:
Demolisher Squadron - hull lascannons, plasma cannons

All that is left is to fill in the niches with more units that do the same job. The Demolishers that were added are short-ranged and like to shoot at hard targets, so let's add something with long range that likes to shoot at softer targets. Then, let's add something that can deal with many different targets.

HQ:
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
CCS - 4x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

Troops:
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF
Veteran Squad - 3x melta guns
Chimera - ML/HF

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - 4x flamers
Special Weapon Squad - 3x flamers
Special Weapon Squad - 3x flamers
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher, Commissar w/ power weapon
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher
Infantry Squad - autocannon, grenade launcher

Fast Attack:
Vendetta
Vendetta
Vendetta

Heavy Support:
Hydra Squadron x3
Battle Tank Squadron x2 - hull heavy bolters
Demolisher Squadron x2 - hull lascannons, plasma cannons

With the addition of the Hydras and LRBTs, we have a list with overwhelming, overlapping fire zones. An enemy caught in the open has no chance, and an enemy in cover will be flushed out by lots of cover-ignoring weapons. There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from this list! Great job!

I would like to conclude by pointing out something very important. In many of the lists that I see posted here, there are people still trying to gear out their units to take on multiple types of targets. While this can work, it is not the most efficient way to make your army versatile. Instead of giving each individual unit a mix of weapons to handle anything (for instance, a Veteran squad with a flamer, plasma gun, and melta gun) specialize them to do only one or two things very well. If you specialize everything, you waste nothing. Instead of having an army made of "jacks of all trades, masters of none", try to shoot for an army made up of units that are masters of one trade, effectively making your army as a whole a master of all trades.

[mynameisgrax]

This is a very nice post! I like how you focused on the core of the army (troops and compulsory HQ) as the starting point to build the rest of the list around. With 5th edition rules, I've found that this is incredibly important. I also like how you demonstrated list building directly in the tactica, with the Imperial Guard list.

The only thing I can add is that I feel you don't necessarily have to have multiples of each unit in each list (the redundancy issue you mentioned) if more than one type of unit performs the same function, or the unit is particularly resilient, or the unit if very expensive.

For example, in an Imperial Guard army list with multiple platoons that combine into one unit of 30-50, you don't need multiple units of 30-50, as the one is just fine. Also, in an Ork list, you don't need multiple units of meganobz, as they aren't the only close combat focused units in the list. Finally, in a 1500 point space marine list I wouldn't use more than one land raider, simply because of their point cost. Regardless, it's still a nice addition to many lists.

Redundancy, especially in highly specialized and/or vulnerable units is indeed important, but I wouldn't consider it compulsory for all units.

Besides that small issue, I think the tactica is very impressive, especially considering how relatively concise it is. Great job!

[slobulous]

Yes you are correct. There are a few units that are extremely resilient and/or expensive that don't need to be taken more than once. The example list in this tactica was for 2500 points, so it wasn't much of an issue, but the lower the points go, the harder it is to include redundancy for everything.

EDIT: I found one other important thing that I forgot to mention in the original post. I have edited it in at the bottom.

[nakaruru]

This may sound like complaining but some of what you are saying doesn't seem realistic with different armies. Eldar struggle to get much redundancy, it is rare to be able to afford more than 1 CC or tank hunting unit and often times 2-3 useful troops is the limit . Any chance you could put a couple of lists from different codex to show the same thinking with different style armies? As it is I almost feel this is the strength of the IG codex making your point.

[mynameisgrax]

With Eldar, I find that's only really true with the fire dragons, wraithguard, and seer council. Everything else really worth taking is worth taking multiples of. With these three units, it just usually comes down to points, as there's often simply not enough points to add both to the unit, since they really need wave serpents or fire prisms (or in the seer council's instance, bikes) in order to be effective.

In any case, all these units are usually, in some way, similar to other units in the list, so the trick isn't so much redundancy for specific units, but redundancy for specific types of units. As long as you have multiple units that are capable of dealing with each type of opponent, you should be fine.

[starfire]

great write up, looks very well thought out and list you did with to 'show' your idea is brilliant.
i have to say that list does look quite intimidating, but dont you have to take the grenadier thing to allow your veterans to be troops? (sorry not a guard player, please forgive me if im wrong)
also i would like to see you do an army list for the more specialised armies like tau, eldar, necrons etc, at the 1500-2500pt level, preferably tau.
once again great write up and have sum rep!

[slobulous]

Thanks for the comments and reps. A few of you have asked for a list for a different army, so I will work on one and edit it into this post later.

dont you have to take the grenadier thing to allow your veterans to be troops?

No, Veterans are a troop choice already. Grenadiers gives them a 4+ armor save instead of 5+

[RobinD]

I like this list quite a bit, but am noticing something (at least in Army builder 3.2a)

By outfitting the HQ with 4 plasma guns, you remove the potential for a VOX equipped soldier.

It also seems you have not attached VOX radio options to the veteran units.

While I am new'ish to IG... aren't orders and the VOX re-roll pretty darned important?

Thanks for your thoughts on this,
~R

[slobulous]

A vox network can be useful to an infantry-based army that makes heavy use of orders, but it is pointless in a mechanized army because troops inside a transport cannot receive orders.

[RobinD]

Gotcha,

Yet for the points, and the expected vehicle destruction = troops on the ground mid/late game... would it not be a good idea?

Thanks!
~R