Welcome back Rangers, today we are going to cover a few key elements to building a solid list. The state of the game is in somewhat of a really bad place, but that should not take away from how we approach the game. I don’t have all the answers on how to beat the top list on the tables, but I really don’t want to even try to approach that idea. The nerf bat should be hitting some time soon and then we can start to worry about new threats to the meta. 

When it comes to a good list we should always have a plan of how we are going to win the game, this can be achieved in a couple of ways. The goal here is to figure out the most consistent way to achieve our goal despite what we are looking at across the battlefield. If we have a slow moving army that can take a few punches before you start losing models, then we probably don’t want them to achieve secondaries that require them to move around the board. We can also look at building a list that tries to hit the opponent as hard as possible in the early game and then clean up on points since there won’t be much opposition on the board in the mid to late game. 

Tactical or Fixed?

Part of this plan is deciding if you are going to play Tactical or Fixed missions, and should really be considered in the list building process. I am in the thought of building around playing tactical, but have two fixed missions that you can play around in the event that you have a bad match up. Tactical is going to allow you to have some flexibility in your match, but most importantly it is going to let you generate command points if you want to sacrifice secondary points, which might actually pay off if you have decent stratagems to spend.  The first few rounds might be a challenge to actually score secondaries so you might as well bank a few and have a really solid mid game push. On the flip side, going for fixed means that you just play the same game every single match and then just deal with your opponent in a more reactive approach. At the end of the day experience is what is going to determine which one is best for you and your army, the more you play the better you will be at seeing different plays.

Now that we are thinking of different ways to score points in the missions, let’s break down how to deal with our opponents. There are three stat lines that you want to be able to check off in a decent all-comers list, Anti-Tank (KEQ(Kight Equivalent)), Anti-Elite (MEQ(Marine Equivalent)), and Anit-Infantry (GEQ(Guard Equivalent)). The idea ration would be a third of your army doing each one just in prepare you for anything that your opponent is going to throw at you. This is one of the few times that preparing yourself by reading up on the Meta will actually help you, however everyone’s Local meta will vary so please don’t just read the Meta Monday post and think you will solve all the world’s problems! As of writing this article the current Meta of 10th edition is pretty much load up on as much hight toughness models that you can and tell your opponent that they can’t deal with this much skew. Naturally we might not take as much GEQ in favor of more KEQ, just to ensure that our opponents aren’t just going to body us off the battlefield.

I always suggest that you build a well rounded list when you are first getting into an edition or an army and figure out what your army has a natural advantage. Once you have determined this then you can focus more on having more of the department that you struggle with. Practice is going to be the best way to see how your ideas are translating into the game, and you don’t always need to play full length games. Getting to the mid game might give you enough information to warrant the build or if you need to look into other aspects. 

The key to the game is to find a position that will give you an advantage and do everything in your power to hold this advantage. If you have the flexibility and movement then you should be using this advantage to hold more primary when you can, then your opponent will effectively have to work twice as hard to clear two objectives. Also if your opponent is holding all the primary missions with no real resistance, you can focus one objective down and spread around to catch up on the secondaries. Every game is going to be different in the way that your opponent will try and ruin your plans, so the best way to ensure that our plans go off without a hitch is to practice them enough so we aren’t guessing anymore, we are playing from experience.

Always be on the lookout for different small plays, as they can add up to make a shift that would be just as rewarding as a big play. In this aspect we are controlling the pace of the game, or tempo if you play chess or magic. One thing I am seeing a lot of newer players have trouble with is keeping their stuff from just migrating the center of the board. It’s okay to hold stuff back in your deployment zone, and just keep chipping at their army until you are ready to just finish the job. No army except super skewed list have the potential to table you turn one, unless you deploy everything in line of sight and just ask to be tabled. You should always deploy as if you know that you are going to go second, this is going to be the only way that you can make sure you will have all your tools on the battlefield, therefore leading you to an easier victory.

Hopefully we helped you understand a little bit more about what is happening in the game before we even start playing the game. It is really important to ask your self what every unit is going to do in your list before you put them in the list, competitive Warhammer starts with having the units that perform the best out of any other options. The change to list building has changed how we compare units, no longer do we have the best “Elite” choice to worry about, now they all compete with anything else in the index. This just means that our strongest units will always be taken in groups of three, unless they are just too good that you can get by with only two. Let me know if you have any questions or want me to go over a list! I would love to hear your thoughts on how you build list! We will see you next time rangers!