Warhammer 40K: Basic Army Building Theory
Monday, September 29th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
When you’re building an all-comers army (one meant to fight a variety of random opponents), there are a few things to consider, reconsider, and tweak a few times as you go for it. Of course, it’s good to have a reasonably solid idea of what you want to field before you get into an army just so you’re not wasting a lot of money buying models you’ll never use. So here’s a few things to consider when making your Army of Awesomeness. Break out that codex and flip through the pages, because we’re goin’ to war! (You did already get the codex… Right?)
What models do you think you’d like to build / paint?
Yes, that’s the first consideration when picking an army to build. In my experience 95% of stuff can be made useful if you learn how to work it on the battlefield. So the first thing is what catches your eye to begin with. If you get an army you think will “pwn” the enemy, but can’t stand the models, you’re not likely to have nearly as much fun even if you might win a little more often. This is a hobby, and it’s ultimate goal is fun, so start with the models you like. It’ll also help you stay motivated to build and paint the entire army in a timely fashion, and playing with painted armies really does add to the miniature war game experience.
Decide what your main focus will be.
Close combat, or ranged? Mobility? Endurance? For example, if you want a fast-moving army to outmaneuver your foes, you won’t likely want to get a heavy weapon unit that can’t move and fire if you have another unit available that can field the big guns while on the move. Find the units that fit your desired theme and try to exclude extra models that just don’t really fit in. Don’t worry too much though, you can still work some back in if you find a weak spot in your army’s capabilities.
Make sure you have at least 1 unit in the army to handle each type of enemy.
You need something that can take out high armor vehicles. Something to mow down hordes of infantry. Something to take out that uber elite Terminator squad or equivalent. Something to deal with enemy psychers if you’ve got it. They could do it at range or in melee, it could be a trooper or a tank, it doesn’t matter how you do it, just make sure you’ve got something to deal with it.
Ok, now we have Plan A covered. Too bad it never survives contact with the enemy. Time for Plan B.
Try to get 1 or 2 more units that can take over the job of dealing with an enemy if the specialist unit gets toasted. For instance, if your anti-tank squad gets pasted, give your close combat squads something short-range or even melee based with enough strength to take out a tank. The backup unit needn’t be as good as the specialist unit, just good enough to get the job done in a pinch. Space Marines of all types excel at this sort of redundancy. Other armies like Eldar tend to be more specialty-focused, but you can still find a few creative ways to deal the enemy. And if you can’t, then you know ahead of time to be extra careful with the one unit you have without back-ups.
Spiffy, we’ve got all the bases covered for turning the enemy into little pieces of burnt toast! But what about the mission?
In 5th edition 40K, the mission is vital to winning the game. So you’ll need to make sure you have units that can get the job done. Mostly this means having a few solid troop-slot non-vehicle units, as they’re the only ones that can claim objectives. Once you’ve got some guys that can sit on an objective and make themselves right annoying to get rid of, you’ve got 2/3rds of the missions covered. That just leaves the last 1/3rd, which is based on just killing the enemy. For the most part we’ve already got that covered. Just go back and tally up how many kill points an enemy could make off your army. Find anything that dies easily and see if you can toughen it up a little or deploy it so that it isn’t likely to eat too much unfriendly fire. If you can consolidate a few units without causing many problems with our previous topics, that will also help lower your opponent’s opportunities for earning kill points off you.
That’s nice, can we wrap it up now? I’ve got xeno scum to crush beneath my heel.
In the end, you’ll go through a few refinements of your list. Before you go buying your most expensive models for the forces you’ve got your little heart set on, try to find an opponent who will let you proxy them first. That way if you find you just really don’t like how something works in your army, you’ve not spent a huge chunk of money and time to buy, build, and paint something you don’t enjoy conquering miniature kingdoms with.
Now, go get your army ready to unleash your righteous wrath upon the universe! who knows, I may even get to meet you on the field of battle myself someday.
40k army building tactics warhammer
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March 11th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
good post. I will add it as favorite! Regards
May 27th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
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