Hello everybody, apologies for a ten day delay back in the UK. I’m now in Tbilisi again and have the next floor in Tom’s mind palace on HH list writing to share with you. By way of recap, Tom is a highly successful tournament gamer and is, therefore, infinitely more qualified to discuss the finer points of list design than I am! The first part of this series is here.
Welcome back to this series on writing lists for the Horus Heresy. Last time we talked about finding the reason to build your list to begin with. Today we are going to look at some of the more common styles of list that you typically see on the tables of the 31st millennium.
A note to begin with is that we will not be considering book 7 factions and units for the purpose of this article. If you want to build a list that fits with the ethos of the game and will see your community blossom and thrive, do not play with Custodes, Thousand Sons or any of the Mechanicum units in book 7. Post FAQ Space Wolves are pretty reasonable, they have distinct advantages in 30k but, unlike the aforementioned, stay within the scope of the rest of the game. I am thinking that I may add an entry to this series discussing why book 7 is so off kilter. There are a lot of voices decrying it as bonkers but few who take the time to explain why.
The theme list
We looked a little bit at this in the previous article, the theme list is one that really goes all in to recreate a specific force from a story in the background. There is, of course, huge variation between these lists both in the way they look and play. The driving factor behind them is always narrative and they tend not to be too well optimised, with a little fat on the list. Here though, we run into a concept problem that in all my years in the hobby I have rarely seen anyone properly reconcile. Most people still seem to see lists on a continuum of fluffy to competitive. This is completely wrong. The 2 are independent variables, you can have lists that are both fluffy and competitive but you can also build a list that is neither. A very heavily themed Iron Warriors army can be very competitive indeed if it is vehicle heavy with a good mix of heavy armour and artillery, combining (as an example) fluff and efficacy.
The gimmick list
Fortunately for us 30k is not so much a game about building layered rules combos, so it is less susceptible to this phenomenon. Gimmick lists are those that are built around rules rather than strategy. It could be the interaction of a legion rule and a unit, it could be the application of a psychic power to a key unit or it could just be a composition of units with such rules. The underlying driver of this kind of list is that it commits its strategy to rules over decision making and tries to win the game off the back of it. They very often have deep strike components like a Leviathan in a drop pod or a powerful unit in a Dreadclaw or Kharybdis. Sometimes they layer several of these rules together, often revolving around units that operate in and manipulate reserves. This kind of list is a bit of a pet hate of mine as you are mostly playing against the rules writer rather than the player across the table from you. Beware the player who builds this list and claims it is for narrative reasons, for this player a special circle is reserved.
The primarch death star
This is a list that we have all seen at some point and probably have run it ourselves from time to time. The fundamentals are pretty self-explanatory: primarch plus expensive unit equals primarch death star. The thing about this type of list is that they are not necessarily as scary as people seem to think they are. A big part of this is mobility, these units generally have to choose between footslogging, a Spartan or a drop pod of some kind. If they footslog never then approach them and they are no threat. If they try to drop pod, I would seriously consider whether you have enough units for a surround. There is a good reason you don’t see expensive units in pods very often as losing the whole unit to a surrounded pod is harsh. So we have left the good old Spartan. For me this is the real game against this kind of list, if you can kill the Spartan quickly enough the unit inside loses a lot of their threat potential. With this swing your opponents force often goes from looking like an unstopping comet hurtling towards you to a rock in the rapids that is still dangerous but avoidable with care.
The Rite of War list
Another list archetype that is pretty easy to recognise is those lists created around a specific Rite of War (RoW). There are a number of these that are not legion specific and every legion with rules has 2 of its own. These RoW are very hit and miss with many being pretty unusably bad, even in a theme list. However, there are some, like Armoured Breakthrough or Sky Hunter Phalanx that allow players to build really visually impressive armies while, almost by default, building good but not over the top lists. Personally, I think that exploring some of these RoW can be hugely rewarding for players who want a theme to their army that isn’t tied directly to their legions story. The only thing you really have to watch out for with these RoW lists is that they often substitute core army requirements in an ordinary force for something different. As a result of this, converting a RoW army back to a more regular setup can require some new purchases. Still, I think this is a great way to play the game, my experience of these lists at events is that they are fun and interesting both for the players using them and their opponents.
The all comers list
The all comers list (ACL) is the holy grail of list building. It is the army list that, in the most possible circumstances, will be able to compete, to take on all comers. Building this kind of list is really, really hard. Many of the other archetypes we have looked at are used as off ramps for players who just cannot quite make the ACL work. It is not just about taking over powered units (which most of us in heresy try not to do); it is not about just having the most points efficient selections from your army book; it is not even about getting as much stuff on the board as possible. What it is about, how you conceptualise and construct the ACL, will be the topic of my next article.
Until then, dear reader, the Emperor protects.