Dealings of Duce: Creating a ‘Competitive’’ list for 40k, how’s it done?

Actually it’s much simpler than most people think... while it does require the payer to be ruthless in their points spending and it is straight forward enough to allow most players to come out with a solid basis to work from. I’ll use codex marines as an example first (I thought they'd help me get my points across easier than a guard list as their the usual beginners army it seems).

When making my codex marine lists I tended to look at what I would be likely facing. And in this helps me build a list which attempts to take on all comers. Firstly looking at the HQ section I decide on a Librarian, firstly to keep the points down and secondly his psychic hood will help in stopping some of the enemy Psykers castings. Power wise I take Null zone to help disrupt invulnerable saves and I take avenger to get another template in the army for removing enemies in cover (the Fact its Ap3 also helps as it will kill marines without a chance for taking a save!). Now while I could add extras it’s not worth it... I have the basics I need to begin the list; the casting two powers turn is a luxury you cannot afford if you want to make a list which will compete in tourneys where you will be acing other players’ most optimised list attempts.

Moving on we get to the troops section, now there are a number of routes we can go, either 10 man squads in rhinos with multi meltas and Meltaguns to take the midfield and slag tanks who come close, or we can take a 10 ma squad with Missile launcher and flamer, put them in either a razorback or rhino and combat squad, meaning we have a single launcher in backfield for fire support and a flamer or Meltagun moving forward to mid table. It also adds the option to combat squad giving u more troops in case we need them but comes out costly. The next option is taking 5 men, bare bones and sticking them in a razorback, add on a Twin linked Lascannon or twin linked plasma gun and Lascannon and you have a cheap scoring mobile unit which can take out tanks. Now this is where preference comes in, do you want the plasma guns on the turret, or a more reliable long range anti tank shot?

Personally I like taking the TL Lascannon, with all the mechanised armies about it pays to have reliable S9 shots to stun or wreck their vehicles... if it’s not moving or shooting you are still helping your chances... So I’ll take 5 squads no upgrades, and stick them in the razorbacks... cheap scoring, and bodies on the table and 5 long ranged reliable anti tank guns... Perfect. I will also take an upgrade on the razorback as well as the turret... a dozer blade. For 5 points it increases my movement options and vastly lowers the chance of my vehicles breaking when entering terrain. A very worthwhile buy imo as it stops me breaking when trying to force to contest objectives late game which can really upset your plans!

Right we have our HQ and our troops, let’s look at the elite support options in the book. Now again we have choices... Take assault terminators with Thunder hammers and Storm shields as a counter punch unit and give them a land raider to travel in to keep them safe and mobile, and add extra armour and a multi melta to vastly boost both the land raider’s movement options (So it’s not stuck stunned in my back field!) and giving it a very solid anti tank shot).

Depending on what land raider you take also the role will change. The Redeemer will barrel forward usually or sit close keeping the enemy honest with its multi melta you gave it and flame storm cannons while holding the terminators for the counter punch. Or taking a Land raider godhammer means you’re adding some more lascannons to the army, but then it becomes a very expensive transport for purely popping vehicles, and late game you might find a lack of them turning it into an expensive single infantryman sniper.

Another option is dreadnoughts... I like them personally, AV12, mobile and with good weapon options. Especially the ‘’Rifleman’’ dreadnought which takes both arm upgrades as autocannons which gives you some medium strength shots (4 Twinlinked) to help stun or break light armour, or hopefully chew a squad a bit. Cheaper than the termies already they add more long range firepower and mean we can free up lascannons for higher threat shots. I’m going to take 3 for my build now. Meaning I’m sitting nicely on my long range fire power for light and heavy armour! Do note you can take lascannons if you wish or assault cannons for some midfield shooting I want them for backup roles in this list.

Also note there are other units in the section, but I’m not going to go into details for every unit and build. That’s for the player to decide as he makes his army and picks the units for the roles he requires!

Moving on we now look at the Heavy support. Hum, land raiders are again options (Same build ideas as mentioned previously) vindicators for close range punch, but personally the one gun and weak armour makes them a liability for what I want from this list, so I’ll look at the opposite unit... the predator battle tank. Cheap right off the bat with an autocannon... and with the sponson choices it can either go anti infantry or anti tank.

I’m going to go with the cheap heavy bolter sponsons. They keep the tank down to only 85 points and gives me 8 shots, 6 of which are S5 and 2 S7... perfect, it adds to my lists anti horde and also some low str shots for light armour duty if needs be. A good mix for such few points, and again I’ll take 3. 255 points for 3x AV 13 front vehicles giving me more vehicles on the field with 6x Str 7 shots and 18x Str 5 shots... nice. And I’ll add dozer blades as I like to have the option of relocating them or moving out of terrain I may have placed them in for protection.

This leaves me with the Fast attack section. Hum, again we have options, and I’m going to look at land speeders. Normally I like them in my lists with Multi melta and Heavy flamer... cheap anti tank and anti infantry, so I’ll take 2 to cover both roles, and for the third I’ll look at a Typhoon and keep the heavy bolter. This means I’ll get another long range anti tank unit with two S8 shots that can help mop up infantry using the S4 blast options and the heavy bolter, again a nice mix use unit.

So that covers all the slots in the army and we have 40 points spare. I’m thinking of going back to the troops and giving two sgts combi meltas for close range High AV anti tank incase the lascannons fail to pop Av 14 on the way to me, or in case I need to race a unit forward and Kill it and the speeders fail in this. For the remaining 20 points I’m going to give two sgts combi flamers to help with anti horde. It also means I can run the Razorbacks in pairs for support with anti tank guns, the men inside for rapid fire shots if I feel I need to get out of the tank, a template for hordes and a melta for high AV.

Sorted... That’s 1850 right on and I have the following list.

1850 Pts - Codex: Space Marines Roster

HQ: Space Marine Librarian in Power Armour (1#, 100 pts)

1 Space Marine Librarian in Power Armour, 100 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Psychic Hood; Bolt Pistol; Force Weapon; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Tactics; Independent Character; Psyker; Null Zone; The Avenger)

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)

1 Dreadnought, 125 pts ((C:SM, pg. 65 & 137); Unit Type: Vehicle (Walker); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)

1 Dreadnought, 125 pts ((C:SM, pg. 65 & 137); Unit Type: Vehicle (Walker); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)

1 Dreadnought, 125 pts ((C:SM, pg. 65 & 137); Unit Type: Vehicle (Walker); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 180 pts)

4 Tactical Squad, 180 pts ((C:SM, pg. 59 & 134); Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x4; Bolter x4; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)

1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Combi-Meltagun x1; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)