Army List Composition

Just curious as to the philosophies use by different people when constructing an army list. Personal preferences always play a role as does what is available in your army, but people tend to choose an army that supports the style they prefer to play.

1. Do you perfer quality over quantity?

2. Specialization or all-purpose?

3. Infantry or Tanks /monstrous creatures?

4. Low AP / high strength weapons or a high volume of fire (aka LOTS of shots)?

5. Killing power (lots of elites and heavy support) or lots and troops and mobility for objectives?


Since I started the thread, I might as well be the first to answer as well.

1. Quantity has a quality of its own, but I tend to lean towards the middle taking a mix of quality units and some cheap grunts to add more numbers. My 1500 point Guard list does have about 70 infantry and 5 tanks, both of which can be high for some armies, but its kind of a middle ground for Imperial Guard.

2. I like all purpose units myself. I always hate having a threat that can't be dealt with by the units available.

3. See number, I like a balanced approach. I think it works best for Imperial Guard.

4. Dan Dolan ruined me here. His ability to never fail a 3+ armour save made me lean towards high strength and low AP weapons. As I play more and more people, I see that volume of fire can be just as effective and I think my list shows this. I still do have a Veteran plasma squad of doom though (3 plasmaguns and a plasma pistol).

5. Again, I migrate towards the middle, but am closer towards lots of troops and mobility. Two thirds of the battles are objective based, so it is important. My two veteran squads and the two leman russ battle tanks can put a hurting on almost anyone, yet my list still have 7 scoring units. (For anyone not familiar with Guard, a platoon take 1 troops choice, but can have multiple units that count as troops)

Please keep in mind I play Nids. lol, so there will usually be lots of bugs whether i can help it or not.


1. Do you prefer quality over quantity?
I go somewhere down the middle with this option. I like to have my more "important" squads but with lots of "minions" built differently to handle different scenarios.

2. Specialization or all-purpose?
Gonna have to go with All Purpose, I want something that can kick buts, but at the same time hold objectives, tie up enemy units, and bring down foes.

3. Infantry or Tanks /monstrous creatures?
Once again, Both. There's got to be a need for power and cannon fodder if need be.

4. Low AP / high strength weapons or a high volume of fire (aka LOTS of shots)?
While lots of fire is always good (sometimes favorable), I do have a soft spot in my heart for that one all of nothing big shot. Nothing like the excitement of that Do or DIE moment.

5. Killing power (lots of elites and heavy support) or lots and troops and mobility for objectives?
I like to have a blend of both, but usually I just remember that I don't have to claim the most objectives, I sure as hell can contest the rest of them.