How do you build a tournament list?

[jus]

I'm sure we would all agree that 40k can be a very competitive game, and tournaments can be daunting for the uninitiated. And with nagoya hammer just around the corner the pressure is on to finalise that list. As such, how does one go about building an army list for a tournament that doesn't leave you fatally curb stomped in the face by the competition? I hear that committing to themed lists is hit and miss, and a good balance is required to take on all comers, but is that really the case?

What are some tips you veterans have for the greener tourney participants? any help would be appreciated.

[Primarch]

Here is a quick checklist to run through.
Do I have enough scoring units?
Is my army mobile enough to move across the board in a couple of turns?
Can I kill a Land Raider?
Can I kill 3 Land Raiders if I need to?
Can I kill monstrous creatures?
Can I kill hordes?
Can I kill transports (rhinos, devilfish etc)?
Versatile units can really help you out here. E.g. BA Assault marines are fast, score AND carry meltaguns. Long Fangs with missile launchers can kill hordes (frag) and light armour/monstrous creatures (krak) and can split their fire.
Hammerheads and Vindicators can pop Land Raiders and take a chunk out of large mobs of densely packed gaunts/boyz/guard
Combat Squaded units lets you get a couple of extra scoring units OR deny kill points if you have to.
Remember, volume of fire (heavy bolters, scatter lasers) will kill most targets (marines, boyz, guardians, firewarriors) etc, but quality of fire (plasma guns, sniper rifles etc) will have trouble with hordes.

[me_in_japan]

How do you build a tournament list?

Hah!

read Bell Of Lost Souls. They have more opinions on winning tournaments than any reasonable person could possibly be interested in. However, what it boils down to is:

you can build a fun army, or you can build a tourny competitive army. You cannot do both.

e.g. tourney eldar:

HQ: 605
Farseer w/ Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Doom, Fortune, Jetbike
2 Warlocks w/ Destructor, Jetbike
2 Warlocks w/ Embolden, Jetbike
2 Warlocks w/ Enhance, Jetbike
2 Warlocks w/ Jetbike

Elite: 450
5 Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent w/ TL Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon
5 Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent w/ TL Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon

Troops: 180
5 Dire Avengers
5 Dire Avengers
5 Dire Avengers

Fast Attack: 210
1 Vyper w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon
1 Vyper w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon
1 Vyper w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon

Heavy Support: 555
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-Field, Spirit Stones
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-Field, Spirit Stones
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-Field, Spirit Stones

2000 points

can anyone say SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAM?!??!!

or how about:

Farseer fortune doom stones ROWa
Farseer, fortune, Mindwar, stones
7 Warlocks, 3 destructors, embolden, enhance, all on bikes

2 scoring falcons

3 serpents with 5 dragons in each.

this is how you win tourneys.

Most right thinking individuals will draw the line well before this kind of nonsense, but if you really want to win, thats the kind of ballpark your playing in.

So, to answer your question: if you want a tourney list (using eldar as the example) do the above. If you want to enjoy nagoyahammer, build a list that ticks as many of the boxes Prim listed above as you can. Itll be dang hard to tick em all (especially with eldar, Ive noticed. As Prim says, units that can fulfil multiple roles are handy, but eldar dont really do that...) but the more you can tick, the better off you'll be.

When I build a list that I want to win, I get a bit of paper and write "hold Obj" "anti MEQ" "anti GEQ" "anti HA" and "anti LA" in a row. (that's Marine Equiv, Guard Equiv, Heavy Armour, Light Armour, btw). I may add "tarpit" if I feel it appropriate.
then I look at every entry in my theoretical list, and write it in every column that applies to it. E.g. Dire Avengers would go into "hold Obj" "Anti GEQ" and "tarpit"
Any column that looks a bit scanty means you should look at your list and try to address that weakness.

dat's what I do...

[Admiral-Badruck]

The list wil not save you you could have a tournament net list and still get owned in a game... the winners at Adeptacon were Wolves and IG no surprise there but Nids and Orks and I have to say neither list Orks or Nids were the cookie cutter list from the net...


You need to know your units and have a plan for them.
Tactical play trumps list at least 70% of the time.
the Nid player lost his last game by only a few Kill points V the leaf blower IG list. The way I see it that is very competitive.
Most of the internet gribble would tell you there is no way NIds can compete with Mech-IG Leaf Blower style Armies this proves them wrong.

there is also a lot of Rock Paper Scissors your Blood Angels are fine until they meet and Eldar Army with Star Cannons on every vehicle and along with AP 3 on most of their stuff. but that same Eldar Army might just as well pack it up if it faces Mech IG or GeneStealer spam.

the other factor is terrain I t is really all that matters in some cases. how you use it plays a big part in how you make your list Nagoya Hammer 2010 had loads of terrain and lodes of different kinds of terrain that blocked line of sight so different lists make good use of this.

[Primarch]

The list wil not save you you could have a tournament net list and still get owned in a game... the winners at Adeptacon were Wolves and IG no surprise there but Nids and Orks and I have to say neither list Orks or Nids were the cookie cutter list from the net...

[Homer]Mmmmm, Cookies (drool)[/Homer]
Badruck has a point. Net lists suffer from one outstanding weakness. Everyone has access to the internet and can see which lists they are most likely to face. They can still do well, but an unexpected list can still do well.