You’ve been playing Warhammer 40K for a year or two. You have a firm understanding of the core rules. You understand datasheets and detachments. You know how competitive 40K missions are scored.
You know all of this, but for some reason you’ve hit a wall. Maybe you’re consistently going 2-1 at RTTs or 3-2 at GT events, but you have hit a plateau and can’t seem to get over that hump. If this sounds familiar then this post is for you. Most plateaus at this point are because of list construction and mission approach.
In today’s article I’m going to identify 5 mistakes that intermediate players make in 40K list building and how to fix them. Let’s get into it.
If you want a full breakdown of the framework behind strong list construction, read my complete guide on how to build a competitive 40K list for 10th Edition.
Mistake #1 in 40K Army List Building: Building for Damage Instead of Victory Points
The most common mistake intermediate players make in 40K list building is constructing their army list around killing power instead of scoring victory points in the mission. You understand your Detachment and unit synergy. You understand how “efficiency” works in terms of the right units to take to deal damage and maximize the synergy in your army list, but you’re still falling short on the scoreboard. Players often overinvest in killing power and not enough in units for scoring Primaries and Secondaries.
Your army should have a damage dealing “core” which should compose most of your list in terms of units/points. These units are important because they’re going to be the units out in the mix fighting in the battle. That said, your list should also be designed to score Primary and Secondary points. Things to consider in your army list build include:
- What units are holding your home objective? (cheap units that can hide and zone out the backfield, lone op units, etc)
- What units are going to score positional Secondaries? (Establish Locus, Behind Enemy Line, Engage on All Fronts, Area Denial, etc)
- What units will hold your natural expansion for Primary?
- What units are going to threaten the mid-board?
- What units are going to threaten the opponent’s natural expansion?
Your units need to have clear and defined goals in the game. Every unit serves a purpose and your gameplan and approach to each mission should be based around their role in the army. You probably don’t want your Repulsor Executioner having to spend a turn doing the Sabotage Secondary, for example. If you find this sort of thing happening often then you probably need to make an adjustment in your army list and gameplan.
Mistake #2: Faction and Army List Hopping
Do you find yourself running an army list once or twice, feeling it didn’t meet expectations, then jumping to another army list or faction entirely? I’ve written before about the mistakes of list hopping, but it’s worth reiterating here. Players often give up too soon when testing army list concepts. I always advise my clients to play at least 3-5 games before making any changes to your list. These first few games are basically data aggregators. Review your scores after these games to identify trends. Problems scoring Primary and Secondaries you were able to score as well as those you struggled to score consistently. Be honest and objective about your army list and what’s working and not working and make necessary changes.
I’ll give you a personal example. Recently I decided to play Adeptus Custodes for the upcoming season. My plan is to play them for the next 3-6 months at least in events. After my last RTT, I managed a 2-1 record. The one loss was certainly winnable, but I found some areas where I could improve my Secondary scoring with the army with a simple unit swap.
I decided to swap out a 2 man unit of Allarus Custodians for a Callidus Assassin in the list. I found in my games that often the Allarus Custodians weren’t really doing much. They were competing with other units for Rapid Ingress priority. When they came into play they simply weren’t threatening the opponent the way I had needed them to. A Callidus Assassin is essentially the same points and gives me a lot of versatility to score Secondary points over the course of the game thanks to her up/down ability. After some testing with this change I saw an increase in my Secondary scoring.
Now, I could have abandoned the faction altogether. I could have made wide sweeping changes to the army list. I didn’t need to. I simply honed in on the area I was falling short on and made a simple unit swap that drastically improved the list and my ability to score Victory Points. Don’t give up entirely on a list after one or two games. You will never build the experience necessary to improve your game play if you find yourself constantly list hopping.
Mistake #3: Ignoring the Mission Packet and Terrain
Most intermediate players build lists in a vacuum of predicted “damage output.” They focus on taking the biggest damage dealing units they can without factoring in the impact the missions and terrain may have on their army list. Most events publish the missions and terrain layouts prior to the event. This is vital as it gives you a chance to practice and build around maximizing those missions.
Does the mission pack include the Linchpin Primary? Then it’s probably a good idea to have a consistent plan to securely hold your home objective. Does it have a Terraform mission? Maybe a good idea to have infiltrating units that can hide and start terraforming the objectives early on. These are simple examples, but they are important in your list construction decisions.
Consider the missions and how you will score them and build around them. Don’t simply think about how your list performs in a vacuum, but in real terms on how it performs on the tabletop.
Mistake #4: Trying To Do Too Much With Your Army
Your army may have a great suite of stratagems and abilities, but don’t try to build to do everything. Your list should hone in on a particular area and excel in it. You may have 4-5 amazing stratagems that all do different things in different situations with various units. That is not to say you should never have an all-comers or balanced list. In fact, many list concepts are built around balance. What I’m referring to here is multiple combos layered into your list where each is competing with the other for resources.
Most of your stratagems and abilities are going to be tailored towards your damage dealing units. Focus in on the key pieces of that in your gameplan and manage your resources around using them efficiently in your go-turn. Your army doesn’t need to do everything all the time, it just needs to do one or two things really well.
Understand that there are going to be matchups that your army list is going to struggle into. Either you’re going to struggle to get through their durability, or their units are going to hard counter your own. You have to adapt your gameplan around this with the understanding that you don’t have to destroy the enemy to limit their impact. For example, focus down their own scoring units, move block their damage dealers, limit line of sight to your units from their damage dealers, and even concede certain areas of the battlefield to the opponent. There are a variety of ways you can approach these mismatches. Don’t force your army to do something it isn’t really designed to do.
Mistake #5: Too Much or Too Little in Reserves
Players often under or over estimate how many units they need to put into reserves from their list. This is often situational and may change from game to game, but it’s a good idea to have a general plan of what you want to start in reserves and what their purpose is going to be. Is it an assault threat you want to Rapid Ingress on the opponent’s turn? Is it a shooting threat you want to Deep Strike within 6.1″ with a stratagem or ability? A unit you’re placing in reserves to score Secondaries later in the game? Identifying these elements beforehand are critical to a successful gameplan and army list synergy.
If you overload reserves then you’re giving your opponent the ability to assess that and dictate board control. Additionally you’re going to make target priority decisions easier for the opponent. Just because you can put half your army (or more in some circumstances) in reserves doesn’t mean you should do so.
Also you need to be able to assess the board before deployment and determine if you need to put a unit in reserves that normally wouldn’t go there. For example, if you’re playing a Vehicle or Monster heavy force on Search and Destroy deployment, you may want to put one or two of your Vehicle/Monster units in reserves because of the limited space in deployment. Analyze the terrain layout, mission and deployment before the game to understand what can deploy and what needs to go into reserves to affect the game later.
How to Improve Your 40K List Building Right Now
- Audit your last three event lists.
- Identify your weakest secondary.
- Evaluate your Reserves plan.
- Define your list’s win condition in one sentence.
Final Thoughts
Once you’ve moved from the beginner level and into intermediate competitive 40K play, you may hit a plateau. It’s important to analyze your approach to army list building and mission planning in order to progress beyond this “peak.”
Advanced players build to win the mission on points, not simply the ability to damage the opponent’s army. They stick to one faction and army list build for a period of time to master it. They carefully review mission and terrain packets prior to an event and gameplan accordingly. They focus in on the most important aspects of their army’s strengths and manage resources around that. They have a good understanding of what to put in reserves and when before the first dice is rolled in a game.
If you’re struggling to get to that next level in your play, consider how these mistakes may be impacting your own 40K list building and overall gameplay.
If you’re new to the game or want to improve quickly, then don’t forget to grab my FREE eBook: Forging Your Path to Victory: A Beginner’s Guide to Competitive 40K. A great starting point for those looking to jump into Competitive 40K. Subscribe and get your free copy!
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