List Writing: my Take

Ah, the joys on deciding on an army

Lets get one thing out of the way- everyone writes their army lists differently. There appears to be a movement currently to unify list writing, and I think this is ultimately dangerous. One of the key moments of creation for gamers is deciding what form their army will take. Army Builder is not the only way!



Theme

Some ideas are best left alone

Regardless of which game I'm playing, I tend to follow a similar process when I'm building an army. The first thing I do is decide how I want the army to perform in the game- this will inform everything else. For example, is it an alpha-strike 40K army? Does it need to represent the Romans at Cannae? Is it a small incursion force, relying on stealth? What are the total points/units I can spend? This means that I can instantly ignore some units, and concentrate on others.

Favourites

How to not sell a blank C.D.

Now I'll have a look at what models or armies I want to use within that theme. I consider this before I look at effective units. If I really want to include that unit of Legion of the Damned, or have a unit of Onagers, then they're going in. This could be as simple as the last unit you painted- if you want to use it, do so (unless it really doesn't fit the theme of course!)

Compulsories

Coming soon to a Con near you!

More often than not, there are some units that I have to take. Compulsory core/troop units, compulsory commanders etc. This is when, if I can, I'll add them to the list so that I don't have an illegal list when I finish up (note- percentile systems can throw a spanner into the mix.) However, if I haven't decided on a specific army in Theme or Favourites, then this step becomes less important.

Plan

Pointy ears = gitt-ish

This is the point at which I have to form a plan for the army. This is sometimes simple, such as Refused Flank,
and sometimes complicated, like 3 Point Defence. What it allows me to do is generate a kind of mental tick list  for the various elements. What units can defend? What can attack? What are the screen? What can achieve the objective? The reason I form the plan after all of the above is that armies play in different ways. And note- I haven't necessarily decided on my army yet (unless it was formed in Theme or Favourites of course.)

Fit and Effect

Pictured: neither

And this is where the real meat and potatoes of the list comes in. "Fit" looks at the various units and armies that can be shoe-horned into the list so far, and this will usually be a long list of units. "Effect" is the key- which of those units will be really, truly effective in the list that I need to build? This is where I build up a matrix of units; here's an example-

Unit	Fast	Attack Range	Attack CC	Survivability	Compulsory	Support	Reserve	Total
Venomthrope	2	0	1	2	0	3	1	9
High Elf Archers	2	2	1	1	1	2	1	10
Black Skaven	2	2	3	2	0	1	1	11
Companion Cavalry	3	0	3	3	0	0	1	10
Emperor Battleship	1	2	1	3	0	3	2	12

This is just a generic matrix to give you an idea of what I am going on about. The criteria are all rated 0-3. 0 shows absolutely no ability in that area- so Venomthropes and Alexander's Companions score 0. A score of 1 shows that they can perform, but they're not great at it. 2 is the average. 3 indicates that the unit is awesome in this area. 

The total score is how I evaluate the units for the list- high scorers are far more likely to get in. Note that the various criteria are not fixed- I'll add more as I see fit, and remove some if necessary. I recently had to make a list for a first-wave Tyranid Assault- lots of Gaunts and Gargoyles, very few anything else, no Monstrous Creatures. This meant that the matrix focused more on swarm elements, so Ranged Attack and Survivability were removed in favour of Synapse and Numbers. Tournament lists, due to the restrictions and wide variety of obstacles you can face, have a lot more columns. 

This is all subjective opinion by the way- I think Venomthropes are awesome support units, but many will disagree. Equally, I think that Companion Cavalry are in no way a support element of an Imperial Greek army- but I know players that use them in this way. 

The List

Sometimes I think I might take lists too seriously?

So, now that I have worked out what units are going to work, I plot out the list and total up the points- everything informs my choices. Normally, in fact, I'll have been jotting down the list as I go, writing down various options as they go into the matrix. And now I have one golden rule:

10 %

If the army list comes out within 10% of the total I need to achieve, I'll tweak it and re-work it. If not (as often happens) I'll scrap the list and start again from fresh- I still have all the guidelines I set out, so it doesn't take very long to generate quite a few lists until I find one I'm happy with.

Finish line!

Second place has the right idea

That's it! At this point I'll have a finished list, and all I need to to is make sure that I've got the models, and that they're painted, with a suitable mode of transport. I'm not saying this is THE way to build a list (that would just be arrogant.) However, there will be over the coming months various lists appearing from me, and I reckon it's useful that people can see the thought processes I go through when I'm putting them together. Interestingly, it doesn't matter what game I'm playing- I still go through the same routine.

Thanks for reading. Comments, as always, are welcome.