How to get into Wargaming Part 2: List building

So you've got into the 40k hobby. The best way to make your first army is to build a list you like and then play it. This is very cost effective way of doing it in opposed to buying battleforces. The stages of building a list are...
1.) Read the Missions: If you understand the missions and what they have in common you can write the list to give you as big advantage as possible.
2.) Pick your most liked unit: Whats the point of making an army if you cant field the unit you like.
3.) Find units which support them with a degree of synergy.

So expanding on my first point. Reading the missions. This is the most forgotten element of 40k. When you play most games like board games etc, you look at the board, make a plan. Same here. So 5/6 of the missions have objectives so troops are highly important. Most missions have D3+2 objectives. So the average is 4 onjectives. So I always field my 1500 point list with at least 4 troops choices. Some missions allow Heavy Support and Fast Attack to be scoring but also give away victory points. So these can be a double edged sword. I'd reccommend taking one or possibly two depending on which units you like. Rather than just filling these out and making a 1 in 6 dice roll. Also you need to remember the secondary objectives. The most important is first blood. This is a victory point which only 1 player can get so getting a unit dedicated to achieving this is a good idea. There is also Slay the warlord so pickng a resiliant warlord who stays quiet is a good idea. The last one is being in the opponents deployment zone. This is harder than it seems. A resiliant unit deep striking usually does it. Also hammer units such a big terminator units can achieve this.

Coming Up: An example of a written list from Grey Knights using this method.

How to get into Wargaming.

Ok so you have either seen a game of 40K or Warhammer on Youtube, games shop, or friends talking about the hobby? Not quite sure on where to start? Well I dont blame you as it is such a big extensive hobby which is full of different things to do. So you can come into the hobby via the following routes.

1. Visiting a local hobby centre or GamesWorkshop Store: This can usually be the easiest option in the UK as we have a lot of stores around the UK. These stores will usually get you really enthusiastic about the hobby and be aware in GW stores they will try and sell you a starter set. This is usually the way to go but there are better and cheaper ways to get into the hobby.

2. Ask a friend to show you what it is all about: Usually hobbiests have not just one army and are willing to introduce you to the game. This can be good to learn this way as your friend will know how you learn things. A big disadvantage to this is though that your friend may not know the rules as detailed as someone who introduces people into the hobby for a living.

Either route is a good way to go. Next step is to take a look at each of the armies. Which one do you like the look off. My first love was Space Marines because they were a race I could relate to looking like humans and they are super space humans geneticlly advanced to go to war. How cool is that. Look into their units, their background ignoring things like stat lines and points cost because at the moment it is finding out what you enjoy rather than making a tournament list which smashes face!

After this I reccommend either purchasing the rule book and relevent codex and reading them. In any game would you crash in and not read the instructions? This game is about knowledge, tactics, and synergy.

Once this is all done your ready to move on to the next step explained in part 2 which is released 21/11/12 at the latest..