Building a tournament list

So, in this article, I'm going to be explaining my process of writing and preparing a list for a competitive event and hopefully share some useful tips to help you with your tournament preparation.

Lets start with your faction choice. The first thing you are going to do of course is decide on the army/armies you will be using.

Whether your decision of faction is based on the armies you like or the set of best rules is up to you.

List Writing:

Now we get to the list writing portion of this guide. When it comes to writing a list, the first thing I actually do is pick 4-5 secondaries.

This may sound strange at first but here is the reason, you need to be able to reliably score secondaries alongside primary to win games.

It's that simple, so I choose a set of secondaries and then build a list around those.

For example here is my current list:

.Fluxmaster: warlord:Fractal Mind, Gaze of Fate and Infernal Flames

.Fateskimmer: Horrors, Bolt of Change and Infernal Gateway 

.Tranceweaver: Hysterical Frenzy 

.4x10 Daemonettes 

.3x5 Flamers 

.Be'lakor 

.3x10 Bloodletters 

The secondaries I built my list around were Reality Rebels, RND/Banners, Psychic Interrogation and Nourished by terror/No prisoners/Assassination in the right match ups.

I built in the ability to cast a psychic action and still cast a power on the fluxmaster through Fractal Mind, I also have 3 other pyskers to do it if needed.

I have the ability to get around the board fairly easily with manifestations and Shrouded Step for Rebels.

I have alot of infantry that once again can get to where I need them for actions.

My list is also very killy, being able to interact in the psychic, shooting and fight phases through several units meaning I can go for characters or just killing wounds while still scoring Rebels and a psychic secondary.

If you struggle to pick secondaries on a regular basis, that is unfortunately a flaw caused in the list building stage.  You also want to try and keep your secondary game in your hands and take away as much point denial from your opponent as possible.

Your preferences:

So we all can't help but to have our preferences when doing things.

When it comes to building a list, I tend to not be able to just have a unit of something but like to take multiples in certain numbers (or spamming in simple terms).

Example, I have my 3x5 Flamers, my 30 letters and my 40 Daemonettes.

Sometimes this can be to your detriment. It may be that you keep taking a certain unit that you have a soft spot for that is not suited to your list style and dropping that unit could gain you more useful units for your list.

I find the best thing to do is when you practice and play your list, after a set amount of games is to take every unit and note down what their contribution was in those games. If you can't really justify a units return on their points, then you need to axe said unit for something else.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!

So if you didn't get the hint from the heading, practice is key!

When you settle on a list, you need to just get as many games in with that list as you possibly can. In this stage you need to try to keep changes to a minimum unless you really feel you miss an element to your list or something is just not performing well enough.

The only way you can become confident in match ups is by playing that match up multiple times with the same or similar list, nothing can beat the experience you get from playing the bad match ups several times.

I've always believed a player with a top tier list but only a few games under their belt is at a disadvantage versus a player with a mid tier list but a long time playing that list.

Basically what I am saying is experience is key in this game, and one of my biggest downfalls as a player, is my inability to settle on a list and getting bored too easily. 

Getting the list ready:

This is something I think can go under the radar when preparing a list for an event.

I have made it a bad habit of mine now leaving painting until late, and staying up until literally hours before an event finishing up.

Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get your models to a standard you are happy with while also allowing yourself plenty of rest.

A lack of sleep due to being up painting can put some very uneeded stress on you which in turn can impact your games and both yours and your opponents experiences in an unfortunately negative manner.

Remember, as much as winning is awesome and alot of us have that natural competitive urge, this is still a game of toy soldiers and dice and there is always two people involved.

We are here to have fun and create awesome moments while having a laugh doing it.