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Preparing an Army for a Tournament
by Michael T. Wei Na

There are three ways in which one can approach a tournament army. Model led, which involves choosing an army which you basically like the look of and which models you would really like to paint, background led which is where you enjoy reading the history of the army and create a really characterful army and finally there is the power led army. This entails creating an army purely designed to win at all costs (the cost being the opponent’s enjoyment).

The first method, model led is my personal favourite way of collecting an army. There is nothing like opening a new White Dwarf, staring at the new models and saying ‘I have to collect that army now’. The way to start an army with this approach is to just buy what models you like the look of and paint them. Come the tournament you will just have to create an army list around the models you currently have. It may not be the most effective army but certainly will look good and therefore you will score high points in this area.

My suggestion for model led armies:

Eldar
Space Marines

Both armies display great models and lack numbers. Therefore you can spend a long time painting each one. The Space Marines probably contain some of the best models in Games Workshops range, most notably the Land Raider and the Terminator Captain. The Eldar have stunning plastic kits plus you can really go to town when painting them.

The second method is probably the hardest in my view. Creating an army for tournament is very difficult because you never know what the judge will be looking for. The tournaments in which I have attended tend to look for themed armies rather than characterful armies. This is wrong as an army can be themed but completely and utterly beardy. A fine example of this would be an all banshee army. This army picked up top marks for selection but was as beardy as hell and completely out of character. A more characterful army would include squads from all of the aspects.

Characterful armies require a lot of planning. It is usually best to go through every White Dwarf and rulebook in order to get a feel for the army. Once you have done this draw up a few army lists. Often getting opinions from other players through gaming groups or the Internet should help you refine the army.

From time to time a player can capture the spirit of the army while keeping to a theme. An example is that of Daniel Galpin’s Stompa army. The Stompa are renowned for using lots of walkers. He took nine killer cans but excluded the use of all fast attack choice. The army remained in character but had a unique theme to it.

My suggestion for background led armies  

Ork Clan army e.g. A Bad Moon army including tooled up characters
Eldar Craftworld Armies
Ravenwing

The third and final way to collect an army is to design it purely to win. In my experience this is this only way that a player will have a chance of doing remotely well in the gaming part. A lot of people take beardy armies to the tournament which completely wipe the floor with everyone else. If you want to compete with them the only way is to power game. Now and again a characterful army will be beat one of these tournament based armies but this occurrence is extremely rare.

To begin the process of creating a tournament winning army is first to gain a sound knowledge of the rules. Also read the rules of the tournament carefully. With this in mind you can tailor the army to suit the rules. The current edition of 40k places the emphasis on close combat. Shooting armies such as Guard never do well as they rely on shooting and rarely capture quarters.

The best armies to power game with are:  

Blood Angels (Flesh Tearers in particular)
Black Templars
Biel-Tan
Iyanden
Ulthwe
Alaitoc

As you can see these armies are close combat based. This is because close combat allows you to attack in your opponents turn, effectively doubling the damage potential. Close combat units are also much better at taking quarters, increasing your chances of winning.

A good piece to have when taking a beardy Marine army would be an Eversor assassin. At 95 points it is a steal. In my opinion all Assassins should be banned from tournament play. They are far too good. The Marine armies also benefit from the fact that they can always rally. The break point of a Marine army is achieved much less quickly than most.

Note that out of the six hardest armies out there four of them are Eldar. While creating characterful armies the lists allow significant rule bending. The Eldar have probably the hardest units and combinations available. Ideas include a unit of three warwalkers armed with starcannons and a Farseer with guide.

Well there you have it, three ways to collect an army. I would recommend you try a little of all three although not too much of the power gaming side. Create a characterful force, paint it well and the tournament should be enjoyable.

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This page was designed by: 
Michael T. W. Na
Joseph Channon
Anthony Flynn

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