The "Law" of 9's.

[Skari]

Does your best army list fit in?

I am curious to see how different peoples armies fit into this army list building development system that my Dad created. He used to spend more time making lists than actually playing... literally, it would take 3 days for him to make a 1500pt list. Anyway; how does this work?

Divide total point value of army by 9. So for example in an 1850pt list you have nine 205 pt "sections" and a 5pt floater.

First Place 4 "sections" (820pts) into troops.

Then 1 "section" (205pts) in each of your Heavy, Fast, Elites and HQ sections.

This leaves 1 "section" that you may do what ever you want with. For example an Imperial Guard army might put it into Heavy Support.

IMPORTANT: This is a general guideline, not a strict rubric. It is aimed at balancing the list to deal with as much as possible while keeping it effective and spam-free.

Now, I had no idea what this was until finally my dad explained the system. Then I went and counted out my competitive DE army into it and found that I was almost spot on! I was very successful with the list that fit in to the "law" and have had trouble moving away from it ever since. I find it is a nice tool to keep things interesting while keeping focused on what matters, good number of troops, some fast units, firesupport and elite units. Of course keeping the HQ cheap so as to not sink too many pts into it.

Anyway. I challenge all of you to try it out! And let me know what you think.

Cheers!

[thecactusman17]

This sounds about right. At 1850, 205 is about the amount you pay for 10 models, appropriate anti tank upgrades and squad leader powers, and a transport. Been within about 10-15 points of that for every army I've played.

[Xas]

sounds like a nice, easy way to remember how to balance an army list if you arent that good with maths.

however it falls short the moment you get too low. by then I would suggest that you may move any 1/9 that isnt a troop one around if you cant buy a propper unit with it.


I think it would be a good guidance for anyone up to expert level to follow, as propper list building outside that template is very hit and miss (and the reason I think most net-lists are awfull).

[AbusePuppy]

That will work reasonably well for some armies, like IG and BA, but very poorly for others, especially ones that depend heavily on specific slots to do a job (like DE and Nids.)

Having only three allocations to troops and two free spots would work better, I think. But even then, it's only a very, very vague system for determining what you're getting- some armies can get a lot of troops for a small number of points, others have to invest heavily.

[CrimsonTurkey]

My Nid list is made of the following

HQ - 235
Hive Tyrant - 235
2x Scything Talons, Wings, Hive Commander

Elites - 437
10 Ymgarls - 230
9 Ymgarls - 207

Troops - 325
5 Warriors - 175
Scything Talons, Deathspitters
25 Hormagaunts - 150

Doesn't fit the rule of 9 very well. The HQ is 2.11 units, Elites are 3.93, and troops are only 2.92. This list tends to do pretty damn well though. I usually reserve everything and outflank the gaunts. The warriors walk on later and provide supporting fire and claim a backfield objective. Hive tyrant is mostly just there for hive commander and bashing the occasional hard target. I do pretty damn well with this one.

[blackarmchair]

Yeah, it's a good rule but only really works with newer codecies that have worthwhile troops and worthwhile units in (almost) every slot. The examples you gave of DE and IG are great. Try doing this with an older codex and you'll be hard pressed to spend that much on troops (820pts of fire warriors = fail) or finding useful stuff in every slot.

Still an overall good idea, just needs some tweaking for certain books. You should call it the "Principle of 9's" (I know, I know less catchy).

[DarkLink]

Doesn't work at all for Grey Knights. Most lists will spend 300+ points in HQ, ~400pts in Heavy and almost everything else in Troops. I don't see that many people taking Interceptors (even though they're awesome) or storm ravens, and the best elite units can be taken as troops with the right HQ.

[Skari]

Yes, some armies dont fit in "exactly" but is seems to be a good guideline for varied lists.

If your army does not regularly fit in, what would you do to make it fit? I challenge you to come up with a list that does fir the law.
I will try to post a few lists from different armes using the law to spice it up and serve as food for thought.

[Rapture]

I I took half of my Tau army as troops my best bet for victory would be that my opponent was laughing so hard that he wasn't able to play...

[Skari]

Ok, so. As I said I would here is the first one that I have made, and yes , it is with Tau 1850pts:

HQ-
Shas'el(Missilepod, Plasma, Targeting Array, HW Miltitracker) - 97pts

Shas'el(Missilepod, Plasma, Targeting Array, HW Miltitracker) - 97pts

Elites/
3 Crisis Suits(3xmissilepod, 3xplasma,3xmulti-tracker) - 186pts

Troops/
11 FW/s with Shasui - 120pts
Devilfish(Disrupt Pod, Multitracker)- 95pts

11 FW/s with Shasui - 120pts
Devilfish(Disrupt Pod, Multitracker)- 95pts

10 FW/s - 100pts
Devilfish(Disrupt Pod, Multitracker)- 95pts

16 Kroot, one upgraded to a shaper - 133pts

Fast Attack:
8 Pathfinders w/Shas'ui - 106pts
Devilfish as above - 95pts

Heavy Support:
2 Broadsides w/ advanced stabilization systems(team leader with blacksun filter&targetlock) - 173pts
2 Broadsides w/ advances stabilization systems (team leader with blacksun filter and target lock)- 173pts
Hammerhead(Railgun, Disruptpods,BurstCannon,Multitracker)-165pts

So:
HQ - 194/205
Elites - 186/205
Troops - 758/820
Fast- 201/205
Heavy- 511/410 (all floaters here)

So, here is the first example. It is not exactly within the parameters, hence why this is just a guideline but it does have a good feel to it. With some more playtesting the tweaking of the gear and points would be adjusted. (it would be easy to drop a devilfish from a FW squad so that they could use the pathfinder devilfish, then those points could go into more elite crisis suits) also the weapon systems are variable, I used the most expensive lay out, but a TL missle pod system on the suits would allow for more points to be spent in other places, like more suits. But the groundwork is there. As for the firewarriors and kroot, they are not the "best" units, but with a bit of tweaking you could easily have 2 units of 10 kroot and smaller firewarrior squads, or have them with the carbines so that they can remain mobile and at 18" away from the enemy.

Just thoughts.

Cheers!