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So i've got a thread in the Army List forum. No-one has responded to the specific question i've posted, so I think i'd pose it in a slightly more generic manner.

How many troop choices is appropriate for a 1850pt tournament army? Or a tournament army in general?

What would people consider standard? Basically I have the option of taking 5 troops, or 4 troops and being able to fully kit out some of my units.

What army, and what troop choices?

I play Eldar, but I was thinking more broadly, what is considered a good amount for tournament play.

Specifically, my choice is between;

3 Squads of Guardians, A squad of Jetbikes and a 8 man squad of avengers in a serpent

-or-

2 Squads of guardians, jetbikes, and a 10 man squad of avengers in a serpent.

The rule of thumb most people go by is another troops choice every 500 points, but you can get away with more or less depending on your army composition.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
The rule of thumb most people go by is another troops choice every 500 points, but you can get away with more or less depending on your army composition.

That's the sort of answer I was looking for, thanks.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
The rule of thumb most people go by is another troops choice every 500 points, but you can get away with more or less depending on your army composition.

Precisely upon reading that I was immediatly like 3 but just have to make sure you keep them survivable. and its not a bad idea to go over it if you can use them effectivly.

Its not so much a case of how many but how durable. If you take 10 guardian they will die quite easy but if you add in the Artillary gun they suddenly become T7 which makes them much more durable.

Another example is you could take 6 squads of 10 Ork boys you have 6 scoring units but they are far more durable as 3 squads of 20 as they hold onto fearless longer and you need to jill 15 in order for them to need snake eyes to re-group.

Sadly Heavy Weapon Grav Platforms don't work that way, they don't count as models. The Heavy Support Arty pieces do but they can't join squads.

How many troops depends on what troops you have, their maneuverability, durability and killing power. You need fewer Grey Hunters than you do Termagaunts. It also depends on the missions you're going to play, Killpoints requires minimal troops while multi-objective games require more. Then there's the local tourney meta to account for.

There is no magic number, you'll need to practice and fine tune the army to find that number that works for you. Mix up your composition, get some practice games in and see. At 1850pts your opponent will be packing a lot of killing power so if he chooses to nuke your troops you'll neeed to be prepared with backups.

In an 1850 point tournament list, it will depend heavily on the tournament format, but generally speaking, you want a minimum of 4 scoring units.

Most games will have between 1 and 3 objectives, but for the 4 and even 5 objectives games, you want to be able to score max points. But again, it depends on the format of the tournament.

Thanks for the replies... I wished the eldar weapons platforms worked like that. Toughness 7? Yes please!

I've all but decided on the points with 4 scoring. 2 guardian squads, avengers and jet bikes. My guardians usually remain untouched, usually...

For 1k i have 2x10 firewarriors, a bit risky but its a list based on killing stuff than actually capture anything.

In a 1250 list i would have 2 full firewarriors at 12 and 2x6s just to spread out and put some in reserve.

Not a fan of Kroot, but i use Eldar allies.

MadmanMSU wrote:
In an 1850 point tournament list, it will depend heavily on the tournament format, but generally speaking, you want a minimum of 4 scoring units.

Most games will have between 1 and 3 objectives, but for the 4 and even 5 objectives games, you want to be able to score max points. But again, it depends on the format of the tournament.

If you are playing with the BRB missions there is a 50% chance that you will get more troops or that troop choices aren't even worth it. I usually run 3-2 troops for 1750, with 2 fast and 2 heavy choices, so, as I said, if you get big guns or the mysterious objective one you get 5-4 scoring units, if you get purge the alien scoring units doesn't matter.

And on the other 3 missions 1 is the Relic where having 3 units able to grab it backed up by the rest of your army should be enough. Another one is the 1 objective on each player side, again, 3 troops should give you enough to keep your and deny/take you opponents, and the only one where it would actually matter would be the random # of objectives across the board.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
The rule of thumb most people go by is another troops choice every 500 points, but you can get away with more or less depending on your army composition.

I think 1 for every 500 pts was a good rule for 5th edition. In 5th troops were usually safe in a transport box and the edition as a whole was less killy (overwatch and the new codexs mean everything is killing more).

In 6th, most people are foregoing their transport boxs due to vunerability to giving up first blood and the change in assault rules from transports. Now that troops are less protected I think you want at least 4 in almost all games. For some olber codexes where this is expensive it might change but generally you want 4 or an ability to make more.

As a rule of thumb, one troop unit per 500 pts. I wouldn't go with less. So at 1850 pts, 4 troop units.

4 troops for everyone and 3 for Marines is the minimum I would field.

6E is so much more about objectives that very few armies are reduced in efficay by having 6 troops, but NEED? 4 for almost every army, 3 for Marines (cause they are tough and can combat squad which means you're never short of units for scoring)

For Eldar, it really depends what you're fielding, and how big your units are, but for 1850pts, I'd go for 5 to be honest, because if you're playing 3 or 4 objective games, you're guaranteed to lose 1 or 2 of those vital scoring troops, and (obviously) you want to take the most objectives, which is why you need those 3 surviving troops, so, unless you're REALLY good at keeping your troops alive, then go for 5.. That rhymed ^_^

At 1850, I'd say at least 6 for geq, around 4 for eldar and tau, and 3-4 for marines. This gives you enough durability for your troops, without sacrificing to much killing power.

The general rule I've heard is 1 scoring unit + 1 for every 500 pts.

For me it also depends on how tough, how well-protected, how expensive and how killy the troops are. My Eldar troops are expensive, kill little, and are soft. So I try to take at least as many as other posters have said. Maybe 1 more. I do also load up on a lot of Fast Attack and Heavy Support units. If you're playing book missions that shores up your scoring units in 1/3 of the games you'll play.

I've actually played against a nid list that took two minium squads of rippers to fill the mandatory troops slot. Then 2 Tervigons in the HQ slot. The rest of the points loaded up on Elites, Fast Attack and Heavy Support. After turn 1 the 2 Tervigons had pumped out 2 scoring units to hold home base and all the other more killy stuff moved up to engage my forces. The list was effective but started the game with 0 scoring units as the game progressed more scoring units were made. It was a fun list to play against.