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The most common games I play are between 500 and 1000 points, though as I play DE, SM & CSM, I never really end up with many bodies on the table. Can anyone recommend an approach that I should take to writing a 500 point list? Ie, how many AI vs AT shots I should be aiming for, number of bodies, how much you'd spend on your HQ at most?

Cheers,

My standard tactic for building a 500p list:

1. choose a cheap force multiplier HQ. Sorcerer for example.

2. choose a single Troop choice for objective. Keep it cheap and if possible take some long-range weaponry. (Scouts?)

3. a second Troop choice. your HQ will go here and this will be the squad advancing to the mid-field objective. About 10 bodies here if you can. Quick movement if possible.

4. at this point you should be at 350 points at most. The last thing is to take something suprising. Monstorous creature of AV13 vehicle maybe? Capable of supporting your midfielders and dealing with TEQ and tanks if possible.

5. If you don't want the part 4, take another solid Troop choice.

Remember to keep the uprgades low at this level, but each squad should have at least some special weapon/equilavent.
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An example 500p Eldar list I came up quickly (okay, I admit it. My lists are rarely that competitive )

Farseer
- Warlock stalking him

5 Rangers

10 Dire Avengers
- Exarch w/ Shimmershield

Wraithlord
- Glaive and Bright Lance

Thanks for the reply. I've been toying with a wych cult thing just because I've notorun them once. What do we think to this?

Haemy
- liquifier
- venom blade
- animus vitae

9 wyches
- raider with dc

5 wyches
- haywires
- venom (standard)

Razorwing
- 2 monoscythe
- 2 necrotoxin
- dc
- splinter cannon

I find at 500 points the good lists basically boil down to:
(imo arranged in generall effectiveness 2 and 3 could be switched around depending on your codex for IG the more armor than you works better than the more units than you)

1. I have more flexibility than you
2. I have more Units than you
3. I have more armor than you
4. I have a death star


1. relies on infantry units that take something like missle launchers or melta guns that can deal with basically everyhting in the game (i would put melta vets in chimeras here)

2. Relies on horde tatics, basically saying I don't think you have enough power at 500 points to kill all my units. Nid, and ork typically focus on this at this point level. Typically melee heavy as you tie up all the oppents units in melee and still have a few left over to take points.

3. Basically using basic/thin infantry units and relying on the fact that most people don't bring anything or enough of something to really deal with more than one unit with av 14 on it at 500 point. IG probably are the best at this build. Although almost every faction can build a list of this nature.

4. You have one unit that puts out a ton of damage but is fragile. Medussa or deathstrike for example. The rest of your units are mainly there to keep your oppnant from killing that unit. Can also be some crazy HQ unit that has a lot of wounds and is typically melee oriented. This is probably the least consistent build. You will either win because they couldn't kill your deathstar or you will lose because they could. Alot of SM and NId builds are this one.

Which is very difficult to pull all of those off when you play de or sm!

I can handle flexibility with sm tac squads, and maybe a deathstar with de, though both leave so little points for anything else!

Curse these low point games!

Looks fairly solid to me. The flyer is something a lot of lists will struggle to deal with at such a low points level, you're unlikely to see any interceptor except maybe from Tau and a lot of people won't bother with the cost of Skyfire.

The only thing I would add is don't go too overboard on the suprise unit unless you expressly know the game is going to be ultra comeptiitve. You could take a Caetstus Assault Ram at 500 points, it's an AV13 flyer with a large blast Meltagun than can ram while zooming. Almost any army isn't going to have something capable of beating an AV13 flyer without a lot of difficulty - the Thunderhawk is only AV12. similarly a Riptide or Wraithknight is unlikely to make many friends at such a low points level. If you know the people you usually play with don't have much in the way of anti-flyer measures, it might not be the best idea to roll with an aircraft even if it is a fairly easily-beaten one, because they won't be able to kill it. Of course, if you're building for tournaments you won't need to worry about something like this, but it's still best to make sure you don't have too many points invested in one super-unit. Even if it turns out to be almost invincible you still have to contend with the challenge of objectives.

If you were taking it up to 750pts, I would say take another fairly solid troops choice, perhaps between the small objective-camping squad and the HQ-assault squad in size. The idea is roughly that the big squad goes for the most heavily-defended objective, the small squad camps in your backfield to look after the home objective and if there's a midfield or more neutral objective, that should be the target of the medium-sized squad. With the points you have left, the best thing to include is probably something fast and light like a land speeder that can contribute exactly where it's required and is cheap enough that the opponent doesn't really want to spend resources on taking care of it. You could also upgrade/replace your surprise unit if you only have a few points left, or, if you're playing an army with cheap bodies, add another surprise. IG might be able to fit a Griffon and a Manticore at this points level without too much trouble, which is a lot of firepower to deal with. This is around the points where you want to be able to say "if my opponent brings a Land Raider, or a Helldrake, can I deal with it effectively? At 500pts beating either of these is a pretty big ask but at 750 you could fit one quite easily so it's wise to be prepared.

At 1000 points you have quite a lot of options, generally you'll want to be more specialised at that point - something like 2 Vindicators at 1000 points is pretty tough to deal with with the right support, but you don't have enough points to be very general and your opponents will have enough points to reasonably specialise. You will want to make sure at this point you can competent anti-air, assuming your local meta is reasonably average when it comes to flyer frequency.