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Hey All,

It's my understanding 1000 point battles in 30k are generally "not a thing." Is it simply the strength of the armies don't feed towards that point level? I was wondering because I know some lower points tournaments and narrative tournaments are allowing in some 30k armies (Getting lost in the Warp can cause Time Fissures. Ask the Ordo Chronos).

I'm trying to think of different ways I could play my new Solar Auxilia or my slowly building 30k Dark Angels force up at 1000 points and still be fun without getting my donkey-cave beaten in.

Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Emotional Outbursts?

Some people feel that the Rites of War don't work properly below 1000/1500/2000 points. FW used to say the same, then they introduced the Delegatus.

beast_gts wrote:
Some people feel that the Rites of War don't work properly below 1000/1500/2000 points. FW used to say the same, then they introduced the Delegatus.

The delegatus is more so meant for using row in zone mortalis games though it also helps when you don't want a combat character but want a right.

FW actually had guidelines for playing heresy games and they recommend in the area of 2000-4000 points.

It is actually possible. 500 points can get you 20 marines, a centurion and a dreadnought/deathstorm/basilisk.

I have played 200 point kill teams and 500 point zone mortalis. Very fun!

I personally can't get behind 500 point battles, but I think 1000 points work well enough - it's not ideal, but you can definitely have a good game at this size. You'll probably get outnumbered or outgunned by 40k armies at this points level, but you can definitely win against them if you play well.

500-1000 points work pretty well in Zone

I think low points can work really well if the size of the battle zone is smaller too, or interestingly shaped. Especially dramatic terrain pieces with small footprints would also make for cool small games, with special scenarios to accompany the extreme terrain.

Most of my matches using my Taghmata have been at ~1000 points, and that level, the elite nature of the units becomes very stark, if not oppressive. I'm typically rocking just 4 units at those points.
Games usually end up lasting 7 turns; early game looks like I'm losing, but grinding on, the opponent realises my stuff isn't dieing, get a sense of impending doom.

But then again, different armies have different primes at different points brackets. Just seems to get more obvious the lower you go.

Book IV: Conquest has several scenarios and ideas for low points game - look for the Strategic Raid missions and scenarios

Thanks for the assistance everyone!

One of my main reasons for asking is there are a few narrative events coming up at 1000 points and I'm seriously considering my Solar Auxilia (I've taken the most time and caution in painting them so far so I enjoy showing them off). It might be difficult, but outflanking Leman Russ and a Malcador Infernus could be pretty nasty at lower points I'm thinking.

 IronMaster wrote:
Thanks for the assistance everyone!

One of my main reasons for asking is there are a few narrative events coming up at 1000 points and I'm seriously considering my Solar Auxilia (I've taken the most time and caution in painting them so far so I enjoy showing them off). It might be difficult, but outflanking Leman Russ and a Malcador Infernus could be pretty nasty at lower points I'm thinking.

And that is why I refuse to play a 1,000 point game. 30K is about Space Marine Legions, and 1,000 points of Legion Space Marines is a very small army, that can't bring the kinds of "big guns" you can as a Solar Auxilia. At it's bare bones 1,000 points, the Legion player spends about 100-200 points on a HQ, and another 400 or so on the two troops. That leaves the Legion player with about 500 points. Throw in a 200 point tank (probably a Sicarian, or maybe a Land Raider), maybe a support squad, and the Legion player is done. You bring in a super heavy vehicle (the Malcador) and there is pretty much nothing I can do about it unless I knew about it before hand, and then I could list tailor, but then it's not any fun for either player.

Yes, that combo would be nasty enough that I wouldn't want to play you at 1,000 points. It would probably be fun for you, but a miserable experience for me. I'd say one or the other- either the Leman Russ or the Malcador, but not both in the same list. And I'd probably ask my opponent "Are you OK with me bringing a Super Heavy Vehicle into this game?" If this was a 2,000+ point game, then heck yeah! Bring it! I'd love to play against that because at those points levels, I have the tools in my Legion to deal with it. Your meta might be very different from mine though, and such army lists are not only accepted, but encouraged (they are not in my meta).

I wish more people would take into consideration how their opponent's will feel when they face their army.

I've had some great low point games 1000-1500 points. Personally all this "I don't want to play low points cause my rite of War doesn't work" is kinda meh. I get that people want to play with their special toys, but every Army doesn't need a praetor and a rite of war to be fun or competitive, been using an army with no rite of war, Primarch or praetor for a while and been having a blast, and it's easy to scale it up or down on points without worrying about a threshold of effectiveness.

I've never used my Rite of War even at 2,000 points or more. I've only recently painted my Legion Champion, and I still don't have any actual Fast Attack choices in my force, so it's pretty useless.

Kill Team and Zone Mortalis are great ways to play 30k. Otherwise, I prefer 2000 points.

I agree that fielding a superheavy at 1000 points is kinda lame, especially an Infernus