List building, points totals and SWC

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**SlaveToDorkness**

Hello!

My buddy and I have been playing a fair bit of Infinity but are still a bit fuzzy on the rules. One thing we have been curious over is the allotment of SWCs in your army list. The rules suggest that you are allowed a certain amount of SWCs for each total points value of the list. He has said that your actual list total and not the limit set before the game is what should determine your amount of SWCs.

So, for instance, if you were playing a 200 pt. game but your list ended up at 197 you have less SWCs available than your opponent who managed to build a list that was exactly 200 pts.

Thoughts?

**NuclearMessiah**

I believe it is generally understood if you are playing a 200 pt game for example that you get the SWC for that amount as you would try to get as close as possible to 200 or exactly 200 points if able.

**IJW**

Yes, it's the game size not the specific points cost of the list.

**SlaveToDorkness**

No offense, but could I get some sort of citation instead of opinions on that?

**IJW**

Sure. From http://infinitythegame.wikispot.org/Support_Weapons_Cost_%28SWC%29

'For example, a battle of 300 points gives 6 SWC points to spend on miniatures equipped with Support Weapons.'

My emphasis. Even if you use a 297pt list it's still a 300pt battle.

**SlaveToDorkness**

See, his argument is that both the FAQ and the rulebook say "for every 50 points used" . Insinuating that it is the amount of points actually used in building the list, not the upper cap amount.

To be clear, we are not arguing, just trying to get it right. Whatever is the consensus of the player base as a whole is good for us!

**drazz**

I've always used the SWC of the engagement, not the army total points. I think claiming that the points must be listed in the specific army to be able to include the SWC would create a real rift in the player base. Its fairly difficult to reach exactly those round numbers.

Reading in to the phrase "for every 50 points used" is an issue as well. First, "used" for what purpose? It doesn't specifically say used in the army list; it could very well mean used in the engagement. Secondly, the rulebooks (2nd Edition in particular) are subject to many interpretation oddities.

Short version: my club and local tournies have always used the SWC of the encounter, not the specific number of points in the army list.

**-Loki-**

SlaveToDorkness wrote:
See, his argument is that both the FAQ and the rulebook say "for every 50 points used" . Insinuating that it is the amount of points actually used in building the list, not the upper cap amount.

To be clear, we are not arguing, just trying to get it right. Whatever is the consensus of the player base as a whole is good for us!

That's like saying, to take a Warhammer Fantasy example, people need to base their army list percentages off their army total rather than the engagement total. So, for example, in a 1000pt game, they have a minimum of 25% Core, 250pts. If someone brings a 950pt list because they just can't get that other 50pts in, they only have to have 237.5pts of Core rather than 250pts.

It's counter productive trying to list design like this. A touch of common sense is still needed in well written rule sets, and this is one of those cases. Base the SWC off the engagement total rather than what you managed to squeeze into the list, otherwise you're going to complicate list making far more than you need to.

**SlaveToDorkness**

That's what I thought but wanted to ask around a bit.

**-Loki-**

As an aside, I rarely hit 6 SWC with my Haqqislam. Haqqislam has plentiful good units that cost 0 SWC, but are in the ~30pt bracket. This means that I'll usually wind up with a list that has plenty of teeth but doesn't max out on SWC.

My Tohaa on the other hand regularly sit at just under 300pts, but with 6 SWC. This isn't really through trying to do it, Tohaa just lack the range of super good units with no SWC that Haqqislam has. So going for something killy means packing in SWC.

Hitting max SWC depends on what you're trying to do with your list, and while it's desireable to use it, since it's where you pack in the super killy weapons, maxing it to 6 in every 300pt game in my experience really isn't needed and with some factions, sometimes just not possible.