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I'm playing pure GK and I'm having trouble breaking 6 CPs in a 2000 pt army. What would you say is the average amount of CPs in an army that you play (assuming 2000 pts)?

I also have no way of recovering CPs as I spend them (unlike Eldar and IG). I know that this is what I signed up for when I chose my army but it just seems a little tilted when my opponent can gain CPs when I spend mine (for strategies) and when he spends his. This makes his CP pool 33% bigger than his original number of points.

I think 9-12 is pretty reasonable for everyone... except GK. You should probably be able to squeeze 9 total out of GK at 2000 though.

Good thing those stratagems are so cheap, right?

At 2000 points, you should be able to get 7 points easily.

One Batallion for 3, and then a specialized unit (three fast attacks, three elites, etc.) for 1 more.

That's where I usually take it.

Most people I've played against including me are around 5-7.(I played with 2 chaos artifacts).

I've seen someone pull out 13 Command Points out of a 2,000 Point list because they squeezed out a Brigade Detachment plus another detachment inside the list. I usually manage 7 Command Points because - as vaklor4 said - you go for a Battalion with another detachment (I like using the Spearhead). I'm not familiar with the Grey Knights Codex, but it should be easy enough to get 2 extra Command Points (to take you to 5 CP's total) from two of the smaller detachments like the Spearhead (Heavy Supports) or Vanguard (Elites) detachments.

And I wouldn't worry about recovery of CP's. I'd worry more about spending them wisely than recovering them because if you're concerned about recovering them, it means you're not spending you're Command Points wisely enough.

I usually end up with 6 CPs (3 for formation +3 base). I'm having trouble finding a way to get that 3rd HQ + 3 of Elites/Hvy/Fast.

I haven't seen someone break 9 so far, but we're not some tournament meta group. Just casual 1500-2000 players, etc.

I tend to run with like 7 or 8. That's plenty, especially when you can regain some of them.

Anyway, command points shouldn't be your number one priority when you are building a list. Your units are the ones that actually kill the enemy and conquer objectives. Command points merely help them to achieve all that. Sometimes a good combination of units will be more helpful than one more re-roll.

Having a low number of CP is one of the many disadvantages of playing an elite army in this expansion, I'm afraid. You'll likely never be able to get more than 7 in a reasonable list.

Bare in mind to the above posts, 7 CP is not at all bad. If you preserve the CP and accept when dice don't go your way (like a low roll on a flamer attack roll, or a high morale), you can save it for something far more important. Heck, most of the time you can completely ignore your codex and use those 7 on the rerolling of dice.

Ok, I've not sat down and done it yet, adding up the points. But I know I have enough models/units to do this and let's just say for argument's sake that I was able to pick them all up in the mentioned 2,000pts.

What would stop me from taking 3 brigade detachments for 18 CP?

 vaklor4 wrote:
Bare in mind to the above posts, 7 CP is not at all bad. If you preserve the CP and accept when dice don't go your way (like a low roll on a flamer attack roll, or a high morale), you can save it for something far more important. Heck, most of the time you can completely ignore your codex and use those 7 on the rerolling of dice.

This is... terrible advice. Every codex has had some excellent stratagems that you REALLY want an abundance of CP to exploit.

I use Abaddon with a Battalion detachment. 3 CPs for the Battalion, 3 for playing, and 2 for Abaddon. Sometimes I take a supreme allied command for an additional one, so 8 - 9 CPs total. I generally use them up by the end of the third turn.

If you go full PA smite spam with your GK, you can squeeze in a battalion for those juicy CPs

I play guard. At 1500 points I will have a brigade and either battalion or specialised formation. 15 is average for me but sometimes only 13. It does seem unfair when you add in relics but I'm not complaining

I have 7 CP in my usual Eldar lists, though I don't allow it to dictate the composition of my army.

Also just an IMO tip on CPs. If you've got them and there's a tactical advantage to be had, use them! I see people spreading their CPs over a battle/saving them for later turns. Don't be scared to burn through them in the first couple of turns where battles are often won and lost.

I play Death Guard with 6 CPs and I think I've only used them all in one game

9 CPs for two battalions of Orks. Getting more with Orks is pretty easy, but compromising your list for 3 more CPs is almost never worth it. I primarily use my CP's for the Counter-offensive stratagem and the odd reroll, like when a painboy accidentally kills my warlord while trying to heal him.

I play Eldar and alway have between 10 and 13 CPs.

Guard player in group typically has between 15 and 18 CPs plus gaining more from WL trait and relic.

It’s relative to your army really. Smaller elite forces will have less than armies built using cheap fodder like Guard and Nids etc.

Smaller armies also tend to have advantage in chance to get first turn. If your getting CPs in the double digits you probably have more deployment drops than opponent with 9 or less CPs. So that elite army is going to be Alpha striking more often than not.

Depends. Usually as many CP as I can have without compromising my army's effectiveness.

With my Chaos Space Marines I aim towards 6-7 CP minimum. More is of course better, because my dudes go through those faster than an Ogre Tyrant goes through an all you can eat buffet.

With my guard on the other hand, I'll make sure to at least take a brigade, so 12+ CP.

Mind you, I usually play at 1k to 1.5k.

I usually end up with between 4 and 6, because I run a spearhead and trade out the potential CP gains in favor of more tanks, though I might start running more battalions because the main reason I need extra slots is to bring a hunter, and no one else brings any air units so it's not really pulling it's weight.

Well, 6 CPs is at the low end.
If you play Imperium, you can add a cheap and small Battalion from the AM codex.

To be honest I don't know anything about the Codeces for the horde armies (AM, Nids, etc), but more than about 7 Command Points seems to only be consistently achievable by these Codeces in your average 2,000 Point match. It has also been my experience that all MEQ players seem to get around the 5 - 7 Command Points depending on whether or not they use a Battalion Detachment.

So to the OP - Don't be so worried about getting more then 5 - 7 CP's. A better list with that many CP's is a lot better than a sub-par list with 8+ CP's.

kaotkbliss wrote:
Ok, I've not sat down and done it yet, adding up the points. But I know I have enough models/units to do this and let's just say for argument's sake that I was able to pick them all up in the mentioned 2,000pts.

What would stop me from taking 3 brigade detachments for 18 CP?

Nothing, but your list would probably suck.

 Corrode wrote:

kaotkbliss wrote:
Ok, I've not sat down and done it yet, adding up the points. But I know I have enough models/units to do this and let's just say for argument's sake that I was able to pick them all up in the mentioned 2,000pts.

What would stop me from taking 3 brigade detachments for 18 CP?

Nothing, but your list would probably suck.

Yeah, I figured it would suck. I just didn't know if there was some rule I missed that limited the number of certain detachments or something.

I like to start for a brigade and work back. With more elite armies its usually not affordable - or requires so much cutting you end up with a very dubious army. But it can also be an interesting experience because it breaks you out of "Oh playing faction X? you have to take all A, B and C" mindset.

Sure a lot of those units may suck, which means you don't do it, but at least you think about the trade offs.

kaotkbliss wrote:

 Corrode wrote:

kaotkbliss wrote:
Ok, I've not sat down and done it yet, adding up the points. But I know I have enough models/units to do this and let's just say for argument's sake that I was able to pick them all up in the mentioned 2,000pts.

What would stop me from taking 3 brigade detachments for 18 CP?

Nothing, but your list would probably suck.

Yeah, I figured it would suck. I just didn't know if there was some rule I missed that limited the number of certain detachments or something.

I've seen a couple of tournament packs specify that you can only have 1 of each kind of detachment, but there's nothing in the base rules which stops you from taking 10 Spearheads or whatever if you want. The Matched Play rules mention that 3 detachments total would be a good limitation, but doesn't enforce it.

At 2000 points:
Imperial Guard - 12
Dark Angels - 7
Sister's of Battle - 7
Grey Knights - 6 (Barely. Everything is pretty expensive with GK's, I probably could get another CP if I dropped my Stormraven but other than a few Razorbacks it's the only long range gun platform the GK's have.)
Tyranids - 12 (Probably. Waiting for the codex but it looks like a Brigade will be fairly easy to do.)

Most of the armies I've fought have had 7 CP's. Orks had 12.