It’s time to take lamb chops off the menu This article is part of the series found here: http://museonminis.com/beginning-list-building/ http://museonminis.com/list-building-a-saga/ As the title may suggest (to those in the know), this article is actually a step outside of the originally planned progression. I felt like the previous article got a tiny bit too wordy and that made it difficult to clearly see the list build example I tried to provide. So I figured a brief segue was in order to: A) give me a break from trying to assemble and edit a 6000 word article B) give the reader a chance to see the process described in a (hopefully) clearer example(s) In the interest of shorter articles I’m going to do a single detailed example in this article (I’ve also cut footnotes). If people like it and there are no objections, I’ll try to do another one or two. It’s important to note that the intent of the method is NOT to necessarily create a super-competitive list. The aim is to create a list where ALL of the parts are working towards some specific goal. That way any games you play with that list will have a reasonably pre-determined game plan and the results of those games will give you meaningful feedback on what you tried to do. First, the three rules: Rule Number 1: Have an aim with the list Rule Number 2: Make lists you want to play Rule Number 3: Dont accept, without testing, the advice of other players So, the process has ten steps, but only the first seven are the relevant to this article since I have not playtested the list. If anyone does playtest this list, please let me know how it works out! Step 1: Identify what the list is for 2: Identify the core of your list Step 3: Identify the type of game you want the list to play Step 4: Identify what other tricks/units/models could function strongly within the list Step 5: Identify what support is required to make your tricks function Step 6: Identify the lists weaknesses Step 7: Identify what ‘ideal’ support abilities could be used The first example: Grenadiers So this example came about while I was reading the Cygnar book and looking for stupid/interesting tricks and interactions. I’d never seen a grenadier on the table (still havent) and on first glance their rules didnt seem terrible, as long as you could fuel the effective ROF 3 by having enough trencher models, so I’d stored them away in my head. I’d seen gun mages plenty of times, but upon reading their jack marshall “rune-shots” ability and their three gun shots, it occurred to me that the thunderbolt rule does not specify “directly hit” for it’s effects. Which doesnt matter for the gun mage shots (unless you explosivo them I guess), but since a lot of ‘jacks have AOE attacks, it seemed like it might be interesting. I played through a bunch of options and kept coming back to Grenadiers. So I set about building a list. Step 1: Identify what the list is for My aims with this list are: -to see if I can make a list that used grenadiers with gun mages to be a ‘good’ list, not just a funsies list. -Building to 50 points since that is the common level played in my meta. -To play ‘one-off’ games and to therefore have no character restrictions. I was hoping (and still am…eventually) to proxy it using some friends’ models and see if I could make it work. Step 2: Identify the core of your list I start with two grenadiers, marshalled to a full unit of gun mages with UA. In the back of my head I know that I need at least enough ‘trencher’ models to trigger the Grenadiers’ ability to fire three times per turn. At this stage I have no particularly strong desire caster-wise. Step 3: Identify the type of game you want the list to play So the core component of the list is a strong ‘push away’ mechanic, which seems to lend itself strongly to a list that is: -Anti-melee / melee denial -Ranged dominant The grenadiers have ‘dig-in’, so I suppose I could look towards being anti-shooting also, but at this stage (with only 18 points spent) I’m going to lock that in. Step 4: Identify what other tricks/units/models could function strongly within the list So, here we go with the meat. First stop is trenchers. In order to make the existing trick work properly I need at least two trencher models in base-to-base with both grenadiers. The wording doesnt preclude the same two models reloading both grenadiers, so minimum requirement is two trenchers. The trencher options are: Chain gun, cannon, commandos, infantry, master gunner, maxwell finn, Murdoch I initially started with the infantry and went down that path a fair way, before it ground to a halt at a list I wasnt happy with. I came back and did it with commandos and that too ground to a halt with a list that was…ok. Then I read the master gunner rules and wondered how I’d managed to not notice him on my first pass through the book. He’s a perfect fit for the double grenadier, having FA2, artillerist to make them exceptionally accurate both on direct shots and the scatter, plus he can even let them shoot into my own troops should I see the need. So two of them go into the list straight away. That done, the need for two trencher models is satisfied and it’s time to look for other tricks to add. Referring back to my list style I’ve got a game-plan in my head: My list gets to a position and holds that position, rebuffing (via pushback) enemy attempts to assault the position while withering their force with ranged firepower. So what I really need are things that help that plan. First off the grenadiers are only exceptional at pushing things [...]

Read More at Muse on Minis