# Force Oganisation Chart Ratio



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Whats the ratio of the slots you use in your Force Organisation charts?

Obviously you have to have 1 HQ and 2 Troops but where do you go from there? - bulk up on troops or head straight for the elites?


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## Stormbolter88 (Dec 18, 2007)

I think as far as Space Marine or Chaos Marine forces, the Elites offer too good of a value not to max out. 2 terminator squads and 1 venerable dread for marines, and 3 terminator squads for chaos.


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## obsidian492 (Nov 14, 2007)

I always stock up on loads of troop choices - dunno exactly why, I think it just feels wrong to max out elites and the like without first having a load of troops.


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## Archangel (Dec 30, 2007)

I max out Heavy choices, 100 pt Preds are too sweet to resist.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

As a general rule of thumb, I look more at what seems appropriate from the Codex Astartes from a fluff standpoint before I consider where the force organization chart puts units. I ALWAYS have a Captain (or "Master" who is really the company Captain, but yeah...) and two Tactical Squads. Then, for those two Tactical Squads, I'll add either a single Devastator Squad and a single Assault Squad or two Assault or two Devastator squads, depending on which direction the army is going. Ideally, there are 15 Tactical Space Marines for every 10 Assault or Devastator Marines, but in 2000 points it's hard to get that balance exactly right. I do prefer to lean on Troops choices more than Elites-- most of my armies completely leave Elites units behind, because they're ultimately not THAT much better than your basic Troops. Terminators are all well and good, but when you can take nearly three Space Marines for every one Terminator, it doesn't really make sense to bring 'em.


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## Asmodai (Dec 30, 2006)

Jacobite said:


> Whats the ratio of the slots you use in your Force Organisation charts?
> 
> Obviously you have to have 1 HQ and 2 Troops but where do you go from there? - bulk up on troops or head straight for the elites?


I'm a treadhead, so I usually fill up my HS slots with tanks first.


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## Lord Sinkoran (Dec 23, 2006)

space marines: 1 HQ 3 troops 2 elite and other for 1000pts

khorne: 2 HQ 2 troops 1 elite 1 fast attack 1 heavy support 1500pts

necron: 2 HQ 3 troops 2 fast attack 1 heavy support 1500pts


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## Steel Rain (Jan 14, 2008)

1 HQ 2 troops, 3 heavies. Done. If it has tracks and a big cannon, I field it.


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## Tarion (Dec 15, 2007)

Depends on the theme of the army. Generally though, I like to take at least another 2 troops. 4 squads is a good number. On the other hand, if my theme forbids it (Nidzilla, Chaozilla) I'll happily play with fewer.


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

It totally depends on the army. It's not a good idea to start out thinking "ok I want 2 elites and 3 heavy support", or whatever. 

You need to be working on a strategy and taking the tools needed to carry it out, not arbitrarily try to fill out the chart. 

For instance, I'm going to want to have a fairly constant amount of aniti tank, but that might take the form of infiltrating elites, static heacy support or fast attack with melta bombs. I'll make the decision based on what does the job best, the points and FOC slots available, not because of a preconceived ratio plan.

Saying that, I do tend to find that I have 3 heavy support in most of my armies. Also I like to break units down as small as possible so I often fill up a lot of the FOC, especially in heavy and elites.


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## Sons of Russ (Dec 29, 2007)

Heavy Support, Troops, Fast Attack, HQ, Elites

That's usually my weighting.

Troops are usually 35-40% of my army though, sometimes exceeding my HS


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## Nosotros (Jan 8, 2008)

depends on the army for me too
for the daemonhunters I really just set up a cool hq squad, built up a couple decent yet on the cheap side troop choices, and then bulked up my army with teleport attack GKs. 
generally though I seem to like elite/fast attack


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## Mad King George (Jan 15, 2008)

atm i havent got enough stuff to bulk things up so i make my army list with what i can

later on im planning on big bike squadrens 



dire avengers big


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## Temujin (Jan 2, 2008)

I usually tend to go for Fast Attack and Heavies. With CSM, I usually drop in 2 Raptor Squads and 2 squads of 2 obliterators each almost without thinking. Usually my troops will be 2 squads of cult marines from whatever God I'm basing my army around, but I don't usually have more. I don't have any heavies in my Khorne army, but that's more to be thematic than because of solid tactical reasoning. 
With Nids, I usually have 2 heavy sniperfexes, and a couple gargoyle squads, so the pattern is pretty much the same, though I'll usually throw in another heavy choice with them.


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## Damned Fist (Nov 2, 2007)

I must be O.C.D. because I hate it when everything isn't equal. 2 HQ, 2Troop, 2 Elite, 2 Heavy, and yes..., even 2 FA. Heck, I even have to have the same number of guys in each troop!:no:


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

Well currently I don't really worry about which slot stuff comes from. I just take the stuff I like. I tend to aim for lots of scoring units so I avoid ICs and transports. At times I have resented having to take troops and HQs if there aren't any good enough.

5th is going to mean a really radical change in my army design, possibly down to which armies I actually play. The chaos army I had been planning, with just a couple of small units of zerkers for troops and a lot of small elite and heavy support units just wouldn't work in 5th. I would have 2 scoring units, and things like my units of 1 oblitorators would give away a lot of points in the total annihilation set up, where currently they are more or less disposable. Transports look much more viable now since they don't really reduce my scoring unit count very much, but can move my vital troops around the place.

So now the armies that look good are the ones that have troops which you actually want to take a lot of. You want to be able to take the minimum amount of stuff that doesn't count as troops, while still being able to move around and kill the enemy.

I'm not sure even if the same armies that are competitive currently will remain good in 5th. Falcon based eldar won't work in the current configuration at all and my Tau will suffer too. Marines should be able to cope, especially since they are able to achieve a lot with troops (and in various codexes have terminators, bikes, scouts, and assault marines as troops). 

By contrast, some of the armies that are less competitive now are heavily based around troops. Sisters of Battle and IG, for example, may be quite good - especially since IG tanks are taking quite a buff. I think that a squad of sisters jumping out of a rhino and shooting their bolters and melta/flamer weapons will be really quite serious. Lasguns will still be lasguns though.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

I like to go with as many troops as I can while still having room for all the extras from the other sections. My Tau army has 4 full troop choices while my Chaos army has 3 full units.


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## Culler (Dec 27, 2007)

I think it varies greatly by army. Most guard armies have all 3 heavy support choices filled and often have no fast attack or elites. Other armies similarly vary. The only thing I never really take more than I have to of is HQs. Characters tend to get killed or not earn their points. Sometimes I minimize my troops because the specialist fast attack or elite units better represent the feel of the army I'm trying to build. I usually take useful troops in those situations, they're just not at max strength and not more than 2 FOC slots. Exceptions are armies like tyranids or orks whose troops do a good job of embodying the force.


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

I like troops because

1 - they're the mainstay of your army, your military cake if you will, everything else is is the icing, ice-cream, brandy butter, toffee sauce and little candy sprinkles;
2 - you can pick them up cheaply on ebay, and I'm too tight to shell out for tanks.

Not much of a tactical philosophy, I'll grant you.

'Get offa my blue suade cyclops...'


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## Firewolf (Jan 22, 2007)

>> Always a minimum of 3 troop choices, 2 heavy then whatever i feel like after that. If Im using SW, then hqs depend on pts being played.


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## hearthlord (Nov 16, 2007)

Squats (Space Marines)

2 HQ; 1-2 Elites; 6 Troops; 2 FA; 2-3 Hvy ( ~2000+ pts)
2 HQ; 6 Troops; 1 FA; 1 Hvy (small game)

ORKS

2 HQ; 1 Elite; 6 Troops; 2 FA; 1-3 Hvy

With Orks if I could trade my elite and Hvy for more Troops, I would. 

Truck boys for 165 pts. What's not to love.


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## cccp (Dec 15, 2006)

with my guard id usually fill

1 Hq
2 troops
3 elite
2 fast attack
3 heavy

i think that maybe a fantasy style FOC would be a good idea....


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## chrisman 007 (Jan 3, 2008)

I max out on troops and heavy support. I currently have 2 lemans, one basilisk and a helluva lot of troops (i've counted and theres more than on the big picture in the rule book!)


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## Terminator (Nov 17, 2007)

Stormbolter88 said:


> I think as far as Space Marine or Chaos Marine forces, the Elites offer too good of a value not to max out. 2 terminator squads and 1 venerable dread for marines, and 3 terminator squads for chaos.



I completely disagree. For Space Marines, basic troops are the foundation and the strongest asset of an army. Using a good number of troops is not only tactically sound, but it also goes with the fluff. It's so silly to see multiple command/termie squads and two mini-tac squads with lascannons. Not strong or fluffy. 

I always field 3-4 full squads of troops and 1-2 selections from HQ, Elites, Fast and Heavy. I never max out a slot. I could only justify maxing a slot for specific armies (Fast for Raven Guard/White Scars, Heavy for Imperial Fists, possibly Elite for Iron Hands).

Outside of marines, I think maxing a slot is okay, but troops should still be the core of any army.


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