# Viability at different points limits



## Azzaphox (Jul 13, 2012)

Apologies if this is covered elsewhere.

Is there a lot of harm in making lists at 1000pts?
I am tyring ot run smaller battles more often and get a stronger feel for the rules an applying them consistently.
So, havign a smaller force means you can churn through a battle in less time perhaps.
But, does it make the force composition fatally flawed to run a smaller size?

Obviously taking a top level wizard becomes relatively a much bigger proportion of your total, but are there any other side effects?
Also obviously it means you have your cores and then fewer additional items.


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## olderplayer (Dec 11, 2009)

Smaller battles can often be fun and instructive and provide a change of pace. Some people play on a 4' by 4' table when playing at only 1000 points. That being said, some armies struggle at 1000 points because of the costs of their key characters and primary units and inability to take the combos of magic items that make their armies competitive. Other armies have advantages due to cheaper characters and more flexbility units.


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## kain1989 (Dec 1, 2009)

generally at lower points, armies that have cheap characters, and cheap troops are slightly better. 1000 points of goblins can have several lords, while you're lucky to have 1 lord and 1 hero in a Warriors of chaos army.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Small games tend to focus on the basic core infantry as every army needs to fill core and those that have good core excell... the other big impact units are the sort of monsters/monstrous cav that can dominate armies with no way to stop them (HPA and mournfang are pretty much the nastiest things).


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## KarnalBloodfist (Jan 30, 2010)

I tend to play the majority of my games below the 2K mark; most 1500pts or less even.

At 1000pts, you don't have a lot of room for error. You either go w/ 1 large unit (2 if you have cheaper troops) and some support or you go for "7th Ed Lite" where you have 3 or 4 medium sized units. Again, that all depends the army. And I actually have a really good example! Hooray me! Ahem ...
I played a 1000pt game a few months back that was Daemons vs Dwarfs. Here was my list:
Herald of Tzeentch w/ Master of Sorcery - Beasts
Herald of Slaanesh
30 Daemonettes w/ full command, banner of ecstasy
3 bases of Nurglings
4 Flamers
2 x 1 Fineds

Approximate Dwarf list:
Thane general w/ stuff
Thane w/ stuff
15 Warriors
15 Warriors
10 Quarrelers
xx Ironbreakers
Grudge Thrower w/ runes

My list utilized the "one big unit" approach while the Dwarf player used the MMU style of play.

You sort of have to pick what you want to concentrate on in smaller games. Are you going to sit back and shoot a lot or are you going to get down and dirty in HtH? Are you going to have a character that's going to come in and beat face or are you going to use the winds of magic to wreak havoc? If you try to go a little bit in all phases, you may end up w/ an army that really isn't that great in any phase of the game.

Magic users tend to be game breakers in small games, especially if you get a lord level caster. If you're going to be playing a one-off game as a learning game, it may be a good idea to set up some ground rules like: 
•no lord level casters
•no more than one magic user
•x% in missile troops and/or war machines
•only x points in magic items for the army (or maybe even no magic items allowed)

Beyond learning games, experiment. Here's a list I used w/ my VC recently:
Lvl 2 Vampire w/ heavy armor, enchanted shield, gold sigil sword, talisman of endurance, Dark Accolyte
30 Skeletons w/ full command and spears
31 Zombies w/ standard and musician
2 x 5 Dire Wolves
4 Crypt Horrors
2 x 1 Spirit Host
Varghulf

Not optimal but it got the job done. 2 blocks for combat, fast beasts in case I had to hunt war machines or other chaff, support units in crypt horrors and varghulf, and some annoyance units in the spirit hosts.

I know Adepticon ran a 1k tournament this past spring. I don't know if it's a permanent fixture of the event but I think it'd be a fun tourney. It allows new players to get a decent size force painted up and to play some game against different opponents while it allows the more experienced players to challenge their tactical acumen.


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