How many units of Troops?

[Firedrake28]

As the thread title says, how many units of Troops is generally best to take at the above game sizes? Right now I'm taking either three or four at both sizes (usually four, though I've recently changed to three so I can fit some more killy units). How many do you guys take, and which units? Do you take all Tactical Squads, or do you throw Scouts into the mix?

[jeffersonian000]

Well, you need a minimum of 2 troops, and anything above that is gravy, right?

 

Remember: 1/3 of the time, you never need more than 2 troops, 1/3 of the time 1 troop will do in a pinch but more is better, and 1/3 of the time 2 or more troops will be very helpful to winning but not necessary to actually win. The more troops you take, the longer you should be able to maintain a held objective; yet any unit can contest.

 

SJ

[Deathwing]

At 1700+ I always take 6, but then again my troops are terminators, bikes and tac squads so I get a nice mix of killing power, staying power and a large number of threats in objective missions.

 

At 1500+ I`d say 3 full squads is plenty. Gives you the option to combat squad to 6 scoring units if you need to and shouldn`t eat up so many points that you can`t bring along some killy things. Now 3 full squads doesn`t necessarily mean all tac squads, you could take one of each scoring squad (one scout, one tactical and one bike if you use a bike captain) for some variety or spam one type depending on your style of play.

 

As pointed out, you don`t need to hold all the objectives to win, just one and contest the others, and in annihilation you don`t need more than the 2 required.

[Gornall]

I wouldn't go any higher than 3 units. I run 2 tacticals and 1 bike squad, personally. However, there are a lot of games where I wish I had traded a tactical squad for Sternguard or Termies or something killy.

[brgerkng]

I tend to think of the amount of troops taken is more of making a balance in ones army as opposed to just having scoring units. In terms of points I think around 30% to 40% of your total is a good starting point. Another common one I've heard is one tactical squad or equivalent for each 500pts. For codex marines this comes out to 2 tactical squads at 1000 and 3 at 1500. For 1750 and 1850 having a 4th is borderline. Personally I would stick with 3 at those points.

 

A thing to consider is what you are trying to do with your list. In my 1850 bike heavy list I run 3 bikes squads with 6 models each along with a tactical squad in a rhino. In terms of points I have around 800 to 850 points in troops selections. In my 1850 mechanized list I've been using 3 tactical squads in rhinos, coming in to about 600-680 points in troops. Keep in mind how the list is going to work and how you're going to play it. Having a bunch of troops won't help if they don't last the entire game or you can't deal with your opponent.

[robdark1]

well then i guessing that if you playing deathwing having six troops is a good thing instead of running them a them in 3 troops if that understandable idea? also as a dark angel player could switching books for a game or two mess you up when you use to playing a certain all the time could that have a lot of bearing on a anyone thought process overall?

then if it does i should better make my mind up quick..

[ShinyRhino]

I run 4 in anything 1500 or higher: three tacticals and one scouts. I find having four allows me to screw up a little and lose a unit without costing me the game. It's also good for mutual support for objective claiming.

[Vissah]

I run three Tac squads, two in Rhinos to go get objectives and one to sit back and hold my own.

Then I got a Bike squad and in my first tourny I gave them a Biker Captain so I got 4 tropp choices in the BIkers gave me another objective aswell int he first game claiming all four of them. THe tourny was 1700 points.

 

So just tkae three Tac squads and fill the rest up the way you like if you ask me.

[I AM THE AWESOME]

I generally like 3-4 units of troops. It keeps the army respectable in the scoring department, while still leaving most of the army for the good stuff.

[Giga]

I like having at least 3 big scoring squads. Usually either 3 10 men tac squads with transports, or if it's a pedro list 2 10 men tac squads and a ~10 men sternguard squad with transport.

 

The only matchup where I really hate having 3 tactical squads is against necrons. ;)

[kaiserstole20]

I live on the edge and use 2 full tac squads at 1500 and at 1850 I throw in a small scout sniper squad. Probably not enough but I like goodies in my army including a 10-man terminator squad with Lysander.