Let's Talk Kill Points

[Vedrial]

Alright, so I'm beginning to wonder about kill points in the army list I'm writing. In the 2000 point list that looks like it will be my finalized list, I'm sporting 15 kill points. Of those, 4 are dedicated transports (3 Rhinos, 1 Drop Pod). Is this too many? Furthermore, how many kill points is too many? Where does one draw the line between quantity of units and quality of units? My list is geared towards a take all comers approach, and boasts a large amount of versitle units, with slight specialization for my local meta-game in the anti-AV14 and anti-MEQ departments.

 

So, how many kill points would you shoot for in your 2000, 1500, and 1000 point lists? What seems reasonable to you.

[Giga]

My 1500-1750 pts vanilla lists usually have between 10 and 12 kill points. 2 of those are always rhinos, and one is always a razorback. I'd have more kill points, but I like to use my LR and to have my speeders/attack bikes in as big squadrons as possible, so that sorta cuts a bit on the kill points.

 

15 kill points at 2000 is quite okay, IMHO.

[Grey Mage]

My average at 1500 is 12-13 KPs.

 

At 1750, I tend to have 15-16 KPs.

 

Basicly, take the Pts value and divide it by 200 and subtract 1... and that seems to be about right.

[KhorneHunter57x]

Wow. That's a lot of KPs. My 1,000-1500 lists usually have 5-9 KPs and my 1500-2,000 have 9-12.

 

Note: I love Sternguard, Land Raiders and Calgar so my lists are very small model count wise (at most 4 scoring units in 2,000)

[Grey Mage]

See and my rule of thumb is atleast one scoring unit per 500pts, always rounding up.

 

Also, I find that DP armies tend to have more KPs, as do mounted armies- footsloggers tend to take larger squads and large support elements... wich can shift the numbers around.

 

But then, Ill run perhaps 1 LR at 1500pts.

[waaanial00]

This issue does make me giggle somewhat. It always used to be that my Ork army was "auto lose" in kill point games because at 1500 points I woul dhave something in the region of 10 - 12 kill points. Looking at my list for tonight I have 11!

 

I think the need to have transports hamstrings us a little in kill point games. That and the fact that the traditional kill point heavy armies (IG and Ork mainly) have now been given access to really good and really expensive units to supliment their cheap basic troops, which means that they can afford to hoard it up and take a few power units and then still come to about the same kill points as balanced marines.

 

I dont worry about kill points all that much. Its a gamble which mission you are going to get but I much rather build a list which does well at all levels and not worry about kill points. Maybe this is why I keep losing Annihilation games though.

 

Wan

[Koremu]

Between 8 and 11 in a 1500 point list, depending on composition.

 

Another reason that using Bike Captain, Biker Command Squad and Bike Troops is good is that they offer up fewer KP without giving up mobility.

[JamesI]

At 1850, I have 13 kill points in my Blood Angel list, and 11 in my chaos list. Expanding to 2000 would likely see the addition of 1 more kill point to each.

[Iron_Chaos_Brute]

I don't minimize KP, I maximize power of units to take KPs from my opponent.

At 1750 CSM I have 10.

[ShinyRhino]

My most recent tournament list at 1750 had 10, two of which were dedicated transports (Rhinos). My new version of the list will run at 9.

I was wondering this exact thing a couple weeks back, and I scanned through every army list at 1750 points in the entire Codex: Marines Army Lists subforum here at the BnC. The average was about 11 KP, and the highest was 17 in a pod list that had a lot of 5-man Sternguard units.

 

Dedicated transports DO hurt your available KP levels. I shoot the hell out of transports in KP missions, though maybe I shouldn't. My Rhinos always seem to be gone by the end of a killpoint game.

To minimize this problem, you might consider going impromptu gunline if you can, or simply leave the Rhino squads in reserve if they're not heavy firepower units. That Rhino full of tactical marines isn't really going to garner a ton of kills from the start, unless it's a Dawn of War setup. Leave it off the table to keep it from taking hits, and assess the situation to protect it when it does arrive. Maybe by then your killier units can wear down the enemy's threats enough to make the battle alittle less hairy for the lowly Rhinos.

[Deathwing]

Dedicated transports DO hurt your available KP levels. I shoot the hell out of transports in KP missions, though maybe I shouldn't. My Rhinos always seem to be gone by the end of a killpoint game.

To minimize this problem, you might consider going impromptu gunline if you can, or simply leave the Rhino squads in reserve if they're not heavy firepower units. That Rhino full of tactical marines isn't really going to garner a ton of kills from the start, unless it's a Dawn of War setup. Leave it off the table to keep it from taking hits, and assess the situation to protect it when it does arrive. Maybe by then your killier units can wear down the enemy's threats enough to make the battle alittle less hairy for the lowly Rhinos.

 

I do this exact thing too when I play annihilation games against certain opponents. Keep those transports off the table if your opponent has the firepower to take them out at range. If your opponent does not have the ranged power to kill the rhinos, it's a coin toss whether I keep the rhinos on table or in reserve. It's almost like VP denial in Fantasy or previous editions of 40k.

 

My tac squads tend to not be the main killy units in my army so having them mop up what the killy units leave behind is not so bad and coming in from reserve in a transport is one way they can do that.

 

And as to the KP count in my armies, at 1850 I have between 10 and 12, at 2k I have around 12 (+ or - 1)