so, how do you do a fluffy/narrative force? being serious.

[hornywingythingy]

So one of my friends wants to do some fluffy/narrative bat reps, with a view towards doing video bat reps, and as those who know me know I'm fairly competitive centric, possibly just shy of WAAC! ;) but I want to help my friend, but I'm really not sure where to begin, cos my brain equates fluffy=poorly designed in list terms, so I figured I'd ask for some advice, cos I'm struggling a bit.

[Bryan Blaire]

Well, you'd have to develop the fluff for the story. That's probably something you and your friend(s) need to all sit around and do together. Do you want to have a story about a last stand of Marines, a preliminary world invasion, setting down to decapitate a rogue leader's forces, running into the enemy while "scouting" for a new Chapter garrison on a planet, etc?

 

Once you have that, design a force that is representative of the force you need to depict in your part of the story.

[knife&fork]

One thing I'd like to add is that 'fluffy' lists can be spammy. Considering the scale of a normal 40k it much less 'fluffy' to have a list with a little bit of everything!

 

That said you should probably avoid spamming something just because it's the best unit in the codex. Also avoid unlikely allies and things like multiple chapter masters.

 

 

If you have a lot of marines you could always run an entire tactical company! It's possible to fit that (kinda) in a single force org below 2k. With a ultramarine or IF chapter tactic it's reasonably powerful too.  :)

[Black Cohort]

Generally "fluffy" lists have some kind of theme, say an imperial fist siege force, a white scar raiding formation or an ultramarine drop pod assault.  Once you have that theme, focus on units that reinforce that theme.  So the imperial fist siege force would probably focus on a lot of heavy weapons, vindicators, thunderfire cannons, some terminators or centurions.  A white scar raiding formation might only include units that have a transport or are otherwise fast so more of a focus on maneuver, using bike squads, tactical squads in rhinos, land speeders, attack bike squads, maybe some predators without sponsons. 

[minigun762]

Generally "fluffy" lists have some kind of theme, say an imperial fist siege force, a white scar raiding formation or an ultramarine drop pod assault.  Once you have that theme, focus on units that reinforce that theme.  So the imperial fist siege force would probably focus on a lot of heavy weapons, vindicators, thunderfire cannons, some terminators or centurions.  A white scar raiding formation might only include units that have a transport or are otherwise fast so more of a focus on maneuver, using bike squads, tactical squads in rhinos, land speeders, attack bike squads, maybe some predators without sponsons. 

 

Agreed. 

Theme is the big difference I think. 

 

For example, say you want to build a Salamander drop pod army. There are plenty of ways to make that into a competitive themed list. 

However, if you shoehorn in a giant squad of GravTurions with that Ultramarine witch just because they're a strong choice, that tends destroy the overall theme of the original army. 

If you'd taken a giant squad of Grav Sternguard instead, it would be easier to justify that they're themed. 

[Kaedes Nex]

Sometimes competitive lists can be fluffy. There's nothing to say a Librarian won't help a squad of novice Centurions shoot better in the middle of a battle.

 

But often, competitive players will spam or max out choices for efficiency and better chances of winning that shouldn't be maxed out in the fluff. For example, Riptides. The book says they are very rare, and they act more like a LoW and you would only ever see 1 Riptide if any. Two or more would be a rare sight and 3+ would be an Apocalypse level event. Yet every Tau player loves running multiple Riptides, and who can blame them?

 

For an army like space marines, a lot of the fluffy options aren't really that good. You can ignore them and still be fluffy, but if you really want to show your fluff skills, why not have "assault marines bounding ahead of the main force"? Because that's what the fluff says everywhere. But nowhere are assault marines seen on the tabletop, and even when they are, they skulk behind ruins and bully straggling troops. They never fly ahead of your Land Raiders and Rhinos and crash into the enemy's frontline, because that's an easy way to give up free kill points.

 

For one of my armies, Forge World showed images of a Dreadnought with a DCCW and a TLLC. What a terrible unit and wargear combination, right? Well, I made one exactly like it, because that's fluffy. One of the chapter's Rhino had Extra Armor. So I bought the FW Extra Armor upgrade kit and paid the points for that inefficient upgrade. Imperial Armour showed them using a MkIIb Land Raider with a Storm Bolter pintle. Oh, how I would love for my Terminators to have an LRC with MM! But alas, because I made a commitment to fluff accuracy, I recreated that terrible, Badab War Land Raider and now it can't even fit my HQ with the Terminators due to 6E's transport nerf.

[ChaosRising]

Another method for building a fluffy army would be to find a particular piece of 40k lore that you really like (usually some kind of engagement, but it could just as easily be a really intricate description of Chapter X's rites of armament when the fleet is in transit or whatnot) and try to build an army from your codex based on said lore. This kind of option is significantly easier in 7th ed, with the introduction of the Unbound concept. For instance, if part of your force involved representing the last 3 surviving brothers of a tactical squad, you could do so (legally).

 

Just some food for thought.

[hornywingythingy]

Cool, thanks for the ideas and suggestions, certainly given me ideas to think about.

[Emperors Immortals]

Keep us updated!

[Iron Father Ferrum]

The one thing I'd like to add is, if you're doing some kind of specialized battle scenario, don't be afraid to shift the Force Org Chart to match the intention of the battle.

 

For example, this battle is supposed to be a meeting engagement between the two sides' forward reconnaissance forces.  Drop HS and Elites done to one slot (or none) each, increase the number of FA slots, and make all FA scoring units.  That way, the recce elements of the armies -- the light, fast units that traditionally conduct recce -- are the keys to the battle and comprise the majority of the forces on the tabletop.

 

Using this mindset, all kinds of things are possible.  Siege scenario?  Reduce FA, increase Heavies, give the defender fewer points but plenty of terrain or a free fortification.  Planetary invasion?  All attackers must come in in drop pods, defender has more points but must split their forces into several different deployment zones (or some must start in reserve).

[Gideon999]

I like doing these "from the point of view" of one of the characters.   Maybe a captain or a chaplain or something is tasked with securing a beachhead on a new planet as someone above suggested.

 

Then I can ask myself : well what would a chaplain have with him?   Likely a command squad and a razorback or something like that.   Ok, so what would support him?   Definitely some tactical squads in rhinos.   Then kind of go from there.   This way I can pick the HQ and his role, and build around him a core of line troops.   Once I have that I can second in support units that make sense.   Like a single vindicator might be sent in to help clear up rock formations to make a larger landing point for thunderhawks to land.   

[minigun762]

Sometimes competitive lists can be fluffy. There's nothing to say a Librarian won't help a squad of novice Centurions shoot better in the middle of a battle.

 

That's perfectly viable when its a Salamander Librarian guiding Salamander Centurions (per my example).

 

It's less viable when it's the greatest Ultramarine Librarian leading Ultramarine Centurions who are supporting a Salamander army.