Building a 1500 point list

[Centauri]

Im still on the fence about which legion I want to play (there is to many good options) but I want to start tinkering w/ different lists that I can maybe fit into different legions.

 

Starting w/ 1500 points I usually come up with something like.

 

1HQ (named character or praetor)

2x 10 man tac squads, w/ or w/o ccw. AA, Vexilla in rhinos

1x 5 man heavy support squad w/ missle launchers

1x 5 man "elite" terminator squad (depending on the legion chosen)

1x Dread loadout depends on what type of dread

1-2x Quad launchers w/ shatter shells.

 

Im having a tough time figuring out what is good. Especially since not knowing which legion I want to play I cant really discuss on tactica threads.

 

Am I starting with a decent shell?

What would your 1500 point list look like for your chosen legion.

 

Looking for something with some game but doesnt need to be turned up to 11

 

Thank you

[Imren]

picking armies for 30k is a bit different from 40k. In 40k the rules set change much more often, so for 40k I say choose the army that you like the look of it and don't care about the rules. Buy the time you have painted up a whole army nicely, the game rules and/or the army rules set has problably changed.

 

For 30k the rules set will most likely never change enough to render the black books' rules invalid (although many of them have been updated in FAQs). So the rules for 30k is relatively static over time. So you ought to take the legion rules into consideration, which will govern the preferred playstyle of the legion in terms of list buidling. However, the legion rules and the Rites of War changes the rules slightly, all the legions have access to all the legion units anyway (except for legion specific elites and spec. characters).

 

Also 30k community is more fluff driven, so I would strongly recommend you to read fluff (the black books or a cheaper alternative is to read the Horus Heresy novels by Black Library, at least the first 3-5 of them).

 

Consider whether you want to play traitor or loyalist legion. Also, think about the paint scheme, the whole legion will be painted almost the same way, and it's a redious work, so ask yourself if you want to paint a whole army black, or silver-metallic or purple or green with flames.

[Centauri]

Well ive decided whatever legion i do decide, i want to build around a legion specific RoW. The front running legions and their respective RoW are

 

Raven Guard: Decapitation Strike

Iron Hands: The one that allows Ferrus (dont recall the name)

Salamanders: Covenant of Fire

Ultramarines: Logos Lectora

 

Deathguard: The reaping

World Eaters: Either

Nightlords: Either

Alpha Legion: The coils of the Hydra

[Vykes]

-clicks his tongue and stares for a bit- Legit, that looks like a pretty typical shell list that would work for just about any legion as a starter list. Sure, some would like it more than others, it can be tweaked to death for every milligram of raw power, but it covers the basics.  And hey, it's 1.5K in 30K, that's a low end weekday 'for funzies' sized thing so we don't need to tool it too hard. 

 

I'll take "obligatory cop out answers" for five-hundred, Alex.  Answer: It depends. 

 

In this case, it depends on the rite of war more than anything else.  Sure, legions can change a lot of the general loadouts, but like Imgren said, read the fluff and find your theme which dictates a lot.  That's going to really switch some stuff around and at 1500 points, lists start looking at least a little different. 

 

On one hand, my 1.5K Luna Wolf army looks a LOT like that one you put up... only add drop pods as it's an orbital list, with Mal making the tacticals into veteran tacticals which means melta bombs and a few special hurty weapons to cover the quad guns, and heavy guns become plasma guns. 

 

On the other, I enjoy my Sons of Horus and it flip flops a lot as I use the Long March rite of war, so almost anything goes.  But something semi-typical might be: 

 

Deligatus

-Thunderhammer, refractor field

 

Contemptor Cortus

-Chainfist

 

Tactical Squad (20)

-vexilia, sergeant (artificer armour, power fist)

 

Tactical Squad (10)

-Rhino

 

Tactical Support Squad (10)

-Plasma guns, Rhino

 

Outrider Squad (5)

-Melta bombs

 

Vindicator

 

Vindicator Destroyer

 

Run them in packs as little 'gangs' that feel like coordinated strike forces: The big infantry squad next to the contemptor and vindicator, then the destroyer and rhino squad with plasma squad acting as firemen to put out the hot spots while outriders flail around looking all hell-bent lunatics while trying to sticky-bomb everything that has tracks or dreads with no punchy bits.  It always gives me something to do. 

[carlisimo]

There's a podcast that used to help people write lists before the regional pricing change caused them to quit covering 30k.  Their examples are here: https://tinyurl.com/y56w4m8s

Looking at those Rites of War, you're mostly deciding between Rhinos (Iron Hands, Salamanders, Ultramarines, Death Guard, Alpha Legion) or Drop Pods (Raven Guard, World Eaters, Night Lords).  That's an oversimplification, but it's how the bulk of each army is likely to work.  

The way Drop Pod lists deploy is pretty specialized, so I'd make sure you like the idea of playing that way before you go that route.  Assault units will be in Dreadclaws or Kharybdises, depending on unit size.  

Tank-based lists (if the Rite doesn't disallow Deep Strike) is still likely to use Dreadnought Drop Pods for Leviathans and sometimes any close-combat Dreadnought, and it's also commonto stick a unit of combi-melta vets or 5 Terminators in a Dreadclaw.  Assault units without characters added will tend to go in a Land Raider Phobos; those with characters will need a Spartan.  Spartans cost a ton of points, so now you've got 1/3 - 1/2 of your army in a single unit and its transports.  Ideally that's what you work on after the first 1500 points.

As for picking legions... your starter list feels like a Death Guard list to me.  Or Ultramarines.  

Raven Guard are very interesting; check out the Outer Circle's starter video on them.  They're usually not going to start with a typical list like that one.  Iron Hands with Head of the Gorgon makes Vindicators great because they now Outflank.  Good if you like robots, too.  Salamanders... I think that's a hard Rite of War to work with and might consider Orbital Assault or Armored Breakthrough, or no Rite at all.  World Eaters armies often use two Kharybdises.  Night Lords are fairly flexible but I like a bike-heavy list running Sacrificial Offering.  Drop Assault Vanguard's good too for them.  I'm not convinced Terror Squads are worth running three of, and Raptors are a bit overcosted right now.  

Ultramarines, Death Guard, and Alpha Legion favor tend to work better with "typical" starter lists.

[MegaVolt87]

Save yourself some cash by magnetizing the termi's and dread. Its a lot of effort, but then you will not need as many if you do this.