The Return of a Classic.

In the beginning there was a man named Stelek and one day he had a bright idea...he called it 'Best-of'...This was the wonderful idea of taking the 'best' unit 'of' each FOC section and spamming as many of that unit as you could.

Here's a visual example of the concept for reference purposes,

This revolutionary concept was then adopted by many people, most of which claimed they'd been doing lists like that all along ;-)

The first list along these lines was either the following or a very close approximation...

1750 Pts - Space Marines Roster - Original 'Best Of' List.

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 120 pts)

1 Master of the Forge @ 120 pts (Conversion Beamer)

Troops: Scout Squad (6#, 163 pts)

5 Scout Squad @ 163 pts (Camo Cloaks; Sniper Rifle x3; Heavy Bolter w/Hellfire Shells; Sergeant Telion)

1 Sergeant Telion

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (2#, 140 pts)

2 Land Speeder Squadron @ 140 pts (Multi-Melta x2; Heavy Flamer x2)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (2#, 140 pts)

2 Land Speeder Squadron @ 140 pts (Multi-Melta x2; Heavy Flamer x2)

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Total Roster Cost: 1748

Of course back then nobody was meched up so there was usually insufficient anti-vehicle fire-power in the opposing army to destroy all your vehicles before you destroyed all of his.

Telion's squad also had to pay for their own Camo-Cloaks rather than now (after the FAQ) where apparently Telion just yells at them till they hide better...

Sorry girls...try again...

Where was I? okay now I remember...

Is this list still viable today?

I think it is...though a few minor tweaks wouldn't hurt...

1750 Pts - Space Marines Roster - Original 'Best Of' List - Updated

HQ: Space Marine Librarian (1#, 100 pts)

1 Space Marine Librarian @ 100 pts (...in Power Armour; Null Zone; The Gate of Infinity)

1 ...in Power Armour

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 120 pts)

1 Master of the Forge @ 120 pts (Conversion Beamer)

Troops: Scout Squad (7#, 161 pts)

6 Scout Squad @ 161 pts (Sniper Rifle x3; Missile Launcher; Sergeant Telion)

1 Sergeant Telion

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 125 pts (Twin Linked Autocannon; Twin Linked Autocannon)

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 125 pts (Twin Linked Autocannon; Twin Linked Autocannon)

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 125 pts (Twin Linked Autocannon; Twin Linked Autocannon)

Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 175 pts)

4 Tactical Squad @ 175 pts (Razorback)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Combi-Flamer x1)

1 Razorback (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 175 pts)

4 Tactical Squad @ 175 pts (Razorback)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Combi-Flamer x1)

1 Razorback (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 175 pts)

4 Tactical Squad @ 175 pts (Razorback)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Combi-Flamer x1)

1 Razorback (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Total Roster Cost: 1746

So we've added a Librarian for some psychic defense.

The world of 5th edition still has buildings that we can 'bolster' (+1 to Cover Save) so our Scout Squad gets a 2+ Save (Due Telion passing his Stealth rule onto the unit thanks to the 40K rulebook Ver 1.1 FAQ) so the Master of the Forge stays. He still has his Conversion Beamer which gives us impressive long range shots from the safety of his bolstered building with his ablative Scout Squad wounds with Telion helping out when necessary. He can also still repair a vehicle on a 5+ even without his Servo Harness and we have quite a few vehicles in this list ;-)

We swap our Melta bunker Rhino's for some Razorbacks and spread out our Speeders into 3 individual units as these have a smaller cross section than a pair which makes them better for deep-striking in. They can of course start on the board and rely on their 'Flat-Out' move to give them a cover save.

Our Dreadnoughts become 'Dakka' Dreads or 'Rifleman' Dreadnoughts depending on what internet forum you use for your buzzwords ;-)

Predators stay in their unchanged 'lots of shots for not many points' role.

Of course the original probably still works fairly well so maybe I should dig it out for nostalgia purposes...

Thoughts, Comments and new inventive nicknames for units are (as usual) most welcome.

'Best Of' Space Wolves List 1 - Razorwolves.

Duality and redundancy in lists can be achieved in a number of different ways.

The most obvious is giving a unit an anti-infantry and an anti-tank weapon. Downside to that is that most units will only be able to take one of each and that causes problems when you inevitably miss with that vitally important Meltagun shot.

A 2nd (and in many ways better) option is to put your unit in a transport that does one thing and then give the unit inside something else to do. Fortunately Marines usually get a good variety of both transport and weapon options.

Space Marine Razorbacks are a fine tool for Marines in this respect and work particularly well for both Space Wolves and Blood Angels as they both have ways of equipping a small squad with a special weapon or 2 while still keeping the unit small enough to go in the transport.

Marines also have easy access to the Missile Launcher a wonderful weapon that allows us to choose between anti-tank (Krak) and anti-infantry (Frag) at will.

Of course Melta is the weapon of choice when dealing with heavy tanks and transports but if you have enough light to medium anti-tank then Melta saturation is unnecessary beyond the minimum level required to kill the odd annoying Land Raider or 2.

So he's a list that uses some of those concepts together with notes about why I chose these units right underneath for your convenience ;-)

1750 Pts - Space Wolves Roster - Razorwolves

Editors note - No idea where the name 'Razorwolves' originated from but It certainly wasn't invented by me, lol.

HQ: Rune Priest in Power Armour (1#, 110 pts)

1 Rune Priest in Power Armour @ 110 pts (Chooser of the Slain; Tempests Wrath; Storm Caller)

A good utility HQ choice. The Priests Runic Weapon give us a 50% chance of stopping any psychic power within 24" of him. Psychic powers are chosen to help us out with a nice 5+ cover save for the vehicles and units around him from 'Storm Caller'and 'Tempest wrath' helps to annoy those Jump Pack armies that are appearing all over the bloody place these days.

Chooser of the Slain allows us to deny areas of the board to 'Infiltrators' which is a somewhat situational upgrade but for 10 points is well worth having.

Elite: Wolf Guard Pack (4#, 144 pts)

1 Wolf Guard Pack @ 144 pts (Wolf Guard in Power Armour; Razorback)

3 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Bolt Pistol; Combi-Meltagun x1)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Elite: Wolf Guard Pack (4#, 144 pts)

1 Wolf Guard Pack @ 144 pts (Wolf Guard in Power Armour; Razorback)

3 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Bolt Pistol; Combi-Meltagun x1)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

We need a way of killing Land Raiders reliably and these are the units that will do it. Though somewhat suicidal, stopping a Land Raider from delivering it's expensive cargo right into a lines is worth the swap imo. If not needed in this roll they can join other units for a Leadership boost (Grey Hunters) or as an ablative wound (Long Fangs).

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Lascannons carve through light to medium transport vehicles, Plasmaguns do a number on heavy infantry and the Grey Hunters inside have a Flamer for anti-infantry 'moping-up' duties.

The 5 man Grey Hunter units get a noteworthy 15 attacks on the charge or (due to counter-attack) have a good chance of still getting 15 attacks if they are charged themselves, together with the usual impressive Marine statline and equipment load-out.

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (6#, 200 pts)

4 Long Fangs Pack @ 200 pts (Missile Launcher x4; Razorback)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

1 Razorback (Hunter Killer Missile; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (6#, 200 pts)

4 Long Fangs Pack @ 200 pts (Missile Launcher x4; Razorback)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

1 Razorback (Hunter Killer Missile; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (6#, 200 pts)

4 Long Fangs Pack @ 200 pts (Missile Launcher x4; Razorback)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

1 Razorback (Hunter Killer Missile; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Long Fangs with Missile Launchers and the ability to split fire adds to our versatility as well. Having access to both Frag and Krak Missiles makes them a threat to almost any unit on the table and their Razorbacks add to the armies fire-power and can also go and pick up Grey Hunter units that have lost their own vehicles (a strong likely-hood in most 5th ed. games).

The Hunter killer Missiles are the first thing that I do with any points I have left in this sort of list that I have no specific use for. They also add to our 'Alpha Strike' capability (if only slightly).

Total Roster Cost: 1748

So we have...

10 Lascannons and/or 10 Twin-Linked Plasma Guns

12 Missile Launchers

3 Hunterkillers

Able to fire at 16 different targets between them should it become necessary.

As well as...

2 'suicide' Melta units

and 47 power armoured bodies spread throughout the army.

Well that's the first one out of the way,

Thoughts anyone?

'Best Of' Lists - A Brief Introduction

You quite often see the phrase 'Best Of' thrown around on Blogs and Forums. I'm reasonably sure it was originally coined by Stelek of YTTH back in the beginnings of 5th Ed. when variations of a particular Space Marine list of his started to appear everywhere.

Basically it means a list that uses the optimum selection from each Force Organisation Chart slot, with each of those choices optimised to the nth degree.

These lists don't rely on a single 'Death-Star' unit winning the game on it's own or some 'broken' unit that managed to slip through GW's play-testing unseen. Rather they rely on the concepts of Balance, Redundancy and Duality. They don't 'Win' automatically, they do however have the tools to win any game rather than hope for the Rock, Paper, Scissors matches and/or 1st turn/2nd turn (as applicable) to be in their favour all the time *cough* 'Leafblower *cough*

An example of some kind is probably now in order...

The version I used of that aforementioned early 'Best Of' was pretty much identical to that first list of Steleks.

1750 Pts - Original 'Best Of' Space Marine list

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 120 pts)

1 Master of the Forge @ 120 pts (Conversion Beamer)

Troops: Scout Squad (6#, 163 pts)

5 Scout Squad @ 163 pts (Camo Cloaks; Heavy Bolter w/Hellfire Shells; Sergeant Telion)

1 Sergeant Telion

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (2#, 140 pts)

2 Land Speeder Squadron @ 140 pts (Multi-Melta x2; Heavy Flamer x2)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (2#, 140 pts)

2 Land Speeder Squadron @ 140 pts (Multi-Melta x2; Heavy Flamer x2)

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Total Roster Cost: 1748

It's showing it's age a bit now but at the time it was (imo) an awesome example of efficient list building. Every unit can handle both Infantry and Vehicles, there are Flamers and Meltas everywhere and it has plenty of bodies for objective taking.

Times have changed. Every man and his dog now has learned the value of mechanisation, how to use cover and the necessity of bringing both Melta and Flamers to pretty much every game that you actually want to win.

However there is still a lot of shit out there...

Over the next few days/weeks/months (depending on how busy I am with my Tyranids as that 'Project' is nowhere near finished) I'll be posting a few lists that I consider to be optimised versions of what the various Codices are capable of.

As with all things I'm sure as many people will disagree with me as agree (probably more 'disagrees' as your an argumentative bunch at the best of times, lol).

First one should be up later today/early tomorrow. I'll be looking forward to your feedback ;-)