How do you come up with your army list

Today at work I was thinking up army list to try and play, units I have not used before, combination of unit types, trying something funny or odd. Then this caused me to ponder.

What makes a good army list? I have sat down and looked at different lists I have made. So far all have been fun to play and nothing seems to be "cheesy, OP, or broken".So, hats off to the creaters you guys did an awesome job.

Soy question to everyone is why and how do you come up with a list to play and what is normally your focus, having as many units possible, high BR, maxing all of one unit types, or just what ever looks fun?

Can't wait to hear from you all.

Oh and for me, I mostly try and theme my lists along with the mission type and when I use my armoured infantry division I always try and make them as mobile as possible.
Today I made a list, 500pts armoured infantry division that ended up at 499pts, 40 BR, with a total of 20 units.

Armoured infantry platoon, regular upgrade /w half tracks and a medic 187pts 19-r BR

Medium tank platoon w/ 76mm upgrade 144pts, 9BR

Light tank platoon 90pts 6 BR

Recon command platoon w/m20 utility car 34pts, 2BR

2x M-20 utility car, recon. 36pts 4BR.
weak on unit numbers, but strong on BR and extra orders. Will probably get crushed with no Arty support. But who knows.

I try to create a realistic looking army. My Bulge Volksgrenadiers get some Horsedrawn supplywagons....support from a STUG III or Hetzer Battery and some heavy mortars.
Sometimes i like to add an odd looking piece of equipment like some captured guns or a rare vehicle just for the looks of it and using a model which collects dust on the shelf

Depends. Sometimes I'm planning an army that I'm historically interested in, such as a light tank-based Soviet Barbarossa list, sometimes something that looks cool, such as a late Cold War East German list (for BG:NORTHAG) in the country's 3-tone pattern, and sometimes I build lists based on... what's cheap in the local shop so that I don't have to order too much stuff online
I don't get to play a lot because there are pretty much no other players where I live, so I can't really base my lists on gaming experience though.

I take historical TO&Es/Establishments as a start point and work from there. I'll use the book lists for a pickup game since they're quicker, but I don't give much of a bother about points other than to fit the squad/platoon/company sized game guidelines.

My most polite opinion of "lists" is that they're a tourney construct and should stay that way.

My most polite opinion of "lists" is that they're a tourney construct and should stay that way.  

    I can totally understand this view. I think it would have been better to say "army" instead of list.

  I played 40k for 8 years and still have some of the lingo stuck in my head.
 I quit playing due to everyone wanting to make the next best winningest list. That one list to rule them all mentally. It ruined the fun of the game for me.

  BG, from what I can tell, doesn't have that issue. The game is so we'll designed that people can have fun with tactics and the chaos of the battlefield. That, as long as you follow the rules, there is no bad or OP armies.
 
This gives to so much freedom to have fun and to have a list that has an odd design, like 4 snipers or how many machiguns can I get on the table. Best of all you don't have the issue of having cool looking units that sit and collect dust because they are pointless to use in the game because of reasons.

   And for you guys that make your list from actual historical army units, hats off to you, that takes some research and learned knowledge. Much respect.

I either base it on a historical list or base it on the scenario we're playing.  Sometimes I theme it on a concept (e.g. mobile list, infantry heavy, armoured assault etc).  And sometimes it's just to include new models I've just completed.  Historical lists are often based on a generic OoB that was there.  We're playing squad to platoon level games so it's not like we're representing multiple battalions on the board. So if the battle involved an infantry division, the platoon won't have halftracks for infantry.   We always go for a core of an infantry platoon (even in squad games) - unless it's a specific scenario.  

Also even generic scenarios are played with a rough historical vibe if not battle in mind. So Germans facing US Airborne in 1944 aren't fielding Tigers or whatever.

I do try to collect "generic" forces first and then add flavour.  E.g. Germans get basic tanks/vehicles first (e.g. Panzer IVH for Normandy) and after I've collected enough of them, I add units that were  less common historically and that add flavour (e.g. Tiger tanks*).

*Used Germans as an example cause they're really easy to separate into core and uncommon or historical or not. Americans are very easy to collect as most of their core doesn't change much from 1944 onwards or even Italy v NW Europe much.

I work on a Battlegroup based on a historical scenario, or just from the points but based on a historical orbat. As for army list, I don't have enough figures and models to field an army!!

Nick - not far off it mate!

You won;t go far wrong by collecting/painting a few basics, an infantry platoon, standard tank platoon, a few support weapons. That fit in just about anywhere. After that, branch out a bit. It's the way I do it... my 8th Army started as a infantry platoon, trucks, 6 Crusaders and 2 25 pdrs with tows... then build on that. For actual games,well mostly it comes down to the models I want to use... or haven't used in a while. There is no game-winning formula here... it what you do not what you take that matters most...

Funnily enough, that's pretty much what I started my 8th Army force with, although I enjoyed painting the infantry so much I finished up doing a company's worth. I did get side tracked with some Matildas, so still have to finish the Crusaders. Next to add some Valentines and Shermans to take them through to the Torch book.

Cheers, Andy

Warwick wrote:There is no game-winning formula here

well, there is: throw more sixies than your opponent
it always works

Again, when creating a list from the book I try to base it on actual forces, if doing an actual battle or skirmish based on something I’ve read I’ll use the forces that were used in the battle where possible

I like having as many infantry AT capable troops as will allow. They're cheap and on reserve move can be really sneaky or at least kind of pin tanks by keeping them at bay. A PIAT in a Bren Carrier can be useful for getting to that squidgy rear armour. Its mostly a suicide mission though.

Well, I have been rethinking how I make my lists now. I had a game the other day (I won) against Germans, (don't remember the army, but they were all vets) which I won. But that game I learned that there are some important things when it comes to a list. Now bare in mind that this was a 500pt game.

1) taking at least 2 recce, so far seems most players seems to take at least 2. Getting out scouted really hurts, it's gives so many advantages, and you don't want to start the game with a chit pulled.
2) need to take at least 2 mortars. My opponent did not take any. I took to many I think (2 4.2", and a battery of mobile 81mm) they had a devastating effect to my opponents half-tracks and they helps suppress his machine guns so I could advance unmolested.
3) need at least 1officer per arty, this case for my mortars. I took 3, my opponent had 3. Every turn after the 3rd turn I always had at least 2 mortars dropping on his units, 4.2" are killer. This also make sure that you have enough spotters.
4) at least 1tank. I didn't take any tanks. My opponent had a panther with ace and 3 stugs. I had to push my infantry to close to take out his stugs. I had nothing to stop his panther. If I had that 1 tank support, an m10 or a m4. I could have kept his panther distracted enough to retreat my mg teams into buildings. But every turn they was pinned down. If not for a lucky brake down chit pulled did I stop his panther from breaking my lines and getting to my rear units. I would have had to run my mortars and HQ units off the board. The stugs got eaten by bazookas.

So in conclusion, I feel that it's best to make a mix and not to focus on a unit type or hope a lucky chit pulled can make up for a unit type not being taken.
I won my game due to the out scouting and my constant barrage of mortars to keep him pinned and to destroy his transports. I mean I had all 3 objectives 1st turn and out scouted, that's 4 chits at the start.

One thing I enjoy in the game is the orders system, and the potential for a low roll to disrupt your attack, call it the fog of war I guess.

Last year around 17/9 we played an Oosterbek style game, from the east came SS units while from the West I was “blessed” with a mix of SS and Naval infantry, the die seem to understand and the SS got reasonable die rolls for orders whilst the Kriegsmarine often got abysmal rolls for orders which made their attack falter and stumble along, it seemed to tank forever for my CharB flamethrower to get anywhere near the Paras and then lasted perhaps 2 turns before a 6 pounderput it out of my misery

In the wider sense it's whatever inspires me, which usually means historical kit in historical organisations - usually reduced to 1/3. On the other hand, I see something like the battle show at War & Peace and I start thinking "how would that work out if played?'

Generally my collections end up representative of a 1/3 battalion. This is made up of 6-7 'companies'.
1) Headquarters - made up of command staff, signals platoon, scout platoon
2) 2-3 'manoeuvre units' - infantry, cavalry, tanks
3) 'Fire unit' - mortars, MMGs, light guns etc
4) 'Combat support unit' - anti-tank platoon, AA platoon, pioneer/engineer platoon
5) Services - consisting of medical, vehicle repair or veterinary, catering, POL/hay (depending), workshop, baggage/ammunition, supply
and is supported by a battery of artillery (2 guns).

Stuff is then taken from this collection for a specific game. Thus the 'battle groups' are realistically limited to what might be available to a real-life platoon/company. However, I usually end up accumulating some 'higher level' units, which might conceivably be loaned to a battalion for a specific task as a result of special games (bigger guns, scouting assets, engineering equipment, specialists).

Wow, really enjoyed everyone's posts, so now I am wondering when making a list are there certain units that are a must have?  I don't mean the core infantry units for the game size.

  For me, since I play the US Armoured Infantry Div from the Overlord book, I have found that I have a fondness for the recce M-20 utility cars. I seem to always take 2 of them and the Recon Platoon Command with a M-20  utility car. I just think they are so cool.
  I blame a computer game called "Spin Tires" where someone made a mod of the M-20 that you can drive in the Russian tundra. So now that's all I see when I move my M-20's across the board, I even make engine sounds to myself when I do it...
  Also when my appointment knows I have them that there is a 90% mortars are going to be with them.
 

I have built the forces from the front of the RF2 book, that way I have what I need to cover both sets and just take what I need for games, plus I do the extras such as loader teams etc

I guess I should have confessed from the off that the 'backbone' of my WW2 collection is centred around a fictional world which might have some 'similarities' to historical counterparts but is not a 'historical' representation of them. This allows a great deal of flexibility in 'acquiring' equipment that I particularly like and unusual allies. Thus, recently, the Navy of the Polanian Republic (Rzeczypospolita Polanska) has acquired a squadron of B5N1s which should give the Wurmland Kriegsmarine something to think about......