The Gaming Kingdom

One thing that all war games have in common is that they all require an army of some sort and usually you the player have some say in how that army is put together.

It is easy when you start playing a new game or take on a new faction in a game that you already play to get carried away with what you perceive to be the shiny parts to a list or to scour it for hours looking for brutal combinations that will surly win you the day.

Both of these approaches are perfectly valid and I may explore them in a later article but for now I wanted to concentrate on the way I usually make an army list these days.

I love the story behind my games, I can?t help it.  One of the main reasons that I started Wargaming was the imagery of the different universes on offer and the wow factor that you can get if you immerse yourself in the game.  Due to this part of my nature I more often than not find myself teaming my army in a certain way.

We all do this automatically; it starts from the moment we pick up a Codex, Army Book, and Briefing Pack whatever.  From the moment you start turning the pages you are thinking about what would be a good army and how it could all fit together.  What I am talking about is taking it that one step further; don?t just think about what would be a good army.  Think about what would be a cool army, or what would be a good looking army and what would make it fun to play, not just with but against.

I am not saying that you should not take those cannons in your Warhammer Empire army, or that Tiger in your Flames of War list just that you should think about why you are taking a thing and how it will fit in to you list.  Not just form a tactical stand point but from all of the others as well.  I have found that this approach makes building a list a lot harder but it does reward you once it all comes together as the force you have at you disposal is truly yours and you will already have its back story in your head for where each unit is from and how they fit in to you plans.

I find that I usually start with my commander.  I look at the model I will be using to represent them and try to come up with their character and how I think they would command, this then leads on to what type of troops they have at their disposal and then the relationship between the two of them.  Once I have the core to my army I then think about the type of tactics I would like them to employ and start placing the troops into the back story of my characters.  Did my High Elf lord just trip over that Star Dragon on his way to breakfast, is there a reason my commander prefers close support mortars over 25 pounders?  Answering these questions and making a few sacrifices along the way will help you to build a story for your force and it all comes back to the imagery, if you put that little bit of effort in to piecing together an image of what your army looks like, where they are from and why they are fighting it makes the images of the battle you are fighting come so much easier.  Once you have that connection with your troops and you see them not as a game winning unit but as an essential part of the story that you are telling with your opponent you may just find yourself enjoying your games in a new way and you never know you may find that you still win games as well.