The Road to NOVA: Net Listing Your Way to Victory

One of my earlier posts I talk about getting lists off the net and using them.  I need to start clarifying that.  The net can be a great place to gather ideas on what works and what doesn't.  It can also be a place of much fail.  That brings up when and how to use a net list.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

One of the things I do when I start list building is to look at successful lists.  Most of these come from tournament reports and blogs.  They can also come from boards (like DakkaDakka).  The issue is quality.  It's difficult to find.  Some lists just make sense and some make none.  Some require a better knowledge of the rules than you may have.

How do you tell the wheat from the chaff?  Hitting the books help.  Looking at the lists and determining what it does, what it requires and what are the strengths and weaknesses.  You can do this by playtesting the list but I think that rushes the process.  The best thing to do is study it and compare it to other successful lists.  It should be noted that just because someone posted something doesn't mean it's successful in your meta or at all.

When I decided on what I wanted to bring to NOVA (originally Marines and then Tau), I wanted something that worked with my idea of fun.  I like shooting armies and both fit it.  I also looked at lists I liked.  For marines, it was the Thunderfury.  This was due to my time spent being beat in the head by Dameon Green with his Thunderfire cannons and how successful my single Stormtalon was last year.  I took the framework that Mike Brandt laid out in his blog and started warping it.  I came up with a multi-LR list, a Lysander list and a few IG variants.

Tau was a little more difficult of a process.  I took multiple lists and started dissecting them.  I took Mike Brandt's Skytide list and compared it to the the Bell of Lost Souls list from their podcast.  Then I looked at the Farsight bomb.  I picked and choose what I liked and made some tweaks based on what I think would be fun and deal with the items on my list. The list is more BoLS then Skytide but I think it works more with my style.

Taste from the Well of Forbidden Knowledge

The main point in each evaluation was understanding what parts did what.  While I liked the BoLS list more for my play style, there were parts of the Farsight Bomb list that I had to use.  Why? Because it made sense with what I was going for.

The pieces should meld properly.  Last, NOVA I cobbled together a MotF list with only two dreads.  Not very good is it?  This year I looked at the synergy.  The list below is my current test list.  I am trying it out tomorrow.  I have 6 variants of this list that have slight modifications.  I think my 6th variant will be the final list but I will give this one a try first.  Many of the variants may not see the light of day.

HQ
Etheral
Commander  - BSF, MT, CnCN, PEN, MSSS, Irdium Battlesuit, marker drones x2

Troops
Kroot x20 - Sniper rounds and Hound
Kroot x20 - Sniper rounds and Hound
Fire Warriors x6
Fire Warriors x6
Fire Warriors x6
Fire Warriors x6

Fast Attack
Pathfinders x5
Pathfinders x5

Elite
Riptide  - Ion, TL SMS, EWO, VT
Riptide  - Ion, TL SMS, EWO, VT

Heavy
Broadside x3, BKR, TL HYMP x3, TL SMS x3, VT x3, missile drones x6
Skyray - BSF
Hammerhead - TL SMS, Railgun w/Sub, Longstrike

The Commander goes with the missile-sides or a Riptide granting them ignore cover and TL the weapon.  TL doesn't matter on the sides but the Riptide can work with them. 

The Etheral stays with the troops and make the SUPER.  Everything else shoot things.   I will try this list to see if I like the synergy and the play style.