Randomly Generated Army Lists
Over the years I have created and used many different methods for randomly generating army lists. I think doing this is a good thing, as firstly it gives you a very different challenge - achieving the mission with the forces you have been given rather than hand-picking your ideal force. Secondly it can lead to the discovery of new tactics, or the tactical worth of a unit you had previously dismissed.
There are a couple of different approaches. You could randomly pick a list and then collect the force you have ended up with - a good way to start a new force. On occasion I have even randomly chosen each unit's weapon options! You can choose your army list randomly and then take it along to your local club to take on someone else's hand-picked list. Or you can agree with your opponent that you will both use randomly generated lists. The method described here is one suggestion for how to do this.
This method assumes that both players have a fairly large collection to choose their armies from, covering a range of the options available in the army lists. It still allows a freedom with choices and you are able to tailor it to match the models you have available. Unlike most other methods this one does not try to create exact points match-ups, and is better for friendly games with a regular opponent.
There are a couple of different approaches. You could randomly pick a list and then collect the force you have ended up with - a good way to start a new force. On occasion I have even randomly chosen each unit's weapon options! You can choose your army list randomly and then take it along to your local club to take on someone else's hand-picked list. Or you can agree with your opponent that you will both use randomly generated lists. The method described here is one suggestion for how to do this.
This method assumes that both players have a fairly large collection to choose their armies from, covering a range of the options available in the army lists. It still allows a freedom with choices and you are able to tailor it to match the models you have available. Unlike most other methods this one does not try to create exact points match-ups, and is better for friendly games with a regular opponent.
Getting Started
This method generates army lists through a series of dice rolls made by each player. Armies are rolled up before the scenario is chosen.
Decide the points cost for your game. This is not necessarily exactly the points each army will be but is more of a guideline as described later.
Each player should (ideally) roll the dice in front of their opponent or another player, but must make their choices secretly. Players should also alternate their rolls. This way players will know what rolls have occurred, but not the selections that their opponent has made. (This also means it is worth painting up a broader range of unit selections so your regular opponents won't be able to guess your army composition so easily!) Alternating rolls means each player has equal knowledge of each other's developing force (i.e. one player doesn't know all of his opponent's rolls before make his own). Ideally each player should make their army up separately and independently of their opponent, but in this case an unbiased third party would be needed to verify the rolls and selections, or opponents would just need to trust each other!
Decide the points cost for your game. This is not necessarily exactly the points each army will be but is more of a guideline as described later.
Each player should (ideally) roll the dice in front of their opponent or another player, but must make their choices secretly. Players should also alternate their rolls. This way players will know what rolls have occurred, but not the selections that their opponent has made. (This also means it is worth painting up a broader range of unit selections so your regular opponents won't be able to guess your army composition so easily!) Alternating rolls means each player has equal knowledge of each other's developing force (i.e. one player doesn't know all of his opponent's rolls before make his own). Ideally each player should make their army up separately and independently of their opponent, but in this case an unbiased third party would be needed to verify the rolls and selections, or opponents would just need to trust each other!
Rolling Up Your Force
Use the following chart:
D6 Roll Selection
1 HQ 2 ELITES 3 TROOPS 4 TROOPS 5 FAST ATTACK 6 HEAVY SUPPORT |
* Optional rule: For players that would like to have a little assurance they will be able to hold objectives, the first roll always counts as a 3-4 on the table.
If you don't use this rule there is a chance armies may end up with no Troops - such is life! |
Roll a D6, then choose a selection from the appropriate section of your codex, from the models you have available. Tally up its points and keep a running total. Once you have chosen, this selection may not be changed!
* Optional rule: Randomly roll each option/upgrade for each unit too! This is a rule for real men, though it does mean you would need a good selection of wargear options painted up for it to work well. Alternatively you can randomly generate the unit's options from those for which you have models.
After you have made your first roll and selection, roll again, choose your next selection and tally its points, and so on. Keep going until your selections take you over your agreed points cost, or under it but within 50 points. E.g. for a 1500 point game stop rolling once your selections add up to 1450 points or more.
* Optional rule: Randomly roll each option/upgrade for each unit too! This is a rule for real men, though it does mean you would need a good selection of wargear options painted up for it to work well. Alternatively you can randomly generate the unit's options from those for which you have models.
After you have made your first roll and selection, roll again, choose your next selection and tally its points, and so on. Keep going until your selections take you over your agreed points cost, or under it but within 50 points. E.g. for a 1500 point game stop rolling once your selections add up to 1450 points or more.
Regarding Special Characters With Special Army Selection Rules
Certain characters or inclusions can change the categories different units fit into. For example taking Logan Grimnar means that Terminators (Wolf Guard in this case) can be taken as Troops. When rolling, these selection rules only apply once such a character is chosen. Therefore rolls made before the character is selected cannot benefit from these rules, but rolls made afterwards can.
Example: A Space Wolf player rolls a 5 and chooses some bikers, then rolls a 3 and chooses some Grey Hunters as Grey Hunters and Blood Claws are the only Troops choices. He then rolls a 1, and for his HQ chooses Logan Grimnar. He next rolls a 4 - now his force includes Mr Grimnar he may choose Grey Hunters, Blood Claws or Wolf Guard, as the Wolf Guard can now be chosen as Troops.
Example: A Space Wolf player rolls a 5 and chooses some bikers, then rolls a 3 and chooses some Grey Hunters as Grey Hunters and Blood Claws are the only Troops choices. He then rolls a 1, and for his HQ chooses Logan Grimnar. He next rolls a 4 - now his force includes Mr Grimnar he may choose Grey Hunters, Blood Claws or Wolf Guard, as the Wolf Guard can now be chosen as Troops.
Completing Army Selection And The Balancer Roll
Once both players have completed all of their allowed rolls, each player must show their opponent what their final tallied points total is. The table below shows what margin of difference is allowable between the two scores.
Points Cost Agreed Up to 500
501 - 999 1000 - 1249 1250 - 1499 1500 - 1749 1750+ |
Allowed Difference
50 75 100 125 150 200 |
* Optional rule: The allowable difference is simply 10% of the agreed posts cost for the game.
* Optional rule: Ignore the difference and just get on with the game! |
If one player has a higher points cost, greater than the allowable difference, then his opponent gets an extra roll (called the 'balancer roll') to add to his force, but his final points total after this roll must not exceed his opponent's total.
Example: Jeff's Blood Angel force tallies at 1475 points, against Rob's Tau at 1630 points. As they originally agreed on a 1500 point game, this difference of 155 points is greater than the allowable difference. Jeff gets another roll, but this extra unit must not cost more than 155 points.
Example: Jeff's Blood Angel force tallies at 1475 points, against Rob's Tau at 1630 points. As they originally agreed on a 1500 point game, this difference of 155 points is greater than the allowable difference. Jeff gets another roll, but this extra unit must not cost more than 155 points.
OPTIONAl EXTRAs
The method described is intended to create more varied and less 'tailored' army lists, for more enjoyable strategy-based games, while still allowing players some choice in their army selection. Players with smaller collections will naturally have less choice in what they take, and may therefore still end up with similar lists a lot of the time, and may even use this consequence to still end up with a 'tailored force'.
To combat this, each time a roll is made that the player cannot fill from their collection (e.g. you roll three Fast Attack choices but only have models for two) they must re-roll, but keep a tally of how many times each player needs to do this. This includes re-rolls of re-rolls! The player who used the least re-rolls in their army selection gets another bonus roll after both armies are chosen, and after the balancer roll. This unit can not cost more than the allowable points difference for the agreed size of the game, but may result in that army's points total being higher than the opponent's by a greater value than the allowable difference. This is an exception where this difference is ignored in this case.
This encourages players to collect and paint bigger collections, and a greater variety of units for all categories of their army - not a bad thing at all!
To combat this, each time a roll is made that the player cannot fill from their collection (e.g. you roll three Fast Attack choices but only have models for two) they must re-roll, but keep a tally of how many times each player needs to do this. This includes re-rolls of re-rolls! The player who used the least re-rolls in their army selection gets another bonus roll after both armies are chosen, and after the balancer roll. This unit can not cost more than the allowable points difference for the agreed size of the game, but may result in that army's points total being higher than the opponent's by a greater value than the allowable difference. This is an exception where this difference is ignored in this case.
This encourages players to collect and paint bigger collections, and a greater variety of units for all categories of their army - not a bad thing at all!
Missions
These rules will work well, and mix up games a bit with any of the missions in the rulebook or any of the supplements. However, due to the nature and intention of this army selection method, I can only encourage you to create your own narrative scenarios to use your randomly generated armies in!
Have fun!
Have fun!