'Net-Lists' as an 'Auto-Win' button...

I recently did an article on my own blog relating to the fact that I was intending to go back to the 'Vanilla' Marine Codex as I was getting bored of my Space Wolves list.

In the comments section it was pointed out that my Marine list was basically Steleks original 'Best of' list. This was no surprise to me as I'd only mentioned that I was a fan of that list in particular about a hundred fucking times, lol.

However, It made me think about the generally negative attitudes to 'net-lists' that I find both on forums and at tournaments*.

* I don't think that was the commenter's intent it just happened to be the thought train that the comment set off.

Many people take great pride in the fact that their own list or lists consists solely of stuff they like without any consideration been taken for it's tournament competitiveness. They are also usually the same people who will tell you the tale of the horde Ork army player that never loses a game or that guy with an army full of Vespids who does awesomely against the three ten year olds he plays at his FLGS.....

So I pick a net-list, automatically win every game and suddenly find my name in the number one spot at rankings HQ then?

Of course fucking not.....

So I pick a net-list, lose every game because they're not that good really and give up on tournaments forever because the internet let me down?

That seems a bit unlikely as well......

Let's take a 'net-list' as an example and as I've already mentioned it we'll use this one,

1750 Pts – Space Marines Roster – Mech Marines

1 Master of the Forge @ 120 Pts
Artificer Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Converison Beamer
5 Scout Squad @ 163 Pts
Bolt Pistol (x5); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Scout Armour; Camo Cloaks; Sniper Rifle (x4); Heavy Bolter w/Hellfire Shells; Sergeant Telion
1 Sergeant Telion @ [0] Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Scout Armour; Stalker Pattern Boltgun

1 Dreadnought @ 105 Pts
Dreadnought CCW; Multi-Melta; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter
1 Dreadnought @ 105 Pts
Dreadnought CCW; Multi-Melta; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter
1 Dreadnought @ 105 Pts
Dreadnought CCW; Multi-Melta; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 Pts
Bolt Pistol (x9); Bolter (x7); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino
1 Sergeant @ [23] Pts
Bolt Pistol; Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
1 Rhino @ [35] Pts
Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 Pts
Bolt Pistol (x9); Bolter (x7); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino
1 Sergeant @ [23] Pts
Bolt Pistol; Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
1 Rhino @ [35] Pts
Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter

9 Tactical Squad @ 205 Pts
Bolt Pistol (x9); Bolter (x7); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino
1 Sergeant @ [23] Pts
Bolt Pistol; Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
1 Rhino @ [35] Pts
Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter

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

1 Predator @ 85 Pts
Autocannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Heavy Bolter
1 Predator @ 85 Pts
Autocannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Heavy Bolter
1 Predator @ 85 Pts
Autocannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Heavy Bolter

Total Roster Cost: 1748

This ones been around so long that it pre-dates army builders 'competition' format and apparently comes from a time when Stelek wrote 1750 point lists.....

So the list is obviously going to be fundamentally sound (because 99% of Mr Stelek's lists are). It has anti-infantry (Flamers), anti-tank (Melta's), four (or up to seven with combat squads) scoring units (one of which is a pretty resilient 'home' objective holding units) and is as near as dammit fully mechanised. It therefore ticks all the 5th Edition boxes and should therefore win every game automatically...

Not that simple?

Well of course it isn't. By their very nature 'balanced' lists require a little more finesse to use because they are rarely built around a 'Rock' unit of any description and even the most 'point and click' of armies needs some basic understanding of tactics to use.

Taking the above list as an example answer the following questions,

1) How should it deploy?
2) What units move forward, which ones stay behind?
3) Which units are the most important?
4) Which units are the least important?

I'll give you five minutes to think of the answers.

.
..
...
....
.....
Done?

Well if you've got definitive answers to those questions then your a better man than me. Deployment, target prioritization and all the other tactical aspects of the game vary from table to table, mission to mission, opposing army to opposing army and even opponent to opponent and these things take practice to get right. This is why we hear these tales of non-optimised armies being used successfully. Take a 'battleforce' army that you've used for years in every situation imaginable and you've almost certainly gotten good with it. Take a 'net-list', throw it together the night before a tournament and then drop it on the table without preparation and your most likely going to get your arse kicked ;-)

On the other hand, take a balanced, optimized list and practice with it against a wide variety of decent opponents and then go to that tournament and I'm sure you'll do damn well with it.

In my opinion 'net-lists' aren't bad. But give one to a bad player who sees it as an 'auto-win' button and he's in for a big disappointment when it doesn't turn out that way. He'll also be the first one blaming the list and inevitably will have a small army of followers nodding away in agreement about how net-lists aren't what their cracked up to be and that it's the player not the list that's important.

The player is important and so is the list, but like the list itself it's finding the right balance that's important ;-)

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.