The 1000 Point Army

By Tom K, aka subversive

It seems that very often people tend to think bigger is better with WHFB. Recently, a bunch of people in our club started playing for the first time, while simultaneously a bunch of people started playing new armies. In order to facilitate an easier learning curve (as well as getting out of the store before midnight), we decided that our "training" games would be 1000 pts instead of the standard 2000 or 2250. This made it easier for the veterans to get used to our new units and try out tactics and easier for the newbies to get some practice without the committment of a full 2000 point game.

Warhammer Fantasy has balance issues at just about any point size. However, those issues seem to be less noticable at the 1000 pt level than, for instance, if you scale upwards to 3000+ points per side. Without lord level characters, it's a lot harder for magic to get really out of hand. The most powerful spells are actually difficult to get off for a level 2 mage, which mitigates the potential damage they can do. Hero level non-mage characters are also much less powerful. Most of the very nasty magic item combinations are more than 50 points, which means that you have characters that are really there for support and leadership more than for raw hitty power.

Overall, I've found the games to be much more strategic in that there's not as much possibility to apply overwhelming force and you really have to be careful with the troops you have. I also like the fact that games take a lot less time. I've been able to get in two games pretty easily if I start a little early with the first game.

The only drawback (if you can call it that) I see to 1000 point lists is that there are certain units that simply don't make sense at 1000 points. Either they're an enormous point sink, or they are difficult to use without support from the entire rest of the army, making them a lynchpin that's easily dealt with without which your army crumbles. Examples include very expensive elite heavy cav (think Chosen Knights or Grail Knights), large monsters, very expensive and specialized units (Wood Elf Warhawk Riders come to mind), etc.

The 1000 point list for beginners:

For a newbie, the 1000 point mark is an important stepping stone on the way to the more fully realized 2000-2250 level. When you're first playing the game, this size allows for enough units on the table to have some real strategy and see the interaction between different types of units. For the first time, you can field at least 3-4 units, usually a lot more, and see how, for instance, a heavy cav unit does on it's own, versus how it does supported by fast cav, or in a supporting role with ranked infantry.

It's a good idea at this level to try out the basic concepts of the game by taking a variety of units so you can see what they all do: 1-2 units of ranked infantry, some heavy cav, some fast cav, some shooting troops, maybe some skirmishers and/or a siege weapon. For your first couple of games, I'd leave out magic entirely just to get a feel for the basic mechanics of the game. There's plenty to worry about with remembering who can march, when to take panic tests, figuring out how combat resolution works, and so on. I also advise steering clear of units with lots of special rules at the beginning. It's hard enough learning how the game works normally without worrying about how it works in special cases.

Once you've played a few games that way, then it's time to add and refine a little. Throw in a special or rare choice that you might not have used yet to see how it does. Throw in some stubborn or unbreakable troops, or maybe some flyers. Soon you'll start to see how all of your units work together to form a coherent army. Also, as you swap a unit here or there, you'll find that you're quickly adding up to 2000 points with the models that you swap out. It may not be a finely tuned 2000 points, but soon enough you'll be able to play bigger games if you so choose.

the 1000 point list for veterans:

This section falls into two categories: people playing a smaller scale of an army they already use, and people starting new armies. For the sake of this article, we'll assume that someone who can write and play a competent 2000 point list can also play an equally competent 1000 point list with an army they're already familiar with, so I'll focus primarily on the people starting new armies.

Any time you play a new army, there is a learning curve. No two armies in WHFB play alike. Even armies that seem very similar on the surface are usually quite different. For instance Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts... both are undead and follow the instability rules, but play very differently on the table. Sometimes an army will seem to fit your old play style very well: if you played a fast moving Chaos army, Brettonians will hardly be a change of pace. But more often than not, there will be some major changes that you need to adjust to. The 1000 point level is a good sandbox to test out the differences between your old army and your new one. You'll probably have an idea for a list in mind when you start playing the army, so you'll want to get some games in with that core list concept to see how it works. From there, it will be a matter of first seeing if that list fits your play style, and then refining it from "works" to "works well."

For example, after years of playing chaos in all it's variety, I recently started a wood elf army. The two armies couldn't be more different. For one thing I went from having zero shooting to having some of the best shooting in the game. I had to learn how to shoot, what to shoot, when to shoot and most importantly for wood elves, when to run away! My fighting troops went from being vastly superior and damn near impossible to kill to being merely above average and very fragile. I could no longer afford to get involved in combats that I wasn't sure to win. On the other hand, I was used to using expensive troops, so the sticker shock of my basic archer or infantry costing 12 points was lessened considerably.

I began my collecting knowing nothing more than that I liked the models and wanted to include waywatchers in my list because they just look so friggin' awesome. Starting your army concept with a rare choice is certainly not the ideal way of going about it, but it certainly leaves the door open to a wide variety of lists to build around it. I picked up a couple of units of glade guard, a unit of eternal guard, and a unit of dryads to start playing around. After a couple of games, I found that the eternal guard, while interesting in concept, were difficult to make work at 1000 points. Their main feature is that they're stubborn, but unfortunately only when led by a noble or highborn. I've found that having a noble stuck in the most static unit in my list is kind of a waste. If I'm going to take a noble, I'd rather have him out with some fast cav or with scouts or waywatchers where he can do some damage throughout the game. Further along in my testing, I tried out warhawk riders. This failed miserably: at 40 points a pop, T3 and only a 6+ save, they're the juiciest target on the battlefield for my opponent.

Now, after several games at the 1000 pt level, I feel pretty confident that I've established a balance that I can successfully scale up to 2000 or 2250 points.

Finally, the other possibility for the 1000 point list is with an army you already know intimately. I've found that the primary uses for this are:
1.) trying out new concepts with an army you already know. For example, my main chaos army is very fast, using a lot of cavalry and flyers. I want to play around with a rank & file list, so I'm learning new concepts at the smaller format.
2.) kicking the snot out of the newbies and people with new armies =)