Greetings kin
As it is the start of a new edition, we have a large number of posts asking for advice on list building, as well as battle reports from early experiences, along with posting of said lists. This kind of Post is very welcome, and absolutely in the spirit of this subreddit.
With that being said, there is a near-spam situation that occurs regularly. I speak of the following copy-paste situation from army building apps. Lets say that one of the entries in a list is a unit of the humble hearthkyn warrior.
Which of the following entries is easier to read, keeping in mind that most lists have at least a dozen unit entries?
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10x Hearthkyn Warriors (100 pts)
• 9x Hearthkyn Warrior
5 with Autoch-pattern bolt pistol, Autoch-pattern bolter, Close combat weapon
1 with Autoch-pattern bolt pistol, Close combat weapon, HYLas rotary cannon
1 with Autoch-pattern bolt pistol, Close combat weapon, Magna-rail rifle
2 with Autoch-pattern bolt pistol, Kin weapons, Close combat weapon
• 1x Theyn: Weavefield crest, Autoch-pattern bolt pistol, Close combat weapon, Autoch-pattern bolter, Theyn's weapon
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- Hearthkyn Warriors (100 pts)
- 5x autoch-pattern bolters
- HYLas rotary cannon
- Magna-rail rifle,
- 2x kin weapons,
- Theyn w/ Theyn's weapon and Autoch-pattern bolter
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Formatting matters, and you will get much better feedback if your list is easier to read, rather than just being a copy-paste from whatever army builder you used. For the newer members of the kin, you will get much better feedback if you format your army lists to be easier to read. Conversely, a lot of people will just say "TLDR" if they see a direct export list, because reading through a copy-paste wall of text can be very difficult on phones or smaller screens.
The biggest thing you can do is reduce unnecessary equipment entries or things that automatically come with the unit. We don't need to know, for example, that a brokhyr iron-master has 3 e-cogs and an assitant with him with their own equipment, as there's no choice otherwise. For vehicles, we know that they have an armored hull weapon, and we know for example that sagitaurs have a heavy bolt cannon, that pioneers have auto-cannons, so this information isn't needed. It would however be very appropriate to indicate which main gun a sagitaur is carrying, and for hekatons, while the auto-cannon comes included automatically, the main gun and support weapons do present a choice, as does the scanner (as awful as the other choice is) so they should be mentioned.
In the above example, we already KNOW that all the warriors have a bolt pistol and close combat weapon, and we know that the special weapons replace the default gun, so it's not necesary to list them on a per-model-basis. We can tell at a glance the special weapons in the unit, the main gun of choice for the basic warriors, and the fact that the theyn has not given up his main gun for a theyn's pistol. The theyn has no choice but to be equiped with a weavefield crest, so it doesn't need to be listed as his wargear.
Beyond that, make sure you include army detachment, disposition, point costs for enhancements, things that are not automatically given. If you are attaching characters to units, indicate what unit they will be attached to rather than just leaving it up to intuition. Similarly, indicating which units go inside transports also makes lists easier to evaluate.
As stated at the beginning, we absolutely encourage posts about army lists seeking advice or reporting battle performance. Your post won't be removed by the mods if you don't format it to read more clearly, nor will you be warned or banned. This is just some feedback and advice to increase the chance of your post being regarded favorably by the community.
Have fun in the new edition all
The ancestors are watching
