Does size really matter???

[karandras]

During my lifetime of playing 40k, I have watched the so-called standard sized tournament game move from 2000 points to 1500 points, but then increase from 1500 points to 1750 points to 1850 points. Now, it appears that the standard size is growing again as many tournaments now are run at the 2000 point level.

I enjoy playing 40k at any points level and have even had the honor of winning the Adepticon Combat Patrol Tournament a few years back which was only 400 points! That being said, I think my personal preference is 1500 points.

It seems more difficult for many players to construct an effective 1500 point list as they are forced to make decisions about which units to leave behind. This makes achieving victory that much harder as the survival and performance of every unit becomes even more important. I think this increases the necessity for pregame planning and intelligent army building (i.e. - economy of force).

So the questions fellow gaming fanatics are: Do you have a preferred point size for games? Is there a point size that you particularly dislike and why? Do you find smaller games more tactical? Do you think that 1500 point games put the more expensive power armored armies at a disadvantage or unfairly benefit certain races (i.e. - eldar or dark eldar)???

[Cryl]

I have quite an odd view on this. I really enjoy 400 point Combat Patrol style 40k and I also enjoy multi player multi thousand point games (using apocalypse extras or not), I'm not so enamoured of the 1500 to 2500 point game.

400 pointers really make you think and to a certain extent you get what you pay for with combat patrol, a heavy bolter is still a scary gun instead of simply not a multi melta. You need to be more general with your units rather than specialised as you are at 2k. Really big games (for me that's 10k a side or so) quickly become lots of smaller games as you strategically try to out maneuver your opponent. I guess I like the strategic thinking that belongs at that scale.

[Chumbalaya]

I like 1850-2000 points. I get to include the essentials but I also have enough points to play around with so I can include oddball stuff too. 1500 is all about efficiency, higher up and you've got more breathing room.

[MarshalAdamar]

I would agree with Chumbalaya, I like 1750 - 2500 point games

I feel like the bump in points from 1500 really lets you personalize your army and your style for that build. Where as in a 1500 point game I find that I stick to the basics more and have less flavorful armies because I'm worried about having what I really need to get the job done.

That is unless I"m just trying to make an off the wall list in which case points really doesn't matter.

[N0rdicNinja]

As a 'cron player I definitely enjoy the larger games, not necessarily Apocalypse level mind you just enough room to let me breath. For me I would say 2000 to 3000 are my favorite games, I can do 1500... but the list usually ends up being efficient and boring or entertaining yet lackluster, at 2000+ I can have a lot more fun with my lists without sacrificing to much in the way of efficiency.

[Col.Gravis]

1500pts have as far as I can remember always been the 'standard' in the UK, or at least down in soggy devon, be it for friendly pick up an play games or tourny games, and I have to say I like them at that level quite alot, it makes them rapid, but enjoyable, but with serious choices to be made in list building - you simply can't take all the toy's you'd possibly want which is a good thing IMHO. Perhaps thats why I really enjoy 1000pt and 400-500pt games as well.

2000pt games get played occasionally around here, but not often and I can't say they're really any better, I'd sooner play an Apocolypse scaled game to be honest, which thinking about it is how most of our 2000pt games get played, in a doubles format with apoc rules.

[Maria]

I questioned the 1500pt thing in the UK with the manager of my local GW and he said it is 1750 *shrug*

[Aldramelech]

1500pts have as far as I can remember always been the 'standard' in the UK, or at least down in soggy devon, be it for friendly pick up an play games or tourny games, and I have to say I like them at that level quite alot, it makes them rapid, but enjoyable, but with serious choices to be made in list building - you simply can't take all the toy's you'd possibly want which is a good thing IMHO. Perhaps thats why I really enjoy 1000pt and 400-500pt games as well.

2000pt games get played occasionally around here, but not often and I can't say they're really any better, I'd sooner play an Apocolypse scaled game to be honest, which thinking about it is how most of our 2000pt games get played, in a doubles format with apoc rules.

Nothing like advertising for those much needed tourist pounds :p

I have so far never played more then 1000pts, The Club I belong to starts too late, (My opinion) it takes my regular Ork opponent forever to unpack and I don't think we've got past turn 4 in the last two games.

Frustrating.......

[karandras]

N0rdicninja - I find your opinion with the point scale interesting. In my experience, Necrons are one of the armies that I feel I am more competitve with at 1500 points rather than 1750 or 1850 levels. At 2000, they begin to become a little more lethal again. I have run Destroyer heavy lists at 1500 with success that just seem to get annihilated in the 1750-1850 range. At 2000 points, I generally do not run any Destroyers, but am able to bring enough other good stuff. What are your army builds like and at what points levels have you found Destroyers to be an asset or liability?

[jeffersonian000]

In my neck of the woods, 1500pts seems to be the current standard this year where 1750pts was standard during 4th edition. Of course, there are a few escalation leagues that play 750pts the first week, 1000 the next, then 1500, and finally 1750. Our Apoc games can get ridiculously huge. Combat patrol, though, has mostly gone away, unfortunately.

As for me, I have limited funds and a limited collection, so maximizing what I can do at each point level is goal. I have several pre-printed rosters at each point level from 400pt CP through to 2500pts, which allows me to play with what I bring to match what the current game calls for. Of course, I play DH, WH, and SM, so allying lets me mix and match units to fill in for things I don't have yet in any of the three armies.

SJ

[Melissia]

Personally, I prefer to play either ~500 point quick games, or 2000 point full games. Sometimes we'll throw in rules like in a 500 point game you only need one troops choice but some vehicles are restricted (most notably the monolith).

[eagleboy7259]

Anything in the ball park of 1500pts is fine for me. Its a nice decent sized army that isn't too hard to collect. At 1000pts its really hard to cover all your bases, especially in a tournament setting. One guy shows up with Land Raider, a Demon Prince, and you either lose or have that one unit that can deal with it tied up somewhere else and it goes from a fun time to a pain in the but real quick. I personally just don't like larger games, not from a competition stand point, but I like my games of 40k to be relatively quick, so you can get more than one in during the day. That and I get bored, especially against hordes when the enemy has 20+ units, debates true line of sight, who's giving who cover... etc and the worst: we all know that sometimes the dice turn against us or the enemy is really just that good and we can be down big on turn 2, and I really hate being that guy who pulls out of a game, but another hour and a half of fighting a losing battle just isn't that fun for me. I just wanna say good game and move on to the next.

[Lerra]

1500 is handy because you can fit 4 games into a one-day tournament instead of 3. 2000 points seems more like "real" 40k to me, but I'd rather cram in as many games as possible.

[The AKH]

I like 2000 point games because of the amount of options and strategy the larger scale opens up. But the drawback is that 2k games can take in excess of 3 hours to finish... whereas a 1k game can be done in an hour to an hour and a half. 1500 point games kind of strike a balance between the two for me... they're relatively quick, but have enough points available that you can get more creative with list composition, and field a few big shiny toys.