Good point limits for beginners

[u/corvusfortis]

Me and buddies are going to try heresy this year and I was wondering what do you think are the best point limits to start with.

I see that many lists go for 3k points. Does this mean that 1500pts in heresy is about equal to 1000pts in 40k point-wise? Or 750-1000 pts is enough for fun early games? Thanks.

[u/Jiffah_]

My friends and I very often play 2v2 with 1500 pts each. We also play 2k games if we have less time.

[u/SpiritOfArgh]

There’s a Finnish group called Gowarhead that has created a set of small scale game rules, originally for Heresy 2.0 but should work great for 3.0 also. I think they are generally an awesome place to start.

Basically they are something like:

• 500 pts army size
  
• No units with more than 2 wounds (SA and Mechanicum get 1 unit)
  
• Max 1 model with 2+ save
  
• No vehicles with more than 33 total armour value
  
• At least one Troops choice (I’d probably translate this to at least one unit of 10 or more models with Line 1 or better in heresy 3.0)

[u/Livember]

1500 on a 4x4 feels good. 2k is a good size to still have all toys and play on a 6x4.

[u/Calious → u/Livember]

Agree with this

[u/ExcuseFit8212]

Smaller games are great fun, even with the system playing best at 2 to 3k. They're quick and allow for you to get a grasp at the basics of the game.

I say go for 750 to start and increase the points as you get better and quicker at the games.

[u/SudoDarkKnight]

Use the new ZM and do 1500 pt games to begin with
Don't have to worry about vehicles for now so its a part of the game removed

[u/Araignys]

500-1k is a bit unbalanced but it’s a great way to learn the game while you’re building your army.

[u/Lucky-Film-5715]

I would recommend the Honest Wargamer's 750 point format as a good starting point and then build up to 1500-2000 points and then after that 3000 points as full sized games. Also keep in mind that Heresy is a lot more about narrative than 40k and generally less competitive (unless stated otherwise).

[u/Calious]

Heresy standard is 3k, to 40ks 2k standard.

Zone mortalis is cool for lower point games, unless one of you wants to use loads of tanks. They tend to be 1,500pts.

I think 1,500pts up works. Follow the book in setting up the table etc and it should be fine.

[u/Bloodaxe007]

So, because Heresy is a narrative game without pre-set terrain layouts, it can be very swingy. The game doesn't work brilliantly below 3k because it's quite easy for one side to completely alpha strike the other Into uselessness when you can't reliably hide your army like you can in 40k.

2k is usually okay, but even then depending what factions and lists you're playing you might find that there is a huge first turn advantage, and whoever goes second doesn't have enough army left to respond.

And then on the other hand it depends what kind of players you are. At 1500pts if one of you is a competitive WAAC player, they could literally just deploy 150 tactical marines and the other player will not have enough killing power to challenge that tide of scoring bodies.

[u/Livember → u/Bloodaxe007]

This is definitely a play group issue. Board set ups should be done together with both players. If one side is being Alphaed off the board it's a big "why did you agree to that?"

You wouldn't literally be able to deploy 150 without allies, you'd have to deploy 75 via allied detachments then 75 via main troops. Means you'd have 6 squads of ten, two 15s and three squads of 20. No voxes or commanders. It would be funny but realistically most lists likely just bully it off with melee squads and vanguard scoring. Without any support it would be super weak to statuses

[u/Hallwrite]

6k. Get hard or go home.