So to start, what do I mean by a "spam" list? Essentially, a spam list is simply one that takes many of the same unit, rather than many different units. While this may sound innocuous, it's normally because certain units are simply better than others- a Space Marine Stalker is quite simply better than a Hunter in all regards, for example. By taking multiples of a reasonably good unit ("spamming" the unit) it's quite easy to get a pretty good army; however when you start spamming the best units not just from your faction but from the whole game, the army goes from pretty good to obscenely strong. Below I've listed a few of the most frequently spammed units you're likely to run into, along with some of the corresponding builds:
- Eldar Wave Serpents. One of the most common, and possibly the strongest, spam builds currently. Expect to see 4-5 of them, either containing Dire Avengers for Objective Secured or Fire Dragons for dealing with high armour. My list for the GT is a prime example of a "Serpent Spam" army.
- Necron Barges. Both Catacomb Command Barge chariots and Annihilation Barges are very strong vehicles, each having AV 13 and 3HP. Command Barge chariots are currently very strong with the changes to chariots and Jink in 7th Edition, and Annihilation Barges have fearsome firepower with their twin-linked Tesla Destructor-, 4 shot Str 7 weapons with the Tesla rule (any 6s to hit, even on snap shots, do 3 hits instead of 1). Combined with a fairly reasonable point cost for either means you should expect to see at least 4 barges in most Necron tournament armies.
- Necron Canoptek Wraiths. Str 6, T4, W2 3++ save Jump Infantry that come in squads of up to 6. Frequently you'll see 2-3 full units. These guys really excel when led by a Destroyer Lord with a 2+ armour save, who tanks most wounds and can Look Out Sir anything AP2, as well as granting Preferred Enemy (Everything) to the unit. This Necron tournament build is frequently known as "Wraithwing".
- Necron Night Scythes. Cheap flyers that can transport troops and drop them precisely while zooming, as well as having twin-linked Tesla Destructors too. It's easy to get 5-6 of these planes in a fairly small army. Variants of this list are often referred to as "Cron Air."
- Space Marine Tactical Squads. Yes, the humble Tactical Marine with his brand new Objective Secured ability and his trusty transport is on the march once more! This build revolves around at least 5 full Tactical Squads in Drop Pods or sometimes Rhinos. Each squad uses the Combat Squads ability to create 15 Objective Secured units (10 combat squads and 5 transports) spread across the board, all of which are pretty tricky to deal with. Chip Boyd from Torrent of Fire has a great series on his Drop Pod Salamanders list.
- Space Marine Bikes. As they can be made into Troops by a Captain or Chapter Master on a bike, Space Marine Bike squads are prime candidates for spamming, with 2 special weapons, a combi-weapon and a heavy weapon attack bike in each 5 man squad! Expect to see them as White Scars, with Khan as the Warlord to grant them all Scout, forming a very powerful alpha strike army (often with many Grav weapons). My friend Drew's White Scar list is a classic example.
So how do you counter a spam list like the ones above? Here's a few ideas to get started:
Design your list well. A good strategy starts with the models you bring. Unfortunately as spam lists are so prevalent it means you need to factor questions such as "How can I deal with 5 Wave Serpents/5 Necron Barges/50 Tactical Marines in a given game" into your list building. There's not much more to say here- spam armies are excellent at beating lists that don't have enough of the right tools.
Be extra careful with deployment. When you play against spam, your deployment needs to be absolutely on point. You need to ensure you protect whatever tools you have that can tackle their best units, and be willing to sacrifice any units that won't be of much use. When you deploy it's very important to measure threat ranges and be careful- you need to mitigate their firepower as much as possible early on while you try and thin out the spam.
Set up overlapping fields of focussed fire, and redundancy of firepower. When you set up shots, it's important to make sure than each of your units has multiple targets and each of their units can be targeted by several of yours. This way if you get lucky with some high damage early in the phase and take something down more easily than you expected, you can capitalise and get more shots on other targets. Similarly if you have some bad rolls, you can pick up the slack afterwards.
Target priority is always a big deal, but especially in these games. As most of their units will be similar, you might think it's easy to just shoot as many things as you can. This is a trap- you should try to kill whichever of their units is controlling more of the board, and see if they are relying on any key support units that you can quickly eliminate.
Mitigate their firepower as much as possible. Most spam lists will be vehicle based, so don't shoot the next one until the first one is dead, or has Jinked. This is a simple rule but is one of the best ways to counter these lists. Against non-vehicles, try and use pinning and morale tests as much as possible, but it's still important to focus down units until they're either dead or no longer functional.
Well there you have it! Spam lists always make tough opponents, but if you play well and bear in mind these tips then hopefully it should be a bit easier to get a positive result from the game.
I hope you enjoyed the article, and that the series is proving useful. I'm going to wrap it up soon with an article on dealing with "Big Hitters"- Wraithknights, Riptides and Imperial Knights. I'll also cover the so-called "Pacific Rim" style builds too, with an Adamantine Lance formation of 3 Imperial Knights, allied with 2-3 Wraithknights or Riptides.
SimonW
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