Maximising the FoC

The 'debate' is still raging over the Tyrannofex on Warseer and whether or not it's useful. Looking back at my Ork Armies in 5th articles and Puppy's recent articles on Orks and we get two prime examples of armies which need to be very vigiliant with their FoC. Why? Because they have key units which need to be taken for them to be effective in 5th edition. This is most pronounced with Tyranids as the majority of their fantastic anti-tank is situated in Elites + a number of useful utility units. These include, Zoanthropes, Deathleaer, Venomthropes and Hive Guard. It is therefore very important when making an army list you get the most you can out of individual Force Organisation slots so you have more flexibility in the rest. Again, with certain armies this is alot easier to identify (such as Tyranids or Eldar) whilst other armies like Space Marines have a lot of options for multiple roles across their FoC and don't need to identify this as readily.

But what does maximising our FoC actually get us? Let's first take a look at what happens when you get it wrong. A lot of Tyranid lists run around with one squad of Zoans, one squad of Hive Guard and Doom. You've got two squads of anti-tank in the Zoans & Hive Guard and a utility unit (although Deathleaper would be better) so it doesn't seem too bad but you  haven't gained the most out of the Elites slot for your Tyranid army. You've got a bit of anti-transport, bit of anti-heavy tank and a bit of utility. This is where maximising your FoC would come into play. You now need to cover these aspects with the rest of your army because 2-3 Zoans & Hive Guard just ain't going to cut it. What maximising your FoC therefore allows you to do is make the most efficient and optimised army possible. There's little to no wastage and is particularly important for armies with specialised units (i.e. Eldar) as you can't simply pick up the slack with a jack of all trades unit.

So, how to enact this plan. Look at what you want your army to do or how you want to play it and locate the FoC slot which has a major  bearing on how this concept works and build from there. For most Tyranid armies you start with your Elites and what you put in there largely determines how your army operates. Hive Guard for example allow for a midfield dominance list which walks across the table whilst if you pick Zoanthropes you might want to consider a reserves based list.