1. This is, by far, the most important- the army has to fit the theme. Since I'm using Word Bearers, I should focus on undivided troops, possessed, sorcerers, and daemons. I should also use cultists, but rules for them don't exist yet, so yeah...
2. The army must have my concept of army-building at this level. You can see what my suggestions are here: http://www.jaysworkshop-agemmanjw.blogspot.com/2012/03/death-by-thousand-points.html
This one is hard to do just because Chaos has five troop choices, of which four are marked. Looks like I'm gonna have to cheat a little and just make the squads different.
3. And this one is the coolest- use units that epitomize that army's uniqueness. This means using things that other armies don't get. Chaos Terminators are cool, but Imperials can take 'em too. Possessed, on the other hand...
Here's my original list:
HQ- Lord in Terminator armor, daemonweapon
Elite- 4 Terminators, 2 pwr fists, 2 combi-weapons, reaper autocannon
Troop- 8 Space Marines, Aspiring Champion, pwr fist, plasma pistol, plasma gun; Rhino w/ extra armor and havoc launcher
Troop- 10 Space Marines, Aspiring Champion, pwr wpn, plasma pistol, 2 flamers; Rhino w/ extra armor and havoc launcher
Heavy Support- Defiler
Total: 995 points
The problem here is that this army has an incomplete squad and looks too much like a normal Space Marine list. I have the issue of using only Undivided warriors, but I'm not unique enough. My Terminator Lord is a copy of what Imperial Space Marines have. What if I take a Sorcerer? Oh wait, the good guys have Librarians. Do they have Daemon Princes? Hmmmm....
Plus, if I'm not taking Terminators then I don't need the icons. That gives me points to take some Possessed. If I don't take the Rhinos, then I have points to take my Daemonic Raptors. Oh yes...
HQ- Daemon Prince with wings
Elite- 5 Possessed
Troop- 10 Marines, Aspiring Champ, pwr fist, plasma pistol, plasma gun
Troop- 10 Marines, Aspiring Champ, pwr wpn, plasma pistol, 2 flamers
Fast Attack- 6 Raptors, Aspiring Champ, pwr wpn, metagun, flamer
Heavy Support- Defiler
Total: 1000 points
With this force, I am very obviously portraying the possession-loving aspect of the Word Bearers while sticking to the concept of regular Marines. The Defiler is a possessed war machine, the troops are set up for crawling assaults, and there's a halo of evil floating around it. Doood...
And there ya have it- a peek into how my weird brain works when it comes to making army lists and trying desperately to plan something I'll finish. I know it isn't much, but I figured my madness can be somewhat entertaining... :-)
Let me know what y'all think, and as always, happy hobbying!