Starting a new army part 6... Building that first list

This is where I have struggled the most since taking on this army. I debate and list build and list build and delete and scour the book again and list build and compare it to meta and scrap it and evaluate mathhammer and list build and go on torrent of fire to compare it to GT lists and I think you're getting the point. Its agony. Why is the list so hard to build? For me its several reasons. Here we go.

One fluff considerations. Some of us fall into this and some of us don't. Some of us never consider a piece of literature when list building. Some of us only consider that. For those of us that do... This is a issue. I know for Legion Night Lords the Terror Squad is the core of the army. Night Raptors are the hard hitting jump troops and Contemptor Dreads are the fire/cc support. Here is the dilemma none of those units are cheap and all are very specialized it what they deal with. However those are all often used and often written about when dealing with Night Lords. They are all units I've read about and love the fluff behind them, so I HAVE to include them in most my lists. Now the real downside to fluff considerations is it limits what you will take. Night Lords are not known for their heavy armored columns of support dropping artillery all over the board suppressing enemy fire and providing a threat, while the infantry closes in on the enemy to annihilate them. They just don't really do that. It doesn't fit with the Legion theme. Hit hard, hit fast, desecrate the dead and leave the living with boots full of urine. That's hot, I keep reading that sentence and damn if I don't get sweaty thinking about it.

Two meta considerations, well you know your gaming group. I know mine. In my group I know AV13 is prevalent through either Knights, Russ's, Cron's or Land Raiders. This is an issue with the above units. They do not have a great way of cracking that armor, outside melta bombs and any decent player isn't going to make that happen. I highly doubt any of my friend's will be like "gee those guys with the jump packs are friendly, I'll save them for later" no they will be more like "I'll blow that shit up first because I know he likes them". I don't like my friends... So how do I work in tank busting with a army that doesn't bring tanks to kill other tanks... My answer Rapier Weapons Carriers... hehehehehe. Not the fluffiest but really cool and really cheap.

Why yes that is a Laser Destroyer array.

Three competitive considerations, this is my army. What if I want to go to a tourney? Can I play three games without getting butthurt over the results? Can I handle the soon to be often seen CronWraithWing? Can I handle the adamantium lance, the sperpent spam, Tau Parking lot, 70 Thunder Wolf Cav, the never ending shots of the Dark Eldar, the incessant bombardment of AM? Short answer. No. Long answer is I suffer the same issue every army has, the TAC(take all comers) list is dead. No I'm not alone. What I can do is try to include the following into my armies.
40-50 shots a turn for medium to light infantry, I categorize these as S4-5 shots. I need to include 15-20 shots turn for T6/AV12 I categorize these as S6-7. I need to include 10 shots a turn of S9-10 to crack the big stuff. This last part is my issue. Everyone has an area they struggle with when then build a new list for a new army.

Four but these look sooooo cool, yeah don't you hate that. Sometimes the coolest looking models are turds. This is a huge part for me because that first list also determines what I want to buy first to get my army on the table fast. So this becomes a real struggle. I want to get cool looking stuff but it cant be a complete joke. Exhibit one your honor: The Dreadclaw:

Stunning huh?

Yeah well its a 100 point flying drop pod. What you say "flying"? Yeah... Its a flyer. With no weapons and it doesn't have drop pod assault. It is sooooo gorgeous though. Like I want to make it have my babies. Yeah it sucks though. Trust me I've tried to figure out how to make it good. No Umm no no no!! It isn't any good. BUT!!!! I know its pretty but it will have to be a luxury buy, because it isn't good. It hurts the army actually. Example two: Scimitar Jetbike.

Yeah it does look kinda like a...

Now this one doesn't look that cool to me. Good friggin rules though! 2+ Armor save T5, variety of weapon loadouts, jetbike, etc... Pretty solid really and only 35 each! But look at it... Its a friggin ,... I promised I wouldn't swear. Its silly, its like a car crash I cant stop looking. So this one has the opposite issue good rules silly model. GRRRRR!!!

So what did I build for my first list. Hell I don't know I keep changing it. So what was this article about? Hell I don't know... See you are around the way...