Netlist

Netlisting is a tabletop gamer term referring to a player's choices in a wargame where only the "best" options are taken, resulting in a difficult to beat list. It's not a term of endearment. Such lists are intentionally unbelievably broken, and require counter-netlisting (or luck/a large amount of skill) to beat.

The term comes from gamers who, rather than figure their armies out for themselves or build around a theme, simply find the best possible list on the internet.

Netlists have a tendency to stigmatize against playing certain armies, as they are pre-judged based on the worst they can be in some cases. Quite a bit of the bile expressed towards some factions largely stems from this, then woe be to you if your favorite models get buffed into the clouds in an update as the community starts howling about blatant favouritism shown towards your chosen faction.

On the other hand, players expecting the netlist who netlist themselves against it may find themselves dressed for the wrong fight if they face an entirely different force (although then beating the opposite player with your "sub-optimal" options may just result in an accusation of army-wide overpowering).

All but the most underpowered factions in a given game are capable of netlisting. For those who aren't, it's just the only way they can possibly win. Or so they say anyway...

Notorious Offenders

Expect ample skub.

Warhammer Fantasy

• Dwarfs: Dwarfs are notorious for their cheap and effective artillery and their decent gunlines. While Dwarf melee lists are fairly weak, few players look forward to facing Napoleon McBlownapart as cannons are ridiculously accurate, have ludicrous range, and blow away anything they want to kill with high damage volleys. This has made large models (some of which are among the most amazing Games Workshop has ever excreted, or are popular named characters) virtually always inferior to more rabble (reversing the "redshirts die first" trend handily). Couple this with a gunline and you have an army which sits in deployment and pewpews at you until (and if) you get into melee range, at which point it's just a mopup one way or the other.
• Empire: Same as Dwarfs, but with the addition of melee redshirts, fast heavy cavalry, and and fucking huge steam tanks. Plus cheap level 4 wizards with access to all core lores.
• High Elves: High Elves are an army that has rarely NOT had an overpowered option of at least one kind. In the current edition, this is the Banner of the World Dragon (renders unit near immune to magic damage) with White Lions of Chrace (Elves who are killy as fuck, on par with followers of Khorne) and Alarielle the Radiant with Lore of Life (powerful wizard, melts demons in proximity, renders her bunker of troops fearless, increases their killing potential, all on top of having the best possible lore). In the past, Teclis was notable (level 5 wizard who could not miscast).
• Vampire Counts/Undead Legion: Red Fury is an upgrade for vampires that allows them to make additional attacks as they kill enemies. Given that they are the best combat characters in the game, this makes them extremely overpowered. Terrorgheists are giant bat monsters that emit a scream which melts rank and file troops like butter while being fairly effective at all other tasks, so naturally most Vampire Counts players try to cram as many as possible into a list. Zombies are cheap and weak, but soak up damage like almost nothing else and can increase in a huge number beyond what they start with resulting in them being a mainstay to tarpit enemies.
• Daemons of Chaos: Thanks to your pal "Ward Save", Daemons were THE strongest army of 7th edition, bar none. Able to dominate magic, fuck with opponent stats at will, and otherwise every single option had a ridiculous buff combo. Although Daemons largely ate the nerf bat in 8e, modern netlists are usually composed of mostly Nurgle models supplemented either by Slaaneshi or Tzeentchian wizards, and marbe a few Khornate or Slaanesh options to hit flanks with.
• Orcs & Goblins: One word; Fanatics. Batshit insane goblins high on shrooms swinging GIANT metal balls. You don't know what enemy unit has Fanatics until you get into combat with them. A populat list of yesteryear was nothing but generic goblin caff and Fanatics which was technically unbeatable. It's no longer as good, but still useful and ripe for trolling others with.

Warhammer 40,000

• Eldar: Waveserpent spam supported by Wraithknights. Considering the blatantly retarded rules for the Serpent Shields, they can comfortably destroy you from anywhere they want, and only need to worry about being defenseless for the turn they shoot. Afterwards, they'll have the shields back to make sure they can get where they want. And the Wraithknights, those giant not-Riptides? Use them for all your heavy firing, cause Dark Reapers ain't gonna work.
• Tau: As many Battlesuits as you can bring (Especially Riptides and Riptide variants). With all the guns you can use and a Buffmander who can give his team all sorts of goodies, they'll be the biggest pains in your ass.

Krosmaster

Goultard and Nox are particularly powerful options, and most models have some form of combo with them. While most other lists are evenly matched, G/N lists are something to sweat facing.

See Also

• Warhammer/Tactics
• Warhammer Tactics