I was reading Bell of lost souls the other day and noticed the article regarding rethinking your codex.
Under the section for Imperial Guard the point was raised was that lots of people use Veteran Squads.
Now I have fallen into this trap, and if you look back through my lists I am sure you will see plenty of evidence regarding this. My Air Cav force was entirely Veterans mounted in Vendettas & Valks.
However my Doubles list worked very well with an Infantry Platoon. Now I have been challenged to a 2000 point game this Friday, so I figure I will take the 750 point list from my Doubles and build on that to a 2000 point army.
It has a good solid core.
Company Command Squad, 4 x Meltaguns
Sly Marbo
Infantry Platoon
Infantry Command Squad: 4 x Flamers
Infantry Squad: Grenade Launcher
Infantry Squad: Grenade Launcher
Infantry Squad: Grenade Launcher
Heavy Weapons Team: 3 x Lascannon
Vendetta
Vendetta
The list above is just under 750 points (there are some meltabombs I have taken out now).
The Company Command squad is either a suicide squad for dealing with Tanks, or a counter charge unit, in that it helps kill whatever killed one of my units (4 Melta shots are always nice). Not sure this is the best use for some powerful orders in a 2000 point game so this unit might change.
Sly Marbo – Well he’s awesome and Annoying for my opponent, never leave home without him.
Infantry Platoon: This is my standard platoon, 3 Heavy Weapons to receive orders and do some damage, 3 Scoring 10 man squads, and a 5 man unit with 4 Flamers for counter charging.
Vendettas – Well they are kinda neat aren’t they… against the mech heavy world we play in they always seem to do their points or more.
Ok so this comes to a total of 735 points, leaving me 1265 points to add to it.
First things first, lets start at the top of Organisation chart and work our way down.
I am going to revisit my Company Command Squad. At the moment I have them as a BS4 Meltagun unit, which isn’t a bad thing in 750 points, but they have a lot of potential when you have more units for them to give orders too.
One of the units that I most want to get my Orders off on are the Heavy Weapons teams, they are only Ld7 with no option to reroll. To get past this I have two options. The first is to take a Lord Commissar, who has a 6”, Ld10 bubble, which is bound to help them pass.
The second is to upgrade my Company Command Squad to include Colour Sergeant Kell. His special rule allows the unit you are giving orders to take it on the Ld of the model giving the order. For a Company commander this is Ld9… far better options I think.
So he costs a mere 85 points (more than the Squad itself does naked but hey you pay for what you get!)
With him being a Key part of my plan, I decided that squad should also have a little extra survivability, so I added in a Medi-Pack and 2 Bodyguards for wound allocation tricks. Throw in 2 Plasma Guns (as the Medi Pack helps a lot here) and we will call the unit done, all for a mere 225 points.
So with that done, that’s my HQ’s sorted out.
Moving down the list we get to Elites… I have Sly Marbo… why would I need more?
After Elites we hit the troops.
Now I have two options here. I can either add another Infantry Platoon for a minimum of 130 points that is worth 2 Kill Points (due to combined squad) or I can add a Veteran squad for a around the same cost or less which is worth only 1 Kill Point.
In line with me not using Veteran Squads, I have elected to use the first option with an Infantry Platoon, this increases my scoring units quite nicely and gives me some decent options for overwhelming firepower.
This second Infantry Platoon will fulfil the roll of Anti Tank for me, so that means Autocannons, Meltas etc.
I also want to add in another Heavy Weapons Squad to help deal with Armour, and potentially Horde units.
So after a quick rethink… my Platoons change to this:
1st Infantry Platoon:
Infantry Command Squad: 4 x Meltaguns
Infantry Squad 1: Autocannon, Grenade Launcher, Commissar
Infantry Squad 2: Autocannon
1st Heavy Weapons Team: 3 Lascannons
2nd Heavy Weapons Team: 3 Rocket Launchers
2nd Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad: 4 x Flamer
Infantry Squad 1: Grenade Launcher, Commissar
Infantry Squad 2: Grenade Launcher
Infantry Squad 3: Grenade Launcher
This gives me a Squad I can Sacrifice to take out a Tank which only costs 70 points.
In addition to an entire Platoon that is dedicated to killing armour of some description.
The second group is full of models that will advance on the enemy, to take their positions… they are Guardsmen so 30 of them should be sort of alright for taking one Objective.
Next up we hit the Fast Attack Options. This for me is really easy, I won six models for this Force choice, and normally use 3 of them. Two Vendettas as per the Doubles list, and a Valk for fast deployment of my Melta or Flamers (depending on the game and opponent) and Pie Plates for extra damage.
In Heavy Support I have tried for something a little different… I am using all three Slots which I rarely do for my Guard.
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Demolisher
Leman Russ Demolisher Squadron, 2 Demolishers.
A fair chunk of my points are sunk into these slots, but equally it will draw fire from Vendettas & Valks, and if you do decide to ignore them, it is 3 STR10, AP2 Pie Plates at 24” and 1 STR8 AP3 at 72”… not to be laughed at methinks.
That brings me in to a total of 2000 points exactly... and an army I can't wait to try out!
So over all I have a fair number of things for dealing with Mech, Horde. I might struggle against an MSU army, but that will have to be seen.
Pretty happy with this 2k list, any feedback for me, or flaws in my logic, drop me a line.
Under the section for Imperial Guard the point was raised was that lots of people use Veteran Squads.
Now I have fallen into this trap, and if you look back through my lists I am sure you will see plenty of evidence regarding this. My Air Cav force was entirely Veterans mounted in Vendettas & Valks.
However my Doubles list worked very well with an Infantry Platoon. Now I have been challenged to a 2000 point game this Friday, so I figure I will take the 750 point list from my Doubles and build on that to a 2000 point army.
It has a good solid core.
Company Command Squad, 4 x Meltaguns
Sly Marbo
Infantry Platoon
Infantry Command Squad: 4 x Flamers
Infantry Squad: Grenade Launcher
Infantry Squad: Grenade Launcher
Infantry Squad: Grenade Launcher
Heavy Weapons Team: 3 x Lascannon
Vendetta
Vendetta
The list above is just under 750 points (there are some meltabombs I have taken out now).
The Company Command squad is either a suicide squad for dealing with Tanks, or a counter charge unit, in that it helps kill whatever killed one of my units (4 Melta shots are always nice). Not sure this is the best use for some powerful orders in a 2000 point game so this unit might change.
Sly Marbo – Well he’s awesome and Annoying for my opponent, never leave home without him.
Infantry Platoon: This is my standard platoon, 3 Heavy Weapons to receive orders and do some damage, 3 Scoring 10 man squads, and a 5 man unit with 4 Flamers for counter charging.
Vendettas – Well they are kinda neat aren’t they… against the mech heavy world we play in they always seem to do their points or more.
Ok so this comes to a total of 735 points, leaving me 1265 points to add to it.
First things first, lets start at the top of Organisation chart and work our way down.
I am going to revisit my Company Command Squad. At the moment I have them as a BS4 Meltagun unit, which isn’t a bad thing in 750 points, but they have a lot of potential when you have more units for them to give orders too.
One of the units that I most want to get my Orders off on are the Heavy Weapons teams, they are only Ld7 with no option to reroll. To get past this I have two options. The first is to take a Lord Commissar, who has a 6”, Ld10 bubble, which is bound to help them pass.
The second is to upgrade my Company Command Squad to include Colour Sergeant Kell. His special rule allows the unit you are giving orders to take it on the Ld of the model giving the order. For a Company commander this is Ld9… far better options I think.
So he costs a mere 85 points (more than the Squad itself does naked but hey you pay for what you get!)
With him being a Key part of my plan, I decided that squad should also have a little extra survivability, so I added in a Medi-Pack and 2 Bodyguards for wound allocation tricks. Throw in 2 Plasma Guns (as the Medi Pack helps a lot here) and we will call the unit done, all for a mere 225 points.
So with that done, that’s my HQ’s sorted out.
Moving down the list we get to Elites… I have Sly Marbo… why would I need more?
After Elites we hit the troops.
Now I have two options here. I can either add another Infantry Platoon for a minimum of 130 points that is worth 2 Kill Points (due to combined squad) or I can add a Veteran squad for a around the same cost or less which is worth only 1 Kill Point.
In line with me not using Veteran Squads, I have elected to use the first option with an Infantry Platoon, this increases my scoring units quite nicely and gives me some decent options for overwhelming firepower.
This second Infantry Platoon will fulfil the roll of Anti Tank for me, so that means Autocannons, Meltas etc.
I also want to add in another Heavy Weapons Squad to help deal with Armour, and potentially Horde units.
So after a quick rethink… my Platoons change to this:
1st Infantry Platoon:
Infantry Command Squad: 4 x Meltaguns
Infantry Squad 1: Autocannon, Grenade Launcher, Commissar
Infantry Squad 2: Autocannon
1st Heavy Weapons Team: 3 Lascannons
2nd Heavy Weapons Team: 3 Rocket Launchers
2nd Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad: 4 x Flamer
Infantry Squad 1: Grenade Launcher, Commissar
Infantry Squad 2: Grenade Launcher
Infantry Squad 3: Grenade Launcher
This gives me a Squad I can Sacrifice to take out a Tank which only costs 70 points.
In addition to an entire Platoon that is dedicated to killing armour of some description.
The second group is full of models that will advance on the enemy, to take their positions… they are Guardsmen so 30 of them should be sort of alright for taking one Objective.
Next up we hit the Fast Attack Options. This for me is really easy, I won six models for this Force choice, and normally use 3 of them. Two Vendettas as per the Doubles list, and a Valk for fast deployment of my Melta or Flamers (depending on the game and opponent) and Pie Plates for extra damage.
In Heavy Support I have tried for something a little different… I am using all three Slots which I rarely do for my Guard.
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Demolisher
Leman Russ Demolisher Squadron, 2 Demolishers.
A fair chunk of my points are sunk into these slots, but equally it will draw fire from Vendettas & Valks, and if you do decide to ignore them, it is 3 STR10, AP2 Pie Plates at 24” and 1 STR8 AP3 at 72”… not to be laughed at methinks.
That brings me in to a total of 2000 points exactly... and an army I can't wait to try out!
So over all I have a fair number of things for dealing with Mech, Horde. I might struggle against an MSU army, but that will have to be seen.
Pretty happy with this 2k list, any feedback for me, or flaws in my logic, drop me a line.
Comments
I got the draw as we ran out of time... but another turn and it could have been all over. I reckon the list didnt let me down as much as a poor deployment and really terrible dice (I mean seriously who rolls 16+ dice getting nothing higher than 3's).