1500pt Siege and Hammer Army

[cgoff101]

Hi All,

Want to avoid the mech imperial guard and focus on having a gunline style army with a bit of flanking units. Please comment and critique the list.

Main change could be: Master of Fleet in exchange for 2 x Lascannon on LRBT or upgrade demolisher to executioner.

Comments and Ideas please.


HQ
Company Command Squad - 115
2 x Grenade Launcher, ML, OoF

Troop
Veteran Squad - 155
3 x Meltas, Chimera ML/HF

Platoon Comand Squad - 105
4 x Flamers, Chimera ML/HF

Infantry 1 - 70
Grenade Launcher, ML

Infantry 2 - 70
GL, ML

Special Weapons Squad - 135
3 x Plasma, Chimera ML/HF

Elite
Marbo - 65

Heavy

Leman Russ Squadron - 465
2 x Leman Russ Battle Tanks, 1 x Leman Russ Demolisher

Manticore - 160

Manticore - 160


Total: 1500pts


Deployment Method:

----------Mant1------Mant2---------
---LRBT-------LRD-------LRBT------
--------------CCS---------------------
-Infantry1-------Infantry2---------

Basic deployment for siege aspect...Manticores at back field, with blocked line of sight from Leman Russ Squadron, CCS placed infront and then gunline of two infantry squads. Leaving: Chimelta, SWS, PCS and Marbo to slow down advance or take out anything they can on the way that is set up on the way.

Will be dropping minimum: 4 Long range pie plates, 1 short pie plate...Maximum: 8 long range pie plates, 1 short range pie plate.

[blackarmchair]

Interesting idea. I think you're going to need more shots though. Definitely consider including more HW Teams (preferably autocannons).

In fact, I've seen some IG builds that were nothing but Grenade Launchers and Autocannons in a gunline do really well.

Love the pie plates though, keep up the good work.

[Nungunz]

46 infantry aren't going to cut it IMO. Even vet-spam lists usually cram in at least about 55 at 1500 points. I'd say lose some armor and get more infantry squads with big guns on the field.


Hi All,
Main change could be: Master of Fleet in exchange for 2 x Lascannon on LRBT or upgrade demolisher to executioner.

OoF is nice to annoy flankers, but you make a good point for the lascannons on the LRBTs. Personally I'd drop the demolisher all together and get more troops.


HQ
Company Command Squad - 115
2 x Grenade Launcher, ML, OoF

Putting camocloaks here would be nice to have them survive a bit longer. This squad is going to be a juicy target as it is buffing the infantry squads.

I'd switch the ML for an autocannon. It compliments the GLs better and usually out-performs the ML.


Troop
Veteran Squad - 155
3 x Meltas, Chimera ML/HF

Only one of these is asking to die quickly. If you want to go the gunline route, why not drop them for a second platoon. Give both of the PCS and maybe the CCS meltaguns. Would be cheaper for similar firepower (though less accurate).


Platoon Comand Squad - 105
4 x Flamers, Chimera ML/HF

Would suggest x4 melta instead as stated above.


Infantry 1 - 70
Grenade Launcher, ML

Infantry 2 - 70
GL, ML

Would swap the ML for autocannons. Two blobs of 20 would probably preform better. Throw a commissar in each for added survivability.


Special Weapons Squad - 135
3 x Plasma, Chimera ML/HF

Illegal, these guys can't buy a chimera. I'd drop them anyway. Low LD, only 6 models, only BS3 means they can't aim and will start running once a few of them die.


Elite
Marbo - 65

Good, but his points might be better spent elsewhere.


Leman Russ Squadron - 465
2 x Leman Russ Battle Tanks, 1 x Leman Russ Demolisher

These can only fire at a single target as per squadron rules. I'd drop the demolisher and maybe upgrade the hull weapons to lascannons as you said above.


Manticore - 160

Manticore - 160

Good.

[ElCheezus]

I'll skip the "gunlines are bad" speech, and start talking about trying to make it work.

You've got a good number of long range pie plates, which is good. . . kinda. First of, the squadron of LRs shouldn't have mixed ranges. As mentioned above, they have to fire at the same target, so the Demolish won't fire until the enemy is close. Either you're wasting the Demolisher, or wasting the range of the BTs. Squadrons are also kinda crap unless you really need more tanks. I agree with dropping the Demolisher alltogether.

The enemy will get in your face, fast. When that happens, the pieplates of doom either can't fire (because you can't touch friendly units with them on purpose), or they'll scatter onto you. To counter this, you need a bunch of units that either don't have templates (i.e. drop the flamers) or are assault-oriented.

If you go with infantry and blobs in a defensive formation, Strakken's auras can help by giving them counter-attack and FC. This also might be a good place for Conscripts to serve as army-wide bubble wrap. They'll absorb a charge, maybe do a couple wounds, and then get swept leaving the enemy out of combat and staring at your guns.

Here's what I'm imagining:
two power blobs with commissars, power weapons, and melta bombs
the PCS can have Meltas, Plasmas, or GLs depending on taste and points
CCS with 4x plamsa, and Strakken if there are enough points (he's a serious maybe, though. First thing to cut if you need points). No advisors are necessary at this point. Astropath is the only good one, and you don't need him.
You'll probably want to cut Marbo, the Veterans, and the SWS

You'll notice this cuts out all of your Chimeras. Since in general you're avoiding mech, they actually only serve to fragment your army, trying to get it to do too many things at once. In general IG have about five different styles they can pull off, and you only want to choose up to two to focus on in your army. That way, you have a lot more units that can support each other, instead of a bunch of units off trying to be the hero. Also, I mentioned Conscripts above, but didn't put any in the list. With as many points as I'm already telling you that you need, I seriously doubt they have room. If you scale up, keep them in mind as a "may be fun" idea.

I don't have a Codex with me, and don't have enough points values memorized to know how well all of this fits, so there might be a good amount of fiddling that needs done.

What this does is focuses your army into two parts, making both more efficient. You have your heavy support in back, doling out blast templates of doom. They're protected by your groups of infantry, which do the close-up damage and absorb charges. The infantry, as power blobs, are a good threat on their own. This means that incoming CC (softened up by the blasts and other fire) should get manhandled. Also, they're resilient enough to go forward and claim a couple objectives. The 5-man squads provide short range fire support to the blobs, which will weaken any units that would give them trouble.