1750 Imperial Guard

[AlmightyWalrus]

Before I start, I want to point out that I'd like to keep the artillery section of the list. Suggesting that I replace one artillery piece for another is fine, but I really want the "oomph" feel of artillery, even if it's not as great as a leafblower list.

HQ:

CCS, Power Fist, 4x Melta, Krak Grenades - 110

Elites:

Stormtroopers, 2x Melta - 105

Troops:

PCS, Plasma Pistol, 4x Plasma Gun - 100
Chimera, Extra Armour, Hull Heavy Flamer - 70

2x Infantry Squad, Meltagun, Autocannon - 70
Chimera - 55

2x Heavy Weapon Squad, 3x Autocannons - 150

Veteran Squad, 3x Plasma Gun - 110
Chimera, Hull Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour - 70

Veteran Squad, 3x Meltagun, Shotguns - 100
Chimera, Hull Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour - 70

Fast Attack:

Vendetta Gunship - 130 points

Heavy Support:

2x1 Basilisk - 250

Leman Russ Executioner, Plasma Sponsons - 230 points

The idea is to rush the CCS (in the Vendetta), PCS and veteran squads forward ASAP to pop enemy armour and MCs, while the HW teams and artillery focus on popping transports and their insides. The forward elements can obviously assist in transport popping if no suitable heavy armour or MC targets are present. The Stormtroopers will deep strike, using Airborne Assault to (hopefully) land next to enemy armour and melt it. The Infantry in the Chimeras will simply stay behind and protect the artillery.

[ElCheezus]

CCS: Drop the power fist and the grenades. If you get into CC, the squad size is so small that the fist isn't likely to swing before being trampled over. Even if it does, you're still likely to be swept. I wouldn't consider one round of S6 attacks worth the points.

PCS: Too low of a BS for plasmas for my taste. I'd suggest giving them meltas and the CCS plasmas. A PCS with meltas averages 2 hits (same average as a melta vet squad, btw), which should be enough to pew pew a vehicle unless you're rolling terribly.

I've never found Extra Armor to be useful enough to buy. It gets used 1/6 of the time the vehicle gets damaged, and being stunned isn't the end of a world for a Chimera. The transported unit can still get out, or fire from the hatch at whatever is doing the damage.

It looks like you're not set up to use orders much, which lowers the potential of the HWTs quite a bit. You could cut both teams for another Vendetta. Two is better than one, after all. And I promise your Vendetta will be a big target, especially if it's dropping off troops in enemy lines.

The Infantry squads look like they're meant to be bubblewrap that also has Autocannons. While I understand this, it never really worked out for me, personally. I think overall you might be better served with two more Vet teams instead of the platoon.

I'm not a fan of plasma sponsons. If you're advancing the Russ with your line of Chimeras, you won't want to stop to fire the Sponsons, or you'll get assaulted pretty quick-like. Also, if you stop to fire everything, the front wave will leave the Russ behind, leaving it in a middle zone between your advancing wall and long range support. The real reason we pay so much for a Russ is to get that high armor up in the thick of things so the enemy wastes firepower. I'd suggest taking them off. If you have points, though, 5 Plasma blasts is fun. . .

A Vet squad with 3x plasma costs 115, btw.

Here's what I'm seeing:

Plasma CCS, no other upgrades
Two Plasma Vets in Chimeras, 170 pts each
Two Melta Vets in Chimeras, 155 points each
Stormtroopers as you have them
Two Vendettas
Two Basilisks
Leman Russ Executioner, no sponsons, HHF

Sorry I didn't do any point calculations, I don't have everything memorized atm. Shoud be close, though.

[AlmightyWalrus]

The Pfist in the CCS was just silly, I was reasoning that I could use it if I failed to kill an enemy vehicle, seeing as I usually roll rubbish to hit with meltas, but I didn't take "Bring it down!" into account.

Just curious, wouldn't extra armour help prevent a traffic jam and keep the advance going? And it's more than 1/6th, since 4 and below on glances stuns too, but oh well.

The heavy weapon teams were there to sit on backfield objectives, the same with the infantry squads in the chimeras, although the inf. would double as cover providers for the big guns.

With the list you suggested I'd actually have 175 points left. Seeing as I'm totally green when it comes to IG, I haven't got that much of an idea of what to spend it on, but it looks as if I could either use some non-artillery anti-horde ,protection for the artillery or backfield objective holders. Any suggestions?

[ElCheezus]

First off, about extra armor: When you're glanced, only a roll of 4 stuns. Anything less shakes, which Extra Armor doesn't help against, so it's still 1/6.

175 points left, eh? You have 1 Fast slot, 1 HQ slot, 2 troops, and 2 Elite left. Marbo and another group of Stormtroopers would fill the Elite slots and take 170 points. It would give you a "disruption" element of three units that can't be ignored once they're on the table. They'd be suicide units, basically. Any fire the opponent puts their way means it doesn't hit your advancing armor. If the opponent does ignore them, they have the punch to damage any type of unit from heavy/light infantry to heavy armor.

If that much disruption isn't your bag, you can't often go wrong with a Hellhound. Fast 12/12/10 with a flamer at range is pretty nice. The way you can turn the template however you want means you'll hit a lot of models with it while hopefully being able to stay out of assault range. The flamers on Chimeras are good for hordes, but the Hellhound would give you an edge.

Another HQ choice could fit, but aside from another 4x Plasma CCS, nothing spectacular really jumps out at me. The Primaris Psyker can be fun, but at LD 9 anything anti-psyker pretty much shuts him down. The same argument can be made of Psyker Battle Squads. Guard just can't deal with hoods or eldar.

Of course, you could always throw in another squad of plasma vets. I personally got bored with "more vets" after I had three squads, but that's just me.

[ColonelElibas]

CCS, Power Fist, 4x Melta, Krak Grenades - 110

Drop the power fist. That's better used for Commands Squads tooled for close combat (las pistols/chainswords for vets, bodyguards, and a priest). I'd drop the Krak grenades because you're toting four melta's at BS 4.

Since your squad count is five, I recommend using the 20 points for Carapace Armor or putting it to something else.



Elites:

Stormtroopers, 2x Melta - 105


Too expensive as a sacrificial unit. I suggest incresing the squad size and getting rid of the Melta's



Troops:

PCS, Plasma Pistol, 4x Plasma Gun - 100
Chimera, Extra Armour, Hull Heavy Flamer - 70


You're really brave fielding four expensive Plasma Guns with +5, BS 3 Guardsman. Drop the Extra Armor because its silly on a transport. I'd honestly drop two Guns and Extra Armor, add a medi-pack, las-pistols/chainswords for Combat potency, and put the excess 30 points to something else.



2x Infantry Squad, Meltagun, Autocannon - 70
Chimera - 55

2x Heavy Weapon Squad, 3x Autocannons - 150


At Toughness 3 and Leadership 7, Heavy Weapon Squads don't make good objective holders. As soon as one base dies to fire they take a Leadership Check. I suggest dropping them for another mobile infantry squad.



Veteran Squad, 3x Plasma Gun - 110
Chimera, Hull Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour - 70

Veteran Squad, 3x Meltagun, Shotguns - 100
Chimera, Hull Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour - 70


Not bad, just drop Extra Armor for Carapace Armor or Demolitions for your Vets for the +10 excess points.



Fast Attack:

Vendetta Gunship - 130 points


I find it a bit excessive, but to each his own.



Heavy Support:

2x1 Basilisk - 250

Leman Russ Executioner, Plasma Sponsons - 230 points


I'd honestly drop one Basilisk for another Artillery Piece. The minimum distance of the Earth Shaker is 36 inches, and on a 6x4 foot table, it has a tremendous blind spot.


The idea is to rush the CCS (in the Vendetta), PCS and veteran squads forward ASAP to pop enemy armour and MCs, while the HW teams and artillery focus on popping transports and their insides. The forward elements can obviously assist in transport popping if no suitable heavy armour or MC targets are present. The Stormtroopers will deep strike, using Airborne Assault to (hopefully) land next to enemy armour and melt it. The Infantry in the Chimeras will simply stay behind and protect the artillery.

The only problem with this list is that it doesn't play to the artillery's strength and leaves them vulnerable to outflanking and deep striking. And since the rest of your army relies on close, Armor Killing weapons, you'll spread your army thin, and that's not good when you talk Guard.

This list is vulnerble to:
Bike lists
Outflanking units (Blood Angels especially)
Elite Armies
Gun Lines