1.5-2k IG infantry

[ElCheezus]

I don't know offhand how the points work out, but it sounds like a decent move to me. When mech dominates so much, you'll probably find a lot of highpowered weaponry going to waste on single guardsmen. The thing to watch out for in terms of gameplay is other horde armies. Boyz usually mow over guard blobs without much effort. They have the same number of dudes with twice as many attacks. I'd suggest kitting out a PCS or a SWS with flamers to cover the anti-swarm angle if you have points. Usually that's covered with Hull Heavy Flamers on Chimeras or with other armored options like Valks with MRP, Hellhounds, or artillery, so your list might lack a bit in that direction.

[Mal]

im not all that concerned about hordes, there are only 2 horde players in any of my gaming groups... and im one of them

[Flammenwerfer13]

Perfectly fluffy and good. From a competitive standpoint Cain would be better off with a powerfist, but I'm not sure that's justifiable. Also I don't think Kell is needed. Cain already gives his leadership for orders to everyone with 6", and the voxes give you a reroll. I would really recommend dropping him for a normal guy with a banner as he doesn't add anything from a fluff or competitive perspective. I also don't think either adviser is particularly helpful, but that is your call.

Kell is still worth the 2 wounds and the ability to have either a power fist or power sword. So if need be have Creed issue "For the honour of Cadia!" and now Kell is a I5 Power Sword killing 1-2 marines before they even get to swing. Plus Kell > Lord Commissar is that Creed has a 24" command radius those all units with 24" take Creed leadership verse the 6" from the Lord Commissar as long as you take Kell. I'm running for my command squad in my guard army, Straken, Kell, Medic, Meltgun, Flamer, Astopath, Carapace Armour, Ministorum Priest with a Eviserator.

I personally dislike lascannon teams, but love autocannon teams. I think your better off with autocannons to pop light vehicles, and then leaving the heavy stuff for your platoon meltas.

Overall Lascannons have a better return value as long as they're receiving orders, if not then autocannons.

[Commander Vimes]

I really disagree with the 20 man platoons. I've played with platoons sized from 20-50 and found 20 to simply not have enough Guardsmen to grind down the enemy. For a while I had one of 30 and one of 20. The 20 man squad would consistently be finished off in a round of combat, often on my turn, while the 30 man squad could consistently hold a 3-4 rounds and often win combat against anything that didn't have a lot of attacks. The extra ten guys improves the army's power more than putting those ten guys anywhere else.

10 Guardsmen is a pushover.

20 Guardsmen will slow you down a little while.

30 Guardsmen are seriously annoying and will bog down and gnaw to death a Carnifex.

40 Guardsmen is a serious threat to anything and will, slowly, chew through assault terminators, Khorne Berserker, and Daemon Princes.

Basically Guardsmen get better the more of them there are in a single unit.

[Mal]

the problem is if I have them all in a single unit, then you can garuntee my opponents will concentrate their anti-infantry firepower on them from the getgo... after all, it'd take an impressive terrain feature to hide 40 guardsmen in...

[ElCheezus]

I really disagree with the 20 man platoons. I've played with platoons sized from 20-50 and found 20 to simply not have enough Guardsmen to grind down the enemy. For a while I had one of 30 and one of 20. The 20 man squad would consistently be finished off in a round of combat, often on my turn, while the 30 man squad could consistently hold a 3-4 rounds and often win combat against anything that didn't have a lot of attacks. The extra ten guys improves the army's power more than putting those ten guys anywhere else.

10 Guardsmen is a pushover.

20 Guardsmen will slow you down a little while.

30 Guardsmen are seriously annoying and will bog down and gnaw to death a Carnifex.

40 Guardsmen is a serious threat to anything and will, slowly, chew through assault terminators, Khorne Berserker, and Daemon Princes.

Basically Guardsmen get better the more of them there are in a single unit.

I'm not sure what you're fighting against, but I've had groups of 20 absolutely wreck TMCs. Guard blobs (as mentioned before) don't do so well against other swarms. Other armies generally have better initiative and more attacks, which our crap armor doesn't help against. If you're going against something with a lower model count, you should be decently able to handle yourself with 20 or 30, unless they're a decidated "I'm a badass CC unit" or something.

Guy in our gaming circle runs four groups of 20, and usually loses 2. But the cost in time and units it takes to kill them mean that the other two blobs clean up fairly well.

Either way, though, just because you intend to get into CC with a unit doesn't mean you shouldn't also pour firepower into it, weakening them beforehand. Our lazers go pew pew pew!

[Commander Vimes]

I'm not sure what you're fighting against, but I've had groups of 20 absolutely wreck TMCs. Guard blobs (as mentioned before) don't do so well against other swarms. Other armies generally have better initiative and more attacks, which our crap armor doesn't help against. If you're going against something with a lower model count, you should be decently able to handle yourself with 20 or 30, unless they're a decidated "I'm a badass CC unit" or something.

Guy in our gaming circle runs four groups of 20, and usually loses 2. But the cost in time and units it takes to kill them mean that the other two blobs clean up fairly well.

I find 30 much more effective than 20, partially because with only 20 taking 6-7 casualties from shooting puts you at a number where you can be wiped out in one round of assault. I prefer my blobs to be able to take 10-15 casualties and still reliably be able to bog down and hurt stuff. Also, running groups of 20 means you have to buy more Commissars to keep them in line. I field two 40 man blobs and so I only need two commissars. If you run four of 20 that's 70 more points spent on Commissars who don't fight well for their cost. With two blobs of 40 I find that I often end the game with both in the 15-25 range, which is still quite threatening because they still have five power weapons three meltas and a flamer.

Either way, though, just because you intend to get into CC with a unit doesn't mean you shouldn't also pour firepower into it, weakening them beforehand. Our lazers go pew pew pew!

You're definitely right here. I usually FRFSR my platoons and suffer the charge instead of charging myself. I will charge if the enemy unit is threatening other important units, like my Russes, or if they get boosts from charging like Orks and Blood Angels. If Straken is around I'll also charge T5 units for the 5+ instead of 6+ to wound. But most of the time it is better to be shooting.

[Mal]

Well since the size of the blobs doesn't change the army list (i can decide before game how I want to run them) then I can try both methods using the same army list (ok I may have to jump 1 infantry squad from one platoon to the other, it'll still be the same points.

So aside from teh size of the blobs, is there any other advice or knowledge that I should take into account?

[Mal]

I picked up the first of the troops today, 4 boxes of intantry, 3 boxes of heavy weapon squads (3 teams per box), 2 command squads and 3 commisars... the rest of the stuff wasn't on the shelves so i'll have to wait...

Although tbh I rarely move this fast when starting a new army... hope im not making a royal mess of things