How to deal with 150 guardsmen...

[Tynskel]

In addition to outflanking Scout Sentinels with Hv Flamers- I would spend the rest of the points on Hv Weapons squads with Hv Bolters- that's roughly 6 Hv Bolters and 3 Hv Flamers.

[Folkert0]

The "Blob of Guardsmen" list is popular around here. Usually not with quite that many guardsmen, though . . .

I'm assuming he plays the list like this, but correct me if I'm wrong: he runs 3 large infantry platoons with a commissar and 50 or so guys in each, usually with 4-6 power weapons per squad. Each platoon is Ld10 and stubborn, and he can kill a sergeant to re-roll a failed morale check.

The biggest weakness that the big squads have is that they can't deal with walkers at all. If you can get a sentinel into CC with them, they are out of the game for good because they can't even glance it with S3, and the squad doesn't have access to grenades or power fists unless there is another IC added in, like a priest.

One dirty trick: If he spreads the platoons very far out (in order to hold multiple objectives or block outflanking with one squad, for example) you can assault each end of the blob simultaneously with two different squads, meaning that most of his guys will be strung out between the two squads and unable to consolidate into CC with you. I once charged a 50-man squad with two squads (one on each end of the long string of guardsmen). They were so spread out that 40 of the guardsmen (including all of the power weapons) were unable to get into CC because they had to maintain unit cohesion.

Also, if you run a vindicare assassin, you can snipe the commissar who gives them Ld10 and stubborn, and then the platoon is substantially easier to get rid of.

Ignoring the big squads is a good idea in kill point missions, but in objective missions, make sure to focus on one squad at a time.

I'd also recommend a Leman Russ Punisher over the Medusa for taking on hordes.

Actually the blob can deal with sentinals every guardsman has frag grenades which are assault grenades, which can be used against vehicles. which is a S 4 hit.. granted it only hits on a 6 and glances at a 6 but hey with 50 models that might work.

[plasticaddict]

To deal with large amounts of enemy troops: Hellhounds, Valkyries w/rocket pods, Platoon Cmd. Sqd w/four flamers in a transport, Manticore, Psyker Sqd. using Weaken Resolve (stubborn on Ld 2 isn't very handy), Ratlings or ordinance or mortars to cause pinning, Sentinels w/flamers, Vet Sqd w/ flamers and shotguns and a power weapon, Punishers or Battle tanks. There are many options open to cause troops trouble.

[ggg]

Have you tried Ogryns? I have only used them against marines and would be interested to see how they fared vs. blob squads. It does seem however that walkers would do an even better job though with the added flexibility of flanking heavy weapons that would be useful against any army.

It seems that the obvious choice is to take is indirect fire artillery and mortar heavy weapons. A good roll on a deathstrike would be very funny to see against such an army!

Sounds like you have a nicely maneuverable army though and that may give you quite the edge over such a cumbersome horde.

[Aenir]

My list was posted above. Imperial Guard.

Description of his list is below mine

EDIT: Ive not yet made the 1750 list, but its fair to say it will be an expansion upon the one above.

sorry, thought THAT was his
misread

[Random Guy]

Your list looks fine, in fact to me at least the thing you are aparantly lacking in is anti-tank not anti-infantry but still. There are a couple of things I would add to your list though to help.

#1. Marbo- he is the single most under costed unit in the whole of the guard codex. Not only is he completely random so your opponent won't be able to predict his arrival but he packs a lot of a bang when he arrives. As an added bonus your opponent will have to pile a whole squads fire power into him. That may not seem like much but it'll either mean that he's shooting a big squad at you or he's not bothered to combine squads and that makes his army less surviavable.
#2. A deathstrike missile. No I'm not joking. Again it's random which plays havoc with your opponents battle plans. Just hide it in one corner of the board behind a building or something and wait for it to go off. In my experience they do very well as a fire magnet or managing to destroy giant areas of the table. If you want something a little less random then try the manticore for the same points.

That will come to 225 points so spend the extra 25 wherever you see fit. Maybe consider the sponsons on your vendetta, if it's only moving 6 it may as well fire some more shots...

Random Guy

[Koppenflak]

Wow, such a mass of replies.

Thanks, all. Hugely helpful! I can think of a few other forums I could try this on and I wouldn't get anywhere near as much support.

Short term solution, I'm inclined to take a third tank and probably a pair of scout sentinels, as recommended. That will give me a fairly considerable mass of templates and serious flamer support (when combined with the flamers in the blob and the HHF chimeras, that could be a lot of dead Guard...) I'll need to run some numbers to see if I can afford that though, as I get the impression it might be a bit much for 1750.

Longer term, I'm likely to look at Medusas and Manticores. We'll see what happens with the new Arty kit that comes out in March, but given at this point my only option is forgeworld, I'll probably stick to what I readily have access to.

Funnily enough, I've never had too much trouble dealing with tanks. The meltaguns I've got in the two veteran squads and the drive-by platoon command have always paid for themselves the second anyone's been silly enough to try driving armour down my throat. Against the chaos and marine players in that tourney, Land Raiders didn't last long, and the troops that survived to dismount were pretty quickly mopped up with the combined fire of tank ordnance.

The one and only tank I've ever had trouble dealing with is this guy's Leman Russ Vanquisher which can reach out and touch people... Last time I played him, while I did beat him (this is before he went nuts on troop numbers) his Vanquisher plugged both my tanks and the Vendetta. It was still untouched at the end of the game, because I just couldn't get anything close enough to it to do anything. I used to field Vanks a lot in 4th ed and the old IA list, but the loss of it's template has really made me iffy... I tend not to tailor lists, so the only time I'll tank a Vanquisher is in a one-off where I know I'll be facing armour. As it stands, templates are generally more used to me than a single Range-72 Meltagun.

Lerra:
You pretty much nailed his tactics. He doesn't much care about losses and throws caution to the wind. He knows that 175 vs 80 is going to win through sheer weight of numbers, so he usually just advances and charges anything in his path. To some extent I'm to blame for his "improved" list because the last time I played him, he didn't combine his squads and didn't take commissars... I wiped him out by sheer virtue of the fact that all his men ran off the board.

...then I opened my big mouth, and I've been stuck with this conundrum ever since.

[rle68]

3 vindicators and space wolves end of story

[Koppenflak]

3 vindicators and space wolves end of story

Space Wolves were my first army. I don't much want to return to them.

I am devoutly Guard!

[Defiance]

As a fellow Guard player, my advice is a Valkyrie, Manticore, 2 Basilisks and 2 Leman Russ's with plasma cannon sponson's. As that's what I'm using at the moment in 1750

Psyker squad does work a treat too, making the squad fall back, then have to come at you again. Or if the blob is below 50% they have to burn an order to get them back in the fight or it'll just run away. Found the Psyker's very handy addition.

That's my 2cents worth.

Regards B