Spec-Op/Recon IG help

[Daemon2027]

Hey guys

 

I have decided to incorporate my IG into my HH stuff (thus making them IA - arghh to many initials). To do this I want to make them fit in with the theme of my Heresy era Alpha Legion. Now just to tangent a little, im very much a background gamer and a modeler,over competitive armies (although I do try and make them fun to play with), and while I do plan for my Alphas to have large tactical squads, awesome tanks, contemptors and all the other goodies FW sell, for now I am sticking with a Infiltration-Recon force backed up with some light infantry to act as shock troops. And I want my Imperial Army to reflect this, which means leaving out, for now at least) some of the better Imperial Guard stuff (like tanks :( ) , and going for a spec-op, recon theme.

 

The problem is I am having a few difficulties trying to work what units to take, and wondered if you there was anyone here who could suggest what would be good to take and on theme.)

 

Troops is the only area i think I have nailed - Veterans. I was thinking I could use the doctrines to make some specialised unites e.g shotguns, grenade launchers and the demolitions doctrine feels like a cool spec-op unit, and there is also the camo-cloak doctrine (and sniper rifles...) which feels 'fluffy'. But should I mount them in a Chimera? or a Valkyrie (I plan to have storm eagles and Raptors in my XXth Legion so Imperial Army air cav could work).

Past that I am stuck. For HQ i feel a command squad would be best but the Primus Psyker could make for a cool agent. Elite I was thinking Stormtroopers and maybe Marbo (again another cool agent conversion). Fast attack and heavy I have no idea. I like the idea of Rough Rider but really don't think they fit. Maybe if I have the Chimera's, Hellhounds and co. but again not sure how well it fits.

 

So any one who can help me in waging war against the Emperor/Horus/Alpharius/Omegon would be much appreciated.

[Argun]

Hmm... Well, as I see it, why not have various Veteran squads kitted out in specialized roles? IE: snipers for targeting important guys with the AL recon squads, grenadiers in chimeras for fast objective-taking, and then suicide squads with demolition charges/meltabombs who have displeased the Legion?

 

Fast attack, I'd definitely say take hellhounds and/or valkyries/vendettas. Sentinels might make for some nice flavor as well, but not entirely sure how that'd work fluff-wise.

 

For heavies, well, I'm kinda biased because I'm an IG artillery guy so I'd always recommend those.

 

HQ: definitely the command squad. Orders are a Imperial Guardsman's best friend in these dark days. Possibly have a Alpha Legionnaire as a Straken counts-as?

 

Elite: definitely go for a Marbo-esque guy, as it'd be quite interesting to see. 

[lionofjudah]

Love me some themed armies and IM excited as well for an IA for 30k! For what you are describing I think the Aircav vets are the way to go.

Id have CCS with GL's and a  Medic, Psykers....dont know how well the AL tolerated them (fluffwise).

Vet squads with shottys and GL's and demo's riding in vendettas/ valks with a vulture gunship providing support over a vet squad or 2 of snipers in camo cloaks providing cover for the AL recon guys. 

Storm troopers are kinda meh when compared to vets and Rambo....I mean Marbo is always a good time!

Reason for GL's all around is that the IA arent there to take obj or necessarily be super killy but to provide distraction and blunting force for the AL.

Looking forward to seeing your army come together man!

[Daemon2027]

Thanks for your help guys. Have a clear picture forming in my head now. Still not sure on the heavies though. Would love to have some artillery just need it to look mobile enough to be set up by a mobile force.

 

I think Psykers would be ok. In the legion post Nikea the librarians were reabsorbed into structure, but there abilities were used if needed. It seems a lot of the time there powers were kept secret from thier comrades. Also in Serpents Beneath they use Psykers to fuel the Tenebrae array (against their will but still), and also recruited a 'witchbreed' in the operation to bring it down. I think may be an attached Astropath to the command squad would be enough though.

 

I like the idea of Straken, could be a Marine in scout armour. Maybe I could do Harker in a similar way. Marbo could also be anything, from a 'half' astartes to a highly trained agent. Maybe his background could hint at something more 'perpetual' about him ;)

 

Maybe I could mix Chimeras and Vendettas, the chimeras being pathfinders the Vendettas being the kill team.

[Argun]

If you're looking for mobile artillery, look no further than the IG: Codex. Our artillery is on treads! What more could you want? Artillery on legs?

What kind of artillery are you looking for? Short range: use the Medusa. Long range, either colossi, or basilisks.

[lionofjudah]

ive got straken & harker sporting marine armour in my guard army, marbo is an assasin

looks good on the table and carries the fluff well

[depthcharge12]

If you feel truly manly, then you should make the Geno Two-Five Chiliad out of vostroyan models ;)

 

 

 

if you dont feel manly enough, but want something cool and spec ops, choose the elysians as they do grav chute and drop inserts and are highly specialized

[Brother Paen]

I like the theme. Vets as a troop choice is perfect  but I think for an  extra  layer of sneaky you should add conscripts. These would represent locally recruited militia/insurgents used as a distraction force. Make the unit big and full of rag tag  fighters ( i'd  use the cultists from Dark Heresy).  Capt Al-Raheem out-flanking with a bunch of plasma is also a great surprise to enemies.  Fast should be the Valks and Vendettas, hellhounds would look cool racing in to supprt the insurgents. As for heavies Arty seems the most logical, spec ops usually has fire support available. .

[hendrik]

please remember that even the armoured battalions have reconnaissance units!

here's an overview of the 19th konig armoured regiment and all units related to reconnaisance:

 

-Armoured reconnaissance: 3 sentinels

-armoured reconnaisance company:
       company HQ: salamanter command vehicle
        armoured reconnaisance squadron 4 x salamander scout vehicle
        armoured reconnaisance squadron 4 x sentinel

 

now obviously, any 40k battle from 750 pts onwards is already a larger engagement and thus would easely overcome the "no heavy tank rules". for example the leman russ annihilator is actually rather fast, as are the hellhound,devildog and chemdog!
personally i'dd like to field at least 1 (armoured) platoon, if only for the fact to have more scoring bodies. Veterans always are worse then marines so in my opinion i would leave the specialised stuff for the (chaos) marines while the imperial guard delivers the scoring bodies

[FashaTheDog]

Take Creed.  It fits just perfect that his tactical genius is sufficient to work 10,000 in his past.

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2010/5/27/108378-Creed,%20Humor,%20Reaver,%20Titan.jpg

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/080/722/1242252825237.jpg

[Argun]

Creed's always a good choice, as he can give any unit (that isn't cavalry/MC) scout. Still hasn't been FAQ'd AFAIK, so it works on allies!

I love it when he makes some Leman Russes outflank. Going to have to try flanking a Warlord this coming apocalypse... because that is totally legal as well!

[WarriorFish]

Creeeeeeeed!</mandatory>

 

He'd be a good way to get some sneaking in, but a bit expensive for it. I reckon the Fast Attack slot is what you want along with Veteran squads. Mount some in Chimeras to assault the enemy as your Scout Sentinels stalk in from the flanks to take down high priority targets. A Hellhound/variant or two would also be good support to your Chimera assaults.

[Daemon2027]

Thanks for the ideas guys. The run up to Christmas has left me with little time for modelling so haven't had much time to think about this but I got a load of vouchers for GW so will be turning my attention back to the IG.

 

I'm thinking of dropping the Alpha Legion associating and root them back into 40k, just so I can go off the codex, and write some cool background, plus I can tie in some inquisitor stuff I'm working on.

 

The other thing I was thinking was having them as a combat engineer unit, I was briefly in the a Royal Engineers (got injured during phase 2 training which was misdiagnosed, got worse until in phase 3 I medically discharged), so I think it would be cool to do. Think all I would just have to give all the infantry lots of extra gear to show there extra training as sappers, plus I can keep them mechanised (fast response) and have enginseers as well. Also the DKoK engineers could be converted into something cool like vets or storm troopers or something.

[WarriorFish]

That's Christmas for you, always getting in the way of important things :P I like your plan for them, sounds like it'll be pretty cool. Engineers are a good excuse to really load the models up with extras!

[walter h]

Sounds great. I was wondering what your thirty k vision would be, but this is even better. Approaching this from your own history,will make this an interesting build. I have been thinking of something similer. I am a Navy,alumnist myself,and I have been considering a I.G ,force with Imperial Navy,connections.Think ,Seabees,with Seals(Storm Troopers). I can't use ,Marines of course,but maybe a shore defense force,or rapid reaction force. I could incorporate, a squad of  S.M. for fluff.

[Daemon2027]

I'm wondering if I should just do combat engineers for one infantry platoon. They could go with the artillery, helping to dig them in. Not sure on the Enginseer, there more REME.

 

Fluff question, I know the IG regiments are just recruited once from a planet, and once there gone there gone (with the exception of special circs, and merging other regiments), but are these regiments multi purpose. What I mean is, they must take a lot of men, do they then train them in different areas, so some become gunners for the artillery, some, are trained to crew armour, some become pure logistical support. Or do they say this is an infantry unit, next tithe will all be tanks.

 

Do you think I can have my HQ in a different style. I'm thinking of using the Vostroyan HQ as the base for my HQ. Would it look odd, next to my more cadian style troops (still working on the look, but don't want to over FW this project).

 

Sounds great. I was wondering what your thirty k vision would be, but this is even better. Approaching this from your own history,will make this an interesting build. I have been thinking of something similer. I am a Navy,alumnist myself,and I have been considering a I.G ,force with Imperial Navy,connections.Think ,Seabees,with Seals(Storm Troopers). I can't use ,Marines of course,but maybe a shore defense force,or rapid reaction force. I could incorporate, a squad of  S.M. for fluff.

 

You could still do marines, just can't call them space marines. Guess they would work like the RAF regiment, seizing and defending airbases and the like.

[RolandTHTG]

I'm wondering if I should just do combat engineers for one infantry platoon. They could go with the artillery, helping to dig them in. Not sure on the Enginseer, there more REME.

Fluff question, I know the IG regiments are just recruited once from a planet, and once there gone there gone (with the exception of special circs, and merging other regiments), but are these regiments multi purpose. What I mean is, they must take a lot of men, do they then train them in different areas, so some become gunners for the artillery, some, are trained to crew armour, some become pure logistical support. Or do they say this is an infantry unit, next tithe will all be tanks.

Generally the planet is just required to provide X regiments. Ones that specialize in certain things might produce a regiment of only that (catachan or tanith infantry, Steel legion armored units, Atilla rough riders, etc) but it is also common for them to make combined-arms units, depending on local system resources. Kreig produces everything, Tallaran gives both infantry and armored vehicles, what ever the planet feels that it can provide for their tithe.

You could still do marines, just can't call them space marines.

Guess they would work like the RAF regiment, seizing and defending

airbases and the like.

Call them Combat Batallions, the fighting SeeBees!

(yes, I know those were origionally Construction Batallions, but "First we dig 'em, then we die in 'em")

[WarriorFish]

The God-Emperor's Imperium is a vast place, and of the innumerable regiments of His hammer there is untold variation. Regiments that are depleted tend to be merged, this can even be with completely different armies and has lead to flexible and successful reformings. It really couldn't be much easier customising your Guard, so much so that most of the time I'd wager you wouldn't even need to come up with a reason for it!

 

For your different command units you could have it that they're drawn from the nobility, who prefer to wear their traditional combat gear or something like that.

[walter h]

Thanks ,I thought I might ,and You could I believe use the Vostroyans ,as Command . It depends on the fluff,your vision of the world they come from ,or system. I'd suggest looking at Kier's, he has developed his qwn world to the point you can almost picture a visit there. The Vostroyan style, could be just the ,command, this would definately set them apart from the standard trooper.They could even be from separate continents of the same world,or segments of society.