how to...

[Commissar Uri]

Are there any basic rules for building an all round army? Tau by contrast seem very one dimensional in comparison for army building. For example what's the min number of squads to take when making a mech army or blob? What units to avoid? Which units can only really do one job but do it very well? I know for example heavy flamers in squads and bolter are auto includes and pask in a punisher with an executioner as a squad mate.

[Frater Cornelius]

Nothing in IG is an auto-include or exclude. Not all units are performing at peak efficiency, but they are still useful in different builds. The internal balance is very great. So before angry IG players try to murder me, all are certainly usable in certain builds and might even be beneficial in certain scenarios, just not as great in all-comer lists as opposed to some alternatives.

Here are some units that perform exceptionally well (at least for me):

• Pask in Punisher with Plasmacutioner buddy (never regretted is)

• CCS in chimera with vox (amazing at tossing out orders)

• Taurox (very solid fire support and aggressive transport for Veterans)

• Wyvern (I'll marry that bloody thing soon enough)

• Priest (amazing in advancing blobs, maybe not as beneficial for aegis camping because they will not be able to go to ground)

• Primaris Psyker (I really underestimated the utility in mech lists, great as always in foot lists and cheap psychic defense)

Here are units I heard other people praise:

• Conscripts with Priests (very cheap bodies to do whatever you evil heart desires)

• Demolisher LR (I have not tried it yet but I might yet convince myself to do so)

• Techpriests to abuse PotMS (with hull-Heavy Flamer or Manticore Missiles)

An honourable mention goes to the Manticore. While I only played it once, it performed very well and I will try a few more times. It fits my theme and can, not unlike the Wyvern, drown squads in wounds as well as get a few guaranteed glances. The D3 shots per missile is what makes it tick for me. Buff with Prescience for maximal hilarity.

But going for the best units is not a way of building an IG army. There are so many possibilities in that Codex. Instead do this:

1. decide on a theme and see which units fit that theme

Taking me as an example: alpha strike/first turn pressure and mech. Many of my past games were decided by turn 2 because opponents expected longer games.

2. Now look for unit types that fit that theme. For me it would be anything mechanized that can shoot from 36" onwards.

3. After that, decide which units fit certain roles the best.

For anti-infantry I have Wyvern, they shoot 48" and massacre even Terminators with massive amount of wounds. For light AT, MC and 4+ or worse infantry I have 3 Taurox transport with TL-AC. For heavy AT I play either an Imperial Knight with his large blast Melta thing (30" effective melta range and 48" effective range with s9 ap1). I am considering the Manticore for some more large blast goodness at long range. At higher points I will also take Vanquishers to buff with Prescience.

4. To top it off, some general purpose units to add tactical flexibility, to round the list off with close ranged support and filling holes. For example, I was vulnerable to drop pods and opposing alpha strikes with only long ranged tanks. Units like Pask and Veterans can provide that mid/backfield security for me.

Pask is an everything-killer. Though only 24" range (30" effective range, but most of the time he is in range turn 1). Plasmacutioner rips apart infantry and can put some hurt on light tanks and MC. Melta Veterans in Tauroxes to deal with MC, light infantry and tanks. They also keep me save from enemy alpha strikes as they can light up enemy drop pod units and DS terminators and the likes fairly well with orders.

5. In the end I would recommend force multipliers. CCS can buff melta veterans to a level where they surpass Tactical squads. Primaris Psyker can toss around divination powers. Even seen a squad being cursed with Misfortune (all shots against them have Rending special rule) and a Wyvern ignoring cover pounding 15 wounds with around 5 rending ones into them? Ouch.

The trick is, stick with a theme and look for suitable units instead looking for the best units and building a theme around them. march10k on this forum made some money-stomp lists that had a different strategy than mine, but were very effective. Where he prefers aerial assault, I prefer having everything on turn 1 to maximize alpha strike potential, where he likes a lot of super scoring units and/or super scoring Chimeras, I prefer fewer ones that can deny enemy objectives in the mid and front in favour of more aggressive heavy weapon spam and pie plates.

6. If all else fails, build a themed list and have fun

As for how many to take of what? That comes down to intuition and play testing. I am still unclear whether to take a 4th veteran squad. For now I can handle thing with 3 just fine. Taking too little of something is just as bad as taking too much. Try to see whether all the bases are covered. If you are lacking in certain departments like AT or anti hordes, fill up that area. Some people play 1 50 man platoon and split it up while others run 2x 30 man and keep them together. Ask yourself what their task is, how likely it is that you are going to encounter that specific scenario and how many units would be needed to solve it on a timely and pleasing fashion. 2x 10man squads are not going to secure the midfield. 2x 50 is just going to be crowded are hard to maneuver. 15 Lascannons are overkill to deal in a transport filled meta, while 2 are not enough if you are facing a lot of tank. Look at the things you can encounter and build lists accordingly.

Be flexible! That is a big part in victory. Look at my list again: why do I play Taurox and not AC sentinels or HWT? Because it is also a transport. If the enemy has less shooting and advances, I can hang back. But if I face an armoured gunline or dangerous shooting units, I flatout forward to deliver juicy meltas. Granted, Wyvern can only attack infantry, but it does it so well and is so cheap, you are not hurt when there are fewer targets for it.

Aaaaand, that's all I got.

[WarriorFish]

Balance is always key I think, a good all rounder force usually performs best. There aren't any units in the Guard codex which are outright bad - not as good as they should be yes but far from unusable. The flexibility and options we have are great and one of the many reasons why Guard are a fantastic army to collect :D

 

I'm moving this topic to the main IG section where it belongs and will also get more responses :)