Newbie needs help

[Emperors Immortals]

Hi guys.

 

Im starting an escalation league this week and have finally decided ill go with AM, or to old people like myself, Imperial Guard.

 

The first week is 500 pts, with 250 added every week after. Im going to be learning a lot of things all at once, and figure this is a pretty good opportunity to do it; this forum is supportive and knowledgable and I have wanted a guard army for many years now.

 

Anyway, its VASSAL so dont worry about cutting costs (awesome) and here is the basic idea I have for a 500 list;

 

Tank Commander w/ Russ (need advice on type)

2x Vet Squads W/ melta guns and shotguns

2x Armoured Sentinals w/ Plasma Cannons

Aegid defence line.

 

Pretty straight forward, I plant the tank behind the Aegis and shoot all my guns at a target, then repeat on the next one.

I need some feedback on what sort of Russ is best, I feel between teh plasma cannons and the Vets ive got close range and mid range anti-infantry pretty well covered, but havent played IG before.

 

Ill probably add in another Russ and some wyverns while also looking to add a platoon for scoring in the 2nd and 3rd weeks.

 

Thoughts and feedback very welcome :)

[WarriorFish]

A tank commander must have a second Russ in his squadron, plus sitting behind an Aegis might not be the best use of the tank in a small game - too easy your opponents to foil you or it takes up too many points protecting with troopers. That aside you'll need some mobility to move and engage the enemy which is also why I'd not bother with shotguns on the Vets. Too short ranged especially on foot, better to have Lasguns for a bit of longer ranged anti-infantry fire.

 

First change would be to drop the tank commander as he's too expensive for 500pts and will eat up most of your points. For future reference the best tanks for him are the direct fire ones to make the most of BS4 (Punisher is quite popular for a good reason), a Platoon and Wyverns would be good additions to the force along with Chimeras for your Vets so they can close in to melta range :)

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

Would agree with WarriorFish here.

 

If I may make an alternate list suggestion you could build something like this:

 

CCS 110

Medic 

Vox 

2 Plasma Guns 

 

Veteran Squad 95 / 205

Vox

2 Plasmas 

 

Veteran Squad 95 / 300

Vox 5

3 Meltas 

 

Plus either:

 

Leman Russ (of your choice - great at such low points as there is not much that can counter it) up to 200 points value. Any spare points spent on squad upgrades.

 

Or

 

Wyvern 65 / 365

 

2 Scout Sentinels 70 / 435

Heavy Flamers

 

Melta Vets have Chimera (for mobility) 65 / 500

[Emperors Immortals]

Thanks guys for the fast responses, I play BA and CSM mostly, so learning new tips is always fun!

 

@WArriorFish - I understand the direct fire idea here, ill try to apply it !

@Dark_Apostle_XVII - that does look more like what im interested in taking, thankyou.

 

How about this?

 

CCS 110 - medic, vox, x2 plasma

Vets 80 - 2x melta, vox

IP 145 - 2x falmer in CS

2x scout sentinals w/ HF 70

LR Vanquisher 135

 

To turn it into a more mobile army, with a main infantry blob (combined squads) supported by wyvern fire for anti-infantry and the vets for short range AV, Russ for main AV and TEQ duty and the CCS to try and plug any gaps in the lines, repel assaults etc.

 

Should I drop one sentinal and give the vets a chimera or taurox, also maybe swap the flamers on the CS to give them to the infantry squad for wall of death type stuff? I like the idea of 1 SS with a HF supporting the troops, but 2 is probably not as nesessary

 

Id really love a faster, more responsive cell type army ive sen you talk about @warriorfish

 

Ive had the codex since it came out and read it pretty well (and the 2 before that as well), its the lower BS that is making me nervous mostly, just not used to it. Though the idea of my troops dying to secure tactical objectives is really refreshing and freeing compared to marine armies, looking forward to it actually.

[march10k]

Here's my suggestion:  

 

CCS (naked)

 

2x Vets with autocannon and chimera

 

Demolisher

 

A demolisher at 500 points is CRAZY.  In the next 250 points, you'll want to convert the CCS into something useful (maybe some plasma and a chimera?) as well as giving the vets the forward sentries doctrine to enable you to park them in cover while their chimeras serve as your mobile scorers, empty.  That should still leave you the points for another unit, maybe a squadron of sentinels?

[WarriorFish]

I think a flamer on the infantry squads is a good idea, as is a Chimera or Taurox for the melta vets. For single Russes I think the specialised ones are better but the Vanquisher with BS3 isn't great at low points. A Demolisher as march says will be very nasty however, but you could also play about with other variants. For example an Eradicator would provide a neat anti-infantry package for a low cost and would replace the Sentinels giving you some points to play with.

 

Regarding having your army operate in cells that's difficult at 500pts as there's only so much to work with, so you'll probably end up splitting your army in half for a couple of cells or possibly three depending on the final unit count/type. For example you could have the Russ as the linchpin with a two cells running as satellites - infantry squad, vets/CS and a Sentinel in your list above.

[Emperors Immortals]

Okay, so I thought about what I want my army to be, and thats a core of troops running forward with a Russ.

 

Taking into consideration all the good advice, this is what ive come up with;

 

CCS, vox, 2 GL

IP, flamer on each IS

Vets, 2x melta gun, Taurox

Russ Eradicator

 

That should give me a fun army that can keep with the Russ, CCS can stay back a little and fire those GL to get a hit on enemy units and make the Eradicator more accurate (multiple blast markers rules) and IP can mob together and make use of flamers to repel assaults.

The eradicator will hurt most things, but kill anythign not MEQ or better (nice tip thanks!)and the extra blasts should help as well.

Meanwhile the Taurox can hopefully claim side armour or even speed of to an objective, even dropping the vets off and using the scoring transport for ObjSec.

 

 

Hoping this sounds pretty good?

 

@marck10k Demolisher love!, ill add one in my next expansion I think, I just dont want ot be to OP in the first round lol

@WarriorFish, im aiming to have a cell appraoch by aboutthe 1000-1250 pts range, until then it will consist of "mob up and kill all the things!"

[WarriorFish]

Sounds like a pretty good plan to me, remember to stay flexible as you know what they say about plans and contact with the enemy :P I wouldn't bother with a single Vox though as it's useless, put those points towards a flamer or something on the PCS :)

[march10k]

How about:

 

CCS, 2 GL

PCS, 2 GL
IS, flamer

IS, flamer
Vets, grenadiers doctrine, 2x melta gun, Taurox
Russ Eradicator, dozer blade, extra armor

 

500 points on the nose.

[Emperors Immortals]

@march10k - Love it! Ill post batreps etc as they happen, maybe even start some good background.

 

@warriorFish - Leson number one! the only other thing that ill try to remember is that its ok for guardsmen to die, as long as I win. Nice change from SM.