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Newbie returning to the world of 40k


Neely

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Hi everyone!

 

I have just decided to return to the world of 40k after about a 15 year break, back then I used to play chaos. I'm looking to start up an imperial guard army this time around but I don't know where to start.

I'm looking at building about a 1500-2000 point army. My knowledge of the game and IG is almost nothing so any help is urgently needed.

 

As for a colour scheme I was thinking something dark and mean looking but I'm pretty open so suggest away, I'm off to get the codex and start my journey.

Firstly, welcome back to the game!

 

Do you have the relevant codex and rulebook to hand?

 

I have created a Codex review that should hopefully get you started. It can be found here http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/299630-an-astra-militarumimperial-guard-foc-review-for-all-players/?do=findComment&comment=3885399

Welcome back to the hobby Neely, and more importantly to the Guard and B&C! biggrin.png First thing to do is decide what models you might like to use, most people go for Cadian as they have the best support in model ranges but there's quite a bit of choice. Don't forget our very own painter that you can use to test colour schemes on smile.png

Much has changed in the 15 years since you've played, are there any questions in particular you might have about this? The current Guard codex (and the previous one) is a solid one, not top tier but certainly not one of the weaker books. The strength it has is in the sheer variety of things you can do, we're one of the best when it comes to versatility in army styles and builds and that's before you consider Unbound armies!

The core concepts of the Guard are numbers and fire power, that's our strength and what we can do better than anyone else. Get your army elements working in concert and you'll find your combined arms will prove a tough nut to crack plus it's a great way to implement some clever tactics. That's not to say a strongly themed list wouldn't work either - armoured companies, artillery and infantry corps and more - if you can imagine it the Guard can mostly likely do it biggrin.png

Do you have any idea what you might like to build? Starting off with infantry is always a good move, then you can break it down into Platoons or Veteran squads if you'd like. There's lots of veterans here, from the smallest of Kill Teams to the massive apocalypse there's a commander here with plenty of experience in it so any question you have will be answered thumbsup.gif

Last but far from least, as baz said when do we get to see your regiment's WIP topic? msn-wink.gif

I'm thinking of going with Cadian as I like the sculpts, I don't really know much other then that, I've been looking in the codex and like the bullgryn. I will start my First model tonight and post some photos for everyone, I'm thinking of maybe dark grey coats with red trim.

I'm just looking at the massive choice of tanks does anyone have any advice on them?

Great as tanks are they've vulnerable to assault so an infantry escort greatly increases their survivability, they're also better at capturing objectives. You can't beat the general durability of Guard armour nor their mighty guns so it's a good match. There's no magic ratio of infantry to armour, it's a mix of what you think you can get away with and what you feel you need :P

 

As for what vehicles to take, it depends on what your list requires. Fast Attack provides some light and medium armour with some potent abilities when used in the right places and of course Heavy Support has a plethora of heavy tanks. There's almost literally a Russ for every occasion, and the artillery does exactly what it says on the tin. When in doubt take the standard Russ as it's versatile and can turn to most targets well enough, and the Demolisher may be short ranged but packs one hell of a punch. The Eradicator is cheap and extremely effective against all but heavy infantry and the Exterminator tackles medium armour and infantry well. If you've got super heavy infantry style problems, then the Executioner's plasma will solve that for you!

 

The Punisher and Vanquisher are capable enough, but better taken as a HQ tank which is another post in itself ;) Have a read through the tank list and let us know if any take your fancy, or if you have a particular role you'd like a tank to perform and I'm sure we can point you in the right direction :tu:

The Taurox is a new addition, and it has not been well received by many. Most like myself find its armour too low for the price tag, and others think it looks ugly and/or not matching the 40k aesthetic. They can work though, but need to be taken in number and used appropriately. The Chimera is arguably easier to use and a better tank generally speaking, so for starting out I'd look at getting one or two Chimera first - they can also let command squads issue orders from inside which is a big difference for lists making good use of infantry.

A few Russ tanks will form a solid backbone to your force, with a bit of magnetising you can swap the variants out too smile.png Along with a Bassie you could have a potent fire base to build on. Bullgryns are a bit niche, but better than Ogryns so I'd recommend looking at them once you've build up your trooper and tank number a bit first. Ratlings are on the same boat, they're a great way to spend some floating points and can give you great returns with some good rolling but best considered as an addition to an existing army. Once again Psykers are another additional unit but require knowledge of the psychic powers before you can find a place for them.

Best to start with the basics - get some troopers and a command squad and go from there, then once you have a bit of a core built up you can look at the toys biggrin.png

That's a great core that will serve you very well! You might want to add a command squad box for the extra command bits, plus it's a great kit for bits and pieces especially for creating Veteran squads. It will be worth getting one of the box sets, for example the Cadian Defence Force as they offer savings over buying individually and will provide much of what you need. In fact a couple of them will almost complete your shopping list plus if you purchase from an online reseller you can save even more money! My preferred internet store currently is Element Games, but there is a "Dark Sphere" or some such I've heard of in London (and I think I passed it once) - shop around and see what you can find :)

Thanks for all the help, I now have a better idea of what I need. My shopping list now consists of

 

2x chimera

3x leman russ

1x basilisk

5x box of infantry

 

Anything I'm missing?

You could save a little bit by buying the Cadian Defense Force boxed set.

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Cadian-Defence-Force

 

The one click bundles they have on their web store are all full price, but the boxed sets like this one will be cheaper than buying the units separately. And if you want to buy from a local store, they will usually have these on the shelf or can order them for you, too.

 

I started off with 2 of those boxes and used every model in them. You would just need to add a basilisk and your 3rd Leman Russ to have the force you are building.

That looks good to me! I will get 1 at the end of the month on payday £75 each at triple helix. Now I just need to learn to play and to find someone to play against, trying to talk my girlfriend in to playing but she's having none of it lol

Visiting your local GW never hurts, you could get a introduction game to 7th as well as potentially source some local clubs along with their gaming schedule. You could also drop in on the community section to see if there are any games nearby, plus there's always a google search :)

Just got the codex and Officious Prefectus Commissar. Thanks for the codex review it should be helpful.

Hopefully it will be helpful. It gives a general overview of each unit to aid choosing what to use.

 

Your starting blocks sound good though I would choose a Wyvern over a basilisk. Peraonal choice though.

Why the Wyvern? The whole shrapnel bit sounds good.

I'm thinking of running my 3 leman Russ as punishers and maybe putting Pask in 1, but I'm not sure if he would be worth the points

Wyvern are death incarnate to most infantry due to having 4 very accurate small blast templates with re-rolls for wounding normally causing lots of wounds.

 

Pask in a Punisher is arguably his best method of deployment. rending and re-rolling 1's due to his warlord trait are great.

 

3 x punishers would definitely through lots of wounds down but are limited due to having a range of 24".

This kind of quality advice almost makes me want to dump Space Marines and join the Guard! biggrin.png If only Vostroyans were plastic/Catachans had sculpts as good as some of the old ones...

Just another Tuesday here in the barracks msn-wink.gif We're all waiting for new plastics for the various regiments too...

You Bullgryn looks to be coming along well, you should create a WIP topic here and post the pictures to is so people can follow your progress, it also lets people post questions and advice. Let me know if you need any help getting the images from your gallery into the topic :)

The Wyvern is cheap and very effective against infantry, though it doesn't hit particularly hard the number of shots and re-rolls it gets means it can batter through almost any save, even Marines will fall under the relentless barrage. A couple of Wyverns is a modest cost and will reliably punish any infantry they target as scats says!

Punishers are useful but somewhat niche, they don't perform well as a main line tank as they handle infantry and that's something Guard can do very well anyway. I don't think you'd ever want more than 2 Punishers, though with some magnetising that's less of an issue :D Pask is worth it if you have the points for him, he makes any tank good but the Punisher especially. Keep in mind that the Russ in the Defence Force box is the standard one, you'll need the Demolisher kit to build a Punisher.

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