Possibility of tank list

[exsonics]

Hello all

I just purchased CDF set. Starting from this, I begin to purchase and build my army - an armored company. CBG / Formation detach / ABG (IA01e2) are my interests and possible future lists... for now. Depending on points, I hope to roll 5~10 tanks under air cover or arty cover, or small amount of allies (SM, IK, Inq...) Mechanized veterans will be included my list time to time, but mainly I wish to play with tanks.

I'm curious. How far the tank list can reach? For fun game, armored list fulfills my main objective - have fun with rolling lots of tanks. In competitive match, however, with the numerous obvious weak points of armored lists, I may only able to stand for a few turns against cheesy armies. Not to mention about Necrons, the more I read and watch the battle reports, the more negative expectations to armored army.

I personally want to challenge to this barrier, but don't know about the direction. It seems that the tactics and strategies will heavily depend on mission and my opponent, but I'm curious are there any general 101 to do or not to do lists for armored list. For example, like 'how to deal with skimmers and fast movers, or psykers with tons of warp charges', 'Offensive or defensive play with tank list', 'When to choose Offensive upgrade or defensive upgrade' .....

I googled and searched for youtube, but I could't find any useful "armored list tactica" for IG army. Are there any good "Leman Russ Tank army tactika" pages?

Welcomes any advises for a beginner. Thank you

[WarriorFish]

Much depends on your meta of course, but that's true of all things. I'm currently working on a sort of Russ tactica, just got to finish it off. It's more a primer on the tanks and basics though but should still be useful if I can find the time to complete it. As for a full armoured company it is powerful as you'd expect but comes with significant drawbacks. You'd be low on numbers, which reduces your tactical options (such as targets for shooting) and means you have more eggs in fewer baskets. Each loss will hurt badly and reduce you capabilities.

The main issue is that tanks are vulnerable to assault, even the mighty Russ can be taken out by standard units (think kraks from Marines). So in that regard perhaps the first "to do" is to accept that you're going to be more susceptible to the natures of lists so you'll likely be either winning or losing big with little grey in between! Your primary concern should be mitigating your weaknesses as much as possible, to me that would be making sure you squeeze every unit and point for its worth.

For example short of important/useful upgrades I'd keep units stock so you can get more in and the loss of one will hurt less. Cheaper support units will be great, you can take Sentinels to both match your army theme as well as provide some numbers and crucially infantry like abilities such as being able to hold enemies in combat. Tactically your few options means it's relatively simple - keep mobile and adapt to your enemy and apply the pressure and dice as much as possible. Your target priorities will be essential for victory, but be aware your limited options means it won't be too difficult for your opponent to predict what's coming next.

Overall it's about efficiency so keeping that in mind would be a good start Armoured companies might not be the "best" or "most reliable" of lists but they're right there at the top for coolest

[duz_]

I'd probably be considered a naysayer when it comes to using battle tanks in competitive play.

This is based on my personal experience on both ends of the spectrum.

 

If you're willing to try it all the best although I think to have a shot you really want to be play 2000pts especially if you want to run the Montka battle tank formation or Steel Host.

 

Like WF said you need to be aware of its limitations an either expect rock / paper / scissor games or compensate some how.

 

Having said all that The Long War recently had a knock out tournament where the runner up played a steel host formation. You might want to watch that series on YouTube for ideas?

[greycat]

You can run a lot of tanks for a competitive army but you do really need some infantry as well to just soak up charges and take objectives. Playing a full Armoured Company requires you to completely destroy incoming threats as, for example, even 1 or 2 marines with krak grenades can ruin your day. Terrain is a problem as it can immobilise you and while you can spend points for equipment you really need to save those points to maximise units.

 

Unit selection is important. Its no good having just blast weaponry for example because there are quite a few single models which could take the hit and walk through to crush your tanks in combat. Things like wraithlords/knights, characters, etc. You need a varied selection. The basic russ is the workhorse but you still need other units.

 

Target selection and target priority is very important when playing. Make sure you use your large blasts first to maximise hits on a unit then use punishers, executioners or exterminators to finish the unit off. Also use the correct weapon against the correct unit. You may have a terminator unit barreling towards your regular russ but it would be more efficient to target the marines in the open. Chances are the terminators will destroy your russ anyway so better to delete a unit than kill a single terminator.

 

Sponsons are also basically useless on any russ with a gun with the ordinance rule. It is a waste of points and should only be given to russes with the heavy rule for their main gun as they will be able to fire everything.

 

When running my 1850 army i have 5 russes. 2 regular, pask in a punisher, a demolisher and an eradicator. It gives me options to take on any unit.

 

What points limit are you looking at and what armies do you regularly play against?

[exsonics]

Much depends on your meta of course, but that's true of all things. I'm currently working on a sort of Russ tactica, just got to finish it off. It's more a primer on the tanks and basics though but should still be useful if I can find the time to complete it. As for a full armoured company it is powerful as you'd expect but comes with significant drawbacks. You'd be low on numbers, which reduces your tactical options (such as targets for shooting) and means you have more eggs in fewer baskets. Each loss will hurt badly and reduce you capabilities.

The main issue is that tanks are vulnerable to assault, even the mighty Russ can be taken out by standard units (think kraks from Marines). So in that regard perhaps the first "to do" is to accept that you're going to be more susceptible to the natures of lists so you'll likely be either winning or losing big with little grey in between! Your primary concern should be mitigating your weaknesses as much as possible, to me that would be making sure you squeeze every unit and point for its worth.

For example short of important/useful upgrades I'd keep units stock so you can get more in and the loss of one will hurt less. Cheaper support units will be great, you can take Sentinels to both match your army theme as well as provide some numbers and crucially infantry like abilities such as being able to hold enemies in combat. Tactically your few options means it's relatively simple - keep mobile and adapt to your enemy and apply the pressure and dice as much as possible. Your target priorities will be essential for victory, but be aware your limited options means it won't be too difficult for your opponent to predict what's coming next.

Overall it's about efficiency so keeping that in mind would be a good start Armoured companies might not be the "best" or "most reliable" of lists but they're right there at the top for coolest

Thank you. I will wait for your Russ tactica. So, the key of armored company should be the survivality and mobility. I thought it would be important to have some defensive upgrade, but maybe it would be better to just increase the number of tank. I will keep in mind that :) If you have some time after Russ tactica, would you please write something about armored company game play? Thanks :)

I'd probably be considered a naysayer when it comes to using battle tanks in competitive play.

This is based on my personal experience on both ends of the spectrum.

If you're willing to try it all the best although I think to have a shot you really want to be play 2000pts especially if you want to run the Montka battle tank formation or Steel Host.

Like WF said you need to be aware of its limitations an either expect rock / paper / scissor games or compensate some how.

Having said all that The Long War recently had a knock out tournament where the runner up played a steel host formation. You might want to watch that series on YouTube for ideas?

Thank you. Well, I know that the armored company would be very hard to survive in tournament, but glad to hear that someone scored a good hunting with Steel Host. I'm really curious about his list. I will check the youtube. Thanks

You can run a lot of tanks for a competitive army but you do really need some infantry as well to just soak up charges and take objectives. Playing a full Armoured Company requires you to completely destroy incoming threats as, for example, even 1 or 2 marines with krak grenades can ruin your day. Terrain is a problem as it can immobilise you and while you can spend points for equipment you really need to save those points to maximise units.

Unit selection is important. Its no good having just blast weaponry for example because there are quite a few single models which could take the hit and walk through to crush your tanks in combat. Things like wraithlords/knights, characters, etc. You need a varied selection. The basic russ is the workhorse but you still need other units.

Target selection and target priority is very important when playing. Make sure you use your large blasts first to maximise hits on a unit then use punishers, executioners or exterminators to finish the unit off. Also use the correct weapon against the correct unit. You may have a terminator unit barreling towards your regular russ but it would be more efficient to target the marines in the open. Chances are the terminators will destroy your russ anyway so better to delete a unit than kill a single terminator.

Sponsons are also basically useless on any russ with a gun with the ordinance rule. It is a waste of points and should only be given to russes with the heavy rule for their main gun as they will be able to fire everything.

When running my 1850 army i have 5 russes. 2 regular, pask in a punisher, a demolisher and an eradicator. It gives me options to take on any unit.

What points limit are you looking at and what armies do you regularly play against?

Thank you. I wish the air / arty cover or SM/Inq/GK/IK allies would be helpful to compensate the weak points, but I agree that meat shield guardsmen would be greatly helpful. Anyway, air / arty cover will be there always. My plan for tanks is the mixing of BT / Demolisher / Vanquisher, and depending on the opponent or list type, punishers, executioners or eradicators will be used as well. Maybe CBG with Pask + buddy executioner + Emperors fist formation (mixed tanks) and one or two cheap IG or SM flyers? ABG also might be a good choice, since I can field tanks in troop as CAD. I could use good allies here too. I'm considering 1500pt, 1850pt, and 2000pt. I'm just a beginner so this is a planing stage, but this would be important for my budget plan. Ppl in my LGS enjoy wide range of armies, from various SM chapters to Aliens like eldar or tau.

[WarriorFish]

I'm afraid I won't be completing it until next week at the earliest, but it should give you a good foundation to build your own expertise on as well as invite more from others If you're interested I wrote a Tactica Generalis intro to Guard and playing, the Tactica Russ will be along the same sort of idea/theme. Whatever you need the barracks has you covered, with at least one skilled and experienced commander for every style of play - that's a WarriorFish guarantee

Just don't forget the most important thing: pictures of your tanks in your WIP

[exsonics]

I'm afraid I won't be completing it until next week at the earliest, but it should give you a good foundation to build your own expertise on as well as invite more from others If you're interested I wrote a Tactica Generalis intro to Guard and playing, the Tactica Russ will be along the same sort of idea/theme. Whatever you need the barracks has you covered, with at least one skilled and experienced commander for every style of play - that's a WarriorFish guarantee

Just don't forget the most important thing: pictures of your tanks in your WIP

Take your time, we can wait. And of course, I'm still studying your tactica :) Well, it will take some time, but I will not forget to update my WIP :) Thank you

[Disciple of Caliban Sgt]

Exonics,

 

I've played lots of air cav lists and I can tell you they are very similar to armored lists (proxied through a friend a few times.) As stated win big or lose big. Huge glaring problems if you get the wrong match. You can wipe an opponent in one to two rounds if the luck is with you and the don't have a good list for it (some ork lists come to mind.) However on the other side of things very very fun to play if you have the right opponent and like "fun" games less hard core tournament style. I found when playing these lists it is best to create a scenario so your opponent has a fighting chance (tanks are defenders, flyers can't be all vendettas etc.) This allows fun for both players and allows for some epic games.

Example my second air cav game my friend stated he never had seen guard played so offensively. Think rhino rush with Valkyries. Losses were terrible (this is back in 5th before what my Game group likes to call blood bath edition), however it was a lot of fun for both of us and some epic moments. Guardsman flaming a Lord of Change to death. Demo charging a Demon Engine to oblivion. Shooting the poo out of some units and watching half my Valk's go up in flames. Ahhhh good times. Anyway when I get money I intend to build a tank list as well so Mr. Fish better get on his tactica so I can learn me somethin (appreciate all the hard work Warriorfish look forward to it).