Coming back... IG 1000pts slow-grow list

[Rickus]

Hi all

 

After 8 years out of the hobby, I decided to take part in my gaming club's slow-grow league and brought my old IG back out of the closet and on to the table.

 

A lot has changed in 8 years... so I'm plenty rusty on this. Could this work as a fun list to get back into the swing of things, or am I going to be painfully trounced every time?

 

IG: CAD 1000pts

 

CCS

Medic, Autocannon team, Vox (although I see that this was a mistake as I don't have voxes elsewhere... doh!)

 

Tank commander

Command Executioner with Plasma sponsons

LRBT buddy

 

Veterans

Grenadiers doctrine

2 x Meltas

 

Infantry Platoon

PCS - Autocannon team

Squads 1 and 2 - Flamers (will blob these)

Squad 3 - Plasma gun, Autocannon

Conscripts x 25, plus Commissar at the back (of course)

 

Valkyrie

 

I'm thinking of loading the vets into the valk for a suicide melta squad, while the conscripts form a handy meat shield. PCS and CCS hang back for orders, hiding around / behind LRBT which will be my almost-but-not-quite artillery. Tank command to nuke heavier stuff.

 

What do you guys think?

 

[WarriorFish]

Welcome back to the hobby Rickus :tu: First thing to note is that our codex is a little older, so we're not the best out there but we can do well if you stick to what Guard does best. 1000pts gives you enough to play with and get a few ideas on the table which you've done, your troopers will be able to help protect your tanks as your Vets get up to mischief. I have a couple of ideas on improvements though, the Valk is little more than a transport without upgrades which is fine but the missile pods turn it into a respectable infantry hunter.

 

The Executioner isn't the best choice for a tank commander, as his BS4 is what you're really after so a direct fire Russ would be better. Ideally his buddy will complement him somehow, but with the split fire order it's not a big deal and he can always run as a shield for the commander! I like keeping my Platoons cheap too, they can do well tackling enemy infantry and holding/defending ground/units without breaking the bank :)

 

What colour scheme are your Guard in, do you have some pictures to share?

[Rickus]

Thanks for the warm welcome and feedback! You've made some excellent points - I've dropped the spurious vox and two conscripts to add the missile pod, and will switch the commander tank around.

My guard are all over the place, so I'm actually repainting them. I saw a lot of interesting discussion on this forum about alpine and urban schemes, and decided I'd start all over again from scratch (which will be quite the project...!). I'm thinking of an olive drab / grey mix, with plenty of dirty weathering. I'll post pics as soon as I have something to show

[WarriorFish]

I started my Guard over a few years ago, can be a lot of work but it's well worth it :tu: I look forward to seeing it :)

[Akrim]

Hey Rickus, nothing wrong with your list there. A couple tweaks I might suggest;

 

-CCS; that medic isn't going to do much for ya. If you can fit in a Chimera, consider Camo Gear to improve their cover save. I would probably also shift the plasma from that infantry squad to the CCS for the BS4 vs BS3.

 

-Commissars are less favourable these days. A Priest with Conscripts makes them a far more potent unit (see War Hymns).

 

-A third melta in the Vet squad could go a long way.

[Father Mehman]

Welcome back to the Guard, trooper! As you've been a deserter for 8 years you get to bunk with Pvt Carl. He's what we in the priesthood call "smelly".

Everything Lord Commissar WarriorFish said is correct. You'll find near everything he says is. When he's wrong? Well don't you dare tell him, guardsman! If he says the sky's pink, well, it looks like we have a pink sky from now on !

From my little understanding of things, Commissars can be great for Conscript units. I do like Akrim's idea of putting a Priest in there, though. That's mainly because I'll have a use again. Well, not me, but another of my standing will gladly lead your doughy boys to the front and make them men in the crucible of war.

As has already been said, I decided to redo my Guard, as well. Except I'm not so much redoing them as making a new company. They're the alpine ones you're talking about. They're called the Iron Rams although they don't have a company designation yet... I need to get on that pretty soon !

Anyway, post up some pictures when you get some. You can take your time. Just remember: we're an impatient lot when it comes to pictures.

Keep it up !

PS: We'll also need some fluffy backstory to go along with said pictures and your army as a whole. No rush but do get on that .

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I'll echo most of What WarriorFish and Akrim said. Though I disagree with the assertion that a priest is better than a Commissar in a conscript squad. The Problem a priest has is that he grants fearless, which is great if you want to tarpit a monstrous creature, or a nasty character, but not so good if you're foot slogging those conscripts as they can't go to ground. The Commissar grants Stubborn, which provides many of the same benefits as fearless, the unit may still go to ground. So really it depends what you're wanting those conscripts to do, as a foot slogging meatshield the Commissar is the better choice, but if you're looking for a tarpit, go for the priest.

 

You said this was a slow grow league, so this begs the question, how much guard do you have? Can we expect to see old models getting repainted, or are you adding new ones? Not that it matters, I'm just curious.

[Shamansky]

Comissars are better in gunline blob platoons holding positions in deployment zone with aegis defence line getting leadership boost for orders, very unlikely to runaway and still able to get 2+ cover save. Priests are better for expendable conscripts used as tarpit or fire magnet, add a psyker for those witch tricks and get a fearless 52 guys able to deconstruct an imperial knight or kick a space marines death star till it becomes a dead star.

[Rickus]

Hi folks

 

Again, thanks for the welcome. It's really great to see an active community, and of course getting advice from other players is priceless. 

 

Akrim: That's a great point. I don't own a chimera yet (three in the mail, though!), but will likely mechanise some or all of my command squads in the near future. I played my first game last night (more on that later) and my CCS were hit by something long-ranged and explodey (an ork gun of some kind), killing the HW team. That freaked them out enough that they failed their Ld check and literally ran off the table... A Chimera might help, I think?

 

Mehman: Private Carl and I already are getting along well. I've noticed that a lho stick or two help ward off the daemonic stink. I heard of a guy called Gunner Jurgen who had similar issues. I don't own a priest model yet (but I sense kitbashing in my future!). Can you combine commissars with priests as attachments? I'm very unclear on how that works.

 

On the same note, Ulrik and Shamansky, I'd originally intended this to be a literal meatshield (and it almost worked last night...). I'll play around with both, as I'm keen on just exploring options again. 

 

Regarding the slow-grow... it's a bit of both. I have an IG force which I built back then (100+ men, two LRs, bassies etc), but lacked transports, fliers and all the new toys. I'm adding new ones as well as painting both. It's been great so far.

[WarriorFish]

You can attach commissars and priests to the same unit, but it's probably better to just have one. Priests are also great for kitbashing that's how I did mine - as part of barracks painting events too no less ;)

 

Chimeras always help infantry survive, as well as adding some respectable fire power to a list. This can get pricey across an army though so it's not unusual to see them reserved for command squads and vets :)

[Akrim]

I'm willing to bet that was probably an Ork Shokk Attack gun if it came from infantry.

 

Yes as a rule of thumb I recommend taking a Chimera for CCS all the time. The Senior Officer orders are quite important. Also there is a lot of ignores cover weapons and dynamic deployment in 40k nowadays. Also if the Comnander is Warlord it's important to preserve that Victory Point.

[Shamansky]

And get a wyvern or two. They're amazzing!

[Rickus]

Update time!

 

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to play another game (yet) since my last post, but I have been painting like a maniac. I've always loved the armour of the Guard, so I've used some of my older tanks as an experiment with the scheme I'm considering. 

 

I'm still thinking about fluff. I've got a motley bunch of regiments (Cadians, Catechan, Tanith, Vostroyans... oh my!), and my original idea was a bunch of different forces involved in fighting in or around a hive. Lots of Armageddon-esque chem spills, urban fighting and corrosion. 

 

This is my progress so far - the LRBT, Executioner, Valkyrie. There's also a bit of my Hellhound in there. What do you guys think? 

 

(Hm. Images don't seem to be working... the Imgur link is http://imgur.com/a/xUKNP - am I doing something wrong here?) 

[Akrim]

Cool! Like that old school Hellhound in there.

 

Multi regiments is kind of a retro approach, I remember lots of Guard armies looking that way circa 1999-2001. Nothing wrong with it, sort of a band of last survivors regiment.