New IG Toe Dabbler; where to start

[9x19 Parabellum]

I gave in to temptation and picked up a Cadian Armored Fist box the other day with 10 guardsmen and a Chimera.  I also picked up 2 sentinels, because...I love the models.

 

I'm primarily going to be building out some guard units as an augment to my space marines (Blood Angels and Raven Guard).  I like guard for filling out cheap bodies.  9 power for 30 guardsmen! Same power gets me 10 tacticals. 

 

Any suggestions on how/what to get, how to build them?  For example I'm considering the flamer as a heavy weapon on the sentinels since they only hit on 5+ if they move. 

[Sawtooth]

The Start collecting box is a good deal. You're going to want commisars and officers to make your infantry really shine. What role do you want your guardsmen to play to complement your marines?

 

Also, are you getting scout or armored sentinels?

[Galron]

Flamer sentinels work well for DS denial bubbles since they get that free 9" scout move before the game begins. I played power points my intro game to 8th and haven't looked at them since.

 

Now that you have some infantry and the sentinels, purposely ignoring the chimera, think about what kind of army you want. Light infantry, Airborne infantry, I guess mech infantry, artillery support for your marines, or spankers, err tankers. There's also conscript armies that are all the rage with the netlisters right now. Not a fan and find their use boring and unimaginative. Light infantry can overwhelm your opponent with lasguns and heavy weapons teams. Airborne infantry, pick up scions, Valkyries and yes, more infantry, sentinels too. Mortars are a great cheap unit for both of these types of armies. 27 points each for 3d6 str 4 no LOS shots. Other heavy weapons work too, although you would do well to add HQs to mind them and give orders.

 

Mech infantry is you guessed it, chimera-borne infantry supported by tanks. Lots of vehicles and guns. I have the models to pull it off but frankly I find it a dull army to play. Its very common and ends up being shoot shoot shoot, then a turn of moving. I rarely see a mech player leaving their deployment zone until the end of the game. Too many reasons not to.

 

Spankers, errr tankers, I was in mech infantry, those guys never left their tracks except to send the driver to grab chow, I don't know what they did all day. Anyway, tank commanders leading squadrons of tanks. A very common army type.

 

Artillery, yeah I said mech infantry was boring(and I am one) and artillery doesn't sound much better, but oh it is. Tanks may have guns, but here are your big guns especially if you push into FW territory and collect some of their big guns. Sit back, drop the tubes and direct fire basilisks, griffins, Bombards, medusas, Manticores, wyverns, maybe even a Deathstrike, backed up by mortars and infantry squads. Here it would be good to keep them mounted in chimeras so they can zoom to objectives. And as your opponent comes to you to try and silence your big guns, you drop the hammer and land scions behind him for plasma and melta goodness, and they are troop choices. One day I will make this one just because. I don't know how competitive it would be but that's a ton of flipping shots.

 

Scions work well in any list as as they are troops but troops with good special weapons, ballistic skill and armor and they deepstrike giving you options. Mortars as stated are fantastic and I cant imagine an army list without 3 squads at least.

[WarriorFish]

Welcome to the Guard :) Cheap and cheerful is good, especially running as allies to an elite army. Grenade launchers will add a bit of spice as well as versatility, Sentinels have suffered a bit in 8th but again keeping them cheap helps :)

[Halfpint100]

Alllll the bodies! Personally I like a mix of footsloggers, chimera infantry and weapon support. I usually have 3 chimera with some dudes in being a nuance. Infantry marching up supported by officer and commissars (very important) with artillery and heavy weapons blowing stuff up. Also have some scions/ my favourite unit! (Hades breaching drill(FW)) that are for counter attack. Mortars are amazing as are autocannons IMO. I love the cheap plasma as well for guard 5 for pistol, 7 for gun!

[Jam Master Flex]

Think about what you want to use them for as allies.

 

If you can get the tanks to hit reliably they're great, they're the best army for getting lots of armour obviously.

 

I use my tanks to push up on objectives and keep my infantry in columns behind them as cover to get on objectives, I use my scions for melting tough MEQ's etc or simply grabbing objectives.

 

Also Front Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire is where it' at, so get some officers and commissars too.

 

To be honest I play guard because I love the aesthetic and the novels, not to win.

[9x19 Parabellum]

Thanks for all the great responses.  In no particular order, to answer some questions:

 

1. Also not looking to win. At the same time, I don't want to completely hamstring myself.  Mostly I'll get and paint the units and models I like.  These include:

-regular foot troops

-scions

-the chimera and almost all chimera chassis gun platforms

-valkyries

-sentinels

-baneblade, or rather, specifically, the stormlord (the one with the twin Vulcan megabolter)

 

Models I DONT like:

-abhumans

-leman russ platform tanks

 

2. Playstyle that interests me:

-mechanized infantry

-airborne infantry

 

arty doesn't do much for me, although I DO like the idea of having a lot of mortar sections.

 

3. Sentinel style; I built them with the armored variant, mostly because I like the way they look over the scout.  I started them with plasma cannons, but I magnetized it and can easily do the flamer and make scouts out of them.

 

4. What I want from them as allies. I honestly have no idea except for cheap bodies!  Right now my buddy and I are doing power for games, instead of points (though that will probably change when C:SM comes out).  Because we are using power, I often find myself with about 3 power leftover to spend it on, and very few Space Marine dataslates are only 3 power.   Being able to put out 10 bodies for 3 power would be really nice.  But other than that, I don't know, thus, any ideas on how guard best compliment Space Marines would be nice.

Edited July 26, 2017 by 9x19 Parabellum

[dakkamasta]

Scions would compliment a deep striking blood army very well. I plan to try it myself actually.

[Sawtooth]

Chimeras are working well for me this edition. Also remember they can hold multiple units and have transport capacity of 12, so you can stick officers and commissars in them. Or two special weapon squads if you like. Abhumans aren't essential and plenty of lists get by without them, so you're good there.

Scions are considered to have been buffed this edition, and their place as a troops choice is also very beneficial. They come with a built in aerial drop, and they're also good candidates to run in Chimeras. They benefit from Commissars as most infantry do, just remember they can only receive orders from Tempestor Primes and not normal officers (though you can deep strike Primes along with squads).

If you don't like the Leman Russ you still have good options in heavy. Heavy Weapon Squads are extremely cheap, can receive orders, and mortars work very well this edition.

[WarriorFish]

Models I DONT like:

-leman russ platform tanks

 

http://i.thefortressmonastery.com/troop-commissar-wat.png

[Halfpint100]

All looks good to me. work of warning with the chimera chassis. devil dog hellhounds (melta ones) are pretty much useless if they move since they hit on 5s. the other two however are awesome with fast and cheap autohit weapons.

I run 3 chimeras in my list which includes 2 X 10 man guard with 1 plasma gun, command squad with 2 meltas, special weapon squad with 3 flamers with a lord commy and 2 company commanders thrown in. I find them great!

[NatBrannigan]

Welcome!

 

I hope your marines complement your Guard better than mine. I went just for aesthetics and what I fancied so now my Guard that are great at blazing away at range while in cover can be joined by my Imperial Fists, who are great at blazing away at range while in cover...

 

Creed ain't got nothing on me!

 

Guard Artillery is better than Marines, so that's a good place to start. Cheap bodies have been mentioned to hold objectives that your Marines have cleared, leaving said, much more expensive Marines to keep going.

 

More importantly, how are you modelling / painting your Guard to complement your Marines? Chapter Serfs? A Regiment from the same planet? A detachment of Guard working for an Inquisitor?

[Galron]

Yeah my original plan was to use marines as back up for my elysians as I was getting hammered by first turn assaults. Then as more and more of my elysian force has been built, I find I have no room for my marines who went back into their box until the guard are finished. Now I struggle to have enough points for the guard. I was using scions too but now use elysian command squads for the same purpose cheaper with 4 special weapons.

 

So you want Airborne? Is your group ok with FW? Play Elysians or a guard army using elysian rules like the Warhawks. I usually just see people use cadian bodies with face mask heads. Mortars work great in this amry. A: its fluffy. B: They provide needed mass firepower without LOS, my current Elysian list has more str 4 and 5 firepower than my Legion lists from 30k using multiple 20 man tac squads. C: They make great back line support forcing your opponent to come to you or take 3d6 shots per squad. I use 4.

 

Valks are transports. They lost their light gunship role since they usually will be hitting on 5+s. They have the nifty grav chute insertion which is cool but doesn't make up for how many points you are paying for them. However they will get your guys fairly reliably from point A to point B and I haven't once had to use the grav chute insertion. Every time I have used them to get in my targets face, he had more deadly things to try shooting and ignored it and my guys simply got out and fired point blank. So I use one for this.

 

I feel a standard guard airborne list utilizing Valks as primary transport will be at a disadvantage due to how expensive valks are for how little firepower they have. But a scion heavy force will do ok to act as the paratroopers, while vet and command squads air assault in on valks, provided you don't go overboard on valk numbers.

 

Vendettas, just in case you remember this bird from the last few editions, the old lascannon death machine of yore has been beaten by the nerf bat to within an inch of its life. Over-priced and shoots like an ork and not really worth it in my opinion.

 

Mech: I'll let people who run this style give more info. Its not my thing anymore. Last few times I have played in in the last editions I typically tabled my opponent. I actually made an Ork player rage quit and sell his army when I sat back and destroyed every transport in his army by the end of my first turn and all his bikes by the end of my second turn turning it into a shooting gallery for lots of <10 ork truk boy squads. This was 4th edition and I was using 3 LRs and 6 chimeras each filled with infantry with lascannons. I started everyone on the board and got first turn and skipped the movement phase and started rolling dice. Was not an exciting game for me either. Its why I am not a fan of this army style any more.

[Die4Emprah]

If I were to use any of my guard models to "compliment" my Raven Guard Space Marines, I would probably use my manticores, earthshakers, maybe some Russ (to draw aggro).

 

Also: @ 10 PL, you can drop 50 conscripts, a Kommissar, a Senior Officer. Having those wounds to soak overwatch/hold objectives is fairly useful for an elite SM force, who feel their wounds very keenly.