New Commander, Looking for force composition guidance.

[Jackstorm76]

I'm looking for guidance,

 

 

I've been collecting guard for years (to many years)

 

I'm finally getting to building and painting my force, 

I've going for cadians,  

I need guidance on how to proceed, I have a lot still on sprues. 

So want to know where best to focus, 

I've not fought using 8th yet and I'm looking for advice on a 1000pts to play some starter games. 

also I'd like to enter some competitions once models are painted, so want a force which i can develop.

 

I have currently

50 guardsmen, 

plus, 6 plasmas, 6 meltas,  7 flamers, 8 grenade launchers, 

Enough sgt, and voxs,

several company commanders, platoon commanders,

5 leman russ, (3 original, 2 with optional turrets,)

3 chimeras,

2 sentinals,

3 of each hws.

3 valkyries,

1 basilisk,

1 hellhound, a bane blade and an imperial knight.

 

Availible to be made up, 50 more guardsmen, 6 more hws, 1 hell hound, 1 hydra/wyvern,  2 more sentinals scout or armoured.

 

So please let me have some advice on the way forward and victory for the Imperium.

[Spyboy]

Firstly I would like to say that all (or at least most) units can be good, in the right circumstances. I personally play cadian, so my views on things will be slanted towards a Cadian army.

 

Gaurdsmen, essential to every good list. Embedding heavy weapons in them is a great way to keep that precious expensive weapon safe. Plasma guns are also quite useful. If you can get a plamsa gun for each squad, that would work the best. I have not found a use for voxs yet, which is a shame, they look so cool.

 

Heavy weapon squads I find are best built with one expensive weapon (lascannon) and two cheap weapons (mortar), or three mortars. I recommend lascannons or mortars over the others.

 

For leman russ's, battle canon, punishers, and maybe even executioners I find to be good. (If you get Pask, putting him in a punisher is brutal)

 

For cadian, scout sentinals are more valuable then armoured ones, the scout move is very useful. Keep them cheap though. Any gun except the multilaser has uses.

 

Unless you have a specific use in mind (Tallarn outflank shenanigans come to mind) company Commanders are always better then platoon commanders for the cost.

 

Build all the infantry you have, things die quick so the more you have the better. Redundancy is key.

 

If I didn't mention a unit I don't have enough experiance with it to recommend anything

[Doof]

You have a pretty good arrangement of units so ill try to help out.

 

In 8th command points are a big deal, and in order to get a ton you need a Brigade ( +9 CP). This is your bread and butter set up for starting guard. Alternatively you could go for a Battalion (+3 CP) but since you have most the units already built, lets aim for the Brigade.

 

Brigades need 3 HQ, 6 Troops, 3 Elites, 3 Heavy Support and 3 Fast Attack.

 

HQ: 3x Company Commanders ( which allows for 6 orders for your troops). You can mess around with some named characters, but Company commanders are cheap and effective. Build them however you want, plasma pistols are good, but a plain bolt pistol and chainsword is fine.

 

Troops: 6 Infantry squads, conscripts are very situational now so stick to regular 10 man squads. 6 squads of 1 sergeant, 1 plasma gun or Flamer, 1 Heavy weapon team ( Every heavy weapon has it's uses, all are good choices) and 6 regular lasgun guardsmen.

 

Elites: Lots of flexibility here, no real stinkers and no real auto takes. Given the models you own, i would say a 1 platoon commander, and two Command Squads with 3 special weapons and a regimental standard for a morale boost bubble ( I like to take sniper rifles cause they are cheap and these guys are BS3). Veteran squads are another option if you want more bodies

 

Heavy Support: Leman Russ's are awesome, Standard battle cannon, heavy bolter and optional sponsons depending on how you have them modeled. Basilisks are also awesome and cheap. Heavy weapons teams are also really good, so long as when you take them you take the cheaper options in this format since you wont have a bunch of guardsman to take ablative wounds (Mortars are amazing cause you put them outside of LOS and they get 3d6 attacks with 48 inch range. I recommend 2 tanks and a basilisk, or 1 tank 1 basilisk and a cheap heavy weapon squad if you need points

 

 

Fast Attack: Probably the weakest category for guard. You can choose Sentinals (iether Type), Rough Riders or Hellhounds. Since you already own two sentinals, lets use those. Any weapon besides multilaser has it's use, so play em how you have them modeled. Roughriders are cheap distraction / flanking units but you must use the Index rules for em. Hellhounds are pretty awesome, take the flame version. I recommend 2 sentinels (iether type) and a hellhound.

 

Depending on how much you spend on infantry weapons, and how many Leman Russ tanks you take, this will be anywhere from 900 - 1200 points

[Hatarus]

honestly i may be the Black sheep here but Build lists that make you happy to play them, knowing what's good and what's bad should come later as you get more Trial and Error under your belt as you play games have fun experimenting with your army after all you got a good pool of units to mix and match lists with 

[tychobi]

My advice is to play games. Guard can do it all but has a lot of moving parts. I find that experience actually playing with your models will guide you to greatness far quicker than chasing any internet hotness. Guard is surprisingly unforgiving and you may experience early losses even with great lists. I do not fear playing vs guard unless their general is experienced, but a sharp guard general is always a tough match.

 

Good luck!

[Major_Gilbear]

I'm finally getting to building and painting my force, 

I've going for cadians,  

I need guidance on how to proceed, I have a lot still on sprues. 

[...]

 

I have currently

50 guardsmen, 

plus, 6 plasmas, 6 meltas,  7 flamers, 8 grenade launchers, 

Enough sgt, and voxs,

several company commanders, platoon commanders,

5 leman russ, (3 original, 2 with optional turrets,)

3 chimeras,

2 sentinals,

3 of each hws.

3 valkyries,

1 basilisk,

1 hellhound, a bane blade and an imperial knight.

 

It sounds like this is all built; and really, this would work perfectly well as-is and you should be able to get a Brigade from this with minimal work.

 

In terms of whether you want a Special Weapons team or special weapons in your squads, or what heavy weapons you want where - you may as well build them all and try out various options to see what you prefer (and anyway, these things change from edition to edition, whilst the models do not).

 

I would say that flamers, missile launchers, and autocannons on troops are low-priority this edition, whilst multilasers, missile launchers, and autocannons on vehicles are also so-so choices (not outright bad, but just not that great). Against this, lasguns or bolters are decent on Sergeants, whilst a few power swords or power fists on your senior officers isn't a terrible idea (for just a few points, you never know when it'll make the difference in a game!). Heavy Bolters are also cheap and surprisingly efficient in general.

 

Models-wise, Voxes are not the most useful thing this edition, nor are Commissars (a shame). Also, if you're considering Veterans, you might want to have a look at Tempestus Scions instead. Bullgryns are also considered to be pretty good, and would do well in your Valks or a Stormlord. Command squads are fine, but tend to be best when specialised (4 special weapons other than flamers, or a flag and a medic and two lasguns). Really, I'd leave all these for now, as you can easily decide later what/if you want them.

 

So basically... Get painting what's already built, and then you can fill out a Brigade as you fancy. Leave the unbuilt stuff for now, as you can always build them later when you know what you actually want after playing some games. That's the nice thing about this edition's Codex - most things and most weapon options are viable.

[Feral_80]

What you have seems more than enough for a playable 1.000 pts list. If you have to give priority to anything to build next, I'd go with the Hellhound: currently they are very useful, and you'll hardly regret fielding two of these.

 

Bottom of the list: heavy weapon teams (you have more than enough, and most are not particularly good), armoured sentinels. 3 Valkyries is also a bit over the top unless you aim to field a thematic drop-troops force.

[WarriorFish]

Welcome aboard :tu: As above you have plenty to work with already so all I can add is: be sure to post pictures ;)

[Jackstorm76]

Thank you all for your advice. 

It sounds like i'm heading along the right tracks, which is good. I hope to be uploading photos, of my force and games once i get far enough.

Please keep commenting and offering guidance.

Once again for the Imperium, and the Emperor!

[duz_]

B&C offers a free gallery for members! :D

Looking forward to pics!

 

If you need assistance feel free to contact your friendly local Commissar. ;)

Edited March 2, 2018 by duz_

[Withershadow]

If you want Cadia, you can take a Brigade of infantry squads with plasma and lascannon, fill heavy support with the cheaper/more expendable heavy weapon squads, and take some sentinels to ward off deep strikers.  Add a unit of Bullgryn protecting your lines, and Scions Battalion for your forward scoring element, and call it a day for a nice Cadian-style list? Bonus points if you use Karskin for the Scions.