1850 IG eval for upcoming tourney

[hewhowalks]

Here's my local tourney scene, with some personal assumptions.
1.) Lots of MEQ
2.) A few horde armies, but not many
3.)also a few eldar and tau, but not many
4.) An occasional outflanking unit, but I rarely see people trying the all-in-reserve "counterpunch" army, but the marine drop pod army shows up now and then
5.) local coordinator uses victory points instead of Kill points
6.) last tournament predominantly used table quarters instead of "token" objectives
7.) 4x8 tables

My planned army 1850 IG

HQ
Company Command
astropath
1 bodyguard (just because I had points left over)
plasma pistol then either three plasma and medic or all four plasma (haven't decided yet)
Chimera (ML/HF)

Elite
Psyker Squad (9 plus overseer)
Chimera (ML/HF)

HQ/Troop
Primaris Psyker
Vet Squad (three plasma)
Chimera (ML/HF)

Troop
Vet Squad (Melta x3)
Chimera (ML/HF)

Troop
Vet Squad (Melta x3)
Chimera (ML/HF)

Troop/Fast
Vet Squad (Plasma x3)
Vendetta

Troop
Penal Legion (just for late game objective/quarter grabbing)

Heavy
squadron of 2 Vanilla Russes

Heavy
Basilisk (I don't have any medusa/griffon/etc models)

Heavy
Manticore

Please point out any glaring holes in my army for an upcoming tourney. Thanks

[davel]

I am in agrement with your assumptions
Here's my local tourney scene, with some personal assumptions.
1.) Lots of MEQ
the jan thrown of skulls was over a 3rd marines. they always come out in numbers
2.) A few horde armies, but not many
simply put once or twice i have faced a hord at a tournie but the practicality of moveing 100+ troopers in the time limit makes them thin on the ground
3.)also a few eldar and tau, but not many
as a eldar player I tend to struggle against naturally. we like to bite off important chunks off a army. Guard present many chunks most of which are expendable. In attrition against guard eldar always loose ( which they should). I think tau work in similar way, but I'm not a tau player
4.) An occasional outflanking unit, but I rarely see people trying the all-in-reserve "counterpunch" army, but the marine drop pod army shows up now and then
I do run a all reserve force. I know master of the fleet can really mess this up. If you do come across an armies like this they tend to rely on the strategy. It's like me verses lash princes, If I don't take runes of warding I end up playing a lash army
5.) local coordinator uses victory points instead of Kill points
not sure what you can do about this. One local tournie gives you a kill point for each 100pts spent. so making sure expendable units come under 100pt ( e.g 200pt not 202) is important
6.) last tournament predominantly used table quarters instead of "token" objectives
clearing corners may be problamatic. guard assult is not great and your short on flamers. some anti cover save weapons may be a good move.
7.) 4x8 tables

only thing i can spot is your valk most gurd run the 3 lascannons version so it's rushing troops or blasting tanks. the other version ends up wasting anti troop or anti tank shots and not ending up any where

dave l

[imp]

I would only use the Vendetta as a gun base, with a scoring upgrade (penals, perhaps, though i prefer a Platoon CS (with no or few upgrades) or a special wepaons squad for that.

[Commander Vimes]

I'm not surprised nobody outflanks when the boards are two feet two long. 6x4 isn't the recommendation for standard games, it's what the game is designed and balanced (to the extent that GW balances stuff) for. How the heck are people supposed to reach a gun-line in Spearhead deployment? Also, no kill points, and only table quarters as objectives? Sounds like your organizer seriously hates 5th edition, and also assault armies.

Given your rather bizarre metagame, maxing out on long range firepower with the artillery and Russes is smart. Lots of long 48" plus fire is good. Drop the Primaris Psyker and the Penal Legion. Use the points for another Vendetta to give you speed and more long range shooting. Your best bet is to castle in the corner in spearhead and shoot the crap out of people until the end of the game when your Vendettas can go take objectives. In Dawn of War or Pitched Battle split between two castles in either corner. With 8 foot long boards assault troops have a much longer distance to reach you, especially if you take the second turn and make them deploy in the center.

[hewhowalks]

I totally agree that the local eight foot table metagame is bizarre. I don't think they are anti-5th, I think the coordinator may just not have considered the significance of two extra feet of table. I think outflanking is the perfect example of why this is significant. We've done kill points and "real" objectives in the past, I think he just pulled out some old Adepticon scenarios for a change of pace.

Anyway, I'm just one of many players so I'll adapt and overcome. Thanks for all the advice. I'll see if I can take advange of the eight feet and get more long ranged units.

[hewhowalks]

I had a question. I've never heard of splitting my army into two castles at opposite ends of my deployment. Seems like this could end up hurting me. What happens if I deploy first then my oppoent puts their whole army in one corner. It then becomes their whole army versus half of mine (plus the few long range units in the opposite corner). I guess even if that happens, they still have to move a significant distance while I blow them away with the remaining big guns.

I'm going to try this deployment tactic. Please let me know if there are any more details important to note with the 2castle method.

I do think the single castle then blitzing my vendetta (or vendettas) with a cheap troop unit in late game is the best plan for spearhead. Last time I did this, I moved all out then got shot out of the sky, killing the guys inside. Just good dice rolls defeating a sound tactic...

thanks!

[Commander Vimes]

Only use two castles if your opponent is deploying second. If you're second pick a side and leave a bunch of his stuff out of range. Two castles works if you have lots of long range fire like yours does. It forces your opponent to either split his forces to attack both, or focus everything on one side. If he focuses on one side, he can probably overwhelm half your army, but will take heavy casualties because your other castle can lend long range fire. Focus on crippling mobility so your opponent then has to walk across the board to the other castle. Any Valkyries or Vendettas can also quickly shift to the castle that isn't under attack at the start of the game.

[blackarmchair]

Ok, so here are my thoughts:

HQ: I would take Master of the Fleet over the Astropath (or just take both) and I would go with 3x Plasma & Medic (you want them to keep firing and a 5+ won't save them).

Drop the Primarius Psyker, he's worthless.

Elite: A full 10-man psyker squad is nice but I find that 10 aren't necessary take 5-8 as most things will run when their ld is lowered by 5 and a str 5-6 blast will wound most things on 2+ anyway so anything above 5-6 is just hedging your bets and controlling for casualties.

Troops:
Looks good! Consider dropping that penal legion squad they're not that scary and outflanking doesn't seem like a good idea on such a long board.

Fast:
Awesome! You can never have enough Vendettas!

Heavy:
I wouldn't squadron russes, some like to, I think you waste lots of firepower and immobilize = death. Either take just one russ or drop the manticore. For heavies I recommend lots of Hydras actually. You'll find that other mech lists will give you trouble with this sort of mech IG build because you have so little in the name of tank-busting (your meltas need to be close and 1 Vendetta won't last). So the 4 twin-linked autocannon shots really help. This is also one case in which it's okay to squadron because they are so cheap and each additional tank helps to break a tank every turn.

Just some ideas to throw at ya.

[hewhowalks]

Vimes - Thanks for the followup, I'll have to try the two castle method a few times. Sounds like a cool "sacrificial" strategy thats totally a guard thing.

Black Armchair -
I agree with a lot of your suggestions. I really like the master or ordinance, as inaccurate as he is, but he requires my HQ to not move. I like to run and gun with their plasma shots, trying to take attention away from my troop units. I was hoping to use the astropath to help counterpunch a Dark Eldar or drop pod army.

I thought the Primaris was kind of cool with his Str 6, but agree the AP sucks. I guess he's not much better than all the multi-lasers I already have in this list. I could probably find a better way to spend 70 points. Any thoughts?

The battle choir is often my MVP. Both of their powers are really good. I LOVE watching Necrons fail their leadership and run off the board! I typically only put about 6 or 7 psykers in the unit, but I think I had a few points left over so I maxed them out this time. Also a full squad lets them pop tanks if they need to (though the template hole seems to scatter off the vehicles a lot). I'm not opposed to pulling a few out if I find a better way to spend the points.

I SO want penal legionairres to be cool, but I see their glaring flaws. I'm hoping that I can place an objective near a table edge then use my astropath to delay their arrival until late game. Then they can jump on the board in a really obscure spot and take/contest an objective ortable quarter. So basically I'm paying a lot of extra points for outflanking troop units. Occasionally one of the random abilities works out, but basically I'm happy if they can avoid a fight altogether. I'll probably keep them for now, just because they make me laugh (catachans with orange jumpsuits, white doo-rags and tattoos).

I agree that putting russes in squadrons absolutely sucks, I just don't know any other way to get my russes on the table. I really like both the manticore and the bassi (I would prefer a medusa, but don't have the model). Maybe I should pull one russ then spend the 150 points on something else. Hydras would be cool to try out, but I'll have to come up with some conversions (can't personally justify Forgeworld prices when I already have autocannon bitz.)

EDIT - After reading the tactics article on the hydra, I'm definately going to start converting some drop-in hydra cannons for my chimeras.
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=13417

I've had decent luck with the Vendetta, but it's amazing how three twin-linked lascannons can fail to accomplish anything. Seems like the plasma vets inside can jump out and get more done on their own (then die soon after).

All good stuff, thanks again everybody.