Some Imperial Guard Advice

[Grenadier]

If all goes according to plan I'll get to enjoy a battle in about 3 weeks. Normally I'm lucky to see 3 games a year. So I'm looking forward to this.

It'll be a three way battle but I insist that the two opponents team up. They'll be bringing Chaos. And it'll be a huge Apocalypse scale fight. Both of these guys have well over 10,000 points in their armies. Closer to about 14,000 apiece. Meanwhile my two armies each have roughly 8,000 points. This wouldn't be the first time I've fought battles like this. And I always tend to do very well or win. The only problem is I've only fought against Chaos one time. And much less than I'll be facing now.

As for me I'll be using my beloved Imperial Guard. Normally I make up the points deficit by adding some of my Black Templars to the mix. However, in my last battle I opted to only go with the Guard. Against an army twice its size in points. And I won effortlessly.

But now I feel I'm in some real need of tactical advice. So I'm asking for it.

My army includes pretty much enough tanks (various LR patterns) to field a tank company. It also has 3 Basilisks, a Baneblade, 6 sentinels, and now a Manticore which I've never used. Also there are 4 Chimeras, "Frankentank" and 1 single Valkyrie. I really need Manticore advice please! How best to use it?

As for troops it has two undersized infantry platoons. One Cadian, the other Krieg. And I have 3 veteran squads. Still I have lots of heavy weapon teams. I have plenty of squads for scoring units but being the Guard they don't hold up to hand to hand well. The Kiregsmen do better with an improved weapon skills. I can also pitch 4 squads of Stormtroopers and 4 squads of Grenadiers in. Oh, and I have Yarrick leading some Ogryns.

My opponents will be daemon heavy. And according to them they can get onto me in the first turn. So what are good IG tactics with an army like mine against Chaos?

[Admiral Kenaris]

I might replace Yarrick leading Ogryns with just a Lord Commissar. Although you will lose re-rolling misses the turn you assault, Yarricks makes the Ogryns fearless instead of stubborn and that's no good. I would rather have them stubborn and leadership 10.

[Iceman]

You may also want to equip your sergeants and officer in your infantry platoons with power fists. I get that in a hand-to-hand you are at a severe disadvantage but at least you can count on killing someone with the power fists. Sometimes in close combat attrition that will do it.
The other thing I do is equip the platoon command squads with 4 flamers. That often can winnow the opposing side before getting into close combat so that you have a chance of winning.

[L192837465]

Dude, you're playing IG. Just shoot the bajeezuz out of him and you'll be fine.

[Grenadier]

I never considered placing Yarrick with someone other than my Ogryns. I mainly put him there because he is my only "free" independent character and I thought he'd be a good pairing. In fact, the only time I got to use him and the Ogryns was against the Chaos guy. I assaulted Abaddon who had 10 berserkers with him. I was very impressed with the results. Yarrick went down in the first round sadly due to bad dice. But in the first round those 5 Ogryns took out all 10 berserkers and scored a wound on Abaddon. Sadly he picked them all off in a couple more assault phases. I'll give it a try though and slap a Lord Commissar with the Ogryns. As for Yarrick I may just stick him in my command squad. Can he do that though? Because the squad is led by Straken, and I replaced the bodyguards with good ol' Nork?

Another good suggestion: flamers. I've long ignored using them since the two guys I play with use Chaos or Dark Angels. But I have plenty of them built up so I'll try 'em out.

Ah yes...shooting. Nobody does it better than the Guard. Especially my army what with all the tanks. And that's my basic strategy. Shoot the crap out of everything. And it works. I just hate the inevitable hand to hand. That's when things get bad for me. But if I take some Templars to even up the points (I've been known to play with them having a huge points advantage over me) that can even things up. I'm loathe to bring them to the battle though. And if I due I plan to just take units that my Guard has no capability for: fast attack. Assault squads and bikes.

How best to use a Manticore though? I'm a little worried that it has the limited ammunition thing. But with that potent missile it has I'm hoping it'll rip holes in their army. These guys tend to pack their guys close together on the table so I make good use of those big markers. I was considering replacing my Basilisks entirely with Manticores. Then I learned you don't get Manticores in a squadron.

[Kawauso]

Template weapons like flamers really are always good, even against MEQ. It's the number of hits you can usually get out of one weapon.

My vanilla Marine army was something I started just on a lark with the intention of lots of flamer/melta stuff, and I quickly learned to respect flamers and their ilk. Give 'em a shot and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[Admiral Kenaris]

I understand your reluctance to engage in close combat as a guardsmen but if cost is no object (being an Apoc. game) you can put together a pretty dangerous unit. Company Command squad with Straken, Jarran Kell, medic, and two bodyguards. Buy carapace armor for the squad as well. Now add ministorum Priest with or without eviscerator. Mainly you just want the re-roll misses on charges. You can add Yarrick to this unit for some extra beat stick. He can always detach and go his own way if you need to assault a different unit or a vehicle.

The Straken command squad is Fearless, has Furious Charge, Counterattack, Feel no Pain, the bodyguards give you some wound soak to protect Straken and you have a number of weapons that can really hurt some people. Straken is strength 7 on the Furious Charge and negates armor. Kell can swing with power weapon or power fist and even swing at initiative 5 with strength 4 power weapon on Furious Charge. If you give the Priest an Eviscerator that's another powerfist basically and of course there is what Yarrick can do.

The only problem with an assaulty IG is that they are still gonna take some licks. The unit described above can do some damage on a charge but it will still take losses and your ability to make additional charges will be hampered. In the right spot however they can turn some Space Marine players upside down frowns upside down.

[Grenadier]

Having played using a Tau army briefly you'd think I'd have learned the value of flamers. In one game my opponent swooped in with a Landspeeder armed with a heavy flamer and roasted all but one member of a squad of Firewarriors dug in behind some cover. I was horrified of course but somehow failed to value these weapons. In my limited experience using them against Space Marines I considered them to not be very effective. I guess it's all about the AP value and armor saves huh?

Oh, my Chaos opponents never used daemons in our past fights. The inclusion of them is a new thing for me to face. So I'm very concerned about this. According to them they can "daemon bomb" me and basically have my units tied up in hand to hand combat in the first turn. If this is true, are the daemons a problem for the Guard? Would my intercept reserves rule from my Fleet Officer affect this any?

[Root]

The Manticore is nasty, just shoot it at heavy armor tanks or clumps of demons and you'll be fine. Dont worry about the limited ammo, its Apocalypse. Either they'll die or the game will end long before you run out of middles. Don't bother firing it at anything with power armor or better, aim for the land raiders and such. Also don't squadron stuff in Apocalypse and don't bother trying to take melee oriented units in the IG. Bring the Templars if you want melee power, the IG stuff that's good is way too points inefficient.

[Grenadier]

Good advice. See, I would have thought the Manticore would be great for whomping exposed clumps of Marines. Popping their armor is just as valuable though because my many tanks can chew up the infantry. And I find that the Imperial Guard allied with the Black Templars make an excellent combination as each makes up for the others weakness. What the Templars lack in firepower the Guard makes up for. And what the Guard lacks in hand to hand the Templars excel at.

I really need to add some proper fast moving fast attack to my Guard though. I'm thinking the Hellhound with the chemical weapon cannon.

[Dorsai]

For fast attack, you cannot beat the Vendetta. Outflanking with 3 twin linked lascannons. With the transport capacity, it make for a very effcient way to drop melta or plasma vets on a back line to threaten enemy vehicles.

As to Straken, I definitely support taking him, though I field him with Nork, two melta's and a medic. In carpace armor it is a mean combo. Nork being toughness 5 means you have something that you can put s8 and s9 wounds on without losing an entire model. His ripper gun is also mean. And on the charge, he is s6 and so can do some damage to light armor as well.

The Manticore is a great weapon to use against clusters of troops or vehicles. Always look for clumps. Try to find someplace that mean you will hit something no matter how it scatters. I have managed to pop three rhinos with one missile once. Doesn't happen often. but when it does, you opponent tend to just look in horror at the wreckage you just incurred on his line.

[Grenadier]

The thing is the Valkyrie kits doesn't allow you to make a Vendetta does it? When I built mine it didn't seem possible to do so for lack of the right bits. And I customized mine just for fun to have a big GAU 8 Avenger cannon sticking out of the nose like the almighty A-10. It doesn't really do anything new in a game. It just makes it look mean.

To be honest my Straken and Nork have never gotten to do anything in a battle except stand there and bark orders. I keep my command squad to the rear and pray someday my opponent gets close enough to assault them. However, my shooting means they never do.

But you gotta love Nork! He's an Ogryn! Big, bad, ugly, and a brute at that. The ripper gun is impressive to say the least having been able to use those my other Ogryn's carry. Gotta love guns that can score glancing hits on armor 10 and chew up lightly armored troops effectively.

If the past is any indication I shouldn't have trouble hitting clumps of vehicles and troops. My opponent has a habit of crowding his stuff. Due in part to the fact we often play very high points totals and so he has lots out there. And due in part also to he really really sucks at deployment! Often his deployment seriously hinders his movement phase! So I'm confident my Manticore and Basilisks, as well as Russ tanks will rip huge hunks out of his army each game.

And so, as ever, with my Guard I shall rely on the glory of overwhelming firepower to beat Chaos and those daemons I fear so much. When in doubt: shoot the crap out of it!

[Dorsai]

It is true that the kits don't have the stuff to make Vendettas, (what the hell GW?), but if you have lascannons left over from heavy weapon teams, you should be able to whip something up. That is what I did for my two.

See, if I want to issue orders, I take just a regular CCS and have it sitting there to bark orders. Straken's squad is usually in a Chimera that runs almost full bore at enemy vehicles. I tried keeping him in the back, but he never gets his points back that way. Up front, he can wreak havoc. Last game I played, he destroyed a BA dred with blood talons that wiped out the rest of his squad. Moved on to destroy the Vindicator then tried to kill a land raider. Just the two that he killed made up the points for him. Straken is not meant to sit in back; he should be up front where the action is. Also fits his character fluff that way too, I think.

[Grenadier]

I'm glad you're telling me this. In some aspects I've failed to use some of Guard units to their fullest. I chose Straken for his stats and rules. He appears to me to be the best hand to hand guy in the Guard. With Nork a close second. Yarrick third, though I feel his past rules were better than these new ones. I'm going to try it though. And send Straken out on his on. I think I'd have to leave Nork with a CCS or make another assault oriented one for Straken as you suggested. As for Yarrick I don't know what to do with him. Would assigning him to some Stormtroopers be a good idea?

I've had an idea bout how to do a Vendetta without going for FW. My bits box has tons of various lascannon types left over from various kits. Personally, the heavy weapons teams weapons look best I think. And I have tons of those little rails for the HK missile. I'm thinking those little rails, if bulked up properly, would make good hard points for the lascannons. And that little cable bunch for the lascannon battery could complete the look by positioning in such a way the cables go up inside the wing.

[Brymm]

Simply gluing two heavy weapons teams lascannons together will get you one awesome looking twin linked lascannon. The little gap between them fits perfectly onto the mount the missile pods would hook to.
For the third t-l-lascannon, I attach the one to the front right next to the cockpit. In the side opposite that, instead of putting the little gauge/sensor/light thing, cut down a lascannon from a sentinel kit and glue it in there. Viola, you have a Vendetta.

This also works because Lascannon heavy weapons teams are over priced compared to the bargin that is the autocannon heavy weapon team... and aren't sentinels supposed to be run stock at 35 points or upgraded to armored with the plasmacannon, amirite??

[Brymm]

Oh and you can use those now useless missile/rocket pod things and make yourself a cheapo Manticore turret for one of your chimeras! YES!

[Grenadier]

Indeed. The rocket pods look nice but I've yet to feel they justify themselves being on my Valkyrie. As it is my Valkyrie has consistently let me down. It's basically relegated to swiftly moving one squad to one location. After that it's only useful to me as a sacrificial unit. However, I did customize mine to make it look cool. Stuck a gatling looking cannon in its snout so it looks like an A10. Since I love doing VDR I've wondered what to treat this weapon like. I've considered just making a 40k version of the A10 out of it. To that end I need to make it a tank killer with a good payload. But the cannon? The first choice is the assault cannon. But I feel it should be treated as a gatling autocannon to be more in tune with the A10.

[Mr. Pickles]

One strategy that is under used is the ability to direct fir your artillery. The manticore will suffer from multiple barrage rule. This may help or hurt you. Direct fire it for concentrated firepower.

As for your troops, use your veterans and storm troopers as front and flank line units. Mob up your regular platoons and keep them center of your formation, so they have multiple firing lanes. If you screen properly to protect your real firepower (your artillery) you should be able to have an effective counter attack in place.

I played in an apocalypse 3v3 battle using this tactic. I was also demon bombed, but I carried my team. They will kill your artillery if they can, but the platoons are what will win the day holding those objectives. Just use your MSU squads for assault bait and you will be fine.

[Grenadier]

I do tend to mob up my regular infantry in something like a fire base in the center of my deployment zone. And my method is the same regardless if I am the attacker or the defender. Generally I form a hard knot of shooty death in the center with my heavy weapons teams and then place infantry squads around them to screen. Exactly how this is done of course is dictated by the terrain. But in general I always form a powerful center that can unleash a lot of firepower. And I do protect my flanks but not in the manner you suggested with my Stormtroopers or veterans. I will try that though. I always put some stuff on my flanks since my opponent likes to come in to outflank a lot.

My big guns come in the form of 3 Basilisks and a Manticore. The latter has yet to be used in battle. But the Basilisks are always deployed in a spot that blocks line of site to them so they can indirect fire. I have never thought about direct fire with them. So I will give this a try.

As for my armor, their role is dictated by if I am attacking or defending. If defending it's just a matter or spreading them out along my lines and avoid moving them to maximize their firepower. I always have them as my "front line" since their firepower is so good at stopping my enemy's assault. My Sentinels usually linger about and pick off things or respond to emergent threats.

On the attack most of my infantry remains in my deployment zone holdin' down the fort so to speak as my armor rolls ahead with the Basilisks softening everything up in front of them. And then the units I selected for taking ground roll in behind the tanks. I only have 4 Chimeras so I really can't put many infantry into this task. I will deep strike my Stormtroopers in to support them though.

[Sure]

Don't discount those rocket pods, especially if they are going to be daemons crawling all over the place. Not only does it give you two large blasts, it gives you two large blasts as defensive weapons due to their low strength.

[Vanchet]

Mantacores are first for anti-tank fire followed by anti-infantry-the S10 hits are brilliant on popping tanks, but they'll need to be guarded closely, specially gainst daemons, for they can reap severe damage on them as well

I would say use on tanks first, baneblades and leman russes can sort out the infantry.

[Grenadier]

The guys I'm hoping to fight this weekend will be bringing multiple daemon princes and greater daemons, and likely every special character available to their armies.:(