Looking for advice to expand my Imperial Guard army

[zombieburger]

With the new ally system I gathered a small force of Imperial Guard to be used with my Blood Angels and Chaos Marines. This works really well but I'm looking to expand my army. Question is I don't really know what to get or what is a good idea to have.

at the moment I have this :

- a Company Command Squad (company standard and plasmagun)

- 1 platoon consisting of a platoon command squad and 2 infantry squads (both are identical with a grenade launcher and missle launcher team)

- a squad of veterans in a chimera with 3 meltaguns

- 1 scout sentinel (with either a lascannon or autocannon)

- 1 leman russ battle tank (usually with plasma cannon side sponsons)


Things I have been looking at :

- a Manticore (I think it is useful?)
- more guardsmen? Maybe a full platoon with separate heavy weapon teams? I think they'll be blown away pretty quickly though
- a commisar, mostly because I love the model where he has his hand behind his back and the bolt pistol aimed for execution :)

Would love to get some advice, thanks in advance!

[Wolfshade]

Hello and welcome aboard!

I would certainly suggest a commisar, they grant stubborn to your squad which keeps them from running away.

The question realy is, is how do you want to play the guard and how do they complement their allies?

For me, IG would complement my BAs by bringing heavy support and large squads to camp on objectives.

A friend of mine who plays pure IG after acquiring a squad of sentinels has deicided that he hasn't got a use for them, or at least not that he has found.

[zombieburger]

thanks for the quick reply!

I was planning on sticking in the back, keep on shooting and camp objectives. The lone Sentinel I have came with the battleforce but he usually gets shot to pieces pretty quickly before he can do anything. Maybe a squadron might have some better survival change?

Would the manticore be a good idea or should I have a squadron of leman russ tanks?

I'll definitely get a Commissar. Is it viable to equip him with a power weapon or fist or is he just there for the stubborn rule?

[Wolfshade]

I must say that I am biased towards the leman russ tanks as I love them, I don't have my codex IG with me so I can't really pass much comment on the manticore, other than saying that the IG player in my group keeps talking about getting one, but ends up buying LBTs instead.

The new squadron rules have been a huge boon to any vheicle squadrons.

My mate has the sentinels for just the same reason, he is considering arming them with lascannon or plasma cannon and out flanking trying to get pot shots at the rear of tanks/heavy infantry.

If you are camping on back objectives with them, remember that they will be spending most of their time out of fire range so perhaps heavy weapon platoons would be the way forward?

Ultimately, it depends how you play as to what works well for you. The IG player in my group loves playing with massed infantry with a little (but ever growing) mechanical support.

[zombieburger]

the huge horde of guardsmen is also appealing to me. Maybe a Aegis Defence Line would work well with that. I think I'll have to buy another battle-force, a commissar and maybe another Leman Russ or the Manticore. I do like so variety in my armies :)

[Wolfshade]

Aegis Defence Line + Quadgun is a brilliant anti-flyer technique.

Plus it gives the old guardsmen something to hide behind.

[Wolfshade]

With regard to the comissar a fist would be sueful, but you have to balance it with whether it is better to give him a power weapon so he can strike at iniative, rather than at I1 and give the fist to a sergeant in the blob. After all, the sarges can be given power weapons and take challenges too.

[sneakyben]

thanks for the quick reply!

I was planning on sticking in the back, keep on shooting and camp objectives. The lone Sentinel I have came with the battleforce but he usually gets shot to pieces pretty quickly before he can do anything. Maybe a squadron might have some better survival change?

Would the manticore be a good idea or should I have a squadron of leman russ tanks?

I'll definitely get a Commissar. Is it viable to equip him with a power weapon or fist or is he just there for the stubborn rule?


I built my guard foot-hoard from battle-force boxes and thus ended up with 4 of them I wasn't sure what to do with...
I soon found that a group of at least 3 can be very useful indeed...

If you get 2 more (to make a squadron of 3) you get a nice unit that you can outflank...

Assuming you have autocannons on each, 6x S7 shots (maybe some hunter killers too for 3x S8 shots) turning up to the side/rear of the enemy can really throw them off guard... you can pop light vehicles and harass tanks by shooting them in the *** when they aren't expecting it...

Plus they can contest objectives, which will give you 'reach' you may not otherwise have...

(Also, paint them Grey, crew them with ewoks)

[zombieburger]

thanks for the advice. My Sentinel is btw painted grey but with urban camo :) I think it'll be a suicide run to outflank them into enemy territory but might shake up things if I manage to something up :)

[rtmaitreya]

My perfect sentinel squad is one multilaser+HK, one autocannon+HK, and one heavy flamer+HK. They have the tools to devastate any medium vehicle in the game with an outflank, and still provide some decent anti-infantry threat (if needed). Deploy them where they can get into 4+ cover when they arrive, so they are survivable, especially if you can also cut off LOS from half of their army (or more). Plan your outflank spot carefully, with a decent location if you roll poorly.

Because I'm using stumpy old imperial dreadnaughts as my sentinels for Arbiters, I actually haven't been able to play the above squad in 6th ed. rules. Stumpies are obviously up-armored sentinels, so I just slog them up into ruins with camo netting (only 10 points a model to get a 3+ cover save) and use them as a threat radius to bog down MEQs in close combat if they get near. Armored sentinels will hold up most squads indefinitely, as krak grenades need a 6 to glance them, and regular attacks bounce, even with the ubiquitous furious assault every MEQ has these days.

[zombieburger]

Ok. I've made an army list with the current models I have and what I can add if I where to buy a Battle Force and 2 Commissars

HQ1
Company Command Squad (Plasma Pistol, Regimental Standard, Voxcaster, Plasma Gun)

will mostly be in the back giving orders but will have the fire power to deal with units dropping in or flanking (my opponents are used to do that)

TR1
Platoon Command Squad (Voxcaster, Heavy Flamer)

same deal as the Company Command Squad

1st Infantry Squad (Commissar, Power Weapon, Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher, Voxcaster)
2nd Infantry Squad (Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher, Voxcaster)

First blob with a commissar

3rd Infantry Squad (Commissar, Power Weapon, Plasmagun, Autocannon)
4th Infantry Squad (Plasmagun, Autocannon)

Second blob with a commissar

Heavy Weapon Squad (Lascannons)

TR2
Veteran Squad (Power Weapon, 3 Melta Guns, transport - Chimera)

Drive by guardsmen shooting

FA1
2 Scout Sentinels (Autocannons)

Outflanking these

HS1
Leman Russ Battle Tank (Plasma Cannons, Camo Netting)

Keeping in the back. Shooting. Side and backside will be protected by the command squads or proper placing.

FYI I'm not looking for a tournament list. I like fluffy lists who can pack a punch when necessary. I might proxy the Manticore for a couple of games to see if he's worth it. If not I might take another Leman Russ (the Executioner maybe).

Would love to get some feedback. Cheers!

[Firecrest]

Standards are next to useless in game terms, but do look cool. The lone chimera is easy bait for anyone, either drop it or get it more friends to roll with. The platoon command, I would load up with flamers, 4 templates is really a good way to deal with any attackers. Personally I don't like plasma guns on normal infantry squads as bs3 isn't reliable enough to hit to be worth the higher points cost, so I tend to use grenade launchers on mine. Vendettas are awesome tank hunters. I tend to run 2 manticores in my list, nothing scares people than dropping d3 str10 templates on their prize units, yes its only ap4 but then it is should only be aiming at troops if all the tanks are dead, which they should be after a hit by a manticore rocket.

[zombieburger]

The Regimental Standard has a nice reroll for friendly units who are failing checks or pinning tests I believe. The lone Chimera will be accompanied by allies. Blood Angels most likely.

Good point about the plasmaguns. I might switch them to grenade launchers