Working non-mech armies

[zanzibarthefirst]

We are all aware that in 5th edition it is the mech army that rules. the resistanc eof vehicles now makes transporting troops around a table a lot easier and with 2/3 of all games being based on objectives it has an advantage in that area. the mobility of mech helps it deal with threads making the extra killpoint not such a problem.
My quesiton is what non-mech armies ahve you had success with. At the moment i've ahd a fair bit of success with my footslogging chaos. A squad of normal marines backed up by flanking chosen with plasmaguns and a squad of khortne berzerkers runnign with a lord with a daemon wepaons has worked well for me in 750pts

[Melissia]

Sisters have, of course, given me good times all around. Footslogging Sisters can provide an incredible amount of power armor, with bolters for anti-infantry and meltaguns for anti-tank. Add in some deep striking seraphim for disruption of heavy weapons or taking out arty and tanks with their inferno pistols, and you have an army that can function decently enough.

[Chumbalaya]

Care to elaborate Melssia, I don't see how walking meltas and bolters can do much at all. I don't have much experience with Sisters, just curious.

SW and IG can do foot pretty well, with cav and cheap bodies/dakka respectively. I have my foot DW/RW list. It isn't the best, but it's fun and a nice change of pace.

[DarkLink]

It's mainly the sheer number of bolters and meltas you can get that makes the difference. One bolter isn't too intimidating, but multiple squads of 20 are. And with Power Armor, Sisters are survivable enough to let them walk up and shoot stuff. Anything that gets in that 12" killzone gets filled with exploding self propelled rockets, or vaporized with meltaguns.

[Sam]

Screw mech. I have enough guardsmen built and waiting to be built that by the time I finish attaching grenades to the enemy tanks the ensuing blast would level half a city. And then I have enough lasguns left to turn the troops inside into a very fine mist.

[eagleboy7259]

Tyranids :p

But in all seriousness Orks are decently viable foot slogging, Black Templars are too with their 20 strong squads with Neophytes to ablivate wounds.

[Lerra]

The better footslogging armies are the ones with a special deployment or movement option (outflanking, deep striking, fleet, etc.)

Stand-and-shoot seems to do pretty well, too, but if you need to be mobile or get into assault, it really helps to have some way of getting there faster.

[Cthulhu]

I was fairly successful with footslogging CSM squads with the icon of Nurgle and double meltaguns...until I would run into another Lash player, then it sucked bad.

Hopefully Tyranids will live up to their billing as the anti-mech army.

[DarkLink]

Tyranids :p

But in all seriousness Orks are decently viable foot slogging, Black Templars are too with their 20 strong squads with Neophytes to ablivate wounds.

I just played against a 26man squad of doom (it had several attached characters). I actually killed it in one turn, loosing only a single Grey Knight and taking one wound on an Avatar (it was a 2v2 battle). My 7 man Grey Knight and Brother Captain squad jumped out and hit it with 3 incinerators and a bunch of storm bolters, killing all but 3 marines, Grimaldus and the Emperor's Champion in a single go.

[RocketRollRebel]

Orks and IG. Lotsa bodies and lotsa dakka and lotsa smashin. Yeah horde orks are slow but you cant out run an army that covers half the table for very long.

[Melissia]

Care to elaborate Melssia, I don't see how walking meltas and bolters can do much at all. I don't have much experience with Sisters, just curious.

When you have 120+ models in a 2000 point game, all with a 3+ save or better, you can MAKE those bolters and meltaguns do what you want.

[zanzibarthefirst]

The better footslogging armies are the ones with a special deployment or movement option (outflanking, deep striking, fleet, etc.)


Which footslogging armies have sufficient outflanking to make them work? The must successful outflankers woudl be valkyies and they are mech

[Lerra]

There aren't many armies that have all outflanking troops (White Scars can all outflank, though), but a lot of armies mix outflanking with other ways to get where they need to go. I've seen White Scars with substantial outflanking work quite well, though.

[DarkLink]

Which footslogging armies have sufficient outflanking to make them work? The must successful outflankers woudl be valkyies and they are mech

An army of Genestealers backed up by a bunch of MC's is still pretty brutal.

[eagleboy7259]

I just played against a 26man squad of doom (it had several attached characters). I actually killed it in one turn, loosing only a single Grey Knight and taking one wound on an Avatar (it was a 2v2 battle). My 7 man Grey Knight and Brother Captain squad jumped out and hit it with 3 incinerators and a bunch of storm bolters, killing all but 3 marines, Grimaldus and the Emperor's Champion in a single go.

Umm... what now? 10x Crusaders, 10x Neophytes, EC, Marshall, maybe another Marshall or Chappy, 3x Techmarines?

That was the only way i could think the BT player could get up to 26 members. Unless the other player could attach characters but usually they don't have more than 2... still marines is marines, power armor and I4 won't beat everything

[DarkLink]

Umm... what now? 10x Crusaders, 10x Neophytes, EC, Marshall, maybe another Marshall or Chappy, 3x Techmarines?

That was the only way i could think the BT player could get up to 26 members. Unless the other player could attach characters but usually they don't have more than 2... still marines is marines, power armor and I4 won't beat everything

IIRC it was 10 Crusaders, 10 Neophytes, EC, Grimaldus, and 3 servitor things, or something like that, so you're pretty much dead on.

It also got to within 8" of my table edge by the end of turn 2, thanks to Riteous Zeal. 20+ marines might not be too tough to deal with, but 20+ marines assaulting you turn 2 is.

Fortunately, though, he was just out of range. I then jumped out of my Land Raider Crusader and hit him with 3 Incinerators, causing 29 wounds and killing everything but the EC, Grimaldus and 3-4 other guys. And that was just my Incinerator squad with an attached Brother Captain. It was pretty epic.

[Ming]

Double librarian lists with gate....

[Morgrim]

Webway portals can be surprisingly fun. Although that might count as 'semi-mech', I usually have a raider or two on the board.

[Jay Biga]

I've had pretty good results with Space Marines (Ultras).
You can deepstrike an insanely large part of your army if you wish, particularly when using drop pods. Having a captain and his retinue fall to earth only a few inches from your opponent's line usually puts the fear of the emperor in him.
And with their toughness and save, regular Marines usually do quite well if you march and run them towards objectives.
But I must admit that the above might not work as well when playing armies that are beasts in close combat. I'm a bit hesitant to deepstrike a captain and retinue in front of a bunch of drooling Nids...

Although you could obviously argue that drop podding your army in is the übermech army... And you would have a point.

[Sangre]

You say horde guard are good but put a horde guard army against a mechanised guard army and the winner will probably be waving the standard of victory from his chimera.

[ggg]

I've played with some foot sloggin imperial guard armies and I find it really tedious to move the units around. The jof of mech is that it speeds up deployment and the game as you are often only moving moving say 4-8 vehicle models rather than 120 guardsmen.

Most viable foot slogging armies depend on numbers to succeed - guard / orks even sisters.

(I don't count deep striking [i.e. Deathwing] as foot slogging all infantry armies - as I think that Daemons for one are viable.)

That is the reason I don't like all infantry armies, I don't find them practicable on a games night - I suppose it is less of a problem for 'home' games but on a gaming night, your 2hr slot can go quickly!

Ages unpacking the chaps. Ages deploying the chaps (and ensuring they are in the right units), ages moving them and ensuring decent positioning, you spend more time packing them back into the box as you suffer greater casualties.

I would suggest that it takes a certain mental fortitude to play large foot sloggin armies.

The upside of the all infantry army is that they can look very impressive.

[Melissia]

You say horde guard are good but put a horde guard army against a mechanised guard army and the winner will probably be waving the standard of victory from his chimera.

That all depends on the players, the builds, the terrain, and luck, more than being a surefire win. When they have enough heavy weapons to destroy or disable every transport you can buy and then some on turn one, mech armies have their work cut out for them.

[Lord Azaghul]

You say horde guard are good but put a horde guard army against a mechanised guard army and the winner will probably be waving the standard of victory from his chimera.

Oh heavens no. T3, armour 5 in explodable transports. You lose twice the points (ie the vehicle and the squad) HW teams/ the abundance of SW along with orders make short work of AV12.

[Sangre]

Yeah but I'm talking about the take-all-comers list you should be taking. Why, you wouldn't be tailoring your lists now, you naughty naughty people would you?

[Lord Azaghul]

I'm even talking about all comers. Two weeks ago I look on one of the local supposed 'ard boyz/power games. He took mech and mech killing guard paradice. I look my infantry heavy all comers (guard) and I tabled him. His troops were vets in vendettas, mine were platoon, yeah I had my vehicles as well, but it was mainly my 3 heavies. Those danged vendettas - they just kept exploding, and the poor vets in them were dying in droves!

[Sam]

Yeah but I'm talking about the take-all-comers list you should be taking. Why, you wouldn't be tailoring your lists now, you naughty naughty people would you?

A take-all-comers list should have plenty of anti-tank and anti-transport. A horde guard take-all-comers list should have plenty of autocannons, which will make short work of those chimeras. Which leaves your mech guard foot-slogging towards a foot-slogging force of superior numbers with superior firepower. No need to tailor the list to take out chimeras.

[Melissia]

mm, autocannons. One of the best things in the Guard arsenal.