1,500 Tournament IG List

[Katharon]

Hello there fellow BoLS denizens. Here is a list I've cooked up for an upcoming 40K tournament I will be participating in. The opponents I can expect will be the following: Tau, Eldar, Chaos Space Marines, Orks, and Tyranids -- and maybe Space Wolves. My main strategy is to dominate the long range area of the game, try to keep the enemy from getting too close to me, or at least losing a lot before they get close enough to start swinging. As such I needed a Guard character who can give out the most orders at one time, backed up by a few platoon officers if needs be.

HQ

Company Command Squad [175]
Creed
Camo Cloaks
1 x Bodyguard


Troops

1st Infantry Platoon [505]
Platoon Command Squad
2 x Infantry Squads
5 x Heavy Weapon Squads w/ autocannons

1st Veteran Squad [145]
3 x Plasma Guns
Forward Sentries

2nd Veteran Squad [145]
3 x Plasma Guns
Forward Sentries

Fast Attack

Vendetta Gunship [130]

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Battle Tank [150]

Leman Russ Punisher Tank [250]
Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Knight Commander Pask


Total Points: 1,500

[Katharon]

So my list is perfect? Nice to know.

[SON OF ROMULOUS]

as an avid guard guy i can tell you that the punisher is very disappointing.. prask is not worth the points just to get the bs4. honestly if you want the punisher cannons put them on a vulture gunship and watch as they straff units apart at a fraction of the price.

[Katharon]

as an avid guard guy i can tell you that the punisher is very disappointing.. prask is not worth the points just to get the bs4. honestly if you want the punisher cannons put them on a vulture gunship and watch as they straff units apart at a fraction of the price.

Then you sir have not experimented enough with the idea of rolling To Hit with 29 S6 shots at BS4. Pask is well worth the points, especially since he always now gets his Crack Shot! special rule. I get to hit and then re-roll To Wound against monsterous creatures thanks to Pask.

And, while I would agree that a Vulture would be the cheaper alternative, we've all agreed that ForgeWorld rules or models are not allowed -- even if they have the 40K-approved stamp in their entries. This is mostly because there is one rich dude that is in our group and he has already pre-ordered that new Tau monstrosity for his already buffed Tau army...and I've been known to field three artillery units of Quad Thudd guns, much to the chagrin of the local horde armies. So yeah, FW is out.

[Chexmix282]

Why do you prefer Forward Sentries over taking a Chimera?

[Aegwymourn]

Quick side-note: Heavy bolters and the Punisher are str 5. Makes a bit of a difference.

[Katharon]

Why do you prefer Forward Sentries over taking a Chimera?

Because I can always get a cover save (except against Ignores Cover weapons obviously) whereas I cannot always get as such with a Chimera. There are far more weapons capable of popping a chimera transport than there are of Ignoring Cover. I always make use of any cover that is on the board.


Quick side-note: Heavy bolters and the Punisher are str 5. Makes a bit of a difference.

Which is why Pask is in the tank for that nice +1 to Penetrating rolls and the ability to re-roll failed to-wounds against MCs.

[Learn2Eel]

Hello there fellow BoLS denizens. Here is a list I've cooked up for an upcoming 40K tournament I will be participating in. The opponents I can expect will be the following: Tau, Eldar, Chaos Space Marines, Orks, and Tyranids -- and maybe Space Wolves. My main strategy is to dominate the long range area of the game, try to keep the enemy from getting too close to me, or at least losing a lot before they get close enough to start swinging. As such I needed a Guard character who can give out the most orders at one time, backed up by a few platoon officers if needs be.

HQ

Company Command Squad [175]
Creed
Camo Cloaks
1 x Bodyguard


Troops

1st Infantry Platoon [505]
Platoon Command Squad
2 x Infantry Squads
5 x Heavy Weapon Squads w/ autocannons

1st Veteran Squad [145]
3 x Plasma Guns
Forward Sentries

2nd Veteran Squad [145]
3 x Plasma Guns
Forward Sentries

Fast Attack

Vendetta Gunship [130]

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Battle Tank [150]

Leman Russ Punisher Tank [250]
Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Knight Commander Pask


Total Points: 1,500

Usually I don't reply to army list threads but I thought I'd give you some advice. First up, this isn't an army list that will get far at all against Tau and Eldar, nor will it get far against the top army builds for other codices out there. I'll go over exactly why this is the case.

1) Creed might seem ok, but you can get yourself another Command Squad for his price. That is far too many points for a Toughness 3 unit of six models, and camo cloaks simply will not save you from Eldar/Tau/Chaos Marines who will simply annihilate them just by giving them a mean look. Also, unless you are taking something like a squadron of Leman Russ Demolishers, there's little real value to taking Creed anyway. You can get more reliable orders at less cost from two separate Command Squads.

2) Heavy Weapon Team Squads do not belong in tournament lists for two reasons. Firstly, they are ineffective firepower for the points. Secondly, and this is the kicker, they die far too easily with massed Strength 7 available from Tau and Eldar. Hell, a Chaos Marine player can spend one of his turns using a Heldrake to Vector Strike them, or Baleflamer them, and they are all gone just like that. If you have the money, Sabre Defence Platforms are far better alternatives. Failing that, always - always - put the heavy weapons in a blob squad. Having them by themselves is a recipe for disaster.

3) Forward Sentries is a really poor upgrade for Veterans. Really poor. Why you might ask? Veterans are a predominantly mid-ranged to short-ranged unit. You want them to get in position with their plasma guns or meltaguns ASAP, otherwise they are a waste of points. So why would you not give them adequate protection to get there? Camo Cloaks means that your unit has to go from cover to cover - which is rarely always possible - not to mention that the second an Eldar or Tau player hits the field the entire unit will be vaporised on Turn 1. As fragile as Chimeras might seem to be, they actually are still a great transport. Front armour 12 means they have decent survivability compared to Rhinos. On the first turn, just move them right up to get the Veterans in to position; if the Chimeras subsequently die, they will have done their job. The trick with Veterans here is that Chimeras need to be taken en masse, you can't just take two or three. This is where you may want to reconsider the Veterans themselves. That you are wasting so many points on that one platoon really limits what you can take. If you drop those heavy weapon teams and fix up your HQ slot, you can comfortably fit in three-four Chimeras, that is three Veteran units and the Command Squad. Let me just re-iterate this. Never, never, NEVER run Veterans without either a Chimera or a Vendetta transporting them.

4) I assume the Platoon Command Squad is going in the Vendetta right? Give them all flamers and stick them in there. That way you aren't wasting BS4 from a Company Command Squad, and you get yourself a nice little objective clearing unit.

5) I had to shake my head at the Heavy Support section a bit. Yes the "Paskisher" is neat and all, but in a 1500 point game, you are leaving yourself spread out way too thin. This ties into the overall problem with your army list; a lack of real focus, and too many points spent on useless or not very good upgrades/units. A standard Leman Russ Battle Tank is ok, but really, you have to ask yourself what you want out of it. They are mediocre against vehicles and only really good against non-TEQ infantry. I would honestly drop both and go for artillery, but that is an each to their own thing.

6) Here we come to the big problem with the army list; too many points on Heavy Weapon Teams/Creed/Pask which simply isn't viable in a game of 1500 points. The rest of your army is quite bare - your Guardsmen squads and Platoon Command Squad don't seem to have any upgrades at all - while those points you did spend on those expensive units are simply far better spent elsewhere. Heavy Weapon Teams are terrible in an edition where massed Strength 7 is so readily available from the competitive army lists out there. They might seem cheap, and truth be told they are, but they die far too easily and aren't accurate at all for what you get. Taking the mediocre Creed to try and justify their usage just completely ruins the army list of having any real competitive edge. You are the Imperial Guard, you should either have massed tanks/artillery or massed infantry. Your army list has neither. How well do you honestly expect to do?

7) As an aside, just one Vendetta isn't a great idea. They are cheap enough that you really should be taking two of them so that you don't lose your only anti-air unit against a Skyfiring and Intercepting Riptide star. Now one is still good obviously, but at 1500 points, they are so good and so cheap that you may as well take a second one. Also, can I just mention how good Vultures are if you use Forge World? They are the flyer-equivalent to Griffons in terms of sheer infantry destruction.

8) How are you going to kill massed Infantry? How do you deal with blob Guard, horde Orks, or a 'pulse bomb' with massed Kroot/Fire Warriors backed by Ethereals? A hint; you won't.

I'm not sure what models you have available, but if I was to take an army list similar to yours at 1500 points, it would be along these lines. You really need to give your army focus, so giving it either a mechanized, mixed or foot orientation works best. Your current list doesn't really do much of anything.

Here's a sample mechanized list, it's tried and true if a little uninspiring. This won't win at the top level but it should do just fine, if not really well at the local tournament level. You have counters to pretty much everything, and your hard-counters will still get quite a bit of grief. Here it is;

1500
HQ
Company Command Squad w/ four meltaguns, chimera

Troops
Veterans w/ three meltaguns, chimera
Veterans w/ three meltaguns, chimera
Veterans w/ three meltaguns, chimera
Veterans w/ three meltaguns (go in one Vendetta)

Fast Attack
Vendetta
Vendetta

Heavy Support
Manticore
Griffons (2)
Griffons (2)

Fortifications
Aegis Defence Line w/ comms relay (70 points spare)

There you go. Far more mobility for your short ranged units as well as much better protection, you have an extra scoring unit in a durable flyer for late game objective grabs pretty much wherever there is an uncontested objective, and you have the best combination of artillery possible. You'll find most tournament Imperial Guard players that aren't using Forge World units (Avengers, Vultures, the Artillery Carriages, etc) use this exact combination in their heavy support slots. You aren't spending too many points on your HQ, and you won't concede Slay the Warlord nearly as easily when most players will want to be getting rid of your two Vendettas, your four Griffons and the Manticore ASAP.

Compare this to your army list. You'll find this list has much better firepower, maximises the strengths of the Veterans, doesn't concede First Blood, Slay the Warlord or expensive kill points nearly as quickly, and you actually have very good target saturation. You can put your Griffons and Manticore behind the Aegis Line and, due to their size, they will all be getting 4+ cover saves from it as well. If your opponent tries the whole "put terrain in front of the Aegis Line" trick you can laugh at them as your barrage weapons ignore LOS. By the by, you also may have 20 less scoring bodies overall, but those ones you do have are far more likely to both survive and claim objectives.

I hope that helps! Honestly mate, even at a local tournament level, I'm just not sold on your army list having a good chance of taking the trophy.

[Katharon]

From a lot of the advice I'm seeing, it doesn't seem like many people use cover properly...

@Learn2Eel: Thanks for the post. I'll take a closer look at it and take some of your points into consideration. I will note that the idea of dropping Creed for two CCSs is tantalizing.