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Hey, so this is my attempt at a competitive IG force, hopefully being used in tournaments when I can get it all painted!

The books been out enough for people here and where I play to have some ideas on what choices are more 'efficient' than others-I had a few practise games against friends with mech eldar, vulkan marines and mech orcs to see how my ideas worked in practise. First of all heres the list:

CCS-4 melta guns
Chimera-ML/HF

PCS-4 flamers
Chimera-ML/HF

Infantry Squad 1
grenade launcher, autocannon
Chimera-ML/HF

Infantry Squad 2
grenade launcher, autocannon
Chimera-ML/HF

Vet Squad *in vendetta normally*
3xmelta guns

Vendetta

Devil Dog with multimelta

Leman Russ Squad 1
Executioner with hull lascannon (had 15 points left, didnt know what else to spend it on!)
Naked Leman Russ Battle tank hull heavy bolter

Medusa
Bastion-breacher shells, hull heavy flamer

2 Hydras with hull heavy bolters


First of all the my philsophy when designing the list was that I really wanted to max the number of troops and tanks I could field. This is why the list is lacking alot of vets, weapon sponsors and such. The most obvious exclusion is the much loved PBS in chimera-now the reason its not included is because I've found them to not as effective as others have here...sure against orks and nob bikers they are brilliant, perhaps also against non-mech guard, but nearly everyone I play in my area is using a mech/tank heavy force these days or has a large amount of fearless troops. I might try and fit them in if the environment changes, but right now the Medusa is alot more useful for me :/. I also dont think they fit theme wise in my army (sort of going for a modern day desert mechanised unit force so psykers stick out like a sore thumb).

That brings me onto the overall composition choices...originally there were lots of vets with meltas in the list but a harsh lesson was taught to me by the Mech Eldar player, showing how essential longer range AT fire is (good luck hitting wave serpents/prisms with only meltas =( ). With the increase in mechanised armies imo only becoming more prevalent in the future I seriously feel that stacking vets with meltas is not the right choice. Speed Freak orks(with battlewagons or with trukks) will murder armies relying purely on melta gun for AT imo.

The HQ choice picks itself really, as does the infantry squads + the obligatory suicide melta squad in vendetta. Flamers on the PCS with their lower BS seems the best choice, and gives me a squad which can counterattack or take people out hiding in cover. Autocannon + grenade launcher in the IS's give me some more light tank busting power, as well as light troop killing however with the low BS I am not expecting too much. The vendetta and devil dog has been pretty damn handy for me in the mobile AT department both are ble to keep away or get close to tanks and take them out while in the devil dog's case still have a rather useful blast weapon vs tough troops.

The Executioner is too good not to have, wouldn't have minded having some plasma sponsors but 40 points is a fair amount for something which is either blocked 1/2 the time by other tanks/cover or isn't able to fire fully because its moving. The naked russ absorbs AT fire pretty well for the cost-protecting the executioner and gives more marine busting power. Probably the hardest choice was wether to include a medusa or another vendetta, however I decided on the Medusa in the end. Why? Well from what I've found it I really struggled to crack those long range AV 14 targets (land raiders ugh) with meltas or lascannons..the medusa cannon has a 48 inch range which is very nice, doesnt need to roll to hit and even if the hole scatters off the tank, the Str 5 hit with 2d6 pen and AP 1 can still devestate any tank, if it doesnt scatter then the target will nearly always suffer damage of some sort. It also provides another template weapon against tough squads. The hydras rounded up the list, cheap solid anti light tank/troop choices with a huge range.

So I have 14 kill points and 4 scoring units which seems alright for 1500 points-I need to test it more against some different armies (especially want to see how it faces vs horde guard, I think I may struggle against that) to see how it really plays but so far its worked out pretty good.

Thanks for reading my long post, any suggestions on what to improve would be very welcome-and a big thanks to other IG players on this forum for providing excellent reads so far-especially interesting battle reports being posted! (I hope to put some of my own when I can remember to bring my camera to the club!)

/Jpr.

I have been having much success with my mech list and love the Chimera's 5 FPs! I rarely ever get out of them.

I would have HBs on (at least) the infantry Chimeras and add Heavy Stubbers. They provide a lot of fire support.

Thanks for the response, hmm HBs on the infantry squad chimeras is worth thinking about..I mostly keep them still right now anyway so could get an extra few shots I guess. I do like having the heavy flamers on the chimera for how verstaile they are though-BS3 also makes heavy bolters a bit meh.

Heavy stubbers are pretty nice but I dont really know where I can get the points for them from this list, any suggestions?

Also I think I will drop the lascannon from the executioner and give the medusa enclosed crew compartment since thats what my model has, seems a waste not to use it!

The thing about the Medusa is that once you've bought it the BB shells and the ACC, you're only five points shy of a Manticore. I would argue that the Manticore is the better choice in a take-all-comers enviornment. Here's why:

Pros:

-In an average game, the Manticore will fire more than any other Ordinance tank, with the added benefit of that shooting occurring near the begining of the game, when shooting is most important.
-The Manticore uses the large blast template, while the BB shells do not.
-The Manticore has much longer range.
-In addition to Medusa-style direct shooting, the Manticore can fire indirectly, which gives you lots of new and exciting options. (Pinning, ability to hit obscure areas of the board, hits on side armor, more deployment options, etc.)

Cons:

-The Manticore is only AP 4, not AP 1.
-The Manticore does not roll 2d6 penetration against vehicles. (But does roll 2d6 picking the highest.)

I realize that both of those "cons" are significant, but it's not like your list is critically short on AT firepower without the Medussa. And D3 Str. 10 Ordinance shots are still enough to make a Land Raider nervous.

What you are saying Dave47 makes a lot of sense-d3 large blasts are pretty harsh (if a little inaccurate if firing indirect).

The only thing putting me off the manticore is the minimum range...does this apply if I fire directly? 24 inches is a little restrictive isnt it? I've never seen how it works but in my head thats like 1/4 of the board if its deployed in a corner..hm...though it can hit every other inch of the board unlike the medusa which is very handy. Can I ask also how the d3 blasts are worked out...do I roll a scatter after the first to see where the next template goes as described in the rulebook under multiple barrage?

The only thing putting me off the manticore is the minimum range...does this apply if I fire directly?

No, you ignore any minimum range when firing direct with an Ordnance Barrage weapon (brb pg 58, right column, 2nd paragraph).

Okay thanks, I was searching under the weapon rules for some reason and couldn't find anything about it..im still getting used to the new rules too much fantasy for me recently and not enough 40k! =P

That makes the manticore pretty darn tempting to use!

Just an update..I've found the devil dog to be a little redudant in the list so far..I mean its pretty decent but also quite expensive for melta cannon which misses far too much for its own good..a lot of the time it just sits around shooting troops >_<

Does anyone have any better suggestions of what to do with 135 points than invest it in another vendetta? Perhaps a Banewolf ?Or is the 'dog worth perserving with ?:/