Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey guys,

Im thinkin about starting an Imperial Guard army and would like a bit of advice, I also know that the guard are orientated around vehicles and what not but i really would love to start a footslogging army with a few tanks in the back. I will buy chimeras to transport troops to their required location and a leman russ or two at the back to drop their templates on swarms or even marines with their AP 3 shots.

Should i buy the battleforce and a leman russ as a start? ( codex for chistmas )

Would footslogging guard army be competitive?

Thanks for reading

Its possible to make a footsloging guard army effective. To make a "real" footsloging army, you're going to want to have infantry platoons as your main troop choices rather than veterans. As battleforces contain only a few squads, you're going to want two of them and then a company command squad. Infantry-heavy armies can get expensive fast. I like that platoons help IG field a lot of troops faster than any other army, however nothing beats high explosives in my opinion. I hope this was helpful.

Foot guard are utterly terrifying in the right hands. You can outnumber anyone, including tyranids and orks. The massive pile of platoon troops with heavy weapons backed by a few tanks used to be the archetypal guard army. Even now that's still playable, though new and more aggressive tactics have opened up.

Thanks for the info

I have ordered the codex and the battleforce so far, is there anything else that i will need, also how many points will be in the battleforce?

Leman russ or a leman russ demolisher... Or both. I like taking them because it looks cool when i foot slog. Sorta ww1 ish.

Ok,

I asked my Nan to get me a leman russ but she came back with a chimera :S (i know that sound a little cheeky/selfish)

Will the chimera be good?

Also how should i kit it out? i will mostly be playing tyranids, necrons and marines.

Thank you for the feedback

Chimeras are good, excelent for command squads and nearly necissary for veterans to be fully effective. OR: if you put a heavy weapons squad in a Chimera, they could all fire their weapons from the hatch (not sure if heavy weapon squads can take chimeras) but any other infantry squad can take a heavy weapon, that's at least one heavy weapon shot from the hatch per turn...Not Bad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I just consulted the Codex: Imperial Guard, Heavy weapon squads cannot be given chimeras. My most successful Chimera is used with a vet squad with 3 snipers, camo cloaks and a lascannon. If you want, you could replace the snipers with meltas or plasmas, then you'd be set.

Thanks

Are veterans just cadian shock troops but you just tell your opponent that they are veterans before the game or are there actual models. I have not seen any on the games workshop site and at my local games workshop. Sorry for the stupid questions i just havnt got my codex yet.

There are no actual models to represent veterans, any models work as long as they have something to distinguish them from other units (special markings, conversions etc...) They also have different weapons capabilities so its not too hard to distinguish them.

Hey there,
Foot Guard can be really good, but you need to plan which unit is doing what so you don't get bogged down in a firing line. Most people divide their army into the 'static' and 'mobile' forces, with power-blobs (20-40 man combined infantry squads with at least 1 commissar and as many power weapons as possible) with special weapons, and separate static forces, either more blobs with heavy weapons or separate Heavy Weapons Squads.

Veterans-wise, just convert 'em up yourself. Make them unique.

And Chimeras are just great. Give them multilaser turret, heavy flamer in the hull, then you've got ranged and close-up options for firepower.

There's lots of lists around to take as an example as to how to make a balanced and effective IG list - I'd say take a look around the '40k army lists' section. My current 1000 point list, that seems fairly balanced with a mix of vehicles and infantry, can be found at http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/418159.page

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

Thank you guys for your replys and your time.

This is my plan. I have already bought the battleforce and codex and should be at my house after christmas, And i will make my chimera after i get my codex to see what options i can give it although i will probably kit it out with multi laser and a flamer to take down those nids.

With the battleforce i will make:

*the heavy weapons team with all lascannons maybe ( please give me your suggestions on that ), i will be playing marines,necrons and nids most of the time.

*the two ten man troops will be kitted out with just lasguns and, a flamer and i dont know what else. How many special weapons can you have in a 10 man squad?

*the sentinel with *insert weapon here* LOL

*And no clue on what to put in the command squad

For your heavy weapons i'd say lascannons are king put thim with infantry sqaud then combine 3 or 4 infantry sqauds makes a very hard to kill anti tank/objective holder then have a platoon command sqaud behind them so you can always first rank fire if any enemys should get to close also keep a company command sqaud nearby so you can use bring it down to twin link those lascannons agains vehicles and MC.

I found a lot of inspiration for my foot guard from Ailaros' battle reports that he posted on here.

Link:
http://www.ailarian.com/folera/batreps/blood-conquers-all/index.html

As far as heavy weapons go it's one per squad of guardsmen. At BS 3, lascannons in standard infantry squads won't be too effective. I would put Lascannons in dedicated heavy weapons squads, though the Missile launcher and Autocannon options should be considered too. For standard infantry squads, weapons such as the Heavy bolter, Missile launcher and Autocannon are recommended.

Chimeras Can make effective fire support and excellent transport options. However, they obviously cannon put out the raw firepower that dedicated battle tanks such as the Leman Russ can.

A Company command squad, combined with a Lord Commissar make a great base for orders; keep the Command squad back issuing orders (or in a Chimera), and the Commissar in the center of the Guardsmen blob and you should have LD 10 for orders, morale, pinning, etc. Keep the Commissar in a Guardsman squad to keep him from being picked off easily.

Could i not have the heavy weapons squad in there own 3 man squad at the back then have two 10 man guardsmen squads each with grenade launchers or flamer, then a commisar in the middle of them both with a sentinel as a bit of fodder and for it to do a little shooting and a chimera with the company command squad near to the guardsmen.

Thanks for the replys, does this sound like a good plan?

Loyalty wrote:Hey guys,

Im thinkin about starting an Imperial Guard army and would like a bit of advice, I also know that the guard are orientated around vehicles and what not but i really would love to start a footslogging army with a few tanks in the back. I will buy chimeras to transport troops to their required location and a leman russ or two at the back to drop their templates on swarms or even marines with their AP 3 shots.

Should i buy the battleforce and a leman russ as a start? ( codex for chistmas )

Would footslogging guard army be competitive?

Thanks for reading

If you like foot slogging by two of the battle packs. (That's what I did) Not having a leman russ is difficult since it is really the "elite" unit of the IG. (Lots of customized versions)

Having at least ONE vendetta is always a good idea. I tried platoons, didn't like them too much and went to four vet squads with varied abilities instead.

If I had to do a foot slogging army, I would probably go with the tallarn special character and alot of power fists and grenade launchers.

Oh you HAVE to have commissioners, it's not even an option. If you don't have them, good bye troops in a single assault phase.

Loyalty wrote:Could i not have the heavy weapons squad in there own 3 man squad at the back then have two 10 man guardsmen squads each with grenade launchers or flamer, then a commisar in the middle of them both with a sentinel as a bit of fodder and for it to do a little shooting and a chimera with the company command squad near to the guardsmen.

Thanks for the replys, does this sound like a good plan?

Nice plan, I would probably give the sentinel a las cannon and take maybe 2 or 3 in a squadron. otherwise good ideas.

Thanks for feedback, by commisions did you mean commisar and if not, what is a commision?

Loyalty wrote:Thanks for feedback, by commisions did you mean commisar and if not, what is a commision?

He means commisars

CCS
Lascannon

Lord Commissar

-PCS
Alrahem

-Infantry
Melta Gun
-Infantry
Melta Gun
-Infantry
Melta Gun
-Infantry
Melta Gun
Plasma Pistol

-PCS
Autocannon

Infantry
Heavy Bolter

Infantry
Heavy Bolter

Infantry
Heavy Bolter

Infantry
Heavy Bolter

Infantry
Heavy Bolter

HWT
3x Lascannon

HWT
3xLascannon

Vet Squad
Harker
3x Melta

Manticore
Manticore



A list I use for foot slogging guard wins me a good chunk of games

@ludog5678: If you're going to take that many Infantry Squads, I would drop a couple and get commissars to make them stubborn.

Also, that's a LOT of squads outflanking with Al'Rahem. I'd swap one or two for some SWSs with Melta or Plasma. Use his BID order effectively.

I would go for ACs in the infantry squads as well.

Lastly, if you're going to take harker, get him another heavy weapon so you can have two in the squad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My guard usually goes something like;

CCS - MoO, Missile, Astropath
PCS - Al'Rahem, Melta x3, Chimera (HF)
IS - PW, Comm (PW), MB, Melta
IS - PW, MB, Melta
PCS - GL x3
IS - PW, Comm (PW), MB, Melta
IS - PW, MB, Melta
IS - PW, MB, Melta
IS - AC
IS - AC
IS - AC, Comm
HWS - ACx3
HWS - LCx3
HWS - Mortarx3
Veterans - Demo, Meltax2
Vendetta

Add in more infantry squads, HWS or vehicles as you go up points.

If you're going to take Al'Rahem, Astropath is pretty much mandatory.

Thanks for these lists there really helpful and thank you for your time in doin this.

I appreciate the lists but was wondering if there is any possible way i could make an effective 500 point list with the battleforce and a chimera.

I also have the money to buy either a leman russ battle tank, basilisk or anything else in that kind of area. I do not know which will be of better use.

Thanks once again.

I'd say go for the Russ or a Manticore. Both of them are great force-projection, great for upsetting your foe's plans.

Also, don't know why I didn't show you this before, but there's a *seriously* in-depth IG Tactica to be found here:
http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?PHPSESSID=78bc8d3090cd5b753f04a510d5b3f7f8&topic=211811.0

and that really helps one get one's head around how to effectively use Guard.

Also, props to Pretre for recommending Ailaros' guard reports and articles. Great foot guard player, even if he does have an irrational hatred of Autocannons

The basic difference between Russ and Manticore is one's indirect fire, vulnerable, and more dependent on luck (manticore) while the Russ is great at just flattening things within LoS.

Your Russ should prevent opponents from casually wandering into its Line of Sight, while the Manticore can strike anywhere but sometimes does nuffin. Always bubblewrap your Russ with your static platoon.

And yes, two boxes is best, each one gives you a min-strength platoon.

Lastly, I run my scout sentinel with a multilaser, and go for sniping/tarpitting/outflanking to pull enemies off an objective. For 35pts it works a treat!

Wow thanks!!!

Ill be giving feedback after my first game to see how it went, but in the meantime, where can i blog my process of building and painting my models?

Dakka P&M blogs i what youre looking for