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So, after many moons away from the hobby I finally have a chance to pick it up again. I'm going to dust off my old Imperial Guard army and see what I can do with them. When I last played, I used a very infantry heavy army (several big blob squads with commissars and priests, backed up by Leman Russ tanks and some other support. Are infantry armies still viable? When I put my models away everyone was starting to go very mech heavy, and I couldn't justify spending umpteen million dollars on 20 chimera's to make my army competitive. Has this changed somewhat? Here's the list I was considering using

CCS - Vox Caster, Autocannon, Plasma Gun (90)
2x Commissar - Power Weapon (80)
2x Munistorum Priest (50)

Infantry Platoon 1
PCS - 4xFlamers (50)
Infantry Squad - Vox, melta, sergeant w. power weapon/meltabombs (85)
Infantry Squad - melta, sergeant w. power weapon/meltabombs (80)
Infantry Squad - melta, sergeant w. power weapon/meltabombs (80)
HWS - Lascannons (90)
SWS - Snipers (36)

Infantry Platoon 2
PCS - 4xFlamers (50)
Infantry Squad - Vox, melta, sergeant w. power weapon/meltabombs (85)
Infantry Squad - melta, sergeant w. power weapon/meltabombs (80)
Infantry Squad - melta, sergeant w. power weapon/meltabombs (80)
HWS - Lascannons (90)
SWS - Snipers (36)

Veteran Squad - Vox Caster, Autocannon, 3xSnipers, Forward Sentries (91)

Leman Russ - Heavy Stubber, Camo Netting, Recovery Gear (175)
Leman Russ - Heavy Stubber, Camo Netting (170)

1498pts

Orkboy,

Welcome back to the guard!

In my experience, infantry-heavy guard lists can be a fun, semi-competive approach to the guard, but they are an up-hill battle. Ever since 6th edition forced IG blobs to remove casualties from the front of the blob, my infantry heavy lists have been sub-par when compared to my hybrid mech-infantry lists or my all-mech lists. But they can still work and they’re really fun.

What works for me is to flood the board with bodies. I’m talking 150 troopers or more. Your current list’s 2 blob squads of 30 troopers each will get decimated in the cover-ignoring lethal shooting phases of 7th edition.

Here are some recommended changes to your list

Drop the following:
-Both sniper special weapons squads and both lascannon heavy weapons squads—too vulnerable for what they do [260-ish points gained]
-Drop all sergeants power weapons and replace with power axes, they are much more effective [0 pts. Gained]
-Drop all the extra gear from your Russes and just keep them as all-round stock vanilla Russes [45 pts. Gained] Note that lots of folks swear vanilla Russes aren’t as good as they used to be because we lost lumbering behemoth, but my vanilla Russes seem to perform as well as my other variants.
-Power weapons from your commies [you want these guys cowering at the back of your blobs] [30 pts. gained]
-CCS plasma gun, 1 plasma will do very little [15 pts. gained]
-Downgrade 3 blob meltaguns to 3 flamers and drop 1 of the PCS flamers. My assault infantry blobs rarely get to shoot their meltaguns, flamers might serve you better [15 pts. gained]


With the 370 pts. gained, add the following:
-If you have enough models, I encourage you to try out conscripts. They got better with the IG 2014 codex and they are a lynchpin unit for IG lists that don’t rely on much armor. Adding 2 blobs of at least 40 each would really help you gain midfield board control and they can screen your 2 assault infantry platoon blobs. [240-ish points used]
-When you can, I strongly encourage you to get at least 2 wyverns. Wyverns (and Pask) are the only uber competitive units in the IG Codex these days. [130-ish pts. used]

Make sure each of your 4 blobs has a commie or a priest (you already have 2 of each).

Now your 4 blobs will be able to handle the job of midfield board control and tarpitting anything that comes on your half of the table.

It’s the job of your 2 russes, auto/plas CCS, and auto/sniper vets to kill units on the enemies’ half of the table. This firebase won’t really do too much (since your list’s focus is assault blobs), but it will keep the enemy honest and set up a small base of fire as your hordes advance.

As an aside, with slow infantry-heavy lists such as yours, you will lose 7th edition maelstrom missions, so avoid them (it’s easy to avoid maelstrom during pickup games, not so easy to avoid them during tournaments).

In addition, sadly, if you don’t have the 150+ infantry models to pull this off then your best bet is to shell out the money for 3 or more chimeras and go a russ-blob-mechvet route. Taking just 70 troopers in your blobs is a recipe for disaster in today’s world of shooting phases. You can sometimes get some decent chimera deals on EBay.


Good luck!


Tallarn Commander

My biggest concern is that while I do want a solid performing and effective army, fluff does play into it a lot. 95% of my army is the REALLY old metal cadians (think the whole Vogen campaign that GW pushed way back when), and they're all done up with a heavy WW2 Japanese background. That's why I initially set them up as an infantry army as opposed to the mechanized lists that people started to favor. As such, I used to use a solid number of heavy weapons teams as opposed to Vendetta's and the like as my primary anti tank stuff. I like the idea of giving conscripts a whirl as I do have the models to support it. That said I'm not sure how I could use Wyverns (good as they are)

I guess at this point it's a question of do I want to prioritize effectiveness or fluff. I'll have a look through of the codex again when I get home from work and try to retailor the list a little to see where I can free up some points.

So I went through the book again, and I'm really struggling to see where any sort of anti-vehicle firepower will come from. It's all fine and dandy that the lascannon squads are kind of meh, but from what I remember playing Guard, normal Leman Russ's aren't really dedicated AT guns. I could maybe take a Vanquisher or two instead of the normal Leman Russ's, but I'm not sure how well they hold up. I did decide to keep the platoon Melta's. I've had solid luck with them in the past, and it does mean that tanks and walkers don't immediately think they can park next to a blob. For the points saved I think they're worth keeping. I also kept one of the Sniper Squads, mainly since they're a horribly cheap objective holder

Company Command Squad - Vox, Autocannon (75)
2xCommissar (50)
2xMunistorum Priest (50)

Infantry Platoon 1
PCS - 4xFlamer (50)
Infantry Squad - Power Axe, meltabombs, meltagun, vox (85)
Infantry Squad - Power Axe, meltabombs, meltagun (80)
Infantry Squad - Power Axe, meltabombs, meltagun (80)
SWS - Snipers (36)
Conscript Platoon (120)

Veteran Squad - Vox Caster, Autocannon, 3xSnipers, Forward Sentries (91)

Leman Russ (150)
Leman Russ (150)

So the core comes to about 1000 points. My question now is would it be worthwhile to add a few Veteran Squads with Chimera's at this point (the chimera can fit with the theme since they are amphibious and the army is based around WW2 Japanese forces) and a couple Wyverns (leaves 63 points for random upgrades like camo nets), or would it be better to take a second platoon (minus the conscripts since I don't have the bodies, a single Wyvern, and a squad of suicide Scions with meltaguns whose sole purpose is to deep strike in and slag a tank (would need to drop a single conscript but that's a non issue)? I can fit both in with the points, so it's just a question of which would be a better option.

Veteran Squad - Chimera, 2xmeltaguns (145)
Veteran Squad - Chimera, 2xmeltaguns (145)
Wyvern Squadron - 2xWyverns (130)

OR

Infantry Platoon 2
PCS - 4xFlamer (50)
Infantry Squad - Power Axe, meltabombs, meltagun, vox (85)
Infantry Squad - Power Axe, meltabombs, meltagun (80)
Infantry Squad - Power Axe, meltabombs, meltagun (80)
SWS - Snipers (36)

Wyvern (65)

Scion Squad - 2xmeltagun (90)

Orkboy,

Your revised 1000 point core looks great! It looks like it would be more effective because I’ve found infantry platoons and conscripts synergize well together.

You ask some great questions:

1.) Should I keep my Russes or change them into Vanquishers?
I’d say keep the Russes. Vanquishers are great if buffed by Pask, a psyker, an Aquila relic, etc, but a couple of plain old Russes perform better for me. Plus, they nicely replicate the IJA’s Type 97 in terms of fluff (which I think (?) was intended as a generalist infantry support tank rather than a tank with dedicated anti tank capabilities).

2.) Adding to the core: Would it be better to add a couple of chimeltavet squads or a second assault blob?
I’d say go with the second option. Chimeltavets are superb units. They provide mobility to your list and can threaten everything except for fliers. However, when I use my assault platoons I prefer to go big or go home by using at least 2 assault infantry platoons and at least 1 conscript blob. So I’d say don’t add the chimeltavets for now and go with your 2nd option of an assault platoon and wyvern. That way you’re doubling down on 3 blobs that can get you board control. And you can sort of get the anti-tank firepower you would have gotten from your chimeltavets with your CCS, auto/sniper vets, Russes, and, especially, your assault platoons’ meltaguns and meltabombs.

Plus the second option is fluffier because I don’t think the IJA never was a very mechanized or motorized army. I might be wrong but didn’t their mobility in WWII come mostly from bicycles and trains?

As a modeling suggestion, rather than modeling your scion squad as a scion squad, you might want to use your metal Cadians and model them as sneaking through jungle terrain. Perhaps put them on woodland termie bases and have them coming up behind enemy troopers and shooting and stabbing them. This would replicate the IJN’s expertise in infiltration—skills that they used successfully on the Chinese mainland, on the Bataan peninsula, the Malay Peninsula, and as they harried the Indians and Brits on the retreat from Rangoon.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!