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So what exactly is an ig power blob?

From my vague understanding it seems like 3 Infantry squads with flamer and power weapons mixed with a commisar

Are Power blobs effective and if so how are they best used?

Also mentioning pros and cons would be good

Yeah, you've got it. It doesn't need to be 3 squads, though, it can also work with 2 or up to 5. Really, it's nothing more complicated than power weapons and commissars with power weapons. Anything else is ancillary.

Yes, power blobs are effective. They are effective because you've got these mediocre S3 power weapons, but they're wrapped in so dang many abblative wounds that few infantry units survive the turn after turn of pummeling they dish out.

Power blobs are effective against infantry, and, with meltabombs and an eviscerator priest, the only thing they need to be on the lookout against is things like dreadnoughts and high-toughness MCs (like wraithlord). The priest goes a long way, but even he can only do so much. All other infantry tends to just get ground down into nothing.

The only real trouble I've had so far has been against really fast things that also have lots of guns and can use them while moving quickly, and things that are really fast and are also close combat monsters who use their mobility to get the charge in. Basically, specific types of eldar, DE, and BA. For those few things that power blobs aren't at least decent against, you have lots of options for support units that you can put in. It really just depends on local meta and taste.

The flamers are unnecessary and potentially counterproductive. If you kill too many people you risk evacuating your charge zone. The basic idea of the power blob requires a commissar and power weapons on the people who can take them. Melta bombs and priests with eviscerators are optional additions. At its core the power blob takes the classic IG trick of putting most of the unit's effectiveness in the hands of a small numbers of people who can't be killed before the mob of regular troops surrounding them and uses it for assault instead of shooting. On the charge you get a good dozen or so power weapon attacks in addition to whatever the normal guardsmen throw in. The power weapons don't go away until after more than a dozen guardsmen have gone down and the commissar keeps combat resolution from wrecking you.

Has anyone tried adding more commissars than just 1? In say a 3 squad blob having 6 PW's instead of 4 seems like a nice idea, but I am not sure the extra 90 points make it worthwhile.

I am still building my IG army - but I would say 30-40 men is the sweet spot. I'd probably take 30, anything more is very hard to maneuver while 20 I don't think is enough spare wounds at all.

I would always take meltaguns in this type of squad - as pointed out flamers are a bit counter-productive for squads that want to assault, and the meltas are useful for killing transports and defending against tank shock.

Commissars are definitely not worth it after the first. There are a few psychic powers and character models in the game that can possibly kill the commissar without going through everything else first, but not many. And for just power weapon attacks, a commissar with PW is 45 points - not worth it at all, especially since a squad with a PW is 60!

Oh man, we've already had some really rather long threads about *this exact subject*!

Would it have really hurt to have used the search function?
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/316572.page#1922518
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/338405.page
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/307615.page
Is that really so hard?

L. Wrex

P.S. I know I'm coming across as a bit snappy and aggressive but, seriously, these topics come up so *often* that it does become slightly exasperating. Even more so when the information is just so easy to get hold of.

Lycaeus Wrex wrote:Would it have really hurt to have used the search function?

It actually makes me wonder why dakka doesn't make more prolific use of stickies.

I mean, we're just about due for another thread on if banshees or scorpions are better.

Grix wrote:Has anyone tried adding more commissars than just 1? In say a 3 squad blob having 6 PW's instead of 4 seems like a nice idea, but I am not sure the extra 90 points make it worthwhile.

I use a power blob with 3 squads and 3 commissars on top of a preist with an eviscerator and a lord commissar that occasionaly hangs out with the blob

Lycaeus Wrex wrote:Oh man, we've already had some really rather long threads about *this exact subject*!

Would it have really hurt to have used the search function?
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/316572.page#1922518
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/338405.page
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/307615.page
Is that really so hard?

L. Wrex

P.S. I know I'm coming across as a bit snappy and aggressive but, seriously, these topics come up so *often* that it does become slightly exasperating. Even more so when the information is just so easy to get hold of.

This is true. But I will say that it's much better to have active forums than to be BoLS or Heresy. Dakka is blocked at work for me, and they just don't have enough traffic to keep me entertained.

Ailaros wrote:

Lycaeus Wrex wrote:Would it have really hurt to have used the search function?

It actually makes me wonder why dakka doesn't make more prolific use of stickies.

Because with all the Threads that recur often enough to warrant stickies on them we would have to go to the second page just to see new threads, the whole first page in each sub-forum would be 1 long list of stickies.

Well, or there could be a sticky that just has links to topics that are discussed with great frequency. That way there would just be a single topic that would get necromanced rather than dozens of topics on the same... topic.

Why don't you just not click on a topic if you've seen it before?

Because some of us are here to help other people.

It would be a little more convenient if we didn't have to do it quite so repetitively.

Lycaeus Wrex wrote:Oh man, we've already had some really rather long threads about *this exact subject*! P.S. I know I'm coming across as a bit snappy and aggressive but, seriously, these topics come up so *often* that it does become slightly exasperating. Even more so when the information is just so easy to get hold of.

Well, we don't want to work ourselves out of a job, now, do we?

Ailaros wrote:Because some of us are here to help other people.

It would be a little more convenient if we didn't have to do it quite so repetitively.

I am satisfied with that noble answer. I also agree with you that there should be stickies.

It would have to be a sub forum with stickies though. Even if you just had a Tactics thread for each race you would take up most of the first page.

Powerguy wrote:It would have to be a sub forum with stickies though. Even if you just had a Tactics thread for each race you would take up most of the first page.

A subforum with additional subforums, one for each race? I'd like that a LOT.

As has been said before, the search engine in Dakka needs much to be desired. Type in "power blob" and you won't necessarily easily find what you are looking for.

I hear this is being looked at, but the best tip I've seen recently use to search the site direct from Google for better results ...

On the subject, I like GL over flamers on my blob as I can bother a few transports on the way in!

People If it bothers you that much create an article called "Dakka's 40K Tactics FAQ"

General Ian wrote:

Grix wrote:Has anyone tried adding more commissars than just 1? In say a 3 squad blob having 6 PW's instead of 4 seems like a nice idea, but I am not sure the extra 90 points make it worthwhile.

I use a power blob with 3 squads and 3 commissars on top of a preist with an eviscerator and a lord commissar that occasionaly hangs out with the blob

See, I think this is a really bad idea - 2 extra commissars with power weapons is 90 pts, I think a Lord with PW is 80 - you could take a 50-man blob with some extra special weapons for that price. IG commissars and independent characters are not an efficient way of buying combat power! Once you have one commissar hidden within a squad, that's the leadership issues taken care of. The only reason to take any more commissars - PW attacks - is ludicrously expensive compared to just buying more squads and giving the sergeant a PW.

There are a couple special reasons to take multiple commissars. It gives you the option of subdividing a large (4-5 squad) blob and gives some insurance against having a single commissar somehow getting killed by something like Mind War, Jaws, or Telion. If it's just for the extra power weapon it's pretty expensive for what you get. The commissar is only 15 points less than a whole new squad whose sergeant gets just as many attacks as him and comes with nine more guys. I suppose it makes sense if you're finding yourself running out of space.

I-bounty-hunt-the-elderly wrote:

General Ian wrote:

Grix wrote:Has anyone tried adding more commissars than just 1? In say a 3 squad blob having 6 PW's instead of 4 seems like a nice idea, but I am not sure the extra 90 points make it worthwhile.

I use a power blob with 3 squads and 3 commissars on top of a preist with an eviscerator and a lord commissar that occasionaly hangs out with the blob

See, I think this is a really bad idea - 2 extra commissars with power weapons is 90 pts, I think a Lord with PW is 80 - you could take a 50-man blob with some extra special weapons for that price. IG commissars and independent characters are not an efficient way of buying combat power! Once you have one commissar hidden within a squad, that's the leadership issues taken care of. The only reason to take any more commissars - PW attacks - is ludicrously expensive compared to just buying more squads and giving the sergeant a PW.

at my glgs 2500 pt games are the norm so i really have the points to throw around to do that

I found that grenade launchers really help, instead of flamers. Especially if you launch a few Kraks at a termi squad before pounding on them with the PWs.

My power blob never leaves home without its melta guns. It would be crazy to do!

Lonecoon wrote:I found that grenade launchers really help, instead of flamers. Especially if you launch a few Kraks at a termi squad before pounding on them with the PWs.

In a power blob, I really don't see an advantage to special weapons. First off, to make it clear, the blob's role is to move and to assault. Even if you're playing the blob defensively, they want to manoeuver to get the charge, since that adds at least 20 attacks and reduces casualties.

That assumption flat out eliminates plasmaguns, since they're not assault weapons.

Meltas are anti-vehicle. Some people take them as defense against tank shock, or as a "just in case" if the blob gets a chance to assault a vehicle. In both cases, a Meltabomb does the same job with the same number of shots for half the price, and even works against walkers that would tarpit the blob. Even then, though, MBs are a way to spend points at the end of the list, not while still filling out the meat. The only time I can see Meltaguns being useful is if you plan to crack a transport and assault the goodies inside. In this scenario, it's probably a mistake that you didn't have a support unit that's actually geared to take care of transports nearby.

Flamers are good in theory, but they don't do anything that the blob itself shouldn't already be capable of. Unit in cover? We've got frag grenades. Unit 6" to 8.5" inches away and in cover? Massed lasgun fire will probably be quite enough, and if it's not I don't see a flamer or two turning the tide if it's a unit that you can't handle receiving a charge from.. If the unit is in charge range, you might get some hits, but you run the risk of models being removed in such a way as to deny you the charge, which always ruins your day. This is actually an important consideration for all shooting and special weapons.

Grenade Launchers are probably the special that would bother me the least in a blob, but only because of it's range. It can hit things that are far enough away that you couldn't assault anyway, giving the blob a chance to do something that turn. However, if it's target is that far away, you'd probably benefit more from running than two or three S 6 AP 4 shots (which isn't really impressive). S 6 is only really good in mass quantities, like the Eldar can. If you're close, see all the comments about Flamers.

In all, specials just don't do enough in a blob squad for me to even consider them until I've got 20 points left at the end of the list, and think "hey, why not Meltas?" It's best just to keep them barebones as the squads, PWs, and Commissar until you have the rest of your list made before adding upgrades.

To be fair to the meltagun, it's AP1, while the meltabomb is not.

As for the flamer, occasionally there are things you're going to want to shoot rather than charge, even with a power blob (like wyches and banshees), but those don't come across all that often, and can be handles by other means.

The real thing to remember with special weapons is that you can't run in a turn that you want to use them. When power blobs aren't assaulting, they're running to get into assault. Special weapons give you a little flexibility, as you can choose to shoot instead of run, but those situations aren't all that likely to come up. The only real exception I can see is being close to a vehicle that you want dead, which is why I can sort of see meltaguns. As for the rest of them...

Ailaros wrote:To be fair to the meltagun, it's AP1, while the meltabomb is not.

As for the flamer, occasionally there are things you're going to want to shoot rather than charge, even with a power blob (like wyches and banshees), but those don't come across all that often, and can be handles by other means.

The real thing to remember with special weapons is that you can't run in a turn that you want to use them. When power blobs aren't assaulting, they're running to get into assault. Special weapons give you a little flexibility, as you can choose to shoot instead of run, but those situations aren't all that likely to come up. The only real exception I can see is being close to a vehicle that you want dead, which is why I can sort of see meltaguns. As for the rest of them...

It'd rather see two pens than one at AP1 for the same points. /shrug

If there are units you really want to shoot, isn't that where a PCS with 4x flamers would come in, instead of adding them to a blob? I see your point, but think situations like that fall into the realm of your support units instead of making your blob do *everything*.

If a dreadnought pods in next to your 50 strong power blob, and you don't have a meltagun (or five), you will feel very stupid trying to roll 6's to hit a walker in CC.

In short, if you haven't got MGs for at least a token close defense, buy a condo because your blob is going to be there for a long, long time.

And no reason whatsoever you can't invest the extra 5 ppm on meltabombs at the same time. Nothing wrong with redundancy, and Guard do it better than most.

In that case I would just kill the Dread with my Hydras, Meltavets, Vendettas, etc... at least in that situation I would just ignore the Dread if possible. Just because we're using a powerblob doesn't mean we're eschewing all of the Guard's usual heavy firepower.

odorofdeath wrote:In that case I would just kill the Dread with my Hydras, Meltavets, Vendettas, etc... at least in that situation I would just ignore the Dread if possible. Just because we're using a powerblob doesn't mean we're eschewing all of the Guard's usual heavy firepower.

This

sourclams wrote:If a dreadnought pods in next to your 50 strong power blob, and you don't have a meltagun (or five), you will feel very stupid trying to roll 6's to hit a walker in CC.

In short, if you haven't got MGs for at least a token close defense, buy a condo because your blob is going to be there for a long, long time.

And no reason whatsoever you can't invest the extra 5 ppm on meltabombs at the same time. Nothing wrong with redundancy, and Guard do it better than most.

I would personally run 21-man blobs, partially because of things like this. The difference between a 41 and two 21 man blobs is a lot of flexibility in movement, 45 points, and being tarpitted only works half as well.