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My friend was wondering if IG blob squads were necessary to be competative. (Assuming he continues to take a 50/50 mix of armour and infantry points wise)

No, you can be plenty competitive with other guard builds, such as mechanized.

Furthermore, if your friend wants to make a foot-horde the core of his army, he can still also include vehicles (even including mechvets), under the assumption that they are support units.

I don't know if I'd do 50/50, though. At higher points perhaps, but at lower points, he's probably going to have to balance it more towards the blob side if he's going to have enough numbers to be successful with a foot list.

What are the different types of builds for IG? seeing as I still have a chance to influence that at this point in his growth as a player.

Well, you need to have a core of either foot horde (blobs), mechanized (usually mechvets) or air-cav (vendettas and valkyries with vets). The third is probably the most difficult and expensive.

Once you've got that done, then you just need to arm your core in one way or another, and then choose a support type of either any of the above three or also armored or artillery. Equip this to fill the gaps in the killing power of your core.

For example, I run blobs with power weapons everywhere. The support units I take are things that power blobs have a tough time handling on their own. Said things are reasonably handled with things like hydras, artillery, exterminators, stormtroopers, and the like, but that's just true for my lists based on how I build them. What will be the best support for your friend will depend on how he chooses to build his core, and what kind of play style he likes.

With a more tank built approach, is it wise to take 2 blob squads and then just fill it out with russ tanks?

It depends on the blobs, the tanks, and the points level.

2 blobs of 21 dudes is probably going to be too few unless you're playing at very low points levels, in which case you're not going to be able to afford more than like 2 tanks.

So with two-three blobs of 50 what tanks should he take?

blobs don't need to be 50-strong to be effective. Most people like 30. I myself take even smaller ones, but that's just because I like the flexibility.

The turret weapon on the russ is very determinant on how he arms his blobs, and what kinds of opponents he's facing most often. In my case, I play power blobs and face off against several skimmer-based armies, so the exterminator makes sense. If I fought against different kinds of armies more often or if I didn't run power blobs, then it would make more sense to run a different type of Russ.

Ailaros said it well,

I use 30 man power blobs support by storm troopers and regular leman russes.

I love the regular russ but that just me.

Got to say that I would recommend the basic Leman Russ for lower point battles. Its cheap enough to mount plasma cannons on the sponsons if you need to and the main cannon can take out SM and their equivalents no problem.

The executioner is good for skimmers as Ailaros said, Hydras are another option for bike or skimmer armies if you want them. If you run into another blob army such as orks or nids I would put he points into either Leman Russ's or for a little less(IIRC) banewolfs. The banewolf is a nice template poison weapon that's also AP3. It costs the same as a hellhound but ignores cover, wounds on 2+, and ignores 3+ or higher armor saves. Hellhounds cost the same but have the nifty ability to actually throw the flame template, this means he can place the flame template anywhere within the range given in the stats.

It does have less armor though so if rokkits and PK or their equivalents are the enemy's favorite weapons he would need to worry about them a bit more.

It all depends on what his enemy is playing and how many points he is willing to spend on certain parts of of his army though.

I usually use vets, He needs more than 20 people, otherwise hes screwed in an obj game. If i blob, im usually using Al'Raheem, and i have 2 20 men blob squads with a commisar,and power weapons. If hes playing defensivly and wants to guard stuff, then id stick to 20, and put in a couple heavy weapons, or grenaders.

Blobs are good, but 50 men is the equivilant of a neon sign the size of the emipre state building screaming "BLOW ME UP" he should divide them down, mayby a 30 and a 20?

If he does this, then he may want to go mech, and put special weapon squads (say flamers v.s horde, or meltas for tanks) in chimeras and run them inbetween to take fire, and eliminate your threats faster.

2 lemen russ tanks should be enough, but I always have a vendetta in with it. He may want to try a demolisher if he plans on being close to the enemy.

I recomend a vanquisher if he desnt have any/many meltas. Its basicly a melta, only ap2 and you ALWAYS roll 2d6

I have been playing two platoons for a while. One blobs, one doesn't. Al'Rahem goes with the blob platoon.

The other guys mostly stand and shoot. They do okay against some armies and against some they kinda suck. I don't blob them because I have lacked the models needed until recently (Tallarn are a bit harder to come by than Cadians). I have the models now and they are on the paint station, so I will blob soon.

We will see if they work better that way. The army has always done reasonably well as it is and can absolutely blow the enemy off the board sometimes - especially if the enemy happens to be Dark Eldar. That said there are times when blobs would clearly have been better.

On the subject of tanks; I run an LRBT, a Demolisher, and an Executioner in games above 1500 points. I run these models because that's what I got in the second-hand junk I bought. Only the Executioner has distinguished itself. If I had my preference, I would run two Executioners and a Manticore. Someday I will live that dream as well.

I myself have started running Hybrid builds, but I ran Mech for a while. Mech is just fine, really, and can be flexible enough to handle just about anything, depending how how good the player is. Then again, that's true of most decent guard builds.

If you run blobs, I'd say you need at least three 20-man blobs at 1500 points. That's what my Hybrid list has, and if I ran less I feel they'd do so little that I would get more out of more vehicles.

As has been said, your support for blobs is extremely important. A 20-man blob can take out most decent units in CC. But if you run into anything that's been geared to be powerful in CC, you need to thin the unit out to make sure the blob doesn't fall on its face.

Ultimately, no, they're not necessary. But I am definitely enjoying them after my switch to Hybrid from straight Mech.

I came up with 3 options for platoons, all 750 0r less, one outflanks, ones Strictly lascannon because you can,. and the other is mech. If your friend wants a list of them i can typem out for him.
and ELCHEEZUS, you cant have 3 20 mand blob squads...only 50 infintry.

Unless your doing 2-20 man infintry, and a 20 man consrcipt?

I have two Infantry Platoons. One has two 21-man blobs, and the other has one 21-man blob. Heck, here's my list, just for fun. It's actually 40% infantry, 60% mech. I played it the frist time in a couple games with 'Nids over the weekend and it fared pretty well.

1500 points

CCS 4x Plasma in a Chimera: 165
CCS 4x Plasma in a Chimera: 165

Stormtroopers 2x Melta in a Chimera: 160
Stormtroopers 2x Melta in a Chimera: 160

PCS 2x Melta: 50
-Power Blob w/ Commissar 3x Power Weapons: 165

PCS 3x Flamers: 45
-Power Blob w/ Commissar 3x Power Weapons: 165
-Power Blob w/ Commissar 3x Power Weapons: 165

Vendetta: 130
Vendetta: 130

So, OT, I don't think blobs are necessary, but I think my mech list (for example) gained by switching for a couple blobs.

Not to go way off topic and cretic it too much, but if your already using 2 PLATOOONS, why not take a special weapons squad in a chimera? its cheaper and youhave 3 "extra" wounds before you take out your meltas..

ImpGuardPanzies wrote:Not to go way off topic and cretic it too much, but if your already using 2 PLATOOONS, why not take a special weapons squad in a chimera? its cheaper and youhave 3 "extra" wounds before you take out your meltas..

SWS can't get chimeras.

Woah! why? where does it say that?! holy cow thats not good.

ElCheezus wrote:I have two Infantry Platoons. One has two 21-man blobs, and the other has one 21-man blob. Heck, here's my list, just for fun. It's actually 40% infantry, 60% mech. I played it the frist time in a couple games with 'Nids over the weekend and it fared pretty well.

1500 points

CCS 4x Plasma in a Chimera: 165
CCS 4x Plasma in a Chimera: 165

Stormtroopers 2x Melta in a Chimera: 160
Stormtroopers 2x Melta in a Chimera: 160

PCS 2x Melta: 50
-Power Blob w/ Commissar 3x Power Weapons: 165

PCS 3x Flamers: 45
-Power Blob w/ Commissar 3x Power Weapons: 165
-Power Blob w/ Commissar 3x Power Weapons: 165

Vendetta: 130
Vendetta: 130

So, OT, I don't think blobs are necessary, but I think my mech list (for example) gained by switching for a couple blobs.

Why spend the points on a chimera for your storm troopers when they can deepstrike/infiltrate and take out what you want then use the chimera points somewhere else. like a Ministorum Priest!

ImpGuardPanzies wrote:I came up with 3 options for platoons, all 750 0r less, one outflanks, ones Strictly lascannon because you can,. and the other is mech. If your friend wants a list of them i can typem out for him.
and ELCHEEZUS, you cant have 3 20 mand blob squads...only 50 infintry.

Unless your doing 2-20 man infintry, and a 20 man consrcipt?

Can you please type those out? He's going towards mech/hybrid at this point, but any list that makes for good daemon killers is appreciated I believe.

ImpGuardPanzies wrote:Woah! why? where does it say that?! holy cow thats not good.

It isn't stated that SWS can't get chimeras so much as they don't have a transport option listed in their codex entry. No transport option, no ability to buy a dedicated transport for the squad. They have to hijack another unit's transport or use a Valkyrie.

I dont know if i would call this a "mech list" at all. This would be ok, but if it was ever brought in anything above a casual environment I think its gonna struggle. IMO I dont think this list would be great against orks or nids either. Have you ever considered hydras a squad of 3 is 225 and it cranks out alot of shoots thats good for light av and troops. Aswell the executioner with plasma cannon sides, in every game I played they came up huge, 5 small blast plates str 7 ap 2 per tank thats amazing for almost anything. Something to think about I guess.

Raxmei wrote:

ImpGuardPanzies wrote:Woah! why? where does it say that?! holy cow thats not good.

It isn't stated that SWS can't get chimeras so much as they don't have a transport option listed in their codex entry. No transport option, no ability to buy a dedicated transport for the squad. They have to hijack another unit's transport or use a Valkyrie.

Do Ogryn's have a transport listed under their entry?

Yep.

Ogryn's are also fun to use. imo they arent as good in the new codex. they are great for sucking up alot of ur opponents fire, depending on how big the squad is though. as for the damage they can give out...they are better at taking down light av then units on foot, and to be honest i think those points would be more useful going towards more big guns. if ur just playing a more casual game they are amusing

Me and my two friends play a 1v1 and i put in 3 elite choices as barbanic tribes in the middle, i always use 2 ogryn squads and a full pysker in chimera. (fyi)

So you could still have SWS in chimeras, just some other squads or a valk. works for me. Do you guys want me to post all 3 platoons? or just the mech. Or should i email it to you Horizon?

Thanks guys! ^Your choice on method of input, I'd rather you post it so all can see and comment. Lets go with the 3 platoons

The Reclusiarch wrote:Ogryn's are also fun to use. imo they arent as good in the new codex. they are great for sucking up alot of ur opponents fire, depending on how big the squad is though. as for the damage they can give out...they are better at taking down light av then units on foot, and to be honest i think those points would be more useful going towards more big guns. if ur just playing a more casual game they are amusing

They're certainly a lot better than they were in the old Codex. They're still not a fantastic option but I'd take the new Ogryns over the old ones any day.

Horizon9 wrote:With a more tank built approach, is it wise to take 2 blob squads and then just fill it out with russ tanks?

I've had success running only one or two blobs in my otherwise mechanized list.

They provide ablative cover for my artillery, are practically impossible to remove from an objective while the Commissar lives, they can break up to provide multiple scoring units in missions that require them, and make for a nice platform for power weapons or twin-linked heavy weapons.

Ok, ill post The MECHANIZED platoon first. ***NOTICE, when i made this i did nto realise that SWS can not have chimeras as dedicated, but we can probibly find a way to make this work.

please keep in mind this is JUST A PLATOON, not the entire army. and that i made this at 2:00am after being up 23 consecutive hours.







Imperial Guard- Mechanized Platoon

Platoon Command Squad-



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok, ill post The MECHANIZED platoon first. ***NOTICE, when i made this i did nto realise that SWS can not have chimeras as dedicated, but we can probibly find a way to make this work.

please keep in mind this is JUST A PLATOON, not the entire army. and that i made this at 2:00am after being up 23 consecutive hours.







Imperial Guard- Mechanized Platoon

Platoon Command Squad-
Heavy Flamer, 3 Flamers- Chimera (2 heavy flamers)

Fire Squad 1- (infintry squad)
flamer, Lascannon

Fire Squad 2-
Flamer, Lascannon

Flame Squad- (SWS)
3 flamers, 3 lasguns- Chimera (2 heavy Flamers)

Plasma Squad-
2 Plasma guns, Flamer- Chimera (multi laser, Heavy bolter)

Melta Squad-
2 meltas, 4 lasguns- Chimera (multi-laser, Heavybolter, extra armour)

Suport Squad 1- (Hvy Wpns)
3 heavy bolters

Suport Squad 2-
2 Autocannons, 1 Missle launcher

TOTAL- 745


COMPOSITION
25 lasguns
9 Flamers
3 Heavy bolters
2 Lascannons
2 Melta guns
2 Plasma guns
1 Heavy Flamer
1 Missle launcher
4- CHIMERAS

IDEA::
This is for horde armys, so Fire Squads 1-2 stay back and guard obj while having anti monsterour creature and light av tanks.
PCS- Guards firesquads while issuing orders - Also stays back to light stuff on fire

Flame squad, Rush up and attack largest (weekest) infintry group and move on

Melta Squad- Melt tanks, if none, Anti mC or Draw fire

Plasma Squad- Anti MC and stronger units

Suport Squads- CAMP BACK and has a variety of ap/str values for different creatures.... ( i made this around what i had, otherwise it would be 3 autocannons) then price would be 755 out of 750. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS JUST A PLATOON


Automatically Appended Next Post:
EDIT: sorry guys i didnt realise i posted begining twice