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Hey guys.  So I am brand new to this game and I've just read the rules and codex and everything and I wanted to make a list so that getting my exact army would be easier.  Me and a friend that was played in the past put together a list that I'd like to get some feedback on.  Let me know what you guys think, thanks!

HQ
Heroic Senior Officer (70+25)
     Power fist (20), las pistol
Guardsmen x4 (24)
     Flamer x4 (24 points)
Priest (40+25)
     Eviscerator (25)
          Total:  179

Troops
Infantry Platoon 1
Junior officer (40)
     2 Plasma (20) Lascannon (25)
          Infantry Squad 1 (85)
               Plasma (10) Autocannon (15)
          Infantry Squad 2 (85)
               Plasma (10) Autocannon (15)
                    Total - 255
Infantry Platoon 2
Junior Officer (40)
     2 Plasma (20)  Lascannon (25)
          Infantry Squad 1 (85)
               Plasma (10) Autocannon (15)
          Infantry Squad 2 (85) 
               Plasma (10) Autocannon (15)
                    Total -255

Armored Fist Squad (60+70+10+11+15+13)
Veteran Sergeant (6+5)
     Power Weapon, Laspistol
9x Guardsmen
     10 Meltagun, 
Chimera Transport (70+15+13)
     Multi-laser (10) hull-mounted heavy flamer (5)
     Smoke Launchers (3) Track Guards (10)
                    Total-168

Heavy Support 
Leman Russ Battle Tank (135)
     Hull mounted heavy bolter (5)
     Side mounted heavy bolters (10)

                    Total - 135
                              Grand total -998

     This is a solid list for a first time, and if your opponents are also new to the game you should do fairly well.  I have a few problems though, beginning with your HQ.  First off, a nice trick to save 5 points is to take a Junior Officer and give him an Honorifica Imperialis.  Same unit, less points.  Also, get rid of the priest, the flamers and the powerfist.  They are useless.  This is a mistake I made when I first started out with Guard.  Spend those points on a company banner and a medkit.  Tooling your HQ for assault is tooling for a loss, as the only time they should ever be in assault is if your opponent has breached your lines.  In this case, the game is already over.  IG HQ, even fully equipped, is outclassed by every other HQ in the game.  Even basic assault troops will demolish it.  One of my most embarrassing 40k moments is having my 200+ pt HQ wiped out by half a mob of my little brother's Slugga Boyz.  The only purpose of IG HQ is to hide behind the rest of your line and make sure your squads don't run.  The Company banner greatly helps this, and you probably want to invest in Iron Discipline.
     I have mixed feelings about specials and heavies in platoon command squads.  I reccomend cutting them to try and squeeze another infantry squad in.  The nice thing about weapons in infantry squads is your opponent has to shoot through 8 other Guardsmen before they start affecting your firepower.  With those command squads, every wound is a major loss.  Your platoon command squads serve one of two purposes, either they're mobile Ld boosts (preferably w/Iron Discipline), or they have either 4 flamers or plasmas and drop troops .
      I can't stress enough how you need to get rid of the autocannons.  They are generalist weapons, and Guard can't afford to generalize.  I reccomend having one squad in each platoon with a heavy bolter, and the other with a lascannon.  This will allow you to deal with both vehicles and infantry effectively. 
      Having just one tank is a bad idea.  Again, this is a mistake I made when I first started.  One tank is pretty easy for most armies to deal with, as it only takes one glancing hit to shake it and prevent it from firing next turn.  I've had games where my Russ didn't fire once until turn six, where it missed and then was destroyed.  I reccomend dropping your Armoured Fist squad for another Russ.  Also, only take the one required heavy bolter.  Taking any other weapons is a waste of points, as you're buying it for the battle cannon, and you can't fire both.
      My general advice to a starting Guard general is this:  specialize.  Every unit in your army should serve one specific purpose.  IG doesn't have the list or the statline to try to accomplish two things with the same unit.  If you try, you'll fail at both. 

Thanks! I was thinking about about dropping the CC from my HQ anyway and that just confirmed it. The only problem with dropping the fist squad is that i would lack mobility if needed. Is that a big concern or should i not care? But I understand what you are talking about and thanks for the advice.

Don't worry about mobility.  In my experience, Guard firepower makes up for lack of mobility.  Armoured Fist squads aren't taken so that you can move the unit around, you take them for the Chimera.  The squad itself is just another line squad.  You don't really need a mobile melta gun if you take lascannons in your line squads.  If you really feel the need for some close-up melta goodness, load one or both of your platoon command squads with meltas and give them drop troops.  It's terrifying.

I have to disagree with you on several points, BatCountry. However, good points in general. Here's my two cents.



Priests are pretty pointless for such a small squad. You'll get into CC and die. They're way overcosted anyway. Same with the fist. It is a bad idea to try and make a T3, 5+ Sv, Independent Character anything but an Ld boost, especially when the said device reduces his already mediocre Initiative to 1. However, flamethrowers are decent for the poor-man's counterassault. That many in a squad could lay waste to even a small SM Assault Squad. However, it is your decision. I personally am making my CHQ and PHQ's Deep Striking suicide units with meltas. They wreak havoc on your opponent's armor, especially at 1K points.

You also might want to consider Close Order Drill. When assaulted, all you have to do is be in base-to-base and your commader becomes Init.5, while the rest are Init. 4. Do NOT mix with Hardened fighters - It's worthless for T3 IG.



Agreed. Iron Discipline is one of the best doctrines I've ever used, and I've used almost all of them.



Again, agreed. Don't forget meltas though.



Incorrect. At 1000 points, his chances of seeing AV 13+ is slim to none. In all the games I've ever played at 1K, maybe a tenth of them had AV 13, and only two opponent have ever been crazy enough to eat up such a significant portion of their limited points budget on such an expensive unit. One was IG with a Leman Russ, and the other was Iron Warriors with a Land Raider. the DS melta squads wrecked them both.

Autocannons are better at killing lighter armor than lascannons anyway. In a 6-turn game against AV 12, an autocannon and lascannon will each inflict 2 damaging hits. The AC is 10 points cheaper, meaning you've bought yourself an extra str. 7 shot from a plasma gun. And, an AC can deal with infantry. An IG lascannon will only hit 3 times per 6-turn game, whereas an AC and a Plas (equals same cost as a lascannon) will get 9 hits per game combined. AC's can deal with any problem at 1K that a lascannon can deal with and then some. Keep the AC's. If you go above 1.2K, I'd suggest more Las/Plas though.



Agreed. Drop the Fist Squad. It sucks down points with an 80+ point chimera. A Russ will do much better. However, I disagree with BatCountry's recommendation of removing the HB sponsons. If you're shooting at infantry that are fairly close to friendly units, do you want to lay down a pieplate that has a 66% chance of missing, and could scatter up to 12" and land on your own guys? That's when 9 Str.5, AP4 shots come in. You can kill almost as much as the battlecannon shot can (assuming it hits) without fear of killing your own men. Russes are designed to hunt infantry - what if you lose the Battlecannon? well, without HB sponsons, you're screwed.

However, if you're short on points, its a good place to start shaving down.

Again, just my ideas. Take them with a pinch of salt and use at your discretion.

CK

Hey Krieg, just a heads up, the battle cannon can not scatter more than 6". Roll 2d6 and take the highest when moving and shooting.

Also Armored fists are not always a bad idea. They are a great way to shave points and still get your mandatory two troop picks in. One platoon and an Iron fist is cheaper than two platoons. A nasty list at 1000k is one platoon, one iron fist, and three hellhounds. The command squads are given drop troops and 4 meltas. Any heavy armor "there will not be much" will get blown by your dropping squads. The hellhounds and chimera will savage the infantry.

In general though I agree with all of Krieg's advice.

Whoops. I missed that in the rulebook. Thanks foil.

I have to credit a lot of this advice to HBMC - I may not be spitting out the advice he's given me, but he definitely helped me in creating a nice 1200 point IG list.

The rest of my advice comes from experience - I learned the slow, hard way until joining the Dakka community.

CK