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I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about guard in 5th. Is mechanized guard viable or are regular platoons better off?

I think Mech Guard is better. Less kill points, probably more survivable.

Mech Guard is better than it used to be.

Especially if you use mechanized doctrines.

Start HQ, 2 troops on the board...leman russes and hellhounds get a guarantee of 1 shot before blown up, and those shots really hurt.

If anyone gets near you though and can CC you, you're dead in many ways.

But still, guardinfantry with many tanks is the better option. Guards lifeblood is many bodies and nowdays they bog you down pretty hard. (unless someone can take you all out at once, but that goes without saying)

Static platoons with heavy weapons are nearly always going to be better than Armored Fist squads because 1 Chimera (point sink) does not have anywhere near the firepower of an infantry platoon and Guard do not rely on mobility enough to require or justify the extensive use of transports.

However, you can run heavily mechanized lists-- i.e. 3 Hell Hounds, 3 Russ variants, and chimeras parked in front of Russes to give hard-to-find cover to your heavy tanks-- and still have tons of footsloggers on the field. This might not be what people consider a "mechanized" list, but it's still got 7+ AFVs.

can't say I really agree Sourclams. I play aggressively with my kreigsmen and I've found that having a chimera with 2 hvy bolters supporting a squad with another hvy bolter covering the rest of the platoon with assault weapons can disrupt enemy infantry enough for 25 angry troopers to slam home. support that platoon with some deep striking stormtroopers to keep your opponent off-balance and you've got something most players don't expect - a winning guard army.

I get completely confused reading your post. So you park your chimera and fire away with 6 BS3 Heavy Bolter shots while your guardsmen.... advance with assault weapons? What assault weapons do guardsmen have? One can have a flamer or a meltagun, I guess. But your 25 angry troopers are going to "slam home" (<--- what?) under cover of 3-4 bolter wounds? What in the world are you fighting that assaulting guardsmen don't get shot to pieces or hacked to pieces in a laughably short amount of time?

my appologies if I didn't make it clear. I usually run a plt command with 3 plasma rifles, 2 infantry squads with flamers, and a 4th squad with a heavy bolter. and by "slam home" I meant "shoot the crap out of".