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Hi. I've had the desire/thought to start up an IG army some day, not sure when, but with the release of the new Imperial Guard codex looming on the horizon, I thought, what the hey, might as well start maybe doing some preliminary planning.

Here's my problem. I want to do Vostroyans. Bad.. Very bad. I LOVE the way the models look, but fear the wrath of painting an all metal army (not terribly.. but ya know.. it's daunting.) Especially looking at the models.

Before I jump off the deep end, and start buying models, I want to sit down and round-table with some Imperial Guard players/gurus to decide what, exactly, I want to do with an army list.

I'm not a power gamer either. I have compeditive 'tournament' lists I've made in the past, my eldar and marines to be specific, but I want this army to be fun and at least moderately effective. Probably an escalation league, or campaign league style army.

So that said, I have an idea on what I'd like to run, or at least what I've played against with my marines/eldar that I liked and found to be effective in the old codex.

Doing research has yielded some interesting details, both on Vostroyans, fluff wise, and the new Imperial Guard codex (Rumor mill FTW!)

As of now, I'm thinking of going fairly mechanized, perhaps not totally, but having quite a number of tanks on the field, backed up by several decent sized squads of infantry.

A local game/hobby/comic store also has a good deal on some Vostroyan boxes that I've had my eye on for *months*, after speaking to the shop owner, who wants to move them, he told me that if I bought them, I'll be able to get them for about 20% off as well, which is rather exciting.

So I'm thinking about 3 to 4 squads of infantry, weapons will vary, but I'll get my hot little hands on a codex first, before I start making any dedicated purchases/choices on that sort of thing.

So, for a semi-complete IG noob, what would you all suggest I look to build as a basic, start-up Imperial Guard army? I'm open to any and all suggestions. As of now I'm looking at purchasing the Vostroyan Platoon box, consisting of a 5 man command squad, and two 10 man squads with a heavy bolter, a morter, a flamer and a grenade launcher for heavy weapons, along with a separate 10 man box with a heavy bolter and a flamer (?) Couple those with the HQ command box, a chimera, and perhaps a leman russ, and we'll see where we go from there.
This sound like at least a decent/solid start-up force?

So, I beseech ye, Guard guru's of Dakka... Any help you could offer would be appreciated!

-Red__Thirst-

The vostroyan models are really cool. I was just looking at them the other day, and I love the detail and how their lasguns look very ornamental.

If you can get some at a discount, then go for it. Classic guard metals are hard to find, and even go for a premium on e-bay.

If I remember my doctrines correctly... Vostroyans have carapace and sharp shooters... so this might be well-represented by using Veteran squads in the new codex with the "grenadiers" option.

Agreed, thank you for the thoughts Willy. I'm thinking it'll be a good thing to use a lot of veteran squads in the army as the Vostroyan First Born, according to the fluff, are more of a warrior brotherhood and are fairly elite by most standards.

Interesting thoughts to ponder... Hm..

Good deal. More info to come, obviously tanks will be in the army, I like Leman Russes obviously, but what about Hellhounds? I've seen them used to terrifying effect before, anyone have any thoughts on them? I understand they're getting a range decrease, not a big fan of that, but will wait and see what the codex actually has to say when it releases.

Also, Rough Riders? Yes? No? Maybe? I like them but have never really seen them played to good effect personally. Just wondering if anyone had thoughts on those too.

Thanks!

-RT-

I have no IG experience, I will just say that an all metal army is not as bad as people make it out to be. Expensive, no question (my first 1K of Nids cost about as much as 400 points of Sisters), but they are quicker and easier to clean up and a joy to paint. The lack of poses is not as bad as people put it out to be either, as plastics all get the same after the first 10-20. Conversions can be difficult, but Vostroyans come with most options already, so this should not be too bad, unless you are the sort of person who likes to highly customise everything individual model.

Red__Thirst wrote:Agreed, thank you for the thoughts Willy. I'm thinking it'll be a good thing to use a lot of veteran squads in the army as the Vostroyan First Born, according to the fluff, are more of a warrior brotherhood and are fairly elite by most standards.

Interesting thoughts to ponder... Hm..

Good deal. More info to come, obviously tanks will be in the army, I like Leman Russes obviously, but what about Hellhounds? I've seen them used to terrifying effect before, anyone have any thoughts on them? I understand they're getting a range decrease, not a big fan of that, but will wait and see what the codex actually has to say when it releases.

Also, Rough Riders? Yes? No? Maybe? I like them but have never really seen them played to good effect personally. Just wondering if anyone had thoughts on those too.

Thanks!

-RT-

Fast tanks that can ignore cover saves are going to be great, IMO. Extremely useful against a lot of units that try to survive through having good cover saves: pathfinders, SM scouts with camo-cloaks, orks with KFF, etc. etc. I like RRs, but a lot of other people don't Personally, I think that CC units that can win decisively are very useful, and RRs fit that bill.

Rough Riders seem to be the best choice for a counter-charge unit, but I'd like to run a larger squad of them, and converting up vostroyan rough riders seems a daunting task... Still, something to think on, I suppose.

More thoughts please, I'm still working out how I want the army to feel, and play as well. As I said, armor will be a central theme, as the Vostroyans have good equipment. Not sure about valkeries, or other such nifty things. I kind of see Vostroyans being a ground-oriented force, but that's just me.

Thanks for the additions thus-far. Looking forwards to more

-RT-

Vostroyans are also the ONLY IG army with AP 6 lasguns.

I don't know if this will change in the new codex though.

Vostroyen guys look amazing though. I've been looking for some of their snipers, but can only find the command set.

One thing I would take with vostroyans are hellhounds and flamers, with fluff it fits as they are city fight IG.

Vostroyans aren't bad.

But you'll still need 50 to 100 of them just to get started, even if you take a lot of Tanks to fill points.

I'd suggest you start building sample lists of what you like (based on the previews), and see where that takes you.

2k of Guard isn't a cheap propositino, but 1+k in Tanks will help keep the cost down.

Vostroyans have AP 6 lasguns? Is this from the cities of death book?

Yeah, the fluff is that Vostroyans must set aside 6 hours or so to produce guns for their family members in the guard so they have better weapons than standard lasguns. The fluff is quite interesting.

Background is not the same as ingame results.

Their guns just look better and fancier, nowhere in the rules does it say that their lasguns have AP 6.

Really, I could've swore I saw that in the "Cityfight" rulebook. I'm not sure, but I am sure that it said so.

I think you're confusing this with the old battlezone Cityfight book, which allowed the Guard to field snipers with AP 6 sniper rifles.

Is that the one with the Tau and Vostroyens fighting on the front?

No, that is Cities of Death.

Okay, thats the one I was talking about then.

Where does it say AP 6 lasguns then?

I'm pretty sure nowhere.

I'm pretty sure that you're pretty sure that I am not sure. I don't own the codex so I need to look at it again.

I'm pretty sure your I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure that your not sure.

And I'm more pretty than both of you.

Wait... what were we talking about?

I just read through the CoD rules. No mention of S6 lasguns anywhere. There's no stratagem or mission special rules that have it.

Seriously... AP 6 lasguns are possibly the most worthless upgrade in the universe... it doesn't exist in current guard rules... so why are people spending so much time on it?

Not to go too far off topic, but I noticed the OP mentioned getting a large unit of Vostroyan Rough Riders.

Consider using Fantasy Kossars maybe?