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Hey fellas, got a tourney coming on the seventh, just wanted to get some suggestions.

I can expect lots of marine armies. I've played most of these guys. The general tactic at the LGS if for pure deepstriking spess mahrinz. The whole first turn deepstrike thing they have going for them right now is insane. They love to eat my infantry alive with termies an drop-pods full of tactical squads and dreadnoughts, so I made the switch to tanks. This only does so much, as the deepstrikers that kill my infantry rock meltas and powerfists for the tanks. So I gotta watch out for marines, but that's the only real obstacle, as I regularily beat the local orks, crons, and nids that I know will be participating.

The obvious beef here is the tanks. Two chimeras, one banewolf, and four LR variants. Should I drop and swap for more infantry?

So, here's the list, feel free to make suggestions:

1500 Points: Imperial Guard
Tallarn Desert Raiders
28th Armored Junaid


Company Command Squad @ 237 Pts
Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x4); Camo Cloak; Meltagun (x4); Master of Ordnance; Chimera
1 Company Commander @ [33] Pts
Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Refractor Field; Camo Cloak; Melta Bombs; Bolter; Senior Officer
1 Master of Ordnance @ [30] Pts
Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol; Camo Cloak; Artillery Bombardment
1 Chimera @ [90] Pts
Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Heavy Flamer; Heavy Flamer; Camo Netting; Extra Armor

Veteran Squad @ 126 Pts
Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x7); Lasgun (x6); Grenade Launcher (x1); Veteran Weapons Team; Gunnery Sergeant Harker
1 Veteran Weapons Team @ [10] Pts
Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x1); Flak Armour; Lasgun (x1); Krak Grenades; Autocannon
1 Gunnery Sergeant Harker @ [55] Pts
'Payback' (Heavy Bolter); Close Combat Weapon; Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Catachan Devils; Feel No Pain; Relentless

Veteran Squad @ 176 Pts
Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x7); Lasgun (x7); Camo Cloak; Snare Mines; Veteran Weapons Team; Chimera; Forward Sentries
1 Veteran Weapons Team @ [20] Pts
Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x1); Flak Armour; Lasgun (x1); Camo Cloak; Snare Mines; Krak Grenades; Lascannon
1 Veteran Sergeant @ [7] Pts
Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Laspistol; Camo Cloak; Close Combat Weapon; Snare Mines
1 Chimera @ [70] Pts
Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Extra Armor

Bane Wolf @ [140] Pts
Chem Cannon; Heavy Flamer; Dozer Blade

Leman Russ Squadron @ 380 Pts
1 Leman Russ Battle Tank @ [190] Pts
Battle Cannon; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Plasma Cannon Sponsons (x2)
1 Leman Russ Battle Tank @ [190] Pts
Battle Cannon; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Plasma Cannon Sponsons (x2)

Leman Russ Demolisher @ [240] Pts
Demolisher Siege Cannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon; Dozer Blade; Knight Commander Pask
1 Knight Commander Pask @ [50] Pts

Leman Russ Demolisher @ [200] Pts
Demolisher Siege Cannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon; Heavy Bolter Sponsons (x2)

A few criticisms:

-Pask is a bad choice on a Demolisher hull, and is a terrible choice in the Demolisher hull you've chosen for him. (It doesn't even have sponsons!)

-Sgt. Hakkar costs as much as a Chimera. Think about that. I feel he's a poor choice in take-all-comers lists, and a very poor choice if you know you're going to be playing against deep-striking Marines.

-Camo cloaks are unnecessary on mechanized squads.

-Camo netting and extra armor is expensive for a 55 point Chimera.

-Veteran squads should always have 3x assault weapons. The extra weapon slots are part of why you're paying the premium over normal infantry squads.

In general, you seem to be buying too many upgrades that help your units perform. It's a good idea to ensure that your units perform when you need them, but the best way to ensure that a unit performs is to have a redundant unit standing by. Instead of relying on extra armor to get your Veterans to their destination, buy another Veteran Squad in a Chimera. Remember: "Quantity has a quality all it's own."

Yah, i need meltas in the veteran squads more than the command squads. Good call. I figured the same after looking at it. I retooled to swap the meltas out of the command squad and put them into harker's squad. I want to have harker so I can outflank with said meltas. these guys LOVE having a predator or the occasional whirlwind in a rear corner. Or, I could throw that squad into the commander's chimera and have him just sit back and throw artillery strikes at the enemy.

True dat on the demolisher. My thoughts here was to use pask's crack shot rule that extra punch against the landraiders I know I have to face. I normally run pask on the basic russ or a vanq.

Now I know the vets seem goofy with both camo and a transport, but I'll run them differantly should i fight the nids or orks, turning them into a dug-in gun line while the transports use their flamers on hordes of enemies. This makes the army a little more flexible.

A lot of what dave47 said is spot on, especially:

Vets really, really need 3 special weapons each. The squads now have no punch at all, what do you expect them to do against the marines you mentioned?

If marines are your prime opponent, why would you waste so many points on camo cloaks that will only come into play against other armies? (and even then, it would be better to drop them and keep your men in their chimeras)

More than 3 leman russes and you start to run into problems - the squadron rules are a major disadvantage. If you need all four, I would use the 2 plasma-equipped russes as seperate units, strip both demolishers back to no upgrades and use them as a squadron. Lascannon upgrades are too expensive, dozer blades on shooty tanks are massively unnecessary, and pask is useless. Never put HB sponsons on a demolisher, they're no good against the tank's prime targets, and a cunning opponent can use wound allocation to actually reduce the damage the demo cannon does if it hits a whole squad of terminators.

Use the points saved from camo and overloaded tanks - kit your veterans with guns! and get another vet squad if you can squeeze it in. Probably better to lose harker too. It's just a bit out of place in an all-vehicle list. If you really need to keep him, at least give his infiltrators some firepower. Currently you've paid for a fragile unit that has a grenade launcher, an autocannon and a HB.

Good luck in the tourney - one good tactic against all drop-pod/deep strike marines would be to cram all your tanks in a corner, with the russes in front - he can only drop in and shoot the front of your heavy armour, and you can try and take them out in your turn (don't pack your tanks so tight you can't move or see past if the front ones do get immobilised/wrecked - just leave small enough spaces between them that units have no chance of successful deepstriking)