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So I'm about to start an Imperial Guard army, but I want to start small so I can see how things handle and get a good feeling of where I want to take the army. Here's the list so far:

CCS 50
AutoCannon 10
AutoCannon 10
Total 70

Veteran Squad 70
HeavyBolter 10
PlasmaGun 15
PlasmaGun 15
PlasmaGun 15
Total 125

Veteran Squad 70
Meltagun 10
Meltagun 10
Meltagun 10
Chimera 55
Heavy Stubber 10
Total 165

BaneWolf 130
Heavy Flamer
Heavy Stubber 10
Total 140

Grand Total 500


Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, I've noticed a lack of love for Vox-Casters. are the order rerolls really not worth the 5 points?

PJFrost wrote:Veteran Squad 70
HeavyBolter 10
PlasmaGun 15
PlasmaGun 15
PlasmaGun 15
Total 125

Heavy Bolter?

Otherwise; CCS, Double Vet +1 Vehicle of your choosing is a good place to start in small point games. Remember to Mech them all up, makes delivering those three BS4 Melta's far easier.

Your list looks fine for small games although you are only allowed 1 heavy team per CCS. I would suggest droping 3x plasma, heavy stubbers, heavy bolter and switch 1 ac from ccs to vets. Then buy a chimera for either your ccs or vets and have 20 points left over for a couple specials on either your ccs or vets. Good luck! go guard.

Wow... don't know how I missed the bit about 1 HWT per CCS...

I picked up the heavy bolter for my Vet Squad because it kills more in its range (which is the optimum kill range for a squad with plasmas and lasguns) than an autocannon for anything MEQ or below.

Should I take an autocannon out of the CCS and the stubber off the Chimera to give my CCS a Heavy Flamer?

A banewolf is too expensive for this points range.

2 hydras or griffons would be more effective.

Heavy flamers are to expensive, go with 4x regular for the same cost

PJFrost wrote:CCS 50
AutoCannon 10
AutoCannon 10
Total 70

Can't do two HWT in the CCS... drop the AC for GLs. They will serve you well, and they have good synergy with the AC: similar strength, same AP.

PJFrost wrote:Veteran Squad 70
HeavyBolter 10
PlasmaGun 15
PlasmaGun 15
PlasmaGun 15
Total 125

Plasma is great, but mixing AP2 and AP4 is a really huge difference. Because you have to fire all shots at the same target, you would waste shots from the HB every time you shot at something that had high armor. Best to leave the HB out and just go with a squad of plasma. Maybe consider a transport. As for HBs in general, I feel that ACs are generally more effective.

PJFrost wrote:Veteran Squad 70
Meltagun 10
Meltagun 10
Meltagun 10
Chimera 55
Heavy Stubber 10
Total 165

At low point games, the stubber starts to be less useful. You could do more with those 10 pts elsewhere. 3 melta in a chimera is not a bad squad. I am not a huge fan of melta, because it usually makes for suicide squads. Also at 500pt games, you probably wont see that much Av14, let alone pure Av14. Most armor you see at this kind of game will be lower Av12 or Av10, or if it is Av14, it will have weaker side or back facings which you should try to exploit.

PJFrost wrote:BaneWolf 130
Heavy Flamer
Heavy Stubber 10
Total 140

Stubber really doesn't fix with the banewolf, differences in strength and AP make it sorta odd to spend 10 more points on a few shots that won't do much.

PJFrost wrote:Also, I've noticed a lack of love for Vox-Casters. are the order rerolls really not worth the 5 points?

Vox require 5pts per squad. The larger your army, the more this costs. It adds up quick. Consider that most squads can pass a Ld check without help. Consider that most squads don't need orders to be effective. Most of the orders are only slight bonuses; I think most people would agree with me that BiD! and FoMT! are the most powerful orders. (Twin-linked against vehicles and MCs, force enemy to re-roll cover saves.) Bid used on heavy weapon squads don't need vox, because HWS can't have vox. BiD on infantry squads will only affect 1 heavy weapon at most, and maybe a few special weapons will have range. The difference is minimal, because the squad can still do its job without the order, and the order has a good chance to pass anyway without the vox. Same goes for every other order, each order can be given and passed without vox, and most squads can get the job done without orders in the first place. Furthermore, you can modify Ld saves easy enough. Commisars, Kell, and other options exist to buff Ld saves.

Now, that being said... there are some situations where vox are useful. For 5 points, you can give a CCS the ablilty to reroll orders it gives to itself. This is useful if you have a lascannon, or a MoO (who is really really inaccurate, but can benefeit from BiD orders in larger point games). Also if you blob squads, you could have an order affecting up to 50 infantry, up to 5 heavy weapons, and a mess of lasguns and special weapons. Where I really think FRFSRF! is a waste of an order, giving FoMT! to a 20 or 30 man squad can make a big difference. In situations like that, you could drop 10 pts to get that one big squad rerolls. Just try to weigh how much bonus you get, and how important it is that you MUST HAVE that order. In most situations you don't NEED and order, so it is simply better to take the points and upgrade some weapons in a squad.