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So i've been wanting to start IG for a while now and come the end of this month i will finally do it. i was wondering if you vet IG players could help me out. I want to make a force that is predominantly on foot.i dont plan on moving them much id rather they stay in cover and provide a good firing base. I also intend to have vets with either plas or meltas in valks to take out MC's and armour is this a viable tactic? id also like to have a plethora of leman russ'. so if you guys could give me some army lists tell me whether my tactics are viable or if they are just all round awful aswell as any other useful information that would be great. id also like input on what i should buy 1st. for my 1st purchase im limiting myself to $200 CAD(translates o roughly the same amount in USD) if you guys could give me tips on that aswell that would rock.

lukesdabest wrote: I want to make a force that is predominantly on foot.i dont plan on moving them much id rather they stay in cover and provide a good firing base.

The problem is that this isn't a viable strategy, foot guard or not. 5th edition is a game of movement. No matter how you comprise your guard army, if you design it to just sort of sit around, you are likely to lose a lot of games.

As such, I'd start by thinking about mobility. Foot guard have plenty of it, as, obviously, do more mechanized lists. If you can't quite stomache the idea of sending a human wave across an open battlefield and seeing half of them turned into carnage puree, then a foot list probably isn't going to be for you.

yeah mech was my second choice. seeing as they will be moving HW are out of the question so should each unit have a flamer then? i was orignally thinking for the foot guard that they would have grenade launchers and autocannons would this still work even tho id be rocking a mech army?

Ailaros wrote:The problem is that this isn't a viable strategy, foot guard or not. 5th edition is a game of movement. No matter how you comprise your guard army, if you design it to just sort of sit around, you are likely to lose a lot of games.

Simply not true. Let's look at that most contentious of IG lists: the Leafblower. Does this have massive movement and maouverability in its playstyle? No, it sits at the back and pounds the enemy to dust. Granted there are some slight differences between the 'foot' gunline and the 'mechanised' gunline but the principle remains the same.

I think that a force comprised of big platoons, Commisars, plenty of HWTs and PCS to provide heavy/special weapon support to the line infantry, CCS bolstering the standard troops with orders, and Rough Riders/Ogryns to provide a counter-charge punch could be both effective, unique and damned fun to play. You'd have to be aware that you'll be removing models with a shovel; so if your the kind of person who doesn't like packing figures away I'd probably re-consider your flavour of IG.

Your idea of using Vets in Valks has been proven to be consistently effective, but again you won't be doing the life expectancy of your models much good throwing them into the heart of the enemy's storm.

L. Wrex

oh ok i thought as much cuz i posted this on various sites and this seems to be the only one where someone said a gunline was a no no. im use to taking models off with a shovel as you so nicely put it lol. not tat i lose all the time but i play horde armes in fantasy so i know what its like to lose buckets of troops.

any suggestions on first purchases other than the codex?

Well...if you've got your heart set on a gunline, the very first thing you want to do is write up a list. Then you can tailor your first purchases dependant upon what your actually going to use rather than just randomly buying things and throwing them into an army.

I would probably go somewhere along these lines:

HQ:
CCS w/ lascannon HWT and 2 x plasma guns

Troops:
PCS w/ 4 x (plasma/melta) OR lascannon and 2 x plasma
PIS w/ lascannon, plasma gun and Commisar
PIS w/ lascannon and plasma gun

Veterans w/ 3 x meltas

You've got a solid start to a gunline there. You combine the two PIS to make a solid Ld9 bulkhead and use the BiD order from the CCS to twinlink at least 3 lascannons a turn at whatever nasty armour your opponent has lined up on the other board edge.

Plasma, whilst expensive, synergises very nicely with the lascannon (high S, low AP) and looks awesome to boot.

Vets will obviously need a transport as they'll get annihilated in the open, but your already planning on getting Valkyrie's anyway so that's not too much of an issue.

L. Wrex

that does look too bad tbh and seems to be relativly cheap and within my price range. i know the command squad box comes with a plasma gun do the infantry squads have them aswell or do they have only grenade launchers and flamers?

lukesdabest wrote:that does look too bad tbh and seems to be relativly cheap and within my price range. i know the command squad box comes with a plasma gun do the infantry squads have them aswell or do they have only grenade launchers and flamers?

Only 2x Grenade Launchers and 2x Flamers I think

kenshin has it right; two GLs and two flamers per box.

You would have to beg borrow and steal the plasma that you need, but there's such a plethora of Marine players who never seem to use them you shouldn't have too much trouble offering the odd dollar for a pair or something.

If you bought the Battleforce you would get all the parts you need for a CCS, at least two PCS and a PIS or two plus all the heavy weapons you'll need. Then you just need to supplement this with another box or two of Cadians and your laughing.

You could also try and trade the Sentinel for bits: they're a bit rubbish TBH, or keep the bits for coversions etc.

yeah well i got sw bitz and csm bitz so im good for plas i believe. yeah im eally not liking the sentinal ive faced them b4 and they were very blleh

Lycaeus Wrex wrote:Simply not true. Let's look at that most contentious of IG lists: the Leafblower.

Yes, this mechanized list did pretty well the first time it was brought out. Since then...

lukesdabest wrote:any suggestions on first purchases other than the codex?

4 boxes of infantry and a bunch of non GL or Flamer special wepaons. This will give you the start to two platoons or 3 squads of vets and a CCS.

If you're never going to use a sentinel, go with Ailaros's advice. If you would consider it, I'd go with the Battleforce - you get the command sprue, 20 guys, and 15 heavy weapons (with 6 more kneeling guys), along with the sent. That's a pretty good start - the only battleforce that gives you a legal list, I think - and it works out that you basically get a unit for free.

I found success with my gunline elusive, until I stopped trying to squeeze a mounted vet squad in there and just went with platoons, backed up by support vehicles and a couple of chims. And Ailaros is right, you have to move to win for many battles, so be ready to march! A couple of chims doesn't hurt, but if you've got your eye on the gunships, that would work as well... otherwise, it's Go Go Go FTW!

I've played a lot of gunlines and can say for a fact that it Works.

As murdog says, stick with the normal infantry squads and just mash in as many heavy weapons as possible, I usually go with 50/50 LC/AC, maybe a bit heavy on the LC to really get rid of those pesky MCs or termies.

Couple this with a couple of LRBTs or (cheaper) a basilisk or two and you have a list that forces your opponent to move towards you and at the same time punishes the hell out of anything that moves across your line of fire.

The plan is to pound the enemy to dust in the first turns and then start advancing with enough troops to hold objectives while at the same time maintaining fire superiority.

Creed is gold in a list like this. As is vox-nets. I know people hate on vox-nets but I've had nothing but good experiences with them.

I've yet to regret building (yet) another infantry squad. Enough lasguns can kill anything. Except Landraiders, and Monoliths, and... eh, well, you get the point.

+1 on the bassy/LRBT combo with infantry. Place them for maximum carnage, bubblewrap, and roll with glee. I prefer 10 man squads, but any infantry will do. The platoon gives foot lists more tools for cheaper, whereas the vets are powerful, but the premium demands protection.

Not to say a veteran foot list couldn't work. I've supported them on here at <1000 pts.

how does this sound for a 1st buy? 2 command squad boxes,3 infantry boxes,3 heavy weapons,meltagun bitz pack

Sure, but it's not a legal list if you're gonna go the platoon way.

You need at least 4 infantry squads, 1 CCS and 2 PCS to make it legal. You can make 1 command squad from the six guys left over after you've switched them for heavies.

I still don't have dedicated CS. I just use whats left after upgrades along with some special officers to distinguish them.

What is the melta gun bitz pack? Is it the one with like 8 or 10 melta guns because those are a real PITA to assemble in any good way unless you're into lots of modeling. Also, normal melta guards come with back packs which I don't think you'll get in that pack.

Stick with the LCs for a start and go from there. You should be able to take out most tanks with just LCs and orders. If they come too close you can consider giving your guys kraks as it will give them a chance to bust tanks in CC.

Sure melta is great in the long run, but for that, you need chimeras or a flyer, which I wouldn't recommend initially if you want to build a gunline.

One of my first gunlines had the above (1+2+4), a Russ and a Bassie. In low point games (which was the only game I could play) it rocked.

I am starting my Traitor Guard and started collocting my HQ platoon, filling out all the slots of that platoon. I am now looking for 50 guardsmen, I have pleanty of Chimeras, I am using the 1/35th scale Striker for that at $10 a pop. So for me its filling out my 50 man platoon w/ no hvy-special weapons just grunts. Its hard finding what I want these days as GW does not seem to make bulk infantry boxes anymore like in the 90's. If they do there not cheap...seen a troop box for $22 has a Catchian unit comes with a sentinal and hvy and special weapons, but I dont want them as believe Traitor dont get that kind of fluff. So I am watching the cases in the store for cheap plastic guard models and buy em up.

lukesdabest wrote:how does this sound for a 1st buy? 2 command squad boxes,3 infantry boxes,3 heavy weapons,meltagun bitz pack

The only way to make this legal is to field them as vets, in which case the heavy weapons will probably go to waste and the 2 command squads are uneccesary. If you're going a foot list, you could take something similar to this except drop a command squad and the 3x heavy weapons for 2 more boxes of infantry. This way, you'd have a legal ground-pounders list straight away.

i thought that was legal tho. 1 command box is css one is pcs 2 infantry squads are infantry squads the 3rd is vets the 2 hw go in the squads and 1 goes in the pcs. im not wanting to do vet spam at all

OK, here's a breakdown of the optimal way to assemble a CCS, a Platoon and a unit of Vets.

Purchase the Battleforce. In this set you get the following: a) Cadian Command Squad, b) 2 x Cadian Shock Troops, c) 3 x HWT.

i) The Cadian Command Squad contains enough 'special' parts to make a Company Commander and at least two Platoon Commanders (you get three 'special' breastplates and at least five 'special' heads in the box). It also gives you access to a plasma and a melta. From this kit construct one CCS and the Platoon Commander.

ii) Use 50% of one of the infantry boxes to complete the PCS. If you are including a heavy weapon in your PCS and/or CCS you'll have plenty of spare Guardsmen.

iii) Assemble the final Guardsmen box as per normal.

iv) Assemble the heavy weapons and put them in their respective squads.

Now from that single Battleforce you should have a CCS w/ heavy weapon, a PCS w/ heavy weapon, 1 x PIS w/ heavy weapon and you should have 9 normal Guardsmen left over.

Final purchases: 1 x Cadian Shock Troop box and 1 x HWT. This allows you to put your final heavy weapon in the PIS, gives you a unit of Vets and leaves you with a few Guardsmen to spare.

All in all, at standard GW RRP, it'll come to $95 + $24.75 + $15 = $134.75.

Hope this helps!

L. Wrex

You could cast the melta and plasma bits from the ccs box.

Aus-Rotten wrote:You could cast the melta and plasma bits from the ccs box.

Umm as in resin and stuff?

You shouldn't bring that up on a public forum you know

Plus you'll have the sent, I suggest a Plasmacannon sent to get that anti-tec you'll lack. Mine's been working well, keep it in cover and take potshots across the board. I know everyone's down on the sent, but you'll have it anyways...

I suggest a regimental standard to hold men on foot in the line. With wrex's build you'll have spare guardsmen, and so I'd make a commissar out of the command sprue as well (there's some pointy hats and a long coat), to put in a platoon infantry squad whenever you may feel like it. Making spare sgts. with power weapons is also handy for when you're feeling choppy, but then the commie will probably want one too... anyhoo this ain't a blob thread.

One more thing: if you do think you may want to go with alot of heavy weapons, you can really make the most of the fact that you get 15 heavy weapons (three of each of the five types) on the HWS sprue. They give you 6 kneeling guys, so if you make crew (and missile launchers) out of regular standing guys, you can field more than the 3 you're obstensibly buying. I'm just saying, don't waste the kneeling guys...