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Hey all,

I have a crap ton of IG sitting in a corner of my living room and I am trying to figure out what to do with it all. I managed to get my hands on some catachan's at a decent price, then some cadians and now I feel very scatter brained! I eventually want to get enough parts and pieces to do the following type of lists:

Air-cav using Forge world shotgun veterans
Cadian Gun-line blob squads w/a Cadian Straken
and Catachan Mech Vet

with the last list, I think it is within reach of my budget and this is where I need the veteran IG players help:

What is the best support for a Mech Vet army?

Right now I am thinking my backbone would be:

HQ:
CCS w/3 Plasma, Medic in Chimera w/Heavy Flamer and multi-laser - 180pts

Troops:
At least 4x10 Vets with Meltaguns in Chimera's w/Heavy Flamer and Multi-lasers - 620pts

So the above would come to a total of 800pts which would leave me with 700pts left to play with.

So what works best with Mech Vets? What should I spend the last 700pts on?

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Thanks!

PS: I do not want to include Valkyries or Vendettas in this particular list, though I am thinking about including Marbo because 1) He's a catachan, 2) he's cool and 3) I think he could do some serious disruption work in my opponents back field.

I think you should reconsider Vendettas. Every mech guard list I make has 3 Vendettas. They probably the best fast attack in the game. 3 TL las cannons is just awesome for anti tank and the ability to alpha strike with scout or outflank for side shots if you don't get first turn.

Marbo is only good if there is no kill points. He is good but he usually coughs up a kill point without gaining you one. With victory points he usually does more then his points in damage so is worth it.

Psyker Battle Squad is highly recommended as it helps you deal with certain death stars like nob bikers and helps you run things like lootas off the board.

I like Manticores for heavy support choices because they can be used as anti tank to pop land raiders at range and are good vs hordes with D3 large templates.

so, with 4 meltavets, you're pretty good with anti-tank and with 5 heavy flamers on chimeras, you've got a decent chunk of anti-horde capabilities.

The unit types that you have only so-so overlap against are MCs, TEq, and MEq. There are lots of ways to handle this with 800 points. This includes taking 3 demolishers, or 3 units of rough riders along with 3 hydras, or 3 big units of plasma stormies, etc.

It really just depends on your style.

I second vendettas and manticores. Staples of the army.

PBS is a take it or leave it IMO. Over many games it's almost perfectly balanced. Some games it will be awesome the rest it will do virtually nothing. So that one to me is unreliable and can be shelved if you want.

A note on your original list, I actually don't like the medic in the CCS. Its cheaper and you actually get as much or more firepower out of a 4th plasma gun. Especially if they're in a chimera.

I don't care much for demolishers. They are tough and have a place in some builds, but you have so many tanks you're better off with medusas in my opinion. You're spammng AV 12 which is going to stretch the other guys most efficient tank busters thin, give the medusas a lot of cover, and you are saving massive points over a demolisher.

Hydras are good and cheap, but I typically find myself skipping on them for other heavy choices.

I can't help but say go ahead with the Vendettas too.
i also suggest the Hydras (x2) and Manticore are great pics as well.

Ok, What if I go with Manticores then how many should I take? Would one do?

I am also tempted to run 2xHydras as well.

Would a Leman Russ or two fit? What about Hellhounds and their variants?

Thanks

Russes are a must in a good IG list. One or two vanilla russes with extra heavy bolters would only set you back 340 points. My favorite is the executioner - it's expensive, but powerful, even moreso with plasma cannon sponsons.

I commend your desire not to use the choppers. They are horrendously powerful.

Marbo is good and solid. At 65 points, he's a bargain. My friend has him modeled like Malcolm Reynolds.

Hellhounds Etc. are ok. Ranged templates are nothing to scoff at, but the Devil Dog is my favorite (or is it the Bane Wolf?) - Poisoned 2+ and AP 3 makes a mockery of just about everyone who isn't a meganob.

This last recommendation is one you should ONLY follow if you really want to take the Catachan mech army idea to its logical conclusion, and that is a single Eradicator with Heavy Flamer Sponsons. It's the epitome of jungle-fighting Russ technology.

x6 hydras can easily render other mech armies to bits. Hellhounds can be fun but only take hellhounds. Other variants arent all that great in practice

MekanobSamael wrote:Hellhounds Etc. are ok. Ranged templates are nothing to scoff at, but the Devil Dog is my favorite (or is it the Bane Wolf?) - Poisoned 2+ and AP 3 makes a mockery of just about everyone who isn't a meganob.

Correct in thinking its the Devil Dog , and I have seen them do a real pounding on so many Marine gunlines

I think Hellhounds are the best choice, here. Maybe some Rough Riders for funsies.

If you're playing an aggressive, all-in type of army, I personally worry that blast templates will do too much friendly fire. Maybe this doesn't work this way in practice, but I just have that fear of a large blast smashing my own Vets. (yes, they're expendable little humans, but still) As such, I like using the controlled templates of the Hellhound much better. Guard BS doesn't matter, it wounds almost all infantry on 2+, doesn't care about cover, and you can pull off a "bank-shot" with it.

The banewolf is crap. Or, it's crap compared to the Hellhound. Banewolf can double-flamer because of the Str 1, but if anything lives, it's in charge range. Hellhound can fire from a safe distance and do more consistent damage over a few more turns. I know AP 3 is a magical number, but that's what all the plasmas and meltas you have are for, right?

If you're going to get all-up-ons, you're sure to get into an assault or two that you don't want, so RRs seem like a good counter-charge option. No personal experience, however.

I'd advise running with just one manticore, since you have other heavy support units that are competitive for the other slots, like basilisks or russes or even hydras. Personally I also use 2x hydras, then the rest are artilleries.