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We have a few local players who run 2 or 3 x valk (usually outflanking w/ demo/melta sws or meltavets), manticores, and a lot of meltavet chimeras at 1500.
What is your opinion of the best way to beat them handily?

Well you dont want to sit still. I'd say some type of DS army like DoA BA or dakka nidz

Thinking about:
Libby - jp, shield, lance

Honor guard - jp, 4 x melta

2 x priest w/ jp

RAS - 2 x flamer, sgt w/pf
RAS - 2 x melta, sgt w/ pf
RAS - 2 x melta, sgt w/ pf

VV x 5 - jp, sgt w/ glaive and ss, pf w/ ss, pf w/ ss, th w/ss, 2 x lc
1500 on the nose.

I like that list a lot. I think it can mess up a parking lot.

A PA based drop pod LoganWing army would do well against the list. You'll basically need to do a lot of Deep Striking at that point level to get at the enemy fast. If you play SW I would suggest GH in Rhinos held in reserve and 3 units of Wolf Scouts with MG, 2 PP, and WG with PF and Combi Melta. Outflank all 3 squads into the back of his parking lot while the Rhinos rush on from your edge. You'll need a little luck to get the scouts in before your Rhinos but with three of them you should be alright if only 1 comes in turn 2.

The answer to this is really obvious. What is good against a single unit that is a mobile platform for 3 TL lascannons and 3 BS 4 meltaguns? Well, not tanks or low-model-count armies, that's for sure.

The best army to beat up on melta vets (or just mechvets in general), is one that makes their firepower insufficient. This means hordes. Any horde commander who can pack anti-tank into their infantry are likely to do well. Remember, they've got to get really close to shoot their special weapons. They get into 12" range with 6 transports, you WAAAAUGH 12" and blow up all 6 with a single slugga boyz mob and then eat the vets next turn.

Guard air-cav and mech-vets excel against armies that use a lot of toys and rely on a few key tough units in order for their strategy to stay together. Deny them this, and it gets tougher.

Ailaros wrote:The best army to beat up on melta vets (or just mechvets in general), is one that makes their firepower insufficient. This means hordes. Any horde commander who can pack anti-tank into their infantry are likely to do well.

I generally would agree but I have been thumping my friends footdar list with umpteen bright lances. I think maybe it's been luck, but I haven't felt especially lucky those games.

But my personal answer to the question is to blow the chimeras up way way in the backfield. The vets are way to squishy and their range is way to short to be any use without a ride. But you need 1st turn and you need a lot of long range medium strength shots. Honestly one of my hardest matchups I have faced is a fellow guard player who spams foot units w/ autocannons. It's been very close almost every game.

Rifleman dreadnoughts are really good for this, long fangs would be good, I think all lascannon preds would be ok but they can be a bit costly to shoot at a 55pt chimera. The key is to get them before they can move and blow smoke (or get their cover saves in valks). Once that happens it will be a lot harder to bust the vehicle and even if you do the vets are in much better table position to do stuff.

Boils down to:
Blow them up in the deployment zone = Win
Let em move, even once, and it just got A LOT harder.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Another thought, my friend and I won the team tournament at flatcon against an all mech vet guard army. We had a pretty not ideal marine list with two landraiders and close combaty stuff inside.

We did have a few lucky things happen, but what we did was not commit with the raiders. They had very little long range weaponry (in fact all they had that could touch the raiders was vendettas that outflanked). The vets virutally never left their quarter, cause if they rushed at us they would be able to blow up a few rhinos up front and then get bum rushed by the raiders and guys inside. If we had committed the raiders they would have gotten owned and then the guys inside would have been screwed as well. Because they didn't come at us, and because they had virtually no range, we actually won the range game and took the tournament.

There were a lot of things going in our favor that game, but they were scared of our counter charges. We didn't give them a target to rush at, so they didn't rush, then we were able to blow up the chimeras back in the DZ. It won't work every time but its a thought starter.

ArtfcllyFlvrd wrote:
Boils down to:
Blow them up in the deployment zone = Win
Let em move, even once, and it just got A LOT harder.

It's actually more nuianced than that.

On objectives games, you invariably need to get close to your opponent if your opponent is also close to objectives. If your opponent invests solely in short-ranged firepower, you're actually doing him a FAVOR by riding around in tanks, as it gets you closer to his melta/flamer/power weapon hedge faster. Yes, you can always marginally outrun him, but this leaves him in control of the objectives, so you still loose.

Handling transport armies at long range is not the only way to handle transports.

Ailaros wrote:

On objectives games, you invariably need to get close to your opponent if your opponent is also close to objectives. If your opponent invests solely in short-ranged firepower, you're actually doing him a FAVOR by riding around in tanks, as it gets you closer to his melta/flamer/power weapon hedge faster.

Yeah that's true. but that's IF they are by an objective and you aren't able to lock up a majority of the rest of them. And even then you don't need to close until turn 5, so you have 2,3,4 and 5 to shoot the relatively squashy guys. It happens that you still need to close, but I wouldn't say it happens invariably. And I'm not sure what the riding in vehicle comment is in reference to, but being in a vehicle is still good I think because you can be farther away, move up on the objective turn 5 and blow smoke. Even if the tank blows the guys bail out and still score/contest.

Ailaros wrote:

Handling transport armies at long range is not the only way to handle transports.

Absolutely true, but with the armies I play and with what is inside the transport I would rather blow it from far far away. If I had cheap and fast units on foot that didn't play right into the hands of all the meltaguns (and you gotta figure there are probably multiple units around with triple meltas) then getting in the vehicles face would be fine. But with what I play most (marines, guard, and demons) the meltas or near by heavy flamers rock my expensive assault troops.