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How to fill out an all rounded PIS?

I'm assuming that by you mean Platoon Infantry Squad.

There are a lot of ways. My preference is Autocannon, Vox-Caster, & Grenade Launcher for a static all-comers squad, but a friend of mine swears by the effectiveness of lascannons in his infantry squads (i.e. tanks hunt infantry, infantry hunt tanks). For more mobile AT, go with meltaguns, though these don't hit much and can get expensive in a hurry. The only things to really avoid IMHO are plasma guns (too expensive), power swords (you're probably going to die in melee before using it), and krak grenades (you're pretty much never going to have an opportunity to use them).

PISs, unless you're using them as throwaway units, need to have a commissar in there somewhere (at least one per combined squad). This brings them from a Ld8 to a rerollable Ld9 on morale checks, and it always takes said Ld9 unmodified. As such, commissars keep your PISs on the table, winning close combats, and taking orders.

As for their equipment, the first thing you've got to remember is that platoons are troops choices. This means that in most of your games they're going to need to move in order to get onto objectives. This means they should be kept mobile. An infantry "blob" (PISs that use the combined squads rule around a commissar) that has only special weapons can still take an objective in your backfield (and if your opponent wants to take it, they have to get in range of your guns for you), while a blob sporting heavy weapons is much less likely to do the necessary advancing upfield. As such, PISs, should look something like...


PIS, power weapon, meltabomb, commissar, power weapon
PIS, power weapon, meltabomb, flamer

or

PIS, plasma pistol, plasma gun, commissar
PIS, plasma pistol, plasma gun

or something like that. No point in spending all those points on platoons only to give them low-strength weapons and/or ones that will force them immobile, thus denying the purpose of them being troops.

I'd say the most rounded PIS is the GLAC squad at 65 pts; cheap, and able to kill vehicles and infantry, but not that great at either. More expensive versions are the two Ailaros describes (power/plasma blobs).

I've been experimenting with GL + HB or mortar, to dedicate the squad to anti-light infantry (get the most out of the lasguns). Not bad so far, as the rest of the list can be made to handle everything else.

I would avoid trying to make an allround PIS. They are cheep and you can get lots of them sore you're better off tooling them for a specific task.

If you plan on moving forward, you're not going to want heavy weapons.

If you plan on staying back to hold an objective or bubble wrap artillery or other expensive units, you're probably going to want heavy weapons. The type of heavy weapon depends on what the rest of the list looks like.

I usually decide what to kit my PIS out with depending on what the rest of the army looks like. If I'm missing long range anti-heavy tank I'll add lascannons. If I need something to counter light tanks and transports probably autocannon.

A commissar is a necessity if you plan on blobbing any of your squads together.

All infantry IG are one of the better builds in the game, just most people don't have the models for it or patience to paint said models. This army has massive firepower, few KPs, good assault capability, amazing scoring power, and renders all of the other guy's AT weapons useless. It is a meta-game army, in a typical tournament you won't face anyone able to kill all your models.

You can run a blob two ways, IMO.

1.) Defensive: Objective camping/shooting
2.) Offensive: Objective taking/assaulting

You can build a squad to do both, but specialization is better than generalization in a good players hands as it saves points. In less skilled hands it is more forgiving to generalize and make squads do both.

Defensive:
20-50 infantry, commissar, las or atuo cannons, grenade launchers of plasma guns.

This unit sits on your objective and shoots. It is incredibly hard to shift and puts out a ton of firepower that will be very hard to shut down. Great unit.

Offensive:
20-50 infantry, commissar, p.weapons on everyone, a few melta bombs, flamers or meltas to taste.

This unit aggressively goes after objectives by plodding up field. It is very powerful in assault especially when combo'd with Creed, Straken or Yarrick. This unit relies on weight of numbers to get the job done. I find that any more than 30 models can become unwieldy, although I have used 50 before and the thing is practically unstoppable. I took a charge from a full squad of Berzerkers with Kharne and wiped them out.

In a full Infantry army, you can pack in 4 full sized blobs, 4 PCS with quad flamers and a CCS and you have a wrecking ball of an army. 229 models, and oodles of power weapons, las and auto cannons, practically unstoppable scoring potential and only 9 KPs.

It is a great army, it is just limited by the logistics of buying, assembling and playing it. You have to move models quickly to get a game in in 2 hours.

@Kasrkin52: A lot of these questions that you're asking could quite easly be answered by reading Polonius' IG article (found here)

To answer the OPs question directly: the most well-rounded PIS loadout is an autocannon coupled with a grenade launcher. The loadout is cheap and throws out a solid number of mid-high S shots that lets it engage pretty much any target the enemy throws at it. This particular loadout is pretty good when mounted in Chimeras as it allows them to add their heavy weapons to the Chimeras whilst simultaneously offering them some mobility in the latter stages of the game.

Generally the three optimal loadouts for a PIS are as follows:

i) flamer (with or without a mortar) - this loadout is the cheapest and most commonly used in blob squads simply as a way to add a template weapon. Some people argue that the flamer isn't worth it, other people argue that it is, YMMV.

ii) grenade launcher w/ autocannon - see above

iii) plasma gun w/ lascannon - the most expensive loadout but potentially the most lethal. Lots of high S, low AP shots mean that, when taken in multiples, this loadout tears through armour and TEQ with relative ease. Unfortunately, there are more cost effective methods of fitting lascannons into an IG army (see: Vendettas). I still like this loadout, but then I'm a big advocate of plasma weaponry whereas others find it too unreliable/expensive for their tastes.

Voxs are only generally useful if you combine lots of heavy weapon PISs together, as the cost and benefit is mitigated across two/three squads rather than the single squad it would otherwise service.

You've already made a topic about blob squads so I won't repeat that entire thread here.

That about covers it I should think....

L. Wrex