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Hello,
I will be running a leafblower style mech IG list for the first time and my question is how does/should this list respond to an "in your face" army (eg, all drop pod, demons, blood angels, etc) especially if you end up with second turn? whats the best strategy here? set up ure parking lot and hope for the best?

for ref, my 2000pt list
2xCCS w/ 3 plasma and medic (astropath and officer of the fleet, one each) in chimeras

1xPCS w/ 1 heavy flamer and 3 flamers in chimera
2xinfantry w/ autocannon in chimeras
2xVets w/ 3 meltas, demo

2xValkyrie w/ multi rocket pods

1xLR executioner w/ plasma sponsons
2xMedusa
1xManticore


Thanks

From what I've heard, poorly.

You basically min-max your army to be good at one thing: destroying your opponent's army before they can make it over to you. Enemy mobility, especially if they get to go first, DRASTICALLY reduces the amount of time it takes for your enemy to make it over to you, thus making the destruction of their army BEFORE they make it to your lines incredibly challenging (and in some cases, such as drop pods, ludicrous).

Of course, such is the price of min-maxing. You're good at lots of stuff, but fatally weak against others.

:-) Even getting first turn against some forces like a good BA drop force or a DA Deathwing won't help much... Something to watch out for certainly... And those annoying Wolf Scouts are going to be difficult to deal with as well... It seems like you're playing "rock" in the "rock-paper-scissors" game, some things you'll beat easily, others not so much...

Does it make most sense to split a force like mine, in this case? eg, medusas/three chimeras on center table edge and manticore/LR/two chimeras in corner?

@ pchappel. Wolf Scouts are easy to deal with with this list, you have cheap Chimeras and massive range so can park ON the board edge (so they can't even enter there) and prevent the Scouts getting to anything you don't want them to.

Split deployment can help, but that can just as easily backfire for you depending on what they do. Some lists would even pack enough firepower to cripple both flanks in the first turn (Drop Pod Assault etc) and then mop up, rather than overloading one flank.

This is why the pure Mech guard artillery list has actually been replaced by a more balanced mixed mech list as the IG build of choice for many people. Even just 1 decent sized infantry platoon in there is enough to keep you safe from hyper aggressive, alpha strike or reserving alpha strike lists (DoA). You still have dirt cheap Chimeras and the Valkyries which can shield your more expensive/killy vehicles, but a ring of bubble wrap infantry around that should keep your vehicles almost completely intact.

The keystone of the leafblower was the mystics and the medusae. You are lacking the mystics. As such, you cannot hope to surive against DOA blood angels and SM drop pod armies.

If you can concentrate your forces you still stand a fighting chance, I mean, EXECUTIONER PLASMA TANK!!!!

Drop armies would always be a problem, since you don't know where to park your precious artillery or heavy support stuff, taking advantage of terrain helps though but only to a certial extent as they could always position as near as possible to your lines and a turn later theyre assaulting you.

First thought would be to make an actual leafblower list, you have no hydra's for destroying transports, you have no lascannons for destroying land raiders, it looks like you looked at an actual minmaxed leafblower list from ardboys and took 500 points out of it or something. All those blast templates are fine but you have nothing to crack open the transports first to use them.

You also need more infantry/expendable models to screen and block to give you the vital extra 1-2 turns of shooting.

Also, going second against deep striking armies is often a bonus. If I get second against a pod heavy list, I know I can reserve everything. Then again, I play a shorter ranged army.

Polonius is correct. When I face a deepstriking army, or an in your face army my best unit as been a CCS w/ an "astropath", and reserving everything.

Guard has enought lethality that hey can be vicious when coming in from reserves. You can also stretch out your back table edge by having some of your units outflank. When your opponent has nothing on the board to go after, and you can come in from 3 of 4 table edges, you're giving them too much open space to defend against.

For defense against deeptrikers, either go into reserve yourself, and blast him with ordnance as you come on, or deploy with your chimeras around the heavy support tanks and infantry squads (you may need some more) around the chimeras - this prevents deepstriking meltaguns/assaults from getting at the valuable stuff.

If a blood angels unit deepstrikes and blows up a chimera, that's terrific, so long as they stay nicely bunched up and awaiting ordnance blasts!

Having some counter charge units in your backfield will help against deep strikers. Rough riders are really cheap and hit hard. You could keep a squad or two of them with your artillery to threaten anything that gets too close. They can also be spread in front of your forces when you know a charge is coming the next turn, forcing your opponent to deal with the rough riders and giving you an extra turn to shoot them before they hit your main line.

augustus5 wrote:Having some counter charge units in your backfield will help against deep strikers. Rough riders are really cheap and hit hard. You could keep a squad or two of them with your artillery to threaten anything that gets too close. They can also be spread in front of your forces when you know a charge is coming the next turn, forcing your opponent to deal with the rough riders and giving you an extra turn to shoot them before they hit your main line.

reserve your RR.....that would be my suggestion..

your force is extremely lean..lacks bodies in my opinion...but then i play a hybrid list...

Personally, with that list I would castle-up in a corner and wait for them. May even consider using the infantry squads as bubble-wrap and the empty Chimeras as road blocks to ensure you force the fast attackers to come at you where you want them to. Spreading 20 men out with 2" spacing covers a lot of ground.