Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Alright I am planning to have a 'Artillery' ( With my tanks aswell ) based army , well explosive so I was wondering how good grenade launchers and mortars are ?

I Play against a Horde Nid army , a foot sloggin' eldar army and 2 Ultra marine foot sloggin' armies .

Suggestions ?

An armour heavy IG list is pretty strong.

Medusa's and Manticores are both great choices. Hydras are decent and cheap.

To go with the artillery you need something to keep enemy meltaguns away - you can use cheap guys on foot as a screen (bubblewrap) or you can use squads in chimeras as a shield (you get less but they give the artillery cover saves).

For both of these you'll want meltaguns since that will keep enemy transports from just driving right up to you.

Mortars aren't great. But, if you keep them hidden away they can be alright as they then take too much effort to get rid of. (as opposed to autocannon or lascannon squads which get shot to death immediately)

You need to give us an idea of the points level you want to play at so that we can help you more. Also, as I mentioned in the other thread, you need to get a codex before you start building anything - IG have lots of options that are not included in the box sets.

Like Scott said, you'll wnat your Heavy Support choices to be ordnance batteries, with maybe a Manticore or 2 tossed in. Mortars aren't the best, but if you have a lot of them behind cover, they'll slowly wither away your enemies. I would personally recommend taking blob squads as well to protect the artillery. Surrond them with a big squad of Guardsmen with a Commissar, and they'll be safe from close combat and melta attacks at least.

Me and my friends usually play 2500 points - Apoc which is then usually 3000-4500 points

In that case you'll want medusa's rather than manticores as you can get them in squadrons.

Well I'll be popping down my Local store soon to get a chimera , I'll get the IG codex aswell

Also of relevance, be prepared to spend a fortune. The army is built on cheap (points wise) but expensive (currency wise) units with multiple entries ie. blobs which are 2+ squads combined, so you need 2+ boxes of infantry. Ordnance Batteries, which are 1-3 artillery units that are (again) pricey. Multiple Dedicated Transports which are pricey...
A well put together artillery based IG army can easily get up into the $600-$800 range in a hurry.
You probably already knew all this, but I just wanted to point it out in advance.

if your playing huge apoc games, Basilisks and Collossus is the way to go.

A Basilisk can reach out and touch someone 20 feet away. It's pretty ideal for Apocalypse level games.

Scott-S6 wrote:In that case you'll want medusa's rather than manticores as you can get them in squadrons.

Well if he's playing Apoc, no FOC there, so you can spam Manticores all day long.

But yes, the bread and butter of an artillery IG army in an Apoc scale battle will be the good ol' Basilisk. Add on Manticores to blow hordes away, Medusas to deal with heavy tanks, and maybe some Colossuses to deal with cover, and you'll have a strong artillery force that can pound the enemy from across the table.

Bear in mind that you will still need infantry to defend.

And yeah...IG are one of the most expensive armies to build. You'll need lots of Guardsmen, lots of Chimeras, lots of tanks, etc. And that's assuming you don't go to Forge World....

If I had that kinda army your planning. I would probably buy extra templates just so I can cover the entire table in a lime green XD

Of mortar use: one of the best options for HWS; They can be hidden from sight and benefit from the Multiple barrages rules.

Grenade Launchers: one of the best back-up special weapons to your Squad's Heavy Bolters, Auto-Cannons, and Missile Launchers(Plasma guns are a good Pair with ACs and Lascannons; for their S & AP, pretty much respectively). the Grenade Launcher is Either a nice S6, Ap4 single shot(quite damaging against harder targets), or a Blast Lasgun(ap6 is only slightly better than ap-, and the S3 means they are useless against all vehicles, so the AP6 can be mostly ignored)

I would recommend a Full squadron of Bassies, and 2 Manticores; then if you can fit the points a Devil-dog with hull Heavy flamer for Anti-tank(the Heavy Flamer is for additional anti-infantry). Only take a MoO when you are expecting to fight hordes, as you will not hit anything and the FAQ says that his artillery barrage does not benefit from mortar ranging shots. For troops just take a few Platoons, with some matched heavy weapons in the infantry squads(for Blobbing) and at least 1 Commissar per set of heavy weapons(so 2 per platoon if you are doing 4 or 5 Infantry quads with 2 HW sets). Set your CCS as an Order-delivery system(Heavy Weapon, maybe a medic+Supporting Special, or pair of supporting Specials, bodyguards are helpful).

This will give you a basic "Artillery Regiment"; both fluff, and play -wise.

Ignore most of the Elite choices, they would be unnecessary in fluf, same goes with most fast attack(although as said, Devil dogs, hellhounds, and scout sentinels all work well as "spotter" units).