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Hey guys

Here's the situation. Next Tuesday i am due to play my first game against a Dark Angels player, a 500 point battle. I have never used Guard before and could really do with some help tailoring a list and hearing some tactics against space marines. What sort of weapons should i use? What are the weaknesses of space marines? his army could be anything, Death or Ravenwing. Name me anything to put in a list, i work at a ILR so can acquire whatever i need quickly. I already have:

upwards of 40 stormtroopers - I haven't even sat and counted, i have so many!
Lots of unassembed Heavy Weapon Teams
A full Veteran squad armed with shotguns
Chimera
LR Demolisher (unbuilt)
and a normal Leman Russ. (unbuilt)
Primaris Pysker
Command Squads, Commissars, Guardsmen etc.

Throw me a rough list and ideal anti-marine weapons and stratergies for a 500 point Imperial Guard army please!

Thank you!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Nobody? i could really use a hand here.

A LRBT would own DA in 500 points, ap3 and AV 14/13 considering you run the minimum needed FOC. Marines have a hard time with 500 points because of model count.

Yeah i was thinking that myself, if there's so few of them i can afford some more single shot high power weapons, Leman russ sounds good... How useful do you think Stormtroopers would be?

Stormtroopers are kinda expensive for 500 points you'd best use veterans or blobs for infantry...also what special weapons do you have on those infantry?

They could have anything, i have lots of options to build. Atm i'm very sniper rifle heavy, with 2x3 veteran w/sniper rifles and 1 veteran squad with a sniper rifle, a plasma gun and a melta gun. But i have the possibility to make whatever heavy weapons would be best, loads of HWS sprues and special weapons. What would work best?

Plasma would work, you don't need sniper rifles as they are not really good. HWS AC and Lascannons but that's just me

Here's what I might run:

LRBT: 150 pts

veterans w/ 3 plasma, las: 135 pts

veterans w/ 3 plasma, las: 135 pts

company command squad w/ standard, meltagun, mortar: 75 pts

The single meltagun is in case of any landraider shenanigans, which is unlikely but you still want to plan for it. Anything else should be handle-able with the 2 lascannons, massed plasma and the battlecannon. The mortar might seem like a random choice but what else are you going to do with the 5 pts left over? At least it will let you land some shells on guys you can't see, and maybe get a sweet pinned result (it happens more often that you might think and can be a real game turner)

I would probably put the russ on a flank so that it can advance up and get around the sides of the enemy, making it able to put fire on to marine cappers that your vets can't reach. The vets need to be close to the command squad for orders and ld. One vet squad should be on or near a home-base objective, with the other within striking range of a midfield one. Both of them need a good field of fire obv. Use the vets to take down any armour and keep the russ firing on his scoring units. The command squad needs to have a good field of fire so that he can see targets for his orders. Use bring it down! to target enemy vehicles and 'fire on my target!' to fire on units in cover. You wont use the other orders much, except maybe get back in the fight! Speaking of which, don't hesitate to send the vets to ground if they take heavy fire, as you can use that last order to keep them firing.

If he has a drop-pod anything then make sure to keep your tank close to your vet squads. I think you will have to grit your teeth and hope he doesn't trash the tank, then destroy him with return plasma fire. Another option is to reserve the tank but this might leave your vets out to dry.

Going to have to leave it here as it's time for me to go to work. Have fun!

The above poster has pretty much covered all the bases. Plasma, AP2 and AP3 blasts etc ruin marines. Another option that might be worth considering is a Leman Russ Demolisher. Shorter ranged, but with a S10 AP2 pieplate it'll obliterate regular marines, terminators and even tanks with ease. The other option which can be fun against marines, though it can be hard to proxy if you lack the models, but Rough Riders are hilarious. For 105 points you can have a squad of 10 which will devastate pretty much anything they charge. And I never tire of marine players going 'Wait, hunting lances do WHAT?' when they get charged by lowly guardsmen on horses.

Lets see, other fun options include Marbo. At 65 points, he just shows up somewhere and throws an S8 AP2 pieplate on a target. If they fail to kill him in their turn, he then has melta bombs, an AP2 sniper pistol (lol wut?), and 6 I5 attacks on the charge, wounding anything on a 2+. Allways entertaining to use.

Stormtroopers actually aint bad against marines, kitted out with plasma and their AP3 hellguns they can do some damage, but as the previous poster said, they're a little rich for a 500 point game. You could perhaps try a powerblob if you prefer the tide of guardsmen approach, but personally I like tanks, and they dont come much tankier than the Leman Russ and it's variants. Tho the Banewolf is worth a look vs space marines. It truely gives them nowhere to hide, a flamer template that wounds on a 2+, is AP3, and ignores cover. Ow.

That pretty much covers the key things that are accessible to you, that will ruin space marines day. I'd say that for a 500 point battle... pick a few things from that lot that sound fun and go with it.

You guys have been super helpful! thanks a lot! Autocannons and plasma guns sound good to me!

Is he running bog standard PA Marines, or Belial and 5 Terminators plus some PA Marines? If he's showing up with Deathwing, you could be staring down 6 TH/SS Termis with FNP on T1.

Similar with Ravenwing. Sammael and Ravenwing Bikes can pull off a first turn assault with scout + turbo boost.

Well hopefully i'll see the guy tonight at the local gaming club, and try to squeeze some intel out of him as to what i might be facing. Terminators generally mean i should take lascannons right? or at least autocannons because of the multiple shots?

Plasma guns, and/or a Leman Russ demolisher will deal well with terminators. Autocannons tend to not do so well, being only AP4.

If he is going to take assault terminators with 3++ saves, then you are best leaving any of the Leman Russes at home and simply cramming as many plasma guns into your list as you can.

One-shot weapons or blast markets are not well suited to killing off AssTerms. Your las is almost without exception BS3, so 50% chance to hit and 33% chance for him to fail the save. Blasts have a difficult time hitting dispersed Terminator bases.

I just played a game with this list, after hearing your advice -

HQ - CCS - Plamsa pistol / power sword, 2x plasma guns, lascannon, carapace armour

Troops - Veterans, plamsa pistol / power sword, 3x Snipers, autocannon, carapace armour

Troops - Veterans, plamsa pistol / power sword, 3x Snipers, autocannon, carapace armour

FA - Armoured Sentinel, Lascannon

___

500 points.

The outcome was amazing, for my first game as Guard, i faced two space marine squads with 1 flamer each and a librarian in terminator armour. I didn't get first turn, and he didn't shoot but got his HQ close with Gate of Infinity. A single shot with the lascannon removes him instantly, and the snipers were bloody brilliant, pinned them down to hell. By the time he was close, with all the heavy firepower i had and pinning tests he took he had 3 marines left, and i had lost roughly 1 veteran squad in close combat, and a plasma gunner because he blew himself up I didn't even need the carapace armour i think, and i never once moved in the whole game. Why do sniper rifles get so much hate ? they're amazing!

sphynx wrote: and i had lost roughly 1 veteran squad in close combat, and a plasma gunner because he blew himself up

Gets hot, totally worth it

here is a list i have run for IG at a successfull rate at 500 points against the old grey knights, and other space marine armies:

HQ: lascannon, : 70 pts

Veteran squad: plasma gun x3, plasma pistol: 125 pts
chimera: multi laser, hvy bolter: 55 pts

Veteran Squad: hvy bolter or auto cannon: 80 pts.
Leman Russ Exterminator w/ hvy bolter sponsons: 170 pts.

mainly use the vet sqd in the chimera to run ahead and hit them on a drive by. the exterminator has alot of shot to realy hurt SM of any variety. the HQ w/ lascannon is good for "bring it down/fire on my target" keep the poor vet squad around to use first rank fire/second rank fire.

at 500 points, it is about the best i have come up with.