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Im starting out with the imperial guard and was wonderng what tips and tricks or pitfall I should follow or avoid when building a IG army.

Im not playing tournament or stuff like that but I like my army to be on the winning side :-)

Thank you everyone.

As always, I'll shill for my codex review:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/5th_Edition_Imperial_Guard_Codex_Review_%28Polonius%29

This will explain the strengths and weaknesses of a lot of the units.

If you're just starting out, your biggest question is usually "foot or mech", meaning if you run lots of footsloggers or lots of mechanized veterans.

Both have strengths and weaknesses, and really comes down more to player choice and preference than anything else.

Thanx for the post link I'll check this out ina few.

I played my first game yesterday and well I'm still limited in the number of unit but realised that a squadron of mech need all to shoot at the same target.. improving the destruction ratio of unit to unit but reducing the number of target you can hit in one turn.

So I came to the point where I told myself... The worst thing you can do is bring a 3 unit squadron of leman russ upgraded to the teeth, since they will surely destroy what they are shooting at, but might not be worth their point value.. Whats your tought on that fellow players?

My suggestions is to get about 120 IG foot soldiers.

"Dear lord, that's a lot," you may say, but hear me out: 120 is a magic number that allows you to play a 1500 foot slogging army, a full mech vet list, or any hybrid. Unless you're going for 2000+ points of full foot guard, 120 should be all the troops you need.

Keep checking on ebay for deals. You may get lucky and run into a whole wealth of guardsman for cheap.

The first thing you should do is buy a codex and read it front to back at least three times (and then keep on checking in periodically over time).

The next thing would be to go look for some examples of good guard lists and look for common ways in which they are constructed. Put up your own ideas for guard lists so that other people can critique them.

Then you play a few games to learn how your list performs. Take pictures and write battle reports if you want help with your fieldcraft.

Once you've gotten a good feel for everything, then it's just a matter of playing more games and tweaking your list ad infinitum.

Don't try and upgrade any one unit too much. The advantage of the codex in any of its permuatations is the sheer amount of armour/bodies you can put down. When I first started, I ran 7 Leman Russ tanks in the 2000 point level, all with sponsons of various types. I found that it was beneficial to drop all the sponsons and simply bring more tanks. Nine Russes > Seven with sponsons. Same goes with vets in chimeras. Give them three special weapons and a chimera. That's all. Try and bring as many useful units with the bare essentials they need to get the job done, than upgrade whatever you want with the 50 points you'll have left.

Fielding tank squadrons is a cool idea, but taking 3 is usually overkill. Taking 2 is a lot more reasonable. However, taking a third as a more or less ablative tank if you really want to protect one cool expensive tank isn't a bad idea either. That's very expensive though, points-wise.

A "standard" IG army of infantry platoons supported by heavy armor is a fine build, and won't draw much ire from other players. Playing a cookie cutter "veterans in chimeras x6" list will probably get some looks from people tired of fighting the same thing. That's pretty much the IG tournament list du jour. However, if you really want to play Panzer Elite from Company of Heroes on the tabletop, that's as close as you'll get!

IG are by their nature expendable, so don't get too down when you lose entire squads per turn. I read Cadian Blood and it gave me this idea that Guardsmen are nigh-indestructable badasses who can take on anything. Then I played my first game as Guard and silently wept as 30 of my men died in one assault phase. Know the limitations of what you're fielding! Enough lasguns can kill almost anything, but you need to know how much "enough" is!

One of the other prevailing theories about IG is "Bring two." Fielding a basilisk? Bring another. Got one Blob squad? Get another. Meltavets in a chimera? Try two Meltavets in Chimeras. Most of the time, doubling your choices allows you to field as so many more units than your opponent, that you start to wonder how Space Marines even bring anyone to the table.

IG are the kings of spam, period. We can take more tanks, more dudes, more everything, no matter what. The downside is that we need all that to win.

Brother SRM wrote: I read Cadian Blood and it gave me this idea that Guardsmen are nigh-indestructable badasses

It's funny you say that - it was the movie "Platoon" that drew me into IG for a second time. I was watching it while painting up some Tyranids and I thought, "I like that mentality. You're just a lowly grunt in a sea of bodies and you mean nothing, but you still pick up your weapon like the next guy and try to mow down the enemy."

Something about that is incredibly bleak, but at the same time admirable. You're expendable and you know it - but you fight anyway. You raise your heavy bolter onto the sandbags and you unleash a volley into the waves of hormagaunts crashing into you. I dunno, just got me pumped.

Lonecoon wrote:One of the other prevailing theories about IG is "Bring two."

Because with most IG units being BS 3 (and with people shooting back), having two does seem to be a sweet spot on the battlefield for me. IG weapons are very nice, they just need to hit. taking two gives the benefit of increased chance to deal the damage as well as surviving the return fire. Every thing you put on the field has a goal all its own, make sure you have enough of that unit to accomplish the goal.

Actually, I'd deviate slightly from this. The only thing better than taking one is taking two, but the only thing better than taking two is taking three.

Eventually, with anything, you start getting diminishing return from it, but I've found so far that that diminishing return doesn't start before taking 3 of something (unless, perhaps, it's vehicles in a squadron). Some things, like 20-man power blobs, don't hit their diminishing return point even at 3.

CCS with 4x plasma is your friend.

Vendettas are one of the best units in the game.

Avoid: Sentinels, Ratlings, Techpriests, Arguably named special characters (to expensive points wise)

Thank you all for these interesting comments. It will help me build some rooster for my first few games before I get into buying a lot of models.

Jaon wrote:CCS with 4x plasma is your friend.

Vendettas are one of the best units in the game.

Avoid: Sentinels, Ratlings, Techpriests, Arguably named special characters (to expensive points wise)

Sentinels aren't terrible, they just compete with awesome units like Hellhounds and Vendettas for the fast attack slot. Ratlings aren't too bad if you're using a Psyker Battle Squad to lower enemy morale, and that basically guarantees pinning every turn. They're of course also fairly useful if you're fighting an army you know will have some Daemon Princes or other monstrous creatures. Not incredible, but not horrible. Techpriests are free killpoints for your opponent, and a list with more than one or two named characters is often a bad idea. Most have their uses, but the points add up quick.

Also: Make a Marbo model. At 65 points he is easily the best IC in the entire game. No joke.

Prepare to fork out some serious cash. My IG easily have cost twice as much as my Templars at the same point level.

I do play blob guard, though, so there's plenty of dudes to buy...

Other than that, everybody else has it right.

SROSSTRUPPEN! (german for "stormtroopers")
Infiltrate with AP3 hotshot lasguns FTW!

The common choice for tournament/competitive play is Melta/plasma vets in chimeras with valkyries and manticores for support.

Personally, I refuse to play this.

My IG list is based on the Tanith First and Only, a total footsoldier gunline with snipers. My only heavy weapons are a few autocannons and missiles. I run two squads of ratlings. Yet I've done well against DE, CSM and BA. Find an aspect of the Guard that interests you the most, and build around that.

On an aside, Marbo is your friend. Nothing beats a deepstrike that doesn't scatter, followed by a str8 ap2 large blast to the face. For 65 points, he is invaluable.

IG is my third army so yes I knew I would have to spend the cash to get the team up. I won my first battle but mostly because I was playing with a Ork player, he did most of the good things... I finished with only 1 wound on a heavy weapon team, but they managed to succeded their Morale and kept their objective for a 2-0 Win (Capture and control) YaY


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Are their other unit than ogryn to at least stay alive in CC?

Lazypete wrote:IG is my third army so yes I knew I would have to spend the cash to get the team up. I won my first battle but mostly because I was playing with a Ork player, he did most of the good things... I finished with only 1 wound on a heavy weapon team, but they managed to succeded their Morale and kept their objective for a 2-0 Win (Capture and control) YaY


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Are their other unit than ogryn to at least stay alive in CC?

Power blobs stay alive through attrition, but CC is not the forte of the IG. If you want to make a full CC guard, I'd suggest a DKoK build, as they can all take laspistols and CCW. Your other options include a Straken Command squad with laspistols and a medipack, and Yarrick, who really isn't worth the points most of the time.