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Having recently competed at the spring Throne of Skulls tourny, I have to say that I have had quite enough of marines. Red, Blue, Green or Grey, Loyal or Traitor, it was all I came up against and so it is that I have decided to turn to another string to the Chaos bow. Renegades!

The thing is, although I used to play IG 4th edition, I am unfamiliar with the new codex and i am currently trying to get my head around it and looking to bring some chaos flair to it.

I would like to theme my army to cover the 4 chaos powers and would like to work with 1500 points tourny force to start with, although I will be building up to around 6k by he time I'm finished :-)

So what are my intentions right now?

(In the Style of Khorne)
CRASSUS TRANSPORT - 4x autocannons, dozerblade, stormbolter:

CCS
commander - 2x pf
vet - standard
vet - medi pack
vet - melta
vet - melta

Lord Commissar - 2x pf

Ministorum Priest - Eviscarator

Tech Priest
Servitor - Multi Melta
Servitor - Multi Melta

Ogryns x 10

I was thinking of using this as a starting point and building around it. Obviously its a lot of eggs in a big basket and I want to ensure I have sufficient back up.

thoughts on a postcard

obviously there is the fact that the Crassus is not fieldable at a future ToS event and i will amend things to fit into chimeras for such eventualities!

Well, here we go, Tech Priests are a major point sink and useless, MM is the most useless weapon on ground troops (you just have to hope the tank comes within 12") and really expensive for servitors.

Ministorum Priests I cannot see a use for, they are 60 points and you can't put them with any of your assault squads (ogryns or RR) it is incredibly rare that any other squad will initiate an assault.

I'm ok with the Ogryn squad, sure, you can get 3 LRBT for the same points but they're fluffy and fun to play (can hand out a beating too) 10 is probably too many though.

Lord Commissar with PF is expensive but ok as long as you stick him in a guard blob.

Med pack on CCS is not much use unless you run plasma.
Standard on CCS is not much use because they will probably be wiped out in one turn of HtoH. Better to just buy another gun.
PF is no use because you'll most likely die before you can use it (only 5 men in the squad)

Also you can only have 2 HQ choices, currently you have 4

For the rest of the army bulk out on foot troops, Platoons are good, plenty of men and some heavy weapons. add a couple of Veteran squads and some Chaosey tanks (Hellhound, banewolf, LR Demolisher come to mind) and you'll be golden.

Well my plan was to keep everything together as one massive ogryns blob squad with commissar and ccs all in there together. priest and tech don't count as hq so I believe o only have 2 hqs the ccs and commissar. Can everything go into one great big blob squad?! If ccs cannot go with ogryns then the commissar will simply take the big boys and go shoot stuff with rippa guns while ccs go hunt stuff with priest while tech keeps big tank up and running and servitors shoot meltas from behind big tank? Priests can not be attached to units?

tournytom wrote:Well my plan was to keep everything together as one massive ogryns blob squad with commissar and ccs all in there together. priest and tech don't count as hq so I believe o only have 2 hqs the ccs and commissar. Can everything go into one great big blob squad?! If ccs cannot go with ogryns then the commissar will simply take the big boys and go shoot stuff with rippa guns while ccs go hunt stuff with priest while tech keeps big tank up and running and servitors shoot meltas from behind big tank? Priests can not be attached to units?

Oh, you mean you have 2 PF on a single model? I'm not sure you can do that, and if you can its a bit too expensive for just one attack. Only infantry squads can blob, nothing else, so you can have a 50 man infantry squad in one platoon if you want, that is where the PW and PF come in handy, because you have plenty of men to soak up the wounds.

A CCS with priest try to assault things just won't work, anything even remotely reasonable in assault will strike before you a wipe you out before you can attack so the rerolls and points on PF are a waste.

Really, if you want to keep you tanks for longer just take another one, a LRBT is about the same cost as the Tech squad and infinitely more useful. The MM's are heavy so they will probably be moving and unable to shoot or out of range to do anything useful, also, once you add guns to the servitors they can no longer help the techpriest fix the vehicles. Really it is the worst squad in the guard codex, and actually one of the worst in the game.

Priests can go with units, they just can't go with any that it would be worth taking them with, and they cost a ton of points, enough to buy an entire nother squad with heavy weapon.

Honestly, don't try to make an assault guard, there is just no real way to make it work, any player worth him salt would have you routed within 2-3 turns.

Ok, taking that on board. How about I sit big tank at the back with my army general, master of ordinance, master of the fleet and astropath with a close support ogryns unit just incase they get stuck in the rear by drop podded dread and surround it with lrbt and collossus siege engines? Guard suck in cc, correct? Are there any units in code that have half chance of winning a round of cc?

Yeah, that is sounding a bit more like guard, though you don't have to sit at the back, LRBT can advance and still shoot their cannon, so you can be aggressive.

Master of the fleet is awesome, astropath is meh, but if you have a lot of flankers he might be ok. Master of Ordinance is ok, if he hits.

Support is usually what ogryns are good for, you will always find something wanting to take out your firebase, although they could also support your advance (in fact they cost so much I would prefer to use them this way), but be careful, they can get shot up quick.

Ogryns, RR (for one round) and guard blobs (with PWs) can win a combat. Though I wouldn't go charging the last one across the board, they are still mainly a shooting unit. Another interesting idea I haven't tried but might work to break some units is the vet squad with 3 melta, shotguns and sarge with PF, basically they can shoot to weaken the foe and then charge to make sure they are gone. Wouldn't use that against anything vaguely assault orientated though, (eg, orks, BA, termies, chaos cult, etc.)

Will 20 ogryns and a ten man psyker squad scare anyone?


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Will 20 ogryns and a ten man psyker squad scare anyone?


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Or 3x psyker squads?


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Or 3x psyker squads?

It would definitely be scary, don't know how effective (since the real strength of battle psykers is to reduce the leadership of a squad that is being shot up by someone else). 20 ogryns would def turn a few heads. I think it would probably be hilarious and fun. just back it up with a bunch of anti armor (as ogryns suck vs armor)

A 10 man squad of Orgyns is 30 wounds with Toughness 5, 41 WS 4 Str 6 (No AP though) melee attacks on a charge (31 Str 5 without the charge) and 30 BS 3, Str 5 (Again, no AP) shots in shooting at 12".
- 410pts

I have defeated Assault Terminators in CC, after they charged me. Basicly I outlasted them and they rolled 1s on their armor save.

Yeah, Ogryns are freaking monsters. 10 can form your core for your assault IG and they can get Orders like 'Move! Move! Move!' to get further in combat, working best with Creed and Kell, ignoring the Ogryn's Leadership for the Orders.

I have found that they need something like a PF attached to them... sure, they insta kill Toughness 3 stuff on a charge (not that many have more than 1 wound), but against armor they really struggle. Lord Commissars can help here, but you risk losing your Bone 'Ead. If your going to splurge, I suggest Yarrick. Modeling-wise, you can have a 'Counts as' of Yarrick and have alot of fun, same with the Ogryns and using Chaos Trolls (and the like) and home made Ripper guns (anything that looks like a barrel, a drum, and a stock will work). Even extra Ork Big Shootas can work.

10 Ogryns /should/ scare anyone. Psyker squads can be really good too.

Ogryns you can do as the Nurgel part of your force, Psyker Battle Squad and a Primus Psyker can work excellent for Tzeentch.

A unit I have been kicking around as a assault unit is a Penal Squad plus a Priest with a Envisirator for 140pts. 2/3 options for Penial squads are Close Combat options (on the d6 roll). I was considering doing this with 4 squads. I will also be the first to tell you this is probably not the best idea or most efficent idea, but it also could be super fun to try. This could work as your Khorn part of your list. Chenkov with Conscripts can also do this, but oh God will they die... alot of blood and skulls will go to Khorn though...mostly the Conscripts!

Slannesh... well, that can be whatever you want... drugged up Vets (think Apocolypse Now burned out Vets), Rough Riders, ect... anything you want to fill out your army really.

Good luck and I hope you have fun!

Oh yeah, I forgot about Penal legion squads, they work better than you would think, Priest with them is a waste though as they will lose scout (which is half of what makes them good).


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GW really dropped the ball on priests in the guard, made them unusable in any squad that would actually make use of their rule. Aren't even useful in power blobs as 10pts will get you 2 meltabombs which are more effective at armor. I suppose you could put them with vets, but again it just seems like a waste, so much more you can do with 60pts

When are they going to re-visit biker units for guard? :-) know any good models that I might be able to use? Didn't want to be too obvious and use krieg riders and wanted to try and steer away from flying machines, unless I really have to.


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When are they going to re-visit biker units for guard? :-) know any good models that I might be able to use? Didn't want to be too obvious and use krieg riders and wanted to try and steer away from flying machines, unless I really have to.

I disagree.... as a old school player, meltabombs were awesome so I made sure everyone and their uncle had them... then I found out I needed to hit on a 6 with them against walkers (with your 1 attack due to the grenade rules) and you need a 6 against Cruising Vehicles and a 4+ one one that moved 6" (again, with only that one chance).

I still think Priests can be usable, but no armor and making them a IC... yeah, they should be a upgrade like a Commissar and thus able to hide in a squad. But then you couldn't add them to a Penal squad! Ogryns /really/ needed them... and Ratlings... isn't that just silly to add them to Ratlings anyways? It would be like adding them to a HWS.

I don't like the current RR models either. A common replacement is using WHFB cold ones, although I always thought they looked a little too vicious. Once saw a guy do segway RRs (I died a little inside). Mine are actually scratch built cyber steeds.

I have seen /alot/ of people do Bikers as Rough Riders for IG. I have seen some really easy conversions of just adding a Guard torso or even just the head to Scout Bikers. I would think you don't even have to do that if you wanted, just paint them as IG.


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I have the old /old/ Rough Riders with the awesome Outback hats. Of my 30, I did have all the legs for them, which made things simpler, but I didn't have all the torsos (short like 10-15) and short like 10 horses. I bought Wood Elf horses, carapace torsos and heads to fill out my remainder. They are currently unpainted, as I am saving up to have a pro paint them for me.

BlkTom wrote:I disagree.... as a old school player, meltabombs were awesome so I made sure everyone and their uncle had them... then I found out I needed to hit on a 6 with them against walkers (with your 1 attack due to the grenade rules) and you need a 6 against Cruising Vehicles and a 4+ one one that moved 6" (again, with only that one chance).

Walkers don't follow the same rules as vehicles for movement, you should hit on WS with meltabombs and having 2 in the squad you have as many attacks as a priest.

BlkTom wrote:
I still think Priests can be usable, but no armor and making them a IC... yeah, they should be a upgrade like a Commissar and thus able to hide in a squad. But then you couldn't add them to a Penal squad! Ogryns /really/ needed them... and Ratlings... isn't that just silly to add them to Ratlings anyways? It would be like adding them to a HWS.

I still think you make the Penal squad less useful by attaching them, actually, the place I really would like them is RR. I'm sorry, just can't find a use for them at all. Yes, as an upgrade they would have been much better.

Guaiwu wrote:

BlkTom wrote:I disagree.... as a old school player, meltabombs were awesome so I made sure everyone and their uncle had them... then I found out I needed to hit on a 6 with them against walkers (with your 1 attack due to the grenade rules) and you need a 6 against Cruising Vehicles and a 4+ one one that moved 6" (again, with only that one chance).

Walkers don't follow the same rules as vehicles for movement, you should hit on WS with meltabombs and having 2 in the squad you have as many attacks as a priest.

Pg 73 BRB, 3rd paragraph down under Walkers ans Assaults

Grenades and Melta bombs can be used against a walker. A model will only manage to score a hit with a grenade against a walker on a roll of 6. However, if a walker is already stunned or immobilised at the start of the assault phase, the attackers roll to hit based on the normal comparison of WS. Remember that models using grenades against vehicles only make one attack.

They make no other mention of Melta Bombs in the entire section, and in the vehicle section melta bombs are also treated the same as grenades, the only difference being the Str 8 + 2d6 AP.

ok, gottcha, a slight annoyance, but still doesn't change my mind on the priests.

Well, that is just the thing about the Priests... they get a Chainfist... so Str 6 + 2d6 armor penitration at Init 1 with 2 attacks, 3 on a charge with a 5+ armor save and a 4+ Invuln save.... and they re-roll attacks that miss and give their entire squad that.

I honestly think that is pretty good on something that doesn't take up a Force Org slot and you can have 5 of them.

We can agree to disagree here, but for assault IG they have to be seriously considered.

I love the look of the priests on paper. Like you say, its a possible 5 chainfists, I thought of mobbing them up into a cloth wearing termi unit running just behind the ogryn screen.

Well... I dunno about mobbing them up into their own unit. You can do that though, but that unit would cost 300pts. To be frank, it feels like a waste of the re-roll ability that each grant. I would rather split them up and add them to other squads.

It sounds like a powerblob army would fit your style here. In case you aren't aware, a powerblob is a squad formed from taking multiple Platoon Infantry Squads and joining them together, using the special rule that allows you to do so. To be clear, you can't combine any other squads (except for ICs joining as usual), and all the squads need to be in the same platoon.

You then give each squad's sargeant a Power Weapon, and add a Commissar with a Power Weapon as an upgrade. Typically, you'll blob together 2 or 3 squads, for a total of 21 or 31 men. You give each squad a Meltagun to help open transports and deal with other targets of opportunity.

If this sounds appealing, you will want to look for posts by Dakkaite Ailaros. He has written an extensive series of battle reports using many different versions of armies of this type.

Love you Mr E! X