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For example, as far as I can tell there is nothing preventing me throwing together all the squads from an infantry platoon into the same unit.

Let's say i took an infantry platoon, 5 infantry squads each with an auto cannon, then took 5 heavy weapon teams each with an autocannon, then took vox caster and autocannon in the pcs and dropped them all into the same unit. Firstly would the unit be legal and secondly would issuing a bring it down command to said unit allow a reroll based on the single vox caster I dropped in the mix (assuming CCS also has one).

While 42 twinlinked autocannon shots might be wasteful to spend on a single target, I use this ludicrous example to illustrate my question simply because the idea of it amuses me, however I consider it to be highly likely that I have misunderstood the rules.

The real reason I ask is because I was looking over ways to efficiently get rerolls on orders, and unless I am mistaken, taking a vox caster in 1 squad and then blobbing it with several others accomplishes this. I do suddenly find myself curious however if heavy weapon choices can be taken outside of infantry squads and then attached to infantry during deployment.

Thanks in advance.

You can only combine Infantry squads, nothing else.

You can only blob infantry squads, not heavy weapons squads/conscripts/special weapons squads/ccs/pcs. Voxcasters do work with 1 per blob

If you put heavy weapons teams into the squad by replacing 2 guardsmen per squad, you still only get 5 AC/LC/ML per blob.

If you could do that and blob everything from the platoon, you were basically auto win KP matches because you can field over 2000 pts in 3 KP.

-cgmckenzie

Ok yes that makes sense, clearly I was getting ahead of myself.

If I were to put 5 squads together and take a vox, what would common practices to protect against getting assaulted/tarpitted be? Would there be an efficient/legal way to physically block such a large unit from being assaulted by surrounding it with cheap troops? Maybe bolstering it with a lord commisar (legal?) to prevent it from ever having to fall back.

Again I don't plan to field such an army but my games are strictly casual and I am fast approaching having the models to do so and I wouldn't mind trying it once, if I can limit the drawbacks then all the better (and make sure I don't turn up with a completely illegal army).

phw4 wrote:Ok yes that makes sense, clearly I was getting ahead of myself.

If I were to put 5 squads together and take a vox, what would common practices to protect against getting assaulted/tarpitted be? Would there be an efficient/legal way to physically block such a large unit from being assaulted by surrounding it with cheap troops? Maybe bolstering it with a lord commisar (legal?) to prevent it from ever having to fall back.

Again I don't plan to field such an army but my games are strictly casual and I am fast approaching having the models to do so and I wouldn't mind trying it once, if I can limit the drawbacks then all the better (and make sure I don't turn up with a completely illegal army).

You've got it backwards, I think. You don't bubble wrap your blob. You use your blob to bubble wrap. You want things to assault it and get stuck in for the next 4 million assault phases. That's what the blob is there for.

Don't you think 50 guardsmen is a bit overkill?

If you do that, don't forget to take a commissar, perhaps a lord commissar?
And if you feel like it, I would advice a priest or two. The reroll ability is quite nice and a PF is a welcome change between the ~20 PW attacks and the ~40 normal attacks.
If you want more overkill, you take Straken as your commander. Furious charge is quite useful...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

loner wrote:Don't you think 50 guardsmen is a bit overkill?

Stupid question... With the IG you can never have enough overkill.

I run blobs of 30-50 with Commissar Yarrick(surprise!) and he gives them fearless and stubborn. Very enjoyable when you want to tie up the enemy. Terminators can only kill so many guardsmen each turn!!

-cgmckenzie

cgmckenzie wrote:I run blobs of 30-50 with Commissar Yarrick(surprise!) and he gives them fearless and stubborn. Very enjoyable when you want to tie up the enemy. Terminators can only kill so many guardsmen each turn!!

-cgmckenzie

You're better off with a normal commissar and a priest. Fearless is not a good thing for large units with low armor saves that like to tie things up in hand to hand.

I happen to find 50 ragging conscripts and a Lord Commissar (with camocloak) quite funny...
Imagine 50 little childeren (or old men) hiding under a big man's coat...

Ties up antyhing, won't hit anything and is the ultimate meatshield.

But, it's Commissar Yarrick! :(

The fearless comes in best when they are being tankshocked, shot to hell, or pinned. Keeps them moving forward and dying where I want them to.

-cgmckenzie

Yarrick is still awesome.
I really like the metal model. (Although the two resin I had were miscasts...)
But we are straining to far off...
As said before: There are no limits to what you can do with the IG platoon. Use and abuse as you see fit too.

phw4 wrote:If I were to put 5 squads together and take a vox, what would common practices to protect against getting assaulted/tarpitted be?

As said, the blob is usually used to tarpit enemy assault units. What you really want to avoid is something like a SoB Dominion Squad with 4 flamers and 2 combi-flamers. IG barbeque was never easier.

You avoid it in the same way, ofc. Throw heavy weapons fire at transports to limit enemy mobility, then use cheap units to block expensive units while your expensive stuff does real damage.

Death Korps of Krieg can combine HWT with infantry squads, but their list has a bunch of other problems.

Where is everybody getting these unique army rules from? Is it in IA or something like it?

-cgmckenzie

DKoK rules are indeed in IA.

Man, so much money is required to play with the cool armies...

-cgmckenzie

cgmckenzie wrote:Man, so much money is required to play with the cool armies...

-cgmckenzie

The Siege Guard armylist is on the FW website for Free; and can be made with regular guardsmen(no need for the DKOK resin models) so it could almost be cheaper than the regular guard(if you already know most of the unit's special rules you can just use the list here and not need to purchase an IG dex).

I guess you could have a fifty guardsman unit with five autocannons. That's not a bad idea, actually. Sounds fun.

I tend to begin at the 'how' before I get to the 'why'. Indeed I began this particular train of thought with the simple notion of maximising the cost effectiveness of a vox caster, then started to indulge myself in fantastical ideas of huge infantry blocks.

As a side note however, I wonder if there is a reliable way to shield such a huge unit from tarpits/assault infantry (if one put so many points, not to mention heavy weapons, into a single unit and then locked it in an eternal CC then I think the joke is no longer on their opponent) This is tactical knowledge I have been persuing more specifically to work into my current IG army which uses more traditional deployments. Based on potentially incorrect assumptions I have begun to lean towards krack grenades and a single power fist in most of my comand/veteran squads to at least protect against being locked up in cc by walkers.

I suppose the first issue is that I don't feel that the points are worth the small measure of protection, and if I were infact to spend points on such things I would prefer to do so in larger units thus stretching the points to benefit more models. This still leaves my command and veteran squads vulnerable however.

The second issue is that I suspect the way I have gone about outfitting my squads, whether necessary or not, is not effective. Melta bombs/krack nades and power fists. My thinking has been mainly based on killing mech but I don't really have an answer to assault squads in there. I further suspect that the points it would take to give an IG infantry unit a fighting chance in CC could instead pay for another identical unit.

So then, I arrive at the conclusion that my small/specialised squads will be better off just taking their chances. But I am then left with the choice of splitting up or blobbing my infantry squads and trying to insulate them against CC disasters (being forced to fall back or being locked up for the rest of the game)

Points wise splitting up the infantry squads makes more sense, they are protected by presenting themselves as multiple targets rather than one great big pinata full of guardsmen. Reasoning for the alternative is so far a combination of 'because I can' and the abstract idea that the blob may be supereffective in ways I have not thought of yet. I guess I am gravitating towards the concept of mounting my supershooty heavy weapon platoon inside a meatgrinder and daring my enemy to charge it, a kind of win/win or at the very least, 'everyone loses' situation. The problem is that -I don't know how to do this-.

If I don't do something along those lines I really cannot see the justification behind blobbing my heavy weapon infantry squads, or looking at it another way, giving my blobbed infantry squads any special/heavy weapons.

Anyway, for the most part this is all strictly hypothetical. I am as likely to deploy 5 autocannon infantry squads into one unit as I am to field an all CC oriented IG army. However I tend to find hypothetical discussions both informative and interesting.

Incidentally I do wonder what an all CC oriented IG list would look like :3

phw4 wrote:Incidentally I do wonder what an all CC oriented IG list would look like :3

CCS w/ Astropath and Straken or Creed or neither
Priests w/ Eviscerator (Either IG ones or allied C: WH ones, which are upgrades characters) x2 or x3

PCS w/whatever
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Commissar (PW), Meltagun
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Meltagun
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Meltagun
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Meltagun
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Meltagun
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Meltagun

PCS w/Al'Rahem, 3x Meltaguns
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Commissar (PW), Meltagun
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Meltagun
Infantry Squad - Sgt (PW/MB), Meltagun

Add HWT and other stuff to flavor. Blob your infantry squads, add a priest, run forward and eat things alive. Very important that you learn to move large blocks of infantry efficiently.