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Even if you have meltaguns in the blob itself or elsewhere in a powerblob-oriented CC Guard army, this is still a problem to consider. In the rare circumstance when your blob faces an Av 13 walker, meltabombs are needed to even glance, so the blob doesn't get stuck. However, clearly, krak grenades are much more cost effective against most walkers, because they're much more likely to hit, being able to be given to the entire blob. So, my question, might it be worth it (or, if not, simply necessary) to give meltabombs to the sergeants AND krak grenades to the regular trooper?

I mix and match a bit. I use a 20 guardsman blob that I give one Serg a melta bomb and then the other squad Krak grenades. I figure that is enough to basically cover my basis.

I'd say it depends on your meta. if you know there's a good chance you're going to face them, then yes.
you could always take them out later if they seem a waste.

I bring both. It is almost nothing pointwise to be able to kill a walker with both krak and melta. I also run 30+ blobs, sometimes I run 50, so how I play is a bit different than the average player.

By sheer numbers, with krak grenades I am almost certain to get a hit/wound.

-cgmckenzie

I never take either. Blobs are for taking out infantry, not AV. I have plenty other tools in my lists to take care of anything with AV > 10. Plus, I never have any points to spare.

The biggest downfall in IG list building (as I see it) is unnecessary extras. Blobs eat a vast amount of infantry for breakfast, there's no need to spend points making them able to handle something they weren't meant to. Instead, invest those points in units that are made to take out vehicles. For example, CCS, PCS, and vets can all take meltas for quite a deal. On vehicles, Hydras and Vendettas are yet again cheap and made to take out vehicles. Most of our units are lean and mean until they get bloated by upgrades.

ElCheezus wrote:I never take either. Blobs are for taking out infantry, not AV. I have plenty other tools in my lists to take care of anything with AV > 10. Plus, I never have any points to spare.

The biggest downfall in IG list building (as I see it) is unnecessary extras. Blobs eat a vast amount of infantry for breakfast, there's no need to spend points making them able to handle something they weren't meant to. Instead, invest those points in units that are made to take out vehicles. For example, CCS, PCS, and vets can all take meltas for quite a deal. On vehicles, Hydras and Vendettas are yet again cheap and made to take out vehicles. Most of our units are lean and mean until they get bloated by upgrades.

i agree that they're best at taking out other troops, but if someone throws a Ven dred at them they at least have a way to hit back.
on the other hand, if noone in your area/group runs them, i wouldn't waste the points.

If there's a Dread, kill it or avoid it. If they make it into a blob, you can always assign wounds to the Commissar to break them right before your shooting.

If you're seeing enough walkers in your meta that you want to add grenades to all of your blobs, you probably want to rethink the blobs, first. If you're not seeing walkers in every game, though, you're wasting the points that could probably be spent elsewhere.

Agree with ElCheezus. Take neither, no point bloating up your unit just so it can fight every possible enemy unit in the game. Buy all the weapons you want, your models will still get killed at the same rate.

Also, you should blatantly have meltaguns in a power blob, those and the rest of your armies' shooting should be enough to pre-empt walker assaults. Most walkers are a plain 12" move to assault after all.

I-bounty-hunt-the-elderly wrote:Agree with ElCheezus. Take neither, no point bloating up your unit just so it can fight every possible enemy unit in the game. Buy all the weapons you want, your models will still get killed at the same rate.

Also, you should blatantly have meltaguns in a power blob, those and the rest of your armies' shooting should be enough to pre-empt walker assaults. Most walkers are a plain 12" move to assault after all.

I agree with everything said here. But I suppose it's good people waste so many points on their units (in another thread, some guy was giving out meltabombs and plasma pistols to anyone who could carry them), as it makes their army suck, and IG get less of the "omg broken" hate levied at them.

I tend to at least give my blobs something to deal with armor. Not doing it is inviting a smart opponent at a tournament to abuse you, specially if you play a BA player with a flying Dread.

If the 5 or 10 points means lossing something important in my army I leave it out but when I have a few points left over plugging possible weaknesses in my units is the first thing I do. They could still be abused horribly by that flying dread but at least with one melta bomb in there they may consider whether it is worth it.

With a power blob I give them grenades to mainly assualt into cover. A large blob will have a priest with an eviscerator so he can do some damage to walkers etc. Small blobs, who cares? Let them tar pit a walker costing twice as much as them. Grenades are not reliable vehicle killers.

vonjankmon wrote:I tend to at least give my blobs something to deal with armor. Not doing it is inviting a smart opponent at a tournament to abuse you, specially if you play a BA player with a flying Dread.

The Frag grenades can threaten all but four vehicles (Right? LR variants, Land Raider, Storm Raven, Monolith), not counting walkers. Yes, smart players will dash a walker into your lines if they can. You can counter this by splitting one of your blobs into smaller pieces to make screens, by making sure you're out of range and get to shoot it first, or even just knowing you'll lose a blob and playing to compensate. One good thing is that with a blob being such a juicy target, you can use it to influence their movement. A savvy player can hurt you if you don't have grenades, but there are also plenty of things you can do.

If the 5 or 10 points means lossing something important in my army I leave it out but when I have a few points left over plugging possible weaknesses in my units is the first thing I do. They could still be abused horribly by that flying dread but at least with one melta bomb in there they may consider whether it is worth it.

This makes sense, if you're spending the last few points. In all of my list building, though, I usually end up with other places that take priority for extra points. For example, if I had 50 more points for my 1500 Hybrid list, I already know where they'd go before I even considered something like special weapons or grenades for my blobs.

ruminator wrote:With a power blob I give them grenades to mainly assualt into cover. A large blob will have a priest with an eviscerator so he can do some damage to walkers etc..

Have you ever actually had a priest do damage to a walker? Wouldn't they just smash his 1W 4++ save butt before you get to swing?

Apologies, I know this question gets asked a million times (and I am checking the archives), but how are people currently running their blobs?

I'm thinking about a mob of 20 with two meltaguns and no heavy weapons. The Sgts get Power Weapons + 1 Commissar with Power Weapon and Krak Grenades.

I plan on having at least 3 of these, I'll leave the heavy weapons to the units already discussed in this thread. I've neglected Krak Grenades for reasons already discussed.

Your thoughts? Is 20 too small? I'm worried 30 will be too hard to manouvre around the tabletop.

There are a number of posts about blob size, but generally people like 31, though I use 21 to great effect.

ruminator wrote:With a power blob I give them grenades to mainly assualt into cover.

Regular guardsmen already come with Frag grenades, so you don't need to spend points to assault into cover, they can already do that.

I prefer 21 blobs. I used 31 blobs for two games and moving them around just became to much of a hassale. One of those models has to move through cover the entire unit is rolling, needing to move your own vehicles or models around it was a pain in the butt too.

And unless I assault or get assaulted by a terminator squad or huge biker squad 21 IG with three power weapons is usually enough to win or at least last 2-3 turns and tarpit what I need them to.

It's a preferance thing though and most definately depends on how your army is structured. I use blobs with Al'Rahem right now in what is mostly a mechanized army, so my entire focus is most definately not on power blobs.

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

vonjankmon wrote:I use blobs with Al'Rahem right now in what is mostly a mechanized army, so my entire focus is most definately not on power blobs.

Sorry, I know this is off-topic, but has anyone been able to prevent you from out-flanking by lining infantry/vehicles along the edges? Do you tank-shock your way on?

Okay, back on topic...

If theres points left over somehow, it doesnt hurt to have at least one meltabomb tossed it.

But those cases are a bit rare when I see powerblob lists

CrabstuffedMushrooms wrote:Sorry, I know this is off-topic, but has anyone been able to prevent you from out-flanking by lining infantry/vehicles along the edges? Do you tank-shock your way on?

If they castle in a corner I've had guys (and have done to guys) line the edge of the DZ. As far as lining an entire edge (even the one they have castled on) I have never seen it. I think it would be an exceedingly unusual list that could do that.

Tank shocking onto the board could work, so long as there isn't anything to death or glory with. If they stun your vehicles off the table then it is destroyed. So if the death or glory with a meltagun there is a VERY good chance that tank is hosed.


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I also am not a fan of krak grenades vs walkers. 6s to hit, 6's to glance, most glancing hits won't mean anything significant anyway. So a blob of 40 guys will net you one glacing blow. Four melta bombs have a much better chance of doing something significant.

The chance of that happening with AL'Rahem is very small. 1-2 is the left table edge, 3-4 is the right, and 5-6 is my choice so the best they could do is line one 48 inch long edge and hope they get lucky with a 1/3 chance. And I usually run Al'Rahems PCS in a Chimera so it could tank show onto the board and clear a path for the blob.

While the whole platoon shows up at once, you roll separate for each unit for where they come out from.

This thread is *way* off-topic.

Omegus, the outflanking has been discussed multiple times in other threads, I believe. If I'm not mistaken, outflanking a platoon breaks the game when you try and get specific about what "rolling for reserves" means. Seriously, it's a weird argument.

An opponent blocking an outflanking platoon would take at least 32 models in two different units. That's likely to more expensive than the blob, unless your opponent runs consripts. Basically, it's too resource and time intensive to bother with. Also, tank shock.

So, yes, a walker could trounce a priest, since they're an IC. However, that means it's not attacking your blob. Also, if the blob gets the charge, the priest has better odds of taking out the Dread than vice versa, oddly enough. (not by much, mind you) (also, a regular DCCW Dread, not the meat grinder)

However, I haven't found great use for Priests, either. A blob's power is done over multiple turns, so only getting an assault buff for one turn isn't a great upgrade when you think about it. You get a 50% increase in one turn's damage output, when you could instead spend the 65 points on a bigger blob, which provides a ~50% increase in damage every turn (assuming you run 21s, slightly less if you run 31s, obviously). Their marginal performance against Dreads and other vehicles doesn't help sell me on them. I stick by my guns: keep your IG units as simple as possible.