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Many of the leman russ variants seem to be oriented around hanging back at range and unloading an alpha strike at the opponent. The problem with sitting still is that it makes them very vulnerable to assault.

To me the simplest solution to this is to have a single platoon squad spaced 2" apart so that enemy units would get tarpitted before smacking the tank. The squad is only 50 points too. This could be the few uses for a conscript squad, being cheap and only necessary to stand there and look pretty.

Yeah, they work.
I believe these ablative tank assault denial squads are often referred to as 'speed bumps' by a lot of guard players!

It also stops those turn 1 assaults on your tanks, like from deffkoptas

also helps against advantageous deep strikers

jdjamesdean@mail.com wrote:also helps against advantageous deep strikers

labmouse42 wrote:It also stops those turn 1 assaults on your tanks, like from deffkoptas

Yes, bubblewrap works and works well!

/close thread

What pt level are we talking about? The smaller the game, the more difficult it is to wrap things. It is a surface-to-volume ratio thing.

If you want a meat shield, be sure to get combined squads and a commissar upgrade to lead them. Otherwise, they will run the first time they lose an assault. That is why conscripts cannot work - you cannot buy them a commissar. In principle, you can get a Commissar Lord for HQ, whose aura of command will give them Ld10 from 12 inches away, but it does not make them stubborn unless he joins the unit, which becomes expensive.

Also, bubble wrap has to have some density to it. Otherwise, a couple of well-timed assaults can abuse the reaction rule to open a gap in the bubble.

I'm going to experiment with using a powerblob as optional bubblewrap, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Typically I play pure Mechvets but I'm finding that I need *something* to stop those T1 alpha strikes. A 21-man powerblob covers over 60" of table space if you really need to space it out, and it also does wonders in Dawn of War if you get the first turn (forcing opponent to full reserve by denying deployment zone almost completely). It also provides enough "wrap" to significantly dissuade Deep Striking melta nonsense. I don't see 10 Guardsmen doing that for you.

You know, its totally possible to run a powreblob of 21 or 31 guys, but keep the majority of the bubblewrap clustered around the back so that 51% of them are out of LOS to the enemy. Then they count as being in cover! You can get even more cheesy by taking a Comissar Lord w/camo cloak, giving the whole squad stealth. Position him in such a way that any enemy assaults will still have him out of harm's way so he won't be singled out.

They shoot at the tank, its AV14. They shoot the bubblewrap, well they get a coversave, a good one at that.

The squad gets tied up in combat, you back the tank up and try to have another powerblob/expendible unit form a screen to further tarpit the enemy.