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Well after much thought and consideration, Ive decided that, Im going to take a break from my lovely Orks and start the Imperial Guard. Im so far in the infancy of this idea, that I havnt even bought the codex yet, though I have read it once or twice, so I have a rough idea of what Im getting myself into. I know how Im going to paint them up, and the fluff for them and all that, the problem is , Im not sure where to go as far as how to use them once I get that far.

Basically Im going to start out by buying the Cadian battleforce set, 2 possibly 3 to begin. So Ill have a decent start. The main thing is, Im planning on going mech (shocker) because I want ALL the tanks to be wheeled instead of tracked, because Im going with Urban camo in the way of a SWAT force. So since Ill be starting with 2 or 3 battle sets, how would I go about using those on the table? Ill have possibly 3 sentinals.....are those really any good? Ill probably be putting plasma cannons on them, that a good idea? Im talking non competitive here, this army will be for me to have something different, actually have an army from the IoM, and know that every new codex/edition, means they will be supported nicely.

So my main questions are:
With 3 battle sets, how would I best use them? (keep in mind Ill get chimeras for the lads more then like. So give advice with them on foot as well as in the chimeras)
Are 3 plasma sentinels good? How should they be built/used? Scout or armored?
How should I build the heavy weapon teams? Im leaning towards autocannons. Is that smart in a smallish force?
General ideas/things to add to this?

Thanks, and detailed answers would be much better then, do his. Kill, or whatever

Personally, on the Sentinels, I would go scout with Autocannons - a lot cheaper, die really easy, but can outflank and autocannons in rear armour upsets most things...

The main thing with Guard is to take full advantage of your special weapon slots, especially the BS4 ones.

Read up on Power Blobs, although you probably won't want them if you're going mech.

If you ARE going mech, I wouldn't buy so many Battleforces - you won't end up using the heavy weapons squads or the sentinels.

Yea Im really wanting more a mech feel, Ive read alot on powerblobs, and although they are incredibly powerful, I already run horde Orks, and just dont want to run that path again.

So maybe a battleforce and then the rest of the money on other things? Im wanting to make sure I have enough bodies so that if Im playing a game where Im not wanting to run chimeras, Ill have enough to field say, 3x20 units.




also to add, I plan on using a squad or two of Stormtroopers. Thir deep striking ability + hellguns + plasma/melta = win to me lol

In that case, you want to look at TANKS!!!!

Medusas are very popular artillery, or Leman Russes can support your mechanised infantry.

Which is where my advice will end as I just bought 3 battleforces to go with the one I already had...

What's in the battleforce?

Been seeing a couple of good lists on yesthetruthhurts.com that use three armored sentinels with plasma cannons in the fast slots (instead of valks/vendettas) to stand behind chimeras for cover and shoot at marines. As part of a mech force with 6-8 chimeras and good long-range support in the heavy slots, it looks like a good idea to me.

Well the battleforce has
20 guardsmen
a CCS
3 heavy weapon teams
sentinel

And standing those behind chimeras is a good idea, I didnt think of that. Plopping plasma templates while getting cover is always nice. So armored then?


And like I said, this is all still in the beginning. Im planning on taking some tanks obviously, who plays IG and doesnt? But Im not even thinking about those right now. Im more concerned with making my initial purchase as useful as possible. Im hoping that I wont auto lose everytime I play until I get a bigger force

Flavius Infernus wrote:What's in the battleforce?
Been seeing a couple of good lists on yesthetruthhurts.com that use three armored sentinels with plasma cannons in the fast slots (instead of valks/vendettas) to stand behind chimeras for cover and shoot at marines.

How exactly are they shooting over the chimera? You need to draw los along the weapon and its placed low on the sentinel chassis. Not going to work in most circumstances. On the right side you may have a chance, however, your going to have very little to shoot at because the angle isn't the greatest.

Just to be clear: I am not saying plas sents are not half decent in some builds. I'm saying that you cannot use them as described above.

Mount them on the roof?

I have all my sentinels magnetized. I suggest you do the same. I even magnetized the armoured tops so I can run plas sents once in a while. The best setup I've found, especially 1000 pts and under, is just the Scout sentinel with an autocannon. At 40 points its really cheap, has good range, and a decent gun. More importantly, it is 2 shots to compensate for the BS3. If you keep a good range they get ignored. Run them down a flank. I particularly like them versus things like vindicators and predators with the side av11. Multilaser is not bad either but the shorter range opens it up to str4+ anti infantry weapons which will take it down quickly. Not only that you can sac it to tie up enemy infantry while you redeploy. Its only 40 points...



spelling fail...

I was going to magnetize everything I could with them, for the very same reason you did. And 40pts? Damn that is pretty cheap. You can take them in squadrons too cant you? Or am I remembering something else in that dex? Dammit I need to go buy it

Have you seen this conversion kit for the chimera chassis from chapter house studios?



found here http://chapterhousestudios.com/webshop/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=118&category_id=35

Id make my own wheeled kits, but yea I have seen those and they are pretty cool looking. Dollar store FTW

A general tactic with leman russes and basilisks is to take both.As your opponent wants to close in on that basilisk to get under the mininum range. So if you have a leman russ it can roll around and pop the units coming out of cover to get to your precious basilsk and to get your squishy units.(face it Guard suck at close combat! except ogryns....)

That can also help because they will be caught in a tight spot "Do I want to go out of protection and take out the painful basilisk? Or do I want to stay where I am and get pounded into the dust by all that diddly?

Yes sentinels can be bought in squads. Just keep in mind at higher point limits they are competing with valkyries and vendettas...

Sentinels need to be cheap and choppy. 50 at max for scouts. 60 for armored ones.

Just wanted to say, basilisks dont have a minimum range. Also, call me crazy, but I dont know if Im going to even use Valkyries. They arnt really in my current line of thought anyways. Im thinking of running maybe 2 stormtrooper units and using them with deep strike, to reach out and blast something


Automatically Appended Next Post:
/i should correct myself, they dont have a minimum when firing directly

Sentinels all day. Dont see them much.

Scout lascannons for outflanking, dedicated tank/MC killers that can threaten from a great distance and hopefully aim at the Side or Rear armours

Oh yeah. I have my head in older editions maybe....same ideas though.

KingCracker wrote:Mount them on the roof?

Definitely an orky way of doing things

Benn Bloodmane wrote:

KingCracker wrote:Mount them on the roof?

Definitely an orky way of doing things

Shhh.....Im trying to give my Orky roots a vacation


Yea I dunno about the lascannons on them though, that would drive up costs....but Id guess not to much more then plasma cannons. Obviously this is why Im wanting to magnetize my vehicles for this army, so I can maximize my army with out actually having every single tank and variant of them.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Da Kommizzar wrote:Oh yeah. I have my head in older editions maybe....same ideas though.

Hmm, your probably just thinking of the indirect fire or another vehicle. Because I have the IG codex from 3rd edition era, and its the same thing, no minimum distance. *shrugs*

uuuuuuuuugh!!! What is wrong with my rules memorizing brain!!!!!!!!

maybe an entirely different vehicle or even game!!!!!!! *shrugs and weeps in despair*

No matter what IG list you make, you're going to need guardsmen, so the battleforces aren't a bad idea.

As for sentinels, i think there are 2 main ways to run them are scouts with autocannons outflanking for side shots, or armored, probably with plasma, hiding behind chimeras shooting and assaulting any marines in range.

Most marines, even if they have a fist, can't easily kill a AV12 walker, so it's worth shooting them and assaulting if it means tying them up for a few turns.

Barksdale wrote:

Flavius Infernus wrote:What's in the battleforce?
Been seeing a couple of good lists on yesthetruthhurts.com that use three armored sentinels with plasma cannons in the fast slots (instead of valks/vendettas) to stand behind chimeras for cover and shoot at marines.

How exactly are they shooting over the chimera? You need to draw los along the weapon and its placed low on the sentinel chassis. Not going to work in most circumstances. On the right side you may have a chance, however, your going to have very little to shoot at because the angle isn't the greatest.

Just to be clear: I am not saying plas sents are not half decent in some builds. I'm saying that you cannot use them as described above.

I'm looking at a sentinel standing directly behind a chimera right now on my workbench, and the muzzle of the gun just rests on the top of the hull of the chimera, and can see completely over the tread module. You have to sight past the chimera turret on one side or the other, but since both the sentinel and the chimera should be moving, you can line up all your shots in advance during the movement phase. If you stand the sentinel back about three inches (which is a good idea anyway in case guys need to disembark) it can sight quite easily anything in range that isn't directly in the dead space behind the turret. Also, since sentinels are walkers and can therefore pivot in the shooting phase, you can make minor adjustments as needed to account for unexpected targets of opportunity (guys falling out of a destroyed rhino or whatever).

Sentinels standing behind a well-constructed chimera wall should all get cover and be able to shoot fine.

jcd386 wrote:No matter what IG list you make, you're going to need guardsmen, so the battleforces aren't a bad idea.

As for sentinels, i think there are 2 main ways to run them are scouts with autocannons outflanking for side shots, or armored, probably with plasma, hiding behind chimeras shooting and assaulting any marines in range.

Most marines, even if they have a fist, can't easily kill a AV12 walker, so it's worth shooting them and assaulting if it means tying them up for a few turns.

Hmmm didnt think about them being so tough in CC either, thats a good point. I love the thought of a cheap unit tying up a more expensive one. Sentinels are sounding more and more like a unit Id enjoy running. I know I really got into using rokkit buggies way before they were cool for very much the same reason.

So Im thinking Ill still buy those 2-3 battleforces, itll give me a jump on enough bodies, and later when I get some custom chimeras built, Ill have enough for a bunch of small units in them.

Ok next important question, the heavy weapon teams.
Are they useful? How does one use them? Loadouts and all that jazz

Ditch the HWT, take Hydras.

Ok. What makes hydras so good?

But also, Im asking about them because at first, they are all Ill have, is 9 HW teams. So I want to know how to make them useful before expanding my IG force

KingCracker wrote:Well after much thought and consideration, Ive decided that, Im going to take a break from my lovely Orks and start the Imperial Guard.

haha ROFL this made me laugh, because I did exactly the same thing two day ago. I had been thinking about this for ages a well and now I have the dex, and I've poted my own version of this thread yesterday. My Orks are gonna be jealous

Flavius Infernus wrote:
I'm looking at a sentinel standing directly behind a chimera right now on my workbench, and the muzzle of the gun just rests on the top of the hull of the chimera, and can see completely over the tread module. You have to sight past the chimera turret on one side or the other, but since both the sentinel and the chimera should be moving, you can line up all your shots in advance during the movement phase. If you stand the sentinel back about three inches (which is a good idea anyway in case guys need to disembark) it can sight quite easily anything in range that isn't directly in the dead space behind the turret. Also, since sentinels are walkers and can therefore pivot in the shooting phase, you can make minor adjustments as needed to account for unexpected targets of opportunity (guys falling out of a destroyed rhino or whatever).

Sentinels standing behind a well-constructed chimera wall should all get cover and be able to shoot fine.

The new kit definitely allows you to stretch out the legs. However, if you weapon can draw los over the chimera in most cases you are not going to be 50% obscured unless also obscured by the turret. In any case this use of the sentinel is situational at best.



Here is another take on it from a while back.

MrMerlin wrote:

KingCracker wrote:Well after much thought and consideration, Ive decided that, Im going to take a break from my lovely Orks and start the Imperial Guard.

haha ROFL this made me laugh, because I did exactly the same thing two day ago. I had been thinking about this for ages a well and now I have the dex, and I've poted my own version of this thread yesterday. My Orks are gonna be jealous

How weird Maybe we can let our Orks be pen pals or something, you know, that whole emotional support thing


But yea, I thought about what army I should choose, and many years ago, when I was 15 and figuring out what army to buy, I bought the IG codex first and ALMOST went with them, and last minute picked up Chaos instead. So Ive always had a thing for the guard, and figured, they are exactly what I want, something that is known for shooting, can hit like a hammer, but still has plenty of weakness.




So how bout them Heavy Weapon teams? Any ideas folks?

Barksdale wrote:


The new kit definitely allows you to stretch out the legs. However, if you weapon can draw los over the chimera in most cases you are not going to be 50% obscured unless also obscured by the turret. In any case this use of the sentinel is situational at best.

Hmm, the sentinel model is a little over 3 inches high. A chimera model is about 2 inches high. According to my math, that means a sentinel standing directly behind a chimera is about 66% covered. It sounds like simple geometry to me.