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I'm having alot of luck and success with the following unit combo against even the mighty space wolves. (Took on 5 terms, arjac, and the special librarian dude before a second squad came in and wiped them out, killed 5 termies and wounded both characters)

The combo I used was an HQ command squad with Strakan, everyone sporting las pistols, Reg standard, medpac, and vox. Also had the fleet commander dude and Norc. Attached to that squad was a priest and a lord commish.

With furious charge I've had alot of success against space marines, but I'm wondering how this would work against the likes of the eldar etc.

Thanks!

Could I ask what points level you are playing at please? The key to an effective guard CC unit is the power blob.

Infantry Squad (Commisar, 2x Power Weapon, Melta Gun, Melta Bombs) - 120
Infantry Squad - (Power Weapon, Melta Gun, Melta Bombs) - 75
Infantry Squad - (Power Weapon, Melta Gun, Melta Bombs) - 75


You take some casualties, but that's fine, you rely on numbers and tarpitting to win the day. If you mean with your Command Squad, then I cannot help you there as I personally do not play IG, but have seen power blobs used to great effect. (on me while playing chaos, not seen them against eldar though)

straken is a pretty terrible assault unit honstly for what you pay.

you put at least 415 points into that squad

for that I could have:
50 guardsmen, 5 powerswords, a commisar with powersword

thats 18 power weapons and 100 non power weapon attacks on the charge
and i'm still like 40 points under. Even a more reasonable 30 guardsmen unit is tossing out 12 power weapons and a ton of normal attacks, is stubborn and nearly unbreakable and not vulnerable to most things that elite units like straken are.

Yeah, Straken is a badass and all, but he's mostly just there to give out bubbles of badassery to his friends; anything even remotely competent in CC will tear him up.

You are completely right Grundz. The power blob is insanely effective in combat. Its also hard to remove by enemy shooting and can hold its own in the shooting phase with first rank second rank fire.

sfshilo wrote:I'm having alot of luck and success with the following unit combo ... an HQ command squad with Strakan, everyone sporting las pistols, Reg standard, medpac, and vox. Also had the fleet commander dude and Norc. Attached to that squad was a priest and a lord commish.

Well, you'd better be successful in close combat with this squad, it costs nearly 400 points!

The problem, though, isn't what it's good against, but what it isn't. With so few wounds, and with 2 of the 3 heavy-hitting models as independent characters, it's not very hard for a unit that can put down enough attacks to simply end it where it stands, especially given that there isn't very much Eternal Warrior to go around.

Once your opponents start wising up and stop taking non-CC-dedicated deathstar units, I fear that your combo won't have much staying power. That, or at some point someone will figure out to take a battle cannon or a demolisher cannon somewhere and put all 400 points out of commission with a single shot.

Good to hear from you, Ailaros.

Albeezie wrote:You are completely right Grundz. The power blob is insanely effective in combat. Its also hard to remove by enemy shooting and can hold its own in the shooting phase with first rank second rank fire.

Thats the mainstay of my army, I have tons of guys that are OK in close combat, hard to sweep, and anything I am afraid of like khorne bezerkers, I can put at least 200 lasguns on it before it hits cc.

the problem with blobs is they lack force concentration, sure they can tarpit, but against an army with extremely high numbers of points in one area of the board, they can overwhelm your blobs one at a time (jump pack BA, or GK for example)

What everyone already said. Straken himself brings a lot to the army and is a pretty good back-up assault unit. But as someone mentioned other codexes can get much harder and tougher elite units. The other models in that squad are feeble.

I plan on running straken without any other upgrades in the squad, on the grounds that any competent opponent will try and wipe his squad out with shooting (he will be on foot) and I will have to take some casualties off. I would consider, just possibly, a medic and/or bodyguards. Even the other protection upgrades aren't really worth it.

Nork is just terribly overpriced, the lord commissar is not worth it as a pure combat unit, his effects on morale are better used elsewhere. Priests can be ok but in a big blob squad, not the CCS.

I wouldn't say powerblobs are "Insane" in combat. They're certainly hard to plow through with most things, and can fight back reasonably well, but I've never been impressed with a powerblobs killing power. Usually, its the opposite

I love Straken and he almost always gets his points back directly or indirectly. I love Nork for his fluff but never use him because of the cost. As for power blobs, I have not had much success. Mine have gone down fast to Purifiers and their flame templates. My friend also uses Dark Eldar and his group of Hellions attack with >40 attacks at initiative 6! I'm usually left with my Commissar and Sgts with a hand full of men who inavariable whiff then get wiped out the next turn. I had better luck using the speed bump method the next game I played. Rough Riders are useless against them too as they are only I 5. I even splurged points on Ogryns and a Lord Commie and they went down in a turn against the Hellions as well. They did bitch slap a group of wyches but for the points they were not worth it. I've come to the conclusion that the Achilles heel of the Guard is close combat. People say 'just shoot them before they get to you." Well, I laid 11 wounds on my friend's Archon and with his 2+ inv save he passed them all! I don't know what else I could do. I've given up on the powerblob as a base and put the point back into armor with large blast templates.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I usually run 1850-2000 points.

I'm not looking for a monsterous CC unit here, I'm looking for a unit that can, in a pinch, bust some heads. (Which I think it does pretty well)

The power blobs get thrashed by anything with a Close Combat pulse in my opinion. Space Wolves, BA, Dark Eldar....

Hell Last night my brothers Space wolf SCOUT squad with one of those elite dudes backing him up and all kinds of power weapons killed off 25 guys with power weapons, close combat, and commishioner support. Sure they were stuck in for three turns....but damn it was ugly. My brother texted me this afternoon to rub it in it was so bad.

On the flip side, that CC squad with some tank support was able to wipe out a gray hunters squad, and after that ragnar blackmane running solo. Nork soaking up two wounds was nice.

I'm thinking "emergency" CC support for my heavy weapons vets. IE they blow up a land raider and angry marines come running out at them.