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Thought it would be interesting to see what pople think of this army list all comments welcome .

Company Command squad
- Powerfist
- Regimental standard
- 3 meltaguns

40 Penal Legionnairs ( 4 squads of 10)

Lemen russ Demolisher - Dozer Blade

Lemen russ Eradicator - Dozer Blade

Lemen russ Executioner - Plasma cannon sponsons
- Dozer Blade

1000pts total on the spot

What's your theme with the penal troops? Will you be outflanking them?

Why would you choose them over a vet squad with 1 melta? (80pts... cost the same)

IMHO the CCS squad is crap with a powerfist... waste of 15 points. Throw those points back into another melta for good measure and dont worry about assaulting with these guys.

As for the russes.... hard to argue with that much firepower in that much armor... but I think it's too many eggs in one basket.

I would say, in addition to that that the Eradicator is a 'meh' variant and the standard battle tank may help more and give you some range.

I would also go with Standard over Eradicator, unless you know you will be playing with lots of cover against an infantry list.

Id also ditch the dozer blades, they look fantastic on the models, but seem like a waste of points.

And the plasma sponsons, Id drop them too. Russes should always be moving and shooting.

Also drop the power fist and standard, but thats mostly just preference as I have never found them usefull.

That would leave you with about 100 points to do with as you wish, possible bring another Penial Legion squad or throw in some vets.

Thanks ill take another look at these possibilities and even though i really liked the power fist along with the standard we're just because they look good.

I'll definitely take a closer look at what i can do so thanks again.

That's actually a pretty cool idea with the penal legionnaires, as you can scout-move to objectives and be much more competent in melee than a standard guard squad (although for a melee focus, the lack of power weapons hurt.)

Maybe consider some Minisortium Priests, they have an awesome chainfist variant, an invuln save, and they allow the squad they're attached to re-roll their attacks on a charge.

Gawd, I love Imperial Guard. No matter what you do, you have a viable chance of winning. It was a tough choice to pick them over Orks, but I'm definitely not regretting it now. Guard can still WAAAAAGH like Orks!

OK revised lets see how well it goes

Company Command squad
- 3 meltaguns
- 1 plasma gun

Techpriest Engineer
- 2 servo arm servitors

40 Penal Legionnairs ( 4 squads of 10)

Lemen russ Demolisher

Lemen russ Eradicator

Lemen russ Executioner

1000pts

A little bit more mobile because of no sponsons and the tech priest can fix tanks now.

That's a lot of tanks for a 1,000 point game in a good way. How will your opponent deal with so many Armor 14 tanks? Other than die screaming that is. They are the focal point of this army however: everything else is filler or support for those tanks, which is okay but a necessary point to make for my following recommendations:

1) You'll be relying on them for almost all of your firepower. The 40 lasguns you get from the penal squads are a mass of firepower but extremely unreliable for killing things. Plan accordingly: maneuver the infantry for protecting your tanks, either by providing cover saves (if possible) or speed bumps for assault/melta weapons. That's their job, that and taking points, but primarily protecting tanks.
2) Since we're putting all of our (albiet heavily armored) eggs in one basket, we need to protect those eggs. Keeping the infantry in between them and the enemy is the first step, the other is keeping solid objects/cover between them and any long-ranged anti-tank, like lascannons or brightlances.
3) Are you planning on keeping the tanks mobile (which will probably be necessary) or parking them in good positions and laying down fire? If it's the first, you'll need something to keep the Techpriest mobile with them, like a Chimera, since he'll have to move to the most damaged one. You've got a 3 foot range on two of those tanks and a 2 foot on the other, which means you probably won't be able to park and snipe, you'll have to keep them mobile.
4) What's the role of the Company Command Squad? Special weapons are great but their range is short, and with its small number of people footslogging it in to get close will probably mean at least losing a few (expensive because they've got special weapons) models and possibly the whole squad. I recommend getting them mobile (chimera) and doing the "everyone out the hatch" trick, or pulling the specials in favor of a heavy (you can park downrange and shoot at targets four feet away with it) or just more points (hull lascannons for the tanks!)

yea i'll definently keep these tips im mind while playing but as of currently i don't know what to do with the special weapons as i wanted to use them against heavily armored targets that get to close like terminators

Your list is 1005pts, so your over and need to lose something. Forum rules are you can list total unit points, not equipment points. Putting that up might have helped you keep track of that better.

Infantry can't give cover saves to vehicles, just to other infantry (though you can shoot through friendlies no problem). A LRBT that isn't moving is a dead LRBT. Priests are something to consider, but as a IC they can be targeted in CC and they are 60pts with 1 wound and a 50% Invuln save. To many points for something you /want/ in CC that is just has no staying power.

Your also lacking in some long range AT, as vehicles are BS 3 and if they use a blast marker weapon as their AT ability your chances to hit are now 1/3 instead of 1/2.

You do understand that every battle you role for each Penal squad to determind what ability they get.

Pick a LRBT variant, then take two of them. Yes, the three are giving you versitility, but a focused foe will destroy the tank that can hurt it the most. To be honest, go two Demolishers. As for the Techpriest, I have to agree that one guy will not get to the vehicle you need it to get to in less then a round, as your LRBTs should probably be spread out some. Really, you want one guy per tank and that is just sucking up way to many points for a 1k game. I would suggest dropping him.

I suggest the following...

CCS - 160pts
LC, 2x Plasma guns, Camo Cloaks, Astropath, Plasma Pistol

4x Penal squads - 320pts

LRBT Demolisher - 165pts

LRBT Demolisher - 165pts

LRBT Executioner - 190pts

1000pts

Good advice seems like ill definently do some changes to my list thanks

Coogaar wrote:How will your opponent deal with so many Armor 14 tanks?

With close combat. They're only AV10 on rear armor, something which even the humble frag grenade can level.

As for the list in general, I don't much care for it. Apart from the special weapons in the CCS, you're putting 100% of your serious firepower on just three vehicles. Two of said vehicles have to all but drive right into melta range or be threatened by close combat in order to shoot its main gun. Plus, a tank doesnt' even need to be destroyed, it can suffer a lost weapon (or in the case of demolishers, get immobilized), or just spend a few key turns shaken. Given that close combat affects rear armor, and meltaguns get a +D6, this won't be all that terribly difficult to achieve, even at this points level.

But it's not just the firepower that's the problem. Your troops choices have no staying power. There are too few of them, they are too weak to handle threats by themselves, and there's nothing to keep them around when close combat comes by (yes, they're stubborn, but they still have terrible leadership).

In short, this list will probably work decently against an opponent who both isn't tau, and solely relies on long-range shooting to defeat you. Against anyone who brings melta, or knows what assault is, or who has a great deal of speed, or who brings such a horde that you can't thin them out in time, you're basically screwed.

I'd rebalance your list away from the toys, and more towards core units. Make a solid 1,000 point list with no russes, and then fill up to 1500 (or even 1850) with tanks. As it is right now, the points level is so low that a 200 point tank just absorbs too many points that need to be spent elsewhere.

@Talore, your picture made me LOL HAHAAH!!!! Sorry I'll try and make myself useful here.


Never seen a penal only infantry army, looks cool though!!

Surely some proper heavy infantry fire support wouldn't hurt if you dropped one squad out?

ok so looking at what i can improve i think that this list would fit it a little better:

Company command squad
- 4 plasma guns

30 Penal Legionnairs

Platoon command squad

2 Infantry squads

2 LRBT Demolishers

LRBT Executioner

It still doesn't have any heavy weapons but at least it has more infantry along with the company command squad giving more mid range firepower

Not sure how much that adds up to, but I would try to fit Special Weapons in PCS and PIS, but other than that looks good.

Im also under the assumption you are fielding those Demolishers separately, that way they can fire at 2 units instead of 1 and you don't risk losing one if it gets immobilized

yes the demolishers are seperate and the points do come out to 1000 spot on

I love me some tanks. I must admit I havnt seen a list like this before. Your kinda screwed if its anything besides annihilation, but that much AV14 at 1k points is awesome.

I have to say that the list was designed to put alot of power in the tanks but also making the infantry able to rush objectives while taking casualties of staying up to enough strength among them all to do well in a large firefight.

Ailaros wrote:

Coogaar wrote:How will your opponent deal with so many Armor 14 tanks?

With close combat. They're only AV10 on rear armor, something which even the humble frag grenade can level.

Demolishers have rear armour 11 don't they?

Fine, then they'll be killed by krak grenades.

It doesn't change that this list is incredibly fragile. AV14 front armor alone is not enough to cover for the fact that there basically isn't anything else in the list.

I wouldn't say fragile, it has it's weaknesses like all lists. The Demolisher/ Battle Cannon is never to be sniffed at, it can ruin your entire day with a decent hit. Plus you have to equip your troops with Krak's, Marines get them free (except BT) and others have to pay for them. You cannot just "meh" a LRBT.

To any feasible reason the amount of tanks and their weaknesses were intended so that the infantry could create a killing ground by sacrificing themselves to keep the advancing enemies away of if the tanks are targeted then the infantry can get up there and start throwing a ton of shots into their ranks

DawnLord wrote:ok so looking at what i can improve i think that this list would fit it a little better:

Company command squad
- 4 plasma guns

30 Penal Legionnairs

Platoon command squad

2 Infantry squads

2 LRBT Demolishers

LRBT Executioner

It still doesn't have any heavy weapons but at least it has more infantry along with the company command squad giving more mid range firepower

If this is your current list and your adding a platoon, I would then suggest the following...

CCS - 110pts
4x Melta guns, Carapace

Vets - 130pts
3x Melta guns, Demolitions or Grenaiders

PCS - 60pts (home objective camper)
AC, 2x Melta guns

PIS - 120pts (blob 1)
Commissar, 2x PW, Melta gun, Melta bomb

PIS - 75pts
PW, Melta gun, Melta bomb

Demolisher - 165pts

Demolisher - 165pts

Demolisher - 165pts

1000pts

Though at this point you might as well consider dropping the Penal squads for another Platoon or a Vet squad or two. Then you could look at commissars, power weapons, and melta bombs for the platoon blobs. I had the astropath in my first suggested list so you could bring in your guys faster when they outflank due to the Scout ability. Walk the blob out in a skirmish line infront of the tanks, with the tanks spread out about a foot apart from each other. Put the CCS and the Vets between the tanks and leave the PCS back on a home objective to plink away with the AC. The melta guns in the PCS are some form of defence against drop pod walkers, terminators, or the like.

Personally, I think it is a shame to reach that point, as I liked the 4-5 Penal squads with 3 tanks. Yeah, it had some serious weaknesses, but it /could/ work. Either way, just remember that no matter the advice, it is still your list... use what advice you want as long as you understand why they are giving it and why your ignoring it.

yea that looked really good and the only thing is the lack of infantry which are designed to create a fear factor as anyone within their right mind can't ignore 60 infantry pointing thier lazerpointers at them so it would take target pirority A little more than just tanks and a few men therefore allowing my tanks to be seen as just a little bit of a lesser threat or just create such a problem amongst the enimies decision that the tanks can take advantage.

But other than that great advice i thank you, I will definently take your revised list into consideration as an option not explored i don't know if it will be better so thanks again.