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i have just got an IG battleforce and a heavy weapons team, I was wondering what to equip them with and specifically what not to equip them with bearing in mind im playing mechanised armies mostly

Well if youre going mech I would start stocking up on chimeras and more infantry men. The standard thing to do is get some melta guns and plasma guns on veteran squads and load them in chimeras. For your HWTs I would recommend autocannons.

It all depends on your build. Foot sloggers, mech heavy, aircraft version of mech, or hybrid. What ever you want, it is your money.

But, the most used thing you will use, no matter what, is a chimera and basic infantry squads, either as guardsmen or vets. Cant go wrong with those.

sorry should have specified i will also get a valkyrie or two and they would transport a vet squad, not really looking for any other vehicles though

iC_D wrote:sorry should have specified i will also get a valkyrie or two and they would transport a vet squad, not really looking for any other vehicles though

I'd suggest a pair of Vendettas.

Well, if you are not really planning on fielding many vehicles, then you should probably load up on infantry.

Give your Sergents power swords, blob your squads up, and stick a commissar with a power sword in each blob. You've also got a lot of ranged punch with 3 special weapons, maybe 3 heavy weapons, and enough las guns to make FRFSRF hurt

a 30 strong power blob is one of the scariest assault units in the game. Its true. Most Marine type squads can't kill the guardsmen fast enough, while the power weapon attack whittle them down. The commissar makes sure that you don't break by giving you stubborn.

what i want to know is what to equip the heavy weapons team with lascannon, mortar, autocannon or heavy bolter

definitely either Autocannons or Lascannons. I would personally go Autocannon because 6 shots at BS 3 will at least hit something, unless you keep a static Company Command next to them for "Bring It Down". I've found that you can find better sources of reliable Lascannons, such as Vendettas.

i thought auto cannons and i would keep a command squad close, what does bring it down do exactly?

I would argue for Las Cannons. Las Cannons can punch through GK Dreadnaughts and Necron Quantom Shielding a lot better than Auto Cannons. It should also be noted that Las Cannons are more effective against AV11, although the numbers are really close. So I would think that the pendulum is swinging more in favor of Las for heavy weapon teams.

As for special weapons? If you are planning on putting things in Valks/ vendettas, definitely load up on a 4x flamer PCS, Stick em in a Plane, and drop em off and burn things. Possibly after tank shocking with the vendetta.

On blobs I'd go for Melta. Melta is nice for helping deal with MCs and tanks that get close to your lines. Flamers are good too if you can get your opponents to bunch up with tank shocks. Its harder to deploy non mechanized flamers though, since the extra movement helps get into position.

The Bring it Down! Order confers the twin-linked special rule to all weaponry in the ordered squad when firing at a specified unit within line of sight of the commander issuing the order.

In terms of advice on what to get. As people have already said, it's your choice and I and anybody else can only try and impart on you any knowledge of what we know works for us. Know this may not be exactly what you envisioned but it is something to consider. Now I know you've stated that you don't intend to take any other vehicle apart from a valkyrie/vendetta, and a single one at that. I really can't see how you can picture this working, I mean with just one vehicle out there your basicall handing your opponent a KP (or two if we count the sqaud inside it). In this situation you might aswell spend your money on more men seeong as that's the type of list your gunning for, mind you pure infantry guard don't tend to fare very well. Any imperial commander worth his salt will tell you vehicles (be they transports or tanks) are an absolutely essential part of the imperial guard play style. Sure you can field in excess of 100 models when you slog but that to me is just telling your opponent get a few templates and enjoy the barbeque.

Again, you should get what appeals to you but unless getting steam rolled is on your list of fun things to do I would think abou getting tanks.

akaean wrote:I would argue for Las Cannons. Las Cannons can punch through GK Dreadnaughts and Necron Quantom Shielding a lot better than Auto Cannons. It should also be noted that Las Cannons are more effective against AV11, although the numbers are really close. So I would think that the pendulum is swinging more in favor of Las for heavy weapon teams.

As for special weapons? If you are planning on putting things in Valks/ vendettas, definitely load up on a 4x flamer PCS, Stick em in a Plane, and drop em off and burn things. Possibly after tank shocking with the vendetta.

On blobs I'd go for Melta. Melta is nice for helping deal with MCs and tanks that get close to your lines. Flamers are good too if you can get your opponents to bunch up with tank shocks. Its harder to deploy non mechanized flamers though, since the extra movement helps get into position.

Considering that the HWT's are only BS 3, against most vehicles (those up to AV 12, which is most) more shots are better, as they are more likely to cause damage. Autocannons can also be used against infantry and heavy infantry more effectively than lascannons too. If you want cheap, survivable and accurate lascannons, you'd be better off with a Vendetta.


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Mortar spam can be effective, as mortars are the default weapon for HWT's, and thus are cheap. They are also more capable of destroying infantry than their contender in this field (the HBB) as the BS doesn't really have an effect on the amount of hits as it does with the HBB. This is best against a green tide or nid wave army, as well as powerful yet low Toughness gunlines such as Tau and IG.

However, I'd recommend this for a later stage, as HWT Autocannons are probably the best for a beginner because of their ability to destroy light to medium vehicles, MC's and most infantry effectively and cheaply.

See I thought that too, # of shots = better. Thats what I learned from playing Eldar. But then I actually ran the numbers... and it was rather surprising.



The +2 strength really helps to pen your target, and in many cases that slightly outweighs the auto cannons extra shots and thus better chances of hitting. You have to do more than just hit your target, you also have to punch through its armor value. Both rolls are important.

You'll notice that the numbers are close in all of the comparisons, but also the Las Cannons are consistently ahead at achieving their results, both to get at least a shaken, and at least a wrecked.

EDIT: I just noticed I highlighted one of them wrong. Auto cannon should be highlighted for at least shaken on av11!

akaean wrote:See I thought that too, # of shots = better. Thats what I learned from playing Eldar. But then I actually ran the numbers... and it was rather surprising.



The +2 strength really helps to pen your target, and in many cases that slightly outweighs the auto cannons extra shots and thus better chances of hitting. You have to do more than just hit your target, you also have to punch through its armor value. Both rolls are important.

You'll notice that the numbers are close in all of the comparisons, but also the Las Cannons are consistently ahead at achieving their results, both to get at least a shaken, and at least a wrecked.

EDIT: I just noticed I highlighted one of them wrong. Auto cannon should be highlighted for at least shaken on av11!

Touche

If you dont like vehicles then you're going to have to play blob which means more assembly and more painting. Blob guard is good but a lot more work. 3 vendettas is still a must. With a blob list you'll really throw off the meq killing meta at tourneys like orks do.

Get Manticores not matter what army build you use. Theyre brutal

@akaean: thanks alot for that scheme concerning autocannons, LasC and scatterL. Very useful!
Im now even more happy about my 24 scatter laser eldar army (with 15 fire dragons)

Yeah, 'Bring it Down!' is in the CCS section of the Codex (pg 30), and Orders are in the begining (pg 29). If the CCS and the targeted unit can both see the target (A vehicle or a monsterous creature) and the targeted unit is within Order range and /NOT/ in a vehicle (or a vehicle), all weapons in the targeted unit are twin linked.

As for Akaean's chart... yeah, Lascannons or Autocannons are really the only weapons of choice for IG heavy weapons. LCs for AV 12+ and ACs for AV 12 or less and everything else (troops and the like). LCs being better at AV 12+ is not surprising and supports why every IG list should have Vendettas or LC HWSs for long range AT.

Missile Launchers end up shooting at the same targets the AC shoots at but is more expensive and has only a single shot. Mortars and heavy bolters are pretty much only anti-infantry weapons.

You can do Mortars and Heavy Bolters if you have plenty of anti-armor weapons and transport poppers. If I run a blob or vets/CCS and I am adding heavy weapons to them, I run LCs in BS 4 troops and ACs for BS 3 troops.