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Hi all.

I've just started collecting a few Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard model kits and painting them up after reading a number of the novels from Black Library with great enthusiasm. I have a strong background in roleplaying games, but have never played wargames (unless board games like Fortress America and so on count, and even there, it's been literally decades).

I hope to find some folks who can either point me to a good army list or who are willing to advise me as to what models to purchase in my goal of building first 500 point Imperial Guard Army, and then up to 2000 in increments of 500 (so a 500 that can form the basis of a 1000 that can form the basis of a 1500 and so on).

I must admit that I've pretty much been randomly choosing my first few purchases. So far, I have:

• The latest edition of the Warhammer 40K basic rulebook
• The latest edition of the Imperial Guard Codex
• The basic "Imperial Guards Cadians" box of 5 soldiers carrying lasrifles
• Imperial Guard Cadian Shock Troops (which I built up, more or less randomly, as 1 each of a Sergeant with laspistol and chainsword, a radio operator, a flamer troop, a grenade launcher troop, and six troopers with lasrifles)
• Imperial Guard Cadian Command Squad (still unboxed)
• Imperial Guard Cadian Heavy Weapon Squad (still unboxed)
• Imperial Guard Chimera (still unboxed)

I bought the last three sets just this past weekend, more or less because almost every army list I've seen here and elsewhere includes at least one each of those models or model sets.

I thank in advance anyone interested in taking the time and trouble of pointing me to good basic starter Imperial Guard army lists and/or telling me how to build up my newest purchases and what purchases to make next.

Cheers,

ColonelCrow

well what do you like to play? infantry heavy guard? vehicle heavy guard? a hybrid of the two?

There are generaly two Guard lists...Tank heavy, or platoon heavy.

Platoon heavy is the most expensive money wise as you buy MANY more models...tank heavy is cheaper as you buy minimal infanty, and about 9 tanks

Grundz wrote:well what do you like to play? infantry heavy guard? vehicle heavy guard? a hybrid of the two?

I'm sure those are excellent questions but, alas, I'm such a newb that I'm not even equipped to answer them intelligently.

That said, from a modelling and painting perspective, I think I'd like a good mix of vehicles and soldiers. I'm not really that interested in the abhuman special figures like ratlings and ogryn, but do like the idea of a squad of psykers. Those walkers are kind of cool, but it seems like I don't seem them listed on many army lists here and elsewhere.

What other kinds of information should I be providing?

Cheers,

CC


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LazzurusMan wrote:There are generaly two Guard lists...Tank heavy, or platoon heavy.

Platoon heavy is the most expensive money wise as you buy MANY more models...tank heavy is cheaper as you buy minimal infanty, and about 9 tanks

Thanks for the reply. Expense is, of course, a factor, but I'm not in any particular hurry so I can spread my purchases out over time. As I just mentioned to another poster, I think I'd probably like a middle way between vehicle-heavy and infantry-heavy is such a thing is feasible.

Cheers,

CC

500 points fillsup pretty quickly. I always recommend for new users to get at least two infantry platoons because they will always be used later as such or as vets.

I dont have my codex but off the top of my head the basics will put you at around 350ish? Adding vox casters and special weapons and heavy weapons will of course bring you to the low 400;s

HQ
1x CCS

TROOP 1
1x PCS
2x Infantry Squads

TROOP2
1x PCS
2x Infantry Squads

Of course you can always have 2x Vet squads with dedicated Chimeras or bring two vet squads and a leman russ at 500 points. Just need to choose an. Identity. Do you want to win with a ton of infatry and heavy weapons or do you want to win with tanks and artillary.


Personally I tailored my Army towards Armored. Unde rthe old codex I used the Grenadiers doctrine which allowed Storm Troopers (Elites) to be taken as troop selections with dedicated transports. I maintained that strategy today always running Chimeras with vets, hellhounds and leman Russes

Well here, lemme throw some nuggets of wisdom at you crow

what do your friends play (point wise)? are you the odd man out? do you play at a gaming place? how old are you?

you dont need to answer, just look at the above questions objectively.

You dont know what you want to play, or how you are going to play it, will your local group let you use stand-in models as you sort of experiment with what you want to do?

Do you have time? Things like converting 9 heavy weapon squads from one box, using spare infantry, heavy weapon parts, and some ebay bases can save you a bundle as you gear up
Do your friends have patience? buying one tank and cloning the approximate size via cardboard or other things can let you play a few times with new combinations of units and see if you like them
Do you lose focus? If you are more flavor of the minute kind of guy, maybe focus more on magnetizing and customizing your models so you can change them into other things at will.
Are you insane? You could be like me and convert every single model in your army, and instead of change models change what your models count-as

How competitive are your friends? do you care if you lose? play something that is fun for you, not what is "good" personally i love throwing hundreds of guardsmen into the grinder, and my opponents (who usually lose) have a ton of fun trying to turn down the tide

Grundz wrote:Well here, lemme throw some nuggets of wisdom at you crow

Thanks, I really appreciate all this.

Grundz wrote:what do your friends play (point wise)? are you the odd man out? do you play at a gaming place? how old are you?

I don't have any friends who play (yet). I've dropped in at a couple of the local stores that have weekly miniatures gaming nights, where the staff and the regulars have been very friendly and welcoming, but I haven't come even close to joining the local community yet. Most of the games I've seen played (watching from the sidelines) have been 1500 points. If and when I start playing, yes, it will be at one or both of two local stores. And I'm 42 years old.

Grundz wrote:You dont know what you want to play, or how you are going to play it, will your local group let you use stand-in models as you sort of experiment with what you want to do?

I'm not sure, since I don't have a local group. I will say that my impulse is to, instead of asking others to allow me to experiment and use stand-in models, purchase and build up the appropriate models. I'm just now beginning to recognize that the models offered by Games Workshop don't match one-to-one on to the units described in the Codex.

Grundz wrote:Do you have time? Things like converting 9 heavy weapon squads from one box, using spare infantry, heavy weapon parts, and some ebay bases can save you a bundle as you gear up. Do your friends have patience? buying one tank and cloning the approximate size via cardboard or other things can let you play a few times with new combinations of units and see if you like them.

I do have time. I have a very flexible schedule, as I work from home and am self-employed. I would prefer to buy new stuff from local shops rather than buying from ebay, simply as a matter of preference and to support the people who support the community. As I said above, I don't have any friends who play yet, but the people I've met on the local scene have seemed very welcoming and patient. But I'd rather build up and understand a complete army and show up with it painted and appropriately built with WYSIWYG components the first time I play if that's at all possible.

Grundz wrote:How competitive are your friends? do you care if you lose? play something that is fun for you, not what is "good" personally i love throwing hundreds of guardsmen into the grinder, and my opponents (who usually lose) have a ton of fun trying to turn down the tide

I'm not sure how competitive the local players here in Lexington, Kentucky are. I don't mind losing games, but on the other hand, I don't want to build a pushover army either. In roleplaying games, I've never been a character "optimizer" but I've never intentionally built so-called "broken" characters either.

Thanks again for taking the time to ask these questions. I hope the answers make what I'm looking for a little more clear.

Cheers,

CC

I think that a mass of troops on foot would be your best place to start playing the game. I'm a big fan of a blob of guardsmen with commissars to keep them in the fight, packing a bunch of heavy weapons and power weapons. It's hard to kill off a blob of 60 guardsmen without template weapons.

At 500 points, the primary vehicles I look at are Valkyries and/or Vendettas.

Just get the models you think are cool. Best approach to your first army. Then just get in there and play games, and have fun.

What I do is write up a short summary of what I want the army to achieve and/or a backstory - or get an idea that has me giggling for a while - then build a list to fit it.

If I could hop in on this thread, I too am looking to start Guard. Specifically a hybrid of Infanty:Tanks if that's effective. Is the best place to start a CCS and somes Cadians?

Yep.

go read Tomb King's and Kirka's battle reports. Im sure the 56th and 501st will point you in the right direction.

Personally, dont look at list on here, everyone is going to give you some stupid Leafblower or platoon list.

These list are not nearly as good as a list that a good player makes & can use.

I recommend trying to proxy some games and get a feel for what units you like and the army type you like.

I personally run a static mix or Infantry/tanks, and I have done a lot better then the meta list.


Try to make a all comers list that you like and can use. Try about 3 games at 1000/1500/2000 points, and you should get a really good feel about the IG codex and how it scales.



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And to Lordtyphus

I would say buy two battleforces, and a LR and that should be a good basic 1000 point starting list, to get ideas from.