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Hi, I have been playing with the idea of making an imperial guard artillery company for fun non-competitive games and this is what iv come up with so far.

HQ

Company command squad + 4 plasma guns + plasma pistol + carapace armour + master of ordnance = 170

platoon 1
platoon command aquad + 4 plasma guns = 90

infantry squad + plasma gun + lascannon = 85

infantry squad + plasma gun + lascannon = 85

heavy weapons team + 3 lascannons = 105

platoon 2
platoon command aquad + 4 plasma guns = 90

infantry squad + plasma gun + lascannon = 85

infantry squad + plasma gun + lascannon = 85

3 basilisks = 375

3 medusas + bastion breacher shells = 420

3 medusas = 405

total = 1,995 points

Hows it look?

Hey,

There are a few choices in here that i'm not sold on, and some things I don't think you are taking advantage of.

The CCS have the static MoO, get short-range, expensive Plasma weapons. I would drop all the Plasma and replace with a Lascannon, or Missile Launcher - this much better suites the static nature of the CCS.

The PCS are no place (IMO) for Plasma guns (BS3), especially not on foot; they are much too easy a target and way too many points. Consider replacing with Flamers for counter-assault, or a heavy weapon (LC, AC, ML).

The Infantry squads are OK, although still not sold on the Plasma guns. I would also invest in a Commissar for each Platoon - the squads are too fragile otherwise and will be pretty worthless as a screen for your artillery.

Your Heavy Support choices are OK, and fit the theme nicely, although squadrons of three tanks have large drawbacks, especially when they are as fragile as they are.
To get cover with a squadron of three tanks, at least two need to be in cover, rather than just one in a squad of two. The other issues are overkill and accuracy - if your first shot misses wildly, the others sure aren't going to hit, so the very expensive squads firepower will be wasted.
I notice that all your artillery will actually have to have LOS to shoot (36" min on the Basilisks) - I can see that being a massive disadvantage as they are stupidly fragile tanks.

You also have absolutely no way of getting across the board to objectives (i.e. 2/3rds of the missions) so you will either be trying to table your opponents to win (unlikely) or playing for a draw every time you use this list.

Having said all that, i'd likely go for something like:

CCS, MoO, Missile
Platoon A
Command, 4 Flamers
Infantry Squad, Commissar, Lascannon
Infantry Squad, Lascannon
HWS, Lascannons
Platoon B
Command, 4 Flamers
Infantry Squad, Commissar, Lascannon
Infantry Squad, Lascannon
2 Medusa, Enclosed Crew
2 Medusa, Enclosed Crew
2 Colossus

I haven't got my codex on me, but I reckon that comes to 1530pts... the rest of the points you could invest in some Fast Attack; Hellhounds/Devil Dogs, maybe Marbo or Stormtroopers to pop up and annoy the enemy.
Or you could stay static, invest in another CCS, more HWS with Lascannons and Autocannons.. maybe an Officer of the Fleet to mess with enemy reserves and some counter-assault like Rough Riders for when the enemy get close.

Hope this helps. As your subject suggests, it's just for fun so basically do what you want, but I hope my advice will at least point you in the 'right' direction - as Charlie Sheen would say, WINNING!

I've never played guard before so I guess I've got a lot to learn. I'll have to have a rethink about the units.

Hey,

Be fair to yourself, that's not a bad first Guard list!

You've stayed away (largely) from the biggest pitfall most new Guard players fall into, which is spending 25% + of your points on useless upgrades (like Extra Armour, Camo Netting, Platoon Standards, etc) and have a lot (A LOT) of guns... mostly Plasma but hey, if you find it works for you, go for it.

My advice was more meant to steer you in the direction of a balanced list within the Artillery Company idea you have, that would allow you to have a fair crack at winning against most types of list you'll face.

It's also nice to see a list that isn't 40 meltaguns (although they ARE awesome), but plasma will only get you so far when you're facing a double Land Raider or Monolith list...

Feel free to post here or PM an updated list and i'll gladly take a look.

I put the plasmas in there to help with the armored troops (mainly marines) and put the lascannons in there for the heavier stuff. the medusas with bastion breacher shells will help with heavy armour too (if they hit). I can see your point about the difficulty I would have with capturing objectives though. I might drop a couple of tanks for some vet squads/storm troopers in chimeras for that purpose.

I would switch out the Medusas for practically anything, they are more like tanks than artillery with their direct fire gun and AT shells.

You call this an artillery company? You have no Mortars! Where are the Mortars? WHERE?!

No but srsly bring 9 Basilisks instead of the Medusas; Bassies can Barrage through cover and S9 is just as good as S10 ninety percent of the time.

When I made my artillery company I chose not to use a master of ordnance. The way I saw it my guys were the people that masters of ordnance called for help and would owe the other artillery companies drinks if they called in artillery themselves. Not saying don't use it, but if you don't think you really need another pie plate you shouldn't feel obligated to take one.

ChrisChan wrote:You call this an artillery company? You have no Mortars! Where are the Mortars? WHERE?!

I didn't include any mortars cos mortars aren't artillery. That and the mortars in 40k are rubbish compared to what they can do in real life (I've been in a mortar platoon in the British Army for 5 years now).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

ChrisChan wrote:No but srsly bring 9 Basilisks instead of the Medusas; Bassies can Barrage through cover and S9 is just as good as S10 ninety percent of the time.

I thought about having 9 basilisks but they have a minimum range of 36" and I mainly play on 4'x4' boards (occasionally 6'x4') so they wouldn't be able to fire after the first couple of turns.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Raxmei wrote:When I made my artillery company I chose not to use a master of ordnance. The way I saw it my guys were the people that masters of ordnance called for help and would owe the other artillery companies drinks if they called in artillery themselves. Not saying don't use it, but if you don't think you really need another pie plate you shouldn't feel obligated to take one.

I included him cos I had the points left over & I figured an extra earth shaker round per turn would come in handy.

'I thought about having 9 basilisks but they have a minimum range of 36" and I mainly play on 4'x4' boards (occasionally 6'x4') so they wouldn't be able to fire after the first couple of turns.'



I understand how you feel because I play static guard and 4x4 table is a nightmare for me.

Are you willing to swap out one of the medusa squads for a hydra battery? Gives you some very solid ranged anti-tank/infantry on the cheap and almost 200 pts to play with.
I'd buy a banewolf hellhound and a deepstrike melta-stormtrooper squad, but heaps of great codex options for 200pts.

edbradders wrote:

I thought about having 9 basilisks but they have a minimum range of 36" and I mainly play on 4'x4' boards (occasionally 6'x4') so they wouldn't be able to fire after the first couple of turns.

Bassie's min range isnt much of a problem if you direct fire them

Btw your current anti-tank is awful, so i'd def go with the hydra battery

kenshin620 wrote:Bassie's min range isnt much of a problem if you direct fire them

Where are the rules for direct firing a basilisk? All I can find in the codex is range 36"-240"

Might be under brb barrage rules..

Honestly the colossus is really good for weedi g out those annoying power armor in cover.

Oh yeah, I see, the minimum range of ordnance weapons is ignored if direct firing.