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Currently I'm running a 500pt IG mech army, 3 chimeras with vets and CCS.

I'm looking forward to expanding to a 1000pt army. Throw in some more chimeras or LRBT, maybe a blob,

To mix things up, I would like to at times switch out some units with an allied army, as along as it isn't chaos/DE/Daemons/SOB/Necron. (fluff reasons)

Any advice on which units from other armies would be useful to a mech army? I was thinking something with some melee capability, or versatility, to help cover some of my guards weaknesses.

Pardon my vagueness.

You could try using BT as they are awesome for close combat and you can get them proper cheap and their terminators get land raiders as transports as well so you get the best armored vehicle in the game without losing a heavy support slot. Also you could use BA as they are pretty similar as they have assault marines as troops so you can get plenty of close combat attacks.

Vanilla Marines, maybe.
Scouts to help holding your objective.
Sternguard in a drop pod,to take whatever combi-weapons you need.
Librarian, with whatever powers help your army (GoI or Null Zone?).

Vanilla Marines bring nothing you can't do with guards, except for the libie.
Most people agree that the best MEQ ally for IG are Space Wolves with rune priests.

 mayfist wrote:
Vanilla Marines bring nothing you can't do with guards, except for the libie.
Most people agree that the best MEQ ally for IG are Space Wolves with rune priests.

The SW are probably better than C:SM.
But surely the C:SM are better at being IG than IG are? Better stat-line, better armour, and auto-on special rules (ATSKNF, etc).
If the OP is after a more in-your-face ally, SM have lots of it.

I was mainly suggesting C:SM as an ally to allow for various load-outs later on.
Yes, BA are better at cc, BT probably are, too. But, vanilla have more choice.

 Skinnereal wrote:

 mayfist wrote:
Vanilla Marines bring nothing you can't do with guards, except for the libie.
Most people agree that the best MEQ ally for IG are Space Wolves with rune priests.

The SW are probably better than C:SM.
But surely the C:SM are better at being IG than IG are? Better stat-line, better armour, and auto-on special rules (ATSKNF, etc).
If the OP is after a more in-your-face ally, SM have lots of it.

I was mainly suggesting C:SM as an ally to allow for various load-outs later on.
Yes, BA are better at cc, BT probably are, too. But, vanilla have more choice.

Holding objectives ?
Scouts with camo are good, but a platoon gone to ground is better and cheaper.
Sternguard metla DS? Stormies do it better for cheaper.

The only real weakness the IG has is lack of decent psychers, and rune priests are perfect to fill the void.
On top of that Grey hunters are one of the best troop choices in the game, are cheaper then vanilla marines and have better stats ( extra attack and counter assault )

I'm not saying Vanilla is bad, but wolves are way more in-your-face.

Space wolves or Dark Angels.

When the new DA codex comes out I'd be surprised if they weren't the new "go to" allies for everyone. Currently SW are amazing with a 100pt Rune Priest.

However, I don't find mech works well with allies. With a blob SW are great, but when everything is nicely tucked away in chimerae just adding more fire-power would be more helpful. Think about some artillery or Russes before you start getting allies.

 Griddlelol wrote:
Space wolves or Dark Angels.

When the new DA codex comes out I'd be surprised if they weren't the new "go to" allies for everyone. Currently SW are amazing with a 100pt Rune Priest.

However, I don't find mech works well with allies. With a blob SW are great, but when everything is nicely tucked away in chimerae just adding more fire-power would be more helpful. Think about some artillery or Russes before you start getting allies.

I have to agree with him here.
IG is an exelent codex, and before getting allies try and build your main force with guard elements. Once thats done try messing around with allies.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll take all this into consideration.

As a note, Codex Marines DO offer something to an IG army that SW don't, mainly fast scoring units (Scoring Bikes) and the utility powers on Codex Librarians. The big three are Null Zone, Dome, and Gate. Null Zone forces opponents to re-roll successful Invulerable saves, which is useful on low AP weapons and against certain armies (mainly Daemons), Dome can give a blob a 5++ save, which while not amazing is better than the paper armor they have (and if your Guard blob takes 1/3 fewer casualties, it can mean the difference between taking a morale check), and gate allows you to play around with redeployment shenanigans. I'm not saying that it is better than a Rune Priest (Divination is probably tied with Biomancy for the most powerful school), but it is something to consider.