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Now before we proceed, I must say this: You will see some... odd units in this list. I don't want to see any OMG DAT UNIT SUCK LOL stuff. I took it because I want to.

Anyway, I'd like some help both identifying weaknesses in the list and what I could take to alleviate this.

Thank you for your time. Here are the goods:

HQ:
Company Command Squad: 240 pts
CO has Plasma Pistol and Melta Bombs. Vox, 2x Plasma Gun. Squad has Carapace Armour and Krak Grenades. Chimera APC with Pintle mounted Heavy Stubber, Dozer Blade, Hunter Killer Missile and Extra Armour

Elites:

Kasrkin Squad: 148 pts
8 Kasrkin. Grenade Launcher and Melta Gun.

Kasrkin Squad: 153 pts
8 Kasrkin. Plasma Gun and Flamer

Troops:

Veteran Squad: 210 pts
Sgt has a Plasma Pistol. Vox, 2x Grenade Launchers and Plasma Gun. Grenadiers. Chimera with Extra Armour.

Veteran Squad: 210 pts
Sgt has a Plasma Pistol. Vox, 2x Grenade Launchers and Plasma Gun. Grenadiers. Chimera with Extra Armour.

Veteran Squad: 215
Sgt has a Plasma Pistol. Vox. 3x Melta gun. Grenadiers. Chimera with Extra Armour.

Heavy Support:

Leman Russ Vanquisher: 170 pts
Lascannon

Leman Russ Vanquisher: 170 pts
Lascannon

Total: 1,501 pts

Erm, ok I'll Take the bait...
Definitely don't mix the special weapons in a squad, you have one squad with a melta gun and a grenade launcher, two very different purpose guns. Give the squad multiples of the same special weapon. Also I'd drop allot of the extras from the CCS It looks like you going for a storm trooper style army, are you going to be using the kasarkin models for all your troops?

No, though I would like to. Incidentally, if I drop the not-so-special weapons in favour of the Melta and plasma, should I give one 2x Melta and the other 2x Plasma?

Also what should I drop on the CCS?

Karskin work as deep strike melta crews reasonably well. Then could have your vets working as plasma buses.

For 1500 points there isn't a huge number of units and I think thats mostly due to how many upgrades each unit has. If you trimmed them all down you could probably squeeze in another vets unit or LR if you feel like it.

I'd probably loose carapace armour and grenadiers on everyone since they're already in chimeras and whilst 4+ is nice, and 10pt vet is expensive. That alone gives you 140pts spare. Then you could loose the hunter killer, pintle stubber, and grenades on the CCS giving you about 30pts more.

Then with 170pts more, you could field another vets squad or vanq. If points are still a bit scarce, you could loose the voxes. They're nice insurance but you can only issue orders to units not embarked. So unless the vets get out of the chimera, they cant receive orders. (But the CCS can give orders from a chimera)

While I know you're not aiming to be competitive, I will just help trim the fat, without altering the composition.

First off GLs are a piss poor excuse for a weapon. Not worth it, ever. Spend the points and make them either melta or plasma. Keep the same weapon types, even in the Storm Troopers. It's of vital importance to specialise, or you'll be wasting points each time you shoot.

The Voxes are utterly pointless in a mech list, considering you can receive orders inside a chimera. You'd be better off losing the entire network.

I'm not a fan of Grenadiers. It's not a massive survival boost, for what is almost 50% the cost of another squad. It's even less important when they're in chimerae. However, I feel it's part of a theme so you probably won't change that!

Extra armor: not worth it. Points can be trimmed here. Generally the chimerae will die from HP loss, and you'll never even reap the (very limited) benefit of the extra armour.

Hunter Killer missiles are pretty poor for guard. 50% chance to hit with a 1 shot weapon is pointless. I'd lose the stubber too...

With the points left over, upgrades I can see would be incredibly helpful MM sponsons and/or Pask on the Vanquishers. It'll make their killing power better and more accurate.

You're also over 1500pts...might want to make sure you're always under. Even if your local area says "a little over is ok" the line starts to move. It's much better just to stick to under the points limit.

 The Crusader wrote:
Total: 1,501 pts

Not a legal list.

Chimeras.

Too many points spent on upgrades. Chimeras should never have any of the optional upgrades, they all just waste points without giving you anything useful. Extra armor is expensive and pointless on a tank whose main purpose is to be a mobile bunker (reducing stunned to shaken still limits you to snap fire with the troops inside), and the CCS Chimera is just overloaded with marginal upgrades.

Company Command Squad: 240 pts

Too many points. The vox doesn't help mech lists (you can't give orders very often when everyone is in a transport), carapace armor is too many points compared to just buying more units, and the grenades don't really do very much.

8 Kasrkin. Grenade Launcher and Melta Gun.
8 Kasrkin. Plasma Gun and Flamer

As said previously, unify your special weapons. 2x melta on each squad is ideal.

Veteran Squad:

Unify your special weapons, and grenade launchers are worthless (too little strength to hurt anything tough, too few shots to do meaningful damage to hordes). Veteran squads get 3x melta or 3x plasma. And drop the vox, you can't use it from inside a Chimera. Finally, grenadiers is rarely useful. You're depending on the Chimera to keep you alive, once it is destroyed the squad is probably going to die immediately whether or not you have a 4+ armor save.

As for plasma pistols, IMO either take two of them or none at all. One is just that awkward middle ground between cheap and powerful.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
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Once you make these cuts you'll have about 200-250 points left, depending on exact weapon choices, which gives you an entire unit, or even two if you take cheap ones. Right now the things you're lacking are anti-horde and AA. So, options to consider (and you might be able to take more than one):

Remove the CCS Chimera and put them in a Vendetta for AA that can also kill tanks.

Remove a veteran squad Chimera and put them in a Vendetta for AA that can also kill tanks and claim objectives.

Add a Manticore for anti-horde.

Add a LR Demolisher for a third AV 14 tank that kills pretty much everything.

Add a Vulture with punisher cannons for awesome anti-horde and anti-vehicle (when you get into rear armor).

Griddlelol hit the nail on the head. 'Tis a Grenadiers Army hence the Grenadiers doctrine. Here is the revised version:

HQ:
Company Command Squad: 177 pts
CO has Bolt Pistol and Melta Bombs. 3x Plasma Gun. Squad has Carapace Armour. Chimera APC

Elites:

Kasrkin Squad: 169 pts
9 Kasrkin. 2x Melta Gun.

Kasrkin Squad: 163 pts
8 Kasrkin. 2x Plasma Gun

Troops:

Veteran Squad: 202 pts
Sgt has Bolt Pistol. 3x Plasma Gun. Grenadiers. Chimera.

Veteran Squad: 202 pts
Sgt has Bolt Pistol. 3x Plasma Gun. Grenadiers. Chimera.

Veteran Squad: 187 pts
Sgt has Bolt Pistol. 3x Melta gun. Grenadiers. Chimera.

Heavy Support:

Leman Russ Vanquisher: 200 pts
Lascannon, Multi Melta Sponsons

Leman Russ Vanquisher: 200 pts
Lascannon, Multi Melta Sponsons

Total: 1,500 pts

Everyone has BP because it is a pain in the arse to find 8 points to spend.

Seems much better mate, also does anyone have much success with the vanquishers? 2 Vanquisher cannon shots at bs 3 doesnt really say much too me for 400 points...

It looks better, but your anti-horde is reliant entirely on chimerae heavy flamers.
If you didn't mind changing your list...
Slap Pask in one of the Vanquishers. It's more powerful and more accurate.
Ditch the other vanquisher, the bolt pistols and the meltabombs and take a Manticore. It'll still provide some HP stripping power, but you also get to damage hordes.

Here is my bit of advice, going off of your second list.

I like it, but you don't need more than 5 Stormtroopers to do what you want them to do. Drop both squads down to 5. Use the points to get s 3rd squad of 5 if you like the models (I suggest Meltas for a 105pt squad). If you do not want to get a 3rd squad, throw Pask on a Vanq and get Marbro.

Either way your saving 112pts, then you can take those bolt pistols (8pts) and Melta bomb and your sitting on 125pts by losing...7 AP 3 Str 3 lasgun shots. Your 5pts away from a Vendetta... which you can get if you turn your CCS from 3 Plasma guns to 4 Melta guns... and your no longer wasting a special weapon slot to boot.

I have had some success with Vanquishers. Even with all the hate, they're not something to be sniffed at.

Instead of getting the Manticore, would it be worth getting either a Squad And the Extra bodies in the Kasrkin Squads. Instead of the Manticore, would it be worth a Hydra Flak Tank for Anti-Flyer Because if it were, I could get another Veteran Squad.

 The Crusader wrote:
I have had some success with Vanquishers. Even with all the hate, they're not something to be sniffed at.

Oh I agree, Vanquishers are decent, just Pask turns a Vanquisher into a tank killing God. AV:14 becomes a joke, and MCs cower in fear of the Paskquisher.

Instead of getting the Manticore, would it be worth getting either a Squad And the Extra bodies in the Kasrkin Squads.

Doesn't really aid in the problem against hordes.

Instead of the Manticore, would it be worth a Hydra Flak Tank for Anti-Flyer Because if it were, I could get another Veteran Squad.

Eh, a single Hydra is worthless, without interceptor it's pretty useless unless you take a squad of three, but even then there are better options.

I think you're going to have trouble taking on anything that can bring lots of models. Foot IG, Nids and Green tide. You can only really chip away at them while they move towards you, and as I see it, are basically your hard-counter. I think you need something to handle them. Whether that's a Manticore (although your resistance suggests you don't want to pay for a new model which I understand) or Griffins or something I've not considered...

What role are you using your Kasrkin for? If you wanted to stick with the theme, you could change things around:

Kasrkin: 5, melta x2 (suicide squad) -Optional considering that you have 2 vanquishers. Maybe even put flamers on them for surgical templates. Their deepstrike is much safer with a smaller foot print.
2(Kasrkin: 10 flamer x2) - this gives you strength against a lot of unit types, and ignores cover which is incredibly important in this edition.

That's filling your elites section, but gives you some good anti-horde, and flamers aren't terrible against MEQ. They're actually similar in strength to the hot-shot lasguns as long as you make 2+ hits, which isn't difficult.
You do lose the MC killing power that the plasma guns gave, but you have 2 Vanquishers (I still think you should add Pask to one!) to handle those, and you have 6 plasma guns on your troops.
3 squads deep striking into your opponent's back field can be pretty devastating. They require attention with all their weapons, and can be used as denial units if worst comes to worst.

Note: I'm trying to stick with your theme, these are not highly competitive choices so other people don't need to comment on that.

My desired role for the Kasrkin is as a Head-hunter type unit targeting things like LF, Devastators, Warlords and the like.

I was thinking about taking a Veteran Squad with Shotguns and flamers as a counter assault unit, just to try and buy some time. Could that also work as Anti-horde?

Reference the Kasrkin suicide unit, I could replace the Melta's with Flamers as another Anti-Horde unit, could that work

Sounds like fun, however..... NEEDS MORE BASILISKS!!!!! You can never have too much heavy artillery

 The Crusader wrote:
My desired role for the Kasrkin is as a Head-hunter type unit targeting things like LF, Devastators, Warlords and the like.

I thought so. Still, with flamers you can dual role them. They may not be particularly effective (storm troopers are rarely effective), but 14 hellgun shots, 1 grenade and 2 templates will displace most units of MEQ or GEQ.

I was thinking about taking a Veteran Squad with Shotguns and flamers as a counter assault unit, just to try and buy some time. Could that also work as Anti-horde?

In short: no. How do they get there? A vendetta would sort that problem, but a vendetta fixes every problem. If your opponent is cowering with some gants behind cover, or has GEQ shooting from behind and aegis, the chimera with flamers in it will be priority #1.

Reference the Kasrkin suicide unit, I could replace the Melta's with Flamers as another Anti-Horde unit, could that work

Less well, less hellgun shots means less effectiveness against hordes.

If your wanting the Meq killing ap3 shots why not just deep strike in a large squad with no special weapons, rapid fire -> profit

 jamessearle0 wrote:
If your wanting the Meq killing ap3 shots why not just deep strike in a large squad with no special weapons, rapid fire -> profit

False. Hellguns are terrible at killing MEQ. Bolters are just as effective. The plasma guns, with a dual plasma pistol sergeant are the best for MEQ assassination.

Should I keep the Melta's in the Kasrkin squad or exchange them for Flamers? That way I can get another Kasrkin? because otherwise, all the Sgts and the CO get BP's.

 Griddlelol wrote:

 jamessearle0 wrote:
If your wanting the Meq killing ap3 shots why not just deep strike in a large squad with no special weapons, rapid fire -> profit

False. Hellguns are terrible at killing MEQ. Bolters are just as effective. The plasma guns, with a dual plasma pistol sergeant are the best for MEQ assassination.

Wow? Really? That doesn't make sense to me

 jamessearle0 wrote:
Wow? Really? That doesn't make sense to me

That's because it's not true. Bolters have a 50% chance to wound and a 33% chance to get through armor (total 0.16666 wounds per hit), hellguns have a 33% to wound and a 100% chance to get through armor (0.333 per hit) or a 66% chance to get through cover (0.2222 per hit). Range is a factor in that bolters can shoot once at 24" and twice at 12" instead of once at 18" and twice at 9", but purely by the numbers bolters are not better.

Of course that's not to say that hellguns are good at killing MEQs, especially once you consider their high point cost. You still want 5-man squads with their two melta/plasma guns doing the majority of the killing.