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What is the cheapest ($), but still usable 500pt IG army I can make? I'd prefer if the units would be things I'd still use when I expand the army later. Thanks in advance for any advice.

welcome to the forms

i would start with the battle box, the ruel book, and the ig rule book witch is 250 :L but at least you have somewhere to start, i would also recomend cheaking ebay and other things

The best 500pts list I've used is:

CCS Melta x2 Plasma
Vets Melta x3
Vets Melta x3
Demolisher
ADL

Scaling up to 600pts is easy too, just add 3 chimerae, lose hte ADL and swap out the CCS weapons for flamers. This will also form a great basis for any IG army you use. All the units, weapons and the tank are useful at any points level.

Alternatively:
CCS
Vets GL
Vets GL
LRBT
LRBT

People will hate you for bringing 2 AV:14 at 500pts, but you'll never want to use the LRBTs or GLs once you get to higher levels. Pretty much every other Russ or every other special weapon is better.

ig is no where near being a chepa army, they are spam army


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Griddlelol wrote:
The best 500pts list I've used is:

CCS Melta x2 Plasma
Vets Melta x3
Vets Melta x3
Demolisher
ADL

Scaling up to 600pts is easy too, just add 3 chimerae, lose hte ADL and swap out the CCS weapons for flamers.

this army lone
the ccs is 33
23 for the 2 10 man vets
50 for the tank
50 i think for the adl

 jbsnv wrote:
ig is no where near being a chepa army, they are spam army

Sorry I have no idea of the USD pricing. I am inclined to agree though, IG is probably the most expensive army, with the possible exception of Tyranids.

And orks

1 Primaris Psker (because he is individual and can attach)
2 x 10 man veterans with 3 plasma guns each
2 x Valkyries/Vendettas
1 x 25 man platoon of infantry.

25 man to deploy.
2 Valkyries/Vendettas carrying 2 x 10 man units.

If you don't like the psyker, you could go a lord commissar or a standard 5-man company HQ.

and daemons and chaos and tau and... every army in warhammr is redicoulsy expensive

Thanks for the advice I'll read over it a few times and compare and see what I think I can afford.

Make sure you read over the codex a few times. Also decide what play style you want: Mech, Foot Guard, Air Cav or a Mix(cant remember what its called but not exactly the best) From what Im seeing a lot of right now Guard is an average army, a lot of posts have suggested mech is dead and foot guard isnt very effective at getting objectives, and Im not familiar with air cav lol.

But deffinitly see what you want to play and stick too it, read over the codex for sure. I thought the LRBT was the coolest unit, then found out you couldnt really have an effective army with them(I dont have the option for FW to buy their expensive books for the ABG) Then gw decided to kill the LRBT and now I spent a lotta money on units that just arent that great.

Mech is probably the cheapest to get into to start off with and will probably be your cheapest route in general. I would suggest it.

All the hate on the LRBT I don't understand I use it at any point level, 150 for av14 str 8 ap3 large blast? What's not to like? It can kill anything you point it at besides terminators and that's why you have a bubble wrap of guardsmen around it with plasma guns.

 iheartlargeblasttemplates wrote:
All the hate on the LRBT I don't understand I use it at any point level, 150 for av14 str 8 ap3 large blast? What's not to like? It can kill anything you point it at besides terminators and that's why you have a bubble wrap of guardsmen around it with plasma guns.

Oh I absolutely love them! but now its a waste to put sponsons or different hull weapons on. (I had to rebuild turrets to 2 of my tanks because I really didnt want to have units sitting on the shelves. Also other variants have more effective and accurate fire power. The blast has the potential to scatter and not even wound a model for a turn or even multiple turns.

 iheartlargeblasttemplates wrote:
str 8 ap3

That's what's not to like. It's a mediocre, all rounder which excels at nothing. For 15pts extra you can get str:10 ap:2 which is drastically superior. For 15pts less you can get the same but on a more fragile frame and 36" range.

The issue with the LRBT is that it's mediocre at everything, except one thing: killing MEQ with no cover. There's a million things in the codex that can do that and other things. People spam the gak out of plasma vets which cover the anti-MEQ perfectly, why would you bring a tank that does it too?

So was the Leman Russ good in 5th, but not so much in 6th or is it just a different loadout you should use in 6th?

The LRBT was better in 5th because of the Lumbering Behemoth rule. You could fire the sponsons and the hull weapon and the ordnance blast with no problems. Now the ordnance means you can only snap shoot the rest (or in the case of plasma cannons not shoot at all) making the whole russ being JUST about the main cannon...which is a bit gak really.

Ahhh gotcha, I didn't realize.

Battleforce + Command Squad + Marbo should give you about 500 points, then you can expand from there.

Yea LRBT was better in 5th, I loved the anti meq loudout of battle cannon and plasma sponsons! sadly doesnt work now.

IG is still a upper tier Codex. Vendettas and superior firepower are the strengths of the book (lots of special weapons, heavy weapons, and artillery). Mech isn't as dead as the interwebz claimed at first, but it has become more of a 'overwhelm' aspect then to have 1 or two vehicles. To be honest, they are only important to get your troops across the board mostly intact. I am not saying this is not important, but any vehicle could do this... but all we have to choose from is the Chimera and it is $35+ a pop.

I think for 500pts you could do gunline...

CCS - 120pts
LC, Standard, Plasma, Camo-Cloaks

Vets - 165pts
LC, 3x Plasma, Forward Sentries

Vets - 165pts
LC, 3x Plasma, Forward Sentries

ADL - 50pts
(no gun)
500pts

Real money... CCS ($25+), HWS ($40+), 2x "Vets" ($30+ a box, two boxes for $60+), 2x Plasma guns ($10+ a pack, two packs for $20+), and a Aegis Defence Line ($30+). This is a total of $175.00, but a lot of game stores can give you a discount up to 20% off. If you want to shop bits, places like this (Warstore) can be good options. Obviously this isn't taking into account for the Codex and the Base Rule Book costs, if you need those as well.

Thanks for all the advice, I may start with vets and the ccs; then later I could drop them out of vendettas if I decide to keep building IG,

either go all the same special weapins or mix. if you have all flamers for example while great against one foe is really gak against another. GL/ML are my IG SP/HW of choice, many will argue not the best, sure, they are not the best. but they are the best in tactical flexibility. LRBT are good and regardless which path you choose atleast one is mandatory

 Orkimedes1000 wrote:
GL/ML are my IG SP/HW of choice, many will argue not the best, sure, they are not the best. but they are the best in tactical flexibility

Wrong. MLs are over priced fvor IG (seriously 20pts for that crap?) I really can't be bothered to go over why GLs are bad, but when you look at the stats compared to a melta/plasma you will realise. You don't want all round choices for guard. We're an army full of cheap choices. Specialisation and redundancy is key. All-round is for expensive marines, who can only afford a couple of squads.

LRBT are good and regardless which path you choose atleast one is mandatory

Also wrong. LRBTs are poor as already mentioned. They are also not even close to mandatory - artillery have cheaper, stronger fire-power. It depends how you play on which one you choose.

Don't give people terrible advice without clarifying why your advice is bad, and that you're just happy to take useless upgrades: they actually spend money on this stuff.

I will agree with Griddlelol when it comes to LRBTs.

I like seeing the models on the table and I own four painted tanks but you won't see me putting one in a list for a competitive game. I would rather spend the points on troops and Vendettas.

Don't forget that IG can take allies from all of the loyalists space marine codices. My preference is Space Wolves.

You have to consider how your list will deny victory points for Linebreaker, First Blood, and Slay the Warlord while gaining those same VPs for yourself.

Also keep in mind that the basic Cadian IG box includes a sentinel, which is not of much use in most IG lists (sadly, since I have two nice scout sentinels).

A lot will depend on what your opponents like to use in their lists. Do you know much about your adversaries' armies?

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, the model is cool, I'd just take a Vanquisher or Demolisher over the vanilla Russ any day.

On the subject of allies, even CSM make great allies (I mention such because of your picture). Taking Nurgle Lord with a couple of small Plague Marines as troops really adds something that IG needs: resilient scoring units. Of course a Heldrake is nothing to turn your nose up at either...

 Griddlelol wrote:

 Orkimedes1000 wrote:
GL/ML are my IG SP/HW of choice, many will argue not the best, sure, they are not the best. but they are the best in tactical flexibility

Wrong. MLs are over priced fvor IG (seriously 20pts for that crap?) I really can't be bothered to go over why GLs are bad, but when you look at the stats compared to a melta/plasma you will realise. You don't want all round choices for guard. We're an army full of cheap choices. Specialisation and redundancy is key. All-round is for expensive marines, who can only afford a couple of squads.

Wrong, MLs are 15pts. They still suck IMO because they have a Str 8 krak and you can't penetrate AV 14 with Str 8. On average your scattering with the Frag because of your BS 3 and missing by 4" your target completely. Even if you do hit your on average only killing 1 fig. Due to that, I would rather take a AC for infantry and AV 12 or less and LCs for AV 12+.

 Griddlelol wrote:

 Orkimedes1000 wrote:
LRBT are good and regardless which path you choose atleast one is mandatory

Also wrong. LRBTs are poor as already mentioned. They are also not even close to mandatory - artillery have cheaper, stronger fire-power. It depends how you play on which one you choose.

I agree, you do not need LRBTs. Sad fact is, the closest thing you need for Guard is Vendettas. You can win without them, but it is a lot harder now that Flyers are made into such an important aspect of the game because AA is rare. GW could have easily said all Missile Launchers are given Flak, Krak, and Frag missiles as part of their cost, but the new Chaos Space Marine codex has shown the trend that no, MLs do not have Flak unless it is listed and at a further point expenditure. Which is lame because free Flak missiles, as crappy as they made it (Str 7 means you only Pen AV 12 on a 6), would have really made MLs viable and the true 'Jack of all Trades, Masters of none'. GW really dropped the ball there IMO.

If you do not run Vendettas, you need a ADL. If your foot Guard, you need a ADL. If your mech Guard, you need Chimeras. Both list will need plasma and melta and will probably need two Vendettas.

 Griddlelol wrote:
Don't give people terrible advice without clarifying why your advice is bad, and that you're just happy to take useless upgrades: they actually spend money on this stuff.

It is his opinion, right or wrong. I can see GL+ML working with the hope of hitting and then forcing the opponent to fail armor saves. But it is to unreliable (Your using the scatter dice to hit, so 33% chance) and weak (Str 4 and 3 Frag respectively, Str 8 and 6 for Krak, bad AP for all) to be consistent for the points I am spending IMO. For those 20pts, I could have a AC and Melta gun. Right now, Guard GLs and MLs are also cheap, they are practically giving them away at bits stores, Sadly, GLs and Flamers are the only thing you get in a box of troops (dirty GW, dirty...). If Ol'Dirty wants to try them, Magnets are his friend... get a drill set and some rare earth magnets and it will not matter. Can even get a extra box of 10 guys just to give them special weapons. In friendly games, you can also do 'counts as'. If he wants to do a tourney or he is neurotic enough, he should get those packs of special weapons/CCS boxes (which are also great for PCSs) to give him what he needs.

 Griddlelol wrote:

 iheartlargeblasttemplates wrote:
str 8 ap3

That's what's not to like. It's a mediocre, all rounder which excels at nothing. For 15pts extra you can get str:10 ap:2 which is drastically superior. For 15pts less you can get the same but on a more fragile frame and 36" range. ?

And for 10 more points you can get an average of two str 10 AP 4 pie plates, that you can easily slide out of LoS and wreck havoc