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Basically, as a poor college student I want to make sure I'm not wasting money here! The goal is the be semi competitive, but doesn't need to be ultra super optimized. Mostly for cost reasons.

CCS w/ Lascannon, Regimental Standard

PCS w/ Lascannon
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun

PCS w/ Lascannon
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon

Veteran w/ x3 Meltagun
Veteran w/ x3 Meltagun

Vendetta
Vendetta
Vulture w/ Punisher Cannon

Executioner w/ Lascannon, Plasma Cannon Sponsons
Manticore
Manticore

Aegis Defense Line w/ Comm Relay

Manticores and Vulture covers hordes, MEQs if necessary
Lots of Plasma for MEQ/TEQ
16 Lascannons with 6 being twin linked and 6 meltaguns have my anti tank covered. Once those are out of the way that's even more MEQ/TEQ killing power

I like it.

Just a few notes:

Those blobs need commissars or they will run away. Or lose a combat horribly and then run away. The standard only does so much. (oh and they give LD9 for the orders too)

PCS lascannon are inefficient due to their BS3. keep them cheap or consider 4xflamers on each to give a nasty welcome to any closing enemy units.

I assume the veterans are in the vendettas? (if they aren't they should be). If so, then that is excellent and very efficient anti-tank, and late game, flexible scoring.

Vulture I don't know anything about, but I've heard they're good.

Why the lascannon on the executioner? It seems pointless, just keep the normal heavy bolter and save the points. More plasma is good though.

Manticores are amazing. Make sure you put them somewhere in a corner as much out of line of sight as possible.

Aegis is good for a foot list, and comms are nice for your fliers.

I think it's pretty good, yes.

Hope this is useful.

I was planning on running them as all separate 10 man squads, thus no commissars. I like the idea of being able to divide my guns more exactly to where I want them. Although, I may have to consider blobs+commissars.

I agree with you on the PCS, but with x4 flamers, they just seem like an obvious target to me. I'd have to try both and see what I like.

The Lascannon on the Russ is for more AP 2 goodness. I see what you're saying though. If I add commissars this will be something I'd drop

And obviously, the Veterans are in the Vendettas :p

As for the Vulture, it's literally a flying Leman Russ Punisher for 45 less points. I'd definitely say it's good.

Some nice ideas to consider, thanks.

Separate squads is interesting, but not great.

It makes it much easier for opponents to eliminate them, and makes it harder for you to hold objectives. And also reduces the effectiveness of your orders too, whilst blobs would increase their durability and make the orders better. (makes remembering whats in what squad much easier too. I'd shudder if I had to remember 7 identical squads).

Yes the PCS with flamers can be an easy target. You can mitigate this by hiding them as much as possible for the first few turns (5 guys is easy to hide) and/or putting them in area terrain where they can go to ground for a 3+ cover save if necessary.

You don't need more AP2 on something that already has 5 plasma cannon, you really don't.

Well then yes, the vets, vendettas, and vulture are great.


I personally have been playing a lot of foot guard recently, and always run blobs, so I guess that's why I prefer them to split squads.

If you want to split up your infantry squads (which I wouldn't recommend) make sure you have enough orders to cover them all.

Other than the Lascannon on the Executioner, what else could I drop for a couple Commissars?

Also, what's a good number of Guardsmen to have in blob?

If running a blob I find 30 is the least amount you want to have in it, but like the others say, you will need some commissars in there. My blob lists always have 2 and usually a Lord Commissar for the HQ as well. Don’t think I have had anything run off the board on me yet with that set up.

Plus make sure if you are playing at FLGS, and not just with friends, they allow FW or else your Vulture will be sitting on your shelf more than playing on a table.

I'd put together some heavy weapons teams as your LasCannon sink. It gives you a seperate scoring (troop) unit that your CCS can issue orders too (like "bring it down" to get twin-linked shots). Lets you do all sorts of shenanigans...the Lascannons crack open a nearby transport, then your 2nd order goes to the Blob Squad as "first rank second rank" letting you shoot up the troops that just piled out of the transport.
Dump a squad or 2 and now you have the points for a Primaris Psyker...he casts Prescience so now you are rerolling all those misses. You can also hide the Psyker (warlord) in a blob so he can't be easilly picked off (giving your opponent a cheap point for killing the Warlord).

Veterans: Got to put them in Chimeras or they will get killed long before they get in melta range of anything.
Also the missions in the game usually involve leaving your deployment zone and holding an objective. You need mobile scoring units that can then survive a turn or 2.
Manticores are good for tank killing, but you have a ton of las cannons for that (not to mention a Punisher on most rear/side armor will kill things pretty quick too). Consider a Colossus (S6 AP3 no cover). This kills MEQ rather nicely.
The Medusa is also nice since its S10 AP2 insta-kills most multi-wound models and can still punk a tank PDQ.
More of this depends on the army meta in your area. If i knew i was facing this list, I would bring 1 Vendetta (to kill your Manticores) and outflank 2 Hellhounds. With that many unprotected dudes I could move on, torch a dozen plus models, and watch you break and run away.

Regardless, this makes a good starter army since your getting lots of dudes built and painted right away. You can easily take the big blob and create another vet Squad with 3 plasma

One final advice...your Heavy Guns. You may want Bolters or Autocannons later...expensive. This is how i made swappable weapons for my HWTs:
My heavy weapons. Autocannons in this case. The trick here is swappable weapons. Rather than using the tripod I took a 3/8" styrene tube (Evergreen at most hobby stores) cut 1/4" long. Cap off the end with a bit of card. Let dry completely!!! Now, place a small rare earth magnet on the center of the 60mm base. Glue the capped section of tube over the magnet (I place another magnet on the top of the tube to pull the covered one away from the glue). Add whatever scenery bits you desire to the base. Once dry, prime, add the gunners, paint, and flock.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gImPqqIWDcc/S2JSPz7rUTI/AAAAAAAAADU/R5AkaSFZ-CM/s1600-h/Hvy+Wpn+exploded.JPG

Now the gun. Cut the small nub off the bottom that attaches the gun to the tripod. imbed a small rare earth magnet in green stuff and mold it to the base where the nub was. Prime and paint. Now all you need to do is set the gun on top of the tube with the lose magnet trapped inside. The magnetic force will clamp the gun right onto the top of the tube.
If you want Lascannons or bolters you need only swap the gun out rather than buying and building an entire new model.

dkellyj wrote:
I'd put together some heavy weapons teams as your LasCannon sink. It gives you a seperate scoring (troop) unit that your CCS can issue orders too (like "bring it down" to get twin-linked shots). Lets you do all sorts of shenanigans...the Lascannons crack open a nearby transport, then your 2nd order goes to the Blob Squad as "first rank second rank" letting you shoot up the troops that just piled out of the transport.

Ld 7 makes this tough, get a standard if you do.

Dump a squad or 2 and now you have the points for a Primaris Psyker...he casts Prescience so now you are rerolling all those misses. You can also hide the Psyker (warlord) in a blob so he can't be easilly picked off (giving your opponent a cheap point for killing the Warlord).

You don't have access to divination, take a space wolf RP if you really want this. Biomancy however can be interesting, especially lasguns+enfeeble.

Switched out the lascannons on the PCS' and Executioner, and one Plasma Gun, to fit in 2 Commissars. How's this look?

CCS w/ Lascannon, Regimental Standard

PCS
Commissar (x4 blobbed squads)
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun

PCS
Commissar
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon (x3 blobbed squads)
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon

Veteran w/ x3 Meltagun
Veteran w/ x3 Meltagun

Vendetta
Vendetta
Vulture w/ Punisher Cannon

Executioner w/ Heavy Bolter, Plasma Cannon Sponsons
Manticore
Manticore

Aegis Defense Line w/ Comm Relay


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My only issue with Commissars is they seem really vulnerable to Precise Shot. Is this really much of an issue?

Seems like a solid list!

Over the last week I've played 10 games with my guard, learned some interesting things:

•ALWAYS take vox casters!
•Vet squads in chimeras tend to do better than blobs.
•Some autocannons are often more flexible and overall useful than lascannons, and also cheaper.
•Biomancy on Primaris Psykers works wonders, especially with endurance + blobs.
•Griffons are better than they look.

But the list seems solid, especially with those flyers!

As it was said above the Lascannons in BS 3 units are a waste of the weapon ,I would recommend the use the of Auto-cannons it has a better chance of hitting because they shot more , and can hurt AV11 easily . If you relay want Lascannons put then on the Veterans since that way the will be more reliable , a easy kill is to infiltrate the veterans and set them up in a ruins with the Forward Sentries (for the camo cloak) and have them hit the side of the vehicles or take down some characters.

I would drop the standard and give the CCS a vox, and stick one vox in each of the blobs as well to ensure the orders go off. The standard would work better if you were running HWS in my experience.

Would also like to say that possibly consider a valkyrie as opposed to the vulture!

The punisher cannon will only be getting 10 hits a turn, whereas for 140pts a Valkyrie with Multiple Rocket Pods and Heavy Bolters will be getting: 1 or 2 S6 hits from the multilaser, 3 S5 hits from the heavy bolter as well as the two large blasts from the pods, which in total will almost always give you more hits against infantry, and Orks won't get a save either!

Tactical_Genius wrote:
Would also like to say that possibly consider a valkyrie as opposed to the vulture!

The punisher cannon will only be getting 10 hits a turn, whereas for 140pts a Valkyrie with Multiple Rocket Pods and Heavy Bolters will be getting: 1 or 2 S6 hits from the multilaser, 3 S5 hits from the heavy bolter as well as the two large blasts from the pods, which in total will almost always give you more hits against infantry, and Orks won't get a save either!

Wrong. The punisher is TL and BS:4 against ground targets. Plus it had a heavy bolter. The large blasts are far more inaccurate and can't hurt tanks or fliers like the vulture can. The vulture will stay on the table as soon as it gets in thanks to vector dancer, whereas the Valkyrie will likely have to fly off twice due do its short range.
The large blasts are also countered by spreading out. Meaning even if you hit you'll get max 4 hits per blast.

 Griddlelol wrote:

Wrong. The punisher is TL and BS:4 against ground targets. Plus it had a heavy bolter. The large blasts are far more inaccurate and can't hurt tanks or fliers like the vulture can. The vulture will stay on the table as soon as it gets in thanks to vector dancer, whereas the Valkyrie will likely have to fly off twice due do its short range.
The large blasts are also countered by spreading out. Meaning even if you hit you'll get max 4 hits per blast.

Fair Enough

Although the valkyrie can hover i suppose it doesn't match up to vector dancer...

My fault for not knowing enough stuff, cheers for the correction

Forward Sentries on Veterans does not give you Infiltrate. It only gives you +1 Cover Save and Defensive Grenades.

I would put Autocannons on the regulars and Lascannons on the Vets. Even if the Vets are not going to move, still put them in Chimeras. It will protect them from cover-deniers, and if it gets wrecked or exploded, you can pick casualties, and now you have instant cover! Plus, all the important weapons can still fire out the top hatch: 3 Special Weapons, 1 Lascannon, plus the Vet Sgts weapon (maybe a Plasma Pistol).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

tybg wrote:
Switched out the lascannons on the PCS' and Executioner, and one Plasma Gun, to fit in 2 Commissars. How's this look?

Automatically Appended Next Post:
My only issue with Commissars is they seem really vulnerable to Precise Shot. Is this really much of an issue?

Never had an issue with Precision Shot. The main vulnerability I've noticed with guard are Flamers and Assault.

What's really fun about Commissars in Blobs are that you have multiple Sergeants to absorb Challenges while your Commissar beats face with his Power weapon or Power Fist.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And don't forget about Look Out, Sir! for getting shot and general melee.

Tactical_Genius wrote:

Although the valkyrie can hover i suppose it doesn't match up to vector dancer...

Apart from attracting more attention than it already gets, hovering would limit its firing capabilities. That's not normally an issue for a vendetta, but when you have 5 guns to fire, hovering wastes points.
Although I'm a huge advocate of hovering Vendettas or Valkyries as distractions. It's hilarious how much firepower people will throw at one while other vehicles make dangerous movements out of cover.

I really like the vulture. It's not an OP unit, it's well balanced and does what it says on the tin: "Kills infantry, strips HP." I'll be shocked if it's not in the next guard dex.

I'm going to say it:

I don't like the list. You're trying to make a list that makes use of a Rune Priest, without a Rune Priest. Could be an interesting experiment, but for a mere 250pts you could have better than BS:4 platoons.

Rune Priest? As in a Psyker with Divination that can cast it on IG? As in any Space Marine Librarian?

olcottr wrote:
Rune Priest? As in a Psyker with Divination that can cast it on IG? As in any Space Marine Librarian?

90% certain that vanilla can't take divvy

A trick I like running with platoons is running 2 full 5 squad platoons behind a defense line. In both platoons you have a 30man blob and then two 10 man squads alone. You put the two 10 man squads in front of the 30 man blob. Then if your opponent gets close enough to assault they have to assault the 10 man squads first. The two squads should run and die then that will leave your opponent open for the 30 man blob to light them up with FRFSRF.

Also make sure you have commissars in any blob thats at least 30men.

The list looks great though!

I had actually considered a Rune Priest at one point.

If I were to go that route, what would make a good troop choice? I'm guessing Grey Hunters with meltas and drop pod?

tybg wrote:
I had actually considered a Rune Priest at one point.

If I were to go that route, what would make a good troop choice? I'm guessing Grey Hunters with meltas and drop pod?

Exactly good choice! I ran a rune priest and 2 hunter squads in pods. 1. because they are scoring and can get line breaker, 2 because if you give them melta guns they are probably the most effective way of poping enemy tanks and what not. and 3 because they are also in PA and can survive a bit if your opponent doesnt take care of them properly. Usually one squad will get blown off the table like nothing.

Most people like to run them with MoTW and a WS but to be honest these guys get blown off really easily against an opponent that knows what hes doing. If you have two or more pods come down then it wouldnt be a bad idea to start giving these guys some good upgrades.

You could run a DA Librarian for 60 Points and he gets Divination. Take your pick of the DA troops choices. Not at all terrible.

I like the list!

Tactical_Genius wrote:

olcottr wrote:
Rune Priest? As in a Psyker with Divination that can cast it on IG? As in any Space Marine Librarian?

90% certain that vanilla can't take divvy

Oh, I was going from DA and BA. So vanillas can't take Div? Wow, another reason not to play vanilla.

I was bored and decided on a possible list using a DA Librarian...

CCS w/ Lascannon

PCS w/ x4 Flamer (In Vendetta)
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun


PCS w/ x4 Flamer (In Vendetta)
Infantry Squad w/ Commissar, Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Gun

Vendetta
Vendetta
Vulture w/ Punisher Cannon

Executioner w/ Plasma Cannon Sponsons
Manticore
Manticore

Aegis Defense Line w/ Comm Relay

Librarian w/ level 2 mastery, Divination, x
x4 Tactical Marines

Basically the Librarian would be in the 40 guardsmen blob, and with his level two mastery give both blobs Prescience. I guess the marines could act as a bodyguard for the CCS?