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As the title says, I'm looking for opinions on which tends to work well in what situations. I was looking at running 2 squads of meltavets at 1500, with a plasma CCS to back them up. How should I use this tactically? Defense? The rest of my list is 2 vendettas, 2 leman Russian demolishers and a ADL with a platoon behind it, LC/?, with 2 flamer sws for vendetta dropping. Any advice? I was just going to drive all my metal boxes into the enemy deployment and back it up with the ADL +LCs.

I like plasma to melta in a 2:1 ratio, so if your CCS is plasma, then one of each for the vets. And I find they are more useful as a defensive our counter-striking detachment than for an all-out mechanised assault. Keep them back and on a flank, and move to where the fire is needed.

If you're running Manticores and Vendettas, you should probably stick with Plasma. Melta is great, but Lascannons and S10 pieplates are good enough to handle AV14+ IMO.

You still need *some* Melta in there...as the above poster said, 2:1 is pretty good. I like putting it on my CCS. With orders, they're a bit more reliable if you NEED to stop a Land Raider or something like that. Also, they're generally intimidating to T4 multiwound models.


Their role really depends on what I'm facing. A drop pod list, I'll sit behind my ADL and some bubble wrap and wait for the pods to come down. Use them defensively. Shooting at AV12 with a 4++ outside of 2D6 melta range really sucks for pod armies, so they usually target other things or waste their shots. If I'm playing a largely defensive army, and it's Night Fighting first turn, I'll deploy them upfield in a position to snapfire their Multilasers and spot targets for the Manticores with their Search Lights.

I always assumed that meltavets was basically a spam list and drive around like you have giant brass cajones.

Although it's been criticized by a lot of IG players, I like to put LCs with my mechvets on defense, and turn them into turrets.

I see mech vets purely as defensive weapons. Mostly because as you close the gap with the enemy, it gives them a lot more force concentration, and you end up with limping guard squads, splattered across the table. You need a special kind of enemy with a low model count before you can blitz them with chimeras.

On defense, the enemy has to advance on them, then crack them, and then deal with the troops inside, so it's really a terrible situation for their alpha strike.

That said, defensive chimeras usually stay put, and don't go seeking infantry targets around the table, which puts the chimeras way out of range, and utterly useless. The LC gets S9 shots across the table at BS4.

Regarding melta and plasma, what's been said already is a good way to go. Plasma is just awesome, 24" range, AP2. Melta isn't quite as lethal to infantry and lacks range, but you'll be really excited when you melt down a dreadnought, or instant death a big character. Probably the best way to get your kills with the melta vets is to drive the chimera 6", spin 180, disembark 6" and fire everything. Of course, if you can STAY in the chimera, do that instead, but your enemy is smart, and they'll probably try to stay out of range.

@ Jmills042: No, it's not really. Mech lists actually require a ton of precision, and for all the elements to work in concert, as unless you concentrate your force properly you will just be torn apart as you have low model count and transports that are actually not that survivable. I have limited experience with mechvets, so I'll leave it to others to explain the precise details, but the basics are force concentration and precision.

Always run both. My thought on the matter. However, I always run carapace armor on my plasma vets. I know, 30 points you can do something with, but, that extra armor saves them when I roll those 1s, and I seem to roll them often enough.

Jmills042 wrote:
I always assumed that meltavets was basically a spam list and drive around like you have giant brass cajones.

I can't seem to make this work. I've been playing for about a year now, and I've run 5 chimeras balls to the walls before. The few times that I did this, I got slammed so hard that I never wanted to try again.

Like I said in my previous post in this thread, closing the gap on the enemy serves only to give them more force concentration. Rapid fire weapons and assault just decimate the little guardsmen. The Guard are bringing melta and plasma, so they can kill vehicles and TEQ ok, but they can't actually put out that many wounds, and all it takes is a few marines to solo a squad of vets, or some fire warriors to shoot them right off the table, wound for wound ... so, I think they're a little under supported. Maybe a few heavy choices could help, and not running a suicide blitz. At that point, you're a mech gunline.

There are some suggestions for forward Guard tactics that are working for some people. I don't find that much success with them. For months, I've tried to play forward as often as possible, but it's tricky.

Since the addition fliers, my meta has polished the art of shooting down planes. My vendettas and some ork dakka jets were kinda scary, but the helldrake was way worse, so everyone took to putting high BS characters on and Icarus and sniping fliers off the table. There goes any hope of using grav chute insertion for veterans. Storm Troopers are fine, but I don't have that much success, they get the job done, then they die.

So, I don't know. Everything depends on how your opponents are playing, terrain, etc.