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What's the current consensus on conscript squads? I've been tossing around the idea of bringing a full 50 of these guys with SITSW and an allied librarian for prescience to a 1500 pt tournament.

100 re rollable shots that come back when you kill them.... at 1500 points can be a paint. But are they ever going to do more than just annoy the opponent? The 100 shots with rerolls will reliably bring down a termie squad with shooting, or a full tac squad. With even str4 grenades they can pen most stuff to death and maybe even have enough bodies to prevent rapid disembarking...

But that's around 350 points just in conscripts and a liberation (not including the rest of the platoon) could this strategy work? Or is it a one time gimmick?

I must admit SITNW conscripts have grown on me recently, but I really would advise against 50 of them. It's just too clumsy to manoeuvre effectively and you will never get them all in range or LOS. 30 max should do the trick, large enough to be a good distraction/cover generator, but still small enough to more around.

Personally, I'd rather put the libby with the platoon proper, to take maximum advantage of the TL on heavy/special weapons, rather than just lasguns. Also, unless I'm missing something, Frag Grenades are only S3, so won't hurt vehicles. Besides, if you're relying on conscripts in CC to kill vehicles, the rest of your list is lacking in firepower.

What they are good for is for providing cover for your IS for turns 1-4, then respawning to claim an objective in your deployment area.

First, let me get out my crystal ball and impress you with my fortune telling skills.

I see...many posts in the future. Many posts...telling you that conscripts are terrible. These posters will tell you that the only decent troops...are veterans. They will not listen to any argument to the contrary. They are convinced that there is only ever one correct way to build a list. They probably play a lot of WoW or Axis & Allies.



On the real though, I've often thought about flooding the table with conscripts, just to see how it played out. I think it COULD work out, but you'd have to commit to it and get some experience under your belt. Experience with a list is going to be the biggest deciding factor, more so than any perceived deficit in unit or army choice.

Perhaps i should explain how I thought of trying this out.

An upcoming tourney at 1500 points is being used as my stepping stone back into the game. (In 5th frag grenades were str 4 in cc with vehicles, my mistake on their use in 6th).

What few games I have had (often with an aegis) has showed me that too many armies are AP5 weapons AND ignore cover.

As i only own two chimera and one vendetta. Going full mech isn't an option. So how best to deal with all the AP5 ignoring cover with out transports? Flood the board in bodies... Drown the opponent in guardsmen blood?

I wasn't sure if at 1500 opponents would have a hard time dealing with the sheer number of troops, or if in reality they can just ignore them.

Yes vets are more competitive, but I am asking if conscript swarm is viable and if so, how best to make it work.

So far thank you for the advice! I appreciate it, not looking to win the tourney, just to have fun and not get steam rolled by everyone there

You are certainly on the right lines in terms of flooding the board still being the staple of foot-guard. However, the focus of the army has shifted, for the reasons you mentioned, away from keeping the guys alive, and more towards maximising the damage they do before they bite the dust. This is where IS outshine conscripts, due to the ability to take heavy/special weapons to increase damage output.

At 1500 I'd say you probably need at least 120 odd bodies (I say around 80 per thousand points is the minimum for a pure foot list), or you will just be blown away by gunline tau and the like. However, 5/6 game types (if you are using book missions) are decided on objectives, and this is where conscripts shine. Having SITNW on 20-30 of them is basically saying 'I'm having that one' if you put an objective in your deployment zone. Often, if you can get one objective for certain and a couple of secondaries (IG have the firepower to get first blood easily if you go first) you are well on the way to victory. You probably want just one squad, and put the rest in platoon infantry and Lemans (LC/PC Vanquishers if you are looking for advice there)

With conscripts, you either go the full monty with a fifty man blob and either Azrael or a Rune priest in it for the lulz and send in the next wave or go home.

There may be other ways to effectively run them, but god damn it this is the most THEMATIC.

Because nothing's funnier than someone shooting a plasma blast gun into your blob only for over half of them to survive unscathed from what amounts to a small sun blowing up in their faces. If only there were a truly reliable way to get Endurance on them for maximum objective trolling.

When taking conscripts, remember that Infantry squads only cost one point more per guy.

Of course, conscripts still have their use in your army, it's just that you get more out of Infantry squads. Those conscripts make a good screen for your tanks/guardsmen, then SITNW them to your home point after.

Keep a IC with the conscripts so they don't just morale and die at the very least. I would put them as far forward to tangle with any infantry, while having at least on mounted vet for real damage, and maybe mounted infantry squads for flanking support. Also Maximze your HQs and use something heavy like plasma or melta for anti vehicle. Heavy weapon the platoon and entrench those heavy squads where their range covers you.

Why are you taking conscripts? If you want to win with IG you need Vets. Vets are the only viable Troop choice for IG. Conscripts are horrible. They are worse then Penal Legions...and oh gods. I can't keep this up. Sorry. I read the prediction and couldn't help myself. Personally, I like the idea of hordes of Conscripts. But I don't play IG. I play Tyranids. So I settle with hordes of Termagants.

I'm trying to get my buddy to buy my cultists off of me to use as conscripts.

Remember though, if an IC joins the Conscripts he dies to when you send in the next wave.

The simple way to avoid the loss of the IC is just to move him away the turn before. It does give a smart opponent a clue what's coming, but after the first game they'll know anyway. Just make sure you keep another unit nearby to take the departing IC.

The only problem is that a single horde of conscript can't go past 50 bodies, so having 100 means at least 2 infantry squads..but hey 2 50 body screen sure as hell effective!

As said, just postilion an ally librarian with them or a Lord Commissar within his awesome bubble to give'em a Ld boost (Ld 10 in both cases, stubborn with the Lord Commissar) advance and fire away every round.

I have found that conscripts work well for 3 purposes. All of them use SiNW.

1) Regenerating bubble wrap for an artillery line. The artillery stays at the back board edge and the lord commissar is useful for the artillery leadership boost. This tends to involve FW so you get actual artillery.

2) Run the conscripts before a blob or tanks to give them a mobile cover save and a sacrificial buffer. The great thing about this is the conscripts can be pulled off the board at the end of the game to claim a home objective. The negative being you really need CCS and a lord commissar to get the run run run order off so they don't slow things down so much.

3) Stick a combat super SM (any dex) IC in them. LOS the wounds onto the conscripts (go ahead and bunch them up 2" away from the IC). They are ablative wound and should be allowed to die as quickly as possible. Split the IC off when he is assured a charge or keep them there to die from the LOS wounds, either way.

Is there any merit to just using a 20-man conscript squad without SItNW! as a cheap double-sized squad for holding objectives?

The problem is you only save 20 pts for basically removing all utility from the unit other than as a speed bump. The Ld and BS alone are worth the 20 pts. Forget the special and heavy weapon access. Not to say there could not be a use but it is not something I would use (I love chenkov and SiNW to much, conscript without seem like heresy).