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Me and my friend are just starting out and are trying to learn the rules, we are playing IG vs CSM as stated in the topic. The problem is that my CSM have trouble surviving the long walk across the board to get into range and LoS of the Guardsmen to be able to get rid of the Lascannons.
IG list:
2x Veteran Squads with HW team with Lascannons
1x Company Commandsquad, 2 guardsmen and 1 Lascannon
1x Armored Sentinel with Lascannon
1x Hellhound/Bane Wolf/Devil Dog

CSM List

Lord on a bike, Sigil of Corruption, Mark of Tzeench, The black Mace
5 Noise Marines with Sonic Weapons and a Blastmaster
10 cultists
10 cultists with autoguns.

I have tried chosen with Missile Launcher instead of the Noise Marines too, but it does not help.
In my inventory i have:
A Sorcerer.
7 more noise marines
6 Berserkers
18 CSM
1 Land Raider
10 more cultists
1 Helbrute
2 Bikers.

What usually happends is the following:
Hellhound variant advances and starts taking care of Lord, Marines or Cultistsdepending on LoS.
Sentinel Advances and starts picking off Lord, Marines or Cultists depending on LoS.
The Lascannons targets the same as above.

If the bike lord manages to get up close and personal with the IG it is cake though, since he annihilates 1 unit per turn with the black mace.

This far we have only played Total Annihilation games, where we just play until one side is wiped, maybe it will get better with objectives, but at the moment i get totally annihilated by turn 5 due to Lascannons instakilling everything.
Is there anything i can do to mitigate this by swapping in units in my inventory?
I tired Cultists as seen in above list, but the Hellhound is just too good at taking them out. Could normal CSM with some anti-armor capability be the answer? Is it a problem with the armies being to small?

Also: Any tips on what to get next? (My guess is that the answer to this will be Rhinos or Mech)
Oh, and since both me and the friend dislike flyers in 40k we have decided against using them.

if they are using las cannons, you can bulk out on troops. a las cannon is a hole puncher, it can only hit a single model out of a large unit and their las guns are useless till you get in range and then not very. If you put up a bunch of high point cost models for them to destroy with that single shot, your playing into their hands. If you do this a while, you may find he starts going to missile launchers as they are cheaper and more effective overall against an infantry mech army. Then you switch it up again. to keep them guessing.

you could also try one of the characters that let you infiltrate D3 units. Infiltrating noise marines in his face ignoring cover (especially if you roll well and get 2 or 3 units in) Take one noise marine unit as the base one and reguler units for the others. Then have a havoc squad to pick off his tanks/walkers.

Be prepared for uphill struggles every game you play. IG are hard up on CSM, especially if he runs gunline / hide behind an Aegis.

A heldrake would be an amazing investment for you... Just gonna throw that out there.

The lower the points, the bigger the advantage the IG player will have. CSM need to get in the 1.5k point games to be able to properly get troops and HQ and enough toys to get the job done.

Huron would be good. Cypher / Cypher formation would also be good. Jam pack a Land Raider with Chosen with flamers, and melt a unit or two, then charge. Don't forget your dirge caster.

Drop the bike on the Lord and stick him in the Landraider with the Bezerkers. Move foreward 18" turn 1. Odds are very slim that he will be able to destroy the Landraider in one turn with just 4 Lascannons. Turn 2 you move another 6" and Disembark 6", split your Lord away from your Berzerkers, and destroy 2 units of guards, plus one mech with the Landraider. Also, dont take cultists in units of 10 when you only do kill missions. You need something a lot more durable. If you want strength in numbers, IG does it WAY better than CSM. Noise Marines are awesome, if they get to stand still. Once they have to move, they suck a lot. So just buy the Blastmaster and stay 30" or so away.

I would consider getting 5 or 10 Chaos Spawn, to accompany a bike lord or two. They are great for Extra wounds for your lord, and they will destroy anything they hit in th IG list....

A daemon Prince or a Heldrake would be very helpful. Pop his Sentinel, it's fragility is it's downside.

Your lord only takes one wound from the lascannons each round on average. If you drop the noise marines for a few spawn to bodyguard the lord, you will run right over him all the time. Another option is to drop them for some bikers he can run with so he makes it over the table

Spawn are very good too, so it is a good unit to invest in.

His list can be countered by a bunch of spawns accompanying lord. I mean you can kill his entire list with just this squad. But that will not be very friendly.

So u're playing like 450 points. If u're not taking spawns which are an autowin - from what u've got i can tell that if you had more bikers they'd work. Here are some general suggestions on improving what u've got:
-Drop the black mace. I usually go for powerfist+lightning claw. But vs ig a regular powerweapon-mace is gona be more than enough since he's gona sacrafice his sergs one by one if you get there and u're saving lotsa points.
-If you had some more bikers like 5-6 they'd be an awesome retinue for biker lord. Maybe if you both don't mind proxying.
-Spawns are gona steamroll his list. Though i'd not suggest taking them if you go friendly. Though you should alwayz have a few models in case you roll spawnhood. And they're a must in larger games. A 5-spwn retinue with marks of Nurgle are awesome. They're doing great even on their own.

From what little you got i'd play like:



If there's more than 450 pts - take a dirge caster and more marines in a landraider. If u're playing 500 pts it's gona be just enough to take 8 guyz and they're gona be way better. The problem is - you don't have means to get to chopping range other that being on a bike or in a landraider. So you must hide it behind cover to get at least 5+ vs lazcannons. U also must be lucky not to kaboom midfield. Even if you get there - u're killing 1 squad and probably loosing 1 marine. U have to endure other guy'z firing. So you must act wisely and use a landraider as a los blocker. For a sorc i'd roll on telepathy. If you get invisibility on a landraider - u're in a 3+ cover if behind a tree. With psychic shreik u're gona kill vets if lucky. Though, it's not alawyz good to overkill cause generally u'd prefer a free movement when vets are killed. Though loosing every marine is no good...Also puppet mastery can be fun when his own vet is gona kaboom a hellhound shooting on it's rear
Suggest him going a bit higher on points if it's possible. Cause to make this list have at least 50% chance of suckseed you need more marines in a landraider.
If you go at least 500 pts you can have 8 of them which is gona be enough if you make it there.
So basically u'r strategy with this list is:
Make sure the map is not an openfield-shooting gallery - u're in dire need of terrain midfield. Preferably large enough to hide a landraider from a few lazcannons. Always try to protect a landraider with cover but don't stall it's advance - u'r main goal is to start beating faces asap. Pray for the Dark Gods for him not to pop a landraider in first 2 turns. If it happens - u've most likely lost. If it doesn't you have great chances of winning. Cultist on a point or if it's a relic - run to the middle and hope to distract him somehow.

4 lascannons should not be breaking your army. With noise marines and a bike mace lord, you should easily win. Turbo boost your bike out of sight, then charge the next turn, and the next ect. Sounds like you need to survive against the hellhound or banewolf, which just means power armor/AT guns. Drop the sonic blasters from the noise marines and the autoguns from the cultists. Then change a cultist squad to 10 CSM with an autocannon to help against the sentinel and hellhound. Also remember marines have krak grenades to deal with armor if it gets close.

Thanks for all the comments. Seems like i am getting an escort for my lord in some form and drop the cultists while getting something that can counter his armor. All this while secretly building up on spawns for bigger games i guess

On the point of expanding to bigger games: This will be done with time, i have more money than him, and he is going to play SoB with IG and Inquisition as allies, which means that atm he is collecting his sisters so he can get atleast enough to play IG with SoB as allies. But bigger games will come

Inquisitor + 50 strong blob + some indep for extra divination are fearful. Espetially for chaos cause they're gona chop you to pieces the second you get in mellee. The bright side is that you have some access to strong telepathy abusing and with correct positioning - they can be shot down. But than u'll need a few drakes...

I'd keep the Lord on the Bike. I'd make him Nurgle though and take some nurgle Bikers. They will be T6 and his lasguns will be nearly useless. In addition the bikes will have a cover save against the Lascannons (not great but every bit helps) but you will need several of them to make it worth while. I might also consider MoN Spawns. Tough as nails, and if done properly, you will be as effective as the Nurlge Bikers.

If instead you like gun-lining a bit, some Noise Marines with Sonic Blasters would annihilate any guard they can see. You could counter the vehicles with Blastmasters or Missiles from some CSM or proxied havocs. The helbrute and the LR will add a bit more heavy if needed, but the I'd avoid using the brute unless you have at least the LR or another vehicle on the board.

If you are looking more of a mid-field/choppy list, the Berzerkers in the LR will make at least 1 unit a turn go bye bye. I'd multi-assault if possible to avoid leaving yourself open during their turn. Plague Marines are also a good option, they are extremely survivable but would require further investments.

Really need to play with 2 center of board objectives. I'd do kill points and then 2 points per objective. This gives you balanced play instead of a tailored victory for him....

I'd look at Heldrake and 5 spawn atm.

Grab some spawn. Nothing in that list can deal with spawn. Hellhound can do some wounds, but when you are T5 or 6, they maybe kill 1 a turn. Being beasts they will get the charge after turn 2. ~150-200 points of spawn can probably walk over most of his army. Also, fun to kit bash them together with nid and chaos bits.