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Hi all,

I've got a few apocalypse games coming up with my Guard.

But first, what is everyone's favourite/successful tactics or unit fortification choices for Guard?

Cheers

Dave

My favorite tactic is AV spam tbh. Field every single vehicle you can, and if possible, in formations to take advantage of rules. The emperor's wrath artillery battery, while squishy, can do significant damage in an apoc game due to ignores cover and str9 ordnance shots and possible TL. I wouldn't waste your time with tons of infantry because it will die too fast with the massive apoc templates and take too long to move the models. Lots of Melta vets in chimeras are highly effective because they can hurt just about anything that gets close to them even in apocalypse.
Also, if you want to deny your enemy slay the warlord, just take Yarrick as your warlord and fly him around in a vendetta. Even if it crashes his eternal warrior will prevent him from dying if he even fails his 4++. Since he gets back up better than crons he's tough to permanently remove too.

As for fortifications, I would say the firestorm redoubt with the skyfire lascannons is a great choice because it's hard to crack open and you'll need all the skyfire you can get.

 chrispy1991 wrote:
My favorite tactic is AV spam tbh. Field every single vehicle you can, and if possible, in formations to take advantage of rules. The emperor's wrath artillery battery, while squishy, can do significant damage in an apoc game due to ignores cover and str9 ordnance shots and possible TL. I wouldn't waste your time with tons of infantry because it will die too fast with the massive apoc templates and take too long to move the models. Lots of Melta vets in chimeras are highly effective because they can hurt just about anything that gets close to them even in apocalypse.
Also, if you want to deny your enemy slay the warlord, just take Yarrick as your warlord and fly him around in a vendetta. Even if it crashes his eternal warrior will prevent him from dying if he even fails his 4++. Since he gets back up better than crons he's tough to permanently remove too.

As for fortifications, I would say the firestorm redoubt with the skyfire lascannons is a great choice because it's hard to crack open and you'll need all the skyfire you can get.

For added artilery firepower, take the Marco Cannon or Vortex Missile Strong Point, then put it next to a Void Shield Generator, and fill all gaps with infantry and tanks.

We had an apoc game recently and the IG did work. He took tons of tanks and lots of artillery and fired at everyone. My ork flyers helped him by suiciding into two renegade knights to whittle them down so he could kill them easily before they did anything. After that he swept his opponent in one turn, then hit mine, then some other titans and GCs and at that point he had killed most threats.

Neophyte2012 wrote:

 chrispy1991 wrote:
My favorite tactic is AV spam tbh. Field every single vehicle you can, and if possible, in formations to take advantage of rules. The emperor's wrath artillery battery, while squishy, can do significant damage in an apoc game due to ignores cover and str9 ordnance shots and possible TL. I wouldn't waste your time with tons of infantry because it will die too fast with the massive apoc templates and take too long to move the models. Lots of Melta vets in chimeras are highly effective because they can hurt just about anything that gets close to them even in apocalypse.
Also, if you want to deny your enemy slay the warlord, just take Yarrick as your warlord and fly him around in a vendetta. Even if it crashes his eternal warrior will prevent him from dying if he even fails his 4++. Since he gets back up better than crons he's tough to permanently remove too.

As for fortifications, I would say the firestorm redoubt with the skyfire lascannons is a great choice because it's hard to crack open and you'll need all the skyfire you can get.

For added artilery firepower, take the Marco Cannon or Vortex Missile Strong Point, then put it next to a Void Shield Generator, and fill all gaps with infantry and tanks.

Agreed! I should have mentioned skyshields, Void Shield Generators, and macro cannons!

Large blast spam does do wonders in Apocalypse but don't neglect the humble infantry. I always take 50-60 basic guardsmen with minimal upgrades to bubble wrap my important stuff from the inevitable hail of drop pods and biker death stars. Remember Apocalypse games rarely go more than 4 turns or so, so if 55 points of squishy IG troopers can speed bump a 1000 point death star for one assault phase or prevent 10 or 12 meltaguns from getting close to a Titan it makes a HUGE impact on the game.

Aircraft. ALL the aircraft.

2k pts of vendettas HURTS as does a similar dent of punisher vultures - the point about the bubble wrap is valid, and ideally if you're playing in a team your team mates will benefit from non-template mass casualty mechanisms, since it's likely your opponents will be bubble wrapping things themselves.

Beyond that, never be too careless about reserves and reserve manipulation. no matter who gets turn 1, the opening salvos will tear apart any coherent battle plan you may have, so be ready to put your "junk" units on the table first, and have a way of getting the useful things second. IG have more blast templates than anyone else remember, so make use of them when everyone is out of position and the hard hitters are either dented or weighed with bigger priorities.