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Just picked up the Start Collecting box, but not sure where to go next. I definitely want to go more the mech/tank route than the waves of Guardsmen route. I'm thinking either another Start Collecting box, Bullgryns (for the mobile cover), or one of the new Armoured Assault boxes releasing in December. Thoughts?

 jreilly89 wrote:
Just picked up the Start Collecting box, but not sure where to go next. I definitely want to go more the mech/tank route than the waves of Guardsmen route. I'm thinking either another Start Collecting box, Bullgryns (for the mobile cover), or one of the new Armoured Assault boxes releasing in December. Thoughts?

You can never go wrong buying another squad+chimera. I'd say the core starter army is: a Company Command Squad or Commissar, 2 infantry squads and transports, and a Leman Russ. So with the armored assault box you'll be good to go, and then build from there.

I would hold off on Bullgryns initially, they eat up a ton of points and are probably better suited for larger 1500+ point battles. But if you want 'em, go for it. I still run rough riders, sentinels, and hellhounds even though they're rarely worth it pointswise. The best investment would be in a wyvern, those things are so good they're broken. From there, maybe pick up another leman russ and you can run a tank commander (usually a vanquisher or punisher for the commander, a standard russ or executioner as the second one).

Depends on how big you plan on going. A couple vets in chimeras if you're running mech, a CCS in chimera, a wyvern (one of the best anti-infantry models in the game) or another russ. If you're getting into bigger points maybe a manticore.

I have bullgryns but very rarely use them in a mech list. They're too slow to run with chimeras (which need to be very mobile, you're spending triple the cost of the chimera to give it 1 better cover) and they're a bit of a points sink if they're just babysitting a tank. Better to throw 20-30 guardsmen and commisar in front of a tank to screen it against charges and still lay down useful fire, which bullgryn will never do. As Silo said, they're better at 1500-2000, but still not always the best investment. I generally run mixed guard so can't tell you the best mech lists, I generally like at least one 20 man squad (with heavy weapons) watching the backfield for DS and such.

What do you plan on running your russes as? I like standard and punisher, maybe demolisher. Executioner cooks itself, vanquisher misses all the time, autocannon one (so dull I don't know the name) is underwhelming, eradicator is only good against 4+ infantry armies.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
To summarize, probably an armored assault box.

 TheSilo wrote:

 jreilly89 wrote:
Just picked up the Start Collecting box, but not sure where to go next. I definitely want to go more the mech/tank route than the waves of Guardsmen route. I'm thinking either another Start Collecting box, Bullgryns (for the mobile cover), or one of the new Armoured Assault boxes releasing in December. Thoughts?

You can never go wrong buying another squad+chimera. I'd say the core starter army is: a Company Command Squad or Commissar, 2 infantry squads and transports, and a Leman Russ. So with the armored assault box you'll be good to go, and then build from there.

I would hold off on Bullgryns initially, they eat up a ton of points and are probably better suited for larger 1500+ point battles. But if you want 'em, go for it. I still run rough riders, sentinels, and hellhounds even though they're rarely worth it pointswise. The best investment would be in a wyvern, those things are so good they're broken. From there, maybe pick up another leman russ and you can run a tank commander (usually a vanquisher or punisher for the commander, a standard russ or executioner as the second one).

Is there a way to go if we don't like the chimera build? I HATE using chimeras. I've only played a couple of times so far but they're awful. They blow up if someone looks at them, they're slow, and they put out like no firepower.

 Professor_Plum wrote:
Is there a way to go if we don't like the chimera build? I HATE using chimeras. I've only played a couple of times so far but they're awful. They blow up if someone looks at them, they're slow, and they put out like no firepower.

A common mistake is thinking that the only purpose of a chimera is to put out damage. They're transports first and foremost, they're good at getting vets up close so that they can unload with special weapons turn 2. They're most definitely not slow, they can move 18 in a turn. Keep them in cover if you can, don't be afraid to skip a turn of shooting (it's just a multilaser) if it means you can get them in a better position. Melta vets or plasma vets are the firepower of the chimera, not the multilaser. If you just put a bare vet squad in one then yes, they have 0 firepower outside of killing a handful of infantry or praying your multilaser hurts a rhino.

If you still don't want to use chimeras, don't play mech guard. Your choices are mech guard or foot guard, you can have a mix of the two but it's still chimeras and foot guard. If you think a chimera is paper thin a taurox is not the better choice.

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Professor_Plum wrote:
Is there a way to go if we don't like the chimera build? I HATE using chimeras. I've only played a couple of times so far but they're awful. They blow up if someone looks at them, they're slow, and they put out like no firepower.

A common mistake is thinking that the only purpose of a chimera is to put out damage. They're transports first and foremost, they're good at getting vets up close so that they can unload with special weapons turn 2. They're most definitely not slow, they can move 18 in a turn. Keep them in cover if you can, don't be afraid to skip a turn of shooting (it's just a multilaser) if it means you can get them in a better position. Melta vets or plasma vets are the firepower of the chimera, not the multilaser. If you just put a bare vet squad in one then yes, they have 0 firepower outside of killing a handful of infantry or praying your multilaser hurts a rhino.

If you still don't want to use chimeras, don't play mech guard. Your choices are mech guard or foot guard, you can have a mix of the two but it's still chimeras and foot guard. If you think a chimera is paper thin a taurox is not the better choice.

The problem is that they're blown up turn 2 without fail every game I've had so far. Facing Ravenwing who just close the gap and swipe them off the field with no repercussions. They don't get a chance to be useful in any capacity.

 Professor_Plum wrote:
The problem is that they're blown up turn 2 without fail every game I've had so far. Facing Ravenwing who just close the gap and swipe them off the field with no repercussions. They don't get a chance to be useful in any capacity.

They do suck against RW, you'll need to rely on your other vehicles to force a jink. Russ or heavy weapons or plasma on the vets or mass lasgun fire (if you have some foot guard) to force the jink or wyvern to outright kill them. While I play DA and guard, I've never played against DA or guard with the opposite army, so I really can't say about how to counter RW with guard. Just know that forcing a jink really kills the power of RW, and ignoring a jink means dead bikers.

I advice against Bullgryns (power level wise: if you love the models, go ahead! I personally love the masked one).

If you want to expand from Russes and Vets in chimera, better use the few good artillery or a flyer.