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Hey all!

Getting myself ready for 8th Edition and being pretty much a brand new player (last time I played was in '98), I've decided to start a Guard army to use against friends. To do this, I told myself it's gotta be unique, an army that riffs off of my personal likes and is not necessarily uber competitive (but isn't utterly terrible). With that said, my army will be:

A. Offensive/Attacking.
B. Inspired by Special Forces IRL and from movies (SWAT teams, Navy SEALS, Black Hawk Down, Alien etc) with a hint of futuristic anime in there (Ghost in the Shell, Akira).
C. All made using Elysian models from ForgeWorld with custom elements swapped in/added (heads, backpacks etc).
D. Using an allied detachment of Space Marines for air support (The 40k version of S.O.A.R).

My Research Tells Me

A. Guard are apparently terrible at any kind of offense.
B. A lot of the weapon choices are apparently utterly useless in 7th (shotguns, grenade launchers, heavy bolters, sniper rifles) which is bumming me out as I want to use them.
C. Guard are only good with tanks/artillery which is what I want to stay away from entirely.

My "Must Have/Wanted" Units In Army

1) Bullgryns - With the slab shields and grenade launchers, they are my SWAT style offense units.
2) 1x Space Marine HQ - Either Celestine The Living Saint or Inquisitor Greyfax.
3) 1x Space Marine Troop Choice - Scout squad with sniper rifles preferably.
4) Stormtalon Gunships - These are my air support (akin to AH-60 Little Birds).
5) Valkyrie or Stormraven Gunship - To drop in certain teams wherever necessary (akin to a UH-60 Black Hawk).

My "Stay Away From" Units

1) Horses
2) Ratlings
3) Battle Tanks
4) Scions
5) Artillery

Random Units I Have That Could Fit

1) Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken
2) Vindicator Assassin

My Potential Army List - 1500 Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Astra Militarum Combined Arms Detachment - 1026 Points

[1xHQ] - 180 Points

*Company Command Squad - 180 Points (Mobile command squad, behind everything giving orders.)

1x Company Commander - CCW, Laspistol
1x Regimental Standard - CCW, Laspistol
1x Vox Caster - CCW, Laspistol
1x Missile Launcher Team (2x Veteran Guardsmen) - Lasgun

DT: Chimera - Turret Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Bolter, Pintle Heavy Stubber, Camo Netting

[1xElites] - 235 Points

*Bullgryns - 235 Points (SWAT style offense, line of armor in front of advancing infantry squads.)

1x Bone 'ead - Grenadier Gauntlet & Slabshield
4x Bullgryns - Grenadier Gauntlets & Slabshields

[3xTroops] - 611 Points

*Infantry Platoon - 245 Points

->*Platoon Command Squad - 145 Points (To ward off any assaulters)

1x Platoon Commander - Power Fist, Laspistol
1x Vox Caster - CCW, Laspistol
3x Flamers

DT: Chimera - Turret Heavy Flamer, Hull Heavy Flamer, Pintle Heavy Stubber

->*Infantry Squad - 50 Points (Cannon fodder)

1x Sergeant - CCW, Laspistol
9x Guardsmen

->*Infantry Squad - 50 Points (Cannon fodder)

1x Sergeant - CCW, Laspistol
9x Guardsmen

*Veterans - 170 Points (Anti-vehicle squad)

1x Sergeant - CCW, Laspistol
1x Vox Caster - Shotgun
5x Shotguns
3x Meltaguns

DT: Chimera - Turret Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Flamer
Krak Grenades for Squad

*Veterans - 210 Points (Heavy squad)

1x Sergeant - CCW, Laspistol
1x Vox Caster - Lasgun
1x Lascannon Team (2x Veteran Guardsmen) - Lasgun
3x Lasguns
3x Plasma Guns

DT: Chimera - Turret Multi-Laser, Hull Heavy Bolter
Doctrine: Grenadiers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Space Marines Allied Detachment - 464 Points

Chapter Tactics: White Scars

[1xHQ] - 150 Points

*Inquisitor Greyfax - 150 Points (OP-type character)

[1xTroops] - 160 Points

*Scout Squad - 80 Points (Long range support)

1x Scout Sergeant - Bolt Pistol, Sniper Rifle, Veteran Scout Sergeant
4x Scouts - Sniper Rifles

Camo Cloaks

[1xFast Attack] - 230 Points

*Stormtalon Gunship Wing (Air support, infantry and light vehicle killers)

->*Stormtalon Gunship - 115 Points

Primary: Twin-Linked Assault Cannon
Side: Skyhammer Missile Launcher

->*Stormtalon Gunship - 115 Points

Primary: Twin-Linked Assault Cannon
Side: Skyhammer Missile Launcher
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Image Gallery

Company Command Squad

Commander -> Regimental Standard ->

Vox Caster -> Missile Launcher Team ->

Veterans

Shotgun -> Sniper ->

Special Characters

Iron Hand Straken Left -> Iron Hand Straken Right ->

Any help would be much appreciated. For a new starter, there's a lot to think about and with 8th just around the corner, it seems that I gotta wait first before doing anything at all but I do want to get some things built/ready for then.

Cheers

For what it's worth its looking like 8th will give Guard a bit of a shot in the arm, with even the humble lasgun being able to hurt everything!

Now for my 2 cents.
I like to load my Veterans up with either plasma guns or melta guns. Their big selling point in 7th was their ability to take multiple special weapons in a squad. I liked to put mine in Chimeras, but throwing them in a Valkyrie could work as well.

Both Celestine and Greyfax can be extremely good for a Guard army. Celestine adds some punchy ability to your army, and with her respawning Geminae lets her tank hits. Greyfax is good because of her warlord trait preventing infiltrators from getting too close, that may change in 8th, but she's solid.

Scouts are a solid choice.

I have no experience with Bullgryns so I can't attest to how they work.

Vindicares are decent right now for picking special weapons out of a unit, but not much elss. With the changes to characters and snipers in 8th that Vindicare might be a godsend for reaching out and hurting enemy characters.

I'm not a competitive player myself, and I run mechanized lists, but that's my 2 cents

 War Kitten wrote:
For what it's worth its looking like 8th will give Guard a bit of a shot in the arm, with even the humble lasgun being able to hurt everything!

Now for my 2 cents.
I like to load my Veterans up with either plasma guns or melta guns. Their big selling point in 7th was their ability to take multiple special weapons in a squad. I liked to put mine in Chimeras, but throwing them in a Valkyrie could work as well.

Both Celestine and Greyfax can be extremely good for a Guard army. Celestine adds some punchy ability to your army, and with her respawning Geminae lets her tank hits. Greyfax is good because of her warlord trait preventing infiltrators from getting too close, that may change in 8th, but she's solid.

Scouts are a solid choice.

I have no experience with Bullgryns so I can't attest to how they work.

Vindicares are decent right now for picking special weapons out of a unit, but not much elss. With the changes to characters and snipers in 8th that Vindicare might be a godsend for reaching out and hurting enemy characters.

I'm not a competitive player myself, and I run mechanized lists, but that's my 2 cents

Many thanks for the reply and your 2 cents!

Yea I read about the double shooting of the lasgun when in a certain range, definitely good for closer engagements which is what im here for.

Ive taken your advice on meltas and written out a full army list (edited into the Original Post) that I would like you to glance over for me, see if its missing something? I have a sneaky feeling it hasnt got the bodies maybe...

I'll have to leave the vindicare out for the moment, same with Straken (changing to an independent character now so not sure if his points will change). However, definitely room if I take out Celestine for someone uber cheap.

Apparently with shotguns, grenade launchers and other assault weapons you can advance and shoot in the new edition. Many things you are discounting as useless now may not be in a couple of weeks. Wait it out!


Two suggestons:

1) Special forces thematically lends itself to Veteran Squads rather than Infantry Platoons.

2) Why the hate for Scions? The rules at least make sense for SAS or something similar even if you'd prefer different models.

I was actually referring to the new to-wound chart, but if the double shooting thing is also true then that's also good.

As for the list, to my decidedly uncompetitive and noobish eye it looks fairly solid, but you might struggle against massed armor a bit

 Humble Guardsman wrote:
Apparently with shotguns, grenade launchers and other assault weapons you can advance and shoot in the new edition. Many things you are discounting as useless now may not be in a couple of weeks. Wait it out!


Two suggestons:

1) Special forces thematically lends itself to Veteran Squads rather than Infantry Platoons.

2) Why the hate for Scions? The rules at least make sense for SAS or something similar even if you'd prefer different models.

All the more reason to actually take shotguns/grenade launchers then Happy days!

1) This is my quandry. I can take the Space Marines as Primary detachment and get 3x Fast Attack choices (im taking 2 as i think its enough) but only get 2x troop choices for Astra Militarum (infantry platoon has lots more bodies). OR, take the Astra Militarum as Primary and get lots of Veterans but only get 1x Fast Attack for Space Marines (i kind of want more).

2) I just dont like the way they look really. I'm already using Elysian models as stand ins for the Cadians, having them as Scions too would make it a bit iffy.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 War Kitten wrote:
I was actually referring to the new to-wound chart, but if the double shooting thing is also true then that's also good.

As for the list, to my decidedly uncompetitive and noobish eye it looks fairly solid, but you might struggle against massed armor a bit

Im pretty sure I read that somewhere (maybe the Warhammer Community website Astra Militarum Faction Focus!)

Hmmmm, any suggestions to combat this?

You could shimmy around some upgrades to try and get meltas on your platoon guardsmen. I usually make my platoon command squads barebones whenever I bother to take platoons

 War Kitten wrote:
You could shimmy around some upgrades to try and get meltas on your platoon guardsmen. I usually make my platoon command squads barebones whenever I bother to take platoons

Shimmying has taken place! Though, I went a different way about it.

Astra back as the primary. Found a way to take more Stormtalons (take a Wing rather than a single one).
Take away the valkyrie (not necessary).
Add in more Vets (plasma squad).
Greyfax in instead of Celestine.
Chimeras for all Vets and Command Squads.

Now im looking more like a mechanised/air cav with a splash of ground troops to take the hits.