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Update: added updated list below incorporating some suggestions

So I've seen quite a few heavy armor or knight-centric lists lately, and armies with lots and lots of dedicated anti-tank to handle them. That opens an opportunity on the other side of the meta, something that totally negates the value of those multi-damage weapons. Doing so without leavings gaping holes in your own list is the hard part, but I think I've hit on a viable combination.

Here is a list my group has been playing around with on Vassal... it's a bit unorthodox but it is actually quite difficult to handle:

Unit Wargear
Catachan Brigade
Straken
Company Officer Powerfist+Aquila
Company Officer Powerfist

Harker
Priest Bolter
Priest Bolter

Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Power Fist+Plasma Pistol

Rough Rider 5x 2x Melta Gun
Rough Rider 5x 2x Melta Gun
Rough Rider 5x 2x Melta Gun

HWT 3x 3x Mortars
HWT 3x 3x Mortars
HWT 3x 3x Mortars

Catachan Battalion
Company Officer Powerfist+Laurels
Company Officer Powerfist

Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Autocannon
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Autocannon
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Autocannon
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Autocannon
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Autocannon
Infantry 10x Plasma Gun+Autocannon

Blood Angels Sup Com
Mr. Slamface TH+SS+Angel Wing+Visions
Slamface Jr TH+SS+Visions
Slamface Jr TH+SS+Visions

Total Pts 1999

This centers around the flexible and cost effective Catachan infantry squad, obviously. 16x squads, 160 dudes. 100 of them are equipped for front line duty with cheap plasma guns and power fist/plasma pistol sergeants who can advance up the field bring it in short range shooting and CC. When I first started testing these guys the powerfist was controversial: only hitting on 5+ is rough and they aren't exactly free, costing the same as 2 more bodies, but 4x ST 8, d3 damage punches is just so scary against so many foes that it more than makes up for the points. They turn the unit from a melee tarpit into a legit beater. Compliment with cheap plasma guns and pistols (safely overcharged with harker's aura) and you've got a well rounded central unit to build around. There really isn't much that 100 of them cannot handle just by sheer weight of fire and attacks. The other 60 of them set up for more back-line duty with plasmaguns and autocannons, they'll take up space (denying deep strikes, etc) and hold objectives behind block of hitters. The number of wounds moving up the field here, supported by Harker, 2x priests (one per side), and 5x officers (also power fist-wielding, making them fairly deadly in their own right) is difficult for just about any list to deal with but even more so if the list was tuned with Imperial Knights in mind.

The second key part of this is the trio of Slammers. These guys are hammers, they quickly remove the hard targets that the infantry might have trouble with, and they can very safely hide in the group and amplify the threat of the encroaching Catachans. They are ridiculously effective in CC but are extremely CP hungry (Visions to start, then the red rampage/honor the chapter combo, with occasional wings of fire/descent of angels thrown in); good thing this list provides 22 CP out the door plus some recovery. Part of the idea with these guys is that the enemy has to dedicate a lot to deal with them while the rest of the army takes area and objectives.

The list is rounded out with the ever cost effective mortar teams and some outflanking melta Rough Riders; the rough riders are surprisingly effective coming in at odd angles and generally being a nuisance though their main raison d'etre is the battalion CP.

Some issues and options that have been brought up with my group that I'd like to get some outside opinions on:

1) Would the backfield squads work better as Cadians? Heterogenous officers is frustrating but rerolling hits is pretty decent.

2) Should the front line squads jump for heavy weapons? Even with a move penalty both mortars and heavy bolters are better than lasguns for the cost of just 1-2 bodies.

3) Psychic defence. Could bring a librarian or some primaris psykers to take advantage of a smite or two and get some denial ability. Worth losing a squad or two?

4) Plasma pistols, yay or nay? I find 5 pts worthwhile on the sergeants for the extra short range shooting and extra CC threat but there has been debate about it.

5) Warlord trait? I'm partial to Old Grudge for the versatility against hard targets but I'm not sure what the best option would be.

Looks like a neat list, but I'd be worried about how it stacks up against Eldar and Tau shooting armies.

AM is really good, but their low BS makes them weak to -1 to hit modifiers which is why people don't rely on their shooting too much. How would this list deal with Dark Eldar Razorwing Jetfighters or other Eldar flyer spam lists? Especially Alaitoc, where you would be shooting into -2 to hit with guardsmen most of the time. Ravagers with 3 Disintegrators would also be a problem, even Venoms with their built in -1 to hit would be frustrating. The BA captains can do a lot but I don't think they will be enough to make up for the weakness to -1 to hit stuff and Agents of Vect will cause them problems.

A Tau list with Fire Warriors and a Riptide or two will tear those guardsmen apart with shooting, and the For the Greater Good overwatch will probably destroy any unit that tries to charge into the Fire Warriors. Once again, the BA captains would probably be the ones that need to deal with the overwatch and the Riptides but I don't think they will be able to.

So you arent wrong, the -1 to hit is really frustrating and guardsmen die hard to overwatch.

That said, we actually tested it against a triple razorwing, venom-heavy list. The issue was that, with the best anti-infantry load out, a razorwing could only kill about 6-7 guys a turn. I actually ignored them all game, favoring the venoms as targets and focusing on objectives. At the end of turn 4 he had the 3 flyers and not much else while I still had quite a bit left. In turn 5 I used the Wings of Fire/Descent Of Angels (4x cp, hence reaching for a brigade) combo to catch one with the Slammer (93% charge chance) and it folded like paper (5x 3+ to hit reroll 1's, 2+ to wound, 3 damage attacks). I'll do that turn 2 next time lol.

The normal eldar flyers are even more focused anti-tank, I'd definitely ignore any altioc hemlocks in favor of every other target, unless it they get within assault range of a slammer (3 of which cover a big area).

Incidentally my main army IRL is Tau, there is quite a bit of incidental anti-infantry shooting in Tau but fire warriors fold easily go lasguns and simply arent efficient against guardsmen heads up. Add on that so much of a tau list is dedicated anti tank (those 3x fusion cold stars are worthless) and the MSU makes leveraging markers difficult (esp if they didnt bring a sacea character)... I dunno my TAC tau list just could not hand this. Riptides would be a good option though, doing the math they delete a squad each turn... I'd have to test against them.

Tau might be a good reason to bring mortars on the front squads, give some fire onto back level drones and focus down FW squads while closing....

I'm impressed this list did well against triple Razorwing list, guardsmen are just that tough to kill point for point I guess. Did that list include the common combo of 3 Ravagers with Disintegrators and the Black Heart Kabal relic out of curiosity? The flyers (and pretty much everything else that is Dark Eldar/Drukhari) will get crushed by the BA captains in melee, but they can use Agent's of Vect to make the charge unreliable and/or prevent 2x fighting.

The Eldar/Craftworld flyers are not that bad against infantry, Hemlocks spamming Smite kill a surprising number of infantry for what might look like an anti-tank flyer. Hemlocks also have a -2 morale aura, that can cause some problems too. Also, Farseers with Doom and Executioner will probably show up in many Craftworld and Dark Eldar/Drukhari lists (as allies), typically to combo Doom with the Str 5 Disintegrators so they wound everything in the game 55% of the time at least. The Executioner psychic power will be pretty annoying for this list, 2d3 mortal wounds most of the time, and Doom shouldn't be underestimated even though it using it on guardsmen isn't optimal.

Listening to what you said, I wonder if it is worth equipping the Infantry Squads with Plasma Guns. They already struggle with -1 to hit stuff, so does Plasma, so I'm not sure if I like the combo. Maybe more squads or Meltaguns would be better? I think you should consider some Astropaths, they aren't that expensive, can strip cover from units with their weird special ability, and provide useful psychic support. One last thing, have you considered tournament rules, like ITC's, that reward killing units and secondary objective choices about as much as holding the actual objectives on the table? In a rule system like that, against a vehicle heavy list, they may only kill 1 unit a round, but if you kill 0 units it starts to cost you a lot of points.

He didn't have the triple ravagers that time in favor of more venom squads; it actually would have been even worse if he had because the ravagers do even less damage per point than the razorwings (even with the archon and relic buffs) to light infantry and don't have the venom's -1 to hit so would have gone down even faster.

About the Eldar flyers... man the Hemlock is such a powerful unit but I feel like this list mitigates that power so thoroughly. It has to get close to use its S10 flamer, which will be wasted, and its smite kills an average like 1.7 guardmens a turn... but then its in range of a slammer charge and gets dusted while squads MOVE MOVE MOVE past it to cover him up. Those kind of units are actually what I had in mind when I came up with this list.

The special weapons are a big strength of infantry squads, every single one is such a huge upgrade from a lasgun! Getting within 18'' of the front line squads leaves you open to 3x plasma shots, usually rerolling 1's to hit and wound w/ Harker and orders, it just makes them a lot more threatening for a very low cost (i'd take out the powerfist first and I think that this is integral). I do think melta would be BETTER on the front line squads, the problem is that BS 4+ plasma in IG just has a better price point than the melta does. How do you feel about finding points for mortars in those squads too? Even with the move penalty a mortar is better point for point than the lasgun it replaces...

I think you are right about the astropath, I think finding room for 1x astropath and 1-2 primaris would be good, giving me some denials to throw a wrench in things and 1-2 easy smites (the guard utility spells also aren't amazing on MSU but every bit counts).

I hadn't considered ITC in particular, our LFGS uses the core missions. There are Kill point missions, and this list does have a lot of them, but they are pretty tough in terms of actual wounds. Still, definitely a weakness, liberal use of consolidate squad to rescue orphans will definitely be needed.

Mortars are amazing, you might want to strip the Plasma Guns off of Infantry Squads that will be sitting back on objectives, since they will probably not have much in range to shoot at, that will give you the points to give your front line squads the Mortars. Also, it looks like you have 4 Company Officer's (Company Commanders I assume), the 3 datasheet limit would prevent that, so there is one good place for a Primaris Psyker.

I just realized, do you have a plan to mitigate morale issues? Catachan gives you +1 Leadership while near an officer right? That is 8 leadership, which while good is far from immunity to morale. There aren't that many morale reducing units or armies that are common, but it is something to look out for. The Hemlock with it's -2 morale aura is one, I think Knights have a relic that can give -1 or -2 to morale in an aura, BA and DA have some morale stuff, but it's not super common.

You've convinced me that this list can handle the Dark Eldar and Eldar flyer shenanigans, there are still a few strange but good lists with crazy anti-horde I'd be worried about (20 Vertus Praetors, Renegade Knights with Avenger Gatling Cannons) but I think otherwise this list is great.

Did an update on this:

1) Changed the backfield squads to Cadians, the doctrine just suits their purpose a lot more than Catachans does and the Catachan officers are move away from them anyway

2) Took out 2x catachan infantry squads to accommodate adding a primaris and an astropath as well as upgrading the catachans to have mortars and the cadians to have lacannons (instead of autocannons)

This ended up increasing the long range power pretty significantly (+8 mortars, 6x AC->6x LC w/rerolls) and some psychic defence but at the cost of some bodies (~190->~170).

What do yall think of the change?

Catachan Brigade
Straken
Company Officer PF+Bolter
Company Officer PF+Bolter

Harker
Priest Bolter
Priest Bolter

Infantry 10x8 PG+PF+PP+Mortar

Rough Rider 5x3 2x MG

Mortar Team 3x

Cadian Battalion
Company Officer Bolter+Aquila+WL
Primaris Psyker Staff

Astropath Laspistol

Infantry 10x6 PG+LC

Blood Angels Sup Com
Mr. Slamface TH+SS+Angel Wing+Visions
Slamface Jr TH+SS+Visions
Slamface Jr TH+SS+Visions

Total 2000

I like the changes, having some psychic defense is needed, even if it can be played around (simply by being out of range) in any list. you need to be able to impact as many phases of the game that you can. So my first thought is that hordes are going to be more common (orcs are a real threat) so you will be running into list with more ability to counter. My next thought is how long do your games take!!! all those bodies all those rolls, seems like your turns take a long time. Have you ever played with a chess clock? when you get higher up into more competitive players they will ask to use a clock (so you don't take their time) which I feel is fair (as you are not playing a friendly list). Have you played vs orcs yet? would like to hear how that match up goes for you. and i play tau too, guard is my worst matchup but i have learned that all i have to do is stay in cover and i can trade effectively

Infantry squads can't take power fists.