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Trying to get competitive foot guard list.
Suggestions/reflections welcomed.

Battalion: Lamdan Lions
HQ: Tempestor Prime - (command rod, Progeny of Conflict: Keys to Armoury - Relic: Reliquary of Tiberius)
HQ: Yarrick

Elite: 9 Bullgryn
Elite: Astropath
Elite: Priest

Troops: 10 Scions (4xplasma)
Troops: 10 Scions (4xplasma)
Troops: 10 Scions (4xplasma)

Battalion: Wilderness Survivor/Disciplined Shooters
HQ: Company Commander (warlord: Grand Strategist)
HQ: Company Commander
HQ: Company Commander

Elite: Special Weapon Squad (3xPlasma Gun)
Elite: Special Weapon Squad (3xPlasma Gun)
Elite: Special Weapon Squad (3xPlasma Gun)
Elite: Command Squad (4x Plasma Gun)
Elite: Command Squad (4x Plasma Gun)
Elite: Command Squad (4x Plasma Gun)

Troops: Infantry Squad
Troops: Infantry Squad
Troops: Infantry Squad
Troops: Conscripts (30)
Troops: Conscripts (30)
Troops: Conscripts (30)

Concept
Conscripts to clog up objectives/tar pit/screen
Infantry to score (actions)
Central Board presence around Yarrick and Bullgryn
Scion Deepstrike option (24 plasma shots <12" with reroll 1s hit and wound)
Lots of 18" rapid fire plasma dispersed across multiple guard units

Thin their ranks and Assassinate are going to be key secondaries for your enemy. But that is par for the course with footguard. I'd maybe drop one of the infantry squads for a team of mortars to hold home base and still get fire out onto the board. The FAQ to the FAQ clarified that tempestor sergeants still get free plasma pistols so easy addition to the list. The command squads are easy pickups for kills but less fire for your sleeper conscript blobs and the bullgryns pushing up. Definitely want to use combine squad stratagem on your turn one for 60 man conscript blob. I'd maybe drop a special weapons or command squad to throw in a heavy weapon on your other infantry squad like an autocannon but more importantly to get a second astropath for mental fortitude to cast on conscripts. Other then that looks like a fun list. Probably a couple other efficiencies you could work out but that's my base thoughts. Lamda Lions for AP -4 plasma are pretty fun. Mainly gotta protect characters which will be hard if they have any type of sniper type unit.

Unfortunately you can not combine conscripts. The strategem is specific to the keyword "infantry squad" which they lack.

So some thoughts. Lambda lions artifact (5++ shielding) is a possibly very useful thing here. The lions weapons as plasma is an ok choice in the current meta -- but it struggles if you hit something like death gaurd or the enemy's massive troops are all 3W rather than intercessers.

9 bullygrn is great -- but 8 bullygrn and a second astropath (-1 to be hit AND +1 to save are great buffs for big blobs of conscripts especially) is perhaps worth it instead. An unbuffed blob of conscripts will get easily ripped apart -- but a buffed blob of conscripts can protect itself from harm very nicely (5+ save that became 4+ from the spell, 3+_from the strat to take cover, and 2+ from actual cover). Bolterfire into that will take a while to kill it -- while about 60 bolter shots is enough to kill an unbuffed squad (and you can do that with just 10 intercessers)

I have to admit I personally favor running an inquisitor malleus psyker for 60 points with a list like this, giving you the ability to slap a 5++ invuln shield on one mass of conscripts, and add another 1++ to it with the strategem from your astropath. I would consider dropping a conscript blob entirely to make this possible.

So my suggestion is.
-1 conscript blob
+1 gaurdsman infantry squad of 10.

That gives you 100 points.
60 points gets you an inquisitor psyker with the (-1 cp arbiter of the emperor's will) warlord trait for a second spell known, cast, and denied each round, and for the relic of -1 to be owunded.

35 gets you another astropath.

Now you can make your bullygrn group -1 to be hit and stick it in cover (2+becomes 1+ and you have the option of making it 1+ more, which makes it very unlikely most armies can throw you back up on your invun shields). but you ALSO can make a "stump the chimp" squad of conscripts in another area of the board at ANOTHER objective using your blob (and one will eventually die so you have 2) of conscripts.

Each regular gaurd unit probbably would be happy carrying a mortar for you. My own playstyle is such that I tend to run my lambda lions with flyers and in MSU sized units, mostly, but that is somethign to consider later.


I VERY much approve of Yarrik -- but remember your lambdas will probably be operating near your tempestus warlord so they don't need his buff at all, eveyrone else does. Lambda tempest probably gets you the most mileage with "reroll 1's" aura and "5++ shield aura".

This gives you multiple ways up the mountain to try to make a resilient (haha) gaurd unit. Scions with invlun and the astropath over there. Conscripts with an invuln from the inquisitor. The bullygrns with just minimal help. Second blob of conscripts (when you notice the first is dead) with invuln from the inquisitor (and an astropath helping). 4 infantry squads you can quietly combine into 10+10+10 guys to step in as the "third conscript blob" and try to hold an objective that way, using the same wiley inquisitor to make them 5++ and then astropathing them down to 4++. OR, if you want to have 2 tough conscripts at the same time, sticking one in cover over there and one in cover and +1 to save over here.

Final note.
Each gaurd 10 man infantry squad unit really cries out for a plasma weapon of its own. Half price compared to 3BS means you are firing cheap, and the enemy has to dig each tiny, cheap plasma gun out from under 9 bodies to shut it off. Once you combine two or three such squads into a resilience blob .. and buff it .. and its in cover .. that's suddenly a special weapons team the enemy suffers shots from and has a terrible time shutting off.

Similarly, a powersword (or two) among the gaurd squads can give a blob of 30 gaurds a couple swings of S4/-3/1 each turn, which means a few marines dying who otherwise would probably have made saves. These small purchases can snowball in effect over multiple rounds.


That's all I got!

Dukeofstuff wrote:
Unfortunately you can not combine conscripts. The strategem is specific to the keyword "infantry squad" which they lack.

Dangnabbit so I've cheated in a couple homehammer games. Good to know for the future, good-hearted salt may be had by my buddies.

Heh, plasma is the answer to all life's problems, it's true but... those command squads are juicy targets, lacking the ablative wounds to keep the plasma in play and without any delivery system. How about Vets squads instead of them and the special weapons squads? You may get less plasma, but chuck in a lasconnon to make up for it. Also Bullgryn seem like really good value now; I would be tempted to go for 12 - 16 of them.

Thanks for reflections.

Yarrick is going to go with midboard forces - he's just in scion battalion for organisation along with the other units that don't get the regiment keyword from other battalion.

Essentially i have two re-roll 1 bubbles.1 for scions 1 for rest.

Not played a big squad of bullgryn so not sure how to handle them yet - need to get some game time feel for it. Drop one for astro is neat points swap.

Completely understand logic behind not having the little command squads as juicy target.

Thinking was they can hide up pretty easy, and need shooting to kill (obviously) but that's shooting something else.

Understand thinking behind infatry squad getting the plasma. Counter argument is planned having them running around scoring. I guess thats when morter be useful.

Lots to ponder.

what do you do when someone put monsters or vehicles on the board

I've played against something similar; Catachan massed infantry with Scion Plasma deep striking. The big difference was my opponent had a Manticore, Basilisk, Wyvern as support fire and 3 Scout Sentinels to start at midboard. He got first turn and the game was essentially over. This army was deceptively fast and absolutely had complete board control. Any gaps I could create got filled by deep striking Plasma. I never could even line up a shot against the tanks that fired out of LOS.

Move, move, move! and First Rank, Second Rank Fire added so much to a list like this.

This was, by far, the worst defeat I'd suffered in 9th edition. With that said, find a way to add in no LOS support fire and it is an army with a lot of tools. Best of luck.

Quick answer is, he shoots them with plasma.

This may involve pulling troops out of melee and poping a few orders to still fire, it may involve droping scions nearby in a hurry, but that's the quick answer. Then he clogs them with a blob of conscripts or a blob of bullygrn, either delaying or threatening to kill them, until he shoots them again.

The main problem with just spamming plasma is the large increase in -1 damage reduction effects on multi wound model.

Its all fun and games until your facing down triple redemptor ironhand dreadonoughts with onslaught gatlings guns and you've got 49 wounds to get through at -1 damage.

39 wounds, not 49, but its still a handfull. An even bigger one if they were all deathgaurd army units and EVER soldier was DR1 so that every plasma only could ever do 1 point on the hit.

I carry more hotshotvolleyguns (4 shots x 1 wound) and more melta guns (1 shot x a lot more wounds) than I used to, as a result. As deathgaurd gets more play with their new codex, I suspect the meta will be forced to shift to higher individual damage or more individual shotcount, it just will, in competitive circles anyhow.