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Depends a lot on what kind of things give your guard problems. If you are running a gunline, you probably need someone to go out and take objectives. Some marines in drop pods could fill that role. Scouts in a LSS might also work. If you don’t want to drop from orbit, bikes can fill the same role.
I’d done something similar in doubles games. My partner castles up and does fire support, while I go out and grab objectives and deal with things that are resilient to long range blasting. Seemed to work OK.
Filling drop pods you can look into the usual suspects. Sternguard, Tactical squads, Ironclads, Assault Squads. You probably want 3 in an ally force. Land hard with two, one for backup. Take advantage of the fact that you pick who drops where to get the right squad next to the right target.
Nevelon wrote: Depends a lot on what kind of things give your guard problems. If you are running a gunline, you probably need someone to go out and take objectives. Some marines in drop pods could fill that role. Scouts in a LSS might also work. If you don’t want to drop from orbit, bikes can fill the same role.
I’d done something similar in doubles games. My partner castles up and does fire support, while I go out and grab objectives and deal with things that are resilient to long range blasting. Seemed to work OK.
Filling drop pods you can look into the usual suspects. Sternguard, Tactical squads, Ironclads, Assault Squads. You probably want 3 in an ally force. Land hard with two, one for backup. Take advantage of the fact that you pick who drops where to get the right squad next to the right target.
Grabbing objectives is definitely a problem for my Guard in general. A Sternguard squad and a couple Tactical squads in pods sounds good, should they be 5 or 10 man squads?
Also would deepstriking Termies near an objective be viable?
Here is an article I wrote on the subject of SM allies to Guardsmen. It doesn't go into too many specifics, but talks about the concept of SM allies and what they can bring to your list:
Paradigm wrote: Here is an article I wrote on the subject of SM allies to Guardsmen. It doesn't go into too many specifics, but talks about the concept of SM allies and what they can bring to your list:
Great article. I'm definitely gonna take some marines in either pods or rhinos to help with scoring. Not sure which would be more effective, might have to play a couple games with each.
I already own 2 rhinos and 1 drop pod, so using pods will be harder on my wallet
If you're using a lot of tanks already, I'd suggest you'd get more mileage out of Rhinos, as you have the amour saturation to ensure they survive well enough. They also add more mobility/flexibility to what I imagine is a fairly static force, whereas Drop Pods, once deployed, still limit you to a certain effective range from the drop zone, just in a different place on the battlefield.
Unless you need an alpha-strike or are taking a bunch of other DS assets that could use the support, Rhinos are the way to go, I think.
Paradigm wrote: If you're using a lot of tanks already, I'd suggest you'd get more mileage out of Rhinos, as you have the amour saturation to ensure they survive well enough. They also add more mobility/flexibility to what I imagine is a fairly static force, whereas Drop Pods, once deployed, still limit you to a certain effective range from the drop zone, just in a different place on the battlefield.
Unless you need an alpha-strike or are taking a bunch of other DS assets that could use the support, Rhinos are the way to go, I think.
Yeah, in general my guard army has a LOT of Russes, so having more armour on the field helps and I already own two of them.
Thanks for the advice
I run a Mechanized Guard army as well, but I simply love the idea of running some Sternguard in a pod as the ultimate special ops, dropping into enemy lines and blowing stuff up kind of unit.
They could be useful for taking out any kind of AT assets your opponent may have. Bring a squad of 10 and combat squad them, 3 combi melta's in one squad, and 2 heavy flamers in the other. That way if they have AT infantry, they get flamed. They have AT vehicles, they get melta'd. If they have both then you have an answer for both!
IDK, maybe im getting too caught up in what looks like a good idea on paper.
I've been having a bit of success using the Great Wolf Detachment with an IG base.
Mix/Match WS5 Termies in a pod make people spin away from the gunline to deal with, PCS/SWS 4x Flamer squads are a super cheap option for FA pods, TWC can give you a mobile CC punch, and Urlik is an awesome character to attach to a blob.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/10/08 12:57:11
ultimentra wrote: I run a Mechanized Guard army as well, but I simply love the idea of running some Sternguard in a pod as the ultimate special ops, dropping into enemy lines and blowing stuff up kind of unit.
They could be useful for taking out any kind of AT assets your opponent may have. Bring a squad of 10 and combat squad them, 3 combi melta's in one squad, and 2 heavy flamers in the other. That way if they have AT infantry, they get flamed. They have AT vehicles, they get melta'd. If they have both then you have an answer for both!
IDK, maybe im getting too caught up in what looks like a good idea on paper.
Certainly valid, and it does work well, but it all depends on what you want from your allied detachment. 10 Sternguard loaded up with combis absolutely will kill whichever poor unit you have lined up for them, but they are expensive, and to drop into effective range means they are likely to be in LOS to the enemy and at the vert least chargable. While this has it's own merits, taking fire from the rest of your troops, it also means your unit is getting its one job over and then dying. That same unit in a Rhino can hang back to scoot out and blast a big threat coming close or shore up the battleline with tough, dependable troops. If you need to dash for an objective in the last turn, tey can do that.
So if you want one thing, absolutely dead, right now and beyond all recovery, bring them in a pod and watch the fireworks. If you want something that`s maybe a little less proactive but still a dangerous unit that you can factor into a larger battle plan, then Rhino allies are the troops for your.
Of course, if you want to spend a little more, you could bring a Sternguard squad, Tactical Squad (both in pods) and an Assault Squad all in one allied detachment, and get 30 MEQ into the enemy lines, which opens up a second front and can put lasting pressure on an enemy flank, maybe even taking and holding it and allowing you to 'roll up' the enemy line from a side, not to mention buying a few turns for the rest of your army time to get into effective positions and hit targets. I've used this to great effect myself, but it does require sinking a lot of points into your allies, which you may or may not want/be able to do.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/10/08 13:00:29
Just remember for allies you need 1 hq and 1 troops(unless you have a special detachment). The cost of a decent hq and a troop to benefit your army in some way can get a little costly and then if you add in anything beyond that it can get really expensive. In this case the more you add to allies the more you take away from your actual detachment. So what you take as allies REALLY has to do its job well or you will hurt your allies and your primary detachment at the same time.
ultimentra wrote: I run a Mechanized Guard army as well, but I simply love the idea of running some Sternguard in a pod as the ultimate special ops, dropping into enemy lines and blowing stuff up kind of unit.
They could be useful for taking out any kind of AT assets your opponent may have. Bring a squad of 10 and combat squad them, 3 combi melta's in one squad, and 2 heavy flamers in the other. That way if they have AT infantry, they get flamed. They have AT vehicles, they get melta'd. If they have both then you have an answer for both!
IDK, maybe im getting too caught up in what looks like a good idea on paper.
Certainly valid, and it does work well, but it all depends on what you want from your allied detachment. 10 Sternguard loaded up with combis absolutely will kill whichever poor unit you have lined up for them, but they are expensive, and to drop into effective range means they are likely to be in LOS to the enemy and at the vert least chargable. While this has it's own merits, taking fire from the rest of your troops, it also means your unit is getting its one job over and then dying. That same unit in a Rhino can hang back to scoot out and blast a big threat coming close or shore up the battleline with tough, dependable troops. If you need to dash for an objective in the last turn, tey can do that.
So if you want one thing, absolutely dead, right now and beyond all recovery, bring them in a pod and watch the fireworks. If you want something that`s maybe a little less proactive but still a dangerous unit that you can factor into a larger battle plan, then Rhino allies are the troops for your.
Of course, if you want to spend a little more, you could bring a Sternguard squad, Tactical Squad (both in pods) and an Assault Squad all in one allied detachment, and get 30 MEQ into the enemy lines, which opens up a second front and can put lasting pressure on an enemy flank, maybe even taking and holding it and allowing you to 'roll up' the enemy line from a side, not to mention buying a few turns for the rest of your army time to get into effective positions and hit targets. I've used this to great effect myself, but it does require sinking a lot of points into your allies, which you may or may not want/be able to do.
This, I think Sternguard are great but they are an expensive suicide unit, though they are killy. I think I'll be taking Tac Squads in rhinos because I just need a tough scoring unit.
tankboy145 wrote: Just remember for allies you need 1 hq and 1 troops(unless you have a special detachment). The cost of a decent hq and a troop to benefit your army in some way can get a little costly and then if you add in anything beyond that it can get really expensive. In this case the more you add to allies the more you take away from your actual detachment. So what you take as allies REALLY has to do its job well or you will hurt your allies and your primary detachment at the same time.
A Libby and a couple Tac squads seems cheap enough for what I need them to do at 1850 pts
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Malkov wrote: I've been having a bit of success using the Great Wolf Detachment with an IG base.
Mix/Match WS5 Termies in a pod make people spin away from the gunline to deal with, PCS/SWS 4x Flamer squads are a super cheap option for FA pods, TWC can give you a mobile CC punch, and Urlik is an awesome character to attach to a blob.
I have yet to actually buy the new Wolf codex so I can't field my Wolves yet, good idea though, but my guard have more trouble taking objectives than killing enemy units.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/10/08 15:05:08
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