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Sorry for the long title, but that's what I am looking for.  I need help with IG.  I really want to do an IG list really bad and I have some working knowledge of them, but I am far from feeling comfortable writing up a list that is both competative enough, with maybe a hint of fluff.

I guess I should just blame forge world.  They have now produced two figure lines with which they tempt me to buy...Elysians and now the Death Korps.

I want to do one of the two, slowly over time building up an army, cause they are so darn expensive.  For the death Korps, I was thinking about doing a Mech list which can be seen in the army list forum, but it wasn't totally optimized.  I needed more lasCannons.  I went Mech, mainly because of money, it seemed a good way to get some death korp without dropping serious money on the resin mini's. 

Now I know what you are thinking...Mech less expensive!?!  Well when you consider doing Death Korps gunline, then yes it is less expensive.

But my question is this:

What consist of a good Elysian Style Drop Troop Army??

How would this be?

HQ: 206pts
Command Squad: JO 4 Plasmaguns 80pts
Special Weapon Squad 2 Flamers Demo Charge 63pts
Special Weapon Squad same as above 63pts

Elites: 210pts
5 Vets 3 meltaguns 70pts
5 Vets 3 Meltaguns 70pts
5 Vets 3 Meltaguns 70pts

Troops: 750pts
Platoon HQ:
JO 4 Meltaguns 80pts
8 Guardsmen 1 Missile Launcher 1 Plasmagun 85pts
8 Guardsmen 1 Missile Launcher 1 Plasmagun 85pts

Platoon HQ:
JO 4 Meltaguns 80pts
8 Guardsmen 1 Missile Launcher 1 Plasmagun 85pts
8 Guardsmen 1 Missile Launcher 1 Plasmagun 85pts

Platoon HQ:
JO 4 Meltaguns 80pts
8 Guardsmen 1 Missile Launcher 1 Plasmagun 85pts
8 Guardsmen 1 Missile Launcher 1 Plasmagun 85pts

Fast Attack: 330pts
2 Sentinels LasCannon 110pts
2 Sentinels LasCannon 110pts
2 Sentinels LasCannon 110pts

1496pts

So how would this be??  I thought about going Afriel Strain, but what do you guys think??

Chappy P

I advise against ML on the troops squads.
If you want to take a cheap heavy, go with a heavy bolter.
Try to find points to take Improved comms, one on each Sentinel Squadron.
Actually, I would take one sentinal out of each squad, and add one as an HQ support, and use the points from the others for the upgraded heavy weapons and/or Improved comms.

Other than that, looks decent. This is just my idea by the way, I haven't actually played around with a drop list yet. That's just what I would think of.

Just a quick note--you undercosted your vet squads. Only by a little bit.

Mr X is right - with Hardened Veterans you have to take a Veteran Sergeant, so the squads' cost is 75 points each. That's the optimum Vets size.

Personally I'd swap out their Melta for Plasma and change the SWS to full-out Melta squads. Demo Charges are not something I like - I have a distaste for unreliable, expensive one shot weapons. And Flamers do not work for IG, even in deepstriking units. To get the template to cover the target effectively, you'll have to place the deepstriking unit within 4". That's praying for disaster.

As THA said, I'd also drop one (or more) of the Sentinel Squadrons to Multi-Lasers or Autocannons, then use the points left over (with some more found elsewhere) to buy at least one, preferably two, Improved Comms. It will help with your deepstriking immensely (although be warned it does make the Sentinels a priority target). I'd also split the Sentinels up and swap out the ML for HBs, just as he said.

I would say that Autocannons are a good bet too. At 1500 points, the 9 meltas are great, but I can say from personal experience that it sucks when your deep striking melta squads are all dead, and you opponent has a Land Raider running around on the battlefield.

That said, You might want to swap those ML's for Autocannons. They still won't be able to tackle AV 14, but will make you much better at killing medium armor, MEQ, and will still be able to help taking out horde opponents.

If you want a long-range firebase that won't be diving right into enemy lines, then I'd suggest swapping two of the Missile Launchers for Lascannons. The two of them might not be able to kill every single AV 14 vehicle your opponent has in the game, especially since the two combined only get 1 penetrating and 1 glancing hit all game, but they will be a great deterrent, especially against light vehicles.

You also might want to consider giving your vet sarges in your melta Veteran squads a bolter, or, if you're feeling ambitious, a plasma pistol. with a bolter he can doubletap rear armor, and with a Plasma Pistol, he can threaten AV 13. More of a piece of discretionary advice, though.

CK

I have a drop trooping IG army and I can tell you they are deffinately fun, and from my experiance i would give you these suggestions:

You need a great deal of redundancy (as you do) as a lot of your troops will die to bad scatter rolls. It is not at all uncommon for me to lose 3 or more squads (out of 8 to 11) dropping every game. Also, i have found that mixing 2 meltas and 2 plasma guns in each command squad works like a charm. That way each squad can be very effective against both heavy infantry, monsterous creatures and vehicles and each squad is capable of doing both, making them more versatile.

Cut back on the sentinals, they are very fragile and easily destroyed. You will lose a lot of points in them to oppertunity fire.

If you love them keep them, but for better effect i would drop some of them and switch to lascannons in your first two infantry platoons. Drop the thrid platoon and switch to a heavy weapon platoon with all heavy bolters, as many as you can buy. You can still take the dropping comand squad for heavy weapon squads as well.

Give everyone close order drill, the extra initiative and leadership is worth gold.

As for the demo charges: keep them. they are not that expensive and they can be brutally effective, plus they are just plain fun to use. And do not count on ANY of these squads surviving past the turn they drop in. Assume the enemy will wipe them out, and if any of them survive, its just gravy. As for needing to drop close to your opponant, go for it, the average scatter roll will be 7 inches, therefore the closer you are to him with a bad scatter towards him, the better the odds you will overshoot him (unless, of course, they are a large, spread out squad)

Improved comms is a must. You need to try and control your reserves as much as you can, because you need to hit the enemy as hard as possible on the turn you drop. Anything that survives your drop will mangle your para troopers. By maximizing your damage on your drop turn you minimize the return damage.

That is another thing you need to consider, once the large portion of your army comes in and is subsequintly destroyed, you need to be able to hold back his survivors with your ground forces, that is why i would suggest losing some of the sentinals which are extremly fragile, in favore of more troops, as infantry are more survivable.

i would say get a russ, but if you want an elysian force that is not an option.

at any rate, hope that helped, good luck with it. I love my drop army, its a balst to play and seeing the look on your opponants face after the turn your entire amry drops and and wrecks shop is classic....but then your little guardsmen get mangled. Its fun for both players as lots of things get destroyed.