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It's been years since I went mechanized with my IG, so I thought I'd give the good old gunline IG a try. Im not hazarding one of these at any tournaments (due to time limit if nothing else!), but im going to harrass my friends with this. I have no idea what I'll be facing, but im preparing for worst... Here is a try at it. Any good?

Macharian 177th Regiment 4th Company "Shieldbearers" (Defence Company)

Codex: Imperial guard with allies from Codex: Daemonhunters
Doctrines: Iron Discipline, Independent Commissars, Rough Riders, Conscripts, Heavy Weapon Platoons
Points: 1497

HQ
----
COMMAND PLATOON
Command Squad - Heroic Senior Officer (Standard Bearer, Iron Discipline) - 81
Fire Support Squad (2 H.Bolters, 1 Autocannon) - 85
Fire Support Squad (2 H.Bolters, 1 Autocannon) - 85
Anti-Tank Support Squad (3 Missile Launchers) - 95

ELITE
----
Independent Commissar - 50

Ally: Inquisitor (Psychic Hood, Hierophant, 2 Mystics, 2 familiars) - 72

TROOP
----
INFANTRY PLATOON
Command Squad - Junior Officer (Honorifica, Iron Discipline, Mortar) - 80
Infantry Squad (Plasmagun, Lascannon) - 95
Infantry Squad (Plasmagun, Lascannon) -95
Infantry Squad (Plasmagun, Lascannon) -95

INFANTRY PLATOON
Command Squad - Junior Officer (Iron Discipline) - 45
Infantry Squad (Plasmagun, Lascannon) - 95
Infantry Squad (Plasmagun, Lascannon) - 95

30 Conscripts - 120

FAST
----
6 Rough Riders (Hunting Lances) - 66

HEAVY
----
Basilisk (Indirect Fire) - 125

HEAVY WEAPONS PLATOON
Command Squad - Junior Officer - 40
Fire Support Squad (3 H.Bolters) - 80

--------

So, the idea is to use the heavy weapons platoon command to push should the scenario allow. A purely sacrificial unit. Then Im setting up a castle and a bait-firebase (propably missile squad, heavy platoon heavy bolters, a command and a squad or two). The rest will dig in and hope for the best.

As soon as I get some more mordians painted I can swap that missile support squad for a regular las/plas. Not sure I should though. It's going to be a tempting target and thats exactly what the bait firebase should look like. Also, against transports which might try and sneak around cover the squad should be better.

The Inquisitor is there to try and stop all those Fury of The Ancients and Fears of The Dark, and also provide some fire at deep strikers (though I don't have any really good units for that extra shooting). Psychic hood at Ld9 and 5 wounds to stay alive for a few shots. Im going to look at the retinue at a later date, but suggestions?

Anyway, as I said before, I haven't played gunline in 4th ed, or for the last years of 3rd edition either for that matter. Any advice is appreciated. (Just don't take me for an utter newbie, ok please?

3 HBs or 3 ACs, not a mix in the same squad.

I'm not a fan of conscripts, especially a unit for 170 pts, but if it works for you, who am I to say?

You've pretty much got the rest under control.

Hmmm...an elite Inquisitor with Psychic Hood and small retinue...I dunno. I guess the two mystics *might* let you get a shot off with a single heavy weapon squad. I'd rather use the two-mystic trick with a Russ (or even better, a Demolisher for those pesky teleporting terminators).

With no direct-fire tanks, I'd take either:

a) an HQ Inquisitor Lord with big Kyoto-pattern retinue (Psycannon, Tarot, Hood, 2 HB servitors, 1 PC servitor, 2 sages, 1 mystic, 3 acolytes in power armour - add Holocaust plus either Familiar/Hammerhand/Scrolls, or a Fist/Hammer of some sort if you expect him to eat or make a charge). This unit can lay down a serious amount of BS4 dakka on deepstrikers and daemons, and you get a re-roll for the plascannon (again - see pesky terminators). Only problem is that it clocks in at well over 300 points.
Stick it in hard cover and hope your opponent spends all his time shooting at it and not your heavy weapon squads. If you add in the CC options, then resist the urge to take the first shots on your acolytes - lose the sages, then some servitors. 3 power-armoured acolytes should be able to protect the IC in combat for a while (unless you roll like I do).

The nicest thing about this option is that you can then take a Callidus assassin in the allied Elite slot.

or b) Elite Inquisitor in terminator armour, psicannon, tarot - no retinue. That way he's a move&shoot psicannon and cheap. Kind of pointless to put a Hood on an LD8 character though.

If you really want to keep the Hood and double-mystic retinue, I'd upgrade the Inq. to a Lord. It's 10 more points for 2 more leadership and an extra wound (pretty good deal), the option of taking an assassin, and you can take something more useful than a hierophant for the required third henchman (ie an acolyte in power armour, a gun servitor, or a vet guardsman with plasmagun)

Yeah, if you are going to the trouble and expense of buying an inquisitor lord, it is foolish not to grab a callidus while you are at it... She is one of the nastiest units in the game. The word in your ear is worth it alone. Also there is a good deal I would trim and change.

1)Missle launchers in heavy weapons sqauds are a waste, 5 more points per gun nets you a lascannon.

2)The IG platoon command squad is generally not very efficient. I would drop the heavy weapon platoon and use the points to add more line squads, that callidus assasin, more rough riders, another indirect bassie, give one of your platoon command squads special weapons, ect

3)If the heavy weapon platoon is gone that frees up a doctrine point. I recommend close order drill.

4)Drop the independent commisar and the conscript platoon. See (2) for recommendations for the points.

5)This frees up two more doctrine slots. I highly recommed drop troops, and what ever else strikes your fancy. Drop troops are nice in that it is an optional deployment, you do not have to deep strike if you do not want to.

Personally I think drop troops is the guards only real answer to drop pods. Do anything you can to make him come on before you, than you can drop where you are needed.

This list actually looks very good IMHO. Some more suggestions for fine-tuning:

Typically I advise against Anti-Tank squads, but considering how you plan on using yours it's worth a shot. If you find it's too hard to pull off you bait or you opponents start catching on, like you said, you can always switch him.

If you want to try to hang on to your pushback unit while freeing up doctrine slots for drop troops and close order drill - (stating the obvious) good because they cost nothing, don't have to be used, and are useful if you do choose to use them (/stating the obvious) - I'd say get rid of Rough Riders and Independent Commissars. An Callidus, Eversor or trio of Death Cultists will do a comparable job to the RRs, as Strangelooper notes, this also gets you another point of LD and another W for your Psychic Hood unit. x2 Mystic x1 naked Acolyte isn't too bad - when the unit first takes fire, you'll be able to decide whether to lose henchmen or wounds from the Inquisitor - i.e. a heavy bolter shot won't bother an =I= with two or three wounds left, whereas a krak missile gets allocated to an Acolyte. If you can, try to get all the henchmen killed by the first round of shooting he takes - reverting to an independent character he then becomes untargettable. I second Emperor's Tarot, but discourage using more than one or two henchmen over ten points unless you want to use him as a drive-by squad. Kyoto died when Battle for Macragge came out.

In place of the Commissar, you'll just have to keep a Command Squad around the Conscripts - with COD they'll be I4 and you'll have x2 LD9 and x1 LD 10 bubbles to work with. Also keep in mind the Commissar will likely find himself targetted in melee - although I suppose you can use fancy casualty removal and model placement to shield him temporarily, at some point he'll be called out and killed and the Conscripts will run. With COD your line squads can always form up for LD8 - 6 points for a veteran sergeant if you find your command is stretched thin after a bit of playtesting.

The mortar's pretty meh but if you've only got 10 points left it's not terrible I suppose. Same category as a Psycannon - nice for a very limited set of targets - Raiders/turbo-boosting bikes - but otherwise not quite worth their points for an IG list. Second Flagg07 on mixing AC/HB in squads. Another place to sack away a few spare points would be a flamer or two for the Conscripts.

GL

Thanks for all the advice! Im already working on a new list which is based on a) the original list, b) your suggestions, c) what models I have painted AND d) the model's im painthing now... I think I'll go with a cheap Inqui Lord and the Callidus in the next build while taking out the conscripts and possibly the heavy weapon platoon.

I still think the heavy weapons platoon is a viable option, though im not certain I'd need 2 firesupports in the HQ with the third in the platoon. Dropping the conscripts and the commissar frees 2 doctrine points, so I can afford to spend one on the HWPlatoon. Having that 1 sacrificial squad there giving me max deploy zone in pushback deployment missions will, I think, prove invaluable. Im setting a huge infantry firebase and am allergic to assault units. Thus, the added inches should give me time which I really need.

About the Firesupport squads. My idea with the 2 heavy bolters 1 autocannon setup is that while im paying 5pts more for one less shot, im gaining the ability to attack light vehicles. Normally the lascannons should be enough, but I think I want to pay that 10pts for insurance against mech armies. Makes the unit a bit more all-around just in the right place.

The missile launcher squad will go. I checked my painted models and turns out I can field 7 las-plas infantry squads of mordians and praetorians <3. I might paint 2 lascannons more for that lascannon team, depends on how soon I can arrange a match really. Otherwise I might keep the miss-iles, but im removing the conscripts and need more bodies somewhere else. As to the command squad mortar, it's mainly there so I can *female dog* through the whole game about how much the weapon sucks and generally just make bad puns... I don't think it's worth anything there, cost-effectiveness wise, but it may or may not stay in the list.

Also, while I originally was trying to - just for the Change - to avoid drop trooping, my uncharacteristical bout of charity is gone and im looking into including 1-2 dropping veteran squads of plasma doom. Going to have to think about improved comms too. Im not sure about the inquisitors retinue yet, but tarot and hood will be there. Probably 2 mystics and 2-3 acolytes, and very limited weaponry.

So, once again, thanks for the advice, it really helped ... Im hoping I and my opponent can find time to make a battle report too, but don't hold your breath. My army isn't going to make for a quick game anyway, so taking pics and making notes would make the total game time 5+ hours.

I'm a fan of having a single mortar in the HQ command. It gives them *something* to do without exposing them to fire. Is is point-effective in terms of damage? No. Though if it kills even one or two models over the game then it has made its points back.

And it makes the HQ command seem less important, so your opponent is less likely to bother taking them out. Even though the HQ does a great job of cementing the LD bubble, some opponents will just see the ineffectiveness of the mortar and immediately put the HQ squad at the bottom of their "to-kill" list.

I agree with the mortar in HQ squads. While relatively ineffective, it gives them SOMETHING to do while they hide. Plus, with Harleys coming out of the closet, they become that bit more viable as they should be able to lob a few rounds when your line boys can't target them.

As far as the HB/AC unit goes, I understand what you are saying Squirrel. The thing is that it's bad joo joo to mix HW in squads. They should be kitted out to specialize in a certain task. This way, ALL of the guns can be effective at what you bought them for. 3 HBs shooting troops...damn good. 3 ACs shooting light transports....damn good. 2HBs and an AC shooting light transports....2 shots to take out the transport and 6 potentially wasted shots.

Glad to see you're dropping the Commy and Conscripts. I love Commies for fluff reasons, but never use them rules wise. Conscripts just end up blocking my firing lanes.

Drop Troops is my absolute favorite Doctrine. If you use it, don't forget to take a few suicide squads on the cheap to knock out the other guy's big stuff.