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I'm finishing up my Cities of Death terrain and wanting a challenge (or just being stupid) I decided my Cityfight-themed army would be Imperial Guard! Vostroyans to be specific. Only problem is I feel like 'guard would suck at Cities of Death.  But I still wanna make them as competitive as possible! I figure it'll be fun and a good challenge! So whadya think, can you help me out?

I've only played some alpha games but here are my thoughts/observations:

1) It's all about close combat
2) LOS is limited (~avg. 12" / Everyone has a 4+ cover save = lascannons/missile launchers feeling useless.
3) Due to #2 you're talking maybe one good turn of shooting before everyone (i.e. guardsmen) dies.
4) Also due to #2: Blast weapons (not templates) also 'feel' useless... Then again I haven't fielded a Russ yet.
5) Movement, lots of movement. Almost all of the scenarios feel like you gotta hike it to the objective, then sit on it and deal out/take as much punishment as possible.

Here are my ideas:

1) Lots of demolishers? Are siege shells worth it? Do models take dangerous terrain tests only when they *move* in dangerous terrain (as opposed to standing still)?

2) Lots of Hellhounds? These things have rocked for me on the tabletop. Maybe they'd do well in CoD sans limited range.

3) Loads of Ogryns? Are they worth it given the improved armor save or will they just go down to lots of Terminators?

4) Loads of Sentinels? Armed with Flamers? / Lascannons?

Ideas for Doctrines:

1) Cameoline: +1 (3+ effective) cover save sounds mighty tempting!

2) Light Infantry: The extra dice on difficult terrain may help me out-pace the enemy though I'm not sure what the implications of that are. I guess it'd be easier to run away... but what good does that do me again?

3) Hardened Fighters: I'd only give this to my command squads so they could act as a close combat unit. But the points go up real fast when you factor in priests/commissars/psychers with force weapons and that cool item that ups their stats.

4) Marine allies: I'd prefer not to do this one even if it feels like the only thing that'd work. I don't want this turning into a marine force with a few guard. But a squad of Grey Knight Terminators does sound tempting (and would be fun to paint too)!

And that's all I got I could really use some ideas before I start buying loads of figs I don't need but I know in the end I'm just gonna have to shut up and play. Hope you can help me out!

P.S.

Oh, here's a link to my terrain if you're curious (warning: lots of pics): http://dicedogs.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2533

P.P.S. I posted a similar thread on the Warmongers forums and they came up with the great idea of conscripts / *lots* of  'guard to overwhelm objectives! This is something I'm definitely gonna try out but I'm worried it lacks killing power (it's not enough to outnumber the enemy since buildings/objectives can still be 'contested' by at least one enemy unit at 25%+ their original unit strength).

Well, I have never really done great with my guard in COD. Mostly I get crushed in close combat, however some things I have tried that I thought worked well.

1)Prelim bombardment with improved comms, this gives you a reroll against every unit you miss. Makes this a great thing to have
2)People say great things about seige shells, personally I don't think they work that great against the armies you will have the most problems with. Orks will not be hiding in buildings shooting at you, and MEQ's 3+ armor keep the fairly safe when the walls come down.
3)The strat that allows to reroll wounds is a blessing, especially when the building is packed with lasguns.
4)The strat that allows you to blow up a building on a pre dertermined turn can be nice as well. You can refuse that flank if you know that a building will be gone on turn 4.

Meltaguns, flamers, and heavy bolters are what I prefer in COD. Lascannons and plasma are muted because of the ubiquitous cover saves.

Recommendations:

All Infantry is the best build for COD. Vehicles can be a hinderance.

But if you want them:

Demolishers with heavy bolter sponsons and terrain mods

Hellhounds

Sentinels with heavy flamers

Guard can be effective in CoD because of the relatively high model count coupled with the plethora of 4+ cover saves.

In CoD, the AP of a weapon is not nearly as important as the strength and rate of fire. What you want to do is force your opponenent to make as many saves as possible.

With that in mind, template and blast weapons are actually pretty useful. Template weapons ignore cover, but most armies will get their saves. This is balanced out by lots of hits and lots of wounds. Same for blast/large blast. The terrain tends to make units get cramped together, allowing for lots of hits from a blast marker. Sure, the enemy will get the 4+ cover save, but this is mitigated by the sheer number of cover saves they have to make.

Vehicles aren't completely nerfed by CoD, you just have to play them a little differently. People tend to have fewer traditional anti-tank weapons in CoD, just because they try to load up on more multi-shot type weapons, so vehicles can actually be more survivable. However, due to short firing lanes, it is important to have intelligent placement and movement of the vehicles.

Good weapons for CoD Guard:
Heavy Bolter
Auto Cannon
Flamer
Heavy Flamer
Anything else with lots of shots

Good vehicles for CoD Guard:
Hellhound
HF Sentinel
LR Exterminator (tons of shots)
Basilisk (indirect fire ignores short firing lanes)

I'd avoid the Ogryns. Sure, CC is an important part of CoD, but that fact doesn't make Ogryns suck any less.

Sal.

At risk of being laughed out of the forum, how about mortars? I tend to see lots of squads packed into generally small places when fighting in city terrain. A bunch of templates could be useful for forcing lots of saves. This is of course assuming they don't take up some sort of valuable force organization slot (I don't actually know) that could be better used for something else.

Indirect fire isn't very good given that it will most likely impact on the highest level of any building it hits.

If you know you're going to be playing lots of CoD, then Cameleoline is a must. Add the usual staples of Iron Discipline and Close-Order Drill (everyone's bringing Frags, so might as well swing at the same time as Marines), and you've got 2 Doctrines left.

Heavy Weapon Platoons make good substitutes for tanks in CoD, especially with HBs and ACs.

Veterans gives you some good AV14 cracking power in the form of BS4 Meltaguns, and you'll need them if you're taking ACs and HBs in squads.

Light Infantry can be a boon from a strategic point of view. It will allow you to set up most of your army after the enemy, thereby giving you an advantage over enemy assault troops (ie. you can deploy to counter them). Relies on taking a Strategem though.

Conscripts isn't terrible choice as a delaying unit, just keep an HQ near them.

As far as the army goes, a solid core of infantry (HB/Flamer and AC/Plasma Combos), backed up by Hellhounds and Demolishers. Some heavy weapon units with ACs and HBs to use what firelanes you can get. Add Veterans to spice, and keep it all together with your ID-toting HQ units, some of which should have flamers.

BYE

Is there any reason to consider Heavy flamer sentinels? I know the idea has been chewed over before, but there was never really an answer. They're cheap, they pack a punch (one time), they can tie non-fisty units up for a turn or two, and you can always buy one without using a FOC slot.

HF Sentinels can be pretty useful. You just have to make good use of terrain and LoS to get it into position.

Sal.

I endorse the calls for you to use cameleoline. I have seen a 1500pt Tau army inflict only a handful of casualties a turn against cameleoline Guard in buildings.

Any vehicles you do take in CoD make sure you give them Rough Terrain modification. It is 100% worth the points.

I would add that Conscripts are very, very important to IG in CoD games. This is because it is very hard to get your opponents to move their models into a position where you can bring enough guns to bear to kill them.

One of the only ways to do this in CoD is to lure them into combat by using Conscripts. The ability for Conscripts to use either the Officer's Ld or their Ld5 means that you can (for the most part) choose if they are going to stay in combat or run away (depending on whose turn it is next).

I would recommend keeping your Conscript platoons small (20 men) in case they get run down after losing combat you don't give up too many VPs. Two platoons of 20 conscripts each can really give you tremendous flexibility in CoD.

I always max out the remnants & spec weapons squads in COD. Just give them a flamer or (& a demo charge for SW) and let them wander about. They either get ignored and can grab objectives, or sit on top of sewer opennings, run about flaming things, throw them out as a skirmish screen to delay assaulters getting close, etc.