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Ok, I am not really planning on starting up yet another army (he says in case his wife is reading this) but I have some general questions about Imperial Guard.

1. Is it just me, or does the Mechanized doctrine make all of your points dissapear? Making every 10 man squad cost 140+ points seems a bit steep to me. I think Chimera's are cool and all, but I don't see how that doesn't require spending over 400 points in troops just to get the required number. Am I missing some critical excellence of Chimera's, or does the doctrine really just make your army vastly more expensive point wise?

2. Sharp Shooters: again, another doctrine that doesn't seem too fabulous. 10 points to re-roll a single 1 per unit seems sort of silly, unless you are trying to avoid plasma burn, but then it doesn't apply to plasma... so why?

If anyone can show me the thick silver lining I am missing in regards to those two doctrines, I would appreciate it. Mechanized sounds fun, but just seems too expensive for anything less than a huge game, unless you strip your command squad options down to just the officer and staff, or decide you don't really need Basilisks and Leman Russ' (blasphemy!!!)

sharpshooters is a single re-roll per BS3 model, not unit.

is it worth it? thats your call.

Mech is too expensive, with the minimum cost of a chimera being 85pts. you need 5 to field the basic FOC or 425pts. Now, that being said they are a great light tank/transport, but Mech must rely on them a little too much I feel.

Sharp Shooter is much cooler, First you don't have to give it to everyone. So, it goes to the units that count only, normaly HW squads. It allows you to re-roll ALL 1's. So the 9 Heavy bolter shots that are destined to roll a few 1's gets to re rolls them, it's like extra shots(Warning: Sharp shooter is not like extra shots)

Enjoy.

Mechanized is a very different army from standard guard. You play Mechanized in order to GET more Chimerae. At 1500 pts, you'd have 9+ armored targets on the table. It allows for a lot of tactical flexibility, as you have far more mobility available than a standard Guard army. But it's not for everyone.

FYI - at Adepticon, Mechanized Guard armies won Best General (last year) and Best Overall (this year), in the Team Tournament.

The basic rule for the IG is that anything worth taking is worth taking lots of. One chimera is a target, 7 become a hassle. Sharpshooters is probobly best used in heavy weapon teams, btw.

With the slow shift towards fewer AT weapons, a mech list might end up being fairly feasible. Use the chimeras to provide anti-infantry/light vehicle fire and the troops to provide AT.

I've always put sharp-shooters into the middle category of doctrines. Not cool enough to take without a second thought (drop troops, iron discipline), but not absolute rubbish either.

A Chimera is 85 points for two heavy bolters, and doesn't take a Force Org choice.

A heavy weapons team is 80 points for three heavy bolters.

Not bad. Not to mention it's a transport.

If you want to go whole hog on Chimeras you can also fit in Hellhounds and Russ tanks as mentioned.

Personally I love Chimeras. It's a shame there's no Apoc box for Armoured Company.

So Mechanized is something that shouldn't even be bothered with at less than 1000 points, since most every point will be spend on the tanks. That makes sense. I was just sad I couldn't see a good way to put a basilisk or Russ in with them. Sharpshooters also makes more sense, since it is once per model, and not per unit. Shame it doesn't work with plasma.

So, ok a few other follow up questions. I was thinking of making a WW2, Patton's 3rd Army style force. You know, AFTER I put the finishing touches on my Sisters, Marines and then Orks. The Doctrines I was thinking of were Mechanized, Iron Discipline, Sharpshooters, Special Weapon Squads and Veterans. I was thinking this because I wanted a fast moving force with lots of tanks (I don't need to paint more infantry). The problem was mainly that it looked like I was getting a very small amount of lascannons for anti-tank, even with taking anti-tank squads in the command platoon.

Drop tropps looks like fun too. Shame one can't combine Mechanized with it...

Any ideas of what to steer clear of? Bassie's look like great fun, as well as Russes, but I can't seem to shoe horn them in and retain much infantry based anti-tank. Suggestions?

Edit: and of course thanks for all the help!

I'd go so far as to say "don't bother below 1500 pts". Build a 1500 pt mechanized force; remove Mechanized to fit inside 1000.

Nearly any combination of (useful) heavy support works. I like pairing a standard Russ with a fully-loaded Demolisher. The Basilisk comes in at 1700+ games.

You won't fit as many troop-based lascannons in as you would in a foot force. Generally, I end up with 4-5. Supplement these by loading up your platoon command (and sometimes HQ) with multiple melta guns. If something wicked this way comes, 4 move-and-shoot melta guns can dampen its enthusiasm.

Oh, you can have drop troops with Mechanized - its just that it only applies to sentinels (storm troopers can also DS as they are not IG Infantry thqat require a chimera)

Is it worth it to drop Sentinels? I like the drop suicide squad idea, but do sentinels have the volume of fire to make it worth the price? It's interesting, since I want to field some of them.

Depends what you want to do with them. All (well, most) of their weapons options don't need the range-help that dropping provides. They are still 45 pt. scoring units, though, so dropping them in can preserve them until later in the game, and let you drop them where they will do the most good (or avoid dying).

I avoided mechanised due to simple cost. It makes an IG army very expensive to collect. I also don't like the look of the Chimera - though as often said they are supposed to be fugly, but its the AA lasguns that get me. Hellhounds I like.

All this aside I know mech IG works and works nicely. Janthkin did a tactica on them a while back which no longer entirely applies as its based on the old rules and a page from Codex Armageddon, but is worthwhile reading on a tactical note.

I took the lasguns off my chimeras and blocked the ports. Not like I ever dared load a squad in that death trap transport or remembered to fire the lasguns anyway if I did.

Drop troop sentinels can work well with Multilaser & HK missile. Thats 4 Str 6-8 shots usually at Av 10 rear armor that usually does the job. Then it dies.

I was thinking of converting the Chimera's to look like WW2 half tracks, so the mediocre models don't bother me much. If I am really cheap I will get some kits to scale and just dump some Imperial iconography etc. on them. That and some Sherman-esque Leman Russes will make for a fun Patton's 3rd Army feel

The dropping Sentinels is something I am going to have to look into. Such a shame I can't have dropping troops AND mechanized platoons...