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I'm thinking of trying my hand at a mechanized imperial guard army. This is kind of what I plan on building to right now.

Doctrines: Mechanized, Iron Discipline, Techpriest Enginseers.



Command Section (380 pts)
Senior Officer. Iron Discipline, Bolt Pistol, PF. Meltagunner, Standard Bearer. 102 pts
Chimera, ML, HB, Improved Comms, Smoke. 108 pts

Fire Support Squad, 3 HB, 80 pts
Chimera, ML, HB, RT 90 pts

Techpriest Enginseer. Honorifica Imperalis Mundanus. 70 pts.

Infantry Platoon. (510 pts)
Junior Officer, Bolter, Iron Discipline. Meltaguner. 56pts,
Chimera, ML, HF, Rough Terrain 90 pts
Infantry Squad, vet sarge w/ bolter. Plasma Gun, Autocannon, 92pts.
Chimera, ML, HF, RTM 90 pts
Infantry Squad, vet sarge w/ bolter. Plasma Gun, Autocannon, 92pts.
Chimera, ML, HF, RTM 90 pts

Infantry Platoon. (510 pts)
Junior Officer, Bolter, Iron Discipline. Meltaguner. 56pts,
Chimera, ML, HF, Rough Terrain 90 pts
Infantry Squad, vet sarge w/ bolter. Plasma Gun, Autocannon, 92pts.
Chimera, ML, HF, RTM 90 pts
Infantry Squad, vet sarge w/ bolter. Plasma Gun, Autocannon, 92pts.
Chimera, ML, HF, RTM 90 pts

Sentinel Squadron (168 pts)
3 Sentinels w/ Lascannons and searchlights, 56pts each

Sentinel Squadron (168 pts)
3 Sentinels w/ Lascannons and searchlights, 56pts each

Leman Russ Demolisher, Hull Las, Plas cannon, 185pts

current total: 1991



Game plan: the two infantry platoons will stick together, close in on enemy deployment, then disembark and rapid fire them back to the warp, with support from the guns/flamers on the Chimeras, which I will do my best to place to shield return fire from other enemy units. While I realize that the autocannon will seldom get to fire, it's there for if the squad's transport gets blown out from under them while they're a long way from anyone else to attack, they can still contribute. The fire support squad will start deployed, preferably in cover, so that I can back up the infantry platoons and throw some extra fire into anything they don't manage to wipe. The sentinel's will be on tank hunting duty, hanging back and trying to work from extreme range. The Demolisher will focus on heavy infantry or really hard targets.

The extra nine points, I will probably put in as smoke launchers, I just need to round up a few more points from here and there to get enough for all seven remaining chimeras. I need 12 more points, possibly the two bolters on the sarges, not sure about the other ten though...

Possible changes, I know I can drop one of the sentinel squadrons and replace it with another infantry squad, but that'll only leave three lascannons though, so I'm a little worried about doing that. I know I SHOULD drop the techpriest, but I would like to try to work around him. I love the models and the presence of a techpriest in a tank heavy army just makes sense. Plus, attached to one of the infantry squads, he'll make for a nice little nasty surprise if I end up getting assaulted, particularly with the HIM giving him 4ws and 3 wounds.

You should equip the enginseer with a chimera if he is to keep up with the fast vehicle movement, also 6 sentinels is a bit much and they meant to be cheap 40-45 pts i would say.
A mechanised army should have a fair bit of tanks as well which seems obvious and i mean leman russes and hellhounds :p
If you want a really heavy amoured company get the rules for armoured companies then you can fit 10 tanks into one 2000pts army, lol.

Techpriest are wicked by the way, and ur one is a one man army :]

Tech-Priests are a complete waste of a Doctrine point. It's even worse to assume that they'd be capable of fighting in HTH, and even worse to try and further that by spending, sorry, wasting 25 points to buff his attacks.

News Flash:

He's an S3 T3 IC. He's going down faster than a sexual innuendo cliché.

The only thing worse than the Tech-Priest in this list is the SO with the Power Fist. When's he going to swing? Oh that's right, never. Why? He's a T3 IC swinging last. He'll be dead long before he uses that Fist.

As I've been saying in a lot of Guard threads recently - cut the bloat. You've got 91 points in there spent on two T3 Independant Characters. You could buy another squad for that!

You've spent 28 points on Veteran Sergeants. What exactly are they going to do? Your Officers give you Ld8 for free, so why bother with Vet Sergeants? What will the Bolters add to your army?

Do all of the Sentinels need Searchlight? They can't illuminate multiple targets... so why bother?

What's the Smoke going to do? Your IFV's need to be shooting. And for that matter, are RTM's really worth 35 points in your army?

Are single meltagunners really going to do anything?

Why being a Senior Officer in the first place? He offers no actual benefits over a JO, yet costs more points? What benefit is the extra 15 points spent on him actually giving you?

If you're keeping score everything I've just mentioned totals to 206 points - over 10% of your army wasted on bloat.

But it's not just bloat that threatens the usefulness of this list, it's some of the choices as well:

You've got a single AV14 target sitting in a sea of AV12. Are you intentionally trying to make it easier for your opponent by giving him a target for his Lascannons?

Why are the Sentinels clumped into two slots when they should be spread across four, doubling the amount of scoring units you have as well as increasing the amount of targets you can engage at once plus adding to their durability. Never mind that fact that resting your entire army's AT capabilities on 6 AV10 Open-Topped platforms is just asking for your opponent to blink at them, wiping the whole lot out in an instant.

Why is there a Heavy Bolter Fire Support Squad in a Mechanised army? Was the minimum of 4 compulsory Heavy Bolters and 4 compulsory Multi-Lasers not enough anti-infantry power?

Why are there Autocannons in your Infantry Squads? You don't need squad-based anti-transport firepower in a MechInf Guard army. That's what Multi-Lasers are for. You need anti-vehicle power, and 6 Sentinels will not cut it.


If there is one defining rule to Mechanised Guard that exists beyond all others (except the one standing Guard rule of 'Always take Iron Discipline no matter what'), it is this:

Tanks kill infantry.
Infantry kill tanks.

Right now your Infantry kill... AV11 & 12 vehicles... and maybe Terminators, and your tanks kill infantry, and your clumped, fragile walkers kill some tanks. And your Demolisher dies, as it's the only AV14 thing you got and might as well paint a giant 'Shoot me!' sign on itself.

This list needs work. It needs to have the bloat cut from it, the right units selected so that the army works together, rather than in separate groups... and please no Tech-Priests. They're the fourth worst choice in the Codex (1st, 2nd and 3rd being Hardened Fighters, Cybernetic Enhancements and Independant Commissars, respectivley).

BYE

Everything HBMC said above is true.

There are a few things to keep in mind when building a mechanized guard army (I would also recommend checking the Tactics Forum for the 10 Commandments of IG thread). The following is a list of my thoughts from playing mech. guard.

1. Your mandatory Chimeras give you all of the anti infantry firepower you need. Give them all hull mounted heavy bolters and that combined with the multilasers gives you very good anti infantry (and light vehicle) firepower. Also don't forget about all of the flashlights that are also going to be mandatory. There's really no need to pay even more points for what your vehicles already do well so this also means that the Hellhound, while good at what it does, is totally redundant and unnecessary. Also squads don't need to take heavy bolters, you've already got enough on your tanks.

2. Tech-Priests are crap. This is pretty self explanatory. Yes, I think they are cool models and make sense in a mechanized army from a fluff perspective but they're really just dead weight in a list that is already paying too many points for its mass of nonscoring tanks.

3. Commissars are, unfortunately, crap also. This is a shame because I really like their fluff and think they are cool models but they're just a point sink that could be better spent on more lascannons. Buying a banner for your command squad along with iron discipline and close order drill will be much better than the commissar could ever hope to be.

4. Don't buy wargear. Just about all of the IG wargrear is crap. I understand that a lot of the exact same options are perfectly acceptable in other armies but those armies can actually use them. Remember that your guys are toughness 3, initiative 3 and have bad armor saves. They will never live to attack with their shiny expensive wargear. You're better off spending those points on more guns and more tanks. Some people like the one that turns your junior officer into a heroic officer but that is the only one that I think is even defensible. The only thing I equip my characters with is a smile (also all of the ones that trade their pistol and close combat weapon for a lasgun do so). The closest thing to wargear that I buy is a standard for my command squad. Leadership rerolls are actually useful.

5. If you're going to take armor value 14 then max out on it. One armor value 14 tanks is easy points for your opponent three of them are a major problem. Personally, I always take some mixture of three Leman Russes.

6. You need lascannons. Pretty much any squad that is taking a heavy weapon should be taking a lascannon. Any squad that is doing this should probably also think long and hard about taking a plasma gun too. You need the high strength weapons with good AP.

And finally, a word on sentinels. A lot of people don't seem to like them. I agree that from a pure abstract, theoryhammer, point of view they're not the best. However, their scout rule actually makes them better than they appear on paper. Having some extra units that ALWAYS start on the board in escalation missions and in other missions using reserves gives you a real edge in firepower on the all important first turn of the game and sometimes on the second turn too depending on how the reserve rolls pan out. The extra firepower they give you before the bulk of the other guy's army shows up can be quite an advantage. However, in missions that don't use reserves or escalation they're nothing to write home about but you can still get some decent mileage out of the free scout move if you play it right. I usually try to run at least two or three spread out across the three fast attack slots and the one slot that you get in your command platoon. Running them this way ensures that your opponent can't just dump a bunch of firepower into a unit and expect to take out multiple sentinels. Each individual sentinel is going to have to be killed separately and a lot of times your opponent is really going to have to think long and hard about whether he wants to commit all of his squad/tank's firepower to knock out one lousy 45 to 55 point model. This also gives you more scoring units. The two weapon options that I use on mine are multilasers or lascannons. I know the multilaser option contradicts some of what I just said about you already having enough anti troop firepower but keep in mind that in the role you'll be using them in you are assuming that all of your army isn't on the board so the extra bit of strength 6 firepower in escalation missions is highly useful. Your opponent generally isn't going to have his heavy hitters on the board yet so your strength 6 will likely be useful against whatever it is that is starting on the table. The multilasers also keep them cheap. I do run lascanons sometimes though if I feel like my list needs a little bit of extra anti tank punch because the sentinel is the cheapest way for a mech force to simply add a lascannon once points get tight (adding a new squad with lascannon will run you 170 points including transport).

Wow, that ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would. I hope some of it is helpful.

Edit: We have so many mech-IG threads in here that I wonder if we should sticky some sort of compilations of Imperial Guard dos and don'ts?

In my Tallarn army, i've modelled my Commissar into a Captain. Gaunts ghosts come to mind. LOL

I only like sentinels coz they look good and sometimes they can work really well, sometimes.

Another thing if you like having Techpriests in ur army, do what i do with my Commissar Captain.

Hope i help a little bit, atleast