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Sooooo title says it all, except I may have lied a little bit. My friend is the one starting up IG, but he's frankly, too lazy to join the discussion boards, and I both am interested in the answer, and would like to help him have a decent army this time around (he stubbornly ran footslogging marines for all of 5th edition, with abysmal results).

So what does he get? I get the feeling that He'd still like to have as many boots on the ground as possible, so maybe staying away from builds that are super vehicle heavy. Just from a fluff perspective, I think he's kind of into the whole common soldier winning the day kind of thing, if that makes any sense.

Other than that, any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!

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Also, as a space marine player, ideas that also allow for space marine allies would be even more greaterly appreciated, as that'd ease the financial burden of starting up a new army, plus give him a base of some units he's already familiar with.

 Lord PoPo wrote:
Also, as a space marine player, ideas that also allow for space marine allies would be even more greaterly appreciated, as that'd ease the financial burden of starting up a new army, plus give him a base of some units he's already familiar with.

Space wolves, rune priest x2.

Ooooohhhh didn't think of that, what dya kit the priests with?

Stay away from:

Rough Riders (They don't do much)

Sentinels (Can be good but mostly don't do much)

Valkyries (Vendettas do much more for not much more, if you get me)

Grenade Launchers (They are worthless)

Missile Launchers (Entirely mediocre)

Most of the named characters. Creed is good at higher levels, I believe, though.

Do get:

Lascannons (Nice, spammable S9 AP2)

Plasma Guns (Better Lasguns)

Meltaguns (Great AT)

Leman Russ variant of your choice. YMMV for the each variants, but the Vanquisher and Eradicator aren't very good.

Manticores. Rain of death, baby!

Basilisks if you want your classic Imperial Guard unit. Medusae are good too.

Vendettas. They rock.


However, all of this entirely depends on what he wants to run. Does he want blob + Tanks? Blob + Arty?

 Lord PoPo wrote:
Ooooohhhh didn't think of that, what dya kit the priests with?

Divination.

As for IG: the most important thing as a new player is models, not units. For example, a model with a lasgun can be a member of a blob, a veteran riding in a Chimera, a command squad, etc. A Leman Russ can have any of the turret options if you magnetize the kit. So, models that will be useful:

Infantry with lasguns, melta, plasma, AC, LC.
Leman Russes.
Basilisks (especially if you can convert the other gun types and magnetize it).
Valkyries (use spare LCs to build Vendettas).
Chimeras (if you ever want to do a mech vet list).
Vultures.
Sabre guns with LCs (if you're sure you want to use a foot list).

Other than Sabre guns and Chimeras (or maybe infantry in huge quantities, but you won't get there for a while) all of those are standard units that appear in pretty much any list, so you'll have maximum flexibility in list construction.

Focus on:

Command Squad - you want one of these generally. Platoon command squads can just be infantry.
Infantry - the same models can be platoons or vets no problem. This is the vast bulk of your army and you want lots of them. Try to magnetise the special weapons (imo).
Heavy Weapons Teams - Lascannons and Autocannons are your best bet, and you either want to convert them into sabre platforms as mentioned above or include them in your squads rather than run separately in platoons. Try to magnetise them.
Tanks - Leman Russ kits. Magnetise them so you can change their load out easily. 3 is a good number to start with.

If you have those, you can play IG. Some others are nice to have, this is the core.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Lord PoPo wrote:
Ooooohhhh didn't think of that, what dya kit the priests with?

Divination.

As for IG: the most important thing as a new player is models, not units. For example, a model with a lasgun can be a member of a blob, a veteran riding in a Chimera, a command squad, etc. A Leman Russ can have any of the turret options if you magnetize the kit. So, models that will be useful:

Infantry with lasguns, melta, plasma, AC, LC.
Leman Russes.
Basilisks (especially if you can convert the other gun types and magnetize it).
Valkyries (use spare LCs to build Vendettas).
Chimeras (if you ever want to do a mech vet list).
Vultures.
Sabre guns with LCs (if you're sure you want to use a foot list).

Other than Sabre guns and Chimeras (or maybe infantry in huge quantities, but you won't get there for a while) all of those are standard units that appear in pretty much any list, so you'll have maximum flexibility in list construction.

Pretty much this. Get the core models you need, so that you can be flexible and figure out where you want to go from there. You can make a very strong army by using relatively few different types of kits, and just being really clever with your bitz and magnets.

The other piece of advice is something ork players like to say, "boyz before toyz". Essentially, there's no point in owning 6 leman russes, 3 vendettas, and 6 chimeras, when you've only got 20 guardsmen with lasguns to hold your objectives. Starting out, you could probably get by with as little as 40-50 guardsmen if you're running a "leafblower" style list and are tooling the vets/CCS out with max plasma/melta, but most of the time you'll need more bodies. Luckily, a dude with a lasgun is a dude with a lasgun, and can be used pretty much anywhere. Unless you made a model with a crappy weapon or something, you will almost always be able to find a use for it.