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I'm looking to make a 1000 to 1500pt tank army. Seeing the variations of Leman Russ tanks, is it possible to make a TAC army? Or, since they're just a bunch of metal boxes, would they go down extremely fast to anyone who has alot of Infantry with decent weapons? Anyways! I'm tired of gettin' rolled by the spess marines and their equivalent, and I think the Chimera/vet isn't my strategic best.

Are there any decent tank focused lists out there?

Well, you can make a decent tank-based guard army without using the armored battle group rules, though they're there if what you really want to field is only russes.

It's possible to use the regular codex to do it, though, as well. Just take two mechvet squads, a lord commissar or primaris psyker, and spend literally everything else on russes. As you say, they have lots of options to handle both infantry and tanks with hull and turret weapons alike. Just have proper firepower loadouts, and you should do fine.

 Ailaros wrote:
Well, you can make a decent tank-based guard army without using the armored battle group rules, though they're there if what you really want to field is only russes.

It's possible to use the regular codex to do it, though, as well. Just take two mechvet squads, a lord commissar or primaris psyker, and spend literally everything else on russes. As you say, they have lots of options to handle both infantry and tanks with hull and turret weapons alike. Just have proper firepower loadouts, and you should do fine.

The only problem with that is his 3 - 9 Russes are shooting at a grand total of 3 targets per turn.

Your biggest problem, with either the codex or armored battlegroup lists, will be lack of scoring units. Since you want to have token troops and spend all of your points on tanks you'll have very little ability to claim or contest objectives and have to settle for tabling your opponent to win. This can work (especially with the ABG list, since you ignore the squadron problem and don't even have to take a psyker and 2x veteran squads), but it's a very risky strategy. A single surviving troops model on an objective will cost you the game, so there is no room for error.

alarmingrick wrote:The only problem with that is his 3 - 9 Russes are shooting at a grand total of 3 targets per turn.

Sure, but if he kills three units per turn, he's going to be doing pretty well.

 Peregrine wrote:
Your biggest problem, with either the codex or armored battlegroup lists

I'm still a bit new, is armored battlegroup list from Forgeworld, or did I miss something in the codex?

Also, ABG?

 Guardsmen Bob wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
Your biggest problem, with either the codex or armored battlegroup lists

I'm still a bit new, is armored battlegroup list from Forgeworld, or did I miss something in the codex?

Also, ABG?

ABG = armored battlegroup. And yes, it's a FW list, from IA1 (second edition).

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Armour_Books/IMPERIAL_ARMOUR_VOLUME_ONE_SECOND_EDITION_IMPERIAL_GUARD.html

Well I plan on just using the normal codex, so I take it that I'll have to run L.Russ squads for the force deployment slots. Perhaps 2 squads of two...I'll have to crunch the points.

Just take two mechvet squads, a lord commissar or primaris psyker, and spend literally everything else on russes

At 1500pt, I don't know about how much I'll be able to trick out my tanks, but as I said, I'll be back after some tinkering. Thanks for the info, anything further would be welcomed.

 Guardsmen Bob wrote:
Well I plan on just using the normal codex, so I take it that I'll have to run L.Russ squads for the force deployment slots. Perhaps 2 squads of two...I'll have to crunch the points.

Just take two mechvet squads, a lord commissar or primaris psyker, and spend literally everything else on russes

At 1500pt, I don't know about how much I'll be able to trick out my tanks, but as I said, I'll be back after some tinkering. Thanks for the info, anything further would be welcomed.

When you purchase tanks the main source of upgrades is coming from Weapon Sponsons and maybe a Hull Mounted Las Cannon. The other upgrades are rather sub-par, and even moreso with squadroned Vehicles.

Sometimes a heavy tanker lists consists of cheaper tanks and maybe one or two expensive ones. At 1500 points, being conservative, you could probably get three-four cheaper tanks and two of the more expensive variety. But this is considering you're affording troops to backup your tanks. My rule of thumb is that every two tanks gets a Vet squad with two special weapons, so in that case, there would be three vet squads with these thanks.

With only two Scoring units, you better be ready to table your opponent or lose.

Two 10 man guard squads will not win games by objectives.

The ABG List seems like the way to go if you want to spam tanks and have a shot at winning. 3 FO Slots for virtually all of your firepower is not enough.

The minimum troop choice can make it very hard to win, but you will probably have some fun tight games. It also depends on who you are playing with. Some folks appreciate a built in flaw with a list, or at least see it as a silver lining to an AV 14 wall. At those low/mid point games quantity has a quality all its own.