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Right. Been inspired to come up with my very own mech IG list. I have to say that I've next to no experience with mech IG at all, and a search through the forums didn't reveal much advice for building one (althought tons exists for static gunline armies). So this is probably going to be a pretty lousy list, feel free to rip it apart and let me know where I've gone wrong.

Doctrines
       Iron discipline
       rough riders
       COD
       mechanised
       (not sure what to take for the last one though...)

HQ

Command squad              178
JO, honorifica, ID
3 guardsmen
veteran with company standard
Chimera, hull HB, pintle stubber

Troops

Infantry Platoon

Command squad, JO, ID, 4 guardsmen        142
Chimera, hull HB, pintle stubber

Squad 1, las/plas                                          192
Chimera, hull HB, pintle stubber

Squad 2, las/plas                                          192
Chimera, hull HB, pintle stubber

Armored fist, las/plas                                    192
Chimera, hull HB, pintle stubber

Fast attack

5 rough riders +1 vet sergeant, hunting lances  72
4 rough riders +1 vet sergeant, hunting lances  61

Heavy support
Leman russ, 3 HBs                                        155
Leman russ, 3 HBs                                        155
Leman russ, 3 HBs                                        155

Total: 1494 points

Some notes:

Should I stick with the rough riders? I kinda like them, although I'm not sure if the need for a counter-attack piece is that great now that I have the mobility to try to avoid them compared to a gunline army. I could replace both squads with a hellhound, although I wouldn't know what to do with the remaining points.

The reason behind 3 russes is to draw fire away from the chimeras and troops. I thought of using 3 basilisks instead, but that would mean hiding the bassies, and my opponent would have nothing to shoot at but chimeras, which I wouldn't want them to. Or should I just drop all heavy support and fast attack choices to bring another 3 las/plas squads in chimeras?

What really worries me is that I only have 3 las/plas squads for all my anti-tank ability. It seems sorely sorely insufficient. I could drop both rough riders and all pintle stubbers from the chimeras to bring another chimera-mounted las/plas squad. Would you recommend this? But I so love the idea of a chimera pumping out 9 shots each...

Please advise, and feel free to tear this list into tiny tiny shreds! Thanks in advance!

Hmm... 30 men. Not good.

The Russes are holding you back to be honest, as are the Stubbers. 5 Stubbers and 3 lots of Sponsons HBs gives you 90 points back. That's a lot for a MechInf army. If we drop one of the Russes and the 5-man RR unit, we're at 296. Another squad leaves you 116.

116 gives you... more RR's or 75 points worth of Deep-Striking-Melta-Wielding Storm Troopers. A trio of Cyclops Demo Vehicles. Couple of Sentinels with any guns you wanted and change to spare. Lots of options.

BYE

You NEED improved Comms for escalation. RR are going to really suffer in escalation as the only units on the table.

Definetly get another squad. Maybe cameoline as your last doctrine. Thats 60 pts for all your hq & squads to have +1 cover save. Another option is Drop troop sentinels - they either start on the table with advance scout deployment or drop in the rear with escalation. 3 multilaser or 2 AC shots at rear armor usually works -- once.

With 9 vehicles blocking LOS I'd really like to see a basilisk with IDF in there. Will save you another 25 pts or so too.

Hmm... Took 1 look at improved comms price tag and passed it, maybe I should try to find the points to include 1 though... And as for rough riders, I thought beasts and cavalry are almost interchangeable, and in escalation, beasts start off the board like all the other tanks. I thought only basic infantry would have to start on the board. I may be wrong though...

Argh!!! So many options, and no inkling of what to do about them.

Would a 4th las/plas squad be enough? Or do I need a 5th? Which also means seriously dropping tons of everything else from the list...

Tempted to drop the russes altogether and take bassies instead, but worried about not having any fire-magnet to soak up anti-tank fire. With the russes gone, the chimeras will be the sole targets for the enemy's entire anti-tank capability, and with AV12 I'm afraid they won't last long, unlike the AV14 russes... Very tempted to keep at least 2 russes... should I? Or should I just drop them?

I've also thought of scraping all heavy support choices altogether for more chimera troops, but pie-plates just work so well against all those MEQ armies around here. And russes with 3 HBs also do pretty well against horde armies as well.

Are sentinels worth it? The drop-troop sentinel may be nice, but they just seem so squishy. Giving them a lascannon just makes them bigger fire-magnets, and giving them multi-lasers doesn't help the army in the department it seems to lack the most, i.e. anti-tank capability, unless you get lucky and deep-strike nicely to get shots off at rear-armor... and even then 3 str6 shots against AV10 rear armor is not exactly great odds...

Sigh... the more I try to find an optimised mech IG list, the more my head aches...

Take 2 at a mech IG list... Here goes!

Doctrines
Iron discipline
rough riders
COD
mechanised
(still not sure what to take for the last one though...)

HQ

Command squad 166
JO, honorifica, ID
3 guardsmen
veteran with company standard
Chimera, hull HB

Troops

Infantry Platoon

Command squad, JO, ID, 4 guardsmen 130
Chimera, hull HB

Squad 1, las/plas 180
Chimera, hull HB

Squad 2, las/plas 180
Chimera, hull HB

Squad 3, las/plas 180
Chimera, hull HB

Armored fist, las/plas 180
Chimera, hull HB

Heavy support

Leman russ, hull HBs 145
Leman russ, hull HBs 145

Total points: 1306

Dropped all the rough riders and pintle stubbers and 1 russ, added a 4th las/plas/chimera squad.

With 194 points left, I could go with:

1. a 5th las/plas/chimera squad, and maybe drop a plasma gun to squeeze in improved-comms
2. leman russ + multi-laser sentinel
3. basilisk/hellhound + multi-laser sentinel + improved comms
4. basilisk/hellhound + 5-man unit of rough riders

And many, many other options...

Personally I'm thinking of going with either option 1 or 3. The more I look at improved comms, the more it appears important, since I have a HUGE mechanised platoon that will benefit greatly from a re-roll to arrive on board. Although having a 3rd russ or some rough riders (gotta love them...) would be sweet as well...

Any suggestions?

At 1850 I run

Com Squad
JO, 4 plas

Inf Plat Com Squad Jo 4 plas
5 squads las/plas

AF Squad las/plas

2 LR HHvy Bolters
1 Bassie Ind

At 1500 I would drop the honorifica, ID, and standard(remember, you want combat to end quickly) get all the squads you can and max the plas in your command squads. any points leftover can be used for little upgrades.

Brave Rifles

Wow, 6 Las/plas squads & 11 vehicles.  How do you fit that on a table?

Posted By stecal on 03/30/2006 11:56 AM
Wow, 6 Las/plas squads & 11 vehicles.  How do you fit that on a table?

Most of the squads start mounted unless the opposing player has a high degree of anti-tank weapons. Other then that it gets a bit tight when you start in one table quarter, other then that it isn't an issue.

My 1500 pt mechanized list looks a bit like this:

CHQ w/Standard
PHQ w/~3 meltaguns (Chimera w/extra armor & smoke)
4 squads (including Armored Fist) w/las & plas
1 indirect Basilisk
1 Leman Russ Demolisher (las/plas)

Remainder to taste (a little wargear/searchlights, a Hellhound or some Rough Riders).

You asked (in Tactics) how Mech Guard plays. It plays like a dagger to the heart (rather than the normal Guard hammer). You give up NO firepower to play mechanized, and gain an awful lot of mobility. The sacrifice is in terms of body count - a Chimera can die to a single shot, and isn't a scoring unit. But if you focus massed Chimera fire on a squad or two a turn, they go away. The Basilisk keeps shooty opponents honest; the Demolisher terrifies elite assault troops. If you've the points for Rough Riders, they work pretty well for plugging up any gaps.

Utilization of terrain is very important. Against many foes, you have a mobility advantage - you can bring your entire force to target a portion of theirs, giving you local fire superiority. If this is to work, you have to identify (before a single model is placed) where you want your firelanes to be. You want the terrain on the table to screen you from some of their guns (or slow some of their assault elements), while you deal with the remainder.

Remember, with this many tanks, you can make your own terrain, if needed.

The biggest challenge to Mech Guard is the "parking lot" problem. You'll have a LOT of tanks in your deployment zone. If you're not very, very careful, you can block yourself in, and obscure your fire lanes. More than nearly any other 40k army, playing Mech Guard is like playing a naval game - you have to plan, early on, where you want each and every tank to be at a later stage in the game.

Quick question about plasma-weilding 5-men strong command squads/veterans/stormtroopers in mech IG.

In a static gunline army with drop troops doctrine, they could deep-strike in to get good shots at enemy armor/MEQs.

In mech IG, there's no deep-striking, and thus to get to the enemy to perform a suicide mission requires them moving forwards in a chimera. And frankly I'm pretty sure that said chimera will go boom once my opponent knows what's inside, and the squad either dies along with the vehicle or gets ripped apart after that.

So the question is, how viable are such sqauds now, being in a mech IG list? Or is the single 12"move with chimera, disembark and shoot, enough to put the squad in a position that'll allow them to do the most damage? I love the role they play in a drop-troop army, can they do the same in a mech IG army?

And as for rough riders, so do they start on the table in escalation or do they start in reserves like the rest of the mech army?

And is improved comms important enough to fork out 20pts for, especially given the fact that I have a single huge platoon comprising the bulk of my army that I would want to be on the table as soon as possible?

Thanks all! Your comments are great, please do keep them coming!

Yes, Improved comms is that important! 1/3 of games will have escalation. You need that 5 chimera platoon to come on asap.

Why do you think you cannot deep strike? If you buy drop troops for sentinels, or storm troopers (with out chimera) they can certainly arrive by deep strike in a mech list.

Your RR will be on table in escalation -- they are not vehicles.

Oh... my bad about the stormtroopers, forgot they were not considered as guard infantry and hence do not need to be equipped with a chimera...

When I said no deep-striking in mech IG, I was referring only to those 5-men command/veteran/stormtrooper squads. Thanks for reminding me that stormtroopers do not have to take a chimera and can thus deep-strike!

And it's sad that rough riders have to start on the table in escalation (I've always thought otherwise... oh well), but then that means I'm not bringing any, and it sure makes my choices a little easier!

Rough Riders do NOT start on the table in escalation. They are not "basic infantry" - they're cavalry/beasts.

My bad. I am so glad you pointed that out about Rough Riders in escalation. You use these rules like escalation from (weak) memory and fail to go back and reread them. I always thought it said just vehicles start off the table. Hmm, time to add RR back to my list.