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Hi all! First post etc

So I'm an older(er) player looking to get back into the hobby after ~15 years. I no longer own anything Warhammer related so we're starting from scratch here. Imperial Guard starter army below - bit under 500 points. I'm looking for suggestions of what other heavy/special weapons I should take (not really different units) to make 500. TLDR look at only the list and the bold bits...

HQ: Well I gotta take a CCS (unless I take the cheap phycher but he's not really in the spirit of this army). These guys will sit with the gunline and issue orders like they are supposed to. This squad is vets so for 20 points (same as normal) I can get a heavy team. I chose autocannon. Should I give the commander some better gear in case they get assaulted? Perhaps a power weapon amd/or plasma pistol?

Company command squad - 50
Company commander, laspistol + CCW - free
2x Veterens, laspistol + CCW, frag + krak - free
1x Veteren autocannon team - 10

=> 60

Troops: This is a Guard infantry detatchment and here's the meat. Is two lascannons the right choice? Should they really be here with these BS3 soldiers? Real heavy squads are no better. I don't see anwhere else to put them though. Also should I include other special weapons (which ones specificlly) in the normal squads? Flamers, grenade launchers, etc?

Troops:

Infantry platoon...

Platoon Command Squad - 30
Commander, laspistol + CCW + frag - free
4x Guardsmen, lasguns + CCW + frag - free

Infantry Squad - 50
1x Sergeant, laspistol + CCW + frag - free
7x Guardsmen, lasguns + CCW + frag - free
1x lascannon team - 20

Infantry Squad - 50
1x Sergeant, laspistol + CCW + frag - free
7x Guardsmen, lasguns + CCW + frag - free
1x lascannon team - 20

=> 170

Veterens: Marine smashers! This unit will be tasked with killing something tough. I would arm it with all meltas but someone told me plasma is better is 6th ed... is this true? Surely it depends... what about 2 x melta + power fist + plasma pistol on the Serg? Or melta bombs on the Serge? Then we have shooting and assault too (but only 12" range). Should I take a heavy bolter in case I just want to get a lot of fire out and nobody else here can do it? What about the Chimera loadout? Any help watsoever appreciated here!


Veterean Squad - 70
1x Veteren sergeant, CCW - free
4x Veterens, shotguns - free
5x Veterens, lasguns - free
Grenadiers (carapace armour) - 30

Chimera - 55
Smoke launchers + searchlight - free
heavy flamer hull mounted - free
heavy bolter turrent - free

=> 160

Fast Attack: I want a scout sentinal with an autocannon. I just like the idea. If you think this is stupid please explain why and I might chnage it.

Scout Sentinel [is cool...] - 35
Autocannon - 5

=> 40

---

430 points

So have at it! You've got 70 points to spend and remember you already have 2 lascannons, 2 autocannons, and a heavy bolter and a heavy flamer. The vets need armed... is it the obvious meltas? How useful are Krak grenades? And should I be giving these command squads close combat capability if possible? Do I want that power fist to kill that pesky marine? Or do I want a Ratling squad or something else completely out of the blue?

Cheers!

Let's have a look at your basis, and the CCS, Platoon, and Veteran squads.

CC weapons (of whatever variety; power fists/ power weapons) are almost never worth taking on the CCS or on veteran squads. They will still die if anything reasonable in Cc attacks them. So it would simply be a waste of points. Power axes can be useful when running an infantry blob (at least 3 infantry squads 'blobbed up together in one unit preferably with a commissar), as then they have the bodies to take the damage and still be around to hit back. This is the only place I would think about taking power weapons/ fists.

For special and heavy weapons, the best are the melta and plasma guns, and the lascannon and autocannon. They outperform the other guns in almost all circumstances. The flamer can be useful on certain squads, but not on everything; the grenade launcher and sniper rifle are poor. The missile launcher costs too much when the lascannon is only slightly more, and much better, and the heavy bolter just isn't that good. The mortar is again simply poor.

If the CCS is going to be defensive then the lascannon is the one you want. In general it deals more damage than the autocannon (bar weak infantry which can be killed with lasguns anyway), so grab it. More forward focused CCS can grab 4x plasma gun for serious shooting power. (Most of the random upgrades for them are also worthless, save possibly the standard).

I like lascannon in guard a lot, it's the heavy weapon I use most of in my armies. If you have enough of them the BS3 won't matter so much, and remember the CCS can give out orders which really help a lot. Remember to use them every turn. (Again remember you can blob up infantry squads, so consider a commissar for the leadership bonus, and stubborn).
Plasma guns or meltas can be useful on the infantry squads too, if you want more firepower.
Flamers can be useful on the PCS, but I tend to use it to hide on an objective somewhere out of LOS, and try not to get it shot.

Veterans are excellent, the BS4 really is very useful. Plasma is generally better in 6th edition, as you build your army up you can grab a bit of both. For first I would grab 3 plasma guns on the vet squad. Always give them the full 3 special weapons. Heavy weapons are generally not worth it on them, as you want them to be mobile. Don't bother upgrading the sergeant to anything. The doctrines are good, but expensive.

The chimera loadout I find best if turret multi-laser and hull heavy flamer. It is the most versatile loadout.

Sentinels in general are pretty poor units I'm sorry to say. AV10 plus only 2 hull points means they are very easy to kill, and will rarely survive the first couple of turns. Maybe outflanking some together might work, but they are just too fragile against most lists.


A good addition to this would be a second veteran squad in a chimera to give you some redundancy and a second vehicle for opponents to deal with. Another Infantry squad or two wouldn't be a bad choice either. (Plus a commissar for them).


Hope this useful.