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So I have big game on Saturday and looking for some thoughts on my force, I am unsure on what I am fighting but it will be 1850 points, all comments on minor changes and tactics would be great.

At this stage I still don't a theme for my force so unsure if it want to have all tanks, flyers or a mass of storm troopers...ideally looking for a fun but win at all costs force.

HQ
Company Command Squad
-Bolt Pistol
-Power Weapon
-Vox-caster
-Regiment Standard
-Master of Ordnance
-Granade Launcher
-Flamer
122

Troop
Platoon 1
Command Squad
-Vox-caster
-x2 Granade Launchers
-Flamer
50

Squad 1
-Flamer
-Chimera Transport
--Storm Bolter
120

Squad 2
-Flamer
-Chimera Transport
--Storm Bolter
120

Platoon 2
Command Squad
-Bolt Pistol
-Vox-caster
-Meltagun
-Plamsagun
-Flamer
67

Squad 1
-Vox-caste
-Grenade Launcher
60

Squad 2
-Grenade Launcher
55

Squad 3
-Grenade Launcher
55

Squad 4
-Vox-caster
-Flamer
60

Heavy Weapon Squad 1
-Autocannons
75

Heavy Weapons Squad 2
60

Elites
Storm Trooper Squad
-Meltagun
-x3 Additional Storm Troopers
143

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Squad 1
Leman Russ Battle Tank
-Lascannon
-Heavy Bolters
185

Leman Russ Vanquisher
-Lascannon
-Heavy Bolters
190

Leman Russ Squad 1
Leman Russ Demolisher
-Lascannon
-Heavy Bolters
200

Basilisk
-Camo Netting
155

Fast Attack
Hellhound
130

Total 1847

My plan so far is to have Platoon 1 rush across the battlefield and take an objective with the support of the Hellhound and Storm Troopers dropping in from behind. Then Platoon 2 is my sit back with the tanks and defend (squad 1&2 will join together and so will 3&4 creating x2 20 man squads).

How sure if this is the best thing to do with guard....

SO it turns out this list is...pants, Tau killed all bar around 25 guards men by the end of turn 3....

Talking to the guys in the shop and it seems Im best to get bigger tanks and some allies.

So new 1850 list....

HQ
Company Command Squad
-Bolt Pistol
-Regiment Standard
-Master of Ordnance
-Granade Launcher
-Flamer
-Autocannon

Troops
Veteran Squad 1
x2 Meltas
x1 Plamsa

Veteran Squad 2
x3 Flamers

Veteran Squad 3
x3 Flamers

Heavy Support
X2 Leman Russ Battle Tanks
Lascannon
Heavy Bolters

Leman Russ Vanquisher
Lascannon
Heavy Bolters

Baneblade

Allies - Grey Knights

HQ
Inquisitor

Troops
Grey Knights (standard 5 man squad)

Grey Knight Terminator Squad (standard 5 man squad)

I think this will come to around 1850 again.

Would Grey Knights be a good idea?? or would I be better going for Space Marines as I would then get the benefits from Battle Brothers rather than just Allies of Convenience?

You're guard, losing 100s of men is in your nature .

In all seriousness I have a friend who runs a similar list to your first list and he just tries to tarpit everything with masses of troops.

Lots of armour and some flyers may be the way to go. I've not faced a bane blade but they look pretty fearsome.

Marines won't really solve your problem of losing a lot of troops, they're tougher than guard but not by much. They'd give you access to storm ravens but I don't know if they're much use to you.

How did the tau beat you? Buffmander with riptides? Lots of marker lights? If you focus on target priorities then that might help and save you spending lots on mass tanks.

He was allied with Ultra Marines and took Tigurius, and warped 24" across the board with a team of Crisis Suits with one of the special characters allowing the team to target different units....which was annoying, like that with very very lucky rolling from him and horrific rolling from me I was wiped clean on turn 1 and 2. He was using 2 Riptides alone with a unit of Drones with snipers alone with a unit of scouts in a landspeeder.

It was a very very good list and I just got wiper clean :(

Ok, I'm no expert on the new ultramarine stuff (I need to get the new C:SM at some point). Hopefully someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this but I imagine the warping across the board works something like deep striking. If this is the case look into Coteaz and his retinue. They can really throw a spanner in the works for anyone deep striking, mishaps etc.

Was one of the riptides an O'Vesa? If not their shooting is nigh on useless without marker light support. Even if you use all your turn one shooting to do it, wipe out his marker light stuff and you'll cut the effectiveness of those riptides considerably. He may get some lucky rolls but everyone's luck runs out eventually.

Did he use the scouts for a locator beacon? That would help him with the deep strike stuff but coteaz can counter that. Land speeders have paper thin armour so even your lasguns should be able to take that down through weight of fire I would think.

Coteaz isn't a one tool fixes everything but if your opponent isn't expecting him it can really throw his game off. Also, keep your army a bit spread out but close enough together to prevent any "landing area" big enough for his suits to come in. I don't believe he can land on one of your units without mishapping. Same with terrain, this can be a cheap coteaz replacement strategy.

Focus your fire on key targets, marker lights, broadsides etc. once you know your enemy you can find the way to reduce their effectiveness. Tau guns are big and scary but without marker lights they have a 50/50 chance of hitting at best. At this point your armour comes into it's own as the heavy hitters can't mass fire on them. If anything tries to charge you tie it up with some cheap grunts.

Tau are a top army, but if you exploit their weaknesses they can fold pretty quickly. I'll see if I can find out about Tigurius, he's a space marine so he must have a weakness somewhere . Ok, hope I can post this here! http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2013/09/space-marine-reviews-tigurius.html?m=1

Get him in close combat seems the answer or hit him with AP2 weaponry.

Heres some problems I noticed in your list.

Do NOT mix and match special weapons. Take all melta or all plasma. Do not have 1 melta and 2 plasma or whatever. Your only special weapons should be plasma, melta, and flamers.

Vets are best with plasma or melta, flamers waste their bs4. Vets are also best if used in chimeras or vendettas or even staying still behind lines or in buildings. Having vets just on foot means they will die just as easily as a standard guardsmen.

Vox casters are pretty poor and the points to include them add up.

If you blob up ANY infantry squad you HAVE to take a commissar or an inquisitor to get better leadership or the squad will break and you will lose ALL the guardsmen in one go.

Your russes need work. The vanquisher needs some better guns as heavy bolters can add wounds but better sponsons such as Multimeltas add more anti tank or Plasma cannons to add small blasts to help hit multiple guys in units if you dont have any armor to fire at with the vanquisher cannon. So for the vanquisher stick with LC on the hull and for sponsons I would prefer PC's but MM's add more dedicated anti tank so your call.

For the battle tank you absolutely need to stick with no upgrades. The main gun is ordnance so if it fires ALL other weapons snap fire meaning you are wasting 35pts on a bs1 lascannon and heavy bolters.

Other russes to use would include:

Executioner with LC hull and plasma cannon sponsons.

Exterminator with LC hull and either heavy bolter sponsons or MM sponsons.

Eradicator with heavy bolter hull and sponsons is great for taking out hordes and units in cover.

As mentioned the Vanquisher with LC hull and PC or MM sponsons. I use this tank in every game I play and it usually performs decently.

To continue on storm troopers are best used when you run them in 5 man squads with 2 melta guns and they act as a suicide unit. Or use 3 squads with extra guys sporting 2 plasma or 2 melta guns and try to harass your opponent as much as possible by taking out key units.

Hope this helps

Thanks for all the tips guys.

Away to have a re-think....make some tweets and go from there, I have just got myself a Baneblade and Vendetta so that should help my force out....