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I wasn't sure if it would be "kosher" to ask this in the army list section or not, as I am quite new here (like, 5 minutes ago as of me typing this new), so I decided to seek help here.

I am a fairly seasoned player, all things considered. I've never been one for super competitive lists, preferring to stick to "fluffy" lists (which, as a Space Wolf player, I suppose could be take two ways).

All that said, I have recently taken up Guard. I have used them as allies in the past, but am now looking to develop them into their own army. I am currently playing in an escalation league at my local hobby shop, with this coming wave being set at 1000 points. The catch? We roll for what "slots" we can have. For example, last week I had HQ, troop, heavy support, and elite at 750 points.

This week, I have added a second elite squad to my list, bringing my total up to:
1 HQ
1 Troop
2 Elite
1 Heavy Support

And this wave is 1000 points.

TL;DR : I have 1000 points to fill these slots as efficiently as possible, and am looking for recommendations.

I have a few ideas of my own I would like to experiment with, and I certainly have no issue losing games to learn better strategies. At the same time, winning occasionally with a new army is nice.

If you are interested, here is what I have available to pick from:

HEAVY SUPPORT
Leman Russ Executioner
Leman Russ Punisher
Leman Russ Vanquisher/Battle Tank (I use the same model for both, because I can)
Leman Russ Exterminator
(any of those can have a commander)
2 Basilisks
Wyvern
Manticore

TROOPS
More than enough infantry for any combination you can think of for troops/company command squads at this point level (including many heavy weapons teams)
3 Chimeras

ELITES
Two groups of 5 tempestus scions
Bullgryns W/ slab shields

Obviously, for HQ I can take pretty much any of the options; I have commissars, creed, straken, etc, and can use any of those Lemans without a problem.

I know that the infantry platoon gives me a ton of options on infantry, and so I have played with some lists including that. The fact that I can bring so much armor is also useful. My question to any experienced guard players is how to best balance this force. My last list only had a melta-vet squad in a chimera for troops, with the scions as support. All the other points went into the tanks. It was effective, but the points values were also super low; more points means more heavy guns to kill my tanks.

I also have the option of swapping out a slot for a fortification, if I so choose.


So, if you get bored and want to suggest a list, great. If you just have general advice, also great. I'm just not totally sure how best to proceed, since the Guard is so versatile, and any and all advice is greatly valued.

Thanks!

From my experience you can't go wrong with a Paskisher HQ. He and his squadron mate can be expensive at lower point games, but utterly lethal. For troops I've had success with Veterans in an Chimera (with either 3 melta or 3 plasma, Grenadiers doctrine if you like). Heavy Support throw in that Wyvern, it's one of the few things in our codex that is well worth it's point cost, camo netting is great on it. Can't say much about the Elites, as I've never used any of them. Hope that helps

So here's the bad news. If one of your slots in a guard army is "elites" it's not a competitive list. The guard elite slots are currently locked in a death struggle over who's the single worst unit in all of 40k.

If you want to field purely what's good, usually you wanna stick to Hq troops and heavy support. Wyverns, Infantry blobs, mounted veterans, and Paskisher squadrons tend to be the best guard can bring.

For casual play, they're pretty versatile and I tend to favor blob-based melee play because I love slapping around space marines with little guard duders.