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Soooo i started a new army, astra militarum (vostroyans)

Here is what i got so far:

company command squad
1 commander
4 snipers (camo gear)


Veterans:
1 sergeant. (plasma pistol)
5 veterans
1 heavy boltor team
2 melta guns (1 flamer and 1 grenade launcher will function as flamer)
All in a chimera (multi-laser, dozer blade, heavy bolter.

1 sergeant. (las pistol)
5 veterans
1 heavy boltor team
2 melta guns (1 flamer and 1 grenade launcher will function as flamer)
All in a chimera (multi-laser, dozer blade, heavy flamer.

2 hellhounds (1 with heavy flamer 1 with heavy bolter)

2 Leman russ Battle tank heavy bolter sponsons and heavy bolter hull-mounted

1 manticore heavy bolter

i also got:
1 medic, 1 fox caster, 1 standard bearer and 2 guardsman

So, i all bought this already assembled, i got some bitz so switch the hull mounted weapons and stuff.
i'm not sure about the 2 meltas in each squad, and the heavy bolter, maby switch them for autocannons or lass canons?
I was told the sponsons on the battle tank make no sence cuz the have to be snap fired.

Sentinels are models i like, not sure how i should equip them, lasscannons? or autocannons?

what about the plasma cannon tank, i like those aswell, with 2 sponsons or without? cuz they have to make a lot of gets hot rolls... or is there another good leman russ?
next thing is wyverns, i would like to get 2 of those but that will give me 4 heavy slots. so then i should move 1 to the tank commander slot i guess??

what do you guys think and suggest?

I'd definitely keep the meltas, but if they're going in the Chimeras (as they should) then the heavy weapon team is almost useless, no matter which weapon they have. I'd get another 10 man squad to fill out your vets so that you don't have to use the heavy weapons teams, thus saving points. As for the heavy bolter squads, I would definitely swap them out for autocannons

Heavy bolters on the Leman Russ do have to be snap fired (when firing ordnance, eg. Demolisher, Battle Cannon) but on average you'll get one or two hits, and that could kill 1 or 2 Marines every turn, so it's not a terrible idea, but definitely not an auto include.

I never have much luck with sentinels, but there's two ways I field them. Scout sentinels with heavy flamers, so they can potentially hit something first turn if you go second. It's also fun to outflank them. The other way I run them is armoured with either the multi laser or a plasma cannon. It's a pretty cheap TEQ killer if you don't roll poorly.

The plasma tank isn't terrible, but if you roll a lot of 1s you can quickly destroy yourself. I rarely take them, but if you fight a lot of TEQ then this is a tank that will do well. The eradicator is a good tank because s6 ignores cover is pretty useful, and you can fire all sponsons normally. I also like the Vanquisher with a lascannon and multi meltas. The Vanquisher is a good tank for a tank commander, but if you really want to have fun with tank commanders, use Pask and put him in a Punisher.

Wyverns are great units, but from what I can see, your army needs some more anti vehicle before it needs wyverns. Also I never take plasma pistols in any of my lists. Use those points in a power weapon if you're planning on assaulting. Other than that, have fun experimenting and destroying the enemies of the imperium!

Ive played AM for like 9 years now, and I just started including Skitarii into an allied detachment. My favorite and the most fun ways I've found to play guard so far are
High order formations
Play lots of troops in transports w/special weapons and include Creed and lots of CCS (company command squads) use orders to fit every bill and heavy armor in lemans to back it up. Ive found hellhounds to be sadly ineffective as much as I love them. Wyverns are cheaper, longer range, and holy cow can they kill a 40 ork horde like no ones business.
The other way is heavy armor
Pask as HQ w/ 2 Lemans
2 vets in chimeras or valkyries w/ meltas
Crap tons of lemans wyverns basilisks and flyers

I also reccomend if you play a Leman Russ executioner to only take it with Pask in the unit. He gives the tank squad preferred enemy and allows re-rolls on all Gets Hot! Ive played a squad of 3 executioners and have only glanced myself twice! AM is a really fun army and Im sure youll have a blast


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, appending that. Try not to put heavy weapons squads in squads with another purpose. If youve got meltas with your vets they need to be mobile on the front and teams slow them down. If you want vet heavy teams give them long range weapons like snipers and keep them back to punish the enemy at range or use platoon heavy squads so they are their own unit

The only thing I'd criticise is the loadout on your Veterans. I'd agree with the others that the units should look something more like this:

[TROOPS] Veteran Squad = 120
-3 Melta Guns
-Demolitions Doctrine (if you can find the points for it)
[TRANSPORT] Chimera = 65

That'll give you a really formidable unit with a decent bag of tricks. Just remember that they're not in Rhinos. Pivots are free, so don't show side-armour if you can help it.

The rest of your units look perfectly fine.

Yeah i figured that about my vets, thing now is i play vostroyans
I have 2 normal vets left so can swap them with 1 heavy bolter team. i will see if i can make/fix or proxy 2 others for the other heavy bolter team.

The chimera has dozerblade and heavy bolter is that ok?

For the next tanks, i'm not sure what to get, the plasma tanks or the lasscannon tank?
The plasma has the gets hot rolls and the lasscannon has only one shot, such a shame if you miss :p
How about the autocannons? i like those, are those tanks anny good? or maby on sentinels?
You are talking about the eradicator but dont you think that will give me a lot of anti infantri tanks? with 2 battle tanks and 2 eradicators?

For now ill make my veteran squads better by ditching the heavy weapons team and add 2 melta guns.
Ditch the sponsons on the battle tank.

Convert some of the innumerable HWTs you get to auto cannons or lascannons. It's easy to obtain the lascannons/auto cannons bits from the Ironstrider Ballistari. They're ornate, easy to swap and scale really well with the guardsman.

Dozer blades are a good idea if you need to drive through terrain, I often give them to my meltas vets. Heavy bolter is good too, there's nothing wrong with an extra 3 s5 shots going into the enemy each turn.

If you just buy the Battle Tank kit, it comes with the Battle Cannon, Eradicator Cannon, Vanquisher Cannon and Exterminator Autocannon. That gives you a bit of variety if you want to magnetize them, or you could do what I do, and use the Battle Cannon, but don't glue the second part in the barrel. It stays put without glue (now you have a battle cannon), you can remove it and call it a Demolisher, or you can change it out with the Vanquisher bit.

The Exterminator is a decent tank if you fight armies with vehicles that have AV 10 or 11 (in fact they are my go to tank when I fight Dark Eldar) or monstrous creatures. Throw a lascannon on for 10 points and you can reliably knock off 2-3 wounds/hull points a turn if they don't pass their saves. I don't ever use Autocannons on sentinels due to their BS 3. It's better to get a HWS and park them in cover.

Eradicators are good, but yes it would be a good idea to get some more anti vehicle first.

As you grow your army I would strongly recommend looking at building the Emperor's Blade Assault Company formation, it is very nasty and you already have Hellhounds and Veterans. I've had a lot of success with them, giving your veterans and Hellhounds Preferred Enemy on objective-controlling enemies makes them very good for the points in Maelstrom or ITC. I personally have not had great luck with lots of tanks, but since you have most of the models anyway you could just grab an Enginseer and play both the Assault formation and an Emperor's Fist formation from the Hammer of the Emperor detachment, plus your command squad. Chimeras add quite a lot of weight of fire to your army- I buy Dozer Blades for my Chimeras and Hellhounds, keep them otherwise as-is but add the heavy stubber upgrade. Even at BS3, you end up doing surprising amounts of damage once you start rerolling your ones with PE. Also, you can engage a silly number of targets with a single tank full of troops due to top hatch and/or Lasgun Arrays-and again, rerolling those ones starts to turn the crappy lasguns into something with a bit more punch. I like to kit my Vets out as either Forward Sentries or Grenadiers, both help your troops to survive longer.