New Imperial guard player

[colonelduff]

Hi everyone!  I am a new guard player and this looks like a great place for me to ask questions from all the veteran players here.  For the last little bit I have been trying to piece together a Space Marine army but last week I came into a massive amount of Imperial Guard stuff so I became a convert to the guard!

The models that I came across are as follows:

6 infantry squads w/ grenade launchers, vox and sgt for each squad

2 chimeras

1 Leman Russ Battle tank w/o sponsons w/hull mounted las canon

3 missile launcher heavy weapon teams

3 armoured sentinals

1 command squad

1 junior command squad



I have to do some converting to make some of the different layouts I want but I made up the following list to take all my new pieces into account. Let me know what you think.



The Tsavo 77th Infantry

HQ
Company Command Squad
Company Commander w/ flak, bolter
4 Veterans w/lasguns
1 Vox
Troops
Platoon Command Squad
Junior officer w/Bolter
3 guardsmen w/lasguns
1 guardsman w/vox
Infantry Platoon
Squad 1
7 guardsmen w/lasguns
1 guardsman w/grenade lancher
1 guardsman vox
1 sgt
Squad 2
7 guardsmen w/lasguns
1 guardsman w/grenade lancher
1 guardsman vox
1 sgt
Squad 3
7 guardsmen w/lasguns
1 guardsman w/grenade lancher
1 guardsman vox
1 sgt
Heavy Weapons Squad
6 Guardsmen W/ 3X missile launchers
Veterans
6 Veterans W/ Lasguns
1 Veteran W/ Vox
2 Veterans W/ Meltagun
1 Veteran Sgt
1 Chimera
Grenadiers doctorate.
Veterans
6 Veterans W/ Lasguns
1 Veteran W/ Vox
2 Veterans W/ Meltagun
1 Veteran Sgt
1 Chimera
Grenadiers doctorate.
Fast Attack
1 Sentinel Squadron
3 Armored Sentinels W/ Autocannon
Heavy Support
1 Lemon Russ Battle tank W/ Battle Cannon, Hull mounted turret,

This all comes up to about 1k.  I`m thinking of toying things around a bit.  I was considering dropping the sentinels and instead giving a chimera to my Command squad to give orders to my veterans and give them a little more oomf.  My tactic would be for the heavy weapons to stay in a back corner while my infantry would form up around it and slowly move up with the Platoon command squad.  The other armored part would work up the other half of the board as far away as possible from my infantry forcing my opponent to split his forces.  The veterans would tank, MC and elite hunt with their Meltas with heavy and medium support.  Hopefully they would also grab any late game objectives.  My pure infantry would simply walk up the other side and camp objectives.  If anyone has any ideas on how they think this list would fair let me know!

Thanks so much,
Duffy

[yvain]

With what you have listed, I am assuming it is all built? If it is not be sure to magnetize the vehicles so you can switch options.

Right now you have the basis for a pretty solid list that can work pretty well at your point level. Your big problem is you lack long range anti-tank AKA lascannon and Vanquisher cannon shots, but you can cross that road later. Some suggestions:

Guards main advantage is long range fire power followed by numbers, which lets you delieve a punishing alpha strike.. You have a lot of troops, but not a lot of killing power in those units. Missile and Grenade Launchers are lackluster weapons. And melta while great its more of solve the problem turn 2 weapon. Without a commissar or a banner those squads are going to start running before they get into range. You also probably have too many voxes. Vox casters are nice bonus, but they need to be on units that really can utilize them like heavy weapon teams in infantry squads. Right now you have more than you can actually give orders so those points are just wasted. Try doing a combine platoon and chuck a commissar or priest in there to help with morale probablems.

If you are going to have a Heavy Weapon Squad you need a CCS there to take advantage of giving orders. The ignore cover and tank hunter orders are huge for making your shots more effective. It is probably better for you to put the ML into the platoons and form a gunline with the CCS support them and have the Veterans charge in their Chimeras to grab any objectives they need.

Autocannons are great for Scout Sentinels because they can outflank and get rear and side armor. With armored sents I would probably pay to go to LC or PC. Split them up as well, there is not advantage for a squadron without a psyker to cast blessings.

[Casiarius]

Welcome. It looks like you already have a solid start on an Imperial Guard force.

As Yvain mentioned, your Infantry Platoon will be most effective if it is combined into one big blob and led by a high-Leadership character. I recommend a Primaris Psyker, who can give the whole squad very powerful buffs. By combining your squads together, you can get far more bang for your buck from orders and psychic powers.

I would get some Heavy Weapons Teams for your Infantry Squads right away, either Lascannons or Autocannons. Missile Launchers could work in a pinch... I'd use them in the squads rather than separately if you have to play with just the models you've got.

Ordinance-armed Leman Russes can only snap-fire their other weapons, so if you can get the Lascannon off the hull and replace it with a Heavy Bolter, I would do it. Battle Cannons are typically fired at infantry anyway, and the snap firing issue renders a hull Lascannon essentially worthless. If you have the bits to swap out the Battle Cannon, there are many fine non-ordinance variants that can make effective use of hull and sponson weapons.

I have some "Cadian Pattern" Armored Sentinels with Autocannons myself and I'm still pondering what they're good for.
- As much as I like Autocannons, the Leman Russ Exterminator has essentially the same Autocannon firepower as that whole squadron, it has 14 armor, and it's actually cheaper. The Leman Russ is just the better choice overall.
- You can get Armored Sentinels with Plasma Cannons, but there's a Leman Russ (Executioner) that has the same firepower as that squadron for about the same price, with 14 armor.
- On the other hand, there is no "Leman Russ Annihilator" that carries multiple lascannons, and it's rather expensive to give Lascannons to Heavy Weapons Teams/Squads. Although Lascannon Armored Sentinels are still not cheap, and can't take orders, they can move and fire, and they can withstand attacks that would completely obliterate a Heavy Weapons Squad.
- Although you can get all the Heavy Flamers you'll probably ever need on Chimeras, an Armored Sentinel can fight in melee and tie up some kinds of troops (those without krak grenades, power fists, etc). I would use a rampaging Heavy Flamer Sentinel before I would turn one of my Platoon Command Squads into a suicide pyro squad armed with flamers.

The advantage to having vehicles in a squadron is that you can move the wounded ones to the back and the healthy ones to the front each turn, to spread out the damage they take and keep them all operational as long as possible. Admittedly, this works better with more durable vehicles like Leman Russes.