Help me build a well rounded army

[Irish Wrist Watch]

Hi, i just recently got into warhammer, building up my army out what i could get. Currently i just don't want to spend that much more money but i believe i have enough for a well rounded army. I am trying to create a combined arms list that focuses on foot slogging infantry supported by a basilisk and several tanks.

What i have:
HQ:
1 Company Command squad (I have a model i named Rago Ramirus, I was thinking about giving him the same stats and point cost of Creed), 1 Officer of the fleet.

1 Lord Commissar

1 Ministorum Priest with laspistol

Elite:
Ratlings 3X

Troops:

1 Chimera

Commissars 2X

Platoon command squad 2X

5X infantry squads

3X Mortars
1 Heavy bolter
1 Autocannon
1 Lascannon

Heavy support

Leman Russ Tank (With any turret option) 4X

Basilisk
________________

Im not sure what i should outfit my tanks with or what types of troops (Veterans or Regular Troops) I should do. The two people i mostly play against are Tau and RavenGuard space marines. What types of list should i go with for each?

[Deleted]

If your not into spending Veterans are a better choice. Against space marines swarming is your best bet , lots of infantry with artillery in support

[optimat]

A Heavy Weapons team with Autocannon, Heavy Bolter, and Lascannon is a little strange. You will be wasting the shots of the HB if you decide to shoot armour and wasting the shot of the Lascannon if you decide to shoot infantry! Keeps the roles the same so when they shoot at a target you are making the most of it. Perhaps put the HB in an infantry squad and fill the slot with another autocannon.

[TheHoboHunter]

With 4 Russes and a Basilisk, you can easily find the points to make solid lists with regular infantry or veterans. I personally run 2-3 Russes in anything 1000pts or over, and it works fine for me.

Some starting points for you, since you said you were new:
1. Welcome to the Imperial Guard! Our codex isn't quite the steep learning curve like the last one, but it's still the manly army for manly fighting men!
2. Less is more. You want to ONLY spend points on things you know your men will use, like filling every slot of special and heavy weapons in a squad, before you buy fancy wargear or silly characters.
3. Redundancy is important. Your guys are all BS3 or 4. They will miss things. Have a second unit to pick up the slack.


In regards to the infantry, you might not want to jump on the Vets bandwagon right away unless you want to fork out for more chimeras, you'll probably want to pass on going all-Veterans. They excel at mobile warfare; out in the open they tend to die very quickly and lack the resilience of larger combined squads of regular infantry.

That being said, why not do a mix of both? You could go with two infantry platoons here, or just a single one and cannibalise the models from the second command squad (or build it different for different army lists). Build your platoon commands into single roles depending on what you like (4x flamer or 4x plasma are popular and effective if you have the models), put them in command of 2-3 infantry squads, and make another 1-2ish squads of Vets who can go mobile in chimeras. Besides, you're not going to be able to use your squad of 3 mortars as a single unit without taking at least one infantry platoon to attach them to.

Speaking of the other 3 heavy weapons, there's nothing wrong with having 3 different ones. You just don't want them in the same unit. So split them up into 2-3 different infantry squads; they're a cheap addition to the unit and gives it something to do besides flick laserpointers at the enemy. People think the greatest strength of the IG is our number of bodies. It isn't. It's our number of special and heavy weapons per unit.

Though as mentioned earlier, when it comes to the Lascannon you might have to consider what the rest of the squad will be doing. I solved that issue by putting one in my company command squad: it's small (won't waste excess lasgun fire), doesn't move much (won't waste firing opportunities), and has a BS of 4 to capitalise on. Another good choice might be some stationary veterens; they've got good BS as well and usually pack multiple premium weapons to deal with high-priority targets.

Your company command squad can really do anything; be a lascannon hardpoint in the middle of your infantry blobs, be a mobile multi-plasma/flamer death machine in that chimera, or anything else. Just don't spend too many points on them, because They. Will. Die.


A Lord Commissar makes for a decent second HQ choice, but I would highly question anyone taking something other than a Company Command Squad as their first pick. Making everyone around him braver is good, but nothing a Regimental Standard can't do. Regular Commissars I feel more or less the same about, but they're good additions if you want to blob your infantry into 20-30 man units. Buy a commissar for an infantry unit, combine it with another before the game, and you have a 20man firebase that's gonna die standing.

The priest, on the other hand, is pretty much a write-off in this codex. He's expensive, easily targeted, and does nothing your regular boys can't do themselves. Sad, but that's what I've found.

Ratlings are a bit hit and miss. I find it's a case of either go very little, or go full. A full squad can actually kill something of note; a minimum squad of 3 can hide somewhere annoying and ANYTHING your opponent sends its way is one less unit charging your lines. Best 30pts ever.


The Russes are fine. I get away with 2 standard Battle Cannons and a single Demolisher, but it's a case of filling in what your army can't do elsewhere. Anything goes here, just try to avoid Punishers, Eradicators, and Vanquishers without Pask (despite the fancy rules or big numbers, they just don't perform well). I've personally never liked the Exterminator either, but everyone else loves them so they must be okay.

The Basilisk is also not a bad unit; it's the most general-purpose artillery piece we have now. Just be aware, with all that AV14 from those Russes around, people will jump at the chance to snag an AV12 target instead. It'll die first, each and every time.


Thaaaat.. went on for way too long.The tl;dr of it is:

Make an Infantry Platoon for cheap fodder and heavy weapons
Take some Veterans to augment them
Split your Heavy weapons into the platoon squads
Characters are nice, but don't overdo it
Take Russes to complement the rest of your army.

I can't really help you with either of the opponents you mentioned, since I haven't played them in ages, but I hope what I said gives you some basic knowledge into a basic list. Throne protect you!

[Irish Wrist Watch]

Thanks for the replys guys, ill put the advice to good use.