New Imperial Guard Army

[tatertron]

So... I am starting my journey into the wonderful world of Warhammer 40K! I am really new to all this, but seen it played a few times and LOVE painting the models. So i was wondering if someone could help me build my army. I am going for a good mix army.

I dont have the rulebook yet (on order, be here in a week), so i don't understand any of the jargon yet. All i have is the IG Codex and 16 troops i bought off ebay. They where already put to gether. 2 Sergeants w/bolt pistols and Chainswords, 4 with flamers and 4 with those radio backpack things (as i said, really new to all this). all the rest have Lasguns.

I bought on ebay the set that comes with a Chimera transport and 10 troops. How should i put them together?

What should i buy next? I was thinking the Start Collecting pack that comes with a Leman Russ, Commissar, heavy weapons team and an additional 10 troops. Seems to be the best value, especially if bought on Ebay. This would put me at 36 troops. Too many for now? How should i set up the LR?

Any and all help is appreciated

  

[cheminhaler]

Welcome to the Imperial Guard, conscript.

It sounds like a good start. You don't need a lot to start playing; I'd aim for 500 points to begin with, then slowly expand to 750 points, 1000 and upwards. I live in the UK, we used to play 1500 points as a 'standard' game but nowadays because of new methods of collecting armies the points values have gone up a bit in some circumstances because people want to play with large formation armies or super heavy tanks or knights. Apparently 2250/ 2500 was more the normal tournament sized game in the US but you can always arrange with your opponents what sized game you're playing.

So for your purposes of starting quickly if you get the start collecting box with the leman russ you should have enough for 500 points but it might be an idea to buy a chimera or a taurox transport vehicle so that at least one squad is mobile. A standard infantry platoon or veteran squad (you'll start with veterans at low points because inf platoons are very points heavy and you'll need to play at 1000 point level at least for platoons) can take a heavy weapon team, which is 2 guard on the same base with a heavy weapon. Now you have a choice of heavy weapons. My own personal favourites are missile launchers without the flakk upgrade and lascannon, because they can deal with enemy armour. Just assume that you'll be playing Knights at a higher points level. Your squads will need as much Anti-tank as they can get, and spamming lascannnon and plasma guns wherever you can will help deal with armour.

[nutty]

Welcome to the guard!

16 men is a big of an odd number, does one of the pistol/chainsword guys have a distinctive head or a long coat? That could indicate it is an officer.

Anyway a squad in a chimera is good, and the start collecting set is a great deal. So that is a solid start that will leave you with a nice starter army:

HQ: lord Commisar

Troops (1): 10 veterans in a Chimera (ebay box)

Troops (2): infantry platoon
- platoon command squad
- infantry squad
- infantry squad

Heavy support: Leman Russ

Depending on upgrades and the Leman Russ variant that makes a 500 point army after you put in some special & heavy weapons.

By the time you get to 1000 points you essentially want two units "per target": two units that can deal with tanks, two that are good at killing heavy infantry, etc. So it would make sense to keep that in mind for future purchases.

For the guys you have know.. It's hard to go wrong with flamers and autocannons, so that's a good start.

[cheminhaler]

I was thinking a command squad would be better than a Lord commissar. The commi lord model comes with bolt-pistol/ plasma pistol and powersword options. Love the model; but I'd never use that in a small game, nor even in my 1500 list. Might use it for big apoc games maybe.
Company command squads have more models and can issue orders. I prefer mine bare bones all with laspistol, cc. Emptyhat's commander has a lascannon team; it makes Captain Testless a bit of a sniper and makes his location stick out like blueberry muffins for the birds, but at least he uses the Ballistic Skill of 4 to a deadly effect.

[tatertron]

Thanks for the replies!

So the 2 that have the chain swords do have distinctive heads, so i was figuring they could be officers for 2 squads.

Just got in my Chimera and 10 extra troops, putting me at a total of 26 troops and 1 transport.

I decided not to use the Chimera commander option, so have glued the top hatch shut. Suppose if i want to change that i can always get some bits on Ebay and build an extra turrent with commander.

As far as weapons go, i have heard (from another post on this forum) that the flamer is the way to go. What do y'all think?

Also, how should i build the additional 10 troops? Figured i already had enough Officers for 2 squads. Each squad would have a Vox caster. 1 squad with a flamer, the other with a grenade launcher. Then i could build one more flamer a have a 6 man special weapons squad with 3 flamers. That sound good?

So should i still get the Start collecting pack? That would put me at 36 troops total.

[nutty]

I'm personally not really a fan of grenade launchers, but they do occaisionally allow you to glance the last hullpoint of a light vehicle so they can work.

The lord Commissar as an HQ is.. 'meh' at best; but will allow you to run a battle forged army with the models you have. A company command squad lets you order your infantry units around, boosting their performance. You could pick up a pair of command squads first, and get the start collecting set after. The command squads have a better selection of special weapons to choose from, so you can give two meltaguns (1 per box) to your chimera vets.

It all really depends on what direction you want to take your army.

[treadiculous]

Hiya,

welcome to the guard!

I like infantry so would recommend you get all your infantry painted up, you can mix and match the lasguns around as you get to know the army.

Lasguns are cheap and effective 'en masse', especially when boosted by orders, this is worth remebering when the temptation to buy other wargear is there.

36 men:

1 lord commissar
5 man platoon squad
10 man infantry platoon squad
10 man infantry platoon squad

10 man infantry veteran squad

The lord Commissar isn't ideal, but you can use all your models,



alternatively:

5 man Company Command Squad

10 man infantry veteran squad
10 man infantry veteran squad
10 man infantry veteran squad

I'd probably prefer this second option as the command squad have really nice orders and veterans are cool too.



As you are starting out I'd say that 40k is a great game which tends to get more complex as the games get larger, more units, more special rules, more dice rolls!... while some players do have bigger games in terms of points I've noticed that they field units which are expensive in points ie; knight titans and super-heavy tanks, super-space men in terminator armour and uber wargear etc, this means the big game isn't slowed so much by the logistics of play (and these army types can be cheaper on the wallet too).

however, you have chosen guard, these humble humans can out horde the hordes, or can out-tank the tanks, bombard their artillery with ordnance or spit death from the skies with tough gunship transports... you have lots of choice!

One thing I'd recommend though, try to specialise in one kind of unit that has the weapons to take on everything, doing so will deny the opponent the primary use of some of their weapons, eg: field an all tank army and there willl be no point them shooting you with anti-infantry guns!



and finally:

The tasks I see armies now facing are:

1) Objective Control (Getting to objectives quickly, and then holding them)
2) Anti Infantry
3) Anti Elite
4) Anti Tank / Monstrous Creature
5) Anti Air
6) Anti Psyker
7) Flank Security (Protection from deep strike, infiltrate and outflank)
8) Leadership (Ensuring your men do not run away)


nutty's rule of two is good, often you can get a unit to cover more than one of the above target types / role too.

[tatertron]

So i took y'alls advice and bought a company command squad.

So now the question is, how do i build them? What weapons should the commander have? The specialist?

I was also thinking that since i have a couple extra guards, i could use a standard trooper (Not the one that comes in the command box) with a Vox caster for my command squad, allowing me to have more weapon options in the future. Is that allowed?

[treadiculous]

Personally I keep the squad as cheap as possible, but that's partly due to the way I play them;

IF I have points spare after making the rest of my list, I tend to get a Master of Ordnance and a Regimental Standard, this means they always act as backfield command.

However;

Command squads also make excellent 'budget veterans' as they can field lots of cool weapons in the greatest density possible. They give you one extra shot (with said cool weapon) and save 10 points in the process. If I field a unit like this I don't expect it to last long so this tends to be a second command squad, again I keep them cheap and only buy the weapon upgrades.

[nutty]

The CCS is included in my lists to issue orders, so I often field my CCS bare bones or in a chimera for protection. If I give them an upgrade it is usually a Lascannon, it has the range to be used from a safe position and the veterans in the CCS are bs4 so they are more accurate then regular heavy weapon teams.

If they do not have a chimera I would advise to give them camo-cloaks: that way they are a bit more survivable hiding in cover.

The special weapons in the box (melta, plasma, heavy flamer) are better suited for veteran squads IMHO.

[mccaptain]

I ran a veteran mechanized list. I had great success with vets with melta and CCS with x4 plasma. With hull mounted heavy flamers on the chimeras, I had a weapon for every occasion.

[tatertron]

I'd like to add an image of my current army. Cant figure out how. I have the image saved on my computer as a JPG.

Anyways....... here's where i am so far.

2 10 man squads with sergeants, Vox casters and Flamer/grenade launcher. 

Additional standard 3 Cadian infantry, and 3 flamers (possible Special Weapons team, or can be absorbed into another squad/squads)

1 Command squad with Company Commander, Standard, Medic, Melta and Sniper rifle. ( i know the Sniper rifle sucks, just love the model)

1 Leman Russ Demolisher with Heavy Bolter. 1 Leman Russ Battle tank with Melta Sponsons and hull Mounted Lascannon. ( not how i would have set up, but got these 2 online for $22 each, so im not complaining)

1 Chimera w/heavy bolter

Now, Here's what I have on order......................................

Start Collecting: Astra Militarum.

My plan: Buy bits for turret and Punisher Gatling along with Pask. ( should be able to get for around $35 bucks total. Saves me having to buy another Demolisher box set.) Then i will be able to switch out the turret of any of the other tanks as needed. So, how should i set up this Leman Russ? its primary function will be for Pask's Punisher, but how should i set up the box turret? Eradicator, Exterminator, Vanquisher or just field a second Battle Cannon? What about the hull gun and sponson options?  

I was thinking Lascannon for my Heavy weapon team.

I was going to turn this 10 man squad into a veteran squad. I was thinking Heavy Flamer and two Melta Guns. I could use all the extra parts from my Command box and all i'd have to get is bitz for an extra Melta. Unless i use the Plasma Gun from the Command Box. Just feel like this would loose the squads focus and im afraid to field Plasma Guns. What are y'alls thoughts on them? 

At this point i would absorb the other 2 squads into a Conscript squad with the Commissar. I would like this squad to eventually get to around 40-50. Or maybe i can blob a few Infantry squads. I just think larger units will be able to take advantage of Orders better.  

What do y'all think?

[RedsandRoyals]

You need to use an image hosting website like Imgur or Photobucket. I know with photobucket, once you upload it, it'll give you some links to the right. You want the ones with the URL tags.

[tatertron]

[tatertron]

Thank you SO much for the help RedsandRoyals!

[RedsandRoyals]

No problem, that's why they keep us Mods around. You may also want to take a quick read through of this thread. It's got some tips for taking pictures of your minis, since the lighting is doing something of a disservice by not fully showing off those vehicles in the back. I can say, though, you're certainly a better painter than I am.

[nutty]

A few pointers from what I've read:

-Conscripts: you need a minimum of 2 Infantry squads and a Platoon command squad to field a conscript squad.

-Leman Russ Demolisher: a hull mounted heavy bolter is the way to go here. Because the main weapon has the Ordnance special rule, all other weapons on the tank will only hit on the roll of a 6 (snapshots)

-Leman Russ Battle Tank: the battlecannon has the same ordnance rule as the demolisher, so those fancy hull/sponson weapons are wasted on it. I've never used Melta sponsons myself, so I'm not sure what to pair with those. It'd be anything but a battle/demolisher cannon though. Maybe an exterminator or vanquisher cannon. Or If you think you can do so without ruining your tank: take of the sponsons so you can

-Pask's buddy: Pask has plenty of firepower by himself vs most targets, so you could pair him with just about anything and use his orders to allow the other tank to shoot at other targets. Getting a tank that works against the same type of targets is nice for when you fail the order.

[treadiculous]

Mar 6, 2017 6:10:30 GMT -5 nutty said:

-Leman Russ Demolisher: a hull mounted heavy bolter is the way to go here. Because the main weapon has the Ordnance special rule, all other weapons on the tank will only hit on the roll of a 6 (snapshots)

I would steer toward a heavy flamer, it won't be able to fire a lot of the time, however the situations in which it can fire are usually when the main demolisher cannon is unavailable - eg; the target is too close or the main gun is destroyed (given the short range of the main gun, its not difficult to get the flamer into position).

If you don't want to remove the spons (though it should be fairly easy) you could always run the sponsons as flamers instead.

The turrets should be inter-changeable between the demolisher and main battle tank so having a demolisher loaded up with loads of flamers is not a bad option.

that said, keeping things as cheap as possible is always good.


One thing though; your CCS has a very expensive load out - and doesn't appear to have any particular role in mind, the sniper and melta are opposite ends of the spectrum for what they do, the medic isn't ever particularly worth its points and usually is put in a CCS with a close combat orientation with a commander who's tooled up with some serious anti-elite wargear.

Its not a major problem though as you'll be adding more men to your army and you can switch the special weapons around as you see fit.

[emptyhat]

Mar 6, 2017 6:10:30 GMT -5 nutty said:

A few pointers from what I've read:

-Conscripts: you need a minimum of 2 Infantry squads and a Platoon command squad to field a conscript squad.

-Leman Russ Demolisher: a hull mounted heavy bolter is the way to go here. Because the main weapon has the Ordnance special rule, all other weapons on the tank will only hit on the roll of a 6 (snapshots)

-Leman Russ Battle Tank: the battlecannon has the same ordnance rule as the demolisher, so those fancy hull/sponson weapons are wasted on it. I've never used Melta sponsons myself, so I'm not sure what to pair with those. It'd be anything but a battle/demolisher cannon though. Maybe an exterminator or vanquisher cannon. Or If you think you can do so without ruining your tank: take of the sponsons so you can

-Pask's buddy: Pask has plenty of firepower by himself vs most targets, so you could pair him with just about anything and use his orders to allow the other tank to shoot at other targets. Getting a tank that works against the same type of targets is nice for when you fail the order.

The Demolisher's 24" range main gun actually means that a hull lascannon and no sponsons or hull H.Bolter and H.Bolter sponsons will let it fire a few extra turns when the main gun is out of range. The second one might not be point efficient but has the benefit of giving you 4 weapons rather than two for when you start taking weapon destroyed. I've got my Demolisher's set up with hull lascannon, no sponson because they look cool that way but it's been a while since I've fielded them because the range can be frustrating and pie plating squads who are spread out in and in cover and then you roll a high scatter is just frustrating some times.

[nutty]

To each their own ofcourse, just because I wouldn't doesn't mean no one should. Demolishers to me are overpriced to begin with so I keep mine as cheap as possible.

[tatertron]

Thanks for all your comments. Keep em coming!

Thanks for the complement! I'll try to get some better pictures up. Thanks for the link.

As far as the CCS, i am going to buy a 5 man pack of Shock troops for $10 and assemble the rest of the troop options from the CCS squad box. I know I wont be able to use them all at once, but for versatility sake and to have some extras i thought it'd be a good idea. Plus the Sniper model looks badass!

[nutty]

Good idea before you build the rest of your guys; keep in mind that the models in the 5 man pack come in two pieces, so putting special weapons on them is going to be difficult. Better to use 5 regular guardsmen from the 10 man kit for that and build the 5 man kit as lasgunners.

[Major Downer]

The 5 man box set are only "snap fit", as Nutty says they come in two halfs. They're mainly for the younger kids, so GW can take their pocket Money.

With the 10 man squad you can exicute your ideas just fine.

[emptyhat]

Mar 8, 2017 9:37:28 GMT -5 Major Downer said:

The 5 man box set are only "snap fit", as Nutty says they come in two halfs. They're mainly for the younger kids, so GW can take their pocket Money.

With the 10 man squad you can exicute your ideas just fine.

Well, they are/were cheaper and sometimes you can get them really cheap on ebay, and you can build them very quickly. So sometimes you can get a really nice fast boost to your infantry and then hide the monoposes in the midst of a big platoon (ha, no one uses blobs anymore).

[mccaptain]

I also love demolishers with only a hull mount heavy flamer. Nice and cheap and with cover saves the way they are these days, sometimes it's more helpful than the cannon.