Well that didn't work!

After my first battle with my Imperial Guard I can honestly say that the 1500 pt list I posted the other day doesn’t work. This is the first time that I have used the imperial guard, having wanted to field an army of guardsmen for many years. The list was toothless, it had no real punch and didn’t allow me any way to take objectives or knock the enemy off theirs. The best unit I found was the Valkarie and even that got downed the turn after it arrived. My placing of the models didn’t really work for me as I treated them too much like a space marine army. I didn’t realise they were so easy to kill! My veteran unit with Harker in died to a man in 2 turns and did very little damage and the creed was a massive waste of points, he would be great in a larger force though.

So with this in mind I have decided that I need more teeth. I have a number of tanks that I have collected over the years so I have decided to re model the force with a few more tanks and a few less foot troops. Here is the list that I have decided upon for my next game this week.

1500 pt Imperial Guard list. (take 2)

Company Command

2 snipers, astropath, heavy bolter 100pts

Elites

5 Ratlings 50pts

Troops

Platoon Command, 2 snipers, heavy bolter 50pts
Infantry Squad, Sniper Rifle, Autocannon 65pts
Infantry Squad, Sniper Rifle, Autocannon 65pts

Platoon Command, 2 snipers, heavy bolter 50pts
Infantry Squad, Sniper Rifle, Missile Launcher 70pts
Infantry Squad, Sniper Rifle, Missile Launcher 70pts
Mortar Squad 60pts
Mortar Squad 60pts


Veterans, power fist, 3 meltas 115pts


Fast Attack

Valkarie, las cannon 115pts

Heavy Support

Leman Russ, heavy bolter sponsons 170pts
Leman Russ, heavy bolter sponsons 170pts
Manticore 160pts
Basilisk 125pts

Tactics

The essence of this army is stand and shoot. One thing that I did learn was to kill the enemy before even thinking about moving to take objectives. The infantry have been given more killing power with the heavy weapons and the command squads will be more effective due to positioning. They will not move so I have much less of an issue with where to put them on the table. The armour will work to flatten the enemy line using its big guns. These can also be put in cover to give them more survivability. The valkarie will outflank and deliver the veterans to an objective and then cause havoc in the rear of the enemies lines using those excellent missiles to great effect.

So let’s see how this works I’ll give an update at the end of the week after I have tried this force out.

For the Greater Good

I have never taken part in any type of campaign and I suddenly have a real need to take part in one. I have a feeling that I won’t do very well, but that is a different story. I would like to give it a go, not for the competition but to get involved in a large narrative run by others, to be able to get lost in the story through games. I have been looking at a Tau army for a very long time now but have never seemed to get myself to start it.

I really like the idea of a Tau Hunter Cadre; it works in a very similar way to a theoretical modern military force. I like the way that you have to depend on all of the disparate elements of the army to win a game. I have been told that the Tau are very hard to be a success with but I love the narrative concepts that the codex creates in my warped mind, so I’m going to give them a go regardless of whether I am any good with them. I’ll still have fun trying them out.

1500pt Tau Cooperation Cadre

HQ

Shas’o, plasma rifle, missile pod, multi tracker,
drone controller, shield drone. 135pts

Elites

2 battle suits, shas’vre, bonding knife, multi trackers,
Missile pods, plasms rifles, 139pts

2 battle suits, TL fusion blasters, targeting arrays 124pts

3 stealth suits 90pts

Troops

6 Firewarriors, Shasui, markerlght, 80pts

6 Firewarriors, Shasui, markerlght, 80pts

6 Firewarriors, Shasui, markerlght, 80pts

6 Firewarriors, Shasui, markerlght, 80pts

12 Firewarriors, shasui, markerlight 140pts

Fast Attack

8 pathfinders, Rail Rifle 106pts

Devilfish 80pts

Heavy Support

Hamerhead, Railgun, Burst cannons, multitracker 165pts

Skyray 125pts

Broadside 70pts

Tactics

I’m not really sure what I will do with these guys…the basic concept is to use the markerlitghts to support the shooting every turn ad try to blow the enemy off the table. The small firewarrior teams should slow down the destruction of my firebase by the enemy not being able to overrun any longer. The crisis suits will be tasked with pinpointing enemy threats like terminators and destroying them. I also have two suicide suits equipped with Fusion guns and a raised BS, these will target high value enemy armour or leaders. The stealth suits will lurk around at the back of the enemies’ deployment zone distracting my opponent and killing what they can. The pathfinders will infiltrate and not use the Devilfish, which will be used by the large Firewarrior unit and will work as a beacon for my battlesuits. My heavy armour will target high value targets first and then focus on destroying troops so I can dominate objectives.
I don’t really plan on taking objectives but to destroy the enemy to a man. To me this fits in with the way a Tau Cadre would work. I am not sure how this would work in a tournament or gaming weekend. Once I have tested it and built it ill give it a go and see.

For more Tau fun and frolics go to http://warhammer-tau-army.blogspot.com/


GrimJaw

New Imperial Guard Codex

With the new Imperial Guard book out I am itching to try out some new army lists that work well as part of a story line but are still competitive on the table. After finally getting a proper look at the book this afternoon (children take up a huge amount of time) I have noticed that there are so many cool options in it. I have decided to give the list a go to create a force that focuses on one of the main elements of the IG force; orders. For me these really epitomise how the Imperil Guard would work. The theme is going to be a basic light infantry company backed up by specialists and a small amount of armour, let’s see what I can do with it?

1500 pt Imperial Guard Orders list.

Company Command

Creed, Kell, 1 sniper and full advisors 315pts


Elites

10 Ratlings 100pts

Troops

Platoon Command, 2 flamers 40pts
Infantry Squad, flamer 55pts
Infantry Squad, flamer 55pts
Infantry Squad, Sniper Rifle 55pts

Platoon Command, 2 flamers 40pts
Infantry Squad, Grenade Launcher 55pts
Infantry Squad, Grenade Launcher 55pts
Infantry Squad, Sniper Rifle 55pts
Mortar Squad 60pts

Veterans, Harker, sentries, 3 snipers,
missile launcher 185pts

Veterans, power fist, 3 meltas 145pts

Fast Attack

Valkarie, las cannon 115pts

Heavy Support

Leman Russ, heavy bolter sponsons 170pts

Tactics

The essence of this army is orders. I have used Creed and Kell purely for their skills in giving orders and the likelyhood that the orders will be followed. The sniper rifles of the ratlings will support all teams by pinning key enemy units and slowing them down; with any luck they should kill a few too. The Mortar squad will support in this.

The infantry squads are split into 3 types, flamer squads for taking close objectives. Grenade launcher squads will work as tactical teams and sniper squads will support from a distance. The two platoon command squads will linger behind the infantry squads and add the weight of their flamers to any units that they can and give orders when appropriate.

The real objective takers are the veterans. The first squad with hark in it will work as a infiltrating firebase that should be able to deal with most enemies at a distance. The second squad will enter play in the valkarie; these are designed to be an armour killing.

Finally, you can’t have an IG army without a Leman Russ. This will be tasked with destroying enemy armour and /or large units and drawing a large amount of fire.

This army seems to me to be very balanced and while not particularly effective in any one phase should be challenging to play with and against. I’ll give it a go and see how it gets on.


GrimJaw