So something slightly different and light hearted today... creating a quick mechanised Guard list Duce style in 5 easy steps (For me assume all hull weapons become heavy flamers, The extra anti horde being accessible via chimera hulls is just something I’ve grown to love, saving me points on flamers and the likes, as well as really not making small squads of CC Xenos want to rush my lines).
1: Firstly I like to go to the HQ section
HQ
Company command squad,
Pick: 3 meltas or 4 plasmas
+ Chimera
If points left at end decide on adding plasma pistols to plasma option.
I personally like two of these, sometimes both melta, sometimes mixed but a lot of the time double plasma with pistols to really make termies or MC's go bye bye. Also the extra 2 orders more than makes up for the less men you'd have got in a veteran squad for 20 points more (Assuming Melta CCS vs. Melta vets) and remember your company commander is effectively 3 vets due to extra wounds (Although Instant death attacks counter this slightly unless you can allocate to other men).
2: Then I like to move to the heavy support section to get my heavy hitters.
HEAVY SUPPORT
Pick 3 from following list:
- Manticore
- 2x Hydras
- Leman Russ with hull Lascannon
- Demolisher with hull Lascannon
Although you may wish to get squads of leman Russ battle tanks (Normal not demolisher, I find the demolisher works best alone), if so restrict it to 2 in a squadron to keep footprints down and also to stop overkill. It’s better to have 3 squads of two to allow more targeting than two squads of 3.
3: Once we have these sorted it back to the troops section now to get our bodies and main bulk of the army, usually I like spending points to get at least 5 troops (Platoons give me 3) although 6 troops is my comfort level.
Choice 1: Infantry platoon, cheap and allows masses of bodies down once you get over the initial cost; they’re a solid way to get chimeras cheaper overall and perfect if you see your troops more as obj sitters than fighters.
A) Squads in chimeras, give the platoon command meltas and the normal squads’ autocannons if you have points spare.
B) Give just the PCS a chimera and 3 meltas, get the blob some heavy weapons and a commissar (Power weapons / MB for sgts and commissar optional if points allow)
Choice 2: Veterans. More reliable and classed as a staple of I.G decks, they bring accurate shooting and a nice weapons load out variety.
A) Pick three Meltaguns and put in chimera
B) Take 3 plasma guns and put in chimera
If you have spare points some people like adding in Demo charges, but personally I never have the points and usually prefer taking another squad for the same price as 3 squads with demo charges purchased for them.
4: moving on now we have the majority of our army picked and have two remaining sections of the FOC to consider. Both add their own unique touches, so let’s cover both at the same time.
Choice 1: Fast attack options or Elite
Fast attack Choice:
A) Vendetta,
B) Hellhound, add Dozer blade
Pick as many of these as you need, Vendettas covering more long range anti tank and hellhounds giving you more mobile anti Xenos. You can feel free to max out all 3 slots on these options, maybe 2 Vendettas and a hellhound to gain both benefits if points allow still.
Elite choice:
A) Psyker Battle Squad
B) Storm troopers with either with meltas or plasmas
While I know this is not really giving choice for the Elite segment, I personally find it to be the least needed in the guard army, the storm troopers can be suicide dropped behind tanks to blow them with melta or to thin things with plasma while the Psyker squad is handy to have if you have taken manticores and ant to make units get pinned. Usually I find a squad of 5-9 works in a chimera, although I have seen some people run them on foot relying on other targets to cover them from shooting priority allocation. Even with 5 you get to minus 4 from leaderships so even Ld 9 becomes 5, which is not all that reliable.
5: By now you should be out of points, and if you are playing 1850 you may not have got all the options above. But if you have a few points left, these can be spent as mentioned giving the plasma command squad plasma pistols, or if you took platoons giving them a flamer, basically look at what you need and get the small extras to buff it...
And you’re done, one mech guard list Duce style which usually only takes a few minutes to work out. Although variations on the list can be made this is just to help those trying to knock together a list who may not be as experienced with the codex yet.
Comments, suggestions or anything wrong with what I said?
Not really, pretty much the way I'd go about it - with the main differences being that I rate Le Soldat Marbo and Armoured Sentinels more than you've indicated.
ReplyDeleteCheers for the feedback Rick.
ReplyDeleteI'd agree with you on the sentinels, their very handy to have in lsts, left them out of this as not everyone will find them to their tastes or will ge tthe milage out of them.
Marbo was left off because while I think he can have his uses I don't have enough experience to say whether he would suit my style of mech lists. Maybe add him and the sentinels into an advanced mech list article for those wanting to branch out into different options.
He'll make a test list for lisburn league then to show me he knows his stuff.