1500 Points - Tank Heavy - New to Guard

[dinodeanpostcat]

Coming from Daemonhunters to Guard as I have an urge to paint loads of tanks, and tanks are what I painted before 40K.

So, when you comment on this list think tanks/armour NOT an armoured company that I cannot use in GW tournaments.

HQ 305 points
Junior Officer + 4 Guardsmen
2 x Anti-tank Support Sqauds with Lascannons
1 x Sentinal Support Squadron with 1 Sentinal armed with a Multi-Laser

Troops 1 and 2 400 points
Junior Officer + 4 Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
Sergenat + 9 Guardsmen
All Infantry Squads have Carapace Armour

Fast Attack 305points
2 x Hellhounds with Extra Armour and Track Guards
1 x Sentinal armed with a Multi-Laser

Heavy Support 490points
2 x Leman Russ with hull mounted Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Track Guards
1 x Demolisher with hull mounted Lascannon, Extra Armour

Total 1500 Points

The Leman Russ tanks have no side sponsons as there is only a 1 in 6 chance of having a armament destroyed result and I'd rather spend the points on something I will use rather than something I may not.

The Demolisher has a Lascannon so that it can shoot first turn whilst it's Demolisher Cannon is out of range.

Any and all advice really appreciated.

Thanks.

[qsd]

HQ 305 points
Junior Officer + 4 Guardsmen
2 x Anti-tank Support Sqauds with Lascannons
1 x Sentinal Support Squadron with 1 Sentinal armed with a Multi-Laser

I would give a standard to your HQ squad and use it as an Ld bubble to keep your guardsmen from running. Your troops are no longer Ld8 or fearless.
Personally I think autocannons are more useful on sentinels because of the longer range.

Troops 1 and 2 400 points
Junior Officer + 4 Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
Sergenat + 9 Guardsmen
All Infantry Squads have Carapace Armour

I suggest putting special and heavy weapons in your squads. It makes them much more effective and for not too many points more you now have squads that have a fair chance of hurting something.
Also remember that your officers and heavy weapon squads must be equipped with carapace too. It would be nice if you listed all of the doctines you're using as well

Fast Attack 305points
2 x Hellhounds with Extra Armour and Track Guards
1 x Sentinal armed with a Multi-Laser

Same as above for the sentinel
The hellhounds are nice. If you have spare points I suggest heavy stubbers

Heavy Support 490points
2 x Leman Russ with hull mounted Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Track Guards
1 x Demolisher with hull mounted Lascannon, Extra Armour

Total 1500 Points

The Leman Russ tanks have no side sponsons as there is only a 1 in 6 chance of having a armament destroyed result and I'd rather spend the points on something I will use rather than something I may not.

The Demolisher has a Lascannon so that it can shoot first turn whilst it's Demolisher Cannon is out of range.

Any and all advice really appreciated.

I would go with sponsons on the russes. I see your logic, but you're forgetting that battle cannons scatter. When you're trying \to hit small units, heavy bolters are usually preferable.

Overall, I think this list is alright, but would be more effective if your infantry had special or heavy weapons.

[SimulatedSnowman]

Definitely spend the points and get yourself either a Heroic Senior officer or an Honorifica Imperialis on your commander. You're seriously gonna want that leadership. Multi-lasers are a good all around choice, but like qsd said, Autocannons have longer range and strength. Really it's a matter of flavor, since either is nice.

Your infantry wants heavy/special weapons. At least heavy weapons. A line Infantry squad without at least heavy bolter is like... it's like... I don't know what it's like. It's not in my realm of understanding. You have enough anti-tank weapons, and I'm assuming that you want your hellhounds to do the majority of your anti-horde, but I'll tell you from experience that Hellhounds draw a lot of fire. It would be useful to have your infantry be able to give a little more oomph to their horde clearing.

Adding Heavy Bolter Sponsons is a good idea for two reasons. 1, even though as you said it's a 1 in 6 chance, if you take that 1 in 6, your tank is useless for the game. So technically, there's a 2 in 6 chance your tank is rendered ineffective, one being you lose your battlecannon, two being your tank gets destroyed, and on a penetrating hit, those odds get worse. 2, there are definitely situations when it is more prudent to shoot 9 heavy bolter shots than to scatter a pie plate, such as if you're moving your tank and don't want to take the 2d6 scatter for it. It doesn't cost all that much to upgrade, and the rewards are well worth it.

The Demolisher with a Lascannon is also a little iffy. The fact of the matter is, Demolishers are good up close and dirty. If you're keeping your Demolisher back to fire its lascannon, you're denying its real strength. I would suggest that you take heavy bolters all around again, and maybe take smoke launchers. This way you can roll up, pop smoke and be relatively safe for your opponent's turn, then drop the serious stuff on them on your turn.

[dinodeanpostcat]

Hmm,

Points taken, but with only 1500 points and HQ + Troops at minimum then I'm not sure what needs to go to add in the modifications.

Any advice re. tinkering with the list would be helpful.

Oh, and at the moment no doctrines are used. They cost points that prevent me from taken so much armour - and remember the theme is armour.

[qsd]

If you're not using doctrines, how do your infantry squads have carapace?

I suggest taking the grenadiers doctrine. Its free
An alternative for your platoons could be
2 squads of 8 Grenadiers
-2 grenade launchers or plasma in each
2 Chimeras
-multilaser
-heavy bolter
-extra armor
-smoke
The total is about 386, roughly the same as your current troops. They're more likely to do something, have carapace, and also add 2 more tanks to the list.

[dinodeanpostcat]

I didn't think Carapace was specifically a doctrine, more something like wargear. Anyway I stand corrected.

Qsd, I really like your idea for Grenadiers, I will play around with the list a bit and see what I come up with.

When done I will post it up for some more comment.

Thanks.

[dinodeanpostcat]

Doctrines: Grenadiers

HQ 340 points
Heroic Senior Officer + 4 Guardsmen
2 x Anti-tank Support Squads with Lascannons
1 x Sentinal Support Squadron with 1 Sentinal armed with an Autocannon

Troops 1 and 2 376 points
Sergeant + 8 Storm Troopers, 2 with Plasma Gun
Chimera Transport, Multi-laser, Extra Armour, Smoke

Fast Attack 290points
2 x Hellhounds with Extra Armour
1 x Sentinal armed with an Autocannon

Heavy Support 493points
2 x Leman Russ with hull mounted Heavy Bolter, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour
1 x Demolisher with hull mounted Heavy Bolter, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour, Smoke Launchers

Total 1499 Points

Comments on this revised list appreciated.

Thanks

[SimulatedSnowman]

Doctrines: Grenadiers

HQ 340 points
Heroic Senior Officer + 4 Guardsmen
2 x Anti-tank Support Squads with Lascannons
1 x Sentinal Support Squadron with 1 Sentinal armed with an Autocannon

Troops 1 and 2 376 points
Sergeant + 8 Storm Troopers, 2 with Plasma Gun
Chimera Transport, Multi-laser, Extra Armour, Smoke

Fast Attack 290points
2 x Hellhounds with Extra Armour
1 x Sentinal armed with an Autocannon

Heavy Support 493points
2 x Leman Russ with hull mounted Heavy Bolter, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour
1 x Demolisher with hull mounted Heavy Bolter, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour, Smoke Launchers

Total 1499 Points

Comments on this revised list appreciated.

Thanks

That is a nice list. Since you're emphasizing tanks here, you don't need a whole bunch of infantry. You can use your two Grenadiers squads to snatch up objectives and have a reasonable chance of surviving the battle with all that armor on the table. If you wanted to bump up to 2000 you could always add a traditional infantry platoon for some gunline action, or two more squads of grenadiers (two in elites or one in elites and one in troops) and you'll be running around the table and dropping all kinds of template and pie plate damage all over the place. Good stuff.

The only thing worth considering, though it certainly isn't a necessary thing since you've got a bunch of lascannons already, is maybe take a grenadier squad and give them meltas instead of plasma. You might catch an enemy tank on its side armor with clever movement.

[dinodeanpostcat]

Thanks for all the advice, it has been most helpful.

The switch to Grenadiers not only brings with it two extra pieces of armour, but saves me having to paint 34 extra Guardsmen! Could not be better.

Time to get some tanks.