[Liffrea]

Worth the points?

My current army is strictly city fight but I intend to create a standard force eventually, really quite sold on the guard, and I like my mobile warfare (Eldar player).

 

[Cheredanine]

currently a full mech guard army is probably using its chimeras as gun platforms rather than transports if it is at all sucessfull, and they can be, although they lack the mobility of eldar and the reason to use it, withthe advent of 5th ed, the way things are shaping up, this approach will become increasingly reinforced

 

[Diggums Hammer]

I play a Mech Guard list primarily and have done quite well.

The best way to play Mech Ig is to take Grenadiers as your troop choice, at least two squads. Always have three Heavy Supports, (Demolishers are my fovorite for Mech IG). Hellhounds and Sentinals will round out your list.

Your Ordnance and Template tanks are designed to take out troops, so your Sentinals should be Lascannon versions only IMO. I leave my Grenadiers in squads of 10 with two Plasma or two Melta Guns with a Veteran Sgt (power weapon). My Chimeras always have Smoke, EA and a Stubber. Stubbers are a wonderfull upgrade that give make your Chimeras great Fire support platforms. 9 x S5 (Avg) 36" shots is great for a 105pts vehicle with AV12 front.

I use my Chimeras with Grenadiers like a tank until an enemy squad make it close and then I unload a least one for rapid fire glory!!!!8X The main mistake most Grenadier generals make is to send them "up the gut". They are not Marines!

If you can't be an athelete, you can always be an athletic supporter. - a Grenadier.

 

[Liffrea]

Thanks for the advice.

I was actually considering Rough Riders in FA I have a plan to convert some Cadians onto SM bikes, not sure if this would be a good idea as they would still be held to RR rules......

Are there any other doctrines I should take? I was thinking Techpriests....

 

[Certs]

i don't know about using sm bikes, i think they'll end up being way over-sized for your guard, unless you want that small guy-big machine look.

 

[Diggums Hammer]

Thanks for the advice.

I was actually considering Rough Riders in FA I have a plan to convert some Cadians onto SM bikes, not sure if this would be a good idea as they would still be held to RR rules......

Are there any other doctrines I should take? I was thinking Techpriests....

Scout Bikes should work well. Good idea, hmmmmmm..........

Techpriests are good for fluff but not great for games. If you want a real good CC character for Guard, give a Techpriest Honorifica and a refractor field. He will good in CC, but not Uber like SM characters.

Cheers, DH

 

[Stella Cadente]

It doesn't matter if its woth the points or not, if its the path you want to take with your army, then take it

 

[sendaf]

Mech armys can be prety powerful, before you start take a look at the overall cost ($) of the army you want... Mech armys tend to get pretty pricey

 

[Diggums Hammer]

Mech armys can be prety powerful, before you start take a look at the overall cost ($) of the army you want... Mech armys tend to get pretty pricey

Mech armies alwayays easier than regular armies you have a less to set up.. Price wize they are almost the same, so that shouldn't be a conributing facctor. Less troops more tanks, all te same.

 

[stayscrunchyinmilk]

I was actually considering Rough Riders in FA I have a plan to convert some Cadians onto SM bikes, not sure if this would be a good idea as they would still be held to RR rules......

- There is a stunningly good looking cadian on a dirtbike conversion on the GW site, however it's also shockingly expensive (if you bought boxes to get the parts for approx 6 its a jaw dropping £140 - with 4 Hvy wpn boxes leftover.)
- If you're good at scrounging - (handlebars off a DA bike leftovers etc) it'd still start at £6 each for the bike chassis - there's no cheap bulk box and it's not a spare from anything.

If i can mount advisors etc I may do 1 or 2 as they look so good (but my spares don't go that far and i don't have that many metal wheels - they're unavailable now)

 

[Triumph Of Man]

It doesn't matter if its woth the points or not, if its the path you want to take with your army, then take it

Well it does matter if the path he wants to take is concerned with the effectiveness of certain units.

 

[Korim Trucebane]

I play a mech list and it works well. I've had some awesome victories, and some rediculus defeats. The biggest problem i've found is that you end up taking away the guards biggest strengths...numbers.

 

[Kaiser]

I play a mech list and it works well. I've had some awesome victories, and some rediculus defeats. The biggest problem i've found is that you end up taking away the guards biggest strengths...numbers.

Number of tanks is also a strenght. One of the strenghts of a mechanised army is that a large portion of your army is practically immune to small arms fire. While you don't have the same number of heavy weapons an infantry army has, you compensate by having the ability to move and fire alot of guns and you're thus better at adapting to your opponents movements. Your army is also faster, which gives you an edge when it comes to taking objectives.

I find that while a mechanised army might not pack the same ammount of brute force than an infantry army does - meaning less victory points from kills - you can compensate this by being better at taking objectives from your opponents. One of my favourite moves with a mechanised army is multiple tankshocks in the last round - forcing an enemy unit to move away from an objective. :>

 

[Certs]

i dunno, i've much imagined fluffing an ig army after a basic aav platton here irl, with 12 chimeras aka marine aavs, but the problem is unless an army forgets to pack anything about str4, you're just asking for trouble, a balanced army will end up your worst nightmare, since chimeras aint exactly as armored like leman russes, and that penetrating shot, even if it doesn't destroy the transport, will see your infantry bailing out and oh so vulnerable.

in my opinion (no not imo, because that's lazy-type), if you want mech, you're better off just using grenadiers stacked in chimeras, the two special weapons with better BS and +4 armor when they bail out in the open right there sets you off the better. regular guard infantry imo belong in cover with cameleoline, if you want them to advance further than your own deployment zone, than you shoulda given them light infantry or drop troops. also, the chimera is a sad proxie for a marine aav, sadly i can only find 1/72 models and not the 40k scale 1/65 28mm.

 

[Korim Trucebane]

Good point. In actual fact my army is not technically a "mechanized" army as I did not select the mechanized doctrin. instead I took Grenadiers and veterans. that way every unit already has the option to take a chimera and I don't waste doctrin points or take a chimera for a five man command squad. Also, since a mech army usually means less troops, I get to take better troops in order to compensate.

 

[Liffrea]

Some good advice.

I'm pretty much going to develop my city fight force into a standard IG army for the time being and take it from there. I can't afford to buy to many vehicles any way at present, I'm already doing that with my Eldar, so a mech army will probably be a future project. I already have an old Russ kit knocking about so I'll spend my pennies on a Bassie and see what happens.