My Tau-themed IG army list for review

[MiketheFish]

Some of you may remember a while back, when I was talking about creating an Impirial Guard PDF force that had allied with the Tau empire. Basically an IG force, with Tau window-dressing.

Well I came up with a list. I actually ended up dropping the
Mechanized doctrine and just took a bunch of squads with Chimera
Transports. The end result looks pretty similar, just without a
bunch of Chimeras that I was never going to use really.

I am not really sure that this list is going to work. It's not that
traditional, so I don't know how it's going to preform. It has a
strong melee, and close-range shooting element, which is not usually
something that Guard does really well, but I just hope that it will
be fun to play. I guess it's not completely hopeless - I have 91
models, 66 of which have Carapace Armor. Plus it gets a perfect comp
score with the RT Tournament system. I don't know - what do you all
think?

NOTES:
All troops that can get it have Carapace Armor and Close Order Drill
Also, my Chimeras are all the same - ML, Hull HB, pintle-Stubber,
Extra Armor, and Smoke Launchers

IMPIRIAL GUARD ARMY - 1850 pts

HEADQUARTERS
Command Squad
--Senior Officer (plasma pistol, Power Weapon, Surveyor, Bionics)
--3 Troopers with Plasma Rifles
--Vet with Banner

Anti-Tank Squad
--3 Lascannon

TROOPS
Command Squad
--Lt with Plasma Pistol
--4 Troopers with Melta Guns
--Chimera

Infantry Squad
--Plasma Rifle, Lascannon

Infantry Squad
--Plasma Rifle, Lascannon

Armored Fist Squad
--Plasma Rifle, Lascannon, Vet Sgt w/Plasma Pistol

20 Kroot Carnivors
--Enhanced Reflexes (Initiative 4), Shaper w/Power Weapon


ELITES
Hardened Vets
--3 Plasma Rifles
--Vet Sgt w/Plasma Pistol
--Chimera


FAST ATTACK
10 Rough Riders
--Hunting Lances, Vet Sgt with Power Weapon


HEAVY SUPPORT
Leman Russ
--Heavy Bolter, Extra Armor, Smoke

Leman Russ
--Heavy Bolter, Extra Armor, Smoke

[sigur]

Do you really need all those Lascannons? Maybe you could switch them for Missile Launchers. It yould give you at least some anti-horde versatility and they're cheaper.

With the saved points, you can drop one of the plasma guns from the HQ squad and upgrade one soldier to a medic. You can give him a Plasma Pistol if you really miss the plasma gun, but I think he will help your guys to survive their own plasma fire.

Nice, fluffy list anyways. Are Kroot mercs tourney-legal?

[MiketheFish]

Yep, sure are. At least in the GT's - which is good enough for me.

I know this isn't the right place for it, but Portent doesn't really have a Modeling/Miniatures forum, so I thought I would post my current works here - since this is the thread reguarding them. Check em out! I really need to redo the Senior Officer's photo. The lighting came out a little yellow for some reason there.

Russ side

Russ front

Russ back

Hardened Vets front

Hardened Vets back

Senior Officer front

Senior Officer back

Infantry front

Infantry back

[sigur]

Very, very nice and characterful conversions; I like them much. But I think that you should have filed off the winged skulls from the canteens.

[Getz]

The Russ looks - Interesting. I's a well done conversion, but I looks rather... Odd.

All the rest looks pretty amazing, especially the Hardened Vets, although at the risk of sounding like a total naysayer, I think the Firewarrior helmet is a bit too small for a human torso, and in turn makes your Officer look a little out of proportion.

But seriously, your painting and converting skill are amazing, and the troopers all look ace.

As for you list. It looks pretty sound and well rounded to me, but I agree with sigur. You do not need that many lascannons, especially with so much plasma and an anti-tank squad full of them. I'd replace the ones in the infantry and Armoured fist squads with Missile launchers or Heavy bolters - which will save you some 30 points or more. You could use Tau weapons like burst cannons and missile pods mounted on tripods to represent them. After all, the Missile pod has virtually identical stats to the Autocannon - you could just rationalise that the static mounting makes it a heavy, but you get better range that way... Same goes for the Burst cannon vis a vis the Heavy bolter...

Likewise, you could use Tau Plasma Rifles in place of Imperial Plasma Guns. I'm pretty sure that all those parts are on the same Crisis suit sprue (although I'd use the Vehicle Burst cannons myself, much beefier looking things )

One other thing... Instead of a standard bearer, I'd put a Medic in your command squad, that way he can patch up all those plasma over heats you will inevitably suffer, especially if you rapid fire. Yesterday I played a game where I suffered at least one overheat a turn almost without fail (I have two HQ squads both with three plasma guns) but thanks to the medics I didn't lose a single trooper all game to the Gets Hot rule, despite only having flak armour. If you really insist on pushing your luck, you can even give him a plasma pistol too...