Tactica Imperial Guard

[Duhgame]

Question: I've been thinking of running a WW1 themed army and I haven't been able to decide between running 3 basilisks or 3 Leman Russ Demolishers with lots of troops charging across the battlefield.

My only problem so far has been that when I consider running the LR Demolishers I feel the need to have more vehicles on the ground otherwise they will be torn asunder too quickly, and then my list starts turning into more of a WW2 Blitzkrieg style of combat.

I could do this, but I can never decide on what to use in my fast attack slots, hellhounds, devildogs, bane wolfs, etc.

I don't have this problem with my bassies since they can just hide in the back and support the infantry with indirect fire. The list for the bassie version is here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317249

Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance!

(Oh, and Manticores are not an option since they do not fit the WW1 theme for my personal taste)

[Compel]

Simple answer would be look at Imperial Armour. A Death Korps list is precisely what you're looking for!

Ok, so it's not tournamentish but then again, it isn't likely going to be a proper tournament army anyway!

[Duhgame]

I've looked at it, but I was staying with the current codex just to make life simpler for "pick-up games", so that I did not have to memorize more rules, bring another (larger) book, find someone who was willing to play an IA army, etc.

Thank you for the input!

[ColShaw]

I think artillery is going to be much more iconic than battle tanks. I'd say Basilisks... with a nod to the Griffon, too, for heavy mortars.

[Bunnahabhain]

I think artillery is going to be much more iconic than battle tanks. I'd say Basilisks... with a nod to the Griffon, too, for heavy mortars.

Agreed, with some Mortar HWS, (and Heavy bolter HWS if you don't care about competitiveness...)

For WW1, you cannot have too much artillery, or too many machine guns.

[russellmoo]

Just go with all infantry and heavy weapon squads- this would keep things true to WWI- you could field some chimeras (they would about be the WWI equivalent of a tank) You could also get by fielding some basilisks, though arguably the ability of the Bas to move at all makes it something that didn't show up until 1941 (however, you could just have it not move and treat it the same as a heavy piece of artillery)-

[Gen.Steiner]

Have a look at the background on Siege Regiments, and model it on one of them. They field very few tanks (and those they do tend to be heavy tanks, like the Macharius, or super-heavy, like the Baneblade) and have many times more infantry than a standard Guard Regiment.

Their infantry tend to be well armoured (Veterans with Carapace) or very numerous (Platoons) with a preponderance of melta and flamer weaponry supported by lots of mortars.

I would aim for something like three Veteran squads, one with flamers, one with meltas, and one with plasma guns. Then the rest of your force should be infantry, infantry, and more infantry.

Tanks? Forget it. I would also recommend the Thudd Gun and Heavy Mortars from Forgeworld.

[Duhgame]

Thanks to everyone on the advice so far on the infantry-heavy army style!

Here's another question: Has anyone in a vehicle-heavy army ever found techpriests w/ servitors to be worth it?

I like the idea, but the problem I see is keeping them close enough to the right vehicle at the right time on the battlefield, even if you were to run 2 of them at once.

[Gondorian]

I have used techpriest and full servitor squad before, have never actually managed to get them to fix a tank up, I have found that their combat ability is ok, the techpriests, power weapon plus all the servo arm attack isn't bad. Some units will destroy them utterly and its usually a good plan to get the charge with them but if you've got men engaged in combat all ready they're not bad reinforcements.

[Angelwing]

I have to say my only use for the techpriest has been in apoc games to stand behind my shadowsword for the inevitable 'weapon destroyed' result.
I like the idea of a techpriest and loads of combat servitors, but other stuff can do the combat phase better. I reckon it would be better to simply buy more vehicles than buy a tech priest to try and fix one.

[Gen.Steiner]

I have a few Techpriests, but I've never written a list with one in. I consider them to be second-line units placed in repair parks or in bases to maintain and fix equipment.

That said, they are a useful source of plasma cannons.

[omegoku]

Man, I really wish the techpriest was a worthwhile unit like the Ork Mekboy.
The Mekboy fixes tanks better and comes with abilities to help the army out.
The techpriest is one of my favourite models but has only seen the battlefield once. He didn't do much and was quickly replaced as more painted models were completed.

[Gen.Steiner]

To be fair, there isn't a lot that could be done to make them better, beyond perhaps allowing them to open up tanks as troops choices.

e.g. take a Techpriest in Chimera with Servitors, get Leman Russ Squadrons as Troops. And Infantry as Heavy Support.

[Getz]

They need to do something worthwhile beyond fixing vehicles in order to be a good option.

Ork players take Mekboyz for Kustom Force Fields, Shokk Attack Guns and theie making Deff Dreads troops - the fact they can fix tanks is just incidental gravy.

What do Techpriests offer outside of fixing tanks...
Fire Support? Our whole army does that fine on it's own.
Counter Assault? A Techpriest supported by combat servitors is a expensive and not very effective assault unit, and sucks at fixing tanks into the bargain.

[SanguinaryDan]

The Techpriest needs to become a true IC or an upgrade to the CCS. Then he'd actually serve a purpose. Either that or allow him to bring Acolytes (ie Guardsmen) to increase the size and survivability of his unit. I've got one of the really old Adeptus Mechanicus models with a double bitted Power Axe that I'd love to field. But with the current entry? Pass.

[Bunnahabhain]

How about taking the bolster defences rule off the tech marine ( where it makes no sense. fast moving strike force digs in, the Guard don' t ) and unlocking some more techy options, say Elite slot Medium artillery, or the Kreigesque Tunneling machines, or something like that? Making them a proper IC as well would help.

[Gondorian]

While turning the techpriest into a combat monster would encourage people to field them it does detract from their role in the fluff, to fix tanks.
Maybe if by taking a HQ type techpriest you got to unlock mechanicus upgrades on tanks and units.
For the basic techmarine I think either make them very cheap pts wise and/or improve their ability to repair tanks, one of the frequent problems with em is that the tank that loses something is usually the one that takes a turn or two to get to.

[Lord Cook]

I've used an Enginseer during tournaments. I know, I know. But it was very fun.

I found him to be not worth the points, but generally not a disaster. This was as a 70-point unit with two Technical Servitors, so that he fixes things on a 3+. I purposefully built the list to include several Leman Russ so that I'd get some use out of the Enginseer, and to be fair in a couple of games he kept the Russ operational by fixing weapons and immobilised results. Generally though he'd end up fixing something like a multilaser on a Chimera, and then the Chimera would just get blown up the next turn. For those 70 points I could have simply bought another cheap vehicle and used it as mobile cover for the other vehicles, which would keep them alive just as long but also be able to shoot back or transport things in it's own right.

They did kill one Terminator in combat with the single power fist attack you get from each Servitor, so I guess that was their moment of glory.

[Vaktathi]

The problem with the techpriest is that even if it does a decent job at fixing vehicles, it'll rarely be worth the cost. Additionally, it's actually not very good at fixing vehicles without significant upgrades, and is far too fiddly/situational to really be effective, usually ending up being nowhere near the tank you want to fix.

If they were a 20pt upgrade for a tank and fixed tanks on a 4+ instead of a 5+, you might see them, though probably still not super often on any but the biggest of tanks.

[ColShaw]

Vaktathi has a good point. During a battle, will a Techpriest really be scampering about on his own feet, or will he be inside one of his steel cathedrals, belting out hymns? Maybe he fixes up all the motor pool when he's back at the base, but when the lead starts flying? He's gonna be in a tank.