Horde approach in 1500 points

[Merrywinds]

40K Army: Imperial Guard

It's been a while since I've played, but my obsessive love for hordes of boots has not waned. Thus, I present to you, the small, weeny and ugly:


Company Command squad 55
Vox

Company Command squad 55
Vox


Platoon 1 380

Command Squad
2 Grenade Launchers

Squad 1
Commisar
Lascannon

Squad 2
Lascannon
Vox

Squad 3
Lascannon

Squad 4
Lascannon


Platoon 2 335

Command Squad
2 Grenade Launchers

Squad 1
Commisar
Autocannon, Grenade Launcher

Squad 2
Autocannon, Grenade Launcher

Squad 3
Autocannon, Grenade Launcher

Squad 4
Autocannon, Grenade Launcher


Platoon 3 380

Command Squad
2 Grenade Launchers

Squad 1
Commisar
Lascannon

Squad 2
Lascannon
Vox

Squad 3
Lascannon

Squad 4
Lascannon


Platoon 4 295

Command Squad
2 Grenade Launchers

Squad 1
Commisar
Flamer

Squad 2
Flamer

Squad 3
Flamer

Squad 4
Flamer


Base tactics as follows: Both lascannon platoons blob up, the company commanders provide twin-linking with orders. Same goes for Platoon 2, whose main job is killing buses, skimmers and related. Flamer platoon will be blobbed/broken, depending on whether I want to screen, assault or deny outflanking enemies eating my squishy command. Platoon commanders can provide some extra lasdakka with First rank fire! and mobility with Run!. I'm a bit undecided whether to use flamer or gl's on the pcs's though, as 2 gls tend to accomplish nothing while 2 flamers on the other hand have great potential for harassment and even lethality.

EDIT:I could also turn one lascannon platoon into a AC/GL platoon; this would give me the points for extra bodies or special weapons and add some versatile firepower to my firebase. I'm sort of worried about meeting heavy armour as I carry no real melta threat here.

[Deldar]

there is a guy down at my local who runs the following, and people hate playing him, purely because he tends to mince most things up...

HQ:
CCS, PF, lascannon = 80

Troops:
PCS*
Infantry platoon 1, vox, commissar*
Infantry platoon 2, vox, commissar*
Infantry platoon 3, vox, commissar*
Infantry platoon 4, vox, commissar*
Infantry platoon 5, vox, commissar*

Heavy weapons team, lascannons*
Heavy weapons team, lascannons*
Heavy weapons team, lascannons*
=705

PCS#
Infantry platoon 1, vox, commissar#
Infantry platoon 2, vox, commissar#
Infantry platoon 3, vox, commissar#
Infantry platoon 4, vox, commissar#
Infantry platoon 5, vox, commissar#

Heavy weapons team, lascannons#
Heavy weapons team, lascannons#
Heavy weapons team, lascannons#
=705

Total points 1,490

A total of...
19 lascannons (enough to turn land raiders into cheese)
115 lasguns (enough flashlights to see into the warp)
10 commissars making the bulk of your army stubborn (just plain nasty)

he regularly gets 1st turn or 2nd turn wins, it generally goes something like this...

Skip movement, shoot lascannons, shoot flashlights, pack away becuase there's nothing left to fight

[Nasha]

I used to run a straken based infantry army...it was awesome...then i found thr beauty of two plasma command squads...never looked back since...for 95points u get 8 plasma shots at 12 inches...16 shots if both squads are there...works wonders mate

[Bunnahabhain]

On the OPs list.

40k ( at the moment) is an objective based game most of the time, and you don't have nearly enough mobile units to go and take objectives.

I'd also say you have too many men- you are going to end up with a horribly crowded deployment area. Finally, having all your heavy weapons in your 10 man squads reduces your ability to focus fire.

I'd drop a platoon entirely ( still leaving you with ~150 men) and use the points to:
Shift most heavy weapons in Platoons 1 and 2 to dedicated HWS ( updated dawn of war rules make us want to have them concentrated in two platoons, so they can all deploy.)
Buy special weapons
Arm your CCS ( not 4 plasmas, at 110 pts with no ablative wounds, far too fragile. Cheap, long range, i.e master of ordnance. Also consider flags for them.
Get a significant mobile element. I'd consider bulking up platoon 3 with no heavy weapons, lots of specials, and lots of bodies, or getting Al rahmen for that platoon

You'll still be well into horde territory, but with more freedom to manoeuvre, and more ability to go take objectives

As for Deldars 'List' This isn't the first time he has posted something like this, which is always claimed to be awesome. They're always well over their claimed points (this one I make at either 1610 or 1660, can't remember if naked commissar is 35 or 40 pts offhand) they have no mobility, minimal killing power due to missing special weapons, too many commissars, and no-one else can ever see how they might work. I'd ignore them as a source of sensible tactyical adavice

[Purple Dice]

Hey mate.

Bunnahabhain has some good points on how to modify your list.
Al'Rahem is an excellent addition to a horde army due to his ability to get scoring units where you need them by turn 3 or 4, even turn 2 if you have an astropath, which, I might add, is an incredible choice when playing with Al'Rahem. I always take one when I play with him. You can also use Al'Rahem's squad to go tank busting if you give it a few melta's, as he is sure to get close to a tank or two while outflanking. I would put some powerswords and flamers with a commissar in a blobbed squad in his platoon. excellent for denying and capturing objectives.
Giving your company command squads heavy weapons can also be a good idea. Their increased ballistic skill is invaluable when it comes to actually hitting the enemy.
Master of the Ordnance can be fun, but can also be extremely inaccurate and if you are not going to be playing many armies that take up a lot of room on the table I would probably avoid him. Best idea would be to try him out a few games against your regular opponents to get a nice feel for him.
Using heavy weapons squads is also a great idea. You may have a lot of lascannons in a 4 squad blob, but you also have a lot more lasguns that aren't doing anything when you shoot at vehicles.
For your Platoon Command squads I would give them 3 or 4 special weapons, depending on whether you take vox-casters or not. With Imperial guard horde armies you have to take something in bulk, or not at all. Flamers are indeed good for frying some enemies, I also find grenade launchers to be somewhat underwhelming unless taken in large quantities.

In a mainly gunline army I find vox-casters invaluable. getting those orders off are essential, guardsmen need all the shots they can get or else you will end your shooting phase shocked at how half your army missed and then the rest failed to wound or penetrate.

If you're into characters and your local gaming community is too, Creed can be a wonderful addition to a gunline army. His 4 orders at 24 inches is fantastic.

I love horde guard, I hope all turns out for the best

Purple Dice

[Merrywinds]

So, i did play a game with a horde, it was with the following:

Ccs w/vox, MoO
Ccs w/vox

Platoon (times three)

Pcs w/2meltaguns
4 infantry squads w/ac&gl, 1 commisar, 1 vox
1 hws/ lascannon

Ended up as solid victory for me against marines, I foundmobility no problem with orders... Any ideas on the hws teams?

[Deldar]

yes, the HWS teams... stick with the lascannons... it's the only thing in the army that can do anything to AV14 and you dont want your entire army th lose because they get tank shocked off the table by a land raider do you?

[Nasha]

The meltas can glance n as their ap1 can wreck them...but yeah id take the lascannons as their pretty good at killin raiders monstrous creatures n other big bad things