Imperial Blog - Post Campaign Thoughts

Luke here. The Brighton Warlords tournament has been over for a week now and it's given me a chance to reflect on my army.






The tournament was 1500pts with tweaks to the way allies work, disallowing battle brothers. As such I went with a complete Imperial Guard list:

HQ:

Lord Commissar

70

TROOPS: Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad	30
Vox caster	5	35
Infantry Squad A	50
Plasma gun	15
Lascannon	20
Sergeant w/ power axe	10
melta bomb	5	100
Infantry Squad B	50
Plasma gun	15
Lascannon	20
Sergeant w/ power axe	10
melta bomb	5	100
Infantry Squad C	50
Plasma gun	15
Lascannon	20
Sergeant w/ power axe	10
melta bomb	5	100
Infantry Squad D	50
Plasma gun	15
Lascannon	20
Sergeant w/ power axe	10
melta bomb	5
vox caster	5	105

Sabre Defence Platform	30
Lascannon	20	x3

Sabre Defence Platform	30
Lascannon	20	x 2

  

Infantry Platoon 2
Platoon Command Squad	30
Al'Rahem	70
Meltaguns x4	40	140
Infantry Squad A	50
Flamer	5
Power axe	10	65
Infantry Squad B	50
melta bombs	5
Flamer	5
Commissar	35	95

FAST ATTACK:

Vendetta	130
Heavy Bolters	10	140
Vendetta	130
Heavy Bolters	10	140

HEAVY SUPPPORT:

Manticore

160

Rather than go through all my games, I'm going to talk about the army and what I learnt from the tournament. I made the decision to drop the Primaris Psyker as HQ for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there are not enough good powers in Biomancy, Telekinesis or Telepathy (the only disciplines worth taking for him) to make a single Primaris Psyker worthwhile. Given the points limit I didn't really want two, and in practice games with just one, I would sometimes roll powers I'd never end up using. Secondly, in another practice game, I had my Commissar unit upgrade execute my Psyker after failing a moral test. I'd pretended this wasn't an issue for long enough now and so replaced the Psyker with a Lord Commissar. I don't want to hand my opponents free warlord VPs and Leadership 10 is more sensible to have with the big infantry squad. I was taking at least 2-3 leadership tests with them per game. With that in mind I would take the definite Leadership increase over the possibility of some psychic powers.

The Vendettas were okay. I'm sure my opponents were more intimidated of them then I was happy using them; they underperformed throughout the weekend. I'm thinking of putting special weapons team in them so I can take advantage of the grav-chute option. It's a level of manoeuvrability a humble guardsmen is not used to, after all. Which leads me to the reason for Al'Rahem. I wanted a scoring threat that would be able to get to those pesky little units hiding at the back of the board/behind defence lines, and his ability to make a platoon outflank seemed perfect for this. In each game a combined squad of 20 were able to come on and challenge an objective. They had mixed results; from wiping out 14 Kroot the turn they arrived in one game, to killing two Pink Horrors then getting mowed down by psychic powers and bolter fire in another. Indeed, they are far from invincible, but incredibly useful. They won me two games simply by turning up and taking my opponents home objectives that I would've struggled to contest otherwise. Al’Rahem’s unique order was useful as well, allowing a unit a D6” move after shooting; this was a nice little addition and meant I could bring Al’Rahem’s meltaguns close and then move away from danger once they’d fired.

The Manticore was great. I may try to find room for another. I wish I could offer you more on this unit but that's it. It's great for removing tanks and non-marine infantry - even Necron Wraiths don't want to have to take saves from it because of instant death. I like it with a heavy flamer for anything that gets too close and if I have enough points to spare I'll put camo netting on it (but it's not a priority because it's not a gun).

The blob of forty was underwhelming. I mentioned before about how medicore the blob is without psychic powers, and that's exactly what it was this weekend. Forty wasn't enough, and the lascannons proved to be a trap. I didn't want to move the squad very far in order to use the lascannons, which meant it was harder to get stuck in to the enemy. Without access to prescience they didn't do anywhere near enough. I always combined the squads, and never felt I wanted to do otherwise the whole weekend but that's not to say I wouldn't if I felt it would be worthwhile. In future, when I take a list without allies, I will definitely be dropping the lascannons in the blob squad and taking an extra fifty guardsmen. The power axes were sound, as were the plasma guns; sometimes you just need to deny that save. 

The Sabre Defence Platforms were awesome. They score, they scout, they're toughness 7, they have Skyfire and Intercept, and they have a 3+ armour save! It's something I'm not used to as a guard player and it feels good! Having said that I still don't know if I'm happy with Forge World in tournaments but that’s a different discussion entirely!

The tournament was a great weekend and I played against a nice variety of armies. I lost against Tzeentch Marines with Daemon allies, beat Space Marines, drew against Tyranids, beat Necrons, drew against Tau and lost to Space Wolves. I’m not sure what else I will change about the list but watch this space for more updates. In the meantime here are some WIP pictures of the army:

 Sabre Defence Platforms:

 Manticore: