Adepticon Bound and Down Part Deux

On lists and such….

Hello trainers, its Raw Dogger here again to talk about the latest deck builds to make sure you are the top 36 year old at your local Pokemon card tournament.  The first thing need to do is get a level 6 Charman… Oh..uhh..this isn’t the Pokemon article is it?  Hold on, I can recover from this.

Hello 40k fans, its Raw Dogger here to continue my series ‘Adepticon Bound and Down’ which chronicles my journey the Adepticon 40k tournament in April.  The last article talked about my reasons for wanting to attend, as well as laid out some of the prohibiting factors in attending the convention (i.e. co$t).  For this week’s article I will go into the Imperial Guard list I plan on bringing (in painful, sarcastic detail) and why the once loyal followers of the Emperor decided to poop their pants and join the prince of herpetic taint himself, Papa Nurgle.

The reason I decided to leave my beloved (wink) Blood Angels in the trash can of shame and start an Imperial Guard army to take to the tournament is simple.   I wanted to win.  I know I will get a lot of flak for making that statement from some of the posters on this blog, but it is what I believe.  While I do feel comfortable taking the Angels out for a spin at some of our smaller local tournaments (I will, in fact be using them at Dundracon tomorrow) I honestly don’t feel that the codex has what it takes to seriously compete at a tournament like the Adepticon 40k Championships.  I’m going to leave it at that, and if you want more of an idea on how I fictitiously view the Blood Angels, please go back and read the BLOOD ANGELS SUCK articles of yesteryear.  Now, onto the new army.

When I first envisioned making my Guards list, I had every intention of mimicking the lists that I have seen be competitive on the national scale.  I think you all know the list I’m talking about, the infamous Leafblower list of Darkwynn fame.  After playtesting a similar list with a friend’s Guard army, I decided to put my own spin on the list which will have a couple of key units that I feel will have a better chance against the incredibly wide variety of armies I expect to see at the Championships.  Of course, I could walk into the hall and see 149 Grey Night Psyfleman spam lists and just go get drunk but that is neither here nor there.  THE LIST, FOOLS!

Company Command Squad –  Two plasma guns, Lascannon, Chimera (from now on just assume all Chimeras have a Multi-Laser and a Heavy Bolter.  I like having this squad hang back with the plasma vet squads and lay down Lascannon fire, while protecting some of the heavy hitters such as the Manticore and Psycher Battle Squads.

Psycher Battle Squad – I run these guys full strength on foot.  The main reason for not giving them a Chimera is that they are usually the number one target for opponents, and sticking them in cover makes them slightly more survivable as a 4+ save is better than a 5+ when the Chimera explodes.

Guarsman Marbo- This guy is mostly here for the psychological effect.  Even when he lobs his demo charge onto himself, I feel if he makes someone rethink their deployment it is worth the 65 points.

4 Veteran Squads – 2 squads come with three plasma guns and a Lascannon, 1 squad comes with three flamers, and the last comes with three melta guns.  They all take Chimeras.  The plas/las vets sit back on objectives and protect the valuables while the flamer and melta vets push up field to try and take the opponent’s objectives.

Hellhound Squadron – Smoke, 1x Multi-Melta.  I looooooove these guys.  They are probably the thing I get the most flak for, and with good reason.  For the cost of the two Hellhounds, I can get 4x Hydras.  I love them for their anti-horde capabilities, as well as their fast movement, and 12/12/10 armor.  Even if they are hitting a squad of Marines who are being assholes shooting you in cover, you will most likely make your opponent fail 6-7 armor saves.  They are really great for Space Marine Scouts or tricksy Eldar hiding on an objective in cover.

2x Vendettas – You guys know their name, and you know what they do.  Probably the dirtiest looks I get when setting up is for the Vendettas, but I don’t care because I’m looking at your girlfriend’s boobs.

Manticore – I actually have mixed feelings about this tank.  On one hand, the strength 10 doubles out Thunderwolf Cavalry, which will inevitably turn up at Adepticon.  On the other hand, it is AP-4 which isn’t all that great when playing against Marines.  I suppose so far I have had it be effective in about 50% of my games, which is fine by me.

Leman Russ Battle Tank- Heavy Bolter.  This guy does work.  My normal tactic with this thing is to park it on the opposite side of the majority of my forces and just lob battle cannon shots down my opponents neck beard all game.  This thing is almost never shot at, as the armor 14 negates a lot of fire as well as the myriad of other targets that post a more imminent threat (Manticore, Psychers, Vendettas).  Of course, when going against lists such as Dark Eldar lance spam, these plans usually go right out the window.

 

And that’s it.  So far I am 8-2-2, the only losses going to Tasty Taste’s Ork anti Mech-Guard list and a DOA army that just annihilated me (yes, I get the irony…. jerks).  The theme of the list will be Nurgle Guard, which I am having a considerably fun time converting up with zombies and such.  The vehicles are currently being painted by the guys at Frontline gaming, and from what I have seen so far will look ‘disgusting’.  Oh, I mean that with the greatest respect, of course.

Next week, the Team assembles!