Email in: Sternguard Focus Army Lists

"Evenin' gents,

I greatly enjoy 3++. The analyses in particular have proven extremely useful, especially the Space Marine Codex review. I was hoping anyone on your team would be willing to put in their two cents on a Sternguard list I'm looking to build.

Playing up the idea of Marines as a small, elite force and Sternguard Veterans as a smaller, more elite force, I built the list that follows for 1750pts. Concern #1 is being characterful (is that a word?) and presenting a foe any opponent would appreciate, if only for its composition and presentation. Concern #2 is competitiveness; I feel the 20 Sternguard are non-negotiable. Their deployment and loadout, however, are not.

Any and all words would be greatly appreciated.

HQ
- Librarian, Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Null Zone, Gate of Infinity @145
- Librarian, Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Null Zone, Gate of Infinity @145

Elite
- 10x Sternguard Veteran Squad, 6x Combi-melta, 2x Combi-flamer @290
- 10x Sternguard Veteran Squad, 6x Combi-melta, 2x Combi-flamer @290

Troops
- 10x Tactical Squad, Flamer, Lascannon, Sergeant BP/CCW, Razorback LC/tlP
@255
- 10x Tactical Squad, Flamer, Lascannon, Sergeant BP/CCW, Razorback LC/tlP
@255

Fast Attack
- Land Speeder Typhoon @90
- Land Speeder Typhoon @90

Heavy Support
- Predator Destructor @85
- Predator Destructor @85

Total: 1730

Apparently I have a thing for symmetry. I'm not certain what to do with those last 20 points.

Please, tell me what you think!

Respectfully,
Josh "

First question; are you happy with the 20 Sternguard being 18? Rather than splitting them into 2x10 groups I feel 3x6 groups can be much more effective. If not, what about 2x6 and 1x10?

Anyway, your list current looks very similar to a Dual LR list at 2000 points but without the LR or Terminators. At 1750 this isn't as bad as you've got some good support firepower but you don't have the combat rock that list does. This is why I think 3x6 or even 2x6 and 1x10 Sternguard are a better option whilst keeping the SG theme/numbers. Now I know what you're trying to do with the large squads and the Libby but Gate + 10 guys without any beacons is a recipe for disaster. You're much better off with Rhinos/Razorbacks as transports to move the units where they need to go, jump out and double tap from there. Let's see what we can do with this concept in mind.

We're going to leave 700 points just for the Sternguard. That's a lot but gives us flexibility with their loadout, transports, size, etc. Since the Sternguard are most likely going to be flooring it up the field and jumping out to double tap we want as much fire support as possible which gives us a conundrum for our HQ. MotF would be great to pack in some Dreads which not only provide fire support (mobile MM) but close combat support, too. Since our SG are getting in our opponent's face, this could be highly useful. For the moment however let's go with a Libby for Null Zone/psychic defense and add in Avenger for an AP3 template which can join one of the SG squads and leaves us with 900 points for support. This means we aren't really going to be able to go for Dreads but does open up the option for Devs in the Heavy slot. I know they aren't great for Marines but the missile/RBack firepower could prove very helpful and since the SG are getting out in our opponent's faces, the Hybrid aspect of the Devs isn't too bad. Let's leave that for now as it will come down to points.

Again, we need fire support so let's look at LasPlas Tactical squads and Typhoons. With only 950 points to play with we don't have many options here. 4 LasPlas squads would take us to 700 points and barely leave us enough points for 2x Typhoons and we still need Heavy Support. We'll scratch the Devastator idea for now and add in two Dakka Preds and two Typhoons much like the list above. We now know we are dealing with 550 points and we can fit three LasPlas squads w/combi-weapons in with 25 points to spare. We've therefore got 775 points (258 per squad) to play with on Sternguard backed up by 7 vehicles and 15 infantry.

We'll start with two small 5 man squads and work from there. We'll have these squads used as more midfield control which can jump out and damage any unit necessary as Sternguard do so will equip them with LasPlas Razorbacks. The ability to take Heavy Flamers is also huge in dealing with hordes so will add 2x Heavy Flamers for each squad and 3x combi-meltas on the other members. Each squad then totals 235 points or 470 together leaving 305 for the final squad. This barely gets us a 10man squad with combi-weapons so let's take 9x Sternguard all with combis for 270 points. Still cutting it fine since we don't have a transport yet for them (a Rhino at 35 points) which squeezes in at 1750. This last squad is an issue though but I'll discuss that after we see the list:

Libby w/Null zone, Avenger
9x Sternguard w/9x combi-meltas, Rhino
2x5x Sternguard w/3x combi-meltas, 2x Heavy Flamers, LasPlas RBack
3x5x Tacticals w/combi-flamer, LasPlas RBack
2x Typhoon
2x Predator w/HB sponsons

Totals: 1750 points
10 vehicles
35 infantry

So the large SG squad is a major priority for your opponent and easy to pick out. If you ran 2x10x SG this would be less of an issue but still pretty easy target prioirty for your opponent which is why I might prefer the 3x6 SG squads but I wanted to keep as close to the 20 SG as you wanted originally. If you're happy with 18 SG instead I would recommend changing the large SG squad to a similar layout as the other two but upping all three squads to 6x models though they probably won't have the points for combis themselves. As is you have a very strong midfield presence with 19 Sternguard and 15 Tacticals but are weak on scoring. This is somewhat alleviated by the aggressive nature of Sternguard (particularly the large squad) and the defensive nature of the Tactical marines but some armies like IG/Tau will be quite capable of removing them early so reserving one squad should be considered as an option.

Hope that's something akin to what you were looking for. Again, I'd prefer 3x6x SG squads but if you prefer the 2x10x SG squads put them in Rhinos and ram them down your opponent's throat rather than trying to teleport them around.