Hello,
I've enjoyed reading your blog ever since I came across it; love the new changes too! Some of the recent IG list posts I've read on your blog have inspired me to write up my list for picking apart.
I haven't done any competitions yet, still getting into the swing of things and polishing my play, I would appreciate any and all input you have to offer.
So, I've tried shifting some of my melta from troops to fast attack. I could switch to vendettas, but with the density of chimeras I think that they would just stand out without adding too much. My HS has been oscillating between 2x hydra, 2x manticore/ 2x hydra 2x hydra 2x griffon / 2x hydra 2x LR exterminator (mainly due to complaints from friends about ord spam) however I like the 2x hydra 2x exterminator setup as it can pretty much demech anything while sitting behind an infantry bubblewrap.
I've found the devil dogs work really well against other IG mech, mainly because their melta cannons are always hitting side armor, castling up doesn't give them cover saves and the tanks are running around un-stunnable keeping at around 24" unless I need to hit something higher than AV 10-11 side armor. Plus in the early stages of the game I can smoke them to screen for the rest of my army, often soaking up a ton of ML/autocannon fire, drawing it away from my chimeras and hydras. If they try to throw mechvets at a squad they often have difficulties with positioning and range because I can move 12" and shoot 24" hitting av10 while they're stuck hoping they can close moving 6" shooting 12" with 1D6 on av 12.
Against marine lists I play more defensively with them and will move them up to use them like plasma cannons after I've demeched them.
In general I'll bunker up with my CCS/PCS near the infantry blobs to give them orders and I have my vets being less suicidal than I see in most lists. Hellhound is often untargeted until late in the game due to the number of other targets and I tend to save its smoke for the end and dump it on an objective.
CCS + 3 plasma guns, Chimera - 150
PCS + 4 flamers, Chimera - 95
20 man squad + 2 autocannons - 120
PCS + 4 flamers, Chimera - 95
20 man squad + 2 autocannons - 120
Meltavets, Chimera - 155
Meltavets, Chimera - 155
2x Devil Dogs, HHF Smoke - 250
2x Devil Dogs, HHF Smoke - 250
Hellhound, HHF Smoke - 135
Hydrax2 - 150
LR Exterminator - 150 / manticore / 2x griffon
LR Exterminator - 150 / manticore / 2x hydra
Thanks!
Hi James, Kirbs pawned this off to me because I asked (I felt I should do some replies to emails to help my pink brother out...) Glad you like the blog ^^
Your list is looking good, to me at least :D A few things stick out to me though. The single hellhound seems a bit out of place, especially since you should have enough HFs on the Chims and DDogs as well as the flamers on the PCS to take care of infantry. You could swap it to a Vendetta, but with the single one in the army, it will be a big fire magnet. This might be good for the DDogs however. I'd suggest possibly taking another Meltavets squad (I calculate you have 25 points left - I might be wrong :D) or a PBS in Chim (for their useful LD lowering against deathstars). Or we can take another Vendetta (for 2 total) and take off 2 DDogs with more points for PBS or meltavets. The 2 DDogs and 2 Dettas are a nice combo, but the Dettas tend to die early which sucks. I think they can be beneficial however, especially if you have enough Chims to block/give cover, etc to your more important tanks.
The smoke on the DDogs, while kinda useful, seems pricey, as its 20 points for the 4 and with their fast movement, they may be able to go 18 and hide behind cover if you want them to. MMs on the hull can be quite cool too, you can move 6 and fire both which is nice because the Meltacannon can just scatter way off and because the MM and Cannon have the same range, you can get the 2D6 at the same distance.
The plasma in the CCS can be a bit hit and miss and is quite pricey, esp with the overheating but their BS 4 is impressive. But it can of course be useful against MCs and terminators at a good range. Meltas are another option here. Lets keep the plasma if you are going to be screening the Manticores/Hydras (and because they are groovy). Astropath and Master of the Fleet are useful too but we will see if we can squeeze them in but its no biggy if we can't. MotF especially seems nice do delay those DSing Melta carriers.
The troop choices can be made into 2 x 20 and 1 PCS in Chim to gain 95 points as we have Meltavets to fill the slots. If we are running out of points, we can do this.
The Exterminators can be quite handy with the AV14 but I can't help but feel the Manticore will do more damage, especially if you pair them, then just screen them with Chims and bubblewrap with troops, as the situation calls for (vs DS melta, etc). Another option is to go with 1 manticore and 2 more hydras (for a total of 4) if you feel you need more AC dakka. The Griffons don't do it for me but against the right opponents they can be quite impressive. But in a balanced list, they will often underperform, hence we take the Manticores and the Hydras who should perform well enough regardless of match up.
So onto my take on the list:
2K IG (all Chims have HF and all Manticores and Hydras have HBs)
CCS + 4 plasma guns, MotF (or an Astropath if you prefer), Chimera - 195
PBS (8 psykers), Chimera - 155 ** (This can also be another Meltavet squad if you are feeling the list is lacking either troops or AT, which probably won't be the case :D)
PCS + 4 flamers, Chimera - 95
20 man squad + 2 autocannons - 120
20 man squad + 2 autocannons - 120
Meltavets, Chimera - 155
Meltavets, Chimera - 155
2x Devil Dogs, MM - 270
1 Vendetta - 130 ** (we can just take more DDogs [for 270, dropping a psyker] which you already have, if you don't have Dettas).
1 Vendetta - 130
Hydra x 2 - 150
Manticore- 160
Manticore- 160
Total - 1995 (5 points for kraks on the CCS or something)
So thats my take, 5 chims to cover the Hydras/Manticores, infantry to bubblewrap, PBS to LD bomb a deathstar, DDogs to pressure and Dettas to dakka (or we can go 4 DDogs to pressure). Hope you like the list! Lets see what the pinkies say!
