List Building Advice

[Kinstryfe]

Hello! I haven't actually played in a couple editions, but 8th has me wanting to look into possibility finding out if there's a gaming group near me. Having not played my guard much though, I was wondering if anyone had some good advice on what to build into my lists? The only really huge limitation I have is that I can't afford to buy much new at the moment, but I have a big enough collection to cover most non-flyer options. I'm also very much a play for fun player, but I don't want to paint up an army that isn't at all viable.

Are there any good rules to live by? Is a single tank a bad idea, or ok in practice. Go for fewer squads of disciples, or massed militia to get off more shots and more bodies? I tend to gravitate toward infantry, but I'm unsure if a mass of 150 + infantry in a 2000pt list makes sense, or if it's better to swap a bunch of bodies for some tanks. Basically, I need help to know what I should work on digging up, converting, or painting, please :)

[Akrim]

Im sure whatever city youre in there is a game group somewhere nearby. Good bet is to hit up your local game stores and social media.

 

For building a Renegades list you could go in a few different ways. Personally I think a solid foundation is to start with a Battalion detachment, load up with at least 3+ nice big Troop squads (30+) of Mutants, Cultists. Dont invest heavily in wargear if you go Militia, flamers/ nade launchers at best. Add in a couple Enforcers into the Elites slot to keep their morale from folding. This will be the shield for your big guns.

 

Next pan over to the Heavy support section, add some big guns. Invest heavily here as this is what does lot of the killing, not many bad choices. Some of the better ones are;

-Quad Guns/Wyverns: Absolutely murder infantry, take a full unit. Bonus point Quads are very easy to scratch build.

-Basilisks: Great for smashing tougher targets.

-Russ tanks: Lots of good weapon options here, heavier guns (Demolishers, Battle cannons) are better for heavy targets. Im a fan of Punishers myself. No penalty for ordnance anymore so sponsons are good (esp Plasma cannons and Mulitmeltas)

 

If you toy around with Heavy Weapon Squads keep them cheap due to poor BS (ie avoid anything beyond mortars, bolters).

 

Get some HQ; Commander is a auto for covenants. Maelific Lords and Rogue Psyker covens are fine options to get some psyker abilities in.

 

Where you go from there is up to you; other really choice units are Spawns and Ogryns. You may want to add some mobile elements like Chimeras. Sentinels are actually ok weapon platforms/ assault tarpits.

 

Gotta run, more later.

[Kinstryfe]

So I took a rough inventory and I found, in varying stages of painted, unpainted, and unassembled:

 

Numerous Characters of most types.

~240 Plastic Guardsmen suitable for either militia, command, disciples, or marauders.

~50-75 Heavy Weapon Teams of all sorts, assembled and on sprue.

~100 metal Valhallans/Vostroyans, variously.

~70 Mutants

60 Poxwalkers

~50 Plastic Abhuman conversions

5-10 Spawn in various stages.

9 Armoured Sentinels, 3 each Lascannon, Plasma Cannon, and Missile Launchers.

8 Standard Leman Russ

1 LR with Nova Cannon

1LR Demolisher

4 Basilisks

3 Hellhounds

2 Baneblades

5 Chimeras.

Assorted other random stuff.

 

It sounds like a few Leman Russes with some Basilisks is a good starting point, with big blocks of mutants as a speed bump, and some Sentinels as mobile platforms. Maybe large numbers of mortars just for fun and booms.

[Akrim]

Thats a good collection. Nothing wrong with mixing various other Chaos stuff into it. Heck you could even surprise throw in a Baneblade for kicks.

 

My followup was going to be alternatively spam armour. Ideally you still want something to protect them from being bogged in assault. I actually gave this a whirl the other day and even found basic flamer squads in Chimeras to be quite effective.

 

Personally im adding a bit of the new Death Guard type stuff just for flavour.

[Azekai]

Building a guard/renegade list can be daunting because there are so many options and moving parts. You might want to start small to get your toes wet, and then go from there. My first and only traitor guard game in 8th was right around 1k points and I still had piles of mutants and cultists after spending half of my points on Leman Russ tanks. I was not super impressed with the Russ' performance versus their cost. Without someone like Pask around, they seem like a lot of points to pay for some lascannons or heavy bolters and a craptastic battle cannon.

Enforcers are important no matter what you take, so I would make sure you have something to represent those (maybe the Valhallans?). As Akrim said, there are lots of nice heavy support units, so you should just go with what you want to try and give that a whirl.

Unleashing a chaos baneblade does sound like a lot of fun though.

[Karinon]

If you want to run lascannon weapon teams take them as Disciples for 3+ BS. Marauders are better for specials like plasma / sniper.

[Akrim]

True Battle Cannon Russes aren't the greatest for their points but they're not necessarily a pass either. The upside is that you can fire the main gun and all secondaries for full effect and separate targets. The main gun is better for tougher multi-wound targets like vehicles, MEQ/TEQs, etc. For just under 180 - a tri-bolter Russ isnt bad.

Plasma cannons are fairly decent too, Ive been running an Eradicator with HB, Plasma sponsons to good effect.

Vanquishers I would avoid, they dont look so great. A squadron of Sentinels with Missiles would probably do the same job better.

 

Disciples with a lascannon aren't bad as per say but they compete for elite slots which have the cruicial Enforcers and Ogryns. Though in truth you could easily get away with using a Brigade detachment at 2k pts with Renegades.

[Kinstryfe]

^ im definitely not having issues with elite slots. A Vangard as a secondary detachment at 2k seems very doable. It'd be lower point games where they may be an issue.