List Evolution: Imperial Guard Tank Company: Part 1

As I've mentioned before, I have been harbouring an urge to build an Imperial Guard Tank Company for a year or so now. Going down the paper tank route failed miserably (that is WAY too much work - respect to those that can manage it!) but I then managed to pick up 6 Battle Tanks for a song off WargamerAU.

As a cheapo gamer, I am now busy converting the turrets and magnetising the hull weapons so that I can switch between demolisher cannons and battle cannons, lascannons, heavy bolters and flamers. Having some good luck there, and I should be able to get a tutorial up in the future...

Anyway this post is about list design and Tank Company strategy, not hobby. I wanted to make a 1500 point list with 6 Leman Russ chassis - yes that sure is a lot. Obviously I need a least 3 troops and an HQ as well. And that's all you can fit into 1500 points - here is my first attempt:

Tank Company I (1500 points)
Enginseer - melta bombs (50)
10 Veterans - 3 meltas, chimera with heavy flamer (310)
10 Veterans - 3 meltas, chimera with heavy flamer (310)
10 Veterans - 3 grenade launchers, auto-cannon, chimera with heavy bolter (150)Leman Russ Squadron (360)
    * 2 Demolishers - lascannon
Leman Russ Squadron (315)
    * Battle Tank - heavy flamer
    * Battle Tank - lascannon
Leman Russ Squadron (315)
    * Battle Tank - heavy flamer
    * Battle Tank - lascannon

Firstly, YES - you can take an Enginseer as your sole HQ. Precedent is set with the Emperor's Champion in the Black Templars FAQ. Nowhere is there a requirement that you FILL an FOC slot, no matter how much somebody argues otherwise.

I love the character of this model - and he has managed to remobilize a Demolisher, fix a Demolisher cannon, and remobilize a chimera in the three games I have played, despite requiring a 5+ to succeed. I have given him his own personality - when a vehicle is in peril he charges across the battlefield to it's rescue, heedless of danger!

The troops seem pretty self-explanatory. Everyone takes 2 melta vet squads and the last squad provide torrent of fire to finish stuff off. Heavy flamers on the melta Chimeras because they will be moving most of the time anyway. To be honest I wish I had more troops - those Guardsmen are so fragile, especially when the vehicle explodes. I'm very much a GEQ noob, and will have to quickly pick up how best to use these fragile units in the game.

The demolishers were OK. They serve as a counter for Terminators and Thunderwolf Cavalry, and Landraiders too, though they weren't particularly needed in the games I played. Not sure if I need both of them though. It was at times difficult to get them in range of the targets that I wanted them to take out.

The Battle Tanks were also OK. They were able to slowly deal with opposing mech without taking much damage in return. The ability to put one squad in each corner was useful in controlling the battlefield. They suffer from a lack of weight of fire, being pretty ineffective against monstrous creatures and average against targets in cover. I really like the flamer/lascannon loadout - you can choose to put damage on the less useful tank, you save 15 points, and still have that small additional kick against mech. In one game I managed to absorb 5 shots from Fire Dragons (1 hit, no pen!) and then take out the entire squad with the heavy flamer.

I played against Daemons and lost 9 kill points to 1. Hey, that 1 KP was caused by three Guardsmen killing Fateweaver in assault! It was a wakeup call that I need more torrenting in order to give this list the ability to take on all-comers. Enter the Punisher...

Tank Company II (1500 points)
Company Command Squad (155) - 3 meltaguns, regimental standard, commander with melta-bombs, chimera with multi-laser, heavy flamer
10 Veterans - 3 meltaguns, chimera with multi-laser, heavy flamer (155)
10 Veterans - 3 meltaguns, chimera with multi-laser, heavy flamer (155)
10 Veterans - 3 grenade launchers, auto-cannon, chimera with multi-laser, heavy bolter (150)
Leman Russ Squadron (405)
    * Punisher - Commander Pask, heavy bolter, heavy bolter sponsons, heavy stubber
    * Battle Tank - heavy bolter
Leman Russ Squadron (315)
    * Battle Tank - heavy flamer
    * Battle Tank - lascannon
Leman Russ Battle Tank - lascannon (165)

The Punisher obviously fills the roll of providing a torrent of shots to finish off units. Pask complements the vehicle, ensuring that more shots hit, and increasing the damage each causes by a significant factor IF the tank has remained stationary. Because he gives the gun +1S against vehicles (if it stays stationary) those heavy bolter and Punisher cannon rounds suddenly become a barrage of glances and pens. And monstrous creatures better look out because against them I get to reroll wounds - this is even better than +1 S.

Sadly, it proved very difficult to integrate the Punisher with the rest of my army. Despite the shared 24" range of the main guns, it can't be squadroned with the Demolisher. Doing so would defeat the purpose of the Demolisher's high AP, allowing multiple AP2 wounds to be allocated to the same model. But putting the Demolisher by itself makes it an easy target and it may well never get to have an effect. So I ended up deciding to drop both Demolishers to fit in a Pask Punisher. A single Battle Tank at long range is a much better choice to make target priority difficult for my opponent.

As a few points were freed up by dropping a Leman Russ chassis, I can afford to upgrade the Enginseer to a Company Command squad. Their melta's compensate for the drop in AP2 to some extent. Regimental standard helps with pinning checks and morale after the chimera blows up.