40k: Army List – Imperial Guard “Steel Lions” – 2,000 points
Mercer here from Imperius Dominatus. I came up with my latest list after modifying my existing Guard army after learning some valuable lessons in the field:
Company Command Squad w/ Chimera – 4 x plasma guns – Chimera w/ heavy flamer
Company Command Squad w/ Chimera – 4 x plasma guns – Chimera w/ heavy flamer
Troops
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x meltaguns – Chimera w/ heavy flamer
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x meltaguns – Chimera w/ heavy flamer
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x meltaguns – Chimera w/ heavy flamer
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x meltaguns – Chimera w/ heavy flamer
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x plasma guns – Chimera w/ heavy flamer
Veterans w/ Chimera – 3 x plasma guns – Chimera w/ heavy flamer
Fast Attack
Vendetta
Vendetta
Hellhound – heavy flamer, smoke launchers & heavy stubber
Heavy Support
Leman Russ Battle Tank – heavy flamer
Leman Russ Battle Tank – heavy flamer
Manticore Rocket Launcher – heavy flamer
Total: 2,000 points
Summary
Army Notes
What started this rebuild is the Leman Russ. I use it for flattening infantry and vehicles at a range, it’s hit and miss, perhaps it is a unlucky model (you know those ones!) as it scatters more than it hits, but when it hits it really hits! It’s cheap and has range but that’s the only model in my army with extreme range. I’ve flirted with Executioner before, it did ok once and the second time it got stuck in terrain and was useless.
I’ve added in a Manticore Rocket Launcher for some blasty goodness – mass templates rule and when you drop 7 templates down through out the game it can seriously hurt. S10 is good for busting vehicles, infantry and while Space Marines get saves pesky Blood Angels won’t get FnP! Have it Space Vampires! Sure it runs out of ammo in time, but it can cause utter destruction.
Usually I use the flamer Veterans to hold objectives while the others roam about doing what they do. I’ve dropped them and replaced with plasma. These guys can move and fire or still hold objectives and have 24″ range.
Only other change is the Hellhound, I had spare points to thrown on smoke launchers and a heavy stubber – the stubber can still fire when it moves 12″ so that’s cool. I’ll use it for is double teaming with the melta Veterans in the Chimera, they pop a transport then the Hellhound burns them, if those meltas fire the Hellhound has a chance though. But, the Bane Wolf has entered my head, more effective against all forms of infantry instead of ones with just 4+ save and the Veterans need to get close for melta range anyway…..same points too 😉
Vendettas have been added for long range anti tank – where else in the Guard codex can you get three twin-linked lascannons for 130 points? Sure they will hardly get cover, but they’re useful for various things such as ranged anti tank, monstrous creature sniping, alpha strike, last turn objective scoring/claiming – obiviously only claims with troops inside 😉
Tactics
Tactics with this army are pretty simple but also flexible. Setup both Russes in opposite corners to give a cross fire of large blasts, they have 72″ range so should range all the way across the board no problem – of course this can put them at risk to outflanking units. Deploy the Manticore behind a building out of sight, but not in terrain though because remember it can fire directly which means that minimum 24″ range is gone. This can be useful if incoming swarms etc are within that range.
Plasma Veterans hold objectives closest to home or follow plasma CCS around, plasma CCS blow holes in light armoured transports while Veterans and other CCS blasts with fire from Chimeras and plasma 😉
Hellhound and melta Veterans in Chimera team up as mentioned.
It’s a simple list I’m not going to lie, but it is a challenge to beat with decent amount of ranged fire power and mass plasma – it should give Space Marines in all forms the scares with AP2 and AP3 fire, those Razorback spam lists shouldn’t last long!
What you think of the Steel Lions list? Hate it or love it its just another example of what the IG Codex can dish out with an army that is easy (if not cheap) to collect. I’d love to hear your thoughts onthe list, and what you think the game really needs to deal with the wall of steel the IG have been throwing around the last year! 🙂
