Thoughts on Guard

My Mech Eldar V1.2 got a shot at some Guardsmen today. To be honest, this is about the first time I've played Guard.

His list was something like...
HQ Section (Don't really remember the gear; wasn't important)
7-8 Ogyrn on foot
8 Ratling Snipers
Infantry Platoon
-Heavy Weapon Team
-a couple of squads w/ autocannons and/or lascannons
A couple Veteran Teams; 2 with lascannons
1 Veteran Squad in Chimera w/ power weapon, meltaguns
Squad of 3 Scout Sentinels w/ Multilasers, Camo Nets
2 Leman Russes (not as a squad) w/ Camo Nets

Spearhead, Capture & Control.

Well, I went second and set up most everything in cover. It was a hell of a first turn, with one wave Serpent getting immobilized while the other exploded. A Battle Cannon shot scattered on my Seer Council, KO'ing half of them.

Not a hell of a beginning, for me.

He ended up bringing the Chimera of Vets around the corner, along with the Ogryn behind it. I stopped that advance by killing the Ogryn and popping the Chimera, and tying up the Veterans with Fire Dragons, of all things.

He made an attempt on my objective by stalking Sentinels at it, 'til the other Fire Dragons exploded all three in one round of shooting. I had to pull back, as I'd only barely KO'ed those fething snipers, which were taking shots on my objective. I ended up with a Wave Serpent full of Avengers on mine, and his was buried under platoons.

Tactical draw, moral victory to him.

Thoughts on Guard
Ogryn STILL aren't that scary, despite the buff. Three T5 wounds over a 5+ save is nasty, but Doom + 2 Destructors + a Bladestorm = 5-6 dead Ogryn, a failed ld check, and Ogryn running off the table. He DID get them moving with the 'MOVE MOVE MOVE!' order, but part of his assumption (the guy's a vet, but has played...2 games of 5th, now, I think...) was forgetting about the Run rule and that he wasn't going to get to assault the Seer Council with the Ogryn.

Ratlings are annoying as piss, mostly because of power-armor like saves. I may very well include snipers if/when I ever do a Guard Army just so I can draw fire with them. I had to slaughter them because they were going to be taking pot-shots on my objectives.

Sentinels were, for their points, pretty impressive. 35 points isn't a lot, but a squad of 3 at 105 cranks out a good 9 scatter laser shots. I don't think it's a bad little unit, and it definitely makes me want to get them as a 'splurge.' Camo netting would be cool, but there's an easy temptation to make the Sentinels too costly for the AV10 open-topped vehicle they are. At best, autocannons for 5 points; then a squad's 120.

The Russ, similarly, is probably best cheap. 150 base, and a little bit for camo netting. You can cram a LOT of guns onto a russ; there's the turret gun and the hull mount. Sponsons start at 10 for heavy bolters, 20 for multi-meltas, and 40 for plasma cannons. The Russ is pretty much a gun turret.

Since I'd run mechanized, I've already pretty much figured out my basic troop units. For 100 points, I get 10 vets with three BS4 meltaguns. For another 55, I get a Chimera with a turret multi-laser and a hull heavy flamer. That way I've got a troop unit that can handle damn near anything it runs into; a 6" advance and S6 shots, or a 6" advance and burnination. I can fire out of my vehicle with meltaguns, or get out and burn something. For a total of 155, it's not a bad building block. Three of those run me 465, and if I back them up with the Sentinels, I've got an armored advance that's all of 620 points for more. Maybe a couple Hellhound variants...Then the rest on an infantry platoon or two sitting at home and sniping, a command section, and some heavy weapons on tanks.