Traitor Allies

[Ides]

ok, so for apocalypse (and 40k in general) I'm thinking of starting a traitor IG force to go with my CSM (or alone, whichever the case may be).

There is one problem, namely that I have no idea where to invest the points (aside from a baneblade eventually).

What I have in mind at the moment is a squad or two of cadians, a commisar and perhaps that 3 russ box. What (apart from the IG codex) would you reccommend I buy?

[masterofweirdness]

I would say more basic cadians.

Then of course, think of what type of army you want. Drop Troopers, tank heavy, infantry heavy, elite, horde, etc... from there, move on.

[Ides]

I'm tempted to say infantry with armoured support, but as a start, I'm keeping it simple so as not to give my wallet a heart attack.

[precinctomega]

It depends on what sort of Traitor Guard you want to see.

Are they a horde of desperate degenerates that swamp their enemies and overcome defences by climbing up the bodies of their own dead? In which case, Cadians, Catachans and more Cadians and Catachans are what you want.

On the other hand, you could prefer to see something more select and elite, like the Bloodpact: disciplined veterans in mechanised transports with plenty of armoured support. In which case, invest in Chimeras, Leman Russes and a couple of Baneblades. You can then afford to do something more interesting with your actual guardsmen, such as using Vostroyans, Praetorians or something along those lines (refer to FW for total satisfaction, of course).

R.

[experiment 626]

don't forget about picking up at least 1 heavy weapons squad box to start with as well!

you should be able to get at least 9 weapon teams out of that 1 box!
a) don't glue the rocket launcher arms to the bi-pod - just whack them onto a regular guardsman!

b) use the bi-pod for the mortars & glue them all onto their own separet bases. add 2 crewmen and presto! mortar support squad

c) use the tri-pod for any of the remaning weapons.

another neat trick;
- if you have lots of spares of the plastic chaos heavy bolter then use catachan arms and you can model a gardsman actually carriying it!
the arms you'll need are the right arm holding the lasgaun at ease by it's side & the left knife arm with the knife fully extended, thrusting out forwards.

cheers!

[Lord Commander Erus]

Meh.. In all honesty, i'm a bit sick of traitor guard. Everyone with CSM is using them as allies and Apoc, and it's a good combo and match but... It's just being flooded right now so Chaos guys can make baneblades, etc..

Were I still doing Emperors Children, i'd likely do a fallen Inquisitor angle. Much more dynamic and interesting, imho.

[Ides]

Personally, its just an excuse to start into a different army that I can also use for larger games. Its just an excuse to give me something other than CSM to paint...

At the moment, Disciplined, battle-hardened fanatics is where I'm at, and depending on what I decide to arm them with, I may or may not go for the FW Krieg Commissar. It depends. So heavy infantry with tank support. Having played a baneblade before, I'm not reeeaaaaally too keen on buying one. Sure, if someone gave me one I'd use it, but, you know... probably buy a macharius vanquisher or something from FW for something different.

How would the whole inquisitor thing work anyway? If I went along those lines I'd have the inquisitor and the commissar. Troops are loyal to the commissar, and the commissar follows the inquisitor.

[experiment 626]

first off, you'll need at least 1 command squad which will contain your commanding officer. (it's mandetory so sadly, you can't have an actual commissar lead your army...)

doctrines to look at;
a) grenadiers. if by 'heavy infantry' you mean 4+ saves, then you'll need this one. gives you upto 3 storm trooper squads as Troops choices, though these guys don't have as many options as regular storm troopers...

b) iron discipline (or perhaps zealous devotion?!) no guard army can do without. gives you a near-marine equivalent Ld bonus which is always nice!

c) along the same lines, you can look into die-hards. when combined with iron discipline, your men really won't break for any reason...

d) if you want your entire army to be heavy infantry then look no further than carapace armour! now pretty much everyone gets a storm trooper's armour save.

e) veterans. if you take carapace armour, then take over storm troopers. same basic pts cost, way better options such as a 'hidden' power fist & 0-3 special weapons!

f) hardened fighters. give this to carapaced hardened vets and while expensive, you have a squad that take on space marines and win!
the main advantage to hardened fighters is that it forces most opponent's to hit you on 4's instead of only 3's...

g) priests. what's a chaos hoard without the inevitable religious zealots to keep the faith and lead the men in their debased and heretical worships?!!

as for how an inquisitor would work? simple; he's a dirty, filthy radical!lol.

cheers!

[Dragoon King]

Originally Posted by Lord Commander Erus

Meh.. In all honesty, i'm a bit sick of traitor guard. Everyone with CSM is using them as allies and Apoc, and it's a good combo and match but... It's just being flooded right now so Chaos guys can make baneblades, etc..

Were I still doing Emperors Children, i'd likely do a fallen Inquisitor angle. Much more dynamic and interesting, imho.

You know what, that's true Erus. I'm having second thoughts about Traitor guard. The reason I was going with them is IG are pretty versatile, and they would give my Black Legion some long range punch, which I don't really lack, just would like to have some more. Bosh to the Baneblade, I say. When I build my superheavies for Apoc it will be a Brass Scorpion and possible a Stormblade. The one area where I believe IG are weak are troops. Allying with CSM makes good sense, because their infantry is as strong as they come. Chaos doesn't have a weakness with their armour, but they don't have the acess to some of the IG armour, which is some of the best in the game. That is why I think lots of Chaos players choose Traitor guard as allies. Inquisitor angle, you say? Tell me more!

[Ides]

I smell a FW greatcoat model in the mail...

But all joking aside I'll have to check out the codex on friday when I'm in the store... Probably go for carapace armour, vets, Iron Discipline, hardened fighters and priests in that case. Though again, I'll have to see if I can't sneak in an Inquisitor somewhere...lol.

[Dan296]

the hard core zealots sound awesome.
what i would do to start would be...get the battleforce!
its your basic force. a russ, 20 guardsmen, and 3 weapons teams. the terrain in there is useless though

the macharius vanquisher is much better then the baneblade IMO
sure the mega battle cannon is nice but still, its overused and i just like using the differant stuff. maybe some manticore launchers....

[Ides]

sounds like a plan...Would I need stormtrooper models to represent the carapace armour though?

[experiment 626]

Originally Posted by Ides

sounds like a plan...Would I need stormtrooper models to represent the carapace armour though?

no. as long as whatever models you use look fairly well armoured, (ie: on a similar level to stormies), then they can be given carapace armour!

cheers!

[Ides]

So I need to GS extra armour plates...okey doke.

[experiment 626]

you can easily get away with adding knee & perhaps elbow pads to plastic cadian models - that would give them more than enough extra beefiness for most opponents! (there's always those 2 or 3 gits who'll complain you should model them exactly like storm troopers...)

or else, if you use the greatcoated models, try making a mold for the old 5th/6th edition 'extra armour plates' from the empire soliders kit?! they should fit fairly well and again, it simply adds that extra bit of bulk to the model.

cheers!

[Ides]

Well I have some scouts lying around which I plan to use for reference, and some empire general bits lying around for the rest, so I'll see what I can do...

[Azalar]

Originally Posted by Ides

a commisar

Wouldnt Happen.

So Unfluffy, the rocks jealous of its hardness.

Think about it, Commissar upholds the Imperial Creed, First thing they would have done was mobbed him and killed him.