Army: Lord Castellan Creed's Platoon

Creed's Platoon

I've been messing around with some ideas for a different kind of IG list that still has some power units and the ability to win against competitive lists. I already have a generic Cadian force with the typical chimera spam but I wanted to try something different. This latest list is anything but typical. It does Cadian's with a twist and has a lot of unexpected abilities.

Imperial Guard (2000)

HQ

Company Command Squad (Lord Castellan Creed, Color Seargeant Kell, Astropath, Melta x3, Camo Cloaks)

Troops

Platoon:

Platoon Command Squad (Flamer x4)
Infantry Squad x10 (LasCannon, Power Weapon)
Infantry Squad x10 (LasCannon, Power Weapon)
Infantry Squad x10 (LasCannon, Power Weapon)
Heavy Weapon Squad (Autocannon x3)
Heavy Weapon Squad (Autocannon x3)
Heavy Weapon Squad (Autocannon x3)

Penal Legion Squad x10

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Battle Tank x2 (Heavy Flamer)
Leman Russ Exterminator x2 (Plasma Sponsons x2, Heavy Bolter)
Leman Russ Vanquisher w Knight Commander Pask (Lascannon)

Fast Attack
Scout Sentinel x2 (Lascannon x2)
Scout Sentinel x2 (Lascannon x2)

Where do we begin? Well first of all this list has zero chimeras. Not a one. In fact it doesn't have any AV 12 at all. This is an intentional design construction that attempts to render all of your opponents' strength 7 and strength 8 weaponry as over-costed. What will those weapons shoot at anyway? Hopefully cheap platoons. With a low volume of fire this can become exceptionally frustrating. Beyond the lack of AV 12 the army centers around Lord Castellan Creed. He makes the army go with the ability to maximize orders to nearby infantry platoons that can now fully benefit since they are on foot and not tucked away in chimeras. To ensure that the orders are received we utilize Colour Seargent Kell. Now everyone hearing it is effectively LD 10.

On top of Creed's special order abilities and radius we benefit from his unique order "For the honor of Cadia". With this ability the massive platoon blob of 30 is fearless and has furious charge. They also are outfitted with power weapons. This can be problematic for unprepared enemies who get too close. This entire platoon now assaults like a mob of orks!

Finally creed has the "Tactical Genius" ability. He can assign any one unit in the list the scout ability. That means we can outflank with our Leman Russ Exterminators, or if we prefer, an infantry squad or even the entire blob of 30. This list features an Astropath to ensure anything that we outflank can show up as soon as possible.

Backing up Creed and his platoon is a lot of firepower in the form of 5 Leman Russ. All of them resilient, bubble wrapped by the blob if needed and all capable of dishing out serious damage. We have a variety of functions among them. The vanilla LRBT can stay far away from the rest of the fight and rain down Str 8 ordinance. The aforementioned Exterminators can control the center of the table or even outflank and dump autocannon and plasma cannon spam from behind. The lone Vanquisher, headed by Pask, can demolish might Land Raiders or enemy Leman Russ from long range.

The Scout sentinels serve as cheap an efficient vehicle kill that again can hide behind the safety of the leman russ getting cover or outflank into enemy territory. The Penal Legion troopers can also outflank to take an objective late game. Or we can just keep them on our side of the table to defend the home base.

This list is a lot of fun to field because it takes a strong guard contingent and uses them in a different way with several interesting special characters. It still, like any good guard list, features a lot of long range firepower. This list has 8 Lascannons (3 of which can be Twin Linked), 13+ Autocannons, Plasma Cannons and even a highly accurate Str 10 Shot. It also features a highly resilient troop base than can excel both at range or even in close combat.

Is this list tier 1? Probably not. But I think it can baffle opponents and you can chuckle when they bring a bunch of str 7 or 8 guns and have nothing worthwhile to shoot at, are furious charged by a mob of 30 guardsmen with power weapons, and are outflanked by a pair of Leman Russ exterminators.

Have fun.