The Army List (40K)

Post Dakka-Dakka, I feel like I've gone through a few stages of list building. At first it was about imagination, with the cool line of basilisks decked out with various options and lots of fluffy stuff, like vox casters. A lot of the fluff was an attempt to be more of what I thought of as Tallarn. Since then, I've been reading an account of their exploits and equipment in Forge World books, so I have a better idea of flavor, but I wasn't far off.

Dakka-Dakka is a kind of trial by fire, a purging of everything unnecessary and an analysis of various equipment. The primary advice I got there was:

1. Cut the fluff. Most options are about what-if scenarios, rather than hard-hitting tactical choices. It's kind of like in Dungeons & Dragons 3x, where you might want to choose flavor feats instead of combat related feats. The bottom line in both games is hard hitting combat, although you unfortunately don't get to loot your enemies bodies in 40K. Some of the Tallarns in the Forge World campaign book were in Space Marine transports. Why can't we do that?
2. Don't be a Target. One of anything juicy is bad. One tank is a target, two tanks is good. One transport is a target, two are good. Let command teams command and don't make them a tactical threat by giving them heavy weapons.
3. The Not Enough Men Problem. Imperial Guard are almost always about masses of guardsmen, most of whom will die horrible deaths; but hey, there are billions more where they came from. The tendency is to want to protect your guys, deck them out in armor or make them elite. It's a losing battle. Let them go.

Post Dakka-Dakka, I went through a second stage and optimized the list for the most functional force. This meant dropping some trademark Tallarn equipment, taking some doctrines that were tactically good, but not accurate to the Tallarn, and generally trying to "fix" this interesting army.

Stage three came after more Tallarn reading from the Forge World campaign book. The Desert Raiders Tallarn novel arrived today too, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. This stage has me adopting good Dakka-Dakka advice while trying to preserve what's essential to the Tallarns. Some mechanized infantry is good, but these guys marched across deserts for the most part, rather than being driven. They were infantry and they walked. This also meant the drop troop doctrine went away and the Sharpshooter doctrine came back, even if it does seem a bit expensive.

As for heavier weapons, I kept the grenade launchers because of the versatility and I already had the models. I'm working on getting flamer bitz to use that option later. There are no Tallarn flamer figures. The rocket launchers, which come with the Tallarn infantry boxes (one day) are being replaced by Lascannon teams, which are fine with the Tallarn theme and more effective. There will be an obvious disconnect between modeling vehicles and the list, mostly because the game rewards uniform units with little equipment. Boring!

1500 Pts - Imperial Guard Roster - Imperial Guard Tallarns

HQ: Command Platoon (6#, 146 Pts)
Command Platoon @ 146 Pts
Command Squad @ [90] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters
1 Junior Officer @ [70] Pts
Iron Discipline; Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Honorifica Imperialis; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol
1 Honorifica Imperialis @ [25] Pts
4 Guardsmen @ [0] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Lasgun (x4)
0 Sentinel Squadron @ [56] Pts
1 Sentinel @ [56] Pts
Searchlight (x1); Lascannon (x1)

Troops: Armoured Fist (11#, 189 Pts)
9 Armoured Fist @ 189 Pts
Sharpshooters; Lasgun (x7); Grenade Launcher; Lascannon
1 Sergeant @ [6] Pts
Sharpshooters; Laspistol & CCW
1 Chimera @ [86] Pts
Searchlight; Multilaser; Hull Heavy Bolter

Troops: Infantry Platoon (41#, 568 Pts)
0 Infantry Platoon @ 568 Pts
0 Command Squad @ [179] Pts
Sharpshooters
1 Junior Officer @ [45] Pts
Iron Discipline; Sharpshooters; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol
4 Guardsmen @ [124] Pts
Sharpshooters; Lasgun (x2); Grenade Launcher (x1); Lascannon; Chimera
1 Chimera @ [91] Pts
Extra Armour; Searchlight; Multilaser; Hull Heavy Bolter
9 Infantry Squad @ [113] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Lasgun (x7); Grenade Launcher; Lascannon
1 Sergeant @ [6] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Laspistol & CCW
9 Infantry Squad @ [113] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Lasgun (x7); Grenade Launcher; Lascannon
1 Sergeant @ [6] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Laspistol & CCW
9 Infantry Squad @ [113] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Lasgun (x7); Grenade Launcher; Lascannon
1 Sergeant @ [6] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Laspistol & CCW
4 Remnant Squad @ [50] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Lasgun (x4)
1 Sergeant @ [6] Pts
Light Infantry; Sharpshooters; Laspistol & CCW

Fast Attack: Sentinel Squadron (2#, 112 Pts)
0 Sentinel Squadron @ 112 Pts
2 Sentinel @ [112] Pts
Searchlight (x2); Lascannon (x2)

Fast Attack: Rough Rider Squad (10#, 110 Pts)
9 Rough Rider Squad @ 110 Pts
Close Combat Weapon (x9); Hunting Lance (- LP) (x9)
1 Sergeant @ [11] Pts
Close Combat Weapon; Hunting Lance

Heavy Support: Basilisk (3#, 375 Pts)
1 Basilisk @ 125 Pts
Earthshaker Cannon; Hull Heavy Bolter; Indirect Fire Capability
1 Basilisk @ 125 Pts
Earthshaker Cannon; Hull Heavy Bolter; Indirect Fire Capability
1 Basilisk @ 125 Pts
Earthshaker Cannon; Hull Heavy Bolter; Indirect Fire Capability

Total Roster Cost: 1500