Astra Militarum themes; Correct vs Fun

I really do need to adjust my tactics. I sit back, a lot. This is classically what Guard excel at. This is how their fluff reads. Sit behind fortifications and blow the enemy away with hammerblows of overwhelming fire-power. 

It’s a tactic that in game works well against a lot of armies such as Nids, Tau, Necrons, Chaos, Ork Kan and horde armies. The problem is everyone else.

I know the amount of Marine players I will be going up against. All with access to a lot of Deep Strike. This means this happens a lot.

With this easy availability of deepstriking infantry its fairly easy to guess that sooner or later, as the biggest target for enemy players, your vehicles are going to be destroyed. 

By Meltas...a good 70% of the time.
These deepstrikers can counter the Guard Strengths in horrific ways and they are the nemesis of Guard forces. They ignore range, are placed to disrupt the gunline, and generally are geared specifically to get the job done and then (likely) die.

Sometimes, I just don’t want to lose tanks to them in the first turn, so here are a few ways I try and mitigate the deepstrikers strengths.

Aegis

It’s a cheap 4+ obscured save that you can plant your tanks behind. Use it

Hide their butts.

10’s and 11’s AV respectively is poor. Bolters can glance you down. Flat to your board edge means no one can target it.

Insist on Night fighting

Situational but helpful, Squishy guardsmen with a 3+ save? Handy. 6+ on a tank if over 24 inches? Can be a saver.

Get that first turn

Get lucky with your Pskyers and get Forewarning or Invisibility up and ready to save things from when those meltas do hit.

Pad out your back field.

Why are your guardsmen so close together? Spread em out so that nothing can drop behind you.

Interceptors

If you have enough units/emplacements that can intercept, and someone puts their meltas at the front of the deepstriking unit to get half range, shoot the squad and knock off some of them.

And the winner.

Do or die. DEPLOY EVERYTHING

This is the tactic based on many a play-through based on reserves and what to bring. I've tried many and no combination works in your favour. Really.

He’ll likely have Anti Infantry pods(AI) , and Anti-Tank pods(AT). You’ll likely have tanks T and Infantry I.

If you have I and T on the board, he’ll drop AT in the first wave. You’re left with I. He drops AI, you lose.

If you have I on the board, he’ll drop AI first, You bring on T, and he’ll drop AT, you lose.

If you have T on the board, he’ll drop AT first, you bring on I and he’ll drop AI, you lose.

If its Sternguard, just forget about it.

The only tactic using these guys in this manner that has proven remotely successful is Book One, page One.

Deploy everything!

With this, not only go you get more on the board to saturate the end zone, but you will have enough fire-power left on the board to deal with his Alpha Strike, in time to get rid of the Beta strike.
Apply all the above tactics as well and should have enough on the board to get tactical objectives in your favour.

Regardless of all this theory there's still a major issue here, how much enjoyment you get from playing this army.

The major forgotten factor here is this. Is this fun?

This is fun. Look at it. See? Fun.

This was why I picked Renegades rather than Cadians. Fun. They are lunatics. They are calculating as well. They are fun to paint, fun to sculpt, fun to assemble. So are they fun to play?

They should be, even the old Renegade rules were pretty fun. Random leadership, odd gribbly units popping out of the woodwork. They were characterful and enjoyable, but playing them as Guard? That ain't fun.

I've got these psychopaths that are content sitting behind a gun line and get shot at? Nutters that put their faith in static tanks and artillery? No. Thats So from now onwards, unless someone has a chip on their shoulder I’ll be playing the way I enjoy.

The way I want to play is for flufftastic fun. Sure I want to win but I'm also sick of playing these heretics like a serious grown up Guard force with firing angles and reliable rules. The Sons of Sek are cold, calculating lunatics who should get in peoples faces and surprise them with how a t3 model did so much damage.

So expect to see more charging, more suicidal cultist crazies, more blood, more ruin!

Bring on the fun :)