It's not that I dislike plasma on CCS, I just prefer the suicidal nature of melta work to be on a non-scoring unit... plus they can BID themselves. Nothing's for certain, but 4 TL MG's is pretty close.
I wound up playing at 1000 pts,
160 - CCS: Power Fist, 4x Meltagun, Chimera w/ Heavy Flamer, Heavy Bolter
165 - Vets: Power Fist, 3x GL, Autocannon, Shotguns, Chimera w/ Multi-laser, Heavy Flamer
200 - Vets: Power Fist, 3x Plasmagun, Missile Launcher, Chimera w/ Multi-laser, Heavy Bolter
140 - Vendetta: HB's
130 - Vets: PF, 3x Flamer,
Demolitions205 - LRBT: Lascannon, 2x Plasma Sponsons
1000 - TotalI played against another Guard player, and he was playing...
A trio of Carapace Vets with AC, single PlaG.
A trio of Armoured Sents with AC's
A Hydra
A LR Exterminator, Pask, LC, 2x HB
A LC + MoO CCS.
[Autocannon spam vs Mech. Eeep!]
5 Objectives, 2 on his side, 2 in the middle, 1 on mine [for the Plasma Vets] since I knew I was playing aggressively and he was defensive. I got first turn, scouted my Flamer Vets in their Vendetta, then had them deploy and flamer/demo one of his Vet units. The result left a one wound HWT... thankfully, so I multi-assaulted it and an Armoured Sent [MB's are awesome!]. Killed the HWT, Imob'd the Sent, lost a duder. The Vendetta took both Hyda-AC's off and stunned it.
Melta CCS moved full tilt and popped smoke. GL Vets moved slow, sent some frag rounds into another Vet squad and offed enough to cause a check, which they passed after the Plasma Vets' Chim shot at them. Their Chim shook an Armoured Sent, I was happy. The ML Vets advanced in their Chim, throwing their Mul at the grenaded Vets. They advanced so that their Mul/HB would be in range for next turn, and the Plasma would be as well, if he advanced towards the central objectives. The Russ destroyed a Sentinel.
His turn had him shoot his Pask-terminator at my lead Chim [CCS] which resulted in several pens and a couple of glances. [The Vendetta was actually out of line of sight!] Smoke stopped all but one pen and two glances, resulting in a very stunned Chim.
I can say that a Pask-terminator makes a very effective transport stopper, though I don't know about spending that many points on it. His Company Command Squad managed to shake the Russ. The two AC/PlaG Veteran squads each shot at a different Chimera [line of sight issues] though neither caused damage. The Veterans in Close Combat with the Sentinel removed it's weapon, and it caused a casualty, so drawn combat there.
My next turn allowed me to drift my Vendetta six inches around a building to draw line on the side of his Russ, which got exploded. The Flamer/Demo Veterans finished off the Sentinel, and “swept” into the same building as his now thoroughly depleted 2nd Veteran squad. They took a kicking from the Grenade Launcher Veterans, and the Plasma Veterans with their shooty Chimera, leaving the Sarge, Plasmagunner and a single wound Autocannon team. The Company Command Squad got out and melta'd a Sentinel at long range, wrecking it. The Grenade Launcher Vet's Chimera used it's Multi-laser to take the Autocannon off of the final Sentinel. My Russ moved to get out of the enemy CCS's line of sight.
His second turn had one Veteran unit fire into the Grenade Launcher Vet's Chimera, which immobilized it. The other squad fired into the Company Command Squad, taking down 2 of the Meltagunners and putting a wound on the Commander. His Hydra fired it's Heavy Bolter into the Flamer Veterans, but cover saved the two wounds it inflicted. His Company Command Squad fluffed their order, and then missed with both Lascannon and Master of Ordnance, targeting my Russ.
My third turn saw the Flamer Veterans toast the weakened squad, claiming an objective. The Plasma Veterans fired a frag round and their Chimera into the last Veteran squad, leaving them with only a few wounds. The CCS's Chimera moved up, they embarked, and the Chimera took down a few more of the last Veteran squad. The Russ shot at the Veterans, with the BC missing altogther, one plasma shot hit the target, and the Lascannon did as well. The Grenade Launcher Veterans finished them off.
My opponent conceded the game, as I was in control of Three objectives, and he had nothing to claim, and no reasonable hope that he could even contest the objectives, as he was down to his Heavy Bolter only Hydra and his non-moving Company Command Squad.
On the whole, I can't say as he set up all that well, shooty Guardsmen shouldn't spread out like he did. He took all the right things to wipe me out, but by going first I neutralized almost half of his army before he had a go. That seems to be a key factor in this sort of matchup, as I'm certain that if he'd gone first I would have had to have deployed much more conservatively, as his piles of Autocannons would have prevented a full on rush.
Flamer / Demo Veterans with Power Fist in a Vendetta was absolutely devestating and pretty much won me the game on it's own. The Missile / Plasma Veterans did exactly what I hoped they'd do, though the Power Fist is probably not necessary in any way. I wound up moving my Grenade Launcher Veterans every turn, but wouldn't have moved them in any subsequent turns as they made it to an objective and would have set up and fired the rest of the game, so I like the Autocannon there, and the Power Fist for what little counter assault it could muster, supported by my Company Command Squad and a couple of Heavy Flamers. Company Command Squad drew fire, as I suspected it would, and took out a walker that I would have had trouble dealing with, so that's good. It's Heavy Bolter was actually the better weapon in this case, being up against Carapace... made me smile, and the turreted Heavy Flamer would have been bonkers had there been more troops, as I could have rushed in, dropped the Company Command Squad to melta something while the Heavy Flamer turned to toast something else. I like what it does, in my metagame.
I wasn't overly nervous, deploying a Russ on it's own against a gunline list, though would have put it near the Plasma Veterans against a more mobile opponent.
This was an absolutely crushing victory... I only lost a pair of Veterans and a couple of Melta boys from my Company Command Squad. I see now why Mech Veterans is popular! Unfortunately for learning purposes, I was put in a near perfect position for this victory, so it's hard to say that I learned much.
I can say that getting first turn seems to be a fairly important part of the overall strategy, which I say as a joke, of course. I can say that target saturation did not seem that overwhelmingly beneficial, since while I wouldn't take
that many Autocannons in a list, I'd often have similar options for dealing with mid AV at range, and if I hadn't taken 3 Autocannon squads out before the game began, I'd have been in much worse shape.
My opponent did not seem to be enjoy the insertion of my fist into his colon. Can't say I was suprised by that, though I reminded him that the last time we'd played we had tied, and then I explained how my win was pretty much hinged on going first, and that there was little he could have done once his boys were down on the table. That seemed to smooth things over a bit.
It was fun to play, though much less tactical that I am used to. I now have 4 transports so I think I'll try it again sometime, hopefully getting second turn to try the other side of things.