Mechanized Imperial Guard has been a strong build pretty much since it’s release. I started running it shortly thereafter with my Looted Guard, and did very well with the army over the past few years (most recently going 6-1 and winning the American Team Championships).
In this new competitive era of win/ loss and Primary Secondary Tertiary objectives at tournaments, I’ve had to adapt the army to be more responsive to battlefield conditions. I nicknamed my winning Mech Guard list the “Meat Grinder”, because well I would just basically grind down my opponent with superior fire, and crush them under the weight of my tanks.
Darkwynn, TPM Paul Murphy, and myself talk quite frequently about the various builds we came up with, and we all agree that our successes with Mech Guard are mostly because they are so adaptable unit wise to whatever threats the battlefield can present.
The key to this adaptability seems to be the Psyker Battle Squad, who can just devastate non fearless armies. Of course they are no slouches against fearless ones either dumping high strength hopefully low Armor Piercing templates on them as well.
Currently in this meta every Mech Guard list I run will field two squads of them. At the ATC’s I ran a squad of 5 and a squad of 7, both of which worked quite nicely.
A crutch to the list seems to be the Vendetta/Valkyrie. I haven’t field one of those models in at least a year (which sorta sucks cause the ones I converted up were the centerpieces of the army). In the current meta of spammed high strength shooting, or fast delivery melta guns, the life span of the Vendetta has been shortened significantly.
Instead I’ve been running more tanks in the list for scoring, and to tank shock/ run broken units off the board. The extra Chimeras work great to help spread the wall of tanks out and help direct traffic away from objectives, or heck even claim them too.
I’ve also been fielding a bit of “secret tech” in the form of a Infantry Platoon. These guys I take as a Platoon command in a Chimera with 4 flamers, because well 4 is better than one (I’ve killed 11 grey nights in one volley with those before, lol). The best part is, you don’t have to roll to hit cause its a template- and we know guardsmen love to miss!
Also in there are two ten man infantryman squads that I use as “bubble wrap” to protect my tanks from assault. I combine them to form one squad when needed or keep them separate if I need them to spread out with the tanks.
Rounding out the list is a squad of three Hydras for shooting down Stormravens and shredding infantry squads. A Maticore for raining death on armor and hordes alike, and one Leman Russ executioner for dealing with power armor, and terminators.
So lets take a look at my overall Meatgrinder list.
~2000 Points
Meat Grinder Mechanized Imperial Guard
- Company Command Squad 2 Plasma 1 Lascannon Chimera
- Psyker Battle Squad x6 Chimera
- Psyker Battle Squad x6 Chimera
- Veteran Squad 3 Meltas Chimera
- Veteran Squad 2 Meltas Lascannon Chimera
- Veteran Squad 2 Meltas Lascannon Chimera
- Veteran Squad 3 Plasma Lascannon Chimera
- Infantry Platoon, Command Sqaud 4 flamers, 2 Squads of 10 Infantrymen
- Hydras x3
- Leman Russ Executioner w/ Plasma Sponsons
- Manticore
This is list is very similar to what I ran at the ATC’s, however there are some loose points left over now, because the Inquisitor is gone.
I’m thinking about trying to squeeze in a hellhound variant to help with firepower, and move fast to escort breaking units off the table.
It could surprise marine players when their big squads fail to automatically regroup because a tank sped up off my line to keep them running. Seems good with all those pesky Astartes armies out there.
So that’s the Meat Grinder, next time I’ll go over some tips for playing it. -MBG
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
