Most of the units I've taken for IG (Super Heavy, Leman Russ, Artillery) seem to work quite well without upgrades, Infantry seem to be 'overcomplicated'. With the variations that IG Mechanized Infantry can take, and can benefit largely from, I'm curious how most people prefer to take them.

Vanilla seems relatively strong, but I can see the symmetry of adding some of the other options. What do most people use these companies for, and how do you accessorize them? And is there a significant outfit change if you make them Chimeraless?

Morgan Vening
-That came out a lot more fashion-centric than I intended.

By adding Support and Ogryn you add serious staying power. The additional Hydra panzerjäger/ach-ach is also splendid. From 20 units to 31 with plus 11 AT shots and good close combat.

What you might want to consider is also the (supreme) commander and the Command ability.
Imperial Guard can put together massive assault.

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It would be nice to get lightspeed,
so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

I don't upgrade. Except a little.

Generally I use foot infantry companies as garrisoned speedbumps. They are only good for sitting in cover. They often get a Hydra upgrade. These guys get one-way tickets only, and no chocolate bars or even food. Their job is to soak fire, die fighting, and give time for the Stormtrooper counterattack to secure the objective.

Mech. inf. almost always gets a Hydra. I keep toying around with Ogryns in Chimeras, but rarely do it.

I used to field Demolishers with a mech. inf. co, but the darn things just cost too much points and slow the formation down. Hellhounds might be nice, but generally an extra formation is worth more to me.

Griffons, of course, are rubbish.

I almost always add a hydra and I have added fire support with chimera's when I was running 2 mech, 2 foot infantry armies.

The up-gunned mech infantry does make for a tough BTS.

I've seen mech infantry with everything from grunt troops to Griffons, but adding Hydra, Hellhounds, and/or fire support seems to be the best based on game results, imho.  Hydras' use should be obvious.

With the formation as large as it is, it's hard to assault anyway.  Hellhounds with 10cm countercharge and 15cm FF range can almost always give support.  Fire support has 5cm + 15cmFF if unmounted and 30cm if mounted (10cm transport move + 5cm dismount + 15cm FF).  Ogryns, even if mounted, can only countercharge 15cm to try to CC and unmounted only 5cm.  Ogryns are better if the enemy decides to assault with CC, but with 25+ units the chances are good that there will still be lots of IG units using their relatively good FF so the extra Ogryn bump in CC isn't needed to make a fight of it.

On the flip side, if the IG decide to assault, they will want to be primarily FF.  Hellhounds and Fire support fit with that role, while Ogryns are either a waste or force the formation to get closer than they might otherwise want to.

The main use for Ogryn, imho, is a high-armor/high CC unit to add Commissars to but I'm not sure that it's worth it in mech inf.

Foot infantry should always get Fire Support.  It's awesome firepower for its price and turns them into a real threat by doubling their raw firepower and making them more resistant to suppression.

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Neal

Neal, it's to have Ogryns they are there. Not because it's supremely effective.  
(Which reminds me I got a conversion to do.)
But they are also good for another thing, to tie units up when being the assaulting side. Thus reducing the opponent's reaction options.

Hydra to add air-cover but also a good AT hail.
Support to add a bunch of AP/AT, both troopers and their Chimeras. Not to mention assaults!
Ogryn to tie the opponent up when assaulting. And general addition by the Chimeras. And because they are cool!

If using Hellhounds I'd skip the support platoon and go hard for assault.

Why, oh why, don't Stormtroopers have Chimera options?!

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It would be nice to get lightspeed,
so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

Ah good one!

Commissar with them Ogryns. Sneaky!  

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It would be nice to get lightspeed,
so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

Quoted for truth. They terrify people, so they don't want to get near the company. Kinda like Gargants.

Combined Arms ...  

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

No no no L4, that's orks, and their painboyz, that combine arms...  

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It would be nice to get lightspeed,
so far we can only reach slight speed.- Erik M
092b85658e746a91d343e53509d357744e56f641

Indeed ...      

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Never underestimate the power of 1 commander, 18 infantry, 4 fire support and 12 Chimera (for those counting at home thats 12 multilasers, 12 heavy bolter and 18 autocannons)! With the option of either a hydra (3 more shots, AA cover), Snipers (4 more shots with their chimera) or Ogryns (4 more shots from the two transporting chimera), what more could you want?

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