Don't go off half cocked.

I went down south Sunday (since It was a 3-day weekend, Mrs Farmpunk didn't mind me playing twice this week.) I had resolved to play a variation on the new Light Infantry force. I outlined here:

Where did THEY come from?!?!

I got a mortar in the Co. Command, and a Regimental Standard... not that it mattered a lot. snipers would have helped me in the carnage that was to come...

My side of the field, a platoon, Co. Com, and Inquisitor Lord

I faced off against a great guy, Mate. Mate and I had played back in December, just before I started logging battle reports. Once we started pulling out models, I remembered his hive fleet, and the nasty fight with my GK list we had. The GrandMaster flexed his old school Force Weapon muscles that game. (which ironically, he usually did enough outright wounds to kill the couple of CC fexes he fought.)

this time, the 'nids were more geared to shoot something. There was a mean Dakka Flyrant, 3 Zoanthropes, 3 Shooty 'fexes, a Broodlord and retinue, shooty warriors, and 2 Stealer squads to round out.

The 'nid side of the field, with Harker back in a corner.

I knew this would be a tough fight for the IG. I was wishing I'd brought 12 Lascannons. or at least a few Russes.

It was Pitched Battle (good for me), and Annihilation (fair for me) I won to go first, and infiltrate last. both good. If I could hit anything. Shelia moved the Brrodlord out of cover, for good 1st turn shooting. I LOOKED scary.

Then I whiffed, and underwhelmed. having 2+ armor on the fexes, and Zoanthropes didn't help a lot either. I'd been counting on Missile Launchers to deal with some large targets.

The first turn was underwhelming. The start of the Second turn, most stuff came on, thanks to the Astropath. At least HE worked well. The Fleet officer, was unappreciated, and took the Astropath out for drinks when it came time for outflanking re-rolls. only one squad of the 4 (I combined the missile launcher and lascannon squads) came in on the side I wanted.

If I had been able to fire any of my Heavy Weapons, I would have been golden. I couldn't, and I suffered. At the start of the 3rd turn, when he started getting to my troops, it was going to be over soon. At the start of the 4th turn, I called it. I was getting schooled in 'good touch / BAD TOUCH! BAD TOUCH!' tyranid style.

So what did I learn?

• when playing Infantry IG, it's good to have the force pre-set in your foam, for easier, much faster setup.
• I need to buy big bases for my Heavy Weapon Teams. They are a single model now. I'm thinking of magnetizing the loader to represent the extra wound.
• Harker is nice. I liked what he could do. I will use him in the future.
• Captain Al'Raheem sorely disappointed me. maybe if they'd been in chimera, with only special weapons, for hitting objectives. I probably will not use him again, which is too bad.
• I kept wishing I had a few tanks during the whole battle. even my 2 russes and Basilisk would have helped tremendously. I kept thinking 'if only I had the 2 medusa and griffon squadron.'
  
• Sheila isn't effective vs. nids. she shines vs. Eldar, IG, Tau, orks. She does decent vs. Marines. She nees to be able to hit fire support or Leadership, which is what I try to use her for.
• Marbo might have been overkill. He's got uses, like Shelia, but this was not a good day for him.
• Orders for an Inquisitor Lord Dakka Squad are gold. especially making the opponent re-roll cover saves. Mmmm. death-y goodness.
• I also like the combination of going to ground, and then Get back in the fight.
• I also learned I don't need to use flash on the camera, a well lit room is good.
  

So is All-infantry dead? no. I don't think so. This experiment went very badly. I tried an army made on a theme from the old codex. If it were infiltrators, it would be different. In my old list, they infiltrated, and got to use their Heavy weapons first turn.
I feel all infantry now might be better served by 2-3 squads in the platoon hving only special weapons, and the other 2-3 having special and heavy weapons. Maybe Heavy weapon and sniper rifles. I think Heavy weapon squads might be where it's at for taking things out. Anchor them on a cheap cannoness with a Book of St. Lucius, or a Comissar Lord, and the several HW Squads will serve you well. Orders are more effective to HWSquads.
I can see the effectiveness of Creed/Kell in an Infantry force. Perhaps even Chenkov. There will be a LOT of guys in a big clump on one side of the board.

When I have 200+ Steel Legion/tallarn/praetorians I'll try again. I will probably have to borrow guys from Sandwyrm to pull off proper Infantry tactics.