I'm going to a 1500 point tournament with my Astral Claws this Saturday, and I've been toying with a few lists. In my opinion 1500 is not the best points level, as there's enough points for frustrating rock/paper/scissor builds to get rolling but not enough points for a balanced army to counter everything. That leads me to approach building my list in a slightly less miserly manner, so I guess you could say I'm just not that worried about going in optimized. What did that lead to?

Selections:

Imperial Guard 5th Ed (2009) (Allied Detachment) Selections:

+ HQ + (140pts)
    * Company Command Squad (140pts)
        Lasgun, 2x Meltagun (20pts)
        * Chimera (55pts)
            Heavy Bolter, Multi-laser
        * Company Commander (15pts)
            Laspistol, Melta Bombs (5pts), Power Weapon (10pts)


+ Troops + (330pts)
    * Veteran Squad (165pts)
        7x Lasgun, 2x Plasma Gun (30pts)
        * Chimera (55pts)
            Heavy Bolter, Multi-laser
        * Veteran Sergeant (10pts)
            Laspistol, Power Weapon (10pts)

    * Veteran Squad (165pts)
        7x Lasgun, 2x Plasma Gun (30pts)
        * Chimera (55pts)
            Heavy Bolter, Multi-laser
        * Veteran Sergeant (10pts)
            Laspistol, Power Weapon (10pts)


Space Marines 6th Ed (2008) by SN (Primary Detachment) Selections:

+ HQ + (120pts)
    * Master of the Forge (120pts)
        (And They Shall Know no Fear, Blessing of the Omnissiah,
Bolster Defenses, Combat Tactics, Independent Character)
        Conversion Beamer (20pts)

+ Troops + (465pts)
    * Scout Squad (195pts)
        (And They Shall Know no Fear, Combat Squads, Combat Tactics,
Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Scouts)
        * 9x Scout (154pts)
            9x Camo Cloaks (27pts), 4x Combat Blade, Heavy Bolter
(10pts), 4x Sniper Rifle
        * Scout Sergeant (41pts)
            Bolt Pistol, Camo Cloak (3pts), Power Weapon (15pts)

    * Tactical Squad (270pts)
        (And They Shall Know no Fear, Combat Squads, Combat Tactics)
        Plasma Cannon (5pts), Plasma Gun (10pts), 9x Space Marine (144pts)
        * Razorback (75pts)
            (Tank)
            Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun (35pts)
        * Space Marine Sergeant (36pts)
            Bolt Pistol, Combi-Plasma (10pts)

+ Fast Attack + (195pts)
    * Land Speeder Storm (65pts)
        (Deep Strike, Scouts)
        Multi-Melta (15pts)

    * Stormtalon Gunship (130pts)
        (Aerial Assault, Escort Craft, Hover Strike, Supersonic)
        Twin-linked Heavy Bolter

+ Heavy Support + (250pts)
    * Dreadnought (Heavy) (125pts)
        Twin-Linked Autocannon (10pts), Twin-Linked Autocannon (10pts)

    * Dreadnought (Heavy) (125pts)
        Twin-Linked Autocannon (10pts), Twin-Linked Autocannon (10pts)

1500 points, 3 AV12 transports, 2 AV12 walkers, 1 AV 11 transport, 1 AV 11 Flyer, and an av 10 fast assault transport.

The plus sides: Guns, guns, guns. I run marines in a gunline, usually relying on BA for an assault element in higher points games. I know its a liability, but you just get so much fun shooting. There's the Las/Plas razorback for longer range, 2 plasma squads in a rhino, a melta squad in a rhino, and plasma cannon, conversion beamer, and hellfire shells templates. The LS Storm can outflank while escorted by the Storm Talon, or scout and take out an armored threat early, possibly giving the scouts an opportunity to tie something up. I've considered a number of different builds, but I really want to bring my LS Storm and combat squad my scouts so I think this is the best list I can build with that restriction. 

I've been working on the IG the last few days, but here are some WIP pictures of the whole list I took last night on my display board.

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