IG is one of the worst armies you can play in a tournament.

  First off playing Mech IG isn't fun. That is the most important factor for me in determining whether I will take time off for a tournament whether it is down the street or the other side of the country.  If it isn't fun to play the army, what is the point of traveling to compete? I want to play something interesting that allows me options during the game. Also who wants to play with human dorks in a game full of super human mutants, space elves, death robots, galaxy eating bugs, evil space elves, orks on crack, or evil super human mutants. Not me, that is for sure.

  Usually Mech IG is painted into a corner by it's own army construction choices. It can't fire most of it's main guns on the move and that means it is unhappy when coming out of reserves. Most Mech IG lists are at least somewhat derivative. They also usually lack some of the more interesting army traits in 40k. IG doesn't have much mobility, no assault, limited alternate deployment like DS and Outflank, and the leadership values are generally pretty bad in popular builds. I'm always happy to destroy Veteran Chimeras knowing the Vets will run 30% of the time, probably off the board. I am always trying to find an interesting way to play IG, if I do I will let you know. Please do the same for me and those who read this blog in the comment section.

  Ok though, let me tell you the real reason to not play Mech IG. What happens if you play the mirror match and you go second? Your army won't play well coming out of reserves and hoping to seize is a bad plan. Sometimes it is better than nothing but since I'm assuming you are preparing for common scenarios when building an army for tournaments we'll ignore the chance that you might just go for the Seize. If a shooting army goes second against another shooting army it should have a very good reason to set up and take it on the chin. This is the reason I will never play an army entirely made of shooting elements unless they can come out of reserves and shoot effectively. A minor exception can be made for BA with Shield of Sanguinius and GK with Shrouding and/or Coteaz to seize a bit more while in cover.

  I will post an article in the future about how the most important thing in 40k is to have your army comfortable with going first or second. It is very strong to be able to win the die roll and choose to perform a strong alpha strike or to choose to go second to maximize your chance of winning in an objective mission. You cannot choose to go second against shooting armies unless your army has enough maneuverability and firepower to do a reverse alpha strike coming out of reserves. It is the reason Shawn won Wargamescon with a mixed DE list that I'm sure many people would have overlooked when picking Dash's list to copy. My question for you is can your army set up for an alpha strike and yet when going second play well from reserves? If so then you are ahead of the curve.