nilbog:
Like a lot people using LoA I run a unit of 30 infernal guard. I’ve been running them 5 wide, 6 deep for the static combat res, but wondered if anybody had tried them 10 wide as a horde? Do the extra attacks actually result in extra kills? With hatred, it could generate a lot of damage but is one WS4 S4 attack enough to do any damage?
KramDratta:
Depends what you’re fighting mate.
Are you fighting units that are lower init (or equal)? Or are you fighting smaller units 10/12 models. Or are you facing low Strength units?
If yes then horde away. If no, then (varies from unit to unit) you might want go deep to remain steadfast longer & grind down the enemy.
Ex a unit of 30+ White Lions will rape your 30 model unit (hitting on 3s with a re-roll & wounding on 2s, leaving you 6s & parry). On the other hand you can probably take 30 Plague Monks in a horde (hitting you on 4s & wounding on 5s) with about 2-4 wounds, leaving your 26+ unit to chop through his.
Baggronor:
Usually horde is good. As Kram says, you need to be flexible to see how to get the most out of large units and its the same with all horde formations; sometimes deep is better.
Also, consider what you want them to fight. While 30 White Lions will kill the IG fast, that’s what Destroyers are for 
The IG should be fighting the HE Spearmen and grinding them underfoot.
wamphyri101:
I am starting to use them 10 wide. I have 26, plus bsb and lord. Because our BSB is stubborn anyway and at LD9, I dont think we really need the ranks (unless we can our rank someone to break there steadfast)
I use AP banner on them for Str4 -2 Save. They can throw out some damage, but as Baggronor says it depends who you are against. I wouldnt recomend it against anything Str5 or above and/or Multible attacks (Like Swordmasters/White lions) as even with T4, 3+/6++ you will lose ALOT of troops
MLP:
Usually horde is good. As Kram says, you need to be flexible to see how to get the most out of large units and its the same with all horde formations; sometimes deep is better.This basically. Against enemy "core" hordes I will horde my Infernals as they will almost always grind down the enemy without taking too much in return. I will also horde against cavalry.
Also, consider what you want them to fight. While 30 White Lions will kill the IG fast, that's what Destroyers are for ;) The IG should be fighting the HE Spearmen and grinding them underfoot.
Baggronor
nilbog:
All good points, thanks chaps. I do have the castellen in there so they will be stubborn. It’s actually very rare they get into combat anyway, if anything is left after the destroyer, magma cannon and deathshriekers have had their go.
I’ll build two 5X3 movement trays then I’ve got the flexibility.
Thanks again.
Border Reiver:
I use the horde option a lot including in tournaments (not too many HE players). As most people have found if the enemy doesn’t have too many high strength attacks the higher T and S of the Guard will see it through.
vulcanologist:
Speaking as someone who has (almost) finished pAinting a horde of 50 slaves Hats off to all of you for even attempting to paint a horde! Personally… Never again!!
MLP:
I’m starting to consider a unit of 30 Infernal guard with Fireglaives, full command and a Castellan BSB in horde formation as my main core unit possibly with a magic banner of some sort to help out. Give the Champ Naptha Bombs too so they all shoot at short range on the charge reaction. After running it in Warhammer Combat Calc (using modified dwarfs) it will win most battles against common troops I’ve tried, easily taking the charge.
JMR:
Considering that such a unit would cost around 700 points, it had better dominate the game and tear the opponent (and his army) in half. Unfortunately, I don’t see a Fireglaive unit doing so. I’d go for a minimal investment in the overpriced stuff. Then again, I’m not a fan of the LoA list at all so…myeah…
The Charioteer:
Hoard them if you go great weapons. If not then its situational.
MLP:
Considering that such a unit would cost around 700 points, it had better dominate the game and tear the opponent (and his army) in half. Unfortunately, I don't see a Fireglaive unit doing so. I'd go for a minimal investment in the overpriced stuff. Then again, I'm not a fan of the LoA list at all so..myeah....The thing is, in a 2000 point army you need 500+ points of core anyway and you'll likely have a castellan BSB as well. It's more of a consentration of points you would already spend.
JMR
Da Crusha:
Warhammer Combat Calcthis sounds interesting. do you have a link?
MLP
MLP:
I can’t find the right link as I can’t open most sites on my work PC. It’s basically a very advanced excel spreadsheet. It doesn’t cover everything but it’s pretty good for one on one combats. I don’t think it has chaos dwarfs on it yet though but i’ve been using dwarf stats with a few modifications.
I’ll have look later and post it up.
JMR:
The thing is, in a 2000 point army you need 500+ points of core anyway and you'll likely have a castellan BSB as well. It's more of a consentration of points you would already spend.I know that you have to spend 25% of your army on core one way or another. Maybe I didn't express myself well enough, but my points were that Fireglaives are overpriced, so I would steer away from filling your core with them.
MLP
MLP:
I wouldn’t say the unit needs to earn it’s points back. Points denial is just as good as points earnt from killing units. As said in the OP a lot of lists contain large blocks of Infernal guard, and most have either a castellan BSB included and/or a sorcerer-prophet on foot. So i’d say a large portion of LoA armies will have blocks with 25-40% of their points in one unit.
My view is that the unit with Fireglaives I mentioned is an effective horde unit, in combat and ranged, as opposed to not being in horde. Which is what the topic is about.
Baggronor:
As single Attack expensive troops they pretty much need to be in large formations to be viable. In small units, they just lose and run away due to low numbers and low damage output.
Dwarfs in general tend to benefit from the ‘3 bricks’ build of large, powerful units, as their low mobility and lack of chaff makes it hard to dictate match-ups. You can do more ‘finesse’ builds, but you’ll never do it better than elves. Play to your strengths 
MLP:
this sounds interesting. do you have a link?Pretty sure this is the link but I can't access it for some reason. The file name is WCC.8th made by Trevor Fuller, but I'm struggling to find it.
Gmaleron:
Hey guys figure I would bring to light an issue regarding running the Infernal Guard in a Horde formation or not. There is a 2000pt. Tournament coming up in May @ a local gaming store and was wondering about this idea:
x26 Infernal Guard
*w/ Full Command, Blunderbusses
And running this in a horde unit with my BSB and Lvl. 4 prophet in the unit. Now the benefit with this would be the potential x60 shots I could get off @ approaching enemies and the fact that it is exactly 500pts. of core to run in the tournament. Now my only question is, would this be beneficial to do with these guys?
Samanos:
in my opinion, for these guys to work they need to be 25+ so your size is good.
BUT:
you have 1 unit covering all your core points. I fear that you will have too few units on the table.
plus blunderbusses work only for 1-2 turns and maybe a stand and shoot.
I would keep them for larger games, and go with simple infernals (and hobbos!) for 2000