Editing Nobledark Imperium Chaos Guard (section)

== Tactics and Doctrines ==

Unrestricted by Imperial doctrines, the Chaos Guard battlegroups can mix and match tactics to adapt to the ever-changing battlefields. Smaller Traitor Guard battlegroups avoid direct confrontation and use ambushes, raids, and hit and run as much as possible. Those with enough cultist can even operate as a guerrilla force blending in with the civilian population. Battlegroups with enough civilians under them will be throwing out swords and stubbers to every civilian in sight to make cannon fodder cultist. If there are enough men or at an advantage, Traitor Guard battlegroups do act like an organized conventional military force. Battlegroups don't follow any set doctrine but already adapt with changing tactics before the battle starts.

The Lost and the Damned also tend to rely much more heavily on [[Warriors of Chaos|melee combat than a normal guard regiment]], for the simple reason that blades don't require ammunition. Although at first glace this would not seem to be that much of an advantage for the Chaos Guard, given the effectiveness of most ranged weapons and the fact that the average traitor Guardsman is not as durable as an ork or even a Croneworlder, the Lost and the Damned are able to make this work for several reasons. First, your average member of the Lost and the Damned is much tougher than your average Guardsman, about as tough as your average Death Worlder. Life is not easy in the Warp, especially for someone at the bottom of the immaterial food chain, and the weak among the Chaos Guard are quickly culled. Secondly, regiments of the Lost and the Damned often use cultists as meat shields, allowing the actually valuable melee fighters and those Chaos Guardsmen with ranged weapons to close to fighting distance. Third, the Chaos Guard traditionally pick fights in such a way that plays to their advantages. Almost every Chaos Guard regiment, save for perhaps the most puritan of Khornates, avoids an open field engagement. When fighting defensively, Chaos Guardsmen often retreat into cover-rich environments such as cities or forests that force Imperial forces to fight in close-quarters where they can be easily flanked and are often heavily fortified beforehand with boobytraps. A common saying among Guardsmen is that only Orks are better than the Lost and the Damned when it comes to making weapons out of scrap. Offensively, the Lost and the Damned traditionally attack via ambush, attacking in such close quarters that any advantages provided by the better ranged weapons of the Imperium are nullified.

The Chaos Guard's advantage in melee and guerilla tactics is particularly effective against followers of the Cadian doctrine, which is perhaps the most common combat doctrine in the Imperium. The Cadian doctrine is primarily a defensive one, based around digging in and mowing down any attackers before they get into melee range, with mass artillery support and charging infantry to dig out defending enemies. Ironically, regiments of Cadian Shock Troopers that are actually from Cadia tend to do slightly better in close combat against the Chaos Guard than other followers of the Cadian doctrine, as they have had to deal with the Chaos Guard on a more regular basis.