Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Imperial Guard (section)

===Troops===

Only two choices, though they're good enough. Well, and Tempestus Scions, but those are in their own section.

*'''Infantry Squad:''' Ten men, ten guns. These guys are the meat and potatoes of any non-Scion infantry list and at 4 points apiece, they're pretty efficient. That base 5+ save isn't great, but they can be surprisingly resilient in cover. The sergeant starts off with a laspistol and a chainsword, both of which can be swapped out for more powerful weapons. They can even take boltguns, which makes them actually contribute to a long-ranged firefight. One Guardsman can take a voxcaster, one can take a special weapon, and two Guardsman can combine into a single Heavy Weapons Team, which only counts as 1 model. As for the exact loadout these guys will use, it depends on their {{W40Kkeyword|<REGIMENT>}} and the battlefield role they'll be playing. 
**{{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} Guardsmen like taking flamers, and their sergeants will be better able to use high AP power weapons like a power fist or power axe. 
**{{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} gunlines can fire plasma weapons supercharged with less danger.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} squads will also like plasma, or even just sticking with basic lasguns and a bolter on the sarge, combining ranked fire with their regimental doctrine to lay down blistering fire at a safe-ish distance. Mixing Heavy Weapons Teams into your Infantry Squads isn't a bad move either, as you're essentially trading a lasgun for a heavy weapon and protecting your valuable weapons with plenty of lasgun chaff to die before they start taking wounds.
**The current meta in competitive circles seems to be taking the stock 10-man squad with no bells and whistles. As long as you have access to an officer to issue FRFSRF, this seems to be the most point efficient use of the humble infantry squad.
**Many competitive guard players have begun to take 90 or more guardsmen in their lists, this might sound unwise particularly given how easy they are to kill, but once you get into the mid to late game your opponent is unlikely to have enough anti-infantry to deal with the 40 guardsmen left, leaving them free to grab objectives and tarpit enemy vehicles. In addition with this many guardsmen you'll be on at least 18 command points with three battalions and all for the low low price of 40pts per unit.
**A large swarm of guardsmen can carpet the board very quickly, especially with move, move, move! In many cases this is enough to force crash and burn results on enemy fliers and close with tau gunlines by turn 2.
**A quick pro-tip for those money savers, if you don't mind easy to build kits (or the Cadian guard theme), consider getting two easy to build Guardsmen kits for every standard Infantry Squad box. That way you can split the guardsmen inside the larger kit and save yourself some cash (which we all know, if you're playing 40k in general, is always a bonus).
*'''Conscripts:''' If there is anything thinner than paper, it would be Conscripts. Conscripts have gone from being a near-Blue chip unit to being somewhat dubious utility. They only accept Orders on a 4+ and can't take any special wargear, and have strictly inferior statline when compared to a standard Guardsman... and they cost the same as standard Guardsman. That being said, they still make effective screening units due to their sheer unit size. Unlike Infantry Squads, who have to spend precious CP to form larger squads, Conscripts can be taken in groups of 20 to 30. Ld4 is going to hurt if you don't have a Commissar around or have some other method of negating morale losses. 
**When looking at these guys, don't think about the potential damage they're going to inflict. Instead, think about the massive area of denial they can set up. Leave the direct fighting to the Infantry squads while you use your Conscripts to protect your artillery and other vehicles or to dog-pile objectives. 
**In close combat, their sheer size can prevent consolidations while giving your opponent minimal kill points, thus allowing your other squads to counterattack in your next turn. {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} conscripts with Straken and a priest can actually be pretty nasty in close combat if you can help their morale and get them to fix bayonets. 
**It is recommended to use movement trays if you bring these guys.
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Ld4 is pretty terrible and it can be challenging to get these guys stick around after taking casualties...''but you can still do it!'' Here are the ways to make them as unshiftable as they were before the Codex:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard(8E)#Psychic_Powers|Psychic powers]]:''' Cheap Astropaths are an excellent investment. All three Defensive powers help them to either be more difficult to kill or make them <u>immune to morale</u>, BUT you can only cast one of each in Matched Play.
*'''[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard(8E)#Universal|Warlord Traits]]''' on Lord Commissar auras. Summary Execution was nerfed, but Ld9 rerollable is still better than Ld4, and gets +1Ld from Regimental Standards. Either more area coverage with Bellowing Voice, or <u>capping battleshock</u> at 1+1d3 casualties.
*'''Stratagems:''' Insane Heroism provides full battleshock immunity, though the cheaper Fight to the Death can suffice if they're being boosted (which they should), and didn't lose like 14+ men. Can't use the same Stratagem many times a phase, and it costs CP, but between Kurov's Aquila, a Master of Command and cheap +3CP Battalions, there are ways to afford it.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|<Regimental>}} gimmicks:''' The {{W40Kkeyword|Valhallan}} '''Pietrov's Mk 45''' relic has the pre-nerf Summary Execution, and squads that fall out of the aura halve battleshock casualties due to the Doctrine. The {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}} WT has a similar aura, and with their +1Ld while in formation can be more easily combined with Commissars, Defensive psychic powers and/or Fight to the death.
</div>
</div>