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

===Fast Attack===

*'''Armoured Sentinels:''' Cannot mitigate the penalty for moving and shooting a heavy weapon (unless you're Tallarn), so unless they take flamers you're going to treat them like armoured turrets that can redeploy fast. With flamers and the humble sentinel chainsaw they become quick, durable shock troops. As such, taking anything but the multilaser (plus hunter-killer) is recommended because a weak load-out is a waste of this unit's fair durability.  Up to 3 T6 6W 3+ Save models are rather hard to bring down quickly. They have generalist armour, meaning they can be hurt by anything, but they don't really have ''hard'' counters. Anti-tank seems effective, but they'll usually waste a few overkill wounds, and sentinels have high wounds-for-cost for a vehicle so it doesn't scare them as much as other vehicles, but beware meltaguns and strong assault units if you take the flamers. Remember many vehicles took a hit to their firepower, so a group with las, plas, or flame (with HKs) is nothing to scoff at. They could also be used as an alternative to Heavy Weapons Squads as unless armed with Mortars or other 'weak' weaponry they tend to die turn 1 as a result of the enemy prioritizing them. Armoured Sentinels have a potential to survive several Battle Cannon shots and don't degrade so your heavy weapons will be sticking around until the end of the game if used that way.
**'''Note:''' Sentinels benefit from {{W40Kkeyword|Regiment}} keyword and along with your weapon choice, this will heavily influence their combat role. {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} sentinels can pick a spot on the board and use their rerolls and height to put overcharged plasma fire over a wide radius. {{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} Sentinels can take a heavy flamer and be tonka-tough harrassers of enemy infantry. {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} Sentinels can do the same, but trade toughness for power. {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}} Sentinels can act as a cheap escort for your tanks, letting them benefit from the overwatch bonus. {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} Sentinels can be quick moving lascannon platforms. {{W40Kkeyword|Vostroyan}} and {{W40Kkeyword|Valhallan}} Sentinels don't get anything good out of their doctrines, though - the lack of a wounding chart means Grim Demeanor does nothing, and the extra 6" of range doesn't give you anything a Heavy Weapon Squad couldn't do, besides fill Fast Attack slots on the cheap. 
**Remember that Sentinels do not have a vehicle damage chart, meaning your opponent is going to have to commit to destroying each one completely and can't just simply ignore a crippled Sentinel. There also aren't a lot of solid counters against T6 - especially when your opponent's lascannons are more worried about your ''real'' tanks. For less than 500 pts you can take 9x of them with autocannons in a {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} Outrider detachment. 
*'''Scout Sentinels:''' A squishier, slightly faster version of the Armoured sentinel that can scout 9". Not usually considered very good. You ''can'' give them heavy flamers, but be prepared to wade through fire first, and infantry weapons CAN hurt these guys. Bolters will struggle to drop them, but nothing else will. Mass lasguns/s3, plasma, melta, shuriken, gauss, pulse weapons, ANY heavy weapon that isn't a heavy stubber. These guys will have a hard time getting that close, so choose your moment or expect them to be nothing but a distraction. With the other weapons, they can quickly get into a firing position with scout, and if necessary run away. Multilasers keep them cheap, and unlikely to draw much heavy firepower once the HK have fired. Hit them early then kite infantry if you have to. Giving them cannons essentially turns them into turrets and DO take hunter-killers as these are a cheap source of them.
**Consider the fact that their 9 inch pre-battle move can get them into a reliable position to deny enemy deepstrikers or units with similar abilities. And since deepstrike is no scatter and guaranteed now and most of the players will finish deploying before you do and get first turn with deepstrikes, 3 Scout sentinels, 1 on each flank and 1 in the middle, moving up 9 before the battle, create a deepstrike null zone for your opponent. View them as just that and nothing more, so keep them as cheap as possible (multilaser being the cheapest option).
**Like their armoured cousins, the {{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} doctrine makes these guys considerably more annoying to drop for anti-light vehicle weapons such as heavy bolters and autocannons. 
*'''Hellhounds:''' The medium tank of the Guard motor pool has been favored in 8th, with increases in speed and toughness and decreases in price all around. The datasheet actually covers three vehicles: Hellhound, Devil Dog, Banewolf. Track guards were basically made for this vehicle as the majority of available weapons ignore ballistic skill. Unless you're bringing the devil dog, your tanks will pretty much never degrade.
**The basic ''Hellhound'' is armed with the infamous Inferno Cannon, a more powerful heavy flamer with double the range, double the rate of fire, and +1 strength, at S6. A nasty infantry muncher, capable of eating guard-equivalent models with 2s to wound and a 6+ save from up to 16 inches away; due to good strength and rate of fire it's not too shabby against vehicles either (who knew setting things on ''fire'' could be so effective?). Use it to hunt down the other Guard player's Heavy weapons teams, or just chew through his conscripts at a healthy pace from safely outside of rapid fire range. Still not convinced? Mathhammer says it will outperform a ''Battle Cannon'' versus anything that's not T7 3+ and better, and it can still score a few wounds besides. ''Let 'em burn!''
** Two words: Track Guards! With track guards your tank will always move at full speed... with the inferno cannon you will always auto hit when shooting... 12" + 16" = 28" threat range of constant FIREpower. Such a magnificent vehicle will cost you 111 points, don't even bother with any other upgrades. 
**Because the Hellhound is BS4+ and can't mitigate the movement penalties for heavy weapons, you would be wise to try for a Heavy Flamer on the hull mount, but on the Hellhound that means you need to get in very close to use it, negating the Inferno Cannon's range advantage. The Heavy Bolter is cheaper and more consistent, but at BS5+ on the move outside of {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}}, it won't hit anything at all - you choose it to keep the tank cheap, not to actually kill anything with the gun. On a non-{{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} unit, particularly {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}}, ''always'' take the Heavy Flamer if you want the gun to actually kill anything.
**Because Hellhounds always explode on 4+ they make excellent suicide tanks, useful for disrupting gun lines and charges (especially considering their relatively short range). Artemia-pattern Hellhounds are better at this though as they deal D6 mortal wounds instead of D3.
**If your foe is made of tougher stuff, swap out for the ''Bane Wolf,'' whose vicious (and cheaper) Chem Cannon wounds everything that's not a vehicle on 2s, with an improved AP-3 (at the cost of range, only 8", and shot count, only 1d6 vs the Hellhound's 2d6).  Between the wounding improvement and the AP improvement, this will outperform the Inferno Cannon against MEQ even before you account for its reduced cost - the range is the primary issue, as 8.1" charges will ignore it on Overwatch, and the secondary issue is that while it's obviously incredible against monsters and Primarchs especially, it's absolute garbage against vehicles, and utterly inferior to the Hellhound versus anything not MEQ or MC. While by itself the Bane Wolf may not actually do a lot, its potential will scare many opponents into focusing it down like the plague after a turn or two. This is probably the best distraction carnifex you will ever find in this codex outside of a deathstrike (and this is cheaper, too).
***Here the use of a Heavy Flamer is more obvious, since it has the same range as the Chem cannon. With two auto-hitting weapons, this thing will take a big bite out of attacking forces in Overwatch.
**Finally, if you want to take on vehicles, the ''Devil Dog'' closes the gap with the mighty melta cannon, which is ''much'' better than a multi-melta for the same cost - on average, twice the shots, and assault now, rather than heavy. It's specialized, but powerful - it outperforms even the revised Inferno cannon against pretty much anything tank-shaped (specifically, T7 with a 3+ save and tougher). Making the melta cannon assault has brought the D-Dog up from garbage to actually being a very solid tank buster. With D3 shots rerolling damage within melta range, you have one of few weapons potentially capable of blowing up a tank every time it fires. It's also the longest ranged melta weapon short of the Imperial Knight thermal cannon, and is mounted on your fastest ground unit, making range a non issue. Sadly, the Multi-Melta you'd usually strap to the hull to supplement its tank-busting is still Heavy, and still shoots like an Ork unless it's {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}}, so give thought to alternatives. A heavy flamer will go a long way to deter the counter charge you will almost definitely be staring down after you shove that melta in your opponent's face.
*'''Rough Riders:''' Sorry this unit has been moved to Warhammer Legends, if you wish to relive your fantasy of WW1 I suggest you look at DKOK Death Riders. Surprisingly, 8th Edition's been kinder to Rough Riders than 7th Edition was. Their hunting lances are no longer one use only, being S+2 AP:-2 and do d3 damage, but still only when they successfully charge. Cheaper, twice the wounds, and now their flak armour might actually do a damn thing, though not against most multiwounding weapons. In addition, they may perform '''Flanking Maneuvers''', which allows them to set up within 7" of a battlefield edge of their choice, and more than 9" away from an enemy unit. Combined with a pair of meltaguns this can make them surprisingly mean tank hunters (between the charge and the melta shots they can inflict about 5 wounds on a T8 3+ target on average) or Character assassins, but it does ''not'' make them front-line brawlers; they might all have chainswords and laspistols but they only get 1 attack a model base. But wait a second, that's three attacks after wargear plus the new trick of shooting pistols in melee, and given that S3 is more effective against T5 and can actually hurt 7+ now - compare them to Hormagaunts or Stormboyz, and these cavaliers come out alright. Not ''great'', but alright; their hunting lances, speed and special weapons are still what lets them get shit done so these guys better be getting the charge. 
**'''Critically Important:'''  Rough Riders are ''not'' Infantry and ''cannot'' be Ordered, or buffed by Priests ([[The_Empire_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|If only Priests could ride a horse of their own...]]) Unlike every other unit here that can take a Plasma Gun, you can't stop a bad roll on overcharge with an order, which hurts especially bad since they're multiwound models now.  Also, why were you giving tank hunting units plasma guns? The meltagun is better on these guys for everything that has multiple wounds, which in this edition is a ''lot.'' 
***Possibly because plasma is cheap, riders are unlikely to get more than one ranged attack, and these guys can also be used for taking on ranged/glass-cannon infantry, a target that they can actually threaten with all of their weapons/attacks. 
**These guys also don't gain any benefit from most Regimental Doctrines, sadly - the only ones that ''can'' apply are the Cadian and Vostroyan ones, and none of those really help Rough Riders do what they do any better.
***Note: Cadian stratagem or a relic can make plasma weapons a really good choice for these guys. For just 65 points you will get 5 plasma shots (2 plasmaguns and plasma pistol) with an outflanking unit that can also charge and be annoying in combat with 4 attacks of the lances (2 for the ones that didn't take plasma guns and 2 for the sergeant). 
**'''Alternate Opinion:''' It is possible to buff Rough Riders with the right combo. If you're playing Catachan (preferably with Catachans converted to ride Cold Ones from AoS/Fantasy), and then charge the Rough Riders into something near Straken and a Priest, you'll get 16 S5 Attacks that cause D3 Wounds plus 10 S3 Attacks, and that's just with a minimum size Rough Rider squad. Considering their low cost you might as well take ten of them and get 21(!) S5 Attacks (at most, provided you remain in the aura) followed by 20 S3 ones.
***Note:  Straken has to be nearby during the Fight, and is slower than Rough Riders, so it may be non-trivial delivering him.
*Note: TLDR, just make them DKOK[[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard(8E)#Fast_Attack_2]] and run them as Death Riders, they're fuckawesome.

=====Forge World=====
*'''Artemia-Pattern Hellhound:''' In exchange for the enormous, highly-exposed fuel tank and slightly derpy-looking turret the Artemia version of the Hellhound is D2, rather than D1, gets to roll the best of 2d6 when deciding how many hits its Inferno Cannon inflicts, rather than a straight 2d6, for an expected improvement of 27.78% in terms of shots * damage, from 7 to 8.94.  In addition, Artemia Hellhounds do more damage when they explode, dealing 1d6 (3.5, on average) mortal wounds, rather than the 1d3 (2, on average) of a base Hellhound, a 75% improvement on a one-shot gun that goes off only on a 4+.  Probably worth the 7 point up-charge, but to really earn it, make sure you suicide-rush this guy in, so he'll be in range for his explosion to do a lot of damage.  Also, the math is only justified on multi-wound targets - against single wound targets, will always do ''far'' less damage than a Codex Hellhound.
**The improvement is decidedly less noticeable on a {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} model, since the two buffs to shot volume don't stack linearly; you might prefer a {{W40Kkeyword|valhallan}} or {{W40Kkeyword|armageddon}} one, to help ensure it reaches where you ''want'' it to blow up.
*'''Salamander Scout Tank:''' Cute little light tank, loaded up with an autocannon and a heavy bolter, plus the usual HKM plus Storm Bolter or Heavy Stubber. If you were planning on taking an Autocannon Sentinel, take this instead; much faster and much beefier than either of your walkers, while able to bring the rough equivalent of two Heavy Weapon Teams along for the ride AND maintaining the Scout move at the start of the game, all for a very modest point increase. Hell, even if you were considering taking ANY Sentinel, give the Salamander a strong consideration first. Able to quickly get itself in a stubborn position early and lay down a respectable field of fire, killing infantry, denying deep strikers and generally aggravating your opponent.
**Given that Forge World doesn't make the Salamander model anymore, a good proxy is a Hellhound hull with the Chimera Autocannon Turret.
*'''Tauros''': A cool little dune buggy scout vehicle. At first, you might think they're just more expensive Sentinels, but there are a few neat advantages here - they're much faster with a 15" move (whoever said the Guard can't go fast?!) and benefit from the '''Galvanic Motor''' rule: if they go more than 10" they benefit from a 5+ invulnerable save. If you hug cover these can become a very handy thorn in your opponent's side.
** Also worth pointing out that these have 2 attacks compared to a Sentinel's 1. At S4 they ain't gonna kill much, but being able to force a unit to fall back from an objective, or prevent it from shooting if they don't, can be crucial (and bloody hilarious...)
**''Important Note:'' Tauri, both AVs and Venators, do ''not'' have the Vehicle Squadron rule. This means they're treated as a single unit, and must stay in-coherency for the duration of the battle. It ''also'' means any unit-wide buffs you can hand out, such as Psychic Barrier, affect the entire group.
***If you want to have your Tauri to work independently, take them as separate units, as slots are no longer capped if you pay the HQ tax. (Plus you get those juicy Command Points).
** The Assault variant is best paired with a heavy flamer, so treat it like a Scout Sentinel armed with the same - except faster and more durable. Never take the grenade launcher as it suffers from the same 8th edition changes as the infantry version and has a truly idiotic points cost (put it this way, you could buy two autocannons elsewhere which gives you better range and hitting power for the same cost in points...)
** The Venator variant is much tastier - it's a little more expensive, but you get double the guns, both of them ignore the penalty for moving and shooting, and if you went multilasers, you get a 10% cost discount on what two multilasers would otherwise cost (18, rather than 20).  Still faster and more durable than its weight in Sentinels, depending on which you're comparing it to.
** Just in case the name "Venator" didn't make it obvious, giving this thing twin lascannons makes for a decent little tank destroyer, as of the latest Chapter Approved a single twin lascannon costs more than 2 normal lascannons, but you do get to mount them on a high speed vehicle that ignores the penalty to moving and shooting. For 258 points a unit of 3 Venators with twin lascannons will be dropping 6 shots (3 hits on average unless you buff their to-hit rolls) which can easily ruin the day of any vehicle or monster that's not a Lord of War.
** Yet another discontinued Forgeworld model, but thankfully there are a few options for kitbashing here - the GSC Achilles Ridgerunner compares well size-wise so just take the twin stubbers off. Also consider the wonderful range of Ork buggies, especially if you're looking for a more scratch-built appearance (feral world regiment anyone?)