Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Imperial Guard

This is an old Edition's Imperial Guard tactics. The 7th Edition Tactics are here while the the 5th Edition Tactics are here. These tactics will be subject to change soon as the new codex has been released for the Imperial Guar... *clears throat* for the Astra Militarum *BLAM* GLORIOUS IMPERIAL GUARD!

New codex is out, expect this page to be going through a lot of changes.

Or you could read the up to date tactics for 8th edition, found here.

Why Play Imperial Guard

When recruits are inducted into the Imperial Guard, they are given four things. Their regulation flashlight (commonly referred to by the troops as "lasguns" for some reason), their regulation cardboard box (which certain regiments have taken to cutting up and wearing into battle, calling it "flak armor"), a large stack of toilet paper (which the recruiters refer to as the "Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer"), and the regulation extra large wheelbarrow that allows them to cart their massive brazen balls into battle. From a gameplay perspective, the Imperial Guard army is a flexible force known for having either hordes of cheap infantry, waves of tanks, or a medium in between. The army is easy to learn while having a lot of options and tactics being discovered frequently (melta veterans in Chimeras are not the sole option in the Guard army after all). That's why you play the Imperial Guard. Additionally, you are the second most powerful army in Apocalypse, and the standard by which all other apocalypse armies are measured. You are absolutely spoiled for Forge World choices with everything from the petite Lightning Fighter to the "destroyer of dreams" machine that is the Imperator Class Titan. And why is Chaos better than you? Because of a small footnote by the side of the Vindicator Linebreaker Formation. In short, it details that Chaos armies may use ANY AND ALL Imperial Datasheets as long as they have spikes on them. Building your Lightning Fighter wing? Chaos get that with their Hell Talon support. Imperator Titan? Chaos can subvert one with fuckhueg spikes. Fortress of Arrogance? Chaos Yarrick makes you his bitch. Demon Lords? You don't get those. For once, Chaos is the one giving, not receiving. So the only way to be better than the Imperial Guard in Apoc is to use Imperial Guard units plus demonic bullshit. Still a win for IG. Another win is the Escalation expansion for regular 40k. IG can now take one Baneblade or one of its variants. No Fortress of Arrogance however. But hey, with the most Lords of War choices out of all the armies AND you don't have to pay Forge World prices, why argue?

Warlord Traits

• 1-Grand Strategist: d3 units of the primary detachment can Outflank. #Outflanking Stormswords and Hellhammers! Prepare a cup to collect your opponents tears!
• 2-Old Grudges: Choose one codex, warlord and unit have Preferred Enemy against units of said codex. Pask starts with this one.
• 3-Draconian Disciplinarian': Friendly Astra Militarum units within 12" of the warlord don't have to test after 25% of casualties. Yarrick starts with this trait.
• 4-Implacable Determination: Warlord and his unit have Relentless. Straken starts with this.
• 5-Bellowing Voice: Warlord can give Orders; if he could already do so, their range is boosted to 18 inches.
• 6-Master of Command: Warlord can give Orders; if he could already do so, he can use an extra Order each turn.

Heirlooms of Conquest

Note that only unnamed Company Commander from a Company Command Squad, and an unnamed Lord Commissar can buy heirlooms and you are limited to one Heirloom per army.

• The Tactical Auto-Reliquary of Tyberius: CCS only. If the bearer issues an order and rolls doubles for the Ld test, he gains Inspired Tactics for that turn. But if it's a double 1, you lose its benefits for the rest of the game. Seeing how broken orders can be, this is troll-tastic.
• Laurels of Command: CCS only. Giving friendly units within 6" the ability to choose whether or not they pass a morale test is good. Having those same units make a pinning test if the bearer dies is not. Hide out of sight like a bitch, and you won't ever worry about getting killed.
  • Costs as much as a Priest, has a 6" range, makes everybody panic if the bearer dies. Hmmm... no.
• Kurov's Aquila: CCS only. The user and all friendly units within 6" have Preferred Enemy and the bearer can reroll one failed Leadership test per turn. Say hello to Plasma Guns.
  • One good strategy involves camping inside a bastion to extend the radius incredibly far while the MoO looks out the window dropping artillery strikes. Just remember you can't give orders while embarked. Also, it's 60 points, the same price as a bare bones CCS. Use it wisely (read: with a blob list).
• The Blade of Conquest: Lord Solar Macharius's personal sword is AP 3, S+1, and master-crafted. It costs as much as a power fist, while not being that much better than a power axe, since you generally won't be hitting first with your I3.
• The Deathmask of Ollanius: It may look creepy as hell, but you will use it anyway because it gives you a 4+ invulnerable save, Fear, and It Will Not Die. Also, using it is, in-universe and out, keeping the story of Ollanius Pius alive. However, given the fact that you already have a 5++, and IWND on a T3 character doesn't make much difference, it's not an auto-take.
• The Emperor's Benediction: This Lord Commissar-only MC Bolt Pistol has Precision Shot to make him better at BLAMming enemies from range as well as being as strong as a Heavy Bolter. With BS5 on a Lord-Commissar, the master-crafted rule means it is almost guaranteed to hit something unless your roll 1s on both to-hit rolls. Also, it's a 5 point upgrade. Not anything special, but it's quite cheap.

Vehicle Equipment

On top of the standard dozer blade and pintle mounted weapons, the guard also got some neat new wargear for vehicles.

• Augur Array: Basically prevents deep striking units from scattering around the vehicle. Considered how little the guard has in the way of deep striking units and the cost of the equipment, this can be a pass. If you do take it, put it on a vehicle that has good armor (Leman Russ) or can move fast (Hellhounds). Useful if you have a deep strike heavy ally detachment.
• Camo netting: Gives the vehicle a +1 to cover saves. Useful on just about everything. Put on a Leman Russ to maximize the survivability of tank. Also note that cover save is no longer restricted to just staying still.
• Enclosed Crew Compartment: A must for your arty. Makes open-topped vehicles no longer open-topped.
• Fire Barrels: This is a neat piece of wargear. Basically gives the vehicle a one time use flamer against charging units. At the low cost of 10 points, the barrels will generally not disappoint. Sentinels can't take them.
• Recovery Gear: For 5 points, you get a 1 in 6 chance to make a vehicle no longer immobilized. Take it, do not even argue. Watch your opponent's face when your Demolisher tank he just immobilized comes back into action. Use with techpriest to get a second (if not worse) chance to get the vehicle moving again. With how many vehicles the guard has, a 1 in 6 chance is better then no chance.
• Relic Plating: 3 points for Adamantium Will, doubling your resistance to annoying psychic powers like Puppet Master. ONLY APPLIES TO THE VEHICLE THAT TAKES IT. Yes Adamantium Will will affect an entire squad. However, the rule for this upgrade specifies that A VEHICLE with the upgrade gets Adamantium Will. This wording overrides what the rule says. Except that only one vehicle DOES receive the rule - but RAW, other vehicles get to benefit from it as well. Still a auto-include on any mechanized unit that you're sinking points into, particularly LR squadrons with Pask or a generic tank commander. Just remember that each tank must take it if they wish to all have Adamantium WIll If vehicles are used in squadrons, best to give all tanks the upgrade. Having the squadron rely on one vehicle to have Adamantium Will is risky, as that tank will automatically singled out for attacks.

Orders

The order system, is one of the most important and most raged about additions to the Imperial Guard codex. When you are about to declare a Ld check for an order, get your troll face on. The fact is, is that sisters are only decent now because of faith points. In a few years Now the same will be said about guard and the orders system. With orders your lasguns become 30-50% more effective. No, this isn't a joke. You get to ignore cover or rerolls against armored/monstrous enemies. Your units can grow Space Elf ears, shooting then running, or turn Space Commie blue and split fire all over the place. Your run move is guaranteed to be decent, or you can pin the hell out of anything not fearless. Oh, wait. Don't forget anyone can be a makeshift sniper now. Some call it broken, but you can not give orders to those inside vehicles. So the most broken list of guard currently, can not make full use of them. Anyway, orders are the shit. And you don't even need lady luck on your side. With the right vox system (Doesn't work when an officer orders his own unit) and use of other leaders Ld *COUGH* commissar *COUGH*, you should be able to roll a savings grace.

Baring in mind, there are two special rules for rolling doubles of certain kinds:

• Inspired Tactics: Roll 2D6 like you would for any Orders test. On a double one, all Orders for the rest of the turn automatically pass.
• Incompetent Command: Roll 2D6. On a double six, you cannot issue orders for the rest of your turn. It is not pretty when a blob squad fails to issue remaining orders when Genestealers/Boyz/melee deathstar units are bearing down on you.

The orders are as follows:

• Bring it Down! - Senior Officers only. Grants a squad Tank Hunters/Monster Hunters when engaging a Monstrous Creature(s)/Enemy Vehicle(s).
• Fire on my Target! - Senior Officers only. Grants ignores cover.
• Get Back in the Fight! - Senior Officers only. Let's you basically get a squad that's falling back or gone to ground to instantly regroup. If the unit was falling back, it does not make a 3 move like it normally would.
• First Rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE! - Your most frequently issued order, Rank Fire basically gives your guardsmen an additional shot if they are using Lasguns or Hot-Shot Lasguns. There are few things that match the expression of the opponent's face when you get to roll 28 dice at the same time, which means that even at BS3 and Strength 3 (and possibly AP3 in the case of hotshot lasguns), the enemy is in the sea of possible pain. Use with combined squads for extra hilarity, and don't forget to ask your opponent if you can borrow his dice.
• Move! Move! Move! - The targeted squad must Run, and chooses the highest result of three dice when doing so.
• Smite at Will! - Targeted Squad makes a shooting attack with the Split Fire special rule.
• Forwards, for the Emperor! - Targeted Squad makes a shooting attack and must immediately Run after making it. This is how you move those heavy weapon teams and still get their regular shots.
• Suppressive Fire! - The squad's next shooting attack gains Pinning.
• Take Aim! - The unit gains the ability to make Precision Shots when shooting. With 7th edition, it has been clarified to need a 6 to land a precision shot.

Tank Commanders get their own set of orders that only affect the unit the Tank Commander is attached to (These are technically not orders. Use said cheese at your discretion):

• Full Throttle! - Tank commander's unit moves flat out, moving 6+d6 (ignoring the limitation from being Heavy vehicles).
• Gunners, Kill on Sight! - Tank Commander's unit shoots and the Tank commander must shoot at a different target from the rest of the unit.
• Strike and Shroud! - Tank Commander's unit makes a shooting attack, and then all vehicles that have not used their smoke launchers previously must use their smoke launchers.

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Company Command Squad: This squad provides leadership to the many. It orders around those who can order around others. This unit gets orders. It gets an ample selection of gear, and extra dudes. This includes a 20pt large blast, penalize the enemy reserve rolls and bonuses to your own. This unit can have its leader switched out with other named leaders with awesome powers and gear. Simply because most other HQ choices lack the capability to survive on their own, either due to lack of invulnerable save and/or relatively weak statline in comparison to HQs of other factions, this should be your HQ of choice. The only sad part is that you can only take two of them up to 2000 point level. If you want to kit out one, do note that the Company Commander buys his equipment ( Krak grenades, carapace armor, camo gear ) separately from the veterans, and for a different - more expensive - price. Do not skip this because it may invalidate your army list. Also NEVER forget buying camo gear for the commander if the rest of the squad has it, else he'll get focus fired.
  • Ursarkar E. Creed: For a decent point cost, one Company Commander may be upgraded to Creed. Creed is pretty nifty for a couple of things now, although he can't do his classic Tactical Genius-ing any longer (at least, not without the right Warlord Trait). Instead, he has a massive 24" command bubble he's only a regular 12", can issue 3 orders per turn, AND gets two Warlord Traits (which he can roll on two different charts for), AND rerolls all failed orders. His two hotshot laspistols now mean that he benefits from Gunslinger. Do note that since a roll cannot be rerolled more than once, his special rule prevents him from benefiting from vox-casters. Thus, if you have no other officer in your army ( Full vet' or mechanized ), of his cost of 80 can be deduced the cost of all vox-casters you would have taken, making him fairly cheap in this configuration.
    • Sergeant Kell: Kell now can only be used by a force that already contains Creed and acts more like a bodyguard than a support unit. He can still allow units to use his leadership ( 8 - useful when trying to order squads without leaders that wouldn't otherwise benefit from a commissar, like special/heavy weapon teams or ratlings ) in an Order test and he now automatically succeeds LoS! rolls if the wound is allocated to him instead of another member in the unit (i.e. Creed). He can also auto-pass Glorious Interventions (which he must perform when possible). His cost includes a Regimental banner, both a power fist and a power sword and 2 wounds.
  • Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken: The new Codex gave Straken a couple of nice buffs with Monster Hunter and Smash he can now hold his own against armored units and MCs, and all units within 6 inches of him gain Furious Charge and Counter-Attack. (Keep a few Ogryns or Bullgryn near him to make the most of this bubble.) With 3+1 attacks basic, at S6, I3 and AP2: Straken makes Hammernators crap their metal pants. Of course, he is unlikely to survive unless his squad is optimized for such an occasion, so it would be a good idea to have 3-4 Melta Guns (being able to bring down some terminators before an assault far outclasses the extra attack from the pistol) and Nork Deddog to accompany him. Alternatively with Implacable Determination, his command squad has Relentless (allowing Relentless Snipers/ Plasma Gunners or a Relentless Lascannon/ Autocannon for some dakka then charge action) This way, you can charge most CC units and get away with it. Eldar, Dark Eldar and Necrons may give you trouble though. Also, you may have to bite your tongue if you come up against a squad full of power weapons, i.e Space Marines. Instead, pull back, shoot them to pieces, and then throw a pie plate on top of them because otherwise, you'll be forced to challenge them and he's not gonna survive that. Don't forget you can always measure their threat distance to be sure.
  • General Myndoras Odon (Forge World): Patton of 40k. Killed a bunch of Eldar on some ice ball then died next campaign when his transport flipped. A kinda cheap upgrade to a CCS (not counting the upgrades to the squad, Odon is only 30 points) but the gear on his squad is chosen for you: krak grenades, a vox, a meltagun & a reg banner. You can still pick advisors so stick at least a MoO with him for laughs as he can't take a heavy weapon. He's sorta a poor man's Creed. With the same standard orders, the same Ld & can give up to 3 orders per turn, he but trades Creed's ability to re-roll orders for a double order radius of 24". He's not a tactical genius but he re-rolls Seize the Initiative. If you have points to spare, give whatever you plan to order a vox. Oh & he can take a dedicated Chimera or VALKYRIE! Take the Valk & let some vet/spec wep squad jack it. Take him as one CCS & Creed/Kell in another for two massive order bubbles with bubbles of re-roll morale/pinning.
  • Colonel 'Snake' Stranski (Forge World (IA1)): Mechanised, scoring command squad. 225 points for the Colonel, 4 vets and their Chimera and, as above, you can't choose the upgrades for the squad or transport (Med-pack and lasgun, vox and lasgun, 2 meltaguns). The Colonel has a nice little rule - when firing from the Chimera, his 2 plasma pistols count as Twin-Linked.
  • Nork Deddog: Nork is one o' da smartest Ogryns. He and da commanda have a bond. When he dies, he attacks every bad guy trying to hurt the commander. If your command squad is going to be in the fray of battle, take this somewhat expensive body guard. Now gets along well with Commissars ( But using Summary Execution in a CCS is a VERY bad idea anyway ) to the point they can never execute him. Now he also gets FnP, HoW, Stubborn, and can sacrifice his regular attacks (including the ones he gets when he dies) to perform a headbutt that has a profile of S+3, AP3, and Concussive. (Yes, this means he can now ID a Space Marine Captain.) Like Kell, he also has to make Glorious Interventions and automatically passes them.
  • COMPANY COMMAND ADVISORS
    • Officer of the Fleet: Why AREN'T you using these?! Officer of the Fleet is a great asset to add to a command squad. Apparently astropath/officer combos were too much trolling, so now the Officer must pass a command test to either give you a +1 to your reserves or force a -1 on enemy reserve rolls, and could seriously jeopardize their well-thought schemes. However, he won't stop drop pods and if the enemy doesn't reserve anything you've wasted the points. So a bit more random and forces you to choose buff or bane. Still an auto-include. In combat, the Officer is as good as dead - use him as another warm body to stop a shot for your commander in the back of the squad. Amazingly enough, he counts as a character for the purposes of challenges and Glorious Intervention. If reserves are all rolled and your Company Command is engaged - hell, why not? Challenged by a Daemon Prince? Yeah, the Officer of the Fleet just drew his rapier. If by some hilarious chance, the enemy fails to inflict any wounds in challenge, you may end up rolling over them if you have Regimental Standard (so you will count as winning the close combat). He is also a massive fuck you towards Daemons players.
    • Astropath: New codex changed shit, so now instead of granting you a +1 to your reserves, the Astropath now serves as your only source of Telepathy. Dominate (24) is good if you luck out and get it; if not, Psychic Shriek (12) will be fun if you get a chance to use it. Really, though, his major point is to add a 5+ Deny the Witch to the unit. Alternate Tactic: With the arrival of the new psychic-heavy 7th Edition, Astropaths have become the ultimate troll machines. Malefic Daemonology fits them particularly well if you field Catachan's Man of Adamantium with two heavy weapons. As the squad keeps moving towards whatever it wants to kill, your 25-point Astropath can keep summoning Daemons in front of the squad as meatshields (bonus points if they are Plaguebearers). And then when you get close to the squad you want to kill *BAM* BLOODTHIRSTER/GREAT UNCLEAN ONE INYAFACE! Straken and his buddies can keep him alive, and then let the mother of all charges ensue. Bloodthirster + Straken CCS, both charging at something or another. That's gonna hurt, all because of your little 25pt Astropath.
    • Master of Ordnance: (NOT TACTICALLY ADVANTAGEOUS AT ALL. TAKE FOR ADDITIONAL LOLZ)This guy is like a tiny Basilisk. Once per turn he is able to call down a Basilisk-type attack on the enemy, always subject to scatter - 3D6" and "only" 2D6" when scoring a hit - through you can still substract his BS if you have LoS. Not very good unfortunately, but can be fun for spamming pie plates. However, since the bombardment has an unlimited range, if you place Master of Ordnance correctly ANYWHERE, it can be used to troll Ork and Tyranid swarms with a Strength 9 plate of instant death (which can now ignore cover with orders), since it's likely to land on something or other. He can't aim the big guns at something else than what the rest of the CCS is firing at "Smite at Will" order gives split fire to get around this. Again, once in close-combat or perhaps, if your Company Command Squad gets dismounted or shot at, just push him in front of a bullet. He's useless if there's nothing to shoot at or if you have to run around since it can't be fired on the move. Also remember that your Company Command Squad can give itself the order "Bring it Down!" making his blast twin-linked (re-roll scatter), which can provide some insurance that it'll land somewhere you want it. Was a great tactic until the new codex fucked it up. Now the shots will just land fuck knows where and there's not much you can do about it, unless you want to have a primaris psyker babysit them with prescience - which is a viable option, but you are bound to resent the inflated point cost and hassle of it all.

• Lord Commissar: Lord Commissar is a Independent buffed out Commissar, the key ability of him makes everyone around him LD10 and Stubborn. And that is awesome. The main issue is that he is a kill point himself and he takes away a slot of HQ for more Company Command Squads. Let it not be said that he doesn't have his own uses, though. You want a blob-platoon to do REALLY well? Bind 'em into one giant squad, put a Lord Commissar in there and run it all over the place killing everything in sight. Seriously. 30 guys means 3 Sergeants with Power Weapons, 60+ attacks on the charge and a Lord Commissar with a Power Weapon as gravy. Combined Squad of 50 lead by Lord Commissar is likely to make the opponent cry. It's also Stubborn, so watch your friends complain about how the squad is still coming at them despite missing half of the guys once in it. If you're feeling particularly threatened, stick him in the middle of a Combined Squad so he will never be shot at (except by Snipers and Characters who rolled 6 to-hit), and you can ignore challenges in favor of a slightly less potent Leadership of generic Commissars in the squad - particularly useful, as unlike Chaos Champions and such, you will lack the capability to take damage that will easily go through your armor (Initiative 3 forcing you to take first hits doesn't help much, either). For this same reason, using Lord Commissar to keep Conscript Squads useful is not a good idea. Just be aware that he can't be Warlord if you've taken any Company Command Squads.
  • An important note regarding Summary Execution! - now when you use it, you have to roll a d6- on a 1-2, your opponent gets to choose who gets BLAMed instead of you. It's not a pretty sight when you accidentally execute the guy with the meltagun right when a tank is bearing down on you.

• Commissar Yarrick: Awesome, fluffy man. Costs quite a bit but far less than what he cost in 5th ed codex. Very close combat oriented. He can come back from the dead... a lot. He has some nifty gadgets. Yarrick also has a reputation of being nasty as crap in close combat; he can take on Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka one-on-one and have a fighting chance of coming out on top. He's got an official Power klaw, a decent WS, he's got Eternal Warrior and his come back from the dead bullshit, and is a senior officer. Additionally, his Baleful Eye(counts as a Heirloom) now acts like a hotshot laspistol and he carries a power field for a much-needed 4+ invulnerable save (also a Heirloom). However, he is no longer Fearless ( And doesn't get Stubborn in return ) and can be overrun in close combat with some bad Ld rolls. Furthermore despite now being able to issue orders like an Officer, he cannot be your warlord if you have another Senior Officer in your primary detachment due to the chain of command rule. But if he is your warlord he has a Draconian Disciplinarian warlord trait negating somewhat the loss of fearless rule. He can also Summary Execute (not that it fits his fluff, but whatever) so use that to your advantage as well. If you take Yarrick, you better take him as a warlord. Otherwise he ends up as an expensive Commissar with few of the perks of a Commissar. Want a CCS too? Creed doesn't have the Senior Officer rule, so if you have both, you can choose your warlord!

• Tank Commander: The Tank Commander is a whole bucket of fun for any mechanized army. An upgrade to any Leman Russ, he changes the type of that unit to HQ from Heavy Support, has BS4. Awesome. He can be a Warlord (Regardless of Ld since he hasn't any stat except BS, through he acts as Ld9 for the purpose of orders), and is a character, so gets precision shots and Look Out, Sir! (as the rule does not exclude tanks for whatever reason.) Look out Sir! only works on wounds (unsaved or otherwise), so yeah. Still awesome. Must have 1 other Russ in his squadron and up to 2. Awesome. Issues a special set of orders to himself and his squadron, as described in the "Orders" section. And he only costs 30 points (not counting the cost for the tank squadron itself). Awesome. Overall, the Tank Commander is a very good, but extremely expensive option as he and his Squadron can very easily soak up points rather quickly. Do note that the Tank Commander's Leman Russ cannot leave the unit, even if Immobilized, and cannot join any other.
  • Knight Commander Pask: The Guard's tank ace has some new tricks that give whatever tank he's riding in a bigger boost than that of a basic Tank Commander. Pask's tank can reroll to penetrate armour, and it also gains additional bonuses depending on the tank:
    • Leman Russ, Vanquisher, Demolisher, and Eradicator can reroll to-hit rolls. In the case of all but the Vanquisher, this will be the scatter dice.
    • Exterminator and Punisher gain Rending.
    • Executioner gains an alternate firing profile: 36" S7 AP2, Heavy 1, Large blast, Blind, Gets Hot!
    • Just be warned, Pask is usually unnecessary, not bad by any means, but not something to be put in unless you have the points spare, or if you are planning something specific for him. He's also an extra 40 points ontop of the 30 points you already paid for your commander, plus the Russes you must buy.

Regimental Specialists

0-3 of each of these units that don't take up any slots. All are independent characters.

• Primaris Psyker: Can upgrade to Mastery Level Two, comes with free force weapon, cheap and has access to Divination. Whats not to like? Keep in mind that the new Force Staff rules make the Psyker strike at Strength 5, with AP 4, and with Concussive Force (Thunder Hammer rules). Gone are Lightning Arc and Nightshroud making him even more of a support character. Oh, and now he gets access to Divination. Enjoy your twin-linked everything. Gets executed in case of Perils of the Warp if there is a Commissar(-lord) in the same squad, so no FnP save and the fact he has 2 wounds ( His stats are surprisingly good, maybe because GW forgot to change them with the step down from the HQ FoC slot ? ) won't save him. Also, don't forget he's Ld 9. If you fancy using Heavy Weapon Teams, but hate how often they ignore your orders, just attach and enjoy. Alternate Tactic: Take the man in a 50-man Conscript Squad, and give him Malefic Daemonology. Create the ultimate tarpit by conjuring Plaguebearers, try out a hammer-and-anvil tactic with Bloodcrushers or Plague Drones,or woe betide the enemy who finds a Primaris Psyker with Sacrifice killing 3-point Conscripts to summon Heralds of Tzeentch. Cue brutal psychic dakka for minimal cost.

• Ministorum Priest: These guys are your cheap unit buffers. They are Zealots (Fearless and Hatred) and they can use war hymns in the assault phase to additionally augment their unit (reroll to wound, reroll failed saves, or grants the Preacher Smash, which is hilarious, albeit for the most part impractical). Rerolling Saves in assault is really handy in fact, since re-rolling 5+ saves is nearly equivalent to power armour, anything without a Power Weapon (Orks without Choppas / Berserkers without Chainaxes) will find the Guardsmen tough to shift. The hymns now affect Ogryns - and bullgryns. These guys are best used in an offensive units, since Fearless does prevent you from going to ground (don't put them in a blobs hiding in cover with objective or units behind aegis lines). A source for yet another plasma gun in your list. Just beware Ld 7. Don't rely too heavily on those hymns. Note however that because of the exact wording of the hymns, he can try using an hymn at every assault sub-phase he is locked in combat, not engaged. Thus, as long as his unit is fighting in assault, he gets to throw an hymn at every sub-phase.

• Techpriest Enginseer: Like your Basilisks, Hydras and any other vehicle? Then the Enginseer is a must have. The Techpreist Enginseer has gone from being the least valid HQ in the codex, to an auto include for many builds. His main strength is his ability to "fix" immobilized and weapon destroyed results. Oh, and he can also give vehicles Hull Points if they've lost any... FUCKING AWESOME! The only real down-side with him is that he has a little problem keeping up with some faster moving units (Hell Hounds and Chimeras mostly) but he can always run his little mechanical legs or if you want, buy him some fucking transport. Servitors are also better; and by better, we mean half the price, nice. Take him with 4~5 servitors and watch "Robe"o-Cop (see what I did there?) kick some ass Fix things to kick ass for him; still pretty bad ass.
  • The Enginseer can now skip its shooting phase to grant a vehicle Power of the Machine Spirit for one turn. Hilarity ensues if you use this with a Baneblade. Does that actually do anything? Allows Leman Russes with Ordnance primary weapons - Regular & Demolisher - to fire one more weapon at full BS, as opposed to snap shots. This would allow these LR to truly - or at all - benefit from a hull-mounted Lascannon or Heavy flamer - Or sponson Multi-Meltas/plasma cannons, but only one out of two would be affected No. Leman Russ are heavy tanks. This means they fire ALL GUNS at full BS including your ordinance weapons. Ordnance weapons make you fire all other weapons as snap shots. Heavy allows you to always count as having remained stationnary, which allows it in no way to ignore the Ordnance restriction - if it would, the same would apply, in a lesser extent, to any other type of vehicle, which would make the rule totally useless. However, a Vanquisher can now slap on a trio of heavy bolters and, thanks to PotMS, actually do what you'd think it naturally would. Put the right guns on the right targets.
  • Trojan Support Vehicle (Forge World): This ammo carrier can be purchased as Techpriest's dedicated transport. It has cardboard armor despite being built on Chimera chassis, and is armed with only hull mounted heavy bolter. But that's not the point. The point is that it can bestow Preferred Enemy (Everyone!) rule to a single tank or artillery model in 6". This works best with things which pack a lot of dakka - like Leman Russ Punisher. Also good for re-rolling gets hot on plasma Russ.

• Commissar: Not exactly 0-3 like the other advisors, nor are they Independent characters, however you get one per Company or Platoon Command squad in your army for 25pts. He can be attached to pretty much any squad other than Ratlings or Psykers but has to stay there for the entire battle. He grants the squad Stubborn (so don't bother with Ogryns) and can OPT to summarily execute a squad member to automatically pass a Ld test after rolling for one. The freedom to put them in any unit you like gives you the flexibility to add a little melee / morale boost to any squad that you might not put a different advisor in. Don't forget that Commissars can swap their bolt pistol out for a bolter. Unless you want your Commissar getting an extra attack in melee, adding to the squad's ranged dakka isn't a terrible idea.

Troops

• Infantry Platoon: Basic core of the army. Consists of a multitude of parts and options. Think of it as a force organization chart in your force organization chart, so you can write yo list while you can write yo list. Can add on extra squads of Heavy and Special Weapon Squads to support the Infantry Squads' lasgun spam. You could also put your heavy weapons in Infantry squads, but then you'll have to waste lasgun fire if you need to engage heavy opponents and tanks. They're different squadrons, they don't have to fire at the same target. silly conscript.

• • Platoon Command Squad: (1) This unit can be tricked out much like the CCS (barring options for Camo-Cloaks or Carapace), yet do not have the accuracy of Veterans. Additionally, the Platoon Commander is less efficient at issuing orders, only being able to make one per turn from a limited pool of choices. Not great, but they do have their moments of glory.
  • Infantry Squad: (2-5) If you play blob guard, this is going to be your bread and butter, if you play a balance of blob and mech, you are still going to take these dudes, because they make it happen. They are paper thin, only hit half the time, and they run away if it can't be helped. But its for fucking sure that they can be made a monster. They can become Stubborn and get a Ld of 9 with a Commissar, the squad can be combined with other squads of the same kind to make huge tar pits. With 30 men, First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire can make them fire 84 shots in one turn. That's a whole lot of diddly. They can take a heavy weapon and a special weapon. This can be combined to make many different options. A basic set up would be a Grenade Launcher or a Flamethrower, to be able to provide additional firepower to the backbone of lasgun spam. On top of that, If the squad is going to be a gun line, add in an Autocannon for front-line squad, or LasCannon/Rocket Launcher for the guys cowvering in the back. You can get plenty of Power Weapons in there as well, for the Sergeants and Commissars, but you cannot get your hands on a Power Fist in an Infantry Squad. With 6th ed update, Bolt Guns are now just a single point upgrade for a Sergeant. Throw away that laspistol, grab a real man's gun.

    Alternate Tactic: If you REALLY want to hold the line, these guys will do it. Take a 50 man blob, take a Commissar (or two), 5 meltas, and a vox, as well as 5 lascannons. Now throw in a Space Wolf Rune Priest Primaris Psyker, roll on divination and pick the primaris power, and finally add an aegis wall. Now laugh as each shooting phase your squad throws down with FRFSRF 60 lasguns, 5 melta, and 5 Lascannon shots... with rerolls to hit... also the whole thing has a 4+ cover, 2+ GTG save. If they assault you, laugh as you start picking up 100+ dice for overwatch. This has been known to bring grown men to their knees.

  • Conscripts: (0-1) A platoon may take one unit of Conscripts, or human Grots as they're affectionately called. If there is anything thinner than paper, it would be Conscripts. Good thing there are a lot of them. They are two point cheaper per model than a regular guardsman, so only take them if you are full on the others (how did you do that) or if you are using Chenkov's "Send In the Next Wave" doesn't exist any more. Priest is a must. Do not expect them to pull miracles, but with Rank Fire, they can ignore their terrible BS of 2 (good luck passing Ld5 test, unless you have Kell or Lord Commissar they can get a normal commissar now). I don't know about you, but 50 Fearless bodies for around the same cost as a ten man squad of Tac Marines with some goodies isn't something to sneer at.
  • Heavy Weapon Squad: This is where the awesome firepower comes from. Some don't like them because they die rather quickly if they are in front of the Squad. This can be solved by putting them in ruins or other such cover. But if you buy Heavy Weapon Squad instead of putting heavy weapons in your Infantry Squad, they can target big things and not waste the lasgun fire. Lascannons are nice here. Autocannons are good for giving Monstrous Creatures and MEQs a hard time (your opponent can only make so many armor saves when your guns wound on 2s for the latter and the former isn't known for fantastic armor) and can put up a good fight against your average transport (especially if you can get a side or rear hit in) and if you kit out a whole HWS with them, they put out enough shots to not make a basic Guardsman's BS3 too terrible. In fact the only one that isn't that good to take here is the heavy bolter (which is already provided by almost every vehicle you can field). They are slower than Sentinels, but they are cheap for what they do (per-model), can be modified to engage any threat, and don't take up an important Force Organization slot by themselves. Don't forget that you can give them a normal commissar or PP and pass checks for those tasty and delicious orders.
    • Don't take flakk missiles if you weren't going to take a missile launcher normally. They are only slightly better than a group of autocannons against flyers (a squad of autocannons averages 1 hit, flakk missiles 1.5), at a cost of 45 points extra points. That's only 5 points short of a primaris to add on and make those autocannons twin-linked (averaging around 2 hits) and more able to receive orders.
  • Sabre Gun Platforms (Forge World): These guys could replace Heavy Weapon Teams in your platoon. They cost more, but with twin-liked guns they are also deadlier, have skyfire/interceptor, and being artillery, they can endure absurd amount of enemy shooting. On the other hand they are immobile (but can somehow scout move), and die like a bitches when charged by ANYTHING (even Fіre Warriors). Sabre platforms require careful positioning, because of their zero mobility, but they are great source of anti-air and fire support. ALWAYS take second guardsman to each gun: your enemy could and would outflank Sabres to shoot down lightly armored crew instead of W2/Sv3+ guns.
  • Special Weapon Squads: It's a 60 point team of meltaguns (everything else can be provided better by Veterans) or a 36 point objective holder. Find them chimeras and drive them forwards so they can make cheap melta drive-by's with less accuracy than Veterans. There is only 6 of them (and only 3 can carry melta), but they can bring specialized firepower when it's needed. Give them a Demolition charge and drop their Chimera in the middle of the enemy formation. Next turn: Laugh Maniacally (provided that Chimera withers the oncoming hail of fire or the opponents fatally ignores it). Or put them into a Vendetta, equipped with two flamers and a demo charge.

• Veteran Squad: Key to most mech lists. Slightly superior to regular guard due to higher BS of 4 and have an even better selection of gear and options. Stick them in chimeras and try to see where Lady Luck will take them. Only downside to this choice is that you only have six troop choices if you go full Vet before reaching 2000 points (with 60 points for a stock squad, it's a point which can be reached very easily). You could also do the smart thing and mix 2-3 Veteran Squads with an Infantry Platoon, giving you unholy amounts of Melta (Veterans), Chimeras and bodies everywhere. They're generally less specialized than storm troopers, but they score and can get much more gear. Always take at least two. If you want to make Tyranids players cry more than they already do, take 3 squads, footslog them and give them each 3 flamers, setting them up as assault screens. Your opponent will think twice about sending Genestealers (or, Emperor Forbid, Hormagaunts) anywhere near you.
  • note about 6th: Doctrines became even cheaper. If you didn't include them before you have no excuse now.
  • Gunnery Sergeant Harker: One Veteran Squad can take Harker, and his old buffs have been completely altered- the only buff he gives his unit now is Relentless (which admittedly isn't complete garbage) Harker doesn't give his unit anything but prevents it from using the Grenadiers doctrine - 15 pts for 4+ save instead of 5+ - making his unit lack the survivability to exploit its massive firepower since Bolters will negate their save. The only thing you're getting is a 55pt relentless Heavy Bolter that has Heavy 3 Rending and a very slightly buffed Sergeant - +1 WS/S and Krak grenades, through using Krak means he doesn't fire his RENDING Heavy Bolter - which could make for a good frontline Veteran Squad if it wasn't for their lack of a better save than the average 5pts guardman.

Dedicated transports

• Chimera: This is the gem of the MEHTAL BAWKS world. It makes the Guard competitive at high end play. Heavy Bolter Snap firing with Multilaser? This has become the hate machine it was supposed to be. But nothing stops you from Snap Firing Multilaser with Flamethrower. Or use Hunter-Killers to demolish enemy vehicles. Saw a small price increase and got a new rule Lasgun Arrays : 6 models can use the 2 arrays to fire lasgun shots regardless of the chimera's movements ( They can still only fire Snap shots in case of crew shaken/stunned ) using the transport's BS, each array being able to fire independantly from the other or the Chimera itself. Still amazing. Other points of this fine vehicle:
  • Cheap (point-wise). You can spam them, get lots and lots of multilasers (it will please you), and a solid wall of AV12 metal in front.
  • Makes otherwise-slow Guardsmen mobile.
  • You can fire all your important shit (special weapons, which is, Melta and Plasma) out the top hatch, but only 2 models can fire according to new rules. Letting you fry while staying safe from retaliation. Heck, Commanders can even give orders out the top hatch measured from any point of the Chimera's hull (p. 39).
  • They also count as tanks, meaning that once your troops are in position, you can tank shock the enemies off the point and even crush some Ork vehicles and scare off the mobs.
  • Forge World blessed us with two extra turret weapon options - TL Heavy Bolter and... Autocannon! Rejoice!

• Taurox A new metul bawks. It's got 11/10/10 (With armor like that, it's more like a glass bawks but that js the same as the rhnio, thd original metul bawks so still a metul bawks. Thankfully it can reroll Dangerous Terrain, so that your troops might still have some chance to actually get to where they're needed), but it comes standard with BS3 Twin linked Autocannons while being 15 points cheaper than a Chimera. There is also a new Salvo Hotshot laser on the pintle mount. Not bad.(Only on the Prime) Don't use it for your command squads because it isn't a command vehicle.
  • Two fire points on each side, so a total of 4 making it good for vets after all. They are also not a tank or a fast vehicle (except Taurox Prime, which is limited to Stormies ONLY). Instead, give it to every squad, so they all have a cheap box to block enemy movement and an Autocannon to support them. If Chimera's goal is to get you closer to the enemies so you can hit them with a sword, Taurox is a wonderful fire support unit. Also, it only allows for 10 models to be transported, so you cannot have ICs accompanying the squad.

• Taurox Prime The more dakka version of Taurox (appropriate, considering it looks like an ork battlewagon). Comes default with a weaker version of Leman Russ Gun (S7, AP4, blast). Can be upgraded to be a LR Punisher's weaker brother (10 shots at S4), or be armed with a Missile Launcher that shoots twice. Also comes with a twin-linked volley gun (which can be replaced by a TL autocannon). Can only be taken by new Stormies, but comes with a BS4 out of the box and it's fast. More expensive than it's Guardsman-friendly brother, but can be worth the points, if you need to plug in a point hole in your list, and you just can't fit a Leman Russ.

Elites

• Ogryn Squad: Big meaty men things with pretty awesome assaulting guns, Terminator Marine Nob equivalents of sort. Assaulty wall of meat that crumples most things it collides with, including blobs and tarpits. Lovable to the end, which will be soon, seeing as these guys are a firing magnet and usually don't fit into Chimeras - expect them to footslog if you take a full squad. Keep them the fuck away against anything that could Instant-Death them, and get them into melee as soon as possible. However, even there they might have some problem against opponents like Necron Warriors, but at least they will be keeping them busy and away from glancing your Leman Russ tanks into scrap. Apparently priests war hymns now effect Ogryn so attaching one can now potentially grant Ogryn reroll to wound, reroll to save or smash for the preacher. This makes a high toughness squad tougher (a reroll of a 5+ save is considered more or less the same as a 3+)and better in combat, while granting potential access to smash. For a relatively cheap preacher it could go some ways of improving some of the issues with Ogryns. Namely lack of AP close combat weaponry.
  • Also worth noting are the special rule changes. On the one hand, Ogryns are still Stubborn (Not Bad) and they've gained Hammer or Wrath but they're now Very Bulky and have lost Furious Charge (Fuck). This means that Ogryns can't gib T3 models on the charge anymore. It also means that Ogryns can't use transport reliably. If you know you will be up against Tau, NEVER bring Ogryns. They will be shot to pieces and with not cost effective way of getting them to charge Tau, Ogryns just can't kill them like they used to.
  • If you do want to take Ogryns, it's best to take a squad of 6 Ogryn total (which is a total of 250 points - so use them wisely and carefully), fit them into a Chimera you jacked from a Platoon Infantry Squad nope, Ogryns are very bulky so max 4 in a Chimera, and rush them towards the enemy, hopefully through some cover. Drop Ogryns next to their goal, torch the designated squad/secondary squad that supports your designated target, and let the Ogryns crumple their way through. With toughness of 5, most of the infantry weapons will have hard time wounding, provided they do hit (which can be a godsend against Tau). Remember that once you win the combat, Ogryns can be fired at, so try using the Chimera to catch bullets.
  • Or have a ten Ogryn blob with 2 Primaris Psykers (Biomancy and/or Divination) and watch them kick the enemy's ass so hard, that their grandchildren are gonna feel it. Mind you, at such point cost it's likely that the enemy could do quite a bit of damage before you get to them.

• Bullgryn Squad: The Ogryn Squad's more melee-oriented relatives if equipped with mauls and brute shields or mobile cover with grenade launchers and slabshields. Enhanced with a 4+ armor save and comes with Hammer of wrath, relentless, and very bulky. Their slabshields gives +1 to cover for anything behind them and improves their armor save by one if they are in b2b with another model from the unit. Mobile Aegis line. Use them to give your advancing armor column, which of course has camo netting, a 3+ cover and screen incoming enemies. The power maul version is for smashing skulls.
  • With our new access to divination, this squad can become quite the melee deathstar they should be! Take a 6 man bullgryn squad, add a cheap priest and a ML2 primaris psyker and roll on divination. Bam, for 380 points, you have a fearless, 3+ armour (when stacked), hopefully 4++ invul save unit with 24 T5 wounds, puts out 25 S5 attacks on the charge, that rerolls hits and can either reroll armour and invul saves or wounds. This unit in combat will NOT die.

• Ratling Squad: Your dedicated snipers. Bump up the squad to 10 BS4 Sniper Rifles for 100 points, and you'll get a pretty good payoff. By simple statistics, you should land at least 6 shots, and at least one rending shot that you can choose to allocate to certain targets. Use this to take out high-point, low-numbered enemy squads. Despite what AP6 may make you think, shooting Gaunts and Grots is just a waste of time. To lessen the problem of T2, place ratlings into Ruins for a 4+ cover save, but try to have them cover as much firing area as possible. Don't send them into close combat - they don't have a Close Combat Weapon, so their pistol does not give them an additional attack. Place them on a second floor of a ruined building and laugh how enemy keeps scattering off harmlessly into the air. Finally, don't buy the silly metal hobbit models, but make a kitbash of some small models with Guardsman bitz. They can also run after shooting, so you can run them from cover to cover. Ratlings do have another usage other then just snipers. Placed these halflings on a aegis defense line or Bastion. Their BS skill of 4 is pretty average for the weapons they will be manning. More importantly, is their cost. At 30 points for a three man squad with BS 4, this is practically a steal. Granted you won't be using much of their running ability.

• Wyrdvane Psykers: Their usual powers gone (so no more Weaken Resolve gimmickery sadly), Wyrdvane Psykers make up for it by being able to select from the Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy and Telekinesis disciplines. Have the potential to be a decent supporting unit, especially as they are now much cheaper (120 points for ten - the cost of a Leman Russ Eradicator).
  • Side Note: Just don't bother. There is nothing these things can do that a Primaris Psyker can't do better. Taking these guys is like trying to BBQ water. It's just dumb unless you absolutely want to have Prescience in your army SIX times.
    • Side Note to the Side Note: Why not have Prescience SIX times, hell, why not have it EIGHT times by allying two inquisitors. Prescience ROCKS for guard armies.
      • Side Note to the Side Note to the Side Note (yo dawg):Prescience is great, but instead of allying on inquisitors just to get 2 more pskyering done, just spent the points on something that benefits something else in your army. Use dem points on some camo.
  • If you really, really want to use them, consider sticking 7 of them in a Chimera and driving them around. 6 of them shoot through the lasgun array and one of them throws Smite from the rooftop. You can even stick a Primaris Psyker with other witchfire powers in there to share that fun fire point of 2. And then, after you pat yourself on the back and tally up the points cost, compare what else you could have spent those points on and punch yourself in the face tell the Commissar what you have done.

• Tempestus Scions Platoon ( AKA, Storm Trooper Squad ) : Everything has changed. They've got the same stats, but now come in platoons, if you so choose. They lost infiltration, but kept deep strike and move through cover and they got 4 points cheaper. And they can take orders. Yeah. First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire with hot-shot lasguns. Hell yes. (Adam Troke future proofed it.) Also, now can take a power fist, but at an increased cost (and the troopers no longer carry pistols and CCWs with their lasguns, making them less viable for CC).They can take a Chimera, a Taurox, or a Taurox Prime. Now, whether or not they are actually useful, remains to be seen, but a Taurox Prime makes them fast (if you need that for a Deep Striking shooty unit) and gives them a hell of a punch. But it'll cost you.

• Tempestus Command Squad : Like Platoon Command Squad, but with stormtroopers: can issue Junior Officer orders in a 12" bubble, but also Deep Strike, Move Through Cover and has BS4 and Carapace Armour AND can pack four special weapons (but cannot increase it's size). May give stormies the support they always lacked or threaten dug up units with four meltas/plasmas. Has potential.

• Hades Breaching Drill (Forge World): Recent update hit it hard. No more S10 goodness, no more melta cutter shots, and if it fails to wreck a vehicle or the building its popping from under, it would just die. You can no longer ride vets (and therefore score objectives with them) using Hades - it comes with its own shotgun-armed veteran team, and they even cannot charge from the hole it leave behind. On the bright side, Hades is no longer lumbering, meaning it actually can ram something, and it gets Chimera armor instead of Rhino.

• Field Artillery (Forge World): Immobile artillery. Dirt cheap and durable. Heavy mortars are what you expect them to be - stronger mortars with bigger blast. Like ones on Griffon, but without accurate bombardment. Quad guns on the other hand spams enormous amount of weaker anti-infantry blasts with extra -1Ld for pinning test penalty (for total -2). 12 S5 blasts would kill a ton of bugs/orks/other guard (especially under «fire on my target»), and have a good chance to pin down heavier infantry (like, say, terminators). Take them to nostalgia about the passed times of Thudd Guns.

• Salamander Command Vehicle (Forge World): Fast scouting open-topped vehicle with Chimera armor. It can burn some infantry with flamers, but it's not a Hellhound - the main reason to use command Salamander is it's ability to reduce enemy cover save by one. This works great with heavy tank/artillery lists.

• Atlas Recovery Tank (Forge World): Basically Leman Russ tractor - this thing is designed to tow immobilized tanks and help Techpriests in their field repairing attempts. Towing is fun but mostly useless, but double repair rolls per turn is good in heavy mech list.

Fast Attack

• Scout Sentinel Squadron: With such weak armor, most likely they are going to die on the second turn. Fun choice of weapons. Key part here is that they have Scout - so three Sentinels outflanking from the side or scouting into cover blasting away, causing havoc in the enemy ranks, is a good idea. But still - they are going to die. They are open topped. They are going to die. They have 10 armor. They are going to die. But they may as well take a tank or two down with them. If you want to be insane, having Heavy Flamers all around can result in hilarious infantry murder. Otherwise, most of the time you'll take them as a 40 point autocannon on legs since they are cheap and effective against most things.

• Armored Sentinel Squadron: Armored Heavy Weapons Team, practically. Can move around and fire, unlike Heavy Weapon Teams, but you only get one for the price of the whole squad. Can do decent in close combat, stomping on or bogging down the enemy. Now this works only with fearless units without krak grenades or other S6+ weapons (like, say Thousand Sons, gaunts, or Ork boys without klawnob). Even better choice of awesome weapons when compared to Scout Sentinels, such as plasma cannons - though, you can overheat and lose one of the two Hull Points you have, making you even more dangerously paper-thin. Use Lascannon against vehicle, Rocket Launcher or Autocannon if you can't decide what you want to do with them. Never hurts to take Hunter-Killers in case you end up fighting vehicles. Take in threes so they can be generally more efficient in anything you want them to do. 6th ed preview pictures show little change, besides a significant price drop to the unit and weapon upgrades. Officially made amazing (150 points for three Armoured Sentinels with Plasma Cannons.)
  • Forge World allow both scout and armored Sentinels to take Multiple Rocket Pods. Big frak blasts does horrible things to infantry blobs, but with 24" range it's too risky even on armored.

• Drop Sentinel Squadron: Scout Sentinels lack of survivability with Armored Sentinel point cost. Why? Because they can deepstrike! Or for even more hate, ride on Sky Talon Valkyrie. Skip all weapon choices and take Multimelta - Scout Sentinels and Tauroses are better at killing things with fire.

• Tauros (Forge World): Dirt cheap buggies with twin heavy flamers and Scout USR. If you want to scout flamer sentinels to ruin someone’s day, this guys would do it much better, for they are faster and deadlier for only +5 pts each. Though, don’t expect them to survive any longer: with AV10 all-round, open-topped and only two Hull Points, they are dead men riding. The Tauros can be upgraded to a Tauros Venator, adding two extra wheels, +1 front armor and a twin-linked Multilaser or Lascannon. You are likely to be able to trick enemies into running after you, while you are blasting a Lascannon at them. Then you die because even AV11 is still laughable.
  • Alternate Take: The Tauros Venator is a damned fine fire-support unit. Being fast, and coming with 2 Hunter-Killer missiles as part of the bargain, it can act as a fire-support annoyance for targetting vulnerable rear armor or for sniping a pesky independent character. Lascannons and high mobility make for a fine combination too - if you exploit the max range of the Lascannons, something is going to get cooked in short order. Keep it away from enemy fire and use its mobility and range, and you'll find it hilariously good at taking out specific targets.

• Rough Rider Squad: Poor misbegotten Rough Riders. Yes they're cavalry, yes they're dirt cheap, yes they might end up with a 24' charge range, if they get extremely lucky... but they are ultimately a one-trick pony that is difficult to hide in cover, is fragile in close combat (statline-wise, basically being Guardsmen... and that's it), near-useless against actual dedicated assault troops (go ahead and charge Genestealers with them), and should they be tarpitted, tard out in moments and die painfully. Perhaps the only way to reliably use them is with Creed, Glory for Cadia and all - and even now, they don't get extra initiative from Furious Charge, rendering them last to hit in combat. And for that investment, couldn't one buy another Hellhound? Alternatively, you can use them as a one-time anti-vehicle suicide squad, since Sergeant can carry Melta Bombs. Still, you can probably find a much better Fast Attack slot choice. 6th edition makes their Hunting Lances power weapons, but having a chance to kill half a squad of marines ONCE is not worth it.
  • The new codex has not been good to the Rough Riders; Imagine going from being stabbed to death, to being shot. For some retarded reason, RRs have become more expensive and have lost the only thing that made them good with the last codex, MOGUL KAMIR! Avoid like the plague.
  • Alternate Take: Rough Rider Lances actually now give a +2 boost to the initiative of the Rough Riders,this means that RRs are actually BEFORE MARINES in combat, on top of that they get Hammer of Wrath and a nice +2 Strength buff on that first charge. An Example: a unit of 10 RR gets 11 attacks base, 22 on the charge at S5 AP3, + 10 Hammer of Wrath before hand. for 110 Points that's nothing to be sniffed at, while they are not the most competitive choice they are still not as bad as they are made out to be.

• Hellhound Squadron: The Hellhound tank variants give you access to Fast Tanks. This has a lot of advantages, as you use them for movement-blocking, tank-shocking, or simply blasting enemies to oblivion. A low profile makes finding cover for it relatively easy, though cover-hugging isn't exactly the best use of this tank. There are three variants, each with a unique turret weapon, and the choice of hull-mounted Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer, or Multi-melta.
  • The standard Hellhound is a very handy infantry-killer. If they're not Marine-equivalents (and even they will be hurting once the wounds pile up and they start failing saves), and not in a transport, they will die. What's that? You opponent has Rangers/Heavy Weapons Teams/snipers holed up in a building somewhere giving your commanders and high-value units a hard time? The Inferno Cannon laughs at cover. The range of the IC means that you can expect them to hit enemy infantry starting on turn 1 (move 12", fire 12", cover another 8" with flame template). Run in support of longer-ranged anti-tank weapons for popping enemy transports, Hellhounds can also serve to finish off units from disembarked vehicles. In 6th edition fast vehicles can now fire 2 weapons at full BS at cruising speed, so enjoy the possibilities of hull weaponry combinations. Using Creed to outflank a squadron of these is hilarious against horde armies. Do it - that's an order.
  • The Banewolf sacrifices the extra range of the Hellhound's template for its own poisoned AP3 flamer template. Banewolves will kill any infantry short of Terminators or similarly well-armored units. Their armor and speed give them unparalleled ability to be used for flushing enemy infantry from cover. This said and done, this may be the one variant you can afford to specialize; having a hull mounted flamer gives you the chance to throw two really mean flame-templates. This tank is the epitome of offence over defense - on one hand it can destroy an entire SM tactical squad in one turn. If there is an independent character in the squad, force them to take all the hits for the squad by attacking from their side, melting them alongside anyone else who "Look Out Sir" into their own gooey death. On the other hand - it can easily be put down by a Lascannon head-on. They are well known for making Tyranid and Chaos daemon players cry as you gib their monstrous creatures with as much ease as their cannon fodder. But then again, what doesn't make Tyranids and Daemons cry in 6th edition?
  • The Devil Dog is the last one out, eschewing a short-range flamer, for a Melta Cannon, a blast weapon with the Melta rule. These tanks are great for sending into the center of an enemy armored formation and intimidating your opponent into breaking up, lest he find himself losing multiple tanks! Alternatively, assuming one has reliable long-ranged anti-tank, the Devil Dog can be used for finishing off survivors of destroyed enemy transports. Add a hull-mounted Heavy Flamer, and the Devil Dog can flush troops out of cover (though not as efficiently as the Banewolf). While not a flashy vehicle, it gets the job done. Probably the best variant for most games that includes vehicles on both sides.

• Centaur Carrier Squadron (Forge World): Fast small transports, they can fit only 5 men inside each, and are designed to quickly move immobile artillery and it's crew through the field. Sadly,you don't need to move your artillery carriage that often and keeping a squadron of towing machines totally compromise a whole point of cheap ordnance.

• Salamander Recon Squadron (Forge World): Fast scouting tanks, they comes with AV12/10/10, Autocannon and HB. Being Fast, they can fire both on cruising speed, so a squadron of them can threaten any light vehicle in great range. Being Scout and Fast they as well as AV12 they can do Sentinel job - but unlike sentinels they are better riding in the open rather then wandering through terrain.

• Fliers: With the new IA:Aeronautica book the IG is the most flier-happy army in the game, with only the Orks seriously threatening their title. Fliers can be divided into two categories: "Gunships" and "Jetplanes" - Gunships get a beefy AV of 12, Hover Mode and Vector Dancer USRs, while jet planes get supersonic. In 40k games it is best to stick with gunships as the extra mobility of Jetplanes mainly comes into play only in abnormally large or apocalypse maps.
  • Valkyrie Assault Carrier Squadron: Goddamnit, why don't you have one (because it's inferior to Vendetta, below)? Valkyrie seems like a relatively expensive flying Chimera, but it is well worth it. It has BY DEFAULT Extra Armor in its profile, which means the bad bitch can never be stunlocked. If you keep your Valkyries zooming around the table, it's rare for them to die. Keep them alive to support your armor with a hard-hitting blast from its Multiple Rocket Pods. Valkyries eat infantry and shit brass and work best with Stormtroopers or Veteran Squads, deep-striking the squad in the most annoying place possible, and then flying off to rain hell on the enemy. Unfortunately, it's totally outclassed for anti-infantry by the Hellhound. That said, it does upgrade (sort of) to the...
  • Vendetta Gunship Squadron: As of the new book, the points cost of the Vendetta went up, so it isn't the glorious auto-include it used to be. It's transport capacity also dropped to 6 because while you could clearly fit as many in there as you could a Valkyrie, the Machine Spirits will sodomize you if you do so. In the end, it's still basically a flying Predator. Will you still use it? Depends on how you like your anti-air.
  • Valkyrie Sky Talon (Forge World): Dedicated flying transport for Tauroses and Drop Scout Sentinels. For 70 pts each they are cheapest fliers in the entire game, and they don't even take any force chart slots, as they are treated as dedicated transports. Swap their rockets for MRLs, and mow down infantry. Just remember, that you probably should not deploy them with their cargo inside.
  • Vulture Gunship (Forge World):Essentially a 40k Apache Gunship, comes with strafing run USR, nose mounted heavy bolter, and 4 wing pylons that are divided into two sets of 2 pylons that give space for one twin-linked weapon (one pylon on each side) and one set of missiles. This machine is very modular, able to adapt to ANY situation; Green Tide getting you down? Well, instead of two twin-linked weapons, you can actually attach a twin-linked punisher cannon! The ammo boxes do take up the other missile pylons, but twin-linked and BS4 against ground targets means 18 shots hit instead of Leman Russes 10 (on average without Pask). I would personally recommend buying spending too much on all possible weapons and not gluing them in place - maybe use magnets or some other such method, just make sure you can change the Vulture's armament easily to ensure it is never left wanting in a battle. Because the main strength of the Vulture is its adaptability.
  • Thunderbolt Fighter (Forge World): The Imperium's standard for Fighter craft, this workhorse of the Imperial Small Craft Fleet is meant to be able to do any job asked of it, whether it be bombing, ground attack, interception, or air superiority. But it is a bit pricey, and properly kitted Vendetta or Vulture could do ONE of it's jobs better. But this neglects the true strength of the Thunderbolt, sheer immediate versatility, while the Vulture can claim to be versatile, it's likely going to be kitted out to do one role on the battlefield, while a Thunderbolt can do four simultaneously. But the place where Thunderbolts really shines is in Apocalypse, where they are the bane of superheavy fliers (be wary of Harridans, they'll laugh at your Autocannons and the Lascannons are at best only going to take one wound off.)
  • Lightning Fighter (Forge World): A nippy little air fighter, it defines the trope of "fragile speedster" with a small armament, paper-thin armor and only two HP. It is supposed to the cheaper and longer ranged companion of the Thunderbolt, carrying more missiles to compensate for a fewer number of guns to allow it to (briefly) pack the same amount of firepower, it does however, has serious survivability issues, and even the Big Shootas on an Ork Bomma will send one crashing down. And of course once it blows it's missile load it's firepower drops dramatically, but hey - do you expect this thing to last for much more than one turn?

• • Aquila Lander (Forge World): Who the hell designed this piece of shit? For 10 points more than Valkyrie you get an all around worse transport flyer with pathetic armor, weak guns and a claustrophobic transport capacity of 7. It could be taken as dedicated transport for a Company Command Squad, but without the "Command Vehicle" rule there is no reason to do so. Conversely, can be used as a very immersive (expensive) objective marker, along with the Arvus Lighter below, for an 'evacuation' scenario or similar.
  • Arvus Lighter (Forge World): Oh, you thought the Aquila was a piece of shit? Meet the Arvus: No armor. No weapons. No supersonic. And no fucking role on the battlefield - it is quite literally the worst flier in the whole of 40k. It looks pretty however, so it's likely meant to be more of a shelf-warmer/display piece than anything you would actually bring onto the battlefield. Again, can also be used as a pretty objective marker for specific scenarios involving having to get people/objects off-planet.

Heavy Support

• Leman Russ Squadron: Leman Russ. It's a big tank.For you. Holds the proud title of best tank in the galaxy for its size and cost. Side effects include: Templates, lots of dice, lots of AV, lots of choices.In 6th edition, Leman Russ lost "Lumbering Behemoth" rule, and became a Heavy vehicle, instead. This means that you are limited to only 6 inches of movement. However, you can fire all your non-ordnance weapons at the same turn, as if you haven't moved, meaning that non-ordnance Russes (Exterminator, Punisher, Executioner, Eradicator, Vanquisher) are made even more rapetastic, at slight disadvantage of Ordnance ones (Battle Tank, Demolisher). For some reason the non-ordnance Russes have seen some points cost decreased in the new codex, while others stayed the same (or even gotten a points increase as is in the case of Demolisher). Remember this, and kit out your tanks accordingly.
  • Leman Russ Battle Tank: Though it comes in many flavors, the basic tank is the most useful. With its S8 AP3 72" gun and thick armor, it is good against anything for decent points. This is your runner-and-gunner, your go-to tank, and the majority of your Leman Russ pool at any time should be these or Executioners. Kit 'em out with heavy bolters all around, since you are going to be forced to snap fire non-cannon weapons, so up the volume of fire.In addition, the new codex has granted Tech Priests the ability to give vehicles power of the machine spirit, this could go some ways to allow the vanilla Russ to fire at least one other weapon at full BS. A Leman Russ firing a battle cannon and lascannon at full BS with snap-shots from sponson heavy bolters can be threatening to infantry, vehicles and Monstrous creatures respectively.
  • Leman Russ Exterminator: Armed with a 4 shot twin-linked Autocannon means this thing is death incarnate for 4+ armour and light vehicles. Kit it with 3 extra Heavy Bolters for beautiful infantry shredding. If you feel like it, add Pask - and watch it destroy Predators and Falcon grav tanks with ease, while standing a chance to glance rendingly penetrate Land Raiders (!). While twice the points and not as long-ranged as a Hydra, it's got better front and side armor and isn't hindered by the lack of the Interceptor special rule (so it can shoot at things on the ground, where majority of enemy forces usually are). It doesn't have Skyfire or a Targeting Computer, so it may be lacking in roles usually occupied by Hydra, but you will still put a big dent on anything you do end up hitting.
  • Leman Russ Vanquisher: A Melta (which always provides +1d6 armor penetration) with a devastating range. Thus a bit costly for 1 shot at BS3 (works well with Pask, but only useful against vehicles). Not very useful really considering the amount of melta you should already have, if you use it primarily against vehicles. Give it a Lascannon as well as Plasma Sponson - and you get a unit perfectly fit to fight against Heavy Infantry. Combine with Pask for instant Monstrous Creature solution. Because you are firing 4 guns that get reroll to Wound, at BS4. Don't forget to take a Heavy Stubber to remove that last wound off the enemy Trygon.
  • Leman Russ Eradicator: Kind of a Hellhound that hits worse, is slower but better armored. And you can add a Lascannon for versatility. Strange tank that has a weaker version of Battle Cannon that eats your enemies' cover saves. Consider for Cities of Death games or when fighting cover-camping Tau/Eldar. Can be useful for gunline enemies hiding behind fortifications as well. Now at 120 points making it cheapest Russ off them all. (If you're thinking of taking this for shooting horde units behind cover, scroll down and take a look at the Wyvern. In exchange for 2 less S and AP and a smaller blast, you get 4 shots that reroll to hit and to wound). However, the Eldar Fast Vehicled and Bikes will suffer dearly if they get hit - Eradicators make Dark Eldar cry (as they at best get a 5++ to protect themselves).
  • Leman Russ Demolisher: For +20 pts. to the basic Russ you get a cannon that lays waste of everything on the battlefield and immunity vs S4 melee units - though sometimes 24" is too close to the enemy. The Demolisher is tried and true, and should ALWAYS lead the armored charge into the enemy. Works great alone, works even better in threes. You don't really need to upgrade it, since fucking DEMOLISHER CANNON doesn't get much assistance from other weapons, but being able to finish off the scattered survivors by hail of ill-aimed gunfire can also be useful.
  • Leman Russ Punisher: Shares the cons but only few of the pros with the Demolisher (it does keep the additional back armor, which helps). Heavy 20 may sound cool, but on average, you end up with 10 S5 hits with no AP (making it difficult to even glance vehicles to death, but why would you target vehicles anyway?). Everything except Grots is butchered better with the cheaper and better ranged Battle Tank. However, unlike most Russes, it gets better if you sink the points in it: Add a tank commander, and now 13 and 1/3 of those shots hit. Have a psyker and divination nearby, and that goes up to 17 and 7/9ths hits with a commander, 15 without. Add Pask and now you have rending and the ability to reroll penetration, meaning it is easy to glance AV 12 to death. Add on a full triple Heavy Bolter set and a Heavy Stubber, and the machine will reduce to dust anything, from Terminator Squads to full-size Ork Mobs every turn, and will stop 'Nidzilla in it's tracks through sheer dice output. Well, that or you'll be killed by the enemies anti-tank and waste 250 points on something the rest of your army should be doing anyway. Also, by far the coolest looking Russ.
    • Can also be a fun choice against fliers, if much less cost-effective than the Hydra or Fortifications' Emplacements. When driven by Pask the Punisher becomes an extremely versatile machine, able to successfully engage just about anything, and on average, glance most things AV14 to death.
  • Leman Russ Executioner Not quite as god tier as it once was because the main cannon now has Gets Hot (a 50% chance to remove one of your own hull points (since vehicles have a 4+ saving throw vs. Gets Hot weapons) on a tank that fires between three to five blasts of plasma is still much riskier than it once was, saving throw or no saving throw), but still capable of chucking down sizable amounts of Anti-TEQ hate. However it's now only 155 points, a significant reduction from the last book. Pair with Pask for a blinding plasma blast (see Pask above) for even more hate and to re-roll 1s (for the whole squadron), making Gets Hot! a lot less of an issue (though this is ill advised, given your HQ will easily bloat itself up to (and possibly past) 500 points since Tank Commanders must take a Squadron of Russes with them) All that said, while no longer the auto-include Russ anymore that it was in the last book, it is still capable of making TEQ heavy armies weep. To be taken with caution as part of a healthy balanced diet of Russes.
    • Combine with Kurov's Aquila to have them a re-roll on Gets Hot. Has the bonus of applying to a full squadron, so long as they are within 6 inches.

• Leman Russ Conqueror Squadron (Forge World): It's kinda light version of Leman Russ Battle Tank - Conqueror turret cannon comes with less range, less blast radius and less strength, but it is heavy and has in-built co-axial storm bolter to boost accuracy in the short range firefights. And unlike regular Lemans it's not heavy, meaning it is not slow as hell. Overall not a good choice, unless you have a lot of BLoS terrain pieces in the table. Though, due to its speed and non-ordnance nature of main gun it totally rock in Cities of Death missions, where regular Ruses tend to stuck in deployment zones doing nothing.

• Leman Russ Annihilator Squadron (Forge World): Another "non-heavy" Leman - this time with twin-lascannon turret. Just like his Predator namesake tend to be overpriced for what it do.

• Destroyer Tank Hunter Squadron (Forge World): IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZOR! Ordnance 60" twin-linked lascannon seems tempting, but like LR Annihilator it's just too expensive. Just take Basilisk instead - its tank busting is almost the same, backed with indirect fire and ability to rape infantry blobs. Has a slight advantage over the Vanquisher against all armor values except 14, and is more durable (though significantly less flexible) than a Medusa with breacher shells. Cool and fluffy as hell, but not really worth taking in serious games.

• Thunderer Siege Tank Squadron (Forge World): It's Leman Russ chassis with hull-mounted demolisher cannon. Unlike LR Demolisher it has no front/side sponsons, but for some reason it's also NOT heavy - meaning you can move it 12" and even flat out another 6" to get round two shot. Obviously this is your Vindicator, and like all IG vehicles its all around better then his SM analog, due to the combination of superior armor and sufficient speed.

• Ordnance Battery: "Infantry win firefights. Tanks win battles. Artillery wins wars," or so the old saying goes. The Imperial Guard is noted for being able to bring really big guns to the battlefield, their firepower able to remove small sections of the opponent from the playing field. This said and done, the Imperial Guard artillery units are slow (sometimes outright static) and fragile for their cost due to being Open-Topped, a drawback which becomes increasingly noted should one wish to take artillery in a Squadron (and with the exception of the Griffon, Ordnance has the same cost issues with squadron up vehicles); this said, one can remove the Open-Topped Status. Artillery in itself will not make a Guard army due to its fragile nature, but they provide excellent firepower should the rest of the army be able to protect them. There are numerous artillery-pieces available, including the following:
  • Basilisk: Jokingly called the penis-enlargement gun by veteran Guard Players, the Basilisk is noted for having a really big gun. This gun is also known for being long-ranged, having the option for direct or indirect fire, and having AP 3 (meaning it can kill Marines in the open, or pummel Crisis Suits). However, having the worst minimum-range requirements has the potential to often relegate the Basilisk as a direct-fire weapon, a task the Medusa tends to do better in most cases for a marginal upgrade in cost; this said, the Basilisk's direct-fire does have a longer range than the Medusa. Unless it's apocalypse, you don't need more than 36" though, so get a Medusa, or a Leman Russ Battle Tank, which can do the same or even better job, considering that either way, you are dropping S8 AP3 Big Blast at the enemy within '72 at most. Now in new codex earthshaker cannon has a range of 36-240" enabling you to hit kids at the next table.
  • Colossus: (Forgeworld IA:1) Games Workshop has a checkered history when it comes to Marine-Killer weapons. Their emphasis on certain units being designed for killing Marines in the open, has lead to horridly inflexible units like Vespids, Flash Gitz, Thousand Sons, and now the Colossus. At first glance, the Colossus looks like a fun gun. With the ability to ignore cover, and Marine Power Armor saves, it will utterly devastate Marines should it land properly. On the other hand, having a wide minimum range and the inability to fire directly means the Colossus falters against a lot of Marine Armies. With the exception of some foot-slogging Space Wolf armies, many Marine armies are very fast, and noted either for operating as a mechanized army, fighting by Drop Pods, speeding forth towards your lines on Bikes, deepstriking in by Jump Packs, or otherwise excelling at fighting at short range. While the Colossus can be used for indirect-combat if kept isolated from the rest of the battleline with an infantry unit or two to watch over it, it isn't too popular in tournament armies for this reason.
  • Griffon: (Forgeworld IA:1) The cheapest artillery-piece the Guard get, the Griffon is also the most accurate on most accounts; the ability to reroll Scatter Dice is a handy ability in most cases. Like the Colossus, the Griffon is unable to fire directly, yet its shorter minimum range makes it more usable against rapidly advancing armies. Should a player wish to take a Griffon (or a pair of them, which isn't as point-intensive as squadding other artillery), they work as part of a handy one-two combo for finishing off infantry from a destroyed transport, or in support of Hellhound-equivalents being used to Tank-shock enemy infantry into clustered formations.
  • Medusa: (Forgeworld IA:1) A pure direct-fire weapon, noted for having Strength 10 and AP 2, the Medusa is arguably the most popular form of Ordnance on account of its raw firepower. While having the same issues with accuracy most blast weapons have, whatever it hits will suffer on account of it. For those who wish to trade accuracy and flexibility for raw tank-busting firepower, the regular firing mode can be replaced with Siege Shells, turning the Medusa into a heavy tank hunter. With an AP 1 blast template, and the normal Ordnance bonus replaced by rolling 2d6 for armor penetration, the potential to kill enemy vehicles is incredible, and the threat of losing multiple vehicles to a well-placed shot does a lot to intimidating opponents into spreading their vehicles out. This said, like with the Devildog's Melta Cannon, the accuracy issues inherent with the Medusa mean it tends to work best in support of, rather than being the primary source, of ranged anti-tank.

• Heavy Artillery Battery (Forge World): This is artillery variants of Basilisk and Medusa and in 6th edition, artillery is awesome (until someone charges it). They are immobile and need crew, which could be killed (though, they use gun's Toughness 7 against enemy shots), but they are also cheap. And for being non-vehicles, they can take orders. Earthshakers and Medusas with "Bring it down!" and "Fire on my target!" could make for miracles on the battlefield if used properly. Or die pointlessly, if used incorrectly. Oh, and don't forget that they only have ld7 with no Sergeant or Commissar options, so you NEED a Lord-Commissar or Kell to make them listen to your orders most of the time.

• Hydra Flak Tank: The tank offers 2 Twin Linked Hydra Auto Cannons [72" range S7 AP4 Heavy 2 Skyfire] and a hull mounted Heavy Bolter (or HV Flamer) on an Open Topped Chimera frame. For 5 bolt pistols more than a Chimera. There is contention as to whether Skyfire is a benefit or not within the community to a degree that boils down to differences in local meta. It is good at hitting Flyers and FMCs, Average at hitting Skimmers, and bad at hitting everything else [4 TL BS 1 = 1.22 hits]. No longer ignores Jink. Extended [72"] Range is nice for 2 out of 3 deployments.
  • Tactical Thought: Combined with an Techpriest a single hydra [total points 110] can have a nearly guaranteed chance [avg 1.5 hits] of forcing grounding tests on two enemy FMCs. Seeing that each said test should fail roughly 1/3 of the time and the fact that a 72" turret weapon can aim nearly anywhere on the board gives this unit some use.

• Wyvern Suppression Tank: BLOB ARMIES BEWARE! The new tank for 6th edition. Shoots two twin-linked Stormshard Mortars: 48" Str 4 AP6, Heavy 2 with Blast, Barrage, Ignores Cover, and Shred. That's right, rerolls to hit AND wound. And for even more fun, they can come in squadrons of 1-3! Gaunts/Boyz Beware!
  • Tactical Thought: Before thinking the Wyvern is only useful against blobs, remember what this tank brings to the field. A single tank fires 4 blast templates that are twin-linked and shred. Even with their saves, MEQs will have to roll real well to not loose a large number of troops. A well spread out MEQ Squad will probably lose 2-3 wounds per tank, making the Wyvern redeem its point cost by turn two.

• Manticore Launcher Tank: Mixed-bag. Good for the points, bigger blast range then hell, but can't deal with marines. Drop it back by your Basilisks or Heavy Weapons, since it's not gonna do much good at the front lines. Good points are simple: They're not open-top, compared to artillery. They have HUGE blast ranges and they can virtually ensure that you're going to be making people spread out their firepower - great for you to focus on one group at a time. Downsides are just as bad as the upsides, though. Limited ammo CAN be a problem (rarely, either because either Manticore or the enemy ends up demolished). If enemy is spreading their units out, it causes you to lose a lot of rocket's effectiveness. Seriously, it can only shoot 4 out of 5-6 turns (unless your opponent isn't retarded, in which case it'll be gone a great deal sooner). Overlooked a lot, but can be powerful on those first few crucial turns. On a high note, Manticores DEMOLISH Necron Warrior elements or Ork/Nid/Guard blobs.
  • Forgeworld finally allow to squadron Manticores up to 3. Not like it's always a wise decision, as squadron must fire at one target, which can lead to overkill.
  • Standard Storm Eagle rockets now can be swapped for Manticore Missiles and Sky Eagle Rockets - both come with 15 pts discount. First are the massive S9 AP2 7" blasts of pure rape, which is almost as devastating as Medusa, have Basilisk range, and one of the few 7"-blasts outside of Apocalypse. Second are crunch wise long range twin-linked ordnance lascannons - great for busting heavily armored flyers, otherwise almost invulnerable to Hydra fire.

• Deathstrike: The Deathstrike Missile Launcher tends not to be taken in a lot of tournament builds, being viewed as too unreliable a weapon. Its main selling point is that it (eventually) fires a Strength 10 AP 1 APOCALYPTIC BLAST (y'know, the type of thing you would expect from a Titan), ignoring cover, and operating at full Strength against any and all vehicles caught in the explosion; should it go off, it has a high chance of devastating the opponent. On the other hand, it's chances of properly firing are random at best, it won't be firing on turn 1, and the Deathstrike is a one-shot weapon. It mostly gets used either for casual games on account of this unreliability, as a gamble, or for psyching the opponent out into spreading his forces out. But if you're a favored champion of the dice gods, received the blessing of Admiral Awesome, the benediction of Lady Luck and have balls of ceramite, you might just hilariously wipe half of your opponent's forces early in the game. In 2k+ games, combine 3 Deathstrikes with 4 units of Demo Charge-packing Special Weapon Squads in Vendettas, and watch your enemy's face drop as he realizes the the might of pie plates - as he has to deal with either 3 nukes or 12 S9 AP2 large blasts + 12 twin linked Lascannons on turn one Vendettas are flyers, Flyers won't show up until turn 2 at the earliest. Unless you get first turn of course, in which case he has to deal with 3 nukes having already been hit by 12 large blasts. And from then on, it only gets better...

• Gun Platforms: Short was our rejoicing with unstunnable and durable automated artillery - now they are back to AV10-round 2HP immobile vehicles, and suddenly all stops buying Hydra Platforms. Though there is still saving grace - platforms got cheaper camo-netting, so they can be nearly as tough as they was before if parked in thick cover or behind fortifications.
  • Earthshaker Artillery Platform (Forge World): Cheaper Basilisks. Good as long as they are away from enemy, but if you don't feel enough tactical foresight to keep enemy in distance, stick with old mobile Basilisks.
  • Hydra Flak Platform (Forge World): No more interceptor, so this is just more fragile immobile discounted Hydra. Low model height now become a big problem, as it would cause LoS problems, and when now you need to keep platforms in cover, you can not solve LoS problem just by putting platforms on top of the hill.
  • Manticore Rocket Platform (Forge World): Unlike Regular Manticores, this comes stock with Manticore Missiles, and can only swap them for Sky-Eagles. Use them to spam 7" blasts of hell, as this platforms comes with the biggest discount. With such a devastating power it's even worth it to hide them behind Bastion for camo net improved 2+ cover save.

• Tarantula Sentry Gun Battery (Forge World): - You get a battery of three immobile twin linked Heavy Bolters, with the option to add three more and swap them for a Multi-melta for free, or pay for TL assault cannons or TL Lascannons. Being automated, you have very little control over what they actually do in the battle, they select their own targets based on pre-set criteria, you basically just get to choose at deployment what their arcs are: 360 degrees but at 18" range, or 90 degrees at 36" range, so you're rarely going to be blasting things across the table with these things. Unlike gun platforms they remain to be automated artillery, but got their toughness lowered to 6. Overall a terrible choice, as while cheap it packs very little firepower yo don't even control, and competes with much more potent choices for HS slot.

• Rapier Carrier Battery (Forge World):- This IS the shit. Cheap in both points and money, it is treated as Extremely Bulky infantry like the Cyclops, but is a lot more fun. You DO want this in a Chimera, and you want it to fucking STAY there, because it can still fire its 36" S9 AP2 Ordnance 1 Laser Destroyer when inside. And the best part? The Destroyer is twin-linked. At 40 points and £25, why in the name of Slaanesh's self-removing pants are you not taking at least 1? You want to reliably kill tanks from inside a safe little Chimera?! Knock yourself out.

• Sentinel Power Lifter Squadron (Forge World): Assault sentinels... wooo! They are the cheapest of all sentinels and comes with basically close-combat autocannons. Funny and fluffy, but it's not really worth spending HS slot on them.

• Cyclops demolition squad (Forge World): Small kamikaze remote controlled tanks. They count as infantry (but extremely bulky), so you can put yo tanks in yo tanks, to play mech while yo play mech. For extra lulz find some homerules for Capitol Imperialis and put Chimera with Cyclops in it into Capitol. Not like it's a valid strategy - Cyclops are fragile and their operators are even more fragile (thank god, you can hide them inside Chimera). If you get lucky enjoy suicide-bombing cover-ignoring Basilisk shell into some Space marine squad, but otherwise stick with more conventional big guns.

• Avenger Strike Fighter (Forge World): Your dedicated AtG Jet Plane with a tasty Strafing Run rule. It comes stock with an absolutely useless defensive rear-mounted Heavy Stubber (can help knock a flying monster out of the sky tho...), two Lascannons, and the AVENGER BOLT CANNON, which is basically half of a VULCAN MEGABOLTER. This means it packs SEVEN Megabolter and two Lascannon shots at BS4 for only 150 pts, to ruin the day of anything with less than AV14 or a 2+ armour save. And if it's not enough, you could fit additional guns, missiles or bombs under it's wings. Do you really need any other reason to buy it? (It's also a sexy model on the table.)

Fortifications

• Aegis Defense Lines: In case you forgot to get a Hydra or chose to actually get Anti Air with an Interceptor rule, Aegis will help you out with the annoying fliers. In addition, you get a nice piece of cover for Guardsmen, which you can use as a forward assault base of sorts, or to hide behind (argue with your opponents that your Leman Russ gets a cover save as well). Pretty cheap point-wise, and can be a good choice if you want to have some basic foothold without turning into Gunline Guard. Combind with "Get back in the fight" orders and GTG for 2+ cover guardsmen.
• Skyshield Landing Pad: On one hand, you practically give your Guardsmen an Invulnerable Save(!) - on the other, you don't have many units that can Deep Strike. Could be worth it, if you have some Deep Striking allies. Park your basilisks or manticores on it, or alternatively a deathstrike missile launcher if you feel your trollface isn't getting enough use. The Aegis defence line also provides an awesome forward base that you can load with heavy weapons team for instant 4+ cover and never have to move!

• Imperial Bastion: Ridiculously cheap, can mount a Quad Gun that can pop transports and flyers, gets 4 free heavy bolters which can be legally placed all on one facing, gives your men the advantage of height and cover, and if you play air cavalry the Comms upgrade is a must, letting you modify your reserve rolls by +1. Place Veterans inside and use it to overlook most of the battlefield, while the rest of your army is moving about/shattering enemy's sky.
• Fortress of Redemption: Expensive both in points and actual cost, this huge model doesn't exactly bristle with guns as you would expect. But now, you are able to dominate everything on the table - tanks will be sniped with the '96 lasgun, fliers will be decimated by BS4 AA guns (you did garrison Veterans in there, right?), and everything else will have to eat Heavy Bolters. And that thing launches Missiles (frag and krak). Oh, and all Imperial units get various buffs and saves, meaning that this thing is the ultimate say in the world of Gunline Guard. On the negative side, this thing turns the field into a giant clusterfuck the moment at least one of it's sections breaks apart.
• Imperial Strongpoint: Can't decide whether you want the Imperial Bastion or Aegis Defense Line? Why not take both. With the Stronghold Assault expansion, you can take both and more. For just one Fortification slot, you get a required Aegis Defense Line, a Imperial Bastion, a optional Skyshield Landing Pad, optional Honoured Imperium, and options to include more of the listed. For IG gunline armies, this is beautiful. This is basically the poor man's Fortress of Redemption. The major problem though is IG ballistic skill. With all this heavy ordnance, you want to get as many Vets as possible to man these guns. Also, don't expect to move that far. With most of your cover and weapons unmovable, you will just have to wait for the enemy to reach you.
• Honoured Imperium: Ok, no. While it might be nice to place a giant statue or church rubble and receive fearless for your Guard and Imperial Allies, think about your choice. For your ONE fortification choice, you would take one statue that CANNOT fire back over fortifications THAT CAN FIRE BACK! And while fearless is nice for guard, units have to be within 2 inches to even benefit from the fearless. Best used with gun-line guard and even then you will have the problem of blast templates. You do get a 3+ cover save if behind the fortification, but chances are you are using the giant statue that breaks LOS making the cover save basically unnecessary. Use your points on a Commissar. If you are truly wanting to use this fortification, then go all in and get the Imperial Strongpoint.

• • This might be slightly useful with vehicles, if you have a predator positioned just right that you don't ever plan on moving for example, otherwise you will never use this cover save ever.

Super Heavy

• Marauder Bomber: Flying Fortress of 40k. Imagine the massive bombers that dropped massive amounts of bombs on cities during the Second World War - the Marauder is basically the same thing, but with much bigger and less dinky and useless guns (for the setting). It also happens to share the same name as one too. It's not good for its point cost though, even in apocalypse. Those bombs just don't hurt tanks, and that's something you need to be able to kill. Does come with the ability to switch out the heavy bomb payload for two Hellstorm Bombs, big Inferno templates full of Str7 Ap3 goodness. Useful for when that annoying guy brings a whole company of Space Marines and you want them to DIE NOW. Unfortunate side effect is the tiny payload size. Oh well. As per new Apoc rules super heavy tend to explode in hilariously high range (with D strengths in the 5" epicenter) you can just keep this thing zooming above enemy forces and dare him to kill it.
  • Maurauder Destroyer Heavy Attack Plane. While the standard Maurauder is the Imperium's B17, this one is the AC-130. Regardless, with a load out like this it's more akin to the bastard forbidden love child of a Manticore and a Hydra flak tank that's trying too hard, since it's armed with six massive rocket on the wings and three twin-linked autocannons in its nose. Instead of bombing, this sucker flies in and strafes anything unlucky to be on the ground, with hellstorm of fire, and then flies away. Better than the bomber in every way (looks, armor values, possession of actual AA mounted guns and glorious bombing runs).
• Baneblade: The Baneblade is one of the most feared tanks the Imperium and Chaos posers have to offer. Sporting a Baneblade cannon, co-axial Autocannon, Demolisher Cannon, two Lascannons, three twin-linked heavy bolters, optional pintle mounts, AND optional Hunter-killer missile, its a rolling fortress of death. Comes standard with three structure points, AV14 front, AV13 side, and AV12 rear in the Apoc book. Can be commandeered by a Commissar to REALLY motivate your troops. With the Escalation expansion, IG players can take one Baneblade or one of its variants.
  • Hellhammer: Baneblade without the Baneblade cannon. The Hellhammer cannon is shorter ranged but has a smaller template, better strength and AP. But why take this when the Stormsword right down the corner is so much better?
  • Banehammer: Holds great potential for fun in trolling Mech armies with it's Tremor cannon. With a 60" range and S8 AP3, the Tremor cannon may not seem like much - but that's when it's special rule "Earthshock" comes in. Everything within 4d6" of it's 7" blast gets caught within a shockwave zone which is treated as dangerous terrain to vehicles and difficult to all else. Not the best super heavy to take, but is fun. Shoot it at hordes and force your opponent to forgo moving phase for the sake of own sanity.
  • Banesword: Designed especially to reach out and ruin someone's day. With a range of 180" on it's main cannon (called the Quake Cannon) as well as S9 AP3, Barrage, and 10" Blast, someone is going to have a really bad day. And for shits and giggles, you can kill that annoying Tau player's army 2 tables over, instead of wasting the shots of your Deathstrike Missiles.
  • Stormsword: Best at street fighting and siege warfare, what this bad boy lacks in range (a sort of pathetic (for Apocalypse) range of 36") is made up for in firepower. Its cannon launches a enormously painful S10 AP1 10" blast primary weapon shot which denies cover saves and instagibs vehicles on a 3+, at the very least ripping off a weapon. It will also turn anything with less than T6, inside out. So, in other words, it's a great way to say "Screw you!" to that annoying Vindicare Assassin, who is camping in the ruins. The blast template is in fact so huge that it is actually physically incapable of missing it's original target with its main cannon - which is awesome. Firing this thing once can wipe it's cost in units off of the gameboard, which is even more awesome. Pretty much everything you love about the Leman Russ Demolisher is taken up to eleven on this baby. If you can get these guys in range, they will never fail to impress with the incredible amounts of destruction they will unleash upon the enemy.
  • Doomhammer: This super heavy isn't sure if it's supposed to be a scary ass tank or dedicated transport... so it does a decent job as both. With a transport capacity of 25 models, it certainly isn't too shabby, especially with it's fire points (well, fire point, really) allowing 10 models to blast away from it. It also counts as open topped for (dis)embarking purposes. Its primary cannon (named the Magma Cannon - yeah, it's the Volcano Cannon's baby brother) has a range of 60" and is S10 AP1 5" blast. So yeah... Something caught between a Stormsword, Stormlord and a Shadowsword. For a jack of all trades, this is a decent choice (though the Baneblade is probably better at it).
  • Shadowsword: Much alike the Baneblade, but instead of a turret and hull weapon, mounts a huge Volcano Cannon (yes, it is as powerful as it sounds). The Volcano Cannon stats are simple: 120" S:D AP2 Large Blast. Yup. It is the Titan Killer and is possibly one of the most useful Baneblade-based vehicles.
  • Stormblade: Taking the Shadowsword chassis and sticking the Plasma Cannon from a Titan on it. (They call it a Plasma Blastgun, but that sounds pathetic.) Allows for two firing modes: Rapid and Overload. Rapid gives you 2 shots at 72", S8 AP2 with a 7" Blast and Overload drops it down to 1 shot with 96" range S10 AP2 Apocalyptic Blast. So if you need to clear out a horde of non-super heavy tanks at range, this'll be high on your list.
  • Stormlord: It's a Shadowsword chassis with Vulcan Mega bolter instead of Volcano cannon (Yes, the Mega Bolter is as insane as it sounds: Imagine a Vulcan Minigun with Heavy Bolters for each barrel), the Mega Bolter is: 60" S6 AP3 Heavy 15, AND if the Stormsword doesn't move, it can fire twice at different target or the same target! However, the most lulzy thing about this beast is that it can transport FORTY troops. 20 of which can fire from a rear mounted firing platform. To really maximize its epic lulz potential, team up with a Space Marine player and let him shove 20 devastator Marines in it BB cannot enter each others vehicles in 6th Ed and yet no one remembers this still can in Apoc. For obvious reasons, this thing will then be chucking out more fire than an entire Imperial Guard regiment. This is highly acceptable.
• Malcador: Basically a bigger Leman Russ, half the size of a Baneblade. Like the Russ, it has a Battle Cannon, but has the option for Sponson Heavy Stubbers or Sponson Lascannons (Hint: This is the correct choice). Malcadors have a limited turret traverse, due to their weird design.
  • Malcador Defender: Instead of a Battle Cannon, has a bunker on the top with five Heavy Bolters and a Demolisher Cannon in the hull. Use it to transports Conscripts or smaller Combined Squads.
  • Malcador Annihilator: Has a twin-linked Lascannon turret weapon, and a hull-mounted Demolisher Cannon. May feel a bit schizophrenic despite seeming like a mainly anti-vehicle platform.
  • Malcador Infernus: Take a Malcador, throw out the turret, and give it a Titan-sized Inferno Cannon. It's a GIANT flamethrower tank, like a Hellhound on steroids. Also has Sponson weapon options, which is good to finish up the burned up squads.
  • Valdor Tank Hunter: Like a smaller Shadowsword, or specifically, like a bigger Destroyer Tank Hunter. It has a massive laser cannon. Has a single sponson mounted awkwardly on one side, firing arcs make it only useful for self-defense. Suffers slightly from the Vanquisher Syndrome of not being able to target enough things fast enough and having only has BS3. It does possess primary weapon D3 which vastly increases chances of successful penetration (Or Primary weapon 1 if you go by IAA rather than IAIG2nd), and AP1 highly increases chance of of the enemy vehicle being destroyed outright.
  • Minotaur Artillery Tank: Basilisk on crack. Carries two Basilisk cannons on a Malcador hull. Don't ask why. Ask: "Why not?"
• Macharius Heavy Tank: Comparable to the Malcador, except with moar gunz. Standard Macharius has two sponsons and a TWIN. LINKED. BATTLE. CANNON. Unlike the Malcador, the Macharius has a full 360-degree traverse, so it can fire in any direction from its position. Also has hull-mounted twin linked Stubbers in the front.
  • Macharius Vanquisher: TWIN. LINKED. VANQUISHER. CANNONS. Also has sponsons on either side. Hull-mounted Heavy Stubbers also. Hilarious anti-tank firepower. Also experiences Vanquisher Syndrome.
  • Macharius Vulcan: Mother of god. For ultimate cheese, get a Stormlord with Vulcan Mega Bolter, and get a couple of these to roll with it. This Macharius has a Vulcan Mega Bolter on its turret, plus the sponsons and hull Heavy Stubbers. Removes Tyranid players from the Apocalypse games in the radius of a few miles.
  • Macharius Omega: A Macharius assault tank, basically. Has no turret for its PLASMA BLASTGUN. Has sponsons weapons also. Burns through bio-titans and monstrous creatures like they're nothing.
• Gorgon Assault Carrier: The ultimate party bus. The Gorgon can transport entire platoons instead of just a single squad. Has two twin-linked Heavy Stubber turrets on the very back, and has the option of either sponson-mounted weapons or twin-linked Mortars. One thing to note is that the Gorgon is permanently open-topped. This can be good or bad, depending on how many Ogryns you packed inside. Also, you should notice AV10 rear armor, which means it would die like bitch to krak grenades or thinks like Deffkoptas. Sadly, passengers cannot fire out of Gorgon, may be because AV14 transport with 8 3-man heavy weapon teams would be totally broken.
• CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT: Picks up where the Gorgon slacked off. Has two Heavy Bolters (which you could should replace with better guns) on its nose, sponson weapons and it's completely closed. Carrying capacity of 35 (compare to Gorgon's 50). The main reason you should prefare CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT is speed. It's 12". For super-heavy vehicle. It's pretty much the IG's equivalent of a Land Raider (it costs exactly the same point-wise), and like the Predator vs Leman Russ, the CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT is more powerful, more durable, and generally better at it's job, which is also hilarious when you think about it.
  • Praetor Armored Assault Launcher: CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT with its transport capacity replaced with huge rocket launcher. Like the Minotaur is a super-Basilisk, the Praetor is a super-Whirlwind. Its backside houses a Multiple-Rocket Launcher, armed with either brutal S8 AP3 pie plates, less powerful horde-eating 7"-blasts, or anti-air krak missiles - in all modes its fire two twin-linked missiles per turn. And you can choose armament at the game starts, making Praetor very versatile. It also has two sponsons on the nose, just in case.
  • Dominus Armored Siege Bombard: Another Crassus-with-huge gun. This time it packs a battery of three giant mortars on its back, which could fire only one S10 AP3 pieplate on move or three of them while static. It could be much more cost-effective and durable artillery than a squadron of Basilisks, but only if you keep it stationary. Worth noting, there is still no model of this thing.
• Vortex Deathstrike Missile: While not technically a superheavy, firing one of these off will lead to an ass-kicking usually reserved to only the heaviest of guns. Literally, nothing in the game hits as hard as this. Basically a Deathstrike missile launcher with the plasma warhead replaced with an intercontinental-sized VORTEX warhead. While being fragile in the extreme, unable to go off in turn 1, having to take a lord commissar and an entire infantry platoon to keep it safe, and a single shot wonder, it is still completely worthwhile. A 10" blast of fuck-any-and-all-types-of-saves-or-get-out-of-death-free-cards will remove anything it touches. Even baneblades and gargantuan creatures will be seriously ass-fucked when this says hello. Take only if you think your balls are as brazen as an imperial guardsmen

• Titans: TITANIC GOD-MACHINES OF PURE RAPE. They pack awesome firepower on ungodly durable platforms, but hell they are expensive. One thing you should remember: Titans are NOT indestructible. Despite being TITANS they are quite fragile for such point cost. Their void shield could soak a lot of anti-tank shooting, but they work only against shots from 12" and more, not to mention close combat. KEEP YOUR TITANS AS FAR FROM ENEMY AS POSSIBLE - a lot of things could kill them if they come close enough. Meltaguns are problem. Hummershield/chainfist terminators are big problem. Warscythe Lychguards are a massive problem. Daemon lords and Revenant Titans with swords are death. Hell, I once saw a single veteran squad with meltabombs grav-shuted near a Reaver titan and kill it in one turn. Also, keep in mind that all titan weapons (except Mega Bolter) are blasts, so they cannot hurt fliers (yes, even Manta).
  • Warhound Scout Titan: Buy three!!! Make three!!! Can equip two arm weapons: Give it two Turbo-Laser Destructors and watch the fireworks as it kills everything else on the field.
  • Reaver Battle Titan: Buy one! Gets two warlord-class arm weapons and one warhound-class carapace weapon or giant Rocket Launcher/Vortex Missile on its back.
  • Warlord Battle Titan: MAKE ONE!!!!!11111!!!!!11!!1!!!!11!!!!!11!!!!111 One of these, will obliterate it's cost in say, Predator Annihilators or Baneblades, without a single scratch. It mounts two of the Warhound's weapons on its back and two of its own weapons on its arms, which pack more range and fire more shots each turn.
  • Imperator Battle Titan:If you play against one of these, just give up... I mean, the other Titans scale up by adding on guns, but this God-Machine carries six carapace weapons (use the Warlord's weapons for that, there's not point using the Warhound's), it has two arm weapons - and even it's weakest arm gun will at the least let out 6 strength 8 AP3 shots. There is no safe place against it, its weapon's range allows it to hit anything 36" away and beyond. Even if the enemy team fills every square inch of the board with anti-tank weapons, this thing will come out on top without taking so much as a glancing hit to it's armor, with all the void shields they need to get through first. Load up on Laser Blasters for the carapace and Vengeance Cannons for arms and this can let loose an insane TWENTY-SIX destroyer shots. You still should beware close combat monsters and meltahouses - with minimum fire range of 36" Imperator cannot shoot down any approaching TEQ's, scarab swarms, or those overpowered deepstriking corsair Fire Dragons (unless you put some good fire support units into his leg-bastions, which you really should). You will never get a model for this thing, not in a thousand years, but you can proxy one, just ask your two meter (seven foot) pal over and get him to cosplay. And remember - chicks dig giant robots You're not fooling anyone Princeps.

Note that Tau have some really nasty Apocalypse fliers which are due for an update soon and already seem designed to destroy anything you can field (which they kind of were in fluff). See [[1]] for details.

Non-Supplements based on IG

Militarum Tempestus

The first official minidex (it is not a supplement) to spring from the Astra Militarum. Like the Legion of the Damned or Inquisition "codices" it's sparsely populated, but unlike those armies does not give a secondary allied detachment so with these guys it's all or bust. 7th edition rules fix that. Loses almost everything from the main codex though but allows you to take Tempestus Scions squads as TROOPS, Commissar Lords and Tempestus Command Squads as HQ, Tauroxes and Valkyries are FAST ATTACK. Thats it, nothing else. Drops Vendettas for some reason.

• What it's really good for though is dataslate formations, since two come with the Codex, so it gives you scoring Scions units that don't take up Elite slots like they would in an Astra Militarum army.

Warlord Traits

• 1. Dauntless Commander - Fearless USR
• 2. Grenadier - Thrown grenades are twin-linked, while melee grenades get Tank Hunters
• 3. Intrepid Commander - Units within 12" are Stubborn
• 4. Grav Commando - Army may re-roll reserves for Deep striking units, also Warlord may re-roll deep strike scatter for his own unit.
• 5. Drill Chief - Hot Shot Las weapons get an additional 6 inches of range so long as they do not move.
• 6. Inspired Commander - Warlord gets +1 Leadership.

Orders

• Directed Firestorm - Ordered unit gets twin linked weapons
• Autonomous Fire - Shooting attacks get Preferred Enemy
• Close Assault - Unit gets Crusader USR
• Advance on Target - Unit gets Fleet USR
• Suppresion Doctrine - Ordered unit can only fire single shots with hot-shot lasguns, but get Sniper & Pinning.
• Elimination Protocol - When shooting at Vehicles or Monstrous Creatures, all shots are Rending.

Formations

• Airborne Assault - 1 Platoon Command Squad + Commissar + 3 Scions Squads + 4 Valkyries. Re-roll deep strike scatter from Grav Chute Insertion, also each unit that disembarks (in any fashion) gets Split Fire & Twin-Linked for the following shooting phase. 820 points minimum.
• Ground Assault - 1 Platoon Command Squad + Commissar + 3 Scions Squads + 4 Taurox Primes. The entire formation starts embarked and is rolled for as a single unit in reserves. Units get twin-linked and cause pinning on turns they disembark from the Tauroxes. 640 points minimum.

Tactics

Hey, do you like Dark Eldar? Ever wanted to go Imperium for some odd reason? Then the Militarium Tempestus is for you, son!

On paper, the Militarium Tempestus has the ability to strike hard and fast, and with AP3 shooting at BS4, anything short of Space Marine Terminators need to beware them, and their ability to Deep Strike is just icing on the cake. However, Tempestus armies depend upon having a plan and executing it successfully - and if the plan works, you'll have cut the enemy off at the head. If it fails, then a 4+ Armour save and a squishy Toughness of 3 will mean the enemy's retaliation will cripple you - and you do not have the numbers of the IG or the reliable saving throws of the Space Marines to balance this out.

Playing these guys in short is like playing as Dark Eldar - if you can strike hard and fast enough, you will cripple your opponent. However, if you screw up anywhere, it is you who will screw yourself over, so be careful.

On a side note, team up with Inquisition or Grey Knights for Inquisitorial Stormtroopers.

Allies

With 6th edition rules, any Imperium army can ally perfectly with Guard. (Except Grey Knights, which can still ally but nobody likes them. Ha. However, it's more likely that the Grey Knights hate everyone else.) Every single Space Marine (all variants) and Sisters of Battle unit is available to back up your Guard, and Grey Knights, Eldar, Tau, Orks, and Chaos (in case you're feeling heretical) can be used as well, but no one likes them. You can also ally with Necrons if you're don't care about logic and just want to make opponents cry at the amount of firepower you're going to put out every turn.

• Blood Angels - Nice because you can get death company to go rip people's head off while they're at it. Stick a chaplain in a blob and they're fearless (not cause of the chalice, but because the chaplain is fearless)Mephiston can do everything your army can't. Love it
• Dark Angels - Are really broken fun:
  • SWEET MERCIFUL EMPRAH, AZRAEL Ahem, if you're feeling particularly trolltastic, you can attach Azrael to a 50-man blob of guardsman for 50 4++ invul saves, fearless, and furious charge. Then just grab some deathwing termies (or ravenwing if you're kinky like that) and deepstrike them behind enemy lines, and watch the madness ensue. Throw in a psyker with prescience for rerolls to hit, or better yet a priest to reroll the 4++, giving you better saves than storm shields and making your opponent weep bitter tears. This cheese has officially upped Dark Angels to the number one allies for IG (in this writer's opinion at least).
  • With 6th edition, Dark Angels allies have gotten even more trolltastic through the addition of Bullgryns. Step 1: Get an expensive squadron of 3 tanks. I recommend Demolishers and maybe a punisher, as their range will no longer be a problem. Throw in a Tank Commander as well. Be sure to give them camo netting. Step 2: Acquire 6 or more Bullgryns. Have them walk in front of the tanks, two per each tank. Additional units can cover the side as well. Step 3: Commandeer a Darkshroud from the Dark Angels and stick it in the middle of your tanks. Your tanks will have cover save of 5+ from the units, +1 from the slab shields, +1 from the camo netting, and +1 from the Darkshroud. That is a mobile, 2+ cover save. Throw an techpriest in there, and the unit will gain full invincibility. Sure, it's 945 points for just the basics, (+90 for enginseer/servitors, +140 for side protection) but entirely worth it to watch your opponent's bitter tears turn to a rage rivaling even the angriest of the Angry Marines as you have 3 more or less invincible tanks firing 3 S10 AP2 large blast, with split fire. I'm willing to bet that they forgot to bring along their anti-tank weapons with ignores cover. Unless they are Tau, in which case you better take out those marker lights or suffer the consequences. 9 points of relic plating will give psykers a hard time too. Combo with aforementioned Azrael shenangians to put your foes in a coma.
    • A smart opponent lacking ignores cover options will target the bullgryns first. They've got a 3+ armour save from base contact, as well as a 6+ cover from the Darkshroud. Can be improved to 4+ with some of the expendable guardsmen that you are required to bring along as a troop choice. They're tough motherfuckers with three wounds, but at T5 they can still be instakilled by S10, so mind your scatter and be aware of the heat your opponent is packing. Some desperate fool might try to tie them up in combat, or even try assaulting the tanks. This can be further deterred by the addition of a cheap priest. Even with the bullgryns gone (after drawing enough fire and lasting long enough to make it too late for your opponent), the tanks still have a 5+ in plain sight--which smoke launchers will improve to 3+ in a pinch (strike and shroud, anyone?). Nothing to scoff at.
    • Alternate take: If you don't want to spend 600 points on tanks, the tactic works just as well on sentinels. Three plasma cannons can still fuck shit up, and you can take 12 well-equipped armoured Sentinels for the price of 3 Demolishers. Hell, you could even do it with Hellhound and variants if you want to. Or any of your transports.
  • Throw in a priest with some deathwing you don't plan to deepstrike (at least without a drop pod) for a cheap set of rerolls. A bit fragile, but they are much cheaper and provide better buffs than a chaplain.
  • Can be done with any Marine list, but I'll put this here. With 7th edition, Battle Brothers can take allied transports. You can fit 5 Ogryns/Bullgryns and one priest in a land raider crusader--with all the fun that only an assault vehicle can offer. Anyone willing to run the numbers to see how they compare to Deathwing termies/knights in such a situation?
• Spess Puppies - If you don't mind the yiffing, they've got some nice firepower to add. A possible tactic is x-hibitz's gunline--bubble wrap fo yo bubble wrap. Rune priests are, of course, the big draw here.

However, the best source now has to be new Inquisition. Why?

• You only need to take an Inquisitor minimum in the detachment, it may as well be like selecting special and generic characters from this Codex.
• Have a ton of absurdly useful goodies, including:
  • Servo Skulls that prevent the enemy from scouting or infiltrating within 12 inches, as well as reducing scatter on your pie plates by D6 when shooting at units within 12" of them. Only 3 points each.
  • The Liber Heresius, which can give your blob hilarious shit like splitfire, counterattack, hatred, fear, or scout, though only once per USR.
  • The Psyoccolum for giving an ENTIRE UNIT OF 50 GUARDSMEN BS10 when shooting at units with Psykers inside, so say fuck you to Joe Schmoe with the Daemon Prince.
  • All the Ordo Inquisitors are like combo commisar-primaris psyker combos, providing stubborn and ld10, and are more customizable. And they are cheap.
  • Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, equipped with a conversion beamer. He can benefit from the split fire orders when attached to a guardsmen squad, meaning that you are free to make full use of the S10 AP1 blast. The two best ways to use this is to give him divination and stick him in a Heavy Weapons Squad with las- or autocannons, and have a CCS give them splitfire. That is, until something is either within the proper range where split fire isn't necessary or is just important, then go for bring it down. Alternately, you can throw him in a regular squad with a chimera, letting the Inquisitor fire out the fire point while the rest of the guardsmen target something else with the arrays. If you don't like the odds of his hitting something (52% against a normal based unit, 61% against 40/60mm, and slightly more for tanks), try prescience or well-placed servo-skulls. Note that blessings cannot be cast on units inside transports or when in a transport. Overall, he can kick some serious ass.
  • The henchmen selection is mental and incredibly varied, allowing for a warband that pumps out enough firepower to drop jaws. Up to 3 Servitors with Multi Meltas, a Jokaero Weaponsmith, 3 SW Acolytes, and priests that can also take SW's.
• Spam divination inquisitors, with a full allotment of primaris psykers, and say fuck my shitty BS. Followup with 2-3 Land Raiders filled to the brim with crusaders and/or (definitely and) death cult assassins, with a priest or 2 for shits and giggles (and eviscerators) and rush them forward. Suddenly the other player has stopped focusing on that rerolling gunline full of inquisitors and psykers and is worried about getting hatefucked by a bunch of death-cultists.

People who can't give you divination but might be worth a look:

• Grey Knights: If all you want is tough marines, Deathwing Termies (from the Dark Angels) are probably better since they can reliably hit the field on turn 1 or 2, and they're more gun-tastic anyway, after CC has been nerfed so much by 6th edition.
• Spess Mahreens: The new suppliments there are alot more things you can do.
• Sisters of Battle: Cool, but tricky. Acts of faith are always fun.
• Imperial Knights: Nothing much to say except yes. You've already got the firepower to back it up, meaning you can send your knight into the center of your enemy's formation to crush things in CC. If you don't plan to use them in CC, your doing it wrong.

There is a very, very unfriendly way to do allies: from the FAQ on Forgeworld, any type of Guard can ally with each others with Battle Brother level, which means Codex Guard can now allies with Death Korps of Krieg: Siege Regiments, Death Korps of Krieg: Assault Brigade or Elysian Drop Troops and as well as... Death Korps of Krieg: Armoured Battle Group and Armoured Battle Group to get a maximum of 8 more tanks! Use this as your advantage so you can field bunch of artilleries in your Codex IG FOC while another bunch of tank in your ally ABG FOC in high point battles. Beware this may result in a loss of friends in your local community.

Tactics

Tactics for the Imperial Guard have been expanded upon through out the years resulting in a plethora of different stratagems. First to explain a few of the different rules of the IG and their different uses. As well as some army compositions and strategies.

Army variants

• Blob Guard

Blob Guard is a rather simple concept: Have more bodies than your opponent has bullets. The fact is, IG has access to grunts that can be as cheap as 3 points (Conscripts, lots of conscripts). You will overwhelm them in model count, in deaths a turn, in shots fired, you will have at least twice as many Heavy Weapons as they will. All of their Anti-Tank weaponry that was meant to take out the 150 point Leman Russ? It killed a few guardsmen with lasguns, good job. The problems that come with such an awesome army composition is the lack of speed and how effective the enemy Anti-Infantry weaponry will be against you. A decent thousand point list might consist of 2 20 man Combined Squads with a Commissar and Priest each, about 9 or so Heavy Weapon Units, and your three or so Command Squads (2 Company Command/1 Platoon Command) loaded out with Special Weapons. Works best in a Cities of Death games: All that cover, all those cover saves, your men will live a bunch longer, and confound the enemy to no end.

• Mech Guard

Mech explores the wonders of armored vehicles. The core of the army would be a Company Command Squad and 2 squads of Vets, all in Chimeras. And the rest would consist of anything from Leman Russ tanks to Vendettas, to artillery, Fast Attack choices, or more troops in Chimeras. There are few sublists:

• Tank Strong

Leman Russes. Leman Russes of all kinds, everywhere. If it exists, there is a Leman Russ created specifically to murder the ever-living shit out of it. Punishers and Exterminators reap infantry blobs. Vanquisher removes tanks from the battle. Eradicators make cover useless. Executioners melt terminators into slag. Demolishers and Battle Tanks are omnivorous in their diet of destruction. Oh, and you can mix and match tanks within their respective squadrons. Kit out each tank for their respective role. If you want to, add pask to any of the squadrons for instant HQ. Remember to point your front armor towards the opponent, do not get flanked, don't get too close to melta, and enjoy removing parts of the enemy army every turn. You can keep at least one Heavy Support slot for the sake of Hydras, or if you feeling ballsy, just rely on the Aegis Defense line.

• Flight of Vendettas

You will confuse your opponent when he realizes that on turn one, you will have little more than Company Command Squad and Veterans in Chimeras. Maybe you'll shoot an Artillery Strike during your turn. But that doesn't matter. Because, once the second turn comes in, you roll three dice, look at your opponent, smirk, and turn on the music. Enjoy the cheese of 9 flying, twin-linked LasCannons. You should be able to get 9 Vendettas in under 1500 points Not even close in the new codex. You can either place more Veteran Squads inside Vendettas or get some Artillery/Hydras in to support your airborne forces. This strategy is not highly effective against hordes, for a rather obvious reason, but in that case you can take Valkyries with Multiple Rocket Pods. Take Bolter Sponsons and watch your opponent's mouth start foaming in futile rage.

• Vets Meltaspam

Put Vets in Chimeras. Give them Meltas. Fill up Force Organization chart under Troops. Do same with Company Command Squads and Storm Troopers. Despite what you may think, you shouldn't really use Gunships for this, since you can't employ the melta drive-bys with them.

• Hammer and Anvil

This army is for those who can't choose between the two. A main force hits head on, while supported by tanks and artillery, and Vets come in from a supporting side. As they say, hit from the air, sea, and ground. A list might include, a Company Command Squad, along with a squad of Vets in a Chimera, A squad of 20-30 Guardsmen with a Commissar and Priest, a Leman Russ variant, and a Basilisk.

• Artillery Apocalypse

Take a few infantry squads with just standard guardsmen, say around 20-30 troopers, do not upgrade at all, these are meat shields. Fill up your remaining points with the Imperium's single most destructive medium, Basilisks, "But wait!!" you say "Baneblades/Titans/Shadowswords are more destructive". And yes, you'd be right, HOWEVER, when you have, say, 10 1000 10000 1,000,000 (Billion) Basilisks per Battle Titan, well - you get the picture. Whilst your enemy is dossing around trying to kill your infantry, your numerous Basilisks pound them into dust. AP3 and large blast means all standard infantry fall like chaff to these bad boys, whilst S9 means most man-sized units suffer instant death. This mind-blowingly massive amount of firepower is, however, completely useless if the crew is being hacked to pieces by deep striking terminators or some other such buttholes. So this formation is best for large, pitched, foot-slogging battles, where your foes will be lucky to even reach your infantry lines if you've spent half your points on Basilisks. So, enjoy crumpling Space Wolves.

• "Time to introduce them to little Hansel"

Take Whatever You Want, but when it comes to the heavy support slot take the following. Ordnance Battery(ies) One Griffon Heavy Mortar and two Colosus Siege Mortars. The Griffon is to fire First. Don't like the scatter roll? ReRoll it. Follow up with the Colosus shells. Str 6 Ap 3/4. Aegis Defense Line? Bitch please. Power Armour? I think I came. Asuryan? Yo' face is stupid, allow me to show you why the galaxy belongs to man. Only available to Forge World Black Market Dealers, nowdays.

What to buy

The battle force Defence Force. This gives you two squads of 10 and a leader pack, as well as heavy weapons and a Leman Russ which can be customized into any of its variations and a Chimera. This will be helpful if you are going blob or mech. You can make them vets for a quick 500pt army. You can even save the heavy weapons for vehicle modifications later when you buy tanks if you go for mech. Next thing would most likely be another Leman Russ and another chimeras if going mech,and another defence force if you are going blob.

Also if you dip, or one of your friends dip, ask them for the metal lids to the tobacco containers. These are the exact size of the heavy weapons base. Making it extremely easy to take advantage of all the heavy weapons in the pack. Just use the bending knee for the dude shooting, and put the other dude as a standing man. Green stuff some sandbags or a wall to take place of the tripod stand.

As far as organizing your army, you ought to know better that you don't have to pimp out every platoon FULL of men. Usually, two large Platoons decked out will do the job, BUT you can take smaller platoons in order to get more Junior officers on to the table for more orders. That all said, let's calculate the body count if you spammed every slot.

HQ: CCSx2 (18 models; Commissar, Chimera, and all Advisors, including Officer of the Fleet and Astropath, which are MANDATORY)
Priest x3
Enginseer x3 (With 15 servitors. Give 'em ALL plasma cannons. Because you can.) Primaris Psyker x3

Elites: 3x FULL Militarum Tempestus platoons, bitches (117 models)

Troops: 6x FULL Infantry platoons (6x5-man PCS + Chimeras, 30x10-man Infantry squads + Chimeras, 30x6-man Heavy squads (it's two guys on one base, be glad I'm not counting the gun model), 18x6-man Special squads, 6x50-man Conscript squads, and 6x Commissars. 834 models, bitch)

Fast: 3x Rough Rider squads (30 models)

Heavy Support: 9x Leman Russ EXECUTIONERS WITH FULL PLASMA-SPONSONS (STFU. You want them)

Grand total: 1087 models, INCLUDING Chimeras. Yes. You can have one-thousand models on the table. THIS IS THE GUARD. OUR INFANTRY ARE BLOBS.
Want MORE INSANITY? For an extra 500 points you can make those 300 Conscripts UNDYING MONSTROSITIES! This is also mandatory, no exceptions. Chenkov was removed in the newest codex.

But unless you're a millionaire or you've been in the Guard since 2nd edition, you aren't pulling this off. ALSO IT COSTS 11630 POINTS TO FIELD ALL THIS SHIT JESUS

Things get even more ridiculous with the new 2000+ double FOC change in 6th edition!

HQ: 4x CCS + advisors + chimeras, 6x Priest, 6x techpriest + servitors, 6x Primaris Psykers

Elite: 6x Stormtrooper Platoons

Troops: 12x Infantry Platoons

Fast Attack: 6x 10-man Rough Riders

Heavy Support: 18x Leman Russes

Total: 1948 troops, 118 tanks (100 Chimeras, 18 Leman Russes) That's right, a non-apoc IG can and WILL run your ass over with a megaton of tanks and bodies!!! That's a true fucking RAPETRAIN! (If you have 23,200+ point games that is)

Ideal generalized army list that you should start with:

HQ: 1x CCS

TROOPS: 2 Infantry platoons of two Infantry squads each

FAST ATTACK: Scout Sentinel x2, Valkyrie and Hellhounds if you wish.

Once your army has reached this point, start looking at where you want to go with it. You'll have a decent base for starting the typical MechVet army that is shining right now. If you want to get Leman Russes, get three, split between two Battlecannons and a Demolisher. Max out melta. It's the best thing in the game currently. Just do it.

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (10th Edition)

General Tactics	General Weapons Terrain
Imperium	Space Marines (Black Templars, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Deathwatch, Space Wolves) Grey Knights
	Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Titanicus Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Sisters of Battle
	Adeptus Custodes & Sisters of Silence Imperial Agents (Inquisition, Rogue Traders, etc.)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons World Eaters)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Chaos Titans
Eldar	Eldar (Craftworlds, Corsairs, Harlequins, Ynnari) Dark Eldar
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults
Votann	Leagues of Votann

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (9th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications Tactical Terrain Weapons Apocalypse
Imperium	Space Marines (Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Space Wolves) Grey Knights
	Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Titanicus Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Sisters of Battle
	Adeptus Custodes & Sisters of Silence Inquisition Officio Assassinorum Rogue Traders
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons World Eaters)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Craftworld Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins Ynnari
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults
Votann	Leagues of Votann

</tab>

<tab name="8th">

Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (8th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications Apocalypse
Imperium	Space Marines Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Talons of the Emperor (Custodes and Sisters of Silence) Adeptus Mechanicus
	Adeptus Ministorum (Sisters of Battle and minor factions) Adeptus Titanicus
	Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Inquisition Officio Assassinorum
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (7th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications
Imperium	Space Marines (Siege Assault Vanguard) Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Adeptus Custodes Cult Mechanicus Skitarii Adeptus Sororitas
	Imperial Knights Inquisition Officio Assassinorum
	Imperial Guard (Armoured Battlegroup Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment Elysian Drop Troops D-99)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines Khorne Daemonkin Chaos Daemons Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins Corsairs
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks Ork Dred Mob
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (6th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications
Imperium	Space Marines Blood Angels Dark Angels Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Adeptus Sororitas Inquisition
	Imperial Guard (Armoured Battlegroup Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment Elysian Drop Troops) Militarum Tempestus
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines Chaos Daemons Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Corsairs
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks Ork Dred Mob
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (All)

General Tactics	General (8th) Movement (8th 7th) Psychic (8th 7th 2nd) Fortifications (8th 7th) Tactical Terrain Apocalypse (8th)
Imperium (8th)	Space Marines (8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd) Blood Angels (8th 7th) Dark Angels (8th 7th) Deathwatch (8th 7th) Grey Knights (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd, AKA Daemonhunters) Space Wolves (8th 7th 6th 5th)
	Talons of the Emperor (Custodes and Sisters of Silence) (8th 7th) Adeptus Mechanicus (8th 7th) Adeptus Ministorum (Sisters of Battle and minor factions) (8th 7th 6th 3rd, AKA Witch Hunters) Adeptus Titanicus (8th)
	Imperial Knights (8th 7th) Imperial Guard (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd) Inquisition (8th 7th 6th) Officio Assassinorum (8th 7th)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (8th 7th 6th 5th) Death Guard (8th) Khorne Daemonkin - 7th Edition Thousand Sons (8th) Chaos Daemons (8th 7th) Chaos Knights (8th) Renegades and Heretics (8th 7th 6th)
Eldar	Eldar (8th 7th 6th 5th) Dark Eldar (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd Revised) Harlequins (8th 7th)
Necrons	Necrons (8th 7th 6th 5th 4th)
Orks	Orks (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd) Ork Dred Mob - 7th edition (6th 5th) Ork Kult of Speed - 3rd edition Feral Orks - 3rd edition
Tau	Tau (8th 7th 6th 5th)
Tyranids	Tyranids (8th 7th 6th 5th) Genestealer Cults (8th 7th)

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