Warhammer 40,000/10th Edition Tactics/Imperial Guard
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This is the current 10th Edition's Imperial Guard tactics. 9th Edition Tactics are here.
Why Play Imperial Guard
Unlike the Mary Sues, Guardsmen go to war wielding nothing more than the standard-issue T-shirts, Flashlights, and Adamantine Balls.
Pros
Cons
Faction Rules
- Voice of Command: Every Command phase, your Officer units can issue out a number of orders as noted on their datacards to units within 6" of them. Each unit can only be affected by one order every turn and the orders wear off if the unit is battle-shocked.
- Move! Move! Move!: The ordered unit adds +3M.
- Fix Bayonets!: The ordered unit improves the WS of its melee weapons by +1.
- Take Aim!: The ordered unit improves the BS of its guns by +1.
- First Rank Fire! Second Rank Fire!: The ordered unit adds +1 additional attack to any Rapid Fire attacks it has.
- Because Rapid Fire now adds attacks instead of multiplying, order doesn't matter: an A1 RF 1 weapon goes from 2/1 shots to 3/2, depending on range, while an A2 RF 2 weapon goes from 4/2 to 5/3. Note that going from 4 shots to 5 shots is usually worse than +1 to hit because most of your army is BS4+, but if you're BS3+ they break even and BS2+ or better going to 5 shots is better, and that's after special rules like Sustained Hits, which work like additive improvements to BS/WS for interactions like these.
- More importantly, it's now ANY Rapid Fire weapon, not just Lasguns. This means it's almost always going to be better than Take Aim if the ordered squad has one or more Plasma Guns and is shooting MEQs, as they tend to be the majority of the squad's damage output in this instance.
- Take Cover!: The ordered unit improves its armor save by +1 to a maximum of a 3+ save.
- Duty and Honour!: The ordered unit improves its Leadership and OC by +1.
Detachments
Combined Regiment
Special Rules
- Born Soldiers: Back from last editions, the unit's guns gain [Lethal Hits] on any turn where they stand still.
Stratagems
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- Fields of Fire (2 CP): Pick one Platoon or Squadron unit during the shooting phase. After they fire, mark one enemy they shoot. The rest of your units that fire on this enemy improve their AP by 1 unless they're battle-shocked.
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- Inspired Command (1 CP): One Officer unit that isn't battle-shocked can immediately issue an order during the enemy's Command phase. Great for throwing Take Cover right before someone can blow your units out of their hiding spot or Fix Bayonets for a round of fighting.
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- Expert Bombardiers (1 CP): Pick one enemy unit visible to someone with a Vox-Caster. Any units that aren't battle-shocked gain +1 to hit the marked unit with any [Indirect Fire] guns for the phase.
- Reinforcements! (2 CP): Whenever a unit dies, you can immediately throw an identical unit back into reserves so you can throw them on the next turn (attached characters not included). Chenkov's wisdom has managed to reach every commander's handbook.
- Suppression Fire (1 CP): When an Infantry unit fires on an enemy unit that isn't a Vehicle or Monster, that enemy takes a -1 to hit rolls until the end of their next turn.
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- Armoured Might (2 CP): One Vehicle reduces the damage they take from any guns by 1.
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Enhancemnents
All enhancements are exclusive to Officer units.
- Death Mask of Ollanius:' When the bearer's unit is battle-shocked, their Objective Control is reduced by 1 rather than set to 0. Won't mean much to many troops, but it lets your Battleline troops and tanks still get to score objectives.
- Drill Officer: When the bearer's unit sits still, they score critical hits on a 5+.
- Grand Strategist: Bearer can issue an additional order.
- Kurov's Aquila: Once per game whenever the enemy uses a stratagem, you can force them to make any further uses of that strat costs an additional CP.
Equipment
- Vox-Caster: Lets a squad roll 1d6 whenever you use a stratagem on them, with any Officer units within 6" of them adding +1 to the roll. On a 6+, 1 CP is refunded.
Unit Analysis
Characters
- Platoon Command Squad: Shockingly able to attach to regular platoons (though Cadians seem too stubborn to let non-Cadian command squads join) so you can make a giant bubblewrap of warm bodies, especially when joined by another character. As expected, this squad can carry an alarming variety of guns, so many that you need a separate armoury card just to see all the stats - this is a necessity if you're planning on taking a heavy weapons team. They also have a 6" bubble that lets them issue orders to battle-shocked units so they can still be of use in sacrificing themselves to the enemy.
- Master Vox lets the squad double the range of their orders, which is very handy if you're keeping them away from the front lines. The medi-pack gives a basic 6+ FNP and the Regimental Standard allows for the squad to improve their OC by 1. RAW this boost is shared by attached units, so have fun with your 25 guardsmen with a total OC of 90 (2 for the Command squad, 4 for the Infantry Squad) and FnP 6+.
- Primaris Psyker: While the shared 4+ FNP against psychic weapons is constant, the shared 4++ against shooting is something that can backfire if you roll a 1 on a d6, somewhat emulating the old psychic tests down to that 1 dealing d3 MWs, which is kind of a slap in the face since non-Hazardous Psychic Tests were supposed to have been removed. The only other power they pack is Psychic Maelstrom, a pretty potent bombardment weapon with Blast and Devastating Wounds, though using the Focused profile adds Hazardous for a few extra attacks.
- As a reminder, the invuln only triggers during the shooting phase. As such, do NOT let them stand near the front where they can get run through like the mere men they are.
Epic Heroes
- Lord Solar Leontus: As expected of the Lord Solar, this guy has plenty of tricks as your mandatory warlord. On top of being able to issue three orders, he can throw three units into reserves after everyone deploys (having learned some tricks of Tactical genius from an old legend) and gives an extra CP every turn where he's alive. While he join the Rough Riders as you'd expect, he can surprisingly join any squad of infantry despite going much faster than them.
Battleline
Note that all these units can take 2 attached units, provided that one and only one of them is a Command Squad unit.
- Cadian Shock Troops: Cadia's finest remain a mobile variant to the basic guardsmen, unable to carry heavy weapons but capable of carrying two special weapons (plus the drum-fed autogun you'll always put on the sergeant), but you can't pick the same one twice without doubling up on the unit's size.
- Shock Troops make the Cadians valuable, as they can cap any objective they touch and keep it capped until an enemy threatens it. With how much more emphasis there is on claiming objectives, you'll be needing that bit of security as you press on the offense.
- Catachan Jungle Fighters: Sadly still absolute shit, they gain +1 S and +1 AP on the charge but are still S3 base and don't get anything other than a Laspistol on the Sergeant, not even a chainsword! Would it have killed GW to let them take a Power Fist or Power Sword? They're even in the fucking kit.
- Death Korps of Krieg: Troopers that lack heavy weapons aside from the Sniper Rifle, but can triple-up on special weapons by replacing their Vox dude with a plasma gun dude (and their Sergeants can carry bolters, if you want to count those as special weapons). Uniquely, these guys are a bit masochistic, getting +1 to hit if they lose any models and +1 to wound if they're below half-strength.
- Sadly, while they have a rule for a medi-pack so they can resurrect d3 trooper models (the sergeants can't be brought back, nor can anything attached) each turn, they can't use it, because it's a Wargear rule and none of them carry the item or can purchase it.
- Infantry Squad:
Infantry
- Heavy Weapons Squad: Don't seem to have improved any durability-wise compared to 9th and their Lasguns got nerfed to Las Small Arms, being nothing more than 18" Pistols. While their BS remains questionable for the guns they have, that 5+ BS is the same they'll be firing for overwatch (4+ if they're on an objective) and the Heavy keyword lets them fire on the move while sitting still lets them hit on a 4+.
- They can take the following heavy weapons
- Autocannon, now a 2A S9 AP-1 D3 weapon, finally differentiating itself from the HB with the additional point of damage and S thats on par with a Krak Missile, but only time will tell how useful it'll be.
- Heavy Bolter - 3A S5 AP-1 D2
- Lascannon - 1A S12 AP-3 Dd6+1
- Missile Launcher (Krak) S9 AP-2 Dd6 or (Frag) at S4 APO D1, Blast
- They can take the following heavy weapons
- Ratling Snipers: Nimble little pests with S4 AP-2 D2 Precision sniper rifles. Thanks to Infiltrators, they can set up wherever you need them to shoot and Stealth offers a bit of protection wherever they go. While Heavy only gives benefit if they don't move, they do have a special ability that lets them move after shooting, letting them scurry away from any potential retribution after popping the heads of any attached heroes.
Vehicles
- Wyvern:
- Basilisk:
- Leman Russ: Good ol' reliable. While not the jack of all trades in terms of damage dealer it once was in previous editions, lacking the strength and AP to go after the tanks you really want to hit it against, it's mediocre BS gets a bit a help with reroll 1's which spikes to full rerolls if what you're attacking is on an objective you're not controlling.
- Baneblade: The big boss clearly benefited from the edition change, as it's now at a monstrous T13 W24. Hell, now it's big enough that it can count as cover for any models hiding behind it.
Walker
- Scout Sentinels:
Dedicated Transports
- Chimera: Any Officer units inside this unit are still able to issue orders. Useful if you're running an infantry-heavy force since you'll be able to keep them at their best.
- Taurox: Upgraded, it can now carry 12 Infantry models with heavy weapons teams taking 2 models and Ogryns counting as 3. Lets its passengers disembark after having advanced, giving the squad an extra bit of mobility - while this makes the unit count as if they moved and unable to charge, this won't matter much since Guardsmen aren't usually keen on actually fighting up close.
- Has only two weapons to consider: The Storm Bolter if you want more shots with Rapid Fire 2 or the high-powered Twin Autocannons with Twin-Linked.
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