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

For the Emprah

Why Play Imperial Guard

When recruits are inducted into the Imperial Guard, they are given three 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"), 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 (meltaveterans in Chimeras are not the sole option in the Guard army after all).

That's why you play the Imperial Guard.

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 30pt template weapon, 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. This should be your HQ of choice. The only sad part is that you can only take two of them.
  • Ursarkar E. Creed: For a decent point cost, one Company Commander may be upgraded to Creed. Creed is pretty nifty for being able to use a lot of douchebaggery with his Tactical Genius special rule. But he should be known for his massive 24" command bubble and his 4 orders per turn. Seriously. You don't have to use his ability to run a Leman Russ into their flank, you can also send your tanks in with a Scouts rule BEFORE MOVEMENT. No one expects it, and it can help you get the drop on enemies or even force someone's hand. If you have the first turn, you can position your Leman Russ tanks to do some serious damage to the enemy line, or even move your Heavy Weapons squads into a position. Technically, after they get their scouts moves, they can fire. Creed might be fun for being a dick, but when you're running a solid force, he is an excellent asset for any force that might need a bit more mobility in their army list.
  • Sergeant Kell: With him at Creeds side, all squads can use Creeds leadership. He himself is kinda tough too. You shouldn't take Creed without Kell.
  • Iron Hand Straken: is good at close combat, or as good as a guardsman could.
  • Nork Deddog: Nork is one a' da smartest orgens. He and da comanda 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.
• Lord Commissar: Lord commissar is a independent buffed out commissar, the key ability of him makes everyone around him ld10. 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 commanders.
• Commissar Yarrick: Awesome fulffy man. Costs quite a bit. Very close combat oriented. He can come back from the dead... a lot. He has some nifty gadgets. So if you like his back story and are making a close combat guard, this is the man for you.
• Primaris Psyker: Force lighting in a small package. Fun at small point game (500 or less) take two and have them run around for 4d6 attacks at str 6. At larger point games, he takes away from the very important order system. A unit for fun games.
• Ministorum Priest: This guy is somewhat iffy. His abilities are mostly all effective, but he costs 60 when he is at his peak. Put this guy in a huge squad of guardsmen. Make them stubborn as shit, and for the low cost of 15 points, you can be the new owner of a two handed giant chain-sword counted as a powerfist, very useful for a blob squad that can only have power weapons.
• Techpriest Enginseer: Sadly, not that many people use it. There can be a point to bring a techpriest and some servitors if you have a mech heavy list, but most cases than not, he won't see any action, as he can't really keep up with vehicles, is pretty vulnerable to incoming fire, and more expensive than he's really worth.

Elites

Just to let you know, the IG Elite choices are the worst section of units in the codex. They cost a lot point wise, and model wise. If you like fluff, you might enjoy a few of these. If you like to fuck with your opponent and laugh your ass off, these may be for you.

• Ogryn Squad: Big meaty men things with pretty awesome assaulting guns, terminator equivalents to an extent. Assulty wall of meat. Lovable to the end, witch will be soon, seeing as these guys are a firring magnet. In short, why they suck:
  • No power weapons. S5 (6 on the charge) is nice, but anything with good armor will laugh it off.
  • Shit armor. 5+ saves means they take a LOT of wounds, which can cause your big retarded line-backers to actually lose combat.
  • Shit Leadership. Stubborn is nice, but LD 7 is still LD 7.
• Ratling Squad: - Snipers, cool in theory, but everything wounds on a 4+, even against gaunts. You should have meltas or lascannons to take out big things, not a paper thin squad of midgets. Also most competitive armies have fearless, so say goodbye to your beloved penning. Ratlings are just too soft (T 2) and too cowardly (LD 6) to really have a place in the guard. If you want snipers, you're better off using Vets, Command squads, or special weapon teams. Just Say NO to space hobbits.
• Psyker Battle Squad: A full Psyker Battle Psyker Squad in Chimera costs like a Leman Russ, while not having the same degree of survivability. Psychic Defenses can give them trouble, as do many other issues. So why bother taking these poor saps?
  • The first reason would be if you wish to take a Large Blast, but don't have left-over Force Organization slots in your Heavy Support Section. A reason for this would be should your army choose to take Manticores or Hydras. Depending on the foe at hand, and your ability to throw other high-priority threats (including Veteran Squadrons or Vendettas), you *should* be able to afford keeping them disembarked in cover, where they now have the option to benefit from Orders, "Fire on My Target" turning them into a wannabe Eradicator...
  • However, the most popular reason these Psykers get taken is because of Weaken Resolve. The ability to lower enemy Leadership for the remainder of the game turn has a lot of utility, both offensively and defensively. The most common use of it is to set a unit up for being Pinned/Routed by Manticores. This doesn't work against Stubborn or Fearless opponents of course, yet even against these foes, Weaken Resolve can reduce the success rate of enemy Psykers dramatically. This is your Psychic Hood-equivalent.
• Storm Trooper Squad: In general, they are inefficient at general-purpose duty and are best-used at higher points-levels. Their main selling point, that they have AP 3 weapons by default, is negated by their low Strength, proliferation of cover, and the fact many Marine armies rely on dirt-cheap transports. Combine with having less Special Weapons than a normal Veteran Squad and things look grim. That said, they do have their role depending on the build you want to go for. They can choose to Deep Strike (and reroll Scatter) or Scout. For lower point levels, this doesn't matter as much, as one can use Veterans and Valkyries/Vendettas as part of the "Scout Rush", but one only gets 6 Veteran squads max. Storm Troopers can provide a Scouting/Outflanking Chimera if need be (which can be useful if you intend to outflank Vendettas, for they can be used in tank-shocking anti-outflank screens out of the way), additional Deepstrikers that aren't dependent on Grav-Chute Insertion and additional Melta support, or as Infiltrators to negate anti-Scoutrush tactics (the Krootscreen being the premier example). So they *can* have a role depending on the armybuild you go for, but not as mainstay units.
• GUARDSMAN MARBO FUCK YEAR: Rambo is a strange unit in and of himself. There can only be one. He is 65 points, the same cost of a bitchn' 10 man squad with a grenade launcher and a power weapon. And rambo is a kill point that you practically give your opponent. On the other hand, he is the shit. He swoops in and drops a pie plate of death anywhere on the board (str8 ap2). If he can last the next turn, he can fuck some units up in close combat until he dies a fucking glorious death. If Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome are on your side you should take him. If you don't, you can go join the unmanly players at the not imperial guard table. Its up to you.

Troops

• Infantry Platoon:

Cheap core of 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 weapons. Though those count as kill points so its risky to take the special weapon squads when you could use your Platoon command squads to do the same work for you. You could also put your heavy weapons in Infantry squads.

• • Platoon Command Squad: This unit can be tricked out much like the CCS, but they wont be vets and can only give one command.
  • Infantry Squad: 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. They are paper thin, only hit half the time, and they run away if it cant 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 90 shots. It ramps up. 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, to be able to move and shoot a very versatile weapon. On top of that, If the squad is going to be a gun line, add in a heavy bolter. You could also take a priest with an evisorator to give the squad a powerfist, and rerolls on the charge, because a squad that big is going to be charged eventually. You can get plenty of power weapons in there as well. But there is a common misconception that you can have powerfists in the squad, the only one you could is an evesorator.
  • Conscripts: A platoon make 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 is a lot of them... They are one point cheaper than a regular guardsman, so only take them if you are full of the others ( how did you do that) or if you are using the russian guys bring in the next wave.
  • Heavy Weapon Squad: This is where the awesome fire power comes from. Some dont like them because they die rather quickly if the can be seen. But if you buy HWS instead of putting HW in your IS they can target big things and not waste the lasgun fire. lascannons are nice here. infact the only one that isnt that good to take here is the heavy bolter.
  • Special Weapon Squads The only use of these I see are units that stop back the wave of Close combat, and demo charges. But marbo does that so much better...
• Veteran Squad: Key to most mech lists. Slightly superior to regular guard and have an even better selection of gear. Stick in chimeras and try to see lady luck take them from you. Only downside to this squad is that you only have six troop choices. At that point you have to start using your elites to make a weaker and more costly version with storm troopers.
• Penal Legion Squad: You have to roll a dice to see what these prisoners are good at. You don't have that kind of extra change to throw at lady luck during a game. This squad of cons can go fuck themselves. And even if you roll what you want it's still shit. Shooting a bit more as normal guardsmen isn't worth double the pts. and melee with a1, s3, i3 and ws3 still sucks even with rending. compare to a orkboy and burst in tears.

Dedicated transports

• Chimera: This is the gem of the METAL BOX world. It makes the guard competitive at high end play. It is common practice to replace the hull mounted heavy bolter with a heavy flamer to discourage people from charging you.
  • Cheap. (point-wise) You can spam them, Get lots and lots of multi-lasers, and a solid wall of AV12 metal.
  • Makes slow guardsmen mobile.
  • You can fire all your important shit (special weapons) out the top hatch. Letting you fry while staying safe from retaliation. Heck, commanders can even give orders out the top hatch.

Fast Attack

• Scout Sentinel Squadron:

Weak armor, going to die second turn most probably. Fun choice of weapons. Key part here is they have scout. So three sentinels coming from the side or scout into cover blasting away causing havoc in the enemy ranks. But still. They are going to die. They are open toped. They are going to die. They have 10 armor. They are going to die.

• Armoured Sentinel Squadron:

Armored heavy weapon squad pretty much. Can move around unlike heavy weapons. Can do decent in close combat unlike heavy weapons. Even better choice of awesome weapons compared to scout sentinels.

• Rough Rider Squad: Poor misbegotten Rough Riders. Yes they're cavalry, yes they're dirt-cheap, yes they can be virtually guaranteed a 24" charge range if you use Move! Move! Move! on them...and they are ultimately a one-trick pony that is difficult to hide in cover, is fragile in close combat, near-useless against actual dedicated assault troops (go ahead and charge Genestealers with them...), and should they be tarpitted, die. Perhaps the only way to reliably use them is with Creed, Glory for Cadia and all. And for that investment, couldn't one buy another Hellhound?
• Hellhound Squadron: The Hellhound tank variants give you access to Fast Tanks. This can have its advantages, as you use them for movement-blocking, tank-shocking, or 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. The range of the Inferno Cannon means that you can expect them to hit enemy infantry starting on turn 1 (move 12", fire 12", cover another 8" with flame template). Ran in support of longer-ranged anti-tank weapons for popping enemy transports, Hellhounds can also serve to finish off units from disembarked vehicles. As a general rule however, the Hellhound does best with a Multi-melta, for it can only fire one weapon at Cruising speed anyway.
  • The Banewolf sacrifices the range of the Hellhound for a poisoned AP 3 flamer template. Banewolves will kill any infantry short of Terminators or similarly tough 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; because the Chemical Cannon is a Defensive Weapon, adding a Hull-mounted Heavy Flamer means you're moving 12" and throwing out two really mean flame-templates.
  • The Devil Dog is the last one out, eschewing a short-range flamer, for a Melta Cannon. This weapon is unique in 40k, for being a blast weapon with the Melta rule. Partials do benefit from the melta die of course, meaning that 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.
• Valkyrie Assault Carrier Squadron:

• Vendetta Gunship Squadron:

Heavy Support

• 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 superlarge blast (to put this in context, while a normal Ordnance Blast has a 2.5" radius, a Deathstrike Missile has a radius of 4-6" depending on the luck of the die), 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 devestating the opponent. On the other hand, it's chances of properly firing are random at best, and 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.
• Hydra Flak-Tank: A relatively popular vehicle for a key reason. Providing dual twin-linked Autocannons and a Heavy Bolter at an extremely efficient price, even before you take it's ability to ignore cover generated by Turbo-boosting or moving Flat-out, the Hydra is great for reliably dealing with enemy light vehicles at range, or disabling/stunlocking medium armor until Meltagun infantry can get close to finish the job. Unlike with many other vehicles, squadding the Hydra won't be excessively expensive. On the other hand, it competes with other popular Heavy Support options, and is inefficient with dealing with many infantry units relative to the other options Guard get, must remain static to be used to full effect, and like all Autocannon units is useless against AV 14. If Hydras are taken, make sure that your list has the means to deal with these other threats.
• Leman Russ Squadron: Leman. Fucking. Russ. It's a big tank. Side effects include: templates, lots of dice, lots of AV, lots of choices.
  • Leman Russ Battle Tank: Thus he comes in many flavors the basic tank is the most usefull. With his 8 3 72" Gun and thick armour he is good against anything for decent points.
  • Leman Russ Exterminator: Better at riping METAL BOXES appart then the Battle Tank. However, against infantry I would prefer the BT. Should shredd anything with 4+ or worse the same and anything with 3+ way better.
  • Leman Russ Vanquisher: A Melter with a devastating range. Thus a bit costy for 1 shot at BF3.
  • Leman Russ Eradicator: Kind of a Hellhound that hits worse, is slower but better armoured. And you can add a Lascannon for versatility. Strange tank.
  • Leman Russ Demolisher: For +15 pt to the basic Russ you get a cannon that lays waste of everything on the battlefield and immunity vs s4 melee units. Thus sometimes 24" is too close at the enemy.
  • Leman Russ Punisher: Shares the cons but not the pros with the Demolisher. Heavy 20 may sound cool, but after all these are only 10 S5 hits with no AP. Everything except gretchin is butchered better with the cheaper and better ranged BT. However, unlike most Russes it gets better if you sink the points in; kit one out with Pask and the full triple H.Bolter set, at which point the machine will 1-shot anything from terminator squads to full-up mobs every turn, and will stop 'nidzilla in it's tracks through sheer dice output.
  • Leman Russ Executioner Oh hell... what a devastation. This thing lays waste to whole terminator squads and no matter what the enemy has - this one will hurt badly. The only problem might be that he is a bit costly and if the enemy has nothing with 2+ the battletank is the better choice per pts. Same might be true if the enemy has 2+ - the demolisher (who can also, you know, demolish tanks) might be a more priceworthy alternative. However, if you have spare points - take one.
• Manticore Missile:
• 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 to being 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.
  • Colossus: 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 devestate 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: 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 the 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: 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, even partials have the potential to kill enemy vehicles, and the threat of losing multiple vehicles to a well-placed shot does a lot to intimidating opponents to spread 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.

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 there different uses. As well as some army compositions and strategies.

Orders

The order system, though new to guard, has become one of the most important and most raged about addition to the IG 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 the same will be said about guard and the orders system. With orders your lasguns become 30-50% more effective. You get rerolls for cover and armored/monstrous enemies. When you go to ground with an order, you go to ground like no other son of a bitch. Your run move is guarantied to be decent. Some call it broken, but you can not give orders to those in side 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 and use of other leaders Ld COUGH commissar COUGH, you should be able to roll a savings grace.

Army variants

• Blob guard

Blob guard is a rather simple concept. Have more bodies than your opponent has bullets. The fact is, is that IG has access to guardsmen that can be as cheap as 5 points. 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 there anti tank weaponry that was meant to take out the 150 point leman russ? It killed a guardsman with a las gun, good job. The problems that come with such an awesome army composition is the lack of speed and how effective the enemies anti-infantry 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 weapons, and your three or so command squads loaded out with special weapons.

• Mech guard

Mech explores the wonder of armored vehicles. The core of the army would be a 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 chimeras.

• Melta vet spam guard

Put vets in chimeras. Give them meltas. Fill up Force organization troop chart. Do same with Company Command Squads and Storm Troopers.

• Hammer and Anvil Guard

This army is for those who cant 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 command squad, along with a squad of vets in a Chimera, A squad of 20-30 men with a commissar and priest, a leman russ variant, and a basilisk variant.

What to buy

The battle force. This gives you two squads of 10 and a leader pack, as well as heavy weapons and a sent. 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 of you go for mech. Next thing would most likely be a leman russ and two chimeras if going mech,and another battle force if you are going blob.

Also if you dip, or one of your friends dip, ask them for the metal lids to the tobbaco 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.