Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Imperial Guard (section)

==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 some nice buff bodies. 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. 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! You can attach the following to your Command Squad:
**'''Officer of the Fleet:''' An Officer of the Fleet lets you manipulate Reserves, provided you pass a Leadership check (on a measly Leadership 7); should you pass, you can either add +1 to your Reserve rolls or subtract one from your opponent's rolls. Generally considered inefficient, since Guard armies tend towards jamming the board instead of starting off it.
**'''Astropath:''' 25 points for a one-wound ML 1 Psyker, that only has access to Telepathy (and incidentally is the only Guard Psyker with it). The Astropath's main draw is that he lets your Command Squad throw out an extra Psychic Shriek.
****'''Errata Update:''' With the new FAQ, Psychic Shriek now autohits (it lacks a profile, so isn't actually an ''attack''; simply channel the power and the target is affected, no to-hit roll necessary), even against flyers, making this guy an incredibly cost-effective little beast if you want to REALLY ruin some MC's day. He can scream flyrants off the board (though you'll need to toss some SERIOUS dice at them to beat that 4+ DtW), and even do some damage to Wraithknights.
**'''Master of Ordnance:''' 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 unless you want to have a Primaris Psyker them with prescience - which is a viable option, but you are bound to resent the inflated point cost and hassle of it all <s>(Prescience does not work on weapons which do not roll to hit, as it is not worded as granting Twin-Linked)</s> This is incorrect per page 33 of the BRB, which states that if a model has the ability to re-roll its rolls To Hit and chooses to do so after firing a Blast weapon, the player re-rolls both the scatter dice and the 2d6, so it not being granted Twin-Linked doesn't matter. However, since the bombardment has an unlimited range, if you place Master of Ordnance 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. If the Master of Ordinance wants to put the big guns on something else, the Order "Smite At Will!" provides split fire to allow him to do so. 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. Something worth considering is dropping an Inquisitor with a Psyoccolum into the squad. Use the Master of Ordinance to snipe Psykers, reducing the scatter by 10 when having LoS will help make up for the poor accuracy.
***'''Alternate Take:''' Without Ballistic Skill manipulation or twin-linking, even with LoS you've got about a 5.5% chance to score a direct hit on what you were aiming at, with around a 13% of just hitting your target at all with LoS. Feeling lucky? No, you're not, so if you're going to take this guy make sure you have a way of making him pay off. 

*'''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 Precision shots. Also, Independent Character grants 2+ LoS! just in case...), 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 due to lack of distraction sergeants and poor Ld. Just be aware that he can't be Warlord if you've taken any Company Command Squads. If you consider taking him - Priest buffs better and you can buy two instead of one LC. So, yeah, just take the Priest.
**'''Tactical Note:''' He's the only Independent Character you have, aside from an Enginseer, that can take Meltabombs. With his WS5, he's probably the man to use them with, since per the new FAQ you get the one grenade per phase. Give him a power fist and stick him in a squad of Ogryns/Bullgryns to give them some sorely-needed Anti-Tank and AP2; he can generally be relied upon to hit, and at S6 he'll reliably wound anything short of the tougher Monstrous Creatures...which is what the Meltabomb is for. In addition, being an Independent Character, he's harder to snipe out of his blob, and is the cheapest option for an HQ if you want to build an army on a budget.
**<b>Important notes regarding Summary Execution! -</b> Firstly, Summary Execution allows you to automatically count as passing your leadership test, *after* you have used up any re-rolls you maybe entitled to when you fail a moral/pinning/fear check. So a Regimental Standard works wonders by staving this ability off a little longer. However, 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. 

*'''Tank Commander:''' The Tank Commander is a whole bucket of fun for mechanized armies. You buy a normal Leman Russ squad (detailed in the Heavy Support Section) save for buying a minimum of two tanks in the squadron (because the commander needs an underling), and for the cost of a Platoon Command Squad, the whole squad counts as an HQ slot and one of the tanks now has a Commander, thus becoming BS 4 and a Character (note that this does NOT confer Look Out, Sir!).
**'''Tank Orders:''' Note that RAW, Tank Orders are not actually Orders. At the start of the Shooting phase, the Tank Commander may issue a Tank Order his own unit. This is similar to a Leadership Check (Roll 2d6 and get equal or less than 9), but RAW is not actually a Leadership Check. This notably means that you do not benefit from any Warlord Traits that boost Leadership, nor the Cadian Battlegroup's ability to roll 3d6-drop highest when taking Orders. The Tank Orders in question are:
***'''Full Throttle!''' - Tank commander's unit moves Flat Out, moving 6+d6 (ignoring the limitation from being Heavy vehicles). Nice if some unit ended up catching your tanks by surprise and you need to get out of there fast.
***'''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. Pretty much Split-Fire, but for tanks. Has potential. Useful for Punisher Pask with Vanquisher wingmen so you don't waste its lascannon and armorbane cannon on infantry or light armor.
***'''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. Useful if you haven't used your smokes, and enemy has caught your unit off-guard but you don't want to sacrifice your shooting for 4+ cover.
**'''Analysis:''' For Tank-based armies, he can actually be a points saver. If you were planning on taking a Leman Russ of any kind and did not wish to pay for the mandatory HQ choice of either a Lord Commissar or Command Squad, the Tank Commander effectively fulfills the HQ tax for a mere 30 points, and unlike a baseline command squad or Commissar, that 30 points is going to be useful. In addition, his boosted BS is much better used in a Tank that uses regular shooting rather than relying on a blast template, as he only reduces deviation by 1 inch which still means at least 3 inches of deviation on average, while on a per-shot weapon, he will give you 1/6th more hits due to now hitting on a 3+. With just the Punisher Cannon, he is statistically able to get 3 more hits than a regular Punisher Russ, which helps against everything except flyers; snapshots don't care about your BS4. If you took Pask, however, Preferred Enemy ''does'' help.
*** Due to the Cadian Battle Group only requiring 1 Command Choice to be a legal formation, and because the Tank Commander can alone be legal for that, you can now field a Tank Commander (and by extension any squadron of 2 or 3 Leman Russes) without using up a slot anywhere else. For CAD-based armies, this is a godsend as you lose nothing from not being part of another detachment while being able to free up your HS slots with superior Leman Russes. Note that doing this means you don't actually get any of the Cadian Battle Group's special rules (as they all either reference units in that detachment, Company Command Officers, or Lasguns, none of which the Tank Commander is or has). Excellent choice for some Battle Brother armies who benefit from taking Guard tanks but otherwise would rather not pay the tax for an infantry platoon or veteran squad that comes with an Allied Detachment.
**'''Loadout:''' The improved BS on the Tank Commander means you will want Sponsons to take advantage; although you could run a trio of Heavy Bolters, in practice anti-infantry is something you should have throughout your army anyway, whether via Wyverns or a mass of Lasguns. Plasma usually means explosions and thus is generally not worth taking unless you have easy access to Preferred Enemy (read: are running a Steel Host); this usually means that Multimelta Sponsons are your best choice, while the hull Lascannon completes the ensemble. As a result, you want to avoid an Ordnance turret, and preferably take a direct-fire one. This means that practically, the Vanquisher and Exterminator Autocannon are your main choices; if you wish to use a Punisher, then you're best-served with taking Pask instead.

=====Special Characters=====
*'''[[Commissar Yarrick]]:''' Awesome, fluffy man. Costs quite a bit but far less than what he cost in 5th ed codex, making him fairly cheap for what he brings. Very close combat oriented. He can come back from the dead... a lot. He has some nifty gadgets. He has a Stormbolter for shooting up stuff before charging, comes with Preferred Enemy: Orks, and confers it to any unit he joins. 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 an Heirloom) now acts like a hotshot laspistol, and he carries a power field for a much-needed 4+ invulnerable save (also an 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. But if he is your warlord he has the Draconian Disciplinarian warlord trait, negating somewhat the loss of the ''Fearless'' rule. Furthermore, he can now issue orders like an officer. However, as per the FAQ rough draft for Imperial Guard, Yarrick '''cannot''' be the warlord if there's another model in the army with the Senior Officer special rule, but to get around that you take Creed as well, as he has a different rule. He can also Summarily Execute (not that it fits his fluff, but whatever), so use that to your advantage as well. If you take Yarrick, you'd better take him as a warlord. Otherwise he ends up as an expensive Commissar with few of the perks of a Commissar.
** A good unit to place Yarrick in is the Platoon command squad. Give the squad a medipack and vox caster, and watch as Yarrik spews orders and keeps on fighting. Adding the standard and las pistols is nice, but not necessary. I say this because Yarrick is good in both defensive and offensive builds. Do you have him sit back and issue orders, protecting himself if attacked, or do you have him charge forward into assault, ripping enemies to shreds? Either way, Yarrick with a platoon command squad will please.
*'''[[Creed|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 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), from his cost of 80 can be deducted the cost of all the 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, Conscripts, 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,a power fist and 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), a Ministorum Priest, 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, or better yet, a master of ordnance for a Baslisk blast before charging!) 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 Grey Knights, Howling Banshees, Incubi. 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.
*'''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 (although using Summary Execution in a CCS is a VERY bad idea) 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. However due to majority unit toughness his toughness is essentially 3 so don't expect great things from him, except if you expected him to not die from S6 shot.
*'''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. A rending Punisher ( 20 S5 shots, benefitting from Pask even more if he's warlord) with him is so popular it is known as a Pasknisher.
**Executioner gains an alternate firing profile: 36" S7 AP2, Heavy 1, Large blast, Blind, Gets Hot! 
**Just be warned, what ever his Tank is, make sure he is ''used''. If you search forums and all the Facebook groups and shit there is a 99.9% chance that it has Pask as the warlord in army lists. He's an extra 40 points on top of the points you already paid for a generic Tank Commander, plus the Russes you must buy. He'll bloat the cost of a squad so it cannot be emphasized enough; make sure you get your point's worth!!!
**Friendly reminder! When in a Vanquisher, firing against an AV14 opponent, pask has a 72% chance of doing damage to it.
**Murder machine that he is, FAQ has restricted Pask's inclusion in formations. He can only be taken if a formation ''specifically says he can be taken in it;'' since there aren't any that say this at the moment, in practice this means he'll only show up in CAD's, Ally detachments, and as the Battle Group Command choice in a Cadian Battlegroup.
*'''General Myndoras Odon (Forge World):''' Patton of 40k, updated in the new Doom of Mymaera. Killed a bunch of Eldar on some ice ball then died next campaign when his transport flipped (Patton died in a car crash after the war). Now costs 55 to replace a senior officer in a command squad, but at least the squad is now fully customisable. 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's not a tactical genius but he re-rolls Seize the Initiative if he's the army warlord. To further compare him to Creed, despite being armed with a power fist he is only wearing flak armour, so he's far less likely to survive a game than Creed too, but he's still a flat upgrade to a regular company commander, just be aware that's 55 points for an extra order and a power fist, when you already had the commander in your squad. 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.
**There's a slight rules collision with him; he has the same special rule as Creed, ''Supreme Commander'', but the FW's version only allows him to issue two more orders (up to three, somehow), and lacks the "is a Senior Officer" and "can re-roll any failed orders" parts. If you go by RAW, he's worthless, if you don't, then he's a cheaper Creed with a predetermined Trait in place of ''Tactical Genius''.
*'''Colonel 'Snake' Stranski (FW - IA1, 2°E):''' Mechanised, scoring Company Command Squad. 225 points for the Colonel, 4 vets and their Chimera (Heavy Flamer turret, hull mounted Heavy Bolter, extra armour) and, as above, you can't choose the upgrades for the squad or transport (Med-pack, vox operator and 2 meltaguns). The Colonel has a nice little rule - when firing from the Chimera, his 2 plasma pistols count as Twin-Linked. He also doesn't block models from using the Chimera's fire points by using the top hatch...but that's back from when Chimeras had 5 firing points, so... (albeit his CCS's 2 meltaguns should mean this is aimed to let them all shoot...but [[Derp|FW]]).
**Note: It's IA, his rules are outdated as hell. He can't issue Orders because he doesn't have the 'Voice of command' rule (but he's a CCS, assume he has it). His WT 'Scoring' means nothing in 7th Edition, it'd become 'Objective Secured' at best. So, if your opponent feels he's being lenient enough to let you use FW and says he won't concede anymore then he has no Warlord Trait and can't issue Orders, being completely dependent on gentlemant agreements.

====Regimental Specialists====
0-3 of each of these units that don't take up any slots. All are independent characters (except the Commissar, see below). All of them are effective as unit buffers and all of them are as cheap as chips for what they do. If you take an allied detachment of the Guard, they might be worth consideration since they can fill roles that would otherwise be taken up by HQ choices such as a librarian or a techmarine. Note that Imperial Agents supersedes a lot of these rules, as allying in the Agents versions via the Enginseer Congregation, Psykana Division, and Ministorum Delegation is better in almost every way, with all having expanded special rules and wargear options. The main disadvantages relate to normal Battle Brother issues of not being able to start inside allied transports, and detachment limits if you're playing in a group that uses old ITC-hammer restrictions.

*'''Primaris Psyker:''' Can upgrade to Mastery Level Two, comes with free force weapon, cheap and adds +1 to a Squad's Deny rolls. What's 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 (Power Maul rules). Gone are Lightning Arc and Nightshroud making him even more of a support character. He can take from Pyromancy, Biomancy, Telekinesis, Daemonology and now he gets access to Divination. With the Guard's capacity for enormous blobs of dudes, this guy's buffs can go a long way. Gets executed in case of Perils of the Warp if there is a Commissar(-lord/Yarrick) 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 [[Rage|hate]] how often they ignore your orders, just attach and [[Troll|enjoy]].
**'''Tactical Thought:''' Your two best disciplines are likely going to be Divination and Telekinesis. Divination grants Prescience, which is ''amazing'' for Guard  (BS3 gets the biggest bonus from twin linking -  a whopping 25% improved chance to hit - which you can apply to entire ''squadrons'' of vehicles, or a 50-man blob of lasguns & heavy weapons), along with some other neat tricks, while Telekinesis grants some nice offensive stuff and Assail, which helps keep enemies out of melee (note that Strikedown does not require an unsaved wound to work; you channel the power and the bad guys are slowed, regardless of damage dealt).

*'''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 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). Don't rely too heavily on those hymns, because he can only choose one hymn at the beginning of the Assault Phase and the war hymns are tested on his Ld7. Comes with a Laspistol, but can upgrade to a Plasma gun for a few extra points or an Autogun for free. Unless you care about the Priest getting an extra attack in Close Combat along with an hymn, adding to the unit's ranged dakka isn't a bad idea. The wording on the upgrade never says replace so you keep the pistol. 
**'''Tactical Thought:''' Ministorum priests are also no-brainers if you plan on sticking Space marine/Grey Knight ally characters (like Khaldor Draigo or ML3 GK Librarian) since the armor and wound reroll and the zealot melee reroll bonuses carry over to Battle Brothers (so you'd end up with rerollable 2+, rerollable 3++ (, S10 rerollable hits with Instant Death and metric buttload of wounds in case something big lands and your blob takes twat-ton of hits)
**'''Imperial Agents Alternative:''' With the Ministorum Delegation your priests get Shield of Faith (6+ Invuln Save and Adamantium Will) via the formation, and the added options of bolt pistols, boltguns, melta bombs, and access to the Sororitas Ranged, Melee, and Ecclesiarchy Relics wargear lists.
 
*'''Techpriest Enginseer:''' Costs like a Terminator, stats like a Guardsman. The Techpriest Enginseer has Power Armor, an Axe and Servo Arm, but you are not using the Techpriest for holding the line. Rather, the Techpriest has three main uses.
** '''Awaken the Machine Spirit''' grants Power of the Machine Spirit to a nearby Guard vehicle within 12". This lets the Leman Russ function with both Sponsons and an Ordnance turret, but the other benefit is letting otherwise-slow Guard vehicles (meaning the Taurox) get better flank shots, or to get around targeting restrictions with squadroned vehicles. Worst comes to worst, an extra 6" inches on a Chimera's Heavy Flamer can dislodge an enemy unit. The main thing to note is even with 12" range, most Guard vehicles are slow enough to keep up with, while Forward For the Emperor can be useful in a pinch to let the Techpriest run after buffing. Note as per the FAQ that this does not combowombo with Manticores.
** '''Blessing of the Omnissiah''' lets a Techpriest attempt to repair a vehicle, either for a Hull Point, destroyed weapon, or Immobilization. This tends to be worse than the first option for three reasons: This requires the Techpriest to be in base-to-base contact with the vehicle being repaired, there's a chance it can fail, and your opponent will generally focus-fire vehicles to ensure their destruction beforehand. Furthermore, for the cost of two Techpriests and accompanying servitors, you could just buy more vehicles. Where this ability really comes into play though? Super-Heavies. Between their improved armor, hull points, and immunity to Immobilization or destroyed weapons, a Baneblade or allied Knight might actually survive long enough to be an eligble repair target.
**The third option is to add them as a budget character for a combined Guard squad. One could do worse, as they do add +1 Leadership to a unit, which will help with Orders. This is a tertiary choice compared to taking a Priest or Commissar, which only really comes up when playing around with Formations.
**'''[[Servitors]]:''' Well-armored and start with servo-arms (which operate identically as powerfists but at ''AP 1'', which are actually viable since they also increase the Techpriest's chances at repairing shit. A cheap way to put some plasma cannons onto the field. But there's a catch- if the Servitor squad doesn't have a Techpriest in it, the Servitors have a 50-50 chance of being unable to move, shoot, or assault that turn (though they will still fight if already locked in close combat).
**Fun thing, take servitors with plasmacannons and use the order Fire on my target to get 2 S7 AP2 Ignores Cover blasts, it's fun against [[Devastator_Space_Marine_Squad|heavily armored gloryboys]] and [[Imperial_Guard|ruin camping]] [[Stealthsuit#XV15_Stealthsuit|blueberry]] [[CRIMINAL_SCUM|scum!]]  
**'''Trojan Support Vehicle (Forge World):''' This ammo carrier can be purchased as the Techpriest's dedicated transport. It has cardboard armor despite being built on a Chimera chassis, and is armed with only a hull-mounted heavy bolter, but that's not the point. The point is that it can bestow the Preferred Enemy (Everyone!) rule to a single tank or artillery model within 6". This works best with things which pack a lot of dakka - like a Leman Russ Punisher. Also good for re-rolling gets hot on plasma Russes. As a happy consequence of Preferred Enemy applying to a whole unit in 7th (which the 6th edition Trojan didn't take into account), you can effectively pay 10 points a model for PE on a tank squadron.
**If you do not plan on giving your techpriests orders or Trojan Support Vehicles, then consider taking them as detachments from the Imperial Agents codex. Per detachment, you are getting a techpriest with servitor options. What this nets you are the Canticles of the Omnissiah which while nothing to lose your mind over, can do marvelous things like allowing re-roll to hits in shooting and melee as well as buffing cover saves and strength. Something to consider if you are taking techpriests anyway. 

*'''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. Only problem is you have to roll a D6. On a 3+, you choose, 1 or 2, your opponent chooses. Not great if this happens to a squad with one melta-gun when a land raider full of terminators is bearing down on them. 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 at no extra point cost.  Unless you want your Commissar getting an extra attack in melee, adding to the squad's ranged dakka isn't a terrible idea. On the other hand, he can take a Power Fist, making him a surprisingly mean melee fighter.
**'''Challenge Buckets''' For the same point cost you can grab an inquisitor to retain the morale bonus (not quite as good though) and will get a character with better armor, a higher initiative and an additional attack. He also gets discounts on power swords and plasma pistols allowing you to kit him out for cheaper. Just food for thought when facing melee heavy and challenge heavy lists.
**'''Tactical Note:''' Unlike Priests, your other go-to blob buffer, Commissars are a) ''not'' Independent Characters, and b) don't have a 4++ save, making them a ''lot'' more vulnerable to enemy Precision Shot attacks. If you can only afford one Regimental Specialist for your blob, and you don't intend on them taking cover, go for the Priest, every time. He'll survive Precision Shots 11/12 times, vs the Commissar, who'll do it...2/3 times (which drops to 1/2 if the shooter has AP5 weaponry...''which they will'').

===Troops=== 
All Imperial Guard Troop Choices are so versatile, you can write whole separate articles on tactics for any bit of the following alone which we eventually will at this rate! 
*'''A note on Sergeants:''' Every Infantry and Veteran Squad of ten men, with the sad exception of Conscripts, replaces the tenth man with a Sergeant. Sergeants have slightly higher Leadership and an extra attack and eschew the army's preferred longarm (in this case a lasgun) for a pistol-CCW combo. Like many squad leaders, they are also Characters, meaning that a 50-man blob with an attached Regimental Specialist actually has ''six'' Characters instead of one; this is useful for challenges, since for the most part you want to keep your Priest ''out'' of close combat with that Ork Warboss. Also note that guard sergeants are apparently selected not just for their ability to not piss themselves at the first sign of trouble, but also for their aptitude in melee; Sergeants get ''two'' attacks base, which usually goes to three with their pistol-CCW combo. On the charge, they have ''four;'' this makes them ''surprisingly'' mean if you kit them out with power weapons and make sure they actually get into melee.


*'''Infantry Platoon:''' The backbone of the Imperial Guard army, the Infantry Platoon is akin to having a mini-Force Organization Chart inside a single Troops Choice. Beyond a mandatory Platoon Command Squad and two Infantry Squads, an Infantry Platoon can include up to three additional Infantry Squads, up to three Special Weapon Squads, up to five(!) Heavy Weapon Squads, and a Conscript Squad on top! 
**'''Platoon Command Squad:''' The Platoon Squad is a weaker Company Command Squad in that they are only BS 3 instead of 4 and cannot take Advisors, Camo or Carapace. Furthermore, the Platoon Commander can issue a single Order but does NOT have Senior Officer. Remember that their main advantage is they can be kept relatively cheap, free your Company Command Squad to issue the bigger orders and that they can serve in a pinch as a pseudo-Special Weapon Team, providing a cheap concentration of Flamers or Grenade Launchers (or Sniper Rifles if you're feeling cute).
**'''Infantry Squad:''' (2-5) The basic Guardsman squad gives you nine Guardsmen with Lasguns, and a Sergeant with Pistol and Melee Weapon. With cardboard armor and shots that miss half the time, the basic Guard squad does not amount to much. However, their real strength lies in the '''Combined Squads''' special rule, letting multiple Infantry Squads from the same Platoon join together into a single larger unit of up to 50 models; this lets them benefit more from Blessings, Orders, attached Commissars and Priests, and the many other ways that they can be buffed. Assuming two squads can get into rapid-fire range, a single First Rank Fire/Second Rank Fire order would provide 56 lasgun shots, for a whole lot of diddly.
***'''Loadout:''' An Infantry Squad can take a Special Weapon and a Heavy Weapon; Heavy Weapons become more attractive in larger combined squads, since they let a unit maintain a larger coherency chain with heavy weapons in the backfield as the main line advances. That said, due to their BS 3 and inefficiency with Split Fire, the Autocannon/Grenade Launcher is the 'most' efficient option for this unit. For one, the Autocannon and Grenade Launcher cost the same as a single Plasma Gun, will not blow up in the hands of your troopers, and they can become a credible threat against Rhinos&Razorbacks via Bring It Down. A more assault-oriented unit can skip the Heavy Weapons, and just give the Sergeants Power Axes; Unwieldy doesn't hurt as much with base Initiative 3, and Sergeants become surprisingly effective murder machines when assisted by a Priest with Battle Hymns. Finally, it 'is' possible to spend a point to replace a Sergeant's laspistol with a Boltgun, which can help with adding just a little bit of extra punch to your unit.
**'''Conscripts:''' (0-1) Conscripts are tied with Grots for being the cheapest non-Forgeworld models in the game point-wise. 3 points gives you a Guardsman with reduced Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill and Leadership, such that they NEED a Character with good Leadership attached to them should you wish to do much with them. However, being able to field 50 models for every 30 regular Guardsmen has its own advantages, whether you wish to use them as mobile cover, or as a throwaway assault screen. 
**'''Choosing a Character:''' Since Conscripts don't get any loadout options, the main choice you face with them is which character to attach to them. In general, the Priest is the best choice for this unit, since Fearless removes their main weakness to being routed, while Zealot and War Hymns can make them somewhat-threatening in melee. An honorable mention should instead go to the Commissar for smaller squads, on account of having better Leadership, and retaining the ability to Go to Ground on account of Stubborn. Though a Techpriest "can" raise their Leadership to 8, his melee profile is not strong enough compared to the buffs provided by a Priest, and he lacks the Stubbornness.
**Alternate Tactic: Take 50 of them plus a Commissar for 175 points. Don't use them as much for shooting, try to get them as fast as possible close to the biggest, meanest close combat unit the enemy has. Now just sit in front of them. Charging into them means taking 100 lasgun shots in Overwatch (where their shitty Ballistic skill doesn't matter) and spending several turns punching through them. If the opponent doesn't take the bait, throw a frag grenade and charge in. Take two squads with Commissars for 350 points. They will quickly earn their points back tying up those nasty CC threats.
****Building on that alternate tactic above: Having experimented with this I find this is a very effective tactic, especially when up against melee deathstar formations like the Lucifer Armoured Task Force with 48 Assault Terminators. However I would recommend switching out the Commissars for Priests and attaching the Commissars to your Infantry Squads. The reasons being that, firstly, Ministorum Priests will make the unit straight up fearless, good for melee roadbumps and you don't have to bother with the execution. Secondly, you are far, far more likely to be issuing orders to the Infantry Squads rather than the Conscripts. The Priest is an upgrade to Conscript LD but not Infantry Squad LD, where Commissars improve the LD of both, and by switching these around you thereby ensure that both units have better order reliability and that the buffs in question are proportional to their value, as here the Conscripts are only roadbumps. Finally, with the Commissar in the Infantry Squad you can still go to ground in a pinch. Do so behind your conga line of Priest-led Conscripts for a nice cover save if need ever be.
***Alternate Tactic 2: Make them into deathstar. Add allied Liberius Concave with tigrus and 2 terminator Librarians, add 2 Primaris Psykers, 3 Ministorium Priests and here you go: invisible 50 man squad that hits 100 S3 attacks on charge, rerolling hits (zealot), rerolling wounds (prayer), haves 2+ rerollable save (terminator armor hit allocation plus prayers), 3++ rerollable save, 4+ FNP (biomancy) and Rending (Misfortune). There are few melee units that are more deadly than Conscripts. Beware tarpit walkers with AV13 though, they can be problematic but there are few of them, and even fewer that could not be taken out with ranged weapons fire.
***Alternate Tactic 3: You don't have to sink 700+ points into them as suggested above. Take 50 conscripts, add 2 ministorum priests and a single white scars character. My preference is for a techmarine on a bike. At 285 points, think of them as a multi-purpose tool. They can bubble wrap, tarpit, throw a ton of dakka at FMCs or light infantry, or (my favorite) hit and run right into an opponent's backfield with the techmarine's servo arm ready to swing at some sweet rear armor. Think of them as a delivery system. And also consider attaching a Xenos inquisitor with some wacky grenades. You want your opponent shooting at them - if they're shooting at conscripts they're killing 3-point models instead of shooting something else, and all your independent characters can just jump ship onto another squad.
**'''Heavy Weapon Squad:''' (0-5) 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. (AND WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU HAVE THEM THERE?) 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. On top of this, there is a split fire order to get around this restriction. Lascannons are nice here. Missile Launchers on the surface are good, but Autocannons do their job better due to not scattering and being able to take orders better with more quantity meaning you have 6 shots at S7 instead of 3 shots at S8, and if you need it for anti Armor, Lascannons are universally better for that job anyways. Autocannons are universally good, great 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 and actually have a chance at damaging AV13 with a few lucky hits. In fact the only one that isn't that good to take here is the heavy bolter which not only is already provided by almost every vehicle you can field, costs the same as the Autocannon, and while it does give an extra shot, it has a foot less range and is two strength lower than the autocannon. They'd be worthwhile if they were only 5 points, but they aren't, so pass. 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. Also with prescience or BRING IT DOWN order, a full lascannon or Autocannon squad can reliably bring down flyers from the sky. If you are indeed using some combined with orders to boost them, you might as well take a Company standard because they will have to pass a Ld7 ( Unless you stick a PP with them, but it quickly gets expensive ) morale check with their first loss ( Don't be fooled by W2 : Most things that will target you will Instant Death T3 ).
***'''Alternate Tactic''': For the commander on a budget, look to the new Cadian Heirlooms of Conquest for a little gem called Volkov's Cane. for 10 points, orders to units within 6" fail only on a double 6. Your Ld 7 squad now has an effective Leadership of '''11!''' Combine with a Regimental Standard (for a combined upgrade value of 25 points), and the HWS tests on an effective Leadership value of 10/11 on every test that matters. They'll listen, they won't run, and they'll do their job ''properly''.
***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. Take a Hydra tank instead.
**'''Special Weapon Squads:''' (0-3) A distraction. Six models, three which must take Special Weapons. They lack the Ballistic Skill, ablative wounds or Carapace that Veterans get, meaning this unit has two main uses: As a throwaway piece-trading unit, or as a cheap objective holder. 45 points gets three flamers or Grenade Launchers, or the option exists to give them up to three Demolition Charges, tripling their base price. However, little can compare to three S8 AP 2 Large Blasts causing havoc in the enemy backfield. As they do not get a Sergeant or Vox-Caster, they do not take well to Orders, so plan accordingly. Note that they overlap a lot in cost and loadout choice with the Platoon Command Squad, but are less flexible.
*'''Sabre Gun Platforms (Forge World):''' These guys can 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 [[Tankred|endure]] absurd amount of enemy shooting. On the other hand, they are immobile (but can somehow scout move), and die like 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 a second guardsman for each gun: your enemy can and will outflank Sabres to shoot down lightly armored crew instead of T7/W2/Sv3+ guns.
*'''Veteran Squad:''' Key to most mech lists. Slightly superior to regular guard due to a 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 (Everyone). They're generally less specialised than storm troopers, but they score with Objective Secured benefits 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 2 Flamers and a Heavy Flamer; give the other 6 vets shotguns and take the Forward Sentries doctrine, setting them up as assault screens. Your opponent will think twice about sending Genestealers (or, Emperor Forbid, Hormagaunts) anywhere near you. You can also swap out two vets for a single heavy weapons team, so if you love your lascannons and autocannons but hate how often they miss when taken in an infantry platoon, you can stick them here so long as you don't mind wasting lasgun fire. But that's why you have an order that gives a unit Split Fire, isn't it? 
**Note about 6th: Doctrines became even cheaper. If you didn't include them before you have no excuse now.
**Speaking of Doctrines, let's review the choices!
***'''Grenadiers:''' Gives the Veterans Carapace Armor (4+ Save) for 15 points. Increases survivability. Don't even argue, just take it if you're going Mech or using them offensively. Auto-include, however, if you're taking Plasma with your Veterans since 4+ save ensures you don't die if your gun explodes nearly as often.
***'''Forward Sentries:''' For 10 points the squad has Camo gear, which increases their cover save, and snare mines, which cause any enemies charging them to make a disordered charge (so no extra attacks and no furious charge, anathema to Orks, Blood Angel, and Khorne units, they'll die brutally but better them than your 300 point Leman Russ Squadron). Good for for defensive playstyles, holding objectives while maximising your cover saves, and most importantly screening units. You may have to bite your tongue the moment your opponent brings Ignores Cover weaponry.
***'''Demolitions:''' The entire squad gets melta bombs. Remember that only one model can use a Meltabomb per Assault Phase, but having the entire squad carry them means they are safe from having a single model 'sniped out'. Furthermore, the squad gains a single Demolition Charge for additional carnage against a close-up enemy unit. 
**'''Gunnery Sergeant Harker:''' One Veteran Squad can take Harker, and his old buffs have been completely altered. Harker prevents his unit from using the Grenadiers doctrine, 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, though 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. The one thing that made him just about playable in the old codex was his ability to have veterans that infiltrated and get a 2+ cover save in ruins with forward sentries. In this codex, he has lost this rule completely and swapped his feel no pain for rending - total waste of points.
***'''Note:''' you can nearly take an entire heavy weapons squad of Heavy Bolters or Autocannons for his points cost (Harker hits 2 shots per turn, Heavy Bolter squad hits 4.5, Autocannons statistically have 3 hits but are almost guaranteed to wound). This is better in any circumstance unless playing a list with no platoons.
***'''Another Note:''' If you are the type to use fortifications, nothing is stopping you from using the forward sentries doctrine with Harker. Take him, another Heavy Weapon Team, 3 Snipers, Forward Sentries and park behind an Aegis using one of your remaining 4 vets as the gunner. 3+ Cover, 2 Heavy weapons (3 if you bought one for the ADL), and the safetly of range. Whats not to love?

===Dedicated transports=== 
*'''[[Chimera Transport|Chimera]]:'''  This is the gem of the [[Metal_Boxes|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, with each array able to fire independently from the other or the Chimera itself. Still amazing. Other points of this fine vehicle: 
** Good value (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 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 [[Metal_Boxes|metul bawks]]. It's got 11/10/10 (With armor like that, it's more like a glass 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 [[Dakka|Twin linked Autocannons]] while being 15 points cheaper than a Chimera.  Don't use it for your command squads because it isn't a command vehicle.
**Mobile fire support: Use Taurox as a Autocannon HWT for your squad if you want to keep your squad moving, and use the taurox as mobile cover once your squad has left the bawks (Interfering models give 5+ cover save, combine with Camo net vets for 4+ cover on open ground)
**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 [[meme|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.
**Alternative take: These are excellent little vehicles for melta-vets to spring out of. With it's small profile, it can hide behind a few chimera or hellhounds as it rushes towards the enemy, and still fire the autocannon over the top of them. Once in range, the melta vets can either stay in the [[Metal_Boxes|metul bawks]] to use it's FOUR side fire points to fire 3 meltas and a demo charge against large targets like super-heavies, or jump out of the side doors to gain an extra 2 inches of move distance on what would be possible from a chimera's rear door. This lets them get close enough to take full advantage of that 6" melta range more quickly.

*'''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 (Move at Combat Speed means it fires all weapons at full BS, Cruising Speed fire 2 weapons at full BS, but it'll only have more than 2 weapons if you take a storm bolter pintle). More expensive than its 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 man-things with pretty awesome assaulting guns. And we ''do'' mean big; these meatheads are some of the toughest infantry in the game,  in terms of toughness score and wound count; they're almost as tough as Hive Guard, only with one more wound a man, and at 10 points less a model. 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, lack a good armor save, 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 (which isn't much; they can power through anything short of S10), and get them into melee as soon as possible. However, even there they might have some problems against opponents like Necron Warriors, but at least they will be keeping them busy and away from glancing your Leman Russ tanks into scrap. Your priests' war hymns work on Ogryn, so attaching one can potentially grant Ogryn rerolls to wound, rerolls to save, or smash for the preacher. This makes a high toughness squad tougher ''(a reroll of a 5+ save is a 44.4..% pass, more or less the same as a 4+ [50.0%])'' though it easily negated as it's ignored by AP5 and is only rerollable in assault.  For a relatively cheap preacher it could go some way towards improving some of the issues with Ogryn - namely lack of AP close combat weaponry.  Leave them at home against the Tau as pulse rifles will devour them, ignoring their saves and wounding them on 4s and Tau overwatch will ensure they'll never get to assault. 
**Also worth noting are the special rule changes. On the one hand, Ogryn are still Stubborn (Not Bad) and they've gained Hammer of Wrath but they're now Very Bulky and have lost Furious Charge (Fuck). This means that Ogryn can't gib T3 models on the charge anymore. It also means that Ogryn can't use transports reliably. If you know you will be up against Tau, NEVER bring Ogryn. They will be shot to pieces and with no cost effective way of getting them to charge Tau, Ogryn just can't kill them like they used to.    
**If you do want to take Ogryn, it's best to take a squad of 4 Ogryn, fit them behind and ready to embark into a Chimera you jacked from a Platoon Infantry Squad and rush them towards the enemy, hopefully through some cover. Drop the Ogryn 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 5, most 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, Ogryn 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 a point cost it's likely that the enemy could do quite a bit of damage before you get to them. 
**Odd tactic: use Creed to get a reliable outflank warlord trait and have them come in on the side of the table. Have your big meaty squad park in, or near, some terrain where some shooty squad will likely be sitting, and shoot them up with some solid S5 shots. Sure you'll suffer from return fire, but you've already done some damage to begin with and you're likely to survive, especially if you have a cover save. Next turn you can charge what's left of the squad you shot at and push forward.
**Interestingly enough, Straken now gives units within 6" of him Furious Charge, meaning that you can still gib T3 models on the charge so long as they're close enough. To really apply this tactic you need both squads to be reasonably intact and for them both to be near each other. To put it bluntly, one of two things will happen: both squads will die horrible deaths or both squads will charge your opponent's front lines and wreck shit up ''(Even Space Marines will struggle to save the many S6/4 wounds you can inflict doing this)'' A risky tactic, but one that can catch people off guard. 
*'''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 (Taking into account the expendable guardsmen you require) and screen incoming enemies. The power maul version is for smashing skulls and the Brute Shields give the Bullgryns a 5+ Invulnerable Save (FAQ removed the close combat only restriction) and the ability to re-roll Hammer of Wrath hits. Right now the Maul/Shield combo appears to be the better option if you're willing to pay the extra points per Bullgryn.
**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 if kept away from Str 10 atacks.
**'''Alternate take''': Bullgryns with the default items have a 3+ default save when in base contact with another Slabshield Bullgryn, the same as Space Marines. Only AP2 weapons can hope to shift them in close combat when a 3+ is combined with Toughness 5. For extra cheese, simply keep two Bullgryns with the default kit, and upgrade the rest to the BruteMaul combo. Then your screening Bullgryns can take the hits and roll the easy 3+'s, and when in combat your S7 Bullgryns can take over and punish enemy deathstars. Just beware of pie plates and power klaws!
**'''Counterpoint:''' There's two major things wrong with Bullgryns, and Ogryns too. While they can deal with their own lack of armor pretty well (they get a big pile of wounds apiece and need s10 to be killed in one hit), they can only ever get AP4 (excepting attached characters like a Commissar with a Power Fist). This forces them to power through 3+ and better saves with sheer wound count, which at 4 attacks on the charge per man isn't necessarily impossible, but will result in a lot of trouble against TEQ. Also, they have no anti-tank options ''at all''. With s7 at best and no vehicle-effective AP, they'll struggle against walkers (most of which are AV 12 and 13), and AV14 rear armor units like Land Raiders and Monoliths are completely immune to them. Make no mistake, they're as pricey as Terminators but they ''cannot'' go toe-to-toe with them; point them at crowds and light vehicles ''only.''
**'''Alternate Take:''' You can compensate for their lack of good AP with attached characters (and in 7th edition this is stupidly easy; Inquisition, anyone?), but they're not supposed to be 'pointed' at ''anything.'' Bullgryns are a unique type of unit in 40k: a ''defensive'' melee unit. Their job isn't to wreck the enemy in close quarters, it's to keep them from charging your tanks and flimsier infantry, and to draw fire away from them. Their sheer toughness and wound count, combined with the slabshield armor save, means it'll take pretty much anti-tank weaponry to shift them in significant numbers, and that's anti-tank weaponry NOT going into the Demolisher/Medusa you're creeping up the field behind them, and if the enemy decides to prioritize the tank instead, it enjoys a 3+ cover save with camo netting.
***Also note that because of the way the Slabshield's rule is written, it stacks with any and all cover effects. Thus, putting your Bullgryns behind an Aegis Line and a line of tanks with camo netting behind ''them'' (or similar, really any unit that can take camo of some type) results in a unit with...well, let's count them out. Aegis grants a 4+. Camo adds 1. Slabshield adds 1. That's right. A'' '''2+''' ''cover save. Pricey, but between the save and the dedicated melee unit screening them from enemy close combat troops, your tanks ''will not die.'' Moreover the height of a Guard Tank's turret allows them to shoot back without the slabshield working both ways (or just use Barrage weapons).
*'''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 AP 2 shot and 1 wound that you can choose to allocate to priority 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 3+ ''(with stealth)'' cover save, but try to have them cover as much firing area as possible. Don't send them into close combat - despite what I4 may make you think, 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. 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. All and all, ratlings can a good cheap way of taking out sergeants and other models with weapons you don't want near (or far) from your forces.
**For 100 points, 10 ratlings have BS4 and sniper Rifles. This makes them powerful monstrous creature killers. No matter the target's, toughness, these little hobbits will always wound on a 4. Multi wound you say? 10 ratlings with that ballistic skill and sniperweapons are bound to shave off some wounds. And if things go south, simply shoot and run.
**Another fun trick is to stick a Primaris Psyker (or other psyker you need protected) in the squad, then plop them in ruins. Your Psyker can hand out blessings, such as the all-important Prescience, to nearby vehicle squadrons, and the Ratlings can cover-tank for him with a 2+ GtG save! You can do the same thing with Veterans & the Forward Sentries doctrine, but this is cheaper (unless you want 8 Ratlings or more) and more weapon-efficient, since it gets you more sniper rifles.
*'''Wyrdvane Psykers:''' Wyrdvane Psykers are a "utility" unit with an awkward amount of utility. A ML 1 Brotherhood of Psykers, they can roll on the Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Daemonology disciplines. As a ML 1 Psyker unit, this means they always know the Primaris and one random power. Keep them out of melee: Although they have a pistol/ccw combo, WS and S2 make them fold fast!
**Wyrdvanes are generally in an awkward position, especially since they compete with the Primaris Psyker whom has access to the same Disciplines, while having better WS/BS, a Force Weapon, being able to hide in a unit and being 10 points cheaper. The main advantage the Wyrdvanes have is that they get more wounds per point, and so you can afford to lose a model or two to Perils. However, they really gain most their mileage from their Formation. 
*'''Tempestus Platoon:''' They've got the same stats, but now come in platoons, if you so choose. For 1 Elite slot you can get up to 4 squads, that's a lot of boots on the table! 
**'''Tempestus Scions (1-3):''' AKA, ''Storm Trooper Squad''. 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.) They can take more special weapons too! 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 these guys are one of the best at capturing enemy back field objectives, just like their fluff, 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. Cost you plenty. A Veteran Squad is 7.5 points per pop with Grenadier doctrine while a Scion squad is 12 per dude plus 10 extra for deep strike. Aside from the Hotshot lasgun, they have comparable statline but the vets can take a heavy weapon, 3 special weapons and a voxcaster plus objective secured. That's nearly 5 points per head for deep strike and move through cover with vastly inferior upgrade options (and ap3 HS-lasguns which can really hurt if you manage to wound with them). Worth it? Depends but remember that you're essentially a GEQ that is only 2 points cheaper than a MEQ. But even so, your more likely to inflict greater casualties then the same amount of Bolter armed MEQs on anything with armor that's 4+ or better. 
**'''Tempestus Command Squad (0-1):''' 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). They can also get the same options as a Platoon Command Squad (Medic, Voxcaster, Platoon Standard). May give stormies the support they always lacked or threaten dug up units with four meltas/plasmas. Also, the Tempestor Prime (Stormtrooper Captain) strikes at Initiative four and any Ld tests for Stormtroopers are taken on his Ld9 within 12" of the CS. Has potential.
**At the end of the day, however, it's usually a better choice to take your scions as an Allied detachment instead of an FoC choice. In exchange for the 'tax' of taking a Tempestus Command Squad (with the associated Militarum Tempestus Order list) you get Objective Secured on the Scions you were going to take normally anyway, AND you free up an Elite slot for other stuff. In short, if you're going to take more than a single squad of scions, do it in a separate detachment. Keep in mind though: Scions taken in a separate detachment can only take Tempestus Scion orders from their own command squad, while Scions taken as an elites choice can receive orders from your CCS, and that includes the orders that Tempestus Scions can't issue.
*'''[[Sly Marbo]]:''' In an interesting twist of Fate, GW's brought back a fan favorite... a month before 8th edition drops and invalidates his datasheet. Still, we're happy! Sly Marbo takes 25 points as his fee for hanging with your gay-ass army list. He's faster than a normal Guardsman (WS/BS/I5), and comes with some special tools to get the job done. His Ripper Pistol is a [[Awesome|Sniper Pistol]] with ''AP3'' (because fuck Mary Sues in pauldrons), and he also gets a Poisoned 2+ Envenomed Blade. He comes with Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, and Meltabombs. Special-rules wise, he has Fearless, Fleet, Hit & Run, Feel No Pain (as though that matters when he's getting doubled out with anything S6 or better), Move Through Cover, and Stealth. He must always be placed in Reserves and may be placed up to 1" away from an enemy model. Also, he can immediately enter ongoing reserves upon consolidating, sweeping a unit, or using H&R to get out of combat and can set up within 18" of his previous location when he left the field. More importantly he can make 3 pieces of terrain dangerous terrain for the enemy (which is why you include him in your army). His Ld 7 is not much of an issue due to ''Fearless'', but is an issue if he deals with attacks that force a leadership test. Also, his blade is AP-, so you better hope he hits on that 2+. Lastly his CQC ability is hindered by the fact that nothing can assault out of reserves. (It is rumored that this is why GW is making 8th edition.) Much like old Marbo, you want to use this guy as a melee suicide attacker to ruin some expensive squad's day before dying gloriously. If he draws the fire of even one unit for one turn, he's made his points back. If you want him to more reliably survive, have him go after lone small model count objective campers.
{{40k-Nonvehicle-Model-Profile|Sly Marbo|25|5|5|3|3|2|5|4|7|5|fnp=5|type=Infantry (Character)|composition=1 (Unique)|clear=Yes}}
====Forge World====
*'''[[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):''' There are two kinds of Artillery units in the Guard arsenal: small squad-sized units whose job it is to deal with a specific enemy very, ''very'' well, and larger, platoon-sized units whose job it is to deal with ''everything,'' though not perfectly. Field Artillery falls into the former category. They're immobile, dirt cheap, durable, and eat blobs for breakfast. Heavy mortars are what you expect them to be - stronger mortars with bigger blasts. Like the ones on the Griffon, but without Accurate Bombardment. Quad guns on the other hand spam enormous amounts of weaker anti-infantry blasts with extra -1Ld for the 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.
**'''Tactical Note:''' The choice between taking these and a squadron of Wyverns is largely down to you; Wyverns offer a weaker base profile but get rerolls on everything, making them better against most targets (except other vehicles, since the heavy mortar's ordnance power can punch through the side armor on some units; the Wyvern doesn't reroll vs AV). On the other hand, as vehicles, they're vulnerable to assault and high-AP weaponry, whereas your artillery crew are just vulnerable to assault and tend to stick around if given cover, given their high shooting toughness. In terms of actual money, however, the Wyvern is by far the easier option; as a Forge World model, Field Artillery will gouge you.
*'''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 the 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 a 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 a heavy mech list. Also the "transport" rule have been removed from the Atlas in FAQ. So no cheap AV 14 transport for primaris psyker.

===Fast Attack=== 
Imperial Guard have a surprising amount of options, including a large selection of flyers. With Imperial Armor:Aeronautica, the IG is the most flyer-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. For information on how this selection interacts with the new Death From the Skies book, see the Tactics section.

*'''[[Sentinel|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. They have two Hull Points. 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.

*'''[[Sentinel|Armored Sentinel Squadron:]]''' Armored Heavy Weapons Team, except you can move around and fire, unlike Heavy Weapon Teams. Plus you can take 2 Sentinels with lascannons for a single Heavy Weapons squad with 3 lascannons. 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. Officially made amazing (150 points for three Armoured Sentinels with Plasma Cannons.)
** Amazing when going for an army with lots of vehicles as they are both a cheap way to bring devastating weapons on the field ( You may lack in number of weapons if using a lot of vehicles ) and will inevitably need AV to be taken down, AV that will be crucial to your opponent. They have the same AVs as Chimeras and will offer a tough choice to your opponent as to which they should take down.
** Grab full squadron of of them. Don't buy any upgrades, multilasers are everything they need.  If you use them this way, don't buy them anything (maybe HKM to piss off your opponent and focus his attention on them). Camo netting only makes them more expensive, while they are here to be a cheap (as in 120 points cheap) annoyance and disstraction. Set them on flank and send to hunt down enemy obsec units. One of two things will happen: Enemy player does ignore them, so you can pepper his transports and units with 9 S6 shots OR Enemy player doesn't ignore them, and dedicates this sweet S6/7 weaponry after them,  wasting a turn or three. Don't forget to change front Sentinel so squad as a whole can survive a bit longer. These little shits are anoying as without some high strength guns they WILL stay there, and focusing them with such is quite a dilemma when you got Leman Russ, Basilisk, or angry Chimeras bearing down on you.
** 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.

*'''Rough Rider Squad[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQYyLiZwosQ]:''' Guardsmen on Horseback, Rough Riders are generally not worth their points in 7th for many reasons. Their selling points are that they're Cavalry, and they can take Hunting Lances. However, between their low attacks and weapon skill as well as suffering inevitable casualties during Overwatch, they tend to bounce off targets more often than not. Do not even dare to engage Terminators or units with Defensive Grenades, for it will end badly for you. In short, Rough Riders are a fairly bad unit in general.
** Despite this, should you still wish to use Rough Riders then they do have things that other units cannot do. For one, they can replace two of their Hunting Lances with Special Weapons (meaning Flamers), giving Guard access to 12-inch flamers which normally require Hellhounds or a Techpriest. With proper conga-line shenanigans, they can maintain range to benefit from Forwards For the Emperor, letting them move 12", flame a target, then run back while benefiting from Fleet. However, a minimum-sized unit with two flamers costs the same as a Wyvern, which is far superior in terms of durability, range, and killing. However, what the Rough Riders provide is a distraction and unit for capping objectives. 

*'''[[Hellhound Tank|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. Also, now with 7th Edition, Template weapons passing over fire points on buildings or touching an Open Topped vehicle inflict D6 randomly allocated wounds that are resolved at the strength and AP of the template weapon to units embarked in those transports. Now a must include if you want a cup of your Dark Eldar or Ork opponent's tears.
**The standard '''[[Hellhound Tank|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) 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 7th edition fast vehicles can now fire 2 weapons at full BS at cruising speed, so enjoy the possibilities of hull weaponry combinations. Using a Company Commander with Grand Strategist warlord trait 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.
**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. Alternatively, replace the hull heavy bolter for a multi-melta for some insurance tank busting. 
  
*'''[[Valkyrie|Valkyrie Assault Carrier Squadron:]]''' (Attack Flyer) 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...
*'''[[Valkyrie|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.  Its 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 fluff the space is taken up by the power cells and cabling of the Lascannons but Forgeworld was just too lazy to also make an interior upgrade for the Vendetta). In the end, it's still basically a flying Predator.  Will you still use it?  Depends on how you like your anti-air. There are a few tricks you can pull with the reduced transport capacity, though: see the Tactics section for details.
*** It should be noted that both the Valkyrie and the Vendetta can take a pair of Heavy Bolter side sponsons. In most cases, these heavy bolters will rarely be used. In both aircraft, the Heavy Bolters give some protection on the sides. With Valkyries, the sponsons add an extra bit of anti infantry firepower. On Vendettas, the Heavy Bolters add weapons that can be disabled in place of the Lascannons. In either case, Heavy Bolter sponsons are not auto include for either craft.

====Forge World====
*'''[[Sentinel|Drop Sentinel Squadron:]] (Forge World)''' 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 a heavy flamer 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.

*'''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. Thanks to them being open topped these are your only assault transports outside of the LoW slot, and are dirt cheap too, unfortunately Ogryn squads won't fit so you probably won't ever use these for assault. 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.

**'''[[Valkyrie|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.
**'''[[Valkyrie|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 <s>buying</s> 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?  (Alternate take) This fighter once again suffers from people not realizing it's purpose on a battlefield. It's not designed to be a knock down-drag out fighter, it's meant to zip in, kill something, and zip out.  In order to do this, it has a few special rules that help it in it's job, specifically Deep Strike, Flare and Chaff launchers, and Agile.  If an enemy flyer is giving you grief, deep strike this guy right behind it. Since it is a flyer, it ignores all models and terrain below it (and thus, can't mishap due to terrain or enemy models), so typically you will get a shot on the enemy's rear armor with Sky strikes (TL against flyers thanks to heat seeking), the autocannon, and your lascannon (TL). A solid 4 shots at 7 and 1 at 9 is usually enough to force an enemy flier to jink (rendering it mostly useless) and could quite easily kill it. If not, you are in the perfect position to A: Fly off the board and try again or B: dogfight with the knowledge that 90% of fliers don't have rear or side facing weapons (unless they have vector dancer, then all you have to worry about is snap shots). In your defense, you have the 3+ agile jink save, and a one use 4+ invul against missile weapons (take that seeker missiles!). While it's true you are vulnerable to lucky shots or bad rolls, everyone in the game is. This little guy just happens to have a better shot at survival than most. 

**'''Aquila Lander (Forge World):''' Who the hell designed this piece of shit? For 15 points less than Valkyrie you get an all around worse transport flyer with pathetic armor, weak guns and a claustrophobic transport capacity of 7,but also supersonic. 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.

*'''Mukaali Rough Rider Squad: (Forgeworld)''' Objectively better Rough Riders for two main reasons: '''1:'''  they have Toughness 4 which means that they have a 50% chance of surviving being punched by a space marine rather than a crappy 33% chance that normal rough riders get. and '''2:''' they have two wounds each, which practically doubles their survivability on anything S7 or less. Of lesser note, they do have a S5 Hammer of Wrath attack which means that charging is with them is slightly improved, they fall back shorter distances, which will rarely factor into anything and their Initiative is lowered to 2, but that means nothing since Hunting Lances always strike at I5. They still suffer the same downsides as regular rough riders though, such as paper-thin armour that won't help against the majority of weapons out there and their hunting lances only work once, so they still have no use after the very first charge. Their cost is appropriate for 2-wound cavalry though, just don't build your strategies around them, they will still die against any half-decent melee unit.

===Heavy Support=== 
*'''[[Leman Russ Battle Tank|Leman Russ Squadron]]:''' The Leman Russ is your big tank. Each tank is a Heavy Vehicle, with Front Armor 14 and Side Armor 13; as a result they are remarkably resilient against conventional anti-tank, though they're still vulnerable to melee, D, Haywire and Grav so keep them protected! Fundamentally, the main difference between each tank is its turret, and whether it has rear armor 11 or 10. 
**'''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. 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. Or save the points and leave it bare-bones. With only AP3 and relatively weak strength as far as Guard ordnance goes, its main job nowadays is to smoke MEQ and Necrons from across the field, which puts it in competition with the Basilisk. Your choice if the loss of Barrage and the extra armor is worth the 25 point difference.
**'''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, or turn it into a true jack-of-all-trades with a set of multi-meltas and a lascannon. If you feel like it, add Pask - and watch it destroy Predators and Falcon grav tanks with ease, while standing a chance to <s>glance</s> rendingly penetrate Land Raiders ('''!'''). It's also the only Russ that can semi-competently do AA duty; while nearly twice the points and not as long-ranged as a Hydra, it's got ''much'' better armor, isn't open-topped, 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. Not very useful really considering the amount of melta you should already have, if you use it primarily against vehicles. However, it can be made a beast! If you want to get the most out of this tank, some way of giving it BS 4 is a must, if only to remove the unreliability of the main gun. This can be done through either giving this tank to a tank commander or putting it in the Emperor's Fist formation from Mont'ka. Give it a Lascannon as well as Plasma Sponson - and you get a unit perfectly fit to fight against heavy infantry AND tanks, turning the Vanquisher into a reliable source of AP 2 and long-range tank-killing goodness.  Combine with Pask for further murder. Suddenly you have guaranteed preferred enemy, ensuring he and his buddy don't cook themselves with plasma and giving the hull gun a further accuracy boost. More importantly, he essentially gives the V-cannon twinlinked and tank hunter. Nightmarish for vehicles and sure to put a hell of a dent in most monstrous creatures. Don't forget to take a Heavy Stubber to remove that last wound off the enemy Trygon. (why the regular russ doesn't carry different types of rounds is anyone's guess)
**'''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?), and only 24" range so while you do demolish what ever you shoot at, you're now within Melta/assault range. 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.
***Mathhammer- Target: 5 man Terminator Squad. Battle Cannon, 3 hits on a good roll? 2.5 wounds. ~40% of a kill. Punisher cannon. 10 hits. 6.66 Wounds, 1.11 kills. Demolisher would likely score 1.6 kills, .8 vs Storm Shield Termies. T6, 3+ Monsterous Creature: Battle cannon, 1 hit, .83 unsaved wounds. Punisher, 10 hits, 3.333 wounds, 1.11 unsaved wounds. Blob of GEQ in cover. Battle Cannon, 5 hits? 7 if it's dense? 4.1-5.8 wounds. ~3.2 unsaved. Punisher 8.33 wounds, 5.55 unsaved. Battle Cannons and Demolishers will out perform it vs Vehicles perhaps (At least without Pask), against marines in the open (And if that was a common target, everyone would love Rubric Marines, and yes, in the open. 5 marines with a 5+ cover save will suffer more casualties from a Punisher than a Battle Cannon), and non-jinking MEQ Bikers, but against most everything else the Punisher lives up to it's name BEFORE boosts. The Punisher benefits far more from BS boosts than a battle cannon. Just keep that in mind.
**'''Leman Russ Executioner:''' Not quite as god tier as it once was because the main cannon now has Gets Hot (since the Techpriests on Ryza got drunk and forgot how to make good Plasma weapons that don't overheat one day during the hangover), but still capable of chucking down sizeable 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 (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.
***'''Important Note:''' You'll get that re-roll from Pask and vehicles get a 4+ 'save' to resist the lost hull point from a 'Gets Hot' result which should make this Russ more survivable. Keep this in mind, because your Executioner is statistically likely to Get Hot by the end of turn 2; with the extra roll the tank can go 4 turns without glancing itself (this drops to just over 2 if you took sponsons). Twin-Linking is still helpful, of course.
***Alternative take: Use Executioner as Tank Commander's co-tank. If you take Pask as the main tank, you get to reroll "Gets Hot" results due to having preferred enemy (Final GW FAQ confirms this), so it rerolls 1's for to hit and to wound rolls. Also due to S7 you wound basically everything with 2+, making it rerollable if you fail any wound rolls.
***Alternative 2: Add Trojan with Techpriest to the mix, giving everyone within 12" bubble Preferred enemy. See above, except for your whole heavy ordnance. Ouch!

*'''Leman Russ Conqueror Squadron (Forge World):''' It's kinda light version of Leman Russ Battle Tank - Conqueror turret cannon comes with less range and less blast radius, 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. 
**'''Second Opinion''': Siege of Vraks updated this to 7th making it 35 points cheaper and fast. Cheap surprise carniflex that can charge forward to eat troops or act as mobile cover. Very fun to use. Infuriatingly only available to Kriegers by RAW. Ally them in or convince your opponent to let you use them in a mainline Guard army.

*'''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. Only superior to the LR Vanquisher against MC's, and in that case it actually loses out to the Exterminator, which is much better against everything else. Leave the lascannons on your hull, they don't belong in the turret.

*'''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. 

**'''Alternate Take:''' It's  25 points more expensive than the Vanquisher and 35 more than the basilisk, but it's small (for a tank), and it's probably the most reliable long-range anti-tank the Guard has. Against AV14 it has a 41% chance of doing damage without any support; most other long-range Guard ordnance has MUCH worse than this due to BS3 (The Vanquisher, for example, has a 36% chance if you include BS), and you'll need to pay 50 points for a Primaris Psyker to compensate for that. The only way to get more effective AT (equal or greater damage at equal or greater accuracy) for LESS is to either take a Medusa Siege Gun artillery carriage and attach a Primaris Psyker rolling on divination (150 for one gun with no extra crew), or take Rapier batteries (132 for three guns with extra crew), and in either case you lose range and mobility (the Medusa will cap out at 48" with Bastion Breacher shells, and the Rapier caps out at 36"). Something to consider if you're fighting enemy armor at long range.
***'''Counterpoint:''' It's only a good idea if you want to run PURE guard. Otherwise it loses out to an allied Vindicare Assassin; he's 10 points cheaper, can snap up 3+ cover saves in terrain (while the Destroyer can only get them by the 25% rule and must buy camo netting to get a save that good), more effective against armor (he has a 46% chance to damage AV14 and a better chance than the Destroyer to hurt anything else), MUCH more effective against things that aren't armor, and ignores cover saves. 7th edition is ally edition; USE them!

* '''Thunderer Siege Tank Squadron (Forge World):''' It's a Leman Russ chassis with a hull-mounted demolisher cannon. Unlike LR Demolisher it has no front/side sponsons (which, thanks to Ordnance, you probably weren't using anyway), and the lack of that turret weighing it down means 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 the SM analog: it's slightly smaller (important for vehicles, since you want that cover save), has access to camo netting, and has better armor on every facing (including the rear, since it's a siege tank chassis; enjoy plowing through piles of S4 models laughing like the treadhead you are).
**'''Tactical Note:''' Any player who knows what a pain in the ass a Vindicator is will put an enormous amount of firepower towards bringing this tank down, since it's more dangerous in literally every way that matters. As with all Russes, don't let it get flanked (AV11 is nice but won't save you from a squad of Sternguard with combi-meltas), and get it in close early so it can do its job and make back its points. Also note that since its front armor is 14, it can ram at S8, while the Vindicator only rams at S7, making Thunderer rams dangerous to anything AV13 and worse. Any penetrating hit that doesn't also immobilize you will cost you that demolisher shot, so be prepared to do so.
*'''[[Imperial_Ordnance_Pieces|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. On a side note, almost all artillery tanks can replace their hull-mounted heavy bolter with a heavy flamer for free. While this is more of a choice with tanks like the Russ and Chimera, on Artillery tanks you should almost always go with the flamer. If enemies are close enough that you have to resort to the secondary weapons, a heavy bolter with guardsmen BS isn't going to save you against much of anything, but a heavy flamer shot to the face will ruin just about anybody's day. 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.
***'''Tactical Note:''' Like many Guard heavy support units, the Basilisk needs support to really shine. Give it twin-linking with a Primaris Psyker (or the Emperor's Wrath formation, see below) and Ignore Cover from the same and suddenly it's the most dangerous unit on the field, able to delete entire squads of ''anything'' that's not TEQ/MC. 3 of these with an ML2 psyker is the same price as the Leman Russ squadron you'd get otherwise, and you get better strength and two powers from the Divination table.
***The choice between the Earthshaker cannon versus the Medusa cannon, both as Artillery units and self-propelled guns, became a bit more complicated in 7th Edition; as the Earthshaker is a Barrage weapon and Medusa is not. Barrage weapons determine cover saves and wound allocation from the blast marker's hole, even when firing directly, and Multiple Barrages scatter tighter than separate Large Blasts. This means the Earthshaker cannon has more chances to snipe a particular model, deny cover saves to enemy vehicles and monsters (tip: use the Tank/Monster Hunters order on a full Earthshaker artillery battery and watch parking lots and Nidzillas explode), and more chances to hit other enemy units even when one of its blast markers scatters than the Medusa cannon, and it can also fire indirectly, so it has more utility.
*** praise the Emperor, with formations now available in regular games the issues normally faced by the Basilisk are removed by the direct fire support battery, and even better, it can be fielded as a good old squadron of three (or you can take five but really [[Death_Korps_of_Krieg|who would do that]]) 
**'''[[Imperial_Ordnance_Pieces|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.
***'''Tactical Note:''' Much of the above gets ''completely'' turned on its head if you take the Colossus as part of a Death Korps Siege regiment. Kriegers use supercharged shells in their Colossi, giving them more explosive-no, probably not, it's more likely an errata error of some kind, but Death Korps Colossi have S8 instead of S6. So it's effectively a slightly weaker Basilisk with better minimum range and Ignores Cover, though it still can't fire directly.
**'''[[Imperial_Ordnance_Pieces|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.
***'''Tactical Note:''' Due to the way Barrage weapons are resolved in 7th edition, using a Griffon in a squadron of heavier artillery pieces, such as Basilisks or Colossi allows you to fire 'tracer shots', improving the accuracy of your other artillery pieces . Open a shooting attack with the Griffon, and twin-link the shot if it doesn't go where you want it. Then fire the ''big'' guns, and scatter them off your precision-guided mortar shell.
**'''[[Medusa_Siege_Gun|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.
***'''Tactical Note:''' The Medusa also has the ''shortest'' range of the Imperial artillery pieces: a piddling 36", leaving it out-ranged by man-portable ''lascannons.'' Keep this in mind when throwing out those S10AP2 blasts of doom; you'll be a lot more likely to suffer counter-battery fire with such poor range ''and'' the need to direct-fire.

* '''Heavy Artillery Carriage Battery (Forge World):''' This is artillery variants of the Basilisk and Medusa and in 7th edition, artillery is awesome (until someone charges it). They are immobile and need crew, which can be killed (though, they use gun's Toughness 7 against enemy shots, so unless they get charged they're liable to stick around), 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, Primaris Psyker (which is maybe the best option, since he can try to twin-link the battery with Divination; also the only way to move the battery without towing due to Levitation) or Creed/Kell to make them listen to your orders most of the time. You can also buy Camo Netting, but beware of [[Rules Lawyer]]: by RAW, camo netting only works on vehicles. Then plop the whole battery behind an Aegis line and get that sweet 3+ save.
**'''Tactical Note:''' These guys can be ''beastly'' if you kit them out properly and support them. A trio of these, with their combined crew of 12, is 225 points, and is a ''24-wound unit.'' With max crew the unit has ''36'' wounds and is under 300 points-and they're still T7 in shooting. A skeleton-crew battery with a Primaris psyker to buff leadership and roll on Divination is 275, and a nearby CCS in a chimera makes a combined total of 400 points even, for a unit that can drop 3 twin-linked, cover-ignoring S9AP3 Ordnance Barrage pieplates anywhere on all but the largest of Apoc boards. Anything short of Terminators will be pasted in short order by these guys, and as long as you keep them out of melee they'll stick around to deliver pain for the whole game, and if you toss in some meltavets in a Chimera the whole FoC can be a 550-point Allied Detachment to support any Imperial Army. Hammer of the Emperor indeed.

*'''[[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.
***'''Counterpoint:''' You need an unsaved wound to force a grounding test, and most FMC's that you actually need to bring down, such as Flyrants, have a 3+ armor save, which takes your 1.5 hits...to 0.5 wounds. This doesn't make the hydra useless; you simply can't afford to split fire with it.

*'''[[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! The cherry on top? They're dirt cheap. 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 lose 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. Also barrage, what it does is focus all blasts from a single unit (that is 12(!) blasts with reroll to wound and to hit from 3 wyverns) in a small area. Go ahead and force some unlucky squad to take a fuckton of potential wounds (remember, it's a blast weapon so  more like 60 potential wounds if Small Blasts cover 5 models per blast) with Look out sir! for their leader, with some luck you can snipe enemy commander on turn 1. Many say broken. I say fantastic. Even TEQ will shudder at having to roll potentially 40 saves.
***'''Counterpoint:'''No, I'm not about to argue this isn't good. In fact, the Wyvern is the meanest, most cost-effective unit in the IG codex right now. But it can be a pain to use; large numbers of blast attacks, with rerolls for everything, mean it's easy to lose track of what attack you're making, how many wounds your opponent has to roll for what unit, et cetera. Bring a notepad if you have an entire battery of these things; you'll need it.

*'''[[Manticore Rocket Launcher|Manticore Launcher Tank]]:''' Mixed-bag. Good for the points, bigger blast range than hell, but can't deal with marines, and has an infuriatingly long minimum range. Drop it back by your Basilisks or Heavy Weapons, since it's not gonna do any good at the front lines. Good points are simple: They're not open-topped, 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 the Manticore or the enemy ends up demolished; if your manticore has fired all four rockets, have it tank shock everything in sight, because ''it has already won''). 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 (if your opponent is stupid enough to let it do its thing, but at an event you can't always guarantee playing against Orks). 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; with the new Necron codex, hitting Necrons with Instant Death-level attacks is invaluable for suppressing their Reanimation Protocols.
**'''Alternate Take:''' Consider throwing your Storm Eagle rockets at enemy Super-Heavy vehicles. The D3 shots and large pie plates (combined with a large target) means you're going to hit on average 2 or so times; 3 if you're lucky. S10 Ordnance will reliably glance and even penetrate AV14; with AP4 the vehicle damage roll won't do anything, but that doesn't matter, because you've brought that Necron monolith to half HP in one shooting attack. What other armies hope to do with precision shooting, melta-style weapons and other high-BS low-AP trickery, the Guard accomplish with simple overwhelming firepower!
** 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 [[Caestus Assault Ram|heavily armored flyers]], otherwise almost invulnerable to Hydra fire.

*'''[[Deathstrike Missile Launcher|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 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. Unlike the Hydra platform, it's still viable, since it comes with the biggest discount, at 75 points; less than ''half'' the price of the tank-mounted version. Use them to spam 7" blasts of hell; it's even worth it to hide them behind Bastion/Aegis lines for camo net improved cover saves.

*'''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):'''- The Heavy Support version of the lascannon, which means four of them strapped together. This IS the shit. Cheap in both points and money, it is treated as artillery with the extremely bulky rule now, making them Toughness 7 in shooting. Between extra crew and some good cover, they ''will'' stick around. No sticking them in Chimeras, though; only Infantry units can embark inside transports (even superheavies) and the Rapier is an artillery unit. But that doesn't matter, since as non-vehicles they can accept orders, like 'Bring It Down!' (Ordnance isn't a reroll; enjoy your 4 chances at armor pen ''per shot'') and 'Fire on My Target!' (which, combined with AP2, sends your hapless opponent straight to invuln/FNP saves). And the best part? The Rapier is ''twin-linked'' making it a decent ad-hoc anti-air weapon (3 of these will average 1.167 hits, which at S9 AP2 Ordnance ''will'' hurt anythig that flies) Remember: Ordnance may fire snapshots, as long its not a template/blast weapon. Downsides include (relatively) short range and a chance of exploding when one of the guns is destroyed, but at 40 points and £30, why in the name of Slaanesh's self-removing pants are you not taking at least one? You want to reliably kill tanks?! Knock yourself out.
**'''Alternate Take:''' With 7th edition in full swing, many armies have codices dripping with high-toughness Monstrous Creatures, and though on the face of it the Rapier appears to be designed for anti-tank work, it does not underperform against MC's, either. A battery of them will reliably inflict at least one wound on everything short of T10 (though this drops to T8 if the target has a 5+ FNP), and with orders you can ignore cover, denying that [[Wraithknight|manbarbie]] his toe-on-ruins bullshit (or, if he's in the open, give them Shred and average 1.28 wounds a turn instead of 0.96). And if he swings the D at you? Congrats, you killed two guardsmen (''less'', if you put them behind cover). The squad can have ''six'', and can lose ''half'' of those before they actually start losing firing capability. Just keep them out of melee.

*'''[[Sentinel|Sentinel Power Lifter Squadron]] (Forge World):''' Assault sentinels... wooo! They are the cheapest of all sentinels and come with basically close-combat autocannons. Funny and fluffy, but it's not really worth spending HS slot on them.
**'''Alternate Take:''' There's many, ''many'' ways to get around FOC limitations these days due to formations, so let's look at these boys on their merits alone. They're S7AP4 models with 2 attacks (as stated above, essentially an autocannon in melee) and AV 10/10/10, with I3. Not a dreadnought. Not even close. But you shouldn't expect them to be, because they're 30 points a model. 3 of these can put the pain on GEQ hordes for a bargain. Or course, you have to get them into melee first.

*'''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 [[Emperor|god]], you can hide them inside Chimera). If you get lucky, enjoy suicide-bombing a 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.)
**'''Tactical Thought:''' Like all Imperial AtG attack aircraft that haven't been updated in two editions, it still has Deep Strike, so plop it behind that enemy tank you're so worried about and chew him a new asshole with 7 S6 shots, 2 S9 shots, and whatever else you felt like strapping on, all at BS4. Then jink your way through a turn of enemy shooting, and supersonic your way off the board to do it all again in a turn. Guard rule the skies, and this is why.

===Fortifications=== 

Here are the general tactics for [[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. Always choose the flak gun (it's statistically better against everything, and the model comes with the kit, anyway), and always have your Platoon Commander fire it so you don't waste his BS4 on a las weapon. 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. Combined with "Get back in the fight" orders and GTG for 2+ cover guardsmen. 
**'''Tactical Note:''' While we're on the subject of orders, if you hold off on that interceptor shot, you can order the unit firing the flak cannon, turning those 4 S7 shots into something ''really'' mean. Against FMC's and anything with better than a 4+ save, you're better off ordering 'Bring it Down', since he'll never jink anyway. With a BS4 shooter this will statistically ''guarantee'' a grounding test. Against vehicles, 'Bring it Down' can serve the purpose of scaring your opponent into jinking, since 4 BS4 shots with rerolls on ''everything'' is capable of putting out a ''lot'' of pain. Remember that if that gunship spends the entire game jinking and zooming around the field, it's not a serious threat.
*'''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!
**With the "Ready For Take-Off" upgrade ( Only 5 points ), this becomes a very good fortification that is probably a must have if you planned to use it and a Vendetta. Deploy the Vendetta(s) in it ( In Hover mode for the first turn ) and don't move it/them : You got yourself AV12 4+ Invuln Twin-Linked full-BS lascannons all around with a very good LOS. Next turn ( It is quite unlikely a Vendetta has been taken down by now ), zoom out and do Vendetta stuff as you would normally. This gets you a guaranteed 2nd turn Vendetta for the "cost" of having it sitting on the landing pad with a 4+ invulnerable save on first turn, during which it will still be able to fire its payload at full BS. If you plan on taking Vendettas but don't like spending points on reserve roll trickery ( Which puts you on par with Skavens concerning reliability ) you can easily rationalise incorporating that Skyshield into your army ( Park your officers, heavy weapons teams, tanks, artillery on it, whatever : 4++ is GOOD - AV14 4++ isn't going anywhere ) for a fine piece of fortification that will act as an excellent Vendetta force multiplier.
*'''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 your enemy's sky. 
*'''[[Fortress of Redemption]]:''' Expensive both in points and actual kit price, 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 twin-linked lascannon, 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 (fragstorm and krakstorm pieplates). 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 the standard Guardsman's ballistic skill. With all this heavy ordnance, you want to get as many BS4 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 Stubborn 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 Stubborn rule. 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. In fact, if you want Stubborn, get a Commissar!
**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.
*'''Plasma Obliterator:''' Oh my...a simple building at AV14 all around, but has a Plasma Obliterator which fires a 7" Massive Blast at S7 AP2. Want to obliterate its point cost in heavy infantry? Look no further. However, it still gets hot (luckily since it's a fortification it gets a 4+ save against it), and it has a new rule called '''Plasma Overheat''' which means if it takes a glancing hit due to Gets Hot!  a unit embarked takes D3 randomly allocated wounds (just as with classic gets hot! allow saves). You'd think a building the size of a Bastion would have an external cooling system to prevent this fucking rule...still,  at 230 points it's quite an expensive Fortification, but oh man will this thing melt hordes, regardless of how good their save is. Just do yourself a favour an keep it occupied at all times, lest it being taken by the enemy or it starts firing with automated fire. Believe me the last thing you want is a 7" blast of fiery plasma death going off and scattering about anywhere near your units.
*'''Promethium Relay Pipes:''' 4+ Cover save, like the Aegis but with a special bonus, if a model is armed with a Flamer weapon then it becomes Torrent if a non-vehicle model's within 2" of a pipe, by plugging into a valve and spewing out more burning fuel than usual. Using it for Cover  does have the slight inconvenience of the pipes venting an explosion and causing 1d6 S4AP5 hits on the unit taking cover, 1/6th of the time the unit makes its Cover save (meaning 1/6th of the time a shot hits the pipe). This could be be quite distressing for T3 5+ Guardsmen squads if the 1d6 hit happens to roll high.
**'''Tactical Note:''' You can bypass the problem of taking cover behind flammables by buying a few barricades and having your men take cover behind ''those,'' with the pipe behind them (the rule specifies that the unit is only at risk if its using the ''pipe'' for its cover save). This not only allows them to take the 4+ cover save with impunity, it also gives them some protection against flanking.
*'''Void Shield Generator:''' Big ol' AV12 bubble to hide behind and shoot with impunity. 50pts. Want two more layers? 100pts. Goody gumdrops.
*'''Void Relay Network:''' 3 layers of AV12 bubbles not good enough for you? How about 9 layers? Plus 1 to 3 Promethium Relay Pipes to provide your squads with flamers some cover when the void shields inevitably collapse? Might be good for a gunline though the points inevitably add up.
*'''Munitorum Armoured Container Cache:''' GWs newest Fortification is actually a collection of seperate objects. Namely 1 container 4 ammo boxes and 3 fuel drums, which all need to be placed within a 12" radius but other than that can be placed any way you like. The ammo boxes give the standard 5+ cover save and rerolls of 1s within 2". The fuel drums work similar to the pipelines except they only give a 5+ cover save but you also only risk 1D3 S4AP5 hits. They also give the same torrent upgrade to any non-vehicle Flamer weapon within 2". The containers are big armoured containers (duh) you can hide behind [[What|but not inside]]. They can take two optional Storm Bolters that can both be fired by any unit in base contact. The first time any unit has base contact with a container you roll a D6 just as with Mysterious Objectives. The Containers can in fact also be used as Mysterious Objectives. In both cases they use the following table. 1: you take 1d6 S4AP6 hits, 2: Nothing (better luck next time); 3: every Armies of the Empire unit within 6" gets +1 Ld, 4: all Assault and Rapid Fire weapons within 6" get +1S (this includes the containers own Storm Bolters), 5: 4+ invul. for every model within 6", 6: a single use orbital strike that scatters 4D6 on an arrow.<br> You can take up to two additional Muntorum Armoured Container Caches at 40 points each with this fortification. Each cache can then be set-up seperately.
**For 40-120 points this is a nice collection of buffs and cover, which can be spread over quite an area. The rerollable 1s are a godsend for static squads with gets hot, like Plasma Devastators.

===Lords of War===
Thanks to the Escalation rules and Forge World, Guard have more Lord of War choices than any other army. Most of these can be found in Imperial Armor, Volume One (2nd edition), and they start at the surprisingly cheap price of 235 points (though by no means do they ''stop'' there...this is the army that allows you to take Imperial '''titans'''). You can still only take one per Combined Arms Detachment, so choose wisely.
====Malcador family====

These are the Guard's entry-level super-heavies. They're cheap enough that you could reasonably bring one to a 1850-point game, and you (probably) won't even lose any friendships over it.

*'''[[Malcador Heavy Tank|Malcador]]:''' At first glance, the vanilla Malcador doesn't seem to stack up well against a Leman Russ.  You're spending 50% more for similar armament and less armor; worse, the battle cannon is in a weird limited-traverse casemate, and the sponsons can't train forward.  Sure, it's got twice the hull points, but still, why would you buy this stupid thing?<br />''You'd buy it because it's a super-heavy, dumbass.''  It can fire each of its guns at different targets with full BS, it can't be immobilized, and Rams/Tank Shocks are terrifying.  It also ignores most of the Vehicle Damage Table, and an Explodes! roll just strips more hull points instead.  It's also cheap enough to fit into reasonably-sized games where you'd usually forget you even HAVE a Lord of War slot. 

*'''Malcador Defender:''' Instead of a Battle Cannon, has a bunker on the top with five Heavy Bolters all around and a Demolisher Cannon in the hull.  

*'''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. [[Great Crusade|Back in the day]], the [[Solar Auxilia]] knew how to make this bad boy fire Torrents; in modern times, the Adeptus Mechanicus has, appropriately, forgotten what 'torrent' means. Undaunted, the tank's machine spirit steps up its game and performs ''better'' than a Torrent weapon; instead of using the Torrent rule, the weapon's description instructs you to place the enormous S7 AP3 Hellstorm template up to ''18"'' from the gun's muzzle, with the wider end no closer than the narrow end. AP3 not good enough for you? Swap it out for the chemical variant for the same Hellstorm attack but at AP2 with Poisoned 2+. This thing is a nightmare for your opponent, but will justifiably draw fire due to its lower-than-a-Russ armor values. If you can maneuvre it well, however, it will earn its relatively low points cost back in a heartbeat. Also has sponson weapon options, which are good for finishing up the burned up squads.   

*'''[[Dohohoho|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?" Its blast is 7" and twin-linked with the drawback of being unable to fire directly (meaning 24" minimum range always). Also is [[Derp|built backwards]] meaning it has higher rear armour than on its front or sides, perhaps one of the few examples of Imperial technology which implies retreat is a valid tactic. 

====Macharius family====

A step up from the Malcador, and not quite so full of weird quirks.  About twice as expensive as a Russ, but you could make a reasonable argument that they're twice as powerful.

*'''[[Macharius Heavy Tank]]:''' Comparable to the Malcador, except with moar [[dakka|gunz]]. Standard Macharius has two sponsons and a [[rape|MASSIVE. BLAST. 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 heavy Stubbers in the front. If you somehow can afford a 50 pts increase you should seriously consider buying the Macharius Vanquisher below instead, as it can fire in exactly the same way [[Awesome|PLUS]] it can also fire like a twin-linked Vanquisher.

*'''Macharius Vanquisher:''' TWIN. LINKED. VANQUISHER. CANNONS. Also has sponsons on either side. Hull-mounted Heavy Stubbers also. Hilarious anti-tank firepower. It can fire either like a twin-linked Vanquisher or like a 7" blast battle cannon; making it by far the most versatile of the Macharius variants.

*'''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. There are no hull-mounted heavy stubbers but it can take autocannon sponsons. It is also an open topped vehicle and therefore more vulnerable to enemy fire. The main gun can either fire 3 plasma pie plates at 60" or one massive 7" blast at S9 and 72" but at the risk of Meltdown (like Gets Hot but with D3 Glancing hits/wounds). Burns through bio-titans and monstrous creatures like they're nothing. Also great of taking out squadrons of medium/light armour or hordes of TEQs.

*'''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 (four of 'em, two forward and two rearward) or a one-shot mortar array. It's tough as nails; AV14 on the front and sides, and the solid ceramite prow gives you a 4+ invuln on the front facing. In short, this thing will NOT be killed from the front. But not so fast - the rear plate is AV10, and the Gorgon is Open-Topped (with no fire points...no, really, you can't fire out of it), so if it gets caught in melee it's pretty much scrap metal. It's also the ''only'' IG Assault Transport aside from the Centaur Tractor (by RAW, anyway; see below), by virtue of being Open-Topped. Pack two 8-man squads of Bullgryn into it and add a Priest to each; the Gorgon has the capacity to transport ''fifty'' models, and can disembark two at once. Then scratch your head in wonder at what sort of game could possibly require ''fifteen hundred points'' worth of melee and transportation.

*'''[[meme|CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT]]:''' Picks up where the Gorgon slacked off. Has two Heavy Bolters (which you should replace with better guns) on its nose, sponsons with more bolters and it's completely closed. Carrying capacity of 35 (compare to Gorgon's 50).  It's pretty much the IG's equivalent of a Land Raider (it costs exactly the same point-wise), and in grand Guard tradition, the CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT is more powerful, more durable (in terms of hull points, but ''not'' in terms of armor; the rear armor is still the Guard Super-Heavy standard of 12), can carry more than ''three times'' as many models, and is generally better at its job. ''This'' is how you get your Ogryn into melee; with all the transport capacity, you can fit a full squad (with up to ''five'' additional characters), or, since it's a Super-Heavy, a squad of five ''and'' a squad of six, both with Ministorum Priests. '''Get stuck in!'''
**'''Note:''' The one advantage the Land Raider has over this sexy beast is that it's been updated in the last two editions, so it actually knows what the Assault Transport rule is. The CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT doesn't ''specifically'' have the rule, and unlike the Gorgon it's ''not'' Open-Topped and thus doesn't have it by default, so by RAW your boys can't charge right out of the door, but ''come on.'' Do I need to write the name a fourth time? Discuss this with your opponent, of course.

*'''Praetor Armored Assault Launcher:''' CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT with its transport capacity replaced with a 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 one of three types of ammunition; in all modes it fires two twin-linked Primary Weapon missiles per turn. You're required to choose armament at the game start, but this is after all the models are on the table, allowing you to choose the best loadout to counter your opponent, making the Praetor very versatile. Facing the Flying Circus? Load Pilum SAM's and introduce them to the dirt. Lots of blobs? Load Firestorm missiles and eat cover saves for breakfast with a side of your opponent's tears. Enemy Super-Heavies got you down? The Foehammer is ready to smack a bitch up. 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 a S10 AP3 pieplate on the move or three of them while static. This thing is ''mean''; compared to a Basilisk, it has better minimum range (and unlike a Colossus, has no restriction against firing within it; presumably the mortars can be aimed straight up), better strength, and is ''much'' more durable; if kept still, it's more cost-effective than an entire battery of Basilisks, and this is probably the only place in 40k you'll see that written. Worth noting, there is no model of this thing, nor is there any official art; get kitbashing!

====Baneblade family====

Thoroughly awesome, but very pricey, at least in terms of points.  Ironically, they cost less ''money'' than the smaller super-heavies because you get them from GW instead of Forge World.

*'''[[Baneblade]]:''' The Baneblade is one of the most feared tanks the Imperium (and Chaos posers) have to offer. Sporting a Baneblade cannon (which shits out 10"wide lascannon pie plates at six feet), 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 nine hull points, AV14 front, AV13 side, and AV12 rear armor. Can be commandeered by a Commissar to REALLY motivate your troops. With 7th edition, IG players can take one Baneblade or one of its variants.
**'''Fortress of Arrogance:''' This special Baneblade gets to cart Yarrick's ass along for a hefty 940 pts (even counting the old man's cost), which he can embark and disembark like an open-topped vehicle without any of the damage penalties.  It's armed with lascannon sponsons, a Hunter-Killer, heavy bolters on the sponsons and hull, and a storm bolter (For Yarrick to shoot out the single firing point).  In addition, this is made for Ork stomping by halving Ork charge ranges while giving all Guard units within 12" of him Ld10.
**'''Baneblade 212 "Arethusa":''' A special Baneblade from IA1, this is a BS4 Baneblade with a co-axial autocannon with the main cannon, TL Heavy Bolters with the Demolisher cannon, two sponsons with Lascannons and TL Heavy Bolters, and a pintle heavy bolter (yes, ''heavy'' bolter; herr Weissman doesn't believe in anything less than AP4).  While the ability to ignore Shaken and Stunned on a 4+ is nice (though the new 7th ed 'Invincible Behemoth' rule makes it redundant), the main gift is the ability to make one weapon TL every turn, which with BS4 makes it irresistible (this stacks with the Co-Axial rule on the autocannon, which ''Arethusa,'' having its own statline, retains).  Seriously, the only caveat is that you can't use it on stuff that's ''already'' twin-linked, so that means a twin-linked Demolisher ''and'' A TWIN-LINKED BANEBLADE CANNON. It's 75 points more than a plain one, but DAMN if it doesn't make you moist. Play it using the shorter Mars-Pattern FW model for more easily-acquired cover saves for extra fun.

*'''Hellhammer:''' Baneblade without the Baneblade cannon. The Hellhammer cannon is shorter ranged and has a smaller template, but better strength and AP, ''and'' it ignores cover. But why take this when the Stormsword right down the corner is so much better?  Well, unlike all of the other Baneblade variants, the Hellhammer has a turret.  The extra flexibility offered by being able to engage any target while keeping the thicker armor pointed towards the main threat could swing your decision.
**'''Traitor's Bane:''' the king of Hellhammers, found in Warzone: Pandorax, this is a [[Catachan]] superheavy. On top of all the usual Hellhammer kit it comes with two extra sponson guns with lascannons as a matter of course and all heavy flamers are "Synched", which are still twin-linked, but are also S6 AP3, so when this tank gets close to things short of TEQ they are all dead. As an added bonus, it is a [[Derp|Stealth Tank]]!!! Which gives it a 6+ cover save when not in cover, and when against aircraft or flying creatures it gets Shrouded instead!

*'''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. All surviving models under its 7" blast gets caught within a shockwave zone which forces them to immediately take a dangerous terrain test after the normal damage from the blast is doled out. Not the best super heavy to take, but is fun. Shoot it at hordes or any large clusters of enemy models. It can also cart around 25 models, 10 of which can fire from the troop bay.

*'''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, 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. In previous versions, the Quake Cannon was a Barrage weapon, making this variant the largest artillery piece a Guard player could field without resorting to titans. Sadly it's lost that magic, but kept the minimum range, so it's not the best choice for a super-heavy; you're probably better off bringing an entire ''battery'' of Basilisks (which ends up being ''cheaper...'').

*'''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 shell that packs roughly the same destructive power as a Deathstrike Missile's plasma warhead; an enormously painful S10 AP1 10" blast primary weapon shot which denies cover saves and instagibs vehicles on a 5+ (which goes to ''3+'' vs those annoying drop pods). It will also turn anything with less than T6 or Eternal Warrior 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. 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 (the Baneblade is probably better at it, but it can't transport people).

*'''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 5" blast. Yup. It is the Titan Killer and is possibly one of the most useful Baneblade-based vehicles, due to the combination of power and it's massive ''ten-foot'' range. Only Vortex Deathstrike missiles and titans can send the D farther afield than this baby. Can trade a pair of lascannons for targeters to boost its BS by one (not so useful, since you're shooting a blast weapon, and most of the time you'll be aiming at such a large target that you'll only miss on an 11-12" scatter anyway). This is a very useful unit, especially when combined with lots of tanks in a non-apocalypse game, because it becomes the king of distraction carnifexes in this configuration : 120" range D weapon, 9 HP, rather cheap by Baneblade variant standards, and needs heavy firepower to bring down; even in melee, krak grenades will only barely damage it. For just over 1000 points, you can get yourself 3 Demolisher russes and this baby : Either your opponent focuses the russes and gets blown off the table ( If you bought the targeters, it has over 50% chance to hit its initial target, almost certainly bringing it down with Strength D), or he/she tries to get the Shadowsword and gets in range of the Demolisher cannons, and that deepstriking unit not being that useful as they will strike against AV12 backed by 9 HP and most likely suffer a nasty retaliation.

*'''Stormblade (FW):''' Taking the Shadowsword chassis and sticking the Plasma Cannon from a Titan on it. They call it a Plasma Blastgun, but that sounds pathetic; what it ''does,'' however, is not. The gun allows for two firing modes: Rapid and Full (power, presumably). Rapid gives you 2 shots at 72", S8 AP2 with a 7" Blast, and Full drops it down to 1 shot with 96" range S10 AP2 Apocalyptic Blast; either way, anything without an invuln save will melt. All attacks are Primary Weapon, so enemy vehicles will feel the pain, too. Also one of the few sources of plasma these days that won't Get Hot; Mars builds shit right.

*'''Stormlord:''' It's a Doomhammer chassis with more transport capacity and a Vulcan Mega bolter instead of a Magma 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 Stormlord doesn't move, it can fire at two different targets or twice at the same target! However, the most lulzy thing about this beast is that it can transport FORTY models. Don't get too worried about this, as the rules say it only counts as open topped '''ONLY''' for embark/disembark purposes, so you can not ally with some nasty melee units like assault terminators and get an awesomely massive charge out of it, sadly. However, up to twenty models can fire from the top-bay on the top, so you can also count this as a mobile firebase for your shooty infantry, though moving the tank still counts as movement for your units ''(though pivoting doesn't, when you want to point that Vulcan cannon at stuff).''

====Marauder family====

The [[Imperial Navy]] will occasionally lend the Guard a hand with these big-assed bombers.

*'''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 <b>Hellstorm Bombs</b>, 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 [[Exterminatus|DIE NOW]]. Unfortunate side effect is the tiny payload size. [[Deal with it|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 [[Troll|dare him to kill it]].
*'''Maurauder Destroyer''' Heavy Attack Plane. While the standard Maurauder is the Imperium's B-17 (if thats a B-17, I would love to the imperium's lancaster. imagine a bouncing demolisher shell!!!), 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 eight massive hellstrike missiles on the wings and three twin-linked autocannons in its nose. In addition to 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, <s>armor values</s>, possession of actual AA mounted guns and glorious bombing runs).

====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 anywhere near 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. Wraithknights and Imperial Knights will chop you into little bits of metal confetti. 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 (not even Manta - snapshots or not, blasts cannot hit flyers, guess that's why the Tau used aircraft as their main anti-titan weapons).
*'''[[Warhound Scout Titan]]:''' <s>Buy three!!!</s> Make three (if you want your titan to look stupid)!!! 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]]:''' <s>Buy</s> Make one! Gets two reaver-class arm weapons and one warhound-class carapace weapon or giant Rocket Launcher/Vortex Missile on its back.
*'''[[Warlord Battle Titan]]:''' BUY ONE <s>(if you want your titan to look stupid)</s> shut up, it's [[awesome]]!!! OR SCRATCH BUILD TO SAVE YOURSELF $2500USD (or buy it from China)!!! One of these will obliterate its cost in, say, Predator Annihilators or Baneblades, without a single scratch. It mounts two of the Reaver'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 no 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. <s>And remember - chicks dig giant robots</s> <s>''You're not fooling anyone Princeps''.</s> FUCK YOU I CAN TRY!

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 [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/6th_Edition_Tactics/Tau]] for details. Counter with Praetor Armoured Launcher using Pilums