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

===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'').