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

====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'').