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

===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.