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

===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.