Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Imperial Guard (section)

==Unit Analysis==
*''Keywords:'' Common keywords are {{W40Kkeyword|Astra Militarum}}, {{W40Kkeyword|Imperium}}, and the placeholder {{W40Kkeyword|<REGIMENT>}} which can be substituted for Cadian, Catachan, or the like.
*''Sergeants:'' Like most armies the Guard's infantry (and cavalry) squads have non-commissioned officers leading them. These Sergeants (or Bone'Eads, if you're an Ogryn) have +1 Attack and Leadership over the rest of the squad, and in Infantry squads they swap the longarm of the rest of the unit for a laspistol and chainsword. Infantry Squads, Scions, Veterans, Rough Riders, Ogryns, and Bullgryns all have sergeants in some form, none of whom cost more than the non-Sergeants in the squad with them.

===HQ===

====Regimental====
*'''Company Commander:''' Your go-to HQ if you're running an infantry list. Besides the fact that he's an {{W40Kkeyword|Officer}} and unlocks Command Squads, he's also your primary source of orders, capable of issuing orders to any two (before Warlord Traits and so forth) {{W40Kkeyword|<Regiment>}} infantry units in a given turn, including himself or other Commanders. Don't spend too much on his wargear unless you're playing a smaller game, where he's more likely to end up actually having to get in the thick of it: his main goal is to stick around and give orders. Comes stock with a Laspistol, chainsword and a 5++ save, with little reason to upgrade either weapon unless you're running a frontline {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} Commander, who might actually benefit from taking a power sword and upgunned pistol.
*'''Tank Commander:''' A single Leman Russ tank, with 3+ to hit and '''Tank Orders''' ([[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard(8E)#Orders|as seen in their section]]) to boost a single fellow Leman Russ (including themselves). In short, you're paying +25pts over a normal Russ for one order, BS3+, and an extra Russ as a HQ as opposed to Heavy. However, normal Russes also fit in a Spearhead Detachment more easily, where they can get Objective Secured. If you are short on objective controlling units and don't mind sacrificing some firepower, take a standard Russ; otherwise, if you can afford it, you should consider upgrading. Do note that because of the {{W40Kkeyword|Character}} keyword, however, they become easier to kill by Marines using the Tactical doctrine, which actually nerfs their survivability versus a normal Russ. In addition, that BS3+ isn't going to make those 25 points back if your tanks are destroyed on turn 1 or 2, so maybe don't upgrade all of your Russes, and also consider the benefits of fitting Russes into a Spearhead or Brigade detachment instead of spamming HQs.
**'''Note:''' A tank Commander ordering himself with Gunners, Kill on Sight has a roughly 73% accuracy, compared to the 50/50 of a normal russ, making them a lot better than normal Russes for loading up on sponsons and Plasma.  With a base Russ they have a 58% chance of hitting with the same orders, you're gonna want commanders to order themselves every-time. Any regular leman Russ will need Pask or a tank commander capable of multiple orders, (i.e. warlord trait or tace ace ability), to reliably get orders.

====Non Regimental====

====={{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Astra Telepathica}}=====
*'''Primaris Psyker:''' Compared to an Astropath you get a compulsory force stave, one more known power, and more durability. Can still only cast 1 a turn, so only bring him if you need HQs or are worried about snipers (he's tougher than an Astropath) or want to be able to smite like a big boy. Okayish in close combat. Keep a Commissar nearby in case Perils kills him- he'll still die, but it'll prevent mortal wounds from spilling over to anyone else.
**'''Note:''' These guys are a good way to spam (unmodified) Smite cheaply. On average he scores 1.79 mortal wounds per turn (assuming he's at full health - he gets a bit worse as his ability to survive Perils goes down), which likely is more damage than many other 46 point unit in this army will deal. Astropaths may be more efficient when it comes to utility, but being able to reliably get off Smite makes these a steal for their points. If you assume no one is attempting to Deny you, a Primaris Psyker's Points-Per-Wound with ''Smite'' is 22.33 (assuming he can live through Perils, which he can from full health, guaranteed); an Astropath's is 22.5 but their odds of actually casting ''Smite'' on 1D6 are abysmal. ''Psychic Maelstrom'' is generally much better than ''Smite'', so consider taking it as your 2nd backup power.
**The Primaris Psyker is a prime candidate for the Deathmask of Ollianus. He'll appreciate having a 4++ invul, especially once he gets into close combat. It's not uncommon for a Primaris Psyker to make his points back in close combat alone, either, as if he can either attack first or survive the attacks, he can bash his way through MEQs and even a good number of the named Marine characters. Plus, as a Psyker whose only ranged weapon is a Pistol anyway, he doesn't care about being locked in combat.

*'''Aradia Madellan:''' A 40 point Primaris Psyker that doesn't get to choose her powers but comes with Smite and a unique Warp Charge 8 power that gives a friendly Astra Militarum infantry unit +1 to hit. Yes please. It may be a hard cast to pull off, but a maxed out Conscript squad with accompanying Priest or Straken hitting on 4+, standard heavy weapons teams hitting on 3+, or Veterans/Stormtroopers hitting on 2+ is worth the risk. Yes, you can make your Veterans shoot as accurately as Custodes without going to Forgeworld now. Hilariously, she can still be popped by a generic Commissar if she would die as a result of Perils.
**One other significant difference between Aradia and the Primaris Psyker is that as a named character, she cannot take the Deathmask. Her survivability suffers a bit, but otherwise, she's every bit the competent melee fighter that the Primaris Psyker is.

====={{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Ministorum}}=====
*'''Uriah Jacobs:''' No longer available in a pure Guard list, since during his transition into Legends he lost the {{W40Kkeyword|ASTRA MILITARUM}} Keyword. His Attack and Leadership buff still affect your guys though, so its still perfectly fine to bring him in a allied {{W40Kkeyword|ADEPTUS MINISTORUM}} Detachment, provided Legends is allowed in whatever your playing.

====={{W40Kkeyword|Officio Prefectus}}=====
*'''Lord Commissar:''' A more expensive Commissar with a power sword, but improved in all key stats like ''not using up one of your crowded Elite choices'', offense (BS & WS2+), resilience (4W 4+/5++) and, most importantly, '''Ld9''' for his Aura of Discipline. He works best with squads small enough to benefit from Aura of Discipline without having to trigger Summary Execution, like Ogryn. Furthermore, he's the one with enough WS to properly use a Power Fist. Always replace his bolt pistol for a bolter; same price, double shots. 
** Post-FAQ the Lord Commissar has practically become an auto-include - for a mere 35 pts you get a LD9 aura, optional ATSKNF, insurance against Perils of the Warp, and a surprisingly decent melee character. If you have the points spare, a power fist is a good option given that he'll be hitting on 3+ with it.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}}, {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}} and Regimental Standard buffs to Ld work with Aura of Discipline, as the unit is replacing it's Leadership with the one of the Lord Commissar, and then all modificators apply. Otherwise you'd be able to ignore losses in the squad as following the logic of not applying the bonuses Lord Comissar didn't have any models slain in his unit. Uriah Jacobus too helps you get rerollable Ld10.
**By far the most point-efficient trick, if you don't mind putting your Warlord Trait into it, is to pair him up with a {{W40Kkeyword|Valhallan}} Warlord who is using the BRB trait Inspiring Leader. The Warlord buffs everyone nearby, including the Commissar, who then shares his new Ld10 with everyone nearby. Combined with their halved battleshock, you will almost never have to execute anyone!
**'''Officio Prefectus Command Tanks''' cost CP and aren't {{W40Kkeyword|Character}}s (unless you choose a Tank Commander but even then he has more than 10 wounds, so moot point anyway), so they tend to last less despite being a damn tank. They get you Ld9, but also lack the reroll. Likewise, you can always pay 2 CP to auto-pass Morale, or 1 CP to take the test on 1d3.
*'''Commissar Yarrick:''' Essentially a named Lord Commissar with a power <s>fist</s> ''klaw'' that costs a bit over three times that of a vanilla one with goodies (40 points if you could legally give a Lord Commissar a Storm Bolter, versus 100 points), but has a bunch of extra stuff on him. He's got three guns (Storm Bolter, Bolt Pistol, and Bale Eye Hot-Shot Laspistol), not that you'll use two of them, as there's nothing in the game the two pistols are better at killing than the storm bolter is.  Even better is his resilience, with T4, his 4++ Power Field, and FnP 3+ for his final wound (and he's legally healable with a medic). His main use is '''Hero of Hades Hive''', an aura of re-roll 1s to hit, re-rolling all failed hits against {{W40Kkeyword|Orks}} instead. Not just "Take Aim!" for shooting, but in melee as well. Your infantry squads may not be so eager to be in close combat, but Bullgryn and Crusaders are. For the cost, you could buy ''two'' Company Commanders to order the actual "Take Aim!" to your units, in addition to the Lord Commissar (and get +1CP in a Supreme Command Detachment)...but Yarrick's buff can stack with other orders, like a Laurels of Command that isn't free but is reliable and even affects vehicles. ''Plasma, woo!'' Yes, he has Summary Execution despite him not executing anyone in Hades Hive. 
**What Yarrick brings to the shooting phase, {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}}s get at the cost of not moving. Doesn't need to be against {{W40Kkeyword|orks}} either. Still, Yarrick enables moving plasma supercharge for them and buffs Fight Phase melee. The main benefit is moving supercharged plasma without needing to waste an order and you probably want to stay out of melee anyway, but it's very situational.
**Harker's got half the bonus he does, and old man Yarrick can beat his ass in melee. But if you're {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} and all you want is re-rolling 1s for plasma, by all means bring that guy instead.
**A fun idea to ruin someone's day - take Yarrick, bullgryns and a ministorum priest in a valkyrie. What results is 16 attacks from the bullgryn (on a charge) and 4 from Yarrick, all them effectively 3+ reroll 1's (effectively 78% accuracy) Bullgryn having S7 Ap-1 D2 and Yarrick with S6 Ap-3 D3 all with a possibly 65" move across the board. Possibilities include: killing doomsday arks on turn 1, tying up relic models (if not just killing them), and wiping out ork nob units.

===Troops===

Only two choices, though they're good enough. Well, and Tempestus Scions, but those are in their own section.

*'''Infantry Squad:''' Ten men, ten guns. These guys are the meat and potatoes of any non-Scion infantry list and at 4 points apiece, they're pretty efficient. That base 5+ save isn't great, but they can be surprisingly resilient in cover. The sergeant starts off with a laspistol and a chainsword, both of which can be swapped out for more powerful weapons. They can even take boltguns, which makes them actually contribute to a long-ranged firefight. One Guardsman can take a voxcaster, one can take a special weapon, and two Guardsman can combine into a single Heavy Weapons Team, which only counts as 1 model. As for the exact loadout these guys will use, it depends on their {{W40Kkeyword|<REGIMENT>}} and the battlefield role they'll be playing. 
**{{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} Guardsmen like taking flamers, and their sergeants will be better able to use high AP power weapons like a power fist or power axe. 
**{{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} gunlines can fire plasma weapons supercharged with less danger.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} squads will also like plasma, or even just sticking with basic lasguns and a bolter on the sarge, combining ranked fire with their regimental doctrine to lay down blistering fire at a safe-ish distance. Mixing Heavy Weapons Teams into your Infantry Squads isn't a bad move either, as you're essentially trading a lasgun for a heavy weapon and protecting your valuable weapons with plenty of lasgun chaff to die before they start taking wounds.
**The current meta in competitive circles seems to be taking the stock 10-man squad with no bells and whistles. As long as you have access to an officer to issue FRFSRF, this seems to be the most point efficient use of the humble infantry squad.
**Many competitive guard players have begun to take 90 or more guardsmen in their lists, this might sound unwise particularly given how easy they are to kill, but once you get into the mid to late game your opponent is unlikely to have enough anti-infantry to deal with the 40 guardsmen left, leaving them free to grab objectives and tarpit enemy vehicles. In addition with this many guardsmen you'll be on at least 18 command points with three battalions and all for the low low price of 40pts per unit.
**A large swarm of guardsmen can carpet the board very quickly, especially with move, move, move! In many cases this is enough to force crash and burn results on enemy fliers and close with tau gunlines by turn 2.
**A quick pro-tip for those money savers, if you don't mind easy to build kits (or the Cadian guard theme), consider getting two easy to build Guardsmen kits for every standard Infantry Squad box. That way you can split the guardsmen inside the larger kit and save yourself some cash (which we all know, if you're playing 40k in general, is always a bonus).
*'''Conscripts:''' If there is anything thinner than paper, it would be Conscripts. Conscripts have gone from being a near-Blue chip unit to being somewhat dubious utility. They only accept Orders on a 4+ and can't take any special wargear, and have strictly inferior statline when compared to a standard Guardsman... and they cost the same as standard Guardsman. That being said, they still make effective screening units due to their sheer unit size. Unlike Infantry Squads, who have to spend precious CP to form larger squads, Conscripts can be taken in groups of 20 to 30. Ld4 is going to hurt if you don't have a Commissar around or have some other method of negating morale losses. 
**When looking at these guys, don't think about the potential damage they're going to inflict. Instead, think about the massive area of denial they can set up. Leave the direct fighting to the Infantry squads while you use your Conscripts to protect your artillery and other vehicles or to dog-pile objectives. 
**In close combat, their sheer size can prevent consolidations while giving your opponent minimal kill points, thus allowing your other squads to counterattack in your next turn. {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} conscripts with Straken and a priest can actually be pretty nasty in close combat if you can help their morale and get them to fix bayonets. 
**It is recommended to use movement trays if you bring these guys.
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Ld4 is pretty terrible and it can be challenging to get these guys stick around after taking casualties...''but you can still do it!'' Here are the ways to make them as unshiftable as they were before the Codex:
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*'''[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard(8E)#Psychic_Powers|Psychic powers]]:''' Cheap Astropaths are an excellent investment. All three Defensive powers help them to either be more difficult to kill or make them <u>immune to morale</u>, BUT you can only cast one of each in Matched Play.
*'''[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard(8E)#Universal|Warlord Traits]]''' on Lord Commissar auras. Summary Execution was nerfed, but Ld9 rerollable is still better than Ld4, and gets +1Ld from Regimental Standards. Either more area coverage with Bellowing Voice, or <u>capping battleshock</u> at 1+1d3 casualties.
*'''Stratagems:''' Insane Heroism provides full battleshock immunity, though the cheaper Fight to the Death can suffice if they're being boosted (which they should), and didn't lose like 14+ men. Can't use the same Stratagem many times a phase, and it costs CP, but between Kurov's Aquila, a Master of Command and cheap +3CP Battalions, there are ways to afford it.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|<Regimental>}} gimmicks:''' The {{W40Kkeyword|Valhallan}} '''Pietrov's Mk 45''' relic has the pre-nerf Summary Execution, and squads that fall out of the aura halve battleshock casualties due to the Doctrine. The {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}} WT has a similar aura, and with their +1Ld while in formation can be more easily combined with Commissars, Defensive psychic powers and/or Fight to the death.
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===Elites===

In previous editions the Guard's elite slot was almost completely ignored, but with all the shuffling around of our units it's now surprisingly crowded. As always with Imperial Guard infantry these units tend to be very cheap, and are generally either small hard hitting units, force multiplier support units that exist primarily to buff something else, and one or two units that are a combination of both. Pick and choose as needed to either fill gaps or enhance your other units, if you want melee support bring bullgryns, crusaders, and priests; if you want special weapons take veterans; if you want more orders take platoon commanders; if you want to boost your tanks take a Salamander or an enginseer; and absolutely always take as many command squads as possible.

====Regimental====
*'''Command Squad:''' Only one can be taken for each {{W40Kkeyword|Officer}} you have on the field. Essentially 4 Veterans who can all be outfitted with special weapons or laspistols+chainswords, or you can give each one your choice of [[#Other Infantry Wargear|Medi-Pack, a Standard, or Vox-Caster]]. The Medic ain't no Apothecary, and his shit only works a 4+. He also can't revive anything with more than one wound, but he ''can'' heal characters, which is probably his best use. The Standard is worse than a Lord Commissar, although it will buff Catachans or Mordians to LD'''9''' so long as they also have an officer within 6"/have at least 2 unit members left to stand back to back. The Vox-caster should typically be carried by an Infantry Squad. You can also swap out two of these guys for a Heavy Weapons team. It's points efficient to give these guys two special weapons and a heavy weapon or just four special weapons, but they're very likely to get shot off the table, whereas a Veteran Squad at least has some expendable bodies before you start losing special weapons.
**For some slightly rage-inducing shenanigans, use an Ogryn Bodyguard/Nork to tank wounds for your Characters, and then use the medic to heal the Ogryn. 
**While it remains an unFAQed mystery what exactly happens if you take a medi-pack and target a majority 1-wound unit with a heavy weapons team, you can ''certainly'' take a medi-pack and 3 plasma guns, then use the medic to try to bring back dead plasma gunners, though this is not a competitive option due to the cost of the medi-pack and its 50-50 success rate
**It should be noted, Company and Platoon Commanders are not the only {{W40Kkeyword|Officer}}s you can bring. Tank Commanders have the officer keyword and therefore unlock access to an additional command squad.
*'''Master of Ordnance:''' The Master of Ordnance (MoO) has two things going for him: a one use Basilisk-class artillery salvo and he confers an aura of reroll 1s to nearby {{W40Kkeyword|<regiment>}} {{W40Kkeyword|Basilisks}}, {{W40Kkeyword|Deathstrikes}}, {{W40Kkeyword|Manticores}}, and {{W40Kkeyword|Wyverns}} as long as their targets are more than 36" away (because he can't really help if the gun is direct firing, apparently). Take this guy for his re-roll ability; that way, you're pleasantly surprised if the artillery strike does something instead of basing your strategy around an unreliable, one-use attack. 
**Obviously, don't take him if you're {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} or brought another buffer with the same effect like Harker or Yarrick.
**As of the change he can now support an Armageddon Pattern Basilisk, but he still inexplicably cannot support the other Forge World variants, like Medusae (vehicle or either Battery), or the Battery variants for Basilisks, Manticores, or Wyverns (that last meaning Heavy Quad Launcher Batteries).
*'''Platoon Commander:''' Now an individual model, broken off of his Command squad. This is one of your options for orders, capable of giving one per turn and he has a 5+ invulnerable save. 
*'''Veteran Squad:''' Rather boorishly [[PROMOTIONS|<s>promoted</s>]] demoted to the Elites slot, vets are guardsmen with a 3+ BS, three special weapon slots, and more weapon options than basic Infantry Squads. 
**The key to getting the most out of vets is taking the most advantage of their unique weapon combinations and superior ballistic skill. They can take up to three special weapons, a heavy flamer, and a heavy weapon team, and lasguns can be replaced with shotgun if you desire. Build them with a plan for how you are going to use them. If you're going for close-range assault, go with heavy flamers, meltaguns, and maybe some shotguns. If you're running a gunline, plasma and heavy bolter, lascannon, or mortar team depending on whether you need anti-tank or anti-infantry. Avoid standard flamers on these guys (and look at the Special Weapons Squad below instead); it's a total waste of their main advantage over Infantry Squads.
**Special consideration should be given to these guys when packing plasma guns, particularly when using {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}} or {{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} regiments. Armageddon allows you to get 3 plasma guns firing two shots each at 18”, while the Mordian special order allows you to target Characters with Rapid Fire weapons. Veterans in this configuration along with a Platoon Commander with the Dagger of Tu’Shakh can make an excellent 2nd turn execution force. {{W40Kkeyword|Vostroyans}} will make plasmas and heavy weapons 6" longer in range. 30" plasma never hurt anyone...well except your enemy...Or the person firing the gun. 

*'''Special Weapons Squad:''' Like Heavy Weapons Squads, the base cost of this unit is absurdly cheap - 24 points for 6 guys before you have to give 3 of them Meltas, Flamers, Plasma, or the like. A few teams of supercharged plasma gunners are a pants-shittingly powerful option of dealing with TEQs and MCs. All of your soldiers **will** die, but you're playing the Guard: do you really care? You can do fun things like giving a squad 1 demo charge and 2 flamers and running them in a chimera with Scion buddies, preferably with meltas. And if you don't add the 6th scion, you can toss in a Lord Commissar or Primaris Psyker. That's a whole lot of fun in one transport. Fun fact: Demolition Charges got even cheaper, but don't take 3 as you can only throw one a turn."cough" "cough", Grenadiers, "cough", "cough"
**Point for point, a Special Weapons Squad with plasma guns/demo charge is one of the most effective options at clearing out Primaris targets - consider throwing 2 squads in a Chimera and/or the Disciplined Shooters regimental doctrine to get the shots to their targets.

=====Forge World=====
*'''Atlas Recovery Tank:''' Believe it or not, this thing is almost useful now. It's a standard "battle Chimera" tank (T7 W11 and a hull heavy bolter) with S7, but rather than a battle gun, it has an enginseer's ability to heal a vehicle (but not itself). Compared to the enginseer, it's more expensive (both in points and money), but more mobile and less vulnerable to sniper fire. Unfortunately, while being a tank means it can't be picked off by snipers, it's not a character, so it ''can'' be targeted by anything else. Still too expensive for what it does, but a lot better than what it used to be.
**''Important note:'' Unlike the Enginseer's Master of Machines rule, the Recovery Vehicle rule doesn't stipulate that a given vehicle may only benefit from it once. If you have a Lord of War on the field and want it to stay alive, an Enginseer and a few Atlases can give it a serious survivability boost. Highly situational, but potentially useful.
*'''Hades Breaching Drill Squad:''' A vehicle with a squad of "Veterans" (who all have Sergeant grade LD, but none of whom have Veteran grade BS, all with shotguns, AKA crazy... or very unlucky) that emerges anywhere more than 9" away from enemies. Once it shows up, the Drill and Veteran Squad become separate units entirely. The Hades Drill itself is a big 'fuck you' machine, with 1d6 WS3+ S10 AP-4 D1d3 melee attacks (D1d6 against {{W40Kkeyword|Vehicles}}), and it has a 4++ invul in the fight phase thanks to its whirling blades. With T7, W7, and Sv3+, it's pretty durable, too.  The Veterans are significantly worse than normal Veterans at shooting, with limited special weapons access on top of their nerfed BS, in that they can only take 2 special weapons in the squad, with no heavy flamer or heavy weapons team; the squad amounts to a tax on the drill, because it is so much worse than your other options, but it can still do ok with a pair of flamers. Makes for a delightful Distraction Carnifex; cackle with glee as your opponent shits himself trying to kill this thing before it crawls up his Stompa's ass and cores it like an apple!
**You're probably going to want to take these guys and their death machine as {{W40Kkeyword|CATACHAN}}. The Vets are going to be within pissing distance anyways and are all but guaranteed to see close quarters fighting and while the Hades doesn't benefit from the Doctrine (it specifies ranged weapons), it CAN benefit from Straken, since unlike Priests and Krieg Regimental Standards, his +1 Attack Aura specifies UNITS, not {{W40Kkeyword|INFANTRY}}!
*'''Salamander Command Vehicle:''' Don't get excited - this isn't a command vehicle, and you can't issue orders from inside it.  It's not even a Transport, although it ''is'' an Ld8 Chimera chassis.  It's also not a member of the Salamanders Space Marines Chapter.  Instead, as a Salamander Vehicle, it has Scout, so it gets a 9" move after the first round begins but before the first turn begins.  More importantly, during Shooting, a single friendly {{W40Kkeyword| <regiment> <vehicle>}} within 6" gets +1 to hit rolls, so you can finally shoot plasma safely from a Leman Russ, Arkurian Stormblade, or Macharius Omega (the Leman Russ is ironically the most efficient option, because the latter two can't take plasma sponsons).  Incredibly expensive, at 132 points with just the guns. Much too expensive for what it does in a competitive game.

====No Regiment====

=====Adeptus Mechanicus=====
*'''Tech-Priest Enginseer:''' Found in the AdMech list as well as the new Guard codex alongside Servitors. Repairs D3 lost wounds on a single Astra Militarum vehicle or AdMech vehicle with the same Forge World keyword as himself within 3" of him. This opens up some interesting listbuilding ideas, such as combining mechguard troops with Skitarii snipers or Cult Mech deathrobots, as the Enginseer can repair whatever he pleases from either list as long as they share the same Forge World. An auto-include if you brought a Baneblade. He can also repair Questor Mechanicus Knights, albeit only for a single wound per turn. 
**Imperial Guard codex kept Tech-Priest as an Elite choice, and allows him to bring in his Servitors with him as another Elite choice.
**Because he has the {{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Mechanicus}} keyword the Enginseer also has access to their stratagems, most notably '''Tech Adept''' which allows you to make an additional repair roll for 1CP (RAW you can heal the same vehicle twice, overriding the normal limitations of '''Master of Machines'''). Note that you can only access these strategems if you also include a Detatchment with the {{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Mechanicus}} keyword.
***Potentially you can heal 3D3+1 wounds on the same vehicle if you stack this ability with a Trojan Recovery Vehicle + "Jury Rigging".
*'''Servitors:''' 4 Guardsman bodies which are slower, have a poor BS of only 5+, but have a 4+ save. Two of them can take a Heavy Bolter, Plasma Cannon, or Multi-Melta. If a Tech-Priest is babysitting them, they increase their BS to 4+ and Leadership to 9. They are only 5 points, so that's 15 points for a plasma cannon.

=====Adeptus Ministorum=====
*'''Ministorum Priest:''' The Priests' War Hymns grant +1 attack for every Astra Militarum infantry unit within 6". These guys are useful if you think there's high probability that your boys will charge or be charged. 
**Priests synergize well with {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}}, especially when taken with Straken for A3 on your basic infantry during the fight phase. He's also great at accompanying Bullgryns, Ogryns, and Conscripts; in fact, he's a must for any infantry units you plan on getting in close combat. He also buffs nearby {{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Ministorum}} infantry, too, so there's obvious synergy with their dedicated close-combat units as well.
**Be sure and use the Index datasheet for the priest rather than the crappy Codex version if you want access to eviscerators, bolters, plasma guns, combi-weapons, etc.
*'''Crusaders:''' A dedicated close-combat unit that with S3, T3, WS3+ with a 3++, a single wound and a power sword. They have two attacks base and the Zealot special rule. While not as tough or strong as Bullgryns, they do have access to the Index version of the Sisters-exclusive Index '''Act of Faith''' rules: at the start of your turn roll a D6 and on a 2+, you can immediately take an out of sequence action (move, shoot, or fight) or bring back a dead model. Per the Index rules, you'll only get one Act of Faith per turn, no matter how many units of these guys you have. 
**These guys can easily overwhelm their points in MEQs on the charge, and they love taking Priests with them. They can be made even tankier by using Psychic Barrier (as unfluffy as it may be to have them tolerate the presence of Psykers). 
**They're one wound wonders, but you can bring one back each turn on a 2+ so long as the unit hasn't been destroyed. They're not quite as points efficient as Bullgryns, but they can come back from the dead, and they have an easier time fitting into your list, as they can be taken in groups of 2-10 and are cheaper per model.
**It should be notes that Zealot takes place in the first round of a combat whether your squad charged or was charged. So a solid tactic is to screen these guys in front of a character or valuable unit and let them soak up a charge during your opponent’s turn, where you’ll re-roll hits. Then, at the start of your next turn, fight again on a 2+. Remember that Act of Faith takes place at the start of your turn, BEFORE your movement phase, so if you wipe out your opponent’s unit you can consolidate, move and then hopefully charge, once again gaining your re-roll to hit.
**'''BIG CAVEAT HERE:''' Crusaders got a major overhaul in the {{W40Kkeyword|ADEPTUS MINISTORUM}} Codex. Acts of Faith were completely reworked, Crusader squads are capped at 6 dudes and a lot of their rules were adjusted or removed. Most importantly, how only one Battle Enclave unit can be included in a Detachment without a {{W40Kkeyword|Ministorum Priest}} and take up no Detachment slots if there is one. There's been no mention in any of the FAQs if the new {{W40Kkeyword|ADEPTUS MINISTORUM}} datasheet completely overrides the old {{W40Kkeyword|ASTRA MILITARUM}} one or if you are meant to use one or the other, so be very careful about taking these guys until GW clarifies the situation.
*'''Gotfret de Montbard:''' A unique Crusader from the Blackstone fortress escalation box. He has Crusaders stats including Zealot, Acts of Faith and Shield of Faith, but with 4 Wounds and Attacks , every hit of a 6 scores 2 hits and is a {{W40Kkeyword|CHARACTER}} so he's safe from enemy fire and can Heroically Intervene. However, he suffers the same issue that has been stated many times in both the Guard and Sisters tactics guides: S3 Power Sword attacks just don't do enough, even if he can deliver a ton of them. For 35 points not a terrible choice, very fluffy if you're building a Feudal World melee regiment, but your Elite slot is crowded as is and cheap as he is, you have access to cheaper units that support your army.
**Alternative take: He's a 35 point character with a 3++ and the ability to hold his own vs small elite squads of objective takers. You can easily place him on a backfield objective and have him survive some flanking maneuvers.

=====Aeronautica Imperialis=====
*'''Officer of the Fleet:''' Now slightly different. He can basically attempt to call in an air-strike on any non-character that he can see (so if there's terrain on the table try to get him up to high ground to give him a good vantage point) once per game doing up to 3 mortal wounds 50% of the time, he also grants friendly Astra Militarum/Aeronautica fliers re-rolls of 1 to-hit a single ground target within 18 inches of himself each turn. This air strike makes him somewhat useful even if you're not using flyers or reserves, though he is otherwise a 20 point 3 wound Guardsman armed only with a laspistol who must put himself in the front line to provide the buff.
**'''Tactical Note:''' This is the only unit in the Codex that is both an Officer and lacks a Regiment (Aeronautica is specifically ''not'' a Regiment), which makes him uniquely suited to using the Dagger of Tu'Sakh; it allows him to outflank and bring non-regiment Infantry with him. Ogryns, Crusaders, Psykers; you spend your relic and he can do little other than calling in an airstrike once he takes the field, but for 20 points giving your dedicated melee troops a cheap outflank is absolutely wonderful.
**'''For Elysian Drop Troops: ''' It is not a bad idea to warlord the ootf with the master of command warlord trait. He is an {{W40Kkeyword|Officer}} (and also has the {{W40Kkeyword|Elysian Drop Troops}} keyword because it replaces the {{W40Kkeyword|Aeronautica Imperialis}} one) and you can use inspired tactics stratagem to get him up to two orders for 1 CP.
**'''New FAQ: ''' Now that the Dagger of Tu'Sakh is only available to officers, it is not a bad idea to give it to the ootf (he is an {{W40Kkeyword|Officer}}) because he can get any infantry unit (regardless of {{W40Kkeyword|<REGIMENT>}}) with him to deep strike almost anywhere on 2nd turn onward. That also helps your Flyers since they can zip around to get into position on the first  turn and then drop to hover mode and annihilate a unit designated by the ootf (who will be in 18" range to use his ability since he deep struck on the spot you chose and has meat shields to keep him alive).

=====Astra Telepathica=====
*'''Wyrdvane Psykers:''' Very mediocre in most situations. If you have 6 you get to add 2 to psychic tests (getting them all the way up to succeeding ''two thirds'' the time for Smite, and ''one half to one third'' for the Psykana powers, ugh), but you only roll 1d6 for both Psychic and Deny tests (the bonus for having members only applies to Psychic tests, though). And without having the character keyword, expect them to die quickly. It is, however, impossible for you to peril. You may be able to make them work by stuffing them out of line of sight and preventing your opponent from reducing their efficiency. If your enemy goes after them, they'll be wasting resources that they really should be dedicating to more worthwhile units. On the whole, though, you should avoid taking these guys unless you have a plan or are using them to support your Primaris Psyker. Note that it is possible to get these guys up to a +4 on their psychic tests now for 1 CP if a Primaris Psyker is around, so consider stuffing them behind a Baneblade alongside that Primaris Psyker or something.
*'''Astropath:''' Only 1d6 for Smite (but you should be casting Psychic Maelstrom or Gaze of the Emperor for damage anyway), but ''astoundingly'' cheap, especially if you swap his staff for a laspistol. Camp a few of these guys behind your gunline and deny powers. These guys lack the '''It's For Your Own Good''' rule, so Commissars are unable to stop them from blowing up in case they die from Perils of the Warp. However, it's also impossible for Astropaths to Perils while casting Smite (as they're limited to only rolling 1D6). 
**Most people also tend to forget about the Astropath's ''other'' special rule (note this is not a psychic power) - '''Astral Divination'''. Pick an enemy unit within 18" of an Astropath, and for the rest of the shooting phase that unit loses its cover save against AM models within 6" of your Psyker. A great way to fuck with Eldar Rangers, Space Marine Scouts, or anything that relies on cover saves.

=====Militarum Auxilla=====
Per the current FAQ, this is explicitly ''not'' a {{W40Kkeyword|<REGIMENT>}}, so you can't e.g. assign it to your Commander.

*'''Bullgryns''': From zero to hero! Their Slabshields and Brute Shields got buffed: Slabshields give them +2 to armor save rolls as of the Codex, while Brute Shields give them a 4++. Did I mention either option is now free, and you can mix and match them with the weapons now? Like regular Ogryns, they get an additional attack the turn they charge. With their upgraded Power Mauls (+1 D), that's gonna hurt a lot. Finally your Terminator-cost unit can match with ''actual Terminators!'' If only they could take orders. Also, consider the slabshields and power mauls for T5 2+, and distraction carnifex them to make your opponent leave your tanks alone. Even with powermauls you'll still be able to manually lob one grenade a turn, so they're not losing as much firepower as you'd think.
**In a high point game, consider the Ogryn Battlewagon, A Stormlord has space for 40 models and has 20 firing ports; take two minimum squads of Ogryn/Bullgryn, 20 infantry, a priest, and your choice of final buffing spot (commissar/officer etc..). With the Stormlord behind them as fire support there is very little that can survive this. Khorne begs to differ, but its is a very impressive apocalypse load out no doubt.
*'''Nork Deddog''': Need a capable bodyguard? This is the guy you're looking for. If a character within 3" of him takes a wound, he can take a mortal wound on a 2+ to cancel out the wound on the character - and with 6 wounds he can do it a ''lot''. Coming with a Ripper Gun, his huge knife (S:User AP-1 D2), 4+ armor, and the ability to headbutt an opponent (the headbutt counts as a melee weapon that can't be used for more than one attack) with the same potency as a battle cannon (S8 AP-2 DD3) he wrecks a decent amount of face in melee, too. Finally, he can make a heroic sacrifice if he loses his final wound in the fight phase: he can immediately attack, even if he had already been selected to fight beforehand.
**Note that Nork's bodyguard ability isn't optional - you are ''required'' to roll the die if a nearby character is hurt. It's just the kind of guy he is.
**Nork will actually die far, far faster than his points in Bullgryn, while dealing less damage, to boot.  Make sure you take him for his Loyal to the End bodyguard ability, ''not'' for anything else.
*'''Ogryns''': Probably one of the most improved Guard units this edition (though due more to how the game changed than anything else). They're cheaper, they get a bonus attack on the charge (AND they go first!) and they're still T5 - which in this edition is a serious boon, as all but the most lethal of weaponry will still only wound them on 3s. You need a ''Demolisher Cannon'' to hurt these big boys on 2s! The Ripper gun is the same as it was, an Assault 3 S5 AP0 shotgun, although thanks to the Codex, the bayonet on it now grants AP-1, which is nice. "Assault" is the key word here, as it now makes foot slogging them decently fast. With them moving an average of 9.5 inches a turn and still being able to shoot, they become the shock troops they were always meant to be. More importantly, the Assault Vehicle rule is gone; you can charge the turn you disembark from a Chimera/Taurox/Valkyrie, but they take up 3 transport slots, so be careful.
**Priests ''love'' to preach to these guys. A double-size squad of six will put out ''30'' attacks on the charge with the priest following them. For about 200 points it's a great pile of meat to throw across the board. Just be careful about matching your advances. The priest is a separate unit, so he doesn't advance in lockstep with the squad - you have to roll his advances separately, and he won't be able to charge, since you have to finish a charge within 1" of an enemy unit and ogryn models have big enough bases to make this impossible - this can result in your over-enthusiastic meatheads charging out of his buff radius! This applies to Bullgryns too, except of course they're more expensive.
***'''Alternate Take''' - Priests can be expensive if they have any kit worth taking, especially in comparison to another Ogryn. If footslogging, take the priest, but if you're transporting them in a Chimera then leave him at home or stick him with conscripts. In a standard squad of three you're only getting three extra attacks, and if you fit in a priest you'll either have to put in two other characters and deathstar it up or forfeit two spots in the transport. Just take the fourth Ogryn and get the same number of attacks extra anyway. Ogryn No. 4 also adds survivability, which the priest does not.
**Ogryns got their price reduced in Chapter Approved 2018 by 6 points. Only for Chapter Approved 2019 to up them back to their Codex cost for no reason at all. They're only 5 less points than Bullgryns who have access to a 4++ and better melee weapons at the "price" of losing Ripper guns.
*'''Ogryn Bodyguard''': Not a new 8th edition model, unfortunately, but a generic Nork Deddog (and so can be taken in multiple), he has a slightly weaker version of the bodyguard ability (operates on a 3+ rather than a 2+) and lacks Nork's headbutt as well as his heroic sacrifice rule; he can, however, choose from Ogryn/Bullgryn equipment. The baseline model costs nearly as much as two Ogryn Sergeants (55 to their 60) and has the same number of wounds as both of them put together, in addition to both the very serious upgrade that is {{W40Kkeyword|character}} (although they are explicitly banned from being your Warlord, unfortunately), and carrying, for free, a Huge Knife to accompany his Ripper Gun, in addition to his aforementioned ability to, on a 3+, suffer a mortal wound to block a wound on a nearby {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}} {{W40Kkeyword|character}} (As of the first codex FAQ this does not work on other Ogryns or Tank Commanders/Pask, so no wound musical chairs bullshit anymore).  
**Do ''not'' underestimate the Bodyguard ability. It's rolled on a per-wound basis, meaning it's effectively a 3+ FnP for every infantry character within 3" you can roll (successfully) up to 6 times (with the possibility for more, see below). This is an ''enormous'' survivability boost for your commanders and commissars; even Skitarii Rangers with transuranic arquebuses will have to dedicate multiple turns and squads of sniping to the task. And all the while, you're chewing them up with artillery...
**The Gun hand can carry a Ripper Gun for free, or you can pay points for a Bullgryn Maul or Grenadier Gauntlet.  The Gauntlet is garbage; since the model is a single-model unit, it can just throw Frag Bombs for free for the same effect out to 6", and out to 12", it's not worth the points cost against any target in the entire game vs. the Ripper Gun.  The Maul is worth discussing, as it is ''far'' better than a Force Staff and ''far'' cheaper, but since we're comparing it to the Ripper Gun, remember, it won't improve your AP at all - instead, you're contemplating paying 7 points for +2S and doubling your Damage to 2.  The big reason to take this seriously is that the Bodyguard can legally employ Heroic Interventions, and is ''far'' better when doing so with the Maul in hand; even against 1-wound models, he's more efficient this way against Toughnesses 3 and 5-7, and obviously, once he's hitting multi-wound models, he's better with the Maul against everything.  You can always stick with the Ripper Gun if you prefer to keep your Bodyguard cheap and contributing to the ongoing gunbattle, but he'll do real work with a Maul in hand.
***'''Alternate Take''' As the bodyguard ability causes a mortal wound which can't be saved no matter how armoured up he is and (with the exception of special characters like Yarrick or Creed) he costs more than most of the characters he will be guarding (for instance two Company Commanders or Commissars is cheaper), you have a choice of two different ways to play the bodyguard. If he's acting as a dedicated bodyguard keep him as cheap as possible with no additional armour and retain the Ripper Gun to put out some shots while stationary. The other path is to deck him out with the best gear and play him as an Ogryn Commando, your own personal over-sized Sly Marbo with his bodyguard ability as just a secondary function.
*** Given the Deathmask of Ollanius Pius, a Slabshield, and a Maul the Ogryn Bodyguard can reliably beat down most characters in challenges. Think of him as the Guards answer to Smashfucker... only instead of a jetpack he's got Downs Syndrome.
*'''Ratlings''': The same pint-size sniper unit as before with much improved abilities. They retain an infiltrate and a stealth/cover skillset, but their ''Shoot Sharp and Scarper'' ability is now a normal move, rather than a random D6" run. With a bit of planning and positioning around LOS-blocking cover, these little gits can snipe away enemy characters with impunity. Hilariously, because Heavy Weapons only impose a -1 shooting penalty for firing after a move, and Ratlings are BS3+, this lets the Ratlings still move-shoot-move, in an era where Tau Battlesuits, the originators of the tactic, have lost this ability. On top of this, sniper rifles in general have been buffed by the edition - on a 6+ to wound each rifle inflicts a mortal wound ''in addition to'' any other normal damage. So Ratlings are a good unit overall. As of the new FAQ, their movement has been reduced to 5", but that still means a 10" scarper thanks to their ability. Just beware their terrible defenses. Toughness 2 and Leadership 5 are underwhelming, while their +2 to saves in cover is small consolation when their base save is a mere 6+, so anything stronger than a stiff breeze will fold them like a deck of cards.
**With characters generally untargetable by non-sniper shooting in 8th Edition, all types of sniper unit have become much more valuable, and Ratlings are a prime example. Both cheap and good at what they do, the space halfings have gone from a quirky side-choice to an almost must-have. Two full squads of these guys are relatively cheap and will statistically down an Ork Warboss on your first shooting phase.
**'''Vs Vindicares''' 10 of our little Ratling boys require four turns on average to kill a four wound character, where a Vindicare requires only two. Taking into account the mortal wounds on 6s halves this to two turns, but a lucky 6 gives the Vindicare a 50/50 chance of killing a four wound character in one turn. Vindicares have double the range, are characters and thus are harder to target, and don't have to deal with morale. Ratlings however will do more damage against infantry unless they're shooting multi wound models or 2+ saves. With all of this in mind, the Vindicare seems to be the clearer choice for character hunting but can't be squeezed into your existing detatchments.
**'''Vs Cadian Snipers''' Ratlings can't benefit from orders, receive Cadian rerolls or Overlapping Fields of Fire. Cadian snipers will be hitting on a 2+ whilst re-rolling ones, and with Bring It Down they're increasing their chance of wounding too which is great news when you're fishing for mortal wounds. Furthermore, Cadians are T3 (vs T2) but they don't benefit from stealth/cover/infiltrate, so the strategy will vary too.
***Comparing the unit cost: Ratlings are 35pts for 5 (up to 70pts/10), Special Weapon Squads are 30pts for 3 (with three reduntant guardsmen), and Command Squads are 32pts for 4 (requiring a Commander). 
*'''Rein and Raus:''' A pair of Ratling twins from the Blackstone Fortress kit. Rein is armed with a sniper rifle, Raus has a demolition charge and Grappling Hook, and both have a stub pistol. They have a lot of the drawbacks of Ratlings, including a 6+ save that only gets to 4+ in cover (like a normal goddamn Guardsman), but they also have improved BS+ and have a full 6" move (plus they can move after shooting). Their relative fragility (T2 and W2) is compensated for by their {{W40Kkeyword|CHARACTER}} keyword - unlike your other snipers, Rein generally won't be targetable by enemy artillery. and Raus can ignore vertical distance when he moves. He also is better at using demolition charges than Special Weapons Squads, but he only gets 1. In a high points game, they're not really worth it unless you need to fill out an Elites slot for 35 points, but in a small game, they can wreak some havoc.

=====Officio Prefectus=====
*'''[[Commissar]]:''' His ''Summary Execution'' rule means that all Astra Militarum squads within 6" of him ''may'' re-roll (as of the latest FAQ, which also dropped their points cost considerably) their first failed Morale test in any given phase at the expense of a single model dying (the newly dead model doesn't count for the re-roll), which means you should be picky about when you use the Summary Execution ability. Thanks to the Aura of Discipline ability, those same Guard squads will be given Ld8. Compared to his senior ranking Lord counterpart, he has one less wound, a 5+ save, WS and BS 3 instead of 2, and no Invulnerable save of any kind. However, he's ''much'' cheaper.
** In case you have missed it, '''Summary Execution''' is an optional re-roll now. Commissars also faced a steep price decrease, now being 16 points instead of 31 at base.
**His ranged weapon should ''always'' be a bolter; you shouldn't buy him a melee weapon (apart from a chainsword), as he should be staying out of melee and providing buffs instead.
**The cheapest Commissar you can take is 15 points (16 with a Bolter), while Lord Commissars have to take a Power Weapon as well, raising them up to 34 (35 with a Bolter). They're Characters, so what you primarily need them to live through are sniper rifle shots; their points divided by how many Ratling sniper rifle shots it takes to kill them are 76 and 165, respectively (using the versions that took a Bolter).
** Consider using the Officio Prefectus Command Tank stratagem instead of taking a Commissar. For just 2CP you get a 6" LD'''9''' buff with a much better version of Summary Execution... in addition to being a goddamn tank.
***Other Stratagem options include paying 1 CP to take a test on 1d3 or 2 CP to auto-pass; if you're low on CPs, you're playing Guard wrong, especially now that a Brigade nets you 12 goddamn CP.
** Other choices, provided you can get them in, include an Astropath or a Primaris Psyker using the Fearless power.
*'''[[Severina Raine|Commissar Severina Raine]]''': The main character in the book "Honour Bound" and a bit of a mixed bag in terms of stats. She has the standard Commissar stat line and Comes with "Summary execution" and "Aura of discipline", but she is 16 points more than a Commissar with a powersword and she doesn't have much to show for it. The biggest disappointment is her Sword, "Evanfall" which is AP-1 with no buffs to strength or extra attacks meaning she is even less useful in a fight than a regular commissar. Though with her special ability, you actually don't want her to kill what she charges. Her 4+ armor save is nice and her Bolt pistol "Penance" is Ap-1 which means she is slightly more effective in close range firefights than charging in close. Her special rule, "Leading from the front"  allows all friendly guard forces within 6" auto pass morale checks is she is 1" from an enemy unit. This means she lends herself to being run along side a squad of Stormtroopers or Shotgun Veterans (both fluffy and crunchy since she mostly hangs around those units in Honourbound), to aid them in the close range shooting with her Bolt pistol and to keep them Immune to morale if they are charged, but she won't able to carry the squad in melee so next turn have her and the squad fall back and shell the squad that charged with artillery (or use '''Get back in the fight!''' to shoot the unit you coward). Overall, interesting but quite overcosted.
**A way to use her that will actually see her make her points back is to use her to buff up a Conscript melee tarpit, especially if you can keep her protected with a nearby Ogryn bodyguard to intercept any melee wounds your opponent wisely decides to inflict upon her. Her morale ability is incredibly potent and will absolutely offset any Leadership penalties you might be suffering, so suck it, enemy Psykers and debuffers. Also, keep in mind that she only has to be within 1" of an enemy to prevent a Guard unit within 6" from suffering losses in the Morale phase... which means that unit doesn't need to be within 1" of an enemy itself. That means that even if your enemy starts hitting your infantry squads behind her hard with ranged fire, they'll stick around if they're close enough. Another example of why there's more to the game than Mathhammer.

===Dedicated Transports===
*'''Chimera:''' The old king of metal boxes has fallen. And risen reborn. With the loss of Amphibious, Mobile Command Vehicle, and its fire points, the Chimera has been thoroughly nerfed. On the other hand, it's much tougher, and the improved transport capacity over your other transport options makes it the go-to option for transporting Ogryns and Bullgryns (it can hold 4, while the Taurox can only hold 3), especially now that all vehicles are assault vehicles. Additionally, Chapter Approved 2018 did give it a much needed price drop. The primary benefit of a Chimera over a Taurox is the critical 2 extra transport slots, with the very slight additional benefit of +1 Toughness, and the somewhat more substantive benefit of better wargear options, since Tauroxes are stuck with twin autocannons, which suck, and the only Vehicle Equipment they can take is a pintle storm bolter/heavy stubber.  Which vehicle you should take, and what you should put on it, depends both on your {{W40Kkeyword|regiment}} and what you intend to put in it - Tauroxes imply you're using vox-casters to get your orders through, while Chimeras imply you're having a Platoon Commander or other support character tag along.
**Take the twin heavy flamer option with track guards at 100 points for brawling and making your dedicated transport pull double duty as a poor man's Hellhound, especially if you're running {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} - their Doctrine benefits that loadout the most, and they want a Platoon Commander along more than other regiments for the leadership buff. With Heavy flamers going to 12" this will become a very useful transport, always moving 12", always shooting 2D6 heavy flamer shots (and potentially whomever is shooting the RF6 lasguns) and always hauling 12 models
***When used in conjunction with the rapid redeploy stratagem from the new formation you have a transport that can advance and shoot whilst still autohitting and a guardsmen unit inside that can disembark after moving to shoot and charge. A Brutal combination that few opponents will anticipate.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} wants a triple heavy bolter Chimera (Gryphonne-Pattern, see below) in a big way - their Doctrine is the only one that lets you concern yourself with letting the transport meaningfully contribute to shooting on the move, and that's hands down the most efficient points-per-wound option available.  They also like the double heavy bolter option with Track Guards - it's less efficient at murder, but more efficient at maintaining mobility as you zip around.  Either can be combined with a heavy stubber.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} likes these in general- the extra toughness and added transport slots synergize well with their unique order and Stratagem, as well as the boosted resilience against AP-1 weaponry.
**Note that the Lasgun Arrays are no longer Fire Ports that let models shoot lasguns out of the vehicle. They are now a pair of 3-shot Lasguns that ''may only be fired if a unit is embarked''. While this isn't a major change, it has the funny effect of allowing a single [[Jokaero|monkey]] to somehow fire the equivalent of 2 Multi-Lasers at once. Er no. Six lasguns.
**The Multi-laser was really hurt by the rules changes in 8th Edition. Consult the table below to see which weapon you should be using. It can be seen that the Multi-laser is better against specific toughnesses and low saves, but for those you really should just sell your soul to the [[Forge World|resin gods]] and take an Autocannon. Or use the heavy bolter from the box for zilch. One more shot over the autocannon is probably better if you want to move and shoot the thing.
{|class="wikitable" border="1"  cellpadding="4"  cellspacing="4" style="width:100%"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! colspan="6" |Save
|-
!2+
!3+
!4+
!5+
!6+
!7+
|-
! rowspan="11" |Toughness
!2 or less
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center"|Heavy Bolter
|-
!3
| colspan="5" style="text-align:center"|Heavy Bolter
| style="text-align:center"|Both
|-
!4
| colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|Heavy Bolter
|-
!5
|-
!6
| colspan="4" style="text-align:center"|Heavy Bolter
| style="text-align:center"|Both
| style="text-align:center"|Multi-Laser
|-
!7
| colspan="6" rowspan="3" style="text-align:center"|Heavy Bolter
|-
!8
|-
!9
|-
!10
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|Heavy Bolter
| colspan="5" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|Multi-Laser
|-
!11
|-
!12 or greater
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center"|Heavy Bolter
|}
*'''Taurox:''' The student has learned well. With its twin autocannons and a good move speed of M14, the Taurox makes a strong contender for the new Guard motor pool. It's faster and cheaper than the Chimera, too. Its cheapness, high firepower, and 10 man cap make it ideal for carrying basic infantry squads or dropping 3-man Ogryn/Bullgryn squads where they need to go.
**For the more mathematically inclined, a Taurox is 70 points after its guns. For another 28 points you get a double flamer Chimera with track guards, which can fire on the move, is tougher, and can haul 2 more models. Taurox like to sit and shoot, Chimera like to get in the thick of it. Depends whether you want a cheap ferry with some bonus fire support or a line breaker. 
** The main job of any transport is simply to get from Point "A" to Point "B" in one piece. In practice the Valkyrie does a better job than either the Taurox or the Chimera, but if you only want to move your army across the table as quickly (and cheaply) as possible the Taurox delivers.

====Forge World====
*'''Centaur Light Carrier:''' "Light" is sort of an understatement - with only a 5-man capacity and two heavy stubbers as its weapon, the thing is barely a transport. Its real role is to haul around your otherwise-immobile {{W40Kkeyword|<regiment>}} {{W40Kkeyword|artillery}} batteries, taking them along for its move. The artillery in question can't fire that turn, but it's useful enough to keep them out of range of opponents. Best used for 4-man command squads with their Officer; its big benefits are that it's cheaper than any other transport you have access to, and while it has -1S, -1T, -3W and -1A compared to a Chimera, but you don't care about the S or the A. One benefit of the lower wound count is that it carries the vehicle below the threshold for stat deterioration, which is a huge boon in 8th. After suffering 5 or 6 wounds, the Centaur actually has higher M (assuming the Chimera hasn't got Track Guards) and BS than a Chimera, and equivalent A. It's pretty even, as by the point a Centaur would be dead, a Chimera's so crippled it doesn't matter anyway.
*'''Chimera, Gryphonne-Pattern:''' Replaces the Multilaser with a Twin Heavy Bolter for extra dakka, or an Autocannon (per FAQ); it can't take an Augur Array, Dozer Blade, or Track Guards, although Track Guards are the only one of those you'll miss. Supplementing the Heavy Bolters with the one on the hull can turn this into a surprisingly nasty bullet-hose, while the Autocannon can provide some extra light anti-tank (but is probably surpassed by the THB loadout against just about everything but T10). It's not as strong in the fire support category as a Taurox Prime (see below), but it's tougher, and offers better transport capacity. This Chimera variant is your friend if you're Cadian - it packs the most long-range heavy firepower, so it can sit pretty on objectives in your half of the board and provide fire support while enjoying the Cadian reroll-1s doctrine. It's only an 8.33% accuracy bonus, but with fixed shot counts and no need to move, it's certainly worth considering.
**You'll need to kitbash the twin heavy bolter turret since only the autocannon one is sold these days, but this is pretty easy to do, even for a novice kitbasher. Also, it's worth mentioning that the Baneblade THB miniturret uses the same turret ring size as Chimeras, so if you got a Baneblade variant of some kind, you have a THB turret for a Chimera on those days you don't feel like breaking out the Lord of War.
***The Gryphonne Chimera with 3 HB costs 21 points more than the normal Chimera with 2 HB. A HB for 21 does not sound like a very good deal. 
*'''Trojan Support Vehicle:''' This Forgeworld model was updated to be effectively a very cramped (Transport Capacity 6) Chimera for a rather stunning increase to the original base cost to a painful minimum of 98. In return, however, it brings the one and only source of full failure re-rolls in the Guard, granting one {{W40Kkeyword|astra militarum vehicle}} within 6" re-rolls to hit in the shooting phase. Pairing this adorable little box with a Lord of War is a match made on Holy Terra - if you're not using it as the portable [[Elf Slave, Wat Do?|love slave]] of your Stormlord or Shadowsword, you're doing it wrong.
**To go from 'wow' to 'what the fuck why' pair this with a Salamander Command Vehicle. The abilities stack, taking your buffed vehicle from a 50% hitrate to an 89% hitrate. A Shadowsword with this sort of buffage is absolute horror - its Volcano Cannon will hit on ''2s'' versus Titanic units, wound on 2s versus anything smaller than a Warhound Titan, and ''rerolls everything except damage.'' We're talking enough power to, with a bit of assistance from the sponsons, bring down a ''Knight Castellan.'' Use wisely.
***And that just got easier thanks to the April 2019 FAQ stating that a Knight's maximum invulnerable save is 4+. Enjoy.

===Fast Attack===

*'''Armoured Sentinels:''' Cannot mitigate the penalty for moving and shooting a heavy weapon (unless you're Tallarn), so unless they take flamers you're going to treat them like armoured turrets that can redeploy fast. With flamers and the humble sentinel chainsaw they become quick, durable shock troops. As such, taking anything but the multilaser (plus hunter-killer) is recommended because a weak load-out is a waste of this unit's fair durability.  Up to 3 T6 6W 3+ Save models are rather hard to bring down quickly. They have generalist armour, meaning they can be hurt by anything, but they don't really have ''hard'' counters. Anti-tank seems effective, but they'll usually waste a few overkill wounds, and sentinels have high wounds-for-cost for a vehicle so it doesn't scare them as much as other vehicles, but beware meltaguns and strong assault units if you take the flamers. Remember many vehicles took a hit to their firepower, so a group with las, plas, or flame (with HKs) is nothing to scoff at. They could also be used as an alternative to Heavy Weapons Squads as unless armed with Mortars or other 'weak' weaponry they tend to die turn 1 as a result of the enemy prioritizing them. Armoured Sentinels have a potential to survive several Battle Cannon shots and don't degrade so your heavy weapons will be sticking around until the end of the game if used that way.
**'''Note:''' Sentinels benefit from {{W40Kkeyword|Regiment}} keyword and along with your weapon choice, this will heavily influence their combat role. {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} sentinels can pick a spot on the board and use their rerolls and height to put overcharged plasma fire over a wide radius. {{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} Sentinels can take a heavy flamer and be tonka-tough harrassers of enemy infantry. {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} Sentinels can do the same, but trade toughness for power. {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}} Sentinels can act as a cheap escort for your tanks, letting them benefit from the overwatch bonus. {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} Sentinels can be quick moving lascannon platforms. {{W40Kkeyword|Vostroyan}} and {{W40Kkeyword|Valhallan}} Sentinels don't get anything good out of their doctrines, though - the lack of a wounding chart means Grim Demeanor does nothing, and the extra 6" of range doesn't give you anything a Heavy Weapon Squad couldn't do, besides fill Fast Attack slots on the cheap. 
**Remember that Sentinels do not have a vehicle damage chart, meaning your opponent is going to have to commit to destroying each one completely and can't just simply ignore a crippled Sentinel. There also aren't a lot of solid counters against T6 - especially when your opponent's lascannons are more worried about your ''real'' tanks. For less than 500 pts you can take 9x of them with autocannons in a {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} Outrider detachment. 
*'''Scout Sentinels:''' A squishier, slightly faster version of the Armoured sentinel that can scout 9". Not usually considered very good. You ''can'' give them heavy flamers, but be prepared to wade through fire first, and infantry weapons CAN hurt these guys. Bolters will struggle to drop them, but nothing else will. Mass lasguns/s3, plasma, melta, shuriken, gauss, pulse weapons, ANY heavy weapon that isn't a heavy stubber. These guys will have a hard time getting that close, so choose your moment or expect them to be nothing but a distraction. With the other weapons, they can quickly get into a firing position with scout, and if necessary run away. Multilasers keep them cheap, and unlikely to draw much heavy firepower once the HK have fired. Hit them early then kite infantry if you have to. Giving them cannons essentially turns them into turrets and DO take hunter-killers as these are a cheap source of them.
**Consider the fact that their 9 inch pre-battle move can get them into a reliable position to deny enemy deepstrikers or units with similar abilities. And since deepstrike is no scatter and guaranteed now and most of the players will finish deploying before you do and get first turn with deepstrikes, 3 Scout sentinels, 1 on each flank and 1 in the middle, moving up 9 before the battle, create a deepstrike null zone for your opponent. View them as just that and nothing more, so keep them as cheap as possible (multilaser being the cheapest option).
**Like their armoured cousins, the {{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} doctrine makes these guys considerably more annoying to drop for anti-light vehicle weapons such as heavy bolters and autocannons. 
*'''Hellhounds:''' The medium tank of the Guard motor pool has been favored in 8th, with increases in speed and toughness and decreases in price all around. The datasheet actually covers three vehicles: Hellhound, Devil Dog, Banewolf. Track guards were basically made for this vehicle as the majority of available weapons ignore ballistic skill. Unless you're bringing the devil dog, your tanks will pretty much never degrade.
**The basic ''Hellhound'' is armed with the infamous Inferno Cannon, a more powerful heavy flamer with double the range, double the rate of fire, and +1 strength, at S6. A nasty infantry muncher, capable of eating guard-equivalent models with 2s to wound and a 6+ save from up to 16 inches away; due to good strength and rate of fire it's not too shabby against vehicles either (who knew setting things on ''fire'' could be so effective?). Use it to hunt down the other Guard player's Heavy weapons teams, or just chew through his conscripts at a healthy pace from safely outside of rapid fire range. Still not convinced? Mathhammer says it will outperform a ''Battle Cannon'' versus anything that's not T7 3+ and better, and it can still score a few wounds besides. ''Let 'em burn!''
** Two words: Track Guards! With track guards your tank will always move at full speed... with the inferno cannon you will always auto hit when shooting... 12" + 16" = 28" threat range of constant FIREpower. Such a magnificent vehicle will cost you 111 points, don't even bother with any other upgrades. 
**Because the Hellhound is BS4+ and can't mitigate the movement penalties for heavy weapons, you would be wise to try for a Heavy Flamer on the hull mount, but on the Hellhound that means you need to get in very close to use it, negating the Inferno Cannon's range advantage. The Heavy Bolter is cheaper and more consistent, but at BS5+ on the move outside of {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}}, it won't hit anything at all - you choose it to keep the tank cheap, not to actually kill anything with the gun. On a non-{{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} unit, particularly {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}}, ''always'' take the Heavy Flamer if you want the gun to actually kill anything.
**Because Hellhounds always explode on 4+ they make excellent suicide tanks, useful for disrupting gun lines and charges (especially considering their relatively short range). Artemia-pattern Hellhounds are better at this though as they deal D6 mortal wounds instead of D3.
**If your foe is made of tougher stuff, swap out for the ''Bane Wolf,'' whose vicious (and cheaper) Chem Cannon wounds everything that's not a vehicle on 2s, with an improved AP-3 (at the cost of range, only 8", and shot count, only 1d6 vs the Hellhound's 2d6).  Between the wounding improvement and the AP improvement, this will outperform the Inferno Cannon against MEQ even before you account for its reduced cost - the range is the primary issue, as 8.1" charges will ignore it on Overwatch, and the secondary issue is that while it's obviously incredible against monsters and Primarchs especially, it's absolute garbage against vehicles, and utterly inferior to the Hellhound versus anything not MEQ or MC. While by itself the Bane Wolf may not actually do a lot, its potential will scare many opponents into focusing it down like the plague after a turn or two. This is probably the best distraction carnifex you will ever find in this codex outside of a deathstrike (and this is cheaper, too).
***Here the use of a Heavy Flamer is more obvious, since it has the same range as the Chem cannon. With two auto-hitting weapons, this thing will take a big bite out of attacking forces in Overwatch.
**Finally, if you want to take on vehicles, the ''Devil Dog'' closes the gap with the mighty melta cannon, which is ''much'' better than a multi-melta for the same cost - on average, twice the shots, and assault now, rather than heavy. It's specialized, but powerful - it outperforms even the revised Inferno cannon against pretty much anything tank-shaped (specifically, T7 with a 3+ save and tougher). Making the melta cannon assault has brought the D-Dog up from garbage to actually being a very solid tank buster. With D3 shots rerolling damage within melta range, you have one of few weapons potentially capable of blowing up a tank every time it fires. It's also the longest ranged melta weapon short of the Imperial Knight thermal cannon, and is mounted on your fastest ground unit, making range a non issue. Sadly, the Multi-Melta you'd usually strap to the hull to supplement its tank-busting is still Heavy, and still shoots like an Ork unless it's {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}}, so give thought to alternatives. A heavy flamer will go a long way to deter the counter charge you will almost definitely be staring down after you shove that melta in your opponent's face.
*'''Rough Riders:''' Sorry this unit has been moved to Warhammer Legends, if you wish to relive your fantasy of WW1 I suggest you look at DKOK Death Riders. Surprisingly, 8th Edition's been kinder to Rough Riders than 7th Edition was. Their hunting lances are no longer one use only, being S+2 AP:-2 and do d3 damage, but still only when they successfully charge. Cheaper, twice the wounds, and now their flak armour might actually do a damn thing, though not against most multiwounding weapons. In addition, they may perform '''Flanking Maneuvers''', which allows them to set up within 7" of a battlefield edge of their choice, and more than 9" away from an enemy unit. Combined with a pair of meltaguns this can make them surprisingly mean tank hunters (between the charge and the melta shots they can inflict about 5 wounds on a T8 3+ target on average) or Character assassins, but it does ''not'' make them front-line brawlers; they might all have chainswords and laspistols but they only get 1 attack a model base. But wait a second, that's three attacks after wargear plus the new trick of shooting pistols in melee, and given that S3 is more effective against T5 and can actually hurt 7+ now - compare them to Hormagaunts or Stormboyz, and these cavaliers come out alright. Not ''great'', but alright; their hunting lances, speed and special weapons are still what lets them get shit done so these guys better be getting the charge. 
**'''Critically Important:'''  Rough Riders are ''not'' Infantry and ''cannot'' be Ordered, or buffed by Priests ([[The_Empire_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|If only Priests could ride a horse of their own...]]) Unlike every other unit here that can take a Plasma Gun, you can't stop a bad roll on overcharge with an order, which hurts especially bad since they're multiwound models now.  Also, why were you giving tank hunting units plasma guns? The meltagun is better on these guys for everything that has multiple wounds, which in this edition is a ''lot.'' 
***Possibly because plasma is cheap, riders are unlikely to get more than one ranged attack, and these guys can also be used for taking on ranged/glass-cannon infantry, a target that they can actually threaten with all of their weapons/attacks. 
**These guys also don't gain any benefit from most Regimental Doctrines, sadly - the only ones that ''can'' apply are the Cadian and Vostroyan ones, and none of those really help Rough Riders do what they do any better.
***Note: Cadian stratagem or a relic can make plasma weapons a really good choice for these guys. For just 65 points you will get 5 plasma shots (2 plasmaguns and plasma pistol) with an outflanking unit that can also charge and be annoying in combat with 4 attacks of the lances (2 for the ones that didn't take plasma guns and 2 for the sergeant). 
**'''Alternate Opinion:''' It is possible to buff Rough Riders with the right combo. If you're playing Catachan (preferably with Catachans converted to ride Cold Ones from AoS/Fantasy), and then charge the Rough Riders into something near Straken and a Priest, you'll get 16 S5 Attacks that cause D3 Wounds plus 10 S3 Attacks, and that's just with a minimum size Rough Rider squad. Considering their low cost you might as well take ten of them and get 21(!) S5 Attacks (at most, provided you remain in the aura) followed by 20 S3 ones.
***Note:  Straken has to be nearby during the Fight, and is slower than Rough Riders, so it may be non-trivial delivering him.
*Note: TLDR, just make them DKOK[[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard(8E)#Fast_Attack_2]] and run them as Death Riders, they're fuckawesome.

=====Forge World=====
*'''Artemia-Pattern Hellhound:''' In exchange for the enormous, highly-exposed fuel tank and slightly derpy-looking turret the Artemia version of the Hellhound is D2, rather than D1, gets to roll the best of 2d6 when deciding how many hits its Inferno Cannon inflicts, rather than a straight 2d6, for an expected improvement of 27.78% in terms of shots * damage, from 7 to 8.94.  In addition, Artemia Hellhounds do more damage when they explode, dealing 1d6 (3.5, on average) mortal wounds, rather than the 1d3 (2, on average) of a base Hellhound, a 75% improvement on a one-shot gun that goes off only on a 4+.  Probably worth the 7 point up-charge, but to really earn it, make sure you suicide-rush this guy in, so he'll be in range for his explosion to do a lot of damage.  Also, the math is only justified on multi-wound targets - against single wound targets, will always do ''far'' less damage than a Codex Hellhound.
**The improvement is decidedly less noticeable on a {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} model, since the two buffs to shot volume don't stack linearly; you might prefer a {{W40Kkeyword|valhallan}} or {{W40Kkeyword|armageddon}} one, to help ensure it reaches where you ''want'' it to blow up.
*'''Salamander Scout Tank:''' Cute little light tank, loaded up with an autocannon and a heavy bolter, plus the usual HKM plus Storm Bolter or Heavy Stubber. If you were planning on taking an Autocannon Sentinel, take this instead; much faster and much beefier than either of your walkers, while able to bring the rough equivalent of two Heavy Weapon Teams along for the ride AND maintaining the Scout move at the start of the game, all for a very modest point increase. Hell, even if you were considering taking ANY Sentinel, give the Salamander a strong consideration first. Able to quickly get itself in a stubborn position early and lay down a respectable field of fire, killing infantry, denying deep strikers and generally aggravating your opponent.
**Given that Forge World doesn't make the Salamander model anymore, a good proxy is a Hellhound hull with the Chimera Autocannon Turret.
*'''Tauros''': A cool little dune buggy scout vehicle. At first, you might think they're just more expensive Sentinels, but there are a few neat advantages here - they're much faster with a 15" move (whoever said the Guard can't go fast?!) and benefit from the '''Galvanic Motor''' rule: if they go more than 10" they benefit from a 5+ invulnerable save. If you hug cover these can become a very handy thorn in your opponent's side.
** Also worth pointing out that these have 2 attacks compared to a Sentinel's 1. At S4 they ain't gonna kill much, but being able to force a unit to fall back from an objective, or prevent it from shooting if they don't, can be crucial (and bloody hilarious...)
**''Important Note:'' Tauri, both AVs and Venators, do ''not'' have the Vehicle Squadron rule. This means they're treated as a single unit, and must stay in-coherency for the duration of the battle. It ''also'' means any unit-wide buffs you can hand out, such as Psychic Barrier, affect the entire group.
***If you want to have your Tauri to work independently, take them as separate units, as slots are no longer capped if you pay the HQ tax. (Plus you get those juicy Command Points).
** The Assault variant is best paired with a heavy flamer, so treat it like a Scout Sentinel armed with the same - except faster and more durable. Never take the grenade launcher as it suffers from the same 8th edition changes as the infantry version and has a truly idiotic points cost (put it this way, you could buy two autocannons elsewhere which gives you better range and hitting power for the same cost in points...)
** The Venator variant is much tastier - it's a little more expensive, but you get double the guns, both of them ignore the penalty for moving and shooting, and if you went multilasers, you get a 10% cost discount on what two multilasers would otherwise cost (18, rather than 20).  Still faster and more durable than its weight in Sentinels, depending on which you're comparing it to.
** Just in case the name "Venator" didn't make it obvious, giving this thing twin lascannons makes for a decent little tank destroyer, as of the latest Chapter Approved a single twin lascannon costs more than 2 normal lascannons, but you do get to mount them on a high speed vehicle that ignores the penalty to moving and shooting. For 258 points a unit of 3 Venators with twin lascannons will be dropping 6 shots (3 hits on average unless you buff their to-hit rolls) which can easily ruin the day of any vehicle or monster that's not a Lord of War.
** Yet another discontinued Forgeworld model, but thankfully there are a few options for kitbashing here - the GSC Achilles Ridgerunner compares well size-wise so just take the twin stubbers off. Also consider the wonderful range of Ork buggies, especially if you're looking for a more scratch-built appearance (feral world regiment anyone?)

===Flyers===
*'''Valkyrie:''' The original badass of the skies can hold 12 {{W40Kkeyword|Astra Militarum Infantry}}; Ogryn count as 3 models. Any infantry with the {{W40Kkeyword|Astra Militarum}} keyword (and Inquisitorial models with the '''Authority of the Inquisition''' trait) count. Transports can hold multiple units now, so 3 Command Squads each with 4 meltaguns for 12 meltaguns at BS 3+ in one Valkyrie? Nice! Even better, Grav-Chute Deployment allows you to put anybody it can carry 9" away from the enemy...''after'' the Valkyrie's 20" minimum move. Can you say 'turn 1 charge with ogryns?'  And to top it all off it has 2 MORE wounds than a Leman Russ tank (though 1 less toughness). Cue the music!
**''Note:'' On the firepower side of things, hellstrike missiles are no longer one-use only (but you can fire only 1 per turn). In addition, the codex added the ''Roving Gunship'' rule, which adds 1 to hit rolls if you're in Hover mode. When standing still, you hit on 3s. Between the multilaser, rocket pods, and heavy bolters, that's a LOT of infantry mulching! Although infantry is about all the Valkyrie is decent at dealing with. While taking the Lascannon and Hellstrkies essentially turns you into a flying Vanquisher there are far better things your Valkyries should be doing - although swapping out the Multilaser for a Lascannon only costs 10 points, and gives you some anti-tank punch to go with your hosepipe of S5 Ap-1 shots.
**''Note:'' The Grav-Chute deployment still only counts as a disembark from a transport, allowing you your normal movement afterwards with your 12 melta vets, or your 4 Bullgryn for that 3+ charge... Ogryn ''can'' fit in Valkyries.
**''Note:'' As per FAQ 2019 <s>you can't move your models after the Grav-Chute deployment</s> you can't move your models in the same phase, so you can go for 9 inch charges, won't help your Meltas or scions though. Gone are the days where a first turn Bullgryn charge was as easy as pie. 
**''Note:'' The new FAQ just stated that you now must have 1 officer per Command squad; while not game breaking, this does mean that you need 3 officers per Valkyrie 3 CC squad combo. Something to keep in mind when you start getting tight on points.
======Forge World======
*'''Aquila Lander:''' Priced like a Valkyrie, but plays more like a Flying Drop Pod. Not as durable, armored, and only has a capacity of 7. It can but itself and cargo on deepstrike, landing a heavy weapons team and Commander close to the enemy on turn 2.

*'''Arvus Lighter (FW Index: Astra Militarum):''' This thing went from completely useless to pretty useful. Like most of these flyers, it is pretty expensive at 115 points barebones, but thanks to advanced clown car physics you can somehow cram 12 models into it now (no Ogryns though). With T6 and 8 wounds it is more fragile than a chimera but it can fly and move 30"/20" when hovering. It also has the ability to regain a wound on a 6+ and has no characteristics modifiers. It can also deepstrike, so just put it behind some LoS blocking terrain and unload your flamer/melta/plasma squads on the next turn. It can also take one or two additional models in the same slot thanks to the squadron ability. It must be purely by coincidence that Forge World started producing this model again, and they were even kind enough to jack up the price a good bit.

*'''Avenger Strike Fighter (FW Index: Astra Militarum):''' Brrrrrrrrttttt! With T7 and 14 wounds, the Avenger is pretty tough and will probably stay on the table a while. Comes stock with two lascannons, an 8 shot S6 AP-2 D1 bolt cannon, and an 8" heavy stubber that rerolls hits against FLY units. It can also take tactical bombs or a pair of the following: autocannons, hellfury missiles, hellstrike missiles, multi-lasers, or missile launchers. Like most of the Forge World flyer your de facto ballistic skill will be 4+ (3+ natively, but all of its weapons are heavy). As cool as the Avenger is, there are more point efficient flyers out there.

*'''Lightning Strike Fighter:''' Hard hitting little thing that brings a ton of anti-tank for a reasonable cost. It comes stock with a twin lascannon and a long barrelled autocannon. In addition it can take tactical bombs or x4 hellfury missiles, x4 hellstrike missiles, x6 skystrike missiles, or it can remove its long barreled autocannon and take x6 hellstrike missiles. While the price of the hellstrike missile weapon profile (as opposed to hellstrike missiles) being fixed in CA2019, the lightning with x6 missiles and loss of its autocannon (mourned by no one...) is actually a point efficient tank killer! You can fit the Lightning with anti-air (could be good) or -infantry missiles (much worse than vultures), but being a tank killer is where the Lightning can now really shine. 

*'''Thunderbolt Heavy Fighter:''' The frame itself costs 5 points more than a lightning and for those 5 points you get 1 more wound and 6+ repair. Not huge additions, by any means, but quite good value for 5 points. This guy also carries more guns, 4 autocannons and two lascannons. Has slightly more restrictive payload options than the Lightning, though the only option you miss out on is anti-infantry missiles, so no-one cares. The Thinderbolt is suffering from the twin lascannons' and autocannons' point values not keeping pace with the CA2019 point values for the single version of those weapons.
**Against multi-wound models, the anti-tank missiles are definitely better, doing more than twice the damage per shot with 2/3 the shot volume and 8/9 the points; even after accounting for the BS3->BS4 or BS4->BS5 penalty, the anti-tank missiles are going to be better in general against whatever flyers you are trying to bring down.  Against single-wound models you should be fielding a Vulture instead.  

*'''Vendetta (FW Index: Astra Militarum):''' ''She's back, boys and girls!'' The premier tank-hunter of the galaxy is back, and she's ''pissed''. Carrying half a dozen lascannons and a nice, fat troop bay for 12 models (even keeping Grav-Chutes!) the Vendetta is a fine transport and gunship both. You pay a premium for her - you have to buy every one of those six lascannons - but it's worth it. God-Emperor, is it worth it. Keep in mind that Heavy Weapons impose a -1 penalty on a roll to hit if you moved, and you ''must'' move as a flyer unless in Hover mode. This means your beautiful (and expensive!) lascannons are fired with an Ork BS of 5. If you feel safe from assaults or you have already disembarked its cargo, go into Hover mode and unleash hell. Take the slap on the wrist; with the miracles it can pull in the field of transportation the lousy shooting is the only thing keeping this from being outright cheese. Alternately, keep the Vendetta as a scary bastard zipping around the board. It's expensive, but when you roll good, it's damn good. Or go Hover early, wipe something out, then zip around soaking fire for the rest of the game. Heavy bolters are fun to throw some extra dice out to keep attention on your Vendetta.

*'''Vulture (FW Index: Astra Militarum):''' Sorry, did we say the Vendetta was a fine gunship? Well, okay, it is, but ''this'' is the exemplar of the role. A Valkyrie's statline with a tasty Strafing Run rule (+1 on roll to hit if target has no <Fly>) and 4 weapon pylons, carrying rocket pods, missiles, autocannons, multilasers and tactical bombs (a special one-time use ability that's great against units with lots of models and deals mortal wounds on a 5+)... yeah, okay, fine. We know why you're here. The ''Twin Punisher Cannon'', a Heavy '''''40''''' S5 dual-minigun man-muncher that will turn anything you point this bird at into paste. How it even manages to fly straight spitting so much dakka is a mystery. Scratch the paint and make sure it's not an Ork...
**In terms of weapons, the Twin Punisher Cannon is better than every other weapon vs most units and is only worse than the Skystrike Missiles vs units that can FLY. Hunter-Killer Missiles are also almost always better, but are one use only; while Tactical Bombs are rather gimmicky. If for some reason you aren't taking the Punisher, the following loadouts are best for the following roles:
***'''Pure Anti-Tank:''' Twin Lascannon and Two Hellstrike Missiles
***'''Pure Anti-MEQ/TEQ:''' Twin Autocannon and Two Missile Pods or Four Missile Pods
***'''Pure Anti-GEQ:''' Twin Multi-Laser and Two Hellfury Missiles
***'''Mixed Anti-Tank and Anti-MEQ/TEQ:''' Twin Lascannon and Two Missile Pods
***'''Mixed Anti-Tank and Anti-GEQ:''' Twin Lascannon and Two Hellfury Missiles
***'''Mixed Anti-MEQ/TEQ and Anti-GEQ:''' Twin Autocannon and Two Hellfury Missiles or Two Missile Pods and Two Hellfury Missiles
***'''Anti-FLY:''' Take relevant loadout and swap the Hellfury/Hellstrike Missiles or Missile Pods for Skystrike Missiles.

===Heavy Support===
{{anchor|unit_analysis_heavy_support_any_regiment}}
This is the meat and potatoes right here. In this slot you will find the absolute best tanks and artillery in the galaxy. Even the humble heavy weapons squad can lay down some serious hurt thanks to just how cheap they are. If you need something, anything, blasted to bits, this is where you can find the units to do it.

*'''Basilisk:''' Fluffy is back! The Earthshaker gun motor carriage smacks units up to twenty (!) feet away at with the same power as a lascannon (and the underwhelming D3 damage of a battle cannon), rolling 2d6 for shot count and taking the highest and ignoring LOS - and it's down in cost too, to 108 points base (after the heavy bolter, which you can pay to upgrade to a heavy flamer if you're an idiot). Against vehicles one Basilisk is as strong as 2.5 lascannons but its higher shot count compared to a lascannon also makes them reasonably effective against multi wound infantry. The Basilisk is brutal and very point-efficient, with the only problem being the Guard's BS of 4+ (and there's a stratagem for that). Welcome in any list. It is also "Webstore exclusive" - what a funny coincidence.  There is a bit of a cost disparity on this vehicle between points (108) and power rating (7), leading to the situation that it's better value for money under the former than the latter, as the "standard" power cost for it should be 5 or 6.
**Keep in mind that it is just a T6 vehicle so use the ignore LOS ability or see it explode.
*** A basilisk has pretty good survivability compared to your other options for long range firepower. Infantry squads are much more vulnerable against small arms fire, Leman Russes are just slightly more durable against some anti tank weapons while having a much higher cost, Sentinels are simply worse in every regard and Heavy Weapon Teams don't have any protection whatsoever.
*'''Deathstrike:''' Slightly more durable at T7.  Gone and buried are the days of Riptides laughing off a hit from an ICBM - ''nothing'' wants to be hit with this monster. 3d6 shots at 16' 8", ignoring LOS, and any hit inflicts a Mortal Wound. No save, no wound roll, no problem. Furthermore, any unit within 6" of the target takes d3 Mortal Wounds half the time. Smack the center of the enemy's army with this for 163 points after the compulsory heavy bolter and it'll make back its points with ease. Of course, you'll have to get the shot off first: you have to roll an 8+ on a d6 + the battle round number (so it can't fire on your first turn, then 6+, then 5+, etc).  Use Command Points to re-roll the die and force that 6 (in second turn) or that 5 (in third turn) roll. Better yet, use the Vortex Missile Stratagem and the Catachan Regimental Doctrine. With their respective effects combined, you'll be able to re-roll all of its failed hit rolls, one of the 3d6 for the shot number (''two'' with a command re-roll), improve its likelihood of nearby units taking damage, and any models not outright killed by the attack have a chance to suffer d6 '''more''' mortal wounds. With all effects combined (which you can get by stuffing it into a Catachan spearhead along with all your other tanks and reserving 4 CP for it) the beast will inflict 9.58 mortal wounds, with a further 1.72 mortal wounds to all nearby units...''on average.'' The high CP cost of this trick makes it situational, but ''boy'' can it sting.
**''Seriously consider'' this vehicle as a choice for your Salamander's Battle Buddy. Rolling the die to determine if you can shoot is not actually shooting, so you can do this at the start of your shooting phase to determine if the Deathstrike can fire, ''before'' the Salamander designates the target of its own buff. This avoids wasting that precious +1 to hit. With all 3 effects combined the missile will make an average of  11.3 (13.2 for StormTrooper missiles) or so mortal wounds (compared to 9.8 without the Salamander) on whatever you aim it at, with an additional 1.72 on nearby models. At this point there isn't a whole lot that actually requires this much pain, but it's a ''hell'' of a hit. Having just run the numbers on the primary target here, taking 1 DeathStrike and a Salamander targeting buddy comes out to 22PPW - just the DeathStrike comes out to 16.5PPW (Both with stratagem and StormTrooper doctrine, ignoring CP reroll on number of shots). You're still going to delete the target whenever you fire, but if you're trying to squeeze out the most possible bang for your buck... either skip the Salamander, go all-in on DeathStrikes (15.7 PPW with 3), or have a Basilisk or something around to benefit from the Salamander buff on turns the nukes aren't launching!
**Potentially a new distraction Carnifex; by turn three, one of two things should've happened. Someone who has been against one will make it a priority, and spend a few turns firing at it while the rest of your army chips away at their own high-value targets while receiving little in the way of return fire, OR a less-informed opponent will ignore it until it's too late for them to do anything.	
**The progression is can't fire turn 1, then 6+, 5+, 4+, 3+, and then you're into turns that might not happen, so you can't ever ''guarantee'' it will fire.
**This can take vehicle equipment, but all of the options are bad ones.	
**However, with the Tallarn Doctrine, this giant Everything hater can show up in any turn, and the rule does not state that it needs to be on the battlefield at the beginning to add the Battle round number to it's chance of firing off. You can only bring one, though, but still....
**This thing is drastically better against some armies then others. Against the Custodes and similar low-model armies, it's absolutely terrifying, but your average Ork or Tyranid player will probably just shrug it off
*'''Heavy Weapons Squad:''' The base cost of this unit is absurd, even after the Codex nerf! 18 points for a full squad of 3 heavy weapon T3 meat platforms, before weapons! Almost no fat between you and your Heavy Bolter, Lascannon, etc. That's 42 points for three Heavy Bolters! 54 points for three Autocannons! With the advent of squad-wide splitfire, the choice between these and putting them in Infantry Squads is more even; an HWS is more order-efficient but an Infantry Squad will stay alive longer (though heavy weapons don't benefit from orders as much now).  <s>The exact "overhead" you pay across these versus Infantry Squads is subtle, but aggravating, because Infantry Squad HWTs are only 4 points, rather than 6, ''and'' reduce the number of models you have to pay for;</s> an Infantry Squad HWT is formed from two guardsmen, each of which is 4 points, making it 8 points total. an Infantry squad taken just for its HWT is <s>36</s> 40 points + heavy weapon, while each HWT in this squad is 6 + heavy weapon, meaning the comparison is being forced to pay 34 points for a laspistol and 7 lasguns.
**Important to note that, due to Genestealer Cults suddenly being able to steal your Heavy Weapon Squads in addition to their own, the latest FAQ established that Heavy Weapon Squads, Krieg Heavy Weapon Squads and Elysian Heavy Weapon Squads (as well as their Brood Brother and Renegade counterparts) are all treated as the same unit for the purposes of the Rule of Three, so you'll need to find some other filling to fill out the remaining slots on your Stormlord. Filthy xenos, ruining the fun for everyone...
**Incidentally, you do ''not'' need a Commissar for these; any damage severe enough to make the squad actually lose more models than a Commissar would ''prevent'' (more than 1, followed by a 6 on the morale roll) will kill the squad entirely, and you don't need high Leadership to get off Orders now, either. The ''real'' downside of these is on the organizational level; you'll quickly max out your Heavy Support slots by taking these in significant numbers - 3 heavy weapon squads, and the Platoon Commanders to order them, is less than 250 points, and eats 3 heavy support ''and'' 3 elite slots!
**<s>3 mortars is 33 points, a piddling amount for the output you can pull off with them since they don't need to see their targets.  Very much worth considering, especially if you give them their own detachment and form a whole mortar company</s> mortars are now 9 points, making them less points efficient than heavy bolters, but still nice for shooting beyond LoS. Take four (or two-and-two with lascannons), grab two Company Commanders, and make the whole thing a {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} Spearhead for less than 200 points and you can have 4d6 S4 shots (rerolling hits, natch) from a defensible position as nice crowd-munching battle buddies. The bonus CP is just icing on this nice fire support cupcake.
**Weigh the decision about whether or not to take heavy weapons teams embedded into your gunline (instead of as separate units, like this) very carefully. Yes, these units are cheap and can be spammed, but any smart opponent is going to target them immediately. In an Infantry or Vet squad, these guys have up to 8 other models that have to get chewed through before they take a hit, and with Vet Squads, at least they get BS3+.  You can also take them in a Command Squad, but that's two Guardsmen not carrying special weapons, a vox-caster, a medi-pack, or a standard.
***When deciding whether to embed a heavy weapon in a gun line or heavy weapons team, consider the following: Heavy Bolters and Mortars are better off in a Heavy Weapons Team, as their higher volume of shots can get more out of re-rolls than single shots. Lascannons and Rocket Launchers generally benefit more from being embedded, as they are single shot (at least for Krak Missiles), more expensive, and offer long range anti-tank to a unit that is primarily medium-range anti-infantry. They also both like being embedded in Veteran squads, where the higher BS helps your chances of hitting that enemy tank. Auto cannons are either/or as their reduced points cost in Chapter Approved and all around versatility make them useful for  gunlines and spammable as HWTs. 
***Regardless of how they get onto the table, heavy weapons teams with mortars and lascannons are your most point efficient options, respectively, for murdering hordes or heavies from far away, although if you want to stay out of LOS like the mortars do, lascannon teams are best replaced by Basilisks.
*** Perhaps the best all-around option is the Missile Launcher. For one point more than the Mortar and five points less than the Lascannon you get a very respectable anti-horde and anti-vehicle option. It has one less Strength and AP than a Lascannon and can't ignore LOS like the mortar, but versatility means it will rarely have a target it isn't happy shooting at. You can get three in a squad for 48 points.
*'''Hydra:''' The original AAA is back in action! The red-headed stepchild of the Chimera-chassis Heavy choices, this is the only one a Master of Ordnance can't help you with. The Hydra can hit ground troops on 5s and {{W40Kkeyword|FLY}} units on 3s, and with its 6 feet of '''8''' S7 AP-1 D2 shots, it's a potentially good investment even if you didn't expect {{W40Kkeyword|FLY}} from your opponent. The power comes at a price, though: 108 points after the compulsory heavy bolter, up from 75. Fliers will learn to fear it, though; it puts out enough power to statistically guarantee damage versus most aircraft. There is a bit of a cost disparity on this vehicle between points (108) and power rating (7), leading to the situation that it's better value for money under the former than the latter, as the "standard" power cost for it should be 5 or 6.	
** There's a surprising number of units with '''FLY''', like jetbikes, jump troops, anything that used to be a skimmer in 7th, Monoliths, half of the Dark Eldar and Tau Army Lists... it's really quite staggering. Make sure you check the tags on your target's datasheet before opening fire, and do take a picture of your opponent's face when you inform them of this.	
** This will outperform a Basilisk against its chosen targets.... but needs LOS to do it, and against anything else, it won't do so well.  Since it needs LOS, and outside of {{W40Kkeyword|tallarn}} needs to remain static, it's in direct competition with your Heavy Weapons Squads; at cost, you can field 4 lascannon teams in HWSes (with 4 points left over), which will outperform it against the enemy air you were presumably worried about.
** If you're not adverse to using Forge World, consider taking two Sabre Batteries with Autocannons instead. For 18 points less and "only" 4 feet of range, they will do the same job as a Hydra, while for 2 points more than a Hydra, with an added searchlight, they will do 25% more damage against air and 50% more damage against ground.
** {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} Hydras become BS2+ (and reroll 1's) when you stack ''Overlapping Fields of Fire'' stratagem against a model with {{W40Kkeyword|FLY}}, as long as that model doesn't have the "-1 to hit" that lots of models with {{W40Kkeyword|FLY}} do, then it still hits on 3+. 

*'''Leman Russ Battle Tanks:''' Ah yes, the Leman Russ. Has long-held, and continues to hold, the title of sturdiest tank in the galaxy, point-for-point. For 137 points (Battle Cannon and Heavy Bolter included) a T8 W12 platform with a 3+ save will consume an ''enormous'' amount of firepower before dying. All Russes must take a hull weapon, either a Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer, or a Lascannon and may also take two sponsons (Heavy Bolters, Heavy Flamers, Multi-Meltas, or Plasma Cannons). Thanks to '''"Grinding Advance"''' the tank's turret weapons fire at full BS ''even if the tank moves'' and may fire ''twice'' at the same target if it moves under half its  its full speed. And if taken in a Spearhead Detachment it gains Objective Secured!
** The tank's hull weapon and sponsons should complement its turret's range and capabilities. Sponsons are, of course, ''optional'' in every sense of the word and it will typically be cheaper and more efficient to put heavy weapons into gunlines instead where they can benefit from orders. Exceptions to this rule include {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} (no penalty for moving), {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} (can re-roll shot volumes on heavy flamers and plasma cannons), and {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} (which wants to sit still anyway, making the lascannon and plasma cannons more appealing).
**A note on Doctrines: 
***''All'' weapons with a random number of shots benefit the most from being {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}}, which is pretty much all of the best turret options (battle cannons, demolishers, eradicators, executioners). If stacked with ''"Harker's Hellraisers"'' this effectively makes them better than {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} Russes as they can still move and re-roll 1's. Pair with a triple decker of heavy flamers and make horde players weep salty crocodile tears.
** {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} Russes re-roll 1's to hit if they didn't move in their previous movement phase, and they also benefit from their unique order '''"Pound Them to Dust"''' (which is still worse than '''"Brutal Strength"'''). Tanks with a fixed volume of shots like Punishers prefer to be {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} and Executioners also get a little more insurance against mortal wounds from supercharged plasma weapons. And then there's Pask...
***{{W40Kkeyword|Vostroyan}} made tanks have an extra 6" of range on ''all'' their weapons (except Heavy Flamers) benefiting Demolisher-variants the most. However, the (now 42") Executioner Cannon is the clear winner here because with '''"Firstborn Pride"''' not only does it hit on 3+ but it's also impossible for its plasma weapons to misfire! 
***{{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} Russes suffer no penalty to ''any'' of their heavy weapons for firing on-the-move, although they can't fire while advancing they ''can'' move-shoot-move or move-move-shoot. 
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">The Leman Russ can be divided into two categories. The four 'Battle Tanks' (Battle, Eradicator, Exterminator, Vanquisher) have more range but less firepower than the three 'Siege Tanks' (Demolisher, Punisher, Executioner). Generally speaking the best general purpose option is the Battle Cannon.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
**''Battle Cannon'': Heavy D6 S8 AP-2 D1d3. The Battle Cannon has taken some big hits compared to past editions. Since losing its large blast template it only gets an average of 1.75 hits, though ''"Grinding Advance"'' buffs this to a less disappointing 3.5 and {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} can buff it even further. MEQ now get a 5+ save, but it is now more effective against TEQ. Surprisingly the cheapest of the 4 options...and easily the best. Though it faces stiff competition from its Demolisher cousins.
***Particularly since many of the other variant turrents have gotten points reductions:  now the Battle Cannon is THE most expensive turret option.  Still not a bad option, being the reliable, less gimmicky choice for main gun, particularly with Grinding Advance in play.
**''Exterminator Autocannon'': 5pts cheaper than a Battle Cannon which would be worth it for the (very slightly) improved rate of fire (outside of {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} and {{W40Kkeyword|Cadia}}, where it is ''worse''), except that its output is inferior against T4, T7, T8, anything with a 5+ or better save, and anything with 3 or more wounds. Obviously excels at dealing with 2W MeQ or anything possessing to-hit penalties that the battle cannons RNG output can screw you over against, and makes a damn fine impromptu Hydra if you get desperate. It isn't designed for taking on other Tanks, especially the ones with T8 (like Russes) which seems to be where a lot of its bad rap comes from in comparison to the Battle Cannon. Also, it's probably the best choice against Necrons, as it's more likely not to get saved against by Quantum Shielding.
***''Alternate Opinion'': The Exterminator really shines against units with 3+/4++ save, particularly T5 and 6(so about 3/4 of every armies FA choices) Furthermore you'll consistently put out a '''lot''' of firepower without the need of staying in range of a Tank Commander. It's not that the Exterminator is better or worse compared to the Battle Cannon, it's just designed for a different purpose. Put a lascannon, multimeltas and track guards on your {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} Leman Russ Exterminator and for 217 points you'll have a very good, '''mobile''' all rounder unit that can react to almost everything on the battlefield. It will still deal less average damage than a battle cannon, but it will do so more reliably.
***''Continued'': As above, this is a particular gun for particular targets. In most cases you’re better off taking one of the other options, but there are cases to be made for this one. The Exterminator excels against high-toughness multi-wound monsters and elite infantry, particularly Tyranid Monsters and Ork vehicles/nobs, against whom it generally performs better against than the “burst” damage of say a battle cannon. The Exterminator’s consistent shot volume and damage seems tailored towards these units, where you’re getting 4/8 shots instead of a potential 1/2. Also consider using on CSM and SM bikers (particularly scout bikers if you know people who use them) where the -1 AP and 2D can be a nasty surprise. 
**''Eradicator Nova Cannon'': Often overlooked. For 7 pts less than a Battle Cannon, you lose 36" of range and only hit at S6. In exchange you ignore cover bonuses, which gets you that guaranteed -2 to Armor save. This is perhaps the most specialized of all the Leman Russ options, so only consider bringing it against targets that depend on cover saves (Space Marine Scouts with camo cloaks, Eldar Rangers, AdMech with cover canticles, Poxwalkers, Vindicare Assassins, Imperial Guard, etc). Perhaps the best at straight-up murdering GEQs in cover (wounding on 2+ with no save), its extra 12" range edging out the Demolisher Cannon in this particular niche.
**''Vanquisher Battle Cannon'': The Vanquisher, a dedicated anti-tank cannon, is proof that GW is incapable of statistics, as it performs worse against heavy armour than every Leman Russ turret except the exterminator, though thankfully it has become one of the cheapest options after Chapter Approved, falling to 20 points (doing 0.93 wounds to another Russ; every other variant manages at least 1 wound). Sad thing is, if GW had given it a flat 2+ to wound against vehicles, S9 or flat 2D6 damage instead of 2D6 drop the lowest, it’d perform better against most vehicles than other Russes. ''Never'' take this in a tournament or if you're a win at all costs player. If you're playing for fun, or love the model and look more, it's entirely up to you.
***Even with its reduction to just 15 points in CA, it still may not be a competetive turret choice, except maybe on Pask or, at least, a Tank Commander.
*The three 'Demolisher' variants hit ''much'' harder at the expense of range; only one of them beats two feet, unless it's Vostroyan-made. Demolishers and especially Punishers enjoy heavy flamers, as these tanks will be close anyway. Make tar pitting them a costly move and ignore the damage they will inevitably take. 
**''Demolisher Cannon'': You can fit a ''man'' in that gun barrel! Statistically the best tank-buster of all Russ cannons; same cost as the Battle Cannon, but deals x1.75 the Damage against targets with enough Wounds to suffer it, on top of +2S and -1AP, making it far superior against T5 and T8 in practice. With 2 Multi-Meltas and a Lascannon on a {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} tank, this will munch through most enemy armour, if you feel okay chucking out 202pts for a BS4+/5+ tank. Thanks to the space marines new codex, demolisher cannons now pack a constant D6 shots, giving you the power to hammer any target with 2D6 shots at S10 AP-3 each doing D6 damage!!!! Will the imperial D cannon change in price? Only time will tell. Gunnery Experts + Spotter Details = 30" demolishers rerolling how many shots they fire. Best of Vostroyan and Catachan All secondary/sponson weapons will be +6" as well. 
*** Infantry will usually come towards the punisher, this thing has a tendency to make armor run away. 160 points currently gets you the cannon, heavy bolter, and track guards to at least get you in range as you weather opposing anti tank fire (yes, that large cannon barrel is a fire magnet).
**''Executioner Plasma Cannon'': A plasma cannon with nearly double the rate of fire, even before you use Grinding Advance to shoot twice and without a movement penalty, but only x1.33 the cost, and cheaper than a Battle Cannon, at the same price as a Punisher.  If you fire it on Supercharge - which you should - it will outshine the Battle Cannon easily, dealing more damage to W2 models at -1AP for 9.1% (2) fewer points.  That actually places this weapon in direct competition with the Demolisher Cannon, above - when Supercharged, the Demolisher's only improvement against most targets is +2S, which is of dubious utility, given that it costs 25% more and has 66.67% the range. Speaking of range keep in mind the Executioner is the longest range of the "siege tank" variants, at 36", nowhere near as good as the battle cannon, but a step up from the dangerously short range of the Demolisher and Punisher to a more middle of the road range where you can stay reasonably safe from enemy melta weapons while still laying down plasma fire.
***''Particularly'' compelling under {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}}, who can re-roll 1s to hit with it while also re-rolling shot volume - because the {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} doctrine is much better on 1d6 than 1d3, under them, this completely outstrips the Demolisher cannon against tanks under them.  {{W40Kkeyword|Cadia}} can pull the same trick, only worse (the tank has to remain static to do it), but they can also apply their stratagem to render the weapon completely safe on Overcharge.  If you're going the {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} route, combine with triple heavy flamers for 193 points and roll around murderin' shit, or with two more plasma cannons and a heavy bolter if you're willing to sit still and hope your enemies are within 36" for 180 points (192 with a lascannon); unlike {{W40Kkeyword|Cadia}}, you can also re-roll the shot volume on your sponsons.  Don't forget to use Harker if you're doing this, as he's much more efficient than Tank Commanders at keeping your tanks firing safely - you can even use a Tank Commander with the Dagger to Deep Strike Harker into position, if you need to.
***Under {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}}, mostly interesting because you can combine it with the admittedly less efficient plasma cannon sponsons and a heavy bolter for 180 points and roll around shooting at 36" at no penalty.
***{{W40Kkeyword|Vostroyan}} sacrifices a bit of mobility, but gives us access to 42" plasma cannons (and heavy bolters, if you want a bit more anti-infantry), and the Firstborn Pride stratagem lets us hit on 2+ and never overheat.
***Real Talk: outside of penalties to hit, this will only deal 0.583... mortal wounds to you, on average - 0.71 with the Catachan buff.  You should ''not'' be feeling scared to fire it, even without re-rolling 1s.
***Got a small points reduction in cost in CA, making it a whole 7 points cheaper than the Battle Cannon.
**''Punisher Gatling Cannon'': Tank-mounted BRRRT. Statistically, your best friend against infantry, but it lacks range and struggles against heavy stuff. With 3 heavy bolters (166 points), it can wreak impressive amounts of havoc for a single model, very good at clearing away t4 screens like shield drones and plaguebeares particularly on a tank commander.  
***Definitely a good idea under {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}}, where the sponsons won't mind at all moving the tank into position to fire, and you can order the tank to move like it means it.  You can also combine it with lascannons, multi-meltas, and plasma cannons freely under them, for the same reason.  Note that if you ''are'' moving away from heavy bolter sponsons, a lascannon is a better idea than a multi-melta for the hull weapon (especially since multi-meltas can't be taken as hull weapons), as it will outperform the multi-melta against a Land Raider even ''before'' you realize that if you've driven up next to infantry for the Punisher, good heavy targets might be farther away; likewise, the Plasma Cannons will do better if you're willing to supercharge, but without an accuracy buff like Yarrick or Guilliman along, both of whom will slow you down, that's a risky click.
</div>
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*'''Manticore:''' Slightly more durable at T7, the Guard's entry into the community of rocket artillery, and arguably the best. May not be squadroned, but don't be discouraged - it's gotten a MASSIVE points reduction, down to 143 after the compulsory heavy bolter, from 175. The Storm Eagle Rockets still hit like the proverbial meteor: Heavy 2d6, S10 AP-2 D1d3 with a range of 10 feet, ignoring LOS. Minimum range is gone, too - this may be your new best friend in the realm of artillery. Sadly, nothing good lasts forever; you only get four shots, and Overwatch ''does'' consume them, so make each one count!  Broadly speaking, worse output per point than a Basilisk against 2+ saves outside of T5/9/10, so a Basilisk is better against a Land Raider, but a Manticore is better against a Knight (until you run out of shots, of course).  By and large, a Basilisk is a superior choice.
*'''Wyvern:''' One of the latest additions to the Imperial Guard motor pool. Got swatted with the nerf bat. Its infamous Wyvern quad mortars generate more attacks than they did before, with 4 feet of '''4d6''' S4 AP0 hits that re-roll to wound and ignore LOS; costs 103 points, assuming you were sane and didn't buy the heavy flamer. For comparison, one of these will usually kill 4.15 GEQs or 1.75 MEQs, both better than a Basilisk, which will kill 1.86 and 1.55, respectively; what ultimately makes the Wyvern suffer is that you can just drop 99 points instead on 3 Heavy Weapons Squads with 3 Mortars each, and 9d6 shots will outperform 4d6 re-rolling wounds every single time.
** The Suppressing Fire and Pounding Barrage stratagems from an Emperors Wrath Artillery Company allow a single Wyvern to either halve a units move and advance distances, or fire twice. These two strats are well suited for a pocket wyvern and make having a single one supporting your Basilisks a very useful addition to your tank lines. These two strats alone can allow the Wyvern to protect the Basilisks from crucial charges that would otherwise tie up your heavy guns. 

=====Forge World=====
*'''Armageddon Pattern Basilisk:''' 15 points up on a standard Basilisk for an enclosed crew compartment, which nets you 1 more toughness and wounds. Makes your earthshaker more resistant to S7 and S12 attacks, and because of the way the wounding rules work, that's about it, though the extra wound is a nice topping on the cake. About as viable as the normal one if you have the model, but not exactly worth the extra money if you don't (nothing stopping you from using "counts-as" though).
*'''[https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/PDF/Downloads//Carnodon_Datasheet.pdf Carnodon Battle Tank]:''' A Heresy-era fossil of a tank that's one third cheaper than a naked Leman Russ with its initial loadout and has the statline of a slightly weaker Predator. It is capable of taking highly specialized loadouts. For AT, take four lascannons. Multilasers are a good option to take out GEQs and the Volkite weapons are good against heavy infantry and can fish for mortal wounds on wound rolls of 6+. Bonus points for having better Volkite weapons than the Space Marines. And the Mechanicus. Nope, the cogboys aren’t salty about that one at all.
**Carnodons fill a similar role to the Guard's fast attack units. Tactics used for Sentinels and Hellhounds are more applicable to Carnodons.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} makes these guys pretty effective cavalry tanks. They can quickly redeploy to deliver whatever firepower the brought to bear.
** Volkite weapons may baffle most tech priests, but the damage they cause on the battlefield is plain to see. The Culverin has four shots, any of which cause D3 mortal wounds on a wound roll of 6+. The Calivers add another single mortal wound on any 6+. This setup with a heavy stubber runs you 110 points and has a minimum range of 30". The guns profile isn't bad either netting you 8 S6 AP-1 D2 hits. For this price 3 tanks at 330 points is affordable making them a startlingly efficient means of spamming mortal wounds while genuinely threatening far more dangerous enemies. 
** Clearly designed by C.S.Goto, because it has the potential to equip !!5!! Multilasers.
** The price drop on multi-lasers helped this light tank out. At it's cheapest only running 90 points. Point drop didn't effect the twin multilaser on the turret though so worth switching it up for the added 4 points. Still 58 points less than a naked Russ for a lot of light firepower. The pintle mounted multilaser is 3pts more than the heavy stubber, for +2S.
*'''Earthshaker Battery (Forge World Index: Astra Militarum):''' The gun deck of a Basilisk, sitting pretty on a stationary foundation. As of Chapter Approved 2017, these guys are more expensive and less resilient than a regular Basilisk. The only saving grace is that it can technically still fire the Earthshaker while it is being swarmed by enemy assault troops.
**This is another discontinued model, but don't be discouraged. Simply take the part of your Basilisk that's not a Chimera (the cannon and T-shaped gun platform) and plop it on a suitable-looking base. Get creative so your opponent actually lets you use it.
*'''Crew-Served Gun Batteries:''' All of these deploy as one unit and then split into two - one unit of guns and one unit of crew. This means they can't be buffed with orders; any effect just buffs the crew, instead. The crew are essentially characters, thanks to wonky rules wording - they can only be targeted if they're the closest visible enemy unit. Furthermore, a gun model cannot fire unless a crewman is within 3" of it. 
**Be aware that the gun batteries have the {{W40Kkeyword|<vehicle>}} keyword. This allows them to receive buffs from Salamanders and Trojans! Yes, you can re-roll misses and hit on 3s with ''Earthshaker Cannons.'' Both buffs are ''not'' unit-wide, so you must pick one gun in the battery when doing this.
**''Note:'' If somehow the guns are destroyed, or you don't need them, you can walk the crew around behind something tough, like Bullgryns, and use these guys as untouchable lasguns! Clearly an exploit, but so laughably inefficient it can never really be abused; inform your opponent, imagine they're hammer dancing, and have some fun!
**'''Earthshaker Carriage Battery (Forge World Index: Astra Militarum):''' The Earthshaker Cannon mounted on a Krieg-style wheeled gun carriage. Unlike the above, the crew is separate, and thus can defend the gun in melee. You get 4 crewmen a gun, which essentially means a full battery comes with a free Infantry Squad. ''And'' they can take orders, though re-rolling 1s won't work the miracles that ignoring all cover saves once did. With a slightly-lower-damage version of the lascannon's gun profile and an average of 2.24 hits to a lascannon team's 1.5 for a marginal increase in cost, it's more point-efficient than a lascannon team for tank-busting, and thanks to the high shot count and lasgun-armed crew, better at fighting crowds, too. Not bad.
** Forget about it. Chapter Approved has killed it to death. Now base cost for this poor boy without legs (tracks) is 105 + 16 points for 4 crewman. Stick with a vanilla Basilisk, that costs only 108 points and still can move, while also having a heavy bolter. I would still recommend running it simply for fluffy reasons and that the model looks amazing.
**'''Heavy Mortar Battery:''' The Heavy Mortar hits like a midway between a normal mortar and the Earthshaker Cannon. Unfortunately it takes after the latter in price - 72 points for a 3-man team and the gun carriage. Potentially viable if you've got the models, but nothing special. Also, the rules are poorly worded so technically the Guardsmen Crews have 'Explodes'. Trying to exploit this by charging them into enemy lines and chain-exploding them makes you [[That Guy]] and will probably also lead to a quick FAQ clarifying, as you already knew, that it was not intended to apply to the non-Artillery models in the unit.

**'''Heavy Quad Launcher Battery:''' Also known as the Thudd Gun. Invented by [[squats|a race of abhumans]] whose worlds were lost to the Tyranids sometime in the mid-M40s (it's not clear) and much beloved by Kriegers, 8th Edition's Thudd Gun behaves like a Wyvern's quad-gun, without the rerolls to wound (perhaps it doesn't use airburst ammunition?). It's also only 10 points cheaper as a Wyvern, sans the heavy bolter the latter gets with its Chimera mobile platform. Workable if you have it, not worth the money if you don't.
**'''Rapier Laser Destroyer Battery (Forgeworld Index: Astra Militarum):''' Got nerfed hard and went from auto-include to almost-nope. Twin-linked is gone but it still fires only one shot, so barring a static {{W40Kkeyword|Cadia}}n gunline to reroll 1s, there is no chance to reroll that 4+ except CPs (or a Trojan, see above), as the Rapier can't take orders any more. Still, the gun is S12, and ''if'' the shot hits, on a roll of 3-5 it does 2D6 damage, and on a 6 it's upped to 3D6 (so you ''could'' hypothetically one-shot a Land Raider, but it is highly unlikely) - the overall expected damage roll is 6.42, slightly better than 3d3 but slightly worse than 2d6. The price got almost doubled ,to 74 points for one gun and a crew of two. The rapier has 3 wounds now, but unfortunately is only T5. Mathhammer says it will only beat out a team of lascannons (of similar cost) against 2+ models, models of T6 and below, and 3+ models of T9 and above. Not worth buying, but if you have it, save it for the ''really'' tough stuff. 
*'''Griffon Mortar Carrier:''' The Griffon Mortar Carrier occupies the niche of cheap medium artillery support compared to the other big guns available to the Guard. The Griffon Heavy Mortar has a range of 48" and strikes at S6 with AP -1 and dealing D3 damage per wound...and unlike the Wyvern, this Mortar ignores cover saves. In previous additions, the Griffon used to have the ability to re-roll scatter, and thanks to the way the bombardment and artillery squadron rules worked meant that you could use it as spotter artillery for your bigger guns. These days however, much like its larger cousin the Basilisk, it rolls 2D6 and takes the highest to determine the number of attacks it makes. This all clocks in at a measly 78 points after purchasing the mandated Heavy Bolter, though this can be swapped out for a Heavy Flamer for extra charge defense and it can also take a pintle mounted weapon and/or Hunter-Killer Missile. Unlike the Medusa and Basilisk whose preferred targets are TeQs, MeQs and Vehicles, the Griffon is best used to rain hate on cover camping units with a 4+ save or worse, though it can also be used to hunt light vehicles and low save, multi-wound models thanks to its D3 damage. It doesn't re-roll wounds like the Wyvern, but since both mortars main targets tend to hide in cover, any time you would take a Wyvern, consider the Griffon instead. Probably not as competitive as either the Medusa or the Basilisk, but a solid artillery piece for the price. Tallarn Griffons can move and shoot, Catachan ones can re-roll attacks, Cadian ones can re-roll 1's to hit, and Vostroyan ones have 54" range. Note: Forgeworld no longer sells a model for this unit, but the conversions are super easy.   
*'''Colossus Bombard:''' ''Finally'' gaining the toughness of the Leman Russ chassis it's mounted on, the Colossus still ignores cover, though that doesn't do as much now. Downside, it costs as much as a Leman Russ, too. The mortar itself has gotten a HUGE range increase (In fact this might be a typo - ''240 inches''), and hits like a Heavy Mortar with slightly better AP. It fires twice as many shots, too. All in all, it's a damn fine artillery piece.
*'''Cyclops Demolition Vehicle:''' 40k's version of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_tracked_mine Goliath], a bomb on treads controlled by remote. Magos Cawl figured out how to encrypt the controller signal, so the operator doesn't have to walk around on the field next to it, but putting it in transports disrupts the signal...so you can't drop it out of a Valkyrie anymore. In exchange, it's ''much'' faster (10" move, though advancing prevents you from setting it off) and its payload is one of the few blast weapons in 8th edition that's ''actually'' a blast - you set it off in the Shooting phase, and it hits ''everything,'' friendly and enemy, within d6" like an Earthshaker shell. Oh wait, no, it actually hits ''much harder,'' rolling a flat 2d6 for shots instead of 2d6-take-the-highest, and ''it auto-hits.'' This is the single worst thing to roll into a deathstar of characters at the center of your opponents' army - no more Look Out Sir! to slough off the pain it can bring, and every unit within the effect radius is hit the same. It's not very tough, but it's small and easily concealed behind bigger, bulkier units, and at 40 points it can be a powerful disruptor of enemy formations.
**Note that this little ball of hate explodes on a '''3+''' when killed, and that's your die to roll. You, the Guard player, with the giant pile of command points. Take a reroll, hand out some mortal wounds, and get a glass for the tears of your opponent.
** Chapter Approved has increased its cost to 60 points from 40. Not a build-killer, but you'll need to work to make back its points now. 
**These bombs can take a {{W40Kkeyword|<Regiment>}} keyword now. {{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} is better for getting your bombs on target in 1 piece, while {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} makes them more reliable. {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}} turns your little bombs into risky flanking buddies, although, tbh, Sentinels are better suited to this purpose, as far as cost is concerned. {{W40Kkeyword|Tallarn}} is really fluffy, but so easy to counter. The others, however, give nothing that this unit needs, although it is an easy way to set up Overlapping Fields of Fire for your {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} units. Vicious Traps does give this unit a kind of Overwatch, but isn't really worth it.
**Don't forget: these can charge. Use these guys to charge your opponent's melee screen units with limited shooting, and watch the beads of sweat on your opponent's face flow as he realizes that killing this thing in melee is as bad as letting it live.
*'''Hydra Battery:''' Four long-barreled autocannons on a stationary platform. Higher toughness but lower wounds and save than the mobile version. Shoots the same, at about 25% less points. Workable, but not exceptional.
*'''Leman Russ Family''': As of the recent FAQs, all the Forge World tanks also gain Grinding Advance. 
**'''Leman Russ Annihilator (Forge World Index: Astra Militarum):''' In past editions, this was indisputably the most underwhelming Leman Russ variant. However, with the changes to the twin linking rules, compounded by Grinding Advance, it’s the only Leman Russ that has increased in firepower rocking, effectively, 4 bs4 lascannons. Against another Leman Russ, this thing will put out 1.94 wounds, matching the Demolisher but with more range. Expect to see this eclipse the “anti-armor” Vanquisher, which only puts out 0.94 wounds a turn against another Russ. In an edition where vehicles tend to stick around, loaded for bear (multi-melta sponsons and a hull lascannon), this tank has the potential to take out a vehicle per shooting phase.
*** With that cool new Grinding Advance rule, this tank became our one of the best options, matching even Demolisher in sheer amount of hard hitting hatred it can bring to our enemies, even matching Demolisher in his own field, while been miles away from the fight. Sadly, you can't put Pask in it...
**'''Leman Russ Conqueror (Forge World Index: Astra Militarum):''' Actually pretty useful now. The Conqueror cannon has the same statline as a regular battle cannon, just with a 48" range. The co-axial weapon is only a storm bolter though, rather than the much more logical heavy stubber, but Forgeworld are bound to go derp somewhere. Actually while the Storm Bolter is shorter ranged (its max range is half the main gun's, rapid fire is 12) due to not being a heavy weapon it fires at full BS on the move, and it grants rerolls to hit with your Conqueror cannon if you fire on the same target, it doesn't even have to hit anymore. Especially good for {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}}; slap a pintle mounted storm bolter on there and you'll be putting out 8 S4 shots hitting on 5s on overwatch.
*** When you do some math you will quickly realize, that this baby is one of the best Russ variants in the game right now. Reroll every (not only failed) shots on the main gun gives you MASSIVE powerboost, almost doubling your hits. Find the path to reroll that random attack D6 roll (Cadian's order or Catachan's doctrine) end enjoy tearing everything up to a land raider to pieces. Trust me, this tank gonna '''CONQUER''' your battlefield.
*** Chapter Approved lists the Conqueror as 122 points, the same as a Leman Russ Annihilator and dropping 10 points after the Forge World 1.0 FAQ. 
**'''Leman Russ Stygies Vanquisher (Forge World Index: Astra Militarum):''' A slight improvement over the normal Vanquisher, and arguably forgeworld's attempt to fix that variant. They failed. The Stygies pattern comes with a co-axial storm bolter, and if it remains stationary, the main weapon gains +1BS. Like the Conqueror, shooting the storm bolter and the cannon at the same target grants rerolls to hit. With both bonuses stacking, this can pull off 1.66 wounds against another russ – meaning unlike the normal vanquisher it outdoes the battlecannon (1.17 wounds) but is still beaten by the annihilator and demolisher at 1.94 wounds a piece, which are more useful against other targets and offer better range and mobility (as the Stygies needs to be stationary at 24 inches to be fully effective).
***''Sponson/Hull Weapons'' - Heavy Flamers and Storm Bolters can be fired on the move without penalty, but only they and your turret gun have that benefit.  If you ''do'' take Plasma Cannons (or other options, like a Hunter-Killer Missile), don't expect to land many hits.
***As per the latest FAQ, the Stygies received yet another minor buff to try and salvage it. You can now exchange the Co-axial Storm Bolter for a Co-axial Heavy Stubber, which lets the tank function better as intended, that is, hold still and shoot at tanks from far away. The extra foot of range significantly boosts its threat radius and switching to a Heavy weapon is largely irrelevant, as you'd pretty much never get the Storm Bolter's additional shots and you probably won't be moving in the first place.
*'''Malcador Tank Family (Forge World Index: Astra Militarum):''' Down(?)-graded from Lord of War to Heavy Support, the light-super-heavy tanks of the Malcador family have been smiled upon in 8th by the removal of weapon facing. This means the bizarre fixed-transfer casemate mount which the main gun sits in (and the fact that the sponsons can't train forward) no longer limits its shooting ability; also gone is the chance to break down every time it moves, apparently they finally fixed the engines on these things. The Demolisher cannons have Grinding Advance, as well. Note: The Valdor tank destroyer is still taking a Lord of War, so no spamming Neutron Lasers (not that you could spam a tank this size anyway).
**'''Malcador Heavy Tank:''' The basic Malcador is a Russ on a steroid binge - 18 wounds instead of 12 (this is standard across all Malcadors), and it can carry autocannons or lascannons in the sponsons. Note that this Malcador lacks any type of Grinding Advance, you're still better off with regular Russes.
**'''Malcador Annihilator:''' The Malcador's version of the Leman Russ Annihilator. Two lascannons in that weird turret and a Demolisher cannon in the hull. Note that you can replace the Demolisher with a FIFTH Lascannon if you so desire but at 300 points it's somewhat(read:very) inefficient.
**'''Malcador Defender:''' ''Now we're talkin'!'' In a remarkable display of foresight, the Defender eschews the nerfed turret weapons of its brothers for an interwar-style turret fitted with ''five'' heavy bolters. Two more on the sponson mounts make for a bullet hose to rival the Stormlord - at 21 shots, it can chew through blobs for breakfast. It also adds 1 to its overwatch hit rolls. A demolisher cannon is still present on the hull for tougher targets. Send a trio of these with {{W40Kkeyword|Mordian}} tactics up the board in front of your Infantry to form a near impassable wall of Heavy Bolters for any opponent who heavily relies on hordes of footslogging infantry.
**'''Malcador Infernus:''' The Malcador's version of the...Hellhound? Apparently someone <s>saw the need</s> addressed the requirement to set entire city blocks on fire at once. This vehicle carries the Inferno Gun, which rolls 2d6 automatic hits with a strength and damage that resembles an Autocannon (with better AP). If that and the 16" range weren't enough the prometheum fuel can be swapped out for <s>Trooper Duffy's special soup recipe</s> a toxic sludge that wounds everything that isn't a vehicle on 2s, and has AP-3. It's a big pile of points and tends to violently explode, but it can be very fun to run! And if it does blow up, try to have it do so next to those heretics. It WILL hurt. Unlike its brothers, which are limited to Heavy Stubbers, Autocannons and Lascannons for sponson options, the Infernus additionally has Heavy Bolters and Heavy Flamers to pick from. Though, given the short range on the main gun the choice here seems obvious.
*'''Medusa Family'''
**'''Armageddon Pattern Medusa:''' Your only mobile source of the Medusa Siege gun.
***This one is an odd little box. What you get is a vehicle that wounds like a Manticore (S10) and is just as tough (T7), ignores armor like a basilisk (AP3) and has a similar point value (111), has the wounds and armor of a Leman Russ (12W and 3+save) but can fire without line of sight. So far so good. However, you trade all this for the lack of ability to fire after moving without a penalty to hit (and have a poor range of 36 inches), the lack of T8 to survive plasma and anti-tank firepower that is usually S7 and above, and worst of all, you score less hits than a basilisk, Manticore or most Leman Russes with grinding advance with your single D6.
***This means the Medusa is worse against almost everything. It deals inferior damage compared to other artillery pieces. And while you could argue the Tallarn doctrine removing the penalty to hit when moving turns it into a cheap chassis with a 36 inches range demolisher cannon equivalent equipped, the fact that the damage is d3 rather than d6 (like the demolisher) makes it a poor choice as well. It does, however, outperform the Basilisk against T9, T10, and T18. If it were to consistently get an above-average number of shots, however (via command re-rolls or taking the {{W40Kkeyword|Catachan}} regiment), it would actually outperform the Basilisk rather consistently against T5+ as well, so still give it some consideration if you're up against TEQs or Death Guard.
**'''Medusa Carriage Battery (Forge World Index: Astra Militarum):''' The Medusa Siege Gun returns, mounted on a wheeled gun carriage. Got a few buffs - the standard siege shells are ballistic, and may be fired out of line-of-sight now, while the still-direct-fire Bastion-Breaker shells may be used without losing the ability to fire standard shots. The 36" range may chafe on an immobile platform, though...
*'''Sabre Weapons Battery:''' For 20 points base, you get 1 3W, T4 model with a 4+ save. While most of its "twin" options are nothing to write home about compared to two heavy weapon teams, which for 12 points cheaper gets you 3 more wounds at the expense of 1 point of toughness and 1 point better armor save on more models (which mitigates high damage hits). Furthermore, because orders only work on infantry instead of "non vehicle units" a la 7th, it can no longer take orders. 
**This went from being cheesier than a fondue convention to "meh". For what is now 40pts (Chapter Approved 2018), one {{W40Kkeyword|<regiment>}} infantry unit gains +1BS, and that's if the sabre is within 48" and both it and the buffed unit have line of sight. One unit also cannot gain from multiple defence searchlights. 
**Note that orders no longer state a unit must immediately take an action when ordered, so it's entirely legal to order your conscripts to set up a firing line, light up your target with a spotlights, and then give him a good old fashioned Cadian Burial.
**Mordians get the most out of this; the Volley Fire stratagem procs twice as often if you're spotting for the unit in question. Get a full blob of conscripts, put them under Rank Fire (command reroll that if you need to), pop the stratagem, and light them up. You'll hit on 4s, and the wording of the stratagem means any roll of 5 or 6 grants another shot. This improves the firepower of the unit to approx. 66% accuracy, or a 3+ roll. Not bad, for a bunch of untrained bodies! 
**Our lord and savior Forgeworld no longer makes a model for the Sabre. However, a proxy can be kitbashed pretty easily. Simply buy a heavy weapon squad box from GW, build them as lascannons, cut off the lascannon barrel so that the stump is flush with the gun shield, and glue on the front of a vehicle searchlight (found in pretty much every IG vehicle kit that no one bothers to put on). Voila! For a more elaborate version, you can use the spinning gun deck, control column, and crew from a Wyvern platform.
*'''Sentinel Powerlifters:''' For about the same price as a Bullgryn (and twice as many wounds, though you lose those awesome shield saves) these ad-hoc Dreadnoughts swing 3 times with built-in Power Fists(S10 AP-2 Dd3) that don't impose a -1 to hit. Guard WS hobbles it a bit, but it's fast and hits like a train. Also gets a scout move and smoke launchers to improve the chance of getting in close. Unfortunately they can't take HK missiles like the other Sentinel variants can, though this can be to thier benefit. Treat these as cheap passive-aggressive Distraction Carnifex's. Your opponent will most likely ignore them since they can't shoot(and the rest of your army can shoot...a lot), and until you start wailing on something noteworthy(at S10 you have a lot of choices too) they'll probably forget that yes, those are powerfists they have.
**That scout move is critical. If you deploy cleverly you can start the minimum of two feet from your intended target...and then Scout move towards it. Then move normally, and you have a 6" charge to make. Point at the nearest Tyranid and say it with me:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j51DfrLHUek]
**I'm pretty sure the {{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon}} regiment is the only one these guys will benefit from.
**Keep in mind that you can use the Crush Them! stratagem with them, that way you add d6 inches to your movement '''and''' you are now hitting on a 2+.
*'''Stygies Family:''' These are Leman Russes in all but name - in fact, the Thunderer Siege Tank is a Leman Russ Demolisher with the hull gun stripped off and +1 wound - but that name matters a lot, since they can't take orders from a Tank Commander. Don't look away so fast. Orders or no, turret or no, it's still one of the most well made vehicles in the galaxy; the damage tables on these are surprisingly good, possibly justifying the points hike. Still  the Thunderer is 180 points, and tank hunter 160, while a Demolisher is under 140? Not viable right now. Even if the models are ace. Make good proxy demolishers?
**'''Stygies Destroyer Tank Hunter:''' A Leman Russ chassis with no turret and a Heavy Laser Destroyer Array for a hull gun. It's not twin-linked anymore, instead acting a bit like a small blast weapon - D3 shots at a Lascannon statline, except it rolls 2d6-pick-the-highest vs vehicles on damage. Unlike any other vehicle built on the Russ chassis, it must hold still to get its full BS. Easily overshadowed by the Annihilator in output, but much easier to conceal - remember that a tank in cover has a 2+ save. Furthermore, the 60" range means it almost never has to move, so you don't need to be bothered by the heavy penalty - and on average you get two shots. For 10 points over a Vanquisher it fills the role of a Russ tank hunter pretty darn well, beating out the Battle Tank on wounds versus T8 3+...barely. In practice, an exciting big gun to take out the enemy’s heavy hitters, but the law of averages drags it down with too little killing power to take anyone out. And I so wish it was that unit that knocks em out with a big lasrer, as it looks like it should. Give it strength 10 and a stunlock, or something.
**'''Stygies Thunderer Siege Tank:''' 10 points more than a Vindicator for one additional wound and 1 lower BS...which only counts when you're standing still, because ''this'' vehicle ignores the heavy penalty. Sadly not particularly worth it due to the general nerf to blast weapons, but can be a fun distraction vehicle or tank-buster nonetheless.
**The Index FAQ deliberately avoided giving this vehicle the buff given to all Leman Russ tanks, for whatever reason, while also making it cost 40 points more than a Demolisher. Take a Demolisher.
*'''Tarantula Battery:''' Surprisingly cheap compared to last edition (the primary cost is for the guns on it), but you still get the annoying targeting protocols. In fact, slightly ''worse'' now, since this thing will never shoot at Characters if there's another model closer...even if it's one of those 10+ wound Characters the rule wouldn't normally apply to.
** Chapter approved has doubled its point cost per model...

===Lords of War===
*Forge World, with its unbridled fetish for treads, guns, and engines, has provided the Guard with the largest selection of Lords of War in the game, bar none. You can't take Titans in here anymore, but you could be forgiven for not noticing. The overwhelming majority of these are tracked vehicles of one variant or another, and most of them have the Steel Behemoth rule, allowing the vehicle in question to shoot and charge normally if it's fallen back that turn, fire heavy weapons with no penalties to hit, fire twin heavy flamers or twin heavy bolters into melee combat as if they were pistols, and fire the larger guns normally even if there are enemies within 1" (but not at those same enemies). Who said the conventional army fighting spooky paranormal activity was being screwed? Here's the hint: That daemon is not going to be riding a tank.
**Since you're probably taking a Detachment just for one of these, remember that it's encouraged to mix {{W40Kkeyword|regiment}}s - it's not like even your Transports will care what they're carrying, and outside of Catachan for Harker, you don't have access to any buffs for them, anyway.  Might as well take the best {{W40Kkeyword|regiment}} you can for the vehicle, without obsessing over it matching your {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}.  For example, are you taking a Stormlord?  You're a ''lot'' better off with a {{W40Kkeyword|Valhallan}} one than a {{W40Kkeyword|Cadian}} one, even if you want to fill it with Cadian Infantry!
***You won't be able to use Regimental Doctrines for these in a Superheavy Auxiliary Detachment, which means that in order to pull off this level of cheese, you would need to take a Superheavy Detachment or Supreme Command Detachment of the same {{W40Kkeyword|<REGIMENT>}} (no plopping in Guilliman in order to achieve this). In other words, if you want a Lord of War that benefits from a Doctrine you'll need to either take several Lords of War, all with the same {{W40Kkeyword|<REGIMENT>}} keyword, a bunch of extra HQs (you could take Yarrick or some Lord Commissars, though), or make it a Tank Ace with Steadfast Leviathan as its ability. Still, the Imperial Guard is perhaps one of the few armies that can pull this off without too much of a HQ tax since ours tend to be cheap. As of the new Codex, Primaris Psykers as HQ, and Techpriests and regular priests as Elites count towards this HQ quota (and you'll want a techpriest anyway if you are bringing a member of the Baneblade family) without disrupting your regimental doctrine.

'''Baneblade Family:''' The galaxy's premier super-heavy tank has been lucky this edition, with almost-universal reductions in points, retention of fire points, ''amazing'' toughness, and the addition of the Steel Behemoth rule. The Steel Behemoth rule is especially powerful on Baneblades; Versus targets ''in'' melee it may fire its twin heavy flamers and twin heavy bolters like pistols, targeting foes within 1" - this makes a fully-armed Baneblade variant one of the ''meanest models in the game'' in close quarters, dealing out an average of '''31''' hits, at S5 AP-1 - and that's before it uses its adamantium tracks, which swing at s9 ap-2 for d3 damage up to 9 times hitting on 2+ with the Crush Them! strategem. And those flamers hit on overwatch, too. All variants have a twin heavy bolter on the hull, and may take up to 4 sponsons, each with a lascannon and a twin heavy flamer/twin heavy bolter.
*A Baneblade appears to be very survivable but when you factor in the high cost of over 400 points they are actually quite vulnerable for their cost. For the same price you could get 4 Basilisks or almost 3 Leman Russ's which are both more survivable and able to put out more damage(with the Exception of the Shadowsword). This means that you should only consider taking a Baneblade based on their other qualities like their relatively high mobility and strong melee capabilities thanks to the Steel Behemoth rule. The firing deck is also unique to the Baneblade family and can be a great way to transport lots of models at once or to hide your fragile units like Heavy Weapon Teams or Command Squads.
*It might be tempting to use the sponsons but by doing so you would concentrate too many points and firepower on an already way too fragile model. It is much better to spread your heavy weapons over all units in your army so you don't lose everything when your Baneblade is taken out.
*The choice between twin heavy bolters and twin heavy flamers on your sponsons is a tricky one. The bolters deliver a lower average hit count (3 instead of 7) but are ''much'' cheaper and have more than four times the range of the flamers. If you're thinking of getting in close and can spare the points, a giant tank that's more painful to fight in melee than a ''bloodthirster'' versus most targets can be a lot of fun (and it's even more dangerous in conjunction with the Crush Them! Stratagem to give it WS 2+ and a boosted charge range), but if you plan on hanging back (and have a Trojan around), save yourself the points.
*Codex changes, several members of the Baneblade family have seen a reduction in points cost of up to 40 to their hulls, their main weapons have all been buffed to do an extra D6 shots (e.g. if it fired D6 it now fired 2d6, if it fired 2d6 it now fires 3d6) with the exception that the Stormlord is still a flat 20 and Shadowsword went from 1d6 to 3d3. This has resulted in some changes to power cost though; Baneblade -2, Banehammer 0, Banesword +1, Stormlord -1, Stormsword +1, Shadowsword -1, Doomhammer +1.  See the Catachan Doctrine discussion above for seeing how that improves relevant rates of fire.
**'''Baneblade:''' First of the turreted variants (though with the removal of facing that's not as relevant anymore), the original Baneblade packs the mighty Baneblade Cannon which has the stats as a lascannon but it does 3D6 shots for an average of 10.5. The high shot count compared to many other variants gives the Baneblade a little more flexibility by being able to effectively shoot at infantry after you destroyed all vehicles. In case you needed any more firepower it also has a dual-linked heavy bolter, an autocannon, and a hull Demolisher Cannon. Oldies but goldies.
**'''Hellhammer:''' Preferred by Catachans, the Hellhammer's main cannon ignores cover bonuses and hits harder than the Baneblade's at the expense of range. As the other turreted variant it includes a hull Demolisher Cannon. The smaller turret also incorporates a crew defence lasgun. Most recommended for the quad flamer 'brawler tank' build; the demolisher and main cannons working in tandem are a threat to anything and everything. Don't keep it sitting in the back of the board - it's the shortest ranged tank in the Baneblade family, and on certain deployments this will give you trouble.
***Entertainingly, as mentioned above, this comes with an autocannon, demolisher cannon, and plinky little lasgun (in case you run into ''real'' trouble), but the Hellhammer Cannon is 36" Heavy 3d6 S10 AP-4 D3, Ignores Cover Saves. The extra strength over a Baneblade Cannon isn't all that relevant; you can wound T5 models on 2s and T9 models on 3s; they ''do'' exist, but it's basically Titans and the like. The extra AP, however is much handier; anything with a 3+ and better will be affected. ''And'' it ignores cover. The downside is that it costs 20 more points than a Baneblade so the choice is yours. In a post-Space Marine 2.0 Codex meta, ignore cover is a much bigger ability with all the stealthy successors running around. Between that and the extra point of AP, it means power armor will never get a save. Plus, S10 matters against the new Gravis armored primaris and 3 damage makes it the perfect profile to kill them, while also being decent (although not quite as good) vs centurions. 
***'''Traitor's Bane:''' Much like the Fortress of Arrogance above, this is no longer supported by the ruleset. However, if you're adamant on including this fucker, there's nothing stopping you from playing it as a normal Hellhammer and including an allied Inquisition detachment with a Jakaero.
**'''Banesword:''' With its Quake Cannon swatting enemies from more than 11 feet away, the Banesword is a premier fire support vehicle.  On the other hand, it's 50 points cheaper...
***Not necessarily...the Quake Cannon is 140" Heavy 2d6 S14 AP-4 D1d6, but it treats damage rolls of 1 or 2 as a 3, so its full average statline is 140" Heavy 7 S14 AP-4 D4. It is still capable of destroying one transport every turn and can be an alternative if you are very short on points. On the other hand: why are you taking a superheavy if you don't have the points to pay for one?
**'''Stormsword:''' Just as cheap as the Banesword the Stormsword carries the Stormsword Siege Cannon which is 36" Heavy 2d6 S10 AP-4 D1d6r1, Ignores Cover, or on average, 36" Heavy 7 S10 AP-4 D3.92. Compared to the Banesword the Stormswords gun is worse in almost any situation. You should avoid this and take one of the better alternatives.
***'''Arkurian Pattern Stormsword (Forge World):''' Exactly the same as the regular Stormsword. The mind boggles as to why it got its own entry in the FW index. 
**** The OOP FW model has a single heavy bolter instead of a twin and heavy flamers instead of lascannon, but apparently whoever was writing the Imperial Armour Index forgot the "edit" part of "copy, paste and edit the Index Imperium entry."
**'''Doomhammer:''' The Magma Cannon on this baby is 60" Heavy 2d6 S10 AP-5 D1d6, Ignores Cover Saves, Melta Damage which averages to Heavy 7 S10 AP-5 D4.47 at 30". The Ignores Cover is unlikely to come up on an AP-5 weapon, but prepare to cackle madly the few times you get to shoot a Land Raider in cover with this thing. Additionally you get transport capacity of 25 models and a firing deck for 10 of them to shoot out. Six Ogryns and a Priest is a nice package to dump upon an unsuspecting enemy, and you still have room for one more model. The Magma Cannon is just as good if not better than the Quake Cannon of the Banesword or the Siege Cannon of the Stormsword which means that you should always take the Doomhammer if you have anything for it to transport.
**'''Banehammer:''' When it comes to stopping the enemy advance, the Banehammer delivers. Its Tremor Cannon can turn entire sections of the field into flying clouds of dirt and debris, halving the Move of enemy units and preventing them from advancing. Hold the line! Received a troop bay and transport capacity in this edition; 25 models can hitch a ride, of whom 10 can shoot out of the firing deck.
***The Tremor Cannon is 60" Heavy 3d6 S8 AP-2 D3, but the primary weapon on this thing is the Firing Deck, provided you fill it with melta and/or plasma (or just load it up with cheap mortar squads).
***The Banehammer is one of the three cheapest variant, effective against a wide variety of targets and slowing down enemy units which helps your whole army. In general its a pretty safe bet to take one of these.
**'''Shadowsword:''' Arguably the most famous aside from the Baneblade itself and with a +1 to hit against any unit with the TITANIC keyword, the 'Titan-Killer' mounts the incredibly powerful Volcano cannon, still capable of one-shotting Land Raiders even in an edition rife with tough vehicles and monsters. The Volcano Cannon is 120" Heavy 3d3 S16 AP-5 D2d6, re-rolling wounds against {{W40Kkeyword|Titanic}}, which gives it an average damage of 17,5 - the highest damage*rate of fire gun this line can field or probably any other unit for that matter, oh and if you take a Trojan support vehicle you can [[Rape|reroll all hits]]. You will do enough damage to overkill almost every target you shoot so its potential can be a little wasted if you don't have the right targets. 
***On average, one shot from this gun will kill a fellow Baneblade variant with 1.22 wounds to spare, or a Land Raider with 1.5 wounds to spare.  However, it won't kill a Knight in one shot, on average dealing 18.15 wounds - enough to cripple all the way, usually, but you'll want the lascannon sponsons to finish the job.
***Alternatively, give shadowsword-senpai some minions! A Salamander Command Vehicle and a Trojan Support Vehicle can beef up the Volcano Cannon's firepower considerably, taking its average hit count from 3 to 5.33 - which makes for ''23.5'' wounds after damage rolls and the knight's invulnerable save. This means you can finish the job with the hull bolters, and sponsons with lascannons will make the kill a virtual certainty. Take the detachment as Catachan for EXTRA pain; with rerolls to one of the shot dice the Shadowsword the average shot count is 6.67, which gives you 26.14 wounds... enough to kill a Knight in one blast, no sponsons or bolters required. You will need to take it in a Supreme Command Detachment or Super-Heavy Detachment for your Shadowsword to benefit from a Regimental Doctrine, which means 3 HQs,  but you were going to take those Primaris Psykers and Lord Commissars already, right?
***If you prefer efficiency, take as Cadian. Rerolling 1's is powerful on a gun that can 1-shot tesseract vaults. But that is just the beginning of the hilarity. With Pask's almost-guaranteed ability to make at least one unsaved wound on any unit you can spend 2 CP and watch as your shadowsword gains 98% accuracy against titans (BS 4+, +2 to hit, reroll 1's). With 6 shots average (3d3 is weird, but the distribution of dice outperforms 2d6 almost always) you are unlikely to miss. Combine that with S16 and AP -5 the only thing that might possibly keep the opponents lord of war on the field are invuln saves. Afterward enjoy annihilating all of the enemies armor with 98% accuracy (as long as you don't move your tank... but with 120" range on the volcano cannon you're probably just fine staying put).
***Funny little update in the FAQ; if you so desire, you can now nix the Lascannons off of your weapons sponsons and just take the Twin Heavy Bolters to represent the Forge World Shadowsword model. A bit weird, but it is a cost saving measure if you're really trying to fine tune your points.
**'''Stormlord:''' Gork and Mork (or was it Mork and Gork?) cry tears of pure joy when this arrives on the field. With a troop bay that holds ''40'' models (of which 20 may fire out) and the Vulcan Mega Bolter, this monster can put out more dice than any non-titan model. Put entire squads of Bullgryns inside it for a pseudo-Land Raider or entire ''Detachments'' of Heavy Weapon Squads (probably with Mortars, though to fill it completely you'll be fine with a mix) for unprecedented firepower and durability.
***On top of a pair of heavy stubbers, the Vulcan Mega Bolter this thing ships with is ''still'' one of the best Baneblade guns you can take, at 60" Heavy 20 S6 AP-2 D2, on top of its aforementioned best-in-show Extended Firing Deck.
**'''Arkurian Pattern Stormblade (Forge World):''' One of the few variants without a twin heavy bolter stock, this one comes with a plain heavy bolter instead, as well as a plasma blastgun.  The Plasma Blastgun's 2d6 MEQ-vaporizing blasts will wipe out any infantry near it. Supercharging it boosts its range from 72" to 96" and boosts the shots' strength and damage by 1, but as always you'll want something nearby to ensure that it doesn't risk damaging itself in the process. Or just take him in a Cadian Supreme Command Detachment.
***The Plasma Blastgun is 72" Heavy 2D6 S8 AP-3 D2 or 96" Heavy 2D6 S9 AP-3 D3, 1 mortal wound per 1 rolled to hit, which averages to 72" Heavy 7 S8 AP-3 D2 or 96" Heavy 7 S9 AP-3 D3 and take 1.17 mortal wounds, which would still be underwhelming even if it didn't inflict the mortal wounds, largely because this is a Forge World gun that didn't get up-gunned, so the Codex variants are deeply superior.
**'''Arkurian Pattern Stormhammer (Forge World):''' Easily the strangest variant, this is the only one that can't take the standard sponsons, and it hasn't got a hull-mounted heavy bolter at all, twin or not - it ships with its own, mandatory custom sponsons, so it has a Stormhammer Cannon with Co-Axial Multilaser, a Twin Battle cannon, a lascannon, and 6 sponsons, each of which can carry 1 lascannon, multilaser, heavy bolter, or heavy flamer, although only the last two can fire in melee like Pistols, per Steel Behemoth. One of the most flexible variants, the co-axial multilaser acts more like a target marker than a weapon in its own right - if its Stormhammer Cannon shoots the same target as the multilaser, it can reroll any failed to-hit rolls with the Stormhammer Cannon. The cannon itself is 60" Heavy 2d6h1 (roll twice, pick the highest), S9 AP-3 d6 D (re-rolling a result of 1 for damage), making it a slightly shorter ranged but otherwise much better Battle Cannon that works well with the other two Battle Cannons it has. It comes with [[C.S. Goto|six more multilasers]], which can and probably should be switched out for heavy flamers, heavy bolters, or lascannons as needed. Pr the 16.04.2018 FAQ update, now finally recieved the propper "Steel Behemoth" rule, so no more -1 modifier for moving and firing heavy weapons. Very nice indeed!
***The Stormhammer Cannon is 60" Heavy 2h1d6 S9 AP-3 D1d6r1, or, on average, 60" Heavy 4.47 S9 AP-3 D3.92, which isn't enough, even with the multi-laser, to scratch the paint on anything you can be bothered shooting with one of these, since the gun did not receive the Codex upgrades the other variants did to rate of fire. Good thing there are tons of other guns on this thing, but here's hoping the upcoming FW rewrite makes this the beast it should be.
*'''Macharius Family (Forge World:''' the middle child of the super heavy tanks, the Macharius series starts to wield titan-sized guns, while the non-tank variants of the chassis bring to the field some of the largest transport capacities in the game. The Codex has indirectly nerfed these by buffing the Leman Russ. Now that a Russ can double tap its main gun, it can put out a similar amount of fire to its Macharius equivalent, but for less than half the points cost. While the Vulcan and Omega do make up for this by having improved Strength, and AP/Damage, the regular and Vanquisher are essentially just larger, tougher, and significantly more expensive Russes that can move and shoot slightly faster.
**'''Macharius Heavy Tank:''' Suffers from a lot of the problems that the Leman Russ suffers from. It has the potential to deal a lot of damage, but like the Leman Russ battle cannon, the likelihood of it actually doing anything isn't that high. If you really have your heart set on this tank, consider the Macharius Vanquisher as an alternative.
**'''Macharius Omega:''' Its plasma blastgun is pretty amazing, especially if you can keep it still. Only 1 mortal wound per to-hit roll of 1 on the supercharged firing mode, and even if you play it safe, each shot is still doing as much damage as a normal supercharged plasma gun shot, but with much better range. Consider this if facing big squads of MEQ... now, if only FW still made the model for it.
**'''Macharius Vanquisher:''' Two Vanquisher shots are better than one, and if all else fails, you can fire this as a slightly less potent version of the twin battle cannon that the Macharius Heavy Tank has, making this a more versatile choice. It's still nothing to write home about in the grand scheme of things, but at least you get two shots for the Vanquisher cannon instead of 1. Of note is that the AP rounds have one strength over the normal vanquisher cannon so you will be wounding just about everything non-titanic on at least a 3 instead of a 4.
**'''Macharius Vulcan:''' The Vulcan Mega Bolter retains the ability to spin up to maximum speed if the tank hasn't moved, doubling its rate of fire to 30. On a S6 AP-2 gun, that's some SERIOUS pain. With 15 hits on average, you'll be mowing down entire GEQ squads with an average of 12.5 wounds per shooting phase. This is a nice tank to have up your sleeve when that Ork player floods the board with Boyz. As long as it sits still, it can dish out some pain against enemy armor as well - an average of 6.67 wounds per round of shooting. The Macharius Battlecannon only averages 4.08 damage/shooting phase. If you're Cadian and don't move, the Vulcan deals an average of 7.73 damage and if you can somehow get a full reroll (from, say, a Trojan Support Vehicle) this goes up to 10 damage on average - enough to kill a Wraithlord in one go. ''Don't forget the Gun also does 2 damage so it will mulch multi wound targets and double the number of FNP saves Deathguard has to make.''

*'''CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT (Forge World):''' Still a good capacity armored transport, effectively the guard Land Raider. If you're strapped for points and don't want the massive fire magnet that is a Stormlord, this rolling bunker is half the price. You can replace the heavy bolters with lascannons, and with Overdrive and Steel Behemoth you can advance and fire them at BS4+. If you don't feel like shelling out for a Gorgon and have some Bullgryns/Ogryns you need to get into position, this is a great way to do it. It's viable if you have it, but increases significantly in usefulness if you're trying to claim objectives: drop your payload of 30 Conscripts plus Commander, Priest, and Commissar onto an objective, or deliver your full Ogryn/Bullgryn squad right where it's going to hurt the enemy the most.
**Stick with the heavy bolters or heavy flamers. Lascannons will make this thing a gigantic target without much payoff, and the whole point of it is to keep your massive units safe, so the less fire it draws, the better. The heavy bolters will help it defend itself in close combat, as it can shoot them at anything it's locked in combat with. The Crassus's saving grace is that it isn't intended to be a weapons platform; probably the only FW Lord of War the Guard has that's stayed just about as useful as it was when the Codex dropped. Just make sure you use it for its intended purpose.
**Also, if you're bringing a Baneblade variant or two and are looking to fill up a Superheavy Detachment to get those sweet, sweet Regimental Doctrines on your Shadowsword, consider using this as your second or third Lord of War choice. It's the cheapest LoW choice the Guard have, in face it was the cheapest LoW in the game prior to the introduction of Knight Armigers, the absolute most this thing will cost you is 290 points, and it will almost always cost less since that's its cost with 4 lascannons, a stubber, and an HK missile. This thing costs less points than a Land Raider and offers you a big solid mass transport in addition to its guns.
*'''Dominus Armored Siege Bombard (Forge World):''' STILL doesn't have a model. The price reduction of the basilisk and its derivatives has removed this tanks' selling point of being more cost effective; instead it's now a potential partner for the Trojan, since squadrons can't share buffs.
*'''Gorgon Heavy Transporter (Forge World):''' Want to haul an entire platoon of conscripts? Here's how. With an unmatched-anywhere transport capacity of '''50''' models, the Gorgon can move more men safely than anything else. The Gorgon Mortar is no longer one-shot, too, letting this vehicle function as a pseudo-Land Raider...until you realize you're transporting 4 point models in a Lord of War, and they can't shoot out of it. 
**Don't view the Gorgon as a mobile dakka vehicle like the Stormlord. View the Gorgon as a mass transporter to move your infantry into rapid fire range, or to dump a Bullgryn deathstar in front of your opponent.
** Re-release of this kit on Friday 13 December 2019. New mold, New tech, Same sculpt.
*'''Minotaur Artillery Tank (Forge World):''' One of the two variants of the Malcador chassis that retains the Lord of War title...though you could be forgiven for not noticing, since it's had two Earthshaker cannons mounted on it. ''Backwards.'' Simultaneously the coolest thing on treads and an ungodly abortion only Hereteks could love. Has two heavy bolters mounted on it...somewhere. As a side effect of mashing two Basilisks together it gains Steel Behemoth and a 5+ Invulnerable save against shooting attacks (which is copy-pasted from the Gorgon's entry, because the two are such similar machines...bravo, Forge World). The durability comes at a cost: for the firepower of slightly more than two Basilisks ('roll 4d6 discard two lowest' for shot count vs 2 lots of 'roll 2d6 discard lower'), it's almost as expensive as three.
**As odd as it sounds to have backwards facing guns, a few combat vehicles IRL did exactly that(notably the Archer Tank Destroyer from WW2).
*'''Praetor Armored Assault Launcher (Forge World):''' Very versatile now. You don't have to pick the ammo type at the start of the battle; instead, you can choose on the go. Foehammer missiles are great for big, multi-wound targets like vehicles and monsters; Firestorm missiles are great for GEQ hordes and ignore cover saves; finally, Pilum missiles get a +1 to hit anything with the '''Fly''' keyword. The fact that you can choose between them for each shooting attack makes this a great all-arounder... and a priority target, so keep it well-protected.
**Stupidly, the Pilum Missiles are only useful if the Praetor is reduced to BS 6+, a +1 to hit FLY doesn't outweigh twice as many shots.
*** The damage output from the Praetor leaves a lot to be desired considering its cost. While not bad per se, it is easy enough to get overwhelmingly more firepower from a group of Manticores instead at around or less the same cost.
*'''Valdor Tank Hunter (Forge World):''' The other Malcador variant that's still a Lord of War, the Valdor is to vehicles what the Infernus is to infantry. It packs a Neutron Laser Projector, a cannon that hits plenty hard, fires more than one shot and gets damage rerolls vs vehicles (who also take a -1 shooting penalty if the shot damages them). Be wary: the reactor powering this thing is closer to a bomb than an engine. When killed, the Valdor explodes on a '''2+''', inflicting D6 mortal wounds on everything within 2d6". Sadly, it's too pricey to be taken just for the spectacular not-a-deathstrike suicide attack.

====Aeronautica Imperialis====

*'''[[Marauder Bomber]] (Forge World):''' 40k's version of the B17 'Flying Fortress' and probably one of the largest flyers in the game (and one of the largest you can actually afford!). Comes with a twin lascannon on the nose and two ball turrets holding twin heavy bolters; it may fire these at full BS regardless of movement thanks to its ''Sky Fortress'' rule. The real kicker, of course, is the bombs - three times a game the Marauder can bomb a unit on the field. Roll dice to stack mortal wounds on the target: 3d6 per vehicle/monster or d6 for every other model - every 4+ causes a mortal wound. For softer targets Hellstorm bombs can be used: they roll for 3s but only get 2d6 vs monsters/vehicles. Against large enough units it's basically a Deathstrike, but you can already see that it's probably unique among the Guard Lords of War in its utter inability to kill anything in one hit: by definition it will never roll enough dice to kill non-vehicle/monster units, and nothing with those keywords has less than three wounds, which you won't roll unless you are very, ''very'' lucky. Not worth the money unless you're a fan of display pieces.
*'''Marauder Destroyer (Forge World):''' While the B17 was never converted to serve as a ground attack gunship, the Marauder ''was,'' and serves the role pretty well in 8th (think a B-25 Mitchell). It keeps the Sky Fortress rule, swaps the twin lascannon for '''six''' Autocannons, swaps one of the heavy bolter ball turrets for a twin assault cannon turret, and most of its bombs for a rack of up to eight Hellstrike missiles, ''which aren't consumed upon firing.'' Rules oversight? Who knows. But the fact remains that this thing can spew out 12 S7 AP-1 D2 shots, 12 S6 AP-1 D1 shots, 6 S5 AP-1 D1 shots, and up to 8 S8 AP-2 Dd6 shots that roll 2d6-take-the-highest for damage...''every turn.'' at 549 points fully loaded, It's a flying blender, no mistake! Oh, and it also gets a bombing run! Tough as a flying fortress should be, at T7 with 20 wounds and a 3+ save, on top of being a flyer. A proud king of the skies.
**Price dropped and costs a jaw droppingly low 405 points fully loaded as of January 2020.