Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Imperial Guard (section)

=====The Imperium=====

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*'''Space Marines:''' GW's favoured children. They have special rules out the ass, like better rapid-fire, better melee, Doctrines that give them additional AP depending on the battle round. Since 2W are now standard on all marines, you're going to need to rely on number of shots to take them down, which is what you're good at anyway. Any of their Marines, be they tacticals or vanguards, will tie you up in melee, so bubble wrap with chaff and take Bull/Ogryns and Crusaders for counter-charging; you never want them at the forefront, where they can be shot at and charged before they can fight back, but riding in a transport or behind disposable bodies. 
**'''Q1 2023 UPDATE:''' Armour of Contempt got removed. Congratulations, your Heavy Bolters and Autocannons are relevant again.
**Ultramarines vehicles can now fall back and shoot, so a Land Raider Redeemer or even basic Rhino that was forgotten about can ram and tarpit you. Their biggest ace is Guilliman who will take you for a rough ride with his rerolls-r-us schtick, even though he's been slightly nerfed he's dropped in points. Not the most commonly seen Chapter in later 9th Edition since they aren't specialized enough.
**Raven Guard now always benefit of cover from 18" away, and only gain -1 to hit if they are 12" away.(vehicles cannot benefit from this part, at least). In addition, Raven Guard units gain +1 to hit and +1 to wound when targeting characters during the Tactical Doctrine, yes that includes Tank Commanders. Beware RG Scout Snipers and Eliminators, and grab an Ogryn bodyguard just to be sure. keep Character units 37+" away from Eliminator and Phobos Captains with Korvaid bolts and Master Marksman as they will kill most Characters. 
**Iron Hands vehicles now have Valhallan-style resilience (double wounds when accounting for brackets), in addition to their famed 6+ shrug. Their supplement's combat doctrine gives them relentless and re-rolling 1s to hit on all heavy weapons in the Devastator Doctrine. Thankfully, it only lasts 1 turn. Something to watch out for is their special relic The Ironstone, which reduces the damage of all attacks against a single vehicle of their choice by 1 to a minimum of one. [[Skub|Oh, and they can turn any Dreadnought into a Character, giving them WTs, Relics, and Character Protection]].  Iron Hands are '''still''' the best of the Space Marines, because of all the jank described above. When fighting Iron Hands, play the mission, and bring as many Artillery and Heavy Weapons as you can. Slightly more common than Crimson/Imperial Fists and Raven Guard.
**Crimson Fists and Imperial Fists are extra-competent with their Bolters. Not commonly seen since basic Bolters aren't enough this edition.
**Overall, Marines count a lot on synergy, even more so than you. Sniper teams and the Gaunt's Ghosts squad will do well to dump mortal wounds on them. Primaris Marines will still struggle against Bullgryns with slabshields, though, even with all of their fancy shit. Plus, you can always just flood the board with more bodies than they can realistically shoot.  However, that concedes Purge The Enemy secondary points to our enemy.
*'''Blood Angels:''' An army designed to hard-counter Imperial Guard with their Blitzkrieg playstyle. Their Chapter Tactic gives them +1 to wound whenever they charge, get charged, or Heroically Intervened (so basically always in the first round of combat), meaning they wound your infantry on a 2+, and without any special melee weapons your tanks on 4+ (Leman Russes and Baneblades on 5+). Don't let them get that charge off whenever possible, and just in case throw a screen directly in front of your tanks to ensure that they cannot charge your big guns. Investing in some Bullgryns with their mauls and 4++ shields is recommended for a good counter-charge unit. That, or use Rough Riders and keep them hidden from charges/shooting until you need them.
*'''Dark Angels:''' The shooty emo Catholic Marines. Their Chapter Tactic makes them almost immune to morale, and grants them +1 to hit if they remain stationary in the shooting phase. Also, their two famous wings get their own secondary chapter tactic. Ravenwing units get a 5+ Invuln against ranged attacks if they moved, or a 4++ if they advanced. Deathwing units automatically pass morale tests, and if any Dark Angels Infantry unit has the Inner Circle keyword (which all Deathwing units, named characters, and Librarians have base) unmodified wound rolls of 1-3 fail irrespective of the strength or any special abilities the attack has. The basic Born Soldiers Regiment Trait just so happens to skirt around the infuriating hardiness of the Dark Angels. Can't roll to wound if a natural hit roll of 6 automatically wounds anyway.
*'''Space Wolves:''' Death to furries. Now that that's out of the way, these guys have a similar tactic to the Blood Angels, but they get +1 to hit instead of +1 to wound. It's not as bad on paper, but my lord do Blood Claws, Thunderwolf Cavalry, and the motherfucking Wulfen love it. The rule of thumb for the Space Wolves is if it can take a storm shield, it will take a storm shield. Their Venerable Dreadnoughts can take a Blizzard Shield that gives them a 4++, making them tougher nuts to crack than the usual dreadnought at the expense of their ranged options. 
*'''Deathwatch:''' They're just better Marines with the old Special Issue Ammo. They have the same rule of thumb as Space Wolves, storm shields out the wazoo. Frag cannons are a bitch, like they were when Deathwatch first dropped. Keep them outside of 12" if you  can, and FRFSRF away. They benefit the most from Primaris units, and have hidden Hellblasters and Aggressors in a Deathwatch Intercessor squad. If you know you're facing them, it might be a half-decent idea to bring along a Hydra or two and Intercept their Corvus Blackstar Aircraft. 16 shots a piece backed up by a Tank Commander issuing them ''G,KoS!'' to re-roll 1s to hit should honestly force enough saves to kill it. 
*'''Grey Knights:''' They're no longer the terror they were in 5th Edition, but they're still a fantastic beatstick army. You'll outnumber them fairly easily, and they're just as vulnerable to Plasma as they always were. With their "Tides of Battle", the analogue to Combat Doctrines, they have some much needed versatility. They will most likely start the game in the Tide of Concealment which grants them the Raven Guard Chapter tactic (see above). They can also change the tide with a psychic power, meaning they can bump up their gimped smites to a slightly more respectable flat 2 mortal wounds, up the strength and damage of certain weapons, or re-roll 1s to wound in close combat in case they wanted to more than guarantee that wipe. Commonly seen with several Dreadknights and Grandmaster Dreadknights even with successive nerfs to them. 
*'''Adeptus Custodes:''' At first glance these big boys seem very intimidating with a universal 2+/4++ or 3++ and T5/T6. Remember the saying, "Death by a 1000 cuts"? Take that and apply it to them. A single unupgraded Custodian Guard model costs as much as an infantry squad with some toys in points. You'll very easily outnumber them, and due to their lack of 24"+ range weapons without dipping into Forgeworld units, they cannot play the keepaway game. Take advantage of your numbers and force as many saves in any way possible. Also, ''beware the flag!'' The Vexilia Magnifica provides a ''very'' strong defensive buff (rendering a ''third'' of your hits ineffective) and effectively cannot be sniped due to the sheer toughness of its bearer. If you know you're facing Custodes, bring the Relic Banner of Nemrodesh. Ignores all hit roll modifiers and any way that prevents damage. Otherwise, there isn't a lot here that can really surprise you once the game is going. But good lord, watch out for those Shield Captains on Dawneagle Jetbikes!
**Due to the 9th Edition shakeup, Custodes will now have a CP pool to play with that is more or less equal to your own (assuming neither of you blow pregame stratagems). They were so strong that they received multiple rounds of nerfs to stratagems and the loss of ob-sec on non-troop units. Yes, you can outscore those Vertus Praetor jetbikes on that objective. That is assuming the bikes don't demolish everything in their sight.
*'''Astra Militarum:''' Oh boy, a mirror-match. You know what's good and what's bad from the rest of this article, but we'll point out the lynchpin anyway - ''Officers!'' Snipe out those low-wound characters to neuter the enemy chain of command and his infantry will suddenly be a LOT less impressive. The same is true of ''you,'' of course, so protect your own. Enemy tanks will be tonka-tough for dirt cheap, because so are yours - prioritize the ones that threaten you most. Most importantly, ''get fast!'' Taking the first turn versus guard is extremely valuable with the amount of shooting you have. Hit hard, hit first, hit often!
**'''Militarum Tempestus:''' Technically this is still Guard, but the play style is radically different, so it warrants a note. You may occasionally see a purist running an army like this. And if they are after the Scions nerf, hats off to them. They don't get Born Soldiers at all, so more balls are in your court from the top of the game. In addition, they lack stratagem synergy and can no longer spam special weapons like they used to (to be fair neither can we). Use your numbers to your advantage (oh, really?) and don't overextend - Scions are very adept at punishing careless plays.
*'''Sisters of Battle:''' As they have been since the edition dropped, Sisters are currently most frequently played mechanized with their fantastic transport game. Immolators and Repressors filled with meltas, storm bolters and Death Cultists are the flavor of the day and you don't need to be reminded to not let them get close enough to use them. A footslogging sister is a dead sister. With the release of their Codex, however, they have acquired significantly more flexibility and thusly have shot up on the threat scale. Repentia, while still fragile, will reduce just about any unit you can field to a pile of body parts and scrap metal if they get the drop on you and every unit that was dangerous before is now even more so. All of this combines with the Sister's deadly new toy: Miracle Dice. Having a pool of numbers to pick from instead of relying on RNGesus means that at any point a critical dice roll is required, they can pull it off. Really needed that Melta shot to wreck that Repressor? They can just take a 6 for the Invuln save. Desperately hoping Morale will finish off that Seraphim squad? Nope, just going make that roll a 1 and pass. Fortunately, you are one of the best armies to press this system's weakness: mass of fire. Do what Guard does best and throw more dice and bodies at the problem than your enemy has resources to deal with it. Make it a game of seeing who bleeds dry faster, because most of time it won't be you.
*'''Imperial Knights:''' A mechanized army, taken to it's logical extreme. These big boys can put out a lot of firepower that can fairly easily scythe through hordes of models (Gatling Cannons and the gigantic flamer the Dominus knight can carry), and have terrific close combat potential. Against infantry spam they'll do well to stay out of 24" range to avoid a "death by a thousand cuts" from massed lasgun fire. Against a tank-heavy army they'll try and get up close and assault the tanks to either outright destroy them or force them to keep falling back and stop them from shooting. If they're not from Knight House Hawkshroud or a Questor Mechanicus knight, you can hope to damage these boys so that they are left limping. If they're either of the other two, you HAVE to commit to destroying a knight once the wounds start piling up lest they easily circumvent the penalties of degrading statlines. Units of choice should be the Shadowsword superheavy tank, or as many infantry squads filled with lascannons as possible so that the Knight player cannot destroy all of them in 1 turn. The addition of Armigers makes things even more challenging - the Armiger Warglaive is a Devil Dog that's competent in melee, and the Armiger Helverin is what your Leman Russ Exterminator dreams of being before scarfing another tub of Rocky Road and crying. Treat them seriously, but remember that they're only Lords of War in name.
*'''Adeptus Mechanicus:''' ''KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!!'' The Transuranic Arquebus is an Officer's nightmare, capable of slaying any Officer short of a Company Commander ''instantly.'' Hug cover, stay out of sight, and failing that, get an Ogryn to take the hit for you - you are not going to outrange it. Other units to beware include the Kastelans with triple phosphor blasters - one of the few units that can realistically outshoot guard infantry. The Onager has some sweet guns, but it's not as cost-effective as yours; play smart and you can deal with it. Admech has only one character, but Cawl is an absolute powerhouse - in melee he will eat your dudes like popcorn and at ranged he's a terrific source of buffs, and most annoying of all he's an untargetable Character. Be wary of any army with him in it, and be aware of his place on the board at all times. Besides that you will feel like you're fighting Scions - lots of T3 Sv4+ dudes with good shooting and good guns.
*'''Officio Assassinorum:''' Technically their own army thanks to their White Dwarf index, but they are often seen as an ally to other Imperial armies. The Vindicare is 100% the most terrifying assassin the Guard can face. He can target sub-10 wound characters, wounds Infantry models on 2+, ignores both cover and invulnerable saves, and his weapons are AP-3. But that's not the rough part. If he rolls 6s to wound, his rifle does d6 damage instead of its usual d3. If a guard character has somehow survived the initial shot, his Headshots rule allows him to keep dishing out mortal wounds until the target is dead. You will not outrange him, so hide behind LoS-blocking terrain and/or get an Ogryn bodyguard to tank the hit and buy your officer a turn. A visible officer to him is a dead officer. Oh, did I mention he can spend cps to shoot and kill another visible character or deal a straight d3 mortal wounds to a Tank Commander? Other than that, Eversors will also give your units trouble since he can potentially kill 16 models in combat, plus 4 shots from his sentinel pistol. More than enough to wipe out any Troop choice you have since you only get a maximum of 10 models per squad. The Callidus with her Neural Shredder and Invuln-ignoring sword isn't at her best against cheap guard fodder. Her CP fuckery can be annoying if you rely on using stratagems. The culexus, however, is an anti-psyker specialist who is nevertheless versatile in that he forces all attacks against him to hit on 6s, regardless of ballistic skill, weapon skill, or modifiers. That's why you have Hellhounds and flamers!
*'''The Inquisition:''' Recently brought up to speed by their White Dwarf Index, you ''really'' shouldn't discount the threat the Rosette offers. Though you'll likely never face them in any high point games (unless your opponent is a madman with 3 Land Raider Prometheia), their presence in other armies can make life very annoying for you. Primarily, their Psychic powers are exceptionally nasty and good at picking your Officers out of a crowd. Worse, they can use one of those powers, Psychic Pursuit, to turn one of their aforementioned Land Raiders into a fucking sniper. Most of your {{W40kKeyword|CHARACTERS}} can't take Heavy Bolter fire or Mortal Wounds very well, so beat them at their own game and bring your own snipers to deal with them quickly before they deal with you.

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