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

=====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?)