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Since the new codex, the previous overview has been seriously lacking.
I am going to attempt to give you a run down on the abilities of the Imperial Guard. Hopefully you'll learn something new, and with your feedback, I might too.
Now that the unpleasantries are over.
Welcome to the Imperial Guard!
In service to the Emperor, you'll have at your disposal; countless infantry, fantasticly brutal tanks, and a fantastic array of models to paint, build, convert, and field.
We'll start with the basic rundown, followed by a quick utility report, along with some tactical options
HQ
-Company Command Squad
-Can take; Ursarker Creed, Jarren Kell, Colonel Straken, Nork Deddog
-Regimental Advisors
-Lord Commissar
-Commissar Yarrick
-Primaris Psyker
-Ministorum Priest
-Techpriest Enginseer
ELITES
-Ogryn Squad
-Ratling Squad
-Psyker Battle Squad
-Storm Trooper Squad
-Guardsman Marbo
TROOPS
-Infantry Platoon
-Platoon Command Squad
-Can take; Commander Chenkov, Captain Al'Rahem
-Infantry Squad
-Heavy Weapons Squad
-Special Weapons Squad
-Conscripts
-Veteran Squad
-Can take; Gunnery Sergeant Harker, Sergeant Bastonne
-Penal Legion Squad
DEDICATED TRANSPORTS
-Chimera APC
FAST ATTACK
-Scout Sentinal Squadron
-Armoured Sentinal Squadron
-Rough Rider Squad
-Can take; Mogul Kamir
-Hellhound Squadron
-Valkyrie Assault Carrier Squadron
-Vendetta Gunship Squadron
HEAVY SUPPORT
-Leman Russ Squadron
-Can take; Knight Commander Pask
-Hydra Flak Tank Battery
-Ordnance Battery
-Manticore Rocket Launcher
-Deathstrike Missile Launcher
That is a top-to-bottom list of the choices in your army.
If you are new to Warhammer 40,000, or just new to guard, you may be looking at this list thinking "This tells me NOTHING." Now, I will fill in that void, and describe each of these squads briefly, outlining but a couple possible uses you may find for them
HQ
Company Command Squad
Here is where you hold your officers that allow your army to issue orders (details of these at the end) call upon far-off ordnance, speed up reserves, and possibly slow down your enemies reinforcements.
Each command squad come with a company commander, with four veterans.
Combine the veterans extra BS with some hard weaponry, and give your commander some fearsome wargear, and you have a little squad with a big kick.
Attached to this squad, you can have regimental advisors. Each of these have a different effect, with unlimited range artillery, reserve roll modifiers to both you and your enemy, and bodyguards, for protecting these valuable assets.
You also have the choice to swap out your company commnder for either Lord Castellan Ursarker Creed, or Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken.
Ursarker Creed is rather different now, actually quite effective as a character, with 4 orders per turn, and a command radius of 24", he can sit far behind friendly lines, whilst having a major effect on all of your army fighting hard on the front line.
Colonel Straken is basically the opposite.
With a stat-line bordering on space marine captain, with str7 and 2d6 armour penetration and armour ignore, he becomes an initiative striking power fist, with the stat's to back it up. And don't forget the 3+ save
Put him with a command squad with close-combat orientation (even flamers) and you have yourself a deadly close combat squad, that can even punch through the mighty terminators.
Lord Commissar
A moral leader of men.
Morale being obtained by destroying anything or anyone (friends included) that threatens the greater objective.
These units are another of your very limited close combat choices. With options to take power weapons, power fists, and the ability to hold men around them from running away.
A statline to die for, and weaponry to make use of it, Lord Commissars are a great choice for HQ, Being able to attach himself to most squads, he can be that spanner thrown in to mess up enemy works.
Commissar Yarrick
Basically the same as a Lord Commissar with an extra toughness, and already kitted out with no option for change. He does have his purposes, if you can find a use for him. Personally, at nearly double the points of a similarly armed Lord Commissar, I personally don't use him.
Primaris Psyker
Rare as psychic abilities may be, rarer still to find one not executed, we all have the option of bringing one along to lead our army.
Slightly on the expensive side for a single model, 70 pts does bring you two rather nice Psyker Powers.
He can either bring down a rain of 2d6 str6 attacks, or block himself and any squad he is attached to from the mind of the enemy, making it that much harder to target them
Ministorum Priest
For 45pts, you bring along a close combat fury.
Expensive as he may be, he does add another element to your army, which can give your opponent another thought whilst charging in head first.
Eviscerators are still as deadly as they were before, smiting apart most enemies with righteous ease.
Techpriest Enginseer
A lot of debate on whether these are worth the points they use.
Personally, in an army 1250 or bigger, with three or more tanks, these are great.
Heavy weapons abundant with servitors, and the ability to repair.
Walk these up behind and amongst your vehicles, keeping them alive and useful, and your tanks will last just that little bit longer, and do that little bit more damage.
ELITES
Ogryn Squad
Just as bulky, brutal, and bad-ass as they used to be, but a little heavy on the points size.
Able to cause serious havoc on the frontline, as long as you can get them there. With three wounds, but still susceptible to enemy fire, I'd recommend you chimera these up and rush them into the enemy line as quickly as possible, as they WILL draw fire, and these are expensive casualties.
Ratling Squad
A good sniper team, bringing up to ten sniper shots for very little points.
The one thing you must remember with these, is keep them near an officer, as their leadership is borderline pathetic. Although their cover save is a good casualty stopper. A good way to use them is in a squad of five infiltrating into cover, and splatting an important target, before enemy fire encourages them to leave the game.
Psyker Battle Squad
One of my favourite units, though most dangerous to wield safely. The bigger the unit, the better the psychic power. And you'll want to guard these with your life. Just imagine a big blast template, strength equal to as many psykers you have, and AP-d6 (random every turn) it's quite possibly lethal to terminators one turn, and barely a scratch on a guardsman the next
A lot of fun, and not hugely heavy on the points.
A good tactic is to keep them in a transport hiding somewhere until the perfect time to pop them out and slaughter an enemy unit to the last.
Storm Trooper Squad
Quite possibly one of the best upgrades to a single unit in the 5th Ed Codex.
Each Storm trooper is now armed with an Ap3 hot shot lasgun (that's right, no more hellguns)
Although these are still str3, those fives you roll are much more lethal then they were before.
Also, each squad gets to choose a Special Operations benefit each game. Whether it be re-rolling your deep strike scatter dice, infiltration, or scouts and move through cover.
These are much more deadly, and a much better use of points. Expect to see more of these around the place.
Guardsman Marbo
Lone wolf anyone?
This little guy is scratch built to operate in cover, with an ap2 sniper/pistol and a poison blade, demo charge and the ability to leave the combat at the end of ANY players turn, he becomes a brutal guerilla fighter.
Although on the expensive side. All it takes is the one perfect demo charge to make him fantasticly worth it.
I always use this model, and recommend you try him at least a couple times to get the feel for a infiltrater coming in 1" away from an enemy.
TROOPS
Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad
Still the generic heavy/special weapon toting five man squad that leads your army. No big changes here. I recommend you give it some assault weapons, or rapid fire, so you can move up with your army to issue orders each turn, and still dish out some damage.
One per platoon
Can take;
Captain Al'Rahem
This pointsey little guy can have you popping out, shooting, and popping back into cover again, and bringing upon instant death to creatures regardless of toughness.
Quite handy against the right armies.
Commander Chenkov
If you like your conscripts, this man loves them. With a generic statline, this commanders only real benefit is the "send in the next wave" rule that allows you to recycle your conscripts for potentially half the points of the first squad. Allowing you to "wield" 150+ conscripts for 350 pts
Infantry Squad
Your basic ten man squad, one heavy weapon, one special weapon, and the option for dedicated transport. (that's right, no more armoured fist)
Personally, as these are the bread and butter men, I wouldn't arm them with heavy weapons. Leave them free to manuevre, capture objectives, without sacrificing the firepower.
Between 2-5 of these per platoon
Heavy Weapons Squad
This is where you want to bring your heavies.
You can now mix and match any type of heavy weapon, be it anti-infantry, or anti-tank. But personally, I would leave the types with types. Otherwise you may find your heavy bolters firing at leman russ' along with a single lascannon. And that just doesn't come across strategic.
Up to 5 of these per platoon
Special Weapons Squad
This squad can bring some serious melta/plasma/flamer power to your army.
Relatively cheap points, but you have a very fragile squad when put under enemy fire. With only six models and three are you important guns, you'll want to keep these in cover, or behind other units whilst advancing.
Personally use the two of these I can take, and arm them with plasmas, gives high-armoured armies something to focus on, whilst your massed firepower elsewhere tears it apart. An expensive decoy, but made worth it when they bring down a 180pts squad with one or two salvoes.
Conscripts
This swirling mass of whiteshields is a brilliant clog.
Tie up your enemies close combat squads, or just send 150 lasgun shots per turn into a squad you want thinned. At BS2, they wont hit much, but with more dice then you can imagine, it barely matters.
Combined with Chenkov, you have a recycling mass of infantry, the likes of which anyone would fear. Including you, on the movement phase.
Veteran Squad
That's right! Veteran squads are now infantry!
With a BS of 4, and the ability to take 3 special weapons, infiltrate, take melta bombs and demo charges, or slap on a 4+ armour save, I don't think I need to tell you these are a GOOD investment.
But I will
Use these to throw some serious firepower with serious accuracy at your enemies. They won't know what hit them when suddenly their 3+ armour save goes melting out the window with potentially 6 ap2 shots coming flying out towards them.
These squads can also take;
Gunnery Sergeant Harker with a Heavy bolter he can move, shoot, and assault with, feel no pain, and camo cloaks he shares with the squad, also allowing them to infiltrate, he is a fine choice to combine veterans, allowing your firepower to come in behind the enemy and unleash hell on their previously "safe" commanders and artillery.
or
Sergeant Bastonne with decent close combat, and the ability to give orders to boot, this little character adds in a mobile benefit to any forward advancing veteren squad, alongside your basic infantry.
Penal Legion Squad
The ruthless, insane, deadly prisoners of the Imperium.
These men are deemed sane (or insane) enough to be recruited from their prison worlds into the legions of Imperial Guard. Where Ruthlessness and brutality are traits admired and aspired to on the battlefield.
In my experience, these are fun units to model and field, but their usefulness can change every game without your choice.
A dice roll determines what benefit these models take. And while all three are useful, they can drastically change your strategy you may have had planned.
Try them for yourself, you may find them perfect, but be prepared for all three potential outcomes they may give you.
These offer a d3 roll, resulting in one of the following
Gunslingers Lasguns count as assault 2, not rapid fire
Psychopaths They gain Counter Attack, Fleet, and Furious Charge
Knife Fighters They gain an extra close combat weapon and have the Rending special rule
DEDICATED TRANSPORTS
Yes, we still have the trusty Chimera.
Armed with a multi laser changeable out to a heavy bolter, or heavy flamer.
This pinnacle of troop protection is a must for your fragile and important squads.
Even Command squads can issue orders from the unit, allowing you to protect your commanders without forgoing your orders each turn.
FAST ATTACK
Scout Sentinal
If you can wield three lascannons in three sentinals for 150pts, They must be good.
In that sentence, I pretty much summed these things up. Cheap heavy weapons, on a shell harder then a guardsman.
Very fragile to anti-tank, and usually draw some fire, they are a good choice when you have the points spare, but personally wouldn't cut anything else out to include them in an army.
Armoured Sentinal
Basically the same as above, but with a little better front armour.
Good fun
Rough Rider Squad
Let's be honest here, I've never actually fielded these.
But from the look of them, they are still a one-hit-wonder choice. Providing you with a good first charge, and a bit of face-paced special weapon toting.
Could be good helping your scoring infantry, or backing up squads that go down earlier then you expect.
Rought rider squads can take;
Mogul Kamir with a bolt pistol and slightly better skill in close combat. Mogul also offers you the Fearless and Rage and Furious Charge rules to him and his squad, and potentially an extra 3 attacks on charge (for himself).
Hellhound Squadron
Hellhound squadrons have some pretty meaty upgrades.
You can take;
Original Hellhound with the typical flying template and a heavy bolter.
Devil Dog With a melta cannon throwing a melta blast template.
or Bane Wolf with an AP3 poison (2+) template that spurts only from the turret.
Great against marines with all three options, devestating against nearly everything, on second thought.
Valkyrie Assault Carrier Squadron
To be fielded. Welcome all input if you have these
Vendetta Gunship Squadron
To be fielded. Welcome all input if you have these
HEAVY SUPPORT
Leman Russ Squadron
The previously mentioned brutal tanks of the imperial guard.
Now, instead of just the battle cannon, and demolisher cannon, you have 7 variants to choose from.
The typical battle cannon with str 8 AP3 big blast template.
The anti-light vehicle Exterminator with 4 auto cannon shots (twinlinked, too)
The anti-tank/anti-titan vanquisher with str 8 AP2 and 2d6 armour penetration at 72"
The anti-infantry Eradicator with a str 6 AP4 large blast that ignores cover. This is great against infantry heavy armies
The anti-everything Demolisher with str 10 AP2 Large blast. We all know and love this gun. Let's use it!
The ruthless, huge payload delivering Punisher with a massive 20 shots at str 5. Albeit, it is ap-, But I have seen terminators wither away under this torrent of fire. Especially when standing still, you combine it with three heavy bolters.
The horribly destructive Executioner with a three blast template plasma cannon, this is a lot of anti-power armour in a tought little case.
Being able to wield a mix of any three per Heavy Support slot means you can have a whole damn lot of heavy gunnery backing up your infantry. Used with techpriests, an army consisting of minimal infantry and plenty of tanks is a force to be reckoned with.
One tank per army can take;
Knight Commander Pask
Offering a BS of 4 to everything fired from the tank, and re-roll failed to wound on monstrous creatures, and hell, throw in an extra strength against tanks, and you have the best 50pts you've ever spent.
Use with a punisher tank, so 20 shots hitting on threes, is a whole damn site better then hitting on fours. Also, against nids, that many monstrous creatures, you'll want those re-rolls so you are practically guaranteed a kill per turn.
Hydra Flak Tank Battery
With some beefed up long range autocannons, that ignore the save given for turbo-boosting, these offer a compact little punch sitting comfortably on a chimera hull.
Counting 4 twinlinked autocannon shots, this can deal nicely with most targets, save for the heaviest armoured behemoths.
Ordnance Battery
And here you are, thinking 'damn, no more ordnance'
The opposite is true.
We now have four options to throw indirect fire down on the enemies heads.
Basilisk with a horrible minimum range of 36, this is only really useful in apocolypse, or games using table quarters, as enemies can quickly get inside minimum range. Useful thing is, you can drop it down to direct fire, so as long as you still have line of site, you are still lethal.
Medusa With the medusa siege cannon brimming with short range but huge power, this little beauty is pumping str10 AP2 shells at 36". Which in conjunction with basilisks, is really quite the filler for when those pesky deep strikers get planted right infront of your ordnance.
Colossus with a lower strength, but large template, this ap3 is still deadly with a huge range, and a minimum range not as limited as basilisks, my new favourite as a core artillery piece.
Griffon You've always wanted a pet artillery piece. Now you can have it. Same range as a regular mortar, but slightly better str and AP. Good against infantry heavy armies. \
Manticore Rocket Launcher
If you are happy with forgoing two turns of shooting per game from this, then this is well worth the D3 large blast templates per turn belted from this four turn-wonder.
At AP4 it's uses are limited, but still brutal with the amounts of units it can break.
Deathstrike Missile Launcher
If you thought 4 shots per game is a little on the little side, try one.
This awesome tank fires one shot per game, on certain dice rolls.
Weapon destroyed, shaken and stunned only become modifiers for when you really unleash hell on your enemy with D3+3 blast templates packing str10 AP1.
great for when you see those enemy tanks sitting a little too close to each other.
That is basically the end of that.
For more on everything (there is more, far far more) just ask, send me a PM, or post here.
I know the gunships are un-filled. But I am waiting for when I have built mine and finally fielded it. Comments are welcome, as well as any opinions on units which may differ.
Cheers
_________________ Bender wrote: "Ah, screw you. I'm gonna open my own casino... With black jack... and hookers..
Ah, forget the blackjack" I've never been good with wirds
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