Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Imperial

Guard(7E) (Non-forgeworld edit)

This is the 7th Edition's tactics. Previous editions' tactics may be found on The Warhammer 40,000
Tactics page.
"Last one alive, lock the door!"
--The Soldier

1Why Play Imperial Guard 5.8.2Macharius family

2Special Rules 5.8.3Baneblade family
o 2.1Warlord Traits 5.8.4Marauder family
o 2.2Tactical Objectives 5.8.5Titans
o 2.3Fighter Aces 6Supplements
3Orders o 6.1Cadia: A Codex Astra Militarum
4Equipment Supplement
o 4.1Heirlooms of Conquest 6.1.1Cadian Warlord Traits
o 4.2Special Issue Wargear 6.1.2Heirlooms of Cadia
o 4.3Armor and Invulnerable 7Formations
o 4.4Ranged Equipment o 7.1Cadian Battle Group
o 4.5Special Weapons Detachment (Warzone Damocles:
o 4.6Heavy Weapons Mont'Ka)
o 4.7Melee Weapons o 7.2Castellans of the Imperium
o 4.8Standards o 7.3Dataslate Formations
o 4.9Other o 7.4Warzone Armageddon
o 4.10Vehicle Equipment o 7.5Warzone Damocles
5Unit Analysis o 7.6Warzone Pandorax
o 5.1HQ o 7.7Sanctus Reach - The Red
5.1.1Special Characters Waaagh!
5.1.2Regimental Specialists 8Allies
o 5.2Troops o 8.1Battle Brothers
o 5.3Dedicated transports o 8.2Allies of Convenience
o 5.4Elites o 8.3Desperate Allies
o 5.5Fast Attack o 8.4Come the Apocalypse
o 5.6Heavy Support 9Tactics
o 5.7Fortifications o 9.1Army variants
o 5.8Lords of War o 9.2The Enemies of Man
5.8.1Malcador family o 9.3What to buy

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Why Play Imperial Guard[edit]

When recruits are inducted into the Imperial Guard, they are given four things. Their regulation
flashlight (commonly referred to by the troops as "lasguns" for some reason), their regulation
cardboard box (which certain regiments have taken to cutting up and wearing into battle, calling it
"flak armor"), a large stack of toilet paper (which the recruiters refer to as the "Imperial Infantryman's
Uplifting Primer"), and the regulation extra large wheelbarrow that allows them to cart their massive
brazen balls into battle.
From a gameplay perspective, the Imperial Guard army is a flexible force known for having either
hordes of cheap infantry to blast the heretic swine, waves of tanks to flatten the bastards, or a
medium in between. The army is easy to learn while having a lot of options and tactics being
discovered frequently (melta veterans in Chimeras are not the sole option in the Guard army after
all). That's why you play the Imperial Guard.
Additionally, you are one of most powerful armies in Apocalypse, and the standard by which all other
apocalypse armies are measured. You are absolutely spoiled for Forge World choices with
everything from the dinky little Lightning Fighter to the unholy death machine that is the Imperator
Class Titan.
Another win is the Escalation expansion for regular 40k. IG can now take one Baneblade or one of
its variants. No Fortress of Arrogance however. But hey, with the most Lords of War choices out of
all the armies AND you don't have to pay Forge World prices, why argue?

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Special Rules
Warlord Traits[edit]

1. Grand Strategist: d3 units of the primary detachment can Outflank.

2. Old Grudges: Choose one codex; warlord and unit have Preferred Enemy against units of
said codex. Pask starts with this one.
3. Draconian Disciplinarian: Friendly Astra Militarum units within 12" of the warlord don't have
to test after 25% of casualties. Yarrick starts with this trait.
4. Implacable Determination: Warlord and his unit have Relentless. Straken starts with this.
5. Bellowing Voice: Warlord can give Orders; if he could already do so, their range is boosted
to 18 inches.
6. Master of Command: Warlord can give Orders; if he could already do so, he can use an
extra Order each turn.
Overall, not bad. A bit of a toss up between this and the Command list if you're trying to buff your
units, which is the case with most Guard HQs. Tank Commanders, however, only get this list and
only roll a d3 on it, but that's okay - on a tank, all three of the available traits are pretty solid buffs.
Tactical Objectives[edit]

1. Armored Assault: Get a VP if an enemy unit was completely destroyed during your turn by
a unit with the Tank unit type.
2. Fix Bayonets!: Get a VP if you successfully charge in your turn.
3. Strength in Unity: 1 VP for successfully issuing three orders, d3 VP for successfully issuing
six or more.
4. Hold Your Ground: Score a VP if half your units, rounding up, are in your deployment zone.
5. Overwhelming Numbers: Score 1 VP for controlling more objectives than your opponent,
d3 VP for controlling three or more.
6. Storm of Fire: Score 1 VP for destroying an enemy unit in the shooting phase. D3 if you kill
three units, and d3+3 for killing six or more.
Fighter Aces[edit]
In Skies of Death, you now have a bonus rule allowing you to pay 35 points for one of 3 special traits
for any Flyer or FMC (FGC is still debatable, but you don't have any of those so don't worry about it).
The Tempestus can use the same traits, so their Valkyries can be just as handy as yours.

1. Covert Deployment - Arrive from any edge when arriving from reserves. Great for a surprise
drop.
2. Defensive Flyer - +1 Front Armor. Jivin'.
3. Inspiring Presence - Fellow models within 12" of a Fighter Ace with the same codex gain
Fearless. Save those Guardsmen, bring them to the front.

Orders[edit]
The order system is one of the most important and most raged about additions to the Imperial Guard
codex. When you are about to declare a Ld check for an order, get your troll face on. The fact is,
Sisters are only decent now because of faith points. Now the same will be said about Guard and the
orders system. With orders, your lasguns become 30-50% more effective. No, this isn't a joke. You
get to ignore cover or rerolls against vehicle/monstrous enemies. Your units can grow Space Elf
ears, shooting then running, or turn Space Commie blue and split fire all over the place. Your run
move is guaranteed to be decent, or you can pin the hell out of anything not fearless. Oh, wait. Don't
forget anyone can be a makeshift sniper now. Some call it broken (and those are the people who
use Wraithknights and Tau Markerlight/Crisis Deathstar bullshit, who are they to talk?) but you can
not give orders to those inside vehicles. So the Mechanized Guard can not make full use of them.
Anyway, orders are the shit. And you don't even need lady luck on your side. With the right vox

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system (which doesn't work when an officer orders his own unit) and use of other leaders' Ld
*COUGH* commissar *COUGH*, you should be able to roll a saving grace.
There are two special rules for rolling doubles of certain kinds on the ordered unit's leadership test:

Inspired Tactics: Roll 2D6 like you would for any Orders test. On a double one, all Orders for
the rest of the turn automatically pass.
Incompetent Command: Roll 2D6. On a double six, you cannot issue orders for the rest of your
turn. It is not pretty when a blob squad fails to issue remaining orders when
Genestealers/Boyz/melee deathstar units are bearing down on you.
The orders are as follows:

Bring it Down! - Senior Officers only. Grants a squad Tank Hunters/Monster Hunters when
engaging a Monstrous Creature(s)/Enemy Vehicle(s).
Fire on my Target! - Senior Officers only. Grants a squad ignores cover ability. Suck it Tau,
Orks, and Dark Eldar! Due to the specific wording, it also applies to Jink saves, because a Jink
save just gives a vehicle a 4+ cover save. Dark Eldar Cardboard boxes, Jetbikers, and Eldar
Skimmers can kiss their asses goodbye.
Get Back in the Fight! - Senior Officers only. Lets you basically get a squad that's falling back
or gone to ground to instantly regroup. If the unit was falling back, it does not make a 3" move
like it normally would.
First Rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE! - Your most frequently issued order, Rank Fire basically
gives your Guardsmen an additional shot if they are using Lasguns or Hot-Shot Lasguns. There
are few things that match the expression of the opponent's face when you get to roll 28 dice at
the same time, which means that even at BS3 and Strength 3 (and possibly AP3 in the case of
hotshot lasguns), the enemy is in the sea of possible pain. Use with combined squads for extra
hilarity, and don't forget to ask your opponent if you can borrow his dice.
Move! Move! Move! - The targeted squad must Run, and chooses the highest result of three
dice when doing so. For example, you want to run with a big blob and contest an objective?
Your odds of making it within 3" are now better.
Smite at Will! - The Targeted Squad makes a shooting attack with the Split Fire special rule.
Useful if you forgot to make a separate Heavy Weapon Squad with a specialized weapon set.
Forwards, for the Emperor! - The Targeted Squad makes a shooting attack and must
immediately Run after making it. This is how you move those heavy weapon teams and still get
their regular shots. Alternatively, move your guardsmen out of the way of your Tank so an
enemy unit cannot declare 5+ cover from intervening models, squeeze off shots with this order,
then bubble-wrap the tank again with the run move. (Orders are declared before any shooting is
done. So unless the Tank was a Command Tank and gave the Split Fire order so it fires first.
Then you order this squad to shoot and run back to bubble-wrap the tank which is unreliable,
you may only get a 1" Run.)
Suppressive Fire! - The Targeted Squad makes a shooting attack with the Pinning special rule.
Due to the new Ork Mob rule and their horrendous Ld7, you are now matched with Eldar for anti-
Ork capabilities by combining this order with your lasguns. Otherwise, all other armies have
fearless or too high Ld for Pinning to really work.
Take Aim! - The Targeted Squad makes a shooting attack with the Precision Shots special rule.
With 7th edition, it has been clarified to need a 6 to land a precision shot. Useful for piling up
large amounts of wounds on a sergeant or model with a special weapon you don't want near
your stuff, or pick out Chariot drivers in case someone was playing Daemons and thought that
seeker cavalcade was a good idea.

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Tank Commanders get their own set of orders that only affect the unit the Tank Commander is
attached to:

Full Throttle! - Tank commander's unit moves flat out, moving 6+d6 (ignoring the limitation from
being Heavy vehicles). Nice if some unit ended up catching your tanks by surprise and you need
to get out of there fast.
Gunners, Kill on Sight! - Tank Commander's unit shoots and the Tank commander must shoot
at a different target from the rest of the unit. Pretty much Split-Fire, but for tanks. Has potential.
Useful for Punisher Pask with Vanquisher wingmen so you don't waste its lascannon and
armorbane cannon on infantry or light armor.
Strike and Shroud! - Tank Commander's unit makes a shooting attack, and then all vehicles
that have not used their smoke launchers previously must use their smoke launchers. Useful if
you haven't used your smokes, and enemy has caught your unit off-guard but you don't want to
sacrifice your shooting for 4+ cover.

Equipment[edit]
Heirlooms of Conquest[edit]
Note that only an unnamed Company Commander from a Company Command Squad or an
unnamed Lord Commissar can buy heirlooms and you are limited to one of each Heirloom per army,
and only 1 relic may be taken by a model.

The Emperor's Benediction: This Lord Commissar-only MC Bolt Pistol has Precision Shot to
make him better at BLAMming certain enemies from range as well as being as strong as a
Heavy Bolter. With BS5 on a Lord-Commissar, the master-crafted rule means it is almost
guaranteed to hit something. Also, it's a 5 point upgrade. On an aggressive Lord-Commissar this
GLORIOUS HEAVY SNIPER PISTOL OF THE EMPEROR is basically an auto-include, but if the
squad he's attached to is gonna be mostly sitting back and shooting the higher range and rapid
fire of the (free!) boltgun should probably be considered instead (though one could argue that
babysitting the shooty units is a job for a junior commissar and a waste of a Lord).
The Tactical Auto-Reliquary of Tyberius: CCS only, 25 points. If the bearer issues an order
and rolls doubles for the Ld test, and succeeds, he gains Inspired Tactics for that turn. But if it's
a double 1, you lose its benefits for the rest of the game (the order you rolled double 1s on still
counts as Inspired Tactics). Seeing how broken orders can be, especially with the new Cadian
Battlegroup granting 3D6 discard highest result, this is troll-tastic.
Laurels of Command: CCS only. Giving friendly units within 6" the ability to choose whether or
not they pass a morale test is good. Having those same units make a pinning test if the bearer
dies is not. Hide out of sight like a bitch, and you won't ever worry about getting killed. In
summary: costs as much as a Priest, has a 6" range, makes everybody panic if the bearer dies.
Hmmm... no.
The Blade of Conquest: Lord Solar Macharius's personal sword is AP 3, S+1, and master-
crafted. It costs as much as a power fist, while not being that much better than a power axe,
since you generally won't be hitting first with your I3. Again, costs as much as a
Hatred+Fearless, war hymn giving Priest which will fare you 10x better in close combat. You're
investing quite a lot into a Lord Commissar/Company Commander who is doubled out by S6 or
higher. Keep scrolling.
The Deathmask of Ollanius: It may look creepy as hell, but you will use it anyway because it
gives you a 4+ invulnerable save, Fear, and It Will Not Die. Also, using it is, in-universe and out,
keeping the story of Ollanius Pius alive. However, given the fact that you already have a 5++,
and IWND on a T3 character doesn't make much difference, it's not an auto-take.
Kurov's Aquila: CCS only. The user and all friendly units within 6" have Preferred Enemy and
the bearer can reroll one failed Leadership test per turn. That means Template and blast
template overspill. Whoops.
Just remember you can't give orders while embarked (unless in a Chimera, but the PE isn't
emitted while embarked, period.). Also, it's 60 points, the same price as a bare bones CCS.

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 It is the most expensive of the heirlooms, and you should only take it if you're running a
Plasma heavy list (it's not like your list isn't point-sinking anyway).
To get the most out of this item, consider blobbing your squads and making a line with basic
guardsmen from the main blob to the edge of the aquila range and concentrating big guns
around the CCS: this way you are pretty much extending your preferred enemy field to
almost your whole army. Can get hilarious when, say, you have 8 squads with plasmas and
3 squads of 3 punishers with preferred enemy.

Special Issue Wargear[edit]

Solid choices overall for the Imperial Guard, this is the list Lord Commissars and Company
Commanders may take from in addition to the Heirlooms of Conquest.

Camo Gear +1 to Cover Saves, 6+ Cover in the open. Stacks with Stealth, Shrouded, Going to
Ground, intervening models, etcetera. It's not very expensive at 5 points, so is usually an auto
take. The Company Command Squad except for the Commander can take this at like 2 points
per model.
Carapace Armor - While a step up by granting a 4+, being 5 per model makes it a rather pricey
method, so ignore the idea unless you absolutely need a team on the field. Of course, Company
Command Squads except for the Company Commander get it at a discount price, so there is
indeed that to consider.(15pts for 10 vet's carapace isn't that bad- especially for taking
objectives)
Krak Grenades - Because Guardsmen aren't Space Marines they have to shovel out an extra
points to get these things. A squad of Guardsmen with these can glance AV12 (and have a
reasonable chance to penetrate AV10) and below to death in a heartbeat though! Lord
Commissars start out with these by default, be mindful of that.
Melta bombs - 5 points for a S8 AP1 Armorbane attack on a vehicle or Monstrous Creature.
Both Company Commanders, Lord Commissars, and Sergeants/Veteran Sergeants get these. If
you're taking a Priest with your blobs, it's recommended you take these to deter any
Walkers/MCs your opponent will inevitably throw at you to slow them down. Also makes Knights
think twice before they come to stomp on you.
Armor and Invulnerable[edit]

Flak Armor - The basic cardboard armor with an excellent and manly 5+ save.
Carapace Armor - See Special Issue Wargear above.
Power Armor - The standard MEQ 3+ Armor Save. Only Techpriests have it. Straken also has a
3+ Armor save but his wargear say he has Flak armor, when all he has is an Adamantium bionic
right arm...and abs of steel. Yes, that's why his Flak Armor is 3+!
Refractor Field - 5+ Invulnerable Save. Company Commanders, Lord Commissars, and
Primaris Psykers get these. Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken and Creed also have this by default.
Rosarius - 4+ Invulnerable Save. Only the Ministorum Priest gets this.

Ranged Equipment[edit]
This is the gear Commanders, Commissars, and Veteran/normal sergeants can take from.

Bolt Pistol - At 1 point, this is almost universally a better choice than the Laspistol your guys
come with. It allows your guy to keep his multiple attacks while getting 1 S4 AP5 shot. Compare
that to S3 AP- and you're jumping for this. However since Guard tend to abhor Melee, weigh
carefully against its big brother below. Commissars and Lord Commissars get these by default.
Boltgun - Yeah, now we're talking! The primary small-arm of Space Marines is also available to
Imperial Guard sergeants, Commissars, Lord Commissars and Platoon/Company Commanders.
It costs the same as the pistol variant. So 1 measly point for rapid fire S4 AP5 shots. Not much,
but far surpasses the crappy pistol-sized Flashlight your Sarge usually comes with. [Lord]

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 Commissars can swap out their Pistols with this for free. If you don't mind losing the extra attack,
adding to a unit's ranged Dakka is never a bad idea.
Plasma Pistol - Guaranteed to wreck the shit of a TEQ who gets too close. However, unlike
Space Marines, Guardsmen lack the good saves unless you get Carapace Armor, so Gets Hot!
is more likely to kill Guardsmen. Also costs as much as 3 normal guardsmen, and the exact
same cost as its rifle counterpart. How about no.
Shotguns - Not to be confused with the Space Marine Shotgun (which has bolter Strength), the
regular old shotgun is available to Imperial Guard veterans and Company Commanders, and
has the Range, Strength, and AP of a laspistol with Assault 2. Basically, your Commander is
trading an extra attack for an extra shot, your Vets are trading single shot range for the ability to
assault after shooting. Probably too situational in use and too marginal in effect to be worth it,
especially compared to the other available weapon options, unless you're planning something
very specific.

Special Weapons[edit]
Often taken alongside lasguns for extra firepower, one can be taken per squad. Command Squads
can take up to 4 of these. Veterans and Special Weapon squads can take 3 of these. Both
Tempestus Scions and Rough Riders can take 2 of these.
Heavy
Sniper Rifle Always wounds on 4s and is AP6. It's the cheapest option at 2 points, but with
mediocre BS Ratlings can do it much better because they can run after shooting which
Guardsmen cannot do. Also, thanks to 7th Edition Sniper Rifles no longer have Rending or
pinning. However rolls of 6 to-wound are still AP2, and the weapon is S4 when resolved
against vehicles. Not good unfortunately, but with some luck you can find your guardsmen
shooting down a terminator and earn 5 times his points back (7-point model kills 35 point
model). It's good idea to equip your PCS with these since they are going to sit with their
thumbs up their asses behind their platoon anyway. Can't be taken by Rough Riders or
Tempestus Scions.

Salvo and Rapid Fire

Hot-shot Volley Gun It's the new Storm Trooper exclusive Special Weapon. It's Salvo 2/4
and AP3 but is S4 so it's good if you're using the Stormtroopers as a defensive fire base or
for camping on an objective with them.

Plasma gun Your primary anti-TEQ gun. However, unlike Space Marines, Guardsmen lack
the good saves unless you get Carapace Armor, so Gets Hot! is more likely to kill
Guardsmen; on the other hand, you get more guardsmen so the real cost is the loss of the
gun. In a vet squad, these are brutal. I've seen a single squad of guardsmen rip apart 2
carnifexes in 2 turns. THEY have been overrun! Just make sure to give your
Veterans/Command Squads Carapace Armor.

Assault Flamer Guaranteed to wreck the shit of mass infantry (Orks, I'm looking at you). It
doesn't roll to hit so the 1 option a basic infantry squad can use better while veterans usually
can take much more effective gear to capitalize on BS4. Also allows for some very painful
Overwatch. Minimum of one should be taken in multi-squad blob.

Heavy Flamer Only Platoon/Company Command Squads and Veterans can take them but
I'll leave this here. S5 AP4 template weapon which makes Orks and Tyranids cry as their
infantry fall like a house of cards in the wind. As with the flamer, superior BS of CCS and
Veterans is wasted here unless you have a specific plan for them (like anticipating hordes,
and lots of them). The Heavy Flamer takes up one of your 3 special weapons choices
nowadays, so it stands as an effective niche choice. However, it is a powerful "surprise

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 barbecue" choice if you kit your PCS with heavy flamer and flamers and drop them from a
vendetta among enemy infantry.

Grenade Launcher Basically a smaller, lighter missile launcher, grenade launchers can
throw boltgun-ranged pain at both blobs and light armor with either an S3 AP6 blast frag
grenade or an S6 AP4 krak grenade. A good all-rounder choice for infantry squads that
either need to stay mobile, or if you're just not sure exactly what they're going to be going up
against.

Meltagun As with all Imperium Armies, it's your close range anti-tank or anti-TEQ if you don't
have plasma. Always remember to check if the vehicle is 6" away so you can use the melta
rule (Roll 2D6 for vehicle damage if you're within 1/2 the gun's range, applies to Multi-melta
too).

Demolition Charge It's Special Weapons team exclusive or comes with the Demolitions
Doctrine. Pricey and powerful; it's an S8 AP2 large blast, and one of the few sources of high-
AP blasts that isn't artillery or plasma. Used to soften up tanks with the Demolitions doctrine,
since strangely enough it's an Assault weapon, so you can get stuck in with meltabombs
afterwards; also, it's not specified as a grenade, even though it does have 'throw' range,
meaning if you give a special weapons squad 3 of them they can use them all at once.
Hilarious if it scatters back onto the user's squad. Also, it's expensive as shit at 10x the cost
of a sniper rifle.

Heavy Weapons[edit]
Can be taken by Heavy Weapon teams, so 3 in a Heavy Weapon Squad, and 1 per
Command/infantry/Veterans squad on the table. You can stick the Heavy Weapons in with
normal squads since a HWS is pretty fragile for its points value.

Mortars - A S4 AP6 Blast with Barrage so it's good for killing things out of line of sight and it
has a solid range. Effective at taking out footslogging infantry like Orks, Tyranids and
Daemons. Unfortunately, the Wyvern is literally 5 points more than a full Heavy Weapon
Squad of 3 Mortars, and does the same job with Twin-link and Shred. Meaning it is almost
three times as effective per point value. At least Mortars don't take up a Heavy Support slot.
Heavy Bolter - It's good at anti-infantry in general but against light tanks the Autocannon
serves you better (in fact, statistically, the Autocannon is better against everything T4 (T3 if
Instant Death matters) and above, and only 16% less effective against GEQ; the HB is the
better choice against T2 enemies, if you can find them). Also it's available on every vehicle
you have. Look elsewhere for a Weapons team.
Autocannon - Costs as much as a heavy bolter at the same AP without the extra shot.
However, S7 means it's great at wounding infantry and stands a fair chance at penetrating
light vehicles. Well rounded and versatile option that often finds a home in Imperial Guard
lists; better than a lascannon against AV12 and down, and, as noted above, better than a
heavy bolter against T4+ and T3 when Instant Death matters.
Missile Launcher - The most versatile of the heavy weapons choices, on the surface at
least. Can choose between an S4 AP6 blast or an S8 AP3 single shot. Infantry or vehicles
will suffer! A bit 'jack of all trades, master of none' though; S8 will struggle vs heavy vehicles,
and S4 AP6 is lousy against anything better than GEQ, meaning you're better off settling for
autocannons or lascannons unless you're fighting other guard often.
Flakk Missiles - For extra points you can get missiles with the skyfire rule. But don't do
it since they're too expensive. Just take more Autocannons or a Hydra.
Lascannon - The Lasgun's big brother. It's your main source of long ranged anti-tank, as it is
in the Space Marine Codex. This is probably your go-to heavy weapon, alongside the
Autocannon. 48 inches of S9 AP 2.

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 Multi-Melta: Surprisingly can be taken by Forgeworld Drop Sentinels, and by Servitors. It's a
24" melta.
Plasma Cannon: Available to Servitors, Sentinels, and as a potentially expensive sponson
on the Leman Russ. Costs the same as a Plasma Gun (and Pistol...) for an S7 AP2 blast
that can get hot. Still useful to take out clumped squads of Space Marines.

Melee Weapons[edit]
Usually this is not where you want your Guardsmen to be since they're I3, S/T3 and with 1
attack, but being an Imperium army they too get access to Imperium-standard gear.
Company/Platoon Commanders, and any types of Sergeants and/or Commissars can take
these.

Power Weapons - Comes in standard Axe, Lance, Sword, and Maul forms. Honestly, if
you're looking here, you should probably grab an Axe. At I3, you're probably striking last
already and having S4 and AP2 will probably serve you well. Rough Riders get Hunting
Lances by default, which let them strike at S+2, Initiative +2 and AP3 but good luck getting
into close combat in the Dakka days of 40k.
Power Fists - Despite how expensive it is after a price hike, Power Fists are usually the
better options since I3 means a majority of armies strike before your guys do. But, weigh
carefully against Power Axes. 10 points extra for S6, or slightly cheaper at S4 and have an
extra attack? A reasonably important thing to remember is that on guardsmen fists provide
much lower utility, as strength 6 has a much harder time punching through vehicles than
strength 8 and you don't even get the chance to instant death T4 characters, so think hard
about taking them. Be warned, non-Veteran Sergeants can't take these.
Force Weapons - Primaris Psyker only. Comes in 3 flavors: Axe, Sword, or Staff. All grant
the Psyker the Force power so he can charge it up before hopefully trying to instant-death
someone. The Staff is probably the best choice to go with because S+2 makes up for AP4.
The Force Axe allows you to strike at S+1 AP2 and you generally won't be hitting first at I3
so unwieldy isn't as much a downside to ignoring all armor. The Force Sword being only
S:User in spite of AP3 seems like the worst choice, but if you get Iron Arm or Hammerhand,
it becomes oh so much more attractive. At least Primaris Psykers get any one of these for
free.

Standards[edit]
Banners/Flags for your army. Have a parade before you drown your enemy in fire. Technically
considered Special-Issue Wargear by the codex, but can only be taken by specific squads.
Funnily only available to units that don't need them.

Platoon Standard - Platoon Command Squad and Militarum Tempestus Command Squad
only. Counts as causing an additional wound in close combat for the purpose of calculating
assault results. Nigh useless, as either Command Squad cannot be reliably equipped for
Assault, (Partially true. Normal PCS can have any member grab a Laspistol+Chainsword for
2 attacks/model base, not any better off in CC to be frank) nor will you be reliably winning
close combat with a PCS/MTCS, even with the help of a blob Infantry Squad loaded for
bear. Keep your points, spend on bodies and guns.

Regimental Standard - Company Command Squad only. In addition to the Platoon

Standard rules, the Regimental Standard also creates a 12" re-rollable Morale/Pinning/Fear
test bubble. Useful for the Morale test re-roll, and could win you a sweeping advance or two
with a Straken CCS. May give you overlapping results with a Lord Commissar, Kurov's
Aquila, or the Draconian Disciplinarian Warlord Trait.

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Other[edit]

Vox-Caster
Failed Leadership tests for orders issued to a unit with a vox-caster can be re-rolled,
provided the officers unit also has a vox-caster. An officer may not use a vox-casters
ability on his own unit.
Desert Raiders (Forge World) - Not so much of an item as an upgrade for command
squads and infantry. It allows you to emulate the Tallarn Desert Raiders by getting Move
Through Cover and re-roll 1s to-hit on shooting, but may never take Carapace. This is a cool
idea if not expensive at 20 per unit, as it allows you to hop around cover like no tomorrow
while pissing off anything without Ignores Cover. Take plasma guns and laugh as you'll die
of gets hot less often than a space marine.
Alternate take: Get a 50 man blob, give them all desert raiders, and laugh as your
soldiers are almost as good as veterans in shooting and moves through cover, allowing
even more FRFSRF!

Vehicle Equipment[edit]
On top of the standard dozer blade, smoke launchers, extra armour and pintle mounted
weapons, the guard also got some neat new wargear for vehicles.

Smoke Launchers: A one use, instant 5+ cover save vehicles can use instead of shooting.
Good for Rhinos, but in a Guard army, unless youre using the Strike and Shroud! order or
being targeted by something you cant shoot back at, you probably wont use it much.
Smoke Launchers are available from the vehicle wargear list, but most Guard vehicles
already have them, so unless you want to use them twice, this is only really relevant to the
Taurox, Sentinel, and Hellhound.
Augur Array: Basically prevents deep striking units from scattering around the vehicle.
Considered how little the guard has in the way of deep striking units and the cost of the
equipment, this can be a pass. If you do take it, put it on a vehicle that has good
armor or can move fast. Useful if you have a deep strike heavy ally detachment or you play
LOTS of Scions in your list.
Camo netting: Gives the vehicle a +1 to cover saves. Useful on just about everything. Put
on a Leman Russ to maximize the survivability of tank. Also note that cover save is no
longer restricted to just staying still. Note that it stacks both with Stealth and Shrouded,
meaning that Psychic mindfuckery can lead you to 3+ cover on open ground. It also stacks
with the 5+ cover save from the smoke launchers, giving you a 50% chance of the shots
missing. Must have for all your vehicles, no excuses.
Enclosed Crew Compartment: A must for your arty. Makes open-topped vehicles no longer
open-topped. Your Basilisk is no longer one hit by a missile launcher! ...Wait why did you
have your Basilisk out in the open? Stuff it behind rocks ASAP!
Fire Barrels: This is a neat piece of wargear. Basically gives the vehicle a one time use
flamer against charging units. At the low cost of 10 points, the barrels will generally not
disappoint, although the lack of Soul Blaze is interesting. Sentinels can't take them. Meh on
the longer ranged Leman Russes. Autoinclude on Hellhounds (specifically if you opt for
Heavy Flamer) and other Hellhound variants.
Hunter-Killer Missile: This is basically a one shot krak missile with unlimited range at ten
points. This is useful since its an alpha-strike option for mech/tank guard that needs some
additional long range firepower to take out enemies vehicles. In fifth edition it helped
established Imperial guard as king of mechanized armies since it could potentially destroy
enemy MEHTAL BAWKS at turn one. Now it's often overlooked option since it shoots only
ONCE at guards mediocre ballistic skill, and the thing you would like to target the most, has
a cover save (damn those jink saves) with AV12, meaning to reliably destroy it you would
need around 20 missiles. That said it is still viable option for flanking Sentinels or Chimeras
to take out other key transport or MC, and can give short range Russes something to do for

10
 turn one. Pask gets better mileage out of it than anyone else, with his BS4, preferred enemy
and reroll to pen.
Recovery Gear: For 5 points, you get a 1 in 6 chance to make a vehicle no longer
immobilized. Take it, do not even argue. Watch your opponent's face when your Demolisher
tank he just immobilized comes back into action. Use with tech priest to get a second (if not
worse) chance to get the vehicle moving again. With how many vehicles the guard has, a 1
in 6 chance is better then no chance. Be warned that it does not restore a Hull Point. Still
useful if you have some points to spare and can't plug in a Techpriest with a couple of
Servitors.
Relic Plating: 3 points for Adamantium Will, protecting your tanks from annoying
Technomancy psychic powers like Subvert Machine, Machine Curse, Fury of Mars, or
Machine Flense. Except that only one vehicle DOES receive the rule - but RAW, other
vehicles get to benefit from it as well. Still a auto-include on any mechanized unit that you're
sinking points into, particularly LR squadrons with Pask or a generic tank commander. If
vehicles are used in squadrons, best to give all tanks the upgrade. Having the squadron rely
on one vehicle to have Adamantium Will is risky, as that tank will be automatically singled
out for attacks.
Pintle Weapons: Though not an auto-include, the pintle weapons do need to be noted. For
5 points, most vehicles (meaning everything but sentinels) can take either a storm bolter or a
heavy stubber. Avoid getting the storm bolter. Heavy stubbers have an extra attack, longer
range, and cost just the same as a storm bolter. Yes, storm bolters have better AP, but is
AP5 really worth more over range and number of attack? Also, pintles are only really worth
having on Chimeras and Leman Russes. Putting a pintle weapon on a Basilisk or Emperor
forbid, a Deathstrike missile launcher is a waste of points. The only reason you would put a
pintle on those vehicles is to avoid losing the main weapon to weapon destroyed rolls. If that
is the case, just take camo netting instead.
Mine Plough: - Dozer Blade on steroids. Not only does it help passing dangerous terrain on
any speed, it also allow you to smash a few unlucky soldiers with tank shock. Though, its
nowhere near destroyer blades or the (formerly, Defrollas got nerfed in 7th) almighty
defrolla, with S2 and only D3+1 hits. Costs different points for different vehicles: 10 points
for Chimera; 15 points for Hellhound, Devil Dog, and Bane Wolf; 10 for Leman Russ and
variants; 5 for the Hydra, Atlas, and Trojan.

Unit Analysis[edit]
HQ[edit]

Company Command Squad: This squad provides leadership to the many. It orders around
those who can order around others. This unit gets orders. It gets an ample selection of gear,
and some nice buff bodies. This includes a 20pt large blast, penalize the enemy reserve
rolls and bonuses to your own. This unit can have its leader switched out with other named
leaders with awesome powers and gear. Simply because most other HQ choices lack the
capability to survive on their own, either due to lack of invulnerable save and/or relatively
weak statline in comparison to HQs of other factions, this should be your HQ of choice. If
you want to kit out one, do note that the Company Commander buys his equipment (Krak
grenades, carapace armor, camo gear) separately from the veterans, and for a different -
more expensive - price. Do not skip this because it may invalidate your army list. Also
NEVER forget buying camo gear for the commander!!!
COMPANY COMMAND ADVISORS
Officer of the Fleet: Apparently astropath/officer combos were too much trolling, so
he got smacked with the nerf bat; now the Officer must pass a command test to
either give you a +1 to your reserves or force a -1 on enemy reserve rolls, seriously
jeopardizing their well-thought schemes. However, he won't stop drop pods, his Ld
is 7 (giving a 58% of his shit even working), and if the enemy doesn't reserve

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 anything you've bought an expensive meat shield. So a bit more random, at that
Leadership it's a bit of a risky gamble, and forces you to choose buff or bane. So no
longer an auto-include. In combat, the Officer is as good as dead - use him as
another warm body to stop a shot for your commander in the back of the squad.
Contrary to what has previously been written, the Officer of the Fleet does NOT
have the Character special rule, thus he cannot accept Challenges on the Company
Commander's behalf (page 31 and the reference of the IG Codex make no hint of
it), so unfortunately no challenge hilarity. He is also a massive fuck you towards
Daemons players.
Astropath: New codex changed shit, this guy no longer gives a +1 to your
Reserves. With the new Psychic phase, this guy gets an extra Warp Charge into the
pool for just 25 points (making him one of the cheapest psykers in 40k), and
Telepathy is great for manifesting Psychic Shriek as well as having the Command
Squad deny on 5s (Psyker rule adds +1 modifier to Deny rolls). He can only
manifest Telepathic powers, but that's not bad; you get Psychic Shriek, and roll
Invisibility once every six games then watch your opponent groan (like when you kill
a Nurgle Daemon Prince with five veterans and a sergeant). Probably the only one
of the 3 Advisors you don't want to use as a Look out Sir! meatshield for, since he is
the most consistent with his Psychic powers and his denying abilities. Also, if you
feel particularly trollish, then use this guy to summon daemons, since he can take
powers from Malefic Daemonology as of 7th edition. So your 25-point astropath is
now a Great Unclean One.
Errata Update: With the new FAQ, Psychic Shriek now autohits (it lacks a
profile, so isn't actually an attack; simply channel the power and the target is
affected, no to-hit roll necessary), even against flyers, making this guy an
incredibly cost-effective little beast if you want to REALLY ruin some MC's day.
He can scream flyrants off the board (though you'll need to toss some
SERIOUS dice at them to beat that 4+ DtW), and even do some damage to
Wraithknights.
Alternate Take: With the release of the Imperial Agents codex, this guy has
been made even more awesome. As a solo Adeptus Astra Telepathica
detachment he becomes an Independent Character (so you can stick him in
whatever squad you like), can upgrade to an additional level of Mastery, can
take digital weapons and a refractor field (though not cheaply), and can select
powers from both the Telepathy and Divination disciplines. And if all of that
wasn't enough, if he successfully channels a psychic power, any power, you get
re-rolls on all your reserves next turn. And he's still 25 points base. An auto-
include in any army using reserves.
Just remember that if he shows up this way, he can't be in a transport on
turn one, and usually, two ML1 Astropaths is better than one ML2
Astropath.
Master of Ordnance: This guy is like a tiny Basilisk. Once per turn he is able to call
down a Basilisk-type attack on the enemy, always subject to scatter - 3D6" and
"only" 2D6" when scoring a hit - through you can still substract his BS if you have
LoS. Not very good unfortunately, but can be fun for spamming pie plates unless
you want to have a primaris psyker babysit them with prescience - which is a viable
option, but you are bound to resent the inflated point cost and hassle of it
all (Prescience does not work on weapons which do not roll to hit, as it is not
worded as granting Twin-Linked) This is incorrect per page 33 of the BRB, which
states that if a model has the ability to re-roll its rolls To Hit and chooses to do so
after firing a Blast weapon, the player re-rolls both the scatter dice and the 2d6, so it
not being granted Twin-Linked doesn't matter. However, since the bombardment
has an unlimited range, if you place Master of Ordnance ANYWHERE, it can be
used to troll Ork and Tyranid swarms with a Strength 9 plate of instant death (which
can now ignore cover with orders), since it's likely to land on something or other. If
the Master of Ordinance wants to put the big guns on something else, the Order
"Smite At Will!" provides split fire to allow him to do so. Again, once in close-combat

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 or perhaps, if your Company Command Squad gets dismounted or shot at, just
push him in front of a bullet. He's useless if there's nothing to shoot at or if you have
to run around since it can't be fired on the move. Something worth considering is
dropping an Inquisitor with a Psyoccolum into the squad. Use the Master of
Ordinance to snipe Psykers, reducing the scatter by 10 when having LoS will help
make up for the poor accuracy.

Lord Commissar: Lord Commissar is a Independent buffed out Commissar, the key ability
of him makes everyone around him LD10 and Stubborn. And that is awesome. The main
issue is that he is a kill point himself and he takes away a slot of HQ for more Company
Command Squads. Let it not be said that he doesn't have his own uses, though. You want a
blob-platoon to do REALLY well? Bind 'em into one giant squad, put a Lord Commissar in
there and run it all over the place killing everything in sight. Seriously. 30 guys means 3
Sergeants with Power Weapons, 60+ attacks on the charge and a Lord Commissar with a
Power Weapon as gravy. Combined Squad of 50 lead by Lord Commissar is likely to make
the opponent cry. It's also Stubborn, so watch your friends complain about how the squad is
still coming at them despite missing half of the guys once in it. If you're feeling particularly
threatened, stick him in the middle of a Combined Squad so he will never be shot at (except
by Snipers and Precision shots. Also, Independent Character grants 2+ LoS! just in case...),
and you can ignore challenges in favor of a slightly less potent Leadership of generic
Commissars in the squad - particularly useful, as unlike Chaos Champions and such, you
will lack the capability to take damage that will easily go through your armor (Initiative 3
forcing you to take first hits doesn't help much, either). For this same reason, using Lord
Commissar to keep Conscript Squads useful is not a good idea due to lack of distraction
sergeants and poor Ld. Just be aware that he can't be Warlord if you've taken any Company
Command Squads. If you consider taking him - Priest buffs better and you can buy two
instead of one LC. So, yeah, just take the Priest.
Tactical Note: He's the only Independent Character you have, aside from an
Enginseer, that can take Meltabombs. With his WS5, he's probably the man to use them
with, since per the new FAQ you get the one grenade per phase. Give him a power fist
and stick him in a squad of Ogryns/Bullgryns to give them some sorely-needed Anti-
Tank and AP2; he can generally be relied upon to hit, and at S6 he'll reliably wound
anything short of the tougher Monstrous Creatures...which is what the Meltabomb is for.
In addition, being an Independent Character, he's harder to snipe out of his blob, and is
the cheapest option for an HQ if you want to build an army on a budget.
Important notes regarding Summary Execution! - Firstly, Summary Execution allows
you to automatically count as passing your leadership test, *after* you have used up any
re-rolls you maybe entitled to when you fail a moral/pinning/fear check. So a Regimental
Standard works wonders by staving this ability off a little longer. However, now when
you use it, you have to roll a d6 - on a 1-2, your opponent gets to choose who gets
BLAMed instead of you. It's not a pretty sight when you accidentally execute the guy
with the meltagun right when a tank is bearing down on you.

Tank Commander: The Tank Commander is a whole bucket of fun for any mechanized
army. An upgrade to any Leman Russ, he changes the type of that unit to HQ from Heavy
Support, and has BS4. Awesome. He can be a Warlord (regardless of Ld since he hasn't
any stat except BS, though he acts as Ld9 for the purpose of orders), and is a character, so
gets precision shots, though his 'crony' tanks can't 'Look Out, Sir!' for him, because that rule
specifies wounds only, so yeah. Still awesome. Must have 1 other Russ in his squadron and
up to 2. Awesome. Issues a special set of orders to himself and his squadron, as described
in the "Orders" section. And he only costs 30 points (not counting the cost for the tank
squadron itself). Awesome. Overall, the Tank Commander is a very good, but extremely
expensive option as he and his Squadron can very easily soak up points rather quickly.
For Tank-based armies, he can actually be a points saver. If you were planning on
taking a Leman Russ of any kind and did not wish to pay for the mandatory HQ choice
of either a Lord Commissar or Command Squad, the Tank Commander effectively fulfills
the HQ tax for a mere 30 points, and unlike a baseline command squad or Commissar,

13
 that 30 points is going to be useful. In addition, his boosted BS is much better used in a
Tank that uses regular shooting rather than relying on a blast template, as he only
reduces deviation by 1 inch which still means at least 3 inches of deviation on average,
while on a per-shot weapon, he will give you 1/6th more hits due to now hitting on a 3+.
With just the Punisher Cannon, he is statistically able to get 3 more hits than a regular
Punisher Russ, which helps against everything except flyers; snapshots don't care
about your BS4. If you took Pask, however, Preferred Enemy does help.
As to the best tank to put the Tank Commander in:
Main Battle Tank: BS4 is kinda wasted on a 5" Large Blast, and the fact that it's
Ordnance makes any other weapons useless. Pass.
Demolisher: As above, with the caveat that the short range and terrifying power of
the Demolisher Cannon will make this unit a serious target.
Executioner: While 1" less of scatter on a single Large Blast is mediocre, three
small blasts is a different story. The big downside is the Executioner is not very
survivable due to Gets Hot (negated somewhat by Old Grudges). Consider this for
the buddy tank.
Exterminator: Quite decent for a budget option. For the low cost of 200 points, a
Command Exterminator can have a pair of multimeltas and a lascannon in addition
to the Exterminator Cannon, making him a credible threat to any vehicle.
Vanquisher: The only thing that makes this vehicle viable. Kit him out with a
lascannon and chuckle as you knock out hullpoints and vehicles from across the
table.
Eradicator: Why would you put a Tank Commander in the budget Russ? Consider
this for the buddy tank.
Punisher: The basic Tank Commander lacks Pask's ridiculous amount of rerolls and
special rules, but even so a Command Punisher with 3 heavy bolters will make
horde armies very unhappy.
Due to the Cadian Battle Group only requiring 1 Command Choice to be a legal
formation, and because the Tank Commander can alone be legal for that, you can now
field a Tank Commander (and by extension any squadron of 2 or 3 Leman Russes)
without using up a slot anywhere else. For CAD-based armies, this is a godsend as you
lose nothing from not being part of another detachment while being able to free up your
HS slots with superior Leman Russes. Note that doing this means you don't actually get
any of the Cadian Battle Group's special rules (as they all either reference units in that
detachment, Company Command Officers, or Lasguns, none of which the Tank
Commander is or has). Excellent choice for some Battle Brother armies who benefit
from taking Guard tanks but otherwise would rather not pay the tax for an infantry
platoon or veteran squad that comes with an Allied Detachment.

Special Characters[edit]
Commissar Yarrick: Awesome, fluffy man. Costs quite a bit but far less than what he cost in
5th ed codex, making him fairly cheap for what he brings. Very close combat oriented. He
can come back from the dead... a lot. He has some nifty gadgets. He has a Stormbolter for
shooting up stuff before charging, comes with Preferred Enemy: Orks, and confers it to any
unit he joins. Yarrick also has a reputation of being nasty as crap in close combat; he can
take on Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka one-on-one and have a fighting chance of coming out
on top. He's got an official Power klaw, a decent WS, he's got Eternal Warrior and his come
back from the dead bullshit, and is a senior officer. Additionally, his Baleful Eye (counts as
an Heirloom) now acts like a hotshot laspistol, and he carries a power field for a much-
needed 4+ invulnerable save (also an Heirloom). However, he is no longer Fearless (and
doesn't get Stubborn in return) and can be overrun in close combat with some bad Ld rolls.
But if he is your warlord he has the Draconian Disciplinarian warlord trait, negating
somewhat the loss of the Fearless rule. Furthermore, he can now issue orders like an

14
 officer. However, as per the FAQ rough draft for Imperial Guard, Yarrick cannot be the
warlord if there's another model in the army with the Senior Officer special rule, but to get
around that you take Creed as well, as he has a different rule. He can also Summarily
Execute (not that it fits his fluff, but whatever), so use that to your advantage as well. If you
take Yarrick, you'd better take him as a warlord. Otherwise he ends up as an expensive
Commissar with few of the perks of a Commissar.
A good unit to place Yarrick in is the Platoon command squad. Give the squad a
medipack and vox caster, and watch as Yarrik spews orders and keeps on fighting.
Adding the standard and las pistols is nice, but not necessary. I say this because Yarrick
is good in both defensive and offensive builds. Do you have him sit back and issue
orders, protecting himself if attacked, or do you have him charge forward into assault,
ripping enemies to shreds? Either way, Yarrick with a platoon command squad will
please.
Ursarkar E. Creed: For a decent point cost, one Company Commander may be upgraded to
Creed. Creed is pretty nifty for a couple of things now, although he can't do his classic
Tactical Genius-ing any longer (at least, not without the right Warlord Trait). Instead, he can
issue 3 orders per turn, AND gets two Warlord Traits (which he can roll on two different
charts for), AND rerolls all failed orders. His two hotshot laspistols now mean that he
benefits from Gunslinger. Do note that since a roll cannot be rerolled more than once, his
special rule prevents him from benefiting from vox-casters. Thus, if you have no other officer
in your army (full vet or mechanized), from his cost of 80 can be deducted the cost of all the
vox-casters you would have taken, making him fairly cheap in this configuration.
Sergeant Kell: Kell now can only be used by a force that already contains Creed and
acts more like a bodyguard than a support unit. He can still allow units to use his
leadership (8 - useful when trying to order squads without leaders that wouldn't
otherwise benefit from a commissar, like special/heavy weapon teams, Conscripts, or
ratlings) in an Order test and he now automatically succeeds LoS! rolls if the wound is
allocated to him instead of another member in the unit (i.e. Creed). He can also auto-
pass Glorious Interventions (which he must perform when possible). His cost includes a
Regimental banner,a power fist and power sword, and 2 wounds.
Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken: The new Codex gave Straken a couple of nice buffs with
Monster Hunter and Smash he can now hold his own against armored units and MCs, and
all units within 6 inches of him gain Furious Charge and Counter-Attack. (Keep a few Ogryns
or Bullgryn near him to make the most of this bubble.) With 3+1 attacks basic, at S6, I3 and
AP2: Straken makes Hammernators crap their metal pants. Of course, he is unlikely to
survive unless his squad is optimized for such an occasion, so it would be a good idea to
have 3-4 Melta Guns (being able to bring down some terminators before an assault far
outclasses the extra attack from the pistol), a Ministorum Priest, and Nork Deddog to
accompany him. Alternatively with Implacable Determination, his command squad has
Relentless (allowing Relentless Snipers/ Plasma Gunners or a Relentless Lascannon/
Autocannon for some dakka then charge action, or better yet, a master of ordnance for a
Baslisk blast before charging!) This way, you can charge most CC units and get away with it.
Eldar, Dark Eldar and Necrons may give you trouble though. Also, you may have to bite your
tongue if you come up against a squad full of power weapons, i.e Grey Knights, Howling
Banshees, Incubi. Instead, pull back, shoot them to pieces, and then throw a pie plate on
top of them because otherwise, you'll be forced to challenge them and he's not gonna
survive that. Don't forget you can always measure their threat distance to be sure.
Nork Deddog: Nork is one o' da smartest Ogryns. He and da commanda have a bond.
When he dies, he attacks every bad guy trying to hurt the commander. If your command
squad is going to be in the fray of battle, take this somewhat expensive body guard. Now
gets along well with Commissars (although using Summary Execution in a CCS is a VERY
bad idea) to the point they can never execute him. Now he also gets FnP, HoW, Stubborn,
and can sacrifice his regular attacks (including the ones he gets when he dies) to perform a
headbutt that has a profile of S+3, AP3, and Concussive. Yes, this means he can now ID a
Space Marine Captain. Like Kell, he also has to make Glorious Interventions and
automatically passes them. However due to majority unit toughness his toughness is

15
 essentially 3 so don't expect great things from him, except if you expected him to not die
from S6 shot.
Knight Commander Pask: The Guard's tank ace has some new tricks that give whatever
tank he's riding in a bigger boost than that of a basic Tank Commander. Pask's tank can
reroll to penetrate armour, and it also gains additional bonuses depending on the tank:
Leman Russ, Vanquisher, Demolisher, and Eradicator can reroll to-hit rolls. In the case
of all but the Vanquisher, this will be the scatter dice.
Exterminator and Punisher gain Rending. A rending Punisher ( 20 S5 shots, benefitting
from Pask even more if he's warlord) with him is so popular it is known as a Pasknisher.
Executioner gains an alternate firing profile: 36" S7 AP2, Heavy 1, Large blast, Blind,
Gets Hot!
Just be warned, what ever his Tank is, make sure he is used. If you search forums and
all the Facebook groups and shit there is a 99.9% chance that it has Pask as the
warlord in army lists. He's an extra 40 points on top of the points you already paid for a
generic Tank Commander, plus the Russes you must buy. He'll bloat the cost of a
squad so it cannot be emphasized enough; make sure you get your point's worth!!!
Friendly reminder! When in a Vanquisher, firing against an AV14 opponent, pask has a
72% chance of doing damage to it.
Murder machine that he is, FAQ has restricted Pask's inclusion in formations. He can
only be taken if a formation specifically says he can be taken in it; since there aren't any
that say this at the moment, in practice this means he'll only show up in CAD's, Ally
detachments, and as the Battle Group Command choice in a Cadian Battlegroup.
General Myndoras Odon (Forge World): Patton of 40k, updated in the new Doom of
Mymaera. Killed a bunch of Eldar on some ice ball then died next campaign when his
transport flipped (Patton died in a car crash after the war). Now costs 55 to replace a senior
officer in a command squad, but at least the squad is now fully customisable. He's sorta a
poor man's Creed. With the same standard orders, the same Ld & can give up to 3 orders
per turn. He's not a tactical genius but he re-rolls Seize the Initiative if he's the army warlord.
To further compare him to Creed, despite being armed with a power fist he is only wearing
flak armour, so he's far less likely to survive a game than Creed too, but he's still a flat
upgrade to a regular company commander, just be aware that's 55 points for an extra order
and a power fist, when you already had the commander in your squad. If you have points to
spare, give whatever you plan to order a vox. Oh & he can take a dedicated Chimera or
VALKYRIE! Take the Valk & let some vet/spec wep squad jack it. Take him as one CCS &
Creed/Kell in another for two massive order bubbles with bubbles of re-roll morale/pinning.
There's a slight rules collision with him; he has the same special rule as
Creed, Supreme Commander, but the FW's version only allows him to issue two more
orders (up to three, somehow), and lacks the "is a Senior Officer" and "can re-roll any
failed orders" parts. If you go by RAW, he's worthless, if you don't, then he's a cheaper
Creed with a predetermined Trait in place of Tactical Genius.
Colonel 'Snake' Stranski (FW - IA1, 2E): Mechanised, scoring Company Command
Squad. 225 points for the Colonel, 4 vets and their Chimera (Heavy Flamer turret, hull
mounted Heavy Bolter, extra armour) and, as above, you can't choose the upgrades for the
squad or transport (Med-pack, vox operator and 2 meltaguns). The Colonel has a nice little
rule - when firing from the Chimera, his 2 plasma pistols count as Twin-Linked. He also
doesn't block models from using the Chimera's fire points by using the top hatch...but that's
back from when Chimeras had 5 firing points, so... (albeit his CCS's 2 meltaguns should
mean this is aimed to let them all shoot...but FW).
Note: It's IA, his rules are outdated as hell. He can't issue Orders because he doesn't
have the 'Voice of command' rule (but he's a CCS, assume he has it). His WT 'Scoring'
means nothing in 7th Edition, it'd become 'Objective Secured' at best. So, if your
opponent feels he's being lenient enough to let you use FW and says he won't concede
anymore then he has no Warlord Trait and can't issue Orders, being completely
dependent on gentlemant agreements.

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Regimental Specialists[edit]
0-3 of each of these units that don't take up any slots. All are independent characters (except the
Commissar, see below). All of them are effective as unit buffers and all of them are as cheap as
chips for what they do. If you take an allied detachment of the Guard, they might be worth
consideration since they can fill roles that would otherwise be taken up by HQ choices such as a
librarian or a techmarine. With the release of Imperial Agents, Militarum Codex psykers, priests,
and tech priests have basically been rendered completely irrelevant, as allying in the Agents
versions via the Enginseer Congregation, Psykana Division, and Ministorum Delegation is better
in almost every way, with all having expanded special rules and wargear options. Literally the
only downside is, as allies, Agents specialists can't start the game embarked with your dudes in
their metal boxes.

Primaris Psyker: Can upgrade to Mastery Level Two, comes with free force weapon, cheap
and adds +1 to a Squad's Deny rolls. What's not to like? Keep in mind that the new Force
Staff rules make the Psyker strike at Strength 5, with AP 4, and with Concussive Force
(Power Maul rules). Gone are Lightning Arc and Nightshroud making him even more of a
support character. He can take from Pyromancy, Biomancy, Telekinesis, Daemonology and
now he gets access to Divination. With the Guard's capacity for enormous blobs of dudes,
this guy's buffs can go a long way. Gets executed in case of Perils of the Warp if there is a
Commissar(-lord/Yarrick) in the same squad, so no FnP save and the fact he has 2 wounds
( His stats are surprisingly good, maybe because GW forgot to change them with the step
down from the HQ FoC slot ? ) won't save him. Also, don't forget he's Ld 9. If you fancy
using Heavy Weapon Teams, but hate how often they ignore your orders, just attach
and enjoy.
Tactical Thought: Your two best disciplines are likely going to be Divination and
Telekinesis. Divination grants Prescience, which is amazing for Guard (BS3 gets the
biggest bonus from twin linking - a whopping 25% improved chance to hit - which you
can apply to entire squadrons of vehicles, or a 50-man blob of lasguns & heavy
weapons), along with some other neat tricks, while Telekinesis grants some nice
offensive stuff and Assail, which helps keep enemies out of melee (note that Strikedown
does not require an unsaved wound to work; you channel the power and the bad guys
are slowed, regardless of damage dealt).

Ministorum Priest: These guys are your cheap unit buffers. They are Zealots (Fearless and
Hatred) and they can use war hymns in the assault phase to additionally augment their unit
(reroll to wound, reroll failed saves, or grants the Preacher Smash, which is hilarious, albeit
for the most part impractical). Rerolling Saves in assault is really handy in fact, since re-
rolling 5+ saves is nearly equivalent to power armour, anything without a Power Weapon
(Orks without Choppas / Berserkers without Chainaxes) will find the Guardsmen tough to
shift. The hymns now affect Ogryns - and bullgryns. These guys are best used in offensive
units, since Fearless does prevent you from going to ground (don't put them in a blobs
hiding in cover with objective or units behind aegis lines). Don't rely too heavily on those
hymns, because he can only choose one hymn at the beginning of the Assault Phase and
the war hymns are tested on his Ld7. Comes with a Laspistol, but can upgrade to a Plasma
gun for a few extra points or an Autogun for free. Unless you care about the Priest getting an
extra attack in Close Combat along with an hymn, adding to the unit's ranged dakka isn't a
bad idea. The wording on the upgrade never says replace so you keep the pistol.
Tactical Thought: Ministorum priests are also no-brainers if you plan on sticking Space
marine/Grey Knight ally characters (like Khaldor Draigo or ML3 GK Librarian) since the
armor and wound reroll and the zealot melee reroll bonuses carry over to Battle
Brothers (so you'd end up with rerollable 2+, rerollable 3++ (, S10 rerollable hits with
Instant Death and metric buttload of wounds in case something big lands and your blob
takes twat-ton of hits)
Imperial Agents Alternative: With the Ministorum Delegation your priests get Shield of
Faith (6+ Invuln Save and Adamantium Will) via the formation, and the added options of

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 bolt pistols, boltguns, melta bombs, and access to the Sororitas Ranged, Melee, and
Ecclesiarchy Relics wargear lists.

Techpriest Enginseer: Like your Basilisks, Hydras and any other vehicle? Then the
Enginseer is a must have. The Techpreist Enginseer has gone from being the least valid HQ
in the codex, to an auto include for many builds. His main strength is his ability to "fix"
immobilized and weapon destroyed results. Oh, and he can also give vehicles Hull Points if
they've lost any... FUCKING AWESOME! The only real down-side with him is that he has a
little problem keeping up with some faster moving units (Hell Hounds and Chimeras mostly)
but he can always run his little mechanical legs, or, if you want, buy him some fucking
transport. Servitors are also better, and by better, we mean half the price; nice. Take him
with 4~5 servitors and watch "Robe"o-Cop (see what I did there?) fix things to kick ass for
him; still pretty bad-ass. If you really want a vehicle or group of vehicle to stay alive, say a
Demolisher squadron, Knight, or even a Lord of War choice (though it's a lot more effective
if the vehicle can't Explode!, obviously), several Enginseers can benefit from the same
Servitors, so say you have 1 techpriest with 4 servitors (enough to auto-pass the repair
check), simply doubling the cost to take 2 more enginseers will actually triple the amount of
things you can repair. This squad, right behind a wall of hulls, will survive, and will repair
everything at hand (and if they're insidethe tank...well, see the Tactics section).
Servitors: Well-armored and start with servo-arms (which operate identically as
powerfists but at AP 1, which are actually viable since they also increase the
Techpriest's chances at repairing shit. A cheap way to put some plasma cannons onto
the field. But there's a catch- if the Servitor squad doesn't have a Techpriest in it, the
Servitors have a 50-50 chance of being unable to move, shoot, or assault that turn
(though they will still fight if already locked in close combat).
Fun thing, take servitors with plasmacannons and use the order Fire on my target to get
2 S7 AP2 Ignores Cover blasts, it's fun against heavily armored gloryboys and ruin
camping blueberry scum!
The Enginseer can now skip its shooting phase to grant a vehicle Power of the Machine
Spirit for one turn. Allows Leman Russes with Ordnance primary weapons (Ordnance
weapons make you fire all other weapons as snap shots. Heavy allows you to always
count as having remained stationary, which allows it in no way to ignore the Ordnance
restriction - if it did, the same would apply, to a lesser extent, to any other type of
vehicle, which would make the rule totally useless) - regular and Demolisher - to fire one
more weapon at full BS and optionally fire it at a different target, as opposed to snap
shots. This allows LRs to truly - or at all - benefit from a hull-mounted lascannon or
heavy flamer, or sponson multi-meltas/plasma cannons, but only one out of two would
be affected. However, a Vanquisher can now slap on a trio of heavy bolters and, thanks
to PotMS, actually do what you'd think it naturally would - put the right guns on the right
targets.
Enginseers are auto-include, with at least 2 servitors, if you take Imperial Knights or
Superheavies in your list, because those high value targets are going to need some
fixing after the enemy gets his groove on!
Trojan Support Vehicle (Forge World): This ammo carrier can be purchased as the
Techpriest's dedicated transport. It has cardboard armor despite being built on a
Chimera chassis, and is armed with only a hull-mounted heavy bolter, but that's not the
point. The point is that it can bestow the Preferred Enemy (Everyone!) rule to a single
tank or artillery model within 6". This works best with things which pack a lot of dakka -
like a Leman Russ Punisher. Also good for re-rolling gets hot on plasma Russes. As a
happy consequence of Preferred Enemy applying to a whole unit in 7th (which the 6th
edition Trojan didn't take into account), you can effectively pay 10 points a model for PE
on a tank squadron.
If you do not plan on giving your techpriests orders or Trojan Support Vehicles, then
consider taking them as detachments from the Imperial Agents codex. Per detachment,
you are getting a techpriest with servitor options. What this nets you are the Canticles of
the Omnissiah which while nothing to lose your mind over, can do marvelous things like

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 allowing re-roll to hits in shooting and melee as well as buffing cover saves and
strength. Something to consider if you are taking techpriests anyway.

Commissar: Not exactly 0-3 like the other advisors, nor are they Independent characters,
however you get one per Company or Platoon Command squad in your army for 25pts. He
can be attached to pretty much any squad other than Ratlings or Psykers but has to stay
there for the entire battle. He grants the squad Stubborn (so don't bother with Ogryns) and
can OPT to summarily execute a squad member to automatically pass a Ld test after rolling
for one. Only problem is you have to roll a D6. On a 3+, you choose, 1 or 2, your opponent
chooses. Not great if this happens to a squad with one melta-gun when a land raider full of
terminators is bearing down on them. The freedom to put them in any unit you like gives you
the flexibility to add a little melee / morale boost to any squad that you might not put a
different advisor in. Don't forget that Commissars can swap their bolt pistol out for a bolter at
no extra point cost. Unless you want your Commissar getting an extra attack in melee,
adding to the squad's ranged dakka isn't a terrible idea. On the other hand, he can take a
Power Fist, making him a surprisingly mean melee fighter.
Challenge Buckets For the same point cost you can grab an inquisitor to retain the
morale bonus (not quite as good though) and will get a character with better armor, a
higher initiative and an additional attack. He also gets discounts on power swords and
plasma pistols allowing you to kit him out for cheaper. Just food for thought when facing
melee heavy and challenge heavy lists.
Tactical Note: Unlike Priests, your other go-to blob buffer, Commissars are
a) not Independent Characters, and b) don't have a 4++ save, making them a lot more
vulnerable to enemy Precision Shot attacks. If you can only afford one Regimental
Specialist for your blob, and you don't intend on them taking cover, go for the Priest,
every time. He'll survive Precision Shots 11/12 times, vs the Commissar, who'll do
it...2/3 times (which drops to 1/2 if the shooter has AP5 weaponry...which they will).

Troops[edit]
All Imperial Guard Troop Choices are so versatile, you can write whole separate articles on
tactics for any bit of the following alone which we eventually will at this rate!

A note on Sergeants: Every Infantry and Veteran Squad of ten men, with the sad exception
of Conscripts, replaces the tenth man with a sergeant. Like many squad leaders, sergeants
have slightly higher Leadership and eschew the army's preferred longarm (in this case a
lasgun) for a pistol-CCW combo. Like many squad leaders, they are also Characters,
meaning that a 50-man blob with an attached Regimental Specialist actually
has six Characters instead of one; this is useful for challenges, since for the most part you
want to keep your Priest out of close combat with that Ork Warboss. Also note that guard
sergeants are apparently selected not just for their ability to not piss themselves at the first
sign of trouble, but also for their aptitude in melee; Sergeants get two attacks base, which
usually goes to three with their pistol-CCW combo. On the charge, they have four; this
makes them surprisingly mean if you kit them out with power weapons and make sure they
actually get into melee.
Infantry Platoon: Basic core of the army. Consists of a multitude of parts and options. Think
of it as a force organization chart in your force organization chart, so you can write yo list
while you can write yo list. Can add on extra squads of Heavy and Special Weapon Squads
to support the Infantry Squads' lasgun spam. You could also put your heavy weapons in
Infantry squads, but then you'll have to waste lasgun fire if you need to engage heavy
opponents and tanks. Note: Everything here has Objective Secured in a battle-forged army.
These guys are invaluable on that aspect alone. Say, did that Eldar player wipe out that 50
man Infantry blob? That's cool, remind him of that 36 point Sniper SWS on the far objective
when the game ends.
Platoon Command Squad: (1) This unit can be tricked out much like the CCS (barring
options for Camo-Cloaks or Carapace), yet do not have the accuracy of Veterans.

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 Additionally, the Platoon Commander is less efficient at issuing orders, only being able to
make one per turn from a limited pool of choices. Not great, but they do have their moments
of glory. Actually, the fact that you can have one for each platoon you have, and with the
latest Codex their options are not as limited. Ordering a Heavy Weapons Squad to move
and shoot in the same turn? Yes please. Since the amount of orders he can use are limited,
use this squad to order those orders, meaning your CCS can be free to use the "better"
orders. Pretty neat. Also, for only 20 points, you get a 5 man squad with 4 flamers, basically
saying a giant FUCK YOU to hordes, and has use as a counter attack unit. I say pretty damn
good if you ask me, just keep them running behind your infantry platoon and issuing orders
and he'll be fine and dandy.

i) Fun little thing to try out: For 40 points extra, run a 5 man squad with 4 meltas and make
Terminators and Tanks weep.
ii) However, these are still only T3 guardsmen with BS3, so don't expect them to survive
long in the meat grinder, and if you plan on playing more sensibly then the PCS should
be either barebones or with Sniper Rifles (as they can order themselves to run after
shooting). You want the CCS to give real orders, not PCS.

Infantry Squad: (2-5) If you play blob guard, this is going to be your bread and butter, if you
play a balance of blob and mech, you are still going to take these dudes, because they make
it happen. They are paper thin, only hit half the time, and they run away if it can't be helped.
But its for fucking sure that they can be made a monster. They can become Stubborn and
get a Ld of 9 with a Commissar, the squad can be combined with other squads of the same
kind to make huge tar pits. With 30 men, First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire can make
them fire 84 shots in one turn. That's a whole lot of diddly. They can take a heavy weapon
and a special weapon. This can be combined to make many different options. A basic set up
would be a Grenade Launcher or a Flamethrower, to be able to provide additional firepower
to the backbone of lasgun spam. On top of that, If the squad is going to be a gun line, add in
an Autocannon for front-line squad, or LasCannon/Rocket Launcher for the guys
cowvering in the back. You can get plenty of Power Weapons in there as well, for the
Sergeants and Commissars, but you cannot get your hands on a Power Fist in an Infantry
Squad. With 6th ed update, Bolt Guns are now just a single point upgrade for a Sergeant.
Throw away that laspistol, grab a real man's gun. Fucking annoying when it comes to tallying
up points though. Also, NEVER give these guys any special weapon other than the flamer or
grenade launcher. Given that special weapons cost the same to put on veteran squads, and
they have higher ballistic skill, it's just wasted points giving them melta/plasma guns. Again,
don't give them Heavy weapons. Given that the cost of the heavy weapon is the same for the
heavy weapon teams, and that they can fire at seperate targets, don't bother giving them any
weapon outside of a heavy bolter/autocannon.

i) Alternate Tactic: If you REALLY want to hold the line, these guys will do it. Take a 50
man blob, take a Commissar (or two), 5 flamers, and a vox, as well as 5 Autocannons.
Now throw in a Primaris Psyker, roll on divination and with Psychic Focus get the
Primaris Power by default, and finally add an aegis wall. Now laugh as each shooting
phase your squad throws down with FRFSRF 60 lasguns, 5 wall of death rolls, and 10
Autocannon shots... with rerolls to hit... also the whole thing has a 4+ cover, 2+ GTG
save. If they assault you, laugh as you start picking up 100+ dice for overwatch. This has
been known to bring grown men to their knees. Or of course the enemy sends a
weakened unit to charge you first and then sends the dedicated CC or anti-infantry with
Flamers and templates unit in...what sort of game are you playing where your opponent
is being an idiot letting his units sit doing nothing within 12" of a 400 point unit?
Conscripts: (0-1) A platoon may take one unit of Conscripts, or human Grots as they're
affectionately called. If there is anything thinner than paper, it would be Conscripts. Good
thing there are a lot of them. They are two point cheaper per model than a regular
guardsman, so only take them if you are full on the others. Priest or Commissar is a must.
Do not expect them to pull miracles, but with Rank Fire, they can ignore their terrible BS of 2
(Beware LD5, but you took a Commissar, didn't you?). I don't know about you, but 50

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Fearless bodies for around the same cost as a ten man squad of Tac Marines with some
goodies isn't something to sneer at. A little sidenote: why do they cost 3 points a model? 1
for lasgun, 1 for flak armour, 1 for frag grenades, human filling free, since this is Imperium of
Man. Also do not forget to claim your cover save : These guys will give your infantry a 5+
cover save whenever they stand between them and those shooting, so a single rank of those
guys is a portable 5+ save (But don't forget it works both ways, so be sure they're not in the
way when you want your firepower - in the case of short ranged weapons, they may well be
dead by the time you can use them anyway). Enjoy your mobile aegis. In the case of
vehicles, it may require you to slightly pack those guys, either tighetening the ranks or
resisting the urge to stretch the whole squad across the board, reducing their
survavibility/other utility (But honestly you never expected them to survive, and if it makes
your opponent not fire on the rest of your infantry, thinking he's hitting you hard, let him
believe so) but possibly claiming a 25% obscuring of the targeted facing (5+), even on
Russes, but especially on Chimeras/Hellhounds and their low profile. These saves obviously
stack with camo-cloaks and nets, which upgrades it to 4+, quite fantastic if you can reliably
get it on vehicles.

i) Alternate Tactic: Take 50 of them plus a Commissar for 175 points. Don't use them as
much for shooting, try to get them as fast as possible close to the biggest, meanest close
combat unit the enemy has. Now just sit in front of them. Charging into them means
taking 100 lasgun shots in Overwatch (where their shitty Ballistic skill doesn't matter) and
spending several turns punching through them. If the opponent doesn't take the bait,
throw a frag grenade and charge in. Take two squads with Commissars for 350 points.
They will quickly earn their points back tying up those nasty CC threats.
(1) Building on that alternate tactic above: Having experimented with this I find this is a
very effective tactic, especially when up against melee deathstar formations like the
Lucifer Armoured Task Force with 48 Assault Terminators. However I would
recommend switching out the Commissars for Priests and attaching the Commissars
to your Infantry Squads. The reasons being that, firstly, Ministorum Priests will make
the unit straight up fearless, good for melee roadbumps and you don't have to bother
with the execution. Secondly, you are far, far more likely to be issuing orders to the
Infantry Squads rather than the Conscripts. The Priest is an upgrade to Conscript LD
but not Infantry Squad LD, where Commissars improve the LD of both, and by
switching these around you thereby ensure that both units have better order reliability
and that the buffs in question are proportional to their value, as here the Conscripts
are only roadbumps. Finally, with the Commissar in the Infantry Squad you can still
go to ground in a pinch. Do so behind your conga line of Priest-led Conscripts for a
nice cover save if need ever be.
ii) Alternate Tactic 2: Make them into deathstar. Add allied Liberius Concave with tigrus and
2 terminator Librarians, add 2 Primaris Psykers, 3 Ministorium Priests and here you go:
invisible 50 man squad that hits 100 S3 attacks on charge, rerolling hits (zealot), rerolling
wounds (prayer), haves 2+ rerollable save (terminator armor hit allocation plus prayers),
3++ rerollable save, 4+ FNP (biomancy) and Rending (Misfortune). There are few melee
units that are more deadly than Conscripts. Beware tarpit walkers with AV13 though,
they can be problematic but there are few of them, and even fewer that could not be
taken out with ranged weapons fire.
iii) Alternate Tactic 3: You don't have to sink 700+ points into them as suggested above.
Take 50 conscripts, add 2 ministorum priests and a single white scars character. My
preference is for a techmarine on a bike. At 285 points, think of them as a multi-purpose
tool. They can bubble wrap, tarpit, throw a ton of dakka at FMCs or light infantry, or (my
favorite) hit and run right into an opponent's backfield with the techmarine's servo arm
ready to swing at some sweet rear armor. Think of them as a delivery system. And also
consider attaching a Xenos inquisitor with some wacky grenades. You want your
opponent shooting at them - if they're shooting at conscripts they're killing 3-point models
instead of shooting something else, and all your independent characters can just jump
ship onto another squad.

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 Heavy Weapon Squad: (0-5) This is where the awesome firepower comes from. Some
don't like them because they die rather quickly if they are in front of the Squad. (AND
WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU HAVE THEM THERE?) This can be solved by putting
them in ruins or other such cover. But if you buy Heavy Weapon Squad instead of
putting heavy weapons in your Infantry Squad, they can target big things and not waste
the lasgun fire. On top of this, there is a split fire order to get around this restriction.
Lascannons are nice here. Missile Launchers on the surface are good, but Autocannons
do their job better due to not scattering and being able to take orders better with more
quantity meaning you have 6 shots at S7 instead of 3 shots at S8, and if you need it for
anti Armor, Lascannons are universally better for that job anyways. Autocannons are
universally good, great for giving Monstrous Creatures and MEQs a hard time (your
opponent can only make so many armor saves when your guns wound on 2s for the
latter and the former isn't known for fantastic armor) and can put up a good fight against
your average transport (especially if you can get a side or rear hit in) and if you kit out a
whole HWS with them, they put out enough shots to not make a basic Guardsman's
BS3 too terrible and actually have a chance at damaging AV13 with a few lucky hits. In
fact the only one that isn't that good to take here is the heavy bolter which not only is
already provided by almost every vehicle you can field, costs the same as the
Autocannon, and while it does give an extra shot, it has a foot less range and is two
strength lower than the autocannon. They'd be worthwhile if they were only 5 points, but
they aren't, so pass. They are slower than Sentinels, but they are cheap for what they
do (per-model), can be modified to engage any threat, and don't take up an important
Force Organization slot by themselves. Don't forget that you can give them a normal
commissar or PP and pass checks for those tasty and delicious orders. Also with
prescience or BRING IT DOWN order, a full lascannon or Autocannon squad can
reliably bring down flyers from the sky. If you are indeed using some combined with
orders to boost them, you might as well take a Company standard because they will
have to pass a Ld7 ( Unless you stick a PP with them, but it quickly gets expensive )
morale check with their first loss ( Don't be fooled by W2 : Most things that will target
you will Instant Death T3 ).

i) Alternate Tactic: For the commander on a budget, look to the new Cadian Heirlooms of
Conquest for a little gem called Volkov's Cane. for 10 points, orders to units within 6" fail
only on a double 6. Your Ld 7 squad now has an effective Leadership of 11! Combine
with a Regimental Standard (for a combined upgrade value of 25 points), and the HWS
tests on an effective Leadership value of 10/11 on every test that matters. They'll listen,
they won't run, and they'll do their job properly.
ii) Don't take flakk missiles if you weren't going to take a missile launcher normally. They
are only slightly better than a group of autocannons against flyers (a squad of
autocannons averages 1 hit, flakk missiles 1.5), at a cost of 45 points extra points. That's
only 5 points short of a primaris to add on and make those autocannons twin-linked
(averaging around 2 hits) and more able to receive orders. Take a Hydra tank instead.

Special Weapon Squads: (0-3) It's a 60 point team of meltaguns (everything else can
be provided better by Veterans) or a 36 point objective holder. Find them chimeras and
drive them forwards so they can make cheap melta drive-bys with less accuracy than
Veterans. There are only 6 of them (and only 3 can carry meltas), but they can bring
specialized firepower when it's needed. Give them a demolition charge and drop their
Chimera in the middle of the enemy formation. Next turn: laugh maniacally (provided
that Chimera withers the oncoming hail of fire or the opponent fatally ignores it). Or put
them into a Vendetta, equipped with two flamers and a demo charge. That said, it is
best to give them Sniper Rifles and have them camp a backfield objective. They can
pick off some key targets with precision shots and wound with AP2 on a 6 to wound,
while still being Objective Secured.
Alternate Tactic: Don't give them sniper rifles, they're still BS3 and unlike a PCS
they can't hand out an order to any infantry that happens to be nearby, making them
basically just bodies for sitting on objectives. You can do more for less elsewhere in

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 the codex. Instead, give them ALL demolition charges (they're not grenades, so you
can throw all three at once) and put them in a vendetta. 3 S8AP2 large blasts will
mulch any infantry/MC anywhere, and seriously hurt any vehicle that's not AV13.
That 200-point squad of Terminators can explain to the emperor how they got
pasted by 90 points of guardsmen. OR the blasts scatter back onto your squad and
the hapless fools blow themselves up. It's hilarious either way!
Sabre Gun Platforms (Forge World): These guys can replace Heavy Weapon Teams in
your platoon. They cost more, but with twin-liked guns they are also deadlier, have
skyfire/interceptor, and being artillery, they can endure absurd amount of enemy shooting.
On the other hand, they are immobile (but can somehow scout move), and die like bitches
when charged by ANYTHING (even Fre Warriors). Sabre platforms require careful
positioning, because of their zero mobility, but they are great source of anti-air and fire
support. ALWAYS take a second guardsman for each gun: your enemy can and will outflank
Sabres to shoot down lightly armored crew instead of T7/W2/Sv3+ guns.
Veteran Squad: Key to most mech lists. Slightly superior to regular guard due to a higher
BS of 4 and have an even better selection of gear and options. Stick them in chimeras and
try to see where Lady Luck will take them. Only downside to this choice is that you only have
six troop choices if you go full Vet before reaching 2000 points (with 60 points for a stock
squad, it's a point which can be reached very easily). You could also do the smart thing and
mix 2-3 Veteran Squads with an Infantry Platoon, giving you unholy amounts of Melta
(Veterans), Chimeras, and bodies everywhere (Everyone). They're generally less
specialised than storm troopers, but they score with Objective Secured benefits and can get
much more gear. Always take at least two. If you want to make Tyranids players cry more
than they already do, take 3 squads, footslog them, and give them each 2 Flamers and a
Heavy Flamer; give the other 6 vets shotguns and take the Forward Sentries doctrine,
setting them up as assault screens. Your opponent will think twice about sending
Genestealers (or, Emperor Forbid, Hormagaunts) anywhere near you.

a) Note about 6th: Doctrines became even cheaper. If you didn't include them before you have
no excuse now.
b) Speaking of Doctrines, let's review the choices!
i) Grenadiers: Gives the Veterans Carapace Armor (4+ Save) for 15 points. Increases
survivability. Don't even argue, just take it if you're going Mech or using them offensively.
Auto-include, however, if you're taking Plasma with your Veterans since 4+ save ensures
you don't die if your gun explodes nearly as often.
ii) Forward Sentries: For 10 points the squad has Camo gear, which increases their cover
save, and snare mines, which cause any enemies charging them to make a disordered
charge (so no extra attacks and no furious charge, anathema to Orks, Blood Angel, and
Khorne units, they'll die brutally but better them than your 300 point Leman Russ
Squadron). Good for for defensive playstyles, holding objectives while maximising your
cover saves, and most importantly screening units. You may have to bite your tongue
when that Tau player uses his Markerlights to ignore cover.
iii) Demolitions: The entire squad gets meltabombs. Great for taking down tanks,
superheavies, and monstrous creatures in melee if you can survive going last due to
unwieldy on meltabombs. Also, one vet carries a demolition charge which is good for
dropping an S8 AP2 5" pie plate on an approaching squad of Termies along with the
obligatory meltagun spam. Just be warned you risk blowing up your own squad in doing
so. Also, it's the most expensive doctrine at 30 points. More situational than the other
two, but properly apply it and you're golden!
(1) WORD OF WARNING: The new 7th FAQsays that "only one model in a unit can
attack with a grenade in the assault phase". There goes the point of taking this
fucking doctrine, you're paying for 9 other meltabombs when 9 of them can't even be
used. And before you ask, Veteran Sergeants can't take melta bombs unless they
take the doctrine. So yeah. As of November 22nd 2016, the errata is official and the
grenade FAQ still stands. Feel free to house rule this. Alternatively, be grateful you're

23
 only paying 10 points for a melta bomb attacker with 10 wounds, which simply
doesn't exist in any other codex.
c) Gunnery Sergeant Harker: One Veteran Squad can take Harker, and his old buffs have
been completely altered. Harker prevents his unit from using the Grenadiers doctrine,
making his unit lack the survivability to exploit its massive firepower since Bolters will negate
their save. The only thing you're getting is a 55pt relentless Heavy Bolter that has Heavy 3
Rending and a very slightly buffed Sergeant - +1 WS/S and Krak grenades, though using
Krak means he doesn't fire his RENDING Heavy Bolter - which could make for a good
frontline Veteran Squad if it wasn't for their lack of a better save than the average 5pts
guardman. The one thing that made him just about playable in the old codex was his ability
to have veterans that infiltrated and get a 2+ cover save in ruins with forward sentries. In this
codex, he has lost this rule completely and swapped his feel no pain for rending - total waste
of points.
i) Note: you can nearly take an entire heavy weapons squad of Heavy Bolters or
Autocannons for his points cost (Harker hits 2 shots per turn, Heavy Bolter squad hits
4.5, Autocannons statistically have 3 hits but are almost guaranteed to wound). This is
better in any circumstance unless playing a list with no platoons.
ii) Another Note: If you are the type to use fortifications, nothing is stopping you from using
the forward sentries doctrine with Harker. Take him, another Heavy Weapon Team, 3
Snipers, Forward Sentries and park behind an Aegis using one of your remaining 4 vets
as the gunner. 3+ Cover, 2 Heavy weapons (3 if you bought one for the ADL), and the
safetly of range. Whats not to love?

Dedicated transports[edit]

Chimera: This is the gem of the MEHTAL BAWKS world. It makes the Guard competitive at
high end play. Heavy Bolter Snap firing with Multilaser? This has become the hate machine
it was supposed to be. But nothing stops you from Snap Firing Multilaser with Flamethrower.
Or use Hunter-Killers to demolish enemy vehicles. Saw a small price increase and got a new
rule Lasgun Arrays: 6 models can use the 2 arrays to fire lasgun shots regardless of the
chimera's movements (they can still only fire snap shots in case of crew shaken/stunned)
using the transport's BS, with each array able to fire independently from the other or the
Chimera itself. Still amazing. Other points of this fine vehicle:
Good value (point-wise). You can spam them, get lots and lots of multilasers (it will
please you), and a solid wall of AV12 metal in front.
Makes otherwise-slow Guardsmen mobile.
You can fire all your important shit (special weapons, which is, Melta and Plasma) out
the top hatch, but only 2 models can fire according to new rules. Letting you fry while
staying safe from retaliation. Heck, Commanders can even give orders measured from
any point of the Chimera's hull (p. 39).
They also count as tanks, meaning that once your troops are in position, you can tank
shock the enemies off the point and even crush some Ork vehicles and scare off the
mobs.
Forge World blessed us with two extra turret weapon options - TL Heavy Bolter and...
Autocannon! Rejoice!

Taurox A new metul bawks. It's got 11/10/10 (With armor like that, it's more like a glass
bawks. Thankfully it can reroll Dangerous Terrain, so that your troops might still have some
chance to actually get to where they're needed), but it comes standard with BS3 Twin linked
Autocannons while being 15 points cheaper than a Chimera. Don't use it for your command
squads because it isn't a command vehicle.
Mobile fire support: Use Taurox as a Autocannon HWT for your squad if you want to
keep your squad moving, and use the taurox as mobile cover once your squad has left
the bawks (Interfering models give 5+ cover save, combine with Camo net vets for 4+
cover on open ground)

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 Two fire points on each side, so a total of 4 making it good for vets after all. They are
also not a tank or a fast vehicle (except Taurox Prime, which is limited to
Stormies ONLY). Instead, give it to every squad, so they all have a cheap box to block
enemy movement and an Autocannon to support them. If Chimera's goal is to get you
closer to the enemies so you can hit them with a sword, Taurox is a wonderful fire
support unit. Also, it only allows for 10 models to be transported, so you cannot have
ICs accompanying the squad.
Alternative take: These are excellent little vehicles for melta-vets to spring out of. With
it's small profile, it can hide behind a few chimera or hellhounds as it rushes towards the
enemy, and still fire the autocannon over the top of them. Once in range, the melta vets
can either stay in the metul bawks to use it's FOUR side fire points to fire 3 meltas and a
demo charge against large targets like super-heavies, or jump out of the side doors to
gain an extra 2 inches of move distance on what would be possible from a chimera's
rear door. This lets them get close enough to take full advantage of that 6" melta range
more quickly.

Taurox Prime The more dakka version of Taurox (appropriate, considering it looks like an
ork battlewagon). Comes default with a weaker version of Leman Russ Gun (S7, AP4,
blast). Can be upgraded to be a LR Punisher's weaker brother (10 shots at S4), or be armed
with a Missile Launcher that shoots twice. Also comes with a twin-linked volley gun (which
can be replaced by a TL autocannon). Can only be taken by new Stormies, but comes with a
BS4 out of the box and it's Fast (Move at Combat Speed means it fires all weapons at full
BS, Cruising Speed fire 2 weapons at full BS, but it'll only have more than 2 weapons if you
take a storm bolter pintle). More expensive than its Guardsman-friendly brother, but can be
worth the points, if you need to plug in a point hole in your list, and you just can't fit a Leman
Russ.
Elites[edit]

Ogryn Squad: Big meaty man-things with pretty awesome assaulting guns. And
we do mean big; these meatheads are some of the toughest infantry in the game, in terms of
toughness score and wound count; they're almost as tough as Hive Guard, only with one
more wound a man, and at 10 points less a model. Assaulty wall of meat that crumples most
things it collides with, including blobs and tarpits. Lovable to the end, which will be soon,
seeing as these guys are a firing magnet, lack a good armor save, and usually don't fit into
Chimeras - expect them to footslog if you take a full squad. Keep them the fuck away
against anything that could Instant-Death them (which isn't much; they can power through
anything short of S10), and get them into melee as soon as possible. However, even there
they might have some problems against opponents like Necron Warriors, but at least they
will be keeping them busy and away from glancing your Leman Russ tanks into scrap. Your
priests' war hymns work on Ogryn, so attaching one can potentially grant Ogryn rerolls to
wound, rerolls to save, or smash for the preacher. This makes a high toughness squad
tougher (a reroll of a 5+ save is a 44.4..% pass, more or less the same as a 4+
[50.0%]) though it is more easily negated (bolters, gauss flayers, and pulse rifles all ignore
this save), and better in combat, while granting potential access to smash. For a relatively
cheap preacher it could go some way towards improving some of the issues with Ogryn -
namely lack of AP close combat weaponry. Leave them at home against the Tau as pulse
rifles will devour them, ignoring their saves and wounding them on 4s and Tau overwatch
will ensure they'll never get to assault.
Also worth noting are the special rule changes. On the one hand, Ogryn are still
Stubborn (Not Bad) and they've gained Hammer of Wrath but they're now Very Bulky
and have lost Furious Charge (Fuck). This means that Ogryn can't gib T3 models on the
charge anymore. It also means that Ogryn can't use transports reliably. If you know you
will be up against Tau, NEVER bring Ogryn. They will be shot to pieces and with no cost
effective way of getting them to charge Tau, Ogryn just can't kill them like they used to.
If you do want to take Ogryn, it's best to take a squad of 4 Ogryn, fit them behind and
ready to embark into a Chimera you jacked from a Platoon Infantry Squad and rush

25
 them towards the enemy, hopefully through some cover. Drop the Ogryn next to their
goal, torch the designated squad/secondary squad that supports your designated target,
and let the Ogryns crumple their way through. With toughness 5, most infantry weapons
will have hard time wounding, provided they do hit (which can be a godsend against
Tau). Remember that once you win the combat, Ogryn can be fired at, so try using the
Chimera to catch bullets.
Or have a ten Ogryn blob with 2 Primaris Psykers (Biomancy and/or Divination) and
watch them kick the enemy's ass so hard, that their grandchildren are gonna feel it.
Mind you, at such a point cost it's likely that the enemy could do quite a bit of damage
before you get to them.
Interestingly enough, Straken now gives units within 6" of him Furious Charge, meaning
that you can still gib T3 models on the charge so long as they're close enough. To really
apply this tactic you need both squads to be reasonably intact and for them both to be
near each other. To put it bluntly, one of two things will happen: both squads will die
horrible deaths or both squads will charge your opponent's front lines and wreck shit
up (Even Space Marines will struggle to save the many S6/4 wounds you can inflict
doing this) A risky tactic, but one that can catch people off guard.

Bullgryn Squad: The Ogryn Squad's more melee-oriented relatives if equipped with mauls
and brute shields or mobile cover with grenade launchers and slabshields. Enhanced with a
4+ armor save and comes with Hammer of wrath, relentless, and very bulky. Their
slabshields gives +1 to cover for anything behind them and improves their armor save by
one if they are in b2b with another model from the unit. Mobile Aegis line. Use them to give
your advancing armor column, which of course has camo netting, a 3+ cover (Taking into
account the expendable guardsmen you require) and screen incoming enemies. The power
maul version is for smashing skulls and the Brute Shields give the Bullgryns a 5+
Invulnerable Save (FAQ removed the close combat only restriction) and the ability to re-roll
Hammer of Wrath hits. Right now the Maul/Shield combo appears to be the better option if
you're willing to pay the extra points per Bullgryn.
With our new access to divination, this squad can become quite the melee deathstar
they should be! Take a 6 man bullgryn squad, add a cheap priest and a ML2 primaris
psyker and roll on divination. Bam, for 380 points, you have a fearless, 3+ armour (when
stacked), hopefully 4+ invul save unit with 24 T5 wounds, puts out 25 S5 attacks on the
charge, that rerolls hits and can either reroll armour and invul saves or wounds. This unit
in combat will NOT die if kept away from Str 10 atacks.
Alternate take: Bullgryns with the default items have a 3+ default save when in base
contact with another Slabshield Bullgryn, the same as Space Marines. Only AP2
weapons can hope to shift them in close combat when a 3+ is combined with
Toughness 5. For extra cheese, simply keep two Bullgryns with the default kit, and
upgrade the rest to the BruteMaul combo. Then your screening Bullgryns can take the
hits and roll the easy 3+'s, and when in combat your S7 Bullgryns can take over and
punish enemy deathstars. Just beware of pie plates and power klaws!
Counterpoint: There's two major things wrong with Bullgryns, and Ogryns too. While
they can deal with their own lack of armor pretty well (they get a big pile of wounds
apiece and need s10 to be killed in one hit), they can only ever get AP4 (excepting
attached characters like a Commissar with a Power Fist). This forces them to power
through 3+ and better saves with sheer wound count, which at 4 attacks on the charge
per man isn't necessarily impossible, but will result in a lot of trouble against TEQ. Also,
they have no anti-tank options at all. With s7 at best and no vehicle-effective AP, they'll
struggle against walkers (most of which are AV 12 and 13), and AV14 rear armor units
like Land Raiders and Monoliths are completely immune to them. Make no mistake,
they're as pricey as Terminators but they cannot go toe-to-toe with them; point them at
crowds and light vehicles only.
Alternate Take: You can compensate for their lack of good AP with attached characters
(and in 7th edition this is stupidly easy; Inquisition, anyone?), but they're not supposed
to be 'pointed' at anything. Bullgryns are a unique type of unit in 40k: a defensive melee

26
 unit. Their job isn't to wreck the enemy in close quarters, it's to keep them from charging
your tanks and flimsier infantry, and to draw fire away from them. Their sheer toughness
and wound count, combined with the slabshield armor save, means it'll take pretty much
anti-tank weaponry to shift them in significant numbers, and that's anti-tank weaponry
NOT going into the Demolisher/Medusa you're creeping up the field behind them, and if
the enemy decides to prioritize the tank instead, it enjoys a 3+ cover save with camo
netting.
Also note that because of the way the Slabshield's rule is written, it stacks with any
and all cover effects. Thus, putting your Bullgryns behind an Aegis Line and a line of
tanks with camo netting behind them (or similar, really any unit that can take camo
of some type) results in a unit with...well, let's count them out. Aegis grants a 4+.
Camo adds 1. Slabshield adds 1. That's right. A 2+ cover save. Pricey, but between
the save and the dedicated melee unit screening them from enemy close combat
troops, your tanks will not die. Moreover the height of a Guard Tank's turret allows
them to shoot back without the slabshield working both ways (or just use Barrage
weapons).

Ratling Squad: Your dedicated snipers. Bump up the squad to 10 BS4 Sniper Rifles for 100
points, and you'll get a pretty good payoff. By simple statistics, you should land at least 6
shots, and at least one AP 2 shot and 1 wound that you can choose to allocate to priority
targets. Use this to take out high-point, low-numbered enemy squads. Despite what AP6
may make you think, shooting Gaunts and Grots is just a waste of time. To lessen the
problem of T2, place ratlings into Ruins for a 3+ (with stealth) cover save, but try to have
them cover as much firing area as possible. Don't send them into close combat - despite
what I4 may make you think, they don't have a Close Combat Weapon, so their pistol does
not give them an additional attack. Place them on a second floor of a ruined building and
laugh how enemy keeps scattering off harmlessly into the air. They can also run after
shooting, so you can run them from cover to cover. Ratlings do have another usage other
then just snipers. Placed these halflings on a aegis defense line or Bastion. Their BS skill of
4 is pretty average for the weapons they will be manning. More importantly, is their cost. At
30 points for a three man squad with BS 4, this is practically a steal. Granted you won't be
using much of their running ability. All and all, ratlings can a good cheap way of taking out
sergeants and other models with weapons you don't want near (or far) from your forces.
For 100 points, 10 ratlings have BS4 and sniper Rifles. This makes them powerful
monstrous creature killers. No matter the target's, toughness, these little hobbits will
always wound on a 4. Multi wound you say? 10 ratlings with that ballistic skill and
sniperweapons are bound to shave off some wounds. And if things go south, simply
shoot and run.
Another fun trick is to stick a Primaris Psyker (or other psyker you need protected) in the
squad, then plop them in ruins. Your Psyker can hand out blessings, such as the all-
important Prescience, to nearby vehicle squadrons, and the Ratlings can cover-tank for
him with a 2+ GtG save! You can do the same thing with Veterans & the Forward
Sentries doctrine, but this is cheaper (unless you want 8 Ratlings or more) and more
weapon-efficient, since it gets you more sniper rifles.

Wyrdvane Psykers: Their old fixed selection of powers are gone, Wyrdvane Psykers make
up for it by being able to roll on the Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and
Daemonology disciplines. Changes to the way disciplines are drawn mean you always get
the Primaris Power (and therefore two powers in total) due to Psychic Focus rules. Meaning
they have more versatility than before. Have the potential to be a decent supporting unit,
especially as they are now much cheaper (120 points for ten - the cost of a Leman Russ
Eradicator). Also, they get +1 to their Deny the Witch! rolls if a witchfire or malediction
targets them due to Brotherhood of Psykers special rule.
Malefic Daemonology is the "FUN" option, since you'd get the primaris plus a 50%
chance of one other conjuration power, so you can use these guys to bolster your army
with free units each turn. Yes a Primaris Psyker could do the same thing, but they are

27
 probably more valuable to you as utility casters now. Just always bear in mind that
casting Daemonology risks perils on ANY double, not just sixes.
Stick 7 of them in a Chimera and drive them around. 6 of them shoot through the lasgun
array and one of them throws witchfire powers from the rooftop. You can even stick a
Primaris Psyker with other witchfire powers in there to share that fun fire point of 2. And
then, after you pat yourself on the back and tally up the points cost, compare what else
you could have spent those points on and tell the Commissar what you have done.
*BLAM*

Tempestus Scions Platoon: Everything has changed. They've got the same stats, but now
come in platoons, if you so choose. For 1 Elite slot you can get up to 4 squads, that's a lot of
boots on the table!
Tempestus Scions (1-3): AKA, Storm Trooper Squad. They lost infiltration, but kept
deep strike and move through cover and they got 4 points cheaper. And they can take
orders. Yeah. First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire with hot-shot lasguns. Hell yes. (Adam
Troke future proofed it.) They can take more special weapons too! Also, now can take a
power fist, but at an increased cost and the troopers no longer carry pistols and CCWs
with their lasguns, making them less viable for CC. They can take a Chimera, a Taurox,
or a Taurox Prime. Now these guys are one of the best at capturing enemy back field
objectives, just like their fluff, but a Taurox Prime makes them fast (if you need that for a
Deep Striking shooty unit) and gives them a hell of a punch. But it'll cost you. Cost you
plenty. A Veteran Squad is 7.5 points per pop with Grenadier doctrine while a Scion
squad is 12 per dude plus 10 extra for deep strike. Aside from the Hotshot lasgun, they
have comparable statline but the vets can take a heavy weapon, 3 special weapons and
a voxcaster plus objective secured. That's nearly 5 points per head for deep strike and
move through cover with vastly inferior upgrade options (and ap3 HS-lasguns which can
really hurt if you manage to wound with them). Worth it? Depends but remember that
you're essentially a GEQ that is only 2 points cheaper than a MEQ. But even so, your
more likely to inflict greater casualties then the same amount of Bolter armed MEQs on
anything with armor that's 4+ or better.
Tempestus Command Squad (0-1): Like Platoon Command Squad, but with
stormtroopers: can issue Junior Officer orders in a 12" bubble, but also Deep Strike,
Move Through Cover and has BS4 and Carapace Armour AND can pack four special
weapons (but cannot increase it's size). They can also get the same options as a
Platoon Command Squad (Medic, Voxcaster, Platoon Standard). May give stormies the
support they always lacked or threaten dug up units with four meltas/plasmas. Also, the
Tempestor Prime (Stormtrooper Captain) strikes at Initiative four and any Ld tests for
Stormtroopers are taken on his Ld9 within 12" of the CS. Has potential.
At the end of the day however, it's usually a better choice to take your scions as an Allied
detachment instead of an FoC choice. In exchange for the 'tax' of taking a Tempestus
Command Squad (with the associated Militarum Tempestus Order list) you get Objective
Secured on the Scions you were going to take normally anyway, AND you free up an Elite
slot for other stuff. In short, if you're going to take more than a single squad of scions, do it in
a separate detachment. Keep in mind though: Scions taken in a separate detachment can
only take Tempestus Scion orders from their own command squad, while Scions taken as
an elites choice can receive orders from your CCS, and that includes the orders that
Tempestus Scions can't issue.

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Fast Attack[edit]

Scout Sentinel Squadron: With such weak armor, most likely they are going to die on the
second turn. Fun choice of weapons. Key part here is that they have Scout - so three
Sentinels outflanking from the side or scouting into cover blasting away, causing havoc in
the enemy ranks, is a good idea. But still - they are going to die. They are open topped.
They are going to die. They have 10 armor. They are going to die. They have two Hull
Points. They are going to die. But they may as well take a tank or two down with them. If you
want to be insane, having Heavy Flamers all around can result in hilarious infantry murder.
Otherwise, most of the time you'll take them as a 40 point autocannon on legs since they are
cheap and effective against most things.

Armored Sentinel Squadron: Armored Heavy Weapons Team, except you can move
around and fire, unlike Heavy Weapon Teams. Plus you can take 2 Sentinels with
lascannons for a single Heavy Weapons squad with 3 lascannons. Can do decent in close
combat, stomping on or bogging down the enemy. Now this works only with fearless units
without krak grenades or other S6+ weapons (like, say Thousand Sons, gaunts, or Ork boys
without klawnob). Even better choice of awesome weapons when compared to Scout
Sentinels, such as plasma cannons - though, you can overheat and lose one of the two Hull
Points you have, making you even more dangerously paper-thin. Use Lascannon against
vehicle, Rocket Launcher or Autocannon if you can't decide what you want to do with them.
Never hurts to take Hunter-Killers in case you end up fighting vehicles. Take in threes so
they can be generally more efficient in anything you want them to do. Officially made
amazing (150 points for three Armoured Sentinels with Plasma Cannons.)
Amazing when going for an army with lots of vehicles as they are both a cheap way to
bring devastating weapons on the field ( You may lack in number of weapons if using a
lot of vehicles ) and will inevitably need AV to be taken down, AV that will be crucial to
your opponent. They have the same AVs as Chimeras and will offer a tough choice to
your opponent as to which they should take down.
Grab full squadron of of them. Don't buy any upgrades, multilasers are everything they
need. If you use them this way, don't buy them anything (maybe HKM to piss off your
opponent and focus his attention on them). Camo netting only makes them more
expensive, while they are here to be a cheap (as in 120 points cheap) annoyance and
disstraction. Set them on flank and send to hunt down enemy obsec units. One of two
things will happen: Enemy player does ignore them, so you can pepper his transports
and units with 9 S6 shots OR Enemy player doesn't ignore them, and dedicates this
sweet S6/7 weaponry after them, wasting a turn or three. Don't forget to change front
Sentinel so squad as a whole can survive a bit longer. These little shits are anoying as
without some high strength guns they WILL stay there, and focusing them with such is
quite a dilemma when you got Leman Russ, Basilisk, or angry Chimeras bearing down
on you.
Forge World allow both scout and armored Sentinels to take Multiple Rocket Pods. Big
frak blasts does horrible things to infantry blobs, but with 24" range it's too risky even on
armored.

Drop Sentinel Squadron: Scout Sentinels lack of survivability with Armored Sentinel point
cost. Why? Because they can deepstrike! Or for even more hate, ride on Sky Talon Valkyrie.
Skip all weapon choices and take Multimelta - Scout Sentinels and Tauroses are better at
killing things with fire.

Rough Rider Squad[1]: These are your Glass-Cannon assault units on horseback. 7th
Edition has been a bit of a rough ride for them with the loss of Mogul Khan(Although even
this is not true as you can STILL take him using his 5th edition rules according to geedubs),
but they also earned the fun shennanigans of Castellans Detachments. If you aren't familiar
with their rules, here they are:

29
 1) Rough Riders are equipped with pistols and cavalry sabers, as well as something called
a Hunting Lance. They can also take Meltaguns and Melta Bombs, but this is pointless
as they don't last long regardless. Their Hunting Lances make them strike at S5 AP3 at
Initiative 5, which would make them Premiere anti MEQ if it weren't for their elative
fragility and low number of attacks.
If you are running any normal formations or CAD, these guys should never be taken. But they
take on an entirely new meaning of pain when taken in a Castellans Detachment, since gaining
Hatred makes them supremely deadly assault units that can and absolutely will be
underestimated by your opponent. Which can put the fear of the god emperor into everything
short of terminators.

Hellhound Squadron: The Hellhound tank variants give you access to Fast Tanks. This has
a lot of advantages, as you use them for movement-blocking, tank-shocking, or simply
blasting enemies to oblivion. A low profile makes finding cover for it relatively easy, though
cover-hugging isn't exactly the best use of this tank. There are three variants, each with a
unique turret weapon, and the choice of hull-mounted Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer, or Multi-
melta. Also, now with 7th Edition, Template weapons passing over fire points on buildings or
touching an Open Topped vehicle inflict D6 randomly allocated wounds that are resolved at
the strength and AP of the template weapon to units embarked in those transports. Now a
must include if you want a cup of your Dark Eldar or Ork opponent's tears.

i) The standard Hellhound is a very handy infantry-killer. If they're not Marine-equivalents

(and even they will be hurting once the wounds pile up and they start failing saves) they
will die. What's that? You opponent has Rangers/Heavy Weapons Teams/snipers holed
up in a building somewhere giving your commanders and high-value units a hard time?
The Inferno Cannon laughs at cover. The range of the IC means that you can expect
them to hit enemy infantry starting on turn 1 (move 12", fire 12", cover another 8" with
flame template). Run in support of longer-ranged anti-tank weapons for popping enemy
transports, Hellhounds can also serve to finish off units from disembarked vehicles. In
7th edition fast vehicles can now fire 2 weapons at full BS at cruising speed, so enjoy the
possibilities of hull weaponry combinations. Using a Company Commander with Grand
Strategist warlord trait to outflank a squadron of these is hilarious against horde armies.
Do it - that's an order.
ii) The Banewolf sacrifices the extra range of the Hellhound's template for its own
poisoned AP3 flamer template. Banewolves will kill any infantry short of Terminators or
similarly well-armored units. Their armor and speed give them unparalleled ability to be
used for flushing enemy infantry from cover. This said and done, this may be the one
variant you can afford to specialize; having a hull mounted flamer gives you the chance
to throw two really mean flame-templates. This tank is the epitome of offence over
defense - on one hand it can destroy an entire SM tactical squad in one turn. If there is
an independent character in the squad, force them to take all the hits for the squad by
attacking from their side, melting them alongside anyone else who "Look Out Sir" into
their own gooey death. On the other hand - it can easily be put down by a Lascannon
head-on. They are well known for making Tyranid and Chaos daemon players cry as you
gib their monstrous creatures with as much ease as their cannon fodder.
iii) The Devil Dog is the last one out, eschewing a short-range flamer, for a Melta Cannon,
a blast weapon with the Melta rule. These tanks are great for sending into the center of
an enemy armored formation and intimidating your opponent into breaking up, lest he
find himself losing multiple tanks! Alternatively, assuming one has reliable long-ranged
anti-tank, the Devil Dog can be used for finishing off survivors of destroyed enemy
transports. Add a hull-mounted Heavy Flamer, and the Devil Dog can flush troops out of
cover (though not as efficiently as the Banewolf). While not a flashy vehicle, it gets the
job done. Probably the best variant for most games that includes vehicles on both sides.
Alternatively, replace the hull heavy bolter for a multi-melta for some insurance tank
busting.

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Fliers:
With Imperial Armor:Aeronautica, the IG is the most flier-happy army in the game, with only the
Orks seriously threatening their title. Fliers can be divided into two categories: "Gunships" and
"Jetplanes" - Gunships get a beefy AV of 12, Hover Mode and Vector Dancer USRs, while jet
planes get supersonic. In 40k games it is best to stick with gunships as the extra mobility of
Jetplanes mainly comes into play only in abnormally large or apocalypse maps. For information
on how this selection interacts with the new Death From the Skies book, see the Tactics section.

Valkyrie Assault Carrier Squadron: (Attack Flyer) Goddamnit, why don't you have one
(because it's inferior to Vendetta, below)? Valkyrie seems like a relatively expensive
flying Chimera, but it is well worth it. It has BY DEFAULT Extra Armor in its profile,
which means the bad bitch can never be stunlocked. If you keep your Valkyries zooming
around the table, it's rare for them to die. Keep them alive to support your armor with a
hard-hitting blast from its Multiple Rocket Pods. Valkyries eat infantry and shit brass and
work best with Stormtroopers or Veteran Squads, deep-striking the squad in the most
annoying place possible, and then flying off to rain hell on the enemy. Unfortunately, it's
totally outclassed for anti-infantry by the Hellhound. That said, it does upgrade (sort of)
to the...
Vendetta Gunship Squadron: As of the new book, the points cost of the Vendetta went
up, so it isn't the glorious auto-include it used to be. Its transport capacity also dropped
to 6 because while you could clearly fit as many in there as you could a Valkyrie, the
Machine Spirits will sodomize you if you do so (in the fluff the space is taken up by the
power cells and cabling of the Lascannons but Forgeworld was just too lazy to also
make an interior upgrade for the Vendetta). In the end, it's still basically a flying
Predator. Will you still use it? Depends on how you like your anti-air. There are a few
tricks you can pull with the reduced transport capacity, though: see the Tactics section
for details.

1) It should be noted that both the Valkyrie and the Vendetta can take a pair of Heavy
Bolter side sponsons. In most cases, these heavy bolters will rarely be used. In both
aircraft, the Heavy Bolters give some protection on the sides. With Valkyries, the
sponsons add an extra bit of anti infantry firepower. On Vendettas, the Heavy
Bolters add weapons that can be disabled in place of the Lascannons. In either
case, Heavy Bolter sponsons are not auto include for either craft.

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Heavy Support[edit]

Leman Russ Squadron: Leman Russ. It's a big tank. Holds the proud title of best tank in
the galaxy for its size and cost. Side effects include: Templates, lots of dice, lots of AV, lots
of choices.In 6th edition, Leman Russ lost "Lumbering Behemoth" rule, and became a
Heavy vehicle, instead. This means that you are limited to only 6 inches of movement.
However, you can fire all your non-ordnance weapons at the same turn, as if you haven't
moved, meaning that non-ordnance Russes (Exterminator, Punisher, Executioner,
Eradicator, Vanquisher) are made even more rapetastic, at slight disadvantage of Ordnance
ones (Battle Tank, Demolisher). For some reason the non-ordnance Russes have seen
some points cost decreased in the new codex, while others stayed the same (or even gotten
a points increase as is in the case of Demolisher). Remember this, and kit out your tanks
accordingly.

i) Leman Russ Battle Tank: Though it comes in many flavors, the basic tank is the most
useful. With its S8 AP3 72" gun and thick armor, it is good against anything for decent
points. This is your runner-and-gunner, your go-to tank, and the majority of your Leman
Russ pool at any time should be these. Kit 'em out with heavy bolters all around, since
you are going to be forced to snap fire non-cannon weapons, so up the volume of fire. Or
save the points and leave it bare-bones. With only AP3 and relatively weak strength as
far as Guard ordnance goes, its main job nowadays is to smoke MEQ and Necrons from
across the field, which puts it in competition with the Basilisk. Your choice if the loss of
Barrage and the extra armor is worth the 25 point difference.
ii) Leman Russ Exterminator: Armed with a 4 shot twin-linked Autocannon means this
thing is death incarnate for 4+ armour and light vehicles. Kit it with 3 extra Heavy Bolters
for beautiful infantry shredding, or turn it into a true jack-of-all-trades with a set of multi-
meltas and a lascannon. If you feel like it, add Pask - and watch it destroy Predators and
Falcon grav tanks with ease, while standing a chance to glance rendingly penetrate Land
Raiders (!). It's also the only Russ that can semi-competently do AA duty; while nearly
twice the points and not as long-ranged as a Hydra, it's got much better armor, isn't
open-topped, and isn't hindered by the lack of the Interceptor special rule (so it can shoot
at things on the ground, where majority of enemy forces usually are). It doesn't have
Skyfire or a Targeting Computer, so it may be lacking in roles usually occupied by Hydra,
but you will still put a big dent on anything you do end up hitting.
iii) Leman Russ Vanquisher: A Melta (which always provides +1d6 armor penetration) with
a devastating range. Thus a bit costly for 1 shot at BS3. Not very useful really
considering the amount of melta you should already have, if you use it primarily against
vehicles. However, it can be made a beast! If you want to get the most out of this tank,
some way of giving it BS 4 is a must, if only to remove the unreliability of the main gun.
This can be done through either giving this tank to a tank commander or putting it in the
Emperor's Fist formation from Mont'ka. Give it a Lascannon as well as Plasma Sponson -
and you get a unit perfectly fit to fight against heavy infantry AND tanks, turning the
Vanquisher into a reliable source of AP 2 and long-range tank-killing goodness. Combine
with Pask for further murder. Suddenly you have guaranteed preferred enemy, ensuring
he and his buddy don't cook themselves with plasma and giving the hull gun a further
accuracy boost. More importantly, he essentially gives the V-cannon twinlinked and tank
hunter. Nightmarish for vehicles and sure to put a hell of a dent in most monstrous
creatures. Don't forget to take a Heavy Stubber to remove that last wound off the enemy
Trygon. (why the regular russ doesn't carry different types of rounds is anyone's guess)
iv) Leman Russ Eradicator: Kind of a Hellhound that hits worse, is slower but better
armored. And you can add a Lascannon for versatility. Strange tank that has a weaker
version of Battle Cannon that eats your enemies' cover saves. Consider for Cities of
Death games or when fighting cover-camping Tau/Eldar. Can be useful for gunline
enemies hiding behind fortifications as well. Now at 120 points making it cheapest Russ
off them all. (If you're thinking of taking this for shooting horde units behind cover, scroll
down and take a look at the Wyvern. In exchange for 2 less S and AP and a smaller

32
 blast, you get 4 shots that reroll to hit and to wound). However, the Eldar Fast Vehicled
and Bikes will suffer dearly if they get hit - Eradicators make Dark Eldar cry (as they at
best get a 5++ to protect themselves).
v) Leman Russ Demolisher: For +20 pts. to the basic Russ you get a cannon that lays
waste of everything on the battlefield and immunity vs S4 melee units - though
sometimes 24" is too close to the enemy. The Demolisher is tried and true, and should
ALWAYS lead the armored charge into the enemy. Works great alone, works even better
in threes. You don't really need to upgrade it, since fucking DEMOLISHER
CANNON doesn't get much assistance from other weapons, but being able to finish off
the scattered survivors by hail of ill-aimed gunfire can also be useful.
vi) Leman Russ Punisher: Shares the cons but only few of the pros with the Demolisher (it
does keep the additional back armor, which helps). Heavy 20 may sound cool, but on
average, you end up with 10 S5 hits with no AP (making it difficult to even glance
vehicles to death, but why would you target vehicles anyway?), and only 24" range so
while you do demolish what ever you shoot at, you're now within Melta/assault range.
Everything except Grots is butchered better with the cheaper and better ranged Battle
Tank. However, unlike most Russes, it gets better if you sink the points in it: Add a tank
commander, and now 13 and 1/3 of those shots hit. Have a psyker and divination
nearby, and that goes up to 17 and 7/9ths hits with a commander, 15 without. Add Pask
and now you have rending and the ability to reroll penetration, meaning it is easy to
glance AV 12 to death. Add on a full triple Heavy Bolter set and a Heavy Stubber, and
the machine will reduce to dust anything, from Terminator Squads to full-size Ork Mobs
every turn, and will stop 'Nidzilla in it's tracks through sheer dice output. Well, that or
you'll be killed by the enemies anti-tank and waste 250 points on something the rest of
your army should be doing anyway. Also, by far the coolest looking Russ.
(1) Can also be a fun choice against fliers, if much less cost-effective than the Hydra or
Fortifications' Emplacements. When driven by Pask the Punisher becomes an
extremely versatile machine, able to successfully engage just about anything, and on
average, glance most things AV14 to death.
vii) Leman Russ Executioner: Not quite as god tier as it once was because the main
cannon now has Gets Hot (since the Techpriests on Ryza got drunk and forgot how to
make good Plasma weapons that don't overheat one day during the hangover), but still
capable of chucking down sizeable amounts of Anti-TEQ hate. However it's now only
155 points, a significant reduction from the last book. Pair with Pask for a blinding
plasma blast (see Pask above) for even more hate (though this is ill advised, given your
HQ will easily bloat itself up to (and possibly past) 500 points since Tank Commanders
must take a Squadron of Russes with them) All that said, while no longer the auto-
include Russ anymore that it was in the last book, it is still capable of making TEQ heavy
armies weep. To be taken with caution as part of a healthy balanced diet of Russes.
(1) Important Note: You'll get that re-roll from Pask and vehicles get a 4+ 'save' to resist
the lost hull point from a 'Gets Hot' result which should make this Russ more
survivable. Keep this in mind, because your Executioner is statistically likely to Get
Hot by the end of turn 2; with the extra roll the tank can go 4 turns without glancing
itself (this drops to just over 2 if you took sponsons). Twin-Linking is still helpful, of
course.

Ordnance Battery: "Infantry win firefights. Tanks win battles. Artillery wins wars," or so the
old saying goes. The Imperial Guard is noted for being able to bring really big guns to the
battlefield, their firepower able to remove small sections of the opponent from the playing
field. This said and done, the Imperial Guard artillery units are slow (sometimes outright
static) and fragile for their cost due to being Open-Topped, a drawback which becomes
increasingly noted should one wish to take artillery in a Squadron (and with the exception of
the Griffon, Ordnance has the same cost issues with squadron up vehicles); this said, one
can remove the Open-Topped Status. Artillery in itself will not make a Guard army due to its
fragile nature, but they provide excellent firepower should the rest of the army be able to
protect them. On a side note, almost all artillery tanks can replace their hull-mounted heavy
bolter with a heavy flamer for free. While this is more of a choice with tanks like the Russ

33
 and Chimera, on Artillery tanks you should almost always go with the flamer. If enemies are
close enough that you have to resort to the secondary weapons, a heavy bolter with
guardsmen BS isn't going to save you against much of anything, but a heavy flamer shot to
the face will ruin just about anybody's day. There are numerous artillery-pieces available,
including the following:
Basilisk: Jokingly called the penis-enlargement gun by veteran Guard Players, the
Basilisk is noted for having a really big gun. This gun is also known for being long-
ranged, having the option for direct or indirect fire, and having AP 3 (meaning it can kill
Marines in the open, or pummel Crisis Suits). However, having the worst minimum-
range requirements has the potential to often relegate the Basilisk as a direct-fire
weapon, a task the Medusa tends to do better in most cases for a marginal upgrade in
cost; this said, the Basilisk's direct-fire does have a longer range than the Medusa.
Unless it's apocalypse, you don't need more than 36" though, so get a Medusa, or a
Leman Russ Battle Tank, which can do the same or even better job, considering that
either way, you are dropping S8 AP3 Big Blast at the enemy within '72 at most. Now in
new codex earthshaker cannon has a range of 36-240" enabling you to hit kids at the
next table.

(1) Tactical Note: Like many Guard heavy support units, the Basilisk needs support to
really shine. Give it twin-linking with a Primaris Psyker (or the Emperor's Wrath
formation, see below) and Ignore Cover from the same and suddenly it's the most
dangerous unit on the field, able to delete entire squads of anything that's not
TEQ/MC. 3 of these with an ML2 psyker is the same price as the Leman Russ
squadron you'd get otherwise, and you get better strength and two powers from the
Divination table.
(2) The choice between the Earthshaker cannon versus the Medusa cannon, both as
Artillery units and self-propelled guns, became a bit more complicated in 7th Edition;
as the Earthshaker is a Barrage weapon and Medusa is not. Barrage weapons
determine cover saves and wound allocation from the blast marker's hole, even when
firing directly, and Multiple Barrages scatter tighter than separate Large Blasts. This
means the Earthshaker cannon has more chances to snipe a particular model, deny
cover saves to enemy vehicles and monsters (tip: use the Tank/Monster Hunters
order on a full Earthshaker artillery battery and watch parking lots and Nidzillas
explode), and more chances to hit other enemy units even when one of its blast
markers scatters than the Medusa cannon, and it can also fire indirectly, so it has
more utility.
(3) praise the Emperor, with formations now available in regular games the issues
normally faced by the Basilisk are removed by the direct fire support battery, and
even better, it can be fielded as a good old squadron of three (or you can take five
but really who would do that)

Hydra Flak Tank: The tank offers 2 Twin Linked Hydra Auto Cannons [72" range S7 AP4
Heavy 2 Skyfire] and a hull mounted Heavy Bolter (or HV Flamer) on an Open Topped
Chimera frame. For 5 bolt pistols more than a Chimera. There is contention as to whether
Skyfire is a benefit or not within the community to a degree that boils down to differences in
local meta. It is good at hitting Flyers and FMCs, Average at hitting Skimmers, and bad at
hitting everything else [4 TL BS 1 = 1.22 hits]. No longer ignores Jink. Extended [72"] Range
is nice for 2 out of 3 deployments.
Tactical Thought: Combined with an Techpriest a single hydra [total points 110] can
have a nearly guaranteed chance [avg 1.5 hits] of forcing grounding tests on two enemy
FMCs. Seeing that each said test should fail roughly 1/3 of the time and the fact that a
72" turret weapon can aim nearly anywhere on the board gives this unit some use.
Counterpoint: You need an unsaved wound to force a grounding test, and most
FMC's that you actually need to bring down, such as Flyrants, have a 3+ armor
save, which takes your 1.5 hits...to 0.5 wounds. This doesn't make the hydra
useless; you simply can't afford to split fire with it.

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 Wyvern Suppression Tank: BLOB ARMIES BEWARE! The new tank for 6th edition. Shoots
two twin-linked Stormshard Mortars: 48" Str 4 AP6, Heavy 2 with Blast, Barrage, Ignores
Cover, and Shred. That's right, rerolls to hit AND wound. And for even more fun, they can
come in squadrons of 1-3! The cherry on top? They're dirt cheap. Gaunts/Boyz Beware!
Tactical Thought: Before thinking the Wyvern is only useful against blobs, remember
what this tank brings to the field. A single tank fires 4 blast templates that are twin-linked
and shred. Even with their saves, MEQs will have to roll real well to not lose a large
number of troops. A well spread out MEQ Squad will probably lose 2-3 wounds per tank,
making the Wyvern redeem its point cost by turn two. Also barrage, what it does is focus
all blasts from a single unit (that is 12(!) blasts with reroll to wound and to hit from 3
wyverns) in a small area. Go ahead and force some unlucky squad to take a fuckton of
potential wounds (remember, it's a blast weapon so more like 60 potential wounds if
Small Blasts cover 5 models per blast) with Look out sir! for their leader, with some luck
you can snipe enemy commander on turn 1. Many say broken. I say fantastic. Even
TEQ will shudder at having to roll potentially 40 saves.
Counterpoint:No, I'm not about to argue this isn't good. In fact, the Wyvern is the
meanest, most cost-effective unit in the IG codex right now. But it can be a pain to
use; large numbers of blast attacks, with rerolls for everything, mean it's easy to
lose track of what attack you're making, how many wounds your opponent has to
roll for what unit, et cetera. Bring a notepad if you have an entire battery of these
things; you'll need it.

Manticore Launcher Tank: Mixed-bag. Good for the points, bigger blast range than hell, but
can't deal with marines, and has an infuriatingly long minimum range. Drop it back by your
Basilisks or Heavy Weapons, since it's not gonna do any good at the front lines. Good points
are simple: They're not open-topped, compared to artillery. They have HUGE blast ranges
and they can virtually ensure that you're going to be making people spread out their
firepower - great for you to focus on one group at a time. Downsides are just as bad as the
upsides, though. Limited ammo CAN be a problem (rarely, either because either the
Manticore or the enemy ends up demolished; if your manticore has fired all four rockets,
have it tank shock everything in sight, because it has already won). If enemy is spreading
their units out, it causes you to lose a lot of rocket's effectiveness. Seriously, it can only
shoot 4 out of 5-6 turns (unless your opponent isn't retarded, in which case it'll be gone a
great deal sooner). Overlooked a lot, but can be powerful on those first few crucial turns. On
a high note, Manticores DEMOLISH Necron Warrior elements or Ork/Nid/Guard blobs; with
the new Necron codex, hitting Necrons with Instant Death-level attacks is invaluable for
suppressing their Reanimation Protocols.
Alternate Take: Consider throwing your Storm Eagle rockets at enemy Super-Heavy
vehicles. The D3 shots and large pie plates (combined with a large target) means you're
going to hit on average 2 or so times; 3 if you're lucky. S10 Ordnance will reliably glance
and even penetrate AV14; with AP4 the vehicle damage roll won't do anything, but that
doesn't matter, because you've brought that Necron monolith to half HP in one shooting
attack. What other armies hope to do with precision shooting, melta-style weapons and
other high-BS low-AP trickery, the Guard accomplish with simple overwhelming
firepower!
Forgeworld finally allow to squadron Manticores up to 3. Not like it's always a wise
decision, as squadron must fire at one target, which can lead to overkill.
Standard Storm Eagle rockets now can be swapped for Manticore Missiles and Sky
Eagle Rockets - both come with 15 pts discount. First are the massive S9 AP2 7" blasts
of pure rape, which is almost as devastating as Medusa, have Basilisk range, and one
of the few 7"-blasts outside of Apocalypse. Second are crunch wise long range twin-
linked ordnance lascannons - great for busting heavily armored flyers, otherwise almost
invulnerable to Hydra fire.

35
 Deathstrike: The Deathstrike Missile Launcher tends not to be taken in a lot of tournament
builds, being viewed as too unreliable a weapon. Its main selling point is that it (eventually)
fires a Strength 10 AP 1 APOCALYPTIC BLAST (y'know, the type of thing you would expect
from a Titan), ignoring cover, and operating at full Strength against any and all vehicles
caught in the explosion; should it go off, it has a high chance of devastating the opponent.
On the other hand, it's chances of properly firing are random at best, it won't be firing on turn
1, and the Deathstrike is a one-shot weapon. It mostly gets used either for casual games on
account of this unreliability, as a gamble, or for psyching the opponent out into spreading his
forces out. But if you're a favored champion of the dice gods, received the blessing of
Admiral Awesome, the benediction of Lady Luck and have balls of ceramite, you might just
hilariously wipe half of your opponent's forces early in the game. In 2k+ games, combine 3
Deathstrikes with 4 units of Demo Charge-packing Special Weapon Squads in Vendettas,
and watch your enemy's face drop as he realizes the the might of pie plates - as he has to
deal with either 3 nukes or 12 S9 AP2 large blasts + 12 twin linked Lascannons on turn 2 at
the earliest. Unless you get first turn of course, in which case he has to deal with 3 nukes
having already been hit by 12 large blasts. And from then on, it only gets better...

Fortifications[edit]
Here are the general tactics for fortifications.

Aegis Defense Lines: In case you forgot to get a Hydra or chose to actually get Anti Air with
an Interceptor rule, Aegis will help you out with the annoying fliers. Always choose the flak
gun (it's statistically better against everything, and the model comes with the kit, anyway),
and always have your Platoon Commander fire it so you don't waste his BS4 on a las
weapon. In addition, you get a nice piece of cover for Guardsmen, which you can use as a
forward assault base of sorts, or to hide behind (argue with your opponents that your Leman
Russ gets a cover save as well). Pretty cheap point-wise, and can be a good choice if you
want to have some basic foothold without turning into Gunline Guard. Combined with "Get
back in the fight" orders and GTG for 2+ cover guardsmen.
Tactical Note: While we're on the subject of orders, if you hold off on that interceptor
shot, you can order the unit firing the flak cannon, turning those 4 S7 shots into
something really mean. Against FMC's and anything with better than a 4+ save, you're
better off ordering 'Bring it Down', since he'll never jink anyway. With a BS4 shooter this
will statistically guarantee a grounding test. Against vehicles, 'Bring it Down' can serve
the purpose of scaring your opponent into jinking, since 4 BS4 shots with rerolls
on everything is capable of putting out a lot of pain. Remember that if that gunship
spends the entire game jinking and zooming around the field, it's not a serious threat.
Skyshield Landing Pad: On one hand, you practically give your Guardsmen
an Invulnerable Save(!) - on the other, you don't have many units that can Deep Strike.
Could be worth it, if you have some Deep Striking allies. Park your basilisks or manticores
on it, or alternatively a deathstrike missile launcher if you feel your trollface isn't getting
enough use. The Aegis defence line also provides an awesome forward base that you can
load with heavy weapons team for instant 4+ cover and never have to move!
With the "Ready For Take-Off" upgrade ( Only 5 points ), this becomes a very good
fortification that is probably a must have if you planned to use it and a Vendetta. Deploy
the Vendetta(s) in it ( In Hover mode for the first turn ) and don't move it/them : You got
yourself AV12 4+ Invuln Twin-Linked full-BS lascannons all around with a very good
LOS. Next turn ( It is quite unlikely a Vendetta has been taken down by now ), zoom out
and do Vendetta stuff as you would normally. This gets you a guaranteed 2nd turn
Vendetta for the "cost" of having it sitting on the landing pad with a 4+ invulnerable save
on first turn, during which it will still be able to fire its payload at full BS. If you plan on
taking Vendettas but don't like spending points on reserve roll trickery ( Which puts you
on par with Skavens concerning reliability ) you can easily rationalise incorporating that
Skyshield into your army ( Park your officers, heavy weapons teams, tanks, artillery on

36
 it, whatever : 4++ is GOOD - AV14 4++ isn't going anywhere ) for a fine piece of
fortification that will act as an excellent Vendetta force multiplier.
Imperial Bastion: Ridiculously cheap, can mount a Quad Gun that can pop transports and
flyers, gets 4 free heavy bolters which can be legally placed all on one facing, gives your
men the advantage of height and cover, and if you play air cavalry the Comms upgrade is a
must, letting you modify your reserve rolls by +1. Place Veterans inside and use it to
overlook most of the battlefield, while the rest of your army is moving about/shattering your
enemy's sky.
Fortress of Redemption: Expensive both in points and actual kit price, this huge model
doesn't exactly bristle with guns as you would expect. But now, you are able to dominate
everything on the table - tanks will be sniped with the '96 twin-linked lascannon, fliers will be
decimated by BS4 AA guns (you did garrison Veterans in there, right?), and everything else
will have to eat Heavy Bolters. And that thing launches Missiles (fragstorm and krakstorm
pieplates). Oh, and all Imperial units get various buffs and saves, meaning that this thing is
the ultimate say in the world of Gunline Guard. On the negative side, this thing turns the field
into a giant clusterfuck the moment at least one of it's sections breaks apart.
Imperial Strongpoint: Can't decide whether you want the Imperial Bastion or Aegis Defense
Line? Why not take both. With the Stronghold Assault expansion, you can take both and
more. For just one Fortification slot, you get a required Aegis Defense Line, a Imperial
Bastion, a optional Skyshield Landing Pad, optional Honoured Imperium, and options to
include more of the listed. For IG gunline armies, this is beautiful. This is basically the poor
man's Fortress of Redemption. The major problem though is the standard Guardsman's
ballistic skill. With all this heavy ordnance, you want to get as many BS4 Vets as possible to
man these guns. Also, don't expect to move that far. With most of your cover and weapons
unmovable, you will just have to wait for the enemy to reach you.
Honoured Imperium: Ok, no. While it might be nice to place a giant statue or church rubble
and receive Stubborn for your Guard and Imperial Allies, think about your choice. For your
ONE fortification choice, you would take one statue that CANNOT fire back over
fortifications THAT CAN FIRE BACK! And while fearless is nice for guard, units have to be
within 2 inches to even benefit from the Stubborn rule. Best used with gun-line guard and
even then you will have the problem of blast templates. You do get a 3+ cover save if behind
the fortification, but chances are you are using the giant statue that breaks LOS making the
cover save basically unnecessary. Use your points on a Commissar. If you are truly wanting
to use this fortification, then go all in and get the Imperial Strongpoint. In fact, if you want
Stubborn, get a Commissar!
This might be slightly useful with vehicles, if you have a predator positioned just right
that you don't ever plan on moving for example, otherwise you will never use this cover
save ever.
Plasma Obliterator: Oh my...a simple building at AV14 all around, but has a Plasma
Obliterator which fires a 7" Massive Blast at S7 AP2. Want to obliterate its point cost in
heavy infantry? Look no further. However, it still gets hot (luckily since it's a fortification it
gets a 4+ save against it), and it has a new rule called Plasma Overheat which means if it
takes a glancing hit due to Gets Hot! a unit embarked takes D3 randomly allocated wounds
(just as with classic gets hot! allow saves). You'd think a building the size of a Bastion would
have an external cooling system to prevent this fucking rule...still, at 230 points it's quite an
expensive Fortification, but oh man will this thing melt hordes, regardless of how good their
save is. Just do yourself a favour an keep it occupied at all times, lest it being taken by the
enemy or it starts firing with automated fire. Believe me the last thing you want is a 7" blast
of fiery plasma death going off and scattering about anywhere near your units.
Promethium Relay Pipes: 4+ Cover save, like the Aegis but with a special bonus, if a
model is armed with a Flamer weapon then it becomes Torrent if a non-vehicle model's
within 2" of a pipe, by plugging into a valve and spewing out more burning fuel than usual.
Using it for Cover does have the slight inconvenience of the pipes venting an explosion and
causing 1d6 S4AP5 hits on the unit taking cover, 1/6th of the time the unit makes its Cover
save (meaning 1/6th of the time a shot hits the pipe). This could be be quite distressing for
T3 5+ Guardsmen squads if the 1d6 hit happens to roll high.

37
 Tactical Note: You can bypass the problem of taking cover behind flammables by
buying a few barricades and having your men take cover behind those, with the pipe
behind them (the rule specifies that the unit is only at risk if its using the pipe for its
cover save). This not only allows them to take the 4+ cover save with impunity, it also
gives them some protection against flanking.
Void Shield Generator: Big ol' AV12 bubble to hide behind and shoot with impunity. 50pts.
Want two more layers? 100pts. Goody gumdrops.
Void Relay Network: 3 layers of AV12 bubbles not good enough for you? How about 9
layers? Plus 1 to 3 Promethium Relay Pipes to provide your squads with flamers some
cover when the void shields inevitably collapse? Might be good for a gunline though the
points inevitably add up.
Munitorum Armoured Container Cache: GWs newest Fortification is actually a collection
of seperate objects. Namely 1 container 4 ammo boxes and 3 fuel drums, which all need to
be placed within a 12" radius but other than that can be placed any way you like. The ammo
boxes give the standard 5+ cover save and rerolls of 1s within 2". The fuel drums work
similar to the pipelines except they only give a 5+ cover save but you also only risk 1D3
S4AP5 hits. They also give the same torrent upgrade to any non-vehicle Flamer weapon
within 2". The containers are big armoured containers (duh) you can hide behind but not
inside. They can take two optional Storm Bolters that can both be fired by any unit in base
contact. The first time any unit has base contact with a container you roll a D6 just as with
Mysterious Objectives. The Containers can in fact also be used as Mysterious Objectives. In
both cases they use the following table. 1: you take 1d6 S4AP6 hits, 2: Nothing (better luck
next time); 3: every Armies of the Empire unit within 6" gets +1 Ld, 4: all Assault and Rapid
Fire weapons within 6" get +1S (this includes the containers own Storm Bolters), 5: 4+ invul.
for every model within 6", 6: a single use orbital strike that scatters 4D6 on an arrow.
You can take up to two additional Muntorum Armoured Container Caches at 40 points each
with this fortification. Each cache can then be set-up seperately.
For 40-120 points this is a nice collection of buffs and cover, which can be spread over
quite an area. The rerollable 1s are a godsend for static squads with gets hot, like
Plasma Devastators.

Lords of War[edit]
Thanks to the Escalation rules and Forge World, Guard have more Lord of War choices than
any other army. Most of these can be found in Imperial Armor, Volume One (2nd edition), and
they start at the surprisingly cheap price of 235 points (though by no means do
they stop there...this is the army that allows you to take Imperial titans). You can still only take
one per Combined Arms Detachment, so choose wisely.
Malcador family[edit]

These are the Guard's entry-level super-heavies. They're cheap enough that you could
reasonably bring one to a 1850-point game, and you (probably) won't even lose any friendships
over it.

Malcador: At first glance, the vanilla Malcador doesn't seem to stack up well against a
Leman Russ. You're spending 50% more for similar armament and less armor; worse, the
battle cannon is in a weird limited-traverse casemate, and the sponsons can't train forward.
Sure, it's got twice the hull points, but still, why would you buy this stupid thing?
You'd buy it because it's a super-heavy, dumbass. It can fire each of its guns at different
targets with full BS, it can't be immobilized, and Rams/Tank Shocks are terrifying. It also
ignores most of the Vehicle Damage Table, and an Explodes! roll just strips more hull points
instead. It's also cheap enough to fit into reasonably-sized games where you'd usually forget
you even HAVE a Lord of War slot.

Malcador Defender: Instead of a Battle Cannon, has a bunker on the top with five Heavy
Bolters all around and a Demolisher Cannon in the hull.

38
 Malcador Annihilator: Has a twin-linked Lascannon turret weapon, and a hull-mounted
Demolisher Cannon. May feel a bit schizophrenic despite seeming like a mainly anti-vehicle
platform.

Malcador Infernus: Take a Malcador, throw out the turret, and give it a Titan-sized Inferno
Cannon. It's a GIANT flamethrower tank, like a Hellhound on steroids. Back in the day,
the Solar Auxilia knew how to make this bad boy fire Torrents; in modern times, the Adeptus
Mechanicus has, appropriately, forgotten what 'torrent' means. Undaunted, the tank's
machine spirit steps up its game and performs better than a Torrent weapon; instead of
using the Torrent rule, the weapon's description instructs you to place the enormous S7 AP3
Hellstorm template up to 18" from the gun's muzzle, with the wider end no closer than the
narrow end. AP3 not good enough for you? Swap it out for the chemical variant for the same
Hellstorm attack but at AP2 with Poisoned 2+. This thing is a nightmare for your opponent,
but will justifiably draw fire due to its lower-than-a-Russ armor values. If you can maneuvre it
well, however, it will earn its relatively low points cost back in a heartbeat. Also has sponson
weapon options, which are good for finishing up the burned up squads.

Valdor Tank Hunter: Like a smaller Shadowsword, or specifically, like a bigger Destroyer
Tank Hunter. It has a massive laser cannon. Has a single sponson mounted awkwardly on
one side, firing arcs make it only useful for self-defense. Suffers slightly from the Vanquisher
Syndrome of not being able to target enough things fast enough and having only has BS3. It
does possess primary weapon D3 which vastly increases chances of successful penetration
(Or Primary weapon 1 if you go by IAA rather than IAIG2nd), and AP1 highly increases
chance of of the enemy vehicle being destroyed outright.
Minotaur Artillery Tank: Basilisk on crack. Carries two Basilisk cannons on a Malcador hull.
Don't ask why. Ask: "Why not?" Its blast is 7" and twin-linked with the drawback of being
unable to fire directly (meaning 24" minimum range always). Also is built
backwards meaning it has higher rear armour than on its front or sides. Bonus points for
being either the coolest or most retarded-looking tank in existence, depending on personal
taste.
Macharius family[edit]

A step up from the Malcador, and not quite so full of weird quirks. About twice as expensive as a
Russ, but you could make a reasonable argument that they're twice as powerful.

Macharius Heavy Tank: Comparable to the Malcador, except with moar gunz. Standard
Macharius has two sponsons and a MASSIVE. BLAST. BATTLE. CANNON. Unlike the
Malcador, the Macharius has a full 360-degree traverse, so it can fire in any direction from
its position. Also has hull-mounted twin linked heavy Stubbers in the front. If you somehow
can afford a 50 pts increase you should seriously consider buying the Macharius Vanquisher
below instead, as it can fire in exactly the same way PLUS it can also fire like a twin-linked
Vanquisher.

Macharius Vanquisher: TWIN. LINKED. VANQUISHER. CANNONS. Also has sponsons on

either side. Hull-mounted Heavy Stubbers also. Hilarious anti-tank firepower. It can fire
either like a twin-linked Vanquisher or like a 7" blast battle cannon; making it by far the most
versatile of the Macharius variants.

Macharius Vulcan: Mother of god. For ultimate cheese, get a Stormlord with Vulcan Mega
Bolter, and get a couple of these to roll with it. This Macharius has a Vulcan Mega Bolter on
its turret, plus the sponsons and hull Heavy Stubbers. Removes Tyranid players from the
Apocalypse games in the radius of a few miles.

Macharius Omega: A Macharius assault tank, basically. Has no turret for its PLASMA
BLASTGUN. There are no hull-mounted heavy stubbers but it can take autocannon
sponsons. It is also an open topped vehicle and therefore more vulnerable to enemy fire.

39
 The main gun can either fire 3 plasma pie plates at 60" or one massive 7" blast at S9 and
72" but at the risk of Meltdown (like Gets Hot but with D3 Glancing hits/wounds). Burns
through bio-titans and monstrous creatures like they're nothing. Also great of taking out
squadrons of medium/light armour or hordes of TEQs.

Gorgon Assault Carrier: The ultimate party bus. The Gorgon can transport entire platoons
instead of just a single squad. Has two twin-linked Heavy Stubber turrets on the very back,
and has the option of either sponson-mounted weapons (four of 'em, two forward and two
rearward) or a one-shot mortar array. It's tough as nails; AV14 on the front and sides, and
the solid ceramite prow gives you a 4+ invuln on the front facing. In short, this thing will NOT
be killed from the front. But not so fast - the rear plate is AV10, and the Gorgon is Open-
Topped (with no fire points...no, really, you can't fire out of it), so if it gets caught in melee it's
pretty much scrap metal. It's also the only IG Assault Transport (by RAW, anyway; see
below), by virtue of being Open-Topped. Pack two 8-man squads of Bullgryn into it and add
a Priest to each; the Gorgon has the capacity to transport fifty models, and can disembark
two at once. Then scratch your head in wonder at what sort of game could possibly
require fifteen hundred points worth of melee and transportation.

CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT: Picks up where the Gorgon slacked off.
Has two Heavy Bolters (which you should replace with better guns) on its nose, sponsons
with more bolters and it's completely closed. Carrying capacity of 35 (compare to Gorgon's
50). It's pretty much the IG's equivalent of a Land Raider (it costs exactly the same point-
wise), and in grand Guard tradition, the CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT is
more powerful, more durable (in terms of hull points, but not in terms of armor; the rear
armor is still the Guard Super-Heavy standard of 12), can carry more than three times as
many models, and is generally better at its job. This is how you get your Ogryn into melee;
with all the transport capacity, you can fit a full squad (with up to five additional characters),
or, since it's a Super-Heavy, a squad of five and a squad of six, both with Ministorum
Priests. Get stuck in!
Note: The one advantage the Land Raider has over this sexy beast is that it's been
updated in the last two editions, so it actually knows what the Assault Transport rule is.
The CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT doesn't specifically have the rule,
and unlike the Gorgon it's not Open-Topped and thus doesn't have it by default, so by
RAW your boys can't charge right out of the door, but come on. Do I need to write the
name a fourth time? Discuss this with your opponent, of course.

Praetor Armored Assault Launcher: CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT with

its transport capacity replaced with a huge rocket launcher. Like the Minotaur is a super-
Basilisk, the Praetor is a super-Whirlwind. Its backside houses a Multiple-Rocket Launcher,
armed with one of three types of ammunition; in all modes it fires two twin-linked Primary
Weapon missiles per turn. You're required to choose armament at the game start, but this is
after all the models are on the table, allowing you to choose the best loadout to counter your
opponent, making the Praetor very versatile. Facing the Flying Circus? Load Pilum SAM's
and introduce them to the dirt. Lots of blobs? Load Firestorm missiles and eat cover saves
for breakfast with a side of your opponent's tears. Enemy Super-Heavies got you down? The
Foehammer is ready to smack a bitch up. It also has two sponsons on the nose, just in case.

Dominus Armored Siege Bombard: Another Crassus-with-huge-gun. This time it packs a

battery of three giant mortars on its back, which could fire a S10 AP3 pieplate on the move
or three of them while static. This thing is mean; compared to a Basilisk, it has better
minimum range (and unlike a Colossus, has no restriction against firing within it; presumably
the mortars can be aimed straight up), better strength, and is much more durable; if kept
still, it's more cost-effective than an entire battery of Basilisks, and this is probably the only
place in 40k you'll see that written. Worth noting, there is no model of this thing, nor is there
any official art; get kitbashing!

40
Baneblade family[edit]
Thoroughly awesome, but very pricey, at least in terms of points. Ironically, they cost
less money than the smaller super-heavies because you get them from GW instead of Forge
World.

Baneblade: The Baneblade is one of the most feared tanks the Imperium (and Chaos
posers) have to offer. Sporting a Baneblade cannon (which shits out 10"wide lascannon pie
plates at six feet), co-axial Autocannon, Demolisher Cannon, two Lascannons, three twin-
linked heavy bolters, optional pintle mounts, AND optional Hunter-killer missile, its a rolling
fortress of death. Comes standard with nine hull points, AV14 front, AV13 side, and AV12
rear armor. Can be commandeered by a Commissar to REALLY motivate your troops. With
7th edition, IG players can take one Baneblade or one of its variants.
Fortress of Arrogance: This special Baneblade gets to cart Yarrick's ass along for a
hefty 940 pts (even counting the old man's cost), which he can embark and disembark
like an open-topped vehicle without any of the damage penalties. It's armed with
lascannon sponsons, a Hunter-Killer, heavy bolters on the sponsons and hull, and a
storm bolter (For Yarrick to shoot out the single firing point). In addition, this is made for
Ork stomping by halving Ork charge ranges while giving all Guard units within 12" of him
Ld10.
Baneblade 212 "Arethusa": A special Baneblade from IA1, this is a BS4 Baneblade
with a co-axial autocannon with the main cannon, TL Heavy Bolters with the Demolisher
cannon, two sponsons with Lascannons and TL Heavy Bolters, and a pintle heavy bolter
(yes, heavy bolter; herr Weissman doesn't believe in anything less than AP4). While the
ability to ignore Shaken and Stunned on a 4+ is nice (though the new 7th ed 'Invincible
Behemoth' rule makes it redundant), the main gift is the ability to make one weapon TL
every turn, which with BS4 makes it irresistible (this stacks with the Co-Axial rule on the
autocannon, which Arethusa, having its own statline, retains). Seriously, the only caveat
is that you can't use it on stuff that's already twin-linked, so that means a twin-linked
Demolisher and A TWIN-LINKED BANEBLADE CANNON. It's 75 points more than a
plain one, but DAMN if it doesn't make you moist. Play it using the shorter Mars-Pattern
FW model for more easily-acquired cover saves for extra fun.

Hellhammer: Baneblade without the Baneblade cannon. The Hellhammer cannon is shorter
ranged and has a smaller template, but better strength and AP, and it ignores cover. But
why take this when the Stormsword right down the corner is so much better? Well, unlike all
of the other Baneblade variants, the Hellhammer has a turret. The extra flexibility offered by
being able to engage any target while keeping the thicker armor pointed towards the main
threat could swing your decision.
Traitor's Bane: the king of Hellhammers, found in Warzone: Pandorax, this is
a Catachan superheavy. On top of all the usual Hellhammer kit it comes with two extra
sponson guns with lascannons as a matter of course and all heavy flamers are
"Synched", which are still twin-linked, but are also S6 AP3, so when this tank gets close
to things short of TEQ they are all dead. As an added bonus, it is a Stealth Tank!!!
Which gives it a 6+ cover save when not in cover, and when against aircraft or flying
creatures it gets Shrouded instead!

Banehammer: Holds great potential for fun in trolling Mech armies with it's Tremor cannon.
With a 60" range and S8 AP3, the Tremor cannon may not seem like much - but that's when
it's special rule "Earthshock" comes in. All surviving models under its 7" blast gets caught
within a shockwave zone which forces them to immediately take a dangerous terrain test
after the normal damage from the blast is doled out. Not the best super heavy to take, but is
fun. Shoot it at hordes or any large clusters of enemy models. It can also cart around 25
models, 10 of which can fire from the troop bay.

Banesword: Designed especially to reach out and ruin someone's day. With a range of 180"
on it's main cannon (called the Quake Cannon) as well as S9 AP3, and 10" Blast, someone

41
 is going to have a really bad day. And for shits and giggles, you can kill that annoying Tau
player's army 2 tables over, instead of wasting the shots of your Deathstrike Missiles. In
previous versions, the Quake Cannon was a Barrage weapon, making this variant the
largest artillery piece a Guard player could field without resorting to titans. Sadly it's lost that
magic, but kept the minimum range, so it's not the best choice for a super-heavy; you're
probably better off bringing an entire battery of Basilisks (which ends up being cheaper...).

Stormsword: Best at street fighting and siege warfare, what this bad boy lacks in range (a
sort of pathetic (for Apocalypse) range of 36") is made up for in firepower. Its cannon
launches a shell that packs roughly the same destructive power as a Deathstrike Missile's
plasma warhead; an enormously painful S10 AP1 10" blast primary weapon shot which
denies cover saves and instagibs vehicles on a 5+ (which goes to 3+ vs those annoying
drop pods). It will also turn anything with less than T6 or Eternal Warrior inside out. So, in
other words, it's a great way to say "Screw you!" to that annoying Vindicare Assassin, who is
camping in the ruins. The blast template is in fact so huge that it is actually physically
incapable of missing it's original target with its main cannon - which is awesome. Firing this
thing once can wipe it's cost in units off of the gameboard, which is even more awesome.
Pretty much everything you love about the Leman Russ Demolisher is taken up to eleven on
this baby. If you can get these guys in range, they will never fail to impress with the
incredible amounts of destruction they will unleash upon the enemy.

Doomhammer: This super heavy isn't sure if it's supposed to be a scary ass tank or
dedicated transport... so it does a decent job as both. With a transport capacity of 25
models, it certainly isn't too shabby, especially with it's fire points (well, fire point, really)
allowing 10 models to blast away from it. Its primary cannon (named the Magma Cannon -
yeah, it's the Volcano Cannon's baby brother) has a range of 60" and is S10 AP1 5" blast.
So yeah... Something caught between a Stormsword, Stormlord and a Shadowsword. For a
jack of all trades, this is a decent choice (the Baneblade is probably better at it, but it can't
transport people).

Shadowsword: Much alike the Baneblade, but instead of a turret and hull weapon, mounts a
huge Volcano Cannon (yes, it is as powerful as it sounds). The Volcano Cannon stats are
simple: 120" S:D AP2 5" blast. Yup. It is the Titan Killer and is possibly one of the most
useful Baneblade-based vehicles, due to the combination of power and it's massive ten-
foot range. Only Vortex Deathstrike missiles and titans can send the D farther afield than
this baby. Can trade a pair of lascannons for targeters to boost its BS by one (not so useful,
since you're shooting a blast weapon, and most of the time you'll be aiming at such a large
target that you'll only miss on an 11-12" scatter anyway). This is a very useful unit,
especially when combined with lots of tanks in a non-apocalypse game, because it becomes
the king of distraction carnifexes in this configuration : 120" range D weapon, 9 HP, rather
cheap by Baneblade variant standards, and needs heavy firepower to bring down; even in
melee, krak grenades will only barely damage it. For just over 1000 points, you can get
yourself 3 Demolisher russes and this baby : Either your opponent focuses the russes and
gets blown off the table ( If you bought the targeters, it has over 50% chance to hit its initial
target, almost certainly bringing it down with Strength D), or he/she tries to get the
Shadowsword and gets in range of the Demolisher cannons, and that deepstriking unit not
being that useful as they will strike against AV12 backed by 9 HP and most likely suffer a
nasty retaliation.

Stormblade (FW): Taking the Shadowsword chassis and sticking the Plasma Cannon from
a Titan on it. They call it a Plasma Blastgun, but that sounds pathetic; what it does, however,
is not. The gun allows for two firing modes: Rapid and Full (power, presumably). Rapid gives
you 2 shots at 72", S8 AP2 with a 7" Blast, and Full drops it down to 1 shot with 96" range
S10 AP2 Apocalyptic Blast; either way, anything without an invuln save will melt. All attacks
are Primary Weapon, so enemy vehicles will feel the pain, too. Also one of the few sources
of plasma these days that won't Get Hot; Mars builds shit right.

42
 Stormlord: It's a Doomhammer chassis with more transport capacity and a Vulcan Mega
bolter instead of a Magma cannon (Yes, the Mega Bolter is as insane as it sounds: Imagine
a Vulcan Minigun with Heavy Bolters for each barrel), the Mega Bolter is: 60" S6 AP3 Heavy
15, AND if the Stormlord doesn't move, it can fire at two different targets or twice at the
same target! However, the most lulzy thing about this beast is that it can transport FORTY
models. Don't get too worried about this, as the rules say it only counts as open
topped ONLY for embark/disembark purposes, so you can not ally with some nasty melee
units like assault terminators and get an awesomely massive charge out of it, sadly.
However, up to twenty models can fire from the top-bay on the top, so you can also count
this as a mobile firebase for your shooty infantry, though moving the tank still counts as
movement for your units (though pivoting doesn't, when you want to point that Vulcan
cannon at stuff).

Marauder family[edit]
The Imperial Navy will occasionally lend the Guard a hand with these big-assed bombers.

Marauder Bomber: Flying Fortress of 40k. Imagine the massive bombers that dropped
massive amounts of bombs on cities during the Second World War - the Marauder is
basically the same thing, but with much bigger and less dinky and useless guns (for the
setting). It also happens to share the same name as one too. It's not good for its point cost
though, even in apocalypse. Those bombs just don't hurt tanks, and that's something you
need to be able to kill. Does come with the ability to switch out the heavy bomb payload for
two Hellstorm Bombs, big Inferno templates full of Str7 Ap3 goodness. Useful for when that
annoying guy brings a whole company of Space Marines and you want them to DIE NOW.
Unfortunate side effect is the tiny payload size. Oh well. As per new Apoc rules super heavy
tend to explode in hilariously high range (with D strengths in the 5" epicenter) you can just
keep this thing zooming above enemy forces and dare him to kill it.
Maurauder Destroyer Heavy Attack Plane. While the standard Maurauder is the Imperium's
B-17 (if thats a B-17, I would love to the imperium's lancaster. imagine a bouncing
demolisher shell!!!), this one is the AC-130. Regardless, with a load out like this it's more
akin to the bastard forbidden love child of a Manticore and a Hydra flak tank that's trying too
hard, since it's armed with eight massive hellstrike missiles on the wings and three twin-
linked autocannons in its nose. In addition to bombing, this sucker flies in and strafes
anything unlucky to be on the ground, with hellstorm of fire, and then flies away. Better than
the bomber in every way (looks, armor values, possession of actual AA mounted guns and
glorious bombing runs).

Titans[edit]
TITANIC GOD-MACHINES OF PURE RAPE. They pack awesome firepower on ungodly
durable platforms, but hell they are expensive. One thing you should remember: Titans are NOT
indestructible. Despite being TITANS they are quite fragile for such point cost. Their void shield
could soak a lot of anti-tank shooting, but they work only against shots from 12" and more, not to
mention close combat. KEEP YOUR TITANS AS FAR FROM ENEMY AS POSSIBLE - a lot of
things could kill them if they come close enough. Meltaguns are problem.
Hummershield/chainfist terminators are big problem. Warscythe Lychguards are a massive
problem. Daemon lords and Revenant Titans with swords are death. Wraithknights and Imperial
Knights will chop you into little bits of metal confetti. Hell, I once saw a single veteran squad with
meltabombs grav-shuted near a Reaver titan and kill it in one turn. Also, keep in mind that all
titan weapons (except Mega Bolter) are blasts, so they cannot hurt fliers (not even Manta -
snapshots or not, blasts cannot hit flyers).

Warhound Scout Titan: Buy three!!! Make three (if you want your titan to look stupid)!!! Can
equip two arm weapons: Give it two Turbo-Laser Destructors and watch the fireworks as it
kills everything else on the field.

43
 Reaver Battle Titan: Buy Make one! Gets two reaver-class arm weapons and one
warhound-class carapace weapon or giant Rocket Launcher/Vortex Missile on its back.
Warlord Battle Titan: BUY ONE (if you want your titan to look stupid) shut up,
it's awesome!!! OR SCRATCH BUILD TO SAVE YOURSELF $2500USD (or buy it from
China)!!! One of these will obliterate its cost in, say, Predator Annihilators or Baneblades,
without a single scratch. It mounts two of the Reaver's weapons on its back and two of its
own weapons on its arms, which pack more range and fire more shots each turn.
Imperator Battle Titan:If you play against one of these, just give up... I mean, the other
Titans scale up by adding on guns, but this God-Machine carries six carapace weapons
(use the Warlord's weapons for that, there's no point using the Warhound's), it has two arm
weapons - and even it's weakest arm gun will at the least let out 6 strength 8 AP3 shots.
There is no safe place against it, its weapon's range allows it to hit anything 36" away and
beyond. Even if the enemy team fills every square inch of the board with anti-tank weapons,
this thing will come out on top without taking so much as a glancing hit to it's armor, with all
the void shields they need to get through first. Load up on Laser Blasters for the carapace
and Vengeance Cannons for arms and this can let loose an insane TWENTY-SIX destroyer
shots. You still should beware close combat monsters and meltahouses - with minimum fire
range of 36" Imperator cannot shoot down any approaching TEQ's, scarab swarms, or those
overpowered deepstriking corsair Fire Dragons (unless you put some good fire support units
into his leg-bastions, which you really should). You will never get a model for this thing, not
in a thousand years, but you can proxy one, just ask your two meter (seven foot) pal over
and get him to cosplay. And remember - chicks dig giant robots You're not fooling anyone
Princeps. FUCK YOU I CAN TRY!
Note that Tau have some really nasty Apocalypse fliers which are due for an update soon and
already seem designed to destroy anything you can field (which they kind of were in fluff). See
[[2]] for details. Counter with Praetor Armoured Launcher using Pilums

44
Supplements[edit]
Cadia: A Codex Astra Militarum Supplement[edit]

Taking content from 'The Red Waaagh!', 'Warzone Damocles: Mont'ka' and 'Echoes of War: Last
Step Backwards', this book gives the Cadians both a Decurion and some special tools for a
Cadia-themed army, which is one of the most common themed IG armies. Do note that the only
named characters available for a Cadian army are Creed, Kell and Pask.
Cadian Warlord Traits[edit]

The detachment can use this table, or the ones in the main rulebook, OR the one in the IG
codex. However, a Tank Commander can't use this table because his entry restricts him to only
use the IG one (and even then, he only rolls a D3). Also, the decurion doesn't grant a reroll of
WTs, so be prepared for anything. However you can still name a sergeant in your blob a warlord
and have zealot +1BS, making a bombardment or giving an order.

1. Master Orator: Warlord gains Zealot. This is why there are no options for Priests in the
Battlegroup. This is the one your Lord Commissars want, but Chain of Command would
mean you took no CCSs at all, and the Decurion is made for those anyway. And CCSs
shouldn't be in melee anyway. Overall, actual Priests would have been better.
2. Dead-eye Shot: Warlord gets +2 BS, his unit gets +1 BS. CCS's Veterans hitting on 2s?
Yes please! Can be awesome with that 50 man squad, but Commanders aren't ICs,
having a Commissar as warlord is too restrictive and making a random sgt the warlord is
asking for trouble.
3. Artillery Veteran: Warlord gets a ONE use artillery bombardment, like a Master of
Ordnance. Because of the scatter you absolutely need line of sight.
4. Unflappable Stoicism: aka Draconian Disciplinarian. Cadian units within 12" of warlord
don't take morale tests for suffering 25% or more casualties.
5. Above the Thundering Gun: Warlord can give Orders; if he could already do so, he
can issue one more command each turn - Don't you love Creed's WT is having 2 WTs,
as well as +1 order?.

45
 6. Staunch Traditionalist: Cadian characters must issue and accept challenges and can
re-roll failed to hit and to wound in challenges. Comboes nicely with most of your
heirlooms - It'd see good use in a combined squad led by a LORD Commissar (who
doesn't need to be the warlord here), the sgts "sacrificing" themselves for him in
challenges against multiwound characters so he can battle a weakened adversary. You
still suck on melee though.
Heirlooms of Cadia[edit]

Not overpriced bullshit like regular heirlooms (I'm looking at you, Kurov's Aquila, which is worth
its points only in a mechanised plasma party of veterans). In fact, the detachment can take
heirlooms from both this and the regular IG table (p.166 Mont'Ka and p.87 of the supplement),
which is good since some players could find some of these relics a little too CC oriented to their
taste.

Wrath of Cadia: It's a super-cheap laspistol that always wounds on a 4+, while forcing armor
saves taken against hits from this weapon to always fail if they roll under a 4. Wielded by a
Lord Comissar, this means any non-vehicle/fortification will take a wound...20% of the time.
So, not amazing, but for 5 points, it's a fun bit of fluff. A good way to represent the
prodigious laspistol skills of someone like Ciaphas Cain or Commissar LORD Bernn.
Celeritas: Not your average MC CCW. In a challenge, character gets +4 invulnerable save,
and for each successful save made by the wielder in a challenge it can make an auto hit
with Rending, even if character dies from failed saves at the same time. Dirt cheap, it's an
auto include. Combine this with a way of rerolling to wound and you're settled. Keep in mind
that you still need a 6 to Rend, even with the autohit, so don't expect this to make your
nameless Lord Commissar come out on top with Abbadon. Do expect to leave the armless
freak with a few less wounds than he started.
Volkov's Cane: Here's the mean one, for 10 points. A Company Commander-exclusive AP4
CCW with Concussive...yay. But the real boon is that, when ordering a unit within 6", the Ld
test will only fail on a double 6. That's akin to Ld11, which is epic. Stick this on the Company
Commander babysitting your heavy weapons to make them almost as killy as Centurion
Devastators (!!).
Kabe's Herald: Give to a Tank Commander to allow any other Leman Russ squadrons
within 12" to benefit from his orders as if they were part of his unit (if the TC orders
"Gunners, Kill on Sight!" the affected squadrons get Split Fire). So, this 20 point relic
behaves almost as well as 60 points' worth of Tank Commanders or more (mind your
cohesion and BS3)...as long as the bearer doesn't get wrecked and you lose all of it. When
bolstered with a few tank teams, it becomes the most unfair relic ever (Punisher overkill can
quickly get you outmaneuvered, spread the firepower!), and sees even better use in the
Emperor's Fist formation. Combined with "Strike and Shroud!" would triple the markerlights
those Tau would need to spend, so give them Camo netting.
The Iron Left: Cadia's version of Straken. An S+2 AP3 Power Sword bionic arm. Hits harder
(but slower) than a Space Marine for the price of an actual Power Fist. Can be useful
against anything slower than a marine (read: not against much things). Buy a proper
powerfist instead. Hey, they can't all be great.
Standard of the Lost 113th: A buffed Regimental Standard. At the start of the movement
phase, the bearer can plant the standard so that any Cadian units within 18" gain Fearless,
but after planting, his unit cannot move, run, or charge for the rest of the game. This is a
massive gamble, and the price tag is more than likely to turn away a few heads, especially
given how many other ways Guard have to compensate for their lousy leadership, but it's
also a massive area of effect. Place it on the center of the map to cover the most important
third of it.

46
Formations[edit]
Cadian Battle Group Detachment (Warzone Damocles: Mont'Ka)[edit]
The Imperial Guard now get a Decurion-style Detachment of their very own. Unlike those that
have come before, the Cadian Battle Group leans heavily on its chain of command, as your 1
Command choice is both your unlocking choice and your limitless choice. Each Battle Group
Command Formation you take unlocks up to 3 Core choices, so cannon fodder or tanks, which
in turn grant you up to another 3 Auxiliary Choices. Your Battle Group Command Company
Commanders can shout faster and louder than most Company Commanders, issuing up to three
orders and doubling their command range to 24" when commanding units from the Battle Group.
On top of that, all orders issued by any officer in the detachment to any unit in the detachment is
always tested on 3d6 drop highest, which certainly works on Creed (in fact, ANY officer,
including PCS ones). To add onto this, everyone re-rolls 1s to Hit with Lasguns and Hot-shot
Lasguns, because years of live-fire drills make Cadians better shots.
Your Command choice has to be this:
Battle Group Command (1+)
This can be ONE of:
A Company Command Squad, optionally with Creed and/or Kell.
Only this squad benefits from the BGC Command Benefit (3 orders at 24"); the other CCSs
do not.
A note on Relics:
As you can see on the table below, while the TART benefits any CCS, added to a BGC CCS
it raises your odds of Inspired Tactics to greater than 1 in 5; unfortunately, because the BGC
benefit drastically increases your odds of double ones, it also means you are far more likely
to lose your TART. Remember that it costs 25 points, and make your decision accordingly;
Volkov's Cane is better, at only 10 points, out to 6 inches, but only out to 6 inches.
A Tank Commander, which may be Pask.
You also have the option to take a single Lord Commissar. Nothing too fancy, but
remember that the Lord Commissar is a valid Order target and will propagate orders out to
any unit he is attached to, due to a combination of the wording of the rules on orders and the
FAQ clarifying that a mixed Faction unit has every Faction of every unit member. This means
you can ally a BGC into any Imperium army, strap the LC to any unit you want to buff, and
have the CCS issue that unit orders! In addition, both the LC and the CCS have access to
the relics list; aside from the obvious, if you brought Cawl or Celestine, there are some
choice options you may want to strap to your LC to get them into the unit.

47
Note
You theoretically have an unlimited number of command choices. As hilarious as an entire
army of plasma or melta spewing CCS is, an unlimited number of BS4 Punisher or
Exterminator Leman Russ tanks can be even more trollsy.
Order Probabilities
Inspired Tactics
Incompetent
Modifiers LD Success TART Tart
Total Command
Retained Lost
7 58.33%
8 72.22%
Base 02.78%
9 83.33%
10 91.67%
7 80.56%
8 89.35%
Battle Group Command (BGC) 07.41% 00.46%
9 94.91%
10 98.15%
7
8
Volkov's Cane (VC) 97.22% 02.78%
9
10
7 58.33% 05.56% 08.33%

Tactical Auto-Reliquary of 8 72.22%

08.33% 02.78% 11.11% 02.78%
Tyberius (TART) 9 83.33%
10 91.67% 11.11% 13.89%
7 80.56% 10.65% 18.06%
8 89.35%
BGC + TART 13.89% 07.41% 21.30%
9 94.91%
10 98.15% 15.74% 23.15%
00.46%
7
8
BGC+VC 99.54% 07.41%
9
10

For each Command choice you can take up to three of the following Core formations:

Emperor's Shield Infantry Company: Made up of 3 Emperor's Shield

Infantry Platoons plus a CCS, which means 170 Guardsmen and 3-27 Sentinels, along
with whatever support units you want from the Infantry Platoon entry in the Codex. Man,
that's a lot of dudes: 900 pts bare bones. In addition to the buffs from the Emperor's
Shield Platoon (see below), this formation's CCS can order any number of units from the
same formation to FRF!SCF! on a single order. Before you start ordering all your units at
once keep in mind two things: the ordered units must shoot at the same target, and 300
S3 BS3 shots that reroll ones only translate into ~19 MEQ wounds, is that the best use
of +750 pts of infantry? 40 guardsmen in rapid fire range can deliver enough dakka to
delete a 10 marine squad - there's no prize for overkill after all.

48
 Emperor's Fist Armoured Company: A Tank Commander (not Pask) leading 3 Russ
squads, and 1-3 Enginseers. The TC has a 12" aura of BS 4 for his Russes, and
Enginseers keep things running by forcing Pens on Russes within 6" to be rolled twice
and have the lower applied, no "keep the last result" bullshit. The more Russes run
things over, the stronger the buffs gets: Toughness units are more likely to run (-1Ld per
Tank after the first when resolving Tank Shock), while enemy armour crumples the
same (+1 to ramming Str for each subsequent ramming Tank, which is great, as this will
buff your S8 ram to S10.) That is, if you manage to ram using these lumbering behe-
WHAT YOU CANNOT CRUSH WITH WORDS YOU CAN CRUSH WITH IMPERIAL
TANKS. No transport provisions for the Enginseers but they don't need that, because
Russes can't move more than 6", and the bonus works near Enginseers, not near
transports carrying them. Still, their Trojan DTs from IA1 are always useful because it's
a cheap way of giving your tanks Preferred Enemy.
If you're on a budget or want to fill up on more Auxiliary formations take note this is
the cheapest Core choice: 670 minimum, but a Kabe's Herald would be
recommended so those Tank Orders aren't wasted, plus the compulsory Command
formation takes the cost up to 750 pts, much more manageable than the ESIC's
1005 pts without anything better than S3 (plus 3 Sentinels, ugh).
For each Core choice you can also grab up to three from the following Auxiliary formations:

Emperor's Shield Infantry Platoon: 1 Infantry Platoon (5 Infantry squads minimum, no

DTs) supported by 1-3 Sentinel units, either Scout or Armoured. The platoon has Move
through Cover within 9" of the Sentinels and the PCS can issue "Fire and Advance!",
making them shoot while counting as stationary, which is ultimately a reverse, more
reliable version of 'Forwards, for the Emperor!'. He can issue this for free, meaning he
still has an order left for a 'FRF!SRF!' or something.
On Regimental Specialists in the Cadian Battle Group: FAQ states that Ministorum
Priests, Primaris Psykers and Enginseers can't be added to formations, while the
Commissar unit entry states "You may include on Commissar for every [CCS] or
[PCS] in your army." Exception proves the rule, where the exclusion of Commissars
in that FAQ of specialists implies that they can be added per their usual 1 per
CCS/PCS rule.
Infantry Platoon: Regular Infantry Platoon, to make ends meet, which is an important
thing. If you want to use more than one Commissar or Conscript squad while still having
some points for Russes this could be it. Otherwise pay the ESIP's "+1 Sentinel & +3
Infantry squads" tax and get the bonuses.
Superheavy Support Element: Baneblade Variants. Or Lots of Baneblade variants, via
Emperor's Fury Super-Heavy Company (did Baneblades just become legal for
tournaments?).
Emperor's Fury Super-Heavy Company: IT IS THE BEEEHNBLEDS! 3
Baneblades (or its variants), plus an attending Enginseer, who gains +2 to his
repair rolls. If the enemy is hit by 3 Primary weapons it tests Ld on 4D6 unless it has
gone to ground, and enemies within 12" of the formation move as if they were in
difficult terrain, for they cannot withstand the sheer awesomeness of so much
imperial armour. And that's all. Yeap, those special rules suck, because if
something is hit by 3 Baneblades, it's probably dead or fearless anyway;
the real reason this formation exists is so you can have 3 baneblades in your army
(or AS an army, since as a Decurion-style detachment all choices within the Cadian
Battlegroup are formations on their own). Now this is where you want a transport so
your lone, unprotected Engie doesn't slow the formation (Superheavies move up to
12"). A Trojan can confer PE to a vehicle. It won't matter much on Primary weapons,
but those other 12 barrels will notice it.
Emperor's Blade Assault Company: 1 CCS with 3 Veteran squads (all four in their
Chimera or Taurox DTs) and 1-3 Hellhound squadrons (of any kind). They get PE
against enemies within 6" of an objective, and the infantry gets Objective Secured,
your only source of it. PE makes this formation scream "Plasma Vets!", although with

49
 Hellhound support it can also lend itself to melta or flamer spam. All in all, a sound
alternative to Emperor's Shields. I came, I saw, I burned.
Emperor's Spear Aerial Company: 3 Valkyrie or Vendetta squads in any combination,
so the entire formation rolls as one squad for reserves. Also, at the start of Movement
they can declare a Low Altitude drop, where they lose Jink and have to test dangerous
terrain when flying over obstacles 3" high, but units disembarking through Grav Chutes
won't scatter. Sadly, thanks to the recent FAQs and Errata, you can no longer put your
battle brothers in these.
Ogryn Auxilla: 1 Commissar leading 2 Ogryn squads and 2 Bullgryn squads, that gain
Fearless while within 12" of the Commissar, and they inflict HoW at S7 if they charge a
squad who has been succesfully charged by another Ogryn/Bullgryn of this formation.
Leading with Slabshield Bullgryn makes this nasty. Remember though that Ogryns and
Bullgryns are still overpriced. Are you ready to pay that much for a footslogging mob
almost every dedicated melee unit will crush?
Alternate Take: While most dedicated melee units will crunch these guys in CC, the
ogryms/bullgryns have some pretty decent anti infantry firepower, especially the
ripper guns. If this whole group (in bare minimum numbers) manages to get a turn
of shooting in before CC, you'll still inflict roughly 9 wounds on MEQ's. And then
they'll charge you, then the enemy melee unit will have to deal with the other 3
squads charging in retaliation next turn.
1 word: Gorgon Even with being open-topped, this is the perfect set of units to go
riding around it, for those times when you just want to crush something.
Emperor's Wrath Artillery Company: 1 CCS in a Chimera or Taurox commanding 2
chosen artillery units (Basilisk, Hydra, Wyvern) and 1 unit of either Manticores or
Deathstrikes, and supported by 1-3 Enginseers. The CCS can issue "Smite at Will",
"Suppressive Fire" and "Fire on my target" to the vehicles of the formation (they count
as Ld8). Furthermore, the formation gains Twin-linked against an enemy unit spotted (in
line of sight, within 18") by a friendly unit with a Vox caster. This is one of the best
formations in the whole book. Twin-linked Ignores cover Basilisks, anyone? Maybe Jink
ignoring Hydras if you're going against a flyer-heavy list, but meh, bring moar Basilisks.
Alternate Take: Your CCS can only issue two orders, so a good setup for this
formation might be a squadron of wyverns and a squadron of basilisks. The
basilisks and the manticore get orders and twin-linking, while the wyverns happily
beat everything they see into dust without the need for support. Or you can order
them to have pinning. Because that's totally better than a twin-linked, cover-ignoring
manticore.
Emperor's Talon Recon Company: 6-12 Sentinels of either flavor. They all gain
Outflank, and PE against a unit chosen at the start of your first turn for the whole game.
Furthermore, one Sentinel becomes a Character that can issue "Take Aim!", "Forwards,
for the Emperor!", or "Move! Move! Move!" to units from the Formation, at Ld 8.
Alternate Take: A fast nuisance is a good nuisance. Also, with "F,ftE!" they become
akin to Crisis suits with JSJ, but more resilient. Not to mention they can outflank and
put the hurt on their PE target, or pummel it with HK Missiles at any range. For a fun
twist that no one expects, you can make the command sentinel your warlord ,and
due to him gaining the character keyword, he can have a trait. That's right, with the
cadian detachment rules you can have a BS 5 sentinel and BS 4 escorts.
Psykana Division: 1 Primaris Psyker leading 3 Wyrdvane units "supported" by 1-3
Commissars. The Primaris knows any powers known by Wyrdvanes of the same
division within 12", and receives +1 to his mastery level for each 5 Wyrdvane models in
the same distance, until the end of your psychic phase. This doesn't cause him to
generate more powers, but does generate more charges. Scared by their attached
Commisars, the Wyrdvanes harness charges on a 2+, but if they fail the psychic test,
one Wyrdvane model is blammed (mutant AND incompetent!). If they Peril, one of them is
blammed BEFORE the peril actually manifests, which is nice. Outright means that when
combined with Daemonology, you can get free warp charges AND harness them on 2+,
ignoring perils.

50
 Militarum Tempestus Platoon: Vanilla Tempestus Platoon. Just don't. They'd do better
in an allied detachment, where they get OS and MT orders. Only take it if you can't take
second detachments.
Alternate Take: Umm, in order to take them as allies, you'd have to run an HQ and
at least a troop of them. While a cheap commissar isn't bank breaking, it's still a
waste of points and an easy kill at best. This formation is just a simple way to pop in
a deepstriking melta squad or three. Don't forget that the Imperial Guard Scion
Platoons DO NOT need a Command Squad or Commissar. Take a cheap squad for
popping expensive enemy targets. And don't forget they can be issued AM orders,
so feel free to ignore jinks with those deepstriking meltas.

Castellans of the Imperium[edit]

Found in Gathering Storm: Fall of Cadia, this detachment skirts the line between using no
force org, and being battle forged. Basically, take Imperial Guard, Sisters of Battle, Space
Marines (Vanilla Space Marines with Black Templars mind you),Imperial Knights, Assassins,
and Militarum Tempestus. Then build the army around the units in there different unit
organizations. Ok, so its not that clear cut. The detachment basically lists what units (by
name) can be used in what position. In the case of the Guard, they offer up cheap units to fill
the troop choice, as well as some nasty vehicles in heavy support. Lets not forget Lord of
War as well. However, Elite and Fast attack force org are contested with Space Marine
standard. That being said, the detachment does list Vendettas in Fast Attack. Aside from
giving open reign with you army construction, the detachment gives you some other nice
benefits.

Hatred for all. Yep, everyone in the detachment gains hatred. Even better, if you fill out
the force org chart, all the units gain Zealot instead.
Chenkov fun. Yep, if a troop unit is destroyed, it has the chance to be in on-going
reserves. Add in that you have no upper limit on the number of troops you may take,
and you have some combat staying power. Just hope its not a kill point battle.
Build a Imperial Crusade. Basically, take what you want to create the perfect army that
you always wanted.
The detachment has some problems, though.

Points cost. You think getting that Zealot is cheap? You are wrong. Three Lord of War
Choices ain't cheap. Not to mention the number of heavy support, HQ, elite, and fast
attack choices you need to fill out that Force Org.
Multiple armies. For this detachment, you need at least two of the armies listed. So if
you are starting out, this is not the detachment for you.
LARGE!! This Detachment is large if you plan on filling it out. Having all those books,
rules, and units can be daunting.
Restrictions. Sorry, unless later FAQed, no Forgeworld for you (Except Vendettas, long
story). Except that from Forgeworld Emails, all of their 'dreadnoughts' count as
Dreadnoughts for the purposes of formations(just remember that the Leviathan's Relic
of Darkness rule means that he can't claim the formation benefits, even if you put him in
there). In addition, all of their Badab War Characters count as their respective type for
formations. Sevrin Loth is a Librarian, while Captain Tarnus Vale is a Captain. That
being said, units in armies such as Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Blood Angels, and the
like cannot be taken in this detachment.

51
Dataslate Formations[edit]

Armoured Shield (Start Collecting!) - Requires a commissar, infantry squad, and

Leman Russ tank. Russ Gives a +4 cover to infantry in this formation, if they are within 6
inches of the Russ. While its not as game breaking as other formations, this formation
does allow you to run a pseudo Tank company. Just take multiples of this formation.
Now to be fair, you will have access to dedicated transports (Infantry Squadron has the
option of 2 Dedicated Transports). Not to mention, these are regular guard, not Vets. So
no 3+ cover saves with forward sentries. Also, the formation specifies One Russ, not a
squadron. Still, 4+ is pretty good, plus the commissar means these apes won't be falling
back without a fight. Have the Russ do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to
fighting. Use the guardsmen to keep units from assaulting the Russ.
Catachan Ambush Patrol (Apocalypse) - An Infantry Platoon and 1-3 Vet Platoons,
preferably all modeled as Catachans.
They all get Shrouded until such a point where they either move through cover,
shoot, or charge, when they lose it. They also make anyone who charges them
through difficult terrain to make dangerous terrain. In short, they're still redshirts,
with a little better use when camping.

'Emperor's Fist' Tank Company (Apocalypse) - A Leman Russ leads three full Leman
Russ Squadrons. Tank Commander optional.
All the Squads are Armoured Spearheads of their own, making each one get a
leader. Also, the lone russ gets BS4 and can give it to anyone within 12" of him. The
last rule is the ability to let them roll Thunderblitz if more than two of them all
ram/tank shock the same guy before rolling anything else once per turn.

Emperor's Talons' Recon Company (Apocalypse) - A lone Scout Sentinel leads 3 full
squadrons of Sentinels of any other make.
Like the formation above, the lone one acts as leader with BS4 and Stealth, and
anyone within 12" of him gets both of these, helping survival slightly. Also, they get
Preferred Enemy against one enemy when they deploy.

'Emperor's Wrath' Artillery Company (Apocalypse) - A Chimera leads three full

Ordinance Squadrons full of either Colossi or Basilisks.
When the Arty is within 6" of the Chimera, they can exchange their shots for a single
24-240" S9 AP3 Ordinance X (X being the number of Colossi or Bassies firing),
Apocalyptic, Cover-ignoring, Pinning blasts. It's a risky measure, but it does make
big blasts.

'Imperial Shield' Infantry Company (Apocalypse) - A CCS commands 3+ Infantry

platoons.
At the end of each break, every company can regain d3 casualties up to their starting
strength. In short, it's a weaker form of Chenkov at the command of this group.
Then again, this is pretty much how normal people play the AM.

Lord Castellan's Supreme Command (Apocalypse) - Creed and Kell join a CCS with
two guards, an Astropath, an Officer of the Fleet, and a Master of Ordinance in an
Imperial Bastion and laugh it up.
This thing is essentially like a Dawn Of War HQ on board. Creed can order anyone
on the field (ANYONE), Ordinance can make d3+1 bombardments each time he
shoots, and they get two assets each break.

Sanctioned Psyker Battle Elite (Apocalypse) - A Primaris Psyker controls 4+ regular

Battle Psykers (Replace with Wyrdvanes?).

52
 This formation gives one thing: A unique Warp Charge 3 power called Temporal
Distort. It's a power with 36" range that can either bar enemies from charging or add
+6 to an ally's run and +2d6 to their charge. It's...a useful power, especially for
support.

'Steel Fury' Baneblade Company (Apocalypse) - 3-5 BANEBLAAAADES!

When in Arrowhead pattern, they gain a Combined Fire Bonus (Measured by how
many Baneblades shot their main cannon at a target) when rolling vehicle damage.
Rest assured that any non-superheavy in their way will DIE.
When in Broadsword Pattern, anyone stupid enough to charge them must take a
Morale test, with a -1 bonus for each Baneblade in formation. Then again, who'd be
retarded enough to try, short of Lysander?

Vortex Deathstrike Missile (Apocalypse): This may or may not have been errata'd
into the Warzone Pandorax version (see below), but firing one of these off will lead to an
ass-kicking even a titan would be jealous of. Literally, nothing in the game hits as hard
as this. It's a Deathstrike missile launcher with the plasma warhead replaced with the
40k version of a nuke: a vortex warhead. While being fragile in the extreme, unable to
go off in turn 1, having to take a lord commissar, an entire infantry platoon, and a 200-
point tax on top of that to keep it safe, and being a single shot wonder, it is still
completely worthwhile. A 10" blast of fuck you that will remove anything it touches. No,
no saves of any kind. No, you don't get Reanimation Protocols. No, you don't get Eternal
Warrior. If it's not flying, a Super-Heavy or Gargantuan creature, it's gone, and even
baneblades and bio-titans will be seriously ass-fucked when this says hello. And the
cherry on top? The sheer size of the template makes it very good at hitting what it's
aiming for; if you're direct-firing, anything with a base the size of a large blast template
or bigger is impossible to miss; even firing blind (full scatter) you have a 50% chance of
hitting the point you were aiming at.Take only if you think your balls are as brazen as an
imperial guardsman

Warzone Armageddon[edit]

'Imperial Vengeance' Armoured Company (Apocalypse) - A CCS and 3 Infantry

Platoons (each with a PCS and two Infantry squads), all with Chimeras.
An economical formation with economical uses. The men get Stubborn and Counter-
Attack within 12" of an objective, and any friendly vehicles within 12" of the CCS
Chimera can move 12" Flat-Out on open ground.

Armageddon Stompa Hunters (Apocalypse) - 3-5 Armoured Sentinels. That's

models, not squads.
When in Arrowhead pattern, these Sentinels can elect to aim at a superheavy and
fire twice at them,giving up the ability to fire the next turn. They also get bonuses on
superheavies by giving all Armoured Sentinels within 12" of the lead Sentinel +1 on
all pen rolls against superheavies.

Warzone Damocles[edit]

Hellstorm Squadron (Apocalypse) - 3-5 Hellhounds, and only Hellhounds.

Combining these hounds together gives them the option to replace their shots with
their cannons with a single ID hellstorm template so long as it's within 12" and within
the lead Tank's LoS. It's pretty clear from this that they're here to murderize entire
blobs, and they're all gonna die.

53
 Steel Phalanx Tank Squadron (Apocalypse) - 3-5 Leman Russes of any sorts can join
this group.
The ability to make squads out of all these Russes lets them roll Thunderblitz if more
than two of them all ram/tank shock the same guy before rolling anything else once
per turn. But we all know that the odds of this being your reason for taking this isn't
that high. You just want all that glorious Dakka together. The Emp's First is a better
one by far.

'Rain of Fire' Direct Support Battery (Apocalypse) - 3-5 Basilisks. Sense a pattern
here?
First off, this gives you rerolls on the scatter die, which is always a plus. However, in
doing so, the Basilisks now have no minimum range and half the max range,
making them meant for close range fire, making the reroll on scatter a blessing
when your army tends to rely on blobs of doom. This is a strong formation for
Bassies, since half of twenty feet isn't really a serious loss; they'll still reach across
all but the largest of Apoc boards.

Warzone Pandorax[edit]

Deathstrike Vortex Missile Battery (Apocalypse) - 3-5 Deathstrikes are armed up

with vortex warheads.
The formation is unusual in that they can only fire one single-use missile (A 12-960"
Ordinance 1 S:D AP1 Large Blast Vortex) a turn starting with turn 2, with the option
to save missiles for another turn. Smell that D...and at intercontinental ranges, too!
But these babies carry a major risk: if the vehicle gets a weapon destroyed, its
warhead goes off and the vehicle blows up immediately, replacing the model with a
Vortex as if it were fired on the vehicle.

'Emperor's Mercy' Commissariat Squad (Apocalypse) -A Lord Commissar gets a

retinue of 3+ lesser Commissars.
As is fitting for Commissars, they all get fearless, since they do not want to blam
themselves. They also ups the Aura of Command to 12", giving everyone within it
Furious Charge and Hatred. But if someone does fail morale within 12" of the group,
they get to blam someone, just like they were within the unit. It's a very helpful
command squad.

Xerxes Airborne Support Wing (Apocalypse) - 3-5 Valkyries are grouped in, all with
Multi-Missile Pods in exchange for any transport capacity.
In exchange for their transport capacities, at least two of the Valkyries can combine
their shots into one Heavy X 72" S4+X AP6 Apocalyptic Barrage (X being the
number of participating Valkyries), meant for melting hordes everywhere. IF you've
got 5 Valkyries participating, the barrage goes off at strength 9, making it effective
against light and medium vehicles, too.

Sanctus Reach - The Red Waaagh![edit]

The Steel Host - A Tank Commander goes leading three Russ squadrons and a Hydra.
This is more meant for ranged Russes, but the ability to confer Preferred Enemy to
anyone within 12" of the Commander is a good gift no matter what you equip.
Alternate Take: This formation allows you to take 12 battle tanks and 3 Hydras, all in
a very legal non-Apocalypse formation. In other words, consider this formation an
army list for an armoured company that doesn't need Forge World.

54
 Rampart Detachment - A PCS leads two 5-manlet Bullgryn squads.
Plain and simple, this is a force with major defense, with Fearless, Fear, Counter-
Attack, and +1 to cover for anyone covered even partially by the formation and their
meaty shields. Meaning anything behind a unit of badass space ogres with those
manly shields get a 3+ cover save, extra camo cloak trolling gives you a 2+!
Tactical Note: Since most of the Guard's big stuff is either a) not infantry, or b) not
mobile, this formation doesn't seem so great on paper. But then you note that the
wall protects friendly infantry. This opens up the entire Imperial armed forces as
potential benefactors of that meaty 3+ cover save. Sneak in some Stealth or
Shrouding for a 2+ on any Imperial infantry unit. 7th edition is ally edition.

Allies[edit]
With 7th edition rules, any Imperium army can ally perfectly with Guard. Every single Space
Marine (all variants) and Sisters of Battle unit is available to back up your Guard, and Eldar,
Tau, Orks, and Chaos (in case you're feeling heretical) can be used as well, but no one likes
them. You can also ally with Necrons if you're don't care about logic and just want to make
opponents cry at the amount of firepower you're going to put out every turn.

Battle Brothers[edit]
Every army of the Imperium, which is as follows:

Blood Angels - Nice because you can get death company to go rip people's head off
while they're at it. Stick a Sanguinary Priest in there for FNP for your guardsmen.
Mephiston can do everything your army can't. Love it.
Grey Knights: If all you want is tough marines, Deathwing Termies (from the Dark
Angels) are probably better since they're more gun-tastic anyway, after CC has been
nerfed so much over the past 2 editions. However, value is found with an excellent beat-
stick to save your asses in case it comes to assault. Also, Hammerhand on a squad of
Guardsmen from a Librarian, who should also be armed with a Nemesis
Daemonhammer, coupled with Force. Any monster will think twice before charging your
blob.
Dark Angels - BS2 Overwatching, Stubborn, green SPEHS MUHREENS that can stand
in front of your gunline and force the enemy to charge them first and get shot to shit by
the Angelic Dakka. Their Terminators and Bikes are still the best in their categories
ever.
SWEET MERCIFUL EMPRAH, AZRAEL Ahem, if you're feeling particularly trolltastic,
you can attach Azrael to a 50-man blob of guardsman for 50 4++ invul
saves fearless, and either Furious Charge or Feel No Pain within 3" of an Objective.
Then just grab some deathwing termies (or ravenwing if you're kinky like that) and
deepstrike them behind enemy lines, and watch the madness ensue. Throw in a
psyker with prescience for rerolls to hit, or better yet a priest to reroll the 4++, giving
you better saves than storm shields and making your opponent weep bitter tears.
This cheese has officially upped Dark Angels to the number one allies for IG (in this
writer's opinion at least).
Throw in a priest with some Deathwing you don't plan to deepstrike (at least without
a drop pod) for a cheap set of rerolls. A bit fragile, but they are much cheaper and
provide better buffs than a chaplain.
Can be done with any Marine list, but I'll put this here. With 7th edition, Battle
Brothers can take allied transports. You can fit 5 Ogryns/Bullgryns and one priest in
a land raider crusader--with all the fun that only an assault vehicle can offer.
Inquisition get access to Land Raiders too, so if you want, do it with them as allies.

55
 Space Wolves - If you don't mind the yiffing, they've got some nice firepower to add in
the form of Longfangs. Grey Hunters/Thunder Wolves are a nice option too with
counter-attack to save your gunline's ass when it comes to close combat.
Space Marines - The new book gives you loads of new options. Librarians now have
Divination, and the new Gladius Strike Force looks insane.
The Skyhammer Formation absolutely drips with cheese. Combine with Elysian Allies
for Deepstrike upon Deepstrike insanity.
Fun thing to try with non-Imperial Fist Devastators: pop a Primaris Psyker with them.
Have him cast Divination, and then order "Bring it Down!", since Monster/Tank
Hunter applies to everyone in the unit if a single model has it. Watch as light-
medium Tanks and Monstrous Creatures go pop, and if you have Lascannons, even
Land Raiders melt (explosively) like butter in a furnace.
Bring the Libraius Conclave formation for some utter, utter cheese. Casting loads of
powers on a 2+? Yes please. Have some 4++, rerolling, full BS Overwatch, Invisible
50 man guard blob.
Techmarines can be better than Guard Techpriests, especially if they're Iron Hands
and tooled up with a Servo-Harness. Put one on a bike and he can keep up with
tanks, and the combination of T5, W2, 2+, 6+ FNP and Jink should keep him alive to
keep your tanks alive.
Skitarii - Brand new Adeptus Mechanicus robot soldiers. You bring armored support,
they bring the 4+ save infantry with excellent weapons, for cheap too. These guys can
also make great use of your Chimeras and other armored transports, something that the
Skitarii codex has none of. Also the Skitarii can be very effective in melee, where the
Guard usually aren't.
Cult Mechanicus - Like the Skitarii, the Martian death robot army lacks transports which
you can provide. Also artillery, large blast templates and air cover. So what do they
bring then? The HQ Techpriest Dominus is essentially one of your 0-3 enginseers on
steroids. Taking a mechanized army? A tank army? Bring him. He will please you with
his repair on 2+ ability and his ability to fire two weapons. The real cheese comes with
the formations. Many of them are excellent and have something to offer the Guard. The
Cohort Cybernetica can pack so many heavy phosphor blasters that those cover
camping jinking space elves look like disco balls. The Tau turn blue(r) with envy as you
steal their markerlight shenanigans. MEQ barbecue is also on the cards as each
Kastelan fires 6 S6AP3 shots, half of which are twin-linked. Bring an Elimination
Maniple, add some Divination and drink the tears of your opponents as you fry their
TEQs with cover ignoring plasma or crunch their vehicles with heavy grav cannons.
However, the best source now has to be new Inquisition. Why?

You only need to take an Inquisitor minimum in the detachment, it may as well be like
selecting special and generic characters from this Codex.
Have a ton of absurdly useful goodies, including:
Servo Skulls that prevent the enemy from scouting or infiltrating within 12 inches, as
well as reducing scatter on your pie plates by D6 when shooting at units within 12"
of them. Only 3 points each.
The Liber Heresius, which can give your blob hilarious shit like splitfire,
counterattack, hatred, fear, or scout, though only once per USR.
The Psyoccolum for giving an ENTIRE UNIT OF 50 GUARDSMEN/CONSCRIPTS
BS10 when shooting at units with Psykers inside, so say fuck you to Joe Schmoe
with the Daemon Prince or the faggot with Spiritseers.
Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, equipped with a conversion beamer. He can benefit from the
split fire orders when attached to a guardsmen squad, meaning that you are free to
make full use of the S10 AP1 blast. He gives them stubborn and they can use his Ld
10 for orders, so he basically acts as a commissar as well. Spend another 30 points,
and he is a primaris psyker with +1 ld, too. Overall, he can kick some serious ass.

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 In fact, all the Ordo Inquisitors are Commissar-primaris psyker combos, but better,
more customizable, and cheap.
The henchmen selection is mental and incredibly varied, allowing for a warband that
pumps out enough firepower to drop jaws. Up to 3 Servitors with Multi Meltas, a Jokaero
Weaponsmith, 3 SW Acolytes, and priests that can also take various shit like combi-
weapons, meltabombs and Eviscerators!
Spam divination inquisitors, with a full allotment of primaris psykers, and say fuck my
shitty BS. Followup with 2-3 Land Raiders filled to the brim with crusaders and/or
(definitely and) death cult assassins, with a priest or 2 for shits and giggles (and
eviscerators) and rush them forward. Suddenly the other player has stopped focusing on
that rerolling gunline full of inquisitors and psykers and is worried about getting
hatefucked by a bunch of death-cultists.
People who can't give you divination but might be worth a look:

Sisters of Battle: Cool, but tricky. Acts of faith are always fun. Their priests are better
than yours (well, can get more shinies, anyway), and Dominions make tanks cry. You
can give their Exorcists Divination buffs, or attach a Primaris Psyker and use some
orders to make their basic infantry hit hard. (Ignore Cover or Pinning, re-roll to hit from
Divination, re-roll 1s to wound from Faith - infantry rapetrain with no brakes.)
Knights: Nothing much to say except yes. You've already got the firepower to back it up,
meaning you can send your knight into the center of your enemy's formation to crush
things in CC.
Alternatively run an oathsworn detachment of Knight Crusaders and surround them
with meatshields. For the cost of a stock Land Raider, you can field 50 guardsmen.
For the cost of a Leman Russ you can field 50 conscripts. For a minimium-sized
terminator squad in a tin can, you can have a screen of 100 bodies plus their
overworked platoon commander. Bring blobs supported by shooty knights and
watch your opponent's eyes go very, very wide.
Officio Assassinorum: While not an official army, this dataslate gives the guard some
specialized killers. Vindicares have the range and firepower to pick off specific threats
(Hidden Powerfists, Nobs, Priests), Callidus to pop out, Culexus for anti psyker killing,
and Eversor for just plain killing.
There is a very, very unfriendly way to do allies: from the FAQ on Forgeworld, any type of
Guard can ally with each others with Battle Brother level, which means Codex Guard can
now allies with Death Korps of Krieg: Siege Regiments, Death Korps of Krieg: Assault
Brigade or Elysian Drop Troops and as well as... Death Korps of Krieg: Armoured Battle
Group and Armoured Battle Group to get a maximum of 8 more tanks! Use this as your
advantage so you can field bunch of artilleries in your Codex IG FOC while another bunch of
tank in your ally ABG FOC in high point battles. Beware this may result in a loss of friends in
your local community.

Allies of Convenience[edit]

Cheldar: The Kraftworld Mozarelldar are better than ever! They can get powers your
psykers can't give you (Telepathy better than Astropaths) but they can't come within an
inch of you and you can't benefit from warlord traits. Good for providing very
fast threats like Jetbikes, Wraithguard with D weapons in a Wave Serpent and, worst of
all, the dreaded Munster (now a Gorgonzolean creature) called the Wraithknight.

Genestealer Cults: Provide you with melee units like Genestealers that could solve your
problems with such, especially if Cult ambush goes well. That being said, if you are
running other Armies with the cults, remember that they will be operating at CtA level.

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Desperate Allies[edit]

Tau: Not much reason here to be honest. Youre not exactly lacking for shooting, and
Tau cant offer CQC abilities or psychics. Now Crisis suits and Riptides can be fun, but
theres better options than the bluies.

Dark Eldar: Meet the emo cousins of your Ally of Convenience. Poison weapons are
cool, as well as Dark Lances. Don't use them for line holding, they at best get a 5+ with
a Feel No Pain. Also, they're very speedy and very scary. Maybe take them for a
hammer and anvil type of attack, your guard can hold the line until turn 6 when the
Deldar get the full power of power from pain making them very scary especially when
you think about combat drugs. Imagine a swarm of jetbikes with rage, furious charge,
feel no pain, fearless and whatever you get from combat drugs. Give them cluster
caltrops and you get 3 strength 4 attacks on the charge, plus cluster caltrop attacks plus
combat drug effects (plus strength or plus attack if you are lucky). think about deploying
wyches and incubi into the mess of combat with all the power from pain.

Come the Apocalypse[edit]

Orks: Assault monsters! Best used by shuffling them up the board as a good distraction
while your Arty and tanks blow the enemy to pieces as they try and kill the Green tide.
Remember you must deploy at least 12" apart and can't come within 6" of them without
having to stop and quiver, wondering if the Ork Warboss changed his mind and wants to
test his Powerklaw on your metal box. In all honesty though, make sure the Orks are
wiped out before they get into Close Combat, otherwise the Guardsmen can't shoot the
enemy and you've nullified the Guard's main strength.
Necrons: Put out so much Anti-tank firepower that your Opponent's tears will satiate
your thirst for days.
Tyranids: Like Orks, your big shooty units cover their advance but ensure they die just
before getting into Assault while the Guardsmen pound the enemy into dust, but you
can't come within 6" of them without stopping, like a worse version of One Eye open.
Chaos Space Marines: These guys have many fun options, but Blood Angels and Space
Wolves do everything these guys do, and better, while allied at the Battle Brothers level.
Chaos Daemons: Yep. That's right. You can ally with Chaos while staying 6" away while
the Daemons spawn utter clusterfucks. Extra lols if you "allied" the daemons with few
squads of Malefic Daemonology Wyrdvane Psykersquads acting as mediums.

Tactics[edit]
Tactics for the Imperial Guard have been expanded upon through out the years resulting in
a plethora of different stratagems. First to explain a few of the different rules of the IG and
their different uses. As well as some army compositions and strategies.

General Tips: Guard are a shooty army, with an emphasis on top-down command and
high-strength, long-range firepower. You will find a few ways to run melee in the codex,
but for the most part they're more expensive and less reliable than equivalent units from
other codices, and your HQs (with a few exceptions) are comparatively weak, built more
to support the rest of the army than fight it out in the front. Your real strength is in turning
the battle into a straight slugfest in any way you can, because you WILL win that
slugfest - no army puts out more hurt at greater range than the Guard.

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Army variants[edit]
Blob Guard
Blob Guard is a rather simple concept: Have more bodies than your opponent has bullets.
The fact is, IG has access to grunts that can be as cheap as 3 points (Conscripts, lots of
conscripts). You will overwhelm them in model count, in deaths a turn, in shots fired, you will
have at least twice as many Heavy Weapons as they will. All of their Anti-Tank weaponry
that was meant to take out the 150 point Leman Russ? It killed a few guardsmen with
lasguns, good job. The problems that come with such an awesome army composition is the
lack of speed and how effective the enemy Anti-Infantry weaponry will be against you. A
decent thousand point list might consist of 2 20 man Combined Squads with a Commissar
and Priest each, about 9 or so Heavy Weapon Units, and your three or so Command Squads
(2 Platoon Command/1 Company Command) loaded out with Special Weapons. Works best
in a Cities of Death games: All that cover, all those cover saves, your men will live a bunch
longer, and confound the enemy to no end.
Gunline
This is a sub-list of Blob guard because of the way Infantry Platoons work; you need to take
a PCS and a 20-man blob to get access to those delicious Heavy Weapon Squads. Kit out a
CCS with a Chimera, regimental standard and some way of improving the effectiveness of
his orders (options include Creed + Kell, a Lord Commissar, Volkov's Cane, et cetera; pick
your poison), and plop said chimera behind an Aegis line along with at least two HWS's,
usually with lascannons or autocannons. With 'Bring it down!' and 'Fire on my target!' your
BS3 guardsmen become seriously dangerous; six cover-ignoring/tank-hunting lascannons
can put out a lot of pain. Combine that delicious 2+ GtG save with 'Get back in the fight!' to
keep your fragile dudes alive and shooting, and prioritize enemy cover-ignoring assets for
maximum effectiveness.
Warning
New FAQ specifies that a unit (and therefore their AoE buffs) are not on-field if they're
embarked on a transport. While the Company Commander doesn't give a shit (the Chimera
specifically specifies he can issue orders while embarked), this doesn't bode well for your
Regimental Standard. You'll have to rely on Commissars, Lord Commissars, and other
morale trickery if you don't want to disembark your CCS and make them vulnerable to
decapitation strikes.
Alternate Take - The Embedded Gunline
Heavy Weapon squads are powerful, but flimsy; a single S6 or better hit can have the squad
making morale rolls not to turn tail and run, and without a sergeant they have only a 60%
chance to make the roll without help. Besides buffing the squad, the alternative solution is to
embed the heavy weapons in your infantry blob instead. A 30-man blob with those 3
autocannons you were GOING to put into a HWS can turn any infantry in range into pancake
batter, and keep their heavy guns alive, both in a ranged firefight and in melee (with a
Commissar, 30 attacks can give even space marines second thoughts about charging you,
and if you bought flamers they have to eat a Wall of Death to get into melee). Swell the blob
to 50 and you get 5 heavy weapons, all in a single unit, and unlike the HWS they can take a
vox-caster to improve your chance of getting off that order. Add in a Primaris Psyker rolling
on the Divination table and you can get off 5 twin-linked, cover-ignoring/tank-hunting
lascannon shots a turn; even a Land Raider will have trouble surviving that kind of pain. The
one downside to this is that you're going to be wasting a lot of firepower if you have more
than one kind of target in range. Even Smite at Will! won't save you; the Split Fire rule only
allows one model to shoot at a different target, so 4 of your lascannons are going to be
popping grots while only 1 actually points at that wartrukk bearing down on you.
Alternate Take 2 - The Forge World Gunline
If you're not going to use your Heavy Support slots for tanks (which you can fit into the HQ
slot now, thanks to Tank Commander), or were going to take formations for that anyway, you
can bypass the 'blob tax' by taking Guard artillery units. Heavy Mortars, Quad guns, Heavy
Artillery Carriages, and the mighty Rapier Laser Destroyer are all options, and in 7th edition
they're tough as nails in shooting. Special note goes to the Rapier, which is

59
actually cheaper than taking a squad of lascannons with an attached Primaris Psyker, and
has Ordnance too, which can be combined with 'Bring it down!' for a jaw-
dropping four penetration attempts...per shot. Sure, they can't move too good (or at all if you
took Earthshaker carriages without any towing vehicles), and they're still squishy as always
in assault, and you'll need to sacrifice your arm, your leg, and your wallet upon the altar of
Forge World to get the models, but the taste of your opponent's tears when you wipe his
units off the board from across the board might just be worth it.

Mech Guard
Mech explores the wonders of armored vehicles. The core of the army would be a Company
Command Squad and 2 squads of Vets, all in Chimeras. And the rest would consist of
anything from Leman Russ tanks to Vendettas, to artillery, Fast Attack choices, or more
troops in Chimeras. There are few sublists:

Tanks Strong
Leman Russes. Leman Russes of all kinds, everywhere. If it exists, there is a Leman Russ
created specifically to murder the ever-living shit out of it. Punishers and Exterminators reap
infantry blobs. Vanquishers remove tanks from the battle. Eradicators make cover useless.
Executioners melt terminators into slag. Demolishers and Battle Tanks are omnivorous in
their diet of destruction. Oh, and you can mix and match tanks within their respective
squadrons. All squadron members must shoot the same target, remember, so kit them
accordingly!! If you want to, add Pask to any of the squadrons for instant HQ. Remember to
point your front armor towards the opponent, don't get flanked, don't get too close to melta,
and enjoy removing parts of the enemy army every turn. You can keep at least one Heavy
Support slot for the sake of Hydras, or if you're feeling ballsy, just rely on the Aegis Defense
line.

The Rolling Fortress

The capstone of a mechanized army is a Baneblade variant, but if your opponent has any
sense he's going to be focusing that machine with everything he's got. So why not make
it almost invincible? Take a Doomhammer or Stormlord (Which you want should depend on
whether you want crowd-mulching power or a bit more anti-tank), and pack in three
enginseers, all attached to a squad of four servitors. Then load up an entire platoon's worth
of heavy weapons teams; lascannons, autocannons, and missile launchers are all options.
All nine of your heavy weapons can fire out of the back of the tank (they're single models)
and the combined three squads and the enginseer team takes up...drumroll please...twenty-
five slots. Now you have a super-heavy, AV14/13/12, 9HP tank with a main gun, five twin-
linked heavy bolters, four lascannons, another NINE heavy weapons (which can, in batteries
of 3, fire at different targets), and to put the cherry on top, the whole thing regenerates 3 HP
a turn. (Don't worry if your opponent says a roll of 1 is always a failure, no matter what; BRB
states this is for saves, and the only other roll that has this restriction - Feel no Pain - has a
specific FAQ ruling saying so) Springing for the Stormlord nets you the capacity and fire
points for another two squads of heavy weapons and three gun servitors for a combined total
of twenty-seven guns, on a nearly invincible armored platform. Even D-weapons will have
trouble bringing you down. The entire bag will run you just over 900 points (which goes to
965 if you sprang for more lascannons, and more than that with the Stormlord), but it'll take
mountains of punishment and deal it out in equal measure. This trick works with any Super-
Heavy Transport and anyone who can repair vehicles from inside, but Guard can do it best
with their Baneblades' high numbers of fire points and transport capacity, as well as their
Techpriests (The Dominus Techpriest is better at it, but as an Allied unit he has to start
disembarked).

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Flight of the Valkyries/Vendettas

You will confuse your opponent when he realizes that on turn one, you will have little more
than a Company Command Squad/Tank Commander and Veterans in Chimeras. Maybe
you'll shoot an Artillery Strike during your turn. But that doesn't matter. Because, once the
second turn comes in, you roll that die, look at your opponent, smirk, and turn on the music.
Vendettas and Valkyries come in squadrons, unlike most other flyers, and you roll for
squadrons on one die; the Master of the Fleet, an Aegis Comms Array, and Primaris Psyker
with Divination can all help you with the roll. They can't be mixed, unfortunately, so you have
to pick either Valks or Vendettas, and with the amount of AAA these days you must make
your flyers count; don't send a flyer onto the board with an empty hold.
On Transport Capacity
The Vendetta's reduced transport capacity may have a few new players scratching their
heads. You'll want to get the most out of that plane, but 6 models is a really odd number.
Fortunately, Guard is ever a versatile army and offers a few possibilities, and more than one
of them are viable!
Company Command Squad (5 models)
Load up with plasma, melta, or flamers and ruin someone's day. Orders make you extra killy,
especially since they're Senior Officer orders. However, this is also probably the priciest
thing to stuff into the plane; even four flamers is 80 points, and you could do the same thing
with a PCS, see below. You're sending a senior officer to die; make it count!

Tempestus Scions
Yeah, they can deep strike on their own, but the fewer times you roll for reserves, the less
your forces are staggered out, and their Move Through Cover ability prevents casualties from
a bad drop. Besides that, you get all the benefits of Scion BS and armor, and if you brought
the Command Squad, they can throw out an order, too. Sadly you can't do this with Codex
Scions, since as Battle Brothers they can't use Vendettas, but otherwise a decent option.

Platoon Command Squad (5 models)

Cheaper than a CCS by a good margin, but has some downsides: you don't get Senior
Officer orders, you don't get BS4, and you have to have an Infantry platoon somewhere else
in your army. As far as command squads go, this is the 'budget' option; give them 3 flamers,
a heavy flamer, and a copy of the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, and kick 'em out
the door.

Special Weapons Squad (6 models)

This is most likely what the Vendetta's new carrying capacity was designed for. 6 men, 3
lasguns, 3 special weapons, no regrets. The cheapest way to drop a lot of flamer templates
on an unsuspecting blob, but if you're willing to shell out the points, give them all Demolition
Charges. The Demo Charge is not a grenade, so it's not limited to one per shooting phase.
This also means it scatters 2d6"-BS, so there's a good chance your heroic troopers will blow
themselves sky-high, but hey, they're Guardsmen. They're used to it.

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Cyclops Demolition Vehicle ('2' models)
A subtle option from Forge World. The Cyclops is Extremely Bulky, so with its operator it
counts as 6, making it air-droppable - once. Pray you don't fuck up the scatter roll, run this
bomb on treads into close quarters during the shooting phase (it can be ordered, so 'Move!
Move! Move!' can help you here), and then set it off during the Assault phase. Then, when
your opponent sputters about Assault Transports, remind him that the Cyclops
didn't charge anything - it's a bomb, it can explode whether it's in close combat or not. Good
for mulching anything that's not TEQ. There is no official ruling on whether or not the
explosion allows cover saves, though; the closest you'll find is the ITC FAQ, which also
allows a bunch of other bullshit, so discuss it with your opponent beforehand.

Death from the Skies

Valkyries face some changes (and one non-change change). First off, the non-change is that
you can now take them in a Flyer Wing of up to four planes per Fast Attack Slot, that deploy
all at once (which, sadly, means that the Guard trick of rolling for three planes at once in
reserves is no longer unique), but don't need to maintain Coherency during the game (not
that that's a bad idea). So now your paratrooper drops don't end up deleting each other, and
do what they're supposed to, e.g.: grab objectives quickly, which brings us to change number
2: when taken as part of an Air Superiority Detachment, they, being Transports with the
Hover subtype, gain Objective Secured. Gunships on station, anyone? Like most things
Guard, Valks have a fairly average Agility of 3, meaning that you have a fair chance of
getting in those Break Turns and performing OK in a Dogfight. Pursuit, however, is a stinking
1, so Flat Out moves aren't as satisfying as cooler planes, and Engagement is where you
truly lack style, but at least you go before Bombers. Choice of Attack Pattern and Wing
Leader Abilities can vastly improve the performance of your aircraft. As Attack Flyers, their
Wing bonuses are as follows:
Vigilance Attack Pattern
Just a basic BS and Jink booster for your Wing Leader, at the cost of flying in a diagonal line
with both planes flying in the same direction in loose coherency. The other formations give
you more to work with, but if you really want to get Air Superiority on the cheap, the bonuses
to your Wing Leader aren't a bad deal.

Vehemence Pattern
Makes your flying buses Tank Hunters. With 3 Vendettas this is terrifying. Nothing that flies
can survive 9 twin-linked Lascannons that re-roll armor pen; even AV14 will take 3 HP worth
of damage, and with AP2 the potential for explosion threatens even Land Raiders and
Monoliths.

Intolerance Pattern
An extension of Vigilance, adding a third plane to the slash and giving them all Ignores Cover
against ground targets. You want this for Valks with lotsa dakka, and your Vendettas can
punch through Jink saves.

Unmerciful Pattern
Your 3-plane conga line of death, making your Valks marginally faster by doubling their
Pursuit value for Flat-Out purposes, and letting you fire 4 weapons with each plane (not
really relevant, as you only get 3 unless you spring for Heavy Bolter sponsons) while making
a Flat-Out move, at the cost of having to attack the same Ground Target. Each plane after
the first adds 1 to it's BS when shooting at the same target, so consider the potential of this
for countering Invisibility and other forced Snap-shooting scenarios.

Indomitable Pattern
Basically 3 Attack Patterns in 1, granting the benefits of the Vigilance, Vehemence and
Intolerance Patterns to your larger flying V. Like most of the big Patterns, this one works best
with a mixed loadout.

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Omniscience Pattern
Probably the most straightforward HERESY!*BLAM* simple Pattern in the book, where you line
up all your planes abreast, pick what ever unit your opponent brought extra of, and shoot
them until their all dead with a tasty Preferred Enemy bonus. Wash, rinse, repeat. Wasted on
Multiple Rocket Pods, but great for getting the most out of Hellstrikes and Lascannon.

Fortitude Pattern
Form up in a tight box and get a 4++, It Will Not Die and Interceptor. Great for Transporting
HVTs, but the Interceptor is wasted on a Flyer without turrets.
Forge World picks up where GW left off and has errata'd the Vendetta in, bringing it into line
with the Valkyrie. It has the same Pursuit and Agility values as its lighter-armed brother.

Vets Meltaspam
Put Vets in Chimeras. Give them Meltas. Fill up Force Organization chart under Troops. Do
same with Company Command Squads and Storm Troopers. Despite what you may think,
you shouldn't really use Gunships for this, since you can't employ the melta drive-bys with
them. Unless you predict really high value target with flying transport, in which case take
vendetta and put your other CCS in it, loaded up with more meltas. This can be suprisingly
cheap; A chimera with a dozer blade carrying a vet squad with two meltaguns is 150 points.
For dealing with TEQ and nids, give your vets carapace armor and plasma guns instead,
bringing the cost per box to 170 points.
Alternate Take
Your vets won't be getting out of the Chimera unless they need to sit on an objective for the
rest of the game or something's gone wrong, so give a thought to filling that third special
weapon slot with a heavy flamer. For the same price as a meltagun, the squad suddenly has
some serious cover hate, and can overwatch for the Chimera with improved effectiveness (a
bolter in the hands of your sergeant can also help here, for just one point), giving that horde
of gaunts trying to swarm your metal box some trouble. Then, when they bring down the
transport anyway, disembark into a nice favorable position, remind your opponent that he
can't consolidate after attacking a vehicle, and burn him alive.

Hammer and Anvil

This army is what the majority of pure IG armies will actually look like; a mix. This is fielding a
combination of large and small units, infantry and tanks, artillery and aircraft. As they say, hit
from the air, sea, and ground. A list in this category looks like a combination of other types of
lists mashed together: a CCS with at least one infantry blob to order around, a few Veterans
in Chimeras, and a smattering of heavy support; Leman Russes, either with or without the
Tank Commander upgrade, a Wyvern, a Manticore, et cetera; a Vendetta might join the fun
carrying a Special Weapons squad (or other stuff, see above). Guard are an army with
a lot of viable options at low point levels, and at higher point levels these options stack
together very well. With 7th edition and the advent of Allied and Formation detachments,
armies like this have become less prevalent, but that doesn't mean they don't work.

Plasma Spam
Three squads of two Executioners all with plasma cannon sponsons and you're looking at 30
plasma cannon shots a turn. If you're playing 1500 points you'll have enough room for two
squads of vets and a command squad with some upgrades (Hint: Kurov's Aquila fits very
nicely here. If you throw that command squad in a chimera and keep your Executioners fairly
close you can go from loosing 2.5 hullpoints a turn on average to Gets Hot to less than one.)
If you run 1850 you can throw in two more Executioners or two squads of three armored
sentinels, with plasma cannons of course. Hell, throw a Techpriest with some plasma
servitors in there for shits and giggles. Fuck it give those vets some plasma guns. You're
already making every Grey knight player fall to their knees in agonizing pain. Max you're
looking at 38 plasma cannon shots under 2000 points. Only thing you're missing is anti AV
14, which can be solved by switching those hull mounted heavy bolters for lascannons.

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My Maneaters got lost on the way to Age of Sigmar
Space Ogres are cool and due to being able to take them in high squad numbers
you can build a list around them (not a particularly competitive one though). Take a tank
commander as HQ along with a squad of Leman Russ Vanquishers with Lascannons, camo
Veterans as troops to camp objectives, some Rapier Laser Batteries in HS, and Ogryn's, lots
of big fucking Ogryn's! With 3 Elite slots you can fill the majority of your list with ogryn's,
though bare in mind that bullgryn's don't have a lot to provide cover for so Power maul/
Vanilla Ogres are best. The tables have turned, your Guardsmen serve Ogryn now! Use your
Vanquishers and Laser Batteries to snipe off any Vindicators or S10 blasts in general and to
pop transports so your Ogres can get to the supple manflesh that hides inside. A 5-man
strong Ogryn squad can put out 40 S5 hits from shooting and charging into combat, so even
if your squad get whittled down you can still stomp most tiny humans you encounters and
even against TEQ, assuming they have powerfists/thunderhammers and the same unit size,
you're ogres will 'statistically' kill 3 of them without losing a single ogre. Don't try this shit
again Tau though, with the amount of high strength low AP shooting they innately get you will
get your arse handed to you. Can be hillarious against a marine Grav list though. Also, you'll
want to add some Psykers and Priests. You need atleast 1 Psykers for Divination on the
vanquisher squad, and a Priest in each Ogryn squad you take is a pretty good idea.

FUCK YOU AND YOUR LOGIC

This is for all those who have played all or most of the above styles. What you want to do is
what you normally wouldn't do, that only just falls short of effective. Then with the last 200
points that you so kindly spared, you have spammed cavalry. Why? Because fuck you and
this game. Remember to play this if it works.

The Enemies of Man[edit]

Here, we'll talk about what tactical and list-building considerations you'll need to make with
regards to your opponent. You won't always know who you're fighting, or what they're
bringing to the fight, but when you do, make sure to capitalize on it!
At present, this list is incomplete. Feel free to add to it!

Necrons: The tinheads are a hard sell if you like tanks. Their uncharacteristic toughness
and ability to eat through Hull Points like popcorn makes a mechanized army a bad idea.
However, their lack of range (with a few exceptions, such as the Doomsday Ark) and
difficulty with cover saves (they only have a few really good ways around it) makes
infantry-heavy armies a reliable alternative. In addition, their Reanimation protocols can
be suppressed with high-strength artillery, such as the Leman Russ (Battle Tank and
Demolisher, though you REALLY should be wary of getting within two feet of a necron
blob with any vehicle), Basilisk, and Manticore/Deathstrike. The Wyvern isn't strong
enough to suppress RP, but works around it with sheer wound count. Keep your artillery
behind your infantry, keep your infantry in cover, and buy lots of camo netting; your AV
won't save you, but your cover saves will!
Your high-strength Ordnance weapons pull double duty against Necrons thanks to
their Reanimation Protocols and Quantum Shielding. Both are powerful defensive
abilities that fold easily before heavy enough ordnance; the RP thanks to the above-
mentioned Instant Death effect and Quantum Shielding which pops if you manage to
penetrate it (meaning a penetration roll of 14). S9 Ordnance/Tank Hunters
(Lascannon w/orders) has a 55.5% chance to do so, and S10 Ordnance a 75%
chance.
There are several Necron formations and detachments that grant an army-wide buff
to Reanimation Protocols; Decurion, for example. Make no mistake, this is bad
news - it makes every infantry unit, and some vehicles and Monstrous Creatures,
16% tougher against everything you throw at it. You will never table a Decurion
army, and you will need to prioritize your firepower to have control of the game.
Bring as much cheese as you can to fight this; your opponent certainly is.

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 Space Marines: Main things to beware of: Drop pods, Thunderfire Cannons,
Vindicators, and Land Raiders.
The Drop pod can put a squad of meltaguns right behind your tanks, where their
armor's weakest; as long as there's one in enemy reserve, keep an eye on the
space BEHIND your precious Leman Russes. Keep them hull-down against terrain
and other obstacles to force the enemy to work through their much heavier front and
side armor, or space out your force to invalidate the flank entirely; a drop pod can't
mishap unless it scatters off the board, so be wary.
The Thunderfire Cannon can chew through your infantry with terrifying speed, and
will ususally enjoy a 3+ cover save thanks to its Techmarine operator. In addition, it's
Toughness 7 in shooting; a tough nut to crack. Lascannons, Basilisks, and Battle
Cannons are all recommended, hopefully with some orders/divination trickery to beat
that cover save. If you somehow get close enough, you can also kill it in melee; the
techmarine is tougher than a guardsman, but he's not tougher than ten guardsmen.
The Vindicator's danger comes from the fact that it's AV13 on the front, automatically
passes Dangerous Terrain tests with its Siege Shield, and packs a Demolisher
Cannon, which can reliably punch through the front armor on a Leman Russ, and
turn everything else you can field to paste. Put them down before they put YOU
down. Also note their side armor is MUCH weaker than their front (full profile
13/11/10) so make use of your long range and mobility. Barrage weapons work too,
since they also hit side armor.
Finally, the Land Raider, which isn't dangerous on its own but is invariably carrying
some sort of melee deathstar that'll eat your poor troopers alive. Immobilize or
destroy it at the first opportunity, then rain hell on whatever comes out. Unless it's an
Ares or other assault-gun-type variant, in which case kill it. Kill it now.
Grey Knights: An Inquisition Chamber Militant force which relies on their psychic
prowess, and their monstrous close combat ability. What hits them hard is that they
are even more expensive and elite than regular marines, and each loss counts. The
presence of a Plasma-wielding Veteran squad in a Chimera would ruin their day, as
well as any massed AP2 fire. Against Paladins, bring Meltaguns or a Leman Russ
Demolisher to Instant-death the two-wound bastards. In spite of this, beware their
psychic powers, especially Cleansing Flame (dear lord, keep Purifiers at an arm's
length) and Vortex of Doom, for both respectively eat infantry and tanks alive.
Dark Angels: Like Grey Knights, they bring elite and expensive Terminators, while
they have the best bikers in the imperium. Bring Plasma to deal with their
inefficiently expensive deathwing and make sure you can get ignores cover on your
plasma guns so their Bikers with re-rollable cover saves become fish in a barrel.
Blood Angels: The Red Marines of go-fast were built to take on the Guard with their
Blitzkrieg tactics. The Lucifer strike force can grant a Land Raider Redeemer with 2
Flamestorm cannons the Fast Vehicle rule. Kiss goodbye to your infantry squads.
Their Baal Predators can also do it naturally. Their basic marines get angry when
you kill half of their squads, and the survivors will effortlessly curbstomp entire
platoons in one round of combat. Again, bringing Plasma weapons against MEQ is
key.
Space Wolves: Longfangs are pretty brutal with their ability to split-fire, but the
biggest threats are the Thunderwolf Cavalry or the Wulfen. A Leman Russ
Demolisher will hopefully make quick work of the T5 W2 Thunderwolves, but watch
out for the Wulfen! If the Wulfen get into close combat, your units are dead and are
too stupid to realize it. Keep wulfen at an arm's length and get them!
Imperial Knights: Oh, God-Emperor, what did you do to piss him off? Unless you
have Lords of War of your own, a Knight in most casual games is a rarity, and
multiple Knights is almost unheard of. That being said, don't be intimidated. In spite
of their size and fearsome D melee weapons, Knights have middling initiative and
average attack and WS stats. Throw enough men with meltabombs at them and
they will Crumple. It'll be a lot of men, though; even a crusader hits at S10AP2 in
melee and gets the pie-plate-dropping Stomp ability, so you'll take a beating bringing

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 it down. Alternatively, hit them with anti-tank guns from two directions. the Ion Shield
can only cover one facing per phase, so simultaneous attacks from multiple sides
can work around it. Slugging it out at range, however, will expose you to the Knight's
guns, which are powerful and long-ranged. Avoid using armour against Knights if you
can - their weapons are geared towards fighting things as big and nasty as they are
(your Russes' AV14 won't help you when your foe can pick up the tanks and throw
them). Finally, remember the shield doesn't work in melee. The bigger they are, the
harder they...explode, taking a good chunk of your army with them. But hey, at least
you killed one!
Tyranids: The bugs have a couple of glaring weaknesses that you can exploit quite easily;
first, their lack of really good ranged anti-tank weaponry; the Heavy Venom Cannon and
Impaler Cannon are hard to field and can't reliably punch through the front plate of a Leman
Russ, The Rupture Cannon has poor AP, and the Zoanthrope's powers are short-ranged and
must be correctly channeled first. Second, Synapse. Synapse creatures usually have
multiple wounds, but with a couple of exceptions they don't reach into the truly difficult-to-kill
area of Toughness 6; your tanks and heavy artillery can cut the head off the encroaching
swarm from across the board, while flamers, heavy flamers, and rank fire can keep the
scuttling masses out of melee. Also, always bring AA! A Tyranid player that doesn't field a
Flyrant is doing it wrong, and that winged terror can wreak havoc on your back line. Hydras,
Aegis Quad-Guns, and your friendly every day Vendetta can keep the skies clear.
Genestealer Cults: Where the hell did THEY come from!? Like Tyranids, they rely on cover
saves. Unlike Tyranids, they like keeping a bit of a distance so they can return to the
shadows and infiltrate onto key objectives. Even worse, their Cult Ambush gives them
some serious mobility, including the possibility of popping up within 3" of a unit and
assaulting the turn they arrive. I think I don't need to explain how deadly that can be to
instantly tie up a Guard squad, and considering their Acolytes are I4, so even though they're
as squishy as you are they are faster, and have rending even if they did not take any close
combat weapons. Use large blobs to bubble-wrap your important stuff, and bring that ignores
cover to the table via the Leman Russ Eradicator, "Fire on my Target!" orders, and Wyverns.
A useful trick to help you here is an allied Inquisitor, specifically one Torquemada
Coteaz. In addition to being a cheap ML2 psyker and melee beatstick (and his high
LD is good, too), he has the ability 'I've been Expecting You', which allows him (and
his attached unit) to make an off-turn, full-BS shooting attack against any unit that
arrives from reserves within 12" of him. Unlike other anti-reserves trickery this ability
doesn't limit itself to Deep Strike or Outflank; it works if you show up near
Torquemada, regardless of how. Combine with a 50-man lascannon gunline and
watch that 3" Cult Ambush evaporate in a torrent of las-fire. And the cherry on top?
He can do this an unlimited number of times!
Another potentially useful trick is to take a bare-bones unit of Conscripts and wrap
them around your Infantry Platoon or other useful stuff. Unlike the above, the
Conscripts will fold the moment the enemy charges them - and that's the point. Now
that squad of Genestealers is right in the open within rapid fire range of your 50-man
gunline. 'Light 'em up!
Tau: Beware the markerlight, my son! The BS boosted, the cover save denied! By far your
biggest threat against any Tau player is his markerlights. Most Tau weaponry is AP5 and
better, so without your cover saves your troopers will drop like flies. Identify the sources of
markerlights and focus them down. Like you, the Tau love cover; get some Orders out and
deny them their saves (or, if you fancy some blueberry tears, bring along a Wyvern).
Battlesuits are your other major threat, especially the Riptide; massed lascannons,
meltaguns, and plasma can wear them down, or a tarpit of troopers with meltabomb-wielding
sergeants can overwhelm them. Tau are one of the very few armies you're
generally better than in melee. You'll have a hard time getting into melee, but when it
happens, make the most of it!
If you're willing to fight cheese with cheese, Riptide spam is handily countered by an
allied Armored Battlegroup. The Company Command Vanquisher can take Beast
Hunter shells, which are AP2 and inflict Instant Death as a USR; Toughness 6 or no,
nothing short of a Stormsurge can take a canister of weapons-grade acid. A co-axial

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 heavy stubber can help you hit, and ABG tank orders can help you deal with cover
saves. Give it some cover, camo netting, and a Thunderer Siege Tank as its Troops
choice, and the ABG Vanquisher can make back its points in blueberry tears in one
or two shots.
Orks: Play the ranged game against the Greenskins because melee is going to hurt like a
rancid beast. Orks tend to come in two flavours (which often are mixed to some degree):
infantry and mechanized. **Against most foot-slogging orks, you want to take volume of
shots, blasts, and templates. Anything that can force pinning/leadership/morale tests will help
you immensely because mob rule is an ork opponent's greatest friend. Ap 1-3 tend to not be
necessary unless your foe is feeling moxious and rolling with mega armour. If mega armour
does happen to grace the battlefield, melta and lascannons work better than plasma
because Instant Death from doubling toughness not only makes multi-wounds useless but
also negates any FnP Painboys can give. If you find yourself in a position where a mob of
boyz are preparing to charge, weigh the possibility of how much damage you can do in
shooting vs how much you can do in charging them instead. Orks thrive on the first round of
assaults and denying them those boons via a preemptive charge can be a very risky but
worthwhile maneuver to save your other units.
Ork vehicles tend to be rather cheap and soft or hideously expensive and decently
armoured. There'll be times when you will think your dedicated anti-armour is overkill
and you'd be right. The only vehicles with AV higher than 12 are the (m/g)orkanauts'
front and side 13 and the battlewagon's front 14. Their flyers are universally AV 10 all
around, so a couple of Hydras will do the job beautifully.
One of the Orks' most glaring weaknesses, besides being a melee army in a
shooting game, is that their ability to deal with high AV vehicles is pretty much limited
to melee. Their reliably highest strength guns are 8 with a few variable strength guns
that tend not to be taken due to their unreliability. Powerklaws and tankbusta bombs
will pose the most dangerous threat to your tanks, but be forewarned that a mob of
boyz can wreck most of your vehicles with a fortunate charge against the rear
armour. Tankbustas may pose a threat through sheer volume of strength 8 shots
they can bring, so deal with them accordingly. Their Lootas have the chance to do
horrible things to your lighter armour since they field autocannons en masse. If you
can manage to nix their anti-armour early, then the rest of the game should be
nothing but a clean up job. That's assuming you are using a mech-list.
Dark Eldar: "Fire at my target" on anti-tank and FRFSRF on lasguns are your best friends
here. All Dark Eldar vehicles are squishy, but your basic weapons are S3, so no reliable
glancing the Marines enjoy. Buy Aegis and do not leave cover for three reasons: both basic
Warriors with Splinter Racks and Venoms are capable of inflicting too many casualties on
your infantry, most of DE infantry lack Assault Grenades (even Incubi), allowing Guardsmen
to strike before them and DE have a lot of Haywire, low AP meltas, lances etc Guard
vehicles are vulnerable to. Forget all the jokes about Wyches gathering dust on the shelves -
they ARE bad news and with some AP5 weapons they pack can munch even through
Combined Squad, especially with a good roll on drugs. If your opponent's playing Covens,
you're fucked, because lasguns can't even scratch T7, so best tactics is bringing Psykers
with you and give them Force Axes (but you'll wound Taloses and Cronoses on 6's, sooo) or
bring a small allied detachment of either Inquisition or Grey Knights with Nemesis Hammer
IC to hide in your 50-man blob and introduce those monstrosities to Force ID, that utterly
ignores both their armor and FNP saves. ALternative - a great number of ranged firepower,
but those fuckers are really durable.
Chaos Space Marines: They play like their 30k Legionary counterparts, but they're much
more schizophrenic in that they're both choppy and shooty but cannot commit to one path at
once. However, in spite of the fact that they can be overrun, it is much more likely they'll
overrun you. Take any AP3 or AP2 you can, and make sure to take an Aegis Quad gun or a
Vendetta since the infamous Heldrake will fly on and threaten your infantry and rear AV with
its infamous S6 torrent Bale flamer. Chaos Space Marines now often come in specific
legions, similar to Space Marine Chapter Tactics. Here's what each legion in particular
brings, alongside their designated Cult units:

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 Alpha Legion: Hordes of cultists and infiltrators galore. You will have a tough time
finding the Warlord due to their "kill current warlord and that random champion's the
new general" special rule. Get Flamers and ignores cover to deal with the cultist
spam.
Black Legion: Vanilla Chaos with a bit more of an elite spin on their army. Armless
jokes and failure jokes aside, Abaddon the Despoiler is a horrific beatstick and will
carve through everything you can throw at him.
Crimson Slaughter: Possessed spam out the ass. Also they lack VotLW so forcing
pinning tests through orders can help.
Death Guard: Tough as nails with universal +1T and Feel No Pain on all their
infantry units. The catch is, they're very slow. Take advantage of that and kite them
from a distance, then take the objectives at the last minute.
Emperor's Children: A cross between World Eaters and Death Guard in that they're
even better in close combat and can be durable as hell thanks to natural 6+ FnP
(improved to 4+ with Icon of Excess). Noise Marines are perhaps the biggest threat
to your army in the entire Chaos Space Marines Codex since they ignore cover like
no tomorrow. Sonic blasters and Doom Sirens pulverize blobs while the S8
Blastmasters do nasty things to tanks. Hit them with Meltaguns and Battlecannons to
get around that Feel No Pain quickly!
Night Lords: Raptor spam with a penchant for Night fighting and forcing fear tests
with a -2 modifier to your leadership. Take searchlights and Ignores Cover to get
around the stealth bonuses, and Commissars and Priests are vital to mitigate that -
2Ld on Fear tests.
Thousand Sons: Very expensive, but good lord they pack a psychic punch! Their
AP3 bolters are kind of irrelevant since regular bolters would ignore a guardsman's
armor anyway. But that's not what makes the 1K sons a threat; they all have 4+
Invulnerable saves base, your anti-MEQ sources will have to pull double-time in
order to eliminate them. Also, Magnus the Red is probably the only named character
that can do more damage to you than Abaddon can.
Word Bearers: Possessed spam out the ass, with bonuses to using Daemons as
allies or to summon through Daemonology. Take some Psykana divisions running
Sanctic to counter-act the Daemons. Who needs Grey Knights anyway?
World Eaters: Make no mistake, Khorne is still very much relevant. If they get into
close combat with you, be prepared to sell yourself dearly. Keep them at arm's
length, blow up their transports, and shower them with Plasma guns and Battle
Cannons.
Chaos Daemons: "A Daemon...they have a daemon!!!" Chaos Daemons are perhaps the
Imperial Guard's biggest challenge in that all your high-strength shooting can be nullified by
the natural Invulnerable saves gracing the army. Like Tyranids, they field big monsters in the
form of Greater Daemons, and their entire army is quasi-fearless across the board. A few
universal units to watch out for: Furies, Soul Grinders, and Daemon Princes. The former
since in spite of their shit stats they're still quasi-fearless and can force Fear on you. Soul
Grinders are a cross between Dreadnoughts and Leman Russes, being a walker that can
take a terrifying main gun (Phlegm Bombardment's a Battle Cannon with 1/2 the range, and
the Warp Flamer is nasty against infantry). Daemon Princes are scary for the obvious
reasons. Here's how you handle specific chaos god units:
Khorne: Kill them, ASAP. These guys hit extremely hard on the charge, and come
with Power Swords by default. Lock them down and flame them. On the other hand,
Fleshhounds of Khorne and Bloodcrushers are really fast and tough multi-wound
thickies, but S8+ shooting from Meltaguns,Battle Cannons, Earth Shaker cannons,
and/or Lascannons will Instant-Death them. Bloodthirsters are terrifying, but it must
be on the ground in order to do anything. Bring anti-air like Vendettas/Hydras/Quad
guns and then throw as many bullets at it as you can.
Nurgle: These guys are slow, but they're tough and rely on Cover saves due to
Daemon of Nurgle's shrouded bonus. Get cover-ignoring weapons out there as fast

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 as you can! Beware of the Great Unclean One and its T7 statline, your lasguns
cannot even touch it.
Tzeentch: Psychic power spam par excellence. They cannot fire off that annoying
Flickering Fire when locked in combat so this may be one of the few groups of
Daemons you want to move up and charge into. Fair warning, it will quickly turn into
a battle of attrition as Pink Horrors split into Blue Horrors who split into Brimstone
Horrors. Their big unit, the Lord of Change, is a powerful flying sorcerer. Bring that
AA and shoot it down.
Slaanesh: Terrifyingly quick and terrifyingly powerful. They're even more squishy
than Khorne Daemons and cannot easily ignore your armor saves, but with Rending
a deep-striking unit of Daemonettes will tear apart your tanks in short order. Bring
some flamers to pile on those saves. Their Keeper of Secrets is surprisingly cheap
and mobile for a T6 Monstrous Creature, and will kick your shit in if it closes the gap.

What to buy[edit]
Always start out with what 1d4chan literally everyone recommends, 1 HQ 2 Troop Choices, that is, a
Company Command Squad or a Lord Commissar (The Power Fist Commissar will suffice for cheap
HQ) and 2 separate Squads kitted out as Veterans. However, bundles are your best friend, namely
the battle force Defence Force. This gives you two squads of 10 and a leader pack, as well as heavy
weapons and a Leman Russ which can be customized into any 4 of its variations and a Chimera.
This will be helpful if you are going blob or mech. You can make them vets for a quick 500pt army.
You can even save the heavy weapons for vehicle modifications later when you buy tanks if you go
for mech. Next thing would most likely be another Leman Russ and another Chimera if going mech,
and another defence force if you are going blob. If you truly want to go mech though, the Steel Host
set gives you 5 Leman Russ Battle Tanks, 1 Hydra Flak Tank and 2 Leman Russ Demolishers if
you're willing to sell your arm, leg, kidney, and testicle. Also, the cheap 5-man Guardsmen packs are
great for building a 50-man horde (Conscripts anyone?)! The Armored Fist bundle gives you a
discount price for a mechanized Squadron of Veterans too.
Also if you dip, or one of your friends dip, ask them for the metal lids to the tobacco containers.
These are the exact size of the heavy weapons base. Making it extremely easy to take advantage of
all the heavy weapons in the pack. Just use the bending knee for the dude shooting, and put the
other dude as a standing man. Green stuff some sandbags or a wall to take place of the tripod
stand.

As far as organizing your army, you ought to know better that you don't have to pimp out every
platoon FULL of men. Usually, two large Platoons decked out will do the job, BUT you can take
smaller platoons in order to get more Junior officers on to the table for more orders. That all said,
let's calculate the body count if you spammed every slot.
HQ: CCSx2 (18 models; Commissar, Chimera, and all Advisors: Officer of the Fleet, Astropath and
Master of Ordnance which are MANDATORY)
Priest x3
Enginseer x3 (With 15 servitors 5 each. Give two per Enginseer plasma cannons. Because you can.)
Primaris Psyker(ML-2) x3
Elites: 3x FULL Militarum Tempestus platoons, plus Taurox Primes for all. Bitches (117 models)
Troops: 6x FULL Infantry platoons (6x5-man PCS + Chimeras, 30x10-man Infantry squads +
Chimeras, 30x6-man Heavy squads (it's two guys on one base, be glad I'm not counting the gun
model), 18x6-man Special squads, 6x50-man Conscript squads, and 6x Commissars. 960 models,
bitch)
Fast: 3x Rough Rider squads (30 models)
Heavy Support: 9x Leman Russ EXECUTIONERS WITH FULL PLASMA-SPONSONS (STFU. You
want them)

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Grand total: 1,158 models, INCLUDING Chimeras. Yes. You can have one-thousand models on the
table. THIS IS THE GUARD. OUR INFANTRY ARE BLOBS.
But unless you're a millionaire or you've been in the Guard since 2nd edition, you aren't pulling this
off. ALSO IT COSTS ~13,870 POINTS TO FIELD ALL THIS SHIT JESUSAAAND you're looking at
$7,500+ USD(2015) for all this shit. Start buying lottery tickets if you want to even think about doing
something like this.
Ideal generalized army list that you should start with:
HQ: 1x CCS
TROOPS: 2 Infantry Platoons of two Infantry Squads each
When playing Maelstrom:
FAST ATTACK: Scout Sentinel x2, Valkyrie and Hellhounds if you wish.
or
When playing standard:
HEAVY SUPPORT: your choice flavor of Leman Russ
This way, you have fast stuff to grab objectives during Maelstrom, but if you're playing standard
missions you have some good backup fire to take out anyone trying to touch your infantry. Once
your army has reached this point, start looking at where you want to go with it. You'll have a decent
base for starting the typical MechVet army that is shining right now. If you want to get Leman
Russes, get three, split between two Battlecannons and a Demolisher. Max out melta. It's the best
thing in the game currently. Just do it.

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