I suppose it's about time to post something else than just pictures and modelling articles. Time for the first article, in a possible series, genuinely named Tactica Imperialis. This one will mostly focus on saying a few words about pretty much everything in the new Guard codex as I find them on the battlefield.

This series will consist of three parts. First one will focus on weapons available to the Guard, second the units and third the possible combinations of the units. I hope some of these informations you will find helpful and they will aid you in constructing a list that will bring glory to the God-Emperor many times! Remember to keep in mind though, this is entirely my own opinion based on my experience. Yours may vary depending on your tactics, meta-game and many many more.



Let's begin then.

1. Special Weapons
   
   • Grenade Launcher
     Ah, the humble Grenade Launcher. It doesn't really excell at anything, but it's a good all-round weapon. In my opinion, if you take and infantry squad it has to have this weapon at the very least. If its not made for some specific task the Launcher costing only 5 points is a must-have even if only to make that single S6 shot. Don't expect miracles out of it but it's still a small boost to effectivness of the squad. It's a viable option for every unit, though I do prefer more specialised weapons for BS 4 vets. I put those on every infantry squad I field.
     
   • Flamer
     The second cheap weapon in our armoury, the flamer is much more specialised than the Grenade Launcher. First of all it requires you to be up close and personal, which isn't the best idea for your fragile guardsmen. Second thing is their effectivness raises tremendously when stacked on a single squad. Third is that they do not use BS and as such are great choices for low BS guardsmen but not so good for BS 4 vets. I tend to stick them onto special weapon squads and the Platoon Command. The other good use I can see is a few combined Infatry Squads.
     
   • Melta Gun
     One of the best special weapons nowadays and the single best anti-tank weapon (aside from Multi-melta of course) in game. It's drawbacks are short range and single shot. I such they're best utilised on BS 4 that's somehow made more mobile. The best in my opinion is a squad of vets or a Company Command Squad in a Chimera. That way they're protected from most harm, have an effective range of 26" (20" on short range) and can be where you need them to be. Second choice would be Stormtroopers with Airborne Assault deployment - second good way to put the weapons exactly where needed.
     
   • Plasma Gun
     The bread and butter of Guard in previous edition, now somewhat receeding. With its cost up to 15 points it's quite a serious investment. In my opinion you should only use it on BS 4 units where they can make the most out of those weapons. They're still good for opening light vehicles and taking down MCs especially with Bring it Down! order, but I'm fielding only 3 of those, when I used to field 12 and some people used to have more...
   • Heavy Flamer
     Seemingly a great weapon, though somehow limited in which units have access to it. After you see the hefty point cost however it stops being so great. As of now it's only place is on vehicles for me, though I suppose fielding it on Vets isn't that bad of an idea. On the other hand using it on a Command Squad is a waste in my opinion. For the price of one you can have 4 regular Flamers, what do you think will cause more damage? Sure, you could field 3 and one heavy but I think it's a waste of points that could be put to a much better use.
   • Sniper Rifle
     I still haven't used that weapon, so in fact I have no experience on how it performs. I did hear however that it's quite effective, though again it has to be stacked to do anything good. The ability to pin combined with Psykers nearby can however be a deadly combination to an enemy killer-unit. They too should be put on BS 4, Ratlings work all too well for those.
   • Demolition Charge
     Aaah, one of my favourite weapons. Once it hits it more or less obliterates the enemy unit, but it has to hit first. With only 6" range and very few units who can take those it's not that easy. Doesn't stop me from taking four on two SWSes though and it sure is a great laugh when they scatter back onto your owno unit... Still, back in 4th Guard needed some kind of unit that would act as a cc-counter. Nowadays a demo charge is all unit need, hide it behind the to-be-slaughtered unit, watch it die and enemy helplessly consolidate within the range of the dreaded "briefcase"
     
   • Boltgun
     Well it is a kind of a special weapon for the Guard is it not? In my opinion - a waste of points. Take it only for fluff reasons and the coolness-of-model factor.
   • Bolt Pistol
     As above, turning that single 12" S3 shot into 12" S4 AP5 shot won't really do much difference. Pick only for fluff reasons or to fill in missing points.
   • Plasma Pistol
     A "slightly" more lethal upgrade for a pistol this one more noteworthy. However it's point cost is rather high and it has the annoying tendency to kill your character (and Guard sergeants are much more than they used to be, having 3(!) base attacks). It still could find its use to add a bit more punch to the unit, but myself I tend to steer clear of these, though I did use to field them under the previous codex in the plasma-bomb-veterans-of-doom.
     
2. Heavy Weapons
   
   • Mortar
     A cheap, versatile and very handy to get those pesky enemies that are hiding out of los, possibly sitting on an objective. Even after the recent additions and changes of the codex Guard isn't the most mobile army around and sometimes you just have no way to reach that objective. Personally I haven't fielded those, but I'd sure wish to try one day and I heard lots of good about them.
   • Heavy Bolter
     Another weapon I haven't really fielded on the squads. I prefer to keep it to the tanks. With the same point cost as the Autocannon there really isn't a reason to field the Bolter with less Strength and less range even though it has one shot more, other than you liking this weapon in itself.
   • Autocannon
     The best heavy weapon in my opinion. Cheap and effective can both through light vehicles (up to AV12) and some infatry (wounding nearly everything on 2+ does help). Again I field all my Infantry Squads with one of these.
   • Missle Launcher
     A strange weapon, to be honest. Personally I don't really like it. On one hand it's versatile allowing you to shoot both nearly every vehicle (Only really weak against AV14, though the single shot does hurt) and infantry with the blast. On the other it is just single shot and the small blast isn't going to hit lots of models if your opponent know how to play. I find myself preferring the Autocannon to it, though I surely can see why people would field Missle Launcher.
   • Lascannon
     Quite expensive but still a decent heavy weapon, however I do not field any on my infatry anymore. Two Vendettas carry more than enough Lascannons for the job and they are more resillient and hit much better. Some claim that Lascannon on BS 3 is one of the worst AT weapons mathematically and I suppose there's some truth in it looking back at what they used to do. Still Lascannons are more-or-less mandatory in the list somewhere, so if you do not field Vendettas you'll need some for the long-range AT quality.
3. Melee Weapons
   
   • Power Weapon
     In most cases melee weapons are rather useless in the Guard. Power Weapons might take away the enemy high armour save but it doesn't change the fact that the wielder is only S3 and against a lot of opponents he'll wound on 5+. It's not really worth the 10 points looking at it competetively. They do however have their use when combining squads. 3 or more combined Infatry Squads with a Commissar fully outfitted with Power Weapons have from 12 to 16 no-armour-save-allowed attacks which can deal serious damage to the enemy. The combined squad is also too big for nearly any enemy to kill the sergeants before they manage to make their blows.
   • Power Fist
     A much more interesting choice costing only 5 points more. I seem to be noticing lots of people put Fists onto every Veteran Squad of theirs. being 10-man strong it's hard to kill the sergeant before he makes his attacks and he's going to bring at least one enemy down. Sure it doesn't cause instant death like Marines PFs but it still does wound on 2+. Right now I'm looking into way of fitting these into my list and I'll let you know how they fare once I've tried them out good. I did field them yesterday against Dark Elder, but the vet unit never got into any combat and had no chance of testing them out. On the other hand the fist on command squads or, even worse, Commissar Lord is a total waste of points and your commander. The 5-man command squad is very unlikely to get a chance of using the weapon, unless you have a myriad of different advisors there, though that does make the squad quite overpriced. Commissar Lord being IC is definitely going to die before his chance.
4. Other
   
   • Medi-Pack
     30 points for Feel No Pain on a squishy 5-man unit? Mh, not really, thanks. Though I suppose if you do not field your unit in a Chimera, or have many advisors and maybe plenty of plasma guns it can have its appeal. Though I still think 30 points can be spent much better, sadly, as I really like the old metal Medic model.
     
   • Regimental Standard
     Now this is an interesting thing. Re-rolls for morale tests are really good stuff, especially since you do not have to re-roll if you do not wish to. The sad thing is they don't work from inside the Chimera and I'm unsure why do I field one. I guess I just love the looks of standards in general, though it isn't really visible anywhere when it's inside. I guess it will have to go in some variants of the list, though in my opinio it's a must-have for a Company Command Squad that's on foot.
     
   • Platoon Standard
     This standard on the other hand is quite useless. The 5-man platoon command will be slaughtered by nearly everything that will assault it and counting as dealing one more wound won't help. It may actually hinder you as otherwise they squad could've safely disengaged and combat ending during your assault phase is a great threat for the Guard army. I wouldn't field it even though I love standards so much.
     
   • Vox-Casters
     On voxes I do have mixed feelings. If you wanted to outfit entire army in those they turn out quite expensive. Re-rolls for orders are nice, but in all honesty I haven't really had that many problems with order. Usually I actually have no units to issue them to, playing a more mechanised list! In my opinion they're a bit of a waste as they are now and I could only see the use if you have a specific unit that's meant to work with order and you can't afford it to fail. But frankly, I don't believe such situation will come up on the battlefield often.
     

And that's it. I hope you enjoyed the read and will benefit from it one way or another. As with IHRH if you have any specific wishes go ahead and express them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer. Finishing, here's my 1800 pts list that I've been using with slight modifications here and there. It still lacks that final polish as I'd like to add the Fists, another Chimera and the Astropath, but still haven't got to it.

Imperial Guard 42nd Cadian - 1800

HQ
Company Command Squad
Officer of the Fleet, Melta Gunx3, Regimental Standard
Chimera - Multi-Laser, Heavy Flamer
190

ELITE
Psyker Battle Squad(10)
Chimera - Multi-Laser, Heavy Flamer
165

TROOPS
Infatry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad
Flamerx3
45

Infatry Squadx4
Grenade Launcher, Autocannon
65x4

Special Weapon Squadx2
Flamer, Demolition Chargex2
80x2

Veteran Squad
3xPlasma
115

Veteran Squad
3xMelta, Power Fist
Chimera - Multi-Laser, Heavy Flamer
155

FAST ATTACK
Vendettax2
130x2

Scount Sentinel Squadron(2)
Multi-laser
70

HEAVY SUPPORT
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Sponson Bolters
170

Leman Russ Demolisher
Sponson Plasma Cannons
205

1800

Share to Facebook