Tactical Analysis: Imperial Guard

[Moonsword]

I intend to make an approach at the art and science of dealing with Guard on the tabletop. I'm not an experienced player, so I'd like people to stick in their own responses, but we don't have a coherent, unified set of go-to articles for handling Guard, and under their new codex, they can haul out some really "fun" surprises for MEQ units. I know Daemons about as well as I know integral calculus (read: not at all) so expect me to not be commenting on them, and I'm not that familiar with Chaos Marines, although I'll try.

 

I find the Guard fun and interesting to play with, analyze, and discuss, just as I enjoy the power armor types, and knowing how to bring the fight to them and handle the Homer Simpson of 40K is useful, since their fluff lets Guard (or PDFs, traitor Guard, Mechanicus stand-ins, mercenaries, pirates, raiders, or what have you) show up just about anywhere. To start things off, I'm going to examine the various orders Guard officers can issue, because they can do some very "fun" things to Space Marines who get cocky.

 

EDIT: Revised and expanded to reflect special characters and input from people who have replied. Thanks guys!

 

Orders: The Basics

Orders are issued at the start of the shooting phase, before anything else acts, and cannot be issued by a command squad that has already run or shot. Company commanders give their two orders, then the platoon commanders can give their one order for that turn. The orders can go to any non-vehicle unit (including combined squads and his own command squad), not just units inside the command squad's own formation in the case of platoon commanders. There are two special characters who can issue orders. Lord Castellan Creed has the Supreme Commander rules, with his own special order (I'll cover it at the bottom), and can issue up to four orders within 24", as opposed to 12" for company commanders and 6" for platoon commanders, and he has access to all of the other orders as well. Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken has the Senior Officer rule, the same one company commanders have, so for issuing orders, he's handled the exact same way. Captain Al'rahem and Commander Chenkov are platoon leader replacements, but they have a divergent list and can issue up to two orders with a 12" radius. Al'rahem has a special order I'll describe in a second, as well as access to "Bring It Down!" and "First Rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE!" Chenkov can give "Move! Move! Move!" and "Get Back in the Fight!"

 

Al'rahem's special order that only he can give is "Like the Wind". It lets a squad immediately take its shooting phase by shooting (not running, the codex is specific about that!) and then can move D6" in a direction of the Guard player's choice. Essentially, they shoot and scoot like modern tanks do. Issuing this to any squad, it can be used to give heavy weapons teams or squads the opportunity to get their shots off and then get out of the way of something nasty, or let Ogryn get in a shooting move and position for a charge. (That said, Ogryn are almost as likely to botch the roll as pass it, so they're not good candidates for receiving orders in general, nor are Ratlings.)

 

They have to roll a Leadership test for the unit receiving the orders using that unit's Ld statistic. The single exception is a special rule for Colour Sergeant Kell, who allows the officer in a unit he's in to test orders against the officer's Leadership, not the receiving squad. This isn't just Creed, it applies to any company commander with him in the squad, but Kell has to be in the officer's squad, not the receiving squad. He's most effective with Creed's Leadership 10, but it's not necessary to pair him with Creed under the rules. If you see someone rolling against the company commander's Leadership when that officer issues orders, check their list. If Kell's not on it, call 'em on the mistake. There are two unique outcomes under the Leadership test that affect issuing orders. A result of a 1 on both dice allows the officer to issue another order because that one was a freebie. A result of a 6 on both dice means no more orders can be issued by anyone on that turn.

 

There are some models which are officers in the fluff sense, but are unable to issue orders for the purposes of special rules; specifically, Lord Commissars and Commissar Yarrick do not have access to these rules, nor do regular commissars. Well, that's simple enough, because they're not replacing other officers.

 

Special Orders: Platoon Commanders

Platoon Commanders have the Junior Officer special rule, which allows them to issue a selection of useful, enhancing orders to units within 6" during the Shooting phase, but only one order per Junior Officer per turn. That means one order total, not one order per unit in reach - keep an eye on your opponent, they may either forget this or try to sneak it past you.

 

First Rank, FIRE! Second Range, FIRE!

This is one to watch out for. If you're within 12", the lasguns of the entire squad can fire off three shots. As much as we like to sneer at that S3 AP nothing shot for being a "flashlight", 27 of them coming in at one time is just a little problematic. 13.5 hits from the lasguns, of which 4.5 will wound, and you'll miss the saves on 3 of them on average. That means 1-2 Marines dead in one round of shooting, and they will have friends adding to the "fun". Scouts are going to lose 2 a turn, as will Battle Sisters. For those T5 units wandering around, you're still likely to lose 1 model after this little light show (although Plague Marines, with Feel No Pain, may get a last minute reprieve when they reroll the save). If they didn't move, they can instead double-tap the lasguns out to 24". This comes up with 1 dead Marine, 1-2 Scouts or Battle Sisters, and about even odds of a Bike Marine biting it, or about 1-in-6 of a Plague Marine. Not too bad for our humble Guard friends, considering that their unit cost of a single infantry squad is about a third for a full squad of MEQ units. When you add in the other squad(s) shooting, this can be downright obnoxious. This gets a lot worse if they combine squads and you have not one, but two or three or four or five infantry squads volleying off.

 

Note to Inquisition leaders: Your storm troopers, having a lower Toughness and armor save, are vulnerable to massed lasgun fire in a way the power armor types aren't. Don't get up close and personal with a platoon commander who has infantry squads nearby unless you enjoy getting sheared back down to size.

 

Incoming!

This is a defensive rather than offensive tool, letting the Guardsmen get a +2 to their cover save by going to ground. Since this ups their save to a 4+ at a minimum, it can be useful for keeping them from getting picked off if someone's about to drop something nasty on their heads. Make a note of which unit did this - it's basically harmless for the next round - and shoot someone else if you've got a choice. It can be annoying if they camped an objective in cover. This is still a cover save, not an armor save or whatever else, so anything that ignores cover affects the targeted unit normally. The unit that receives "Incoming!" loses its shooting for this round and movement phase next round.

 

Move! Move! Move!

Utility tool equating to yelling out, "Hoof it, boys!" Throw three dice and take the best result to run. Odds are the squad won't be in range of the platoon next turn, though. This can be obnoxious for dashing under cover, getting out of charge range, or snagging an objective at the last second, though.

 

Special Orders: Company Commanders

Company Commanders, as Senior Officers, can attempt to issue two orders per turn (but only one to any given squad) to units within 12", and there's a couple of really "fun" options in here, so pay attention. They have the same choices as platoon leaders, but they also have three more to choose from, and all three have their uses.

 

Bring It Down!

This is the other one that's really annoying when they use it correctly. The Guard player picks a vehicle, monstrous creature, or squadron/unit of the same, and then picks a squad that's treated as having twin-linked weapons. Given that this cuts the chance of missing from 50% to 25%, I think we can see why this is a very useful tool, especially for dealing with Marine armor. You know that Crusader you were rumbling up to cause some havoc with a bunch of assault Termies? His heavy weapons squad of lascannons (only 105 points) just got three twin-linked shots, so you just took two S9 hits on average. Odds are decent one of them will at least glance you. Basically, if you see lascannon teams camped out by the company commander, that area just got nominated for taking a template blast ASAP. I recommend a thunderfire airburst, but even frag missiles will do if you can layer a couple of them. A Vindicator has the bite for it, but you've got to close into reach of those lascannons, so I wouldn't recommend it. Heavy bolters, autocannons, and missile launchers, while not as outright capable of making back their points in a single round, are all fairly annoying as well, but the only thing they can target with this rule is vehicles, not squads, so the guns aren't as much of a threat and the launchers aren't as capable of simply tearing something apart.

 

Note to Chaos players: Unlike loyalist Marines and the Inquisition as far as I know, you have monstrous characters running around. This order applies to them, not just your vehicles. If they target, say, a Bloodthirster or a Daemon Prince, he's fair game, and autocannons, with their two shots at S7, just became really useful for dealing with you. Don't wander into their LOS if you don't want your HQ unit turned into a target for firing practice.

 

Fire on my Target!

This isn't as useful against MEQ units, but it's a very good way to flush sniper Scouts out of their hiding spots, which is a shame since snipers are very useful for harassing and killing off Guardsmen, particularly giving Ratlings and Ogryn lessons in "Sit down, shut up, and die." (Granted, Ratlings aren't as much of a threat to Marines, but pinning them to keep Murphy from pinning one of your squads at the wrong moment or simply nibbling away at you is always a good idea.) One unit will fire against a designated enemy target, and successful cover saves against their fire must be re-rolled. This is more useful against armies that depend on cover, but again, Scouts are forced back to their 4+ armor save, and the snipers with camo cloaks just wasted their points. If he decides to do this with heavy bolters, which ignore Scout armor, they're in for a particularly unpleasant experience. This can also be used to get around the cover save for having a target screened by another unit; Marine equivalents have high enough armor saves that's not usually an issue, but if he's firing something with a high enough AP or at something that doesn't have an armor save to begin with (Chaos Spawns come to mind), it could do some damage, so pay attention.

 

Get Back in the Fight!

Rally a fleeing unit or one that's gone to ground, allowing them to shoot and assault as normal. Remember that Incoming! order the platoon leaders can hand out? They can use this the next round to clear it, letting them hit cover and then flinch back out in time to respond effectively. Not as dangerous to my mind but certainly not something to be ignored. If used in the same phase as an "Incoming!" order, it simply removes the order, and the unit no longer has the extra cover save.

 

There we have it, Guard orders. A useful, flexible tool, and the best argument yet for layering templates across command squads ASAP. Thunderfire cannons are great for this, as are Whirlwinds, but plain old missile launchers will do the job if you don't have anything else, as will plasma cannons. Snipers infiltrated with a missile launcher can do a real number on command squads, too, by wounding everyone, so don't ignore the possibility.

[Disciple of Mephiston]

Just wanted to add a couple of things:

 

As orders are issued at the start of the shooting faze the Incoming! order means the unit can't shoot or run the round it is issued or the round there after.

 

Also, killing a PCS and CCS is easy if they are in the open, but most guard players I know will ceep them in chimeras as they can issue orders from them. Killing a command squad in a chimera can often be quite difficult.

[Moonsword]

True. The Chimera isn't that tough itself, though, especially if you hit the side armor. All of the templates I mentioned glance and penetrate fairly easily aside from the frag missiles, which will still glance the sides occasionally. The other reason to template them is not just to catch the command squad, but to blast any infantry loitering nearby if you scramble - even if you don't pop the Chimera, he's going to have problems issuing orders (or at least making them as effective) if most of the units nearby are dead or dying.

 

As for the Incoming! problem, yep, they're not shooting that round. That was implied but not made clear when I said they were going to ground, and they're not moving, either, even if the company commander relieves the order the next round. Also, note that company commanders issue orders before platoon commanders. I'll edit the post before I write the next one.

 

Thanks for the comments, though, and keep 'em coming.

[bystrom]

You've made a mention of plague marines and T5 under 'Fire by rank' order, and comparing it with bikes, remember plague marines have Feel No Pain, so only half their number would (on average) be killed.

 

As for Incoming!, there should be several ways of negating the cover save, whirlwinds/thunderfires, template weapons (though short-ranged), sternguard, etc could all get rid of a squad using Incoming! should that be necessary.

 

I don't know anything really about the Imperial Guard codex, so forgive my ignorance, can these orders (such as the 'Fire by rank') be used by any infantry squad (such as veterans with increased BS?), I'm guessing the Junior officer only can give orders to non-specialists, or can orders be given to any infantry squad? If its everyone, you could combine such things as Fire on my target with a squad firing a lot of armour piercing weaponry (I'm thinking storm troopers or veterans carrying plasma weaponry), where cover saves are vital, but if not, then the effects of Orders seem limited to getting slightly more out of a single squad of guardsmen.

 

While destroying a chimera might bring AT fire away from other vehicles, once the squad is out of the vehicle, it should be more tightly packed and should suffer worse from blast weaponry (though most likely with a cover save).

 

Oh, Fire by rank and combined squads = lots of shots.

[Moonsword]

You've made a mention of plague marines and T5 under 'Fire by rank' order, and comparing it with bikes, remember plague marines have Feel No Pain, so only half their number would (on average) be killed.

 

Thanks for the catch. Still, it'll force the Nurgle "blessed" to pay a little more attention, or at least weaken them before you bring something nasty down on their heads.

 

As for Incoming!, there should be several ways of negating the cover save, whirlwinds/thunderfires, template weapons (though short-ranged), sternguard, etc could all get rid of a squad using Incoming! should that be necessary.

 

Yes, but if you're not expecting them to suddenly hit the dirt, or your blast weapons are busy dealing with something more important... *shrugs* I don't think it beats out firing by rank, but it's an option they always have.

 

I don't know anything really about the Imperial Guard codex, so forgive my ignorance, can these orders (such as the 'Fire by rank') be used by any infantry squad (such as veterans with increased BS?), I'm guessing the Junior officer only can give orders to non-specialists, or can orders be given to any infantry squad? If its everyone, you could combine such things as Fire on my target with a squad firing a lot of armour piercing weaponry (I'm thinking storm troopers or veterans carrying plasma weaponry), where cover saves are vital, but if not, then the effects of Orders seem limited to getting slightly more out of a single squad of guardsmen.

 

Any non-vehicle unit can be affected by any officer's orders, although only one order per turn. I'll clarify that above. However, firing by rank is a considerable boost, and at the very least, it's going to help cut the Marines down before they manage to get in arm's reach of the Guardsmen. The orders themselves do limit their application sometimes ("Fire on my Target!" only works when they're using a cover save, "Bring It Down!" vs. MCs or vehicles, or firing by ranks only working on lasguns), but any officer with the rule to give that order can give it to any infantry squad that qualifies to receive it.

 

While destroying a chimera might bring AT fire away from other vehicles, once the squad is out of the vehicle, it should be more tightly packed and should suffer worse from blast weaponry (though most likely with a cover save).

 

Yep. On the other hand, multilasers are nothing to sneer at, even if they bounce off Marine (and Guard) armor. Personally, I'd drop a fairly mean template weapon on (say, scatter a pair of frag missiles in with the krak missiles from a Dev squad, or use a plasma cannon) to hopefully at least disrupt the Chimera and let the blasts start chewing up anyone standing nearby.

 

Oh, Fire by rank and combined squads = lots of shots.

 

I keep forgetting about that option, but yes, it works just fine on infantry squads. Much to the chagrin of anyone on the receiving end, I'd imagine.

 

I'm waiting for a little more input from others before I revise the post and move on, probably to the basic infantry squad.

[mannstein]

Fire by ranks only works with lasguns, so while it can be issued to veterans etc, it won't do anything for the plasma gunners etc. The point of it is to allow bucketloads of lasgun dice.

[Moonsword]

The orders themselves do limit their application sometimes ("Fire on my Target!" only works when they're using a cover save, "Bring It Down!" vs. MCs or vehicles, or firing by ranks only working on lasguns), but any officer with the rule to give that order can give it to any infantry squad that qualifies to receive it.

 

Yep, made a note of it. :lol:

[kaiserstole20]

Nothing to add other than this has been a great read - thanks everyone for the information!

[Moonsword]

First post has been updated and expanded.

 

To continue on with these articles, the humble Infantry Squad, grease to treads all over the Imperium.

 

Infantry Squads: The Doughboys and GIs of the Grim, Dark Future

 

These are the basic building blocks of an Imperial Guard infantry platoon, and are their answer to the Tactical Marine, Battle Sister, or Chaos Space Marine. Not a terribly good one, either. Rather that potentially tick off the mods or, worse, GW, I'm going to just link to the Cadian Shock Troops entry in GW's catalog. Scroll down and you'll see the statistics lines for the entire squad, which are consistent no matter which models are being used, Cadians, Catachans, Vostroyans, or what have you.

 

Cadian Shock Troops catalog page

 

Wargear and Formations

 

Okay, so they're not very impressive at first look, but there will be at least two squads of these guys in any given platoon, and they're cheaper than Ork Boyz point for point, not to mention better shots with twice the chance of pulling off an armor save, although their close combat leaves rather a lot to be desired. Their armament is the infamous flashlight lasgun, S3, AP nil, with the same range and rapid fire characteristics as a bolter. For the price of ten Tactical Marines, you can put thirty Guardsmen down with some change, or field a basic platoon with 40 points of customization. Those of you who waded through my blathering about their special orders up above are aware of a couple of the neat tricks that platoon can do before you spend one lousy point on customization.

 

A single heavy weapon team can be formed, using a heavy bolter, autocannon, missile launcher, or lascannon, although personally I'm not sure that's a great deal since it dilutes their raw firepower for volley fire and a heavy weapons squad can do the same thing more cheaply for the guns. They can also bring flamers, meltaguns, or plasma guns, so watch your placement and take a look before you casually roll up to one with a tank or something. Those plasma guns are just the same as the ones in C:SM, too, so if he hits you, it'll hurt. The sergeant can carry a plasma pistol or power weapon, though given their abysmal CC stats, I don't know how common a worry that last one is. They do have frag grenades and CC weapons, as well as the option to carry kraks, so don't get too cavalier. Enough bodies can still at least slow you down for something nasty, and they can still hurt you badly in CC if they force enough attacks down your throat (combined squads being the ones that'll do it). They could also ride around in a Chimera, which brings a multilaser, some cover, and tank shocks to the party.

 

In a strange mirror to the current Space Marine combat squads, basic infantry squads from the same platoon can combine into larger units, something other squads in the list can't do. This has two purposes. First, it puts more warm bodies between the sergeants and joining Kren and Frep at the keg under the table when they get killed. Second (and probably more importantly), it piles more Guardsmen together to volley fire. When 45 lasguns open up at three shots each because the platoon commander told them "First Rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE!", you're going to notice real quick when most of a Tactical or Chaos Marine squad ablates away under the non-existent mercy of the Law of Averages administered by the arch-bastard himself, Murphy. I'm probably preaching to the choir, but don't botch your squad placement when bringing CC troops down on their heads - handing your opponent cheap shots at your much more valuable models is never a good idea, and Vanguard, in particular, you want to take care not to let them have that opportunity. Even a ten man squad can do far more damage than you'll like in one round with that order, so don't let them do it if you've got a choice.

 

So Many Skulls To Claim, So Little Time...

 

Keep in mind that Guard players are, by virtue of how bad their basic troops are compared to just about everything else in the game, not attached to their survival the way you need to be for Marines, and infantry squads are not, by themselves, an entire troops choice. As long as any of the platoon is left, it's still a scoring unit, even if it's just one conscript and none of the command squad or infantry squads. Personally, I'd have relatively few compunctions about bringing artillery down near my own troops in some situations, and one thing the Imperial Guard is not lacking for is blast weapons. If they maneuver well, they can box you into an area and lay down fire from a couple of Basilisks or something, and if it annihilates a couple of squads of Marines, there's not going to be many tears about the Guardsmen caught in the fringes. There's going to be a lot of laughing from me if it was Terminators or Wolf Guard or something similarly expensive that just got sent to meet the Emperor in person.

 

Enough of how big and bad they aren't, and how they can be thrown into the breach with a cavalier, ruthless attitude. How do we get rid of these gnats? The first and best answer is pie plates. Their armor is, by our standards, a joke, and even Scouts sneer at it. Simply to fit the models into spaces, tight formations can often be the order of the day. Loyalists, your first and best answers are the Whirlwind and Thunderfire. The former can use either load depending on whether or not they're in cover, since both will ignore their armor save, while the latter does better with surface blasts to exploit the higher Strength and better AP. Chaos Marines, the Defiler's battle cannon is wonderful for this. For either, a Demolisher shot will do the job, but it's short ranged, so make your own call on whether or not you want to get that close. (The heavy weapon, if any, and LOS to potential tank killers should be your main worries here.) Infantry squads are usually on or near the front line, so maneuver carefully. Plasma cannons also do the trick nicely if you've got any in range, but pay attention to the nearby tanks. A plasma cannon shot in return for frying some Guardsmen will hurt you more than it does him. (I'll get to the Russes in a little while.) Frag missiles will kill some of them, but they still get their saves, so it's not my preferred answer.

 

While it's not really recommended in some ways, your basic bolters are also perfectly handy for getting rid of these guys or cutting their numbers down. 10 Marines of whatever codex firing single shots will get rid of four Guardsmen a phase on average, and the pistols will do the same thing as the boltguns if you're close enough. Battle Sisters, with their greater numbers, and Grey Knights, with their storm bolters, are going to make it so much worse. Inquisitorial storm troopers don't have the same strength of weapon, but the hellguns will ignore their armor save for a nice bit of schadenfraude, and that means that 1/3 that would've saved won't unless they have some cover. Basic troops aren't the best solution, but they're definitely a viable one if you don't have better tools available (or that don't have something more important, like veteran squads or elites, to be shooting at).

 

Close combat is a great way to kill them, but you need to be smart about it. Not because they're dangerous in CC (they're not), but because they can slow you down, they've always got a chance to hurt you, and because a Guard player may be using the infantry to distract you or screen something more important. Never just pile into a whole mass of them (i.e., a combined squad) that has a Commissar attached without shooting first to get rid of some of the bodies. Otherwise, the Commissar will hide at the back of the wound allocation and give them Leadership 9, then execute a sergeant for a reroll, and if there's enough bodies, he can keep this charade up for a couple of turns to speed bump you. Since the cover save they grant doesn't matter if you've still got your 3+ armor save, this can be another cold-blooded way for them to manipulate your movements or just plain slow you down long enough to get something capable of actually hurting Marines in CC in reach, or just get a couple of flamers in position to help weaken you. Daemons... I don't know what to tell you, but be aware of their tricks.

 

In the end, these guys are dead meat against MEQs one-on-one, but they're not going to be one-on-one. There's a million Guardsmen, at least, for every Marine in existence, and even on the tabletop, they come at better than two-to-one if the opponent isn't running an armor-heavy list. So as cheap as they are, and as much as they are basically dead when a Marine picks one out, they can be dangerous by weight of numbers and by giving your opponent bodies and space he can trade for time and options in the grand Soviet fashion. Lasguns are popguns compared to bolters, but as the Codex for the Guard points out, enough of them will bring anyone down, and if your opponent wants to run an infantry regimen, there will be plenty of guys with lasguns around to do the shooting.

 

Anyone who has comments, experiences, or wisdom to share, please do. I want to make this the best it can be, and I need your help! Chaos and Inquisition players, I especially want to hear from you.