Wishlist for 9th edition updates to the guard codex.

[HallofStovokor]

Considering the substantial nerfs we took this edition, I'm already looking to our 9th codex hoping for a lifeline. Here's what I would love, aside from the relics and strats in vigilus.

 

1. A new troop option. I would like the option to take a platoon. I want the option to take either 1 or 3 infantry squads per troop slot. This would go for HWSs in heavy support slots too. I would love the option to take a pure infantry list without having to pay for a second detachment.

 

2. FRFSRF grants all rapid fire weapons rapid fire 2. It would help our infantry punch back against Primaris Marines.

 

3. Astropaths gain the for your own good rule.

 

4. Unique elite infantry units for each regiment. Cadians get Kasrkins, Catachans get the devils, Mordians get military police, Steel Legion get Ork Hunters, etc. Each would have their specialties with a veteran squad baseline stats. Ork hunters reroll to hit against Orks, Kasrkins are essentially scions but must be in 10 man units, catachan devils get a permanent -1 to hit and a T4, mordian police reroll to hit against imperials and genestealers and they all have power mauls.

 

Let me know what you'd like to be added into the 9th codex when it drops.

[FinalCookie]

Your 4th point is really interesting. I can't remember which edition it first appeared in, but I remember back in 7th ed you could specialize Veteran squads with particular loadouts. They had options to make them grenadiers, scout specialists, etc. I would really love a return of some flavor of that system, and a way to specialize them based on Regimental Traits or something would be pretty cool.

 

The biggest hope I have no expectation of being fulfilled is returning veterans to the troop slot. Either that or allowing scions to gain access to normal regimental traits when taken in a non-scion detachment. I just want something better to stuff into Chimeras that still gets obsec rather than bog standard infantry squads.

[domsto]

I would love to see a return of Rough Riders.

But give them either a melee or a ranged loudout option. And let them ride bikes instead of Horses. Or mutated Horses like the Deathriders.

A nice fast Unit for harassment Attack.

 

As said before

Bring flavour back

Give Veterans the ability back to specialize.

Allow more Units to be packed into one Slot.

Platoons for Infantry or a Firesupport Platoon for HWTs.

 

Maybe penal legions?

 

In regards of new Models

It would be cool to get something like the Razorback for Guard

A chimera with less transport space but more firepower.

Seeing as the Leman Russ is the Heavy Tank and Hellhounds are spezial Tanks. A Medium Tank would be a nice addition.

[HallofStovokor]

I would love to see a return of Rough Riders.

But give them either a melee or a ranged loudout option. And let them ride bikes instead of Horses. Or mutated Horses like the Deathriders.

A nice fast Unit for harassment Attack.

 

As said before

Bring flavour back

Give Veterans the ability back to specialize.

Allow more Units to be packed into one Slot.

Platoons for Infantry or a Firesupport Platoon for HWTs.

 

Maybe penal legions?

 

In regards of new Models

It would be cool to get something like the Razorback for Guard

A chimera with less transport space but more firepower.

Seeing as the Leman Russ is the Heavy Tank and Hellhounds are spezial Tanks. A Medium Tank would be a nice addition.

There's a FW tank that is a medium tank. I'm not sure the name and I probably wouldn't spend FW prices for one, but it does exist.

[Dusty_scions]

Agreed on the Rough Riders.

 

I’d like to see some sort of buggy similar to the Cult vehicles.

 

I wonder as well about some dedicated Scion snipers.

 

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens

[Shamansky]

It would be cool to get something like the Razorback for Guard

A chimera with less transport space but more firepower.

Taurox prime?

[Warhead01]

As above so below. Rough riders including a command please. 
And a bomber. 
Something like the Ork Burna bomba in form and function. With at least 2 bombs to drop and an option to buy either rockets/Hunter Killers or similar or more bombs with an option to drop all of those in a single run for big batta - boom!
And a plastic Heavy Mortar/ artillery. Never enough artillery. 

And an ability to combine squads pregame either as a strat/ability or just buy the squads and just deploy it that way. 
And a preliminary bombardment 1 for each tank in the army Excluding transports. 

I'd like a smoke screen strat as well. something that targets 1 + D3 units with in 6" of target unit where those unit take a -1 to hit in shooting. something like that. 

Edited July 21, 2020 by Warhead01

[domsto]

Taurox prime?

The Taurox Prime is a Sions Vehicale

I wish for a normal Guard one. Both in astetic and Rulewise(regimental Doctrine)

[domsto]

Things i also would love to see are more Vehicale equipment.

A Vox array for example. To allow a Officer to use his Orders from inside a Chimera. More or less like the Stratagem but instead locked behind a CP paywall, a nice 5point upgrade.

Same for Tank Commander. Give them something to extend the Range of their Orders. 6" always seemed to me odd. What is he doing? Open the hatch and shout?

 

Allow the dozerblade some terrain interactions again. Dense Terrain? Not if i doze right trow it.

[DarthWaffle]

I want to see a reason to take veterans again. They were so cool in other editions. It would be sick to even just pay for an upgrade to make them troops instead of elites or add some kind of character tax. 

[War Angel]

Also want platoons back. They only went away in 8th so we could easily take more detachments, so I have hope.

[WarriorFish]

It would be great to get a bit more flavour back, even if we ignore new units/models. Platoons and Veterans back as Troops would be nice :)

[Captain Incompetence]

I'd also like to see Veterans moved back to the Troop section. It allows for people to make a bit more "elite" Guard armies that aren't scions and it makes it much easier for new players to start the army. This would ensure that newer players could more easily fill up those 500 - 1000pt armies and not be forced to buy half a dozen infantry squads just to get their foot in the door.

I'd also really like to see those specializations coming back for Veterans and perhaps expand the Tank Aces abilities slightly. Speaking of Tank commanders, I'd also like them to be a bit more expensive, but have them come with 2 orders and the ability to give them out in an 18" bubble. The way they currently work is very counter-intuitive in my opinion and creates this weird meta where a Tank Commander is just a better Leman Russ instead of being an officer who's commanding other vehicles around him.

 

The last two things are probably pretty controversial, but I'd like to see the Move-Move-Move order being replaced by something else so there's more of a reason to bring a mechanized infantry list. Right now I feel like Guardsmen can move around the board a bit too fast with that order. But perhaps that's just me being silly.

I'd also really like to see Platoon Commanders being incorporated into Command squads so the Platoon Command squad becomes the HQ. Perhaps this would be a straight nerf to them, but to me it's kind of strange how I end up having 5 platoon commanders running around in my lists without any kind of bodyguards or specialists as if they're just some random sergeants yelling orders :p. It would bring them much closer to the fluff and allows for more interesting rules to be written to replace the current voxcaster / Banner / medic / ... rules we have. I also think having a fully kitted out command squad would look way cooler as a sort of setpiece unit than what we currently bring. Obviously they'd have to get more orders than the standard 2 they have right now to compensate for the increase in points cost.

[sairence]

I would like Tank Commanders have their orders buffed as well and potentially also the introduction of a Veteran upgrade for a Leman Russ squad, to buff them to BS 3+. Maybe 1 CP for 1-2 tanks, 2 CP for a full squad. A 1, 2, 3 scaling would feel a. It excessive.

 

Or alternatively rework Tank Commanders so that they can be taken in squadrons with 1 or 2 veteran tanks alongside them, with all at BS 3+ and only one order but it affects the whole squad as long as they are in coherency.

 

Or, alternatively...just a general pre-game limited to one use strategem that allows you to give any one Guard unit in your army +1 BS, with the CP cost scaled with PL. You could make an elite Vet-squad, a veteran Sentinel squad or upgrade your Baneblade with it for example.

 

And on the topic of Baneblades, make them a viable choice that is not outshone by the equivalent amount of points in other stuff. A survivability boost would be great, with my personal preference being a FNP.

[duz_]

Banebaldes are in a tough sport maybe T9 might fix it?

They are fairly easily gunned down these days especially compared to IKs that boast a 4++ for a similar price

 

I really hope platoons stay dead

Really locked in how you could field a IG army and made it a very expensive hurdle to starting an army

Perhaps a detachment or stratagem to allow that structure would be a middle ground

Otherwise they can go rot with armour facings and Hull points for all I care :D

 

Vets going back to troops would be nice especially since they're nothing to write home about in their current iteration

[HallofStovokor]

Banebaldes are in a tough sport maybe T9 might fix it?

They are fairly easily gunned down these days especially compared to IKs that boast a 4++ for a similar price

 

I really hope platoons stay dead

Really locked in how you could field a IG army and made it a very expensive hurdle to starting an army

Perhaps a detachment or stratagem to allow that structure would be a middle ground

Otherwise they can go rot with armour facings and Hull points for all I care :D

 

Vets going back to troops would be nice especially since they're nothing to write home about in their current iteration

I was thinking that platoons would be more like the way vehicle squadrons work. You have the option of 1 or 3 infantry squads per slot.

 

There are people who prefer foot guard, and they should have the option to do that without a CP penalty or having to pay the brigade tax.

[Lord Raven 19]

Baneblades with T9 and a fnp/invulnerable would be welcome. I think platoons like said above would be good too. Veterans as troops would be nice. I would also like veteran heavy weapon squads.

[War Angel]

Banebaldes are in a tough sport maybe T9 might fix it?

They are fairly easily gunned down these days especially compared to IKs that boast a 4++ for a similar price

I really hope platoons stay dead

Really locked in how you could field a IG army and made it a very expensive hurdle to starting an army

Perhaps a detachment or stratagem to allow that structure would be a middle ground

Otherwise they can go rot with armour facings and Hull points for all I care :D

Vets going back to troops would be nice especially since they're nothing to write home about in their current iteration

Damn, that’s a lot of hate for something that can work differently. It doesn’t have to be the same way it used to be.

[duz_]

Well I just keep hearing bring platoons back and I'm familiar with the ones from 3rd through 7th which generally functioned the same and as I mentioned was a significant barrier to building and buying an army

 

The platoon command squad was a tax for those who didn't value them and to fill out 2 troop slots you had to take 4 squads and 2 platoon command squads a significantly large cost

 

So much so most people just took veteran squads to avoid that

 

However if you have alternative thoughts of achieving this so it doesn't adversely impacting those who don't like to run infantry heavy lists I'm happy to listen

[FinalCookie]

 

Banebaldes are in a tough sport maybe T9 might fix it?

They are fairly easily gunned down these days especially compared to IKs that boast a 4++ for a similar price

 

I really hope platoons stay dead

Really locked in how you could field a IG army and made it a very expensive hurdle to starting an army

Perhaps a detachment or stratagem to allow that structure would be a middle ground

Otherwise they can go rot with armour facings and Hull points for all I care

 

Vets going back to troops would be nice especially since they're nothing to write home about in their current iteration

I was thinking that platoons would be more like the way vehicle squadrons work. You have the option of 1 or 3 infantry squads per slot.

 

There are people who prefer foot guard, and they should have the option to do that without a CP penalty or having to pay the brigade tax.

 

 

The slot idea is absolutely brilliant. Requires them to deploy in coherency but they don't need to remain there, etc. Also would give design space over to Veteran squads if they did end up making them troops again, in that veterans would still be limited to one squad per slot. 

 

Platoon commanders are actually in a pretty good spot right now, in that they compete well in the elite slot and don't take up an HQ; Tank Commanders being so much better than vanilla Russes currently means Company Commanders face stiff competition. If infantry squads could be taken in a "squadron" you'd be leaning towards how the old platoon structure worked anyways, without it being forced.

[domsto]

Yeah Baneblades with t9 would be cool. Also maybe a 2+ save or a similar Rule as the Mars Alpha Pattern Tanks from Forge World.

They also need new Rules to field them. Now you have to either Play 3 of them and pay 6CP or you have to pay 3CP for the Super Heavy Auxilary and 1CP for the Tank ace.

Either way it isn,t anywhere close to worth it.

[War Angel]

I just wouldn’t get fancy with it. Infantry platoon consists of 1-3 infantry squads. You could add extra options such as heavy weapon teams or special weapon teams, but maybe that would be too powerful? Perhaps in order to unlock those options you have to take a command squad? Not really the main thing here though, so let’s start with Infantry platoons being 1-3 infantry squads.

 

Then do the same for a heavy weapons platoon, consists of 1-3 heavy weapons squads.

 

Make infantry feel like infantry again.

[duz_]

So essentially what HallofStovokor said, is what your preference would be?

 

Each Infantry Squad can consist of 1-3 units. They are deployed in close coherency at the beginning of battle but the act independently afterwards?

This reflects them being a platoon but doesn't create any additional complexities

 

Same could go for SWS and HWT squads I guess

 

I think this would work and be a good compromise for both styles of play

[HallofStovokor]

So essentially what HallofStovokor said, is what your preference would be?

 

Each Infantry Squad can consist of 1-3 units. They are deployed in close coherency at the beginning of battle but the act independently afterwards?

This reflects them being a platoon but doesn't create any additional complexities

 

Same could go for SWS and HWT squads I guess

 

I think this would work and be a good compromise for both styles of play

I figured that it would be nice to allow players to decide whether or not they want to go infantry heavy, rather than the Game designers punish the players who don't want to bring 7 or 8 vehicles. Each infantry squad would retain its price, but I could run an entire list of infantry without having to pay CP for the privilege to field my army. It's such a simple change that would go a long way to alleviating reservations that guard players have about this edition. Personally, I would have really preferred free detachments, but I know that they won't rewrite the core rules even if it is punitive.

 

If they did that, their claim of "it's your army, you decide" would have merit. Out of fairness, every army should be afforded that option. It would probably benefit Orks, nids and GSC too.

Edited July 25, 2020 by HallofStovokor

[DarthWaffle]

Baneblades with T9 and a fnp/invulnerable would be welcome. I think platoons like said above would be good too. Veterans as troops would be nice. I would also like veteran heavy weapon squads.

 

Yep T9 Baneblades, even without the invulnerable save would help. 

 

Its a newer kit from GW, we are bound to get some reason to take them in the new codex, right?