Imperial Guard Tactics: Mortars

So I have another tactics article, I have played a few recent games and since I have been playing I want to put these tactics down while it's still fresh in my mind.  Let me be clear, I love mortars!  They are one of the most effective weapons for their points.  They are versatile and when used correctly, devastating.  As the cheapest heavy weapon and weapon squad, there are few reasons not to take them.  Barrage and pinning are powerful, especially with the orders available to make their shooting even better.  For me I find mortars to be effective with two or more squads being taken.  This means you have a second unit to make up for a bad scatter with the first, can spread your fire without losing effectiveness, and can concentrate when needed.  Another benefit of them is that your opponent is often going to be more afraid of your lascannons, plasma guns, leman russes, and all your other "big" stuff, making them a low priority on your opponent's list.  This means they will be left unmolested for a good part of the game to fire uninhibited.  Even guys I have played against multiple times will make the mistake of letting them be, and then regretting it later in the game when their units are being whittled down and being pinned.  While many armies have ways around pinning, but when those fearless units are gone and other buffs/rules that ignore pinning are gone, those units can be very susceptible to being pinned.  A space marine army isn't very scary when two tac squads are pinned in the open.

Imperial Guard Tactics: The Lasgun

Yes I am reusing the picture but it is such a true one that I can't help but use it again to illustrate the beauty of the lasgun.  I also need to admit that I am not much of a math hammer guy, its a good basis to start from but I am in the theory hammer camp and it is my way.  Now a lot of tactics are out there for the Imperial Guard and focus on the use of units and the more destructive weapons of the IG, however there are few that truly give the angry flashlight the credit it deserves and the many uses for it (warming dinner and sweet rave parties).  It is still one of the weakest standard weapons in the game, but it is the core of the IG and will bring you to victory if used astutely.  Now obviously orders bring it to a whole new level and I will talk about that, but there is more to this simple laser pointer than just shooting infantry. 

Battle Report: Imperial Guard vs Grey Knights 1850

Ok time for another batrep, my brother returned with his anti-guard army to try and beat me.  First thing is I have a 6x4 board now which made a big difference in our game.  No significant changes from the previous list for me, I swapped a heavy bolter for an auto cannon and added a plasma gun to my command squad, dropping the commanders power sword.  Now forgive me but I do not have his list exactly but here is what he had:

Grand Master with incinerator
Paladins with 2x incinerator
1 Dreadnought with 2x incinerator
1 Strike squad with incinerator w/rhino
1 Strike squad with incinerator
1 Interceptor squad with incinerator
Stormraven with TW lascannon, multi metla, hurricane bolters
Dreadknight with greatsword, heavy incinerator, teleporter thingy
Land raider redeemer with flamestorm cannons

Imperial Guard Tactics: New Space Marines

Well the new space marine codex has been out for almost a month and its time for an anlysis of it, but from a guardsman's perspective.  The guys in the above picture are very hot now, among others, but they are not the only thing to watch out for in the new codex.  Over all I love the new codex, but they are certainly making it harder for gaurdsmen.  The major changes are in the points, the relics, and chapter tactics.  The main issue for a guard player is the breadth of options and possible army combinations that can be brought to the table.  The difficulty is in figuring out how these units can be combined together, and how to counter them.  With different Marine armies and tactics, there is no longer a single answer to how to defeat space marines.

Battle Report: Imperial Guard vs Dark Angels/Grey Knights 1850

Ok so my first battle report so bear with me.  This was a fight at my house, me versus my brother, so the scenery and table were what we had.  First off the table was about a foot and a half narrower than standard so we had a long narrow board to play on which narrowed our movement.  We played the Emperor's Will mission and Hammer and Anvil deployment.  This really narrowed the maneuver for both of us but worked in my favor as I had the men to prevent my brother from getting through anywhere.  Also need to note that my bother does not have a huge unit selection, dark vengeance DA and his Grey knights are solid for what he has but he has few options as well.  Now here are the armies

Imperial Guard Tactics: Command Squad

Time for another tactics discussion, and if the picture hasn't clued you in, there will be some tactical genius going on.  I want to talk about the main stay of the Imperial Guard HQ: the Company Command Squad.  Combined with infantry platoons, this is the backbone of the Imperial Guard army.  Now the command squad is a great unit with loads of options and with the orders it can issue, it makes the guard infantry more deadly and longer lasting than they would be on their own.  Now they aren't ideal for all army types though.  An armor heavy list will get more benefit from a lord commissar or primaris psyker, and this holds true to any list that doesn't have a lot of regular guard infantry.  However, since most guard armies have a significant portion of infantry, the command squad is the HQ to take as your primary hands down every time.

Oh I wish, I wish

Now I have already talked about my wishes for the new Codex and army rules.  What I also really am hoping for is new models and recasts of old models.  There are a lot of options for the Imperial Guard that are only available through forge world, and while the models are nice, I want to have the ability to buy the standard models from my Codex outside of forge world.  With most armies getting plastic kits for their units, I really want to have this as well.  There are a few areas where the Guard really need the models.  One is to have kits that don't exist made in to plastic.  The second is getting the old pewter models into either plastic or finecast.  On a personal note, I like finecast, I have seen that many people have had issues with quality.  I personally haven't and the only reall issues I have had was fragility with the Dark Eldar finecast models I had.  Other than that I like finecast and would be ok with the current metal models being recast into finecast.

Next Imperial Guard Codex PT2

To continue from my last post, I covered some of the general rules and wargear and went through the first two sections of the army.  Now it is on to the mainstay of the Imperial Guard army, troops/fast attack/heavy support.  This is where the Guard army currently shines, but there are some definite changes that could be had in these areas.

Next Imperial Guard Codex PT1

In Short I Want More of the Above

My thoughts on 6th ed

So 6th ed has been out for almost a year and I thought I would take the time to talk about this latest edition and where it has taken us.  First off I will be clear that I really like this edition.  Can't say I love it as there are issues with it still, but I think it is one of the best seen so far.

The Myth of Shooty

A Little Ranting and Some Thoughts

First I would like to just put it out there that I am still new to this Blogging thing and apologize if my posting seems haphazard and more than a little unrefined, I'm learning and hope to continue to improve.  Now as another note this post will contain some profanity so if this offends you, please do not read further.

New Codex's and a little bit of wish listing

With the recent release of the new SM codex, as well as the less recent 6th ed codex's (codices?), I have been very happy with what GW has been doing with the armies so far and have been pondering/getting jealous of what is in them and what will hopefully be in the next Imperial Guard codex.  First off I think all the new ones have been pretty darn good, with some being great and others being ok but still well balanced.  I know many CSM players are not too happy but I still think it is a good codex, if somewhat bland.  Before anyone gets their flamers warm I would like to add that I am with everyone that thinks they should have more, especially along the lines of what the marines just received.  However I am a little tired of the complaining, its a good codex and there are more builds and ways to play it then many like to let on.  Could it be better, yes.  Is it probably the weakest of the 6th eds, yes.  But that doesn't mean its weak, only that you are limited to certain builds if you are a competitive player,  Me I am a fluff player and love to create fluffy armies, may make it harder to win but that's where good generalship comes in, and in the end if you have fun that's really the point.  This is the crux of what these new codex's allow, many ways to play your army and have fun doing it without overbalancing units, for the most part (see helldrake).  Any who that's enough on that.

Hobby Tips: Camouflage

The hobby is prop one of my favorite parts of 40K and in some ways I love it more than gaming itself.  Customizing and kit bashing is one of the best ways of personalizing your army and models, making them your own.  Though I play cadians, I do have a few catachan models and it was during my attempt to create my own Sly Marbo that I stumbled onto a great technique for creating camouflage.  It works great for representing Camo Cloaks on infantry and Camo netting on vehicles and is just plain cool looking :).  Apologize ahead of time for the less than professional pictures.

                                                      Here is my end result of Marbo:

Imperial Guard Tactics: Air Support

My first Tactics post and what I want to cover is the air support staple of the Imperial Guard, the Valkyrie and Vendetta.  One is most definitely favored over the other, that being the vendetta.  However I disagree with some that like to talk down about the valkyrie.  I like both, however they each work well with different tactics and for different reasons.  Another part of why some hate on the valkyrie has more to do with the army list entries for each and not just because one has 3 twin linked lascannons, they are awesome though :).  One that confounds me and I hope is changed in the next codex is the option for the vendetta to swap two of its LCs for Hell Fury Missiles.  It is a great missile in my opinion, S4 AP5 large blast, ignores cover.  No its no baleflamer, but still could be very useful.  Here is the hitch though, only the vendetta can take them, why you would turn an excellent tank hunter into an ok infantry killer is beyond me but the option is there.  Having this weapon on the valkyrie instead of the Hellstrike missiles makes far more sense.  If the valkyrie started with the HF base and the vendetta started with the HS base then that would be more sensible.  Each would start out with basic one shot weapons that fitted their roles, and then could be upgraded if desires i.e. TW LC for the vendetta and MRP for the valkyrie (plus this would make some happy by making the vendetta pay a little more for its LCs).  But this isn't the case.  One more gripe before moving on, why the hell is the HS ordnance, that makes it so worthless its not even funny.  This is another reason I think some hate on the valk, you have to upgrade it to make it useful, whereas the ven is good to go.

An introduction into an obsession

So here I am, doing this blog thing.  It's something that I have thought about but have found one excuse or another to dissuade me till now.  As the title of this post and my blog will suggest, I am obsessed with the Imperial Guard, and 40K in general.  More specifically the fortress world of Cadia.  Oh I know many out there find them ho hum, but I love the violet eyed defenders of the Imperium.  They may be the Ultrasmurfs of the IG, but I love them.  Don't get me wrong, the Steel Legion is awesome too, as well as the Elysian Drop Troops but for me the fortress world of Cadia is my home.