I don't like admitting it, but in replying to an army build request from Stampy this will be the first time I say that the Imperial Guard are not the world-beaters they used to be.
2013 has not been good to the IG, and the codex is finally showing signs of age. However, as an avid guard player who has taken them to victory at a large number of tournaments, I believe it's worth looking at what has contributed to their decline but also that it is far from time to let them go quietly into the night.
Stampy's request:
“I have recently been struggling to play a strong game with my IG army. In my opinion, they are beginning to show signs of age and are not the power house army that they used to be. I think people could benefit from this information because at the moment we are only really hearing about IG as allies, not as the primary. Consequently, in an era where eldar and tau seem to be king, it would be great to hear about the IG and what these older armies need to do to change with the times.
Unfortunately, the lists never function like the power house lists that I crave. I was hoping you could help me come up with a list that you would not be happy to face in a tournament setting. The catch is that I would like to see IG as the primary detachment. I was thinking of adding either chaos/space wolves or orks as allies to perhaps tip my list into a truly powerful force.
As Space Wolf Allies; Maybe something like 2x rune priest, 6 wolf guard with 6 combi-pasma and drop pod, 2x 10 grey hunters with melta guns, drop pod.
For chaos; lvl3 sorc 10 cultists helldrake
For orks; Warboss, PK, bike 5 nobs, pain boy, 1 pk”
Those are some quite dissimilar ally options, so I'll focus on just one of them today. First though, let's look at the causes of why Imperial Guard have (IMHO) been slipping to the second tier of 40K armies.
There are three main reasons for this. The first is a relative decline against other codexes; Tau are better at anti-air, Chaos have the best aircraft (judged by impact on the battlefield), Eldar can outshoot many IG armies (while also out-fighting, out-manoeuvring and out-contesting them) and GK do cheap plasma-bodies better.
The second is the recent decline in survivability of the light infantry that got thrown out of their transports in 2012. IG had a few blissful months behind the Aegis walls that benefitted no army more -being able to dive for cover and popping back up with an order to “Get Back in the Fight” made guardsmen seem almost survivable. Markerlights and Serpent Shields and an increasing number of ignore cover weapons saw that chapter come to a premature close.
The third is a real decline in the power of the codex, rather than a relative one. There have been a few reductions the codex's power during 6th, such as the Hydra's rules carelessly making it snap fire against ground targets, camo cloaks being changed to only giving stealth to the single model wearing it and Leman Russ lumbering behemoth rules being replaced by Heavy Vehicle rules, etc. However in my opinion none of these were as significant as when the Vendetta lost the Scout special rule a few months ago.
Scout grants outflank, and removing this rule means that Vendettas (and Valkyries if this article didn't talk you out of using them) must come from a predictable angle that will almost always be the front arc of the opponent's vehicles. It makes dropping troops on objectives harder, makes it more difficult to score line breaker, makes it harder to hit the rear of heavily armoured vehicles without a turn spent in hover mode and removes one of the most unpredictable aspects of an often too-predictable army.
Here's a quick look at how this might play out, as the Vendettas come on from their board edge on Turn 2 to find an opponent who (shock!) doesn't want to show rear armour.
The example above uses Eldar, but is at least as applicable when combatting Annihilation barges or any other vehicles with strong front armour – including other Guard armies.
Guard now have short list of unique selling points as an army, a couple of which have been fading:
Cheap Light Infantry (although note GK get the same man with higher LD and a bolter for the same price, or with a stormbolter for the same price as a guard veteran – and cheaper plasmaguns)
The Leman Russ family of AV14 gun tanks (not all they once were)
The Psyker Battle Squad (I still rate them highly in a shooting army)
Excellent Ally options
Orders (“GBITF” and “Incoming!” reduced in value by Ignore Cover)
Ordnance Barrage Weapons (esp the Manticore, Griffon and Collossus)
The Vendetta
Due to the increasing shortness of this list, a hit the vendetta is not a mere detail, and I've noticed that I've had less fun playing Guard since the excitement of surrounding opponents with unpredictable outflanking moves was removed. I liked my opponent not knowing exactly what was going to happen and where things were coming from. I liked the uncertainty and the way it encouraged cautious play.
So, let's get it back. Let's make a list to put the Fear of the God Emperor back into the likes of Eldar and Necrons.
Disclaimer – Remember he didn't ask for a ‘friendly' list.
1850 Pts – Chaotic Imperial Guard
Company Command Squad (Plasma gun x2 Autocannon x1, Astropath)
Chimera HF
8 Psyker Battle Squad, 100 pts 1 Overseer
Platoon Command Squad (Meltagun x4) 1 Captain Al'rahem
Infantry Squad (Flamer x1)
Infantry Squad (Flamer x1) Krak Grenades
6 Special Weapons Squad (Flamer x3)
Veteran Squad, 180 pts (Plasma gun x3)
Chimera (Dozer Blade) HF
Manticore Rocket Launcher, 160 pts (Heavy Flamer)
Manticore Rocket Launcher, 160 pts (Heavy Flamer)
Vendetta (Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2)
Vendetta (Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2)
Vendetta
Sorcerer (HQ) [Chaos], 85 pts (Bolt Pistol; Force Sword; Increase Mastery Level x1)
10 Chaos Cultists (Troops) [Chaos], 50 pts
10 Chaos Cultists (Troops) [Chaos], 50 pts
Heldrake (Fast) [Chaos], 170 pts (Baleflamer)
Apart from the obvious target saturation of 4 of the games 2 best flyers, what's this all about?
Al'rahem is an IG character I had always considered overpriced at 70pts, but who now looks more reasonable out of necessity. His role in the army is this key ability “Stalk the Enemy”; any unit that is part of Al'rahem's platoon must outflank. Putting 3 of the 4 squads in his platoon into vendettas will allow them to outflank, and better yet as they are embarked on a Vendetta they are rolled for separately so don't have to all come on the same edge thanks to the IG FAQ
Page 96 – Infantry Platoon, second sentence Change to: “Each Infantry Platoon is deployed in place of a single unit in missions that limit the number units that can be deployed. In addition when making a reserve or outflanking roll, roll once for the whole Infantry Platoon. Any units in reserve that are embarked upon a non-dedicated transport are instead rolled for separately.”
That means we have a chance to either come in on force on one flank for massed rear armour shooting, or spread the Vendettas over both sides of the table. It rankles that we're effectively paying 70 points to regain an ability the Vendettas used to have for free, but the key not to focus on the extra points being used just to regain one of your army's abilities. The key is to decide whether increased costs are worth it to keep your army competitive in a changing meta-game.
So, here's a look at what you get for your money.
Captain Al'rahem – Gives entire platoon outflank.
Can issue 2 orders per turn with 12″ radius (like a senior officer rather than junior):
Bring it Down: twinlink weapons vs vehicles or Monstrous Creatures – excellent synergy with his squad carrying 4 meltaguns, and his squad passes at LD9 instead of 8
FRFSRF: An extra shot per lasgun, which generally means a squad near him will fire 24 lasguns, 1 pistol and a Flamer.
“Like the Wind” – Unique to Al'rahem, the unit shoots and then runs (hey, we're Eldar!)
He's not really a fighter at WS4 BS4 S3 T4 W2 I3 A2 5+, but he also carries an instant death power weapon and plasma pistol.
This combination of outflank and obtaining quality orders on the flank without exposing the HQ is good for any Guard army, but there are two reasons this works well with Chaos Marines. Firstly, the main disadvantage of Al'rahem is the whole platoon must outflank, meaning there is no option for some men to remain on the table. Chaos offer a couple of cheap cultists units that do the same job, without requiring a second platoon to be taken. Secondly, this is by nature an air heavy list and adding the Heldrake pushes it to the level of critical mass where most opponents will struggle to deal with the threats. While the Vendettas outflank, the Heldrake comes on from the player's home board edge. When the Vendettas open a can, the Heldrake toasts the contents.
Here is the list again, this time with each unit's role specified.
Company Command Squad (Plasma gun x2 Autocannon x1) – Deployed normally, firesupport
Chimera HF – Keeps Warlord point safer; it's hardly worth killing the warlord with so many higher priority AV12 targets on the table.
Astropath – VITAL not just to allow vendettas to come in on 2+ but to allow reroll the outflank dice. If not outflanking, a commlink would be better because it affects the Heldrake too.
8 Psyker Battle Squad, 100 pts 1 Overseer – Weaken Resolve of any unit reduced by 25%, or SoulStorm (Blast) fearless/stubborn. With 36″ range this is very useful for to removing enemy troops from objectives, and in this list can support the outflankers by forcing failed leadership checks from threats near them.
Captain Al'rahem – Gives whole platoon outflank.
Command Squad (Meltagun x4) – Accompany Al'rahem, accept orders and frag tanks.
Infantry Squad (Flamer x1) – Outflanks in Vendetta, scores.
Infantry Squad (Flamer x1) Krak Grenades – Outflanks on foot, minds its own business to score line breaker or tries to krak a tank one turn later OR outflanks in Vendetta while Al'rahem's squad outflanks on foot to melta a tank on arrival.
6 Special Weapons Squad (Flamer x3) – Outflanks in Vendetta, scores and burns
Veteran Squad, 180 pts (Plasma gun x3) – Deployed normally, firesupport
Chimera (Dozer Blade) HF
Manticore Rocket Launcher, 160 pts (Heavy Flamer) – If you read 3++, you know what these are for.
Manticore Rocket Launcher, 160 pts (Heavy Flamer)
Vendetta (Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2) – HB because we can proably get a couple Vs into rear arcs.
Vendetta (Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2)
Vendetta
Sorcerer (HQ) [Chaos], 85 pts (Bolt Pistol; Force Sword; Increase Mastery Level x1) – Low cost HQ Caster.
10 Chaos Cultists (Troops) [Chaos], 50 pts – Deployed normally to hold home objective
10 Chaos Cultists (Troops) [Chaos], 50 pts – Deployed normally to hold home objective
Heldrake (Fast) [Chaos], 170 pts (Baleflamer) Scourge of all MEQ. Anything with higher armour is Vendetta bait, anything lower is for the Manticores. Sometimes synergy is having a different gun for every bad guy.
I'll get to the Ork and Space Wolf allies for a primarily Guard army next week, but in the meantime that is a competitive army I'd consider a lot of fun to play, and that would cause a real challenge for even the newest codexes.
Heck, I'd take it to a tournament, and that's all the endorsement I can give.
-Matt