Imperial Guard in Depth -- Elites

Posted by Ranillon on 10. May 2009 23:46

Now it’s time to talk about the Elite choices available in the new Imperial Guard codex (this also happens to be my 100th post for this blog!).

Ogryn

I happen to like these idiot brutes.  They possess superhuman stats, most notably their five strength and toughness.  That means they can effectively wound any other infantry while being able to take damage back.  With three wounds they don’t really have to worry about anything except strength 10 attacks which can instant kill them.  Fortunately, they aren’t too common.  Another potential limitation is their mediocre leadership, but fortunately being stubborn mitigates this somewhat.

Obviously, Ogryn are made for close-combat, their ripper guns notwithstanding.  Therefore, I see two primary roles they can fulfill.  The first is as a rapid response squad meant to jump attackers once they hit the Imperial gun line.  In this case they sit back and react to problems.  The second use requires them to load into a chimera and rumble across the battlefield until jumping out for some ‘ead banging.  Certainly you don’t want to be running them across the field on foot – that gives the enemy too much time to shoot them down.

Ratlings

Again, this is a unit I like, although you have to be careful as to how you use them.  As snipers they are most efficient against targets with high toughness and low armor value.  You also don’t want them to get anywhere near the enemy as they will wither away almost instantly when faced with close combat.   With ratlings getting both infiltrate and scout the obvious tactic is to drop them in terrain someplace near an objective where they can cover your advancing troops.  In a pinch you could even use them to contest an objective on the last turn if nothing better is available.

As an aside I have to say I like the new ratling models.  They look like short Catachans and have more character than the old figures, IMHO.

Psyker Battle Squad

If there was any rumored unit that made the hearts of IG players beat with excitement it was probably this one.  At first glance it’s not hard to see why – their two psychic abilities are potentially quite effective. 

The first – Soulstorm – provides for a powerful if somewhat random ranged attack.  With a full strength squad it’s strength nine while the armor penetration value is always a d6 roll.  As it uses a large blast in the best of all worlds you get a big boom that can blow up pretty much anything.

Yet, the second power is perhaps even more impressive.  Weaken Resolve lowers the leadership of the target unit by the number of remaining Battle Squad members.  Of course, you do then have to force the target to make a leadership test, but if you can they are all but guaranteed to run away.  Used cleverly it can selectively cause the enemy to lose important squads without much effort on your part.

Not everything is perfect about the Battle Squad, however.  Most obviously it’s made up of otherwise normal humans no more invulnerable than a regular guardsman.  That potentially makes them fragile, especially since their potentially nasty psychic attacks are apt to draw a lot of firepower.  Just a few heavy bolter shots and the squad suddenly becomes pretty wimpy.  They likewise lose d3 members to any Perils of the Warp attack.  Since their powers depend greatly on their group size I’m not sure how useful the Battle Squad really is.  I suspect they may be deceptively less effective than you think.

Storm Troopers

Here is an odd case where circumstantially you have the same unit as in the previous codex, but in fact there is now a fundamental difference.  On the one hand Storm Troopers are now 60% more expensive and on the other they are now packing AP3 weapons.  Add in their “Special Operations” rule and you get a unit that truly is the elite of the Imperial Guard.

Being elite means you won’t see them as often thanks to their high cost, but then again they can now take on most anyone on more or less even terms.  Before Hot-shot Lasguns were little more than slightly improved flashlights.  Now they are fairly nasty, able to threaten the nigh-ubiquitous power armor forces out there.  With their ability to tailor special traits to the situation there is going to be a place for them in any battle plan.

I realize that many are going to be bummed over their much higher cost, but I personally don’t mind the change as it really does make them the stars of the Imperial Guard.  The one aspect that does disappointment me is their inability to take Valkyries as dedicated transports.  Come on, isn’t that an obvious choice for storm troopers?

More to come...