Imperial Guard in Depth -- Troops

Posted by Ranillon on 17. May 2009 20:45

I return to my review of the new IG codex by tackling the bread and butter of any Guard army – troops!

Platoon Command Squad

This unit is really just a slightly weaker version of the Company Command Squad.  You can take the same basic components with the exception of Advisors – which you can’t take – and commissars which you can.  The second option does give you leadership 9 and another potential power weapon, but it does come with the not inconsequential liability that you’ll lose your single order giving model the first time you fail a morale check.

Beyond this the two command squads are almost the same with only a few minor differences in possible wargear.  One consideration is that the platoon standard is a poor version of its command equivalent – you only get the bonus to close combat and not the leadership advantages.  Yet, it’s the same cost.

I’d personally load up the commander and commissar with a power fist so as to provide the platoon some meaningful hand-to-hand nastiness when the time comes.  Beyond that you take advantage of the commander’s orders to give the rest of the platoon some much needed versatility.

Platoon Infantry Squad

Here is your grunt in the field, the poor sods that have to do the heavy lifting of an IG army.  At only a base of 50 points the Infantry Squad represents a pretty good buy, especially if you can successfully combine them with command orders.  There are also plenty of options to choose from.  One of them is a commissar (meaning you could have one with every squad if you wished) which is a better buy here than the command squad as he still has the 9 leadership, but you only lose a sergeant with a botched morale check.  The commissar and sarge are also the only ones who can take power weapons, but at a measly strength 3 you would probably be better off to purchase a plasma pistol instead.

Otherwise, the infantry squad isn’t much different than before – you can take one special and one heavy weapon.  You can also mount them in a chimera for easier travel.  Given their low cost you could easily field a hundred guardsmen if you wanted in your 1500 to 1850 size force, a daunting prospect for any opponent even if your ground pounders will nevertheless die in droves.

Platoon Heavy Weapon Squad

Again, this is almost a duplicate of the old squad except now they come as part of a platoon (and therefore count as scoring).  There are more downsides now, however.  For one they only have a leadership of 7 and only a Lord Commissar has leadership at range.  They also can’t take a transport, quite a bummer if you were playing a mechanized force before.

I would personally always give the squad the same basic weapons – either anti-infantry or anti-vehicle – so that they can concentrate on killing one or the other.  I would also keep them back and in cover, anything to protect them from having the make leadership checks!

Platoon Special Weapon Squad

Much as before this squad has all the disadvantages of its heavy weapon brother, but in this case that makes for an even worse situation.  Unlike heavy weapons which can always stand back and shoot many special weapon choices require one to get up close and personal.  That means exposing them to more fire which in turn means more morale checks.  With a meager 7 leadership the squad could easily end up running away before they get into position to accomplish anything.  This is complicated thanks to the squad not having access to transports or special abilities like infiltrate or stealth.

For that reason I would always try to keep them under cover, often as response troops to incursions toward the Imperial gun line.  That way they can jump out and fire without being subject to excessive amounts of firepower.  Accordingly, plasma guns, sniper rifles, and grenade launchers make the most sense while by comparison a flamer or demolition charge armed group would be expected – at best – to get one big shot off before dying. 

Platoon Conscripts

If you want bodies to throw at the enemy this is what to use.  You can only take one group per Platoon, but it can be as big as fifty grunts – and at the cost of just 200 points.  Sure, they all stink, but conscripts aren’t there to amaze with their abilities, but rather to stand and die.  With that many troopers you can certainly fatten up the Imperial gun line.  And, as Stalin was purported to have said, quantity has a quality all its own.

The main difficulty to using conscripts is their pathetic 5 leadership, but their sheer bulk of members is something of a defense against this.  With fifty troopers you have to shoot 13 to force a morale check.  However, a good combo is conscripts with a Lord Commissar.  Suddenly they have a 10 leadership and a source of close-combat muscle.  Otherwise, you use them as a wall of flesh to soak up damage and provide mass – if inaccurate – fire.

To my mind the main limitation to conscripts are the cost and trouble of preparing the actual models themselves.  They are only cannon fodder, yet represent a huge expenditure of effort to construct and paint.

Veterans

Want to keep playing your grenadiers or death world veterans?  This is how you do it – take the new IG veterans.  Whereas the platoon represents a huge and somewhat unwieldy mass of troops, the vet squad is a more manageable ten soldiers.  Veterans are also better skilled while having access to options – such as being able to take carapace armor or camo-cloaks – no one else can take.  Add in the ability to take a chimera and you can duplicate a lot of the old doctrines from the previous codex (the big exception is a drop troop army).  One nice advantage of Veterans is that they can take three special weapons in addition to a one heavy.  Also, the sergeant can take a power fist.

However, there are some disadvantages that come with Veterans.  A big one is that they can’t take commissars so, ironically, a squad of newbie troopers in a platoon can have better leadership than their hard-bitten veteran counterparts.  You also can’t buy platoon commanders outside a platoon, so a veteran heavy army won’t have many if any orders to throw around.  Likewise, one big omission is that vets don’t have any options to gain abilities like scout or stealth, something you’d otherwise expect.

Veterans are a good choice when you don’t want platoons at all or don’t want more than one platoon.  They are more versatile and can be better armed.  You can also give them doctrines no one else can take.  That allows them to fulfill specialty roles.  Veterans are therefore the ideal choice when constructing what would otherwise be seen as “elite” IG forces.

Penal Legion

“The Dirty Dozen” in space, penal troops are in some ways the best troops selections you can take.  Being leadership eight and stubborn you can expect them to hang around a good while.  Even better, their “Desperado” abilities all improve their close-in effectiveness, although you have to roll randomly at the start of the game to see exactly what you get.  They also get the scouts ability, so unlike most of the IG army (including, frustratingly, veterans), they can outflank.  At the very least they get to make that extra move.

That’s a good thing as penal troops otherwise get no other options – no special or heavy weapons and no transports (although you could devote a Valkyrie to the task).  This is not surprising since as far as the Imperium is concerned their only role is to die in battle.  A group of ten penal legionaries also costs 80 points meaning they are too pricey to use strictly as cannon fodder (that’s the job of conscripts).  This makes penal troops an odd sort of unit for the army in the sense they are fairly tough, yet expensive and lightly armed.  As such you are going to have to devote extra brain cycles to figuring out exactly where they fit into your tactics.  Whatever role you give them make sure it utilizes their scout ability.  Otherwise, I think there are better choices.

More to come...