TACTICAIMPERIALIS

This month ColonelAndy Hoare and hiscadre of ingeniousstaff officers take alook at some essentialImperial Guard tactics.

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I ’ve been collecting Imperial Guard for a good five years now, and in thattime my army has faced pretty much

the worst the Studio can throw at it. My staunch Imperial Guardsmen havewon glorious victories and sufferedignominious defeats – hopefully this article will give some pointers to achievinga little more of the former, and not somuch of the latter.

The Imperial Guard have always had agood number of tools to get most jobsdone, but I think its fair to say us ImperialGuard colonels have struggled with theproblem of aggressively seizing objectives.We’ve often fallen back on the good oldtactic of standing still and simply shootingevery available weapon in an effort toensure that, if we can’t take thoseobjectives defended by the enemy, then wecan at least deny them to the foe byshooting all their scoring units! We alsohad the problem that our somewhat fragileunits gave up a lot of kill points when thebullets started flying.

Fortunately, Lord High GeneralCruddace has given us the ability tocombine all of the Infantry Squads in asingle platoon into one large unit. Thisallows us to overcome both of these issues.Combining squads means that a platoononly gives up a single kill point if wipedout, but its also very useful in the offensive.

A huge combined squad has a goodchance of surviving a dash across no-man’s-land and of overwhelming enemytroops defending objectives in theopponent’s deployment zone. Plus, whensat on one of your own objectives, they’rehard for the enemy to shift.

The other new special rule thatImperial Guard players both new and oldwill be getting their teeth into is the orderssystem. This allows officers of Companyand Platoon Command Squads, as well ascertain special characters, to bolster nearbyunits. These orders can increase theeffectiveness of shooting, cover ormovement, the last of which is particularlyuseful in moving those large combinedsquads across the table to take anobjective. The orders system is worthy ofan entire tactica on its own, and manyveteran players like myself are only juststarting to discover the huge range oftactics it makes possible. Needless to say,get familiar with them as soon as possible!

So, without further ado, we present ashort article presenting a range of tacticsgathered from a number of veteranImperial Guard players, both inside andoutside of the Studio. We’ll cover a rangeof subjects, but extended versions of theseand many more tactics can be found at:

www.games-workshop.co.uk

In our not-so-humbleopinion, the use of thefollowing are essentialkeys to victory:

• Imperial Guard Orders,which greatly increasethe flexibility of yourInfantry Squad.

• Combined Squads,allowing you tooverwhelm your enemywith manpower.

• Regimental Advisors,increasing the oddsthat your reserves willturn up on time, andyour foe’s will be late.

• Storm Troopers: AP3hot-shot lasguns killChaos Marines withimpunity.

• Leman Russ Punisher,with its Heavy 20Punisher gatlingcannon, is great atdealing with hordes.

• Grav Chute Insertion,for rapid deploymentof troops on the fly-by.

WORDS FROM THE WISE – FORCE DENIAL

Alessio Cavatore: I usually play Eldar, so normally I’dadvocate a balanced army, one that is capable ofadapting and taking on any opposition. On the otherhand, when I’m writing an Imperial Guard army list (Ialso have a Cadian army as well as my beloved Biel-Tan), I always bear in mind that it is made up of twototally different elements. One is very soft and squishy –the men. The other is really hard and difficult to kill –the tanks.

Most opponents you are going to meet will have twotypes of guns to deal with either part of your army:

a) Rapid-firing light arms to mow down your infantry. b) Big guns to pierce the armour of your tanks.

So my simple idea is: deny the enemy the use of halfof his weapons by not presenting suitable targets toeach type of gun. This can easily be achieved byselecting an ‘Extreme Army’, one that is either madecompletely of infantry (and cavalry! Never leave basewithout your Rough Riders) or that is as close aspossible to an all-armoured force – tanks and aminimum amount of elite infantry, all mounted inChimera APCs.

The all-infantry army will make the enemy’s veryexpensive lascannons, bright lances and so on pointless– ‘Well done, you’ve incinerated a Guardsman!’

A well-played armoured army, on the other hand,can happily ignore any weapon that is Strength 5 orless. And, needless to say, always remember toconcentrate your firepower on the guns that can hurtyour Extreme Army!

™

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T he mainstay of the ImperialGuard is its infantry. Thoughindividually none are a match

for many of the killing machines thatstalk the battlefields of the 41stMillennium, the Imperial Guardsmenhave the advantage of discipline,numbers and heavy weapons. Lots ofheavy weapons….

Many Imperial Guard players like tobase their tactics around their infantrysquads, using their tanks, Ogryns and so onin a supporting role. When building anarmy based around infantry, there are twomain points to consider: heavy weaponsand counter-assault.

The most important element in anyImperial Guard force is the ‘poor bloodyinfantry’. The mighty Leman Russ maystrike fear into the heart of your enemies,but it is the humble Infantry Squad thatwins games. And you’ll need infantry bythe bucketload. The more squads you take,the more heavy weapons within each.

When arming your infantry, two heavyweapons stand out as being particularlyworthy of inclusion: the autocannon andthe lascannon. The autocannon is yourworkhorse gun; with its two shots, Strength7 and 48" range, it has the Strength to

INFANTRY TACTICS

crack most vehicles (even the Leman Russtreads softly, lest it reveal a flank) andwounds most things on a 2+, while stillhaving a high enough rate of fire to takedown horde armies such as Orks orTyranids. In most armies, roughly half theheavy weapons should be autocannons.Lascannons provide the high Strength/lowAP firepower for dealing with heavilyarmoured tanks, Terminators and largemonsters. The remaining heavy weapons inthe army are mostly heavy bolters andmulti-lasers, for dealing with infantry.

The next element is your counterassaultforce. The Assault phase is a question ofwhen and where, not if. Your infantry willget assaulted, so prepare for it. Luckily, theImperial Guard has a selection of units thatcan hold up an assaulting enemy. StormTroopers, Ogryns and tooled-up HQs areall good choices to either stymie theenemy assault or retaliate.

Your tactics are determined by the typeof army you’ll be facing. These can beroughly separated into three types: assault,combined arms and other shooty armies.As the Warhammer 40,000 universe isheavily populated with armies that like toget up close and deadly, we’ll concentrateon how to neutralise assault armies.

Corey Somavia is ahardened commander ofhumanity’s most prolificfighting force, hispreference being for thehumble infantrycompany. He employs thesuperior numbers andnumerous heavy weaponsof the Imperial Guard todeadly effect – here Andypresents some of Corey’snuggets of wisdom.

Take your army and divide it into two parts: the‘sacrificial flank’ and the ‘victory flank’. The two parts areroughly similar, with the same number of squads deployedto each flank – I’d recommend dispatching about oneplatoon to each flank. The victory flank should have theCompany Command Squad with it too, preferablyequipped with a regimental standard.

During deployment, place these two flanking forces sothat they are 24"-36" apart, making sure that they have aclear line of sight to each other. Any counterassault unitsshould be within one or two turns of movement of either ofyour flanks, to neutralise any threats or tie down the enemyon the sacrificial flank for as long as possible.

This deployment forces an assault-orientated enemy tochoose: split his forces or concentrate on one side and tryto roll up your flank. If he chooses to split his forces, directall your firepower into stopping any transports going afterthe victory flank. Even the units of the sacrificial flankshoot vehicles going after the victory flank – even if they’rein danger of being overrun. There is a reason it is calledthe sacrificial flank, after all!

Then, once the vehicles menacing your victory flankhave been dealt with, take out any transports going afterthe sacrificial flank – this makes sure that the enemy can’tredeploy from one flank to the other, to threaten the victoryflank. Finally, open fire on any enemy infantry units gettingclose to the victory flank. It may be necessary to send inyour counter-assault units to make sure the enemy on thesacrificial flank stays put long enough – it’s no use sellingthe lives of the brave Imperial Guardsmen in vain.

Catachan with heavy flamer

MORE ON THE VOX-NET

As well as the fine words written here, Andy Hoarehas been busy on the web this month too! He has alsowritten an in-depth tank tactica to accompany AdamTroke’s Imperial Guard Orders tactica. Go to ourwebsite to see these and more tacticas:

www.games-workshop.com

WORDS FROM THE WISE - SPLIT DEPLOYMENT

In this diagram, Blue Platoon has the unfortunate duty of beingthe sacrificial flank. It is deployed on the border of tablequarters A and B. Meanwhile, Green Platoon, the CompanyCommand Squad and the Ratlings are set up on the border oftable quarters C and D. In the centre are the vehicles,deployed further back to avoid blocking line of sight. By theLeman Russ are Chimera-mounted Infantry Squads and Ogryns.The Ogryns are aboard their Chimera so they can counter-assault against the enemy. The Chimera-mounted InfantrySquads are stationed outside their Chimeras so that they can

shoot. The Rough Riders have taken cover until they areneeded to bolster the Ogryns or the victory flank (the flankopposite the sacrificial one).

The enemy has chosen to split his forces. Obeying properfire discipline, shoot the Rhinos going for the victory flank. Thesacrificial flank takes the enemy charge, and are supported bythe Ogryns, the Rough Riders and, if needed, one of theInfantry Squads in a Chimera. This holds the attackers up longenough for you to finish destroying the Rhinos. Now it’s timeto mop up any surviving enemy.

A B

C D

BL

GR HQ

R

RRLR

AF

AF

OC

BA

CR CR

CR

CR

CR

KEY

BL

GR

LR

BA

AF

OC

CR

HQR

RR

Blue Platoon

Green Platoon

Command HQ

Ratlings

Rough Riders

Leman Russ

Basilisk

Chimera-mounted Ogryns

Chimera-mounted Infantry

Chaos SpaceMarine Rhino

infantry will lack any anti-tank weaponrythey can fire very far on the move, but theLeman Russ has access to lascannons andhunter-killer missiles, and can fire these onthe move so long as it does not travelfurther than 6". If an enemy tank threatensyour infantry, then the tank can deal withit. Similarly, a small, elite unit of StormTroopers might be swamped were it tocharge a large mob of Ork Boyz or a broodof Genestealers. However, a Punisher willmake short work of such units, thinningthem down to the point where the StormTroopers can deal with them comfortably.

Leman Russ Demolishers, Punishersand, to a lesser degree, Chimeras, are allgood infantry support tanks.

Gun platforms don’t move at all – theyare intended to destroy the enemy from adistance while your army advances uponits objectives. The primary role of a gunplatform is to blow stuff up. They need tobe deployed carefully to make full use oftheir range and effectiveness, and the factthat they are unlikely to count towards

your army’s ability to take objectivesshould make you think very carefully abouttaking them. For me though, the main thingI need to consider when using such a tankis whether my army will be attacking ordefending. This is a crucial difference, andwill heavily affect the choice of tank I take.

When attacking, I want my gunplatforms to have weapons with a goodrange. Basilisks are ideal. A long-rangeweapon can be used to reinforce thearmy’s success anywhere on the table,allowing me to concentrate all thedestructive firepower where needed most.

The Basilisk and the Leman Russ arethe obvious choices for gun platforms.

If playing a more defensive game, itsmore likely my enemy will be headingtowards me. As it happens, one of the mostdestructive weapons in the game is carriedby the Leman Russ Demolisher, and itsshort range is no problem when the enemyare heading towards it. As you won’t haveto move such tanks, they won’t forego anyshots and will be firing right from the off.

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B attle tanks are there to seriouslybolster your lines. They haveserious firepower, sometimes

provided by one large weapon,sometimes by lots of small ones, andoften by a balance of different types.

Assault tanks do three things: moveforward to contest objectives, soak up theinevitable barrage of fire the enemy willlay down in an attempt to stop them doingso, and to destroy any enemies holdingobjectives. A tank that excels at one ofthese factors will often do so at the cost ofone or both of the others, and thereforewill be better at another role entirely andshould not be used as an assault tank.

A key to using an assault tankeffectively is to support it with infantrymounted in transport vehicles, or equallyfast moving squads such as Rough Riders.This is particularly important if there’s a lotof terrain around or near the objective, as itonly takes a single enemy trooper armedwith a meltagun popping out from behindsome cover to destroy even the largest of

ARMOURED MIGHT

tanks. For this reason, assault tanks aremost effective when friendly infantry canbe used to engage any enemy that mightthreaten the tank in this way, tying theenemy tank hunters up in close combatwhile the assault tank gets on with itsmission. Lastly, this principle is absolutelyvital if you are playing a Cities of Deathgame. Never, ever take a tank into a citywithout a squad or two of mountedinfantry to protect it from an ambush!

Good examples of assault tanks includeHellhounds, Devil Dogs and Bane Wolves,as well as Armoured Sentinels.

The main role of an infantry supporttank is to accompany other units as theyadvance upon an objective, providingimmediate fire support where needed most.The key here is that the infantry supporttanks are there, as the name suggests, tosupport the infantry, not the other wayround. When choosing an infantry supporttank to accompany your squads, considerhow the tank’s weapons will complementthose of the infantry. In all likelihood, the

I often find its a good ideato think of my battle tanksas belonging to one ofthree broad catagories:

• Assault tanks play anaggressive part in thegame, advancingforward, engaging theenemy head on. Theybalance armour,firepower and speed.

• Infantry support tankssacrifice speed forarmour and firepower.They bristle withdefensive weapons,and can unleash afearsome storm ofclose ranged fire.

• Gun platforms foregospeed and oftenarmour for devastatinglong range firepower.

Whilst tanks can’t benefit from aCommander’s orders, the troopsthat support it become all the moreuseful when so bolstered. Bring itDown is particularly useful indestroying enemy tanks who mightpose a threat to your own armour.

Tank Commander

A WORD FROM THE WISE - STRENGTH IN RESERVE

Graham Davey: I like to leave my tanks (and aValkyrie or two) off the table, in reserve. Thisway, all the enemy’s nasty lascannons and thelike will be wasted for the first few turns withnothing but cheap Guardsmen to fire at. Then,as the foe closes in on my seeminglydefenceless infantry (making good use of theIncoming! order to stay alive), my heavyvehicles can roll onto the table at just theright spot. I’ve had great success using theLeman Russ Punisher like this, while aValkyrie, armed with multiple rocket pods(Strength 4 and therefore defensive weapons)can fire two large templates as well as itsmain gun, even after moving 12". Devastating!

THE SENTINEL

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AIRBORNE ASSAULT

S torm Troopers are the elite of theelite, the best of the best. They aredeployed where the fighting is the

fiercest and are counted on to win the dayand reap the glory – for the Emperor!

Storm Troopers have always found aplace in Christian Augst’s Imperial Guardarmy. With the release of this new Codexthey’ve gotten a few more tools to get thejob done, especially their new airborneassault carriers: the Valkyrie and theVendetta. These airborne transports givethe Imperial Guard the range to strike atany point on the battlefield, bringing thefight right to the enemy. The elite StormTroopers are the perfect troops to takeadvantage of the capabilities of these fastnew carriers.

With the Valkyrie’s ability to scout, youcan embark your Storm Troopers beforedeployment and declare them asOutflanking. This keeps them and theirtransport safe from the enemy during theearly part of the game, and lets them arrivein a most heroic fashion, as is befitting forthe ‘Glory Boys’.

The Grav Chute Insertion special ruleallows your units to Deep Strike from anypoint of their transport’s flight path – evenwhen moving flat out! When combinedwith the Storm Troopers’ Aerial Assaultoption, this will help them to get exactlywhere they are needed to attack keyenemy units or contest enemy objectives.With their special weapons and hot-shotlasguns, Storm Troopers have the firepowerto fight off enemies until help arrives.

The Storm Troopers come into theirown when it comes to clearing enemyunits off of objectives. As an Elites choice,the Storm Troopers can’t claim objectivesthemselves, but their brand new AP3 hot-shot lasguns give them all the firepowerthey need to clear even power-armouredenemies off of their objectives, especiallywhen ordered to Fire On My Target! toforce the enemy to re-roll any of his coversaves! Instead of mounting them in aValkyrie, consider using the Behind EnemyLines option to allow them to Infiltrate oroutflank, and to really punish the first unitthey fire at.

ADVANCED TACTICS

Christian Augst is aveteran of the NorthAmerican gaming scene,and an avid ImperialGuard player. Accordingto his friends, his StormTrooper-based army is thescourge of many agaming table. Andy chatsto him about what he’lldo with all those shinynew AP3 weapons.

I’ve always found a place for Sentinels in my army list, and the new Sentinelshave already made their way onto my procurement order (or shopping list,as it’s otherwise known). They have lots of options when it comes toassembling them, making it hard todecide between Scout and ArmouredSentinels, not to mention whichweapon to arm them with! I thinkI’ll be concentrating on theArmoured Sentinel version,however – their front armour of12 means that, for the first time,my Sentinels won’t have toworry about being gunneddown by bolters. In terms ofweapons, I’ll definitely beputting together asquadron armedwith plasmacannons, as thisallows thewalkers to takeon power-armouredenemies such asSpace Marines, and even have agood go at foes with a 2+ save. Ialways take hunter-killer missileson my Sentinels too, and these willbe given to all of the walkers Iassemble as ScoutSentinels as they canScout and potentiallyput a missile into amore vulnerable sidearmour of enemytanks.

T he Imperial Guard have such a widerange of units available to them thatit’s sometimes hard to know where

to begin when deciding what to field in acoming battle. We all have differentreasons for taking various styles of armyand fielding particular units. Most of usfield what we enjoy using, whether it’s aunit’s weapons, tactics or special rulesthat appeal to us. I often choose an armyfor its overall appearance, and one of myfavourite types of army is lots of infantrysupported by Sentinels (not so useful onan open battlefield, but almost unbeatablein Cities of Death!).

With all the amazing new models,along with the various special rules andoptions in the Codex, many Imperial Guardcolonels will be busy trying out units,finding how best to integrate them intotheir existing armies and experimentingwith diferent tactics and strategies on thebattlefield. It’s during these early stagesafter the release of a Codex that some ofthe most fun can be had – there are stillcountless strategies and nuances yet to bediscovered, and every new unit type orrule could be the key to victory.

Something that I’ve found is that manyof these models are particularly goodagainst certain opponents or in specificsituations. With that in mind, here aresome tips for using my two of my favourite units – the Sentinel and theHellhound, although you will no doubtcome up with your own.

THE HELLHOUND

The Hellhound hasalways been a favouriteof mine (I have three!),and with the plethora ofOrk armies around, thenew kit couldn’t havecome at a better time –that inferno cannon’stemplate will make amockery of tightly packedBoyz mobs. But don’tneglect the alternativetanks that the kit makespossible – I know I’ll beassembling at least one asa Devil Dog. With its 24"melta cannon it’s capableof annihilating anythingfrom a Terminator to aPlanetstrike Bastion. Andthe Bane Wolf kills ChaosSpace Marines on a 2+ –for the Emperor!