Just started collections vostroyans. I'm having a fun but challenging time painting them up and really working getting that new army fever. What made me want to do guard was the heavy weapon teams / platoon asthetic with a baneblade and leman Russ tanks backing them up. I chose vostroyans because I love the imperial Russian army from WW1, and I've never seen a player with a full vostroyan force. It'll be cool to field something that will make peoples heads turn.
So, the question I ask you folks, what really gets or has gotten you excited to play guard? This can apply to people who haven't collected them yet but are thinking about it.
1) I can bring 50 guys and an AV 14 tank in a 600 point list.
1b) I can outnumber anybody, even Nids and Orks
1c) I have enough Lasguns to drown anything short of a Ctan in little red dots.
2) The army is the most varied in fluff, game play and modeling.
2b) If it's a 28mm human with a gun, you can use it. To date, I've got Warzone, Mantic and Wargames Factory models in the army, and I've been looking at some Dreamforge stuff as well.
2c) The fluff you can really make your own, from each platoon's back story to the whole regiment's history.
2d) with such a great codex, almost any playstyle is possible, from tank walls to infantry hordes, elite vet tens to air force. I don't think any other codex comes close to matching that versatility.
3) There's something inherently badass about knowing that those guys on the board are going up against their worst nightmares made manifest with little more than a rifle and some body armour. Every time a guardsman downs a marine or meltas a tank or holds a line, that's one more victory for mankind.
He's spent months fighting a grueling war in which his enemies are demigods allied with daemons, and now he's found himself in the closest thing to Hell he's ever known. He probably wasn't even supposed to get teleported up to the arch-traitor's battle barge in the first place, and just ended up in the wrong place at the worst possible time.
Somehow he's survived horrors beyond comprehension to make his way to the very bridge of Horus' flagship. He saw a veritable angel call upon Horus to answer for his crimes, and he saw that angel die as messily as any guardsman. His Emperor - who he fervently believes is a god incarnate, even if he's not supposed to - lies mortally wounded, and Horus, perhaps, has taken a moment to gloat before he strikes the killing blow.
His armor is slightly more effective than tissue paper, his weapon slightly more powerful than a flashlight. A single electrified claw from Horus' weapon is bigger than his entire body. He stands before a being infused by the dark gods' with incalculable power, that can and will obliterate his soul with no more effort than it would take him to swat a gnat. Nothing he can do could possibly make a difference.
He could run. He could turn his weapon on himself. He could give in to the insidious whispers that echo from the ship's corridors into his mind.
Ollanius Pius does the duty his Emperor requires of him. He dies standing and holds the fething line.
I can have a regiment of humans dedicated to kayoss!
Well, I say that. They worship Be'lakor, but rarely show signs of mutation, and often get picked up by the IOM.
I like being able to do crazy things every game, from Yarrick rallying 50 men and soloing half a necron army, to stomping things flat with a big tank in a small game.
I can create madness by kitting 30 veterans with meltabombs, sticking them in chimeras, and watching my opponent gak themselves trying to stop me blowing up his best tank
I can cover everything in machine guns, and roll so many dice in a single shooting attack that my opponent goes "Really? More? feth."
*shakes fist* I love the Cadian fluff and the basic design of the models, just not the chunky implementation. Vics Arcadians + Cadian fluff = awesome imo.
IG are very relateable, have excellent stories like Gaunts Ghosts and offer an interesting playstyle with a pretty dark theme. They can also be any of the official regiments or anything you can imagine basically - and we can imagine a lot!
I like tanks. I'm still debating if I want to do SM or IG. I really want to make RG tactics work other then rhino rush but man do I love tanks. Heck list I wrote at like 1500 i think (Don't quote me i may be wrong) had 13 pieces of armor!!!!
The IG are relateable, as another poster said. Also, I can develop my own TO&E and mimic modern-day forces to my heart's content. Organizing fireteams, squads, platoons, and companies and using unit markings to make sense of it all on the tabletop is an interesting part of the hobby for me, even if I'm the only one who understands it all!
Customization is wide open with IG. The old metal figs gave us several different looks for our IG armies and people with a lot of greenstuff and a lot of creativity could get a ton of mileage out of the Cadian and Catachan plastics (despite the Catachan plastics looking like the rear end of a dolphin). Speaking as someone who loves the modelling, painting, and playing aspects of the hobby equally, IG spun all of my wheels. I'm currently putting together a Tallarn army using the old figs, but there are some 3rd party bits I could add to GW plastics to make new figs for my army. Not to mention the gorgeous FW Tallarn stuff, or the 3rd party miniatures that can serve as stand-ins (some of the Haqqislam figs from Infinity, for instance). IG are where it's at.
I like Imperial Guard because, In a universe of super soldiers, Aliens, Monsters and daemons, They are regular humans armed with flashlights while wearing paper, Yet they still stand and fight. they are the bravest people in the unvierse, Because even though they are worth less then their guns, And would stand no chance against just about anything they face had they been alone, They still stand there figthing for humanity.
Merellin wrote: I like Imperial Guard because, In a universe of super soldiers, Aliens, Monsters and daemons, They are regular humans armed with flashlights while wearing paper, Yet they still stand and fight. they are the bravest people in the unvierse, Because even though they are worth less then their guns, And would stand no chance against just about anything they face had they been alone, They still stand there figthing for humanity.
Let's be fair, commissars definitely add an element of bravery.
Merellin wrote: I like Imperial Guard because, In a universe of super soldiers, Aliens, Monsters and daemons, They are regular humans armed with flashlights while wearing paper, Yet they still stand and fight. they are the bravest people in the unvierse, Because even though they are worth less then their guns, And would stand no chance against just about anything they face had they been alone, They still stand there figthing for humanity.
Let's be fair, commissars definitely add an element of bravery.
And yet another element of Awesome!
Well, unless your commissar is a dick. How Dare You, Private! *BLAM*
A big thing for me, aside from the above valid points, is aside from a stupid name change, the Imperial Guard has thus far been immune to GW's bouts of "Narrative Brilliance,"
No Wolf Wolfborn riding his giant hamsterwolf with wolf claws alongside Murderfang with his Murderclaws using his Murderlust from the planet Murdercide, no Draigo carving his predecessor's name into Motarian's heart, no brofisting Necrons, no We Don't Want to Fix Tactical Terminators Centurion Warsuits or Stormtalon/raven.
What's the worst we have to put up with? A stupid looking tonka truck and a codex that doesn't say Imperial Guard on the front for some reason (the only time I hear the new name is when someone's trying to annoy me).
Compounding that natural advantage, the human nature of the guard has made it relatively easy for the mature elements of the 40k environment to do wonderful things with them, creating regiments, characters and history which are exhaustive and interesting, from a certain cowardly commissar to Forgeworld's work on several regiments, both old and of their own creation.
I started IG just a couple of weeks ago, though it's an army I've wanted to start for a while.
I had the idea of a Hydra-themed army, led by Red Skull (based on Captain America, the First Avenger).
And, to that end, IG just seems like a great fit:
- Primarily human models
- WWII-ish aesthetic, but augmented with some more high-tech stuff
- Good conversion possibilities
- Death Mask seems like a good fit for Red Skull - both in flavour and appearance - he does have a skull for a face, after all. - If I ever get an appropriate model "borne to victory on the wings of the Valkyrie!"
- Can shoot men for cowardice:
Hydra Lieutenant - "Sorry sir, but we fought to the last man"
Red Skull - "Evidently not."
*Bang*
- Tell me if this vehicle reminds you of anything:
Currently, I have a converted Red Skull model, and I've been playing around with different HQ possibilities for him:
- Company Commander - This is only one I've tried so far (though I've only played a couple of games), and probably the best. It works fine (especially in lower point games), but having Red Skull do nothing but sit back and giving orders is rather dull.
- Lord Commissar - Possibly a better choice (especially with his execution ability), though it means I have to either go without orders or have someone else as my warlord. - Commissar Yarrick - Sadly, this might well be the best choice (depending on the ruling for his Chain of Command rule), and I hate using a SC every game.
Oh well, I'll play around with each of them and see if I can find a favourite.
Anyway, playstyle wise, I much prefer infantry-heavy armies to vehicle-heavy ones - and IG are very good at these. I also prefer horde armies to elite ones, as it makes it easier to build redundancy into my army (one of the reasons I wanted to play IG - even before I thought of the Hydra theme). Also, plasma is so delightfully fun to use. Who cares if it melts my own guys - as long as it melts my opponent's as well.
My dislikes so far:
- A lot of character wargear seems far too expensive - especially when I'm taking it for flavour, rather than because it will have any useful effect. 25pts just seems far too much for Power Fists, and likewise you could easily halve the cost of the Death Mask without making it even slightly broken (+1 invulnerable save is nothing major, nor is IWND on a T3 model).
- No more deep-strike reroll for Storm Troopers makes me sad.
- Where's Marbo?
Well the reason GW dropped the Imperial Guard and Stormtroopers was because they wanted to get away from things that sound like they were from Star Wars.
I am a big fan of Space Marines, but I do also really like the IG, Space Marines are super soldiers engineered to face the horrors of the galaxy and can stand toe to toe with most of the more powerful foes. Guardsman are normal people who heeded the call and face demons, tyranids, orks not only do they hold the line but they also fight and sometimes win
Amen.
I think I went bald from the extra testosterone from reading that article.
<edit / add>
I started IG/AM to use for Inquisition way back when (When first Inquisition codex came out) as a force conscripted into some action required.
I kicked into high gear recently because I realized just how much of an insane amount of soldiers I can field (and had a vision for a good color scheme).
Soon I will be throwing some 100+ ground pounders with various support at Orks.
It will be awesome!
I also have a Baneblade, Shadowsword, 3 classic Leman Russ's, 5 new Russ variants with magnet parts and a Imperial Knight that all would look epic with many little dudes running around them. Never mind the various Chimera's for the veterans. I have 3 generations of "Stormtroopers" to choose from so each squad can be different. Changed a Basilisk to a Medusa (got to go to Forgeworld for "current" rules on that now...) and made a Valkyrie into a Vendetta, figured out how to make 1 Hvy weapon team into 3, got a full ratling squad, 7 odd different Commisar models, 4 priests (all different), Enginseers, psykers... it looks awesome and is so incredibly varied.
It boils down to the variety.
With a little thought on consistency, the force can look huge and with little effort can go straight into Armageddon size play.
I like IG because I can have ANY style of play I want that can come close to the specialty of any other army = flexibility.
I like IG because of the tanks. And I play an ABG army because it means I can play nothing but tanks (and aircraft) and leave all the boring infantry at home!
Imperium Alpha wrote: I always liked the Starship Trooper-ish theme of the Astra Militarum fighting againts Tyranids.
Shouldn't you be playing Tau then, since crisis suits are the closest equivalent to Starship Troopers power armor?
I can twist history to make cool Guard Regiments. Drawing inspiration from real events and people to create the armies that get used on the table top with some spin on the themes.
Many in my area dont like historical games, so Guard are the closest thing I have to playing something like historical games.
Swastakowey wrote: I can twist history to make cool Guard Regiments. Drawing inspiration from real events and people to create the armies that get used on the table top with some spin on the themes.
Swastakowey wrote: I can twist history to make cool Guard Regiments. Drawing inspiration from real events and people to create the armies that get used on the table top with some spin on the themes.
Any chance of some examples?
I have a WW1 army in the making now, complete with only flame throwers and long archaic rifles, trench coats and WW1 British tanks. A mix of French (for the uniform) and British (tanks) themes etc. The first army with a lot of vehicles in it.
I have the obvious Anglo-Zulu war soldiers with various mercenaries fighting alongside them.
I once had an ANZAC lemon squeezer slouch hat army.
I once had a bretonian style Guard Army which was pretty nice. Lots of cool rough riders and lots of medieval armour.
Im very much considering an ancient Egyption force in the next few years of a Aztec-Mayan etc themed force.
Of course, once I find historic players I will sell off a lot of this stuff, but for now, they are my fix. I find it more fun creating them and thinking of what to get to create my ideas than actually using them. But once they are completed I love looking at them haha.
Swastakowey wrote: I can twist history to make cool Guard Regiments. Drawing inspiration from real events and people to create the armies that get used on the table top with some spin on the themes.
Any chance of some examples?
I have a WW1 army in the making now, complete with only flame throwers and long archaic rifles, trench coats and WW1 British tanks. A mix of French (for the uniform) and British (tanks) themes etc. The first army with a lot of vehicles in it.
I have the obvious Anglo-Zulu war soldiers with various mercenaries fighting alongside them.
I once had an ANZAC lemon squeezer slouch hat army.
I once had a bretonian style Guard Army which was pretty nice. Lots of cool rough riders and lots of medieval armour.
Im very much considering an ancient Egyption force in the next few years of a Aztec-Mayan etc themed force.
Of course, once I find historic players I will sell off a lot of this stuff, but for now, they are my fix. I find it more fun creating them and thinking of what to get to create my ideas than actually using them. But once they are completed I love looking at them haha.
Seems like you really enjoy WW1 themed armies and historical armies. I'm curious how you like vostroyans then because I'm starting to collect them.
Swastakowey wrote: I can twist history to make cool Guard Regiments. Drawing inspiration from real events and people to create the armies that get used on the table top with some spin on the themes.
Any chance of some examples?
I have a WW1 army in the making now, complete with only flame throwers and long archaic rifles, trench coats and WW1 British tanks. A mix of French (for the uniform) and British (tanks) themes etc. The first army with a lot of vehicles in it.
I have the obvious Anglo-Zulu war soldiers with various mercenaries fighting alongside them.
I once had an ANZAC lemon squeezer slouch hat army.
I once had a bretonian style Guard Army which was pretty nice. Lots of cool rough riders and lots of medieval armour.
Im very much considering an ancient Egyption force in the next few years of a Aztec-Mayan etc themed force.
Of course, once I find historic players I will sell off a lot of this stuff, but for now, they are my fix. I find it more fun creating them and thinking of what to get to create my ideas than actually using them. But once they are completed I love looking at them haha.
Seems like you really enjoy WW1 themed armies and historical armies. I'm curious how you like vostroyans then because I'm starting to collect them.
That was my forst guard squad I ever owned and painted. Saved for ages and finally got them. Whjat I really like about them was the amount of gear they had compared to my friends cadians. Grenades, Pouches, Decoration, Backpacks, and the canteens were very nice too. Very much an extreme take on Cossacks but I liked them. They dont make it easy with the way they sell them though. It annoyed me that in order to not have a Heavy Bolter and Flamer in each squad, you had to by many extras.
Swastakowey wrote: I can twist history to make cool Guard Regiments. Drawing inspiration from real events and people to create the armies that get used on the table top with some spin on the themes.
Any chance of some examples?
I have a WW1 army in the making now, complete with only flame throwers and long archaic rifles, trench coats and WW1 British tanks. A mix of French (for the uniform) and British (tanks) themes etc. The first army with a lot of vehicles in it.
I have the obvious Anglo-Zulu war soldiers with various mercenaries fighting alongside them.
I once had an ANZAC lemon squeezer slouch hat army.
I once had a bretonian style Guard Army which was pretty nice. Lots of cool rough riders and lots of medieval armour.
Im very much considering an ancient Egyption force in the next few years of a Aztec-Mayan etc themed force.
Of course, once I find historic players I will sell off a lot of this stuff, but for now, they are my fix. I find it more fun creating them and thinking of what to get to create my ideas than actually using them. But once they are completed I love looking at them haha.
Seems like you really enjoy WW1 themed armies and historical armies. I'm curious how you like vostroyans then because I'm starting to collect them.
That was my forst guard squad I ever owned and painted. Saved for ages and finally got them. Whjat I really like about them was the amount of gear they had compared to my friends cadians. Grenades, Pouches, Decoration, Backpacks, and the canteens were very nice too. Very much an extreme take on Cossacks but I liked them. They dont make it easy with the way they sell them though. It annoyed me that in order to not have a Heavy Bolter and Flamer in each squad, you had to by many extras.
That's my one gripe with them.. My buddies let me call their heavy bolter autocannon a though in the heavy team, I've also seen people replace the heavy bolter barrel with an autocannon barrel. Also the flamer is an easy conversion to a meltagun. And they do sell plasma kits too.
Peregrine wrote: Shouldn't you be playing Tau then, since crisis suits are the closest equivalent to Starship Troopers power armor?
No. Because it's clearly the movie adaptation being referred to here, with not a power-armoured, crisis suit-like contraption in sight. But you already knew that, of course.
They look pretty good. My advice besides basing them, is to paint the feathers a contrasting colour to the rest of their gear. Will make them stand out a bit and more importantly make it look like the decor its meant to be.
I have, making a Experimental or Salvaged series of war machines weidling the wildest of Sci Fi weapons or Bolted together from the firey inferno of war.
That and the idea of mere mortal men fighting god-like super soldiers (demonically infused or otherwise), giant green war loving aliens, endless all devouring legions of bugs, the physical manifestation of fear and destruction and thensome and come out on top.... that's just plain cool.
MajorStoffer wrote: A big thing for me, aside from the above valid points, is aside from a stupid name change, the Imperial Guard has thus far been immune to GW's bouts of "Narrative Brilliance,"
No Wolf Wolfborn riding his giant hamsterwolf with wolf claws alongside Murderfang with his Murderclaws using his Murderlust from the planet Murdercide, no Draigo carving his predecessor's name into Motarian's heart, no brofisting Necrons, no We Don't Want to Fix Tactical Terminators Centurion Warsuits or Stormtalon/raven.
What's the worst we have to put up with? A stupid looking tonka truck and a codex that doesn't say Imperial Guard on the front for some reason (the only time I hear the new name is when someone's trying to annoy me).
Compounding that natural advantage, the human nature of the guard has made it relatively easy for the mature elements of the 40k environment to do wonderful things with them, creating regiments, characters and history which are exhaustive and interesting, from a certain cowardly commissar to Forgeworld's work on several regiments, both old and of their own creation.
Very much this. The IG fluff is gritty and grim, often with soldiers having suffered horrendous wounds or watching their unit get decimated. The units are mostly utilitarian with none of the rules/fluff inflation that is common among Space Marines and Eldar. My appreciation for IG is only strengthened any time I read SM fluff or face down a marine character that literally has wings and a motorcycle. I like grimdark, not My Little Pony in Space. I also prefer an army that relies on units working together, not cheesing the rules into an unstoppable Death Star with a 2++ save, reroll to hit, ap2, fearless, 800 point unit.
IG is Saving Private Ryan, Space Marines are Captain America. And Captain America is boring.
Ollianus Pius, not this new stupid immortal bs that they've done with the HH series. The original fluff of a single Guardsman, swept up in the teleport to Horus' ship during the siege of the Imperial Palace. He knew he couldn't win, he knew he was dead as soon as he stepped into the room, but he stood anyway; against for all intents and purposes, a god.
That's the Guard summarized by the actions of one, long forgotten bit of fluff. The Guard represent everyone who isn't super-human in some idiotic, gene-controlled way. Or wasn't inducted into the super-secret-we-have-no-rules society (I'm looking at you Inquisition members), no they're essentially you and me, the joe-blows of the galaxy who stand on the line and die fighting.
That's why I love the Guard, no gene-bread heroes who can suplex dumptrucks, just regular guys given mediocre weapons and training backed up by the biggest guns the Imperium can crank out.
I prefer the letters of Iwo Jima as my reference to guard.
Discipline, new and old ideas mixed, archaic and modern, manpower making up for a lack of other things etc. IN my opinion its a great showing of Guard life. With some abstraction.
Fell in love with the guard back in second edition and they have always been my prime love, I've had affares with SM and GK but I always come back to my beloved, under armed, under armoured, under dogs of the 40k setting.
Plus my guard are a Battle-Mech company
(An old pic as it doesn't have the fire ants, the Caturpult or the heavy walker modles )
The Imperial Guard is easily one of, if not the most characterful army in the franchise, for the simple reasons that (a) they are, for the most part, ordinary humans thrust into impossible situations, thus making them relateable, and (b) every single regiment is by the very nature of the organisation so heavily customisable in terms of homeworld culture that their player has much more influence on their style and personality than with the other factions.
In effect, whereas every other army, including even the different Space Marine Chapters, is still just one army, with the Imperial Guard you get dozens, hundreds, thousands of armies in a single codex. Interesting historical references abound, and it's almost entirely up to the player to pick and choose something they like. This also allows or in some cases even requires very different miniatures, not just in terms of painting schemes and accessories, but sometimes the very models themselves - be it proxies from other manufacturers, WHFB minis swapping their swords for lasguns, or Necromunda gangers press-ganged into army companies ... the Imperial Guard can be a home for all.
I collect Imperial Guard because I'm bored of my marines, don't know how to play my Orks, bought a box of Wyches and realised I'd have to get a transport for every unit and don't like the rest of the filthy xenos/ myriad of lesser Imperial armies.
They are easy to relate to, and they also draw in armchair generals a lot more easily than some weird, "evil" alien factions. There's definitely an appeal to marching hundreds of men to their doom, sacrificing them as readily as ammunition, just to hold an objective. But that's probably why I want corrupted IG to run with my chaos force.
What's there not to like about IG? It's the second 40k army I got into, and easily my favorite.
It's super flexible in terms of models, which means you can theme an army to the max, or look for cheap alternatives, or both. There are so many ways to build and field an army, and your collection can be used in so many different ways. It's easily relatable because they are mere T3 humies, and everyone loves the underdog (hide the Russes)
I currently have 2 IG collections (one themed after Vietnam war GIs, the other after WW2 German), from which I'm able to field all kinds of detachments. And that's a huge part of the magic of IG:
- Infantry assault company
- Infantry defence company
- Mechanized infantry company
- Armored company
- Super-heavy company
- Air Cavalry
I love the Aesthetic of the Guard, regardless of the Regiment or how they're fielded, there's something fun about taking on the universe with some guardsmen and a few tanks.
I too play Vostroyans and love their High Gothic Cossack visuals.
An example of my Vostroyan paint scheme:
And the army overall:
More tanks are being worked on at current. Looking forward to seeing more of your Vostroyans in the future, Daily.
I have always loved the look of the Catachans, and now after 2 year's of just looking at em, i have finally traded and aquired a Catachan lot! What drew me to them was the model's alone, so full of character, and easier to paint to boot! Now that i have the codex i quite enjoy the IG fluff, but i still hate cadians! (They look like condoms to me, to sterile lol).
Red__Thirst wrote: I love the Aesthetic of the Guard, regardless of the Regiment or how they're fielded, there's something fun about taking on the universe with some guardsmen and a few tanks.
I too play Vostroyans and love their High Gothic Cossack visuals.
An example of my Vosytroyan paint scheme:
Spoiler:
And the army overall:
More tanks are being worked on at current. Looking forward to seeing more of your Vostroyans in the future, Daily.
Take it easy.
-Red__Thirst-
Love the Vossies, RT. Shame about losing Griffons in the 'dex, tho. Hopefully people still let you run them with FW rules.
I wanted a regiment culled from convicts given a choice of service or lifetime imprisonment, of those who got too drunk in the wrong hive bar and found themselves waking up in a cold transport vessel with nothing but a terrible hang over, a lasgun and commissar screaming at them to get off the mess floor at bolt pistol point. I wanted lost youths who chose a life of illusionary adventure sold to them by imperial propaganda over an existence of mindless toiling in factories only to be met by the reality of mindless warfare in an uncaring galaxy. I wanted commissioned officers who bought their position in order to uphold centuries of noble military tradition amongst their houses.
I wanted mother fething tanks.
And best of all I get to have that with almost zero fluff restrictions and the next guard player over gets whatever they wanted out of the army. Guard are the most personal army in the most personalized and customizable game system around.
They take on, and defeat a variety of organism designed to only to kill things and aliens with extremealy advanced technology. Using nothing more than what is essentially a heavily improved version of modern technology. Having the option to put 200 models in the table in a 1500pt game is kind of sweet too.
-Being the Military myself.
-The idea of being a normal Human having to face the horrors of the Galaxy with nothing but guys and a flashlight.
-Idea of creating your own regiment based off a favorite fighting style (airborne, ect.) or even a historical regiment.
-Lots of variety in both style of armies and play.
-Some good looking models
-The BEST models on Forgeworld, easily the Elysians and Death Korps of Krieg
Love the Vossies, RT. Shame about losing Griffons in the 'dex, tho. Hopefully people still let you run them with FW rules.
Thanks Armyman! Much appreciated.
And yea, I actually field the Griffons as make-shift basiliks (Removable barrel extensions using plasticard tube), or more recently I just call them Vostroya pattern Wyvern mortar tanks using the Griffon mortar to represent the Stormshard mortar system.
The particular Griffon models I use is the old OOPGW metal/plastic hybrid kit coupled with the more modern Chimera hull. (Fit nearly perfectly into the new-school plastic hull and is a 100% GW product.)
Thankfully nobody in my gaming group has an issue with me using the Griffon proxy as a Wyvern, though I haven't gone to a tournament since the new IG codex came out, so who knows what'll happen with a tournament organizer if I try to use the Griffons as Wyverns in the future. Hopefully nobody will take umbrage with the swap. I love my artillery tanks, and want to keep using them. If you'd like to see better pictures of them, check out my gallery also.
Take it easy and thanks again for the kudos Armyman.
I love the aesthetic and back story of the Guard - just regular humans holding the line and doing their best to live long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
Besides rolling three dozen dice when anything gets within 12 inches is so much fun
I have, making a Experimental or Salvaged series of war machines weidling the wildest of Sci Fi weapons or Bolted together from the firey inferno of war.
That and the idea of mere mortal men fighting god-like super soldiers (demonically infused or otherwise), giant green war loving aliens, endless all devouring legions of bugs, the physical manifestation of fear and destruction and thensome and come out on top.... that's just plain cool.
Hey, noticed your Regiment is the 91st Experimental Cadia. How many infantry companies and Armored Squadrons is that?
This is yet another reason to play IG. My 91st Cadian Regiment "Glorious Sentinels", will be completely different than yours. I am currently writing up a TO&E for version of the "Glorious Sentinels". It is organized as a brigade of 1 mechanized infantry regiment with 1 mixed support regiment of 5 battalions each. To each their own.
Just a quick question. How many IG players are or were actually in the military? I bet that percentage is actually pretty high. The IG play most like real life forces do. Also, thank you for your service!
Munga wrote: Just a quick question. How many IG players are or were actually in the military? I bet that percentage is actually pretty high. The IG play most like real life forces do. Also, thank you for your service!
I havent been in the military, but if the military is anything like my guard I can only imagine that very soon I will be conscripted due to horrific losses on the front lines.
Munga wrote: If things got that bad, I'd probably volunteer.
So if your nation sent men in huge waves of men, with commissars aiming at your back and armoured coffins backing you up, while enemy fire cuts everyone down in the dozens a minute, you would join?
I mean, Guard dont play like real life, and thankfully so haha.
Also my nation isnt very warlike, so as a result we dont have a militaristic culture etc.
1. I can relate to the idea of an infantry man in the universe
2. Special characters are great, but not OP. Wish they would make a Commissar Caine and Gunner Jurgen.
3. I can bring more at any game than any one else. Plus, old metal catachan just look cool.
I have, making a Experimental or Salvaged series of war machines weidling the wildest of Sci Fi weapons or Bolted together from the firey inferno of war.
That and the idea of mere mortal men fighting god-like super soldiers (demonically infused or otherwise), giant green war loving aliens, endless all devouring legions of bugs, the physical manifestation of fear and destruction and thensome and come out on top.... that's just plain cool.
Hey, noticed your Regiment is the 91st Experimental Cadia. How many infantry companies and Armored Squadrons is that?
This is yet another reason to play IG. My 91st Cadian Regiment "Glorious Sentinels", will be completely different than yours. I am currently writing up a TO&E for version of the "Glorious Sentinels". It is organized as a brigade of 1 mechanized infantry regiment with 1 mixed support regiment of 5 battalions each. To each their own.
Actually, my troops are not Cadian, the armor and equipment on the troops is the Cadian design. For the only reason being I can't get any other troop models (and in terms of the Kasrkin they just look cooler then Stormtroopers),. Catachans look funky and Krieg is far to expensive. Fluffwise Cadian style armor is prevalent across the imperium anyways. Schrott the planet they are from is an Ad Mech controlled world, so the 91st Schrott Experimental Regiment (full title) is controlled by the Ad Mech.
In terms of numbers of squadrons and such.
I have not actually counted all the infantry. Im in the process of counting everything together.
I have right now 24 Leman Russ Tanks of each variant minus the Conqueror. (including 1 LR Annihilator, named the Twin Blade)
8 Baneblade chassis SHV, 4 Malcador, 3 Macharius, 1 CRASSUS. and plenty of Artillery and lighter armor. (with armor only counted up WYSIWYG, im at 13,631) I still need all of my fortifications and all of my infantry.
A lot of what I'd say has been said by now, but I think I could add...
- Guard is the most versatile army in the game. You can't run drop pods, a 'wing, or a bike army, but otherwise, they can do practically anything. Giant horde of goobers? Check. Giant horde of tanks? Check. Airforce showing up to blast everything and drop off some special forces? Yup. Artillery blowing things to smithereens? Of course.
And within its main play styles, there is a lot of variety. A conscript foot guard army will play very differently from a carapace/camo cloak vet foot army, and a tank army mostly of hellhounds and chimeras will play very differently than an army of mostly russes. And then, of course you can combine all of these, from a horde backed up by tanks to a rapid response army of hellhounds and vets in valks. You can do practically anything.
- They're bonkers. Not QUITE ork level of bonkers, but pretty close. They have commissars that make people "hear" orders better, and shoot cowards on the spot. They have angry old men that give squads Hatred:EVERYTHING and can bash apart a tank with their bare hands in righteous supplication. They have DOOMSDAY MISSILES (that, depending on your rules set can take the vortex upgrade).
And their fluff is bonkers, too. The imperium literally shovels them in as fast as they can, and maybe half of them make it there, or maybe they all get lost in a warp storm, but if you just throw enough bodies at the problem, it goes away eventually. They have endless supplies of vehicles, but nobody knows how they work, so they have to literally pray to them for proper functionality. Everything is basically superstition and guesswork and bureaucracy, and somehow the guard comes through it all, and is victorious.
And, as people have said, because they're human they're more relatable. You can look at some of the crazy ork fluff and say "yes, but then they're orks, after all", but you can't do that with guard. They have to put up with all of the worst the universe has to offer, and they have the ability to know better...
- You get to play an army of underdogs. Guard waxes and wanes on the power scale like every other army, but there's always something special about that regular dude with a powerfist exploding some giant monster or lumbering vehicle. Or that time when a panicking group of conscripts passes its orders for once and throws 150 lasgun shots at that demon prince, and with one lucky hit stops the beast dead in its tracks before it slaughters them all.
Random chance is the bedrock that 40k is built on, but it somehow feels more special when it works in guard's favor. You expect the space marines to show up and kick ass, but with guard...
- SPAM! Combined with the above is what I'd say rounds out my personal appeal of guard. You can take that flexibility in list building and combine it with whatever fluff you want, and then go insane with it thanks to the guard's ability to take everything in absurdly huge multiples.
Some people like to carefully balance out the pros and cons of mixing certain units to create an army that plays in a certain way that synergizes within its... blah, blah, blah.
Or you could play guard and say "today I'm going to field 12 punishers. MORE BULLETS!" or "today I'm going to field ALL THE INFANTRY!!!" or "105 stormtroopers deepstriking? Better ally in some tempestus just to be sure!"
Yeah, spamming opens you up to hard counters and isn't the strongest way to play, but when you show up to a game with 9 hellhounds, or 150 conscripts lead to their immanent doom by the clergy, that doesn't seem to matter...
I'm not sure why people like IG. Ever since I was a 10 year old kid first looking at all the races, I wondered why anyone would play a boring human army when there's so many cool things to choose from. It's like having your pick of any car at a high end dealership and picking the corvette you see everywhere over a 458 italia or a Ford GT. Also, I can't imagine painting a zillion little plain looking army men for a 2,000 point force. Even though I usually rolfstomp them, seeing IG on the other side of the table just makes me yawn. It's like someone took a WWII army, put them in a time machine and set it to 38,000 years in the future. *yawn*
Probably one of the biggest things I love about IG on the tabletop is that I can field an entire collection's worth of models in sub-2000pt games. With Marines or Xenos armies there's always some models I love that I just can't seem to fit into a list...and it really grinds my gears when that happens. With IG, however, I more often end up having to dig up more models for the table top than I have to shelve to stay within the points limit. Sure, other armies might have scarier guns/stompy-things, better soldiers, dirtier tricks, or just, but screaming "За Родину! За Императора!" while advancing forward just doesn't have the same effect with a few marine squads or Wave Serpents as it does when 70~ guys and 10 tanks surge forward--and nobody else can put on such a spectacle with as much points efficiency as IG.
Plus, there are these little gems of events that always seem to happen with guardsmen somewhere on a given battlefield, like this one:
Likan Wolfsheim wrote: This goes way back to when I played IG. My kid brother had just started his CSM army. It was either our first or second game, I remember most of his stuff were really loyalist models pressed into service as their Chaos counterparts. We had 2000 point armies and the game was the multiple objectives one in 5th edition. As such, I broke up my two 50-man blobs of Guardsmen into ten-man squads and had them running all over the place supporting my tanks and whatnot.
At some point I diverted my Devildogs (I love this bloody tank) and a Chimera command squad along with a nearby group of footsloggers to deal with a Chaos Rhino trying to circumnavigate around the big gorefest in the centre of the board to get an objective with a winged Daemon Prince of Khorne rushing to the scene. So by the time the Daemon gets there the scoring threat of Rhino+troops was already dealt with and the vehicles zooming away, leaving the poor footsloggers, already whittled down by the Rhino's bolter to their fate. And what a fate.
They get to shoot, managing to put one wound on the Daemon. The Daemon then charges them and in the first turn of combat proceeds to kill all but one Pvt. Macias (I named each man and painted their names on their uniforms...it was a chore). Macias fails to do anything that turn but rolls for his morale test. From that point on the Daemon never again gets another wound on this man. Pvt. Macias then proceeds to beat the Daemon Prince to death with his lasgun over the rest of the game. This guy's aquilas were painted gold after that and he was elevated to being a Veteran. Best moment in all of 40k thus far.
Toofast wrote: I'm not sure why people like IG. Ever since I was a 10 year old kid first looking at all the races, I wondered why anyone would play a boring human army when there's so many cool things to choose from.
You assume that everyone finds the same things cool.
I mean, as a counterpoint, it's not like most of the other races are more original:
- Daemons - Never heard of those before
- Space Elves and Evil Space Elves - Maybe if they stick with Elves long enough, they'll come full-circle and become original again
- Tyranids - More original, but not everyone wishes to play as a faceless army with no lasting characters (except for one really contrived one who was shoehorned into the existing fluff)
- Necrons - Evil robots. I guess that's original if we ignore every sci-fi film ever. Oh, wait, now they've changed to Egyptian Robots in space with demi-gods trapped in pokeballs. Well, it's more original, but there's a good reason for that...
- Space Marine Army #1-28 - Wow, save some innovation for the rest of us, da Vinci!
Regardless, what you seem to have missed is that for a lot of people the human aspect is a strong selling point. In fact, it's the whole point of the IG - they're just ordinary men sent to battle unimaginable horrors with nothing more than some antique armour and a flashlight - often under the watch of a Commissar who will shoot them at the slightest hint of fear.
So, when they do prevail, their victories feel much more heroic than those of, say, Space Marines - which are fully-armoured Super Soldiers, with access to the best vehicles and weapons the Imperium has to offer,
Toofast wrote: Also, I can't imagine painting a zillion little plain looking army men for a 2,000 point force.
This is a fair point.
Toofast wrote: It's like someone took a WWII army, put them in a time machine and set it to 38,000 years in the future.
Munga wrote: Just a quick question. How many IG players are or were actually in the military?
I'm actually enlisting pretty soon so that's exciting!
Toofast wrote: I'm not sure why people like IG. Ever since I was a 10 year old kid first looking at all the races, I wondered why anyone would play a boring human army when there's so many cool things to choose from. It's like having your pick of any car at a high end dealership and picking the corvette you see everywhere over a 458 italia or a Ford GT. Also, I can't imagine painting a zillion little plain looking army men for a 2,000 point force. Even though I usually rolfstomp them, seeing IG on the other side of the table just makes me yawn. It's like someone took a WWII army, put them in a time machine and set it to 38,000 years in the future. *yawn*
And for the record, the new corvette looks amazing! Just like IG!
Munga wrote: Just a quick question. How many IG players are or were actually in the military? I bet that percentage is actually pretty high. The IG play most like real life forces do. Also, thank you for your service!
I served 8 years in the US Army Reserve, but that was a long time ago! I guess I've just liked playing with little armymen since I was old enough to remember. In that sense, nothing has really changed
Toofast wrote: I'm not sure why people like IG. Ever since I was a 10 year old kid first looking at all the races, I wondered why anyone would play a boring human army when there's so many cool things to choose from. It's like having your pick of any car at a high end dealership and picking the corvette you see everywhere over a 458 italia or a Ford GT. Also, I can't imagine painting a zillion little plain looking army men for a 2,000 point force. Even though I usually rolfstomp them, seeing IG on the other side of the table just makes me yawn. It's like someone took a WWII army, put them in a time machine and set it to 38,000 years in the future. *yawn*
Painting Space Marines is snore-inducingly boring compared to painting guardsmen. Hooray, lots of flat non-camouflaged surfaces, no skin tones, no variety.
Also, I would take my 1990 Toyota Camry over that Italian thing any day. My car will have better gas mileage, less maintenance costs, and will still be running long after the Italia has died.
And don't forget:
- Tyranids - stolen from the Aliens movies. Seriously, take a look at the original metal hormogaunt.
- Necrons - Yawn, Terminators, We'll be back (don't forget to say that in an Arnie accent)
- Space Marine Army #1-28 - Heinlein's Starship Troopers
- CSM - Come to the dark side. C'mon, really? Surprised they didn't give them light sabers, oh wait, they're called power swords....
- Tau - Anime much?
- Orcs and Elves, aka Orks and Eldar/Dark Eldar. Stick with them, maybe your dungeonmaster will let you use them in the next campaign
- Daemons - OK, a little originality here. Not much, but a little. But they should have kept Malal
Toofast wrote: I'm not sure why people like IG. Ever since I was a 10 year old kid first looking at all the races, I wondered why anyone would play a boring human army when there's so many cool things to choose from. It's like having your pick of any car at a high end dealership and picking the corvette you see everywhere over a 458 italia or a Ford GT. Also, I can't imagine painting a zillion little plain looking army men for a 2,000 point force. Even though I usually rolfstomp them, seeing IG on the other side of the table just makes me yawn. It's like someone took a WWII army, put them in a time machine and set it to 38,000 years in the future. *yawn*
Dalymiddleboro wrote: Just started collections vostroyans. I'm having a fun but challenging time painting them up and really working getting that new army fever. What made me want to do guard was the heavy weapon teams / platoon asthetic with a baneblade and leman Russ tanks backing them up. I chose vostroyans because I love the imperial Russian army from WW1, and I've never seen a player with a full vostroyan force. It'll be cool to field something that will make peoples heads turn.
So, the question I ask you folks, what really gets or has gotten you excited to play guard? This can apply to people who haven't collected them yet but are thinking about it.
My passion for playing Guard is mostly in the idea of the underdog. they just strike me as the "plainest" and least Shenanigan oriented army in the 40K universe. that DID change somewhat in the new Codex, because they now have a much greater ability to benefit from "force Multipliers" but even then, they are still mundane in stat line in pretty much every way. Even their tanks, while having mighty armor, sport BS 3 and are just as susceptible to charges as anyone else.
For the opponent, playing against them is fun because you're able to make the IG player take models off in hand fulls and thats satisfying to any player. Yet the retribution the IG exact against you forthis is equally brutal and so you see some really bloody hard fought games and that is just a romanticized vision of war that we all kind of have (the reality of large scale engagements is...dark...)
So Ig are fun to play and play against most of the time and they have some Great looking vehicles and troops, lotsof variety in their flavor (Jungle Fighters, Mordian Civil Warlike guys, you've got your Eastern Front looking Vostroyans, you have your Gas mask toting Death world War I knock offs, and the list goes on). Easy to get behind that much flavor in one Codex.
Toofast wrote: I'm not sure why people like IG. Ever since I was a 10 year old kid first looking at all the races, I wondered why anyone would play a boring human army when there's so many cool things to choose from. It's like having your pick of any car at a high end dealership and picking the corvette you see everywhere over a 458 italia or a Ford GT. Also, I can't imagine painting a zillion little plain looking army men for a 2,000 point force. Even though I usually rolfstomp them, seeing IG on the other side of the table just makes me yawn. It's like someone took a WWII army, put them in a time machine and set it to 38,000 years in the future. *yawn*
I understand most of what I said was totally subjective and most will disagree. I didn't say the other races were original, but original doesn't equal cool. There's some really original ideas in the war game industry that seem extremely lame to me. There's also some very derivative models/armies that are extremely badass (eldar, tyranids). I was in the military, so were most of the people I play with. I think space marine varieties are much more common among veterans than guard, mostly for the reasons I mentioned. Given the choice between an M1 and a Mk14, I know what any 20 something soldier would take to the battlefield. Perhaps that's a better analogy than cars. Space Marines are the Mk14 mod 0 with a trijicon ACOG, guard are the M1 garand with iron sights. IG seem to be more common among the older 40k players though.
Frankenberry wrote: Honestly, I've been considering getting rid of my massed Cadians (horray for GI-Joe #5034) in favor of Mordians using these badboys!
1. I can relate to the idea of an infantry man in the universe
2. Special characters are great, but not OP. Wish they would make a Commissar Caine and Gunner Jurgen.
3. I can bring more at any game than any one else. Plus, old metal catachan just look cool.
I picked guard for the diverse range in fluff and the fact that there are an infinite number of ways to write fluff and build your army. I've had so much fun coming up with my own thing... Designing a command structure, creating a paint scheme, etc. The best part is that these are regular humans facing down and beating the horrors of the universe. There is a certain poetry with the army that has just drawn me in. To date it's the only sent I have completely painted (and it's not my first army but has as many models)
Frankenberry wrote: Honestly, I've been considering getting rid of my massed Cadians (horray for GI-Joe #5034) in favor of Mordians using these badboys!
Toofast wrote: I'm not sure why people like IG. Ever since I was a 10 year old kid first looking at all the races, I wondered why anyone would play a boring human army when there's so many cool things to choose from. It's like having your pick of any car at a high end dealership and picking the corvette you see everywhere over a 458 italia or a Ford GT. Also, I can't imagine painting a zillion little plain looking army men for a 2,000 point force. Even though I usually rolfstomp them, seeing IG on the other side of the table just makes me yawn. It's like someone took a WWII army, put them in a time machine and set it to 38,000 years in the future. *yawn*
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