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I've had this thought recently: the Imperial Guard orders appear to be named in ways that make you cringe halfway through saying them.

I mean, look at these:

Bring it Down!
Fire on my Target!
Get Back in the Fight!
First Rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE!
Incoming!
Move! Move! Move!

These all sound like the things an 8 year-old would yell as he pretends to be a general. GW could have easily thought of less cringeworthy names for the orders (FRFSRF could have been "Firing Drills" or something like that) while also making it more understandable what the orders actually do - what's the difference between "Bring it Down!" and "Fire on my Target!", for instance?

I'm a little curious as to whether the names bug other people as well.

Nope, they don't bug me at all. They seem characterful and appropriate for the Guard.

I disagree... I think they are something I can conceivably imagine an officer yelling... And they say what they do just fine.

"Firing Drill": What, are they on parade? Just imagine a big horde of gaunts charging some ranked up guardsmen... The officer yells First rank, FIRE! They fire, then they get down so the second rank can fire over their shoulders or something...

"Bring it down!" is the one you use on monstrous creatures or vehicles, just imagine a big stompy carnifex ripping up the lines... The officer grabs the mouthpiece for a Vox off of a nearby guardsman and yells whilst pointing into the sky "BRING IT DOWN!!!!".. Makes perfect, awesome sense.

I think fire on my target is a stupid name though, since IIRC that's the one for targeting enemies in cover... no idea what I would actually call that though... "Smoke 'em out" maybe?

True, but Yelling "Fire Drills" in the midle of a Con could get you in truble with the local FD

Beside we are all 8 Years and thats giving some of us credit.

ph34r wrote:Nope, they don't bug me at all. They seem characterful and appropriate for the Guard.

+1

If it wasnt for the prohibitive costs of already currently running a horde army (Orks), I'd collect Guard just so I can yell "First rank, FIRE! Second rank, FIRE!" all game.

CREEEEEEEED!

Not to mention putting on my best Arnie voice (Catachans?) and yell "BRING IT DOWN, BRING IT DOWN NOW!"

Face it, these Guard Orders names are full of awesome.

I enjoy yelling them aloud every shooting phase haha

How can you not love FRFSRF? You haven't watched zulu enough.

I agree with OP.. Sorta

We should have a "Fire on the poop deck" order.

I agree.

In translated japanese version, IG order is more more characterfu and yelling.

Bring it Down!　= Wipe out that big target!
Fire on my Target! = Elminate important target!
Get Back in the Fight! = Get Back in the battle line!!
First Rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE! =almost same
Incoming! = Take coveeeerrrrr!!
Move! Move! Move! = Move! Leap forward!

I love these orders.

Personally I find it silly that firing a fully automatic weapon (lasguns) in "volleys" would somehow increase firing rate. It would in fact do the exact opposite.

willydstyle wrote:Personally I find it silly that firing a fully automatic weapon (lasguns) in "volleys" would somehow increase firing rate. It would in fact do the exact opposite.

I think it is more just a case of concentrating the squads firepower, rather than literally putting the guns onto single shot...

SilverMK2 wrote:

willydstyle wrote:Personally I find it silly that firing a fully automatic weapon (lasguns) in "volleys" would somehow increase firing rate. It would in fact do the exact opposite.

I think it is more just a case of concentrating the squads firepower, rather than literally putting the guns onto single shot...

A unit of men firing full automatic weapons with a fixed fire rate faster than a man pulling a trigger could hope to do cannot increase it's concentration of fire: it's already sending out as much firepower down range as possible. It's just another example of GW basing rules on really poor understanding of the real-life capabilities of weapons. Not necessarily a bad thing, but still silly, IMO.

willydstyle wrote:Personally I find it silly that firing a fully automatic weapon (lasguns) in "volleys" would somehow increase firing rate. It would in fact do the exact opposite.

It increases the firing rate becasue it allows one rank of troops to reload while another pours it on..
From what I can gather..

Or both teams fire and raise a wall of laser beams/lead before the encroaching madness

Didn't get in before the above post.. (",)

Solly wrote:

It increases the firing rate becasue it allows one rank of troops to reload while another pours it on..

Napoleonic wars....

Must be the uniforms.
*looks at vostroyans*

Jon Touchdown wrote:I enjoy yelling them aloud every shooting phase haha

My local opponents get upset if I don't yell them out, insist I'm not "doing it right".

I think the 'rank' thing could be that the first line drops to their knees and fires from there, next over their heads. Still full rate of fire but can get a denser fire line without shooting each other in the back. Cost being that they'll be slower to get up and move if something charges at them. Some of the artwork suggests this 'stepped' method is one the guard uses.

I'm not sure what that order actually does though, so not sure if this is fitting or not.

It is quite possible that actually enforcing fire dicipline means that the shooters have to pick out targets and slow down, thus making the remainig shot have more of an impact.
What I don't get isvhow yelling "bring it down at your men actually does anything, I mean, maybe it could make all units within 12" auto pass target priority tests in 4th, but really, I would think they are bringing it down as hard as they can without your help, Sir.

don_mondo wrote:

Jon Touchdown wrote:I enjoy yelling them aloud every shooting phase haha

My local opponents get upset if I don't yell them out, insist I'm not "doing it right".

I agree with him. You're not. I mean, come on - how much fun is it to shout out, "First rank, FIRE! Second rank, FIRE!" whenever you use that ability?

"Independent fire...fire at will!" is sadly missing from the list. "Colour-Sergeant number one!" would have been a good inclusion too (maybe give any single squad with a veteran sergeant a +1 to Ld for a round). In any case, I don't know exactly what these orders do, but some of them seem fine.

"Fire on my Target!"
Someone had posted that it's for firing upon units behind cover. I don't know if it's used for indirect fire, but this order statement seems fair enough if it is, as the alternative would be a grid coordinate.

"First Rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE!"
Very silly for some of the reasons mentioned, but we all know that GW loves the movie "Zulu", and for thematic purposes of some IG regiments, I'd give it a pass.

"Incoming!"
This one actually is officially used by soldiers.

Orks get the best order, and its the most fun to shout during battle.







WAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Philhelm wrote:
"First Rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE!"
Very silly for some of the reasons mentioned, but we all know that GW loves the movie "Zulu", and for thematic purposes of some IG regiments, I'd give it a pass.

It really is a great scene, and totally worth the youtubing of it.

sniperjolly wrote:What I don't get isvhow yelling "bring it down at your men actually does anything, I mean, maybe it could make all units within 12" auto pass target priority tests in 4th, but really, I would think they are bringing it down as hard as they can without your help, Sir.

Well, it might be a more 'if that thing gets to our lines we're all dead!' sort of order, with the guardsmen not knowing the threat it poses. Or not noticing it due to other things. If you have a wave of things close to you and something lumbering in the distance, you'd probably be shooting at the things closer to you.

sniperjolly wrote:
What I don't get isvhow yelling "bring it down at your men actually does anything, I mean, maybe it could make all units within 12" auto pass target priority tests in 4th, but really, I would think they are bringing it down as hard as they can without your help, Sir.

Obviously, not everyone in the squad is firing at one discreet target all the time. There's likely some supressing fire going on. Perhaps this can be viewed as people pouring fire directly into just one target, damn the torpedoes.

I like the orders I especially like shouting them out during games to particularly annoy my more anal opponents who think that stuff should be more like real life.

I also shout out stuff like 'PEW PEW' and 'KABOOM!' whilst spinning my tanks over in slow motion when they get destroyed.

Lifes too short to worry about such things.

I personally have no problem with the orders. Although I have to agree that FRFSRF doesn't make sense in how it works. Perhaps 'Fire at Will' instead?

I dunno, makes sense to me. I consider it like the old firing line with the officer lining them up and directing fire by pointing his sword. Basically, the order focuses the fire towards a specific target instead of 'wasting' shots on suppressive fire elsewhere and such.
Same for bring it down, makes the unit aware of a specific large threat, focuses their mind, improving their targeting on that target.

True I guess, but it does give the impression that the officer has actually lined these guys up in a line similar to the 'close order drill' in 4th ed.

Clearly you have never been in the FLGS when the local guard player with a decent moustache and imitation pipe yells 'FIRST RANK FIRE! SECOND RANK FIRE' at the top of his voice in a near-perfect zulu-war british officer accent...

That is why they are named those