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As stated in the subject line, how will you adapt your IG army to the sixth edition?

This thread is not intended to house discussion of IG as allies, which deserves its own thread, and I would ask that folks that did not have an IG army in fifth edition refrain from posting unless you are getting an IG army for sixth edition.

At this point in time, the major rule changes that affect IG appear to be Rapid Fire, Overwatch, Snap Fire, flyers, hull points/vehicle damage, and allies. I would also add that the recent Necron codex gave those metal menaces the ability to force us into Night Fight.

How will you adapt?

My initial reaction is to bump up the number of infantry with heavy weapons, flamers, and Vendettas. Another Hydra also looks mandatory. I'm not adding Allies yet though a SM Librarian in termie armor looks good with a filler half SM combat squad.

I still plan to keep four Chimeras and a Manticore. If there is less stunned/shaken in 6th edition, they might get more shots out before being wrecked by stacked glancing hits. If other armies drop their vehicles (especially razorbacks) and dreadnoughts as a reaction to sixth edition, our AV 12 spam gets better. The Manticore is just as safe behind a wreck as it was behind an operational Chimera anyway.

Vendettas might carry cheap SWS now instead of more pricey veteran squads due to more damaging results for passengers of flyers when they move using Zoom.

What will you do?




I am considering an Aegis Defense Line but will wait until I get my rulebook next Saturday to decide.

Well, considering we haven't seen the official 6th ed rules yet, we can't say, can we?

Mech spam is still viable, as I posted in another thread. Most chimeras at the moment die from penetrating hits, not glanced to death, and armour saturation will be just as effective (opponent has to choose between targetting your heavy hitters, russes/vendettas, or chimeras).
Oh and pie plates now have full strength on vehicles even if only touching it, which means Russes just got a hell of a lot better at popping light tanks. Shame Hydras are now a must-have. Damn that crowded FOC, I hope the rumours about it doubling up at >2000 points are true.

I hope the hull points and new rules for penetrating hits don't hit russes to hard, heavy armor was always my favorite part of the IG.

I see SWS with plasma guns becoming a huge part of my list. 6 shots at 24" if stationary, 3 shots at 24" on the move, 3 ablative wounds, scoring, can be ordered (if not very well).

I think Stormtroopers may be the new black. This is based almost entirely on the rumored casualty allocation (closest to furthest), with a little bit from the changes to cover. Imagine a pinpoint deepstrike next to an important enemy infantry unit and unloading with special weapons and rapid-fired hellguns. Drop them near the models you want to kill and unload. I think flamers become excellent for this purpose, because they'll put out a lot of infantry kills, and they'll also provide you some quality defensive fire for the inevitable assault. In the same way Marbo becomes a nightmare. Pop him up, toss the charge, and watch the targeted models melt away from him.

Finally, I think Guard tanks, and perhaps others, are not going to suffer from Hull Points as much as some people are thinking. As has been mentioned, it largely prevents stun-locking, so it will require a lot of effort to generate the hits necessary to stop Russes from shooting, and guard has enough firepower, in general, to silence threats early. You should be shooting more often in the early turns with these guys. The same holds true with Chimeras, especially if it turns out that AP4 or worse weapons have a worse penetrating hit table then true AT weapons. That means that Chimeras end up saturating with Russes because both will require AP3 or less (or a ton of high strength AP4) to put down in one turn.

Biophysical wrote:I see SWS with plasma guns becoming a huge part of my list. 6 shots at 24" if stationary, 3 shots at 24" on the move, 3 ablative wounds, scoring, can be ordered (if not very well).

6 shots a turn is one wound. Increasing the amount of shots for plasma guns isn't very special when you consider that they are held back severely by the things blowing up in their faces.
Shooting twice at 24" just means they'll die turn 1 or 2 instead of turn 3 or 4.

I am surprised that noone actually came up with anything clearly broken. Sure we dont know detailed rules, but I do not consider myself as being dire sceptic if I say that allied rules will be house-ruled and ignored almost instantly by almost everybody.

For sure - we dont know any restrictions and disadvantages, but all you need as IG to be broken is just to get HQ from another codex - and by broken I mean Broken with big B - and I guess that we can all agree that you will be on 95% able to get HQ from another codex (with which you are ably to ally ofc).

First thing I would like to say is, that anything with imperial equipment is a good ally for IG, since orders clearly state that you can issue them to any friendly non-vehicle unit...

...But now consider this possibility of allies combo, simple ONE example -


Power blobs + Might of Titan + (stacking) Hammerhand + Quicksilver (+ possible GK nades)


Because I am on 100% sure that guardsmen were ment to rape Daemon princes, Dreadnoughts, cc Terminators, Berserkers, Land raiders, Genestealers, Nobs etc. in one turn of combat before they have any chance to strike back...

Thumbs up for newest imperial technology - chainfist-bayonets for regular guardsmen + initiative 10 relic blades for sergeants - some powers, abilities and equipment were clearly designed to work only within its own codex and not anywhere else.

I'm not sure that rapid fire will allow two shots out to 24". I'm expecting it to be two shots at 12" and one at 24" even if you move, but if you are right I will be happier.

I tend to agree with Joey on plasma guns when BS3 models use them. However, I do bunch them in veteran squads. Yes it is risky but they take out most of a MEQ squad in one volley at 12" or less.

I will keep at least four Chimeras in my list. I'm not so sure yet about any tanks. I agree that they will get to shoot more but the rumored hull points are three for Russes. I'm not sure if Chimeras will get two or three. The biggest issue for me though is not any perceived vulnerability. I just can't afford the points for Russes now. Perhaps in a 2500 point battle.

Since glances won't stop vehicles from firing, I may add pintle weapons but only if more people start fielding armies on foot.

The rumored damage chart (for penetrating hits only) is:
1-2 Shaken
3 Stunned
4 Weapon Destroyed
5 Immobilised
6 Explodes!

+1 Open topped
+1 AP 2
+2 AP1

No other known modifiers

Well the overwatch special rule has been confirmed, sounds like something that is rule breaking but broken down it's really not.

30 Shots, 6 to hit, 5 hits and that's not many wounds at all.
I would say 3 wounds tops, now that's not going to make them more efficient.

Either way until the full book comes out tactics are rather redundant due to the lack of a full picture.

You assume AP 2 is +1 and AP 1 is +2. I've also heard AP2 is standard and AP3 and above is -1.
Frankly I can't see lascannons getting a huge buff.

Dont have my new rulebook yet or have access to the new codex faq, so cant tell ya yet.

Brunius wrote:Well, considering we haven't seen the official 6th ed rules yet, we can't say, can we?

KrimsunBaron wrote: Either way until the full book comes out tactics are rather redundant due to the lack of a full picture.

Byte wrote:Dont have my new rulebook yet or have access to the new codex faq, so cant tell ya yet.

Yes to all!! But come back here in a week and let's get this discussion truly rolling. The suspense won't stop me from painting up a few more models. I feel a need for more flamers and snipers. They were languishing in my unpainted pile of minis anyway.

I'm on the "we'll see when we have it in hand" crowd.

I'm most curious about changes to squadron rules. Some are suddenly talking about taking 9 Vendettas.
I'm not if squadroning doesn't change.

All I can confirm for me as far as lists go is an OotF just became as manditory as Hydras if all fliers start in reserve.

alarmingrick wrote:I'm on the "we'll see when we have it in hand" crowd.

I'm most curious about changes to squadron rules. Some are suddenly talking about taking 9 Vendettas.
I'm not if squadroning doesn't change.

All I can confirm for me as far as lists go is an OotF just became as manditory as Hydras if all fliers start in reserve.

I'm going with an astropath and an OotF, two independent Hydras, and three independent Vendettas. No squadrons for me.

JB wrote:

alarmingrick wrote:I'm on the "we'll see when we have it in hand" crowd.

I'm most curious about changes to squadron rules. Some are suddenly talking about taking 9 Vendettas.
I'm not if squadroning doesn't change.

All I can confirm for me as far as lists go is an OotF just became as manditory as Hydras if all fliers start in reserve.

I'm going with an astropath and an OotF, two independent Hydras, and three independent Vendettas. No squadrons for me.

It'll be hard to lose the HS slot by splitting Hydras, but it also may be worth it to be able to fire on more than one target.

alarmingrick wrote:

JB wrote:

alarmingrick wrote:I'm on the "we'll see when we have it in hand" crowd.

I'm most curious about changes to squadron rules. Some are suddenly talking about taking 9 Vendettas.
I'm not if squadroning doesn't change.

All I can confirm for me as far as lists go is an OotF just became as manditory as Hydras if all fliers start in reserve.

I'm going with an astropath and an OotF, two independent Hydras, and three independent Vendettas. No squadrons for me.

It'll be hard to lose the HS slot by splitting Hydras, but it also may be worth it to be able to fire on more than one target.

I can see the merits of independent Hydras, but eating up an HS slot, to me, seems very wasteful. With template weapons gaining their full destructive capability again and heavier hulls being much tougher to kill, I can't see a scenario where some type of LR isn't taken (at the 1750-2000 point levelsthat seem to be the most common for tourneys). Hell the worst Russ variant (Punisher) just became a glance factory on AV 10 and AV 11. It's certainly going to be interesting with the new rules. I'm hoping that the game itself doesn't become an even more heightened version of "rock-paper-scissors" than it already is.

Byte wrote:Dont have my new rulebook yet or have access to the new codex faq, so cant tell ya yet.

Pretty much, but you can make educated guesses.
Still it doesn't look bad.

Don't we have to see what the new meta is? Fliers, hordes, psykers, drop pods?

Yes I will change my list and tactics depending on how the new rules and opponent's armies pan out.

In case you hadn't notice, at >2000 points the FOC doubles.
At 2500 points I'm thinking...
3 * Leman Russ - 450
3 * Leman Russ Demolisher - 495
6 * Vendetta - 780
And some crappy HQ/Troops.
Six Leman Russes...woop.

5+ Cover saves are definitely going to hurt infantry guard players like me. Though normally I have 100+ guardsmen on the board, so I don't often have a problem with casualties.

I see myself buying a third squad of conscripts

I'm thinking that the new wound allocation rules are going to be the death of assault blobs. When the majority of your firepower is located in between 2 and 6 models that have to be in the front of the formation in order to be effective, any wounds are going to be very punishing. It looks like mobile gunlines are going to be the next big thing.

Realistically, we haven't seen the whole thing, so any conjecture is really useless.

However, if what they say is true...

Overwatch defensive shooting is great. Since you hit on a 6, BS isn't important.... so.... 50 man conscript squads are as dangerous as any other PIS. But cheaper, and more expendable

The ordnance rules are great if they're true, and flyers.... if people have the money to pack an army with them, then that's cool. I think people are too concerned with competitive armies in recent years, local metas are becoming too rock paper scissors than they should be for a game that we play for fun.

I just realized...

Inquisitor Karamazov will be an amazing ally. If for nothing else than to call down orbital strike relays on our more than expendable guardsmen to ensure it doesn't scatter!

Finally we can shoot into melee

Every post like this gets me more excited...I have a well rounded Guard army...from power blobbed to meched vets....I am hoping that my3 demolishers come in handy still...
I am especially excited to take my DA librarian and 1-2 Deathwing squads as awesome sauce with my guard.

I play IG gunline. With the current rumors I wont change my list much at all. I will almost defiantly add some vendettas or Valkyrie because "6th Ed is the Ed of flyers"

I cant wait to get the rule book and know for sure what will effect my IG

If you are taking fliers to kill things, go with the Vendettas. Valks don't do much after they fire their two missles unless you take MRPs which only tickle MEQs and TEQs.

I like Leman Russes, especially bare bones Demolishers, bare bones LRBTs, the fully loaded Executioner, and a HB sponson/hull Paskinator. However, my list is more likely to include the Hydras and the Manticore(s) because I will need to counter Necrons and their Scythe spam and solar pulse spam. I'll add the tanks back in for large games.

Nave Senrag wrote:I'm thinking that the new wound allocation rules are going to be the death of assault blobs. When the majority of your firepower is located in between 2 and 6 models that have to be in the front of the formation in order to be effective, any wounds are going to be very punishing. It looks like mobile gunlines are going to be the next big thing.

This. Assault blobs are gone. Nice, I play them

1)The new wound allocation. Models are removed from the front. No meltas in power blobs. Sergeants and commissars in the back (if you get into CC they will not have charge bonuses because they will not get into CC first round). Extremely difficult for a blob to go into CC (your enemy can move 6" and fire with his unit + your models will die from the front, so with casualities you will actually move AWAY FROM the enemy). Models are removed from the front even in CC. Your power sword sarge and commissar will die like flies and the whole blob is gone as soon as the commi is gone.
2)Challenge from enemy IC. He can challenge even your commissar. Good luck in CC without stubborn...
3)Sniper rifles. Commissars are obvious targets.
4)Assault move 2D6. Much more harder to plan the assault (nowadays you know you have 6" assault and can plan ahead with that, with 6th edition, its about luck, not strategy).
5)Cover mostly 5+. Even now it was hard for power blob to get into CC with enough men. With 5+ cover your casualities will be much greater. Not to mention the rule that allows your opponent to shot only those models from the unit that are NOT IN COVER (and you always have some of those)

Infantry gunlines more likely then power blobs. However they will suffer greatly from 5+ cover, snipers, and the rule that allows your opponent to target only the models that are not physically in the cover.

Flyers are excelent. 3 vendettas nobrain! For those who like squadroning, 9 vendettas!
Hydras. So much stronger now.
Manticores are a bit stronger. Your pie plates will full strenght? Nice. The problem is with AP 4 and the new dammage result chart, but I think you still have a good chance to hit more than one vehicle and thus neglect this AP problem.

Mobile gunlines might be better than blobs but I'll try the blobs first. I will include heavy weapon team autocannons and flamers in the mix. A few grenade launchers might also be suitable. They are cheap, shoot 24", and can fire the krak grenade as Overwatch.

Wounds at the front just mean that you keep your sergeants, special weapons, and commissar back behind 10 or 15 models (so two to three ranks back).

I'm not sure we will see a ton of duels and/or snipers. I'm more worried about the rumor that characters, including upgrades, can "call" their shots. Hopefully that rumor is a fib.

It's confirmed by the dude with the rulebook on reddit that a roll to hit of 6 by snipers means they direct the wound. Even with a 4+ "Look out Sir!" roll for commissars, blob guard are going to be in serious doo-doo against sniper armies.

The only thing i'm worried about are the snipers for my blob guard. For snipers i'll just have to try and keep the power swords and commissar in cover so he'll op for my special weapons instead of the 5+ cover / 4+ look out sir.

As for my list, i'll have to drop a leman russ and add a squad of hydras. Add a CCS to sit back with HWS for "Bring it downs!" We'll see. Looking forward to seeing more of this thread to help me out!