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The one thing about IG that I find most annoying is the Comm-Link/Vox Caster rules.  The whole leadership thing is pretty foriegn and stupid in my mind.  I have never heard an officer give any stirring speeches over the radio.  Mostly because if you key the mic for more then 2-3 seconds your likely asking to be dead.  The radio is primarily used for one thing...to call in artillery or tank rounds...sometimes air assets and in rare cases to coordinate ground assets. 

In 2nd edition you got a barrage roll.  I think they should have something similar.

Comm-Link    30 points:  A command squad armed with a comm link can "Call for Fire" on a 6+reserve roll.  It is fired like an off table earthshaker cannon.  The intended target must be within line of site to the officer "Calling for Fire".  A Heroic Senior Officer gets a +2 to this roll,  a Senior Officer gets +1 to this roll, and a Commisar gets a +1 (but only if he is in charge of the squad...ie he has already executed the officer ) since it is concidered a career limiting option to deny fire support requests from these guys.

This type of rule I think would help add to the feel of the Guard and make Comm-links somewhat desirable again.  You could combo some items to make it somewhat more effective (for example you could have improved comms and a Heroic Senior Officer teamed up to get e re-rollable 4+ roll but then you have spent almost the same amount of points that an on table Basilisk costs [30 for the com link, 70 for the HSO, and 20 for the improved comms + what ever vehicle])

It also gives a reason to have an ACTUAL HSO, rather than just a Junior Officer with a Honorifica Imperialis.

While the fluff of stirring speeches might be a little over the top, I've always thought the whole leadership over vox-caster was a way of abstracting a leader's ability to direct the battle.

A vox communication might go something like this:
RTO: "We're being overrun, we need to fall back"
CPT: "Like hell you do!  Hold that position at all costs."
(Rolls a 7 vs the captain Ld 8)
RTO: "Roger sir, holding position."

The leadership 8 of the captain reflects either the officer's natural charisma, soldiers knowledge that he's a sound tactical planner, that they'll be flogged if they break, or other traits of the command climate that we don't see within the scope of the game.  A failed roll could be static in the comms, a plain out miscommunication, or odds so grim that not even the orders of the leadership could convince the unit to do what you want.

However on your idea, I think a Forward Observer or Imperial Navy Forward Air Controller would be a colorful addition to an IG company.  In the Armoured Battlegroup list from IAv1, one of the HQ options is a Forward Observer vehicle.  In the Heavy support section of the list you can then choose what kind of artillery strikes you'd like to buy (mortar battery, Griffon, Earthshaker, Manticore, etc.)  The FO vehicle directed the strikes, and the shots always deviated the full 2D6 I believe because of the range.

Sure, I can imagine such a communication but outfitting a commander with a radio is not primarily for playing wet nurse to junior officers who do not want to do their duty. Thats what Commisars are for.

The Radio is often refered to as the most powerful weapon in an elements arsinal. Not because of an officers charm either.

Yakface has a thread on this subject. It's quite a way aways back, but the idea of IG calling for off-table support has been muted previously, as well as quite a large expansion on the idea of Vox-Casters as a whole. Not to say these aren't bad ideas, but I'd suggest also checking out http://www.dakkadakka.com/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/16/postid/29816/view/topic/Default.aspx

EDIT: Something that hasn't been suggested yet are tools to help guide artillery. Perhaps command squads could have something like a Signal Pistol. Say, a range of 18". If it hits a target, then Barrage weapons can swap D6s for D3s when rolling for scatter on the target (e.g. 2D6 becomes 2D3).

Markerlights for IG! Markerlights for IG! (j/k)

@wight_widow

Thinking about the proposed rules some more....

In a 6-turn game, an HSO would get three pie plates o' doom. Not bad! Pity they're likely going to deviate 2D6 inches, but that can't be helped. All the other command groups would get one, provided they lasted that long. The problem with this idea is that the officer is the weakest link. JO/SO/HSOs have a staff that turns them from an untargetable IC into a very targettable unit. And a very weak unit at that. H.M.B.C. could tell you that the moment the HSO shows his phiz, he'll get it blown off. You've got Chapter-Master inspired LD10 priority tests, auto-passed tests from a Gunfex, a Firebase-pattern Shas'O giving LD10 priority tests.... 

Balanced against the (best case) 1-in-2 possibility of an Earthshaker round landing are the big LD bonuses that Command and JOs give, including the important reroll a standard bearer for the CO brings. You'll have to make exposing the CO/JO more worthwhile to risk the loss of a key plank in the Guard line.

They could be a target if your opponent was that worried about them but with a 1 in 6 chance to land a pie plate vs. the Leman Russ dropping pie plates every turn which is the most important target? Another thing to concider is range. Off table support has unlimited range and a officer far enough away in cover might not be targetable with small arms and then your opponent has to ask themselves "do I really want to waste heavy weapons on the officers squad"? Of course he is still theoretically targetable by something if he shows his mug unless there are no long range weapons in LOS.

Another thing about leadership is to be able to mitigate it in other ways (vets sarges and COD are good ways).  In other words make the officers less important.

(There, formatting is fixed.)

I'll answer your question by looking at the advice of a chap on this forum called H.M.B.C., who in my opinion is the authority on Dakkadakka on making efficient, effective Imperial Guard armies. The reason I don't want to expose my <st1:place>COs</st1:place>, as you will see, is not because the <st1:place>COs</st1:place> can fling a pie-plate, but because they are in invaluable cog in the IG machine that I wamt to keep safe.

H.M.B.C has this to say about officer squads. This is one of his more length comments on someone's Command HQ.

While the comment is directed at the CHQ, the same is true for all <st1:place><st1:city>IG</st1:city> <st1:state>CO</st1:state></st1:place> squads. The Leadership bubble, and the bonuses attached to the LD bubble (specifically Iron Discipline, which I'll get to in a minute) is the key reason for keeping <st1:place>COs</st1:place> out of LOS. My opponents are not worried about pie plates. They want to kill the <st1:place>COs</st1:place> so that IG loose all LD bonuses. You have offered multiple Veteran Sgts. and COD as a replacement. I do not believe they are a good choice for the following reasons.

Veteran sgts. are (as I remember) 6 points a pop. Doesn't seem much, but in a 1500 list (I'm based in the UK) I have a choice of either that or a plasma gun for the unit.The reason I can only buy one or the other is that the strength of the Guard is in numbers. They're a horde shooty army, so I want to keep the points per unit down as much as possible.

As I already have to buy a unit which will give the same LD boost to as many units as it can within 12" I'd prefer to buy the plasma gun over the Vet Sgt. and keep my LD-booster from trouble.

I also don't believe that COD is a good replacement for a CO. Because you have to huddle up the unit, it exposes the unit to blast, ordinance and flame templates, of which every army has some, if not all types.

But alright, let's say my above arguments are junk. There's a reason above all other for keeping <st1:place>COs</st1:place> out of LOS - Iron Dicipline. There's a reason that you'll see Iron Discipline in all the IG army lists in Dakkadakka, because for 5 points, it's so damn good. But only officers can take it. Every time an officer goes down, that's not just a LD bubble lost, that's an LD bubble with Iron Discipline, and with Fear of the Ancients, Psychic Scream and all the other "make IG run like little babbies" powers and abilities now popping up in every new codex, you can't not have it.  

Any commander worth his salt will try to take out <st1:place>COs</st1:place> if they can see them, in order to kill vital IG LD bonuses. Popular heavy Anti-Personnel weapons, e.g Heavy Bolters, Scatter Lasers, etc are as prevalent as AP3 weaponry, usually because weight of fire works where lack of AP3 doesn't so those units relying on weight of fire will have it in abundance.

So what your saying is comm-links are not for you.  Thats fine but what about those who want the option?  Are you saying we shouldn't have that?

What I said in the above was yes, don't risk COs, and I apologise if I appeared heavy-handed or lecturing. However, in my post prior to that, I wrote that you'd have to make exposing the CO/JO more worthwhile to risk the loss of a key plank in the Guard line. My post after that expanded on why I value my CHQ/JCOs hidden . I'm all for your idea, provided that the risk of exposing my CO is offset by the value of off-table support. Realistically, if I was going to expose my CHQ, then I'd want an off-table pie plate every turn, or as good as (say, on a 2+), or I'd buy a Basilisk and not expose my CHQ. If I was going to expose my JOs,  then I'd want to buy more JOs to counter casulaties, and want off-table pie plates arriving more regularly (say, on a 4+ or a 5+).

I see.  So you think the roll should be like on a 5+ and the Commisar bonus regardless regardless of wether or not he is in charge of the squad?  Thats sounds like a good idea to me.

What do you think about the point cost...too expensive or not enough?

Well, what's the opportunity cost? Say I want to maxmise on the effect of off-table support. I'd want juniors calling in the fire support, as I'd prefer not to risk my CO. So, if I want a pie plate landing every turn (which I do),  I'd want at least three junior COs (as every third dice would hopefully mean a pie plate.) The comm-links are optional, so include that in the opportunity cost. Of the JOs needed, one JO is optional to my army, so JO+Comm-links come to 130 points. That 130 points is the opportunity cost - i.e. the points I could have spent on something else in the army. And that's quite a lot of points. I'm no HMBC, but that's 2 units of rough riders,a Leman Russ, a squad and a half of guard, a squad of H-Vets with 30 points to spend on plasma on other squads, a basilisk.... it's quite the chunk of change.

If a comm-link is only going to provide off-table support, then based on the op cost, I'd want points value of the comm-link scaled down a bit. But not too much, or sure enough you'd get comm-link spam. Just enough to get the curve up to "viable option"

I hear ya. Perhaps 25 or 20 pts would make them more of a viable option?

100 points for the best chance of a pie plate every turn. 200 points, a full set of slots plus the cost of guard units as well for 2 plates. Yup, that sounds fairly well balanced.

So the final product is...?

Comm-Link 25 points: A command squad armed with a comm link can "Call for Fire" on a 5+ reserve roll. It is fired like an off table earthshaker cannon. The intended target must be within line of site to the officer "Calling for Fire". A Heroic Senior Officer gets a +2 to this roll, a Senior Officer gets +1 to this roll, and a Commisar gets a +1 (but only if he is in charge of the squad...ie he has already executed the officer ) since it is concidered a career limiting option to deny fire support requests from these guys.

 

Thanks for your imput guys

UNOFFICIAL ERRATA

On page 36 Codex: Imperial Guard, paste the following just under the entry for "Vox-caster", possibly over the word "UPGRADES" depending on font size:

"On a table of length AND width each less than nine feet, each vox-caster equipped squad may forgo its shooting for that turn and instead nominate an enemy unit within LOS and take a leadership test. If the targetted unit was not the closest to the unit with the vox-caster, the unit with the vox-caster must pass a second leadership test as though they were checking to shoot at them. If both tests are passed or waived, roll 1D6 for any Basilisk or Bombard still in reserve. This die may be rerolled by any unit with Improved Comms that have not used that item to re-roll a roll that turn. Each such die may be re-rolled only once. If the die roll is equal to or above the roll that the Basilisk or Bombard would have needed to enter play that turn, place an ordnance template on the target unit, resolved as though the vehicle in question had just fired its main weapon at them. If there are any flyers in reserve, a comm-link may be used in the exact same manner as for artillery, except place the flyer in question on the board in range and line of sight of the target unit instead of placing the template. The flyer may then fire any of its weapons with sufficient range at the target unit."

I like this idea. It was also good to lower the prices to 25 points caster. However I think it should include another option.

What if the enemy is not within line of sight of the officer? I think you should expand it to include line of sight of the officer or another unit with a vox caster. Claiming that the forward units relay the coordinates to the SO. This would give me a reason to include vox casters in my army.

thats a cool rule and is exactly how it works in the real world on occassion, but lets do this.

 

Master Comm-Link 25 points: A command squad armed with a comm link can "Call for Fire" on a 5+ reserve roll. It is fired like an off table earthshaker cannon. The intended target must be within line of site to the officer "Calling for Fire". A Heroic Senior Officer gets a +2 to this roll, a Senior Officer gets +1 to this roll, and a Commisar gets a +1 (but only if he is in charge of the squad...ie he has already executed the officer ) since it is concidered a career limiting option to deny fire support requests from these guys.

Comm-Link 5 points:  A squad with a comm link may relay fire coordinace to an officer.  An officer may also "call for fire" on targets that are within LOS of a squad armed with a comm link as if they had line of sight. 

 

Master comm link would be an option for command squads only and comm links for regular squads. 

awsome