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What tends to be the best/most popular weapon and wargear loadout for the Imperial Guard Officer of the Command Platoon?

His attendant staff?

Junior Officer with Iron Discipline, Honorifica Imperialis and maybe carapace armour + a veteran with a Company Standard.

From what I've been getting from most IG threads (and please correct me if I'm wrong), but IG HQ is there to provide high leadership so guardsmen don't start flee-ing en mass the moment your opponent deploys his army. The less toys (special weapons, heavy weapons, close combat weapons etc.) the less you'll tempt your opponent to target it.

Then again I don't even play IG, so that's just a theory. =)

Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon.


Weapons on Guard Officers are purely ornamental. They should not be attempting to get into, nor arming themselves for, combat. The only items you would take on them are Iron Discipline and the Honorifica Imperialis.

As for their staff, in the CHQ its a Standard Bearer and that's it. This unit does not fight.

For Platoon HQ's it depends on what they're doing. 4 Flamers for counter-assault, 4 Meltas for Deep Striking or 4 Plasmas for a middle ground.

No Heavy Weapons.

BYE

I personally tend to run my HQ with the above junior officer and 4 plasma gunners.

I keep them hidden at all costs, and pop them out end game when and if needed.

Some people don't like this however, as the HQ is really there for leadership, and they are probably right in all honesty. I just like 4 plasma units

I like 4 special weapon Platoon HQs (Plasma and Flamer mostly) and Standard+Mortar Company HQs.

Well What H.B.M.C. Is Right to every degree.

but for my Fluff Army and other lil jokes

3 Plasma a Medic and LT

HSO Power sword MC carapace all vet IG Comisser power fist. Priest (thats a CC joke unit)

But it depends really for Gun Line do what H.B.M.C. said

But for my all drop

Main HQ

Lt. 4 Meltas ----- thats it
And also for the rest of the Army.
Maybe 4 Flamers for Anti horde

junior officer with honorifica imperialis (cheaper than heroic chappy but same leadership, quite frankly i don't care about the rest of his stats)

armed usually with laspistol and chainsword, or oversized glove which i point out has no in game advantage whatso-ever and I have not paid for, i just like the model)

as for entourage:

Vet with standard and bionic (my converted standard bearer has a peg leg, so i feel honour bound to bbuy it and then forget to use it.)

a guy with a mastervox, which i know is not the cost effective way to do it but i like the idea of him hunkering down behind something yelling into the reciever "yes the plan is you walk forwards just far enough fo those genestealers to eat you but then not get to your friends, what do you mean no???"

two guys with a mortar

the groupthen finds a good hill to hide behind and sends better equpped men to their deaths while raining ineffective short range artillery fire on the opposition.


All the other command squads: vox, mortar, hill to hide behind.

the combinded mortar shells keep me amused but don't draw fiire by threatening the opposition until three terminators all cock up their saves in one turn.

HBMC:

I'm wondering why the Laspistol/CC versus just keeping a lasgun on him since HQ squads don't belong in CC anyways. Or is it just for appearance's sake?

They come with Laspistol/CC and have no option to get a Lasgun. They can get a Bolter for 1 pt though.

As stated, anything other than JO with ID, HI, and standard is a waste of points for the CHQ. Even that 1 point bolter can be used in a more efficient manner.

The CHQ's job is to provide leadership and allows for SWS and HWS.

If you arm them to fight, but hide, you have wasted those points.
If you arm them to fight, everytime you put them in a position to shoot, they're in a position for return fire. It is very likely they'll die and you have lost the best leadership bubble in your army.

Don't even think about arming them for CC. The stat line doesn't support it. It's quite fluffy for the CHQ to hide in a bunker giving orders and requesting support while the troopers fight.

My officers only come one way. Junior officer with laspistol, close combat weapon, iron discipline ...and a smile.

If there was a way to trade the laspistol and close combat weapon for a lasgun I would. I certainly have my sergeants trade in for lasguns.

Funny how there's never a senior officer who survives long
enough to lead Platoons of soldiers. I guess someone on
staff survives a battles, earns the honorifica imperialis,
and then goes on to lead the next troop.

I guess being a senior officer is a myth!

Rosicrucian wrote:Standard+Mortar Company HQs.

That's what I was going to take in mine. Or am going to, rather.

Either that or just put any other Heavy Weapon in there. Although I suppose this thread is actually about the Officer, in which case I would always pay the 5 pts for the power weapon I think. It's five points. Crikey. Or not, after a few games.

malfred wrote:Funny how there's never a senior officer who survives long enough to lead Platoons of soldiers. I guess someone on staff survives a battles, earns the honorifica imperialis, and then goes on to lead the next troop.

I guess being a senior officer is a myth!

Don't hate the playa Malf, hate the game.

BYE

I like to give my Company officer carapace armour and a power sword. Its only 5pts for the weapon and themes him well. I dont care if it is not optimised for an IG character, he deserves to carry the weapon. I also like the Cadian company officer model.

I also normally take a 'Senior Officer', none of the 'JO with Honorifica' metagame lark.

Sometimes I like to take a powerfist Commissar too, irrespective if anyone has a problem with that. After all whats the point of playing IG if you miss out on the style.

If you want it to be any good there is a point. Overequippinga a weak unit is usually a bad idea.

Orlanth wrote:I like to give my Company officer carapace armour and a power sword. Its only 5pts for the weapon and themes him well. I dont care if it is not optimised for an IG character, he deserves to carry the weapon... After all whats the point of playing IG if you miss out on the style.

You make a good point Orlanth, and I respect any player who is willing to knowingly use weaker options in order to play to his style.

However, in my personal opinion, we all already made the choice of weaker option the moment we bought our first box of Cadians and glued on our first lasgun. The game is tilted against the Guard, the codex is a cobwebbed book of options that range from glaringly awful to almost decent.

As a new player of the IG, my approach is to make the most competitive list possible with Guard and then work backwards to add any items I believe I can afford to give the list personality. So far I've not found a single spare point for luxury - its a matter of hanging on with nails to survive a game! Maybe later in my career I'll be able to add some 'fluff'.

Orlanth wrote:After all whats the point of playing IG if you miss out on the style.

I prefer my style thanks - Legions of Armour (over 60 tanks) backed up by carpets of completely disposable Infantry (close to 500 of them).

No officer gets anything more scary than a riding crop as he won't live long under my command.

BYE

H.B.M.C. wrote:I prefer my style thanks - Legions of Armour (over 60 tanks) backed up by carpets of completely disposable Infantry (close to 500 of them).

No officer gets anything more scary than a riding crop as he won't live long under my command.

BYE

You Monster!

If you complete your objectives and suffer 90% casualties at the same time, guess what?

You've completed your objectives.

And that's all that matters.

BYE

In my experience, if you just happen to have the points laying around, go ahead and give a few officers power swords. Sometimes, the enemy does manage to get you into close combat, and if most of the platoon get engaged, it's not always a bad idea to get the power-sword into the fray, especially against power armour or terminators. My army has 4 officers, and all of them have power swords. It's just 20 points, and it's a good way to round off a list that has everything else. However, those five points can also go towards a vox-caster, if you tend to spread your army out more. I'd personally go for the sword if you like lots of men (as the men will end up packed around the officers anyway) and vox-casters if you have more tanks (and spreading men out/making the go farther is more important)

My army also has the platoon commands equipped with 4 weapons. One has four flamers, one has four grenade launchers, and one has four plasma guns. I've actually found the four launchers most effective, as they lay down an impressive barrage with frag grenades, though the four flamers cause entertaining damage if the enemy strays too close. The four plasma guns mostly overheat.

My officers get power swords and bolt pistols. Yes, they don't belong in combat, but sometimes they have to do something they shouldn't.

I have given my HQ officer 4 veterans, a banner and a medic, with bolt pistols and ccw on the veterans, and was even so generous with the points to throw carapace armor on them. While I now think this is a horrible point sink, at the time I was playing mainly vs. Orks, and it was very handy to have a unit that could roll in and throw down almost 20 attacks, as Orks would invariably hit my line at some point.

Now I have dropped the veterans except for a banner-man and a medic, (for fun) as the points spent on carapace and other veterans are better spent on more guns. I am experimenting with a mortar in the squad, as I have 2 other mortar sections and it can help act as a "spotter" as I take my first shot with it. This keeps me from wasting my mortars on oblique shots that are hard to judge distance on, and allows me to take a shot with the HW while keeping it hidden.

This build is pretty cheap, and does the job of supporting the line infantry well with the banner and LD off the officer, and power weapons are cheap, so what the heck.

open_sketchbook wrote:In my experience, if you just happen to have the points laying around, go ahead and give a few officers power swords.

There are more things worth 5 points in a Guard army that are better than a power sword.

open_sketchbook wrote:My army also has the platoon commands equipped with 4 weapons. One has four flamers, one has four grenade launchers, and one has four plasma guns. I've actually found the four launchers most effective, as they lay down an impressive barrage with frag grenades, though the four flamers cause entertaining damage if the enemy strays too close. The four plasma guns mostly overheat.

I've actually had a 4 Grenade Launcher Command Section win a game for me - on two separate occasions! - but it doesn't make Grenade Launchers any more worthwhile. They're still overpriced and completely unnecessary for a Guard commander, and should not be taken. I take them occasionally as I happen to love the Mordian and Tallarn models for them, but they're still junk.

nathonicus wrote:My officers get power swords and bolt pistols. Yes, they don't belong in combat, but sometimes they have to do something they shouldn't.

Just because they shouldn't doesn't mean you should prepare in the case it does happen. Throwing points at a weakness doesn't make the weakness go away, it just makes you worth more points when you are (inevitably) slaughtered in HTH. If you really are taking such a CHQ, and assuming you're not completely mad and do take Iron Discipline, that's still 48 points of pure Bloat. You can almost buy another squad for that.

Guard are about guns. Taking more squads with more guns will be better than taking HTH units.

nathonicus wrote:While I now think this is a horrible point sink, at the time I was playing mainly vs. Orks, and it was very handy to have a unit that could roll in and throw down almost 20 attacks, as Orks would invariably hit my line at some point.

Would it not have been better to bring a unit with 4 flamers to face the Orks? You'd get better results, that's for sure.

BYE

H.B.M.C. wrote:

nathonicus wrote:My officers get power swords and bolt pistols. Yes, they don't belong in combat, but sometimes they have to do something they shouldn't.

Just because they shouldn't doesn't mean you should prepare in the case it does happen. Throwing points at a weakness doesn't make the weakness go away, it just makes you worth more points when you are (inevitably) slaughtered in HTH. If you really are taking such a CHQ, and assuming you're not completely mad and do take Iron Discipline, that's still 48 points of pure Bloat. You can almost buy another squad for that.

Guard are about guns. Taking more squads with more guns will be better than taking HTH units.

nathonicus wrote:While I now think this is a horrible point sink, at the time I was playing mainly vs. Orks, and it was very handy to have a unit that could roll in and throw down almost 20 attacks, as Orks would invariably hit my line at some point.

Would it not have been better to bring a unit with 4 flamers to face the Orks? You'd get better results, that's for sure.

BYE

Well, for me it's only 12 points, as I only have 2 officers in my army.

The thing about flamers is, I can't run up and flamer the orks if they're locked in combat with the squad they charged.

12 points is the cost of a heavy stubber on a tank. Over the coarse of a game, the power weapons usually are more use to me than having an extra heavy stubber would be.

Back to the OP, another loadout I have tried is 4 plasma guns. The only problem with this is, with 24" range, if you can shoot the enemy, the enemy can shoot you, and 4 plasmas will be targeted quickly, and die very quickly as well. (Even if they don't overheat and kill themselves.) I found it difficult to play 4 plasmas in a way where I was getting much use out of them, and found it put too many eggs in one basket.

Aduro wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:I prefer my style thanks - Legions of Armour (over 60 tanks) backed up by carpets of completely disposable Infantry (close to 500 of them).
No officer gets anything more scary than a riding crop as he won't live long under my command.

You Monster!

Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen, and not having gear and swords and funny hats, is playing with style. Blowing points on gear and luxury items is not nearly as fluffy as the sort of insane Stalingrad approach that HBMC is describing.

One thing I have learnt from this thread is that there is no single answer to the question
"Best/Most Popular Loadout for an Imp Guard HQ Officer?"

The Best: Junior Officer with Iron Discipline, Honorifica Imperialis and a Company Standard.
The Most Popular: All kinds of expensive goodies that die with the man who carries them.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

open_sketchbook wrote:In my experience, if you just happen to have the points laying around, go ahead and give a few officers power swords.

There are more things worth 5 points in a Guard army that are better than a power sword.

Name a few? I mentioned vox-casters, which I personally find overpriced in my army, which relies on it's numbers and artillery support. Again, in an army placing more emphasis on tanks, I see it's use, but otherwise? Other than that, I'm not seeing anything I don't already have. Again, the power swords were a last addition. They were a response to 20 free points. If you have the points, take them, but don't sacrifice other things for them.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

open_sketchbook wrote:My army also has the platoon commands equipped with 4 weapons. One has four flamers, one has four grenade launchers, and one has four plasma guns. I've actually found the four launchers most effective, as they lay down an impressive barrage with frag grenades, though the four flamers cause entertaining damage if the enemy strays too close. The four plasma guns mostly overheat.

I've actually had a 4 Grenade Launcher Command Section win a game for me - on two separate occasions! - but it doesn't make Grenade Launchers any more worthwhile. They're still overpriced and completely unnecessary for a Guard commander, and should not be taken. I take them occasionally as I happen to love the Mordian and Tallarn models for them, but they're still junk.

Launchers have two things going for them right now, in my opinion.
1) Fifth Ed rules make a barrage of four grenades pretty devastating against a packed enemy, at 24" inches. Considering how much more prolific hordes are likely to get, that's good. And the krak shots add flexibility to the weapon, which is a good thing in a unit that has specialized in one weapon.
2) It's a mid-range assault weapon, great for supporting the advance of infantry. Because, you know, infantry has to advance in 5th.

FOr the company HQ, I Take

HSO with Standard Bearer

Platoon HQ
4 Plasma guns or Melta with Droop Troops, SOmtimes he gets a plasma pistol.

I used Necorns against some Guard and assaulted his CHQ with my destroyer lord and some scarabs. He had a vet sarg w/PF and it was a total pain. I couldn't target him and he did some good damage. Even knocking down my lord, he came back though. That PF was alot more effective than I thought. I think the officer had a field and had some good saves. Not bad.

I had an idea, and wanted to present it to the class: Storm Bolters.

5 points, gets you an extra shot before HMBC feeds them to the wolves.

Nathonicus the key to the 4 plasma gun team is to deep strike them or hide them till you can see the white of the enemys eyes, them jump out and totaly kill them all dead

For mine its just banner and honifcus. then the platoon comands get melta or flamers.
grenade lauchers are totaly useless however and should only be taken if you like to roll more dice