Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm going to leave the big review to H.B.M.C, who's clearly the IG fanatic in these parts. I'm just doing a quick review of the fluff, art, and rules. And so we start at the beginning.

But first, I need to blow off some steam. The cover is really bad. It looks really disorganised and messy, and shows nothing that indicates the disciplined ranks of the Imperial Guard. There are a few well-drawn Mechanicus Priests with lots of pipes in their heads, a Psyker who looks like a ranting evil mastermind with laser eyes, a general who seems to think that you don't need your eyes open to survey the battlefield, and a commissar who is obviously executing some flying Guardsmen.

Part One: The Background Fluff
There isn't much to say here. Compared to other army books/codecies, it's pretty short. Like the Ork codex, it gives information on the major factions of the IG; Cadians, Steel Legion, Iron Guard, Desert Raiders, Vostroyan Firstborn, Catachans, and Valhallans, with a little bit on the Attilans, Elysians, Death Korps and the Tanith First and Only at the very end of that section.

Most of the artwork in here is old stuff by the looks of it; there's what I think is an old IG codex cover, an obviously old picture of some Valhallans, and a clipped picture of the Cities of Death cover, which I think is a Vostroyan breaking a Fire Warrior's neck.

We also get some very well-written stuff on how the IG and most of the Imperium's military works, as well as a list of major IG battles and a big map of the galaxy with some more battles. What makes this map confusing is the fact that it's shown from the top rather than from an angle, like we're used to.

Part Two: The army list
Most of the stuff you've read about in the rumours is in here. Infantry squads (normal Guardsmen only) can be combined into a single large battalion, but this is done prior to deployment and they can't be split up during the game. This does deal with the KP issue that IG have, but I think that Penal Troops should be able to be combined with other Penal Troops.

For some odd reason, Conscripts are 0-1 and cost a ludicrous 200 points for a full squad (275 with Chenkov's special rule). I'm not taking them.

Vets have a choice of three doctrines, which are basically piss-poor knock-offs of a few old army-wide doctrines. They are:
Grenadiers (Carapace armour)
Forward Sentries (camo-cloaks and snare mines)
Demolitions (every veteran has melta-bombs, one has a free demo-charge)
Otherwise, I think they're the same as before.

The way Platoons work is interesting. I didn't play IG before now, so I'm not sure if this system is old or not.

Robin Cruddace wrote:Composition: 1 Platoon Command Squad, 2-5 Infantry Squads, 0-5 Heavy Weapon Squads, 0-2 Special Weapons Squads and 0-1 Conscripts Squad. Each Infantry Platoon counts as a single troops choice on the force organisation chart when deploying, and is rolled for collectively when rolling for reserves

This means you can have up to 60 normal guardsmen per troops choice, and once you factor in the Conscripts, Special/Heavy Weapons squads, you're going to have A LOT of models. More than I've seen in any other codex.

Platoon Command squads are basically dumbed-down versions of Company Command squads. They don't get the 'Bring it down!', Fire on my target!', or 'Get back in the fight! orders.

Ogryns seem moderately useful, but very expensive (40 per additional model, 130 base). They get S 5 AP - Ripper guns, and they also have Stubborn and Furious Charge. They're mostly a counter-assault unit.

Stormtroopers are overpriced, 85 base and 16 pts/additional model, and their sergeant has the curious option to take a bolter. Whoopdee-fething-doo. ONE BOLTER. If the whole squad could take them, I'd consider it. They have Deep Strike as standard and don't need a Valkyrie to do it.

I won't go into much more detail about the army list here, as it would take far too long. However, I will cover the special characters.

Lord Castellan Creed and Colour Sergeant Kell
Despite being in the same list entry, they can be taken seperately. If they're in the same unit, Kell takes hits for Creed and if he is in the same unit as an officer, he allows units recieving orders form that officer to use the officer's Leadership. Obviously, you're going to want to take him with Creed, who is Ld 10. Creed gets a funny order that gives the targeted squad F-Charge and Fearless.

Knight Commander Pask
A tank upgrade. He can only be taken in Russes. He gives it BS 4, +1 to armour penetration rolls, and re-rolls to wound rolls against Monstrous Creatures. Nothing special, if you ask me.

Sergeant Lukas Bastonne
Looks like the average poster boy; in fact, that's exactly what he is. He's an upgrade for a Veteran squad, who can issue all orders to his squad except 'Incoming!' and 'Get back in the fight!' as well as allowing his squad to automatically regroup.

I'll continue with this later; it's nearly dinnertime, and my laptop is low on battery.

And remember, kids; you don't have to pay GW for your models, not when there are cheaper alternatives! (Don't worry, I'm not getting paid for this.)

I'm gonna stick with Mutants and Plague Zombies. They's pretty.

Does this mean nobody likes my review so far?

You just haven't reviewed any treads yet so you haven't truly reviewed anything so far...

I like the review, apart from a few things:

The way Platoons work is as old as time itself, so its nothing new that you can take so many models/Troops Slot.

Conscripts are the exact same cost as the old codex, so the hate here is unwarranted imo.

I agree with the Stormtrooper bit though, for how easy they die, they are not that useful.

DAaddict wrote:You just haven't reviewed any treads yet so you haven't truly reviewed anything so far...

Oh, OK smart arse. YOU review all the tanks. Go on, do it now. I'll give you 6 minutes before your soul is forfeit. Go.

I can sum up "Codex: Imperial Guard" in 7 words.

"Spaze Marienz R Roxxorz and da Gr8test!"

Make that 8 words....


"HUUURRRRRRR!"

Let's see your Spase Marienz (hurr) stand up to the mighty Executioner.

From someone who's taken a regular
pounding from the guard, all I want to
know is this;are the Guard more powerful?
I hope not!

Cheese Elemental wrote:
For some odd reason, Conscripts are 0-1 and cost a ludicrous 200 points for a full squad (275 with Chenkov's special rule). I'm not taking them.

They're 0-1 per platoon, which are not limited. So, you could theoretically field 300 conscripts in your army, for the low-low price of 1200 points, leaving 300 points for your command squads and six infantry squads in a 1500 list.

As for Chenkov, his rule is insanely powerful, even without a full squad of conscripts. Enemy getting close enough to charge you? Assault them with your conscripts! Hold them in place during your opponent's turn. At the end of your opponent's turn, simply remove whatever is left of them from the table, and bring them back (full again), leaving your opponent's models able to be shot some more. Rinse-repeat if you have to...

Knight Commander Pask
A tank upgrade. He can only be taken in Russes. He gives it BS 4, +1 to armour penetration rolls, and re-rolls to wound rolls against Monstrous Creatures. Nothing special, if you ask me.

I agree, he's pretty pricy for what he does, and the increase of BS doesn't help much with most russes. However, if you're running a Vanquisher, he might be worth it, as that uses BS to hit with, and is designed for shooting at tanks. It'd probably be worth 3 or 4 extra hits with a punisher too.

GW sent 20 copies of the Demon Hunter codex to my FLGS. To that I say:

t( 'o' ) GW

Slipstream wrote:From someone who's taken a regular
pounding from the guard, all I want to
know is this;are the Guard more powerful?
I hope not!

Yes guard are more powerful.

I have been cursing Pete Haines name ever since the last codex "I am tired of seeing static shooting armies, so I will simply make everything more expensive..yeah that aught to fix it".

It is nice to see alot of the changes:

Chimeras were too expensive before, but now are a bit cheap at 55 points weapons included. I think chimeras will be the back bone of most armies now (at least for anti infantry).

The primaris and psyker battle squad are both awesome choices.

Valkyries are awesome too, but only to be out-shined somewhat by the super cheap chimeras.

the lone guard only player at my shop runs pask in a punisher, its pretty solid.

Adding something about more special characters.

Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken
This guy really looks like Marcus Fenix from Gears of War. Weird huh? On-topic, he is the only thing in the list with a base strength of more than 5 (6). In CC, he ignores armour saves and get bonus armour penetration. Basically, he has a chainfist that strikes at normal initiative. He looks pretty useful, because quite a few units in the game would think twice before assaulting his squad.

Guardsman Marbo
Marbo is probably going to be most useful against Orks, other IG, Daemons, and other things with bad armour saves. He has a poisoned pistol which is also AP 2, but it still only gets one shot. His poisoned knife isn't a power weapon sadly, so his uses against MEQs are limited. I won't be using him then.

Mogul Kamir
Only good if you want your Rough Riders to survive more than one assault. He gives them F-Charge, but also causes Rage, which makes him really easy to lead around.

Commander Chenkov
Ultimate meatshield generator! He lets you replace your conscripts thanks to his special rule. As Redbeard said, you can get 300 conscripts for 1200 points, and with Chenkov, that's a lot of dakka. Kind of pointless in the end, but still a hoot to use.
Chenkov himself has a few wargear upgrades and can only issue two orders. (Not sure which ones.)

Gunnery Sergeant Harker
A true Rambo impersonator if ever there was one. He's relentless and has a heavy bolter and FnP. Wonderful in a squad with grenade launchers.

Commissar Yarrick
Good ol' Yarrick has Eternal Warrior, so no instant death from powerfists! He is the only entry in the codex with that rule, which makes me RAGE. His laser eye is now the same as a hot-shot laspistol, so he'll do well in combat against marines.

Cheese Elemental wrote:Guardsman Marbo
Marbo is probably going to be most useful against Orks, other IG, Daemons, and other things with bad armour saves. He has a poisoned pistol which is also AP 2, but it still only gets one shot. His poisoned knife isn't a power weapon sadly, so his uses against MEQs are limited. I won't be using him then.

Did you overlook his Demo Charge? He Can pop up ANYWHERE without scattering and pewpew a meq squad into nothing. Yes he will most likely die, but 65 points taking out a 130+ point squad is a damn good ratio IMO.

How can you say the Sly Marbo isn't the Rambo impersonator? His name is even an anogram for Rambo! Marbo is Rambo with the Ram part backwards, and he's a Catachan for goodness sake!

I didn't see the demo charge in his list entry, oops. Don't know how I missed that.

And it's clearly Harker who is the Rambo impersonator. He's the one who lugs around a heavy bolter blowing people away.

Cheese Elemental wrote:I didn't see the demo charge in his list entry, oops. Don't know how I missed that.

And it's clearly Harker who is the Rambo impersonator. He's the one who lugs around a heavy bolter blowing people away.

So change your unflattering review, silly man!

As for who is more "Rambo" I contend that each one is Half of what Rambo is. Marbo is the "Hide in the mud and hit you with exploding bow and arrow then turkey slab your giblets" Rambo, while Harker is "Jump onto truck with machine gun and blow up the driver before massacring everything within 9001 ft" Rambo.

I'm an old time guard player and havn't picked up the new 'Dex yet, but from what I've read in your review not much has changed. The conscripts have been 1 to 1 in platoons, the special characters have been overpriced and too easy to kill and the placement has always been by platoon, not squad.

What I'm waiting to hear abotu are the tanks. It sounds like they've added BACK the exterminator and vanquisher which they took out last edition. Yay! I can use my exterminator again! Cool!

I've also seen some new pieces in lists like the Medusa... I think I remember that, an upgrade of hte Griffon Mortar. Are there Basilisks still?

2000 Volts wrote:I'm an old time guard player and havn't picked up the new 'Dex yet, but from what I've read in your review not much has changed. The conscripts have been 1 to 1 in platoons, the special characters have been overpriced and too easy to kill and the placement has always been by platoon, not squad.

What I'm waiting to hear abotu are the tanks. It sounds like they've added BACK the exterminator and vanquisher which they took out last edition. Yay! I can use my exterminator again! Cool!

I've also seen some new pieces in lists like the Medusa... I think I remember that, an upgrade of hte Griffon Mortar. Are there Basilisks still?

They've added them back and then some, there are 7 Types of Russ Available, all available as 1-3.

Bassies are still there, but they are part of the "Ordnance battery" now. You get between one and three of any on this list as a single squadron: basilisk, Medusa, Colossus, Griffon. So yeah, you can take 9 Basilisks if you REEEEEALY wanted to.

a so far interesting look into the armybook.

And never, NEVER underestimate a single S4 shot. You can potentially wound on 3's. That should never be overlooked

Cheese Elemental wrote:I didn't see the demo charge in his list entry, oops. Don't know how I missed that.

And it's clearly Harker who is the Rambo impersonator. He's the one who lugs around a heavy bolter blowing people away.

Sorry, but I'd say that Harker is pretty clearly Blain (Jesse Ventura's character) from Predator. Let's review the facts:
- Blain carries a minigun, Harker has a heavy bolter. Yes, I realize that Harker should have an assault cannon, but then they couldn't sell Ox minis.
- One of Blain's quotes from the movie is "It's payback time", Harker's bolter is named Payback.
- Blain chews tobacco, "It is said that instead of chewing tobacco [Harker] chews glass"
- Blain "ain't got time to bleed", "As far as 'Stonetooth' is concerned pain, and even bleeding, are concepts for weaker soldiers"

There we go. Harker is Blain, Marbo is Rambo.

Cheese Elemental wrote:Guardsman Marbo
Marbo is probably going to be most useful against Orks, other IG, Daemons, and other things with bad armour saves. He has a poisoned pistol which is also AP 2, but it still only gets one shot. His poisoned knife isn't a power weapon sadly, so his uses against MEQs are limited. I won't be using him then.

He's also worth a single KP all by himself. Remember that.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:Guardsman Marbo
Marbo is probably going to be most useful against Orks, other IG, Daemons, and other things with bad armour saves. He has a poisoned pistol which is also AP 2, but it still only gets one shot. His poisoned knife isn't a power weapon sadly, so his uses against MEQs are limited. I won't be using him then.

He's also worth a single KP all by himself. Remember that.

True, but if you want a Demo charge, he is probably your best option. Lets face it, a SWS costs the same, is harder to get on target, is less accurate, and still is basically a free KP.

In addition, in a KP game, you can always hide him (or use him in a location where he is supported and has a chance to survive).

Call me old fashioned, but if I have to choose between a bad squad or a special character, I'll go spend the points on something completely different...

By the way H.B.M.C. When can we expect your review of the new Codex?

When I have it. It is still en route from Ol' Blighty.

I haven't picked up my copy yet but the idea of more tanks makes me drool. However, is the Hydra part of the tanks they brought back or is that Forgeworld only?

Hydra is there, but it's still a FW only kit.

I don't know why you'd buy it from FW when you can get a cheap Leman Russ and stick two Exterminator autocannon pairs on it.