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Hi there,

I recently came into the extended minis collections of several friends who no longer feel they have appropriate garage space for their goodies (read: they got married/have young kids). Some of this stuff hasn’t been looked at in ages (I think one of them was explaining to me he last played second edition!), and a fair bit is quite nicely painted, and the rest I can muddle through.

But I’ve never played. I’m looking to get ahold of the 5th edition rules (there’s a new edition coming out soon, right? That’s probably good for me!) and codexes. I just signed up here today, and I turn to you, experienced 40K players, for help. I should add that I’ll be playing casual games with friends, and that we’re not WYSIWYG type guys. I can imagine proxying a little here and there, but I won’t be using the hellhound as a squad of catachan jungle dudes, for example.

So this is my IG army. Can you point me to any good beginner Imperial Guard threads out there? Avoiding technical jargon and slang, I’d love to learn what these guys are all about. And I ask you, dear reader, what are some of your favorite IG units? Here’s what I currently own. If you had these figures what, in your vast treasure trove of experience and knowledge, would you consider buying next? Is this army ready for battle, or is there a 5th edition must-have unit that you’d consider adding?

3 10-man squads of footsolders. They all have lasrifles (I think that’s what they are), with a few who have special weapons like a heavy bolter and bazooka type stuff
1 10-man squad of catachan jungle fighters. their arms are magnetized, and there’s a plethora of goodies to give them.
3 stands of special weapons. Two look vaguely like 50 cal machine guns, one like a bazooka on a tripod.
5 officers with various and sundry chainswords and groovy weapons
6 little ratling sniper dudes
1 Hellhound
1 Leman Russ tank (freakin’ cool model!!)
1 vehicle with a big mortar on it, that’s not on the current GW webpage. Maybe it’s an older edition Basilisk or Manticore?

I am fairly new myself but i have some knowledge of how imperial guard is run. I would agree with you the leman russ battle tank is my favorite model, i have somewhere around 6 because i love building and detailing them although not that great at it. That one vehicle you have with the mortar is either a griffon heavy mortar or could be a medusa i would have to see a picture but it sounds like the griffon. A question im gunna ask that might also help other people give you advice on helping you build an army would be how do you want to play, do you want troops mounted in vehicles driving around which would be a mech type list or sit back and shoot like the gunline, where you get as many heavy weapons and artillery in your army and just sit back and shoot?

See if you can get a copy of the codex, you're really going to need it.

The amount of infantry you have isn't quite enough for two platoons, which means you're likely using at least one veteran squad. The jungle fighters squad you have seem like a good candidate for that since they look different from the rest and you say you have a lot of options for them. The other guys could either be used as more veterans or assembled into a platoon depending on your preference. Putting the three heavy weapon teams into the infantry squads liberates six models. Four combine with an officer to make command squad. Are some of the officers less fancy than the others? You could use some of them to fill in the extra bodies needed to form a second command squad - if you're using a platoon then the platoon needs a command squad and you'll also need an HQ for the army which would likely be a company command squad.

Are the 5 officers the only models you have armed with pistols? It used to be legal to arm sergeants with lasguns but isn't anymore. Not hugely important if your group aren't sticklers for that sort of thing.

Depending on what exactly you have that gets you
Company command squad with some stuff ~75 pts
Veteran squad with stuff ~100 pts
Infantry platoon consisting of
-Platoon command squad with stuff ~50 points
-Infantry squad with stuff ~70pts
-Infantry squad with stuff ~70pts
-Infantry squad with stuff ~70pts
(or three more veteran squads instead of a platoon)
Ratling squad (6) 60pts
Hellhound 130 pts
Leman Russ 150 points
Probably a Griffon 75 points

Somewhere in the ballpark of 850 points.

As far as new purchases are concerned, Chimeras seem like a good idea.

Thanks guys.

With regards to how I'd like to play: I have no idea!! What do IG do best? I reckon I'd lean towards a list that doesn't require too many more vehicles, as they're expensive and time consuming to paint.

And I'll for sure pick up a codex asap, as it's a bit hard to really understand the capabilities of what I have. I thought my IG forces was pretty big, but maybe not? For a new player, would a 250-500 pt game be fun?

Imperial Guard have several viable styles.

Mechanized veterans have been pretty popular since the new codex came out. Basically use veterans as troops, get a bunch of meltas and plasmas in the mix of your choice, put them in transport vehicles. A common variation uses Valkyrie/Vendetta squadrons as transports instead of Chimeras. Going this way would obviously mean getting some transport vehicles.

Foot guard near always revolves around infantry platoons and could be shooty, assaulty, or both. Viable assault guard is new to this codex, involving mobbing up infantry squads with commissars and power weapons, and isn't for the faint of heart. Shooty foot guard is a classic but not currently very stylish. Get a pile of men, give them a pile of guns, deploy carefully and understand a lot of people are going to die. One of the little things you really have to remember with IG: A lot of people are going to die. That's why you can bring more men to the table than anyone else. If you go this way you're going to need more men. Two minimum size platoons means 2 officers and 48 men. You could cram that and some extras into 500 points.

There's also mass armor, where you focus primarily on heavy units and the troops are mostly an afterthought. Any style IG can use tanks but try not to use exactly one.

Small games are fun and really handy when you're just starting out but players often prefer to have a bit more room to stretch out past their mandatory units.