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What do you do with your platoon command squads? These remarkably cheap units have a staggeringly large number of upgrade options, but their poor survivability and almost complete lack of ablative wounds makes them a tough choice to fit out. The more I think about it, the more I feel like the Imperial Guard general defines his style by how he equips these humble units. Here's a few ideas I've cooked up, but I'd love to hear yours!

Poor Richard's Hearing Aid:
These poor guys get a vox-caster and nothing else. Sure, they're an easy target for first blood, but your enemy won't be accomplishing much by killing them. Cheap, but gets the job done.

Meet the Pyro:
Four flamers and a sergeant with his throwable frag grenade in a vendetta. Deep strike 'em by the enemy and light 'em up!

What have you guys "cooked up" lately?

Corollax wrote:

Meet the Pyro:
Four flamers and a sergeant with his throwable frag grenade in a vendetta. Deep strike 'em by the enemy and light 'em up!

This made me lol. Love it. I pretty much just do that, it's cheap, effective and if it doesn't die from the crappy grav-chute insertion rule, it will route most troop types from an objective.
I occasionally take a bare PCS with an AC if I'm strapped for points. Just sit it back and let it put out some more dakka.
I really feel the PCS is a weaker, cheaper, mandatory version of vets. Frankly, I'd rather just have vets for important jobs like plasma and melta.

I tend to only ever have one platoon, so this isn't a question that comes up often for me.

The nice thing about that flamer squad is you get more flamers than veterans would and at a smaller point cost to boot. Best of all? BS3 doesn't matter when you're using templates.

Provide First Rank Fire for the blob squad.

Oh, and hide behind cover in an objective game.

Upgrades and damage dealing are best left to other units.

Jangustus wrote:
Provide First Rank Fire for the blob squad.

Oh, and hide behind cover in an objective game.

Upgrades and damage dealing are best left to other units.

My CCS provides the 1st option. The second option is laughable for a 5man unit in flak armor.

Usually flamers to counter attack or an autocannon to take pot shots at targets.

I also use them in conjunction with Go to ground/incoming! on my home objective.

 Griddlelol wrote:

Jangustus wrote:
Provide First Rank Fire for the blob squad.

Oh, and hide behind cover in an objective game.

Upgrades and damage dealing are best left to other units.

My CCS provides the 1st option. The second option is laughable for a 5man unit in flak armor.

My CCS is providing its better orders to my lascannon and missile launcher HWS (several thereof depending on the points), and going to ground, incoming if necessary makes for a surprisingly effective objective unit (up to a 2+ cover save in ruins), even better if you can place the objective with limited sight to it. laughable it is not, and with the plethora of troops units most guard armies have in them, if my opponent spends more firepower than usual on them then that is good for me.

My PCS's usually look like one of the following:

Mounted Up-in a chimera with 4X melta/plasma. Only when I cannot afford an entire vet squad, I usually include on platoon so it works out

FlamAC-2X flamers and an AC, great small, cheap unit

Flamers-4X Flamers

Thats about it, all of them are great buys and the unit is scoring, lots of people discredit this. Make a cheap unit your opponent does not feel the need to shoot at and a lone guardsmen can capture an objective.

Following Krieg limitations...: 2x Plasma and then a vox caster.
The FW kit comes with 1x plasma and melta, a standard bearer and the vox caster.

Officer is likely to have melta bombs, if not I have some to spare and perhaps a powersword.

I've seen the fireball PCS before, but I've scarcely had it do anything for me. Of course, I don't put it in a vendetta, but even then, there are a lot of units that relatively don't care about getting shot at by flamers.

In the end, they're just too fragile to spend points on. The most I've ever spent on them is like 20 points for a lascannon (that they'll actually get to shoot before they're wiped out), or I've done like 4x grenade launchers as a way to swat at fliers.

I've seen the fireball PCS before, but I've scarcely had it do anything for me. Of course, I don't put it in a vendetta, but even then, there are a lot of units that relatively don't care about getting shot at by flamers.

Think of it this way: you have to take the PCS to get the units you really want. However, it's still not a very good unit so you don't want to waste too many points on it. The question then is how do you upgrade them to give them a chance of doing something, without overpaying? This is where the flamers are awesome, they might be weak a lot of the time but they make up for it the few times they're awesome and remove entire units from the table. On the other hand, grenade launchers or a single BS 3 lascannon are always going to be mediocre. I think I'd much rather have the potential for awesome than automatic garbage.

Of course this is assuming you're willing to buy a delivery vehicle for them. If you don't want to take Vendettas or Chimeras then everything changes and your best bet is probably just a heavy weapon and put them somewhere where they won't give up first blood too easily.

Lately for me, it's been a bare squad plus a bolter on the JO (mostly just for style, to differentiate him as an officer). Even with no real guns, it's scoring and can issue orders. I hate spending points on a squad that can't sustain a singe round of shooting form almost anything.

I've never had a flamer PCS throw a unit of the board before. Had I them in a vendetta, perhaps, but not on the table. On the table, my opponents have always seen them coming, and have either killed them off (because its a fragile unit), or just spread out. On those times I've gotten decent hits off, they've done nothing. Three flamers getting 18 hits on some space marines sounds awesome until your opponent is a little bit lucky with armor saves, and only one or two actually fall.

As for lascannons, I'd disagree that they're always mediocre. A pair of lascannon PCSs is a lascannon hit per turn on average, and I've certainly swatted down vehicles with penetrating hits before. You talk about swinging for the fences, and I'd think that the 1 in 18 chance you have of wrecking a land raider turn 1 would have the same kind of odds and the same kind of significance as a couple of flamers.

 Ailaros wrote:
I've never had a flamer PCS throw a unit of the board before. Had I them in a vendetta, perhaps, but not on the table. On the table, my opponents have always seen them coming, and have either killed them off (because its a fragile unit), or just spread out. On those times I've gotten decent hits off, they've done nothing. Three flamers getting 18 hits on some space marines sounds awesome until your opponent is a little bit lucky with armor saves, and only one or two actually fall.

That's why I said you need a delivery vehicle. Obviously if you just run a pure foot list and run the flamer PCS up the table you're never going to use it effectively. But put them in a Vendetta or a Chimera in a Chimera wall and you'll see the effectiveness go up considerably.

(And of course this is yet another reason why you shouldn't run pure foot lists, and why Vendettas are almost mandatory.)

As for lascannons, I'd disagree that they're always mediocre. A pair of lascannon PCSs is a lascannon hit per turn on average, and I've certainly swatted down vehicles with penetrating hits before. You talk about swinging for the fences, and I'd think that the 1 in 18 chance you have of wrecking a land raider turn 1 would have the same kind of odds and the same kind of significance as a couple of flamers.

Yeah, a hit per turn at a total cost of 100 points. Obviously if you pay twice as much as a flamer PCS you should get some benefit. However, I think I'd rather have a Vendetta giving me more than twice that firepower for less than 50% more, or a HWS giving me 50% more firepower for the same price.

This dude.
With flamers or grenade launchers if on foot, or plasmas or meltas if mounted.

For homebase, i usually run them with an autocannon, and plop them on an obhective. Theres normally 2 or so guardsmen squads nearby that they rarely get fired upon.

Fireball squads are great, but they either need a lot of support (i like running al rahem with a full outflanking platoon) or hide behingld a building to pop out as a counterattack unit. Theyre also great for emptying buildings, which are easier to sneak up on. If they hit, they can easily cripple or wipe a unit. Especially non meq.

Most other variations ive found pretty lacklustre.

I'm currently running the PCS with a vox and 3 flamers. I keep it close to my blob squad for the 50% firepower boost from FRF! I run voxes because the dice gods hate me. I go flamers for counterattack; if the PCS was BS 4 I might do something else, but a small number of shots at BS3 with more expensive weapons doesn't seem worth it.

I decked out my platoon command and other officers with complete lack or regard for tactics.PCS with bolt pistol, power sword, and other fancy schmancy gear. They die a lot.

Though when I first had them, I gave 'em a mortar and camped.
Anyone fleeing was ordered back in. (stayed in deployment zone and never moved)

 Decio wrote:
I decked out my platoon command and other officers with complete lack or regard for tactics.PCS with bolt pistol, power sword, and other fancy schmancy gear. They die a lot.

Though when I first had them, I gave 'em a mortar and camped.
Anyone fleeing was ordered back in. (stayed in deployment zone and never moved)

That first line gave me a good laugh. which sucks, because that killed my sore throat

Alsoo, unless you're running chenkov, you can't issue get back in the fight with a PCS. Thats a CCS order unfortunately.

As for how I run them, it really depends on my mood. I've camped them with heavy weapons, hid them on objectives, ran them with flamers behind my infantry, and I still haven't found a way to run them I 100% like. I've found my best results were when I ran them as poor man's SWS's, but they make a great little unit to back up some platoon squads as well.

The problem is its a razor thin line between "not enough of a threat to bother with" and "a threat that dies first turn". I may start throwing them in chimeras and putting them in reserve to act as a rapid response unit with x4 plasma/melta. We'll see if that ever happens though.

PCS, PF, 2 Flamers, 2 CCW

That's how i usually run my PCS's, i have mostly use 3 platoons in 1850 footguard and i feel that the buildout compliments my army and its always nice to throw out a PF hit once in a while.

Sure they only str 6, but a couple of my opponents have learned not to underestimate my PCS's after they had their space marine's smacked in the face.

Generally they have the problems Mr Moustaffa has kindly stated above.

I run my PCS with 4 flamers. It is a cheap scoring unit, which hides to prevent first blood and go up front when something is too close.

I run mine with 3 flamers and a heavy flamer in a chimera. They move up with my meched up veterans and deal with crowd control.

How I run my PCS depends on the game I'm playing.

If I'm playing a more "hard core" list I tend to run 2 platoons and 2 vet squads. 1 platoon will have Al' Rahem in it and that one I will run with 4 meltas in a Chimera. The other one I will keep back to issue orders to my 2 blobs that are holding objectives or supporting my tanks.

In a more freindly game I run my first one behind my penal legion squads to issue FRSSRF. This one I will kit out as a flamer squad. My second one I stick in cover and give them 4 sniper rifles to take pot shots at characters. Not always effective but always entertaining. Nothing makes you feel quite as happy as the look on your opponants face when you snipe the Nob w/ power klaw the turn before they are going to assault.

I've run them with two sniper rifles and a heavy bolter. It makes a nice team that can dish wounds out occasionally. I've tried the fireball, but they never seem to get close enough to the enemy, I may try sticking them in a valkyrie next time to drop down near enemy lines before lighting the enemy up. More often then not, I just give 'em an autocannon and let 'em sit back out of sight or something.

But they are just so darn fragile.

MrMoustaffa wrote: I've camped them with heavy weapons, hid them on objectives, ran them with flamers behind my infantry, and I still haven't found a way to run them I 100% like. The problem is its a razor thin line between "not enough of a threat to bother with" and "a threat that dies first turn".

This basically describes my problem with PCSs for the entire time I've played guard. Three rules editions and two codices, and PCSs have still always had the same problem. Over all these years, I've found that lowballing their threat level tends to be the best, and now that first blood exists, that's only moreso true. It's why I like giving them an autocannon or two or three 5-point weapon upgrades. They'll actually survive long enough to possibly kill something.

I'd note, though, that with al'rahem I customarily bring him with 3 or 4 meltas (or occasionally 3 or 4 plasmas), but that's because he can get into point-blank range and has Bring it Down!

I suppose, in a way, this is also the problem with CCSs. They're hardier, but they also have BS4, give better orders, can take better upgrades, and now give out VP. I guess threading that line should be just as tricky, but for some reason I haven't quite found that to be the case.

Yeah, thats whats wierd for me too, my CCS almost never seem to have the same problem my PCS do, and they usually have far more powerful weapons and upgrades.

Maybe it's that all the other threats in our lists make them lesser priority targets? Most lists don't like having to shoot at a 5 man unit turn one against a foot list, especially if they dont have a ton of long ranged anti infantry. That said, I have had games where my opponent shot 10 lascannons at a single CCS per turn, simply because he had nothing better to do with them. Even then, I think he only shot my CCS because he couldn't get a good shot on my infantry squads.

Maybe they're trying to make their shots count? This has been bugging me ever since I started playing IG

The best solution I have had with them is to fireball them and put them into a vendetta. I make a similar SWS or 3x flamer vet squad and put them in my other vend.

The key is not to bring them out until you have worn down the enemy a bit. Make sure you go for light to mid infantry formations. They always "earn their points" in my games. If your vendetta dies, no biggy, its a 50pt unit.

Also good for last turn objective grabs and can scour units in cover from them.