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A little background if it helps: I got into the 40k hobby almost ten years ago in high school thanks to a tip by a friend who knew my love of turn based wargames. I started reading up on the universe and was instantly hooked. I loved the fluff of the Imperial Guard, a bunch of ordinary humans with no fancy pants technology facing off against a galaxy full of biological monstrosities, technologically advanced aliens, genetically enhanced elite trained and supplied warriors, and other seemingly mismatched forces. The thing is, now that I have the time and the disposable income to actually pursue the hobby more seriously, I'm not sure it's the army for me.

The main reason why I selected the IG in the first place was the background, which I feel does not translate particularly well to how the army is represented on the tabletop.

It's odd, for instance, to plop down my 150 or so models on the tabletop, look across the board and see forty Space Marines and it's supposed to be a fight on equal terms, whereas if such an engagement happened in the fluff, 150 guardsmen would be a speed bump for forty Space Marines (or Fire Warriors, or Necron Warriors, or Guardians, or practically every other troop choice except Gaunts or Gretchin). I've been abstracting that each guardsman model is representing three to five actual guardsmen, and it works most of the time, but I guess it just feels "wrong" somehow when I look on the table.

The second issue I feel that I have is that while I love the idea of the Imperial Guard throwing massive (somewhat) waves of men and guns against the enemy, I don't actually enjoy how it actually plays out on the table. What ends up happening is I just sort of walk a giant mob of men in one general direction and roll dice. I like what it's supposed to represent; it's not particularly fun to play on the table.

Thematically, I love the mental image of fortifying my men in trenches as the enemy comes on, smashing their way through my defenses as my guardsmen frantically try to stem the breach with their bodies and bayonets. In actual gameplay terms and in my experience, playing gunline is neither fun for me or my opponent.

I could get around this by playing an airborne army, zooming around the table in Vendettas and dropping off Melta/plas vets and stormtroopers... but then it stops being the "man and his lasgun" army and turns into "flyers and shiny toys".

I've been looking into how other armies play and many of them seem like a lot of fun to play. Tau battlesuits look like a lot of fun to play with, same with Swooping Hawks, but both of these armies' backgrounds don't really resonate with me. I picked up some Space Marines (I needed a 6th ed rulebook), and while they're certainly more fun to play than my Guard (and I like their background too), they seem more like a compromise choice than something I'd love to play on the tabletop. I guess I just really want some fast, shooty infantry. Assault marines would be perfect if I could just give them standard tactical gear.

Has anyone else had this problem of picking an army based on their background and then discovering that they don't enjoy how they play? How did you solve your problem?

Thanks for the read!

As an aside, I have this same problem for Fantasy. I selected Bretonnians because of my love of their fluff... (I love the rules for the army having to pray to the Lady for example) and it turns out I'm not comfortable playing an extremely aggressive army that is reliant on cavalry.

tl;dr Picked armies based on their fluff and ended up not liking how they play in the game. Anyone else experience this? What did you do?

Hospy wrote:
It's odd, for instance, to plop down my 150 or so models on the tabletop, look across the board and see forty Space Marines and it's supposed to be a fight on equal terms, whereas if such an engagement happened in the fluff, 150 guardsmen would be a speed bump for forty Space Marines (or Fire Warriors, or Necron Warriors, or Guardians, or practically every other troop choice except Gaunts or Gretchin). I've been abstracting that each guardsman model is representing three to five actual guardsmen, and it works most of the time, but I guess it just feels "wrong" somehow when I look on the table.

What's much more fun is when you take plasma veteran squads, put down 20-30 guardsmen against those 40 space marines, and can be confident that your 20-30 guardsmen are going to massacre the mere space marines.

(Ok, so the Medusa battery parked behind them helps a bit...)

I could get around this by playing an airborne army, zooming around the table in Vendettas and dropping off Melta/plas vets and stormtroopers... but then it stops being the "man and his lasgun" army and turns into "flyers and shiny toys".

Yep. Embrace the tanks.

This is why its always best to really think before you start playing an army, and play some smaller games to see if you like how they play before you invest too much money in them. It sucks that youve started two armies that youve ended up not liking in a gameplay sense. See if there are some way to make your Guard more interesting to play, without going too far into the 'fliers and shiny toys' as you put it. Surely you could add a bit of armour without ruining it?

1) 6th edition has given you a great option to expand your forces through the ally rules.

You want some faster infantry? then ally with Tau or Space Marines or Dark Eldar



2) Foot based armies do not have to be a static gunline

Al-rahm would allow for some more dynamic play with a big surprise attack on a flank.

Straken allows for some more aggressive play with a big blob.

Storm troopers are not the most cost efficient option, but they can deep strike into enemy territory. Hold the line till the special forces show up to save the day.

Also allying in some IC's to join a giant blob of guardsmen to lead them over the top might be fun as well. (maybe a SM librarian or something like that)



Basically 6th edition has really opened up the options for gameplay with all of the armies. If you like the fluff of Foot guard, you can do that, but find ways to include more dynamic elements.

you may not end up with a "tournament level" army, but you will hopefully end up with something fun to play.

Tyranids have that problem bad. They are supposed to be a giant swarm of in your face gribbles. This means you would expect a brutal assault army using hordes of gribbles, much like orks but with out the guns. Instead you end up with something that plays better as a semi elite shooting force.

Fortunately I picked them for the models, and have begun to massage a gribbly assault horde style of play that does work.

If you take the time and don't get locked in to "net list" standards you can begin to make alist that feels right. (I have seen 400 model IG foot lists at about 2000k)

Eldar might suit you. The different Aspect Warriors give you small elites that are good at certain parts of the game (CC, Shooting, Speed, Range). Not to mention all the fun toys they have, like grav tanks, jetbikes, and walkers.

I picked my tau for fluff reasons, and their playstyle works well with me. Later picked up orks, but the army idea was completely shot when 6th came out, so now they have a new (good home)
Shortly after my tau I got CSM, foot troops and melee was my goal, with some versatility. It works well.
Later I wanted an army based on vehciles and bikes, my iron hands can pull that off, and have.
Finally to fill the void, I got mono-nurgle demons, who simply deep strike and crush. They are my "elite" army.

Doing my homework was part of it. I didn't blindly buy but read and made a few lists before I was happy.

Tau allies. HQ with 2 bodygaurds and 3 man crisis team. You can get some fusion, some missile pods, plasma guns, ect, and they are great for "plugging the line" and breaching the enemies.