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Hey everybody, I suppose I should introduce myself a little bit first. I've been into 40k for quite some time, nearly 10 years, and I've pretty much been exclusively collecting Space Marines since the day I first picked up the Battle for Macragge starter set. I've often drifted in and out of the hobby, and mostly I've been out for the past few years. So I've missed out on quite a lot of changes from 5th to 6th edition. I've yet to get my hands on a 6th ed rulebook ( but I will soon! ) so I haven't really been able to get a good idea of what all has changed in the game other than small tidbits of information I read online.

I've never considered myself to be a master strategist or a competitve player, and I would like to stress the fact that I almost always play 40K casually. I've pretty much only ever played against my dad who is an avid Tyranid player. So naturally, I tend to build my lists around the idea of taking on large swarms of gaunts, but still throw in a little something for taking on tanks and large creatures, and whatever else I like, just in case he ever decides to start playing another army. ( He actually has some Eldar he's been meaning to build. )

But anyway, getting to my original point. I've been wanting to collect an Imperial Guard army for the longest time now. They've always appealed to me but I've usually been caught up with working on my Space Marines. I've been leaning strongly towards collecting an army that relies heavily on large amounts of Infantry, as opposed to tanks. However there are some tanks that appeal to me, such as the Chimera and Basilisk. But I guess those are more like transports and artillery.

As I mentioned before, I pretty much just play the game for casual fun. If I lose it's no biggy, but I still don't mind the occasional win! My armies are mostly built around units that appeal to me visually or fluff-wise, but I still like to keep tactics in mind when choosing their wargear and upgrades. That being said, some of my favorite IG units include the Infantry Squad, the Heavy Weapons Teams, The Chimera, the Basilisk, the Sentinels, and yes, even the Ogryns.

I've tried to soak up as much information I can for IG beginners, but I'm here to ask you guys what you think of the units I listed above. Regardless of how good or bad they may be, I am mostly interested in hearing your advice on tactics and loadouts for them, and building a list around what I like instead of what will win me nearly every game.

So to any IG players, vets or otherwise, what advice would you give to someone who has never even played a single round with or against the Guard, but is still looking to keep things casual.

First off, I'll point you to the link on the second line of my sig, it covers every unit in the codex and gives a brief rundown of the styles. It was written with semi-competitive games in mind, ie. playing the way you mention above. If you're just starting, then it should prove helpful in deciding on a direction.

In more general terms, with IG you have pretty much complete freedom to run whatever you want. There's no unit in the codex that can't be run to some degree of success. Really, while there are better units and worse ones, you won't cripple your army by just choosing the units you like and playing them, especially just playing casually.

Really, you have 4 ways to go: Foot, mech, air or hybrid.

Foot-guard are probably the least competitive right now, and rely on running huge amounts of infantry and winning through sheer attrition. They will struggle against armies with lots of long-range firepower, but are huge fun to run (although seeing 100+ unpainted models you need to get through can be a little daunting)

Mech Guard is all about tanks. The core of your army will be veterans in Chimeras, which lack numbers but have brutal mobile firepower and great defensive abilities, backed up by Leman Russ or hellhound variants and artillery.

Air Guard focuses on fliers as a large part of the list, and can be amazingly competitive. Vendettas are possibly the best flier in the game at the moment, bringing great mobility, killing power and durability to the field. However, you may want to avoid this if playing casual games as it can be a little brutal to spring on unprepared or inexperienced opponents.

Hybrid Guard combines all three of the above to varying degrees, and cn work very well thanks to countering each weakness of a style with additions from another (eg, a large infantry platoon can provide bodies that might otherwise be lacking in mech lists)

Whatever you choose, you're sure to enjoy playing the army, as you have great freedom in terms of gaming, fluff choices and painting/modelling.

Welcome to the Guard.

Thanks for the info, I'll give your guide a read.

I suppose I'm looking to play a hybrid army because I see appeal in various types of units, instead of exclusively fielding Infantry squads. I forgot to mention I also love the Valkyries, so I may include a couple in my army at some point.

I run a fairly hybrid army myself, usually built around 2 30-man platoons and 2 vet squads, with Russ and artillery support. I don't tend to use fliers, as my group generally doesn't either, but both Valks and Dettas are good units, and I agree, the models are great.

If you want to run lots of men Chenkov and his send in the next wave conscripts are a great idea. That way your opponent can never really be rid of them. Throw in a Lord Commissar and you have a unit that will not run on you the first time it is shoot and just before It will be totally destroyed you have the whole thing minus the commissar come right back in. Us your blob squads in cover with a normal commissar protect your tanks from assault and melta and now you have a back field unit they cannot ignore and arty to help kill everything at a long range. When you get your valks use them to either move forward vets to be dropped on those empty enemy objectives you hopefully shot everything off or just use the vets to do that for you. If you really want to be nasty just max out the number of men and arty you can at a given points limit and laugh as your opponent trys to figure out how they will kill 200+ infantry model as well as all that arty you have hidden behind building to stop them from getting line of sight.

Sir Bubbles wrote: I'm here to ask you guys what you think of the units I listed above. Regardless of how good or bad they may be

Unfortunately, there's not much to say, given this criteria. What you're mostly going to get from a tactics forum is the way to make the strongest list you can. Put another way, this forum exists to REGARD how good or bad something is.

As for your list, without talking about quality, yeah, you could use anything you've listed. As for how to use them, well, it's pretty straightforward. HWSs hide in cover with good lines of sight and shoot stuff starting with the highest priority target and working their way down. Chimeras are used to store veterans who, with their extra range thanks to the transports, are a defensive unit that can quickly run over to plug gaps in your line. Basilisks... or any other long-range, gunline element... you just point and click. No real tactics required. Armored sentinels are the same, while scout sentinels are a little bit trickier because they're best with outflanking, so on a 5 or 6, you'll have to decide which side to bring them in on, which will depend on your circumstances. Ogryn are point-at-bad-guys-and-charge. The only thing peculiar to them is that they flat out need a lord commissar in the squad. Preferably with a power fist.

But if playing with a stronger list isn't that important to you, then there isn't much that can be said. It's much more of a take what you like and play with it sort of a thing, which is pretty much down to personal tastes.

With Ig you really can play whatever you want. One thing to keep in mind is you want to have a general plan and strategy of what you will be doing and you want your units to be able to work well with each other.

So a list you are probably looking at is:

HQ-CCS with regimental standard(rerolls morals so your guys stay in the fight longer) or a Lord Commissar for his LD 10 and stubborn bonus

For troops your are looking at possibly using 2 platoons

The PCS should either have x4 flamers and act as a counter charge unit or give them a heavy weapon and sit back and shoot.

next you will want about 3-4 infantry squads with special and/or heavy weapons to sit back and shoot. The you will want maybe 2 HWS attached to the platoon to add firepower

You want 2 of the platoons I listed above. This gives you plenty of infantry to capture objectives as objectives are the key to winning.

After that you could add in 3 basilisk to take up your heavy support slots.

For fast attack you could use valks or vendettas(I prefer vendettas as they are more competitive) Then maybe add a vet squad to ride inside to drop out and capture an objective late game.

Ogryns can then be added to your list to act as a counter charge unit if anyone tries to charge into your lines.

To be honest, if your looking for advice on how IG units play to determine their use/value, I strongly recommend just going through batreps on YouTube (search IG or Imperial Guard and look at games that are less than a year old to make sure they are 6th ed). It will do a couple of things for you. First of all, you will see different lists and how people use them. You will see other lists that you have never seen before. You will also get a feel for 6th ed rules and their changes. You will also find out that people mess up the rules, a lot. But will correct themselves after the game or you will see stuff in the comments section. Either way, if you have a few hours to kill, there you go.

Oh, just to give you a head's up, a new IG codex will be coming out, probably within the year. Might want to keep an eye out for that. And magnets are your friend, magnetize every special weapon and every vehicle and every Sergeant and commander.