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I have a proposal for the coming IG codex which is different than the way GW seems to be building them up: I want different regiment types to be available. Not different regiments, per se (i.e. cadian vs death korps vs steel legion) but rather different regiment types. Currently, the regiments seem to be based around Homeworlds, which is neat (and in the name, e.g. 112th Cadian or whatever) but the bonuses will be kind of schitzophrenic (e.g. Cadian re-rolling 1s to hit with lasguns, while Pask is a Cadian tank commander character). I was thinking you could have each regiment type gain a pair of special rules, one primary (which is a big deal that affects how you build your army) and one secondary (which is a neat trick but not absolutely fantastic). These would be chosen per detachment, allowing a typical Battlegroup to include one Infantry Regiment battalion, one Armoured Regiment spearhead, and one Reconaissance Regiment Vanguard or Outrider detachment in an army. This would represent a typical Imperial Guard battlegroup comprised of different regiments called together to support eachother.

At least one of each of the following regimental types have been included in the fluff, and I will stick a 'chapter tactics' style rule to them to indicate how it might be accomplished: (NB: In each case, the <Regiment> keyword changes to the one chosen for the Detachment. A single Regiment may not have more than one Regiment type within an army; e.g. an Infantry Regiment Battalion detachment from the Cadian 8th may not be in an army with an Armoured Regiment Detachment of Cadian 8th. Different types of regiment must be different regiments within an army).

Infantry Regiment: Primary Bonus: Units of Astra Militarum <Regiment> Infantry gain the Sustained Assault special rule. Secondary Bonus: Units of Astra Militarum <Regiment> Infantry Characters may issue the Front Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire order for free once per turn in addition to their normal amount of orders.

Armoured Regiment: Primary Bonus: Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> Leman Russ may roll two dice and pick the highest when deciding the numbers of shots fired by any weapons on the vehicle. Vehicles without random-shot weapons instead gain the Grinding Advance rule for all their weapons instead of just the turret. Secondary Bonus: Astra Militarum Techpriest Enginseers in the detachment may replace the <Forge World> keyword with the <Regiment> keyword.

Reconnaissance Regiment: Primary Bonus: Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> Sentinels in the army ignore the cover bonus enemies gain against their attacks, and may fire as if stationary even if they moved or Advanced in the movement phase. Secondary Bonus: Astra Militarum <Regiment> Veterans in the army may take Camo Cloaks, adding +2 to their save for cover rather than the normal +1.

Veteran Regiment: Primary Bonus:Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> Veterans that are not Command Squads become troops choices for the army. Secondary Bonus: Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> Veterans increase their armour save to a 4+

Superheavy Regiment: Primary Bonus: Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> Titanic unit may move and shoot without the penalty for firing heavy weapons. Secondary Bonus: One Astra Militarum <Regiment> Titanic unit per Superheavy Detachment may upgrade its ballistic skill to 3+ as the unit command tank.

Air Defense Regiment: Primary Bonus: Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> Hydras, <Regiment> Hydra Platforms, or <Regiment> Manticore Platforms with Sky Eagle missiles gain an additional +1d3 damage bonus to all their weapons against units with Fly. Secondary Bonus: Every enemy unit with Fly destroyed by an Astra Militarum <Regiment> Hydra, <Regiment> Hydra Platform, or <Regiment> Manticore Platform with Sky Eagle missiles grants the Astra Militarum player one Victory Point.

Siege Regiment: Primary Bonus: Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> unit ignores the cover bonus gained by enemies at which it shoots, and may re-roll damage results against buildings for random damage weapons. Secondary Bonus: Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> Infantry unit may take a Demolition Charge.

Airborne Regiment: Primary Bonus: Every Valkyrie, Vendetta, Vulture, and Officer of the Fleet in the army trades the Aeronautica Imperialis keyword for the <Regiment> keyword. Any unit that does so may Deep Strike, as per the Scion special rule. Secondary Bonus: The army may select Astra Militarum Veterans as troops choices.

Composite Regiment: Primary Bonus: The Regiment may select any two Secondary Bonuses from any other regiment type. Secondary Bonus: None.

Artillery Regiment: Primary Bonus: Any Astra Militarum <Regiment> unit that can fire a weapon that does not require Line of Sight may re-roll 1s to wound. Secondary Bonus: Any <Regiment> Master of Ordnances may be HQ choices instead of elites in an Artillery Regiment detachment.

Toss me an E-tool because I'm digging all of this! *ba dum tish!*

I think you have some solid ideas in there, and I hope the IG gets something along these lines when their 'dex drops. A few thoughts:

* Minor nitpick: While I agree with the concept of regiment "types" instead of specific regiments, I feel compelled to (annoyingly) point out that you can technically do this with whatever sort of faction GW throws out there. For instance, sneaky Iron Hands successors that utilize stealth technology can use Raven Guard chapter tactics if you feel it fits their style better. And at that point, a faction-specific rule (Raven Guard tactics) becomes a broader "chapter type" rule ("Sneaky Chapter Tactics." )

*Superheavy Regiment: Don't most superheavies already have something like this baked in? I could be mistaken.

*Air Defense Regiment: I'm always a little reluctant to include unit-level rules that directly impact your overall victory points total simply because it might not interact well with certain missions. If you're playing a homebrew mission where you're expected to average about 30 points a game, for instance, then that extra VP or two you scored for killing flyers has a very different impact from missions where you're expected to have a score between 0 and 4 at the end of the game. I'm not sure what to suggest a as a replacement though. Maybe something to restrict or manipulate the movement rules for enemy flyers as you saturate the skies with anti air firepower, forcing them to move differently than normal?

*Thoughts on some rules for demihuman-heavy regiments, mounted cavalry (rough riders) regiments, or prim world regiments that favor hordes of (cheap to equip) melee combatants?

Good points!

The nitpick I kind of understand, but I'm super worried about it. What if you wanted stealthy Iron Hands but take an Iron Hands special character to represent your chapter master?

It's like if Cadians get the sharp-shooter rule that they've had since 3rd in the new 'dex: you have to run Cadians to bring a tank company with Pask, but the buff is for infantry units. That just doesn't strike me as how the Guard works. I'm really afraid they'll put Tallarn in the book and give them a bunch of leman russ bonuses (since they're famous for armour) and then Pask will have the <CADIAN> keyword. :/

As for superheavies, most do, but the IG ones actually don't, believe it or not. Instead they can fire while locked in melee, which is arguably MORE powerful.

The reason I chose that bonus for the Air Defense Regiment is I wanted to give them a reason to target fliers. Right now, a viable army build is to ignore fliers and kill ground targets and just get the wipe-out whether they have fliers or not. I am trying to encourage the opposite where the flyers are focused down first before the rest of the army - essentially to give Air Defense Regiments a reason to actually do air defense.

Demi-human regiments already have the <Militarum Auxilia> Regiment keyword, and so lack <Regiment>. I don't agree with it, but it is what it is.

Rough riders regiment, let me whip something up real quick:

Cavalry Regiment: Primary Bonus: Units of Astra Militarum <Regiment> Rough Riders may charge after falling back. Secondary Bonus: Astra Militarum <REGIMENT> Infantry Characters may be mounted on a Rough Rider steed, granting them an extra Wound, changing their movement stat to 10", and granting them a Purebred Steed and its Trampling Hooves. They also gain the Flanking Maneuvers special rule.

Shock Regiment: Primary Bonus: Units of Astra Militarum <Regiment> Infantry gain +1WS and Attack, but must trade their lasgun Iif they have one) for a chainsword. Secondary Bonus: Units of Astra Militarum <Regiment> units gain the Feral Savagery and Undisciplined special rules. Feral Savagery: Each model in an Astra Militarum <Regiment> unit which is in range to fight the enemy may resolve a single free close combat attack each if the enemy Falls Back. Undisciplined: <Regiment> units may not benefit from Orders.

That last one may be weird, but I am bad at ideas.

Nitpick/"Chapter Types": Hmm. I'm inclined to say that at that point you would kind of be cherry picking your options. If I want a sneaky shooty character like Lias Issodon to be a member of my otherwise stabby chapter (using, let's say, white scars tactics), then I can...
A.) Take him in a different detachment and pay a small unit tax for some tacticals or whatever that he hangs out with.
B.) Ask my opponent if it's cool for me to scribble out his chapter keyword and write in "white scars."
C.) Homebrew a similar character that meshes well with the rules I'm using.
D.) Accept that limitations are (theoretically) part of what makes a given faction interesting. Dark eldar would be a bit less dark eldar-y if they could benefit from the powers of Eldrad Ulthran.

While I'm completely fine with saying, "This guy that looks like Pask is Commander Al'D'Dakka," part of me also chafes just slightly at taking a faction-specific character in a different faction just for mechanical benefits. I sometimes feel that that's a sign that the character is too much of an auto-take or too thematically appropriate to be tied up as a special character instead of a generic choice.

Superheavies: Fair enough.

Air Defense: I see your reasoning, but I still feel that VP-related bonuses vary in usefulness too much depending on the mission and potentially cause big problems if you're using these rules with custom missions. You're already encouraging them to attack flyers by giving them advantages that only work against flying units, and a list built with this regiment rule is probably going to want to go after flyers anyway. You don't field the tankbusting army when you're in the mood to kill lots of ork mobz.

This is a quirky regiment choice. I say give them a quirky bonus that will be fun to use even if your opponent didn't happen to bring any flying units.

Demi-humans: Ah... It might be outside of the scope of this thread then, but I don't suppose there would be anything stopping us from writing rules for an auxilia-heavy detachment.

Cavalry Regiment: I like that! Does the secondary bonus warrant a price increase for such units?

Shock Regiment: I like this too! I'm not sure the Undisciplined trait is strictly necessary though. Fluff-wise, any relatively early real-world armies are still capable of receiving orders and executing complex battle plans. Wave a banner or give a vox to a specially-trained prim worlder, and you should be good to go. Mechanically, their benefits make their infantry really solid melee choices, but giving up overwatch and FRFSRF probably balances those benefits out.