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With the announcement of 9th ed we've probably all looked at our favourite army and though woo new codex !. for me that was guards

So what would you love to see in the codex?

for me id like to see he ability to field a veteran army,
basically all the normal guard units but with the ability to buy them a +1 on the ballistic skill so we can build some of those specialist units in all the books / fluff.
and may the return of being able to buy them carapace armour or cameo clocks again

plus maybe adding cain or gaunt as special characters

finally more weapons options for the trusty chimeras Auto-cannon turrets ( without a forge world book) anyone !

EDIT: oh and move the points cost back to the unit entry pages !!!! - Stupid power levels

As I said elsewhere:
- 1 named character for each of the big regiments
- 3-4 generic named characters that pick up your "regiment" keyword for your homebrew regiments or a fair system to "build your own hero!"
=> they don't even need special models, just rules
- adjust Deathkorps and Elysians enough to harmonize better with the rest of the guard (specialist detachments, Ogryn/Bullgryn for the Deathkorps)
- give us back rough riders and/or bikers
- Give us models for some lighter vehicles besides Sentinels (Tauros or similar would be great)
- maybe a guard fortification beside the trenches etc. A turret emplacement or something?

That would be my personal favorites at the moment.

Cool to see someone else would like to see non-Scion veteran BS3+ Guard troops. I'd like to see veteran Catachan troops that behave like the hardened guerrilla fighters they are in the fluff. I'd also like to see a successor to Rough Riders, like the Atalan Jackals.

Second on Ciphas Cain, with Jurgen accompanying him.

I really, REALLY, hope they do a decent job with the Guard Forge World unit this edition. I don't want a Macharius or Malcador to be filthy, I just want them to be viable. Also, give the Thunderer something to make it compete with a Leman Russ Demolisher.

Lasguns for everyone! Sergeants and Officers should at least have it as an option.
Hot-Shot Lasguns for Tempestors/Primes, and all AM Officers

Some Regiment specific elite units would be interesting for sure..

Veterans allowed to be taken as Troops choices, if all Troops are Veterans in a Detachment.

I like the idea of light vehicles
hell, instead of the tauros they could just give us a militarised ridge runner that way they only need to give us an add on sprue or something

yup none scions BS3+ would be great I've always wondered how online the line infantry squads survive to be veterans surely special weapons teams or heavy weapons teams would likely live longer thus end up as veterans, but making you take all units as verts to get access to veteran weapons teams would be a good idea too to stop people taking just veterans for the heavy weapons

We don't need anymore Commissars. Period. Cain's useless anyways.


Get over Power Levels being on the datasheets. It's the default metric for the game.

Great input there ! so your wish list is no change ?

Absolutely lasguns for sergeants. I didn't know that the option was deleted and felt pretty ashamed when it was pointed put in a local tournament.

Another thing for me is that I want infantry to be viable as the heart of an army and be more than just screens for the tanks. But that will be very difficult in times with incredible firepower.

I've written basically books on the subject at this point, but if you must...

The highlights:
-Cut Heavy Weapon Teams out of Infantry Squads or introduce a rule allowing them to split out from the squad.

-Introduce new Heavy Weapon options for the Infantry Squads and up the number of Special+Heavy Weapon options. These would be single-model portable items, not two model items. Missile Launchers, Heavy Stubbers, Grenade Launchers, Sniper Rifles, etc all fall under this category. Lascannons, Mortars, Heavy Bolters, and Autocannons do not.

-Single unique unit for each faction. Kasrkin for Cadians, Ork Hunters for Armageddon, Catachan Devils for Catachan, make something up for the others.

-Scrap the Orders system as is. Burn it to the ground. Orders are reworked to be an army-wide, detachment-wide, and squad-wide system with specific characters being required to alter them(similar to the Kastelan Robots changing Protocols).

-Add a few new units for Scions(FA, HS, and a 'Junior Officer' type in Elite).

-Rename "Company Commanders" to "Senior Officers" and "Platoon Commanders" to "Junior Officers" again.

-Rework Infantry Squads into 3 'grades', based upon Regimental keyword for the Detachment. Cadians, Vostroyans, and Armageddon get "Shock Troops" with a 4+ save. Catachans and Tallarn get "Raiders" with a 6+ save which gets an additional benefit of -1 to be hit while on or in terrain features. Mordians and Valhallans get the standard 5+ save. Lock special/heavy weapons based upon the type of unit taken.

-Rework Heavy Weapon Teams so they can potentially Overwatch as part of a nearby Infantry Squad's action. Also, Heavy Weapon Squads are bought as they are now but each is deployed individually.

-Officers come with Lasguns again.

-Rework Voxes to allow for Stratagem usage to be more efficient.

I could go on, but again...I've written a lot of this stuff for "guard wishlisting". In general? I don't want the book to be anywhere near what it is now. Our nearest equivalent books(Genestealer Cult or Tau Empire) are not "throw endless hordes" at people. They require resource management and have characters that perform specific roles within the army. We should have been doing this ages ago.

New sculpts for Cadians, Catashan and, if possible, Steel Legion.

Provide a box for the normal squad, a box for officer squad, a box for special weapon and a box for support weapon.

Make the Basilisk varient come back.

Provide a box of rough riders for Cadians, Catashan and, if possible, Steel Legion. Failling that, provide a shape-up of the rough riders using some sort of techno-knight look or Tatar like in Rogue Traders.

New munitorum priest and techpriest models (if possible new commissar model too since the current one is a clear downgrade from the precedent ones).

Flagellants or Penal Troopers units?

A glass cannon tank like an armed salamander for example?

We literally got a new Techpriest model at the end of 7th. It's for sale currently, $30.

No thanks on Rough Riders. If they're going to be added they need to be done like Conscripts and be Militarum Auxilia and set up to be neutral for Regimental setups.

Flagellants are, again, out there. It's in the Sisters of Battle list.
We don't need Penal Troopers if we're keeping Conscripts.

Within the current design paradigm, I'd like to see the below things.

I'd like to see the Vanquisher actually function well as a dedicated tank/monster hunter. As is currently, you'd have to double it's Strength and improve its AP by 2 (So the Vanquisher Cannon becomes S16 AP-5) to make it meaningfully better than a Battlecannon against T8 3+ (~60% more damage output than the BC), but even with that massive buff, the Battlecannon would still be ~85% as effective as the Vanquisher against T7 3+, and 94% as effective against T8 3+/5++.

The Deathstrike needs to figure out a mechanic that works. I don't really think a unit like this has a proper place on a typical 40k table, it really should be reserved for very large Apoc games or really serve as a narrative table element or objective piece (e.g. if it gets to fire, assume it hits an important strategic off-table target, granting VP's, while the other player has to kill it quickly) more than a direct combatant. That said, if it must be a table tank, then it needs to actually work. Sitting on the table to randomly shoot off a variable number of mortal wounds, once, really isn't a terribly functional design choice for a heavy support tank.

I want Chimeras back as an in-house transport option for Stormtroopers.

Move DKoK and Elysian rules into the codex as their own doctrines (e.g. DKoK get WS3+ and ignore casualties from shooting attacks for morale purposes, may take Tempestus Scions and replace "Militarum Tempestus" keyword with "Regiment: DKoK", done!)

New Stormtrooper weapon option: Since we have both "Hellgun" and "Hotshot Lasgun" in the lore, lets make "Hellguns" a thing again, something that fits a commando role more than enhanced AP, something like S3 Assault 3 18". Adjust HotShot range to normal 24", having it be so short ranged basically gimps the unit and ensures they can't operate anywhere outside suicide range before getting to ever actually double-tap.

Make the Salamander a light-tank HQ choice.

Make some sort of Chimero/small-battlecannon armed Hellhound equivalent.

If rule of 3 remains/is codified/etc, make some sort of open exception for IG special and heavy weapons squads to be less limited (making all-infantry guard armies with rule of 3 on those is...much more painful than it should be).

Incorporate the Annihilator pattern Russ into the codex.

Make the Chimera worth using. A BS4+ Multilaser and Heavy Bolter on a Chimera hull isn't really providing much firepower for what it costs, there's not a lot of IG units that are worth buying a transport for that costs as much or more than what they're transporting, especially when they're not any faster than infantry with Orders.

Upgrade the Multilaser, or basically make it free. 3 shot S6 AP- D1 shots isn't a terribly effective weapon in this edition and doesn't look to be any moreso in 9th.

Allow Veterans option to take Carapace Armor again (and not for something stupid like 3ppm).

Have Sentinels do something other than be bad gun platforms. These are typically have been really bad gun platforms given their cost, or at best stunningly mediocre, without really offering any unique capabilities. They're not actually fast, only some even get a Scout move, and they have no other abilities, they do not ignore LoS, they have no huge guns, they've historically been awful mobile firepower platforms, their melee ability is largely just their own value as tarpits, and they really feel like they need to contribute something...else.

Something that does what a sentinel does [be a cheap filler for fast attack slots and mobile vehicle weapons platform] that isn't a sentinel. Perhaps a sort of Rat Patrol Jeep sort of thing.

Vanquisher gun buff.

Ordnance Battery return.

Platoons return [especially given new detach rules].

HQ squads part of HQ unit. Perhaps reduced HQ committment or requirements for CC's.

Command squads and Officers being combined again. With the wording of Look out Sir, that would mean the squad cannot be targeted as easily. I like the idea of command squads with banners, voxes, and medics, but they just die without some form of protective rule.

If we could get command squads and 20+ men Guard squads, advancing up the field and getting cut down until they can win the day, I would be happy.

Vox Casters spreading Order CPs across models in units, say all models within 6" benefit, not the entire unit. A reason to take multiple voxcasters in a blob unit. (It's been a while since I played Guard or a Guard player, I don't know if this is how it actually works right now)

When was the last time that sergeants actually had access to Lasguns? Was it the 3.5 Codex (the one with custom regiment rules) or was it more recent?

 Trickstick wrote:


If we could get command squads and 20+ men Guard squads, advancing up the field and getting cut down until they can win the day, I would be happy.

I think avoiding large (11+) squad sizes is actually going to be an IG strength in 9E, with squads that max out at 10 in most cases, and in some as little as 3 (HWS's), Guard aren't getting massacred by the new Blast weapon rules.

It is wierdly annoying that the sarge can't take a lasgun.