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It shall be a sad day when I must retire my wonderful high elf rough riders, and that day shall be sometime next week. The equine cavalry were given false hope in the index, only to be squatted completely in the codex. Rough riders have recently been a fun and fluffy choice, lost now to the past. Come now all who wish to remember past squatting and speak of your memories of them.

I won't stop using mine whatsoever. I have 20 of the old Tallarn ones that willbe hitting the table at every opportunity.

In arms of an angel.

You can still use them with their Index entry along side the new Astra Militarum codex. That's how all older models work that have not been carried forward out of the Index.

It's the same for Lascannon + twin Plasma gun armed Razorbacks as an example.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

 Red__Thirst wrote:
You can still use them with their Index entry along side the new Astra Militarum codex. That's how all older models work that have not been carried forward out of the Index.

It's the same for Lascannon + twin Plasma gun armed Razorbacks as an example.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

Indeed. Or for Rifleman Dreadnoughts with four autocannons.

It sucks, but at least you have an option via the index, which is better than previous editions gave!

They live on in codex death, in index.

Meh, personally not sad to see them go. IG riding horses compared to the rest of the setting always tugged at the suspension of disbelief for me.

As others mentioned, you can still play them with the index

 NurglesR0T wrote:
Meh, personally not sad to see them go. IG riding horses compared to the rest of the setting always tugged at the suspension of disbelief for me.

As others mentioned, you can still play them with the index

Suspension of disbelief...................................... ha.................

 NurglesR0T wrote:
Meh, personally not sad to see them go. IG riding horses compared to the rest of the setting always tugged at the suspension of disbelief for me.

As others mentioned, you can still play them with the index

That was the part that broke suspension of disbelief for you? Guys on horses?

Would it be more believable if they rode wolves?

Motorbikes, clearly.

Like Harley Davidsons, not SM variety!

 NurglesR0T wrote:
Meh, personally not sad to see them go. IG riding horses compared to the rest of the setting always tugged at the suspension of disbelief for me.

As others mentioned, you can still play them with the index

It is not a suspension of disbelief for me, especially if you consider that many zones of the Imperium are low tech.

Anyway, there were successful charges of cavalry employing sabres against much bigger regiments of soldiers employing automatic rifles and machine guns in WW2, check the cavalry charge at Izbushenky https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Savoia_Cavalleria_at_Izbushensky

And many war zones in 40k aren't really that different compared to WW1 and WW2, otherwise the whole tactics of entire regiments (looking at you DKOK) wouldn't be feasible and would become obsolete.

 Crazyterran wrote:
Motorbikes, clearly.

Like Harley Davidsons, not SM variety!

BMW motorcycles with machine guns are a real thing that happened. So did paratrooper vespas with bazookas.

I don't understand why GW would remove options from the Codex, variety is the spice of life! They give with one hand and take with the other sometimes...

Without things like Rough Riders, Ratlings and Ogyns the Imperial Guard are just another boring 'futuristic soldier blokes' model line. (Well maybe not the Vostroyans )

 Kroem wrote:
I don't understand why GW would remove options from the Codex, variety is the spice of life! They give with one hand and take with the other sometimes...

Without things like Rough Riders, Ratlings and Ogyns the Imperial Guard are just another boring 'futuristic soldier blokes' model line. (Well maybe not the Vostroyans )

Because bloat and balance, You trim the fat to make the best possible iteration of the thing your making. Often why movies have "deleted scenes". I am not saying GW is GOOD at trimming the fat. I am just saying it's the reason to do it.

I understand his point however. Its hard to get my head around the imperial navy wasting space transporting inferior units such as rough riders. You see horses fall out of favor in the real world when motorbikes are available. I can easily see them on lower tech imperial worlds as part of a planetary garrison or even as a band of planetary nobles as a dress division, To each their own. I mean its a setting with zombie skeletal robots, so....

 Lance845 wrote:

 Kroem wrote:
I don't understand why GW would remove options from the Codex, variety is the spice of life! They give with one hand and take with the other sometimes...

Without things like Rough Riders, Ratlings and Ogyns the Imperial Guard are just another boring 'futuristic soldier blokes' model line. (Well maybe not the Vostroyans )

Because bloat and balance, You trim the fat to make the best possible iteration of the thing your making. Often why movies have "deleted scenes". I am not saying GW is GOOD at trimming the fat. I am just saying it's the reason to do it.

The Rough Riders really are the wrong thing to cut. They're a unique choice in the army. If they wanted to cut anything, Conscripts are right there. They're functionally the exact same as a Guardsman. Just a little shoddier offensively and a little cheaper.

And Omnissiah, the horses are what gives you suspension of disbelief? Not jet planes that fly about twice the speed of a running man? Not the steel discipline of a commissar that kills one green panicking guy every now and then, and it 100% stops any riot and no one ever just turns their weapons on him? Not the fact that a single person, just by virtue of becoming famous, is somehow a monster that is many times more resilient to damage and many many times stronger and faster than any hard trained soldier? Or the fact that people drive bikes into hand to hand combat? Or any myriad of other things... it's the horses that does it for you?

 Purifier wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:

 Kroem wrote:
I don't understand why GW would remove options from the Codex, variety is the spice of life! They give with one hand and take with the other sometimes...

Without things like Rough Riders, Ratlings and Ogyns the Imperial Guard are just another boring 'futuristic soldier blokes' model line. (Well maybe not the Vostroyans )

Because bloat and balance, You trim the fat to make the best possible iteration of the thing your making. Often why movies have "deleted scenes". I am not saying GW is GOOD at trimming the fat. I am just saying it's the reason to do it.

The Rough Riders really are the wrong thing to cut. They're a unique choice in the army. If they wanted to cut anything, Conscripts are right there. They're functionally the exact same as a Guardsman. Just a little shoddier offensively and a little cheaper.

I honestly don't know enough about the ig to dig into what units are worth keeping or not. Il leave that to you guys to debate. I was simply saying there is a good reason to cut units and keeping everything does not build a better army.

I honestly don't know enough about the ig to dig into what units are worth keeping or not. Il leave that to you guys to debate. I was simply saying there is a good reason to cut units and keeping everything does not build a better army.

Yea I got what you were saying. In truth most Guard players probably don't have the models any more so I can see why they choose to cut Rough Riders, but I think it is a sad to loose a unit that so exemplifies the 'Gothic fantasy in space' inspirations of 40k.

Bluebeard wrote:

 NurglesR0T wrote:
Meh, personally not sad to see them go. IG riding horses compared to the rest of the setting always tugged at the suspension of disbelief for me.

As others mentioned, you can still play them with the index

It is not a suspension of disbelief for me, especially if you consider that many zones of the Imperium are low tech.

Anyway, there were successful charges of cavalry employing sabres against much bigger regiments of soldiers employing automatic rifles and machine guns in WW2, check the cavalry charge at Izbushenky https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Savoia_Cavalleria_at_Izbushensky

And many war zones in 40k aren't really that different compared to WW1 and WW2, otherwise the whole tactics of entire regiments (looking at you DKOK) wouldn't be feasible and would become obsolete.

Avanti Savoia!

 Red__Thirst wrote:
You can still use them with their Index entry along side the new Astra Militarum codex. That's how all older models work that have not been carried forward out of the Index.

It's the same for Lascannon + twin Plasma gun armed Razorbacks as an example.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

This. It has even been stated specifically by GW.

Index is for most of the stuff they've ever made. Codex only contains what they make now. Both are legal using whatever was most recent.

Table wrote:
I understand his point however. Its hard to get my head around the imperial navy wasting space transporting inferior units such as rough riders. You see horses fall out of favor in the real world when motorbikes are available. I can easily see them on lower tech imperial worlds as part of a planetary garrison or even as a band of planetary nobles as a dress division, To each their own. I mean its a setting with zombie skeletal robots, so....

It never had to be horses, just something for the Guardsmen to ride - Tallarn Rough Riders are famous for using the desert-adapted Mukaali, there's some pretty cool Rough Rider conversions out there using Cold Ones, and I once GM'd a game of Only War for a regiment riding giant badger-esque creatures.

It's a shame they're not in the official codex, but at least they're still in the index; I would have put them in there over Crusaders, really, but oh well.

Honestly they should have them ride Space Cold Ones.

And no, I don't mean cans of beer

 TheWaspinator wrote:
Would it be more believable if they rode wolves?

+1 for a point very well made, sir.

I hadn't ever converted Guardsmen onto horses, but I remember one time when I ran LotR Gondor Knights into a Necron army in late 6th/early 7th. Half died to "difficult terrain is dangerous for cavalry", half died to overwatch/CC and the Immortals they did kill got back up. IG victory

Yeah guys, Horses are obsolete when you have bikers.

Swords, axes and hammers in the other hand, are totally viable alongside plasma cannons and laser machineguns.

I get the argument is kinda silly, I still think motorbikes look cooler than horses. Also they typically smell better.

KRIEG DEATH RIDERS

horses are less obsolete when they're mechanical.

 Lance845 wrote:

 Kroem wrote:
I don't understand why GW would remove options from the Codex, variety is the spice of life! They give with one hand and take with the other sometimes...

Without things like Rough Riders, Ratlings and Ogyns the Imperial Guard are just another boring 'futuristic soldier blokes' model line. (Well maybe not the Vostroyans )

Because bloat and balance, You trim the fat to make the best possible iteration of the thing your making. Often why movies have "deleted scenes". I am not saying GW is GOOD at trimming the fat. I am just saying it's the reason to do it.

I don't think it has anything to do with trimming the bloat. The truth is that they don't support the model these rules are for. Why make rule for models you can't directly profit from, or at the very least hide the unit so as to not encourage new players to seek out alternative models.

Point of fact, horses have a purpose (even in modern military conflicts and law enforcement operations). That is, however, neither here nor there.

I was sad to see them removed because it indicates no future rules for them unless we see a new kit released (with subsequent new rules). I'd have gladly built an IG cavalry army had decent models been available. I've even looked at 3rd party options. Taking out a cool option is never awesome.

Here's hoping they are simply being cast aside until a proper re-lease is sorted.

With the removal of the Empire Knights and Bretonnia, one thinks that GW just doesn't like the good guys having good horses.