Well I have to say I sometimes feel 40k is a little complicated with the different special and heavy weapons choices ....
What should I do about that . I understand that building more infantry platoons is key but I don't know how to choose special or heavy weapons . Is it worth putting my heavy weapons in infantry squads or should I organize them in their own squads ?
Here's a break down of your heavy weapons for Imperial Guard infantry:
Heavy bolter: moderate strength, moderate range, moderate armor penetration value, high rate of fire, great point cost
Autocannon: above average strength (can damage most light vehicles), long range (usually across the whole board), same point cost as a heavy bolter
Missile launcher: 2 options: low strength, low armor pen with a blast template (can hit multiple models), or high strength with a high armor pen, but only hits 1 model (good for cracking or "kraking" armor). Long range (same as autocannon). average point cost, use only with veterans
Lascannon: highest strength heavy weapon you can get, and best armor pen, but only 1 shot. same range as AC and missile launcher. Super high point cost, would only use with veterans or command squads
Mortars: bleh. same stat line as the frag missile on the missile launcher, except that it's indirect fire, so you can shoot it at units you don't have line of sight on. I wouldn't bother using them unless you can find a way to make weapon squads not die so quickly. only good against infantry. least amount of points for a heavy weapon
special weapons:
sniper rifle: capable of wounding anything no matter the toughness, not so good against vehicles. terrible armor pen but if you roll a 6 to wound, it's armor pen value goes to 2, which is the 2nd best you can have. Good only when you have a lot of them (ala, Ratling sniper squad, or veteran squads who take 3 of them, or company command squad with 4 of them). They are the lowest point cost special weapon you can get, you can practically have a sniper rifle in every squad and not even notice it on your army list
grenade launcher: much like the missile launcher, it has pretty good range, and an option to fire an exploding, low strength low armor pen frag grenade, or a higher strength, higher armor pen krak grenade at a single target. pretty decent bang for your buck in regular guard squads, and we're the only imperial army that can take them. They're kind of iconic for the Guard. with regular guard platoons, I usually field a grenade launcher in every squad, because it's an extra blast template or higher strenght shot than a lasgun, and it's longer range, so why not?
plasma gun: very risky business to take on lightly armored guard. great strength, 2nd to the best armor pen value, and can fire twice at close range, but they're the most expensive special weapon you can take, and if you roll a 1 to hit, it overheats and can very easily kill your plasma gunner, essentiallly wasting your very expensive special weapon. I only use plasma in the pistol form, on multiple wound models like company commanders or lord commissars. They're great to have, it adds a really heavy kick to whatever squad they're in, but be warned that it can easily see your model kill itself
melta gun: probably the best choice ever for mechanized squads. it has the highest strenght of any special weapon, and the best armor pen value of them all. if you're shooting at a vehicle within 6", it gets a bonus to penetrate the armor, and they are just utterly ruthless at squashing high armor vehicles as well as super tough models like space marine terminators. cheaper than a plasma gun without the chance to kill your shooter, but also has the range of a pistol. wouldn't use on line infantry
flamer: cheap and effective, you don't need to roll to hit, as you automatically hit whatever is under the flamer template. Very short range, and low strength, but it ignores cover, so entrenched, lightly armored units get utterly massacred by flamers. If you have enough flamers, you can actually do a ton of damage to tough units as well because multiple flamer templates can hit the same model several times
Let me describe several tactics for you:
Gun line: lots of tanks, infantry platoons with heavy weapons and special weapons, with officers nearby to give orders. There is an order that officers can give to infantry squads that lets them all fire an additonal shot. You can have 10 guardsmen normally firing 8 lasguns shots (this is excluding the special weapon and sergeant, who has a pistol), and turn those 8 shots into 16 shots. Gun lines generally sit still and just blast their opponent into dust. Your best tactic as gunline guard is to use lots of wyverns, autocannons, and any variant of the leman russ battle tank. Don't waste all your points on heavy weapon squads and infantry, you should have about 50 to 100 men in your gunline, and have the rest be vehicles, as they are your mainstay, your true firepower
Mechanized: only really doable with all veterans, you put all your veteran squads in transports like chimeras (I prefer the taurox because their armor may be weaker, but their main gun is stronger and they can get through difficult terrain much easier)., Load up your veterans with flamers and meltas, run them up close and dump as much fire power as you can at the enemy. Good shock and awe kind of tactic. Definitely support it with tanks like punishers and demolishers
Hybrids: mechanized veterans supported by gunline troops and tanks, what most players tend to run.
Example of Gunline army list:
H.Q:
Company Command squad w/ autocannon, sniper rifle and medic, officer with boltgun, camo cloaks (to help keep them alive)
Troops and Elites:
Infantry platoon with 30 squads, all blobbed up into 1 big squad, with 3 autocannons and 3 grenade launchers, and a platoon command squad with an autocannon and a grenade launcher. Attach a priest to this blob squad, because they can give your entire squad re rolls to wound
2 veteran squads with camo cloaks, autocannons and 3 sniper rifles in each squad. Alternatively, a squad of ratlings could replace them (I peronsonally don't like their lore, or the way they look, so I use veterans instead)
Heavy Support:
Leman russ battle tank of almost any variety, although your infantry should be focused on dishing out tons and tons of laser and bullet fire to cut down infantry, so your vehicles need to be your anti vehicle. I recommend demolishers with multi melta sponsons for this. Another good option is manticore, because they have 4 S10 rockets, which kill armor like nobody's business. Basilisks are also higher strength than a leman russ cannon, and longer range than a demolisher
Example of Mechanized army:
H.Q:
Tank commander or Commander Pask in any russ of your choosing. The best 2 are either the punisher, for extreme anti infantry fire power, or the vanquisher, for awesome anti tank fire power. Punishers can barely harm vehicles, and vanquishers won't make a dent in a large infantry squad, so choose wisely. A tank commander MUST have another russ in its squadron, and should be the same type of russ as the one the commander is in, so if you have an anti infantry commander, like a leman russ punisher, you could take another punisher, or an exterminator, a regular russ, or an eradicator for a good combo. A commander in a vanquisher should be accompanied by another vanquisher I think. add lascannons to both of those tanks, and add heavy bolters for anti infantry tanks
Troops:
2 to 6 squads of veterans in chimeras w/ melta guns or flamers or a combination of both. I recommend having half of them with flamers (don't forget to make one of the flamers a heavy flamer, for the better damage and armor pen), and half of them with melta guns for killing tanks.
Heavy Support:
add in some really heavy hitters, like a leman russ demolisher, maybe some wyverns because you lack a lot of infantry to take out enemy infantry. Basilisk is never a bad choice
Example of a hybrid list:
I'm going to post my own list, roughly, so you can see what a very powerful combined arms army looks like
H.Q:
commander pask in a leman russ punisher with heavy bolter sponsons, accompanied by a leman russ punisher with heavy bolter sponsons (if I can afford the points. if not, I strip the 2nd russ of its heavy bolters). These 2 guys are the spearhead for my army, and get an average of about 10 to 15 infantry kills per turn, which is huge.
Troops:
2 squads of veterans with camo cloaks, sniper rifles, and autocannons. These men form my gunline, they sit behind cover and dish out damage at range. They don't do a whole lot, only being 20 men, but with camo cloaks they stay alive alot longer (better cover saves), and act as a distraction for the rest of my army.
2 squads of veterans with 3 melta guns in taurox transports. They rush forward, along side of or behind Pask and his 2 punishers, and disembark to hit enemy vehicles with 6 melta shots, essentially dooming anything they look at. It's very effective
lastly, a vendetta gunship, which is a flyer. It is very difficult to shoot down without anti aircraft fire power, and has 3 twin barreled lascannons ( mentioned them earlier in this guide, they are super effective against enemy armor, as well as monstrous creatures). Twin barrled, or twin linked as it is refered to in the rule book, means that if you miss a shot, you can re roll it.
and I spend 50 poitns on an aegis defense line, which is a piece of terrain you can place anywhere on your side of the table. it's 30" long, and gives a 4+ cover save to anyone within 2" of it. My guys with camo cloaks sit behind it, and get a 3+ cover save from their camo cloaks. I can also sit my tanks behind it if i'm facing an assault army like Orks, and there is no need for me to leave the safety of my gunline
Hope I haven't rambled too much. Wanted to be very in depth so you could understand the might of the Imperial Guard. You can run other armies besides this, as well. You could do an artillery themed regiment, forgoing leman russ tanks and bringing lots of wyverns, manticores and basilisks for super high strength artillery bombardments at table-length range. They're cheaper than russes and generally deal more damage, but are easier to kill. Block them with infantry and pummel your enemy into dust!
You could run airborne cavalry, forgoing ground transports, and all ground vehicles like russes and artillery, and mount veteran squads in valkyries armed for anti infantry, and put small Militarum Tempestus (properly known as Storm Troopers or Kasrkins, take your pick) in the vendettas, geared out for anti tank.
You could play all infantry, which nobody in their right mind should play, but it CAN be done with the proper application of fire power and orders.
You could take your bare minimum 2 troops choices and then just spend the rest on all tanks and play an armored regiment.
You could play a feudal or feral world themed regiment, where the idea of the bayonet or spear wall or sword charge is still common, and run your infantry blobs with commissars, priests, and power fists, backed up by ogryns, bullgryns, and rough riders (horse mounted guardsmen with explosive tipped spears)
You could play a super elite Tempestus army, running nothing but platoons of storm troopers (now called Scions....but i'm warning you, we don't take kindly to the name being changed, they're still storm troopers in our hearts), backed up by taurox primes (very fast transport jeeps) with missile launchers on top for anti tank.
There are limitless possiblities with the Imperial Guard. You can play them almost any damn way you want, and you can win. Shooting, bombing, flying, mechanized, charging and stabbing, you name it, the Guard can pull it off if you know the army list and you know your play style.
Now get to it, soldier! The Emperor is counting on you!
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