Imperial Guard need an update, yet it's very hard to get the balance right when they're just dudes in space rather than anything super fanciful.
What do you think needs to be done to make guard competitive in today's meta? The obvious thing to do is point reduction but guard players have to bring (and buy!) so much plastic already.
>unlimited vox caster range
the fact that my officers have to be 12'' from my men is retarded when their is a vox network
>Cheaper LRs
I should not have to be 150 pts for a LR with a battle cannon thats gonna whiff half its shots and get one shotted by a bright lance
Bring back regiment creation rules.
Regimental Tactics would help. GW is moving towards Grand Alliance structure though, so take whatever specialist ally you need in a Castellans detachment and enjoy your respawning conscripts.
>What do you think needs to be done to make guard competitive in today's meta?
The issue at the moment is a combination that too many things in other armies run around with T4+ which, with Guard at BS 3 on most units, leaves them in a statistically crippled position in the small arms department - which they should actually dominate. Guard players then are forced to spamming special kit to just try keep up. It's then easy to neuter any guard army quickly just by focusing these units because the current meta gives most things the ability to do so without any real effort.
In turn the lack of resistance and disparity in like-for-like small arms exchanges cripple guard usefulness. Even using go to ground is shit outside objective holding because guard can't muster a decent retaliation when they recover.
Part of the solution therefore is give LAS a mechanic tied around numbers so that the more you shoot the more powerful it is. Then cap it at AP and STR Bonus of +3 or something. Troop choices then have value outside of being ablative wounds for more specials because they can self-deal with everything up to 4+ if they have the men, but at the same time you don't shit on the SM meta and the unit dies just as fast so the bonus fades away as the game drags on.
Guard players will then want large squads to maintain the bonus and have ablative wounds - which then ties into the guard at a fluff level - but overall they still need big guns to deal with tanks and anything with a 3+.
For extra stuff: Vox network should be something like 36 inches and then just build on the bread and butter themes of the guard from there - tanks, cheap static artillery and so fourth.
Add regiment flavors back and you'll find the overall the guard won't need anything out-right retarded.
Guard are just humans in space, but they still have things that make then unique.
First of which is the command structure and the order system what said about the vox network is true. Having to chase my troops with a 5 man 5+ squad sucks and means that running a Company Command Squad without a chimera useless. Paying 5pts per squad to make the range unlimited wouldn't break them too far and would let the order system play a larger role.
Adding more tiers to the command structure might work as well. Something like adding in a "sergeant" tier for orders would be nice. Like a few minor orders that a sergeant could give his squad. Maybe make them once per game for balance.
Another buff would be allowing orders to units inside of Chimeras, but this is wishful thinking. It would basically make Vets with vox the only build to run.
Other than that buffing some of the more lackluster units would do the guard well. Right now there is very little reason to run things like Ogryn, Ratlings, Rough Riders, or really anything that falls outside of the standard infantry and tanks. Buffing these units into being better at their specialization would be nice. There are a lot of junk units in the codex that just arent worth their points, even in situation where they should do well.
Guard also excel in infantry killing, but really lack hard anti-armor. BS3 on everything makes it difficult to use Heavy Weapon teams in squads and heavy weapon squads in platoons are very squishy and pretty expensive.
These are my ideas for buffing them, but I'm not sure how to go about the last two points.
Every unit with vox can call LOS for indirect.
>Make Rough Riders much more useful
>Add Regimental Doctrines
holy fuck that's a lion
Give everything in the codex +1 BS
Oh yeah, that will make everything fucking better. Fucking shitty rough riders were the thing holding guard back all a-fucking-long
more las canons
>Astra Millitarum
>relevant
Lower point costs on heavy supports across the board
Bring back lumbering behemoth
Unfuck the hydra
Replace Creed with new HQ (maybe a colonel CCS)
Bring back Chenkov and add other fluffy characters (Gaunt or Cain?)
Reduce the cost of heavy weapons squads dramatically
>Reduce the cost of heavy weapons squads dramatically
This so much, what is even the point in taking a HWS with lascannons when you can get a vendetta?
The other choices won't even matter since they are that overpriced for what they do (die to a single s6 shot, at best).
Reduced cost on certain things would help a lot. I didn't really get why they were bad until I played a few games. It's so difficult. I want to bring fun things like Bullgryn or Straken but those units get shot to death immediately.
>cheaper russes
>interceptor and BS2 ground fire on Hydras (maybe with a minimum range. AA guns are being used on surface targets all the bloody time in actual real life,I don't think it's too much of a stretch)
>GW plastic thunderbolts, lightnings(very very frightening) and avengers. With point cost in line with Storm hawks.
>reduced cost on the vendetta
>return of regimental doctrines
>side armour of 11 and GW auto cannon options on chimeras
>Veteran conversion kits (with camo cloaks, carapace and special weapons)
>greater vox range (24 with vox and 36 with command vehicles)
>More orders
>Griffons and Medusas
>Hotshot Volley guns as a heavy weapon choice for guard and vet units
that' all I can think of for now
I always ignored them because they're a really expensive way of getting one good charge in. Even if they survived, those explosive lances were one-time deals - after that you're just throwing S3 AP- at the enemy (and HoW, but only in later editions).
Regimental Doctrines and split off the special characters into different regiments, the way that Chapter Tactics does with SM characters.
Orders? You can do evil things with a lascannon nest and good command.
Ogryn really need their own kind of transport with better survivability than Chimeras but shitty guns.
>Valkyries with a twin-linked battlecannon option
>minefields
>Commissar Fucklaw brought into canon
Allow squads to be buffed to veteran stats. So HWT and SWT squads could become vet squads, possibly without veteran options (carapace etc).
Also, let them upgrade their basic weapons. Bolters, some of the variant 30k lasguns, maybe skitarii guns. Would add more fluffy options (for regiments with attached Marines, or who come from a system with a big Forge World, or whatever) and you could have different guns for different squads.
What if the lances could be refitted between combats, units of Rough Riders had Hit and Run, and they provided their bonus to a Hammer of Wrath attack or as a lesser bonus for sacrificing Overwatch?
we should equip all guardsmen with lascannons instead of laserrifles, then they wont make fun og us anymore
One of the rising Primarchs finds an older, better version of the lasrifle and puts it into mass production because of their knowledge of making STCs. The guard get an inherent +1 to their WS.
I mean, just that one +1 will give a nasty buff to everyone involved, and with as many guardsmen as there are on the field it might actually be difficult to deal with guardsmen volleys, requiring a counter strategy
Buff the vanquisher
Give it monster hunter
>Give Vanquisher battle cannon instant death just as a rule, no need for Beast hunter round tomfoolery, and it is still very selective in use (no blast temp, 1 shot).
>More orders
>Better formations
>Give Ratlings pinning & Relentless so they can actually USE their Shoot & Scamper rule and be somewhat useful.
>Leman Russ has 4 hps instead of 3 maybe? Or Just make them a tad cheaper.
Just some ideas.
>Can still beat top tier lists that don't have cheap cheese overloads.
>The only thing hampering them is lack of special BS everyone else gets.
>They are as relevant as SM.