Muster the Guardsmen: Squad 924

Here is the first squad, modeled and green-stuffed. I had meant to have these pictures up earlier, but preparations for Summer term have kept me busier than I anticipated.
I chose the squad number 924 as, with as many artillery and and static fire lines my army list has, I wanted to have the feel of a rear guard element. To me, squad numbers toward the end of the three number spectrum helps to do that.
I tried to model them all with a fire line idea in mind for unified poses, and used as many bits as I could fit onto their belts. I am a firm believer in the WYSIWYG rule of 40k (as it makes for interesting models), so if the unit write up states that a model has a grenade, he does. If he has a close-combat weapon, he does. &ect &ect. You can see it on the models here. They also all have backpacks, as with the rest of the guardsmen in my army do/will, as I had wanted them to have a campaign look to them. Soldiers go into war carrying everything and their grandmothers, which bothers me about the standard GW guardsman. His light infantry impression. I chose the shovel carrying backpacks from the Heavy Weapon sprues for the most of my models, since the guardsmen often have to dig in, with smaller backpacks for the sergeant and special/heavy weapons.

The green stuff around the base was left over after using on the models, so I put it about the bases to keep them from being flat and static at the end when I base them.

First is the sergeant. He has a few bits from Forge World, a laspistol holster clipped and filed out to look empty, and a green-stuffed headset similar to the one found on the sergeant's head in the Cadian Shock Troops sprue.

Three basic guardsmen from the squad, not a lot of work done to them other than green-stuffing some gaps around the arms.

Another three guardsmen, one with the grenade launcher. He has a small combat knife bit from Forge World. Since he does not carry a lasgun, it did not make sense to me for him to have a bayonet for close-combat, but in the squad write up he should have a close-combat weapon, so that was the answer. It is also just a neat bit.

Last are the vox-caster and heavy weapon team. The vox-caster's right arm is a Forge World bit. I had seen a picture of a model from 42nd Cadian where he had used the binocular holding arm of the Heavy Weapon sprue as a hand shielding the soldier's eyes from the sun. I liked the idea, and used it for his left. The heavy weapon team is rather standard. The ammunition carrier's lasgun is waiting to be propped against a rock set upon the hill in front of him, after basing.

There they are, my first Imperial Guard squad I have ever modeled.

Slow Posting

I will be starting classes soon, which has been and will keep my posting slow until sometime in September.

As an update to the last post, most of the orders have come in, and I should soon have some model pictures of what I have so far, including:

• Company Command Squad
• Platoon Command Squad
• Infantry Squad
• Infantry Squad

Those should be here within the next few days, as I wait for the last order or bits and finish with the green stuff.

Getting Started

Just picked up an Imperial Guard Battle Force and put in an order at Forge World, and I have some bits inbound from eBay. Once all orders have arrived, I should have some models to show.

Imperial Guard Army List

With all notes mentioned in the previous post, this is the initial army list I have begun to build. It is the bare bones of what it is I want to accomplish with my Imperial Guard army, to be built upon as I continue with this hobby.

To keep it simple, I have started with 1500 points.

The previous post in mind, I have used a lot of indirect fire with the five Mortar Teams, the two Griffons, and the Master of Ordnance. This will, at least I hope, demoralize the player, who will send more of a force than is needed to take care of this relatively minor threat. There are a lot of bait tactics that can be used should that work to my advantage. The heavy support comes to me with as many snub nosed, high STR low AP weapons as I could cram in. Two Demolishers and a Medusa should help to make any enemy armor want to keep out of sight, which means out of its own sight of my men. I then have at least double the men to what most armies will bring to a 1500 point game.

THE LIST: 1500 points

(edited after helpful comments)

Company Command Squad

 Regimental Standard, Medi-pack, Master of Ordnance

Infantry Platoon

Platoon Command Squad

 Vox-caster, Grenade Launcher (x3)

Infantry Squad

 Grenade Launcher, Autocannon, Vox-caster

Infantry Squad

 Grenade Launcher, Autocannon, Vox-caster

Infantry Platoon

Platoon Command Squad

 Vox-caster, Grenade Launcher (x3)

Infantry Squad

 Grenade Launcher, Autocannon, Vox-caster

Infantry Squad

 Grenade Launcher, Autocannon, Vox-caster

Heavy Weapon Squad

 Mortar (x3)
Heavy Weapon Squad
  Mortar (x3)
Heavy Weapon Squad
  Mortar (x3)
Heavy Weapon Squad
  Mortar (x3)
Heavy Weapon Squad
  Mortar (x3)

Scout Sentinel Squad
Scout Sentinels (x2)
 Autocannon (x2)

Leman Russ Squadron

Demolishers (x2)

Ordnance Battery

Medusa (x1)

Ordnance Battery

Griffon (x2)

 

(picture taken from games-workshop website)

Building an Imperial Guard Army

Please note this is not a guide on how to build an Imperial Guard army list, but what I had in mind to build my own.

Before I sat down with the Imperial Guard codex, I had read through countless forums, articles, and blogs discussing Imperial Guard tactics and army list tips, being new to the 5th edition rules. There was a different army list for each minor variation of other armies in Warhammer 40k, and a lot of the same in the increasingly common leafblower and mechvets lists.

I wanted to avoid putting another of those on the tabletop, and to avoid the headache of coming up with a unit and its tactic to answer each other unit and tactic of all the other armies that could be fielded against me. So I changed targets from the armies to the player of those armies, with a psychological warfare mindset.

I do not mean to field a vast number of psykers. I mean a hearts and minds warfare, to affect and, in hope, control the motivation, reasoning, and behavior of the player behind the army. There are a few unit choices I wanted to have for this kind of wargaming; indirect fire weapons, a mass of template weapons, pinning weapons, and high STR low AP tanks with a snub-nosed fearsome impression. The Imperial Guard have these units in spades, and bring another important tool to the table, in an overwhelming force of men.

Of another few options I wanted to keep in mind, on the fluff side of building my army, was to avoid special characters. The Imperial Guard are an endless horde of common men. Those few heroes who rise to fame and glory in the name of their Emperor are well suited to the universe of Warhammer 40k, in books and other mediums, but on the tabletop it makes little sense to me that each small army of 100 men or less should have one. I wanted an officer who has lead his men to victories without notice. A lot of players will also use their command squad as an alternative to special weapon squads. While a viable tactical option, it is in my mind that the command squad should be there to lead the men, not to fight for the men.

I also had it in mind to avoid psykers, ogryns, and ratlings. I want a unit of Imperial Guardsmen, not a unit of men supported by xenos and psykers.

Their victories will be the victories of Man.

(picture taken from games-workshop website)

Imperial Guard

"Listen and remember. You are Imperial Guardsmen now. It does not matter to me whether you come from Catachan or Valhalla. I don't care whether you are a volunteer or were rounded up by an enlistment gang. I will teach you to march like Imperial Guardsmen. I will teach you to maintain and fire your lasguns like Imperial Guardsmen. I will teach you to fight like Imperial Guardsmen, and that means learning every dirty trick in the segmentum. Most importantly, I will teach you your duty and you will do it without hesitation, on command. The reason you will do this is because our immortal Lord, the Emperor of Mankind, owns your pitiful lives, and if there is one worthwhile thing you will ever do it is to honour your debt to Him."

WHY PLAY AN IMPERIAL GUARD ARMY

The Space Marines are often referred to as the Sword of the Emperor, a precision instrument to strike into the heart of the Imperium's enemies. If this analogy is fitting, then the likening of the Imperial Guard to a large, blunt sledgehammer is even more so – for the Imperial Guard is seldom, if ever, subtle or swift. Rather, the Imperial Guard is a relentless, implacable machine that will beat down the foes of Mankind in a series of utterly decisive hammer falls. The hammer of the emperor.

The soldiers of the Imperial Guard are but normal men, facing a galaxy of superhuman warriors and lethal alien predators. They rely on superior numbers, disciplined training and above all else, honest human courage. The Imperial Guard is an army that appeals to both the ruthless commander who cares only about achieving his objective and nothing for the lives of his men, and to those heroic generals who wish to see the normal man, armed with only the humble lasgun, prevail against the hordes of bio-engineered aliens and Warp-spawned monstrosities that would otherwise tear the Imperium asunder.

I have always had my eye on the Imperial Guard since first playing Warhammer 40k. The game was introduced to me a while back from a friend, who also collected Imperial Guard. To avoid having the same two armies, I instead collected Tau. While we had a fun time, and most of my fondest memories with that friend are over the tabletop, I eventually sold my Tau army and did not come back to the wargame hobby until recently.

Now that I have, I am coming back to collect, build and play the best damn poor bloody infantry that I can muster.

"To each of us falls a task. And all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we stand in line, and we die fighting. It is what we do best: we die standing."

- General Sturnn, Commander Cadian 412th

(picture and quotes taken from games-workshop website, the 5th edition Imperial Guard Codex, and the 3rd edition Imperial Guard Codex)