THIS!!!!!!!!
Yes, the (not so) long awaited Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard codex is here! What's more we have some early details on what will be in the codex, which I though I would go through and see what we can learn from this information.
With the release of the Space Marine codex we got back the Chapter Tactics that we all know and love, albeit with different rules. This continued through the Chaos Codex with the Traitor Legions and AdMech with the Forge Worlds and now we see that this is continuing on to the Guard. This is a great step, as the guard is such a vast and varied force, one setup for the whole lot just seemed a little silly. But what are the new Regimental Doctrines be and for who? Well, Warhammer /Community have given us part of the answer, as we know that they will be; Cadia, Catachan, Armageddon, Tallarn, Valhalla, Vostroya, Mordian and the Militarum Tempestus. So, the usual suspects and also possibly a couple of unexpected ones. We also know from the Warhammer Community site that each regiment will be getting its own unique doctrine alongside orders, stratagems, relics, and warlord traits.
Now, for the most part I would expect these to follow along the lines of the other codices, in that there will be several stratagems and relics that are open to all Guard armies and some that will be specific to certain regiments. As for warlord traits, well, I don't know how the other books do things, I haven't got any of them, but I think that there will probably follow similar lines, with general ones and a few specific to the regiments and their specific characters.
But what do we know of the various regiments? And what can we infer from their history as to there future?
Cadia - The general poster boys for the Imperial Guard, the general soldier, the all rounder. I see these boys getting a pretty much straight copy and paste job from the Index. All the orders from the index as very general, and so I don't think they will change much. As for relics and Stratagems, again, they will be very generic, and will suit a mixed force, a bit of infantry, a few tanks and some artillery. They will be "jacks of all trades, masters on none", as the saying goes, and their doctrines, order, relics and stratagems will reflect this.
Catachan - The light infantry, the decicated foot soldier. These guys are rock hard soldiers, slogging through jungles and forests with nothing but a pair of boots and a knife (a F*** off big one at that). These guys will be geared up to infantry fighting, supported by just a few vehicles. The orders and stratagems will all lean towards infantry units, either giving greater fire power or bonus to hits, I expect an option to advance and fire normally to be there somewhere, either as the doctrine or as a stratagem. The relics will all be infantry weapons, either combat or ranged. This army will be great if you don't run many vehicles, except perhaps scout sentinels.
Armageddon - The Steel Legion, armoured warfare specialists. These boys differ from the next lot in the fact that they are mainly an armoured infantry regiment, so lots of chimeras. I expect that stratagems and order will revolve around the use of chimeras, benefiting either the disembarkation or the vehicle itself. I suspect that the ability for the chimera to fall back and still fire will feature somewhere, maybe even ignoring the -1 to hit for moving with heavy weapons. Either way, these boys will revolve around the use of chimeras and infantry.
Tallarn - The dessert warriors and, if you didn't know, hard-core tankies. These guys are tank genius, as Tallarn was the sight of possibly the biggest ever tank battle the Imperium has ever seen (The Battle of Tallarn during the Horus Heresy). Expect these guys to be flavoured towards Tanks and heavy armour, with supporting stratagems and relics. I would expect some orders to be able to affect vehicles as well or maybe an expanded tank orders list, but this maybe handled by stratagems instead.
Valhalla - In the past these boys were all about overwhelming the enemy by sheer numbers and the was represented in there old rules about conscripts (Chenkov's send in the next wave). I expect there to be a few relics and stratagems that revolve around conscripts, either moral boosts or firepower/combat boosts. I think that this will be the go to regiment if you are running conscripts.
Vostroya - these boys are the real surprise in the line up. There is not much to go on with these gusy as to what they will be and where there speciality will lie. They are best know for there first born regiments and don't really stand out in a particular field that none of the other regiments here are more known for. They are regiments of high moral, but so are the Mordians, they are supposed to be winter troops, but none can claim that more than the Valhallans. As such I cant see a particular role for these guys in the line up. They are in a sense, the wild card of the bunch and I am keen to see where they get placed.
Mordian - The Iron Guard, men of iron will and determination. These guys will the unbreakable anvil of the guard world. Expect moral buff a plenty, both in doctrines, orders, stratagems and relics. These guys are trained to hold the line and follow every order to the letter no matter what.
Militarum Tempestus - Well, what can we cay here? Not a lot really, we all know what these guys will be specializing in, deep strike. The relics and stratagems for this regiment will revolve around using there deep striking ability, maybe giving buff to charging or shooting when doing so, or even giving benefits to cover, with the change in the deep striking mechanism, it removes a lot of the possible buff that can be granted.
In addition to all of this, we also get told that there will be some points changes, which is not surprising, as we knew that this was the main play all along. One unit that is mentioned by name are Conscripts and how there rules have changed in respect to their discipline. Now, this could just be a simple leadership value change or it could be additional rules affecting leadership. I suspect the latter, possibly one that means that their leadership can never be altered and that maybe the effect of Commissars is lessened.
There is also talk of new background and also kit bashing options, which is great. My one thought to end on though, is will we see the return of some of the characters we lost in 6/7th? Will we see the return of the great Commander Chenkov or the legendary Al'Raham? What about the man who was Sgt Bastonne or the barbarian Mogul Kamir? However, there is one name that stands above all else in deeds and that is the man known as Marbo.
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