Well I’ve got my hands on the Imperial Guard Codex and this
one is a double edged sword. Overall I’m impressed and excited at most of the
changes, but I’m a little saddened by a few.
First off let’s talk about the quality. I’m not a big fan of
these hardcover books purely from a logistical point of view. As a Guard player
I have a trillion models, templates and dice to move to, from and around
tournaments and I found my flexible paperback codex so much easier to stick in
a bag or pouch. It would fit in tight spaces with a little encouragement! The
new book is a little, well, rigid. Now is this a trade off to a gorgeous full
colour book, absolutely! From cover to cover this master piece has style and
pizazz. There are some new illustrations and a few of the best have been
reused, which is OK by me. There is a healthy fluff section at the beginning,
which I haven’t had a chance to read yet, followed by Regimental Colours the
show case of the Citadel range for Astra Militarum and finished with the Hammer
of the Emperor a comprehensive army list and a handy foldout quick reference
guide at the back (that doesn’t get all bent up like the early hardcover
books). Overall quality is there in spades. My only real criticism is that I
expected it to be a little thicker for $83AUD retail, for a models company GW
do charge a lot for their books.
Now let’s look at what’s missing. And there are a few
omissions that will sadden people, but there always is lately.
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| Guardsman Marbo from the Old Codex |
First up we have Guardsman Marbo. Rambo of 40K has bit the
dust it appears. This doesn’t faze me too much, but I had just converted up a
model for a counts as which I’ll have to shelve till I work out what to do with
him. This is a interesting move on GW part as they do have a current model for
his rules. So this may point to two things; Data Slate: Marbo with new model or
Marbo is truly gone for good.
Next we have Penal Legion. These guys didn’t have current GW
models to support their funky rules but I thought they were cool, I’ve fielded
counts as a few time. As sad as this is on reflection it’s not surprising. With
the ‘legal issues’ GW has had over the last couple of years it’s understandable
that they have caned these guys as there a few third part manufacturers out
there that make magnificent Penal Legion models, Victoria Miniatures is one.
Then we have the loss of almost the entire artillery entries,
only leaving the Basilisk. This was a bit of a shock as even though they didn’t
have GW model support, Forge World had these entries well and truly covered. People
with these models will now have to rely on the AI books to run the suckers. Alternatively
a couple of Guard players I know are going to run their Griffons as counts as Wyvern
Batteries.
Here’s the positives; Orders! There are new orders and they
are fantastic. Obviously I haven’t play tested them yet but these new orders
open up some interesting possibilities that will be a thorn in the side of many
a player. I especially like the look of 30 man blog of guardsman in rapid fire
with precision hit! The way I run my blobs that works out to be 39
lasgun/laspistol, 6 plasma & 6 auto cannon shots all allocated to the most
sensitive models. Of course the other orders have there some very interesting
possibilities like being able to shoot and then run would give your heavy
weapon squads some mobility while still shoot at full ballistic. Nine orders in
total give some great flexibility to our Guard.
Bullgryns. Well these are ‘interesting’. Not sure if I’ll
take them in a competitive lists but these as
well as Ogryns will make an
appearance in my social lists from time to time. Unfortunately they are still ridiculously
over points costed so they probably won’t see much lime light.
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| Wyvern Battery |
Wyvern Batteries. These bad boys are the new ‘tank’ for the
Guard and probably a replacement to all the lost artillery. Just having a
glance over them they don’t look too bad, in the long run I’ll probably pick up
at least one of these suckers probably 2.
Then there is all the new Militarum Tempestus stuff (better
known as Strom Troopers). The only difference from the Codex: Militarum Tempestus
that I could see was that they have justly been relegated to the elite slot. This
will change up how I run my Storm Troopers and I will miss the Special Operations
rules they had, but still looks cool.
Tank Commanders; with a side of orders. I haven’t thoroughly
read these rules but at a glance it looks like you could possibly run a full Leman
Russ squadron with a Tank Commander as a HQ choice and then run three full
Leman Russ squadrons as Heavy Support options, that’s a total of 11 Leman Russ
tanks (points permitting) in a single force org chart. And the Tank Commander
gets tank specific Orders. More tanks anyone?
A few other change ups include:
Ratling now have the Shoot Sharp and Scarper rule, enabling
them to shoot and then run in the shooting phase. Handy
Astropaths are now level one psykers that take a power from
Telepathy.
Officer of the Ffleet can now both add +1 to your reserve roles
or -1 to your opponent’s roles, after the Officer passes a leadership test.
Chimeras now only have 2 fire points but gain the Lasgun
Arrays rule, basically allowing an embarked Veteran Squad to fire 2 special
weapons at their ballistic skill and 6 lasguns at the chimera’s ballistic
skill.
There is a tone more in the book but I haven’t gone through
the codex thoroughly enough to give it justice so I’ll leave the codex there and
end on a review of the new Orders Cards.
Well the Orders Cards are a waste of money in my opinion.
The quality is downright dreadful. The Trimming is not even centred properly,
the cards are too big to be practical they could have been two thirds the size
maybe even half the size and still have room for ‘all’ the information. I got a
pack on a whim and I certainly won’t be getting another pack. I recommend steering
clear of these suckers.
Finally if you think I’m on track here or gone off the rails
let me know. I welcome all your feedback.
