Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team (HoR)/Tactics/Astra Militarum(7E)

Out of all the armies, the Imperial Guard (Astra Militarum, Militarum Tempestus, whatever. We call it IG for convenience) probably took the biggest hits by losing all their fancy tanks that did all the work. In their place, you have to use lots upon lots of small guardsmen with guns and other infantry. If you can grab a Transport, it's probably advisable since these guys don't last long on their own.

Rules

• Voice of Command: You can give Orders to a model within Ordering Range and if that model passes Leadership, he gains it and shares it with allies within 3". This means that squads can pretty much spread the love 3" around every individual model, giving real good coverage. For the sake of convenience, this rule also offers a Vox-Caster for all models that have it.
• Veteran Promotion: Campaign Only. For every 3 Battle Honours a Veteran or Guardsmen in a squad gets, they can be promoted to becoming an individual model for all intents and purposes, meaning that the squad now has to buy a new buddy. The promoted model keeps whatever they got beforehand and can only buy melee and ranged weapons from the codex as well as some other armoury upgrades.
• Famous Regiments: Taking a page from the Space Marines, you can pay for all models aside from the abhumans, walkers, psykers, enginseers, and priests to emulate a certain famous regiment.
  • Attilan Rough Riders (FREE): A very cavalry-focused squad, you have a special leader you can buy as well as the removal of restrictions on Rough Riders. You can bring even more to the Special section if you feel like wasting space.
  • Cadian Shock Troops (FREE): An anti-Chaos team, Cadians get Hatred (Chaos Marines) and can upgrade Conscripts to get Whiteshields with +1 BS/Ld for 5 pts a squad.
  • Catachan Jungle Fighters (1 PPM): A very stealth-based team, these guys get Move Through Cover and Stealth (Jungle).
  • Death Korps of Krieg (2 PPM): If you need guys who can hold the line, these guys can help. All affected models gain +1 WS and Stubborn.
  • Elysian Drop Troops (2 PPM): You're not going to get any D-99 loving here, just Deep Strike. Still an alright idea for surprises.
  • Mordian Iron Guard: (1 PPM): These guys are hardasses. They won't buckle and always pass Fear and Pinning.
  • Tallarn Desert Raiders (1 PPM): Instead of your usual access to light armour, you just get Hit & Run. If you're good at kiting, then this is your army.
  • Vostroyan Firstborn (1 PPM): They don't get any blatant rules or anything of the like; instead, they get an Overwatch radius of 6" instead of 3".

Wargear

• Hot-Shot Power Pack: A safer overload than the other armies, this gives flashlights and laspistols AP3, but shrinks the range by 6". Take it and laugh at any Marines that come at you.
• Bio-Scanner: If you ever find a model infiltrating near the user's weapon range, he can shoot up the damn thing before the game starts. Real nice to fuck with said sneaky armies.
• Smoke Grenade: Harmless, but it gives a large blast template's worth of 5+ cover. A very helpful thing for your ranks.
• Auspex: Same as the marines, model within 12" gets -1 on cover.
• Infrared Goggles: Cheap Night Vision. Take if you're need a priority target removed at all costs.
• Chem-Inhaler: Cheap FNP (6+). Always welcome.
• Targeter: Low price, okay bonus; if you don't move this model, you re-roll 1's to-hit during shooting.

Leaders Only

• Refractor Field: 5++ Invul. Take it.
• Duelist Honours: If you have a good assault HQ or need something to tie up a model, this gives you a re-roll on 1's with a CCW of Power Sword.
• Bionic Eye: You gain Re-rolls on 1's in shooting and Night Vision. A pretty good idea for shooty regiments.
• Antax-Pattern Armour: If you know you're not up against any plasma weaponry then this is a go-to item. It gives a re-rollable 4+ Armor save. which is better than a 3+ armour and almost as good as 2+! Awesome.
• Master-Crafted Weapon: Self-explanatory. Usually recommended on melee weapons and pistols.

Commander Only

• Honorifica Imperialis: Commander gets Stubborn and gives it to anyone within range for Inspiring Presence.
• Macharian Cross: Expands Inspiring Presence to 12". Nice for spread-out forces.
• Vostroyan Shotgun: Another item from Last Stand, this is essentially a Bolt Pistol with Assault 2, Twin-Linked, and Strikedown. A good idea to distract someone from firing on valuable stuff. It's a pretty cheap buy.

Rough Rider Khan Only

• Khagan Glaive: A replacement for the Hunting Lance, this S+2 AP3 Specialist Weapon excels at getting charges, as it gives the Khan I10 on the turn they charge.

Commissar Only

• Ruthless Bastard: This bonus makes a Commissar a much more supportive model when you're not in the Mordian or Krieg armies. If he ever has to *BLAM* someone, he gives everyone in the army Stubborn for that turn. Nice.

Tempestor Prime Only

• Command Staff: A pricy Power Maul with Master-Crafted and Shred, this item's pretty nice for a Tempestus army that has to assault someone.

Tempestus Only

• Tempestus Standard: A pretty good support item, this grants all Tempestus models within 12" of this banner re-rolls on Morale and Pinning. Just beware that you're limited to one.
• Grav-Chute: Strangely unavailable for the Elysians, this cheap thing gives a model Deep Strike and will make it immune to fall damage. Again, why not Elysians?

FOC

• 1 Leader
• 1-30 Core
• 0-5 Special

Leader

• Team Commander: A basic Platoon Commander with basic weapons and a bonus wound and the options of a Company Commander, he's meant for support more than flat out combat. If you grab the Force Commander upgrade for 10 pts, he becomes a Senior Officer and can give more orders.
• Rough Rider Khan: The exclusive leader for an Attilan Rough Riders team, this guy's a Rough Riders sarge with +1 WS/W. He's probably the most combat-dedicated of them, but he's still as fragile as the regular guardsmen.
• Tempestor Prime: The go-to Leader for a Tempestus army, he gives the option for Scions to be Core choices. If the army's comprised of only Tempestus units, you can then choose to only use the Tempestus Orders. Even if you don't run to these orders, it's a smart idea to run some Scions and maybe a Tempestor as support, as they'll benefit from using the Clarion Vox Net to use his Leadership for Fear, Pinning, and Morale as long as they're within 18".
• Commissar: You know what this old hardass can do: intimidate motivate his men to victory by being a hardass. His Inspirational Leadership range allows him to confer Stubborn to the Guardsmen and he can *BLAM* anyone in this range being a coward once a turn for army-wide re-rolls on Fear, Pinning, and Morale. Just beware how close he is to his dudes, as you can't stop him from shooting his guys, similarly to Mob Rule. In a small-scale game like this, models count for a whole lot. The man among brutes rule allows you to take ogryns and bullgryns as core as long as you don't take any other core units. Fun if you like ogryns, but the summary execution rule will hurt you a lot.

Core

• Guardsmen Squad: You know how flimsy these guys are, you know that they're only good in numbers. You can give one a special weapon, give another a Vox-Caster, (which is recommended. Especially if you don't run a Commissar) and they can all get Krak Grenades. If in doubt, just take more.
• Veteran Squad: A bit more flexible than Guardsmen, these guys have at least some options for combat. They can opt only for Grenadier and Forward Sentry doctrines along with the basic upgrades, and one of them can bring a Team Standard to use to affect how combat turns out.
  • Sergeant: Slightly better than a basic guardsman, one can be taken for every 2 guardsmen/vet squads (which you should be doing anyway unless you're running Tempestus or Rough Riders) and he'll allow them to use his Leadership if he's within 6" of them. He can grab an upgrade to Veteran Sergeant for a bonus WS for cheap, grab a few bits of gear, and do it all for dirt cheap. Always take a few.
  • Heavy Weapon Squad: It's a guy grabbing a heavy gun, and he's hardcapped to only being 1 per Guardsmen/Vet squad. Give them a weapon for the occasion, consider making them a vet to get a slightly better WS, and they can grab krak grenades.
• Conscript Squad: They're human grots. Use them and dispose of them. Cadians can make them a bit closer to Guardsmen, but they're still just disposable.
• Wyrdvane Psychic Choir: A curious option, these Choirs of 3 are hardcapped at 0-2. Okay for the Warp Charge, though they can only take Smite, Prescience, Flame Breath and Assail. Usually, Prescience is preferable, then Smite or Flame Breath.
• Rough Rider: Hardcapped at 0-5 outside of the Rough Riders regiment, they'll be your speedy guys. Every one out of 5 can take a special weapon, with a max of 4 models being able to take a weapon. You probably have something better unless you're Rough Riders.

Special

• Tempestus Scion: They're a bit more elite than the basic Guardsmen, but they pay for it by having less options. They can only take special weapons for one out of 5 (limiting to 4), another one out of the 5 can grab a cheap vox-caster, which helps especially in a Tempestus army. One can even become a medic with FNP in a 6" radius to keep them in a fight.
  • Tempestor: Limited at 1 per 5 Scions, these guys act as the sarges. He can grab meltabombs, lets Scions within 6" use his Leadership, and has a slightly more melee build.
• Ratlings: In a dense area like this, these little hobbits can definitely make an impact on the field. keep them in cover and make sure they can shoot uninterrupted.
• Ogryn: Ogryns are meant to be big beefy things. Take them if only to distract the enemy from shooting at your guardsmen. One can become a Bone'ead and get +1 A/Ld, which is an alright buy for 10 points.
• Bullgryn: Same as above, but these guys get big shields. It's usually more advisable to keep them stock, as protecting your men is a bigger priority, and that's what slabshields do best.
• Scout Sentinel: A non-flammable walker, it's a lightweight unit to kite with. Aside from the standard weapons, it can also take an S+2 AP4 Rending melee weapon, but that's not highly advisable for it.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MODELS ARE HARDCAPPPED AT 0-1

• Ministorum Priest: These unique models are the ones you take for melee slamdowns. Everyone within 6" gets Zealot and get his Hymns for glorious smiting.
• Astropath: He's not much better on the small field than he is on the big field, though the option to choose between Psychic Shriek, Dominate, Mental Fortitude, and Terrify, is nice. If you need the extra warp charge, taking this guy's usually advisable.
• Techpriest Enginseer: If you grab transports or Sentinels, grab this guy. He's the one force you can take to keep them alive and fighting. Otherwise you're just wasting your points.
• Medic: Another specialist, this guy's a basic Vet with FNP in a 6" radius. Take him if you fear for your gunlines. He can also take Carapace Armour or Camo Cloaks to help survive, but whatever you do, keep him out of battle.

Cheese

Without a doubt, the IG are pretty much the weakest Kill Team out there. Let's get that right out in the open. HOWEVER! That will make it that much more fun to wipe that smirk off of your opponent's stupid face when you realize that the army isn't about strength, toughness, badass armor saves, or even numerical superiority. That was an advantage that was taken away from us to an extent. But what we lack in advantages, we make up for in SYNERGY. Hence, we bring back "the blob." Purchase five squads of standard guardsmen, and a bare bones Commander. Purchase Hot-shot power packs for each guardsman squad. The rules make no differentiation between purchasing for a squad or a single model, defining each as a unit. 10 points outfits a whole squad with these bad boys. You won't be going anywhere. You're up to 185pt.This cannot be done as Guardsmen have no access to the special armoury, only to their Codex Special Weapons. However, you still have a commander for FRFSRF, which gives you copious amounts of firepower. Bring in a Medic for that FNP, and a Priest for Zealot (If you're unlucky enough to get into melee combat), but more importantly, War Hymns. You've even got 20pt. to do anything you like with to augment this blob afterwards. Thanks to RAW, if one member of a squad is within range of a Medic/Priest/Commander, the whole squad will get the benefits of the advantage. If you place your units cleverly inside of cover, you can maintain cover saves, establish a firing line, and give all of your S3 AP- squads FRFSRF, re-roll all failed To Wounds (If some schmuck manages to survive the shitstorm of overwatching), a cover save (It has better be 5+ at least, 3+ if you can find a fortification), AND FNP. The only thing that might stand a chance is Terminators, but they will inevitably be drowned in a torrent of utter devastation before they can even reach you. Woe betide those who underestimate your puny guardsmen, whose superior tactics and reputation as weak will lull your foes into a false sense of security before they are sent off crying from your devastating surprise.

...unless they have twin-linked flamers. Then you're just fucked. Crisis suits suck, man. *BLAM* NOTHING CAN DEFEAT THE POWER OF HUMANITY AND THE TREMENDOUS MIGHT OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD!