I got my Imperial Guard codex this Friday. I’ve been able to look it over and get familiar with some of the units and how the thing is laid out.

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Described in one word: evocative.

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The book has great art– some classics and some new art. But each picture evokes a certain feeling, like a picture of a valkyrie screaming over the battlefield after just dropping off an elite squad of storm troopers.

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There’s not a single thing I don’t like about the army list. It is chock full of goodies.

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First off, starting with Orks, then with Space Marines, and now with Imperial Guard, GW has been powering up each army. It’s not so much raw power, but giving lots of tactical options. I would say, though, that those three armies are intrinsically more powerful than the other lists.

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The first thing I like about the new Guard are the orders. There are like six types of Orders, which are issued during the shooting phase and require a leadership test to take effect. A Company Commander can issue two of them, and can choose from all six. A Junior officer (which can be part of a platoon ie part of a Troops choice) can issue one order a turn and has a more limited list.

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This definitely adds a huge layer of tactics to this list. The orders aren’t a small thing. My favorite one, “Take it Down” can be leveled at a vehicle or monstrous creature giving twin-linked to the target unit, for example, a unit of Lascannon teams.

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One thing I was glad to see is that Veterans are a troops choice. So, you don’t have to take whole platoons. I wish I still had my Lions Rampant! They would have done well under this list.

Storm Troopers (elites) hellguns are AP3.

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The thing I like the most is that tanks can be taken in squadrons, groups of up to three. Even valkyries can be taken in squadrons of up to three PER SLOT.

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Most troop choices cost less per model. Penal troops are 4 pts per model, your basic guardsman is down from 6 pts to 5 pts. And veterans are only 7 pts (this is a great value for +1 BS plus a load of options).

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Like other new codexes, this one has no Wargear section. All the options are written in the army list which is a lot clearer.

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The book is laid out very well, with header bars and page reference numbers.

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I predict that the hot unit of the book is going to be the battle psyker squad. This was the whipping boy of each previous incarnation of this list– a joke in the last one. But now they are just absolutely insane, a huge potential for shooting. And nevermind their key power, twhich is to reduce the leadership of enemy units.

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A battle psyker squad can have up to nine members plus an Overseer. The strength of their Soulstorm attack is equal to the number of psykers in the squad; 36″ AP (d6 roll) Assault 1, large blast. Need I say more.

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The other unit which you should “not leave home without” is the Master of Ordinance. He costs 30 points, and is an advisor to the commander. Every turn he can drop an unlimited range S9 AP3 large blast anywhere on the board. The only downside is that it scatters 3d6″ (1d6 less if he can see the target). That’s insane.

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The list also includes a ton of models that were normally only in Forge World supplement books. They can now be used in a normal army list.

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And on top of all that, the Guard list is traditionally the go-to for non-traditional figures: humanoid xenos, squats, and renegades (chaos-corrupted guard) to name a few. I would love to make a renegade legion using this list.

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The only problem with this codex is that yo’ll have a devil of a time settling on what units to include in your army. They’re all so cool!