Imperial Guard Organisation
This will serve as a basic introductory guide to beginning Warhammer 40k players and, specifically, new Imperial Guard players. I’ll be covering the Force Organisation Chart of the Warhammer world, then move on to the specific organisation of the Imperial Guard army.
Force Organisation Chart
Warhammer 40k Armies are separated into what they like to call “Force Organisation Charts.” These effectively tell you what you may and may not include in your army. There are mandatory
items in the Chart as well as optional items in the Chart, and I will do my best to explain them here. Italics will be optional, normal font is Mandatory:
1 HQ Choice
2 Troops Choices
1 HQ Choice
4 Troops Choices
3 Elites Choices
3 Fast Attack Choices
3 Heavy Support Choices
Usually, if a squad has the option of a “transport” (usually a tank of some sort) these stats are posted in the “Troops” section of the codex (for example, a Chimera). This does not
count as a Troops choice, but merely an OPTION for the Troops choice!
With that said, here are the basics of the Imperial Guard Organisation:
HQ
“Command Platoon”
This stands for your HQ command squad and any attached support squads. This is the only “platoon” that can field:
Senior Officers
Heroic Senior Officers
Fire Support Squads
Anti-Tank Support Squads
Mortar Support Squads
Sentinel Support Squads
Special Weapons Support Squads
The following are mandatory in an HQ Command Squad:
Officer (Junior, Senior, Heroic Senior)
4x Guardsmen
On top of this, any Advisors (Priests, Psykers, Commissars) MUST be attached to this “Command Platoon” before you may assign them to other Command Squads. These attachments and the
ability to select a better Officer is what makes the HQ Command Squad different than the Troops Command Squad.
Troops
“Infantry Platoon”
This is probably one of the most confusing aspects of Imperial Guard. We’ll start off with this: Every Platoon counts as a single Troops choice on the Force Organisation Chart.
The below list will show you what is mandatory and what is optional in a single Platoon (single Troops choice, when taking Platoons). Normal font is what must be taken and Italics
is optional:
Junior Officer + 4 Guardsmen (Command Squad)
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen (Squad)
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen (Squad)
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
A single Platoon consists of 25 to 55 soldiers as you can see above. I do hope this will prove to be a useful topic and answer some of the questions for new Imperial Guard
players.
Reminder: A single Imperial Guard Platoon consists of 25 to 55 soldiers and counts as a SINGLE Troops Choice on your Force Organisation Chart.
Troops “Options”
Conscripts and Armoured Fists
There are two variants of Troops choices you may take in an Imperial Guard army (not counting the Grenadier Doctrine). These are Conscripts and Armoured Fist squads. However, there are
special rules regarding both of these:
Conscript Platoons (Italics are optional):
Ten Conscripts (Squad)
Ten Concsripts (Squad)
Ten Conscripts
Ten Conscripts
Ten Conscripts
Armoured Fist Squad:
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
Chimera Transport
In order to take a SINGLE Conscript Platoon OR Armoured Fist Squad you MUST take a normal Infantry Platoon. For example, if you take two normal Infantry Platoons then you may opt to
take: two Conscript Platoons, two Armoured Fist Squads, or one of each (or just a single one, but you may get up to TWO “not-normal-Platoon” Troops choices).
Infantry Platoon “Remnants” Squads
Imperial Guard platoons are very unique in that they can take a “remnants” squad instead of a full one. Many take this as that they can take a Remnants squad after you’ve taken all five
Infantry squads – therefore giving you more than 55 men. This is not true. In order to take a Remnants squad, you must have:
Junior Officer + 4x Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9x Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9x Guardsmen
You may then take Remnants squads (Sergeant + 4-8 Guardsmen) to fill up the 2 to 5 Infantry squads. The Remnants squads are listed as an Option for an Infantry Platoon, and
therefore they do count as one of the maximum of five Infantry squads allowed in your platoon. Meaning the maximum number of Troops in your Platoon is still 55 men but it
can be lower.
Reminder: You may only take a SINGLE Remnants squad per platoon. On page 44 of the Imperial Guard codex you can see the rest of the information about Remnants squads.
Posted by Lost Nemesis
on January 5 2008. Filed under Tactics.
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A+ sir, that was really informative. Question: can each sergeant, even in a Remnants Squad, take a power fist or power weapon? if so, i’ll suggest Remnants to any IG player, as a power weapon or fist can really save an infantry unit in an assualt
Ben – I don’t have the Codex in front of me right now but from memory of this often read book, the only thing you can’t give a remnant squad is a heavy weapon. Anyone else (until i read up on this)?
A+ sir, that was really informative. Question: can each sergeant, even in a Remnants Squad, take a power fist or power weapon? if so, i’ll suggest Remnants to any IG player, as a power weapon or fist can really save an infantry unit in an assualt
Ben – I don’t have the Codex in front of me right now but from memory of this often read book, the only thing you can’t give a remnant squad is a heavy weapon. Anyone else (until i read up on this)?
This comment has been BEYOND helpful. I normally play Space Marines, and the transition to Imperial Guard was helped A LOT by this article. Thank you.
This comment has been BEYOND helpful. I normally play Space Marines, and the transition to Imperial Guard was helped A LOT by this article. Thank you.
sorry but only officers, hardened veteran sergeants and veteran storm trooper sergeants may take power weapons. normal sergeants and veteran sergeants are only allowed normal close combat weapons
sorry but only officers, hardened veteran sergeants and veteran storm trooper sergeants may take power weapons. normal sergeants and veteran sergeants are only allowed normal close combat weapons
Can you take 3 Troop choices as an Infantry Platoon, Conscripts, and Armoured Fist? Or do I need to take 2 Infantry to take a Conscript and AF?
And it says on the sidebar that a Conscript Platoon must maintain 2″ squad coherency. So does that mean that all of up to 5 squads must maintain 2″ coherency with each other?
Can you take 3 Troop choices as an Infantry Platoon, Conscripts, and Armoured Fist? Or do I need to take 2 Infantry to take a Conscript and AF?
And it says on the sidebar that a Conscript Platoon must maintain 2″ squad coherency. So does that mean that all of up to 5 squads must maintain 2″ coherency with each other?
No, think of conscripts as one massive 50 man squad. THe 10 man devision is mentioned tso that you can work out how meny special weapons you can take.
No, think of conscripts as one massive 50 man squad. THe 10 man devision is mentioned tso that you can work out how meny special weapons you can take.
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