Imperial Guard Rumor Mill

[equinox]

I got a copy of the stuff posted. The punisher is a reality! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I've got my basic army design.

[RARE CHOICE GAMES]

If these rumors hold true and what not...looks like I will start playing 40K again come next year. Damn you GW!

[NonSequitur]

Ok, here we go, for those of us who do not speak French, here is a English translation that was posted on Warseer of the new reference sheet, it seems to add several units/sub units but I'm not sure .

warseer.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53037&d=1235222667

EDIT: There appears to be several inconsistencies between this list and the French list so take it with a grain of salt .

[Andrew]

Aw man, they took out Colonel Schaeffer! My favoritest and the most fluffiest unit in the book! DAMMIT!!!

Interestingly, my 25 stormtroopers are now all -1 LD but also AP3 rapid fire. Suck it, marinez!

Look like my Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken is back in...sweet. And his stat-line is amazing! Well there's something good at least...

Oh, and there aren't any inconsistencies that I could find, so I think you're crazy. That pistol that people were too stupid to translate is called the Flayer Pistol. AP2, rending...that pistol is all sorts of awesome!

Oh no...they've biffed heavy weapons teams. They are now two wounds each, meaning you can't take all the loaders from each unit before all the gunner go. If a heavy weapon team of 6 takes 3 wounds, one gun and two loaders will go. LAME.

At least the Valkyrie is 12/12/10, not 12/10/10 like some peeps thought. This makes much more sense and it has much better survivability now.

Side armor 13 for all Russ's now. Neat. The Eradicator's Nova Cannon looks like an up-gun of the LR Conqueror. Take that and all heavy bolters and there go hordes. Aesthetically I'd take it over "Lookit me I'm Heavy 20" Gatling cannon. Nova has longer range and more special rules yet to be seen, to boot.

Overall, interesting.

[NonSequitur]

I'm not surprised you missed them but, for example, the English translation states the Demolisher cannon as being a strength 10 AP 1 ordinance weapon, French says its 10 AP 2. Being too late at night I can't remember nor stand to look for any others, but I thought that there were at least two others that caught my eye when I made the post. Some one should take a more detailed look with the two side by side, I don't feel up to that tonight/this morning or really at any time this weekend. Maybe later in the week.

Remember, the storm troopers sergeant still confers a 8 to the squad, just don't remove him willingly and you should be fine. Apparently the regular Guard sarge is leadership 8 as well and they fixed the broken junior officers ;D. I wonder how the conscripts will function, I have heard varying rumors and theories about them including the one I am partial to, that they will come with a three-man heavy bolter team and a commissar that will go all Enemy at the Gates on them if the try to retreat but will in turn cause them to be fearless for the rest of the game after one volley of fire.

I hope that the weapon teams count as being immune to instant death, or are practically free, because other wise they are just throwing away points with them. I can't say that the old feeling that it was a fundamentally bad idea to put two guys on one base has not now been reaffirmed with a vengeance, always did think it was stupid and lazy/cheap of GW not to include the extra base for them . I wonder how this might effect those Guard players who have purposefully separated them for one reason or another? And yes, Colonel Shaeffer shall be missed, he did look so awesome .

[Andrew]

LOL people are idiots. A demolisher cannon won't change...

It's not that I'd remove him willingly. If the squad takes enough wounds he may die anyway due to the new allocation rules.

[NonSequitur]

In case you have not seen it else where, both 40k Online and Warseer have confirmed that the Punisher pictures were a custom modification, don't know where they got their information from but it is reassuring none-the-less. Just felt I would add that, and yes people are idiots .

[Andrew]

Release date: May 2, $25

[NonSequitur]

And apparently this will be its cover:

www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/downloadAttach/15424.page

I'm a little bit disappointed, but what can I say. It just does not look "gritty" enough to be Guard. Epic, oh it definitely has enough "epic" to be Guard, but it seems too bright, as Durrak put it, too blue. Its not dark and silhouetted (like the old Codex), but bright and well lit, just seems to lack the Guardsmen feel. Hopefully this is a rough draft or some art deep inside of the Codex, but it just seems to lack enough umph for a Codex cover.

[Andrew]

I actually really like it. It's like the 3rd edition codex, but so much better. Honestly I like this style of artwork a lot.

[NonSequitur]

Well, the scale is great, its how I would like to think of my battles taking place, that is inside part of an even larger battle ;D. The guardsmen just look lankier than usual, I guess GW does have a tendency to make actual models and art look stockier than they should be. The setting is fine, the brightness is not, it lacks the contrast of earlier Guardsman art. That and the uniforms don't look quite right to me, I can't quite place it but they seem to be cut differently, tighter maybe? Maybe if I saw it up close and larger I'd feel better about it, but I still think it lacks "gritty", "epic" and I guess "heroic" I'll give it, but not "gritty". I guess I am just too used to the two third edition Codices and that I will have to adapt to the news style, 'sigh'.

[RARE CHOICE GAMES]

Well the sleeves on a couple of the guys look really short...that could be it. I am not overly impressed either.

[Andrew]

I think you're confused. The 3rd edition codex was in this exact style. 3.5 was different. Now we have this.

[equinox]

Don't know why I am posting this here, but it "feels" right. Over the weekend, I bought the following:
GRAIA PATTERN HELLHOUND COMPLETE KIT
COMMISSAR TANK COMMANDER
CHIMERA TRACK GUARDS

I am going to do cadian test models between now and the codex release to determine a color scheme. Once the scheme is set, I am going to attack my first tank, which is going to be Graia Pattern Hellhound (representing the biotoxin version {devildog?}) My goal is to have enough stuff done by the end of June to play combat patrol games with IG.

At this point, I wish I could get a solid lead on how many tanks can be fit into an army. I am not talking pointwise, just the number that can be taken for each slot and how are transports purchased.

[equinox]

IMPERIAL MACHARIUS VULCAN HEAVY TANK
www.forgeworld.co.uk/machvhb.htm

Wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the above badboy. I was thinking about using it as a Leman Russ punisher for my guard. I know the model is bigger than a Leman Russ, but it seems so cool and looks the part of a tank designed to fire lots of bullets. Any "HUGE" WYSIWYG issues? The LR Punisher should come the gatling punisher, hull mount heavy bolter and sponson mounted heavy bolter. The Macharius is armed with a vulcan cannon (looks like a gatling gun to me), hull mount autocannon (I figure I can just convert this part into a heavy bolter), and two hull mounted heavy bolters. My only concern is if LR come 1-3 per unit, I don't expect to use alot of these guys.

[Andrew]

I'd be fine with it. Heck, I've seen bigger models used for standard vehicles. The only time I've seen people cry about it is when they use said bigger vehicle to hide smaller models behind it so they don't die. I don't care, as I think it'd be a great "counts-as" model. As long as WYSIWYG is fulfilled (which it is by the model) then it's usable. I'm 100% sure that LR are 1-3 slots now, but whatev. Use it as a command vehicle, if only in fluff. Like a commissariat tank! THAT would be cool. No rules, but awesome painting and modeling opportunities.

Only sucks to be you that it itself can't hide behind many things, due to its size. But then that's the fairness trade-off.

[equinox]

I really like the design of the body. How the turret sits back on the hull, makes for an impressive looking model.

I agree, by fielding a bigger model, I am giving more away in terms of LoS. I know my one partner in this project doesn't care, his battle wagon is monstrous (amazing conversion work), but everyone has an opinion, so I am interested in hearing them.

I think you are right Andrew in that tanks are going to be 1-3 per choice, but it's one of those things that I don't want to bank on until it is official (especially if I am using FW models). I'd also be a little more patient if the LR recut was coming in the 1st wave, but it sounds like we wont be getting that until late this year (if at all). Rumor is the 2nd wave is part of Planetfall and includes new Stormtroopers and the Hydra/Manticore.

FYI - I am thinking I will also base all of my tanks. George Bases, available at Games Plus, have bases for tanks. I think it will be a nice touch and make the tanks standout.

[Leudast1215]

I don't like the cover to be honest. The current 3.5 cover is better because it has a lot more depth and contrast. This current one is just way too washed out like someone just threw a bunch of white water (or something) across everything, strung it dry and wallah. I like sharp contrasts and deep rich colors. Which is why, for example, the previous Space Marine and current Inquisition codices were/are my favorite. Black Templar cover is also really good.

[NonSequitur]

I'd say there would be no good reason that you could not say that a Macharius was just a heavy Leman Russ. Its only about 65% longer and wider and only a little bit taller, all in all not that much bigger than conversions of Russes that are considered to be canonical, ones in the old city fight the back of the 4th ed rule book, etc.... Beyond the size being a disadvantage from a getting shot at, I don't see why not. I would just caution to wait untill we get a look at the recut Leman Russes, before you buy more than one, you can always use the Macharius as a Macharius.

Here is a link from Forgeworld that shows the Baneblade, Macharius, and Leman Russ side be side by side. (Bottom of the page)
www.forgeworld.co.uk/macharius.htm

As to the cover, well there are very few areas of black beyond the shadows, which is unusual, both the 3.1 and 3.2 Guard Codices had larger areas of darkness and smaller total Guardsmen counts. I really can't think of any Codex cover with more than 30 or so men/tanks, except for maybe the Eldar Codex. I guess the consensus is: there is no consensus . Some people like it, some people don't .

[NonSequitur]

Ok, hot off of the GW website, the first Guard Preview. Confirms that the picture is the actual cover. It also shows the new specialists and advisers.

www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?doCache=&categoryId=400032&pIndex=0&aId=14500025&start=1