So after consideration and advice given to me by various member of the community on what order I should start my new series "Units Of The Guard" I have decided on starting with the HQ section of the Imperial Guard codex and the Company Command Squad first and foremost.
Where do we start? One of the primary bonuses that the CCS can give to the rest of your army is that they can give orders to the rest of your army. Here is a short breakdown of those orders and what bonuses they give:
Orders:
Bring It Down:
A great order that allows for a squads weapons to be twin linked versus Monstrous Creatures and Vehicles, no draw backs here, for your heavy weapons teams, or vet squads always like a little bit of extra protection when firing.
Fire on My Target!:
This one was a bit more powerful in 5th edition when the basic cover save was a 4+ instead of a 5+, this order forces a unit whom you wounded re-roll successful cover saves. Now this does not mean that it doesn't have it's merits still. As it is not hard to get up for a 4+ or better with how night-fight works. So it is still strong, and a good reason to keep the CCS in your lists
Get Back In The Fight:
This order always was, and still is a underused and unremembered order. Not many people think about it, and aren't willing to use one of their, normally, 2 orders a turn in order to regroup a squad. With the importance of being able to hold objectives in 6th edition we know how important it can be to regroup your squads, and hell people have a hard time justifying shooting or assaulting a squad of just a couple of guys when the rest of your army is around, leaving those precious few to run around and get where they need to go.
There are also the orders the Junior Officer Squad can give, but these orders we will cover in some other post.
Upgrades:
There are many upgrades available to the CCS, it runs the normal gambit of weaponry plasma, melta, flamer, sniper, grenade launcher, mortar, heavy bolter, autocannon, missile launcher, lascannon. All 4 normal blokes can be upgraded (of course using heavy weapons means that the number of bodies is less).
To me the two best upgrades routes are 4 plasma guns or two sniper rifles and a lascannon. (if you don't take Kell, but we will talk about him later) You of course want to give the squad a chimera, the extra protection is important.
Now you may ask about the various Regimental Advisors, besides the bodyguards, I have a hard time spending points on these guys. the Astropath doesn't quite do all that much anymore, with 6th edition bringing the boys in on a 3+ already, is a 2+ really necessary And is re-rolling your outflank that important when 1/3 of the time you have really short table sides? My thought is not. 30 points can go a long ways elsewhere. As for the Officer of the Fleet, its the same deal.... is making it a 4+ from a 3+ really all that big? No again, and we all know how worthless the Master of Ordnance is, always scattering is REALLY bad... period.
None of the other upgrades are really worth talking about, yes including that MedKit.... its bad... stop it.... do not argue with me 30 points is 3 meltaguns or 2 plasmaguns... so just stop.
Special Characters:
Alright now time for perhaps the most controversial part, the special character that are able to be taken in the unit.... some think they are great, some think none are worth it (i am looking at you CVinton) and some falsely think one of them is good.... so lets delve in.
Creed:
Ok, so if you are attempting to stick true to what the guard are: A kick ass shooting army! You can look no further Creed gives out a massive 4 orders a turn instead of the normal 2 that every other Company Commander can give.... he is Ld 10 (which doesn't seem important yet, but just wait) a 4+ save and the ability to give a unit the Scout special rule..... mmm oh yeah, outflanking Leman Russ Battle Tanks.... or Hellhounds.... or well... anything really...
Lastly his order:
For the Honor of Cadia!:
This order gives a unit fearless and furious charge until the end of the turn...... not really all that great.... but perhaps at times could be good
His highlight is really the 4 massive orders and the leadership 10, the second part we will cover why is important next
Kell:
Kell is not a Company Commander upgrade, he is technically a flag bearer, but truthfully he does one thing importantly, he makes it do that the orders given by the Company Commander are given at his leadership, not think about that when in combo with Creed and his leadership 10, and four orders... woooo... that is nasty... plus when paired with Creed he gains the Look Out – Arghh! power helping him protect those precious 4 orders for even longer.
Shoot Kell is even good without Creed, rolling on a 9 or 10 instead of a 7 on your heavy weapons squads are -really- important.
Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken:
Straken is perhaps the most wrote about HQ in the imperial guard army. He has been used countless times as the head of the blob squad army, and I am here to tell you... its crap.... pure crap. His aura sounds great, counter attack and furious charge to all units within 12 inches.... but... why? What are you doing charging anyone? you are guard.... not orks or marines.... so please... stop! Plus his Str 6 at imitative power first REALLY isn't all that great, and by the time you get enough bodies in the squad you have paid far to much, for far to little, to even think about charging into combat.
Nork Deddog:
Not much to say here, he is actually kinda good, being T5 and FNP with the Look Out - Arghh! rule, plus heroic sacrifice where he gets to get a few last his in in combat when he dies. He is just a tad to expensive to be really used... which is unfortunate.
All in all Creed and Kell take the cake here.... but can be hefty in cost. But when you are taking them you are mainly going with a ground force and lose a lot of the cost of vehicles, allowing you to spend the points on them. In the shooty guard they really have the leg up against your enemies. Just imagine 4 squads of 3 lascannons or missile launchers that are twin linked? what is going to stand up to that?
That is really it for the Company Command Squad.... they are used to give the rest of your army an extra boot up, and also provide a nice chunk of firepower themselves for a low cost. Definitely one of the best HQ choices out of the 4, and personally I recommend them either 1st or 2nd depending on what kind of army you wanna build. If you are going mech not so much, but a foot slogging, heavy weapons squad heavy army? Hell ya!
Also, if you readers have any other topic you would like me to cover in a post (I recommend Imperial Guard questions but hell I will give any subject a shot as long as it pertains to wargaming) shoot me an email at imasentinel@gmail.com
Until next time, burn some heretics, kill some mutants, and do it always.....
FOR THE EMPEROR!