In the Warhammer 40k universe, your grunts are equipped with the Lasgun.  It is ubiquitous.  It is a reliable, solar-rechargeable, power-adjustable engineering marvel that will incinerate targets when its laser touches them.  And yet, in the Warhammer 40k universe, it’s most widely known as a “flashlight.”

Your Infantry Squads will need other weapons to keep them in the fight, and they have a variety of special weapons available to them.  For this article, I’m going to leave out discussion of heavy weapons, because that’s a different mess to untangle.  In 5th Edition, mobility is important.  The Imperial Guard need to move to claim and contest objectives, as well as to position themselves for vengeance after a squad of their comrades gets eaten by some alien menace.  Special weapons allow you to move, shoot, and assault all in the same turn.  Couple this with the almighty Chimera, and you’ve got some serious options here.  Let’s take a look at your options for your Infantry Squads, in what I consider best to worst order:

Flame Thrower (Rating: A)

What if I told you that you could have a 7″ gun that hit everything in front of you at S4 AP 5.  Looking at Lasguns, which at best give you 3x S3 AP- shots at 12″, you’d be pretty excited.  Now what if I told you that you didn’t even have to roll to hit?  Flamers are pretty underrated, because the Boltgun is considered “average” in 40k games, and they have the same profile.  For the Imperial Guard, they’re way more exciting.  Flamers are way stronger than Lasguns, ignore 5+ armor AND the omnipresent cover save, and ignore our mediocre BS3.  What’s not to love?  Naturally, this weapon works best if you plan on getting up in the enemy’s face; I wouldn’t put it in a squad that is just going to sit on an objective with a heavy weapon.

Grenade Launcher (Rating: B+)

The Grenade Launcher is a close second.  It could have a terrible damage profile, and I’d still want to take it.  The Grenade Launcher’s most valuable trait is that it’s the only man-held weapon that can move and shoot 24″.  This effectively gives you a 48″ threat bubble around the carrier, which is something that people will learn to take note of.  The damage profile isn’t underwhelming either, for the 5 points you’re paying.  Shooting a Krak grenade will allow you a S6, AP4 shot.  This is useful for insta-killing or ignoring Feel No Pain on T3 troops.  It’s useful for threatening light vehicles and transports.  It meshes very well with an Infantry Squad who’s also sitting with an Autocannon, which has a very similar damage profile.  The Frag grenade allows you to hit a bunch of troops.  While the AP6 will only make Kroot and Orks shudder, the S3 will wound most enemies on 4′s or 5′s, just like your Lasguns.  The difference is, you may get to roll 5 times to wound, and don’t need to roll to hit.

Plasma Gun (Rating: C+)

It’s funny that a Plasma Gun is a mainstay in so many other armies, but rated so low in ours.  I’m personally not a fan, because S7 AP2 has one of two roles: threatening light vehicles or threatening heavy infantry.  For the former, the Imperial Guard have a lot of other army options.  You can take Sentinels, Valkyrie/Vendetta squadrons, or any other host of scary weapons to terrorize anything with an AV of 12 or below.  In terms of threatening heavy infantry, your options are to either take away their save or make them take a ton of saves.  I’m not a fan of trying to beat 2+ saves, because there are too many other factors to consider now.  In 5th Edition, almost everything seems to get a cover save.  With Terminator Squads, they can mix in enough Storm Shields to get 3++ saves.  Your other option is to make them roll dozens of 2+ saves, just waiting for a few 1′s to come up.  Guess what?  You have dozens upon dozens of Lasguns that are eager to fell some enemies, numbers is your game!  This makes the Plasma Gun a weak option for us, in my opinion, especially at the heavy cost

Sniper Rifle (Rating: C-)

I usually don’t advocate Sniper Rifles, for a few reasons.  Snipers used to be way cooler, back when I played…they hit on 2′s and wounded on 4′s.  There was even a time when they had rending.  Now they don’t have much of a role, unless your Codex happens to have special rules or a lot of high-BS infantry with free Sniper Rifles.  The only real thing a Sniper Rifle offers you is a 5-point way to reach out at 36″.  Moreover, there’s always the slight chance that you can cause a wound and a pinning test, which isn’t something to be counted on.  It can change the tide nonetheless, as your opponent never really expects to fail them either.

Meltagun (Rating: D)

Let me start this by saying I’m a huge fan of the Meltagun in general.  It’s a fun, flavorful rule and has a definite place in pretty much every army.  Unfortunately, this is not the place for an IG army.  Your Infantry Squads will only be able to bring 1 Meltagun for every 10 bodies.  Even if you blob up some squads, and throw in a Commissar with some anti-vehicle gear, you’re wasting dozens of Lasguns just to get a few BS3 Meltagun shots off.  Meltas belong in Veteran Squads or Command Squads, period.  Stick them in an Infantry squad and you’ll either be wasting the Melta or wasting the Lasguns, assuming you ever get the chance to fire it.

Having spent the last article talking about the oft-underrated Scout Sentinels, I want to talk about something that almost everyone has in a respectable Guard army: Platoon Command Squads (PCS).  The PCS differs from the Company Command Squad in three main ways: you can have more than one, they have less orders, and they don’t have veterans (and thus fire at BS3).

No, not this guy.

These are a few important things to keep in mind as I talk about how I like to equip my PCS’s in-game.  A PCS is a squishy blob of Guardsmen that can easily get expensive, but still needs to provide some value.  I use the PCS in one of the following ways:

Static Firebase

This PCS is meant to sit still and support a gunline by providing orders.  Plop it in cover, so you’ll get some kind of save, in between other squads that will sit and shoot.  Equip it with a heavy weapon, preferably an Autocannon or Heavy Bolter to keep the costs down.  A Lascannon will cost almost as much as the basic PCS, and remember you’re firing at BS3!  Some people will add special weapons to complement the heavy weapon (grenade launchers for AP4 heavy weapons, plasma guns for Lascannons) but this starts to get really pricey.  Remember, they’re only 5 Guardsmen, and their support to the rest of your squads (read: First Rank Fire/Second Rank Fire!) will make them a high-priority target.  I’m less inclined to use this model, because of the value of mobility in 5th Edition and the expense required to make this unit powerful in such a role.

Close-Combat Support

This PCS moves alongside infantry squads, or more commonly an infantry blob.  The idea is to give them order support as they move into rapid fire range, or to get a charge.  A PCS escort can give them a better go-to-ground save, make them run faster, or get 50% more Lasgun shots.  I run this sometimes alongside a 20 or 30-man infantry squad with a Commissar for morale.  They’re great for taking and holding objectives, for rolling oodles of dice against elite units, or as a tie-up unit.  I equip this squad with Laspistols and close-combat weapons, which are free and give them an extra attack, and a power weapon for the Officer if I can afford it.  This gives some teeth to the blob in close combat, and can bail them out if need be.  Meltabombs can be a good idea to ensure that your unit doesn’t get bogged down by a silly Sentinel.

Special Weapon Squad

Depending on how you play it, being able to fill the squad with special weapons is an exciting prospect.  Things like Plasmaguns or Meltaguns are too expensive in my mind, especially given that you’re rolling at BS3.  There are two intriguing options, however: flamers and grenade launchers.  Flamers are a great choice because they’re dirt cheap and allow you to ignore the PCS’s mediocre BS.  Not rolling to hit with a S4, AP5 template weapon is a big deal to a little Guardsman.  Any time you can drop 4 flame templates on a squad, even if it’s a T4/3+ body, you’re going to do some damage.  God forbid you get to use it on Orks, Eldar, or other Guard.  I’ve tried using the flamer squad as a counter-charge unit: feed someone a sacrificial Infantry Squad in combat so that when the combat ends, the flamers open up.  This requires a bit of timing and luck to pull off, because you must ensure that your PCS is in range to let loose with the prometheum, and on your own turn.  This may work well as an escort unit, as described above.

The other option is Grenade Launchers.  No other hand-held weapon for the Guard can move and shoot 24″, which alone makes it an interesting idea.  Sure, you have to worry about rolling to hit, but the ability to lay down 4 blast templates or lob 4 Krak grenades is pretty exciting.  It’s also great for terrorizing AV10 vehicles and transports, namely those threatening Trukks and Raiders.  This unit, which costs the same as the flamer unit, can move as an escort and lob supporting fire along the way.  They can also bounce around a static gunline, providing support where needed and keeping the advancing tides at bay.

Wrapup

The PCS is something that most armies are going to have to buy.  It’s still a squishy group of guardsmen, but since it doesn’t carry the same expense, ballistic skill, and powerful orders as your CCS, you can afford to be a little more blasé with it.  Don’t be afraid to leave the protection of the nest, but remember that they will fall in a single round of shooting, which can affect the rest of your army.  A lot of these tips and guidelines change when you start talking about your CCS, so remember the difference between them when you’re writing your list!

Discuss it here, in the forums.