Well I have 50 or so old rogue trader plastic guard sat upstairs that were headed for ebay but now i've found this forum and the 30k codex thingy...

So what (if anything) makes a PH guard army different from a normal one? Are there any themes you should go for, or doctrines you shouldn't? As i see it the PH fluff offers more opportunity for individualism - ie: lots of different planets involved, lots of different old figures not in current codex etc.

But the standard old box had just lascannons as heavy weapons, so would it make sense for example to have a guard army that only used laser weapons? Am quite tempted by this - nothing like giving an army some tactical disadvantages to get you thinking about a coherent theme...

The main difference between the Imperial Army (as PH Guard are called) and the Imperial Guard are that the Imperial Army was used more to support the Marines than the 'modern' day Imperial Guard. There were some differences in terms of the vehicles used, if you check out this thread here you'll find a discussion on what tanks were in use during the Great Crusade.

As for the all Lasweapon army? I'd say go for it! Technology was generally better during the Great Crusade, there may not have been things like Assault Cannons, but there was alot more Las and Plasma weaponry about.

Welcome to the boards too, I don't think I've seen you post before.

Well, theres a great deal of freedom with the IA (just as there is with the IG in M40), so you can pretty much use the codex as is (check the PH Tanks thread here in PH Q&A to see where we are with detremining which tanks were available).

To me, the main point of a PH IA army is trying to get the look right - with my Surrians I'm going for greatcoats, shiny helmets and breastplates to present the kind of "good first impression" look that I imagine the expeditionary armies having - to me its less about the practicalities of camouflage, more about looking striking and important to wow those recently discovered cultures.

Commissars were known as "Discipline Masters".

Preists might be less present (depending on how ingrained in the Imperial Cult you see your force as being).

Hellhounds, if I remember correctly, weren't available, but I think the rest of the tanks and vehicles are ok (as I said before check the Preheresy Q & A thread for more info).

Land raiders were used by the IA, and we think rhinos were too (but we dont have a source yet). Not sure about landspeeders and jetbikes at the moment - although they were there in Roguetrader, I dont think we have any preheresy sources for those yet.

Mutants and abhumans were present, as were "grav vehicles" (ref: IG Codex) though other than the classic deoderant stick grav tank depicted in the CCG, we dont know what these might have looked like.

I believe Legion (the HH novel) is apparently a good source for IA info, though I havent read that far yet, so cant confirm whats in there. I believe that whatevers in there is representative of a particular regiment, so while you can take it as indictaive of what was available to IA forces, it doesnt mean all regiments were built that way.


As for a lascannon IA army, the way I see it is that different regiments have different specialities/themes. Each expeditionary force would have multiple regiments on board, as well as various individual units seconded from other fleets/picked up along the way, so when the expeditionary force goes to war it can pick and choose which elements it will field from those available to it.

Therefore, you could have an all-lascannon heavy platoon in a mixed regiment army if you wished, and say that for fluff purposes it comes from aa regiment that specialises in lascannons.

This is what I intend to do with my IA - the VIIthSurrian Janissaries are an all cavalry regiment, the XIVth Dreahn Abhuman Assualt Auxiliaries are 90% beastmen (led by human command squads and discipline masters) plus I'm brainstorming ideas for a regiment based around heavy weapons. All three regiments might be represented by units if I took the army to the tabletop, providing a balanced force, or I could go for a specific regiment if I wanted to challenge myself with a very restricted formation (although thats when doctrines come into play). If you havent looked already, check out the Members Blogsthread where you will find a couple of expeditionary force threads (mines the 119th) which might give you some inspiration.

Hope that helps.

-Anodyr

Indeed, welcome to the boards!

One thing I will point out at this stage is that Rogue Trader does not automatically equal pre-Heresy. Generally, old minis are just that - crappier versions of what we have now! :D

Imperial Army regiments don't necessarily come from "more worlds"... rather they were just more individualistic in their expression of their native culture. Some uniforms and schemes have died out completely and been replaced with more modern-thinking standard equipment, which gives you scope for conversions and adaptation of other minis into IA troopers.

Personally, I'm using Cadians mixed with WFB Flagellants for my Tharn IV garrison force, for a nasty "is this actually ok with the Emperor?" blend of semi-Chaotic Fire Cultists and regular troopers! I've just finished my first platoon actually, pics to follow in my blog thread.

One thing which is implied but not by any means confirmed - the Imperial Army might not have had the Imperial Aquila on them. For the sake of two minutes' work, I'd rather be safe than sorry when the novels clarify this, so I've removed them from my minis!

If you're going to go the RT-era route, I'd suggest mixing the components with regular Cadians to make them go further and tie the various bits of your army together. As for weapons choices, I look forward ti seeing what you come up with!