Here is a veritable tome of IG rumors and verifications with my own comments in bold.
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Also not that in there you see a concept sketch for a Dark Eldar splinter rifle. The Dark Eldar are going to be huge.
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General info
Release Rumoured to be 2 May 2009.
Holy crap, that's really soon. I thought it would be later this year.
Rumoured to include at least 2 waves of releases. It is unclear when the second wave will appear.
I'm not a fan of the two wave release, since I can't finish the army until months later. But it's better than NO second release!
The following pic is from the March WD and confirms some of the rumours below including Orders, New Ratlings and the Valkyrie.
http://warseer.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52118&d=1234148406Rules
Army-wide Special RulesDoctrines
Doctrines have supposedly been replaced by Platoons options, so for example, rather than Armoured fist squads a player would buy Chimeras for a whole platoon, or buy the whole platoon grav-chutes to give them deep strike, or drop the heavy weapons from squads and give the platoon Scout. No details on exactly what upgrades are available have emerges as yet. This system would allow “crusade” style armies of multiple regiments.
I'm glad to hear that the doctrines are going to be in there somehow. This is consistent with what is being done generally: rolling all the rules into the main army list itself. One of the funnest things to do with an Imperial Guard army is to theme it. The IG list has also been the default list for a lot of unusual armies, like Squats. It looks like there is enough flexibility here to do some weird armies.
Another rumour says that there will be multiple flavours of Platoon with varying rules and options, such as Heavy Platoons, the squads will have the option of taking up to three heavy weapons teams; Assault Platoons, able to take up to three assault weapons; Stealth Platoons possibly able to infiltrate. It is not clear if this was based on a proper rumour or mutant wishlisting.
This has been given some credence with catdubh posting the following:
Originally Posted by catdubh From the way I was told it an assault platoon can only take assault weapons, 3 flamers fine, 3 G/L fine, 3 plasma no. From both a fluff point of view and game balance it seams fair to me.
Also told Heavy Weapons squads are now 10 men not six and that the rumour of all squads in a platoon being able to take 3 Heavies per squad is not quite right. Instead a Heavy Weapon Squad can be attached to a platoon. Very similar but as to which one is correct we will have to wait
Orders
reds8n broke the news on Orders with the following:
Originally Posted by reds8n I believe that command squads will in fact be able to give actual orders to their troops-- I assume perhaps only the ones under their direct command perhaps ? These have various affects, the ones I heard about being one that reduces their chance to hit ( for guard ! ) but ignores/lowers cover saves.
.... and one that in affect puts the platoon onto overwatch.Orders are given by Officers to a squad (note not the whole Platoon) within command radius or via Vox channel. Orders generally make a squad do something such as make them better shots, rally, or recover from things like pinning or gone to ground. These orders are not automatic and will probably require a Ld test.
Orders will be one or maybe two orders per Officer per turn, and it is assumed Platoon Officers will only be able to order their own Platoon whilst army Commanders will be able to order anyone. This has not been confirmed.
Some rumoured Orders include:“TAAAANK!!” which allows the squad to add +1 to penetrate armour for a turn of shooting.
"Front Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire" which allows the squad to shoot twice to represent your men firing in well timed volleys to increase rate of fire. This is probably just Lasguns.
Overwatch would supposedly allow them a round of shooting during the enemy’s shooting phase at the cost of not shooting and assaulting next turn (effectively going to ground).
I have been told the Orders system works a bit different to how it is currently rumoured above, but wasn’t able to get clarification yet.
Bring on the Orders. It's an additional complication to playing the game, but I think it will give some good flavor. I will be glad to see Overwatch come back in some form.
Miscellaneous
Some squads will supposedly have access to heavy flamers, but it is not clear which ones.
HQ
OfficerCan reportedly be upgraded for x-amount to get Storm Troopers as Troops
This is the best news and I hope it's true. One thing I don't like about 40K is that all the fun choices are outside of the Troops list. Troops are boring. I wish they would stop forcing me to take them. It's so contrived. But Storm Troopers are cool.
Primaris PsykerApparently able to blast tanks with a psychic power. No further details have emerged as yet.
Well, almost anything would be improvement over the old pieces of crap. Rolling powers randomly is lame. If they were like zoanthropes as mid-range heavy hitters to support other units that would be cool. But more than that I'd like to see them as viable support units.
Commissar Lord Early on was rumoured to allow Stormtroopers as Troops choices. This has since been debunked. Newer rumours say he is described as having lots of inspirational powers (possibly fearless) and will supposedly allow more freedom in selecting Commissars for other squads.
Inquisitor and Retinue Very early rumours pointed to an entry for IG as an HQ choice, which would supposedly appear much like the elites from the current Daemon Hunters/Witch Hunters books. There has been no recent mention of this however.
This is another great opportunity for using out-of-the-ordinary miniatures. Great possibilities for conversions here. This is along the lines of miniatures crossovers like using imperial vehicles for Ork looted stuff.
Commissars Are supposedly now squad upgrades, technically allowing a lot of Commissars to appear in an army. Rumours now say they are allowed to attach to “certain squads”, However once a Commissar Lord is taken they have more freedom and there can be more of them. They are also supposedly cheaper (almost half their current price).
Commissars are overpriced now in my estimation. It's the old eggs and hammers thing. If a model is very weak on defense it doesn't matter so much how much offense it has. Of course, being in a giant unit, a meat shield is a sort of defense. Eldar suffer from this a lot, and you see that people won't take these units. Like Swooping Hawks. They have a zillion powers, but they are T3 and low armor. Same for Shining Spears.
GGM007 also offered the following from a GW Manager:
Originally Posted by GGM007 He said that command squads could be accompanied by 3 types of 'Councilor' which were 'Fleet liason officer' some kind of psyker/astropath and an artillery spotter/officer.
Master of the FleetRumoured to allow some type of orbital bombardment, details unknown.
AstropathSupposedly has a 'predicting' ability, possibly similar to Sicarius's ability to re-roll "seize the initiative". Master of the Watch
Artillery Officer. Rules unknown.
There are apparently a few other things that you can give the Command Squad to affect the army. No further details are available as yet.
Elites
StormtroopersThe assumption has been made based on the WIP Stormtrooper mini that Stormtroopers will be able to take shotguns this has since been refuted, with the new rumour being they are for WH Arbites-style Stormtroopers.
Are there going to be Storm Trooper plastics? If so, this would be consistent a la the Temple Guard for Lizardmen-- a new plastic kit of an Elite type.
You can supposedly have a Storm Trooper Squad/Platoon as a Troops choice (not clear if this means both or one of), but this is reliant on an upgrade to the Officer leading the army. They may also get to pick from a list of mission 'operations', such as outflank, deepstrike etc. They may be able to infiltrate if not transported.
Bestiaparda offered the following:
Originally Posted by Bestiaparda Hellguns will be now AP 3 as I said in the other long dead post, making stormtroopers capable of dealing with a lot of different (MEQ) opponents...Yeah, but what will they cost? This sounds quite powerful ifi you ask me. Of course, people don't take Thousand Sons that often.This has been confirmed by one of my Ninja who said that AP3 "hot shots" for Hell Guns will be in there, but wasn’t sure if it was a permanent thing. He gathered it's more likely going to be like the Dire Avengers’ Blade Storm skill.
This sounds more like it. Like that first volley is lower AP.
OgrynsRumoured to be T5 with a 4+ save and Feel No Pain. Further rumours said EITHER T5 or FNP will make the final cut, but probably not both. More recently rumoured to be 25 pts, S5 T5 A3 Sv4+ Furious Charge.
See? They are starting to give more defenses to some units. You'll notice that things cost less points in 40K than they do in Fantasy. That's because a Lascannon is a great leveller.
Sniper SquadsCan supposedly infiltrate, get stealth, range finders and all models in the squad have sniper rifles and BS 4. A new rumour says they will also get camo cloaks.
Veteran Squads Have been rumoured to become upgrades to platoons rather than Elites choices and may work like Ork Ard Boyz in that you may upgrade one unit in the whole army. Although a newer rumour says they probably won’t be upgrades for platoons.
Troops
Imperial Guard PlatoonsPlatoons will supposedly be structured as follows: 1 command squadPlus up to 5 of the following taking into account specific limitations -2 - 5 infantry squads0 - 5 heavy weapons squads (this is suspected to be a typo)0 - 2 special weapons squads0 - 1 conscript squadThe entire platoon with all these squads will only take one Troops selection in the FOC.
OK, so they are taking all these elite type squads out of the command section?
Platoons are rumoured to be able to attach sentinels, chimeras, and hellhounds as support vehicles, but not demolishers as previously thought.
Well, this is great, because the problem I had with my IG army was not enough slots. The more that can get crammed into the Troops section the better.
Platoons will supposedly benefit from a special rule called "Platoon Drill" which grants the ability to ignore any other squad within the Platoon for the purposes of determining the enemy's cover save. What this means is that the Guard squads will get a cover save when being shot at through a squad in the same Platoon, but their enemy will not get one when the squad shoots back. This will supposedly only work if the Vox network is still intact.
Platoons have been rumoured to have a great number of options available to them including attaching various support vehicles like sentinels, hellhounds and demolishers. They still take up a FOC spot, but become part of the platoon and so will benefit from “Platoon Drill” and other Platoon-wide rules rule. Platoons are rumoured to be able to merge into one big unit (sort of the opposite of Space Marine combat squads). So for example the platoon HQ and all its squads can merge into a single unit to hold an objective. Some more rules are probably applied to this but no further details have emerged forthcoming.
Kill Points for Platoons have been ruloured to be 1KP per half of the Platoon killed. More recently, this has been rumoured to be 1 KP for the entire Platoon, although there is some conjecture about whether Officers will yield a further KP. This could possibly be related to the ability to merge the Platoon into a single unit, thereby giving up a single KP.
There has been much talk about a point decrease to 4points per Guardsman. This has also been rumoured to be 50 point Infantry squads (10 men with Sgt, Heavy Bolter & Flamer). Another rumour says the basic squad load-out will be 10 Lasguns or 9 Lasguns and a Laspistol for 40 points.
GW really screwed the pooch with the Orks. Now every single army will have their basic models compared to the 6 point Ork boy, which is (as you can tell by all the Green Tide armies springing up) a very effective warrior. However, this is a positive thing if you want to get Troops back into the mix. I have long argued that if you want the game to revolve around Troops you have to MAKE THEM GOOD! My prediction is that guardsmen will be cheap, cheap, cheap.
Heavy weapons teams will supposedly be required to be on large bases. It is assumed there will be some sort of rule making HW Teams a single 2W entity, like a Space Marine Attack Bike. Nothing has been rumoured on this yet though.
This will certainly solve a serious problem. I predict this is right. They will invent some kind of universal rule that is the same. Along those lines I predict that Eldar heavy weapons will see a similar merging when the Eldar are re-done.
Conscripts Originally rumoured to be a Troops choice that didn’t take up a FOC slot and come with a command squad of a Commissar and three teams of Heavy Bolters. The Heavy Bolter team guns them down the conscripts if they break adding bonuses. This rumour has been refuted by several sources. Other rumours say conscripts will disappear altogether, or remain only as “naked” Platoons.
I predict that conscripts will disappear. They are a vestigial limb. If regular guardsmen are cheap, these guys will go the way of the dodo. They were a lame idea to begin with if you ask me.
Penal Battalion50 pts. 1 Custodian and 9 Penal troopers. Ld 8. Rifle and close combat weapons. Scouts, Stubborn, "Desperate". No news on what the last Special Rule may entail.
Another reason why the Conscripts will be gone.
Transports
Chimera 55 pts. 12 10 10 Tank, Amphibious, Mobile Command Vehicle. Multi-laser, hull Heavy Bolter, searchlight and smoke launchers. Options: Upgrade Multi-laser to Heavy Flamer or Heavy Bolter - free; hull Heavy Bolter to Heavy Flamer - free; Storm Bolter or Heavy Stubber +10pts, Hunter-Killer Missile +10pts, Dozer Blade +10 pts, Extra Armour +15pts, Camo Netting +20pts.
Valkyrie Skimmer. 24" move. Troops may disembark at any point in its movement, but more than 12" and they take a dangerous terrain check. Was rumoured to allow embarked troops to deploy after deep striking. Another rumour says they will be able to DS more accurately like Drop Pods. It was originally rumoured to only be a transport for Stormtroopers, but more recently it has been said it will be available to all units that have access to Chimeras.
Fast Attack
SentinelsWill be available for both Fast Attack and HS slots, with the slot determining the weapon and upgrade options, as well as special rules. Fast Attack Sentinels will retain Scout, but only have the option to be open topped.
That sucks. I really like the look of enclosed sentinels. Well, no reason they can't look that way at least.
Hellhound12 12 10 Tank, Fast. Inferno Cannon: 12" Template, S6 AP4 Heavy 1 (like the previous version but there is no roll to hit and no partials, but reaches 12").
This is my MVP pick for the imperial guard force.
Devildog12 12 10 Tank, Fast. Fusion Cannon: 24" S8 AP1 Heavy 1, Blast, Melta.
I really like this one. A Hellhound with Bite. Note that this is a Fast vehicle.
Banewolf12 12 10 Tank, Fast. Chemical Cannon: S1 AP3 Heavy 1, Template, Poison (wounds on a 2+ to targets with a Toughness stat).
I am giddy with these new tanks. These are really great. And to see them in the Fast Attack slots is really the best. It allows for more tanks. Are there any Elite tanks?
Valkyrie (possibly Valkyrie Vendetta)The “up-gunned” version of the Valkyrie is rumoured to be a Fast Attack Choice called the Vendetta. There is much speculation about this.
Heavy Support
Spearhead Sentinels Heavy Support Sentinels will supposedly lose Scout, but will be enclosed, have slightly better front armour and have options for heavy weapons such as the Plasma Cannon.
Leman Russ Can reportedly be bought as a squadron so you can get 3 for a single FOC. It is unclear if this is a true Vehicle Squadron, or a three-to-a-slot situation.
Russ’ have been rumoured to cost 150 points with increased Sponson cost, so a LR will supposedly cost 180 points with 3 HB.
They have been rumoured to come with a hull heavy bolter, smoke launchers and searchlight as standard.
Leman Russ Battle Tank14 13 10 Tank. Battle Cannon.
Leman Russ Exterminator14 13 10 Tank. Exterminator Autocannon: Heavy 4, Twin-linked.
Leman Russ Vanquisher14 13 10 Tank. Vanquisher Cannon: AP2 Heavy 1, +1D6 penetration.
Leman Russ Eradicator14 13 10 Tank. Eradicator Nova Cannon: 36" S6 AP4 Heavy 1, Large Blast, Ignores cover saves.
Leman Russ Demolisher14 13 11 Tank. Demolisher Siege Cannon.
Leman Russ Punisher14 13 11 Tank. Punisher Gatling Cannon: 24" S5 AP- Heavy 20.
Keep your eye on stuff like there. There is a slow and substantial change to 40K. It used to be about armor and AP. You will start to see more effective counters to the Horde army (that is how they will balance out that army type). You will also start to see other Horde army types with other lists, like this one-- four point guardsmen will mean you can spend 800 points and have 200 models in your force. This also jives with the "move to Apocalypse" view.
The front cover of the codex supposedly features Cadians.
