An in-depth Guide to Imperial Guards

Almost everything you want to know about Imperial Guards: Key Principles, Campaign Advices, Build Orders, Strategies, Tactics, Priorities, Morale, Garrison, Tiers, Hotkeys, Infiltration, Units, Special Weapons, Add-ons, etc; you name it, it's probably here.

F.A.Q

Is this guide new players friendly ?
No, it executes them for failing to defeat the Chaos in combat Yes.

This guide is huge! I just want to know the basics and I don't want to read all that!
That's why I also made "A Short Guide to Imperial Guards", it contains only the basics without going into details.

This guide is huge! how am I going to learn all that ?
Read something you're interested in -> apply. Read something you're interested in -> apply. Repeat.

For more details check out the "F.A.Q" section of the guide.

Introduction

This is more about the author for people who want to know more about the man behind the guide or want to ensure the information I've presented in the guide is reliable, rather than actual information about Imperial Guards. Feel free to skip this, you won't lose anything important.

Lately, I've seen lots of people on the Dawn of War Winter Assault's discussion section claiming that the campaign is too difficult. Nothing could be further from truth. I remember playing Winter Assault for the first time in 2011 and beating the campaign with little or no difficulty on easy mode.
I can't recall whether I was aware of the morale but I knew about Commissars and "Execute".

I also remember I was able to beat the skirmish CPU on easy and normal difficulty with no problem. But the hard CPU would stump me. The multiplayer rooms were empty for both Winter Assault and Dawn of War, then you had to register to relic in order to play online but I don't think that was the cause, so I had no multiplayer experience. Nor I have much experience now, I doubt I've played more than 20 Dawn of War 1 series online games so far, good players stump me in multiplayer,
but I've played and beat the campaign on normal diffculty and I'm also able to beat the skirmish
CPU on hard. I haven't played the campaign on hard diffculty yet, but I think I'm gonna give it a try.

Initailly, I wanted to make a short guide, straight to the point to help you beat the campaign, and I think I did with "Campaign Advices" section. But then I got more and more curious and eager to know about the Imperial Guards and felt the guide was incomplete, like it needed something more, so I kept researching and adding, and I got more and more in depth information until the guide became quite big, presenting strategy (what to do with your race), game mechanics (what influences have various game mechanics over your race) and army-building (how to build your army for maximum effectiveness).

The purpose of this guide was initally to help people beat the campaign, but it's more than that, it wasn't made with the campaign in mind. It can also be useful for skirmish and multiplayer.

Reliable: In making on this guide I've been doing researches online and talked to Dawn of War veterans to make sure the information was correct. Some who played Imperial Guards, some who didn't played but played against Imperial Guards and some who had main Imperial Guards. I had some knowledge of Imperial Guards of my own, but I asked them about it too to make sure. The basic information about HP and things that aren't shown in the game I got from the internet, and also tested it myself in the game. When you remain with 1 Guardsmen it does indeed say 160 HP and when you remain with 1 Space Marine it does indeed say 390 HP.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not pro nor veteran with Imperial Guards. But that doesn't mean I haven't talked to veterans when making this guide. Guardsmen stats or game mechanics are facts you can't deny them, I've made sure the information is correct by checking it in the game iself, and when it comes to strategy I've talked to veteran players who would wreck me in no time in multiplayer, me being able to beat skirmish CPU on hard, they sure have good strategies if they are able to play so good. This guide will help you get the Imperial Guards as a whole. And hopefully you'll have no problems with the campaign anymore. I can't guarantee on normal and hard difficulty, but on easy with reading the "Campaign Advices" section alone, you'll stump them.

30 January 2016 Update: I made this introduction when I started making this guide, nowdays, I am able to beat the CPU on insane with Imperial Guards, I have much more multiplayer experience, and I still agree with everything I said in the guide even if I edited it a little bit, mostly for a better interface, and those veteran players who helped me make this guide... are still better than me in multiplayer.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q)

Is this guide new players friendly ?

Yes, everything is strated from the root. The only requirement is to have the Imperial Guards in-game tutorial completed so that you actually know what I'm talking about, the troops and the tech-trees. If you haven't already, start your game, click ok "Skirmish", go to "Tutorial" bottom-left, select Imperial Guards and hit "Start". That guide will give you the starting point of Imperial Guards, this guide will give you the more advanced techniques of the imperial guards, one step at a time.

If you're new, and you've already completed the in-game tutorial, I recommend to to read only the first 2 paragraphs "Key Principles" and "Campaign Advices", dispite of the name, those campaign advices aren't only campaign advices but general Imperial Guards advices except not as in-depth as it goes further down. It's just that I wanted to make a short & straight to the point paragraph for those looking only to beat the campaign and nothing more.

If you want to learn playing skirmish games the proper way, and from this I mean moving from playing randomly to actually having idea what you're doing. Read what I meanioned above and the 3 Skrimish IG tiers (actually 4 paragraps) + "Strategy: Priorities List to Keep In Mind" so that you can actually know what to look for in the game, and not just trying to reach some teching up "objectives" mentioned in the 3 skirmish steps (or tiers) + "Mechanics: Morale" because it's a really important mechanic of the game and it can often make the difference between victory and defeat in a battle. Not to mention this goes double for Imperial Guards because they have various ways to "play" with their own troops' morale. Whatever you do, don't rush, learn it step by step, from the top of what I've mentioned to the bottom til you got them all. See the next question for further details of what I mean.

To make it simpler, I made a "quick version" of this guide that has only the paragraphs mentioned above, except for "Morale" because that would be too much to read and the guide wouldn't be short anymore, and instead including "Commanders" and "Command squad" because they are important for Imperial Guards, one for turning the weak Imperial Guards infantry into a badass force and the other for being the hero of the Imperial Guards. Why have I made this quick guide ? Because it's much more user friendly to have all the basics of Imperial Guards in a guide than to check for them in this guide. As mentioned, this "quick version" is NOT a resume for this guide but only covers the Imperial Guards basics for a proper skirmish game, the more in-depth stuff is still only in this guide.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=610601866
If you're already an experienced player and just want to improve your game, go ahead and pick whatever section you like in the guide. Everything is independet from the others. I like to think that I have 3 types of depths.

1st is the newbie level, which are the first 2 paragraphs telling you the key principles aka Strengths of the Imperial Guards (except for the mention of weak in small numbers weaknesses) and basic knowledge on how to build + use your army (generalizations, you do A then B then C, but still more effective than doing stuff randomly).

2nd is the intermediate level, which is how to play a non-random skirmish game (build orders, troop movement, troop management, economy, teching up; in other words micro & macro) and knowing the mechanics of the game.

3rd is the in-depth level which is in-depth knowledge on how to build + use your army. (Not such as in-depth as knowing the best course of action in every possible situation, but in-depth enough to give you the stats of each unit, the strenghts and the weaknesses of each unit so that you can decide for youself. THIS IS NOT what makes you a pro but merely the beginning, to be a good player you have to know your army, but what makes you the best is how you acually use your army in accorance with every factor in the game: matchup, tier, your own tech-up level, the enemy race/races, the enemy strategy/strategies, etc. Basically the better your micro and macro the better you are at the game. You can read about micro and macro at "Strategy: Priorities List to Keep In Mind")

So make your pick depening on what you want to know.

This guide is huge! How am I going to learn all that ?

Step by step and I mean this in a very specific way. You can read all this guide in 1 day but you won't remember much. What I suggest you to do is to read -> apply -> read -> apply -> read -> apply, etc. This is both because all I give you here is theory, and theory without practice is 0, practice without theory, or at least without learning from your mistakes doesn't evolve anywhere. You need both to learn Dawn of War more effectively. Study smart, don't study hard.

You may read 1.000 guides and either not get any better or barely get any better because you don't apply what you've learned. And to apply what you've learned you must first remember what you've learned. By reading the whole guide in a day you won't remember much. It is better to read 1, 2 paragraphs (depending how much/well you can remember, or more) & then apply that information until you "get it", and actually get better because of it. Then move to the next and repeat the process.

Where can I learn more about Dawn of War ?

You can learn more theory from the internet or from other Dawn of War guides. Watching games or replays of good players, and of your own games to improve upon your mistakes also helps. But the best way to learn is to find someone already experienced to teach you. I don't recommend myself because as I've already mentioned in the description I'm not a veteran or pro player, this guide was made with help & correction from veteran players and internet documentation with verification.

However, if you're looking to learn to play with Space Marines, Orks, Eldar or Chaos I made an intermediate guide for those races. The guide is as this one, starting from newbie level, all you need to know is what you learn from the in-game tutorial so that you can actually know the buildings and tech-ups I'm talking about, even though I'm usually going to refer them as "troop building" or "HQ". But it's not as in-depth as this one and not as long as this one. In fact it's way, way shorter than this one, even though I'm talking about 4 factions in 1 guide. This is because everything I said are the essential things for having a relatively better skirmish game, from 0 to I actually know what I'm doing, nothing more. Nothing in-depth and nothing about the game mechanics themselves there.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=169328807
- F.A.Q
- Well F.A.Q too.

Actual Guide Start

An in-depth Guide to Imperial Guards

Changes from Dawn of War to Winter Assault:

"Many of the units available in Dawn of War were simplified, reduced or limited for the Winter Assault expansion. For example, Space Marine Predator tanks were limited to carrying anti-tank weapons while Chaos Predators were limited to anti-personnel weapons. In the original Dawn of War game both sides could upgrade their tanks from anti-personnel to anti-tank (Destructor pattern and Annihilator pattern respectively). Likewise the Land Raider was limited to one per player but in turn had greatly increased durability.

Limitations were also applied to the Orks, who lost most of their upgrade choices and became limited in their weapon choices. The Eldar had their "hard counters" removed, meaning that specialized units such as Dark Reapers were no longer as prominently effective against heavy infantry. Some units, including most of the Ork army, also lost the ability to use grenades. The Chaos Space Marines also lost the ability to upgrade to any heavy weapons other than the heavy bolter and plasma gun." - Source Wikipedia

“Tell them we win this day or we die trying. There is no retreat!” - General Sturnn

Strategy: Imperial Guards Intro

Imperial Guards.. a ranged army with numbers, outnumbering. Many call Imperial Guards a "turtling" race, but don't be fooled, the Imperial Guard can be vicious on the offense too. The whole premise for the Imperial Guard guard army is different from that of other races.

Your troops aren't walking big damage tanks like the elite fighters of the Space Marines or other races. Instead, they're weak, scared guys with small guns and no armor. Sounds dumb ? No way. The Imperial Guards army is build around numbers and command structure. Without good numbers and proper command, your forces are doomed to die.

Your army doesn't have the strength at it's side, however, numbers more than make up for this. Your army is very cheap and thus you should have no difficulties outnumbering the enemy. And when you start utilizing your officers, your forces become a fighting machine. Not only that, but the variety of Guard commanders available and the abilities they endow upon the rank and file are a blast! By far, my favorite is the Commissar's "Execute" ability.

As for the vehicles, they are extremly useful. The Chimera transports up to three squads and allows them to shoot out the window. The Sentinel (which looks like AT-ST from Star Wars) is a great anti-vehicle and Hellhound is a great anti-infantry, both of them working the best in packs, just as the infantry works best in numbers with officers. The Basilisk, "basi" for friends, is the best altilerly in the game. The Leman Russ is a great all-rounded addition.

And the Baneblade... the best relic unit in the game, when used correctly, he is ranged and should be kept at a distance from the enemy. As for Imperial buildings, most of them allow units to garrison inside, which makes for an interesting new twist to base defense. Builder units are also curiously strong in combat and fast in repair, making them perfect for fixing defenses under fire.

Strategy: Key Principles

Key principle: NUMBERS.
1) They are weak in small numbers, but powerful in big numbers.
(Because your army is cheap, you can outnumber the enemy in most cases)

Secondary principles:
2) They have commanders that improve the squads they are attached to.
(Commisars have execution that restore morale and improve the fire-rate of all IG around them, Priests improve health and have Fanaticism that makes a squad imune, don't attach Psykers unless they're about to die or it's imperative that you keep them alive eg: enemy has infiltrators)
3) They are weak early game, but are hard to stop late game.
(A maxed IG army with comamnders attached and grande launchers is truly a force to reckon with and the baneblade... the most powerful relic unit in the game, if kept at a safe distance)
4) They are the most powerful race on defence in the game.
(Their anti-infantry turrets are the most powerful in the game [for many factions turrets have such a low damage that they are almost useless, this is not the case for IG], and they can garison troops in buildings in case of an attack [they won't do the same damage so it's not always recommended but the enemy can't directly shoot back at your units], and the Heavy Weapons Team is also badass)
5) They have the most powerful super-unit in the game: The Baneblade.
(Is a excellent long-range tank, and paired with 2 Leman Russes they become a force hard to much, just make sure they're not the ones taking the damage. And you also have a lot smaller, auxiliary but still badass vehciles. Basilik - the most powerful altilery in the game. Hellhound - powerful anti-infantry, attacks with fire and ruins morale; Santinel - powerful anti-vehicle, a pack of 3 of them can disable an enemy vehicle in no time)
6) Their army is cheaper than other races', but their buildings cost is average.
(And they also queue up faster, which means that economically you should have no problems getting more troops than the enemy and faster)
7) They have powerful range fighters but their weakness is melee fights
(Most IG units are powerful range and useless melee. IG only have 2 melee units: The Command Squad if you choose to focus it on Priests, and the Ogryns that are available only at tier 3, so for the most part if you have no melee units to bring in the middle you should always avoid engaging with melee troops, if they attack you run, when they stop chasing, fight back, there will be a time in tier 3 when you'll have so much firepower that a few melee units won't matter anymore, turrents and listenting posts, things that you can retreat to [then fight back], are your best friend for this reason)

"All Imperial Guards players I have ever met build turrets, and I can't get closer to them, so I actually lost a lot of requisition and power to build my army when Imperial Guards built generators and tech to tier 2" - JV (DoW Veteran)

"Predators are better than any other tier 3 tank or tier 2, but Baneblade with russes can outscale probably every unit in the game" - JV (DoW Veteran)

"In general the Imperial Guard have flat-out the worst infantry of all the factions and need extensive micro-management and upgrades to make them at least moderately functional, but they also have perhaps the best collection of Vehicles available." - Dark Crusade Wikia

Strategy: Campaign Advices

- Always max out squad size. Always. Attach a Priest or a Commissar to improve the squads.

- Research everything. Increasing their morale and health is very important.

- Get their wargear depending on what you're going up against. Heavy infantry ? Get Plasma. Light infantry ? Grenade launchers will wreck them. (If you have to fight both, take Grenade Launchers since they are also efficent against Heavy infantry)

- Numbers numbers numbers. The duty of the Guardsman is to die for the Emperor, don't be afraid to let him. They're quick to train and reinforce.

- If the red circle appears around any of your squads, use "Execute" or get them out of battle and wait for their morale to recharge.

- Want a jack of all trades Commander Squad ? Add 1 Commissar, 1 Psyker and 2 Priests. Want a pure melee Commander Squad ? Add 4 Priests.

- When you can get vehicles, get them.

- Chimeras are transport vehicles Sentinels are dedicated anti-vehicles. Hellhounds dedicated anti-infantry. Basilisk is the best altilery in the game. Leman Russ is a good all rounder.

- Use infantry as avangard to protect your vehicles. Yet also use infantry as a powerful force, not mere meat shield.

- Can get the Baneblade ? Support it with infantry and vehicles and the game is won.

Strategy: Early-Game (Tier 1) (Skirmish)

Imperial Guards are a defensive race. This doesn't mean you can stay in your base and win, Dawn of War doesn’t work that way, you need to attack in order to win. It basically means that you’ll always have to defend every inch of land under your control. And then accumulate more forces to push out some more and then put up a defense again.

First of all, I would like to say that there's no best build order for all general cases. The best build orders are specifc, based on map & matchup (matchup includes various things like what race are you playing with, how many players are there, how are the teams distributed, what races are you playing against, what races are you allied with, what's the skill of your enemies and allies, as well as in game what strategies do they use in the game; the best build order changes durring the game according to how the enemy (or allies) play). However, the general build orders presented here are solid (much better than playing randomly, besides, you'll be able to stand a chance if not even defeat with good gameplay experienced players in multiplayer) and good to play by until you get to know the game more in-depth and learn more specific builds or make your own good builds. There's just way too many match possibilites to talk about each case scenario, as you play the game and you start understanding the game, you'll start understanding how to make your own particular build orders too. I'll be talking more about the General Imperial Guards Build but I'll also present a few others. Keep in mind that each of these builds are generally solid but much or less effective deeping on map and matchup.

I recommend learning these builds using SHIFT+TAB in-game to follow this guide as you
play a skirmish game. Pause > Look at the Guide > Follow/Do. Learning by doing.
I also recommend to learn the hotkeys/shortcuts, it will save you a lot of time.

General Imperial Guards Build Order
Tier 1 - Game Start

- Have the builder build 1 Barrack.

- Have the HQ queue up: Guardsmen, Guardsmen, Builder, Guardsmen.

- Have your Guardsmen capture SPs as soon as they came out in the field.

- When barracks are complete, queue up Hero (Command Squad) and then have your builder build 1 Gen.

- When the 2nd builder is created, have him help the 1st builder building the Gen.

- When Hero is created, have him reinforced with 1 Priest.

- While you do this, keep capturing SPs with your infantry until you meet with the enemy at probably the middle of the map (unless you're faster and capture more strategic points than him).

- When generator is complete, have your both builders build LPs on SPs.

- When you have captured all SPs that you could capture without a fight, regroup your whole army (3 Guardsmen squads and Hero) and start harrassing the enemy taking out their scouts or LPs.

( * You may want to set your Hero on ranged while harrassing this way * )

- This is pretty much the situation when you're going to get caught in fights, reinforce your squads if needed. Grenade launchers are very powerful all-purposes weapon upgrades. Don't have 2 squad fight while the 3rd one is capping unless you can take out the enemy in no time, if you are attacked while capping stop capping (unless the capping is complete in 2 seconds) and fight back even if you have 1 squad for capping and 2 others for defense, 3 squads = more firepower = less casualties = more casualties to the enemy. If even with the "capping squad" fighting you can't win get back-up from the other squads or rerteat, it's better to retreat if the alternative is losing your troops there. However, your the early game focus with your army should be on inflicting casualties to the enemy not securing SPs. If you ever need to defend, make use of turrets, Imperial Guards have the second most powerful turrets in the game. And you can garrison broken squads inside buildings.

- As soon as you have build LPs over all SPs you control, you should have your decent economy, have then your builders build 2 more Gens.

( * The order is generally, meaning in most cases: all LPs first > then some critical forward LP2s if necessary & you know you won't lose them > then all Gens > then the rest of LP2s. But it depends on map and matchup. As I mentined in the first section, I can never know your specific situation on the battlefield, if you need power go for generators, if you need requistion go for LP, if besides requistion you need defense too & have enough power to afford it upgrade LPs to LP2s. * )

- When the Gens are complete (and now you have a total of 3 generators), have your builders build armory (Tactica Control).

- When Tactica Control is complete, research "Death before Dishonor" from it (the top left research).

- The next part of tier 1 is again improving your economy (if you haven't already with 3 Gens in total and LP2s) and fighting for SPs. Depedning on situation you may or may not need to have Command Squad & at least 4 or 5 reinforced and upgraded Guards squads.

Strategy: Early-Game (Tier 1) (Otr Blds)

Imperial Guards Other Builds

II) The Commissar Rush - Relies on Commissars to increase the squad morale, and rush with 2 Guardsmen Squads, 1 attached Commisssar and 1 Command Squad with a priest; with 1 Guards squad and 1 Commissar on the way to the battlefield.

HQ:
1. Guardsmen
2. Guardsmen

Techpriest:
1. Infantry Command
2. Plasma Generator

Infantry Command:
1. Command Squad
2. Guardsmen

HQ:
1. Commissar
2. Commissar

As soon as the first 2 Guardsmen squads are out on the field, start capping. Guards continue to cap until first Commissar and Command Squad arrive (should arrive at same time). Attach Commissar to a Guardsmen squad and all go to attack. Techpriest should start building a Listening Post ASAP. When Listening Post is up. Buy a Priest for the Command Squad and reinforce all troops. The next Commissar and Guardsmen Squad should go an join the main army to assist.

III) The Command Squad Rush - Relies on Command Squad Priests to disrupt and mass firepower from the Guardsmen for actual killing power. Teching will be slowed cause you don’t use Generator in the start, the purpose is to end the game ASAP or otherwise completely screw the opponents econ so he can’t tech until even later than you.

HQ:
1. Guardsmen
2. Guardsmen
3. Guardsmen

Techpriest:
1. Infantry Command

Infantry Command:
1. Command Squad
2. Guardsmen

The first Guards squads starts capping as soon as possible, and continue to cap until Command Squad arrives. After the Command Squad is up, buy a Priest for Command Squad and build and then have the Techpirest build a LP. When 4th Guard Squad arrives, rush to enemy base. On the road buy another Priest for Command Squad and reinforce all squads.

IV) Command Squad Harass - Relies on harassment to disrupt enemy capping, giving you a chance to get your Tactica up and get some Grenades. The purpose is to get an economical edge by inflicting economical damage to the enemy. Once the harass is over, you can run your Command Squad back to a point where all your Guardsmen have rallied, and the following enemy will end up running into an ambush of Grenadiers. Follow through to destroy opponents econ only, while teching to Tier 2. Once you retreat/get pushed back by the enemy army, your vehicles come in to save the day.

HQ:
1. Guardsmen
2. Guardsmen
3. Techpriest

Techpriest:
1. Infantry Command
2. Plasma Generator

Infantry Command:
1. Command Squad
2. Guardsmen

As soon as the first Guardsmen Squads are up they start capping. Command Squad and 1 Guardsmen squad goes to enemy Strategic Points to harass and disrupt while Other Guardsmen squads continue capping. Buy a Priest for the Command Squad. Techpriests build Listening Posts on your points. Queue Tactica to build. Rally all Guard Squads to the fall back point for your Command Squad. Reinforce all troops, and buy Grenade Launchers. Follow up attack with Grenadiers, Techpriests continue to build LPs, and when affordable, Plasma Generator. Go Tier 2 as soon as you have the available resources. Retreat army to base if needed. Buy "Death before Dishonor" and then "Battle Armour" when affordable.

V) The Grenade Tech is a more simplified version of Command Squad Harass, the build is the same, but you use just 2-3 Guardsmen squads to cap, no Commander, and stay in defense while you tech, only attacking when all your squads have full equipment of Grenades. (Tactica built for maximum grenades)

VI) Infantry Command Charge - This will only work on certain maps, and is used to secure a choke point so you can gain map control and a significant econ advantage. The lack of a decent harass however, may mean the enemy can take out the chokepoints, unless you defend well.

Normally, the build entails a few capping squads, and maybe a Command Squad for harassing while a couple of Techpriests run forwards planting a Infantry Command at the furthest possible build-zone while deleting the last one until you get to the chokepoint. From there they can continue to build your Tech options, and power gens, and bunker up for extra fire backed up by your Guardsmen if the enemy gets too close.

Ideally, you want to have an Infantry Command and an LP2 or a Heavy Bolter Turret at the choke point, and since most maps are symmetrical, you should try to do the same at the other side. If the enemy tries to attack one, bunker up and tunnel to the other side of the map. Should give you a great econ, and thus a faster tech than the enemy- especially if he invests too much in Tier 1 troops to try and take out your choke points.

VII) Builder Charge - This is a funny one, and if it works, you have almost definitely won. It entails charging about 3 Guardsmen squads and a builder forwards without capping your own points, killing any workers and capping squads, then capping the enemies points and LP'ing them, and simply bunkering the enemy base with Infantry Commands around the HQ and bunkering your Techpriests inside for plasma, while the Guardsmen squads continue looking for capping squads/builders that got away, and securing yet more map control.

The key in all these builds is to move fast

Strategy: Mid-Game (Tier 2)

The key to winning with the Imperial Guard is climbing the tech tree. Their best units are in are tech tier 3 and 4. So you should climb to next tier as soon as your income permits it. Defense is still your priority though. It’s finding that balance that the key to victory. Keep in mind that you may have the ability to build that Baneblade, but if you don’t have a decent defense the enemy tramples your base before it rolls out of the Mars Pattern Command.

Purchasing unit add-ons can be important too, but you’ll have to make the right choices. “Death before Dishonor” boosts the morale of Guardsmen, which is really needed. It’s rather inexpensive (75 Requisition and 15 Energy), so it gets high priority. However some people prefer playing without researching morale add-ons. "Uncommon Valor" is the quite expensive and unnecessary early on. You can leave it until the next tech tier, when you’ll need those extra members in your Command Squad. Make smart choices!

As soon as you build Mechanized Command, you should start building vehicles. Get Sentinels if you enemy has many vehicles and Hellhounds if you enemy has strong infantry. Imperial Guards vehicles are fragile and you should use Guardsmen as avangard to protect them.

General Imperial Guards Build Order
Tier 2 - First HQ add-on researched

- Research requistion upgrade and energy upgrade from LP and any Gens.

- Have the HQ queue up 1 - 2 Commissar, attach them to a Guardsmen squad, and spam their "Execute" ability while in combat.

( * You kill 1 guardsmen, but the others that are nearby, not only in the squad where you killed the guardmen, get instant maximum morale & double fire rate for a few seconds * )

- Build the vehicle building, and as soon as the building is up queue up a vehicle. "Santinel" is anti-vehicle, "Hellhound" is anti-infantry, "Chimera" is transport, "Basilisk" is altilerly. "Leman Russ" is a good all-runded tank.

* To increase Imperial Guards infantry population build more barraks, and to increase their vehicle's population build more vehicle building. (+6 infantry/vehicle cap per Infantry/Mechanized Command)

Research tech tier 3 as soon as possible.

Strategy: Late-Game (Tier 3)

First thing to do when you reach tier 3 is research your advanced infantry, Kasrkins or Ogryns, depending on what you fight against. Kasrkins are powerful range and Ogryns are powerful melee.

Space Marines, Eldar or Imperial Guard -> Kasrkins
Orks or Chaos -> Ogryns

* In Dark Crusade & Soulstorm expansions you're limited to 1 squad of Kasrkins & Ogryns per player.

Polish your defenses because now you have to wait a long time. Research "Full Scale War" in Mechanized Command. This takes 1 minute and 40 seconds but it is a must.
You need it to make the Leman Russes and the Baneblade.

* You are limited to 2 Leman Russes and 1 Baneblade. Each Leman Russ takes 5 Vehicle Cap and the Baneblade take 3 Vehicle Cap making for a total of 13 Vehicle Cap used.

Max out your army.
The Baneblade, Leman Russes and Ogryns are imperative.
Now charge!

"Ready to unleash eleven barrels of hell!" - Unknown Baneblade Commander

Strategy: Priorities List to Keep In Mind

1) Defense - If the enemy defeats you the rest of this list is for nothing. Also Imperial Guards are the best defensive race, use that to your advantage.

2) Army - Gold is good, but iron wins wars. The moment the enemy is at your gate it doesn't matter whether you have 300 or 3000 requisition, whether you have tier 1 technology or tier 3 technology, all that matters is your army and tactics.

3) Economy - Army is more important, but without gold, you can't buy it. You should have a good defense not to be defeated, and an army good enough to support that defense, but if you want to develop & advance you need to keep an eye on your economy, what you can do & what you can't.

4) Teching Up - The key to win with Imperial Guards is climbing the tech tree. They have their best units in tier 3 and 4 (Which is tier 3 - after you've built the second HQ addon, tier 4 after you've build Mars Pattern Command for Baneblade).

This is generally refered to as micro and macro. Micro is troop movement and management (Basically your troops). Macro is economy and teching up (Basically everything else).

Mechanics: Morale

- Morale is the blue number under your infantry's health.

- Vehicles don't have morale, infantry single units have solo morale, squads have collective morale.

- Everytime infantry receives damage, they lose morale.

* Some weapons such as: Sniper Rifles, Flamethrowers and Altilery inflict more moral damage than others.

* Some units such as Eldar's Rangers do little physical damage (actual damage) but high morale damage.

- When your infantry's morale reaches 0 the unit or squad becomes broken, represented by a red circle around the unit or each member of the squad.

- When a unit or squad is broken, they are basically panicked and this is what happens:

1) The accuracy of all their weapons drop to 10% of their original value.

2) Their maximum speed increases by 10%.

3) A pulsing red circle appears serving as visual cue.



- Usually, the best thing you can do with a broken squad, is to get them out of battle and wait for their morale to recharge, their power is 10 times weaker than usual. Maybe go near a turret if you need protection.

- Their morale regenerates automatically, even during the fight. (But you shouldn't fight with them in that form because they still lose morale from damage, and with 10% accuracy there's not much you can do with them)

- The amount of morale regenerated per second differs from squad to squad.

- When their morale recovers over 50% they become fully functonal again. (Except Space Marines, they only need to recover 25% of their morale to get unbroken)

Imperial Guards

- Guardsmen are initally easy to break, starting with 100 morale when other squads such as Space Marines start with 300 morale. In order to increase their morale add commanders and research.

- When your squad's morale is broken, instead of running from the battlefield and losing firepower, you can use abilities such as "Execute" or "Fanatism" to instantly restore their full morale.

- If you can't use "Execute" or "Fanatism" you can garison them inside a building. Imperial Guards can garison troops inside buildings, and troops can fire from those buildings. Their firepower inside buildings is irrelevant of numbers and morale. They have less firepower than unbroken units, but higher firepower than broken squads, so it's worth it but don't garrison them unless you have to.

(I've heard that a Garrisoned in building Squad is worth 6 Guardsmen firepower, but I can't tell you whether this is true or not. Garrisoned in transport vehicles "Chimeras" Squads however, do less damage than a base Guardsmen squad of 5 members, so don't count on that in fight.)

- Garrisoning Guardsmen especially in the early stages of the game is generally a useful tactic, they may deal less damage to the enemy but they also can't be targeted by the enemy. If the enemy tries to shoot them he will hit the building, and you can't focus or destory a building with 1 or 2 squads and a hero when you're under fire as well, so the enemy will most likely retreat. This also works as a way to advance and expand your territory, build an Infantry Command in the front line and garrison Guardsmen in it when attacked, building a Turret next to it wouldn't hurt either.

- Kasrkin and Ogryns have little morale problems with 400 starting morale.

"One strategy I have used (mostly in earlygame) to some degree of success is after an enemy squad is broken, I charge them into melee, makes it harder to escape and my guardsmen outnumber them making it an easy fight, broken squads are useless in melee. That being said it can be difficult to pull off and I dont recommend it for beginners. It's risky but I like doing it for nothing else than the sheer joy of watching Guardsmen stab Space Marines to death" - LemonLime (DoW Veteran)

Mechanics: Death Morale Penalty / Infantry with no Morale

- Squads also lose morale when one of their members dies. Guardsmen lose 30, Kasrkin and Ogryns lose 25. Space Marines lose 20 except for Scouts who lose 28 and Terminators who lose 10. Orks early infantry loses 20 and late game advanced infantry loses 25. All Eldar units lose 20. Chaos units lose 20 except for some units with 0 death penalty morale and some other units with no morale.

Vehicles have no morale, neither super-units regardless of being infantry-like or vehicle-like.

* Squads like Chaos' Horror Squad or Obliterators have no death morale penalty.

* Squads like Chaos' Khorne Berzerker Squad or Possesed Squad have no morale.

* Super-units who look like infantry, Eldar's Avatar & Chaos' Bloodthirster have also no morale.

You can't get those Chaos units early game however. Horror Squad (the pink daemons with fireballs) can only be summoned from Sacrificial Circle which you can only build after you research the first HQ add-on. The other 3 units can only be created after you've researched the second HQ add-on.

Even though it's still not adviseable to play on morale vs chaos, not unless you can change your strategy as the game progresses, these units are late game units, and are nothing but some exceptions, there are a lot more units who with morale that can be broken with good tactics.

Mechanics: Tiers

Tiers are phases of the game.
The reason tiers exist is because there are various tactics in these areas
and it's faster call them tier 2 or tier 3
than "When you have your first or second add-on built" and so on.

Tier 0 - The moment 0, starting of the game. (subset of tier 1)

Tier 1 - Before the first HQ add-on is built

Tier 1.5 - After the armory is built (subset of tier 1)

Tier 2 - After the first HQ add-on is built

Tier 3 - After the second HQ add-on is built

Tier 4 - When everything is built (subset of tier 3)

Mechanics: Hotkeys

Hotkeys are shortcuts to acces your commands faster.
Hotkeys help you to acces the battle commands faster. Once you get used to them they get more confortable than the alternative of using the mouse ever was. Most of these hotkeys also work with other races. Don't learn them all, just take what you need.

0) COSTUM HOTKEYS USING THE "CTRL" KEY

You can assign number hotkeys using CTRL + (0-9): By pressing CTRL + any number between 0-9 you assign that number (hotkey) to your current selection, and from now on everytime you press that number the things you have selected back then will be selected again (unless all the selected things died or you reassignd that number to other selections) allowing you for quick manouvers.

You can use this function manage your troops very easily. You can select all your army, assign it to CTRL + 1, and next time you press "1" all your troops would be selected. Even more, you can assign multiple numbers to everything, adding a new number assignment won't cancel the previous one (unless you assign the previous one to something else or everything that's assigned dies). You can assign all your army to 1, all your infantry to 2 all your vehicles to 3 including The Baneblade, and the Baneblade to 4. This way you'll be able to manouver your troops with ease, The Baneblade will be selected everytime you press 1, 3 or 4.

You to assign numbers to your HQ, Infantry Commands or other buildings to quickly select them while you're with the camera on the battlefield, I usually use numbers like 8 or 9 for them.

1) SELECTING COMMANDS:

. -> Select a builder
, -> Select a squad


2) BUILDER COMMANDS:

B -> With builder selected, open the build menu.

* B + L -> Build Listening Post
* B + P -> Build Plasma Generator

* B + U -> Build Turret
* B + I -> Build Infantry Command (Barraks)

* B + T -> Build Tactica Control (Armory)
* B + M -> Mechanized Command (Vehicle Building)

* B + H -> Build Field Command
* B + C -> Build Mars Pattern Command

* B + G -> Build Thermo Plasma Generator
* B + F -> Mine Field

E -> Repair (This is useful for Imperial Guards because they can garrison troops in certain buildings, and right-clicking the builder on such building will garison him instead of have him repair it, making this a quite useful hotkey in such scenarios.)


3) SQUADS COMMANDS:


F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 -> Change enemy-engaging.


IMPORTANT: If you don't want your troops to run after the enemy and end up getting killed when you don't see them. You can press F2 o switch them to Stand Ground Stance (the blue one from above) or you can click on the barracks, or any other unit-creator building and press F2, all units created from now on on that building will be automatically set on Stand Ground Stance as soon as they are created. Which means they will fire at enemy but won't rush towards them if they run away.

I don't recommend blue stance with melee troops though. They have to move from their position to engage the enemy in melee, and with Stand Ground Stance they won't, unless you specifically order them to attack, everytime. So if they are on Standing Ground Stance, they kill an enemy unit, now they are on idle, they will stand their ground and fire with what they have range if they have a ranged weapon and won't fight melee unless the enemy charges them melee or you tell the to attack, again. With Hold Ground Stance (the default yellow one) you won't have the problem of them not fighting melee when you're not careful, so it's best to keep them on that one. Basically these stances are: When you get no order, will you automatically follow the enemy or keep your ground ?

So the best "build" is:
Melee troops -> Hold Ground Stance (yellow, the default F1 one)
Ranged troops -> Stand Ground Stance (blue, the F2 one)


F6, F7 -> Change melee/range.



J -> Jump or teleport.



N -> Unload



G -> Attack Ground (for altilery)



Z-> Attack Melee
(I never really used this key, I just know it exists, I usually press F6 instead to go melee)

A -> Attack move, this basically means that if you select a squad, press "A" and then left-click to a location, your squad will go to that location BUT engage any enemy that comes in it's way, rather than firing while running. It's the safest way to get your troops somewhere.

4) BUILDINGS COMMANDS:

Y -> Set rally point
(You can also use right-click to set up a rally point)

U -> Upgrade.
For buildings with a single upgrade such as HQ, Listening Posts, Turrets.

5) OTHERS

SHIFT -> Praise the most useful hotkey in human history. Queue up multiple orders. Imagine the possibilities with builders.
Note: if you don't hold SHIFT your new commands will cancel the existing ones.

DEL -> Delete structure or kills units.
When you destroy buildings you get 50% of the resources used to build them.
When you kill units you free Squad/Vehicle Cap room.


HOME -> Brings cammera to your headquarters, useful if you're under attack.


IN SINGLEPLAYER ONLY: You can press the "Pause Break" button, this pauses the game allowing you to make good screenshots and issue commands with the game stopped.

Mechanics: Infiltration

Infiltration isn't a big deal in the GOTY version or Winter Assault since your units aren't able to shoot or capture points while infiltrated. Units with infiltration ability can have their infilration turned on or off. When infiltration is on, the enemy won't see you but you can't shoot or capture points either. And when infilration is off, the enemy can see you but you can shoot or capture points instead. (Points meaning: strategic points, critical locations and relics)

But in Dark Crusade and Soulstorm, your units are able to shoot or capture points while infiltrated, making infiltration a big factor in the game. You no longer have the "on - off" infiltration swich, now infiltration is permanently active on units with infiltration, and they can fire as they please while still being unable to be seen by the enemy.

If you want to make an enemy infiltrated unit visible to your army, you will need detectors. Detectors have the ability to spot infiltrated units as they reach the detector's line of sight making them visible to all your units, thus making you able to fire at them. You don't need to activate it, it's a passive ability always on. All you need is to get your detector within range of the enemy infiltrated unit.

In GOTY or Winter Assault you don't have much need of detectors for infiltration isn't a big thing, but in Dark Crusade and Soulstrom detectors can save your army's life when you are attacked by a bunch of infiltrated units, for you need to be able to see them to fire back.

Turrets and listening posts are detectors for every race. But these are not the only detecorts that a race can have. For example: Space Marines have Librarian and Skull Probe as detectors; Orks have the Big Mek, Warboss and Mega Armored Nobz. For some races the squad leaders are detectors too. Certain is, all races have both detectors and infiltrators, at least 1 but there can be more.

I can sum up the Imperial Guards' tangents with infiltration in a few pictures and words, since Imperial Guards aren't big on infiltration.

Infiltrators:
The assassin is the only Imperial Guard infiltrated unit.



Detectors:
Can spot infiltrated units for you.



"When you play against a race with lots of infiltrators like Tau or are dealing with a ton of SM snipers having a decent amount of psykers is imperative." - LemonLine (DoW Veteran)

Army-building: Basic Infantry (Guards)

Guardsmen "The backbone of the Imperial Guards" / Cost: 160 Req, 0 Energy / Cap: 2
HP: 160 / Morale: 100 / Armour: Infantry Medium / Squad Size: 5/9 / Limit: None
Reinforce Cost: 20 Req. / Reinforce Time: 7 seconds. / Requirements: None

Guardsmen have lower health, damage and morale than Space Marines. One Guardsmen starts with 160 HP, 100 Morale and 20-24 ranged damage, where as one Space Marines starts with 390 HP, 300 Morale and 28-34 ranged damage. One Guardsmen has 41% of one Space Marine's health, which is less than half, and slightly over 2/3 of his damage, but they make up in numbers.
(And with Commissar's "execute" ability which doubles their fire rate)

Imperial Guards' army is cheaper than the other races'. Guardsmen cost 160 Requistion starting with 5 troops, one reinforcement costs 20 requisition. A squad of 9 Guards costs 240 Requisition. Where as Space Marines cost 190 Requisition starting with 4 troops, one reinforcement costs 50 requisition. A squad of 9 Space Marines costs 440 Requisition. This is why you can afford having more troops than the enemy.

Guardsmen Squad Seargent / 55 Req. 15 Energy / Requirements: Tactica Control is built.
Effects: +35 HP to every squad member, +50 Morale. / Build Time: 15 sec

With Sergeant and a Commander, say commissar, the whole squad costs 375 Requisition and 55 Energy. While the Space Marines with Seargeant and an Apothecary since costs 575 Requisition and 15 Energy. This is purely theoretical, but even the Guardsmen's Special Weapons are cheaper.

This is also why their strenght comes in numbers. "Not because they get more powerful in high numbers than thier counterparts gets in high numbers, but mostly because they can put out more soldiers than other races can hope to." - LemonLime (DoW Veteran)

Grenade Launcher / 20 Req. 10 Energy / Requirements: Tactica Control is built.
Pros: Efficient vs Light Infantry ; Hits multiple targets ; Knocks down on contact ; Long range.
Cons: Can do friendly fire


Plasma Gun / 35 Req. 15 Energy / Requirements: Tactica Control is built.
Pros: Efficient vs Heavy Infantry ; High damage ; Good Range
Cons: Expensive


Plasma Guns are more effective against Heavy Infantry, but they aren't cheap, and Grenade Launches are also good against Heavy Infantry. Plasma Guns are better against Heavy Infantry, but Grenade Launchers are also good (Plasmas are good vs any kind of infantry, but have efficency bonus vs Heavy Infantry), in campaign mode you should always pick Plasma Gun vs Heavy Infantry since you can afford it. But in multiplayer or skirmish games you also have to keep an eye on the economy, and as I mentioned Plasma Guns aren't exactly cheap (You may think there's no big difference between 20 and 35 Req but when you're upgrading 4 weapons you'll feel it, not to mention when you're upgrading more squads), and Guardsmen die like flies and you'll have to constantly spend Requisition reinforcing and adding Special Weapons to keep them in full strenght.







Generally it's best to start with Grenade Launchers because they shatter the enemy infantry and they will have a hard time shooting back. Generally 3 Guardsmen squads all with 3 Grenade Launchers is a pain to deal with since your infantry will always be scattered again and again. But like everything in this game all tactics are situational and depend on many factors, if you want damage add Special Weapons first, if you want endurance add Sergeant first. Both Sergeant and Special Weapons are essential for your squad's strenght, but you can't add them in the same time, you'll have to choose what to add first. What you pick depends on the situation, enemy or eneimes, allies, map, strategy and the player's personal preference. Special weapons add Grenade Launchers or Plasma Guns, increasing the squad's damage potential, Sargeants add a Laspistol, which is a little bit more powerful than standard Guardsmen Lasguns but inferior to Grenades and Plasmas. With the sargeant the squad gets +35 HP to each unit and +50 Morale and with Grenades or Plasmas they get no passive buff. In case of economy, special weapons are cheaper and one special weapon is faster to add than the sergeant. The Sergeant costs 55 Req. 15 Energy where 2 Grenade Launchers are 40 Req. and 20 Energy and 2 Plasma Guns are 60 Req and 30 Energy. In campaign mode, this shouldn't be as much of a problem since you have plenty of time and plenty of resources, but in skirmish or multiplayer it will cost you. The choice is yours.

"Let's see them fight ALL of us!"

Army-building: Basic Infantry (Part 2)

There's a morale problem in the Guardsmen department, you can also fix it with numbers. Guardsmen start with 100 morale, which is the lowest morale in the game, even Gretchins (Ork's builders) have higher morale - 150. You can add a commissar but that would be waste of resources, the commissar can't use his "Execute" ability until the first HQ add-on is researched and the +200 morale bonus only goes to 1 squad. You can however add more troops instead, while this won't increase their morale it increases their firepower.

When you get to have like 4 Guardsmen squads, the enemy will most likely, depending on the race, have 2 scouts and either a commander or a squad. By the time you'll have 9 troops for each squad, he'll have 2 scouts, a commander and a squad. Stay range vs melee units and you won't have morale problems. Versus range units make sure you have all your squads together, if a squad is under attack while another one is capping a point, either run or abandon the capping and send reinforcements, don't fight with them separately unless you know for sure you can win the fight, because it discreases their firepower a lot, you won't have superior firepower unless the enemy plays bad, you won't have inferior firepower either, the outcome of the battle depends on how you use your troops on the field, covers or engagings.

If you have more firepower than the enemy, either the enemy's morale going to break faster and their damage is going to be useless against you for both morale and health, or they won't stand the amount of health damage taken forcing them to either retreat or die on the battlefield, making your low morale irrelevant. Remember that each squad has its own morale, so if you have like 4 or 5 squads united and one's morale is broken, you still have the rest of the squads at full morale, to maintain the firepower, considering that the enemy only fires at one of your squads, the key is to pick your battles whenever you feel like you can win, when you can't retreat and strengthen your army, when you're already in your base all you have left is to fight for your life.

You can fight very well with the 100 morale if you know how to manage it, adding a Commissar instead wouldn't be such a good course of action since he costs 80 req. & 40 energy and only adds morale to one squad, the enemy can aim for another squad anytime. The equivalent of that 80 requisition would be 4 reinforced Guardsmen which is a lot more firepower than the commissar can offer without using "Execute".

You don't always have to fight with 100 morale, once you build Tactica you can research right away "Death before Dishonor" for an addtional +100 morale for every Guardsmen squad. It's cheap and fast to research, you should get it as soon as Tactica Control is built. By the time you build Tactica Control you won't have acces to the first HQ add-on because having Tactica Control built is required to have the first HQ add-on available, so you'll get the opportunity to research these researches faster than you'll get the opportunity to use Execute. When you get to tier 2, you can further increase their morale by researching "Will of the Emperor" adding +150 to every Guardsmen squad making it 350 base morale if you already researched "Death before Dishonor" before. However, some players prefer playing without "Death before Dishonor" or "Will of the Emperor".

But when you research the first HQ add-on, the Commissar's "Execute" becomes the best solution to the Guardsmen morale problem, restoring their full morale in an instant, granting them morale immunity and doubling their firepower for 10 seconds. Having a cooldown of also 10 seconds means you can even spam it.

So the way to deal with morale is:
Numbers -> Death before dishonor -> Commissar


An Imperial Guardsman, a Space Marine, and an Inquisitor walk into a bar.

The Guardsman says "ow."

The Marine breaks right through the bar with his reinforced skull.

The Inquisitor accuses the bar of heresy. When the bar refuses to confess or even move despite sustained torture, the Inquisitor executes the Guardsman for failing to defeat the bar in combat.

What does the gay Guardsmen say to his Commissar ?

- Long have I wished to serve under you sir!

Army-building: Heavy Weapons Team

Available in Dark Crusade and Soulstorm only.

Heavy Weapons Team / Cost: 225 Requisition 50 Energy / Build Time: 40 sec
HP: 650 / Morale: 500 / Armour: Infantry Medium / Squad Size: 1 / Limit: None
Reinforce Cost/Time: No Reinforcements / Requirements: None

They are powerful defense units with more firepower than normal Guardsmen. They're perfect for turtling but also useful on the offensive, very useful in taking out heavily armored targets. Often used to hold the line and to secure their ground when succesfully advanced by experienced players.

They are expensive and take a considerable amount of time to build, almost same amount of time as Leman Russ To compound this, they are utterly unspectacular when undeployed, with poor firepower and only medium infantry armour, so be careful not to carelessly lose them before setting them up properly.

When deployed, they only take 50% damage from ranged damage received and 60% damage from melee damage received. Their armor class of the changes from Medium Infantry to Infantry Heavy High when deployed. That armor class further reduces damage taken. These two features extend longevity tremendously. A deployed Heavy Weapons Team is a difficult thing to remove.

Once deployed, the reasons for a Heavy Weapons Team's high cost become quickly apparent. The default Heavy Bolter loadout inflicts massive damage on all but the most heavily armoured troops and has very long range.

The Autocannon does more damage against heavy infantry armour and vehicles and has even more range, but is marginally less effective against lightly armoured infantry, so its a good all round weapon. It even does very good damage versus Daemon High armour, which is something of a rarity.

The Lascannon is only useful against vehicles and nothing else. However, the Lascannon deals far superior anti-vehicle damage to the Autocannon in every way, and has a longer range.

Heavy Weapon Teams can deploy and undeploy quite quickly, in 3 seconds, which is useful if you place them in a precarious position and the enemy figures out what's going on - jump troops and artillery can make short work of them, so leaving them static for long periods of time and unguarded against such enemies is asking for trouble. Used in conjunction with other forms of base defense, Heavy Weapons Teams can be incredibly difficult to overcome.

Army-building: Commanders

There are 3 kinds of commanders, use them attached with your infantry troops.

* You should always pick either Commissar or Priest for Guardsmen. The Psyker should only be used as the last option, he can use the abilities regardless of whether he's attached to a squad or not, and doesn't give any pasive bonuses to the attached squad such as Commissar or Priest. The only real benefit of attaching a Psyker to a squad would be giving protection to the Psyker, which at times can be useful, especially when you need lots of Psykers and you need them to survive, but if you have to pick, pick the Commissar or Priest for Guardsmen.

* You should always pick Priest for Kasrkin Squad. They can take high advantage of the Priest bonuses. The Psyker should also only be used as the last option, the only real benefit would be giving protection to the Psyker, sure the "Lightning Arc" ability can be useful for Karskins, but you can always use that while having the Psyker attached to another squad and a Priest to Karskins. Let the Commissars to the Guardsmen for using "Execute" on elite and expensive units isn't really ideal.

* You should always pick Priest for Ogryns. The Psyker should also only be used as last option, for the protection of Psyker, although his melee attack is not that great, sometimes he may be better alone at a distance from where he can safely use his abilities than in the front lines with Ogryns. Don't use Commissars on them, they have no morale problems, and “Execute” on them hurts you more than the opponent.

1) Commissar (200 Morale + "Execute" Ability)
* Gives the squad +200 morale
* Has "Execute"

* "Execute" abilitiy that kills one Guardsmen, instanly restores full morale, grants morale damage immunity and double rate of fire for all your nearby infantry (Not only his squad) for 10 seconds. Double fire rate = Double damage.
* Cooldown 10 seconds (yes, you red that correctly, you can spam it).

The commissar shots Guardsmen without a special weapon and doesn't kill the sergeant. Unless there's no guardsmen without special weapons, in that case he'll shot one with a special weapon because he has no other choice.

2) Psyker (Damage to enemy abilities)
* Gives the squad 0 passive buffs
* Has 3 abilities: "Strip Soul", "Lightning Arc" and "Curse of the Machine Spirit"

* "Strip Soul" - 510 Damage to a single infantry unit.
* Does 150 morale self-damage.
* Cooldown 3 Minutes

* "Lightning Arc" - 400 Damage to a whole infantry squad.
* Does 150 morale self-damage.
* Cooldwon 3 Minutes

* "Curse of the Machine Spirit" - Stuns a vehicle for 15 seconds
* Cooldown 45 Seconds
* Does not disable special abilities of the targeted vehicle.

"Their psychic powers can turn the tide of a battle very easily, not to mention lightning arc's damage scales up the more infantry in a squad and against most enemies will instantly break morale. And also curse of the machine spirits is one of the most useful abilities the guard have, allowing you to make a quick escape or give your forces the advantage in combat, it can stun super-units including the monolith (necron structure), this is a huge advantage" - LemonLime (DoW Veteran)

WARNING: The Psyker's "Strip Soul" and "Lightning Arc" abilities do 150 morale self-damage to the Psyker or the squad he is attached to. In case you have him attached to a squad, it is best to detach him, use the ability and then attach him again. This is not the case for "Curse of the Machine Spirit".

3) Priest (50 Morale + 33% Speed + 125 Health + 50% Damage + "Fanaticism" Ability)
* Gives the squad +50 Morale & +33% Movement Speed
* Gives each soldier +125 HP & Increases their minimum and maximum damage by 50%
* Has "Fanaticism"
* "Fanaticism" ability that instantly restores full morale, makes them immune to morale damage and invincible (immune to health damage) for 10 seconds. (Priest's squad only)
* Cooldown 2 minutes

Army-building: Command Squad

Command Squad / Requirements: Infantry Command / Cost: 100 Req, 25 Energy
HP: 435 / Morale: 450 / Armour: Commander / Squad Size: 1/3/5 / Limit: 1
Reinforce Cost: 80 Req & 40 Energy Commissar & Psyker; 90 Req & 40 Energy Priest
Reinforce Time: 20 sec General; 25 sec Commissar & Psyker; 35 sec. Priest

* 1/3/5 means that initially you start with 1 unit General Sturnn, but you can reinforce 2 more commanders to your squad. And after you research "Uncommon Valor" you can add an additional 2 more commanders to your squad until you have 5 units. If you lose General Sturnn he's simply treated as another unit and you can reinforce him again.

Assigning commanders gives you all the bonuses they would give to an individual squad if they were attached to except for Commissar's "Execute".

General -> Strafing Run (Bombardament)
Commissar -> +200 Morale
Psyker -> "Strip Soul", "Lightning Arc", "Curse of the Machine Spirit".
Priest -> +50 Morale & +33% Speed, +125 HP & +50% Damage to each member, "Fanaticism"

Compared to other race's commanders, Imperial Guard's Commander Squad isn't impressive. But you have the most versatile commander of them all. As the “Squad” comes out of Infantry Command it’s just General Sturnn. On it’s own it’s not bad, not very impressive either, but can be reinforced. This is where the Commander Squad's true power lies. They fight as a squad and can be reinforced like one. Every new member brings their own abilities to the table.

The choice of your squad members is pretty important for the effectiveness of your squad. What’s better for you? Pure melee force or jack of all trades. For pure melee add Priests in all four slots. They have the best melee stats and add the passive bonuses. This is pretty effective for hero-busting. For the jack of all trades add a Commissar, Psyker and 2 Priests. The squad has all abilities. You can choose the right ability at the right time, it's very adaptable.

Some people don't go for Commissar since they feel that +200 morale bonus won't do much, however, next to the General, he has more health than any other squad member, has the highest building damage, and is the only one to provide a worthwhile amount of ranged damage, that +200 Morale bonus isn't bad either when you're under heavy enemy fire. Although, not picking Commissar it's still a viable choice.

Army-building: Basic Vehicles (Part 1)

Imperial Guards Have 4 Basic Vehicles:

- Sentinel: "The Anti-vehicles"
** Very fragile, but truly powerful against medium vehicles.
- Hell-hound "The Anti-infantry"
** A little more tanky than the sentinel, lays waste to infantry.
- Chimera "The Transport"
** Not useless, good for transport and also has a good firepower.
- Basilisk "The Artilery"
** On small maps can wipe out enemy buildings from your base.

Sentinel "The anti-vehicles vehicle"
HP: 1450 / Armour: Vehicle Low / Move Speed: 32 / Limit: None
Cost: 150 Req. & 150 Energy / Building Time: 20 sec / Vehicle Cap Slots: 2

Sentinels are the only decapping unit in the game. With their high resistance to anti-infantry weaponry, low cost, and speed, they are very effective at stopping take and hold countdowns.

Sentinels, like most Imperial Guard vehicles, work best in teams. They are very fragile, cannot stand up in a straight fight against other races' walker units (Dreadnoughts, Wraithlords, etc), so you will need to dance them by running away a bit, stopping, and shooting. If you have multiple Sentinels, this is more easily accomplished. The target vehicle can also be temporarily immobilized by Curse of the Machine Spirit from a Psyker.

Sentinels, despite their truly huge vehicle damage, do moderate damage against vehicles of High Armor type. Killa Kan, Baneblade, Land Raider, etc. Dreadnoughts don't use Heavy Armor but Vehicle Medium. Although Psyker's "Curse of the Machine Spirit" can help them buy some time, they will be occupied for some time bringing down the target. Heavy Weapons Teams are much better against High Armor type when upgraded with Lascannon.

Because of their high speed & high damage against buildings, Sentinel packs are excellent economy thrashers. They can show up at a Listening Post, destroy it, decap the point, and run away before reinforcements arrive.

Hellhound "The anti-infantry vehicle"
HP: 2200 / Armour: Vehicle Medium / Move Speed: 24 / Limit: None
Cost: 150 Req. & 150 Energy / Building Time: 20 sec / Vehicle Cap Slots: 2

The Hellhound is a unique unit in the Dawn of War series. It functions as a short ranged artillery unit. Its only gun is the Inferno Cannon situated on top of the vehicle. This weapon is great at destroying enemy morale and enemy troops alike.

The Hellhound has a special ability called "Let it burn" which targets a specific area and sets it on fire. This flame stays on the area for a long period of time and inflicts damage to anything that passes through it including friendly units.

Like most other Imperial Guard vehicles, Hellhounds are most effective in groups. Individually they can kill an infantry squads but the burning process is relatively low, but when working in pairs or trios Hellhounds can burn down infantry squads very quickly. Working in groups allows them to back each other up torching units that get inside the minimum range of the other Hellhounds in the pack.

The short range of Let it Burn makes it ideal for dealing with units that get too close for the Inferno Cannon. It's long duration also makes it effective for covering your retreat or holding off melee troops. Just be careful about its friendly fire: you can destroy your own Hellhound with this ability if you drop it too close.

Army-building: Basic Vehicles (Part 2)

Chimera "The transport vehicle"
HP: 1500 / Armour: Vehicle Medium / Move Speed: 32 / Limit: None
Cost: 100 Req. & 70 Energy / Vehicle Cap Slots: 1

Chimeras are cheap, low cap, transport units, with guns, that can prove effective against all kinds of infantry and even vehicles when massed. Its long range allows it to fire from behind the Guardsmen & provide them refuge if their morale breaks or the enemy has anti-infantry firepower. Can also be put up front to tank dmg for Guardsmen.

Chimera has 2 guns: A Multilaser that is automatic and fires regardless whether there are any units in the vehicle & 6 Hull Lasgun, 3 mounted on each side, that can only be used by the mounted infantry. The multilaser does good damage versus all armor types, extremely massed Chimeras can act as counters to nearly any troop, vehicle, or building. But the hull-mounted lasguns have only 50% accuracy and do low damage, less than a base squad of Guardsmen. They also have accuracy penalties on move and can't fire directly forward. Because of these limitations, it's best to utilize them simply as transports or fire support rather than mobile firebases on their own.

A highly effective tactic with Chimeras is to use one to carry Ogryns into the back of a base and assault enemy buildings. Chimera will speed up the actual infiltration of the base, in addition to providing cover from fire on the way in. This can provide the opportunity to destroy Generators or even Headquarters buildings.

Another effective tactic is to use the Chimera to 'run over' enemy squads that are required to set up such as Heavy Bolter equipped Space Marines. This will force them to move requiring them to set up again, will also mess up their path if they try to run away giving your troops more time to fire at them.

Basilisk "The artilery vehicle" / "Basi" for friends
HP: 1150 / Armour: Vehicle Medium / Move Speed: 15 / Limit: None
Cost: 100 Req. & 250 Energy / Building Time: 30 sec / Vehicle Cap Slots: 3

The Basilisk has the longest range of any unit in Dawn of War. On small maps it can fire on targets anywhere on the map if positioned carefully. But be sure to keep it safe. It is most effective when dealing with a ranged infantry army.

The Basilisk has a massively powerful round at a ground target. Requires 10 seconds to set up and fire. However each shot costs 200 req. & 200 Energy. In late game when resources are more plentiful, it is often possible to use "Earthshaker Round" to destroy enemy buildings from safety.

Against other Imperial Guards the Basilisk can rip apart enemy lines with brutal efficiency. It is also very useful against Necron Warriors. The Basilisk does little damage to vehicles because it has such a hard time hitting them. Basilisks can also be brutal when you have large numbers of enemy troops passing through a valley. Just one Basilisk could decimate your opponents army before it could get out of the valley and find out what was shooting at it.

The Basilisk's shells will damage friendly troops just as well as enemies. Always exercise caution when using Ogryns or charging the Command Squad into melee if you have Basilisks anywhere nearby. Similarly, it may do great damage to your own troops if they are engaged by a strong melee army and your Basilisks happen to be nearby. Basilisks are best being far from the fight and in a position where melee units attacking your troops aren't the main target for them to shoot at.

Combining Basilisks with the Long Range Scanner provides an excellent way to rain fire upon your enemies from well outside their range. When combined with the "Earthshaker Round" the Basilisk can instantly destroy entire squads before the enemy even knows he's been targeted. Basilisks can also act as spotters for nearby Heavy Weapons Teams with their sight range of 60.

Army-building: Advanced Infantry (Part 1)

These are tier 3 units that you can research in the barracks only after you've researched the second HQ add-on.

Kasrkin "The elite of the Imperial Guards" / Cost: 200 Req. 100 Energy / Squad Cap: 3
HP: 385 / Morale: 400 / Armour: Infantry Heavy Medium / Squad Size: 5/9 / Limit: None
Reinforce Cost: 50 Req. 10 Energy / Reinforce Time: 10 seconds. / Requirements: T3.

* In Dark Crusade and Soulstorm expansions Kasrkins have a limit of 1.

Kasrkin are more durable, faster, longer ranged (about 3/4 of the screen, quite a long range), have much better basic firepower, and don’t start with a low morale. Combined with "Execute" from a nearby Guardsmen Squad, a Priest for themselves, and good use of their "Frag Grenades", Kasrkin can take on most other Tier 3 infantry and win. But without all these factors in play, Kasrkin will usually lose their engagements.

DO NOT equip Kasrkins with Grenade Launchers. They already have huge range and the Launchers' damage is lower than the standard Hellguns' damage. That's right, lower damage.

Plasma Guns have shorter range than hellguns, but have other advantages instead. They are very effective against Heavy Infantry, very useful against Space Marines & Chaos. Kasrkins with Plasma Guns' base damage increases a little from 65 - 75 to 81 - 99 (it's actually damage per second, although it varies depending on the enemy unit, but this is the average), but their range discreases from 40 to 30. It's up to you to decide whether it's worth or not versus light infantry, consider the cost too. Plasma Guns offer little advantage over the basic Hellguns except when fighting with Heavy Infantry. Effective actually means bonus damage in Dawn of War.

vs. Space Marines or Chaos -> Buy Plasma Guns
vs. Ork, Eldar or Imperial Guards -> Buy something else; unless you already completed your army.

"Frag Grenades" - Blasts apart any enemy units caught in the explosion radius and scatters enemy infantry across the battlefield. Kasrkin Frag Grenades are far better than the Frag Grenades of Space Marine Squads. Range: 35 / AoE: 6.5 / CD: 60 sec / No friendly fire.

Kasrkin Seargent / 75 Req. 15 Energy / Requirements: Tactica Control is built.
Effects: +100 HP to every squad member, +150 Morale. / Build Time: 15 sec

Low in terms of damage output per second compared to other ranged specialists such as Terminators or Flash Gitz, but with a nearby Commissar's Execute ability they can evens the odds, more than doubling their average damage per second. This means that even just out of the Infantry Command a Kasrkin squad can put out tremendous ranged firepower, amplified even more by a Priest in their squad.

Kasrkin simply equipped with Hellguns, a Priest, and the damage bonus from the Commissar "Execute" ability will outdamage Space Marine Terminators from over 50% further range. It is more beneficial to keep a Guardsmen squad with Commissar around to Execute them rather than execute the expensive Kasrkin themselves; the damage aura extends to the Kasrkins as well.

Kasrkin are quite resistent for cost when fully upgraded. Due to the need to keep Kasrkins alive, it is recommended to add Kasrkin Sergeant first to receive the +100 HP buff to all squad members, then reinforce, and only then add special weapons. With a Sergeant, Priest and the Kasrkin Armor Upgrade researched, Kasrkins have over 760 HP each. The Kasrkin Armor Upgrade is particularly important as it means the difference between a cumulative squad HP of 6100 and 8300.

*FUN FACT: Kasrkins are also known as "Stormtroopers" but they can hit anything.

*FUN FACT 2: Star Wars Stormtroopers are also able to hit anything too, Obi-Wan praised their precision, they just allowed Princess Leia to escape to find the rebel base because explained in the expanded universe and stuff. When Evok, there was a hole planet vs them.

Army-building: Advanced Infantry (Part 2)

Ogryns "The beasts of the Imperial Guards" / Cost: 180 Req. 60 Energy / Squad Cap: 3
HP: 690 / Morale: 400 / Armour: Infantry Heavy High / Squad Size: 3/6 / Limit: None
Reinforce Cost: 55 Req. 15 Energy / Reinforce Time: 11 seconds. / Requirements: T3.

* In Dark Crusade and Soulstorm expansions Ogryns have a limit of 1.

Ogryns and Commander Squad are the only Imperial Guards melee "dedicated" units, if until tier 3 you had to use the Commander Squad alone to keep enemies at bay, now you have Ogryns too who are powerful melee units being able to destroy a Dreadnought by themselves, although they are best used with the Priest's "Fanaticism".

Ogryns powerful melee units, and should be used in the front lines not range. Dispite their good actual damage 65-85, they have only 50% accuracy, where as melee they have a little bit more damage 75-95 and 100% accuracy. This difference from 50% accuracy to 100% accuracy guarantee that they'll make double the damage while in melee. They are good troops to have in range, not bad, but waste of their potential, they could do so much more in melee. Although if you're in a situation where melee is particularly risky, using them as range can can actually prove rather effective.

Priests are by far the best commanders for Ogryns squads. Priests give them health, damage bonus, morale, and speed is everything that they need. As melee units they beneficiate more than any other Imperial Guards squads from these buffs, it's what brings them from powerful to deadly. Tanks with more health, more morale for "frontline resistance" (meaning they will get broken harder), more damage because they already have a high damage, and more speed for mobility is what makes them from powerful to deadly. Attaching a Priest also allows you to use "Fanaticism" on them. Ogryns receive no bonus from the Commissar's Execute ability, but still have their morale restored.

Their durability and incredible strength allow them to operate independently of your main army. By charging into an enemy base and activating a Priest's Fanaticism ability, the Ogryn squad can destroy an impressive amount before the ability wears off. They are able to win a solo fight with a Dreadnought, although using Fanaticism to keep their squad's morale intact would be good.

Ogryns Bone'ead / 100 Req. 20 Energy / Requirements: Tactica Control is built
Effects: +150 HP to every Ogryn, +250 morale / Cost: / Build Time: 20 seconds

Be careful when using Ogryns with Basilisks. The friendly fire from the Basilisks can hurt your Ogryns just as well as the enemy troops.

Using a Chimera transport for your Ogryns can allow for sneak attacks behind enemy lines in an expedient manner as well as providing cover from ranged fire.

Army-building: Advanced Infantry (Part 3)

Wait, is there a part 3 ? Yes, there are assassins, Vindicare Assassin, often neglected, but very useful if you want to take out key enemy troops with one or two shots.

Vindicare Asssassin "The assassins of the Imperial Guards" / Cost: 200 Req. 100 Energy
HP: 350 / Morale: 450 / Armour: Commander / Squad Size: 1/1 / Limit: 1 / Squad Cap: 1
Reinforce Cost/Time: No Reinforcements / Requirements: T3 (Vindicare temple from HQ)

"Vindicare Temple" / add-on / Research Location: HQ / Requirements: Tier 3 reached.
Effect: Allows production of Vindicare Assasin / Cost: 50 Req. 25 Energy / Time: 15 sec.

* Vindicare Assassin is limited to 1 in Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm alike.



The Vindicare Assassin has "Infiltration" ability. When he is selected, at the bottom right corner of his "menu", you'll see the infiltration button, you can activate and deactivate infiltration. If you have infiltration activated, the enemy won't be able to see him except with infiltration detectors (turrets, listening posts and few specific units) but he has to be within their range to be detected, as long as you keep a safe distance from them you should be fine. Also, while being infiltrated you won't be able to fire. However you can use infiltration, have your him aim for a high value target (this will start the 2 seconds set-up cooldown mentioned below), and as soon as you hit the infiltration button back to deactivate he'll shot and probably kill the target. Note that if the enemy has you in sight, doesn't matter from where, and you're not infiltrated yet, you're unable to use infiltration until you get out of sight.

The Vindicare Assassin's range weapon has 80% accuracy, kills most secondary commander units in 1 shot, and most primary commanders in 2 shots. He takes 2 seconds to set in position and fire, after that 7 seconds to reload and fire. If you move your position, those 7 seconds still have to pass for him to reload, but after that, the timer is reseted back to 2 seconds. His initial cost may seem high, but after one or two good shots you have inflicted the same cost to an enemy, and you still have the assassin alive and well which is more than the enemy can say for his troops. He also deals high damage to Demon super-units such as Chaos' Bloodthirster and Eldar's Avatar of Khaine. You can also use him as spotter for Basilisks and/or Heavy Weapons Teams.

The Vindicare Assassin's ranged weapon has BOTH a minimum and a maximum range. His maximum range is 45, which is higher than the Kasrkins' Hellguns 40 range, and with "Assassination Scope" the maximum range can be doubled to 90, which is over the screen. But beware that he also has a minimum range of 10. If he doesn't fire at a close target, go away, he wasn't meant for melee.

FUN FACT: He uses a pistol as a melee weapon, and that pistol has a lot of damage.

"Assassination Scope" / Activation time: 15 sec. / Cooldown time: 40 sec.
Effect: doubles the range, sight and damage of the assassin's sniper rifle.
(Sniper rifle only, the melee receives no double damage)
(sorry pistol, you get nothing, John Snow)

With "Assassination Scope" you'll be able to assassinate from a longer, safer distance with higher damage (for 15 seconds). The Vindicare Assassin is fragile and will not last long if he becomes exposed. His melee weapon may deal a lot of damage, but he won't be able to win against anything but almost destroyed units because of his low health (350, lower than 1 Space Marine unit).

It's better to have the Vindicare Assassin use his pistol in melee against buildings because of it's rate of fire, but beware when you do so against Listening Posts or turrets, as attempts to damage them through his pistol will expose his infiltration and he may end up being shot at by them. Turrets & Listening posts start with the closest target within range and won't stop until the target dies or gets out of range, or they are ordered to attack something else if you fight an enemy player.

Some units can be particually dangerous for The Vindicare Assassin such as Eldar's Farseer and Imperial Guard's Psyker. "Mind War" and "Strip Soul" will damage him considerably, and with his relatively low health a massed firepower will quickly kill him.

* In Dark Crusade and Soulstorm infiltration works a different way, you ARE ABLE to shot while infiltrated, however, you need to research a Tactica Control add-on to have infiltration for the assassin. This is not the case in Winter Assault, where you already have infiltration for the assassin.

"In Dark Crusade and Soulstorm he can wreck in melee against non-infiltration units, as a matter of fact while he is infiltrated his melee is an instakill against most infantry, not commanders of course though" - LemonLime (DoW Veteran)


1 Vindicare Assassin was sent vs Thousand Sons chaos company, now they're called Dozen Sons.
(That wasn't an actual lore fact; but a lone Vindicator Assassin hiding in a ruined tower halted a massed Eldar assault in the Lammas Campaign, so they got that going for them, which is nice.)

The motto of their temple is: Exitus Acta Probat: The Outcome Justifies the Deed.

Army-building: Air Vehicle (Bomber)

Available in Soulstorm only.

Marauder Bomber / Requires: Tier 3 (Regimental Command), no "Full Scale War" required
HP: 3500 / Armour: Vehicle Air / Move Speed: 41 / Limit: 2
Cost: 125 Req. & 250 Energy / Building Time: 38 sec / Vehicle Cap Slots: 4

Marauder Bomber has low damage but compensates in abilities. The Marauder Bomber has 4 weapons, 2x Twin Heavy Bolter and 2x Lascannon, but the output damage doesn't really stand out. Instead, the abilities are a significant contribution to the battlefield.

"Bombing Run: Incendiary Bombs" / Cooldown: 60 seconds
-> Good damage against everything, bombs continue burning for 8 seconds after detonation dealing 83% of the initial damage and 30 morale damage per second.

* Incendiary Bombs deal huge damage over the 8 seconds of the continuous buring, forcing your opponent to either take the damage or move his troops.

"Bombing Run: Krak Bombs" / Cooldown: 60 seconds
-> Good damage against vehicles and buildings, best used against groups of small structures like generators.

* Two bombing runs in fast succession can destroy enemy generators before your opponent is even able react. The mobility and speed of Marauder Bombers make defending against these fast raids extremely difficult.

"Bombing Run: Smoke Canisters" / Cooldown: 60 seconds
-> Buff, reduces the ranged damage (ranged only, doesn't apply for melee) and morale damage taken by all units (including enemy units) within the cloud by 50% for 20 seconds.

* If none of the above options is viable during a fight, Smoke Canisters can give your troops an advantage in close battles, but avoid using them around enemy melee troops, who will also receive the benefits of the ability, causing you more problems than help.

It's generally better to just use Marauder Bombers for Bombing Runs and then retreat and wait for the cooldown timer to reset. Dispite having good weapons on the paper, their practical use is dissapointing due to the vehicle's design (I'm not sure what the Imperial Navy engineers where thinking of). 1 Twin Heavy Bolter is at the tail of the vehicle, making it impossible to use in actual fight since everytime the Bomber attacks its facing the enemy, the only "exception" is when the vehicle its on the run with enemies beind but even so the 2 frontal lasguns won't become active, and the Twin Heavy Bolters (both) have a horrible accuacy while moving, 5%. The second Twin Heavy Bolter, on the top, does its job but has a slow turning rate making him horrible at tracking enemies. And the 2 Lascannons only attack air units.

Army-building: Advanced Vehicles (L.Ru)

Besides the super-unit, "Leman Russ" is the only Imperial Guards T3 vehicle. To be able to build "Leman Russ" and "Mars Pattern Command" (the building required for your super-unit, "The Baneblade"), you need to research "Full Scale War" from the vehicle building which is available only after you reach T3. It costs 450 Req. & 450 Energy, takes 1 minute and 40 seconds, but it's litteraly a must if you want to be able to use "Leman Russ" and "The Baneblade".

Leman Russ
HP: 5200 / Armour: Vehicle Medium / Move Speed: 24 / Limit: 2
Cost: 150 Req. & 300 Energy / Building Time: 20 sec / Vehicle Cap Slots: 5

Leman Russes are well armored and well armed. Has 4 weapons: 1x Battle Cannon, 1x Heavy Bolter on the front hull, 2x Heavy Bolters on the sides (1 on each side). Most infantry weapons hardly scratch it, with the exception on rockets and other anti-vehicle weapons. The Battle Cannon, unlike the Ork version, is 70% accurate, and knocks out vehicles and buildings alike. Heavy Bolters deal with infantry, but the Leman shouldn’t be on infantry killing assignments.

Use Leman Russes behind your infantry to support them with firepower. This is better than sending them alone or sending them in the front lines because dispite their good health, they are not invincible, a massed firepower can take them down making you lose a powerful unit, when you could have had infantry as a meat shield and lose units less dependable than Leman Russ. Moreover, infantry can be reinforced, which is like some sort of regeneration. It's better to lose some infantry than your tier 3 vehicles.

Infantry and vehicles need each other, ranged vehicles need infantry in front for protection from enemy fire, and infantry needs vehicles to back them up for additional firepower. Of course you should protect your stronger units, unless you have some sort of melee such as Eldar's Avatar, Chaos' Bloodthirster, Ogryns or melee Command Squad. For example, in battles where you would normally lose, such as fighting upgraded or already specialized for Anti-Vehicles units that could wreck your Leman Russes, Infantry would serve as protection for Leman Russes and turn the tides of the battle since most (not all) specialised Anti-Vehicles units are horrible against infantry. Although, at this stage you shouldn't use infantry as a mere meat shield, but as a powerful force too! Leman Russ has no friendly fire.

When working in pairs the Leman Russes can whittle down the enemy army before they can engage your own troops. Additionally, you can keep a Techpriest Enginseer nearby to maintain the Leman Russes, and you can expect to see these powerhouses still firing long after most tanks would have been destroyed.

Army-building: Super-Unit (Baneblade)

Baneblade / super-unit aka. relic unit
HP: 10000 / Armour: Vehicle High / Move Speed: 24 / Limit: 1
Cost: 400 Req. & 400 Energy / Building Time: 90 sec / Vehicle Cap Slots: 53

Baneblade has the most armor out of any vehicles of Dawn of War, and the most weapons of out of any vehicles of Dawn of War. Surpassing even the Necron Restored Monolith (the necrons from campaign or DC/SS) in damage.

The Baneblade has 5 types of weapons, all with different stats: 1 "Super Battle Cannon" on the top (the huge cannon) which has high damage, able wipe squads in one shot, knockback, range of 60 (minium 10) and 100% accuracy. But on the dark side, it has slow rate of fire (5 seconds), can do friendly fire and it's less effective against vehicles and other single high health targets, but it's still effective, besides the Baneblade lascannons compensate for that wrecking vehicles. 1 "Demolisher Cannon" that little cannon in the frontal side, has almost double the Super Battle Cannon's rate of fire (3 seconds), and even more knockback, is can also wipe out entire squads in one shot, 50 range (minimum 10) and 100% acuracy, but can also do firendly fire. If you want to use of the Demolisher Cannon too, make sure you fire facing your enemy up front. 1 "Autocannon" next to the "Super Battle Cannon". 3 Twin Heavy Bolters (which makes it like 6 heavy bolters) one on the left side, one on the top, and one on the right side. 2 "Lascannons" on the left and on the right side of the Baneblade. Add it's huge armor to that and overall Baneblade is the strongest unit in the game, no contest.

So long story short:
1x "Super Battle Cannon" -> The huge turret: high damage & able to wipe out squads in 1 shot, slow rate of fire, friendly fire, knockback, range 60, 100% accuracy.
1x "Demolisher Cannon" -> That little cannon in front side: high damge & able to wipe out squads in one shot, good rate of fire, friendly fire, knockback, range 50, 100% accuracy.
1x "Autocannon" -> Look at "Heavy Weapons Team" for Autocannon. (Good all-rounded weapon)
3x "Twin Heavy Bolters" -> Heavy Bolters are Space Marines upgrades. (Highly effective vs infantry)
2x "Lascannons" -> Look at "Heavy Weapons Team" for Lascannon. (Highly effective vs vehicles)

Dispite it's huge health, it shouldn't be used in the front lines but backwards as support for infantry. The Baneblade has a lot of health and armor, but is and will always be a high priotiry target due to it's huge damage potential. Unlike melee super-units, he wasn't made for the front lines, in fact he has a minimum 10 range that if the enemy reaches he won't be able to attack and you'll have to rely on your other troops to take them out. It's more effective to use him backwards as fire support

The Baneblade has two main disadvantages: 1) it's size and 2) the fact that its two strongest weapons do friendly fire. If you have an extremely crowded base, you may actually have to scuttle a building or two to even get this behemoth out of your base. Also, it can be extremely unwieldy on the more constricted maps, especially when accompanied by a large army. In this situation, it can also be very easily trapped and isolated by melee units. The second main disadvantage is that its two strongest weapons do friendly fire, which make it rather unsuitable at supporting your infantry if the enemy has closed into melee with them.

Be wary of abilities such as "Curse of the Machine Spirit" or "Sabotage", as the Baneblade is the ultimate unit to use these skills on and can turn your huge investment into a waste of time and an obstruction for long periods if your enemy keeps using them.

"Predators are better than any other tier 3 tank or tier 2, but Baneblade with russes can outscale probably every unit in the game" - JV (DoW Veteran)

Army-building: Buildings & Builder

Techpriest Engineseer / Cost: 75 Req, 0 Energy / Cap: 0
HP: 310 / Morale: 300 / Armour: Commander / Squad Size: 1/1 / Limit: 3
Reinforce Cost/Time: No reinfrocements / Requirements: None

Keep your builder on (F2) Stand Ground Stance. Having a both ranged and a melee weapon, your builder may engage and follow the enemy when you expect less. To prevent having him killed this way, keep him on F2 which means he won't move 'til you order him to.

Don't look at the stats, he's still a builder. His stats may be better than 1 Guardsmen, 1 Guardsmen alone, but he is weaker than 1 Space Marine, and in battle you won't face only 1 Guardsmen or only 1 Space Marine, you'll face many, the stats are irrelevant because he doesn't make up in numbers with fight-dedicated units, he's not as effective as them. Don't even think about sending him to fight enemies, you'll waste a good builder. He is made for building and building he should do. When you're under attack make sure you garison him in a building to prevent him for being killed and help with some fire support. You can also use him to repair your vehicles.

HQ -> From there you can create Builders, Guardsmen (which you can also create from the troop building, same queueing up time, same cost) all 3 commanders: Commissar, Psyker and Priest + Vindicare Assassin, but you have to research their temples first (this is the only place from where you can get them). In Dark Crusade and Soulstorm only you also have "Long Range Scanner" ability, which allows you to see anywhere on the map for a limited period, it also detects infiltrated units.

From the Troop Building you can create Guardsmen, Command Squad, Heavy Weapons Team, and after you reach tier 3 Kasrkins and Ogryns. Listening Posts and Plasma Generators need no explaination, Tactica Control can be built only after you build the troop building (In Dark Crusade & Soulstorm you can build it right away), is the "armory" building where you can research add-on for your army.

The Vehicle Building can be built only after you reach tier 2. From there you can create Chimera, Hellhounds, Sentines, and after you reach Tier 3 and research "Full Scale War" (from the vehicle building too) Leman Russes.

The next building is Mars Pattern Command, you need tier 3 and "Full Scale War" to be able to build it and it has only 1 unit in it: The Baneblade.

The next buildings are Thermo Plasma Generators, Turrets, and mines.

Army-building: Tactica Control Add-ons

From Tactica Control, aka the "armory" building you can research/buy add-on for your army.

The first row of add-ons will be available as soon as you have Tactica Control built

The second row will be available when you reach tier 2. But to unlock the one in the right (called "Weapon Specialization") you need to research the one in the left (called "Satellite Targeting Resolution") first.

The third row will be available when you reach tier 3 and reserach "Kasrkin Quarters" or "Ogryins Quarters" from barracks because those upgrades are for those units and those units alone. The one that in the picture is unlocked (called "Powered Bayonets") is an Ogryin research. The other 2 are for Kasrkins and will get unlocked as soon as you research "Kasrkin Quarters".

* In this picture I have tier 3 without "Satellite Targeting Resolution" or "Kasrkin Quarters" researched to give you an example.

* In Dark Crusade and Soulstorm you'll also have a reserach for Vindicare Assassin's infiltration.

* You have 5 researches for Guardsmen, 1 for Command Squad, 3 for Kasrkins and 1 for Ogryns. (Because "Weapon Specialization" is both for Guardsmen's and for Karskin's heavy weapons)

* When Tactica Control is built, you can recruit Sergeants and add 3 heavy weapons to every squad.

I) Tier 1

"Death Before Dishonor" / Cost: 75 Req. 15 Energy / Research Time: 20 seconds
Effects: +15 HP to all Guardsmen / +100 Morale to all Guardsmen Squads
Doubles all Guardsmen squads' morale regeneration rate from 3 to 6.

"Battle Armor" / Cost: 100 Req. 50 Energy / Research Time: 45 seconds
Effects: +25% HP to all Guardsmen (initially 40 HP, scales up to 50HP as other researches are completed) / +150 HP to all Guardsmen Sergeants (Attached priests increase it 44/157)

"Uncommon Valor" / Cost: 100 Req. 100 Energy / Research Time: 60 seconds
Effects: +100 HP to all Command Squad members
You can now add up to 5 members in the command squad instead of 3.

II) Tier 2

"Satellite Targeting Resolution" / Cost: 100 Req. 25 Energy / Research Time: 30 seconds
Effects: Increases the range of Guardsmen Lasguns and Guardsmen Sergeants' Laspistols from 27 to 32.4 (+20%) / And the range of Guardsmen Plasma Guns from 25 to 30 (+20%)

"Will of the Emperor" / Cost: 75 Req. 15 Energy / Research Time: 20 seconds
Effects: +25 HP to all Guardsmen / +150 Morale to all Guardsmen Squads


"Weapon Specialization" / Cost: 100 Req. 100 Energy / Research Time: 30 seconds
Effects: Doubles the min and max damage of all Grenade Launchers in the Imperial Guards army / Increases the min and max damage of Plasma Guns by 50% (doesn't double as said in it's description) / You can now add 5 heavy weapons instead of 3 per Guardsmen squad.

III) Tier 3

"Genetic Enhancement" / Cost: 100 Req. 50 Energy / Research Time: 60 seconds
Effects: +33% movement speed to all Kasrkin squads.


"Kasrkin Armor" / Cost: 100 Req. 50 Energy / Research Time: 60 seconds
Effects: +25% HP to all Kasrkins and Kasrkins Sergeants (from 385 to 482 ; and from 400 to 500) (The bonus stacks to Priests' and Sergeants' bonuses to 125->156 and 100->125)

"Powered Bayonets" / Cost: 100 Req. 75 Energy / Research Time: 60 seconds
Effects: +25% minimum and maximum damage of Ogryins and Ogryins Bone'eads.
(Ogryns Bone'eads are the Ogryins' Sergeants)

Dark Crusade and Soulstorm only:
"Infiltration Research" / Cost: 150 Req. 100 Energy / Research Time: 40 seconds
Effects: Allows the Vindicare Assassin (cause you can't have more than 1) to use infiltration. (You already have infiltration in Winter Assault, no need to research it)

Imperial Guards Gameplay Videos

Imperial Guards in Dark Crusade Expansion:

Fighting versus Space Marines:

Campaign Playthrough and Imperial Guards in Soulstorm Expansion:

Sadly there are no Winter Assault videos online except for Campaign Playthroughts

The End / Final Words

When I first started Dawn of War, my first impression was that most troops are useless, like why upgrade a weapon when you can reinforce a whole new troop ? (In the vanilla Dawn of War's campaign 2nd mission they showed you why, but I played it on easy) I tought the game was just about spamming troops (+ economy in skirmish and multiplayer) and that was it. I was so wrong.

The game turned out to be much more complex than I have expected, and except for mines (which cost a lot for their usefulness, if a pair of mines was like 10-20 Requisition and 10 Power that would be a different story). I realised too late that I said "Energy" instead of "Power" so I continued going this way, anyway you know what I meant, there's only 2 resources you can't get that wrong. Back to the game, every unit and every upgrade has usefulness, and this was surprising because I did not expected that. Apparently, all you had to do is spam troops; actually, what you had to do is spam the right troops (especially with Imperial Guards whose strenght stands in numbers) and use them the right way because the battlefield matters a lot too.

I wanted to say something wholistic in the end to comprehend them all I wrote in the guide, but I don't think I can do that, there's too much. I do not claim this guide is 100% correct because I'm human, I can be wrong, if there's anything wrong I'm open to suggestions. However I claim I've done my homeworks, asking experienced people both about specific IG topics and whether what I said in the guide was right, documeting online, and checking for myself in the game. So as far as I can say the guide is supposed to be pretty accurate. I'm not an IG noob myself but I'm not a pro either. Remember, the key principle is numbers, always have more troops than the enemy (unless you're fighting orks, you're basically the same except they have more melee); always keep an eye on your micro and macro as you play the game; and make sure you're the one inflicting the damage, not the enemy.

This guide is not what makes you a pro but merely the begining. Every pro already knows that, it's 101, they know even more, as I said the game is very complex. You've got to know your army in order to actually know what you're doing and whether what you're doing is right or wrong. What makes you a pro I think it's how good your micro, macro and builds are, and the best way I can find to perfect your micro and macro is on the run learning with an already experienced player. I think I've already mentioned this in the F.A.Q; anyway, good luck, and goodbye.

If you're looking to learn even more about Imperial Guards (you bookworm), check out:
http://warhammer-game.narod.ru/wiki/Imperial_Guard.html
(This is quite good, but no builds, just stats)
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/926497-warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-winter-assault/faqs/44973 (Although, some information here ^ is wrong)
http://dow.wikia.com/wiki/Winter_Assault/Imperial_Guard
(The wiki is always good for basic stuff)
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?91967-WA-1-41-Imperial-Guard-Strategy-Guide
(Relic forum post about Imperial Guards)
http://guides.gamepressure.com/warhammer40kdawnofwarsoulstorm/guide.asp?ID=4645
(I don't recommend guides like this one: Basilisk "can handle light infantry on close range also." -> Yeah, for like 10 seconds. FUN FACT: Orks Slugga Boyz and Eldar Guardians are light infantry)
http://www.rakrent.com/rtsc/rtsc_dow.htm
(General Dawn of War information + Orks)
http://www.gamereplays.org/community/index.php?showtopic=258582&st=0&p=3128086&#entry3128086
(A hugely useful Imperial Guards guide made by a good player)
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/DoWOA
(If you want to find other people who play Dawn of War 1 check out this steam group)

















I doubt you came directly from the Winter Assault's guide page looking for a Dark Crusade or Soulstorm Imperial Guards guide, but if you haven't, here are some links to the Dark Crusade and Soulstorm "versions" of this guide.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=468341764
With inverted commas because I haven't really made another version to this guide, that would take too much. It's just a link to this guide next to some Dark Crusade or Soulstorm minor mentions that are not written in here.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=477176232
That was it, have fun playing as Imperial Guard. :)

BONUS: Skins Ideas

For the Emperor!

A good soldier obeys without question. A good officer commands without doubt.

Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.

Educate men without faith and you but make them clever devils.

The man who has nothing can still have faith.

Fear denies faith.

Faith without deeds is worthless.

A small mind is easily filled with faith.

For the Emperor!

[Mooch]

Great guide! I was struggling with the campaign but I was definitely not building enough guardsmen :)

[JackTrevor]

Commenting to say this is a great guide.

[Psycho]

Just commenting what a great guide, appreciate the work you've put into this. IG gets dissed a lot so good to know how to play them properly - they're not marines. Favourited for future reference.

[jitterbeans]

pogged, good guide, go imperium :)

[stormsh]

great guide

[Centurion74rus]

Good guide. Imperial Guard was a main reason why i played in DOW1. Just a people, not a space marines. Favourite faction. Hundred of battles.

Few additions:
1. How i remember each race have their own MAX requisition income (after all upgrades), and IG have highest (just +4 or something, but anyway)$
2. Comissar not only give morale bonus, but he also give HP regen boost;
3. In WA "Strip soul" ability can do damage to your own psyker (in DC and SS seems not);
4. "Curse of Machine Spirit" change armor type of vehicle target and make it easier to destroy it.

[Commissar]

Hey! What the hell does Karskin bodyguard do?? Is he just meatshield?

[hottwiz]

i really wise soneone would make one of these for ulitmate apocolyses...and thank you this was amazingly informative.

[tomygun]

Good advice. Also, you can beat most fortresses in the campaign eaily by sitting outside of the most fortified part of the map with some basilisks and shelling thier hq with earthshaker rounds. Just use the long range scanners to spot the target beforehand. You dont need active sight on a spot to target it with earthshaker rounds.

[Damian_NT]

Good source of information. Great job with the guide!