Imagine being confused by a grand total of 5 orders in the Astra Militarum in 10th. All of which do basic shit like “Your ballistic skill goes up by one. You move 3 inches more. Your Rapid Fire increases by one. Your save goes up by one. Your weapon skill goes up by one” The charm of the guard is its versatility. You can bring down the hammer with swathes of artillery, waves of mechanised or massed tank formations. It’s incredibly satisfying. Bit of a bruh moment if i’m honest.@@PaulIsBadAtStuff
@@shaquilleoatmeal911 Well not right now they're not, apparently they aren't doing so hot in tournaments right now. Once we get our codex in the Spring it'll probably get a lot better for us, because our current army rule is pretty useless for most situations.
2:33 Okay so as a guard player i'll share why i love them. 😍It's legit because crushing all of these overpowered fantastical beings with 1000+ years of experience as a baseline human is SUPER BADASS 💪 (Same reason you gotta respect the guys who play human fighter in D&D, they don't need to compensate for shit) It's the feeling of overcoming human weakness together, that underdog feel, like you're fighting againts a dying world yet still pull trough but sacrifices have to be made and you can't rely on anything but your fellow man (No power armor, no OP bullshit magic, no superstrenght) And the complicated rules make them feel extremely tactical, like you're the supreme commander of a real army on the field so that's also satisfying. It really feels like only your stategical might can you give your guys an edge in overcoming said superhuman foes. At face value they may seem generic but legit it's one of the most diverse factions in the setting with hundreads of cultures and i love them for it.
YES! I never knew how to put into words the sentiment you shared, but you got it. Underdogs are my favorite thing in any conflict setting and I love the stories they tell. Even down to the detail of a human fighter in D&D (that's actually what I'm playing as right now). After DMing for a long, long time and seeing so many fantastical and crazy characters, there's something nice about relying on tactics against arguably much more powerful monsters and magic.
Guard is an army which makes the others that more special. Eldritch abominatons, power armoured superhumans and space terminators are nothing without a reference point to normal people. I had to buy a Killteam of Kriegers just because I love to use them for scale for my Templars
I want to second what you said, but also adding that as far as horde armies go, it is my favourite because I find regular humans with lasguns more relatable and appealing than a tide of termaguards or a mass blob of ork boyz, though I did collect some orks over a decade ago. They are a gunline faction and I find that a bit more appealing to me personally than the other two horde armies as they lean more into melee. That said, I do have some regimental preachers for the purpose of a melee guard list... I'll always play underdogs and theres nothing that screams that more than a tide of regular imperial guard infantry squads. Also we have great characters like Yarrick, and awesome generals in Dawn of War like Castor and Sturnn. Also I play D&D as Fighter aswell for the exact reasons you mentioned!
Guard used ti be a masterpiece, and their codex barely changed for 3 editions for a reason. There was basically no attempt to make giard function post 8th edition thouch, they have just kind of half-assedly grafted design concepts from a game that no longer exists into the new system with poor results.
Tbh regarding the imperial guard, when a dozen or so factions in the game are essentially different varieties of “dude in power armor”, I find that the “regular guys” actually stick out more and are more interesting because of it.
Guard truly is the human fighter of warhammer 40k Its a blank slate army, it can be literally anything. Elite space soldiers, 16 year old conscripts, space pirates, jungle guerillas, corporate desthsquads.... Guard is whatever you make it. Ubfortunately, GW has killed a lor of that appeal when they discontinued regimental infantry. Fortunately it seems they are learning and are gonna bring the regiments back at sime point... We can only hope.
As someone who exclusively plays Dark Eldar (coolest faction in the game) I can confirm that this tier list is objectively correct. I do think custodes are quite cool though especially the FW dreads!
I understand the appeal of the Imperial Guard. In a galaxy of literal nightmares, super soldiers, mechs, ancient war machines, and magic, they are the everyman, the normal dudes just drafted or enlisted just trying to defend their homes against insurmountable odds. Doing well with them is the same energy as being a warrior in WoW, you have no magic, no dark pact, no superpowers, no god given abilities, you're just a normal unremarkable dude doing remarkable things, and to many that's more amazing than any roided up space marine fanfic.
I love thousand sons personally, while I hate painting large batches of them because of their gold trim, it always looks really cool, and it makes their generic chaos vehicles stand out
Commenting to help with the algorithm stuff. Hope you keep making content in the new year. Have you considered making a "2023 Year in Review" video, where you showcase all the stuff you managed to finish painting in 2023? It's motivating as hell.
Not a bad idea. I might not have time between now and new year but I could try and do it early in the new year. I haven't really thought about what stuff I've done this year so it'll be interesting to look back on
The Guard is a niche army. Guard players love their armies like crazy. We all have one or more things that make the tedium and expense worth it. I tried other factions. The Guard is the only one that drives me this kind of crazy, the urge to throw money and time is like a chemical dependency. That fresh box with a new Leman Russ in it is my fix for the week the way a Redemptor dreadnought or squad of pretty Sisters could only grasp at being.
I have a very large custodes army and I wouldn't even S tier them. There is something about them that prevents that ever elusive S tier for them and it's not their boring box art. I think for me, it has to be: S: Chaos space marines, Necrons, Harlequins (I'm splitting them because Harlequins are that awesome) A: Space Marines, Grey knights, Tyranids, Orks, Custodes B: Craftworld, GSC, Death guard, thousand sons, World Eaters, Sister of battle C: Admech, Tau, Dark eldar, Daemons, Votann D: Guard, Chaos Knights, Knights
As someone who hates playing as regular humans in fantasy settings, the guard is the coolest because so much of the rest of the game is people who are just stronger or better than regular humans, but seeing the guard keep up and even excel is great
As a guard player, specifically a desth korps of krieg player all I have to say to you paul is... I get it...Guard is an acquired taste. ... I MEAN HOW DARE YOU! FOR THE EMPEROR! GLORY TO THE FIRST MAN TO DIE! (did it work?)
HOW!? ABSOLUTELY HOW? how are grey knights higher than the orks, they got like 25 models and 3/4 of them are old and clunky and if I wanted to play grey knights there's no need to paint them cause they have their color right out of the box they are just BLAND. while orks have far superior models and are by far the most modifiable army in the game, you can have pirates, robotic orks and even knights that are far superior than any grey knight EVER and every single named ork character has more personality than the "I must be hiding and kill anyone who sees me" characters. (this is a joke, don't come after me I just don't like the custodes but more secret thing about them)
Orks da best: Da un faction you can give a single lad orange pants and its still lore appropriate. Proxy your infantry with a handful of barrels with arms sticking out of them. Buckets of dice. If you ever lose (it dun count 'nyway) sing big gun o' mine in propa cockney to cheer yourself up.
I used to feel the exact same way about imperial guard until I thought about if I was in the guard. Something cool about normal men fighting the horrors of the 40k universe. A squad of 8 characters fighting a single orc nob or being hunted by a lictor. Very cool. Plus there are a tonne of 3rd party parts to theme up your army. Went from my very least favourite when I started to really growing on me.
But what about imperial agents?! Alternate joke #2: oh, don't worry, AdMech is not just a pain to paint, it's a pain to assemble too! Alternate joke #3: I feel like world eaters and tyranids should get along. WE goes and murders everyone, takes all the skulls, and leaves, then tyranids come and hoover up the rest. Fact #1: Necrons are awesome,...but proxy the flayed ones, your life is worth more than building that terrible kit for that much money. Alternate joke #4: you want an argument? Age of sigmat is better. Fact #2: no, no, I can't say that. Age of Sigmat and WH40k are of equal quality.....Which is why I play good games like Infinity N4. ^_^
@@WhiteWulfe as a haqq player, it does! And apparently other factions have stuff too. But they don't have a mine laying scorpion tank with an explosive heavy cannon, so they aren't as good
I wish we still had more of the alternative Imperial Guard regiments. I'd be way more tempted if Tallarn, Tanith, Valhallan, or even traitor guard like Blood Pact actually had any model support. Otherwise, my top and bottom tiers would probably be: **Top** Orks - Amazing aesthetic and so easy to kitbash. CSM - great and varied range + infinite potential for new stuff. Sororitas - love the theming overall even if I'm sometimes mixed on the models. and Genestealer Cults - mutated but still human-ish beats out the regular big bugs. **Bottom** Deathwatch - love the idea but the models end up pretty bland. Would much rather have a proper inquisition range and have these guys be part of an Ordo Xenos army. Custodes - Grey Knights do their aesthetic and general lore (*super* elite SM) way better. Very much not a fan of how much of their stuff is FW too. World Eaters - half a range at best and really don't like the Eightbound. Votann is similarly small but at least has more variety in models.
As a proud guard player my logic is I didn't WANT to play fantastical space gods I wanted to hand Jeremy a M1 Garand with lasers and tell him to fight god
I got the Grey Knights combat patrol for Christmas this year actually and boy did I have fun building them, all of their weapons are awesome! I especially love the power spear thingys I think they're super cool. Also I love the Nemesis Dreadknight no matter how many times I hear people call it stupid.
Coming from a Xenos player Start of my 40k journey: Man imperial guard is so boring, regular human dudes. 20 years later: Fuck yeah, imperial guard, regular human dudes.
Personally I would've had Ultimate Conductor Tyranno on the list, it's still the main boss monster of dinos, and is still super powerful. I would've also have Doomking Balerdroch at least as an honorable mention, but that's mostly cause I was a zombie floodgates player back when I used to play
What is this slander against the guard? There’s no better feeling then beating the unknown horrors of the galaxy when all you have is a lasgun and bayonet, some flak armor, and maybe a tank or two. You win as guard not by just out damaging your opponent, but by actually strategizing and thinking ahead. Guard is not an easy army to play, but they’re rewarding to bring to the field in lock-step and show the enemy that we might not be the strongest, fastest, toughest or best equipped, but what we do have faith in the Emperor and our fellow man to get the job done.
Thank you for the tier list but you’re wrong about the nids, Krieg and chaos knights as those are my armies in progress, however very correct as everyone has their favourites, have a good Christmas bro
Every time I see someone putting Drukhari at the top, Thousand Sons are right up there with them. I’m the same with with those being my top two. Seeing Magnus the Red’s model got me into 40K. He’s glorious.
I love the point of the guard of facing the horrors of the galaxy with nothing but the cheaper mass produced equipment Becouse i beliebe in things like batman saying to superman you are no brave men are brave. What courage is to figth when you are a 3 meter tall walking tank? You are overpowered you deserve no credit
just want to say a big thank you to everyone rich or dumb enough to pay for the space marine subscription service allowing GW to pay for other more interesting factions
Nids got robbed, should've been A tier. I accept this only because GK and TSons are S and I agree, Space Wizards are f#%#ing metal. (P.S. Love this channel)
Necrons in S tier. All is right with the world. Tho it’s likely the classic overlap all Necron and Thousand Sons players have of just thinking Egyptian aesthetic is rad 😎👍
Hey Paul, I am painting some Kommandos with Space Marine armor, and I though I'd paint the looted bits with the Screaming Ravens scheme. If you approve of it, is there anywhere I could find a picture of painted miniatures?
Sounds awesome! I think the spite video has a screenshot of the incursors, otherwise I've posted pictures on discord if you search for images posted by me. I also think the community page on the RU-vid channel has some pictures :)
When I started 40K in 2nd edition I found Guard to be super boring too. But eventually I started liking them through osmosis and ended up collecting a small force mostly Kasrkin-focused. I still hate spess muhreens though. Main army is Tau, and I also collect (in order of size) Necrons, Tyranids, Dark Eldar and Orkz. I played Eldar in 2nd edition but sold everything when Tau came out.
Paul i understand you put regular guard in D tier ‚because well they are basic men whit gun, but whit the power of 3d printing i now have a guard army made intierly out of dwarf and that is S tier ROCK AND STONE !!!
