I'm not a super competative IG player (I don't Mechanize everything) but I run 6-7 infantry squads, and every squad has an AC and all but one have a plasma gun. Plasma guns are almost as punchy as a melta (though not against armor) and have the range of a lasgun rather than the mini range of the melta. What worked for me was to cut the rod and nozzle off every flamer and graft on a plasma pistol to make plasma guns. I have recently been inspired to play in my first every 40k tournament, a week from tomorrow. Three lascannon (crew painted separately). You want your Heavy and Special weapons to complement each other. In a surprise move, I finally made some spontaneous progress on my Imperial Guard army (the Volyak Rifles).

Don't ever buy another heavy bolter.Īs to your heavy use of flamers, I'd recommend against it in a squad with lasgcannons or MLaunchers. You get one more shot, but without the added oomph of the AC. Heavy bolters have little point in this edition of 40k. For the current edition of 40k, I agree with EvilMike that autocannons are one one of the top choices for Heavy weapons in an infantry squad, and should usually be accompanied by a Plasma, melta or grenade launcher. No offense, but there's lots of outdated advice here. The background fiction mentions women serving in the Imperial Guard, but none are depicted in the rulebooks.

Imperial guard missile launcher