Grav Guns with Imperial Guard

First off this is complete speculation on my part, I have no clue if Imperial Guard are going to get access to Grav Weapons when their codex gets updated but for this post I am going to assume that they are. Just don't go running around saying that this is prophecy or some craziness like that. If you haven't guessed by now I am going to look at how access to grav weapons will effect IG armies.

For those that are unaware of what grav weapons are let me fill you in. There are three types; pistol, rifle, and cannon. The pistol is an 12 inch assault one, AP2 weapon that wounds on a units armor value meaning that it wounds terminators on a 2+. Grav rifles are 18 inch salvo 2/3 AP2 weapons, 2 shots if you move or 3 if you stand still. Grav cannons are a 24 inch salvo 3/5 AP2 weapons. What these weapons excel at is killing marines without the risk of killing your own gunner like what often happens with plasma.

I expect that where veteran IG squads currently have plasma, grav guns will be filling the roll. It's probable that they wouldn't take all three special weapon spots but at the very least one, and possible two. A squad could do very well with just two grav guns in the unit, spitting out 6 AP2 shots at 18 inches so long as they didn't move. Naturally this would put a lot of pressure on space marine players who count on armor saves to get them through a game.

This could promote more balanced IG lists. Instead of veteran spam with flyers and plasma there could be a larger force of standard guardsmen that would then be augmented by specialists and still be competitive. If IG gets anything like chapter tactics I would be very excited to see some people run Steel Legion infantry that runs a lot like Death Korps of Krieg; good leadership and can hold the line for as long as needed. Then add in some Cadian Kasrkin with grav guns, plasma guns, and hot shot las guns to take care of the big scary things, that would be a very cool list in my mind. (If that turns out to just be Death Korps of Krieg and Elysians then rejoice since you may be able to get that without the Forge World question!)

Grav guns will be happily embraced by Imperial Guard players but grav cannons and pistols will be left out in the cold. Plasma pistols will still be the commanders choice of weapon since it is good against everything and pistols are used more against targets of opportunity than something you plan on so the balanced plasma gets the thumbs up here. Grav cannons won't see a lot of use since they are a heavy weapon which means any time that heavy weapon team moves those three shots will need 6's to hit, and those teams will be moving since 24 inch range leaves a lot to be desired.

As a Space Marine player the thought of Imperial Guard getting access to these very dedicated Space Marine killing weapons makes me happy and nervous at the same time. Happy because it will really limit the complaining that IG players have about SMs armor saves when they will now have the potential to wipe a squad in one round of shooting from one of their own infantry squads. It makes me nervous because now my marines are very very vulnerable, and as a close combat army I will really be hard pressed to assault through a dozen grav guns. Should it happen I will adjust and persevere just as any primarch would wish. I just reallllllyyy hope that grav cannons don't become some sort of sponson option on Leman Russ tanks since that would be more devastating then the plasma tank.

Thanks for reading. This was really just me thinking out loud so if you have thoughts on this subject let me know in the comments section what you think. That is all I have so have an Emperor blessed day!