Imperial Guard Assault Squads

The idea of the 40k Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum having dedicated assault troops seems ridiculous nowadays. Since 1996, the basic structure for the Guard has been well established as the 10-man rifle sections, 5-man command sections (now 4-man with the officers split off), and 6-man support units. This makes active sense, and has strong real-world parallels: in modern military, few units are armed primarily for hand-to-hand combat, and such has been the case for nearly 300 years. 

Despite this, close combat has always been a significant part of 40k. Back in first edition, the game launched with the assumption that ranged combat would be the norm, as can be seen in the early army lists, but, over time, some time around the start of the 1990s, that shifted. Close combat had moved out of the shadows, and the Craftworld Eldar had the cutting edge of this, with Guardian Storm squads (with laspistols and powerswords), and Howling Banshee and Striking Scorpion Aspect warriors. 

On this front, the Guard had, in their original army list, Assault squads, of the style of the time. These squads, at 110 points, were one of the cheapest squads in the game, and consisted a sergeant with laspistol and chainsword, 2 guardsmen with plasma guns and 7 with a pair of laspistols, all also carrying grenades and a knife. The laspistols could be fired together, but with penalties, or could be swapped for chainswords, hand flamers or bolt pistols, the knives could be swapped for chainswords (2 close combat weapons could be used, with penalties), and the plasma guns could be swapped for meltaguns. In addition, for 20 points per squad, an Assault Platoon (an officer, a 5-man command section with 2 lascannon and 1-4 assault squads) could have jump packs.

This option, as with a lot of the period, had significant problems. For one, lascannon couldn't be fired on the move and led to penalties in close combat, and, while they could be swapped out, the alternative, a conversion beamer, was even more out of place. For another, this was an era of single piece lead models or the earliest plastic and metal-plastic hybrids, and there was only one guardsman with a plasma gun, last advertised nearly a year earlier, which only appeared in 3 ads, and none with a meltagun. Also, there were only 6 solid models with appropriate armament, and that was a mix of knives, chainswords, and varying pistols, while the hybrids and wholly plastic came with weapons sprues with 5 lasguns, 2 laspistols and a lascannon, making the twin pistols a scarce option once officers and sergeants were equipped. There were 2 solid lead jump-pack models, but they had rifles, as did the models that had a peg for the metal marine jump-packs. As such, they were rarely used. 

When second edition launched in 1993, the Black Codex gave us assault squads at 140, the most expensive option base. Each model had either a pair of laspistols or a laspistol and chainsword, the sergeant could have upgrades of other pistols and such, and 2 models could have special weapons. The sergeant could be upgraded to a Champion for 10, but didn't get the usual Wargear Card. There was also the first appearance of the now ubiquitous Veteran squad, consisting 5-10 models at 12 points each, who, along with 1 special and 1 heavy weapon, had the option of taking pistols and close combat weapons in addition to their lasguns.

When the Codex dropped 3 years later, neither of these squads made the cut, leaving the only Guard squads equipped for close quarters as the command squads, Ogryn and Rough Riders. 

The idea of close combat Guard, however, wasn't dead.

2000's Codex Catachan, a supplement for the third edition Codex Imperial Guard, had a focus on close quarters, and with it, a couple of units equipped for close combat. The first, the 0-1 Catachan Devils veteran squad, a 5-10 model squad (with option of adding an officer), could swap their lasguns for autoguns for free, or for 1 point could have a shotgun or a pistol and sword, and 3 could have special  weapons. The other option, also Elite, but not limited, were Veteran Assault Teams: 4-7 models who could swap their lasguns for shotguns, or pistols and swords for free, up to 3 could have special weapons, and 2 could form a team with a heavy flamer. From these roots the modern Veteran Squad evolved (Hardened Veterans in a normal Guard force predate this, with some of the other options).

2003's Codex Imperial Guard subsumed Catachan into the normal Guard. Command platoons contained a CHQ unit and 0-5 support squads, any mix of 0-2 Fire-Support, 0-2 Anti-tank, 0-2 Mortar, 0-1 Sentinel and 0-2 Special Weapons squads. The special weapons squads, the uniform 6 we have today, could have laspistols and swords instead of rifles and could, but didn't have to, take 3 special weapons. Alongside this, the 0-1 Hardened Veterans squad, of 5-10, which could include a heavy weapon and up to 3 special weapons, came with the options of a lasgun, shotgun, or a pistol and sword. 

Over time, however, the options would move away from the pistols again. 

By the launch of 8th edition, aside from officers and command squads, the nearest the Guard had to Assault squads were Veterans with shotguns, since they were equivalent to a pair of laspistols, or boltpistols when up close, but they were still a shooting unit, and didn't have pistols or chainswords. 

The new Codex brought 2 solutions, and the Inquisition, updated in the current White Dwarf, give us a third.

So, for my fellow dog-faces who want to get up-close and personal, here are 3 options for having actual assault troops in your Guard infantry:

Option 1: Vostroyan 

Vostroyan's special order, Repel the Enemy, allows their squads to fire any weapons while within 1" of an enemy unit. The most obvious use of this is with shotgun veterans, who effectively have a pair of boltpistols, but it can be given to any unit, meaning that a heavy weapon squad can fire their heavy weapons as if they were pistols. You'll probably still get massacred once the Fight phase comes around, but it gives you a chance to thin the enemy. 

Option 2: Crusaders 

Yes, they don't have the <Regiment> keyword, but Crusaders give Guard a half decent assault squad, between their power swords, armour and storm shields. They have the Astra Militarum keyword, so can mount up into any Guard transport, including the Valkyrie, which offsets their lack of ranged weapons to a degree. Pair them up with a Ministorum Priest for an extra attack, and they can be wonderful (and, with Chimerae and Valkyries having a capacity of 12, you can fit a full squad, a priest and a Psyker in a single package).

The model range is very limited, monoposed and static, in large part because of the origin of the Crusaders as bodyguards for Inquisitors, but that's only if you limit yourself to the official models. There are myriad conversions out there, some fairly straightforward - a weapon swap and de-Chaos-ing on Chaos Warriors, High Elf, Dark Elf or Freeguild troops being among the most popular. To get something that fits the aesthetics of your greater Guard, there are also a number of people who've used Cadian or Militarum Tempestus legs,  heads and torsos, with arms with power swords and storm shields from space marines, the best using the Chaos Marine arms to give gauntlets, with a millimetre or so taken out at the bicep and the end of the gauntlet  to bring them into scale. With the pauldrons provided with every tank, you can even take them that little bit closer to the generic look. 

Option 3: Acolytes 

The Inquisition Acolytes come in squads of 1-6 with a laspistol and chainsword each. They're basically generic Guardsmen, but at twice the points. That said, they can swap to a bolt pistol and bolter for free.

The more relevant opportunity, though, is that they can take any pistols and ranged or assault weapons on the Inquisition list. Remember the 2003 Special Weapons Support Squad? 6 men with lasguns or laspistols and close combat weapons, up to 3 with a special weapon. Easily doable, with combi-weapons or storm bolters instead of grenade launchers and sniper rifles, and with bolters instead of lasguns. 

Alternatively, remember the second edition Veteran squad from the Black Codex? They don't have the option of lasguns, only bolters or hot-shot lasguns, but we're looking at a close combat squad, so a whole squad with plasma pistols and power weapons of choice (fists, swords, mauls or thunder hammers), and you've a surprisingly nasty little squad (if desperately overcosted). I might go with a squad with combi-plasma and bolt pistols, a squad with plasma pistols and power swords (possibly a powerfist on one), and fill around. 

Of course, to get Acolytes you need to include an Inquisition unit, which is limited to 1 Inquisitor, and you can't take the slot-in Inquisitors in any other detachment, but that's workable. A well armed Inquisitor (or Coteaz or Eisenhorn), accompanying the Acolyte wave gives the Acolytes a bit more durability through Unquestionable Wisdom, and makes the most of the Acolytes' Loyal Servant special rules (using the cheapest Acolytes as the casualties). Authority of the Inquisition allows them to use any Imperial transport, so, while the Inquisition has no Dedicated Transport options, you can use anything from the rest of the army (remember that you can take a Dedicated Transport for each other unit in most detachments, even if they can't use it, say, because the unit happens to be tanks).

...

So, three ways Guard infantry, apart from Ogryn, characters and command squads, can be close quarters fighters. All of them have downsides, all of them require a bit of lateral application of the army lists, and yet all of them make some degree of reference to the history of the Guard's close quarters experts.

Personally, i have a platoon of count-as Vostroyan shotgun Veterans (Company Commander with plasma pistol and chainsword, Command Squad with medic and standard with pistols and chainswords, and a pair of flamers, and 2 Veterans squads with shotguns, with plasma pistols and chainswords for the sergeants, all mounted in a trio of over-equipped Chimerae), to form the core of my assault at present. I want to add a couple of Hades Breaching Drill Squadrons, which are the same basic idea, although with less impressive stats, to further bolster the press where needed. I also plan a squad or three of Crusaders, in Valkyries, for an even faster approach and harder-hitting assault. I might do a few more squads, if they prove worthwhile, but, for now, I'm a little fixated on the idea of an Inquisition strike force made up of an Inquisitor and 35 Acolytes. I have rather a few Inquisitors built up over the decades, after all. 

Of course, all of this spun off from a straightforward trigger: i found 20 ancient Marine jump-packs without models to claim them (in first edition Tactical and Devastator squads could have jump-packs to allow rapid redeployment, although the actual process was very time consuming).