Dulahan said:

I will bet on scout, sniper, comissioned officer and intelligence officer

Well, based on the Free RPG announcement, I'd say three of the missing four are:

- Recon/Scout: Represents the semi-typical Catachan/Tallarian/Tanithian survivalist/scout type. Higher levels might allow you to focus on marksmanship and become a sniper.

- Driver: Unless Drive and vehicle handling are cross-speciality abilities, Only War has to have its own version of the Void Master.

- Ogyrn: Unless I'm mistaken and this is a race choice and not a class choice (though how can one be an Ogyrn priest or medic?) we might have a fighter class that is a little less specialized then the Stormtroopers (fast assault) or Heavy Weapons (machineguns and autocannons.)

This leaves the last class.... which could be a commissioned officer though I'm trying to think of other (probably unlikely) possiblities.

I'd bet that an Ogryn would be handled like the Orks and Kroot in RT. They would get their own advancement table that is restricted with one or two options for advanced specialty ranks.

I admit, I rather hope Ogryns aren't an option, since they're on par with and even exceed space marines in some aspects. I'd fear they'd just be way too powerful and make the other players feel pointless.

Regular Soldier - nothing to fear from the other specialties, as they will be the 'Tactical Marine' of the game, with greater access to specialist ammunition and weapons, and all-around soldierly skills. OR they could just call this guy the "Sergeant"... >.>

Heavy Weapon - it's the Imperial Guard, and having people lug around missile launchers and tripod-mount heavy machineguns is too iconic to pass up, and they'd effectively fill the role of the Devastator.

Scout/Sniper - I can't really see us getting both because there's so much overlap they can add broaden this and add another specialty to the game instead.

Storm Trooper - definetly going to have the Hellgun and Carapace, these are 'RT level' characters and it's definetly within that range, plus people would pitch a fit if you gave them 'fake' Storm Troopers.

Medic - no brainer.

Commissar - yup.

Enginseer - uhuh.

Driver - tanks and other vehicles are just too much a part of the flavour of the Imperial Guard for them not to include them in the game. Hope we can fly Valkyries/Vultures too (though they're technically Navy).

Ogryns - honestly, I'm not sure whether I want these, but they shouldn't actually be too hard to fit in.

Priest - I never really liked the IG being too priest-heavy, but they do fit in quite nicely in their own way.

Sanctioned Psyker - you can't possibly have a 40K game without psykers, though this one will probably play similar to the Savant Militant of DH.

Hmm... one left. Yeah, looks like either Trooper/Sergeant or Scout/Sniper are split in to two seperate specialties...

All my best guess anyway.

This thread is amazing!

Sorry... I'm just enjoying all the speculation.

BYE

I just hope there is an option for a drop trooper.

This could end up overlapping with a scout/sniper, but I'd love to see a commando type character. Somebody with a stealth/demolitions/special weapons combination.

H.B.M.C. said:

I'm gonna hazard a guess that this means some of this is dead on, or all of it is completely wrong.

I'm thinking... Recon/Stealth/Sniper, Ogryn, Driver/Pilot/Wheelman, and either Ratling or a Demolitions Expert. As far as character creation goes, I agree with several other people that regiment will probably be a background shared by the party. It doesn't make much sense to have a party of a Cadian, a Catachan, a Vostroyan, and an Elysian. Not how the Guard typically works, so I imagine we'll be seeing parties made up of single regiments. Free RPG Day booklet kind of suggests this, since you're playing a Catachan unit. Much as I'd like to see them go back to the path from Rogue Trader, I doubt this will be the game that sees it return. Regiment will probably provide a table of advances like Chapter and being a member of the Deathwatch did for DW. I'm thinking... general Imperial Guard table, Regiment table, and career table. So if you're a Cadian Sergeant, you can pick from the Imperial Guard, Cadian, and Sergeant tables.

Regiment could be represented by a special ability, couldn't it? Something not too intrusive, hopefully flavorful/unique/and FUN to play up! Not that I don't like the idea of having a shared table of advancements a la DW, but this is just another possibility that it could take.

Oh, and hella looking forward to playing some Ogryn. And Ratlings.

I think the regiment will the GM's choice since it is rare to have a miss match within one squad.

mcneil_1 said:

That duty usually falls to the Stormtroopers.

Not really.

There are drop regiments, such as the Elysian Drop Troops and the Harkoni Warhawks. They're not Storm Troopers, yet their main method of deployment is via Valk and Grav Chute. They're essentially the "Air Cavalry" of the 41st Millennium.

BYE

"We're paratroopers, Lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded."

H.B.M.C. said:

Consider a non-drop specialized regiment like the Cadians. Who does drop assaults? More than likely its going to be the Stormtroopers. I included the word usually because I was considering the Elysians and others like them.

Just for clarity's sake:

Storm Troopers are a very specific thing. They are the regiments of elite special forces raised by the Schola Progenium, and are not related to any world-specific Guard Regiment. They are an organisation in and of themselves, much like the Adeptus Sororitas (also a product of the Schola Progenium), and are loaned out to various combat theatres where required, sometimes by the company, sometimes by the squad, and so on. As they are essentially akin to modern day special forces, they are trained in multiple methods of fighting, including combat-drop/grav-chute operations. This is not the only way they fight, but simply one of the ways they fight.

There are, however, many types of Guard regiment whose fame is based around their use as drop troopers. As mentioned, the armies of Elysia are called the Elysian Drop Troops for that very reason. They are not Storm Troopers. They may have Grenadiers within their ranks, Grenadiers having a relationship with standard Imperial Guard that US Army Rangers have with regular US Army Infantry, but Grenadiers are part of their parent regiment and come from that world (whereas Storm Trooper units are made up of the orphaned sons and daughters of important Imperial figures, and could be from any number of worlds). The Harkoni Warhawks are another regiment that is considered a 'Drop Troop' regiment yet are not in any way related to Storm Troopers.


If you look at those lists that GW give for areas of combat operations you'll find that most wars contain units from multiple regiments, so whilst the Cadians mightn't have any dedicated Drop Troop formations (that we know of), the same war might have a Regiment of Elysians in it, in which case any required Drop Troop assaults would be given to them. The Guard do tend to diversify quite well, and anything they can't do is usually handled by the Adeptus Astartes or Titan Legions.

BYE

The Storm Trooper will probably be an assault specialist and not the hellgun wielding Schola Progenium soldier. Otherwise the power level would be a bit strange.

Storm Troopers are a specific thing. Why wouldn't it be the Schola Progenium type?

And remember, Storm Troopers are just as human as the White Shield who just got his first Lasgun. They're certainly better trained, better disciplined and better equipped, but they go splat to all the same things that cause regular Guardsmen to go splat. I don't think he'd be 'better' than others in the game, but that he'd fulfil a different role. I mean, for pure combat purposes he may be the best around, but he's no Priest, he's no Psyker and he's no Tech-Priest. Every career has its limitations (theoretically at least), so the presence of an elite SAS-esque Special Forces guy doesn't automatically mean that he wins at everything forever and none of the other players get a look in. It's certainly not like throwing a Grey Knight in with a bunch of Rank 2 Acolytes.


BYE

Santiago said:

Mentioned it before, it they're giving us the option to play a "Storm Trooper", then they're likely starting the game off at roughly the same power level as Rogue Trader, which puts the iconic hellgun and carapace equipped soldier within the reach of a starting character.

Hmmm, that would of course allow for Ogryn Characters but that does mean the "normal" guardsman is prolly not available for play.
I'm curious...

That is why I think the default would be members of a Storm Trooper squad.

The different guard careers are not normally fielded in the same squad, except command squads. I think it is very unusual for a battle psyker to not be under the direct supervision of an officer. I can easily see that happening for storm troopers if the mission warranted one.

In todays special forces their are a variety of specialties, different career paths, in a team.

Also most IG squads are not used in isolation. At least not intentionally. Special forces stuff and the missions player characters would be given, are what the storm trooper regiments are for.

As storm troopers come from the progenium, they can also have a variety of homeworlds, as well as their progenium upbringing.

I don't think their will be a basic guardsman career as a result.

But this is just my speculation, based on my perception of things. I could be very wrong.

Santiago said:

But not a Veteran Guardsman. Which is probably more like what we're playing, the guys who have been through a lot and survived it (because let's be honest, playing a regular run-of-the-mill guardsmen is asking to go through more character sheets than a Call of Cthulhu game).

Though I don't think we're going to play a squad of Storm Troopers either. The Gamesday adventure apparently involves playing troops caught behind enemy lines (including a Catachan and a Commissar), which seems to say that's not the case. While there may not be a "regular soldier" specialty, there will be something very close to it. And this time out, it appears that Regiment is going to be filling in the place of homeworld, as opposed to more homeworlds (Regiment being a product of the homeworld anyway).

Santiago said:

I suppose the regular "Joe" should be playable (He's on the cover right?). Although I'd like to play a storm trooper or a sanctioned psyker! Maybe the Vox officer maybe a playable character. Check the Command Squad for IG!

Maybe like Black Crusade, different classes would have different starting packages and amounts of xp to spend on acquiring skills.

It would be really fun to play a regular Joe on the front line of fighting xenos invasions and daemon incursions. I expect alot of squad based tactics.

I felt I should share my opinion here as well....I think the "Storm Trooper" specialty will more than likely be filling the niche of your standard Lasman, but with a far more appealing name obviously. It makes sense since not many people will want to play something called a "Lasman" or simply generic "Guardsman", but if you put Storm Trooper then you avoid gender identification of male or female, and you make it sound appealing and rather intimidating.

The only other logical theory could be that the Storm Trooper class is the one with the fancy toys....not heavy weapons, but not your standard lasgun either. Hellguns, thicker armor, maybe a bit less in the skill department or specialization options that the normal Lasman would get, though this gives you two standard front line troopers to play with if that were the case.