I actually think IG is mostly ok, they have poor MU's and can behave a bit wonky with such high unit-count squads but that's the way of the game. (In fact I think the Leman's Vanq cannon accuracy against infantry could do with some scaling back)
I do think they have a particular issue though that most other races don't deal with, and that's dealing with dedicated melee units, particularly those encountered from T3.
I think we've all seen it in various games, IG may start strong but isn't able to strike the killing blow even though they may do quite well in the early game. The game draws out and the enemy is able to field their T3 heavy melee units, or field enough melee that the IG player doesn't have enough crowd control to counter them all.
I feel that IG has very few options for dealing with this late in the game besides withdrawing while focusing the melee squad in question which is more often easier said than done. And if the IG player was foolish enough to field a baneblade when their enemy fields (Nobz / Termies / GUO / SL / Ava / Paladins) it either has to stay far enough back that its impact is diminished or just cry because it's too large and slow to get away. I understand this is somewhat the design of the guard, and if you're the Inq you have some control options, but that seems really limiting.
I know that Kasrkin GL were largely meant to fill this role, but many of these units are so fast (or immune to knockback) that it doesn't seem really effective. Of course the IG player should "play better" but they often seem to have to play A LOT better to deal with it, whether that's through a strategic withdrawal (falling back without retreating) or using the CC at their disposal (many involving key positioning because of IG fragility or skill shots). I feel like they should have a greater number of options for dealing with units that are such a key aspect of the game.
So here were some of the ideas I had (and I'm not saying all or any of them are necessarily the solution):
- Give them Bullgryns: Either independent unit or as a T3 Ogryn upgrade. It's fluffy and it would give them a dedicated a strong melee unit to answer melee used against them. However I understand that modeling such a unit could be difficult/impossible so this option is remote.
OR
- Give Lemans a shotgun shell. A very-short range blast that's the same as shotgun blast (except shorter range) but effective against heavy infantry. It could be balanced by making each use cost req/power so the IG player has to be very strategic with its use and still keep it unique from other tanks, but not sure how difficult this would be to implement.
OR
-Give the Baneblade a melee resistance aura. Now hear me out! I know only melee units tend to have this but I think it could be justified for several reasons.
- Fluff: Baneblades are some of the toughest vehicles in the universe and are often in the vanguard of an Imperial force. It makes sense that they'd be strong enough to withstand enemies even in melee range.
- Comparative Utility: Other elite units ALL have options against units that get into melee range, some of them multiple options (Ava has doom, Fire Prism is fast and has knockback with every attack, GUO has vomit and stomp, Phobos has dirge, SL has blade has blade flurry and chitin, BW can run over units that try to get too close, LR has frag assault). The Baneblade's option is basically don't let them get into melee and suppression (although by T3 there are numerous ways to overcome suppression). And if they do get into melee all you can do is pray your IG force is strong enough to force off the melee units while also fighting off whatever other units the opponent is fielding.
- Counterplay: this doesn't make the Baneblade any less vulnerable to dedicated AV units, hell not even against most elite melee units. It just makes using dedicated melee units less of an option against the BB, so instead of having a unit that is effective against everything IG fields maybe they have to field AV units if they weren't already.
- Ease: Not sure how easy this would be to implement, but it seems easier than the other ideas I presented.
Another option: The Inq is already the best CC specialist for IG (possibly best in the game), so give the Commie and General some love.
Make Inspire Terror stun the squad and remove the ability to halt enemy retreats (if it's still there? I'm not sure), seems like an ability called "Inspire Terror" naturally would have an effect similar to a stun in an enemy unit. Also, change one of the General's ability's to provide CC. For example remove the damage buff from Incoming! and instead give units affected a small percent chance to knockback enemies hit. You might say that a lasgun wouldn't have the ballistic ability to knock something back, but actually a laser powerful enough to penetrate the flesh of a target would have a far greater ballistic impact than a bullet. But for simplicity, just say they're shooting the legs and making them trip. I think having a few CC options like this on the other IG heroes make them far more viable when elite melee hits the field.
I'm not going to assert that these are the best options, but it seems that this is a big contributing factor to IG's falling off in late-game and would at least give them as many options as other races have.