Quote Originally Posted by Hendrik Booraem VI View Post
Hmm, that's an interesting take on things. Granted I do not have the current version of the Imperial Guard Codex (the one called Astra Militarum), but I do have the 5th or so edition (paperback) codex. It says that

An Infantry Platoon (note: Infantry and Platoon are both capitalized) consists of a Command Squad... and from 2 to 5 Infantry squads.

Each Platoon counts as a single Troops choice on the Force Organization chart...

As such, I always interpreted that to mean that, no, you may not field a single Infantry squad. In fact, there is no mention of any squad that can be fielded by itself other than Veterans and Armored Fist squads. Since those are both of the "infantry" type, I figured that the formation was intended to give the player a fairly high-quality unit with Veterans combined with the commissar and the tank.
It is a little bit different in the new book, and a lot different in the epub book. The Platoon itself is set up the same, however each Squad has an Army List Entry, and aside from a slightly encompassing border, provides no link to them being ONLY available via an Infantry Platoon.

This is a little bit different from the 5th Edition codex in which the Platoon and its squads were held in a huge completely encompassing black field.

Quote Originally Posted by CoffeeGrunt View Post
You're right that when building a list normally, you need to build the Platoon as-per the Platoon structure, though said structure is a little different in the more recent Codex. In Formations, however, you may simply field the specific units mentioned.
If you are building a Platoon, this is correct. However, nothing requires these Squads to ONLY be purchased via Platoon. Search as you might in the codex, you will find nothing on this. Remember, when something "may" be done does not mean it "must" be done or "only done" that way.