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I think 3+ initiative is very underused. Of the official lists, only Orks use it, and they behave more like an 1+ army with restrictions than a true 3+ army. I think it would be good if more armies/formations are 3+, as it would show that the Imperial Guard are, in fact, not the bottom of the barrel. IG armies are professional armies that have left their homeworld and travelled across the stars fighting the Emperor's wars, often for years or decades. I think it would open up the design space if we'd use a wider range of initiative ratings: Elite/veterans 1+, regular troops 2+, irregular/green troops 3+.
There are two lists I know of that feature 3+ init, the main one being SpeakerToMachines Insurgency list. The other is my corrupted PDF list which really doesn't count as a list, seeing as it has had all of 1 playtest game. There are also Whiteshields in the Cadian list, are they still 3+?
Why 3+ initiative? First it contrasts with 2+ formations like Guardians and Imperial Guard, showing that even if they aren't superhuman like Marines or Aspect Warriors, they are still competent and disciplined soldiers that are able to carry out complex orders. Secondly it shows that a formation that does have 3+ is, well undisciplined. Initiative modifiers (like Orks) lets them be effective in combat, if that is desired, while still showing that they are basically a mob. Or they can have no initiative modifiers if they are supposed to be crap. The final reason, which is more subjective, is that I like 3+ rolls more than 2+ rolls. A single 2+ roll with harsh penalties for failure like an init roll or a Blood Bowl elf doing basically anything is uncomfortable, because it's nearly a sure thing, so you need to try it, but it also fails pretty often - which is just unexpected enough to be really annoying. A 3+ roll, on the other hand, is only twice as likely to succeed as to not succeed, so when it fails it's not really unexpected, you most likely have a plan for it and it doesn't feel nearly as much as bad dice destroying your plans. To me at least.
3+ init does need something in the rules to balance it out. My first instinct is to allow a 3+ army to have more activations than a normal army, allowing for the fact that maybe as much as a third of the formations won't be doing anything actively useful in each turn. High activation count does allow the army to "wait out" other armies, but that might be balanced by the fact that the player has no control over which of his formations will sit on their hands. You're not always in the position where a single move or shooting without moving will do anything. Not to mention that planning for retaining is a very dicey proposition or that a formation with the right amount of BMs will break half the time when you activate it.
Initiative bonuses are the other way of countering it, which heavily steers the army towards certain actions (Orks).
Which armies should have 3+? Humans armies that are below IG levels of training are the obvious candidates. Chaos cultists and non-critical PDF forces mostly. That is, Cadians or Skitarii PDF, while technically PDF, have the training and combat experience to justify 2+, while PDFs on planets that aren't an important strategic point with constant conflict should be 3+. Of the current lists that means that I think that the Mossinians and the Lost and the Damned cultists and mutants should be 3+. I do recognize that it's a bit late in the day to rejig them to that.
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