Millions of Guardsmen fight and die each day in the name of the Imperium. They stand guard over planets and sectors till death finds them. They fight against all odds the filthy Xenos and the Arch-enemy, the Heretics. The adeptus administratum and the High Lords of Terra decided that it is wise not to know their enemy, they are only informed about what exactly they are going to encounter before they fight it.
Ignorance is a blessing in the Imperium.
The Astra Militarum Codex is in my hands. In the next few weeks I will make a review of it and seehow the Wolves can exploit them as allies and enemies, but first we have to know them better.
The Codex main SR is the Voice of Command. It’s the same as the Tempestus Militarum regarding rules, but has other orders.
Voice of Command: Orders are issued by officers. The rules state that there are units that can issue more than one order, but none of the models in the supplement is capable of doing so. Your officer can issue orders only if his unit isn’t embarked on a vehicle or Building, in C&C, Falling Back or Gone to Ground and within 12” of an issued unit that isn’t a Vehicle. Also the issued unit mustn’t be embarked, in C&C, Falling Back, Gone to Ground or already been issued a command. Furthermore, the Officers’ squads and the issued squad can act normally, except if the order states otherwise. The ordered unit must then pass an LD test for the order to pass and to gain its bonus.
Incompetent Command: If the roll is a double 6 then the order isn’t in effect and no further orders can be issued until the end of the turn.
Inspired Tactics: If the roll is a double 1 the order has passed and all subsequent orders can be issued without the need of an LD test.
Militarum Tempestus Orders | |
Take Aim! | The ordered unit must shoot. The unit gains the Precision Shot SR. |
Smite At Will! | The ordered unit must shoot. The unit gains Split Fire SR. |
First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire! | The ordered unit must shoot. All models firing with Lasguns or Hot-Shot Lasguns, fire one additional shot. |
Forwards, for the Emperor! | The ordered unit must shoot. After the Shooting is resolved the unit must run, even if the rules don’t allow it. |
Move! Move! Move! | The ordered unit must run. To determining the distance, roll three dice and use the highest. |
Suppressive Fire! | The ordered unit must shoot. The unit’s shooting attacks gain the Pinning SR. |
Bring it Down! | Can only be issued by models with Senior Officer SR. The ordered unit must shoot. The unit’s shooting attacks gain the Tank Hunter and Monster Hunter SR. |
Fire on my Target! | Can only be issued by models with Senior Officer SR. The ordered unit must shoot. The unit’s shooting attacks gain the Ignore Cover SR. |
Get Back in the Fight! | Can only be issued by models with Senior Officer SR and to units that are Falling Back or have gone to Ground. The ordered unit immediately regroups and acts normally. |
Perhaps the new Codex has the best Warlord traits than any other. In my opinion all of them can be useful and actually help you in the game:
D6 | Warlord traits |
1 | Nominate D3 units from the Codex. These units gain Outflank SR. |
2 | Your Warlord’s unit has the Preferred Enemy SR against a codex of your selection. |
3 | Units from the Codex within 12” of the Warlord don’t take LD test for suffering 25% or more loses. |
4 | Your Warlord unit has the Relentless SR. |
5 | Your Warlord has the Voice of Command SR; if he already has it, he can issue it within 18”. |
6 | Your Warlord has the Voice of Command SR; if he already has it, he can issue one additional order each turn. |
The Codex main wargear are listed below, with the exception of the Heirlooms of Conquest. These actually are Relics of the Astra Militarum, which I will review in another post. As for point cost in the wargear, some got up and others got down, with the exception of the Special and Heavy weapons that stayed the same.
Astra Militarum Wargear List:
Ranged Weapons | P | Special Weapons | P | Heavy Weapons | P |
Bolt Pistol | 1 | Sniper Rifle | 1 | Mortal | 5 |
Boltgun | 1 | Flamer | 5 | Autocannon | 10 |
Plasma Pistol | 15 | Grenade Launcher | 5 | Heavy Bolter | 10 |
Special Issue Wargear | Hot-Shot Volley Gun | 10 | Missile Launcher | 15 | |
Meltagun | 10 | (for Flakk) | 25 | ||
Krak Grenade | 2 | Plasma Gun | 15 | Lascannon | 20 |
Melta Bomb | 5 | Melee Weapons | |||
Carapace Armour | 5 | Power Weapon | 15 | ||
Demolition Charge | 10 | Power Fist | 25 |
5 out of 6 missions of the Rulebook have objectives and you will need your Troops to go and capture them. So I think that the best way to start the Astra Militarum choices review is the Troop and Dedicated Transport section of the Codex.
Troop choices:
- Infantry Platoon: composed of 1 Platoon Command Squad, 2-5 Infantry Squads, 0-5 Heavy Weapon Squads, 0-3 Special Weapon Squads and 0-1 Conscripts. The Infantry Platoon counts as a single Troop slot on the FOC. At the beginning of the game the player can decide whether the Infantry Platoon units having the Combine Squad SR will be deployed as one big squad.
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1. Platoon Command Squad (30): composed of 4 Guardsmen and 1 Platoon Commander. The Commander has the Voice of Command SR. The wargear of the unit is Frag grenades and Lasguns for the Guardsmen and CCW with Pistol for the Commander. The Commander can take items from the Melee and Ranged Weapons List. A Guardsman can take either a Vox-caster (5), a Heavy Flamer (10), a Medi-pack (15), or a Platoon Standard (10) (gives +1 to C&C results); once an item is assigned it is no longer available for the squad in question. Or you can dedicate two Guardsmen to form a Heavy Weapon team that takes one weapon from the [Heavy Weapon] list. Any remaining Guardsmen that haven’t taken anything can choose a weapon from the Special Weapon List. The squad may take a Chimera or a Taurox as a Dedicated Transport.
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3. Heavy Weapon Squads (45): Composed of three Heavy Weapon teams equipped with Lasguns and Frag Grenades. Each of them has to take one item from the Heavy Weapon List.
4. Special Weapon Squads (30): Composed of six Guardsmen equipped with Lasguns and Frag Grenades. Three of them have to take one item from the Special Weapon List.
5. Conscripts (60): Composed of twenty Constripts and you may include up to thirty more for 3 P/mdl.
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- Veterans (60): Composed of 9 Veterans and 1 Veteran Sergeant. The wargear of the unit is Frag grenades and Lasguns for the Veterans and CCW with Pistol for the Sergeant. The Sergeant can take items from the Melee and Ranged Weapons List. A single Veteran can take a Vox-caster (5). Another Veteran can exchange his lasgun with a Shotgun (free) or a Heavy Flamer (10). Two other Veterans may form a Heavy Weapon team, which takes one weapon from the [Heavy Weapon] list. And up to two (or three, if no Heavy Flamer was taken) remaining Veterans that haven’t taken anything yet, can take weapons from the Special Weapon List. The squad may take a Chimera or a Taurox as a Dedicated Transport. The Squad can choose one of three types of Doctrines to specialize to :
1. Grenadiers (15): The squad replaces its Flakk Armour with Carapace Armour.
2. Forward Sentries (10): The squad has Camo Gear (+1 to cover) and Snare Mines (any enemy unit that charges at the unit counts as having made a disordered charge).
3. Demolitions (30): The entire squad has Melta Bombs. One Veteran carries a Demolition charge in addition of his other equipment.
- Sergeant Harker (55): One squad of Veterans can replace their Sergeant with Harker. The Hacker’s squad can’t take the Grenadiers doctrine. Harker has the Relentless SR and the Heirloom of Conquest named Payback.
Payback | Range | S | AP | Type |
36” | 5 | 4 | Heavy 3, Rending |
Dedicated Transport choice:
- Chimera (65): The Chimera has as starting wargear a Multi-Laser, Heavy Bolter, Smoke Launcher and Searchlight. For SR it has Amphibious (treats all water terrain as open terrain), Lasgun Arrays (the Chimera has three Lasguns on each side that the passengers can use to fire to different targets, with the BS of the vehicle) and Mobil Command Vehicle (An embarked officer can issue orders from within the Chimera). It has a capacity of twelve models and two Fire Points. It may exchange the Heavy Bolter with a Heavy Flamer and the Multi-Laser with a Heavy Bolter or a Heavy Flamer for free.
- Taurox Prime (80): The Taurox is the one of the two new Vehicles in the Garage of the Astra Militarum. It has the All-terrain APC (re-roll failed Dangerous terrain tests) SR. It has a capacity of 10 models, access points on the sides and rear, and two fire points on each side. It starts with Taurox Battle Cannon and a Twin-linked Hot-shot Volley Gun. You can exchange the Battle Cannon for a Taurox Gatling Cannon (10) or a Taurox Missile Launcher (20) and the Volley Gun for a Twin-linked Autocannon (free).
- Taurox (50): Has the same stats and SR as the Prime. Equipped only with a Twin-linked Autocannon.
The Troop choices didn’t change point wise, except for the 10 point decrease in the Veterans. Veterans are Troops that can be equipped for special occasions in your army. You can field them with three Meltas and +1 to their armour for 105P.The Infantry Platoon is perhaps the best shooting Troop choice in the game, as it can have a lot of models all together or distributed. You can place a 150-Conscripts-meat-shield in front of your horde of Lasguns, Plasma Guns and Autocannons and all of that for only 630P (for a total of 255 Models). You can also use them to screen your tanks and give them cover (more expensive) or to field them with Transports (the most expensive option).
[Wolf tip: Remember that you can take a Platoon and use all its units separately and have more scoring units.]
The two Taurox options (Tauroi) are the new light vehicles the Astra Militarum can field to gain more firepower. Regarding the Transports, as I had said in my Militarum Tempestus review, I like the Taurox Prime and consider the Taurox at its little brother that rule-wise looks like a Razorback with Autocannon, but a bit cheaper.Regarding the Chimera, it got up 10 points and now six models can shoot from inside the Chimera with the Lasgun Array and two from the top hatch. That makes the Chimera a lot better than it was.Surely the Troop choice of the Astra Militarum / Imperial Guard was and is very competitive and we will see them, in the near future, amongst the Top codices.
Heroes of Armageddon! You have withstood the evil savagery of the Orks, and they having nothing left for you to fear. So raise high the black banners of vengeance - now is our time.
+++Sebastian Yarrick during the Third War for Armageddon+++
Of course I would like to hear your opinion on this and all my previous posts, as well as suggestions for what you would like me to write about.
Next Post: Astra Militarum Review - Part 2: Elite and Fast Attack.
VLKA FENRIKA