Warhammer 40K: Five Astra Militarium Regiments That Need Rules
Let’s take a look at some famous Astra Militarium Regiments that desperately need rules.
Games Workshop has been slowly rolling out rules for more and more sub-factions of existing armies. Overall I think this is a pretty great thing. While I dislike bloat, I really love sub-factions and can’t wait to see more of them. In fact I’ve even written about which Space Marine Chapters needs rules next. Happily this expansion has not been limited to Marines. When you think about it, there isn’t a 40K that has more varied sub-factions that the famed Astra Militarium. With that in mind let’s take a look at some Regiments that really need rules, maybe in the next Guard book.
N.B. I’m going to stay away from chapters Forge World has made models or rules for, such as the Death Krops of Kreig.
The Tanith First and Only
The Tanith First and Only, “Guant’s Ghosts”, are one of the most famous and popular Astra Militarium Regiments. As the stars of Dan Abnett’s hit books (and possibly the best 40K novels to date) they are widely known and likely have the most detailed regimental history of any 40K unit. On the battlefield they are superb light infantry, specializing in scouting and sniping. They’ve got great uniforms and make extensive use of camo-cloaks. Adding to the reasons they should get rules is the face that they do actually have models, and both they and their commander Guant, have had rules in the past. Their popularity, and their history make them top tier candidates for rules.
13th Penal Legion/ Schaffer’s Last Chancers
Another famous old regiment, and start of its own series, is the the 13th Penal Legion, often known as Schaffer’s Last Chancers. This is best known for its origins as a Dirty Dozen knock off, elite commando team of criminals. However the regiment does often field more. What normally happens is that the titular Col. Schaffer, will take a large penal legion of condemned criminals, starting in the thousands, and use them in the worst possible missions. At the end only a handful of the strongest will survive, just in time to be used in the “real” final mission. It’s a brutal process, but very Imperial. I think rules for either the 13th, or Penal Legions in general would be great. Add to this the fact that the Last Chancers, not only have models, but just got rules in Apocalypse and you’ve got lots of great reason to flesh these gals and guys out.
Attilan Rough Riders
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that getting Attilan rules is a complete pipe dream at this point. The Attilan Rough Riders are one of the oldest Imperial Guard regiments out there, dating back the magnificent 2nd Edition Codex. In short, these guys are space Mongols. They come from a nomadic tribal culture, based off of Mongol/Hunnic cultures. They ride actual horses and use exploding lances, and fight robots in space and it’s just the coolest. I would absolutely give someone else’s right leg for rules for them. The big problem comes with the fact that while they’ve had models in the distant past, they currently don’t sell Rough Rider models, nor is the unit even in the Codex. The mounted core of the Attilan’s is an index only unit, so any Attilan release would have to come with new rules for Rough Riders. But hey, White Scars exist so whey not the Attilans? Both have identical backgrounds!
Elucidian Starstriders
Ok, so this one is a little weird on a couple levels. The first is that the Eludicdian Starstriders are not technically a regiment. They are in fact a Rogue Trader faction bent on exploration. The second weird part is that they do actually have rules, their own Codex in fact. The Codex however only allows you to take a single small squad of the Astra Militrium equivalent, the voidsmen-at-arms. The fact is however that these models are so cool that I really want to be able to convert and field a whole army out of them. Giving them their own cool rules, and working in the use of rotor cannons and cyber dogs would be super rad.
Necromundan Guard Regiments
The Hive World of Necromunda has produced a large number of Regiments in its time. This includes the famed Necromunda 8th “The Spiders“. This Regiment dates back to the Rogue Trader era and is so old it got to use both Rhinos and Land Raiders back in the day! They are however just one of the many Regiments sent forth form their home world. Necromundan regiments tend to all come from the same gang (the Spiders come from the powerful Spider Clan – probably Van-Saar) and are generally good are urban and hive warfare. Given that we’ve got a pretty big line of Necromunda models out there now, with a number of gangs just waiting to be truned into regiments, this seems like a great choice to make rules for. You could even go deeper and make sub faction rules for each and every house. It’s a regular goldmine.
Let us know what Regiments you think should get rules, down in the comments!
