Warhammer 40K: Five Fun Rules Combos To Pull With Astra Militarum
Here are some fun rules tricks and combos to help you make the most out of your 10th Edition Imperial Guard list.
Last week we took at look at some crazy things the current 10th Edition rules let you do. Well today I want to take a look at some fun, and maybe even good, combos you can pull with Astra Militarum. As one of the biggest books in the game, and rocking a large Forgeworld section, there is a lot going on in this index. It can really be a lot to go into and parse. So lets dig in and see what they can do, after all it looks like we are stuck with these rules for a while.
The Guard Squad That Doesn’t Want To Die
Imperial Guard infantry isn’t exactly known for being the most survivable in the game. However the index does has a few ways to really buff up a unit. Lets start with the a unit of the Death Korps of Krieg. They are a good unit and get better as they die, which, yeah, will probably happen. Now if they can ever figure out how to take a medi-pack they become the most survivable infantry as they can bring models back.
But things don’t end there. Drop in the Death Korps Marshal and the unit gets a nice FNP 5+. Then you can still add in the ever useful Primaris Psyker. One a 2+ he’s going to give the units a 4++ save. Lastly to be extra move them into cover and drop a Take Cover! order one them. Suddenly you are looking at a 3+/4++(vs ranged)/5++ unit that can heal each turn. That’s actually pretty survivable – especially for Astra Militarum!
Long Range Orders
This one is both pretty simple and pretty obvious – but it’s so good it’s worth mentioning. Lord Solar Leontus is a great unit and provides a lot. He can give orders to three units, which is great. Sadly orders don’t have a super long range. However if you join him to a unit that also has a command squad with a Master Vox attached to it this isn’t as big an issue. Leontus can take advantage of the master vox to issues orders to units 24″ away, thus making him even better.
Just Use All the Stratagems
Remember the heady days of 8th Edition when Guard just had all the CP in the world? You could use stratagems to your hearts content. Well 10th has changed that and you now get a much more limited amount of CP to spend. However you can still make up for this. The Lord Solar gives you a free CP a turn. On top of that if you take Ursula Creed she lets you use a free stratagem per battle round. Taking both of them lets you use a lot of Strats, up to 15 in a game. It also lets you use the same one twice. This could let you, for instance, bring back just a ton of units. The best thing is they are both good units you already want in your army.
BEHOLD – The Land Fortress!
Guard have access to a fair number for super heavies. However they aren’t the best in the game, as they lack invuln saves and have a meh 4+ BS. However, using a few tricks we can really up the potential of one of them. Now there are a couple that this combo works with. But for me the best in the Banehammer, though there are strong arguments for the Doomhammer.
The key here is the firing deck of 12 and the transport capacity of 26. So lets see about filling this. The obvious move is to buy 3 heavy weapon squads, for 9 heavy weapons of your choic. Lets say… Lascannons. You can drop these in the back and they take up 18 slots, and can all fire. That leaves you 3 more firing slots and 6 models you can transport. Well for my money you want to take three Primaris Psykers and pop them in the back. They’ve got solid guns.
Now the nice thing about having all these units firing out of the super heavy is that you can buff all 7 units with a single order. And while you can’t normally give orders to Super Heavies, the Lord Solar can. So plopping down Take Aim! on the unit is totally doable, and now all the guns inside and on it are BS 3+. Aside from the Psykers who are 2+, and have I mentioned their attack is really really good? You’re also getting to shoot with 13 lascannons which is fun.
Next up we need to make this baby stick around. And for that we have the Regimental Enginseer. Run one nearby and not only can your tank heal wounds, but it gets a 4+ invulnerable save. This lasts from your command phase until your next and works in combat. Lastly we can drop Armored Might on the unit to give it -1 D. You can do this a lot with both Creed and the Lord Solar around. It’s a lot to pull together, but it does give you a pretty decent unit. Yay!
Have The Best OC
The Guard are able to cram just an amazing amount of OC into a unit. Lets start with your basic infantry Squad. The unit can start at 20 models, each with OC 2, giving you a solid 40 OC off the bat. However you can up that pretty quickly. Next lets take a Command Squad, and to this we can add both a Ogryn Bodyguard and the Regimental Attaché unit. This now 9 model squad can then be attached to the Infantry Squad. Let’s also pop a Commissar in the unit as well.
We’ve now got a 30 model with, with 20 models having OC 2 and 10 with OC 1 for 50 OC. However we can also assume that your Command Squad has a Regimental Standard in it to give all your models +1 OC. Thats an extra 30 OC, taking the Squad to OC 80. Now feel free to use the Duty and Honor! order on the unit for another +1 per model. Your one unit now has an OC of 110! Thanks to the Commissar you can re-roll battle shock and once a game just become un-battle shocked (using an Enginseer and Servitors you can actually get to 118 OC). Good luck taking an objective from that unit, and Guard can easily field a lot like this one.
Let us know what tricks and combos you are using, down in the comments!
