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Good day! I am a 40k noob, as I will now demonstrate.

I have been playing SM for some time now (over 5 years) and I have been hearing about this 'gladius formation' for awhile now. What is it? I bought the new codex a while back, but the most I can find is the battle demi-company, which quite frankly isn't what I was hoping for. I was promised free razorbacks! where are they? Please help!

P. 112 of the SM codex.

A Battle Demi-Company is the "Core" formation. Units have Ob Sec. You gain access to 1 use of a Combat Doctrine.

If you add an Auxiliary to that, you get a Gladius. That gives you access to 3 more Combat Doctrine uses. [4 total]

If you then take another Demi-Company [One Cap, one Chap] you then get free Rhinos, Razors, and Pods for units that can take them. This is informally known as a "Battle Company" or "Full Battle Company".


Many people incorrectly refer to the Full Battle Company as a "Gladius".

Ouch. These formations look pretty painful to be up against.
I mean, I used to lose games. Not anymore...

The Battle-Company can be a high-end list, but it plays like IG want to play. Lots of shooting [Razors / Dudes with a Gun inside] and lots of Casualties, but in the end you hold objectives by the skin of your teeth and win the game.

Personally, I find the restrictive nature of the Gladius to be a hindrance. But I like to use lots of different units instead of 3-of-a-kinds.