Astra militarum beginner: codex or Index imperium?

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**teo89**

As per title, I am new to the hobby (coming from warmachine) and I intend to start a imperial guard (still wondering why they changed the name...) all tank army.
Now, my main question is: what is the difference, if any, between the Astra Militarum Codex and Index Imperium 2? Are the rules extactly the same? If yes, then whcih one should I buy?
Thanks

**Vaktathi**

The Index has been superseded by the Codex for Imperial Guard armies, don't buy the Index (unless you want it for another army that hasn't gotten a codex yet or want to use Rough Riders

). The rules are not the same, though probably 90% are. The functionality of the Russ tanks are dramatically superior in the Codex however if that is what you are looking to build.

**teo89**

Vaktathi wrote:
The Index has been superseded by the Codex for Imperial Guard armies

That's all I wanted to know, thank you very much. One more thing, might be OT though: I had a look at a friend's IG codex and among other thinghs I saw that Leman Russ now can't be equipped with storm bolter, camo netting and hunter killer missile anymore? is that correct or these extra wargear are listed somewhere I didn't check? Thanks again

**Theo4016**

Sometimes, an option is only in the index, and in this case, it's legal to take it.

From Warhammer Community :

There are a few options that are missing in the codex that appear in the index: why is that? Does that mean I can’t use these models in my army anymore?
While the indexes are designed to cover a long history of miniatures, the codexes are designed to give you rules for the current Warhammer 40,000 range. There are a few options in the indexes for some Characters and vehicles that are no longer represented in the Citadel range – certain Dreadnought weapons that don’t come in the box, or some characters on bikes, for example.
Don’t worry though, you can still use all of these in your games if you have these older models. In these instances, use the datasheet from the index, and the most recent points published for that model and its weapons (currently, also in the index).
They still gain all the army wide-bonuses for things like Chapter Tactics and can use Space Marines Stratagems and the like, so such venerable heroes still fit right in with the rest of your army.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/07/05/codexes-your-questions-answered-july-5gw-homepage-post-2/

**teo89**

Theo4016 wrote:
Sometimes, an option is only in the index, and in this case, it's legal to take it.
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/07/05/codexes-your-questions-answered-july-5gw-homepage-post-2/

Perfect, thanks!

**nateprati**

Remember chapter approved changed a lot of codex points for us so look into that. You might want to buy the codex and find a friend with chapter approved and note down the points/rules changes instead of buying the whole book just for that.

Or buy the digital codex, i cant confirm that it is up to date but gw did say they plan in updating digital whenever they change stuff

**FrozenDwarf**

The difference between the index and codex is that the index is a transition codex from 7th to 8th.

The 2017 codex for IG is made spesificly for 8th.

Reason for name change from imperial guard to astra militarium is simply 3rd party models.

**Zingraff**

Imperial Guard was renamed a couple of years ago, because GW wanted a name they could trademark. Why Eldar and Space Marines, just to give a couple of examples, weren't given the same treatment, is unclear.

Imperial Guard is a solid, no-nonsense name, whereas the other is a pseudo-Latin mess. When I come across people who in conversation refer to Imperial Guard as "AM", I get all punchy inside.

**FrozenDwarf**

Zingraff wrote:
Imperial Guard was renamed a couple of years ago, because GW wanted a name they could trademark. Why Eldar and Space Marines, just to give a couple of examples, weren't given the same treatment, is unclear.

Arent GW allready in the prossess of changing the name eldar?
The new codex is called craftworld and dark eldar is drukhari. The name eldar is removed from the GW site..

Allso, i bet that in 3-5 years, the new official GW name for space marines will be primaris marines.....

**unitled**

Zingraff wrote:
Imperial Guard was renamed a couple of years ago, because GW wanted a name they could trademark. Why Eldar and Space Marines, just to give a couple of examples, weren't given the same treatment, is unclear.

Imperial Guard is a solid, no-nonsense name, whereas the other is a pseudo-Latin mess. When I come across people who in conversation refer to Imperial Guard as "AM", I get all punchy inside.

Eldar are now called Aeldari... Don't they try and use Adeptus Astartes for SMs now too?

**Imateria**

Zingraff wrote:
Imperial Guard was renamed a couple of years ago, because GW wanted a name they could trademark. Why Eldar and Space Marines, just to give a couple of examples, weren't given the same treatment, is unclear.

Imperial Guard is a solid, no-nonsense name, whereas the other is a pseudo-Latin mess. When I come across people who in conversation refer to Imperial Guard as "AM", I get all punchy inside.

They already had Eldar trademarked, which makes the change to Aeldari all the more bizzare.

**Corrode**

Imateria wrote:
Zingraff wrote:
Imperial Guard was renamed a couple of years ago, because GW wanted a name they could trademark. Why Eldar and Space Marines, just to give a couple of examples, weren't given the same treatment, is unclear.

Imperial Guard is a solid, no-nonsense name, whereas the other is a pseudo-Latin mess. When I come across people who in conversation refer to Imperial Guard as "AM", I get all punchy inside.

They already had Eldar trademarked, which makes the change to Aeldari all the more bizzare.

They hold a trademark on Eldar, but given that Eldar is both a common given name in some cultures, and included in several other fantasy universes (including the one they ripped it off from, Tolkien) it's likely that its usage was fairly limited. Aeldari, being more unique, could probably be more widely applied.

**Zingraff**

Eldar is an somewhat rare given name in Norway, where most people will associate it with the musician Eldar Vågan.

In a similar vein, "Tau" is just name for the Greek letter T, so GW can't trademark it either (it also means "rope" in Norwegian).

**SirWeeble**

Maybe they can't copyright "Tau", but they can copyright "T'au". Is "T'au" used in their books? They've got it on their site.

**Maxim C. Gatling**

That would explain the late arrival of the Demiurg. Can't trademark that. Maybe they're waiting for a cool trademarkable name for the Dorfs to come to one of them in a vision while sitting on the toilet.

That's it. Fer shur.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

SirWeeble wrote:
Maybe they can't copyright "Tau", but they can copyright "T'au". Is "T'au" used in their books? They've got it on their site.

I could be wrong, but I think T'au was a Vulcan character in Star Trek. I'm thinking Original Series....was a chick.... Damn these old memory circuits...

**Ultramarine Joe**

I just bought the Guard codex and can't figure out which categories each unit is a part of. Which units are elites? Which units are heavy support? Etc. Can someone help me out?

**The Sentinel**

Ultramarine Joe wrote:
I just bought the Guard codex and can't figure out which categories each unit is a part of. Which units are elites? Which units are heavy support? Etc. Can someone help me out?

In the upper left of the datasheet are some icons. Those represent the roles. Skull = HQ, Triangle = Troops, Lightning Bolt = Fast Attack, Cross = Elite, Explosion = Heavy Support

**MrMoustaffa**

Zingraff wrote:
Imperial Guard was renamed a couple of years ago, because GW wanted a name they could trademark. Why Eldar and Space Marines, just to give a couple of examples, weren't given the same treatment, is unclear.

Imperial Guard is a solid, no-nonsense name, whereas the other is a pseudo-Latin mess. When I come across people who in conversation refer to Imperial Guard as "AM", I get all punchy inside.

I could live with the AM abbreviation if we didn't have another completely different codex called Adeptus Mechanicus. It confuses the heck out of people both ways. So you end up having to do "admech" and most people just keep using IG anyways.

**AndrewGPaul**

Zingraff wrote:
Eldar is an somewhat rare given name in Norway, where most people will associate it with the musician Eldar Vågan.

In a similar vein, "Tau" is just name for the Greek letter T, so GW can't trademark it either (it also means "rope" in Norwegian).

Trademarks rely on context, and often the precise style of the text - typeface, colour, etc (UPS have a trademark on that shade of brown, for example). If GW were to trademark "Tau" in the context of tabletop games, it would make no difference to anyone discussing particle physics, relativity or Greek.

**Infantryman**

teo89 wrote:
I saw that Leman Russ now can't be equipped with storm bolter, camo netting and hunter killer missile anymore? is that correct or these extra wargear are listed somewhere I didn't check? Thanks again

Codex: Astra Militarum wrote:
Any model may take items from the Vehicle Equipment list.

You can find this list on p85 of Codex: Astra Militarum. It does permit Storm Bolters and Hunter Killer missiles, but as you suspected Camo Netting is no longer A Thing. Indeed, non-weapon wargear is becoming much less common in this edition.