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I have just started playing 40k again after a 5 year abs. I have decided to play Astra Militarum....The only things I have purchased is my codex, Commissar Yarrick and Command Squad....working on each unit individually...putting together and painting. So looking at adding a priest to the unit to help with his War Hymes - mostly The Emperor protects rule (allows re-rolls of armor saves and Invulnerable saves) mostly for Yarrick in combat. Not sure If I should add anything else?

Later I will be adding in 2 full platoons with heavy and special weapon support and tanks.

Really just need advice about my HQ choice and what to add into it.

And can the command squad have more then 4 veterans in it, not including Yarrick?

Well, with my very limited IG experience, I can say that Yarick is fun, but he really shines in a big close combat blob of guardsmen.

Your command squads want to be sitting in a chimera issuing orders to your infantry, your platoon command squads want to do the same thing. They are not combat units, even though they can be equipped to do exactly that, they shouldn't. On the CCS go with a few melta guns, so you have so ap2 and versatility, and they won't get hot and explode like plasma.

Keep the platoon squads cheap, maybe a flamer or two, that's about it.

One of the best HQ choices for IG is Tank Command Pask in a punisher tank. He can put out a incredible amount of shots and will kill most of what he touches with his gatling cannon.

Thank you so much!

Keep Yarrick in platoons, whichever platoon doesn't have him should at bare minimum get a regular commissar, so that they'll have stubborn too.

Give the blobs something they can actually fight with, heavy weapons like autocannons and lascannons are good standbys. Never forget that as long as the heavy weapons specifically don't move, they shoot normally. Use this fact to run most of your blob up and let the weapons fire normally for a few turns. It's not like the lasguns will have shots the first couple of turns anyways. I personally also invest in melta or Plasma for my blobs. I've tried flamers and GL's in blobs many times and you get what you paid for aka not much. Plasmas and melta are also scary to an opponent, whereas GL's and Flamers will not deter him in the slightest. Remember, you get something like 90 anti infantry lasgun shots a turn per unit, do you really need more anti infantry like flamers and GL? (the answer is no) And if you need higher strength stuff, GL's are terrible at that and snipers require you to stay put, so they're unnecessary as well.

As for the command squad, the Regimental standard is always a good choice if you have infantry footslogging, the reroll is amazing and will even kick in before commissars execute.

Awesome advice sir, thank you!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@Mr.Moustaffa

Do you think Veterans are worth it?

After reading your advice, so run blocks of guardsmen and have the heavy support stay in the back correct?

Just include some melta and plasma in my blocks correct?

 Wardaddy77 wrote:
Awesome advice sir, thank you!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@Mr.Moustaffa

Do you think Veterans are worth it?

After reading your advice, so run blocks of guardsmen and have the heavy support stay in the back correct?

Just include some melta and plasma in my blocks correct?

Do not go the blob route, unless you really want to use Yarrick. Blobs are big, unwieldy, squishy, lack mobility, staying power and firepower and cost s much to actually make semi useful that you can literally buy a Baneblade for the same price as a fully kitted out blob.
If you want heavy weapons take either Rapier's or Armoured Sentinels, or better yet tanks.

As for veterans, they are by far the best Troops choice in the entire codex but they need some work to get them there. Make sure that you at least give them either Grenadiers or Forward Sentries to improve their survive ability - I personally prefer Grenadiers with all the Ignores Cover flying about these days. You have to take advantage of the three SW slots - three Melta guns or three Plasma guns are best - and they work best inside Chimeras, driving about and firing their SW from the roof hatch.

I would personally disagree with Moustaffa on certain points.

Lascannons, leave at home they're too expensive on a BS3 model. You'll miss half the time and if you do hits, wooo 1HP down.

Vet's are great for your special weapons as they're BS4 and you can mount them in chimera's. I normally would have two with meltas for every one with Plasma. Sure gets hot will potentially kill some of them but they tend to be worth it. Leave your HW's at home with these guys as you'll simply be adding weapons you won't be using (or only snap firing) most the time.

Concerning Heavy Weapons, teams mean easier targeting options but they're more likely to get picked off. The best weapon realistically is Autocannons in such units. If you're putting HW teams into your basic guardsmen blobs either go Missile Launchers or Autocannons as they can both be used in plenty of situations (don't bother with flakk missiles they are simply too expensive). Don't forget to attach at the very least a commissar to stop your blobs running when they attract heavy fire.

Concerning HW in general I would say the Heavy Bolter is usable, but generally the Autocannon would serve better. Mortars are pointless at their cost especially with the Wyverns Stormshard Mortars being much superior. Lascannons as I said are a waste, I'd only give them to BS4 models, which is a waste on Vet's due to their role meaning it will usually snap fire. Missile launchers are better as blob support, but not totally terrible in their own HW squads.

Concerning Special weapon squads, their only real role is to give either flamers, grenade launchers or sniper rifles. Aka stuff cheap enough that they can be a pain but not draw too much attention to themselves. They're also only BS3 which means your expensive options will miss too much. Also putting a flamer special weapon squad in a Valkyrie will ruin any hordes day!

With tanks you have a wide variety of options, although ignoring pask in a punisher, it's often better to ally in your tanks from the Armoured Battlegroup list as their options are much superior. Aka actually having decent BS4 twin linked vanquishers that can also reliably kill MC's. Simply post what tanks you're interested in and you will get about 2-3 different suggestions how to loadout on them. However keep in mind the role you want for them. Too many people combine short + long range AT on a vanquisher which just wastes points.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 master of ordinance wrote:

 Wardaddy77 wrote:
Awesome advice sir, thank you!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@Mr.Moustaffa

Do you think Veterans are worth it?

After reading your advice, so run blocks of guardsmen and have the heavy support stay in the back correct?

Just include some melta and plasma in my blocks correct?

Do not go the blob route, unless you really want to use Yarrick. Blobs are big, unwieldy, squishy, lack mobility, staying power and firepower and cost s much to actually make semi useful that you can literally buy a Baneblade for the same price as a fully kitted out blob.
If you want heavy weapons take either Rapier's or Armoured Sentinels, or better yet tanks.

As for veterans, they are by far the best Troops choice in the entire codex but they need some work to get them there. Make sure that you at least give them either Grenadiers or Forward Sentries to improve their survive ability - I personally prefer Grenadiers with all the Ignores Cover flying about these days. You have to take advantage of the three SW slots - three Melta guns or three Plasma guns are best - and they work best inside Chimeras, driving about and firing their SW from the roof hatch.

Tbh my only disagreements would be really concerning the Doctrines for Vets, personally I wouldn't use them but at 15-14 points they're a steal! Concerning Blobs, meh I use them either to draw fire or on anti DS duty as they can either tarpit the heavy stuff or simply annihilate normal inf via FRFSRF. But you don't really want to fully kit out a blob really... well I don't at least.

However for heavy weapons for fire support, the best option in my personal opinion are Salamanders in the FW book. Okay not everyone has the book and you have to convert them, but they're basically faster armoured Sentinels on steroids.

I'd say you can't go withojt a leman russ tank. Demolisher for hard striking and normal for long range support.

Otherwise, a big infantry blob is always your friend. To be honest, the special units within the IG aren't that good although they're abviously fun to play with. Still, i'm very pround of my Ratling squad and of my Stormtroopers. I use these last as mechanized infantry units and it tends to hurt a lot!

Hoping i've helped.

CCS and PCS can only take 5 models, but other ICs like Yarrick can join them. Commissars and Priests like being in squads, as do other HQ choices. But, keeping the CS cheap lets them give orders to more capable squads. Put the ICs in those squads, and keep the CSs back in their command vehicles (Chimeras).

Unless things have changed:

The 5-man guardsman kit is usually cheaper to fill out a squad than buying the infantry squad kit.
The command squad kit has all the special weapons, where-as the infantry is missing the melta and plasma guns.
Price up starter boxes and other bundles instead of buying individually. Often, an item in there may not get used, but you could still end up saving money.
There are two LRBT kits. Only the common LRBT variants are ever included in the bundles, so make sure it has the turrets you will be using.
Priest models are in the Sisters of Battle (Adeptus Sororitas?) range.

Ordnance weapons mess up any other weapons on that platform. So, if you take sponsons on your tanks, avoid taking ordnance weapons on the turret. Unless you want to, of course.
The GW Formations are are made for IG to use. The guard like to get a save of any kind, and a cover save when in the trenches helps lots. Having the option for AV14 bunkers is great, and they can be upgraded for all sorts of bonuses.

You can get a set of 5x Space Marine Plasma Guns or 5x Space Marine Melta Guns for £6. Just file the hands a lil and the fit in perfectly fine.

Concerning sponsons on ordnance weapons, heavy bolters are your best bet. I normally take them on my vanilla russes just in case A) The main gun gets knocked out B) To reduce the chance of my main gun getting knocked out and C) Snap firing you'll get one or two hits.

With the Punisher and Exterminator Russes triple heavy botlers rock.

With the Vanquisher a Hull Lascannon and Bolter sponsons also work really well, especially if you use the ABG variants (BS 4 in HQ and Elite slot + beasthunter shells), might as well get the FW turret so you get the pintle stubber for twin linked goodness. Even without the FW version, I dislike taking Mulit-Melta sponsons on them as A) They're expensive and B) You're now mixing long and short range AT and your vanquishers don't want to be getting too close to anything tbh.

As a question myself never having bothered with priests, what's their main role and are they worth the cost?

i've been playing militarum for a very short amount of time, but have gotten in couple of games with them. from my experience, i can tell you that big groups are your friends, and putting too many points into a tank or single model is disasterous. Next, never take wyrdvanes. ever. unless it's for a psykana division, which is great. Next, equip your command squads with sniper rifles and vox casters. this way, for only 11 extra points, you can keep your leaders both far from the fighting and still effective. Finally, vendettas and autocannon teams should be taken at least once.

 NoOneExpectsAnInquisition wrote:
equip your command squads with sniper rifles and vox casters. this way, for only 11 extra points, you can keep your leaders both far from the fighting and still effective.

All CSs? Vets in the CCS can fire well, but PCS are not vets. I don't upgrade my PCS at all, and keep them back as a scoring unit.

So another question....If I take Commissar Yarrick who can have a Command Squad per the codex, how many veterans can be in his command squad?

 Wardaddy77 wrote:
So another question....If I take Commissar Yarrick who can have a Command Squad per the codex, how many veterans can be in his command squad?

in the codex he is a HQ choice by himself on his lonesome. So he is 145 points by himself. As an independant character he may join any squad. Be it a normal infantry squad, Company Command Squad, scions, veterans etc.

Command sections are an independent unit by themselves, consisting of a Compny commander, four Veterans and up to three bolt on Regimental Aids/Adviser, each of which brings a different ability to the unit:
the Master of Ordnance allows you to fire a S9 AP3 large blast barrage once a turn, but it scatters miles (literally - it can go up to 18" off target).
the Master of the Fleet allows you to either add +1 to your reserve rolls or subtract -1 from your opponents.
the Astropath is a ML1 psyker who draws from the Divination discipline.

They all cost between 20 to 25 points and the Master of the Fleet is most certainly worth it for that -1 on our opponents rolls.

Yarrick does not have any squad with him as part of his entry.
But, as he is an Independent Character, he can join one.
So, for two HQ choices, you can have Yarrick, and a Company Command Squad for him to join.
The CCS is always 5 models, including 4 veterans. Yarrick can join, making 1 squad of 4 veterans, Yarrick and the company commander. The CCS is always 5 models, but can add the Astropath, MoO or OoF, but no more vets.

Can a Baneblade be taken in a regular 40k game? I'm assuming it's considered a Lord of War slot?

Yep, generally you'll need one of the supplement books, the IA entry for the baneblade is out of date.

thank you!

 Baldeagle91 wrote:
Yep, generally you'll need one of the supplement books, the IA entry for the baneblade is out of date.

This is a source of contention. Locally, we accept IAvol1:2e as still valid, because it is still published, printed, and purchaseable straight from GW/FW itself.

Just ask your local community.

Personally, coming from another army that can field a lot of tanks, I'd avoid tank heavy lists, especially Russ hulls. High AV has a lot of downfalls in 7th ed and the firepower on most Russ variants is not that impressive.