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Imperial Navy infantry has been a -very- long-running project of mine. My WIP codex is over 150 pages...

I've finally gotten around to working on the rules for the weaponry and I'm pretty sure I've nailed it. If I run it by you I think it can only be judged in the context of other elements in the army, so I'll give you a quick breakdown.

Represents troops used in boarding parties and surface landing teams
No ground vehicles, only flyers
Heavy use of rules such as deep strike (with Airborne Assault), outflanking, limiting/declaring enemy reserves etc
Specific navy weapons and equipment (unique for creating a 'faction' identity)
*Majority of weapons and munitions are supposed to be limited, so no use of las-weapons for instance

The idea is to have a strong personality for the army/faction, with its own strengths and -of course- weaknesses.

Three tiers of infantry quality:
Watchmen (Guardsmen, very limited weapons) platoon
Armsmen (Storm Troopers, special weapons and tactics) 2-3 5/10 man units
Commandos (Navy SEALs/SBS/Combat Divers/Frogmen - Assassins) one 5-man unit


Standard Watchman load-out
EagleClaw 18” 3 - Rapid Fire
Ignatius Flam Template 4 5 Assault 1

EagleClaw automatic shotgun, unit can switch (once per game) to Ignatius shells, allowing a flamer attack
Kitted with Haywire, Assault and Defensive grenades

*My idea here is that the weakness of the shottie is balanced by the unique grenades which contrast to the typical cigarette and kak. These 3 nade types give much more flavour to the type of 'Room Clearance' units that would operate in ship-to-ship fighting.

As for unit special weapons I'm still working on it, because having too many odd little devices that are unique to this Army means that my opponent is unlikely to go along with them. Basically I was thinking that the unit would use tools as improvised weapons, but I'm not sure how to translate them. For instance I was thinking of something like a welding torch that would be in effect a Flame Pistol.

External heavy weapons: ("Field Guns") these cover the firepower you'd normally get from ground vehicles, but naturally they have no defensive/armour ability
Field Guns are:
MACE- mobile assault cannon emplacement. Twin-linked assault cannon (mobile)
MAUL- melta assault utility. Twin-linked multi-melta (mobile)
FOX- flamer ordnance axis. Inferno cannon (immobile)

The latter might be a bit overkill I admit, since the use of flyers does give some weight to the Army.

Standard Armsmen load-out Wear a Voidhelm with built-in Vox
Shotcannon 24” 4 6 Heavy 3
Ignatius HeFlam Template 5 4 Assault 1

In-squad heavy weapons
Heavy Flamer
Bulkhead cutters (base-to-base strong anti-armour weapon)*not worked out the stats for this yet

Optional variant Armsmen Mandator Squadron: (Police/Close Protection)
Shock-Staff and Combat Shield (armour)

Optional special weapons (in separate squad formations of 5men)
Sniper Rifles *Navy actually uses sniper rifles a lot, people have argued that cramped space hulk corridors are no place for snipers, but I see ships with large multi-deck chambers and industrial factory-type environments being perfect places for some Stalingrad action. There is also the very long corridors to consider. Heli-snipers are also key parts of the Navy, I can see WH40k aeronauts shooting from hovering Valks over a city-scape. Cheese!



I'd be really chuffed if you could give me your hardcore veteran opinions on this.




Edit: the EagleClaw is supposed to be S3 not S4 lol!

I like the idea, and I think it would make an interesting Allied Faction kind of deal, but I don't know if it has the bulk to make up an entire army list.

The way I see it you only have a few Elite and Troop options, maybe a Heavy option with your gun platforms, and the rest of your Heavy and Fast Attack is filled out with more or less existing Imperial Navy Flyers and maybe a new type of lander.

To me this makes a perfect Allied detachment and a good way to get flyers like Thunderbolts into Imperial armies without having to take Imperial Guard, or use up slots in your Guard army. You have a small Navy landing party and Flyer support alongside your Sisters of Battle/Guard/Marines etc.

The rules look interesting and in characterful, nothing too overpowered so far, but point values and the possible builds for units will be everything. Keep it up!