40K: Five Astra Militarium Regiments That Need Rules

Lets take a look at some famous Astra Militarium Regiments that desperately need rules.

Games Workshop has been slowly rolling out rules for more and more sub-factions of existing armies. Whether it’s Chaos renegade chapters in Vigilus or loyalist chapters in White Dwarfs, the new rules keep coming. Overall I think this is a pretty great thing. While I dislike bloat, I really love sub-factions and can’t wait to see more of them. In fact I’ve even written about which Space Marine Chapters needs rules next. There is however no reason this sub faction expansion should be limited to Marines. When you think about it, there is no group in 40K that has more varied sub-factions that the famed Astra Militarium, the Imperial Guard. With that in mind let’s take a look at some Regiments that really need rules, weather in a White Dwarf or a Vigilus like expansion.

N.B. I’m going to stay away from chapters Forge World has made models or rules for, such as the Death Krops of Kreig. While these Regimentsdeserve rules, it will likely come in a Forge World supplement.

The Tanith First and Only

The Tanith First and Only, “Guant’s Ghosts”, are one of the most famous and popular Astra Militarium Regiments. As the stars of Dan Abnett’s hit books (and possibly the best 40K novels to date) they are widely known and likely have the most detailed regimental history of any 40K unit. On the battlefield they are superb light infantry, specializing in scouting and sniping.  They’ve got great uniforms and make extensive use of camo-cloaks. Adding to the reasons they should get rules is the face that they do actually have models, and both they and their commander Guant, have had rules in the past. Their popularity, and their history make them top tier candidates for rules.

13th Penal Legion/ Schaffer’s Last Chancers

Another famous old regiment, and start of its own series, is the the 13th Penal Legion, often known as Schaffer’s Last Chancers. This is best known for its origins as a Dirty Dozen knock off, elite commando team of criminals. However the regiment does often field more. What normally happens is that the titular Col. Schaffer, will take a large penal legion of condemned criminals, starting in the thousands, and use them in the worst possible missions. At the end only a handful of the strongest will survive, just in time to be used in the “real” final mission. It’s a brutal process, but very Imperial. I think rules for either the 13th, or Penal Legions in general would be great. Add to this the fact that the Last Chancers, not only have models, but just got rules in Apocalypse and you’ve got lots of great reason to flesh these gals and guys out.

Attilan Rough Riders

Look, I’ll be the first to admit that getting Attilan rules is a complete pipe dream at this point. The Attilan Rough Riders are one of the oldest Imperial Guard regiments out there, dating back the magnificent 2nd Edition Codex. In short, these guys are space Mongols. They come from a nomadic tribal culture, based off of Mongol/Hunnic cultures. They ride actual horses and use exploding lances, and fight robots in space and it’s just the coolest. I would absolutely give someone else’s right leg for rules for them. The big problem comes with the fact that while they’ve had models in the distant past, they currently don’t sell Rough Rider models, nor is the unit even in the Codex. The mounted core of the Attilan’s is an index only unit, so any Attilan release would have to come with new rules for Rough Riders.

Elucidian Starstriders

Ok, so this one is a little weird on a couple levels. The first is that the Eludicdian Starstriders are not technically a regiment. They are in fact a Rogue Trader faction bent on exploration. The second weird part is that they do actually have rules, their own Codex in fact. The Codex however only allows you to take a single small squad of the Astra Militrium equivalent, the voidsmen-at-arms. The fact is however that these models are so cool that I really want to be able to convert and field a whole army out of them. Giving them their own cool rules, and working in the use of rotor cannons and cyber dogs would be super rad.

Necromundan Guard Regiments

The Hive World of Necromunda has produced a large number of Regiments in its time. This includes the famed Necromunda 8th “The Spiders“. This Regiment dates back to the Rogue Trader era and is so old it got to use both Rhinos and Land Raiders. They are however just one of the many Regiments sent forth form their home world. Necromundan regiments tend to all come from the same gang (the Spiders come from the powerful Spider Clan – probably Van-Saar) and are generally good are urban and hive warfare. Given that we’ve got a pretty big line of Necromunda models out there now, with a number of gangs just waiting to be truned into regiments, this seems like a great choice to make rules for. You could even go deeper and make sub faction rules for each and every house. It’s a regular goldmine.

Let us know what Regiments you think should get rules, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.