Warhammer 40K: Four Weird Choices GW Made In Codex: Astra Militarium

The Imperial Guard have a brand spanking new codex out, and there are some really odd things in it.

After years of waiting and hoping Imperial Guard have a brand new codex. The venerable IG or Astra Militarium for you young folks, have gotten a 9th Edition upgrade. It comes with a host of new rules and ways the play the army. Along with that comes several brand new units and a few new models for older units. In some ways it’s a return to the old weird guard armies, even if it feels a little lacking in focus. The book has its good and bad parts, but it also had a share of just plan odd things. These are weird choices GW made in designing the Codex. Today let’s take a look at a few of those.

The Rogal Dorn Can’t Be A Tank Commander

The Rogal Dorn is the brand new IG tank introduced in this Codex. The tank is a… medium-heavy tank? Heavy-heavy tank? It sits between the Leman Russ Battle Tank and the Super Heavies like the Baneblade. It’s a big beefy tank, but it still fits into a normal army as a heavy support choice. Rather than getting a squadron like you do with the Leman Russ, you get just one. It’s the kind of tank you see putting a commander in… only you can’t. Don’t get me wrong, the Tank Commander still exists as an HQ choice, but as was the case before – it’s only an option in a Leman Russ. This is an odd choice to me as a Dorn seems the perfect option for an HQ tank commander. Then you could have this big beefy command tank leading squadrons of lighter Russes.

It’s not like this would make the tank broken. Tank Commanders no longer get a stats boost, in fact all they get is the option to give an order, not a huge buff. I guess it would let you take more Dorns, but the things are pretty pricy and I don’t think taking more than 3 would break the game. It’s also not due to lack of a model. Tank commanders don’t have a dedicated model, its just something you put on a tank. It’s really an odd choice and makes the Rogal Dorn feel like a bit of an afterthought, almost like it shouldn’t exist.

Why Only Two Guns In An Ordnance Battery

OK, this is a small one, but it bothers me. The new Field Ordnance Battery is a pretty cool unit. However I have beef with the fact that it comes in a set two model unit. Guard very traditionally have come in either 1s or 3s (or sometimes 1-3). Three has always kind of been a magic number for Guard support things. Three heavy weapons teams in a unit, three special weapons in a support weapon unit. Three sentinels, or Leman Russ Battle Tanks, it goes on. Now we have this new very cool unit that is limited to two. I know it’s because in the real world the box comes with two models. That’s a choice GW made and the rules have to follow. It still bothers me to be breaking this IG tradition.

The Loss Of Squadrons

This one is another unit size change than might actually anger a lot of people. A number of Guard tanks, including the Hellhound, Basilisk, Hydra and Wyvern are all now unit size 1. In the previous Guard book they had been able to be taken in units of 1-3. Given the rule of 3 this reduction could leave players with a number of tanks they can no longer use, as the number you can field went from 9 to 3. It also kind of limits a couple of Guard builds, an artillery battery got a little harder to field (at least if you don’t want to be a mish-mash) as did a light tank company based on Hellhounds.

I’m not really sure why this choice was made either. None of these vehicles are super good. They don’t even have any of the survival rules that make other light vehicle swarms annoying. The Valkyrie  also took the hit, killing airborne armies. Why?

The Dorn’s Twin Battle Cannon Kind Of Sucks?

OK is it me or does the Dorn’s brand new supposedly awesome Twin Battle Cannon kind of suck? Stat wise its a Leman Russ Battle Cannon with AP -3 and 2d6 shots. If it’s just a battle cannon I’m not sure why it gets AP -3 (to make it suck less I guess) but it has it. The issue I have is that 2d6 shots. That seems cool until you remember that a normal Battle Cannon is D6+3. You’d think a twin battle cannon would be twice as good, but really its only slightly better. In fact it has a lower minimum shots than the normal battle cannon. It really seems bad when compared to the Oppressor Cannon. The Oppressor has better stats gets and average of 6.5 shots to the TBC’s 7, with a min of 4 to the TBC’s 4. Sure the TBC has more max shots but once you add it the autocannon the OC comes with its only one extra shot. It just seems no brainer here.

Let us know what odd things you found in the book, 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.