Today we’re getting a look at more of the new Heirlooms and Stratagems that will be available in the new Astra Militarum codex.
The new codex will feature rules for 8 regiments. Regimental Doctrines will work along the same line as Chapter Tactics, Legion Traits, and forge world Dogmas. The Regimental Doctrines will reflect the strengths of each regiment and the different fighting styles of the Astra Militarum. FLG revealed a lot of rules from the new codex in their latest review. But for now we want to focus on the new Stratagems and Heirlooms.
Astra Militarum has given Guard players lots of tools and tactics to take their armies to the next level. The Regimental Orders and Doctrines have been discussed ad nauseam. If you aren’t tracking the most recent coverage of the Codex: Astra Militarum that delves more into Doctrines and Orders at length checkout the latest here.
Oveall all we know we’re seeing a total of fourteen Stratagems in the new codex, eight new and six old that are not regiment specific:
- Aerial Spotter: 2 CP, lets a Basilisk or Wyvern re-roll failed hit rolls in the shooting phase.
- Jury Rigging: 1 CP, one of your Astra Militarum vehicles heals 1 wound but can not move at all.
- Consolidate Squads: 1 CP, join 2 Infantry Squads (the actual, basic Astra Militarum troop unit, not any infantry unit) together and treat them as 1 unit.
- Imperial Commander’s Armoury: The generic “get more relics” stratagem available to pretty much every army. 1 CP for 1 more relic, 3 CP for 2 more.
- Officio Prefectus Command Tank: 2 CP, Makes one of your Astra Militarum Leman Russ tanks a “Commissar Tank” for the rest of the game, giving all units within 6″ LD9.
- Mobile Command Vehicle: 1 CP, an Officer within a Chimera may issue an order and counts as being within 3″ of a Vox Caster, giving the order an 18″ range.
- Inspired Tactics: 1 CP, allows an Officer to issue another order after issuing one.
- Take Cover!: 1 CP, grants one of your units +1 to their saving throws. The unit is chosen in your opponent’s shooting phase after they have nominated that unit as a target.
- Grenadiers: 1 CP, allows up to 10 models in an infantry unit to throw grenades.
- Fight to the Death: 1 CP, used at the start of the morale phase, one of your infantry units takes a morale check on a D3 instead of a D6.
- Vengeance for Cadia!: 1 CP, grants a unit re-rolls to hit AND wound if they are targeting a Chaos keyword unit.
Send in the Next Wave, Vortex Missiles, and Vicious Traps were also previewed by Games Workshop throughout the week but were not included in this list. The new Guard Stratagems really look to be geared more towards the defensive side, and keeping your armies alive longer. Whether it’s +1 to Save rolls, increasing unit’s Leadership, D3 morale checks instead of D6, or recovering a wound on one of your Vehicles instead of shooting, there is a lot of options to make this army even tougher to take down.
In addition to the Stratagems we’re also getting a look at seven new Heirlooms that will be available to your characters!
- The Emperor’s Benediction: Commissar or Lord Commissar only, replaces their bolt pistol. Pistol 3, strength 4, AP -1, 2 damage. May target a character even if that model is not the closest unit.
- The Laurels of Command: Officer with the voice of command ability only, this relic allows you to issue a second order to a unit you have already issued an order to on a 4+, this extra order is “free,” not counting towards the total the officer can issue.
- The Deathmask of Ollanius: Infantry model only, this model gains a 4++ and can once per game heal D3 wounds.
- The Dagger of Tu’Sakh: During deployment, you can set up one Infantry unit along with the bearer in reserves and they appear within 6″ a table edge of your choice, within 3″ of one another and more than 9″ away from enemy models.
- The Blade of Conquest: Replaces a model’s power sword. Strength +2, AP-4, D3 damage.
Kurov’s Aquila is going to be a great addition to any army, allowing you to gain 1 CP on a 5+ every time your opponent uses a Stratagem. Additionally you can use the Imperial Commander’s Armoury Stratagem to gain an extra relic for 1 CP, or two additional for 3 CP’s, allowing you to bring even more choices from the new Astra Militarum Heirloom cache. With options like The Dagger of Tu’Sakh, or The Deathmask of Ollanius, why wouldn’t you want to spend those 3 CP’s to beef up your army and start behind enemy lines?
For more new rules and content revealed concerning the Codex: Astra Militarum, check out our previous article of our coverage of the Warhammer Twitch stream.
What do you think about the latest reveals for Codex: Astra Militarum?
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About the Author: James Rodriguez
