Age of Darkness-Warhammer 30k/2.0 Tactics/Imperialis Militia

Why Play Imperial Militia

• Pros
  • Insane customisation. This list covers nearly everything from Squats, Mutants, Mech Guard stand-ins, Death World Cavalry, WW1 artillery armies, and pretty much whatever else you can imagine, often in combination. Want Ogryns as Troops? You can have them in cyborgs, mutant, alchem, or bestial varieties. The same applies to pretty much every other unit type.
  • CHEAP! The cheapest unit comes in at 2 points per model, even the vehicles come in at a discounted price compared to other armies. You can be quite certain that you will always have the numerical advantage.
  • Lots of variety in weapons, with many of the standard options being rather good, or in some ways useful.
  • There are more choices for melee armies this edition. But even with the new melee options, the dangers of melee combat are seriously dire for you.
  • None of your vehicles confer any victory points for their destruction. With the right Provenances it is possible to spam disposable Leman Russes, Rhinos, and/or Land Raiders. Added with the extra irony of your Superheavies not being worth anything to your opponent.

• Cons
  • Low Leadership everywhere. Which gets even worse when you factor in the inherent rules of the Militia subtype. Meaning that when you break, you break hard and often.
  • Your "Third Line" vehicles are more easily penetrated, and don't have especially good options either. Generally coming as lesser versions of existing vehicles.
  • Almost a total lack of Skyfire options means that if your opponent takes lots of flyers you are going to be completely outclassed. Your only source of Skyfire suffers from the above problem of being a third-line version of a flyer that is better in other armies.
  • You have no Dreadnaughts, and your options of dealing with them are limited. Even tarpitting is less valuable of an option now.
  • New Necromunda and IG models shoehorned in made some of the older ones invalid, unless your friends allow you to proxy Cargo-8 Hauler with an Aurox.

Warlord Traits

• Ruthless Tyrant: The warlord gains a special form of Fear(1) that lets them affect friend and foe alike. If a friendly unit falls back while affected by this Fear, you can sacrifice d6 models/a model in a Monstrous unit to keep them in place. Grants an additional reaction in the Assault phase.
• Merchant Princeling: All of the warlord's weapons are now Master-Crafted and must deploy attached to a Militia unit. Their retinue gains the Heavy subtype and can re-roll 1s to hit but now your warlord can never leave this retinue. Make sure that this squad won't ever run away. Grants an additional reaction in the Assault phase.
  • Curiously, there's no idea how this can possibly be used in a Command Squad.
• Beloved of the People: If the warlord dies, the entire army gets a big sad-on with a +1 to WS and S as well as Feel No Pain (4+) until the end of the owners next player turn. Potentially giving two turns of awesomeness. Normally it grants and additional reaction in the Shooting phase, but losing your warlord also lets you take an additional reaction in the Assault phase instead.
• Marcher Lord: Gains Battle-Hardened(1). In a pure Imperialis Militia army, this also makes that the entire army immune to Fear. Keeping your warlord alive also lets you auto-pass your first pinning check each turn as well as an additional reaction in the Shooting phase.
• Connoisseur of Alien Curios: Once per turn you can have the warlord roll a D6 to activate a special randomized result: 1: self-destruction, coupled with a nuclear blast that automatically hits every unit, friend or foe within 12" for D6+1 S8 AP4 hits. 2-3: a single unit within 12" chosen by the warlord suffers D6+1 automatic hits at S8 AP4 with the Deflagrate rule. 4-5: Rage(2) and Furious Charge(2) for the warlord and his squad for the rest of the game turn, or 6: permanent Eternal Warrior and Feel No Pain (4+) with future rolls of 6 boosting Strength and Toughness to a maximum of six. Grants an additional reaction in the Movement phase.
• Robber Baron: The warlord's unit gains +1 Strength on a turn where they charged. Instead of Sweeping Advances, you can roll a d6 and on a 4+ the unit scores you d3 VP. Grants an additional reaction in the Movement phase.

Special Rules

• Militia Subtype: All of your units have this, and it's not good. Units that are below half their starting number of models that begin to fall back, will never be able to regroup. They just keep going back until they leave the table.
  • A unit that is falling back that is charged by the enemy is simply removed, without any further leadership test being taken, regardless of the remaining number of models.
  • A unit locked in close combat, that is charged by another unit, has to test morale or will immediately begin falling back as it it had lost combat. Also being subjected to sweeping advance.
• Mechanised Subtype: A bit of an oddball mix of Infantry and Dreadnought. All Poisoned(X) and Fleshbane attacks must re-roll to wound, as do any Armourbane(X) attacks. Like a dread, it can fire Heavy and Ordnance weapons after moving and can charge after shooting. They can also be affected by Haywire, Battlesmith, and Detonation like one.
• Third-Line Subtype: Given to most of your tanks, and it's not good either. Any glancing hits are now considered pens, which is terrible. Your only consolation is that losing these tanks don't give your enemy VPs.

Provenances of War

This is where the modelling opportunities for this army come from. Your Force Commander can purchase up to two Provenances of War. While their cost seems rather low, they can all massively impact the rest of your army, and can radically change the army build and the options you can take. Some Provenances lock you out of certain things or are mutually exclusive with one another, but some also allow units to buy their own unique options.

• Warrior Elite: All eligible units gain +1 Ld (to a maximum of Ld9) while Levy squads gain the Support Squad rule. Grenadiers on the other hand lose the Support Squadrule. This provenance is effectively for a number of reasons. In that it gives you easier access to better Line troops, and also grants the army a MUCH needed morale booster. You are best served by taking as many Discipline Masters as you can to capitalise on that.
  • Grenadiers also benefit from several other Provenances, so this is always an easy go-to combination option if you want good Grenadiers without having to pay troop taxes on other units first.
• Legacy of the Great Crusade: Grenadiers, Command Cadres, and Discipline Masters gain BS4. While a Force Commander gains Initiative 5. Depending on what your other Provenance is, your milage may vary. It obviously works well with Warrior Elite or the Armoury of the Dark Age. But if you go heavy on other Troop types, there are better options.
• Clanfolk Levy: Cavalry Squads can be taken as Compulsory Troops, where they gain +1 Ld. But cannot otherwise be taken as non-compulsory troops. Instead, you get four extra Fast Attack slots for Cavalry squads.
  • This doesn't give any squad the Line subtype, despite being Troops. So you'll still need something else to claim those objectives.
• Gene Crafted: A bit of a wildcard Provenance. If this is chosen, then after deployment, but before the first turn, roll a D6 for every Infantry and Cavalry unit.
  • On a 1 the unit starts the game pinned, while units embarked on vehicles immediately disembark and are still pinned. Sucks to be them. Units in reserve suffer no ill consequence.
  • On a 2-5, the unit gains their choice of the Fleet (2), Move through Cover or Night Vision special rules.
  • On a 6, the unit either gains ALL of the special rules from a result of 2-5, or the choice of Relentless, Stubborn or Adamantium Will (6+).
  • There isn't a whole lot you can base an army around with this Provenance. The common 2-5 results don't radically change what the army does. While Relentless on a 6 might be very useful with Heavy weapon units, you cannot reliably expect to get it every time.
• Cyber Augmetics: All eligible units gain Feel No Pain (6+) and Slow and Purposeful. You also treat the Mechanicum faction as Sworn Brothers. Slow and Purposeful is probably the more significant rule here. Heavy weapons attached to regular squads can now shoot at full effectiveness, while all those Fire Support squads, Field Guns, and Rapiers can now freely move and fire.
  • This Provenance cannot be combined with Gene Crafted.
• Alchem-Jackers: Units do not suffer negative penalties to Leadership in the Assault phase. If a unit fails a morale check in the shooting phase and still have over half their models, they are pinned instead of falling back. This is useful because it can turn an instance of losing combat from a guaranteed break to simply a normal chance of breaking. While being pinned manages to negate some of the disadvantages of the Militia subtype, potentially saving the unit if they get charged by the squad that just shot at them. This makes those Discipline Masters even more valuable for the Ld boost and morale reroll.
  • Frenzon: units can buy Furious Charge (1) for 25 points. As most of your units are behind their opponents in terms of WS, Strength, and Toughness, this merely closes the gap for one assault phase.
  • You can capitalise on this with Feral Warriors for added Weapon Skill and Chain Axes for even more strength and accuracy for that charge. Though the costs add up quickly, remember even a baseline human with WS 4, Furious Charge and Chainaxe (with sidearm) will be getting 3 attacks on the charge at S5. Yes they'll still be I3, but if you take Shotguns on another unit (or give them to Grenadier Squads), with luck you'll be hitting on 3s (and be hit on 5s) and be wounding on 3s (with re-rolls). That means your buck standard 20 man Infantry Squad just killed almost 12 marines (not accounting for the 2-3 casualties you'll take when they strike first)...and it only costs you 155 points for that squad. Throw them at the similarly costed 10 man Tactical Squad with bolters and watch your shitty mortals beat Marines in CQC.
  • Remember that Cavalry unit units and Monstrous units (Ogryns) cannot be pinned, so this provenance renders those types virtually immune to morale in the shooting phase at least until they drop below half models.
• Survivors of a Dark Age: Suffered a big change from last edition. Now the only thing it does is grant Grenadier squads and Command Cadres the ability to select Rhinos, Termite Assault Drills, and Land Raiders as dedicated transports. Considering that the army doesn't have any dedicated transport options any more, the provenance could be worth it on that point alone. However, those vehicles gain the Third-Line subtype and drop their BS to 3, while not recieving any kind of discount for the downgrades. Still, it allows for mass deployment of Land Raiders that even some Astartes armies cannot afford thanks to the lower taxes that need to be spent on mortal units.
  • Void Jumpers: For an extra 20 points, your Recon squads using this Provenance can be given Jump Packs, granting them a 12" move range that ignores terrain. They also swap their weapons with two laspistols or two autopistols. While the added mobility is nice, especially on Light infantry that can already infiltrate; they remain fragile guardsmen, and that weapon swap puts them perilously close to literally everything that can take them out.
• Armoury of the Old Night: Holy crap, this one is good. Firstly, all eligible models may replace their Lasgun with a Lasrifle for free. This limits mobility somewhat, but can extends the range of the S3 shots to 30", or grants them a S6 alternate firing mode. Suddenly, every soldier in the army becomes a threat to nearly everything for no additional cost.
  • Relic Arms: for an additional cost of 30 points per unit. Grenadier squads and Command Cadres may replace their Lasguns with Assault Needlers or Volkite Chargers, or Laspistols with Volkite Serpenta or a Needle Pistols. May also swap Sniper Rifles with Needle Vilnius, and may swap Heavy Stubbers with Volkite Culverins or Needle Cannons. These options effectively give you one over on nearly every opponent. With Warrior Elite you can have a whole army that wounds most enemies on 3+. Pinning on Needle weapons is an added bonus.
  • Heirlooms of Past Glory: Force Commanders using this Provenance can replace a Power Sword with a Paragon Blade for 10 points. They may also replace a laspistol with an Archeotech pistol for 10 points. While a Paragon Blade is nice, you still have to pay for the Power Sword first, and that becomes a lot of points to spend on a squishy character with WS4. Even with Archeotech pistols being good, Force Commanders already have access to the widest range of pistols in the Blast, Needle and Flame variety, so really have to decide if it is worth it.
• Feral Warriors: All eligible units gain +1 WS when charging, but must declare charges if able to do so.
  • Chainaxes: any model with a close combat weapon (practically everyone) can buy a Chainaxe for 2pts per model, or replace a chainsword for 1pt.
• Kinfolk Helots: Literally Squats this time around. The whole army gains +1 Toughness but drops their movement and initiative by -1. Every Character, so all squad sergeants and attached advisors, gains Battlesmith (6+) with Independent Characters instead gaining Battlesmith (5+).
  • May not be taken with the Ogryn Conscripts Provenance. They're Squats, not Halflings.
• Abhuman Muster: All units gain +1 strength, but -1 BS. They also all gain Bulky (2) if they didn't already have a different version of Bulky. All models also gain Hammer of Wrath (1) with Independent Characters and Monstrous units instead gaining Hammer of Wrath (2), though Ogryns already have HoW (2)...
  • This may not be combined with the Ogryn Conscripts Provenance. But the bonus still applies to Ogryns that you might take anyway.
• Debased Rabble: (Traitors only) All units gain Crusader and Hatred (Everything), but they must declare a charge when able to do so.
  • Grenadier squads may not be taken at all. And may not be combined with Survivors of the Dark Age Provenance.
• Tainted Flesh: (Traitors only) Eligible units gain Fear (1) and Furious Charge (1). However, all compulsory Troops must be Militia Levy squads, and the detachment may not include more other Infantry-type units than it already has Levy squads. In addition, the only permitted HQ choices are Force Commanders and Rogue Psykers
  • May not be taken with Survivors of a Dark Age, Gene Crafted, Ogryn Conscripts, or Alchem-Jackers Provenances
• Ogryn Conscripts: Ogryn Brute squads can be taken as Troops choices, with those taken as Compulsory Troops gaining the Line subtype. In addition, Discipline Masters, Militia Medicare and Force Commanders can join Ogryn Brutes, ignoring the usual restrictions.
• Industrial Stronghold: Leman Russes can now be taken as Squadrons of up to six tanks, rather than being one per slot. You also gain two more Heavy Support slots solely for Leman Russes.
  • May not be taken with Unending Hordes, Debased Rabble, Tainted Flesh, or Ogryn Conscripts Provenances
• Unending Hordes: Militia Infantry and Militia Levy that are destroyed can be returned to reserves on a D6 roll of 4+. They retain their wargear options, though any attached advisors are lost. Grenadier squads become Elite choices when using this Provenance.

Wargear

Ranged Weapons

This army has staggering variety of less than staggering guns, allowing you precise control over the balance and type of your firepower to affordability.

• Lasgun / Autorifle: functionally the same weapon, 24" S3 AP- Rapid Fire. Nearly every unit has this as standard. However most units can replace them with better options.
• Lascarbine: 18" S3 AP6 Assault 2 lasguns. So you trade some maximum range for more shots at the mid range, and the freedom to charge after.
• Stubcarbine 12" S3 AP- Assault 3. Even shorter range, but beats out the Lasgun at Rapid Fire distances. If you anticipate being this close then it is the clear winner. Though you are certain to be counter attacked and chewed up from being this close.
• Shotgun: 12" S3 AP- Assault 2, but with Concussive (1). They can potentially reduce the WS of their target unit by one if they fail a leadership save. Obviously everyone has better WS than Militia, so if you can actually get this to work, it can make a fight against a non-elite melee opponent slightly more manageable, if not winnable. But everyone also have better Ld than Militia, so it is unlikely to really come into play a lot. If you actually intend to get into combat with some units, then it may be worth taking. Otherwise a Stubcarbine is strictly better at the same range.
  • On the flip side, while a single unit cannot force multiple Concussive tests...multiple units CAN. So if you're taking Shotguns, go all in. A squad of Grenadiers might only have a 25% chance to make Marines fail a LD test...but if they're backed up by an Infantry Squad who also shot the Marines then you now have a 50% chance. Not to mention Ogryn's can take Thunderstubs with Concussive, so you can back them up with this same tactic.

• Laspistol: 12" S3 AP- pistol that everyone knows. Better than nothing.
• Autopistol: 9" S3 AP- Pistol 2. Any unit that has access to a Laspistol generally may take an Autopistol instead if they choose to. The 3" loss in range will barely matter in most instances, particularly if either party intends to get into assault, as either player will try to close to a comfortable distance to make sure that charge distance roll actually succeeds. So the Autopistol is usually the better choice for attackers and units performing overwatch reactions.
• Blast Pistol: Available to several kinds of Squad Leader, as well as Discipline Masters. 9" range with S6 AP4, Pistol 2. Superior to Autopistols in nearly every aspect and are a reliable threat against everything up to light vehicles, they usually come in cheap at 5 points for the upgrade which is definitely worth the price.
• Bolt Pistol: Most models with access to Blast Pistols have access to Bolt pistols for the same cost. Unless you think you need the extra 3" range, then the extra shot and strength will always be the better choice.
• Plasma Pistol: getting more expensive. 12" S7 AP4 with Breaching (4+) and Gets Hot. One of the best pistols that a character can be given as it can reliably kill the typical models that the rest of the squad will also be shooting at, but if the weapon explodes it is unlikely that the model carrying it will survive. But the model carrying it was unlikely to survive very long from being within 12" of the enemy in any case.

Armoury of the Old Night

These relic options may only be taken by certain characters or when using the right Provenance. So shall be listed separately to save confusion with more standard gear

• Lasrifle: the superior Lasgun, which becomes a free upgrade with the right Provenance. It is always a Heavy weapon, so it drops the mobility of the unit quite a lot. However the range of the S3 volley increases to 30" which is more than double that if the rapid fire range of the standard Lasgun. It also gains a Blast Charger mode, giving it 18" range, S6 AP4. Imagine having a whole army with S6 weapons for free? While the range is short and marines still get their saves, in bulk this weapon can easily threaten everything they fire at. Even T6 Primarchs should be wary about charging into a massed unit of these.

• Needle Pistol:
• Assault Needler:
• Needle Cannon:
• Needle Vulnus:

• Volkite Serpenta:
• Volkite Charger:
• Volkite Culverin:

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Force Commander: You need one of these in your detachment in order to use Provenances, and all other HQ choices have the Support Squad rule, so you need one anyway. Thankfully Provenances are free this edition, so that's less of a worry. This guy has lots of good options, so he can easily be customized out the way you want him to be, and also has some of the best pistol choices in the army. The problem is that he is WS/BS4 I3, so cannot really compete in an environment that includes Space Marines, Custodians, and Primarchs. So unless you can match up some Provenances to gear that makes him marginally impressive, sometimes it's better to just go cheap and focus your attention on your flavourful squads instead.
  • A Charnabal Saber is actually a good melee weapon for him, with S3 he only tends to wound on 5+ anyway. This weapon then makes all of those wounds AP2 with Breaching (5+), and with Duelists Edge (1) it can even the playing field somewhat against regular warriors in challenges.
  • With Legacy of the Great Crusade his Initiative jumps from 3 to 5, which suddenly puts him ahead of most basic units in other armies, giving him a fighting chance against random sergeants who might think he is easy pickings.
  • With Armoury of the Old Night, he can buy a Paragon Blade and/or an Archeotech pistol. These become added expenses that probably don't justify their points on a model that won't really utilise it properly.

• Discipline Master Cadre:

• Imperial Militia Command Cadre:

• Rogue Psyker (Traitors only)

• Expeditionary Navigator (Militaris Attaché) Made available to all factions as part of the Legacies of the Solar Auxilia list. Currently this is the only way for loyalists to get a "psyker" in the detachment, and for 50 points you aren't getting much, a fragile conscript model with a 5+ invulnerable save, and the ability to interfere with enemy Deep Strike within 12".
  • He only gets one power: the Lidless Stare, which is S2 using the flame template and has Pinning. It also has Force if you want to risk the models only wound to double the strength to the overwhelmingly massive score of four.

• Davinite Lodge Priest (Militaris Attaché)

Troops

• Militia Infantry Squad: The core Troops choice. For 80 points you get twenty models with a variable loadout depending on your taste, and they are one of your only sources of Line for claiming objectives. With Strength in Numbers you may also take up to three squads per Troops slot. Which means you can get your objective claiming needs sorted out while leaving yourself plenty of other slots for spamming the better support units.
  • Lasguns/Autorifles have the traditional balance of range vs number of shots, and can outrange all of the other standard weapons, which can be good for keeping the enemy out of charge range. Furthermore, these weapons can purchase bayonets to give the squad +1 strength in melee. Not quite a winner, but certainly provides the squad a bit more utility.
  • Shotguns have Concussive so are potentially able to reduce the enemy WS by -1 for a turn. At that range it can be a lifesaver when you inevitably get counter charged, as most common opponents could be reduced to equal weapon skill. Not entirely reliable as a lot of units are going to pass the test, or simply not care. But if you are going melee focussed for your army, this could be the better choice.
  • Lascarbines/Stubcarbines reduce the working range of Lasgun in order to gain more shots. Remember at these ranges, the squad is likely to be taken out by a volley or two of bolter fire. Stubcarbines are then probably the better choice, as twenty models can throw out sixty shots at 12", giving the best chance of reducing the enemy numbers before that inevitable counter volley/charge.
  • Taking pistols and melee weapons means committing the squad to melee, for an army that really doesn't like it. You should really only choose this if you took Provenances that will help you out, like Feral Warriors or Abhumans. Even then, be prepared to lose the squad at such close range.
  • One model can also choose to take a special weapon from the standard list. The choice should match the weapon the rest of the squad takes. So longer ranged weapons like Heavy Stubbers and Sniper Rifles will do better alongside lasguns. While Flamers work better with Carbines because of the similar ranges. Meltaguns are probably not worth it because the rest of the squad are unlikely to harm whatever the Melta forces them to shoot at. While Grenade Launchers are a happy medium that work against everything the other 19 squad members have a reasonable chance of hurting.

• Militia Levy Squad: 20-50 conscripts at 2 points per model with a Lasgun, autogun, or a pistol and melee weapon. You can't really get cheaper than that. And with Strength in Numbers you can take up to three squads per slot, so you can really bulk up on the model count if you want to cover an impressive amount of ground. Like last edition, they are still expendable, so do not confer any victory points for their destruction.
  • Changes to the basic rules mean that there is considerable risk to taking them though. The Expendable rule also means that if they ever fail a morale check, they just get removed entirely, so the downsides of Militia subtype just get overwritten with worse outcomes. This makes it hard, if not impossible to use them as a tarpit unit. They do not have Line so can never score objectives, and with changes to Weapon Skill rules, they are less likely to hit anything in melee, while being more easily hit back. It seems their purpose now is to truly be an expendable unit to throw at the enemy as a distraction while you do more important things with other units.

• Militia Grenadier Squad: Your other Line choice, but this one has the Support Squad rule, so cannot be taken as a Compulsory unit unless you also selected Warrior Elite. These guys are the Stormtrooper analogues, and all come with 4+ saves and +1 Leadership when compared to regular troopers. They have all the same weapon selections as regular Militia Infantry squads, so the same advice applies here. With the possible exception of remembering that with 4+ saves they are more likely to survive up close against bolter fire, therefore Carbines can be confidently recommended.
  • Grenadiers are subject to far more changes from Provenances than any other unit, so their roles can change wildly depending on the Force Commander. In Warrior Elite armies they become the Primary objective takers, Legacy of the Great Crusade armies make them more accurate, Survivors of the Dark Age turns them into Mechanised Mobile troops, while in Armoury of the Old Night armies they gain incredible firepower that can put other armies basic units to shame. In Debased Cults and Unending Horde armies they become less common, or unavailable altogether.

• Fire Support Squad: your heavy weapon squads, just like with imperial guard, but as Troops choices with no platoon tax. Unfortunately as Support Squads they cannot be Compulsory choices. They come in units of 3-10 teams and have the full range of guard weapons, including heavy stubbers, heavy bolters, mortars, multilasers, missiles, autocannons, and lascannons. This unit has awesome potential.
  • However, the downside is that they have the Emplaced rule. Which prohibits their Reaction choices to Return Fire, Overwatch, or Interceptor, which admittedly are the only ones you'd want to use anyway. But also means that if they ever have to fall back for any reason, they abandon their weapons and are removed from the game.

• Reconnaissance Squad: Your "elite" troops choice. Coming with shotguns as standard, yhey all have Scout, Infiltrate and Moves Through Cover as well as having the Light subtype, giving them more mobility if they decide to Run and Gun. However, 50 points for five GEQ models is an awful lot to ask, and those sniper rifles come in at 10 points per model meaning this squad can easily become fragile pointsinks that have to work hard to justify their cost. Even so they are still one of the cheapest Troop choices in the game. Just have a plan for them.
  • It's worth remembering that Sniper Rifles and Long Las weapons are two very separate weapons in this list. Sniper Rifles are more appropriate for taking out high value officers with their 72" range and Rending (5+) rule. While the Long Las is more effective at taking out light vehicles with S6 and Sunder. This means that Infiltrating into a good position at the start of the game can be crucial depending on the chosen target, such as getting a good angle on weaker rear vehicle armour.

Elites

• Ogryn Brute Squad: 3-10 Ogryns with big sticks and flak armour, with a squad upgrade option to take Carapace armour for a set cost. They don't get a squad leader unless their unit size is five or more. Each model can take a single wargear choice for five points, and mixing is allowed. Generally speaking, either additional close combat weapons or Ripper Guns would be the best choice. As the former grants an extra attack in close combat, while the latter has a sufficient rate of fire that it overcomes the Ogryns appalling BS2. Thunderstubs are cool, but are so short ranged that you may never get a chance to use them, and may never hit anyway.
  • An Ogryn Boss has a separate list of wargear to choose from, but can still select an item from the standard Ogryn gear. So it is possible, and probably recommended, to pair up a better close combat weapon such as a Power Axe or Thunder Hammer alongside a Boarding Shield to make an effective challenger.
  • They still have the Militia subtype, so have to be wary about failing morale checks and losing models, and unfortunately they cannot have attached advisors unless you expressly use the Ogryn Conscripts Provenance. Thankfully they have the Stubborn rule, so unlike the rest of the army, they can have the most reliable morale, despite having the same scores as everyone else. So if you want some modicum of longevity, then best to stack up on models and go for the Boss to get the Ld boost.
  • Ogryns do well in combination with several other Provenances, so look for best ways to help them out. Feral Warriors for instance let's them swap those basic close combat weapons for Chain Axes, giving them S6 and Shred, without actually taking up one of their weapon upgrade choices. While Warrior Elite adds that valuable +1 Ld to a squad that cannot normally gain Ld boosts from anywhere else.
  • While a lot of Provenances say that they cannot be combined with Ogryn Conscripts. That doesn't actually stop you from taking Ogryn squads and gaining the benefit anyway. So you can get Ogryn Brutes in Kinsfolk armies and have Toughness 6 and Battlesmith (6+) on their Boss. Or setting their base Strength to 6 when using Abhuman Muster.

• Imperialis Militia Medicae Detachment: 3-12 field medics that you can disperse to other infantry squads in your army to grant them Feel No Pain (6+) that cannot be combined with any other version of the rule, nor can multiple medics be stacked on the same unit. Given his fragile your infantry are, any addition to their survivability is usually a welcome one. But a 6+ save is unlikely to reliably affect any outcomes.
  • Medics inherit the rules/subtypes of whatever unit they get attached to, so hear this in mind.

• Field Gun Artillery Battery: A Rapier analogue with one key difference, the gun crew and weapon all count as a single model, effectively making them an even bigger version of the Fire Support squad. They also have the Emplaced, so if they fall back, they are fucked. In terms of weapons they actually have three good choices:
  • The basic Thunderblast Cannon is a safe bet. It is a S7 AP4 Blast (3) weapon with Barrage and Pinning while other artillery pieces in the army can do similar jobs better, getting them in elite slots for relatively cheap is always nice to have.
  • The Heavy Lascannon is pretty much a normal Lascannon with S10. It is inferior in stopping power to a Laser Destroyer but has better range. The unfortunate downside is the added cost of effectively 60 points per gun, which adds up in bulk. You otherwise could have had regular lascannons in Fire Support squads for 35 points per gun, which usually does the job just as well.
  • The Kaliope Mortar is analogous to the Quad Mortar in many respects. They have the same strength and AP, and both use the Large Blast template. The Quad Mortar has a longer range and Shred, but the Kaliope has a trick up its sleeve in the fact that it causes Pinning with Shell Shock (1) meaning that it can reliably shut down enemy squads. It doesn't cost any extra either so it allows for peppering quite large areas when taken in multiples per unit, and ends up being cheaper than multiple Rapiers for potentially a better outcome.

Fast Attack

• Cavalry Squad: At last! Rough Riders are a part of the Imperial Militia. You get a proper fast moving unit that has a surprising amount of punch. They all have a pistol and close combat weapon as standard, but can choose an additional weapon on top of that. Shotguns, Lascarbines, and Stubcarbines are all perfectly viable options, though the unit gets access to the unique Militia Lance, giving them S7 AP3, with Brutal (2) and Sudden Strike (2), meaning when they charge they now hit at Initiative 5 and have a respectable chance of killing any MEQ in a single hit before they get struck back. Ungainly means they only ever get one attack with this weapon, and only ever when charging. So it pays to match up units that use it with accuracy boosting Provenances like Feral Warriors or Debased Rabble.
  • They can also take Carapace armour for a single cost, giving them much needed survivability if you intend to get them close enough for melee combat.
  • Feral Warriors also allows them to swap their basic combat weapon with a Chainaxe, which makes a perfectly serviceable back-up weapon if you can't use, or don't take, the Lances.
  • Remember that they are still Militia, so if you use them as a melee unit, they are still likely going to break and be destroyed very easily when the opponent strikes them back. Luckily Discipline Masters can be added to them if they buy their own mounts.
• Cargo-8 Hauler Squadron:
• Arvus Lighter: It's a flying transport for 40 points. It has no weapons to speak of, and can't even be jury-rigged like last edition.l, effectively turning it into a rather expensive drop pod. With that in mind, there aren't really many ways to get Deep Strike in this list without taking Survivors of a Dark Age, so if you want to vary your deployment this is it. Because of its capacity of 12 it can only really transport Grenadiers, Recon squads and HQ units.
• Sentinel Squadron:
• Thunderbolt Fighter: Compared to the Astartes version, it gets a 50 point discount for effectively the same skeleton of a unit. 120 points is a more reasonable cost for your only serviceable flyer. However you are BS3 and have the Third Line rule in exchange for that discount. GW also didn't fix the inherent problem of having more guns than you can fire.
• Beastmasters:

Heavy Support

• Rapier Battery: Your mobile artillery unit. Regardless of the weapon you choose, they always have Relentless so they can move and shoot. They start with Gravis Multi-lasers, but you can swap them for Heavy Bolters, Laser Destroyers, or Quad Launchers.
  • Unlike most of the other artillery units, this one doesn't suffer from any variant rule where they abandon their guns if they fall back. They are still Militia so morale is a worry, but at least this gives you a second chance if there are enough models in the unit.

• Heavy Ordnance Battery: Earthshaker guns that have the longest range out of the entire armoury. Able to strike pretty much anywhere on the table, Earthshakers are very likely to wound their targets with S9 and Shred, and at 75 points for the initial cannon, and 65 for each additional one, they are very reasonably priced. They are Immobile though, and the Ld7 crew have a special rule where if they fall back the guns are simply lost, this makes them really fragile, which probably accounts for the cost. They can buy up to twenty crewmen for only 2 points per model, so arguably should be stocked up as much as possible to avoid those 25% shooting morale checks.

• Imperial Militia Leman Russ: Leman Russes, everyone's favourite, chosen from the vanilla, annihilator, exterminator, demolisher and vanquisher flavours. Unfortunately there are no options for sponson weapons here.

• Malcador Heavy Tank: One highly customisable vehicle, every weapon on the tank can be swapped out for something else, so depending the model you have, or your skill at kitbashing, you could possibly have a tank with a battlecannon and a demolisher cannon, or lascannons all the way around, or something in between.
  • Malcadors are actually the one of the fastest units in the army list with a movement speed of 14.
  • The tank also has the Support Squad rule, which in most cases is meaningless, since Heavy Support slots are not usually compulsory unless you are playing some unique mission variant.

• Gorgon Heavy Transporter:

Lord of War

• Militia Baneblade: - This edition it comes with the Third Line drawbacks, but it's still a Superheavy Vehicle it is less bothered by penetrating hits, so the downside is mitigated somewhat. Though outclassed by the Legion Fellblade, the Baneblade is still a nasty proposition to face. Sporting a Baneblade cannon, Autocannon, Demolisher Cannon and a twin-linked heavy bolter. With the option of two Lascannons and two more twin-linked heavy bolters/flamers (the sponsons don't come as standard here) optional pintle mounts, AND optional Hunter-killer missile, it is a rolling fortress of death, and it is your only Lord of War choice, so you are going to want one.

Allies

The Militia is a bit of an oddball in terms of alliances. While considered part of the Imperial Army, taking the Kinfolk Helots, Abhuman Muster or Ogryn Conscripts provenances immediately dump your friendship with the legions and Solar Auxilia forces to Distrusted Allies.

Legio Custodes & Sisters of Silence

One word: Don't.

The Custodes treat the Militia as by the Emperor's Command, so you can't do anything for them aside from being a disposable meatwall.

The Sisters of Silence can't do anything for the Militia just by the simple virtue of the Anathema sub-type. Considering how shit your Leadership is, this won't ever end well for you.

Building your Army

USE YOUR DAMN IMAGINATION! Want an army of Felinids? Abhuman Helots and Gene-Crafted. Only Renegades & Heretics have more customization. This army is about as customizable as they are but, they're less diverse both in the base units available and being restricted by the biggest source of customization being army wide. The units can take a startling rainbow of standard weapons, but like a rainbow, many of the options are almost the same. Its entirely possible (albeit better for friendly counts as games) to proxy a fantasy army, such as the Empire or possibly Skaven. Look at the stuff available on GW's website. Empire, Elf, Guard, Skaven, (some) Skitarii, even ORKS (with some converting) can work! Since many tournaments ban forgeworld anyway, look to other model sites if it suits your fancy. All of it works, all of its totally fluff friendly. WoC? Feral worlders. Infinity stuff? Technological advanced enclave. A WW2 model range? You get the idea. If you ever wanted to make an army thats truly "you", a one of a kind masterpiece, et cetera, this is for you. You may not exactly win, but you sure as hell wont be forgotten. Hell, make your army a bunch of chicks with swag armour and do a proto-sisters of battle army. Then piss people off and give them gene-crafted for Sister Marines, alchem-jackers with frenzon for RED RAGE sisters, or cyber sex gals. If you're using Survivors of the Dark Age and decent armor, why not make an army of Arbites? Survivors of the Dark Age and Abhuman Helots work for an army of Squats. Any combination of Tainted Flesh, Abhuman Helots, Feral Warriors and Cult Horde could give you an army of Beastmen. Want something vaguely Calibanite? Warrior Elite and SotDA works well to that end.

Warhammer 30,000 Tactics Articles
General Tactics	General (7E) Movement (7E) Psychic (7E) Fortifications (7E)
Imperium	Legiones Astartes (7E)
	Legio Custodes (7E) Sisters of Silence (7E) Mechanicum (Legio Mechanicum • Taghmata Omnissiah)
	Questoris Knights (7E) Solar Auxilia (7E) Imperialis Militia (7E)
Chaos	Ruinstorm Daemons (7E • 7E Codex) Warp Cults(7E)