New Female Astra Miliatrum Regiment, 500 Point Starter List

Did you ever have an idea you couldn't let go of? I wonder if you could help me put a name to it. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the new Escher Gang kit can be used to make an all female Imperial Guard Army. And I just can't let go of the idea.


The army satisfies a number of table top cravings I have, ones that used to be filled by the Space Marines and T'au, but have been more absent in 8th Edition. What I liked about those two factions was the easy access to Deep Strike, and the tactical flexibility offered. Putting Space Marines in a drop pod was a great core to an aggressive force, and I could write a book on Deep Striking small units of Crisis Suits taken from the Farsight Enclave lists.


That hasn't transitioned well into 8th Edition, where drop pods and Crisis suits are now point-expensive to near useless. That may well change, but another faction has popped up, fulfilling that exact role... and with an incredibly expanded tactical flexibility to boot! The Imperial Guard, commonly known as the Astra Militarum.


They are really good in this edition, but I've never liked the Guard art style. They aways seemed rather dull and shabby, essentially playing World War 2 armies against inventive and creative aliens or Space Marines. I am drawn a lot to the Militarum Tempestus (Storm Troopers), since they have slightly more sci-fi feel to them. It was never enough to get me collecting.


But now... now I have a style in my head. It would almost be music.


The style is the Escher Gang, and I want to upscale this to a whole army.

An army full of punk rock, outrageous hair and 80s cheese. It's the orks, but without the monstrosity. It's the Eldar Corsairs, without the malice and clean lines. It's actually rather unique in the 40K universe... which is odd considering 40K's Rogue Trader origins.


I have some half-formed thoughts about the character of the Regiment, but nothing concrete yet. It will be an Armageddon hive regiment, one potentially blasted to bits by orks and demons. Something in the back story means that women go out to fight, but I don't see why yet. I think it might just be the case that they do.


Here's the army, taking the advice from myself in the last article:

Armageddon Hive Gang Regiment (Actual name to be decided)

Patrol Detachment (Astra Militarum)

HQ

Company Commander: Bolter, Power Sword
[35 pts]


Tank Commander: Leman Russ, Battle Canon, Lascannon, Heavy Boleter Sponsons, Pintle Storm bolter
[227 pts]

Troops

Infantry Squad: Sergeant with Bolter and chainsword, 9 Lasgun Ladies
[41 pts]

Patrol Detachment (Militarum Tempestus)

HQ

Tempestor Prime: Chainsword, Command Rod
[40 pts]

Troops

Miltarum Tempesus Scions: Tempestor with Bolt pistol, 2 Plasma Guns, 2 Hot shot lasguns.
[74 pts]

Elites

Militarum Tempestus Command Squad: 4 Plasma Guns
[88 pts]

Transports

Taurox Prime: 2 Autocannons, Taurox Missile Launcher
[145 pts]


Total: 650 points


The army above is School's League legal at 650 points, but to drop it to 500, you just need to demote the Company Commander to Platoon Commander, and drop the Taurox.


There is an impressive amount of BS 3+ firepower from the army, and a surprising amount of toughness too. There is an awful lot of blurring of my standard list building framework, but here's the general idea.

Leaders

The Tempestor Prime and Company Commander are really good at leading their respective detachments. They work in tandem, the regular Guard acting as the anvil to the Storm Troopers, and both commanders are well positioned to use the Astra Militarum orders to buff their subordinates.


The Tempestor Prime Deep Strikes in with her Storm Troopers, and makes use of the Take Aim! order (twice!) to get those plasma guns overcharging. That's a significant bit of face melting.


The company Commander just keeps pace with the Infantry Squad, using situational orders. Since I'll be making this an Armageddon army, that'll usually be First Rank Fire! Second Rank Fire!, turning those lasguns into Rapid Fire 2 at 18-inch double tap range!


Honestly, with only one squad to command she can be downgraded to a platoon commander, if you need to confine yourself to 1 detachment. The only reason I've made her a Company Commander is I felt that the regular guardswomen needed their own leader to be proud of. She carries a bolter and a power sword, mostly because that will be the mode

Troops

The Infatry squad may well end up in a Chimera at some point, going for the Armageddon Steel legion style. They are mostly blank right now, with only the Sergeant upgraded to a bolter. This means that she can actually participate in the fire fights. I toyed around with the idea of adding a plasma gun, but I think I'll leave that to the Storm Troopers, so I don't have to decide which order to use.


They, of course, will be using First Rank Fire! Second Rank Fire! all the time. 38 shots at 18-inches is nothing to be sniffed at... They can be used to bubble wrap either the Tank or Taurox Prime


The Tempestus troops choice occupy a dual role as skirmisher and forward objective holder. The two plasma guns there will make them quite the thorn in the enemy side, and can literally land on whatever needs to be taken in the first turn. An annoying, objective securing unit, that can sting and still take a little punishment.

Fire Support

These are the Tank Commander (who I will be modelling after Tank Girl when I have some more bits), the Taurox prime and the Tempestus Command Squad.


The Tank Commander is just full of guns, and would make for the best choice of Warlord. Tough and chocked full of wounds, the higher BS 3+ along with double tapping battle canon will add a goodly amount of firepower. The lascannon and heavy bolters are icing on a delicious cordite cake.


The Taurox Prime has decent multi-purpose weaponry in the missile launcher and autocannons. Again, it's BS 3+, meaning it's that much more accurate than a regular Imperial Guard stat line... provided it doesn't move. Ironically the fast moving APC is actually more static than the heavy battle tank!


It's actually easy to forget about the truck, but it will pop out quite a hefty amount of firepower. It can even zoom away from danger quite handily, whilst still being as effective as effective a gun carriage as the average Space Marine Predator.


Finally the Tempestus Command squad falls into the gap between Fire Support and Skirmisher unit. Popping off 8 overcharged plasma shots on a Deep Strike, they present a problem that simply must be dealt with... and are an absolute bargain at 88 points. They won't stand up to much fire, but they can easily earn their points back in a single round of shooting, so you won't feel too much of a sting when the enemy hits them back hard.


And of course, any shots wasted on 4 regular humans is fire not going towards your objective grabbers or hard hitting tanks. Nothing would please me more than to have a Chaos Space Marine Legion terrified of 4 regular humans!


I'm really excited by this project! More so than I have been about a 40K army in a while. It has character, effective tactics and a unique style that can be developed in many ways. It's also my first foray into a horde army, dipping my toes in a bit with the Militarum Tempestus as a nice halfway house between Guarsdmen and Space Marines.


Okay I've rambled on enough, and I'm actually coming down with whatever my wife had. Until next time!









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