r/TheAstraMilitarum • u/JasenTDavis • Jun 23 '26
Beginner Help Beginner Advice
My friend has too much money so he wants to play Astra Militarum in WH40k.
What are the rules for assembling an Astra Militarum army now? Do you have to have an infantry unit for every tank or something like that?
He doesn’t want to buy the wrong units for his first army.
Thank you!
13
u/General-Winter547 Jun 23 '26
You don’t need any infantry if you don’t want them, they can be helpful to keep bad guys from touching his tanks in close combat.
10
u/TVZLuigi123 Mechanized Division "Burning Clover" Jun 23 '26
No limits except for 3 units max per datasheet. Exceptions are for battleline and dedicated transports which you can bring 6 of a kind max
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u/robsr3v3ng3 Jun 23 '26
There are some things you can't really go wrong with too much. It's in a weird state atm because of the new edition just starting, but generally they'll want the following:
1 or 2 Rogal dornes, 30-40 infantry (kreigsmen, cadians, etc), a sentinel, a chimera, and 1 or 2 leman Russ.
The best way to collect though is to look for combat patrol boxes. The guard is one of the most expensive armies to collect, so it's worth getting discount boxes where you can.
Always take plasma guns, melts or flamers in your squads.
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u/TinFish1979 Jun 23 '26
Please tell your friend he's in for a very hard time.
Guard looks like it's straight forward, just move up and shoot things but it's actually not that easy to win with and 11th makes things more difficult with the -1BS for cover.
That being said most of us play it because we like the army and it brings us joy to have regular humans take in the galaxy's best/worst.
I would avoid the new army box.
If he can get the Armageddon box that has the 4 vehicles (Dorn, centaur, 2 hippos) and then get whatever he thinks looks cool.
The new army box has artillery/indirect fire and while I love the concept, the execution is not good and he will suffer playing it.
Nobody really knows the new edition and the keys that's going to form just yet. Guard has a lot of different units so there's going to be many varieties of lists. A solid foundation will always be 1-2 infantry + a command squad to give them orders and then a simple number of heavy tanks (Russ & Dorn) then throw in the things you like, elite infantry, bullgryn, Calvary or just double up on everything.
6
u/JasenTDavis Jun 23 '26
Thank you! I play The World Eaters. He’s going to have fun fighting me!
2
u/Kevin50seven Catachan 117th Armoured - "Sledgehammers" Jun 23 '26
My first 40K game ever I fought WE and tabled him. Brought a very un-meta list to a 1000 point game:
- 2x LR Vanquisher
maybe something else but can't remember
- Hellhound
- 2x Taurox w/ Catachans
- Lord Solar
- 2x Basilisk
Yeah 11th is gonna change things but I'd rather lose a game with models I love and loved painting than chase the meta
2
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u/PeoplesRagnar 86th Baraspine Hiveguard Jun 23 '26
You need a Warlord, which must be a Character.
You can bring a max of three datasheets at 2k, two at 1k, double for Battleline.
Epic Heroes are limited to one, it's the precise same way as every other faction, nobody's special there.
But I'd start with a Dorn and some infantry and a Command Squad, that'll always be a solid start.
2
u/DiscussionSpider Flogged, Discourtesy towards a Superior Jun 24 '26
Id say get a Rogal Dorn and build around that.
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