Armoured vehicles, from light scout cars to rumbling battle tanks, are essential when fighting in the rad-blasted wastes of Armageddon. Today we’re looking at two new Detachments from the upcoming book Armageddon: The Return of Yarrick which allow the Astra Militarum to make extensive use of such war machines.
The first, Armoured Infantry, is all about piling ranks of Guardsmen into nimble transports and thundering them up the battlefield – a tactic that has served the Imperium well on Armageddon and countless other theatres of war.
Squadron Command expands the utility of your Command Squads by folding SQUADRON units into their Order structure, opening up the ability to power up ranks of Leman Russ tanks without needing to fit a Tank Commander or Lord Solar Leontus himself into your army’s roster.
The Detachment rule also gives any SQUADRON units smaller than a Leman Russ a new Order, On My Signal, that lets them dart around whenever the enemy gets too close – whether it’s to avoid their reach, or chase them down.
DETACHMENT RULE
ARMOURED INFANTRY:
SQUADRON COMMAND
Officers in charge of motorised formations are as well versed in armoured combat as in infantry operations.
Add SQUADRON to the list of units each OFFICER unit from your army can issue Orders to. Add the Order below to those listed in the Voice of Command ability.
ORDER
ON MY SIGNAL
The most effective commanders know how and when to make use of their armoured fighting vehicles’ speed.
This Order can only be issued to ARMOURED SKIRMISHER units (see below). Each time an enemy unit ends a Normal or Advance move within 9" of this unit, this unit can make a Normal move of up to D6". Each unit can only move in this way once per turn.
KEYWORDS
ASTRA MILITARUM SQUADRON units from your army have the ARMOURED SKIRMISHER keyword (excluding Artillery units and units containing one or more models with a Wounds characteristic of 13 or higher).
After disembarking from their transport, Guardsmen can level powerful barrages of lasgun fire that take the enemy quite by surprise, gaining a bonus to Wound rolls through use of the Opening Salvo Stratagem. They’re also adept at using overwhelming combined firepower to crack through the toughest of targets, and a careful use of the Combined Fire Stratagem will see even the lasguns on the back of the Chimera wounding Space Marines on a 3+.
OPENING SALVO (1CP)
ARMOURED INFANTRY – BATTLE TACTIC STRATAGEM
Emerging from their armoured transports, heavily armed soldiers open fire before enemies can dive for cover or angle their stoutest armour towards the fusillade.
WHEN: Your Shooting phase.
TARGET: One ASTRA MILITARUM unit from your army that disembarked from a TRANSPORT this turn and has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit makes an attack, add 1 to the Wound roll.
COMBINED FIRE (1CP)
ARMOURED INFANTRY – BATTLE TACTIC STRATAGEM
Hammering the enemy, this transport’s crew share targeting solutions with nearby allies, allowing for concentrated combined fire to obliterate the foe’s infantry and even erode armour plating.
WHEN: Your Shooting phase, just after an ARMOURED SKIRMISHER unit from your army has shot.
TARGET: That ARMOURED SKIRMISHER unit.
EFFECT: Select one enemy unit hit by one or more of those attacks. Until the end of the phase, that enemy unit cannot have the Benefit of Cover, and each time an ARMOURED SKIRMISHER unit from your army makes an attack that targets that unit, improve the Strength characteristic of that attack by 2.
Where Armoured Infantry prizes light and fast vehicles for moving troops and sneaking attacks on the flanks, Steel Hammer is all about smashing the largest tanks you can muster right into your opponent’s lines – especially TITANIC vehicles like the mighty Baneblade. In fact, you can even have a Baneblade as your Warlord.
Normally, getting too close to the enemy is a raw deal for your largest tanks, as many of their strongest weapons have the [Blast] ability and so can’t shoot the heretics clustering around them. Not so with the Ceaseless Cannonade rule, which does away with that restriction and removes the To Hit penalty for shooting within engagement range.
DETACHMENT RULE
STEEL HAMMER:
CEASELESS CANNONADE
The heaviest Astra Militarum vehicles are adamantine behemoths whose armour is almost impenetrable. The crews of these colossal war engines need have no concern for the integrity of their vehicles, unleashing even the most violently destructive ordnance at point‑blank range.
Each time an ASTRA MILITARUM TITANIC or ASTRA MILITARUM SQUADRON unit from your army is selected to shoot, models in that unit can target enemy units within Engagement Range of that unit (including with Blast weapons), provided no other friendly units are also within Engagement Range of that enemy unit.When doing so, such models do not suffer the penalty to their Hit rolls for being within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units (excluding attacks made with Indirect Fire weapons).
KEYWORDS
In the Muster Armies step, you can select one or more ASTRA MILITARUM TITANIC units from your army to gain the CHARACTER keyword.
You can do all sorts with your new Titanic warlord, but one of our favourites by far is the Assault Hatches Enhancement that lets disembarking infantry charge even if their ride has made a move. Just imagine – General Stormlord crashing headfirst through the enemy defensive line, only for two full-size squads of Bullgryns* to come out swinging at their soft underbelly. Pure cinema.
Then, once your tank has Charged into its own prey, use the Engine of Wrath Stratagem to grind entire units of unfortunate souls into paste. Why have chainswords and combat knives when you have raw mass and a massive engine?
ENHANCEMENT
STEEL HAMMER:
ASSAULT HATCHES
Ramps and hatches slam down on all sides of this titanic vehicle, enabling infantry to surge forth and overwhelm the enemy.
ASTRA MILITARUM TITANIC CHARACTER TRANSPORT model only. Each time a unit disembarks from the bearer after it has made a Normal move, that unit is still eligible to declare a charge this turn.
ENGINE OF WRATH
STEEL HAMMER – EPIC DEED STRATAGEM
An unstoppable engine of destruction, this super‑heavy tank thunders forward, crushing enemies to bloody pulp beneath its steel treads.
WHEN: Fight phase.
TARGET: One ASTRA MILITARUM TITANIC unit from your army that has not been selected to fight this phase.
EFFECT: Select one enemy unit within Engagement Range of your unit. Until the end of the phase, add
6 to the Attacks characteristic of melee weapons equipped by models in your unit, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic of those weapons by 2, and each time a model in your unit fights, it can only target that enemy unit.
Both of these Detachments are available in Armageddon: The Return of Yarrick, which is available to pre-order from Saturday, and you’ll be able to download them for free from the Warhammer Community Downloads page later this week. Join us tomorrow for a pair of Orky Detachments, and get your warbike ready for Da Speedwaaagh!.
* We’re not sure who’d be more surprised by this – your enemy or the Bullgryns themselves.
