10th edition guard

 So we have finally seen the data cards for the Astra militarum. I will go through all the units in detail the same way as i have in the past, going through the changes, good points and bad points and also how i think they will fit in to my Astra militarum armies. Here i will just go over the very basics and give my initial thoughts on the new army.

First up, they look very good, not game braking but very competitive. There are some good changes across the board, there are also some questionable changes and i also think there are a few negatives. I maybe being a bit harsh in some respects but having only just received a new codex ( The special edition one went on sale in November 2022 but the general release wasn’t until Jan 2023), where we received a number of well needed updates and buffs, only to loose them less than 6 months later.

As i said, in general, there are a lot of good things here, starting with the new bigger infantry squads. 20 man infantry squads are really good for battle shock tests and also for maximising orders and stratagems. I think orders are going to be in short supply this edition, so being able to use them on larger squads will be mitigated this slightly. The ability to attach two characters to infantry squads is also going to be useful in attaching a command squad and also a commissar, in order to really help with battle shock. 

Another good change to Cadians is the sticky objective ability, being able to hold objectives and move off to do other things is really good and i lost at least one game against marines who could do this. 

However, while there are a number of good points, there are also a number of bad points. The first is the change to flyers. Having to between hover and flying is not good, being able to chop and change was a key point of flyers, there is now very little advantage to taking flyers over other transports or tanks. 

Talking of tanks, the wyverns have been nerfed quite a bit in my eyes. The changes to the number of shots (2d6 down from 4d6) and the addition rules drop the effectiveness off the vehicle and even the drop in points still don’t make it as good as multiple mortar squads. It was always hard to justify taking wyverns over mortar squads and now it’s even more so.

Lastly the changes to tank commanders BS is also another negative to me. Even with the addition of heavy, dropping the BS hits them hard. I like them and people will still take them but its still a feels bad thing.

There are a couple of strange moves as well. Combining all the regimental advisers in to one units is a bit strange, as you have to take all 3 even if you don’t actually need or want them. I don’t need a Master of Ordnance in an army with no artillery or an Officers of the Fleet in an army with no flyers. 

Servitors are another strange one, the changes in the last codex were strange, as they basically don’t do anything. Previously they added bonuses to repairing vehicles, which made sense, not they just bimble around taking up points.

Lastly and a big one for me, is the way infantry squads heavy weapons and special weapons interact. Cadians can take two special weapons, Catachan can take two flamers and DKoK get medics and specials and infantry can take special weapons and heavy weapons, or not as is the actual case. Now the rules state that you can take one special weapon for every 10 models, but if you take a heavy weapons, the squad now contains only 9 models, so no special weapon allowed. So either one special weapon and be a crap cadian squad or one heavy weapon and loose a lot of versatility. I’m sure its not supposed to be that way and standard infantry squads are supposed to be able to take both a heavy weapon and a special weapon in a standard size squad but as it stands you can’t.