Warhammer 40k’s Astra Militarum faction – a.k.a. the Imperial Guard – is returning with a vengeance – by which we mean a whole new model range and boxed Astra Militarum army set, containing a bunch of previously unseen new Guard models, all revealed in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Day preview livestream on Saturday. Check ’em all out in the video below.
Along with redesigned Sentinel walkers (which were shown off earlier in the year) the upcoming army set includes revamped Commissars; Cadian Shock Troops; Cadian Command Squads; and Heavy Weapon Teams – along with a brand new gunnery unit: the Field Ordnance Battery.
Details are naturally thin on the ground so far, but GW says the Battery can be equipped with “large-bore cannons, multi-missile launchers, or heavy, overcharged lascannons”.
GW’s Saturday stream and accompanying Warhammer Community article also confirmed that “these are far from the only new miniatures coming for the Astra Militarum“. We’ll keep our scopes trained on the horizon for more Guardsmen on the way.
Of course, we have no hint of an Astra Militarum army set release date yet, nor official pricing – though it’ll likely be in the same region as the Leagues of Votann army set, which cost $200 / £120.
The confirmed contents of the Astra Militarum army set (of which all the models are brand new kits) are:
- Special edition of the 9th edition Astra Militarum codex
- Cadian Shock Troops x 20
- Cadian Commad Squad x 1
- Field Ordnance Battery x 1 (2 bases)
- Sentinel x 1
As per previous faction army sets, like the Leagues of Votann and Chaos Knights before them, we’d expect to see a fair bit more detailed info on the constituent models and the new codex coming from GW over the coming weeks.
Not included in the army set, but revealed in Saturday’s stream and WarCom article, are the new Commissar and Heavy Weapons team models. We don’t yet know when these (or any further new Imperial Guard models) will be released, or their cost.
We also learn the new Astra Militarum codex allows free mixing of regimental-specific units (such as Death Korps of Krieg and Catachan Jungle Fighters) within the same army – supported by the return of 40k’s now familiar rules for making custom subfactions.
These have you pick two ‘traits’ for your own army from a big menu of rules hailing from all the different regiments on offer (rather than having to stick to just one guard regiment’s units and rules).
We won’t know just how these freedoms will play with the rest of the new Astra Militarum codex (or whether mixing and matching regimental units will introduce other limitations in your army rules) until we see the book in the flesh – and, as normal, the army set itself will be your first chance to get hold of it.