This section of Codex: Astra Militarum lists wargear (including Melee Weapons, Ranged Weapons, Armour, Special Issue Wargear, Psychic Choir Powers, Heirlooms of Conquest, Astra Militarum Vehicle Equipment and Lords of War Equipment) used by Astra Militarum, along with the rules for using them in your games of Warhammer 40,000.
Profiles for the following melee weapons can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
| Tipped with a single-use explosive head, on the charge the hunting lance hits home with punishing force sufficient to tear even a Chaos Space Marine in two. |
A hunting lance is a close combat weapon. However, the first time a model with a hunting lance charges into close combat, for the duration of that phase it adds +2 to its Initiative and counts as being armed with a weapon with the following profile:
| Tech-Priest Enginseers and their Servitor minions often sport powerful servo-arms. These mechanised limbs can be turned with equal ease to complex battlefield repairs, or crushing the life from the foe. Though these weapons are slow to strike, once the blessed hydraulics of the servo-arm’s claw have locked in and begun to squeeze, foes face a hideous and inexorable death. |
Profiles for the following ranged weapons can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
| The chem cannon belches hideous clouds of toxic gas. So virulent and acidic is this weapon’s payload that even the desecrated power armour of the reviled Traitor Legions cannot long withstand its roiling caress. Flesh and ceramite alike dissolve, running like blighted candle wax. |
| Though these deadly artefacts are unpredictable and relatively rare, few weapons can unleash the same devastation as a Deathstrike missile. Mounting a variety of exceptionally deadly warheads and able to strike at targets across vast distances, they descend upon the foe like the fiery sword of the Emperor’s justice. |
The Deathstrike missile cannot fire directly.
| These man-portable explosives excel at destroying enemy armour, though the risks to those tasked with hurling them into the foes’ midst are high. |
| The distinctive, looming barrel of the earthshaker cannon is a sight capable of striking fear into the Imperium’s many foes. These long-necked artillery guns have an impressive range and can maintain a fearsome rate of fire, lobbing shell after shell into foes and reducing them to blasted ruin. |
| Firing shells that contain a sub-atomic core, the eradicator nova cannon is especially useful during sieges and urban warfare. Though it lacks the punch of more conventional ordnance, the shockwave produced by its shells’ detonation is impossible to hide from, pulping even the most dug in enemy infantry. |
Executioner Plasma Cannon| A relic of ancient days, the executioner plasma cannon is a rare and incredibly potent weapon. Drawing its power from Ganymede-class plasma coils and able to spread its fury across a wide area, the executioner lives up to its name, bathing whole squads of the enemy’s elite in searing plasma until they are nothing but ash. |
| Able to mow down swathes of infantry or light vehicles with ease, the churning thunder of the exterminator autocannon has been the last sound many foes of the Imperium have heard. |
| Grenade launchers can fire a range of deadly rounds. |
| These simple gauntlets lob frag-bombs into the midst of the foe. |
| Hellfury missiles saturate their targets with blazing submunitions. |
| These missiles can tear through heretic armour and xenos flesh alike. |
| These weapons are borne into battle by Tempestus Scions to deal with armoured enemy infantry. Perfect for bringing down Traitor Space Marines or xenos warriors, hot-shot volley guns fire with a distinctive spitting howl. |
| Essentially a long-barrelled, outsized autocannon on an anti-aircraft mount, the Hydra autocannon is guided by its predictive logic spirit to fill the skies with sawing lines of deadly fire. |
| This weapon swiftly reduces armoured targets to molten slag. |
| Mortar barrages can swiftly slaughter tight-packed enemy infantry. |
| These pods fire salvoes of short-fused fragmentation missiles. |
| An unsubtle anti-infantry weapon that epitomises the Departmento Munitorum’s approach to warfare, the punisher slaughters its targets through the application of its overwhelming rate of fire. |
| These huge, drum-fed guns are as crude and direct as their wielders. |
| Each storm eagle rocket delivers multiple high explosive warheads into the heart of enemy formations. |
Storm eagle rockets cannot fire directly.
| The hollow shells fired by the stormshard mortar are packed with thousands of inch-long steel flechettes, each industrially sharpened into the shape of an aquila. Thus when a stormshard shell airbursts above the foe it fills the target zone with lethal, whistling clouds of inescapable Imperial justice. |
| A light artillery piece, the Taurox battle cannon is fitted with advanced recoilpardoners and auto-targeters that allow it to fire effectively whilst on the move. |
| Though smaller than the monstrous punisher cannon from which it was adapted, the Taurox gatling cannon is nonetheless a fearsome weapon. These weapons lay down an impressive curtain of anti-infantry fire, scything down those foes who would seek to overrun their Militarum Tempestus passengers in the field. |
| The Taurox missile launcher is extremely versatile, able to fire spreads of missiles over long distances and suppress enemy infantry or armour with equal ease. |
| A weapon for the true tank ace, the vanquisher battle cannon is the pinpoint rapier to the battle cannon’s crunching mace, firing shaped, high explosive shells that can punch through the thickest armour to the ruin of their hapless target. |
| Carapace armour is made up of large, rigid plates of armaplas or ceramite moulded to fit the wearer. |
Carapace armour confers a 4+ Armour Save.
| Cheap and easy to produce, flak armour comprises several layers of ablative thermoplas materials and impact absorbent carbifibres. |
Flak armour confers a 5+ Armour Save.
| Made from thick ceramite plates and electronically motivated fibre-bundles, power armour is some of the best protective armour available to the servants of the Imperium. Amongst the ranks of the Imperial Guard it is a rarity reserved for Tech-Priest Enginseers. |
Power armour confers a 3+ Armour Save.
Profiles for the following special issue wargear can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
| These shields resemble large and resilient energised bucklers. They are carried by some Bullgryns, serving equally well in combat as a defensive measure and handy bludgeon. |
A brute shield confers a 5+ invulnerable save and can re-roll To Wound rolls when resolving Hammer of Wrath hits.
| Whether sophisticated cameleoline cloaks, artfully attached foliage or primitive facepaint, camo gear provides its wearer with a modicum of concealment in dense terrain. |
A model with camo gear counts its cover save as being 1 point better than normal. Note that this means it always has a cover save of at least 6+, even in the open.
| Medi-packs contain all the necessary drugs, dressings and surgical tools to get a wounded Imperial Guardsman back in the fight, or save the lives of vital personnel. |
A unit that contains at least one model with a medi-pack has the Feel No Pain special rule.
| Flying proudly above the Imperial Guard lines, these standards serve as vital rallying points in the chaos of battle. |
A unit that contains a model with a platoon standard counts as scoring an additional Wound for the purposes of calculating assault results.
| Often carried by high-ranking officers and Imperial heroes, shimmering refractor fields refract incoming energy around their bearer, batting aside blasts and swinging blades that would otherwise lay them low. |
A refractor field confers a 5+ invulnerable save.
| Memorials to the regiment’s fallen and honour-totems to those who still fight, regimental standards are potent symbols of Imperial pride; any Guardsmen that fight in the shadow of such a banner are inspired to acts of selfless valour. |
A regimental standard follows the same rules as a platoon standard. In addition, any friendly units from Codex: Astra Militarum within 12" of a model with a regimental standard re-roll failed Morale, Fear and Pinning tests.
| A rosarius is a badge of faith common amongst members of the Ecclesiarchy. Each incorporates a powerful conversion field that protects its wearer from the weapons of the God-Emperor’s enemies. |
A rosarius confers a 4+ invulnerable save.
| The slabshield is a towering wall of protective armaplas. Heavy-duty magnetic strips along the shield’s edges allow it to be locked together with others of its kind for maximum protective effect. |
If a model with a slabshield is in base contact with one or more models with a slabshield from the same unit, it adds +1 to its Armour Save. Furthermore, if a target (friend or foe) is partially obscured from the firer’s view by at least one model with a slabshield, it receives +1 to its cover save.
| Snare mines consist of Munitorum issue proximity detonators or snare-wire, hooked up to whatever explosives can be scraped together. |
Enemy units that charge a unit with snare mines count as having made a disordered charge.
| A vox-caster is a reliable communications array connected to the tactical command net via light-beam transmitters. |
Failed Leadership tests for orders issued to a unit with a vox-caster can be re-rolled, provided the officer’s unit also has a vox-caster. An officer may not use a vox-caster’s ability on his own unit.
| A Sanctioned Psyker Battle Elite can combine their powers to create a disturbance in the fabric of space, causing repetitions and negations of the time stream. |
Warp Сharge: 3
Temporal Distort is a blessing or malediction depending on the target. The power must be manifested at the start of the Sanctioned Psyker Battle Elite’s turn. Nominate a unit within 36" of a model from the Psychic Choir. If it is an enemy unit, that unit may not charge in its next turn. If it is a friendly unit, that unit adds 6 to its Run moves (usually D6+6") and adds +2D6 to its charge distance (usually 4D6") until the start of the manifesting unit’s next turn.
The sacred relics of the Imperial Guard are items of incredible rarity. Only one of each of the following items may be chosen per army – there is only one of each of these items in the galaxy!
Only one of each heirloom may be taken per army.
1 Lord Commissar only. Replaces bolt pistol.
2 Company Commander only.
3 Replaces the character’s close combat weapon.
| The Orks of Armageddon believed that Old Man Yarrick could kill with but a glance, a superstition that the Commissar was keen to exploit to his advantage. The forbidding bale eye implanted in place of his own can project a powerful short-range blast of laser energy that will core out an opponent’s skull at ten paces. |
The Bale Eye can be used in the Shooting phase in addition to firing another weapon.
| General Kurov was one of the most gifted officers in Imperial history. Upon retirement, he recorded dozens of tactical treatises that were translated into voxghosts by the Adeptus Mechanicus and uploaded into a two-headed avian servitor referred to as ‘Kurov’s Aquila’. A senior officer who possesses this prestigious tool can turn to it for tactical guidance, addressing his questions to the hunched machine-bird. In response, the servitor’s blindfolded head will vocalise the most relevant vox-ghost in Kurov’s stentorian tones. The other head’s eyes glow above its bound-shut beak as they project a hololithic display of Kurov himself, arms folded and dress uniform immaculate, his imago flickering as it reveals the secrets of the foe. |
The officer, and all friendly units from Codex: Astra Militarum within 6", have the Preferred Enemy special rule. In addition, the bearer may re-roll a single failed Leadership test per turn.
| Sergeant Harker’s favourite heavy bolter, ‘Payback’, has served him well in countless hostile war zones. |
| Yarrick is protected by a thrumming power field, a potent personal shield generator that bleeds the force from incoming attacks amid crackling skeins of golden lightning until it stops them altogether. |
The Power Field gives Yarrick a 4+ invulnerable save.
| The greatest Imperial Guard commander ever to bestride the stars, Warmaster Solar Macharius reclaimed a thousand worlds for the Emperor. Upon his death he was enshrined as a saint; the six ornate blades of his subordinate generals laid upon the altar to his glory. Only one of these weapons has been reclaimed to active service. The Blade of Conquest is a beautiful example of bladesmithing, but its true worth lies in the authority it symbolises. Any man who wields this sword can light a righteous fire in the hearts of his men, for they fight in the shadow of Saint Solar himself. |
The Deathmask of Ollanius| Ollanius the Pious is the epitome of Imperial sainthood, believed martyred at the hands of Horus himself. In the millennia since his passing, Ollanius’ deathmask has been revered as a holy relic; whosoever wears this ancient artefact is granted the determination and endurance of the famous martyr himself. The mask is a terrifying piece of craftsmanship, depicting in obsidian and void-fired bronze the agonised visage of a tortured angel. It is said that, in the presence of traitors, the Deathmask will weep tears of blood. |
The bearer of the Deathmask of Ollanius gains a 4+ invulnerable save, and has the It Will Not Die and Fear special rules.
The Emperor’s Benediction| Wielded by a succession of brutal, uncompromising Commissars, this masterwork bolt pistol is feared by all. Its elementary but bloodthirsty machine spirit has been blamed for a series of unfortunate ‘accidents’ on the field of battle. In spite of this, the Officio Prefectus view the Emperor’s Benediction as an artefact of some distinction – some say that it can taste cowardice even before the reprehensible act has been committed. |
| The Laurels of Command are a callous and controversial means to ensure obedience. Concealed within their peerless artistry is a band of empathic-impulsion circuitry which allows the wearer limited control over the minds of indoctrinated individuals via subliminal suggestion. Under their effects even cowards fight to the last, while orders are executed in perfect synchronisation. However, if the officer wearing the Laurels is slain, the echoes of his death can leave his subordinates reeling in confusion. |
Whenever a friendly unit from Codex: Astra Militarum within 6" of the bearer is required to take a Morale check, the bearer of the Laurels may choose whether they pass or fail. However, if the model with the Laurels is removed as a casualty, all friendly units from Codex: Astra Militarum within 6" must take an immediate Pinning test.
The Tactical Auto-Reliquary of Tyberius| Built into the gold-chased skull of Lord Commander Lucellin Tyberius himself, this device contains a web of psycho-circuitry containing Tyberius’ memory engrams and tactical acumen – and with it, his curmudgeonly and overbearing personality. Borne aloft by its own gravitic motors, the device observes and evaluates an officer’s decisions. The moment it considers an order poorly chosen, the skull cuts into the vox and loudly overrides its exasperated owner. In imperious, static-laden tones, the auto-reliquary will countermand the officer’s orders and issue a barrage of its own from Tyberius’ store of tactical insights. |
When rolling Leadership tests for orders issued by an officer with the Tactical Auto-Reliquary, any successful Leadership test that results in a double will count as Inspired Tactics. However, if you roll a double 1 while using the Tactical Auto-Reliquary, you still benefit from Inspired Tactics, though the officer has ‘accidentally’ shut the device out of the vox network – it may no longer be used this game.
| Marbo carries a large Catachan knife coated with deadly toxins. |
| Loaded with armour-piercing, envenomed rounds, Marbo’s ripper pistol is the final word in terminal close encounters. |
Astra Militarum Vehicle Equipment
Profiles for the following astra militarum vehicle equipment can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
| These ‘spyboxes’ feed intelligence back to command elements behind the lines. Strategic servitors compile and redistribute this data in order to refine the coordinates issued to support elements in the field. |
If you attempt to bring a unit on from reserve using Deep Strike, and the location chosen for its deployment is within 6" of a vehicle with an augur array, that unit does not scatter. The augur array must have been on the battlefield at the start of the turn in order for it to be used.
| Whether rare cameleoline netting or crude webbing woven with local flora, camo netting helps conceal a vehicle from prying eyes. |
A vehicle with camo netting counts its cover save as being 1 point better than normal. Note that this means it always has a cover save of at least 6+, even if it is in the open.
Enclosed Crew Compartment| Some artillery vehicles are fitted with additional armour plating to protect the exposed crew carriage. |
Vehicles with the enclosed crew compartment upgrade no longer have the ‘ Open-topped’ portion of their unit type.
| Though discouraged by the Officio Prefectus, some crews lash short-fused barrels of promethium to their tanks’ hulls. In a pinch, these barrels can be set alight and cut loose, showering nearby enemies in blazing fuel. |
The first time an enemy unit attempts to charge a vehicle with fire barrels, that unit suffers D6 Strength 4 AP5 hits. These hits are Randomly Allocated.
| Many crews load their vehicles with collections of tools, tow cables and other useful kit that can make the difference between digging an immobilized vehicle out of a tight spot or having to abandon it to its fate. |
If a vehicle with recovery gear is Immobilised, then in subsequent turns it may attempt to repair itself. To make the attempt, roll a D6 at the end of the Movement phase; on the roll of a 6, the vehicle is no longer Immobilised. Note that this does not restore a Hull Point.
| Occasionally a crew will achieve an empathic relationship with the machine spirit of their battle tank. When such a crew perishes, their remains may be interred within their vehicle, spirits lingering protectively to drive away the baleful energies of the void. |
A vehicle with the relic plating upgrade has the Adamantium Will special rule.
| The Baneblade cannon fires three foot-long, adamantium-tipped, rocket-propelled anti-tank shells packed with high explosives. These terrifying rounds punch through even the thickest armour with ease, producing explosions that are as vast as they are deadly. |
| A short ranged, direct fire artillery piece, this wide bore canon hurls a massive shell whose weight alone is enough to crush a light tank. The destructive force of each blast will atomise the most heavily armoured foes in a heartbeat, leaving nothing but a blazing crater to show where the Emperor’s foes once stood. |
| The Hellhammer cannon fires high calibre shells, each containing an unstable sub-atomic core. Where these deadly rounds hit home, everything is engulfed by a blindingly bright blast. Split seconds later, a deafening roar and buffeting shockwave roll out from the blast zone. Of the foe caught within the blast zone, little remains. |
| The magma cannon is named for the white-hot blasts of energy its thermochemical `sunhammer` warheads create upon impact. This weapon is more than capable of reducing a Stompa or bio-titan to blackened wreckage with a single direct hit. |
| Firing high yield concussion shells over vast distances, the quake cannon is a ferociously effective siege-gun. Though disadvantaged at short range by its fuselocked ordnance, the weapon’s reach and ferocious stopping power more than make up for this shortcoming. |
| The Stormsword siege cannon fires enormous, rocket-propelled shells that detonate with vast concussive force. Stormsword gunners are trained to lob their shots low, punching through the ground floors of defensive buildings to bring them tumbling down or carving vast craters beneath foes and pitching them to their doom. |
| Firing hefty proximity-shells filled with super-dense tectorium ore, the tremor cannon gouges huge craters out of the battlefield with every shot. Even as a lethal wave of blazing overpressure rolls out from the blast, the tectorium’s primary reaction shudders out through the ground, shaking the battlefield to its bedrock and flinging the enemy off their feet in screaming confusion. |
Earthshock:
All models under the tremor cannon’s massive blast marker that were not removed from play as a result of that shooting attack must take a Dangerous Terrain test once the hit has been resolved.
| The volcano cannon’s sheer power is the stuff of legend. Shields collapse beneath its searing beam, armour sloughs away into molten slag or simply vaporises altogether. A single shot from such a weapon can reach out across a battlefield to effortlessly slay the mightiest monster or super-heavy tank, while infantry caught in its blast will be ash before they realise they have been hit. |
| The vulcan mega-bolter screams as it spits out swathes of mass-reactive shells. Wherever the mega-bolter’s fire rakes across the foe, they disintegrate, blasted into puffs of blood and piles of wreckage in seconds. Warriors fighting beneath the barrels of these chattering weapons must wade knee-deep through spent shell casings, struggling to reach their foes through drifts of smoking brass. |
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