Pete Haines

Pete Haines: With the release of Codex: Imperial Guard last year we thought it was about time we updated the Armoured companies with some new doctrines and equipment. Unfortunately, bringing such a specialised formation to life on the tabletop poses a few problems. In Warhammer 40,000 it is generally true that emphasising one thing in an army can create an unfair advantage. The reason for this is quite simple, an opposing army may be balanced to deal with a wide range of opponents but may not be able to cope if one particular troop type is used to the exclusion of all else. This is especially true of the Armoured company, an army that could potentially consist entirely of battle tanks with 14 frontal armour! Whilst a well-balanced army can reasonably expect to deal with a few of these behemoths, dealing with an army of them will take time. Time, sadly, is something they will not have as they wither under non-stop bombardment from masses of ordnance weapons. I have tried to balance matters up in two ways. Firstly, I have been extremely strict about the variety of supporting troops an Armoured company can use. This creates some tangible weaknesses for it that an opponent may be able to exploit. Secondly, I have reflected squadron organisation in the list by making it compulsory to include a Command or Ace tank in every set of three. The points cost of these tanks is higher than their improved Ballistic Skill really merits, but the effect is to make the average points cost of each tank, higher keeping the number of them that can be fielded to manageable proportions.

These changes have allowed me to avoid introducing artificial special rules to limit the effectiveness of Armoured company vehicles, especially the ubiquitous Leman Russ, while making the army more compatible with the other Warhammer 40,000 armies.

It is possible in due course that there may be a codex dealing specifically with Armoured companies, but before this can be done this list format will need a lot more playtesting and that is where all you tread-heads out there come in. I welcome any thoughts or experiences you have regarding the army, so don't hesitate to write in to Chapter Approved at the address at the end of this article.

Armoured Companies Army List: [Download PDF 627 Kb]

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Armoured Companies Vehicles | Operational Practices | Imperial Guard Miniatures Gallery

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