Astra Militarum Tank Regiment

 Well, as you all probably know (if you've been following my blog...not that anyone actually follows my blog or reads any of my posts, but I digress), I have an Astra Militarum tank regiment. Ugh, that sounds pretentious. I have an Imperial Guard tank regiment for quite a long time now, consisting almost completely of Leman Russ Executioner tanks. I also have gotten a Stormblade, to complete the theme of plasma.

I think I have 5 Leman Russ Executioner tanks right now, so I can form a Spearhead Detachment for Objective Secured Leman Russ tanks! 2 Tank Commanders and 3 regular Leman Russ Executioner tanks. Also, I have a squadron of 3 Armored Sentinels armed with plasma cannons. As you can see, I'm really going all in with plasma. If possible, I'll get another 3 Armored Sentinels with plasma cannons to serve as durable shock troops or screening units for my Leman Russ tanks, and once I paint my Stormblade, I'll be able to field an Imperial Guard tank army! Or armored regiment - one that specializes entirely in plasma weapons!

Admittedly, 9th edition has not been kind to Imperial Guard and our army is suffering a bit without a codex, but that doesn't stop me from trying to build a list around them. The question is...what regiment is best for my all-plasma tank/armor army?

In the early days of 8th edition, and ever since the Imperial codex came out in 2017, I've been using the Cadian regimental doctrine because it's the one closest to my regiment. I mean, after all, I've been using Cadian Shock Troops models for my Imperial Guard, so...yeah. Also, I had this whole fluff going where the now homeless Cadians have made their home in Draconis III after the destruction of Cadia. So we have a few regiments who relocated to Draconis III and now they are training the Draconian Defenders. So if there's any regiment that fits them best, it's Cadia.

Cadia Regimental Doctrine allows Leman Russ tanks to re-roll hit rolls of 1s if they don't move, perfect for my gunline as well as plasma-equipped Leman Russ Executioner tanks. It was also one of the reasons why I sold all my other Leman Russ tanks and went full-blown plasma and full-blown Leman Russ Executioner tanks. Because, you know, re-rolls of 1s for my supercharged plasma. I also made liberal use of the tank order "Pound them to Dust!" to re-roll the D6 for the Executioner plasma cannon. Also, my dudes are clearly not Strength 4 Death Worlders. They are samurai or Meiji-era Guardsmen (I'll probably need Mordian for that). So I'm not using the Catachan trait, I'm fluffy like that.

However, thanks to the Greater Good, we have a whole slew of new options! I haven't played much with the Greater Good because I was too busily playing Thousand Sons with Ritual of the Damned (Cult of Magic), and then Covid19 hit last year and I simply couldn't get any games. Now I'm busy with Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus, but I'm considering switching to Knights and Guard, flooding the table with Toughness 8 units (which is why I'm writing this post to begin with).

So what does The Greater Good offer us? Tank Aces is one thing, but I'm tempted to just go with Steel Commander for additional orders, and Steadfast Leviathan for my Stormblade. But that's just Tank Aces, and there are a few other options that are worthwhile, such as Up-Armored and Hull Down Deployment. What about Custom Regimental Doctrines?

I'm actually looking at Jury Rigged Repairs and Gunnery Experts because they seem to suit my tank list the most. I don't have any infantry, so I'm not really that fond of taking the established regimental doctrines (Cadian, Catachan, etc.), I prefer to customize my own regimental doctrines, much like what I did for my Knight Hosuehold (Glorified History and Slayers of Beasts). So how does Jury Rigged Repairs plus Gunnery Experts compare to the vanilla Cadian Regimental Doctrine?

Firstly, Cadian regimental doctrine allows me to re-rolls ones, and the tank order allows for re-rolls of D6 for turret weapons. But Gunnery Experts allow for re-rolls of all D6 and D3 weapons, including sponsons. On the other hand, we have the Tank Order, "Gunners, Kill on Sight!", which allows my tanks to re-roll hit rolls of ones. The caveat is that this order applies even if I move my Leman Russ tanks. In 8th edition, I never move my Leman Russ tanks...you know why? Because apparently they will suffer the -1 to hit penalty for moving for their sponson and hull weapons. So my plasma cannon sponsons and lascannons will be hitting on 5+ for the regular Leman Russ tanks...and apparently hit rolls of 2 will make them suffer mortal wounds when supercharging plasma. Ridiculous. This was why the Cadian regimental doctrine suited me fine - I never want to move my Leman Russ tanks anyway, because I was afraid of the -1 to hit penalty.

On the other hand, if I simply combine Gunners, Kill on Sight! with Gunnery Experts, I basically get the Cadian re-rolls of ones AND re-rolls of D6/D3 while having a movement of 5" (because I want to shoot twice with Grinding Advance). Whereas, if I stick to Cadian, I can't move at all and I can only re-roll the D6 for the turret weapons. So yeah...if I'm going all-tanks, I would prefer to have Gunnery Experts plus the Gunners, Kill on Sight! tank order.

What if I don't have access to orders? Well...that's where the Jury Rigged Repairs come to play. They will mitigate the damage that my tanks suffer by allowing them to recover one wound on 2-4, and D3 wounds on 5-6. It might not be entirely reliable, but hey, tanks. I love tanks. That's all I need to justify taking this custom regimental doctrine, to mitigate the damage from supercharging plasma weapons as well as keeping them alive for as long as possible. Yay.

One day I'll field them...then we'll see how it goes. Till then!