Guide to Game Mechanics and Units

An overview of Armageddon game mechanics, including explanation of movement and combat mechanics, as well as an overview of units in the game with their important stats, strengths and weaknesses (the latter currently a work in progress).

Introduction

There are a lot of questions around about exactly how the game works, and not much information actually available. The game manual is unfortunately not just very short on detail, it's actually completely wrong about some parts. In addition, most of the easily found information dates to release in 2014, and many things have been changed since then. So now I've learned most of the mechanics, partly from playing, partly from searching, and partly from digging through the game files, I figured it would be a good idea to make a post so others can find it. Note that this is only intended to cover how the game actually works, it is not a guide to missions or hidden objectives.

I've also started to put together some notes on units, covering all the units available in the campaign (there are other guides around, but most are incomplete) and noting some of their more important stats and potential use.

Unit Statistics (part 1)

Requisition cost

This is simply the cost of the unit in requisition points, the only currency of the game (glory points are just a score with no actual use). Each mission in the campaign awards a certain amount at the start, but these are first spent automatically on restoring all damaged units to full strength. If you take a lot of damage in a mission, you may appear to get very few requisition points at the start of the next. Units can be upgraded at the start of each mission to any other unit of the same class and faction (so Imperial Guard infantry can be changed to any other Imperial Guard infantry, but not to a tank or Space Marine), and there is no penalty in the cost of doing so. The total cost at the bottom includes any transports and so may be greater than the base unit cost.

Strength

This is the first part that seems to confuse people. Strength is the number of individuals (often referred to as models, as they would be in the tabletop game) within a unit. A titan unit has a strength of 1 because it is a single giant mech, while a unit of Steel Legion Infantry is a platoon of 30 men. This is important because it does not simply affect the number of hits a unit can take, but also how many shots they fire - each individual in the unit fires their weapon, so that unit of infantry might fire 60 shots while the titan only fires 10. This greatly affects what kind of opponents they are effective against.
Strength points can be restored using the "Replacements" button during a battle, which will spend the unit's turn to restore a maximum of 1/5 of its maximum strength at the cost of requisition points. This cost is equal to 1/5 of the unit’s original cost, and is the same whether it occurs during a battle or during the automatic replacements before the next mission. This button cannot be used when adjacent to an enemy.

Hitpoints

This is the number of hitpoints each individual within the unit has. Multiply this by the unit strength to get the total number of hits the unit can take before being wiped out. Individuals within a unit only ever take damage one at a time - each hit reduces the unit's hitpoints by 1, when the hitpoints are reduced to 0 the strength is reduced by 1 and hitpoints are restored to maximum. Essentially, the game does not treat a unit as a group of individuals each with their own hitpoints, but like the ones and tens columns in a digital countdown – when the “ones” count reaches 0, the “tens” ticks down by one and the “ones” are set back up to 9.
Note that although this game is based on older editions, this is essentially how 8th and 9th edition 40K now work - damage is applied to one model at a time within a unit, and damage does not spill over to other models when one dies. So although the game displays it a bit differently, the process should be familiar to modern tabletop players.
Hitpoints can be restored using the "Rest and Refit" button during a battle. This spends the unit's turn to restore 1 hitpoint, but only if the unit does not already have maximum hitpoints - it cannot restore lost strength points. This button is therefore not able to restore health to units which only have 1 hitpoint per strength point (most basic infantry). It does also restore morale, however, so can still have some use for these units (see below). This button cannot be used when adjacent to an enemy.

Movement

The number of hexes the unit can move, when not modified by terrain. A unit can only move once per turn, so if a unit with four movement moves two hexes and then fires, it cannot then move another two hexes. It also means it cannot move two hexes, stop to reveal enemy units, and then move another two. Unfortunately this means fast scout units are much less useful than they might appear.

Movement type

This describes how the unit moves and dictates how terrain affects movement. This can be "feet” (called "leg" in the data files), "wheels", "tracks", "walker" and "hover", and other than hover they can come in light (or small), regular and heavy (or large) variants. The exact details of how these are affected by terrain can be found in the "movement.whdat" file in the game's data folder. In general, only feet can enter settlements and fortifications (where most victory points are located), wheels and tracks are slowed more by rough terrain with tracks being a bit better, only large walkers (ie. titans) and hover units can cross large rivers, and only hover units can cross deep water and lava. However, large walkers and hover units don't benefit from roads and railways. There is also an "air" type which is the only one able to cross cliffs, but this is not used in the game.

Spotting

This is the distance a unit can see. Many units, especially those with more powerful weapons, have a spotting range less than their weapon range, making scouting important.

Defense

This is essentially a unit's armour value, it is compared to a weapon's attack value to determine if a shot that has hit does any damage. If the attack and defence values are equal, the shot has a 50% chance of doing damage.
As a side note, although Games Workshop and Slitherine are both British companies, this game uses American spelling.

Initiative

This determines the order units fire in. Regardless of who is the attacker and who is the defender, the unit with higher initiative will fire first. Some, but not all, strength points killed by the first to fire will not be able to fire back. The greater the difference in initiative, the fewer dead strength points will be considered to have fired back before dying.

Melee and ranged accuracy

These stats are mechanically the same, and are simply the percentage chance each shot the unit fires has of hitting in melee and ranged combat respectively. This chance is not modified by any stats of the target (no defence modifiers or anything), but is modified by terrain.

Unit Statistics (part 2)

Unit traits

Units can have up to 5 traits, with a variety of effects. These are displayed in the circles to the right of the unit stats on the unit card. Very few units have more than one or two traits at most.

Leadership
Units adjacent to this one will have 25 morale points restored at the start of your turn.

Heroic
Units adjacent to this one will be restored to full morale at the start of your turn. No purchaseable units have this, only a few special units given as part of scenarios.

Assault
When attacking an adjacent hex, this unit will perform a melee attack after its ranged attack.

Support
This unit will fire on any enemy that attacks an adjacent unit (as long as it would normally be able to fire on that enemy, ie. it is in range, etc.).

Fearless
The unit takes half morale loss from combat. All Space Marine infantry, walkers and ground vehicles have this, their tanks and hover units (including those listed under the “vehicles” tab) do not.

Flyer
This unit has additional evasion to incoming attacks (I have not been able to find an actual number for this), and cannot be attacked in melee combat.

Hidden traits
There are a variety of traits which are not shown anywhere in the game. Some have meaning behind the scenes, others do not appear to have any use.
“Recon” is attached to most scout units, such as Sentinels, Space Marine Scouts, and so on. It does not appear to have any effect.
“Amphibious” is attached to all Space Marine Land Raider tanks. It does not appear to have any effect either.
“Heavypull” is attached to a variety of units, in a way that would suggest they are supposed to be harder to move around than other units – towed artillery and terminators have it, for example. It does not appear to have any effect.
“Titan” is attached to all titans, including Ork Stompas and Gargants. It does not appear to have any effect. Since all titans also have the “heavy walker” movement type, it would be difficult to distinguish any effects due to this trait.
“Camo” is a trait only given to mines. It may mean that they can only be seen by a unit in an adjacent hex, regardless of a unit's spotting statistic.
“Visible” is a trait only given to hive turrets. It appears to mean they are always visible to all players, regardless of fog of war.
“Nopurchase” prevents a unit being available to the player through the purchase and upgrade screens, they can only be placed as part of a scenario.
“Unique” prevents more than one of the unit being present at a time, and is attached to the obvious hero units.
“Yarrick” functions similarly to the “unique” trait. Commisar Yarrick appears as three different units throughout the game – Infantry, Chimera and Baneblade – and this trait means only one can be present at a time.
“Notransport” prevents a unit from having transports added when purchased. It is mostly attached to units such as Roughriders, which are classed as infantry but apparently have difficulty persuading their horses to climb inside a tank.

Unit Statistics (part 3)

The previous unit details are all shown on the purchase screen, as seen in the screenshots. Some statistics are only shown on the unit card during battle, seen partly in the sidebar when a unit is selected, and fully when a unit is right-clicked.

Unit Class

This is displayed as an icon in the bottom right of the unit’s picture on the unit card. It is similar to movement type, but with fewer subdivisions – class can be “infantry” or “heavy infantry” for example, while movement type could be light, regular or heavy feet. Since almost everything in-game appears to depend on movement type, it’s not clear exactly what effect unit class has.

Morale

This is not shown on the purchase screen, since every unit always starts with 100 and is affected in the same way. It is often neglected, but can have a huge influence on the course of a battle. Morale can have 4 different states, represented by the colour unit strength number under its icon - white (90+), yellow (60-90), orange(30-60) and red (<30). White gives a bonus of +2 initiative and +20% to accuracy, yellow gives no bonus or penalty, orange gives a -2 penalty to initiative and -20% accuracy, red gives -4 initiative and -40% accuracy. A unit with 80% base accuracy will go from hitting with 96% of its shots at full morale to only hitting with 48% at red morale, clearly a major change to the unit's effectiveness. These bonuses and penalties are not displayed on the interface, but do affect the predicted damage numbers before an attack.
The "morale" stat does not represent just actual morale, but also things like organisation, supplies and general effectiveness. Although mentioned in the manual, ammunition does not exist in the game and is included as part of morale. This means units such as artillery which just sit back and fire from long range will still reduce in effectiveness over time, although much slower than those directly under fire.
Morale can be restored using the "Rest and Refit" button, which restores 30 morale (effectively one morale level) at the cost of the unit's turn. This also restores 1 hitpoint, as described above. This button cannot be used when adjacent to an enemy.
Units with the "Leadership" trait will restore 25 morale to all units in an adjacent hex at the start of their turn. Units with the "Hero" trait will restore full morale to all adjacent units at the start of their turn. This can be very important since it enables an army to continue advancing and fighting without constantly stopping to rest. This makes leader units much more powerful than their bare stats might suggest.

The exact details of morale loss are difficult to find, but here are some figures from testing:
Movement does not affect morale.
Firing costs 5 morale.
Being shot at reduces morale by 5, even if no damage is done. If a unit returns fire when attacked, it only loses 5 morale in total, it does not pay an additional 5 for firing.
Taking damage reduces morale by around 0.3 times the damage taken as a percentage of maximum health (ie. strength times hitpoints).
An additional 1 morale is lost for each strength point lost.
The first three points are exact and easily tested, the rest is only approximate and can give results a few points higher or lower than actually occurs. There does not appear to be any random element.

Experience

Again, this is only shown on the battle screen, not on the purchase screen. Purchased units start with 0 experience (although those appearing in scenarios may have more), and gain experience based on the requisition cost of damage done to enemy units. Every hundred experience points is represented by a gold skull under the unit's name in the sidebar when selected, and under it's picture in the unit list, up to a maximum of 10 skulls at 1000 xp. However, xp can actually go up to 1099.
Each full skull gives a bonus of +1 initiative, +5 accuracy, +1 attack and +1 defence. This is according to the “xp.whdat” file, which actually refers to unit types present in the Panzer Corp games by the same developer which used the same engine. All units are given the same bonuses, so it seems safe to assume the values are correct, however, since attack is a stat for weapons, not units, that may not apply here. It is also not clear if there is a cap on accuracy, since these values imply that almost all Imperial units would have over 100% chance to hit at high experience levels. Like morale, the bonuses of experience are not displayed on the interface (or, indeed, stated anywhere in the game or manual).
If a unit loses strength points, overall experience is reduced when fresh recruits are added to restore it to full strength. The new recruits are given 50% of the experience of the original unit, and the new experience level is then calculated as a weighted average. For example, a unit with 5 strength points left and experience of 100 is restored to 10 strength. The 5 new strength points get 50 xp each, giving the final unit the average of 75 xp.
In practice, this means units that frequently lose a lot of strength and need restoring will struggle to gain xp – even if an infantry unit only takes a small amount of damage each battle, the constant xp reduction when it is restored will add up over time. In contrast, a titan with only one strength point can never lose xp; either it survives at full strength or is destroyed. Repairing hitpoints using the “Rest and Refit” button does not affect xp.
Upgrading a unit does not change its experience, no matter how many times it is done. There used to be an exploit allowing damaged units to be “upgraded” to a different unit and then back again, which would repair it while not altering experience and not costing anything. Upgrades are now only possible during deployment, after everything has automatically been repaired, so this exploit is no longer possible.
The exact mechanics are harder to figure out than morale, but it appears that both dealing and taking damage contribute, and making an attack without dealing any damage will always give at least 1 xp. Destroying strength points (ie. actually killing individuals within a unit) and destroying a unit entirely count for more than just doing damage.

Cover

This is displayed under morale and experience on the unit card shown when right-clicked on the battlefield. This is actually a property of the underlying terrain, but modified by unit type – infantry get the full bonus, most other units get half, while hover units don’t get cover. The cover bonus is a percentage reduction to the accuracy of incoming ranged attacks.

Weapon Statistics

Each unit has a number of different weapons. The interface only shows a maximum of three and this is the most any unit in the main game has, however, the data files and editor allow up to four to be assigned to a unit. Weapons have their own stats separate from the unit wielding them, including a separate accuracy stat. This is not redundant, there are effectively two separate rolls to hit made every time a weapon is fired.

Weapon Name

The important thing with weapon names is that the full string, including any numbers, is the name of a single weapon. The weapon called “2 Lascannons” is not the same as having two “Lascannon” weapons, they are entirely separate weapons with stats defined separately. For example, the “2 Lascannons” weapon has the same range, strength and armour piercing as a “Lascannon”, has two shots instead of one, but has 80 accuracy instead of 100. The “4 Lascannons” weapon still only gets two shots, but has higher strength and armour piercing and again 100 accuracy. In general, a weapon whose name suggests it is multiple copies of another weapon will do the same job and be somewhat better than the single weapon, but probably not as much better as actually having that many copies of the single weapon might suggest.

Range

A weapon’s range in hexes, expressed as minimum to maximum. A range of 1 means it will fire into the adjacent hex. All weapons with a displayed minimum range of 1 actually have a minimum of 0, meaning they can be used during melee. A maximum range of 0 means the weapon can only be used in melee combat (which also hits the adjacent hex; the difference is explained later). In general, basic infantry weapons have a range of 1 or 2, heavy weapons including tanks have range up to 3 with some more powerful up to 4, while artillery can have longer range but often also have a longer minimum range.

Attack Strength

This is compared to the target’s defence stat to determine if a shot that has hit will do damage. If attack and defence are equal, the shot has a 50% chance of doing damage.

Armour Piercing

Attacks with this weapon ignore this percentage of the target’s defence score. For example, a target with defence 50 fired at by a lascannon with armour piercing 20% will be treated as though it has defence of 40.

Number of Shots

The number of shots the weapon has each time it fires. Multiply this by the unit’s strength points to get the total number of shots.

Accuracy

The accuracy of the weapon. This is an additional check made after the unit’s own accuracy check, and represents things like weapons jamming or shells failing to explode.

Accuracy per Hex

The amount the weapon’s accuracy is reduced by for each hex to the target, including the first – a weapon with 100% accuracy and -10% accuracy per hex will fire at a target in an adjacent hex with 90% accuracy. Almost all weapons have at least -10% for this stat, so it’s very rare to ever have a 100% chance of hitting. This is the only stat that affects how accuracy decreases with range.

Ammunition
Although mentioned several times in the manual, ammunition was removed from the game before launch. All weapons are treated as having infinite ammo; the effects of morale are assumed to cover supplies as well. However, weapons still have a hidden “ammo” stat in the game’s data files; they are all set to 10.

Weapon Traits

Weapons can have up to 3 traits, displayed in circles under the weapon on the purchase screen, or to the right on the unit card.

Siege
This is a hidden trait given to various short-ranged siege weapons such as the Demolisher Cannon. There is speculation that it is supposed to reduce the effects of cover, making it easier to hit entrenched infantry. However, this is difficult to test, and the trait is not displayed in game which might suggest it was removed before release.

Indirect
Weapons with this trait ignore line of sight and can fire at any unit within range, even if blocked by buildings or cliffs. Obviously this trait is usually given to artillery and support weapons. The target must be visible to at leat one other unit; artillery cannot fire blindly.

Bulky
Weapons with this trait do not fire in retaliation when the unit is fired upon. This does not prevent the unit retaliating with other weapons if it has them.

Terror
Weapons with this trait cause double morale damage.

AA
Weapons with this trait ignore the accuracy penalty caused by the “flyer” trait.

Terrain and Movement

Terrain has its own set of stats that affect both movement and combat. There are two kinds of terrain; primary terrain is the basic underlying terrain such as hills or jungle, while terrain features are additional features on top of the primary terrain, such as roads.

As mentioned earlier, a unit can only move once per turn, regardless of how many movement points it has. Even if it doesn't fire, a unit cannot move one space and then move another space, the whole move must be done as one action. By default, a move can be undone as long as you have not deselected the unit or revealed any enemy units. Usually these are the same thing - units are not revealed until you have finalised the move - but if you try to move onto an unseen enemy your unit will immediately end its move and be unable to undo. The option to undo can be disabled in the game settings, although given the consequences of a mis-click this isn't really recommended.

Attacks do not have to be carried out at the same time as movement. You are free to move all your units into position before attacking, or to use some attacks to clear a path for other units, or any other combination you choose. The mini-map highlights units that have any action remaining, whether moves, attacks or both, but the game won't otherwise warn you of unused units before hitting the end turn button.

An important point not covered by any stat is that all units exert a “zone of control” in adjacent hexes. Moving next to an enemy unit ends movement. If a unit starts next to an enemy, moving into a hex adjacent to any enemy, whether the same or a different one, costs a full turn’s movement. Moving away from the enemy does not cost extra. A single unit entrenched next to a bridge can make it very difficult to quickly cross, and many infantry units in a built up area will require constant house-to-house fighting to get through – a heavy tank can’t simply drive past them along a road even if the road itself is clear.

Movement cost
This is defined in a combination of the “terrain.whdat” and “movement.whdat” files. The terrain.whdat file sets a terrain type’s main stats, which include referring which line in the movement.whdat file to use. This latter file gives a table of the cost in movement points to enter a tile of the given terrain type for each movement type. The full details can be found by looking through the files, but some general rules can be applied:
Deep water and lava are impassable to everything except hover units.
Buildings, fortifications, and so on are impassable to everything except the “leg” movement type. This makes infantry invaluable for capturing and holding victory points.
Legs and tracks are better than wheels and walkers in rough terrain types; light tracks are almost always faster than medium and heavy.
Everything can cross minor rivers, but all except titans and hover units must spend their entire turn moving into a river hex.
Major rivers are impassable to all except titans and hover units.
Swamps are impassable to most wheeled units.
Roads and monorails do not benefit large tracked units, titans or hover units.
Terrain features can be directional – travelling along a road is faster, but moving into a road hex from a non-road hex will cost the full amount of the primary terrain type.
Except for terrain that requires a full turn’s worth of movement, the full cost is not required to enter a hex – a unit with 0.5 movement points left can enter a hex that requires 1 point to enter.

Cover
This is the percentage reduction to accuracy anyone firing at a unit in this hex will receive. It is modified by unit type – infantry get the full modifier, other units get 50%, hover units get no modifier - and then applied as a unit stat as described earlier.

Blocks LOS
LOS stands for “line of sight”. This is a modifier similar to the cover modifier, but instead applies to any shots fired through the hex. Somewhat counter-intuitively, it does not actually block vision through the hex – units on the other side of terrain with Block LOS of 100% will be perfectly visible, although direct fire weapons will not be able to hit them. Weapons with the “indirect” trait ignore this modifier (but not the cover modifier).
Although not shown on the interface, any units in between a shooter and their target also apply a 10% “Blocks LOS” penalty, in addition to that of any terrain.

Defence
This is a modifier to the defence value of any unit in the hex; the value is added, it is not a percentage modifier. Other than trenches, which can be used by almost all units, terrain types that give a positive bonus to defence can only be used by infantry. All kinds of river give a negative modifier to defence.

Traits
There are only four traits available to terrain, the somewhat unimaginatively named “danger1”, “danger2”, “danger3” and “danger4”. These are applied to Gropeweed, Helsreach Monsters, and other types of terrain that were intended to be additional static threats. Although described as such in the manual, these features were removed before release; there are no terrain types that can damage units, and no terrain traits that actually affect anything in the game.

Combat Mechanics

The large variety of stats, traits, unit and weapon types, and so on make the game seems quite complicated, but it’s actually a very logical system that has just a few simple steps to calculate what happens in combat.

Ranged Combat
1) Compare initiative of the attacking and defending unit. Higher initiative fires first, and can prevent some strength points in the target from firing back – for each point difference in initiative, one killed strength point will be prevented from firing back. So a unit with low initiative might take a lot of damage when making an attack even if it wipes out the opposing unit, while one with high initiative might take a lot less damage even if it deals less damage itself.
2) Discount any weapons that are unable to fire – out of range or weapons with the “bulky” trait that are unable to retaliate.
3) Calculate the number of attacks to be made for each weapon – multiply each weapon’s number of attacks by the unit’s current strength. A “Steel Legion Infantry” unit at full strength (30) equipped with lasguns (number of shots = 2) will get 60 shots in total. A “Leman Russ (upgraded)” at full strength (5) will get 5 Battle Cannon shots, 5 Lascannon shots and 15 Heavy Bolter shots.
4) For each attack, roll to see if it hits. The base chance of hitting is the firing unit’s accuracy, modified by experience, morale, cover (potentially modified if the weapon has the “siege” trait), and the “blocks LOS” of intervening terrain (unless weapon has “indirect” trait). Note that range is not involved in this part.
The Steel Legion Infantry from above have accuracy of 50, so when firing at a unit with everyone in clear terrain, each shot has a 50% chance to hit. Note that this does not mean they will actually hit with 50% of their shots, each shot has a random roll and they could get lucky and hit with all or get unlucky and miss with all.
If the same infantry unit is firing at a target in sparse forest with cover modifier 25%, each shot will have a 37.5% chance to hit – note that this modifier is multiplicative, not additive.
5) For each shot that has hit, make another roll to hit this time based on the weapon’s accuracy modified by the weapon’s “accuracy per hex” stat. The Guard infantry have so far hit with 30 of their shots (on average). If their target is one hex away (ie. in the adjacent hex), each of those 30 shots now has a 90% chance to actually hit – their lasguns have accuracy 100 and accuracy per hex of -10. If they were two hexes away, their shots would have an 80% chance of actually hitting.
6) For each shot that has passed both accuracy checks and hit, make a roll to determine if it causes damage. First, calculate the target’s defence by adding any terrain modifier and then applying the weapon’s “armour piercing” modifier. The chance of a shot doing damage is then (50% + attack – defence). So if attack and defence are equal, a shot has a 50% chance of damaging. If attack is greater than defence, the chance of damaging goes up in exact proportion – 40 attack vs. 30 defence gives a 60% chance of damaging, and so on. There does not appear to be a lower limit to this; if attack is too much lower than defence, the chance of doing damage will be zero. Steel Legion Infantry with lasguns will not ever be able to damage a Gargant, no matter how lucky they get.
7) Apply damage to target. This is where things get slightly complicated. Normally, all attacks reduce the target’s current hipoints by one (note that this wording is very specific, it is not simply “does one damage”). However, more powerful attacks have a chance to do more damage, according to how much higher attack is than defence:
If attack is x greater than defence, hits have an x% chance to do 2 damage, up to 40%.
For x > 40, hits have a 40% chance to do 2 damage, and an (x-40)% chance to do 3 damage.
For x > 70, hits have a 40% chance to do 2 damage, 30% chance to do 3 damage, and (x-70) chance to do 4 damage.
For x > 90, hits have a 40% chance to do 2 damage, 30% chance to do 3 damage, 20% chance to do 4 damage, and (x-90) chance to reduce current hitpoints to 0. The chance of an instakill can be at most 10%.
Again, it is important to note that damage from a single shot is always applied to the target’s current hitpoints, and current hitpoints cannot go below zero - a single shot cannot ever reduce a unit’s strength by more than one point. A very powerful weapon could kill a titan with a single hit, but that hit could never kill more than a single guardsman in Steel Legion Infantry unit.
Note that each shot goes through steps 4-7 individually; damage from one shot is applied before the rolls for the next shot are made.
8) Check if the unit with lower initiative is able to retaliate (weapons in range, etc.). Obviously if this unit was the one that initiated the attack, it must be able to do so.
9) If the unit can retaliate, calculate how many strength points are able to do so – take the strength before combat started and subtract strength points killed up to a maximum of the difference between initiatives. For example, if the unit has lost 10 strength points but only has one less initiative than the attacker, it will fire back with only 1 less strength than it started with. This makes initiative much more important than it may seem – a high initiative unit will take much less return fire than one with low initiative, whether it is the attacker or is attacked itself. This is one of the main benefits of both morale and experience.
10) Apply morale damage to both units. Note that this happens at the end after all damage has been applied, regardless of initiative.

Melee Combat
Melee or Assault combat is basically the same as ranged combat, but with a couple of important differences. Most importantly, when an assault attack is made, a ranged attack round will take place first. This means the whole process described above will take place at a range of 1, and only after that, after any damage has been resolved, will the melee part take place.
Melee combat itself follows exactly the same process, using the units’ “Melee accuracy” stat instead of ranged, and weapons with 0 range are able to take part. Cover does not affect accuracy in melee, and obviously LOS has no effect since there can be no terrain between the combatants. Note that a unit does not need a melee weapon to fight here, all weapons are used in melee as long as they have a minimum range of either 0 or 1. However, only units with the “Assault” trait are able to initiate melee combat, others are able to defend themselves in melee but cannot start it themselves.
Units with the “flyer” trait cannot be assaulted, although they can still take part in melee combat if they also have the “assault” trait (there is one Ork unit that has both).

The Support Trait
When a unit adjacent to one with the "support" trait is attacked, the supporting unit gets to fire as well. Importantly, this occurs in an entirely separate combat round which takes place before the normal combat, and which the attacking unit does not get to retaliate against. Any strength points killed in this additional support attack will be removed before the main attack is resolved. This means support units can greatly reduce the damage taken by your troops since attackers will be whittled down, or even wiped out entirely, before they are able to shoot at the unit they were trying to attack. Supporting fire applies against both ranged and assault attacks, as long as the supporting unit would normally be able to fire (ie. is in range and not blocked by terrain). Although supporting units cannot take damage, they do still lose morale every time they fire, and can rapidly become ineffective when facing massed attacks.

Combat Mechanics (continued)

Worked Examples
A Steel Legion Infantry unit is attacking a Gretchin unit at range 1, both units are at full strength, normal morale (yellow) and standing in clear terrain.
1) Compare initiative. The Infantry have 9, while the Gretchin have 1, so the Infantry fire first.
2) The Infantry are armed with the “Lasgun” weapon, which has a range of 1-2. We’re at range 1, so good to go.
3) The Infantry have strength of 30, and the lasgun gives each 2 attacks, so they get 60 shots in total.
4) The Infantry have accuracy of 50. There is no cover, and there are no morale or experience modifiers, so each shot has a 50% chance to hit. We’ll assume they hit with the average 30 shots, but it could be many more or less.
5) The lasgun has an accuracy of 100, and an accuracy per hex of -10%. We’re at range 1, so each shot has a 90% chance of hitting in this step. Of the 30 shots that made it this far, an average of 27 will hit at this stage.
6) The lasgun has attack strength 20, while the Gretchin have defence 9, with no modifiers. Each hit therefore has (50 + 20 – 9) = 61% chance of doing damage, meaning an average of 16.47 hits will do damage.
7) The attack value is 11 more than the defence, so in theory attacks have a chance to do more than one damage each. However, the Gretchin only have 1 hitpoint, so it’s not possible for any attack to reduce this by more than one. Rounding off, we therefore have 16 attacks which each reduce the Gretchin’s strength by 1. They started off with strength 50, so they are now down to 34.
8) The Gretchin are in range and even if they had been wiped out, the initiative difference means at least some will be able to return fire.
9) The difference in initiative is 8, so only 42 of the Gretchin are able to return fire. The Gretchin are armed with a “Slugga” with range 1-1, and a “Choppa” with range 0-0. There is no assault action, so they are only able to shoot back with the sluggas, which get 2 shots each. The Gretchin have accuracy 15, so an average of 12.6 shots out of the 84 fired will hit. The slugga has accuracy of 80 and accuracy per hex of -10, so on average 70% of shots will hit at this stage, which leaves us with 9 shots hitting for this example. Sluggas have attack strength 20, compared to the Infantry’s defence of 35, so hits have a (50 + 20 – 35) = 35% chance of doing damage. That leaves us with 3 hits doing damage. Since attack is lower than defence, each shot can only do 1 damage, but in any case the Infantry only have 1 hitpoint, so the Infantry finally have their strength reduced by 3 to 27.
10) The Infantry lost 5 morale for attacking, and they lost 3/30 strength so they will end up on around 90 morale. The Gretchin lose 5 morale for being attacked, and they lost 16/50 strength, which leaves them on around 70 morale.

If the Infantry had attacked from range 2, they would have done less damage due to their weapon’s reduced accuracy, down to about 10 damage instead of 16, and consequently less morale damage as well. However, the Gretchin would have been out of range and unable to retaliate.
If the position had been reversed and the Gretchin had attacked at range 1, the ranged combat would have played out exactly the same; the Infantry would still have fired first due to their higher initiative. However, the Gretchin have the “assault” trait, so this would have been followed by a round of melee combat. The Infantry would still go first in melee due to initiative, but they would still only have the same number of attacks and same accuracy, doing around the same amount of damage (leaving the Gretchin with about 20 strength, but still attacking back with about 28). The Gretchin, on the other hand, have an additional weapon that gets another 2 hits per strength point. They also have better accuracy in melee, and their choppas have 25% armour piercing. Although the Gretchin would take more damage themselves than in the ranged attack example, they would do an average of an additional 11 damage to the infantry.


A Shadowsword unit is firing at range 4 at the same poor Gretchin as before, again with everyone at full strength, no morale or experience bonuses, and standing helpfully in the open.
1) The Shadowsword has higher initiative, although in this case the Gretchin are out of range and couldn’t fire first anyway.
2) The Shadowsword has a “Volcano Cannon” with range 1-4, and “4 Heavy Bolters” with range 1-3. We’re at range 4, so only the volcano cannon can fire.
3) The Shadowsword is a superheavy tank and only has strength 2, and the volcano cannon has 2 shots, giving a total of 4 shots for the unit.
4) The Shadowsword has accuracy of 80, and again there are no modifiers in play here, so an average of 3 shots will hit.
5) The volcano cannon has accuracy of 100 and -10 per hex, so an average of 60% of shots will hit, giving us two hits.
6) The volcano cannon has strength 150 and armour piercing 50%, compared to the Gretchin’s defence of 9. Each hit is therefore guaranteed to do damage.
7) Since the difference between attack and defence is so great, each hit has a very good chance of doing more than one damage. However, the Gretchin only have 1 hitpoint, so each shot simply reduces the Gretchin’s hitpoints to zero before moving on to the next shot. The Gretchin started out with 50 strength, and they are now down to 48.
8) The Gretchin are out of range and unable retaliate.
10) The Shadowsword loses 5 morale for firing. The Gretchin lose 5 for being attacked, and end up around 92 morale after taking damage into account.

If the Shadowsword had attacked from closer range, it could have used its heavy bolters as well. However, this would still only give it an extra 8 shots, so even at point blank range it would average around an extra 6 damage, and an absolute maximum of 12. Compare this to the Infantry who were able to kill far more despite costing 9 times less.

The same Shadowsword unit is firing at a Mega Dread, again with no modifiers to confuse things, and again at range 4.
1) The Shadowsword fires first.
2) It has the same volcano cannon and heavy bolters as before.
3) The volcano cannon is in range.
4) It has the same accuracy of 80, so an average of 3 hits will hit.
5) Again we end up with 60% accuracy and an average of 2 hits.
6) The volcano cannon has strength 150 and armour piercing 50%. The Mega Dread has defence 85, which is reduced to 42.5 due to armour piercing. Each hit therefore has a chance of (50 + 150 – 42.5) = 157.5%. Even though we are dealing with a heavily armoured opponent, this is a powerful anti-armour gun that is still guaranteed to do damage.
7) The difference between attack and defence is (150 – 42.5) = 107.5. Each shot has a 40% chance to do 2 damage, 30% chance to do 3 damage, 20 % chance to do 4 damage, and 10% chance to instakill (equivalent to 5 damage in this case, since that is the most hitpoints the Mega Dread can have). This attack does an average of 3 damage per hit, making 6 damage in total. The minimum damage it could have done is 2 per hit, while the most would be 5 per hit.
8) The Mega Dread is out of range and cannot retaliate.
10) The Shadowsword loses 5 morale, the Mega Dread loses around 10.

Note the difference in damage due to the target type. Despite having a powerful weapon, against weak infantry this superheavy tank does very little damage, and even if it kept being lucky would take an absolute minimum of 5 turns to wipe out one of the weakest units in the game. On the other hand, when facing much more powerful and heavily armoured Dreadnoughts, the Shadowsword not only does much more damage on average, it’s potentially capable of wiping them out in a single turn.

Difficulty

Difficulty only affects a few things. While some people like to complain about biased random number generation, that is not one of the things that changes.

Requisition Points
On Easy difficulty, the player gets double requisition points for each mission. On Challenging the player gets 80%, on Hard and Very Hard they get 70%.

Experience
On Easy difficulty, player units get double experience. All other difficulties just give the normal amount.

AI Hit Points
Although this uses the term “hit points” in the data file (“diff.whdat”), it is actually a modifier to enemy unit strength.
On Easy, AI units have -50% strength. On Hard they have +20%, while on Very Hard they have +50%. Units with strength 1 do not change with difficulty, they always remain at strength one - you won't have to face twice as many titans due to a 1.5 being rounded up to 2. Infantry units, however, will become much harder to kill since they can now have as much as 75 strength.

AI Level
The existence of this setting suggests it’s possible to alter the behaviour of the AI, presumably to make it more or less intelligent. All difficulty levels have it set to 2, so this option doesn’t appear to be used.

General Comments and Things to Note

The above examples hopefully highlight the importance of choosing the right weapon for the job. Expensive late-game units look good, but their powerful weapons aren’t always able to compensate for their low unit strength. A superheavy Shadowsword is an amazing tank-killer, but is barely able to harm massed infantry at all. Importantly, some of those infantry have weapons capable of hurting tanks (unlike the Gretchin in the example), while the tanks will be unable to fight back effectively.
In addition to just weaponry, heavier units tend to be slower, have shorter vision range, and are unable to enter several kinds of terrain. Infantry and other lighter units are important for capturing and holding victory points, scouting and spotting for long range weapons, as well as being better at countering enemy infantry. Some scenarios require crossing the map quickly to defend a point, or pushing through heavily built-up areas, which are both nearly impossible with an army made up of only the “best” heavy tanks and titans.
That said, heavy tanks and titans will certainly make up the core of your force by the end of the campaign. They are not invincible and can’t fill all roles, but they are extremely tough and there are variants capable of taking on almost any target. Assault infantry are easily the best at taking out Ork infantry, especially when in cover, but tanks like the Land Raider Crusader and Mecharius Vulcan can fire plenty of shots despite their low unit strength. In addition, low strength, high hitpoint units can cost less in the long term since you won’t have to keep spending requisition for replacements, and they find it easier to gain experience for the same reason. Spending a turn or two to rest and refit might only restore one or two hitpoints, but that can be the difference between survival and destruction, and isn’t always an option for high strength, low hitpoint units.

All stats and traits can be important; a unit that looks just plain worse than another might actually have advantages that aren’t obvious if you just look at weapons and the “big” stats like attack and defence. For example, a Leman Russ Demolisher looks strictly better than a Thunderer at first glance. It has the same main cannon plus an additional flamer weapon, as well as higher armour. However, on a closer look you can see that the two weapons do not have overlapping range, so only one can be fired in a given turn anyway. The Thunderer can move faster and has higher initiative, meaning it can get into position more easily and take less damage when attacking. The Thunderer (upgraded) has better armour, although still not quite as good as a Leman Russ, even higher initiative and higher accuracy, and is still cheaper than a Demolisher which doesn’t have an upgraded version. A Thunderer may not meet your needs, but it’s not simply a useless unit that must always be worse than a different choice.
As another example, the Leman Russ (dozer blade upgrade) looks like a strictly worse version of the Leman Russ (upgraded); it’s cheaper, but otherwise just worse. However, the dozer blade upgrade changes its movement type to “small tracks” rather than “tracks”, which means it can move much more easily through rough terrain. In some scenarios this may be worth paying a small price in initiative and accuracy. Note that although some other tanks have dozer blades in their pictures, this is the only one with small tracks available to the Steel Legion, all others have either tracks or large tracks.

Morale and leadership are extremely important. Units with low morale are far less effective than those with good morale. Stopping to rest and recover morale wastes time that may not be available, and is not possible when next to enemy units. Careful positioning of a couple of leadership units spread among your army can allow you to keep fighting at full efficiency without having to stop and regroup; even though these units tend to be weaker than alternatives, they can more than make up for this by keeping everyone else in the fight. Clustering around leaders also allows better use of support units and protection of artillery, and with no area attacks there is no disadvantage in doing so.

Flying units are basically useless. Although they have an evasion bonus making them harder to hit, they are all weak units that are easily wiped out in just a shot or two. They all have short spotting range, mostly just 2 so no better than most tanks and infantry, and don’t even move particularly fast – even some tanks have the same 5 movement as most aircraft, no aircraft are faster than a Sentinel or Chimera transport, and nothing is faster than a Space Marine Scout squad with upgraded Rhino transports which will usually be cheaper. Fliers ignore most terrain movement modifiers, but so do “light feet”. In addition, fliers don’t benefit from roads, so they can even end up slower than ground units. The only thing fliers can do that no other unit can is travel over deep water. This could potentially be used to scout around bridges and the like, but the low spotting range means you’ll almost always end up in range of the enemy and be immediately shot down if you try.

Space Marines are good once you get access to them, but by that point you’ll already have access to a huge variety of units and will want any new ones to fill specific roles. This makes basic Marine infantry, vehicles and light tanks of little use, since assault squads, terminators and Land Raiders will generally be much better choices. Dreadnoughts are some of the best units in the game, since they are effective against infantry and tanks, have the speed of light vehicles, the armour of superheavy tanks, and there’s even a variant with the leadership trait. That said, some other units can be useful if you have a specific role in mind, such as Whirlwinds or devastators as support units. In general, Space Marines are faster than the Imperial Guard without sacrificing survivability, but aren’t able to field the same firepower as superheavy tanks and titans.
The different Space Marine chapters are a bit of an odd bag. Ultramarines, despite frequent claims of overuse and being often written as a “Mary Sue” chapter who are just perfect at everything, are actually worse than both the Blood Angels and Salamanders in this game. The Blood Angels have both melee and ranged accuracy 80 for most units, where the other two have base accuracy 60, and also have a few special variants of some units, while the Salamanders trade the accuracy of the Blood Angels for extra armour. The only advantage the Ultramarines have is that their units are usually cheaper. In some cases, such as Predator tanks, they don’t even have that and are simply worse than the Salamander version in every single way.

Titans are pretty awesome. They are fast despite having the highest defence in the game, they have good spotting range, and they have some of the most powerful weapons in the game. However, as noted several times previously, they only have a single strength point – the titan with the most shots in an attack only gets 17 shots, while most get as few as 10, so they’re not much good at all against infantry. This also makes them somewhat vulnerable to anti-tank weaponry – the Shadowsword from the examples above could potentially take out even a Reaver Titan or Gargant in a single volley if it got lucky, and obviously Orks have units that can do the same in return.
Titans are the most expensive units in the game by a large margin. They make a very strong core to build an army around, but losing one is a big deal, while buying too many can leave you short on funds to flesh out the rest, especially on higher difficulties. Many of the complaints about time limits on missions likely come down to people trying to play with an elite army containing only the most powerful, expensive units, and therefore lacking the infantry and more basic vehicles to do the grunt work.

Unit Overview

Since questions about which units are good and what the differences between similar units are come up quite frequently, and most existing information is incomplete and often inaccurate, I figured I may as well go through some unit information as well. I won't list all unit stats or give an exhaustive guide to everything, since most of the information is visible in game anyway, but I'll try to keep it mostly objective and based on stats and game mechanics rather than just opinion. Units will be addressed in the order they appear on the purchase screen, so not necessarily in the order they become available, in order of cost, effectiveness, or any other logical ordering. Weapons should be assumed to have a minimum range of 1 (meaning able to be used in melee as well as shooting adjacent units) unless otherwise stated.

This is mainly written from the perspective of the main campaign, in which all units from all Imperial factions eventually become available. The Space Marine DLC campaigns generally limit unit selection to a single chapter, with no Legion available for purchase at all, which obviously significantly changes the usefulness of many units. The Ork Hunters and Golgotha DLCs function similarly, but with mostly new units rather than simply reusing the Steel Legion. Da Orks is a standalone expansion which uses different data files; these mostly appear to be identical to the main game with some extra Ork units added, but I haven't checked it all in detail so there could be some differences.

Firstly, some general information. There are four playable factions in the campaign - Steel Legion, Blood Angels, Salamanders and Ultramarines. While the latter three are all Space Marines, they are counted separately for the purpose of upgrading units - an Ultramarine tactical squad cannot upgrade to a Salamander assault squad any more than it could become a Steel Legion mortar team. Obviously Orks make up a fifth faction which is playable in multiplayer and some DLC.








There are seven unit types in the game - Infantry, Walker, Vehicle, Tank, Artillery, Aircraft and Titan. Units are similarly restricted to upgrading within their unit class - a Steel Legion infantry unit can be upgraded to any other Steel Legion infantry unit (including, for example, human conscripts somehow becoming ogryns), but could not be changed into tanks. Some units may not be classed as expected, in particular Space Marine Land Speeders are vehicles even though they have the same hover ability and movement type as aircraft. Space Marines do not have artillery or titans, although they do have tanks that fill some of the same roles as artillery.
















Steel Legion focus heavily on ranged combat. They only have a few, relatively weak, infantry units capable of assault plus a single titan variant in the late game. Especially early in the game, there are plenty of options available for taking down Orks before they ever get in range to shoot back. Steel Legion vehicle ranged accuracy is mostly higher than Space Marines, with tanks starting at 65 or 70 to the Marines' 60, and going up to 80 or 90 for some variants, especailly the superheavies.

Space Marines, on the other hand, tend to fight up closer. They have plenty of units across almost all classes that can assault, but lack options for long ranged combat - where Steel Legion tanks will routinely be fighting at range 4, Space Marines only have three units that can fire that far at all, none of which are effective against vehicles.

The three Space Marine factions are very similar, but with a couple of variations. Ultramarines are the basic model that are usually cheaper than the others but have slightly worse stats. The discount isn't consistent, usually being either 50 or 100 requisition regardless of unit cost (eg. in one case it's 300 to 400, in another it's 700 to 800), and some units have no discount at all and are strictly worse than their counterparts. Blood Angels all have 80 ranged and melee accuracy compared to 60 for the other two, and have several units unique to them, mostly focussing on assault, but they don't have the Centurion terminators available to the others. Salamanders mostly have 10 more armour than the others, although units with already high defence often get less and a few exceptions get odd amounts added, and have one unique infantry unit. Blood Angel and Salamander units usually cost the same as each other, with a few exceptions that look more like typos than anything else.

Orks, of course, focus on getting stuck in up close and personal, with very short-ranged weaponry dominating and a great many units able to assault including a variety of tanks, dreadnoughts, and even aircraft. They do have longer ranged weapons available, especially once heavy tanks start appearing, but right to the end there will be plenty of units that can be taken down at range without ever risking your own.

Steel Legion Infantry

Steel Legion Company Command

One of only two Legion units with the Leadership ability, you're likely to want at least one of these around. They're also one of the few Legion assault units, and are on a par with Ogryns in both cost (350 req) and effectiveness, with much higher initiative to offset lower toughness, so they can be very useful all the way until Space Marines arrive. They do have lasguns as well, so can fight at range almost as well as regular infantry, lacking only in unit size.

Steel Legion Conscripts

Very cheap at only 75 req, but one of the weakest units in game. Regular Legion Infantry only cost slightly more and are better in almost every way. There's really no reason to ever buy these.

Steel Legion Infantry

Your basic Imperial Guard infantry. They're cheap (100 req) and come in a decent sized squad of 30 with lasguns (range 2). This makes them decent enough against the weaker Ork units that mostly have shorter range and won't be able to fight back. However, they'll quickly be slaughtered once Orks, or even Gretchin, get up close and assault. While they are cheap and easily replaceable, you want to avoid wasting experience through unit loss if possible. These will be the core of your force for the first couple of missions, but you'll soon want to upgrade them to more survivable units like Ogryns, or more useful ones like support weapons.

Steel Legion Special Weapons Flamers

The weakest of the Legion assault units. Although equipped with flamers, they lack the "Terror" trait of most other flame units which loses them some utility, while sticking them with only 1 range. Although the cheapest assault unit (125 req), they lack the range and utility of the Command squad, the speed of Rough Riders, and the toughness of Ogryns. Not generally much use.

Hive Militia with Autopistols

Their accuracy and defence isn't quite as bad as Gretchin. That's the only good thing that can be said here. Although the cheapest Legion unit at 40 req, they are basically useless in every way. Poor stats aside, their range of only 1 with the weakest weapon in the game means they are utterly useless even against the weakest Ork units.

Hive Militia with Autoguns

Not quite as bad as the Milita with Autopistols. At least their range of 2 means they are not completely useless in missions that provide you with some as part of the scenario, but there is still no reason you would ever buy them.

Ogryn Squad

Basically ogres with guns (40K started off as "Warhammer Fantasy In Space!", and these are one of the remnants of those early days). The first infantry unit to have more than 1 hitpoint per model, and with defence equal to some vehicles, these will be the mainstay of your infantry forces until Space Marines arrive. They're better than most early Ork units in melee, can fire at range 2 if needed, and cost only 290 req. The only downside is that as assault troops spearheading your attack, they will take heavy losses and struggle to gain experience. Once Veterans become available they are generally better, but the higher cost and lower defence means basic Ogryns still aren't completely outclassed.

Ogryn Squad Veterans

Lower defence, but much better accuracy and initiative as well as higher movement. Mostly a straight upgrade once they're available, but the higher cost and lower survivability doesn't make it quite as clear a choice as it could be.

Ratling Snipers
The longest ranged infantry in the game (joint with Space Marine Scouts who fill the same sniper role), and with the joint longest spotting range of 4 along with most other scout units, these are very useful units through most of the game. Very effective against infantry and can usually do a lot of damage without ever allowing the enemy in range to shoot back. Which is good, because if they ever do get shot at these guys will die very quickly, especially since they have a minimum range of 2 and can't fight back against melee attacks.

Steel Legion Rough Riders

Cavalry with exploding lances, these are the fastest infantry in the game (move 5) and with the "light feet" movement type are one of the few units that can enter "dense jungle" terrain (most infantry are either "feet" or "heavy feet"), as odd as that may be for mounted units. That said, speed is often not as helpful as it might seem, since running ahead of the rest of your army is generally a death sentence. They're not useless, but Ogryns are generally better at surviving the close-up urban fighting you'll mostly be engaged in. They are the only Steel Legion infantry that can't have transports added.

Steel Legion Fire Support

The first of the Legion infantry with the "support" trait, allowing them to fire on enemies attacking adjacent units. Equipped with heavy bolters (called "heavy bolter" in game, but actually "heavy bolter support" in the data file and not the same as the heavy bolter seen on vehicles), they also fire the most shots of any Legion infantry, making them devastating against low-defence Ork units. However, as direct-fire weapons they need line of sight which can make setting up support tricky in urban combat, and the low strength of their weapon (only 30 with no armour piercing) means they quickly lose utility as heavier infantry and vehicles start making an appearance. Definitely useful, but indirect-fire mortar squads are often easier to get in a useful position and keep their utility later into the game.

Steel Legion Mortar Support

Speaking of which... the mortar squad get only 75% the number of shots and have a minimum range of 2, but don't need line of sight and don't lose accuracy with range, which will actually result in more hits when firing at range 3. Although their weapon only has the same strength as the heavy bolter squad, the lack of any equivalent indirect-fire support infantry among Marines means mortars can have a place in an army right to the end of the game. Note that the combination of "support" unit trait and "bulky" weapon trait means they can fire in support when adjacent units are attacked, but can't defend themselves if attacked directly - be careful not to let anyone get close to them.

Steel Legion Anti-Tank Support

With the highest strength infantry weapon in the game (joint only with Terminators with Cyclone Launcher, who get half the number of shots at range 3), this is one of your most important units early in the game and remain useful almost all the way through. Before you get long-range anti-tank tanks like the Destroyer, this will be the only unit capable of taking on Orky anti-tank vehicles without taking heavy losses in the process. They're also very effective later on against heavy infantry like Nobz. The only real disadvantage is that they don't actually have the "support" trait.

Steel Legion Infantry Transports

Transports
All Steel Legion infantry except Rough Riders can purchase either Chimera or Gorgon transports. If a unit tries to move further than its normal move allowance, it will automatically board its transports. Units can also be ordered to board transports manually if you want to utilise their weapons (or armour). Boarded units count as vehicles and cannot enter buildings. Transport stats are shown in grey to the right of the selected unit's stats.

Chimera

With movement 6 and a selection of range-3 weapons Chimeras are the standard APCs for the Imperial Guard. However, while boarded a unit is reduced to 8 models with 3 hitpoints each, actually resulting in lower firepower and usually lower total health (although the latter depends on the number of models present when dismounted; support squads will gain slightly). Useful for quicker movement and increased range if needed, but there's a reason you're using them as attached transports rather than a tank unit in their own right. At only 90 req extra to unit cost, you'll often be able to throw these in just in case.

Gorgon

With 4 heavy stubbers, 4 heavy bolters and 4 mortars, these transports can throw a hefty amount of anti-infantry firepower at anyone who comes too close, and movement of 5 is still a decent boost over walking. This comes at a cost - at 360 req only Ogryn Veterans are more expensive, and buying these as transports can more than quadruple the cost of an infantry squad. Nice if you have them, but if you can afford these you can probably afford some dedicated anti-infantry tanks.

Steel Legion Walkers

Sentinel

Another scout unit with spotting range 4, this one comes with movement 5 and a lascannon for some range 3 anti-armour punch, and at only 200 req it's cheaper than Ratlings. The Salamander Scout has similar stats but with an anti-infantry focus. Given the lack of anti-armour units available to the Legion in the early game, Sentinels are generally more useful to begin with. The Salamander also lacks upgrade options, while if you manage to keep your Sentinels alive you can upgrade to the much more capable Armageddon pattern.

Sentinel Armageddon pattern

Higher movement, better armour (almost as good as a Leman Russ), higher initiative and better accuracy. Better in every way than the original except cost, but by the time these are available that's a relatively small price for the upgrade. This is arguably the best scout unit in the game - only Space Marine Scout Bikes are faster, and their survivability is close to non-existent.

Steel Legion Vehicles

Tauros

With speed 6 and spotting 4, this again could make a decent scout unit. However, with only a heavy flamer with range 1 to defend itself it's rarely going to fare well in a fight. Being able to do some damage at close range doesn't help if you're lacking in support, and there are better anti-infantry options for your main fighting force. Either Sentinels or Salmanders make better scouts due to their ability to safely snipe from a distance and much better survivability when they do take fire.

Tauros Venator

Similar to the Sentinel, with the same higher speed of the Tauros base model, and slightly more firepower from its lascannons, but with lower defence, only one hitpoint per model (for a total of just 7, the lowest of any unit in the game), and nearly double the cost. If you're sure you can keep it safe, it's a capable scout with decent early anti-armour firepower, but they're weak enough to be lost to a single attack from most units.

Salamander Scout

As previously noted, this is one of the best scouting choices available to the Legion if you want it to come with anti-infantry weapons. Movement 5, spotting 4, and an autocannon and heavy bolter for range-3 anti-infantry shooting, all for just 200 req - the cheapest Legion vehicle available.

Salamander Command

The Salamander Command variant trades 1 spotting range (down to 3) for the leadership trait and higher initiative, and is otherwise identical to the Scout variant. It also costs 500 req, a fairly hefty step up. As only the second (of two) Legion units with leadership, and this time with decent speed and longer ranged weapons, this is one of the most useful units you can have until more leadership units show up with the Marines. That said, one or two should be enough, since it's expensive and lacking in both firepower and toughness compared to tanks.

Hydra

Tougher than a Salamander (3 hitpoints per model rather than 2), but with a bit less firepower (which looks a little odd if you're not familiar with the lore, since its "4 autocannons" weapon gets fewer, weaker shots than the single autocannon it replaces on the base Salamander chassis), the idea of this is an anti-air unit, with its autocannons having the "AA" trait to give a bonus against fliers. However, as previously discussed it's not clear if this actually does anything, and in any case fliers are so weak and ineffective there's just no need for dedicated counter units. Against other targets, the Hydra is just worse than the alternatives.

Hellhound

Nearly as much armour as a Leman Russ and actually more hitpoints in total (same 3 hitpoints per model, but 7 unit strength rather than 5), this is a pretty decent anti-infantry vehicle. Not only does the inferno cannon have the "terror" trait to hit morale, but this is one of the few flame weapons to have a range greater than 1 (ie., it's 2), meaning it can avoid a lot of the damage other close-in weapons take in return. At only 300 req it's around half the cost of a tank, depending on variant.

Bane Wolf

The Bane Wolf's chem cannon increases shots to 4 from the Hellhound's 3, but reduces the shot strength to 20 (from 50) while also dropping the range to 1. And somehow this manages to cost 50 req more. It's slightly more effective against defenceless Gretchin, but otherwise it's just bad.

Devil Dog

Another Hellhound variant which this time swaps in an anti-armour melta cannon. Although this is one of the few anti-armour weapons with the terror trait and has decent armour piercing, the short range (still just 2) and lower toughness than tanks makes this generally not much use - it's not fast enough to chase down light vehicles, it's not tough enough to charge in against tanks, and unlike the Hellhound its heavy bolter doesn't synergise at all with the main weapon.

Steel Legion Tanks

The Imperial Guard is all about tanks, so this will be a long one. This is also where a lot of the questions about units come from, since there is such a variety of options which frequently look very similar to each other.

Leman Russ

Canonically, all Imperial equipment is based on Standard Template Constructs salvaged from the Dark Age of Technology. This is why most vehicles are variants based on just a few base chassis. For tanks this means the Leman Russ, with almost all Guard tanks being the same basic shape with the weapons swapped to fill different roles. Unfortunately, the base Leman Russ is just bad. With only the main battle cannon and a backup lascannon, it's seriously lacking in firepower, and it also has the lowest armour of any tank (60 - less than a Hellhound). Every variant gets more weapons and better stats, and some are hardly more expensive. There's just no reason to buy one of these when so many better options open up at the same time.

Leman Russ (upgraded)

While it's called an upgrade, this is actually the standard Leman Russ from tabletop. With the addition of 2 heavy bolters, it's effective against any target at up to 3 range, until the appearance of superheavy tanks and titans. Other variants might be better at specific jobs, but there's a reason the classic Leman Russ is considered classic.

Leman Russ (armour upgrade)

It's the base Leman Russ again, but with better armour and initiative.While it does have the highest armour of the Leman Russ variants (75, joint with the Demolisher), it's still seriously lacking in weapons and the initiative of 7 is still lower than most. At 450 req it simply can't justify its cost.

Leman Russ (dozer blade upgrade)

Similar to the upgraded Leman Russ, the dozer upgrade drops initiative and accuracy slightly in exchange for significantly lower cost (475 req compared to 550). The big deal wih this one is that it changes the movement type to "small tracks", making it the only Legion tank that can cross the "gentle slope" terrain, as well as being significantly faster through some terrain such as jungle and hills. Other Leman Russ variants have dozer blades shown on the model, but none change the movement type as this one does. Of course, this is something of a double-edged sword, since the extra manoeuvreability is of little use if the rest of your army can't back you up. If you don't build your strategy around this kind of movement, just throwing one or two of these into your tank force will be of little use.

Leman Russ (weapon upgrade)

This takes the upgraded Leman Russ and replaces the heavy bolters with plasma cannons, giving a much heftier anti-armour punch at the cost of lower range. This is where the questions of "Why do all these variants exist?" really start getting asked. The Annihilator is also anti-tank, but with more of a mix of anti-infantry while the weapon upgrade hits much harder at short range. Meanwhile the Destroyer can hit harder at longer range than both, but gets fewer shots and is virtually useless against infantry. Plus various other variants throw slightly different weapon combinations into the mix. Which is best? None really, they can almost all have their place. Personally I like this variant quite a bit since it's more dedicated anti-armour than most while still getting enough shots to work against heavy infantry as well, and at only 580 req it's cheaper than most of its competitors.

Leman Russ Annihilator

This one replaces the battle cannon with twin-linked lascannons (called "2 lascannons" in game). A single shot with 70 strength and 100% accuracy traded for 2 shots with 65 strength, 20% armour piercing and 80% accuracy. There's not much in it, but 100 extra req cost for a close trade-off, and that also loses initiative and unit accuracy relative to the Leman Russ (upgraded), just doesn't seem worth it.

Leman Russ Annihilator - Upgrade A

Same weapons, but now with more armour (up to 70), much higher initiative (11, the joint highest Russ variant and highest in the whole Legion other than a couple of upgraded superheavies), as well as accuracy boosted to match the upgraded's 70, this is a much more competitive unit. That said, it's now pushed the cost up another 100 req to 750 making it the most expensive Leman Russ variant, and it's still not clear that a mix of lascannon and heavy bolters is the best choice.

Leman Russ Conqueror

The Conqueror swaps the battle cannon for a conqueror cannon, trading 70 strength and no armour piercing for 60 strength and 10% armour piercing. It also increases movement to 5 (making it the fastest Russ variant) and accuracy to 80, maybe giving it potential for hit and run attacks? Well, it also drops the heavy bolters and substitutes the weaker and shorter-ranged storm bolters, meaning it now can't use all its firepower at range 3. Without the benefit of increased initiative (in fact it's greatly reduced down to 5) or armour and with the main cannon largely the same, that's not a great trade even at the cost of only 500 req.

Leman Russ Demolisher

This trades everything in for a demolisher siege cannon and a heavy flamer, plus matching the armour upgrade's 75 defence, in theory making it a short-ranged but hard-hitting anti-entrenched-infantry machine. However, as noted previously the "siege" trait attached to the demolisher cannon is not displayed in game and may well not do anything. In addition, the demolisher cannon has range of exactly 2, no more, no less, while the flamer has range of only 1, meaning they can't both be fired in the same turn and effectively halving its firepower, as well as making it difficult to manoeuvre to the correct range. With also low initiative of 6, it's just not a good value proposition.
This is perhaps the one unit I would agree with complaints that variety has been included for the sake of lore at the expense of the game. Canonically, the Demolisher is a siege breaker that would blast holes in fortifications to allow other units to break through the gaps created. Since no such mechanic exists in this game, its main ability is wasted and its direct combat ability was not increased to compensate.

Leman Russ Eradicator

The Eradicator takes a short-range, high-strength nova cannon in place of the battle cannon, while dropping both the lascannon and a heavy bolter (although a single heavy bolter still gets 2 shots compared to the "2 heavy bolters" 3 shots). This is another one that doesn't look great. The nova cannon has 2 shots at 90 strength with 20% armour piercing, which can compare to the weapon upgrade's 2 shots at 80 strength with 30% armour piercing from plasma cannons. But then the battle cannon and lascannon of the latter utterly outclass the single heavy bolter against any target, and the weapon upgrade variant has higher initiative and lower cost to boot. On the other hand, the Destroyer gets fewer shots at the same strength, but with much better armour piercing, accuracy and range. The Eradicator just doesn't manage to win at anything.

Steel Legion Tanks (continued)

Leman Russ Executioner

Similar to the Eradicator, but this time we're going with a plasma destroyer than gets 3 strength 60 shots with 30% armour piercing, trading strength for more shots, and going with a single lascannon instead of heavy bolter. Again, the short range and lack of any particularly outstanding weapon stats struggles to sell this over an Annihilator or weapon upgrade.

Leman Russ Exterminator

2 autocannons and a lascannon, but no heavy bolters. The autocannons have better strength than heavy bolters, so this can make a decent counter to heavy infantry. However, it doesn't really get enough shots to tackle larger mobs of lighter infantry, or the power to tackle tanks. It's not terrible, but it sits in a bit of a niche that's mostly covered by overlap between units specialising one way or the other.

Leman Russ Punisher

The only truly dedicated anti-infantry Russ variant. With a minigun-style punisher cannon putting out 8 shots plus a heavy bolter giving another 2, all at 40 strength and no armour piercing, this can deal out nearly as many shots as an infantry squad with much better accuracy and survivability. The only real issue is that the relatively low attack strength will struggle against heavy infantry later in the game, but by this point you'll be looking at upgrading to superheavies anyway. While many Russ variants are hard to choose between, you can't really go wrong with one or two of these to keep the big mobs of Orks at bay.

Leman Russ Vanquisher

The vanquisher cannon gives this final Leman Russ variant 2 shots at range 4 with strength 75 and 50% armour piercing. Along with a boost to initiative (making it only the second Russ variant to hit 11) and a small boost to accuracy this can be quite the anti-tank sniper. It suffers a bit with just a heavy bolter and storm bolter as secondary weapons, splitting its firepower over multiple ranges, and between armour and infantry. On the other hand, the Destroyer only has a single gun for its anti-tank role, so at least this one has something to deal with those pesky infantry. On the gripping hand, a cost of 750 req puts it joint most expensive of the regular tanks, and not even any of the heavies top it. If you can afford it you can't really go wrong, but like most variants it doesn't manage to make itself a must-buy.

Destroyer

While it looks a bit similar this is not a Leman Russ variant, with the cannon built in to the body of the tank rather than in a turret. In-game, however, all tanks can be freely upgraded to other tanks if you fancy it, and they all have the same 5-strength, 3 hitpoints setup. The Destroyer is the pre-eminent tank destroyer in the regular tank class. Not only does its laser destroyer have a crazy 90 strength with 45% armour piercing, but it's the only non-artillery weapon in the game that doesn't have accuracy drop off with range. The tank has a very nice 80 accuracy to start with, and once that's done the second weapon-based hit roll (see earlier explanation of combat mechanics) will never miss. And at only 450 req it really is a steal. The downside is that as a single-shot weapon on a tank unit with only 5 strength means that it's almost entirely useless against infantry. It's deadly to tanks and vehicles, and remains a danger even to superheavies and titans, but could spend days plinking away at Gretchin without achieving anything. You'll want at least one or two of these around, but much more and you'll start struggling to cut down the big mobs of infantry fast enough.

Destroyer (upgraded)

Better armour, better initiative (another one to hit 11) and accuracy now up to 90. Once these become available you'd be insane not to upgrade for the puny 30 additional req.

Thunderer

Another one to fit the questionably useful demolisher cannon. In this case it doesn't get any other weapon, but since the Leman Russ Demolisher can't use them both together that's not really so bad. It also has movement 5, making it the joint fastest tank and perhaps easing the pain of that 2-minimum, 2-maximum range a bit. Not that much though, it's still really not a great tank.

Thunderer (upgraded)

Better armour, better initiative and better accuracy for 50 req extra make this a clear upgrade from the Thunderer. But it's still basically a Thunderer and you wouldn't want to have one that needed upgrading in the first place. Note that although the graphic shows it with additional sponson-mounted lascannons, it doesn't actually have any extra weapons.

Steel Legion Heavy Tanks

Heavy tanks is not a descriptor actually use in game, both these and the superheavies fall under the same "tanks" tab and can be freely upgraded between. However, the three sub-categories have important distinguishing features in their unit composition - Leman Russ variants and other regular tanks all have 5 strength and 3 hitpoints, Macharius variants all have 3 strength and 5 hitpoint, while the superheavies all have 2 strength and 10 hitpoints. There is also a step change in defence, with regular tanks topping out at 75, heavies all having 85 and superheavies having 90 or more. For movement, regular tanks all (except the dozer blade upgrade) use the "medium tracks" (just shown as "tracks" in game) while heavies and superheavies are all "large tracks". Heavies and superheavies also all have movement 3 (with one exception) compared to 4 or 5 for lighter tanks. Finally, where a range of 4 was considered unusual and restricted to anti-tank snipers in regular tanks, for the heavier ones that's a largely standard range for the main guns.

Macharius

The Macharius doubles up the Leman Russ' main gun to the "2 battle cannons" weapon, which still only gives a single shot but now up to 90 strength (from 70). It backs this up with 2 heavy bolters and 2 heavy stubbers, which are like the bolters but weaker and significantly less accurate - only 75% base accuracy. That sounds like a decent amount of shots for a single model, but as noted above this unit only has three models in it leaving it somewhat lacking in volume of shots. On top of that, the 2 battle cannons are still worse anti-armour weapons than a Vanquisher or Destroyer, while the stubbers are terrible against anything except the most basic infantry leaving little overlap between its weapons even though they all have the same range. That range only being 3, leaving it the shortest-ranged heavy tank as well. Technically there's no target type it can't hurt, but there's also nothing it can be particularly effective against. On the plus side, at only 690 req it's cheaper than some regular tanks, but still not really worth it.

Macharius Vanquisher

As the name suggests, this variant doubles up on the vanquisher cannon, again keeping just the two shots of the original, but upping the strength to a fairly impressive 95. It sticks with the 2 heavy stubbers and 2 heavy bolters of the Leman Russ Vanquisher, but this time that leaves it pretty much even. It gets fewer shots overall due to the lower unit strength, but it has significantly higher armour and accuracy to compensate. Best of all, it costs the same 750 as the Leman Russ Vanquisher. The lower unit strength hurts its cause a bit in reduced firepower, but this one can really go either way.

Macharius Vulcan

An anti-infantry variant, this is most similar to the Leman Russ Punisher, but takes a mega-bolter (a big enough gun to also be found on titans) rather than just doubling up the smaller tank's weapon, while also having the now-standard heavy stubbers and heavy bolters. The mega-bolter is similar to the punisher cannon with 8 shots, slightly higher strength of 50, but a range of 4 rather than 2. Overall this gives the unit slightly fewer shots in total (42 compared to 50), with a mix of stronger and weaker ones, but with much better accuracy, better armour, and now the option to shoot from well out of range of most infantry rather than having to get up close. With the superheavies not having any units able to put out this amount of shots (the most getting up to 30), this is the one heavy tank that is definitely useful when it unlocks and can potentially remain useful to the end.

Steel Legion Superheavy Tanks

As noted in the last section, these still just count as tanks as far as the game classes are concerned. However, with only 2 strength but 10 hitpoints, this is where taking time to heal up can really pay off. With infantry, vehicles and lighter tanks, losing strength points is inevitable, along with the hit to experience and requisition cost of repairs. With 10 hitpoints per model, you can potentially avoid losing any of your hard-earned requistion and xp.
As with Leman Russes, these are all based on the same basic chassis. This time they all get their own names rather than being a "Leman Russ X", but many of the names are just mixes of the same few words.

Baneblade

This is the classic Imperial Guard superheavy tank, and aside from being common in tabletop it's also the only one also seen in games like Dawn of War. Unfortunately in this game we again see the dreaded demolisher cannon. The baneblade main cannon is a great high-strength, long-range beast, and the 5 heavy bolters gives a decent anti-infantry punch, but the demolisher cannon sits in the middle with its restricted range and limited use. It's not as bad here as previously, since the combination of weapons allows decent shooting at a distance while providing a devastating punch up close. But if you want to snipe from long range the Shadowsword is better, and if you want to play the anti-infantry role the Stormlord or even Macharius Vulcan can put more shots on target. The Baneblade is almost a versatile jack-of-all-trades, but that restrictive "exactly 2" range really hurts it, especially combined with slow movement of a superheavy. I wouldn't say no to throwing these into the mix, but you have to work harder than you should to get the best out of it.

Baneblade (upgraded)

Better armour (up to 95) and better initiative (up to 12, easily rivaling Marines) plus an extra heavy bolter make this unquestionably better than the base version, although it also ups the cost from 840 to 940. The higher armour and init helps ease the pain of having to waste the main cannon's range and get in close to use all weapons.

Banehammer

This variant swaps the baneblade cannon for a tremor cannon, which has half the strength (only 50) and less armour piercing (30) while still only getting two shots. It also swaps the demolisher cannon for 2 lascannons, easing the range restriction but reducing all other stats including accuracy, and adds a heavy bolter to make it six (6 heavy bolters giving 5 shots total). Is getting rid of the demolisher cannon worth crippling the main gun? No, it really isn't. With all other stats the same, including price, and no upgraded version, this just isn't very good.

Shadowsword

The second of the classic tabletop tanks, this is the anti-tank sniper of the superheavy world. Unfortunately, unlike the Destroyer its volcano cannon fails to outrange other superheavies with the same standard range of 4, and it has the same -10% per hex range modifier as most weapons so it's not quite the same super-accurate sniper. However, its main gun has a truly obscene 150 strength plus 50% armour piercing - a Shadowsword unit can insta-kill a Reaver Battle Titan in a single volley if it gets lucky. This tank also gets a paltry 4 heavy bolters so it can help clearing out the riff-raff when there's nothing better to shoot at, but you'll generally want to be hitting the high value targets with this one. Or two or three even; by the time you're facing superheavy tanks and titans it's difficult to have too many of these.

Shadowsword (targetter upgrade)

Yes, this is spelt incorrectly in the game. The slight disadvantage of the Shadowsword is it only has 80 accuracy compared to the usual 90 for superheavies. The targeter upgrade boosts this up to 100, along with upping initiative to 12, making it all that more effective at taking out other superheavies who might be able to shoot back. It does cost more, just barely missing the 1000 req mark, but will likely save on repairs in the long run.

Shadowsword (weapon upgrade)

An alternative upgrade, and a more expensive one giving us our first unit to top 1000 req, this leaves accuracy where it was, gives a smaller buff to initiative, but most importantly adds 4 lascannons and an extra 4 heavy bolters to make it 8 (although it turns out 8 heavy bolters are identical to 6 heavy bolters, and 4 identical to 5, so this only gives a single extra shot over the base model). This gives 50% more shots in total, including a decent additional, albeit shorter ranged, anti-armour punch. The targeter upgrade is better as a pure sniper, but the weapon upgrade will be better for the times you inevitably get stuck in at closer range. A mix of the two is probably worth it, as long as you remember which is which.

Stormsword

I don't get it. A single range-2 one-shot cannon with 80 strength and 60% armour piercing. OK, at 700 req it's the cheapest superheavy and is actually cheaper than several regular tanks, but it's not worth even that. Two shots, total, from the whole unit, and those shots are barely as good as those from regular tanks. It is faster than other superheavies with 4 movement, but what on Earth are you supposed to do once you've moved it?

Stormsword (upgraded)

Well this makes more sense. Better armour and initiative, but most importantly it now comes with 2 heavy flamers and 4 heavy bolters. From two shots per unit to 22 shots per unit, including the nice "terror" trait on most of them. It is short ranged (the flames make up the majority of its firepower at range 1), and unfortunately the upgrade takes it back down to 3 movement, but at least it's no longer quite so laughable, and still only costs about the same as a Baneblade.

Steel Legion Superheavy Tanks (continued)

Stormlord

The primary anti-infantry superheavy, as mentioned previously this ends up competing with the Macharius Vulcan. Both have the same mega-bolter plus some heavy bolters (the Stormlord gets 4 instead of 2, getting one more shot), and takes 2 lascannons instead of stubbers. The Stormlord has slightly better armour and accuracy, 20 total hitpoints to the Vulcan's 15, and more consistently strong shots, but the Vulcan gets more shots overall. The Stormlord might be slightly better against heavy infantry and vehicles due to the lascannons, but there's not really much to recommend it over the Mach Vulcan.

Stormlord (upgraded)

Slightly higher armour, a boost to 12 initiative and a couple of extra heavy bolters to give it one extra shot per model in total. It still gets fewer shots than the Mach Vulcan, and the price is now 890 to the Mach's 750. If anything it actually manages to be worse value due to the rather mediocre buffs this upgrade gets.

Stormblade

A plasma blastgun main gun (another titan-class weapon) gives this tank a decent anti-armour punch - at 120 strength and 40% piercing it's second only to the Shadowsword. With 2 lascannons added to the 4 heavy bolters both tanks have, it's less of a titan sniper but better for taking down heavy tanks, as well as being a fair bit cheaper. On the other hand, it's strictly worse than the Shadowsword (weapon upgrade) in every way, albeit a full 300 req cheaper.

Stormblade (upgraded)

Like the Stormlord, this upgrade gets better armour and 12 initiative, but in this case not a single weapon upgrade to be seen. The armour and init mean it's no longer worse than an upgraded Shadowsword in every way, but they're not really enough to make it worthwhile once the upgraded versions are available. That said, it's still 200 req cheaper, so if you're strapped for cash and desperate for a tank killer it's no worse than the base Shadowsword at the same price.

Banesword

Superheavy artillery. Artillery with 90 strength, 25% armour piercing, and range 3-7. It's not quite as strong as a Deathstrike launcher, but despite being a superheavy with just 2 models it actually gets more shots as well as closer minimum range that overlaps with its backup weapons. While it has fewer shots than a Basilisk, not by much, their strength makes it much more effective against heavy infantry and vehicles, and at longer range as well. Unfortunately, the quake cannon is the only artillery weapon in the game that has an accuracy penalty with range, so it can be much less effective when firing at maximum range. On the other hand, 2 lascannons and 6 heavy bolters on a superheavy chassis with 90 defence and 90 accuracy means it can happily hold its own at closer range, unlike regular-sized artillery. And at 790 req, this is actually cheaper than a Basilisk and significantly cheaper than a Deathstrike.

Banesword (upgraded)

Another unimaginative upgrade with better armour and initiative and nothing else (except increased cost of course). As artillery you shouldn't be in a position to care about those stats much, and even with the backup weapons allowing it to get stuck in a bit more it was already a superheavy tank with decent values for both. If you have the cash spare and nothing else to spend it on there's no reason not to, but this should definitely be a low priority upgrade.

Steel Legion Artillery

Artillery are a bit of a mixed bag. There are the standard long-range, indirect fire howitzer and missile launchers, but there are also shorter range support vehicles as well as an odd-one-out direct fire gun. Artillery is expensive; at 800 req cost the Basilisk is more expensive than everything short of a superheavy tank, and is even more expensive than some of those. However, if you're sensible and keep them out of trouble, artillery can be with you from the first mission to the last, and will easily be your first units to hit maximum experience before you're close to finished. Space Marines have no artillery, and while they have a couple of close support vehicles (namely Whirlwinds) that fit part of the role, they don't have anything with long range. Even if you decide to switch to an all-Marine army, you'll likely want to keep a couple of artillery units around as well.

All artillery units except the Deathstrike come with 5 strength and 2 hitpoints; the Deathstrike only has 4 strength. They all have 4 movement and the "medium tracks" movement type.

Wyvern

We start with the support types. The Wyvern has the same indirect-fire range as the Steel Legion Mortar Support, with slightly higher strength and one more shot per model, but fewer shots as a whole unit. It has better defence and a heavy bolter for when direct-fire is an option, but it can't enter buildings making the support role harder to fill in urban areas (which there are a lot of), and it's significantly more expensive even if you give the mortar support Chimeras which will also make them faster. The AI will target support weapons if it can, so positioning these where they can support troops but not get shot can be tricky.

Griffon

Switching in a heavy mortar with higher strength but half the number of shots, still at the same range. The low number of shots makes it a fairly poor choice for supporting infantry assaults, and supporting anything else will just get it shot. It's cheaper than a Wyvern, but still costs as much as a Leman Russ.

Bombard

The first of the "bulky" weapons, not only does this not support other troops, it can't even fire in its own defence. It gets longer range (but also longer minimum range) of 3-5, but with only 10 shots total to its name and shorter range than either the Basilisk or Deathstrike it's not completely useless but not particularly great.

Medusa

A "bulky" weapon with long minimum range, relatively short max range (3-4), and most importantly no indirect fire. It's a pretty strong (90, 20% piercing) anti-tank weapon and gets a fair number of shots (3 per model for the main gun, plus heavy bolters), but the restricted range and direct fire tend to leave it rather vulnerable.

Medusa Armageddon pattern

Possibly the most underwhelming upgraded version of them all, even more so than some of the superheavy tanks. Its armour goes up from 41 to 48, while the cost goes from 600-700 req. You're not supposed to get your artillery shot at, and it doesn't even get the token initiative upgrade to help with its backup heavy bolter.

Basilisk

The classic Imperial Guard artillery familiar to tabletop and Dawn of War players alike. With range 3-6, a decent number of shots (15 total from the artillery piece) and OK weapon strength (a bit better than heavy bolters due to armour piercing) a couple of these can decimate most infantry and light vehicles. Since you'll always be firing from out of range and/or sight of your target, even better armoured targets can be usefully weakened before taking them on head-to-head. This does come at a price, however - 800 req to be exact, more than anything except a superheavy tank or titan. It also has a heavy bolter. Try not to use it.

Basilisk Armageddon pattern

As with the Medusa, this is just a defence upgrade for a 100 req extra cost. If you're using your artillery's armour, you're doing it wrong.

Deathstrike

An anti-tank artillery with even longer range than the Basilisk (4-7) and a much stronger weapon (100 strength, 50% piercing). It has a smaller unit of only 4 models, however, and at 1050 req only titans or an upgraded Shadowsword are more expensive. Very effective against everything up to and including titans, but you have to ask yourself if you really need more than one.

Steel Legion Aircraft

As noted previously, aircraft are not much use in this game. It's not clear if the "flyer" trait functions at all to help not be hit, and with low defence, low total hitpoints, short spotting range and no better weapon range than most vehicles, there's little to recommend these.

All aircraft have the "flyer" trait and the "hover" movement type. Note that this means they are counted as hover units and not true aircraft and are therefore unable to fly over cliffs, although they are the only units able to cross deep water. All Legion aircraft come with strength 7 and 2 hitpoints.

Valkyrie Gunship

A multi-laser and rocket pods give this aircraft a decent number of anti-infantry shots (42 total), but the multi-laser is weak even against the most basic Orks. It can fire at range 3 to harass units with poor range, but with defence of only 25 (less than the aforementioned basic Orks), if it ever gets in range of return fire, it's dead. You can, and should, get a Leman Russ for the same price.

Vendetta Gunship

This variant mixes 6 lascannons with 2 heavy bolters, giving it a decent anti-armour punch as well as a bit of anti-infantry as well. Slightly higher defence of 35 means it's... still going to die, and if you're shooting at tanks they're likely to have the same range as you.

Vulture Gunship

Presumably this is supposed to be the dedicated anti-armour variant, with 2 lascannons and hellstrike missiles all having decent strength and armour piercing. However, it only gets 3 shots per model, leaving it worse than just the lascannons on the Vendetta (which also has stronger shots and better accuracy) before you even take the heavy bolters into account. It does finally up the defence to 45, leaving it nearly on par with the lightest of vehicles, but the terrible weapon choice and crazy cost (now up to 645 req) leave it even more lacking than the others.

Titans

In this game titans are counted as part of the Steel Legion faction, although canonically the Titan Legions are entirely independent in the same way as Space Marine chapters (or, given the relationship of the Mechanicus to the rest of the Imperium, possibly even more independent). Titans (and their Orkish equivalent Gargants and Stompas) are the only single-model units in the game, all having a strength of 1. They have more hitpoints (at least 15) and better defence (the only units over 100) than any other units, but this still leaves them with fewer total hitpoints than most units, and as a single model they tend to get fewer (albeit quite powerful) attacks. In the tabletop game, titans have void shields - forcefields which absorb damage before their generators overload and the shields fail. These shields are not modelled in this game, but their high defence does mean they are completely invulnerable to many weapons - even a Leman Russ battle cannon can't scratch a Reaver Battle Titan.

As the 40K games and universe have evolved over decades with many different people involved, exact statistics aren't always consistent. Only the two smallest types of titan are included in Armageddon, where "small" is very much a relative term. Warhound Scout Titans are generally accepted to be around 12-14 metres tall. For comparison, the largest mechs in Battletech (Mechwarrior) are around 12-14 metres tall. A Reaver is somewhere around 15-22 metres tall. Of those not included, a Warlord titan could be well over 30 metres tall, and as much as 60 has been suggested. Emperor-class titans are over 150 metres tall - just the barrels of their weapons can be as large as a smaller titan.

The two titan classes each come with three variant weapon loadouts.

Warhound Titan with Inferno Gun

The "cheap" titan at only 1400 req, this comes with the standard Warhound setup of 15 hitpoints and 110 defence. A lascannon has a chance to hurt them, but nothing much weaker than that will. Warhounds have 4 spotting distance and 5 movement, making them very good scouts (hence, scout titan), however, due to their power and cost you really want to know where they're going to make the best use of them, so scout vehicles are still a good idea. This variant has a plasma blastgun (the same one used by the Stormblade) and the titular inferno gun which is a particulary big flamer-type weapon with the "terror" trait. This gives it a decent punch against tanks, and one of the few weapons effective against both armour and morale. The short range and few shots mean you do need to be careful - high defence isn't enough to protect you from running in without enough support.

Warhound Titan with Turbo-Laser

Just to confuse things, this variant replaces the plasma blastgun with a turbo-laser destructor, so despite the previous one's name this one also has an inferno gun. The turbo-laser has lower strength (down to 80, still with 40% piercing), but ups the number of shots from 2 to 4. Despite the higher cost (1550 req), this is probably the more useful model, since with these single-model units every shot counts. You don't want Warhounds to be getting into a close-range slugging match with superheavies and gargants, and the turbo-laser is still more than strong enough to take down other tanks or deliver a finishing blow.

Warhound Scout Titan

They're all Warhound Scout Titans; who came up with these names? This variant brings the plasma blastgun back, but replaces the inferno gun of the first model with a mega-bolter, both weapons also being found on superheavies. The mega-bolter loses a lot of power and the "terror" trait, but ups the range from 2 to 4, making it the only Warhound able to hit from this distance. However, it can only effectively hit infantry from this far out, and that's really not the sort of target you want to be pointing a titan at; if nothing else you'll take several turns to chew through them. This is easily the least useful titan, and at 1500 req it's somehow not even the cheapest.

Reaver Battle Titan

Reavers up the defence to 130 and hitpoints to 18, in exchange for lower spotting, movement and initiative. They also all get three weapons rather than just two, and where Warhounds use weapons that can also fit on tanks, Reavers usually use Battle Titan-class weapons that are seen nowhere else (although one variant here does have use Warhound-class weapons). This variant has a laser blaster (range 4, high strength, 4 shots), gatling blaster (range 3, lower strength, 7 shots) and apocalypse launcher (range 3-7 indirect fire artillery). This makes it versatile, but unless it's firing at exactly range 3 it will not be able to use all its weapons. Again, with the low number of shots these units get, wasting shots is not ideal. The laser blaster is decent against tanks but not great against superheavies or other titans, so this unit tends to be a battle centrepiece - sit in the middle absorbing fire and shooting whatever happens to come into range.

Reaver Titan with Laser Blaster

Again, for some reason the name states the one weapon it shares with another instead of the two only found on this Reaver. This time we have a laser blaster (as seen above), inferno gun (also as seen above) and a volcano cannon (as seen on the Shadowsword). With two high-power range 4 weapons, this is a great anti-armour machine that most will struggle to touch in return even if they're in range. The inferno gun makes getting in closer preferable to not waste shots, but is more suited to regular tanks rather than superheavies so that may not be necessary depending on your target. With plenty of overlap between weapon ranges and preferred targets, this is probably the easiest titan to use. It's also the most expensive unit in the game, at 2100 req.

Reaver Titan with Melta Cannon

Finally we come to the Steel Legion's only assault-capable vehicle. The titan melta cannon is a range 1, terror causing weapon only slightly less powerful than a volcano cannon, the titan chainfist is melee-only weapon about the same strength but without the terror, and this is rounded off with an apocalypse launcher again. Where the mix of non-overlapping ranges is usually a disadvantage, this is compensated here by the assault action effectively using the close-range weapons twice in a turn, while the artillery acts as a backup that will almost always have a target if you can't close for a turn or two. That said, this will still be the Reaver that tends to net you the fewest hits in a turn, so you really need to focus on tough targets that will make those shots count. Unfortunately, this Reaver also drops its defence to "only" 120, and given that it's also the one which needs to rush in headfirst the most, this can make it quite a bit more vulnerable than a 20 metre tall mech with a tank-sized chainsaw for a fist should be. It's the cheapest Reaver, but still more expensive than anything else, so think carefully about how you might want to use it.

Space Marine Infantry

Since the three Space Marine factions have mostly identical units other than the faction-specific accuracy and armour differences already noted, their units will be covered in a generic way, with only unique units or particularly important differences noted.

All Space Marine infantry, walkers and non-hover vehicles have the "fearless" trait, meaning they only suffer half the morale damage from combat and can be kept effective more easily. This combines well with the Marines' generally better manoeuvreability and toughness, allowing them to both push quickly to objectives and keep pressing the enemy where the Guard would prefer to sit back and grind them down from a distance.

Basic Marines (mostly with power armour but also including scouts in this game) mostly come in squads of 15 with 2 hitpoints each, have better defence than Guard infantry (although still much less than vehicles and tanks), and have initiative starting at 12 and going up from there. Terminators have squads of 10 with 3 hitpoints each, with increased armour but reduced initiative (although still higher than most Guard). Centurions are essentially super-terminators with 8 strength and 4 hitpoints, and while they do technically exist in the lore they're almost unheard of and come closest out of anything in the game to being non-canon. In addition to Centurions, several units, such as Sternguards, are very rare veteran Marines that would only have one or two squads in a whole chapter on the rare occasions they even fight together rather than leading other Marines. While the squads themselves exist, the numbers that can be fielded in-game would be considered extremely non-canon.

Command Squad

The Space Marine equivalent of the Legion Company Command, it does exactly the same job only better - better weapons, with bolters able to hurt heavy infantry and the lighter vehicles, and much better survivability due to the combination of defence, accuracy and initiative. And the base version is only 50 req more expensive. The Salamander and Blood Angel versions are the usual 100 more; if you want to hang back and make use of the leadership ability that might not be worth it, but if you're getting stuck in it certainly will be.

Scout Squad

A tricky one this. The same sniper weapon and 4 spotting range, with the usual better Marine stats over the Ratlings they nearly copy, and in this case the 15 strength is the same as the Guard unit so they don't lose any shots. At only a paltry 25 req more they're better than Ratlings in almost every way. However, they're not that much better in a sniper role that doesn't care too much about defence and initiative, so if you already have experienced Ratlings there's little reason to disband them and start again with green Scouts. Since the Ultramarine version already comes with 90 accuracy, the Blood Angel version only gets +10 rather than the usual 20 (they do get +20 to melee accuracy, but with a minimum range of 2 they can never actually use it). However, all three faction versions cost the same, so the Ultramarines are strictly worse and should not be used.

Assault Squad

Their bolt pistols and chainswords are both worse than the Command Squad's respective weapons, as are their defence and spotting range, plus they lack the "leadership" trait. The basic version costs 100 less than the Command, and while the cost gap for the BA and Sal versions widens a bit, this basic assault unit is never really worth it. Blood Angels also get a couple of much better variants unique to their faction.

Tactical Squad

The basic infantry unit of the Space Marine world. The only non-support Marine infantry to come with only a single weapon, even their increased size of 20 strength leaves them lacking in shots compared to most. By the time you have access to these, a relatively weak basic infantry unit with a relatively weak, short-ranged weapon just isn't something you'll be wanting.

Tactical Squad with Graviton Gun

Same stats as a tactical squad, but back down to 15 strength and with a graviton gun added. This gives them slightly more shots overall (45 compared to 40), with better strength against heavy infantry and light vehicles, but they're still not great compared to alternatives and come with a hefty price increase. BA and Sal versions get a small bonus to initiative in addition to the usual upgrades, but come with a full 100 increase to cost putting them at 495 req.

Space Marine Infantry (continued)

Vanguard Veterans

An upgraded version of the Assault squad, they get basically similar weapons but with range 2 rather than 1 for their pistol, and with slightly better armour and initiative. This comes with a big price premium for relatively minor upgrades. The BA and Sal versions cost 100 more, making the price jump even larger compared to their Assault versions. BA get an additional 5 armour on top of their usual accuracy bonus, making the extra cost slightly less painful, while Sal only get their normal armour bonus.

Sternguard Veterans

Similar to the Vanguard, these are an upgraded Tactical Squad, with slightly better power and piercing on their combi-bolters and the same small armour and initiative upgrades as their assault counterparts. The fairly low number of shots still leaves them looking fairly lack-lustre. The BA and Sal versions again get a bigger price increase than the tactical squads, and BA again get an extra 5 armour.

Imperial Space Marines

Aren't all Space Marines Imperial? Yes. Anyway... these guys look like a tactical squad but get a truly weird mix of weapons. Their imperial combi-bolter is weaker than regular bolters and has a range of exactly 3 (ie., 3 min and 3 max). They also get a range 2 disintegration gun which is about equivalent to a bolter, plus a fairly weak melee weapon. So they can have a poor and somewhat restricted ranged attack, or a fairly poor assault attack. They do have slightly better armour than most power-armoured Marines, but are pretty poor compared to both assault Marines and Terminators. The Sal version only gets a bonus 5 armour instead of the usual 10.

Devastator Squad with Heavy Bolters

Support squad with the same anti-infantry heavy bolter as the Guard support weapon. The smaller squad size means fewer shots, but higher accuracy and toughness compensates. Devastators all get initiative of 1, marking them out from other Marines - you definitely want these guys supporting others, not running in on their own. BA and Sal versions cost a full 100 more, and Sal only get 8 armour bonus. Given their long-range support role, the BA accuracy bonus can be very nice here, even with the high cost.

Devastator Squad with Multi-meltas

The multi-melta is an anti-vehicle weapon with similar power to a lascannon, with short range but more shots per model. This gives these Devastators a very decent number of shots compared to the Guard missile support, and best of all they actually have the "support" trait unlike said Guards. By the time you have access to them you'll be facing superheavies which they're not much good against so they won't be your main anti-tank units, but they can be very effective supporting other units against lighter vehicles and the many heavy infantry mobs you'll be facing. Of course, a support weapon with only 2 range can be tricky to position without making themselves vulnerable. BA and Sal versions have the same cost and stat increases as the heavy bolter unit.

Space Marine Heavy Infantry

As with the Steel Legion tanks, the game does not divide infantry into regular and heavy categories, but given the step change in power and toughness (and cost), it's a useful way to look at things. Terminators come in squads of 10 with 3 hitpoints each, and with defence of at least 65 this gives them the armour of a Leman Russ but with double the total hitpoints. The downside of this being that they come with the cost of a tank as well, while generally having shorter range and so tending to suffer more losses as they get stuck in up close.

Terminator Squad

With the assault ability and powerful melee weapons, these are more of an upgrade to the Assault Squad than the Tactical Squad. In fact, their ranged weapon is a storm bolter which for some reason is significantly weaker than the regular marines' bolter, with no armour piercing compared to 25% - in the lore and tabletop, a storm bolter is essentially two bolters taped together, firing many more of exactly the same explosive rockets. Presumably this has been done for game balance, but it does mean that these basic Terminators are of little use at range, being only effective against the lightest infantry. Throw in their power fists, which are effective against tanks, and double their number of shots in an assault action, and along with the usual high Space Marine initiative they can take down almost anything smaller than superheavies with ease. Their biggest drawback is that the next unit is strictly better at only a moderate price increase, leaving these guys with little reason to be used. The BA and Sal versions cost 100 more, with the Sal verasion only getting a +8 bonus to armour.

Terminator Squad with Assault Cannon

Exactly what it says - this unit is identical to the regular Terminator squad aside from the addition of an assault cannon weapon, more than doubling their ranged firepower at a cost of 660 to the regular's 500. The assault cannon also lacks armour piercing and so is still weaker than basic bolters despite being much more powerful in tabletop, but with an extra 4 shots per model for a total of 70 for the squad at range 2, they outclass almost any other infantry even before they get stuck in with their powerfists as well. They do lack the "support" trait and range of Devastators though, so you probably won't want an all-Terminator infantry army. BA and Sal versions get the same upgrades at the same cost as regular Terminators.

Terminator Squad with Cyclone

This unit unsurprisingly takes regular Terminators and gives them a cyclone missile launcher. This is identical to the Steel Legion missile launcher support weapon (although the unit still lacks the "support" trait), giving them a decent anti-tank punch at range 3. They also get a side-grade of their melee weapon to a chainfist, which has higher strength but fewer shots than power fists. A mix of these and assault cannons will give you an effective army against almost any enemy. Prices and variants are the same as assault cannons.

Terminator Assault Squad

These Terminators drop all other weapons in favour of melee-only lightning claws. These are somewhat weaker than power fists with 50 strength and only 10% piercing, but give 6 shots per model, giving more total shots than all Terminators except assault cannons and with better attack power than those. This makes them decently effective against heavy infantry, but lacking in power against tanks, while the lack of ranged attacks makes them potentially vulnerable even with an increase in defence to 70, and can often leave them hanging around uselessly when they aren't quite able to reach the fight. On the plus side, they only cost the same 500 req as regular Terminators, with BA and Sal versions costing 100 more, and the Salamander gets the full +10 defence putting them higher than any Leman Russ or non-Salamander Predator variant and only just short of heavies and Land Raiders.

Centurion Squad with Heavy Bolters

With 75 defence (85 for Salamanders) and 4 hitpoints per model in a squad of 8, things are now starting to get a bit silly for units that are supposed to be infantry and not heavy tanks. This unit gets all strength 40, 0 piercing shots at a mix of range 2 and 3. With a total of 6 shots per model they can lay down a decent amount of fire despite the small squad size, but it's lacking in power against anything other than light infantry which rather limits their usefulness. With slightly lower initiative and no assault action, and a cost of 760 putting them higher than some superheavies, there's little reason to prefer these over Terminators with assault cannons. Blood Angels do not have Centurions.

Centurion Squad with Grav Cannons

Missile launchers identical to the Terminator cyclone launcher, and graviton cannons with a similar, shorter-ranged punch, these are supposed to be an anti-tank unit. But with only 2 shots per model and no assault action to make up for it, the short range really hurts them - tanks can hit from further away, while Terminators with Cyclone are better both at range 3 and melee range.

Centurion Assault Squad with Flamers

At 860 req they cost more than many superheavies (and the Salamander version at 960 is the most expensive Space Marine unit there is), but this may be the best anti-infantry unit in the game. With a heavy flamer with the "terror" trait, assault drills that are a slightly better power fist, and hurricane bolters for some basic ranged fire, they get a total of 72 shots per unit, before doubling it up when assaulting. Most of those shots lack piercing and so aren't great against tougher targets, but the assault drills will always guarantee some kills, and the sheer number of shots along with high initiative will be effective against most infantry targets.

Centurion Assault Squad with Meltaguns

Normally you'd assume this to be an anti-tank unit, but the meltagun's relatively low strength and piercing doesn't offset the single shot it gets, while the assault lance that replaces hurricane bolters is just poor and has range of only 1. They keep the assault drills and melee ability, but with only 4 shots per model and rather questionable weapons there just isn't much they're really effective against. Tthe same high price as the flamer version doesn't even begin to justify itself here.

Thunderfire Cannon

A self-propelled support weapon rather than a squad, but still counts as infantry. A weapon normally found on heavy tanks, it has the strength and range to take out tanks, and a decent number of shots (5 per model, with unit strength of 5) to take down infantry. Along with the "support" ability, this makes a decent replacement for the Legion heavy bolter squad. However, with defence of only 20 and 10 hitpoints in total, it's desperately vulnerable, and with movement of only 1 it's useless without added transports, which puts the total cost up to an eye-watering 1,000 req. It is also the only Space Marine infantry unit without the "fearless" trait. The weapon itself is nice, but the drawbacks and cost make it of questionable worth. All three faction versions cost the same, and the BA version gets the same 10 armour bonus as Sal in addition to the usual accuracy bonus, making Blood Angels the only one that should ever be considered.

Space Marine Infantry - Unique Units

Death Company Squad (Blood Angels)

The Blood Angels' backstory includes a variety of vampiric aspects, including the Red Thirst - a craving for blood. Somewhat related to that is the Black Rage; a curse in which some Blood Angels endlessly relive the death of their founding Primarch and the fight against Chaos during the Horus Heresy. Victims of the curse become completely insane, fighting rabidly against enemies without even recognising them and usually needing a Chaplain to at least point them in the right direction. They fight without even noticing wounds, using whatever weapons they happened to have before falling, but if they don't die in battle they will often be executed. This unit, on the other hand, is simply an upgraded version of the Tactical Squad, with only the same bolter weapons, better movement (an infantry high of 5), better initiative (a game high of 16), and better defence and accuracy. They suffer many of the same issues as the basic Tactical Squad, but having some of the best stats in the game goes a good way to compensating - bolters at least have decent armour piercing, so the crazy accuracy and initiative can make them almost as effective as Terminators at range, at much lower cost. All three Blood Angels unique units get Rhino transports as options. However, given their already high speed there's really little use for them.

Death Company Assault Squad (Blood Angels)

An upgraded version of the Assault Squad, these are much more what a Death Company would normally look like. They get the same bolt pistol and chainsword as the basic squad, lacking the extra range of the Vanguard, but get the same stat boosts as the Death Company Squad, along with even higher armour of 63 to now rival Terminators and tanks. A Terminator squad with assault cannon will get more shots in an assault, but the higher accuracy and initiative can potentially make the Death Company even more effective at less than 2/3 the cost.

Sanguinary Guard (Blood Angels)

The chapter honour guard of the Blood Angels, these are truly the best of the best. An even more upgraded Assault Squad, this unit has the same stats as the Death Company Assault Squad but with better weapons - the bolt pistol is upgraded to bolters while the chainsword is replaced by a glaive encarmine (supposedly a two-handed polearm, but almost always shown as a fancy power sword as is the case here). The glaives are effective against tanks, while the squad as a whole can decimate infantry while hardly getting touched in return thanks to the high initiative and defence. That said, there's a hefty jump in price to 760 req, putting them even with Terminators. Easily the best fast assault unit for finishing blows and grabbing objectives, but they're far from invulnerable and will easily be overwhelmed if you get carried away.

Salamander Firedrakes (Salamander)

The Salamander's honour guard, these veteran Terminators actually have slightly lower defence than other Salamander Terminators, although still higher than those of the other factions. They keep the usual 3 hitpoints, but increase squad size to 15 strength like some regular Marines, and with 14 initiative to match other veterans. Salamanders like to focus on flame weapons, and these guys epitomise that with just a heavy flamer and nothing else. Unfortunately, this rather hurts their utility. A good number of shots with the "terror" trait is nice, but it's range 1 only and they have no assault capability - regular Terminators have both better range and more shots when up close. Firedrakes are rather cheaper at only 425 req, but that still doesn't make them look great compared to the alternatives. Firedrakes have the same Land Raider transport option as other Terminators.

Space Marine Infantry Transports

Transport
All regular Space Marine infantry have two options of Rhino variants for attached transports, which function in the same way as those for the Steel Legion. Terminators and Centurions, plus the Thunderfire, have only a single option of Land Raiders.

Rhino

The basic Space Marine transport, which also serves as the base chassis for several Space Marine tanks. It is very lightly armed with just a storm bolter, giving mounted marines fewer and weaker shots than normal, the armour isn't much better than bare infantry, and the total hitpoints are slightly lower - Rhinos are there to increase your movement speed (to 6) and nothing else. Since Space Marines already have 4 movement, enough to keep up with Leman Russes and outpace superheavies, this is of questionable value even at a meagre 80 req. BA and Sal versions get the usual bonuses, but cost more than twice as much (180), making them even more questionable.

Rhino (upgraded)

Movement increased to 7 and spotting to 3 makes these somewhat more useful since now you're nearly doubling your infantry's speed. The price increases to 260, or 360 for the BA/Sal versions, so it's still pretty expensive for what they do. If you go all Marine and abandon the heavy tanks of the Steel Legion, there can be some benefit here, but the lack of added survivability is still disappointing.

Land Raider

The transport variant of these tanks is the classic tabletop Land Raider version which is not available in the game as an independent tank unit, with a mix of lascannon and heavy bolters effective against most targets. They have lower armour (80) and accuracy (only 50) than the standalone tank versions, so while useful in a pinch they are clearly intended for moving infantry around and not fighting themselves. With most Terminators only having 3 movement, a boost to 6 is more obviously useful than with regular Marines, although the cost of 300 req adds a significant cost to the already expensive units. In an army with primarily Space Marine tanks the added mobility will be a necessity, while in an army full of Steel Legion superheavies and titans it's just a nice bonus that can be ignored in favour of spending somewhere else if needed.
Transport Land Raiders are unique in having the Ultramarine and Salamander version identical, while the Blood Angel version gets reduced armour (down to 70) at the same cost. Since you can only have the transport that matches the attached squad, this may inform your choice of which faction to pick Terminators from.

Space Marine Walkers

Where Steel Legion walkers are light scout vehicles, Space Marine Dreadnoughts are decidedly not light. With defence of 95, or 100 for Salamander, 6 hitpoints each, and unit strength of 5, they are tougher than even superheavy tanks and only really rivalled by titans. While not scouts and with only spotting of 2, they all have movement of 4 or more, making them more manoeuverable than non-Space Marine tanks and most infantry. Like Space Marine infantry, they all have the "fearless" trait. Due to their combination of toughness, speed and a decent selection of weapons, Dreadnoughts are easily some of the best units in the game. Canonically, a Space Marine chapter would only have a few Dreadnoughts in total and the technology to build new ones has been lost; seeing as many as 5 in a single battle would be extremely unusual, while having 20-30 as can easily be the case in Armageddon would be unheard of.

Dreadnought

The basic Dreadnought variant, with an assault cannon giving decent anti-infantry ranged capability (up to range 2), and a power fist (called "powered fist" in game to distinguish it from the less powerful Terminator version) strong enough to take down heavy tanks and even titans. It's not great at range, but can take apart pretty much any target up close. The only real issue with it is that the Venerable Dreadnought is better, but doesn't cost all that much more. BA and Sal versions up the cost by 100 to 800, for the usual upgrades.

Hellfire Dreadnought

This variant loses all assault capability in exchange for some long range anti-tank weapons; the same 2 lascannons seen many times elsewhere, and a missile battery identical to the Legion support but here with 2 shots per model. It's very effective against regular tanks and light vehicles, but lacks the attack strength to take down heavies and titans. Taking one to hold off the rush of smaller vehicles while the bigger guns deal with the bigger targets might not be a bad choice, but by the time it's available it certainly won't be your main anti-armour unit. The basic version costs 750, and the BA and Sal are again the full 100 more.

Ironclad Dreadnought

Taking things in the opposite direction, the Ironclad abandons ranged weapons entirely, preferring flamers to go with its power fist. Unfortunately the "2 flamers" weapon not only has range of 0, it's rather strangely lacking the "terror" trait most flame weapons have. The flamers do get more shots than the assault cannon (6 per model, compared to 4), but those shots are weaker and only of limited use against the heavy infantry you'll be seeing a lot of by this point. It's good against lighter infantry and the power fist can still hurt tanks, but with few shots from the latter and no ranged options this variant just isn't as useful as the regular model. All versions cost the same as their basic Dreadnought counterparts.

Venerable Dreadnought

Mostly the same as a regular Dreadnought, but with initiative up to 12. movement up to 5, and the "leadership" trait, all for just 825 req (925 for Salamanders, while there is no Blood Angel version). Quite possibly the best unit in the game - it's extremely tough, effective against any target, and the valuable leadership trait lets you keep the rest of your army in top condition. You will, of course, still need a variety of other units to cover various different roles, but if you ever find yourself with requisition to spend and not sure what to get, you can't really go wrong with one of these.

Furioso Dreadnought

Unique to the Blood Angels, this is their option instead of the Venerable Dreadnought. This is essentially a variation of the Ironclad, replacing the flamers with heavy flamers (stronger, range 1 and with the "terror" trait), and replacing the power fists with blood talons, a somewhat weaker version of the power fist but which gets more hits. The lower strength of its melee weapon is enough to significantly reduce its effectiveness against heavier tanks, but is one of the most effective units against all kinds of infantry as well as lighter vehicles. However, it does lack the "leadership" trait, and as a vehicle it can't enter the buildings most of the infantry it attacks are occupying, which reduces its utility in leading an assault somewhat. It can still justify its 850 req cost, but it's much more of a specialised unit than the Venerable Dreadnought.

Space Marine Vehicles

Space Marine vehicles are a mixed bunch, with over half of them being Land Speeder hover vehicles that count as aircraft in this game. The bikes have a mix of stats, unusually for variants even changing their hitpoints, while Land Speeders keep all their stats the same and just change weapons between variants. All Bikes have the "fearless" trait, but Land Speeders do not.

Bike Squad

Space Marines on bikes. Unit strength of 10 with 2 hitpoints and only 45 defence makes them weaker than Marines without the bikes, while their 2 bolters are identical to the Tactical Squad's bolter but with 3 shots per model, giving them fewer shots overall still at range 2. They do have movement 6, but only spotting of 3 so they don't make great scouts, and by the time you can purchase them they're likely to be slaughtered by anything they make the mistake of getting in range to shoot. At 250 req they're significantly more expensive than a Tactical Squad while not actually being any better, and the Tactical Squad wasn't great to start with. BA and Sal versions cost 100 more with the usual upgrades.

Assault Bike Squad

While the name might suggest some melee capability, this is actually an anti-vehicle variant with a multi-melta in addition to the bolters, plus boosting defence to 50 and hitpoints to 3, in exchange for lowering movement, spotting and initiative. The multi-melta is decent enough against regular tanks and vehicles, but with still only range 2 and less survivability than most things that will be able to shoot back, it's just not a good choice compared to the alternatives. At 490 req, you could just buy a tougher and better ranged tank for about the same price. BA and Sal push the price right up to 590. The Salamander version with its 60 defence at least matches other vehicles in the game for toughness, but it's still rather lacking in utility with that price and weapon range.

Scout Bike Squadron

As discussed in the Steel Legion walker and vehicle sections, scout bikes look like the best scout unit in the game, with the joint best 4 spotting, and a game highest movement of 7. However, as noted then, speed just isn't that important for scouting in this game since you never want your scouts to get far ahead - there are plenty of other options with movement 5 or 6 that can scout ahead of your main force just as well, and most of them won't instantly die if seen. With defence 30, and back to the 20 total hitpoints of the basic Bike Squad, this is one of the least survivable Imperial unit in the game - only Hive Militia and Valkyries have lower defence, and only Tauros have fewer hitpoints - and at 350 req they're nearly double the cost of Sentinels or Salamanders (the vehicle, not the Marine chapter). The BA and Sal versions up that to more than double at 450, and the accuracy bonus for Blood Angels is worthless on a unit that can't risk ever getting in range.

Land Speeder

Unlike other air vehicles in the game, Land Speeders actually are supposed to be hover units with limited altitude capability, so the hover movement type and inability to cross cliffs fits them much better than any others. Unfortunately, said hover movement and "flyer" trait remain of highly questionable value, and with the same 30 defence as bikes and only 21 total hitpoints (just 1 more than bikes) they're going to get killed very quickly even if the evasion bonus functions correctly. They at least all have weapons with range 3, but as with the Legion aircraft that's not enough to make them particularly useful. This basic variant gets a heavy bolter, for a paltry total of 14 shots for the whole unit that are only effective against weaker infantry units. You can get much more firepower and much better survivability at significantly lower than its 300 cost, and it doesn't even have the excuse of being a scout unit this time. BA and Sal versions cost 100 more, and their bonuses really don't make up for it.

Land Speeder Tornado

This variant adds a heavy flamer, but makes no other changes. Yes, that's a heavy flamer with range 1 on one of the weakest units in the game. Flyers are immune to assault actions, so at least any Orks left standing won't be able to club you to death, but with defence this low there are very few units that won't still be able to just shoot you down anyway. And at 510 req, or 610 for the other factions, this is crazily expensive for how long it's likely to last.

Land Speeder Typhoon

This variant looks similar to the Vendetta aircraft of the Steel Legion, mixing up heavy bolters and missile launchers for a mix of anti-infantry and anti-tank weaponry. However, it only gets 2 shots of each per model to the Vendetta's 3, and while it has more hitpoints it has lower defence. At the same 510 req cost as the Tornado it is slightly cheaper than the Legion aircraft, but there are so many better units that can be had at the same price.

Land Speeder Tempest

The Tempest keeps the missile launchers of the Typhoon, but swaps the heavy bolter for an assault cannon. This doubles its anti-infantry shots to 4 per model, but reduces the range to 2 which on a unit this weak is a death sentence. It again has the same cost and stats as the previous two variants.

Space Marine Tanks

Space Marines have two main categories of tanks. The lighter ones are based on the Rhino chassis and generally have defence around the lower end of the Leman Russ variants but faster (all with movement 5), higher initiative (mostly 12), and with unit strength of 7 and hitpoints 4 giving them nearly double the total hitpoints of the Legion tanks. Oddly, however, they actually have lower accuracy with only 60, where the worst Leman Russes have 65 and several have significantly higher. All of these tanks have the "medium tracks" movement type, regardless of cosmetic dozer blades and the like. With their tanks being faster than infantry rather than slower like most of the Legion's, an all Space Marine army can be far faster and more manoeuvreable than one held back by superheavy tanks.

Stalker

The Stalker is an anti-light aircraft vehicle, with an icarus stormcannon array firing a decent 6 shots per model with the not very useful "AA" trait. It does have the "support" trait, and almost makes a decent anti-infantry platform, but like other similar AA weapons it has great accuracy reduction with range which seriously harms its effectiveness at distance, and the cost of 710 is too much given the lack of use in its primary role. The Blood Angel version costs 810 with the usual accuracy boost, but the Salamander version actually drops the cost to 625 while still getting the full 10 defence increase, making the Ultramarine version completely pointless.

Hunter

Again intended as an anti-air vehicle, the Hunter drops the autocannon in favour of a single long-range missile launcher. Its skyspear launcher keeps the questionable "AA" trait, but more interestingly it's only the second non-artillery weapon to have no accuracy reduction with range, and with the same range 4 as the Destroyer tank it can almost fill the same role. The weapon is weaker than the laser destroyer, but higher unit strength gives more shots, while being the longest ranged unit with the "support" trait opens up real opportunities for hitting multiple targets on the opponent's turn if placed correctly. It's expensive, again at 710, and not the most powerful anti-tank unit around, but this is the one AA unit that can potentially justify its use, even if not actually in that role. The BA and Sal versions again have the same odd cost changes, but if you plan on staying at long range and using the support ability, the higher accuracy of the Blood Angels might actually be worth the higher price.

Predator Annihilator

The Predator is the mainstay of the Space Marine tank forces, and the Annihilator is the original classic Predator from tabletop from before they started giving names to variants with different weapons. It has two lascannons and 2 heavy bolters, giving it a decent attack against most units at range 3, although it will likely struggle against heavier tanks and titans. At 720 req, it's not too expensive for a pretty solid all-rounder tank. The Salamander version this time costs the same, while the Blood Angel costs 100 more, making the Ultramarine version again worthless.

Predator Annihilator (upgraded)

This is the variant that is usually actually called the Annihilator, replacing the heavy bolters with more lascannons for an all anti-armour loadout, along with better defence and initiative, for just 30 more req. Lascannons aren't the greatest anti-tank weapons around by the time these units become available, struggling to take on heavy tanks, so this is one upgrade that isn't necessarily an actual upgrade.

Predador Destructor

With an autocannon and heavy bolters, this is the anti-infantry version of the Predator, and it's pretty good at what it does. It costs exactly the same as the Annihilator, and is one of the better anti-infantry tanks in the game.

Predator Destructor (upgraded)

This time it's just the defence and initiative upgrades with no changes to weapons, but at just the same 30 req increase there's no reason not to upgrade. The upgraded Destructor puts out the same number of shots as the Macharius Vulcan for the same cost, with better movement, initiative, and nearly double the total hitpoints, but lower defence and accuracy. The Salamander version almost matches the Vulcan's defence, while the Blood Angel version almost matches the accuracy (but again at higher cost), but which ends up better depends on which stats you value more.

Baal Predator (Blood Angels)

Blood Angels are the only Space Marine chapter to get a unique faction tank here, with this close-range anti-infantry Predator. With assault cannons, heavy flamers and storm bolters, it can put out more shots than any other Imperial unit (not counting assault actions), half of them coming with the "terror" trait. The drawback is that it can only do this at range 1, although the non-flamer weapons can hit from range 2 if required, and none of its weapons have armour piercing. It can still be effective against most infantry and light vehicles due to the sheer number of shots it fires, but it's best against lighter infantry. At only 790, it's cheaper than the other Blood Angel Predator versions, but doesn't come with an upgraded version with higher armour.

Razorback with Heavy Bolters

The Razorback is actually supposed to be a cross between a transport and a tank, with less troop capacity than a Rhino transport, but significantly more firepower. In this game, however, they're just regular tanks that lack the firepower of the Predators, but come with the "support" ability. Given that anti-infantry support is most useful in urban areas where it's tricky to position tanks, this heavy bolter version isn't really all that useful; it has half the firepower of a Predator Destructor with otherwise identical stats. It is cheaper at 500 req, but by this point you're generally going to want all the weapons you can get. The Sal version is again slightly cheaper at 480, making the Ultra version pointless, while the BA version costs 100 more.

Razorback with Lascannons

Oddly enough, this variant replaces the heavy bolters with lascannons, while keeping everything else the same. As noted with the Annihilator, these aren't the best anti-tank weapons in the late game, and with half the number of the Predator even the "support" trait doesn't really make this worthwhile.

Damocles

This is the command Rhino variant that is the final Space Marine unit to come with the "leadership" ability. As the only leadership vehicle available to all three chapters, it should fill the same role as the Salamander Command, and at 550 req it doesn't cost much more while being significantly more survivable. However, with only a rather weak, range 2 storm bolter, it has little ability to actually add anything to the fight, while the Salamander Command's range 3 weapons remain useful to the end. The Sal version costs 610 while the BA version costs 650, and as a short-ranged vehicle that you want to keep alive if possible, the better armoured version is definitely going to be the more useful one, assuming you don't just stick with Salamanders or Dreadnoughts.

Space Marine Tanks (continued)

Whirlwind

One of only two Space Marine artillery units, this fills the same role as the Wyvern and Griffon in the Legion, with a range 2-3 indirect fire weapon and the "support" trait. While it can suffer from the same difficulty in positioning a tank to support infantry in urban areas, the higher movement helps with that, while the whirlwind launcher gives it more shots per model and significantly more shots for the whole unit. It does lack any backup weapon to defend itself with, but with the same chassis as other Space Marine tanks it's far more survivable than any Legion artillery. And at only 535 req it's actually cheaper than a Wyvern (Sal costs 625 while BA costs 635).

Vindicator

It has a demolisher cannon. Just like the Thunderer, that's all it has. The higher unit strength gives it a few more shots, but the other stats are broadly similar and there's still no reason you'd want to buy something like this, especially at the cost of 535 req (or 635 for Sal and BA versions).

Vindicator (upgraded)

Again just like the Thunderer, this gets some minor upgrades to armour and initiative, but nothing to make it actually useful. It doesn't even get the token accuracy bonus the upgraded Thunderer has. It only costs 60 more (on all versions), but that's 60 more than something that wasn't worth it to start with. As with most vehicles using this weapon, it fills a role in the lore than simply isn't represented in this game.

Space Marine Heavy Tanks

As with previous entries, heavy tanks are not a separate category but count in game as just tanks, but again there is a step change between these and the smaller Space Marine tanks. Land Raiders are a bit different from the Steel Legion superheavies. Like most Space Marine units they can be very effective against infantry and lighter vehicles at short range, but are somewhat lacking in long range and higher attack strength weapons - only one has range 4, and that with an anti-infantry gun, and their best anti-armour weapons are the same lascannons and multi-meltas we've had since the start of the game.
Land Raiders have the same 90 armour as Legion superheavies (95 for Salamanders), and with 4 unit strength and 5 hitpoints per model they have the same total hitpoints while generally getting more shots. Of course, this comes with the downside of losing firepower faster when they take damage. With 5 movement these are much faster than Legion tanks and can easily keep up with other Marines. All Land Raiders have the "amphibious" hidden trait which doesn't seem to do anything. All Blood Angel and Salamander versions cost 100 more than the basic one, with Sal getting a 5 armour bonus (again, only titans get to hit triple digits for armour) and BA all getting accuracy up to 80 from 60 (still worse than most Legion heavies). At only 760 req for the most expensive Land Raider, they're cheaper than all Legion superheavies except the worthless Stormsword.

Land Raider Achilles

A decent all-rounder, this is one of only four Space Marine units to have range 4, with two of those being not much use and the other having the same thunderfire cannon seen here, although this time it comes without the support trait. Backing that up with 4 multi-meltas, it's capable of hurting any target, while putting out enough shots (8 per model) to actually be useful against all as well. It doesn't truly excel at anything, but neither will it ever struggle to find something useful to do. At only 720 req, it's cheaper even than the good Legion Macharius heavy tanks.

Land Raider Crusader

A more anti-infantry focused tank, this variant replaces the thunderfire cannon with a big pile of bolters and assault cannons, keeping the multi-melta as well (in this case a single one, but with identical stats to the "4 multi-meltas" weapon of the Achilles). This gives the unit a lot more shots - more than any other Imperial tank other than the even shorter-ranged Baal Predator - but these are mostly lacking in armour piercing and attack strength, and with range of only 2 on all weapons it needs to get in close and take return fire to actually make use of them. At 760 req, it's similar in price to both the Baal and Macharius Vulcan, with all three being about as effective at the same job.

Land Raider Helios

This is effectively the Space Marines' second artillery piece, with the same whirlwind launcher as the Whirlwind, but unfortunately this time without the "support" trait and with fewer shots due to the lower unit strength, plus a few lascannons. The small unit size really hurts here, since it's worse than a Whirlwind as artillery, and worse than a Predator Annihilator as an anti-tank unit. It is only 750 req, making it just 10 more expensive than an upgraded Annihilator, so it's not useless if you really need something to cover both roles, but you'll generally be better focusing on one or the other.

Land Raider Helios with Hyperios

This is the anti-air variant of the Land Raider, and it's not one of the good anti-air units. Swapping the whirlwind launcher for a hyperios launcher with only 1 shot per model and poor attack strength, while keeping the lascannons, this is unquestionably the weakest Land Raider there is. If you really want the lascannons, it's the same price as the Helios, while the hyperios sucks even compared to other anti-air weapons.

Land Raider Prometheus

At only 675 req this is the cheapest Land Raider, and with good reason. With a mix of heavy bolters and storm bolter, this variant has fewer, weaker shots than the Achilles at shorter range. There's simply no reason to ever buy one of these.

Land Raider Redeemer

Another anti-infantry variant, this one comes with a flamestorm cannon with the "terror" trait, along with assault cannons and storm bolter. This gives it just one less shot per model than the Crusader, all at the same range 2, essentially trading the higher attack strength of the multi-meltas for a bigger morale hit, and at the same 760 req cost. Both are decent enough options, and neither really has anything to recommend it over the other.

Space Marine Aircraft

With no artillery or titans, these are the final Space Marine units. While these are true aircraft in tabletop, this game treats them as hover units the same as all other units - they get the hover movement type and the "flyer" trait that may or may not actually give an evasion bonus. Where Land Speeders at least had high movement and decent spotting ranges, these aircraft are back down to Legion levels with movement 5 and spotting only 2, making them useless for scouting.

Stormtalon

With unit strength 5, hitpoints 2 and defence of 30, these are again some of the weakest units in the game. At least this time they come with a range 4 missile launcher that is decent against tanks, but with only 1 shot per model on a small squad size it's still far from great. It also has an assault cannon that could be decent against infantry, but with range of only 2 it suffers the same issues as most other aircraft in being likely to die if it ever gets in that close. At 635 req it's far from cheap, and the BA and Sal versions don't benefit much from getting the usual upgrades for an additional 100 req.

Stormraven

Here we swap the skyhammer launcher for a stronger stormstrike missile launcher with more shots but reduced range, while keeping the assault cannons and increasing armour to 40. This leaves it with significantly less anti-armour punch than the Legion Vendetta, similar but shorter range anti-infantry, and broadly similar toughness due to higher defence but lower total hitpoints, and at 685 req to the Vendetta's 585. The BA and Sal versions cost a full 100 more, putting them at the cost of a superheavy tank for a unit that will die if even a regular tank sees it.

Storm Eagle

This ups the defence to 50 and hitpoints to 3, putting it at least in the realm of Salamanders and Sentinels for survivability. With vengeance launchers (anti-infantry rocket pods), lascannons and multi-meltas, it has a decent amount of firepower that can be effective against most targets. Unfortunately it only has range 2 on most weapons (3 on the lascannons), and despite being the toughest aircraft available to the Imperials, it's still much less tough than most of the things it will be shooting at, although the Sal version with 60 armour is nearly on par with a Leman Russ. That said, it's potentially the only aircraft that isn't completely useless, with a possible role in taking out some of the short-ranged heavy infantry and vehicles - with the flyer's immunity to assault actions it can stay safer than ground units if you pick your targets carefully (and they don't have any friends near). At 745 req (845 for Sal and BA), it's pretty expensive for such a role.

Ork Infantry

This mainly describes the units you'll be facing, but these units are also available in multiplayer. Units in the "Da Orks" expansion may not be identical, but are mostly at least similar. Even in the main campaign, requisition cost can give a general idea of how powerful you can expect a unit to be. Unit strength is given as the base number, and will be modified in game as described in the section on difficulty. Ork weapons mostly have a base accuracy of 80 and accuracy per hex of -10. making them especially poor at range. While some of their tanks have decent unit accuracy, often even better than their Legion counterparts, Ork infantry are universally terrible at range with an accuracy high of 40 and most being close to 25. They can be dangerous in assault actions, with higher melee accuracy, high numbers and where accuracy per hex doesn't come into play, but even their best ranged infantry rely entirely on numbers over competence.

Warboss

The equivalent of the Legion Company Command, being one of two infantry units with the "leadership" trait. It also has spotting 4 and a range of 3, making it one of the few units consistently able to shoot back at you, albeit with a fairly weak anti-infantry weapon. However, it has a low unit strength (for Orks) of only 25, only 1 hitpoint per model, defence of 40 not much better than Legion infantry, and no assault ability. It can be dangerous when spotting for long ranged units and supporting others with its leadership, but is surprisingly weak on its own considering the lore (the warboss should be the biggest, toughest Ork around, with the best gear), and the AI will rarely use it to best effect (admittedly this is entirely in keeping with the lore). At 250 req it's quite expensive for Ork infantry, but still one of their cheapest units overall.

Slugga Boyz

The basic Ork unit. They have short-ranged sluggas and choppas (pistols and axes), big numbers with unit strength 40, and not much else going for them. They're weak and easy to take out at range, but their sheer numbers means it can take time to kill them all and they're likely to manage to do at least some damage once they get close. Their biggest threat is as meat shields for stronger units and generally just slowing things down and getting in the way - having to clear out several Boyz mobs from an urban area can take several turns if you're not willing to charge in and take heavy losses of your own.

Shoota Boyz

With unit strength of 45 they're the second biggest unit you'll see in the game, and with a range of 2 with shootas roughly equivalent to bolters they can definitely hurt careless infantry even with the usual shocking Ork accuracy. Fortunately they lack a melee weapon or assault action, so while they can be harder to take out with zero loss from out of range, they will generally do much less damage overall.

Shoota Boyz with Big Shoota

The only Ork unit with the "support" trait, carrying the equivalent of a heavy bolter. With 25 unit strength they get 100 shots at range 3, which can come as a nasty surprise to unsuspecting infantry and lighter vehicles. In particular, trying to shoot at shorter ranged Ork units from range 2 can easily leave you exposed to support fire from one of these mobs hidden out of sight behind them. If you don't have long range weapons available to take them out at a distance, you can take a lot of damage having to fight through numerous other Orks to reach them, although with no melee weapon or assault action they're vulnerable once you do get close.

Stormboyz

With speed of 5 compared to most Orks' 3, these are the fastest infantry. Where most Orks are fairly slow and poor at range, these guys can catch you out if you're not careful. Aside from speed, they are much more of a standard Ork mob, with unit strength of 40, 1 hitpoint per model (as for all except the two Nobz units) and range of only 1. With sluggas and chain-choppas (the equivalent of bolt pistol and chainsword) they get an impressive 160 shots; although half is melee-only, even 80 weak shots is likely to do some damage if you fire at them while too close.

Ard Boyz with Sluggas

Ard Boyz are regular Orks with slightly better defence. This unit is identical to the Slugga Boyz, but with defence up to 45 from 31 and a higher cost of 150. This makes them a little more dangerous since the weaker Legion infantry weapons will be less effective, but by the time they appear you should have plenty of tools to deal with them.

Ard Boyz with Shootas

This time identical to Shoota Boyz but with the same boost to defence. Getting 90 shots at range 2 can make them a pain to get rid of without taking at least some losses, but these are again annoying mobs that swamp you with numbers rather than a real threat on their own.

Mega Armoured Nobz

Hands down the most powerful, and most expensive, Ork infantry. With 45 defence and 2 hitpoints per model in a mob of 25, they're a match even for Terminators, which they are essentially the Ork version of. That said, their weapons are much better against infantry and lighter vehicles than heavier tanks, and while they again have a decent range of 3, they'll struggle to hit much from that far out. You'll want to wear them down from a distance, or they can do some serious damage once they get in close. Unlike regular Nobz, they do not have the "leadership" trait.

Nobz

Lower defence than the mega armoured version, but still with the same 2 hitpoints per model, making them tougher than the rest of the Ork infantry, and especially still quite a bit tougher than most Legion infantry. Their weapons are weaker and shorter-ranged than the mega's, making them decent against infantry but not much use against tanks, but they can again tear apart vulnerable infantry and weaker vehicles like artillery if you let them get close. Like the Warboss they have the "leadership" ability making them an important centre of the fight, and at only 175 req they make a decent combination of Warboss and Mega Nobz and a fraction of the cost.

Ork Infantry (continued)

Burna Boyz

A slightly lower unit strength of 35 is compensated by replacing the Slugga Boyz' slugga with a higher strength burna that also gets more shots per model. This gives them a pretty crazy high of 175 shots. They're otherwise the same as Slugga Boyz, and despite being a flame weapon the burna doesn't have the "terror" trait.

Kommandoz

Lower unit strength of 25, but adding stikkbombs effective against tanks on top of their sluggas and choppas, along with slightly higher defence (39) and faster movement (4) compared to regular boyz. Easier to take down at range due to the lower strength, but potentially even nastier if they get in close due to being effective against almost everything.

Tankbustas

The only dedicated Ork anti-tank infantry, they're good at what they do. Not only is their rokkit launcha as good against tanks as the Legion anti-tank missile launcher squad, with a unit strength of 30 to make up for the lack of accuracy, but they also have melee-range tankbusta bombs to bring to assault actions, allowing them to seriously hurt superheavies and even titans up close. Although they get relatively few shots compared to most Ork infantry (only 1 per model for each weapon), that's still a decent amount compared to most Imperial units, making them one of the most dangerous units you'll face due to their ability to one-shot titans, Space Marines, and just about any other unit given the chance. Artillery, long range (preferably 4) tanks, and high initiative units are your friends here.

Lootaz

A different upgrade of Shoota Boyz, where Ard Boyz get extra defence, Lootaz keep the same stats, drop unit strength to 35, but upgrade to a deffgun that's decently effective against heavy infantry and tanks. Only range 2, not really high enough weapon strength to be a threat to superheavies, and no melee ability means they're nowhere near as much of a threat as Tankbustas, even though they cost 150 to Tankbustas 180, but a decent weapon with range 2 still makes them a real annoyance to infantry who can't outrange them.

Gretchin

Lore has varied over the years on whether these are a different race from Orks equivalent to goblins in Warhammer Fantasy, or a juvenile stage of the Ork lifecycle, either way these are smaller, weaker, and generally worse in every way than Orks, and indeed anything else in the game. With defence of 9, initiative 1 and accuracy of only 15 at range and 25 in melee their stats are rather laughable, and with movement of only 2 they don't even make up for it in speed. However, with unit strength of 50 they're the biggest unit in the game, and with the same sluggas and choppas used by other Orks they can get a pretty mental 200 shots per unit in an assault action. This can make them a decent enough threat in the early game, but more importantly that high unit strength makes them a real pain to wear down even later on; Gretchin are one of the main reasons big tanks with big guns and few shots just can't do the job on their own, especially on higher difficulties where their unit strength can go as high as 75!

Ork Infantry Transports

Transports
Although not relevant in single player, in multiplayer all Ork infantry have the choice to purchase one of two transports, in the same way as Imperial units.

Trukk with Big Shoota

With unit strength of 7 and 3 hitpoints per model, Ork units can generally absorb much less damage when mounted, even with a decent enough 50 defence. The big shoota has a range of 3 which might come in handy, but with only 2 shots per model and the usual poor Ork accuracy it's rarely going to be much help. The important part is the movement of 6, which is a huge improvement on the usual Ork movement of 3 and can allow you to compete even with Space Marines for manoeuverability, albeit at the expense of the added vulnerability when you move. At only 90 req it's not expensive from an Imperial point of view, but still doubles the cost of basic Ork boyz while being significant even for the more expensive ones.

Trukk with Big Shoota (upgraded)

Slightly better defence of 58 and movement now up to the highest 7, but double the cost at 180 req. Since this now doubles the cost of even better units like Tankbustas and Nobz, it's not really worth it for the incremental gain on basic transports.

Battlewagon

Very similar to the Trukks, it trades strength for hitpoints and adds an extra shot per model for the gun, giving it slightly more total hitpoints and shots. However, it has lower defence and drops the speed down to 5. The high cost makes it very questionable on any but the more critical units, and even then speed is likely to be more important for transports.

Ork Walkers

Orks get a much bigger selection of walkers than the Imperials. Where the Steel Legion and Space Marines each have a single type of walker with a few weapon variants, Orks have five different classes of walker - three sizes of dreadnought and two sizes of giant dinosaurs with guns strapped to their backs. The smallest have hardly better defence than infantry, while the largest are as tough as superheavies and fully capable of standing up to Imperial tanks and dreadnoughts. All except one of the dreadnoughts can assault, and some focus entirely on melee with no ranged weapons at all. On the other hand all the Squiggoths are ranged only, and they all have the leadership trait.

Killa Kans with Skorcha

Killa Kans are the smallest Ork walkers available, with only 47 defence and three hitpoints per model, but the largest unit strength of 10. This variant is a melee-only unit, with the skorcha making it one of only three Ork units to get the "terror" trait, in addition to its crusha claws which have decent armour piercing to be a threat to heavy infantry and light vehicles. The smaller unit size gives it fewer shots than most infantry (60 in total), but with higher accuracy and no range drop-off they can do some decent damage if given the chance to attack. However, the relatively low defence and lack of ranged attack makes it easy to take them down before they reach you, and with speed of only 4 they're hardly the fastest light vehicles around. Killa Kans have the "light walker" movement type, while all the larger dreadnoughts have "walker".

Killa Kans with Big Shootas

This unit gets a stronger buzz saw melee weapon capable of hurting the heaviest units, and replaces the skorcha with a range 3 heavy bolter equivalent. With only two shots per model for each weapon it's not really great either at range or up close, but the ranged ability makes it harder to take out without taking damage in return, while it's still strong enough to have the same problem up close. Never a huge threat, but don't get cocky.

Deff Dread with Big Shootas

Stepping up in size, these are more similar to the Space Marine dreadnoughts (originally they were basically equivalent in the tabletop game, although things have evolved a bit since then). With 8 unit strength, 4 hitpoints per model and 71 defence, they're a bit tougher than a Leman Russ unit. However, their 2 big shootas only get three shots per model, while their 2 crushas are identical to the Killa Kans' single crusha, giving them quite a bit less punch than Killa Kans overall. They're not a complete pushover, but not as nasty as might be expected.

Deff Dread with Kill Saw

With three different melee weapons, and capable of hurting everything up to titans, this is a very nasty character once it gets close, and with still 4 movement at this size it's more capable of managing that than many Ork units. Of course, like other similar units it's a sitting duck if you can keep it at range, but unlike the infantry you'll need some decent anti-tank weapons to reliably hurt them.

Somewhat oddly, the Deff Dread with Big Shootas is defined twice in the data files, on consecutive lines identical apart from ID number. The Ork Hunters DLC adds a line for a third "Deff Dread with Kustom Mega Blasta" (which would be an anti-tank variant), but this is commented out and the double definition is left in place. It looks as though there was probably supposed to be a third variant that was either left out by mistake or cut at the last minute, and something is missing to make it difficult to add back in later (graphical assets maybe). Whatever the case, only the two variants are available both in the main game and all the DLC.

Mega Dread

Upping the defence to 85, on par with heavy tanks, and with 5 hitpoints per model these look reasonably tough, but with only 4 unit strength they're actually not as bad as they could be. With this basic version having a 1 shot per model killkannon to go with its melee rippa klaw with just 2 shots, it often won't achieve all that much. It's weapons can hurt anything and you wouldn't want to let them in amongst your heavy tanks, but the low number of shots really hurts its effectiveness, even with the high 85 accuracy that these heavier Ork units get.

Mega Dread with Killkannons

Yes, the last one already had a killkannon. This one has two, sacrificing melee ability to double its ranged firepower. This can make it more annoying to take down, since everything except the long range anti-tank snipers will take damage in return. However, it's much less dangerous than the base model up close.

Mega Dread with Rippa Klaws

This variant doubles up the other weapon this time, giving 4 shots per model for the melee weapon along with slightly higher weapon strength. However, it drops the ranged weapon entirely. With far fewer, weaker hits than a Deff Dread and not even 2/3 the total hitpoints, even the higher defence doesn't really help it here.

Ork Walkers (continued)

Gargantuan Squiggoth with Killkannon

Aside from being giant dinosaurs with guns, Gargantuan Squiggoths are the only units in the game to have the "heavy walker" unit type but not the "titan" hidden trait (or, indeed, be in the titan class). With the same 2 unit strength as Legion superheavies, but only 7 hitpoints and still only 85 defence, these are closer to just heavy tanks in survivability and still not quite up to superheavy or Marine dreadnought standards. They do come with a decent selection of anti-tank killkannon and 2 big shootas as seen on Dreads, with an additional big lobba artillery that gets a decent 5 shots per model. The low unit strength means it doesn't get many shots overall, and with the artillery piece having a minimum range of 2 this is one of the few Ork units that you actually want to get in close to avoid getting hurt - despite being artillery the big lobba is not "bulky", so it will return fire if given the chance. Squiggoths all have the leadership trait, and with all ranged attacks this unit can be quite nasty when sitting back supporting a line of shorter-ranged Orks.

Gargantuan Squiggoth with Supa-Zzap Gun

This is just a straight upgrade from the previous model; all stats are identical (including the cost of 680 req), with the only change being replacing the killkannon with a supa-zzap gun which has higher strength, higher piercing, and higher range - finally we see an Ork unit with range 4. It's still vulnerable at close range, but an Ork unit with range and strength close to a Shadowsword is not something to be taken lightly, especially with the 90 accuracy this one has.

Squiggoth with Kannon

The slightly smaller variety of giant dinosaur, these are back down to Leman Russ-region defence of 75, but with lower unit strength of 3 and hitpoints per model of 4 again making them just a bit less tough than their Imperial equivalents. Unlike all the previous walkers, the weapon in the name is all they get. In this case, that's a kannon with a grand total of 1 shot per model. It doesn't quite steal the "fewest shots per unit" prize from the Stormsword, but that's not something most would want to aim for. Where most Ork units have flaws but can be dangerous in the right (or wrong) place, this one will struggle to hurt anything even if you completely ignore it. The only good thing about them is they again get the "leadership" trait, meaning they can keep an Ork army fighting a bit harder if you don't get rid of them.

Squiggoth with Supa-lobba

With longer range and higher strength than the Gargantuan Squiggoth's big lobba, the supa-lobba can be annoying hitting out from range 4 while again supporting others with its "leadership" ability. It does only get 2 shots per model, and its sole weapon is "bulky" and has a minimum range of 2, making it fairly easy to take out at any range.

Squiggoth with Zzap Gun

As with their gargantuan brethren, the zzap gun is strictly better than the kannon, with all other stats identical. In this case it still only has range 3 though, with just slightly better strength and piercing. Technically it's slightly more of a threat than the kannon variant, but that's all that can be said for it.

Squiggoth with Flakka-Dakka Gun

This is the first dedicated anti-air unit the Orks get. Unusually for such things, this is potentially actually better than the other variants. The "AA" trait is as pointless as always, but with 4 shots per model it at least has the chance to do some damage to infantry, although the low weapon strength means it won't hurt much else and it's still far from the most dangerous unit you'll encounter.

Ork Vehicles

Along with artillery, vehicles are the only unit class in which Orks have no units with melee weapons or the "assault" trait. Most of them have range of 3, sometimes even higher, making them generally more difficult to take down at range without taking damage than infantry and walkers, although they are generally weaker than both. Ork vehicles are quite varied, effectively falling into five classes.

Warbiker Mob

Unit strength 10, only 1 hitpoint and 45 defence makes this one of the weakest units in the game, and with its dakkaguns only having range 1 there isn't much to compensate for that. With joint highest speed 7 and spotting 4 they could make decent scouts for a human player, although there are better choices with the same important stats there, but the AI will generally just run them into the first unit they see and commit suicide. The most they generally achieve is wearing down vulnerable Legion infantry placed as part of a scenario. Bikers are the only Ork vehicle with wheeled movement type (specifically "small wheels") - Buggies and Trukks have tracks (small and regular respectively) despite being shown with wheels in the graphics.

Warbuggy with Rokkits

The same high speed and spotting as bikes, this time with 8 unit strength, 2 hitpoints, slightly higher defence, and most importantly a decent range 3 anti-tank weapon. As with most light vehicles they're not too hard to take down, but they're more than capable of doing some damage on their way out. Along with their anti-infantry variant, these will be the scouts of choice for Orks in multiplayer.

Warbuggy with Big Shoota

Same as above, but with more, weaker shots putting them in an anti-infantry role. This does make them much easier to fight in the campaign, since they can't do much against even early tanks or tougher vehicles.

Wartrakk with Big Shoota

Very slightly better defence than buggies (53 compared to 49), but with unit strength reduced to 7, and lower speed, initiative and spotting (all the way down to 1 for the latter). This variant has the same 2 big shootas as the Warbuggy, but is really just worse. As with most of these vehicles it has the range to be annoying to exposed infantry, but these are really the cannon fodder of the vehicle world for Orks. Somewhat oddly, Wartrakks actually cost slightly more than Warbuggies, despite being worse in every way.

Wartrakk Skorcha

Replacing the shootas with only the second "terror" weapon available to Orks, it also gets a decent enough 6 shots per model making it a reasonable threat to infantry. The short range makes it more vulnerable than most vehicles to being taken down before it reaches anyone though.

Wartrakk with Rokkits

Where the shoota variant gets the same weapon as its Buggy counterpart, this Wartrakk gets a worse rokkit launcher with only 1 shot per model. It still has enough strength to do a bit of damage as it dies, but again this is cannon fodder rather than a real threat.

Gun Trukk with Kannon

Trukks have slightly higher defence, but otherwise have the same stats as Wartrakks. This variant gets 2 kannons with decent strength and 2 shots per model at range 3. Still not as good as the Warbuggy.

Gun Trukk with Big Zzappa

Like the rokkit Wartrakk this again drops down to just 1 shot per model, but this time with significantly higher weapon strength and a range increase to 4, making it a reasonbly nasty anti-tank sniper. The low unit accuracy and unit strength means it's not exactly great in that role, but it's more than capable of making your tanks very unhappy with a couple of lucky shots. Along with the big lobba variant, Trukks are some of the few Ork units best taken out at close range.

Gun Trukk with Big Lobba

With an indirect fire (but not "bulky") big lobba similar to that on the Gargantuan Squiggoth but with fewer shots per model (3), this gets enough, strong enough shots to be annoying to many unit types. Still with only 1 spotting it can be a problem when sitting behind the main lines dropping shots on anyone going for an assault, but does very badly on its own - it can't see far enough to shoot at its minimum range.

Big Trak with Flakka-Dakka Gun

Although classed as vehicles, Big Trakks have defence, unit strength and hitpoints to match a Leman Russ, and so overlap very much with Ork tanks. This variant has the same flakka-dakka anti-air gun as the Squiggoth, but this time paired with the same 2 big shootas all Big Trakks get. This makes it a pretty decent anti-infantry unit with enough range to be a real annoyance, especially early in the game.

Big Trakk with Big Shootas

All Big Trakks get one set of big shootas, but this variant doubles up with another pair. With slightly higher strength but slightly fewer shots, it's basically equivalent to the flakka-dakka variant.

Big Trakk with Supa-Kannon

With a maximum range of 5 this can't quite match a Basilisk, but is otherwise pretty similar, with the same minimum range and the heavy bolter equivalent for shorter-range defence. Like most artillery it doesn't have accuracy dropoff with range, but the usual poor Orky base unit and weapon accuracy leaves it more annoying than a serious threat, although it is a bit tougher than most artillery.

Big Trakk with Zzap Gun

The zzap gun remains a decent anti-tank weapon, and this time it's on a bigger unit along with a backup weapon, making it rather more useful here than on a squiggoth. Both weapons have the same range, making this a good all-round tank that can hurt anything it faces. Very similar to the basic Leman Russ.

Big Trakk with Killkannon

The killkannon is identical to the zzap gun; these units are identical other than the graphics.

Ork Tanks

Ork tanks are even more varied, barely having enough similarities to group them into classes at all. The smallest are weaker and more numerous than many vehicles, while the heavier ones span the whole range from the weakest Leman Russ variants through heavy tanks and up to the equivalent of superheavies. Most of the heavier tanks have very high unit accuracy for Orks, although they still generally have lower weapon accuracy than Imperials.

Grot Tank

All tanks have at least 3 hitpoints, but the low defence of the Grot Tank makes it less tough overall than several vehicles. It only has 3 shots per model, and the anti-tank mega blasta only has range 2, so it should generally be possible to take out at range.

Gunwagon with Zzap Gun

Where the Big Trakk with a zzap gun also had other weapons, the Gunwagon is similar to the Squiggoth with just the one shot per model. Higher unit strength of 7 looks a bit better, but the low unit accuracy means it's actually worse in practice.

Gunwagon with Kannon

Once again the kannon is just a slightly worse zzap gun. Like the Squiggoths, it's an annoyance meant to distract anti-tank weapons rather than a real threat.

Grot Mega Tank

Dropping the unit strength to 5 and upping defence to 73, along with the Big Trakks this is essentially the Orkish Leman Russ equivalent. Unlike the previous tanks, this one has a decent number of shots per model and a mix of anti-tank and anti-infantry weapons that makes it a real threat. That said, the strongest weapons have the shortest range, so like most Ork units it can be handled at range without much danger.

Kill Krusha

Lower unit strength and higher hitpoints makes it a bit tougher although with far fewer shots. However, it has a powerful range 4 main gun, and introduces the first of the Ork heavy tanks with high unit accuracy, making this one of the first units able to fight the Steel Legion on their terms.

Kill Krusha (upgraded)

Higher hitpoints, defence, initiative, and more, stronger shots per model. Not to be taken lightly even by superheavies.

Kill Blasta

Back down to 5 hitpoints and only 3 unit strength, this is less tough than the Kill Krusha. This is much more an anti-infantry tank, with a decent number of shots per model and weapon power enough to threaten heavy infantry although not really tanks. Most of its shots are only range 2, so it can be handled at range, while close up it still isn't as dangerous as the Grot Mega Tank.

Kill Blasta (upgraded)

Similar to the Kill Krusha upgrade, it gets an extra hitpoint, better defence, and slightly more and stronger shots. Still fills the same role and can be handled the same way.

Kill Bursta

Same stats as the Kill Blasta, but with a range 4 main gun that puts the Kill Krusha to shame. This is essentially the Orky Shadowsword equivalent, and is one of the most dangerous anti-tank units you will face.

Kill Bursta (upgraded)

The same upgrades as the Kill Blasta, this doesn't effect it's main sniper role, but makes it that little bit more dangerous to infantry and more difficult to take out. Although not quite up to superheavy standards in unit stats, this is probably the nastiest Ork unit other than Gargants.

Skullhamma Battlefortress

Essentially the Orky Baneblade, this has the same 2 strength, 10 hitpoints and 90 defence as Legion superheavies, but with 5 movement making it a lot more manoeuvreable. A mix of range 3 and 4 weapons with enough shots and strength to be a threat to anything. Its main gun is slightly weaker than the Kill Bursta and it gets fewer total shots, but the high toughness expected of a superheavy tank makes it as dangerous as you'd expect.

Deathrolla Battlefortress

Similar superheavy stats to the Skullhamma, but much slower. The Deathrolla sacrifices most of its ranged weapons for the titular deathrolla melee weapon, keeping only a few of the same kannons we've not been particularly impressed with previously. Even close up it doesn't get enough shots to be as dangerous as something like a Deff Dread, while at range it's virtually helpless.

Battlefortress with Supa-Kannon

Basically the same as the Deathrolla, but here swapping one of its kannons for the "bulky" supa-kannon artillery piece. This makes it even weaker close up or when trying to retaliate, but it does mean it can do damage from much further out (range 5) while on approach. That said, 6 fairly weak total shots at range mean it's not that bad for either tanks or infantry - the main danger is from attrition since it will be almost impossible to avoid taking at least some damage.

Flakk Battlefortress

The same flakka-dakka gun seen previously is again a decent anti-infantry weapon, but is somewhat less impressive on a superheavy tank with unit strength only 2. This is backed up by the same supa-kannon as above plus a couple of big shootas for some more anti-infantry shots. Even at range 3 where all its weapons can fire it can't put out as many shots as many Ork units, and at any other distance its firepower is halved. It's again difficult to avoid taking any damage, but as with most of the heavy Ork units it's actually less threatening than some of the lighter ones.

Ork Artillery

Most of the Ork artillery are immobile gun emplacements. This makes them essentially worthless in multiplayer, but still potentially dangerous in the campaign when placed overlooking areas the player is required to push into. They all have spotting and initiative 1, which makes them fairly helpless if not supported by other Ork units.

Big Gun Lobba

Like the demolisher cannon, the lobba has a range of exactly 2. While that was bad on a tank, it's even worse on a fixed gun that can't move into position. It has a decent number of shots to hurt basic infantry, but the weapon is too weak to threaten anything tougher even if you let it get a shot in.

Big Gun Kannon

The same kannon we've seen several times before. The range and weapon strength is enough to be annoying when encountered in early missions, but it soon ceases to be much of a threat.

Big Gun Zzap Gun

No surprise, the kannon is once again followed by the zzap gun, which is very slightly stronger but otherwise identical.

Killkannon

Identical weapon to the zzap gun, but with lower unit defence. The requisition cost is less than half, although it's unlikely a player will ever care about that.,

Supa-kannon

The same artillery piece seen previously. This is probably the most dangerous of the Ork artillery, since the long range and indirect fire mean it's likely to get some shots in before you even get it in sight. On the other hand, its "bulky" trait means once you can see it you don't even need to get in close to kill it.

Flakka-Dakka Gun

Again an OK anti-infantry weapon, effectively a heavy bolter emplacement. Annoying to infantry due to the large number of shots, but too weak to do anything much to tanks. As terrible and low defence as most aircraft are, the low weapon strength means that it would struggle to hurt even them, despite that supposedly being its main role.

Grot Bomb Launcher

The only mobile artillery for Orks (not counting the tanks and squiggoths with artillery), this is almost their equivalent of the Deathstrike. But the weapon is much weaker and shorter range, and with unit strength of only 8 combined with the usual terrible accuracy it's only a middling threat to regular tanks and not much at all to heavier ones.

Ork Aircraft

Ork Titans

Notes on Lore

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[Onde mande]

I usually avoid ogryn veteran because of the lower defense made me think that they're more vulnerable, but the accuracy and initiative upgrade is huge, they can basically annihilate most ork infantry and low tier vehicles in close combat.

[Crimson Hog]

Cool work!
Thanks!

[Magni]

Imperial Space Marines are afaik a bit of a "bonus" unit. Basically, they're throwbacks to the old 1st and 2nd Edition 30k Marines, and were put into the game during 40k's anniversary, when GW also sold a special throwback minitiature with its own rules for the tabletop game.

[Magni]

The way I see it, the Demolisher in this is more of a high-risk/high-reward anti-heavy infantry and anti-vehicle unit. The Demolisher Cannon gets 4 shots with some pretty nasty strength and 25% armor piercing, which can really put the hurt on heavy Ork infantry and non-superheavy vehicles. It'll do a better job there than an upgraded standard Russ letting rip with everything - after all, the upgraded Russ gets 5 shots to the Demolishers 4, and most of them weaker.

The range 1 heavy flamer is more or less a self-defense weapon that'll hurt ork infantry rushing it, not a weapon you want to use yourself on your turn.

[SnakeTheFox]

I don't disagree that the Vindicator's usefulness is questionable in the main campaign (considering they come into availability at the same time as a dozen Baneblade variants), but during all three of the space marine DLC campaigns, they're a really strong option, particularly early on when your anti-tank options are limited and before you get access to any Land Raiders.

[Cuddles]

For those asking about how certain weapons can do more damage than they should - I have no idea. Everything I've found suggests things should work as described, and I haven't seen any obvious places where it doesn't myself. But there's no official documentation on the mechanical details, so it's possible that some of it isn't entirely accurate, or that some things have special rules affecting them.

[Cuddles]

I think I mentioned at some point, but this is mainly written from the perspective of the main single player campaign. By the time the Vindicator is available, you already have much better options for longer range and stronger anti-tank, and anti-infantry with many more shots. Plus by that point you're facing the better Ork units and really want to have long-range fire with a screen of assault infantry to protect it - having to move in close with a unit that can't defend itself at all against assaults is a big problem, especially on higher difficulty.

In the Space Marine DLC campaigns, the Vindicator is a lot more useful. But in the main campaign, only their best infantry and dreadnoughts really have any use. Being better than a Predator doesn't mean much when you're not going to want one of those in the first place.

[SnakeTheFox]

This is a phenomenal guide, but I agree with the guy below: you've really, really, REALLY undersold the Vindicator, which represents probably the single best vehicle the Space Marines get, cost/power/unit count wise.

It has 28 shots doing 75 damage/25% piercing, and that alone is phenomenal. Compare the upgraded Vindi to the upgraded Predator Annihilator: both have 28 shots, but the Vindi does more damage (75 vs 65), has more AP (25% vs 20%), has more base accuracy (100% vs 80%), has better armor (75 vs 70), and all other stats except weapon range being identical (speed, view range, unit count, initiative, etc.). AND it costs less (695 vs 850, for the BA versions).

Being only able to fire at exactly range 2, rather than 1-3, can be annoying and require careful positioning for sure; but that's not enough to offset the dozen or so other advantages the Vindi has over the Pred Anni, IMO.

[DanTheTerrible]

Why the hate for the vindicator? It appears to be the best anti-armor vehicle the Space Marines have.

[schuggerbaby]

Late at joining the party (the game as been left installed yet untouched for a long time), but thanks to various lockdown I've given it a shot again recently.
Your guide as been of much help and is really appreciated - thanks for putting up the effort writing it up :)