Combined Arms: The 11th-Edition Guard All-Comers Detachment

Two symmetrical clauses that between them cover your entire army.

First: each time a model in a REGIMENT unit from your army makes a ranged attack that targets a visible unit (excluding MONSTERS and VEHICLES), that attack has [LETHAL HITS].

Second: each time a model in a SQUADRON unit from your army makes a ranged attack that targets a visible MONSTER or VEHICLE unit, that attack has [LETHAL HITS].

The design is a division of labour: your infantry are better at killing infantry, your tanks are better at killing tanks, and the rule rewards you for pointing the right half of your army at the right target rather than shooting whatever is closest. [LETHAL HITS] converts critical hits into automatic wounds, which on massed lasgun fire is a genuine damage floor rather than a rounding error.

Three things follow:

• Both clauses require a visible target, so this does nothing for Indirect Fire. A Basilisk shooting something it cannot see gets no benefit, which is why artillery-heavy lists prefer Siege Regiment.
• The keywords are REGIMENT and SQUADRON, which are the two broadest keywords in the faction. Almost everything you own has one of them, and Tempestus Scions are REGIMENT, which is why this pairs so cleanly with Bridgehead Strike.
• There is no trigger, no once-per-battle limit and no command point cost. It is on from deployment to the end of the game.

The skill it asks for is target discipline, which is the single most useful habit to learn as a new Guard player. Shooting the wrong half of your army into the wrong target does not just waste the buff, it wastes the shooting.

Six, and two of them cost 2CP, which is unusual and worth budgeting for.

• Coordinated Action (start of any phase). 1CP. Target one REGIMENT unit and one SQUADRON unit within 6 inches of and visible to that REGIMENT unit; until the end of the phase, Orders affecting one of your units affect the other, and vice versa. Effectively a second Order for a command point, and the clearest expression of the detachment's theme.
• Reinforcements! (any phase). 2CP, once per battle. Target one INFANTRY REGIMENT unit that was just destroyed; add a new identical unit to your army in Strategic Reserves at Starting Strength with all wounds remaining. It cannot return destroyed CHARACTER units to Attached units. Two rulings the mirror records and worth knowing: it cannot be used on a Battle-shocked unit, and you cannot generate a command point from a vox-caster in the returning unit.
• Flexible Command (your Command). 2CP. Target any number of ASTRA MILITARUM OFFICER units; until the end of the phase your Officers can issue Orders to both REGIMENT and SQUADRON units. Any number of Officers for a flat 2CP, and the answer to the fact that most Officers can only order one half of your army.
• Fields of Fire (your Shooting). 1CP. Target one REGIMENT unit and one SQUADRON unit that have not shot; select one enemy unit, and until the end of the phase both your units improve Armour Penetration by 1 against it. The concentration tool: it deliberately breaks the detachment's division of labour for one turn so both halves can focus.
• Inspired Command (your opponent's Command). 1CP. Target one ASTRA MILITARUM OFFICER unit; it can issue one Order as if it were your Command phase. Issuing on your opponent's turn means Take Cover! goes up after you know what they intend.
• Stalwart Protector (your opponent's Shooting). 1CP. Just after an enemy unit selects targets, target one ASTRA MILITARUM VEHICLE unit; until the end of the phase, each time a ranged attack is allocated to an INFANTRY model from your army, if that model is not fully visible to every model in the attacking unit because of your VEHICLE, it has the Benefit of Cover. Tanks as mobile cover for infantry, and the reason to keep the two halves of the army physically close.

The habit to build: Reinforcements! is once per battle, so save it for a squad whose loss actually costs you the game rather than the first one that dies.

Four, all OFFICER only, and all cheap by Guard standards.

• Grand Strategist (15 pts). OFFICER model only. In your Command phase, the bearer can issue one additional Order.

Watch the name collision. Armoured Infantry prints an enhancement also called Grand Strategist at 25 points that redeploys two units after deployment instead. Same name, different detachment, different effect, different cost. - Drill Commander (20 pts). OFFICER model only. While the bearer is leading a unit, each time a model in that unit makes a ranged attack, if that unit Remained Stationary this turn, a Critical Hit is scored on an unmodified Hit roll of 5+. Stacked on Born Soldiers' [LETHAL HITS] this is a large increase in automatic wounds, because more critical hits means more auto-wounds. The cost is never moving the squad. - Reactive Command (15 pts). OFFICER model only. Each time an enemy unit is set up within 8 inches of the bearer's unit, the bearer can issue one Order, and this does not count towards the number of Orders it can issue in a battle round. Faction Pack v1.2 amends this enhancement by name, changing the distance from 9 inches to 8. It is the faction's cleanest answer to deep strike: the unit that just arrived hands you a free Order, usually Take Cover! or Take Aim! - Death Mask of Ollanius (10 pts). OFFICER model only. While the bearer's unit is Battle-shocked, subtract 1 from the Objective Control characteristic of models in that unit instead of changing it to 0. The cheapest enhancement here and a narrow insurance policy: a Battle-shocked squad on an objective still contributes rather than contributing nothing.

(Points come from the Munitorum Field Manual and move with updates; confirm in the app.)

The point of this detachment is that it does not demand specific models, so treat this list as a starting shape rather than a requirement.

• [Cadian Shock Troops](/40k/boxes/astra-militarum-cadian-shock-troops) are the REGIMENT half of Born Soldiers in its purest form and the standard building block of a first Guard army.
• [Catachan Jungle Fighters](/40k/boxes/warhammer-imperial-guard-catachan-jungle-fighters-new) are the alternative infantry range, identical in role for this detachment's purposes. Which regiment you buy is an aesthetic decision here rather than a rules one.
• [Leman Russ Battle Tank](/40k/boxes/astra-militarum-leman-russ-battle-tank) is the SQUADRON half, and the unit that gets [LETHAL HITS] against the vehicles and monsters your infantry cannot hurt. Faction Pack v1.2 adds FRAME to its datasheet, and the Munitorum Field Manual changed its points in this revision.
• [Rogal Dorn Battle Tank](/40k/boxes/astra-militarum-rogal-dorn-battle-tank) is the heavier SQUADRON option when the anti-armour clause matters more, and a good Stalwart Protector screen for the infantry behind it.
• [Cadian Command Squad](/40k/boxes/warhammer-imperial-guard-cadian-command-squad-new) is the Officer unit that carries any of the four enhancements. The pack rewrites its Cadia Stands! ability.
• [Cadian Castellan](/40k/boxes/astra-militarum-cadian-castellan) is a cheap standalone Officer and the natural carrier of Reactive Command, because you can position him to cover the space an opponent wants to deep strike into.
• [Chimera](/40k/boxes/warhammer-imperial-guard-chimera-new) keeps your REGIMENT units alive long enough to shoot, and is a SQUADRON unit in its own right.

Combined Arms carries no Unique Tag, so all three 1 DP detachments are legal partners at exactly 3 DP. This is where the Guard's list-building space really opens up, because the anchor is neutral and the specialist decides the army's character.

• [Abhuman Auxiliaries](/40k/armies/astra-militarum/detachments/abhuman-auxiliaries) (1 DP) is our recommended first 2,000-point army. A generalist core that works with any models you own, plus a cheap package that finally makes a shelf of Ogryns and Ratlings do something specific. Read the full list breakdown.
• [Bridgehead Strike](/40k/armies/astra-militarum/detachments/bridgehead-strike) (1 DP) stacks cleanly on one unit: Scions are REGIMENT, so they get [LETHAL HITS] from Born Soldiers and +1 to hit from Fire Zone Purge in the same shooting phase.
• [Designation Force](/40k/armies/astra-militarum/detachments/designation-force) (1 DP) makes sure the buff has something to shoot at. A gunline that cannot see distant targets is wasting an army-wide damage rule.

Take it if this is your first Astra Militarum army, if your collection is a broad mix rather than a theme, or if you want a detachment that never punishes you for the models you brought.

Be clear-eyed about what you give up. Born Soldiers is a damage floor, not a plan. It does not make you fast, it does not make you durable, it does nothing for Indirect Fire and it does nothing in melee. Every other Guard detachment gives you a stronger identity in exchange for demanding particular models, and against a skilled opponent identity often wins.

Sample gameplan: pair with Abhuman Auxiliaries (2 DP + 1 DP). Run two or three infantry squads and two Leman Russ tanks as the core, put Reactive Command on a Castellan positioned to cover your backfield, and shoot with discipline: infantry into infantry, tanks into vehicles. Spend Fields of Fire on the one turn you need to break that rule and kill something big, hold Reinforcements! for the squad whose loss would cost you the primary, and let the Ogryns walk up the middle as the threat your opponent has to answer.

For the fundamentals underneath all of it, read the Astra Militarum army guide.