Astra Militarum Questions

[Akaiyou]

#1 - If a primaris psyker is attached to a unit of devastators, can you order the unit to Bring it Down? Will the devastators gain tank hunter special rule?

#2 - If a space marine librarian is joined to a 50-man infantry platoon. When rolling the Leadership test for Voice of Command would you use the Librarian's leadership of 10 since it is now highest in the unit? Or do you roll using a sergeant's leadership?


Are there other shenanigans such as this when allying battle brothers with astra militarum?

[Reldane]

answer to question 1: "declare the order your officer is attempting to issue and select a single friendly non-vehicle unit from codex: astra Militarum" and then from the orders section "the ordered unit must..." I'd say that an order could be issued to the Primaris psyker but then only the psyker would benefit from the order, as he was the unit selected.

answer to question 2: "the ordered unit must then take a leadership test" and then from the BRB "if a unit has to take a leadership test and it includeds models with different leadership values, always use the highest leadership from among them" so that should be pretty clear that they use the highest leadership for the order test, regardless of what model has the highest value.

[Tokunator]

Agree with Reldane.

The biggest shenanigans is And They Shall Know No Fear, as one model grants that to the whole unit. So add a cheap Iron Priest or other Marine character to a blob squad of 50 conscripts and they all think they are Marines.

Some Marine character also have Preferred Enemy, for example Dark Angels from the Inner Circle dislike Chaos Marines, so they give that to their whole unit.

[Katharon]

Yeah, sadly they cleared up the 5th edition rules for giving orders to units so that the new Allies matrix couldn't be abused by people running IG and SM. Believe me, the instant the new 6th ed. rules came out I started salivating at the idea of giving "Bring It Down" orders to Devastator Squads. But they caught that one pretty quick and nipped it in the bud, as they say.

[Tokunator]

It would have been nice, but could you imagine an Imperial officer yelling orders at a Marine? Or the Marine not punching him in the face in response? Even novice Marines have more tactical knowledge conditioned into them than a Guard officer at field level will ever have.

To be honest, I think it ridiculous that Guard is the only army having orders available to them, they fit other armies much better, such as, for example, Marines or Eldar who have centuries or more of battlefield experience.

[Katharon]

To be honest, I think it ridiculous that Guard is the only army having orders available to them, they fit other armies much better, such as, for example, Marines or Eldar who have centuries or more of battlefield experience.

I think this has to do with the mentality of the army. A Space Marine doesn't need orders because he already knows what is expected of him -- the proverbial One-Man-Army. The Eldar wouldn't do it, because they don't have a formal military, they have warrior cults and a militia; while their warrior cults are strong in and focused towards one particular path, wider mixed, combined armed forces are coordinated by Farseers for the most part, and that's mostly just direction, placement, and foretelling -- not giving an order on *how* to fight, which they already know.