STARTING AN ASTRA MILITARUM ARMY IN 11TH EDITION: THE IMPERIAL GUARD HOLDS THE LINE
The Astra Militarum — the Imperial Guard of old — meet 11th edition the way they meet everything: with massed infantry and tanks that answer back. This is the human face of the far future, ordinary soldiers in flak armour standing between humanity and annihilation, and that underdog character is exactly why people fall for them. As a hobby project it is the most honest army in the game: you will paint a lot of soldiers, you will love your tanks, and the finished force on the table looks like an actual army rather than a squad of superheroes.
The first box
The current Combat Patrol-style set is the right opening move, and Guard starters are dependably built around Cadian Shock Troops — the iconic lasgun-and-flak silhouette of the whole faction — usually with a command element and some support. Before buying anything else, paint that first squad to completion. Guard rewards a simple, repeatable scheme: base fatigues, armour, skin, metal, wash, done. If you can face painting twenty of them, you can face the regiment.
Growing the regiment
- A second box of Cadian Shock Troops, because infantry is the army's spine and one squad is a bodyguard, not a line.
- Sentinels — quick to build, fun to paint, and they break up the sea of helmets with something on legs.
- Your first Leman Russ. The classic battle tank of the setting, endlessly buildable, and the moment the army starts feeling like the Guard.
Recommended: Leman Russ Battle Tank
The armoured fist
Every Guard collection eventually orbits a centrepiece, and you have glorious options. The Baneblade is the famous one — a super-heavy tank the size of a paperback stack that builds into several variants and turns heads at any club night. Lord Solar Leontus, resplendent on his horse, is the character-shaped alternative and a genuine painting showcase. The Rogal Dorn battle tank sits between them: bigger than a Russ, less of a commitment than a Baneblade.
Recommended: Lord Solar Leontus
The new edition, honestly
Points and datasheets have been refreshed for 11th edition, and boxed sets rotate, so check current points before you draft a list — especially with an army where you're fielding models by the dozen. The good news is that infantry and Russes have been the Guard's core in every edition; paint the classics and no rules update will strand you.
Purchases to defer
- Artillery batteries before your infantry is painted; unpainted guns win no wars.
- A second Baneblade. One god-tank is a centrepiece; two is a storage problem.
- Every regiment's flavour of trooper at once — pick Cadians, get good, then diversify.
- Kasrkin before you've earned them. Elite grey plastic is still grey plastic.
Regimental record-keeping
The Departmento Munitorum runs on paperwork, and so should you: log every kit as it arrives and mark it honestly as boxed, built or finished. With an army this size, that ledger is the difference between a growing force and a growing guilt pile — and watching the finished column climb is its own medal. For the full unit catalogue and lore, see the Astra Militarum faction page under Data.