Death Blades as 30k Imperialis Militia

One of the things that I have been thinking about doing, but haven't actually done yet, is to use my Rogue Trader era Imperial Guard models in a game of 30k.

While the repainting of my guardsmen (into the scheme shown in this old Rogue Trader artwork) isn't complete, I probably have enough done now to play some reasonable sized games. Below are some of the units that I have painted up, and what I might field them as in 30k games.

1. Force Commander Anselmo and Bodyguards.

The Company Commander and the Command Squad can be used as a Force Commander from the militia list, with a Command Squad as well. The lascannon team isn't an option in the Militia Command Squad, so will move into a heavy weapon squad, and there probably won't be as many bodyguards. The medic from this squad and the tactical platoon command squad will be distributed throughout the rest of the army as Medicae Orderlies (granting feel no pain to the big infantry units or heavy weapon squad). The Force Commander will have almost no upgrades, apart from the Provenance Upgrades that give the list it's flavour, and the sanctioned psyker on the right in this shot will probably stay at home.
For the Provenance Upgrades I'd like to take something that helps to represent the fact that these guardsmen are former knife fighting gangers, as well as emphasising the close combat ability of the beastmen.
The first of my two choices is Alchem Jackers, which means that all of the guardsmen are stubborn thanks to their prolific use of combat drugs, and allows them to purchase frenzon (giving them +2 attack on the charge thanks to the rage special rule). I will limit this to the big infantry units and the ogryns.
The second of my two choices is Feral Warriors. This grants most of the army +1WS, and the ogryns +1 attack in close combat. It also allows the purchase of Blade and Fury, which grants +1 attack for 25 points. So I will purchase this for the beastmen unit below to represent the fact that they're pretty handy in close combat. Because 20+ models with 5 attacks each on the charge with stubborn and WS4 with feel no pain is pretty handy.
Also there is an option to pay 20 points and choose your warlord trait, which I will exercise!

2. Discipline Master Cadre.

A few discipline masters to keep the masses from running away. I haven't checked the weapon options in the Militia list in any great detail, but I suspect Yarrick with his storm bolter and power fist might be a little difficult to represent. I think I have at least one (and possibly two) other commissars, so Yarrick might stay at home. They grant +1 Leadership (their leadership is 8, so effectively the squad has LD9), which when combined with the stubborn rule means that they grant LD9 checks in close combat, irrespective of losses.
Added to this is the fact that they can shoot some guardsmen if they fail the test to grant a re-roll, and you are looking at a blob that will not quit.

3. Imperial Militia Infantry Squad.

My two tactical squads can be combined to form a militia infantry squad. Like the command squad the lascannon teams can be re-assigned to a heavy support squad, and the grenade launchers will have to warm the bench. I will have to add some ring-ins to get their numbers up to twenty once I take out the specialists, but I should be able to manage that.
Unlike the beastmen, the guardsmen will only have three attacks each on the charge, thanks to the fact that they have rifles not pistols, and that they won't have the Blade and Fury upgrade. These guys will have WS4 and feel no pain though, which are both defensive measures (17% less hits from marines in close combat thanks to their +1 WS), so combined with stubborn, and re-rollable leadership 9 from the discipline master means that they will be hanging around. I might end up using them as bait to make sure the beastmen get the charge against a high value target, or use them to bog down primarch's and other scary things.

4. Abhuman Rabble.

I have thirty beastmen so I can take these guys as a militia squad of twenty, with frenzon and blade and fury upgrade. There might be a couple of flamers that will sit the game out, otherwise they are pretty much ready to field. The sergeants have power axes and pistols, so are pretty handy. The beastmen have lasguns, but I'd ideally like to give them pistols, or two close combat weapons instead. I might look at magnetising the arms, as I seem to have a heap of beastmen bits (thanks to an incomplete beastmen army). Actually that isn't such a bad idea, as thanks to round based Age of Sigmar, I could use these guys in that too if I gave them additional hand weapons. Hmm...

5. Militia Fire Teams.

I think I have ten of these lascannon fire teams, so enough for one big squad (of ten) or two squads of five. If I purchase the Merchant Princeling warlord trait (which my warlord can purchase rather than roll randomly) these guns can be upgraded to AP1, so will be a pretty lethal anti-tank unit. I think there are other shenanigans I can try too, with attached allied characters and their wargear (like an augury scanner or similar). However ten lascannons will attract a lot of fire. I was planning to protect these guys with an attached character with a void shield harness relic, but I believe that the new Forgeworld FAQ has stated that relics are something that should be agreed upon in advance with your opponent (so there is no guarantee I can take one). This indicates to me that they are probably a little over the top too, so I will look at something like an aegis defence line (or bunker) instead.
Interestingly they are no slouches in close combat either. Each base has two attacks, and are armed with a pistol and a close combat weapon. So that translates to 40 attacks on the charge at WS4 (or 60 if I buy them Blade and Glory and Frenzon, which I won't) which while sounds impressive, will only kill two marines or one terminator on average (but there is always the chance the enemy will roll lots of 1's for their saves of course). They also have stubborn, and I can give them a discipline master for a re-rollable LD9. Don't get me wrong, they will dissolve in front of a dedicated close combat unit, but if someone sends a small unit in too close but out of line of sight I have the option to perform a surprise charge and bash them on the head with lascannons in true warhammer style.

6. Ogryn Brutes.

Carapace Armour and Ripper guns are in the list so these guys are good to go as they are. A squad of six is reasonable, and should draw a fair bit of fire, but I don't really expect them to do much more than that in 30k games. There are just too many powerful weapons and abilities. They will have +1A, and stubborn, plus rage (so +2A on the charge) so might actually achieve something other than a glorious death.

7. Auxilia Sentinels.

Three sentinels with multi-lasers. Not the most formidable unit, but as they have scout they can be a thorn in the side for my opponent if I use them properly. The multi-lasers are magnetised so a few multi-melta conversions might be in order to allow me to get some reasonable guns around to the side of flare shielded vehicles and make them more useful.

8. Rapier Carriers.

I have three of these thudd guns, who are now a pretty reasonable choice with the new special ammo option that forgeworld have given them (shatter shells are strength 8 and re-roll failed armour penetration rolls. As they shoot indirectly, they target a vehicles side armour, so bypass flare shields which protect the front). They are artillery units too, so the gun and the crew are toughness 7(!), which makes them surprisingly resilient. They need to be in cover or near the back somewhere, and the shatter shells are only range 36" so that will take some management.

9. More Rapier Carriers!

With laser destroyer arrays these weapons are great for anti tank duties. They are a twin linked ordnance lascannon with AP1, but a shorter range. Against something like a Spartan the flare shield will still prove to be a bit of a problem, but the ordnance and AP1 will help out a little there. When combined with the thudd guns and AP1 lascannon team I have a few anti tank options.

The three ranged heavy hitting units (Rapiers, Thudd Guns and Lascannon team) will only cause two or three hull points a turn to a flare shielded spartan (or land raider), so I am still relying on the damage table to take one out. But thanks to some questionable mathematics I think that with the AP1 and ordnance I have a 36% chance of destroying one in a turn (12% from the rapiers, 11% from the thudd guns, and 14% from the lascannons), so that isn't too bad. Combined with the scouting multi-melta sentinels trying to get an angle around the flare shield I probably have a reasonable ability to take one out before it's delivered it's embarked psychopaths.
Primarchs will be a problem with this army, but I suspect tar-pitting them with beastmen and infantry will probably be the best way of dealing with them. Ten lascannons may be handy here too, but really they will only be shaving a couple of wounds off most Primarchs, who are fairly unkillable thanks to their myriad of special rules.

It certainly isn't an optomised army list by any means, but with the Imperialis Militia Provenance rules like Alchem Jackers (representing the doped up gangers), and Feral Warriors (for the beastmen) it would be a nicely themed army. I estimate that what I have listed here would probably be around 2,000 points, but with the addition of a few more models from my (yet to be re-painted) collection of rogue trader era models (such as my Tech Priest and Robots, or some Space Marines and an old metal Contemptor Dreadnought), it should be possible for me to field a heresy or crusade era mortal human (and abhuman) infantry force (such as the defenders of Araneus Prime) at a tournament level.
Just need to keep painting and get the rest done!