Rather than try and cover every Detachment in the upcoming 10th edition Boarding Actions Compendium in a single article, we’ve broken the review of the book’s detachments down into the game’s three broad superfactions: Imperium, Chaos, and Xenos. In this review we’re looking at the game’s Imperium Detachments and how they play.

The new Boarding Actions Compendium updates the game mode with a ton of new rules and Detachments, giving us updated rules for bringing our favorite Imperial factions to the table. There’s a ton to cover here, with multiple detachments for Space Marines (though not as many as you’d think), Sisters, Custodes, Astra Militarum, Adeptus Mechanicus, and Inquisitorial weirdoes.

Thanks once again to Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the book.

Adeptus Astartes (Space Marines)

The Space Marine army rule remains intact as Oaths of Moment. This is great news since its a very strong army rule and most factions get toned down in their effectiveness. You get 3 detachments, Boarding Strike, Pilum Strike Team, and Terminator Assault. These detachments are designed around types of armour your marines are wearing. Boarding Strike is your Power armour and Gravis marines, Pilum Strike is your phobos armour, and to no surprise, Terminator Assault revolves around Terminator armour. It’s worth noting that there are no chapter specific detachments, so even if you’re Space Wolves, this is all you get.

Boarding Strike

Boarding Strike is your first detachment, giving you a selection of units hailing from all chapters, making it your most flexible detachment.

As with traditional mustering rules, you’re still locked to a chapter when creating your boarding patrol. The detachment ability, Drive Home the Blade, gives your units [SUSTAINED HITS 1] while within 1” of a hatchway and shooting at an enemy unit on the opposite side. This is really great for running a shooting focused army but doesn’t give you much in the way of melee threats in the tight confines of boarding actions.

For your enhancements, you have the Adamantine Mantle which lets you reduce damage allocated to the bearer by 1. A nice pick to stick on a tough target like a Gravis character, who already reduces damage in half. Clavitine Reliquary is a more flexible version of Expert Breacher, allowing you to operate a hatchway when selecting the bearer to move or advance, as opposed to beginning or end of the move units step. If you’re trying to get your units into the fight, Clavitine Reliquary is a strong choice. For stratagems, In The Emperor’s Name gives a Batteline unit Feel No Pain 5+ while within range of an objective marker, Duty and Defiance gives you the ability to fight on death on a 4+, adding 1 to the roll if you’re a battleline unit. Ceramite Bulwark is an interesting one,adding 1 to strength and attacks characteristics of melee weapons, but must target an enemy unit that is wholly on the opposite side of a hatchway from them. Vox-Amplified Roar is interesting, giving you the ability to battleshock your target(s) after declaring a charge. If you target multiple unit’s you’re visible to, you could potentially battleshock quite a few units and take over an objective. The Detachment feels really good, and building an all gravis list or taking some specialty units like Sword Brethren will be really strong in this. 

Pilum Strike

Pilum Strike is the detachment for your sneaky boys, minus eliminators and scouts. That said this is the detachment where you can take Shrike if you so choose. This detachment is made for your phobos marines, giving them the tools to become more lethal in both the shooting and fight phase. The detachment rule, Relentless Salvoes, lets your space marines shoot on the same turn they fell back or advanced, giving you the speed and flexibility to Manoeuvre around the board. 

The Omni-Structural Auspex enhancement gives your army some precious AP in the shooting phase against a target that was just hit by a ranged weapon the bearer has, great since a good chunk of the phobos marines lack AP.  Meanwhile the Void Warrior enhancement lets the bearer reroll advance and charge rolls, and allows them to advance and charge too. Solid if you want to get a Phobos Librarian or Lieutenant with Combi-Weapon up the field and into the fray. The Knife Work stratagem gives you one extra strength and AP in melee, great for juicing your otherwise pillow fisted phobos marines. When you’re ready to fall back from combat, spend a CP to use Fighting Retreat which causes mortal wounds when you fall back. Enhanced Efficiency meanwhile, allows you to operate a hatchway when you activate a unit to move or advance, similar to the enhancement found in Boarding Strike, this isn’t locked to just characters so gives you even greater flexibility. Master Marksmen lets you throw [Devastating Wounds] on ranged weapons for a unit.  Overall some really good enhancements and stratagems for a selection of okay units. 

Terminator Assault

Terminator Assault is your classic space hulk list, bringing Terminators to clear out the narrow hallways of a ship with the might of the tactical dreadnought armour. Terminators are able to Secure Sites as if they are Battleline which is good due to the low model count of the detachment. Sacred Oath brings back the old days of Oath of Moments giving you reroll wounds against your Oath target in addition to reroll hits.

Seal of Indomitability is an enhancement that gives your bearer a once per game 3+ invulnerable until the end of the phase, taking a page out of Darnath Lysander’s native ability. Solid when you are overwhelmed with some high AP melee or shooting attacks. Resolute allows you to fall back and charge, automatically pass desperate escape tests, and even let you move through enemy models during that fall back move. This feels really good until you remember that terminators are 40mm bases that move 5”. 

The Tower of Strength stratagem increases the Objective Control Characteristic of a unit by 1 during the start or end of any phase, a solid stratagem when you need to flip an objective away from an opponent. Carve A Path, meanwhile, lets your Assault Terminators move, advance or charge through a closed hatchway, permanently opening it for the rest of the game, this also means that you can declare a charge against a unit you normally can’t due to visibility. Kool-Aid manning through the battlefield to stomp on some heretics is definitely on brand for this detachment. Cleansing Sweep allows you to overwatch on 5+ instead of the normal 6s to hit when you perform the Overwatch Tactical Manoeuvre. This is great for keeping your elite army active.

Adeptus Custodes

The Adeptus Custodes keep their Martial Ka’tah ability with the additional caveat of, instead of selecting by unit, you select it for the entire army at the start of the fight phase. Each Martial Ka’tah can only be picked once per battle. This is uch more restrictive than the main rules, but toning it down for boarding actions makes sense given the strength of these units in Boarding Actions. They have two detachments Voyagers in Darkness, which feels like a traditional Shield Host, and Black Ship Guardian which focuses mainly on the Sisters of Silence. Interesting to note that Adeptus Custodes units cannot perform the secure site tactical manoeuvre, so you’ll need someone to babysit those backline objectives.

Voyagers in Darkness

Voyagers in Darkness’s detachment ability reduces the OC of enemy models by 1 while in engagement range with Adeptus Custodes units. With Guard able to add 1OC with a banner, they’ll do a great job holding objectives. The Voidstrider enhancement adds 2” to the move characteristics of a character, giving it to a Blade Champion will help to compensate for the loss of Martial Inspiration in boarding actions. Mantle of the Emissary, meanwhilem changes the OC of the bearer to 5 letting them bully objectives on their own. 

The Inescapable Vengeance stratagem allows an Adeptus Custodes unit (except Anathema Psykana models) to ignore walls and other models when determining which enemy units are visible during a pile in or consolidation move. This is strong considering the restrictions when piling in and consolidating in boarding actions. Breaching Behemoths let’s you ignore models when making a normal move, advance or fall back move, automatically passing desperate escape tests when doing so. Again though, this is limited to non-sisters units. Artificer Rounds gives you [Sustained Hits 1] when targeting an enemy within 6” and Auric Storm  lets you force a battleshock after an Allarus Terminator charges an enemy unit. These stratagems really make Custodes feel like monsters while being outnumbered, giving them a lot flexibility even if you’re probably bringing less than 10 models. 

Black Ship Guardians

Black Ship Guardians lets you bring a single shield captain or Valerion, along with sisters of silence. The army rule will only apply to that single captain or Valerion, while the detachment ability Priority Quarry works on everyone else. Priority Quarry has you select two targets at the start of the first battle round, one of which must be the opponent’s warlord. Whenever Anthema Psykana units target their quarry targets, they add 1 to hit rolls, and they can also include them as a target of a charge even if they are not visible to them.  This helps boost Sisters of Silence units a little bit, but I’m not sure it’s enough on its own.

The Vratine Aquila enhancement gives a 3” bubble fo 4+ invulnerable save to Anthema Psykana units, while the Sinister Presence enhancement gives the bearer a 6” aura that ignores walls when measuring its distance. While enemy units are within that aura, they cannot seize objectives, and during their command phase must take a battleshock test (but this can’t force a second test). Both enhancements really help keep the Sisters of Silence alive and provide the only way to Secure Sites in the army. The stratagems, unsurprisingly, focus around the Anthema Psykana units, giving them some defensive capabilities in the fight and shooting phase. Prosecutors become a must take, thanks to the Punishment of Prosecutors stratagem which increases the AP of Prosecutors ranged weapons by 1, and if you score a critical wound, it increases the AP a further 1. Those bolters become much more scary when they are +1 to hit and +2 AP.

Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Mechanicus have their Doctrina Imperatives replaced with a new ability, at the start of the first battle round, they can select [Assault], [Ignores Cover], or [Pistol] as a rule that will apply to their ranged weapons for the rest of the battle. This provides a lot of flexibility, especially since you can pick it after you see what your opponent’s bringing.

Electromartyrs

Electromartyrs is your generalist detachment and it kind of does what it says on the tin, whenever you shoot a ranged weapon you can increase the AP but make it [HAZORDOUS]. This provides a nice little risk/reward mechanic to play with. The two enhancements you have access to are Remote Lockdown, which lets you attempt to prevent a hatchway from operating while within 9” of the bearer instead of the normal 1”, nice for covering your flanks from attacks. You also get Multi-Dimensional Auspex which, once per game, lets you ignore walls and closed hatchways when determining visibility but changes the range of your weapons to 6”, slap this on a Tech Priest Dominus or Manipulus as they’ve got some considerably strong ranged weapons. Omni-Targeters is a fun stratagem to pair with the Auspex, as it gives your ranged weapons [PISTOL], but if you already selected pistol as your weapon ability via the detachment rule, it gives you +1 to hit while within 6” of the target. Auto-Vengeance is your traditional 4+ fight on death stratagem, great for Electro-priests. Ballistic Synchrony gives a unit lethal hits for ranged attacks, and Saviour Systems gives an Adeptus Mechanicus unit (except Kataphron units) -1 to wound rolls when being targeted by ranged attacks.

Response Clade

Response Clade focuses on Skitarii and Sicarian units. At the start of each battle round, you can select either melee or ranged weapons to gain reroll 1’s to hit. This further increases the flexibility you have with the army. For your enhancements you have Admonissor Shunt lets you unbattleshock a skitarri unit, and Optimised Cogitators which once per round allows you to reduce the cost of a stratagem that targets the bearer by 1. Speaking of Stratagems, Responsive Shielding gives a unit a 4+ invulnerable save against shooting attacks, which is solid to keep those vanguard or rangers alive on an objective. Access Overrides, meanwhile lets you select a hatchway that is within 1” of the target to immediately attempt to operate a hatchway. This very strong considering the usual restrictions of operating a hatchway. You can use Precognated Firefields during your shooting phase to give your unit [Sustained Hits 1] and if it’s a Battleline unit they instead get [Sustained Hits 2]. Integrative Withdrawal allows you to fall back and shoot, and after shooting, if they are within 1” of an open hatchway, can immediately close the hatchway.

Machine Cult

Machine Cult meanwhile is your cult mechanicus detachment, granting you +1 to advance and charge rolls for Tech-Priests and Electro-Priests. For enhancements you have Beseech the Machine Spirits i which allows you to attempt to operate a hatchway within 9” of the bearer, and if an enemy unit tries to prevent it using the toughness of the bearer for the purposes of the roll off. Harmonic Discordator meanwhile, forces Battle-shock tests within 3” of the bearer, if they are below starting strength and if they’re below half-strength they subtract 1 from the roll. For your stratagems you have Electrogheist Visitations which subtracts 1 from hit rolls of ranged attacks or melee attacks that target an Electro-priest unit while they’re within 6”, rewarding you for playing hyper aggressive with them. Power of the Motive lets you select one Electro-priest unit to be able to advance and charge. This is a fantastic strat to help get your Electro-Priests get stuck in early and often. Omnissiah’s Guidance lets you ignore models in their unit when determining visibility to a target. Tether-Tendrils (1CP) forces a desperate escape test when falling back from a Tech-priest or Electro-priest unit as if they were battleshocked, and if they were battleshocked, subtract 1 from their roll.

Adeptus Mechanicus have some really well themed detachments and some solid tools in each for a different play style. What’s noticeably missing is the Sydonian Skatros who are just too tall to play in boarding actions. Pour one out for our tall king. 

Adepta Sororitas 

The Adepta Sororitas come with two strong detachments to fill with already solid units. Their army rule at first feels toned down but as you read on, you’ll realize it’s just as good. Minor Miracles is a twist to Acts of Faith, where you earn miracle dice on the start of your turn only, instead of both turns, but you can still earn miracle dice by other means as normal. What kicks it up a notch is the fact that you now add 1 to the result (up to a maximum of 6) when generating your miracle die. That means your pool of dice will never be worse than a 2, and you’re likely to have more 6s in the pool. 

Pious Proectors

Pious Protectors is your generalist detachment. Their detachment ability gives Adeptus Sororitas inits (except arco-flagellants and repentia) a 4+ invulnerable save while within range of an objective marker, improving to a 3+ invulnerable save if they performed the secure site tactical manoeuvre in their previous shooting phase. This detachment ability feels insane even if it only really applies to battle sisters who would be eligible to get the 3+ Invulnerable save. A 10 woman Novitiate squad sitting on an objective with a 4+ Invulnerable save with having OC 20 means your opponent won’t be snagging your objective anytime soon.For your enhancements you have Martial Discipline, letting you select a Adepta Sororitas unit within 6” of the bearer to allow them to shoot if they fell back or advanced. Meanwhile Limitless Resolve Increases the OC of Adepta Sororitas models (excluding Arco-Flagellants and Repentia) by 1. Remember when I said the Novitiate squad was OC 20 with a 4+ Invulnerable save? Well now they’re going to be OC 30. 

The stratagems revolve around allowing you to spend miracle dice to improve the ability of your stratagems. Final Testament, for example, lets you fight on death on a 4+ and if you discard a miracle dice, add 1 to the roll. Repel Boarders allows you to overwatch on unmodified 5+ instead of 6s, and when determining the number of attacks on weapons you can reroll the results. Fantastic for all those flamers you packed. Prayer of Precision lets you reroll hit rolls of 1, and if you discard a miracle dice, reroll all hit rolls instead. Radiant Illumination lets you react to when an enemy unit declares a charge, allowing you to reduce the charge roll by 1, and if you discarded a miracle dice, subtract 2 from the roll instead. These are some really good stratagems and they will absolutely juice those thirty Novitiates you’re definitely bringing. 

Penitents and Pilgrims

Penitents and Pilgrims is very simple, you can only take Priests, Repentia and Arco-Flagellants. These units do not split in size, so you’re taking a 10 man squad of Arcos (unit sizes are 5-10 in boarding actions), 3 MSU Repentia and a single priest at current points. Everytime one of those Repentia or Arco units die, instead of rolling a miracle dice, the result of that die will always be a 6. With how the current mustering rules are, you’re limited to  4 units worth of miracle dice and if you cashed all those in you’ve probably already lost the game. On the enhancements side of things, Fervent Ferocity gives your priest a feel no pain 4+, solid for keeping that 3-wound priest alive, and Sanctification Rituals allows a priest to perform the Secure Site Tactical Manoeuvre as if they were battleline.

Ont the stratagem side of things Slick with Gore allows you to select a repentia or Arco unit  that destroyed an enemy unit to be Slick With Gore. If an enemy unit is within 6” of the unit that is Slick With Gore and are under starting strength they have to take a battle-shock test, if they are below half strength, they subtract 1 from their roll. Fevered Zealots on the other hand gives a unit fight first during the fight phase on the turn they opened a hatchway. Contempt for Death  gives you -1 to be wounded if the incoming strength is higher than your toughness. Savage Frenzy forces a desperate escape test when falling back from an Arco or Repentia unit, subtracting 1 from the roll if they are battle-shocked

Adepta Sororitas seems really strong and that insane 4+ invulnerable is going to make this a tough army to crack through for boarding actions. 

Agents of the Imperium

Agents of the Imperium feature two detachments themed around the various bozos contained in that codex. Voidship’s Company focuses on Imperial Navy Breachers and Voidsmen-at-Arms to represent the bulk of the force, while the Interdiction Team is comprised of Exaction, Subductor and Vigilant squads. The army rule, Imperial Insight, replaces the Assigned Agents ability with an actual army rule. Whenever an Imperial Agents unit performs the Secure Site Tactical Manoeuvre, the objective you select is immediately secured by your army, instead of waiting for your next command phase, and can move D6” after. Just having an army rule is an improvement for Imperial Agents, and this ability is a strong one too. 

Voidship’s Company

Voidship’s Company’s ability, Beseechment Codes, continues on the idea of speed and flexibility of imperial agents. Whenever a Voidfarers unit makes a normal move, while that unit is moving it can operate a closed hatchway that is within 1” of at any point of its move. This is a great ability seeing that most every other army has to do it at the end of the move units step. Lathimon’s Flock is the first enhancement for Voidship’s Company, forcing your opponent to deploy their entire army before you deploy yours, and your navy breachers gain the Infiltrators ability. This is really strong considering you can start closer to hatchways and being able to get through hatchways faster than your opponent will give you the edge in controlling the battlefield. Heirloom blade gives a Voidfarers model, a once per game increase to the characteristics of the bearer’s monomolecular cane-rapier by 1. It’s a little underwhelming especially since it only goes on the rogue trader entourage. 

For Stratagems you have Breach and Clear which lets a navy breachers unit add 1 to the hit and wound roll if they opened a hatchway that turn, and if they moved to the opposite side of the hatchway they opened. Paired with the fact that these units can open a hatchway while also moving, this makes navy breachers much more lethal. Ammo Rations gives you additional  an additional point of AP to your ranged attacks for one or more Voidfarers units against a selected enemy unit. At first it seems like an ok strat but being able to push the AP of multiple Navy Breachers and Voidsman at Arms against that target makes their weapons just a little more lethal. Ship’s Watch allows your overwatch shots to score a hit on a 5+, and if you have the bestest boy Canid in that unit, a 5+ scores a critical hit too. Overall this detachment feels really fast and while they may not have the lethal tools some other factions have, you’ll be out manoeuvring them without issue. 

Interdiction Team

Interdiction Team brings the intimidation of the Adeptus Arbites into play. Chastiser Auto-Vox is their detachment ability and it forces battle-shock tests on enemy units within 3” and if they are below half strength, they subtract 1 from that test. It’s nice to see battle-shock come up more often, and fortunately while the insane bravery isn’t a once per game stratagem, you can force this during any part of the command phase meaning they can’t auto-pass it afterwards. In addition to that rule you can put enhancements on your Proctor-Exactant models and those units with a Proctor-Exactant can be deployed like characters, which is gonna result in a nice crowded space for their deployment zones. Manhunter’s Helm is an enhancement that lets you select one enemy unit to be your Priority Target. This gives Arbites units +1 to wound against that target and if you kill it you can select a new one. Vasov’s Auto-Oppressor meanwhile, lets you select an enemy unit at the end of your movement phase and halves the move characteristics as well as their advance and charge rolls. Manhunter’s Helm seems to be the first pick of enhancements but I can see where the Auto-Oppressor could see play. 

As for Stratagems, Crackdown gives one Arbites unit reroll hit and wound rolls in the fight phase. A subductor squad rerolling hit and wound rolls will be strong in melee, especially if you pair it with the Manhunter’s Helm. Arbitrary Execution turns your shotpistols into 2 attacks and they gain the [Lethal Hits] ability, while also allowing them target units outside of engagement. Duty and Death gives your unit a Feel No Pain 4+ and Inescapable Judgement forces a desperate break out test when a unit falls back from that Arbites unit.

The Imperial Agents detachments feel like they’ll be really fun to play. For those collecting a lot of these kill teams, you’ll have a great time running maximum Arbites models or Voidsmen. I personally like the speed of Voidship’s Company. Being able to manipulate doorways before the end of the move units step keeps things moving and doesn’t slow down your models. Also, both detachments feature good boys, so that’s already the number one choice for best detachments. 

Astra Militarum

The Astra Militarum keep their Voice of Command ability but now can select any unit within range, regardless of keywords.The two detachments for Astra Militarum are Embarked Regiment, your generalist detachment, and Tempestus Boarding Regiment., which is focused on, you guessed it, Tempestus units

Embarked Regiment

The Embarked Regiment detachment lets you bring all the infantry in the Astra Militatarum, and the detachment rule Get Down allows you to select a friendly unit to be ignored when determining visibility to an enemy unit. This is super helpful since you would normally find yourself blocking visibility with all the 10 man units you’ll have running around. For enhancements you have Rigged Blind Grenades which you to force a battleshock test on a unit if they open a door on a 2+. Honestly too many hoops to jump through for too little of a reward. Meanwhile, Shipboard Veteran gives you a CP refund on a 4+. Simple and effective. 

For stratagems you have Against the Odds which improves your AP by 2 when you score a critical wound, a great way to improve those lasguns’ lethality. Idle Hands lets you operate a hatchway with a unit that has not been selected to move, a solid stratagem to get doors open quickly and not slow your momentum. Duck and Cover reduces your opponents hit roll by 1 when they target one of your units that are on the opposite side of a hatchway and Brutal Choke Point allows you to score hits on 5+ instead of a 6 when you overwatch an opponent. This provides a very nasty toolkit to make guardsmen squads a serious threat in Boarding Actions.

Tempestus Boarding Regiment

The Tempestus Boarding Regiment uses Tempestus Scions for a specialized detachment. Their detachment rule, Purge-Sweep Protocols, provides you with [Lethal Hits] when within 1” of a hatchway and targeting enemy units on the opposite side of that hatchway. For enhancements they have Covert Breach which gives the bearer a 6” move at the beginning of the first battle round and  Elimination Force which adds 1 to wound rolls if the strength of the attack is less than the enemy unit’s toughness. This is a good choice to power up the command squads special weapons and Hot Shot Lasguns. 

For Stratagems, Brutal Training increases a unit’s strength and attacks characteristics by 1 during the fight phase. Lockdown lets you close one hatchway a unit moved through after it finishes its move. Coordinated Strike allows you to apply a single command to all astra militarum models. This will help when your units start getting spread out and you end up being too far from the command squad. Finally, Fire-Pattern Hurricanus forces a unit that was just hit by attacks to reduce their move characteristics by 2, and reduces advance and charge rolls by 2.

Between the two detachments Tempestus Boarding Regiment has a lot of tools and gives a nice theme for boarding actions, but the Embarked Regiment shouldn’t be ignored either. 

Grey Knights

Grey Knights lose Teleport Strike and gain Eye of the Prognosticars. Whenever they use a stratagem, if they are in range of an objective marker, on a 5+ you gain a CP. It feels underwhelming in comparison to Teleport Strike but keeping that rule would have been busted in boarding actions. 

Void Purge Force

Void Purge Force gives you a full selection of infantry, and gives you this detachment ability An Urgent Duty which lets you add 1 to advance and charge rolls for Grey Knight units. Your enhancements come in the form of Sigil of Warding which lets you make a 3” move after shooting and then operate a hatchway, a great way to shoot and scoot and shut the door behind them. Very solid but also a once per battle enhancement. You also get Tactical Haruspex which is another once per game enhancement that lets you declare a charge against a unit that they don’t have visibility with so long as they’re within 9”. A really good enhancement considering the restrictions of declaring charges. 

For stratagems you have Breach-Shock which increases your pile in and consolidation moves to 6” instead of 3”, giving your units more distance to take over an objective or manoeuvre around the battlefield. Translocation lets an Interceptor Squad or Grey Knights character move through closed hatchways and walls as if they weren’t there, but they are restricted to 6” of movement. This is a really great way to catch an enemy unit off guard hiding in a closed off room. Hexbane wards forces your opponent’s melee weapons to have the [Hazardous] keyword, a really nice way to cause some models to die from their own attacks. Lastly, Sanctified Slaughter is another solid stratagem, giving you [sustained hits 1] and giving you critical hits on 5+. 

Baneslayer Strike

Baneslayer Strike meanwhile, is the terminator detachment for Grey Knights. Their detachment ability, Pre-emptive Strike, gives you a turn 1 deep strike outside of 6” but cannot charge. This is pretty good to either take over an objective on the battlefield, or catch your enemy out of position and threaten them with some brutal ranged attacks. Your two enhancements are Shield of Adonishmant  which subtracts the hit rolls of melee attacks against the bearer by 1, and Close and Sanction which lets you make a d6” move everytime after being shot, moving towards the closest enemy model. This move can end in engagement range, but note that this only works in the opponent’s shooting phase, so you don’t get that move during overwatch.

For stratagems you have Armoured Aegis gives you a Feel no Pain 4+ which, considering you’ve got 3 wound terminators, makes them even harder to remove. Psybolt Ammunition increases your bolt weapons AP by 1, great for that turn one deepstrike in front of your opponent’s army. Relentless Borders allows you to fall back and charge. Pairing that on your Brotherhood Terminators, it helps trigger Hammerhand more often. Sanctic Circle makes a nearby objective secured based on a leadership test, great for keeping your elite forces active.

Overall while the Grey Knights have a lackluster army rule for boarding actions, the detachment and stratagems contained within each are very strong and make Grey Knights a great choice for playing boarding actions.

Some Sample Lists

Voidship’s Company:

Imperial Agents

470 points

• Inquisitor with Lathimon’s Flock
• Rogue Trader Entourage with Heirloom’s Blade
• Voidsman-at-Arms
• Voidsman-at-Arms
• Imperial Navy Breachers
• Imperial Navy Breachers

This is your all rounder list that plays to the strengths of the Imperial Agents rules. Breachers are your threat removers, allowing you to sweep and clear room with ease, while your Voidsmen capture objectives and provide more long range fire support.

Boarding Strike:

Adeptus Astartes

470 points

• Apothecary Biologis with Clavitine Reliquary
• 10 Heavy Intercessors
• 3 Aggressors
• 3 Eradicators

This list asks the question “How much T6 3+ save infantry can you handle”. If the answer is anything but “a lot”, your opponent is in for a bad time. While eradicators won’t benefit from their innate rule in this format, melta will absolutely shred elite infantry.

Pious Protectors

Adepta Sororitas

500 points

• Canoness with Jump Pack with Trademark Weapon 
• Palatine with Limiteless Resolve
• Celestian Sacresants
• Sisters Novitiate Squad
• Sisters Novitiate Squad
• Sisters Novitiate Squad

This is the list we were alluding to in the Sisters section. Each of those Novitiate Squads will have a 4++ on an objective making them insanely hard to remove. Meanwhile your characters are melee terrors that can punch way above their weight class.

Final Thoughts

These 16 detachments cover a lot of ground for the Imperium factions, but still feel really good. Each detachment fits the lore of each faction and offers a variety of play styles. Adepta Sororitas definitely have the strongest detachments in Pious Protectors feels especially really wild, considering how easy it is to give yourself a 4+ invulnerable save for those units.

That aside, there’s a lot of good stuff here, and hopefully these get updated as we see new releases, like the upcoming Codex: Blood Angels release for tenth edition.

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