2d4chan - User contributions [en]

US Armored Rifle Platoon

2021-12-02T02:37:41Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:C903:CA0:F02A:A743: /* IRL */

{{Topquote|"If we don't know what we're doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our actions!|Anonymous Soldier}}
[[File:US Armored Rifles Garand Team.png|thumb|"Dammit Jones how did you lose a tank?" "I dunno just looked over for a sec and next thing you know it's [[Vance Motherfucking Stubbs|gone]]!"]]
The '''Armored Rifle Platoon''' was a component of the Armored Infantry battalion that fought alongside mechanized elements of the United States army during WW2. In contrast to the regular Rifle Company, the Armored rifles were near purely transported in [[M3 Halftrack]]s in order to keep up with their support element.
==Mid War==
[[File:Armored Rifle Platoon Statcard.jpg|thumb|left|The Stats.]]
==Late War==
==IRL==

Mechanized infantry was still a novel concept in WW2, and no force, not even America, fielded mechanized infantry divisions<ref>Panzergrenadier divisions may sound like mechanized divisions, but like most German things were in fact quite complex and beyond the scope of this page.</ref>. If you were in an infantry division, you were slogging it and if you were lucky you might have some trucks. But the story changed if you were assigned to an armored division. Under the US Army's setup, a typical armored division consisted of three battalions of tanks, three battalions of self propelled artillery, and three battalions of mechanized infantry in half tracks. The infantry component of the division was there to achieve two things: protect the tanks, and spot for the artillery.

{{US Forces in Flames of War}}
[[Category:Flames Of War]]

First Founding

2021-12-02T02:34:05Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:C903:CA0:F02A:A743: Undo revision 799175 by 86.106.103.198 (talk)

{{Topquote|They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mould them, and in the furnace of war forge them. They will be of iron will and steely muscle. In great armour shall I clad them and with the mightiest guns will they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight them. They will have tactics, strategies and machines so that no foe can best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines and they shall know no fear.|The [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Mankind]] on the creation of the Adeptus Astartes}}

{{Topquote|Vos, Hæmi gelidæ valles, quas sæpe cruentis Stragibus æquavit Stilicho ; vos, Thracia, testor, Fulmina, quæ largo mutastis sanguine fluctus ; Dicite, Bisaltæ, vel qui Pangæa juvencis Scinditis, offense quantæ sub vomere putres Dissiliant glebis galæ, vel qualia rastris Ossa peremtorum resonant immania regum.
Valley of (Mt.) Hemus, which so often Stilicho buried with corpses! Rivers of Thrace, who saw blood replace your waters! I take you as witnesses. Answer, ye Bisaltians, and ye folks whose chariots labour the guts of Pangae! So many helmets covered in rust, broken into shards by the strokes of the ploughshare, a great many times the mattock ploughed the gigantic bones of fallen Kings who found death within your countryside.|Claudius Claudianus, ''In Praise of Stilicho'', first volume}}

After he conquered [[Terra]], the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Mankind]] set out on a [[Great Crusade]] to re-unite the lost human colonies into a mighty [[Imperium]]. He soon realized that bog-standard humans wouldn't be enough; some situations called for a small number of devastatingly powerful warriors, a surgical strike force to smash enemy linchpins. To fill this role, he created his [[Primarchs]], and from their genes, he created the '''Legiones Astartes''', the twenty [[Space Marines|Space Marine]] Legions, in an event [[Second Founding|retroactively]] named the '''First Founding'''.

==The Legions==

{|align=center border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Legion Number !! Primarch !! Homeworld !! Legion Name !! Allegiance
|-
! I
|[[Lion El'Jonson]] || [[Caliban]] || [[Dark Angels]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| ABSOLUTELY LOYAL, AND HAVE TOTALLY NEVER BEEN TRAITORS AT ANY POINT. PLEASE FOLLOW ME DOWN THIS ENTIRELY SAFE AND UNSUSPICIOUS DARK ALLEY SO THAT I MAY EDUCATE YOU ON THE TOTALLY CLEAN AND LOYALIST HISTORY OF THE DARK ANGELS!
|-
! II
! colspan="5" | +++Records expunged+++
|-
!III
| [[Fulgrim]] || [[Chemos]] || [[Emperor's Children]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| Absolutely FABULOUS traitor
|-
! IV
| [[Perturabo]] || [[Olympia]] || [[Iron Warriors]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| Super grumpy Traitor
|-
!V
| [[Jaghatai Khan]] || [[Chogoris|Chogoris/Mundus Planus]] || [[White Scars]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| Speedy, laughing Loyal
|-
!VI
|[[Leman Russ]] || [[Fenris]] || [[Space Wolves]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| Who's a Loyal Boy? Is it you? Is it you? ruff ruff yiff
|-
!VII
|[[Rogal Dorn]] || [[Terra]], [[Inwit]] || [[Imperial Fists]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| MEGA <s>ULTRA</s> FISTISHLY Loyal
|-
!VIII
|[[Konrad Curze]] || [[Nostramo]] || [[Night Lords]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| Spooky traitor (dead)
|-
!IX
|[[Sanguinius]] || [[Baal]] || [[Blood Angels]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| Loyal and fabulously DEEAADD!!!
|-
!X
|[[Ferrus Manus]] || [[Medusa]] || [[Iron Hands]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| Loyal (also DEAD)
|-
!XI
! colspan="5" | +++Records expunged+++
|-
!XII
|[[Angron]] || [[Nuceria]], [[Bodt]] || [[World Eaters]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!! (traitor)
|-
!XIII
|[[Roboute Guilliman]] || [[Macragge]] || [[Ultramarines]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| SUPER DUPER Loyal. DEFINITELY never made another Imperium. Nope. Never. No chance.
|-
!XIV
|[[Mortarion]] || [[Barbarus]] || [[Death Guard]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| Icky traitor
|-
!XV
|[[Magnus the Red]] || [[Prospero]] || [[Thousand Sons]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| <s>Did Nothing Wrong</s> Traitors (Because of those fuckwit Space Wolves and Horus. Also Fucking Tzeentch)
|-
!XVI
|[[Horus|Horus Lupercal]] || [[Cthonia]] || [[Black Legion|Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| UBER Traitor (and also UBER dead)
|-
!XVII
|[[Lorgar|Lorgar Aurelian]] || [[Colchis]] || [[Word Bearers]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| The first Traitors
|-
!XVIII
|[[Vulkan]] || [[Nocturne]] || [[Salamanders]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| Loyal (and with a slightly weird fire fetish)
|-
!XIX
|[[Corvus Corax]] || [[Deliverance]] || [[Raven Guard]]
| style="background-color: navy;color:white;"| Sneaky beaky loyal
|-
!XX
|[[Alpharius]] [[Omegon]] || Unknown || |[[Alpha Legion]]
| style="background-color: maroon;color:white;"| It's complicated; even they might not know at this point, but according to the Imperium at large, Traitor. Rogal slew Omegon, but Alpharius is (probably) still at large or is it the other way around... One of them is probably dead anyways.
|}

==Organization==
[[File:Space Marine Legion.jpg|400px|thumbnail|right|]]
The Legiones Astartes, being far larger than current Space Marine Chapters, were organized along drastically different lines. At the head of the Legion was its [[Primarch]] Commander who oversaw the Legion's headquarters. Prior to reuniting with their Primarch, this position was filled by the Legion Master, the most senior Space Marine in the Legion. Below this were the '''[[Space Marine Chapter|Chapters]]''' of the Legion, each of which was commanded by a [[Chapter Master|Lord Commander]]. Each [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]] in turn was divided into a number of '''Battalions''' led by a '''Lieutenant Commander'''. Each battalion was then further divided into '''Companies''' led by a [[Brother-Captain|Captain]]. The Company, itself divided into a number of '''Squads''', was the basic military division of the Legiones Astartes. Due to the varying sizes of each Legion and the varying nature of supply and attrition, there was no fixed number of how many Chapters, Battalions, Companies, and Squads a Legion would contain. But even then, there was no fixed [[Codex Astartes|institution]] that a particular Company should be composed of certain units, with each Company specialising naturally as marines and officers became veterans of a certain form of warfare.

===Number of Legionaries===
The Legions were massive armies, and the size of each could vary tremendously. A precise number was never truly achieved and maintained. Even during the Great Crusade, some Legions were very numerous, while others were not. The numbers would always vary with new recruits and inevitable battle-losses, and also important was the availability of potential recruits and the [[Roboute Guilliman|administrative]] [[Perturabo|skills]] of the Primarch and his officers.

However the closest thing to a 'standard' legion is what the Emperor started with which was 10 chapters to a legion, 2 battalions to a chapter, five companies to a battalion and 100 marines to a company. Theoretical nominal strength: 10,000.

The most numerous Legion of all was the [[Ultramarines]]. The [[Thousand Sons]] of [[Magnus]] were of a small number as many of them had developed mutations or uncontrollable levels of psychic powers. [[Fulgrim]]'s samples had been largely lost, and this left the Legion of the [[Emperor's Children]] also with a very small number. Both of these Legions would increase their numbers to acceptable standards only after their Primarchs were found. The [[Dark Angels]], being the First Legion, were originally the largest one but their numbers declined significantly during the [[Rangdan Xenocides]]. The Iron Warriors were also quite numerous for a while, but Perturabo's [[Death Korps of Krieg|unique view on what qualified as acceptable losses]] changes that in time.

The approximate sizes of a few of the Legions at the start of the Heresy have been given in various sources (it should be noted that originally these numbers were much smaller, a full zero knocked off until they were upped by the BL/Forgeworld writers):

*[[Dark Angels]] - 200,000 or just above, though it is uncertain whether this includes Luther's contingents of the Fallen.
*[[Emperor's Children]] - 110,000
*[[Iron Warriors]] - 150,000 to 180,000 but could have been more, if not for them regularly taking horrific casualties.
*[[White Scars]] - 95,000
*[[Space Wolves]] - 95,000 to 100,000 (originally 130,000).
*[[Imperial Fists]] - 130,000
*[[Night Lords]] - Officially 90,000 to 120,000 but actually close to the larger Legions
*[[Blood Angels]] - 150,000 divided in 300 companies 500 strong. Does not include the small caretaker force of a few additional companies constantly maintained on Baal.
*[[Iron Hands]] - In excess of 113,000
*[[World Eaters]] - 150,000
*[[Ultramarines]] - 320,000+
*[[Death Guard]] - 90,000 to 250 000 (Mortarion wanted 490 000, but never attained it)
*[[Thousand Sons]] - Originally around or under 10,000, retconned to have 80,000 to 85,000
*[[Sons of Horus]] - 130,000 to 170,000
*[[Word Bearers]] - 140,000 to 250,000
*[[Salamanders]] - 89,000
*[[Raven Guard]] - 80,000
*[[Alpha Legion]] - 90,000 to 130,000 to 180,000 and possibly even more. No-one knows for sure.

Using the lowest and highest numbers this means there were 1,933,095 to 2,358,000 Space Marines without including the White Scars. These estimations are the Legions at the closing of the Great Crusade, though it would be a mistake to assume that the number was final and only went down during the Horus Heresy. In fact, many of the Legions were still recruiting at an accelerated rate and the number actually went up, [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Raven_Guard#The_Last_Ones_Standing|though at some cost however]. To put some context to that number, on the low end that's about the size of the American forces in the Korean War, and on the high end that's about all the Soviets that were involved in the Battle of Berlin.

It's also a mistake to assume that the Traitor Legions went turncoat completely en-masse, when in fact the [[Traitor Legion Loyalists|Loyalist elements of those Legions]] counted for a significant portion of their strength. Approximately 100,000 loyalist Legionaries were purged at Isstvan III, practically counting for a Legion-sized force to themselves. Their destruction came at a much greater cost to the Traitor Legions mustered there, cutting the traitor forces down by half, probably more, and so Horus would enter the war with his strength greatly reduced, but could count on daemon auxiliaries for reinforcements. While rare, there were also a few members of loyalist Legions who sided with the traitors as well - the Dark Angels and White Scars in particular were very nearly torn apart by the resulting infighting. The White Scars only reunited after Jaghatai Khan revealed what he had learned and made the Horus supporters surrender, after which some of the worst offenders were executed and the rest were placed in the most dangerous warzones to redeem themselves. The Dark Angels actually split more dramatically, though their detractors were more inward-looking and can't be seen as aligned with Horus. See their own article for more details.

===Assets===
Besides having far greater numbers of Astartes to draw on, the legions were also better equipped and had a much wider variety of arms and vehicles to choose from. Many armored vehicles that are currently Imperial Guard specific once served in the legions, such as the [[Basilisk Artillery Gun|Basilisk]], while other wargear like [[Volkite]] guns or [[Mastodon]]s were mothballed due to their rarity or their obsolescence for the smaller-sized chapters. Numerous tactical roles were likewise phased out, for better or worse.

'''Heresy-Era Specialties:'''
*[[Breacher Siege Squad]]
*[[Despoiler Squad]]
*[[Destroyer Squad]]
*[[Moritat]]
*[[Reconnaissance Squad]]
*[[Seeker Squad]]
*[[Sky Hunter Squad]]
*[[Tactical Support Squad]]
*[[Legion Consul]]
*Consul Praevian

== Horus Heresy ==

{{Main|Horus Heresy}}

For all their power, the [[Space Marines]] and [[Primarchs]] were not perfect; ([[Alpharius|may]][[Omegon|be]]) half of them were sufficiently flawed to be tempted by (or driven to) [[Chaos]], led by Warmaster [[Horus]]. The traitors were defeated, but at a terrible cost, including the near-death of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] and trillions of deaths of invaluable astartes and human beans.

[[Roboute Guilliman]] decided that the so-called [[Horus Heresy]] was proof that one man could not be trusted with power over one-twentieth of the Imperial Armed Forces, so he enacted several reforms to divide the Imperial Army into the Imperial Guard and Navy, and split the remaining loyalist Legions into Chapters, in accordance with his [[Codex Astartes]]. This event was later known as the [[Second Founding]].

==Legions in 40k==
Technically all of the Chaos Marines are still 'legions', at least in name. They never split into chapters so legions they technically remain. However, since they are all split up into roving warbands and there is no central control ([[Black Legion|with a]] [[Death Guard|few]] [[Thousand Sons|exceptions]]) it's hard to say they really count anymore. Perhaps most importantly it's impossible to guess how many dudes there are even technically in any legions pool. When they aren't fighting the Imperium, they are fighting each other, and since none of the Black Crusades have been successful we can reasonably assume that marines aren't pouring out of the Eye of Terror in their hundreds of thousands. It's utterly impossible to guess how many dudes they got. They obviously have enough to attack the Imperium with (especially since their recruiting practices aren't as picky as their Loyalist counterparts), but probably not much more than the Loyalist Space Marines. Probably more than they came to the Eye with though, between further recruiting (from the Eye of Terror human population and anyone they can abduct/brainwash) and former Loyalists turning to Chaos.

As for the Loyalists... Since the introduction of the [[Codex Astartes]], there are obviously no longer any Space Marine legions though that does not stop certain chapters from being described or implied to be at ''"Legion Strength"''. Though this is often a common [[Neckbeard]] error and sometimes even gets used in the fluff, where the term is mistakenly used to describe any significantly oversized chapter, though even then they never compare to the forces from the Great Crusade. Though some make a good attempt at it:

*[[Imperial Fists]] - As it turned out, Dorn didn't fully break up his Legion. Every Son of Dorn chapter has a secret plan dubbed "The Last Wall"- if the main Chapter were to encounter an immediate threat to Terra, it could call its successor chapters to unite them into a full Legion until the threat is dealt with; the prospect of so many chapters working in such close cooperation was something that frightened the [[High Lords of Terra]] and they did not approve. Nonetheless, this plan not only saved Terra from [[The War of The Beast|the largest Ork WAAAGH!! the Imperium has ever dealt with]], but also rescued the Imperial Fists from ''actual'' extinction in the process.
*[[Black Templars]] are obviously over-strength in multiples of 1000 and keep to the spirit of the Great Crusade unlike any other chapter. This force is made up of three primary crusade fleets of unknown size which can end up spread over up to thirty engagements, where the size of a force could be as large as [[Dawn of War|"nearly" chapter strength]] ''(but not '''over''' for obvious reasons)'' or as small as a [[Dawn of War 2|single ship and a handful of squads]], so can be averaged at around chapter strength for each primary fleet. This arrangement is meant to be fluid, and changes all the time as fleets merge and disperse. Respectable figures put their numbers between 2000-6000. The Templars are able to get away with this due to an obscure exception in the Codex allowing chapters to be over-strength during major Crusades in order to easily replace losses, and the Templars are ''always'' crusading. This is unofficially tolerated by the High Lords because of fanatical loyalty, constant casualties, consistent results and the fact that the Templars are so spread out. They may be legion sized 'total' but they're not Legion sized at any single location.
*[[Space Wolves]] make no secret of the fact they ignore the Codex Astartes, but even then they are no-where near their original size. In M32 during the '''Battle of the Fang''' it is remarked that most of ''The Aett'' is actually abandoned. Furthermore, Logan Grimnar's own Great Company numbers 200 marines prior to the Sanctus Reach campaign and is the largest company on its own ''(i.e.: not including the chapter assets)''. Their current number was originally between 1200-3000, but following the Siege of Fenris it is almost certainly much smaller.
*[[Astral Claws]] were ''actually'' accused of Legion building and declared heretics even when they were not yet followers of [[Chaos]], their number at the time of the Badab War was around 3000, though they never even used that number as a single force and spread themselves throughout their '''[[Warhammer_40,000/6th_Edition_Tactics/Tyrant%27s_Legion|PDF forces]]'''
*[[Dark Angels#The Unforgiven|The Unforgiven]] are most likely one of the closest examples of a true Legion in that each of the successor chapters arrange themselves under one ''secret'' command structure (the '''Inner Circle'''). Though they each [[RAW|obey the letter, if not the spirit]] of the [[Codex Astartes]] and maintain mostly standard chapters of ten companies. The combined numbers of Dark Angel's successors would put them at around ''150,000 marines'', and this is just a rough estimate, though we don't know if all of the Dark Angel's successors actually consider themselves part of the Unforgiven. Some definitely do though. Oh yes indeed. The Inner Circle has been known to send a random successor chapter across the galaxy to do the space marine equivalent of getting them a six pack (of traitors) when the main chapter is too busy.
*[[Ultramarines]] - The 23 [[Second Founding]] chapters of the Ultramarines are all represented in the senate of [[Ultramar]] and some of them would cooperate on matters of Codex orthodoxy to ensure that there were no deviations. The [[Genesis Chapter]] in particular routinely loaned squads and officers to the Ultramarines to fill in gaps, while other successors could loan squads to the [[Ultramarines Honour Company]] and get to wear the blue uniform. Because the Ultramarines account for nearly half of the later-founded chapters in the Imperium, they would amount to around ''500,000 marines'' and nominally look to their progenitor for the source of their leadership and guidance, with instances of Marneus Calgar stepping in to settle disputes between chapters not even of his bloodline or issuing decrees against [[Minotaurs|chapters]] in matters that have nothing to do with the Ultramarines directly. With the return of [[Roboute Guilliman]] and his re-organisation of both the Codex and the region of Ultramar; even though chapters officially maintain their sovereignty apart from each other, he has formally created a cross-Chapter command structure of Tetrarchs to coordinate and protect the Five-Hundred Worlds.

All of the original legions maintain ties with with their subsequent founding chapters (except for the Salamanders, who don't have any confirmed successors, and ignore the unconfirmed ones), though the level of formality is different from Chapter to Chapter. The Blood Angels occasionally call all their bros together and go to war, even going to far as to demand they provide the Blood Angels with new squads so that they could rebuild their weakened chapter.

The Imperial Fists successors did the same thing during the war of the Beast; donning Imperial Fist colours to ensure that the Chapter would not go extinct but even in those cases, [[Gabriel Seth]] had to remind [[Dante]] that he had no authority to actually demand troops from his successors and might get further by asking nicely.The new Imperial Fists considered changing their colours controversial and a little bit blasphemous, with the [[High Lords of Terra]] generally protesting about Space Marines working in such close cooperation at all.

While musing with Aeonid Thiel, Guilliman's original dream for the Codex was not to simply split up the Legions at all, but to create a single unified Legion formed of self-sufficient chapters that would come together or break apart as necessary, irrespective of their individual bloodlines, while making it harder for a taint in one chapter to effect the whole.

Given the number of times multiple chapters from different legions have gotten together for a big crusade, he arguable succeed in this goal. Much of what goes on with the Ultramarines tended to be done out of starry-eyed respect and deference towards them rather than grudging support, so in this case, their high level of cooperation appears to be following the spirit of Guilliman's original idea quite well.

Obviously, the High Lords would prefer to think otherwise because they were scared to death of the possibility of a second Space Marine unification and uprising, even going so far as to plotting to overthrow the resurrected Lord Guilliman before he took control over the Senatorum (which instantly backfired when the Custodians got whiff of it in about ten minutes, also you know, '''PRIMARCH''').

==Two Unknown Legions==

In the [[Rogue Trader|First Edition]] of [[Warhammer 40,000]], the twenty First Founding Chapters were all known. It seems that [[Games Workshop]] had more love for some than others; when they made [[fluff]] revisions in the transition to Second Edition, the [[Valedictors]] and [[Rainbow Warriors]] were demoted to one of the "Later Foundings."

Nowadays, <s>nothing</s> [[Horus_Heresy|little]] concrete is known about the Legions II and XI, and likewise their [[Primarch#Two Missing Primarchs|unknown Primarchs]]. Officially, the Imperium deleted all records regarding the "Lost Legions"; the only reminder of the two legions were empty plinths in the Hegemon where statues of the Primarchs stood at the Imperial Palace. Throughout the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' series, it is suggested that the [[Space Wolves]] destroyed them for some reason. [[The Horus Heresy: Massacre]] includes a timeline of the events at the end of the [[Great Crusade]], and in 965 and 969.M30, the Space Wolves engaged in two missions from which all data was redacted. In the book ''The First Heretic'', when a daemon takes the [[Word Bearers]] on a trip back in time to show them the creation of the Primarchs, the Word Bearers dialogue indicates that the XI Legion in particular did something bad enough for the Emperor to lead their purge himself.

In the book ''Fear To Tread'', Sanguinius tells Horus that he hasn't revealed the existence of the Red Thirst to the Emperor because he fears that the Blood Angels would be purged as well, indicating that gene-seed flaws may have also been a factor. ''Deliverance Lost'' has a dialogue between taking place during Corax's first meeting with the Emperor where he asks why only sixteen of his brothers were waiting to meet him if he was the nineteenth Primarch to be found, only for the Emperor to deflect the question; consequently, we can assume that the Legions were purged sometime before Corax's discovery (and were never around for the Horus Heresy), during [[Rangdan Xenocides]]. He also forced the remaining Primarchs to swear an oath never to speak of their absent brothers, so whatever they did must have been extraordinarily bad.

In ''Legion,'' a ship's captain notes that the naughtiness of the [[Alpha Legion]] isn't the first time that a Legion has "overstepped it's mark" and that the Imperial Army fleet should report the Alpha Legion "before they become too powerful," which might imply that one of the Legions got away with naughtiness for a long time and then used their entire Legion to fight the Emperor. 'Horus Heresy Book 3: Extermination also hints at the fate of the two missing Legions, first hinting that one Legion did not pass the "Alpha" intake (to take them up to Legion-Strength) when going through testing and the other saying that "the disaster of [REDACTED] had proven the folly of attempting to recruit Legiones Astartes stock from potentially tainted sources." These could be in reference to the same Legion (using tainted stock in the Alpha intake) or two separate ones, with Legion A fucking up in the Alpha intake and Legion B using tainted stock in the later Great Crusade.

In ''Fabius Bile: Clonelord'', it is stated that "one of the two" missing Legions lead an expedition to the Ymga monolith, an artefact associated with the [[Necron]]s.

Since Horus and the other traitor Primarchs managed to keep their records un-expunged during the Horus Heresy (and afterwards, since the Space Wolves clearly know who Magnus is, the Grey Knights clearly know who Mortarion is, and Horus' name seems to have [[Lulz|become a swearword]] while Guardsmen are obviously aware that traitor Marines exist and officers also know traitor Primarchs exist too), it can be assumed the missing Legions' naughtiness was something even worse. [[Heresy|Possibly they refused to wear pauldrons]], [[Alpha Legion|we don't know]]. In The Palatine Phoenix, shortly before his Legion's first solo mission, [[Fulgrim]] notes that "even the normally contemplative master of the Second had broken his silence to accuse Fulgrim of hubris", so at least one of the missing Primarchs had spent some time around their brothers, and was active during the Great Crusade. In The Chamber at the End of Memory, Dorn said that very few among his brothers interacted with the II and the XI Primarch, and he was one of them. Millennia later during the [[Ultima Founding]], [[Cawl | Belisarius Cawl]] proposes using gene-seed from the II and XI legions to make Primaris marines, so there is either surviving genetic stock from the two Legions, or possibly actual legionaries that Cawl had been experimenting on for the last ten thousand years.

''The Chamber at the End of Memory'' revealed that not only the entire Imperium were forbidden to speak of the II and XI following their fall (which according to Malcador and Rogal Dorn was terrible enough to overshadow the '''''entire Horus Heresy up to the Siege of Terra''''') but those who had interacted with them were made to undergone mind-cleansing (or memory adjustment in the case of the Primarchs) so as to wipe out knowledge of the incidents. More interesting however was that Dorn and Gulliman came up with that idea to spare the Astartes from said two legions from death, and they allowed Macaldor to mind-wipe them all. There was a very good chance that these Astartes ended up with the Fists and the Ultramarines (as the theory above described).

<s>Or there may simply be no missing Legions. According to a source who allegedly worked for Games Workshop for five years (seen [http://warhammer40000roguetrader.blogspot.com/2012/06/art-of-rogue-trader.html?showComment=1343572598289#c3841833106793028129 here]), Rick Priestley (who helped write the first Rogue Trader) read about the Roman notion of Damnatio Memoriae, and simply threw in the idea of two "missing" Space Marine Legions as a "nod" to Imperial Rome (specifically, the three Roman legions whose numbers ([[Word Bearers|XVII]], [[Salamanders|XVIII]] and [[Raven Guard|XIX]]) were never used after they were wiped out in the disastrous [[Wikipedia: Battle of the Teutoburg Forest| Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]]. So, nothing significant can ever be revealed about them, because they never really existed in the first place. Additionally, incorrectly numbering your military units to fool the enemy into thinking you have more has real life precedent. SEAL Team 6 was given its name to convince the Soviets the US had 6 SEAL teams, even though they only had 3 units at the time. In theory if the Emperor just made 18 legions, skipping numbers 2 and 11 could make an enemy think that the Imperium had two more legions than they really did, and the galaxy is large enough to make that deception work.</s> The Lost Legions actually did exist however, even if they started as a joke. The real reason that they were kept around between Rogue Trader and recent revelations was so that people could [[Your Dudes|make up their own pair of Primarchs for model painting and personal fanon]] (although this has lost its effect as doing so is synonymous with making them Mary Sues, and roughly 90% of all fan Lost Legions are this. The other common trait is to make the legion almost entirely composed of pathetic losers, the remaining 10%).

Although one possible name for at least one of the legions is the [[Stormcast Eternals]].

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Space_Marine_Legion_List_(30k)|30k Legion Tactics]]
* [[Legion Consul]]

{{Marines-Official}}
{{Chaos-Official}}

[[Category:Space Marines]]
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

Death Korps of Krieg

2021-12-02T02:33:39Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:C903:CA0:F02A:A743: Just remove it

{{awesome}}
[[Image:Krieg_trooper.gif|frame|left|Yes, they have faces. But they're ugly, so the gas mask is probably for the best.]]

[[File:Krieg Commissar.jpg|300px||thumb|right|Even their [[Commissar|Commissars]] are more badass than your average Commissar. Krieg Commissars aren't used to prevent cowardice, however. Instead, they are used to actually ''temper'' the average Krieg soldier's more fanatical inclinations.]]
{{Topquote|Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure.|Diary of an unknown German soldier at Stalingrad }}
{{Topquote|In life, war. In death, peace. In life, shame. In death, atonement.|Final litany of the ''Litany of Sacrifice'', recited by Krieg Korpsmen when entering battle (and 9E, it seems)}}

'''The Death Korps of Krieg, the most Grimdark of Grimdark'''

The '''Death Korps of Krieg''' is a series of [[Imperial Guard]] regiments which hail from the [[Death World]] of [[Krieg]]. They like trenches and gas masks and are known for their iron discipline and suicidal tolerance for casualties. In fact, they will take any objective and vanquish any enemy, just as long as they have enough men to throw in the meat grinder. Hell, Krieg means WAR in German (as you have gathered, the Imperium does not do 'subtle'). That's how badass they are. What's the difference between them and other Guard units, you ask? These motherfuckers don't even give a shit. They're some sort of badass human lemmings, and they are so [[grimdark]] that they alone are responsible for about 20% of the grimdarkness in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. They have no will to live, no fucks to give, and one hell of a lot of xenos to shiv (with sharpened entrenching tools). This is said to be a relic of the tragic civil war on the original hive world of Krieg, a den of traitors, corruption and strife where rebels rose to power and seceded from the Imperium. However, loyalists Guardsmen decided to light Krieg up like it was nuclear 4th of July instead of letting the heretical rebels take control of the planet, resulting in their homeworld becoming a bitch of a [[3.6 Roentgen|radioactive hellhole]] (hence the Korps' gas mask fetish). Now the people of Krieg are so sad about their rebellious past they’d literally rather die than continue living their shameful lives.

The greatest source of mundane horror in all of Warhammer, the Death Korps does not need eldritch nonsense or nonsensical alien "biology" for the darkness factor. This is quite simply humanity at its worst and nothing more. Due to them just being so damn cool, they are often a popular choice in the community, especially in regards to memes. This tarnishes their overall "I am willing to die for even a chance at forgiveness" to the god awful shovel wehraboo memes we all know and despise.

Also it needs to be said that in current non-jokey 40k canon there is an in universe romance novel about Kriegers titled "My Wish to Generate Children with You is Only Exceeded by My Devotion to Him."

If you think about it, the Death Korps suicidal nut jobs are better equipped than most Guardsmen. They have flak armor like any other, but they have plasteel helmets, their lasguns are much more powerful (albeit at the cost of shots per powerpack), their bayonet skill is outright legendary, their uniform is fully sealed against nuclear, biological, and chemical attack (also protecting them from the mud, rain, and other elements and likely acting as an any environment survival suit issued to the Guard), and they have a backpack full of gear and supplies instead of rushing into battle practically (or literally) naked. Heck, these suicidal guys even have grenadiers wearing carapace armor wielding hellguns despite being sent specifically to get killed doing something useful. Their tank regiments include heavy tank companies and super heavy tanks (like the [[Mordian Iron Guard]], come to think of it). They also have WAAAAAY more artillery and heavy weapons than anyone else. They make the [[Cadia|'''Cadians''']] look under-equipped and poorly trained.
Perhaps maddest of all, is that lore-wise Kriegers are kinda the new kids on the block.
==Background==
===The Civil War===
Some time ago Krieg was a pretty sweet planet to live on, until the heretical dickwad of a Planetary Governor (and most of the ruling elite) decided that the Tithe was wack and voted to detach from the [[Imperium]]. Needless to say the loyal citizens wouldn't let the rebel scum get away with that and a bloody civil war broke out. The loyalists were severely outnumbered, and only managed to seize control of a single hive called Ferrograd (ferro is Italian for iron and grad is old Slavic for town - GW being subtle), due to the fact that a loyal Krieg Imperial Guard regiment under the command of a Colonel Jurten was there, waiting to depart. While getting some turnips out of the basement Jurten tripped over some nukes and decided to even the odds by blowing the world back to the Stone Age. Afterwards, after just 500 years of continual terrible war, the loyalists managed to drag Krieg back into the paralysed lap of the Emperor. Today the citizens of Krieg celebrate the day their hero Colonel Jurten destroyed their planet's ecosystem on "Jurten Day", when everybody digs out entrenchments and practices NBC weapons drills, just like every other day, though everyone gets one crumbly chocolate chip cookie.

===The Death Korps===
[[Image:Vraks.jpg|300px|thumb|right|You don't know hell until you have lived through [[Vraks]]]]The inhabitants of Krieg are mad sorry for their disgraceful past and try to make up for it by being the baddest motherfuckers since the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Empra]] himself. In fact they've been so successful in producing hardass guardsmen that the Adeptus Mechanicus Biologis gave them some Vitae Wombs (IVF/clone tubes) so that they can produce even more top notch cannon fodder, which is important, because Krieg is a radioactive shithole, and most of them are sterile. So sterile that most Kriegers are born of complex gene-cloning and subsequent growth-vats. Their society is ''absolutely'' militarized. Children are being born only to be filled with the guilt of their ancestors, trained and sent to die for their Emperor. Contrary to other less <s>brainwashed</s> '''LOYAL''' units they're truly happy to do so and would die with a smile on their lips for the glory of the Emperor, if they'd ever smile. Seriously, those guys are stone cold. You'd rather chat with a necron than a Krieg trooper. They don't even have names. They're just called Trooper #1337 or Major Alpha and such (although some of the higher-ranked survivors get names, like Colonel Tyborc, hero of [[Vraks]]) both to underscore what expendable clones they are and because they don't give a flying fuck about anything other than marching, dying gloriously and shooting heretics in the head (fluff dependent; McNeill and Mitchell portray them as stoic to the point of being cold but still personal whereas Steve Lyons depicted them as machine-like and quiet, though still capable of anger and annoyance). As such gung-ho individuals they technically don't even have the need for Commissars to maintain morale, since their deserting rate is practically zero and the officers (and probably even the regular troopers) will happily execute their soldiers themselves if need occurs. Commissars that are sent their way are usually sent in to say "Captain, I know you want to charge in and stab those Orks in the face with bayonets, but if you do that maybe one in ten is getting out of there alive. The Emperor needs you alive and we are going to goddamn wait until a situation comes where we can have enough survivors for the next battle and if you order a charge, it's [[blam]]ming time for you." If a Commissar is the voice of reason in your ear, you know your priorities are interesting.

[[File:S c h w e r e by nicklausofkrieg-d764sze.png|250px|thumb|left|If you thought [[Warhammer 40k]] just couldn't get any [[Grimdark|grimdarker]], have a beer with one of these fine gentlemen.]]

If one thing is even more serious business for Kriegers than dying, it's killing heretics with extreme prejudice, even by Imperial standards. As mentioned in the ''Codex: Stronghold Assault'', once there was a [[Hive|Hive City]] that hadn't paid its tithe, and got a visit from the Death Korps for it. After five years of constant bombardment, the city surrendered unconditionally, but the Kriegers wouldn't just stop bombarding over such a small thing. After three more years, there was nobody left alive in the ruins anymore. The Death Korps still wouldn't leave until two years later - when they had eventually shot ''the entire mountain-sized Hive'' to rubble! ( <s>That seems unusually wasteful for Kriegers. Aren't hives supposed to be sacred archeotech in and of themselves?</s> Heretical Hives are worth less than the dirt under a Krieger's boot!) That was also more about making a point about why surrendering early is the best option for you. Wait, Hive Cities are protected by void shields capable of shrugging off orbital bombardment. Either the Kriegers had some huge toys or the humble Earthshaker isn't so humble.

A surprising degree of bio and cybernetic enhancements also appear to be common among Kriegers, which while taking away from their raw awesomeness, should give you idea of how high the esteem in which the Imperium holds the Death Korps.

The Munitorium has a hard on for these guys because unlike guardsmen from other places they always obey orders to the letter, <s>even</s> especially when it means dying in droves. Most Kriegers '''never''' retreat, they '''almost''' fight to the death every time. Once when a Commissar ordered a retreat, an unknown Krieger shot the Commissar for cowardice. Seriously, these guys don't fuck around. The only thing that does happen once in a while that could be potentially seen as approaching a retreat is a regiment/army being reassigned if the high-ups conclude the objectives have been met or are simply no longer attainable and dying elsewhere serves the Emperor better. That being said, during the siege of Vraks the Kriegers shot their own Commissars who tried to stop their retreat, despite being the most fanatical of the Imperial Guard, they're still only human (p. 72, Imperial Armour 5, Siege of Vraks Part One, for all those who get a hard on for the Death Korps).

Now these suicidal, [[Iron Warriors|violent siege specialists]] are ordered to fight in the most dangerous battles. The Death Korps of Krieg may want to die, but [[Nightbringer|death is a bitch to them]]. When they do die though, they are easily replaced. Join the Death Korps of Krieg now (rebreather, lasgun and no will to live included)!

== Horses ==
[[File:Krieg irl.jpg|220px|thumb|left|Historic IRL version.]]
Yes, they ride gas mask-wearing horses into battle in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium. These are not any ordinary horses, though. Like [[Space Marines]], they are genhanced with extra organs implanted to deal with harsh environments (giving them 6+ invulnerable save), keep them fighting well after any [[My Little Pony|ordinary filly]] would be blasted to the knacker's. They are vat grown and implanted with [[Angron|devices to increase aggression]]. These form the backbone of the Krieg Death Rider units, who are lead by a Sergeant known as a "Ridemaster." They are used as scouts and to harass the enemy. In addition to lasguns and grenades, they carry a one-use-only explosive-tipped lance, and can charge "fleet of hoof" if not shooting.

== Vitae Womb ==
It is stated that the Kriegers make use of "Vitae Womb" technology to keep up the annual crop of 50 million suicidally fanatical gas mask mooks specifically given to them by the Adeptus Mechanicus. What that means is a matter of [[skub|debate]], ranging from exowombs to drugs which increase fertility and accelerate pregnancy. What is not disputed is that it keeps population production up well beyond what can usually be achieved by human uteri - certainly ones inhabiting a radioactive hellscape. At least take comfort in the fact that it, in all likelihood, can't be as bad as [[Honsou|a certain Warsmith]]'s [[Daemonculaba|pet project]].

Or [[/d/|could it?]]

In all honesty it's almost certainly just an artificial womb. The basic technology itself is something that the Imperium makes use of on a regular basis and Vitae Womb is probably just a specific incarnation of it used to mass produce (biologically speaking) normal humans. There are no women in the Krieg military, because they also supply kids for their birth rates - they do both so they can recruit and tithe more regiments. Though it might just be cloning, with copious amounts of brainwashing to make sure the problems exhibited by normal clones don't manifest.

== Vraks, and Forge World Stupidity ==
Now, for all that the soldiers of Krieg are supposed to be some of the hardest bastards in the Imperium and willing to sacrifice their lives in an instant if that's what is asked of them, there comes a point where going any further with that characterization crosses the line between "grimly awesome" and "over-the-top caricature". There's really nothing '''wrong''' with this since 40k originally started out as a parody setting, just so long as the writers meet one simple condition:

'''It has to be ''intentional''.'''

When [[Imperial Armour]] released their [[Vraks]] trilogy, it was '''supposed''' to be an example of how dark and gritty siege warfare could become, and therefore a textbook example of how the Death Korps operates. Prior to this, they were written as pragmatic, capable, dedicated, and ''utterly ruthless'' soldiers who combined the tactical sense you'd expect from a professional soldier who had been trained from birth with a willingness to sustain whatever amount of casualties are required to achieve their objectives on the battlefield; meeting their deaths without the slightest hesitation, and making sure that the Emperor's foes paid as high a price for those deaths as they could arrange.

Instead, we were shown a teeming mass of "soldiers" who amounted to little better than shambler zombies with guns; utterly incompetent and suicidal to the point where they were more concerned with killing ''themselves'' than the enemies of the Imperium. The most sterling example of this has to be walking over minefields to clear them, something that could easily be accomplished with far less cost in men and materiel by using vehicles with dozer blades as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_roller mine rollers]. They literally have to be convinced that there are better ways to fight the Emperor's foes than marching into the teeth of enemy fire until they run out of ammunition by their damn ''[[Commissar|Comissars]]''; political officers whose entire job revolves around two things:

1. Inspiring soldiers through sheer hammy charisma.

2. Discouraging cowardice through the not-insignificant accomplishment of successfully being more terrifying than any enemy a Guardsmen might be facing at the moment. In a universe where said enemies might be [[Chaos|the Legions of Hell]], [[Tyranids|an endless swarm of alien horrors from beyond the stars]], [[Orks| a race of sentient bioweapons whose extreme bloodlust is matched only by their uncountable numbers]] or ''[[Night Lords|genetically-engineered superhumans whose entire schtick revolves around being the most nightmarish motherfuckers in existence]]''.

The sheer wastefulness of the Idiot Korps' tactics is so great that it becomes impossible to take any of the books seriously, and the setting is left poorer for it. If the Death Korps actually fought like they're described in Vraks then in all likelihood the Imperium would have long since discarded them as a useful fighting force due to how needlessly and exorbitantly wasteful they are of lives and materiel, and we would like to remind you that the Imperium measures the casualties of war in ''planets'', not men.

Now to be fair, part of this characterization is likely caused by taking the cultural memory of WWI-- the idea of men mindlessly charging into Machine Gun emplacements across a no-man's land ripped apart by artillery and chemical weapons-- and porting it into 40k. Viewed this way much of the above make sense: Death Korp Tactics are wasteful because in popular memory that's all World War I was-- lions lead by donkeys who charged bravely if mindlessly into certain death. The problem comes when you try to get into the head of an entire culture whose goal is doing just that: this leads to the Death Korps being stupid and fighting stupidly. In the end when Forge World tried to portray a WWI-style mud and blood conflict, they fumbled because turning an already pretty grimdark conflict up to the 40k required 11 on the old grimdark dial was bound to push it into [[grimderp]] territory if handled poorly... and it was.

TL;DR: In essence, the Vraks trilogy wanted to recreate the muddy hell holes of WWI in 40k, and in the process turned the Death Korps from something much like the Red Army during WWII into [[Skub|a poorly-researched/malicious portrayal of the Red Army during WWII.]] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basij#History Or a slightly better researched/malicious portrayal of the Iranian army during the Iran-Iraq war.])

Thankfully, they're generally portrayed in lore usually as being unafraid of death but not willing to waste their lives (so they can kill more of the Emperor's enemies). In fact, with their heavy tanks and numerous grenadiers and their engineers, the Death Korps seems more like a mashup of various real life successful ways the trenches in WWII were ultimately defeated. Their machines and units imply the Death Korps is more of a "line breaking specialists" army than a "dig trench and sit there forever" army, with their trenches used more like forward bases and mustering points for their breaching attacks than as their main method of defeating the enemy.

==Facts/Notes==
*Due to the Krieger ideology of repentance to the Emperor, dying is considered the greatest honor for an average Krieger, and dying while achieving a great victory is a Krieger's wet dream. The Death Korps of Krieg's version of Heaven (or at the very least an equivalent concept) is to achieve a great victory for the Imperium while sustaining 100% casualties. They would be the perfect soldier for the Normandy Landings or Stalingrad. They will attempt to achieve a glorious victory while drowning the enemy with their corpses.
*The Death Korps of Krieg kill.
*They seriously do not fuck around.
*They have [[Rough riders|cuirassiers that ride horses with fucking rebreathers.]] Yep...
*The lasgun model they use is called the "Lucius" Pattern No.98, in keeping with their German WWI inspiration, (the standard-issue Mauser rifle was the model 1898). More powerful per shot than most lasguns, but it might blow up if you fire it too quickly.
*The Death Korps of Krieg resemble old World War I soldiers, with most people thinking they are German because of their name and the ''stahlhelm''-style helmets. However, the overall design of the Korps is actually a mix between various armies from WWI and even the 19th century; the helmet is a ''stahlhelm''-Adrian hybrid, the uniform is mostly French, the gas mask looks like British-American models, the grenadiers' armour plates are undoubtedly German and the Death Riders and officers are French cuirassiers from the Napoleonic Wars with the same WWI flavour. Meanwhile their tanks, while the same Russes as everyone else in the Guard, have the trench-rails of WWII French tanks.
*I bet they allow the use of hardcore cocaine. And they won't take it because it doesn't help in killing heretics or dying ''fast enough''.
*They have cool looking "Grenadiers" for, well, grenadiering?
*They don't desert, ever (they're not all that into sweet things anyway).
*They're German-French-British-American, so of course they're gonna win (after taking a stupidly high amount of casualties).
*"Kill confirmed" is the only thing they ever say <s>in combat</s> ever.
*<s>They don't fly aerial vehicles, they just crash them into enemy AA guns. 50/50 chance of them still surviving.</s> They fly CAS and bomber aircraft into the most suicidal of missions, and once irreparably damaged, suicide-bomb them into enemy AA to clear the way for other air units.
*Krieger pickup lines are notoriously bad, so bad they make the Mechanicus look like Barry White! Notable lines include "Contributing to a cloning vat of fetuses with you would be an appropriate use of our genetic material", "Corporal, share this additional synthesized Mechanicus issued ration bar with me at sixteen hundred hours", "Would you like to go for some recaf with me? I used water from a shell hole and it was warm three hours ago”, (so far so good), “I have fixed my bayonet, I shall now CHAAAAAAAAARGE!” (Ew), "I found this bombed-out fox-hole near our position, it's an acceptable location to swap reproductive fluid", and "My gene donors are away on a suicidal bayonet charge this weekend, I've got the whole barracks to myself, and I just picked up a mixslate of the most rousing Krieg anthems" (hint: apart from Nazi-type marches, it sounds like lasguns firing, orders being yelled, screams of the wounded, explosions, and marching boots...suuuper romantic).
*Rejection in Krieg is common, because most Kriegers are male, look like each other and fucking in the Emperor’s service on Krieg is not only blasphemous, it will likely result in your willy melting off from radiation sickness. Common excuses include "I'm washing my bald, scarred, irradiated scalp", "I'd love to but I have a Tyranid invasion to stop", "The offer is tempting, but I've just been ordered to charge that dugout, gonna be busy all day", "I can't go to the military parade with you, I'm dying for the Empra tomorrow", and "I like you as a squad mate, you’re like a brother-in-arms to me".
*If Krieg and Cadia swapped places Abaddon would have stayed in the Eye of Terror (but the Imperial casualties would have increased by an order of magnitude).
*A romantic evening to a Krieger usually involves barbed wire, grey dugout positions, landmines, a searchlight, filthy latrines, an emplaced heavy machine gun, trench foot, and some sensual stick bombs.
*Their response to [[Necrons]] fucking vaporizing them is to continue firing, but also make sure to drop their weapon when they are hit so as to preserve as much of their equipment as possible.
*Kill or be Killed, either way, Krieg is redeemed. One millimetre at a time. (or, they will redeemed...once the pencil pushers of the Administratum and Munitorum decide they are "redeemed".)
* A Krieg Death Corps trooper and a [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|Catachan Jungle Fighter]] got into a fight to see who was the most badass type of guardsman ever. Except no they didn't, because a true Krieger always has more important [[Gets shit done|shit to get done]]. That and a true Catachan is too busy wrestling jungle scorpions to go fight a doormat.
*They are highly popular with the Commissariat as they do not retreat. They hold the line.
*Fans do their heavy-WWI inspiration one better by portraying them as being highly eager to use sharpened entrenching tools/shovels in close-combat, though this has technically never really appeared in canon (the use of shovels in melee, that is. Their suicidal eagerness to get into melee is definitely canon as shit).
*Will kill their commander if they are ordered to retreat more than a few times. <s>Unless they have a reason, that is</s> {{Blam| '''THEY NEVER HAVE A REASON TO RETREAT, AVE IMPERATOR'''!!!!!!!}}'
**Jokes aside, even the one time they broke was against literally the single worst batch of chemical weapons in Warhammer history (which is really saying something) on Vraks by the [[The Purge]]. It literally took a rolling blackout of super-heavy tank melting gas fired by the single most life hating unit of beings to ever exist to drive them off. By one trench line exactly. (And even then they weren't so much driven off as melted where they stood.) Even then, this isn't really "breaking" - they're strategically repositioning so they can die for the Emperor in a more useful way than being turned into poisonous slag.
*They look down on other regiments that aren't as suicidally fanatical and/or disciplined as they are, because of this they get along with the [[Mordian Iron Guard]] as they also share their fatalistic devotion to duty, and absolutely despise the [[Jopall Indentured Guard]] as they are the complete opposite of what the Korps believes a soldier should be (however, they also openly praise Jopallian marksmanship).
*Did I mention that the greatest victory for a Krieger unit involves 100% casualties?

==Trivia==
[[File:WH Faces (2).jpg|280px|right|thumb|]]
The Death Korps are very clearly based off of German, French, British, and American WWI soldiers, all the way down to their trenchcoats (French), gas masks (British/German), helmets (French/German hybrid), their riders (French), love of big guns (American/German) and of course, affinity for trench warfare. Just like the good ol' <s>Somme</s> <s>Ypres</s> <s>Marne</s> <s>Verdun</s> Passchendaele, eh?

They also seem to be much more heavily focused on the machines, tactics, and special units that ultimately overcame trench warfare. Such as focused artillery barrages to cover for a large number of very heavily armored soldiers to get close and seize trenches and then be reinforced by normal troops. Tanks, lots and lots of tanks especially really damn huge ones, and so on. Which makes sense; they’re sent to win wars not stagnate them.

==Modeling Options==
As the most popular (Fluffwise) regiment, [[Forge World]] has models for them that cost more than the average Kriegsman's life, but then again that's not really a high bar. Thankfully, [http://anvilindustry.co.uk Anvil Industry] comes to the rescue with their Regiments range, allowing anyone to build very authentic-looking Kriegers, complete with their signature death masks, unique lasguns and wheeled heavy weapons.

Really worth looking at the Les Grognard set and German WWI set from Wargames Atlantic for cheap alternatives, for more on them look here[[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Wargames_Atlantic#External_Links|Wargames_Atlantic]]

If you are really wanting those FW style models, but you don’t want to sell your kidneys then certain Slavic and Asian countries will have you covered in the recast black market, for the correct amount of Vodka and Rice of course.

Finally, as of July 2021, plastic multipart Krieg models have been confirmed to be releasing in the not too distant future by the Warhammer Community team. Meaning that soon you'll be able to get your Krieg guardsmen without having to sell your organs to Forgeworld! Because you'll be selling them to GW directly, that is. Still, the suffering's over!

Recent leaks have which were 90% suggest more Imperial Guard is coming with their codex in 2022. Its speculated we are going to have Caidans, Catchans, and Kreigers as the main frontliners of the codex.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Krieg.jpg|"If there is a [[Warp|Hell]], you might want to go there for some R&R after a tour on [[Krieg]]."
File:Forge World DKOK advancing.png|The original [[Forge World]] sculpts, which are possibly the most kino thing ever made by FW.
File:New DKOK.png|There new plastic models by GW introduced in the new [[Kill Team]] box.
File:Old and New DKOK.png|A direct comparison between the two model generations. Generally speaking the FW ones are a little more WW1 feeling but have less guard armor. On top of that the FW Kreigers cost a fucking arm and leg so the GW squad is a cheaper options. We say cheaper, which in this contexts means its only going to cost you a arm now.
File:Krieg soldier.jpg|What's cooler than WW1 inspired suicide troopers? The same thing but as shock-troopers.

</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Love and Krieg]], [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Love_and_Krieg_Spinoffs and its various spin-offs].
* [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard(8E)#Death_Korps_of_Krieg Tactics/Death Korps of Krieg]
* [http://i.imgur.com/esFMLb8.png Writefaggotry about the mind of a Deathkorps Medicae]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170718013716/http://www.projectafterforums.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=10367 A rare female Krieger]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7GsdsuSXfw Krieg song by StringStorm]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZM5__JtSOk An animation of Kriegers getting shit done]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmv9YA2pS-g A similar but different animation consisting of Kriegers getting shit done]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA3RmSKVnOw They were featured in a cinematic trailer] for 9th edition [[Kill Team (Specialist Game)|Kill Team]]. The trailer proved to be a completely perfect Krieger mission since they all died while also succeeding in the objective.
{{Template:40k-Imperial-Regiments}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]