Imperial Guard

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And his name struck fear into the hearts of men.

"Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood."
"Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men."

– George S. Patton

"Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them."

– Napoleon Bonaparte

"Quantity has a quality all of its own."

– Atrributed to Joseph Stalin

"To each of us falls a task, and all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we stand the line, and we die fighting. It is what we do best - we die standing."

General Sturnn of the Imperial Guard

"When one has two hundred artillery pieces per kilometer of the frontline, he does not report contact with the enemy or ask for whereabouts. He reports successful breakthroughs and asks for further orders."

– Attributed to Aleksandr Vasilevsky

The Imperial Guard (officially titled the Astra Militarum as of 6th edition, cause fuck your original name if GW can't trademark it), are the foot soldiers of the Imperium in Warhammer 40,000. They exist only to die gloriously in the Empra's name. Commissars (like Holt and Ciaphas Cain), ensure they do so regularly, and any cowards or deserters tend to be summarily executed. During the Great Crusade, the Emperor only intended for them to be auxilia for his SPESS MEHRINES (and to man masses of tanks and artillery and air-support), since the average Guardsman is only capable of drawing enemy fire and shining a flashlight at his enemies (much more fortunate Guardsmen get to drive the tanks and other armored vehicles fielded by the IG, which proceed to blow their enemies into little chunks from a very long ways away); but after Horus' little tantrum and the breakup of the Legions, trillions upon trillions of humans were drafted to make up for the difference, even if entire squads and even regiments are generally not expected to survive their first combat action. Or training. Or just meeting their commissar for the first time. Even so, many consider their dogged perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds to be what makes them so balls-to-the-wall awesome.

Ok lol fuck imperial guard

A Piece of Writing That Explains the Imperial Guard

At the end of the day, though he's been ferried through hell on a ship that's ten thousand years old to some godforsaken, war-torn rock; though he deployed from high orbit with nothing but a grav chute; though he is one of ten million men and women snatched from his homeworld to fight a war he barely understands; though he has been given a weapon that fires small suns and may annihilate him as he fires because the knowledge of how it functions has been lost; though his company is supported by tractor-tanks that run on anything you can burn; though he wages war against a devouring hivemind, ravenous demons and hordes of hyper-advanced aliens with strange technologies and sorceries he never dreamed existed; no one will remember his sacrifice, there will be no records of his deeds, no glorious parades in his honor, and no remembrance of his name. All he will earn is a shallow, unmarked grave on a forgotten world untold lightyears from home.

Yet for all this thankless sacrifice a Guardsman is a man, just like you. He has no millennia-old genetic engineering, no prophetic leader, no miracles of faith. He has his lasgun, his orders, and those beside him. He is an Imperial Guardsman.

And he will hold the line.

Now in Manly Tear inducing audio format!

The Imperial Guard's Anthems

For more Imperial anthems, consult your Uplifting Primer. While the Ecclesiarchy and several, if not all, Chapters of Space Marines look down upon the frivolities of music (unless said music is sung in somberly in High Gothic and praises the Emperor) as distracting to any soldier in carrying out his Divine Duty, the Imperial Guard still makes heavy use of marching themes and anthems. Examples are given below:

There is a disturbing lack of hell march in this list. Whoever is responsible report to your local commissar and prepare for summary blamming.

Problem with that: It's Hell March. The local Commissar wants to see you. Nothing wrong with "Hell" march, if it was "Warp" March or "Heretic" March, there'd be a problem. As it goes, does the imperial guard nor deliver the Emperor's judgement upon the Traitor, Mutant and Heretic? Their wrath(Firepower) can rightly be described as "Hell" should it be directed at you.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HUWUtTZvK4 - music piece made popular by Vostroyan and Valhallan regiments when launching all out assaults (persistent rumours that the Death Korps and Cadians have adapted the piece continue to be denied by respective parties)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRhg2zvalXc - A song often sung by Guard regiments holding out against overwhelming enemy forces to maintain moral as they Hold The Line, said to have been blasted from every available vox unit and speaker during the final days of Cadia.
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7icNhOYXgA An ancient piece of music often blasted as entire Super Heavy tank companies roll into battle, said to signify the doom of The Emperor's foes and the triumph of His servants

Notable Imperial Guard Forces

Because GW was too lazy to create an original themed Imperial Guard army, they basically used RL armies as a base for them, gave them a little touch of grimdark, assorted amounts of tempered ceramite balls and placed them... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE!

  • Cadian Shock Troops: (Now homeless after Cadia's fall) Generic occidental army/Colonial Marine clones... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! FOR IMPERIUM AND EMPEROR! CADIA STANDS!
  • Catachan Jungle Fighters: Vietnam War Americans (and Australians) ... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! GOOD MORNING CATACHAN!
  • Tallarn Desert Raiders: Lawrence of Arabia's Raiders (or Mujihadeen)... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! !الإمبراطور أكبر
  • Armageddon Steel Legion: Wehrmacht mechanized divisions... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! FÜR DEN IMPERATOR, FEUER FREI!
  • Valhallan Ice Warriors: World War II Red Army... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! ЗА РОДИНУ! ЗА ИМПЕРАТОРА! НИ ШАГУ НАЗАД!
  • Mordian Iron Guard: Napoleonic Prussians (spiffing blue uniforms, iron hard discipline and ranked fire)... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! GOTT KAISER MIT UNS!
  • Death Korps of Krieg: WWI's Western Front (both sides)... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! Now that we're in space, imagine what the Clone Army in Star Wars might be if Lucas liked grimdark as much as he liked CGI and revising the original trilogy.
  • Vostroyan Firstborn: Cossacks... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! YOU WILL NOT MAKE SUBJECTS OF IMPERIAL SONS, FUCK YOUR MOTHER!
  • Elysian Drop Troops: French paratroopers... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! QUI OSE GAGNE! POUR L'EMPEREUR! (Taros Campaign=Dien Bien Phu or Operation Market Garden)
  • Harakoni Warhawks: American paratroopers... IIIIIINNNN SPACE! GREEN LIGHT!!! LET'S GO!
  • Tanith First (And Only): Scots and Welsh... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! OFNI FI, OND DDILYNWCH!
  • Attilan Rough Riders: Mongols Huns... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! (Yes, again.)
  • Savlar Chem Dogs: Post-apocalyptic raiders (and a bit of the Vietnam War tunnel rats )... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! They rule Bartertown, get out of here guardsman.
  • Drookian Fen Guard: Anglo-Scottish border reivers... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! A GOT NAE PANTS ON UNDER MA KILT SO A KIN DRAPE MA BALLS ON YER FACE YE WHILE YE CHOKE ON YER OWN BLOOD, YE NINNY LITTLE WANKER!!
  • Praetorian Guard: Victorian British Army... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! PRAETORIANS NEVER YIELD! (Ever seen the movie Zulu? Like that, but against Orks.)
  • Kanak Skull Takers: Cavemen (with some Apache)... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! ME TARZAN, YOU DEAD!!
  • Phantine Air Corps: Battle of Britain RAF... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! FLIP OVER ON HIS BETTY HARPER AND CATCH HIS CAN IN THE VERTI!!
  • Phantine Skyborne: British SAS... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! Who dares, wins.
  • Scintillan Fusiliers: 18th century French aristocrats... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! QU'ILS MANGENT DU GÂTEAU!! Likely doomed if their Commissars get an STC for a portable guillotine.
  • Maccabian Janissaries: Ottoman Empire's Elite Corps... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! AMINA KOYAYIM!! Nobody cared who they were until they put on the masks.

With such a large and diverse collection of units in the Imperial Guard that puts even the Space Marine armies to shame, you'd think that you'd have plenty of options for fielding an army, right? Well, I've got some bad news for you: Realistically, you can only field Cadians and Catachans in large numbers, as well as the Death Korps and Elysians if you're willing to pay Forge World prices. As for everyone else? Either discontinued, or frequently out of stock, and most of them are still in pewter, so good luck trying to get custom loadouts. Yes, some units like the Attilans or Harakoni may seem too out there to have broad appeal, but you'd think at least the Steel Legion would get more support, what with their intimate involvement in Armageddon, one of 7th Edition's Warzone settings (or it could be a scam to make yo pay FW prices as their models look pretty similar to death korps). Luckily, there are some people out there who have got you covered.

Imperial Guard forces featured in Black Library novels

The writers from Black Library have also created some armies for Black Library novels, and while some of them only appear in one novel or short story they may be worth mentioned as a great source of custom Imperial Guard armies:

  • Arkhan Confederates, Civil War American Regiments... IIIIIINNN SPAAAACE! Featured in the extremely grimdark novel Fire Caste, their name seems to be a reference both to the state of Arkansas and H.P. Lovecraft's haunted city of Arkham (also their homeplanet is Providence, so yeah), they just came out of a civil war between loyalists and rebels, with their average troopers getting the slang of "greybacks", their culture is akin to America's 19th century with a bit of northern barbarian for some measure, while the Adeptus Mechanicus have enforced Mars dogma Arkhan nobles still have a tendency to tweak and build their own machines as a form of Omnissiah worship, which have resulted in jumpack sentinels and the Zouaves clockwork power-armoured elite soldiers, which are capable to stand their ground against Tau battlesuits (progress!), also their psykers usually come with a northern tribesman guardian who is tasked to chop the psyker's head in case it gets perils of the warp.

/tg/ Homebrew Guard Forces

Here are some of the regiments spawned by /tg/.

  • Terran Knights Elite regiments recruited exclusively from Terra. As a result they have some of the best equipment in the Imperium.
  • 2478th Penal Legion, "Hell Harlots" All-female penal legion close combat drop troops made up entirely of the same religious prison gang.
  • Generian 99th Medium Infantry The original regiment of the All Guardsmen Party spawning some of the most dangerous, heretical, yet pragmatic acolytes in the entire inquisition.
  • Hua Yuan Exterminators Tyranid hunters and Hive warfare Specialists that use unique 'Color And Mayhem' tactics to disorient and daze in the cramped not!Honk Kong they're from. By far the most fleshed out /tg/ regiment to date.
  • Franchfarran Legion: One of the stupidest ideas to come out of thinking about 40k. Beats the Benveadig Militia though...
  • The Varkhese Legionnaires: Heroes of the Siege of Varkhat and the infamous mechanised force used by the Mechanicus in it's recent terraforming endevours.
  • Argo Brigade: Regiment of brutally effective counterinsurgency operators who really, really enjoy crucifying dissidents, dissident sympathizers, and xenosupside down and/or sideways.
  • The Karthak Raiders: Purple-clad Cadians with names like Kinmar, Kinfey and Kinross. There's a short story about them coming soon.

See Also

Gallery

This article contains PROMOTIONS! Don't say we didn't warn you.
Forces of the Imperial Guard
Command: Commissar - Enginseer - Imperial Guard Command Squad - Lord Solar
Ministorum Priest - Primaris Psyker - Regimental Advisors - Tank Commander
Troops: Armoured Fist Squad - Breacher Squad - Infantry Squad - Field Chiurgeon
Heavy Weapons Squad - Militarum Veteran Squad - Ogryn Squad - Penal Legion
Psyker Battle Squad - Ratling Squad - Rough Rider Squad - Scout Squad
Sharpshooter - Special Weapons Squad - Stormtrooper - Servo-skull
(Data Skull - Guardian-skull - Monotask-skull - Servo Commissar-skull)
Whiteshield Conscript
Structures: Aegis Defence Line - Aquila Strongpoint - Firestorm Redoubt - Fortress of Redemption
Imperial Bastion - Imperial Bunker - Imperial Defence Line - Imperial Fortress Walls
Plasma Obliterator Platform - Primus Redoubt - Sabre Weapons Battery
Skyshield Landing Pad - Tarantula Sentry Gun - Vengeance Weapon Battery
Void Shield Generator
Transports: Aurox Armoured Transport - Chimera - Crassus Armored Assault Transport
Gorgon Armored Assault Transport - Hades Breaching Drill - Hellbore
Mole - Taurox - Termite - Testudo - Trojan Support Vehicle - Pegasus AAV
Light Vehicles: Atlas Recovery Tank - Bike Squad - Bane Wolf - Cargo-8 Ridgehauler
Centaur Utility Vehicle - Cyclops Demolition Vehicle - Devil Dog
Field Ordnance Battery - Hellhound - Land Crawler - Scylla
Salamander Reconnaissance Tank - Sentinel - Siegfried
Robot Crawler - Tauros - Venator - Pegasus AFV
Tanks & Ordnance: Basilisk Artillery Gun - Carnodon - Colossus Bombard - Deathstrike Missile Launcher
Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier - Heavy Quad-Launcher - Hydra Flak Tank
Leman Russ Battle Tank - Manticore Launcher Tank - Medusa Siege Gun
Ragnarok - Rogal Dorn Battle Tank - Wyvern Suppression Tank
Superheavy Vehicles: Baneblade - Capitol Imperialis - Leviathan - Macharius Heavy Tank
Malcador Heavy Tank
Special Vehicles: Fortress of Arrogance
Flyers & Bombers: Avenger Strike Fighter - Lightning Fighter - Marauder Bomber
Thunderbolt Fighter - Valkyrie - Vendetta - Vulture - Chiropteran Scout
Spacecraft: Devourer Dropship - Galaxy Troop Ship - Tetrarch Heavy Lander
Regiments of the Imperial Guard
Armageddon Ork HuntersArmageddon Steel LegionAthonian Tunnel RatsAttilan Rough RidersBrontian LongknivesCadian Shock TroopsCatachan Jungle FightersDeath Korps of KriegDieprian Mountain MenDrookian Fen GuardElysian Drop TroopsGilead GravediggersHarakoni WarhawksIndigan PraefectsKanak Skull TakersJopall Indentured GuardLast ChancersMaccabian JanissariesMordant Acid DogsMordian Iron GuardNecromundan SpidersPhantine Air CorpsPhantine SkybornePraetorian GuardRoane DeepersSavlar Chem DogsScintillan FusiliersTallarn Desert RaidersTanith First (And Only)Terrax GuardValhallan Ice WarriorsVostroyan FirstbornVentrillian Nobles
Institutes within the Imperium of Man
Adeptus Terra: Adeptus Administratum - Adeptus Astra Telepathica
Adeptus Astronomica - Senatorum Imperialis
Adeptus Mechanicus: Adeptus Titanicus - Explorator Fleet - Legio Cybernetica - Skitarii
Armed Forces: Adeptus Arbites - Adeptus Custodes - Planetary Defense Force - Sisters of Silence
Imperial Army: Afriel Strain - Adeptus Astartes - Gland War Veteran
Imperial Guard - Imperial Navy - Imperial Knights - Militarum Tempestus
Imperial Cult: Adeptus Ministorum - Adepta Sororitas - Death Cults - Schola Progenium
Inquisition: Ordo Astartes - Ordo Astra - Ordo Calixis - Ordo Chronos - Ordo Hereticus
Ordo Machinum - Ordo Malleus - Ordo Militarum - Ordo Necros - Ordo Sepulturum
Ordo Sicarius - Ordo Xenos
Officio Assassinorum: Adamus - Callidus - Culexus - Eversor - Maerorus - Vanus - Venenum - Vindicare
Great Crusade: Corps of Iterators - Legiones Astartes - Remembrancer Order - Solar Auxilia
Unification Wars: Legio Cataegis
Other: League of Black Ships - Logos Historica Verita
Navis Nobilite - Rogue Traders - Ambassador Imperialis
Abhumans & Denizens: Beastmen - Caryatids - Felinids - Humans - Nightsiders - Troths - Neandors
Ogryns - Ratlings - Scalies - Scavvies - Squats - Subs - Pelagers - Longshanks
Shadowkiths
Notable Members: God-Emperor of Mankind - Malcador the Sigillite
The Perpetuals - The Primarchs - Sebastian Thor
Erda - Ollanius Pius
Playable Factions in Warhammer 40,000
Imperium: AdMech: Adeptus Mechanicus - Mechanicus Knights
Army: Imperial Guard - Imperial Knights - Imperial Navy - Militarum Tempestus - Space Marines
Inquisition: Inquisition - Sisters of Battle - Deathwatch - Grey Knights
Other: Adeptus Custodes - Adeptus Ministorum - Death Cults - Officio Assassinorum - Sisters of Silence
Chaos: Chaos Daemons - Chaos Space Marines - Lost and the Damned - Chaos Knights
Xenos: Aeldari: Dark Eldar - Eldar - Eldar Corsairs - Harlequins - Ynnari
Tyranids: Genestealer Cults - Tyranids
Others: Necrons - Orks - Tau - Leagues of Votann