Imperial Guard (Warhammer 40,000 army)
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In the table-top strategy game, Warhammer 40,000, the Imperial Guard is easily the largest fighting force of the Imperium. It is comprised of trillions of soldiers from thousands of different regiments, supported by a dazzling array of light and heavy armored vehicles. They are usually the first Imperial fighting force to respond to any major invasion or uprising if the planet's PDF (Planetary Defense Force) fails to suppress it. They also hold major locations for interest to the Imperium and are often found than the defending side than on the offense.
The Imperial Guard are much more widespread than the Space Marines. Imperial Guard are also much more expendable; the loss of a hundred Imperial Guardsmen would still not equal the loss of one Space Marine. The Primarch of the Imperial Fists Space Marine chapter, Rogal Dorn, once famously quoted: "Give me 100 Space Marines or, failing that, give me 1000 other troops." (In actual game terms, however, because of a need for balance, Imperial Guard are able to fight Space Marine armies with a reasonable chance of victory.)
Imperial Guard, while weak individually, rely on infantry numbers and the assistance of powerful tanks such as the Leman Russ Battle tank, Basalisk mobile artillery, and Chimera APC to win. Even a small Imperial Guard division is likely to have a full complement of armored fighting vehicles. Imperial Guard, while not as bad as Tau, are notorious for poor close combat abilities.
The Imperial Guard also have a number of specialists at their disposal. They have access to Stormtroopers, elite Imperial Guardsmen who have been issued better weapons and stronger armor.
Though general-purpose Imperial Guardsmen are weak in close combat, with the help of specialists such as Ogryns (brute-like Ogre creatures), their strength in close quarters is boosted. Also, different Imperial Guard regiments have special rules like Ambush to help stun the enemy for a headstart in the fighting.
ImperialGuardSquad.jpg
Components of an Imperial Guard regiment
Guardsmen
Found in every single Imperial Guard regiment out there, the Guardsman is an ubiqitious representation of the Imperial Guard, as it makes up the very backbone of the army itself. Guardsmen are expendable and often used to ensure the real work gets done. In battle, Guardsmen take the most losses but most of the time these losses are not missed and are easily replaced by recruiting from their homeworlds. As standard, a guardsman is equipped with a lasgun and outiftted with flak armour that provides minimal protection.
Hardened Veteran Guardsmen
Some guardsmen have their skills honed by constant battle and their experience sets them apart from other guardsmen. These experienced individuals are hardened by battle and are drafted into special squads where they are given more specialised weaponry for certain jobs. They are often regarded with some degree of respect or fear by their peers due to their natural status given to them by their skill and experience. However, their standard equipment varies very little and the most significant difference is their ability at weilding special weaponry. Their skills, however, come in useful in other situations and commanders often take advantage of this.
Stormtroopers
Stormtroopers are considered to above other Guardsmen because of their additional training and indoctrination by the Schola Progenium, as well as their improved equipment. They are often used in the vanguard of an assault or as infiltrating troops to carry out special objectives lesser Guardsmen would be unable to undertake. A stormtrooper carries a hellgun and wears carapace armour that can give better protection than flak armour.
Sanctioned Psykers
Certain psykers are picked out by the Schola Progenium for their psychic gift and are constantly screened and trained to hone the ability that lets them stand out so. Given that they are also a potential psychic conduit for the creatures of the warp, they have to be ever vigilant to keep their soul intact and loyal to the Emperor. Thus, they are able to use their psyhic abilities to aid the commander in his decisions by predicting or sensing enemy movements, or more directly in combat, skillfully manipulating warp energies to damage the enemy or enhance allies in some way or other.
Commissars
Even in battle does a Guardsman need to be reminded of his duty to the Emperor, and Commissars are often seen as the Emperor's representative on the battlefield. Stern-faced and grim individuals, Commmissars are able to either inspire or strike fear in the eyes of Guardsmen. Either way, this encourages them to stand their ground against the enemy and battle it out to the end. Commissars are, however, more than just a visible representative of the Emperor. They also often take the fight to the enemy, battling against foe after foe to aid the battle. Their elevated status marks them apart from the standard hierachy of command, and often operate as autonomous individuals, counselling and advising the commander.
Notable Imperial Guard Forces
Cadian Shock Troopers
The Cadian star system is sitting on the location of a stable area of space leading into the Eye of Terror, as such, the Cadian system is often the focal point of Chaos attacks such as the Black Crusades.
Consequently, the city of Cadia and the surrounding planets and systems have become some of the most militarized worlds in the Imperium. Most of the population is under arms and most Cadian youths learn to shoot before they learn to walk, and, as the saying goes: "Any Cadian who can't field-strip his own lasgun by the age of 10 was born on the wrong planet." Despite their dedication to battle, they still conscript fighters to help bolster their ranks when battles begin to get big. They are equipped with standard-issue equipment and fight at the frontlines during Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade to fend off the marauding armies of traitors and heretics.
Cadian Shock Troopers source of inspiration could be an amalgamation of ideas drawn from difference armies, most notably Russia. Due to their reputation and sheer number of regiments, they are considered the "standard" look for the Imperial Guard.
Catachan Jungle Fighters
Catachan is a Death World, a planet almost completely covered in dense jungle where it seems the entire ecosystem is hostile to human life. Catachan's only export is its people, who through natural selection are naturally bred though and strong from living in such a dangerous world. Catachan Jungle Fighters are among some of the deadliest experts of jungle warfare in the entire galaxy and their reputation preceedes them.
Catachan Jungle Fighters as a whole bear smililarities to the Rambo movie series, complete with red headbands, and to a lesser extent, Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Commando.
Ice Warriors of Valhalla
Valhalla is an extremely cold, ice covered planet similar to Hoth. The people of Valhalla live in vast cities underneath the ice. Valhallans are skilled in fighting Orks, due to a long campaign against an Ork invasion of their world.
Valhallan Ice Warriors resemble the Soviet army during World War II.
Tallarn Desert Raiders
Tallarn was once a verdant Paradise world, until it was attacked and Virus Bombed during the Horus Heresy. Every living thing on the surface of the planet, even bacteria, was killed off, with only those who managed to seek shelter in underground bunkers surviving. Shortly thereafter, the planet became the site of the largest tank battle in galactic history, with thousands of war machines fighting over the planet's surface. The survivors learned to adapt to their world as it eventually became a desert planet.
Eventually, a mysterious gate was discovered, triggering a series of sudden attacks by the enigmatic Eldar, who tried to prevent the gate from being opened. They were unsucessful, and a tide of Daemons streamed forth from the gate. The Tallarns and the Eldar were quickly forced to work together in order to halt the tide and seal the gate once more.
The Tallarn Desert Raiders are exceptional at Guerilla style warfare, having adapted to the harsh conditions of their home planet. They are also known for their weaponry accuracy, as well as having highly capable Sentinel and Tank squads.
Tallarn Desert Raiders have a slightly Arab-like appearance, but influences have also been taken from other sources, such as the African campaigns of WW2.
Mordian Iron Guard
The world of Mordia is a rather miserable place. It is bathed in perpetual darkness and is cursed with the attention of Chaos. As such, the troops raised there tend to be a dour, no-nonsense lot. Mordians believe in perfect precision and constant drill.
Mordians normally wear bright dress uniforms, even into combat, to present a look of amateurism, perhaps to catch their enemies off guard. They bear a slight resemblance to the Prussian army under Bismarck.
Armageddon Steel Legion
Armageddon is a Hive World, a planet covered in vast wastelands broken up by hives, huge arcologies stretching miles into the sky. True to its name, Armageddon has been the site of three massive battles in the history of the Imperium, most recently a pair of invasions by the Ork warboss Ghazghkull Thraka. As a result, the armies of Armageddon are skilled in fighting against Orks. Armageddon produces many armored fighting vehicles for the Imperium, such as APCs. As such, the Armageddon Steel Legions are primarily Mechanized Infantry.
The Armageddon Steel Legions resemble the German army during World War II.
Death Korps of Krieg
The Planet Krieg was once the site of a rebellion against the Imperium. In retaliation, the people of Krieg subjected their world to 500 years of atomic cleansing to root out the rebellious factions.
The Death Korps are fearless warriors, never flinching even in the face of sudden death, which they see as atonement for the rebellion. They see their deaths fighting in war as penance for the heresy of their ancestors. They are a dedicated trench- and siege-warfare force and perform best in wars of attrition.
Appearance-wise, the Death Korps are similar to the Steel Legion, but have darker colors, and their masks usually have a skull motif. Of all the regiments of the Guard, they are the most gloomy and dark, both in apparance and in spirit. They bear a strong resemblance to the German army in world war one, in tactics (trench warfare) and appearance (their helmets bear a single spike on the top, just like the German helmets did).
Savlar Chem Dogs
The Chem Dogs are typical of many Penal Legions in the Imperial Guard. Recruits are drawn from the prisons on the planet Savlar by the promise to allow them to keep anything they take from the battlefield, as well as the chance to get away from Savlar's highly toxic environment. They were created to fight in the Third War for Armageddon and excel in fighting in Hive Cities and close quarters. They get their courage mainly from the use of nitro-chem inhalers, and are just as likely to steal from other regiments (and each other!) as they are from the enemy.
Tanith First-and-Only (Gaunt's Ghosts)
The world of Tanith came under attack by Chaos forces while it was mustering soldiers for the Sabbat Crusade. Only a single regiment was rescued from the planet by Commissar Ibram Gaunt before it was finally destroyed by the powers of Chaos. Because they were left without a homeworld, the members of the Tanith 1st and Only came to call themselves Gaunt's Ghosts ( As later named by "Mad" Hlaine Larkin, sniper of the Tanith First-and-Only).
The stories of the Tanith 1st and Only can be found in the Gaunt's Ghosts series, written by Dan Abnett.
Praetorians
The Praetorians resemble colonial-era British soldiers (as in the film Zulu), complete with brightly-colored dress uniforms and pith helmets. Like many older models, they have been removed from production, but are widely available online, and through the manufacturer's own archive service. The Praetorians were reasonably popular, largely due to the highly disctinctive look of their armies and the sharp contrast between them and the dark, gothic Imperium around them. As such, many people were angered at GW's decision to drop the range.
Terrax Guard
The planet of Terrax is the site of a major Schola Progenium facility, the Schola Excubitos. This means they have a large number of commissars and Storm Troopers. Some Storm Troopers are even part of the regiment itself. The regiment is known for its excellent and rigid discipline, as though it were composed completely of Commissars.
Harakoni Warhawks
Harakon is a low gravity planet with tall hives. The Harakoni are highly trained in use of grav-gliders making them fearless of altitudes and great at judging air currents. They use this skill to drop behind the enemies lines in battle.
Kanak Skull Takers
Kanak, a volcano-wracked world, is home to many fierce barbarian tribes. They soon found a home in the Imperial Guard and considerable tolerance for their feral tactics is displayed. Some of the tribes consist of people closer to Ogryns than humans.
Elysian Drop Troopers
The Elysian Drop Troopers are known for the rapid deployment capabilities using Airborne Troop Carriers called Valkyries, and either rappel down ropes or use grav-chutes at high altitudes. These troops have deep strike capability, and can use mortars, rocket launchers, and heavy bolters like any other IG regiment. Unfortunately, They must sacrifice the heavy vehicle support that most other IG regiments field. The only ground vehicle to date that they can utilize is the modified Drop Sentinel. The Elysian Drop Troopers were among the forces that fought in the 3rd Armageddon War.
These troops are based on roughly modern day parachute troops to futuristic drop troops such as the Hell Jumpers in the game Halo 2.
Forge World recently released a line of resin models for the Elysians for their upcoming Taros Campaign, a conflict between the Imperium and the Tau.
The 13th Penal Legion (Colonel Schaeffer's Last Chancers)
The Last Chancers are an elite force of criminals, rebels and misfits who are rescued from the firing squad and given a chance to win the Emperor's forgiveness by engaging in suicidal missions. They draw heavy inspiration from the classic film The Dirty Dozen. On the battlefield, Last Chancers are fielded in contigents of 5 to 20 men, with the possibility of arming and equipping every trooper individually, which opens excellent modelling and conversion options.
Notable Characters
- Lord Commander Solar Macharius
- Commissar Yarrick
- Nork Deddog
- Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt
- Colonel Schaeffer (and his Last Chancers)
- Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed
PC Games
Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War - The Imperial Guard make a guest appearance in the Single Player campaign, and will be expanded into a playable army in the expansion pack Winter Assault.
His Righteous Mod (http://www.hisrighteousmod.com/downloads.html) Imperial Guard Mod made for Dawn of War (In progress)