Imperial Guard (Warhammer 40,000)
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In the tabletop strategy game, Warhammer 40,000, the Imperial Guard are the largest body of fighting men and women in the 41st Millennium Imperium.
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[edit] The Imperial Guard
The Imperial Guard is a colossal military organization, consisting of billions of men and women from millions of different worlds and systems within the Imperium. Each regiment is a force of between five hundred and ten thousand fighting soldiers, supported by a dazzling array of light and heavy armoured vehicles. Each regiment also has its own entourage, consisting of support staff, camp followers, suppliers, tech-priests, doctors, religious leaders, and the like.
Imperial Guardsmen and women are organised under several levels the most common being the Regiment, A regiment consists of 4 to 6 companies, a company includes between 50 and 200 soldiers. (Battalions with smaller numbers of companies usually have higher numbers soldiers per company.) When a regiment becomes too small to become combat effective it is merged with other units into combined regiments
The Imperial Guard are far more numerous than the Space Marines who are deliberately curtailed to some 1,000 chapters of 1,000 Marines each. The contributions of some planets to Imperial Guard regiments over the ten thousand years of the Imperium runs into the billions. The Imperial Guard are constantly at war, freeing worlds from Chaotic or alien influence, or defending them from the same. However the Imperial Guard are reliant upon the Imperial Navy for transport as a means of controlling over ambitious generals.
[edit] Gameplay
The first edition of Warhammer 40,000 included rules for a force known as the "Army." Later their name was changed to "Imperial Guard."
The Imperial Guard as first introduced (in White Dwarf 109) was bound by a series of rules relating to its command structure. Squads of units formed platoons under a command squad. Units that were separated from the command squad were more limited in action. The initial imperial army could include besides the basic squads, Rough Riders (a form of mounted trooper), penal troops, human bombs and Abhumans (see below). Vehicles were limited to Rhinos, and Land speeders.
Because of the low points-cost of each individual Imperial Guardsmen, Imperial Guard armies often have a much larger number of troops than most other armies. In addition, they enjoy one of the largest selections of vehicles available in Warhammer 40,000 such as the Leman Russ Battle Tank, a stock standard tank, the Basilisk which is a heavy artillery platform with a massive range and the Chimera which acts as a lightly armed troop transport.
The nature of the previous incarnations of the Imperial Guard meant that it was generally more tactful to hold a position and fire all you had at the enemy troops, mostly because the Guardsmen were woeful at close combat fighting. This style of play, while not outdated in Fourth Edition, is not entirely in sync with the nature of the latest Codex. Many "doctrines" allow the Imperial Guard to become better in close-quarters combat, upgrade their armor to be more effective, or even utilize squads of Storm Troopers where one would normally utilize Infantry Platoons. As an example, an Imperial Guard army designed to fight Tyranids could select the "Hardened Fighters"; "Die-hards"; "Carapace Armour"; "Xenos-Fighters: Tyranids"; and "Drop Troopers" doctrines to field an army of infantry trained specifically to swoop down from the skies to meet the close-combat specialist Tyranids on their own ground, much to the surprise and chagrin of the Tyranid Player.
General tactics of the Imperial Guard include heavy use of Armoured units to blow the enemy away from long range and light infantry to swarm the enemy with a mass of lasgun fire.
[edit] Abhumans
The Imperial Guard is composed of humans and two types of abhumans - evolved species from humans that differ markedly from the norm. These are the Ogryns (the counterpart of the fantasy setting ogres) and the Ratling (the equivalent of the halfling/hobbit). In the early edition of WH40K there were also beastmen. These were half human half animal, the parallel to the Chaos Beastmen of the Warhammer Fantasy world. These fought as part of the Imperial Guard; their motivation, as subhumans, being the chance to prove themselves in their face of their obvious physical corruption. In later editions they were removed from the Imperial Guard to appear in a more logical place alongside the ranks of Chaos. The concept of the abhuman was revived in White Dwarf 303 (March 2005) where it was made clear that those not too inhuman in appearance were tolerated while cloven hooves and beast faces were outright abominations.
[edit] Appeal to players
The primary appeal to Imperial Guard players of the Warhammer 40,000 game is that the Guard are 'human'. In a game filled with genetically modified supermen, alien mystics, and all-consuming hive-minds, the Imperial Guard are just soldiers. Carrying a lasgun and wearing flak armour (commonly believed by fans to be the most ineffective standard equipment in the game, and referred to as the "flashlight or laser pointer" and "T-shirt"), the Imperial Guard are forced to rely on numbers, massed-fire tactics, bayonets and courage to win their battles.
Secondly, the Imperial Guard has the largest range of tanks and armoured vehicles of any army, and have been heavily supplemented by the Forge World Imperial Armour series of books and resin kits. This appeals to the 'treadheads' (or 'tank-lovers') among the player community, and was catered to in the third and fourth editions of the game by the release of rules for an Armoured Company composed entirely of tanks. This army list can also be used to field Siege Regiments comprising of forward Artillery vehicles. It is Chapter Approved for the 2006 Tournament circuit[1], whether or not it will be included in 2007 remains to be seen.
The various Imperial Guard regiments produced or described by Games Workshop draw on a variety of historical and fictional inspirations. In the earliest editions, the Imperial Guard were very homogenous in appearance and there was no visual distinction between regiments other than colour and decoration of their uniforms. Some of the most obvious stylistic links are:
- Catachans: Rambo movies, US Special Forces during the Vietnam War
- Valhallans: WWII Soviet Red Army
- Armageddon Steel Legion: WWII German Fallschirmjäger
- Praetorians: Early Victorian-era British Army infantry (as represented in the film Zulu)
- Vostroyans: 18th Century Russian Cossacks
- Mordians: Early WWI Commonwealth infantry (before the introduction of the steel helmet), also Soviet field commanders in their ceremonial uniforms, eg Gregory Zhukov.
- Tallarn: Arabian influences and WWII Long Range Desert Group or Desert Rats.
- Cadians: See below.
- Death Korps of Krieg: WWI German Infantry
- Harakoni Warhawks: Japanese Special Corps during WWII.
- Kanak Skull Takers: Primitive South Pacific islanders.(Only with less primitive clothing and equipments)
- Attilan Rough Riders: Mongols during the age of Genghis Khan with guns.
- Elysian Drop Troops: Though not historical, they are depicted as the generic futuristic trooper. They also wear masks reminiscent of the respirators jet pilots wear.
The Cadians fighting in the 13th Black Crusade were developed to be a generic force representing any modern or science fiction armed force. In previous (Second and Third) editions, the Cadian Shock Troopers were heavily styled on the United States Army as well as the Mobile Infantry from the 1997 movie Starship Troopers and the United States Colonial Marines from the 1986 movie Aliens.
Modellers have converted several of the released (and unreleased) regiments to conform to numerous armies past and present, from the ANZACs of the Battle of Gallipoli, to British and French armies throughout the Napoleonic Wars, to the Germans of the First World War (Death Korps of Krieg).
In addition to the various historical armies one of the most attractive parts of the Imperial Guard are the Commissars. They are represented as the stereotypical Soviet-era Commissar, simultaneously exhorting the troops to greater efforts and summarily executing anyone showing signs of cowardice.
[edit] Notable Regiments
There are millions of worlds contributing Imperial Guard Regiments to the Imperium's defence, each world having its own methods of training, its own unique equipment, and its own specialisations.
Even so, the regiments of certain worlds stand out, and are renowned throughout the Imperium for their deeds, strengths and methods of combat.
A summary of these regiments can be found at History of the Imperial Guard
[edit] Imperial Guard Ranks
The diversity of Imperial Guard regiments mean that there are literally thousands of variations on officers' ranks throughout the Imperium. However, local variations are generally tied to a basic standard list of officer ranks, for determining comparative seniority between regiments, a tentative hierarchy of which might be as follows:
- Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Guard
- (Lord Commander Militant)
- Lord General Militant
- Lord Marshal
- Lord Castellan
- (Captain-General)
- General
- Brigadier
- Colonel
- Major
- Captain
- Lieutenant
Two other notable officer ranks exist amongst the Imperial Guard. Commissars (almost certainly modelled on the Soviet political officers of the same name) are individuals attached to Imperial Guard regiments for the purposes of maintaining rigid Imperial discipline throughout the Guard. The rank of Warmaster is a title issued by the High Lords of Terra to a military commander (usually a previous holder of the Lord General or Lord Marshal rank, or else an Admiral of the Imperial Navy) when one overarching leader is deemed necessary to command a crusade of historic magnitude (examples include the Warmasters Horus, Slaydo, Macaroth, and Lord Commander Solar Macharius). A Warmaster’s military authority is absolute within his assigned area of operations, and it is for this reason that a Guard officer desiring this rank must be seconded by two Admirals of the Imperial Navy (similarly, a Naval officer holding the rank must be seconded by two Generals, or other senior staff officers, of the Imperial Guard). There is seldom more than one of these individuals in the entire Imperium at any one time. While it is said that a commander with the rank Lord Solar is higher than a Warmaster they are actually the same rank. On occasion the rank Warmaster, due to its association with Horus, simply falls out of favour and is replaced with Lord Solar.
Other ranks of import to the Imperial Guard are the Imperial Commanders, who have authority over the standing forces on an Imperial world (generally held by the Planetary Governor of the world in question) and the Lord Commanders of the Segmentae Majoris, a primarily administrative rank whose incumbents are responsible for overseeing and directing the Imperial military within one of the five Segmentae of the galaxy.
All remaining troopers are enlisted soldiers. They are primarily divided into three ranks:
- Sergeant
- Corporal
- Private
Others mentioned include Bombardier, Master Sniper, Colour Sergeant and Command Sergeant. Again, other variations exist based on planet of origin, Crusade or Army group etc. Some Sergeants in the Imperial Guard are known as 'Veteran Sergeants' but this is not generally an actual rank - Veteran Sergeants are either very experienced holders of the Sergeant rank or senior NCOs. The evolved Ogryns and Ratlings seem either to follow no ranking system at all or some internal ranking system, although they are obliged to obey Imperial Guard officers. Some Ogryns are given surgery to augment their intelligence, a process known as "Biochemical Ogryn Neural Enhancement". Ogryns that receive these modifications are able to act as middlemen between humans and other Ogryns, and are often known as "Bone'eads".
[edit] Notable Characters
- Lord Commander Solar Macharius
- Arvin Larn (from the "Fifteen Hours" novel)
- Commissar Yarrick
- Nork Deddog
- Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt
- Colonel Schaeffer (and his Last Chancers)
- Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed and his colour sergeant Jarran Kell
- Lord Marshal Graf Harazahn
- Commissar Ciaphas Cain
From the PC game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
From the PC game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Winter Assault Expansion Pack.
From the PC game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade Expansion Pack.
[edit] Novels
There are several novels featuring the Imperial Guard, published by the Black Library
- The Gaunt's Ghosts series, by Dan Abnett.
- The Last Chancers Trilogy, by Gav Thorpe:
- 13th Legion
- Kill Team
- Annihilation Squad
- The Ciaphas Cain series, by Sandy Mitchell:
- For the Emperor
- Caves of Ice
- The Traitor's Hand
- Death or Glory
- Duty Calls
- Double Eagle, by Dan Abnett.
- Fifteen Hours, by Mitchell Scanlon.
[edit] PC Games
- The Imperial Guard make a guest appearance in the single player campaign of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War led by Colonel Carus Brom as NPCs and playable units in some missions . They have since been expanded into a playable faction in the expansion pack Winter Assault, with the Cadian 412th Infantry under the command of General Sturnn in the Order Campaign. Additionally, in Dark Crusade, the second expansion pack, the 1st Kronus regiment of the Imperial Guard make an appearance led by Governor-Militant Lukas Alexander.
- The Imperial Guard were part of the Imperiums force in Final Liberation: Warhammer Epic 40,000, the other two parts consisting of the Space Marines and the Adeptus Mechanicus Titan legions.
- The Imperial Guard also make appearances as opposition in the Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior first-person shooter.
[edit] See also
- History of the Imperial Guard
- Weapons and Equipment of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
- Vehicles of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
[edit] References
- Chambers, Andy, Haines, Pete, and Hoare, Andy (2003). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Imperial Guard, 4th Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-410-8.
- Johnson, Jervis (2001). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Catachans. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-016-1.
- Imperial Guard Homepage from the Games Workshop website. URL accessed on 9 January 2006.
- Armored Company Rules from the Games Workshop website. URL accessed on 8 December 2006.
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