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.

The Imperial Guard

The Imperial Guard is a colossal organisation, consisting of billions of men and women from millions of different worlds and systems within the Imperium. Each regiment is a force of between three thousand 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.

The Imperial Guard are far more numerous than the Space Marines, as 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.

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" 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' among the player community, and was catered for in the third edition of the game by the release of rules for an Armoured Company composed entirely of tanks.(Though severely limiting gameplay, as only high-point games can accommodate such massive amount of points.)

The various Imperial Guard regiments produced by Games Workshop draw on a variety of historical and fictional inspirations, some of the most obvious visual links (note that as of the latest incarnation of Warhammer 40k many of these models are no longer produced):

• Catachans: Vietnam War Americans
• Valhallans: WW2 Soviet Red Army
• Armageddon Steel Legion: WW2 German Fallschirmjäger
• Praetorians: Late 1800's British Infantry (as represented in the film Zulu)
• Vostroyans: 18th Century Russian Cossacks
• Mordians: Early WW1 Commonwealth infantry (before the introduction of the steel helmet), also US Marines in their ceremonial uniforms.
• Tallarn: Arabian influences or WW2 Long Range Desert Group.
• Cadians: See below.
• Death Korps of Krieg: WW1 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.
• 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 fourth-edition Cadians; were developed to be a generic force representing any modern or science fiction Armed Force, unlike in the third edition in which they were heavily styled on the United States Army. In addition, skilled modellers have been able to convert several of the released (and unreleased) regiments to conform to numerous armies past and present, from the ANZACs of the Battle of Gallipoli 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 the most attracting part of the Imperial Guard are the Commissars. They are represented as the stereo-typical dictator general, executing anyone seen as a coward whilst drumming out the commands.

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

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 b 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 standard Guardsman 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 ect. 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".

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 Winter Assault Expansion Pack.

• General Sturnn

From the PC game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Dark Crusade Expansion Pack.

• Governor-Militant Mauser

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.

PC Games

• The Imperial Guard make a guest appearance in the single player campaign of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War led by Colonel Brom as NPCs and playable units in some missions, and have 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 the second Dawn of War expansion, another regiment of the Imperial Guard will appear led by Governor-Militant Mauser.
• 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.

See also

• History of the Imperial Guard
• Weapons and Equipment of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
• Vehicles of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)

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.