Imperial Guard

The Imperial Guard is the primary military force of the Imperium of Man. It constitutes the standard army in contrast to the special combat force of the Adeptus Astartes (Space Marines).

The Imperial Guard is composed of billions of soldiers and other personnel from any of the many thousands of worlds in the Imperium. Each world is required, as part of its tribute to the Emperor, to raise its own defense forces, which are available for conscription into the Imperial Guard. As a result, the Guard contains soldiers from an enormous array of backgrounds, so much so that dialectal differences can pose something of a barrier to communication. The quality of these troops also varies accordingly, ranging from minimally armed, barely trained fighters to very well-equipped and extensively trained professional soldiers. On the whole, Guardsmen are armed with simple, rugged technologies that, usually, are only really effective when used in great numbers. And 'numbers' is what the Imperial Guard specializes in.

Like the Imperium as a whole, the Guard suffers from technological stagnation. While it has access to many technologies, the average Guardsman - indeed, even those who produce the technologies - have at the very best only a vague understanding of how their equipment actually works. Most Guardsmen attribute supernatural qualities to their equipment and understand it in mystical, almost child-like terms. Nevertheless, Guardsmen are entirely capable of applying those technologies effectively, even if the technical basis is lost to them.

This does however lead to a brute-force sort of application, and the Guard in general relies far more on sheer numbers and raw firepower than upon intelligent use of their vehicles and equipment. At least some Guard units are so 'backwards' that they have no understanding even of such simple tactics as laser-based target designation, which was mystifiying to many Guardsmen during the Damocles Gulf Crusade against the far more advanced, but much less numerous, Tau. Guardsmen also usually lack equipment such as night-vision gear, putting them at a disadvantage in darkness. It is possible that better-funded and better-trained units would understand such tactics and have access to such technologies, but these are not typical.

Gear for an average infantry Guardsman is minimalistic, often little more than a flak jacket (meager protection against most weapons) and a lasrifle, a basic laser weapon. Lasrifles are comparable to heavy machine guns on their standard setting, although at high-drain settings they can cleave through masonry and flesh with equal ease. (Maximum wattage is about 19 megajoules per second, but whether the weapon's power cell or heat-dissipation systems can actually sustain that output for any length of time is uncertain.) Other equipment like grenades, sidearms, etc is rare, except for larger crew-served weapons - such as missiles, heavy bolters, and lascannons - which are used to mow down infantry and act as an equalizer against armored vehicles. Flamers, meltaguns, and other special weapons are also employed on an as-needed basis. Many Guardsmen who face powerful close-combat threats, like Orks and Tyranids, will also carry swords for last-ditch defense. Note that poorly funded Guard units will be even more minimally armed than this, while well-funded units may have access to superior personal armor, more reliable weapons, and helmets with integrated sensor and communication systems.

While the Imperial Guard regularly deploys vast hordes of infantry, its real hitting power comes from its vehicles. The Guard maintains a variety of armored vehicles, including main battle tanks, anti-air platforms, self-propelled artillery, and the true hammers of the Guard, enormous superheavy tanks. The principle role of the infantry is to serve as a shield for the slow-moving heavy armor, protecting their flanks while the heavy weaponry on the vehicles decimates hostile targets. Again, this is a brute-force doctrine, relying on huge numbers and gross firepower as opposed to mobility, precision strikes against enemy command lines or infrastructure, or surveillance and ECM (information warfare). Such things are largely alien to the mentality of the Guard. In those areas the Imperial Guard is often supported by Space Marines, who are much better-trained and competent at the more nuanced aspects of warfare. If on the other hand even more brute force is called for, the Guard can receive support from the Titan Legions, a force of gargantuan humanoid war machines more akin to walking warships than to tanks. However, while Titans possess immense firepower and durability, they are too huge and logistics-intensive to deploy to any but the most critical warzones.

Imperial Guard units vary not only in equipment but also in combat training. Many Guard units train on their native planet's terrain, and thus are particularly effective in those sorts of environments. Catachan Jungle-Fighters, for instance, are not exceptionally well-equipped but they are exceptionally effective in jungle warfare; this is because they train on their world of Catachan, which is a jungle death-world seething with hostile life-forms that provides a naturally rigorous training regime. Other Guard units may specialize in warfare types that are not based on their planet's terrain, such as airmobility warfare involving paratroops. At any rate, Guard units with specialties like these are valued for use on fronts where such training can provide the edge needed for victory.

Guardsmen who conquer a planet are granted the privilege of settling on that planet - perhaps the only tangible reward for their service. At the opposite extreme, Guardsmen who participate in battles against Chaos are, even when valiant and successful, summarily executed after battle. This is considered necessary to prevent any Daemonic taint from spreading into the unit, which could be disastrous, and as Guardsmen are easily recruited in their millions they can be considered expendable.

Record 1514 - group - Last update 14 Nov 2007, 10:35:30

Entry written by: Torvus

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