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Imperial Guard (Warhammer 40,000)
Encyclopedia
The Imperial Guard are a specific army or faction in the Warhammer 40,000
and Epic
tabletop games and universe. The army itself is characterised by being capable of fielding a multitude of lightly armoured, average infantry in combination with some of the toughest and most powerful tanks in the game. In the game universe, the Imperial Guard is a colossal military organisation consisting of trillions of men and women supported by millions of tanks each from thousands of different worlds and systems within the Imperium of Man
.
The Imperial Guard was first introduced to the game in White Dwarf
109, January 1989. In May 2009 a new codex was released for the 5th Edition of the game, along with a number of new plastic kits. One such new model is the Valkyrie, which had previously been available only in resin from Forge World.
Each Imperial Guard regiment is raised from a single world and numbers between 500 and 750,000 fighting soldiers, supported by a huge array of light and heavy armoured vehicles
. Each regiment also has its own entourage, consisting of support staff, camp follower
s, suppliers, tech-priests, doctors, religious leaders and the like. When millions of regiments are grouped up into large fighting forces, they are issued far larger assets such as theatre- or even planetary-scale artillery, trillions of super-heavy tanks regiments, and even the billions strong Cohorts of Praetorian-class landships that dwarf the Leviathan command vehicles from the billions of Munitorium armory, fortress, and staging worlds. Although a player may field a mixed force of these armor, artillery, and infantry units on the table-top, in the game universe, the composition of any one regiment is fairly uniform; that is, an infantry regiment will contain thousands of foot soldiers with only a minimal number of support vehicles and an armored regiment will consist of little else save its tanks. This policy was put in place by the Imperium to prevent, or at least minimize the damage from, large scale mutinies in the wake of the Horus Heresy, as no one regiment constitutes a complete, self sufficient fighting force in its own right.
Regiments are drawn from all types of planets of the Imperium from Fortress worlds such as Cadia, where the entire populace is raised under arms from birth, to Feral and Medieval worlds, and the contributions of some planets over the ten thousand years of the Imperium run into the billions of regiments, if not more. The Imperial Guard are constantly at war, freeing worlds from Chaotic
or alien influence, or defending them from the same. The Imperial Guard rely upon the Imperial Navy for transport to and from war zones.
The Imperial Guard make up the back bone of the Imperium.
The Imperial Guard was initially bound by a series of rules relating to its command structure. Squads of units formed platoon
s 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 Cavalry), penal units, human bombs, and abhuman
s. Vehicles were limited to Rhinos, and Land Speeders.
The first incarnation of the Imperial Guard as a fully supported army was in 1995, with the release of the Codex: Imperial Guard sourcebook for the second edition of Warhammer 40,000. This was the first time that the army itself had specific army rules collected in their own sourcebook. With the release of the third edition of the game, almost all the Warhammer 40,000 armies eventually had new codices compatible with the new edition. In line with this, Codex: Imperial Guard was released in 1999, followed by Codex: Catachans in 2001. This was a smaller sourcebook (or mini-dex/mini-codex) that was meant to be used in conjunction with the "parent" Codex: Imperial Guard. The mini-dex itself provided even more specific rules for fielding one of the more popular Imperial Guard sub-armies, the Catachan Jungle Fighters, for which plastic models were available. In 2003, Games Workshop
conducted the Eye of Terror worldwide campaign and released a corresponding sourcebook, Codex: Eye of Terror. This campaign sourcebook contained various rules, including a specific army list for another one of the Imperial Guard's notable sub-armies, the Cadian Shock Troops. Soon after the campaign ended, the changes in the Cadian Shock Troops army list were integrated into the Imperial Guard rules, and Games Workshop released a second, revamped version of Codex: Imperial Guard. Following various rumours, White Dwarf 351 confirmed that an updated Imperial Guard codex was being released, along with new rules and miniatures (including the Valkyrie airborne assault carrier, a new Cadian and Catachan command squad and a new sentinel) and was released on May 2, 2009.
In the latest Codex, the Imperial Guard "doctrines" were removed, replaced by the "orders" system. Units designated by the "order" must be in a specific distance radius from either a Platoon Officer or a HQ Officer. Benefits are given if both the officer's unit and the squad receiving the order have vox-casters.
In addition to humans, the Imperial Guard also contains several types of abhumans — species evolved from humans that differ markedly from the norm. The two species most commonly found are the Ogryns (the counterpart of the Warhammer Fantasy
setting ogre
s) whose superhuman strength makes them excellent close combat fighters and the Ratlings (resembling halfling
s/hobbit
s) who function as expert snipers.
One of the more distinctive aspects of the Imperial Guard army is its Commissar
s. They are represented as akin to the ruthless, political commissar
s of the former Soviet Union
.
The Imperial Commissar, as described by many Warhammer novelists, is given complete jurisdiction to judge the actions of any trooper or officer and to act accordingly. An Imperial Commissar's word is immutable law and his visage is one of grim authority that is to be respected and rightly feared, reporting to the Commissariat personally. Many novels hint that a good portion of the Commissars slain in battle are "accidentally" hit by friendly fire. (The Fourth-Edition codex for the notoriously anti-authoritarian Catachan regiments of the Imperial Guard includes the "Oops, Sorry Sir" rule that gives Commissar models included in a Catachan army a 1-in-6 chance of having been killed - or more appropriately, fragged
- before the game begins.) There are also hints that some Commissars have taken to the tactic of inspiring troops by heroic example, hoping to emulate the "heroic" Commissar Ciaphas Cain
.
Another unique aspect of the Imperial Guard is that the models for the regiments of different worlds are physically distinct, rather than the same models with different paint schemes like the other armies (save the Space Marines where the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, and Grey Knights Chapters all have models specific to them which other Chapters may not field and as such are considered separate armies). For example, the models for the Cadian Shock Troops resemble the soldiers of the Mobile Infantry as seen in the movie Starship Troopers and the Catachan Jungle Fighters appear in the stripped down uniforms as worn by American soldiers in the Vietnam War and as seen in movies based around that conflict such as Rambo - a look befitting the inhabitants of a jungle death world.
As a single platoon contains several squads, and each squad has options for taking special and heavy weapons, a single troops choice can take a staggering amount of said weapons. (A fully loaded platoon may take up to 11 special weapons and 20 heavy weapons in a single troops choice, while most other armies can only take one of each.) This, combined with the heavy firepower of Guard vehicles, produces an army that is primarily geared toward firepower. To offset this and create a proper balance to the game, the designers gave the average Imperial Guardsman a low armor save of 5+ and only an average value of 3 for their Weapon Skill, Strength, Toughness, and Initiative scores. This means that should an enemy withstand the blistering hail of weapons fire and close the distance to assault, the Guardsmen will more than likely be torn apart in the ensuing melee.
Some of the major strengths of the Imperial Guard army are their vehicles. From the fragile Sentinel to the devastatingly destructive Leman Russ Demolisher, and many of its new variants previously shown in the Imperial Armour
books by Forge World
were released in the new codex, the vehicles of the Imperial Guard can significantly add to their effectiveness as an army. The Imperial Guard are said to have the best tanks in the game. Although individual tanks from other armies (such as the Necrons) may sport more firepower and/or armor than those of the Imperial Guard, the Guard has, overall, the most powerful armored force (or, at least, the most varied). New plastic kits for the Hellhound flamethrower tank and the Leman Russ Demolisher have been released, while new plastic kits for the Basilisk mobile artillery and the Chimera armoured troop transport were released with the expansion Battle Missions.
The Imperial Guard make several appearances in many of the video games that occur in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
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 game's expansion packs:
The Imperial Guard were part of the Imperium's 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. Among the possible opponents, there are lasgun- and autogun-wielding guardsmen, officers with chainswords and a Valkrie Dropship as a boss.
The Imperial Guard has also made an appearance in the computer game Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War
, usually used alongside Space Marine forces (much like in the Final Liberation).
Much like in the original Dawn of War the Imperial Guard (more specifically stormtroopers and regular guardsmen squads) make a supporting appearance as NPCs
in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
during several campaign battles, including the ending mission against the Tyranids. They also appeared in its expansion, Chaos Rising, with some guardsmen becoming traitorous and pledging their loyalties to Chaos in the early missions on Aurelia. They are replaced by Chaos cultists as enemies during the middle and ending sections of the campaign, while also serving as allies on selected missions in the campaign.
In Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution, the Imperial Guard have become a fully playable race and are most dangerous when they field a large amount of tanks or a huge horde of infantry.
Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...
and Epic
Epic (game)
Epic is a tabletop wargame set in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. Where Warhammer 40,000 involves small battles between forces of a few squads of troops and two or three vehicles, Epic features battles between armies consisting of dozens of tanks and hundreds of soldiers...
tabletop games and universe. The army itself is characterised by being capable of fielding a multitude of lightly armoured, average infantry in combination with some of the toughest and most powerful tanks in the game. In the game universe, the Imperial Guard is a colossal military organisation consisting of trillions of men and women supported by millions of tanks each from thousands of different worlds and systems within the Imperium of Man
Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
The Imperium of Man is a fictional galactic empire of over a million planets that contains the vast majority of humans in the forty-first millennium, set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe created by Games Workshop....
.
The Imperial Guard was first introduced to the game in White Dwarf
White Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
109, January 1989. In May 2009 a new codex was released for the 5th Edition of the game, along with a number of new plastic kits. One such new model is the Valkyrie, which had previously been available only in resin from Forge World.
Overview
The Imperial Guard (previously the Imperial Army) is a colossal fictional military organization, consisting of many billions of armies throughout the Imperium, and forming the vast bulk of the Imperium's military machine. Unlike the Space Marines, who are an elite unit that rely upon precision strikes against the enemy's critical assets to carry the day, the Imperial Guard relies on massed assaults made up of endless waves of infantry and armor to achieve victory. It is this battlefield strategy that has earned the organization the moniker "The Sledgehammer of the Emperor". It also earns the Guard the reputation as a meatgrinder, whose commanders are more than willing to spend their soldiers' lives for the smallest of gains or in the most suicidal defensive actions.Each Imperial Guard regiment is raised from a single world and numbers between 500 and 750,000 fighting soldiers, supported by a huge array of light and heavy armoured vehicles
Armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and armed with weapons. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked....
. Each regiment also has its own entourage, consisting of support staff, camp follower
Camp follower
Camp-follower is a term used to identify civilians and their children who follow armies. There are two common types of camp followers; first, the wives and children of soldiers, who follow their spouse or parent's army from place to place; the second type of camp followers have historically been...
s, suppliers, tech-priests, doctors, religious leaders and the like. When millions of regiments are grouped up into large fighting forces, they are issued far larger assets such as theatre- or even planetary-scale artillery, trillions of super-heavy tanks regiments, and even the billions strong Cohorts of Praetorian-class landships that dwarf the Leviathan command vehicles from the billions of Munitorium armory, fortress, and staging worlds. Although a player may field a mixed force of these armor, artillery, and infantry units on the table-top, in the game universe, the composition of any one regiment is fairly uniform; that is, an infantry regiment will contain thousands of foot soldiers with only a minimal number of support vehicles and an armored regiment will consist of little else save its tanks. This policy was put in place by the Imperium to prevent, or at least minimize the damage from, large scale mutinies in the wake of the Horus Heresy, as no one regiment constitutes a complete, self sufficient fighting force in its own right.
Regiments are drawn from all types of planets of the Imperium from Fortress worlds such as Cadia, where the entire populace is raised under arms from birth, to Feral and Medieval worlds, and the contributions of some planets over the ten thousand years of the Imperium run into the billions of regiments, if not more. The Imperial Guard are constantly at war, freeing worlds from Chaotic
Chaos (Warhammer)
In Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes, Chaos refers to the often stereotypically malevolent entities which live in a different timespace, known as the Warp in Warhammer 40,000 and as the Realm of Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy...
or alien influence, or defending them from the same. The Imperial Guard rely upon the Imperial Navy for transport to and from war zones.
Gameplay
History of the Imperial Guard as an Army
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 make up the back bone of the Imperium.
The Imperial Guard was initially bound by a series of rules relating to its command structure. Squads of units formed platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
s 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 Cavalry), penal units, human bombs, and abhuman
Abhuman
Abhuman, distinguished from inhuman, is a term used by William Hope Hodgson in his novel The Night Land and his Carnacki stories. Abhumans also appear in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, and Bram Stoker among other notable modernist American and British authors.-Description:In...
s. Vehicles were limited to Rhinos, and Land Speeders.
The first incarnation of the Imperial Guard as a fully supported army was in 1995, with the release of the Codex: Imperial Guard sourcebook for the second edition of Warhammer 40,000. This was the first time that the army itself had specific army rules collected in their own sourcebook. With the release of the third edition of the game, almost all the Warhammer 40,000 armies eventually had new codices compatible with the new edition. In line with this, Codex: Imperial Guard was released in 1999, followed by Codex: Catachans in 2001. This was a smaller sourcebook (or mini-dex/mini-codex) that was meant to be used in conjunction with the "parent" Codex: Imperial Guard. The mini-dex itself provided even more specific rules for fielding one of the more popular Imperial Guard sub-armies, the Catachan Jungle Fighters, for which plastic models were available. In 2003, Games Workshop
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
conducted the Eye of Terror worldwide campaign and released a corresponding sourcebook, Codex: Eye of Terror. This campaign sourcebook contained various rules, including a specific army list for another one of the Imperial Guard's notable sub-armies, the Cadian Shock Troops. Soon after the campaign ended, the changes in the Cadian Shock Troops army list were integrated into the Imperial Guard rules, and Games Workshop released a second, revamped version of Codex: Imperial Guard. Following various rumours, White Dwarf 351 confirmed that an updated Imperial Guard codex was being released, along with new rules and miniatures (including the Valkyrie airborne assault carrier, a new Cadian and Catachan command squad and a new sentinel) and was released on May 2, 2009.
Overview
Because of the low in-game points cost of each individual Imperial Guardsman, Imperial Guard armies are capable of fielding a much larger number of troops than most other armies (A full guard platoon can boast up to 132 models, not counting independent characters, per troops choice). In addition, they have access to various vehicles, such as the Leman Russ main battle tank, Basilisk mobile artillery, Chimera armoured troop transport and the Sentinel walker.In the latest Codex, the Imperial Guard "doctrines" were removed, replaced by the "orders" system. Units designated by the "order" must be in a specific distance radius from either a Platoon Officer or a HQ Officer. Benefits are given if both the officer's unit and the squad receiving the order have vox-casters.
In addition to humans, the Imperial Guard also contains several types of abhumans — species evolved from humans that differ markedly from the norm. The two species most commonly found are the Ogryns (the counterpart of the Warhammer Fantasy
Warhammer Fantasy (setting)
Warhammer Fantasy is a fantasy setting, created by Games Workshop, which is used by many of the company's games. Some of the best-known games set in this world are: the table top wargame Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay pen-and-paper role-playing game, and the MMORPG...
setting ogre
Ogre
An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...
s) whose superhuman strength makes them excellent close combat fighters and the Ratlings (resembling halfling
Halfling
Halfling is another name for J. R. R. Tolkien's Hobbit which can be a fictional race sometimes found in fantasy novels and games. In many settings, they are similar to humans except about half the size. Dungeons & Dragons began using the name halfling as an alternative to hobbit for legal reasons...
s/hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
s) who function as expert snipers.
One of the more distinctive aspects of the Imperial Guard army is its Commissar
Commissar
Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
s. They are represented as akin to the ruthless, political commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
s of the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
The Imperial Commissar, as described by many Warhammer novelists, is given complete jurisdiction to judge the actions of any trooper or officer and to act accordingly. An Imperial Commissar's word is immutable law and his visage is one of grim authority that is to be respected and rightly feared, reporting to the Commissariat personally. Many novels hint that a good portion of the Commissars slain in battle are "accidentally" hit by friendly fire. (The Fourth-Edition codex for the notoriously anti-authoritarian Catachan regiments of the Imperial Guard includes the "Oops, Sorry Sir" rule that gives Commissar models included in a Catachan army a 1-in-6 chance of having been killed - or more appropriately, fragged
Frag (military)
In the U.S. military, fragging refers to the act of attacking a superior officer in one's chain of command with the intent to kill that officer. The term originated during the Vietnam War and was most commonly used to mean the assassination of an unpopular officer of one's own fighting unit...
- before the game begins.) There are also hints that some Commissars have taken to the tactic of inspiring troops by heroic example, hoping to emulate the "heroic" Commissar Ciaphas Cain
Ciaphas Cain
The Ciaphas Cain series is a collection of science fiction novels set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. They center on the eponymous character, an Imperial Commissar of the Imperial Guard, and his varied and colorful career.-Novels:...
.
Another unique aspect of the Imperial Guard is that the models for the regiments of different worlds are physically distinct, rather than the same models with different paint schemes like the other armies (save the Space Marines where the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, and Grey Knights Chapters all have models specific to them which other Chapters may not field and as such are considered separate armies). For example, the models for the Cadian Shock Troops resemble the soldiers of the Mobile Infantry as seen in the movie Starship Troopers and the Catachan Jungle Fighters appear in the stripped down uniforms as worn by American soldiers in the Vietnam War and as seen in movies based around that conflict such as Rambo - a look befitting the inhabitants of a jungle death world.
As a single platoon contains several squads, and each squad has options for taking special and heavy weapons, a single troops choice can take a staggering amount of said weapons. (A fully loaded platoon may take up to 11 special weapons and 20 heavy weapons in a single troops choice, while most other armies can only take one of each.) This, combined with the heavy firepower of Guard vehicles, produces an army that is primarily geared toward firepower. To offset this and create a proper balance to the game, the designers gave the average Imperial Guardsman a low armor save of 5+ and only an average value of 3 for their Weapon Skill, Strength, Toughness, and Initiative scores. This means that should an enemy withstand the blistering hail of weapons fire and close the distance to assault, the Guardsmen will more than likely be torn apart in the ensuing melee.
Some of the major strengths of the Imperial Guard army are their vehicles. From the fragile Sentinel to the devastatingly destructive Leman Russ Demolisher, and many of its new variants previously shown in the Imperial Armour
Imperial Armour
Imperial Armour is a series of rules supplements to the Warhammer 40,000 table-top game, along with an associated range of vehicle-size resin model kits...
books by Forge World
Forge World
Forge World is the name of a subsidiary company of Games Workshop run by Tony Cottrell, which designs, moulds, and sells resin models for various Games Workshop games....
were released in the new codex, the vehicles of the Imperial Guard can significantly add to their effectiveness as an army. The Imperial Guard are said to have the best tanks in the game. Although individual tanks from other armies (such as the Necrons) may sport more firepower and/or armor than those of the Imperial Guard, the Guard has, overall, the most powerful armored force (or, at least, the most varied). New plastic kits for the Hellhound flamethrower tank and the Leman Russ Demolisher have been released, while new plastic kits for the Basilisk mobile artillery and the Chimera armoured troop transport were released with the expansion Battle Missions.
Video games
The Imperial Guard make a guest appearance in the single player campaign of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment based on Games Workshop's popular tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000. It was released by THQ on September 20, 2004 in North America...
led by Colonel Carus Brom as NPCs
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
and playable units in some missions . They have since been expanded into a playable faction in the game's expansion packs:
- In Winter Assault, the Guard is represented by the 412th Cadian Regiment under the command of General Sturnn in the Order Campaign.
- In Dark Crusade, the 1st Kronus regiment, a.k.a. "The Liberators", represents the faction, led by Governor-Militant Lukas Alexander with their home territory based out of "Victory Bay."
- In Soulstorm, the faction is portrayed as the 252nd Kauravan Conservator Regiment, under Governor-General Vance Stubbs; their primary base of operations is located in the Dussala Precinct on Kaurava I which manufacture the Imperial Guards ultimate weapon, the Baneblade Tank.
The Imperial Guard were part of the Imperium's force in Final Liberation: Warhammer Epic 40,000
Final Liberation: Warhammer Epic 40,000
Final Liberation is a turn-based tactics video game released for Microsoft Windows in 1997. The game is best known as the first video game based on Epic, a table-top wargame set in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, in an attempt to recreate the table-top experience on a computer as opposed...
, the other two parts consisting of the Space Marines
Space Marines (Warhammer 40,000)
In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000 setting created by Games Workshop, Space Marines are genetically modified "super human" soldiers created by the Emperor to conquer the galaxy and defend mankind. According to Games Workshop, there are over a thousand recorded chapters of Space Marines,...
and the Adeptus Mechanicus Titan legions.
The Imperial Guard also make appearances as opposition in the Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior
Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior
Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior is a Warhammer 40,000 video game available for the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. It was developed by Kuju Entertainment and was released in October 2003....
first-person shooter. Among the possible opponents, there are lasgun- and autogun-wielding guardsmen, officers with chainswords and a Valkrie Dropship as a boss.
The Imperial Guard has also made an appearance in the computer game Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War
Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War
Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War is a turn based strategy game based on the celebrated Panzer General 2 engine by SSI. It is set in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. It was produced by Games Workshop in 1999, and centers around the invasion of a Tyranid Hive fleet and the Imperial efforts to...
, usually used alongside Space Marine forces (much like in the Final Liberation).
Much like in the original Dawn of War the Imperial Guard (more specifically stormtroopers and regular guardsmen squads) make a supporting appearance as NPCs
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is a real-time strategy/tactical role-playing video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ for Microsoft Windows based on the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. It is the sequel to the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War video game series...
during several campaign battles, including the ending mission against the Tyranids. They also appeared in its expansion, Chaos Rising, with some guardsmen becoming traitorous and pledging their loyalties to Chaos in the early missions on Aurelia. They are replaced by Chaos cultists as enemies during the middle and ending sections of the campaign, while also serving as allies on selected missions in the campaign.
In Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution, the Imperial Guard have become a fully playable race and are most dangerous when they field a large amount of tanks or a huge horde of infantry.
See also
- Equipment of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
- Vehicles of the Imperial Guard (Warhammer 40,000)
- Vehicles of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
- WH40K Wiki Imperial Guard
- Wargame Tactics Tactics web site for Warhammer 40,000 Imperial Guard