Warhammer 40,000 Homebrew Wiki:How to make a Homebrew Astra Militarum Regiment

"We're going out there to fight the worst the universe can throw at us, and we’ve got nothing but the weapons in our hands and our wits to fight them. But do you know what that means, soldier? If you’re clever and tough and lucky enough to survive it all, everything else will seem easy!"

- Unknown Imperial Guard Sergeant, before the battle of Garhive

This is a guide for those who wish to create their own Fanon Imperial Guard Regiment. The hardest part in the creation of your own Imperial Guard Regiment is coming up with something original, insightful, with excellent characterization and something that hasn't been done already a million times before. The guide you'll see below will help you create an Astra Militarum regiment, one with an appropriate background, recruiting world, structure, organization and equipment.

Background
The Imperial Guard, also known as the Astra Militarum, is a colossal organization, dwarfing every other military force in the Imperium for sheer manpower, and matched only by the Imperial Navy in logistical complexity and universal significance. It has been claimed that for every star visible from the surface of Holy Terra, there are a hundred million Imperial Guardsmen waging war on some distant world in the Emperor’s name, though nobody could possibly know how many Imperial Guardsmen there truly are at any one moment, so vast are their numbers and so quickly do those numbers change. However, what is certain is that every one of these brave souls, be it men or women, are required to fight and die for the Imperium in order to preserve it and destroy the enemies of man.

The Imperial Army
The origins of the Imperial Guard date back to the time of the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium when the Emperor of Mankind conquered a large swathe of the galaxy and forged the Imperium of Man. As the Great Crusade progressed and more worlds needed to be liberated, the Imperium's need for more troops increased drastically. Even the mighty superhuman armies, called the Legiones Astartes, could not alone complete the task at hand. This gave rise to the creation of the Imperial Army, known formally as the Imperialis Auxilia and the Excertus Imperialis respectively (the hosts of the Imperial Army and its auxiliaries). This was the Imperial military force comprised of normal men and women that served as the ancestor of the modern Imperial Guard of the late 41st Millennium.

It was therefore decreed that each of the liberated worlds would supply men-at-arms to bolster the war effort. Although not as powerful as the Space Marine Legions under the various Primarchs' command, the Imperial Army regiments were nevertheless useful additions to the Astartes' fighting strength. Unlike in the present-day Imperium, where the Imperial Guard serves as Mankind's front-line armed force in the defence of the Emperor's realm, the Imperial Army was never anything more than a reserve force for the Imperium during the Great Crusade, and its troops were usually tasked with garrison duty or mopping-up operations. Only in the last decades of that great campaign did Imperial Army troops finally fight directly alongside the forces of one of the ancient Space Marine Legions on campaign.

In the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, a massive galaxy wide civil war that devastated the entire Imperium, forced the Emperor to sacrifice himself by ascending to the Golden Throne and vastly reduced the size of the Legiones Astartes, great reforms were made by the notorious Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, Roboute Guilliman. Reforming most of the bureaucratic and military structure of the Imperium, Guilliman aimed to prevent another Horus Heresy taking place, by dividng the massive armies of the Imperium into three parts. The Legiones Astartes, now called the Adeptus Astartes, were also fractured into smaller "Chapters" that consisted of 1000 Space Marines each. To prevent a leader from controlling both the army and the navy, Guilliman separated the Imperial army into two and thus, severed any connection between the army and the navy. No longer the commanders of the Imperial Auxilia would be able to call down airstrikes or command navies. The Imperial navy was reformed into the Imperial Guard, who was responsible of all the planetary operations, and the Imperial Navy, who was charged with waging war in the depths of space. Discipline Masters were turned into Commissars, men and women that were ruthlessly trained to root out weakness, corruption, mutiny and disobedience within the Imperial Guard. They were given the right to execute anyone on the regiment they were assigned on, ones that they deemed fit to die. The Imperial Guard lacked any autonomy and were closely watched to ensure their loyalty. The Imperium sacrificed flexibility by compartmentalizing the operations, structure and command of the Astra Militarum. As expected, rebellions and treason would happen again. However, this time, it was ensured that price would never be as high and devastating as the Horus Heresy.

What Is A Regiment?
"These colours have travelled to distant worlds under distant stars, and returned time and again to see new regiments founded beneath it. You each have sworn to uphold the legacy of these colours, and now you go forth into His Imperium as the 32nd Brontian Longknives."

- Aegir Cullough, Brontian Defence Force

The matter of assembling and arming the uncountable masses of Guardsmen is the responsibility of the Departmento Munitorum, which is responsible with all the logistic operations within the Imperium of Man. Some have claimed that the numbers of the Imperial Guard are matched or even exceeded by the sheer number of scribes, adepts, prefects, and a bewildering array of other administrative officials, whose duty it is to ensure that the Imperial Guard are able to fight their countless wars. In their hands is the impossibly complex task of raising armies from a million worlds, equipping them in an appropriate manner, and ensuring that every man and woman is fed, watered, and supplied with ammunition.

What this all boils down to is the regiment. The regiment is the building block of the Imperial Guard, and the nature of each regiment defines how it is to fight, how it is to be equipped, and the manner in which it is best employed. Regiments are raised either as part of the tithe that all worlds contribute to the Imperium, or as necessary from worlds within a particular distance of a newly-opened warzone. It is a rare world in the Imperium that has not raised at least one regiment of Imperial Guard, with the overwhelming majority of those being the tithe-exempt forge worlds and the home worlds of the Adeptus Astartes, both of which produce their own particular fighting forces. An Imperial Guard Regiment is defined in large part by the regiment they belong to - their outlook, their training, and their equipment are shaped primarily by the world and the regiment they hail from, and these factors will define the regiment's Guardsmen for their entire career.

Chain of Command
The tenets of centralized Imperial strategy are set by the High Lords of Terra themselves. The Lord Commander Militant passes on the dictates of this august gathering to Segmentum Command, who in turn hold responsibility for operations within their own designated regions of the Imperium. In practice, the distance and scale involved in the Imperium's wars render such centralized command elements little more than out of touch figureheads. Tales abound of Astropathic messages being received wildly out of sync with the events to which they pertain. During the infamous War of Foretelling, the Vonost System faced a questing tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan. Despite initial successes, Imperial efforts were crippled after temporal distortion caused all of Segmentum Command's orders for the entire war to arrive in a single, garbled message. Compelled at gunpoint by the hidebound Commissar Teitzin to follow their orders to the letter, Segmentum Command's strategy fell apart in horrific fashion and Vonost was lost in less than a solar month. Were frontline officers to await and obey the word of their remote superiors in all matters, Mankind would be swiftly overrun.

Instead, the practicalities of command fall to the officer of highest rank in any given Imperial theatre of war. Though assigned the Munitorum rank of General, native honorifics such as Lord Marshal or High Chenzin are often maintained. These officers are supported by a cadre of loyal personnel who between them comprise localized high command. Individual generals vary enormously in their approach, some coordinating their forces from well behind the lines -- possibly even from low orbit -- while others take to the field amid dedicated retinues of bodyguards. Surrounded by the chatter of servo-skulls, the whispering scratch of auto-quills, and the barking voices of subordinates, wreathed in the reek of promethium-smoke and holy censers, these men direct their mighty armies to victory in the Emperor's name

There is another rank available to the Imperial Guard, one outside of the conventional strategic command structure. This title, affording absolute authority over all but the most exalted Imperial forces, is that of Warmaster. Such power can only be granted by the High Lords themselves. Stigma and superstition often sees this rank renamed, most famously to Lord Solar, and it is rare to see more than one Warmaster in any given stretch of centuries. Such men lead star-spanning Imperial Crusades, or else the defense of entire Imperial Segmentums.

Even the humblest Imperial Guardsmen outrank their counterparts who serve in the fighting forces of their homeworld, the Planetary Defence Forces or PDF; indeed, many veterans look down on those regiments whose only duty is to defend their own planet. These forces are perceived by some Guardsmen as having little combat experience. This is, of course, far from the truth, for the Imperium of Man is beset on all fronts. The relentless raids of pirates and encroachments by aliens are continually opposed by every planet's own military forces. Standing firm in the face of brutal horrors, these brave PDF soldiers fight and die just as well as their comrades in the Imperial Guard, but without the glories and honors won on distant worlds.

Anatomy of a Regiment
Though regarded as such by many within the Departmento Munitorum, a regiment is not a uniform mass of warriors, equal in might and utility to every other regiment. On the contrary, regiments vary immensely in size, structure, and purpose, from small, deadly, armored regiments, to bewilderingly large regiments of siege infantry. In truth, the regiment is a difficult thing to define, but some might classify it like this: a regiment is the operational unit of the Imperial Guard, a discrete formation of Imperial Guardsmen, all trained and equipped to operate in a single way (i.e. artillery, infantry, armor, or specialists such as Abhumans), and all drawn from a single world. Though each regiment can consist of between three and twenty companies, and may number from a couple of hundred men to tens of thousands, it is a rare regiment that is trained in more than one of the doctrines of warfare practiced by the Imperial Guard. To the casual observer this may seem a weakness, as regiments are, by necessity, compelled to rely upon one another for the combined-arms approach advocated by the Tactica Imperium. However, this lack of autonomy is another measure to prevent rebellion, ensuring that even if a whole regiment turns from the light of the Emperor, their lack of versatility will soon see them brought to heel and punished for their disloyalty.

All other factors are subject to local variation and prevailing logistical doctrine - at times, all the fighting men taken from a single world at a single time have been classified as a single regiment, creating units of millions of men, while other periods and places have attempted to define a set number of warriors or an arbitrarily calculated fighting strength to determine a regiment. Some planets are able to raise a variety of regiments. Cadia or Armageddon, for example, are huge worlds embroiled in seemingly endless wars whose populace are given ample opportunity to train in various aspects of warfare. By comparison, other worlds take great and often justifiable pride in their reputation for training a specific kind of regiment to exceptional standards. The pale-skinned, dark-eyed stealth infantry of the Night World Prometheron or the clockwork discipline of the Kalatian artillery brigades are excellent examples of this. Feral or Feudal Worlds, on the other hand, often provide only infantry or Rough Rider regiments, thus circumventing a huge potential culture shock.

Nonetheless, some elements remain consistent. At the top of every regiment in the Imperial Guard is a single officer, commonly given the rank of Colonel, who serves as the frontline commander. Traditional expectations are that a Colonel takes to the field with his men, leading in person, and is often accompanied by advisors such as Imperial Navy liaisons, preachers, psykers, Tech-Priests, and the dreaded Commissars. Each regiment is typically divided into several companies, each of which is commanded by a Captain or Major. A company normally consists of several hundred warriors, and can serve well as a fighting unit in its own right, with individual companies commonly split off to achieve distinct objectives pertaining to a regiment's overall mission. Within each company, the unit is further divided. The exact term used varies by type of company, with vehicle companies divided into squadrons, infantry operating in platoons, and artillery operating in batteries. Each platoon, squadron, or battery is typically commanded by a Lieutenant, the most junior of officers, new to the service of the Imperial Guard. The most basic building block of the regiment is the squad. In an infantry regiment, the squad is the smallest operational unit, overseen by a Sergeant. In an armored or artillery regiment, each squad is given a single vehicle or artillery piece to control, with different soldiers serving as gunners, loaders, drivers, spotters, and a variety of other roles, as required by their duties.

Commanding Officer
"A warrior's faith in his commander is his best armour and his strongest weapon."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

One of the most important aspects in the creation of your Imperial Guard Regiment is it's commanding officer. What type of personality does he/she possess? This defines the natures of the regiment's commanding officer and the influence they have on the men and women under their command. Below are listed examples of the most common types of personalities of a commanding officer encountered:
 * Bilious - The regiment's commander is ill-tempered and paranoid, eternally suspicious of betrayal, and watchful of enemies and allies alike. He regards vigilance as the greatest of virtues, and encourages suspicion and watchfulness among his men.
 * Circumspect - The regiment's commander is balanced in his attitudes and careful in his decision-making, yet often overly cautious. His demeanor encourages his men to similarly consider situations before they strike, observing the battlefield before acting.
 * Choleric - The regiment's commander is decisive and leads from the front, taking charge of situations personally, and never afraid to do what he orders his men to do. However, he is quick to anger, and can often be drawn into foolish actions. His men are ever ready for action, and familiar with the rigors of battle.
 * Fixed - The regiment's commander is decisive and unyielding, and once set on a course of action he seldom changes his mind. While this is invaluable during many actions his regiment undertakes, it leaves his forces inflexible in the face of changing battlefields.
 * Maverick - The regiment's commander is something of a rebel, regarded as ill-disciplined and unpredictable by his peers, but his attitude and his daring make him beloved by his men, who see their leader as one of them, rather than one of "the officers." So long as he leads, they will follow him anywhere.
 * Melancholic - The regiment's commander is careful and introspective, but his will is not what it once was, having suffered greatly in the crucible of war. While loyal, his leadership is hampered by hesitation and pessimism, and his warriors are often forced to rely more on their own initiative in battle, taking charge themselves when their superiors falter.
 * Phlegmatic - The regiment's commander is quiet and contemplative, a man of few words. When he does speak, it is with great and solemn purpose, to give commands that have been considered in exacting detail. He does not command loyalty through rhetoric or heroics, but through quiet competence, and his men have learned to trust in his skill and rely on the chain of command.
 * Sanguine - The regiment's commander is confident and optimistic, though sometimes too caught up in dreams of glory and triumph. While inspirational to his men with grandiose speeches and heroism, his ambition has often seen them faced with impossible odds, caught up in their commander's quest for glory, and they must battle hard to survive.
 * Supine - The regiment's commander is a devout man, absolutely loyal to the Imperium, but lacking in his own initiative. Incapable of the imagination and daring that gets an officer noticed by his superiors, he serves as little more than their mouthpiece, accepting their commands and passing them on flawlessly to his own men. Bereft of any true command, the men must have faith if they are to survive in the fury of war.

Imperial Guard Rank Hierarchy
"In any army, balance is the key to success. A commander who puts his faith in heavy weaponry alone will be outmanoeuvred. A commander who relies on close combat without support will lose his force to enemy fire. Each element must work in harmony, so that the effectiveness of the army is greater than the sum of its parts."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

The military organization of the Imperial Guard is a simple, hierarchical chain of command to which blind adhesion is required, especially from the lower ranks. Independent thinking and action is at best frowned upon, and at worst sanctioned by death. This one-way immutable decision structure is the only method that has proven efficient in coordinating the gargantuan resources necessary for the correct deployment of the Imperial Guard in a given war zone.

The main issues of confusion and lack of cohesion within the Imperial Guard's hierarchy come from the interdependence of the Imperial Guard with the Imperial Navy and the Adeptus Administratum's Departmento Munitorum. Indeed, following the Horus Heresy, the Primarch Roboute Guilliman made sure that no single individual would ever again have enough military power to threaten the stability of the Imperium. Thus, the Imperial Guard furnishes the manpower, the Departmento Munitorum furnishes the materiel and the Imperial Navy ensures air superiority and transports both men and weapons to their objective without intervening directly on the ground other than providing air support. The arrangement has proven effective, but politicking amongst Imperial officers can lead to confusion in the chain of command as they vie for seniority and the most prestigious assignments. It is one of the roles of the Commissariat to ensure, by force of arms if necessary, that the Imperial military's chain of command always remains clear and operationally efficient.

From highest to lowest, the ranks of the Imperial Guard include:
 * Lord Commander Militant (supreme commander of the Imperial Guard and a High Lord of Terra)
 * Warmaster (Lord Solar) (special rank only bestowed upon a general officer who leads an Imperial Crusade)
 * Lord Commander (supreme military commander of one of the five Imperial Segmentae)
 * Lord General Militant (supreme military commander of a designated theatre of operations)
 * General (various different titles for this rank exist. Leader of multiple regiments in an army group)
 * Colonel (various different titles for this rank exist. Leader of a regiment or equivalent formation)
 * Major 
 * Captain (various different titles for this rank exist. Leader of a company or equivalent formation)
 * Lieutenant (Leader of a platoon or equivalent formation)
 * Sergeant (Leader of a basic Squad)
 * Corporal
 * Trooper (Rank and file soldier)
 * Commissars, Priests of the Ecclesiarchy, Tech-priests, Sanctioned Psykers, Inquisitors (All have no official rank in the Imperial Guard)

High Command
Since the dark days after the end of the Horus Heresy when the Imperial Reformation was completed by Robute Guilliman, the Imperial Guard has been controlled jointly by the Chancellor of the Estate Imperium, the Master of the Administratum and the Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Guard. These three High Lords of Terra represent the top of the chain of command for the Imperium as a whole. In matters of strategy, it is the Lord Commander Militant who is the supreme commander of the Imperial Guard, and he is directly assisted by the five Lord Commanders of the Imperial Guard, one for each of the five Segmentae of the Imperium. Since most of the time of the Lord Commander Militant is occupied defending the Imperial Guard's interests in the Senatorum Imperialis, it falls to the Lords Commander Solar, Pacificus, Tempestus, Obscurus and Ultima to ensure the correct day-to-day deployment of the Imperial Guard in their Segmentum. The highest "conventional" rank reachable in the Guard is that of Lord General Militant, the highest rank above the General Staff corps. This rank brings with it command of armies of almost limitless number, and the responsibility for command of a whole theatre of operations. It is the duty of the Lord General Militant to not only ensure military objectives are met, if necessary by negotiating for the assistance of the Adeptus Astartes, but also to ensure that the retaken or defended territories quickly return to the fold of the Administratum and the Ecclesiarchy. It is an uneasy rank to bear, for not only must the Lord General Militant be a keen strategist, he must also be a good politician and have the courage to stand up to the priests of the Ecclesiarchy or even to a Space Marine Chapter Master when necessary.

General Staff
The General Staff of the Imperial Guard is not a coherent organization; the term is principally used to describe all general officers who serve in the command echelons above those of regimental level. The Imperial General Staff serves the Lord General Militant directly. It is a highly decentralized formation, with its officers present in every battle theatre in the Imperium. Most members of the General Staff bear the rank of General (or the cultural equivalent depending on their homeworld of origin) and each of these men is in command of a battlegroup or multi-regiment force. It is the task of the General Staff to ensure that their objective is met, that the men under their command work efficiently together despite sometimes wildly varying origins and home cultures and that they work well with the forces of the Adeptus Astartes and the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas when they are present. More junior officers can also be found in the General Staff; they are drawn from individual regiments to act as aides and administrative assistants. They do not exercise individual authority over other troops and merely act as conduits between their direct superiors and other officers. A position common in the General Staff is that of Imperial Tactician, a non-command rank that nevertheless is vital. As trained staff officers, Tacticians help to devise and organise battle plans and strategy.

Operating in parallel to this command tree is that of the other Imperial organizations the Imperial Guard comes into contact with, principally that of the Commissariat. Commissars are integral parts of the Imperial Guard command echelons, with every regiment having at least one Commissar attached to it, and likely more. Commissars are also normally included in any General Staff grouping. Occasionally, one or more Inquisitors will also attach themselves to the General Staff, especially where the Imperium faces the Forces of Chaos. Although they are technically allowed to take command of any Imperial Guard force, most Inquisitors leave actual tactical leadership of such a force to its professional officers, only intervening when a situation requiring their particular expertise emerges. Other "civilians" who will operate in parallel to the Imperial Guard's chain of command are the numerous priests of the Adeptus Ministorum who accompany the Guard's soldiers and ensure their devotion towards the God-Emperor, and the Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus who provide the required expertise to keep the numerous machines and vehicles of the Imperial Guard working. Last but not least come the psykers of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, the Astropaths and Sanctioned Psykers who will counsel the various officers and allow them to coordinate their efforts and face off against foes who also wield the power of the Empyrean.

Warmaster
An unusual command rank outside the normal hierarchy of the Imperial Guard is that of Warmaster, the Imperial general officer who serves as the supreme commander of an Imperial Crusade. There is rarely more than one Warmaster operating within the Imperium at any one time, due to the extreme powers given to them. The title was created in recognition of Horus' promotion by the Emperor to take his place as the supreme commander of all Imperial military forces during the latter half of the Great Crusade, after the Emperor had retired to Terra to begin work on his secret project to open the Eldar Webway up to human use. At present, the title of Warmaster, officially designated as "Lord Solar" (not to be confused with the Lord Commander Solar who serves as the commander of all Imperial military forces in the Segmentum Solar) is one of the most powerful ranks that can be granted to a general officer of the Imperial armed forces, including officers of the Imperial Guard, the Imperial Navy or even the Chapter Master of one of the Adeptus Astartes Chapters who is commanding a much larger Imperial Crusade force. The rank is officially second in the Imperial military hierarchy only to that of the Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Guard, who serves on the Senatorum Imperialis as one of the High Lords of Terra and is the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard.

The title of Warmaster is bestowed by the High Lords of Terra in the present Imperium only when an Imperial Crusade is being planned and resources from multiple Imperial sectors are needed. The supreme overall command designated by the rank of Warmaster is necessary as inter-and intra-service strife and bureaucratic rivalries might make assembling the materiel required and co-operating in the field difficult for officers of the different services without a clear grant of supreme authority. The rank is not available unless granted by the High Lords of Terra and it is the normal formulation to say that such an individual has been given his or her command by the Emperor himself. There is rarely more than one Warmaster operating within the Imperium at any one time, due to the extreme powers given to the holder of the title.

Some consider the title of Warmaster to be cursed or a sign of ill-omen because of the ties of the rank to Horus and the Horus Heresy, the terrible galactic civil war that tore the Imperium in two over ten thousand standard years ago. This is one reason why the title is rarely granted, and why it is officially designed as "Lord Solar". It is also the reason why the Forces of Chaos now grant that title to the Chaos Lord who is capable, like Horus, of uniting all the many different Chaotic factions under the banner of Chaos Undivided in pursuit of the single goal of destroying the Imperium of Man.

Regimental Officers
"The men and women of the Imperial Guard sacrifice more and gain less than perhaps any other arm of the Imperial Armed Forces."

- Commissar Ibram Gaunt

According to the Tactica Imperium, Imperial Guard regimental command officers range in rank from Colonel to Lieutenant. In practice, however, the individual regiments making up the vast Imperial Guard are drawn from so many different human worlds and cultures that the actual name given to an officer rank can vary widely across the Guard. Regimental officers always hail from the same world as the troops they command, assuming their officer rank at the initial formation of the regiment. Providing a regiment with officers from its homeworld is an easy but extremely effective way to enhance an enlisted Guardsman's loyalty and morale.

While the exact title of an officer will vary depending on which Imperial world his regiment hails from, the various regimental ranks are standardised as:
 * Colonel - The most senior officer in a regiment and the commander of the regiment.
 * Major - A Major usually serves as the executive officer of an Imperial Guard regiment, and the primary assistant to the regiment's commanding Colonel. This rank is not universal in the Imperial Guard's organization and only exists in certain regiments
 * Captain - The Imperial Guard's Captains serve as Combat Unit Commanders, and can command either multiple infantry platoons bound together into a company, or multiple Armoured Fists bound together into an Armoured Company. Captains are the most common senior officers found in an Imperial Guard regiment.
 * Lieutenant - Lieutenants are the most junior officer rank to be found in the Imperial Guard. They serve as platoon leaders or as the leader of a single Armoured Fist.

Non-Commissioned Officers
"A Guardsman's worth can only truly be measured by his actions under fire. Numbers in a ledger can never show what is hidden in the dark corners of a man's heart."

- Sergeant Yuri Alexeivich, 3rd Volkov Strelets

Sergeants, Corporals and other non-commissioned officer ranks act as small unit commanders for the Imperial Guard, as well as providing almost constant oversight of the main body of Guardsmen within a regiment. They carry out any tasks assigned to them by their officers and are essential to the running of the regiment.
 * Sergeant - A Sergeant is a non-commissioned officer of the Imperial Guard who is either in charge of a single squad of 10 Guardsmen, or the tank commander for a single tank. Although they are often thought of as mere grunts, good Sergeants are just as necessary to the Imperial Guard's mission as good Generals, and some Sergeants have gained famous renown thanks to their bravery, resourcefulness or sheer resilience. Legendary Imperial heroes such as Sergeant Lukas Bastonne, Gunnery Sergeant "Stonetooth" Harker and Jarran Kell are all proud to hold the rank and that "they work for a living" rather than enjoy the privileges and pomp of the Imperial Guard's officer corps.
 * Corporal - A Corporal is a non-commissioned officer of the Imperial Guard who serves as a second and aide to his squad Sergeant. He will also serve as a section leader during patrols or on sentry duty when the whole squad is spread out or not employed as a whole. In armoured regiments, it is common to have the main gunners and drivers of all tanks promoted to the rank of Corporal, while the secondary gunners/loaders and the vox operators remain simple enlisted Guardsmen. This is done to denote the fact that main gunners and drivers hold the most prestigious positions within the armoured machine. It is purely a question of prestige though, for on the battlefield, a tank commander is his vehicle's sole lord and master.

Enlisted Guardsmen
"No matter his primary speciality, from the lowliest cook to the Warmaster himself, every Guardsman’s secondary military occupation is infantry."

- Captain Jorge Melial, 874th Horlus Grenadiers

Guardsmen are the basic grunts of the Imperial Guard. From the stolid Cadians to the flashy Mordians to the masked ranks of the Deathkorps of Krieg, these men and women are what are typically thought of by the average Imperial citizen as 'Imperial Guard', when they are thought of at all. They form the bulk of the massive Imperial Guard. Guardsmen dig trenches, drive tanks, operate radios, handle ordnance, win battles, and die by the countless thousands for the glory of Him on Earth. In the eyes of the Departmento Munitorum, these Guardsmen are all simply Guardsmen, regardless of history, speciality, or personality. A Guardsman can be tough and strong, capable of wielding large, heavy weaponry, or have lightning reflexes and pilot a Sentinel like no other, or be a strong leader of men, unwavering in the face of the Emperor's enemies, but still be nothing more than a statistic on the sheets of the Departmento Munitorum. Because of this, on the individual level, there are no official ranks or titles for the members of an Imperial Guard Squad. How a regiment breaks their Squad up, or titles their specialists - or decides if they even have specialists at all - is left entirely in the hands of the regiment, and can vary greatly across the Imperium.

The enlisted rank-and-file troops of the Imperial Guard perform a large variety of combat and support roles and make up the vast bulk of the Imperial Guard's forces. They are the grunts who ultimately get the job done for the Emperor. There are two kinds of troops in the Imperial Guard, namely the "regular" professional Guardsmen who have been raised from their homeworld and trained as part of the Imperial tithe and conscripts. Conscripts are those civilians present in an Imperial Guard warzone who get inducted into the Imperial Guard to replace losses for the duration of the conflict. Well-equipped but poorly trained, Imperial Guard conscripts are often used as reserve troops, manning static defence posts and secondary battle lines, allowing the Imperial commanders to deploy their best troops on the frontline.

Despite the lack of hard and fast Departmento Munitorum definitions of the different roles a Guardsman can play within a squad, there is still a great diversity. Guardsmen Specialities are broken into five general archetypes, that cover the typical skill-sets a 'grunt' Guardsman could have. Guardsmen who fill these Specialities may have completely different titles from regiment to regiment, but all still serve the same general purpose:
 * Heavy Gunner - Big, strong, and tough, these Guardsmen wield any heavy weapons that are given to the Squad.
 * Medic - Dodging deadly weapons-fire and explosions, these Guardsmen risk everything to keep their squad-mates alive.
 * Operator - A bit less leery of the strange technology that the Imperial Guard often employs than their compatriots, these Guardsmen are often entrusted with piloting the Squad's transport or other vehicles.
 * Sergeant - Every Squad needs a strong commander to lead the charge into combat. The Sergeant keeps his men motivated and coordinated through the toughest battles.
 * Weapons Specialist - The "average" Guardsman, these men and women perfect the use of the lasgun or other weapons, bringing death to the enemies of the Imperium.

Support Specialists
Support Specialists are elite members of the Imperial Guard who possess advanced training or unique natural talents. Some, like the Commissar, hold positions of great respect among the Guard, while others, such as the Sanctioned Psyker, are feared or reviled. No matter their rank or position within the Imperial Guard, these Specialists’ first priority is the same as the rank-and-file Guardsmen with whom they serve: to serve the God-Emperor, to bring his light to the dark corners of the galaxy, and to punish his foes without mercy. Below are the seven different types of Support Specialists commonly encountered within an Imperial Guard Regiment:
 * Commissar - Great leaders raised in the legendary Schola Progenium, these men and women enforce morale over the rank-and-file troops with an iron fist.
 * Ministorum Priest - Bringing the light of the God-Emperor to the battlefield, Ministorum Priests inspire the troops around them, not just with their preaching, but by fighting their foes with their massive Eviscerator chainswords.
 * Ogryn - These immense abhumans tend to be a bit dimwitted, but act as some of the Imperial Guard's most effective shock troops.
 * Ratling - Short and rotund, these small abhumans are used as infiltrators and snipers. They also can cook an excellent meal!
 * Sanctioned Psyker - Feared by their enemies and allies alike, the Psykers of the Imperium are capable of bending the roiling power of the Warp to their will.
 * Storm Trooper - These elite soldiers are trained alongside the Commissars in the Schola Progenium. Equipped with some of the best armour and weapons in the Imperium, they are deadly soldiers.
 * Tech-Priest Enginseer - Emissaries of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Enginseers wade into battle clad in thick armour, tending to the machine spirits of the Imperial Guard's many war machines.

Creating an Imperial Guard Regiment
"With every regiment raised, many millions of tonnes of materiel must be gathered. Thousands of men must be properly trained and prepared to serve the Throne in an approved manner. Vessels must be secured to transport these resources and these warriors. It is in the best interests of the Imperium that while vast numbers of regiments are raised each year, they are only raised when necessary, and always with a mind to the speed at which the muster can be completed—for even the mightiest army is futile, if its force cannot be brought to bear quickly enough."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

While many regiments have long-standing reputations, forged by generations of predecessors across countless worlds, others may not be so renowned. There are countless millions of Imperial Guard regiments in service to the Imperium at any one time, scattered across tens of thousands of warzones. No one man knows for certain how many souls give their lives in service to the Emperor in any given year, but the hard truth is that more must serve to replace those who have fallen, which means that new regiments must constantly be raised. Thus continues the cycle; regiments fall in battle, and new ones are raised to replace them, or to begin new campaigns under the light of a distant star. As a result, it is important to make room not only for those regiments whose histories are long and bloody, but also for those who are newly mustered, and have yet to either gain glory in the Emperor's name or vanish in ignominious defeat.

When creating a new regiment, a group must go through a series of stages, which are described in more detail below. First is the home world or origin, which defines where the recruits came from before they were chosen to serve in the Imperial Guard. Following that, a unit must select a personality for its commanding officer, which defines how the unit has adapted to the realities of war under their commander's authority. Finally, there is an assortment of doctrines, which represent the way a unit is trained and equipped. With some forethought and some ingenuity, a considerable range of regiments can be created by the writer, but the sheer variety of Imperial Guard regiments in the galaxy defies even the most comprehensive and versatile systems. A regiment with a greater number of, or more powerful, Doctrines (see Doctrines below) can easily represent an elite or veteran regiment, while a regiment with fewer or cheaper Doctrines is more likely to represent conscripts, a mustering from a world inexplicably untouched by war, or other less capable units.

Choosing a Home World of Origin
"The worlds of the Imperium are diverse indeed, and while broad categories exist, no two planets are more than superficially similar. This can pose a challenge when raising regiments. Each world has unique traditions and cultures that strongly influence its peoples, and in turn strongly influence the character of that world’s fighting forces. The nature of a world is a worthwhile matter to consider when raising regiments, for it will allow that world’s strength to be employed most effectively."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

A regiment’s home world is perhaps one of the greatest defining factors in its structure and purpose, with different worlds producing men with different strengths and weaknesses, and differing natural tendencies. Even though some of the Specialists attached to regiments do not hail from the same home world as those they are serving alongside, the Departmento Munitorum tries to assign specialists to the regiments they will integrate with the best. Because of this similarity, all specialists still gain the benefits of the home world.

Death World
"Few born upon such inhospitable worlds will readily trust those who have not endured what they have. Instilling appropriate discipline is a difficulty faced by many Commissars, but the difficulties are regarded as acceptable, given the matchless survival instincts and natural resilience of such peoples."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

Guardsmen from Death World regiments have left behind the danger and ferocity of their home world. They are rugged, uncomplicated individuals for the most part, at ease with the hazards of the battlefield and the dangers posed by alien monstrosities. However, death worlders are slow to trust off-worlders, who cannot understand the hardships they have faced, and they often lack discipline, which gives them a reputation for unreliability in the eyes of more strictly-trained regiments. Death worlders are renowned for their ability to endure the worst the galaxy can throw at them, and exemplify the concept of survival of the fittest. While the majority of death worlders have learned to speak Low Gothic, they do not have time in their violent lives to learn how to read or write the universal language of the Imperium. Death worlders are accustomed to violence, and many death worlds contain a variety of deadly, venomous creatures. They must be continually prepared and wary of danger from a young age if they are to survive, and those instincts do not easily fade. Death worlders tend to be slow to put their faith in anyone other than themselves and their comrades, and they chafe at the expectations and strictures of more civilised society.

Fortress World
"Fortress worlds are a fine source of soldiers, owing to necessarily large defence forces, which are typically trained and equipped to the high standards of the Imperial Guard. Fortress Worlds are a valuable asset not only because of their significance as strategic bastions, but also because they can serve as a readily available source of skilled, disciplined fighting men, and it is a rare fortress world that does not raise its armies with the expectation that they may be called upon to serve the Imperial Guard."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

Imperial Guard Regiments from Fortress Worlds have been raised to serve in war, and by the time they reach maturity, they are well-versed in the arts of war and the doctrines of the Tactica Imperialis. Each has been long trained to destroy the enemies of the Imperium, particularly those whose threat forced their world to be fortified in the first place. Fortress worlders are disciplined, honourable, loyal, and with the highest regard for integrity, and each is already a proficient combatant long before they are taken to serve in the Imperial Guard. A fortress world often stands opposed to a single threat (such as the Forces of Chaos or a particular xenos race), and they are taught to hate that particular foe and eliminate it on sight. Due to the intensive training that each fortress worlder goes through from childhood, including extensive live-fire drills and gruelling mock battles they possess nerves of steel and will not break before a foe. Fortress worlders possess an entirely justified siege mentality, a natural result of daily lives shaped by the need for perpetual vigilance against an enemy that could strike at any time, and the discipline required to respond to that threat swiftly and effectively. Fortress worlders are loyal almost to a fault, and reluctant to disobey orders even with good reason, lacking personal initiative, and becoming inflexible as a result.

Hive World
"The immense populations of hive worlds, and the often harsh conditions found upon them, make them valuable recruiting grounds for new regiments, and many hive worlds serve to manufacture vast quantities of commonly-used materiel, making it far simpler to equip regiments. As a result, a single muster from a hive world can produce potentially millions of Guardsmen, forming thousands or even tens of thousands of regiments within a relatively short span of time."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

Imperial Guard Regiments from Hive Worlds are one amongst many. Due to the colossal populations of hive worlds, musters from them tend to be large, sometimes numbering over a thousand regiments at a time, each of which may number as many as ten thousand men. In many areas of a hive world - not just the twisted depths of the underhive - murder, rioting, and gang warfare are rife. Constantly having to avoid (or take part in) such dangers turns the people into capable warriors and survivors, made nimble by the tangle of urban decay, wary by the dangers in the darkness, and gregarious by the mass of humanity that has always surrounded them. Due to the suitability of hive worlders as Imperial Guardsmen, and the sheer quantity of people on each hive world, there are a vast number of hive world regiments in the Imperial Guard at any one time. Hive worlders grow up surrounded by crowds, and they are used to weaving through even the densest mobs with ease. Hive worlders seldom endure the horrors of the open sky or suffer the indignities of the great outdoors. Whilst outside of an enclosed or artificial environment (such as a hive city, starship or similar), they often suffer from agoraphobia, due to their continued unfamiliarity with such places. Hive worlders are constantly alert for the first hint of trouble, be it a hivequake, a gang shoot-out, or a hab riot, allowing them to quickly detect danger and elude it, if need be.

Imperial World
"While many worlds may be required to provide resources, materials, and other such goods as part of their tithe, their primary obligation to the Imperium is in the form of manpower. It is only with rare exception that a planet not be required to provide men to the Imperial Guard, and if a world is found to be neglecting this portion of their tithe, they will be subject to extreme punishment."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

Imperial Guard Regiments from Imperial worlds represent best the greatest mass of humanity. Their minds are shaped by faith and humble duty, their bodies honed by toil. While lacking the tenacity of death worlders, the unyielding discipline of a fortress worlder, or the unthinking zeal of the penitent, Imperial worlders are faithful, loyal, and adaptable, unconstrained by the focus of specialisation. Imperial citizens know that the proper ways of living are those tried and tested by the generations that have gone before. Horror, pain, and death are the just rewards of curiosity, for those that look too deeply into the mysteries of the universe are all too likely to find malefic beings looking back at them. Their naivety of the infernal can often times be a detriment to them. The general citizens of the Imperium are trained from birth to fear mutation, for it heralds the taint of Chaos.

Penal Colony
"While swift and merciless retribution is the just and proper fate of all sinners and criminals, it can be effective to determine other punishments for them. Transit to distant worlds for the purpose of menial labour, or volunteering for military absolution are two such alternatives. Isolated penal colonies populated by these convicts produce vicious, hardy individuals, albeit ones who require nothing less than the harshest discipline to function in battle. However, these benighted souls can be regarded as more readily expendable than most units, for as sinners, their lives are already forfeit."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

Imperial Guard Regiments from penal colonies tend to be ruthless, and opportunistic, the desperate conditions of their origin making them eager for any opportunity to survive for just a little longer, or profit just a little more from a situation. While ill-disciplined and commonly impious, the expendable, vicious nature of convicts makes them quite useful in the Emperor's wars. The resultant Penal Legions can be found in the harshest warzones, undertaking the most dangerous missions, with the promise of salvation in death, after which the survivors are imprisoned once more until the next battle. In time, the few hardened veterans, survivors of a dozen or more would-be suicide missions, become amongst the most dangerous and unorthodox units in the Imperial Guard, deployed to achieve the impossible or die trying. Penal colonists, whether criminals themselves, or the descendants of the previous generation’s scum, know well the way criminal societies operate, understanding the nuances of deception, loyalty, intimidation, and violence that characterise the criminal classes. Hailing from worlds where the black market is the only market, penal colonists are skilled at obtaining illicit items, whether to sell, on or for their own purposes. Penal colonists are ill-regarded by just about everyone else in the Imperial Guard, and tend to be viewed more as expendable fodder than as worthwhile soldiers. As a result, they are seldom afforded more than the most basic of equipment.

Ogryn Worlds
Ogryn worlds are those planets that are home to the hulking abhumans commonly known as Ogryns. Unlike other origins, Abhuman Regiments raised from Ogryn worlds are defined by their physical and genetic traits, rather than by their environment or culture. However, most Ogryn worlds do have certain features in common. Ogryns have evolved primarily on barren, inhospitable worlds with higher gravity than Earth. In order to survive and thrive on such planets, Ogryns require the masses of muscle which lend them such exceptional strength under normal gravity conditions. Because Ogryns are so intellectually stunted, Ogryn worlds tend toward the primitive side. Ogryns are unable to make technological advances on their own, and due to the changes in their morphology, are unable to utilise equipment inherited from their human ancestors, even were they to grasp the basic principles required to do so. In some cases, an Ogryn world might also be home to regular humans. In these cases, it usually means that human colonists have settled the world in the days since the Great Crusade, living alongside the abhumans who are descended from the original colonists. Because Ogryn worlds are so adverse to human life, such human inhabitants are more likely to be members of one or more of the Imperial Adepta, depending on what utility the world has to the Imperium.

Ratling World
"Here's a piece of advice if you're going to be serving alongside those runts - watch your pockets."

- Lance-Corporal Holf Arven

Ratling Worlds are those worlds home to the abhuman strain known as Ratlings. This home world is not defined by its environment, but by its population. Ratlings are short and rotund, known for their gregarious personalities, skill in marksmanship, and gluttony. Ratlings enjoy food, drink, and company, and loathe hard work. Unlike other origins, Ratling Regiments from Ratling worlds are defined by their physical and genetic traits, rather than by their environment or culture. However, most Ratling Worlds do have certain features in common. The lifestyle that Ratlings prefer would not be possible on most worlds of the Imperium, requiring a distinct lack of danger or industrialisation. Most Ratling Worlds are rather idyllic, featuring plentiful vegetation, at least in those areas home to the native population. The Imperium classifies many Ratling home worlds as either pleasure worlds or Agri-Worlds - although Ratlings are so resistant to hard work that a successful Agri-World usually requires either the importation of ordinary human workers or a substantial force of overseers to ensure compliance by the native Ratlings. Because Ratling home worlds typically lack significant production or population, their Imperial tithe consists primarily of manpower. Ratling regiments are most commonly light infantry or reconnaissance regiments, which make use of the Ratlings’ propensity for stealth and marksmanship. Because Ratlings lack the physical and mental fortitude that makes for good soldiers, it is rare for the Departmento Munitorum to deploy them on their own, typically detaching individual squads for deployment alongside other regiments.

Post-Cataclysmic World
Across the length and breadth of the Imperium, many worlds lie in ruins, testifying to some great cataclysmic event in their past. Such worlds are often little different from feral worlds or even death worlds, depending on the nature of the cataclysm. Some might even be classified as Dead Worlds, Imperial survey teams having failed to detect the minuscule human population living in the ruins or even beneath the planet's surface. The inhabitants of such worlds tend to focus their entire society around the past, even if their myths and stories hold only a tenuous connection to reality. It is just as common for inhabitants of post-cataclysmic worlds to shun the ruins of their ancestors' cities as cursed as it is for them to squat amongst the ruins of their forebears' accomplishments. The societies of post-cataclysmic worlds vary, from marauding techno-barbarians roving the wastes to forlorn survivors hiding in vaults underground, awaiting the day when the surface is once again safe for habitation.

Imperial Guard Regiments raised from these worlds tend to utilise technology, but lack any capacity for manufacture, instead maintaining and repairing the equipment left over from the time before. Because such worlds lack infrastructure and are usually too irradiated to even provide foodstuffs, their only meaningful tithe to the Imperium is in manpower, although even this is a limited resource. In some cases, only a single founding is made from such a world, its entire remaining population drafted into the Imperial Guard, leaving only an empty and Dead World behind. For the individuals drafted in such events, leaving their birth world behind to fight the Emperor's wars is likely seen as a blessing.

Shrine World
In the Imperium of Man, entire worlds are often given over to a single purpose: manufacturing, agriculture, toil, and war, for instance. Just as important to humanity's survival however, is faith. The Adeptus Ministorum, known also as the Ecclesiarchy, is the church of the Emperor and of all Mankind. Immensely powerful, the Ecclesiarchy stands independent of the Adeptus Terra, although all work for the Imperium has a strong spiritual element, so these separate branches of Imperial power work closely together. Entire worlds, known as shrine worlds, are gifted to the Ecclesiarchy for the furtherance of the Imperial Cult. Shrine Worlds vary from planet-sized cemeteries for the final rest of the devout, to massive, continent-spanning temple complexes. Under ancient decree, the Adeptus Ministorum is barred from raising men-under-arms, but many citizens of shrine worlds nonetheless find their place serving the Emperor on the field of battle, in the armies of the Imperial Guard. Imperial Guard Regiments from Shrine Worlds have been raised amidst the word of the Emperor and the splendours of the Ecclesiarchy. The lives of saints and the verses of creed are as familiar as breathing. Even for people born to such a world who are not blessed enough to be inducted into the ranks of the clergy, being constantly surrounded by hymnals, scripture, and the works of the Ecclesiarchy breeds a familiarity with High Gothic. Shrine-Worlders are capable of engaging in any verbal communication or reading of High Gothic. The citizens of shrine worlds learn many lessons in virtue from the pious sermons and teachings of the Ecclesiarchy. Amongst these is the lesson that ignorance is a virtue not easily disdained by the wise. Heresy, blasphemy, and death are the just rewards of curiosity, for those who look beyond the teachings of the Adeptus Ministorum for knowledge walk a dangerous path. Many consider Shrine-Worlders to be wise but willfully narrow of mind. Shrine-Worlders are accustomed to the Ecclesiarchy's teaching that hatred is amongst the Emperor's greatest gifts to mankind. Though the priests of the Adeptus Ministorum preach hatred against many various enemies of humanity, often, a particular sermon leaves an indelible impression on a shrine-worlder.

Agri-World
Agri-worlds are the breadbasket of an Imperial Sector. These verdant planets are given over almost entirely to industrial-scale agriculture, and are home to massive, city-sized farms and ranches controlled by sector wide agriculture business concerns. They produce the bulk of the Sector's food, as well as many plant and animal-based products such as oils, medicines, building materials, and textiles. While some of these worlds are fully automated, home only to a handful of technicians and overseers keeping tabs on ancient cultivating apparatus and armies of servitors, most are home to millions of Imperial citizens, both cosmopolitan, business-minded merchants and agents in the port cities and the many hardy homesteaders and labourers who do the actual work of tilling fields and breeding beasts. While agri-worlders have a reputation as honest, strong, and hard working, they are also viewed, unfairly or not, as unsophisticated yokels and easy marks for confidence men, grifters, and other predators. Many agri-worlders serve with distinction as infantrymen in the Imperial Guard, and there are quite a few armoured and mechanised regiments where these Guardsmen have put their skills operating heavy machinery to more martial uses. A regiment raised from such a world is steeped in agricultural tradition, raising crops and food animals for the teeming billions of an entire sector. Men and women who grow up on these pastoral worlds gain a deep understanding of both flora and fauna, and can use those skills on the field of battle to their advantage and to the advantage of their comrades. These Guardsmen can get food to grow in even the harshest conditions, and are an incredible asset to regiments embroiled in long, planet-bound campaigns. The drawbacks to being raise on such a world is that men and women raised on bucolic and backwater agricultural worlds have little to no experience with Imperial society at large. Most have never left their village or city, let alone their home world, and those that have possess even less awareness of the wider realm of the Imperium than most of their counterparts. These innocents make easy marks for grifters, con-men, and others who take advantage of the confused and ignorant.

Feral World
Lawless and terrifying, feral worlds are realms of unrepentant violence, where power begins and ends with the sword. Feral Worlds frequently house deadly environments, from boiling seas and blistering winters to deadly rad-zones that swallow entire continents to the broken shells of long-forgotten hives still spewing toxins into the choked skies. However, unlike death worlds, the greatest dangers of feral worlds lie not in the shifting earth or polluted skies, but in one's fellow humans. Some feral worlds are dominated by reaver tribes who clash over hunting grounds or the small tracts of arable land, while others are dominated by massive gangs of transient warriors who travel on technological mounts their ancestors forgot how to build or maintain long ages ago. Feral Worlds are the source of many of the most violent and dangerous warriors across the Imperium, and some contribute to regiments of the Imperial Guard. Though soldiers from many other regiments tend not to trust feral worlders for their violent and opportunistic tendencies, these same traits can make feral worlders incredibly dedicated and lethal warriors for the God-Emperor of Mankind. By the very nature of their planet, feral worlders are rapidly taught that strength—and strength alone - determines one's right to survival. Of course, strength can come in many forms, and feral worlders are no strangers to using stealth and subterfuge to gain the edge when raw ferocity and might alone cannot solve a problem. Many feral worlders see the universe in extremely simple terms: comrades must be protected, foes must be vanquished, and both of these goals must be accomplished at all costs. Feral world regiments tend to be close-knit, violent bands where disputes both internal and with outsiders are settled in blood. When faced with the opportunity to crush a foe utterly, even if there is great risk involved, feral world often can't resist passing up the chance. Feral worlders' lives tend to be like their tempers: short and unpleasant. While some do survive to old age, few do so by spending time on scholarly pursuits. On most feral worlds where any technology remains, the few artefacts that persist are treated not just as sacred objects, but as terrifying and dangerous magic to be avoided by all but the strongest: weapons of legend wielded by the most powerful warlords and killers whose strength becomes synonymous with that of their weapons. The Cult Mechanicus is a foreign concept to such warriors, and even if the two share a reverence for technology, the feral worlders' viewpoint is often tinged by dread, and the suspicion that such power might not be a divine blessing, but a dark gift from ancient and capricious powers that demand a price for their gifts.

Feudal World
Woefully primitive by Imperial standards, feudal worlds are home to low-technology, largely pre-gun powder societies with a population made up largely of peasants and serfs ruled over by warrior aristocracies. While nominally part of the Imperium, they are generally of little use to the Adeptus Terra due to their lack of technical acumen, their isolation, and their often heterodox beliefs. They do, however, pay tithes to the Imperium, and due to their largely agricultural society they are often converted into Agri-Worlds. Despite the fact that the sword, the spear, and the crossbow are considered state of the art weapons on most Feudal Worlds, regiments are occasionally raised on these worlds. In fact, one of the best known Feudal Worlds, Attila, is home to the vaunted Attilan Rough Riders. Guardsmen hailing from feudal worlds are known for their honour, their courage in battle, and their tendency to challenge others to bloody duels at the slightest provocation, a trait that the Departmento Munitorum has been unable to train out of them. Few feudal worlders take the time to learn to read and write, consumed as their lives are by toil and warfare, with written language largely the domain of scribes and other specialists. The majority of feudal world troopers are brought up in a society with a very clear separation between nobles and the commoners. These societies have strict rules of etiquette surrounding how the aristocracy interacts with their inferiors and vice versa. Regiments raised from feudal worlds are led by officers drawn from the local nobility and the common men and women in the enlisted ranks tend to revere their officers as not just their leaders but as their betters. Nobles and their chosen favourites often reinforce this belief with impressive skills in single combat, while most enlisted warriors hone their ability to fight in groups, spurred on by the prowess of their lords. The beliefs and general understanding of the galaxy possessed by the average feudal worlder seems woefully backward and benighted to many other Guardsmen. While most believe in the God-Emperor as the saviour of Man and his church as the one true religion, especially those that have been visited by Ecclesiarchy missionaries, many have other, more esoteric beliefs that are tolerated only thanks to their battlefield prowess. In addition, Feudal Worlds are by their nature millennia behind many worlds that provide soldiers to the Imperial Guard when it comes to technological advancement, and their wars are still fought with sword and shield, longbow and catapult.

Forge World
Imperial Guard Regiments drawn from the Adeptus Mechanicus' Forge Worlds tend to be highly intelligent, clear-minded technomats who have an innate talent for using and caring for the mysteries of technology and who seem to relate to machines more easily than to their flesh and blood comrades. Steeped in the dogma of the Cult of the Machine God, these craftsmen, engineers, and technicians bring an immense font of knowledge to the Imperial Guard and form the backbone of its engineering and technical abilities. Forge world characters tend and soothe the countless machine spirits that inhabit the Imperial Guard’s equipment and war machines. They pilot the tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, they raise fortifications, dig trenches, build and destroy infrastructure, and even bring the devastating power of the ancient Titans to bear on the enemies of the Imperium. While such regiments are certainly not revered by their counterparts in other Imperial Guard regiments, they are unparalleled in their ability to keeping the weapons working and the tanks running. However, their ties with the Cult of the Machine God make many outsiders, especially the more pious among the rank and file of the Imperial Guard, look upon their strange ways with suspicion.

Where most Imperial citizens see a machine as a singular and mysterious entity, those from a Forge World view machines as a collection of discreet, sacred components, each with a uniquely important purpose. They are highly prized by armoured, mechanised, and siege regiments for their ability to both keep friendly machines running in the worst conditions and to efficiently dismantle enemy equipment. Life on an Imperial Forge World is an experience unlike that of any other world in the galaxy. Forge Worlders are surrounded by the wonders of the Machine God and the teachings of the Priesthood of Mars from birth, and the mysteries and wonders of technology are as common to them as a herd of Grox to an agri-worlder. While this makes these relatively tech-savvy Guardsmen well suited for more technological occupations in the Imperial Guard, such as Operators and Tech-Priest Enginseers, it also has a tendency to produce insular, awkward troopers not fit for polite company. Forge world natives often relate to machines and servitors more readily than their flesh and blood counterparts, and have a sad tendency toward jargon and filling their conversations of long strings of Techna Lingua that are nearly unintelligible to the average trooper.

Frontier World
"I'm sure this fancy windup chrono does indeed mean you're wealthy - somewhere else. On this world, you'll be needing to use that pretty laspistol of yours instead if you're wanting to impress anyone."

- Tildi Galloph, trading post dealer

Frontier Worlds occupy the desperate, lawless fringes of the Imperium. Inhabitants quickly learn self-reliance by necessity, knowing that they cannot expect outside aid against marauding humans or ravenous aliens. As always, where there is little Imperial attention, heresy and mutation festers unchecked. Frontier worlds swarm with the violent dregs of humanity, with pirates, bandits, outlaws, and worse ruling many areas. These planets easily become breeding grounds for rogue psykers, misguided heresies, and vile cults, and can threaten Mankind across the wider Imperium should their contagion spread. Frontier worlders are rugged survivalists, and many frontier worlds are chosen for the founding of Imperial Guard regiments because of the relentless drive to endure and practical ingenuity that their harsh home worlds breed.

While frontier worlders are sometimes less refined that members of other regiments, their skills in the field are undeniably useful. Frontier worlders are more accustomed to working far from others than many of their counterparts in other regiments. Their activities on their home planet often call for them to range far and wide, often alone, and as a result they develop a sense of confidence in this solace. On the battlefield, this frequently translates into a willingness to strike out beyond the sight of allies, confident that their compatriots will react swiftly to danger. Though they are valued for their ability to act independently, frontier worlders can also be difficult to control thanks to this tendency. This can be particularly problematic for newly raised regiments placed under the command of officers from outside, or for regiments merged with others after suffering losses. However, with time and patience, this friction can be overcome by outsiders who prove that they can stand on their own and contribute to the regiment.

Void Born
"You were not born on one of the Emperor's worlds, but instead on a vast ship in the depths of space -- perhaps even in the warp itself. Why this sets you apart from your fellow man is unknown, but the way you look, act and think is somehow different. You have been raised in the company of psykers, and what other men fear or loathe is commonplace to you."

- Anonymous Void Settler

Many worlds in the Imperium feature orbital stations that fulfil a variety of purposes, from agri-domes and trading hubs to defence stations. Considering how heavily regimented and structured life is for most Imperial subjects, it is no surprise that many individuals born to serve aboard such facilities spend their entire lives space-bound, never setting foot on a world's surface, unless, that is, they are chosen to serve in the Imperial Guard. Because regiments are most often raised from the ranks of planetary defence forces, most such void born regiments spent time serving aboard a defence orbital. Such troopers have trained extensively in artificial and even zero-gravity environments, becoming especially adept at operating in such environments under normal conditions and in emergency situations. Void born regiments are relatively rare, and are often highly valued by the general staff for their unique skills in what are often some of the most vital and hard-fought warzones. Void born characters have experience moving about in zero-gravity environments, whether by dint of special training, mechanical failures, or the simple necessities of life on an orbital station. It is said that the void born, even those confined to a stationary orbital station, are touched by their proximity to the stars and to the Warp. Such tales attribute unnatural luck to the void born, and misfortune for others. Guardsmen born aboard void stations often seem unusual to those from the firm ground of a planet. Life amongst the machinery and cramped corridors of a void station is quite different to life beneath an open sky, and is confining even by the standards of a hive world. Additionally, void born characters are often appear unnaturally pale and gaunt. This unwholesome air, combined with the insular, clannish ways of many void born, often causes difficulties when interacting with non-void born regiments.

Mining Colony
Imperial Guard Regiments hailing from one of the an Imperial sector's mining colonies are a hardy breed, much used to the kind of privation and hard living found deep within the bowels of a planet. Their bodies and minds have adapted to a life of living underground and heavy toil, and the constant threat of accident and sudden death has sharpened their senses to a preternatural degree. These Guardsmen have an innate sense of direction, are accomplished in demolitions and the operation of heavy equipment, and have built up a resistance to the natural dangers found in mines. Regiments raised from mining colonies are typically Siege Infantry regiments. Life below ground is incredibly dangerous, and those who make their living in the bowels of their worlds are a hardy lot indeed. Aside from the common industrial style accidents and the ever present threat of cave-ins, there are also dangerous extremes of temperature, deadly clouds of invisible toxic gasses, and the constant, oppressive gloom to deal with. Regiments raised from a mining colony are full of men and women who have grown accustomed to this strange and gruelling way of life, and whose bodies have adapted to their environments. Many Guardsmen who hail from a mining colony make excellent tunnel rats. Navigating the twisting warren of tunnels, shafts, and chambers that make up an average mine requires a good attention to detail and a well-developed sense of direction. Unfortunately, their subterranean lifestyle makes them incredibly sensitive to bright light, which can be mitigated with goggles or other types of eye protection.

Penitent
"Many worlds are dominated by particular zeal and piety, beyond even the devotions expected by the Adeptus Ministorum. Such worlds can produce exceptional soldiers, who are willing to sacrifice all they have for the Emperor, particularly where the recruits are those who aspire towards martyrdom, in order to prove their faith or absolve their world of some ancestral sin. As valuable as devotion can be in a soldier, rigorous discipline is required to ensure that their zeal does not become an uncontrolled frenzy."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

The penitent are not those born of a single type of world, but rather those of a particular mind-set. While all the Imperium lives in the Emperor's service, the penitent are those who eagerly give their deaths as well. Willing martyrs all, the penitent fight to demonstrate their zeal or to show their contrition for the sins of the past. The penitent may be from Shrine Worlds, or the masses of pilgrims who cross the Imperium, while others hail from worlds where some ancient crime demands countless generations of absolution. In all cases, the penitent are savagely pious, seeking to bring death in the Emperor's name, or die trying. The penitent do not regard death in the Emperor's service as anything to fear, and face the prospect of righteous sacrifice gladly. So driven to martyrdom are the penitent, that it can drive them to take unnecessary risks, lamenting that they can only sacrifice themselves once. The pious spirit of the penitent is almost unmatched in its ferocity, and while their faith is closer to the violent ardour of the fanatic than the divine clarity of the Adepta Sororitas, it is nonetheless inspiring to behold.

Schola Progenium
"The Storm Trooper regiments and the Commissariat are all raised under the care of drill abbots of the Schola Progenium. Progena are amongst the truest servants of the Imperium you are ever likely to encounter, and Progena of a militant inclination are soldiers of unwavering loyalty and discipline, raised to defend the Emperor’s realm from a young age. While their numbers are few and in high demand, the orphans of the Schola Progenium make for outstanding Guardsmen."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

An institution that has stood for thousands of Terran years, the Schola Progenium is nominally an offshoot of the Departmento Munitorum, though in practice its facilities are staffed by hard-line brethren of the Adeptus Ministorum. Housing the orphans of Imperial worthies, the Schola strives to ensure that children born to those of quality are neither abandoned, nor squandered as a potential resource. The Schola has many fortified facilities, scattered in secret locations across the galaxy. It is the belief of those who maintain these institutions that, through sufficient rigour, any youth of appropriate origins can be turned into a valuable servant of the Imperium. Each Schola Progenium facility is run according to meticulous strictures applied by Departmento Munitorum officials. The Schola's orphan wards must undertake a punishing daily routine of prayer, lessons, combat drill and chores that leaves them hollow-eyed and exhausted.

The creations of the Schola Progenium are trained to be of unyielding will, of decisive action, and of swift mind. Service to the Imperium is an expectation, one their lives have been directed towards for the years of their tutelage. The harsh mental and physical discipline of the Schola Progenium produces fine officers and soldiers, none finer than the Storm Trooper regiment, which recruit only from the finest Schola Progenium graduates. Those that pass through the Schola Progenium are drilled each and every day by hardened drill abbots, and all are expected to defend the Emperor's domain with their lives if necessary.

Every Emperor Day (Day of the Emperor's Ascension), all wards are assessed for aptitude, piety and dedication. Those found to excel in a particular area are split off into special classes, teaching them to become elite troopers of the Militarum Tempestus (Storm Troopers) or even Cadet Commissars ready for transference to the Officio Prefectus. Upon coming of age, most students are sent on their way, unquestioningly adopting the role they have been conditioned for. Those without the aptitude for a role in the wider Imperium form a staff of menials and guards who can look to the needs of their founding orphanage. A very few vanish altogether, swept away under the auspices of mysterious Imperial officials to provide altogether more secretive services to the Imperium, such as service to the dreaded Inquisition.

Predominant Terrain
What is the predominant terrain type of an Imperial Guard Regiment's home world? Although the Administratum categorises the Imperium's worlds by function (as described in the previous entry), each class may feature a wide variety of terrain types, or indeed be dominated by one single type. A Hive World, for example, may be an ash-blasted wasteland — or its rearing spires might form islands of plasteel amidst an endless sea of jungle. Death Worlds are often thought of as deadly jungles, but might just as easily be ocean-bound planets. The type of terrain in which a Chapter builds its Fortress-Monastery might have little bearing on its character, but may have plenty, especially if that terrain has shaped the qualities of the peoples from which it recruits. If you would like to determine what sort of terrain dominates the Chapter's home world, chose or randomise from amongst the following possibilities.

Note that while plenty of these terrain types can be combined with the categories previously described, some are mutually exclusive. Others might seem so at first glance, but with a little imagination can be combined. For example, an urban Death World seems contradictory, but what if the planet's malevolent ecosystem has risen against its population, and the once-populace cities are now reduced to post-apocalyptic ruins smothered in choking vines? An ocean Hive-World might feature air-sealed hives at the bottom of the sea, or afloat on great man-made islands. In the 41st Millennium, almost anything is possible!

Jungle
"We've run into scorpions the size of battle tanks, three men died from Eyerot last week. I've sweat enough to fill a lake, my boots got sucked into a sing-swamp and the trees are so thick in places, you can't squeeze between them. Emperor help me, I love this place! It's just like home!"

- Captain Rock of the Catachan IIIrd 'Green Devils' Regiment, commenting on Varestus Prime

The world is swathed in all-but-impenetrable jungle. Settlement is generally limited to coastal regions or higher ground where the vegetation grows less thick. Jungle Worlds are often perilous environments, where the slightest scratch can result in lethal bacteriological infection and predatory life forms hunt the unwary. Despite the difficulty in establishing settlements in such places, jungle worlds are valuable for the products that can be synthesised from the myriad of plant forms, from highly effective medicines to elicit narcotics. Subsets of this category involve worlds that have large regions dominated by swamps, moors, and fens. Many worlds with thick forest growth also qualify.

Desert
Desert Worlds are dry, arid, and generally devoid of life. Some are composed of relatively harmless silica particulates, yet others are the result of the erosion of more exotic materials. Depending on the source material from which the deserts have been formed, they can be any colour imaginable, such as the deep red of the iron-rich deserts of Mars, the striking blue lazulite dune-seas of Nova Lemuria, and the choking sulphur wastes of Urquhart IV. Such worlds are rarely highly populated, unless hives have been built to house a workforce, and even then, vast tracts of the surface is left untouched and unexplored by all but hardy desert nomads, mutant clans or those who wish to avoid unwanted attention.

Ice
A combination of low temperature and high amounts of liquid has swathed the world in ice. Though many such worlds are covered in harmless frozen water, many others feature far more exotic, often highly-toxic chemicals. Human life on such worlds is either brutal, basic and short, or relies on sealed enviro-systems to maintain a high enough temperature to live in. Ice-bound and desolate Vahalla is one such world which serves as the home world of the famous Valhallan Ice Warriors Imperial Guard Regiments. Famed as some of the toughest regiments ever deployed by the Imperial Guard, these grim and tenacious troops never retreat and refuse to surrender. They are particularly successful at cold weather combat and are often used by the Imperium when a campaign of attrition must be fought on an Ice World that is similar in climate to their frigid homeworld or when an operation involves combat against Orks.

Ocean
Very little of the world's surface is above sea level, and what landmass does exist takes the form of hundreds of thousands of tiny islands, or of a single, larger continent. While many ocean worlds are dominated by bodies of water teeming with life, many others feature seas of far more exotic and potentially dangerous substances. Most elements have a melting point either so high or so low that life is simply not possible in oceans featuring a predominance of such elements, so in the main, planets used by the Space Marines as home worlds are capable of supporting life and generally of less toxic composition. Even if the environment is capable of supporting life, the character of that life varies greatly from one world to the next. Many ocean worlds are also codified as Death Worlds, their seas teeming with predatory life forms.

Wasteland
Many planets classed as Hive worlds feature a predominance of polluted wastes, the result of millennia of mining and industrial processing. Other planets might have been transformed into wastelands by war, accident, stellar phenomena or deliberate policy. Where human life exists in such an environment the peoples are often tough and resourceful, and ideal for raising Imperial Guard regiments.

Urban
Habitable worlds are a scarce resource in the galaxy, and Mankind is not the only race to have called many worlds home over the aeons. Countless races have erected settlements that have in some cases grown to encompass entire continents. While some cities remain viable, others fail, and eventually fall to destitution and ruin. Some planets are dominated by a mass of post-apocalyptic ruins, slowly crumbling away as the environment reclaims the land.

Temperate
Many worlds are not dominated by any single type of terrain, and feature a mix of environments, much like ancient Terra long before the wars that scoured its surface to barren wastes. Perhaps the most well-known example of an Imperial Guard home world falling into this category is Ultramar, home of the Ultramarines Chapter. Ultramar is a world of stunning natural beauty, with majestic mountain ranges and endless expanses of pristine forests.

Regiment Type
"It is the diversity of the Imperial Guard that is perhaps, its greatest strength, for with that diversity, there are few threats that cannot be met and overcome. No one element of the Imperial Guard can triumph alone, be it deadly artillery, mighty tanks, or brave infantry, but in proper combination, there is nought that cannot be crushed by the Hammer of the Emperor."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

The following are some of the most common regiment types encountered within the Astra Militarum:

Armoured Regiment
Alongside the serried ranks of infantry and the humble lasgun, little is as emblematic of the wars of the Imperial Guard as the armoured might of its tanks. Rugged, resilient, and capable of unleashing staggering amounts of firepower, there is little that can stand before the fury of companies of Leman Russ battle tanks, let alone the terrible and wondrous power of the Baneblade. The crews of these mighty behemoths are justifiably proud of their status, and the accomplishments of their steel charges.

Super-Heavy Armoured Regiment
To be entrusted with the care of a hallowed superheavy tank is one of the greatest honours that might befall a squad. Super-heavy armoured regiments are rare in comparison to other types of armoured regiments, and tend to come only from worlds with close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus. While an honour, the duty of shepherding a super-heavy tank comes with great weight of responsibility. These mighty engines of war are no mere vehicles, but divine instruments of Omnissiah's wrath. The crew of these vehicles must always respect the fearsome machine spirits within. Such regiments must also strive to protect these mighty adamantine beasts from harm; no small feat, seeing as super-heavy tanks such as Baneblades, Stormlords, and Shadowswords are likely to be deployed in the thickest and most dangerous fighting.

Reconnaissance Regiment
A key part of any war effort, reconnaissance units allow an army to scout out enemy movements and positions, and their keen senses and training allow them to swiftly ambush enemy patrols attempting to do the same. Due to their role, reconnaissance units invariably operate far ahead of army commanders, requiring considerable autonomy and personal initiative, traits that often breed a strong sense of daring and recklessness. For all their typical ill-discipline, reconnaissance units are invaluable assets to any army commander.

Drop Troops Regiment
A rare type of regiment, drop troops are extremely specialised infantry, trained for rapid strikes from airborne transports. Employing grav-chutes and attached Imperial Navy Valkyrie assault carriers to perform raids deep behind enemy lines, drop troops provide an uncommon, but potent resource to generals. Largely regarded by other Imperial Guardsmen as insane for choosing to leap out of a perfectly good aircraft in mid-flight, they are nonetheless required to be daring and courageous to dive into enemy territory, and away from the comfort of supply lines and heavy support. However, their habit of operating alone without support tends to make them somewhat distant and cold to those outside their ranks.

Hunter-Killer Regiment
Being used as the linchpin units in many grand strategies, hunter-killer units use light vehicles with deceptively heavy firepower to linger behind the front lines until called upon, then pushing forward quickly to strike down priority targets in support of the rank-and-file. Many hunter-killer units develop a hero mentality from their exploits, dealing the killing blow to enemy after enemy, and so outsiders tend to regard them as glory-seeking mavericks.

Light Infantry Regiment
Lightly-equipped infantry units are key to the complex tactical manoeuvres required on the battlefields of the 41st Millennium. Lacking the firepower to effectively fight on the front lines, their talents are better employed in dense terrain, where they can lay ambushes and engage in short-lived skirmishes.

Line Infantry Regiment
The backbone of the Imperial Guard, line infantry form the bulk of every battle line, the core of every assault, and the heart of every defence. The humble, doughty, and loyal infantryman is the subject of countless propaganda picts and inspirational murals across the Imperium. They form the iconic image of the Imperial Guard for most Imperial citizens, and for good reason. It is a rare battlefield that is not graced by the presence of line infantry.

Mechanised Infantry
Less common than line infantry, mechanised infantry serve as a fast-moving, hard-hitting force, pairing the utility of infantry with the speed and firepower of armoured vehicles. The availability of Chimera transports is the main limiting factor to the number of mechanised infantry units in any given warzone, and this rarity means that many mechanised infantry regiments are divided into a number of smaller Armoured Fist groups - single squads or platoons - attached to armoured regiments (to provide infantry support) and line infantry regiments (to provide a fast reserve or armoured vanguard).

Siege Infantry
Similar to line infantry, siege infantry form a solid mass of troops, specifically trained to serve in protracted sieges. A siege regiment may be deployed in a single location for years at a time, moving only infrequently to a new front line, often only a few hundred metres from the last one. Each line usually consists of newly-dug trenches and earthworks, swiftly and precisely excavated by thousands of troopers. It is said that the finest siege regiments can establish a solid defence line with nothing but shovels, flakboard, and sandbags, within half an hour of deployment.

Close Assault Regiment
While comparatively rare compared to other types of infantry regiment, the Imperial Guard does raise and maintain regiments dedicated to close-quarters combat and brutal assaults. Such regiments typically come from technologically primitive worlds, where melee combat is the order of the day, but might also come from the ranks of hive gangs, post-cataclysmic worlds, or anywhere else where the inhabitants display a propensity for melee combat or close-range fire-fights. In some cases, these regiments are equipped with a transport vehicle to get them close to the enemy as quickly as possible while protecting them from enemy fire. Others, particularly those from primitive origins, are instead assigned to warzones that utilise their talents without the need to cross open terrain, such as the depths of hives, the ruins of cities, mining tunnels, or dense jungle.

Mechanised Reconnaissance Regiment
While Sentinel walkers are the favoured vehicle of most reconnaissance regiments, some regiments or squads prefer to give up the all-terrain capabilities of the Sentinel in favour of armour to survive a protracted engagement and the speed to escape it. Salamander Reconnaissance Tanks are swift vehicles based on the reliable Chimera chassis. These open topped vehicles are perfectly suited to reconnaissance work, and have the speed to scout ahead of a formation and return with invaluable intelligence in short order.

Rapid Reconnaissance Regiment
Most associated with the regiments of Elysia, the Tauros rapid assault vehicle is comparatively rare amongst the Imperial Guard, its use requiring special dispensation from the Adeptus Mechanicus. Regiments able to obtain these vehicles, however, find a dependable and swift vehicle, able to traverse nearly any terrain at speed. It is for these qualities that some reconnaissance regiments favour Tauros over the more common Sentinels. While more limited in what terrain they can negotiate, these vehicles' speed makes up for the limitation in many environments.

Salvage and Recovery Regiment
In the battles it wages against the Imperium's foes, it is unavoidable that the mighty tanks and vehicles of the Imperial Guard fall in battle alongside the soldiers themselves, despite their mighty armour. However, such is the fortitude of the Imperial Guard's tanks, that they are rarely destroyed outright - such an event occurring only if the enemy is fortunate enough to detonate fuel or ammunition stores with a lucky shot. When a battle tank or even a Chimera transport is left damaged on the field of battle, it is important to recover it as quickly as possible, before errant shots or vindictive enemies damage the wrecked vehicle beyond repair. It is up to the salvage and recovery regiments to perform this task, braving the battlefield to tow the crippled war machines to safety. This allows the Tech-Priest Enginseers to soothe the vehicles' machine spirits and repair the damage, that they might roar into battle once more.

Artillery Regiment
Artillerymen operate the numerous towed and self-propelled artillery pieces fielded by the Imperial Guard such as the Basilisk, the Medusa Siege Gun, and the Griffon Heavy Mortar Platform. Whether stationed well behind the front lines in a Basilisk battalion or operating in a mortar section in support of an offensive push, Imperial artillery supplies precision, medium and long-range indirect fire in support of infantry and armoured regiments. Artillery units also operate the Guard's anti-aircraft weapons, including the Hydra flak tank and the Deathstrike missile launcher vehicle. Infantry regiments tend to have somewhat adversarial but nonetheless co-dependent relationships with the artillery regiments who support them. Even if indirect fire has a tendency to be whimsically inaccurate at times, despite the presence of forward observers and orbital telemetry, most Guardsmen owe their lives at least once to a well timed artillery barrage, and thus treat artillerymen with grudging respect.

Guerrilla Regiment
These Guardsmen are light infantry units trained in covert warfare tactics and deployed against the Imperium's enemies as infiltrators, assassins, and saboteurs. Stealthy and dangerous, these soldiers spend much of their time well behind enemy lines carrying out clandestine, top-secret missions behind enemy lines or even on worlds entirely held by foes. They tend to show more initiative and creative thinking in the field than the average Guardsman. Indeed, it is this ability to think on their feet and adapt to quickly changing tactical situations that keeps them alive and allows them to carry out their dangerous missions successfully. Experts at asymmetric warfare, their missions typically include killing or capturing enemy leaders, interrogation, and deep infiltration strikes via grav chute or other aeronautica against enemy installations and infrastructure.

Grenadiers
These Guardsmen are highly trained heavy infantry specialists trained in the use of grenades, grenade launchers, and the other numerous types of deployable explosive devices used by the Imperial Guard. These heavy-hitting soldiers work either in their own units as powerful heavy shock troopers or in mixed infantry units as heavy support troopers, using their heavy weapons to deny areas, defend their comrades, destroy lightly armoured fighting vehicles, and shatter close-packed groups of enemy infantry.

Heavy Reconnaissance Regiment
While most regiments dedicated to forward scouting are equipped as normal forward infantry supported by no more than a single Sentinel walker, some rare regiments are formed entirely of soldiers dedicated to piloting and maintaining these light walkers. Though some commanders view such formations as gratuitous use of heavy machinery in the field, the effect of several walkers stomping out of the foliage or across a hilltop at breakneck pace, tearing apart any light vehicles or structures in their path to clear the way for their force’s advance is undeniable.

Rough Rider Regiment
While they might seem a strange anachronism in a military force that fields enough firepower both on the ground and in space to annihilate an entire planet, the Imperial Guard's Rough Riders are as dangerous as any armoured or mechanised regiment. Possessed of a flexibility and speed nearly unrivalled among the numerous regiments of the Guard, different groups of Rough Riders ride a myriad of different beasts, from hardy, war-hardened common horses to lumbering grox to creatures even more exotic like small carnosaurs or winged felines. Rough Riders are typically raised from low technology level feral and feudal worlds where nomadic or cavalry centric societies are the norm, though some, like the Death Riders of Krieg hail from more developed worlds. Rough Riders are lightly armed and armoured, drilled in close-range combat and anti-armour tactics. They wear light flak armour and carry their unique, multi-purpose hunting lances, laspistols, a handful of grenades, and precious little else. While their mounts grant the troopers great speed and manoeuvrability, they also limit the type and amount of equipment that can be carried in the field. Due to this, most Rough Riders are accomplished at fieldcraft and survival, able to live, if not comfortably, then at least reasonably off the land in nearly any environment. In theatre, they are deployed as scouts, skirmishers, and guerrilla fighters, in squads of four to nine troopers led by a sergeant. Their mounts allow them to move quickly and stealthily far from Imperial supply lines and through terrain difficult or impossible to cross for heavy mechanised and armoured units. This makes them hard for enemies to counter, and Rough Riders use this to their advantage in their unique hit-and-run style of combat.

Tempestus Scions
"Death is not failure, for even death can bring glory. Fear is not failure. for fear can be conquered. The only known failure is to ignore orders. for even a slight hesitation in following them brings an ignoble cod."

- Liber Progenium, Volume I

Tempestus Scions are disciplined, elite soldiers who fight without question or hesitation until their orders are fulfilled. Commissars are harsh yet inspiring leaders who ensuring that every military objective is achieved - no matter the cost. Without the iron-willed resolution of both, the Imperium would be severely weakened in its darkest hour. Shock assault troops witl1out peer, Tempestus Scions are elite soldiers used to enact missions that the regular Imperial Guard cannot accomplish alone. Scions have undergone a brutally uncompromising training regime and are armed with some of the best weaponry available to the Astra Militarum. Their violent potential is enhanced by rigid discipline, so that the dictates of their superiors are enacted swiftly and accurately, regardless of how inhuman such orders may seem. Scions are trained to ensure that commands are carried out witl1 a merciless pragmatism. Moreover, their indoctrinated sense of obedience and duty overrides any instincts of personal safety. No matter what the foe or the challenge, no matter how catastrophic the situation, Tempestus Scions will stop at nothing to fulfil their orders. They are fully prepared to sacrifice their own lives in the process so long as it sees their mission completed. As a consequence of the Tempesn1s Scions' reputation for glorious conduct in battle, the common soldiery of the Imperial Guard often resents or even loathes them. Some of the more ill-disciplined rank and file may exhibit a dangerous insouciance towards orders, and regularly indulge in raucous mess hall antics, so the Scions' unequivocal servitude and absolutism does not endear them to their comrades. In fact, the average Imperial Guardsman sees them as little more than over-privileged bullyboys with their mag-boots on the throats of good, honest soldiers.

Training Doctrines
"Every regiment is essentially unique, and while all are of a carefully measured fighting strength and all are given a degree of uniformity by the Departmento Munitorum, there can be no argument against evaluating the strength of each regiment under one's command, identifying their particular proficiencies to better employ them in battle. With diligent training, this strength can be heightened and focussed, turning it into a true asset."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

A home world and commander provide the heart of a regiment, but it is the training they are provided and the armaments they receive which hone that regiment into a weapon against the enemies of the Imperium. Imperial Guardsmen receive training that varies regiment-by-regiment, ranging from strict military drill from birth to deadly coming-of-age rituals to unrelenting urban violence that winnows away the weak. However, there is no substitute for battlefield experience. The warzones of the 41st Millennium are the harshest proving ground that any soldier can face, and those who avoid death do so by honing their skills to a lethal edge. War is an unkind teacher, and those Guardsmen who survive its harrowing instruction to become veterans often develop a plethora of skills—whatever it takes to survive. This section describes the particular circumstances that drive a soldier to master this advanced speciality's core skills.

Advanced specialty's represent broad archetypes and skill sets for soldiers, and so this section describes tactics common to these sorts of troopers. Of course, individuals vary immeasurably across even the breadth of the galaxy, and so writers would do well to come up with variations on these tactics for their individual Fanon Imperial Guard Regiments, based on their personalities, preferences, and the roles they fill. No two regiments in the Imperial Guard are wholly alike. Even different regiments from the same world can vary immensely based on their doctrines, commanders, and individual histories. This section sheds some light on how certain regiments tend to employ soldiers who fit into advanced specialities on the battlefield.

Listed below are most common types of Training Doctrine utilised by the various regiments of the Imperial Guard:


 * Close Order Drill - The regiment has trained long and hard to operate in close formations, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with their comrades. These close formations can respond quickly with overwhelming force, moving as a single entity, rather than a group of individuals.
 * Die-Hards - The regiment is unyielding in the face of adversity, and will not falter amidst the fury of battle, no matter the horrors arrayed against them.
 * Favoured Foe - The regiment's home world has long been assailed by one of the myriad enemies of Mankind, and its troops have learned the hard way the most effective ways to slay that enemy. Without mercy and without fear, they relish opportunities to bring death to their traditional foe.
 * Hardened Fighters - The regiment's warriors are vicious up close, deadly in melee as well as at range. Armed with the tools of their grim trade, they are not afraid to face their enemies in single combat, and feel the hot blood of the freshly-slain on their skin.
 * Iron Discipline - The regiment is well-known for its unyielding devotion to duty and absolute loyalty to superiors. No man will hesitate to act when ordered, nor will they falter when carrying out those orders. The expectations of the common infantryman, however, are such that shouldering the burden of command is to take on a great and solemn responsibility, and only the humblest and most serious-minded of officers can be entrusted with warriors so devoted.
 * Sharshooters - The regiment has a well-earned reputation for producing deadly marksmen, and every soldier is expected to be able to demonstrate great proficiency with a lasgun, at the very least. Such regiments commonly produce some of the finest snipers in the Imperial Guard, and even the common soldier can be relied upon to fell foe after foe with a storm of precise shots.
 * Survivalists - The regiment is skilled at surviving in the wilderness, and its soldiers are masters of operating in a particular kind of terrain, normally the one in which they've grown up and trained extensively. Hunters and trackers almost without peer, there are few who can escape their pursuit.
 * Anti-Aircraft - Using man-portable surface to air launchers, dedicated antiaircraft emplacements, and armoured vehicles like the Hydra flak tank, these eagle eyed Guardsmen keep the skies clear of enemy aerospace craft and flying beasts of all varieties. Whether assigned to a static anti-air battery protecting a field command centre or aboard a Hydra protecting an infantry regiment from the wanton depredations of Ork fightas, antiaircraft regiments are a very important part of the Imperial Guard's order of battle.
 * Anti-Armour - This regiment specialises in disabling and destroying enemy armoured vehicles. Typically composed of light or line infantry, they are instilled with an encyclopaedic knowledge of enemy armour and equipped with rocket and missile launchers, anti-tank mines, melta guns, and other destructive devices. These Guardsmen are frequently deployed on foot or mounted in a Chimera and can cripple an enemy’s armoured advance or mechanised units with nothing but a few well placed missiles. Due to their special training and their encyclopaedic knowledge of enemy armoured vehicles and their strengths and weaknesses, Anti-Armour regiments are unparalleled tank-killers.
 * Close Quarters Battle - The deadly, winding underhive of Scintilla, endless mineshafts and tunnels deep below a planet's surface, and the narrow corridors of a towering hab block: these are just a few examples of the environs where a close quarters battle regiment shines. Lightly armoured and armed with carbines, bullpups, and other short-barrelled weapons along with numerous deadly melee weapons, close quarters specialists are trained to move and fight effectively in confined spaces. These Guardsmen tend to be reckless enough to fight the vicious enemies of the Imperium up close, and perceptive and skilled enough to survive doing so - until their luck runs out, at least.
 * Heavy Lancers - These soldiers are powerful units usually mounted on massive, powerful, fleet-footed beasts bred for the charge. Heavily armed and armoured, even the beasts they ride frequently wear thick protective plates to turn aside the blasts, bolts, and blades of the enemy. Such warriors specialise in breaking infantry lines, destroying vehicles, and demoralising nearly any foe. A terror to behold with their hunting lances levelled at full tilt, a lance charge ranks as one of the most awe-inspiring sights on the battlefield. Heavy Lancers excel at the charge and train extensively for this purpose.
 * Infiltrators - This regiment uses stealth, cunning, and every ruse de guerre known to military science to sow fear and havoc among the enemies of the Imperium. Well versed in clandestine warfare, infiltrators carry out missions that most hardened Storm Troopers would not undertake lightly. Infiltrators are extremely adept at slipping past the enemy, and use every distraction and dirty trick in the book to this end.
 * Skirmishers - Typically mounted on small, fierce, agile creatures, some regiments are specialise in using cover, terrain, weather, and darkness to shroud their movements. Skirmishers are trained to use every advantage to stealthily approach their quarry then overwhelm them in a single cascading assault. Once they strike, they disappear as quickly as they arrive, leaving shattered and confused enemy troops in their wake. Skirmishers are adept at using terrain and the speed of their mounts to devastating effect, and are masters of strike-and-fade tactics.
 * Crusaders - While all Imperial Guardsmen are faithful to the Emperor, this is more true for some than others. The most zealous adherents to the Imperial Creed see their duty as soldiers of the Imperial Guard not only taking up arms to defend the Imperium, but as part of a holy crusade to cleanse these enemies from the very stars. Such regiments are invariably accompanied by Ministorum priests, preachers, and confessors, these fiery priests exalting the soldiers to ever greater feats in the Emperor's holy name.
 * Defenders of the Faith - This regiment is closely tied to the Adeptus Ministorum, the galaxy-spanning Ecclesiarchy that teaches the Imperial Truth and leads the worship of the Most Holy Emperor. This regiment is particularly pious in its devotions, and is sure to be accompanied by preachers, confessors, and other warriors representing the Ecclesiarchy. In battle, the soldiers of this regiment fight valiantly under the watchful eyes of the Ecclesiarchy and, should they be so blessed, the Emperor Himself.
 * Defenders of the Omnissiah - This regiment is closely associated with the Adeptus Mechanicus. It might hail from a technologically advanced hive world or orbital station, or even one of the Forge Worlds of a sector. Due to their lifelong exposure, soldiers from this regiment are much more comfortable with technology than most regiments would consider healthy, and quickly adapt to new technologies given the opportunity.
 * Demolitionists - This regiment specialises in demolitions work, relying on powerful explosives and their precise application to bring down enemy fortifications or even to destroy vehicles or infantry formations. This doctrine could represent specialised siege training, or adapted skills from a mining background. Demolitionists often earn a reputation for recklessness, but usually maintain that their success and continued time amongst the living shows that they are, in fact, quite cautious and methodical in their work.
 * Sappers - This regiment specialises in combat engineer duties, including erecting fortifications, building bridges and other structures, demolitions work, setting or clearing minefields, and tunnelling under enemy emplacements. While the soldiers lack the knowledge and ability of Tech-Priest Enginseers, they are trained to construct, build, and fortify, although they perform such tasks almost purely by rote. The Imperial Guard utilised many prefabricated structures, designed to be erected and emplaced with minimal time and skill. Sappers often go beyond the theoretical limits of their duties and abilities, learning to use whatever is to hand when resources become scarce. While such actions might violate Departmento Munitorum edicts, they are often overlooked by officers so long as the results are worthwhile.
 * Snipers - Some light infantry or reconnaissance regiments specialise in eliminating their enemies from a distance. Utilising the long las or sniper rifle, the soldiers of this regiment hone their abilities to strike at range, preferably neutralising their targets without ever revealing their own presence. Regiments raised from Ratling home worlds are almost invariably trained and equipped as snipers rather than with the lasguns of normal infantry regiments.

Special Equipment Doctrines
"The arming of a regiment is a matter of considerable complexity. Each and every regiment will be equipped in a manner according to their purpose, the world of their origin, and the availability of resources."

- Extract from the Tactica Imperialis

What type of equipment does your regiment utilise? Are they well equipped? Do they have the blessings of the Omnissiah upon them? Or are they scavengers? Every regiment is unique - from their standard Regimental Kit, to their uniform and equipment that they go into battle with. Below are some of the most common types of Special Equipment utilised by the regiments of the Imperial Guard:
 * Augmetics - The regiment has had long ties with the Adeptus Mechanicus, and though not privy to the many secrets of that organization, they willingly accept the wisdom of the Priests of Mars. As a testament to this unity, the regiment's warriors sport many more bionics and augmetics than is typically the case, with veterans often sporting bionics to replace organs and limbs lost to the horrors of war.
 * Chaeleoline - The regiment's duties require them to move unseen across the battlefield, and for this reason, they have been equipped with colour-shifting chameleoline, which helps them blend in with their surroundings.
 * Combat Drugs - Commonly given to Penal Legions and other units who may require additional encouragement to fight their hardest, combat drugs can provide the additional psychological or physical kick needed to spur a unit to action.
 * Demolitions - Destruction is the unit's calling, and they are equipped and trained to follow that calling, with access to a variety of explosive munitions.
 * Scavengers - Some regard the strict rationing, draconian regulations, and complex bureaucracy of the Departmento Munitorum as needless restrictions upon the capabilities of the Imperial Guard. Others seek personal gain, or simply steal out of habit or necessity. Whatever the reason, the regiment is populated with those who steal and scavenge additional equipment from the battlefield.
 * Warrior Weapons - Warriors from primitive worlds are often ill-suited to serve on firing lines, their savage demeanour making them a poor choice to wield a lasgun. Such warriors often serve the Imperial Guard in other ways, armed with swords, axes, and mauls, to cut the enemy apart in close quarters.
 * Well-Provisioned - The regiment has been marked as a supply priority by the Munitorum, keeping them well-supplied with ammunition, food, medical equipment, and other consumables. Well-provisioned regiments tend to be those expected to face the worst of the fighting, with regular resupply to allow them to remain at fighting strength for far longer.
 * Cavalry Mounts - Each member of the regiment has a personal mount such as a horse, Grox, or other riding beast. Along with the mount, the trooper has all the necessary equipment or "tack" required for riding and fighting from their mount, items such as saddles, saddlebags, hobbles, bit and bridle, harnesses, armour, and the like. Troopers are responsible for the care and feeding of their mounts, and typically form a bond with their animal as deep and lasting as between other types of Guardsmen and their squad mates. The following are the most common mounts found within the Imperial Guard:
 * Aethexe - The Aethexe is a large and aggressive reptilian predator with a foul temper and an impressive capacity to devour raw flesh at startling speeds. Its large body is supported by massive, muscular forelegs that allow it to power forward through its native jungles on Werslaug and seize prey before tearing it apart with its vicious jaws. By contrast, its hind legs are short and stubby, keeping its mighty frame stable and low to the ground.
 * Grox - Easily one of the most common and well-known creatures within the Imperium, a Grox is an enormous reptilian beast used for everything from farming to food. Given their role as livestock, the creatures are overly aggressive and excessively territorial. However, it is these very traits that mean that, when properly motivated, Grox make for adequate—if dangerous and difficult to control-steeds. Groxwhips are said to have been named for herding these creatures, but few are willing to attempt using such an instrument on a Grox lest they provoke its considerable ire.
 * Horse - The mainstay of most Rough Rider regiments throughout the Imperium, horses are the result of countless generations of selective breeding to make them powerful runners that are highly responsive to their riders. Rugged and reliable, these trusty steeds have carried the Imperial Guard to victory across innumerable battlefields on thousands of worlds.
 * Krieg Death Rider Horse - The Death Korps of Krieg have their own unique Rough Rider formation known as the Death Riders. Like the individual Krieg soldiers, their mounts are faceless creatures, clad in heavy rebreather and devoid of any hair. These creatures were once horses, but years of genetic manipulation has created a superior breed, one that willing charges into the thickest of fighting without a single thought for its own safety or survival.
 * Marru - Discovered by the Brygun Dynasty of Rogue Traders on a world deep within the Koronus Expanse, the majestic winged feline creatures known as Marru were brought to the Calixis Sector where they became an instant marvel within many noble circles. Their pelts and exquisite wings sat within grand banquet halls, and living specimens were paraded to entertain and fascinate the aristocrats. Marru breed at a tremendous and almost uncontrollable rate, and what had once been a rare beauty was fast becoming an innumerable pest.
 * Mukaali - The Mukaali is a creature perfectly adapted to a life of stifling heat and shifting sands. Tall and long-necked, a Mukaali have wide padded feet that help them move across soft sand drifts and other perilous desert terrain. Mukaali tend to be passive creatures and extremely slow to anger. This makes them unsuited to combat, yet they are still used by numerous Rough Rider regiments, especially those that hail from the sands of Tallarn. Mukaali are particularly useful as mounts because of their sheer stamina, which allows them to cross vast swaths of inhospitable environments without rest. These hardy beasts can go for long periods of time without food or water.
 * Venumex - No records exist of when the Venumex was introduced to the Calixis Sector, although small colonies of this peculiar carnivorous lizard are found on jungle-heavy worlds across the Sector and even within a few worlds of the Koronus Expanse. The Venumex is gangly, lean, walks on two legs and is perfectly adept at hunting smaller animals for food. It also produces a mild toxin that it can spit from its mouth to slow larger prey. The Venumex has been used on several worlds that other mounts cannot tolerate, and the Rough Rider regiments that have been assigned these creatures as mount speak highly of their durability, if not their friendliness or pleasant smell.
 * Ursir - Large, six-legged omnivores from the frozen world of Modrubeo IV in the Koronus Expanse, Ursir are the favoured mounts of the Martreb 99th "Ragers." Known on their home world for attacking their prey with their slashing claws and crushing jaws, these muscular predators are covered in a thick fur that slowly adapts to the colour of their current surroundings as they shed. Despite their size, Ursir move with a loping gait that allows them to cover vast amounts of terrain much faster than expected. Ursir are independent creatures, but can be ridden by those patient or wilful enough to try. They are particularly deadly fighters when enraged, capable of rearing on to their hind legs to smash their prey with their front legs, though this manoeuvre often proves equally dangerous to first-time riders—especially when the Ursir decides on its own to strike.
 * Ucernox - The Ucernox is a massive, moderately territorial herbivore that hails from a forgotten world in the Koronus Expanse, characterised by its bulky quadrupedal frame, thick and segmented hide, and imposing horns, one of which sprouts from its nose and another pair of which form an imposing crest on its head. The Beleroph Rogue Trader Dynasty brought this creature to various agri-worlds across the Calixis Sector in the hopes that it could be harvested for food and used as a plowbeast. However, the Ucernox's seemingly placid nature belied a stubborn cunning and a tendency to erupt into occasional, extreme violence that caused most farming populations to simply release the creatures into the wild. Besides their thunderous charges, Ucernox are notable for being one of the few mounts capable of carrying an Ogryn into battle without cybernetic augmentation.
 * Covert Strike - This regiment's missions require them to operate well behind enemy lines, often amongst the enemy soldiers themselves, and their equipment reflects their need for speed, stealth, and flexibility.
 * Electro-Vox Warfare - Requiring an in-depth knowledge of the ins and outs of battlefield communication such as broadcast frequencies, electronic attack, cryptography, power generation, maintenance, and the dizzying array of communications gear fielded across the galaxy, electronic warfare is typically the purview of Operators, Tech-Priest Enginseers, and the occasional astute and tech-savvy Guardsman. No matter where they fight, these Guardsmen are equipped with some of the most sophisticated listening and broadcasting equipment issued by the Departmento Munitorum.
 * Forward Observation - Forward Observers use stealth, speed, and knowledge of navigation and survival to observe the enemy and call in air strikes, orbital bombardment, or artillery barrages. This unit excels in directing indirect fire, and their special load-out helps them ensure their colleagues in the air and behind the lines hit what they are aiming for.
 * Vanguard - Considered elite among siege regiments, these regiments combine the deadly combat prowess of elite infantry with the cunning and technical acumen of siege engineers. Where the average siege engineer’s mission is more defensive, digging trenches, breaching walls, and building fortifications, a vanguard unit’s mission is more focused on offence and mayhem. These Guardsmen travel deep behind enemy lines, either on foot or mounted in well-equipped Chimeras, to destroy infrastructure, sabotage logistical and communication lines, and cause as many problems for the enemy as they can. Many of their missions are highly classified, and are often carried out in cooperation with Storm Trooper units.

Regimental Drawbacks
"By the Throne, what a disaster. Who is leading that rabble?"

- Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Loughran, observing the manoeuvres of the 19th Secundian Mechanised Infantry

When creating your own Fanon Imperial Guard Regiment, keep in mind that each individual regiment is a unique entity unto itself. They have their own traditions, quirks and reputations amongst their fellow regiments of the Imperial Guard. Sometimes these are not always positive qualities. By creating a regimental drawback, you add another layer of complexity and uniqueness when writing about your regiment. Below are some examples of regimental drawbacks that you can utilised for your fanon regiment:
 * Cloud of Suspicion - Whether justified or not, this regiment as come under close scrutiny. The members of this regiment know that their movements are being watched by someone, and that the someone does not like them. A siege mentality has spread throughout the regiment, along with paranoia and anxiety. Officers see spies and informants everywhere and newly conscripted guardsmen are viewed with deep suspicion and hostility as their new squad mates assume they are undercover agents with sinister purposes. Whenever this regiment fails in an operation or the Squad fails to complete a mission or achieve a critical objective, the power with a worrisome interest in the regiment rears its ugly head.
 * Condemned - Either due to pernicious acts unbefitting a chosen soldier of the Imperial Guard, incompetence and failure, cowardice in the face of the enemy, unfair accusations, or simple, terrible luck, this regiment has been condemned to die on the battlefield as penance for its sins. Though many regiments seek death on the battlefield, these soldiers are not merely sent into incredibly dangerous situations but are placed against outright suicidal odds, even if there is little to be gained from their deaths besides the semi-honourable and convenient disposal of troops who cannot be trusted or forgiven. Departmento Munitorum support for such regiments is token at best, and they receive the most dangerous missions that command can concoct for them. When interacting with members of other Imperial Guard regiments, their own commanding officers, the Departmento Munitorum, and other officials both local and Imperial who would have likely heard of the regiment’s reputation. Further, this group is always assigned to the most dangerous missions on a given battlefront, and is rarely given respites between its missions to recuperate and reorganise.
 * Cult of Chivalry - This regiment holds itself to an aggressive standard, believing firmly that work done in the name of the God-Emperor must be undertaken in a certain way or it is not work in His name at all. To members of such regiments, certain lines must never be crossed, even in war, and certain tactics are never acceptable. Such warriors see deception as synonymous with dishonour, and try to avoid it at all costs, even to their own detriment. Due to their tendency to deal honestly with others, members of such regiments find it almost impossible to deceive others and will often feel obliged to tell the truth or remain silent. Members of such regiments can still lie by omission, though such tactics are almost invariably frowned upon.
 * Dishonoured - This regiment suffered a humiliating defeat or otherwise had its reputation tarnished by a failure of some kind. Although it has suffered no direct sanctions or punishments as a result, each member of the regiment still feels the sting of stumbling when put to the test. As such, they are driven to succeed at all costs, that they might rid themselves of the shame of failing the God-Emperor.
 * Doomed - Luck is a fickle mistress, and for some unknown reason she seems to have turned her back on this regiment. Nothing ever seems to go right for these hard-luck troopers, and they are the very definition of the old military aphorism, "Every plan is a good plan until first contact with the God-Emperor's foes." Much needed materiel an reinforcements arrive late, incorrect, or not at all, orders are incomplete, intelligence is nearly always wrong and battlefield conditions are worse than expected, and there are a higher number of accidents and foul-ups while in the field.
 * Honour Bound - A man or woman's honour is every bit as important to the members of this regiment as food, water, and oxygen - perhaps even more so. Various regiments across the galaxy believe that no slight to one's honour can go unanswered. Often, as is the case with unintentional slights or insults, a simple apology or retraction is enough to satisfy the individual whose honour was impugned, but occasionally the insult is so grave or an accusation so unanswerable that the parties involved can only satisfy their honour through a duel. Duelling among the officers and enlisted men of such regiments is common, and their members often earn a deserved reputation as hot-headed and quick to anger.
 * Incompetent Leadership - This regiment is a disaster from the top down, affecting the regiment's morale and causing an excess of grief and frustration among the enlisted men. Incompetent leadership could take the form of ignorant and inexperienced field officers, general officers more interested in their own personal political goals, indolent, permissive, or particularly savage squad leaders, thieving logistics officers, or any combination thereof. No matter its root cause, or causes as is often the case, the end result is always the same - loss of efficiency and combat effectiveness, muddled orders, poor communications, higher than usual casualties, and even mutiny and desertion.
 * Lost Home World - It is a common aphorism among Guardsmen that the Imperial Guard is the only home they have. For those men and women from lost home worlds, this is a sad and literal truth. In an age when swarms of slavering life forms from beyond the galaxy consume whole star systems unopposed, and when a middling fleet of voidships commands enough destructive power to reduce a planet to cinders in the blink of an eye, the loss of a single planet in a sector is unremarkable. Unremarkable, that is, except to the men and women who called the world home. Some are consumed by Tyranids or Chaos forces, some are burned in the holy fires of Exterminatus or laid waste with virus bombs, and others simply succumb to the death of their star or some other freak celestial accident. Whatever the case, this regiment is among the last survivors of a Dead World, a fact that marks the survivors indelibly. Regiments from lost home worlds become of the Imperial Guard, keeping a handful of traditions but accepting the battlefields of the galaxy as their home instead of the world upon which they were born. There is little commonality among these regiments, save for a haunted look and a tendency to suffer from crushing survivor's guilt. Being one of a handful of survivors of a disaster that snuffed out the lives of teeming millions or billions has a deleterious effect on the human psyche. Survivors of such a cataclysmic loss tend to suffer numerous grief, loss, and stress-related maladies that complicate the already stressful life of an Imperial Guardsman. Whenever a member of this regiment falls, it represents an irreplaceable loss to the group, which can no longer pull reinforcements from its annihilated place of origin. The Departmento Munitorum often assigns members of other devastated regiments to join the survivors to bring the regiment back to strength, which can create considerable friction between two groups embittered by loss - of course, this assumes that there are reinforcements to be had at all in the battlefront, and sometimes there are simply no more soldiers to join regiments devastated by such loss.
 * Mistrusted - This regiment has a bad reputation throughout the Imperial Guard. Similar to the Cloud of Suspicion, the reasons for the mistrust might be legitimate - incompetence among officers or laziness among the enlisted are two sure-fire ways to ruin a regiment’s reputation—or could be the product of over-active imaginations or the mendaciousness of rivals. Mistrusted regiments are viewed with a deep suspicion and disapprobation when they appear on a battlefield. Many commanders flatly refuse orders to work with regiments possessed of a particularly scabrous reputation. As such, mistrusted regiments are commonly given the worst missions, those that involve extremely distasteful or dangerous work, or are shuffled off to garrison duty on some unpleasant or out of the way world where they can cause little trouble.
 * Poorly Provisioned - While the officials in the Departmento Munitorum are known far and wide for their fecklessness and capriciousness, and while every unit that has ever born arms in the Emperor's service has suffered supply shortages and incorrect shipments at their hands, the poorly provisioned regiment is worse off than most. Perhaps the regiment is stationed on a planet far off the normal resupply lines, or they have been embroiled in their campaign for so long and at so great a cost that they are reduced to throwing chunks of rockcrete at their enemies and messing on grass and boiled boot leather. Whatever the case, this regiment has precious little of what it needs to operate in theatre and what equipment they do possess is in a sad state of disrepair. Poorly provisioned regiments can rarely, if ever, get resupplied in any meaningful way, suffer a loss of morale and combat effectiveness due to hunger and lack of working equipment, and many turn to thieving and raiding to fill their bellies and their empty weapon magazines. Poorly provisioned units receive half the usual number of clips or charge packs for their main weapons and half the number of rations that their regiment would normally provide.
 * Regimental Rivalry - Rivalries exist between nearly all units in the Imperial Guard. On the whole, these are mainly friendly rivalries between brothers-in-arms that express themselves in drinking contests, braggadocio, contests of escalation, and even the occasional good-natured brawl. Unfortunately, some regimental rivalries are carried too far and become less a friendly rivalry and more a seething hatred accompanied by an increasingly bitter series of confrontations and betrayals. Regimental rivalries can exist between discreet units within larger regiments such as squads or platoons, or can encompass entire regiments from the Regimental Commander all the way down to the greenest conscript. Regimental rivals take any opportunity to undermine or sabotage one another, stealing supplies, tampering with orders, duelling, spreading lies, and framing opponents for crimes. These rivalries can even, as was the case with the deadly rivalry between the Tanith 1st Light Infantry regiment and the Jantine Patricians during parts of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, go so far as outright betrayal and murder.
 * Scarred by Loss - This regiment has suffered extreme casualty rates in recent memory, and a large portion of its active troopers are survivors of terrible battles that caused its numbers to dwindle dangerously low. Even if it has been reinforced by a new founding or by being combined with another under-strength regiment, the physical and mental scars of the losses remain in its troopers. Soldiers from such regiments often find themselves irritable, distracted from sleep and war alike by memories unbidden.
 * The Few - This regiment is surprisingly small, whether because of its specialist doctrines, its harsh training methods, a dearth of potential soldiers on its founding world, or grievous battlefield losses. Whatever the reason, it continues to operate despite having far fewer soldiers than many other regiments, and thus cannot rely on the brute force tactics for which many great regiments are so renowned. Instead of assaulting in massive, overwhelming waves of soldiers, this regiment's troopers must strike in smaller units. Each soldier must rely on the competence of close squad mates rather than the raw might of the regiment itself.
 * Conscripts - While most Imperial Guardsmen are proud to serve their Emperor on the field of battle and gladly go to war, this is not always the case. On some worlds that lack proud martial traditions, their tithe of manpower must be forcibly conscripted. Commissars attached to such regiments have an unenviable task, ensuring that these unwilling soldiers fulfil their duties and obey the orders of their officers, who typically are much more inclined to serve. Although few regiments can truly be considered volunteers, this Drawback represents a regiment that truly opposed being drafted into service. This regiment was forcibly conscripted, perhaps at gun point, and its members serve the Imperial Guard only grudgingly.
 * Iconoclasts - The Adeptus Ministorum, commonly known as the Ecclesiarchy, brings the word of the Emperor to the millions of worlds of the Imperium. In a religion that spans the galaxy, it is unavoidable that there are differences in worship and belief. This, the Ecclesiarchy accommodates; in fact, on many worlds the form that veneration of the Emperor takes is adapted from the traditions of the planet's indigenous culture. Many drastically different beliefs are sanctioned by the Ecclesiarchy in order to ensure compliance and professed faith in the Imperial Creed; what the citizens of one world might consider blasphemy is a matter of inviolable doctrine on another. Yet in spite of this, there are those communities, cultures, and worlds that do not meet the Ecclesiarchy's criteria for faithfulness. This could be due to minor divergences of theology that put the local faith at odds with the sector synod, or could be a cultural aversion to or rejection of the Imperial Creed. Such is most often the case on those worlds with limited Imperial contact, and few societies openly reject the Imperial faith, for to do so is to invite retribution from the Adeptus Ministorum or worse still, the Inquisition. However, a world's native population might pay lip service to the Imperial Creed while secretly worshiping the gods of their ancestors, or might slowly subvert the teachings of the Ecclesiarchy, bringing their ceremonies further and further from the Imperial Truth. For whatever reasons, the Adeptus Ministorum views this regiment as dangerously far from the proper faith, either due to a lack of spirituality or a mode of worship too far from the accepted norm. Depending on the current state of affairs, the Ecclesiarchy might take extra measures to ensure obedience and piety with numerous priests, confessors, and other forces attached to the regiment (possibly against the wishes of its own commanding officers), or it might distance itself, weighing options or working behind the scenes to ensure the regiment is properly martyred to the Imperial Cult before it can spread its dangerous beliefs to others.
 * Primitive - Some regiments drawn from primitive worlds, for all the Departmento Munitorum's efforts, resist the imperative to adapt to the technology handed them. Eventually, the Tech-Priests' objections to the Guardsmen using lasguns as clubs can result in a loss of further supplies, leaving the regiment to fend for itself, relying on the primitive weapons and tools its members have experience constructing on their home worlds. These regiments generally come from Feral or Feudal Worlds, although some Death Worlds distinctly lack any meaningful technological presence. No matter how long they fight in the Imperial Guard, the warriors of this regiment just cannot overcome their primitive ways and adapt to the advanced weaponry of the Imperial Guard.
 * Tainted - The men and women of the Imperial Guard must all too often face incomprehensible horrors from beyond the veil of reality. After facing the denizens of the Warp or their mortal followers, regiments are often subject to extreme measures to ensure they are free of corruption, which may mean every soldier receiving the Emperor's Mercy. Whether due to seeming purity, ignorance of just what they actually faced, or an oversight by the Departmento Munitorum, some regiments are reassigned despite bearing spiritual scars from their brush with the ruinous powers. In other cases, a regiment might begin to manifest signs of taint with no apparent explanation, while still others enlist bringing with them some taint from their home world, unknown to the Departmento Munitorum. Regardless of the nature and origin of its corruption, such a regiment must hide its dark secret lest it be purged by other Imperial forces.
 * Warp-Delayed - While Warp travel is the only method by which the forces of the Imperium can traverse the distance between stars, it is dangerous and notoriously unreliable. Though the Departmento Munitorum and Imperial Navy make every attempt to compensate for the vagaries and unpredictable nature of Warp travel, some voyages face such delays that no manner of preparation can offset the damage done. It is not unknown for troop ships to arrive decades, centuries, or even millennia later than anticipated. In such cases, regiments might arrive to find the battle for which they were despatched either won or lost, resulting in confusion, the possibility of mistakenly attacking friendly forces, or facing overwhelming odds. Such a regiment might also find the Departmento Munitorum has declared them dead, missing in action, or even deserters. Such a situation can present all number of difficulties, and simply obtaining new orders can be a challenge for a regiment that has not been on the roster for generations. Arriving at one's destination to learn that all of one’s relatives and friends beyond the confines of the troop transport are long dead is a traumatic experience, to say nothing of what horrors might confront the soldiers should their destination warzone have fallen to the enemy in the intervening time.
 * Traitors - It is a sad fact that the men and women trained and equipped by the Departmento Munitorum frequently turn their weapons and training against the Imperium. Though knowledge of such treachery might be suppressed, misrepresented, or used as a propaganda tool depending on circumstances, it is an unavoidable fact that squads, platoons, and even entire regiments of the Imperial Guard can and do betray the Imperium. This regiment has done just that - forsaking its vows to defend the Imperium and turning against all it swore to protect. Whether due to some misguided sense of justice, devotion to the Ruinous Powers, or a tragic misunderstanding, this regiment has been declared traitorous by the Imperium, found guilty of the unforgivable sin. The regiment can never again turn to the Departmento Munitorum for aid or supplies, and is now hunted by the very army it once served. This drawback can also represent a treacherous planetary defence force. Rather than fighting alongside the Imperial Guard, the regiment will fight against the Imperium. The exact form of the regiment's battles depends on what allegiance they do hold, if any. This regiment cannot turn to the Departmento Munitorum for supplies. Therefore, they are presented with the difficulties of scrounging, stealing, or obtaining supplies through whatever treacherous organization to which the regiment now belongs.

Mixed Regiments
"This is war...a war with everything on the line. No matter the world of your birth, you stand here to defend all worlds from the myriad threats that beset humanity from all sides. No matter the regiment from which you hail, it is your duty to stand at the front lines of this perpetual conflict against a galaxy that would see us perish. To falter in this duty is blasphemy against Him-on-Terra and a betrayal of your species."

- Arch-Confessor Theobard Maltis, Proselytiser-Militant of the Spinward Front

Though the overwhelming majority of regiments within the Imperial Guard are internally uniform - ever squad, platoon, and company interchangeable with the others within the regiment—there are a few who differ for one reason or another. There are two particularly common reasons for this difference. The first is because of some fundamental cultural divide upon the regiment’s home world - often a difference between the commoners and the noble rulers, or between hive-dwellers and the techno-barbarian nomads from the wastelands beyond, or a similarly odd dynamic. The other common reason is simple attrition: few regiments are reinforced from their home worlds, but depleted regiments are often merged when they fall below a useful fighting strength. While it is generally preferred to merge two regiments of the same home world and of similar types, this is not always possible or practical, and the resultant combinations can be quite unusual. This merging of regiments can occur many times during protracted campaigns, leaving a handful of ragged and eclectic veteran forces where once dozens of fresh regiments once existed.

When To Use Mixed Regiments
There are four particularly common scenarios for which Mixed Regiments are extremely useful, though enterprising writers can certainly find many more applications for the system. The section below outlines the process for creating a Mixed Regiment, highlighting and explaining the areas where this process differs from that of creating a regiment normally:

The first is for regiments that were created from multiple different regiments at some point in the past, and now function as a single combat group. Though such regiments have likely become cohesive fighting units, honed to work together effectively by the rigours of the battlefield, the original elements often maintain a sense of identity, even within the whole, thanks to their different training doctrines, leaders, and histories. In this case, using the Mixed Regiment rules allows a writer to accentuate the diverse past of the regiment.

The second case covers regiments that are merged over the course of a campaign. You regiment might have suffered terrible losses and, when reduced below fighting capacity, be pushed together with another under-strength regiment by the quill of a Departmento Munitorum bureaucrat - whether or not the two (or more) regiments have complementary cultures and practices or even fill similar roles on the battlefield. In this case, the Mixed Regiment rules can be used to add a regiment to another of a very different character, bringing in new soldiers who have different and potentially conflicting views on warfare, social values, and the nature of one's duty to the God-Emperor. A third use for Mixed Regiments is in adding small numbers of outsiders to a regiment instead of folding in vast numbers of soldiers (as above). A small band of survivors from an annihilated regiment might be assigned to a new regiment in this way, or an auxiliary squad or individual who has recently joined a regiment and has not yet acclimated to its culture and tactics could be handled with the Mixed Regiment rules. This gives the writer new tools for emphasising both the valuable diversity of abilities and the potential isolation of outsiders within an Imperial Guard regiment.

A fourth case that Mixed Regiments can be used to tackle is that of a single, unified fighting force that nonetheless fields radically different elements, such as Rough Riders and Mechanised Infantry. In such a case, it is only natural that the different elements would promote different skills in the troopers of the line, even if they are part of the same regiment and have served alongside one another for years, and the Mixed Regiment rules can cover this case by allowing for different elements of the regiment to use different Doctrines despite sharing all other factors. Mixed Regiments are a valuable narrative tool that can open up many new options for both regiments and the individual soldiers who comprise them. Some troopers might have little reaction to having their regiment merged with another, while others could react angrily or even violently when forced to deal with the strange constituents of another Imperial Guard force.

Creating A Mixed Regiment
A Mixed Regiment always consists of two or more Component Regiments, each of which is created independently of the others. One of these Component Regiments is also the Core Regiment. The Core Regiment is the regiment into which the others have been folded - at least according to the Departmento Munitorum - and, as such, it frequently bears that regiment's name and receives resupplies based on its standard kit.

Home Worlds and Origins
Though the Departmento Munitorum sometimes seeks to merge regiments with similar origins, other times regiments from radically different places find themselves grouped together and expected to act as a cohesive whole.

Regimental Commanders
Although a Mixed Regiment is a singular force, and thus has only a single commanding officer (usually chosen by the Departmento Munitorum), the internal leadership of different groups within the regiment can have strikingly different tenors. A lower-ranking officer from a characteristically dour regiment might have more impact on the lives of his subordinates than a hot-blooded and inspiring regimental commander who the line troopers rarely see. Optionally, if the regiment has been merged for long enough that the Mixed Regiment has begun to have its own distinct culture beyond that of its original components.

Doctrines
In some cases, circumstances conspire to merge regiments with extremely different training and combat styles, creating all manner of logistical and organizational oddities that must be overcome before the newly-combined force can function effectively. Overcoming these problems can create potent and specialised forces, but failing to solve these issues can result in mismatched and ineffectual forces that seldom survive for long on the front lines. However, this diversity of training can also be extremely advantageous, if the regiment's officers can change their paradigms of thought enough to make use of it and individual squads can learn to leverage it to serve the God-Emperor's cause.

Drawbacks
Each regiment carries its own scars, and outsiders can rarely understand the emotional and mental burdens shared by soldiers who have fought side by side, revelled in glorious victory, and endured in bitterest defeat together.

Standard Regimental Guardsman Kit
The Departmento Munitorum has a tendency to paint in the broadest of strokes when dealing with organising groups of Guardsmen, regardless of the specialities and needs of individuals within the whole. Regiments that have been merged together are sometimes assigned gear that is unfamiliar to some members of the regiment—or worse, equipment that they are not trained to use at all. Each Component Regiment selects its own Standard Regimental Guardsman Kit, but all members of a Mixed Regiment are assigned the Standard Regimental Guardsman Kit of the Core Regiment instead of their regiment's normal Standard Regimental Guardsman Kit and have the same Favoured Weapons as the Core Regiment instead of their own. Component Regiments besides the Core Regiment do not contribute to the Standard Regimental Guardsman Kit of the Mixed Regiment with their choice of Doctrines, selection of additional equipment, or by any other means.

Finishing Touches
"What is the strongest weapon of Mankind? The machines of the Adeptus Mechanicus? No! The Astartes Legions? No! The tank? The lasgun? The fist? Not at all! Courage, and courage alone, stands above them all!"

- Lord Commander Solar Macharius

At this point, the creation of your Fanon Imperial Guard Regiment is almost complete, with only a few details remaining before players can begin constructing characters from their regiment. These are elements of background to help further flesh out the who, how, and why of the regiment:

Where Is the Regiment From?
You should have already determined the type of home world or origin the regiment came from, but worlds are more than the simple classifications that the Imperium gives them. Considering the nature of a regiment’s world of origin can help define the way that regiment is dressed, the style of its wargear, and its traditions and idiosyncrasies, all of which are useful for the writer to know when creating their Fanon Imperial Guard Regiment. A simple option might be to select a world that already exists - many worlds across the Imperium have already been described in countless rulebooks and novels over the years, and most worlds in the Imperium have raised regiments of Imperial Guard at some point (and if they haven't, maybe the regiment you've created is the first to come from there).

Why Was The Regiment Raised?
Particularly when dealing with regiments that have come from far distant sectors on the other side of the Imperium, explaining why the regiment came to exist is useful to know - are they the simple product of their home world's tithes, contributed to a distant war, or were they mustered to combat a particular threat on a world near to their home? Perhaps they’re survivors from a campaign that tore across their home world, now moved from warzone to warzone, or they're returning crusaders, not yet asked to lay down their weapons.

What Does the Regiment Believe?
Every world in the Imperium worships the Emperor—this much is both inescapable truth and inviolable law. However, the differences between the belief systems of individual worlds can be considerable. Each sector and each world within will have different ways to practise those beliefs, different local festivals and patron saints.

In What State Is The Regiment?
Whether freshly raised to fight the Emperor's wars, or hardened veterans of many battles, regiments come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with some of the most dangerous consisting of a handful of companies, while a fresh regiment may consist of tens of thousands of warriors. Some veteran regiments may even have been so battered by conflict that they have merged with another under-strength regiment, to ensure that neither goes to waste, and by the end of a long campaign, single regiments with eclectic compositions and histories can be all that remains of a dozen or more regiments that began the campaign. Fresh regiments and veteran ones can produce wildly different styles of campaign. The inexperienced are still equipped with brand new wargear, and in full and neat formations, still stood tall with the rhetoric of preachers and drill instructors, but blissfully ignorant of the truth of warfare. Meanwhile, the veterans exist in ragged, almost informal groupings, where casualties have shattered the ordered ranks and files of the past, no longer naïve about warfare, and with every trooper having his own quirks and disorders from years of battle.

What Is the Regiment's Name?
As already seen, earlier in this guide, every regiment must be uniquely identified. For some, more formal forces, a simple number and a factual designation is entirely sufficient, and often even those plain identifiers can be heavy with ancient legacies and traditions, where numbers have been used and re-used over the millennia. At other times, a regiment may be given a moniker all its own, distinct from its official designation. Commonly a source of pride for the regiment's men, their collective name helps distinguish them from all others who have come from their home world, and gives them a stronger sense of identity. In particular, this seems to be commonplace with regiments from worlds that are naturally deadly, with regiments named after particularly deadly predators, bearing stylised images of those creatures upon banners and medals, or emblazoned on the armour of tanks.

Who Is The Regiment's Commander?
Having already defined the personality of the commanding officer, it is worth considering him in a little more depth. Particularly as a campaign continues, the regimental commander is likely to become an increasingly relevant figure within his Guardsmen's lives. Determining his name, at least, is something worth putting a little thought into. Beyond the regiment's commander, there are other figures within the regiment to consider, ranging from Commissars, whose judgement is all that stands between a man and execution, to attached preachers, who guard the souls of troopers and lead them in their prayers to the Emperor. The regiment's command structure contains many whose personalities and responsibilities will bring them into contact with even the most junior of Guardsmen, and it's worth putting a little time and effort into deciding who those people are.