Games Workshop Will NOT Fix the Imperial Guard 

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Showed Mordians when you were talking about Praetorians 😮😂 Forgivable since they were just a head swap after the display “battle at big toof river”. Loved the video, so much nostalgia, keep it up.

In my local gw store they hold a get together every month where you can play or paint and we have only 1 guard player from what I know and I have seen his guard take on new chaos knights and chaos marines with little to no casualties. The hammer of the emperor rule for guard is somehow keeping up with 9th edition and I love how lore accurate that is for the guard being so hardy and full of tricks that they can out shoot any army.

My complaint about Space Marines always getting the spotlight is that it creates a positive feedback loop. Space Marines get the most consistent updates and the coolest new toys first. So they get the cool toy, people buy it, and they make more. The rest of the armies get left behind with less players, so they get less toys, less players, less toys, less players, less toys, less players, less toys. Meanwhile even I, an Ork player, owns a space marine army because I wanted something new and shiny

Glad to see you giving Guard some love, Unsure if just being baited, but I can't help but take it. Those were Mordian Iron Guard not Praetorian Guard sculpts. Which you coincidentally forgot to include. But more importantly, Guard for me have always been one of the most open factions to make into your own. They are a kitbashers dream army.

I actually love the original sentinel for one reason, it was designed by Michael Perry! What an inspiration to see how far HE has come in a couple decades. It's so easy to forget that anyone is going to be a little clumsy at first, but practice will even you out

As a Catachan player, I just hope we get SOMETHING unique for us in the new codex because it's not like we're getting a new infantry range lol

My first 40.000 army was Imperial Guard - consisting of a combination of Shocktroops of Cadia and Tallarn Desert Raiders ;) And oh my... what a journey this was in the last 26 years 😃

Damn, being called old because I remember the various regiment kits hit me in the ouchies. My favourite regiment were the Forge World Elysian Drop Troopers, who went back to that Starship Troopers aesthetic. Something about air cav just made me tingle in places. Shame I never collected them, if I was to do some guard I would look at seeing about getting some of the original models and maybe filling them out with 3rd party stuff.

I still believe that they could do most of the regiments using two different sets of bodies (one with coat, one with trousers) and upgrade sprues with heads and arms. It is still more than what space marines need, but it could work

Plastic Cadians are actually a bit older than that, they came out with our 2003 codex for 3rd ed

I don't play 40K but If I did I'd play the guard, no question about it. The Guard are my favourite 40K faction and I think a big part of that is exactly what you said, the charm and the humour. Dawn of War also further exposed me to the units they had on offer and I quickly fell in love with their adherence to mass production and standard issue units and equipment. Gotta love that the commanders needing a whole retinue of guards to match the other factions HQ's, its a lovely touch that helps immerse you into the ideology of the guard.

Other than what the others said about the Mordian/Pretorian thing, excellent vid. One addition: According to comments on some of the releases and the big live stream, they have been hinting that alternative regiment upgrade sprues will be a thing, like the 30k ones for the Space Marines.

As a fan of Astra Militarum I completely agree. I've long wanted to field a full army of Mordian Iron Guard. I think it would be easy to create upgrade spues of heads and arms like you said. It would be easy to work it into the lore too. The cadian style uniforms were so durable it became the galactic standard, but units like the mordians and firstborn chose to maintain their distinctive uniform colors and headgear. Further, they need to make a second tempestus scions kit. I tried making an army of them but they're rather boring with only five different poses

I am one of the few Imperial Guard players with a full metal army (Vostroyan). Ever since 6th edition, it was downhill for everything that wasn’t Cadian. Nowadays I play the Vostroyans as Imperial Army in Warhammer 30K.

As an old time ex-guard player (ditched them for Custodes at the beginning of 8th Edition, as they lost all their flavour) I have to say: New guard players do not realize how LUCKY they are. Think about it this way: Back in 2nd Edition when these Guard regiments came out, the sample 1500 point IG list in the Codex contained the following: Cadian HQ squad (Officer, 2 Meltaguns, Missile Launcher Team, Psyker, Chimera for 423 points), Cadian IG Squad (Flamer and Heavy Bolter), Cadian Heavy Weapons squad (2 Autocannons and Heavy Bolter), 5 Ratling Snipers, Leman Russ, Catachan Command squad (Officer, Lascannon, Heavy Bolter, Psyker), Catachan IG Squad (Plasma Gun, Missile Launcher), 5 Rough Riders. That is 41 METAL miniatures, 2 Tanks, 5 Cavalry and 6 wheeled metal heavy Weapons. But when 3rd Edition was released in 1998 the only Plastic kit we had was: none. Catachans came Later in 1998-2000. And your average IG army of 1500 points looked like: HQ Squad of 5 for the mandatory HQ (About 150 points including the Missile Launcher and Meltaguns) It could bring up to 5 Heavy weapon Squads as part of it's platoon (About 100 points for 2 Autocannons and a Heavy Bolter). 2 Infantry Platoons of at least 25 figures: An 5 men Command Squad and 2 Infantry Squads. Will cost you 155 points without upgrades, or 222 points with (2 Plasma + Missile Launcher and 2 times Flamer+Missile Launcher). But realistically you would want at least 3 Platoons of 3 Infantry Squads each. So realistically you are now lugging around about 120 metal figures, 14 wheeled metal heavy weapons and your 2 Tanks. So playing Guard just became a huge workout. Yes, it was less painful with the Catachan and Cadian plastic kits, but older players did not have that many squads lying around, as they never needed them for 2nd Edition...

The guard have been a mainstay of my collection since the release of the Praetorians (for which I have a company) and thanks to the second hand market I have figures that go back to the original Imperial Army range. The first plastic guard (and the accompanying metal bodies with plastic arms and weapons) were just being released when I first began playing 40k.

How dare you forget about the Tanith First and Only sir! You could get them once upon a time too as normal guardsmen. Same with missing the Mordians. :D However you're very right, the other regiments really deserve more attention from GW as ranges.

The Guard do need a little more flavour. The Cadians (current scupt) were generic and should have had some alternative sprues to turn them into different styles. A long winter coat, a scarfed head, lighter or heavier armour, bare arms, slightly different lasguns, etc. Just something to do different than a StarShip trooper knockoff

It's a shame they discontinued the other guard regiments mini production. I've been using bolt action soviet winter infantry models for my Valhallan Regiment. It works as a proxy for the scale. All you need are lasguns.

Always remember, The planet broke before the Guard did.

I really, really hope that Catachans will receive new kits, too. The infantry squad is from the early 90s and got a minor updated in the late 90s. Somewhere between 2001 and 2003 the Command Squad and Heavy Weapon Team got their plastic release, too. And they discontinued selling all the metal miniatures except the characters. Furthermore they released the coolest and best upgrade kit for tanks, the Catachan one. It had tons of awesome and great stuff to really let any Guard vehicle look like a Catachan one. Furthermore FW released a brass sprue with jungle plants (it was hellish to work with, but cool). Unfortunately the last two were discontinued in 2006 and they sold what was left. If someone really deserves some love and treatment, its the Catachans. Those deeply loyal Rambos are waiting for decades now to get a new and great miniatures and even those that were never made, but are part of the lore. Like the Catachan Devils or the Catachan lizard cavallry (huge and damn scary four to 6 footed lizard like creatures, clad in armour, with several rows of rather sharp teath, extremly dangerous claws etc. Such a creature is even for a Space Marine a heavy match). And GW released Marbo, then Seargent Ripper and lastly the Catachan Colonel (inspred btw by a well know Halo character), are all fantastic casts and really show what GW could do with them. So let's hope, by the Emporer, that GW will do it!

Really cool video going through the evolution of a faction model range. Please do more

Gw could have solved some of the problems if they had taken a similar approach as they did with the space marines with the upgrade sprues. Sell one kit per unit, with a generic uniform as the standard with cadian included in the box and then a series of small sprues sold to change the heads, shoulders etc to different regiments, giving them extra bits to give them heraldry for the flashier regiments. If plastic wasn't viable, fw resin could have been used like they do now for horus heresy. It would not have pleased everyone of course, but it would make it viable for gw.

It would be very easy to make kits that built multiple regiments. Cadian uniforms before they added the knee pads were basically the same as Mordian uniforms. Use the same bodies with an armor plate you can attach to the front. Have Talaran heads with shawls that hand over the top of the torso. Krieg, Steel Legion, and Valhalla could all be in one box with multiple head sets and some odd bits. Vostroyan are a little harder, but you could give them their own kit and throw in bits for some new as yet unexplored regiments that build off of similarly medieval armor. Catachans need a new kit, you could include bits for a more generic "scout infantry look" with optional cloaks, and then you just need a head swap and a dagger pin for the Ghosts. 4 kits is a lot, but the Guard infantry kits do a lot of duty, it's one kit that represents multiple units, and this system would give players 12 different options. I've been saying this since at least 6th edition, and GW's models have only been getting better over time. They could do it, but it's only going to get harder as they introduce more units, like the field batteries, that have Cadians as the only option.

I could see “upgrade sprue” of regiments, but there’s no way they’re ever going back to full blown regiments of all kinds. They’ve settled in the Cadia style and will stick to it, long after that world is extinguished (oh wait….) I just think of it as a rebranding that all the regiments get issued the same gear these days.

I think other regiments will get full ranges over time. Cadia survived because they were the best selling of the old regiments and because they had a plastic range. If you'd have asked 12 months ago which is more likely that we get some new guard regiments or an entire army range of Squats I think most people would have said the guard... so who knows what can happen? I mean they have brought back Attilan Rough Riders and a unit of DKoK in plastic which at one point looked pretty inconceivable. In the wider picture we got a complete refresh of Horus Heresy, Sisters of Battle got a complete army, Ad Mech got a complete army, we have knights of both types and by next year we will have 3 of the 4 main Chaos god affiliated legions with unique units and Primarchs so GW is clearly not that afraid of trying stuff. These are things that people would have said will never happen. Even stuff like different army books for smaller SM Chapters and the Custodes were at one time considered impossible.

Old sentinel. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Yes.

Leman Russ was literally in the Rogue Trader rulebook! He was the founder of the Space Wolves back then but this was before he was a primarch.

My first miniatures I bought were the rogue trader plastic imperial guard. Still have them and I pulled one out the other day to give it a refresh paint job, gave me a lot of nostalgic memories.

id love to collect the death korps of krieg but they need to get more plastic models on games workshop, the forge world ones are way to pricey for me.

I have been a loyalist Guard since I started in 1996 The biggest problem with Imperial Guard is it is expensive to collect 2000 pts of every variation / foot , mech , tank or Hy-brid to future proof yourself from rules changes . 9th started out as , then progressed : 1) 300+ foot , mortar pits , 9 Bullgryn and full pay load Manticores 2) 300+ foot , mortar pits , 2x5 Crusaders and full pay load Manticores 3) 200 + foot with a Marauder Destroyer / Bomber 4) tank , mech and Manticores with 3 tank aces 5) Scions with 5 Taurox Primes 6) Hy-brid / 3 tank aces Demolishers , mortar , x100 troops , Basilisks 7) 300+ foot , mortar pits , white shields , full pay load Basilisks 8) pure Hybrid ==> Demolishers , mortar pits , x100 troops , Basilisks 9) Hy-brid with Bane blade variant 10 ) Codex time

I saw this on my living room TV, so I’m commenting on my phone today, and I was shocked seeing this, and realized that, if I had those older guardsmen models, along with “Only Way”, and Solar Auxilia, then I can do a prologue campaign based on the Siege of Terra lol 🤣 But finding those miniatures will be a nightmare, so I’ll either have to build them from scratch, kit bash, or try my luck online, either way, it will be an epic prologue for sure… 😂

I was at my local game store playing a game of AoS with my dad and there was a full chaos knight centered army against guard. The guard absolutely GLOBALLED the chaos within two battle rounds

I love being able to wake up to coffee and EOB 3 out of 5 work days!

I'm fortunate enough to have one of the top 25 Imperial Guard players (globally, according to ITC tournament rankings) play tournaments in my local scene. He's a really cool guy and manages to do consistently well with something like 120 Whiteshields Conscripts, a mountain of out-of-line-of-site shooting, and a good 5 or 6 Leeman Russ tanks in various configurations, and I've gained quite a few insights into the Guard through conversation and competition. They're not a bad army, right now. Really. Auto-wounding on 6s to hit with 240+ lasgun shots is not nothing. Their biggest problem really, truly is that GW may not hate them, but they don't care enough about them to treat them right. They're not a showpiece army. Space Marines (loyalist or chaos) are sort of the poster boys of the showpiece army; they get the first codex every time, they get all sorts of new models, they get the attention to make them less same-y from version to version, all that. Tau, to a certain extent, are a showpiece army; who can deny that an army of giant robots and mech suits on the tabletop is cool? But Guard? Guard are a morass of infantry and a wall of tanks, and even their cool things are just... Bland compared to everyone else's. For GW to fix the Imperial Guard, they need to reinvent their identity. They need to become a showpiece army to get the love, and they need to get the love to become a showpiece army. Also, I laughed way too hard at "The Egg".

3D printing is the way. But yeah, would love to see a modern GW take on the unique regiments.

As a new player thanks to the new Kill Team, I have started a collection of Imperial Guard. I find the models to be pretty cool and I enjoy building and painting them.

All the Imperial guard need is the ability to spawn more reinforcements for destroyed infantry units to show the endless stream of meat for the grinder, it doesn't need a million special rules, basic orders are fine.

2:37 - 2003* They came out just after the Eye of Terror campaign with the new 3.5 Guard book just before 4th edition. 7:56 - Not the Praetorians, They're the Mordian Iron Guard.

really appreciate letting us know where to get other model ranges to fill in for the imperial guard. and yes I'm planning on collecting them. for the same reasons you gave

I absolutely love the guard and use them for everything 40k, kill team, it doesn’t matter. And it’s because of this quote right here. For that weak sack of flesh that you so gleefully mock is no super soldier, no immortal warrior, no creature cursed by chaos like you. He is a man, an imperial guardsmen drawn from some forgotten corner of the Imperium to fight for his species and for the safety of the people he loves. He is a factory worker, a farmer, a storekeeper, a father, a brother, a son, a mere man. And against creatures like you, teeming and numberless, powered by the very will of thirsting gods......... He holds the line. He has held the line for ten thousand Years.

Love the guard. If GW brings back the other regiments or even their metal sculpts I’d probably try and get my hands on them to have every regiment of the guard. And if not I’ll find them elsewhere. Plus who knows rumours say krieg will get their range refresh in plastic in 10th edition that might mean a range refresh for each regiment each edition. Maybe we will get catch and next? Would be really cool to have a Catachan vs Tyranids in a Kill Team in the jungle with the Catachan having a range refresh. Like the kasarkin did. Maybe they will also get their elites the Catachan devils like the cadian kasarkin and the krieg grenadiers. I would very much like that for each regiment hat comes back and for all of them and more to come like Jopall, Mordant Acid Dogs, etc. But it is but a dream a dream of a hopeful guardsman player.

Great video. Really accurate history really well summarised !!

For the record, Leman Russ WAS a guy from the begining, but he wasn't a Space Marine, and he wrote the Codex Astartes, so arguably not even the same character.

I miss Pete Haines! He wrote both the 3rd edition Guard Codex and the 3rd Edition Chaos Space Marine codex and both are better than anything they've put out since...Customizable with every unit being a viable option!

Guard don't really need new models. They already have a massive range and most of their models are fine. What people do want is new regiments

There is always a part of me that wants 120+ troopers just flooding the table.

Imperial Guard was my first faction and is still my main faction! They are definitely unwieldy in terms of the regiments. But even though I have to downsize the amount of Cadian and Catachan I own, and truly start painting my guard, I will rep them forever! The IG do work and I have had some awesome moments of that!

But the horses, won't anyone think of the horses!!

There's just something great about fielding 9 russes and your local store won't let you play again

I remember getting really excited when I first saw that picture of 'The Egg'!

-The Imperial Army- -The Astra Militarum- *THE WALL OF GUNS*

The only thing that keeps me from even thinking of playing guard is the regiment I would want to play is no longer in print, and when it was, it was super expensive. If GW brought back Elysian Drop Troops and put the in plastic, I would have a Guard army. It would be easyish too, the base troops are just a head swap and a grav chute from being Cadians.

Catachan need their own bike squad. except instead of using heavy clunky space marine bikes, they need some 90s 250cc 2 strokes with flame throwers.

As a new player to 40K, for some reason "The Guard" just speaks to me. I don't plan on being a crazy tournament player out to win every game (Yet haha) more to have fun and enjoy a new hobby. Just purchased the Astra Militarum combat patrol box and cannot wait for it to arrive so I can get to building and painting before my first tournament late March.

I've had a massive Valhallan army for a long time. I added to it a few years ago when GW did their made to order Valhallans. One of my favorite armies and it looks awesome on the table.

I am no businessman, but I feel like they should have created a generic guard sprue(s) with torsos, legs, etc. Then make a box for each regiment with said sprue. Included in each separate regiment box would be a small upgrade sprue to turn those generic guardsmen into a specific regiment. They could also sell these upgrade sprues separately and include them in other kits like the heavy weapon teams. I guess we probably wouldn't get the super unique models but I think it's a good compromise.

I played guard in 2nd edition. Used to win alot in the shop games against other people as no-one knew how to fight them as everyone moved on from Space marines as a first army to Eldar or Chaos.

The perks with the guard like space marines is is that you can paint any colour scheme. You just lose out on the fun different details. Maybe some add on packs so yes can kit bash cadians would work? I have some lovely old school iron guard abd desert raiders that I have stripped so to enjoy repainting as a grown up. I’m going to go maaaaaaad with speed paints

I love the Imperial Guard, but they do tend to get wrecked. Back in 2nd edition you could have entire Platoons of Rough Riders, or Heavy Weapon Squads, every squad could take special Veteran Skill that no other army could take, and every Platoon or Army Command Squad would allow you an off-board artillery barrage every turn. 3rd edition nerfed them pretty hard with the new Force Organization chart putting tight limits like removing Rough Rider Platoons as an options, and putting Ogryn, Ratling, and Stormtrooper squads(not platoons) in the 0-3 elite slots for your whole army. I remember 3.5 Imperial Guard got doctrines and new flyers. Imperial Guard with Vendetta gunships, and either free Infilitration or a 4+ armor Save, Deep Strike for your whole army was amazing. Aside from that brief period of 3.5 army doctrines as a whole the Guard didnt change too much between 3-7th editions. Command Squads gained special orders, a lot of new tank variants came out, but no new strategies besides Swarms and Tanks. It actually kind of ruined the Guard as they lost all of the diversity, like what happened to the 3.5 feral world imperial guardsmen with swords and laspistols(Kanak Skull Takers), the airborne regiments(Elysian Drop Troops), Carapace Guardsmen(Vostrayan Firstborn), or the Infilitrator armies(Tanith First and Only)? I heard 9th-10th edition actually nerfed the Imperial Guard vehicles, while also buffing the whole Tau army.

AM will be getting a new big tank soon, and it have been leaked that the starter for 10th will be Blood Angels vs Tyranids.

When the Vostroyan Firstborn were released I loved how different they looked from the standard Guard soldiers while still being very obviously Guardsmen. Too bad they were all metal, if they'd been plastic they'd have been both less expensive and more customizable. Still my favorite looking regiment though.

I have 3x of those 'Eggs' and back then I was really eggcited about them. I half-heartedly collected Guard in those Rogue Trader days, the first plastic guard etc but stopped due to my historic gaming enthusiasm (and lack of funds, GW has always been pricey) About 2006 I was hooked by those new plastic Cadians, and the metal command figures I still think are some of GWs finest designs. Thanks to Ebay and the numerous independent sellers I was able to go bananas collecting Cadians for a few years culminating in a huge collection of figures (including 3x Baneblades and 1x Shadowsword). I still prefer older figures (the 'Heroic Scale' as they are called) to the new designs (Although the new models are excellent I must say).

I think a big thing for the guard is that for the most part they are space marines are but with more diversity. See the space marines can all be painted how ever you want regardless of model right? So you can buy a box of Primaris Intercessors and make them Imperial fists, Ultramarines and so on and so forth, but if you go and buy a box of Cadians what can you do with them other than paint them as Cadians? Theres really nothing getting in the way of GW making stuff for space marines because its all universal outside of weird chaos add ons and stuff for their kits. The guard are far more distinct in their looks and weaponry and I think its a big reason why they are so tentative to do anything with the guard. I mean look the thing is that youre not going to make a guard army out of 2 squads of Cadians a heavy weapons team a single Basilisk a Commisar and a command squad, it just doesnt work like that, you need a lot more than that. The same would go with any other regiment of guard if they were to be added in and thats a lot to bet that people would spend money on them if they are or arent competitive considering the Cadians are perfectly viable. I mostly think there is the issue that 1. They arent incredibly popular 2. For the past while they have been very dated and are only now receiving a long overdue update 3. They arent a guaranteed safe bet like the Space Marines are 4. They are a swarm army, they arent something where you can have like 20 figs total and have a good time, 20 figs for the IG is like a 1/3 of a reccomended fighting force simply because they are nothing more than fodder for the Leman Russ's and Basilisks to do the heavy lifting, not to say the infantry cant its just not very viable. 4.5 And lastly it is the amount of time needed to model each and every one of them, I only just got into 40k and so far I have 2 boxes of Cadians done each taking me about 3 days a piece which when you figure you have so many to get through you kinda speed paint and ignore tiny issues like a tiny bit of black on the trousers and such but if someone is a perfectionist and cant stand even the most minor hiccup which I think is 99% of the 40k community theyll be stuck for weeks with painting a fighting force thats not even half of what they need and then have to redo that process again and again until its complete.

I made an effort to collect guard and space Marines in the 90s. I loved all the models but wasn't aware back then that you were encouraged to have only one type of guard to fill out the ranks as it were. The pith helmeted Praetorian is a favorite (but to convert now would cost a fortune). I wish there was a way to create a cool regiment like you can with creating chapters of space Marines.

The problem with the guard is exactly that: it is too much, the old catachan codex was totally overpowered, you could pin basically every infantry unit with one sniper, burn down or blow up them with heavy flamers, 4th edition let you even makes your own regiments, some of them really good on close combat against basically everything except marines. You can't balance a guy with an armoured regiment, rough riders, heavy weapons platoons and snipers, he's going to pin you down while lass cannons, basilisk, leman russ and mortars pound your army to nothing, even if you manage to assault them they're going to charge and then bomb you away after the squad flies, and have in mind back in the day an indirect firing basilisk was able to shoot up to 300cm as long as one miniature was able to see the objective, which one? you choose, a sniper, a platoon of 20 recruits for 40 points, a leman russ or even another basilisk. And I know that because I was basically banned those days from using the armoured regiments, most boring game you can have, it's just stimating (and as a sport shooter I was really good at it) while the other guy just prays the dispersion makes the heavy fire uneffective.

I can really recommend the wargames Atlantik plastic sprues! Many nice bits to play around with;)

in december i will do a catachan/victoria miniatures "island of doctor moreau" kill team build and i think i will record it for the first time you are such an inspiration!! keep on rocking

They get the single coolest lore books I've ever read. Knock down drag out slug fests of battles, to operator shit infiltration missions. They have also been expanding them for 40k, and they kick ass. I recommend the minka lesk novels and steel tread are good.

I love the guard so much. I find the little grunts relatable and love collecting them. No fucking clue how to use them or what any of their gear is.

Since they just released a sneak peek of the return of the Attilan Rough Riders, I believe they are going to slowly re-release these regiments as plastic kits. I also read that they were bringing back the build your own regiment rules that were in 3rd edition.

I collect guard, have done for many years now. And this may be controversial but I don't mind the current Cadians that we have. They are old of course, but they still seem somewhat fine. I have like 50 of them and through kitbashing, minor sculpting and the odd third party bit, made my 50 Cadians look different. But the problem with collecting a 16 year old kit for 10 years is that I have enough. I think all current guard players have enough Cadians Shock troops. Same with the Heavy Weapons and Command squads. Guard need reinventing. And in the lore, they had THE perfect opportunity and they have squandered it. You see, we currently have Troop, HQ and Heavy options for Cadians and Catachans. In addition we have Scions and plastic troops for Krieg, plus a lot more. They have made new Cadian Troop, HQ and Heavy options, as well as the new, lets call them Super Heavy option. As well as new Sentinels, Commissars, Rough Riders, Kasrkins and a new Creed. Seems like a lot. 9 new kits. But the range has only expanded by 3 as 6 are replacing old models. And 2/3 of the new additions to the range are old kits that were removed and are now returning (Kasrkin and Rough Riders.) And these 3 are great, much needed additions. But the other 6 I can leave. It's nice to get new upgraded models, but my Guard army is 10 years old now, It has plenty of these things already. So here is my alternative. Games workshop should have taken advantage out of the destruction of Cadia. Bring back Kasrkins as part of Cadia's stand. Cadia should be here to stay, but they are weakened and as such should no longer be the posterboys (and girls) of the Astra Militarum. Let Cadians go the way of Catachans. Still available in their old sculpt form. Let a new regiment take the centre stage. Bring Krieg into the fold. The Atilan Rough Riders could have easily been Krieg Rough Riders. The Super Heavy Weapons could have been manned by Krieg. And with the Troop option already here thanks to Kill Team, they just need to add Krieg HQ and Heavy Weapons teams. Suddenly, Guard have 3 regiments fully kitted out with Troop, HQ and Heavy options. Krieg, Cadia, Catachan. Plus, you have made less new kits, but with more new options. By all means, update the Sentinel. Forget the Commissar, we have enough of them and they still look good. And instead of a new Creed, replace that model with a named Krieg leader. Under my plan, you now have 7 new kits instead of 9, offering +7 new additions to the range not +3 and you have 3 fully realised regiments, not 2. And why not keep the momentum going. If they want to release 9 kits, let them. But instead of another new Commissar, how about a new better psyker. And how about instead of the updated Cadian Shock Troopers, they make the Penal Legion models which have been in codexes but never had models. Or really commit to the Guard. Add a 4th or 5th or even 6th regiment. Maybe instead of 3 kits for Troop, HQ & Heavy though, release 1 box with 10 troops and 1 Heavy Weapon Team and release an upgrade pack with the heads and arms etc to upgrade a troop box to a HQ squad. 3 boxes can get you 3 troop squads and a Heavy Weapon Squad. Maybe this could even be the solution for ALL regiments coming back. Each regiment gets 1 box and an upgrade sprue. I'm getting ahead of myself now. But definitely, making Krieg the new main regiment could have meant making less kits, with more new options and expanding the army a lot further than just rehashing old kits.

Metal guard weren't taking up too much space, as metal molds don't take up much space, nor do blisters - but it was the move to plastics which killed the many guard regiments, at least temporarily. Now days they could easily do several regiments considering their ability to pump out literally dozens of boxes of Necromunda Gangs, Warcry warbands, etc. All GW would need is simple; one infantry box, one command box (with a few tank commanders on the sprue), and one heavy weapon box per regiment. Throw in some head/gear options for each one and you could easily produce a number of unique regiments. Is this really necessary with all of the 3rd party options? Perhaps not, but it's well within GW's financial capacity.

It would be nice as well if they promoted different Cadian regiments. As in showed that they can have different uniform colours for different regiments and maybe even add upgrade sprues to add some unique parts to each regiment. That's what people like so much about the Space marines, how you can personalise them. If they fostered that sort of thing for the Cadians they'd be laughing all the way to the bank.

I love the idea of giving us the different regiments via Kill Team! Kills two guardsman with one stone

First collected Warhammer when all the other guard regiments existed, I had mostly Mordian and my Bro had Pretorian, this was around 1997-2001. Just getting back into the hobby within the last year and really disappointed at the complete lack of Guard or still using the same models as 25 years ago! I ended up making myself a small 500 point army of Roane Deepers made mostly from WW2 kits with lasguns. Sad that the Guard have gone backwards in the time I have been away. 😞

I have an iron warrior army but it’s the army I started with, it has my early models and I feel I can do much better. I wanna start fresh and put all the skills I have learned from that into a new army. The guard are that army, I love there lore and it’s horrifying way of fighting. They have a meat grinder combat style. Millions of people may die but at least we defeated the enemy in the end. I personally really like the Cadian models, but I definitely agree that games workshop needs to do an update and bring back some other regiments. I personally think it’s something that 40k fans would love to see.

The actual most common defenders are the planetary millitia, imperial guard are elite versions of those that only like one in ten qualify for.

You missed the “dirty dozen” of the Imperial Guard with the the 13th Penal Legion (originally in the 3rd Ed as either a Special Veteran Guard squad in your normal list OR as a twelve independent character army)

The Guard in blue were not Praetorians, but Mordian Iron Guard. The Praetorians had pith helmets and looked very much like Colonial British troops in the movie ZULU! (Pronounced: ZoooLOOOOOooooo! 🤣🤪)

My hair brained idea would be for GW to launch Lost and the Damned/Traitor Guard faction and at the same time produce a generic "human infantry" kit. The plan being to later release sprues to turn them into as wide a variety of loyal or traitor Guard as possible.

You can have my Tallarn 117th Jackals when you pry them from my cold dead hands! 🤣

Goodness you make me feel old. My Guard army has one of the early 'egg' sentinals, a ton of talarn and the original metal cadians plus a squad or two of the first storm troopers and rough riders. Squad valhallans too.

I doubt Guard will ever get a starterbox placement. They want to keep the box cost to model count relatively proportional to buying models, and the overall cost of the starter box low enough that parents will buy it for the younger kids, while including enough forces that you can actually play a few enjoyable games with just the starter box. To properly include a guard side in the box, they'd need to either a) run a lot of guard models to make a proper guard infantry force, meaning only a few high value models for the opposing force, making games too swingy and potentially unfun. b) run a smaller guard force with a heavy support unit, eg chimera, meaning the game is harder to learn as additional complications are entered early, and make the game very swingy, as the loss of said unit is game over, as is the loss of whatever anti-tank weapons or other specialist unit the opposing force has to deal with the heavy c) run a typical starter box sized force, but buff guard significantly in value, wrecking the lore and the 'feel' of guard, meaning you have lost a lot of what makes guard, guard. d) pack a larger amount of models into the starter box, without price rise, meaning the cost of production has risen, and profitability decreased, but more importantly, the starter box will keep selling out as veterans buy them because it is cheaper than buying the included models without the rulebooks and other included bonuses. e) pack a full small guard force and opposing force into the starter box, and raise prices to keep cost/model ratio, meaning the game loses a lot of incoming younger players, as the price is beyond what they are able to pay or what their parents are willing to play, and the customer base shrinks. I've seen games companies try all of these approaches with intro packs as a wargaming fan, and had problems with the first two approaches just when trying to set up intro games for various rulesets from my collection where lore had a force following stalins maxim involved. If i've noticed the commercial problems companys have experienced from the fan/player viewpoint in starting players with these factions, I am certain GW has noticed and decided to stick with relatively stable, higher value per model but losing any model doesn't tip the game much forces with some but not much assymettry between sides.

I play Vostroyans. I have hundreds of them. No third party can come close to these amazing sculpts. I don’t want to play any other faction. I understand GW not wanting to keep inventory of them up, but they should schedule MTO events where all of the old regiments come up for sale. This will give people who want them plenty of them to save money and get what they’ve always wanted. Unique faction rules can be supplemented in a White Dwarf magazine. That way GW can still make new models that look amazing, but still honor and support all of the amazing lore that has been built up over the years.

EonsOfBattle is like, the comedian trope of the hardest working comedian in comedy, but you know, for RU-vid. Maybe AuspexTactics.

If they expanded the rules for heretic/traitor armies and gue'vesa units that were also had "regiments" from ice or desert worlds, they could vastly expand the market for valhalla or tallarn armies.

Vostroyans and Steel Legion were not part of the 94 release. Pretorans came in 97 (from the Battle of Big toof River). Steel Legion came in 2000 with the Armageddon campaign and Vostroyans came with 4th edition (post 2004)

As a krieg player. I NEED MORE PLASTIC KRIEGSMAN. PLEASE JAMES WORKSHOP PLEASE

Asks for less bloating when there are like 40 different armies of space marines. Realistically blood angels, dark angels, space wolves, deathwatch and black templars only ever needed an upgrade pack and a couple of special characters

Great video, but hey I have all of the old guard and still use them and love when people say where did you get those.😇🙏🇺🇸

I had one of the egg sentinels. Also, you said Praetorian Guard (& mentioned pith helmets), but pictured the Mordian Iron Guard.

I'm old enough to remember when Imperial Guards had Beastmen... for some reason.

I always like the normal groud pounder types more than ulta elites. Havent really played proper since 4th but i started in 3rd ed with mix of catachan plastics with a some metal. ive collected a few other smaller force just for fun but never played them. my second biggest 40k army is orks which i only started on in the last few years. Guard are my faves though. Punching daemon princes and avatars in the scrote with a powerfist wielding colonel was always highly satisfying. not to mention the leman russ variants. couple of minor corrections. like others have mentioned, you mixed up mordian and praetorian. next came the steel legion with the armageddon campaign , then last metal kit was the vostroyans which i think came out with cities of death. Also , Leman Russ was a thing!, Just not as he is now. Check page 27 of your rogue trader book. like the rest of the marines he got a lore hefty reboot with 2nd ed.

Every time there's a poll guard always rank like top 5 factions and I'd imagine they sell well too especially seeing as how they keep jacking their price up

My second army was/is the Imperial Guard. All Cadians with that one Octarius DKOK squad and a hidden squad of Brood Brothers. This new refresh has me setting aside the Blood Angels for the first time since the Devastation of Baal. Im cautiously optimistic but rough riders makes me hopeful for some flavour

The new Guard designs are much easier to kitbash. The Cadian shoulder pads are starting to resemble Krieg ones, Cadians are using wider varieties of lasguns, and GW seems to be honing the unique design elements of each regiment down to just a few big but easily swappable pieces.

I think if games workshop is going to bring back any of the old regiments with an upgraded kit I would prefer the Elysian drop troopers. A squad of jetpack equipped to drop troops it's going to be super useful regardless of what your strategy is with the guard.

Guard should have the option of fielding have two different regiments (with bonusses) in the same game ie cadian and catachan, this would allow for much greater army flexibility. I also feel that veteran sergeants and officers should grant a 6 + save to the basic guard.... Also incentivize fielding conscripts with a fresh reinforcements rule that allows dead guardsmen to return but require them to take a courage test before moving to avoid them freezing in place.