The Imperial Guard: backbone of the imperium 

I dig the idea of a regular teenager fighting gods with shovels and rifles.

In 3-4 years I can definitely see you being one of the biggest Warhammer RU-vidrs pls don’t quit

"Against creatures like you, teeming and numberless, powered by the wills of thirsting Gods, he holds the line. He has held the line for ten thousand years. So what is your excuse, Monster?"

"The planet broke before the guard did" Winston Churchill

The Imperial Guard novels tend to paint them as highly trained for normal humans. Often looking down on planetary defense forces for their lack of military skill and expertise.

The Guard in a nutshell is, we have more bodies than you have bullets.

One thing I always thought was goofy and darkly absurd with the Guard was you can sometime be literally *born* into military service. While there are several male and female-only regiments there's also quite a few that are co-ed, and whenever a baby inevitably results from this they're pretty much immediately inducted either into the Guard the moment they're born and raised to be a Guardsman or given to the Schola Progenium (the same place where they train Sisters of Battle and commissars) if their parents die in battle.

shout out to the one fanfiction where Abbadon almost made it past the Eternity gate, but even as his marines are butchering the last few guards standing between him and the Throne, it's described something like "99.9% of the lasbolts fired in desperation by these terrified soldiers, bounce harmlessly off his armour. One. ONE. finds a crack in his helmet and is able to fry the bastards brain. even the soldier who fired the one in a million has no idea it was him. it's just sheer swell of numbers that pulls it off."

I heard a story about how during a set of matches for a store run tournament that were supposed to be being played on the same world, a guy used a Deathstrike missile launcher to hit an chaos army fighting against marines on another table lmao

To be fair, the legions did a lot of the conquring during the great crusade. The guard have mostly been what held the Imperium's territory since.

My favorite regiment has got to be the Mordian Iron Guard. Strict discipline, flashy uniforms, companies of tanks, and gun lines that held out against Tyranid invasions. The only thing that sucks is that they no longer have models.

"What is your duty?" "To serve the Emperor's Will." "What is the Emperor's Will?" "That we fight and die." "What is death?" "It is our duty." "What is your duty?"

Deathstrike Missile, AKA, the Killy Everythingy 9000

“I have three det packs left, okay? Three more tanks must, die, then I get that caffeine the Captain promised.” - Andrej Valatok, 703rd Steel Legion Stormtrooper Division Best character in the best book.

The Death Korps of Krieg take most of the principles of the Guard to their logical conclusions. Whether it be attrition warfare, artillery usage, or dying for the Emperor, the Kriegers do nothing by half. They are my favorite regiment. Mainly because of the WW1 aesthetic, but they are so…. RESPECTABLE… in the lore.

Call me a casual if you like, but my favourite regiment are the Tanith First-and-Only. They tick all of my checkboxes: tragic history, elite light infantry, complex characters, Celtic stylings... I could go on. Colonel-Commissar Gaunt himself is literally just a nice bonus to me.

An Ogryn can slap an Ork's head clean off and punch a hole through a Tyranid Warrior As things go, the Imperial Gaurd has their own heavy hitters, they can barley even be considered mutants since they evolved into what they are A hairless Gigantopithecus plated in Flak armor with an Giant bayoneted auto Shotgun with shield and club variety Even a space marine would question if they could 1v1 something with that much raw power

Krieg Deathriders are deployed on the field: AND THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED!

My favorite guard regiment is the preatorian guard, their flashy uniforms and posh british attitudes are amusing to me in the 40k setting. On top of all of that they are incredibly stubborn to the point where they will not retreat despite being surrounded and outgunned, yet they somehow come up on top. What people forgot about the fall of cadia is there was more then just cadians, there were several regiments there, however knowing the preatorian were there means they were probably some of the last to evacuate if they ever did at all.

A lot of imperial guardsmen (specifically cadians, being the most common guardsmen) have been trained since childhood and surpass most modern IRL special forces in experience and skill. Most of the inexperienced soldiers are usually planetary militias, outside of the guard.

For the Emperor! Cadia Stands!

Those requirements are more stringent than the US Marine Corps.

bro you deserve more attention you’ve got a pretty unique way of presenting WH40k lore and I dig it

I love how in most battles the guardsmen basicly break the enemies legs and arms and the space marines just put em out of their misery

I love the scale that even the lowly guardsman give to the setting. They are solders not militia or cultis or hivers. they equipped with a lasgun and for every guardsman there’s probably a pdf guy with his autogun

Going to bring something to the fore. The Imperium's siege of the world of Vraks. It took 18 years to complete the siege. It is only something the Imperial Guard army can do. Okay, the Krieg 88th Siege Army wasn't helped by internal politicing, Chaos Marine predations, Plague Daemons & poor logistical support. But they kept in there. When the Red Scorpions took the BREACH, it was the guard that carried on.

I understand the jungle fighters and their superhuman strength tho. Imagine being born in a 80s or 90s action movie those boys were born and bread to kill giant jungle demons, and imo its a testament to human tenacity and strength that these unupgraded muscleheads are just as strong as space boys

Gotta say my favorite regiment is the first ans only Tanith. I love all the bools, the characters and the extended lore of the Sabbat Worlds/ Crusade! The Sons of Sek and the royal Volpone 50th are close 2nd/3rd picw

I always loved the Guard because they are relatable humans ... They are how we would fight.. Steel Legion for the win.. Tallaran and Cadians also amazing Harakoni are also cool and underrated

I fully agree with this video.

"And they have held the line for 10,000 years"

its actually a misnomer that the average imperial guard is untrained, while some are, such as conscripts and criminals. the standard guardsman is actually trained to a level far surpassing most modern militaries

Yup, i honestly love the i imperial guards more than space marines. ❤ my most favorite regiment has to be Catachan for representing the "Survival specialists" as for "other favorite" i also love tge Elysium drop troops for being unique in appearance and having a rich lore background. Imperial guards are absolutely diverse and has alot unique regiment to choose.

The baneblade was originally a light scout vehicle.

I had a friend who went up against my knock off guards men army which only cost me about $130 with his ultra marine army with the new Roboot G man model at the time, and the look on his face when I dropped an ICBM on G man follow by a few artillery rounds because the guards have insane range on their artillery as well taking him out in one turn.

My favorite guard regiment is definitely the Maccabian Janissaries, as I also really like their biggest enemy: The Severan Dominate. My favorite Abhuman for the guard on the other hand is actually the Beastmen. Granted they were used in the great crusade and in recent times are prosecuted fiercely as its believed they have chaos taint, which makes them turn to chaos, but I still love the idea of Loyalist Beastmen.

the lasgun is on par with modern firearms, as autoguns and stubbers have the same stats as a lasgun, (the heavy stubber is 50cal. machine gun) but the massive upside of no need for logistics to produce bullets since any electrical outlet is new ammo, plus no moving bits or gunpowder means no dirt can get inside drastically increases reliability. The lasgun is the best service gun in the 40k universe also guard artillery has such a long range that you need to play apocalypse mode for it to matter, I was in a 4v4 game which used 4 maps put side to side to have enough room for everyone, my Manticore missile carrier still could shoot form one corner to the opposite corner

I know I'm a weirdo but I have to say men and wemon are in the gaurd. As much as Twitter wants you to think warhammer isn't actually that sexist even when grim-dark. Video is great by the way and I don't mean to take away from that by any means, just figured I would say that. Edit: also as a casual player who wants to play kreige 3D printer go brrr.

I’ve almost made it through all your videos while painting on my days off this week, keep up the good work man 👍

Love my guard army. However, I play by "Rogue Trader" rules only. So, my guard also get robots. A well programmed robot can scare the crap out of any Ork, Elder, or Chaos army. They have no fear, can carry just about any weapon including hand to hand, and are real fun to use against larger opponents like tanks, dreadnoughts and Elder Avatars.

Vostroyan firstborns are my favourite they just look so unique.

My favorite Guard regiments is the armageddon Steal legion. They have so many things that I like. big guns, armor, mobile armor units, the kind of determinations that would make the devil quake in his boots. There's just so much.

The Guard has Cain, Sly Marbo, Yarraick, and Creed. They have the best characters.

I am constructing an octo-baneblade model currently (Baneblade magnetized for all 8 variants) and I can feel the fumes getting to my brain. Also I did not need to know that Felinids were a thing

I am vastly under educated on guard lore and it would be nice to hear your spit take of a few so I can get an idea of a direction to start in. Maybe a series (eventually, don't push yourself unhealthally) on the major Guard factions?

Tanith 1st & only vid, please XD best "Irish/Scottish" regiment in the guard

How small of a dinosaur are we talking about? Because they were one of the most diverse animal groups on earth, some were the size of hummingbirds, and that's the extinct ones. What? Oh this is a vid about the imperial guard? Uuh, I like the Lasgun, it's nice, it's no pulse rifle, but it's nice. Also, Nudist regiment, best regiment, I call them the Verhoven 001'st regiment.

He didn't mention the Tanith because they're hidden in the video. We can't see them, but they're actually sneaking into every single picture with knives drawn.

Ahh I was glad to have brought this topic up the other day! These different army's could seriously give you endless content. Some of them are fascinating. The thing that I have always loved about the Astra militarum is that in a world of daemons, demigods, psykers, homicidal mushrooms, hyper intelligent murder bugs, advanced tech undead robot Egyptians, etc., the regular person out there is still a competitive force in the galaxy. It is amazing that regular people can summon the courage to basically look hell in their face and spit in their eye with a grin on their face. There's just something charming about it! Also loved the vostroyan firstborn mention! I think that's who I mentioned in my comment but yeah those dudes are so awesome. I know everyone knows the cadians and the entire planet of Rambos, but it's just cool that humanity is so large that you can always find another human army to bring up. Just cool

FOR THE GRACE FOR THE MIGHT OF OUR LORD

My tabletop army is an infantry spam guard army painted blue with white highlights and brass armor. My headcannon for them is that they are an Imperial Navy unit assigned to Battlefleet Cadia, and my army therefore features heavy usage of Cadian Shock Troops, Kasrkins and Imperial Navy Breachers. Is it meta? Nah. Is it cool? Yup. I also put "in the Navy" on repeat when painting them

The range on a death strike missile used to be so insane that you could call in shots on other tables.

i hear about something called Winza winged hussars, it is cannon guard regiment or some fanfic ?

Also, I love seeing people playing Astra militarum! The table is just beautiful. Just drowning the board in bodies and bullets

Savlar Chem-Dogs

Kriegs obviously BUT IF THEY WERE STOP MAKING THEM FORGEWORLD EXCLUSIVE.... Ill keep painting my regular guardsmen in kriegscolors and tell them they areadmirers from other worlds.

Your intro reminds me of the femboy rat. Keep up the good content

I mean most guardsman would get at least a year of training before getting send off.

I’m a Prussian history nerd so ofc it’s Krieg

Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Daemons, they’re all super dangerous. And fun targets for artillery and mortars with airburst shells full of mono-molecular wire and tens of thousands of sabot spikes or explosive sub-munitions.

5:53 “metal plated Cossack armour”, that phrase is just beautiful

Ah the guard, my first love in wargaming. As much as I love the gas mask aesthetics my favourite regiment will always be the Cadian Shock, big damn heroes every one of them.

Qudos for mentioning Sabaton

The Imperial Guard are so much more interesting than the Space Marines. They make better characters in the novels and they are more interesting as a fighting force. While Space Marines don't really feel fear the Guard are pissing their pants as they fight Tyranids but they keep on going.

Vitrian Dragoons, ready for duty

whenever i hear your intro i cant stop getting that rat named Reggie out of my head

I love your synopsis; yes, the Guard is the backbone of the defense of humanity, even though the average lifespan, optimistically, of a Guardsman/woman, is maybe 30 days?

No offence I don’t like ur intro

but wha about muh krieger :(

Humans are 40k Skaven

One of the many reasons I still argue for low point skirmishes, like the under 1000 category. They're fast, they're fun, and they're entry level accessible.

The funniest thing about the IG to me is the lasgun. Logistician’s wet dream cause you can source the “ammo” on a galactic scale with minimal issue, (usually) no recoil so it’s super easy to learn, outclasses _most_ ballistic weapons in the imperium, depicted with power rivaling a modern day anti-materiel rifle… And through no fault of its own, it’s kinda ass in the average situations where guard get deployed.

Personally feel like Tallharn doesn't get much love as a regiment but they're cool

The Lasgun is only "weak" because everything that wasn't already resistant/immune to it is dead.

I have 2 nitpicky corrections. The first is that the galaxy WAS mostly conquered by the astartes. There were human support elements from the very beginning, sure, but the Great Crusade was mostly a space marine thing. The guard are the ones who MAINTAIN the imperium. Hence the word “guard”. The second is that the guard isn’t actually the majority of humanity’s forces. They’re heavily outnumbered by the PDF.

PLEASE DO GUARD REGIMENT VIDEOS! I wanna see the Valhallen regiment and a big section on that fucker cain

Just subscribed to your channel and thanks for getting me into warhammer and 40k. I’ll be starting with imperial guard.

I always liked the Death Korps but recently I have picked up some of the old metal Vostroyans. (Yes, I don't like painting faces.)

I dont know if they count, but the Lucifer Blacks! I LOVE YOUR CONTENT KEEP IT UP!!!

10 months late lets goo. I'm personally collecting space marines as my first army which is fine, but I really do wanna do an astra millitarum army or 2. I'm more than likely gonna save for a cadian army, including ursela creed and some kasrkin, but I might also print off some death korp of krieg since i love them SO MUCH

Well, I've always been "not like everyone else." So Savlar Chem-Dogs. They just loot shit and have a good time. Or Folas Tertus Interfectors. Have you seen them? They have a smoking pipe on their back, and just one official art that is older than me. Pointless and cool. By the way, love your videos man. P.s. No furry jokes about felinids?

Thinking about kitbashing some IRA Guardsmen Regiment with some kits I saw from another seller. Don't ask why, I don't know either. Brain just brain-ing.

Whenever I see someone say something like “ who would win, the grand army of the republic from Star Wars, the UNSC marines from Halo, Stargate Command from Stargate, or the Imperial Guard?” They don’t seem to realize that isn’t even close to a fair fight. The guard outnumber everyone else by like 1,000,000 to 1. I love clone troopers as much as the next guy, but I don’t care how elite and awesome clones are, even if they kill the first million guardsmen they probably run out of ammo before the imperium runs out of guardsmen

If the Imperial Guard in combination with the Imperial Navy had to go up against all of the loyalist Space Marines going traitor I think the Imperium would win. The attrition would be apocalyptic but the Guard and Navy would win.

I have a serious question to all the ppl who read Warhammer books. Where do I start?? Chronological order OR as they were released?

In the WH40K universe as a human you will die horribly or you can join the Imperial Guard and then die horribly. Ave Imperator!

Oh my God I cannot seem escape "Everywhere at the End of Time" no matter what I do our where I go. IT'S EVERYWHERE... At the end of time 😳

And just think! If you're wounded while fighting alongside the Mechanicus, you'll be provided with free and affordable healthcare for reconstructive surgery, and be given a promotion to boot! So long as your sergeant looks the other way, of course.

Favorite regiment…. I could say the fething Tanith, but that’s been said by a bunch of people already, so Elysian drop troops it is! And for reference the Fellblade > Baneblade in the big fuck off tank department.

SHOW THEM STEEL! SHOW THEM CONTEMPT!

NGL I love the look of the Severan Dominate soldiers. Wish they would be brought back into the fold and become a proper guard regiment

The guard will always be my favorite faction in 40k. Normal people facing the horrors of space.

The Lasgun would render most weapons in most franchises obsolete the second it was introduced. 40k's power level is just that ridiculous.

is it just me or the IG from the thumbnail looks like Williem Dafoe

My three favorite regiments are the Lucifer Blacks who i really really want to get their own models, the Indigan Praefects, and the Savlar Chem Dogs

Wait Armageddon is Ullanor? ...the more you know.

23000 Subs and 17000 views..... that's a hell of a retention.

The unsung hero’s of 40K for every hero or legend a billion lives would remain unremebered

"Quantity has a quality etc" is overplayed in most fiction - logistically, it's better to have as small an army as can actually do the job - but a large army has one advantage over a small, elite one that I don't see brought up very often: a hundred Guardsmen can be in one hundred places at once, but a single Space Marine can't. When there's on average one Astartes for each world in the Imperium, that's a lot of slack for the Guard to hold up. My favourite regiments are the homebrew ones I've made up myself 😁

I'm airborne/air assault, so my favorite army is definetly the warhawks, and the elysian droptroops