well i know the Mordians just polish there shoes and practise marching but i dont know about any others

Well...

The word brothel comes to mind...

and your Signature is gonna get really Irratating ¬¬

They eat
They sleep
they play 40k version of poker
They watch Ultramarines:the movie... and they think SM are not so cool in the end....

What is this spare time you talk of?

Could it be:

- Recreational events like bar brawls entertain the guardsmen and the commissar equally.
- visiting certain establishments to resupply the schola progenium....
- attend to sermons of the ecclesiarchy...
- start another brawl with PDF or household militia just because the "IG rulez" and "you toy soldiers suck"....
- volunteer for more training exercises ( Krieg , only?).
- cleanse the regiments dropships floors because of stated activities above....

ask someone in the army what they do, thats what IG do on their time off



and yer your sig is really annoying

In Gaunt's Ghosts, they do pretty much all the normal things - training, visiting family (the baggage train contains wives, "ladies of negotiable virtue", children, etc), playing games, playing games on other regiments, gambling, attending religious services and generally getting into trouble.

They die. It's the only time they're granted permission.

Well once they are retired they are often given the custodian ship of a newly conquered world they helped to pacify, say at the end of a crusade. Then again, most regiments simply fight until they are destroyed or adsorbed by another regiment.

Polishing guns, polishing boots, polishing armor, drinking mass quantities of alcohol, raping poor indentured servant women, eating bugs, playing tag... The usual.

Priority list: sex, alcohol, food, sleep.

In all seriousness though, they probably do what you or I would do in our off time; listen to music, watch vids, read, maybe visit a brothel or two every now and again... the basic things.

I bet they do the same thing every day:

Wake up. Wash up. Polish Gun. Eat breakfast. Drink booze. Polish gun. Drink Booze. Play poker. Vid training (someone substituted in an adult video in place of the commisar speaking). Polish gun obsessively. Eat Lunch. Drink Booze. Visit neighboring regiment. Drink Booze. Get into fight with neighboring regiment. Drink Booze. Visit chapel (while Drinking booze). Visit Brothel (located in said chapel). Drink Booze. Polish Gun. Inspection. Dinner. Drink Booze while polishing gun. Visit bar. Drink booze. Barfight. Polish gun. Attend infirmary. Sleep. Repeat.

Least, that's what it seems like when they're not dieing (in other circles, this is known as fighting.).

Asgeirr Darkwolf wrote:I bet they do the same thing every day:

Wake up like a baws. Wash up like a baws. Polish Gun like a baws. Eat breakfast like a boss!. Drink booze like a baws. Polish gun like a baws. Drink Booze like a baws. Play poker like a boss!. Vid training (someone substituted in an adult video in place of the commisar speaking) like a baws. Polish gun obsessively like a baws. Eat Lunch like a baws. Drink Booze like a boss!. Visit neighboring regiment like a baws. Drink Booze like a baws. Get into fight with neighboring regiment like a baws. Drink Booze like a boss!. Visit chapel (while Drinking booze) like a baws. Visit Brothel (located in said chapel) like a baws. Drink Booze like a baws. Polish Gun like a boss!. Inspection like a baws . Dinner like a baws. Drink Booze while polishing gun like a baws. Visit bar like a boss. Drink booze like a baws. Barfight like a baws. Polish gun like a baws. Attend infirmary like a boss!. Sleep like a baws. Repeat like a baws.

Then Seth Rogan walks in as a commissar and executes him for being cocky.

Fix'd

Was wondering when that would come up. Perfect!

They decompose.

Muck about. Sample the local fare. And by fare I mean whores.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

corpsesarefun wrote:

Asgeirr Darkwolf wrote:I bet they do the same thing every day:

Wake up like a baws. Wash up like a baws. Polish Gun like a baws. Eat breakfast like a boss!. Drink booze like a baws. Polish gun like a baws. Drink Booze like a baws. Play poker like a boss!. Vid training (someone substituted in an adult video in place of the commisar speaking) like a baws. Polish gun obsessively like a baws. Eat Lunch like a baws. Drink Booze like a boss!. Visit neighboring regiment like a baws. Drink Booze like a baws. Get into fight with neighboring regiment like a baws. Drink Booze like a boss!. Visit chapel (while Drinking booze) like a baws. Visit Brothel (located in said chapel) like a baws. Drink Booze like a baws. Polish Gun like a boss!. Inspection like a baws . Dinner like a baws. Drink Booze while polishing gun like a baws. Visit bar like a boss. Drink booze like a baws. Barfight like a baws. Polish gun like a baws. Attend infirmary like a boss!. Sleep like a baws. Repeat like a baws.

Then Seth Rogan walks in as a commissar and executes him for being cocky.

Fix'd

Hilarious, incidentally!

IG are nothing more than regular army fighting irregular enemies. In they free time they play sports, cards, practice, go to bar, go f*** Guardswoman, tell interesting stories while drinking, make fun of Commissars behind their backs, go f*** Eldar prisoners...

Maybe some of them go onto forums and try to tell people that they are trapped in the future by showing an incredible knowledge of what an imperial guardsman does in his spare time....Asgeiir Darkwolf,prepare your teleport homer! Your Coming home buddy!

bok_choy17 wrote:Maybe some of them go onto forums and try to tell people that they are trapped in the future by showing an incredible knowledge of what an imperial guardsman does in his spare time....Asgeiir Darkwolf,prepare your teleport homer! Your Coming home buddy!

He'll be back...wait...

Emperors Faithful wrote:

bok_choy17 wrote:Maybe some of them go onto forums and try to tell people that they are trapped in the future by showing an incredible knowledge of what an imperial guardsman does in his spare time....Asgeiir Darkwolf,prepare your teleport homer! Your Coming home buddy!

He'll be back...wait...

His data connection might have cut out, you know how it is when you are sending data back in time

Brother Coa wrote:go f*** Eldar prisoners...

Haha, I WILL be back... soon... I've even started calling Earth Terra... FOR THE GOD EMPEROR! Hey, did oyu know you get five bars everywhere in the 41st millenium?

As concerning the 'Like a Boss' (completely hilarious, actually... may have to start a thread on that sometime! THank you, corpsesarefun.), I present the origional, which all guardsmen follow and adhere to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisCkxU544c

If you have not heard it, you have been locked in my basement for the past two years.

Necroagogo wrote:They decompose.

I laughed. Hard.

They tried to get laid but then get thrown off into the last chancers or
They go eat ice cream.
They eat the blood of their enemies.
They have a ignorant sergeant with a shotgun
They decompose.
They play with their guns.
Etc. etc. boring crap.
Yeah nothing really good for the IG after hours. Just paperwork for officers, and drinking and ladies for nonofficers.

but for OP please get rid of that sig. It annoys the hell out of me.

One more idea: they all play Call Of Duty 40k to practice against their enemies. On the field and on the Warpnet

Brother Coa wrote:One more idea: Call Of Duty 40k

I think that might be the best idea I've heard on these forums in a minute.

Commander Endova wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:One more idea: Call Of Duty 40k

I think that might be the best idea I've heard on these forums in a minute.

Probably what we regular soldiers in the Army do: masturbate and hold conversations about masturbation.

What do guard do in their free time?

Warning: NSFW!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/266249

Guardsmen are still people. Admittedly people who have fought against some of the most monstrous thing in the universe but still people. They do things like play football, drink, get laid, drink. And then soldier stuff which is probably something to do with uniforms or guns.

DickBandit wrote:Probably what we regular soldiers in the Army do: masturbate and hold conversations about masturbation.

way too true.

Bloodhorror wrote:Well...

The word brothel comes to mind...

and your Signature is gonna get really Irratating ¬¬

lol for both

Grakmar wrote:What do guard do in their free time?

Warning: NSFW!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/266249

Wow, I feel sorry for that poor Eldar-chic. I hope an Avatar comes by and rapes them with fire!

DickBandit wrote:

Grakmar wrote:What do guard do in their free time?

Warning: NSFW!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/266249

Wow, I feel sorry for that poor Eldar-chic. I hope an Avatar comes by and rapes them with fire!

Kinda of what I was thinking hopefully the eldar come in and kill all of the guardsmen.

Asherian Command wrote:

DickBandit wrote:

Grakmar wrote:What do guard do in their free time?

Warning: NSFW!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/266249

Wow, I feel sorry for that poor Eldar-chic. I hope an Avatar comes by and rapes them with fire!

Kinda of what I was thinking hopefully the eldar come in and kill all of the guardsmen.

Guess you can't blame 'em, she does have some nice ta-tas

DickBandit wrote:

Asherian Command wrote:

DickBandit wrote:

Grakmar wrote:What do guard do in their free time?

Warning: NSFW!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/266249

Wow, I feel sorry for that poor Eldar-chic. I hope an Avatar comes by and rapes them with fire!

Kinda of what I was thinking hopefully the eldar come in and kill all of the guardsmen.

Guess you can't blame 'em, she does have some nice ta-tas

Very true. But still doesn't make up for the crime they are about to commit.

Yeah, they could at least take her out to dinner first.

DickBandit wrote:Yeah, they could at least take her out to dinner first.

True, they do seem to be rushing things.

I mean that's what this one chic told me when I went down on her. "Can't you at least take me to dinner first?"
"....but I'm having dinner right now."

Dinner always comes first.

Who knows, maybe Eldar women with all their mystical powers have anit-rape defense mechanisms... like shooting laser beams out of their .

DickBandit wrote:Who knows, maybe Eldar women with all their mystical powers have anit-rape defense mechanisms... like shooting laser beams out of their *bleeps*.

No vulgar mate. But apart from that the Eldar have ways, like making your mind explode.

DickBandit wrote:Yeah, they could at least take her out to dinner first.

Wow rape jokes, real high class.

Asherian Command wrote:

DickBandit wrote:Who knows, maybe Eldar women with all their mystical powers have anit-rape defense mechanisms... like shooting laser beams out of their *bleeps*.

No vulgar mate.

My bad, I fixed it

DickBandit wrote:I mean that's what this one chic told me when I went down on her. "Can't you at least take me to dinner first?"
"....but I'm having dinner right now."

Bravo.

I wonder how many times that diorama is going to be reposted here.

Emperors Faithful wrote:

DickBandit wrote:I mean that's what this one chic told me when I went down on her. "Can't you at least take me to dinner first?"
"....but I'm having dinner right now."

Bravo.

I wonder how many times that diorama is going to be reposted here.

You've got a point there. *Ahem* Anyways, back on topic: They play Warhammer 2K, however no one wants to play the Muslim Extremist faction.

Racist.
Anyway the guard probaly just act normal and file paperwork.

Rape jokes and politics/religion. I think that's a good sign the thread has devolved.

DickBandit wrote: They play Warhammer 2K, however no one wants to play the Muslim Extremist faction.

Play Tallarn, Conquer Universe.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

AgeOfEgos wrote:Rape jokes and politics/religion. I think that's a good sign the thread has devolved.

Whereas it was so much more tasteful with the spank jokes.

If anything like a real army, they'd probably spend their only downtime getting rest, eating chow, cleaning weapons, loading mags, and getting their stuff together for the next fight.

If it's RnR they'd probably go drinking with the boys, maybe a strip joint, gambling, movies, girls... It's what we did on our time off.

And this rape stuff is childish.

angrypanda83 wrote:If anything like a real army, they'd probably spend their only downtime getting rest, eating chow, cleaning weapons, loading mags, and getting their stuff together for the next fight.

If it's RnR they'd probably go drinking with the boys, maybe a strip joint, gambling, movies, girls... It's what we did on our time off.

And this rape stuff is childish.

Agreed.

The new humor thread?

Yes yes yes yes!

In the latest Gaunt's Ghosts novel Sergeant Tona Criid spends her time running and dreaming about exotic pastries.













No,really.

Several examples can be found in a lot of 40k fluff about guardsmen. Their activities include the usual:

Drinking
gambling
playing practical jokes on each other
stealing from each other
playing practical jokes on other regiments
stealing from other regiments
combat training
inspections
drills
maintenance of equipment
watch duty
and general things you expect grown men with guns and armor to do when left unattended. Life in the guard is often really boring, that's why a lot of guardsmen resort to breaking laws to get their kicks in. It's what the Commissars are for besides scaring the crap out of people

Unless your Major Rawne. Then you disguise yourself as a Commissar to hold up a gambling joint for all its loot while the owner just sits there slack jawed unable to do anything.

Then you break out of prison, come back, shoot the owner and take all his guns, you know, the usual stuff.

Free time? What is this heresy?! You can rest when you're dead, you dirty dogs!

Brother Coa wrote:IG are nothing more than regular army fighting irregular enemies. In they free time they play sports, cards, practice, go to bar, go f*** Guardswoman, tell interesting stories while drinking, make fun of Commissars behind their backs, go f*** Eldar prisoners...

http://www.coolminiornot.com/266249

Henners91 wrote:Free time? What is this heresy?! You can rest when you're dead, you dirty dogs!

Brother Coa wrote:IG are nothing more than regular army fighting irregular enemies. In they free time they play sports, cards, practice, go to bar, go f*** Guardswoman, tell interesting stories while drinking, make fun of Commissars behind their backs, go f*** Eldar prisoners...

http://www.coolminiornot.com/266249

Wow! 2 links of the same CMON in the same thread, I wonder how far that is from the record?

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Commander Endova wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:One more idea: Call Of Duty 40k

I think that might be the best idea I've heard on these forums in a minute.

Reminds me of the joke I always tell my friends in the morning, "Guys, I was playing Call of Halo: Modern Reach yesterday, so awesome.... Etc Etc with random tidbits of what I unlocked or have as a special effect


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kommissar Kel wrote:

Henners91 wrote:Free time? What is this heresy?! You can rest when you're dead, you dirty dogs!

Brother Coa wrote:IG are nothing more than regular army fighting irregular enemies. In they free time they play sports, cards, practice, go to bar, go f*** Guardswoman, tell interesting stories while drinking, make fun of Commissars behind their backs, go f*** Eldar prisoners...

http://www.coolminiornot.com/266249

Wow! 2 links of the same CMON in the same thread, I wonder how far that is from the record?

I've seen that CMON SOOOOOO many times. Almost every time I visit a IG thread nowadays....

Pfff, as if I was going to read *every post*

Henners91 wrote:Pfff, as if I was going to read *every post*

It's only 2 pages

Lol

In the Cain novels he seems to spend a lot of his time dragging troopers out of the local jail/brig/whatever or the local brothel/chapel of negotiable virtue/whatever lol

battle Brother Lucifer wrote:

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Commander Endova wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:One more idea: Call Of Duty 40k

I think that might be the best idea I've heard on these forums in a minute.

Reminds me of the joke I always tell my friends in the morning, "Guys, I was playing Call of Halo: Modern Reach yesterday, so awesome.... Etc Etc with random tidbits of what I unlocked or have as a special effect

Reminds me of the Total War: Australia Attacks conversations the guys would have. "By Copperhead Tribesmen attack the redcoat flank, with the vangaurd led by a unit of Drop Bears!"

purplefood wrote:

Henners91 wrote:Pfff, as if I was going to read *every post*

It's only 2 pages

Why do you endeavour to consistently catch me at my lowest points? :-/

Henners91 wrote:

purplefood wrote:

Henners91 wrote:Pfff, as if I was going to read *every post*

It's only 2 pages

Why do you endeavour to consistently catch me at my lowest points? :-/

It's not like i try... just lucky i suppose...

One more idea: they play paint ball with Eldar XD, or dare with SoB. Anyway... they do what usual solders do, it all depends the world they are from. Cadians like discipline, Armageddonians to joke, Catachan to tell exiting hunting stories...

Well I would have to say Vostroyans Drink the 40k equivalent to vodka, Catachans hunt whatever there is for wildlife(well that and try to speak like Sylvester), Cadians do w/ever storm troopers do in starwars, and the others try not to get shot by a drunk commissar

Nah Catachans get baked, paint peace symbols on their weapons and then refuse to move when ordered to mobilise.

Henners91 wrote:Nah Catachans get baked, paint peace symbols on their weapons and then refuse to move when ordered to mobilise.

That sounds dangerous, even I would not refuse the order of a Commissar.

Brother Coa wrote:

Henners91 wrote:Nah Catachans get baked, paint peace symbols on their weapons and then refuse to move when ordered to mobilise.

That sounds dangerous, even I would not refuse the order of a Commissar.

Commissars tend to have accidents all the time when the Catachan fellows get annoyed. I'm sure their newfound groupie-huggy thing would be tolerated.

Hmmm...play unreal tournament 3 maybe? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBdYXOK83hs&feature=related

Here's an interesting question: how many Guardsman have one Regiment? First I heard something about 10.000, then someone told about 3.000.000. I must say that number of 3.000.000 is more realistic because how can you hold a planet with just 10.000 man? You can't even hold one city with that many men. Is this true?

Brother Coa wrote:Here's an interesting question: how many Guardsman have one Regiment? First I heard something about 10.000, then someone told about 3.000.000. I must say that number of 3.000.000 is more realistic because how can you hold a planet with just 10.000 man? You can't even hold one city with that many men. Is this true?

I think in all honesty it depends on the planet, on a death planet(e.g. catachan, or fenris) I would be more inclined to think smaller(probably a few hundred thousand) in a hive world I would be more inclined to think upwards of 5,000,000, but this is just me

Wardragoon wrote:Well I would have to say Vostroyans Drink the 40k equivalent to vodka, Catachans hunt whatever there is for wildlife(well that and try to speak like Sylvester), Cadians do w/ever storm troopers do in starwars, and the others try not to get shot by a drunk commissar

I'm pretty sure that would be the Valhallans

speaking of which, the Valhallans probably go ice fishing for orks with melta guns and flamethrowers for fun. XD

Brother Coa wrote:Here's an interesting question: how many Guardsman have one Regiment? First I heard something about 10.000, then someone told about 3.000.000. I must say that number of 3.000.000 is more realistic because how can you hold a planet with just 10.000 man? You can't even hold one city with that many men. Is this true?

It depends on the regiment, the founding world, and their function.

A Light Infantry Regiment of footsloggers can number tens of thousands easily, hundreds of thousands depending on world. The Imperial Guard Tithe is based on the planetary population. So a Hive World's Regiment size will be alot larger than that fielded from a Death World, but the Death World would like be alot more specialised. Catachans would be a good example of a specialised company that would probably only number a couple of thousand at most, likely even less, where as the Gudrunite Rifles, mustered in the opening Eisenhorn book, were 50,000 strong from memory.

A Heavy armor regiment on the other hand, can number only 100 or so tanks and their crews, and an artillery regiment is even less.

---

Regiments are very rarely posted on their own. More often than not, a planetary invasion, or mustered Imperial Guard defense will be quite a few regiments, so they can support each other, and bring down the Hammer of the Emperor on His enemies.

---


I'd say they drink, play cards, go whoring, and everything else a military man who's never going to see home again does in their spare time.

Aren't regiments generally described in the fluff as being in the low thousands? When a tithe would be larger than that, it's split into the founding of multiple regiments, like with Tanith.

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:Aren't regiments generally described in the fluff as being in the low thousands? When a tithe would be larger than that, it's split into the founding of multiple regiments, like with Tanith.

That what is not understandable to me, how can a couple of thousand man hold a planet? SM can because they are highly mobile and attack only venerable targets. IG however attack always directly to the enemy, and if they suffer casualties in hundreds they will be all died out already. I say that IG Regiment number around 3.000.000 man, and that specialized regiment number around 10.000 - 50.000 man. But, this specialized Regiments never fight alone, and other Regiments don't send entire Regiment in whole war, just one part of it.

Brother Coa wrote:

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:Aren't regiments generally described in the fluff as being in the low thousands? When a tithe would be larger than that, it's split into the founding of multiple regiments, like with Tanith.

That what is not understandable to me, how can a couple of thousand man hold a planet? SM can because they are highly mobile and attack only venerable targets. IG however attack always directly to the enemy, and if they suffer casualties in hundreds they will be all died out already. I say that IG Regiment number around 3.000.000 man, and that specialized regiment number around 10.000 - 50.000 man. But, this specialized Regiments never fight alone, and other Regiments don't send entire Regiment in whole war, just one part of it.

A regiment could hold a planet alone they don't take as many casualties as you might think. 3 million men in a regiment would be ridiculous. maybe 10,000-50,000 for a single regiment but no more than that.

There's no way a group of 10-50k could possibly hold a planet. The US army is 550k alone (that doesn't include Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, or Air Force).

40k falls into the same trap as Star Wars and most other sci-fi universes. Writers simply don't stop and think about the actual scale of things.

There's a few million planets under Imperial control. Each one of those planets has got to average to over a billion people each. So, their military personnel contribution (even if we're just going with modern-day equivalents) must be in the tens of millions each. That means the Imperial military has got to be made up of 10,000,000,000,000,000 soldiers at a minimum.

When you stop and think about it, there's no way it make any sense for the Space Marines to be anything less than the scale of 10 billion or so (that's 0.0001% of the total). And, the number of active duty IG has got to be in the trillions or quadrillions.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale

Yeah they must be bigger than 10k-50k... but most fluff would put them at 10k-50k which means as you say "Sci-fi writers have no sense of scale" although maybe their are bits we aren't told about... like the PDF actually doing something... yeha i laughed at that.

Isn't it important to remember the variety of Imperial worlds?
One may be densly populated, others juts a few thousand work-crews.
And these hive-cities tend to be rather some sort of pyramid/tower, most citizens never see more than the next few levels of their home.

If the authors fail, why should we fail too and raise the size of regiments to millions?
Its unneccessary and also dangerous to upscale as these formations need to be controllable and millions aren't really a number you can move and supply with a structure of a IG regiment. I 'd say IG regiments are correctly coming in steps of 1k, from 5 to 100 and at 100k it is a pain to control them all.
Using several Regiments instead, makes things easier.
Maybe just add/imagine the "missing" parts of the hierarchy, ie divisions and armys?

they sit/stand in giant foam trays and contemplate killing the pewter commisar with a cooler paint job in the square next to them

People are talking as though a single regiment is expected to be able to hold a planet. Most fluff I've seen has had either a dozen or more regiments used as a massed attack on a small area, or a handful of regiments either left guarding specific strategic locations or used as surgical strike forces, even if they use weight of numbers in that surgical strike.

For all the jokes about the Imperial Guard consisting of untrained conscripts with flashlights and tshirts, they seem to manage pretty well against everything but worse than hundred to one numbers and gigantic power armored Mary-Sues carrying around a few metric tons of plot armor. Even a basic guardsman is a fairly elite soldier, with excellent equipment, and backed up with just about the best armor in the galaxy. And there are trillions of them serving the Imperium.

Grakmar wrote:There's no way a group of 10-50k could possibly hold a planet. The US army is 550k alone (that doesn't include Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, or Air Force).

40k falls into the same trap as Star Wars and most other sci-fi universes. Writers simply don't stop and think about the actual scale of things.

There's a few million planets under Imperial control. Each one of those planets has got to average to over a billion people each. So, their military personnel contribution (even if we're just going with modern-day equivalents) must be in the tens of millions each. That means the Imperial military has got to be made up of 10,000,000,000,000,000 soldiers at a minimum.

When you stop and think about it, there's no way it make any sense for the Space Marines to be anything less than the scale of 10 billion or so (that's 0.0001% of the total). And, the number of active duty IG has got to be in the trillions or quadrillions.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale

Most planets in the 40k universe don't boast populations of 7 billion.

What if it's just some backwater arid mining world with only a handful of major settlements?

Henners91 wrote:

Grakmar wrote:There's no way a group of 10-50k could possibly hold a planet. The US army is 550k alone (that doesn't include Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, or Air Force).

40k falls into the same trap as Star Wars and most other sci-fi universes. Writers simply don't stop and think about the actual scale of things.

There's a few million planets under Imperial control. Each one of those planets has got to average to over a billion people each. So, their military personnel contribution (even if we're just going with modern-day equivalents) must be in the tens of millions each. That means the Imperial military has got to be made up of 10,000,000,000,000,000 soldiers at a minimum.

When you stop and think about it, there's no way it make any sense for the Space Marines to be anything less than the scale of 10 billion or so (that's 0.0001% of the total). And, the number of active duty IG has got to be in the trillions or quadrillions.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale

Most planets in the 40k universe don't boast populations of 7 billion.

What if it's just some backwater arid mining world with only a handful of major settlements?

Dude mining planets are over populated What are you smoking
Backwater planets are usually homes of astrates so they don't really need protection.

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:People are talking as though a single regiment is expected to be able to hold a planet. Most fluff I've seen has had either a dozen or more regiments used as a massed attack on a small area, or a handful of regiments either left guarding specific strategic locations or used as surgical strike forces, even if they use weight of numbers in that surgical strike.

For all the jokes about the Imperial Guard consisting of untrained conscripts with flashlights and tshirts, they seem to manage pretty well against everything but worse than hundred to one numbers and gigantic power armored Mary-Sues carrying around a few metric tons of plot armor. Even a basic guardsman is a fairly elite soldier, with excellent equipment, and backed up with just about the best armor in the galaxy. And there are trillions of them serving the Imperium.

Well if you look at the DoW series... there was always only ONE IG regiment per planet( Tartarus 37 PDF, Cadian 412, Kronus 1'st Liberators and Kauravan 252'nd Conservators). To make things worse, in Soulstorm 1 Regiment had to hold entire planetary system instead of one planet. They us single Regiment for defense and several of them when they are attacking something or defending something important.

Brother Coa wrote:

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:People are talking as though a single regiment is expected to be able to hold a planet. Most fluff I've seen has had either a dozen or more regiments used as a massed attack on a small area, or a handful of regiments either left guarding specific strategic locations or used as surgical strike forces, even if they use weight of numbers in that surgical strike.

For all the jokes about the Imperial Guard consisting of untrained conscripts with flashlights and tshirts, they seem to manage pretty well against everything but worse than hundred to one numbers and gigantic power armored Mary-Sues carrying around a few metric tons of plot armor. Even a basic guardsman is a fairly elite soldier, with excellent equipment, and backed up with just about the best armor in the galaxy. And there are trillions of them serving the Imperium.

Well if you look at the DoW series... there was always only ONE IG regiment per planet( Tartarus 37 PDF, Cadian 412, Kronus 1'st Liberators and Kauravan 252'nd Conservators). To make things worse, in Soulstorm 1 Regiment had to hold entire planetary system instead of one planet. They us single Regiment for defense and several of them when they are attacking something or defending something important.

DoW had dodgy fluff tbh... remember the baneblades in Soulstorm?

purplefood wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:Aren't regiments generally described in the fluff as being in the low thousands? When a tithe would be larger than that, it's split into the founding of multiple regiments, like with Tanith.

That what is not understandable to me, how can a couple of thousand man hold a planet? SM can because they are highly mobile and attack only venerable targets. IG however attack always directly to the enemy, and if they suffer casualties in hundreds they will be all died out already. I say that IG Regiment number around 3.000.000 man, and that specialized regiment number around 10.000 - 50.000 man. But, this specialized Regiments never fight alone, and other Regiments don't send entire Regiment in whole war, just one part of it.

A regiment could hold a planet alone they don't take as many casualties as you might think. 3 million men in a regiment would be ridiculous. maybe 10,000-50,000 for a single regiment but no more than that.

Try to see it from my viewpoint. Take Earth for example. With all today's technology and so... And we have misfortune to be attacked by Orks... And can 10.000 people defend all continents of Earth? Can 50.000? In best case those 10 - 50.000 can oly hold few major cities (Nwe York, Peking, Moscow, London...) while others would be left to survive on their own. Even if we count US army in whole as IG Regiment... their number is around 500.000 and that is still not enough to protect anyone...and to kill majority of Orks on the planet. Earth have around 6,893,500,000 Humans. One Imperial Hive World have around 10.000.000.000 and 40.000.000.000 Humans. So for IG it's impossible to have so little man in one Regiment.

Be fair they only ever say 1 regiment of IG holds a planet. There are usually copius amounts of PDF which aren't mentioned.
Also why quote the US army as the numbers for a regiment? I'm pretty sure Turkey and China have bigger armies.

Yeah don't compare the US army to IG, it makes my job more depressing!

*rocks steadily in the corner* "It's not like IG. It's not like IG"

For what it's worth, Canada had 1.5 million soldiers during World War 2. And, their population was only a little over 11 million.

If the IoM really is under constant attack, you've got to expect that they've got similar enlistment ratios.

So, either the authors are incorrect about the number of soldiers.


OR


Perhaps the IoM really isn't under constant attack. There really is no such things as Space Orks, or Eldar, or Tyranids, or anything else. Humanity is alone in the galaxy, and the IoM is using 1984 tactics to keep it's population in check.

All these battles we fight, books we read, video games we play, etc, are all just part of the propaganda machine.

[tinfoil hat]

It would be hilarious if it just turned out the IoM was fine and they were making everything up to control the populace.

DickBandit wrote:Yeah don't compare the US army to IG, it makes my job more depressing!

*rocks steadily in the corner* "It's not like IG. It's not like IG"

You're right, Sergeants aren't running around with swords into combat

Brother Coa wrote:

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:People are talking as though a single regiment is expected to be able to hold a planet. Most fluff I've seen has had either a dozen or more regiments used as a massed attack on a small area, or a handful of regiments either left guarding specific strategic locations or used as surgical strike forces, even if they use weight of numbers in that surgical strike.

For all the jokes about the Imperial Guard consisting of untrained conscripts with flashlights and tshirts, they seem to manage pretty well against everything but worse than hundred to one numbers and gigantic power armored Mary-Sues carrying around a few metric tons of plot armor. Even a basic guardsman is a fairly elite soldier, with excellent equipment, and backed up with just about the best armor in the galaxy. And there are trillions of them serving the Imperium.

Well if you look at the DoW series... there was always only ONE IG regiment per planet( Tartarus 37 PDF, Cadian 412, Kronus 1'st Liberators and Kauravan 252'nd Conservators). To make things worse, in Soulstorm 1 Regiment had to hold entire planetary system instead of one planet. They us single Regiment for defense and several of them when they are attacking something or defending something important.

How about a breakdown of the regiments name?

Example Cadian 412 = 412th regiment founded on Cadia.
So cadia contributed at least 412 regiments, the lost and re-established regiments not considered.
GW didn't care to name a IG formation other than company or regiment. Thus, the structure we see in fluff suffers badly from 'unknown size, but magically expands
to be enough' syndrome.

DOW is a game, where for simplicitys sake only 1 IG regiment is mentioned. Consider this: DoW restricts already the army size. You can't field even 5% of a regiment
in DoW, so why should it matter if there are 1 or 1.000 regiments ?

Maybe they learn:

They're, Their, There.

Wardragoon wrote:

DickBandit wrote:Yeah don't compare the US army to IG, it makes my job more depressing!

*rocks steadily in the corner* "It's not like IG. It's not like IG"

You're right, Sergeants aren't running around with swords into combat

They do not charge with sword in combat... They use swords if they must to, against the Orks, Tyranids and such... Same as Guardsman use bayonets....