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Hey guys! this is my first post =)

I am doing a college project where i have to make a script for a TV show, ive decided to do one based on 40k.

I was hoping i could get some help from you guys and your vast knowledge of the 40k universe!!

My idea is a programme set in the trenches of a distant planet focusing on the imperial guard and the hardship of fighting off a hord of orks probably...

i was hoping you guys could give me some advice on backgrounds for imperial guard, suitable planets, how they talk, important characters, what it would be like in the fray of combat! all that good stuff =)

Dont think your helping me cheat by giving me advice, the focus of the project is on research and this counts as primary research =) which is perfectly legitimate for my needs haha!

Well then, thanks guys for any advice you can give me =P once the script is finished il be sure to share it =)

~Rofliron~

I would surgest the bl novel "fifteen hours" as something good for background.
the setting is some planet where the IG are entenched arround the last cuty on some planet and the enermy is the orks. the book shows trench life, etc.


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good luck

Welcome! One of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels is centered in a planet that has been fighting a civil trench war for like fourty years. I think it shows great all the feelings about, and the butchery that trenches were in the past (pure WW1). The book is called Straight Silver, it's the 6th in Gaunt's Ghost series.

thanks guys, just ordered straight silver but cant afford the other book just mentioned

If anyone has any IG facts that they can share, no matter how trivial, they will be incredibly handy for my report, if i read a book it counts as secondary research, if i question people its primary research, i need a mix of both =)

so like if anyone knows any little facts aboout the IG, how they speak? important events or characters to look into? itl be very much appreciated

Thanks again guys

~Rofliron~

Amazon marketplace may have the books cheaper.

The IG is drawn from many different worlds and cultures. Some will speak high gothic, some low gothic (which is really a whole lot of different languges which have the same core elements), or some local language. Some will be high tech, some low tech and some in between.

You may have heavily armed and armoured soldiers driving around in tanks and Valks fighting along side savages picked up from a stone age world.

You might be interested in this link for more information on the Guard.

The way they speak varies a lot depending on wich regiments we are talking about. The Tanith are described as smooth Scotish accent, with some words of welsh influence. I don't have info about other regiments. Being Spanish... it changes a lot for us with translations LOL

If you are creating a regiment from scratch for your script, you shouldn't have any problem to picture them in any form you like. I guess that typical words like "voxcasters" and such can all be found directly in the codex.

The Imperial Guard itself is made up of thousands of different units from thousands of different worlds. In all honesty, you can make up your very own, however, if you plan to go with the established fluff set down by the books, then those two cannot be wrong. I do not know how much you are familiar with warhammer 40k, so I will try to put this in layman's terms, for simplicity's sake.

As for the information that you are asking for, I will try to help out to the best of my knowledge. The typical weapon is the lasgun, which is a flashlight in anything but. The lasgun really isnt all that useful against orks by itself, since most of the "rounds" are not all that effective. Depending on the unit that you intent to be focusing on, they could be equipped with any configuration of special or heavy weaponry. Since you are planning to have this focused on trench warfare, then practically all the weapons could be used and feasible.

Special Weapons
Flamer - Good for burning the bodies of Orks and of those of your fallen comrades
Grenade Launcher - Can break up large packs of Gretchin or Orks, however, since the orks have thick skin, most of the fragmentation would not penetrate though it.
Sniper Rifle - Able to pick off the leaders of the Ork War bands
Plasma Gun - Might not be a good idea to use these since they might have blown up and killed their users.
Melta Gun - Capable of destroying the Ork vehicles as they rush the lines, however has a critical shortfall that is a relatively short range.

Heavy Weapons
Heavy Bolter - Essentially a very large callibre machine gun that fires out .75 rounds
Autocannon - Drawing a blank sry
Mortars - again probably a close second to the Heavy Bolters in trench defense
Lascannon - High powered laser weaponry that can destroy tanks with easy. However, not all that usable in trenches inhmo, since it takes a long time to reload.
Missile Launcher - Can fire both Frag (Anti-personal) and Krak (Anti-vehicle) rockets. Could be a cheap heavy weapon laying around in case the orks send a major push.

The rank structure can vary from world to world. Can be based on the current militaries of the world, the older militarys or a combination of the two. The advantages of the IG is that they can be from any world and speak any way they want.

Awesome so the dialect will be completely up to me, i think it would be easier for me to make my own regiment than to copy an existing one, gives me more creative control.

@ silverMK2 : il have to open that link later, college has a rediculous filter system, this is the only forum im able to get on lol....

i heard something about the lifespan of an average guardsmen on the front line, can anyone tell me about that??

Cheers guys, this is really helpful

~Rofliron~


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Ebolaking wrote:The typical weapon is the lasgun, which is a flashlight in anything but. The lasgun really isnt all that useful against orks by itself, since most of the "rounds" are not all that effective.

I should have explained my idea a bit more, i am interested in 40k and im a novice gamer but ive been into the hobby for around 10 years now but i have to get research and tbh, dont know much about the IG lol...

For my idea i want the IG to be in a state of panic, barely keeping the enemy at bay, orks might be a bit TOO strong for the role of enemy, i dont want another shooty force cos i want something to be advancing and tau and eldar wouldnt advance, if anyone has any ideas as to what would make a better enemy for the guard to fight that would be smashing (i cant believe i failed to focus on the enemy force as an actual aspect -__- oh well, thats why im in college i spose =P)

thanks again guys =D

~Rofliron~

The Orks are fine though other ranks that might help as well could be

Dark Eldar - They take slaves and prisoners, more CC orienated
Necrons - Devestaing long range weaponary
Chaos - Renegade IG, Chaos Marines, Demons use what you will

Are you wanting the IG to be loyal to the Emperor? If not, then you could go Space Marines. All depends on what you want your guardsmen to fight and ultimately die against.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Imperial_Guard

I'm going to try and put out things I feel you might come across in IG Trench Life:

The Uplifting Primer:
It's an offence to lose this book, but I bet a few will have... Perhaps include some tension between a Commissar and an unfortunate Guardsman? Or maybe it's "officially" a crime to have lost it but most people have? Talk about feelings toward its contents (go Lexicanum it).

The Primer also contains a list of all the equipment Guardsmen should have received: Have some complaints about that not being the case?

Lasguns:
Lasgun cells are supposed to be recharged in sunlight, but can be in open fires... This damages the cell but is common practice on frontlines, might be good to have this described as going on in the background.

Contrary to tabletop performance, Lasguns have a variety of settings (but not all are available! It depends on how advanced the model is), on maximum power a lasgun can sever an Ork's arm clean-off in the fluff.

Ratlings:
Have them stealing food and other trinkets, they also function as regimental "Spivs", they can get guardsmen anything they need if they can pay Have some humorous jokes aimed at their size.

Ogryns:
They're dumb, fanatically love the Emperor and are scared of cramped spaces... You do the rest

Slang:
"Cogboys": Adeptus Mechanicus
"Kriff": interchangeable with "F**k"
"Zog": Orky, I'm not sure what it means but you can hear it in contexts like "Oh, zog it!"
Ciaphus Cain contained some good slang for Valhallans, but I've gone and completely forgotten it all...

I'll come back with more if I think of any relevant stuff, but I figure others will get you the more obvious stuff.

As for what you've actually raised:

Have you thought about having Necrons as the enemy? They're terrifying, advance across the field at a steady pace and are pretty much immune to suppression from conventional arms in the fluff... They just walk at you shrugging off lasgun shots in complete silencer.. Scary stuff.

Perhaps you could have the IG fighting traitor guard and the seismic effects of the constant pounding wake up the Necrons behind the traitor's lines? The fighting starts to lull, the guard get all edgy... all they can see are flames and such from the traitors' lines, they figure it's some kind of ritual... suddenly, Necrons advance out of the smoke

Well, I think most armies would not get stuck in a long trench war. Traitor IG would. Nids would find a way, probably under the ground. That would be cool for a final confrontation. Eldar, Tau... technologically advanced armies would probably deepstrike directly in the trench.

Tbh I generally consider Orks and Traitor Guard to be the most common enemies an IG regiment would come accross: Necrons, Eldar and CSM are comparatively rare whereas Dark Eldar and Tau don't exactly attack often accross wide areas.

renegade militia! brilliant idea!, i love it, i didnt want necrons because of the obvious terminator reference, although their advance would be terrifying, the idea is the guardsmen prevail luckily lol and that aint gonna happen against the necrons now is it?

Tyranids were out to begin with because i also thought they would burrow under ground or just swarm the IG to death, i think renegades would be the best idea,

@henners91 - thanks for that, some brilliant info there (same to the rest of you guys =P thanks a bunch!!)

i love the idea of using the uplifting primer, i actually have one in the post atm, waiting for it to arrive, i love the idea of a guardsmen being asked by a commisar to see his book, the guardsmen cant find it, looks at the commisar with fear on his face, behind him a horrific fire fight continues, the commisar surveys the battle, looks down at the guardsmen and tells him to join the war after seeing the likely defeat infront of him.... or something to that effect, or just blasting the poor guys face off and shouting some orders lolol

keep em coming guys, this is pure gold! im incredibly greatful

~Rofliron~