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 Thairne wrote:
But the same logic applies and feeds into the "regiments from planet x do y, regiments from planet z do something else entirely different".
If you're afraid of regiments turning traitor, having a planetary governour stage a coup is an entirely plausible threat. Happens on kinda a daily basis...

That system goes back to the division of the legions into chapters and the current organisation of the high lords of Terra... The Guard is reliant on the Navy to get from A to B and do not share anything regarding command.
I seriously cannot fathom that PDF's, the probably least controlled part of the armed forces in the Imperium, are exempt from that doctrine.

One of the few planets allowed to have all types of weaponry is Krieg due to their... special history.

Clearly not true. Cadia, Catachan, Tallarn and Valhalla have all been described as supplying varied regiment types to the Guard. The potential for an Imperial Governor to rebel is curtailed by the lack of spaceships, exactly as for the Astra Militarum.

Another point - pre-imperial legacy and local customs.

IIRC in one Fehervari's(or at least Tau-centric) book IG drop regiment is also includes unit of 'feudal' warrior-nobility's Centurion-like powerarmours or light walkers, while in Sabbath Worlds lot of chaosite tanks are locally produced Leman Russ equivalents (maybe just subpar Russes) that were popular among sector's PDFs due to low cost and simplicity.

Locally produced MBTs are completely common. Leman Russ might be extremely rugged and reliable, but it will be useless on swampy, rocky or ice planet. Local government will likely develop a tank more suitable to local weather conditions, like amphibious vehicles, hover-tanks or armored snow-cats. Some locally produced designs might be even vastly superior to regular Leman Russ, more comparable to modern MBTs rather than mid/late-WW2 technology a Russ tank operates on. (This means little electrification, no fancy targeting computers, focus on extreme simplicity and mass production.)

The reason why the Guard uses Russes is that they are easy to maintain as every Enginseer know what to do on the spot, easy to produce and replacement parts are literally everywhere.

You can’t defend a planet with ill-disciplined infantry alone. It’s entirely plausible and in keeping with fluff to have tanks, APCs, aircraft, etc.

 JohnnyHell wrote:
You can’t defend a planet with ill-disciplined infantry alone. It’s entirely plausible and in keeping with fluff to have tanks, APCs, aircraft, etc.

Tanks, artillery, APC's even water craft, of course. Aircraft on the other hand... now you're skirting some touchy territory. That's typically a no-no for the IG, and I suspect it may be also for PDF's to have their own combat aircraft as well. Perhaps some seconded to them by the Navy, but probably not permanently as part of their Org. There's no specific fluff on that, at least not that I know of, but it seems likely to keep the 'one commander with the ability to pull off a full scale rebellion' thing from being too easy.

Though if that's true, it does leave them with a problem rapidly redeploying to meet any landed foe - but then if they don't have air superiority anyway, it probably wouldn't help even if they did have aircraft.

 Kcalehc wrote:

 JohnnyHell wrote:
You can’t defend a planet with ill-disciplined infantry alone. It’s entirely plausible and in keeping with fluff to have tanks, APCs, aircraft, etc.

Tanks, artillery, APC's even water craft, of course. Aircraft on the other hand... now you're skirting some touchy territory. That's typically a no-no for the IG, and I suspect it may be also for PDF's to have their own combat aircraft as well. Perhaps some seconded to them by the Navy, but probably not permanently as part of their Org. There's no specific fluff on that, at least not that I know of, but it seems likely to keep the 'one commander with the ability to pull off a full scale rebellion' thing from being too easy.

Though if that's true, it does leave them with a problem rapidly redeploying to meet any landed foe - but then if they don't have air superiority anyway, it probably wouldn't help even if they did have aircraft.

Dan Abnett's Double Eagle has a PDF airforce, so does Beast Arises(can't remember which one), also an old comic in Warhammer Monthly about a Vindicare had some.

Most imperial systems have a System Defence Force, a navy version of PDF, so I guess aircraft might fall under its purview and as such not get counted as PDF.

I think they are also a bit more forgiving if the craft are air only and cant make orbit.

Morgasm the Powerfull wrote:
Dan Abnett's Double Eagle has a PDF airforce, so does Beast Arises(can't remember which one), also an old comic in Warhammer Monthly about a Vindicare had some.

Most imperial systems have a System Defence Force, a navy version of PDF, so I guess aircraft might fall under its purview and as such not get counted as PDF.

From what I understand, a system's SDF usually consist entirely of customs cutters, corvettes and other small craft, never capital ships or any type of vessels capable of moving large amounts of troops offworld. Its command structure is also entirely separate from the PDF.

The answer is that they are equipped with whatever your story/intention for them requires them to be equipped with.

My (Renegade) PDF have very little in the way of things like Lascannons, Plasma, Melta et al. I figure their job is mostly crowd-control, so they have Flamers and Grenade Launchers, Heavy Stubbers and Heavy Bolters.

They do have Basilisks and Leman Russ, because I wanted Basilisks and Leman Russ. They're made from Cadian kits, 'cause my hobby budget isn't great. So I put my planet close to Cadia, made it an important mining world and handwaved it all away.

 Kcalehc wrote:

 JohnnyHell wrote:
You can’t defend a planet with ill-disciplined infantry alone. It’s entirely plausible and in keeping with fluff to have tanks, APCs, aircraft, etc.

Tanks, artillery, APC's even water craft, of course. Aircraft on the other hand... now you're skirting some touchy territory. That's typically a no-no for the IG, and I suspect it may be also for PDF's to have their own combat aircraft as well. Perhaps some seconded to them by the Navy, but probably not permanently as part of their Org. There's no specific fluff on that, at least not that I know of, but it seems likely to keep the 'one commander with the ability to pull off a full scale rebellion' thing from being too easy.

Though if that's true, it does leave them with a problem rapidly redeploying to meet any landed foe - but then if they don't have air superiority anyway, it probably wouldn't help even if they did have aircraft.

PDFs would presumably have aircraft of their own. The Navy/Guard split is more about spacecraft that can ferry soldiers off-world.

atmospheric aircraft are kosher for PDF. Even some space capable aircraft are probably available. What they won't have is warships capable of Warp jump to prevent insurrections.