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Howdy all! First off I'm fairly learned in the warhammer universe fluff but there is something I wanted to try (completely for fluff's sake...mostly). I wanted to know if the Imperial Guard would ever decide to make a small unit of elites in astartes armor. So what I'm asking is would the imperial guard ever even consider forming a highly trained squad of elite soldiers and give them astartes grade armour, basically making them function the same way as space marines but still being a part of the IG.

I know the question is kind of confusing but I cant really think of any other way to say it lol.

My SM army is very small at this point, consisting of a tactical squad (with it's squad leader having a banner and power fist), a sniper squad (in scout armor and 1 rocket launcher) and a commander. I was also given a blood angels death company at a competition, but I have no idea how to incorporate them into this idea lol. Thanks much, guys!

No.
The best IG get are stormtroopers (Who are pretty good) but they don't get SM armour.

I'm not asking if they have any models or if they fit into the rules, I was asking if given the chance to obtain power armor would the IG go for it? For instance (and this is a very loose example, i'm just throwing it out there) if some power armor was donated to the IG would they use it? Or if they found some power armor for a very good price, you know what I'm saying lol.

They wouldn't. Power Armor requires Black Carapace and only Space Marines have that. They'd have nothing to do with it and the Space Marines wouldn't donate precious power suits to them anyway.

It's still no.
Power armour is very prized by those that have access to it.
SM treat it with reverence as do the AdMech, the Sisters and whatever Inquisitors that can get it.
If the IG found it, it would be examined and if they had the resources to, returned to its owners or if they are dead likely taken by the AdMech.
Welcome to Dakka by the way...

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Harriticus wrote:They wouldn't. Power Armor requires Black Carapace and only Space Marines have that. They'd have nothing to do with it and the Space Marines wouldn't donate precious power suits to them anyway.

No it doesn't.
The black carpace helps but it is required.

Power Armor doesn't require the Black Carapace, see Sisters of Battle.

The problem isn't the actual armor, it's the knowledge required to fit it and keep it running.

It'd be like giving MRIs to third world clinics: they wouldn't help much in the long run.

Not to mention maintenance and repair costs, training, etc.

It's spendy to run Power Armor.


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And IG doesn't work off of elite, for the most part, it works off of numbers.

Power Armor doesn't require the Black Caparace (SoB and Inquisitors use it and they dont' have it). Still, IG would never get Power Armor. Those things are pretty much holy relics. They won't give them to just any trooper. Even the most elite soldier doesn't go anywhere past Caparace Armour.

The only ones who get Power Armor are: Space Marines, Techpriests, Sisters of Battle and Inquisitors. Anyone else trying to wear one would most likely be treated as an heretic.

Inquistors might have the resources to equip a small band with power armor, but why give it to a human, when you can just use space marines?

Well, from that perspective, the Inquisitor might not want the Astartes in on whatever it is he or she is working on.

But yeah, it is hard to imagine a realistic scenario that would see power armor equipped guardsmen. Even the Stromtroopers, which are basically the special forces of the Imperial Guard, only get carapace armor.

Well I know using Dark Heresy rules you can get just basic civilian power armor, I was just curious about Astartes. I was thinking maybe they could pay a small team to be trained and whatnot instead of buying a couple of tanks lol, idk im just spit-ballin'

Free thought is not encouraged. Please report to your regiment's commissar for re-education.

Well, virtually question of "do the IG every do X" can be answered with, "Yeah, in 10,000 years on 10,000 planets, I'm sure one has done that."

The list of forces that get power armor is too long to really accept that the IG can't possibly get it, or non AM approved equivilent.

But there's a reason that the IG is equipt the way it is: logistics.

Harriticus wrote:They wouldn't. Power Armor requires Black Carapace and only Space Marines have that. They'd have nothing to do with it and the Space Marines wouldn't donate precious power suits to them anyway.

It's long been established the Black Carapace is not required for PA. The answer is still no.

Does anyone know if Black Carapace is required for PA?

There are a million worlds in the Imperium, and each of them has millions of guardsmen, but there are less than a million Astartes in the whole galaxy. So to phrase it another way, there's not even enough Astartes power armor to put one suit on every world.

Given that kind of rarity, I'm sure the Guard would rather have the hundred Leman Russ tanks that they are due than put the resources in to try and equip even their best trained veteran with a single suit of power armor.

Not to say some heroic Commisar or General has never gotten the honor in 10,000 years, but it's so rare as to be nonexistent.

If you want to field power armor models, maybe count them as Ogryn rules-wise and just say they are Space Marine support fluff-wise?

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/393750.page

I found it! We can skip 8 more pages of this.

An Inquisitor can equip a small squad with power armour (see Warrior Acolytes) and they're just guardsmen (in stats at least) so in theory it's possible.

That said, for the cost of one suit of power armour the Guard Quartermasters can outfit a thousand men with flashlights and tee-shirts.

Guess which one the Guard are going to choose.

One option would be to dump the guard idea and use a pdf force instead. Planetary govenors can equip their troops with whatever they can afford and it wouldn't be too far of if a particularly rich and well connected govenor equips a company of his elite, household ( perhaps the palace guard? ) troops with some kind of powerarmour.
The Grey Knights codex would even allow you to play such a force.

It's not outside the realm of possibility, but would be a very rare exception, even elite Stormtroopers don't get power armor. The Sisters get it primarily because the Ecclesiarchy pays for it.

Now, there are obviously some examples, "inquisitorial henchmen" can get power armor and most of them fluffwise are current or former guardsmen. I'm sure you could come up with something about a similar unit.


That said, it would be a very, very rare unit.

KingDeath wrote:One option would be to dump the guard idea and use a pdf force instead. Planetary govenors can equip their troops with whatever they can afford and it wouldn't be too far of if a particularly rich and well connected govenor equips a company of his elite, household ( perhaps the palace guard? ) troops with some kind of powerarmour.

Actually, that's precisely why I don't see any Guard regiment having that kind of equipment. No Governor is going to spend half his planet's budget on equipping an entire regiment with suits of powered armour, only to have the Munitorum tithe that unit away the very next year.

Generally, the tithe is bleeding Imperial planets dry. If you have more money to spend, the Administratum is simply increasing the tithe level. To meet the Munitorum's demands (generally 10% of a world's best PDF), the Governor will have to settle for buying cheaper stuff. And even if, after many years, he'd have enough set aside to buy that armour, the Munitorum will just go: "Hey, thanks for this outstandingly well equipped regiment of Imperial Guard, we're sure they will perform nicely on Armageddon!"

Not much of an incentive, I imagine.
Not impossible, mind you. A potential explanation could be a Governor deliberately raising such a regiment in order to gift it to the Imperium, making a point about giving them the best troops possible, in order to curry favours with the Munitorum or dismiss suspicions of disloyalty etc. But yes, it's a bit reaching.

And yeah, the other thread linked above pretty much covers it all!