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Just started collecting them and I'm hooked. My favorite part about them is how militarized they are and how relatable as humans they are. Your thoughts?

DKoK Trench warfare and general de-huminised appearance.

The mind boggling variety. I have 3 completely distinct guard regiments (just wait and the plastic crack will hook you);
-DKoK where the commissars are there to keep the troops from throwing their lives away and freaking out the allied IG forces.
-Terrax which are IoM hero orphans trained to an unreal standard. They also happen to be storm troopers or failed commissariat trainees.
-ab humans, humans mutated and scorned by the majority of the IoM officials but they fight for the IoM as the alternative is be eaten or possessed.

The best being how each of these armies can be so easily related to.

I like how the Imperial Guard can be almost anything you'd want them to be - from forcibly conscripted hive gangs freshly tossed into a warzone (Necromundan Spiders) to postapocalyptic all-female bands of warrior women (Xenonian Free Companies) to WW2 Soviets in Space (Valhallans)! Few armies can be as characterful as the Guard when it comes to customisation, and the liberties you can take when it comes to the fluff are tremendously large, as every Guard regiment you create yourself not only encompasses the soldiers themselves, but also their entire homeworld with its environment, culture, and history.

Then there's also the "underdog" factor. The Imperial Guard embodies the anti-human nature of warfare in the 41st millennium and the sacrifice the people of the Imperium have to make just for entire worlds to live another day. Countless lives are wasted, sometimes in heroic charges and desperate defenses, other times just because a glory-hounding commander wanted to take that fortress and make a name for him- or herself before reinforcements arrive, needless casualties be damned.

 kinratha wrote:
DKoK Trench warfare and general de-huminised appearance.

Yeah, that, and Stormtroopers

The massive variation from the regiments of the various troop-tithing planets. On one hand, you get the Death Korps of Krieg... and in the other hand you've got Catachan Jungle Fighters.

That's just awesome.

Their humanity. In a setting full of monsters, aliens, robots and supermen, they're the closest thing to you and me.

Commissars. When there i something scary in front, put something scarier in the back.

Chem dogs because who doesn't like a bunch of drugged out criminals fighting for there lives (and loot).

 Lynata wrote:
I like how the Imperial Guard can be almost anything you'd want them to be - from forcibly conscripted hive gangs freshly tossed into a warzone (Necromundan Spiders) to postapocalyptic all-female bands of warrior women (Xenonian Free Companies) to WW2 Soviets in Space (Valhallans)! Few armies can be as characterful as the Guard when it comes to customisation, and the liberties you can take when it comes to the fluff are tremendously large, as every Guard regiment you create yourself not only encompasses the soldiers themselves, but also their entire homeworld with its environment, culture, and history.

Then there's also the "underdog" factor. The Imperial Guard embodies the anti-human nature of warfare in the 41st millennium and the sacrifice the people of the Imperium have to make just for entire worlds to live another day. Countless lives are wasted, sometimes in heroic charges and desperate defenses, other times just because a glory-hounding commander wanted to take that fortress and make a name for him- or herself before reinforcements arrive, needless casualties be damned.

You just hit the nail on the head with a power fist - and not only are they fun to write fluff for but they can use so many tactics...

armored spearhead? can do
airborne assault troops? yep
mechanized infantry? plenty
foot slogging human wave? Yes, with so many me the ground will shake
elite infantry? plenty - and they make those guys in Starwars look a bit lame
light infantry? no problem

mix of any of the above? why not - and it has a great story behind it

I could say a lot of things about this, but it's late and I can't be bothered. As such, I'll leave you with the best quote about the imperial guard which is drawn from our current codex:

"The unpredictable nature of the Warp and the inherent dangers of interstellar travel are such that it is not unusual for entire regiments to be lost or even destroyed in transit. Some may be destroyed by the ravages of Warpstorms or appear from the Immaterium many thousands of light years from their destination. That sufficient troops arrive at a crisis point is only because of the sheer mass of troops and vehicles dispatched by the Departmento Munitorum in the first place."

The fact they can be whatever you want. You can have a highly disciplined mechanized force or a wave of poorly trained conscripts (even in the same list).

And they are the under dogs. No one expects the IG to win, but they fight on anyway.

The fact that I can play a Steel Legion army of Fallschirmjager Paratroopers and load them into metal crates, and then switch over to an army of conscripts with clubs and human wave tactics and have both be viable.

With the variety of regiments, you could have a super elite force that fights like the Mobile Infantry from the Starship Troopers novel, or a totally incompetent infantry without support wave like the Mobile Infantry from the Starship Troopers film.

 Lynata wrote:
I like how the Imperial Guard can be almost anything you'd want them to be - from forcibly conscripted hive gangs freshly tossed into a warzone (Necromundan Spiders) to postapocalyptic all-female bands of warrior women (Xenonian Free Companies) to WW2 Soviets in Space (Valhallans)! Few armies can be as characterful as the Guard when it comes to customisation, and the liberties you can take when it comes to the fluff are tremendously large, as every Guard regiment you create yourself not only encompasses the soldiers themselves, but also their entire homeworld with its environment, culture, and history.

Then there's also the "underdog" factor. The Imperial Guard embodies the anti-human nature of warfare in the 41st millennium and the sacrifice the people of the Imperium have to make just for entire worlds to live another day. Countless lives are wasted, sometimes in heroic charges and desperate defenses, other times just because a glory-hounding commander wanted to take that fortress and make a name for him- or herself before reinforcements arrive, needless casualties be damned.

This.

I like the IG for their squishiness. I could boltgun/flame those troops all day

Just the sheer volumes of firepower that the IG put out. Stuff like the punisher, Exterminator, and IG heavy weapons squads. Flyers galore....

Also, the background, the sheer amount of fluff available, and the ability to write up your own guard founding.

The fact that breaching a wall by building a pile of bodies which you can then drive tanks up is a viable tactic.

But in the world of warhammer, there will always be Imperial Guard players who have stories of how a single guardsman killed Abbadon, The Swarmlord, a Primarch etc. etc.

welshhoppo wrote:
The fact that breaching a wall by building a pile of bodies which you can then drive tanks up is a viable tactic.

But in the world of warhammer, there will always be Imperial Guard players who have stories of how a single guardsman killed Abbadon, The Swarmlord, a Primarch etc. etc.

yarrick is a badass

As has been said by many here, they are the one army that you can really make your own. With everything else, you can choose colour schemes and list styles, but are generally using the same models. SM are SM, after all. Conversly, with IG you can really use whatever you want, from ww2 plastics with lasguns to ultra-high tech stuff, and just about get away with it. For example, my own IG army includes WGF greatcoats, 1990s Warzone models, MAntic Corporation Enforcers (stormtroopers) and Marines (Vets) and GW armour (and I'm looking to add some DFG Eisenkern in future as well). There is just so much you can do with IG. Any models, any fluff, any playstyle.

Further to that, there is also the sheer scale of the Guard as a whole, which means you can be as wacky and out-there as you like with your regiment's fluff, without changing much in the grand scheme of things. For example, a SM chapter who refuse to cooperate with Ad Mech and uses home-made tech(better or worse) is perhaps going to seem unfluffy, a guard regiment who does the same is perfectly justifiable thanks to questionable logistics, warp-storms, recent rediscoveries of lost colonies, and generally being ignored until some Inquisitor needs them to die.

For example, my regiment uses solid-shot weapons that they developed before the heresy (their homeworld was only rediscovered in M32) and incredibly non-standard flack armour, but no one has bothered to call them out on it as it really makes no difference. On the other hand, can you imagine the uproar if a SM chapter decided they were all going to use reverse-engineered pulse weapons and forget bolters? Borderline heresy!

As a final note, our codex is also a thing of beauty. So many variations of list are possible, most with a good chance in at least casual games, you really can make your own playstyle.

 Arcsquad12 wrote:
With the variety of regiments, you could have a super elite force that fights like the Mobile Infantry from the Starship Troopers novel, or a totally incompetent infantry without support wave like the Mobile Infantry from the Starship Troopers film.

I love the guard because of how relatable they are. You can fit every human character under any sun into some part of the Guard and they won't stick out, because everyone can get conscripted. There are regiments of Bluebloods, Firstborn, hive gangers, savages and abhumans, but they all fight for the same cause.
This is also why I have soon read every IG novel that the black library ever has put out.

Also I like their fight against the odds. They go into combat with a lasgun, a helmet, a flak jacket, a couple of grenades, and a fethload of courage.
They face the horrors of the galaxy with bog standard gear and mostly straight forward infantry tactics. Some times they even come out on top, but it is always a struggle where good men and women die fighting for the Imperium and survival.

Well I love them cause (as stated before) they can be anything. I'm actually starting my own right now! So that my reason.

 Bonde wrote:
I love the guard because of how relatable they are. You can fit every human character under any sun into some part of the Guard and they won't stick out, because everyone can get conscripted. There are regiments of Bluebloods, Firstborn, hive gangers, savages and abhumans, but they all fight for the same cause.
This is also why I have soon read every IG novel that the black library ever has put out.

Also I like their fight against the odds. They go into combat with a lasgun, a helmet, a flak jacket, a couple of grenades, and a fethload of courage.
They face the horrors of the galaxy with bog standard gear and mostly straight forward infantry tactics. Some times they even come out on top, but it is always a struggle where good men and women die fighting for the Imperium and survival.

and FRFSRF...

From 1d4chan on Ollanius Pius,

He's spent months fighting a grueling war in which his enemies are demigods allied with daemons, and now he's found himself in the closest thing to Hell he's ever known. He probably wasn't even supposed to get teleported up to the arch-traitor's battle barge in the first place, and just ended up in the wrong place at the worst possible time.

Somehow he's survived horrors beyond comprehension to make his way to the very bridge of Horus' flagship. He saw a veritable angel call upon Horus to answer for his crimes, and he saw that angel die as messily as any guardsman. His Emperor - who he fervently believes is a god incarnate, even if he's not supposed to - lies mortally wounded, and Horus, perhaps, has taken a moment to gloat before he strikes the killing blow.

His armor is slightly more effective than tissue paper, his weapon slightly more powerful than a flashlight. A single electrified claw from Horus' weapon is bigger than his entire body. He stands before a being infused by the dark gods' with incalculable power, that can and will obliterate his soul with no more effort than it would take him to swat a gnat. Nothing he can do could possibly make a difference.

He could run. He could turn his weapon on himself. He could give in to the insidious whispers that echo from the ship's corridors into his mind.

Ollanius Pius does the duty his Emperor requires of him. He dies standing and holds the ing line.

Niexist wrote:
From 1d4chan on Ollanius Pius,

He's spent months fighting a grueling war in which his enemies are demigods allied with daemons, and now he's found himself in the closest thing to Hell he's ever known. He probably wasn't even supposed to get teleported up to the arch-traitor's battle barge in the first place, and just ended up in the wrong place at the worst possible time.

Somehow he's survived horrors beyond comprehension to make his way to the very bridge of Horus' flagship. He saw a veritable angel call upon Horus to answer for his crimes, and he saw that angel die as messily as any guardsman. His Emperor - who he fervently believes is a god incarnate, even if he's not supposed to - lies mortally wounded, and Horus, perhaps, has taken a moment to gloat before he strikes the killing blow.

His armor is slightly more effective than tissue paper, his weapon slightly more powerful than a flashlight. A single electrified claw from Horus' weapon is bigger than his entire body. He stands before a being infused by the dark gods' with incalculable power, that can and will obliterate his soul with no more effort than it would take him to swat a gnat. Nothing he can do could possibly make a difference.

He could run. He could turn his weapon on himself. He could give in to the insidious whispers that echo from the ship's corridors into his mind.

Ollanius Pius does the duty his Emperor requires of him. He dies standing and holds the ing line.

Doesn't matter what GW or BL says, he will always be a run of the mill guardsman who held the line.

Happygrunt wrote:Doesn't matter what GW or BL says, he will always be a run of the mill guardsman who held the line.

Word. Fortunately, even the 6E Rulebook flat out states that "it's all myths and legends lol"

What I love the most about the Imperial Guard is actually... the detail that they are nothing more than men (and/or women). They aren't some power-armored, gene-manipulated super soldiers. They aren't even the best soldiers, some of them faltering like any man could when being charged or shot by the worst horrors of the galaxy. Still they have courage to stand (with possible help of officer or commissar) their ground against something that they could never hope to win while fighting alone (you can say "Tank!" to this but I call "Without Full Crew" then). They have the worst possible standard weapon (stat-wise) and basically, they are so darn screwed the moment they step into fight. Still they does, forced or willingly to fight for all they hold dear.

What else I like is, that for once... infantry is indeed squishy. They die. They aren't some hulking guys with missile launchers popping up tanks while taking almost no damage in return (I'm exaggerating).
Also IG:s vehicles are the best looking ones from all armies in my opinion.
They have numbers and *BLAM*ing.
Lastly well... I just like the sight of men in (army like-)armor.

What I like about the Imperial Guard:

Tanks, tanks & more tanks - yep, I love tanks.

I also like how they could be considered braver than Space Marines. They fight the same enemies, face the same horrors, and die in vastly greater numbers than Marines, they do it with inferior equipment, less powerful weapons & much less training, but they still do it.

What's my favorite part about imperial guard is the best part of being an imperial guard.

You are just a normal human being, armed with only a lasgun(AK-47 of 40k+verse), a flak jacket, and balls of steel.
You are excepted fight and die trying to kill.......

Super Soldiers with power armor
Raging Bloodthristy cultists
Deamons
Swarms of mutating bugs
Unrelenting swarms of Orks.
Aliens with high-tech weapons and mech.
Aliens that want to torture you with pleasure.
And the undead nercons.

When I was playing Warhammer 40k Space Marines on 360, I wanted to play an Imperial Guard.

I love the tanks! Expecially the baneblade.