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So ive always seen it as the guard was supposed to represent the regular man. The dude just trying to survive the next battle in a galaxy that cares not for him and is ready to throw horrors at him that will shatter his mind just by him trying to comprehend there existence. The death korp of krieg are antithetical to this. They are emotionless killing machines. They arnt just trying to survive. Not only do kriegsmen view survival as optional they think death is the preferred outcome to a battle. They don't break down in the face of the galaxys horrors cause there so emotionally neutered there barely capable of feeling horror. Why make them a guard regiment if they lack every single quality that separates the guard from the other factions like the Space Marines. I mean there so utterly emotionless that you coulf hand a regiment of them over to the Legio cybernetica and the Cog Boys wouldnt even notice until the first one dropped from dehydration a week later. Why are they a guard unit and not a space marine chapter or actual Legio Cybernetica robots instead of basically robots.

The dkok are vat grown, no name, only serial #s, remove or eat under their masks, and mostly are around the age of young adults, survival rate is very low if you didn’t know already. The ones that end up surviving for a long time goes back as drill sgts or company commanders.

Their training is above what the Admech cybernetica can do as they are free thinkers in the heat of battle; below space marines, as they have enhancements, better equipment and more advance training beyond what a human body can do.

chimera0205 wrote:
So ive always seen it as the guard was supposed to represent the regular man.

Kinda. Guardsmen can represent more than just that. The Death Korps are more a reflection of the dehumanising setting, and are reflective of the "life is cheap, guardsmen exist to die" aspect.

Realistically, no single Guard regiment really covers the entire range of things that the Astra Militarum covers, so having a variety of regiments to cover the wide range of "what the guard represents" works well.

So, in the same way that the well-trained, well equipped Cadians are completely different to the poorly equipped and barely trained Salvar Chem-Dogs, the Death Korps are unique compared to other, more 'human' regiments. But they're still very much part of the "Imperial Guard theme".

As above, the DKoK are the far end of - human life is expendable and there’s nothing you can do about it so just accept it and do your duty even though there’s no real “reason” to, other than because we say so - side of the Guard lore. If you look at the Valhallans and the old Chenkov / send in the next wave rules, or Commissars in general, that’s the - one of a billion insignificant soldiers - side of the Guard, and - if you die, no one will miss you - sense of futility that used to be played up more in the fluff.

It’s the other side of the - selfless heroism, standing up to the horrors of the galaxy - coin.