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We know marines need to be physically altered to wear their armor effectively, but SoBs don't seem to need these extensive modifications. I don't recall ever seeing an IG unit with power armor, tho stormtroopers are well equipped.

Is there some sort of official canon forbidding iggies power armor? I know there is a reason that only space marines have land raiders, the emperor ddecreed all LR production was to be dedicated to the marines during the horus heresy when words that could make them were in short supply and the availability was limited, and not in 10,00 years has anyone realized the reason for the emperor's order is no longer valid. I know that at one tie iggies had raiders.

I don't play iggies so i'm not sure if there was ever a reason that elite iggies might not have some sort of power armor. Like someone feared a common soldier, even a highly trained elite one, might be 'corrupted' by the power that he'd feel inn power armor, or some iggie unit with power armor defected during the heresy, or committed some heinous offense like singing off key during a ceremony? I'm just curious, oit seems that the imperium could make some sort of very basis unadorned PA for elite guard units but apparently decides not to.

o

I don't think there's ever been anything cannon as to why not.
But it's not hard to imagine that it's a simple issue of co$t. Millions of men from millions of worlds.... They get, on average, a flak vest & a rifle. And are fed into the endless meatgrinders across the Imperium. Cheaper to throw more bodies at a problem vs protecting any of them.

And even though they're elite troops I'd suspect that there's a helluva lot more stormtroopers/scions/equivalents throughout the Guard than there are SoB total.

From a product PoV? It'd be very hard to pull off the whole WWI/WWII (and 'Nam for the Catachans) vibe if the basic human infantry all had power armor.

Not to my knowledge
Going back to rogue trader, the guard (warriors of the army) was simply-
Flak armor: Always

Later Carapace armor (4+) was the elite option, and for officers it was mostly power fields (refractor or conversion) more often than armor.

It's not really aesthetically the same as sororitas or astartes power armor, but there's a novel ("Fire Caste"?) featuring a guard regiment from a steampunk-ish planet. They have a few squads of guys wearing powered armor that looks vaguely like an old-timey scuba diver suit. Picture a big daddy from Bioshock.

Not "power armor," but powered armor.

Edit: As for why they don't hand out power armor to guardsmen, I think power armor is simply considered too expensive to mass produce. I get the impression that when a batch of power is produced, it's as part of a special order. There probably aren't many (any?) forgeworlds out there with power manufacturing facilities. We have plenty of examples of marine chapters bending over backwards to fix up extensively damaged armor rather than tossing it out and requisitioning a new suit. It seems like something about the creation process just makes it really inefficient to produce en masse.

I could totally see there being some guard regiments here and there that have sororitas-style armor in the same way that there are probably guard regiments that ride dinosaurs or go into battle alongside packs of cyber mastiffs. There's room for them to exist, but they're exceptions rather than norms. And from a game design standpoint, putting power armored humans into the guard 'dex would risk watering down the differences between them and sisters/marines. Sisters as the only humans (other than inquisitors) in power armor on the tabletop makes them feel kind of special. They'd feel less special if your guard opponent could splash in power armor of his own.

Characters used to sort of be able to get there in very bare bones ways. Especially Inquisitors when they were sort of Guard.

The first inquisitor described, Obiwan sherlock clouseau, had "skin tight power armor".

I'm not seeing how that worked unless someone in the admech salvaged tony stark's lab on terra.

 Matt Swain wrote:
We know marines need to be physically altered to wear their armor effectively, but SoBs don't seem to need these extensive modifications. I don't recall ever seeing an IG unit with power armor, tho stormtroopers are well equipped.

Is there some sort of official canon forbidding iggies power armor? I know there is a reason that only space marines have land raiders, the emperor ddecreed all LR production was to be dedicated to the marines during the horus heresy when words that could make them were in short supply and the availability was limited, and not in 10,00 years has anyone realized the reason for the emperor's order is no longer valid. I know that at one tie iggies had raiders.

I don't play iggies so i'm not sure if there was ever a reason that elite iggies might not have some sort of power armor. Like someone feared a common soldier, even a highly trained elite one, might be 'corrupted' by the power that he'd feel inn power armor, or some iggie unit with power armor defected during the heresy, or committed some heinous offense like singing off key during a ceremony? I'm just curious, oit seems that the imperium could make some sort of very basis unadorned PA for elite guard units but apparently decides not to.

o

Techpriest Engineseers have Power Armor.

Aside from that however, not really. There's no lore forbidding it that I'm aware of, but it's just not really something the Munitorum feels the need to invest in. Yeah power armored Sisters and Marines are impressive, but the resources it takes to equip and support a handful of them are likewise astronomical. We have to remember, for each Space Marine, there are literally thousands of entire Regiments of Guardsmen. If the choice is between equipping a squad with power armor, or fielding a tank division, the Guard is going to choose the tank division.

Ok, good answers, thanks! I was just wondering if there was ever an effort at making an elite unit of iggies for situations where spess muhreens were not available.

Ok, good answers, thanks! I was just wondering if there was ever an effort at making an elite unit of iggies for situations where spess muhreens were not available.
I remember hearing about some effort to enhance human troops economically, creating the 'gland warriors" but they seem to be just a passing mention.

Ok, good answers, thanks! I was just wondering if there was ever an effort at making an elite unit of iggies for situations where spess muhreens were not available.
I remember hearing about some effort to enhance human troops economically, creating the 'gland warriors" but they seem to be just a passing mention.

Edit. i went to edit in a line to my post here and some net weirdness cause the original to stay and the edit to double post. Must be daemons acting up in the corner of the warp know as 'the internet'... (And, seriously, guys, you did know the internet is part of the warp, right?)

 Matt Swain wrote:
We know marines need to be physically altered to wear their armor effectively, but SoBs don't seem to need these extensive modifications.

SoBs do have 'plugs' for their power armour - you can see them on the Repentia:




There's a bit in one of the Cain books where Inquisitor Amberley Vail says something like her power armour requires hours & hours of prep work & maintenance for every operational hour IIRC. It's probably impracticable (and cost-prohibitive) to mass equip the Guard.

The Dark Heresy RPG has rules for 'Light Power Armour' which is wearable by humans without any need for bodily modifications.

Not guard per se, and correct me if I am wrong, but I vaguely remember that Stormtrooper squad leaders in the old Daemonhunter codex could take power armor. That is the closest I can think of outside of techpriests.

Wyldhunt wrote:
It's not really aesthetically the same as sororitas or astartes power armor, but there's a novel ("Fire Caste"?) featuring a guard regiment from a steampunk-ish planet. They have a few squads of guys wearing powered armor that looks vaguely like an old-timey scuba diver suit. Picture a big daddy from Bioshock.

Not "power armor," but powered armor.
[…]

Are you talking about the Solar Pattern Void Armour, used by the Solar Auxilia during/since the conquest of the Solar System?



If I'm not wrong, it was a pattern of carapace armour originally created by the humans who inhabited in some extremely hostile planet of the Solar System (Saturn?) and then used by the not astartes Emperor's troops to conquer the entire Solar System, due to the effectiveness of its life support system. It isn't a really powered armour, but it is by far better than the regular armours of the Imperial Army/Imperial Guard.

The_Grim_Angel wrote:
Are you talking about the Solar Pattern Void Armour, used by the Solar Auxilia during/since the conquest of the Solar System?

They're not - Fire Caste is a 40k novel. They're referring to the Arkan Confederates -

Lexicanum wrote:The Arkan Confederates employ modified patterns of Sentinels, designed with hooves suited for Providence's savannahs in place of the standard claws.[1a] Locally produced heirloom power armor known as Stormsuits and Thundersuits are employed as heavy infantry, operating outside of the standard company structure in a noble brotherhood known as the Steamblood Zouaves. Each suit is unique to its bearer, though most are armed with heavy stubbers and melee weapons such as saws or drills. Though tough, the suits are unsubtle and difficult to maintain, closer to status symbols than military equipment[1b]

Tech-Priests attached to the Arkan Confederates, named professors by Guardsmen after their pre-Imperium equivalents,[1b] were known to make significant alterations to regimental equipment, such as retrofitting standard Sentinels with jump packs and stabilizers to emulate Elysian Drop Sentinels.[1a]

beast_gts wrote:

 Matt Swain wrote:
We know marines need to be physically altered to wear their armor effectively, but SoBs don't seem to need these extensive modifications.

SoBs do have 'plugs' for their power armour - you can see them on the Repentia:

Spoiler:

There's a bit in one of the Cain books where Inquisitor Amberley Vail says something like her power armour requires hours & hours of prep work & maintenance for every operational hour IIRC. It's probably impracticable (and cost-prohibitive) to mass equip the Guard.

Hmm, now see in the 'daemonifuge" comic it showed a SoB out of her power armor a lot and she didn't have these. That's likely where i got the idea the didn't need them.

 Matt Swain wrote:
Hmm, now see in the 'daemonifuge" comic it showed a SoB out of her power armor a lot and she didn't have these. That's likely where i got the idea the didn't need them.

Daemonifuge is "old canon", and a lot of it has been reconned in the last 20 years.

 Matt Swain wrote:

Hmm, now see in the 'daemonifuge" comic it showed a SoB out of her power armor a lot and she didn't have these. That's likely where i got the idea the didn't need them.

Soroitas requiring plugs was a retcon in the 8th edition codex.

 Matt Swain wrote:


Hmm, now see in the 'daemonifuge" comic it showed a SoB out of her power armor a lot and she didn't have these. That's likely where i got the idea the didn't need them.

The plugs on sisters is a new thing, and subject to much debate.

Inquisitor Astor Sabbathiel (from the comics) had the plugs a few years before the Codex came out - but she was using Terminator armour.

Don’t the plugs imply that sisters have some sort of black carapace? That’s a pretty big ret con.

beast_gts wrote:
Inquisitor Astor Sabbathiel (from the comics) had the plugs a few years before the Codex came out - but she was using Terminator armour.

She was also wearing a space marine termintor armour, not a human one. I would put her example as artistic freedom, then how actualy it is worn.

In 30k, worlds at a sufficient technology level (Survivors of the Dark Age) can take Rhinos and Land Raiders as dedicated transports and give some of their troops Power Armor (including Ogryns, which is a fun thought).

40k lacks the army-construction flexibility for Imperial Guard that 30k has for the Imperial Army, though, so you probably will never see it in rules. Whether or not this is actually due to NARRATIVE (i.e. power armor is outlawed for the Imperial Guard somewhere in imperial law) or a lack of creativity in the rules remains to be seen.

 argonak wrote:
Don’t the plugs imply that sisters have some sort of black carapace? That’s a pretty big ret con.

More basic than the Black Carapace - it's some form of interface or Mind Impulse Unit.

Navigator bodyguards also wear power armour in some of the Space Wolf novels.

Why risk a very expensive suit of power armor, that might be hundreds of years old, when you can just throw more Guardsmen at the enemy, all of whom are easily replaceable?

Though it would not seem unreasonable that a sufficiently high ranking Guard commander may be able to acquire and wear a suit of something resembling power armor, he's probably not one of the ones who'll be fighting on the front lines, so unlikely to ever appear on the table top.

The “power” in power armor probably makes it cost-ineffective for the guard, each suit has a mini fusion reactor in it with enough juice to keep the suit powered for days or weeks of combat use. The suit & reactor might be upwards of the cost of a LRBT when all said and done.

That said, it doesn’t seem infeasible that powered armored guardsmen couldn’t be a 0-1 elite choice for the army.

 Kcalehc wrote:
Why risk a very expensive suit of power armor, that might be hundreds of years old, when you can just throw more Guardsmen at the enemy, all of whom are easily replaceable?

Though it would not seem unreasonable that a sufficiently high ranking Guard commander may be able to acquire and wear a suit of something resembling power armor, he's probably not one of the ones who'll be fighting on the front lines, so unlikely to ever appear on the table top.

Ok, fair point. To reply i'd say maybe there are cases where you have a small, high value target that needs taking out, but getting a large force thru to it would alert the enemy. Or you don't have time to assemble a major force before the target is out of reach.

So maybe a small, rapidly deployable force could be stealthily inserted behind enemy lines to take out the target quickly, without tipping the enemy off to move or fortify it. Thus you best of the best of the best forces with maximum level gear meant for those special missions when even tempestus scions aren;t quite enough. Or hell, maybe they are tempestus scion élite forces.

In other words similar roles to what you might normally use SMs for, except for when you don't have any conveniently nearby.

And if you dont have Marines nearby, why would you have these guys.if they are.equally.rare.

The role.being described is exactly what the smaller marine advisor and support squad are supposed to perform by being attached to other imperial forces.

Scions are elite forces.

So what, now we need Scions+?

Maybe not whole regiments, but there have been numerous mentions of resourceful (rich AF) planetary governers having their personal bodyguard decked out in power armour, or inquisition acolytes being equipped with power armour, etc etc...

I wouldn't be surprised if some especially rich worlds have veteran/elite companies in a form of power armour. What must be remembered, whilst on the tabletop, power armour tends to always do the same thing, in the fluff power armour can come in many varieties and technical expertise and some are available to be purchased.

However, some are very crude (thunder warriors power armour) some don't have the fusion power plants that marines and sisters have, which I then assume means they run on another form of power source that may need to be charged/refuelled very often, some won't make the wearer agile, and be more of a walking brick etc...

On the tabletop, I'd proxy/convert/kitbash some form of power armoured unit that is fairly large and bulky to make the point of it being quite unrefined and have them count as bullgryns.