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How do!

Just been spinning my chin in the background section, and as so often happens? A further thought has been shaken loose. And that’s to do with recruitment into the Imperial Guard.

Whilst the canonical Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer shows quite considerable lies are told to recruits? For many Imperial Citizens, being successfully recruited into the Guard is their best shot at a ticket to glory, and a far better life. One day you’re a mook among untold billions on your world. For Hive Worlds in particular? Making the grade offers a demonstrably better life. If you were in a Gang? You’re no stranger to using a little muscle and might making right. And you’re probably not in much more danger of life in the Guard than running with your crew.

But at least in the Guard? You rarely need to worry about finding enough to eat and drink. Nor will you really have to scrabble around for ammo and spare parts. Heck, even your clothes are unlikely to be hand me downs.

We know Guard training is pretty intensive. Mostly to ensure the Regiment fights as a whole as efficiently as possible. And to follow that training (in theory at least) helps maximise your own chances of survival.

It’s also apparent that experienced Gang Fighters are somewhat prized within the Guard. You’ve a proven track record of battle and survival. You’re also likely to not only be able to conceive unorthodox tactics? But actually have some reasonable chance of pulling them off.

So where are the rules for such Regiments? Ones comprised of hardened fighters turned professional and hammered into a far more effective force? We’ve plenty from global warrior cultures. But none covering that other unique brand of freshly uniform Nutters.

Surely we need that? There’s even a fabled Regiment ready to be exploited there, in the form of the Necromunda 8th “The Spiders”. One of the earliest, if not the earliest Guard regiment to receive some level of official uniform codification for the game.

Not exactly Veterans from the get go. But dirty fighters every man, woman and child of them.

I was under the impression (possibly from Rogue trader), that your WS 3, BS 3 guy was a highly trained soldier. If you wanted regular PDF it was more like WS2, BS2 stuff.

Did in fact run a few interlinked battles where the Guard player had to achieve the objective while fighting through those sorts of troops.

You must be mistaken, Doc - there's only three types of Imperial Guard nowadays. Those with a Catachan heritage, those with a Cadian heritage, and those with a Krieg heritage.

Ignore the fact there have been sculpts in a different material for around another half-dozen or so over the years. /sarcasm

The_Real_Chris wrote:
I was under the impression (possibly from Rogue trader), that your WS 3, BS 3 guy was a highly trained soldier. If you wanted regular PDF it was more like WS2, BS2 stuff.

Yep - and for a few more editions Conscripts were WS2 / BS2 (and veterans were WS3 / BS4).

Don't forget the Penal Legions, where you get your free Remotely activated Bomb Collar!

I suspect the average hive ganger, does not really care either. They may be blissfully unaware of the wider galaxy outside their individual hive, and if they do know much, they probably don't care enough about the imperium to want to be cannon fodder for them.


Getting a regiment worth of hive gangers all at once to form into a regiment, even finding them, may not be all that easy. They are more likely to fight against, and loot, any recruiters sent down into their domains than sign up willingly I would imagine. The losses trying to force the issue probably aren't worth the hassle.

Guardsmen sent as part of a planetary tithe are likely going to be 'promoted' PDF troops, some of whom depending on the world may be volunteers or voluntold. Much like in modern times, the conscripted ones they drag up are still more likely to be people on record with some authority or other. The nameless, faceless gangers would probably only end up in the guard as having been former prisoners - somehow bringing them to the attention of Planetary or Imperial authorities. These ones would likely have a good chance of surviving and potentially thriving though.

The_Real_Chris wrote:
I was under the impression (possibly from Rogue trader), that your WS 3, BS 3 guy was a highly trained soldier. If you wanted regular PDF it was more like WS2, BS2 stuff.

Did in fact run a few interlinked battles where the Guard player had to achieve the objective while fighting through those sorts of troops.

See, those stats can be interpreted beyond “hurr hurr poor shots”.

Consider a Regiment recruited from Hive Gangs.

Those Guardsmen will come knowing how to handle a weapon, where to shoot to kill someone, and in many cases how to do so with decent effect when the foe is in cover. All skills and talents honed in their Gang Years.

Where the formal training comes in could be things like Proper Target Allocation. You can have an entire squad of genuine Crack Shots. But if their preference is “put one between the eyes of the fanciest sod you can spot”? The entire squad might be selecting the exact same target.

OK, a given Squad Leader is almost certainly about to cop it. But the fire is still without direction, and is therefore inefficient. The squad leader is toast - shame about the other 9-29 other foes.

Hence the training - how to take your existing skills and temper them to the greater benefit of the whole Regiment/Army. Also learning where to shoot say, Orks, for maximum effect. Forget gut shots. You’re not showing off here. The only statement to be made is “they’re dead, we’re not”, and how best to shout that out loud across hundreds of fellow Guardsmen.

It is old fluff, but I liked when regiments became garrison on worlds they fought on, and became the new nobility. Even a lowly trooper would get a title and a slice of land.

As mentioned in the past there have been many ways GW has represented Guardsmen of various ability and origin.

At this point it's up to the player to house rule.

That said, the goal of almost every professional military is to bring sameness and uniformity to it's recruits. Thus, having all Guardsmen be virtually identical may not be the worst thing.

Literally nothing is stopping you from making Guard Regiments from Necromunda models. That's how this stuff has always been, even when GW kind of directly supported it through Forge World. You could go a little more elite by playing them as Scions too, especially since they could then be tooling around in their "not a Taurox" Mad Max contraptions.

On the topic of skill, part of the issue is the limits of the d6 system. Both hardened gangers recruited wholesale into the guard, and levied PDF troopers from a soft world both get to be BS3. In a more granular system, one might be a 40% vs. 30%. But we just don’t have that level of design space. Conscripts and basic humans are BS2, vets are BS4, and BS3 covers the rest.

On the flip side, extra granularity doesn't often feel meaningful. D20 systems often suffer from the difference between 50% accuracy and 55% not resulting in a very satisfying difference in most rolls.

That's part of the reason Oath "feels" more elite than 2+ and you can often give the impression of more skilled versions of an existing unit by giving them the ability to ignore cover or accuracy modifiers.

 LunarSol wrote:
Literally nothing is stopping you from making Guard Regiments from Necromunda models. That's how this stuff has always been, even when GW kind of directly supported it through Forge World. You could go a little more elite by playing them as Scions too, especially since they could then be tooling around in their "not a Taurox" Mad Max contraptions.

Or you could just buy a Taurox. It is a Necromunda kit with Legends rules....

ccs wrote:

 LunarSol wrote:
Literally nothing is stopping you from making Guard Regiments from Necromunda models. That's how this stuff has always been, even when GW kind of directly supported it through Forge World. You could go a little more elite by playing them as Scions too, especially since they could then be tooling around in their "not a Taurox" Mad Max contraptions.

Or you could just buy a Taurox. It is a Necromunda kit with Legends rules....

Fair enough. My knowledge of the Guard doesn't extend much beyond 7th edition. I know they have guardsmen and tanks and when I fight against them I get to try and figure out which tanks do what.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:


Consider a Regiment recruited from Hive Gangs.

Those Guardsmen will come knowing how to handle a weapon, where to shoot to kill someone, and in many cases how to do so with decent effect when the foe is in cover. All skills and talents honed in their Gang Years.

You are actually describing the Civilian Marksmanship Program in the US, which was created after WW II to create a body of pre-trained riflemen who already know how to operate and effectively use the M1 Garand rifle.

And they're still at it - promoting proficiency and marksmanship with, uh, the M1 Garand rifle.

In 40k terms, they are trained on bolters, and then issued lasguns.