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Hi, all.

As we know, Games Workshop and Black Library's canon and fluff has been written, rewritten, agreed upon, argued against, and interpreted again and again. Basically, it's a mess! And on top of that, Games Workshop has always encouraged fans to 'make their own mind up' about fluff.

So, with that in mind, what's your view on how the Imperial Guard opperate?

Okay, maybe I'm trying to bring logic to 'GREM DHARK!' But, I'm interested to hear your views. The Imperial Guard has always been 'my' army and favorite, but one thing in their fluff bugs me. So, if you'll allow me:

The fluff states that the.Imperial Guard are numberless mass of soldiers recruited from a million plus worlds, and that each planet has its own traditions and fighting style, and that once recruited, a Guardsman will never see his/her home again, and that most Guardsmen's life expectancy is something daft, like, six weeks.

I get that the Guard are meant to be a trillion, trillion strong mass of flesh that's just meant to be thrown at enemies until they go away, but that confuses me. Okay, 'the Guard' are a hoard, but individual regiments are not. So, let's say we take a Regiment from World A and send them to war somewhere. After that, what happens, does that Regiment just fight there until it either dies or wins? If it wins why can't it return home? Surely garrisoning that Regiment at their home planet makes more sense, no?

I really dislike this idea that the Regiment gets raised and flung into space where it seems to just disappear. I mean, while on campaign, where's it garrisoned?

Traditions confuse me, too. If, we are to believe, a Regiment doesn't return home, how do Regimental traditions take hold. Baring in mind that Regiment 1 and Regiment 9 from World A would be seperated by 300 years and Warp distortion, AND they never return home, which means they can't pass on their tradition and experience, how can these traditions and skills take hold on a group of soldiers from a particular world?

The Baneblade novel has a Veteran Regiment return home, but that's only to get recruits and bugger off again. It's also the only reference to returning troops I can find.

Also, if the life expectancy of a Guardsman was six weeks, a Regiment would last about three months. That's just daft.

In my opinion, I would just prefer it if Regiments were garrisoned at home, and not flung to the stars and seemingly lost. Imagine a regiment from your own country. Okay, they're sent to war in some country, they could be there for ten years, but in that time they can take leave, get mail from home, receive reinforcements from home, etc., etc. After that, they return home, and if needs be, leave the service. That's how I'd like my Guard to be.

Anyone read the 'Starfist' novels? Kind of how the military are handled in them.

Anyway, that's my views.

What's yours?

My view: The Imperial Guard throws women/men/tanks/stuff at enemy stuff until it is dead or until they're out of women/men/tanks/stuff to throw. Tactics are a plus but not mandatory. Remember, try not to hit your own troops with artillery fire; while the loss of life is regrettable, the waste of ammunition is intolerable.

Its not so easy. Millions of guardsmen, thousands of commanders, hundreds of tactics and styles.

IG is not only "send the next wave and drown them in our bodies", despite many SM BL tries to imply Some commanders are like Chenkov, bury them in bodies, we have more energy in lasguns than you have cannons. Some are smart tacticians like Creed. Some regiments use power of artillery, some tanks, some diversion and spec ops tactics. And usually many of different regiments is send to one war for one planet or system. It depends on regional commander etc how is whole war approached.

For troops and their home...universe is vast I guess some regiments can take a break at home, but sometimes, you just cant use your precious resources to send hundreds of thousands men home for few weeks. They must use some free world with enough resources for garrisoning such force. Thousands of systems means they really probably wont see their home. Its to complicated for logistics and resources. Its grimdark Its universe where Emperor "consumes" thousand psykers a day for being star beacon. Homesickness of your imperial sledgehammer aka IG is not case for considering.

The thing that bothers me is how much people think (thanks to the codex) that the imperial guard is all about a giant wave of humans being sent to their deaths followed by tanks.

I think of them as just like armies of the last 100 years (1914+) each one doing things its way to the best of the situation. I think of them as well like people. Each one does it differently to the way it thinks is best.

Also hearing things about how useless lasguns are annoys me too. In reality they (like any gun) would be just as deadly, except how many real world guns have 3 fire modes with power settings, no bullet drop/speed and all in one assault rifle? It should be praised!

But the life of a trooper is accepting that you are giving your life to making sure your home world is safe and knowing it exists alone is probably their source of comfort. Its not like todays militaries where the army is a job, in the imperial guard its a dedication (wilful or not) so not seeing home is something to expect.

I guess the issue i have is the generalisation that Imperial Infantry are useless and weak and the guard is all about tanks, arty and massed charges. I think it would be far more diverse and 1 imperial soldier can be just as deadly as any other soldier in the setting.

I think the background depicts the Imperial Guard regiments as being completely different from one another. And I really like them this way.

 Tower75 wrote:

Also, if the life expectancy of a Guardsman was six weeks, a Regiment would last about three months. That's just daft.

It sounds really strange to me too. I think this applies to specific regiments during specific conflicts. Could you provide a source?

In my opinion, I would just prefer it if Regiments were garrisoned at home, and not flung to the stars and seemingly lost. Imagine a regiment from your own country. Okay, they're sent to war in some country, they could be there for ten years, but in that time they can take leave, get mail from home, receive reinforcements from home, etc., etc. After that, they return home, and if needs be, leave the service. That's how I'd like my Guard to be.

This wouldn´t make sense in the setting.

The space is vast. It takes decades or even hundreds of years going from one point to another, even using Warp travel. And the vast majority of the Imperium is somehow at "peace". A peace broken my endless rebellions and uprisings and what not, and the population of the planet sees it as a living hell, the day-to-day basis a brutal fight for survival in itself, but it is somehow "peace". Remember, this is the "most brutal regime" ever in the history of mankind.

Regiments are taken from planets without much trouble and sent to the "frontier" through a specific Warp route. It would be extremely expensive to take them back. It would be extremely expensive to send reinforcements. You would need astropaths and navigators, and they are extremely rare.

The Imperium is a brutal tyranny. They don´t care about their soldiers. When they win, they are sent to another conflict, and another, and another. Then, in some cases, just as propaganda, they are allowed to retire in a planet, ridiculously far from their home. For just one reason: it would be quite expensive to take them back. There are some exceptions, though. I think some PDF troopers and instructors are veterans from the IG, and from the same planet.

I always thought the traditions are made during the training and the time they lived before joining the army. Remember they come from the same planet.

And the get mail from home think you said is just too much. Are you talking about sending a 15000 year old relic spaceship 20 kilometers long to carry the mail or about hiring an extremely expensive mutant to send it telepatically to a place 10000 light-years away? Try to explain that to the guy from the Munitorium.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The guardsmen sacrifice everything they are and have for the sake of their planet, and the Imperium. Throwing men after men at the enemy works, most of the time...so why should the Imperium stop doing it? Morals and the value of life mean very little when you face the horrors of the Warp and bloodthirsty xenos.

 Tower75 wrote:
Traditions confuse me, too. If, we are to believe, a Regiment doesn't return home, how do Regimental traditions take hold. Baring in mind that Regiment 1 and Regiment 9 from World A would be seperated by 300 years and Warp distortion, AND they never return home, which means they can't pass on their tradition and experience, how can these traditions and skills take hold on a group of soldiers from a particular world?

A lot of the things like "why don't they go home" have already been answered but I'll take this one. A regiment begins with the basic military traditions from its homeworld, since nearly every planet has a military of its own and a lot of Guard regiments are drawn from these. Just like a real-life regiment a regiment develops its own traditions over time and they'll be different from other regiments from the same world although they'll still share the basic military culture from their world.

Most of them are competent, tactics are not a ''plus'' an idiot commander will be replaced as soon as possible especially if there's no results, Chenkov is an exception thanks to contacts and relations.

You know, I'd say that, really, the Guard is one of the more consistent aspects of the fluff.

They lack regulation. But that lack of regulation is actually built into the fluff, rather than it just being a case of authors sucking at consistency.

 Bobthehero wrote:
Chenkov is an exception thanks to contacts and relations.

And results, heck personally I view chenkov as an exception to imperial guard rather than the rule of their commanding officers, hell the book is generally full of tacticians with Chenkov going "MOAR BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD....err Send in the next wave in the emperors name"

I think you just haven't read enough IG fluff from BL. The one I recommend about IG tradition is 'imperial glory'. The IG regiments do sometimes go back to their home world, but its usually the very last of its survivors, which are promoted to carry on the regimental tradition and to recruit new members from its home world. For the most part, the badly depleted regiments are put with one another to form a new fighting regiment. Only the vostroyans stubbornly reinforce their own regiments with new recruits from their home world.

Your imagery of how the guard should work is already done by the PDF, they secure the home world/system, the guard sometimes draft the best of the local PDF for reinforcement. On the tabletop a guardsmen may seem pathetic, comparing that to real life, he or she is like a well trained active US marine.

Good views, guys. I like 'em.

So, as we know, the galaxy is vast, and star travel is expensive and complicated, esp. In 'GREM DHARK!', so, surely, by that logic, it would make sense to send Regiment 1 twenty light-years from home , and ship 'em back, than to pick a random star 1000 light years forms home and fling 'em into space without so much as a packed lunch.

Here's my thinking, and this is my own Games Workshop sponsored 'make up your own mind-' fluff:

Regiment A is raised and is sent off to do war upon the people the Emprah has decreed as naughty.

This is twenty light-years from home.

War were declared and many balls were bounced. (Futurama reference)

While on campaign the Regiment is garrisoned in field garrisons or forts or camps, and these move with the tide of war, etc.

War were won

Regiment A is returned home to its home garrison where its HQ is and where it's home garrison is.

Many training days and rookie ribbing were had by all, until war were declared again.

I agree that the Guard is a 'for life job', except for officers, whom can seemingly retire, but the 'never see home' I feel is daft. If anything, I believe that the sacrifice made by Guardsmen would be on par with 'never see home', as, because of Warp travel, in which time moves in whatever way it likes, but arguably slower than normal, the returning Guardsmen would see their world change around them, families would die, society would change, and they would be very much alone.

That's your sacrifice. That, and getting a Choppa in the face.

As we said, space is vast, the Imperium is vast, that means you need to watch your resources. Why fly a Regiment 1000 light-years away, if you have three-hundred and ninety planets that are closer? To me, it doesn't' make sense.

Cadia seems to be the exemption to the M.O. of the Guard, as it 'seems' that Regiments are garrisoned and train at home and when they're sent away, they return.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Swastakowey wrote:
The thing that bothers me is how much people think (thanks to the codex) that the imperial guard is all about a giant wave of humans being sent to their deaths followed by tanks.

I think of them as just like armies of the last 100 years (1914+) each one doing things its way to the best of the situation. I think of them as well like people. Each one does it differently to the way it thinks is best.

Also hearing things about how useless lasguns are annoys me too. In reality they (like any gun) would be just as deadly, except how many real world guns have 3 fire modes with power settings, no bullet drop/speed and all in one assault rifle? It should be praised!

Agreed, sir. Agreed.

 Tower75 wrote:

(...)
it would make sense to send Regiment 1 twenty light-years from home , and ship 'em back, than to pick a random star 1000 light years forms home and fling 'em into space without so much as a packed lunch.(...)

The galaxy is 100000 light-years long. "20 light years away" is "really close" for stars. Let´s say it is 1000 light years to the point where they are needed, and the travel takes just 6 years. When the battle is over, the next step is another planet, 10 light-years yet 19 years for getting there (it is not linear). Then they lose and they fall back in three years to a point 300 light-years from there. And so on.

The scale of a galactic conflict is brutal. I think they got this right. I don´t like it when some Space Marines travel in a couple of weeks to any place. Such this entry in the Codex Necron, about Kor´Sharro Khan taking a Tau ship (lacking FTL engines) then moving to Chogoris. It should have taken him 50000 years to do so.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Swastakowey wrote:
The thing that bothers me is how much people think (thanks to the codex) that the imperial guard is all about a giant wave of humans being sent to their deaths followed by tanks.

I think of them as just like armies of the last 100 years (1914+) each one doing things its way to the best of the situation. I think of them as well like people. Each one does it differently to the way it thinks is best.

Also hearing things about how useless lasguns are annoys me too. In reality they (like any gun) would be just as deadly, except how many real world guns have 3 fire modes with power settings, no bullet drop/speed and all in one assault rifle? It should be praised!

Agreed, sir. Agreed.

I agree too. Most Imperial regiments are not depicted as throwing people at the enemy like they were ants. And for the lasguns, they are stupidly powerful technology from the distant future. I really don´t get how some people compare them to assault rifles or modern stuff.

 da001 wrote:

 Tower75 wrote:

(...)
it would make sense to send Regiment 1 twenty light-years from home , and ship 'em back, than to pick a random star 1000 light years forms home and fling 'em into space without so much as a packed lunch.(...)

The galaxy is 100000 light-years long. "20 light years away" is "really close" for stars. Let´s say it is 1000 light years to the point where they are needed, and the travel takes just 6 years. When the battle is over, the next step is another planet, 10 light-years yet 19 years for getting there (it is not linear). Then they lose and they fall back in three years to a point 300 light-years from there. And so on.

The scale of a galactic conflict is brutal. I think they got this right. I don´t like it when some Space Marines travel in a couple of weeks to any place. Such this entry in the Codex Necron, about Kor´Sharro Khan taking a Tau ship (lacking FTL engines) then moving to Chogoris. It should have taken him 50000 years to do so.

That's my point, though. The Imperium is vast, and is meant to contain one million plus worlds. You use what's sensible. Six years!? Why even bother to send anyone? A war can be over and done three times over in six years. A couple of months at the most is understandable, but if it'll take you six years to get there, and I assume that's Warp time, so that probably means something silly, like, thirty-seven standard years that's pointless. That's like us sending troops to Iraq in 2003 but the first wave only hit the beach last month.
Even if it's six years standard time, we 'know' that the speed of light is 299,792,458 metres per second in a vacuum, apparently, it slows down and has a break and all that stuff too, but I'm not a science person my point is that a travel of six years would mean that conflict zone is sssooo far away, you must have someone closer in the Imperium.

And if not, well, it's lost forever. If you've got a colony that takes six years to reach from the most frontier planet, then that's over stretched and cannot be managed. That's like having your business on Mars and trying to get there on a skateboard.

Also, to manage the Imperium, wouldn't it make more sense to know where your eggs are? If the Guard are deployed 'close' to home and then garrisoned at home, then you know where they are.

If you've got a million planets, each with multiple regiments, and you just fling 'em to the stars, and bounce them from one conflict to the next, and each time it takes a decade to get there, how do you manage that?

Maybe that's the point of 'GHREM DHARK!'

It is.

It is not unheard of that the army sent by the Administratum arrives at the planet that asked for help 75 years after the war is finished and at a slightly different position. It is an important part of why the setting is so dark. If you are the ruler of a planet and you have got a problem, a big problem you cannot solve by yourself, and you ask for help, it will take a lot of years just to make the bureaucracy start moving. Help will arrive, if you are lucky, to save your grandchildren. And all the time the Black Ships will visit your planet, once and again, asking for the tithe, caring nothing about your problems.

Once the case is studied, it may generate a response from Terra. It takes LOTS of time, effort and money to launch an attack in the setting. But once it is launched, there is not turning back. The power of the Imperial Guard once committed is beyond imagination.

The reason they are not sent to a near sun is because the need for a massive attack may not be there. As Big Mac said, local affairs (and by local I mean a full system) are PDF business. The Guard can be seen as elite PDF that are sent from different planets without big problems to a point where the Imperium is having a crisis. PDF can be seen as your average BS2 WS2 humans, and they are more than enough for most local problems, with the help of the Arbites if needed. They seem useless because most stories start with their failure.

There is an exception for things going this slow: elite troops. Marines, Sisters or Inquisitors go faster. Many planets may ask help from a Chapter nearby. However, chapters spend many years doing nothing, just moving from one place to another. And recovering from casualties.

 da001 wrote:
It is.

It is not unheard of that the army sent by the Administratum arrives at the planet that asked for help 75 years after the war is finished and at a slightly different position. It is an important part of why the setting is so dark...

Yes, I've always disliked that particular tit-bit of fluff. Also how sometimes an Expeditionary Force will arrive before the call for help is made. Oh, that sneaky Warp.

Okay, let's say that a planet's invaded by (insert Warhammer 40,000 nasty here), the Governor sends for help on day one of the invasion, brilliant. Well done that man.

The Expeditionary Force arrives 200 years later. Okay... Awesome. The planet's now 100% in enemy hands! assuming it hasn't been wiped clean of life.

The Imperium would last a week in that situation.

Ah, grim dark, we shall not trouble you with logic anymore. Go, be free.

It's on par with tanks and ships being maintained over thousands of years.

Guard Regiments are as varied as one can imagine.

Some planets send the cream of their PDF, proud to serve the Emperor. Some hive worlds just round up a few million of the worst underhive scum they can catch and send them off to be trained on the way. Some worlds have a payment system of sorts where the troops sent to the IG either pay off family debts or garner their family benefits. Some worlds have primitives flocking to the recruitment office any time the Star Gods return to pick up new warriors for the Great Father in the Sky.

Life expectancy and retirement plans are as varied. A rich enough planet might allow survivors to return home once their tour is finished (and the replacement regiment has been raised). A hive world will say good riddance, keep them or kill them. Primitives raised to warriors of the gods might not even want to return, just keep on fighting as long as they can. And so on.

IG regiments do usually get reinforcements from their own home planets. That probably explains the traditions, as a regiment is made up of people from the same planet.
I do not think the Guard ever see their homes again, maybe with exceptions for regiments close to their homeworld or elite regiments. I can also imagine it is different depending on the regiment/homeworld. Cadians for example, are probably frequently returning home, as their planet quite often has need of them.

What you would like your Guard to be sounds a lot more like the PDF to me. They are only sent to trouble nearby (in their own system) and return home afterwards.
The Guard is more like an elite PDF for the entire universe.

Different authors approach the problem of travel differntly.

Dan Abnett writes, especially in the Sabatt Worlds Crusade fluff, that things take a few weeks or a few months in the warp. Rarely something like years for travel. Indeed, many of the characters return home to their planets. In other stories like Storm of Iron Imperial Fists are able to show up in strength in around a month from who knows where in the galaxy.

Other authors, like the rulebook, seem to portray the warp as beyond fickle with no chance of consistency in travel.

Sci-fi has laways had the problem with FTL travel as things like relativistic effects, speed of light, etc. always seem to muck up the setting once you delve too deep with logic.

For example, if warp travel takes years there is no logical way to defend a planet or prosecute a campaign due to supply problems and we know planning is not the Imperrium's strong suit.

Instead, we have the warp, which allows FTL flight with seemingly minimal relatavistic effect. The carch for the setting is that is as fickle as the author needs it to be.

As to regiments, most are reconstituted from other tattered regiments (sometimes from their original homeworld, sometimes from others) when attrition reduces them below operational effectiveness. As far as traditions, there's a distinction between regimental tradition and homeworld tradition. The traditions of the homeworld may be gradually lost, or otherwise eroded as regiments are reconstituted and as soldiers become more acclimatized to Guard life as opposed to life back home. The traditions of the regiment, however, usually consist less of cultural norms and have more to do with fighting style, nuances of religious creed and equipment loadouts. The latter generally doesn't change much.

As for the traditions thing, in a novel i read 2 regiments where jammed together to create one full regiment and they where from different worlds. People where nearly killed over the appropriate way to use cafiteria trays (or clean them cant quite remember).

But then you get merges like in gaunts ghosts where the gurilla style vervin dudes mixed perfectly with tanith light infantry style fighting. Plus both had their home worlds savaged so they mixed just fine.

tradition is one of the big things that keeps the guard working. Each regiment has a uniform to instil pride, a way of fighting for a sense of purpose and the list goes on. Nations on earth are similar. Most nations have a style of fighting they like to use and the same goes for the guard.

 Swastakowey wrote:
As for the traditions thing, in a novel i read 2 regiments where jammed together to create one full regiment and they where from different worlds. People where nearly killed over the appropriate way to use cafiteria trays (or clean them cant quite remember).

But then you get merges like in gaunts ghosts where the gurilla style vervin dudes mixed perfectly with tanith light infantry style fighting. Plus both had their home worlds savaged so they mixed just fine.

tradition is one of the big things that keeps the guard working. Each regiment has a uniform to instil pride, a way of fighting for a sense of purpose and the list goes on. Nations on earth are similar. Most nations have a style of fighting they like to use and the same goes for the guard.

That'll be the first Ciaphas Cain novel. They're good reads.

What you say above is true, but surely, in a world where you're drafted, or you volunteer, into a system that gives you six weeks basic, before firing you into a war 1,000,000 light years away, where you never see your home again, and where the only other regiment from your world you would meet would be separated socially from you by three-hundred years, thanks to Warp shenanigans, no 'regimental' tradition would take hold. No? Each regiment would be an individual in the hoard.

I'm not saying regiments couldn't pick up traditions while on campaign, but without a standing regimental history, built up over centuries, with a home garrison, 'regimental traditions' couldn't take hold, esp. as Regiments of Guardsmen in Warhammer 40,000 are constantly at war from the time they're raised to the time that regiment ceases to be.

Reusing the same regimental number doesn't 't count, as that's just reusing the number. The originals would all be dead and gone.

 Tower75 wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
As for the traditions thing, in a novel i read 2 regiments where jammed together to create one full regiment and they where from different worlds. People where nearly killed over the appropriate way to use cafiteria trays (or clean them cant quite remember).

But then you get merges like in gaunts ghosts where the gurilla style vervin dudes mixed perfectly with tanith light infantry style fighting. Plus both had their home worlds savaged so they mixed just fine.

tradition is one of the big things that keeps the guard working. Each regiment has a uniform to instil pride, a way of fighting for a sense of purpose and the list goes on. Nations on earth are similar. Most nations have a style of fighting they like to use and the same goes for the guard.

That'll be the first Ciaphas Cain novel. They're good reads.

What you say above is true, but surely, in a world where you're drafted, or you volunteer, into a system that gives you six weeks basic, before firing you into a war 1,000,000 light years away, where you never see your home again, and where the only other regiment from your world you would meet would be separated socially from you by three-hundred years, thanks to Warp shenanigans, no 'regimental' tradition would take hold. No? Each regiment would be an individual in the hoard.

I'm not saying regiments couldn't pick up traditions while on campaign, but without a standing regimental history, built up over centuries, with a home garrison, 'regimental traditions' couldn't take hold, esp. as Regiments of Guardsmen in Warhammer 40,000 are constantly at war from the time they're raised to the time that regiment ceases to be.

Reusing the same regimental number doesn't 't count, as that's just reusing the number. The originals would all be dead and gone.

Has much actually changed over hundreds of years on most planets though? I think that a Mordian would talk to another Mordian and feel like they are talking to a new neighbour despite a hundred years of seperartion in time. Unless something drastic happens to change the home planet of course. Regiments may have different tradition that varry from other regiments of the same world but the basics of culture, doctrine and gear would remain the same i reckon. Thats why its easier to merge regiments of the same home world.

 Tower75 wrote:
What you say above is true, but surely, in a world where you're drafted, or you volunteer, into a system that gives you six weeks basic, before firing you into a war 1,000,000 light years away, where you never see your home again, and where the only other regiment from your world you would meet would be separated socially from you by three-hundred years, thanks to Warp shenanigans, no 'regimental' tradition would take hold. No? Each regiment would be an individual in the hoard.

I'm not saying regiments couldn't pick up traditions while on campaign, but without a standing regimental history, built up over centuries, with a home garrison, 'regimental traditions' couldn't take hold, esp. as Regiments of Guardsmen in Warhammer 40,000 are constantly at war from the time they're raised to the time that regiment ceases to be.

Reusing the same regimental number doesn't 't count, as that's just reusing the number. The originals would all be dead and gone.

The regiments would create their own traditions as they went along. Members of the regiment would likely stick together pretty tightly for a number of reasons. They likely all speak Low Gothic but probably feel more comfortable speaking whatever languages they spoke on their homeworld so the regiment would be a little world in and of itself. I was in a unit in the US National Guard (my little flag is French because I live in France but I lived most of my life in the US) several years ago that had just been repurposed from tanks to light cavalry. Having had spent several years in cavalry units in the Regular Army I was asked to help define what would become the unit's new traditions and from what I hear from old buddies on Facebook most of the things I helped put in place are still in place. Traditions don't necessarily require hundreds or thousands of years of history to create.

For the Guard I imagine the officers assigned to this newly raised regiment would be taught about the regiment's previous traditions, or at least as much as is known, and would work from that in instilling these things into the new regiment. This would provide a sense of structure and continuity to the new Guardsmen so I'd be surprised if this weren't a pretty standard thing on most worlds.

I always envisioned the IoM having enough battle fronts that IG regiments can simply be shuffled from one to another. I does talk about this a little in Dead Men Walking.

Eventually either reinforcements arrive or the force is too broken down to continue. I imagine the regiment gets sent to warzones, fights and when they are done fighting they either get reinforced or shipped back home depending on the costs associated (a ship has to come back to the home planet to pick up new troops anyways so why not bring the IG with).

As far as I am aware the IG do not normally garrison planets. The only planet I can think of that have IG garrisons to defend it is Cadia. The rest are just waiting to be shipped out with PDF, skiitari, etc. forces to defend them.

I would also imagine that some of the surviving veteran members of regiments are shipped back home to be trainers. The IG would definitely have massive need for experienced trainers and there is no way they are using no experience recruits to train those DKoK infantry.

There is also an interesting supply situation to IG armies. Namely that the ships are so large and the standard issue rifle doesn't require ammo so you could have a IG regiment carry enough supplies and manufacturing capacity to operate for decades.

There is also a huge difference in how the soldiers are viewed from place to place. If you told a DKoK trooper he was being sent home to retire that would be the absolute worse thing you could do to him. If you said the same thing to another trooper they would kiss you and jump for joy. Some of these factions do not consider retirement from service as a reward. Some of them have IG given special position in society, etc. For some reason I remember there being something in one of the books about a retired IG trooper on a planet being invaded who joins the PDF to train recruits...I will have to try remembering.

I think we can all agree on one undeniable fact that covers everything we have been talking about.

It is always done on a case by case situation to the best of the abilities of those organising the men.

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
My view: The Imperial Guard throws women/men/tanks/stuff at enemy stuff until it is dead or until they're out of women/men/tanks/stuff to throw. Tactics are a plus but not mandatory. Remember, try not to hit your own troops with artillery fire; while the loss of life is regrettable, the waste of ammunition is intolerable.

Pretty much this. Guard is a giant clumsy meatgrinder that wins through attrition and firepower. They suffer enormous casualties regularly. They're not elite professionals almost on par with Space Marines, as many like to characterize them.

 Harriticus wrote:

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
My view: The Imperial Guard throws women/men/tanks/stuff at enemy stuff until it is dead or until they're out of women/men/tanks/stuff to throw. Tactics are a plus but not mandatory. Remember, try not to hit your own troops with artillery fire; while the loss of life is regrettable, the waste of ammunition is intolerable.

Pretty much this. Guard is a giant clumsy meatgrinder that wins through attrition and firepower. They suffer enormous casualties regularly. They're not elite professionals almost on par with Space Marines, as many like to characterize them.

No, suffering heavy losses is due to the scale of the wars they fight in. Of course when a ship gets destoyed whilst landing troops its gonna bump up the death count hugely. Some worlds/commanders use a meat grinder tactic but not ALL OF THEM. Have you not read the battle for big toof river? how on earth are elysians meant to win by meat griner? When catachans fight in the jungle do you think they run through it in the thousands in a giant line towards the enemy? No. They arent (the word was auto changed from the bad word for handycapped) slowed.

They will use different tactics for different worlds and situations. Commanders have preferances and this will also have an effect. Otherwise whats the point in having weapon variants and vehicle variants if they are just driving forward to die? They wouldnt bother with different types of infantry roles if they all just run forward dying. They fight just like any modern military because thats how results are made.

Why would they try meat grinding orks for example? Every time orks are defeated Its because of strategic outsmarting and fire bombing and what not. There arent many examples of the imperial guard winning because they just chucked guardsmen forward. If they just used the wave tactic then they would just have the bare minimum gear and equipment. Which is far from the case.

 Harriticus wrote:

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
My view: The Imperial Guard throws women/men/tanks/stuff at enemy stuff until it is dead or until they're out of women/men/tanks/stuff to throw. Tactics are a plus but not mandatory. Remember, try not to hit your own troops with artillery fire; while the loss of life is regrettable, the waste of ammunition is intolerable.

Pretty much this. Guard is a giant clumsy meatgrinder that wins through attrition and firepower. They suffer enormous casualties regularly. They're not elite professionals almost on par with Space Marines, as many like to characterize them.

This is not entirely fair or true. Look at an Elysian or Terrax guard army and you will see an elite military force. Additionally many of the armoured battle group regiments are also fairly careful with their troop's lives. Some worlds and regiments do fight like this (Valhallan), some fight however the math gives the highest chance for success (DKoK), some fight using ambush tactics (Catachans and Tallarn), and some using lighting raids and air superiority (Elysian and Terrax). Heck some of them send cavalry with spears to the battlefield...variety is the name of the game for IG tactics and armies.

 ansacs wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
My view: The Imperial Guard throws women/men/tanks/stuff at enemy stuff until it is dead or until they're out of women/men/tanks/stuff to throw. Tactics are a plus but not mandatory. Remember, try not to hit your own troops with artillery fire; while the loss of life is regrettable, the waste of ammunition is intolerable.

Pretty much this. Guard is a giant clumsy meatgrinder that wins through attrition and firepower. They suffer enormous casualties regularly. They're not elite professionals almost on par with Space Marines, as many like to characterize them.

This is not entirely fair or true. Look at an Elysian or Terrax guard army and you will see an elite military force. Additionally many of the armoured battle group regiments are also fairly careful with their troop's lives. Some worlds and regiments do fight like this (Valhallan), some fight however the math gives the highest chance for success (DKoK), some fight using ambush tactics (Catachans and Tallarn), and some using lighting raids and air superiority (Elysian and Terrax). Heck some of them send cavalry with spears to the battlefield...variety is the name of the game for IG tactics and armies.

I agree with ansacs. The IG have gotten a bad image of being morons when it comes to tactics which is an unfair statement. It is true in some cases, but those guys don't last very long and soon your left with either the lucky ones or the good ones. So to me the IG have for the most part have decent commanders who do have an idea of what their doing.

On the topic of space travel in 40k I thought that warp travel made journeys that would take 1000s of years and turned into months or weeks with the warp doing some strange stuff that every so often made a trip take hundreds of years or as said before get there before the threat got there. To me this is the only way they could keep the IOM together and defended. If a trip took six years even from a short distance away with warp travel than no empire save Necrons and Eldar/dark Eldar could have an empire and forget the tau having one unless everything was a few light years within reach.