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Watching videos about IG has me somewhat confused

Many people have mentioned special "shock troop" regiments alongside mechanized, infantry etc.

Are they just combined arms regiments?

Thanks

There regiments geared and trained for close infantry assault?
Pretty mobile, with some armour and arty support.

Shock troops, are meant to ones exploiting a breach in enemy lines once it forms.

They could also be referring to the Cadian Shock Troopers, which is the official name for Cadian Imperial Guard regiments.

Shock troop is a military term that refers to a formation used to spearhead an attack. They are typically organized for mobility.

So a shock troop regiment can either refer to two things -

- cadian shock troopers

- A detachment that consists mostly of infantry and transports, with maybe some bullgryn thrown in.

Weren't Militarium Temptus originally sold as inquisitional shock troops?

Yeah, they would be used as shock troops as well.
Tempestus Scions were originally called storm troopers before GW decided to rename everything.

Storm troopers are generally used in shock attacks.

Historically the term shock troops referred to specialist formations which were used to break the enemy's lines and allow penetration, and were supported by heavy artillery bombardments to disrupt the enemy.

During WW1, traditional tactics failed to produce major breakthroughs. Midway through the war the French pioneered the use of infiltration tactics but the Germans however made it famous, and called their version storm troopers. All sides developed the concept semi-independently however, and were all using it within a few years.

Essentially Shock Troops relied on heavy artillery bombardment, followed up by dispersed infantry assault, preferably with infiltration. The infantry were to avoid any strongly held points and penetrate as deeply as possible to isolate those strong points. The strong points are then hit by hard hitting units, or assaulted from the flank. Tanks and mechanized infantry naturally changed all this, but the Russians still used the tactic heavily in WW2 and had dedicated formations for it.

Its more of a specialized tactic in modern armies, rather than relying on specific formations. Hit them hard with artillery, then smash them with the infantry assault. GW seems to use the term really loosely, however, to refer to any highly trained soldiers.

ChargerIIC wrote:
Weren't Militarium Temptus originally sold as inquisitional shock troops?

No.

The Militarum Tempestus Scions are a rebranding/revamping of the Stormtrooper Regiment that existed before.
The Inquisition has their own soldiers, which got called Stormtroopers for whatever reason. Probably because the name sounds sinister.

When someone says "Shock Trooper Regiment" in 40k, it refers to the Cadian Shock Troops.

Shock trooper is co opting a soviet term for soldiers whose duty was to go above and beyond what is expected of the average trooper. EG, close assault against heavily fortified positions, they occupied roughly the same place as a storm trooper would, but storm trooper is a German term.


In 40k, the terms sound cool and thus got used for model lines

If you're looking for shock troopers in 40k you can look towards the DKoK which literally fit the WWII definition or the Elysian Drop Troopers whom focus on fast hard hitting tactics.