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I know space marines are the golden boys of 40k, both on the tabletop and in the fluff. They are the main heroes that accomplish the most heroic and prestigious deeds. They are the elite defenders of the imperium, the angels of death. But still, if you consider the scale of the galaxy and the wars waged within it, they are way too few in number. Yes, few dozen space marines can turn the tide of a battle, but most often the imperial guard does the heavy lifting before and after, the space marines "just" deliver the necessary surgical strike to ensure vicory in the grand scheme of things.

To me soldiers of the imperial guard are the true heroes of the imperium. Normal men and women who stand against an endless tide of horrors in a galaxy where most things want them dead. They don't have sophisticated armor, genetically enhanced bodies or superior weaponry, but still they hold their ground. As exemplified best in the fall of cadia: the planet broke before the guard did.
Now much of this insane bravery is fueled by imperial propaganda and religious dogmatism, but that does not take away from the fact that the imperium would have fallen multiple times were it not for the guard. I know that space marines are also crucial for the imperium, but it's a tad unfair that they get most of the spotlight.
Don't get me wrong, I love the superhuman killing machines of the imperium like the space marines or custodes, who are peerless martial paragons with the best gear, best everything yaddayadda....but those guys will never be as brave as the guys and gals from the imperial guard, they can't be.

So this is to the imperial guard, who are simply awsome and deserve more love in my opinion especially when it comes to new model releases. Seriously, they deserve new models for the cadians, catachans, tallarns, vostroyans...all the awsome regiments that have been severely neglected for decades.

What's your opinion.

I've always had the impression that IG were quite popular with the fans. They just aren't as obviously awesome as Marines and get to be on a permanent backburner as a result. Like most of the game really.

Yeah I think the humble guards are one of the most popular "faction", maybe even the most unanimously loved (not played tho). It's easier, if less desirable, to relate with them than with anything else. They often appear as the most reasonnable you can get in the imperial clusterf**k. And I think even the most ferocious imperial hater have at least some respect for the lowly imperial guard facing such terrible foes.

Actually today guard players even have the best slogan in all of 40k.

The Guard is the easiest to identify to, as in a way, it could be any of us thrown in that galactic meatgrinder. That normal people achieve victory over unimaginable tougher and more advanced foes despite sacrifices in the billions and overwhelming, mindshattering violence has something way greater than the space marines who are engeneerd to do so.

Plus they have the best-looking armour and artillery, as broadly known!

Glory to the Imperial Guard, may the line be held!

"Here soldier. The Emperor has blessed you with the following:
-1 flak jacket
-1 flash light
-1 standard issue can opener
-1 Imperial Primer

Now go run at that 10 story tall genetically engineered killing machine and poke it until it stops moving. Then move onto the next 10 story tall walking death machine"

Guard have the most interesting/bloody/brutal novels in the setting. My absolute favorite anyway. Please check out Fire Caste, its one of the more brutal novels and inspired me to start collecting an infantry heavy Guard army.

The guard really don't get half the credit they deserve. The Catachan jungle fighters for example live on a planet where EVERYTHING is trying to and can kill you. Your gun just gives you a chance at not being bottom of the food chain...yet they are treated like regular guardsmen. Despite being supposedly they best jungle soldiers in the galaxy.

If that wasn't enough...its where Sly Marbo is from!

I also love the guard and as said in another threat: I would really like to have the lore more leaning to this "Hammer and Anvil" principle between Guard and Marines. So stories describing how the Marines not singlehandedly crush an opponent but mainly focus on some key target, like the controlnode of the planetary defense system to allow the millions and millions of Guardsmen in orbit to land. Or when the focus is on the opponents of the imperials I would like to read a bit of despair here and there when they realize the sheer numbers of the force they are facing. Imagine a Tau command post, a messenger runs in happily reporting "We got reinforcements incoming! 10 Hunter cadres and 10.000 other troops! That will turn the tide!" and then in the background you hear dizzy radio calls reporting 50 IG devisions advancing to the north... another 75 to the south, further 60 to the west and forward scouts reporting that further 2 million troops seemed to have been slipped through the orbital defenses and landed on the neighboring continent.

The Marines would still be the Heros of most stories, as they are the tip of the speer and the elite making the one, battledeciding strike, but the Guard should get recognized more as the gargantuan force, that wins the Imperium ist wars.