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Guardsman is the generic term for any member of the Astra Militarum (High Gothic), or Imperial Guard (Low Gothic), regardless of rank, but is also synonymous with the lowest enlisted rank of Trooper. There are untold billions upon billions of Guardsmen in service, such that even the Departmento Munitorum has no idea of the true number of Guardsmen in existence. These are normal men and women of the Imperium, called upon to serve the God-Emperor of Mankind and protect His realm against all threats. That they do so against a galaxy full of eldritch horrors, foul xenos and other nameless terrors is a heroic testament to their courage.

The recruitment (or conscription) and training of each Guardsman is based entirely on the customs and traditions of their native homeworld, a result of the tithe imposed on each Planetary Governor. Just as there are a million worlds in the Imperium so too are there a million ways one can become a Guardsman; for many it is considered an honour to join the Guard, or at least a way to escape a wretched existence. The result are Guardsmen as wildly different from each other as possibly, from highly-trained professional soldiers to savage gang-fighters and medieval barbarians. If any additional training is required, especially among primitive recruits with little to no knowledge of how to work modern weapons of war, it will be given in transit to their initial deployment

Guardsmen fulfill every conceivable role within the Imperial Guard, from tank crewmen to snipers, vox-operators to medics. As laid out in the Tactica Imperium, the basic organizational unit most Guardsmen will fight under is the squad, a number of which will form into a platoon. Several platoons will make up a company which in turn make up a regiment. While such standards do exist, they are not uniformly followed for any number of reasons, leading to formations of different names, sizes and compositions.

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The Death Korps of Krieg is the name given to all of the Imperial Guard regiments that originate from the devastated, post-nuclear Death World of Krieg in the Segmentum Tempestus. Krieg was the site of a rebellion against the Imperium of Man over 1,500 standard years ago in the 40th Millennium and was bombarded with nuclear weapons followed by five hundred years of grinding warfare to purge the heretical rebels. After all those years of nuclear destruction and bitter trench warfare, Krieg was reduced to a scorched, radioactive husk of a world composed of dust and mud whose surviving people were forced to retreat into underground hive cities to survive the toxic planetary environment. The Death Korps of Krieg is a siege specialist regiment of the Imperial Guard and the regiments raised on Krieg seek to repent for their former treachery against the Imperium by displaying a disturbing disregard for their own lives in combat. Death Korps troops excel at wars of attrition and defensive combat in particular



The Praetorian Guard regiments of the Imperial Guard are raised from the world of Praetoria. Praetoria is a heavily populated Hive World that lies in a star system close to the Imperial Segmentum naval base at Bakka in the Segmentum Tempestus. The overpopulated hive cities of Praetoria are renowned for their squalor and degradation, and produce some of the toughest gangers on any of the Hive Worlds in the Imperium. This vast population works as little more than slave-labour in the huge manufactorum complexes of Praetoria, producing the goods that have made the planet (and its rulers) among the richest in the Imperium of Man, with a huge fleet of merchant craft that trade all over the Segmentum and beyond

However, Guard regiments raised on Praetoria are renowned for their iron discipline and bravery, even in the face of the most overwhelming odds. They detest slovenliness and disorder and even in the midst of the fiercest battle will ensure their ranks are correctly dressed in parade ground fashion and have their uniforms smartly fastened. The planetary lords of Praetoria hold it is only through fearsome training and draconian punishments for the most minor infringements that the hive-toughened inhabitants of their planet can be made to follow orders and do as they are told as part of a highly-regimented military unit. Whatever one's views on the training methods used, they seem to work, producing troops that are as ferocious on the attack as they are determined to hold the line in defence.



The Scions of the Militarum Tempestus, also known as Storm Troopers are considered superior to other Imperial Guardsmen because of their additional training and indoctrination by the Schola Progenium, as well as their improved personal technology and equipment. They are often used in the vanguard of an assault or as infiltrating troops to carry out special objectives lesser Guardsmen would be unable to undertake. Storm Troopers are ruthless, proficient killers whose combat skills within the Imperial Guard are second-to-none. To complement their superior training, Storm Troopers are better armed and armoured than regular Guardsmen. Their bodies are protected by carapace armour composed of rigid arma-plas and reinforced ceramite plate, protecting them better than the standard issue Flak Armour. Storm Troopers also wield sophisticated Hot-Shot Lasguns and Hot-Shot Laspistols -- a more potent and lethal form of weapon than the standard issue Lasgun. However, the drawback of these weapons are that they are difficult to produce and maintain. These weapons are rarely issued to soldiers outside Storm Trooper companies, who are trained to look after and even rebuild these weapons if necessary. These elite units are constantly moving from one war zone to another and are amongst the most experienced units within the Imperial Guard. Storm Troopers are taught to perform covert operations, spearhead assaults into fortified positions and storm key installations.

Trained in the Schola Progenium, these men commit to a rigorous program of physical and mental indoctrination that raises them to the peak of human conditioning. Loyal to the Emperor above all else, Tempestus Scions provide the Imperial High Command with a core of flexible, nigh-incorruptible soldiers. Militarum Tempestus Scions are often viewed with fear or resentment by the regular troops -– nicknames such as "glory boys" and "big toy soldiers" are common. Yet this rancour is nothing to the Scions themselves. Trained in covert operations and rapid insertion strike-tactics, they go to battle confident that their every deed is for the good of the Imperium itself. Deployed sparingly, they can be depended upon to complete any mission, no matter how deadly. Racing into battle aboard armoured transports or plummeting down on grav-chutes, the Scions are the sharp edge of the Imperial Guard's war machine.



The Cadian Shock Troops, also sometimes called Cadian Shock Troopers, are the highly disciplined Astra Militarum Militarum Regimentum soldiers conscripted in large numbers from the Fortress World of Cadia, which once stood sentinel as the preeminent bastion of the Imperium of Man in the fight against the Emperor's ancient Archenemy, Chaos. Cadia was one world amongst many tens of thousands in the Imperium of Man, and has an honoured and violent place in its history, for Cadia stood upon the edge of the Eye of Terror within the Segmentum Obscurus, in a narrow corridor of navigable space known as the Cadian Gate. As a result, for 10,000 standard years Cadia endured the constant assaults of the Forces of Chaos from within the Eye and remained unbowed and unconquered until Abaddon the Despoiler unleashed his 13th Black Crusade. This history of unending threat from the Archenemy bred a world of warriors who are still known to possess unsurpassed discipline and skill, and whose Astra Militarum regiments stand as examples to the rest of the Imperial Guard and Mankind.

Cadians believe that discipline is the single most important factor in the operation of any army. While there are those who justifiably disagree with this position, it has nonetheless served the Cadians well for millennia, and countless Imperial victories can be attributed to the effort and determination of the sons and daughters of Cadia. Even with the loss of their homeworld, millions of Cadian troops, many now raised and trained in transit to war zones, remain a vital cog in the defence of the Imperium from its myriad foes.



The Kasrkin are elite troops of the Imperial Guard and are dedicated to the security of the Fortress World of Cadia from which they hail. Because they are elite special forces troops drawn from the same world as the existing Cadian Shock Troops Regiments of the Imperial Guard, the Kasrkin are officially classified by the Departmento Munitorum as the type of Storm Troopers known as Grenadiers because of their heavy weapons and elite tactical training. Their name comes from the title of the fortress cities of Cadia, which are called "Kasrs" in the native Cadian dialect of Low Gothic. The Kasrkin are the elite of the already skilled Cadian planetary military forces and are chosen to serve in the Imperial Guard when they are still serving as Whiteshields (new recruits) in the Cadian Planetary Defence Forces. Their training is more than a match for that provided to the elite Imperial Storm Troopers (Kasrkin are the Cadian equivalent of the Storm Troopers) and they are utterly dedicated to the preservation of Cadia, whereas Imperial Storm Troopers are indoctrinated to provide for the defence of the entire Imperium of Man. Kasrkin soldiers are well-known amongst the Storm Trooper regiments assigned to Cadia, and are renowned for their ability to remain cool under fire in combat situations where even many other veteran Cadian Guardsmen would break.



The Catachan Jungle Fighters are the members of Imperial Guard regiments that have been recruited from the Death World of Catachan. They have the well-deserved reputation of being the deadliest practitioners of jungle warfare in the galaxy. Their homeworld of Catachan is a jungle Death World, where natural selection ensures only the most deadly flora and fauna survive. Extremely resourceful and uncompromising warriors, the natives of Catachan recruited into the Imperial Guard are deadly melee fighters with their specialised close combat blades or from ambush with their Lascarbines. In jungle terrain they are unsurpassed by nearly any other mortal soldiers in the Imperium, with each Catachan Fighter being worth ten soldiers from any other regiment.

Catachan is one of the deadliest worlds known to Mankind, and its inhabitants are amongst the hardiest, most dangerous humans in the Imperium. Almost every creature and plant on Catachan is deadly to human life in some way, from the monstrous Catachan Devil to the mind-destroying Brainleaf and the carnivorous Venus Mantrap. The true diversity of life on Catachan has never been catalogued, though many Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator expeditions have tried and failed. Because of these creatures and innumerable others, life on Catachan is unimaginably harsh, with most unlikely to survive childhood. Those who do reach adulthood are tough, uncompromising, and resourceful, masters of surviving in one of the most inhospitable environments in the galaxy. With little to offer the Imperium but their lives, many Catachans are recruited into the Imperial Guard, their skills such that each one of them is worth a dozen other Guardsmen when fighting in dense jungle.

Catachan itself has little need for a Planetary Defence Force, the world’s flora and fauna being sufficiently deadly to thwart almost all invaders without the need for human intervention, and so most Catachan Guardsmen are instead recruited from amongst the population of hunters, skilled trackers, and combatants, used to clearing the encroaching jungle and driving off or slaying the beasts that would threaten the small, short-lived human settlements. Their necessary skill with an assortment of weapons, and the dangers they face keeping their homes safe from predators, mean that they are well-prepared for the dangers of the battlefield. Indeed, a state of almost constant mortal peril has resulted in the Catachan mind-set being one of apparent recklessness and bravado, paradoxically mixed with constant vigilance and almost paranoid caution. This seeming contradiction can be explained by the simple matter of familiarity -- natives of Catachan are so accustomed to danger that their responses, while appearing foolhardy, are honed by practice and a perpetual, careful awareness of their surroundings. This is compounded by a contempt for the threat of death, born from that familiarity. To a Catachan, the threat of death is a constant thing, and they do not understand the concept of safety or peace.

Catachan Guard regiments are most commonly light infantry, making the most of their legendary talents as scouts and ambushers. However, their daring and aggression have been employed in other ways, with armoured regiments hailing from Catachan in the past. The Catachan Jungle Fighters take special pride in their officers, who fight side-by-side with their rank and file troops, sharing in their suffering on the battlefield. As a result, discipline within Catachan regiments is maintained through trust and respect won over many years of campaigning, rather than purely through the formal rank structures and unearned authority relied upon by many other regiments. This has, however, resulted in a reputation for wilfulness amongst other regiments and outsiders, particularly figures of authority such as Commissars, who have difficulty earning the trust and deference of Catachan Guardsmen.



Elsyian Drop Troops are the airborne assault infantry regiments of the Astra Militarum who are recruited from the verdant world of Elysia in the Segmentum Solar, 30 light years from the world of Armageddon. Rare within the Imperial Guard as a whole, Drop Infantry regiments are a potent strategic asset which many Generals are eager to obtain, and Elysia produces a considerable quantity of such regiments, whose skills are employed across the galaxy. The Elysian Drop Troop regiments make extensive use of aircraft and elite soldiers plunging from the skies directly into battle. These regiments' true advantage lies in their speed, unpredictability and the unrivalled ability to attack anywhere on the battlefield, at any time. Imperial Guard regiments raised from Elysia are regarded as somewhat unorthodox. Conventional infantry, armour, and artillery formations are rare, with the bulk of Elysians becoming the famed Drop Troops.

Each Elysian must spend a single tour of duty within the forces guarding Elysia itself before they will be considered for service within the Imperial Guard. After this time, with each soldier becoming veterans of a dozen or more battles, potential recruits are drilled for months in the art of airborne assault by Grav-Chute and aircraft, working to perfect those skills before being deployed to a warzone on a distant world. Little compares to the awe-inspiring sight of an entire regiment of Elysian Drop Troops, thousands of soldiers strong, dropping by Grav-Chute and rappelling from Valkyrie Assault Carriers, supported by similarly air-mobile Sentinel walkers and Tauros scout vehicles



Harakoni Warhawks are the Astra Militarum's elite airborne regiments of Drop Troopers raised from the the Hive World of Harakon. The Harakoni Warhawks are‎ predisposed by their world's environment to excel at Grav-Chute drops into planetary combat zones from orbit. This style of combat also increases the Warhawks' use of elite Tempestus Scions squads and small-unit tactics over those preferred by standard line troopers of other Imperial Guard regiments.

Most Imperial Guard regiments are recruited to serve as basic heavy infantry. But some worlds, due to their particular cultural or environmental circumstances, produce more specialised and elite regiments. Among this group of Imperial Guard units can be counted the Harakoni Warhawks, who serve as highly mobile, elite airborne infantry equipped with sophisticated aircraft and Grav-Chutes intended to be used for deep strikes behind enemy lines. The Harakoni Warhawks are among the best rapid-response, highly mobile heavy infantry regiments that can be deployed by the Imperial Guard. Harakoni Warhawks are provided with high-quality armour and weapons and are extremely well-trained due to the difficulty required in mastering the tactics of airborne assault using Grav-Chutes and Valkyrie Airborne Assault Aircraft and Vulture gunships for support. The natives of Harakon also comprise an unusually high number of elite Storm Trooper companies and Special Weapons squadrons within their unit organisation



The Armageddon Steel Legion is the Militarum Regimentum of the Astra Militarum that fights as mechanised infantry alongside Chimera armoured personnel carriers in defence of the strategically-located Imperial Hive World Armageddon and its surrounding star systems. Armageddon, located in the Segmentum Solar, was a planet blighted and poisoned by millennia of heavy industrial output, though it was also a major manufacturing centre. In the late 41st Millennium Armageddon became a constant battleground between the Imperial Guard's Steel Legion and the countless Ork hordes of the Warboss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.

The troopers of the Armageddon Steel Legion are particularly skilled in the arts of deploying mechanised infantry and have a special expertise at battling Orks. In addition, Guardsman from Armageddon make fine assault troops for fighting in urban and hive city environments as well as heavy industrial zones, chemical sumps, and other such toxic regions. Their equipment and experience with such acrid environments make them invaluable for trudging through all sorts of polluted or otherwise noxious wastelands, from underhives filled with the toxic residue of ancient atomic generators to ruin-filled swamps rife with hallucinogenic flora, quicksand, and near-invisible pockets of lethal gas.



Even in battle, a Guardsman may need to be reminded of his duty to the Emperor to overcome his fear, and Commissars are often seen as the Emperor's personal representatives on the battlefield. Stern-faced and grim individual officers trained by the Imperium's Schola Progenium, Commissars are able to either inspire great deeds or strike fear into the hearts of Guardsmen. Either way, these emotions encourage the troops to stand their ground against an often horrific enemy and battle it out to the end.

Commissars are more than just a visible representative of the Emperor of Mankind. They also often take the fight to the enemy, battling against foe after foe to aid their units in battle. Their elevated status marks them apart from the standard hierarchy of an Imperial Guard Regiment's command, and they often operate as autonomous individuals, counseling and advising the commanding officer of a Guard unit. They have the authority to execute sanctioned psykers and Primaris Psykers if they are possessed by the dark forces of the Warp. If a commander or soldier is found wanting, or wavers in his duty to the Emperor, the Commissar has full legal authority to immediately execute him. It is this mix of extreme corporal punishment and courage that makes Commissars such effective boosters of Imperial Guard morale on the grim frontlines of the Imperium. Such is their reputation that in some regiments the wrath of the Commissar is more feared than the enemy.

The Schola Progenium teaches and trains orphans of Imperial Officers until they are ready to be initiated into one of the numerous organisations of the Imperium. Here, young orphans are schooled to love the beneficent Emperor. It is here that many Commissars find their unbreakable strength of their faith in the missionary orphanages. This orphans are recruited into the ranks of the fiercely loyal Imperial Storm Troopers. Commissars are often drawn from the ranks of these elite soldiers. Commissars are also drawn from the ranks of orphans of the Schola Progenium. They learn how to lead and fight in these squads at the Schola Progenium, working their way up to the rank of Cadet Commissar. As such, their training continues on the galaxy's battlegrounds where they are formed into special Commissar Training Squads, fighting alongside Imperial Guard units.

The few Commissars who survive for long and demonstrate extreme valour and leadership may achieve the rank of Lord Commissars. The gallantry of Lord Commissars is legendary and tales abound of stranded, demoralised Imperial Guard squads being driven to valourous deeds by the leadership of such heroes. Lord Commissars exemplify power and bravery, making them natural leaders with a reputation for turning the tide of battle, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Just being in the presence of a Lord Commissar drives Imperial Guardsmen to extreme measures of discipline and in may cases they have been lead without fear into the heat of battle. Lord Commissars are few and far between among the Imperium's forces, but they inspire their soldiers to acts of valour in a way no average Commissar can.

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These fanatical members of the Ecclesiarchy and ministers of the Imperial Cult follow the Imperial Guard on campaigns and battles preaching the righteousness of the God-Emperor. These Priests of the Ecclesiarchy play a vital role in the Imperial Guard, imparting holy teachings of the Emperor and providing spiritual succour to the troops both on and off the battlefield. To these followers of the Imperial Creed there is no higher calling than tending the flocks of the Emperor's armies. They lead by example and gladly martyr themselves on blood-soaked fields of battle. They favour close combat over the use of ranged weapons, as they bring holy death to their enemies and they instill this ideal in the Guardsmen following them, making them equally as ferocious as a Commissar when it comes to motivating men, although they use religious inspiration rather than terror in the way most Commissars do. Ministorum Priests ensure that troops are sufficiently motivated to do their duty without fear, as well as fighting fanatically themselves. In battle they harness the faith of the troops to smite the Emperor's foes. They fill the hearts of nearby Guardsmen with righteous anger through their powerful and rousing oratory, chanting litanies of devotion and mantras of hate. Together they charge down heretics that dare oppose the Emperor, determined to purge such filth from the battlefield.



An Enginseer, also called a Tech-priest Enginseer, is a Tech-priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus whose specialisation is the maintenance and repair of the many technological instruments of the Imperium of Man, both in peace as in war. Enginseers are engineer mystics, members of the Adeptus Mechanicus who are dedicated to the Machine God and steeped in arcane knowledge. Enginseers are the most commonly seen members of the Mechanicus, for they are present wherever a somewhat technologically advanced human settlement resides. By virtue of the ancient Treaty of Mars, many Enginseers are attached to the Astra Militarum and Imperial Navy, maintaining and repairing the Imperium's vehicles, aircraft, starships, and other wargear and ensuring that the warriors who prosecute the Emperor's wars always have the means to do so.



Ratlings are small mutant Abhumans who developed on low-gravity Imperial worlds and are unsuitable for use as close combat troops. The Ratlings instead act as perhaps the Imperial Guard's most skilled snipers, and many a regiment has been saved at the last moment only by the pinpoint accuracy of the tiny Abhumans. Ratlings are also great cooks, being able to make anything out of whatever they find (or pilfer). Ratlings are notorious crooks, organizing gambling rings or using their small size to steal whatever is laying around, whether it be a shiny bullet casing or the senior Commissar's peaked hat. Needless to say, Regimental commanders have noticed that rates of petty theft and drug-dealing invariably increase when a Ratlings squad is attached to the regiment. This tendency means the Ratlings make fine profits on the front-lines, where they smuggle in whatever the soldiers need or want - for a price.



Ogryn hail from high-gravity Imperial worlds, which led their ancestors to grow taller and much more muscular than most humans during the long years of the Age of Strife before contact with the rest of humanity was reestablished during the Great Crusade. Often drafted into Imperial Guard regiments from the Ogryn Auxilia Legions, these mutant Abhuman offshoots of humanity are large, hulking, intellectually simple and very, very angry. Ogryns tend to be very loyal to anyone they consider a friend and have the same values, personal loyalties and determination as Guardsmen drawn from barbaric feral societies, so the two groups tend to get along very well. Of course, given their tendency for brute force and phenomenal melee power, Ogryns are extremely tough combatants and can serve as a powerful assault force, preventing the enemy from reaching the softer, inner core an Imperial army's standard Guardsmen. Ogryn troops of the Imperial Guard usually wield well-built Ripper Guns, which more often than not are used for bashing the enemy as a club, rather than shooting them. The weapon has a built-in burst limiter to prevent the Ogyrn from shooting off their entire ammunition drum at once, something that would be conceived as great fun to the simple mind of an Ogryn. Ogryns can be mounted in a transport, although they do suffer from a form of claustrophobia and are not at their best when being transported within the confined enclosure of a vehicle. However, it has been found that Imperial Guard officers can get Ogryn into armoured transports with the help of a friendly-faced trooper and a crate of rations. Unfortunately for the trooper, he is stuck in the transport with the hulking Abhumans until they are deployed. Because of their sheer size and bulk, even unarmoured Ogryn can resist large amounts of incoming fire and move up the field to tenaciously assault the enemy's stronger combat units.

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These small squadrons of mechanical combat walkers known as Sentinels can carry a variety of heavy weapons, depending on the pattern of the Sentinels, and bring high levels of power and maneuverability together in one place. They are lightly armoured however, and are susceptible to light arms fire. They are often employed as anti-infantry units and can be used for defending the flanks of other units or striking forward to take out light to medium armoured infantry or vehicles. They are also commonly used in hit-and-run attacks and many foes will find themselves attacked in the middle of their own territory by squadrons of these effective walkers. Sentinel squadrons will commonly attack refineries and factories, harassing the enemy garrison protecting them, if any.



The Valkyrie is an airborne transport and dropship used by the Imperial Guard that can carry troops into battle from long distances.The Valkyrie is used for drop missions and aerial insertions. Its missile pods and Hellstrike Missiles are potent, and can be used as excellent anti-tank weapons. The Valkyrie is often used to air-drop the elite Storm Troopers into battle on special operations missions. If a Valkyrie is moving at maximum speed it can drop its occupants anywhere along its flight path.



The Leman Russ main battle tank is named after one of the Adeptus Astartes' Primarchs, Leman Russ of the Space Wolves, and is the primary tank used by the Imperial Guard. It has a large main battle cannon, which is a hugely powerful kinetic ordnance weapon that fires explosive shells, a hull-mounted lascannon and optional sponson-mounted Heavy Bolters, Heavy Flamers, Plasma Cannons,or Melta Cannons. With strong frontal armour, the Leman Russ is designed to initially bombard large enemy formations and then assault the weakened enemy defensive lines later, its weapons firing. However, the Leman Russ tank is particularly vulnerable to rear and flank attacks because of the thinner armour it possesses in those positions. The Leman Russ tank is the most commonly found armoured vehicle in the Imperial Guard, and is the base design for some of the other vehicles of the Guard, including the Vanquisher, Conqueror and many others. Leman Russ tanks can be upgraded or customised to enhance their combat effectiveness.



One of the longest range weapons in the galaxy, the Basilisk self-propelled artillery unit is a common sight on the battlefields of the Imperium. Equipped with the powerful Earthshaker Cannon, the Basilisk is designed to sit far from the frontlines, ceaselessly bombarding the enemy's troops with massive kinetic shells of explosive power. The Basilisk uses the standard Chimera APC chassis but has had all of the troop transport room and the lasguns removed, leaving it with a single hull weapon and the Earthshaker Cannon itself. It can be upgraded to be allowed to fire from behind cover, blindly destroying targets before the other Imperial Guard forces arrive, while keeping itself safe from enemy fire. The explosive ordnance used by the Basilisk is able to break through most known enemies' defences and is greatly feared among enemy forces, and rightly so. The Basilisk is vulnerable to enemy fire if caught in the open, however, and will not last long against any heavy weapons or heavily armoured vehicles like tanks.



The Colossus is an ancient and renowned Imperial artillery piece. They are rarely seen in an Imperial battle line except when their enormous siege cannons are required to flatten enemy positions and fortifications. While not as powerful against infantry as some of the other Imperial artillery units, the Colossus is used when a wall or fortress needs to be penetrated. The Colossus is a massive mortar that fires high explosive shells that produce an enormous shockwave when they detonate, crushing bones, cracking rocks and reducing flesh to pulp. In its delivery of ordnance, a Colossus is brutally uncompromising.



The Deathstrike Missile Launcher is a massive one-shot missile launcher. Another variant of the Chimera chassis, it sports a colossal long-range missile that delivers the largest payload of explosives on a target of any weapon commonly used by the Imperial Guard. Used only in situations where total destruction of an enemy and the surrounding environment is warranted, a Deathstrike Missile Launcher can carry multiple warheads including every type of missile ordnance from thermonuclear Titan-killing warheads to warheads outfitted with bio-weapons. Its most destructive weapon is the Vortex Warhead that can only be used if approved by Segmentum Command. Traditionally the Deathstrike Missile Launcher carries a large plasma-enhanced thermonuclear charge that can incinerate entire armies in a single blast, along with most of the surrounding environment.



The Baneblade is the primary super-heavy tank of the Imperial Guard, and one of the largest and oldest armoured fighting vehicles in the service of the Imperial armed forces. The tank is a venerated Standard Template Construct (STC) design, with ten people needed to fully crew one. It is also one of the oldest STC designs in existence. They are often used as command vehicles by Imperial Guard commanders.

The standard configuration Baneblade is a powerful main battle tank with no particular strength or weakness. It is best deployed in the role of heavy infantry support, where it can engage both infantry waves with its Heavy Bolters and Demolisher Cannon, while at the same time punish enemy armour with its Mega Battle Cannon and Lascannons. The sight of a mighty Baneblade rumbling forward is a major boost for any supporting Imperial infantry's morale, and when correctly supported, the Baneblade excels at decimating anything smaller than itself with its large array of guns while crushing the remains of its enemies under its massive tracks. This combination of inspiring presence on the battlefield and tremendous capacity for destruction explains why the Baneblade is favoured as a command vehicle by regimental commanders and even members of the Imperial General Staff who decide to take to the field. Such Command Baneblades are specially equipped with powerful Vox arrays and tactical planning equipment, allowing the officer in charge to keep control of his troops while he participates in the fighting.

For all its might, however, the Baneblade is not perfect: it is slow, lacks maneuverability and is a very large target. Baneblades are also not as effective when facing dedicated anti-armour vehicles due to the relative short range of their weapons. A single tank hunter like a Leman Russ Vanquisher can easily damage or even destroy a Baneblade long before it comes into range of the smaller tank. This is why the very adaptable chassis of the Baneblade has been used over the millennia to create more dedicated variants, from the Shadowsword Titan-killer which forgoes almost all other weapons to sport a Volcano Cannon; to the Stormlord line-breaker tank which gives up all anti-armour weaponry in favour of a Vulcan Mega Bolter, a greater number of Heavy Bolters, and the capacity to transport an entire platoon of Imperial Guardsmen.



A Titan is any one of several classes of massive, crewed, robotic bipedal combat walkers fielded by the Titan Legions of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Collegia Titanica or by the Forces of Chaos' Dark Mechanicum. Originally, this term referred to many types of combat walkers used by all of the different factions of the Milky Way Galaxy. Xenos Titans have now been renamed by Imperial savants with the same titles for these war engines as the species that created them, such as the Eldar Wraithlord or the Ork Gargants. The only robotic combat walkers considered to be "true" Titans at the present time are Imperial Titans and the Chaos Titans of the Dark Mechanicum. Titans are the most sacred war machines of the Adeptus Mechanicus and they are thought by the Cult Mechanicus to be the greatest physical embodiments of the Machine God. Titans represent the real backbone of the Mechanicus' military might and are the heaviest ground units that can be deployed by the Imperium of Man's armed forces. Every Forge World of the Adeptus Mechanicus is protected by armed forces that include the Skitarii, Praetorian Servitors, and one or more of the Titan Legions of the Collegia Titanica.

The weaponry carried by Titans is usually dedicated to certain tasks based on the tactical and strategic conditions. Some weapons are designed for targeting high-priority and well-armoured enemies, such as fortresses or armoured divisions, whilst others are particularly effective against legions of troops or laying down devastating artillery barrages. Titan weapons are divided into two rough categories:

Scout Titan Weaponry

Scout Titan Weapons are weapons normally fitted to light Titans such as the Warhound. Rarely found on the largest Titans, and usually of short range, these are designed to destroy light to medium vehicles quickly, and to deal with huge masses of troops

Battle Titan Weaponry

Battle Titan weapons have more destructive and longer-ranged weapons mounted commonly on Reaver and Warlord Titans. Most are designed to destroy other Titans, engage enemy detachments, or bring devastation to fortifications

Specialised Titan Weaponry

Over the long centuries before the 41st Millennium, the Adeptus Mechanicus developed a large number of other weapons and add-ons for their Titans. Most of these weapons are only effective in a given situation or for a given task, hence they are seldom made part of a Titan's standard payload.

Imperial Titans become increasingly well-armoured as their size increases. They also have Void Shield generators to augment existing protection, which are able to absorb destructive energy on the Titan's behalf, although there is a limit to how much they can handle. They are directly controlled by the Titan's Princeps and can be left running after having absorbed dangerous amounts of energy to allow for extra protection. This, however, has a high chance of permanently damaging the generator.

Void Shields always come in sets to maximize the likelihood of at least one remaining up after a barrage, and larger Titans may have as many as six or more fields. They cannot, however, defend against everything. They cannot, for instance, block melee weapon strikes and special technology like the "Titan Warp Missile", which bypasses normal defences by travelling through the Immaterium. It is also theoretically possible for a truly massive amount of small-arms fire to eventually bring down a shield, giving infantry a remote chance of affecting a small Titan. For practical purposes, however, most infantry weapons would have little chance of damaging the Titan's armor even if no void shields protected it. Furthermore, a mere fraction of a Titan's return fire - or even a Titan's ability to physically crush attackers - makes this an ill-advised option for infantry, except in the most desperate of situations.

Very little is known about the methods used in the construction of Imperial Titans. It is known that many Forge Worlds are capable of producing their own patterns of these massive war engines. Of these Forge Worlds, Mars and Lucius produce the most commonly employed patterns of the major Titan classes, and other large Forge Worlds such as Ryza and the recently destroyed Gryphonne IV do so as well.

Often times, the Imperium no longer has the skills required to build new items of advanced technology, as the knowledge of their construction has been lost over the millennia due to the general decay of Imperial society. Titans, however, were not built using STC templates from the Dark Age of Technology (with one exception), and as such the Adeptus Mechanicus has maintained the necessary knowledge of how to build the majority of Titan variants. As the process of building any machine by the Mechanicus currently requires the performance of complex ceremonial rituals, the construction of a Titan is an immense undertaking, and sometimes requires many Terran centuries to complete, drawing on the skills of experienced and talented fabricators and the purest of raw materials.


Emperor Titans are also commonly equipped with point-defence weapons to protect themselves against infantry and aircraft that cannot be effectively acquired by the targetting systems of their larger-scale weaponry. Carapace-mounted Multilasers are often employed in this respect, as are more exotic weapons for dealing with aircraft.