Astra Militarum army rules, detachment abilities, stratagems and lore for Warhammer 40k, with links to the full unit datasheet table.
The Astra Militarum, also known as the Imperial Guard in colloquial Low Gothic, is the largest coherent fighting force in the galaxy and serves as the Imperium of Man's primary military force and first line of defence from the myriad threats which endanger the existence of the Human species in the 41st Millennium.
It is comprised of countless billions of men and women -- hundreds of thousands of different regiments, supported by a vast array of light and heavy armoured vehicles that provide the Imperial Guard's primary offensive punch. The Astra Militarum is usually the first Imperial force to respond to a threat if a world's Planetary Defence Force (PDF) fails to suppress it.
They also garrison major locations of strategic or cultural interest to the Imperium and are often found in defensive roles. Supported by legions of heavy armour and thundering artillery, the Imperial Guard fight a never-ending war for the survival of Mankind in an unrelentingly hostile universe.
The primary combat tactic of the Astra Militarum is to overwhelm the enemy with their endless numbers, while at the same time hammer them into submission with devastating artillery and crush them with powerful main battle tanks. As a result, the Astra Militarum is often referred to as the "Hammer of the Emperor" -- the sheer amount of force that the Imperial Guard can bring to bear on the enemy is devastating, but is not as direct or as precise as their Space Marine allies in the Adeptus Astartes, who are described as the "Scalpel of the Emperor" and specialise in planetary assaults, special operations and decapitation strikes.
There is no universal uniform or regimental command hierarchy in the Astra Militarum, although it is compulsory for every regiment to have at least one commissar to maintain the discipline and morale of the troops while watching for any signs of corruption or heretical taint in the ranks. However, it is worth noting that a number of worlds copy the uniform and equipment used by the regiments of the Cadian Shock Troops, who are viewed as being the most effective of the Astra Militarum's infantry units.
The origins of the Astra Militarum date back to the Great Crusade of the late 30th Millennium, when the Emperor of Mankind conquered the stars and forged the Imperium of Man. On the front line of this mission of expansion and reclamation were the Space Marine Legions -- the Adeptus Astartes -- the finest warriors Humanity had ever created, each the equal of a dozen normal men.
Despite their formidable battle prowess, the forces of the Space Marines were not limitless, and the relentless demands of building a galactic empire pushed the Legions further apart. Separated by countless thousands of light years, their presence became ever more scattered and dilute.
The Emperor required more manpower to ensure the momentum of the Great Crusade did not falter, and so the Imperial Army was created, known in High Gothic as the Imperialis Auxilia.
The Imperial Army was a vital part of the expedition fleets sent out to claim the stars in the Emperor's name. Gargantuan numbers of brave troops -- millions growing to billions of troops, ranks of armoured battle tanks and mighty armadas of capital-class starships that were a part of the Imperial Army's subsidary Armada Imperialis -- were raised, all subordinate to the Legiones Astartes.
At first, the Imperial Army was employed for garrison duties and to mop up resistance in the wake of the Legions' initial assaults, utilised where the back of an enemy was broken and Compliance to the Imperium required only a watchful presence.
The Imperium is vast on a scale incomprehensible to mortals. Communication and travel between the glinting motes of this far-flung stellar empire are laden with risk. The inimical realm of the Warp provides the only conduit for interstellar movement or messages yet it also taints or temporally displaces much of that which plunges into its depths, confounding the Imperium's attempts at centralised control or unified strategy. On every border and every battlefront, Humanity's worst nightmares press ever inwards, and are held at bay only through vast and constant sacrifice. In these dark times, warfare on a galactic scale is a matter of soulless, grinding logistics. Only the Astra Militarum can marshal the manpower to fight such a war.
The Imperial Guard fights punishing battles of attrition in which incalculable lives may be expended for each objective achieved. An Imperial Guard army must utilise the twin advantages of vast numbers and overwhelming firepower to annihilate its foes. Where xenos aircraft dance and weave with impossible grace, the Imperial Guard simply fills the sky with a thunderstorm of munitions from which no amount of aerobatic skill can save the foe. Where heretical bastions stand defiant, Imperial Guard commanders call down artillery bombardments that reduce all to rubble with their apocalyptic fury.
The greatest enemy threats are torn apart in the crossfire of thousands of heavy weapons, or smashed aside by the gallant charge of hundreds of Imperial tanks. The enemies of Mankind may employ dark sciences or alien weapons beyond Humanity's ken, but such deviance comes to naught in the face of honest Human intolerance backed by a sufficient number of guns.
For all the might of its armour and artillery, the true backbone of the Astra Militarum is the countless waves of infantry who take to the field. The sheer scale of the battles fought by the Imperial Guard is dehumanising in the extreme. Entire regiments of brave Human warriors are reduced to statistics upon the scrolling screens of Imperial strategoes, grains of sand sliding through the fingers of greater and more privileged individuals. Yet every single company, every single squad, every single Imperial Guardsman who lifts their lasgun and takes a stand in defence of their species, is crucial. Without a constant deluge of new recruits, the Imperial Guard would cease to function.
A battle may see the deployment of millions, yet time and again it is a single heroic company who carry their charge to secure a crucial gatehouse or pivotal objective. Squads of desperate men and women battle impossible odds, with nothing but their courage and faith driving them to hold the line while their valuable betters are evacuated to safety. Every day that the Imperium endures, guardsmen stand in the face of beasts more hellish than their worst nightmares.
Men and women charge screaming alongside their comrades into the mouth of hell, lasguns spitting death at the foe even as xenos munitions tear bloodied holes in the Human ranks. In a galaxy of never-ending warfare, what makes the perpetually outmatched men and women of the Imperial Guard so admirable is that they know near-constant fear, yet they lift their weapons, plant their feet, and fight on regardless. Their lives may be short and brutal, their sacrifices insultingly thankless, but it is because of the Astra Militarum that the Imperium continues to weather the storm of these dark times.
The Imperial Guard is as infinite in its variety as the Imperium itself, and the war zones across which it fights are quite literally as numerous as the stars in the sky. Ten thousand standard years of war on such a scale has seen enough valiant heroes pass into darkness that no memorial could successfully commemorate their loss. Individual names are as meaningless in this eternal battle as the oceans of paperwork responsible for sending these soldiers to their unsung deaths, but the archives of Terra overflow with regiments whose contribution to the Imperial Guard has been considered worthy of permanent record.
In the turbulent years following the mass rebellions of the Horus Heresy, the newly raised regiments of the Astra Militarum were eager to prove their loyalty. Such zealous dedication was coupled with a burning desire for revenge against those who had turned Traitor, leading many Loyalist regiments to perform great and glorious deeds. The thunderous charge of the Ritterghast 18th against the Cult of the Emperor Dethroned, the capture of Petrov's Fastness by three companies of Janiverden Tunnelrats, and the final destruction of Lord Morloth's Chaos Terminator retinue under the guns of eleven thousand Vespertine Guard, all are deeds commemorated upon dust-smothered scrolls of honour.
Yet the regiments of past millennia do not hold a monopoly on deeds of legend. During every age of the Imperium, countless worlds have produced companies of men and women who have earned reputations for excellence and heroism. Even today, in the Imperium's darkest hour, there are those regiments who stand above all others in the selfless valour of their deeds. However such regiments earn their name, they are vital assets for any Imperial commander. Their mere presence provides inspiration for their more parochial comrades, and can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
With few exceptions, badly mauled Imperial Guard forces are merged to form composite regiments. Where possible, the formations in question are from the same world, as was the case when the Cadian 12th and 78th were merged after the fall of Ice Hive Magnox, forming the 12th/78th Cadian Shock Troops. Sometimes, two very different regiments are combined with unexpected benefits, as happened with the 182nd Catachan and 90th Elysian Drop Troops, the combined regiment named as the 314th Prosan. Despite an initial clash of cultures, the new regiment became expert in airmobile jungle warfare after being issued Valkyries during the Saikong Justification Wars. However, the unthinking sublimation of regimental remnants can prove disastrous. During the liberation of Seraph's Fall, tensions between elements of the Necromundan 86th and Savlar 14th saw their entire regiment dissolve into barbarous internecine warfare after their Commissars were lynched. The rebellion was eventually brutally suppressed by several Cadian regiments, but not before the feuding regiment's running gun-battle blew an entire supply depot sky high.
Almost every Militarum Regimentum also has its own armoured, artillery and mechanised infantry regiments, with markings similar to those worn by their foot soldiers.
The following section represents a small selection of the more notable forces to have served in the Astra Militarum. For a complete list of all known regiments of the Imperial Guard and its predecessor, the Imperial Army, please see List of Imperial Guard Regiments.
Armageddon is a Hive World of the Segmentum Solar, an Imperial planet covered in vast polluted industrial wastelands broken up by hive cities, huge Human arcologies stretching kilometres into the sky. True to its name, Armageddon has been the site of three apocalyptic battles between the Imperium and its enemies, most recently a pair of invasions by the Ork Warboss Ghazghkull Thraka.
Lore excerpt from Warhammer 40k Wiki on Fandom, available under CC BY-SA 3.0.
70 Astra Militarum datasheets on the current roster, each with its points, model statistics, keywords and abilities.
64 Astra Militarum datasheets that are no longer part of the current army roster. They are kept for reference and for players whose collections still contain the models.