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The Imperial Guard is not a single army but many armies of countless millions of men and fighting machines. At any one time the Imperial Guard fight across a hundred warzones and upon ten thousand planets. Its forces may be fresh and hopeful of a quick victory, or they might be waging wars that have been going on for centuries and claimed billions of lives. Each army and each war is unique in at least some respects.

Imperial Guard armies are amassed to take part in specific wars or campaigns and are usually recruited as close to the fighting as possible. For example, during the brief but bloody war against invading Orks on the world of Ryza, an army was raised from worlds such as Catachan, Ulani, Barac and Dulma'lin, all of which lie within ten thousand light years of Ryza.

Ten thousand light years can be traversed within 10-40 days by warp-capable spacecraft. By the time ships have been moved into position, munitions collected and troops assembled, the response time over this distance is in the order of between 30 and 120 days, typically about 75 days. This is the standard response time for the raising of Imperial Guard armies, though for prolonged conflicts troops may be brought in from much further away.

It is the speed of space travel that has shaped the way in which the Imperial Guard operates. The distribution of the fleet and settled human worlds is such that armies can be assembled only slowly. This process is too slow to guarantee the safety of any individual world at any moment. Fortunately, the Imperium has other forces which can react more rapidly, such as the fleets and Space Marine Chapters. In any case, a planet's initial lines of defence are its orbital fortresses and its own Lord's troops. These defences have only to hold out long enough for an Imperial Guard army to be collected together and transported into position.

Every planetary Lord in the Imperium recruits, equips and maintains his own planetary defence forces. The number and types of troops vary tremendously from world to world. The forces of a multi-billion population hive world like Necromunda are vastly different from those of a sparsely populated forest world like Ryza. Regardless of the size of its armies, each world is obliged to make 10% of its total armed forces available for recruitment into the Imperial Guard in any year.

An army is gathered from a number of worlds, usually over a radius of no more than ten thousand light years, and its theoretical size is a tenth of the entire armed forces of those worlds. In practice, planetary Lords are often called upon to provide greater forces and more frequently, especially if the immediate danger is great. On the other hand a planet which is far from any war zone may not be called upon to provide troops for many decades.

Troops recruited from a world at one time are formed into a single Imperial Guard regiment. As a result there is no such thing as a typical size for a regiment. Regiments can consist of a few hundred men or hundreds of thousands, depending on the size of their Lord's armies.

When a regiment is recruited it is named after its home world and given a number, such as the Necromundan 9th, the 1st Catachan, and so on. Regiments continue to serve until they are disbanded, after which their number is given to the next regiment to be recruited from their home world. In this way regiments acquire a degree of continuity and tradition, even though successive regiments bearing the same name and title are recruited at different times. Some regiments have acquired common nicknames such as the Necromundan 8th which is recruited only from the Palatine hive of Necromunda, and which is always known as the Spiders. Another example is the 3rd Attilan, which is known as Jakai's Raiders after a notoriously savage former colonel of the regiment.

Regiments join the Imperial Guard uniformed and equipped as their planetary Lord's own forces. Inevitably this means that the appearance of regiments is very varied. Jungle Fighters from the steaming death world of Catachan are hardly likely to wear the heavy insulating cloths and cloaks of the Valhallans whose world is covered in thick ice and where anyone caught on the surface would quickly freeze. Similarly the barbaric skins and furs of the nomadic Attilans are a far cry from the glittering formal uniforms of the Mordians.

Regardless of their appearance almost all newly recruited troops carry the universal lasgun. This weapon is easy and cheap to manufacture and maintain, and hence ideally suited to the needs of planetary forces. Other weapons are more-or-less standard across the Imperium although individual planetary forces may favour one kind over another. The Emperor's demand is simply that troops be equipped and trained ready to fight in his armies.

As well as providing troops a planet's Lord may be called upon to provide heavy equipment in the form of locally built tanks, artillery, troop carriers, etc. As with lighter armaments these tend to a standardised basic form across the Imperium, with only minor variations in design and build quality. Indeed, planetary Lords are obliged to provide heavy weapons of a basically standard type for the Imperial Guard, as well as stocks of spares, fuel processors, and logistic support as appropriate. Although a planet's defence forces will almost certainly include locally designed vehicles, often of the most wild or specialised kind, these are almost never recruited into the Imperial Guard because of the difficulty of maintenance and impracticality of keeping them running.

Once an army is recruited its first task is to rendezvous near to its destination. The Adepts of the Departmento Munitorium must organise the recruitment and transportation of new regiments and their supplies. Sometimes the fleet will detour to a nearby Forge World of the Adeptus Mechanicus to take on extra heavy weaponry, siege machines and super-heavy tanks as well as fuel and general munitions.

While travelling through the warp the new regiments continue to train and receive many hours of induction from the fleet's Commissars. Inquisitors keep a wary eye upon the recruits for signs of psychic disturbance or daemonic possession. Equipment is checked and passed for Imperial use, or else found wanting and discarded to be replaced by more suitable items. Tanks and other vehicles are repainted in campaign schemes.

By the time it reaches its destination the new army is ready for battle. Many wars are mercifully short. The sledge-hammer of the Imperial Guard comes down upon the enemy with such force that all resistance may be crushed within a matter of days. Other wars drag on year after year, decade after decade, becoming bogged down in a stalemate with no foreseeable respite.

Once a war is underway it will absorb fresh Imperial Guard regiments from all over the galaxy. If victory is not swift the Departmento Munitorium will draw in regiments from beyond the normal 10 thousand light year range, including troops from worlds in the relatively peaceful Segmentae Solar and Pacificus.

Once a regiment has been raised it does not normally return to its home world. If it is victorious it will be moved from one war zone to another. Casualties will inevitably reduce the size of a regiment over time. Regiments that fall below combat strength, or which lose their senior officers, are placed under the command of other regiments and effectively incorporated into them. This is very common practice in permanent war zones, so that a typical regiment may in fact consist of the remnants of many regiments, all gathered under the command of a surviving colonel.

Regiments which have served for more than ten years are usually transferred from protracted war zones into armies of conquest. Not only are these the best troops but they are also the oldest, having fought gallantly for the Emperor for a decade or more. Their reward is to take part in the conquest of a new world. If they are successful the entire regiment earns the highest honour the Imperium can bestow, the gratitude of the Emperor and the right to settle a new planet. All over the Imperium there are worlds which were originally populated in this way. Their people are the hardy descendants of victorious Imperial Guard regiments.

Long wars lead to high rates of attrition of both men and their equipment, so that regiments gradually lose their distinctive appearance as their original gear wears out and is replaced. Regiments that have been in the field for several years may bear little resemblance to the units which left their home worlds. Replacement clothing may not match their original uniforms, or it may have been adapted from that of other regiments. Improvisation to suit the local conditions will undoubtedly change the appearance of units, especially if the battle zone is radically different in climate or bio-type to the regiment's home world.

The incorporation of abhuman regiments into the Imperial Guard is a controversial matter. Abhumans are human descended creatures such as Ratlings, Squats and Ogryns, whose physical appearance and mental capabilities are quite different from those of their human ancestors. They represent the descendants of the first wave of human exploration into the galaxy. Over tens of thousands of years of isolation they have evolved into creatures capable of living in high-gravity worlds, in deep space, and in all kinds of polluted or dangerous environments.

Today it is generally accepted that abhumans are a part of the human race and not aliens. Many thousands of years ago the Inquisition led wars of destruction against human-descended creatures which its masters deemed unworthy of full human status. When human settled worlds were discovered the Inquisition would conduct a lengthy process of DNA analysis to determine if the population was still fully human by the Inquisition's stringent standards. As a result the populations of many planets were eradicated and their worlds resettled.

In time the Imperium developed a much broader definition of humanity. Ogryns, Ratlings and Squats came to be regarded as fully human. Other individual abhuman mutations were treated with comparative toleration. However, even today the Inquisition is distrustful of these newly evolved races and of those in the Adeptus Terra who advocate the integration of newly discovered abhuman races into the Imperium of Man.

The Departmento Munitorium recruits from all worlds in the Imperium regardless of human type. As a result the Imperial Guard includes Ogryns as well as Ratlings. Nowadays there are no Squat Stronghold planets in the Imperium itself, the last having seceded during the Age of Apostasy.

Ogryns are characteristically large and tough if somewhat stupid. Their combat role tends to be as close assault troops where their bulk, determination and lack of imagination give them a considerable advantage. Ratlings, on the other hand, are too small and slight to make good troops, although they are famously good shots. Because Ogryns and Ratlings have very specific areas of competence it is quite usual to divide regiments into smaller units which are placed under the command of other regiments in the field.

The strategic command of the Imperial Guard is provided by the Departmento Munitorium of the Administratum. This department of the Adeptus Terra forms the general staff of the Imperial Guard responsible for munitions, supply, recruitment, training, transportation and all aspects of the Imperial Guard establishment.

The chief of strategic staff of the Departmento Munitorium is the Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Guard, a powerful official and often one of the High Lords of Terra. Within each of the four outlying Segmentae of the Imperium there is a separate strategic command base alongside the fleet bases at Cypra Mundi, Bakka, Kar Duniash and Hydraphur. The fifth base is on Earth in the Segmentum Solar. Each of these has its own strategic command staff and reserves. The Lord Commander of each Segmentae is in charge of all military operations within his area, an awesome responsibility indeed.

In any active war zone there are hundreds of senior commanders with thousands of personal staff. In addition there are tens of thousands of scribes, observers and organisational officers of the Departmento Munitorium. Indeed, for every fighting man there stands behind him a virtual army of bureaucrats and support personnel whose efforts keep the armies going. However, within the Imperial Guard itself there is a complex system of high ranking officers responsible for the strategic and grand tactical military operations.

These staff officers rarely take part in the fighting. Occasionally an Imperial Guard general might find himself embroiled in the action, but this is likely to be by accident rather than by intent. The only staff officers who regularly fight at the front are Commissars.

Imperial Guard regiments are recruited from all over the human galaxy. Warriors from one planet speak different, sometimes unintelligible, dialects or practice strange customs which are baffling to soldiers from other worlds. These vast differences make it hard for some regimental commanders to operate closely with troops from different worlds. If colonels, captains and lieutenants are to function as part of a cohesive army they must be united in their common purpose no matter how culturally diverse their backgrounds might be.

Commissars provide the link between regimental commanders and strategic officers. Commissars have to be tough. Some regiments are composed of savage former gang fighters, or vicious barbarians, who are naturally antagonistic to authority. The colonel of such a regiment is likely to be as wild and anarchic as his men, if not more so! The loyalty of such troops must be earned and the Commissar must be prepared to demonstrate his courage in battle.

Commissars are recruited into the Departmento Munitorium from the Schola Progenium, the rigorous orphanages for families of Adepts run by the missionaries of the Adeptus Ministorum. Many serve as Storm Troopers before becoming Commissars, so they are hardly strangers to warfare. Every regiment has at least one Commissar and many large regiments have several who remain with the regiment while it is deployed in a war zone.

The chief task of the Commissar is to preserve the fighting spirit and loyalty of the regiment. If discipline is lax the Commissar will step in to reinforce it. If the regiment's officers are incompetent or lack courage the Commissar must retrain and fortify them or, failing that, allow the regiment's squads to be dispersed to other commanders. If troops are rowdy and troublesome the Commissar must keep order. A Commissar knows that the best troops are the hardest to keep in line. He embodies strength, bravery and loyalty, and serves as the ultimate example of human courage.

Commissars are also zealots fiercely loyal to the Imperial Cult. In the Schola Progenium they are schooled to love the Emperor and desire nothing more than to serve to the best of their abilities. They tolerate no disloyalty and remain vigilant for spies, mutants and agents of chaos that may have infiltrated the men under their charge. They are versed in the Imperial scriptures and will frequently give readings before battle is joined. Most of all they despise the Emperor's enemies and desire nothing more than the chance to crush the foe beneath the righteous heel of Imperial might.