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The '''Imperial Guard''' is the primary fighting force of the [[Imperium]], so numerous in size that even the [[Departmento Munitorum]] cannot place a figure on the number of [[Guardsman|Guardsmen]] under arms at any one time; the daily lists of new recruits and toll of casualties can run into the millions in a single day. It would be infeasible trying to put any exact number on the strength of the Guard; however, it is believed that there must be many billions of Imperial Guardsmen, divided into millions of [[regiment]]s. This absolute numeracy provides the Guard with its main power; their ability to deploy in numbers that, eventually, result in victory. Attacking in seemingly endless influxes across battle-zones, charging forth under the cover of massive barrages and delivering massed [[lasgun]] volleys, in the Guard the individual [[Human]] soldier may appear a lost thing, almost forgotten. Yet the actions of these anonymous soldiers daily decide the fate of worlds.¹ The Guard forms the very backbone of the Imperium; without it , Mankind would surely perish. Whilst Guardsmen are hardly the equals of [[Space Marines]], fighting neither with the advantages of genetic enhancement or the most powerful personal weaponry, the Guard posesses possesses the courage and the manpower to face and annihilate the enemies of the [[Emperor]] across the galaxy.^2.p.5

The Imperial Guard, as the standing human Human armed force of the Imperium, can trace its origin back to the days of the [[Great Crusade]], several millennia ago, when it was a somewhat different organisation organization known as the [[Imperial Army]]. Following the events of the [[Horus Heresy]], however, the Imperial Army was split into two organizations; the Imperial Guard, and the [[Imperial Navy]].³

For more detail on the precursor organisation organization to the Imperial Guard, and the galaxy-spanning civil war that caused its transformation, see the following articles:

The Imperial Guard is organised organized into largely autonomous regiments. These regiments are raised by the worlds of the Imperium that have been classified as fit for such a purpose. These regiments can be sent anywhere in the galaxy, potentially serving in designated combat-zones for years at a time¹. It is not considered likely that any Guardsman will return to their world of origin; a fading memory of home is considered one of the average Guardsman's most constant companions.⁴

The Imperial Guard is ultimately run by the Departmento Munitorum, who have 3 three seats on the council of the [[High Lords of Terra]]. It provides all the supplies, equipment and , training , and also some of the representatives sent to worlds with an Imperial Guard presence. While they do not directly control the prosecution of Imperial military strategy, they have devolved power to different sections of the Imperium, at the planetary level, [[sub-sectorsubsector]] level and [[sector]] level. Each world compares the threat posed to them against a previously defined threat-level and if it is deemed dangerous enough, the threat is passed to the sub-sector subsector level and troops from surrounding worlds may be mobilisedmobilized. If the threat increases further a full scale request to the sector level can see hundreds of worlds mobilising mobilizing and converging on one system or group of systems.³  The command structure for the Imperial Guard is relatively complex when compared to other races, but the Imperial Guard is an infinitely bigger organization than most others.

The command structure for For details on the various ranks of the Imperial Guard is relatively complex when compared to other racesand their roles within the organization, but as well as the parent branch of Imperial governance that controls the Guard is an infinitely bigger organisation than most others., see the following articles:

 [[Image:Guard trench.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Imperial Guard.]] The regiment is the primary unit of the Imperial Guard. Recruited from a single planet at a single raising, it is founded as a complete entity, complete with its own officer, supply , and support cadres. It should be noted however, that like most everything else in the Guard, the precise details of even these essential elements can vary widely from world to world. Whilst the majority of the regiment, even the non-combatant personnel, will come from their founding world, the [[Commissar]] or Commissars assigned to it are always off-worlders.³

An Imperial Guard regiment is essentially a temporary unit, unlike the Space Marine chapters. After being formed they normally receive no further reinforcements. It is rarely practical for regiments to receive new recruits from their homeworlds to replace casualties, mainly due to the immense distances between a regiment's homeworld and its posting. The costs, risks , and time-lag difficulties involved in transporting relatively few soldiers to reinforce their brethren rarely justify themselves, especially when alternate and more efficient means of reinforcement tend to exist. If on garrison or outpost duty, an Imperial Guard regiment may be able to recruit from the local population. If on active combat duty, two or more under-strength regiments may be merged together in order to create a new regiment at full strength.⁵ This can result in regiments being bolstered by troopers from their own homeworld, such as in the case of the [[Valhallan 597th Ice Warriors]]⁶, or can result in a true mongrel unit, with the Guardsmen included coming from several different worlds (such as the [[Tanith First and Only]]).⁷

If any regiment survives for long enough, it will eventually receive reinforcement from the children fathered by the Guardsmen, who will have been raised inside the regiment and can normally be expected to join it upon reaching the required age. These new recruits, officially designated as ''"probiters'' ", but more commonly called [[Whiteshield]]s, are formed into their own platoons where they receive their latter combat training by taking part in actual combat, until they are ready to join the regiment as Guardsmen proper⁵.

When reinforcement does not occur, for whatever reason, regiments may find themselves gradually depleted through casualties until they are destroyed in battle or mustered out for meritorious service. The former incidence is much more likely to occur than the latter.⁵

Certain members of regiments have become famous throughout a region, or sometimes the entire Imperium. They are often the officers or commanders rather than individual guardsmen and they are remembered as saviours saviors of humanity, seen spreading the light of the Emperor far and wide, or protecting it from the ravages of aliens, mutants and heretics. Some of these figures are listed below. 

*[[Ollanius Pius]], patron - Patron saint of the Imperial Guard

 [[Image:imperial guard planets.jpg|none|thumb|Imperial Guard Deploymentsdeployments]]

[[Image:ImperialGuardCadians.jpg|thumb|right|Imperial Guard - Cadian Shock Troops]] The Imperial Guard's countless regiments include all manner of infantry, cavalry both mechanized and not, artillery and war engines. Each particular regiment is normally uniform in organization inside itself, and often seem to specialize in one particular form of war. For instance, light infantry regiments can barely demonstrate any motorized transport and certainly possess no weapons that are not man-portable. In contrast, an artillery regiment can contain little else. This ensures that the Imperial Guard are at their strongest when multiple regiments are massed together, and is itself another deliberate stricture to ensure that large-scale rebellion by a military commander is difficult to organize.¹ The armoury armory of the Imperial Guard is vast and covers many aspects of the equipment necessary for the survival of a fighting force in many different environments. It ranges from portable voxVox-casters, communications units, to medals denoting promotion and excellence in battle.³

Despite the technological immensity that the Imperial Guard can deliver to the battlefield, the cold fact of the matter is that the most important resource of the Guard is the seemingly limitless number of bodies it can deploy to contest its objectives. It does not matter the number of casualties it may take to win a battle. the Imperial guard Guard will devote many thousands of men to overcome a small goal as the space marines Space Marines would devote a few hundred. obviously Obviously, a Guardsmen Guardsman could never possess the battle prowess of a space marine Space Marine, but there are many million guardsmen millions of Guardsmen for just that one space marineSpace Marine.

*¹: ''[[Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook]]''*²: [[Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition)|''Codex: Imperial Guard'' (5th Edition)]]*³: [[Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex)|''Codex: Imperial Guard'' (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex)]]*⁴: [[The Killing Ground (Novel)|''The Killing Ground'']] by [[Graham McNeill]]*⁵: ''[[Warhammer 40,000 Compendium]]'', p. 44*⁶: [[Ciaphas Cain (Novel Series)|''Ciaphas Cain'']]*⁷: [[Gaunt's Ghosts (Novel Series)|''Gaunt's Ghosts'']]*⁸: [[Rebel Winter (Novel)|''Rebel Winter'']] by [[Steve Parker]]