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Astra Militarum

91 bytes added, 22:35, 8 September 2013
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{{Otheruses|USE=imperial fighting force|OTHERUSE=novels|OTHERPAGE=Imperial Guard (Novel Series)}}
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[[Image:Imperial Guard Symbol.png|thumb|right|Symbol of the Imperial Guard]][[File:Guard trench.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The Troops of the Imperial Guard.]] 
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 [[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 unfeasible 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.{{Fn|1}}
==The Imperial Guard on the Field of Battle==
{{Main|Imperial Guard Armoury}}
[[Image:ImperialGuardCadians.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Imperial Guard - Cadian Shock Troops]]
The Imperial Guard's countless regiments include all manner of infantry, cavalry - mechanised and mounted alike - artillery, and war engines. Each particular regiment is normally uniform in organisation inside itself, and often seem to specialise in one particular form of war. For instance, light infantry regiments can barely demonstrate any motorised transport and certainly possess no weapons that are not man-portable. In contrast, an artillery regiment contains 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 organise.{{Fn|1}}

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