Praetorian Guard
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The Praetorian Guard are Imperial Guard regiments raised from the planet Praetoria.
Contents
Overview
Recruitment & Training
Praetoria is a heavily populated Hive World that lies in a system close to the Imperial naval base at Bakka. The overpopulated Hive cities of Praetoria are renowned for their squalor and degradation, and produce some of the toughest gangsters on any of the hive worlds in the Imperium. This vast population work as little more than slave-labor in the huge factory complexes of Praetoria, producing the goods that have made the planet (and its rulers) one of the richest in the Imperium, with a huge fleet of merchant craft that trade all over the Segmentum and beyond.
Imperial Guard regiments raised on Praetoria are renowned for their iron discipline and bravery, even in the face of the most overwhelming odds. 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. 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 in defence.
Battle Style
The Praetorians fight in a similar way to the Mordian Iron Guard, using concentrated volley fire to eliminate the enemy in vast droves.
Appearance & Uniform
Praetorian uniform typically consists of a scarlet tunic with epaulettes, and dark blue trousers with a vertical scarlet stripe on the outside leg. The pith helmet is worn as headgear.
Notable Regiments
- Praetorian Guard 5th - fought in the 13th Black Crusade.[2]
- Praetorian Guard 35th - fought in the 13th Black Crusade.
- XXIV Praetorian Guard - Big Toof River Massacre[1]
Notable Members
Miniatures Range
Like many older models, they have been removed from production and Games Workshop Mail Order but are widely available online through second hand sources. The Praetorians were reasonably popular, largely due to the highly distinctive look of their armies and the sharp contrast between them and the dark, gothic Imperium around them. As such, many people were angered at Games Workshop's decision to drop the range.
Trivia
The Praetorian Guard takes its name from the imperial guard of ancient Rome, while its uniforms are based on soldiers of the British Empire in the Zulu Wars of the 1870s.
Images
See also
Sources
- 1: Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), [Needs Citation]
- 2: The Thirteenth Black Crusade (Background Book), pg. 91
Uncited
- White Dwarf 39 (Spain) (July 1998)