During the turbulent era known as the Age of Strife, the Sol System and the nearby star systems that had been colonised by Humanity during the Age of Technology were effectively cut off from interstellar travel or communication with each other due to the massive Warp storms that swept the galaxy. Little remained of the once sophisticated civilisation of Old Earth's glorious past as the centre of a growing Human interstellar civilisation marked by advanced science, high culture and wondrous technologies. The Astra Militarum is the Hammer of the Emperor, which defends Humanity through the application of numbers and sheer, brute force.

The Astra Militarum is ultimately run by the Departmento Munitorum, who have three seats on the council of the High Lords of Terra. It provides all the supplies, equipment, training, and also some of the representatives sent to worlds with an Astra Militarum 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, subsector 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 subsector level and troops from surrounding worlds may be mobilised. If the threat increases further a full scale request to the sector level can see hundreds of worlds mobilising and converging on one system or group of systems. [3] Imagine, if you will, the industrial efficiency and mechanised assaults of the Armageddon Steel Legion. Now combine that with the grim demeanour and unflinching sacrifice of the Death Korps of Krieg . What if you added the refined weapons of the Vostroyan Firstborn to the disciplined firing lines of the Mordian Iron Guard? Catachan strength paired with Attilan speed ? Yes please. Edge of Silence • War Zone Charadon ( Act I • Act II) • War Zone Octarius ( Book I • Book II) • War Zone Nachmund ( Vigilus Alone • Rift War) • Crusade ( Beyond the Veil • Plague Purge • Amidst the Ashes • Containment • Catastrophe • Wars of Faith) • Arks of Omen ( Abaddon • Angron • Vashtorr • Farsight • The Lion) When the Great Rift tore open, it unleashed violent tidal waves of empyric energy that battered numerous Imperial war fleets into oblivion. Entire war-torn star systems were swallowed by the Warp. Newly-raised regiments on highly-tithed worlds; industrial planets preparing requisition supplies; troop transports bearing elite battalions to embatted war zones -- at a stroke, whole consignments of materiel and desperate-needed soldiers were wiped out. Due to the organization of the Astra Militarum various wrolds and regiments have their own heirlooms, comparable to the heirlooms owned by each Space Marine Chapters. Nonetheless there are certain rare relics that ware worn or wielded by several different officers, commissars or other individuals of the Imperial Guard. [Needs Citation]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 race in the 41st Millennium. Ultramarines • White Scars • Iron Hands • Raven Guard • Salamanders • Imperial Fists • Silver Templars It’s the same for things like the smoke launchers, search lights, and sensors. They can fit onto a number of hardpoints on the turret and sponsons, and they’re also compatible with the hard points on the Sentinel. The Fortress World of Cadia had been the linchpin in the Imperium's defence against Traitor forces raiding from the Eye of Terror Warp rift for nigh-on ten thousand standard years. Standing guard over the critical Cadian Gate region, the planet and its soldiers symbolised stoic duty against horrific odds, their inviolability embedded in the wider Imperial Guard's consciousness as a key part of their identity.

The interdependence of the newly formed Astra Militarum with the now-separate Imperial Navy ensured that, should a regiment turn against their oaths to the Emperor, they would not be able to spread their treachery beyond a single world, and should a Navy fleet mutiny then they would not have the ability to re-supply or deploy ground troops. The triumphs and tragedies of a single segmentum's armies during the Age of the Imperium would occupy several hundred lifetimes of an army of scribes and historitors to collate. To present a cogent history of the Astra Militarum's exploits, then, is impossible. Yet there are noteworthy conflicts in which its massed rans played a pivotal role. After the Horus Heresy, Astra Militarum armies waged retributive campaigns as part of the Great Scouring against the fleeing Heretics that had assailed Terra, driving many into the depths of the Eye of Terror. The Cadian System, and its Fortress World of Cadia, became a bastion against heretical and Warp-spawned invasions of Imperial space out of the Eye. Cult Mechanicus • Collegia Titanica • Legiones Skitarii • Questor Mechanicus ( House Guard) • Centurio Ordinatus • Ordo Reductor • Legio Cybernetica • Auxilia Myrmidon • Prefecture Magisterium • Basilikon Astra • Divisio Linguistica • Explorator • Sect Missionarius Mechanicus • Collegiate Extremis • AstynomiaEventually, certainly by the time the Great Crusade reached the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy, the troops and starships of the Imperial Army were deployed at its forefront, fighting alongside the power-armoured super-soldiers of the Legiones Astartes. But everything changed when the galaxy was ripped asunder by the treachery of the Warmaster Horus, triggering a cataclysmic interstellar civil war that engulfed the newly-founded Imperium. Note: All dates from this point forward are provisional due to errors in the Imperial Calendar, meaning these events could actually have occurred at any time from the early 41st Millennium to the early 42nd Millennium. ca.M31 The Reformation and Restructuring of the Imperial Army - The massive and singular Imperial Army is divided into many autonomous but interrelated parts. Among them is the Astra Militarum, leadership of which is distributed amongst the various Militarum Regimentos.

Although he met his end leading a heroic defence against Abaddon the Despoiler’s forces, his sword continues to shine as a beacon of hope and pushes away any thoughts of cowardice. Space Marines • Necrons • Death Guard • Drukhari • Adeptus Mechanicus • Adepta Sororitas • Orks • Grey Knights • Thousand Sons • Adeptus Custodes • Genestealer Cults • T'au Empire • Aeldari • Tyranids • Imperial Knights • Chaos Knights • Chaos Space Marines • Chaos Daemons • Leagues of Votann • Astra Militarum • World Eaters Regiments are typically raised with a strength of several thousand soldiers but the precise numbers can vary enormously. The Valhallan 18th "Tundra Wolves" consists of over one hundred and twenty thousand men whilst the Vostroyan 24th "Iron Bloods" Armoured comprised less than one and a half thousand tank crewmen. Regiments of Baneblades and Shadowswords, each an armoured behemoth capable of laying waste to a small army by itself, rarely consist of more than a dozen super-heavy tanks. The basic principle held by the Departmento Munitorum is that regardless of the number of men at arms or the exact composition of armoured vehicles, the overall fighting strength -- and hence combat effectiveness -- of one regiment is equivalent to any other. This is clearly a gross oversimplification but a necessary one when organising wars on a galactic scale. Unknown Date.M42 Call of the Forge - A fragmented message reaches the astropathic choirs on Vostroya. Though it appears to have been sent by the Adeptus Mechanicus, calling for aid on Canoptis II, the nature of the threat facing the Tech-priests is unclear. Nevertheless, the Vostroyan Firstborn 22nd "Riders of Dawn," the 99th "Only Sons" and the 331st "True Shots" set out to answer the call, hoping that their Navigators will be able to traverse the now lightless stars. The Astra Militarum, commonly known in Low Gothic as Imperial Guard, is the primary fighting force of the Imperium of Man, 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 lists of new recruits and toll of casualties can run into the millions in a single day. [1]Upon their initial founding, regiments are identified by the name of their homeworld and a number -- for example, the Cadian 144th is the one hundred and forty-fourth regiment to have been raised on the lost Fortress World of Cadia. It is not uncommon for a regiment's number to be recycled following its destruction, a new raising taking the designation of their predecessor. In this way the regiment is re-founded, the new recruits tasked with upholding its honour and traditions. Indeed, the Vintor 823rd serve the Emperor to this day, despite having been wiped out on more than nine different occasions in the span of a single solar decade. In addition, regiments are often given unofficial names, either inherited and therefore part of tradition, or else earned on the field of battle. For example, the Catachan VII "Catachan Devils" Regiment take the name of the apex predator from the lethal jungles of their foetid Death World, whereas the 8th Cadian, "The Lord Castellan's Own," honour the exploits of their former commanding officer, Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed.