The Imperial Guard is the largest and most diverse organization the galaxy has ever seen. It contains billions of men from a million different worlds. Half-feral savages march alongside former hive plant workers. Men whose home was blistering desert, tropical jungle, icy steppe or desolate moorland are united under the banner of the Imperium of Man. The entire diversity of the massive Imperium is encapsulated in its ranks.

Despite its awesome power, however, the Imperial Guard constantly struggles to protect the Imperium from its many enemies. The mighty Tyranid hive fleets batter at the Eastern Fringe, Ork Waaaghs erupt without warning or pause, the damned Traitor Legions pour from the Eye of Terror hungry for Mankind’s souls, mysterious Eldar raiders strike without mercy, the ancient Necrons sally from their tomb worlds and numerous emergent empires, such as the Tau, rise up to challenge Humanity’s mastery. Against these diverse and often incomprehensible threats, the Imperial Guard pits human resolve and ingenuity in an unending battle with an inimical universe.

In the midst of genetically engineered super-beings, alien killing machines, warrior mystics, and technology that approaches sorcery in its sophistication, the Imperial Guard are mere soldiers. Clad in a flak jacket and carrying a lasgun, they have to contend with the most terrifying threats, relying on numbers, massed firepower and a bayonet with some guts behind it. As such it is easy to identify with these brave souls and to see in them the qualities of true heroes.