how many imperial guard in the whole army

[sion958]

OK so my friend asked me today how many imperial guard there are in the army and i couldnt answer him because i didnt have a clue.I think there is at least 15 billion of them but i want to see what you think?

[Perturabo]

You could almost say a nearly unending number of them (barring major calamities/galaxy wide conflicts such as another Heresy). With the constant birth rate of the entire population over a billion worlds there must be an almost unending number of guardsmen available?


SBE: Million worlds not billions.... sometimes I'm just a silly world ending, iron flinging, forgetful tyrant

[sion958]

Originally Posted by Perturabo

You could almost say a nearly unending number of them (barring major calamities/galaxy wide conflicts such as another Heresy). With the constant birth rate of the entire population over a billion worlds there must be an almost unending number of guardsmen available?

so a lot then

[Warmaster Romulas]

alot is an understatement
but yes alot of them

[Baron Spikey]

There is no place in the entire Imperium that knows how many Soldiers are in the Imperial Guard- the closest number is 'billions and billions'- god bless GW and their attention to detail.

[hairyyahoo]

been a while since we've seen a sneaky baron edit

the spikey one's right, even the masters of the administratum can only guess at the approximate number of guardsmen in active service at any one time.

[sion958]

so who would win all the space marines in the universe or all the imperial guard

[Imperial Commander Gent]

All of the space marines!! They heavily outfight the guard. Although the guard has a LOT more tanks, so it would be an insane fight and nowhere in the galaxy could these two giant armies fight!

[Baron Spikey]

~1 million Space Marines
~several billion Guardsmen

my money is on the Guard....

[kenshin620]

Originally Posted by Baron Spikey

~1 million Space Marines
~several billion Guardsmen

my money is on the Guard....

Yea, plus they'll probably have help from the Titans and Baneblades

[Baron Spikey]

well even if we exclude Titans (being from a different organisation) Baneblades come under the purview of the Imperial Guard anyway- though because of the lack of Imperial GUARD stellar craft that gives a heavy advantage to the Adeptus Astartes.

If you were to say Imperial Guard & Navy versus Space Marines then its a win to the unaltered humans every time, otherwise I may have to rethink my position of Guard winning against Astartes

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

Ah, but we're not going to see them all take on each other at the same time, so it's a tricky question.

An astartes is worth a hundred Guardsmen, as the saying goes, and indeed they are superior in every way. They also are more mobile, experienced and are better armed. Their tactical genius is unparalleled, and their depth of knowledge is unmatchable.

Really, the only thing the Guard have going for them is numbers, and that's rendered useless as the Marines will only fight on their own terms.

[Timber-WoIf]

well...
if you were to somehow fit all the guard and all the rines on one battlefield the guard would win for sure.

in the case of a some weird galaxy wide war (maybe the guard got fed up of hearing about how much better ass-tarts were?) it would probably be a stalemate, assuming the navy didn't help the guard move around. The space marines simply don't have the manpower to actually capture the sheer volume of worlds the guard would hold. IF the guard did have the help of the navy, the space marines would probably rack up a rediculus kill count, but still would be simply overwhelmed. i don't care how well trained and equipped space marines are, when outnumbered by thousands to one at least, plus the guards superior tanks, theres no way the space marines could win an all out war.

And, seriously, for every space marine genius tactician, the guard probably has 10.

at least the space marines faith is still stronger, i suppose...

[Baron Spikey]

actually the Marines have better quality Tanks just a lot less of them than the Guard. The Marines also have the Best Tank created by humanity- the Landraider

[Baron von Lexus]

Guys why would they fight each other... Arent they all part of our favorite Imperium??
But I'd put my money on the Guard... I mean even the Germans couldnt beat the Russians on the Eastern Front. Multiply that by about some gigantic number that is the Guards strength and you get Guard victory.

BvL

[Ichor]

Actualy, when you do tht math there are trillions of guardsmen. The imperium's number of worlds ( Around 3,000,000) x amount of regiments on a world( About 4,000) xthe amount of guardsmen per regiment ( about 8,000, taking into account casualties).

[kenshin620]

Their number is to infinity and beyond

[Timber-WoIf]

Originally Posted by Baron Spikey

actually the Marines have better quality Tanks just a lot less of them than the Guard. The Marines also have the Best Tank created by humanity- the Landraider

the landraider has more survivability than a russ, but the russ can pack a lot more firepower.
( in a tank battle i'd take an ig vanquisher over a terminus raider). in general, i think IG tanks are better, its just that they're crewed by guardsmen, while space marine tanks are crewed by space marines. The Chimera has excellent transport capabilities(can transport termies), simi-decent armor, and enough heavy weapons to make most infantry think twice before leaving cover. The hellhound shoots a flame template. the basilisk lobs a pie plate almost wherever it wants. Space marines don't have much to compete. the only space marine vehicle I'm envious of is the land speeder.

I suppose the space marine vehicles may do better sometimes because lascannon are more effective when they hit stuff.

[Baron Spikey]

oh tabletop wise IG tanks rule, but fluff wise Space Marine Tanks are better in nearly every way- faster, lower profile (obviously not the Land Raider), automated sponsons, sealed more effectively against the environment...the list goes on

@Ichor- there are roughly 1 million Imperial Worlds not 3 million, not every world raises Regiments (some dont even have a credible population if one at all) and most worlds that do dont raise 4,000 unless its
A) over a great deal of time
B) a hive world
C) a war world (i.e Cadia or Krieg)

[captain sicaius]

space marines vs guard i would say marines because they are so strong

[Rellik]

hmmmmmm i would go with guard by a slim chance, its just a numbers game and im sure they have alot of them!

[Astrotrain]

numbers guys.

you could be in a M1 tank but if your facing 100 WWII era tanks your not going to outmatch them.

Plus the baneblade chassis tanks are "modern" to the likes of landraiders.
According to imperial armor 1 baneblades and her sister tanks have on board computers,targeters and such.the only thing is the fact that land raiders are faster,have auto pilots, and can cross water.Baneblades have more weapons and better armor.

[Warmaster Romulas]

my oppinion on SM v IG
has to be taken off planet
the SM have their own fleets
each chapter has a naval arsenal at its command
while IG would have to coordinate with the Navy
now all that beurocracy will not help their deployability
while a marine chapter master can order all his ships around way easier
marines dont have to have as much supplies either
so on that i would give the edge to the marines
Logistics win wars
meaning getting the supplies to the place where it is needed most
think how much food you would need for a chapter of marines (roughly 1000 if they are codex)
as opposed to the amount of food for 100000 guardsman who are their equivalent
(and strategicly marines dont do head on fights they eliminate numerical advantages and strike at the weak point)

[Zeb[edee]]

If you could (You obviously cant but still) fit all the marines vs all the Guardsmen in the imperium. The Guards men would win purely by their numbers. For every 10 guardsmen that fall, maybe one Space Marine. But consider the amount of Guardsmen. Plus they would have a much thicker battle line so if they sit there refusing to move vs the Space marines they would outshoot the marines by a long shot.

In game terms the Marines would wipe the floor with the guard because they take advantage of cover, and then get into combat and wipe the floor with them.

[325504503]

Guard, no doubt Imperial Guard. The "Hammer of the Emperor" can dull any blade.

For each one of us that falls; ten more will take his place!

[Ichor]

Originally Posted by Baron Spikey

oh tabletop wise IG tanks rule, but fluff wise Space Marine Tanks are better in nearly every way- faster, lower profile (obviously not the Land Raider), automated sponsons, sealed more effectively against the environment...the list goes on

@Ichor- there are roughly 1 million Imperial Worlds not 3 million, not every world raises Regiments (some dont even have a credible population if one at all) and most worlds that do dont raise 4,000 unless its
A) over a great deal of time
B) a hive world
C) a war world (i.e Cadia or Krieg)

Actually, I read somewhere that your standard world has several thousand regiments. Also, even if the Imperium doesn't have 3 million, they still have over 1 million. Since that most Imperial worlds are required to raise Imperial Guard regiments, at least 1m would have regiments.

As another note, Spave marines are ment for lightning fast raids that quickly neutralize the enemy. The Imperial Guard is ment for more direct, open warfare.