Introduction
In this chapter we will be diving into the Imperiums most numerous military organisation the Astra Militarum. We will take a look at the standing forces of the IoM, and what their portrayal can tell us about how warfare is presented within the Warhammer 40k narrative. This text will be based on the seventh edition of the Warhammer narrative primarily. This chapter will be divided into two parts, each delving into the two seemingly opposing views of warfare presented in the Astra Militarum codex. These sides are a view of war as horror and one of war as heroics. (Hill. 2016)
The terror of logistics and dehumanisation
The wars of the Imperium are presented to be fought on a galactic scale, the size of their war machine too large for a single person to understand even less comprehend by any one member that is part of it. Each life is presented as a mere statistic, each death a decimal point in the eternal bureaucratic machine. Most die unnamed and unremembered. (Hill. 2016)
Each human soldier is described to be little to no match, to the other inhabitants of the universe. Individual people, nations, or even planets would easily be destroyed by humanity’s many foes. The Astra Militarum do not win their war through the strength of their soldiers, but rather the sheer volume of troops and war machines at their disposal. Populations of entire planets can easily be sacrificed with few lasting negative effects on the Imperium as a whole. The Astra Militarum is often described within fiction as “the Sledgehammer of the Emperor”. Regiments are raised and sacrificed in the millions, entire planetary populations are kept in brutal savage conditions simply to ensure a good “fighting stock” for the Imperium’s armies. (Hill. 2016)
The Manufactorum is a grand example of the massive scale, and incredibly dehumanising tactics that the Imperium of Mankind is described to employ. The bureaucratic and logistical branch of the Imperium`s armed forces, The Manufactorum is presented as an interplanetary organization of bureaucrats and scribes numbering the billions. Each carrying out jobs that they barely understand to reach goals they understand even less. Sending reports and orders back and forth, each typo leading to catastrophic errors such as a regiment being sent into combat without any ammunition, or a fleet being sent several light years of course, delaying arrival by months. (Hill. 2016)
The lone hero
Despite these themes of mindless sacrifice and dehumanisation, there is a parallel narrative. The narrative of a lone hero, or a small group of heroes saving the day at a critical moment. The codex describes a series of heroic men (for all the named major characters in the codex are male), that in one way or another through their cheer, bravery or genius saves the day. This trope is not something unique to this narrative, but is indeed a common vehicle for many war narratives. Saving private Ryan, apocalypse now, bad company etc, all follows small groups of soldiers facing great odds to finish their mission. (Hill. 2016)
The theatre of war
The aesthetics of warfare of the Astra Militarum is interesting to deconstruct. Most of the illustrations in the codex are depicting the regiments known as the Cadian shock troopers.
The most iconic visual of the Astra Militarum is the Cadian Shock troopers, reminiscent of the aesthetics of late world war 2 warfare. But these are far from the only representation of popular war narratives presented in the codex. These different historical war zones are represented by different regiments from different planets. For example are the Catachan jungle fighters an overt reference to the Vietnam war. As well as Vietnam inspired media such as the movie Predator.
The praetorian guard are modelled on British colonial forces. A visual that is especially interesting in light of our earlier discussion on Colonialism. (Hill. 2016)
We have the Death Korps of Krieg, which both in name and appearance and name appearance are referencing the German war machine during WW1. (Hill. 2016)
Source: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Death_Korps_of_Krieg
Lastly we have the Tallarn Desert Raiders with their desert war curved swords might be attributed to the Ottomans, with the rest of their wargear remenicant the desert battles of WW2. (Hill. 2016)
Source: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Tallarn_Desert_Raiders
The armies presented in the codex are much more numerous then these, I simply aim to present a small example of some of the more clear references to real life theatres of war. As you can see, the war narratives presented within the codex are highly varied and draw from several different real life influencers. This lets Games Workshop a great deal of flexibility in the stories they tell. (Hill. 2016)
Conclusions
As we can see from this chapter alone, is the Astra Militarum a large and complex subject, both narratively and within the fiction itself. We will return to these soldiers several times throughout the series, but this has served as a quick introduction into how the Imperium of Mankind fights most of its wars.
Hill, J.D. (2016). Astra militarum. Games Workshop. Lenton, Nothingham.
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This blog post was spell checked and edited for readability at 2021-06-14
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