Friday 18 September 2009

Praetorian Imperial Guard Background

Praetoria is a heavily populated Hive World that lies in a system close to the Imperial naval base at Bakka, capitol world of Segmentum Tempestus. The overpopulated Hive-Cities of Praetoria are renowned for their squalor and degradation, and produce some of the toughest gangers on any of the hive worlds in the Imperium. This vast population work as little more than slave-labour 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. They detest slovenliness and disorder and even in the midst of the fiercist battle will ensure their ranks are correctly dressed in parade ground fashion and uniforms smartly fastened. 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, where everything - even the very air they breathe is rationed, that they 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.


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Very little official background has ever been published for Praetoria and the Praetorian Imperial Guard by Games Workshop, indeed there is only one substancial 'official' piece. This is however not an entirely bad thing as it has left more room for the fans Warhammer 40,000 universe themselves too elaborate and indeed create their own in ways which a greater amount of official material might not otherwise have leant too.

The aim of this article is to document and refernece both 'official' sources as well as those created by fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

'Official' Articles


  • "Massacre at Big Toof River" - UK Gamesday '97 Programme
  • , Extract in US WD217
  • "Massacre at Big Toof River" UK Gamesday '97 Mega Display Article - UK & US WD218

  • "The Praetorian XXIV" - Booklet, Praetorian Imperial Guard Limited Edition Box Set

  • "Last Stand at Glazer's Creek" Battle Report - UK & US WD218, Spanish WD39

  • "Slave Raid at Melfa River" Canadian Gamesday '99 Mega Display Article - UK WD243

  • Medusa V Campaign "Vox Cast's" - Extracts from the UK version of GW's Medusa V World Wide Campaigns website.

    'Unofficial' Articles


  • "Branches of the Ground Forces of Praetoria" - Article by Col.Gravis

  • "The Pacification of Montar VII?" - Article by Col.Gravis

  • "The Praetorian MkIV-I Gatling Gun" - Article by Col.Gravis PDF DOWNLOAD

  • "The Praetorian Rocket Trough" - Article by Col.Gravis PDF DOWNLOAD

  • "The Praetorian MkVIII-H Lascannon and MkII-L Autocannon" - Article by Col.Gravis PDF DOWNLOAD

  • "The Praetorian MkI-B Leman Russ Conqueror" - Article by Col.Gravis PDF DOWNLOAD

  • "Officer Assessment - Major Ackland, 19th Praetorian Lancers" - Article by Col.Gravis PDF DOWNLOAD



  • This Article will be updated periodically with additional content, if you have content or links to content you'd like to see added to it please contact me at the usual address.


    5 comments:

    sovietspace said...

    Great little resource you have there, I hope to see it grow in the future!

    Despite my collection of Praetorians I never seem to have got a hold of that Booklet that came in the boxed set. How much background was in it? I'm keen to know how much I missed!

    Anonymous said...

    Hey Gravis,

    Even though I had the original WD with Glazer's farm in it, I have now sadly lost it >:[. However, I have a scanned copy of it I downloaded from somewhere ages ago. Can email it to you if you want.

    Cpt. Chatham, Praetorian 1st Foreign.

    Si said...

    not sure if it's any help, or indeed where I found it, but I appear to have an html file containing the fluff from the games day 97 programme on my machine.

    Sure you've read it but might be worth uploading somewhere?

    Col.Gravis said...

    sovietspace, not alot to be honest, I will be reproducing the text at some point soon and adding it though.

    mightymightychatham, thankyou for the very kind offer, I do thankfully have a copy of that WD in my collection though :)

    Si, thankyou also, the programme is one of the few bits I dont have an original of (and if anyone out there has the programme I'd love to get hold of it), however I do have the text, I've already added the text of the background as a link from this page.

    Col. Ackland said...

    I have another WD article for the list:
    ‘Crazy Joe Wears Yellow’
    Battle Report Aust WD232 (April) p84-92
    “In this, the first Australian battle report, the Imperial Guardsmen of the Praetorian XXIVth have to hold out against some determined Imperial Fist Space marines.”

    It is significant because it adds two more named Praetorian offices to the 24th – Colonel Sharpe and lieutenant Mikels.
    Check out my post about the article on my blog. I won’t leave it up for long- I really just wanted to make my UK and US buddies aware of it considering how rare official Praetorian articles are.