Death Korps of Krieg
The Astra Militarum is a galaxy-spanning military organization if incredible strength. Almost every planet in the Imperium of Mankind is committed to providing endless tithes of soldiers to fill its ranks and fight their Emperor’s wars. Each world’s regiments possess their own cultural quirks and combat specialism. In such a dark and war-torn galaxy, it is perhaps inevitable that some of these regiments are grimmer and more macabre than others.
The Astra Militarum or Imperial Guard – is not a subtle instrument. Not for nothing is the immense ponderous war machine known as the Hammer of the Emperor. combining overwhelming artillery, massed armored vehicles, sky darkening armadas of aircraft, and rank upon endless rank of regrettably expendable infantry. The Astra Militarum buries its foes in bloody battles of attrition that can span entire planetary systems.
Its soldiers vary wildly in quality, for they are trained, armed and armoured in whatever fashion their founding world can manage. Some planets produce well-instructed and well-equipped warriors whose marksmanship is matched only by their dedicated faith in the God-Empeor, and by their ironclad devotion to duty. Other planets churn out ill-equipped dregs and hangdog conscripts good for little more than packing out trenches and wearing down the enemy’s ammunition. Yet even the most meagre and ill-equipped soldiers of the Astra Militarum march out to battle regardless, facing down the most terrifying monsters in the galaxy with little more than a lasgun, a bayonet and their unaugmented Human courage to aid them.
Certain worlds in the imperium are particularly famed for the soldiery they produce. The Catachan Jungle Fighters, for example, hail from a carnivorous green nightmare of a world and are renowned for being as tough and as brutal as they come. The regiments of Cadia are a byworld for honor, discipline and courage. The Mordian Iron Guard, the Valhallan Ice Warriros, the Tallarn Desert Raiders… The list of iconic Imperial regiments stretches long indeed. Yet few amongst the ranks of the Astra Militarum have as dread and unsettling a reputation as the Death Korps of Krieg.
It was the sin of rebellion against the God-Emperor that made the soldiers of the Krieg what they are in the 41st Millennium. Civil war rent their world for long and bloody years before atomic weaponry was deployed in a planet-scouring cataclysm. Even this tragic firestorm was not enough to end the bloody fighting, however, and the soldiers of Krieg continued to make war upon one another amidst the nightmarish ruins of their world. Eventually the loyalist faction was victorious. Some might say, however, that the price of their victory was not worth the paying.
Since finally exterminating the rebel faction, the loyal sons and daughters of Krieg have sought to atone by going forth to die in the God-Emperor’s wars. Clad in heavy greatcoats and wearing rubberized rebreathers they are unmistakable, and they advance into even the most toxic or inimical conflict zones without any apparent fear. The Krieg believe themselves already dead, their lives forfeited by their rebellious forebears, and so they fight with terrifying violence. Should any survive long enough to become veteran warriors, they are counted amongst the most dangerous and effective shock troops in the entire Imperial Guard