The Imperial Guard comes from many sources and I’ll start with some of the lesser known units and planets. Patria is the ice world home to the Fists of Lagus. There was a Finnish General Ruben Lagus and Finland is rather cold for part of the year. Patria, on the other hand, is a Finnish weapons manufacturing company. The Desert Foxes come from Utica; which was an ancient city on the north coast of Africa. The Praetorian Guard are styled after the Victorian era British army. Logres Ice World may come from an ancient reference to England, a king of England or a kingdom from ancient England. The Morbidian Skull Takers have a rather morbid name. The planet Arminium, home of the Honus Squads, may be named for Arminius of German/Roman history. The Jaguars come from Oran I; which is a port city in Algeria. The Nordian Berserkers may be a reference to the Nordic berserkers of the Vikings. Xenonians must be named after the TV character Xena. The Justus Emperor’s Shield may be named for a couple of historical English clergy men. Ghurkhas find their counter part in the Kovnia Ghurkhas. One of the founders of Rome gives us the name for the planet Remus while Amerigo Vespucci may have the planet Amerigo as a namesake.

Catachans come from a world that is most likely based on the novel Death World by Harry Harrison while the look of the army is based more on the movies Rambo and Predator than on any historical army. Evidence for this is found in the character Sly Marbo. Sly being the nickname for Sylvester Stalone and Marbo is an anagram for Rambo.

Going from the jungle to the desert we have the Tallarn an army with an Arabic look. Yet the name may come from a place called Tallarn Green, which is in between Wrexham and Whitchurch. Perhaps a studio member is from there and named them after his home town. The move from the country to a large city could be the basis for the history of their world. After all cities are rather devoid of life compared to more rural areas. I could be completely wrong, too. There is also mention of domed, underground houses and having to collect water vapour from the atmosphere as part of their way of life. This seems similar to the moisture farmers on Tatooine from Star Wars.

Now the Savlar Chem Dogs may be based loosely on the Mad Max movies. The villains are criminal types who will take what they need. Interestingly, a salvor is someone who salvages and the name may be derived from this source. Another group of criminals, the Last Chancers, find their homage in the movie the Dirty Dozen, a film about a group of military criminals with one last chance.

The idea of the last survivors from a dead or dying planet is a sci-fi staple, the Tanith have a planet that pays homage to an author, one Tanith Lee. On the other hand, the Atillans have a couple of historical references in coming from Temujin's World. Temujin was Ghengis Khans name while Attila the Hun needs no explanation.

This takes us to Valhalla, the equivalent to heaven for Vikings, yet the army has a Russian feel. This can be explained by the fact that the Russ, a Viking group, settled in the area of Novgorod, founding it and influenced Russian history. Chenkov, the old special character, may be named after the Russian writer Anton Chekhov.

There are four Germanic forces to the Guard; the Mordians, Steel Legion, Death Korps of Krieg and the Teutons. Mordia may have a reference taken from Lord of the Rings; Mordor, the forever dark part of middle earth. The Iron shows their discipline and resolve. Armageddon’s Steel Legion and the Death Korps of Krieg both have the look of the Great War’s German army. Krieg and korp translate to war corp in English. The Teutons take their name from their ancient counter parts.

Kasr is Arabic for castle, fortress or citadel, so Kasrkin can be seen as people of the citadel. Now this leads us to Cadia. The first mention of the name is for a single trooper from way back in the early years of 40k. It has a better chance of being named for Arcadia, which in turn is named after Arcas. In Greek mythology, Arcas was the son of Zeus and the nymph Callisto, whom Hera turned into a bear (ursa). Arcas unknowingly attempted to kill his mother during a hunt, not recognizing her. Zeus put them both in the sky as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. How much of a coincidence is it that Ursakar Creed has a name that begins with bear? His last name may suggest his faith in the imperial creed. The miniature looks a little Sir Winston Churchill, cigar and all, with some General George Patton thrown in. The pillars on Cadia may be the from Cthulhu mythos of Lovecraft; Irem, the city of pillars.

Lord Solar Macharius, the Alexander the Great of 40k. There are too many comparisons here so I’ll cover just a few. Both conquered large amounts of territory over a seven year period. Also they went into unknown territories and eventually were persuaded to turn back by their own men. If only he had to deal with a knot the homage would be complete.

Commissars come to use from the French Revolution. We of course are more familiar with the political officers from the Soviet Unions army, which ties in with the most famous one from 40k; Yarrick.

American president Roosevelt commanded a group of American calvary men called the Rough Riders. There was a mention of a unit called the Big Red One, in RT days, which is the first infantry division for the US army.