The Imperial Infantryman's Handbook

Warhammer 40,000

by Graham McNeill, Matthew Ralphs

You there, soldier! Don’t know a las-cutter from a lascannon? Not sure which prayer to the God-Emperor will protect you from enemy artillery fire? Need to know how to survive an explosive decompression on your drop ship, or set up a crossfire ambush in a death world jungle? Better consult the handbook. The Munitorum adepts give us these things for a reason, you know...

Collected for the first time in a single kitbag volume, the Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer and the Imperial Munitorum Manual provide a wealth of background on the history, tactics and ethos of the Imperial Guard.

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Fantasy

208 pages, Hardcover

First published November 22, 2012

About the author

Hailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in surveying to work for Games Workshop as a games designer. He has a strong following with his novels Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar, Dead Sky, Black Sun and Storm of Iron.

Reviews

[Avi]

It is clear, The Emperer Protects.

[Jackson]

This is an in-world instruction guide on the workings of the Imperium, as far as it pertains to being a frontline soldier for the Infantry in the 41st millennium - covering topics such as weapon maintenance, support hierarchies, supply lines, battle tactics and stratagems as well as governmentally approved prayers to the Emperor for a variety blessings and spiritual boons.

Admittedly this is an incredibly dry read, but it's also very immersive. The level of detail and work that went into this totally pays off, in my opinion.

The edition I have (and I know there are a few variants of differing quality) is a beautifully presented pocket-sized, clothbound, hardback and it's has a decent amount of small print artwork. It would be perfect for role-players, Imperial Guard mains or Warhammer 40k/Black Library collectors, but it really won't do much, if anything, for those more narrative or character readers.

It really is what it says on the tin, for better or for worse, depending on your expectations.

[Bradley]

I’ve held on to this book for a long ass time without ever giving it a proper read. In the same way many people go about the Bible. How apropos!

There’s a sweet, sweet irony while attending Catholic Church looking at this manual. The parallels are eerie sometimes. Like, either the original W40k peeps grew up catholic and really made something special, or they just have an exorbitant amount of knowledge pertaining to Catholicism. Then again, the parallels with the military are just as eerie. The writers are exceptionally good at portraying the conflicts and valor of brothers in arms, so much so they’ve been accused of being former military.

I find a lot of humor in the handbook. Particularly the list of Punishme- *BLAM*

[Luke Costin]

It’s a bit dry ain’t it? I know, an in universe instruction booklet on procedures and survival tips is always going to read like a Haynes Manual but still you can’t describe it any other way than dry. It had a few funny bits of propaganda but by and large the list of guardsmen equipment doesn’t exactly excite.

[Kyle T]

It's pretty dry because it's literally an in universe manual for your average Imperial Guardsman. There are some cheeky references that'll make you laugh or remember well known novel characters... But it's basically just a manual.

[Arthur B]

Fun in-universe document, particularly useful for LARP purposes. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...

[Cloak88]

Bit dry, but a fun read!

Review to follow

[Conor]

More flavour text than a novel but still some nice worldbuilding snippets. But pricey as is GW custom.

[Jack Keane]

Constantly treads the line between insanely boring and pedantic information about the administratum and genuinely funny tongue in cheek instructional humour, overall it is very true to the real life military primers it is clearly based on and is incredibly well presented if not a little tedious in the opening pages, hard to call it a book so much as a very long leaflet and expensive for what it is (£17.99 ouch!) but still a nice shelf/reference piece for any avid 40k geek.

[Fabian Scherschel]

What a fun book! Everyone who's into Warhammer 40K should buy and read it. The humour is great and it provides a good background to get a feel for how the Imperial Guard works. A must read for any IG player, I would say.

Probably also provides some nice background colouring if you are reading IG novels from the Black Library.

[Bruce Moffatt]

Just bought this today. Rather annoying that they did not include the 'Damocles Gulf' edition of the Uplifting Primer, as it is a more recent printing.
Looks and feels (and reads) like a 40k prop. Hardbound, cloth covered. They really nailed that aspect of it.

[Aleksi]

Great book, and it feels (almost) like an authentic item from the Grim Darkness of the Far Future...

[Ramon Clemente]

Dos en uno. Encontraremos el "Imperial munitorum manual" y "The Imperial Infantryman's uplifting primer". Creo que es una buena compra. En ingles

[Ben]

Fantastic book, perfect for providing inspiration into model choices and army design for those who play 40k!

[Andrew Pritchard]

Do NOT be caught without this in your kit. The Emperor Protects.

[Ernest Russell]

No 40K imperial guard player should be without one. Incredible detail.