10.10.2026Omnissiah

Imperial Guard Books: Where to Start

The Imperial Guard — officially the Astra Militarum — is where Warhammer 40,000 fiction shows the war through ordinary human eyes. A short reading path through the regiments, commissars and tank crews in our catalog.

Space Marines get the covers, but the Imperium is held together by its human soldiers: billions of Guardsmen with lasguns, tanks and artillery. Black Library has written about them for more than twenty-five years, under two names — the older Imperial Guard and the current Astra Militarum. The books are the same tradition, and they are often the easiest way into Warhammer 40,000: the heroes are mortal, the stakes are personal, and you need very little lore to follow them.

Below is a reading path built only from books in the Ordo Lectoris catalog. It starts with the two long-running series most readers begin with, then moves to stand-alone novels grouped by what they show best: Cadia, the famous regiments, and the tank crews.

EXTERNAL LINKAstra MilitarumAll Imperial Guard books in the catalog

Gaunt's Ghosts: the classic first step

Dan Abnett's series follows Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only, a regiment whose home world was lost on the day of its founding. It is the most common answer to "which Imperial Guard book first?", and the first three novels — often collected together as The Founding — work as a self-contained arc.

First and OnlyDan Abnett · ~765.M41Start here. Trench warfare on Fortis Binary turns into a conspiracy at the top of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, and the novel sets up Gaunt, his Ghosts and the crusade they serve.

GhostmakerDan Abnett · 765.M41Read second. Before a battle on Monthax, Gaunt walks the lines and the book looks back at the regiment's past, including the founding on Tanith — it fills in who the Ghosts are.

NecropolisDan Abnett · 768.M41The third book and the arc's large-scale war: a siege between two hive cities on Verghast. Many readers rate it as the point where the series fully finds its scale.

EXTERNAL LINKGaunt's GhostsThe full series in publication order

Ciaphas Cain: the same war, with a smile

Sandy Mitchell's commissar is a celebrated hero who privately considers himself a coward and tells his story in a dry, self-mocking voice. The series is the lightest-toned corner of the Astra Militarum shelf and a good choice if the grimness of 40K is what has kept you away.

For the EmperorSandy Mitchell · 931.M41The first novel: Cain and a newly merged Valhallan regiment on a world near tau space, where an uprising hides a third party. Read it first — later books lean on the characters introduced here.

Caves of IceSandy Mitchell · ~932.M41The second novel: an ice world, a promethium plant, orks — and something worse in the mines. A natural next step if the first book's tone worked for you.

EXTERNAL LINKCiaphas CainNovels and short stories of the series

The Last Chancers: a penal legion

13th LegionGav Thorpe · ~995.M41Gav Thorpe's convict soldiers of the 13th Penal Legion fight for redemption across many war zones, narrated by Lieutenant Kage. Harsher than Gaunt or Cain, and the first book of its series.

EXTERNAL LINKLast ChancersThe penal legion series

Cadia: the fortress world

Cadia guarded the Eye of Terror for ten thousand years, and its soldiers are the archetypal Guardsmen. These books cover Cadians at war, the world's fall to Abaddon's Thirteenth Black Crusade, and what its survivors did next. Major events are named in the publisher's descriptions, so there is little to spoil here, but the details are best met in the books.

Cadian BloodAaron Dembski-Bowden · ~999.M41A stand-alone by Aaron Dembski-Bowden: Cadian Guardsmen sent to retake a shrine world overrun by the plague of Nurgle. A good way to meet Cadians before the big events.

Cadia StandsJustin D. Hill · ~999.M41Justin D. Hill's account of the Thirteenth Black Crusade striking Cadia, with Lord Castellan Ursarkar Creed leading the defence. The first book of the Cadia series.

Cadian HonourJustin D. Hill · ~012.M42The follow-up: Sergeant Minka Lesk and the survivors of the Cadian 101st after their world is gone. Read after Cadia Stands.

The Fall of CadiaRobert Rath · 999.M41Robert Rath's large-scale telling of Cadia's last stand, from high command to the front line and Abaddon's own camp. It works on its own, or as a wider view after Cadia Stands.

EXTERNAL LINKCadiaJustin D. Hill's Cadian novels

Regiments and soldiers: stand-alone novels

The Astra Militarum line is a set of independent novels, each built around one regiment or one soldier. None of them requires another, so pick by what interests you.

Fifteen HoursMitchell ScanlonA seventeen-year-old conscript thrown into a war against orks where a new Guardsman's life expectancy is fifteen hours. The most direct "soldier's eye view" on this list and a fine first book.

Death WorldSteve LyonsCatachan Jungle Fighters on a death world, fighting orks and the planet itself. Pairs naturally with the next two.

StrakenToby Frost · 926.M41Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken and his Catachans against orks on a cavern world, under the eye of a hostile commissar. A character novel about one of the Guard's best-known officers.

Catachan DevilJustin WoolleyA newer Catachan story: a barely trained survivor from another regiment has to earn the Jungle Fighters' respect on a swamp world held by orks.

Dead Men WalkingSteve LyonsThe Death Korps of Krieg, as unfeeling as the necrons they face, on a mining world. The catalog's Krieg novel.

Honourbound: Severina RaineRachel HarrisonRachel Harrison's Commissar Severina Raine serves with the Antari Rifles in a crusade against a Chaos cult. A commissar seen from a very different angle than Cain or Gaunt.

Tank crews

The Guard's armour has its own small shelf: books where the main character is a crew and their machine.

GunheadsSteve Parker · 998.M41Sergeant Wulfe's tank company is sent to find Commissar Yarrick's lost Fortress of Arrogance on an ork world. A straightforward armoured war story.

BanebladeGuy Haley · ~397.M41Guy Haley's super-heavy tank Mars Triumphant and its crew in a long campaign against orks, where old clan rivalries within the regiment matter as much as the enemy.

Steel TreadAndy ClarkAn outsider given command of a Leman Russ Demolisher in a Cadian regiment, under the light of the Great Rift. The most recent of the three and a good read for the crew dynamics.

EXTERNAL LINKAstra Militarum seriesThe stand-alone Imperial Guard novels in one list

What next

If you want one book, take First and Only or Fifteen Hours; if you want something lighter, For the Emperor. From there, follow whichever thread caught you — the rest of Gaunt's Ghosts, the Cadian novels or the stand-alone line. All of these stories are set in the 41st Millennium, and the timeline page shows where they sit among the rest of the setting.

EXTERNAL LINK41st MillenniumThe era on the timeline