Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pg.

Codex: Astra Militarum (6th Edition), pg.

However, in the end, all the different forms of Flak Armour serve the same purpose and provide the same level of protection, differing only by the environmental demands of the battlefield and the traditions of the unit deployed to fight in them. Many Imperial Guard regiments customise their armour as a result of their own specific cultural and environmental needs.įor instance, the Cadian Shock Troops regiments of the Astra Militarum use the most common pattern of Flak Armour, including helmets, breastplates and shoulder pauldrons as illustrated above, while the Valhallan Ice Warriors prefer to incorporate their Flak Armour in the form of an overcoat that provides protection from the frigid conditions that prevail on their ice-covered homeworld. Rarer still, cameleoline fabric can be incorporated into the outermost layer of some Imperial Guard regiments' fatigues to enhance their ability to conceal themselves.Īlthough Flak Armour is overall a relatively low grade of personal infantry armour, it is incredibly cheap and easy to manufacture for the Imperium, thus making it among the most popular forms of personal protection in the galaxy with a variety of the starfaring races.įlak Armour is most often used by the Astra Militarum, Imperial Planetary Defence Forces and the armsmen of the Imperial Navy, but is also used by many other intelligent races' military forces, including the Orks and the nearly-extinct Squats.ĭue to the sheer diversity of military formations that make use of Flak Armour, there is no standardised format for it, either in the Astra Militarum or other services. Thermal-absorbent materials, applied to the armour's outer layer, can reduce the thermal signature of the soldiers using it and provide an enhanced capability to remain invisible to enemy forces during night reconnaissance missions.

The materials commonly used in the construction of Flak Armour include carbon-fibre, plasfibre and thermoplas strips, although a number of different materials can be integrated in non-standard suits of the armour intended for more specialised uses. The ablative properties of its ceramic construction are also excellent at heat dispersal, thus providing a small measure of protection from glancing hits with directed energy weapons like Lasguns. The armour provides little protection from a direct weapons strike, though the protection it provides is sufficient to deflect damage from shrapnel, adjacent, though not direct explosions, and ricochets. Flak Armour is manufactured from multiple layers of ablative and shock-absorbent materials that are primarily ceramic in origin and are intended to deflect and absorb the kinetic energy of a weapons strike or blow.

Warhammer 40k imperial guard armor