Imperial Guards Imperial Guards are a faction of the " Pirates " theme . With their introduction in 1992 , they gradually replaced the " Imperial Soldiers " as main adversaries of the pirates . The older Imperial Soldiers ' sets that continued in production were then categorized as part of the Imperial Guards faction in the catalogue until their discontinuation at the end of 1993 . It can be suggested that the Guards and Soldiers were not actually different factions , rather the Guards was just an update to the Imperial side . The faction was succeeded by the " Imperial Armada " in 1996 , but finally made a comeback when the " Pirates " line was relaunched in 2009 . Details . The Imperial Guards were essentially the same as the Imperial Soldiers , the only main difference being the color of their livery and uniforms . Instead of the Soldiers ' traditional blue jacket with red or yellow epaulets , the Imperial Guards wore a red jacket with blue or yellow epaulets . The blue epaulets are worn by normal soldiers , and the yellow are worn by officers . Their flag also saw a change to a red and white horizontal striped flag with a crown and crossed cannons in the center , in contrast to the Soldiers ' blue flag with a large white cross that divided it into four small blue fields at each of the corners with black fleurs - de - lis on them and with a crown and crossed cannons in the centre . The Imperial Guards seems to be based off of the British of the colonial era , particularly the Royal Navy and Royal Marines , while the Imperial Soldiers seems to represent the French . Along with these new good guys came a much larger base , 6277 Imperial Trading Post , in lieu of the 6276 Eldorado Fortress . But once again , they were outmatched on the open sea , because their new ship , 6271 Imperial Flagship ( replacing the 6274 Caribbean Clipper ) , was still only half the size of the Pirate ' s 6285 Black Seas Barracuda , which was succeeded in 1993 by the even bigger 6286 Skull ' s Eye Schooner . This changed in 2010 , with the release of the new Imperial Flagship , the largest LEGO ship ever released . The Imperial Guards took over the mission the Imperial Soldiers had started . They fought the Pirates and protected the seas from Captain Redbeard , but they were more concerned with the merchant side of events , as their main fort was a trading post . The 1992 Canadian television advertisement introducing the Imperial Guards depicted a narrative where the 6271 Imperial Flagship successfully attacks the 6273 Rock Island Refuge to rescue a trapped ( blue ) Imperial Soldiers trooper . In the 1993 Canadian TV advert , played to the tune of a rap jingle , the cannons of the 6277 Imperial Trading Post destroy the newly introduced pirate ships , the 6286 Skull ' s Eye Schooner and 6268 Renegade Runner . 2009 . In the 2009 sets , they reappear again in a slightly visually updated version , as the Minifigures are seen wearing red jackets with blue epaulets , but the Admiral is seen wearing a dark blue jacket with red epaulets ( or gold epaulets in the Imperial Flagship ) . Also , the troopers wear shakos printed with golden badges and now have bearded faces . The faction is now simply referred to as " Soldiers " in the set names . The soldiers now have a new dedicated military building at their disposal , in contrast to the more civilian trading post from 1992 . At first they only had small boats , but the exclusive set 10210 Imperial Flagship was later released . It is double hulled with three masts , and is is by far the largest ship in the Pirates theme to date with 1664 pieces .