The Catachan Jungle Fighters are the fearsome Imperial Guard Regiments from Catachan, the most notorious Death World in the Imperium.
Via our good friends at Lexicanum
The Catachan Jungle Fighters also known as “Baby Ogryns” due to their slabs of muscle, are the fearsome Imperial Guard Regiments from Catachan, the most notorious Death World in the Imperium. Because of this, Catachans have a well-deserved reputation as the deadliest jungle-warfare experts in the galaxy. Extremely resourceful and uncompromising warriors, they are skilled up close with their specialised and brutal close combat blades or from ambush with their lasguns. In jungle terrain they are unsurpassed, with each Catachan being worth ten of any other regiment. Their ranks include some of the deadliest men in the Imperium, including the legendary “One Man Army” Sly Marbo and “Stonetooth” Harker, a man who’s endurance and strength could rival a Space Marine.
On Catachan, every day is a battle to survive. Even Space Marines are said to avoid this hellish planet. Every animal species on the planet is carnivorous, and every plant species is poisonous. 50% of the planet’s human population does not survive infancy, and 50% of the remainder does not live past the age of ten. Every day is spent fighting on the deadliest planet in the galaxy. Those Catachans who reach adulthood are natural survivors, invariably some of the hardiest and deadliest souls in the Imperium this has insured that Catachans are naturally superior to any normal Human and trained well beyond the capabilities of any Munitorum jungle warfare school. The Jungle Fighters are Catachan’s only resource; since the planet offers no source of sustenance and only death, the planet’s inhabitants are dependent on food and supplies shipped from off-planet, in return for the elite Jungle Fighters’ service in the Imperial Guard – an obligation they are proud to fulfill.
Catachan regiments generally lack Commissars. Even these tough and uncompromising officers are unable to assert their authority over the Catachan soldiers; in fact, they are resented by troops, and it is not uncommon for Commissars assigned to Catachan regiments to be “fragged” by their own troops. Ogryns however – who may well have evolved on Catachan themselves – commonly fight in Catachan regiments. Due to their heavily developed physiques, normal human Catachans are sometimes referred to as “Baby Ogryns.” The closest thing the jungle fighters have to Storm Troopers, Catachan regiments include squads of warriors exceptional even by the exacting standards of their birth world. In Catachan regiments these are called “Catachan Devils,” in reference to their famous kill-knives and the voracious predators of their world whose fierceness they emulate in combat. These elite squads consist of one veteran Sergeant and between four and nine “Catachan Devil” Guardsmen. Some squads may even include a veteran officer. Catachans are known to wear red bandanas that symbolize a blood oath they take when joining a regiment. They sport tattoos and commonly dull their regimental badges with soot and soil so as to not reveal their position. Disdainful of the acquisition of medals by other regiments, tattoos are used as a way of marking battle honors such as the use of skull emblems to mark five years service, daggers to mark a decade of service and the skull and crosshairs to denote a marksman
A common rite of passage among Jungle Fighters is for junior soldiers to earn their “Catachan name,” a sobriquet that acknowledges their battle experiences and/or some notable quality of theirs. For example, Colonel Straken’s nickname “Iron Hand” comes from the bionic arm which replaced the one he lost to a Miral Land Shark, while Gunnery Sergeant “Stonetooth” Harker’s reputation for toughness is such that he was able to kill a Tyranid Ravener by crushing its neck between his biceps, and was rumored to chew glass the way other men chew tobacco (though this latter is probably an exaggeration).
The standard Catachan Lasgun is the Mk.IV Lascarbine. Catachans make use of many close combat weapons including the Catachan fang, measuring up to 20 inches of gleaming steel, which is the most common weapon. It is also used for settling disputes between Catachans. Another knife is the Night Reaper, which is smaller and blackened, effective in night infiltration and assassinations. They are sometimes poisoned to improve their kill strength, the poisons coming directly from Catachan. The Devil’s Claw, named after the great predator on Catachan, is the longest weapon, up to four feet long. It is closer to a sword than a knife and has achieved status among the Orks who call it ‘Da Cutta’. The blade is hollow and half filled with mercury in order to improve swing strength and control, and the design of this weapon has been copied by Catachan regimental officers for use as a power weapon. As specialists in ambush tactics, the Jungle Fighters also make notable use of demolition charges and improvised explosives, as well as possessing their own sniper cadre. Their preferred heavy and special weapons are the Flamer and Heavy Bolter.
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