# Catachan Jungle Fighters+Mordian Iron Guard=???



## Lord Solar Macharius (Oct 5, 2010)

Here's something that I was wondering: what if a regiment of Catachan Jungle Fighters was merged with a Mordian Iron Guard regiment? Assuming that the entire regiment doesn't destroy itself via friendly fire within a week, what would its tactics and military doctrines be?


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

Something akin to the French Foreign Legion? In terms of look/flavor, at any rate.

In terms of tactics, the two just don't mix. You can't have a unit that is both excellent at irregular, flexible, and spread-out warfare (a larger unit breaking down into platoons and maneuvering through jungle, for example) AND a facsimile of 19th century musket lines blasting at enemies in massed volleys. It would require for that unit to consciously adopt training a pair of combat doctrines that contradict one another.

And really, when you get down to it, the Mordians are feasible only because the imaginary setting of 40k often requires that airpower and artillery have minimal effect on massed infantry formations moving through open terrain. There's a reason why armies don't arrive at battlefields in massed columns of tens or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers, anymore, and that's because artillery would turn such a scene into a massacre.


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## Lord Solar Macharius (Oct 5, 2010)

Well, I was actually thinking that this hypothetical regiment was formed when several surviving companies of a Mordian regiment were combined with the remnant of a Catachan regiment. 

Tactics-wise, maybe it could be something akin to the Prussian Jaegers?


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

Yeah, it would be very unlikely that the two regiments would blended together into one. As Phoebus pointed out, they are quite dissimilar in their types of warfare. In my experience with the merging of regiments in the fluff, they prefer to mix regiments of the same world first and foremost as the soldiers would more easily mix with those that share their home, culture, customs and dialect/language. And even then, their can be difficulty in mixing those regiments as evident in the first Ciaphas Cain novel. So throwing together two groups of guys from different worlds, with different culture, customs and dialect/language can lead to at best, difficulties in the beginning of their formation and early battles, at worst, leads to a colossal disaster for the regiment.

That being said, it _could_ work if things are taken carefully.


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## Lord Solar Macharius (Oct 5, 2010)

The background for this was that the Mordian Iron Guard and the Catachan Jungle Fighters were called to defend some planet (maybe the Mordians were called in to defend the cities whilst the Catachans fought in the hinterlands?). However, due to casualty rates, the two regiments had little other choice but to merge.

And yes, there is difficulty when they were initially combined (a good chunk of the new regiment was taken out due to friendly fire).


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

I dont think they would merge- they might be 2 remnant regiments fighting co-operatively but from what I've read they simply would not accept each other to be in the same regiment. 
Having said that I could see them working together- give the mordians the task of holding the fixed positions while the catachans go out scouring the enemy from hidden positions (or ambushing themas they manouver).


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

You never know - in the military, particularly none linear formations, such as SF, or more relevant in this instance, Paratroopers, Royal Marines, and Ranger Battalions, they are fairly autonomous units, with several units within the Battalion who each fulfil seperate roles.

For example, I'm a member of the BRF, or the recce sections - my task is hunter killer - while the guys in the rifle sections provide the manpower, and objective securing. For example, they do more House to house clearing, than myself. Yet others are attached to the FSG's - either the Anti Air 50 Cal's, or Anti Armour Missiles. The BRF has much of the Sniper's, while another long rifle/DRM equipped soldier is equipped to a platoon.

The Marksmen are different from Sniper's - Marksmen are just good shots with an enhanced ballistic weapon, whereas Snipers are dedicated personnel with a long rifle. Basically, for CoD Babies, the sniper with a 4-6x Scope on an enhanced rifle (say an M14, or L86) is your DMR, while those equipped with a true Sniper rifle (such as the L118 or M24) are ones who have attended specialised training.

In this instance - Snipers and Infiltrating squads could be Catachan's, while the heavy infantry/grenadiers could be the Mordians.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

The closest example I can think of that would work for this situation would be something approximating the French-Huron army in "Last of the Mohicans" (the Daniel Day-Lewis movie). Something wherein the Mordians undertake their typical combat rule, and the Catachans serve primarily as scouts, skirmishers, and ambushers.

EDIT: Vaz's example is also solid!


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## HorusReborn (Nov 19, 2008)

the Catachans would be excellent forward observers to the Mordians who would set up their gunlines to respond to any new threats. They would also sabotage anything behind enemy lines to aid them.


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## TRU3 CHAOS (May 21, 2010)

If they mixed? Well I think they'd pretty much have to all fight like how the Iron Guard usually fight. Its the only way they'd be able to fight as a whole. If they were all over the place it could be disasterous.


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

Some good ideas on how they could work together effectively, but it would still be unlikely that they would be merged together into a single regiment. Normally, it just wouldn't happen. Now if they were involved in a brutal campaign and the two regiments were cut off from their lines, forced to fight together to survive for a prolonged period of time and bonding through combat. Then when they finally get relief from the rest of the Imperial forces, the Command decides to keep the survivors together into a single regiment and keep them fighting, I could see that happening.


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## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

IIRC this exact situation happened to Gaunts ghosts when they became so depleted and were unable to reinforce that they were bolstered first from the hive world they had liberated and then from another regiment that had been just as badly decimated. What tends to happen is that the regiment that is in theminority will be expected to adjust to the style of warfare that is utilised by the more numerous regiment. IN the case of the ghosts both regiments were stealth specialists but had a different unit disposition and used a different selection of special weapons. Basically the only tension was when it came to working out which guardsmen to keep as snipers and which should give up their longlas in favour of the standard issue rifle.

In the case of the mordians and catachan i would imagine that they would stay as seperate units and do what they do best. The catachans would keep their skirmish role and try to compliment the block infantry of the mordians. I wouldn't be surprised if they cross trained with some of the sneakier mordians being trained into the catachan regiment and the more disciplined catachans being formed up with the infantry. It would be a foolish commander who tried to force a regiment to change its ethos just because he is now in charge. I'm pretty sure he would become the victim of an unfortunate friendly fire incident pretty quickly.

Of course it is possible that the more numerous regiment could forld the other into their unit and make sure that they are completely trained up, though i imagine Catachan firedrills and mordian stealth abilities will require a lot of work before they would be considered equals of the other.


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