Leave No Man Behind: Catachans In 5th ED

As you can undoubtedly tell from the photo, I've been busy at work; you know flying around Iraq taking photos and such. But wait! I chose this photo because it is the perfect segue into my next two part miniseries: Catachans in 5th ED. Now how, you are surely thinking, does this photo relate to the Catachans or 40k? Well friends, it's simple: firstly we have a photo of AirCav in action (ok not really); and secondly, look at that death world! Ok so Iraq's not that bad, it's more of a Tallarn than a Catachan but whatever you get my drift..

With that said, part one will discuss the KISS method of making a more "fluffy" (oh god I just broke like a million interwebz cardinal rules of 40K), which is basically the easy way of incorporating more "traditional" Catachan elements into an IG list. Part two will focus more on revamping Codex: Catachan as a whole to bring it into 5th ED tolerance. These are all ideas really, and would require some play testing as well as opponents permission if you all dared to brave the crazy ideas I have and use them in a game. And so, let's begin...

5th ED is all about customization and options. The tone was set with Codex: Space Marines and their ability to make different lists depending upon the Special Character used. For all intents and purposes, you could now effectively field a Raven Guard Army or a Salamanders Army and make those armies fluffy and competitive. So I eagerly awaited the release of Codex: Imperial Guard thinking that finally we could make pure Elysian Armies or Pure Mordian Armies, or, in the context of this article, Pure Catachan Armies. How I figured GW would do this was of course through some crazy ability/FOC unlocking system akin to the Space Marines. Well much to my chagrin, C:IG didn't meet these lofty expectations of mine. While they have some very awesome SC's, the lack of FOC unlocking or army wide abilities was a semi let down. Fast forward to last week, I reacquired a copy of Codex: Catachan (C:C) and much to my amazement I discovered our good friend COL. Straken and his awesome FOC altering ability of allowing Catachan Devil Squads to be taken as Troops. This was the spark that fired my overactive and over-worked imagination and so, here are the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principles of bringing the Catachans back by doing very minor adjustments / additions to the current C:IG

Firstly, I figured we could shamelessly steal the idea from C:C of Straken unlocking some cool units. So change 1 would be allowing Straken to unlock 0-3 Catachan Devil Squads as an Elites choice and 0-1 Booby Traps as a HW choice. Why? Well as is, in an elite Guard style army (think AirCav or even Mech Vet) there are very few...worthwhile Elites choices that are effective AND fluffy to these styles of army. Straken's unlock ability is a chance to rectify this and allow for a unique and competitive choice.

So now we have a new unit, the "Catachan Devils". Who or what are they? Quite simply, they are slightly stronger Vets. The one thing that struck me about C:C was how GW basically gutted it by taking most of the strong units in their (like Devils) and watering them down a bit to make them more acceptable as regular units in :IG (i.e. Veteran Squads). Problem is, they watered down some of the elements that made them unique and fluffy. Therefore, to bring them back into the 5th ED fold, they would be basically be:

Catachan Devil Squad:
Cost: 90 pts
Stats: As per C: IG "Veteran Squad" with +1 WS
Weapons: Lasgun, CCW, Laspistol, frag/krak
Options: As per C: IG "Veteran Squad", no options for doctrines, no option for dedicated transport.
Special Rules: Infiltrate, Stealth, Move Through Cover (all as per 40K Rulebook), Ambush

Basically they are a slightly more powerful Vet Squad. The difference is that they have a completely different role and mission set. Whereas regular Veteran Squads can be widely used as either a mobile strike force (in Valks or Chims) or a solid base of fire, the Devils are a more specialized force that is truly a pure disruption style unit. For cost comparison, here's a quick break down of two squads:

AirCav Veteran Squad: 2X Melta, 1x HF, PW, Demolitions: 150pts
Devil Squad: 2X Melta, 1X HF, PW: 140pts

Before people say "wait they're cheaper! Unfair!" think of this: they can't take a transport and they can't get doctrines. In place of that they get 3 USR's. It is a fairly even trade off, doctrines and transport in exchange for 3 USR's and 1 Special Rule. Where the AirCav unit can do all and fit in anywhere (and can have a dedicated transport...or ride in a Valk) the Devils cannot. Given the lack of vehicular support or even carapace armor, Devils are weak in that they RELY upon terrain to make them survivable. Take away terrain (or mitigate it with template weapons), they become a slightly more expensive Vet Squad.

Moving along, since I mentioned this new rule (well it's "new" to those of you who haven't played 3rd ED Catachan), "Ambush" is, in my opinion, the one thing that really distinguishes the Devils from a normal Vet Squad. The rules for "Ambush" in 3rd ED were somewhat obtuse and complicated and I feel 5th ED has a system already in place that accurately represents this ability. So, in "keeping it simple", "Ambush" in 5th ED would work exactly like the "Dormant" rule for Ymgarl Genestealers, with the following caveats:

- The unit must fit entirely within the piece of terrain or no more than 1" outside of it
- The unit is automatically "discovered" if an enemy unit comes within 1" of the terrain piece. If this happens, the Devil Squad is immediately placed in the piece of terrain. The discovering unit may not shoot/assault the Devil Squad, but other enemy units may.
- Assuming they aren't discovered, they arrive as per the rules for "Dormant". They may move/shoot/assault as normal the turn they appear.

With this rule, they become a "go big or go home" disruption unit. A smart opponent will move towards all terrain quickly in order to not only force the Devils to appear, but also to get cover saves. On the other hand, if the enemy doesn't do this, or just picks the wrong terrain pieces, there's the possibility of a nasty unit appearing on your doorstep, loaded out with some heavy firepower (3X meltas and a Missile Launcher? Yikes!) This unit could either be a colossal flop or a game changer.

Next up, Straken would allow 1 Squad of Ratling Snipers to be upgraded to a Death World Sniper Squad for +30pts. The upgraded unit would not be able to add additional Snipers and would have one new rule, "Death World Toxins" which would allow them to re-roll wounds (just like in C:C). Additionally, they would gain the IC rule, allowing them to set up separately and alone. So you end up getting 3 DW Snipers for the cost of 6 regular Ratlings, but instead of bodies, you get 1 new rule and the Snipers become IC's.

Finally, the last thing Straken would do is unlock the option for 0-1 Booby Traps as a Heavy Support Choice, where you could get 3 Booby Traps for that 1 HS slot. These would also follow the set up rules for "Dormant" and "Ambush" with the following changes:
- they are not held in Reserve and thus cannot become available
- they are triggered when an enemy unit goes into, through, out of, or within 1" of the terrain piece it is hidden in.

The choices and rules for Booby Traps would be the same as in C:C, with some minor tweaks:
- Plasma Charge: 30pts; same S and AP, use small Blast template
-Shredder Mine: same price, S4 and AP remains the same, as does the template.
- Spring Mine: same price, S5 AP4, use large blast
- Trap: remains the same

To add some more Catachan flavor doesn't require wide ranging rules changes or a whole new Codex. In fact, bringing our Rambo wannabes into 5th ED would require an additional ability to an already existing character, 3 new units for the Guard 'dex, and 2 new Special Rules. None of these add ons are game breaking or "OTT", and in fact fit perfectly in with the current incarnation of the Guard codex. The benefit is it allows for a more fluffy, yet competitive, Catachan style (or Death World style) force. Heck, it would even allow GW to create a new model line, or at least revamp the Catachan model line so players would have more bits to play with to make and customize their own "Devil Force".

To summarize, the KISS method of bringing the Catachans and other Death Worlders into 5th ED would require:
- Straken having 1 more ability to alter the FOC (allow for 2 more Elite Choices and 1 more HS choice)
- Introduce 3 "new" units (two of which is already in C:IG, and both are really just slightly boosted versions of them)
- Introduce two "new" rules

If only GW had considered doing things like this when writing the IG codex, it would be possible to create fluffy/themed and competitive armies. This could have been done for all the major IG armies, so Alrahem, Mogul Kamir, Chenkov, Creed, etc. could have all allowed for minor FOC adjustments to have been made (in addition to their normal bonuses). I mean I think it would have been pretty awesome that if you took Kamir, Rough Riders could count as scoring, or would be considered Troops instead of FA.

That's it for part one! Part two will be up shortly, in which I will actually tear apart Codex: Catachan and rebuild it for 5th ED, with honestly only minor changes (primarily relating to points costs). After that, I will FINALLY post the map and recruitment thread for the 3++ Campaign: Assault on Kastorel-Novem II: The Revenge. Hope you all enjoyed reading this rambling of mine and if you have any input as to what YOU'D do to bring the Catachans into 5th ED (or ANY of the old Guard Regiments of Renown), I'd love to hear it!