Commissars - The inhabitants of Death Worlds like Catachan are usually fiercely independent souls. Outsiders have difficulty earning their respect, particularly commissars who tend to "come on all high an' mighty." These Death World warriors are also very unsubtle in demonstrating disapproval and for this reason such regiments suffer a much higher attritional rate amongst their commissars than those from other, more civilised worlds. Envenomed Blade - More sword than knife, the Envenomed Blade is a unique Catachan Knife carried by Sly Marbo that is coated with toxins so deadly that they can make even the smallest flesh wound fatal. Marbo wields this blade with horrifying skill, butchering his enemies with mechanical efficiency.

Catachans exhibit a fearless and gung-ho attitude to danger. Thanks to the brutal environment in which they are raised, they are physically and mentally resilient on a level that much of Humanity simply cannot match. Cunning, resourceful and uncompromising, Catachans must be born survivors simply to reach adulthood on their homeworld.In the Third War for Armageddon, Sly Marbo once more waged his one-man war against the Orks. His skill and experience often led to him being despatched into Armageddon's industrial wastelands alone, where he triumphed in battle against entire Greenskin companies, a task that usually required the skills of a dozen or so elite Assassins.

Mysterious and aloof, little is known of Marbo's origins and most of what's told remains rumour and speculation. Only Colonel Traupman, Marbo's mentor and original commanding officer, knows the details of his past. It is said that he was one of ten brothers who were inducted into the Catachan XII Regiment, and that during fighting against WAAAGH! Urgok on Ryza all were killed. However, tales abound of a lone Guardsman returning two solar weeks later with the head of the Ork Warlord, a single bullet hole clearly visible between the Greenskin's eyes. Veteran Snipers - The Catachans recruit their own snipers from amongst their finest marksmen. These snipers will take up a position for hours, even days before a battle just to find the perfect spot in the trees or amongst the roots and will conceal themselves fully before the enemy draws near. Concentrated sniper fire can throw enemy units into complete confusion, as the snipers are almost impossible to spot in the dense jungle canopy of the environments where the Catachans usually serve. Most companies have up to three Veteran Snipers that act autonomously. Because of these creatures and innumerable others, life on Catachan is unimaginably harsh; fifty percent of the planet's Human population does not survive infancy, and fifty percent of the remainder does not live past the age of ten solar years. Those who do reach adulthood are invariably among the toughest, most uncompromising and resourceful warriors in the Imperium, masters of surviving in one of the most inhospitable environments in the galaxy. With little to offer the Imperium but their lives, many Catachans are recruited into the Imperial Guard, their skills such that each one of them is worth a dozen other guardsmen when fighting in dense jungle.

The Wrap-Up

Spiker - The spiker, another deadly plant, fires its eponymous spikes into its victims' bodies, which contain a virus that seeks to replicate the spiker's own DNA in the new host and unleash a series of mutative biochemical reactions which literally transforms the person into another spiker over time. Catachan raises dozens of regiments for the Astra Militarum every standard year, their skills honed to a knife-edge upon the world of their birth. Viewing daily survival upon Catachan as but a microcosm of Humanity's wider struggle, the Death World's warriors proudly answer the Emperor's call to arms. The following are the most common Catachan Knives found throughout the Catachan Jungle Fighters regiments. The native animals are as deadly to Humanity as the plant life. For instance, the massive insectoid predator called the Catachan Devil possesses jaws as big as a tank and is a major threat to Human population centres on the world. The Shambling Mamorphs of the volcanic regions are also a great danger to Human settlement.

The colonists only barely survived, holed up in their spacecraft against a living, besieging jungle, a battle for survival in which undoubtedly many of them died before they finally managed to learn enough about their new homeworld to survive, if not thrive, beneath its jungle canopies. Catachan B They are able to move with surprising speed for something of their size, being superbly adapted to move across a large variety of terrain. Once capturing a victim, the Devil will shred it with razor claws or, alternatively, will sting into insensibility with short tentacles, located around its maw. The mouth itself is extendable and consist not teeth but a bony hooks, lining around it and tearing apart the meat of prey. The victim will then be consumed. [3] [5]After the formation of the Great Rift following the Fall of Cadia at the dawn of the Era Indomitus, Catachan was caught within the malignant Warp rift and exposed to a massive Daemonic invasion. However when Roboute Guilliman's Indomitus Crusade arrived at Catachan, its Astartes found that the local Catachan regiments had already dealt with the threat entirely on their own. Entire regiments may be drawn from small geographical areas. It is not uncommon for many squads to be made up of men related to each other. Cousin fights alongside cousin, brother alongside brother and quite often all serve under an uncle or, in rare circumstances, a grandfather. These close-knit structures have resulted in levels of trust and teamwork that are virtually unparalleled within the Imperial Guard.