The people of Cadia were forged by geography and duty into perhaps the most professional soldiers in human space. Their world lay astride the only stable passage through a vast and ceaseless warp tempest, making it the linchpin of the Imperium's defence against the daemonic and the heretical alike. Every Cadian learned to strip and reassemble a lasgun before adolescence, and civilian life was indistinguishable from military readiness.
Cadian regiments were the disciplined heart of countless Imperial campaigns, prized for their steadiness, their marksmanship, and their absolute refusal to break. They fought in interlocking fields of fire, held ground with stubborn tenacity, and executed complex manoeuvres under conditions that shattered lesser troops. Their distinctive fatigues and battle-scarred helmets became a symbol of Imperial resolve across a thousand war zones.
When catastrophe finally engulfed their homeworld and the fortress fell, the surviving Cadians did not cease to fight. Scattered and grieving, they carried their traditions into the wider Imperium, determined that the discipline of their people would outlive the ground that had bred it. To this day their name is spoken as a byword for the unyielding soldier.
Order of battle
The Cadian Shock Troops field the units of the Astra Militarum, a detachment from the roster:
Other Astra Militarum formations
Armageddon Steel LegionForged on a poisoned hive world locked in endless war against the greenskin, the Armageddon Steel Legion are the foremost mechanised infantry of the Astra Militarum. They ride to battle sealed within Chimera transports, their faces hidden behind rebreathers that filter their world's toxic air. Tempered by successive Ork invasions on their own soil, they are grim, methodical, and utterly unyielding.
Catachan Jungle FightersFrom a death world of predatory flora and monstrous fauna come the Catachans, the deadliest close-quarters and guerrilla fighters in the Astra Militarum. To reach adulthood on Catachan is itself a feat of survival, and those who muster into its regiments bring an animal instinct for ambush, sabotage, and the killing blade. They despise parade-ground discipline but excel where the fighting is dirtiest.
Death Korps of KriegThe Death Korps of Krieg are grim specialists in siege and attrition warfare, drawn from a blasted world that atoned for an ancient rebellion through centuries of self-imposed sacrifice. Masked, silent, and utterly fatalistic, they regard their own deaths as a debt owed to the Emperor. No regiment endures the horrors of trench warfare and grinding sieges with such uncomplaining resolve.
Elysian Drop TroopsThe Elysian Drop Troops descend from the heavens feet-first into the deadliest war zones the Imperium can devise. Light, fast, and lavishly trained in airborne assault, they drop by grav-chute and rappel from Valkyrie carriers to seize objectives far behind enemy lines. Once grounded, they melt into ambush and guerrilla warfare, trusting to mobility where they cannot trust to numbers.
Mordian Iron GuardFrom a tidally locked world of eternal night come the Mordian Iron Guard, perhaps the most rigidly disciplined line infantry in the entire Astra Militarum. Resplendent in immaculate parade dress even amid the carnage of battle, they stand shoulder to shoulder and pour disciplined volleys into the foe. Where lesser men break and flee, the Iron Guard hold their ground, unmoved by terror or slaughter.
Savlar Chem-DogsThe Savlar Chem-Dogs are penal regiments scraped from the poisoned mining moons of Savlar, where convicts toil and die amid toxic chemical deposits. Driven not by discipline but by greed and the promise of plunder, they are filthy, treacherous, and astonishingly effective in the very dirtiest fighting. The Imperium tolerates their crimes only because so few regiments kill with such vicious enthusiasm.
Tallarn Desert RaidersHailing from an irradiated desert world, the Tallarn Desert Raiders are the Astra Militarum's foremost practitioners of mobile and mechanised warfare. Masters of the hit-and-run strike, they wear down their foes with speed, patience, and relentless raiding rather than head-on assault. Their armoured columns strike from nowhere and are gone before the dust settles.
Valhallan Ice WarriorsBred in the frozen warrens of a shattered ice world, the Valhallan Ice Warriors are masters of attrition, siege, and the long war of endurance. They wed massed artillery to relentless infantry assault, spending lives without hesitation to grind an enemy down to nothing. Cold, stoic, and inured to every hardship, they have no equal when a campaign becomes a contest of sheer, unbreakable will.
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