Mordian is a hive world of the Segmentum Obscurus, now cut off within the benighted reaches of Imperium Nihilus. It turns in perfect lockstep with its star, one face forever scorched to cinders and the other plunged into unending darkness, so that all human habitation clings to the cold, sunless hemisphere. Small wonder it is named the World of Eternal Night, a miserable and unforgiving place ruled with absolute, autocratic severity by a body known as the Tetrarchs, whose iron control was born of the planet's cruelly rationed resources.
Such an existence breeds a hard and dour people, and it is discipline above all that the Iron Guard carry into war. Their reverence for the chain of command is total, drilled into them until obedience becomes instinct. They are famed across the Imperium for the quality of their infantry and for the bright, elaborately decorated uniforms they wear into combat exactly as they wear them on the parade ground.
Those gleaming colours have deceived many an enemy into believing they face mere ceremonial soldiers with no stomach for real fighting. That error is swiftly and fatally corrected. The Iron Guard advance in ordered ranks and answer the foe with precise, withering volleys of lasfire, holding formation where other regiments would rout. It is said that while lesser men fled screaming before the horrors of Chaos, the Mordians simply stood their ground and kept firing, volley after disciplined volley, until either the enemy or the last of them lay dead.
Order of battle
The Mordian Iron Guard 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.
Cadian Shock TroopsRaised on a fortress world that stood sentinel beside the Imperium's greatest warp storm, the Cadians were the finest line infantry the Astra Militarum ever produced. Bred from birth for war and drilled to machine-like precision, they became the standard by which all other regiments were measured. Their discipline under fire was legendary, and their sacrifice in the defence of their homeworld passed into grim Imperial legend.
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.
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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