Ocelot

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An Ocelot is a specialised Guardsmen in the Imperial Guard. Ocelots are rare jump infantry units employed by certain Imperial Guard Regiments. They are only employed by a few Regiments at current, but their use is slowly becoming more common.
==Overview==
It has long been the opinion of many Imperial strategists that Jump Packs would be wasted on Guardsmen, as they are usually poor in areas of Close Quarters Combat, tending to favor long range volleys instead. As such the use of Jump Packs has been traditionaly left to the more heavily armed and armoured troops, such as Space Marines and Sisters of Battle.
However there are many within the Regiments that believe it is irresponsible to deny the Guard the kind of freedom of mobility that the Jump Pack offers. As such these units of Ocelots have begun to be used more often than in the past. These rare Jump Infantry are used by the Guard for scouting, Hit-and-Run tactics and assaulting positions that are too difficult to reach by land vehicles or Guardsmen on foot.
As these units are rare, and the training and equipment costly, they are usually only made up of Veteran Guardsmen. They are usually considered the best soldiers in their respective Regiments with the exception of Grenadiers and Storm Troopers.
They are generally looked down on by traditional Assault Marines, who often refer to them by the derogatory term "Fleas".
==History==
The beginning of the troops known as Ocelots began at the Seige of Balact. A force of Craftworld Eldar had taken the planet for unknown reasons, and were holding it against Imperial retaliation. Several Imperial Guard Regiments, and elements from a few Space marine Chapters were mobilized in response.
True to form the Eldar primarily used their superior mobility to outmaneuvre Imperial forces to hold them off. There was one major exception to this. The Eldar had taken over an extremely secure, and isolated fort within one of the planet's mountain ranges, and were using it as their stronghold.
Among the Imperial troops that were assigned the task of retaking the fortress was the Berloran 125th Regiment, led by Colonel Arut. Arut was becoming increasingly frustrated at the task of taking the fortress. Due to unstable terrain they were unable to use their vehicles. The fortress was at a place that was difficult to reach, and the Eldar were employing skillful defences that made getting to it nearly impossible on foot. To make matters worse the Imperial Navy elements that had been assigned to them were in a desperate struggle with Eldar aircraft, so he had no access to Valkyries. The task was looking pointless.
Midway through the seige Arut noticed the corpse of a fallen Assualt Marine on the battlefeild. After inspecting the Marine he had an epiphany. He immediately ordered the Techpriests assigned to his regiment to begin work in developing Jump Packs for the use of Guardsmen. After many days of research the Techpriests produced effective Jump Packs for Guardsmen. These new Ocelots proved essential to ending the seige.
Since then these troops have become a permanent feature of the Berloran 125th, and other Regiments are slowly starting to utilise them as well.
==Battlefield Role==
In battle the Ocelots act as a highly mobile strike force. Their use of Jump packs allows them to both engage and disengage enemies quickly, making them excellent for use in Hit-and-Run tactics. When in a fire fight the Ocelots are great at using their Jump Packs to outmaneuver the enemy, using their mobilty to engage their opponents from a position in which they have the advantage. They are also good at supporting their comrades on the battlefield, being able to quickly redeploy to reinforce their comrades as need be.
Depending upon what role they are to play on the battlefield, the Ocelots may have a wide variety of weapons. Ocelots who are being used to assault a difficult position may be armed with close quarters weaponry such as Shotguns, flamers and Chainblades. If they are to act as instant reaction, scouting or Hit-and-Run roles they will be armed with lighter, longer ranged arms. It is even quite normal for small teams of Ocelots to act as highly mobile Snipers on the battlefield. Whatever the situation, the Ocelots can be equiped to handle it.
Category:Imperial Guard
Category:Troops