Catachan Jungle Fighters - Notable Campaigns: Macharian Crusade (392-399.M41) - Large numbers of Catachan Jungle Fighter regiments participated in Lord Solar Macharius' Macharian Crusade to expand Imperial rule into vast new territories on the fringe of the galaxy.First Tyrannic War (745.M41) - Catachan Jungle Fighter regiments were deployed across the galaxy during the First Tyrannic War to stop the advance of Hive Fleet Behemoth.Assault on Kato (762.M41) - The Catachan MXIV "Unseen Lurkers," led by Colonel "Steel Eye" Black, battle against Orks from the Deathskulls clan on the shadow world on Kator. Dire visibility and exceptionally rough terrain reduce the war to a never-ending string of bloody skirmishes that test the skills of the Catachan infantry to their limits. Neither side is able to gain an advantage until Sentinel teams locate and destroy the Orks' Stompa factory, hidden in the depths of the Widow Valley. The Deathskulls respond by launching an all-out final offensive that threatens to overwhelm Imperial forces with its sheer ferocity. However, the Orks' attack is caught in the jaws of a series of Catachan ambushes, the coolly strategic Colonel Black dissecting and destroying the remaining Ork forces over three solar days of bloodshed.Sacking of Colonia (857.M41) - A surprise assault by the Craftworld Aeldari of the Saim-Hann Craftworld threatens to annihilate the Imperial Guard forces of the Mortant VII "Headhunters" during the Sacking of Colonia. The Aeldari retreat after a single squad of Catachan Devils, led by the famous Gunnery Sergeant Stonetooth Harker, emerges from concealed positions and Heavy Bolter fire kills the warhost's Autarch.WAAAGH! Grax (925.M41) - WAAAGH! Grax descends upon the Ryza System. Imperial Guard regiments are raised from all planets within ten light years, including the worlds of Catachan, Barac, Ulani, and Dulma'lin. To meet the additional tithe requirements, the world of Dulma'lin drafts four-fifths of its total population. Commander Mordrid van Hordric finally defeats the bulk of the Orks, decades later, at the Battle of Desolation Valley.Dulma'lin Cleansing (926.M41) - The Cadian II Regiment, under the command of the bombastic Colonel Straken, was the only regiment of the Astra Militarum to survive planetfall on the world of Dulma'lin. Under Straken's orders, the Catachan II fought a year-long guerilla war in the subterranean depths of the planet's caverns, earning a fearsome reputation amongst the Ork tribes. The decisive moment in the campaign came after the Catachan scouts located the centre of the Ork city in a massive underground cavern known as the Mommothian Vault. Straken personally led a hand-picked team of demolitions experts and infiltrated the Greenskin settlement. The Humans' presence was detected on the third day of the infiltration by a roving pack of Squig-hounds and in the ensuring firefight Straken accounted for the deaths of at least 30 Orks and a mob of Killa Kans. The colonel was seriously wounded when he dragged the Ork Warlord Killzkar into the path of a stampeding Squiggoth that trampled them both into the cavern's floor. Straken's troops succeeded in destroying the Vault's primary support stacks and carried their colonel's injured body to safety before the entire cavern collapsed and destroyed the Ork city. Imperial reinforcements arrived two days later, led by an arrogant Purbech officer, the High Praetor Osh'preen. The remaining Orks, scattered and now leaderless, were exterminated within a week. Osh'preen's report to the Segmentum Command failed to mention the II Catachan's true involvement in the Cleansing of Dulma'lin, and simply cited Straken's regiment as "uncouth soldiers, little more civilised than the Orks themselves." Osh'preen took full credit for the success of the campaign on the world and was rewarded by being made the new Planetary Governor of Dulma'lin. The troops of the Catachan II were immediately redeployed to the Ulant System. Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken was tended to by a team of medicae personnel, and barely clung to life during the journey. He awoke after receiving extensive bionic augmentations to find himself surrounded by the enemy and the II Catachan ready to follow him to yet another victory.Ulani Campaign (928.M41) - The Catachan II Regiment assist the Ulani defence battalions in search-and-destroy missions against Ork Kommandoz in the planet's polar mountain range.Arandra V (930.M41) - The Catachan XXIV Regiment, the "Waiting Death," destroys WAAAGH! Krakskull on Arandra V, luring the entire Greenskin horde into a booby-trapped ravine with "Baiter Squads."Jollov Campaign (932.M41) - Techno Magus Stannum Vir of the Adeptus Mechanicus discovers fragments of an STC database on the Agri-world of Jollov. However, a vanguard tendril of the newly emergent Tyranid Hive Fleet Moloch threatens to consume the world before it can be recovered. At the Tech-priest's behest, a courageous defence of the planet's spaceport ensues. Elements of Catachan, Mordian, Kanak, Molov and Agathon Imperial Guard regiments die in large numbers to buy enough time for the Adeptus Mechanicus to flee with the invaluable technological relic.Yaquit 27 Campaign - Battle for Moden's Ridge (938.M41) - Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken personally leads the Catachan II Regiment in the charge at the Battle of Moden's Ridge, exterminating the L'Huraxi invaders despite being outgunned and outnumbered more than ten-to-one.Conquest of Atria IV (940.M41) - The Conquest of Atria IV is halted when Imperial forces are unable to take the Palace of Hate. With the arrival of the Catachan XXIII Regiment five years later, elite sapper units breach the palace walls within the week.Kieldar Rebellion (956.M41) - The Kieldar Rebellion is utterly crushed by the combined forces of the Catachan, Morax, Elysia, Cadian, Aegis, Tallarn, Harakoni, Neocassan, Paragon, Vostroyan, Birmingham, Mordian, Jjojos, Pintax, Athanos, K'phrani, Rassiosan and Bannan Imperial Guard regiments.Defence of Catachan (972.M41) - Chaos Lord Ratathrax of the Night Lords Traitor Legion invades Catachan. Sending vast orbital barrages down onto the planet aimed at incinerating vast swathes of the Catachan world-jungle, Ratathrax robs the Catachan Jungle Fighters of their most natural defence before systematically bombing their bastion networks into rubble. Ratathrax makes planetfall to enjoy the butchery first hand. Unfortunately for him, Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken of the illustrious Catachan II Regiment lies in ambush in a quagmire of toxic sludge, waiting for Ratathrax to remove his helmet before successfully ambushing him and throttling him to death with a poisonous barb-root.Second Tyrannic War (990-993.M41) - Catachan Jungle Fighter regiments were deployed across the galaxy during the Second Tyrannic War to stop the advance of Hive Fleet Kraken.Third Tyrannic War (997.M41-Present) - Catachan Jungle Fighter regiments were deployed across the galaxy during the Third Tyrannic War to stop the advance of Hive Fleet Leviathan.Defence of Jorn V (997.M41) - The 12th Army Group, comprised mainly of Catachan and Jornian Imperial Guard forces, continue to hold out against a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan. Reinforcements continue to be raised to help combat this dire threat.Fortuse III Campaign (997.M41) - Catachan regiments route the Eldar forces of the Alaitoc Craftworld from the Mining World of Fortuse III. Tech-priests are dispatched by the Mechanicus to investigate arcane ruins on that world discovered by Catachan scout teams.Third War for Armageddon (998.M41) - A large number of Catachan Jungle Fighter regiments were deployed by the Segmentum Solar High Command to aid the Imperial defenders in throwing back the second planetary assault by the Orks of WAAAGH! Ghazghkull against the strategic Hive World of Armageddon.Assault on Epsion Octarus (Date Unknown.M41) - The Catachan Jungle Fighters are known to have fought on Epsion Octarus against the Orks of Warlord Grubnak at his Gargant construction site. The Catachans spent 40 days during this campaign amongst the Crotalid-infested swamps making their way towards Grubnak's construction facility. When combat ensued, the Catachans were so ferocious that Grubnuk ordered his Gargants to be painted in the colours of the Catachans, green stripes with red bandanas.Cytherian Annexation (5.985.999.M41) - During the Third Sphere Expansion campaign of the T'au Empire, a T'au expeditionary force was assembled and dispatched from the Bork'an Sept and tasked with the annexation and colonisation of the Imperial world of Cytheria. As the T'au expected stiff resistance from the Human defenders, the expeditionary forces was well-supplied for what would be a long and difficult campaign. An outlying Imperial world in the Eastern Fringe, Cytheria was a planet defined by its dry, rugged plains and dense alien jungle. Although only sparsely populated, the world was home to a valuable research facility of the Adeptus Mechanicus. As such, Cytheria's defences were reinforced by 7 regiments of the Catachan Jungle Fighters, including 3 standard infantry regiments, 2 veteran light infantry regiments and 2 armoured regiments. The T'au force's landing sites were cleared by Stealth Teams and spearheaded by T'au Battlesuits. Despite this initial success, the T'au soon took heavy casualties. Phase two included the eradication of the Imperial armour, which was highlighted by the destruction of the entire XCVII Catachan Armoured Regiment by T'au Hammerhead "Elimination Groups" on the third solar day of the invasion. As the T'au gained the upper hand, the remaining Catachan units withdrew into the jungles to carry on a protracted guerrilla war against the xenos invaders. During this third phase of the campaign, the T'au Fire Warriors found themselves outclassed in such dense terrain. Sensing a loss of momentum in the campaign, the T'au Ethereals redirected the attack on the Herzen Ridge research and communications zone, which ultimately forced the Catachans to enter open battle. The combat on Herzen Ridge broke the last organised Imperial resistance and Cytheria was largely pacified by the T'au. The transport of the needed materials and personnel for T'au colonisation of the world was soon underway and represented another success in the Third Sphere Expansion. Scattered remnants of the Catachan forces still mount sporadic guerrilla attacks on vulnerable T'au targets, in the hope of eventually receiving Imperial reinforcements. However, regular T'au hunter patrols scour the jungles to eliminate these foolish Humans who stubbornly refuse to accept the Greater Good.Conquest of Uttu Prime (Date Unknown.M41) - The Necron Overlord of the Tomb World of Gidrim, the Nemesor Zahndrekh, gave an ultimatum to the Imperial defenders of the world of Uttu Prime that provided them with one solar month to withdraw from the planet, as was required by the ancient Necron codes of battle. After the deadline passed, the Humans had refused to accept this most generous offer. Instead, whilst the Necron fleet remained in orbit around Uttu Prime's desert moon, 4 regiments of the Catachan Jungle Fighters and three companies of Imperial Fists Space Marines had arrived to reinforce the world's defences. When Zahndrekh finally launched his assault, he did so against a very well-defended target. However, when his courtiers argued against prosecuting the war to completion, the Nemesor simply laughed and sent the interstitial command that set the Necron fleet in motion. Zahndrekh initially ignored Uttu Prime's outlying cities, focussing his assault on Fort Anan, the planetary capital. Zahndrekh's first attack wave included a dozen squadrons of Doom Scythe fighters. They swarmed over Fort Anan's fortifications, their death rays ploughing through bastions, ferrocrete walls and the unfortunate defenders within. To their credit, the Humans resisted fiercely. Hydra Flak Tanks and defence lasers scoured the skies, driving or destroying many of the Necron aircraft. Yet every time a Doom Scythe was destroyed another immediately peeled off from the main group to enact vengeance. Before long, Fort Anan was stripped of its aerial defences and the Necron landings began. Transport craft followed in the wake of the first attack. Night Scythes flew low over the wreckage of crashed Necron aircraft and the Imperial bastions. Small arms fire hit the Night Scythes' hulls as their flickering invasion beams delivered Zanhdrekh's assault troops in the heart of the Human defences. Phalanx after phalanx of Immortals and Necron Warriors stalked through the ruins, Gauss Weapons blazing as they drove the Catachans back. Here and there, a Catachan officer's orders held the Imperial Guardsmen in line, but when those strong-willed commanders inevitably fell, the Imperial troops went into full retreat. It was when the Necrons reached the Planetary Governor's citadel that the Astartes of the Imperial Fists made their presence known. Thunderhawk gunships began to shred the oncoming Necron Warriors with Heavy Bolter fire and blast the Immortals apart with missile strikes. As the Astartes gunships touched down amongst the ruins of Fort Anan to disgorge the Space Marines into combat, the Necrons shifted to defensive protocols and awaited reinforcements. Unfortunately for the Imperial Fists, from his vantage point in orbit Zahndrekh had marked the approach of the Thunderhawks long before they had made their presence known on the ground. Even as the roar of Bolter-fire echoed through the ruins of the capital city, a shadow fell over the battlefield as the Necron Megalith descended. The Megalith was a massive floating Necron fortress. Green Gauss fire lanced out from its sides, blasting Thunderhawks from the air or crippling them on the ground. As its shadow grew larger, chunks of the Megalith's understructure broke away, and the blocks fell to the ground. Yet this was not wreckage, but Necron Monoliths detaching from their massive mothership's hull. As each made planetfall, it added its own firepower to the barrage assaulting the Imperial Fists. The Space Marines knew that they could not win, but duty and the stubborn tenacity always displayed by the Sons of Dorn led them to double down. Lascannon and Multi-melta fire flickered through the ruins, the beams converging to pierce the Montoliths' Necrodermis hulls. Astartes Assault Squads threw themselves at the Necron phalanxes, Chainswords screaming as they ripped through metallic bodies. But the Megalith was now close enough to the ground to unleash its invasion beams. The Necron teleport beams activated to deliver Doomsday Arks, legions of Necron Immortals, as well as Zahndrekh and his personal guard into the thick of combat. Those Space Marines that survived now withdrew to the Planetary Governor's citadel, but 3 Doomsday Arks converged their Gauss fire on the citadel's large adamantium gate. For a handful of moments it glowed cherry-red then burst into fragments with a crack. As the Imperial Fists fell back deeper into the citadel, Zahndrekh raised his Warscythe in salute to his valiant but doomed foes. Then the Nemesor led his army through the ruined gate and shortly thereafter, Fort Anan had fallen, with every Astartes and Catachan guardsman dead to the last man. The rest of Uttu Prime would quickly follow and another world would have been added to the territory of the Gidrim Tomb World and the Necron Sautekh Dynasty.Cleansing of Koralkal VIII (Date Unknown.M41) - The Catachan XVIII, the "Swamp Rats" under the command of Colonel Gator, fought for seven standard years against a Tyranid infestation on the world of Koralkal VIII. During this campaign, the Swamp Rats were forced to develop a number of unorthodox tactics to combat the Tyranid threat. Teams of highly experienced Tyranid hunters covered their bodies in ichor taken from the xenos they had slain to build up an immunity to the aliens' toxins and also to mask their own scent from the Tyranid bioforms that were hunting them in turn. The Catachans were thus able to lie in ambush, using the pheromone glands cut from the bodies of slain Lictors to lure the bulk of the Tyranid swarms into carefully constructed and heavily trapped fire-zones. After successfully eliminating the Tyranids, the surviving Swamp Rats were required to spend two standard years aboard a decontamination ship to ensure that any infections or toxins they had picked up from contact with the aliens was not spread to a wider Imperial population.