Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Organization and history of the 1st Arcadian Armored Regiment.



Here's a bit of fluff I wrote explaining why my tank crews use Mordian Imperial Guard models.

Organization and history of the 1st Arcadian Armored Regiment.

The 1st Arcadian has had a long an proud past serving the Imperium. As the first Imperial Guard unit founded after colonization, the 1st, and its sister regiments, have long been at the forefront in the defense of Humanity.

Though destroyed numerous times, the 1st’s tradition lives on through newly formed units. Regiments from Arcadia are regularly merged with other Arcadian units when the level of troops drops below effective fighting strength. The newly formed unit continues to use the name of the regiment with the highest ranking officer. This allows units in the field to continue to be a useful military force and reduce regimental incompatibility between units from different planets.

Most recently, the 1st Arcadian was reformed after the depleted 1st regiment, still on combat deployment, was amalgamate with the 6th Arcadian, a regiment of infantry. Currently the regiment is undergoing the final stages of training on Arcadia.

The strength of the regiment stands at 9 full Armored Companies of Leman Russ battle tanks and their variants and one company of infantry sappers, anti-air crews, and combat engineers. The Tanks are the main strength of the regiment, while the tenth company provides base security and fortification in addition to supplying crew replacements.

Uniform: The 1st and 2nd Arcadian wear the fully dress uniform of all Arcadian regiments. The uniform coat is blue tunics with red cuffs and collars. The gray pants are striped with matching red down the outside seam. Enlisted uniforms are edged with white trim, while officers have silver trim. Large epaulets adorn the shoulders and are the same color as the trim. Small round caps are issued to enlisted, while larger peaked caps are issued to officers.

The 1st does not have a battlefield uniform as the rest of the Arcadian units. Tank crews will commonly remove the epaulets to allow ease of movement within the cramped confines of their vehicles, but otherwise they wear their full dress into battle with pride. The tenth company follows suit and it is not uncommon to see orderly ranks of men in Arcadian blue and red firing disciplined volleys of lasgun fire into the enemy while the tanks of their regiment spur ahead.

The Deal

Ok, so you may have already noticed that I have a lot of background that I've wirtten over the years while being bored out of my mind at work. I'm going to post it here so tough beans.

6th Arcadian Background

The 6th is, according to Departmento Munitorum records, a regiment of infantry that has been merged numerous times with its brothers from other units. It has members from the 1st through 8th Arcadian regiments. These regiments, along with the 6th, formed the 1st Arcadian Rifle Division that was sent to the planet of Armageddon at the start of the Third War. Because the regiments that made up the division were armored, mechanized, infantry, and artillery, the 6th Arcadian has become an evenly mixed regiment with effective fighting formations from all unit types. The backbone of the regiment is formed by four Infantry Companies. With single armored and mechanized companies for fast assaults. The regiment has ten companies lettered A through J as all Arcadian infantry and has an addition eleventh company numbered 13. This is a fluke that is unique to the 6th Arcadian. Rumors of reinforcements from Arcadia have persisted for a while, but this would an unheard of first for an Arcadian Regiment to be reinforced in the field by fresh troops and only remains even remotely possible due to the fame the officers and men of the current 6th Arcadian have gained.

Arcadian Imperial Guard Background:

Arcadia has a very fluid ideology surrounding its regiments. It believes strongly in regimental tradition and battle history and will work to extremes to keep that tradition alive. For this reason the Order of Amalgamation was issued long ago at the time of the first Arcadia Guard foundings. The order states that anytime a regiment from the planet of Arcadia is reduced to a level deemed “ineffective” it will be merged with the next closest Arcadian regiment. During this merge, the name and command will remain with which ever regiment has the most senior surviving officer. The name of the smaller regiment is struck from the rolls until the next regiment of a similar type is founded on Arcadia. This allows Arcadian regiments to stay deployed for much longer and remove the need for regiments to return to their home world for re-training. As all the guardsmen are from the same planet there is little ill will created due to the merge. All Arcadian guardsmen are familiar with the rule and accept it as a fact of life.

This order explains the Arcadian philosophy of brigade deployment and regimental organization. When formed, a regiment is a single type (Infantry, Armored, Mechanized, Airborne, or Artillery.) They are assigned to a battle zone as a brigade or division with a balanced combination of regiment types. This way by the time a conflict concludes a brigade may have shrunk to regimental levels, but because of the order of amalgamation, still retain a mostly balanced combination of arms allowing it to perform a variety of battlefield duties.

During protracted campaigns is has not been uncommon for men from specific regiments to find themselves merged with another and then meet their old regiment again as a newly founded unit sent to reinforce the zone. The record of such an incident is held by the 33rd Arcadian Infantry. History shows the 33rd was merged, reformed, and redeployed to the planet of Armageddon eighty-six times during the Second War. It was said that by the end of the war, every Arcadian regiment on the planet had at least one guardsman from the 33rd.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Hello world.

Greeting all. Timspork here. The purpose of this blog is to chart the adventures of the 6th Regiment of Arcadian Infantry both in the fluff and on the table. Over the years I've assembled a large army of Imperial Guardsmen for the game Warhammer 40k. These models I've formed into a fictional Regiment from the planet Arcadia. The 6th Regiment has had a long proud history and its current commander, Colonel Hector Penny, has lead the regiment to make great victories.