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Any question.
What sidearms do Imperial guard use? Are standard troopers even issued one? Are a Catachans equipment different from say a Cadians? (Besides the Catachan Fang)

Side-arms, if any, vary by regiment. If a given regiment is patterned after a real-world military unit, line infantry are not issued side-arms, just their main weapon (lasgun, in this case), though during actual deployments, many soldiers (speaking RW here) acquire a secondary firearm of some kind, whether that's a pistol, a shotgun or even another assault rifle.

In the IG, it seems the most common side-arm is either some kind of solid-projectile pistol or a laspistol, or a simple close-combat weapon like a knife, some units may have both. Swords and fancier things seem reserved for NCOs and officers. I seem to recall some grunts from the Tanith having their trademark silver knives as well as pistols, though Gaunt had his powersword, Hark a plasma pistol, and Bragg seemed to have a variety of back-up weapons to whatever beast of a crew-served weapon he was toting.

Regarding the lasgun, it varies.

You have the ''standard'' lasgun which is semi auto/automatic, then you have you have regiment specific weapons: Gaunts Ghost with power setting, more damage less shot and vice versa, Krieg Lucius pattern, which is supposed to be more powerful than a normal lasgun, but only holds 25 shots per packs and fires in semi auto.

Mr Morden wrote:I always thought they were based on a mix of Vietnam vets and Harry Harrisons Deathworld series.

+1. At least someone else here is familiar with them and realises it is yet another inspiration GW 'homaged' along the way.

GW's website still hosts the PDFs for their Inquisitor RPG. It's pretty cool stuff, and if you scroll down to page 56 (the Armoury) here they list a couple las weapons, too:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2350169a_m1320029_Inq_Rulebook_part_1.pdf

I think these patterns have also been mentioned in the 5E Guard Codex, in a small sidebox.

Catachan pop up time to time in the Caiphas Cain books. He talks about how they are Ork sized, or massive, and how onw held a hatch open during a hull breach.
The old Codex went over how tough they were, living on poison, so not to be effected i na fight with Nids.
It is a let down that, that codex and the WD with the IG army that took to using Choppas and Blastas and having the "Ahhhhhh" went away.

Catachans will still use whatever weapon comes to hand if the need arises and they're somehow caught out without their regular weapon on hand. They don't carry shootas and blastas as normal gear, though, simply because finding ammunition for Orkoid weapons from the Munitorum is quite impossible. Choppas and such, though, some may keep as trophies.... or personal hygiene implements.

Catachans typically have a personalized knife+red headband IIRC from joining the Guard. Also their characters are really tough and awesome: Harker the heavy bolter sergeant, Straken the epic CC colonel, and Marbo the sneaky saboteur assassin dude.

As someone afforementioned in the Ciphias Cain novels two Catchan guardsmen held open a void door a feat that no space marine has ever recordedly accomplished and you really cant generalize the population of planet yea catcha has a larger gravitational pull by around 50lbs then earth that makes up for their large stature they are as tall as a average Ork a full head taller then cadians because the gravity forced by natural adaptation like ogryns they were once human but they had around 300lbs of extra pull accounting for their size

Living on a death world over thousands of years HAS to have some effect on breeding. People with traits that allow them to live on Catacha ie stronger muscles or a higher immune system gets passed on.

Space marines get the traits that make them part of their chapter from their home world (and their geneseed). But a Space Wolf is different from an Ultramarine because fenris makes them that way.

I think that Catachans have to be stronger at base level than a generic IG conscript from a forgeworld or something.

Possibly, but working in a foundry isn't easy either. That IG soldier from a Forge World may be just as ripped as Schwarzenegger, from shoveling coal or iron ingots for 16 hours a day for 20 years.

I suppose that's also true... I guess that's how you end up with The Squats.

....that ended up sounding kinda weird.

For reference, a Cadian in full flak armor gets to survive taking a hit on a roll of 5 or more. A Catachan with a bandana, tank top, and camo pants gets the same thing.

axeman1n wrote:Catachans are my favorite army as well. It seems their strength is just short of that of a Space Marine. They are easily on par with an ork boy, though not a nob. Unfortunately there is no way to place the "Novel" versons of the catachan jungle figher. I think a good way to create a Catachan force these days would be to use them as "Counts as Orks" in an allied IG army. The trick being, to keep your opponent from getting confused. If I did this, my main armies guardsmen would be represented by Cadians, and the Orks would be Catachans. It think it would make a great looking army too.

Catachans are renowned for their accuracy in shooting so I don't think the bs 2 of Orks would do them justice. I think a better way of representing them would be Kroots from the Tau codex and using them as allies. Or if you're willing to go Imperial Armour, then Kriegsmen b/c of their ws 4 and special rules, much like the original Catachan codex.

@OP: If I were to make a Fluffy Catachan Army(I kind of am, but I am not running platoons), I would use the Imperial Armour book with DKOK b/c of their WS4 and their special rules

Yeah but then again, DKoK doesn't have sentinels or half the mobility that the Catachans are renowned for.

I think lasguns make a sharp crack when fired, from the fluff. by the way, how do i insert a previous post into mine as i am replying to a post on page one

Haighus wrote:I think lasguns make a sharp crack when fired, from the fluff. by the way, how do i insert a previous post into mine as i am replying to a post on page one

You see that quote button on the top right of a post? Click it and it'll insert it into your own post.

IIRC Catachan has higher than normal gravity so that's they are in fact stronger. They're sometimes called baby-ogryns because of it.

axeman1n wrote:Catachans are my favorite army as well. It seems their strength is just short of that of a Space Marine. They are easily on par with an ork boy, though not a nob. Unfortunately there is no way to place the "Novel" versons of the catachan jungle figher. I think a good way to create a Catachan force these days would be to use them as "Counts as Orks" in an allied IG army. The trick being, to keep your opponent from getting confused. If I did this, my main armies guardsmen would be represented by Cadians, and the Orks would be Catachans. It think it would make a great looking army too.

Chill out their are far from being has strong has space marines!

PresidentOfAsia wrote:

axeman1n wrote:Catachans are my favorite army as well. It seems their strength is just short of that of a Space Marine. They are easily on par with an ork boy, though not a nob. Unfortunately there is no way to place the "Novel" versons of the catachan jungle figher. I think a good way to create a Catachan force these days would be to use them as "Counts as Orks" in an allied IG army. The trick being, to keep your opponent from getting confused. If I did this, my main armies guardsmen would be represented by Cadians, and the Orks would be Catachans. It think it would make a great looking army too.

Catachans are renowned for their accuracy in shooting so I don't think the bs 2 of Orks would do them justice. I think a better way of representing them would be Kroots from the Tau codex and using them as allies. Or if you're willing to go Imperial Armour, then Kriegsmen b/c of their ws 4 and special rules, much like the original Catachan codex.

@OP: If I were to make a Fluffy Catachan Army(I kind of am, but I am not running platoons), I would use the Imperial Armour book with DKOK b/c of their WS4 and their special rules

For a counts as catachan army, I think penal legion would do well, the scouts accounting for their stealth, the desperadoes explaining superior combat ability (2/3 of the time but gunslingers would be like a marksman squad) and stubborn just because they are rambo's for crying out loud. Then you can have other stuff like sentinels or ministorum priests for combat epicness, then straken marbo and a harker squad seems pretty fluffy to me.

Coolyo294 wrote:

Haighus wrote:I think lasguns make a sharp crack when fired, from the fluff. by the way, how do i insert a previous post into mine as i am replying to a post on page one

You see that quote button on the top right of a post? Click it and it'll insert it into your own post.

thanks

Tibs wrote:So I have another question. How do the weapons the Catachan(or any Imperial Guard) work? I know Lasguns work on a battery so do you ever have to reload them? What about sniper rifles? Are they laser weapons as well? What sound does a firing lasgun make? Also, what mode of fire do they fire at?

I remember reading the wiki on lasguns, but I dont remember these questions being answered.

Lasguns are magazine fed.
Sniper Rifles generally come in two variants, Longlas(a higher powered version of the lasgun), a solid round sniper rifle(modern sniper rifle).
Lasgun has been described as a snap type sound, so I would imagine much like someone getting a static shock.
Mode they fire at depends on the lasgun model, some fire in burst, some in auto, some in semi auto, and some in all of the above

These mofos live in a jungle, a death world jungle, and kick ass. I'd say they're comparable to special forces to a regular average guardsman.

Physically, Catachans are going to be exceptionally strong -- yet within the typical bounds of unmodified human beings. The strength of Catachans in both lore and their micro-codex comes from their extreme hostile environment survival skills, uncommon situational awareness, and the strong bond between their soldiers.

Face to face and one-on-one, all but the strongest Catachans would be murderized by even an average ork; on the scale of a full squad against an ork mob, however, the advantage would swing in favor of the Catachans -- more so than it would for most imperial units.