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Hello to all my fellow Imperial Guard players. As I gear up for 6th edition I've been looking at various compositions of the codex and re reading the rules on characters and units. But one thing that bothered me a lot when the codex first came out was the complete absence of any Mordian characters whatsoever. Whenever I'm not playing my human wave Cadians I enjoy fielding my dressed up boys.

But my question is why do they not have any characters? All the other "original" Imperial Guard army types from 3rd edition are represented somehow, but the mordians are not. What gives?

The only thing I can possibly come up with in this regard is what specialty the character would bring. Mordians are known for their discipline right? (yes for those of you who may not know). What other unit in the guard codex helps with discipline? That's right. Commissars. So either having a Mordian character would be redundant, or commissars are supposed to be a representation of a Mordian character.

My thought is it is the former more than the latter.

Thoughts?

Good question. Thinking back i can't remember any Mordians who have stood out in the past. The 5th ed guard codex seemed to use already established figures for the named characters. I have used Creed, and changed the name, for my Mordians. Oh, chenkov too. Mordians make good conscripts.

I suppose they can only fit so many special characters into a Codex, and given that they already have about a dozen to choose from - often with accompanying models - it becomes a choice of sticking with what they have or abandoning it. The latter would upset those gamers who have purchased these characters' miniatures (if they had any) or at least used to field them in their army.

But hey, you can still do a counts-as, right? No reason why you can't come up with your own background for special characters.

Steel Legion also don't have a special character (though I guess Yarrick half counts as he was made famous at Armageddon), as well as the Vostroyans, but as a fellow Mordian, I must admit it is a little disappointing. Creed, and Bastonne work well as Mordian substitutes, as their fluff fits close enough to how a Mordian would act.

There is a rather lopsided spread of 'famous' regiments with characters vs regiments without any. Just off the top of my head here, so bear with me.

Cadia-Creed, Kell, Pask, Bastone
Catachan-Harker, Sly Marbo, Straken
Armageddon- Yarrick
Vostroya-Chenkov
Tanith-Gaunt(no longer valid)
Tallarn- Al Rahem
Ogryn Regiments-Nork Deddog

Once you hit the imperial armor books, all bets are off. Mordia and Krieg are the only 'major' planets that I can think of without any representation by characters.

-cgmckenzie

^Chenkov was Valhallan, not Vostroyan.

And wasn't Norg assigned to a catachan regiment??

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:And wasn't Norg assigned to a catachan regiment??

Yeah, 2nd Regiment IIRC
He was the bodyguard of the guy Straken replaced IIRC...

Yeah, between the Cadians and the Catachans, there just weren't enough slots for everyone else.

A shame really, because some of those characters are useless. Who ever uses Kell, or Bastione or Pask? Nobody, especially Pask.Did we really need two Catachans that are basically the same character with slightly different benefits?

Cadia should have had two or three at the most, and all the other iconic regiments should have had at least one. Marbo best idealizes Catachans,so he could have stayed, while Straken's rules got shifted to a Krieg hero. Bastonne's rules would fit a Vostroyan hero well, and Pask could be made a Steel Legion hero or an Iron Guard hero.

Lynata's point is pretty much the best explanation, but I still feel that a missed opportunity is a missed opportunity, from a fluff perspective.

purplefood wrote:

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:And wasn't Norg assigned to a catachan regiment??

Yeah, 2nd Regiment IIRC
He was the bodyguard of the guy Straken replaced IIRC...

Correct.

IIRC almost every Catachan special character was from the Catachan 2nd, "Catachan Devils"

Lynata wrote:I suppose they can only fit so many special characters into a Codex, and given that they already have about a dozen to choose from - often with accompanying models - it becomes a choice of sticking with what they have or abandoning it. The latter would upset those gamers who have purchased these characters' miniatures (if they had any) or at least used to field them in their army.

But hey, you can still do a counts-as, right? No reason why you can't come up with your own background for special characters.

Right, I understand having the ability to use a Mordian model but with a special characters rules as a counts as. But to me personally, it's just not the same.

The already existence of special characters of guant and schaeffer didn't stop GW from axing them. And in their place they threw in some more Cadians and catachans.

Out of the 3rd Ed guard regiments, mordians are the only ones not to have one. Valhallens, tallarns, catachans, and most definitely Cadians all have theirs. But they have left the mordians high and dry.

Why would GW do this? Why leave out a so many regiments (vostroyans, mordians, steel legion, etc.) without a special character while having so many of other regiments?

This thought stems more from the idea that I've always held that imperial guard armies deserve their own codecies before other space marine chapters do.

Ignatius wrote:Out of the 3rd Ed guard regiments, mordians are the only ones not to have one. Valhallens, tallarns, catachans, and most definitely Cadians all have theirs. But they have left the mordians high and dry.

There's more Guard regiments that do not have special characters (anymore), the Mordians are not the only ones. Be fortunate that they are at least still mentioned (again), unlike the Praetorians. Wasn't 3E all Cadians? I don't think my IG Codex featured anything else, aside from two pages showing other regiments' uniforms.

As for forgotten Special Characters - where is Lord Commander Macharius? Where is Colonel Shaeffer? Where is Stumper Muckstart?!?!

Ignatius wrote:Why would GW do this? Why leave out a so many regiments (vostroyans, mordians, steel legion, etc.) without a special character while having so many of other regiments?

I think GW has always hyped up some specific sub-factions more than others. I'm sure this has to do with whoever is working in the studio at a time as well.

Ignatius wrote:This thought stems more from the idea that I've always held that imperial guard armies deserve their own codecies before other space marine chapters do.

Welcome to the Imperial Backseat.

Lynata wrote:
As for forgotten Special Characters - where is Lord Commander Macharius? Where is Colonel Shaeffer? Where is Stumper Muckstart?!?!

Macharius is long dead. Shaefer was in 4th ed.

Ignatius wrote:
Right, I understand having the ability to use a Mordian model but with a special characters rules as a counts as. But to me personally, it's just not the same. .

I think I almost prefer to rename the special characters, Except Col. Schaffer. Then 5th Ed solved that problem for me.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Schaeffer was in third too.

Cadians and Catachans probably sold the most models, so when GW needed to decide what untis to make plastics for, those were the choices. Because new players are buying plastics and old players are filling in or replacing with plastics, the special characters will go there. Very few people, comparatively, play Mordians. That's why the Cadians and Catachans have more SCs. They sell more models. It is the same reason why the Space Marines have five Codex books, not even counting GK. 40K is a rule set for a miniatures company, not for a wargame company.

Squidmanlolz wrote:Macharius is long dead. Shaefer was in 4th ed.

Since when do people have to be alive to be fielded as Special Characters? Uriah Jacobus is dead, too, and people can play with him.

As for Shaeffer having been available in earlier editions, this I know - it's why I specifically pointed him out as being not available anymore (like Macharius).

Veteran Sergeant wrote:Cadians and Catachans probably sold the most models, so when GW needed to decide what untis to make plastics for, those were the choices. Because new players are buying plastics and old players are filling in or replacing with plastics, the special characters will go there. Very few people, comparatively, play Mordians. That's why the Cadians and Catachans have more SCs. They sell more models. It is the same reason why the Space Marines have five Codex books, not even counting GK. 40K is a rule set for a miniatures company, not for a wargame company.

I understand the idea of being a miniatures company first. Usually I am one of the first to point that out to someone. But that arguement doesn't hold water in many instances of special characters in the codex. Like for instance, pask. Just as an example. Why is it absolutely necessary for him to be a cadian? There is no difference if he was Mordian as opposed to cadian. Hell, even his model is Mordian only with the cadian style breastplate.

@Lynata: I mentioned some characters that had been gotten rid of already but marcharius is a good one. The commander of his second army group was Mordian. I actually have his model, and he's painted like a Mordian as he was the commander of my army before they got rid of him too. And I suppose I can be happy they still bother to sell mordians, but without a special character (or doctrines! But thats another discussion) they are just regular guardsmen just like praetorian models at this point.

I'm just bitter I suppose.