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Now that we have various sites / Youtubers posting reviews of the 9th edition Astra Militarum codex we have a pretty good idea of what we're getting. This got me thinking of Catachans and where they're going.

Looking at the 9th edition codex the Catachan Infantry Squad looks pretty poor, compared to all the other options. Their melee buff is simply worse than the Shock Troop shooting buff, they can only take flamers and, to top it all off, they're more expensive than either the Shock Troops or regular Infantry Squad. It wouldn't bother me so much if they were costed more appropriately, still it seems to be a missed opportunity regardless of points cost.

Looking at the UK GW website the Catachan Heavy Weapon Teams are "Temporarily out of stock" and the Catachan Command Squad is "Sold out online". This isn't definitive proof that they're gone for good, it could simply be that they're getting a rebox or getting restocked. The only kit currently available is the ugly as sin Catachan troops box. Stands to reason since they're in the codex, and even have the two flamers that Catachans are allowed to take.

So far this doesn't bode well for the future of Catachans. I remember a rumour some time ago that Kill Team is getting a Catachan Devils squad, perhaps fighting against Tyranids, including plastic Lictors. This rumour may not be true of course, I'd be surprised if we don't get one though. Would be great to have some new rules for a Catachan squad, perhaps with demo charges / traps, some additional special weapons (other than flamers) would be nice too. Some sort of infiltrating rules similar to Ratlings would be interesting too. Regardless of how the rules work it'll be great to finally get a squad of plastic Catachans that doesn't look hideous. I'll be happy, even if they're an Elites choice in 40K, not Troops.

To be clear, I'm happy with how the heavy weapons team and Catachan Command Squad looks, it's the Catachan Jungle Fighters box that has terrible sculpts. It's not even because they're old, they were horrible the day they were released, and far inferior to the old Catachan metal models.


Any thoughts would be welcome. Either on what I've mentioned above, or on Catachans in general.

As someone who collects a regiment other then Cadia, take a seat over here friend.

In all seriousness I do think Catachans will see new models at some point. When that will be is anyone's guess. I've been waiting 22 years for new models for my regiment. Best to sit back, throw lasgun power pack near the fire & enjoy other hobbies until GW decides to make the guard interesting again.

Nice of them to remember that Catachans have plasma gun and meltagun models in the back catalogue, as well as a rarer grenade launcher model...

 Dysartes wrote:
Nice of them to remember that Catachans have plasma gun and meltagun models in the back catalogue, as well as a rarer grenade launcher model...

Why would they remember models they no longer sell?

I guess those models are still valid as part of a command squad?

 Commissar Benny wrote:
As someone who collects a regiment other then Cadia, take a seat over here friend.

In all seriousness I do think Catachans will see new models at some point. When that will be is anyone's guess. I've been waiting 22 years for new models for my regiment. Best to sit back, throw lasgun power pack near the fire & enjoy other hobbies until GW decides to make the guard interesting again.

In GW's defence (not sure why I'm defending them, but there you go) it probably doesn't make financial sense to release a plastic Troops box, heavy weapons box and Command Squad for all the regiments they have previously released. If Imperial Guard were as popular as Space Marines then GW would go for it, sadly they're not.

At least there are plenty of third parties we can go to for variety.

Brickfix wrote:
I guess those models are still valid as part of a command squad?

Yes, you can put special weapons in a Command Squad, nothing stopping you using Catachan models for units that are not marked as Catachan too. For example using them in a Cadian Shock Troops squad.

 Dysartes wrote:
Nice of them to remember that Catachans have plasma gun and meltagun models in the back catalogue, as well as a rarer grenade launcher model...

And if you run infantry squads, you can still use them. The restrictions only come up if you're intent on the dedicated 'Cadian,' 'Catachan' and 'Krieg' squads. Consider it the last vestiges of the old system (one that personally I don't think they should have bothered with), but YOU, the player, have to opt into them for the restrictions to matter.

They should never have turned world-specific Guard units into Aspect Warriors.

And to think they took a nice step forward with the new doctrine system...

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
They should never have turned world-specific Guard units into Aspect Warriors.

Y'know, I was thinking that the ability to mix-and-match doctrines to fit Your Dudes, but also to mix different regimental sculpts within the same army, was a nice compromise and a bit of a throwback to the hodgepodge armies of 2nd Ed.

But when you put it that way, yeah, I'm not sure I like that.

I'm curious to see whether GW encourages the use of, say, an army of all Catachan models being used as generic Guard, except for a squad or two using the Catachan rules to represent Catachan Devils.

 catbarf wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
They should never have turned world-specific Guard units into Aspect Warriors.

Y'know, I was thinking that the ability to mix-and-match doctrines to fit Your Dudes, but also to mix different regimental sculpts within the same army, was a nice compromise and a bit of a throwback to the hodgepodge armies of 2nd Ed.

But when you put it that way, yeah, I'm not sure I like that.

I'm curious to see whether GW encourages the use of, say, an army of all Catachan models being used as generic Guard, except for a squad or two using the Catachan rules to represent Catachan Devils.

Who cares if GW encourages it? Anyone already with a Catachan army is going to do it anyways.

 Dysartes wrote:
Nice of them to remember that Catachans have plasma gun and meltagun models in the back catalogue, as well as a rarer grenade launcher model...

I still have multiples of the plasma gunners, at least one melta and I know I used to have the grenade launcher but I think it's been lost. :(

most likely they're getting reboxed as you said, and would be redone in some form in the near-ish future.

I just don't see GW taking the time to design completely unique character models for the catachans, give them their own unique squad in the codex, only to destroy the range as a whole a few years later.

the points cost for the squad is a non-issue with how often errata are release changing points values for different units, so in 2-3 months there's a decent probability that they drop in points.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Brickfix wrote:
I guess those models are still valid as part of a command squad?

or ya know an infantry squad...

I loathe the 'Primaris' Cadians, if they did the Catachan in 'Primaris' mode I think I could be on board with it as the fluff fits. If I get any of the new range, it'll be strictly vehicle so they won't be out of scale with my older Cadians and other regiments.

The only hope for new datasheets or better equipment is GW making a Killteam box for them.

The whole "every datasheet must match what's in the box" is nonsense, especially when a kit was made over 20 years ago.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
They should never have turned world-specific Guard units into Aspect Warriors.

And to think they took a nice step forward with the new doctrine system...

Pretty much, yeah. This seems to be some bizarre inverse of the "no model, no rules" approach. It's more "has models, must have rules". Why not just allow people to use their Catachans as regular infantry squads? We really don't need specific entries for them and for Shock Troops/Kasrkin when those units have clear analogues elsewhere in the Codex. It's especially stupid in the case of Catachans because their unit entry is terrible, so it's just taking up space in the Codex for no reason.

Slipspace wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
They should never have turned world-specific Guard units into Aspect Warriors.

And to think they took a nice step forward with the new doctrine system...

Pretty much, yeah. This seems to be some bizarre inverse of the "no model, no rules" approach. It's more "has models, must have rules". Why not just allow people to use their Catachans as regular infantry squads? We really don't need specific entries for them and for Shock Troops/Kasrkin when those units have clear analogues elsewhere in the Codex. It's especially stupid in the case of Catachans because their unit entry is terrible, so it's just taking up space in the Codex for no reason.

Previously Stormtroopers could be proxies for Kasrkin or Scions... Now that both are on the field... What do we count these physically smaller models as?

Whichever one they're specified as in the army list - just don't have them be both in the same game.

 Commissar Benny wrote:
As someone who collects a regiment other then Cadia, take a seat over here friend.

In all seriousness I do think Catachans will see new models at some point. When that will be is anyone's guess. I've been waiting 22 years for new models for my regiment. Best to sit back, throw lasgun power pack near the fire & enjoy other hobbies until GW decides to make the guard interesting again.

If you think back, Catachans are the Rambo/Predator archetype of soldiers - super buff dudes who carry a machete between their teeth and win bodybuilding competitions between campaigns.

It's a bit dated now.

I kind of liked the way old GW did the Imperial Guard regiments back in the day, only offering weapons for certain planets. Yes, it was annoying but if you want do to the conversions, you could. [Gazes fondly at Ultramarine carrying scratch-built multi-melta.]

To be fair, there were only a few missing weapons among the 2nd Ed metal Guard. Cadians didn't have a Grenade Launcher, Tallarns didn't have a Flamer, Mordians/Praetorians didn't have a Plasma Gun, Valhallans didn't have a Plasma Gun, and Catachans and, IIRC, Steel Legion had every special weapon. Steel Legion were missing a few Heavy Weapons though, I believe.

Catachans didn't have a general release grenade launcher, and the Steel Legion didn't have a flamer or meltagun.

In terms of heavy weapons, SL only had a heavy bolter, lascannon and missile launcher.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
To be fair, there were only a few missing weapons among the 2nd Ed metal Guard. Cadians didn't have a Grenade Launcher, Tallarns didn't have a Flamer, Mordians/Praetorians didn't have a Plasma Gun, Valhallans didn't have a Plasma Gun, and Catachans and, IIRC, Steel Legion had every special weapon. Steel Legion were missing a few Heavy Weapons though, I believe.

There was also a delay in releasing some. Well I say delay, gap in release is probably the right word.

Certainly the Catachan Plasma Gun sticks in my mind as a later, after the main release, addition.

I wouldn't be that surprised if we saw new Catachans at some point in the future, although I'm pretty surprised they weren't just subsumed into the Infantry Squad unit entry for now.

The whole situation's just kind of indicative of GW's current approach of treating 40K like a constant work in progress, entirely dependent on the state of the model range at any given time, rather than anything approaching a complete, coherent set of rules. Which, imo, is bad for the vibe of the rules as an immersive framework for world-building rather than just a load of 'gamey' mechanics.

What can be learned from the Primaris/Cadian Chad debacle is the following: Collect your ENTIRE army of an era. Later scale creep will occur which will make the introduction of new models into the force look very bad. Whatever GW will churn out in future for Catachans will be too large for my jungle fighter force. Therefore I hope they bring more movie characters for the Catachans instead of releasing more Uber-Giga-Chads.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
There was also a delay in releasing some. Well I say delay, gap in release is probably the right word.

There was the initial boxes, and then the rest of them came out after the Codex was released. There was a long period between the first box coming out (Catachan Jungle Fighters) and the Codex, but every squad got their rules in that month's White Dwarf.

 Strg Alt wrote:
What can be learned from the Primaris/Cadian Chad debacle is the following: Collect your ENTIRE army of an era. Later scale creep will occur which will make the introduction of new models into the force look very bad. Whatever GW will churn out in future for Catachans will be too large for my jungle fighter force. Therefore I hope they bring more movie characters for the Catachans instead of releasing more Uber-Giga-Chads.

Yep, and there's nothing wrong with going retro. Those cheap 2nd ed. boxed set orks are actually really easy to modify. You can swap out just about everything on them and avoid the steroid problems that later ensued.

I do have some of the later ones, but I use them as nobs/elites, for which they are well suited.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
To be fair, there were only a few missing weapons among the 2nd Ed metal Guard. Cadians didn't have a Grenade Launcher, Tallarns didn't have a Flamer, Mordians/Praetorians didn't have a Plasma Gun, Valhallans didn't have a Plasma Gun, and Catachans and, IIRC, Steel Legion had every special weapon. Steel Legion were missing a few Heavy Weapons though, I believe.

Steel Legion were 3rd ed, and as mentioned lacked flamers, meltaguns, sniper rifles, mortars, and autocannons.

Vostroyans were the other 3rd ed metals- they lacked meltaguns but had the other specials incl. snipers, and lacked missile launchers and autocannons.