(copy of initial post inthe Cadian thread)

In the Compendium there is also a neat article on the Pacification of Flotis III, which lists the TOE of the 7th Mordian Regiment, D Company (The Night Rippers).  Translating it to Epic size, it would look roughly like this:

HQ - 2 IG HQ stands (on jetbikes no less)

1st Platoon(detachment) - 10 Tactical stands including 1 HQ
2nd Platoon(detachment) - 7 Assault stands including 1 HQ
3rd Platoon(detachment) - 1 Ogryn stand
4th Platoon(detachment) - 5 Beastment stands including 1 HQ
5th - 10 Rough Riders including HQ
6th - 2 Penal stands
7th - 1 Ratling stand
Mechanicus support (2 Rhinos, 1 Thudd, 1 Rapier, 2 Sentinels, 2 AMs and 4 Servitors).

If we drop the 3rd, 6th and 7th and some of the AM support it might make the basis of an intersting core company for the Mordians.

Mordian 7th - The Night Rippers

IG HQ (2 stands + Rhino)
1 Detachment of Tactical
1 Detachment of Assault
1 1/2 Detachment of Beastmen (5 stands)
1 Detachment of Rough Riders
+ Commissar

600 points.

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Fire bad, tree pretty - Buffy

I've been out of the 40K loop since the demise of second edition, so any updated GW on Mordia or Mordians welcome.  So far I propose the above as a Mandatory core army selection, will probably add Whiteshields once consensus is reached and then just go for some other restrictions.

Thoughts?

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Fire bad, tree pretty - Buffy

5th - 10 Rough Riders including HQ

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After reading the little background I have on the Mordian Guard I noted two special abilities in the 40K Imperial Guard Codex (the latest one?) page 59. Close Order Drill and Die Hards.

I don't know if you have that Codex but are these of any use or able to be represented in some way?

Close Order Drill: Members of the Regiment are thoroughly drilled in fighting in dense formations. While the Mordian units are at least touching the base edge of one other stand in the Platoon then you gain a +1 Leadership and +1 Initiative. (NetEpic Translation?)

Die Hards: The Regiment is so firmly indoctrinated into the Imperial faith and its own martial traditions that they will stand against overwhelming odds. (NetEpic Translation?)

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My head is full of War...

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Actually the TOE had 30 Rough Riders but I adjusted that down to 10 stands.  I guess we could adjust the Beastmen up to 10 stands to keep with standard formation sizes?  Keeping the Beastmen as a Half Flight (and the Assaults at a standard 5) makes a nice even standard Tactical Company size and cost though.  Adding 6 stands would make it a pretty big company...break of 20 sounds nice though  

Not sure what to do about Close Order Drill.  

Die Hards could either be a better Morale, or perhaps a +1 CAF if a stand is outnumbered in Close Combat?

Commissar training squad.  Drop the CAF to 3+, remove a shot and take away all the special abilities except Elite (to differentiate them from Beastmen).  One real Commissar and 4 trainees...Special Card...100 points?

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Fire bad, tree pretty - Buffy

The Night Rippers is your baby, I'm just throwing in suggestions, hopefully in a helpful way. So you make the call. I can see where your coming from after you mentioned the five Assault and Beastman thing.
Yes, a BP of 20 does sound nice...    ...Drop the pen and step away from the rule books.  

Close Order Drill: At first I thought of the film Zulu. So I instantly thought of Volley Fire. However, the 40K rules talks about a line of steel and bayonets... (Despite it being an insanely outdated notion in a modern battle) So to stay true to the fluff we could use it as...

So long as each stand in the Mordian Platoon is touching one other stand the units in the platoon each gain a +1 Caf due to their training in close order drill. This will make them vulnerable to template weapons and area effects but could be pretty good in defensive positions.
If you would rather go with a more

The old IG Codex though talks about the Mordians putting out a prestigious amount of volley fire. So perhaps some sort of benefit to the to hit value is not to terrible an idea.

You might also want to consider some sort of Forming Up in the end phase too. In order to allow the stands to remain touching. It's getting messy though.

Die Hards: The ability to survive multiple gun battles in corporate buildings and airports?.. no, no, that's not it...  

75% Break point is full of additional problems. Avoid!

+1 Caf AND morale when broken? I like this one. (outnumbered in Close Combat would be hard to remember I think but so might this) A trade off in the cards will be needed to pay fo rthis somehow.

3+ Morale as the simple solution. It kind of clashes with the Cadian Iron Discipline though.

The Cadet Commissar special card sounds really good. Hard as nails. So long as it's a unique then I would be ok if faced with this.

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My head is full of War...

[img]http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk120/Warhead40k/Tyranid%20Swarm/DSC02262.jpg[/img]

The +1 CAF and Morale when broken is neat....I think I'll pinch this one, thanks!

Ok, here goes at a first collated Mordian list:

7th Mordian

The 7th Mordian is a famous Imperial Guard Regiment that has been campaigning for close to two decades.  Attrition replacement over the years has meant that the once traditionally formed companies of the 7th have become somewhat unusual in their composition.  Each of the companies is truly unique and your army can only ever include one of any company that includes Mordian in its' title.

Mordian Iron Guards are renowned throughout the Imperium for their training and tenacity.  To represent this, the following special rule applies to the 7th Mordian Regiment (but not to any allies):

Die Hards

Once broken, any Mordian unit gains +1 CAF and +1 Morale.  

Restrictions:

The Mordian 7th is a Codex army.  It may take allies up to 25% of build total from the Astartes or Mechanicus lists.

A Mordian 7th army may not take any standard Militaris Company cards except for Leman Rus, Artillery, Rocket, Shadowsword, Baneblade, Stormhammer,or Stormblade companies.  You may take any standard Special card or support card.

A Mordian 7th army must include at least 1 Mordian 7th company card.

Units

Mordian 7th - A Company (Cool name required)

2 Tactical and 1 Heavy - 600. (?)

Mordian 7th - B Company

1 Tactical, 1 Assault, 1 Heavy, 1 Ogryn platoon - 650 (?)  

Mordian 7th - C Company

1 Heavy, 2 Thudd, 1 Mole, 2 Rapier - 600 (?)

Mordian 7th - D Company (The Night Rippers)

IG HQ (2 stands + Rhino)
1 Detachment of Tactical
1 Detachment of Assault
1 1/2 Detachment of Beastmen (5 stands)
1 Detachment of Rough Riders
+ Commissar + Rhino

600 points.

Mordian 7th - E Company

1 Bikes, 2 Roughriders, 1 Sabre - 650 (?)

Additional Special Cards:

Commissar Training Squad (1 per army)

1 Commissar and 4 trainees.  Morale 2.  100 points
(Trainees = Commissar with CAF dropped to 3+, 1 shot removed and take away all the special abilities except Elite)

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Fire bad, tree pretty - Buffy

Looks cool. I like it.    While this is great as the 7th Mordian Regiment I had expected a more general Mordian Iron Guard without the Unique restriction apart from the Night Rippers.

Pity about the Close Order Drill but that would have been a tough one to do without being so abstract there would have been no point.

Mordians are dour or down right sombre and wouldn't have many cool sounding names for Companies. Regiments yes, companies probably not IMO. So I would go for Rifle Company, Assault or Shock Company (Too Cadian? Blitz Company?), Support Company... that kind of thing.

7th Mordian Regiment (Night Rippers?)
1st Company - Mordian Rifle Company
2nd Company - Mordian Bayonet Company
3rd Company - Mordian Field Company
4th Company - Night Rippers? or Mordian Raiding Company
5th Company - Mordian Lancer Company

I take it the Companies come with two Mordian Command HQ's and Commissar plus HQ Chimera's as standard? Can you include BP etc please for the onlookers?

I would have preferred the Field Artillery Company (Thudd guns, Mortars + Rapiers, etc) to be three batteries and cheap. Take it from me if you've not used the PDF they are a good send and very, very handy.

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My head is full of War...

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They're all just first pass cobbled together for discussion, so nothing set in stone.  I could just go back to D company plus some restrictions.  No probs making the arty one smaller...I just tried to keep the companies a) around 600-650 points, b) useful c) in aggregate about the same number of formations as a normal guard army for ease of collecting (e.g 3 Heavy detachments, 3 Rough Riders...got one too many Tacticals but you get the drift).  

The last is probably academic as there aren't any Mordian models anyway.  Perhaps there's a suitable WW1 British infantry range in 6mm but none of the existing GW/DRM/EW/GZG stuff looks the goods to me.  I'll finish knocking this up once/if there are comments and the go to work on Catachans.  They'll be much simpler...lift the old SM2 Catachan Devils company from the WD article and probably not much else  

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Fire bad, tree pretty - Buffy

Yeah the moding of these would be difficult. I've still to try Greenstuff yet so moding hundreds of Commissars would be... agony. Still, it could be done. However, I've got my Necrons to finish and then I'm thinking of Dark Eldar. I've already got most of the parts ordered in. I've some finishing touches for the Sisters and a EW Guild(?) Assault Company to turn into another Seraphim Company... Oh and I would really love to buy some FW Tau and a pony and a... you get the idea.

Hey, these are just my own views. Despite the new Avatar I'm still the same old Warhead. I like to think I'm laid back on these things    so take what you like and ignore the rest. I'll only take the Mickey and nobody to my knowledge has died of it... yet.

The only problem with IG Companies that are bigger than three Platoons is that it is hard to use them all within the 25cm Command Range, especially with additional Platoon Support Cards. Things get a bit busy and cramped. I'm sure all the companies are useful... but they could be very unwieldy. It's something to consider but if you think the Mordians work this way or that there isn't an issue then go with it.

What did you think of the name suggestions?

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My head is full of War...

[img]http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk120/Warhead40k/Tyranid%20Swarm/DSC02262.jpg[/img]

I'll finish knocking this up once/if there are comments and the go to work on Catachans.  They'll be much simpler...lift the old SM2 Catachan Devils company from the WD article and probably not much else    

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My head is full of War...

[img]http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk120/Warhead40k/Tyranid%20Swarm/DSC02262.jpg[/img]

Oh, sorry...got looking through the old fluff, found the GW article with the Catachans...got carried away.  I don't really want them...they're yours .

I've just piked up enough guys to do an all Attilan Rough Rider company so I should start on them next.  

Elysian woul be good to use all those non-female EW Assault troopers.  Assault stand with Deep Strike?

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Fire bad, tree pretty - Buffy

Thanks Zap, if you have some info on the Catachans feel free to include it on the new Catachan thread.

Yay, Attila Rides! I can't help thinking of the Charge of the Rohirrim in LotR...  or, subliminal, subliminal....    Galloper guns!   New thread please.

Elysian would be good to use all those non-female EW Assault troopers.  Assault stand with Deep Strike?

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My head is full of War...

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-Hawks get Deep Strike.  Kinda cool in concept and matches the early fluff, but I never use it as they are always sheparding the Exarchs.  Probably be scary on a bigger formation though.

-Galloper Guns....thought about it, but I must admit I find the concept a stretch and just a little too icky.  Perhaps high speed all-terrain buggies for heavy weapon mounts?  Not wedded to that either....hmmm...pondering.

-75cm infiltration move rings alarm bells.  

-para-drop of jump infantry is a goer...Tau already do it.

- Deep Strike on the Valks would be worth a playtest I think.

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Fire bad, tree pretty - Buffy

Galloper Guns These would have to be light artillery, like Thudd Guns or other Infantry support weapons. Nothing else. Just use the towing rules that Ork buggies use.

-75cm infiltration move rings alarm bells.  

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My head is full of War...

[img]http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk120/Warhead40k/Tyranid%20Swarm/DSC02262.jpg[/img]