Pete Haines

Pete: When the time came to sort out which armies were to be included in Codex: Eye of Terror a couple of key facts made their presence felt. Firstly the book was going to be called 'Codex: Eye of Terror', secondly it would be released very close to the time when the long-awaited Cadian plastics were released. Given that it is difficult to get out of the Eye of Terror without going through Cadia, these rather burly and uncompromising facts ensured that Cadian Shock Troops was duly noted down first.

The main issue for designing the Cadians was that not much further down the development schedule was Codex: Imperial Guard. This meant that the list in Eye of Terror would have to work with the old Codex: Imperial Guard and then effortlessly switch to working with the new codex. The only way to ensure this was to put a lot of thought into what the Imperial Guard was going to be like and then work backwards to design the Cadians.

The effect of this was to establish a framework within which I had to work. This proved to be helpful rather than limiting. I spent some time looking back at the earliest representations of the Imperial Guard in Warhammer 40,000 as well as making a study of how the Cadian military had been represented in fiction as well as in the rules.

The result was the restoration of Sanctioned Psykers and Whiteshields to the Cadian army. From Dan Abnett's fiction I introduced the Kasrkin, the elite Cadian Guard Troops, to give the Shock Troopers a cutting edge. Finally I mixed in some special rules to reflect the professionalism and discipline of the Shock Troop regiments.

The Kaskrin are the elite Cadian Guard Troops.

The result was an army with less Abhuman elements than a normal Imperial Guard army but which included some classic Warhammer 40,000 'gothicness' and some interesting quirks. It is still undeniably Imperial Guard but with generous Cadian seasoning.

Related Articles:
Getting Started With The Imperial Guard | Imperial Guard Miniatures Range
Imperial Guard Designer's Notes | Imperial Guard Reference Sheet

Online Store:
Imperial Guard