Tournament Fluff for Guard

The Walder System lies in the Segmentum Obscurus and comprises of several inhabited planets orbiting a single sun. The largest and most heavily populated of these is Tiefwald. Despite its greater distance from the Eye of Terror than other Obscurus systems such as Cadia or Mordia, its peoples are nonetheless faced with Chaos incursions on a regular basis, due in large part to the energy-generating capacity of the planet’s massive thermal core reactors. Fortunately these same reactors provide the Tiefwalder military access to an almost unlimited supply of plasma for use in munitions and fuel.

Trained amongst the densely forested terrain of their homeworld, all Tiefwalder regiments specialize in large-scale infantry ambushes. Each soldier is a rifleman first and foremost and receives lifelong training in accuracy and fire control. The Tiefwalder company commander typically exercises direct control prerogative for each unit. This has two main effects on their style of fighting. First, the platoon command elements are freed up to intercept skirmishers or conduct raids behind enemy lines with devastating short-range anti-armor weaponry. To be able to participate in such a raid is considered the highest (and probably last) honor that a Tiefwalder can earn. Second, the commander can more easily coordinate the various elements of the main ambush, collapsing sections of the front line at precisely the best moment to create new firing lanes and trap targets in the open. When an enemy charges in for close-quarters fighting, they will often find the Tiefwalder position abandoned and themselves caught in a new crossfire!

The Tiefwalder 14th, a.k.a. the Red Rifles, is traditionally a dedicated PDF regiment, though they have been deployed off-world in rare instances. In fact, they earned their nickname after their commitment to the Hannover System conflict, when they painted their weapons red in order to intimidate the invading Ork army. Since the regiment’s inception, they have also participated in actions against Eldar and Tau forces. Reports of skirmishes with other imperial forces are largely speculative and have never been verified.