Elysian Drop Troops



Elysian Drop Troops are the airborne assault infantry regiments of the Imperial Guard who are recruited from the verdant world of Elysia in the Segmentum Solar, 30 light years from the world of Armageddon. The Elysian Drop Troop Regiments make extensive use of aircraft and elite soldiers plunging from the skies directly into battle. These regiments' true advantage lies in their speed, unpredictability and the unrivalled ability to attack anywhere on the battlefield, at any time. The Elysian Drop Troops Regiments are known for their rapid deployment capabilities using Airborne Troop Carriers called Valkyries, and they deploy from these aircraft by rappelling or making use of Grav-Chutes at high altitudes. Elysian Drop Troopers are able to strike deep into enemy territory, and so are unable to field any heavy ground vehicles during missions. While this may be the case, the Elysians do make use of a number of light vehicles including the Tauros rapid assault vehicle, the modified Drop Sentinel, Cyclops Demolition Vehicle, and Sentry Gun batteries. The Elysians make use of Valkyries, Vulture Gunships, and the support of the Imperial Navy to make up for their lack of heavy armour. Using their Valkyries and Grav-Chutes, the Elysians can capture objectives rapidly by dint of overwhelming force and their close-range firepower. Elysian Drop Troop Regiments often rely on demo-charges and special weapons for tank-busting. Vultures, Valkyries and Imperial Navy aircraft pack fearsome amounts of firepower, and swooping over the battlefield they can target just about anything. Tactical flexibility is the Elysians' true advantage over most other forces, and there are few tactical situations, other than a drawn-out planetary siege, that the Elysians cannot counter quickly and effectively.

The Elysian Drop Troops are a very specialised force. Being drop troops, Elysians lack many of the heavy weapons needed to defeat the enemies heaviest equipment and vehicles. As their primary armaments are simple Lasguns Elysian Dop Troops cannot afford to sit back and engage in prolonged firefights with an enemy either. Elysian Drop Troops do not engage the enemy in a conventional stand-up fight. Instead, they seek to take objectives by rapid, hard-hitting attacks and then hold them with grim determination and the selective targetting of enemy threats. Casualties will often be high for Elysian Regiments as a result of this strategy, but that is the price Drop Troop Regiments pay for their extreme mobility.

Recruitment
Elysia, the homeworld of the Elysian Drop Troop Regiments, is a verdant Imperial Civilised World in the Segmentum Solar, some 30 light years from the Hive World of Armageddon. The Elysian System and the surrounding space were notorious havens for human and Eldar pirates, as Elysia lay on a major trade route through its sector and its star system was characterised by numerous asteroid fields and dense gas clouds that served as highly effective camouflage for pirate vessels waiting to raid passing Imperial commerce. Because of this ever-present threat, the Elysian Planetary Defence Force (PDF) gained intensive experience in ship-to-ship combat and serving alongside naval support when assault isolated space-based pirate outposts. The Elysian Drop Troop Regiments raised by the Imperial Tithe for service in the Imperial Guard are elite, all-volunteer units whose troops are required to first serve at least one tour of combat duty in the Elysian PDF before they are allowed to join. After they are recruited the new Drop Troops are sent to a number of military training bases established across Elysia and the rest of the Elysian System to begin their training, which includes extensive practice handling Grav-Chutes, making high-orbit insertions, sharpshooter training and extreme environment survival skills. Elysian Drop Troops are expected to make every shot count as during their operations resupply can often be days or even weeks away and so no Trooper is allowed to enter combat duty without first having been rated as an expert marksman. This high-level of accuracy allows Elysian Drop Troops to be far more effective when wielding lasguns or autoguns than the equivalent standard regiments of the Imperial Guard.

Combat Doctrine
Most Imperial Guard Regiments are recruited to serve as basic heavy infantry. But some worlds, due to their particularly cultural or environmental circumstances, produce more specialised and elite regiments. AMong this group of Imperial Guard units can be counted the Elysian Drop Troops, who serve as highly mobile, elite airborne infantry equipped with sophisticated aircraft and Grav-Chutes intended to be used for deep strikes behind enemy lines. The Elysian Drop Troops are among the best rapid-response, highly mobile heavy infantry regiments that can be deployed by the Imperial Guard. The Elysian Drop Troops are provided with high-quality armour and weapons and are extremely well-trained due to the difficulty required in mastering the tactics of airborne assault using Grav-Chutes and Valkyrie Airborne Assault Aircraft. They also comprise an unusually high number of elite Storm Trooper companies within their unit organisations. When making a combat drop, the Elysian Drop Troops primary objective is to sow devastation and confusion among the enemy as a result of their sudden arrival behind enemy lines. However, because of their emphasis on mobility, Elysian Regiments do not make use of any of the standard Imperial Guard armoured vehicles from the Leman Russ tank to the Chimera armoured personnel carrier. The only vehicles that the Elysian Drop Troops can make use of because they are light enough to be dropped into combat by a Grav-Chute are Sentinel walkers and Tauros Rapid Assault Vehicles. As a result, Elysian Drop Troops are often able to rapidly overwhelm the enemy and seize an objective, but they must be reinforced by other Imperial forces that possess heavier weaponry as they are unable to hold their objectives for long in the face of determined enemy resistance. During large-scale campaigns such as planetary sieges, the Elysian combat doctrine favours hit-and-run tactics that focuses on ambushes where the Elysians can concentrate their fire and mobility advantage to weaken the enemy and then disappear to repeat the process. In smaller engagements such as direct assaults of a fixed target, the Elysians are capable of carrying out rapid assaults and maintaining their combat cohesiveness for several weeks without effective resupply.

Wargear
Elysian Drop Troops wear Mark XII Carapace Armour and Type 5 Pressure Helmets which are equipped with respirators intended for low-oxygen, high-altitude drops or for deployment in hostile environments like the vacuum of space or on worlds with toxic atmospheres. Drop Troops are outfitted with the Mark IV Combat Backpack which is comprised of durable metal composites and contains the soldier's air supply, a Vox Caster, and any other vital supplies like food and water. This piece of equipment was designed to be used with the Type 5 pressure helmets, so there for must be made on Elysia. Elysia is a wealthy world and spares no expense in outfitting its troops. All Drop Troops are armed with Mark IV Accatran pattern lasguns with a standard issue of five power cells. Grenades are issued in a more ad hoc-fashion and can be provided to the grenade launcher as needed. Elysian Drop Troopers generally deploy in a 10-trooper squad formation that includes 9 troops and 1 sergeant with one trooper carrying a special weapon. Among the special weapons available to Elysian Drop Troops are:
 * Mark IX Accatran Pattern Mortar - An automatic Mortar with pre-loaded five round drum that is capable of a high rate of fire.
 * Mark Vd Accatran Pattern Heavy Bolter
 * Mark II Accatran Pattern Missile Launcher
 * Mark VIII Accatran Pattern Melta Gun
 * Mark II Accatran Pattern Plasma Gun
 * Mark IVe Accatran Pattern Modified Sniper Lasgun
 * Mark Ic Accatran Pattern Flamer - This Flamer's Promethium canisters are worn on the back.

Notable Elysian Drop Troops Regiments

 * 1st Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - This Elysian Regiment is a part of Ultima Segmentum's strategic reserve of Imperial Guard Regiments waiting for rapid deployment against any emerging threat to the Imperium. The vaunted 1st Elysian Regiment has a long and glorious tradition, having fought in the Emperor's cause across the galaxy; including having fought against heretic rebellions around the Eye of Terror, the Orks of WAAAGH! Urgok and Eldar pirates in the Barbarius Sector.
 * 9th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Participated in the Veridian Prime Campaign, against the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Kraken.
 * 12th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Fought in the Third War for Armageddon.
 * 15th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Participated in the Yarant II Campaign.
 * 16th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Participated in the defence of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade.
 * 22nd Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Participated in the Yarant III Campaign, the Skopios Incident and the Cathalin Crusade.
 * 23rd Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - The 23rd Regiment formed part of the Imperial Taros Expeditionary Force to combat Tau aggression which had seen those duplicitous aliens seize that mineral-rich mining world. The regiment's part of the campaign was codenamed "Operation Comet" aimed at capturing and holding the planet's largest water processing plant. The 23rd Regiment also took part in the assault on Fort Moros and were awarded a regimental citation for their actions. During the desert battles of the Taros Campaign the 23rd Elysian Regiment was wiped out in the battle for Hydro-Processing Plant 23-20 by Tau forces during Operation Comet when they were surrounded and cut off three days after initially capturing the plant.
 * 41st Elysian Drop Troops Regiment, the "Angel Guard" - Participated in the 13th Black Crusade.
 * 158th, 101st, and 16th Elysian Drop Troops Regiments - All of these Elysian Regiments participated jointly in the 13th Black Crusade.
 * 64th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - The 64th Elysian Regiment was wiped out during the Ill-fated Fifth Ymgarl Insertion.
 * 72nd Elysian Storm Troopers - Destroyed in combat against the Word Bearers Traitor Legion on Tanakreg.
 * 89th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Fought an Ork WAAAGH! on Elysia itself during an Ork assault.
 * 99th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment/Detachment D-99 - Fought against the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Kraken; the 99th Regiment made repeated combat drops in the defence of the Imperial planets of Moloch, Hamman's World and Moran. The survivors, a single, over-strength company, were amalgamated into the small Imperial Guard unit designated Detachment D-99 and seconded to the forces of the Inquisition by Lord Inquisitor Varius. Subsequently, Detachment D-99 served during the Inquisition's mission to Beta Anphelion IV to investigate a Tyranid outbreak at a secret Adeptus Mechanicus xenological research facility.
 * 101st Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Participated in the 13th Black Crusade.
 * 110th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Defeated the Ocanan XV Traitor Guard Regiment.
 * 133rd Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - Destroyed in combat against the Word Bearers Traitor Legion on Tanakreg.
 * 158th Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - During the massive Chaos invasion of the 13th Black Crusade, the 158th Elysian Regiment was sent to reinforce the defenders if St. Josmane's Hope in the Cadia System. The regiment's arrival proved insufficient to stem the tide of the Chaos force's advance. The 158th was almost destroyed in heavy fighting before St. Josmane's Hope itself was destroyed to prevent it from falling into the enemy's hands.
 * 181st Elysian Drop Troops Regiment - This regiment was diverted from the defence of the Forsarr Sector against the encroachment of the Ork WAAAGH! Garaghak to assist the Raven Guard Space Marines in a raid against the Orks' manufacturing base on the world of Kastorel-Novem. The regiment was all but annihilated in the attack.

Notable Elysian Drop Troopers

 * General Syckava - Commanding Officer of the 23rd Elysian Drop Troops Regiment.
 * Brigadier-General Ishmael Havorn 
 * Major Durra - Commanding Officer of Detachment D-99 during the Inquisition's campaign on Beta Anphelion IV.
 * Captain Gerek - Commander of A Company, 181st Elysian Drop Troops Regiment. Captain Gerek leads the company from his command Tauros.
 * Captain Thanstadt - Commander of Shield Force, 181st Elysian Drop Troops Regiment.
 * Captain Xhyst - Commander of Sword Force, 181st Elysian Drop Troops Regiment.

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