Cantican Colonial

The Cantican Colonial, also known as the CantiCol, are regiments of the Imperial Guard raised up from the Imperial world of Cantica, located in the Medina Corridor, in the Medina Sub-sector.

History
There are three core worlds of the Medina Sub-sector; Cantica, Khopesh and Aridun, along with their various satellite planets. Cantica was the defensive buttress of the Medina Corridor. Although a little-known regiment the Cantican Colonials were the Medina Corridors primary troop formation. But like the planets they defended, their heritage was swathed in antiquity. The CantiCol regiments had been raised in the 35th Millennium from the Cantican Loyalists of the Reclamation Wars. They had been one of the few warring dust tribes to aid the Imperium during the Reclamation and were thus the only regiment granted the right to defend the entire region. Unified under Imperial colonisation, these soldiers had only seen intermittent actions against frontier raiders and minor xenos incursion on the Eastern Fringes. Nothing in their long and lengthy history had prepared them for an absolute war against the millions-strong legions of Chaos during the Bastion Wars.

At the outbreak of hostilities, it was estimated that the regiments of the Cantican Colonial numbered no more than 900,000, including auxiliary support units and non-combat corps. According to an Imperial census, 400,000 Guardsmen were garrisoned thinly across the Medina System alongside indigenous Planetary Defence Force elements.

Regiment Organisation
Krieg regiments operate under the standard and recognisable Imperial Guard command structure laid down by the Departmento Munitorum with some minor local variation in insignia and designation, such as the Cantican Lancers.

Cantican Lancers
The Canticans were also known to utilise elite Rough Rider mounted cavalry squadrons known as Cantican Horse Cavalry. Also called the Cantican Lancers, these Rough Riders were considered fighting men of no small repute. Much like the Kasrkin of Cadia or the Commandos of Kurass, the Lancers were an elite formation whose membership was limited and highly selective. As a poorly equipped force, Cantican Guardsmen were defined by the quality of their men rather than the superiority of their wargear, and the Lancers represented the apogee of this philosophy. Candidates could be drawn from any unit within the Cantican Colonial Regiments and thus selection was egalitarian in a rough, though uncompromising way. The Cantican Lancers are considered a hard bunch and the rank-and-file of the company, not the officers, decide who is permitted to wear the Lancer pin. The regular Cantican Guardsmen lacked the heavy armour prevalent amongst other Imperial Guard formations, and the Lancers bridged the gap between infantry and vehicle. While the primary role of the Cantican light horse was to escort the few precious tanks in the Cantican arsenal as mounted infantry, the Lancers were utilised as shock troops. Wearing chest bandoleers clustered with Fuse Bombs, the Lancers would charge upon their destriers headlong into enemy formations, leaving a trail of explosive Fuse Bombs in their wake.

Wargear and Equipment
As a poorly equipped regiment, the CantiCol Guardsmen learned to compensate for equipment shortfalls. The Canticans did not possess many armoured vehicles, but the Cantican infantry squadrons were able to power safely across the battlefield in mostly ancient, obsolete tanks known as Siegfried Siege Tanks and Centaurs. The Siegefried tank was a modified variant of the Land Crawler utility vehicle commonly found by the billions all over the Imperium, while the Centaur is a small armoured utility vehicle of the Imperial Guard that is used in a wide variety of battlefield roles.

Uniform
The Cantican Colonial standard issue uniform is composed of a brown cavalry jacket and widely cut grey breeches, tapered around the calves by canvas binding. Cantican Guardsment wore distinctive regimental kepi caps with a circular flat top and foragers bill.