Heavy Weapons Squad

Cadian Heavy Weapon Squad

A Heavy Weapons Team is a small unit of the Astra Militarum equipped with heavy weapons designed to provide close-range or heavy-fire support to standard Imperial Guard infantry. Although much of an infantry regiment consists of simple guardsmen, these soldiers with an affinity for bulky and more complicated weaponry are often assembled in a dedicated heavy weapons company.

This allows an infantry regiment of the Astra Militarum to deploy devastating weaponry without having to rely on the armored fighting vehicles of other divisions in its Militarum Regimentum. Those serving in a heavy weapons company have only one simple task - obliterate all enemies that cannot be overwhelmed by massive laser fire.

Rarely does the entire Heavy Weapons Company deploy together. Instead, individual Heavy Weapons Squads are assigned to other companies as platoon support units, where they reinforce the battle line and provide close-fire support. Under the command of an officer, a Heavy Weapons Commando increases the firepower of the infantry platoon it is attached to, allowing gunners to engage enemy armored units or repel alien hordes vastly superior to them. Typically made up of three heavy weapon teams, these squads use concentrated fire to create deadly kill zones. Whole columns of enemy main battle tanks can be attacked and destroyed in a short time, as well as massed waves of oncoming infantry.

Although heavy weapons teams are usually organized into specialized squads, they can also be assigned individually to infantry squads. Due to its size and mass, each heavy weapon is manned by a team of two soldiers. Generally, one crew member carries and fires the gun while the other tows and loads the ammunition. Even a single heavy weapons team can unleash a stream of devastating heavy firepower, reducing the enemy's tightly packed ranks to nothing but a pile of bleeding corpses in the time it takes to pull a trigger.

Some squads use mortars to rain high-explosive shells onto enemy positions that would otherwise be unreachable, pinning the enemy down while fast-moving units close in for the kill. Other Heavy Weapons Squads act as fire support teams - armed with Heavy Bolters or Autocannons, they lay down a curtain of fire that can mow down tightly packed infantry in a hail of blood while tearing apart light vehicles. When equipped with the largest man-portable weapons in the regiment, Heavy Weapons Squads make excellent anti-tank units. Such teams use laser cannons and rocket launchers to spot heavy vehicles, large alien creatures, and other armored targets.

The set consists of three Cadian Heavy Weapons teams, each consisting of a gunner and a loader. Included are the options to equip these teams with one of the following weapons: Laser Cannon, Heavy Bolter, Rocket Launcher, Autocannon, or Mortar.