Badab 13th Heavy Infantry

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Citizen,

A short note on the main Imperial protagonist of the so-called Safehold Anomaly - the forces and personnel of the Badab 13th Heavy Infantry (circ. 750-751.M41).

Volodin.

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Badab 13th Regiment Crest - Displaying the Aquila Imperialis, crossed with the skull and sword icons of Badab.

Homeworld: Badab Primus, Badab Sector
Specialism: Heavy Infantry, Mechanised/Artillery Support, Astartes dual-deployment.
Associated Forces: Badab 1st-13th Heavy Infantry, Badab Armoured Regiments.
Historical Note: Operations with Astartes Chapters, I, VI, VII, and "Astral Claws" successor.
Commander-Regimental: Colonel Iven Petrovich (751.M41 "Safehold Campaign")
Known-as: "The Dead Men", "The Lucky Thirteenth", "Tyrant's Dogboys", "The Hanged"
Previous Noteworthy Actions: The Variax Compliance, Archmides Wars, Endymion Crusade

Hailing from the technologically advanced and progressive military culture of Badab, the Badab Imperial Guard regiments are known for their organisation and advanced (by Imperial standard) equipment. Due to long-term compliance pacts with the Adeptus Mechanicum the Badab regiments are well supplied with armoured vehicles, heavy weapons, heirloom plasma weaponry and Adeptus Cybernetica support.

Operating as a true "combined arms" force - the heavy infantry regiments are supplied with sufficient stocks of Leman Russ tanks, and artillery units to support the advance of both large-scale mechanised and standard infantry platoon deployment. These forces are noted to operate in nearly seamless manoeuvres on the battlefield to brutal effect. Favoured for fast-reaction forces, the Badab regiments are equally comfortable in mechanised/armoured engagements and garrioson or siege deployments. Due to their deployments alongside the superhuman Astartes, the Badab 13th usually deploy to battle in full "hostile-enviroment" heavy combat gear. This enhanced suite of flak-armour, respirator and NBC protection garments allow the 13th to fight in environments normally too toxic or too hazardous to standard Guard infantry deployments. Due to their familiarity with these environments, the Badab 13th would often find themselves assigned to lead the vanguard in invasions or actions in Deathworld-class deployments - a very useful asset in the Maelstrom combat zone.

Badab 13th medic and casualty during the Variax Compliance, note Mark 1 "Defiance-pattern" respirator and hostile-environment garb. Of interest, these soldiers wear the current Badab battledress including "flak-coat" and improvised carapace armour segments. Unfortunately the high-calibre weapons of the Orkoid infestation in the Variax Cluster made a mockery of such limited protection, resulting in high mortality rates despite the best efforts of regimental physicians.

Due to the combined-arms approach of the Badab regiments, Badab tank commanders are renowned for their skill not only in large-scale tank engagements, but in supporting infantry detachments. Of note, the Badab 13th boasts one of the most noted tank "aces" in the sector in Major Ilya Kuzmanovich. Unusually for a Guard force, Kuzmanovich not only commands the 13th's armoured forces, but is the second-in-command for the regiment as a whole. This is not only testament to the leadership and command abilities of the "Lion of Badab", but also his almost preternatural level of luck in surviving the most apocalpytic engagments. Kuzmanovich leads his tank forces from the turret of his venerable Mars-pattern Leman Russ. Heavily adapted and modified by the Mechanicum forces that operate with the regiment, "Ironheart" stands as an exemplar of armoured might in the Imperium, able to not only dominate enemy tanks with accurate and powerful anti-tank fire, but withstand any reprisals due to it's thrice-bonded and hexagrammically warded adamantanium shell. 

The Badab 13th operates a number of Basilisk, Medusa and Manticore platforms for artillary support - these are commanded by the veteran Captain Edyn Raikov. Operating in close conjunction with infantry command squads, the presence of Captain Raikov ensures that even though the "big guns" of Badab may not be seen, they always have an effect on the battle's outcome. 

Leman Russ - Designation "Ironheart", in action against heretic-cultist forces, Endymion Crusade. Pict-capture from drone-servitors during the reclamation of Factorum KV180988875 on Endymion. Note near total destruction of infrastructre due to high-level Navy bombing operations and Badab artillary deployments.

Infantry command in the Badab 13th is supervised by Captain Lukas Misimovich. Known as a brutal taskmaster and vicious martinet, Misimovich rules his infantry command with a fist of iron. Thankfully for him, due to the high levels of loyalty and strict belief in the "chain of command", Misimovich has avoided being "fragged" by his own troops - something that stands as a mystery to his fellow officers in the Badab 13th. In particular, the captain's extreme style of command is somewhat at odds with his more popular colleagues in the regiment - but it is brutally effective. Many forces in the Ultima Segmentum have been swept aside in a glorious bayonet charge commanded by Misimovich, or found their attacking forces utterly repulsed from expertly defended Badabian redoubts and bunkers. To replenish the very high casualty rates in his platoons, Misimovich is regularly supplied with conscripts from the Savlar regiments, and Inquisition penal-battalions. These men are little more than bullet-soaks for the more valued and trained forces of the Badab 13th, and have an almost near-total casualty rate in combat. Adeptus Mechanicus forces have also been known to supply the Badab 13th with advanced "combat-servitor" units, to supplement the infantry strength of the regiment. These hardened combat-chassis units wield high-powered lasguns, and their up-armoured and robust forms supply a dependable backbone to any infantry advance or defence.

"E" Company - 13th Badab, Infantry detachment in standard "Victory-pattern" trench deployment, Endymion Crusade. Note sparse deployment of infantry after assaulting "the death-hold" strongpoints of techno-heretek forces on Endymion.  - Infantry casualty rates under Captain Misimovich regularly exceeded the 80th percentile due to his favoured tactic of headlong assaults into enemy strongholds, hoping to defeat the enemy through relentless attrition.

Due to the close support of the Mechanicum, most Badabian forces will include veteran "Grenadier" squads - heavily armed in the finest Badab-produced carapace armour, and wielding high energy Plasma and Lascannon weaponry. In support of these advance elements, the Badab regiments typically attach "combat engineering" teams to company level forces. These armoured, and mechanised squads typically use Melta weapons and demolition equipment under the supervision of Mechanicum Enginseers to remove battlefield debris and smash defensive redoubts. Interestingly, these squads are also ideally optimised to be effective anti-tank units. Typically these mechanised elements of the Badab regiments are accompanied by Hellhound and Devildog units to assist in infantry suppression and demolition duties. Veteran units are generally commanded by "Lieutenants" of the regiment, who are junior officers awaiting promotion to a full infantry platoon command, or secondment to other Badab-affiliated regiments. Nominally, these veteran troops report to Major Valeri Domovchiyski, a hardened Grenadier officer who has overseen the deployment of mechanised Badab troops on a hundred worlds throughout the sector.

Command of the Badab 13th is currently under Colonel Ibrahym Petrovich, a noted officer from the Badabian officer-schools. These PDF academies educate and support officer training on Badab, with a view to supplying superior officers to the local PDF regiments (crossref: The Tyrant's Legion). This proving ground also provides an ideal education for future Imperial Guard officers, and ensures that the Badab forces are lead by intelligent and tactically astute commanders. Graduating bottom of his class however, Petrovich is something of an anachronism - acceptable by common standards of the Guard, he falls far short of the Badabian norm. He remains ill-liked by his superiors, and distrusted by the men under his command due to his abrasive manner, and tactical naivety. Despite this, Petrovich remains justifiably proud of his command, and the men under his command - showing great pride in their achievements and record almost in spite of their hostility towards him. 

Colonel Petrovich, upon taking command of Badab 13th Heavy Infantry - note dress uniform comprising Aquila Imperialis per Munitorum regulations, and shoulder-board decoration of skull and swords - echoing the regimental crest, and iconography of Badabian hive nobility on Badab Primus.

With an equally middling command record, and no major decorations to his name, Petrovich heavily relies upon his junior officers to assist in the command of the Babad 13th in the field. Unfortunately schemes to remove Petrovich from command have failed utterly, with a staunch support in Badab's Hivespire nobility keeping him in his command. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Petrovich and his forces are frequently seconded to Astartes-led operations by the ruling Babad High Command. His uninspired but utterly loyal command approach makes him ideal to act as de facto attache to Guard forces operating with the Astral Claws and other Astartes commands - allowing the genetically engineering Astartes to effectively take command over a highly-skilled and well-equipped, large force of Guardsmen. Despite his short-comings, the Safehold Anomaly would reveal that although uninspiring, and tactically naive, Petrovich was a brave and loyal servant of the Throne, and that he would ultimately pay the highest price for his devotion to the men under his command. 

Armoured Reconnaisance Force, Badab 13th during Archmedes Wars against Eldar-reiver forces. Initially observed during the conflicts against the swift Eldar, these "Armoured Fist" deployments provided vital intelliegence during the Safehold Campaign, and were designed to replicate similar formations witnessed in allied Astral Claw forces.

Overall theatre-command of the Badab regiments was generally subordinate to whichever Astral Claws Centurion was present at any major engagement, somewhat at odds with the spirit (and letter) of the Codex Astartes. Despite their highly trained and effective officer cadre, Badab regiments would all too willingly give up overall command of their men to Astartes interests. In due course this would lead to [REDACTED BY INQUISITORIAL ORDER], and the darker fates they suffered as consequence. 

When supervision by Astartes was not practical, or delayed, Badab regimental and force command was frequently under the control of a general-equivalent officer. Due to the time-dependant nature of the their relocation to the Tyche system, the Badab 13th were accompanied by the overall Commander-in-Chief of the Badab Guard regiments - General Sergi Kirov, the officer supervising deployment in the Endymion Crusade. Unlike many of his subordinates within the Badab 13th, Kirov was well-loved by the men of Badab, who fondly named him the "Old Man". This affectionate epithet was not only reference to his advancing age at the time of the Safehold conflicts, but to his almost parental approach to his command. Both line-infantry, veteran and officer alike shared in the knowledge that their lives were a currency spent in a miserly fashion by Kirov, and that his tactical astuteness would often save many Badabian lives even while accomplishing his required objectives. Like many of the Badab 13th - Kirov's final fate can only be guessed at following the Safehold Anomaly.

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