Ratling
Ratlings (Homo Sapiens Minimus)[2], known also as Runtlings, Stunties[3][4] and Maggots[3] but among themselves as Halflings,[3][4] – small and hedonistically jovial abhumans, which commonly work aboard spacecraft as cabin crew and runarounds, benefitting from their low posture,[4] they rarely find employment in Imperial Guard due to their lessened strength and less than ideal temperament.[3][4] However, they exhibit a heightened expertise in marksmanship which, alongside their lesser posture and low weight aiding in stealth, makes them the most often filling the positions of Snipers.[3][1]
Contents
Overview
Ratlings are the smallest type of abhuman, their ancestors having become stunted by thousands of years of inbreeding on worlds with naturally soporific climates and abundant harvests.[4]
Ratlings rarely reach 1.3 meters in height,[4] being even smaller and slighter than Squats,[3] and although due to dietary lack of restrictions they tend to be dumpy, they are not particularly strong[4] or resilient.[3] They are idle, hedonistic, loud and gregarious, over-friendly and sexually promiscuous. Their lives are spent eating until sick, drinking copious amounts of intoxicating liquids, and procreating uncontrollably.[4] Their proclivities towards food exemplifies in their cuisine, well known as phenomenal among the Imperial Guard.[1]
Their short posture and relatively lithe build allows them to move through the undergrowth without making much noise.[3][1] They have a penchant towards activities of dubious morality and legality, like thievery and fencing contraband, known to acquire extra supplies within regimens they are stationed with and trading to other soldiers.[1]
Homeworlds
Ratling homeworlds are self-sufficient and agricultural Feudal Worlds,[4] which, like worlds populated by baseline humans, are subjects to the tithe of soldiers for the Imperial Guard.[1]
List of the worlds
Ratlings in the Imperial Guard
Although Ratlings make generally poor warriors, the Imperium still has a use for them, and they are often recruited into the Imperial Guard as snipers, one of the battlefield roles in which they excel.[3][7] Their role extends to infiltrators, who can traverse the war zone in relatable discretion.[1] In those roles they operate independently of the rest of the Imperial Guard force, and are equipped with sniper rifles and flak armour.[7] Teams of ratlings sharpshooters are often divided into smaller units placed directly under a command of regimental officers, each put in widespread array of strategical locations providing a commanding field of covering fire. They are known to be disparaged against by the majority of the baseline human regimens, although many of them could attribute their own survival to the cover fire of ratling regimens.[1]
Ratlings are also well known for their culinary abilities and often serve as cooks off the battlefield. Some Ratlings take advantage of their position as company cooks to acquire extra supplies to sate their voracious appetites. Others extend these benefits to their foster regiments for a price, their kitchens serving as fronts for their illegal activities. Their abilities as fences, thieves and black marketeers find them acceptance from the men they serve alongside, as they offer a wide range of goods, from extra rations, to drugs and alcohol, and even non-standard issue weapons common among veteran soldiers.[1] Conversely it is documented that guardsmen who give too much grief in their immense prejudice towards ratlings find themselves mysteriously short of ammunition on the battlefield, preyed upon not only by the enemy finding an opening but also by the mocking eyes of their diminutive tormentors, watching through telescopic lenses some place far away.[8][9b]
Ratlings of Note
- Stumper Muckstart[10]
- Magogg[9a]
- Manvolio[1]
- Bigby Crumb[11]
- Rein and Raus[Needs Citation]
- Belagg Grakk[12]
- Dunno[13]
- McGriffin[8]
Known Ratling Units
- 337th Abhuman Auxiliary Corps - Pariah Crusade. Participated in the defense of Traanaxis Hive[14]
- Magogg's Ratling Rifles - Took part in the Damocles Crusade[9a]
- Manvolio Grand's Ratling Sharpshooters - Took part in the War of Weeping, on the world Crastille[8][9b]
Images
Sources
- 1: Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pg. 43
- 2: Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Rulebook, pg. 405
- 3: Codex Imperialis (Background Book), pg. 29
- 4: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, pg. 174
- 5: Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 93
- 6: White Dwarf 294 (UK), pg. 83
- 7: Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 43
- 8: Codex: Astra Militarum (6th Edition), pg. 43 — Heroes Beyond Number
- 9: Codex: Astra Militarum (8th Edition)
- 10: Codex: Imperial Guard (2nd Edition), pg. 89
- 11: Forge World Webstore: Bigby Crumb, Ratling Slopper (archival)
- 12: Cadia Stands (Novel), pg. 60
- 13: Warhammer Combat Cards - Card Description
- 14: White Dwarf 456, pg. 61
- 15: Games Workshop webstore page : Ratlings (archival)
- 16: Only War: Shield of Humanity, pg. 17
Imperial Guard Infantry | |
---|---|
Command | Company Command Squad • Platoon Command Squad • Scion Command Squad • Tank Commander • Regimental Advisors • Commissar • Primaris Psyker • Tech-priest Enginseer • Priest |
Specialists | Master of Ordnance • Breacher • Scout • Medic • Vox-Operator • Weapons Specialist • Sharpshooter • Operator |
Troops | Infantry Squad • Heavy Weapons Squad • Special Weapons Squad • Armoured Fist Squad • Veteran Squad • Scions Squad • Canids • Penal Legion Troopers • Ogryn Squad • Ratling Squad • Psyker Battle Squad • Rough Rider Squad • Field Ordnance Battery • Jump Trooper • H-Grade Combat Servitor |