Imperial Reinforcements: The Xhorik 87th Drop Troops

While the space marines of The Red Brotherhood have borne the brunt of the early fighting, due to their permanent garrison on the planet and their ability to strike quickly, the great gears of the Imperial war machine have finally begun to turn, bringing the massive armies of the Imperial Guard to bear on the enemies of mankind.

The first regiment to respond are the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops on their way back home after a long campaign against the forces of Chaos. The 87th are a highly-mobile specialist force, well-suited to fighting in rugged, inaccessible terrain such as the mountains and badlands of Xhorik Prime where tank-heavy armored regiments would struggle to maneuver. Instead of being disbanded as planned after six long years in a combat zone, these grizzled soldiers will be redeployed to defend their home. 

Shown here is a typical veteran of the regiment, armed with an Antax pattern lascarbine with non-standard-issue silencer picked up sometime during the campaign. He is equipped with a grav-chute and fully-enclosed helmet in order to execute high-altitude drop operations from above AA range. The enclosed helmets would prove extremely beneficial in the hostile climate of Xhorik's fierce radioactive dust storms that would choke and slowly poison anyone who breathes too much of the fine particulates, which are tainted with the remnants of the destroyed Ork Rok from many years ago. 

Their carbines are longer and bulkier than the Accatran Mk IV pattern used by many Drop Troop regiments, including the famous Elysians, which makes them more difficult to wield during drops and at point blank range. The Antax pattern is also less sophisticated and  more prone to breaking down. Their main positive attributes are that they are more accurate at long range, much cheaper to manufacture and simple to repair and dress in the field. These features make them common in the secondhand market with mercenaries and militias, meaning there are many blackmarket accessories and variations, some of which the X87's veterans took advantage of on their last campaign. They received these weapons upon formation of the regiment with the official explanation that this is what was available at the tme, although some of the enlisted men grumble that some greedy general probably received a nice bribe to take these and issue them to the regiment. The men have no trouble justifying their use of non-standard-issue components and field modifications.