597th Valhallan Regiment
GW canon
Category
Regiment
Description
The initial hostility was so great that the unit threatened to break apart; aboard the troopship a mess-hall riot left troopers and naval provosts dead. Commissar Ciaphas Cain resolved the crisis by placing men and women of both origins in mixed squads and fire teams and by tying rewards to performance rather than origin. Gradually morale returned, and Kasteen and Broklaw came to respect each other. The forced union became a mechanised formation without heavy tanks and one of Valhalla's most disciplined.
The regiment's first deployment with Cain was on Gravalax against the T'au; afterwards it fought for over a decade against Orks, Necrons, Tyranids and Chaos. Because Cain's memoirs report almost exclusively on this period, it is the best-documented individual regiment in the setting. Inquisitor Amberley Vail, who compiled the Cain Archive, supplements it with extracts from the memoirs of Jenit Sulla, a lieutenant at the founding who later rose to Lady General; Vail draws on her bombastic prose only reluctantly. The regiment is known from Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain series, beginning with “For the Emperor”.
Arm of service
Mechanised infantry
Additional Information
Homeworld
Valhalla (ice world in the Segmentum Ultima; turned into a glacial desert by an iron comet more than 10,000 years ago, population in geothermally heated cave cities)
Nickname
No nickname of its own; the regimental number itself is its badge of identity: 301 + 296 = 597, so that both predecessor units live on
Specialisation
Mechanised infantry; cold-weather, mountain and attritional warfare as well as Valhallan anti-Ork experience. Fights as a mixed-gender unit and through Cain's reforms became an unusually steadfast, flexibly deployable formation
Principal equipment
Around 2,000 soldiers in five companies. M36 lasguns and flak armour under thermally insulated winter coats; a preference for flamers and mortars. Chimera transports, Salamander variants, nine Sentinel walkers, support from Enginseers. Heavy tanks such as the Leman Russ are expressly not part of its inventory
Commanders
Colonel Regina Kasteen (senior surviving officer of the 296th; gained the colonelcy by a mere three days' seniority); Major Ruput Broklaw (executive officer, senior surviving officer of the 301st); Commissar Ciaphas Cain
Notable members
Commissar Ciaphas Cain; Gunner Ferik Jurgen, Cain's aide and a blank/pariah; Lieutenant, later Lady General Jenit Sulla; Corporal Mari Magot; Sergeant Grifen; Sergeant Penlan “Jinxie”; Inquisitor Amberley Vail (Ordo Xenos), editor of Cain's memoirs
Battles and events
Raised in 931.M41 from the remnants of the 296th and 301st, each of which had lost more than half its strength fighting Tyranids on Corania; mess-hall riot aboard the troopship, ended by Cain's mixed squads; Gravalax incident (931.M41, against the T'au; first deployment with Cain); Simia Orichalcae (932.M41, Orks and Necrons); Periremunda (933.M41, Tyranids); Adumbria (937.M41, Chaos and a Daemon Prince); Lentonia (938.M41); Nusquam Fundamentibus (941/942.M41); Second Siege of Perlia (999.M41, killing of Warmaster Varan)
Known from
Sandy Mitchell, Ciaphas Cain series (Black Library), including “For the Emperor” (Gravalax), “Caves of Ice”, “The Traitor's Hand” and “Duty Calls”; the omnibus “Hero of the Imperium”; in-book editor Inquisitor Amberley Vail, with extracts from Jenit Sulla's memoirs (“Like a Phoenix from the Flames”)
Sources
Sandy Mitchell, Ciaphas Cain series (“For the Emperor”, “Caves of Ice”, “The Traitor's Hand”, “Duty Calls”, “Cain's Last Stand”); the omnibus “Hero of the Imperium”; Lexicanum, Fandom
The pictures in this entry are fan art made for Anvil of War — not official depictions by Games Workshop. All famous regiments →