Combined-Arms Doctrine is how Cadia wields the Voice of Command — not as a favoured trick but as the whole menu, open every turn. Where each other Regiment leans on one or two Orders and adds a signature of its own, a Cadian officer may reach for any Order in the book and call the one the moment demands. When the enemy masses, he calls the massed volley of "First Rank, Fire!" into a lasgun line; when a single hard target must fall, "Take Aim" or "Bring It Down!"; when the objective lies open, "Move! Move! Move!" seizes it; when the line wavers, "Get Back in the Fight!" rallies it; when the foe closes, "Fix Bayonets!" meets him. Cadia takes no Regiment-Order and no lean at all — its breadth is its identity, and it fields the deepest officer corps in the faction precisely so it can issue the right command each round rather than the same one twice. Nothing is banked and nothing accrues: an officer spends his activation, one subordinate's next action is sharpened, and the word is gone. Kill the officers and the whole doctrine falls silent.
Signatures3
Aura of Discipline: while a Commissar — or the Company Commander — stands upon the field, the fear that would scatter a mortal line is held in check by the certainty of his authority. Friendly non-officers within 6" of him automatically pass Nerve tests and re-roll a failed Cool test, standing where an ordinary mob would break and run. This is not the buff economy of Orders but the raw discipline that keeps the expendable line in the fight. Once per battle the Commissar may perform a Summary Execution: a friendly within 3" that has just failed a Nerve or Cool test passes it instead — at the price of that fighter taking a Flesh Wound, the Emperor's mercy delivered as a las-round. When the Commissar falls, the discipline he enforced falls with him, and the courage of the men around him is once more their own.
Voice of Command: the Imperial Guard do not win fights by fighting — their officers win by making a hundred lasguns fire as one. During its activation, instead of shooting or fighting, any officer — a Leader or an officer-Champion — may issue one Order to a friendly non-officer within its command range, either its Initiative or a flat 9", extended to 18" by a vox-caster; a Company Commander, as the senior voice, may issue two. Line of sight or a vox link is required. The Order modifies that fighter's next action this round — a massed volley, a marked shot, a free move, a rally, concentrated fire, or a bayonet charge — and then it is spent. An officer cannot act and command in the same breath, nor bank an Order for later; a subordinate may carry only one at a time, and any Order unused at the end of the round is lost. Nothing accumulates. Kill the officers and the Orders stop the instant they fall.