Seamus Cowden hails from the upper tip of the Scottish Highlands. Due to his imposing physical stature and athleticism, he found early success as the Captain of the 1998 Scotland National under-20 Rugby Union Team. A strong desire for public service inspired Cowden to enlist in the army at 18, after five years of active duty, he was recruited by the SAS.
Cowden displays natural leadership qualities, likely developed during his amateur sports career. His comfort on the front line can be attributed to his confidence and tactical experience.
Sledge is the operator to choose for quick and relatively silent destruction. His breaching hammer can be used to quickly go through multiple destructible walls, floors and barricades. But be careful: as opposed to breaching charges, which can be detonated from a distance, using the breaching hammer might leave you exposed, so be ready to quickly take cover from enemy fire.
Using the hammer makes less noise than an exploding breaching charge, so you can use it to surprise your enemy by creating a path from an unexpected direction.
The breaching hammer is very effective against walls that are covered by Mute's Jamming Device and Castle's bulletproof barricades (making him a great pick against them). It is also capable of destroying barb wire in one hit.
Since Sledge operates in especially close quarters, he goes particularly well with medium-to-long range attackers like Ash, Twitch and Glaz.
Since Sledge operates in especially close quarters, he goes particularly well with medium-to-long range attackers like Ash, Twitch and Glaz.
Sledge's loadout can be tweaked to make him a strong offensive close range breaching-centered Operator (with the M590A1, SMG-11 and Frag Grenades). Another variant is to equip him with the L85A2 and Stun Grenades for a more versatile and classic approach.
When breaching a wall with the hammer, if Sledge is at a distance that will allow contact to the wall but not close enough, that swing will only destroy one surface out of the wall's two, necessitating a second swing, delaying the breach and wasting the number of times Sledge can use his hammer.
The hammer has 25 charges. Breaching a wall consumes 2 charges, while breaching a barricade consumes 1 charge.
Loadout |
Weapon/Gadget |
Ammo |
Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary 1 | M590A1 | 7+29 | Shotgun |
| Primary 2 | L85A2 | 31+210 | Assault Rifle |
| Secondary 1 | P226 Mk 25 | 16+45 | Handgun |
| Secondary 2 | SMG-11 | 17+48 | Machine Pistol |
| Gadget 1 | Stun Grenade | 3 X | Gadget |
| Gadget 2 | Frag Grenade | 2 X | Gadget |
| Unique Gadget | Tactical Breaching Hammer | N/A | "The Caber"e |
"Who needs explosives?"
While breaching hammers are nothing new to CTU or law enforcement operations, “The Caber” is unique due its exceptional size and weight. Such dimensions would be impractical in the hands of most agents but Sledge’s exceptional physical prowess make it a formidable presence on the battlefield, allowing for quick and effective breaches.
Sledge’s breaching hammer was directly inspired by CTU battering rams. There are four kinds of breaching tools: mechanical, ballistic, explosive and thermal. Using sledgehammers or other blunt objects to breach is known as mechanical breaching, and often serves as a relatively quiet supplement compared to the other, more attention-grabbing methods. Mechanical breaching was used during the Iranian Embassy Siege to gain access to rooms, and is still used in modern day conflicts in tight urban zones where ballistic or explosive breaching methods carry more risk.
On Sledge's character model, there is a tartan on the right of his lower leg. The same tartan pattern can be seen wrapped on The Caber. Both either resemble or actually is the tartan of Clan Stewart, suggesting that he's either a member of the clan or is just there as a nod of his nationality.