Keeping the Grunts in Line

The Use of Vox’s, Standards, and Political Officers

The standard leadership of a guardsman is fairly low, at a measly 7. A given soldier in the Emperor’s armies can only be expected to stand his ground and to follow orders 58% of the time. The record is even worse for conscripted soldiers, who break 72% of the time when place under stress. It is imperative that units of guardsmen are complimented with sergeants, who are veterans that have proven themselves capable of standing up to battlefield stress, but even they have a failure rate of 38%.

The Imperial Guard has three methods within their tool box to help keep the men in line: vox-casters, standard bearers, and commissars. Vox-casters and commissars both increase the odds that orders are followed, while the commissars and standard bearers help “inspire” our men to hold their ground. They can be used together for added effect, but sometimes the added expense of combining these tools may not be worth their benefits.

Employing a Lord Commissar can ensure that orders are passed and that routs are prevented for squads within 6” of him. The high leadership of the Lord Commissar means that orders are passed 92% of the time, and creative placement of squads can pass this benefit to multiple squads within the company. When the commissar joins a squad, there is only a 0.7% chance that unit will retreat, but there is an 8% chance that he will have to execute an officer found wanting.

The lesser political officers can be just as effective, to only a slightly less degree. The standard commissar will see an 83% order pass rate when he is in a squad, and he’ll keep the men on the line 97% of the time, but will need to execute the officer found wanting 17% of the time. The downside of the less political office in comparison to the Lord Commissar is that he can only supervise the squad he is assigned to, which lessens the effect he has on the rest of the army.

One of the largest advantages the commissariat will add to your army is the granting of the stubborn special rule. This rules means they will stand their ground in close combat regardless of the results. It also allows them to ignore any other effects that reduce leadership, such as Dirge Casters, the Weaken Resolve power, etc. The two downsides of the commissars are their costs and the summary execution rule. A regimental standard is less than a quarter a cost of the Lord Commissar and accomplishes the same task much the same. Kell and Creed together would also offer the same benefit for orders to a wide range of the army, but at a higher price.

The battle standards of the guard (both the Regimental and Platoon) can help keep the standard guardsman from routing. The Regimental Standard reduces the failure rate of sergeants within 12” to 7.7%. This failure rate is actually 0.6 percentage points better than the failure rate for sergeants within the Lord Commissar’s bubble. While worse than when the bolt pistol of the commissar keeps a unit in line, it doesn’t come with the cost of an officer’s life.  The downside is that it does not improve the chances of passing orders.

Both the Regimental and Platoon also grant the +1 to combat resolution to the squad with the standard. The rule is clear that the extra wound is applied to the entire combat, so a command squad with the flag can charge into a combat nearby and help turn the tide of a combat in the favor of the struggling guardsmen. This is not likely something a general should depend on, but three standards in a close combat “score” three wounds for the guard, regardless of the actually wounds inflicted. That could easily win the combat for the guard, or at least make the leadership test penalty slightly smaller.

Finally there is the vox-network. Vox-casters can be an effective and cheap method of passing orders. A squad led by a sergeant with a vox-caster in the unit passes orders 92% of the time. If you add a commissar to the unit it becomes 97% of the time, or alternatively if a Lord Commissar is nearby it becomes 99% of the time. Vox-casters combined with commissars are an effective way to make sure orders are passed almost always.

The downside to vox-casters is that they don’t increase the chances of passing moral checks, and a vox-caster must also be purchased for both the unit issuing orders and that receiving orders. It is not difficult to imagine the rising cost of maintaining a vox-network as the size of a battle group increases.

A mixture of these tools can result in much better results then just the use of one. While Commissars and Battle Standards improve the chances of holding the line, they do not offer the reroll for orders that the vox-casters do. At the same time the vox-casters do nothing to help moral. A mixture of commissars and vox-casters can guarantee that both orders are passed and that moral stays strong, but the cost of both can become prohibitive.