Have you seen this unit? Part 15

Conscripts represent hastily conscripted men, raised from the local population, new recruits, or from the surrounding planets in time of war (usually when it is going badly). These are usually ill-trained and often too old or young to join the regular rank and file soldiery.  If that wasn’t good enough, they are usually given only the most basic of equipment. It is hoped that the weight of numbers and massed fire will balance out the lack of combat training and discipline.

They are very similar to the typical Imperial Guardsmen; they have the same stats except for a WS 2, BS 2 and a hefty leadership 5. They are only 1 point less than their better trained Guardsmen brethren, which I find a bit strange. They come armed with a lasgun, close combat weapon and flack armor. They start in a squad of twenty and can have up to thirty more in the squad. They can also only be fielded if an Infantry Platoon is chosen, much like heavy weapon squads and special weapon squads. Last they are a troop option and that is handy for 2/3 of the regular rulebook missions.

They can also be given the rule, Send in the Next Wave, if Commander Kubrik Chenkov is taken as an Infantry Platoon leader. This will run an extra 75 points. It does allow for a Conscript unit to be removed from play, counting as destroyed and then placed back on the table at the beginning of the next turn. They come in off the deployment table edge and are at full strength. This sounds great but when added to the cost of the squad and the cost of Chenkov, it can be fairly pricey for such a poor unit.

These guys look to be a great meat shield and backfield objective holder, so why are they shunned?  Well with the emphasis on mobile armor in this edition, footsloggers are just unused.  They need to be fielded in a squad of 20+ to make sure they have staying power once they start getting shot or cut to pieces. They are Imperial versions of Gretchin and they will bail quickly if their numbers fall, thanks to that awesome leadership 5. They have no options for any heavy or special weapons so they pose little to threat. They are also only available if you take an Infantry Platoon which is fine, but they eat up points that can easily be better used somewhere else in the force.  Last is the model count, this is a real world expensive option.  Getting 20+ of these bought, built and painted can be a daunting task.

Well how can these guys be better utilized? Well give them the option to take a heavy bolter, say 1 in 10, or a flamer. Both of these guns are low threat and might possibly be thrown into Conscript squads. Neither are universally scary to 40K players and are shunned much like the Conscript squad.

Make them a regular troop choice, like a 0-1 (like Death Company). That way they don’t sit with the Infantry Platoons waiting to be “unlocked.” It might get a few people to throw them out for what they are, cheap scoring/blocking.

Also maybe, just make them another point cheaper than Guardsmen. There is no real need to take these, when you can spend almost the same points and get almost the same, but better. If these guys ran two points lower than regular Guardsmen, then maybe they might be used for a throw away screen/ scoring unit.

I like the idea of this unit. Sure it might sound horrible or bring in ugly real world history a bit, but this is only game. Press ganged citizens/raw recruits given guns to fight some horrid enemy is just great stuff. If they kill anything super! If they are wiped out, you know you got what you paid for. I think given a descent number of bodies and a Commissar (or a Priest) then they might actually hang around a bit and be of some use.