Imperial Guard role

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Wardragoon**

Eumerin wrote:
Frazzled wrote:I don't buy the massive space concept. Ships are paying for space. They'd put more troops or equipment there, especially on longer trips.

For a two day trip, sure go ahead and cram everyone in.

For a longer trip, no. Your troops *must* have areas in which to perform physical exercise, at bare minimum. Otherwise their muscles will have atrophied during the voyage. After a particularly long trip like that, they'll be lucky to make it off the shuttle carrying their full kit. An actual march would be out of the question.

Cramming troops into passenger liners only works when the trip is either extremely short or you know for a fact that they're not going to see any action when they arrive at their destination.

Or they need to get troops to the line ASAP and thats the only ship thats available, note that marines were thrown on cruise liners during ww2 due to lack of transports

**Frazzled**

Eumerin wrote:
Frazzled wrote:I don't buy the massive space concept. Ships are paying for space. They'd put more troops or equipment there, especially on longer trips.

For a two day trip, sure go ahead and cram everyone in.

For a longer trip, no. Your troops *must* have areas in which to perform physical exercise, at bare minimum. Otherwise their muscles will have atrophied during the voyage. After a particularly long trip like that, they'll be lucky to make it off the shuttle carrying their full kit. An actual march would be out of the question.

Cramming troops into passenger liners only works when the trip is either extremely short or you know for a fact that they're not going to see any action when they arrive at their destination.

Hey if its good enough for the redcoats...
Again, room needed for calisthenics is not substantial.
Having said that if there are reliable fluff examples then I will yield the argument.

**Wardragoon**

Frazzled wrote:
Eumerin wrote:
Frazzled wrote:I don't buy the massive space concept. Ships are paying for space. They'd put more troops or equipment there, especially on longer trips.

For a two day trip, sure go ahead and cram everyone in.

For a longer trip, no. Your troops *must* have areas in which to perform physical exercise, at bare minimum. Otherwise their muscles will have atrophied during the voyage. After a particularly long trip like that, they'll be lucky to make it off the shuttle carrying their full kit. An actual march would be out of the question.

Cramming troops into passenger liners only works when the trip is either extremely short or you know for a fact that they're not going to see any action when they arrive at their destination.

Hey if its good enough for the redcoats...
Again, room needed for calisthenics is not substantial.
Having said that if there are reliable fluff examples then I will yield the argument.

Uhh I know either the 4th ultramarines or one of the first 3 Space wolves says something about IG practicing in a fake town built inside a hangar

**KamikazeCanuck**

chaos0xomega wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:
Harriticus wrote:PDF's are standing armies, there's little "militia" about them, they have uniforms, tanks, artillery, aircraft, and so on. The key difference between them and the IG is that the PDF is under the control of the planetary governor, is less trained, has its best troops donated to the IG, and generally operates older equipment.

If the PDF is a standing army there is no reason for it to be less trained than the IG, which is also a standing army that spends a lot of time on ships unable to train.

There's also no reason for the PDF to have older equipment, since all Imperial equipment is thousands of years old anyway.

I disagree with all of this. There are examples in the fluff that contradict these statements. In Titanicus for example, the PDF are shown to receive only a bare minimum of training, they literally are weekend warriors. One weekend a month, two weeks in the summer (US National Guard training) is nowhere near comparable to the training that a standing army (US Army/Marines) receive. In fact, in Titanicus, it is shown that the PDF is called up in stages. There is the first stage which consists of a handful of regular, full time troopers (a large part of them are officers, administrators, etc. rather than direct action forces). There is a second stage which consists of the rest of the volunteer force (the weekend warriors) who go about their lives as normal until needed for service. And then the third stage which is conscription of every able bodied candidate. In Dead Men Walking a similar system is seen. More importantly, Dead Men Walking shows us that there is a big difference in the skill level of the PDF vs. the Guardsmen of the DKoK. Perhaps this analogy is a bit unfair, since it is implied that the DKoK are a fairly elite group of guardsmen, even as far as other guardsmen are concerned, but regardless the PDF are continually shown to be substandard compared to the DKoK, to the point that the DKoK take over training of conscripted recruits because they find the PDF training inadequate. The most experienced officer in the entire PDF happens to be the planetary Governor (rather than the PDFs commanding officer (or his replacement)), who was a former Guard officer. The PDF are also shown to be poorly equipped, armed only with Lasguns and basic equipment/vehicles, lacking heavier equipment such as hellguns (one of the PDF guys mentions that the last time he had held one or even seen one was during his basic training), meltaguns, artillery, etc. and even then they barely have enough of the basic equipment to arm new recruits. Its also mentioned that the pattern of lasgun utilized by the Krieg troopers is more powerful than the one issued to the PDF, further implying that not all things are equal and that the Guard are better off than PDF.

As for training in transit, in Dead Men Walking they mention that the transport ship has its own firing range on board, as well as other training facilities and spaces, including gyms, etc. and that the DKoK cleared out extra space such as hangars/landing bays, cargo holds, etc. for additional space to run drills in (because all four regiments decided to run drills instead of going on leave). The ship at the time was carrying roughly 30,000 guardsmen in 4 regiments, plus 4 dropships (implied to be able to carry one regiment each) capable of ferrying the troops planetside, plus all their equipment, including vehicles (Gorgons, Centaurs, Trojans, Medusa's and Earthshakers, and at least one Termite are all mentioned being used in the novel). Clearly Frazzleds analysis that they would use the extra space for more troops is incorrect. The time qualifier seems to be meaningless as well, as the DKoK in the novel had just reported from a warzone, and at the end of the book they report to a new warzone using the same vessel.

Right but like you said there's various tiers of emergencey. That first tier is professional soldiers.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Frazzled wrote:
Eumerin wrote:
Frazzled wrote:I don't buy the massive space concept. Ships are paying for space. They'd put more troops or equipment there, especially on longer trips.

For a two day trip, sure go ahead and cram everyone in.

For a longer trip, no. Your troops *must* have areas in which to perform physical exercise, at bare minimum. Otherwise their muscles will have atrophied during the voyage. After a particularly long trip like that, they'll be lucky to make it off the shuttle carrying their full kit. An actual march would be out of the question.

Cramming troops into passenger liners only works when the trip is either extremely short or you know for a fact that they're not going to see any action when they arrive at their destination.

Hey if its good enough for the redcoats...
Again, room needed for calisthenics is not substantial.
Having said that if there are reliable fluff examples then I will yield the argument.

What? We gave you like an entire page of examples. There's room for firing ranges at the very least.

**Gorskar.da.Lost**

Rogueyopants wrote:IG are bullet shield, low moral, no high quality of thinking, kinda like Gretchin, little bit better though. All there meant to do is hold out for days, weeks, or even months till the SM arrive and OP everything to shiii!, then the Orks Arrive and everything go's to shiii....

Don't know much about the IG, do you?
IG are to the Space Marines what a sledgehammer is to a surgeon's knife. If you want a quick and decisive end to something, you send in the SM. If, on the other hand, you want your enemy crushed into the dirt and mangled beyond recognition by millions of bootprints, then you plump for the IG.

**Wardragoon**

Gorskar.da.Lost wrote:
Rogueyopants wrote:IG are bullet shield, low moral, no high quality of thinking, kinda like Gretchin, little bit better though. All there meant to do is hold out for days, weeks, or even months till the SM arrive and OP everything to shiii!, then the Orks Arrive and everything go's to shiii....

Don't know much about the IG, do you?
IG are to the Space Marines what a sledgehammer is to a surgeon's knife. If you want a quick and decisive end to something, you send in the SM. If, on the other hand, you want your enemy crushed into the dirt and mangled beyond recognition by millions of bootprints, then you plump for the IG.

Actually I may have a better analogy, the IG is a shield that you can either bludgeon Xenos with and also protect the vast majority of Imperial investments, wherein the SM are like the short sword, they thrust in accurately and really kill things quickly.

Edit: silly me I called Xenos people

**Kilkrazy**

Eumerin wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:If the PDF is a standing army there is no reason for it to be less trained than the IG, which is also a standing army that spends a lot of time on ships unable to train.

The vast majority of PDFs don't see action until either some heretical cult suddenly ends up controlling half a city or an ork's hulk happens to come wandering through the system. Additionally, proper training puts wear and tear on equipment. You need to pay ammunition costs (considerably reduced for las weapons due to the easy recharge feature of the power packs, but still a factor for weapons that use rockets or projectiles), maintain large enough training yards for all of the troops to use, replace weapons and equipment that wears out during training, etc... There are a lot of real world militaries that barely train their troops due to the cost and expense (all those bullets being "wasted" on inanimate targets cost money). On a planet that hasn't seen conflict in over a century and isn't likely to see any during the subsequent century, there's going to be a lot of pressure to "cut costs" by performing very little in the way of training and maneuvers.

I thought the point of a lasgun was that it didn't use ammo.

Where do all these well trained superior PDF guys come from who go to the IG?

**KamikazeCanuck**

Kilkrazy wrote:
Eumerin wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:If the PDF is a standing army there is no reason for it to be less trained than the IG, which is also a standing army that spends a lot of time on ships unable to train.

The vast majority of PDFs don't see action until either some heretical cult suddenly ends up controlling half a city or an ork's hulk happens to come wandering through the system. Additionally, proper training puts wear and tear on equipment. You need to pay ammunition costs (considerably reduced for las weapons due to the easy recharge feature of the power packs, but still a factor for weapons that use rockets or projectiles), maintain large enough training yards for all of the troops to use, replace weapons and equipment that wears out during training, etc... There are a lot of real world militaries that barely train their troops due to the cost and expense (all those bullets being "wasted" on inanimate targets cost money). On a planet that hasn't seen conflict in over a century and isn't likely to see any during the subsequent century, there's going to be a lot of pressure to "cut costs" by performing very little in the way of training and maneuvers.

I thought the point of a lasgun was that it didn't use ammo.

Where do all these well trained superior PDF guys come from who go to the IG?

In Titanicus they have full time PDF and weekend warrior reserve PDF. I'm not a National Guard expert but don't they have something similiar?

**Eumerin**

Kilkrazy wrote:I thought the point of a lasgun was that it didn't use ammo.

Where do all these well trained superior PDF guys come from who go to the IG?

Powerpacks probably wear out over time. It's a fraction of the cost of other forms of ammunition, but it still exists.

And there are the other expenses that I mentioned. Ammo isn't the only thing that you need to pay for.

"Superior PDF guys" in many cases no doubt become superior about five minutes after the Imperial Governor realizes that he has a troop tithe coming due in the next six months. At that point, I suspect that many worlds pick the units that they plan to tithe and engage in a frenzied training stretch in order to quickly get the units up to the expected level of IG performance. After all, people in high places might get concerned if the troops you're tithing aren't up to the expected level...

**Frazzled**

Wardragoon wrote:
Gorskar.da.Lost wrote:
Rogueyopants wrote:IG are bullet shield, low moral, no high quality of thinking, kinda like Gretchin, little bit better though. All there meant to do is hold out for days, weeks, or even months till the SM arrive and OP everything to shiii!, then the Orks Arrive and everything go's to shiii....

Don't know much about the IG, do you?
IG are to the Space Marines what a sledgehammer is to a surgeon's knife. If you want a quick and decisive end to something, you send in the SM. If, on the other hand, you want your enemy crushed into the dirt and mangled beyond recognition by millions of bootprints, then you plump for the IG.

Actually I may have a better analogy, the IG is a shield that you can either bludgeon Xenos with and also protect the vast majority of Imperial investments, wherein the SM are like the short sword, they thrust in accurately and really kill things quickly.

Edit: silly me I called Xenos people

And of course there's an even more apt comparison.

*If you want someone to take some recruiting wall posters and scare a few pig farmers call the marines.
*If you want to conquer planets, you call the Guard.

**chaos0xomega**

Well, considering that the training of the IG falls under the auspices of the Departmento Munitorium (sp?), I would say its more likely that the Governor hands over control of the tithed forces to the DM, who then oversee their training planetside before shipping them off to whatever warzone they are destined for.

As for ammo, powerpacks have a limited number of shots. In Dead Men Walking, 25 shots per pack seems to be the magic number. As I recall from another book, the packs can be recharged in the field by exposing them to heat, such as a campfire, or by leaving them out in the sun, but the effectiveness of these methods seems to be pretty limited, and to get a full charge in a decent amount of time requires a recharging station.

**KamikazeCanuck**

Eumerin wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:I thought the point of a lasgun was that it didn't use ammo.

Where do all these well trained superior PDF guys come from who go to the IG?

Powerpacks probably wear out over time. It's a fraction of the cost of other forms of ammunition, but it still exists.

And there are the other expenses that I mentioned. Ammo isn't the only thing that you need to pay for.

"Superior PDF guys" in many cases no doubt become superior about five minutes after the Imperial Governor realizes that he has a troop tithe coming due in the next six months. At that point, I suspect that many worlds pick the units that they plan to tithe and engage in a frenzied training stretch in order to quickly get the units up to the expected level of IG performance. After all, people in high places might get concerned if the troops you're tithing aren't up to the expected level...

Yes, once your in the PDF don't be surprised to find yourself suddenly in the IG. It's not the Texas Air National Guard.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

chaos0xomega wrote:Well, considering that the training of the IG falls under the auspices of the Departmento Munitorium (sp?), I would say its more likely that the Governor hands over control of the tithed forces to the DM, who then oversee their training planetside before shipping them off to whatever warzone they are destined for.

As for ammo, powerpacks have a limited number of shots. In Dead Men Walking, 25 shots per pack seems to be the magic number. As I recall from another book, the packs can be recharged in the field by exposing them to heat, such as a campfire, or by leaving them out in the sun, but the effectiveness of these methods seems to be pretty limited, and to get a full charge in a decent amount of time requires a recharging station.

DKoK powerpacks are 25 shots which is actually the least in the Galaxy.

**Eumerin**

chaos0xomega wrote:As for ammo, powerpacks have a limited number of shots. In Dead Men Walking, 25 shots per pack seems to be the magic number. As I recall from another book, the packs can be recharged in the field by exposing them to heat, such as a campfire, or by leaving them out in the sun, but the effectiveness of these methods seems to be pretty limited, and to get a full charge in a decent amount of time requires a recharging station.

Leaving a powerpack out in the sun is considered to the "standard" method of recharging a power pack in the field. Over the course of several hours, it will completely replenish the energy used to fire the weapon. Throwing a pack into a campfire will also work if needed and will do so much faster than sunlight will, but it permanently reduces the maximum charge that a pack is capable of holding. So that should only be done in an emergency or if no other method is available.

Recharging stations are no doubt handy to use when available, but the energy needs to come from somewhere. And someone needs to plug and unplug all of the packs from the charging station (not a problem when there are only one or two packs; it's a different matter when you need to recharge 500 power packs...). Spreading them out in the open to collect sunlight is fairly simple and the energy is guaranteed to be 100% free.

**Melissia**

Chimeras have recharging stations that run as long as the Chimera has fuel to run so that its alternator can recharge its battery. So you can imagine a mechanized squad does this with spent packs while they're on the move.

**Sir Pseudonymous**

Gorskar.da.Lost wrote:
Rogueyopants wrote:IG are bullet shield, low moral, no high quality of thinking, kinda like Gretchin, little bit better though. All there meant to do is hold out for days, weeks, or even months till the SM arrive and OP everything to shiii!, then the Orks Arrive and everything go's to shiii....

Don't know much about the IG, do you?
IG are to the Space Marines what a sledgehammer is to a surgeon's knife. If you want a quick and decisive end to something, you send in the SM. If, on the other hand, you want your enemy crushed into the dirt and mangled beyond recognition by millions of bootprints, then you plump for the IG.

I think a more apt analogy would be a tank compared to a precision jeweler's hammer, since that's roughly the difference in strength between the Guard and Marines, respectively.

Naturally the Navy in this analogy is a battleship.

Eumerin wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:I thought the point of a lasgun was that it didn't use ammo.

Where do all these well trained superior PDF guys come from who go to the IG?

Powerpacks probably wear out over time. It's a fraction of the cost of other forms of ammunition, but it still exists.

And there are the other expenses that I mentioned. Ammo isn't the only thing that you need to pay for.

"Superior PDF guys" in many cases no doubt become superior about five minutes after the Imperial Governor realizes that he has a troop tithe coming due in the next six months. At that point, I suspect that many worlds pick the units that they plan to tithe and engage in a frenzied training stretch in order to quickly get the units up to the expected level of IG performance. After all, people in high places might get concerned if the troops you're tithing aren't up to the expected level...

The only way the various things the Guard codex says about the recruitment process can be internally reconciled is if it works something like "recruit ten times what you're being tithed for, and train for six months; the top ten percent of the recruits go to the IG, and receive a further six months of training before deployment; the other 90% go to local reserve militias or the local arbites".

**chaos0xomega**

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:
The only way the various things the Guard codex says about the recruitment process can be internally reconciled is if it works something like "recruit ten times what you're being tithed for, and train for six months; the top ten percent of the recruits go to the IG, and receive a further six months of training before deployment; the other 90% go to local reserve militias or the local arbites".

I don't think it works that way. My impression has always been that the tithed regiments were either newly levied units or taken from existing PDF units (depending on planetary practice). The tithed units would then be equipped to Departmento standards/requirements and trained/retrained by the DM before shipping out. I don't know where the "top ten percent" bit came from, but it seems more likely to me that the "top ten percent" would be a result of their enhanced DM based training rather than anything having to do with the recruit quality.

The alternative is that all recruits are tested (similar to the ASVAB, etc. in the US) to determine their potential, the top 10 percent of all applicants/conscripts/what have you are sent to the guard and the rest either inducted into the PDF or released from service (depending on planetary practice).

**MountainSquid**

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
In Titanicus they have full time PDF and weekend warrior reserve PDF. I'm not a National Guard expert but don't they have something similiar?

Yeah, it's called "The Active reserve". For example, at Air National Guard facilities there are personnel who act as active personnel 24/7, 365 days a year.

IIRC IG tithes specify that the best chunk of the PDF has to be sent to the IG. If the South Cowlick Agro-Collective sends bottom of the Barrel personnel to the IG the Munitorum rears its ugly head.

**KamikazeCanuck**

If it can be proven. A tricky governor might try to ship his bottom 10% off world. Keep the good stuff for himself.

**MountainSquid**

KamikazeCanuck wrote:If it can be proven. A tricky governor might try to ship his bottom 10% off world. Keep the good stuff for himself.

While (no doubt) the Munitorum would rather have hard evidence of shens, if the problem is persistent for an extended period I doubt nothing would really hinder them from expressing their displeasure at the situation.

**Emperors Faithful**

MountainSquid wrote:IIRC IG tithes specify that the best chunk of the PDF has to be sent to the IG. If the South Cowlick Agro-Collective sends bottom of the Barrel personnel to the IG the Munitorum rears its ugly head.

The inductees have to be up to a certain standard, but I don't think they have to come from the top 10% of the PDF.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Frazzled wrote:
EDIT: Mind you we're dealing with multiple dex fluff and BL nonsense. To make some sense out of it, one could posit:
-the Ministorum draws the levies.
-The levies are made up of locals and equipment. Often this is pretty standardizes but not always.
-The M then feeds and provides the logistical tail.
-If technology for the regiument is near a standard level the M supplies them with standard level equipment sourced from a variety of locations, hence some variance.
-If regiment technology is specialized the M may source as best as possible similar equipment, especially if those formations are highly prized.
-If regiment technology is less specialized or less high tech, the M will be much less likely to supply those armaments. The Baronian rock throwers will not be receiving new rocks from the M, but may have the option to upgrade to real guns as supplies permit (which they won't).

Okay, I see where I went wrong. I was treating the Munitorium as completely seperate from the world on which the IG are recruited, I thought Mellissia was arguing that the Munitorium equips the inductees in a completely standard, galaxy-spanning, standardised manner.

So I may have been a little, just a teensy weensy bit wrong.

**halonachos**

One book I read had recruits coming from a lottery system with jobs given to people with similar skills(ie, a veterinarian was trained as a medic).

As far as the PDF go they are closer to the National Guard of the universe(although in some cases they are as well trained and supplied as other IG regiments).

I guess we can say that not all IG are alike?

**Sir Pseudonymous**

The codex explicitly states they're drawn from the top 10%.

**Emperors Faithful**

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:The codex explicitly states they're drawn from the top 10%.

Which one? Because the current codex only says that planetary governors are required to tithe one tenth of their overall fighting force.

**Brother Coa**

Kilkrazy wrote:
I thought the point of a lasgun was that it didn't use ammo.

Where do all these well trained superior PDF guys come from who go to the IG?

It uses power-packs like battery. Depending on the strength of the shot fired it can be spent after 20 or 60 shots. But, the power-pack can be recharged in many numbers of ways. From throwing power-pack in campfire to sunlight.

And PDF training depends on how many is planetary Governor is investing in his troops. Some PDF are lightly trained and used only to hold the line until help arrives. Others can be tough as Cadians and have the ability to even push the enemy from the world. It all depends on how many is planet investing in it's defenses, training those men and a quiring good equipment.

**Melissia**

Actually it has hundreds of shots at its basic setting. Which just goes to show how high the highest power setting is I suppose.

**KamikazeCanuck**

Melissia wrote:Actually it has hundreds of shots at its basic setting. Which just goes to show how high the highest power setting is I suppose.

Nope. That just shows that the imperial uplifting whatever isn't cannon.

**halonachos**

*Ahem*

Previous IG codex, page 16

codex wrote:
Laser technology is reliable and easy to replicate, and although the weapons are not the most powerful they are certainly the most trustworthy. A laser power pack will last for many shots and can be recharged from a standard power source or by exposing its thermal cells to heat or light. In an emergency a pack can be recharged by placing it in a fire, although such treatment tends to shorten the life of the pack and increase the probability of it failing. Many experienced fighters prefer the lasgun over more powerful weapons for these very reasons.

The issue with the lasgun itself is that it fires lasers and has no kinetic energy. So if a guy was being charged by an Ork and shot the ork in the torso, it would hurt the ork but it wouldn't blow him backwards or anything unless the ork reacted to it of his own accord.

**iproxtaco**

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Melissia wrote:Actually it has hundreds of shots at its basic setting. Which just goes to show how high the highest power setting is I suppose.

Nope. That just shows that the imperial uplifting whatever isn't cannon.

Why? Because you disagree with what is written in it? Doesn't work that way I'm afraid.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

halonachos wrote:*Ahem*

Previous IG codex, page 16

codex wrote:
Laser technology is reliable and easy to replicate, and although the weapons are not the most powerful they are certainly the most trustworthy. A laser power pack will last for many shots and can be recharged from a standard power source or by exposing its thermal cells to heat or light. In an emergency a pack can be recharged by placing it in a fire, although such treatment tends to shorten the life of the pack and increase the probability of it failing. Many experienced fighters prefer the lasgun over more powerful weapons for these very reasons.

The issue with the lasgun itself is that it fires lasers and has no kinetic energy. So if a guy was being charged by an Ork and shot the ork in the torso, it would hurt the ork but it wouldn't blow him backwards or anything unless the ork reacted to it of his own accord.

The issue with the lasgun is that the Imperium has chosen a reliable mass producible weapon which is ideal for the billions of soldiers it needs to equip, whilst sacrificing it's power. There are various other examples of more powerful laser weaponry, it then tends to be more difficult to mass-produce and prone to faults. The lasgun on it's normal settings will burn a hole in an Ork there's no need to knock it back however. If the lasgun was ineffective against a regular Ork in that way the Imperium would be in a much worse state that it is now.

**Kanluwen**

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Melissia wrote:Actually it has hundreds of shots at its basic setting. Which just goes to show how high the highest power setting is I suppose.

Nope. That just shows that the imperial uplifting whatever isn't canon.

Except that isn't from the IIUP, which is about as canon as it can get considering it was published by everyone who worked on the Imperial Guard 'Doctrines' Codex , released alongside of said Codex, and had the equipment layout handed down from Abnett(who was the only one really working on Guard organizational stuff at the time) and the folks who did Inquisitor.
For a long time now this fact has been true:
Some lasguns use adjustable fire settings. These cause them to expend more energy than others. In game terms, it wouldn't make much of a difference unless it was the entire squad doing it. It's considered bad fire discipline by the Guard to fiddle with the power settings because it makes the cells a bit unpredictable and can cause damage to the lasgun itself. So it's not often done.

Gaunt's Ghosts, Siege of Vraks, Dead Men Walking, et al have all talked about this.
The Vitrians in First & Only got lectured by Gaunt because their men were blowing through power cells at triple the rate the Ghosts were, simply because of the fact that they were firing on the highest power setting and killing unarmored cultists with a huge expenditure of resources.
In Dead Men Walking, the Krieg ramped up the power on their lasguns to the highest setting so they could actually stagger the Necrons ensuring the Meltagunners or Grenadiers with Hellguns could put them down.
Siege of Vraks makes a brief mention of the power cells carried by the troopers when assaulting positions and the fact that their lasguns are a unique pattern, etc.

**KamikazeCanuck**

There's a dozen sources that say a lasgun has 25-60 shots. If there is more than one that says it has 250 shots please illuminate me.