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Of course the guardsmen are paid. Even through their job often is to die in Happy Tree Family-style, they get some molah in the process.

Its evil.
Guardsmen get paid.
Space Marines dont..

Beaviz81 wrote:Of course the guardsmen are paid.

You say that as if stuff like indentured servitude and the concept of the Emperor owning your life is completely unknown to the Imperium.

I wouldn't see it as absolute, there is quite some room for interpretation on this topic.

Lynata wrote:

Beaviz81 wrote:Of course the guardsmen are paid.

You say that as if stuff like indentured servitude and the concept of the Emperor owning your life is completely unknown to the Imperium.

I wouldn't see it as absolute, there is quite some room for interpretation on this topic.

Of course, I just think a Guardsman is paid, but that's the more professional. The cannon-fodder ain't paid. I can't quite see Commissar Yarrick f.ex. working totally for free. Penal Trooper Jaxo with 4 murders on the other hand is likely goaded into battle to die by the friendly neighborhood Commissar holding a remote-control to the bomb around his neck.

Commissar Yarrick isn't a guardsman. He is a Commissar. They go by a completely different system than guardsmen or even officers, because of their authority.

Many regiments have the soldiers signing on for 10-20 years. That's the sort of indentured service there. They earn their measly pension if they ain't mutilated, if they are and it ain't worth it to fix them, the regimental commissar likely puts them out of misery. Or they are allowed to retire if they can work at a manufractorum f.ex.

Yarrick is still a guardsman, but you are correct Melissa, Yarrick has a whole other background than the rest.

Beaviz81 wrote:Yarrick is still a guardsman

No, he's not.

Yarrick is part of the Commissariat, which is outside the Imperial Guard.

Okay, anyway, the officers of the Imperial Guard has pay-grades just like a normal army, which was what I used Yarrick as an example of.

If they survive long enough tonget paid

Of course they do.
Protip: Slavery doesn't work.

Langston128 wrote:If they survive long enough tonget paid

Oh, yes - I could certainly see them getting some sort of pension when (if) the regiment retires to garrison some occupied world. It has been said that the officer class becomes the new nobility in such a case, after all, and I assume the rank-and-file will at least get the means to live out their lifes. Such as a land grant or something, Roman-Legion-style.

I just don't see them receiving a monthly salary - aside from a small allotment of the aforementioned scrip to spend on small amenities. But that would be seen as a bonus rather than payment for their services, given that said services are owed to the Emperor in the first place. Keep in mind that these men were tithed. They are now owned by the Munitorum.

This is, of course, only my preferred vision. As mentioned, the studio material itself doesn't touch that topic at all.

Joey wrote:Protip: Slavery doesn't work.

I'm sure the countless psykers and mutant workers will be happy to hear they're free to go home now.

Lynata wrote:

Joey wrote:Protip: Slavery doesn't work.

I'm sure the countless psykers and mutant workers will be happy to hear they're free to go home now.

Oppressing a few thousand/million/billion/trillion/whatever mutants (who'd make up a fraction of the population) is considerably easier than oppressing bazillions of Imperial Guardsmen who're trained and equipped with a gak load of military spec. The thought of them not being paid at all is just unfeasible.
I envisage it as somewhat like the napoleonic war-somewhere there is a ledger with your name and start date on it, and every now and then, circumstances permitting, you'll be paid in wealth/gin.

Lynata wrote:Keep in mind that these men were tithed. They are now owned by the Munitorum.

Yep they are. But that doesn't preclude payment. They likely still make more than the common dregs of society.

We hope.

Joey wrote:Oppressing a few thousand/million/billion/trillion/whatever mutants (who'd make up a fraction of the population) is considerably easier than oppressing bazillions of Imperial Guardsmen who're trained and equipped with a gak load of military spec.

Psykers can be quite powerful in battle, actually. And it has nothing to do with oppression when the people recruited don't see it as such out of a feeling of religious duty. Also, there have been sufficient examples in real life for "unpaid" soldiers. Looking to Africa, I believe they still exist, actually.
Guardsmen are clothed and fed and cared for, that's a form of payment, too, if one were to see it that way. IG troopers will never again set foot on their homeworld, anyways, nor will they be able to send any wealth accumulated back to their families. What would they even need cash for?

Joey wrote:I envisage it as somewhat like the napoleonic war-somewhere there is a ledger with your name and start date on it, and every now and then, circumstances permitting, you'll be paid in wealth/gin.

Ah, well, as I said, I could see scrip being issued as some sort of bonus, to be increased or decreased depending on the regiment's performance. But it'd not be something the soldier would have any right to.

Lynata wrote:

Joey wrote:Oppressing a few thousand/million/billion/trillion/whatever mutants (who'd make up a fraction of the population) is considerably easier than oppressing bazillions of Imperial Guardsmen who're trained and equipped with a gak load of military spec.

Psykers can be quite powerful in battle, actually. And it has nothing to do with oppression when the people recruited don't see it as such out of a feeling of religious duty. Also, there have been sufficient examples in real life for "unpaid" soldiers. Looking to Africa, I believe they still exist, actually.
Guardsmen are clothed and fed and cared for, that's a form of payment, too, if one were to see it that way. IG troopers will never again set foot on their homeworld, anyways, nor will they be able to send any wealth accumulated back to their families. What would they even need cash for?

The difference is, pyskers are given no free will whatsoever (unless they're high level, at which point they stop being treated like a caged and abused animal and are given fancy clothes and authority over a regiment...lolwhat?), they're kept in their cages and used like a machine.
Imperial Guard regiments have as much freedom as modern day armies. It'd be the easiest thing in the world for a regiment to camp outside the capital of an Imperial City and just go "lolpayment pls", because what is the governer going to do against a mobilised Imperial Guard army? Call in more guardsmen? Who are also not paid and would probably sympathise...imagine the French army during 1917 but on an inter-galactic scale. Even if they got paid on paper the imperium would probably only have to pay out <1% of all money theoretically paid due to casualties.

Alot of Imperial Economics seems to be based on the tithes and the trade of benefits - the Imperium gives technology (and other assistance, like 'education/propoganda'), military aid, and access to the greater Imperium in exchange for raw manpower/resources/goods. This is perhaps their equivalent to a 'gold standard' something tangible that guarantees and backs the 'fiat currency' of the Imperium (credit, Throne Gelt, or whatever depending on the source(s) you go by) It also seems the Imperium went with a heavily 'electronic' currency system (maintained by astorpaths tied to economic and financial matters - we know that is one of their uses after all.) In context of 'paying' Guardsmen I suspect that there is some form of 'funding' going on, but how that funding is used can vary. It could manifest as individual troopers getting combat pay, or it may manifest as the troopers being allowed (to a certain extent at least) to allow for the regiment as a whole to pay for it (a more centralized and regulated form of payment.) Some regiments seem to be economic/wage slaves (the Jopall for example) or trade their military service for other economic/material benefits (as I recall Catachans serve in the military to provide needed supplies and resources to their homeworldm which is another sort of 'slavery')

Penal legionnaries and conscripts are another category where the above differs. I doubt penal legionnaries get pay, and conscripts may or may not (they're forced into the military to serve after all.. they didn't volunteer. Perhaps they only draw pay if they survive and become halfway decent troopers or are swept into a reduced regiment like with the Tanith?)

Even if they don't get paid, the Guardsman still get some decent (by Imperial standards) medical care (probably varies by sector, world, and regiment), food and clothing and housing, and general other basic necessities met.

In Gaunt's Ghosts all the guardsmen get paid. Tona Criid spends it on cake.

Laodamia wrote:I was wondering about the benefits (if there are any) of being a guardsman.

Do soldiers in the IG receive a salary (like modern-day forces)? If yes, how is it organised?

After all, they keep being shipped out to other planets and other war-fronts. That means different economies and different currencies. So I doubt they get a monetary payment, or maybe they are paid using the currency of the planet where they currently fight or are stationed.

But then, are they paid in nature? Are they paid with precious metals, like gold (which probably have some value anywhere in the galaxy)? Are they paid with other objects, like extra food rations or smokes? Or is their "salary" simply sent to their family back on their home planet as a compensation for the loss of their boy?

Or are they simply not paid at all? By the way, that would make them slaves. A rather disturbing thought...


Any thoughts or answers?

Yes they do get paid. It mentions something about it in the book "Imperial Glory" money is sent back to their family back on their home world. Normally when a guardsmen joins a campaign and leave his home for 20 years. Time back on his home world has passed about 100 years. So with everyone dead the money kinda flows from what I grasp a family bank account. But do those guardsmen ever get to see their cash? Yes / no, if a guardsmen like the normal grunt. Lives through a whole campaign normally the world the Guard army stops campaigning on is the world that guardsmen will live the rest of his years. Normally as part of the garrison there on that planet. This is because the guard army and navy find it a waist of resources to send the whole army back to their world. Wile its more convenient and cost effective to leave them as the planets garrison to ensure the planet stays in imperial control.If your of high enough rank or if your just some buck sergeant and your selected, very few go back to their home world to take their experiences to train the next batch of guardsmen. But that's normally the higher ranking officers. I hope thats helped answer your question.

Payment (in the form of scrip if nothing else) is a far easier way to maintain discipline than trying to shoot everyone that disobeys or objects to being unpaid. Better to let the Guardsmen blow off some steam or dream of a better future even if it is really a company store/wage slavery situation, than face constant revolts and poor morale.

Even in oppressive societies like 1984, there are some small amenities available, because that then distracts from the bigger issues.

Lynata wrote:Psykers can be quite powerful in battle, actually.

Indeed. A primaris psyker, for example, can create a barrier made of stopped time that can block everything. Literally, it is invulnerable to any harm and nothing can move through it, neither waves nor particles. It could block a nova cannon blast.

And that's just the defensive powers.

GW really failed in their IG primaris psykers. All they have is relatively low level biomancer when there's so much more variety out there in the lore...

Melissia wrote:GW really failed in their IG primaris psykers. All they have is relatively low level biomancer when there's so much more variety out there in the lore...

Yes, a choice of powers (similar to Librarians) would have been excellent. On a similar note, I'd have thought that a Primaris Psyker attached to a squad of sanctioned psykers would at least be able to contribute to their abilities.

I see that pensions have been mentioned a couple of times. One piece of evidence for this I can think of is Salvation's Reach, with one of the plotlines being the involvement of a few Guardsmen in a pension scam.

Hell, Primaris Psykers would have a wider variety of range when it comes to power than librarians would.

I would imagine that if and how much a Guardsmen would be paided for their service would depend on their individual regiment. even down the the currency used
(im unaware of a true Universal Imperial Currency).

some regiments from feudal planets might be simply paided in food rations and a few other tidbits, like shiny things lol.
Other more advanced planets/regiments would possibly be given some sort of payment to do with what they see fit, be it puchase food,"company" or other wares (including weapons)
others might not be payed at all whatso ever, and their service and possible end payment (retire and settle on a planet they fought on) being all they get..... not like they will likly earn the payment, life of a guardsmen being as harsh as it is.

Fluff for individual player regiments would allow for payment (or lack there of) for their troops, heck my regiment fluff has the troops payed in "bolts" (not the ammunition, its a parody of Rachet and Clank currency for fun.)

and i think Space Marines don't care about being paid.

It seems to depend on how desperate new guardsman would be. Death Korps pay to fight for the emperor with their own lives. Hive gangers are paid to fight. A lot of the IG regiments that come from nobles don't care about the money at all. It's all about honor for them. It's all situational.