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D: Got the uplifting primer and wow...you will literally get shot for anything you do.

Apart from fighting for the God Emperor of Mankind...
Also this is slightly pointless.
Possibly make it a bit more... more.
Like asking what others thought of it.

People usually chime in on these topics.

The part in there about field medicine actually helped me out on a health test.

Coolyo294 wrote:The part in there about field medicine actually helped me out on a health test.

Some of the stuff in there is surprisingly realistic, reminded me of army field manuals.

Magtherion_Soulsaver wrote:D: Got the uplifting primer and wow...you will literally get shot for anything you do.

In theory, yes. In practice is entirely different. See any imperial guard novel for how rules are by and large what the commanding officer wants them to be, other than obvious things like heresy and cowardace etc.

I'll look into it!

Magtherion_Soulsaver wrote:

Coolyo294 wrote:The part in there about field medicine actually helped me out on a health test.

Some of the stuff in there is surprisingly realistic, reminded me of army field manuals.

Then the BL drones have done their job well, as that was the point Its not actually that far away from some of the WW2 manuals issued to frontline troops, again part of the point.

Its largely propaganda of fear; the knowledge that you must serve perfectly or die is important in the world of 40k. But this may or may not be true punishments as this is just what they tell the GUARDSMEN will happen; not what the commissars will actually do. Until we get Schola text books(WANT) we will not know exactly what befalls the standard trooper. Remember the Imperium is a state of immense dogma and doctrine. Everything told to you is truth and if the book they give you at boot camp says they will kill you for most transgressions you best believe it. But as show in the Cain novels the enforcement of the rules and their punishments is varied by commissar.


But i do want the Commissars training manual. I like the manual style of books and hope they continue.

I prefer the Munitorum manual's regulations and punishments. Especially the one for using Munitorum property to commit suicide.

Magtherion_Soulsaver wrote:D: Got the uplifting primer and wow...you will literally get shot for anything you do.

You also get shot for staying in line.

Shot by the enemy of course.

But yes, Imperial military justice is harsh. By necessity.

In the end, the enforcement of these rules is up to the commissar, or failing that, the commanding officer.

I have a copy of it and a running gag in our Dark Heresy game is my Guardsmen character is convinced that holding your breath and plugging his nose will save you in a hull breach situation, much to the chagrin of our void-born adept.

Thats basically it! I think one of the quotes from the commisar in DoW1 fits pretty well here.

"If you will not serve in combat, then you will serve on the firing line!"

Fear ensures loyalty, and the warhammer 40k universe is a grim place. Ammunition is valued higher than a human life. Cowardice is a crime punishable by death. Basically get shot my the enemies of the emperor and die a "honorable" death or get shot by the closest commisar for not getting shot by the enemy.

It fits in perfectly with a universe where a regiment can posthumously be excommunicated and sentenced to death after failing on the battlefield. My favorite bit is the blank page that says something to the effect of "do not defile this space under penalty of death" which is pretty much the most 40k thing ever.

The Uplifting Primer is great, but please bear in mind that it is written as a satire, both of army training manuals, and of the 40K universe as a whole. I think it's safe to assume that an ACTUAL Uplifting Primer would be quite a bit different, especially in the section on infractions and punishments. After all, they couldn't have Penal Legions if every crime got you shot... they would be nobody to strap explosive collars to and send headlong into the enemy.

Not neccesarily. You can get that sort of comedy in real life too. albeit unintentionally (I can think of quite a few things in either American politics or American corporate/business, or even education - that can get pretty silly.) I tend to see the uplifting primer and Munitorum manual both as parodies on how some bureaucrat or politician wants things to be, and this is an effort to enforce that. The reality tends to be more highly variable, since any sort of direct administration of the Imperium is quite impossible.

In other words: the IIUP is the "theory" - how they want things to work, and the "reality" (how things are) may or may not measure up to that in some degree.

I don't think the IUP is satire at all... I think it's supposed to represent exactly what the IUP looks like in-universe.

Being in the Penal Legion still gets you shot... it just doesn't get you shot immediately. There's also a few other rules in the IUP that mentions flogging or other punishments, other than being shot, there's just not that many of them.

Technically, to this day and currently listed in the UCMJ, rape is a capital offense for a US servicemember, unlike the civilian society, where murder is the only capital crime. It's almost never prosecuted as a capital crime, of course, but if they were to go "by the book", to be convicted of a rape charge would see you in front of a firing squad.

I thought the PL's were made from civilian criminals, not guardsmen?

TheAngrySquig wrote:I thought the PL's were made from civilian criminals, not guardsmen?

It can be both.
Usually guardsmen though.

Praying for the Emperor to adjust your aim and your lasgun shoot true against a teeming horde of Tyranids is just hilarious.

StormForged wrote:Praying for the Emperor to adjust your aim and your lasgun shoot true against a teeming horde of Tyranids is just hilarious.

Pray to the gods of full-auto and practice reloading your lasgun...

purplefood wrote:

StormForged wrote:Praying for the Emperor to adjust your aim and your lasgun shoot true against a teeming horde of Tyranids is just hilarious.

Pray to the gods of full-auto and practice reloading your lasgun...

That's in the other uplifting primer, the funny lookin' one that damned Commissar is always reading. Just keep shooting true though, he's got your back.

StormForged wrote:

purplefood wrote:

StormForged wrote:Praying for the Emperor to adjust your aim and your lasgun shoot true against a teeming horde of Tyranids is just hilarious.

Pray to the gods of full-auto and practice reloading your lasgun...

That's in the other uplifting primer. That's the funny lookin' one that damned Commissar is always reading. Just keep shooting true, he's got your back.

Got your back targeted maybe...

The uplifting primer is meant to be amusing out of universe, but in universe it's clearly propoganda. That means some of it is clear BS (the stuff about Eldar or Tau technology, fighting abilities, etc. about Ork sTrength, etc.) but it doesn't mean everything is completely useless either. It's kind of like the codexes - it's not all bad, you just need to use some discretion and take some of what you read with a grain of salt (This is where multiple sources agreeing, source repeition comes in handy, actually.)

StormForged wrote:Praying for the Emperor to adjust your aim and your lasgun shoot true against a teeming horde of Tyranids is just hilarious.

Yeah, because its hilarious to think in a universe where the collective thoughts and emotions of living beings can affect reality, prayer won't do anything. I mean its not like the Orks benefit from this atl all....

Now, had you talked about the litany of Stealth, I'd agree

Connor MacLeod wrote:The uplifting primer is meant to be amusing out of universe, but in universe it's clearly propoganda. That means some of it is clear BS (the stuff about Eldar or Tau technology, fighting abilities, etc. about Ork sTrength, etc.) but it doesn't mean everything is completely useless either. It's kind of like the codexes - it's not all bad, you just need to use some discretion and take some of what you read with a grain of salt (This is where multiple sources agreeing, source repeition comes in handy, actually.)

StormForged wrote:Praying for the Emperor to adjust your aim and your lasgun shoot true against a teeming horde of Tyranids is just hilarious.

Yeah, because its hilarious to think in a universe where the collective thoughts and emotions of living beings can affect reality, prayer won't do anything. I mean its not like the Orks benefit from this atl all....

Now, had you talked about the litany of Stealth, I'd agree

Its amusing that someone would still pray for accuracy against a horde so large its impossible to miss...

My favorite bit is the blank page that says something to the effect of "do not defile this space under penalty of death" which is pretty much the most 40k thing ever.

I also love this.

I always thought it'd be funny if some BL story had a female commisar order a high ranking general to produce his booklet only to flip to that exact page and after glancing at it breifly, looks up and says "Is this a drawing of me? It is, isn't it. My ass isn't that big." Draws pistol and fires into his skull point blank.

StormForged wrote:
Its amusing that someone would still pray for accuracy against a horde so large its impossible to miss...

Even if it were literally impossible to miss the 'Nids in an onrushing horde, there are still reasons accuracy can matter. As per the 'Nid codexes (3rd and I think 4th edition) Nids are designed to be very tough and ard to put down due to specialized biology and redundant organs. Their carapaces are generally far more resistant to fire, and the best way to put down a 'Nid is to aim for weak spots (places the carapace doesn't protect) -and you need accuracy to pull of those kinds of shots. Or if you were going for a headshot.

Besides which, aiming at the general horde is probably the worst thing to be doing, since the Tyranids are well known to expend massive numbers of lesser creatures (like gaunts) simply to exhaust the enemy's ammo supplies. That's why they typically emphasize shooting the larger creatures like Warriors - they often serve as the controlling force for the armies (the synapse creatures) and if you put them down the rest are generally much more easy to deal with. In those cases you want your shots to hit one speciific creature, not just the entire horde.