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Would imperial guardsmen take prisoners?
I gues they wouldn't take heretical prisoners because they would risk to corrupt themselves.
But I can't seem to find a logical reason why they wouldn't take eldar or tau prisoners if they surrendered, because they might get useful information from them.
And would there be any race that might spare a normal guardsman if he asked for mercy? (In a small firefight because no one would take a prisoner in the heat of a huge battle)

Of course they'd take prisoners of any race if they were ordered to for whatever strategic reason.
But in general no, I think they'd probably butcher xenos. That's how humans roll.

It depends on the situation, if surrender is viable.

If the Imperium captured an Eldar Farseer for example, he would be turned over to the custody of the Ordo Xenos... and at that point, I could see it going one of two ways... torture / experimentation, or the Inquisitor in charge could offer him freedom in exchange for knowledge / favors.

The Imperium would never take low level soldiers prisoner, unless they were accompanied by a high ranking prisoner who's cooperation they wanted.

The Imperium also could take surrender from traitors, as long as they aren't heretical. If a regiment rebels for a reason not related to heresy (taking political power, refusing to fight in a war, whatever) I'd imagine they would be sentenced to service in a penal legion or something. If it was a space marine chapter, crusades of penance aren't unheard of.

The Tau would probably willingly let anyone surrender and join them.

The Eldar would probably take the same stance as the imperium on human or tau who tried to surrender.... as they view us as lesser animals, and would have no problems "putting us down".

Orks, I could even see letting some human regiments live, if the regiment was raised on a deathworld, and was especially barbaric. If they were fighting and came to respect each other, I could see the humans joining the WAAAGH. I've read a few short stories where the humans become every bit as brutal as the orks they are fighting.

Imperium and POW don't go together.
Every Xeno prisoner I saw was used in experiments by Ordo Xenos. Or it was killed after hours of torturing.

Horst wrote:
Orks, I could even see letting some human regiments live, if the regiment was raised on a deathworld, and was especially barbaric. If they were fighting and came to respect each other, I could see the humans joining the WAAAGH. I've read a few short stories where the humans become every bit as brutal as the orks they are fighting.

Isn't the only human that the orks respect Yarrick?
And i never heard of any humans being "allowed" to join an ork waagh. Has that ever hapenned??

jelisi wrote:

Horst wrote:
Orks, I could even see letting some human regiments live, if the regiment was raised on a deathworld, and was especially barbaric. If they were fighting and came to respect each other, I could see the humans joining the WAAAGH. I've read a few short stories where the humans become every bit as brutal as the orks they are fighting.

Isn't the only human that the orks respect Yarrick?
And i never heard of any humans being "allowed" to join an ork waagh. Has that ever hapenned??

I don't think so, but I wouldn't put it outside the realm of possibility.

I suddenly have the urge to paint my guardsmen green and have them join a Waaaaaaaaaagh!

Can I sub in my men in an ork army?

Doesn´t think its possible, the orks will likely just kill the humans or maybe torture them. never heard of orks that allowed humans to live,

jelisi wrote:

Horst wrote:
Orks, I could even see letting some human regiments live, if the regiment was raised on a deathworld, and was especially barbaric. If they were fighting and came to respect each other, I could see the humans joining the WAAAGH. I've read a few short stories where the humans become every bit as brutal as the orks they are fighting.

Isn't the only human that the orks respect Yarrick?
And i never heard of any humans being "allowed" to join an ork waagh. Has that ever hapenned??

Ah "wah" is an inherant part of orkyness.
So it's as likely as an ork joining in an orgy, or crying at a funeral.

Kartur wrote:Doesn´t think its possible, the orks will likely just kill the humans or maybe torture them. never heard of orks that allowed humans to live,

In the Last Chancer's Novels during the Battle For Armageddon, they had orks that sorta did that actually.

jelisi wrote:

Horst wrote:
Orks, I could even see letting some human regiments live, if the regiment was raised on a deathworld, and was especially barbaric. If they were fighting and came to respect each other, I could see the humans joining the WAAAGH. I've read a few short stories where the humans become every bit as brutal as the orks they are fighting.

Isn't the only human that the orks respect Yarrick?
And i never heard of any humans being "allowed" to join an ork waagh. Has that ever hapenned??

Older Ork background ("Freebooterz", if memory serves) allowed them to employ human mercenaries; indeed the Blood Axe clan were noted for their willingness to trade (presumably through unofficial channels - the "cold trade" as Rogue Trader calls it) with the Imperium. Their lists allowed them to employ Imperial vehicles, and non-uniformed "advisors", who, according to the background were frequently Guardsmen, dispatched by the Imperium to keep the Orks fighting each other.

Kartur wrote:Doesn´t think its possible, the orks will likely just kill the humans or maybe torture them. never heard of orks that allowed humans to live,

Au contraire, there are plenty of instances in the novels (Death or Glory) and background (Battle for Armageddon) which show Orks keeping large numbers of humans as slave labour, treating them much as they would Grots.

Au contraire, there are plenty of instances in the novels (Death or Glory) and background (Battle for Armageddon) which show Orks keeping large numbers of humans as slave labour, treating them much as they would Grots.

Hey if the Warrrrrrgh is good enough for Grots, I'm sure some humans charging along with the orks would do just fine if they were psychotic enough

sudojoe wrote:

Au contraire, there are plenty of instances in the novels (Death or Glory) and background (Battle for Armageddon) which show Orks keeping large numbers of humans as slave labour, treating them much as they would Grots.

Hey if the Warrrrrrgh is good enough for Grots, I'm sure some humans charging along with the orks would do just fine if they were psychotic enough

Yh, but humans aren't green and grots are.

There's no Geneva Convention in 40k, so any prisoners would simply be interrogated and then executed, if your captured by Imperials/Eldar/Tau. Consider them lucky.

The Dark Eldar would probably use prisoners as 'specimen' before feasting on their souls, while the Forces of Chaos would use them as sacrifices.

I don't think Tyranids, Orks, and Necrons take prisoners.

On the world of Gorkamorka there is a tribe of humans who paint themselves green and make trouble with ork tribes.

There are a few references in the fluff over the ages that humans have faught alongside orks.

Tadashi wrote:There's no Geneva Convention in 40k, so any prisoners would simply be interrogated and then executed, if your captured by Imperials/Eldar/Tau.

Yeah, because before the Geneva conventions were drawn up, no prisoners were ever taken in any war.

Tadashi wrote:I don't think Tyranids, Orks, and Necrons take prisoners.

Had you bothered to read the thread before posting, you'd know it's canonical that Orks do.

According to Redemption Corps, the IG will take traitors as prisoners for interrogation, torture and execution later.

jelisi wrote:Would imperial guardsmen take prisoners?

Spoiler:

I remember a level in the game "space marine" where there is a lab with dead and imprisoned orks but why would they do that? They're very different than humans?

I gues they wouldn't take heretical prisoners because they would risk to corrupt themselves.
But I can't seem to find a logical reason why they wouldn't take eldar or tau prisoners if they surrendered, because they might get useful information from them.
And would there be any race that might spare a normal guardsman if he asked for mercy? (In a small firefight because no one would take a prisoner in the heat of a huge battle)

The Tau might spare some guardsmen, and the Eldar MIGHT, but I doubt any other races would. Maybe chaos if the guardsmen started shouting BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

With the Eldar, it depends. The mission objective might very well call for the slaughter of any and all defenders at a target location. On the other hand, if the Eldar don't care about that and are focusing on getting in and out of the target location as quickly as possible, then they might ignore a group of defenders who threw down their weapons and were no longer able to fight. Killing them might take extra time. And it could encourage other groups to not fight to the last man. It's not that the Eldar are necessarily feeling merciful. It's just that the Eldar art of war focuses on speed, and sometimes killing to the last man takes time that could be better used elsewhere. As such, a guardsman in a hopeless position would probably have better luck throwing down his weapon and running away than standing in the open with his hands in the air. Chasing takes time, after all.

Actual taking of prisoners, though, is probably rare. The only immediate reason that comes to mind would be for interrogation looking for information that their Farseers and Pathfinders had been unable to determine beforehand.

I'm guessing that for most race, inlcuding the imperium, they only take prisoners if they can be usefull.

Imformation for the imperiurm, "subject" for the dark eldar, for the what ever plans the eldar Farseer have seen, for the greater good of tau, sacrifice for the forces of chaos.

Althought the orks have and are dealing with human colonie, the only reason I can see them taking prisoners are for patient for the painboyz.

The necrons, only those with the Pariah gene will be kept alive for obvious reasons. And I don't even need to talk about the tyranids.

The iom takes prisoners all the time. But it really depends on tue circumstances and the authur. Abbot, and mitchel have them take prisonors.

The Imperium is going to take prisoners for their intelligence value, but they aren't going to "keep" them without cause. Xenos are treated like animals, heretics like traitors. So it's either disposal or experimentation once they no longer have any strategic value.

As far as alien races, only the Tau seem likely to take prisoners that aren't going to be tortured or killed either.

Depends on the branch of the Imperium. Imperial Guard typically don't, Space Marines also usually don't. But I have played Space Marine and seen those Orks in tank, but that was done by an Inquisitor, and the Inquisition I believe would take prisoners to study.

In that level of SM, you are exploring a inquisitor's personal lab. The inquisition dose things like kidnap torture then dissect anything they can find. It's there most evil quality.

There have been cases where other parts of the IoM tak POWs though. In the taros campaign, the IG take 200 tau as POWs. That might be a special case. I can't imagine that there are many Ork POWs.

The Imperial Guard take prisoners to march in their victory parades before being executed.

jelisi wrote:Would imperial guardsmen take prisoners?

Spoiler:

I remember a level in the game "space marine" where there is a lab with dead and imprisoned orks but why would they do that? They're very different than humans?

In the game
IIRC...I haven't played the campaign in a while

Eldar would - if it were needed for a certain individual to be taken alive. A rare occurrence.

Like the Human Governor who killed an Eldar 'diplomatic party' and had their waystones made into jewellery. He was taken alive and passed to the harlequins to be "gifted" to their dark kin - it was seen as a more fitting punishment than mere death - and he supposedly still lives some centuries later.

Although whether he is still the same is a matter of conjecture.

Orks take slaves and captives for food.

DE take slaves and captives. They might snack a little but the majority are destined to be consumed back in the webway.

Tyranids don't take captives. They might "Taste-test" but they will assimilate anything they need and use the rest as biomass.

Whilst the imperium has prisoners, they are not generally POWs. The imperium does not as a rule take xenos prisoners.

jelisi wrote:Would imperial guardsmen take prisoners?

Spoiler:

I remember a level in the game "space marine" where there is a lab with dead and imprisoned orks but why would they do that? They're very different than humans?

I gues they wouldn't take heretical prisoners because they would risk to corrupt themselves.
But I can't seem to find a logical reason why they wouldn't take eldar or tau prisoners if they surrendered, because they might get useful information from them.
And would there be any race that might spare a normal guardsman if he asked for mercy? (In a small firefight because no one would take a prisoner in the heat of a huge battle)

Orks aren't really that different from humans, I mean they even have the same creators, Humans, Eldar and Orks are bonded by this and so are pretty useful to one another. Then again I don't see guardsmen imprisoning Tyranids or Daemons, everything else seems fair game.

Imperials take prisoners only to interrogate and execute them. Eldar only do it as a necessity, while Orks use them as slaves. Probably the Tau would re-educate (read: brainwash) them. Chaos use them as sacrifices, while the Dark Eldar use them as 'food'.

Actually the fluff seems to support the guard taking pows. Especially Guants ghosts and cain. Cue Lynata coming in amd saying thats not canon.