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now obviously they will be just a regular recruit but compared to Conscripts, are Volunteers treated better? Like, would the Volunteers be granted a better kit and better training as well as a better chance to rise up the ranks?

As everything with the Guard, it depends entirely on the regiment. Not all Guardsmen are conscripted; quite a few of them are built off of civilian and PDF volunteers (planets are supposed to give the best of their troops for the tithe, but somehow it doesn't always work out that way). Do you mean after the regiment had already formed, as part of a reinforcing group? There'd likely be a little more friction there, but I don't think it would affect their kit and training.

Well just in general. Your right though, recruitment would largely be different for each regiment. Volunteering for the Guard (most of the time) would more than likely result in just a "Emperor watch over you!" or something, from the recruiter and nothing much more. Maybe a handshake from another Volunteer every once and a while or something.

All the troops of a given Regiment are equipped exactly the same... it's easier that way for the Departmento Munitorum. So whether you were drafted (conscripts) or signed up (volunteers), you'll get the same kit regardless.

Of course, Regiments of the same type from different worlds may vary wildly in outfit, but that's not quite the same thing.

I guess there may be a little variation in how they're treated, such as to which squads and such they're assigned. A volunteer might get a easier/less strict sergeant, while a conscript needs someone able to force people to follow them.
There would also be nothing stopping informal discrimination from more experienced veterans (looking down on conscripts as bolt fodder, or volunteers as being naive/delusional idiots).

It depends.

A lot of the time, you don't volunteer for the guard; you volunteer for the PDF, and the "best"* PDF units get transferred to the guard.

Sometimes a world does found a new regiment explicitely for the guard, and, yes, it's quite possible they'll be made up of volunteers - on a backwater world it might be seen as quite glamourous (the Roman Legions, after all, rarely had to resort to conscription).

It will vary from world to world. As a rule, I'd expect that if a world has both volunteers and conscripts, there would be some difference between the two in prospects.

Even if informally - you might not have a legal difference in rank, but if you're an officer, and you have two units of similar capability, you're likely to give the important job and/or the better kit to the one who actually wanted to be there.



* subject to terms and conditions, statistical accuracy, performance in specific on-the-day-trials and the Lord-Governor creaming off the best for his own security

Given the ammount of the manpower required to fight all the wars across the galaxy, I'd say that Departmento Munitorum would gladly take any and all volunteers and shipped them to the nearest warzone asap.

I suspect anyone volunteering would be sent to the commissar for "questioning" lol

An all volunteer regiment would be slightly easier to control than the pressganged one looking to escape or kill you at first chance.

Conscripts effective but recruits who chose to join would be slightly less likely to desert/put bayonet in your back on a dark night.

Probably some form of the same deal that was availible here. If you got drafted you went where you were told. If you volunteered you might get a little preference in where you went.

So you might be able to pick a slightly better regiment, or you might be able to load a tank gun rather than get a lasgun and charge at the enemy.

 Exergy wrote:
Probably some form of the same deal that was availible here. If you got drafted you went where you were told. If you volunteered you might get a little preference in where you went.

So you might be able to pick a slightly better regiment, or you might be able to load a tank gun rather than get a lasgun and charge at the enemy.

Yeah. You might at least get a choice of branch or say PDF or sector Navy etc

Just is likely though is the volunteers get put into the "forlorn hope" units where the supposed increase in motivation will be quickly put to use. Quickly chewed up doesn't matter to the Imperium, they can always find more bodies to fill the ranks regardless.

Besides, not volunteering could quite literally be considered Heresy, and we know where that will get you....

To be fair, everyone "volunteers" to be in the Emperor's service.

The volunteer will receive a flashlight, cardboard box, toilet paper and a pair of large adamantium balls.

as you grow up you see vids of the Emperors angels, they fill you with pride and awe, you go to church every day after education allocation, you are filled with zeal when you hear of the serpent and his ilk being destroyed by the god emperor, you get older, you see year after year the regiments of the Guard as they are sent away as part of the tithe, the banners of your home, the uniform, the honour.

you get older, your now 16, you see a life in the factories, you don't want this, you know you can do better with your life, you missed the tithe as it fell before you birthday, so you work hard, you get yourself into peak physical fitness, and upon the next tithe you got to the closest Imperial Volunteer centre.

you see a grizzled old man, he tells you of the glory that awaits, the wonders you will see, all while staring at you with his one good eye, all the years of Dogma you remember, all the vids of the glories of the imperial armies, you don't hesitate, you sign up.

you train, you train hard, you pass out top of your class, your instructors tell you that you will be a hero, and the emperor will remember you and all your sqaudmates.

you pass out

you are told that you have been called up to a distant warzone, you are excited, this is what you have been waiting for, you embark upon the dropship, your family, wife and child see you off, tears in there eyes, they are so proud.

you are on the ship for months, no idea where you are going, having faith that the god emperor will send you where you are needed, alarms ring, you rush to get your weapons and flakk armour, you embark upon the drop ships, you look out the window, below you see tens of thousands of troops fighting, laser fire flashing between them, hundreds of tanks, all around you flakk shakes the drop ship, it lands, you rush out of the door..... you are hit, the world starts to go black.... you shed a tear, you don't want to die.....

your son see's the vids of the emperors angels, hears stories of his fathers fight for the emperor, he vows to join the imperial guard.....

Welcome to 40k

The volunteers are issued the plasma guns. They require strong faith!

If it's anything like real life, I presume separate companies/regiments would initially be build from volunteers or conscripts. As such they are generally treated generally better, better pay, equipment, luxuries etc. Also they may get some limited freedom in the specific regiment or branch they join akin to real life, although such a path generally would start in the PDF.

You only see a mish mash generally during war time... so 40k this would be a sector or region under attack. Even then conscripts are generally looked down upon by volunteers and officers, rather than volunteers being treated much better.

Now in the 40k setting you see an almost infinite variation in regiments. I wouldn't be surprised if generally speaking volunteers are treated better generally.

The empire enacts a tithe on every planet (apart from special ones like laboratories), which includes ressources and also fighting units. If you want to fight, you join the PDF and request to be part of the next draft/tithe. I don't see why volunteer infantry would be treated better or get luxuries than those who get transfered from PDF to IG. It is the DUTY of the man and women in the empire to serve. Nobody gives a shat if they really want to be there or not. As long as they do their job well. If they don't -> punishment. If they do-> promotion possibility. This is the IG in 40k, not the professional armies of modern day countries that have to offer pay, luxuries etc to be able to sustain their manpower.

Some Guard regiments (such as the Elysians) are all-volunteer.

Joining the PDF can certainly be voluntary yes. But that doesn't mean you get extra luxuries. Elysians only get better equipment and good training because their specialisation requires it, not because they volunteered.

In the Grim Dark Future... There Are No Snowflakes

I am pretty sure whether you are a volunteer, conscript, or anything else that a soldier might identify as; you are given your equipment, trained, and sent to the grinder. There is no time for hand-holding and back-patting, alien bugs and huge Tolkien baddies with guns are kicking down doors and taking names. Whether you are a volunteer or conscript, you are nothing but another body to throw at the enemies of the emperor.

That is, for the average Grim Dark Imperial Guard regiment.

Why do you ask? Is this for an RPG or army fluff inspiration? If it is for an RPG, I could totally see Volunteers being the one that people look down upon by fellow soldiers. "You seriously signed up for this gak?". Conscripts might get sympathy from fellow soldiers for being forced into this hellish nightmare. Officers might think a little better of Volunteers, and not instantly label them as a trouble-maker, but they still see them as a number and someone who'll be dead in a couple weeks.

Ibram Gaunt is displayed as being a glorified and unique exception to the average Imperial Officer because he knows his troops' names and looks after them. There might be more out there like Gaunt, but none who have been given light or credit.

The impression I got from Gaunt's Ghosts was that the vast majority of Guard regiments were volunteers.

Whether that be because a planet has a proud military history, or the recruit sees the guard as an improvement over a life of farming/manufactorum work, there can be any number of reasons to volunteer.

People could volunteer for 1000 reasons.

You might want to escape the drudgery of your planet.

You might have debts. Or enemies.

Want to escape family , planet and see the galexey.

There's thousands of reasons you might wanna escape the life of the hive dweller or farmer.

If you volunteer you might get a choice on branch, or role. Say combat engineer or on the artillery crews.

Come on everyone...seriously. No one -doesn't- volunteer for Emperor's glorious and illustrious Imperial Guard...

In "15 Hours" the guy gets a letter thanking him for volunteering for the Guard as part of his planet's tithe. Meanwhile, the poor peasant farmer is like "Imperi-what?"

Officially though, both can happen. Some are raised from birth, others volunteer, some are conscripted from hive gangs...

Like Khorn doesn't care from where the blood flows, so to does the Imperium not care how a person joins the guard. So long as they get their tithe.

Sign up, boot and induction, assignment and training, deployment.

Then probably die in some horrible way on some far off world orbiting a dying star.

 Lusall wrote:
Come on everyone...seriously. No one -doesn't- volunteer for Emperor's glorious and illustrious Imperial Guard...

In "15 Hours" the guy gets a letter thanking him for volunteering for the Guard as part of his planet's tithe. Meanwhile, the poor peasant farmer is like "Imperi-what?"

Officially though, both can happen. Some are raised from birth, others volunteer, some are conscripted from hive gangs...

Like Khorn doesn't care from where the blood flows, so to does the Imperium not care how a person joins the guard. So long as they get their tithe.

Indeed, actual volunteering has free will involved. What the imperium declares as "volunteered for IG" does not necessarily mean that free will was involved. They could just take it for granted that you are totally ok with beeing send to a meat grinder. Not "volunteering" would be blasphemous to his holyness, as it is an honor to serve the emperor...

Well I remember one of the last chancers adjusting his pay grade and thus being convicted. So I presume different pay grades exist for different roles etc. Also I was thinking it's more of a difference of pay or luxuries within Regiments or units from the same planet. I'm also sure it's likely pay grades would be different depending on planet due to inflation and many planets have different currencies of presumable different transfer rates.

As such I'm going to presume it's going to rely on the planet or regiment traditions. However virtually every military so far in the history of mankind has had some kind of advantage to volunteers over conscripts, and we already know both volunteers and conscripts exist within 40k with pay grades differing between troopers. That said pay is never really mentioned in the fluff but it is mentioned that conscripts generally get lower quality equipment.

 Baldeagle91 wrote:
Well I remember one of the last chancers adjusting his pay grade and thus being convicted. So I presume different pay grades exist for different roles etc. Also I was thinking it's more of a difference of pay or luxuries within Regiments or units from the same planet. I'm also sure it's likely pay grades would be different depending on planet due to inflation and many planets have different currencies of presumable different transfer rates.

As such I'm going to presume it's going to rely on the planet or regiment traditions. However virtually every military so far in the history of mankind has had some kind of advantage to volunteers over conscripts, and we already know both volunteers and conscripts exist within 40k with pay grades differing between troopers. That said pay is never really mentioned in the fluff but it is mentioned that conscripts generally get lower quality equipment.

I think the pay issue is more just of rank, not if he volunteered or not.

Conscripts, as in teenagers or elderly men called on to fight may be given bad equipment. But volunteers and the general infantry (as part of the normal tithe) would be treated the same, to my knowledge. Pay would depend on rank, not on voluntary service.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Baldeagle91 wrote:
Well I remember one of the last chancers adjusting his pay grade and thus being convicted. So I presume different pay grades exist for different roles etc. Also I was thinking it's more of a difference of pay or luxuries within Regiments or units from the same planet. I'm also sure it's likely pay grades would be different depending on planet due to inflation and many planets have different currencies of presumable different transfer rates.

As such I'm going to presume it's going to rely on the planet or regiment traditions. However virtually every military so far in the history of mankind has had some kind of advantage to volunteers over conscripts, and we already know both volunteers and conscripts exist within 40k with pay grades differing between troopers. That said pay is never really mentioned in the fluff but it is mentioned that conscripts generally get lower quality equipment.

I think the pay issue is more just of rank, not if he volunteered or not.

Conscripts, as in teenagers or elderly men called on to fight may be given bad equipment. But volunteers and the general infantry (as part of the normal tithe) would be treated the same, to my knowledge. Pay would depend on rank, not on voluntary service.

I think it depends on the world and regiment in question. If you had temporary conscripts I presume they would be paid differently to normal soldiers, it's heavily hinted that many conscripts, such as the while shields are an inferior rank to the full blown cadian troopers. This actually makes sense seeing most full time troops actually have received a promotion before getting to the front line having completed full training, while conscripts don't have such a luxury. I also don't think having full volunteer and fully conscripted regiments are the issue. I think it's more a comparison within regiments. Another thing to note those with special equipment or specialist generally get paid slightly more than their rife bearing colleagues (due to them being kind of mini promotions and the fact their life expectancy is generally lower). It's been recognised for an extremely long time that even if you train and equip conscripts equally to volunteers, their performance will generally be inferior, thus the reluctance to give conscripted troops up to date and specialised equipment in many militaries. We also know that Guard regiments also often get preferential treatment during campaigns than the local PDF forces.

In all honesty we simply don't know, but I think common logic dictates it's extremely likely that at the very least PDF forces volunteers experience preferential treatment and pay compared to their conscripted brethren from the same planet and within the Guard it's still extremely likely. The main issue is many of the most famous regiments such as catachans, cadians, Elysians etc are suggested to be either mostly conscripted or volunteers. The IG's almost infinitate regimental variation, would mean it's almost certain that you would see volunteers receive preferential treatment after all. Okay you have the half truth that guardsmen are used simply as a meat grinder, but at the end of the day the Imperium want their soldiers to fight to the best of their ability. The very fact they get pay, special rations etc shows they not simply expected to simply sacrifice themselves for the Imperium for nothing aka medieval holy war style.