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Hey Dakkadakka
I was thinking about Commissars and their unique method of 'motivation' and wondered to myself what 'words of encouragement' one might share with his men on the battlefield.
What could he possibly tell them that would have guards rather choose a grizzly death over fleeing and potential survival?

I'm not well versed in IG fluff as I'm still largely invested in SMs so feel free to quote any source you might know of a Commissar giving a motivational speech or make one up if you have your own idea of what they might scream mid-battle .

Well, I suppose that Commissars would walk the thin line between fear and inspiration, and for the latter call upon a mixture of the troops' faith in the Imperial Creed as well as making them understand (or at least believe) that any sacrifice is a necessity committed not only for the sake of their immortal soul but ultimately also for the friends and families they have left at home, and who depend on that line being held, lest the Emperor's terrible enemies will swarm upon His worlds and destroy Mankind for sure. Given that Commissars grow up in the Schola Progenium and thus receive Ecclesiarchal indoctrination, they should be well versed in passing just a bit of this fervent belief in the Emperor's divine protection on to the men and women they accompany into battle.

... the topic also makes me wonder whether the Imperial Guard would use barrier troops. Maybe the Commissar Cadet squads could be used for such porpose, although it's probably more likely that the ranking Commissar would designate a unit from within the regiment with this special purpose. Whenever possible, such troops might also be drawn from different regiments from another world/culture to capitalise on the relative lack of cameraderie.

The last solution is, of course, to have the Commissars ensure his or her troops understand that there is no alternative. Anyone who runs will be shot, and if they still escape, they will be hunted down, or they will be stranded on a hostile world without any sort of support and supplies, having to make do with whatever they find in the wilderness until the enemy picks them off one by one, possibly for a fate worse than death.

There isn't a very gentle way of telling a conscript that he's either going to die fighting for a dead tyrant he's never met, or he's going to die via a boltgun to the face.

I mean, I guess during a siege or event like that, a kind commissar might be helpful. But as a general rule, their purpose is to scare soldiers into going in the right direction.

 LoneLictor wrote:
There isn't a very gentle way of telling a conscript that he's either going to die fighting for a dead tyrant he's never met, or he's going to die via a boltgun to the face.

I mean, I guess during a siege or event like that, a kind commissar might be helpful. But as a general rule, their purpose is to scare soldiers into going in the right direction.

I apologise, the thread title was meant to be ironic and seems to have confused you

I like to think that commissars are sort of like sheep dogs. They run up from behind the guardsmen and shout at them and fire their bolt pistols into the air. Confused and afraid, the guardsmen run away from the commissar, which just so happens to be in the direction of something else that the commissar wants dead.

The funny part is that somehow that shouting and gun waving makes the troopers near him so brave they will stand and fight where a necron destroyer lord would punk out and run.

Perhaps it is "Free nachoes if we win!"

Seriously, it is probably something along the lines of some serious mental conditioning during training to respond to certain keywords. This would explain how "For the emperor!" could suddenly turn a quivering conscript into a SM chapter master, at least in terms of sticking in the fight.

I've always viewed the nature of the Commissariat reflective of the unit they're attached to.

The rather violent and execution-happy commissars are best suited to penal regiments, conscript forces and other forces of dubious potential, morale and fighting capacity. A volunteer or more professional force would require a different breed; a commissar like that would most likely be fragged. I'd imagine Cadian commissars, Elysian Commissars and so on rely more on inspiration and direction than brute force.

And then you've got the Krieg regiments, where a Commissar isn't there to exhort the soldiers into fighting, but to keep them from throwing their lives away senselessly. They're there to stop them from attacking the enemy when it serves no purpose, and to try and get the kriegsmen to play nice with other regiments.

For a commissar who prefers making speeches to shooting people, see Novobatzky from the novel His Last Command. He has a speech about a historic battle of his regiment that's noted to be his particular "thing."

For some regiments, it's an unwritten rule that commissars are expected not to interfere too much. Check this out, taken from the old Codex:Catachans (PDF is on GW's site):

SPECIAL RULE
Oops, Sorry Sir:
Deathworld Veterans resent strangers telling them what to do or threatening their friends so Commissars have a very difficult time maintaining control. They also suffer a disproportionally high number of ‘accidents’ when serving with Deathworld troops. Roll a D6 for each Commissar before setting them up (roll for models in reserve when they deploy onto the table). On a roll of 1, the Commissar has met with an unfortunate accident and cannot be used.

Have a read of the Gaunts Ghosts books. They are an excellent portrayal of various different kinds of commissars, from the sympathetic kind to the useless and trigger happy.

I like to think of it as offering an alternative. If they stay and fight, they *just might* win and get to live... until the next battle, anyway.
If they try to run, they *will* die. On the spot. And an execution among the squad is a demonstration that the Commissar is more than prepared to carry out this duty.

It all depends on the Commissar. From what I understand Commissars are a diverse bunch. Not so much as the inquisition, but much more than your basic IG trooper, and they are quite diverse.

At one end you have the "Not enthusiastic enough about fighting? Herasy! BLAM!" types.

At the other end you strong fearless leaders that encourage troops through action as much as words.

You also have to remember that they are considered the physical embodiment of the Emperors will on the battle field. And for volunteer forces that is what they are fighting for. They are willing to die for the cause, but would rather live to keep fighting as a live trooper is worth more to the Emperor than a dead one. And the Commissars are there to remind them of that.

I just had a fluffy idea for a Commissar, cut off with his squad, attempting to fight through enemy lines to get back to their allies. Commy uses the execution method on his men in order to push them in to high stakes situations, killing his men as often as sending them to their doom. eventually through casualties of fighting and the Commissar's insistent team-killing the troops are whittled down to a only a few, who then decide the situation is FUBAR and turn on the Commissar.
Obviously the Commissar wins and becomes a corrupted Chaos Champion of Khorne

I think the fluff from the codex usually depicts their role as making the guardsman soil their pants two-fold: First, by being disciplinary officers, the lapdogs of the higher-ups, with the absolute authority to kill any mofo who fails to do his duty. Secondly, by demonstrating their utter fanatism and loyalty to the emperor through insane badassery on the field.Don't forget that, kids, commissars don't sit in their tent stroking their chin, they linspire by example, and they have been trained since childhood and are fething good at it, too (otherwise they wouldn't live long anyway). Some comissars favor one type of encouragement over the other, of course, bt they should be entirely capable in both regards.

Tl,dr: comissars make you think both "sh**, He'd kill me without blinking" and "we've got fething Chuck Norris on our team, so let's assault that enemy position right now!"

Edit: Self-censoring for profanity


Automatically Appended Next Post:
..aaaand ninja'd by steve steveson

I forget where it's stated, but at least one fluff source says that one of the commisariat's jobs is to keep information (propaganda, even) flowing that gives IG soldiers a sense of purpose, including describing the purpose of the mission (though I'm sure lying about the purpose is an option). Thus when the IG go down to save a ton of people from being butchered by orks, they KNOW they're going down to save a ton of people from being butchered by orks, thanks to the commissariat (the organization that commisars come from).

Presumably one way a commissar could be nice about encouraging morale is to remind that guardsman that if he flees, he's leaving a ton of women and children to die, etc.

Makes sense.

 Xendarc wrote:

What could he possibly tell them that would have guards rather choose a grizzly death over fleeing and potential survival?

Well, that's exactly the point of a Commissar: there is no potential survival in fleeing. But there may be in fighting the enemy. If they flee, the Commissar executes them, end of story.

Las/plasmagun to the head usualy helps....

 Xendarc wrote:
I just had a fluffy idea for a Commissar, cut off with his squad, attempting to fight through enemy lines to get back to their allies. Commy uses the execution method on his men in order to push them in to high stakes situations, killing his men as often as sending them to their doom. eventually through casualties of fighting and the Commissar's insistent team-killing the troops are whittled down to a only a few, who then decide the situation is FUBAR and turn on the Commissar.
Obviously the Commissar wins and becomes a corrupted Chaos Champion of Khorne

All of the above is logical, except for the bit when he turns into a champion of Khorne. If a commisar needs to execute a whole command to make a point he is well within his rights to do so.

He would definitely have to offer more than if you don't I kill you. Have you seen a greater unclean one? What would you rather die from a laspistol shot or a disease that turns you into a zombie, or a ripper swarm devouring you alive, or a daemon eating you and devouring your soul. There are some really bad ways to die in 40K and laspistols seem the kindest route. Now if he is motivating them in an action they are determined in that could be different.

What could he possibly tell them that would have guards rather choose a grizzly death over fleeing and potential survival?

"Glory for the first man to die!"

"Men of the Imperium, do you want to live forever?!"

"I am a Commissar. I am empowered to deliver justice wher ever I see it lacking. I am empowered to punish cowardice. I am granted the gift of total authority to judge, in the name of the Emperor, on the field of combat."

"I am an Imperial commissar. I will enflame the weak, support the wavering, guide the lost. I will be all things to all men who need me. But I will also punish without hesitation the incompetent, the cowardly, and the treasonous."

"Weep for him - for his faith was not sufficient.
Rejoice for yourselves, for my faith is bottomless!
Forward, for the Emperor!"

"We hold them here or we fight them on the hallowed ground of Terra itself. I for one would rather see a million human lives lost here than allow a single Ork to set foot on Earth."

"You're all here because you are traitors to Mankind and the Immortal Emperor. You are here because you have failed in your sworn duty to protect his domains and subjects, and you have perverted his trust in you for your own misguided ends. You have sacrificed your part in securing the future of the whole of humanity for your own selfish gain. To kill you would be to accept that you can no longer save your immortal souls. If you were to be ushered into the Emperor's presence now, the scales would tip badly against you when the deeds of your life are weighed up by his Almighty Presence. This is why I give you a last chance to prove yourselves worthy of the Emperor's forgiveness. This is why you are here - to save yourselves from eternal damnation."