Conscript

A Conscript Infantry Platoon is an Imperial Guard troops choice. They are the most basic infantry units with very little training and only basic equipment. A soldier is known as a Conscript while the unit is known as a Conscript Infantry Platoon.

Background

A Conscript is the most basic soldier the Imperial Guard employ. Often they are forced into service by any means, including subversion, and simply placed on the front lines and used as cannon fodder. They are a new addition to Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex) and come in vast swarms of soldiers.

Squad Design

A Conscript Infantry Platoon consists of at least two squads of ten Conscripts. This number may be increased to five squads of ten Conscripts. They do not make use of any form of Sergeant.

Equipment

Like most of the rest of the Imperial Guard, Conscripts wear flak armour giving them the most basic defence. Each Conscript is, by standard, armed with a lasgun.

Conscripts may be armed with an upgrade of either a Flamer or a Grenade Launcher, but only one per Platoon has this honour. They may also be armed with an upgrade of either a Heavy Bolter, Missile Launcher, or Autocannon, but only two per Platoon have the honour to form one team.

Famous Regiments

Conscripts are common throughout the Imperium due to their ease of raising and low cost maintenance. Some regiments known to employ conscript platoons are:

• Cadian Shock Troops
• Valhallan Ice Warriors

Whiteshields

Whiteshields are young men or women, before the age necessary to enroll in the military, who can wield a gun sufficiently to be of use to the armed forces. This is used throughout the galaxy, but the name originates on Cadia. They are sometimes known as cadets, probationers or gun babies, although it would not be wise to say this to the face of a whiteshield.

They perform menial tasks for the Imperial Guard until they prove themselves worthy of the title Guardsman. As they grow older, the amount of time spent on firing practice increases until they are proficient with the standard pattern Lasgun.

A lot of the recruits are actually the sons of members of the Imperial Guard. They are often used to do menial tasks that would drain the resources of the regiment and are a much safer way of keeping numbers up when garrisoned on an unfriendly planet.

Promotion from whiteshield to guardsman is seen as a changing point in their lives. When they are promoted it is considered that they are now adults and are given the right to wear the regimental standard on their uniform. Often the unofficial tasks given to a newly promoted whiteshield are what really admits them to their new regiment. This sometimes involves receiving scars without crying out or having tattoo painted on them.

Whatever happens, if a whiteshield survives these ordeals, he is then officially a very effective guardsman.

Sources

• Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex)