Quantity has a quality all its own

Yes, the title is a quote from Stalin, on how the Soviet Union repelled the Nazi invasion and won the Second World War.

This, however isn't about Stalin or WWII.

I've been playing 40k, Warhammer 40,000, for the one reader unfamiliar with the the abbreviation, for far too long. I was sold on the idea of the Genestealer Cult, these groups who mixed alien and human, who were desperately ill equipped for war, and yet who rose up in armed rebellion to overthrow the Fascist government that is pretty much every Imperial world. It was a force that relied on a small, random, compulsory core of a Patriarch, Magus, D6 genestealers and hybrids, supported by huge swathes of normal people. It was truly a numbers game.

That was all the way back in first edition. In seventh, they returned, still numerous, but now filled out, not with humans, although they can take such, but with a huge spectrum of hybrids. This, and the addition of mining tools and such, has made them a close combat army to be feared, albeit a bit of a glass cannon, since they are still poorly equipped and lacking in armour.

This isn't, though, about the Genestealer Cults.

Starting into the Grim Dark with genestealer cults has left its mark. I like huge armies where there are simply too many models for your opponent to massacre in the constraints of a game. My last army for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, may it's ashes rest in peace, was an Empire force, that could field a unit of 30 and a unit of 40 halberdiers simultaneously, and similarly huge regiments of handgunners, crossbows and archers, especially archers, and has a cavalry unit that's 25 strong. I like numbers.

As genestealer cults had minimal support from 1993 to 2015 or so, my brood brothers (human cultists) have flitted in and out of my numerous Imperial Guard forces. I never fielded Guard in first or second, so, when I started collecting them as a force in their own right it was third edition, when the compulsory units were a Command platoon (officer, command squad, 0-5 heavy weapons squads and 0-1 squadron of Sentinels), and the basic troops choice of a platoon (officer, command squad, 2-5 infantry squads), which would then allow you the other Troops option (1 per platoon) of a squad in a transport. This was potentially 145 or more infantry models, just to fill the compulsory slots. This was huge. This was the numbers i liked.

Of course, as a student at the time, money was tight, as was time to paint and play. In 2003, i abandoned the Guard, deciding to try the Space Marines that almost everyone started with. The 1999-2003 Guard, for the most part, is boxed up, while i work on how to bring it back. In 2016, alongside, and perhaps fueled by, the return of my "beautiful children" (genestealer cults), i got hooked and dragged back to the Guard. It had changed a lot, with a whole swathe of new artillery and armour, and the trusty platoon had exploded, gaining 0-5 heavy weapons squads, 0-3 special weapons squads and a new unit, well, a reimagining of an old one, in the form of Conscripts. These were terrible troops, but they were dirt cheap (their points cost was for the kit, the soldier was free), and could be taken in a block of 50.

50 models in a single squad! The amount of firepower was staggering. Yes, 2 out of every 3 shots would miss, and they were only S3, without AP, but, at 12" or less, that's 100 shots, so 33 hits. With that the lowliest troops could take out an enemy unit each turn. To deal with it, your opponent would need to focus significant amounts of fire on them, diverting it from the more valuable units, just to prevent their forces dying from paper cuts.

Of course, before I got my new force on the table, eighth edition hit. Conscripts no longer had the tax of having to take a platoon, but were still 3 points each, still 20-50 models per unit, and with a Commissar, morale wasn't an issue. Add an officer to give them orders, and it was a nightmare on the table.

Then they were hit with the nerf bat. They went down to 20-30 models, and didn't automatically get the benefit of orders. Commissars went from an aura to limit losses to morale to being a way of getting a reroll. Then, the final nail for many players' dreams of a sea of Conscripts: they went up in points to the same as the far superior Infantry squads.

So, the Conscripts were dead?

Far from it. While all of the above hit their effectiveness hard, it can't be said that they no longer have a part to play. They've gone from being a cannon fodder speed bump to a unit that can pose a real threat if used properly. They need good support.

They only benefit from orders half the time and can't have a vox, so don't worry about officers with Voice of Command. If you want to take them and put them with the Conscripts, by all means do, but i feel that they're more useful, and in less danger, elsewhere.

What i take with my Conscripts, as they tear across the table, is a Ministorum Priest per squad, an Astropath, and a Commissar or 4. The Commissars are there to boost morale, and Conscripts can be taken in blocks so large that the extra casualties aren't a problem, to "It's for your own good..." the astropath, if needed, and to attract snipers away from the other characters, who have worse saves and important buffs. The Astropath is there for psychic support powers and Astral Divination: even Conscripts can make a stain out of an enemy unit when they don't have pesky cover. The Priest is there to give the Conscripts an extra attack.

I haven't yet built, never mind fielded this, but it cropped up in conversation yesterday:
For 400 points you can take a Battalion of 3 30 man Conscript platoons, a pair of Lord Commissars with basic kit, an Astropath and a Priest. That's a whole sea of bodies, functioning as Ld9, while the Commissars are around, all able to negate cover saves for a single unit, and, when they charge, en masse, they all get an extra attack. That's not a speed bump; that's a real tactical threat.

Of course, that's a 400 point Battalion, so it's the same Command Point battery as the Loyal 32, but a lot more bodies. If you wanted to take it up to 500, that's another 25 bodies, or a couple of spare Priests, Astropaths or Commissars. They are still terrible, but with the numbers you can have in a concentrated wave, they really can win the game.

I'll end as i began: "Quantity has a quality all its own."

(Oh, and don't waste good multi-pose, multi-option models on Conscripts: there are boxes of 5 push-fit Cadians available from GW mail order and some independent stockists, which do the job nicely, are quicker and easier to build and a lot cheaper. Remember, with Conscripts, it's the sheer numbers that matter, and the numbers alone.)