"Hello World." "Here's Your Gun."

In reference to the title, conscripts are basically untrained and too young to fight under normal circumstances, however hard times call for desperate measures. As far as on the game board conscripts are totally rejected, I have never seen another player use them. I however love the drama there.

As usual, I will talk about what makes them bad first. Look at the veteran, increased BS and leadership than the normal Guardsman, he is two points more, then look at the conscript, worse in absolutely every way (other than armor, weapon, strength and toughness) and is but a single point less. In my opinion they should be at least 2 points less, but I think in order for people to except them they need to be 2 points a piece. I know that is ridiculous, but I mean no one uses these guys. Man per man, point for point, you are actually better off using a Guardsman.

Now what makes these young 'uns worth bringing to the table?

There are two ways to field them that work, in small units and large units, and it all depends on what you're using them for. If you want defenders take a small unit, and give them Send In The Next Wave. With that special rule you essentially have an unlimited reserve of conscripts. These are handy in capture and control where your firebase is within your deployment zone so your conscripts can essentially always be there to defend it. The other way to field them is as a large group of around 50, this is decent on defense, but really shines on offense, and is a little more versatile to the smaller ones that are constantly coming in and dying. They are more versatile because you aren't constantly having to start over with them, so they can actually go out and do something, however don't expect any to be left alive by the end of the game. Use your conscripts as expendable fodder, I usually don't do this to my beloved men, however I do like to play into the lore, and a bit of heartlessness is refreshing. Ideally use them to act as a meatshield for advancing tanks or waves of infantry. Ideally their large size, should prevent them from taking too many morale checks. Also a good thought for conscripts is to look like another large unit, about 30 or so men in a ruin or something is a hard thing to dig out, even if they are conscripts. When used as a faux unit, I will usually give them a heavy weapons squad of autocannons, to make up for their lack of firepower and range.

There is another thing that conscripts are good for, and that's large armies. When a platoon comes in from reserve, or is deployed, you can have up to one hundred models or more come in. This is especially handy in dawn of war, or if you just want to shock your opponent. In dawn of war, you can pretty much start out with your entire army on the table, or at least look like it to your opponent, who has like 20 space marines compared to your 200 Guard. Do you need conscripts for this? not really, but that's a lot of extra models that only help look like a massive wave of Guard.

Is the conscript worth it in the end? No, but I try and field them anyway, for the simple fact it brings me some unexpected options, and more bodies on the table. I encourage any Guard player to give them a shot in your next game, and use them in creative ways, especially playing to their perceived uselessness.