The Imperial Guard Commissars

One of the more distinctive aspects of the Imperial Guard army is its Commissars. They are represented as akin to the ruthless, political commissars of the former Soviet Union. The Imperial Commissar, as described by many Warhammer novelists, is given complete jurisdiction to judge the actions of any trooper or officer and to act accordingly. This includes summary execution of units who display disobedience or cowardice (in gameplay, this is a useful function that boosts the morale of wavering units and prevents possessed psykers from turning on their comrades). Understandably, they are much hated by the guardsmen they serve with. Many novels hint that a good portion of the Commissars slain in battle are "accidentally" hit by friendly fire; the 4th-Edition Codex for the notoriously anti-authoritarian Catachan regiments of the Imperial Guard includes the "Oops, Sorry Sir" rule that gives Commissar models included in a Catachan army a 1-in-6 chance of having been killed - or more appropriately, fragged - before the game begins. There are also hints that some Commissars have taken to the tactic of inspiring troops by heroic example, hoping to emulate the "heroic" Commissar Ciaphas Cain.

Commissar Lord Bernn
Out of the four Imperial Guard characters, in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution, Lord Bernn is the easiest to manage and use. As soon as I grabbed a power fist for him, all I did was charge him head long into the fight, to crush the enemy’s heavy infantry and vehicles. Since I knew exactly what I wanted to do with Bernn from the beginning, I spent all his skill points into his Offense tree. All of the abilities, from Inspiring Strike to Fanaticism, he gains through the Offense tree increase his ability to punch people (and tanks) in the face. Both Bernn’s Stamina and Will trees are lacking compared to the other characters, but overall I felt Will was the better of the two. Of course, if you are not willing to execute squad members, then Will is a waste of skill points, so focus on the Stamina tree. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Imperial Guard if a Commissar was not running around executing perfectly healthy people. Throughout the campaign I hardly used Bernn, as his honor guard is much better, but that is a discussion for the next article. The best part about Bernn is that his abilities are easy to manage and allow you to spend more time focusing on other characters and squads without wasting him.

Overall I felt the characters available to the Imperial Guard really fell in line with the feel and fluff of the Imperial Guard characters in the Warhammer 40,000 table top game as well as the Warhammer universe. They have access to some decent offensive capabilities, but where they shine is the support they give the units surrounding them. My personal favorite character of the lot is Castor, but all the characters have their uses and their strengths and weaknesses.