Conscript

**Key Features** | »7.92mm ADK-45 assault rifle (used)»Greatcoat with service branch insignia (used)»20-quart synthetic XL satchel (new)»Cloth sashes for protecting the feet (new)»Fashionable fur hat (used)

*"We make Premier proud!"*

- A Conscript

## Tactical Analysis

 File:Fakesovietpropaganda1.jpg
* **Kollective Strength**: Conscript's assault rifles are adequately powerful against enemy infantry, especially since conscripts tend to outnumber their enemies. And their Molotov cocktails are a useful alternative against structures and slow-moving targets and are surprisingly effective against enemies taking position in structures. A few lucky cocktails flung through a window are likely to eliminate any hostiles inside, without setting the entire place ablaze.

* **Rationalised Training**: Probably the best thing to be said about conscripts is that the Union has managed to completely streamline their training to make them very affordable for use in battle. Yet these men's value is limited: Their weapons do not have the range to hit aircraft, nor can they swim.

* **Fleshy Kurtain**: While well equipped for their cost, Conscripts are not supermen. In practice, they are small enough to avoid serious damage from anti-vehicle weapons, but cannot withstand much small-arms fire.

* **Redistribution of Vodka**: As a result of newer training programs encouraging the sharing of skills, new, more flammable Molotov fuel mixes have been making the rounds, supposedly a method of creating the near-mythical Chinese flame chemical *"Black Napalm"*. In addition, the Soviet army has issued Conscript squads with RDP machine guns. Who gets to wield the machine gun is decided by the members of the squad; in practice, the machine gun usually goes to the most experienced member of each squad.

## WWIII Operational History

 File:Conscript.jpg  In the Soviet Union, military service is understood to be a rite of passage, for boys and girls alike, into a patriotic adulthood. And, much like the onset of age, this rite is not optional. Opportunities do abound, and based on a child's scholastic achievement and parentage, he or she may end up serving either behind a desk or behind a machine gun for the glory of Russia and all her sister republics. Among the entirety of Soviet youth entering the armed forces, a large percentage consists of youth of unremarkable strength, intellect, or pedigree. These boys and girls, once properly trained and equipped, are children no longer: They are **Conscripts**. Drafted by the millions, conscripts are conditioned from a very young age--long before their conscription, in fact -- to believe in the inevitable victory and greater glory of the Soviet fight against its conniving enemies.

Conscripts are also promised handsome rewards upon completing tours of duty, which is all the more reason why they approach what turns out to be a nearly suicidal undertaking with an almost-giddy enthusiasm. Though expediently trained, they are armed with high-caliber assault rifles, as well as satchels filled with a highly volatile, cheaply-produced concoction that's serviceable as a basic thrown explosive. Reports of conscripts drinking this substance for pleasure, and subsequently falling ill or dying, are described as patently false by the Soviet media. The Soviet Union is famously proud of her *"highly efficient"* conscript training program, which is centered on a series of mandatory training videos that educate conscripts on how to properly fire a gun, salute high-ranking officials, cry out authorized Soviet war cries, and more. (Note that conscripts are never taught to swim, allegedly out of desertion risk, but actually because Conscript armour would make them sink.) Exit polls suggest conscripts come away from this video series genuinely inspired and enthusiastic for combat, and the few that are unsatisfied typically have awkward question-and-answer sessions with the morale officer.

Conscripts also are especially grateful for how soon into their training they get to brandish the notorious ADK-45 assault rifle, a cheap and effective burst-firing weapon that can easily take down unarmoured targets as well as an effective but easily produced set of body armour that is protective yet comfortable. In addition to their brief but somehow incredibly efficient marksmanship training, conscripts learn to properly mix and throw explosive Molotov cocktails, named for the great Soviet bartender who first invented the concoction in exasperation when his patrons refused to leave his establishment. On the whole, conscripts are quite accurate with these thrown weapons, which can cause significant harm against structures or targets too slow to avoid the attack.

It must be repeated that conscripts have the shortest life expectancy of virtually all Soviet forces, and rarely live past the age of 26.6 years before being killed or promoted (though the latter is indeed, more common, as no human army could survive majority fatality rates, though their “stringent” requirements for promotion means only 1 in 3 Conscripts are promoted). The Union depends on her many millions of citizens to swell these ranks, and then, in practice, allows them to head straight into the arms of slaughter. Some critics have theorized that the Union purposely seeks a high casualty rate among conscripts so that there are fewer veterans who can return to the homeland to contradict the extremely positive career outlook presented to prospective conscripts in the well-crafted training videos. And rumours has claimed that Russia has incarcerated as many of these critics as she can get her hands on for slander, libel, or treason.

The actual truth of the matter is that the Conscripts are more of a specialist branch of the Red Army, known as the Red Guard, and are a product of the Soviet Union's system of integrating military education into its curriculum, which is what actually allows a few hours of training videos on more specialist topics that won't come up in grade school to produce a combat effective soldier. The belief that simply watching a movie or two can train an effective soldier is in essence, a form of disinformation to make the enemies of the Union underestimate them on the field, and attempts by the Indian army to put this into practice have been nothing short of disastrous.

Upon reaching the age of ten, all Soviet children start receiving lessons in military training as part of their physical education, making the vastness of the Soviet population more than a half billion strong in Russia alone one giant reserve. By the time they have finished secondary school, most Soviet youth are already intimately familiar with how to fire and operate an assault rifle, fight hand to hand, and move as a squad, dig a trench, or take cover. Once they receive their draft card, all it takes to ensure that they're familiar with anything that might have changed since they were in secondary school is a quick series of videos and a crash course to update them and refresh their muscle memory.

Those who outright sign on as regulars, of course, are transferred into the regular army, though they are better known as Grenadiers, instead of fighting in the Red Army as a career. Though the Grenadiers and the Red Guards have little acrimony between them, even if the Conscripts hold the Comintern Volunteers in considerably more awe than the Red Regulars.

Of course, there is a dark secret to the Conscripts. While the children are trained to their very best and become soldiers with only a few videos. Their frankly naive optimism stands from years of propaganda indoctrination and the Soviet downplaying, or outright lying, about their opponent's strength, with a Conscript first taste of combat often shattering that illusion violently, as they march through mud and blood and witness their brothers and sisters in arms dying in droves, getting scarred, physically and/or mentally, or even crippled in the line of fire. After their first combat almost every surviving Conscripts would hate the Union for its lies and manipulation, those who don't are fanatical and/or blind, leading to a desire to tell the truth of the propaganda lie. That is if they ever get out.

Though the Union loathes to admit it. One of the main reasons why their able to fight against the Allies and Empire on equal footing is because they have the largest amount of manpower on earth, with only India and China being able to compete in that area, and are heavily dependent on its constant influx of naive Conscripts via overblown propaganda to fight against the more advance superpowers, with Conscripts having seen the reality being a potential threat in lowering the numbers of conscription, or even worse incite rebellion.

Thus it’s an unofficial rule in the Union that any Conscript division that survived its third battle, often reduced to a quarter of its initial size, is reviewed by the commander and politburo on their loyalty and potential for promotion.

Only those who keep quiet of the reality, whether by bribery or intimidation, or those who are still loyal to the Union and/or still believe the propaganda are promoted.

The rest, those who show potential sedition and/or discourage others from conscripting, are joined into Conscript divisions whose mission is outright suicidal to follow, the hope being that either they’ll die before their tour ends or be court-martialed and executed for desertion, or failing that are sent to guard outposts in the middle of nowhere like Siberia. After all, they can easily recruit another band of Conscripts to replace them.

## Post-War Operational History

While the bright red colouration of their prior great coats was indeed regarded as inspiring in its commitment to the communist cause, the difficulty of concealment without special issue camo gear was a noted common concern and led to the darkening of the great coat. Additionally, more of the Conscript's training takes place off the field before they arrive in the Field Barracks for deployment, with the final refresher courses truncated to let them learn from more veteran or regular comrades instead, allowing them to be ready for the fight sooner after reaching the Commander's base.

New, more flammable Molotov fuel mixes have been making the rounds, supposedly a method of creating the near-mythical Chinese flame chemical *"Black Napalm"*. If this is true, then it would take a skilled soldier indeed to successfully mix the formula without the risk of self-immolation.

In addition, the Soviet army has issued Conscript squads with RDP machine guns. Who gets to wield the machine gun is decided by the members of the squad; in practice the machine gun usually goes to the most experienced member of each squad. The RDP machine gun has an extensive mythology surrounding it, most of it exaggerated or downright untrue. In battle, the RDP is somewhat more effective than an ADK-45, particularly when it comes to suppressing enemies.

## Just the Stats

 **Armour Type** | Infantry

 **Kill Reward** | 600

 **DPS** | 15

 **DPS** | 2.5