Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-5781149-20130130013422/@comment-101.113.140.206-20130318072931

Reading all of this was painful. Schola Progeniums don't literally brainwash their students. They drill lessons into them over and over again, then again for good measure, but not brainwash them (in a literal sense), as it would mean stripping free will out. So men and women still retain all personality traits an average person has, whether it be brave or cowardly, sly or brutally honest, silver tongued or not, some may be naturally charismatic others struggle, tactful or foolish, etc... (can go on and on)

Cain: He is a self-proclaimed coward, with the unfortunate luck of whenever he tries to run, he runs into trouble. Although a coward he is not weak, and is infact one of the greatest mortal melee fighters (namely with a chainsword). During a warp voyage when liasing between imperial guard and the Reclaimers SM Chapter he spent as much time as he could training with a space marine of said chapter, even notching a mark on the marines armour (which was not removed to remind the space marine not to underestimate any foe). Also added to his skill is the fact that he seems to always uncover genestealer nests (not to mention fighting many of the other myriad forms of tyranid bioforms), also being an expert at combating greenskins (also able to speak the orks language). Cain has also defeated an ork warlord and might i add without losing an arm? Poor form Yarrick. Now when he has fought chaos space marines it hasn't been 10 on 1 like you put it legionairre, they would be in 2's or 1's and virtually always there is support distracting one long enough for him to kill the other or the chaos space marines already have crippling injuries. (He doesn't cut through them like a power sword through swiss cheese either, Sandy Mitchell knows how a chainsword operate and writes accordingly).

He treats his men/women well as they are his 'meatshields' and doesnt want to be shot in the back. He is acclaimed as an imperial hero through sheer happenstance that his 'cowardly actions' lead him into the thick of action and with his meatshields always with him, when he emerges victorious he is lauded with praise, which constantly raise his reputation (this reputation also gives the upper echelons the idea to send him along on every high risk assignment they can think off).

Now we know he is a coward and couldnt care less about anyone so long as he lives, he still performs his role as commissar superbly. His mere presence boosts the morale of the men. He might not be a TRIGGER HAPPY commissar but his results cannot be faulted otherwise he wouldnt exactly be a commissar or alive for that fact.

Now over to Gaunt. As a Colonel-Commissar he has to both lead and mantain morale. Which if he was trigger happy commissar would have caused serious problems. (Not to mention the Tanith are a limited resource, Dan Abnett having to bring in the Vervunhivers and Belladon when numbers dwindled or provided perfect oppurtunity to have additional troops brought in as they were never the full 3 regiment strength they were intended to be. Although since Salvations Reach (latest Gaunts Ghost novel) has brought in many more troops i believe well see him executing troops more despite having 4 other commisars with him now)

As to letting the man who tried to kill him live, if would have been a huge error for him to have executed Major Eli Rawne as he was 3rd in command of an undersized unit with no home planet to recruit from. Rawne was a figure head for many of the Tanith and so soon after the loss of their homeworld, it would have been a major blow to Tanith morale (which Gaunt is responsible for maintaining). Now with Trooper Costin who drank on duty and got half a platoon killed out in no mans land was saved my Chief Medicae Dorden who put himself inbetween Gaunt and Costin, daring Gaunt to kill him for disobeying orders like Costin had. Gaunt would have ripped the Tanith First morale in half then tramped on it if he killed Dorden who was the heart of the Tanith (Now remember kiddies Gaunt needs to maintain morale - and not killing him was the smart move).

Talking about Cain and Gaunt having amour, yet you guys seem to forget Yarrick and his most obvious armour, The Fortress of Arrogance Yarrick's personal Baneblade. (Not to mention the countless millions of imperial guardsmen fighting in the same theatre or the space marine chapters, and all the civilians that get killed along the way.)