I've always liked the idea of hordes of Conscripts charging at the enemy but have never found them very useful. In 5th edition they were hardly ever used and when they were it was often for fluff reasons. The problem with them is that they have rubbish stats and need a character with them due to their Leadership (Ld) 5 so that they don't run away from the first strong gust of wind. Not much has changed for the better in 6th.
Their main advantage is Commander Chenkov's 'Send in the Next Wave' special rule which allows them to be recycled constantly. To do this the controlling player can remove them at the start of their turn and the full strength squad will come on from reserves at the start of their following turn. Any characters will be lost though, unless they already left the unit before it was removed. This means that once again they will be down to Ld5. Also, at 75pts a unit the Send in the Next Wave rule is not cheap. If the enemy destroys the unit though, they will come back in the controlling players turn anyway.
A Lord Commissar seems the best option for Conscripts due to his Ld10 and Stubborn. However, he will become the army's Warlord unless another Lord Commissar is taken due to his Ld being higher than all of the other HQ choices, with the exception of Commissar Yarrick.
Commissar Yarrick is a decent option for Conscripts as he gives them Fearless and units within 12" gain Stubborn. He is also hard to kill due to Eternal Warrior and the fact that he can get back up on a 3+ when reduced to 0 wounds. Any wounds allocated to him must be re-rolled so putting him at the front of a squad to catch bullets, known as 'tanking', is a great idea. Any that get through can always be deflected onto a Conscript with Look Out Sir making Yarrick very hard to kill.
A Ministorum Priest can be used to grant re-rolls on the charge but you will probably want to use First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire instead, unless you plan to tie up models that can't issue Challenges such as Dreadnoughts and Defilers. Also, the Priest only has Ld7 and no Stubborn or Fearless. He does have an Eviscerator though.
Challenges are probably the biggest weakness of Conscripts due to the fact that if one is issued and accepted, whoever accepted it will most likely be killed before they get to swing. On the other hand they could refuse, but then the Conscripts will lose their Ld bonus. There is no way to prevent this other than to add several characters to a Conscript squad which can make them ridiculously expensive.
The best thing to do with Conscripts may be to keep running them at the enemy in small squads with Send in the Next Wave so they can be killed off and come back in from reserves at the start of the controlling players turn. This way they can also grab and contest objectives that are close to the table edge late in the game.
The other option is to attach Yarrick or a Lord Commissar and charge them at the enemy. This is more risky though and it would probably be better to attach Yarrick or a Lord Commissar to an Infantry Squad blob. This would allow Sergeants to take challenges so the Commissar can attack against the rest of the unit. Alternatively a cheaper 35pt Commissar can be taken for each 10 man Infantry Squad giving them Ld9 and Stubborn.
The points difference between Conscripts and Infantry is negligible compared to their improved stats and ability to protect a Commissar. Also the option for a cheaper Commissar with great Ld cannot be underestimated.
The problem is by the time you've spent points on characters, Chenkov and the Send in the Next Wave special rule you'll be wondering why you didn't just use regular Infantry Squads.
Conscripts can also provide mobile cover to an army due to the Intervening Models rule but will still need a character to ensure that they don't run away.
So Conscripts appear to have become even worse in 6th. Does anyone have any success stories with them?
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