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Jopall Indentured Guard

2021-10-03T10:39:05Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:800:9848:12FF:8A17:6F5E:

{{Topquote|Oh... OH, ''THAT'' I HATE.|[[TTS|Corvus Corax]], upon learning how Jopall's people are treated}}

{{Topquote|They say money doesn't buy happiness. That phrase should end with 'just kidding'.|Daniel Tosh}}

[[File:Jopall guardsman.jpeg|thumb|Their government is so stingy they make their soldiers fight in ther pijamas, which to be fair are just as effective as the usual [[Flak Armor|guardsman T-shirt]]]]

The Jopall Indentured Guard (Also Jopall Indentured Squadrons, or Jopal, becuase no one at GW can figure out if the name of the place has 1 or 2 "l's") are an [[Imperial Guard]] regiment hailing from the planet with that same name. Jopall is an agri world ruled by a cutthroat, decadent, aristocratic corporatocracy that makes it so that anyone born (and sometimes not born but unlucky enough to get stranded) on the planet instantly owes a massive debt to the state. The only way for citizen to pay it off is to either become a debt slave to some corrupt landlord, or join the planet's local IG regiment.

As there is no guarantee that said corrupt landlords won't simply continue to make up reasons to add on to one's debt for the rest of eternity, it is no wonder the Indentured Guard never lacks for recruits, for many even facing off a horde of orks with a flashlight is a preferable end to becoming some degenerate plutocrat's personal plaything. It also turns out their pay depends on the number enemies of the Imperium they manage to vanquish, so every ork they kill with that flashlight is another step to sweet economic freedom.

Seeing as how they won't be able to enjoy said freedom if they get killed they aren't too keen on the whole "suicidal bravery" thing most of the Imperial Guard are known for so their entire doctrine is based on fighting defensively and at distance, this combined with the fact they always keep track of their kills for later recompense has given them a reputation of being both greedy and cowardly among other regiments, who are also appalled by the Indentured Guard's relaxed and some would say "unprofessional" command structure.

This all makes it sound like they are no better than some backwater [[The Last Chancers|penal regiment]] composed of poorly trained soldiers forced into service against their will, yet precisely because they are incentivized to eliminate as many enemies as possible combined with their desire to stay alive as long as possible they have been molded into a collection of surprisingly cunning lil' bastards, having mastered the art of maximizing enemy casualties with as little resources as necessary. The previously mentioned relaxed command structure also means they are allowed '''*gasp*''' ''[[heresy|individual thinking]]''. In fact, guardsmen who come up clever ways to fuck up the enemy with minimum effort are outright rewarded financially to encourage further displays of outside the box badassery. Quite remarkable seeing how many soldiers that dare to show such self initiative get *BLAMMED* in other regiments for not following commands to the letter.

One story that exemplifies this curious approach to warfare occurred at the siege of a Hive city during the Third War of [[Armageddon]], a group of Jopall guardsmen bribed an Ork Mekboy from the Blood Axes by "selling" him a bunch of Basilisks loaded with ammo and (unbeknownst to the Ork) plastic explosives. After paying the humans the Mekboy then proceeded to present this gift to his Warboss, at which point the explosives were detonated, killing off a shiton of Orks and a huge chunk of their artillery while the humies laughed all the way to the bank. (They did get demoted for taking and destroying IG equipment without authorization but became the most popular guardsmen in the Hive after that).

During that same conflict they also fought alongside, and earned the undying scorn of the [[Death Korps of Krieg|Krieg Death Korps]], as the the Jopall Indentured Squadrons are the antithesis of everything a Krieg guardsman stands for, fighting for profit instead of duty, actively avoiding danger instead of gladly giving their lives for the Emprah and carrying themselves in a manner (from the Death Korps perspective) unbecoming of soldiers. They do credit them for marksmanship though. The Jopallians for their part see the Kriegers as utter doormats... which is basically true, if doormats were made to get shot and could try to kill themselves on you.

{{40k-Imperial-Regiments}}

Spartans

2021-10-03T09:58:44Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:800:9848:12FF:8A17:6F5E:

'''Sparta''' was one of several Greek city states in the 1st millennium BC and among the most powerful in that region. Its society was notable for stratification: '''Spartiate''' upper class, '''Perioeci''' artisans and merchants, and '''Helots''' the agricultural slaves. Also noted for the extreme level of militarization it had among its ruling class because the Helots weren't just fellow Greeks, they were fellow ''Dorians'' and resented being Sparta's bitch. More on that, further.

With the exception of the heir apparent, the entire male Spartiate class was subjected to a brutal training regimen from childhood called the Agoge and then required to serve as kill squads against their Helot Farmers and then soldiers in the spartan army before being able to marry and after that would drill constantly. This contrasted with the armies of the other Greek city states. These were composed of informal forces civilian militia drawn from the general population who were expected to train and equip themselves.

We could also mention the... ''unique'' "mentoring" system Sparta had, wherein an older warrior would take a younger recruit under his wing, by which we mean [[Slaanesh|under his body]]. No we are not exaggerating, even the Athenians - who weren't prudes - used "Spartanise" as we'd say "Sodomise". Somehow Zack Snyder forgot to mention these aspects of his heroes, these guardians of Greek freedom.

This system did produce the best [[Hoplite]]s in Greece (for a time at the least) as they held formation for longer. Breaking formation in Hoplite warfare was just another way of saying "lost". When the Achaemenids came knocking, the Spartan king Leonidas led his hoplites and tens of thousands of Greek allies into battle against tens to hundreds of thousands of invading Persians, at Thermopylae. A Theban traitor pointed the Persians to a side-route; but the Greeks got tipped off, so the Spartan King and the legendary Three Hundred (well, plus another Seven Hundred from Thespiae, who intermittently get ignored and remembered) held that line until the other Greeks could get out and regroup. {{spoiler|The Persians finally flanked them and killed them to the last man.}} That battle helped mobilize the rest of Greece into repelling the invaders for good.

That said, the Spartan's brutal upbringing would ultimately prove to be their downfall. Since they were constantly killing their kids there was never more than about 8,000 of them at one time and the only way to get new ones was by reproduction. The Helots, which outnumbered the Spartiates considerably and did not like being constantly under their heel or having to put up with armed teenage wankers trying to kill them and other such bullshit were constantly rebelling and needed constant attention to be kept in line. They soon pushed themselves to their limit and afterwards their numbers dwindled away and were eventually defeated. The end of their prominence happened famously by Theban general Epaminondas at Battle of Leuctra and finally by the Macedonians and Romans, which could mobilize their various conquered peoples to provide vast numbers of soldiers.

To add insult to injury the Theban army which broke the Spartiates were training their boys in a similar (and equally gay) manner only not as brutal (nor as paedo). Their core was the Sacred Band: 150 male couples hand picked based solely on skill form their normal hoplite militia.

The Spartan system had its admirers even in Athens herself, which also had an aristocracy, which survived under its nominal democracy - however much it chafed. These came back under the Thirty Tyrants, on-again off-again advised by no less than Socrates. Socrates' students, arrogant toffs to a man, included Alcibiades, Xenophon, and Plato. Plato was a Spartaboo to such an extent he promoted that we'd all be better off under a caste society ruled by a council of guardians. We've been dealing with that shit ever since, from the French Republic's ''comité de salut public'' to the Politburo to Khomeini's ''wilayat al-faqih''.

==Legacy in Fiction==
The Spartan trope in fiction refers to any army or military force that relies heavily (or completely) on brutally trained soldiers to do their work, rather than having a balance of rank-and-file troops and special forces. So they have a small band of elite soldiers that're more than a match for any soldier, but have very limited numbers, in comparison to other armies in the setting.

It should be noted, however, that most fictional examples are of an elite force supplementing a greater army of mooks, rather than composing one's entire military force of a small number of elite soldiers that take a long time to train. [[Derp|Which is exactly what Sparta did]].

Examples of such training programs include...
*Sardaukar from [[Dune]]
*[[Space Marines|Spess Merhens]] in [[Warhammer 40,000]]
**Especially the [[Minotaurs]]
**Goes double for the [[Grey Knights]]
*[[The Clans]] from [[Battletech]]
*The child soldier program in Metal Gear universe. Raiden is one of the notable example. Grey Fox is from a different but similar program than Raiden.
**There are other variations created by the patriots, like the Genome Soldiers. It is a lot similar to the star wars stormtroopers down below (only Boba Fett is replaced by Big Boss for gene cloning). The well known Les Enfants Terribles project utilizing the super baby method. Using both Eva's womb and big boss's gene that gave birth to badasses like Solid snake and Liquid snake.
** Later on they just said fuck it and started using VR training and nanomachines to program soldiers. Later on in Metal Gear Rising, children of other poor third war country were kidnapped and their brain were put into some sort of simulator where they play [[Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine]] in actual experience(with pain and all that). The children's brain were then put into a cyborg body as a "graduation present."
*Spartans (not even trying to be subtle) from Halo. <strike> Though it should be noted that the program was impractical </strike> the Spartan II program was effective it just took eight years and as much money as an entire unsc fleet. The later Spartan IV program did away with child soldier aspect and is much more cost effective (yah spartan IIs and IIIs rip through IVs). (why dose no one remember the IIIs they actually outperformed the IIs and IVs while costing a lot less) (I'd question that, the IIIs were meant to be disposable ones & most don't even have energy shielded armor. Their advantages are numbers, ease of production & generally a "More but weaker" mentality. Of course, they're also the least publicized IRL as IIs have virtually all of Halo & the IVs have Halo 4 onward. What do IIIs have in comparison, Reach? Even that was a highly exceptional team with equipment equaling the IIs including one II in the team. The average Noble Team member is leaps beyond the average III.)
* Even subtler, the Spartan Federation from [[Alpha Centauri]] - the faction has a Morale bonus and an Industry penalty, therefore all its units are superior in combat but take longer to produce, tending to result in a relatively small army of elite soldiers. It also enjoys a Police bonus, which helps to keep the revolting <strike>Helot</strike> drone scum in line.
* [[Star Wars]] Stormtroopers, really. Only the cloned ones, though, especially the ones that learned directly from their Mandolarian fore-bearers. The academies that produce officers for the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy also produce Stormtrooper Corps privates (and some, such as Carida, specialize in that).

This does ''not'' mean that you won't end up with several hundred extremely capable, elite warriors. You'll get your fighters, most certainly, but you'll also have the corpses of many more who have taken up valuable resources that could have been more normal warriors. Additionally, a force this small will be highly vulnerable to an enemy that relies on attrition tactics (I.E: Wearing down the enemy with prolonged warfare), as the spartan-type army simply will not be able to keep up the fight against an enemy who can easily replace their losses in quick succession.

Overall; Having elites in any army is good strategy, basing your entire army on elites alone isn't.

[[category:history]]
[[Category:Greek Mythology]]

Spartans

2021-10-03T09:56:48Z

2A02:1811:3B7F:800:9848:12FF:8A17:6F5E:

'''Sparta''' was one of several Greek city states in the 1st millennium BC and among the most powerful in that region. Its society was notable for stratification: '''Spartiate''' upper class, '''Perioeci''' artisans and merchants, and '''Helots''' the agricultural slaves. Also noted for the extreme level of militarization it had among its ruling class because the Helots weren't just fellow Greeks, they were fellow ''Dorians'' and resented being Sparta's bitch. More on that, further.

With the exception of the heir apparent, the entire male Spartiate class was subjected to a brutal training regimen from childhood called the Agoge and then required to serve as kill squads against their Helot Farmers and then soldiers in the spartan army before being able to marry and after that would drill constantly. This contrasted with the armies of the other Greek city states. These were composed of informal forces civilian militia drawn from the general population who were expected to train and equip themselves.

We could also mention the... ''unique'' "mentoring" system Sparta had, wherein an older warrior would take a younger recruit under his wing, by which we mean [[Slaanesh|under his body]]. No we are not exaggerating, even the Athenians - who weren't prudes - used "Spartanise" as we'd say "Sodomise". Somehow Zack Snyder forgot to mention these aspects of his heroes, these guardians of Greek freedom.

This system did produce the best [[Hoplite]]s in Greece (for a time at the least) as they held formation for longer. Breaking formation in Hoplite warfare was just another way of saying "lost". When the Achaemenids came knocking, the Spartan king Leonidas led his hoplites and tens of thousands of Greek allies into battle against tens to hundreds of thousands of invading Persians, at Thermopylae. A Theban traitor pointed the Persians to a side-route; but the Greeks got tipped off, so the Spartan King and the legendary Three Hundred (well, plus another Seven Hundred from Thespiae, who intermittently get ignored and remembered) held that line until the other Greeks could get out and regroup. {{spoiler|The Persians finally flanked them and killed them to the last man.}} That battle helped mobilize the rest of Greece into repelling the invaders for good.

That said, the Spartan's brutal upbringing would ultimately prove to be their downfall. Since they were constantly killing their kids there was never more than about 8,000 of them at one time and the only way to get new ones was by reproduction. The Helots, which outnumbered the Spartiates considerably and did not like being constantly under their heel or having to put up with armed teenage wankers trying to kill them and other such bullshit were constantly rebelling and needed constant attention to be kept in line. They soon pushed themselves to their limit and afterwards their numbers dwindled away and were eventually defeated. The end of their prominence happened famously by Theban general Epaminondas at Battle of Leuctra and finally by the Macedonians and Romans, which could mobilize their various conquered peoples to provide vast numbers of soldiers.

To add insult to injury the Theban army which broke the Spartiates were training their boys in a similar (and equally gay) manner only not as brutal (nor as paedo). Their core was the Sacred Band: 150 male couples hand picked based solely on skill form their normal hoplite militia.

The Spartan system had its admirers even in Athens herself, which also had an aristocracy, which survived under its nominal democracy - however much it chafed. These came back under the Thirty Tyrants, on-again off-again advised by no less than Socrates. Socrates' students, arrogant toffs to a man, included Alcibiades, Xenophon, and Plato. Plato was a Spartaboo to such an extent he promoted that we'd all be better off under a caste society ruled by a council of guardians. We've been dealing with that shit ever since, from the French Republic's ''comite de salut public'' to the Politburo to Khomeini's ''wilayat al-faqih''.

==Legacy in Fiction==
The Spartan trope in fiction refers to any army or military force that relies heavily (or completely) on brutally trained soldiers to do their work, rather than having a balance of rank-and-file troops and special forces. So they have a small band of elite soldiers that're more than a match for any soldier, but have very limited numbers, in comparison to other armies in the setting.

It should be noted, however, that most fictional examples are of an elite force supplementing a greater army of mooks, rather than composing one's entire military force of a small number of elite soldiers that take a long time to train. [[Derp|Which is exactly what Sparta did]].

Examples of such training programs include...
*Sardaukar from [[Dune]]
*[[Space Marines|Spess Merhens]] in [[Warhammer 40,000]]
**Especially the [[Minotaurs]]
**Goes double for the [[Grey Knights]]
*[[The Clans]] from [[Battletech]]
*The child soldier program in Metal Gear universe. Raiden is one of the notable example. Grey Fox is from a different but similar program than Raiden.
**There are other variations created by the patriots, like the Genome Soldiers. It is a lot similar to the star wars stormtroopers down below (only Boba Fett is replaced by Big Boss for gene cloning). The well known Les Enfants Terribles project utilizing the super baby method. Using both Eva's womb and big boss's gene that gave birth to badasses like Solid snake and Liquid snake.
** Later on they just said fuck it and started using VR training and nanomachines to program soldiers. Later on in Metal Gear Rising, children of other poor third war country were kidnapped and their brain were put into some sort of simulator where they play [[Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine]] in actual experience(with pain and all that). The children's brain were then put into a cyborg body as a "graduation present."
*Spartans (not even trying to be subtle) from Halo. <strike> Though it should be noted that the program was impractical </strike> the Spartan II program was effective it just took eight years and as much money as an entire unsc fleet. The later Spartan IV program did away with child soldier aspect and is much more cost effective (yah spartan IIs and IIIs rip through IVs). (why dose no one remember the IIIs they actually outperformed the IIs and IVs while costing a lot less) (I'd question that, the IIIs were meant to be disposable ones & most don't even have energy shielded armor. Their advantages are numbers, ease of production & generally a "More but weaker" mentality. Of course, they're also the least publicized IRL as IIs have virtually all of Halo & the IVs have Halo 4 onward. What do IIIs have in comparison, Reach? Even that was a highly exceptional team with equipment equaling the IIs including one II in the team. The average Noble Team member is leaps beyond the average III.)
* Even subtler, the Spartan Federation from [[Alpha Centauri]] - the faction has a Morale bonus and an Industry penalty, therefore all its units are superior in combat but take longer to produce, tending to result in a relatively small army of elite soldiers. It also enjoys a Police bonus, which helps to keep the revolting <strike>Helot</strike> drone scum in line.
* [[Star Wars]] Stormtroopers, really. Only the cloned ones, though, especially the ones that learned directly from their Mandolarian fore-bearers. The academies that produce officers for the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy also produce Stormtrooper Corps privates (and some, such as Carida, specialize in that).

This does ''not'' mean that you won't end up with several hundred extremely capable, elite warriors. You'll get your fighters, most certainly, but you'll also have the corpses of many more who have taken up valuable resources that could have been more normal warriors. Additionally, a force this small will be highly vulnerable to an enemy that relies on attrition tactics (I.E: Wearing down the enemy with prolonged warfare), as the spartan-type army simply will not be able to keep up the fight against an enemy who can easily replace their losses in quick succession.

Overall; Having elites in any army is good strategy, basing your entire army on elites alone isn't.

[[category:history]]
[[Category:Greek Mythology]]