Lord Commissar

A Lord Commissar, for when you need a bigger hat to showcase how much you like BLAMMING your own subordinates.

"It's me versus a shred of their god!"

– LORD Commissar Bern, showing everyone that deeds are just as great a motivator as a laspistol to the head.

Lord Commissars are an upgrade and a step up to your typical red capped trigger happy motherfucker. Lord Commissars exemplify power and bravery, making them natural leaders with a reputation for turning the tide of battle, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, they are usually promoted to this esteemed rank after displaying exemplary battlefield service. The battlefield heroics of a Lord-Commissar are often the stuff of legends to the average Guardsman. Like all Commissars they lead by example and they are always the first to step up to the firing line ready to repel an enemy assault.

A Lord Commissar appeared in Dawn of War II and was perhaps most recognized for barely (If at all) getting any line in the Imperial Guard campaign other then just standing behind Sergeant Merrick and pretending (And Failing) to look like he is in charge of keeping Merrick in check. This is likely because the campaign was written for the Space Marines and the voiceless "The Ancient" with the Guard being shoehorned in their plot if you pick them. Despite his near pointlessness in the plot, he is one of the main hero units for the guard faction and he provides several neat buffs in multiplayer.

He is also noted from taking a meme and canonizing it in game. (For those who do not know, he is the one who literally said "Drive me closer! I want to hit them with my sword!)

Because of their 'eliteness', Lord Commissars are often grouped with the Militarum Tempestus where they can oversee and help provide firing support to the glory boys in blue. They act as a command unit and provide some decent leadership buffs. However due to the general lower model count for the Militarum Tempestus, it is ill-advised to actually Blam a model in the first place. Thus, Lord Commissars act more as a supplementary command unit to make them more survivable.

The fact that the Command-Vox Net provides excellent morale to most of the Scion army means that these guys' morale-boosting abilities are not really needed, and the fact that they cannot give orders means that they are a very inferior choice to a Tempestus Command Squad.

Officio Prefectus

You wouldn't even need to think twice once this guy is on the battlefield.

The Officio Prefectus or otherwise known as the Commissariat is the organisation to which all Commissars belong; even though all Commissars and Commissar Lords report to their respective regiments, as well as determining the ongoing fitness of Commissars in the performance of their duties. They do have their own hierarchy and their own separate structure within the Officio Prefectus.

The Commissariat oversees the activities of the Commissar officer corps within the Astra Militarum. The Commissariat attaches Commissars to most Regiments of the Imperial Guard to inspire its men, boost morale, and if necessary take control when its commanders or men are demonstrating a lack of zeal or competency. The Commissariat also recruits potential Commissars from the Ecclesiarchy's Schola Progenium then trains them for their duties within the Guard.

There are increasing ranks within the Commissariat:

• Cadet Commissar: Officers in training, either at the Schola Progenium undergoing their studies or combined into Commissar Training Squads where they can get battlefield experience before being attached to a Regiment.
• Junior Commissars: aides to higher ranking Commissars where they can learn from their betters.
• Commissar: The typical Commissar attached to a regiment.
• Commissar-Captain: A higher ranking Commissar who might still be attached to a regiment, but given superiority to other Commissars be virtue of rank.
• Lord Commissar: High ranked Commissars trusted and respected enough to have command authority over the troops they oversee instead of merely being ancillary officers.
• Commissar-General: The true masters of the Officio Prefectus, who oversee the operation of the department as a whole rather than get involved in regimental affairs.
• Colonel-Commissar: an unusual rank where the recipient Commissar also holds the regimental rank of Colonel in the Imperial Guard, attaching them to both separate branches of the military hierarchy at the same time and has to answer to two chains of command. The Commissariat generally sees this as a conflict of interest, considering that it is normally the Commissar's duty to oversee the Imperial Guard rather than be part of it.

Therefore, the term "Officio Prefectus Commissar" is somewhat of a misnomer that might as well simply mean "Commissar" unless it is implying that they operate directly for the Officio rather than being attached to a regiment, although the rank of the Commissar in question cannot be immediately inferred because their are both junior and senior officers within the division who are not attached to a regiment.

The Imperial Navy also operates a corps of Commissars, known as the Fleet Commissariat. These officers perform the same function as their Imperial Guard counterparts.