Lion? If you’re a human in 40k you’re more likely to be a mangy street cat forced to work in a factory processing other cats into fancy feast. Fuck yeah I’ll be the Taus little pet over that, I can work in at a space turnip farm or something, maybe they’ll give me little human treats.
Commissars in 40k are like if all Nazi/western propaganda about WW2 Soviet political officers was actually real. They shoot men over the slightest infraction, shoot men to “encourage” the rest to charge, shoot men for falling back without orders, they’re basically the dudes shooting the retreating Soviets in Enemy At The Gates.
There are more “reasonable” ones like Gaunt and Cain, but they’re exceptions to the rule. Most of the time 40k commissars are exactly that, a spectre of death shooting their own men for the smallest reasons
i’ve been meaning to read about the eastern front, is osprey a good source?
That’s a good question, I’ll admit I’m not super familiar with WW2 beyond the basics or Osprey Publishing as a good source (I assume that’s what you were asking about). I remember there was a Russian documentary series you can find on YouTube called Soviet Storm, for a while there was an English dub but it’s been a while since I checked. As far as I can remember it was pretty decent & didn’t buy into the whole “human wave” thing