The new edition of Warhammer 40,000 is bringing some pretty massive changes to the rules. One of the most eye-catching is the way that CHARACTERS now interact with their subordinates. The powerful Aura bonuses that they used to impart on all nearby troops are gone – in almost all cases. These effects were powerful, but the potential to stack them up made balancing the game tricky.
So now, rather than handing out re-rolls to anyone in earshot, your heroes now join a single squad and act as one cohesive unit. It’s an elegant system that helps keep over-buffed super-units at bay.
Take this Primaris Lieutenant. The first thing to notice is the Leader ability, which unlocks the ability to join a squad. This is done before deployment, at the same time as transports are allocated and units are placed in Reserve – the Leader becomes a permanent member of that unit for the whole battle.
Each Leader has a short selection of units that they can join, all of them listed on their datasheet. A Primaris Lieutenant can shack up with Intercessors or Bladeguard Veterans but leaves Gravis-armoured Aggressors and Heavy Intercessors to his more appropriately equipped colleagues.
His Tactical Precision ability grants his subordinates Lethal Hits, a core ability that makes Critical Hits – the new term for an unmodified 6 on a Hit roll – automatically wound their target.
Most of the time, only one Leader can join each unit – but as you can see, the Lieutenant is an exception, and can join the same squad as a superior Captain. Plenty of factions have similar low-ranked support Leaders, from Biophagus surgeons to Warlock battle-psykers.
The old Look Out, Sir! rule has also been devolved into this new system. Your Leader is kept safe by their Bodyguards, and can usually* be targeted only when everyone else in the squad has breathed their last.
Not all characters possess the Leader ability, however. Independent sorts may instead have the Lone Operative ability, which means that they can’t be targeted by ranged attacks unless the attacker is within 12". This potent defensive trait is common among the stealthier specialists of the 41st Millennium, such as Vindicare Assassins or Commander Shadowsun.
Some characters only gain the Lone Operative ability when taking shelter near an appropriate unit – such as when Iron Father Feirros is working on an allied VEHICLE, or Lion El’Jonson is near a unit of ADEPTUS ASTARTES INFANTRY. Such heroes tend to benefit their comrades without Leading them, perhaps through Aura abilities that boost nearby allies.
All this talk of defensive boons highlights one of the core aims of the new edition – making hardy units feel appropriately tough on the battlefield. This is most evident with vehicles, so if you want to see what sort of punishment your tanks and skimmers can take, check back later in the week as we dig through the biggest changes to everyone’s favourite big metal boxes of mayhem.
* Certain rules can bypass this restriction, which we’ll cover in a later article.
