The sixth edition of Warhammer 40,000 introduces the concept of The Warlord to games. In previous editions the notion of your 'commander' has served as a focal point for games, and in many tournaments their demise or survival is often central to many scenarios.
Now we have a defined set of rules for how to identify The Warlord as well as grant them a unique perk. See page 111 in the rulebook.
The Warlord is defined as always being the HQ choice character with the highest Leadership. In the case where you have more than one character are tied for the highest Leadership, you can choose among them which is your Warlord.
The rulebook places a strong emphasis on Forming A Narrative but for some armies this presents a few odd situations which seem counter to the narrative players may want to form. Imperial Guard will find that their Lord Commissar will be forced to be Their Warlord, when the leader of the Command HQ would be the more natural choice. Other armies which for story purposes would want to portray a lesser character in charge and leading a force with another higher leadership character in-tow loses that storytelling device.
The Warlord also gains access to a random trait from three categories. Command, Personal, and Strategic.
In the Eternal War missions found in the rulebook, the decision on which traits
players roll for happens after the mission has been determined. So, this can
factor into which trait table you roll on.
Command Traits tend to affect units within 12" of your warlord. Personal Traits influence the Warlord and the unit they join. Strategic Traits influence your army and how it performs on the field of battle.
The term trait is a somewhat misleading term as these abilities have no sustainability from game to game, and due to their random nature may be of no help to your force while your opponent may gain substantial advantage - simply due to the roll of the dice. These abilities do add some additional flavor to games but may leave some with a bad taste in their mouth.
If these abilities could be simply selected before the battle to provide a discernible benefit, and to establish a character's true trait, it may have been a better design choice - but doing so could also lead to abusive play.
Players may opt to choose to do different things for campaigns or linked games, etc. As always the rules should serve as a starting point and serve to inspire and encourage players to be creative!
The Warlord - Rank has it's privlidges.
Now we have a defined set of rules for how to identify The Warlord as well as grant them a unique perk. See page 111 in the rulebook.
The Warlord is defined as always being the HQ choice character with the highest Leadership. In the case where you have more than one character are tied for the highest Leadership, you can choose among them which is your Warlord.
The rulebook places a strong emphasis on Forming A Narrative but for some armies this presents a few odd situations which seem counter to the narrative players may want to form. Imperial Guard will find that their Lord Commissar will be forced to be Their Warlord, when the leader of the Command HQ would be the more natural choice. Other armies which for story purposes would want to portray a lesser character in charge and leading a force with another higher leadership character in-tow loses that storytelling device.
The Warlord also gains access to a random trait from three categories. Command, Personal, and Strategic.
In the Eternal War missions found in the rulebook, the decision on which traits
players roll for happens after the mission has been determined. So, this can
factor into which trait table you roll on.
Command Traits tend to affect units within 12" of your warlord. Personal Traits influence the Warlord and the unit they join. Strategic Traits influence your army and how it performs on the field of battle.
The term trait is a somewhat misleading term as these abilities have no sustainability from game to game, and due to their random nature may be of no help to your force while your opponent may gain substantial advantage - simply due to the roll of the dice. These abilities do add some additional flavor to games but may leave some with a bad taste in their mouth.
If these abilities could be simply selected before the battle to provide a discernible benefit, and to establish a character's true trait, it may have been a better design choice - but doing so could also lead to abusive play.
Players may opt to choose to do different things for campaigns or linked games, etc. As always the rules should serve as a starting point and serve to inspire and encourage players to be creative!
The Warlord - Rank has it's privlidges.
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