Warhammer 40k 10th edition is bringing plenty of changes to the game, and a new article from Games Workshop has revealed plans to axe the Aura bonuses provided by individual characters. According to a Warhammer Community post from April 11, heroes with a ‘Leader’ ability can instead personally join a squad to provide buffs.
GW claims that, while Aura bonuses were pretty potent, the ability to stack them made it hard to maintain balance. This new “elegant system” will aim to “keep over-buffed super-units at bay”.
It seems the ‘Leader’ ability is key to adding your character to a squad. According to GW, this merger takes place before deployment and at the same time as transport allocation and placing units in Reserve. Once added to a squad, the Leader must remain attached for the entire battle.
Different characters with the ability will have varied squads they can join, and this info will be found on their datasheet. Typically only one Leader can join a unit, but there are already exceptions. GW shows off some of the rules for a Lieutenant Primaris Space Marine in Tuesday’s Warhammer Community post, and we see this particular Leader can join a unit even if a Captain or Chapter Master is already attached.
There are a few extra things to consider with the new rules changes. Firstly, GW says the ‘Look out, Sir!’ rule has been absorbed by the new character system. The Primaris is our example again here: attaching to a Bodyguard unit means the Leader becomes a separate unit again once their subordinates are destroyed, saving their skin.
GW also points out not every character is naturally a Leader. Some may instead have or be able to gain an ability like Lone Operative, which allows them to avoid any ranged attack beyond 12 inches.