Games Workshop has announced big changes for the newest edition of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy. This new edition, set in dark ages of the grimdark sci-fi world of Warhammer 40,000, will be introducing new advanced characteristics to all of its units.
Advanced Characteristics in Warhammer: The Horus Heresy
In an official Warhammer-Community post, Games Workshop stated that all units in Warhammer: The Horus Heresy will be getting an expanded statline. That statline will contain three new Advanced Characteristics: Cool, Willpower, Intelligence, and Leadership. These stats may be familiar to those who played the original Rogue Trader back in the day or have played the recent edition of Necromunda.
How these advanced characteristics work in Warhammer: The Horus Heresy is simple. When called upon to make a check, the player rolls two dice. If the result is equal to or lower than the score, the unit is fine. If the result is higher, the unit suffers a penalty
Cool represents how the unit is calm under pressure. Intelligence refers to the unit interacting with technology. Willpower is used for manifesting or resisting psychic attacks. Lastly, Leadership represents the unit’s receptiveness to orders. It is also used to determine rallied or panicking units.
There is some nuance to these new advanced characteristics. When these tests are made against a group of units, the unit with lowest score is used. The exceptions to this rule are Sergeants, who can make the test on behalf of their unit, and Commanders which can lend their stats to any ability check.
The post includes a look at the revised statlines for some Warhammer: The Horus Heresy units. It shows certain tactical squad units having advanced characteristics around 7-8. Given the median of rolling 2d6 is around 7, these units are on a razor’s edge.
By comparison, named units like the Space Marine Primarch Vulkan have advanced statistics exceeding 10. Unless there are some penalties to dice rolls, they’ll be fine.
At time of writing, there is no concrete release date for the newest edition of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.
