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The Beef: Ok i have my army built, cool army theme, led by this brilliant commander, time to select warlord traits... first i need to select 1 of the 5 tables of traits to roll on and then roll to see which of the 6 traits on that table I get... not only is this method needlessly restrictive (here's 30 traits choose from, choose a table of 6 that are narrowed down to a field not necessary coherent with a theme, but as a type of trait, and then randomly roll for 1 of them) it's also silly to me to completely randomize these traits for a warlord that is suppose to fit within your very own "themed" army since so many of the traits are contradictory to what your theme is.... I've built a artillery based shooting AM army, lets roll for traits... oh good my warlord rerolls 1's to hit in close combat... yay? or my warlord has Furious Charge... awesome


The Fix: it seems every army has 5 total tables to choose from, in the core book, tactical, command, personal, and strategic tables and then a single trait table from their core book - with the tactical traits table only being useful for tactical objective games

then for choosing traits, choose 1 trait from each of the relevant tables (non-tactical objective games wouldnt use the tactical table), and jot them down like this... i want the 5th trait from the command table, so I'll jot down C5, i want the 6th trait from the personal table, so I'll jot down P6, etc...

then for the remaining traits you can choose from any table

you'll end up with a little list like this: C5, P6, S2, AM2, S4, AM4 ( I use AM for the Astra Militarum warlord traits, the abbreviation doesnt matter just something unique, and this list doesnt have a tactical trait so its for a non-tactical objective game)

roll from this warlord traits list 1-6



since most people play with the same or similar lists in most games you can just keep you're list of the 6 traits handy for all games

to me this fixes the issue of getting traits that have absolutely nothing to do with your army (close combat traits for shooty units, shooty traits for close combat units, mobility traits for units that rarely move, etc...) allowing the players to feel like they had some input into who their commander is, while still providing the random element so you cant just guarantee to start the game with your perfect trait (you have the same 1 in 6 chance of that trait you'd have if you picked the table that trait is in) and having atleast 1 trait from each table gives some variation to the types of trait you get, so you cant overload the traits tree with stat buffs or something similar

That's not a bad way to handle it, but personally I like the idea of simply making warlord traits purchasable with points. You'd probably need to rework some of them (some traits are so good that you'll always take them unless there's a pricetag on them so prohibitive that you never take them), but making them act as "universal wargear" available to all factions (with faction-specific traits basically being warlord-only wargear) makes sense to me.

So rather than adding to all the extra rolling right before the game, you just say, "My guy has spent a lot of time fighting in cities. I'll take the MTC and Stealth (Cities) rule for X points," at list creation.

Warlord traits are a cool concept. The main thing stopping them from being cooler is that they're random. So just don't make them random. The problem there is that the traits seem to be "balanced" around the possibility that you'll get a useless trait instead of a good one, so you'd have to adjust the points cost accordingly and maybe tweak a few traits while you're at it.

I agree in general, but until GW or someone with lots of time for practice games, etc assigns balanced point values. I figured this is the best way I can think of to use what we have in a way that doesnt suck


the biggest problem with warlord traits as point purchases is that traits that directly affect the warlord or his entire unit directly can vary wildly in power depending on the warlord choosing them...

for example the trait that gives the warlord furious charge

given to CREEEED it's not very impressive even if you were to outfit him for melee
given to Yarick its impressive, but not game breaking
given to certain Ork or Tyranid characters (if you can find ones without it already) it can turn them into 1 turn tank killers or small squad destroyers

similarly the one that makes all friendly units use the warlords leadership score means a lot more to high Ld commanders than some that have 8's or 9's, etc....

so balancing points for warlord traits may get somewhat complex, possibly involving points per point of stat (like the leadership one costing 1pt per Ld the warlord has, or the furious charge costing the warlords current Attacks multiplied by WS, etc..)

Something that works fairly well is rolling for the BRB warlord traits and you can pick your roll result from one of the warlord trait lists (Command, Personal, Strategic, Tactical). So rolling a lets you pick between Inspiring Presence, Master of Defense, Conqueror of Cities, or Tactical Genius. In a lot of ways it has a decent variety of choices and actually works out well without any modification to the tables. The personal traits are generally terrible but at least getting a decent personal trait result like FNP might be picked instead of 90% of BRB rolls being made on the strategic traits table.

I would do the faction specific traits like it currently is except if you have a reroll you can just roll 2 dice and pick which result you want.

What about a system where you can pick your trait but the cost of the HQ determines how powerful the trait is.

You pick your trait.

Every trait has 3 Tiers, Tier 1 is the most powerful, Tier 3 the least. --Kind of like Canticles from the Cult Mech codex

The Tier of that trait that your warlord can access is based on the percentage of points the warlord cost in relation to your force.

If the Warlord costs 200pts or more you get Tier 1, 101-199 Tier 2, 100 or Less Tier 3

So if you invest in a warlord because you want him to be an epic power house he gets a powerful trait.

If your Warlord is just an HQ and you don't really need him for much hes less of an epic figure and has a less powerful trait.

Perhaps the current printed warlord traits are Tier 2.

Example of Necron Traits

Tier 2
Enduring Will - Your Warlord has the Eternal Warrior special rule.
Eternal Madness - Your Warlord has the Zealot special rule.
Honourable Combatant - Your Warlord must always issue or accept a challenge if able to do so, and re-rolls all failed To Hit rolls when fighting in a challenge. No friendly character other than Vargard Obyron can attempt a Glorious Intervention in a challenge involving the Warlord. If an enemy refuses a challenge issued by the Warlord, the Warlord gains the Hatred special rule for the remainder of the game.
Hyperlogical Strategist - Whilst your Warlord is alive, you may add or subtract 1 from any of your Reserves Rolls and rolls to Seize the Initiative (choose after each roll is made).
Immortal Hubris - Your Warlord and all friendly units with the Necrons Faction within 12" of him re-roll all failed Morale, Pinning and Fear tests.
Implacable Conquerer - Your Warlord and all friendly units with the Necrons Faction within 12" if him have the Relentless and Crusader special rules.

Tier 1
Enduring Will - Same as Tier 2, and your warlord's unit and all necron units within 24" also have Adamantium Will.
Eternal Madness - Same as Tier 2, and your warlord's unit and all necron units within 24" also have Preferred Enemy.
Honourable Combatant - Same as Tier 2, and your warlord's unit can also re-roll all failed wounds and armor penetration rolls
Hyperlogical Strategist - Same as Tier 2, and all deep striking units held in reserve will not scatter
Immortal Hubris - Same as Tier 2, and all necron models within 24" can re-roll failed renanimation protocol rolls.
Implacable Conquerer - Same as Tier 2, but extends army wide while the warlord is alive and all units gain outflank.

Tier 3
Enduring Will - Your warlord can re-roll 1's for reanimation protocols
Eternal Madness - Your warlord has the stubborn special rule
Honourable Combatant - Same as Tier 2, but you only re-roll failed hits of 1
Hyperlogical Strategist - Whilst your Warlord is alive, you may add or subtract 1 from any of your Reserves Rolls.
Immortal Hubris - Your Warlord and his unit re-roll all failed Morale, Pinning and Fear tests.
Implacable Conquerer - Your Warlord and his unit have the Relentless and Crusader special rules.