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Moving forwards, many of the most powerful aura abilities will only affect Core units from a Character’s (sub-)faction. This represents a more realistic form of in-situ command, with Characters acting like they’re supposed to from a narrative perspective. After all, a Space Marine Captain should be issuing orders and inspiring units of his battle-brothers on the front line, not babysitting a squadron of Repulsor Executioners at the back of the battlefield!

A crucial side-effect of this change is that Characters themselves won’t be affected by aura abilities that utilise the Core keyword – they’re supposed to be commanding others, not inspiring themselves to do better! In the example shown above, the Space Marine Captain won’t be able to re-roll his hit rolls of 1 and will instead have to rely on his own merit to strike home. To be fair, he’ll usually hit on a 2+ anyway!

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/09/16/core-units-and-characters/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=40kCoreUnits16Sep2020&utm_content=40kCoreUnits16Sep2020&fbclid=IwAR2oAM0YiF0RAFFJVzXDcOQhXdz-StmmhD6oEXAKZrwshZxZY2EFGs9dtw8

That's really interesting....sounds good at first blush.

I really like it. I never liked characters being beat sticks. They should be used to buff others units that are doing the killing and not doing the killing themselves. Kind of like how farseers work in Eldar

 clodax66 wrote:
I really like it. I never liked characters being beat sticks. They should be used to buff others units that are doing the killing and not doing the killing themselves. Kind of like how farseers work in Eldar

Yep - I was really used to my daemon prince hitting almost 100% of the time. Now that isn't quite so certain. Add hit mods to that and some combats become a lot more shaky.

Depends on which auras are “the most powerful” and what becomes a CORE unit.

 clodax66 wrote:
I really like it. I never liked characters being beat sticks. They should be used to buff others units that are doing the killing and not doing the killing themselves. Kind of like how farseers work in Eldar

It depends on the faction. Chaos Lords are all about individual power and many of them lust after demonic artifacts and weaponry to increase their power and killiness. Chaos Lords being melee beatstick is reasonable. Ork Warbosses are also a case where being melee beatstick is okay.

But it is still a pretty neat change.

More to keep track of, but I like it. It's more control over what does and doesn't receive the benefits of auras. This will be a positive change overall.

As I said in the AdMech thread, I think it's a great change and I'm all for it, but they'll need to do more than copy-paste 8th codices to 9th as for example, Kastelan Robots are terrible without rerolls, and I doubt they'll be "Core". It could also mean that less used characters could be rewritten so as to fill a role of buffer of specific units, like the Datasmith could give the Robots +1 to Hit if he's nearby or something more original. That would give use to forgotten characters if done right.

Makes units and intra-codex balance hell of a lot easier too. Like, Guilliman could be costed better knowing he won't just be surrounded by 6 tanks in game.

Selfcontrol wrote:

 clodax66 wrote:
I really like it. I never liked characters being beat sticks. They should be used to buff others units that are doing the killing and not doing the killing themselves. Kind of like how farseers work in Eldar

It depends on the faction. Chaos Lords are all about individual power and many of them lust after demonic artifacts and weaponry to increase their power and killiness. Chaos Lords being melee beatstick is reasonable. Ork Warbosses are also a case where being melee beatstick is okay.

But it is still a pretty neat change.

That is a good point. Maybe for some factions those abilities will affect all units or certain characters will get core trait. Not to be cynical, but GW might mess that up

I like the implications of what this COULD mean. However, I'm concerned for what will end up counting as a core unit.
I'm hoping at least some of the Marine craziness with Aggressors and the like will be reined in.

However... I'm also mindful that this change reduces lethality just as weapon damage increases will upswing to counter it. Which way will the seesaw ultimately fall?

Hooooly crap.
That is a massive, massive meta-shaking change. Depending on what gets 'core' list comp is going to shift dramatically.

Characters also not getting their own reroll auras makes for an interesting change too.

(Also - Snickers as a Necron player who basically never got aura buffs to begin with)

Well atleast it's the first hint that GW may be acknowledging that aura's are problems and addressing them.

I am a tad worried that they say vehicals will be core units, i'm guessing Guard or AdMech but we shall see.

Doesn't currently effect either of my two armies as they don't have aura abilities anyway and the one charictor that does is still in failcast anyway.

This I think is an overall good change. Im not a big subscriber to the "auras are the root of all evil" arguments, but allowing for more rules nuance as to what can and cannot be affected by abilities is unreservedly a good thing.

We'll see how its implemented.

I prefer champions to buff bots personally, so not a huge fan, but its not a change without merit or potential. Depends a lot on implementation.

After all, a Space Marine Captain should be issuing orders and inspiring units of his battle-brothers on the front line, not babysitting a squadron of Repulsor Executioners at the back of the battlefield!

Makes definitely sense.
What kind of units can we expect to be 'core'?

 wuestenfux wrote:

After all, a Space Marine Captain should be issuing orders and inspiring units of his battle-brothers on the front line, not babysitting a squadron of Repulsor Executioners at the back of the battlefield!

Makes definitely sense.
What kind of units can we expect to be 'core'?

In the article, they mentioned Lychguard, Bikes, Terminators and Tomb Blades as core specifically, with 'some' vehicles getting it.
They graphics mostly show troops getting it, and exclude a bladeguard from 'core'

 iGuy91 wrote:

In the article, they mentioned Lychguard, Bikes, Terminators and Tomb Blades as core specifically, with 'some' vehicles getting it.
They graphics mostly show troops getting it, and exclude a bladeguard from 'core'

Thats a Captain in the last fig, not a Bladeguard.

With all the sweeping changes going on to weapon profiles, auras, and other fundamental rules of the game i'm thinking GW could do with wrapping it all up in a new edition of the game ... oh wait.

 iGuy91 wrote:

 wuestenfux wrote:

After all, a Space Marine Captain should be issuing orders and inspiring units of his battle-brothers on the front line, not babysitting a squadron of Repulsor Executioners at the back of the battlefield!

Makes definitely sense.
What kind of units can we expect to be 'core'?

In the article, they mentioned Lychguard, Bikes, Terminators and Tomb Blades as core specifically, with 'some' vehicles getting it.
They graphics mostly show troops getting it, and exclude a bladeguard from 'core'

That's the indomitus captain in the graphic you are refering. So far we got nothing about the Bladeguard.

Obviously it could be messed up with poor execution, but right now this seems to me like a fantastic move in the right direction. Both fluffy and a balance improvement, my favorite kind of change.

Hey! I like this! Obviously we need to see the rest of it, but at first glance this is moving in a really good direction. I'm hoping they will also use it to curb things like Aggressors rolling and re-rolling 40+ dice per phase, etc.

This is a really good direction IMO.

I'd be willing to guess that most non-vehicle squad units will get it. I think they're trying to incentivise heroes leading units of similarly sized forces, not babysitting much larger war machines. Not sure how I think it'll go with Tyranids - would Carnifexes be "core", or would they be too close to being like vehicles?

I wonder if we can expect points drops on all the units which were paying for their ability to be buffed in their points...ofc we wont. Because that was never a factor in how they are costed.

So much for all the play-testing...because the game is so entirely different now it's like starting over.

How will my Archon now buff my Cult and Coven units??.....oh, wait

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:
I'd be willing to guess that most non-vehicle squad units will get it. I think they're trying to incentivise heroes leading units of similarly sized forces, not babysitting much larger war machines. Not sure how I think it'll go with Tyranids - would Carnifexes be "core", or would they be too close to being like vehicles?

I'm not sure that Tyranids even have generic aura abilities besides Synapse. Venomthropes/Malanthropes are very specific about what they affect, and Old One Eye specifically only buffs Carnifexes.

Tycho wrote:
Hey! I like this! Obviously we need to see the rest of it, but at first glance this is moving in a really good direction. I'm hoping they will also use it to curb things like Aggressors rolling and re-rolling 40+ dice per phase, etc.

This is a really good direction IMO.

From the unit descriptions they are likely a core unit / terminators are core in this leak. LOL.

I like that its a subtle way to bring back some of the force organisation charge in army construction, without making it a hard line. You can take loads of units ,but now auras won't have as much effect if you take a lot of specialists. In theory it might help balance it out - a very specialist heavy army might have powerful specialists; but in contrast won't get the buffs to their core units, which might make a more core focused army just as powerful and able to compete well.

 Super Ready wrote:
I like the implications of what this COULD mean. However, I'm concerned for what will end up counting as a core unit.
I'm hoping at least some of the Marine craziness with Aggressors and the like will be reined in.

However... I'm also mindful that this change reduces lethality just as weapon damage increases will upswing to counter it. Which way will the seesaw ultimately fall?

This may very well be the rumored big nerf to Aggressors.

 Xenomancers wrote:
I wonder if we can expect points drops on all the units which were paying for their ability to be buffed in their points...ofc we wont. Because that was never a factor in how they are costed.

I think you're being sarcastic, but yeah, I'd say that's literally correct. The biggest problem with auras on certain offending armies was that they weren't costed as if under the effects of multiple stacked aura buffs.

 harlokin wrote:
How will my Archon now buff my Cult and Coven units??.....oh, wait

Well it wont be buffing your ravagers anymore - better pray the venom gets core.