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Are there any characters still in a unit? - like SM Captains used to be able to take a Command Squad and they were In that command squad as a member (even locked in during one edition if I remember right?) Veteran Sergeants a long long time ago were characters. The other specialists too. Are there any left? A character that is/can be embedded inside a unit of non-characters or a retinue of some kind?

Nope. All characters wander around on their own only protected by the closest-target rules these days.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Nope. All characters wander around on their own only protected by the closest-target rules these days.

That's the case for almost every example I can think of. Command squads for both Marines and IG, Ancients, Servitors, Grimaldus' retinue...
I might have found one though! T'au's "The Eight" contains pretty much all characters and comes as a unit.

... the silent king stands on a dias with two other guys.... does that count?

GSC familiars.

GSC familiars are not dudes. They have no statline. They are wargear. At least thats what they used to be. It might have changed.

The gemini. It's two characters models, and each one is part of an unit .

Breton wrote:
Are there any characters still in a unit? - like SM Captains used to be able to take a Command Squad and they were In that command squad as a member (even locked in during one edition if I remember right?) Veteran Sergeants a long long time ago were characters. The other specialists too. Are there any left? A character that is/can be embedded inside a unit of non-characters or a retinue of some kind?

Lots of orks get some gretchen retinue, like painboys and meks. They're essentially a gretchin you just tack on to either use as a chump wound or get a one time buff like a reroll. Those and GSC familiars are the only two I know of

 MrMoustaffa wrote:

Breton wrote:
Are there any characters still in a unit? - like SM Captains used to be able to take a Command Squad and they were In that command squad as a member (even locked in during one edition if I remember right?) Veteran Sergeants a long long time ago were characters. The other specialists too. Are there any left? A character that is/can be embedded inside a unit of non-characters or a retinue of some kind?

Lots of orks get some gretchen retinue, like painboys and meks. They're essentially a gretchin you just tack on to either use as a chump wound or get a one time buff like a reroll. Those and GSC familiars are the only two I know of

I think Ethereals get some drones too.

I was just reading the Look Out Sir rule, and saw some wording that made me wonder. You can't target a unit that contains a character yadda yadda. And I wondered which if any units still have characters and noncharacters mixed. So technically you can't shoot the gretchin retinue (assuming they're one unit) either if the character (and thus unit) gets Look Out Sir from another unit.

Grot Oilers, Ammo Runts and Grot Orderlies all have their own variant of the following rule:

When rolling to wound this unit, use the Character's Toughness while it is on the battlefield. The death of a Grot is ignored for the purposes of Morale tests. The Grot is considered to have the CHARACTER keyword for the purposes of shooting attacks.

More T'au: Aun'Va is a character in a unit with two bodyguards.