In Warhammer: The Old World the vast majority of unit options can take some kind of Command option. These range from noble fighters who’ve shown talent in leadership, those who have been bestowed the honour of carrying a standard, those who have an affinity with a certain musical instrument, or in rare cases those individuals who are just bigger and meaner than anyone else.
The most common of these options are those classed as champions and most units have access to one of these in some form or another. Usually sporting a stat increase (Ballistic Skill, Attacks or Leadership are all commonplace) and sometimes with the ability to have different loadouts or magical trinkets, these can take many forms. Following this, we have the musician and the standard bearer, both of whom are normal members of the unit that grant some small bonus. Standard bearers provide a bonus to your combat resolution when locked in combat and some can even carry a Magical Standard up to a certain points value, while musicians grants minor benefits that help the unit get around the table, get back into formation, or sometimes give them the push needed to win a particularly close battle.
What Rules for What Models?
In this article I’m going to break down exactly what each part of a command squad does and more importantly, why you might choose to include or exclude them in certain units. Their upsides, downsides, and why there isn’t always a correct answer to the question of “should I include X or Y in this unit?”. The answer is very simply that it all depends on what you see their role as in your army and what you want them to do. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule should you have the points available, but we’ll make some special mentions of those as we progress through this. But before all that lets remind ourselves of what these individuals bring to the army.
Champions: These are the (sometimes) brave unit leaders who are trusted to command the vast majority of the units in your force. For a small increase in points, one model in the unit can be upgraded to a champion. As mentioned this usually (but not always) comes with a stat increase, +1 attack being the most common by some distance, but leadership bonuses are common and units which specialize in ranged combat over the sword and board regularly see their unit champions getting an additional point of ballistic skill on top of or instead of additional attacks. These models are able to accept and issue challenges like characters, which is where a lot of the nuanced skill around these upgrades can come in (we’ll touch on this later). Unit champions are often allowed a small magic item allotment with those found in elite armies’ specialized units being able to take some of the more powerful items in the game if you so wish. It should be noted that these models are targetable when locked in close combat and can be taken out by canny opponents before they get to do their thing and once they’re dead, they’re dead unlike your other command options (unless they’re of the Undead Variety, then they keep coming back, over and over again).
Standard Bearers: This upgrade works slightly different than the champion in that rather than upgrading a single model you buy this upgrade for the unit as a whole. One model is nominated to carry the unit standard and this upgrade represents this. This is one of the most powerful upgrades for combat units, but does come with risk. When working out your results in a round of combat, units carrying a standard gain +1 to their combat resolution, representing the pride and desire units have while displaying their colours. The downside to this upgrade is that in most scenarios if your opponent captures your standard bearer (by killing the unit in combat, or by running them down after they break following a combat) then they gain an additional +50 Victory Points at the end of the game which can be a huge swing in a particularly close battle. With this is mind, it’s important to only take these where you feel they are needed, even if they do make any unit with this upgrade look instantly better. The final thing to mention about the standard bearer is unlike the champion, the model carrying the standard is interchangeable. This means that if the model carrying the standard is killed then another model in the unit (bar the champion or musician) will always pick it up and fill that role, meaning they can’t be picked out until there are no longer any other models available with the hands to hold it.
Musician: This upgrade functions very similar to the standard bearer in that it’s an upgrade for the unit and all the benefits which come with that (being replaced, for example). This upgrade does three different things and is often the cheapest of the command upgrade options making it fantastic value for most units. First we have Onwards to Victory which means that in the case of a tied combat (equal combat resolution) you gain an additional +1 CR causing you win the combat (or tie again if the opponent also has a participating musician). Steadying Rhythm helps units which are fleeing rally in following turns by providing a +1 to their leadership roll while making that test meaning these are particularly valuable on small skirmishing units where possible. Finally, the last bonus rule is Quick Time, which means that if an enemy unit is within 8” trying to make you unable to march via the enemies sighted rule then you can apply a +1Ld modifier when making that test to ignore them and continue to march where you want to.
With that out of the way let’s take a look at some different ways to use these models in your game. I’m going to give examples of the type of units you can take and what you should consider when making these choices because there are instances where the same units might want to take different upgrades and it’s important to understand the when and why there isn’t always a right option until you decide what you want that unit to do for you, in your games.
I’m also going to quickly say that where I can, I personally just take all the options on the units which can in over 80% of instances. The small skirmishing units which I’m going to talk about below here being the main exception to this rule.
Small Skirmishing Units
When I’m referring to a small skirmishing unit I’m usually referring to a 5-10 man unit, which usually isn’t meant for the frontline and being used for long prolonged combats. These are your units of Archers for the Empire, Marauder Horsemen for your Warriors of Chaos or shooting calvary like the Wood Elves’ Glade Riders. With these units I like to work out what I’m doing with them before I pick my upgrades. If I’m using a skirmishing fast moving unit like the Glade Riders then most of the time I’m just taking a musician, the reason for this is that I expect to be trying to get in the way of my opponent while firing off shots and then fleeing from chargers to delay their advance. If I’m fleeing then I want to be able to rally easier and get back into the fight and do it all over again giving me time to pick off parts of my opponents’ force. The musician’s Steadying Rhythm lets me do that easier and is a really cheap upgrade, at less than one third of an additional model in the unit. However, if my list has a Glade Lord on a Forest Dragon then I might also include a unit champion in the form for the Glade Knight. Why would I do this? Well this is because of the Challenge mechanic in the game which lets characters and unit champions call out someone from the opposing side for an heroic duel. With only one of these being allowed in each combat, a canny enemy can use this to deny your Dragon the chance to rampage through a unit and instead have all their attacks focused on that one unit champion. However, if you’ve got that unit of Glade Riders in the same combat as your Dragon Lord then their unit champion can accept any challenges on the Dragon’s behalf and allow that Dragon to eat as many of the enemy soldiers as it can.
The one thing I wouldn’t usually look at here is the standard bearer. These units tend to be only a few models strong and are not usually well armoured. With this in mind, the standard bearer bonus isn’t something you’ll usually be able to make the most out of in these units (if it is even available at all) and can easily just be giving away points to the enemy from the Trophies of War rule which gives the enemy +50VPs for every standard captured.
Medium Combat Calvary
The next type of unit are these small, 6-8 men strong dedicated combat cavalry units. These are things like the Warriors of Chaos Chaos Knights, the High Elf Realms Silver Helms or the new Cathayan Jade Lancers. These are units whose only purpose is to fight combat on their own terms, break through the enemy units they’re being paired up against and grab points. The two easy things here are the standard bearer and musician. They always want to win combat and the best way to do this is to make sure you not only kill as many enemy models as possible, but also bring some static resolution to tip the combat in your favour if the dice slightly abandon you, and the standard bearer does that. In my experience while you do fairly regularly end up giving away the points for the Trophies of War rule with these units, the impact of the standard bearer alone usually outweighs the risk and is often the reason the unit has done more prior to their own deaths than the 50 point penalty belies.
The only upgrade you might want to pass on here is the unit champion, but this again comes back to what you want them for. If I’m using these units as offensive units in an army which has got a ridden combat monster in it then I’m usually taking the champion for the exact same reason as I am with the small skirmishing units, to accept challenges and let my dragon do dragon things. However, if your build doesn’t include that then you’ve got a real decision to be made and this comes down to pure playstyle and what you want from your army.
In offensive builds, then, having the champion with the possibility of a magical weapon or trinket to increase their damage output is great. The High Elven Ring of Fury is an excellent example of this where you can pick up the possibility of an additional six kills for a small investment in a unit of Silver Helms. Items which provide debuffs to enemy units are also great in this spot. The Alchemists Mask for Cathay for example really makes up for the Jade Lancers not having the raw hitting power of other units in this role, reducing the enemies save by an additional -2 allows those lancers to hit way above what they normally can.
However, in units with a lot of individual model damage potential like Wild Riders or in particular Dragon Ogres, taking the champion is one of the more common mistakes I think I see in army list construction as this falls into one of those 20% of instances where there is actually an incorrect choice. Some units of Dragon Ogres (or other beefy Monstrous Infantry and Cavalry) shouldn’t take champions because you want to always make the most of their attacks in every circumstance and if you are forced to send your champion out of the combat that will often be the difference between winning and losing against particularly nasty beasts. A group of 3-4 Dragon Ogres worry almost everything, and one Dragon Ogre Shartak in the unit either denying the other 2-3 a chance to attack, or being forced to drop their four attacks does not, so unless you’re wanting it for defensive reasons (to protect the unit) I’d never look to take the champion upgrade in Dragon Ogre units with more than one model. Single model units, however, are a different kettle of fish.
Standard Battleline Units, plus Bigger Units
This is arguably the easiest and most simple to make your mind up on. If it’s a combat unit then you might as well throw everything in, at least in my opinion. You’re wanting them to win combats (standard bearer), be able to slow down or stunt ridden monsters (champions) and if worse comes to the worst and they do break you want them to rally and get back into combat (musicians). With the ranged versions where you’re maybe looking at slightly smaller units (10-15 instead of 20+) then I think it can be a little bit more of a decision. Bretonnian Peasant Bowmen for example, due to their Peasantry rule don’t give up the Trophies of War bonus points so you might as well always give them their standard bearer as that might help them fight off small harassing units or light cavalry or similar whereas Empire Handgunners wouldn’t get that benefit and would give up those same points for little gain, despite the fact it might rarely help in the actual game itself.
I’m going to take the chance to mention Magic Banners here as I didn’t elsewhere, and go over what numbers you need to reach for certain things. Let’s have a quick look and break them down into different categories:
Combat Resolution: A ridden monster can reach a cap of a kill and +5 Overkill in a challenge against most unit champions (who are single wound) for a maximum of +6 in total. I know it won’t always reach that with the way ridden monsters work in challenges now, but for reference lets keep that +6 in mind (yes, Chaos Dragons are on +7, but it doesn’t matter). Your unit should have as a minimum +2 for Ranks (+3 with Horde), +1 for Close Order, +1 for the Standard Bearer and another +1 for Outnumber. Meaning almost every unit of infantry can reach +5 combat resolution without much hassle and actually draw or win combat, but this is where the magic banners come in. Any of them which increase static combat resolution, such as the War Banner, mean you now draw with nearly every ridden monster out there and win with your musician. There are a number of different magic banners which allow you to get that extra point of resolution and I think there’s an argument to be made to include one of them in your armies just to hit that tipping point.
Going Nowhere: These kind of banners (or upgrades) grant a benefit to the unit such as Stubborn or Shieldwall and are great at making a unit stick to a specific job and removing the need for dice to get them to do it. These usually aren’t cheap (being 30pts plus) but do mean the unit can do exactly the job you want them to and sometimes you can’t put a price on that (even if Games Workshop have tried). The other type of banners which fits here are the delivery system ones where you have something like a -1 to hit effect on the unit and that means they get to do their job more often than they otherwise would.
More Output: These kinds of banners up the damage from your unit. The Razor Banner giving Armour Bane (2) is a prime example of this. The Orc & Goblin Tribes army contains a host of fantastic offensive-oriented banners from Poison Attacks to bonus Strength or Weapon Skill boosting items. The key to these is like the magic items from champions boosting output, they make you hit slightly above your weight class and doing that at a key time in battle can be game breaking. The other bit to remember is that the benefit to the unit it based on the cost of the Banner. Putting a 25pt Banner on a five wide unit of cavalry is okay, but it’s boosting minimal attacks. Putting that same banner on a unit of 30 infantry, who are 7-9 wide fighting in two ranks gives you much more bang for your buck and that really helps drive efficiency in the list building process.
Conclusions and Making Up Your Mind
Hopefully this has given you a little bit of a breakdown of my thought process and the options you’ve got when making a list. It isn’t as simple as just assuming that certain units need certain upgrades to be competitive or fun on the table, its how you want to play with those armies which decides how you want to build the supporting options.
In my current Wolves of the Sea list with a Manticore as a threatening ridden monster I’ve got two small units of Marauder Horsemen with unit champions for offensive purposes. But I’ve also got two small units of Marauder Berserkers with unit champions for the very same reason, it’s all about letting that manticore do stuff and having multiple options to get him out of jail seems the sensible route to go down. And it doesn’t stop there, I’ve also got 2 units of Marauders who have full command as they’re on the defensive side of the list and a smaller unit of Chaos Warriors who also have all the options to allow them to succeed in the game. I keep going back and forth on my Skinwolves and their unit champion upgrade. Part of me really likes the ability to issue or accept challenges as they can be a really tough unit when they’re allowed to go to T6 and a 3+ save, but at the same time I don’t like when a Dragon charges them and they’re T5 and lose so many precious attacks. It just goes to show that sometimes there isn’t a right answer and maybe I need to change how I play with those Skinwolves to make the most of either having or not having that champion in there.
What I’m trying to say is there while there might be some “right answers” for the question of “should I take command in X, Y or Z” the more important thing to think about is how you want to play and what those command models can do for you in the game. I really like that there isn’t a one size fits all answer and even when you’re looking at exactly the same unit the style of the list and the style of the player you are can make big differences in how you want to kit out the units at your disposal. So the next time you’re writing a list, have a think, plan out what you’d like to do, and try it out because when you go into battle it might help swing the needle in your favour.
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