Characters and Units

A character can normally join a unit of infantry, cavalry, monstrous infantry, monstrous beasts, or monstrous cavalry -- including a unit made entirely of other characters from one of those troop types. A character can never join a unit of a troop type with higher Unit Strength than its own, unless stated otherwise.

Unless stated otherwise, a character also can't join a unit of monsters, flyers (unless it's a flyer of the same troop type itself), chariots (unless it's mounted on a chariot itself), swarms, or a war machine -- and a character that's itself a war machine, monster, or mounted on a monster or chariot can't join any other unit (barring those same exceptions). A character can never join a unit already in close combat or fleeing.

To join a unit, a character moves into base contact with it during the Movement phase -- once joined this way, neither the character nor the unit can move any further that phase, so it's worth planning the order of your moves carefully (move the unit first, then have the character join it, since a unit that's already moved can still be joined afterward). A unit only counts as having moved if it moved itself, not simply because a character moved to join it.

A joining character is placed in the unit's front rank, regardless of distance, with rank-and-file models (including the command group) shuffled back to the second rank to make room. If there's no room left in the front rank, the character can't join until the unit reforms to make space.

Most of the time a character shares its unit's own base size, simply taking a spot in the front rank as described above. A character with a larger base needs a little more care: if its footprint exactly matches the space of two or more rank-and-file models, displace those models to the back rank and place the character in their spot -- the unit's ranks (and rank bonus) are then worked out as if that space were still filled with ordinary troops. If the character's footprint doesn't fit neatly, place it at the edge of the unit instead, beside the front rank and facing the same way as the rest of the unit -- in this case its own footprint isn't assumed to be backed by rank-and-file troops.

A character who joins a unit affected by a spell covering the whole unit only benefits (or suffers) from it while they remain part of that unit. Likewise, a spell cast on the character themself continues to affect any unit they later join, for as long as they stay in it and the spell lasts.

A character who's joined a unit that later flees still counts toward whether that unit is at or above 25% of its starting numbers for Rally test purposes.