Crunchy Stats for Third Edition Horus Heresy

Here in June 2025, we have an article on the Warhammer Community about the new additions to the stat line for Horus Heresy. In short, Rogue Trader stats are making a return.

Direct from the text:

Leadership shows how receptive your troops are to following orders, and is used to gauge panic and rally fleeing units. Cool shows how calm your troops are under pressure and incoming fire, and it is used to avoid debuffs – such as penalties from suppressive fire.

Willpower is a more metaphysical stat, used primarily for manifesting – or resisting – psychic powers. Higher Willpower makes powers more likely to work, and you’ll take less damage from the Perils of the Warp.

Intelligence is used when interacting with technology. This could mean a Techmarine trying to fix a vehicle, or a specialist using an augur to track enemy units.

Tests are taken against the lowest characteristic in a unit, with two key exceptions. Models that have the Sergeant rule can always test on behalf of their unit, while Commanders who join units may also lend their stats to any check – an important role for middleweight characters.

The reality is that this level of complexity will certainly add more crunch to the game overall. Maybe it isn't such a bad thing. But as an old timer (I am old), I can put my hand on my heart and say that the reason that Rogue Trader stat lines were eventually abandoned was due to the complexity of the crunch and the slowing down of the game. This is maybe not ideal, but it does promise to be a little bit better perhaps. Certainly if they can make every stat a bit different rather than 7's or 8's across the board. 

The Sergeant is a good example of this with a higher Ld, but lower by one for the other entries. At least they haven't opted for the same across the board. I remain optimistic that it can and should do well. Psykers are going to have high WP - which again is good, and Ogryns low Int. All good. And crunchy. But please don't slow the game down. Speaking of which. I am concerned about the challenge sub-phase that is being introduced. Not sure what that will contain and how it is different from regular combat yet. Worried that it'll be another slowing down factor. Equally, challenges were always a bit distinct, so maybe formalising what has been is actually not going to be too bad either. Looking forward to hearing more soon!