My gaming group loves Comrades. They add a unique element and really help to establish the feel of being a Guardsman .

Here are some options we think add to the utility of the common Guardsman Comrade:

Order:

Suppress That! (Half Action)

A Comrade adds -5% penalty to Pinning Tests and +1 RoF when making attacks within the area of fire .

Talent:

FIRETEAM LEADER

Tier: 2

Prerequisite: Fellowship 40

Aptitudes: Fellowship, Leadership

The character has command potential and has been promoted to Fireteam Leader. This character can have up to four Guardsman attached. Each Comrade adds his bonus as normal. When issuing a Comrade Order the character issues the same order to all Guardsman attached to him and within Cohesion.

Notes & Reasoning:

The Suppression mechanic is merely a continuation of establish buffs and abilities of Comrades. Initially we had the comrade add only +5% to Pinning Tests but we feel the extra attack is also relevant and not over-powered when compared to a heavy weapon such as the Heavy Stubber.

Allowing multiple comrades to stack bonuses on to character actions seems perfectly fine and helps develop the power of the character without making him some super-hero capable of taking on a Chaos Marine single-handed. Assuming the characters had their Class Comrade Advances, this means an Operator with the Fireteam Leader Talent could operate a Leman Russ Tank "by himself". For a Medic with the Talent, this mean the character could offer extended care to a larger number of patients using Medicae Auxilia but he could still only treat one person at time with Field Treatment , although his comrades could be in position to treat a different character each turn.

GUNNER"S COMRADE ADVANCE: STABILISE

All-in-all I think the power itself is well balanced and provides a different option against Bulging Biceps. My reasoning is:

(a) it costs the gunner 300xp and BB costs the Gunner 450xp and, at best, costs 300xp (if a character had both Aptitudes)

(b) they do similar bonuses - they both affect Bracing modifiers.

Stabilise now negates semi-auto/full-auto penalties and instead give a +10 bonus which is very significant. BB merely avoids the non-bracing penalty and provides a +20 bonus to Hefting . Stabilise is the better choice but is restricted to Gunners only which is good.

BUT

I think Stabilise is a bit, "really?". I'm kinda underwhelmed by the idea of using the Comrade as a human bipod and it being more stable than a concrete window ledge.

Here is an alternative Comrade Advance I have put to my Gaming Group.

Malfunction Drill
Type: Order (Full Action)
Cost: 300 xp
Effect: The Gunner and his Comrade have trained in perfect unity with their weapons. If a Jam result occurs, the Gunner’s Comrade gives the Character a reroll on his Ballistics’s Skill Test to unjam the weapon.

Or you could use the "Conscript Legion drill"

When a malfunction occurs the Heavy and his comrade gain a +2 bonus to their agility bonus for 3 rounds. "Gun jammed Corporal!" "Feets don't fail me now."