Collective

Collective controls how identical models in a unit are shown and counted. It is a common source of confusion, because turning it on or off changes both how the unit looks in the builder and how its options behave.

What it does

Marking selections collective lets identical copies collapse into a single line with a count, like "10× Trooper", and the builder shows a counter instead of separate add and remove buttons for each model. A model collapses this way when it can be taken more than once and all of its own options are collective; the flag on an option controls whether its parent can collapse. Without that, each model is its own stack that the player adds and configures individually. These individually configurable stacks are also called sub units in release notes and discussion.

Identical models: make everything collective

If every model in a unit is the same, with no per-model choices, mark all of the model's wargear collective. The unit then shows as one clean line, and the redundant per-model add and remove buttons disappear.

For a model to collapse this way, all of its child selections must be collective. A single non-collective option is enough to keep the models split into separate stacks.

Models that differ: leave one option non-collective

If models in the unit can be equipped differently, for example a squad where each model chooses its own weapon, leave at least one of those options non-collective. That tells the builder to split the models into individually configurable stacks, so the player can give each its own loadout. Making every weapon collective groups all the models together and takes that choice away.