A character model may join a unit of war machines in the same way as he might join a unit of troops. Note, however, that batteries never include their own Champions - only units of troops have Champions. The unit will benefit from the associated character's Leadership value in the same way as would a unit of troops.

In the case of batteries, the character must be positioned with a specific machine for purposes of allocating damage from shooting hits. However, only crew can operate a machine, a character cannot operate a war machine.

Characters do not actually become crew when they join a machine, and are never hurt should the machine malfunction. They keep sufficient distance between themselves and the dangerous mechanism to be safe.