Fight hard enough and the war itself starts paying for your shopping.
Beginner-friendly (one complexity icon)Gurney Halleck, warmaster of House Atreides, turns muscle into money. His passive, Always Smiling, grants 1 Persuasion on your Reveal turn whenever you have 6 or more strength in the Conflict (10+ in a six-player game). His Signet Ring, Warmaster, simply recruits a troop.
One complexity icon, one honest loop: recruit, deploy, fight — and let every serious battle line also fatten your card purchases.
Fight nearly every round — not recklessly, but presently. Six strength is only three troops (or two and a worm): a bar you can clear while still contesting real rewards. The bonus Persuasion then buys the swords and worms that keep the loop spinning.
Stack Conflict rewards, battle-icon pairs, and a combat-flavored faction climb (Fremen suits him) into the 10-VP finish. Gurney's economy is his army; idle rounds are the only thing that beats him.
Nobody else gets paid just for showing up armed. Across ten rounds, Always Smiling quietly buys two or three extra cards — an economy bonus stapled to what Gurney wanted to do anyway.
Recruit-deploy-fight needs no combo pieces and survives any Imperium Row. Gurney is arguably the cleanest first leader in Uprising.
Five strength pays zero Persuasion; so does skipping a fight. Rounds where the Conflict isn't worth contesting leave both his abilities cold.
Constant fighting sends troops to supply every round — without steady recruitment beyond the signet, Gurney's garrison runs dry exactly when the level-III Conflicts arrive.
A sandworm alone is half the passive's threshold and doubles your rewards — Sietch Tabr's Maker hooks are arguably more valuable to Gurney than to any other leader.
In the 6-player game the threshold jumps to 10 strength — plan worm summons and Reinforce turns with your team, or the smile stops paying.
