Discarding tokens earns gambles, which can later be spent on activating the traits of the units on the board, as their abilities are not free. The Headhunter, for example, has a regular ranged attack, but only spending a gamble will trigger the ability to use a sniper shot. If the trait is not paid, it simply will not be active.

Merchant Guild soldiers usually have low initiative - this is important because the cost of activating a given perk is equal to the initiative of this unit. Activating the Headhunter Sniper will cost one gamble, but another soldier with initiative 2 will cost two gambles. The maximum number of gambles that can be managed at a time is 7, so they should have quite a lot of room for maneuver.