Doctrines

Each force will have Doctrines, which represent aspects of their equipment and training.  Some Doctrines will apply to the entire force.  Other doctrines may be specific to a particular unit.   Special Leader models may also have Doctrines which only they may confer on nearby units.

Doctrines are activated from a pool of Activation Dice.  Activation Dice come from Leaders.  Typically, each Leader will generate one die.  (Some mighty commanders might generate two dice, or second-rate Leaders in poorly trained armies might generate none.)  A player receives their full pool of dice at the start of their turn.  Any left over dice from the previous turn are discarded.

Once per Phase, a Leader may attempt to activate a Doctrine for any single unit within 12” and under him in the Chain of Command.  This may be any doctrine intrinsic to the force, any Doctrine specific to the targeted Unit, or an Doctrine the Leader himself is eligible to confer on it. 

Doctrines will indicate in which Phase or Phases they may be Activated.  Usually, they may be Activated at any time, in reaction to events.  If both players wish to activate an ability at the same time, the player whose turn it is activates their Doctrine first.

The activating player then chooses how many Activation Dice he wishes to roll to Activate the Doctrine.  Each Doctrine has a target number (typically 4+), depending on how mighty or complex it is.  If any Activation Die equals or exceeds the target number, the Doctrine is Activated.  Otherwise it fails to activate.

If he succeeds, the Doctrine is activated.  If he fails, the Doctrine is not activated.  No other Leader may attempt to activate the same Doctrine on the same unit that Phase.

Geek Notes

Doctrines are another way to differentiate armies and give them character.  Even similarly-skilled and equipped forces may differ radically in their approach to combat.

I'm very inspired by Saga's approach to the Dark Ages.  Saga gives each army a series of abilities, activated by special dice.  Even though almost all Dark Age forces had the same equipment - a big round shield and a hand weapon - the Saga armies play very differently, based entirely on their Battle Board.  (You can read my thoughts about Saga here.)

Now, I didn't want a full Battle-Board and all that for my game.  I think that on top of rules for equipment, vehicles, and so forth, it would just be too complicated.  But I do like the idea of resource management.  I also welcome the chance to regularize the mechanics for those special unit and army rules most wargames tend to accumulate.  Why not make them all part of the same leadership mechanic?

 A Dice pool is really easy to keep track of -- it's got dice!  Remove them as you roll them.  But you'll have to decide where and how to spend them.  Since Leaders must activate Doctrines, it matters where your Leaders are on the battlefield, and how they are part of the chain of command.  That gives the chain of command more of an in-game role, too.

So, consider the various Space Marine chapters in the Warhammer 40k universe.  They are all equipped basically the same - power-armor, bolter, combat knife, chain-sword, and some specialty stuff like jet-packs or terminator armor.  In the background, they have really interesting backgrounds and a strong character.  But it's always seemed to me that 40k struggles to translate the background into rules.  It can give them a few special rules and juggle the equipment options, but the different Chapters don't end up playing that much differently.

With this system, even armies equipped the same could have different Doctrines.  So one army might specialize in close shooting.  Maybe its Doctrines would allow a re-roll failed to-Hit rolls in Firefights or grant all its weapons +1 HE.  Another might specialize in close combat; maybe its Doctrines would let it re-roll Hits in Melee or grant its models an increased Rate of Attack.  Perhaps a third is renowned for its stoicism; its Doctrines might double the number of Hits required to Suppress it or allow it re-roll failed Leadership tests.  Instant variety.