Okay. I've gotten the essential rules bashed out. Now might be a good time to give the rules a test drive. I have a lot of 40k models. A lot. (I could play Apocalypse against myself.) So rather than paint a bunch of new stuff, it makes sense to run a few games with my 40k stuff. That means cooking up some stats for a few small 40k forces.
This doesn't mean I'm going to make a full 40k universe adaptation, just that it gives me a way to test my rules. (I'm also not trying to step on Games Workshop's IP. See the site's disclaimer.)
Each force will contain a few squads of infantry and a small vehicle (or other special squad), and are meant to be about the same level of effectiveness.
Space Marines
1x Hero (1 model)
2x Tactical Squads (10 models)
1x Terminator Squad (5 models)
Space Marine Hero
We're playing with too small a force to warrant a Captain, so I figure this guy is a respected Veteran tasked to lead two squads.
Shooting Skill 4
Melee Skill 4
Leadership 3+
Toughness 1, Armor 2
Astartes Bolt Pistol: RoF 2, 12" range, Massive 1, HE 1
Astartes Power Sword: RoA 3, Massive 1, AP 2
Krak Grenade: RoA 1, AT 2
Special, Independent Leader
Space Marine Tactical Squad
10 man squad (1 Sergeant, 1 Heavy, 1 Special, 7 Troopers)
Shooting Skill 3
Melee Skill 3
Leadership 3+
Toughness 1, Armor 2
All models:
10x Astartes Combat Knife: RoA 2, Massive 1
10x Krak Grenade: RoA 1, AT 2
7x Astartes Bolt Guns: RoF 2, 24" range, Massive 1, HE 1
1x Plasma Gun: RoF 2, 24" range, Massive 2, AP 2, AT 2
1x Missile Launcher: Krak, RoF 1, 32" range, AT 3; Frag, RoF 4, 32 range, HE 1
1x Sergeant: Leader
Astartes Bolt Pistol: RoF 1, 12" range, Massive 1, HE 1
Astartes Power Sword: RoA 3, Massive 1, AP 2
Terminators
5 man squad (1 Sergeant, 4 Troopers)
Shooting Skill 3
Melee Skill 4
Leadership 3+
Toughness 1, Armor 3
All models:
10x Astartes Combat Knife: RoA 2, Massive 1
10x Krak Grenade: RoA 1, AT 2
Astartes Storm Bolter, RoF 3, 24" range, Massive 1, HE 1
Astartes Power Sword: RoA 3, Massive 1, AP 2
[I play Space Wolves, hence the unusual loadout.]
Doctrines
Hero
And They Shall Know No Fear
Any phase. 3+. Immediately pass a failed Break Test on the target friendly unit.
Tactical Marines
Bolter Drill
Shooting or Firefight phase. 3+. Re-roll all failed to-Hit rolls from the target friendly unit until the end of phase.
Armor of Contempt
Shooting or Firefight phase. 3+. The squad counts as 50% larger (rounding up) for purposes of calculating Suppression until the end of phase. Target unit may not charge into Melee this phase.
Terminators
Crux Terminatus
Any Phase. 3+. Re-roll all failed Saves on the Terminator unit until the end of phase.
Emperor's Champions
Melee phase. 3+. Re-roll all failed to-Hit rolls by the Terminators until the end of phase.
Chaos Space Marines
1x Exalted Champion (1 model)
2x Chaos Space Marine Squads (10 models)
1x Predator (1 model)
Exalted Champion
Shooting Skill 4
Melee Skill 4
Leadership 3+
Toughness 1, Armor 2
Astartes Bolt Pistol: RoF 2, 12" range, Massive 1, HE 1
Astartes Power Sword: RoA 3, Massive 1, AP 2
Krak Grenade: RoA 1, AT 2
Special, Independent Leader
Chaos Space Marines
10 man squad (1 Sergeant, 1 Heavy, 1 Special, 7 Troopers)
Shooting Skill 3
Melee Skill 3
Leadership 3+
Toughness 1, Armor 2
All models:
10x Astartes Combat Knife: RoA 2, Massive 1
10x Krak Grenade: RoA 1, AT 2
7x Astartes Bolt Guns: RoF 2, 24" range, Massive 1, HE 1
2x Flamers: RoF 5, 8" range, HE 1
1x Missile Launcher: Krak, RoF 1, 32" range, AT 3; Frag, RoF 4, 32 range, HE 1
1x Aspiring Champion: Leader
Astartes Bolt Pistol: RoF 1, 12" range, Massive 1, HE 1
Astartes Power Sword: RoA 3, Massive 1, AP 2
Possessed Predator Destructor
Shooting Skill 3
Front Armor: 7
Other Armor 5
Sealed
Autocannon: [Firing AT], RoF 2, 32"range, Massive 1, AP 1, AT 3; [Firing HE], RoF 8, RoF 32", HE 2
2x Heavy Bolters: RoF 10, 24: range, Massive 1, AP 1, HE 1, AT 1
Doctrines
Exalted Champion
Terror of the Warp
Any phase. 5+. Target enemy unit within 24" must re-roll a successful Break test.
Chaos Space Marines
Purge the Weak
Firefight. 3+. Increase the RoF of all Bolters in the target friendly unit to 4 until the end of Phase. Target unit suffers -1 Cover Save until the end of Phase.
Glory of Bood
Melee. 3+. Increase RoA of all friendly Chaos Marine models in target unit to 4 until the end of Phase. Target unit suffers -1 Defensive Save until the end of Phase.
Predator
Supporting Fire
Firefight. 3+. All Hits from one designated weapon on the Predator must be resolved against a model designated by the Predator's controlling player.
Daemonic Tehcnology
Any Phase. 5+. The Predator is no longer Stunned.
Craftworld Eldar
1x Greater Warlock
2x Guardian Squads
1x Dire Avengers
1x Striking Scorpions OR 1x Howling Banshees
1x Vyper
Greater Warlock
Independant, Special Leader
Shooting Skill 3
Melee Skill 3
Leadership 4+
Cover Save +2
Defensive Save 2
Shuriken Pistol: RoF 2, Range 12", Massive 1
Witchbade: RoA 1, Massive 2
Guardian Squad
22x Guardians, 1x Scatterlaser, 1x Warlock
Shooting Skill 3
Melee Skill 3
Leadership 4+
Shuriken Catapult: RoF 2, Range 24", Massive 1
Wraithbone Knives: RoA 1
Haywire Grenades: RoA 1, AT 2
Scatter Laser
Shuriken Cannon: RoF 10, Range 24", Massive 1
Wraithbone Knives: RoA 1
Warlock
Leader
Cover Save +2
Defensive Save 2
Shuriken Pistol: RoF 2, Range 12", Massive 1
Witchbade: RoA 1, Massive 2
Dire Avengers
1x Exarch
9x Troopers
Shooting Skill 3
Melee Skill 3
Leadership 3+
Armor 1
Shuriken Catapult: RoF 2, Range 24", Massive 1
Wraithbone Knives: RoA 2
Exarch
Shooting Skill 4
Melee Skill 4
Leadership 4+
Shuriken Pistol: RoF 2, Range 12", Massive 1
Diresword: RoA 3, Massive 3
Striking Scorpions
1x Exarch
9x Troopers
Shooting Skill 2
Melee Skill 3
Leadership 3+
Armor 2
Shuriken Pistol: RoF 2, Range 12", Massive 1
Chainsword: RoA 3, Massive 1
Haywire Grenades: RoF 1, AT 2
Exarch
Shooting Skill 4
Melee Skill 4
Leadership 3+
Scorpion's Claw: RoF 2, RoA 2 Range 24", Massive 2, AP 2
Haywire Grenades: RoF 1, AT 2
Howling Banshees
1x Exarch
9x Troopers
Shooting Skill 2
Melee Skill 3
Leadership 3+
Armor 1
Shuriken Pistol: RoF 2, Range 12", Massive 1
Chainsword: RoA 3, Massive 1
Powersword: RoA 3, AT 2
Vyper
Front Armor: 5
Other Armor: 4
Open-Topped
Shooting Skill 2
Melee Skill 2
Leadership 4+
Starcannon: RoF 8, Range 24", AP 2, Massive 1
Twin-linked Shuriken Catapult: 24", RoF 3, Massive 1
Doctrines
All Eldar
Fleet Footed
Shooting or Firefight Phase. 3+. At the end of the phase, the target friendly unit (with Armor of 1 or less) immediately makes a normal move. May only be played on any unit once per turn.
Warlock and Greater Warlock
Conceal
Shooting or Firefight Phase. 3+. Target friendly unit gains +1 Cover Save until the end of phase.
Dire Avengers
Torrent of Steel
Firefight Phase. 3+. Dire Avengers' Shuriken catapults in the unit become RoF 3 until the end of phase.
Blade Dance
Melee Phase. 3+. Dire Avengers in the target unit gain Defensive 2 until the end of phase.
Striking Scorpions
Sting of the Scorpion
Firefight. 3+. The Scorpions fire their mandiblasters. Gain an extra RoF 1 12" shot from every Scorpion in the unit until the end of phase.
Scions of Karandras
Shooting. 3+. The unit gains +1 Cover Save until the end of phase.
Howling Banshees
Deadly Wail
Firefight. 3+. Enemies targeting the unit require +1 to Hit until end of phase.
Acrobatic Leap
Melee. 3+. All models in the Banshee unit move an additional 4" when charging into melee this phase.
Imperial Guard
1x Command Squad (5 models)
6x Imperial Guard Squad (10 models)
1x Chimera (1 model)
All models:
Shooting Skill 2
Melee Skill 2
Leadership 4+
Combat knife: RoF 1
Command Squad
Lieutenant
Special Leader
Laspistol: RoF 2, 12"
Power Sword: RoA 2, AP 1
4x Special Weapons Troopers
Flamers: Flamers: RoF 5, 8" range, HE 1
Imperial Guard Squad
1x Sergeant, 6x Troopers, 1x Special, 1x Heavy
Sergeant
Leader
Laspistol: RoF 2, 12"
Sword: RoA 2, AP 1
Troopers
Lasgun: RoF 2, 24" range
Heavy
Heavy Bolter: RoF 10, 24" range, Massive 1, AP 1, HE 1
Chimera
Shooting Skill 2
Front Armor: 6
Other Armor 5
Multilaser: RoF 10, 24" range, Massive 1, AP 1, AT 1; [Firing HE], RoF 8, RoF 32", HE 2
Heavy Bolter: RoF 10, 24" range, Massive 1, AP 1, AT 1, HE 1 Heavy Stubber: RoF 10, 24" range
Doctrines
Lieutenant
For the Emperor.
Shooting phase. 3+. Immediately pass a failed Break Test on the target friendly unit.
Command Squad Only
Fires of Purity
Firefight Phase. 3+. Reroll all failed to wound rolls with Flamers from this squad.
Body Guard
Any Phase. 3+. The Lieutenant need not be assigned a hit in this phase. Assign it instead to another model from the Command Squad.
Imperial Guard Squads
Down, Down, Down
Shooting or Firefight. 3+. Squad immediately Cowers. It may reroll failed Cover Saves until the end of the turn.
Fire on My Target
Firefight. 3+. All Hits from one designated weapon in the squad must be resolved against a model designated by the squads controlling player.
Quantity is its Own Quality
Shooting. 3+. As long as at least two friendly Imperial Guard units (including the target of the Doctrine) fire at the same enemy, all friendly squads firing at that target may add +1 RoF to their weapons until the end of phase.
Chimera
Supporting Fire
Firefight. 3+. All Hits from one designated weapon on the Chimera must be resolved against a model designated by the Predator's controlling player.
Geek Notes:
Most every gamer knows 40k, and has a feel for how it "should" be. So using some 40k models will let me see if my rules-set delivers "realistic" results.
I love the 40k universe, so this was a lot of fun to write. (Remember to see the disclaimer.) I especially liked the chance to test-drive the Doctrine system. I originally had all the Doctrines at 5+, but have revised them (as you can see) to a 3+. The idea is that Doctrines should work most of the time, for your point. So most squads will be able to use one Doctrine a turn. But they might fail -- not too often, but sometimes. So if you want to be really sure, you should have to spend a second (or even third) point! Choose wisely.
This play-test deliberately avoids pointing -- which I think will be the most critical balancing element of any universe. I'm staying out of that can of worms at the moment. Instead, I'm just eye-balling equivalencies. I figure a Space Marine should be worth about 3 regular dudes. Two squads are the minimum for anything interesting. So that means two Marine squads vs 6 guardsmen squads. Each force should have a machine-gun equivalent, so I can test the ratios of pinning and RoF. I then wanted each force to have something interesting - a vehicle, usually.
The Eldar were originally going to have both Scorpions and Banshees, but on reflection, that seemed like just too much stuff. So I decided they'd only get one melee squad. I'd already written the rules, so I just kept them there and gave the player the option.
My plan now is to let Steve pick one force. I'll then pick another, to get a good spread of rules. So if he picks IG, I'll prolly pick a Marine or Chaos Marine army. If he does Marines, I'll go IG or Eldar. Anyway, we can then play a game, and where my rules have gaps, default to common sense or FoW.
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