Zephro
10-09-2006, 20:53
Ok more of a question and a ramble really.
Basically my group of friends have basically all given up on 40K, largely to do with the 3rd and 4th edition rulesets. Partly the cost, but we all pick up the odd specialist and fantasy models so it's not really that.
Anyhow we got thinking during the summer that 4 of us have 3,000 point armies just sitting around collecting dust. Some of us even more. Which seems a tad wasteful. Now we could go back to playing 2nd edition as we still have the books and cards, but that's not exactly appealing. I did love it at the time but 2nd ed was kind of bloated and didn't have any army structure. I quite enjoyed the zaniness of it though, SHOCK ATTACK GUNS YEAH! ¬_¬
So has anyone ever written an alternative set of rules fo 40K?
I think there'd be room for GW to do it as part of specialist games, as you'd only really need an extra rulebook. The models are already there, and hopefully for them they could draw back in a bunch of players who have left. Though if you did that you'd have to be careful about a name, as I'd call it "40K tactics" or "Advanced 40K" which might be a bit emotive ¬_¬ Still you could call it "40K for anal ****ers with lots of times and who like a bit of depth in their games".
Second part. Some suggestions of the kind of things I'd like to see, it's not like a strict well thought out list but a vague ramble. Ok so I'm a bit of a history buff so I'd like it to be more like a WW2 game, kind of like Combat Mission, but still stream lined. No horrific angle of penetration tables.
Make tanks dominate the battlefield more. Plus make some of them make sense, like the Leman Russ' main weapon ought to have AP and HE rounds. And so on. This isn't to take the focus away from infantry, but to make them respect cover and to actually have to bother trying to outflank tanks and shoot them up the ****. Which would also involve redoing infantry AT weapons. Things like AT guns being brilliant and cheap but basically imobile. Rocket launchers needing to get close and maybe hit the enemy up the ****.
Just remove the emphasis on hand to hand combat (except for Nids n Orks and so on). Seriously I know about the STC stuff but in a universe brimming with automatic weaponry charging over open ground at people armed with it is a bad idea. It should have a role more to do with shock attacks and breaking routers or in out flanking manuevers.
Morale out to be a bit more well there. Like being able to force squad leaders to withdraw because they're outflanked and so on. Or to add a bit of command structure like a chain of command.
things moving at different and not random speeds.
the armies having a bit more feel to them, kind of coupled with the speeds. But I find alot of the differences are cosmetic. I'd have Tau or Orks and Imperial Guard as the default armies. Plus having things match the fluff, so have Space Marines as epic supermen, but make them rare. So say a tactical squad could easily be used to change the course of a battle. Or eldar using more hit and run tactics and trying to desperatly avoid casualities. Orks and Nids just running like nutters at the enemy
cover and armour. infantry ought to stick to cover and need it more.
still maintain things like army structure but maybe make things more like the guard list with platoons and so on.
keep the game streamlined.
Now it's just a kinda of vague general idea. So there's not much point quiblling about whether you think current 40K is fine or my ideas suck or whatever. But what does everyone think about the general idea? I think it ought to be possible as I've seen the kind of rewarding tactics in fantasy and the specialist games, I just don't get it out of 40K. I'd never suggest replacing normal 40K with this as I basically get that there's just no market for it.
Basically my group of friends have basically all given up on 40K, largely to do with the 3rd and 4th edition rulesets. Partly the cost, but we all pick up the odd specialist and fantasy models so it's not really that.
Anyhow we got thinking during the summer that 4 of us have 3,000 point armies just sitting around collecting dust. Some of us even more. Which seems a tad wasteful. Now we could go back to playing 2nd edition as we still have the books and cards, but that's not exactly appealing. I did love it at the time but 2nd ed was kind of bloated and didn't have any army structure. I quite enjoyed the zaniness of it though, SHOCK ATTACK GUNS YEAH! ¬_¬
So has anyone ever written an alternative set of rules fo 40K?
I think there'd be room for GW to do it as part of specialist games, as you'd only really need an extra rulebook. The models are already there, and hopefully for them they could draw back in a bunch of players who have left. Though if you did that you'd have to be careful about a name, as I'd call it "40K tactics" or "Advanced 40K" which might be a bit emotive ¬_¬ Still you could call it "40K for anal ****ers with lots of times and who like a bit of depth in their games".
Second part. Some suggestions of the kind of things I'd like to see, it's not like a strict well thought out list but a vague ramble. Ok so I'm a bit of a history buff so I'd like it to be more like a WW2 game, kind of like Combat Mission, but still stream lined. No horrific angle of penetration tables.
Make tanks dominate the battlefield more. Plus make some of them make sense, like the Leman Russ' main weapon ought to have AP and HE rounds. And so on. This isn't to take the focus away from infantry, but to make them respect cover and to actually have to bother trying to outflank tanks and shoot them up the ****. Which would also involve redoing infantry AT weapons. Things like AT guns being brilliant and cheap but basically imobile. Rocket launchers needing to get close and maybe hit the enemy up the ****.
Just remove the emphasis on hand to hand combat (except for Nids n Orks and so on). Seriously I know about the STC stuff but in a universe brimming with automatic weaponry charging over open ground at people armed with it is a bad idea. It should have a role more to do with shock attacks and breaking routers or in out flanking manuevers.
Morale out to be a bit more well there. Like being able to force squad leaders to withdraw because they're outflanked and so on. Or to add a bit of command structure like a chain of command.
things moving at different and not random speeds.
the armies having a bit more feel to them, kind of coupled with the speeds. But I find alot of the differences are cosmetic. I'd have Tau or Orks and Imperial Guard as the default armies. Plus having things match the fluff, so have Space Marines as epic supermen, but make them rare. So say a tactical squad could easily be used to change the course of a battle. Or eldar using more hit and run tactics and trying to desperatly avoid casualities. Orks and Nids just running like nutters at the enemy
cover and armour. infantry ought to stick to cover and need it more.
still maintain things like army structure but maybe make things more like the guard list with platoons and so on.
keep the game streamlined.
Now it's just a kinda of vague general idea. So there's not much point quiblling about whether you think current 40K is fine or my ideas suck or whatever. But what does everyone think about the general idea? I think it ought to be possible as I've seen the kind of rewarding tactics in fantasy and the specialist games, I just don't get it out of 40K. I'd never suggest replacing normal 40K with this as I basically get that there's just no market for it.