A new Simultaneous Play idea - needs tweaks.

[Jakeman214]

Ok guys, so I was reviewing a game of 40k I had from a couple of days ago. As my Guardsmen (Initiative 3) were multicharged by a number of Tyranid units at differing Initiative levels (6, 4 and 2) and the combat felt quite fluid and I had a brilliant Idea. Why not give ships in BFG Initiative values and have the turns based off that? So here's how it'll work, I think. The only Problems I see are the ruining of players grand strategies by forcing them to move ships out of the sequence they may have wanted to/wasting shooting on targets they didn't want to or not optimising shooting through blast markers and such, and Ordnance being of reduced effectiveness as the ships are essentially moving double for each Ordnance Phase. I'll admit the Ordnance dosen't bother me much as I reckon the little plinky space fighters shouldn't be much faster than their carriers, but they shouldn't be nerfed unfairly either. Tau and Orks get hit pretty hard if Ordnance is killed off, and I play Fighta-Bomba Orkz, not to mention my IN Fleet's Glorious Prow Torps! Anyway, here we go!

VERSION 1
Each player gets his "turn", but ALL Ships/Squadrons/Ordnance/etc, Moves in the Movement Phase, Shoots in the Shooting Phase, Ordnance does its thing in the Ordnance Phase and the End Phase is unchanged.
At the beginning of each player turn BEFORE giving Special Orders, each player must role 2d6 per Ship/Squadron. The value rolled is that Ship's/Squadron's Initiative (I) this Turn. (Additional Note: If the Player wishes to change the Initiative of a Ship/Squadron then they must make a successful Leadership Test against that Ship's/Squadron's Leadership. If they do so, they can roll 2d6 again for the Ship's/Squadron's new Initiative. The second roll Stands, and may not be re-rolled. This does not count towards Command Checks etc, it is a seperate roll.)
Starting with the Highest Initiative, all players move any Ships/Squadrons in that Initiative level, then the next down and so on, until all Ships/Squadrons have been moved. Shooting happens in the same manner of moving. Ordnance remains untouched, but this will need heavy playtesting to see if the Ordnance can keep up without having to be "shotgun" fired, if this problem occurs the Range of Ordnance will have to be doubled essentially. The End Phase moves in Initiative Order same as movement and shooting for ship/squadron related actions.

Example: I have a Gothic(I10), Lunar(I4) and Mars(I8), and my opponent a Dictator(I10), a Squadron of Swords(I7) and a Squadron of Cobras(I6). My Gothic moves at the same time as His Dictator, then My Mars moves, then His Swords, then His Cobras and lastly My Lunar (Shoulda Re-rolled, but she had leadership 6 kinda thing, lol jks example!). Then, the ships shoot in the same order as above. In the next phase His Ordnance acts first (As it is his turn), then mine (This is to not completely ruin the balance of the game). In the End Phase the ships attempt repairs and other such things in Initiative order.

With His turn over, mine begins. I now roll for fresh Initiaitive on all my ships, as does my opponent. This turn, it goes: His Cobras(I12), My Gothic(I11) and My Lunar(I11), His Dictator(I7), My Mars(I5) and His Swords(I5).

VERSION 2
There is only one "turn" for all players. Ships/Squadrons/Ordnance/etc, Moves in the Movement Phase, Shoots in the Shooting Phase, Ordnance does its thing in the Ordnance Phase and the End Phase is resolved using Initiative for Ship/Squadron related things. To remove Blast Markers each Player rolls 1d3 and removes that many Blast Markers.
At the beginning of each player turn BEFORE giving Special Orders, each player must role 2d6 per Ship/Squadron. The value rolled is that Ship's/Squadron's Initiative (I) this Turn. (Additional Note: If the Player wishes to change the Initiative of a Ship/Squadron then they must make a successful Leadership Test against that Ship's/Squadron's Leadership. If they do so, they can roll 2d6 again for the Ship's/Squadron's new Initiative. The second roll Stands, and may not be re-rolled. This does not count towards Command Checks etc, it is a seperate roll.)
Starting with the Highest Initiative, all players move any Ships/Squadrons in that Initiative level, then the next down and so on, until all Ships/Squadrons have been moved. Shooting happens in the same manner of moving. In the Ordnance Phase, all players simultaneously move their Torpedo markers First, then they may move their Fighter Markers and Fighter-Bomber Markers Second, then their Bomber Markers Third, then any other Markers (Such as Mines, etc). The End Phase is resolved using Initiative for Ship/Squadron related things. To remove Blast Markers each Player rolls 1d3 and removes that many Blast Markers.

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So, what are your thoughts on this guys? Too confusing? Does it take away the control of Your Fleet and hand it to the Dice Gods (And the imaginary Captains of the individual ships?)?

[horizon]

Before reading I'll chip in and say: check out this:
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/archive/bfgmag/
Warp Rift issues 19, 24, 25


your version:
Less fiddly:
at the start of the game create initiave based on: race value plus dice roll. Stays the same during the game. Makes more sense to me.
You could even do: race+leadership+dice roll.

[andrewchristlieb]

Just leadership + 1D6. Adding a racial modifier gives them 2 (one racial modifier for leadership and one for the initiative). It could be fun to do something like that each turn (the D6 initiative could represent the different crews having a brilliant moment, or a bad one!). I have always like the games that have combined movement/attack phases and the damage as: damage/ critical hits etc are determined at the appropriate time, but are applied in the end phase.