Post by able on Oct 22, 2017 13:50:32 GMT
Firstly, is this where homebrew variations should live? Maybe my group is more open than most to playing with the rules a bit, and that homebrew is not much of a thing generally.
The basic idea is for the objectives to give a game relevant buff, rather than some nebulous VP system, which is ignored if a side gets tabled anyway. It is also designed to make games less explosive, with first turn being less of a massive boost, without slowing the game down. It does this by keeping most of the armies off the field at the start of the game, with the objectives being what permits you to bring more forces on. Command points are not given as a massive wad at the start. Detachments also have an increased role, so arranging your army to maximise command points while running it as a single blob isn't as viable.
The biggest change is in power levels. Every unit has its power value calculated by taking it's points value divided by 20, and rounding up. You are expected to have calculated your power levels when you built the list, and have them on hand. If you have a record of the power levels of your most commonly used units (including how they are built) it can also make building lists quickly easy, but without the wargear stupid involved in standard power levels. For example, I commonly run a warrior brood that works out at 135 pts. That would be a 7 PP unit. A 30 basic gant unit would be 6 PP.
Deployment is detachment based. Once you place a unit from a detachment, you cannot place a unit from another detachment until all units from the first detachment have been placed. Additionally, at the start of the game, you are only able to place units until you have half your PP on the board. For example, if you have a 100 PP army, you can only put 50 PP on the board. If you have a note of the total value of your detachments, this should not be hard to do. Placing less than half your PP on the board has no benefit. PP unspent are lost here (GC could have a special rule about this), and rules which let units deploy off the board are ignored (or rather handled differently). Each side starts with 0 PP to spend in battle, and battle forged armies do not start with the basic 3 CP. Detachments do not contribute their CP to the pool until they are entirely deployed (Turn 1 an elite heavy army could potentially have 1 CP to use).
At the end of each turn, control of objectives is evaluated. The player who controls each objective receives PP and/or command points depending on the objective type (both sides). The basic setup will be primary objectives placed normally (~3 per 1000pts), as well as 4 edge control objectives 6" from the centre of each edge of the map, (1" lower bound to distance between primaries and edge objectives). I'm thinking maybe d3 PP per primary objective, and 4+ roll for a cp from each edge. This is up for tuning, as well as the potential for special rules for objectives.
Reserves are where it gets very different, and the edge control is important. At the end of each movement phase, a player can spend PPs to deploy reserves. They can deploy units using either their native strike capabilities, or within 6" of a map edge that they control the edge objective for. The 9" exclusion zone around enemy units exists as normal. Detachments must be fully deployed before another detachment can be placed, but at any point a player has an option of removing units that are not on the table from their list, if the detachment will still be legal. For example, a battalion that had an elite choice not on the map could take them off the list to allow the deployment of another detachment instead, as well as getting the command points from the now fully deployed battalion.
Summoning type abilities work as normal, but draw direct from your PP pool. Open summoning abilities (such as demon summoning) are only able to summon units that the player has a quick reference for (as a timesaver, rather than a game relevant rule). Demon detachments could have a special rule where they could be summoned even while another detachment is deploying, though they can only deploy at map edges if their detachment is deploying.
The victor is determined by who controls more objectives at the end of game.
Any thoughts? Brutally honest is good. None of this has been playtested yet (needed it written down before we could, which is this), and the numbers could probably do with some tuning even if the concept is good. Stratagem suggestions and rules for different objectives would also be very welcome. I am unsure whether I have done enough to mitigate 1st turn advantage, because going first in turn 2 gives 2 turns of PP to deploy, to the 1 turn worth that the 2nd player gets their turn 1. If anyone tries it, I would love to hear feedback about it and any variations you try. Thanks for reading, and hope it gives you some food for thought.
The basic idea is for the objectives to give a game relevant buff, rather than some nebulous VP system, which is ignored if a side gets tabled anyway. It is also designed to make games less explosive, with first turn being less of a massive boost, without slowing the game down. It does this by keeping most of the armies off the field at the start of the game, with the objectives being what permits you to bring more forces on. Command points are not given as a massive wad at the start. Detachments also have an increased role, so arranging your army to maximise command points while running it as a single blob isn't as viable.
The biggest change is in power levels. Every unit has its power value calculated by taking it's points value divided by 20, and rounding up. You are expected to have calculated your power levels when you built the list, and have them on hand. If you have a record of the power levels of your most commonly used units (including how they are built) it can also make building lists quickly easy, but without the wargear stupid involved in standard power levels. For example, I commonly run a warrior brood that works out at 135 pts. That would be a 7 PP unit. A 30 basic gant unit would be 6 PP.
Deployment is detachment based. Once you place a unit from a detachment, you cannot place a unit from another detachment until all units from the first detachment have been placed. Additionally, at the start of the game, you are only able to place units until you have half your PP on the board. For example, if you have a 100 PP army, you can only put 50 PP on the board. If you have a note of the total value of your detachments, this should not be hard to do. Placing less than half your PP on the board has no benefit. PP unspent are lost here (GC could have a special rule about this), and rules which let units deploy off the board are ignored (or rather handled differently). Each side starts with 0 PP to spend in battle, and battle forged armies do not start with the basic 3 CP. Detachments do not contribute their CP to the pool until they are entirely deployed (Turn 1 an elite heavy army could potentially have 1 CP to use).
At the end of each turn, control of objectives is evaluated. The player who controls each objective receives PP and/or command points depending on the objective type (both sides). The basic setup will be primary objectives placed normally (~3 per 1000pts), as well as 4 edge control objectives 6" from the centre of each edge of the map, (1" lower bound to distance between primaries and edge objectives). I'm thinking maybe d3 PP per primary objective, and 4+ roll for a cp from each edge. This is up for tuning, as well as the potential for special rules for objectives.
Reserves are where it gets very different, and the edge control is important. At the end of each movement phase, a player can spend PPs to deploy reserves. They can deploy units using either their native strike capabilities, or within 6" of a map edge that they control the edge objective for. The 9" exclusion zone around enemy units exists as normal. Detachments must be fully deployed before another detachment can be placed, but at any point a player has an option of removing units that are not on the table from their list, if the detachment will still be legal. For example, a battalion that had an elite choice not on the map could take them off the list to allow the deployment of another detachment instead, as well as getting the command points from the now fully deployed battalion.
Summoning type abilities work as normal, but draw direct from your PP pool. Open summoning abilities (such as demon summoning) are only able to summon units that the player has a quick reference for (as a timesaver, rather than a game relevant rule). Demon detachments could have a special rule where they could be summoned even while another detachment is deploying, though they can only deploy at map edges if their detachment is deploying.
The victor is determined by who controls more objectives at the end of game.
Any thoughts? Brutally honest is good. None of this has been playtested yet (needed it written down before we could, which is this), and the numbers could probably do with some tuning even if the concept is good. Stratagem suggestions and rules for different objectives would also be very welcome. I am unsure whether I have done enough to mitigate 1st turn advantage, because going first in turn 2 gives 2 turns of PP to deploy, to the 1 turn worth that the 2nd player gets their turn 1. If anyone tries it, I would love to hear feedback about it and any variations you try. Thanks for reading, and hope it gives you some food for thought.