Fixing Snap Shots (& Overwatch)

The idea of the snap shot made its debut in 6ed. The advent of flyers seemed to require a mechanic to make them harder to hit, and the simple idea of needing 6s stepped up to the plate. As is often the case, once the mechanic had emerged, it seemed to find a home in a range of other places too, helping fast moving and pinned troops remain involved in the game.

Overwatch was a big part of 2ed, but was removed in the transition to 3ed. Overwatch then was a very different beast to the rule we have now; it cost a unit it's turn, but allowed them to fire during the following enemy movement phase. This allowed a unit to cover an approach from an as yet unseen enemy. As charging also happened in the movement phase in 2ed, it could also be used by a unit that expected to be assaulted next turn, which could occasionally prove useful if the enemy were presently out of range of some of your good guns.  Unfortunately, taken to extremes it resulted in games stagnating, with both sides hidden and on overwatch to punish whomever came out of hiding first. This is no doubt one of the reasons it was removed. It's return in 6ed leveraged the new snap shot mechanic, with a kludge for templates, and a more limited focus.

So what's the problem?

Strength D is a terrible mechanic

Like this, except it's the game that suffers.

Formerly reserved for Apocalypse!, destroyer weapons, commonly known as Strength: D weapons, are now being integrated into regular 40k. While earlier 7th Ed Codicies used the D sparingly (Necrons, Orks) or not at all (Tyranids, Dark Eldar), Codex: Eldar appears to have brought D into the mainstream. And this is a problem.

Why can't blast weapons snap fire?

"BBDA Cleeeeeeeear...."

So this is bugging me for some reason.

A horde of Orks is charging. The choppas are swinging with murderous intent. They're only a few metres away, time for a split-second reaction only. The tactical marines fire their bolters and plasma-gun from the hip. They hope the indiscriminate hail of shells will kill an Ork or two.

And what does the dude with a missile launcher do? Whistles Dixie to himself while he carefully loads a krak round into his launcher, and tries for a headshot with an antitank weapon. What the hell, missile launcher dude?

Firefights in 40k

I've always liked the idea of short ranged firefights breaking out in a game of 40k. So I borrowed an idea from Epic 40k, to see how it might work.

Vehicle Synthesis Rules

This was born from a whinge I stumbled across on a 40k forum, complaining that in the next edition, the rules for vehicles should be more closely integrated with the rules for infantry and other unit types. This is what I came up with.

In this experimental rules set, all vehicles have their AV replaced by a single Toughness value, and receive a profile the same as other models.

AV 10 becomes T6, AV 11 becomes T7, AV12 becomes T8, AV13 becomes T9 and AV14 becomes T10. Convert based on the vehicle’s front armour value.

Additionally, vehicles receive an armour save based on their type. Open topped vehicles receive a 4+ save, and all other vehicles gain a 3+ save. Perhaps some special, heavy tanks like the Monolith could receive a 2+ save.

Each vehicle then has a number of wounds, ranging from transports with, say, 2 or 3 Wounds, to heavy battle tanks with 4 – 5 Wounds. Naturally these values are arbitrary, and entirely subject to testing.

Walkers retain their WS, while other vehicles are assigned WS -. All vehicles gain a Ld stat equal to the basic Ld stat of their race.

Interacting with vehicles: shooting them

So, under the synthesis system, shooting at vehicles is exactly the same as shooting at everything else. However, it would be more fun if there were still some way of representing a damage-based metric of performance impairment. So I suggest the following extra rules for all multi-wound models:

Crippled!

A multi-wound model that is reduced to or below half of its starting Wounds must half its WS, BS I and A characteristics (rounding up) for the rest of the game, and may no longer run. Additionally, models with the ‘Vehicle’ unit type may only move at half their normal speed (so combat speed is 0 – 3”, cruising speed is 3 – 6” and flat out is 6 – 9”; remember that skimmers moving fast must displace 18” to gain a cover save, which most crippled vehicles will find impossible).

Critical Damage

When a multi-wound model survives an unsaved wound, the attacker may opt to try for critical damage. Roll a d6, and if the result is a 6, roll again on the chart below.

1 Shaken: the model must pass a Ld check to fire any weapons in its next turn.

2 Stunned: the model must pass a Ld check to move or fire any weapons in its next turn.

3 Disarmed: the model has lost a weapon, perhaps from having a turret or an arm blown off! The attacker chooses one weapon which may no longer be used. If the model already had no functioning weapons, then count this as result 4 below.

4 Immobilised: the model has had one of its motive systems, either legs or tracks, forcibly removed. It may not move or pivot in place for the remainder of the game.

5 Crippled!: If the model is not already crippled, either from sustaining this result previously or from being reduced to half wounds, then it becomes crippled. If the model was already crippled, then it is killed instead!

6 Annihilated!: The model is spectacularly annihilated! If a vehicle or a monstrous creature, then all models within d6” will suffer a S3 hit from the explosion/death throes, with normal armour saves allowed. The vehicle or monstrous creature is then removed from play, as are any other models suffering this critical damage result.

Squads of multi-wound models treat 4 Immobilised results as 5 Crippled!, and results of 2 Stunned as 1 Shaken.

Astute readers will notice that this is essentially the current vehicle damage chart. Under this proposed rule set, it becomes a characterful addition to all multi-wound models, and not the be-all and end-all of vehicles, which will more commonly be destroyed by running out of wounds.

Tyranids probably don’t like having their monstrous creatures subject to having arms or legs blown off, but they can perhaps take solace in eating the Reclusiarch’s thunder hammer!

Other rules that interact with vehicles

Of course there are a few more rules that interact specifically with vehicles at the moment, so here is a stab at covering them.

AP1

Weapons with AP1 add +1 to the roll to cause critical damage, and so will do so on a 5+.

AP-

Weapons with AP- never cause critical damage.

Lance

Lance weapons treat Toughness greater than 8, as 8.

Melta

Melta weapons within half range may re-roll all rolls to wound.

Grenades

Grenades may be used in an assault, by any model that is carrying them. However, trying to fix them in place can be difficult against a target that is retaliating! Models using grenades only ever make one attack per round, regardless of any other factors or attack bonuses. Furthermore, against targets with a Weapon Skill, the grenade will only hit on a ‘6’, again regardless of other bonuses or special rules. Against vehicles with WS -, grenades will hit as normal for the speed the vehicle has travelled; ie automatically if stationary, 4+ if it has moved up to 6”, and 6 only if it has moved over 6” in its last movement phase.

Haywire

Instead of causing a wound, will cause a critical damage roll on a 2+.

Monstrous creatures

In addition to their other rules, monstrous creatures may re-roll all to wound rolls.

Anything else? Monstrous creatures re-rolling wounds is an attempt to emulate their special effect against vehicles, but makes them even deadlier against infantry – perhaps this balances their new vulnerability to critical damage?

Some other odds and sods:

In the rear!

An attacker shooting at a multi-wound model from behind may add +1 to his roll to cause critical damage. This may stack with other bonuses, such as from AP1 weapons. ‘Behind’ is defined as to the rear of the center of mass of the model. For models that do not have a clear ‘front’, a point of reference should be established before the game.

All close combat attacks are considered to use this rule, as vulnerabilities are easier to exploit from face range!

Note that some vehicles that are symmetrical all around, such as the Monolith or Drop pod, or others that are just that badass like the Land Raider, may not be affected by this rule. This should be noted in their description.

(Simply defining vehicles to have a front and back makes up somewhat for the loss of side armour values, and may make perpendicular Rhinos giving cover to their brethren a thing of the past!)

Poisoned weapons

Models with the ‘Vehicle’ unit type are not affected by a poisoned weapon’s fixed wound roll. The weapon or unit’s base Strength must be used instead; if it doesn’t have one, then it can cause no damage.

(To stop Dark Eldar and snipers from raping every vehicle they see in a wholly unrealistic manner! This leaves some weapons out – witch blades and agonisers, notably – can be covered separately.)

Movement

I’ve got no issues with vehicle movement and shooting as it stands currently. I do like the idea of crippling vehicles to slow them down and reduce their general efficacy short of killing them though!

Comments? As I have noted, it no doubt needs extensive testing. Of particular note is how many wounds a vehicle should receive, and whether the T and Sv stats assigned are appropriate.

I will craft a follow up looking at some of the numbers involved, and compare the average number of shots to kill in this system compared to the 5th ed rules. Keep your browser tuned!