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?

Dark Eldar and Dissynergy

Pic from 40k wikia via Google

Synergy is a condition where the utility of an entity is greater than the sum of the utility of its parts. For example, if sufficient synergy existed between 1 and 2, then 1 + 2 might equal 4. The opposite condition, which I dub dissynergy, is when 1 + 2 = 2. Dissynergy is, in my view, the root problem of the 7th edition Dark Eldar codex.

S10 vs SD ends badly for Land Raiders

It would appear that there is a slight decrease in survivability for Land Raiders exposed to S: D weapons, compared to S 10 weapons.

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?