The Master Roster System
Introduction
This is a system mainly designed as for tournament-style play. It introduces the concept of Auxiliaries - troops that are supplementary to an army roster which act as possible substitues, giving an army greater flexibility. Also included is a system representing the extent each side's military intelligence, as well as a system for rewarding those who do not use their Auxiliary forces with Tactical Rerolls.
This is not a system for those who don't want to put a little extra time and effort into their 40k experience; in fact it requires a whole group of players willing to do so.
Please let me know what you think - feel free to criticize and make suggestions. At some point in the near future I will work out rules for using the Master Roster system with Combat Patrol, Special Missions, and Battle Missions.
Master Rosters
A Master Roster is an army list that consists of a Main Force and an Auxiliary Force. The Main Force is like a regular 40K roster: it must be a legal detachment (page 78) and no larger than an agreed point value. The Auxiliary Force is made up of units that may be substituted into the Main Force before a game. An Auxiliary Force is not restricted by the
detachment chart and may contain any mix of choices except HQ choices. Up to half the agreed point value may be spent on Auxiliary Forces, so that the Master Roster totals up to 1.5 times the agreed point value.
Each selection in the army (choice taking up one slot, not each unit) should be given an index card. One side of the card should detail the selection (troop type, numbers, cost, stats, gear etc), and the reverse should simply reveal the category (e.g. Heavy Support). If the selection has the Scouts special ability (page 75), this should also be revealed on the reverse.
Tactical Rerolls
Every army has three Tactical Rerolls to spend every game. A Tactical Reroll allows one unit to reroll all the dice, both failures and successes, from an attempt to: hit (both shooting and assualt), wound (both shooting and assualt), penetrate armour (both shooting and assault). The second result is binding. Note that no effect may cause a die to be rerolled more than once. In an assault, a Tatical Reroll only affects one particular Initiative count - attacks at a different initiative are not rerolled. The use of a Tactical Reroll must be declared immediately.
Alternatively, a Tactical Reroll may be spent before deployment in order to substitute Auxiliaries into the Main Force (see step 5 of Organizing a Battle below).
Organizing a Battle: The Sequence
1. Select a standard mission as usual, and a level to play it at (Alpha/Gamma/Omega).
2. Prepare the battlefield. Place terrain as described on page 78 of the rulebook.
3. Assemble the forces. Both players lay out the index cards, face down, representing their Main Force. Each player now has a rough gauge of the category of the enemy forces.
4. Determine intelligence. Make Strategy rolls (page 80; roll again if tied): starting with the player that loses, each player rolls 1D6 and flips over that many of the other's index cards. For every Scouts selection a player has on the table, he may roll an additional D6 and pick the best result.Cards must be flipped over according to this ranking: Heavy Support, Troops,
Elites, HQ, Fast Attack. Once one Heavy Support card is revealed, one Troops card may be revealed, and then an Elite, etc. To flip over a second Troops requires that a second Heavy Support is flipped first, and so on. If a category is exhausted, then it may be ignored in the ranking. For example, you roll a 5 and your opponent is showing 1 Heavy Support, 4 Troops,
2 Elites, 1 HQ, and 1 Fast Attack. You could decide to look at the Heavy Support, 1 Troops, 1 Elites, the HQ, and the Fast Attack. Or you could look at the Heavy Support, 2 Troops, and both Elites. Or you could look at the Heavy Support and all 4 Troops. There are a few other combinations possible as well.
This phase should be limited to no more than one minute per player, notwithstanding poorly filled-out index cards (all rules of a choice should be summarized on its card).
5. Employ Auxiliaries. In the same order as step 4, each player has the opportunity to substitute Auxiliary Selections into his Main Force. The number of selections substituted may be no greater than that player's Strategy Rating (page 80), and each Auxiliary selection brought into the Main Force costs one Tactical Reroll. Any number of selections may be removed from the Main Force; it must remain a legal detachment within the agreed point value. If revealed selections (those cards that are flipped over) are removed from the Main Force, then an equal number of Auxiliary selections substituted must also be revealed, up to the maximum number of Auxiliaries substited. For example, if you remove 4 selections, 2 of which are flipped, and substitute 2 or fewer Auxiliaries, then all of the Auxiliaries must also be revealed to your opponent. If you substitute 3, then you may choose to keep one face-down.
This phase should be limited to no more than three minutes per player.
6. Deploy and play according to the mission chosen. Your opponent is entitled to examine the card for any choice you have deployed at any time (though not units within closed transports), and to be informed of any pertinant special rules, as long as it does not excessively delay the game.
Thanks for reading.
Rumple
This is a system mainly designed as for tournament-style play. It introduces the concept of Auxiliaries - troops that are supplementary to an army roster which act as possible substitues, giving an army greater flexibility. Also included is a system representing the extent each side's military intelligence, as well as a system for rewarding those who do not use their Auxiliary forces with Tactical Rerolls.
This is not a system for those who don't want to put a little extra time and effort into their 40k experience; in fact it requires a whole group of players willing to do so.
Please let me know what you think - feel free to criticize and make suggestions. At some point in the near future I will work out rules for using the Master Roster system with Combat Patrol, Special Missions, and Battle Missions.
Master Rosters
A Master Roster is an army list that consists of a Main Force and an Auxiliary Force. The Main Force is like a regular 40K roster: it must be a legal detachment (page 78) and no larger than an agreed point value. The Auxiliary Force is made up of units that may be substituted into the Main Force before a game. An Auxiliary Force is not restricted by the
detachment chart and may contain any mix of choices except HQ choices. Up to half the agreed point value may be spent on Auxiliary Forces, so that the Master Roster totals up to 1.5 times the agreed point value.
Each selection in the army (choice taking up one slot, not each unit) should be given an index card. One side of the card should detail the selection (troop type, numbers, cost, stats, gear etc), and the reverse should simply reveal the category (e.g. Heavy Support). If the selection has the Scouts special ability (page 75), this should also be revealed on the reverse.
Tactical Rerolls
Every army has three Tactical Rerolls to spend every game. A Tactical Reroll allows one unit to reroll all the dice, both failures and successes, from an attempt to: hit (both shooting and assualt), wound (both shooting and assualt), penetrate armour (both shooting and assault). The second result is binding. Note that no effect may cause a die to be rerolled more than once. In an assault, a Tatical Reroll only affects one particular Initiative count - attacks at a different initiative are not rerolled. The use of a Tactical Reroll must be declared immediately.
Alternatively, a Tactical Reroll may be spent before deployment in order to substitute Auxiliaries into the Main Force (see step 5 of Organizing a Battle below).
Organizing a Battle: The Sequence
1. Select a standard mission as usual, and a level to play it at (Alpha/Gamma/Omega).
2. Prepare the battlefield. Place terrain as described on page 78 of the rulebook.
3. Assemble the forces. Both players lay out the index cards, face down, representing their Main Force. Each player now has a rough gauge of the category of the enemy forces.
4. Determine intelligence. Make Strategy rolls (page 80; roll again if tied): starting with the player that loses, each player rolls 1D6 and flips over that many of the other's index cards. For every Scouts selection a player has on the table, he may roll an additional D6 and pick the best result.Cards must be flipped over according to this ranking: Heavy Support, Troops,
Elites, HQ, Fast Attack. Once one Heavy Support card is revealed, one Troops card may be revealed, and then an Elite, etc. To flip over a second Troops requires that a second Heavy Support is flipped first, and so on. If a category is exhausted, then it may be ignored in the ranking. For example, you roll a 5 and your opponent is showing 1 Heavy Support, 4 Troops,
2 Elites, 1 HQ, and 1 Fast Attack. You could decide to look at the Heavy Support, 1 Troops, 1 Elites, the HQ, and the Fast Attack. Or you could look at the Heavy Support, 2 Troops, and both Elites. Or you could look at the Heavy Support and all 4 Troops. There are a few other combinations possible as well.
This phase should be limited to no more than one minute per player, notwithstanding poorly filled-out index cards (all rules of a choice should be summarized on its card).
5. Employ Auxiliaries. In the same order as step 4, each player has the opportunity to substitute Auxiliary Selections into his Main Force. The number of selections substituted may be no greater than that player's Strategy Rating (page 80), and each Auxiliary selection brought into the Main Force costs one Tactical Reroll. Any number of selections may be removed from the Main Force; it must remain a legal detachment within the agreed point value. If revealed selections (those cards that are flipped over) are removed from the Main Force, then an equal number of Auxiliary selections substituted must also be revealed, up to the maximum number of Auxiliaries substited. For example, if you remove 4 selections, 2 of which are flipped, and substitute 2 or fewer Auxiliaries, then all of the Auxiliaries must also be revealed to your opponent. If you substitute 3, then you may choose to keep one face-down.
This phase should be limited to no more than three minutes per player.
6. Deploy and play according to the mission chosen. Your opponent is entitled to examine the card for any choice you have deployed at any time (though not units within closed transports), and to be informed of any pertinant special rules, as long as it does not excessively delay the game.
Thanks for reading.
Rumple
