What's wrong with WH40K?

The approach of this article is to look at ways of improving the rules of WH40K.  It's not official, and it's not for use in official Games Workshop games.  It's in keeping with the old "Rogue Trader" approach, which basically acknowledged that Citadel Miniatures were the best figures, and the purpose of rules was to encourage you to buy and use them.  In a sense that's still true, but the "official" hobby now places restrictions on figures that must / may not be used, so it requires you to keep shopping for more figures if you want to be part of the club, rather than encouraging it simply because they are so good to have.

WH40K has great background, great "fluff", and superb miniatures.  Unfortunately it also has a set of rules that were invented as a side issue to selling miniatures, and a marketing engine that makes your local drug dealer look like a philanthropist,

That said, what can be done to make a better game of it?

2) There are too many die rolls.

Many web sites, and not a few postings to rec.games.miniatures.warhammer (RGMW) complain of this.  For a battle game, WH40K requires an inordinate volume of die-rollling, and puts me in mind of my school days, when a group of us attempted to fight a substantial battle using TSR's D&D(r) rules.  Lots of complexity is acceptable (even desirable) in a skirmish game, but has no place in a battle.

Consider: every shot typically needs 3 die rolls.  One to test skill and score a hit, one to test toughness and determine a wound, and a saving throw for magic or armour.  The skirmish games add a fourth roll to separate fatalities from major or minor wounds.  Why does it need so many die rolls?

I spent a lot of time with a spreadsheet figuring the odds, and I can now reveal how the same probability can be achieved with a single die-roll.

For each unit, figure a new value (let's call it AF), which is WS+S for HTH, and another (call it BAF) which is BS+Wpn Str-(Sv mods)/2 for each ranged weapon.  Also figure DF, which is 3.5 (yes, three-and-a-half) +T-(Sv/2).

Example: A figure with WS 4, BS 4, S 3, T 3, with a bolter having S 4 and Sv mod -1, and armour giving a save of 5+
AF=7, BAF=8.5, DF=4

Now, when a unit fires, calculate the firer's BAF minus the target's DF.  That's the number you need to roll under on a 12-sided die to score a wound.  One roll.  One result.  The odds are almost exactly the same as the GW system.

If you don't have any twelve-sided dice (and who does, these days?) try to roll under the same number on a 6-sided die, and then halve the number of wounds.  I can think of three ways of doing this:

1. a unit fires, scores several hits, then halve the total rounding up (my favourite)
2. a unit fires, scores several hits, then for each hit roll a die and only the odd numbers are applied
3. a unit fires, scores several hits, then halve the total rounding down (my least favourite, since a single figure can never score a hit).

You can email me at  [email protected] .  I can't promise to reply, since that's my office address.  Please note that these are my own views, and in no way represent the position of IBM.  Like you thought IBM might have an opinion on a subject like this!
 
How many must die
before only the pure are left?