One of my favorites was Warmachine and after a very dissappointing game of 40k and a very fun game of Warmachine I wondered if there could be a way to convert 40k to Warmachine's rules and create some sort of unholy hybrid for people to have a bash with.
There's needed to be a number of changes but I think I managed to create something playable, all that's needed now is some balancing and all that malarky.
Now why would I want to do this? Well it's simple, 40k is a comparative system. You roll your dice and compare its result to a table to determine your result. So to determine what you need to hit you minus your BS from 7 and roll higher than that. This can fall apart for a couple of simple reasons.
#1 By using 1d6 for all your rolls you have a range of number from 1-6 no more, no less.
#2 Because the system works on stats numbered 1-10 a conscript, who is a pleb with a gun, is only 2 points lower in BS than a space marine, who is a genetically enhanced super warrior, and that always seemed a little odd to me.
Now this isn't a 40k bashing article but those problems have always rubbed me the wrong way. So enter Warmachine. While it has it's Page 5 stupidity and the like it uses an additive system so you roll your dice, add modifiers and see what the result is. So to determine what youn need to hit you roll 2d6 add your RAT and any modifiers and compare it to your targets DEF to see if you've hit. While it's a little more complex it allows for more range in statistics and to stick a little closer to the fluff I do dearly love so much.
So what are the big changes.......well not much really. Some special rules have become other special rules and from checking my .xls file that's about it. Oh the games have become smaller and marines are almost as hard as they should be.
I've just grabbed a few core unit statlines to show the difference between various factions. Balancing is no-where near done but I hope the image below speaks for itself to a degree.
Orks are Tough, hit hard and fight well. Marines are amazing across the board, but when your standard unit size is 3 you sort of need to be. Imperial Guardsmen are good in large blocks but normal blokes otherwise and the niddlies are quick but die easy.
Over the next few weeks I'll be uploading armylists for each army in turn starting with Marines and Orks and going from there. Feel free to test and pitch ideas at me and I'll be sure to consider them.
As a 40k player, I'm interested to see how the proposed changes would work, but I've never touched warmachine in my life.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any quick references for how Warmachine plays, and are you going to release notes on what the special rules mean ?
40k worked well back when it was Rogue Trader the skirmish game, where marines were never the invicible super soldiers of holy imperial wrath they are depicted as now. They were just genetically enhanced soldiers with good armour. When you had scenario based skirmishes with a few troops, maybe a vehicle or two and some quite bizarre weapons, the original 40k system was adequate. But now, it's well past it's use by date and GW really need to rethink their entire game philosophy.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I really like the basic Warmachine/Hordes rules, they are simple, yet work so well and are fairly watertight. But I gave up playing it because the ludicrous amount of individual special rules for everything just became too much for my brain to compute. :-/
Bob: Privateer Press very kindly offer the basic rules for warmachine, and it's companion compatable game hordes, for free. Juse head along to here and give it a look: http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/the-game it also includes the starter lists for the 4 main factions. The nice thing about the rules is that most people don't know more than those basic rules and still manage to win games.
ReplyDeleteDan: Rogue Trader had some terrifing flaws but it was made up for by the sheer enthusiasm that dripped from the book. Sadly the flaws have changed and the enthusiasm has diminished. I still hold out a glimmer of hope that GW will realise that it's hemmoraging money and return to its' hobby store roots. That or a real games company will by them out and make them a gateway store.
In regards to getting the rules up, as soon as I've ironed out some templating issues I'll begin putting up the rules for various factions and the small number of changes to the main rules. I'll start with Space Marines and go from there so just keep watching this space.
Mole: Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteDan: I agree the Rouge Trader was hideously flawed. Much as I liked the concept behind it, it was too open to work as a war-game in which the players have objectives and try to win, rather than playing out hypethetical situations within the setting.
For 40k, I'm not sure if the enthusiasm has left the game, so much as people have been playing it for a long time. Coming back to the game after a decades break, I can see whats in place now as an improvement over the version I played.