Pie in the sky daydreaming....

[andalucien]

Sitting here at the end of a long week at work with a couple beers... my thoughts go to my models...  I'm missing playing 40k, but I think I mostly miss putting my models down on the table.

Having learned a lot about warmachine lately, I am seeing what is possible to do when you have a team of seriously dedicated people working for 10+ years carefully honing the rules and balance of a miniatures game system.  The WMH rules allow for much more different actions your models take and more sophisticated interactions, yet players DON'T EVEN BRING THE RULEBOOK to tournaments because stuff just "makes sense" and rules confusion is quite rare.   Model-specific exceptions and one-off rulings just aren't to be necessary.  The idea of a "community faq" like the Adepticon for Warmachine is actually absurd, even though the game is more complex.

And get this... WMH has absolutely no force org. At all.  You have a bring 1 warcaster/warlock, and there are zero other restrictions (except that some character models are inherently unique or limit the # of copies you can bring of that one unit to 3 or so).   Yet, if you look at a lot of the championship level armies, they are basically highlander armies.  Why?  Because Privateer has done a great job of making their units balanced and constructing the game in such a way that you tend to need a lot of different stuff to win.

Thus, over the last couple of months, I have come to believe that the only way to make a good game using the (superior) 40k models would just be to write an entirely new game from the ground up. 

I would actually advocate an attempt to build Warmachine-compatible factions that use 40k model range.  Imagine... imagine being able to actually play a 40k army versus a Warmachine army.  THAT would help us wargamers figure out who was better really quick    And I wouldn't be leaving my multitude of unusual 40k armies to languish.  If I were like a millionaire I'd be trying to do exactly that. 

There's no reason it wouldn't work.  Transports (WMH doesn't have em) would be easy to make rules for.  Vehicle damage would actually be a lot more fun if used the WMH "crippled system" approach. 

Of course you'd probably get sued by both Games Workshop and Privateer press.

[Battle-Bruvah Sillynoah]

Games Workshop will sue you just for mentioning 40K without their consent. 

[Loranus]

Talking about that Andaculien I was sitting at a Thursday 40k and watching Gundam John and Tharcil play their own version of 40k with the Nova Narrative Rules for armies. Like WMH You activated one Unit at a time and let it go through all its phases (Movement,Shooting,Assault) Then your Opponent got to do One unit and they flipped back and forth until they had Activated all their units and that would complete one Game Term. It was a very interesting watch because it brought a lot of different thinking and strategy into the game you didn't see with normal 40k while fixing some of the issues you got from different armies.

[Sir_Prometheus]

That's a nova narrative thing?  Or just something they were trying?

WMH isn't quite like that, you do move -shoot - assault with one unit, but it's still one sides turn, then the others, to activate all their units.

[Loranus]

Matt I understand that and it is their own version. John came up with the rules and they used the Nova Narrative rules for building their armies. They flip flopped was to try something different and avoid combo things that are inherent in the gameplay of WMH. It was just a different way for them to play the game and it Looked a lot of fun and brought in a different thought process and allowed people to use the models they put on the table instead of seeing them pop the first turn.

Like Kill Team its a different way to play the game with the 40k models.

I like Warmachine I wish I could get more into the game but Time and Money hasn't allowed me to invest into it. I was just pointing out that people are not just sitting there idle they are going out and doing something different and having fun.

[Sir_Prometheus]

Ok.  I suppose moving each unit the switching makes it more like chess.  Gets weird if you have different #s of units, I'd think. 

[Loranus]

Strategy to that though also. If you bring for the point of this Say a 1000 point list with 10 units they are smaller weaker less durable w/e. Your opponent brought a list with say 5 units. Once you guys flipped back and forth for 5 units and he had nothing left you got to just activate your last 5 remaining units without him retaliating.

But because you had those weaker units they are easier to take out so he could aim for units you hadn't activated yet so you would lose out on the ability to activate them. It brought a larger level of tactics and strategy I felt to the game and was a very interesting watch compared to a normal game of 40k.

[andalucien]

Sounds very cool.  Thanks for posting, it makes me think...

[Zaroth]

Years ago (3rd edition) my friends and I decided to write our own version of 40k.  It blended some elements from the 3 editions.  One big change we did was to adopt the turn system from battletech.  Each side rolled for initiative using the commander's tactics rating (adapted from 2nd edition) plus a d6.  The low roller moved a unit first.  Players alternated until all units moved.  If one side had more units they moved 2 or 3 (depending on how much they outnumbered).  Shooting was simultanious, as was assault.  It really changed the flow and tactics of the game.  Instead of one side going and wiping out units that never had a turn, everything was simultanious.