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Homebrew Chapter Tactics

Started by Waaaghpower, July 29, 2015, 06:24:48 PM

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Waaaghpower

This is just a silly side project I've been thinking about; Chapter Tactics (and a few other things,) for (what else,) a Homebrew chapter. It seems pretty balanced to me, though I'm open to suggestions.

So, without further ado:
The Dragon Warriors:
Tactical Flexibility - Dragon Warrior Tactical Marines, Assault Marines, and Devestators begin with only three Tactical Marines and a Sergeant. Their squad size cannot exceed eight models. However, they may Combat Squad into two four man units, may buy a Heavy or Special weapon with four models, and may buy both a Heavy and Special weapon with only eight models.

Battlefield Command - If Dragon Warrior Tactical Marines, Assault Marines, or Devestators upgrade their Sergeant to a Veteran Sergeant, they may upgrade another Space Marine to an additional Sergeant for free. (Note that this Sergeant may not also be upgraded to a Veteran.) If upgraded in this way, any unit which Combat Squads must put one Sergeant in each squad.


Warlord Traits:
Know No Defeat - The Warlord and his unit may reroll failed Morale, Fear, and Pinning tests, and never roll more than 2d6 on these tests.
Conquest at All Costs - The Warlord gains Rage, Counter-Attack, and Rampage in assault if his Unit is outnumbered two to one. (Rounding down.)
Destroyer of Worlds - If the Warlord is a Chapter Master, he may re-roll the to-hit roll on his Orbital Bombardment. Otherwise, he may make an Orbital Bombardment attack, though it is resolved at S6 AP4.
Xenocide - The Warlord and his unit gain Preferred Enemy (Tyranids)
Know Your Enemy - The Warlord and his unit gain Hatred after completely destroying any enemy unit.
Know Yourself - The Warlord gains Admantium Will and Stubborn



Relics:
(These I'm pretty questionable on, I'm trying to overcost them a bit to keep them from being OP, but if there's any problems or anything seems 'Too good', changing it won't be an issue.)
Any character with access to Relics may take one relic from below:
The Dragon's Grip - 30 Pts
The Dragon's Grip is a Grav Pistol with the Precision Shot special rule. Additionally, any model that takes a wound from The Dragon's Grip must pass an unmodified Initiative test or have their Weapon Skill and Attacks reduced by D3.
Dragonscale Cloak - 35 Pts
The Dragonscale Cloak is a suit of Scout armor which gives the wearer Scout, Stealth, and gives an additional +1 to cover saves. (As per Camo Cloaks.) Additionally, all ranged attacks made by the wearer of the Dragonscale Cloak gain Precision Shot if he did not move on that turn.
Razortooth - 40 Pts
A dueling blade, Razortooth is a melee weapon with AP2. If the character wielding it is in a challenge with a model whose Weapon Skill is higher than his, he may substitute his Weapon Skill with theirs.

(I'll eventually be adding fluff, a visual description, and maybe one or two more relics, but for now I thought I'd stick to the easiest elements to balance).
Super Mario 3D World is The. Best. Thing.

Narric

Chapter Tactics included full army lists, so would you be alright with me also posting my homebrew "Cavalry themed" Imperial Riders?

The Dragon Warriors:
Tactical Flexibility - You'd have to include something about changes to unit costs, as Codex entries specify how much the standard unit is (5man).
Reminds me pleasently of Dawn of War, though the connection would be stronger if Tactical Squads replace Devastators entirely and could take up to four Special and/or Heavy Weapons :P

Battlefield Command - So double Characters meaning double special combat weaponry? Sounds cool, and taking it into account with my previous point would make the unit cost the same.

Warlord Traits:
Destroyer of worlds feels a little off. I think its the second half which doesn't seem to be worded right.
Xenocide feels it shouldn't be specific to Tyranids, but without looking up the backstory to the Dragon Warriors, that could just be me being in the dark of their lore.

The Dragon's Grip - This seems a bit OP, even for 30pts. Also its a Grav- Weapon, which is already pretty bad in official form. Maybe keep it as a much older Grav- Weapon, so its doesn't have an AP value (which would make it much more balanced) and then only have the Initiative test part. ICs can roll Precision Shot anyway when rolling to hit, and having its as a normal ability would make it far too powerful.

Dragonscale Cloak - A relic for Scout Sergeants to take? Confering Scouts is pointless unless its for a normal Captain or Chapter Master. Precision shot here feels more balanced, though I'd say 10/15pts more for the upgrade would be about right.

Razortooth - AP2 I can live with as a proper relic Power weapon, but the Weapon Skill Mimicry just doesn't feel right, not without some decent lore to go behind it to back it up.

Just my thoughts on your stuff as it written :3 Feel free to disagree with me ;)

Waaaghpower

Quote from: Narric on July 29, 2015, 09:24:26 PM
Chapter Tactics included full army lists, so would you be alright with me also posting my homebrew "Cavalry themed" Imperial Riders?
Sure, go ahead!

To respond to your points:
Tactical Flexibility: I want the units to stay at 70 Points base, which is why I didn't mention a points cost change. If Tactical Marine squads and Devestators dropped to 56 pts Base, then Gladius Strike Forces would become even more overpowered and spammy. If you take a full squad you still save 14 points, but if you take a bare-bones squad you're just losing out on points for no real advantage. This also encourages taking full units and capitalizing: You get all of the benefits if you cap things out, but if you try and skimp then you're not getting anything.

Battlefield Command: That's most of the point. More characters for challenges and doubling the amount of Special weapons available. (If you spend the ten points to take a Veteran, AND cap out your squad. Again, it's go big or go home, you can't get any of the benefits without taking a full squad.)

Warlord Traits:
The second half is a bit awkward, you're right. I wanted something that gives Orbital Bombardment/Exterminatus style buffs, but giving a free Orbital Bombardment seems a little too powerful. (I realize that Inquisitors can get a free Orbital Bombardment as their Warlord Trait, but still.) Maybe it gives a re-roll to hit for a single Ordnance weapon shot from any weapon, once per game?

As for Xenocide, giving Preferred Enemy for ALL the Xenos races (Eldar, DE, Tau, Orks, Tyranids,) seemed too powerful, and killing bugs is this armies specialty. I chose the name for fluff reasons, the army of Tyranids kind of sort of for fluff reasons. (I'm sure someone reading this thread will figure it out eventually.)

The Dragon's Grip: I don't want to drop the AP2, since that would really neuter any Grav-weapon, but maybe as an alternative it causes no damage, and instead the target must roll an Armor Save and, if passed, the effect takes place? (But it causes no actual damage, just a drop to I1 and a D3 drop to Ws and A.) That way it's still similar to Grav-guns, since it's based off of armor values rather than Initiative, but it doesn't cause any damage. (And I'll drop Precision shots, too.)

The Dragonscale Cloak: Not for Scout Sergeants, it's actually for Captains and other HQs. The idea of a battlefield leader actually getting down-and-dirty and retrieving battlefield intel himself has always been a cool one to me, I wanted to give players an option to actually have an HQ with their scouts and not have it feel really out of place.

Razortooth: Yeah, I was just trying to think of a neat effect here, I don't really have a fluff reasoning behind it. There used to be a Space Wolf item that always let the wearer hit on a 3+, I was thinking something like that which would also provide a defensive benefit. (Seeing as just having an AP2 weapon with a small Strength buff is really boring and everyone already has one of those.) Maybe it just forces the opponent to re-roll successful hits? (Or one successful hit, at least.) Or, any other unrelated effect or buff for an AP2 sword to have, really.
Super Mario 3D World is The. Best. Thing.

Narric

Razortooth by name alone sounds like it should have Fleshbane. Always wounds on a 2+ iirc (Rulebook is at the bottom of a box somewhere) Maybe that and AP3 would be a good comprimise? We're assuming its going to be a Hero of some description, who can likely hit in combat pretty reliably, even against higher WS opponents. Also would make the character a monster against non-character-lead units :P

That version of Dragon's Grip sounds much better and makes it more unique than just a modified Grav-pistol.

I always wanted a Scout Captain option, so I agree with the sentiment :3