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A bit of spitballing going on here, as I haven't tested this on the table... But I've been thinking about ways of de-cluttering the game a little without having to re-write all of the codexes. This is part one of that process.
The current system of rolling to hit - rolling to wound - rolling to save is cumbersome. I like chucking dice around as much as the next guy, but there's at least one step too many in there for it to be quick and tidy. And then it struck me: What if we just removed the roll to wound?
It's safe to assume that anything being carried around as a weapon is designed to hurt people, so having a whole separate roll to find out if it actually does seems kind of redundant. But (as stated above) I don't want to have to re-write statlines to make a simpler structure work. And so here's what I came up with:
SHOOTING
The BS stat becomes a score to roll equal to or under in order to hit. Rolling to hit will now represent not just the chances of the model being able to hit his target but also the chances of his weapon inflicting a wound. A successful roll against your BS is a wounding hit. However, the following modifiers apply:
- If the target's Toughness is more than twice the attacking weapon's Strength, they can not be wounded by that weapon.
- If the weapon's Strength is equal to or less than the target's Toughness, the attacking model suffers a -1 penalty to their BS.
Additionally, to slightly counterbalance the fact that everything suddenly became a lot easier to wound, we tweak AP slightly, by having AP represent the worst save allowed by that weapon, rather than the save value that is negated by it. So AP5 will now allow a 5+ or better save.
Example:
A space marine with a bolter firing at a guardsman (BS4, S4, AP5 against T3, Sv5+)
Currently - 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound, no armour save.
Revised - 4 or less to hit, 5+ armour save.
BS6+ would still allow the extra chance re-roll, but would be shifted to rolls of <1(BS6), <2(BS7), etc
Not sure of the best way to handle Blasts yet... but probably place the marker in range, count the number of models under the marker, and make that many attack rolls.
Templates would be similar, but only requiring a single attack roll to cause a wound on every model touched by the marker.
CLOSE COMBAT
Close combat needs to be handled slightly differently, due to the fact that the target is fighting back. As such, I would go for something vaguely inspired by the 2nd Ed 'comparison' system, but without the To Wound roll...
So - Combat is resolved in Initiative order as currently, with the following changes to the hit process:
- Attacker rolls 1D6 per Attack, and to each die adds their WS and Strength (or the Strength of the weapon they are using)
- Defender rolls 1D6 per Attack being made and adds their WS and Toughness.
(As an alternative to adding both scores to each roll, players could easily just compare their WS+S and WS+T results and apply the corresponding modifier to the attacker's rolls. So WS+S of 8 vs WS+T of 7 would result in a +1 to each of the Attacker's dice. WS+S of 7 vs WS+T of 8 would result in a -1 to each of the Attacker's dice)
For each attack that beats a defence roll (matching from highest to lowsest roll) there is one wounding hit.
As with Shooting, Toughness more than double the Strength negates the hit.
To prevent high-strength weapons like powerfists and thunderhammers from dominating combat under this system, Unwieldy weapons will now strike at Initiative, but will only get a single attack. Having paired weapons (of any type) will allow a reroll of one attack die. (For this purpose, I'm thinking that pistols and CCWs would count as separate things, for reasons of style, and to give some point to sacrificing the pistol for a second CCW where applicable)
Example:
A space marine with a bolt pistol and ccw attacking a guardsman (WS4, S4, A1 vs WS3, T3, Sv5+)
Currently - 2 attacks with 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound, no armour save.
Revised - 2 attacks with Attack of 8+D6 vs Defence of 6+D6 wounding on higher Attack roll , normal armour save.
VEHICLES
Armour Penetration rolls go away... vehicle armour now counts as the vehicle's 'Toughness' . So the process for attacking vehicles is exactly the same as for every other model, using the armour value for the facing the attacking model is in as it does now.
Every vehicle gains a default 3+ saving throw. (Possibly make this a 2+ for Heavy vehicles). Roll on the Damage table and lose a Hull Point for each unsaved Wounding Hit. Glancing hits are now only caused by anything that specifically causes a Glancing hit - this remains a lost Hull Point with no damage roll.
I rather like the idea of having the saving throw worsen by 1 for every lost Hull Point, but that's possibly getting a bit needlessly complicated again, and doesn't make much sense without a similar mechanic for MCs.
I think that's all of the pertinent details. Thoughts? Obvious issues I've overlooked?
It seems like it might potentially make MCs considerably weaker against ranged heavy weapons, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing. It also results in orks and anything else with 6+ or no armour dying more quickly against marines, which is a bigger problem... possibly balanced somewhat by re-improving cover saves slightly again.
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