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Unfortunately, the IG Vox-Caster rules just plain suck IMO. And that?s a shame because the Vox-Caster should be an integral part of the IG army. I say this because the Vox-Caster (as carried on the back by a separate model) is a unique concept amongst the armies of the 41^st millennium.

 

It really helps create the ?feel? of the Imperial Guard. Whereas Space Marines can talk with their force commander anywhere on the battlefield simply by opening a com-link channel in their helmet, the Guard have to dedicate a soldier to carry a big, heavy piece of equipment around to do roughly the same thing.

 

 More importantly, the whole concept of the Vox-Caster, or ?radio guy? in general is very cinematic, and much of the 40K rules are clearly movie-inspired. Whenever I think about writing a house rule I always ask myself: ?Have I seen that done in a movie?? If the answer is ?yes? then I know I?m on the right track.

 

Whether it?s the officer trying to call HQ but not realizing the phone cord has been cut and the radio-guy is dead, or the whole: ?Johnson! Get your ass over here right now!? or ?We need air support RIGHT NOW?, the radio-guy is one of the key elements of the grunt mythos, and therefore should certainly be better represented in the game of 40K.

 

Whenever I make up rules I try to boil the concept down to the absolute core and try to remain true to those ideas. Here are what I believe the core principles behind Vox-Casters in an IG army should be:

 

1)      Vox-Casters should be important, almost essential to the IG army.

2)      They should be used to relay orders from HQ (Ld bonus).

3)      They should occasionally get orders garbled (a penalty).

4)      They should be used to call in artillery strikes (that helps represent the type of warfare the IG employ).

 

With those principles in mind, here are my proposed rules for Vox-Casters in an Imperial Guard army:

 

The following rules completely replace the Vox-Caster/Master-Vox rules presented in the Imperial Guard codex. Vox-Casters remain 5 pts per unit. However, a Command HQ may ONLY take a Master-Vox (at the normal price of 20 pts), but the Master-Vox now has no additional rules (it is treated just like a Vox-Caster as described below).

 

The abilities of the Vox-Caster (presented below) may only be used if:

 

A) The Vox-Caster model is in base contact with an Officer, Veteran Sergeant or Sergeant in the same unit. If the unit doesn?t contain any of those models, then any other model in the same unit will suffice.

B) The unit containing the Vox-Caster is not locked in combat.

 

 

ORDERS FROM ABOVE

Any Imperial Guard unit with a Vox-Caster may use the Leadership special rule of any Command Squad that has a Vox-Caster or Master-Vox regardless of whether or not the two units are within 12? of each other.

 

STATIC INTERFERENCE

When an Imperial Guard unit with a Vox-Caster fails a pinning test or morale check for losing 25% casualties in a shooting phase, his opponent chooses whether the unit becomes pinned or falls back instead of following the normal result for failing the test. For example, if an IG unit with a Vox-Caster fails a pinning test, his opponent can choose to have the unit fall back instead of becoming pinned if he wishes.

 

ARTILLERY STRIKES

Imperial Guard armies with the Light Infantry, Jungle Fighter or Drop Troops doctrines cannot use Artillery Strikes:

 

A single Veteran Sergeant or Officer in a unit with a Vox-Caster may call in an artillery strike as part of the unit?s shooting. Both the Veteran Sergeant/Officer and the Vox-Caster model may not fire their weapons, and the unit must have remained stationary in the movement phase.

 

The artillery strike targets the same enemy unit as the rest of the shooting. The range of an artillery strike is unlimited, and LOS is drawn from the Officer/Veteran Sergeant calling in the strike. Roll to hit using the Officer/Veteran Sergeant?s Ballistic Skill.

 

Against non-vehicle models, if a hit is scored, the enemy unit must take a pinning check as if it had suffered a casualty from an Ordnance Barrage (this test is in addition to any other pinning checks caused by the shooting). If a ?6? is rolled to hit then the enemy unit also suffers D6 wounds which can be saved as normal.

 

Vehicle models (and artillery models) are only affected on a to hit roll of ?6?, in which case all vehicle/artillery models in the unit suffer a S6 hit against their rear armor value.

 

Bunkers (and units inside bunkers), tank traps and razor wire are not affected by Artillery Strikes.

 

 

 

So that?s it! Comments, suggestions and criticisms are always welcome.

 

Here are some designer notes:

 

Q: You can use the Ld bonus on as many units as you want per turn, and it only costs 5 pts a unit, plus it does all that other stuff. Are you crazy?

A: Well, remember, that to get the higher Ld values, you?re going to have to spend the 20 pts on the Command HQ squad, and you?re still going to be paying 5 points for every single squad. It adds up.

 

Also remember that with Vet Sergeants and close order drill it is fairly easy to get a Ld8 in the guard army. This is allows a different sort of approach for players who don?t want to go the same old route.

 

 

Q: Why is there a penalty (Static Interference) for taking a Vox-Caster?

A: First, it fits the concept of the radio-guy from every movie ever. Second, it helps offset the cheap point cost of the thing.

 

Q: Dude, that Artillery Strike is hugely powerful! And why can?t I use it with the Drop Trooper doctrine? They should have air strikes!

A: Hopefully you noticed that a Veteran Sergeant or Officer is needed to call down an Artillery Strike. This drastically limits the amount of strikes you will see unless players want to essentially waste points ?doubling up? their units with a Vox-Caster AND a Vet Sergeant.

 

As for the doctrine limitation it is two-fold. First off, it fits the concept that recon and rapid-redeploy forces wouldn?t tend to be supported by artillery (in the 40K universe). Second, I wanted to try to make the basic flavor of Guard have a little something over the more specialized regimental doctrines that nearly everyone takes.

 

 

Maybe have the artillery strikes work for ordnance and mortar squads in reserve? Instead of rolling to see if the platoon or vehicle shows up, you announce that they're providing off-table support. The next reserves roll you attempt for them is at -1, as they had to pause in their advance to provide fire. The range is measure from any point along any table edge from which they could enter, but after that they may not enter or provide off-table support from any other point. You may attempt a reserves roll for the platoon or vehicle to move the "fire point" up to 6" for infantry or 12" for vehicles, but they may not provide fire that turn. You also may not move the point onto an area from which they could not enter. Maximum range is halved and minimum range is ignored. The officer or sergeant sending the co-ordinates has to pass leadership test without the benefit of any Officer's Leadership rule in addition to any other leadership test he is required to make, and one member of the squad must have LOS to the target. If all leadership tests are passed, the barrage is resolved as normal. Since drop troops resolves squad-by-squad and not by platoon, you could see the Elysians, for instance, dropping their mortars on some commanding feature sufficiently nearby the battlefield to support the main push. Ditto Catachans or Tallarns - perhaps the crafty nomads have flanked their adversaries with Basilisks.

edit - maybe allow the Guard to purchase individual Basilisk or mortar salvoes as fast attack, kind of like Tyranid Spore Mine Clusters? Pass the reserves roll and the order reaches the battalion-level support.

I say again, IG needs to get the option of purchasing a preliminary bombardment. Makes the rules for improved comms make sense.

Say 40 points for a Basi shell versus twenty for three mortar rounds?

A Bombardment should consist of more than a single shell, maybe some version of the Pre-Bomardment. Say 4+ to hit/wound D6 random units. Also IRL an artillery grenade has an area of effect of about 100mx100m, and a bombarment of a sizeable enemy force would consist of 4-8 grenades.

Check out the ork preliminary bombardment from the armageddon codex. It would be very fluffy if the IG could take this.

@Wight Widow:

One thing I want to comment on is that I think IG bombardments should be seperate from the actual forces used in the game (or in reserve).

IG vehicles hurrying to the battlefield to join their comrades would not take time to stop, line up a shot, and fire indirectly, IMO.

In my mind, IG barrages come from a dedicated battery of artillery miles away. The same could theorertically be imagined for any army in 40k, but I feel that the *way* IG fight wars lends itself to a special artillery rule more than any other army.

By the time the Guard lands on a planet, they are doing so in such over-whelming force that they have gigantic artillery batteries at the ready. The Guard also doesn't tend to push forward (or hold ground) unless they have some artillery support.



@Abba: I personally don't think balancing things against the Space Marine codex is a good way to handle the game. The SM codex is broken and should be fixed, we should not break the rest of the game to match that codex. Since this is the fantasy-land of proposed rules I can imagine that we can create fixes for the SM codex to bring it back to reality, so that we can keep the rest of the rules in the game fair and balanced.



In general: I wouldn't mind if IG could purchase an artillery strike similar to the Speed Freeks or Tyranid Spore Mines, I just think that bundling the power with the com-link is the way to go. It defines two very "guard" ideals into one, and makes sure that Com-links are no longer the red-headed step-child they are now. . .it also fits in with the basic concept of a radio-pack in real life warfare.

Arite, ich verstehe. (justification and more opinion follow) My opinion was that say, a Basilisk moving towards the battlefield might simply be given co-ordinates to fire upon, given its great range, rather than getting dangerously close to the enemy - likely a Colonel would prefer his artillery kept at arms length from the enemy, even within company-level formations like the kind with which IG play normal-sized games, there are "detached" elements - drop stormies, etc. - so I just see it as the crew being told they're close enough and just to shoot. The Basi's range is also pretty redundant on average-sized boards.

As far as working the vox into purchased barrages - possibly force the purchased template to be centered within LOS of a squad with a vox-caster, who can't use the vox that turn to receive leadership etc. as they need to dial in the co-ordinates. Possibly count calling in the strike as the vox-operator and sergeant/lieutenant shooting their weapons that turn, so they have to pass a LD test for nearest target, if they fail the sergeant panics and the template is centered on the closest enemy unit, resolving like an orbital strike instead of a barrage. If they pass that, maybe another LD test - success means you roll two dice for scatter distance and choose the lowest, failure means you reroll the scatter die if you do get a hit. Or something like that.

I had another thread somewhere in here on using voxes to communicate between squads with Heavy 2+ x" weapons and "spotters", allowing the Heavy 2+ x" weapons to count as Heavy 1 Blast Gx-6", representing WWI-style indirect machinegun fire. All the future stuff in the voxes should let them set up the co-ords a bit faster than in 1917.

I think units that have a vox should be able to Forward Observe for any indirect fire weapon the player's army has. Make a leadership test and if you fail, the indirect firing weapons fire as normal. If you pass, then perhaps having the option of rerolling the scatter die would be appropriate.

With particular reference to the leadership aspect of the vox; perhaps remove the officers Leadership special rule; and let the vox allow you to use the officer's leadership anywhere on the board. You then purchase a vox for 2pts for each squad.

In order that people who don't like voxes don't have to take them; add the Leadership special rule as it currently stands to the Iron Discipline doctrine.

Company and Regimental Standards would have to be re-worked (perhaps allowing units with LoS to reroll failed morale checks, or to be pinned rather than falling back); as would the psyker's extending leadership power (perhaps reroll one die of the morale check?)

With reference to the orbital barrage/preliminary bombardment idea; I don't like it ? mainly because it's a weapon system that's almost impossible for the opponent to get rid of, but also because it takes away from the idea that the army is a standalone force. 40K is a skirmish/battle-level game ? leave artillery support to Epic; or write a Trench veterans doctrine or something. If you must keep it, add it as a separate piece of wargear: perhaps the master-vox upgrade allows it, or something.

Besides, leaving the rules fairly generic opens the field to 'counts as'. It's harder to explain why a leadership bonus conveyed by chaemobiomancy/shared adoration of the Emperor/vast quantities of skulls and candles allows you to blow up your enemy!

Individual bassie shells shouldn't be too bad - basically a slightly stronger version of a spore mine cluster.