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What if rolling to charge was kept basically as is, except you roll the distance your unit can charge first and then decide whether and what to declare the charge against. That way charging would be more reliable but still not a guaranteed hit every time. And you only eat overwatch from units you can actually get into fight distance with.

 Threeshades wrote:
What if rolling to charge was kept basically as is, except you roll the distance your unit can charge first and then decide whether and what to declare the charge against. That way charging would be more reliable but still not a guaranteed hit every time. And you only eat overwatch from units you can actually get into fight distance with.

That makes overwatch less annoying, but it doesn't help with the frustration of flubbing what should be an easy charge. I think one of the central questions we have to ask in this thread is, "Should it be possible to fail a 3" charge?" Reasonable people could say yes, but I personally find such a thing unfluffy and immersion breaking.

I'm now liking the idea of a fixed distance, with melee-oriented units gaining a random distance in addition.

EG:

guardsmen (shooting unit) would be 7" charge, flat amount
Ork Boys would be 6+D6" charge, so 7-12".
Hormagaunts would be 8 or 9+D6, as all they are doing is running to eat you.

In real wars, charging is a crap shoot. The commander gives the order to charge, the boys go over the top, and sometimes things go wrong that prevents them from reaching the objective as planned, leaving them hanging out to dry. It's a risk that sometimes needs to be taken, depending on how desperate the situation is.

Make the charging distance variable and require the charging unit to move the distance rolled, unless that unit can pass a Leadership test which would allow the charge to be called off. This would be similar to a commander realizing at the last minute that charging would be a mistake, and then trying to cancel the order before it's too late.

bludbowler wrote:
In real wars, charging is a crap shoot. The commander gives the order to charge, the boys go over the top, and sometimes things go wrong that prevents them from reaching the objective as planned, leaving them hanging out to dry. It's a risk that sometimes needs to be taken, depending on how desperate the situation is.

Make the charging distance variable and require the charging unit to move the distance rolled, unless that unit can pass a Leadership test which would allow the charge to be called off. This would be similar to a commander realizing at the last minute that charging would be a mistake, and then trying to cancel the order before it's too late.

That's a good shout, means that elite units with good Ld can risk longer charges without the risk of blundering out of cover to be shot.

I also think that overwatch should be leadership-based, IE pass a leadership test to overwatch. A more detailed hold/overwatch/countercharge/flee system for the chargee would be nice, but it would need to be good and simple to fit in. hold & overwatch can be amalgamated into a single thing I suppose. Leaving Overwatch, Countercharge & Flee.

A simple solution would be to give units a default response and then to make them perform a leadership test to do otherwise. EG a unit of gretchin's default response is to flee. A unit of firewarriors default response is to overwatch. A unit of bezerkers default response is to countercharge. if you pass a ld test, do whichever of the 3 you want. If you fail, do the default.

Monsters would have the effect of causing any infantry to have a default response of flee. Some units would have "fearless" which means that they are not affected by such abilities. Tyranids could get a new unit with psychoactive spores which induce rage, making their targets default response to countercharge.

I feel the whole moving in/out of combat system needs re-working.

I don't understand the wild variety in a charge that would make it so random (but can see why some randomness would be needed - someone trips, loses their nerve, is battle weary etc) so a charge that is largely a fixed value with a less proportion of randomness makes sense. A set charge distance + a small bit of randomness makes sense to me, especially with melee focused units. Getting two moves is fine as it adds a bit of speed to the game/covers distance for foot sloggers but I wouldn't be opposed to having charging in lieu of regular movement.

Though I play a lot of combat heavy armies, I also think the piling over into units is a bit cheeky with the initial charge move and should only be 'legal' if done during consolidation. If you're targeting a unit to charge then you're targeting a unit to charge at or you're charging all enemy models. The syetem of 'you can only attack a unit you declared a charge against' makes no sense if you can then move into a unit you did not make a charge against during the charge phase, as such it should be one way or t'other. I charge at all enemies I can reach with X distance or I charge at the unit I declared but can only reach them with my charge. I'd prefer the former as it make more sense.

Then moving out of combat... sure, those guys are running so we won't follow them and stand still to be shot. Retreating from combat should always have a test. I don't care how precious the snowflake is, no enemy is going to allow their prey to casually walk away. I think this could be simple too. Does the charging unit have a larger movement range than the prey? Yes? Then the prey cannot escape. Does the charging unit have the same movement? Yes? Then they roll off. Does the charging unit have a smaller movement value than the prey? Yes? Then the prey can retreat.

Agree that charging some units absolutely should require a leadership test. Agree that being charged should cause a leadership test "no, no, it's perfectly fine that greater daemon the size of a house with an axe the size of a car just charged, screaming in my late mother's voice, into our flank, breathing fire-magic, and killed ten of my fellows. I fear not the daemon with my glorified flash light! RAW! For the Emprah!!!" Dies.


@Some bloke. I like those suggestions too, with the standard responses and reactions to monsters.