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2023/11/09 16:48:12
Subject: My custom 40k rules - Core rules and armies (With alternate activation! Stratagems stay out!)
73 Wargear options for characters and troop leaders
9 Veteran abilities
34 Chapter traits
7 Wargear options for vehicles
8 Psychic disciplines to pick from (3 original)
2 Prayer lists to pick from
56 Units including Assault Marines, Tacticals, Devastators, Dreadnoughts, Bikers, Sternguard, Vanguard and Land Speeders
The current state of Codex Space Marines has been translated into English and added to the first post.
Dark Eldar received a smaller update to their Armory as well, increasing character and squad leader wargear options to 52.
I've had all my 40k stuff stored away during a remodel but I'll soon have a game room again and will try to get a game of this in.
I do wish you had a proper name for your ruleset though. Why not Typical Hero Homebrew, Typical Hero Hammer, or something along those lines?
Edit: Your group never has a problem with cover simply adding to the armor save instead of having its own value? Eg. wooden walls offer 5+, stone walls offer 4+. That way cover is more valuable to a guardsman than a space marine.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/11/09 20:59:44
Dakka's Dive-In is the only place you'll hear what's really going on in the underhive. Sure, the amasec is more watery than a T'au boarding party but they can grill a mean groxburger. Just watch for the occasional ratling put through a window and you'll be alright.
It's classier than that gentleman's club for abhumans, at least.
- Caiphas Cain, probably
If you can't find a specific unit or if something is unclear in the rules, I'm very happy to help you out.
We took a lot of inspiration from earlier editions, as that is what we think to be the golden era of 40k (3rd to 5th). Back then cover gave a static "cover save" and since we wanted to have units be able to take all the saves available to them without inflating dice rolls (armor save, invul save, cover save, FnP), cover got designed to grant a static +2 to your armor (capped at 1+) and a to hit penalty for your enemy, unless they are given the "Stand & Shoot" order. I totally understand your train of thought, though. If you want to make a distinction between harder and lighter cover, I would start by reducing the armor bonus to only +1. A Marine being hard to shift from cover (or benefitting more from it than a Guardsman) is designed as intented, as a typical Space Marine army got around 20 models (including some vehicles) for a standard sized game. A horde army like Orks are capable of bringing 100+ Boys with toys and some Deffdreads in comparison. The cool thing about it is, that it still felt balanced in our games.
Regarding the name: Truth be told, I didn't do everything by myself. Even though the majority of rules and codizes are done by me nowadays, in the beginning there were two colleagues from my local club that helped me getting started. We never talked about an official name, Custom40k was just how I named our Discord channel to talk about this project and we never changed it.
Right now I would say the name is quite fitting, given the focus on army and unit customisation that I am trying to achieve for all factions. But I like your ideas!
Adeptus Custodes have been added to the roster of playable armies. The first post has been updated accordingly.
They do feature a very powerful and unique special rule that allows them to contest an objective by simply being in the same table quarter as well as controling an objective from further away than other factions.
This is countered by their very low model count.
Three Vertus Praetors already cost 660 points out of the 2500 for a regular sized game.
I assume this rule will be subject to some change once I get in test games with them.
World Eaters have been added to the list of supported armies.
They have a very special way of playing as most of their units are unable to control mission objectives and tend to simply rush towards the enemy, if they get provoked enough.
Using the Blood Tithe mechanic, they are able to desecrate objectives along the way and still claim them for Khorne, among other smaller benefits like ressurecting fallen models or summoning a Bloodthirster to the party.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2023/11/23 09:27:01
- The first version of the "Planetary Assault" campaign system has been added to the OP. It will be the base for this year's campaign in our club. It is untested so far and I expect some fine tuning here and there once we start playing.
- Assassins have been updated and translated into English.
- Veteran abilities for all relevant armies have been updated.
- Some flyers gained the ability to hover.
Added the link to the "Escalation" supplement, which includes rules for Gargantuan Creatures and Super-heavy Vehicles.
At the moment it houses a small number of models like Baneblades and will naturally grow over time, like all the other codizes.
These kind of units are _not_ supposed to be played in regular sized games (2500-3000 points) and it should be checked with your opponents before bringing such a unit. Their damage output or resilience is far higher and can leave an unprepared player struggling to fight against.
With named characters I follow a very specific approach, as Custom40k is all about "your dudes".
I won't add named characters to the game, but I will totally steal their wargear and abilities and add it to the armory.
So you won't find a Typhus in the rules, but you can take a Death Guard Plaguecaster, equip him with a Manreaper, Cataphracti armor, Battle honors to boost BS and WS and Nurgling infestation and you get your count-as Typhus.
And now the cool thing is: If you want your Typhus to have a Combi-melta as well, go for it. If you want to make his hand flamer especially deadly, add Poison(3+). Add a protective "Cloud of flies" to make him harder to hit in ranged combat. If a Manreaper is too boring, go ahead and create your own Demon weapon with my "Demon weapon points calculator".
I usually only leave out special equipment if it is just "a power weapon +1" or if the effect is not workable within the ruleset. Anything that has something to do with CP generation for example, as CP simply do not exist.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2024/01/29 14:27:27
That's a really cool idea, my only suggestion would be a primarch-ish statblock to represent them characters. Going through this has reignited my interest in 40k as a game so thanks. Just gotta convince some of the other local players to give it a go.
2024/02/01 10:50:22
Subject: Re:Custom40k - Core rules and armies (Alternate activation, huge customisation, support for all models)
Thank you for the suggestion, I will make sure to consider it when it comes creating profiles for these individuals.
I'm glad to read that you like my stuff and want to try it out. For a first game I would suggest to play the "Standard mission" as described in the core rules and to bring two armies that don't skew too much into vehicles. If you are not familiar with older editions and the "Armor value" system, vehicles might seem a bit unfair if you don't bring weapons to counter them.
Good luck in finding a mate to play with and have fun when you do! Let me know how it went down or if any questions came up.
So I read your rules and got me and a gaming buddy interested in your ruleset as it seems to be exactly what we're searching for, an inbetween of OPR and 40K.
However, a list of Google docs doesn't look that convenient to me. How did you spread the stuff in your group? Do you have a list builder or are you just doing it in the old ways on paper?
2024/02/03 22:38:05
Subject: Re:Custom40k - Core rules and armies (Alternate activation, huge customisation, support for all models)
Sorry, I do not have a list builder currently. When writing army lists, people either use paper or Excel.
However, directly from within Google Docs under "File -> Download" you can select different formats (xlsx, ODS, PDF, ...) to get something to be printed more easily. Some players print out the datasheets of the units they are bringing, some have the Google Docs sheet open on their mobile to reference units during the game.
Glad it sparked your interest. Let me know if any questions come up and how your first game was!
Somebody in the club bought their first GSC units and that means they finally got added in their first version, ready to ambush the battlefields of Custom40k. Link is added to the OP.
Additionally, Orks got an update to their roster in the form of lots and lots of buggies. (only in German for now, though).
Additionally additionally, Necrons had a revamp of their Reanimation protocols along with several profile glow ups for the more elite units.
Reanimation Protocols:
Spoiler:
Reanimation Protocols: The army receives 4 Reanimation Points (RPoints) for every 500 points of game size. These points can be used to heal wounded or fallen models.
During the Reinforcement phase, each unit must be allocated at least as many RPoints with this rule as the number of wounds it has lost so far (including slain models).
If the RPoints are not enough for all models, the player can decide which units receive the RPoints.
A unit can only gain more RPoints than lost wounds if there is no other unit that has not yet gained as many RPoints as it has lost wounds.
Roll one die for every RPoint. On a 4+, the unit regains one wound and the RPoint is retained for the upcoming Reinforcement phase. Damaged models have to be healed up first before any slain model can return to the unit.
On a 3, the unit gains no wound and the RPoint is retained for the upcoming Reinforcement phase.
On a 1 or 2, the unit gains no wound and the RPoint is lost for the rest of the game.
If a unit has been completely wiped out, leave the last model on the field until the next Reinfocement phase, where it may be revived with RPoints. Such units take a -1 penalty on the roll. If the unit is not revived (either because no roll was successful or no attempt was made), it is permanently removed from play.
Slain models that are restored with RPoints have to be placed into direct base contact with as many of the remaining models of the unit as possible. Unless the unit is still engaged with an enemy in melee, they may not be placed in direct base contact with an enemy model.
Some units are able to gain "temporary RPoints". These RPoints are resolved normally as described above, but will be discarded automatically at the end of the current battle round and have no effect on the remaining RPoint pool of the player.
If a model is killed by a weapon that has at least twice the Strength of its own Toughness, it cannot use Reanimation Protocols.
This is trying to better model how Reanimation Protocols are strong early on and become gradually weaker, as the battle goes on and the damage becomes more severe.
Eldar 
Imperial Guard 
Space Marines
