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I have just got an idea for a game mechanic no tabletop game has so far, as far as I know: In an airport tower the flight controllers use a quite old fashioned device to keep track which airplane is going to land next. It’s basically a tray with movable plastic tokens on it.

I believe that this also could be a great gaming aid to utilize in a tabletop game to keep track on the movement order, in game sysrems where one unit of each player is activated alternately. Each unit gets a token on the tray, and whose token is on the top is activated, and then the token is moved to the bottom.

This creates many new strategic possibilities. For example, there could be rules on how exactly the succession of the units tokens are set up at the beginning of the game and the succession could also change during the game. A unit could delay its turn and be placed further below on the tray. Or it could be used for suppressive fire: If a unit is shot at, it moves downwards on the tray.

Interesting first post. This has potential..

Pathfinder uses something like what you're describing for initiative - or Paizo sells a product for it, at least.

I feel like this would have to be a fairly small scale game or else things would get a bit out of hand. I've played similar games where they were based on cards and each unit had a number and suit, so when say, the 4 of hearts got drawn, you could use your tank or whatever.

Its an interesting concept ill admit, But from my view point, it might not work out too well. If your talking about implimenting it in a system like 40k, where a player could have a high number of units on the table at once, it seems like it might slow down the game, rather then help speed it up.

The old GW/Milton Bradley game based on WH Fantasy, Battle Masters, used a deck of cards to determine which unit activated. They would move and attack based on when their card was randomly drawn.

I use Initiative cards when I run D&D games, but it's based on regular initiative rolls, then I sort the deck based on the initiative order.

What could be done, is you roll two d6 and add the unit's Init score, mark it on a card or chart and go in initiative order. You'll have the option of rolling initiative at the beginning of the game or at the beginning of each round.

Or you can make a set of cards with the units names on them and shuffle them up and go in that order. Move, Shoot, Attack for each unit on both sides.

I've got a magnetic version of that that I use for Shadowrun initiative order. WHFRP uses a similar system for initiative, including shifting forwards and backwards in the order depending on abilities and rolls.

Cool idea, but it would likely add lots of situational randomness that already is game changing (who gets the first turn, who gets the charge, etc.)

I like the idea, but I'd like to see it more fleshed out and put into a game context. A game mechanic in isolation doesn't tell you much of anything about how the game works. If I said, "Hey, guys, I've got this idea for a game where you roll a D20 to determine initiative!", you'd probably think of several positive and negative examples of ways that could go.

But this looks like something that would work well in an application similar to how it's used in real life- a game featuring giant, lumbering behemoths maneuvering in tight quarters.

Either a fantasy/steampunk/historical naval game or a sci-fi starship-scale battle game. Each side gets a name plate for each ship in their fleet along with several tokens that somehow attach to the plate. Players take turns ordering a single ship to perform a single order, with the trick being that the order isn't actually carried out until after say, 3-4 orders are in the queue for each side. Imagine that each fleet is scanning (or scrying, or watching through telescopes) the other and so can guess what sort of action each ship is attempting before that action actually gets carried out. Players then have to think turns ahead, trying to decide if they should react to their opponents orders or ignore them and pursue their own strategy. Players could only issue orders for the ships whose name plates are free to be put into the queue.

You could even simulate different qualities of ships by playing with this mechanic. Ships which are particularly agile can recieve more than a single name plate (allowing them to be put more than once in the order queue). Ships with an aptitude for certain functions can have the option of at the time of executing an order changing that order to a different type. For example, a warlike fleet might always be able to substitute any order for their Behemoth cruiser with a "fire broadside" order. Or a nimble, sneaky fleet might always be able to replace an order with "evasive maneuvers". Legendary captains might grant the ability to once per game change the order issued to their capital ship to any other order they wish. Stealth ships might be able to lay their order token face down so that the opponent knows they will be activated, but doesn't know exactly what the ship will attempt.

This could get very complicated of course. And would require a well-designed "order board" so that all of your ship name cards and tokens don't go flying if someone sneezes at your table. But it could lead to an interesting game with intricacies beyond "build the most min/maxed list".