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The way reserves are handled have annoyed me for the longest time. It kinda goes against the traditional use of reserves in actual combat. What would you think about this:

When it's time to roll for reserve units, you make the rolls just like you normally would except you roll all the dice at once. For every "hit" you get, you get to choose a unit to come in, rather than the entire process being completely random. Obviously this would initially throw balance out of whack a bit, but not so much that a few lists/armies would dominate the game, I think.

The way reserves seem to play out, the commander is requesting everything all at once, and it gets there as soon as able or it wont get there at all. Your suggestion is more akin to everything being ready to go any time--you would have too much control over your reserves.

One thing you may not realize for balance is that the more units you have, the vastly better your system becomes as you overload your opponent with all the best units, or keep all the best units in reserve for a late turn ninja.

It wouldn't merely shift the meta - it would dominate it. Stormtroopers would become instant 3'ofs. Space Marines and Tyranids would pelt the ground with empty pods, saving up for a big payoff roll where all their good troops could come in at once and maim-kill-destroy. Genestealer Infestations particularly would be a larger threat, with token 10gaunts held in reserve to boost their chances.

Armies like Tau and Dark Eldar would simply continue to wait in anticipation for you to drop, so they can unleash dakkadakkadakka.

Orks would benefit the least, and receive nearly nothing in return.

Edit* I meant to add "Outflankers in general" to this list. Again, Orks only benefit from one unit doing so, and then only with a special character that means they can't take a klaw, and then only in place of lootas.

I'm all for something being done to reserves. It's silly that you can't hold units back, or, like with the Tau, call in a unit a turn from Deepstrike on 2+ at the expense of the rest of your units. Just because GW wanted to keep the rules simple doesn't mean we have to >

I still don't think it would be all that bad (btw chris, only marines have the option to drop empty pods, Nids aren't special enough). While yes, you have more control over how you bring your best units in, you are still at the mercy of the dice for how many units come in each turn, if any. If you try and save your best units till the end, then the weak stuff is just going to hit the table early on and get shot/assaulted off the board with no support. Even if you are able to get lucky and clump all of your best units for a late turn grab, the opponent has several turns to pick off the weak stuff that comes in to gain an early lead in kill points and setup a defense on objectives. The only army I really see pushing this over the top would be Nids due to all of the nice deployment options they have that rely on certain units being on the field already (which are crap now since you can't predict that they will arrive ahead of the units that need them.) Most complete reserve lists in the current meta are not all that competative anyway, mostly because you are coming in piecemeal (which wouldn't change). Lists that utilize only partial reserves still wouldn't benefit that much more from the change.

And yes, it is akin to your reserves being ready to go, on-call...that's what real reserves are for. You don't put troops in reserve and tell them to show up when ever they feel like it.

I don't see a problem with stormtroopers becoming instant 3'ofs, as the are currently "when hell freezes over." They would still be fairly pricey suicide squads that would most likely get shot/assaulted a turn after they came in. Yes, please drop empty drop pods so I can gain quick KPs, while the units that took the pods are walking on the board. Nids would be scary, I'll grant you that. Tau could be kinda scary, but if they don't get good reserve rolls, they will get shot to bits as they come in piecemeal, same with DE.

I dunno, maybe I'm wrong and it would cause some titanic upheavel in the game. I think I might see if we can try it as a temporary house rule to see how it plays out.