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I recently started up a small (7 people) Warhammer 40k gaming club with a few friends and after a few years of idleness some of the rules still are confusing and difficult for some of the lesser rule savvy players to understand. I was wondering (Since from what I've heard WH40k is the most unbalanced tabletop game...) what are some common house rules that will balance the playing field? I'm trying to compound a list so that each of my fellow gamers can have a set list of house rules. I play Blood Angels, and other players include Necron, Tau, Tyranid, Eldar, Orks, and Imperial Guard. So far Space Marines and Tyranids have an edge in our games. Any suggestions for house rules for these armies would be much appreciated!
Many thanks.


Current House Rules:
1. Swarms-Each Instant death is doubled with wounds

2. Allocating Wounds to squad with Independent Characters-If the total amount of wounds recieved is greater than the number of units in the squad, deal wounds as following: # of Wounds Recieved divided by # of Models in Unit equals the # of wounds recieved to the IC.

3. (This HR is for fun, not balancing) Firing into/in Close Combat- Roll to hit and wound as normal, however when rolling to save, a 4+ cover save is given (Or armor save). All rolls that passed this cover save are immediately taken as wounds to the attacking player, unless the other unit in CC belongs to a different player. (As the cover save is their own flesh), if the save is failed, the attacking player takes the amount of wounds the defender failed to save. With template weapons the same rules apply. When a unit is locked into close combat and wishes to fire the same rules apply however they can choose if they want to use their assault phase as an extra shooting phase. However they can only target units they are locked in combat with. When in close combat rolling to hit with ranged weapons is the firer’s BS versus the defender’s WS (Average between both numbers +1).

4. Cover Saves: Cover saves are taken before armor saves and invulnerable saves in a Shooting Phase. Before the game, each piece of cover is determined to be heavy cover (5+ save) or light cover (6+ save). If a cover save is successful, the model’s armor/invulnerable save does not need to be attempted. A cover save may always be taken against a shooting attack, unless the attack is AP1.

5. Rapid Fire: Rapid-fire weapons may be fired at their full range even if their user has moved. However, they cannot be aimed easily while moving and are therefore shot at -1 BS. If a model has not moved, AND they are shooting at an enemy with a rapid-fire weapon, AND the enemy they are shooting at is within 12”, they benefit from +1 BS.

6. Swarms & IC: Independent characters that are attached to swarms may be targeted as an Individual Unit for attacking, unless the IC has the swarm or stealth rule.


*note* All players except Orks and Tau are using 5th Edition.

I don't like the idea of firing into close combat, and I don't understand #2

Not sure what you are saying with #1 and #2.

#3 is bad, you should never be firing into CC (Unless you have that GK inquisitor that allows it)

Cover is 5+ standard not 4+

The first two are so if we (my gaming club) ever come into some heated arguments as we have in recent games we have a set ground for whats what, firing into close combat is just an addition I added to add some strategy and risk into the game instead of sticking to GW's rather restricted CC rules, and it's more realistic, especialy when your playing with 3+ players. The 4+ cover save for firing into close combat is to recognise a 50/50 chance of hitting your target when the firer misses.

If you want a bit more strategy and risk, start calling all fire before you resolve any.
It's a fun little challenge.

Used to play that way, actually. All shooting was done simultaneously. Then we read the actual rules...

Actually I see your HR #2 imbalancing things. # 2 penalizes armies with ICs. Dark Eldar can field six haemonculi. Giving that t-shirt clad buthcer half the wounds? Unless I got that wrong.

#1 - Swarms looks like compounded template/ID rules, penalizing Necrons Scarabs and bug swarms.
#3 - How does this bring balance?

As for SM having the power, welcome to the larger meta of 40k. It's GK, SW & BA dominating.

Bugs being in the driver's seat over the rest makes sense, as the Xenos you listed are on the poorer side of things, that is older codexes, ... and your IG player isn't using Parking Lot, is she?


That said, orks & eldar and IG ought to be able to stand up to any of the power armor books. Orks just won the BSB, and I'd seen Wraithguard eldar take Round 2 at 'Ard Boyz.

You ought not need HRs of any kind.

Brothererekose wrote:Actually I see your HR #2 imbalancing things. # 2 penalizes armies with ICs. Dark Eldar can field six haemonculi. Giving that t-shirt clad buthcer half the wounds? Unless I got that wrong.

#1 - Swarms looks like compounded template/ID rules, penalizing Necrons Scarabs and bug swarms.
#3 - How does this bring balance?

As for SM having the power, welcome to the larger meta of 40k. It's GK, SW & BA dominating.

Bugs being in the driver's seat over the rest makes sense, as the Xenos you listed are on the poorer side of things, that is older codexes, ... and your IG player isn't using Parking Lot, is she?


That said, orks & eldar and IG ought to be able to stand up to any of the power armor books. Orks just won the BSB, and I'd seen Wraithguard eldar take Round 2 at 'Ard Boyz.

You ought not need HRs of any kind.

whats the BSB?

Brothererekose wrote:Actually I see your HR #2 imbalancing things. # 2 penalizes armies with ICs. Dark Eldar can field six haemonculi. Giving that t-shirt clad buthcer half the wounds? Unless I got that wrong.

#1 - Swarms looks like compounded template/ID rules, penalizing Necrons Scarabs and bug swarms.
#3 - How does this bring balance?

As for SM having the power, welcome to the larger meta of 40k. It's GK, SW & BA dominating.

Bugs being in the driver's seat over the rest makes sense, as the Xenos you listed are on the poorer side of things, that is older codexes, ... and your IG player isn't using Parking Lot, is she?


That said, orks & eldar and IG ought to be able to stand up to any of the power armor books. Orks just won the BSB, and I'd seen Wraithguard eldar take Round 2 at 'Ard Boyz.

You ought not need HRs of any kind.

#2 Is just to clear up targeting IC in a squad vs player allocating wounds, especialy in squads where there are multiple armor saves. It's just a set rule to follow with no dispute. #3 is just to add some color to our games, not really a balance issue, it also makes things less restricted in 3+ player games. Alot of our games are 2v2 or free for all with up to 5 people.

I'm not even sure #2 does anything that's not a rule already... If a unit takes more wounds than it has models, any attached IC is taking wounds.

OP: just to be clear, in 40k the term "unit" is synonymous with "squad". A single soldier (or tank, monstrous creature, etc.) is referred to as a "model". This is often a point of confusion for new players, especially those with an RTS computer gaming background, but when reading 40k rules it becomes an important distinction.

As for our house rules, we only have a few:
1. Objective markers cannot be placed in ruins on a level higher than the second (i.e. the one above ground level). We have a few pieces of tall runs and have found that defensive armies benefited too much if you could place them on level 4 or 5.
2. Weapons that fire more than one blast marker use the rules for Multiple Blasts; weapons that fire more than one barrage blast use the rules for Multiple Barrages.
3. We treat most things as area terrain, such as caters (we figure that they would be deeper in reality than the model shows), but not hills.
4. To judge if a die is "cocked", we place another same-sized die on top. If it rolls off, it is cocked; if it stays in place then it is not. If you roll a bunch of dice and some land on top of others, then those results still stand as long as the dice on top aren't cocked.
5. We treat windows in ruins in the same way as barriers (p22).

That's about all I can think of right now. We only really use them as common conventions rather than hard rules, but one day we might actually codify all of these things in writing...

I dunno if it's common, but I as a GK player have house ruled some things from the GK FAQ that I find ridiculous, (I'd still use them in a tournament, though.)

1) Multiple applications of hammerhand don't stack.
2) Psychotroke/Rad grenades only apply on a charge.
3) Plasma syphons only apply to plasma guns and plasma cannons.

I've just really made concessions with people about things so I still get to play GKs with them. Plus it's a lot more fun to not wipe people off the table and have them get all pissed off at me, haha.

We've got quite a few house rules, but here are some of our standouts:

1. Rapid-fire weapons may be fired at their full range even if their user has moved. However, they cannot be aimed easily while moving and are therefore shot at -1 BS. If a model has not moved, AND they are shooting at an enemy with a rapid-fire weapon, AND the enemy they are shooting at is within 12”, they benefit from +1 BS.

2. Any unit not involved in close combat may fire into an ongoing close combat. However, once they have chosen to fire into close combat, the player rolls a D6. On a roll of 4+, their shots hit the enemy and firing is carried on as usual. On a roll of 1-3 their own units are the victims and hits are resolved against them instead. Note that once the decision has been made to fire, the unit MUST fire all possible weapons; i.e. the player can’t take back the order to fire once he finds out his own units will be shot. Blast weapons use three shots when firing into close combat; blast markers are not used.

3. Cover saves are taken before armor saves and invulnerable saves in a Shooting Phase. Before the game, each piece of cover is determined to be heavy cover (5+ save) or light cover (6+ save). If a cover save is successful, the model’s armor/invulnerable save does not need to be attempted. A cover save may always be taken against a shooting attack, unless the attack is AP1.

1 common one I have seen is allowing to measure before declaring a shot.

A house rule i like to use when i'm playing LOTR, which could easily be applied to 40k is that when a unit is in a significantly elevated position (tower, ect), their shooting range is increased by 50%. Makes the high ground good for shooty armies... lol

Sock wrote:We've got quite a few house rules, but here are some of our standouts:

1. Rapid-fire weapons may be fired at their full range even if their user has moved. However, they cannot be aimed easily while moving and are therefore shot at -1 BS. If a model has not moved, AND they are shooting at an enemy with a rapid-fire weapon, AND the enemy they are shooting at is within 12”, they benefit from +1 BS.

2. Any unit not involved in close combat may fire into an ongoing close combat. However, once they have chosen to fire into close combat, the player rolls a D6. On a roll of 4+, their shots hit the enemy and firing is carried on as usual. On a roll of 1-3 their own units are the victims and hits are resolved against them instead. Note that once the decision has been made to fire, the unit MUST fire all possible weapons; i.e. the player can’t take back the order to fire once he finds out his own units will be shot. Blast weapons use three shots when firing into close combat; blast markers are not used.

3. Cover saves are taken before armor saves and invulnerable saves in a Shooting Phase. Before the game, each piece of cover is determined to be heavy cover (5+ save) or light cover (6+ save). If a cover save is successful, the model’s armor/invulnerable save does not need to be attempted. A cover save may always be taken against a shooting attack, unless the attack is AP1.

Thanks for this! I'll most likely add #1 and #3 to my list.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

caledoneus wrote:A house rule i like to use when i'm playing LOTR, which could easily be applied to 40k is that when a unit is in a significantly elevated position (tower, ect), their shooting range is increased by 50%. Makes the high ground good for shooty armies... lol

Interesting concept, maybe I'll bring this up in one of our meetings and se what people think about it.

caledoneus wrote:A house rule i like to use when i'm playing LOTR, which could easily be applied to 40k is that when a unit is in a significantly elevated position (tower, ect), their shooting range is increased by 50%. Makes the high ground good for shooty armies... lol

So my melta vets on the top of that ruin have a 18" range? Awesome!
A lot of the house rules in this thread are grossly imbalanced towards a particular type or style of play.
Reminds me of when the BA player I play with tried to house rule that shooting through 2 buildings would get you a 3+ cover save...yeah, no.

All i can remember for hose rules in my group is you can toss grenades up to 6". We also could never understand how to do a psychic test so we just ignore them completely

Tazz Azrael wrote:All i can remember for hose rules in my group is you can toss grenades up to 6". We also could never understand how to do a psychic test so we just ignore them completely

Take a Leadership test. If you pass, the power is used successfully. If you fail, it's not. Also...
If you get two 1s or two 6s it's perils of the warp. On the two 1s, the power still activates, on the two sixes it doesn't.
Perils of the Warp means you take a wound, with invulnerable saves allowed (but successful ones must be re-rolled).