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Why does this exist?

From GW:

Few warriors sit idly by when an enemy horde descends upon them, but let fly with every weapon at their command.

Because they are being charged by your enemy, your soldiers suddenly find that their guns are firing faster. Soldiers are already shooting with everything they have, why would your opponents rushing towards you change the rate of fire? Overwatch as an automatic action doesn't make a lot of sense. If the unit didn't fire then maybe being able to shoot when the enemy appears and charges you would make sense.

I propose that overwatch be changed so that a unit that did not shoot can declare that they are in overwatch. During the opponent's shooting phase, before the opponent fires any shots, units in overwatch can shoot, representing them opening fire into appearing enemies.

Or if you want to get really radical, switch the turn sequence to: your movement, opponent's shooting, your assault.

These would both represent units letting fly while the hordes descend upon them, without making shotguns turn into machine guns.

Honestly, I'd completely change it. If they haven't fired in the previous shooting phase, they can fire over watch, but at +1 BS, making it actually a tactical choice. Currently, the choice between firing at full BS and at BS1 would be a no-brainer

The original rule was to forgo your own shooting phase and then you may shoot at any point that enemy models were moving, with a -1 penalty.

It was very strong.

Two simple ideas for Overwatch:

1. Mechanics as current. However, firing Overwatch prevents the unit from firing during its next Shooting Phase. It may however Run as per usual. This makes it a tactical choice; specifically when the charging unit is far away - since you're trading accuracy of fire for a guaranteed chance to fire.

2. To fire Overwatch, the unit must first make an Initiative roll. If it passes, it may fire Overwatch.

 the Signless wrote:
Because they are being charged by your enemy, your soldiers suddenly find that their guns are firing faster. Soldiers are already shooting with everything they have, why would your opponents rushing towards you change the rate of fire? Overwatch as an automatic action doesn't make a lot of sense. If the unit didn't fire then maybe being able to shoot when the enemy appears and charges you would make sense.

I've always imagined it as generally they sort of spend time lining their shots up etc, you know relatively calmly shooting, and then when they notice someone's coming straight at them, rather than aim and act calmly, they gal themselves, and start spraying in the general direction of the charging enemy

 the Signless wrote:
Because they are being charged by your enemy, your soldiers suddenly find that their guns are firing faster. Soldiers are already shooting with everything they have, why would your opponents rushing towards you change the rate of fire? Overwatch as an automatic action doesn't make a lot of sense. If the unit didn't fire then maybe being able to shoot when the enemy appears and charges you would make sense.

...without making shotguns turn into machine guns.

You're misinterpreting the idea of overwatch. These guys aren't going full auto on one target, then when they see someone else coming they go full auto on them too. There is no change in the rate of fire at any point.

Squad A moves up, shoots at squad B. Pew pew. Squad C is now about to charge Squad A, which is not able to change the focus of its fire so easily. They need to reload, reposition. They only have time to get off a few shots when the enemy is only a few feet away.... you know, so rushed that half of the guys can't even really shoot, only a small percentage of the potential firepower is used? Again, no change in the rate of fire. Look at rolling you have to do for overwatch as rolling to see if your guys can even get a chance to aim and fire, not as "rolling to hit". Because honestly, if it was just to see if they hit, even the lowliest guardsman should be able to shoot something that's 10 feet away.... it all comes down to IF he reacts in time.

The other problem is that you could use this change to fire at units that you can't see. If I have my guys in a building outside your line of sight, your guys don't know mine are there, or at least don't know when mine will be coming out. If I charge out of ruins on my turn at your guys, this is to show that you weren't expecting it. No one expects a squad of bikes to come stomp on their faces. Thus, again, you only snap fire.... your guys don't have their weapons pointed at us and don't know what exact direction we're coming from. They're watching all angles, and so only a handful of them shoot us before we drive in.

The only way I'd accept the change you want would be if there were major downsides to choosing to overwatch. If we make it the way you want, why would anyone choose to shoot instead of setting overwatch? Oh, that assault unit is 13" away? Well let's double our shooting against them by waiting until they move. Oh, he's on the other side of a wall? Overwatch. Oh, he's going to have units DS but I don't know where from? Overwatch is now interceptor.....

So it'd be this: you can declare that you're assuming an overwatch position instead of shooting for a turn. You must choose a direction for the unit to set up facing, in the form of a 90 degree arc from one of the models. Overwatch will allow you to fire on a single enemy unit that enters that arc during your opponents movement phase.

I treat overwatch as an added accuracy bonus - not an extra shot.

The enemy's advancing, distance's shortening, so you hit more often and weapons like flamers can burn more bodies.