Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I want to develop a small game mission that uses 40k rules but plays like chess. This is inspired by the video game Regicide.

The mission would require the use of this kind of Detachment:

2 HQs, 1 support Warlord (King) and 1 fast Beatstick (Queen)
1 Elite unit (Bishop)
1 Heavy unit (Rook)
1 Fast unit (Knight)
3+ Troop units (Pawns)

1000pts or Power level 50

The King, Bishops, Rooks and Pawns must all be Infantry (EDIT: If a Faction does not have a valid Infantry unit for a particular battlefield role, you may choose a non-Infantry unit instead)
The Knights must be either Bike, Jump Pack, Beast or have the Fly Keyword.
EDIT: add this rule: "The Queen must be a unit that has at least one of the following keywords: Bike, Jump, Beast or Fly.
If your chosen faction has no HQ with any of these keywords, select the Infantry HQ with the fastest Movement rate. This HQ is your Queen and gains the "Fly" keyword for this mission"

Primary objective is to kill the King. Hence "Regicide"
Maybe include a rule that allows the Pawns to upgrade to a previously destroyed Rook/Bishop/Knight/Queen unit.
Maybe they have to reach an objective in the opponents deployment zone to do this

For example, let's say your Knights units (Fast attack) has been completely destroyed. If you can get even model in 1 of your Pawn (Troop) units within 3" of the objective in your opponents deployment zone, you may remove the Pawn unit and place your Knight unit back on the table with each model within 3" of that objective.

Thoughts?

-

The restrictions screw a number of armies.
Dark Eldar, Harlequins, Tyranids, Genestealer Cults, have no legal choice for the Queen.

That doesn't even touch Chaos or Imperium armies (although I'm pretty certain IG have no legal choices for some of the selections).

How about this then:
"The Queen must be a unit that has at least one of the following keywords: Bike, Jump, Beast or Fly.
If your chosen faction has no HQ with any of these keywords, select an Infantry HQ with the fastest Movement rate. This HQ is your Queen and gains the "Fly" keyword for this mission"

I think that would satisfy 95% of all armies. Flying Shadowseers and Succubi would be good choices then.

As for Imperial vs Chaos, I specifically had these 2 factions in mind.

King could be Marine Captain or Chaos Lord
Queen could be Jump/Bike Librarian or Sorcerer on Disc
Bishops could be Terminators/Vets or Chosen
Rooks could be Devastators or Havocs
Knights could be Jump Marines/Bike or Raptors
Pawns would obviously be Marines/Scouts or Cultists

For armies that have cheaper units, they can field more Pawns

I'm a little unclear on what your goal is.

If you want it to feel like regicide/chess, then I think basing it primarily off of a 40k rules set is going to work against you. You'll have units moving simultaneously and executing multiple types of actions in a given turn. One player will get to move all of his pieces before the other player reacts with all of his pieces. Perhaps adding a rule to only allow one unit to move/shoot/charge in a given turn would make it feel more chess-like?

Some armies will have units that perform dramatically better in a system like this than others. As pointed out above, armies like dark eldar really depend on transports for most of their troops and elites to be effective.

If you're just looking for 40k-themed chess, why not just play chess with 40k models? Eldar could have guardian pawns, a FA of their choice as knights, etc.

Wyldhunt wrote:
I'm a little unclear on what your goal is.

If you want it to feel like regicide/chess, then I think basing it primarily off of a 40k rules set is going to work against you. You'll have units moving simultaneously and executing multiple types of actions in a given turn. One player will get to move all of his pieces before the other player reacts with all of his pieces. Perhaps adding a rule to only allow one unit to move/shoot/charge in a given turn would make it feel more chess-like?

While alternating unit activations would certainly make sense, it requires a level of rules modifications that I just don't have the interest in going into. My goal is the make a 40K mission that revolves around killing the leader and both sides have specific and matching units. Both sides need to have 1 Elite, 1 Fast and 1 Heavy in the same way both side of chess have 2 Bishps, 2 Knights and 2 Rooks. Aside from that, the mission needs to follow all the same rules of a regular 40k game. It also needs to be a small game that focuses on Infantry bases units. There are no tanks in chess afterall.

Wyldhunt wrote:
Some armies will have units that perform dramatically better in a system like this than others. As pointed out above, armies like dark eldar really depend on transports for most of their troops and elites to be effective.

The premise of the mission assumes that both sides are equal-ish. While I agree that Dark Eldar do rely on transports, given that you know most of your enemy's units will be also be Infantry, they can build a decent list against that. Their units will also be much cheaper, thus allowing them to have A) bigger unites of Elites, Fast or Heavy and/or B) Many more Troop units that can be used as fodder (i.e. what Pawns are for).
Other exceptions can be made (like those for the Queen requirements) that if a Faction does not have a valid Infantry unit for a particular Battlefield role (Like Dark Eldar not having any Infantry Heavy support). I'll edit my first post to reflect this

Wyldhunt wrote:
If you're just looking for 40k-themed chess, why not just play chess with 40k models? Eldar could have guardian pawns, a FA of their choice as knights, etc.

This is already in the works with Marines vs CSM: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/738916.page



I feel like these modifications should accommodate enough armies to make for some fun games (this is not intended for Tourney play unless play-testing goes well). Any factions that just cannot fit into the restrictions (like Imperial Knights) just flat out are not intended for this mission.

-

Quick question. Do IG have any Heavy Support choices that are NOT vehicles? I know Harlequins do not. But then IMO, the Solitaire would be the Queen, Death Jesters would be the Rooks, Shadowseers would be the Bishops, Skyweavers as Knights, and Troupes as Pawns.

I like the concept. I recall back in 3rd there was a mission where killing a target unit was the big objective - it caused all kinds of shenanigans.

I think knighting the pawns is a great idea.

 Happyjew wrote:
But then IMO, the Solitaire would be the Queen, Death Jesters would be the Rooks, Shadowseers would be the Bishops, Skyweavers as Knights, and Troupes as Pawns.

Yeah, for Harlequins, that makes perfect sense. But how do we create a "catch-all" mission rule that dictates what units are eligible to be played?

How about this:

1 King - must be an Infantry HQ (I'm pretty sure EVERY army has this as an option, please correct me if I am wrong)
1 Queen - must be a single model Character with the either the Fly, Bike or Beast Keyword. Must be an HQ or Elite. If no single model Character HQ or Elite exists for your faction that has any of those keywords, select the Infantry HQ/Elite Character that has the fastest M stat. This is your Queen and gains the Fly keyword for this mission.
3+ Pawns - must be Infantry Troop units (again, pretty sure every army can do this)

1 Bishop/ Rook - Infantry Elite unit
1 Rook/ Bishop - Infantry Heavy support unit
1 Knight - Fast attack unit that must have at least one of the following keywords: Fly, Bike, Jump, Beast

No units can have the Vehicle or Monster keywords, unless the above requirements cannot be met otherwise
For example, some faction do not have the option for an Infantry Heavy support or Fast attack units.
In these rare cases, you may select a single model unit with the Vehicle or Monster keyword that has 10 wounds or less.


The bottom line here is that the mission is meant to be restrictive to force the Battlefield roles to match those in Chess
If you still cannot make a legal list with the above restrictions: A) take a unit from another subfaction or B) pick a different army entirely

My goal was to make something simple that immolations chess, but it seems that the "uniqueness" of several factions makes that too difficult to palate.

-

How about this:

King - HQ INFANTRY CHARACTER
Queen - HQ or Elite character. Must have at least one of the following Keywords: JUMP PACK, BIKER, FLY, or BEAST. If no model exists for your chosen faction, then your Queen must be the Infantry Character with the highest Move characteristic (not counting unique characters). Regardless of choice, the Queen has the FLY keyword (if it does not normally).
Rook/Bishop - 2 INFANTRY units selected from Heavy Support and/or Elite.
Knight - 1 Fast Attack unit with at least one of the following Keywords: BEAST, BIKER, CAVALRY, FLY or JUMP PACK

No units with the MONSTER or VEHICLE keyword may be chosen.

As near as I can tell, every army has something that meets these requirements.

 Happyjew wrote:
How about this:

King - HQ INFANTRY CHARACTER
Queen - HQ or Elite character. Must have at least one of the following Keywords: JUMP PACK, BIKER, FLY, or BEAST. If no model exists for your chosen faction, then your Queen must be the Infantry Character with the highest Move characteristic (not counting unique characters). Regardless of choice, the Queen has the FLY keyword (if it does not normally).
Rook/Bishop - 2 INFANTRY units selected from Heavy Support and/or Elite.
Knight - 1 Fast Attack unit with at least one of the following Keywords: BEAST, BIKER, CAVALRY, FLY or JUMP PACK

No units with the MONSTER or VEHICLE keyword may be chosen.

As near as I can tell, every army has something that meets these requirements.

That's perfect. Thanx for the assist on that. The important thing is that both sides have 2 Characters, 3 non-Troop units and 3+ Infantry Troop units

-

What would you guys think of playing this mission on a different or goofy size board or deployment type?

 znelson wrote:
What would you guys think of playing this mission on a different or goofy size board or deployment type?

Definitely the largest size should be no bigger than 4'x4'. And the Deployment needs to be Dawn of War.

Aside from that it could be interesting to divide the table in 6 inch x 6 inch squares (which on a 4x4 table would be the same number of squares as a chess board) and do something special with some of the squares?

-

As i read this all i can think of is high school dxd, which im currently watching. Your idea sounds a lot like a rating game.