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Battleforged trait.(maybe for a new army lol, but would be nice for my Space Wolves)

If a character (excluding vehicles and monsters) makes a charge and is not the the closest model, if they are within 2" of a troop unit consisting of 5 or more troops, they cannot be over watched.

Developed rule.
Battleforged Trait (not standard rule!) for Space Wolves. (not intended to replace exisiting hahah)
A character (excluding vehicles and monsters) within 2" of a troops unit consisting of 5 or more models, can temporarily join that unit and make a single charge. Any damage can be distributed among the unit as the player wishes. The units revert back to normal after the charge

If I understand what you're going for here, I think it might do the opposite of what you intend.

I *think* you're trying to protect characters from being harmed in overwatch provided they have some underlings nearby. As written, what this rule seems to actually do is protect your underlings form overwatch by allowing your characters to charge in first overwatch-free thus tying up the unit your troops want to charge.

If you want to protect a character near troops from overwatch, why not just charge the troops in first?

It would protect both would it not? The character can charge without taking fire, allowing the troops to charge without fire because there is a model now within 1". The troops had protected their hero. Sure, it's not overpowered because the character might fail the charge still, but that's fine and fair.

grailuk wrote:
It would protect both would it not? The character can charge without taking fire, allowing the troops to charge without fire because there is a model now within 1". The troops had protected their hero. Sure, it's not overpowered because the character might fail the charge still, but that's fine and fair.

But that makes no sense. The character is charging first, which means the character is alone out in front with nobody to protect them. So why should the meatshield troops standing behind the character prevent a unit from firing overwatch?

I prefer to think of it as blending in with a unit. I think you are over exhagerating saying 2" coherency is 'out in front' lol. So basically in real time, an enemy unit would be firing at the troops unit (thinking the hero was part of the unit.). If only the hero makes the charge, then a model would simply have been caught off guard expecting a bigger group charging. That moments hesitation picking a target allowed the character to get close. Edit* The trait would be more 'believable' if it did not apply to vehicles and monsters. Thanks for the feedback!

grailuk wrote:
It would protect both would it not? The character can charge without taking fire, allowing the troops to charge without fire because there is a model now within 1". The troops had protected their hero. Sure, it's not overpowered because the character might fail the charge still, but that's fine and fair.

It does both, but I assumed it was not your intent to make troop units semi-un-overwatchable when they pal around with characters.

grailuk wrote:
I prefer to think of it as blending in with a unit. I think you are over exhagerating saying 2" coherency is 'out in front' lol. So basically in real time, an enemy unit would be firing at the troops unit (thinking the hero was part of the unit.). If only the hero makes the charge, then a model would simply have been caught off guard expecting a bigger group charging. That moments hesitation picking a target allowed the character to get close. Edit* The trait would be more 'believable' if it did not apply to vehicles and monsters. Thanks for the feedback!

That feels odd to me. I get the idea that the overwatchers can't target the character because they're more focused on the mass of troops next to him, but this rule would often times be used to charge the character in unmolested effectively preventing either the character OR the troops from being overwatched. I'm not a huge fan of overwatch as a mechanic, but preventing me from overwatching a mob of ork boyz because a lone mek or wyrd boy rolled his charge first seems like it would be frustrating.

If you want to get a character into melee without being overwatched, why not just charge in the troops first? Or take a relic or warlord trait on the character that lets them ignore overwatch? Plus, it seems a little weird that five tactical marines or kabalites can make a character immune to overwatch, but an honor guard/company veteran squad or incubi can't because they're not "troops."

I did stipulate it as a battleforged trait NOT a standard rule, so orcs wouldn't be able to do it. They don't strike me as loyal enough to pull something like this off. They would rather the warlord die so they can take over haha. Space Wolves is appropriate because it replicates troops willingness to die for their characters (Russ Vs Horus). Maybe the rule could be sacrifice a member of the troop unit! Wow, that's full of flavour! Maybe it could be rejigged so the character temporarily joins the unit, and make 1 charge? That way, any over watch damage could be transferred to troops instead of the character. (Just thinking aloud) Thanks

grailuk wrote:
I did stipulate it as a battleforged trait NOT a standard rule, so orcs wouldn't be able to do it. They don't strike me as loyal enough to pull something like this off. They would rather the warlord die so they can take over haha. Space Wolves is appropriate because it replicates troops willingness to die for their characters (Russ Vs Horus). Maybe the rule could be sacrifice a member of the troop unit! Wow, that's full of flavour! Maybe it could be rejigged so the character temporarily joins the unit, and make 1 charge? That way, any over watch damage could be transferred to troops instead of the character. (Just thinking aloud) Thanks

Unless I've been wildly misunderstanding the term "battleforged" for a while now, I'm pretty sure "battleforged" just means "your army is made up of legal detachments." So orks can totally be battleforged. Or are they calling it something else for every faction or something?

Sacrificing dudes to protect the character would basically be a look out sir roll with less rolling, but then you'd pretty much always be just as well off charging your troops in first unless the character was significantly more durable (feels cheesy) or the troops didn't actually want to charge in at all (in which case it's weird they can serve as a distraction for the single guy that is charging in.)

"Joining" a character to a unit by letting them share a charge roll kind of works for me. Mostly because it's awkward when your buff character accidentally ends up out of range of the unit he's trying to buff because he failed a charge roll.

Wyldhunt wrote:

grailuk wrote:
I did stipulate it as a battleforged trait NOT a standard rule, so orcs wouldn't be able to do it. They don't strike me as loyal enough to pull something like this off. They would rather the warlord die so they can take over haha. Space Wolves is appropriate because it replicates troops willingness to die for their characters (Russ Vs Horus). Maybe the rule could be sacrifice a member of the troop unit! Wow, that's full of flavour! Maybe it could be rejigged so the character temporarily joins the unit, and make 1 charge? That way, any over watch damage could be transferred to troops instead of the character. (Just thinking aloud) Thanks

Unless I've been wildly misunderstanding the term "battleforged" for a while now, I'm pretty sure "battleforged" just means "your army is made up of legal detachments." So orks can totally be battleforged. Or are they calling it something else for every faction or something?

Sacrificing dudes to protect the character would basically be a look out sir roll with less rolling, but then you'd pretty much always be just as well off charging your troops in first unless the character was significantly more durable (feels cheesy) or the troops didn't actually want to charge in at all (in which case it's weird they can serve as a distraction for the single guy that is charging in.)

"Joining" a character to a unit by letting them share a charge roll kind of works for me. Mostly because it's awkward when your buff character accidentally ends up out of range of the unit he's trying to buff because he failed a charge roll.

You are right about battleforged. But every army has a different ability. So this would apply to a particular army (a new one maybe)

As for losing out on buffs, that is exactly what gave me the idea. I run my Space Wolves army in packs of 6. One of the models is basic loadout. So if my character fails a charge, I can have 2 ranks of models in combat (the usual 5), then that standard model hanging back in unit coherency to be within 6" lol.

I have to say, I don't think that this rule makes much sense, nor is very balanced. I much prefer the idea that a character and a unit can share a charge roll, and that the unit be the target of the overwatch. Then certain benevolent units can have rules which allow them to take the overwatch instead, to protect their troops.

And orks can have it behind mega-armoured bosses and meks, because they use them as a shield!