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Would this be a distinct advantage for some races, or would it make sense?
thoughts?

For example first a Archon moves (initiative 7), followed by a squad of hormagaunts (initiative 5), and then a squad Wracks (initiative 4).

Well both Necrons and Tau have a base Initiative of 2, so as armies they would both default to last under most circumstances.

True, but it would be realistic. Would not going first be such a big disadvantage anyways half the time you'll go second anyways.

Initiative is simply representative on how fast the unit strikes in close combat.

Randomising which units activate in what order by cards or dice works quite well though, for unit activation type game turns.

Lanrak wrote:

Randomising which units activate in what order by cards or dice works quite well though, for unit activation type game turns.

What if there was some sort of roll based on initiative? I simply saying it might be interesting if a unit got it's turn first if it had the highest initiative regardless of which army they belong to.

It wouldn't work with the current WH40k, it could work if they literally rewrote everything. There needs to be rebalancing, slower army needs to get a major defensive boost, as they'd have to endure all the enemy fires before they get to make a move, faster armies, possibly have to hit weaker to give slower army a chance to fight back.

It would give a distinct advantage to DE(can't speak for eldar), they're primarily an alpha strike army, the balancing factor in the current game is that they won't always get it, take that away, and you'd basically handed victory to DE.... Or may be not, if there is without a doubt that DE will go first, as their opponent, they'd probably just deploy the furthest back(DE's range isn't THAT good), preferably out of LoS, then as DE, you'd always just deploy hiding, because you know even though you got 1st turn, you'd never get to alpha strike... And there will be no variety every game...

Really, just take a look at the army list at the back of the BRB, tell me how many army can field majority I6 or above? I can name 3. may be 4-5 if I include slannesh themed chaos armies. How many have I1 majority? So sad orks/necrons/tau will always go last without a chance to ever go first? And what happen to vehicles? Do they always go last? Or do they not get a go at all? They have no initiative.

I believe the initiative roll represent the tactical prowess of the two armies in this upcoming battle, and not how quickly they can react, hence why almost all the rules that grant initiative roll bonuses are tactic-related, and not "lightning reflexes" or something like in D&D. It also allows for more varied games, it forces me to think about what to do defensively, instead of just "KILLL THEM ALL!!!"(I play DE), which is, frankly, quite boring if that is the game every game.

Aside from the fantastic points made above by Baronyu, I've played games where the players take it in turns to do individual actions or phases, and it just doesn't work well. The game becomes glorified chess, not a tabletop wargame. There's also a lot of balance issue that come from every piece getting an immediate reaction to something else at some point; it gives certain pieces very little they can do because of where they fall in the sequence.

I realize this, I just feel that initiative is only useful when you have a strong unit with high initiative as they will wipe out a portion of the squad they are attacking before the enemy can attack. I feel like it should be more useful. There may be ways that it can be used that I'm not aware of though as I am relatively new to wh40k.

Then the Eldar would win every game.

Case closed. Moving on to more balanced ideas.

(For those who don't get it yet, higher Initiative allows you to hit first in close combat, meaning you inflict casualties before the other guy gets to hit back, meaning your guys take fewer hits in combat, meaning you are significantly more likely to win any close combat)

Well, higher initiative is usually balanced* by the fact that most high initiative units are either rare(usually HQ in marines armies), or very fragile(DE/eldar/nids), so it certainly doesn't give them a much improved chance at winning, more... a different way at winning. Certainly, if you field an incubi unit against some power axe/fist wielding marines HQ without a good invulnerable, the incubi will win through high I AP2 attacks, but throw the same incubi against something like TH/SS termies, then they wouldn't stand any chance at winning even with their high initiative.

In any case, I wouldn't say initiative isn't very useful, it allows for DE/eldar, the rare few armies who are subjected to sweeping advance this edition(YAY GW!), a better chance to survive the sweeping advance, and may , with the help of the new regroup rules, have a chance to fight back the following turn. Also great against silly SW who brought JotWW instead of living lightning... Hint: There is very little chance for high initiative armies to fail initiative tests.

*[tinfoilhat]Game is still balanced in favoured of poster boys anyway! [/tinfoilhat]

Back in the day there was an army stat called Strategy Rating. It sucked and this is why no such system exists today.

Either that or D6 plus the average between I and Ld (I+Ld divided by 2).

Guardsmen I3+Ld7 = Rating 5
Space marine and EQ I4+Ld8 = Rating 6
Eldar I4+Ld8 = Rating 6
Tau I2+Ld7=Rating 4 (rounding down)
Necrons I2+Ld10=Rating 6
Dark Eldar I5+Ld8=Rating 6 (rounding down)
Orks I2+Ld7=Rating 4 (rounding down)

Nids might be a bit harder to determine. If we base it off the Genies its a Rating of 8, if we base it off the termigaunts its a rating of 5 and if we rock it off the Warrior brood its 7. Im inclined to use the Warrior stats just to give nids that first strike leg up against most forces as it fits the nids.

I'm inclined to stick to rounding down for a better spread of Ratings. Making 5 the average (not the mean) and having a variety of 1 either way with +1s for most armys and a +2 for nids.

It would be a decent mechanic for working out the 'strategy rating' . But should always have a D6 roll involved and the chance to seize should remain as is.