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As we all are well aware, vehicles have the tendency to be unreliable. The current damage system allows too much in the way of probability (i.e., any given shot that glances/penetrates has a chance of doing basically nothing or completely annihilating the vehicle).

I was pondering the following system just recently, and I believe that it would make vehicles more survivable.

Vehicle Health:
Vehicles, instead of using a vehicle damage chart to determine the effects of a shot, would have a health value equal to the Front Armor value of the vehicle.

There would likely be some exceptions to this based on the durability of certain vehicles - with regard to their Type. Most likely, walkers would have a health value equal to the front armor minus one, while skimmers would have a health value equal to the front armor minus two, to compensate for their high speed. Things like the Monolith would ignore this. Tracked vehicles would just use front armor values as health, with no modifiers.

In order to lose health, vehicles would still have to suffer glancing and penetrating hits. Glancing hits would inflict one point of damage on a 4+ (AP1 weapons would inflict one point of damage automatically, and would inflict two points of damage on a 4+, instead of being upgraded to penetrating hits). Penetrating hits would inflict a number of points of damage equal to the difference between the armor penetration roll and the affected armor facing of a tank.

For example, a Multi-Melta within 12" of a Leman Russ' side armor facing (AV12) rolls a three and a five for its 2D6 armor penetration roll, to give it a total of 8 + 3 + 5 = 16. The difference between the AV12 side and the penetration roll of 16 is 4. Therefore, the Multi-Melta has inflicted 4 points of damage on the Leman Russ.

Now, leaving it as is would be a mistake, as it would make many vehicles nigh invincible. Adding a gradual damage accumulation system would be necessary to keep vehicles from dominating the game.

Take the health of a vehicle, and divide it into thirds. Any leftover health points are allocated to the last of the thirds (for example, a Sentinel with health value 10 would split its health into its first third of 3, a second third of 3, and a final third of 4, meaning 10, 9, and 8 would be considered the first third (or bracket), 7, 6, and 5 would be the second bracket, and 4, 3, 2, and 1 would be in the third and final bracket.)

Minor Damage (First Bracket)
Any damage taken that keeps a vehicle's total health in the first bracket counts for little, as the armor of the vehicle absorbs enemy punishment. At the end of every phase where health points are lost, roll a D6.

On a 1, 2, or 3, the vehicle suffers no debilitating damage and continues fighting.

On a 4, the vehicle's weapons systems are damaged, prohibiting it from firing one of its weapons next turn (opposing player picks which one).

On a 5, two weapons are prohibited from firing next turn (if vehicle only has one weapon, treat this roll as a 6 instead).

On a 6, the vehicle has suffered from a severe rattling of its innards: the vehicle may not shoot next turn, and movement is reduced by 50% of its maximum for the next turn.

Moderate Damage (Second Bracket)
Any damage taken that reduces the vehicle's total health to the middle bracket is much more damaging than the previous bracket. Here, additional damage can be done to a vehicle in a much more severe manner. At the end of every phase where health points have been lost (where the total remains in this bracket), roll a D6 on the following table.

On a 1, roll a D6 on the Minor Damage Table.

On a 2, the vehicle may not fire next turn. In addition, one weapon (opponent's choice) is destroyed permanently. Movement is also affected; the vehicle's movement is reduced by 50% of its maximum for the next turn.

On a 3, the vehicle may not fire next turn. In addition, two weapons (opponent's choice) are destroyed permanently. Movement is also affected; the vehicle's movement is reduced by 75% of it's maximum for the next turn (round up in favor of the 25% - 3/4 of 6" is 4.5", but the move may be 2" due to rounding), and by 50% for the remainder of the game.

On a 4, the vehicle may not fire next turn. In addition, two weapons (opponent's choice) are destroyed permanently. The vehicle may not move next turn. Skimmers that moved more than 6" crash-land (those that moved 6" or less will simply drift D6" straight ahead), and are immobile for the remainder of the game. In addition, they will suffer an additional point of damage. The vehicle's movement is also reduced by 75% for the remainder of the game.

On a 5, the vehicle may not fire next turn. In addition, two weapons (opponent's choice) are destroyed permanently. The vehicle may not move for the remainder of the game. Skimmers that moved more than 6" crash-land (those that moved 6" or less will also crash-land, but will suffer no additional damage), and are immobile for the rest of the game. In addition, they will suffer an additional two points of damage.

On a 6, the vehicle may not fire next turn, and will suffer an additional one point of damage. In addition two weapons (opponent's choice) are destroyed permanently. The vehicle may not move for the remainder of the game. Skimmers that moved more than 6" crash-land (those that moved 6" or less will also crash-land, but will suffer no additional damage beyond the single point of damage previously mentioned), and are immobile for the rest of the game. In addition, they will suffer an additional two points of damage, which stacks on top of the additional point of damage. Vehicles that have rolled a 6 on the Moderate Damage Table must roll a D6 on the Minor Damage Table once per owning player phase for the remainder of the game.

Severe Damage (Third Bracket)
Once a vehicle's health is in this region, you can pretty much kiss it goodbye. At this point, the vehicle is a smoldering, smoking wreck that is just barely moving, and is liable to burst into flames. If vehicles have had their health reduced to this bracket via enemy weapons, roll a D6 at the end of the phase in which it occured. If the vehicle had its health reduced to this bracket via loss of additional health points rolling on the Moderate Damage table, roll a D6 on this table at the beginning of the phase immediately following the Moderate Damage roll, regardless of whose turn it is.

On a 1, roll a D6 on the Moderate Damage Table.

On a 2, 3, or 4, the vehicle may not move or fire for the remainder of the game, and will suffer an additional one point of damage. The vehicle still counts as a scoring unit, unless its specific entry states otherwise. The vehicle must roll a D6 on the Moderate Damage table for the remainder of the game.

On a 5, the vehicle bursts into flames as the driver(s) make a suicidal dash, hoping to take out as many of the enemy as possible. The vehicle may move in any direction 2D6", and may move through difficult terrain (although this reduces the move by 50%) and friendly or enemy size 1 and size 2 models. All models at least partially within D6" of the model at the end of its move are automatically hit by an attack with a strength value equal to half that of the Vehicle's starting health, rounding up. Normal armor saves apply. The vehicle is now destroyed, and will count as impassable terrain that blocks all line of sight drawn through it for the remainder of the game. This is to represent the fire and smoke spewing from the wreckage, as it obscures vision and scorches the flesh of those to stray too close. (As an aside, I left this worded such that a skimmer that has its health reduced to the last bracket in one phase can still try to zoom forward and explode in an enemy's face - Skimmers doing this will move 3D6" )

On a 6, the vehicle is destroyed, regardless of how many health points it has left. Treat the vehicle as having been reduced to 0 health points when determining the destructive effects of the final blow on the Vehicle Destroyed Chart.

Vehicle Destroyed
When the vehicle's health is reduced to 0 health points, immediately roll a D6 on the following table to determine the severity of the final damage done.

On a 1 or 2, the vehicle comes grinding to a halt, spewing flames and smoke. Leave the vehicle where it is - it is impassable terrain that blocks all line of sight in a vertical column.

On a 3 or 4, the vehicle explodes, sending shrapnel and chemicals in all directions. Leave the vehicle where it is - it is impassable terrain that blocks all line of sight in a vertical column. In addition, all models at least partially within D6" of the vehicle at the instant this roll is made are automatically hit by an attack with strength equal to half the vehicle's health value, rounding up. (A sentinel with 10 Health points would inflict a Str 5 hit on everyone within D6" ) Normal armor saves apply

On a 5 or 6, the fusion core or promethium reserves of the vehicle go critical and ignite, exploding with the brilliance of a star. Remove the vehicle after determining the following: all models at least partially within 2D6" of the vehicle suffer an automatic wound. Normal armor saves apply. Note that cover saves and invulnerable saves may also be used for any of these explosion saving throws.

* * * * *

So, what do y'all think? I know it's a lot more complicated than the current system, but I think it would vehicles a lot more fun to play with, between the improved survivability and suicide dashes with flaming vehicles and all.

I'm open to suggestions, comments, criticisms. I'm not going to spearhead any attempt to make this more mainstream, it's just an idea I've had floating around in my head for a while.

CK

Sounds like a lot of book keeping, particularly for vehicle heavy armies. Losing a % of your movement is also a pain to calculate, you should just simplify it to you can move or you can't.