My current kitbash project involves making some crazy death machine, primarily using 2 doomwheels and a warp lightning cannon, to go with my Morskitarii (Skaven AdMech).
Because this thing won't look like any current units in
40k or
AoS, nor will have the same hitbox, I've taken it upon myself to have some more fun making custom rules, like I've done so in the past for Hoplites and Lacyraemara cohorts, amongst other things.
[It'll look a bit like one of these:]
This device's rules are made to work in both
AoS and
40k, with the necessary extra bits of information where the profiles differ.
I've also included "The Doomsday Device" key word, with the intention of this section being expanded to include a selection of wildly different Doomsday Devices, with only 1 device being fieldable at a time.
One thing you will notice is that I like variables. In light of this thing being Doomwheely, I've put a lot of emphasis on movement to determine what this thing does.
Basically put: The faster it goes, the more it hurts both the victims and potentially, itself.
This thing also doesn't follow conventional vehicle rules, with its actual positioning on the table being an important factor. Not quite 8th edition spirit of easiness.
Before we start with the rules itself, I'll make a point about how I reckon this thing will be possibly arduous to balance. There's plenty of areas to tweak, but it's got such a monumentally high potential ceiling that finding the right level on that scale to base the points is going to be hit and miss.
Also: Maths.
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Doomsday Device of DOOM!
Mv 6 + Z ¦
WS 4 ¦
BS 3 ¦ S 6 ¦ T 6 ¦ W 16 ¦ A 5 ¦
Ld 7 ¦
Sv 5+
Mv 6 + Z ¦
Sv 5+¦ Bv 7 ¦ W 16
Unit Composition:
1 Doomsday Device (Unique)
Unit Type:
Vehicle
Wargear:
Voltik Cannon
Hyperstatic Generator
Crew's Spanners
Special Rules:
Momentum
Power Accumulation
Static Bang!
Hammer of Wrath
Zap Field
Naff Discharge
Keywords:
Adeptus Mechanicus
Morskitarii
Skaven
Skryre
War Machine
The Doomsday Device
Voltik Cannon:
Range: 24 ¦ Type: Assault 3¦ S 7 ¦
AP -1 ¦ D 1 / ¦ W 2+
Abilities:
Power Accumulation*
Rending: Wound roll of 6+ has
AP -4.
Fixed Forward: This weapon can only target units that it is pointed at after moving.
(Pretty much just a variable No. of shots Lightning gun from the Taghmata)
Hyperstatic Generator:
Range: 2 ¦ Type: - ¦ S 3 ¦
AP - ¦ D 1 / ¦ W 5+
Abilities:
Power Accumulation*
Omnissient Groove: Wound rolls of 6+ are
AP-1
Field of DOOM!: This weapon automatically hits.
Crew's Spanners:
Range: 1 ¦ Type: Melée 4 ¦ S 3 ¦
AP -1 ¦ D 1 / ¦ W 5+
Momentum:
Generates "Z Marks" equal to [Distance moved
last turn / 3].
Where a profile has a Z, such as the Impact strength, the Z Mark number is put in place.
(I.e, unit moved 12" last turn, has 6 Z Marks for this turn, Impact is thus S 6).
- In addition, when moving the device, it has a turning circle radius of [Max Movement / 5]
(I.e, can move 30", has a 6" turning radius).
Power Accumulation:
Moving builds up power through the on-board generator;
Generates
X Marks equal to [Distance moved
this turn / 2].
These
X Marks generate an additional XD3 attacks for weapons with the
Power Accumulation rule.
- In the event of a
Static Bang!, accumulated
X Marks is reset.
Further distance that
could be moved [/2] is translated into
Potential X Marks.
Static Bang!:
When the device comes within 2" of a unit (friend or foe), it discharges power in a bright moment, seeing to you resolving a use of the
Hyperstatic Generator against the unfortunate unit.
Hammer of Wrath:
When the device runs into and/or over a unit, it will deal [
D6 =< X] hits at [S 1+ Z],
AP-2, D 1.
This event can be Overwatched against.
- Against Infrantry units, the device will lose any possible further movement by the result of that
D6 for hits.
(However, if this results in the device being unable to move out of an inch of the impact'ed, carry on moving the device over the impact'ed until it's clear of an inch).
- Against non-infantry (including terrain), the device comes to a complete stop, resolving an attack with the following profile, against itself and the impact'ed:
(Do note, that since this stops the device moving, it also suffers a
Naff Discharge)
-
Impact:
Range: - ¦ A [Pot' X] ¦ S Z ¦
AP -2 ¦ D 1 / ¦ W [7-Z]+
Zap Field:
Reduces the strength of incoming shots against the
Forward Arc of the device by [Inches moved this round / 6], (rounded to the nearest whole), for a maximum of -3.
(Moved 12", strength is reduced by 2. Moved 8", strength is reduced by 1.3 -> 1).
Naff Discharge:
After moving, the device suffers [Pot' X - 3] number of
D6 rolls, suffering a Mortal wound on a roll of 4+.
(If it moved 12", when it could've moved 24", it suffers [6-3=3]
D6 rolls, expecting to take 1.5 Mortal wounds).
Accompanying Warlock Engineers can attempt to cast the spell
Zap Charge, maximum of 3 casts per turn. (Stacking effect)
Zap Charge:
Casting Value 6, 18" range.
Allows the device to move an extra
D6 inches this turn.
Alternatively, an Engineer can use their Warp Power Accumulator to supercharge the spell:
If successful, allows the device to move an extra
2D6 this turn.
If not, the Engineer suffers mortal wounds equal to [6 - cast roll].
(I.e, rolls a 3 for casting, suffers 3 mortal wounds).
If a 12 is rolled, in addition to the caster suffering Perils, buggers up the steering of the device, allowing it to only move in a straight line.
(Regardless if supercharged or not).
Getting Zap Charged counts as having Advanced, and thus, the device can't charge in the charge phase.
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With the way Z Marks work, and if you consistently pull off 3 12's on the Zap Charge, this thing can move at an absolute maximum of 72", but that takes 5 turns to achieve, and it'll have to have moved 250" inches in a straight line over the previous turns.
For a laugh, what could this thing do to a Land Raider if it did somehow magically pull that off?
We'll do 3 scenarios: One where it gets maximum use out of the Voltik Cannon, but thus doesn't ram, and another where it forgoes the Cannon entirely for the Hyperstatic Generator, and lastly for super ramming.
Moved 72" this turn.
Voltik Cannon:
No. of shots: [X=36]D3 + 3 attacks. Max = 111 shots.
Hitting on 4's, so expected 55[.5] hits.
S7 against T8, so 5's to wound: 18.5 [19] wounds.
1/6th will have Rending, so 3 at
AP-4, 16 at
AP -1.
3 saves on 6's, so 0.5 saved.
16 saves on 3's, so 10.67 [11] saved.
5.5 wounds go through.
Pffffffft.
If it rammed instead from max range:
Hyperstatic Generator:
No. of hits: [X=36]D3, Max 108 hits.
S3 against T8, so 6's to wound: 18 rolled.
1/6th are
AP-1, = 3.
15 saves on a 2+, 3 on a 3+:
2.5 + 1 = 3.5 wounds go through.
HoW:
[
D6 =< 36 = 6] hits at S 1+ [Z = 23.67 [24]] = 25.
6 hits at S 25,
AP -2,
Wounding on 2's, 5 go through.
5 saves on a 4+, 2.5 go through.
Impact is pretty fething pointless to run through...
6 wounds as oppose to 5.5 with this method.
And at last, with this thing basically ending its movement last turn an inch away from the
LR, using all of those sweet Pot' X's for a ram:
1 hit off on
HoW, S 25
AP -2.
0.8 wounds through, 0.4 saved.
Impact:
36 hits, S 25,
AP -2.
Against the
LR, 30 go through, 1/2 are saved on a 4+, so 15 wounds suffered.
Against the device, 30 go through, feth-all get saved, 30 wounds suffered.
A sorry mess of splinters and warpstone fragments.
But then there's also the Naff Discharge to it:
[Pot' X -3 = 22]
D6 = 132. Mortal wound on a 4+, 66 mortal wounds suffered to the device.
Pretty much just a pile of strangely glowing sawdust at this point.
Nearly expectantly 1-shots the Land Raider, but suffers
96 wounds in the process.
Those 96 wounds would've also been suffered if it crashed into a tree.
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Fair doo if you've stuck it this far. Quite a lot of reading there, eh?
Maths (assuming I definitely did it right)tells us that this thing is really quite gak against Land Raiders, but infantry should be right proper messing themselves.
This thing might be alright against Rhinos and the like, mind.
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I'll still be reading over this and tweaking where I see fit.
I've yet to playtest it, but so far the simulations reckon this thing should be a good laugh to use.
If any of you have spotted any glaring issues with this, I'd greatly appreciate reading them. Custom rules are never much fun if they're
OP or UP.