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So, I got bored and thought back to when I used to play Combat Patrol games when I was at school. Took a look back at the rules, and realised 8th had pretty much made them irrelevant. So, for the sake of nostalgia, why not try to update them to 8th?

I want to try and keep the small size of Combat Patrol, in that I can still take some light tanks and have more choice of what I take over SW:A, but not just a normal "small" 40k list.

So, feel free to make any comments, things you'd want to see, etc etc
(Note that I don't want to completely overhaul 8th edition, that's a different subject altogether - just want to see how far I can stretch 8th to fit Combat Patrol games).

Combat Patrol
Size: 400 points/20 PL

Detachments: Players may only use the Patrol Detachment. However, any model with the Character keyword may take the place of the mandatory HQ. For example, a Space Marine Apothecary is an Elites choice - however, because they have the Character keyword, they do not take up an Elites slot, and fill up the HQ slot of the Force Organisation Chart. This only applies to 1 unit - you cannot take two Apothecaries and count them both as HQ choices. If you already have an HQ choice, you may not move a Character from another FOC slot into HQ.
Command Benefits:
Troops and Elites units have Objective Secured (if two units contest an objective, a unit with Objective Secured will still claim the objective if the other unit does not have Objective Secured).

Restrictions:
A model may not be taken if it has a Save over 3+, or an Invulnerable over 3++. It may have both a 3+ and a 3++. If a model's save is increased beyond this via Cover or other means, they may go beyond this.
A model may only have up to 6 Wounds, unless it has the Vehicle or Monster Keyword, in which case it can have up to 10 Wounds.
Unique models may not be taken.


The Battlefield: Games should ideally take place on a 4'x4' board with plenty of terrain. The table is split into 4 quarters, each a 2'x2' space.
Objectives: A central objective is placed in the centre of the table.
Deployment: Both players roll off - the player with the higher roll chooses which quarter they wish to deploy in. They may not deploy within 12" of the centre of the table. They deploy their entire list, and the second player deploys their whole list. The player who deployed first may choose whether to take the first or second turn.
Game Length: The game lasts for 6 turns, unless one player wipes out the other, in which case it ends instantly.

Victory Conditions:
Whoever holds the most Victory Points by the end of the game wins.
- Whoever controls the objective by the end of the game gains 3 VP.
- Killing a unit with the Character, Vehicle or Monster Keyword gives you 1 VP. If a unit has multiple of these Keywords (ie. a model with the Character and Monster Keyword) you gain a VP for each Keyword.
- Killing the opponent's Warlord gives you 2 VP. Note that you do not gain the VP for them having the Character Keyword, but if they have the Monster or Vehicle Keyword, you gain the extra VP.
- If you have one or more units in the opponent's deployment zone, you gain 1 VP.
- If you wipe out all of your opponent's units, you gain 1 VP, and the game ends.

How does this look?

Any opinions?

Size:
I think 500 points / 25 power is where you should first test it out at. Vehicles/Monsters mostly cost more now than before, but Combat Patrol is a lot of fun with these hard to kill units. It creates some interesting variables when you're not sure whether to expect to go against a horde list, a mechanised list, or elite lists. Due to the Damage characteristic, there's a lot more variability between different weapons, meaning that having some more extreme options becoming available forces people to consider options outside their norm.

Detachments:
I think the Character in place of HQ is interesting, but probably should just change that to "Any model with the Character keyword may be changed to the HQ battlefield role.". This tells a player everything they need without any additional explanation necessary.

Also, this should limit players to a single Patrol detachment.

Command Benefits:
Drop the Elites as having ObSec. Leave that to the Troops.

Restrictions:
Whereas in the past they had to restrict things, it was because a Bolter/Lasgun/whatever couldn't harm many other things. With no Lords of War allowed in Patrol detachments, I think things will be fine without any restrictions on saves or number of wounds. However, keep the "No Unique models" restriction; it makes no sense for Abaddon to be leading a meagre patrol!

You should also be adding here that you may not take Relics. Again, the Chapter would not allow for the Banner of the Emperor Ascendant to just go out on patrol.

Stratagems:
You should add some Stratagem caveats here;
- You may not use any Stratagems that take place before the first turn. (This prevents things like armies that deep strike or infiltrate due to stratagems, prevents the Stratagem that gives you a Chapter Master, and other similar shenanigans)
- You may only use up to one Stratagem per player turn. (This is a mere patrol; if you engage the enemy, you don't have the time or resources to plan out the kinds of attacks you otherwise can.)

Deployment:
I personally really like the alternating deployment method of 8th. Can we keep that? And whomever has the list with the lowest combined Power gets +1 to the roll to go first.

Game Length:
This game should be fast and lethal, meaning you need to try and finish the game quickly. The game ends after the 4th turn. No time to joke around!

Victory Conditions:
- Central objective worth 3.
- Killing their Warlord worth 1.
- Having a unit in your opponent's deployment zone worth 1.
- Destroying at least half of your opponent's army (in Power) worth 1.

Have you looked into HoR KillTeam?

(I'm not up to date on their 8thed work, myself.)


More directly:

FOC:
-The HQ slot is optional
-Each detatchment must have a Character

So you can get the same-ish effect without FoC manipulations. It should make it simpler.

ObSec:
Probably should be just troops. Why should Wraithguard or Howling Banshees or Sternguard score over Assault Marines or Dark Reapers?

VPs:
Simplify Killing the Warlord to 1, and drop the 'don't get the Character point' - same effect, simpler rules.

Patrols sound fun, but you're getting close to where Kill Team should be considered.

I may see if anyone wants to play this at my FLGS. I'm sure they're sick of Asurman being everywhere.

Those rules are looking solid, I would not mind trying them out.

Honestly would not mind getting more small scale games like this running.

Thanks for the replies, all good points being made:

Yarium and Bharring: Agreed on the "no Ob-Sec except for Troops". Definitely encourages them to be used more than just the compulsory 1 for the Patrol.

As for the Character/HQ interaction, I think Yarium worded it best, with Bharring's idea essentially having the same effect. My explanation was very wordy, Yarium got it very consise there. I think I wanted to have it so that it was more of a "if you don't have an HQ that can fit, take a cheaper Character", but I think giving people the freedom to do so even if they can take a cheap HQ is fine.

I think I wanted the low saves and Wounds to encourage things other than full on battle tanks and suchlike, putting the focus on lighter stuff.
I think I could remove the save limit, allowing things to have 2+ armour, but I think I'd like Wounds to remain a limiting factor - a Leman Russ isn't in this scout group, but a Sentinel is. To my knowledge, this doesn't invalidate entire codexes or force monobuild lists.

Having 8th's normal deployment seems fine, no issues there.

I think 4th turn might be a bit too quick - perhaps 5th?

Simplifying the Victory Conditions should work fine - I think I was pulling from the old Combat Patrol in trying to encourage the killing of big centrepiece things, but keeping it simple to just killing the Warlord seems fine. If I do keep the whole "killing Characters, Vehicles and Monsters" part, Bharring made that very simple to work with.

Yarium, good save on the relics and strategems - I hadn't really considered that. Banning relics is a good call, I'll take a look through stratagems and see how to make them work. Banning all "before turn 1" strategems is solid, I'll take a look and see what else isn't suitable.
I may also consider creating some Combat Patrol stratagems exclusive for this gametype, but I don't think there will be much need for them.

I'll also probably put it up to 500 point /25 PL - a more rounded number.

Bharring, I have played HoR, but I find it's quite different to this, in my experience. HoR is model-by-model tactics, where it's much smaller, and vehicles and monsters are rare in any case. This is more just like 40k-lite, still with unit-to-unit tactics, but not as much of the massive tanks and monsters, the infantry are essential for holding and taking objectives. A middle ground between Kill Team/HoR and proper 40k, if you will?

Cothonian, thank you! They're not completely mine, more of an attempt to update them to 8th edition.