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FIGHT PHASE
Carnage engulfs the battlefield as the warring armies meet head-on. Fangs and claws crunch through bone. Blades ring like hammer on anvil. Blood spurts and flesh tears as hate-filled foes tear one another apart.

Starting with the player whose turn is not taking place, the players must alternate selecting an eligible Initiative 3 unit from their army and fighting with it, until one player runs out of Initiative 3 units, the other player activates their remaining Initiative 3 units one at a time. Then start over with Initiative 2 units until all Initiative 2 units have been activated and then start over with Initiative 1 units, the Fight phase ends when neither player has any more eligible Initiative 1 units to fight with. Units are Initiative 2 unless otherwise noted. Charging units add 1 to their Initiative to a maximum of 3. An eligible unit is one that is within Engagement Range of an enemy unit and/or made a charge move in the same turn.

I haven't found all the fight first/last abilities but these are some of the options you could do with an initiative system and I think the system is foolproof, as long as nobody creates a "change this unit's initiative to 1 regardless of modifiers because that would clash with Orikan.

COUNTER-OFFENSIVE 2CP
Core Stratagem
Use this Stratagem after an enemy unit has fought in this turn. Select one of your own eligible units and fight with it next regardless of its Initiative.

EMPEROR’S CHILDREN: FLAWLESS PERFECTION
Units with this trait add 6 to their Initiative to a maximum of 3.

CULT OF STRIFE: THE SPECTACLE OF MURDER
Units with this trait add 1 to their Initiative to a maximum of 3.

Each time you declare a charge for a unit with this Obsession, if there are no other units from your army within Engagement Range of any of the enemy units selected as targets of that charge, add 1 to the charge roll.

ORIKAN THE DIVINER: PRESCIENT STRIKE
Orikan the Diviner's Initiative is always 3 regardless of modifiers.

LIBRARIUS DISCIPLINE 1: VEIL OF TIME
Blessing: Veil of Time has a warp charge value of 6. If manifested, select one friendly <CHAPTER> unit within 18" of this PSYKER.

Until the start of your next Psychic phase, you can re-roll Advance rolls and charge rolls made for that unit. Until the start of your next Psychic phase add 1 to that unit's Initiative to a maximum of 3.

BROODMIND DISCIPLINE 1: MASS HYPNOSIS
Mass Hypnosis has a warp charge value of 7. If manifested, select an enemy unit within 18" of and visible to the psyker. Until the start of your next Psychic phase, the target cannot fire Overwatch, subtracts 1 from its Initiative to a minimum of 1, and must subtract 1 from its hit rolls.

HIVE MIND DISCIPLINE 5: PAROXYSM
Paroxysm has a warp charge value of 5. If manifested, choose an enemy unit within 18" of the psyker. Until your next Psychic phase, subtract 10 from that unit's Initiative to a minimum of 1.

I already find the conflict of "fight first/last" rules to be a headache, am wondering if this might add to it rather than fixing the issue.

 Valkyrie wrote:
I already find the conflict of "fight first/last" rules to be a headache, am wondering if this might add to it rather than fixing the issue.

How would it be a headache? Most units fight at Initiative 2, rules add or subtract from Initiative, no fight last or first, all use the same wording.

If this is capped at 1-2-3, I guess I don't see why it needs to be a characteristic as opposed to just "fight last" vs "fight" vs "fight first".

RevlidRas wrote:
If this is capped at 1-2-3, I guess I don't see why it needs to be a characteristic as opposed to just "fight last" vs "fight" vs "fight first".

It requires less text and I think it's easier to understand, valkyrie disagrees so maybe it's just a bad idea.

 vict0988 wrote:

RevlidRas wrote:
If this is capped at 1-2-3, I guess I don't see why it needs to be a characteristic as opposed to just "fight last" vs "fight" vs "fight first".

It requires less text and I think it's easier to understand, valkyrie disagrees so maybe it's just a bad idea.

Well, capped at 1-2-3, it's basically just a different way of saying the same rules we already have. A sidegrade. You lose out overall because the small ammount of inconvenience created by needing to train your gaming group to talk about it with your new lingo makes it less convenient than simply using the GW rules.

Now that said, if you allow modifiers to push your initiative more than 1 step, I think you have something useful. You'd basically end up with a system that acknowledges various modifiers to initiative without the downsides of some armies having initiative stats that cause them to almost always swing first/last.

So orks charging craftworlders would swing first because their initiative is X (baseline) +1 for charging. Orks charging a wych cult unit that always swings first would alternate because they're both at X+1. Slaaneshi daemons would basically always be at X+1 by default, I could use -1 initiative debuffs to lower them to X or even X-1. It allows multiple initiative-altering rules have an impact rather than being a sort of binary "go first/golast" mechanic.