Pete and I played a full game using the trial rules for alternate unit activation. Here is a quick recap of how the rules functioned.
The Game
- Orks vs World Eaters: 1500 points
- Onslaught Scenario: Each player places an objective in the opponent's deployment zone and gains 5VP for controlling it at the end of the game (6 turns). Also gain 1 VP for each unit destroyed in Turn 1, Slay the Warlord, and Attrition (1 VP for whichever side destroyed the most enemy units).
- Long table edge deployment zones.
- Alternating unit deployment, starting with Pete.
- Roll each turn for first unit activation.
What Worked Well
- Selecting which unit to activate in which order was very fun. It added another level of tactical depth by forcing prioritization, anticipating enemy moves, and requiring more forethought in order to coordinate your attacks. I really like this aspect and would like to keep it as it is (as opposed to the units always going in a fixed order or a random order).
- It was satisfying to perform an entire round with a single unit: move, shoot, charge, and resolve morale checks.
- I felt there were offsetting pros and cons to armies with more (weaker) units compared to armies with fewer (stronger) units. At times, the orks were able to move expendable units into range first, forcing the marines to fire before later moving their more important units into the open. An example was waiting until the dreadnought fired before exposing the mega trukk later in the turn. But the orks also suffered from trying to coordinate multiple units against one strong unit. An example was when the shoota boyz and warbikes faced a large tactical squad with chaplain. The shoota boyz shot and charged, lost combat and were wiped in a sweeping advance before the warbikes could charge in to lend a hand and add their damage to the result - either tipping in the orks' favor or least reducing the negative morale modifier by inflicting more wounds. (And if the shoota boyz had not been destroyed, then the warbikers would have lost the ability to shoot before charging, compared to the normal rules).
Areas for More Thought
- We did not attempt to Hold or Seize. We were busy enough with the base rules that we did not really think about it. It may have helped to fix some of the seemingly odd issues, or it may have created worse imbalance. We will need to play test these next time.
- As expected, the biggest differences are in melee. As stated in the rules, we limited a unit to attacking in melee to no more than two times in a game turn to keep it in line with the current rules. This worked fine for the entire game except one instance. Pete's tactical squad went first and charged and destroyed the tankbustas, then consolidated. The shoota boyz charged the tactical squad and were defeated in a sweeping advance, so his tactical squad consolidated again. Then the warbikers charged. Since the marines had fought twice, the rules-as-written stated that the warbikers were allowed to attack the marines but the marines could not fight back, and since the marines of course lost combat, they had to make a morale check. This felt odd, but I think it actually worked out OK. The marines all got to dish out two rounds of attacks and destroy two units and then they may have been destroyed themselves (but they passed morale). I think this is an important advantage/reward to coordinating attacks from multiple units on a single enemy unit. It helps to balance out the negative impact of having to attack piecemeal with your multiple weaker units. It could result in some situations where a unit of grots or militia charge a powerful unit and "use up" their attacks before a stronger unit moves in to attack without retribution. But, with a unit being able to fight twice in a turn, the outnumbered unit would have needed to already have charged earlier in the turn, or the outnumbering side would need to throw three units at them in one turn. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this one. And if this is a big advantage to having some disposable units, I say "good"! Right now, militia are so weak as to be nearly useless in games and certainly not worth the points cost. I am fine with rewarding a player who chooses more "regular men" rather than just filling the bare minimum of two troops and then loading up on elite units. Right now, I am leaning toward leaving this rule as it is and seeing how it plays out in more situations.
- There was a situation where a unit got what felt like a double move. The mega trukk was activated near the end of turn 1, going flat out to get close to the dreadnought. A different ork unit went last in the turn. On the next turn, I believe the orks had the first activation and chose to charge with the meganobz before the dreadnought could shoot the trukk and charge the survivors. At first this felt unfair to the dreadnought - the last time it went, the orks were out of sight. Then the orks moved up to point blank range and got to go again before the dreadnought had a chance to shoot. But we played it out: the orks disembarked and declared a charge, the dreadnought killed one with overwatch, the other two charged in, the dreadnought killed them both in melee before they could attack. So the end result was fine for the dreadnought (in this case) even though it felt "wrong" at the time. One thing to keep in mind is that a transport and the unit inside are activated separately. So the only reason the orks got to charge as the first activation is because the trukk did not need to move farther first. So this limits a bit just how far of a reach an embarked unit has. (Obviously assault units with jump packs, wings or bikes could still be unbalanced with an extremely long reach on the double move). I think this played out OK. We will have to account for this possibility and position units to anticipate it. Also, if a player focuses on one unit for a "double move" that means the opponent will have the potential to have an effective "double move" somewhere else on the table that turn, where a unit acts twice since the last time the offsetting enemy acted. I think the roll to see who gets to activate first, and the stipulation that the last unit to act can't be first next turn both helped to make an effective double move harder to plan on but it can still happen (there was an equal chance that the dreadnought would have gone first and the orks would have been sitting ducks at point blank range). This roll simulated the initiative swinging to the orks as they stole the first activation and the marines were left flatfooted by the unexpected appearance of the orks so quickly. My gut feel is to leave this alone for now and continue play testing, but I am curious to hear what Pete thinks. I can't think of a way to prevent this while still allowing the selection of the unit to activate (rather than having the order be fixed or random - and if it is random, the same thing can still happen). I think the best way to give a player a chance to avoid being on the receiving end of this is to expand the "Hold" rule such that an HQ can attempt a Hold for any unit within 12" as a sort of command radius. This would have given Pete the option to Hold the dreadnought and wait for the trukk to show itself on turn 1 (if he had an HQ closer to it). This would reward using an HQ choice as a central commander. I'm open to other ideas as well!
- Activating a transport and the transported unit separately creates some differences compared to how the unit would act normally. Whereas you would normally get to move the transport, dismount, and then shoot/charge all at once, with these rules you move the transport and shoot, but then your opponent may have a chance to shoot or charge the transport before your squad can disembark. Most of the time this was not an issue, but it gave Pete some headaches when his land raider full of terminators was facing off against the tankbustas. If he moved up so that his terminators would be in range to charge, then the tankbustas would also be in range to possibly move and charge the tank first. But, even if the tankbustas destroyed the tank, the terminators would have had a chance to move, shoot and charge in return from the wreckage (assuming they were not pinned). Or if he would have moved his land raider forward and destroyed the trukk with shooting, the orks may have become pinned and unable to charge. Overall, in this particular situation, these rules made the transport less effective. Other times, it may be advantageous to have the unit and transport go separately, such as if you want to have a unit wait: move up, let the transport absorb enemy fire and only disembark once your unit would be mostly safe. Also, this would have been a perfect attempt for Pete to try to Seize the Initiative: move the land raider and shoot the tankbusta's trukk. Then attempt to Seize in order to activate the terminators next before I could respond. It is a very risky choice due to the low probability, but sometimes the situation calls for desperate moves. Or simply just wait for your opponent to move his target unit first, then you know you can move your transport and the unit without being charged. I'd like to hear your opinion on this one as well.
Summary
The game was very close with lots of back and forth momentum swings and exciting moments. I'm sure the new rules impacted many things compared to playing normally, but if the game was fun, engaging, and closely fought then I say the rules are a success! Realistically, I think the biggest reason the orks were in a better position at the end is Pete's poor use of his most powerful unit: the land raider filled with terminators indecisively shifted back and forth for most of the battle before finally attacking in the last few turns. The terminators never entered combat until the sixth turn, too late to have much impact. This was partially due to us learning how the new rules would play out, especially the issue with a transport and its unit going separately, but mostly because Pete underestimated the threat of the tankbustas early on and did not prioritize their destruction. Once they moved up into the midfield, they forced him to hold his tank back at a safe distance until they were dealt with. In hindsight, he should have had his predator target them immediately in an attempt to destroy their transport in the back field, leaving them to footslog toward the land raider totally exposed.
The game highlighted the benefit of the new rules for a powerhouse unit such as Pete's tactical squad with chaplain. They destroyed in succession the 'ard boyz, the tankbustas, the shoota boyz, the warbikers and the kommandos (although the kommandos should have survived due to being fearless that turn, they were certainly badly beaten in combat). These five units made up 730 points - a full half of my army! This highlighted the ability of a strong unit to isolate and destroy weaker units one by one with less chance of being ganged-up-on than the normal rules. The game also highlighted the benefit of having many smaller units by allowing my meganobz to get the drop on the dreadnought - although it worked out rather badly for them in actuality! Both armies had their moments to shine: the dread destroying the meganobz without a scratch, the snipers taking out the weirdboy (very fitting for snipers!), the aforementioned World Eaters tactical squad bringing the pain to the orks in melee, the tankbustas blowing up the predator, the warboss destroying a building and the dreadnought, and the kommandos moving across the entire battlefield by jumping in an empty trukk in order to contest the marine objective on the last turn! Plenty of great action.
The next step is more play testing, maybe with a tweak or two.
