Vehicle Overwatch House Rule

I haven't really covered Vehicles in Sixth Edition, but other than Walkers, Vehicles don't get to fire Overwatch shots (An embarked unit may do so given that Fire Points accommodate them). This is likely since they don't really interact at all in close combat. They just sit there and take the Chainfists to their rear armour. But Sons of Taurus has a good idea for a house rule.

From 6th Ed Impressions, Part Ten - Instrumental Changes:

Vehicle overwatch - Regular vehicles can't fire overwatch.  If they're having overwatch, I think it would have been cool to carry over a defensive weapons rule, and clarify certain weapons as qualifying, letting them fire overwatch.  Things like pintle-mounted storm/combi-bolters, the shuricats on eldar vehicles and other weak, maneuverable weapons.  It wouldn't help much, but it would be cool, help keep the vehicle player interested, and more reason for people to put those cool heavy stubbers on tanks.

I would take this and clarify it a little bit. Defensive weapons would of course have to be able to target the unit in their arc of fire at the beginning of the Charge. It'd really only make people consider what angle they decide to engage your vehicle from.

Deep Strike House Rule

My plan to watch some 40k games this weekend got shot by a new Magic release. Instead of analysis on the state of the game, how about a house rule based on the 6th Edition test rules?

Tests of Faith for 6th Edition

I mentioned previously that I'm dissatisfied with the current state of Faith Points. Currently (and I highly suspect this to be the case) Sisters of Battle look like they are only supposed to be Allies. Why? Because no matter how many squads you have, no matter how many points you spend, you get 1d6 Faith Points per turn. Awesome if you're running a Canoness, minimum squad of Battle Sisters and the one unit you actually want to spend the points (Faith and otherwise) on as an Allied detachment. If you're doing an Apocalypse game you're hosed. But I have some possible solutions below!

Canoness Commander Ecaterina Revina

Canoness Commander Ecaterina Revina is the leader of one of the Commanderies of the Order of the Obsidian Rose, a lesser order of the Sisters of Battle. Her armor is the Obsidian Carapace, a suit of Artificer Armor blessed, some say, by the Emperor himself. She carries an Incinerator and the sacred Rose Blade.

She and her order have spent time fighting alongside the Grey Knights, and she and her retinue enjoy some equipment not seen by many Sisters. Canoness Commander Ecaterina Revina herself has an Incinerator while while each member of her retinue has Artificer Armor. Her retinue consists of her Sister-Captain and 4 Sisters-Knight.

Sisters of Battle VS Greyanids

Om Nom Nom

If you're only interested in hearing the result of my Sisters v. the Tyranid menace, the above picture sums it up nicely. For the details, read on.

Shiny Silver Inquisition VS Grey Scars

Tzeentch being the Lord of Change or whatever decided he'd change his mind again. The Shiny Silver Inquisition vs. Grey Scars showdown was a go! Warning: This will be long.

Of House Rules and Grey Knights

Psychic Hoods, Assault Cannons, Teleport Homers, Storm Shields, Smoke Launchers. These are some of the things the Daemon (and Witch!) Hunters have still sticking back in 3rd Edition rules.

Of particular interest is the Teleport Homer. The way it is described in the codex refers to an old Deep Strike rule involving templates. One argument is that they can do nothing at all now because templates aren't used. For some reason this draws out a deep-seated anger in me. I have a very hard time arguing against it because I become irrational. Grey Knights are now one of the oldest codices (if not the oldest codex)  in 40k right now and is widely regarded as over-costed. I ask what harm it causes in a friendly game to allow an old codex to use updated rules from a similar army--in this case Grey Knights to use the new Space Marine Teleport Homers.

Now the first follow-up argument is, of course, "What about the Psychic Hood? You're just going to cherry-pick the updates you want and keep the old stuff like unlimited range hoods and cheap Extra Armor." I would much rather sacrifice those few things that do get a benefit from the age of the rules in order to get the rest of them updated that broke or were improved with new editions. Some of the changes are really obvious too. The Imperial Armour books from Forge World give some good ones: Sisters Rhinos are identical to the newest Space Marine Rhinos, IA Land Raiders pay the new standard price for Extra Armor, Hector Rex (IA 7) gets a 3+ invulnerable save Storm Shield. Teleport Homers are almost identical in the latest codices to the old Daemonhunters one it just no longer references a template and gives the 6" bubble.

I've decided what causes me so much rage in these arguments. Fairness. When confronted with a situation like the Teleport Homer, my instinct is to say, "Well, obviously the game has evolved and here's a clear example of how the designers have fixed the old rules to work with the system now." I do not expect the response to be, "I know, right? It sucks to be using the old codex now since it means you can't use a tactic that was intended for your army. One day they'll update the rules so you aren't shafted anymore."

A tournament is one thing. Telling someone they're playing an overpriced army then gleefully telling them you won't apply some common decency with an obvious house-rule fix for a friendly game is a bit on the rude side.

Yes, the rant is over now. Thank you for your time.