40K variant for Chain of Command

I have plenty of 40k figures but I'm not particularly fond of GW rules.  I've tried my hand at writing rules but I've never been entirely satisfied with the results.  I had head that there was a 40K mod for Chain of command(ww2) but all the links i find are broken.  also, the discussions draw attention of the one element that i really like about CoC: the platoon lists.

Example of a Tau platoon list, complete with custom header

So I decided to develop my own variant.  I don't think it would take a lot to modify CoC.  so I bragged a copy of the CoCulator, which is a formula for getting  platoon and support ratings, and I went to work.

I decided early on 1 major change:  armour saves.  these are really the defining characteristic in modern sci-fi games.  I decided to lessen them a bit.  So I grouped armour saves into 4 groups.  saves of 5+ or worse get no armour saves. the armour will save your life, but leave you incapacitated, much like modern body armour.  Carapace armour gets you a 5+ save.  Marine equivalent armour gets you a 4+ and terminator-equivalent armour. when you make an armour save, it converts a kill result into a shock result.    there would be no armour saves in close combat though, as i wanted this to remain bloody.  In relation to the CoCulator,  I count 5+ save as +1 point per model,  4+ save as +2 pts per model, and a 3+ save as +3 points per model.

Another rules change I decided to make was a change to Infantry Antitank weapons. In the rules, you get a -1 for each range pas the first.  I have made extensive use of this class of weapons for things like Melta and Plasma guns.  I modified both the range bands to better reflect ranges in the 40K rules, and i made one more change.   On the army specific Infantry anti tank weapon chart,  grey-range bands and white range bands. Grey range bands get no modifier.  For every range band past the last grey range band,  the rules for firing infantry anti tank weapons apply as normal.

Not everyone will agree with my platoon lists.  40k has left some huge holes in the orders of battle.  many forces don't really have a platoon structure. They go down to company level and then just don't go any further. others  like the Imperial guard, go right down to platoon level, but their theoretical maximum sized platoon IS a company by any other name, with 5 infantry squads, 5 heavy weapons squads, 3 special weapon squads, and 1 30 man conscript squad! I've had to adapt some platoon structures to something playable, while with others wholly inventing a platoon structure that makes as much sense as I can make given the information in the codexes.

I've played the Imperial Guard  Type 1(5 squads) platoon versus a Tau Fire warrior Demi Cadre(3 squads of 12 with 2 drones each)  and it seemed fairly balanced.

the rest have not been tested yet. I've also made custom headers for each race I've worked on so far.

Here is a link to my google drive folder for the PDFs I have thus far set up. I have a few more but they need at least one more pass before I consider posting them.

Steve's 40k CoC Google Drive folder


I hope you enjoy!

First Game of Frostgrave

Almost 2 weeks ago I attended Terry Silverthorn's Remembrance day game.  He hosted it on the preceding Saturday, as Remembrance day was on a Wednesday this year.  He has been gearing up to play Osprey's Frostgrave.  so we went at it in an epic 5-way treasure hunt.

I had chosen thaumaturgy as my primary magic school.  this seemed appropriate as i was using    Sharkey(Saruman) as my mage, and Worm(Grima Wormtongue) as my apprentice. I chose Blinding Light, heal, and Miraculous Cure form the Thaumaturgy list. from aligned magic schools I chose  Mind Control(soothsayer), Push (Sigilist), and Monstrous Form(Illusionist). my last 2 spells were  Elemental Bolt from the Elementalist list and Curse from the witch list.

Sharkey the Trickster's Warband with their acquired loot.

I rounded out my warband with a Knight(Erkanbrand the bold), and infantrymen(Aragorn) 2 Rohan archers and 2 Dunland Thugs.

Jonathan's wizard and warband.

  I went into this game being a bit skeptical of the rules.  This is Osprey's first shot at a fantasy set.  before FrostGrave, they had been all holistically, and some of the ones I have played have been  easy to break, or just not fun (in my opinion).   these rules really surprised me. they are fairly simple, yet deceptively complex.  and the turn sequence is a nice change of pace. 

Sharkey and his entourage arrive!

I spent most of my time keeping everyone out of my portion of the table with push, or hiting targets with blinding light.  I managed to blind Bruce's wizard for 2 turns(with blinding light) and tossed his apprentice off a stone statue(using push) with my apprentice.  I also pushed and blinded Jonathan's apprentice. i decided that my wizard would be henceforth known as Sharkey the Trickster, and his apprentice would be known as Worm the pusher(he successfully cast push almost half a dozen times).

Scott's Necromancer and entourage

I only saw 2 combat's during the game.  the fist was with Bruce's dog attacking my thug ner some loot.  I piled on with my infantryman and my knight and put it out of it's misery.  bruce retaliated by shooting my knight with a bowman and nearly killed him.  but having the loot, the trio withdrew.

the 2nd combat was late in hte game when Jonathan tried to intercept my loot-laden archer with a carefully place leap cast on one of his henchmen.  to everyone surprise,  my archer won the combat. by that time my wizard and apprentice had arrived in the immediate area, and started taking Jonathan's apprentice for "a ride".

The Trio retreating after killing a dog, and Erkanbrand being
wounded by an arrow(to the knee!)

Bruce's archers hiding after Worm's single failed push attempt.

I have to say that i really enjoyed the game.  Even more because i picked a couple of mischievous spells.  i could be heard to be giggling with glee every time some poor unsuspecting enemy was hurled from their hiding spot with my push spell. by the end of the 6-ish turn game I had cast a dozen successful spells, of them 9 where push's.

Thug #1 escapes with loot!

 whe hte dust settled, Bruch, Jonathan and I had made of with 4  loot containers each.  the otehr 3 were split by Terry and Scott.

Bruce's Warband.

my warband wasn't involved on the other side of the table, but Terry and Scott  really went at it. terry took Scott;s necromancer out of play early with a lucky shot.  during the course of the game, 2 loot roles brought creatures on the board, and both spawned near Terry.  His wizard was eaten by a zombie, and a stone golem was next on the list it also attacked terry before wandering aimlessly.

Terry's warband.

Terry's Paladin staring down a stone golem.

Terry and Scott's Big fight.

Terry and Scott's melee with Jonathan's Dog and handler
joining the fight.

here are a few other pics i took.

 

 

Some time soon I hope to start building some 6mm city terrain for Epic and Robotech.  I also have more robotech models half painted.