An idea "Dice Pool"

[Turner]

I've thought about this a couple of times and decided to finally pose the idea on the forums. It's an idea that first began when my dice were "cold" and my opponents were "hot" Personally I don't really believe in any special mojo, funky dances or lucky rabbit's feet (or jackets or sneakers) I do believe that I have a couple of models that because the look cool they play awesome... I'm sure we all have a few like that ;)

Anyways, take 20 dice and roll them after you (or your opponent) tried to seize the initiative. (Otherwise with this idea you would most likely always be stealing it.) Then, that’s it… those are your rolls for the entire game and your opponent’s roll’s for the entire game. (So you have a dice “pool” of twenty dice and your opponent has the exact same dice “pool”, you aren’t sharing/taking from the same “pool”) The only real catch is you have to cycle through the dice at all times. An example; It is your turn and you’ve divided your dice up into little “pools” because let’s face it, we’re all a little anal/crazy. You have three dice that are 6’s, five dice that are 5’s, one die that is a 4, two dice that are 3’s and four dice that are 2’s and five that are 1’s. If you decided to move your unit of whatever that has the universal special rule “Move Through Cover” and you choose all 6’s then before you can use any 6’s again you have to “burn” through all of the other dice.


I think this presents an interesting gaming concept, you know what dice are in your “pool” and you try to use that to your advantage. Sure having that many 1’s to use stinks but you try to mitigate that by using them when it doesn’t matter. Make a run action and choose a 1, move said unit through cover and (without move through cover) and choose a 2 and a 4, fire that twinlinked weapon or if you have rerolls choose those 1’s first, make those Ld tests with double 1’s! At the same time you know exactly what your opponent has. Maybe you don’t want to start by firing that Vendetta with the three twin linked lascannons at his terminator squad, maybe you want to fire some lasguns first to make sure he doesn’t have very many 5’s or 6’s (like wise 3’s or better if they have “certain” wargear….) Close combat would still be a little tricky because both parties would be “burning” through their dice pools rather rapidly.


Alternatively instead of having that set 20 dice that replenishes (where you always know that you’ll have three dice that are 6’s, five dice that are 5’s, one die that is a 4… you get the idea) but rather you know what the next 20 dice rolls will be. After you’ve used the dice in your “pool” you reroll the entire batch and that’s the next 20 dice rolls you can choose from.

Just some thoughts, I think it would be a little neat to try for fun. I’m not sure how you could do scatter dice, maybe make a 6 or a 5 dead on… or alternatively a 6 and a 1?

[pyroclasm]

Sadly, I feel that there might be ways to break this system, that might make certain units better.

But also, how about shooting a unit like a venom? You shoot 12 shots, then however many hit may force you to create a new pool just to roll to wound.

I just feel that this may make the game longer than it has to be. And I like the random chance of the game.

[DarkLink]

Too much work for too little benefit. If you think wound allocation slows the game down wait 'till you can pick and choose dice for every single roll over the entire game.

[Bean]

Yeah, i've wanted to try something similar with playing cards--take the ace-through-six out of, say, five decks per person and use them instead of dice.

There are lots of ways you could do it--you could just pick which card you want for each roll, or you could have a hand that you pick from, or you could just draw off the top instead of rolling.

Darklink's right, though--being able to select your rolls might be neat, but it would add a lot of time to the game.

Still, even drawing from the top of a deck instead of rolling would force an even distribution over time, which would be interesting.

I'd certainly try it. I'm not sure it'd be worth the effort, though.

[L192837465]

What if someone is running a huge deathstar of th/ss terminators and gets lucky on his pool and doesn't roll a single 1 or 2? You can NEVER kill that unit. They'll never even lose combat, ever.

[Bean]

What if someone is running a huge deathstar of th/ss terminators and gets lucky on his pool and doesn't roll a single 1 or 2? You can NEVER kill that unit. They'll never even lose combat, ever.

Yeah, it's a good point.

In fact, even if they do roll some ones or twos, the unit will still be effectively invincible. They'll just make sure to use up those ones and twos on something that doesn't matter--like bolter shots--on their own turn. A unit of five marines can suck up ten ones and twos with their bolter shots, losing virtually nothing and likely guaranteeing that the terminator deathstar never dies.

So, yeah. I agree. This sort of selection process is fatally flawed. Good point.

[L192837465]

Yeah, it's a good point.

In fact, even if they do roll some ones or twos, the unit will still be effectively invincible. They'll just make sure to use up those ones and twos on something that doesn't matter--like bolter shots--on their own turn. A unit of five marines can suck up ten ones and twos with their bolter shots, losing virtually nothing and likely guaranteeing that the terminator deathstar never dies.

So, yeah. I agree. This sort of selection process is fatally flawed. Good point.


Thanks. And actually, statistically speaking, out of 20 dice, only about three will be ones. So unless you can manage 18 wounds on a terminator unit, you won't scratch it. Ever.

[Tarasque]

It's an interesting idea, but I don't think it fits 40k very well, and I think it would slow down the game too much. Besides that, it's somewhat unrealistic. Sure, dice aren't entirely realistic as is, but they can at least represent the chances with the sheer number of things that can go wrong (or right!). If dealing with shooting, you've got the subconscious panic of the shooter, their ability to focus, their human capacity to aim... All of that.

[doogansquest]

Sadly, I feel that there might be ways to break this system, that might make certain units better.

But also, how about shooting a unit like a venom? You shoot 12 shots, then however many hit may force you to create a new pool just to roll to wound.

I just feel that this may make the game longer than it has to be. And I like the random chance of the game.

I agree with all of this.

[spagunk]

I don't know. It sounds fun. Perhaps add some special rules for absurdly large dice rolling unit or something. Or better yet, add a small dice pool that a player can use for emergencies. I'm really bad with dice rolls so an occasional help is appealing.

[Dameon01]

dont like the idea, because if you get one crappy roll at the start of the game, you lose by default, plus if its spread all over you can plan out your hits and rending wounds and what not, no element of chance

[pappsy]

i like the dice pool

[gingerkid]

I've thought about this a couple of times and decided to finally pose the idea on the forums. It's an idea that first began when my dice were "cold" and my opponents were "hot" Personally I don't really believe in any special mojo, funky dances or lucky rabbit's feet (or jackets or sneakers) I do believe that I have a couple of models that because the look cool they play awesome... I'm sure we all have a few like that ;)

Anyways, take 20 dice and roll them after you (or your opponent) tried to seize the initiative. (Otherwise with this idea you would most likely always be stealing it.) Then, that’s it… those are your rolls for the entire game and your opponent’s roll’s for the entire game. (So you have a dice “pool” of twenty dice and your opponent has the exact same dice “pool”, you aren’t sharing/taking from the same “pool”) The only real catch is you have to cycle through the dice at all times. An example; It is your turn and you’ve divided your dice up into little “pools” because let’s face it, we’re all a little anal/crazy. You have three dice that are 6’s, five dice that are 5’s, one die that is a 4, two dice that are 3’s and four dice that are 2’s and five that are 1’s. If you decided to move your unit of whatever that has the universal special rule “Move Through Cover” and you choose all 6’s then before you can use any 6’s again you have to “burn” through all of the other dice.


I think this presents an interesting gaming concept, you know what dice are in your “pool” and you try to use that to your advantage. Sure having that many 1’s to use stinks but you try to mitigate that by using them when it doesn’t matter. Make a run action and choose a 1, move said unit through cover and (without move through cover) and choose a 2 and a 4, fire that twinlinked weapon or if you have rerolls choose those 1’s first, make those Ld tests with double 1’s! At the same time you know exactly what your opponent has. Maybe you don’t want to start by firing that Vendetta with the three twin linked lascannons at his terminator squad, maybe you want to fire some lasguns first to make sure he doesn’t have very many 5’s or 6’s (like wise 3’s or better if they have “certain” wargear….) Close combat would still be a little tricky because both parties would be “burning” through their dice pools rather rapidly.


Alternatively instead of having that set 20 dice that replenishes (where you always know that you’ll have three dice that are 6’s, five dice that are 5’s, one die that is a 4… you get the idea) but rather you know what the next 20 dice rolls will be. After you’ve used the dice in your “pool” you reroll the entire batch and that’s the next 20 dice rolls you can choose from.

Just some thoughts, I think it would be a little neat to try for fun. I’m not sure how you could do scatter dice, maybe make a 6 or a 5 dead on… or alternatively a 6 and a 1?
I love the idea of this but nit for 40k, maybe specialist games like munda and gorka and BFG. I think that would work better. :-)

[kingsfan2099]

While I understand the idea of bad dice. Anyone I play against can attest to my bad dice, but my assault squad will make about 27 attacks so having a pool of 20 dice isn't really going to work. The gamesmanship that this will bring up also would make the game unplayable. While I would love to see the dice have less of an effect on the game I think maybe your card idea might be better to mitigate bad dice.