Moving, Shooting, Assaulting in any order you choose

[Autarch]

Do you guys ever wish that you could move, shoot or assault (psychic stuff too) in any order you wanted? I know its pretty early in 6ed to be contemplating such things, but its something I've always thought about. Its something that would make movement a much much more important aspect of the game, and it would make fast maneuverable armies really incredible.

I actually think its something could be tested out without any modification to the rules. The only fiddly thing I could think of is restrictions on movement due to firing certain weapons. But if you think about it, if say you fired your heavy bolter at full BS in the first phase of the game, it simply means you cant move. I don't usually don't post stuff like this but I wanted to know what you guys think...

[Aegwymourn]

I dunno, having played since 2nd edition having the phases in that order just seems second nature.

as a side note it would radically change the balance of some armies. i dont know if that is a good or bad thing, just pointing it out.

[DarkLink]

Try Warmachine. You activate one unit at a time, in an order of your choice. Each unit takes a move action, then a combat action, with some exceptions or extra actions thrown in depending on the unit and situation.

[Mr Mystery]

Too reactive for me.

I prefer the way it is. That way I have to fully commit, and bank on out manouevring my opponent there and then. It's not more tactical, or less. Just far more pleasing to me as it involves a higher risk!

Old , OLD epic had a sort of 'I go you go' system, but done through hidden orders (face down counters). All revealed at once. The order given to each unit dictated when it activated, but within that phase (charge, first fire, advance, advance fire if memory serves, which it probably doesn't!) you picked a unit with a matching order. Nice blend of the two, as it required proactive and reactive planning, but my word what a lot of book keeping! Thankfully rest of the rules were straight forward, meaning the game moved at a fair clip!

[bfmusashi]

table top seems to be the only place such a thing exists though. Choosing the order of events for a unit has been a staple of strategy video games for years.

[Mr Mystery]

True. All the more reason to keep it for my tuppence worth :p

If they did tinker, wouldn't be the end of the world, but happy how it is!

[DarkLink]

Too reactive for me.

Warmachine, or the OP's proposal? Warmachine isn't reactive, in fact it requires much more significant planning and tactical thought than any 40k game I've ever played. There are games where I could easily spend a half hour just planning out how best to organize my turn, deciding which units to activate in which order and target which enemy unit, because there are so many options to weigh. 40k is far more simplistic on the tactical level (40k is mostly strategy, really, not tactics).

[Mr Mystery]

Both to be honest. Not knocking WM's method, it's just not to my taste as a system or setting.

[LordGrise]

I would think it would make fast moving armies highly operpowered. Shoot - did I kill the speed bump? Oh good, move up the transports. I didn't? Huh. okay, move that into range - shoot some more - is it dead now? okay cool. I offer for everyone's contemplation an Ork Trukk loaded with Boyz - backed up by a full loadout of Tau Broadsides. Not fluffy, but it was pointed out to me recently that anything Kroot can do, Orks can do a whole bunch better...

[Autarch]

Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned that I would still keep the old 40k one player uses all his units, then the other player uses all their units. They would just be able to choose whatever "action" (move, shoot, assault, psychic) in any order they choose. I think it would make jump infantry, tanks, and skimmers extremely difficult to actually corner and kill in assault. It would put a premium on movement and maneuvering and make the advantage of speed on vehicles like the Eldar Falcon truly fearsome, and make flying creatures (jump creatures) with good ranged attacks extremely dangerous. Not to mention Marine bikers and attack bikes which would be made SO good.

I just think it would balance the all-importance of invulnerable saves and what not. Making speed, and flat-out killing power as important as resilience.

@Dark Link- Never played Warmachine but its cool that the mechanic exists somewhere. I knew I wasn't crazy for dreaming this stuff up :)

[Kaiserdean]

I really liked the old Warzone rules with unit activation. It seemed a bit more fluid than the "igougo" format. However, as I've tried to develop my own rules, it's hard to get away from that formula.