What House Rules do you use?

[Gleipnir]

I am curious what "house rules" the community enjoys using for their non comp games. I understand some folks may hate the idea but be fun to hear and share others feedback on changes they play with.

Me I use this one among friends;

Armor Penetration rolls that result in glancing hits permit for Vehicular Armor Saves based on the AP of the attack.

- or AP 6 = 2+ save
AP 5 = 3+ save
AP 4 = 4+ save
AP 3 = 5+ save
AP 2 = 6+ save
AP 1 = no armor save permitted

Only one save is permitted per damaging attack Cover/Armor/Invulnerability

Glancing hits that result from effects other than armor penetration are ineligible for armor saves (Example: Gets Hot, Haywire)

What rules do you use?

[phil035]

because there's alot of necron players in the area and people who though being A%"£$%es are fairly nice when it comes to how bad some dexs are for example we agree unless a unit / vehicle is a fluffly vehicle any SM chapter can use it, also all point costs are equaled out for BA players since they seem to be really expensive at the moment compared to the newer dex's. finally when vehicles go boom and it still at full HP it just takes another hull point as we all hate paying for a vehicle and loosing it first turn

[Brother Daedulus]

No Instant Death by smashing, my CSM nurgle friend really appreciated that one.

[Wolfshade]

The host brings the pies, the opponent brings the beer.

[stebloke]

Me and my mates haven't played much the last two years, but when we do, pretty much everything is house rules. We grew a bit tired of 40K during 5th, and 6th did nothing to reignite our interest, piling in more and more rules that did not fix the things we wanted fixing and seemingly just adding more clunkiness. Coupled with the GW price rises and idiot business moves we thought long and hard whether to get rid of our stuff, but in the end decided to try and write new rules ourselves. We're nowhere near a final ruleset, but it's faster, somewhat simpler, and way more tactical as players alternate moving, shooting and assaulting throughout the whole turn, meaning you have to constantly be aware of what other players might do next.
Balancing / points values will not be easy to get right. They never are. But we could roll random numbers and get more balanced than GW's rules I bet.

[brasidas]

LoS and terrain. You can't see over or through forests, ruined city blocks and hills, except to and from aircraft. Just like in real life.

[Charistoph]

My LGS usually has you do the roll for Warlord Traits before picking the chart to roll on.


...also all point costs are equaled out for BA players since they seem to be really expensive at the moment compared to the newer dex's.

I would be careful with that. A Fast Rhino shouldn't cost the same as a regular Rhino, and those Deep Striking Land Raiders...

[Deadlift]

We allow Nids to take allies, Cant remember the exact details but Imperial Guard, Chaos Daemons, Chaos Marines and Dark Eldar spring to mind.

[Wolfshade]

I would be careful with that. A Fast Rhino shouldn't cost the same as a regular Rhino, and those Deep Striking Land Raiders...

Historically, they did however.

[Eldar_Atog]

We have actually been discussing some new house rules in my gaming group. One of them has been to make all flyers a 0-1 choice. Another has been that snap firing at a vehicle takes a 5 or 6. We will probably ban Hell Turkeys in games smaller than 1250.

[deinol]

We have actually been discussing some new house rules in my gaming group. One of them has been to make all flyers a 0-1 choice. Another has been that snap firing at a vehicle takes a 5 or 6. We will probably ban Hell Turkeys in games smaller than 1250.

Hell turkeys, or all aircraft? It seems more fair to eliminate all flying from small games.

[DarkLink]

Just like in real life.

Ummm... real life is very much true line of sight...

[deinol]

Ummm... real life is very much true line of sight...

Yes, but models of woods are usually much thinner than in real life so that you can actually put troops in them too. There's a reason you classically couldn't shoot through a "woods" section in most version of 40k.

[DarkLink]

Yeah, and I live in a forested area, and there are plenty of open spaces, too. It all depends entirely on how the thing is modeled. Hence, true line of sight. You want a forest that blocks LOS? Then put enough trees on it that you can't see through.

[Tyrendian]

Yeah, and I live in a forested area, and there are plenty of open spaces, too. It all depends entirely on how the thing is modeled. Hence, true line of sight. You want a forest that blocks LOS? Then put enough trees on it that you can't see through.

yeah... just seems like a soultion for people too lazy to model decent terrain...

[Gleipnir]

Tree and hedge lines that are dense enough to block LoS work nice for this and arent terriblly hard to make yourself for blocking LoS if you want a forested area that does so. But I also have no issues with players simply ruling this or that area of forests cannot be fired thru when agreed upon hence house rules.

[PaD]

The main house rule we use is "You can not trace line of sight across* a piece of area terrain, unless you or the target are elevated"

* by "across" we mean not all the way across to the other side of the area. You can see into it just fine.

Nice and simple, one sentence rule. Makes terrain worth while and the games more tactical. No more shooting across the whole damn table....

[DarkLink]

yeah... just seems like a soultion for people too lazy to model decent terrain...

Not that there's anything wrong with using a system other than TLOS in a game, but I've literally got a forest in my back yard, and I can see anyone standing basically anywhere in my back yard or beyond anyways. Conversely, I've been in places where the brush was so thick you couldn't see more than five feet. So when someone says "but in real life..." I sigh and shake my head.

[Auticus]

* cannot take more than 2 of any non-troop unit. Ex... max 2 wraith knights, 2 riptides, etc...
* tyranids can use IG as allies for gene stealer cults
* 1 flyer per 1000 points
* named characters (special characters) limited to 1 and he has to be in your primary detachment, not an allied SC

That's pretty much it for comp that we use in our events

[Panther Berg]

Nids with allies makes sense from a fluff perspective. They've been infiltrated by gene stealers and are turned. My mate and I have discussed this one a lot!

[Lord Commissar Wolf]

Deathwing Sergeants can take weapons other than the power sword. I know the FAQ says 'replace stormbolter and power fist with...', but that means you can't make full CQC Termie squads if the Sarge can't swap his weapons. I'm not sure whether that was a blunder on the FAQ's part, or a deliberate omission for reasons unknown.

[ShasOFish]

One simple courtesy rule; if you ask to take something back, you are obligated to allow your opponent to do the same thing. If you refuse to let them do the same, then they have every right to do so as well. What ended up happening is everyone started playing a bit more relaxed in our circle of players, and the game became far more enjoyable, as we went from a "almost tournament" atmosphere to "beer and pretzels" environment.

[Captain Bubonicus]

We'd been allowing 'Nids to self-ally (opening up a second FOC) in games under 2,000 points. We haven't gotten enough games in with the new codex to see if we'll keep that or not.

[Eldar_Atog]

Hell turkeys, or all aircraft? It seems more fair to eliminate all flying from small games.

We haven't decided yet. The turkey has been the biggest pain point for my group so it is getting a lot of focus.

It is almost a moot point anyway.. The introduction of flyers and the forced move to a new gaming location segmented the group. Most of the tournie players wandered off at that point and rented a storage bin to play in. We are trying to rebuild now with an eye towards a more laid back environment.

[Charistoph]

Easiest and most practical way to fix the Turkey is to just change that little line in the FAQ making that head a Turret and swap it for a 180 degree facing.

[King Damo]

A rule that my club in Australia use to use is if the die rolls off the table it counts as a 1, unless it was a leadership based test where it counts as a 6. I occassionally enforce this during a game at a GW if my opponent continually rolls off the table. I mean honestly, how bloody hard is it to roll onto the table?

[SuperDann]

One slightly unorthodox way we used in a 3 player game was to have two players merge their forces onto a single FOC, for example my Dark Angels and my friend's Imperial Guard made up 1500 points between us, lead by one HQ, against a 1500 point Chaos force. Made for interesting builds.

[Mizzri]

When playing The Scouring mission, we don't reveal the point value of the objective until a non-vehicle unit comes within 3" of it. Then both the point total and the mysterious quality of the objective are revealed. This prevents amassing ones forces in front of the two highest points totals, and "rushing" them in turn 5.

Another variant is revealing the Objective values before starting the first turn as per normal rules, but counting the point value EVERY TURN (I collect at the end of my opponent's turn if I still have possession, he collects his points at the end of my turn if he still has possession). This renders secondary objectives moot, but makes for a far more "in yo face" game.

[John Bower]

As I run a campaign my armies are severely limited to what is available to them:
For example, you all have access to full troops slots and HQ, however, Elite/Fast/Heavy slots you may only have 1 each, until you buy a requisite building on the map, factory for Heavy, Power Station for Fast Attack, and City for Elite. To have Aircraft you must have the requisite slot and an Airfield (spaceport). Same goes for buildings, a Bastion on the map gets you the small to medium stuff, while a Keep from Mighty Empires gets you large and/or multi build units such as the Wall of Martyrs defence line.

[Panther Berg]

Thinking about house rules to come - my mate wrote a blog post about some Nid ideas that I like. Please read?

http://wildweaselpainting.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/of-bugs-and-man/

[This Dave]

Easiest and most practical way to fix the Turkey is to just change that little line in the FAQ making that head a Turret and swap it for a 180 degree facing.

Amazing how such a little change like that makes the Helldrake not completely hateful.

[rockdeity]

These are some I'd like to try:

- You get your normal armor or invuln AND a cover save if eligible. I hate there being no reason to go behind cover if your armor is a better save. It makes no sense. You are protected by both things.

- Rapid fire weapons allow assaults after firing, but only 1d6 charge distance

- Rather than snapshots always BS1, things have BS modifiers to min 1. Things with higher BS should overwatch better than things with lower BS. Other things can modify this too, like how far the opponent moved in his phase.

- You can assault when coming in from reserve or out of a non-moving vehicle like it used to be.

- Consolidation is allowed into an enemy unit after assault, but must suffer an overwatch shot first - even if that unit already overwatched.

- Dropped pods don't give up a VP just because they landed. WTF is that all about?

[Arkhan Land]

maybe something to help your flyer/turkey dilemna is the gentelmens big machine rule, sort of similarly enforced with titans but Big machines and flyers have to go for eachother first before mercilessly wiping out ground forces. First attacks (shooting or CC Including VS) must me made against eachother before targeting a ground unit that said if your opponent doesnt bring any flyers/anti-air hes kind of sent himself up a creek to begin with

[Psyanide]

We have a rule just for fun - if a carnifex dies, you role 5 dice.
If 5 6's are rolled it comes back as a zombie carnifex! (so, basically the same)
~RAWR~

[DrLove42]

We have one house rule - Dont be a di*k.

[Calam]

We place fortifications after terrain, removing up to 1 piece and replace with area rubble. Who would build a bastion right next to a ruined building that blocks it's line of site when you an knock it down.

[phil035]

See i agree with deathwing sergeants being able to take normal equipment as its silly and my whole force is already built and i dfojn't want to buy 2 more boxes just to build sergeants

[Gleipnir]

We place fortifications after terrain, removing up to 1 piece and replace with area rubble. Who would build a bastion right next to a ruined building that blocks it's line of site when you an knock it down.

One of the nicer changes in Stronghold Assault was allowing for additional obstacles and battlefield debris in a 6" footprint around the buildings to help mitigate this from happening.

[Gleipnir]

One of the house rules we use for Tau is Markerlight hits do not force Grounding checks for Flying Monstrous Creatures, Tau have plenty of AA options as is and don't need the added unrealistic cheese of this one, anticipating this one will be answered in a FAQ if they ever write one before the next full year for Tau.

Same for Graviton guns and inflicting two hull points damage on an immobilized vehicle we use one hull point lost per successful graviton damage to a vehicle.

[John Bower]

I could kind of understand the blinding effect of markerlights, but if you were going to inflict it on FMC's it should affect flyers too. After all, if you shine a laser at a plane does it not blind the pilot? Yes, it does. If you don't believe me try it sometime, you'll soon have the local bobbies knocking on your shoulder and reading you your rights as they confiscate your laser and arrest you. :)

[Blackcloud6]

I don't use any house rules. But I have been considering enacting one on unpainted models: unpainted or primed only models are considered a preferred enemy for the opposing force.

[SuperDann]

We have a rule just for fun - if a carnifex dies, you role 5 dice.
If 5 6's are rolled it comes back as a zombie carnifex! (so, basically the same)
~RAWR~

How many times has this happened? And what are it's undead stats like?

[phreakachu]

models with a ginger-y haircolor are immune to psychic powers, on account of being soulless. no, i kid.
we do the emplacements after terrain, and we have these neat resin trenches that stick ip about 18mm or so, which get counted as underground, dont require a difficult test to move *IN* to and arent dangerous terrain for tanks and the like.
alot of our house rules at the flgs are silly, such as Relic games between Blood Angels and Space Wolves be played with a female model for the relic.

i usually throw opponents a bone so to speak when it comes to them having a lack of AA vs my flyers: i usually pull a Quad gun off the shelf and place it on the table... if they havent grabbed it by my turn three, i'll take it for myself, because they're obviously not that into AA. seems d*ckish, but thats life.

I think that if your Space Marine army has a jumble of bits from EVERY DAMN MARINE KIT AVAILABLE, you shouldnt get chapter tactics. Because your Space DarkWolvesUltraChaosRavenBloodKnight Marines hurt my eyes with their absolute sillyness.

[This Dave]

models with a ginger-y haircolor are immune to psychic powers, on account of being soulless. no, i kid.
we do the emplacements after terrain, and we have these neat resin trenches that stick ip about 18mm or so, which get counted as underground, dont require a difficult test to move *IN* to and arent dangerous terrain for tanks and the like.
alot of our house rules at the flgs are silly, such as Relic games between Blood Angels and Space Wolves be played with a female model for the relic.

i usually throw opponents a bone so to speak when it comes to them having a lack of AA vs my flyers: i usually pull a Quad gun off the shelf and place it on the table... if they havent grabbed it by my turn three, i'll take it for myself, because they're obviously not that into AA. seems d*ckish, but thats life.

I think that if your Space Marine army has a jumble of bits from EVERY DAMN MARINE KIT AVAILABLE, you shouldnt get chapter tactics. Because your Space DarkWolvesUltraChaosRavenBloodKnight Marines hurt my eyes with their absolute sillyness.

I have an entire Deathwatch marine army with 57 different Chapters represented. By definition they use bits from every SM Chapter specific kit. So I should not use Ultramarine chapter tactics even though my Watch Captain is a by the book Ultramarine and has organized his Kill Crusade accordingly?

[phreakachu]

so theres a caveat to this... lol. no sir, i speak of the Eyesore Chapter... DA vet body, Chaos hornyhead, armed with Storm Bolter, Chainaxe and Nemesis Power Weapon, An ultramarines Pad, A Black Templar Pad with Pedro's backpack for good measure. Shotgun-painted in a lovely shade of gold and Scorpion green with some spots left to bare plastic, and by the way he COUNTS as being armed with thunderhammer storm shield THIS TURN, but when you double-check next turn he has three relics and Artificer Armor...

Deathwatch is cool. Bullsh*t is not. I'm all for unique models: My Zerks come mostly from the Space Wolves line. But, when i cant readily identify models as having X wargear at a glance, i get annoyed. If you want to proxy in a couple models, ok. When you have tyo go through EVERY model in on the table and describe what it has, no thanks.

[brasidas]

Ummm... real life is very much true line of sight...

While real life is true line of sight, I can see woods and rows of buildings and hills from where I am sitting. I can't see through or over any of them.

If the 40k battlefield is taken as WYSIWYG, then our epic battles are being played on a battlefield about the size of two football fields, forests and jungles have 3 trees in them and are about 25m across, ruined city blocks are actually one small building and sloping hills are 1-2m high. And space marine assault rifles can fire less far than I can throw a rock.

Alternatively the 40k battlefield represents a real battlefield much bigger than the figure scale would suggest. A group of trees on a base represents a decent sized wood with many trees and undergrowth. A ruined building represents a ruined city block with lots of standing walls to obscure sight. Hills represent hills tens or hundreds of metres high rather than molehills (although I have seen a few 40k mesas with scale heights as tall as 12m). And the weapons have ranges much greater than I can throw a stone.

[brasidas]

Yeah, and I live in a forested area, and there are plenty of open spaces, too. It all depends entirely on how the thing is modeled. Hence, true line of sight. You want a forest that blocks LOS? Then put enough trees on it that you can't see through.

Difficult while still allowing movement through it. Also difficult to do so with model trees as tall as they should be. Trees near me are 15m or more tall - that would be 8" on the table and they would be so big they wouldn't fit closely together. Also forests aren't 12" (or 24m) across in real life.

[brasidas]

yeah... just seems like a soultion for people too lazy to model decent terrain...

What? Try to model a real forest with realistic sized trees on a base a few inches across that obscures LoS like a real forest while allowing models including landraiders to move through. Post pictures.

[Pauly Addams]

Chain Melee Weapons AP 6+ ( No points cost adjustment )

Scatter distance 3 x D3 (Max 9” scatter) Not for deep striking and similar rules.

Gets Hot! If a one is scored when rolling to hit the weapon is Overheated and cannot fire next turn (Place a token).

Roll a Jam die (or a 6+ on a D6) when firing Gets Hot! weapons, if the weapon is Overheated and the Jam die rolls a 6 (or Jam!) the model suffers a wound and must make an armour save roll.

Vehicles are affected by Overheated but cannot be harmed, no Jam die is rolled.


I don't use any house rules. But I have been considering enacting one on unpainted models: unpainted or primed only models are considered a preferred enemy for the opposing force.

I love this.

[DarkLink]

Difficult while still allowing movement through it. Also difficult to do so with model trees as tall as they should be. Trees near me are 15m or more tall - that would be 8" on the table and they would be so big they wouldn't fit closely together. Also forests aren't 12" (or 24m) across in real life.

Trees can be anywhere from a few feet to a few hundred feet tall. They can be extremely densely packed, or they can be very scattered. It. All. Depends. On. What's. Actually. Physically. There. You want terrain that blocks LOS? Then make a bunch of tightly packed trees that are too dense to see though. Because that's how it works in real life. When there's too much stuff in the way to see anything, you can't see. If there isn't a bunch of stuff in the way, you can see. I really, really can't believe there's argument over this.

[Arkhan Land]

on a roll of 2+ always order pizza

[HsojVvad]

Haven't played since 5th edition and hated it since I played Nids, so basically quit gaming and became a collector. Thinking of trying to play again with my son.

So we will be using Lord of the Rings rules. I move, you move, I shoot, you shoot, then Assault. We will have priority (to break ties) and someone how try to include heroic rules, where Characters can use Heroic Actions (or what ever it was called in LotR, been ages since I played) so the Character or his unit can shoot during the movement phase, or move during the shooting phase.

Also none of this firing or shooting twice per turn. You either shoot in the shooting phase or you shoot when being assaulted, OR do both but then can't fight back in CC since you fired twice.

[Semaj14]

I don't use any house rules. But I have been considering enacting one on unpainted models: unpainted or primed only models are considered a preferred enemy for the opposing force.

you rock :D

[Psyanide]

How many times has this happened? And what are it's undead stats like?

Only once ~ its stats are the same, but it only has one wound ;)

[Gleipnir]

Added the ability to effect Walkers with Concussive and rerolling 1's for Armor Penetration against Preferred Enemy vehicles.

implementing the Host brings Pizza, guests bring Beer policy next weekend

[Shotgun Justice]

We have our own version of terrain placement, each 2x2 square gets d3 terrain pieces. Alternate picking a piece of terrain then roll a d6 for which square it goes in.
Fortifications are deployed like units, moving terrain or replacing in agreement with your opponent.
Anyone who can take a missile launcher can buy flakk for it for 15pts, or equivalent version for their race.
Everything is mysterious, always.
Objectives may only be placed one floor above ground level, c. 3"

[Tynskel]

We have our own version of terrain placement, each 2x2 square gets d3 terrain pieces. Alternate picking a piece of terrain then roll a d6 for which square it goes in.
Fortifications are deployed like units, moving terrain or replacing in agreement with your opponent.
Anyone who can take a missile launcher can buy flakk for it for 15pts, or equivalent version for their race.
Everything is mysterious, always.
Objectives may only be placed one floor above ground level, c. 3"

not enough terrain.

[Tynskel]

I don't use any house rules. But I have been considering enacting one on unpainted models: unpainted or primed only models are considered a preferred enemy for the opposing force.

yeah, that or opponent gets extra points for fully painted force.

[pnkfld7892]

A house rule I'd like to bring up to my game group is: Sweeping advance. Instead of being an I roll off, which can be impossible to win against say a Daemon Prince( at I 9). It returns to a plain distance roll off on 2 D6, 3d6 for jump infantry. If the losing unit can run faster than the attacker they should get away. Initiative in 40K terms has nothing to do with how fast a unit can run, only how fast they can attack/parry in CC.

[lomaxxdurang]

At my house (before stronghold assault mind you now I am having to rethink that because I was told it makes a destroyed building a ruin vs. impassable terrain) we consider all ruins to be armor 12 and target-able as a building still. You can choose to shoot the ruin or the people inside. The people are not in a hardened structure so they get a 4+ as normal, and the ruin is a building so if you bring a big enough gun you can blow it to hell ala Operation Iraqi Freedom US armor's method of dealing with snipers from buildings; fire the Abrams main gun at it.

[John Bower]

A house rule I'd like to bring up to my game group is: Sweeping advance. Instead of being an I roll off, which can be impossible to win against say a Daemon Prince( at I 9). It returns to a plain distance roll off on 2 D6, 3d6 for jump infantry. If the losing unit can run faster than the attacker they should get away. Initiative in 40K terms has nothing to do with how fast a unit can run, only how fast they can attack/parry in CC.

Have to say that does make loads more sense than the silly I rule, loads of times it's happened where the escaping unit has rolled say 6" and during consolidation the other has rolled maybe 8 or 9, so would easily have overrun them.

On house rules, can I run a question by you guys and see what you think please?

In my campaign you begin with 1 each of the 3 unnecessary slots FA/HV/Elite, and to add to those you must buy buildings. You may add 1 of each for each of the relevant building from Mighty/Planetary Empires as follows:

FA - Power Station
Elite - City
Heavy Support - Factory
Bastions/Medium fortifications - Command Bastion
Heavy/multiple fortifications - Keep
Flyers still take up a slot in their relevant position, so FA for Eldar/Marines and HS for DE/Necrons etc.

Now I'm at a quandary, Mines at the moment give a bonus at the end of a battle - just Empire points at the moment and an optional rule to add 'mercenaries' similar to how WFB handles them. But I don't have any way to add Super Heavies for when Apoc battles come up. Having to have a Hive City seems harsh as I only have 2 and they can't be 'built' like other stuff can. I wondered if maybe a certain number of factories? Or change the rules for mines perhaps? River and Mountain mines are separate btw, River grants you 1 EP and mountain gets you 2. So any thoughts please?

[Charistoph]

For Super-Heavies, it can vary, as each one has their own delivery method.

Necrons and Eldar can bring them in from the Webway. Or unearth them from a cache.

Orks usually scrap-build them from junk lying around or dropped down from their Hulks and Ships.

Most others will drop them in from orbit.

Imperium can even find Mechanicum caches hidden on world to bring them in to the fight.

Maybe they can roll a D6 when they capture a mine, spaceport, or keep, and on 5+ they've been able to call down or find a super-heavy/Gargantuan to the fight.

[John Bower]

unfortunately with that you don't 'capture' anything other than spaceports or hives. If you capture a tile with a mine/keep/factory etc. on you destroy it, and can then build one yourself next turn. One thought we had was to say that since 2 factories gives you 3 HS, then a third factory allows access to a formation or a Super, so IG for example could take a Baneblade (which I have) or a Leman Russ Company. (I don't use escalation so any formations like these are purely Apocalypse use).
Thanks for the idea though and keep 'em coming. It's always good to sift through the ideas. :) Especially now as 2 armies actually have super heavies (orks and guard) another has 1 to come within the next couple of weeks and Eldar have a Wraithknight which I'm treating as a Super (I think it would be unfair to field it as a normal Heavy given how powerful it is).