Hi all
We are continuing on in our weekly series looking at ways to modify the existing crusade system to make it more engaging. As with the last article these suggestions are just the opinion of myself and the club I play with. I would love to hear what custom rules you are using in your local area.
The problem:
One issue with the core rule book, and many of the early codex crusade rules, is that the battle traits can be rather banal. Most focus on simple improvements that don’t really give the unit additional flavor and instead just make it better. This has been resolved slightly in some of the newer books but for most armies it remains a largely unexplored area of possibility
To this end a few people at are local club got together to develop the following tables one for vehicles and one for all other units. Our goal was to create upgrades that made the units function in a different way or gave them interesting quirks. There are some slight edits I might make to the list going forward as some buffs can snowball a bit but I have been pretty happy with them so far. An additional mechanic we are using has players roll 2d6 and pick a trait that aligns with either dice roll or their combined total. We also tried something a little more unusual for the Psychic Fortitudes.
| 1 | Indomitable: At the start of your Command phase, this model regains 1 lost wound. In addition, each time a Mortal Wound is allocated to this unit; on a 6+, that mortal wound is ignored. If this unit already has an ability which ignores Mortal Wounds then increase that ability by +1 (to a maximum of 4+). |
| 2 | Bellowing Challenge: Once per game, during your opponent’s charge phase or at the start of a fight phase, select one enemy VEHICLE or MONSTER within 6″ and choose one of the following: – This unit may perform a Heroic Intervention as if it were a CHARACTER. During this Heroic Intervention it may move up to 6″ (instead of 3″) towards the selected unit (Ignoring other closer models) and must end its movement within engagement range of that unit. It counts as having charged in the following fight phase. – It counts as having charged this turn and when selected to fight this unit may pile in towards the selected unit (Ignoring other closer models) and must end its movement within engagement range of that unit. Until the end of the turn, this unit adds 2 to its strength and attacks characteristic and must allocate all of its attacks against the selected unit. |
| 3 | Unstoppable: Once per game, during your Command Phase you may use this ability to increase this unit’s Move Characteristic by 2″, and add 1 to any Advance and Charge rolls until the end of the turn. This cannot be used during the first battle round if you took the first player turn. |
| 4 | Inspiring: Friendly units within 3″ of this unit add 1 to their leadership characteristic and to any Combat Attrition rolls they make. |
| 5 | Terrifying: Enemy units within 3″ of this unit cannot be affected by any Stratagems used by the opponent during the Morale phase. Additionally, enemy models slain as a result of a melee attack by this unit count as 2 models destroyed for purposes of Morale tests and that enemy unit must subtract 1 from Combat Attrition tests until the end of the turn. |
| 6 | Siege Breaker: This unit ignores the difficult terrain trait. Additionally, once per game during any phase, it is considered to be INFANTRY for the purpose of the breachable terrain trait until the end of the turn. |
| 7 | Masterwork Creation: The first time per game that this unit fails a saving throw against a weapon with a damage characteristic of 2 or greater, reduce the damage to 0. Additionally. this unit ignores any rules it has which make it Explode (Or other similar rule). |
| 8 | Communications Relay: At the start of your first command phase choose one of your CHARACTER models that has an Aura ability that lets models re-roll rolls of 1 to hit or to wound. For the remainder of the game, this unit gains that ability if it is within line of sight to the chosen CHARACTER. Additionally, whenever a Stratagem targets the chosen character while this unit is in line of sight; roll a d6, on a 4+ you regain 1 Command Point. |
| 9 | Hail of Fire: If this unit does not move during your movement phase then during your next shooting phase, if it targets an enemy unit in line of sight, then it may ignore any or all modifiers to its ballistic skill characteristic or to hit rolls and enemy units do not gain the benefits of cover from ranged attacks. |
| 10 | Titan Slayer: When attacking an enemy TITANIC unit this unit ignores any enemy abilities which allow the unit to ignore or reduce damage suffered and add 1 to the armor penetration characteristic of any weapon used. Additionally, each time this unit destroys an enemy TITANIC unit it may heal 3 wounds lost and you gain 1 Command Point. |
| 11 | Advanced Stabilizers: When this unit Advances, during its next shooting phase it may shoot all of its weapons as if it had Remained Stationary. |
| 12 | Point Blank Accuracy: Once per game, when this unit shoots with the Big Guns Never Tire rule it may ignore the penalty to the hit roll and any blast weapons it has count as if they did not have the rule for the remainder of the phase. |
All Other Unit Battle Traits
| 1 | Zealots: Once per battle round, this unit may attempt to Deny the Witch as if it were a psyker unit. If this unit is a psyker then it may instead choose to add +1 to a Deny the Witch test. |
| 2 | Integrated Comms: At the end of your movement phase, one unit with this upgrade can perform this action. If the unit performing this action is within 1” of an objective at the end of your turn, gain 1 CP. |
| 3 | Combined Arms: The unit gains the “Core” keyword. If it already had this keyword then it gains the Objective Secured ability (or equivalent). If it already has both of these abilities then each model in the unit counts as 1 additional model for the purposes of controlling objectives. |
| 4 | Ferocity: Once per game, use this ability at the beginning of any Fight Phase to make this unit count as having made a charge move in that turn and it ignores any ability which makes it Fight Last or not be able to be selected to fight as normal. |
| 5 | Scouts: When this unit is set up during deployment it may be deployed anywhere on the board that is more than 9” from the enemy deployment zone or enemy models. |
| 6 | Combat Medics: At the end of your movement phase, one unit in your army with this Battle Trait may perform the following action. Combat Revival: Select one friendly unit with the “Core” keyword within 3″ of this unit and roll a D6. You may first heal a number of lost wounds on a model in that unit and then return a number of that unit’s destroyed models (With full wounds remaining) that have a combined wounds characteristic that is equal to or less than the number rolled on the D6 (Minus what was first healed). This action is completed at the end of the turn. A unit may only be affected by this action once per game. |
| 7 | Veterans: While this unit is performing an action it may still shoot and charge without that action failing |
| 8 | Elusive: Once per game, when this unit is selected as the target of a charge it may make a normal move of up to 1D6” before the charge roll is made in any direction |
| 9 | Strategist: If this unit is in your army you may select one additional agenda |
| 10 | Partisans: This unit counts as 0 Power Level for the purposes of placing units into Strategic Reserve during deployment. In addition, if this unit has been deployed, then after both sides have deployed but before the start of the first battle round, this unit may be removed from the battlefield and placed into Strategic Reserve |
| 11 | Duplicitous: Once per game, at the beginning of any command phase, you may use this ability. During the turn, the first stratagem used by your opponent costs an additional CP (If they cannot pay this additional cost then the stratagem cannot be used). At the end of the turn roll a dice, on a 4+ this effect continues for an additional turn. |
| 12 | Foresight: Each time your opponent spends a CP roll a D6. On the result of a 6 gain 1 CP. |
Psychic Fortitude Abilities
A model may only gain this upgrade once. When selecting an ability you may instead elect to roll randomly. If you do so, then roll 2d6 and the model gains both results. If the same number is rolled on both dice then the model gains that ability but also gains an immediate battle scar of your opponent’s choice that is permanent and cannot be removed by any rule.
| 1 | Psychic Might: Add 1 to the number of psychic powers this unit can attempt to manifest in your psychic phase. |
| 2 | Adamantium Will: Add 1 to the number of times this unit may attempt to Deny the Witch |
| 3 | Master of Lore: Add 1 to the number of Psychic powers this unit knows from one of the disciplines available to them. During each game when choosing Agendas this model may change what psychic powers it knows from any discipline it has access to. This model gains 1 bonus experience at the end of a game if it completed at least one psychic action during the game. |
| 4 | Battle Psyker: Add 1 to both Psychic Tests and Deny the Witch tests taken by this unit. |
| 5 | Aetheric Concentration: This unit may perform Psychic actions and still manifest up to 1 psychic power without the psychic action failing. |
| 6 | Warp Imbued Weapons: Reduce by 1 the amount of Psychic powers this unit can manifest or attempt to Deny the Witch. Add 1 to the strength and damage characteristics of any weapons it makes attacks with. |
One change I will make going forward is to keep players from having units with duplicate abilities until all options on the table have been used once. The reason being the extra agenda one specifically as with certain armies relying on agendas for their faction bonuses they can speed run these mechanics and grow massively in power
Other then that I am pretty happy with them so far. For my units that have received buffs they have a added a fluffy element such as a falcon relaying Autarch buffs or have given the unit interesting roles within my army.
I would welcome any feedback! I am sure there are wrinkles here that we haven’t discovered but so far player feedback has been positive, Let me know what you think in the comments!
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