An Alternative for Casual Gamers

[Valerian]

Folks,

 

If you're a hard-core competitive player, that loves going to 9e tournaments and seeing how you can keep up against the dynamic meta, then this post isn't for you.  Best of luck to you as you get as much of that kind of enjoyment as you can in the competitive scene.

 

However, if you're a casual gamer, like me, who simply can't keep up with the ever-evolving complexity of the game, and does not plan to ever try to compete in sanctioned events, then I've got an alternative for you.  A set of rules built by a lover of 40k models and lore, who simply became fed-up with the Games Workshop/40k ecosystem.

 

After digging into these alternative rules for a bit, and binging on every YouTube review video and battle report that I can find, I highly recommend that you casual gamers introduce your gaming buddies and gaming groups to Grimdark Future, by One Page Rules.

 

The Basic Rules are right here.  The condensed version Core Rules are right here.  And you can access all of the Army Lists via this online army builder, right here.  Note that the army list versions in the army builder are for the 2.50 version of all of the armies, which is currently in Beta, but it's what everyone that plays "Grimdark Future (GDF)" are already using.  There are older versions of the army lists available on their website, but those will soon be replaced by the ones in the army builder.

 

Also, please note that 1) the names for all of the armies, units, weapons and wargear have been changed from what GW uses, to keep them from getting sued.  Everything is pretty easy to decipher, though.  Just ping me if you need help with that.  Also, 2) you'll find a lot extra army lists in addition to the primary ones for 40k, as Grimdark Future is model agnostic, and has lists to support the armies from Mantic Games, and some other common Sci-Fi alternatives, as well.

 

 

Now, with that being said, the following list is why I'm really excited about GDF, and why I'm recommending it to you fine folks:

 

 

1. All Faction Rules are Current.  No “codex creep.”  The faction versions are updated at the same time.

 

2. The Core Rules are Short but Sweet.  Everything in the base rules is captured on a single page, front and back.  This means the rules are super accessible.  Pretty much anyone can spend 10 minutes reading through the rules and are ready to jump in and play the game.  

 

3. The Faction Rules are Short but Sweet.  Likewise, the Army Lists and Special Rules for each faction are captured on a single page, each, front and back.

 

4. The Base Rules (and all Faction Rules) are Free.  Additional content is available for a single monthly Patreon subscription of about $5.

 

5. Alternating Activations.  No onerous “I Go, You Go.”  This helps with balance and pacing, and keeps both players involved throughout the game.  No more checking out for half an hour while your opponent wins the first turn and does everything with their entire army before you can do anything but take saves and remove models from the board.  Alternating Activations keeps both sides engaged in the game, and helps prevent 1st or 2nd turn “tabling” of an opponent.  

 

6. No Force Organization Chart.  If you have a model or unit that you want to take, you can take it.

 

7. No OP Units, and no Trash Units.  Pretty much everything is viable, due to how the designers use an algorithm to set points costs.  Even “low-power” units (e.g. Gretchin) can win games.

 

8. No random Number of Attacks.  Each unit and each weapon has a set number, so no “swingy” attacks from weapons that you can’t depend on.

 

9. No random Damage.  Each weapon does a set amount of Damage upon an Unsaved (Unblocked) successful Hit. Most weapons do just 1 Wound, a few do 3 Wounds, and the most powerful (like Melta-equivalents) do 6.  So, again, weapons aren’t “swingy,” so you get what you pay for.

 

10. No random Charge Rolls.  Every unit can charge double its standard Movement value (4” Movement for Slow units, 8” for Fast, and 6” for everything else,) so no guesswork about who or what you can assault in melee when it’s your turn to activate a unit.  

 

11. No Strength vs Toughness Roles.  Removes an unnecessary step from each shooting or melee engagement.  Saves time and improves game pacing.

 

12. No Mortal Wounds and No Invulnerable Saves.  Simple enough - every attack gets treated with consistent mechanics - attackers attempt to “hit” with dice rolls based on their unit’s Quality stat, and targets attempt to “block” successful hits with dice rolls based on their unit’s Defense stat.

 

13. Heroes/Characters Attach to Units (Again).  No more having to try and manage Auras, and no more worrying about which units are “Core.”  Heroes/Characters can be joined to units at the beginning of the game, and if they do can share the effects of certain special abilities with those units. 

 

14. No Warlord Traits, Command Points, Stratagems, or Relics to worry about.  So much less unnecessary bloat to keep track of.  Instead of worrying about Rule Interactions from things like all of these, the game strategy depends on positioning, maneuver, choosing how to engage (whether by shooting or melee, since you can’t do both in a single activation), and choosing who to target.

 

15. Simple Terrain Rules, but terrain still impacts the game in a meaningful way.

 

16.  Each Faction gets a Special Rule that captures its essence.  Each unit is designed to capture the appropriate “feel” of the original source material, but without all of the bloat of modern 40k army codices.

 

Examples:

 

1. Space Wolves units all have Counter - Gets +1 attack with a weapon of your choice when charged.)

2. Blood Angels units all have Furious - Gets +1 attack with a weapon of your choice when charging.

3. Dark Angels units all have Grim - This unit counts as having Fearless, and whenever it fails a morale test it takes one automatic wound and the morale test counts as passed instead.

4. Deathwatch units all have Disciplined - This model gets +1 to hit rolls when shooting at enemies within 12".

5. Grey Knights units all have Aegis - This unit may block spells as if it had the Psychic(2) special rule. If it is a Psychic then it gets +2 to spell block rolls.  Additionally, most Grey Knights units have the option to upgrade to become Psychic - May cast one spell during its activation, at any point before attacking. 

6. Orks units all have Furious - Gets +1 attack with a weapon of your choice when charging.

7. Sisters of Battle units all have Devout - This model gets +1 to hit rolls when shooting at enemies within 12".

8. Most Tau units have Good Shot - This model shoots at Quality 4+ (which is 1 point better than their actual Quality stat).

9. Most Drukhari units are Fast - Moves +2” when using Advance and +4” when using Rush/Charge.

10. For Chaos Space Marines and Daemons, all of the units dedicated to Slaanesh are Fast or Very Fast.  Those dedicated to Nurgle have Regeneration (essentially a 5+ Feel No Pain).  Those dedicated to Khorne have Furious (see above), while those dedicated to Tzeentch have Stealth - enemy units get -1 to hit rolls when shooting at this unit.  

 

[Valerian]

My Grey Knights army list. This is everything I need to play my army!

[Freakshow668]

I looked at OPR, let us know how it plays please, have you played any games with the rules yet?

[Valerian]

I looked at OPR, let us know how it plays please, have you played any games with the rules yet?

 

Haven't played yet.  Will probably have to wait until the end of the semester, which is a few weeks away yet.  But, I've watched a couple dozen youtube battle reports, so have seen how it plays second-hand, and I love it.  The tactics come from positioning and attack choices, and the back and forth responses to your adversary's moves.  In 40k, much of what determines whether you can/will win is done in the list-building phase - that isn't the case with GDF.

[XeonDragon]

Looks interesting. Once the Raven Guard rules come out, might play against a mate's blood angels. 

[Valerian]

One Page Rules is getting some attention.

[Xenith]

So to make the game simpler, we should learn a whole new system and a bunch of new names? That's the part I dont get. The second part is that it's called One Page Rules, however even the condensed rules take up 2 pages 

 

If you can't keep up with the stream of [optional] new content, my advice is to just play using rulebook+codex. No one, no one is forcing you to use supplements like the Grand Tournament rules. 

 

If a specific part of the game is too complex, like stratagems. Dont use them. 

 

That said, trying something like Bolt Actions dice mechanic to determine move order/unit activations, or even Apocs blast markers (models are destroyed in an end phase after both players have taken turns) would be an interesting variation on the game.

 

 

 

In 40k, much of what determines whether you can/will win is done in the list-building phase - that isn't the case with GDF.

 

If you know who will win a game based on who deploys what at the start of the game, I'd say that this is a fundamental flaw in your gaming group, as opposed to any kind of rules. If someone is regularly bringing tournament armies to play against peoples fun dreadnought army, and insisting on playing action heavy Nachmund missions, then that's a player thing, not a rule thing. 

 

I don't mean to be too down on this, despite what I've written - I just think it might be easier for you to modify 40k slightly as opposed to getting your group to learn an entirely new gaming system. 

 

That said, on balance, I can't defend the codex creep of recent GW codexes, however when everything has a late 9th dex things may be more balanced. It's also easier for OPR to balance things as they're smaller and ripping off another companies work, just streamlining it - which is not the direction GW went in. OPR may be better for tournament play, incidentally, if it's as balanced as you say. 

[tychobi]

Objectively better game design than 40k.  Wish it had market share and folks were playing it around here!

[Valerian]

Xenith,
 
Thanks for the response in challenge to this.  I'll go through and provide a few thoughts below:
 

So to make the game simpler, we should learn a whole new system and a bunch of new names? That's the part I dont get.

Yeah, definitely. It's much simpler because you can dump all of the 40k stuff and make room in your brain for a page of pretty intuitive rules, instead. 

When you can forget all about the multitude of things in 40k that add complexity without adding a lot of value (the right Tide, the right Grey Knight Brotherhood, the right Secondary Missions, the right Psychic Powers, the right Stratagems, the right Warlord Traits, the right Relics, etc.) it becomes pretty easy to remember things like "roll above your unit's Quality to hit in shooting and melee, and to pass Morale tests," and "Roll above your Defense to make an Armor save."


The name changes are required to respect the GW (and Mantic Games, and a few other companies') IP, and keep OPR out of trouble, but they're easy enough to figure out what is what, and you can change the names of units right back to what you're used to using the edit function in the online army builder.  
 
 

The second part is that it's called One Page Rules, however even the condensed rules take up 2 pages 

One page, front and back. But, even if you think OPR as a name is misleading, their rules are orders of magnitude shorter and simpler than the rules for 40k, which are about 69 pages for the "core" rules, plus another 24 pages for the matched play rules, plus another 4 pages of "rare" rules at the end of the Core Rulebook.  And that's just to get a handle on the game's engine - it gets even more unwieldy when you start into your army book's rules.
 

 

I don't mean to be too down on this, despite what I've written - I just think it might be easier for you to modify 40k slightly as opposed to getting your group to learn an entirely new gaming system.

Here is where I have to disagree - 40k is too cumbersome to try to modify slightly and make a game that is fun, accessible, and still tactically challenging. It is significantly easier to get your gaming group to learn an entirely new gaming system, when that system is so intuitive and the rules are literally a page long (front and back, for those that want to nit-pick).

I could hand a person completely brand new to table-top miniature games the rules for OPR/GDF and we could play a game 10 minutes later. Be honest with yourself, how accessible is 40k to a new player? 
 

That said, on balance, I can't defend the codex creep of recent GW codexes, however when everything has a late 9th dex things may be more balanced.

I some serious doubts that GW will achieve any level of balance, even after all of the 9th edition codexes have been released, since they've never proven their ability to accomplish that, but even if they did, how long will it last? As soon as the last dex is out, the edition will be winding down and 10th edition will be on the way, knocking all of the dominos down once again.
 

It's also easier for OPR to balance things as they're smaller and ripping off another companies work, just streamlining it - which is not the direction GW went in. OPR may be better for tournament play, incidentally, if it's as balanced as you say.

It's easier for OPR to balance things because they have nothing to sell: no new codexes for players to gobble up to get the latest and greatest codex-creep guaranteed tournament-winning army lists from, and no new models hype and sell, that also require high-tier status to encourage folks to buy them.
 

 

Like I said in the title, though, this is the alternative that I highly recommend for casual gamers.  It's what I'm going to use without hesitation.  When my old high school buddies come into town for a visit, I can set up a game in the game room, get them spun up on all of the rules that they need to know, including everything their army units do in 10 minutes, and we can push models around and roll dice like we did 30+ years ago, while still having a tactically challenging game.

 

 

If you're not a casual gamer, then this isn't for you.  If you like buying new Rule Books every few years, new Codices every few years, new Chapter Approved books every year, then OPR/GDF isn't for you.  If you like buying and painting new units to replace the old units that you already own, that just got nerfed with a rule change, or a points hike, then OPR/GDF isn't for you.  If you enjoy feeling like you have to play with units that are effective/efficient in order to have a chance at winning, instead of playing with the units that you find aesthetically pleasing, or that better fit your head-cannon for what the army should look like to fit the background lore, then OPR/GDF isn't for you.  If you enjoy meta-gaming, trying to figure out what you now have to change in order to deal with the latest shift brought about by the latest Codex release (of an army you don't even play with), then OPR/GDF isn't for you.

 

 

[Valerian]

And for those who might balk at the idea of having to learn a whole new game system, here are the GDF Core Rules, in their entirety. This is about as simple as it gets, and infinitely easier to implement than trying to cut out all of the "rotten spots" from the 40k apple.

If you can't readily handle the following, you're already in for a tough time in the wargaming hobby.

* Note 1- for those brand new to wargaming, there is an expanded 16 page version of the rules with pictures and explanations, etc. But for everyone here that already knows how to measure distances, how to determine line of sight, how to roll a d3, 2d6, and d6+1, etc., then the guidance below is all that you need.

** Note 2- for those interested in a little more detail and options, there is a Full Rulebook version available that adds modular options that you can add back into your game (like Command Points and Stratagems, Extra Missions, Secondary Missions, Random Events, Battlefield Conditions, etc.)

[aeroplane]

This is completely awesome!!

 

Thank you from bring it to our attention.

[5aunders]

Ive played 5th and 6th, then 8th. Jumping back in to 40k is DAUNTING. Rules change drastically to the casual gamer (me). The game has become more complicated, just army codexs alone are tough to grasp outside your own army. I have played SM and GK/Ork some, Tau a little, and have zero idea about the intricacies of other armies...its so much material..so many dif abilities and auras, special rules. Playing at your local hobby shop requires a lot of initial learning before you can truly play without stopping every few minutes to look up something, causing games to last HOURS. Idk...im +1 on the simplified rules.

 

Id likely take these GDF rules and ADD in some stuff. For instance i like the relics, which help add lore into your minis, as well as S/T, mortal wounds and invulns...stuff like that. So just add back in the rules you like and its a SOLID compromise to the expansive game of 40k. 

 

My $0.02. Keep gamin fam

[5aunders]

On 5/9/2022 at 7:35 PM, XeonDragon said:

Looks interesting. Once the Raven Guard rules come out, might play against a mate's blood angels. 

+1 for raven guard. Hell yeah, i play GK/Raven Guard. Fun combo

[Xenith]

On 10/7/2022 at 5:01 PM, 5aunders said:

Ive played 5th and 6th, then 8th. Jumping back in to 40k is DAUNTING.

 

Welcome back to the gaming side of the hobby! There's a lot of fluff now, not all of it good - I'd suggest letting people know you're jst getting back into it and if you can play without stratagems, or limit them to command reroll/rulebook strats only. 9th is mechanically identical to 8th, just with a lot of bloat in terms of faction specific rules.