Custom40k - Homebrew with alternate activation, huge customisation, support for all models

[a_typical_hero]

Custom40k

 

Introduction

 

1. What is Custom40k?
Custom40k is a complete, ready to play homebrew ruleset for Warhammer 40.000 that has been in development over the past 2+ years and became the default system to play for my local group of about ~15 people. The rules aim to modernise, streamline and rebalance the "classic era" rules (3rd - 7th edition) while supporting all models GW ever made for all armies and bringing back army and model customisation via extensive armories for all factions.

 

2. What are the key differences to current 40k?
- Alternating activation: Each player only activates one unit at a time, which leads to less downtime and less lethality.
- Backwards compatability: Every model that GW released for Warhammer (and will release in the future) is playable and supported with rules.
- Balance: Since its inception, Custom40k has been finetuned over 100+ games to ensure that all units are playable and have a purpose in the game. Points are calculated using a unified points calculator. Balancing for a game like 40k is an ever ongoing endeavour, but I'm doing my best to keep all armies and units on an even level.
- Huge customisation: Where GW has a strict "No model, no rules" policy, "Customisation" is the name of the game. Each faction features their own, ever expanding armory full of options for character models, units and army composition. Kitbashing and creativity is explicitly desired.
- Old school systems: Armor Values for vehicles and the Force Organisation Chart are back.

 

3. What do you need to play Custom40k?
Apart from the regular things for a normal game of Warhammer, what you need in addition are so called "Command tokens". Command tokens are used at the beginning of every battle round to determine what actions a unit may be allowed to do during its activation. While we 3d printed our own tokens for this, a suitable replacement would be a simple deck of cards for each player. You need four different cards (hearts, diamonds, spades, clover) as there are 4 different commands.

 

Downloads

 

Core Rules
- Core rules (English) / (Deutsch)
- Missions English / (Deutsch)
- 3D printable tokens and token box (Link)
- Planetary Assault (Campaign system) (English)
- Escalation (Lords of War for all factions) (Englisch)

 

Army Rules

 

Disclaimer: Not all armies already have all units available. I usually add units as my local players use them in our games. If you are missing a unit from your army, just let me know in the thread and I'm happy to convert it to Custom40k!

Adeptus Custodes (English)
Adeptus Mechanicus English
Adeptus Sororitas (English) / (Deutsch)
Assassins (English)
Chaos Demons (English)
Chaos Space Marines (English) / Deutsch
Dark Eldar (English) / (Deutsch)
Death Guard (English) / (Deutsch)
Eldar (English)
Grey Knights (English) / (Deutsch)
Genestealer Cults (English)
Horus Heresy Codex Supplement (English) / (Deutsch)
Imperial Guard (English) / (Deutsch)
Inquisition (English)
Leagues of Votann (English)
Necrons (English) / (Deutsch)
Orks (English) / (Deutsch)
Space Marines (English) / (Deutsch)
Tau Empire (English)
Thousand Sons (English)
Tyranids (English)
World Eaters (English)

 

Quick Start / Recommendations for your first game
- Game size: 2500 points per player.
- Table size: 72"x48".
- Mission: Take & Hold (see "Missions" under Core Rules)
- Ignore "Features of the ..."  entries from the armory for now and instead use the datasheets as is.
- Go easy on vehicles for both players, as the wounding system used for them can be surprising for newer players who never experienced older editions.

 

Misc.

Points calculator

Edited November 27, 2024 by a_typical_hero

[StormbolterAndChainfist]

Hats off to you sir! Haven't tried it yet but this feels like a nice blend of existing rule sets (3rd ed, 8th ed and "bushido the game"). This makes it very easy to pick up.

 

Thanks so much for releasing this!

 

 

 

Just out of curiosity: What about army-specific AOPs (e.g. deathwing, tank company, ...)? While they bring fluff they seem hard to balance. What are your thoughts on this?

[a_typical_hero]

Hello and thank you very much!

 

I hope you get to try it out yourself and enjoy it. If anything is unclear or you need help with setting up your first game, just let me know.

 

Regarding your question about army-specific lists:

Every army has a soft comp where it is required to fill at least 25% of the played points limit with "Troop" choices and only Troops are able to keep a mission objective secured after they are no longer standing on it (=> "sticky objectives"). Most armies have access to something I coined "Archetypes" in their armory. These Archetypes let you switch around what counts as Troops for your army, while steering you into a specific theme.

 

Example for Space Marines:

Swift as the Wind

- Bikes and Outriders can be taken as Troops. - All units with less than 12" Movement must start the game as passengers inside a transport. - Units that have no transport option and less than 12" Movement cannot be taken at all.   This is a relatively new concept for the game and it needs to be tested what Archetypes can and can not be properly integrated. None of them should be straight up better than playing without it, they should rather be interesting ways to have a themed list.

 

[NovemberIX]

I've been looking for something like this, so I find it rather exciting. I'm already thinking about printing the rulebook out to keep on hand. There are a number of space marine units that aren't listed, though admittedly, some are just load-out options (ie Siege Dreadnought) some are Forge World (ie Fellblade, Fire Raptor) or one-offs from old webstore (Land Raider Ares, Razorback Rikarius). I'd love to volunteer and help get some units converted over.

[a_typical_hero]

Hey there!

 

That's great to read! We printed out the core rules as well. For army rules we mostly look at them directly via the Google Sheets app. The view is different (read: better) with the app instead of the pure web view.

 

I can find rules online for Fellblades and Fire Raptors and will add them in the next days. It would be great if you could tell me what was special about the webstore units you mentioned and about the Siege Dreadnought. Feel free to make a suggestion how you would convert their special abilities (if any) into Custom40k and I will see how to make it fit. :-)

 

p.s.

If you are interested and don't mind German, I can share with you the points calculator that I'm using for all units as well.

Edited September 16, 2024 by a_typical_hero

[NovemberIX]

I don't mind if I have to do some translating   I can help source marine rules in general. I've got a pretty wide collection, so I've also got Imperial Armor 2 v2, badab war, angels of death, 5-8th codexes, the indexes from 8th, and chapter approved 17 & 18, if I look hard enough I think I know where my Apoc stuff is too. 

 

The Ares was a Land Raider with a demolisher cannon, heavy flamers, Siege shield, and some extra armour, I wanna say the 8th edition rules are still up on the forum from the original person who actually made it, the Rikarious was an assault cannon Razorback that traded transport space for storm bolter sponsons and a siege shield.

[StormbolterAndChainfist]

 

This is a relatively new concept for the game and it needs to be tested what Archetypes can and can not be properly integrated. None of them should be straight up better than playing without it, they should rather be interesting ways to have a themed list.

 

As long as the themed army has enough restrictions compared to the vanilla one, it may be balanced. (I guess for ultra competitive games it's not suited but that's not my cup of tea)

 

 

Swift as the Wind

 

- Bikes and Outriders can be taken as Troops. - All units with less than 12" Movement must start the game as passengers inside a transport. - Units that have no transport option and less than 12" Movement cannot be taken at all.

 

That's cool. It's like raven wing but for all chapters. And instead of death wing we could just have a 1st company army theme:

- Sternguard/Vanguard

- Terminators

- Venerable Dreadnoughts

- Bladeguards (maybe? sorry, i'm not too familiar with primaris lore)

- Command squad

- Cannot field anything that's not part of 1st company.

 

Or similar to 3rd edition codex, we could have a drop pod attack theme:

- Only units that can deep strike

- Units that cannot deep strike must be placed in a drop pod. Units that cannot have a drop pod cannot be taken.

- Maybe allow units that can infiltrate?

 

The possibilities for fluffy themes are endless :)

[a_typical_hero]

 

 

As long as the themed army has enough restrictions compared to the vanilla one, it may be balanced. (I guess for ultra competitive games it's not suited but that's not my cup of tea)

 

 

That's cool. It's like raven wing but for all chapters. And instead of death wing we could just have a 1st company army theme:

- Sternguard/Vanguard

- Terminators

- Venerable Dreadnoughts

- Bladeguards (maybe? sorry, i'm not too familiar with primaris lore)

- Command squad

- Cannot field anything that's not part of 1st company.

 

Or similar to 3rd edition codex, we could have a drop pod attack theme:

- Only units that can deep strike

- Units that cannot deep strike must be placed in a drop pod. Units that cannot have a drop pod cannot be taken.

- Maybe allow units that can infiltrate?

 

The possibilities for fluffy themes are endless :)

 

Exactly, the Archetype needs to bring enough restrictions. In the example I gave, you have the "problem" that your Troops are either Bikers/Outriders, which are very costly and ineffective to sit on an objective in the backfield or your better suited units like Tacticals with a heavy weapon or Scout snipers have to purchase an additional transport vehicle, making them more expensive than in a regular list.

 

Take a look at the Space Marine codex, 1st Company and a Drop Pod Assault are actually already implemented :-)

 

1st Company:

- The army has access to the following units only, regardless of other traits:
- 1x Lieutenant, 1x Chaplain, 1x Librarian, 1x Librarian Dreadnought (if ""The Legacy of the Angel"" was chosen)
- 1x Ancient, 1x Apothecary, Dreadnoughts (including variants), Honour Guard, 1x Judiciar, Blade Guard Veterans, 1x Company Champion, Terminators, 1x Techmarine
- Land Raider (including variants), Repulsor (including variants)
- Drop Pods
- Honour Guard, Blade Guard Veterans, and Terminators can be taken as Troops.
- All units gain the special rule "Objective secured!".

 

Drop Pod Assault:

- All units must start the game as passengers inside a Drop Pod.
- Half of all Drop Pods in the army (round up) arrive automatically in the first battle round as reinforcements. The other half arrives automatically in the second battle round.

[StormbolterAndChainfist]

 

Take a look at the Space Marine codex, 1st Company and a Drop Pod Assault are actually already implemented :-)

 

Niiiiice! :-)

[a_typical_hero]

As per request, the following units have been added:

Land Raider Ares, Razorback Rikarius, Fire Raptor, Fellblade as well as the Siege Dreadnought loadout.

 

In addition, a new table has been added to the core rules that specifies all possible actions for passengers that have not been activated before their transport option has been destroyed.

[Reame]

Would it be possible to get some guidelines on what certain abilities cost so that we can add our own subfaction rules or additions without needing to wait on you to reply to requests?

[a_typical_hero]

I uploaded the current version of my own points calculator that I use to create all units. You can find it in the OP under the new section "Misc.".

 

The xml got two sheets. The first one is for calculating points for a model and weapons, the second one is an overview of existing special rules.

 

Calculating models / weapons:

- If the invulnerability save is better than the armor save, then switch both values in their respective cells.

- Grenades cost 0,5points per grenade type.

- You have to manually apply a 50% discount to "Pistol" type weapons.

- Weapons with multiple profiles only pay for the most expensive one.

- If a model is only able to fire one weapon, it only pays for the most expensive one it has. Example: Space Marines always have Bolt pistols, but get them for free if they have a Bolt gun as well.

- Special rules are always paid per Wound or Hull point of the model. So if you see that "And they shall know no fear" costs 0,5p, it means a regular Marine pays 0,5p * 2 Wounds = 1p total for it.

 

Those are the things from the top of my head. There might be more that I only know subconsciously and will pop up when you show me a concrete example.

 

This should be enough to get you started!

 

Let me know if you have questions or what you did once you finished, so I add it to the army lists.

Edited November 27, 2024 by a_typical_hero

[Reame]

The sheet is very helpful, but one thing that it doesn't include and am curious about: What's the general cost for making a model/unit a psyker, and what's the design guidelines for psychic powers?

[a_typical_hero]

A model gets charged 5p to become a psyker with the ability to manifest and deny 1 power per turn. It knows one power in addition to the free "Smite". For every additional power known, I charge another 5p. The cost to manifest and deny more varies by faction. Space Marines for example have to upgrade their Librarian for 15p to a Chief Librarian (which comes with a stat increase as well), while Eldar can individually buy Spirit Stones for 5p.

 

"Proper" psykers like Librarians know a whole discipline by default, so they get charged with 30p in total (including the 5p for being a psyker), as each discipline contains 6 powers.

 

It is similar for prayers, incantations, war hymns and such stuff (Chaplains, Tau Ethereals, Priests).

 

I have no guidelines written down for psychic powers, but you can look at all the general and faction specific powers available to get a feel for it.

[a_typical_hero]

The game continues to be finetuned and expanded, so here are the highlights since my last post:

- Re-work of all existing psychic powers. They are more in line with each other now across factions and generic psychic disciplines offer a more interesting alternative to army specific ones.
- Charging units may now select +1 Initiative instead of +1 Attack as their charge bonus; likewise charged units that are eligible to a "Defensive Reaction" may select to either use "Defensive Fire" or "Hold your ground" (to negate any potential charge bonus). This opens up the possibility for low(er) Initiative units to reach or beat the ever so important  "4" in Initiative.
- Chaos Demons were finally championed (heh..) and taken for a few more invasions on the mortal realm. They turned out a bit too strong despite only bringing (demon)knives to a gunfight. Their special rule "Demonic instability" has been re-evaluated consequently, which led to smaller Demons going slightly up in points across the board.
- Tau are a very strong army in the hands of an experienced player. Some of their stronger Sept features and Commander/Crisis weapons have seen a slight toning down to accomodate.
- A few couple more wargear options for Dark Eldar, Inquisition, Necrons and Space Marines.

 

We started having some games via Tabletop Simulator on Steam as well. If anybody is interested to get an introduction game, feel free to PM me!

 

[Prometheus714]

Amazing, I am just reading into it and your rules set does exactly that what I was missing in the game since I joined by the end of 7th edition about 9 years ago.

 

I am very much looking forward play testing it with my gaming group :)

 

Is there any designated Forum or similar where I could ask questions or maybe provide some feedback?

[a_typical_hero]

Hello there!

 

Glad you found this thread and its content to your liking. I hope you and your group will have fun with the rules.

 

If any questions arise you can post them here, send me a PM or write me directly on Discord (username "atypicalhero").

 

Let me know how your first game went!

[Prometheus714]

24 minutes ago, a_typical_hero said:

Hello there!

 

Glad you found this thread and its content to your liking. I hope you and your group will have fun with the rules.

 

If any questions arise you can post them here, send me a PM or write me directly on Discord (username "atypicalhero").

 

Let me know how your first game went!

Thank you, I definitely will.

[Prometheus714]

So, upon requesting I had a 1.000 Points Skirmish with a_typical_hero himself.

 

Orks vs. Blood Ravens, I myself played as Orks. And I have to say, this System has great potential!

 

I rarely had 40k game where it really came down to the last dice roll of the game on such relatively low points. We were tied in points 9 to 9 until round 4, the game went 5 Rounds in total and Orks turned out on top with just one point in the end, winning 12 to 11.

 

I was genuinely surprised with how well the Orders System worked. For reference: you basically assign one of 4 actions secretly to every unit at the start of the turn, then activate them one by one alternating with your opponent. Honestly, I was skeptical at first, but it is very well implemented and is in my opinion a very unique spin on the “I go, you go” system.

 

The system itself, as I would describe it feels a bit like Bolt Action meets 40k. Generally slower, more methodical planning of your turn with lots of modifiers To Hit and Armour saves. The fact that we both still had 3 out of originally 6 units with at least half strength standing at the end of the game was quite unexpected and left both of us with options until the very end, which I very much enjoyed.
 

My biggest issues probably were that the game system itself carries some redundancy’s from, what I would assume older editions of 40k with it. To give an example, vehicles having facings with different armour values is a thing that I’ve been missing in 40k ever since, but I feel there has to be a simpler way of calculating and representing damage on vehicles. Currently you very much have something akin to the old vehicle damage chart back from 7th edition 40k and before, but I think the game would greatly benefit from implementing a simpler vehicle damage system.

 

I like the idear of a narrative aspect in the game with lots of details, especially on characters, but from a game standpoint I think simplifying some of these parts might be more beneficial to the overall experience. As well as ironing out some redundancy’s which I think are slowing the game down without really adding to it, the current gets hot special rule as another example of a system that is, in my opinion, needlessly convoluted.

 

But, as a BIG compliment to the game and its creator, I voiced some of my concerns and thoughts after our introductory game to its creator and we had a genuinely great discussion. He had sound reasons for every decision and every mechanic he implemented in the system, but also reacted very well to feedback and opinions to his system. And is actively working to improve the game based on the feedback he gets.

 

All this leaves me to believe that a fully polished version of the game might be just the thing a lot of 40k players should be looking forward to and I will definitely need to get in some more games using that system.

Edited Thursday at 01:39 PM by Prometheus714

[a_typical_hero]

Thank you for the extensive feedback and the game yesterday!

 

I will try to iron out some of the things that we were talking about after the game. It is always helpful to get input from someone fresh to the system, as spending too much time with it makes you blind to things that are not ideal, yet.

 

I'm happy that you enjoyed it overall and like to have further games using that ruleset.

Edited Thursday at 10:08 AM by a_typical_hero