Warhammer 40K Skirmish

Introduction

You will need to have a Warhammer 40,000 Rule Book to use this mod. All rules are the same as
those from the Warhammer 40,000 Rule Book, unless otherwise listed below. An effort has been
made to change as little as possible, in the hope that new players, with only a small number of
models will be able to engage those forces as quickly as possible and still retain/develop an
understanding of the regular rules. There are some exceptions to this, and those will be covered in
the relevant sections.

Force Compostion

Usually, forces in a Warhammer 40,000 game are large and composed of around 1,000 to 2,000
points. Other games can be played with less than this number, but introduce further sets of rules,
like Kill Team, or Necromunda (although completely different, it is set in the 40K universe).
Combat Patrol games are probably the closest thing to small games, but are still quite “generic” in
their feel, as opposed to the individualisation of Kill Team. That being said, we have opted for a
mixture of all three “small force” games.

Unless otherwise agreed upon, Skirmish forces are chosen from 150 points of models. The
following rules are used to determine those forces:

General rules:
No +2 saves of any kind.
No models of 3 or more wounds (if you are playing “Kill the Überboss, then that's a bit different!).

Force-specific rules:
1 group leader, of only a single model (any HQ choice, any Veteran, any Exarch, any Independent
or Special Characters, etc., etc.).
Up to 2 Heavy Support choices, or Heavy Weapon choices (ie. an Imperial Guard Heavy Weapon
team, Space Marine Devastators, Eldar Dark Reapers, etc.).
Up to 2 Elite or Fast Attack choices (ie. Eldar Striking Scorpions, Space Marine Assault Marines,
Ork Kommandos, etc.).
Any number of generic Troop choices. Any one model may take up to 40pts of wargear or psychic
powers.
No vehicles.
No pseudo-vehicles, like walkers, bikes, etc. (although this is open for re-examination)

So, a sample Space Marine group could be:

1 Assault Veteran Sergeant with a Powerfist, boltpistol and jump pack (HQ)
1 Space Marine with Missile Launcher (Heavy)
2 Space Marines with bolters (Troop)
1 Space Marine Scout with Sniper Rifle (Heavy)
1 Assault Marine without jump pack (Fast Attack/Elite)
All with frag grenades

This comes to 144 points.

Changes to the Core Rules

Loose Formation

Use the Loose Formation special rule, meaning that players can ignore the 2” unit coherency rule.

Phases
1. Movement
2. Shooting
3. Hand-to-Hand
4. Recovery

Movement

All movement rates are as usual. The Fleet characteristic is used in the Shooting Phase as per
normal.

Charging becomes part of the movement phase. Move the models you wish to charge first,
followed by any other moves. Models who charge don't get to take part in the Shooting Phase.
This charge is done without measuring once declared, and may not be withdrawn. Measure then the
distance, and if you stuffed up, bad luck! If a model fails to reach the enemy, it can do nothing else
for the rest of the turn.

The rules for Hiding are taken from the Necromunda Rule Book, available in .pdf format here. I
will write them out below for reference, edited to suit.

“The Hiding rule allows us to represent the fact that real people can duck down and conceal
themselves in a way our unmoving and dramatically posed models cannot. A hiding fighter keeps
as still as possible, just peeking out over his cover or around a corner. Hiding is sometimes useful if
you want to keep out of the fight until the enemy gets within close range, or if you want a breather
to recover and regroup your forces.

“A model can hide if it ends its movement behind a low wall or column, at the corner of a building,
or in a similar position where a person might reasonably conceal himself. The player declares that
his fighter is hiding and can indicate this by placing a Hidden counter beside the model.

“While hidden a fighter cannot be seen or shot at, even if a portion of the model is actually sticking
up or out from its cover.

“While hidden a model cannot shoot without giving away its position or coming out of hiding. If a
hiding model shoots or moves so that it can be seen then it is no longer hidden and can be shot at as
normal.

“A model that charges is not able to hide that turn.

“A model may stay hidden over several turns so long as it remains behind a concealing wall or
similar feature. It may even move around behind cover so long as it remains concealed while it
does so. If an enemy moves into a position where he would clearly be able to see the hidden
fighter, then the model cannot clain to be hidden any longer and the counter is removed.

“A model may not hide if it is too close to an enemy – he will be seen or heard no matter how well
concealed he may be. This distance varies according to the enemy fighter, who will always see,
hear or otherwise spot hidden foes within his Initiative value in inches. So, a fighter whose
Initiative calue is 3 will automatically spot all hidden enemies within 3”.”
Rules for navigating difficult terrain remain the same.

Shooting

You must shoot at the closest target as he represented the most immediate threat. However, if there
is a target more obvious than the closest, you can shoot at that one instead. For instance, a Space
Marine has two targets, one 6” away, but behind a fallen tree, and the other 11” away in open
ground. The Marine may chose which target to fire upon. Any other targets are handled in
accordance with the regular 40K rules.

Roll to hit as usual. If a fighter is hit by a shot in the Shooting Phase, the model is knocked over
and “pinned”. The force of the shot has knocked the fighter off his feet. Place the model face-up
on the table. Then roll to wound. If the fighter escapes unharmed, he remains knocked over and
cannot move, shoot, fight, etc. If wounded, remove the model as usual.

A model which is pinned at the start of his turn (from the previous turn's shooting) will
automatically recover at the end of his turn, during the Recovery Phase. Essentially, he loses a turn.
Stand the model back up during the Recovery Phase to show that the fighter is no longer pinned. If
a model has at least one other model from his force within 2”, he can try to escape pinning at the
start of his turn. Roll a D6. If the score is equal to or less than his Initiative score, he has recovered
his wits immediately. He can then take part in the turn normally. Downed friendly models or
models who are falling back (a.k.a. broken, see below) do not count for purposes of immediate
recovery.

All weapons operate according to normal 40K rules. Sniper rifles and other weapons with a pinning
profile cause pinning whether they hit or not.

Hand-to-Hand

This operates in the usual 40K manner. Falling back and Leadership tests are covered below.

Morale Checks and Leadership

A fighter may be called upon to test whether his nerve holds under pressure, namely when a model
goes down or is taken out of action nearby (within 2”), whether from hand-to-hand combat or
shooting. Take a Morale Check (as outlined in the 40K Rule Book). If the model fails, it is
considered “broken”. Place a Broken counter next to it to represent this. A broken fighter must
Fall Back 2D6” immediately, and towards cover. If he can reach a position of cover within this
distance, where he cannot be seen by an enemy unit, he may stop there. If he is unable to reach
such cover, he moves the full distance rolled. In subsequent movement phases, he will continue to
Fall Back until reaching such a position. If he can get out of sight by staying where he is and
hiding, then he will do so. Broken fighters can only fall back, nothing else, until recovered.

A fighter who loses his nerve and breaks while fighting close combat is very likely to be struck
down as he tries to flee. To represent this, the model takes one automatic hit from his enemy,
worked out after he breaks and before he moves.

If a broken fighter is attacked hand-to-hand, he is in trouble. Refer to the rules, “Assaulted While
Falling Back”, on page 48 of the 40K rule book.
Recovery from a Broken state can be attempted during his next recovery phase as long as he is in
cover and cannot be seen by an enemy model. To attempt this, take a Leadership test. If
successful, the model may fight on. If not, he remains broken. It is not possible to be broken and
recover in the same turn. The model may only recover in his Recovery Phase at the end of his next
turn.

Models within 6” of their group's leader may use the leader's Leadership value instead of their own.
However, if the leader is down or broken, he cannot confer this bonus.

Ending the Game

There are numerous ways in which the game could end. If you were simply playing to the death,
then when one side was no more, the game would be over. You could end the game after 6 turns, or
according to a mission description from the 40K rule book. Conceivably, these rules could work
well with the “Rules of Engagement” supplement found here. Also, the Bottle Rule found in the
Necromunda Rule Book (linked above) could also work.

Either way, Merry Christmas, and enjoy!