Troop quality in Epic 40,000 or E41K

Many war games have a method of inflicting "real world" type behavior on, shall we say, less than perfect troops, or on the flip side, "God Like Super Grunts"™. This seems to be missing in Epic 40K, in that Space Marines, who are supposed to be 100 times better than other troops, well, have almost as many morale problems as Imperial Guard, an army that is so poor that special officers have to be assigned to it to shoot members running away. This set of rules is an attempt to fix that problem.

The troop classes are, in order of ability:

• Green
• Trained
• Regular
• Experienced
• Veteran
• Elite

Blast Markers, or more accurately Blast Marker Removal is the key to reflecting troop quality in Epic 40,000 or E41K.

Blast Marker removal by troop Quality

• Green 1D6-3
• Trained 1D6-2
• Regular 1D6-1
• Experienced 1D6
• Veteran 1D6+1
• Elite 1D6+2

Important Note: In the case of Green and Trained a result of a negative number DOES add to the blast markers on the unit. Yes, this means that once a green unit takes a couple of hits it will start to self destruct.

The "normal" blast marker removal reflects, in this system, the NCO and lower ranking officers of the detachment giving pep talks/kicking ass/screaming/whatever to the troops of the detachment. In severe cases the higher level command elements may want to enter into the picture to help rally the detachment.

Army Supreme Commanders:

A Supreme Commander (NOT his body guard) may "rally" a detachment during the blast marker removal stage. This is not related to rallying a broken detachment, this is related to blast marker removal.

 

1. He may only do this to a detachment within 30 cm of his position.
2. He may do this to one detachment per turn.
3. A Supreme Commander rally removes blast markers equal to the commanders training level.
4. Aside from the blast marker removal there is no other effect of this.

5. A Supreme Commander may not rally an allied detacment.

   Note: Space Marines and Imperial Guard are not allies for this rule. Any Imperial Supreme Commander may rally any Imperial detachment

 

Basic troop quality (i.e. "free")

• Trained: Imperial Guard with out Commissars in the detachment, Gretchen, Chaos Cults, Tyranid with no leaders
• Regular: Imperial Guard With Commissars, Eldar Guardian, Orks Boyz, all AFV (tanks/battle wagons/buggies/Bikes etc.), Tyranid with leaders still alive. Space Marines Scouts
• Experienced: Space Marines (except for Scouts),Chaos Space Marines, Eldar Aspect, Eldar Scouts, All Titans & Gargants, Supreme Commanders, Ork Nobz, Demons, extra cost command elements. (i.e. Imperial Guard Captains)
• Veteran: Terminators, Chaos Terminators, Eldar Harlequins, Space Marines or Chaos Space Marines Captains, Chaos Space Marines Veterans, Space Marines Supreme Commanders

There are no Green or Elite detachment with out changing the training level of the detachment

A mixed detachment is based on the 51% rule.

• If 51% or more of the detachment is of a given training level then that detachment is of that training level.
• This is based on stands/vehicles not squads.
• Transport AFV count in the 51% rule.

Exceptions:

• Supreme Commander Detachments are Experienced (Veteran in the case of Space Marines)
• Imperial Guard Detachments with at least one living Commissar are Regular.
• Tyranid Detachments with at least one leader type still alive are Regular

Changing the training level of a detachment

A detachment may upgrade it's training level by paying 20% per level of change.

A detachment that is downgraded is 10% cheaper than normal per level dropped.

 

Note that all cost are for the detachment total point cost, not on a per unit basis.

Example: If you want to make your Space Marine "First company" all Veteran but you don't have 51% Terminators, the cost to upgrade is 20% the Total cost of the detachment, not just the non Terminator parts of the detachment.