POINTS VALUES

Attempting to develop a rational vehicle points system that fits in with Games Workshop's addmittedly subjective points values is probably an exercise in madness, but we have given it a try and are happy with the results. All vehicle hull point values were figured using a formula that takes movement, skimmer ability, armor and troop capacity into account. Weapons are added to the hull cost separately and are not an intergral part of the formula.

The points formula is amazingly complex and silly so I will not be publishing it, but, if you have a special vehicle design you would like a hull points cost for, send in the movement, Armor Values and transport capacity as well as the army you intend to use it with, along with an S.A.S.E. or by E-mail and I will send you the hull cost points for the vehicle. Speeds over 35" and Armor Values over 25 are outside the scope of the game, so please do not send them in.

VEHICLE POINTS CALCULATION

Point values for the basic hull configurations are found on the vehicle tables. These values do not include any weapons. Weapons are added at a percentage of the points cost listed for the weapons. Use the weapons page (page 22) for all heavy weapons and the Marine or Space Wolf army Wargear List for basic or special weapons. The cost differential for vehicle crews with a lower BS is included in the percentage "discount" they recieve when purchasing weapons.

Marine (BS 4+targeter=BS 5): 75%

Eldar, Squat, Imperial Guard (BS 3+targeter=BS 4): 60%

Ork (BS 3): 50%

For vehicles for races not listed, figure out what the net BS is and use the appropriate discount.

The procedure for calculating vehicle points is: 1. Select hull, noting hull points cost. 2. Select allowable weapons and total the points costs for all weapons. 3. Multiply total weapons costs by the appropriate percentages shown above to get net weapons total. 4. Add hull cost and net weapons total. 5. Round to the nearest five points for the final cost of the vehicle.

Sure, it looks pretty improbable, but try figuring up a few vehicles and you will see that the point costs will come very close to GW's point values using this system. The reason for discounting the weapons is to be able to give the basic hulls some value. An unarmed Land Raider would cost 10 points using the weapons exchange system in Dark Millenium and -50 points if you also subtract the two excess Marine gunners. With the system presented here an unarmed Land Raider could be purchased, but at a points value more in keeping with its usefulness.

There are, no doubt, ways to abuse this points system. Hopefully the racial weapon limits, weapons capacity limits and assault cannon limits (page 19) will help keep it playable. A mature attitude towards vehicle design will also help. Your opponents need to know well in advance of a game that you will be fielding vehicles using this system so that they can design their own vehicles as well. As suggested earlier, a game limit by the class of weapons or vehicles is also a good idea.

THE DAMAGE TABLES

The Vehicle Damage Tables on page 23 are a compilation of the damage charts from the existing datafaxes and are meant to be used with all vehicles except those listed at the top of the page. There are four hit location charts that should cover any type of vehicle that could be fielded.

Probably the most confusing part of this system is deciding which weapons are targetable (hit location) secondary weapons and which are not.

Basically, all Class I and higher weapons that are not the vehicle's main armament are secondary weapons, with the following exceptions: A weapon fired by the driver is not a targetable secondary hit locations unless it is the vehicle's only weapon (the Rhino is the prime example). This rule even applies to machine guns fired by the driver (a Land Raider's twin heavy bolters are not a hit location unless they are the vehicle's only weapons).

Example: Secondary hit locations on the Baneblade are: the two sponson positions (the heavy bolters and lascannon all combine into one secondary weapon position), the turret lascannon and the hull heavy bolter.

DATAFAXES

The Datafaxes that follow this article were all costed using the above system (The only only vehicle I really had trouble with was the Marine Predator which will come out about 10 points lower than the official cost). In the interest of consolidating the system, there were a couple of changes made that you should know about and can ignore if you prefer the original values. Changes: The Track hit location on a land Raider is hit on a I instead of a I or 2 and the Combat speeds of the Leman Russ and Predator were changed to bring them more in line with the system. The fire arcs of the Land Raider heavy bolters and of both Land Raider and Predator lascannon sponsons have been revised to reflect.more realistic fire arcs.

Datafaxes with two versions (Tempest I and 2 and Baneblade 1 and 2, for example) are the same vehicle with different classes of main weapon.

NOMINAL VEHICLE SPEEDS

Vehicles with a "dash" instead of a slow speed are vehicles that are not capable of turning more than 90' per turn. Their usable Slow Speed is any speed up to the Combat Speed and they have a nominal Slow speed of 4" if they are ever reduced to Slow Speed by damage results. This is a simple way to designate that the vehicle is so unmaneuverable that it may not turn more than 90' in one turn.

TITANS, BIG WEAPONS AND DATAFAX VEHICLES

Assuming you have dealt with the issue of play balance, the mechanics for adding Titans and the higher classes of weapons on the Weapons Chart to a Datafax vehcile game require only the rule (revised from Inquisitor #10) below.

The Titan rules and weapons with a Strength higher than 10 can be used in conjuction with the second edition vehicle and dreadnought Datafaxes with the following change: When weapons with a Strength higher than 10 hit a Datafax vehicle, use the following modifiers (based on the strength of the weapon) to modify the roll on the damage table:

Strength 10 0
Strength 11 +1
Strength 12 +2
Strength 13 +3
Strength 14 +4
Strength 15 +5

Extended Damage Table For All Hit Locations

The damage rolls above 6 apply to vehicles and dreadnoughts no matter which location was hit.

1-6 Use normal vehicle or dreadnought damage chart.
7-8 Vehicle destroyed, all crew and passengers killed.
9-11 Vehicle vaporized! Remove from table.

Example: A Warlord fires its Class 5 laser and hits a Land Raider. In this case penetration is automatic as the laser does 30+5D6 damage, more than enough to penetrate automatically. (You didn't really think your Land Raider had enough armor to stop a Warlord's laser, did you-) You roll a 4 on the damage roll and add the modifier for the weapon's strength of 13 (+3) to the roll for a total of 7 and check the results on the Extended Damage Table. Result 7 states that the whole vehicle is destroyed (no matter which location was hit).

SUSTAINED FIRE WEAPONS

The higher classes of sustained fire weapons use the same rules and roll the same number of Sustained Fire dice as the normal Class I weapons. All classes of assault cannon roll three sustained fire dice and clears jams one turn at a time. They do not ignore the first jam as a dreadnought­mounted assault cannon does. The special Dreadnought rule is a fix for short, four turn games. If you are using higher class Sustained Fire weapons in a game, I am assuming you are playing more than four turns, so that a jam is not as devastating as would be in a short game.

HOLOFIELDS

In the Epic scale rules it mentions that "certain Eldar vehicles and troops" are equipped with Holofields. The troops are, of course, Harlequins and so far, the only "vehicles" in the Epic game that have Holofields are Phantom Titans. The Eldar Codex states "Holofields that mimic the effects of the Holo-suit are also fitted to some Eldar vehicles and all Eldar Titans." We have always assumed that Holofields would be available to at least some of the Eldar vehicles, so here are optional rules for adding Holofields to your Eldar vehicles. These replace the vehicle holofield rules in Inquisitor #10.

The basic Harlequin Holo-suit modifier of -1 is inadequate for use with vehicles because all it does is negate the size modifier for the vehicle. Marines with heavy weapons or Marine vehicles will hit a (4) Holofield­equipped vehicle moving over 20" on a 4+, a 50% chance of hitting-not my idea of a hard to hit vehicle. Another consideration is speed. The background describes Holofields as being more effective the faster the vehicle is moving, so modifiers should increase as the speed increases. The following modifiers reflect these considerations. Consider Holofields to be Vehicle Cards costing 50 points each. Vehicles making pop-up attacks use the under 10" Holofield listing of -1 which is cumulative with the -1 modifier for firing at a target coming out of cover while on Overwatch.

Vehicle Holofield Modifiers
Move	Holofield Modifier	Holofield+ Vehicle Size Mod	Holo+Size+ Movement Mod
0	0	+1	+1
under 10"	-1	0	0
10"+	-2	-1	-2
20"+	-3	-2	-4
30"+	-4	-3	-5

With Titan rules changes in Inquisitor #11, we have found that the Titan Holofield modifiers are a bit too high. For those of you that are interested, try these same modifiers with your Eldar Titans. I still feel that these are a bit low for Titans, but give them a try and send some feedback. 

ASSAULT CANNONS

Assault cannons have gradually infiltrated the 40K universe from their beginnings as single-battle disposable weapons for Terminators only (!) to their current availability for Terminators (including any Wolf Guard squad model), dreadnoughts and vehicles. This weapon is probably the most generally effective weapon in the game, deadly against infantry and also quite effective against all but the toughest vehicles.

Using the Dark Millenium vehicle weapons substitution rules it is possible to arm a Land Raider with two twinmount assault cannons (no points change), three twin-mount assault cannons (+60 points) or six independent firing assault cannons (also +60 points). If you also allow the use of the Dark Millenium vehicle weapons substitution rules to be used for dreadnoughts (very questionable), it is possible to arm your Space Marine dreadnought with 2 twin lasers and then convert them to assault cannons for a quad assault cannon-armed dreadnought. These examples are quite far from what the game designers intended and make the game pretty unplayable if you are facing one (or more!) of these monstrosities.

SUGGESTIONS

In Epic scale, Ork Titans equipped with the Ork equivalent of assault cannons (gatling cannon etc.) are limited to one of these weapons per Titan because of their prodigous rate of ammunition comsumption. In the name of playability, I would strongly reccomend-applying one of the following suggestions to limit the use of assault cannons.

1. A maximum of one assault cannon is allowed per vehicle, dreadnought or Titan.

2. Assault cannons (maximum of one per) are limited to Terminators, dreadnoughts (which are basically Class I Titans) and Titans only. This suggestion is my preferred solution and is probably the closest to the original background of the game.

VEHICLE DAMAGE TABLES

These tables do not cover bikes, light vehicles ( buggies, speeders etc.), or walkers.

Hit Locations

*If there are multiple main weapons randomize between possible weapons that the firer could see. If there are multiple secondary weapons randomize between possible weapons that the firer could see. Secondary weapon examples: Predator lascannons, Leman Russ lascannon and heavy bolters, Tempest shuriken cannons.

Basic Vehicle APC/SP Gun/Assault Gun
1 Track/Wheel/Grav Engine
2-5 Hull
6 Weapon*

SP Gun/Assault Gun with secondary weapons
1 Track/Wheel/Grav Engine
2-4 Hull
5 Secondary Weapon Position*
6 Weapon*

Tank (main weapon(s) in rotating turret)
1 TrackfWheel/Grav Engine
2-4 Hull
5-6 Turret

Tank with secondary weapons
1 TracktWheel/Grav Engine
2-3 Hull
4 Secondary Weapon Position*
5-6 Turret

VEHICLE DAMAGE TABLES

D6 Track/Wheel/Grav Engine Damage Table
1 The track/ wheel /grav engine is damaged but keeps running. The vehicle may only move at slow speed for the rest of the game.
2-5 The track / wheel / grav engine is destroyed. The vehicle moves out of control next turn and then comes to a permanent halt for the rest of the battle.
6 A track/ wheel/ grav engine is blown off and the resulting damage causes the vehicle to flip over. The wreck comes to rest D6" away in a random direction. Any model it lands on takes D6 S7 hits with a -2 saving throw modifier. Roll a D6 for each model on board. They are killed in the crash on a D6 roll of 4, 5 or 6 with no armor save allowed. Surviving models may dismount using the normal rules.

D6 Hull Damage Table
1 The driver is hit and killed with no armor save. The vehicle will move out of control until another model takes over.
2-4 A large explosion tears through the crew/passenger compart­ment. Roll a D6 for each model on board. On a roll of 4, 5 or 6 they are hit and killed with no armor save allowed.
5 The vehicle's engine explodes, killing everybody on board with no armor save allowed. The vehicle is spun round to face in a ran­dom direction by the force of the explosion and then comes to a permanent halt.
6 A spark ignites the vehicle's fuel tank and it bursts into flames, killing everybody on board with no armor save allowed. The am­munition of any vehicle with Class 1 or higher heavy weapon explodes. The vehicle is destroyed and any models within 3" of the vehicle suffer D6 Strength 10 hits with a -3 saving throw mod­ifier. If there are no Class 1 or higher heavy weapons, the flaming wreck moves out of control next turn and then explodes, killing everybody on board with no armor save allowed. Anything with­ in 3" of the vehicle wherever it ends up is caught in the explosion, suffering damage exactly as if hit by a heavy flamer.

Weapon and Secondary/Sponson Weapon: Position Damage Table

If there are multiple main weapons randomize between possible weapons that the firer could see. If there are multiple secondary weapons randomize between possible weapons that the firer could see.

1 The weapon is damaged and the weapon may only be fired if you first roll a 4 or more on a 1D6.
2-5 The weapon is destroyed and the weapon may not fire for the rest of the game.
6 The weapon is destroyed as above, but the explosion causes a flashback to the hull causing a secondary explosion there. Roll on the Hull Damage Table to find out what effect this has.

Turret Damage Table
1 Any weapons mounted in the turret are damaged and may only be fired if you first roll a 4 or more on a D6 for each weapon.
2 The turret is jammed and may no longer rotate. Weapons may only fire in a straight line at targets that are directly in front of it.
3 The turret gunner(s) are killed. Unless the positions are taken over by other crew member(s), weapons may no longer he fired.
4-6 The ammunition stored in the turret explodes and the vehicle is destroyed. All the crew are killed with no armor save allowed and the turret is blown off, flying 2D6" in a random direction be­ fore it crashes to the ground. Anything under the spot where it lands takes D6 strength 9 hits with a -6 saving throw.

Vehicle System Update

Introduction
Points and Damage
Tables: Eldar, Imperial, and Orks: Large (slow: 257K)
Tables: Eldar, Imperial, and Orks: Jumbo (slow: 354K)
Tables: Heavy Weapons (very slow: 297K)
Tables: Vehicle Damage
Datafax: Falcon Variants (slow: 148K)
Datafax: Eldar Heavy Vehicles (slow: 193K)
Datafax: Imperial Guard APCs (slow: 180K)
Datafax: Imperial Guard Tanks (slow: 180K)
Datafax: Imperial Guard Super Heavy Tanks (slow: 107K)
Datafax: Imperial Guard Super Heavy Self-Propelled Guns (slow: 110K)