Post by haveaniceday on Aug 8, 2007 9:26:38 GMT 1
This is copied from the forum over at eastern fringe and it was suggested by zippysguitar that I post here too (I didnt know there was a forum here too 
)
For some time I have been working on an updated version of the Rogue Trader rules, tentatively called Rogue Trader Redux. Given that the 30th Anniversary is coming up soon I thought I would post some ideas for a modernised form of the old game.
I will start by recalling my favourite part of Rogue Trader which was the atmosphere of the game. When I was just a wee bairn I used to regularly play my ork army against some beardy squat player who shall remain nameless. Time and time again I tried to win, trying every oddball tactic I could think of, including charging my Orks into combat and detonating frag grenades in attempt to kill some of the apparently invincible stunties! To me this game of fun, which was fun whether you won or lost, bears no relation to the game of Warhammer 40k today.
Soooo the big question I suppose is what to do about it? Well... I started by reading the old rules and deciding what I personally liked and disliked about them. To be honest rules for scatter were awkward, rules for vehicles were far too complex, reserve moves were in the wrong place, and following fire was a hack. Second edition was a more streamlined game, but I dont like the newer hand-to-hand rules and the hero-hammer just got waaay out of control. The vehicle rules were more streamlined but lacked the detail of the old Rogue Trader damage tables. On to third edition they killed off the hero hammer but left a void of character - armies all turned into munchkins! However, the missions for larger games were better set out than in second edition. So finally I get to the stage where if I mixed all the best bits from all the editions you get a game which is fairly streamlined but having detail where it counts. I'm curious as to what you all think of my choices for the best bits, and I've listed these below.
Rogue Trader Redux Rule List
Battle Deployment (2nd Edition 40K)
Victory Points (2nd Edition 40K)
Squad Splitting, Coherency (Rogue Trader)
Movement (2nd Edition 40K)
Shooting (2nd Edition 40K)
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Rogue Trader)
Psychic (Warhammer Fantasy 6th Edition Magic)
Breaking & Rallying (2nd Edition 40K)
Psychology (2nd Edition 40K)
Characters (2nd Edition 40K)
Commanders (2nd Edition 40K)
Vehicles (2nd Edition 40K with revised datafaxes similar to Rogue Trader)
Battle Missions (4th Edition 40K)
Scenarios and Subplots (Rogue Trader)
Profiles (3rd Edition 40k)
Codexes (Black Codex, 2nd Edition 40K)
I have also come up with formulae to point up all the units, weapons, and vehicles so that hopefully games will be reasonably balanced. All the old (basic) units and weapons come reasonably close to the old second edition, so I am fairly confident that they are sensible.
Given all this I thought I would start up a small online magazine dedicated to Rogue Trader, with battle reports, terrain articles, painting articles etc. For the first issue I thought it would be cool to replay the introductory game : Battle at the Farm. Anyway its still early days yet so we will see.
)For some time I have been working on an updated version of the Rogue Trader rules, tentatively called Rogue Trader Redux. Given that the 30th Anniversary is coming up soon I thought I would post some ideas for a modernised form of the old game.
I will start by recalling my favourite part of Rogue Trader which was the atmosphere of the game. When I was just a wee bairn I used to regularly play my ork army against some beardy squat player who shall remain nameless. Time and time again I tried to win, trying every oddball tactic I could think of, including charging my Orks into combat and detonating frag grenades in attempt to kill some of the apparently invincible stunties! To me this game of fun, which was fun whether you won or lost, bears no relation to the game of Warhammer 40k today.
Soooo the big question I suppose is what to do about it? Well... I started by reading the old rules and deciding what I personally liked and disliked about them. To be honest rules for scatter were awkward, rules for vehicles were far too complex, reserve moves were in the wrong place, and following fire was a hack. Second edition was a more streamlined game, but I dont like the newer hand-to-hand rules and the hero-hammer just got waaay out of control. The vehicle rules were more streamlined but lacked the detail of the old Rogue Trader damage tables. On to third edition they killed off the hero hammer but left a void of character - armies all turned into munchkins! However, the missions for larger games were better set out than in second edition. So finally I get to the stage where if I mixed all the best bits from all the editions you get a game which is fairly streamlined but having detail where it counts. I'm curious as to what you all think of my choices for the best bits, and I've listed these below.
Rogue Trader Redux Rule List
Battle Deployment (2nd Edition 40K)
Victory Points (2nd Edition 40K)
Squad Splitting, Coherency (Rogue Trader)
Movement (2nd Edition 40K)
Shooting (2nd Edition 40K)
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Rogue Trader)
Psychic (Warhammer Fantasy 6th Edition Magic)
Breaking & Rallying (2nd Edition 40K)
Psychology (2nd Edition 40K)
Characters (2nd Edition 40K)
Commanders (2nd Edition 40K)
Vehicles (2nd Edition 40K with revised datafaxes similar to Rogue Trader)
Battle Missions (4th Edition 40K)
Scenarios and Subplots (Rogue Trader)
Profiles (3rd Edition 40k)
Codexes (Black Codex, 2nd Edition 40K)
I have also come up with formulae to point up all the units, weapons, and vehicles so that hopefully games will be reasonably balanced. All the old (basic) units and weapons come reasonably close to the old second edition, so I am fairly confident that they are sensible.
Given all this I thought I would start up a small online magazine dedicated to Rogue Trader, with battle reports, terrain articles, painting articles etc. For the first issue I thought it would be cool to replay the introductory game : Battle at the Farm. Anyway its still early days yet so we will see.
