Some members of our group, myself included, are fired up about Cityfight. It looks like fun, and Dragon's Lair in Austin has all kinds of city terrain. However, the 'codex' is rather out of date, and was never updated by GW. I've changed somethings, updated others, and made shit up as I went. Let me know what you think.
The only real Rules changes listed are Rubble giving you a 4+ save. (Which 5th edition gives you for literally everything.) The rest were various 'stratagems' you could buy. Including Deep Strike and Infiltrate and things like that. Yeah, you remember when some missions didn't allow you to deep strike? Sorry New Daemons. But anyways, here are the things I thought up.
General Rules Changes
Plunging Fire: Units firing from a higher vantage point have a much better view of their targets than if both units are on the same plane. Therefore, units being fired at from a higher level are at a -1 to their cover save, so long as they are within 18" of the firing unit. Likewise, vehicles that would count as 'obscured' by terrain have their cover save reduced to 5+, or even 6 if the vehicles' top is entirely visible from above.
Rubble: The ubiquitous detritus of fallen towers and crushed stonework, rubble is going to be a major terrain factor in any urban combat. It provides a 4+ cover save, of course, and is difficult terrain to non-skimmer vehicles. Walkers can re-roll failed dangerous terrain checks, since they were invented to deal with terrain obstacles. Vehicles with dozer blades never test for dangerous terrain for moving through rubble heaps, but have their speed reduced by d3" Since rubble wouldn't actually break a vehicle to immobilize it, the immobilization is only temporary. Rolling a '1' on the difficult terrain check immobilizes the vehicle for a turn. They re-test in their next movement phase.
Measuring Range: The way GW wrote it is really fucking stupid. You measure base to base, even if the model is on a higher level. That's right, if you have a beautiful vantage point on the 3rd floor of a building, it's probable that you can't shoot anything that's not within three inches of your building. Fuck that, that's not how projectile drop works. That just annoys me. Range is measured from the relative position of the firer on the ground level to the guy on the ground. That is, you just measure from the bottom floor, right underneath your model, to the target.
This is the part where I need input. It's harder for rounds to Fight gravity, being aimed upwards and all that. Should it work the same for shooting Up at people, or should there be some sort of penalty? Chime in.
Stratagems: Stratagems are neat tricks and upgrades you could buy with stratagem points in the old cityfight dex. I've decided that we should assign them relative point values. So again, here's what I think sounds fun.
Command Center Stratagem: (Building) (65 pts?) A vital command post outfitted with vox gear or at a focal point for warp magicks or what have you, from a Command post, a leader guides and controls his forces. This stratagem applies to one building. It allows one unit per turn to re-roll a failed moral/leadership test if they have a model within 24" of the Command Center. This re-roll is made using the highest Ld value of any model inside the Command Center.
Observation Point Stratagem: (building) (85 pts?) A vantage point for your entire force, manned by sharp eyed individuals with radio, map and their judgement. From it, they can direct fire or alert your forces to the incoming foe. Designate the highest point on one building. Each turn, one friendly unit attempting to Deepstrike or fire a blast/barrage/ordinance weapon at or on a point within the LOS of the obs. point may re-roll the scatter die. Additionally, no enemy unit may outflank or infiltrate to within 18" of the structure.
Might change it to 12" but 18" sounds good.
Fuel Dump Stratagem: (buildling) (55pts?) Having a handy fuel dump near the front lines is a boon to any force that controls it. Allowing for easy reloads and plentiful supplies for your flame weapons, this is clearly a vital point to hold on to for whoever holds it, and an objective that Must be taken or destroyed by the foe. The player holding the Fuel Dump increases the strength of all FLAME based flame-template weapons by +1. If the building is contested by the foe (If there are more attacking models inside the building than there are defenders), then the bonus is lost until one side or the other regains control.
Sorry, flamers of Tzeentch. Your warp magicks aren't made stronger by promethium.
Sacred Ground Stratagem: (building) (70 pts?) Every race has it's symbols and holy places. Locations and relics worth fighting and dying for. Designate one building or Square or point on the field to be your Sacred Ground. Friendly units with MORE than half their models within 6" of the structure/point/space become Stubborn and gain Counterattack. This stratagem is only available to the Defender of the battle.
Booby Traps: Okay, this is tricky. I'm not sure how this sounds. This is a first draft. And, of course, only defenders will have placed booby traps. At least at first. Later in a campaign, if there's a stalemate, both sides might be allowed to place booby traps. We'll see.
Anti Personnel: 0-6 booby traps, 40 points each?
Designate however many buildings as having been booby-trapped. Mark it down on a piece of paper. When an enemy unit enters a booby-trapped building, once the controlling player has finished placing the models in the unit, they roll a d6. On a 3+, the unit has found the trap... The Hard Way.
The player who's booby trap it is places a small blast template wherever they please on the unit (as long as it's inside the booby trapped terrain feature) and resolve it at Strength 5, AP * No cover saves may be taken, and the armor save is taken at -1 of it's standard value. Once triggered, the trap is removed from play.
Should the attacker be able to do something like pass an initiative test to deactivate the trap if they don't trip it? And if that's a possiblity, should the unit roll each turn that they move inside the building or terrain feature to see if some bumbling idiot sets it off?
As far as anti-tank traps go, there should be minefields, either 6" by 6" or just along roads, in 6" long sections. I'm thinking 0-3, and fairly expensive. They should hit against rear armor. Dozer blades should allow you to resolve the hit against the front armor and give a 5+ save. Skimmers should only be hit on a 4+ Wheeled vehicles would be hit on a 3+ and tracked vehicles, being really fucking heavy, would be hit on a 2+ when passing through. A str. 8 hit sounds right for an anti-vehicle mine. Maybe AP 1, maybe less. Sensor spines or the equivalent would give you a 5+ know-where-the-mine-is-and-avoid-it sort of save.
Fortifications: (dirty tricks) (150-200pts?) One building may be 'fortified' by the defenders. Choose one building. All models inside get +1 to their cover saves. Defenders only.
Master Snipers: (dirty tricks) Snipers thrive in city battles, lying in wait for their prey. You've seen enemy at the gates. Anyways. Sniper Weapons now rend on a 5+, and their targets are at -1 to their cover saves. This DOES stack with plunging fire. This costs 10 pts per sniper rifle armed model. AND, because you should be able to damn well shoot before they hand you a sniper rifle, any model with a sniper rifle that is BS 3 may increase their BS to 4 for +5 pts each.
That's about it. That's all I've got so far. Yes, yes, I know it's long. And maybe rambling at some points. But what do you think? I know we need rules for Preliminary Bombardment for the Attackers, since most of this stuff benefits the Defenders. Maybe some more special siege weapon type stuff, or some rules for upgrading troops to combat engineers, like in the actual cityfight book. But here's what I have so far. I would like some input and feedback. Does it sound fun to play? I can't wait to give it a go, myself.
