The intent of this proposed rule is to consolidate the increasing number of FOC variants, as well as make it easier to field themed armies or previously legal armies without having to resort to "FOC-swap" mechanics of earlier codexes or play Unbound.
In 3+3-Hammer, a CAD has 1 Fortification Slot, 1 LoW slot, and 3 of each other type of slot (3 HQ, 3 Troops, 3 Elites, 3 Fast Attack, and 3 Heavy Support).
After this, you select a Focus for your CAD. This is a part of the FOC that you put extra emphasis on. You may select an HQ Focus, an Elite Focus, a Troop Focus, a Fast Attack Focus, or a Heavy Support Focus. What a Focus means, is that you have 3 more slots for that slot-type, but you *must* take a minimum of 3 units for that slot-type. For example, a CAD with an Elite Focus *must* take a minimum of 3 Elite units, and can take up to 3 more Elite Units.
All CADs allow you to reroll your Warlord Trait. Additionally, depending on the Focus you have, your army gets a different bonus. The bonuses are listed below, and previous discussions/issues which had been brought up/are points of concern are below that.
-A CAD with an HQ Focus gains
High Command: This CAD may adjust all HQ pre-game ability rolls (including Psyker Powers, Daemonic Gifts/Chaos Boons, Illuminor Szeras' troop modifications, The Mirrorcodex's abilities, etc) by + or -1. The Warlord Trait is *NOT* modified by this.
-A CAD with a Troop Focus gains
Objective Secured: for its Troops.
-A CAD with an Elites Focus gains
Special Forces: Each Elites unit in the CAD (except Dedicated Transports) selects two USRs at army creation from the list below. No two Elite units in the same CAD may select the same USRs. The list is below:
Deep Strike, Furious Charge, Hit & Run, Infiltrate, Monster Hunters, Move Through Cover, Precision Strikes/Shots, Rampage, Relentless, Stubborn, Stealth, Scouts, Split Fire, Tank Hunters.-A CAD with a Fast Attack Focus gains
Maneuver Warfare: Any Fast Attack unit in this CAD may make a D6" move in the assault phase. "Jet" units (Eldar Jetbikes, Jetpack Infantry, Jetpack Cavalry, etc) roll an extra D6 on their Jetpack move, and drop the lowest.
-A CAD with a Heavy Support Focus gains
Big Guns Never Tire: All Heavy Support units in the CAD resolve their Snap Shots at BS 2. You still may not snap-shoot weapons that normally cannot be snap-fired; ergo, you could shoot Autocannons at an enemy flyer at BS 2, but you wouldn't be able to knock them out of the air with a Battlecannon.
Designers Notes/Concerns:
-Most of the original design for this CAD ruleset was based off: "1850 points, 2 detachments maximum, no more than one combined arms detachment." How this ruleset would interact with Forgeworld rules is something I've not yet fully looked into (there are a LOT of things for FW...).
-The standard concerns are of the "but you can spam X super-unit now". 6 Riptides, 6 Wraithknights, 6 Flyrants, or what-have-yous. Honestly, I feel most of them are fairly unwarranted: Usually, such units give diminishing returns, and such armies usually have massive shortcomings preventing their viability as TAC-lists. *That* said, these rules should generally overrule codex rules that allow you to switch unit FoCs around (Except for Dark Eldar's "Kabalites/Wyches become Elites when upgraded" syntax).
-For armies that roll a D66 for pre-game abilities (see: Chaos Space Marines), you may choose to alter either of the two dice by +-1, but not both. For example, a 45 could become a 44, a 46, a 35, or a 55.
-I'm on the fence as to whether Dark Eldar Combat Drugs should be included as part of the High Command bonus, but currently I'm leaning "No."
-Special Forces is very heavily based off the "Been There, Done That" rule for Ogre Kingdoms Maneaters. As any honorable gamer should, you should clearly state what abilities your units have in your army list, and model the rules in creative ways. Whether its putting an anti-grav harness on a Deep Striking Triarch Stalker, or having Hit & Run Murderfang strike a ninja pose, this rule is meant as much for the hobby side of things ("Doing cool things you normally couldn't) as it is for the gaming side of things. The way "Special Forces" currently works would interface weirdly with Militarum Tempestus Platoons. For Astra Militarum armies, I recommend you remove the Platoon as an option, and instead make a single Tempestus squad an Elite choice, that can upgrade to have a Tempestor Prime/Medkit/etc.
-The original version of "High Command" was 'May choose a Warlord Trait on top of the normal Warlord Trait rolled." It felt too much like "Well, looks like the opponent will auto-pick Master of Ambush." Which turned out to be a true concern: "Master Of Ambush + Green Tide, and add a Void Shield Generator for extra fun."
-The earlier version of
Special Forces simply allowed Elites to add an extra die to Leadership checks and discard a die of choice. Compared to the other bonuses, it was super-iffy.
-The original bonus for CADs with a Fast Attack focus was "On Time, On Target:" Fast Attack units could reroll all rolls related to reserves (the reserves dice, scatter, outflank, etc). As opposed to making Fast Attack about mobile warfare, it made Fast Attack about "I materialize on the table and alpha-strike."
Comments, criticisms, potential horrid gamebreakers, or cool ideas are always appreciated.