Song of Bolter and Chainsword

I decided to use my 6mm Epic Space Marine figures for another game, only this time using an unpublished variant of the rules Song of Drums and Shakos (SDS). I call the variant Song of Bolter and Chainsword (SBC). If I don't like how this turns out, I will try using Song of Blades and Heroes or Flying Lead to see if I get a better result.

The main elements to be determined for the variant are how armor comes into play and what the weapon values are.

Armor

In SDS, armor – the Cuirass special ability – subtracts one from the combat result if the armored figure loses. Thus if the figures loses by one point, the combat becomes a draw. It can also turn a kill into a beaten result, or a gruesome kill into a kill.

As there are so many levels of armor in 40K, you need more than just this rule. The easiest thing to test would be simply increase amount added if the armored figure loses.

40K Armor	SDS Increase	Notes
6+	+1*	* Only applies against Blast weapons.
5+	+1	None
4+	+2	None
3+	+3	Power Armor may have additional abilities assigned.
2+	+4	Terminator Armor may have additional abilities assigned.

Note that this makes Terminator and Power Armor pretty tough, having to win by 5 and 4, respectively. That means that you cannot kill anyone in this armor, unless ...

Weapons

In SDS, weapons have two factors: range band size (Short, Medium, or Long) and range modifier. The range modifier not only specifies what the bonus (or penalty) is to fire at any given range, but how many multiples of the range band size the weapon is capable of (e.g. 2xS, 3xL, etc.).

Weapons in 40K have an additional factor: armor penetration. Put simply, the weapon is rated at how much armor is negated. In 40K an AP 2 weapon would automatically penetrate 2+ armor saves (or worse). In SBC, the AP rating indicates the armor level (the amount added to the combat result) that is negated.

Weapon	Range	x1 Mod	x2 Mod	x3 Mod	Max Range	AP	Notes
Bolter	L	+2	+1	+0	x3	2	None.
Bolt Pistol	M	+2	+0	N/A	x2	2	None.
Missile Launcher	L	+1	+1	+0	x5	-	See missile type for AP.
Frag Missile	-	-	-	-	-	2	See Missile Launcher for range stats.
Krak Missile	-	-	-	-	-	?	See Missile Launcher for range stats.
Frag Grenade	S	+0	-2	N/A	x2	2	None.
Bike Shoota'	L	+4	+2	N/A	x2	2	Range limited by firing platform instability.
'eavy Blasta'	L	+2	+1	+0	x4	3	Cannot move and fire, unless using powered armor.
Big Choppa'	-	-	-	-	-	2	Two-handed battle axe uses these stats.
Chainsword	-	-	-	-	-	3	None.
Power Sword	-	-	-	-	-	4	None.
Power Fist	-	-	-	-	-	5	Lethal. Power Klaw uses these stats.

Of course, there are many more weapons and I am not going to provide them all here, now. First I want to see if there are any problems with the variant. If it looks promising I will expand beyond the basic weapons I need for my test game of Orks versus Chaos Space Marines.

I am currently playing out my test game and writing it up. Expect that in the next post.