Hi and welcome to Avian's 'Design a Unit' page. The system that lets YOU
create your own units.
What is the point of this page? There are several reasons, the first
and greatest is to provide gamers with a system that lets them use their own
creations in games and an opportunity to field models that no longer have rules
in this edition. The second is to be an aid to those wanting to write their own
army books (Good on ya!), thirdly to show people how the designers come up with
prices for units ("So that's why Black Guard are so expensive.") and
fourthly because I can and wanted to.
I want some T4 elves. Is it okay if I tweak the rules a bit? While of
course there is nothing stopping you from breaking the rules listed here and
making the most outlandish unit possible, to get the Avian Seal of
Approval™ you have to follow the system as it is listed here by me.
Is this official? Noooo, of course it isn't, and some boring
people might say that gamers should not have this degree of freedom. However, I
feel reasonably sure that whatever you create with this system it will be
rather more balanced than most home-brewed rules you will find. Once I get the
bugs sorted out, anyway. Nearly all the units you design here will be at least
as expensive here and at least as limited when it comes to how many you can
take. In some very rare cases these units will turn out cheaper, most likely
because the army book writers altered the prices slightly to take into account
army-wide special rules.
So how does it work then? It's all very simple, really. At the
beginning there's a bit (okay, quite a bit) of general rules, explanations and
so forth and then there's a list of different units you can build. Each unit
starts with a selection of races to choose from and then there's an awful lot
of combinations of weapons, armour and abilities to choose from. Worked into
all this is a system that tells you what category the unit should be - whether
it is Core, Special or Rare - and all choices have a price. Generally the more
unique, powerful and interesting something is, the more rare and expensive it
will be.
This is all good, but what about Fishmen? That would be the 'create a
creature' section. It's a lot more free than this one, so ask your opponent
nicely
Surely this is not the end; what about the future? Firstly the
Creature rules needs to be completed. Then at some point there will be a Battle
Honours system where units can gain abilities, intended for short Campaigns and
Tournaments.
But we really want to know, what does it take to produce something like
this? Several late nights and plenty of whisky.
Any feedback, suggestions, praise, loopholes, further ideas for halflings
(any recipies for sauces that go well with roast halfling?) can be sent to
avian@portentmail.com.
Good luck!
Avian
The rarity of a unit describes how common or uncommon it is. Usually when using
this system a unit starts off with a Rarity of 0, which means that it is
unlimited Core. Depending on the options chosen it can then go up in Rarity.
Here's how this works: When your Rarity increases by 1 you go to Special if you
were Core, and to Rare if you were Special. So it it increases by 2 you go from
Core to Rare. Instead of doing this you can stay the same category, but become
a 0-1 unit. Obviously, if you are already a 0-1 unit and your Rarity increases
you have to go up a category and you stay 0-1. Example:
| Rarity |
Category |
| 0 |
Core |
| 1 |
Special or 0-1 Core |
| 2 |
Rare or 0-1 Special |
| 3 |
0-1 Rare |
You are not allowed to created units which would have a Rarity greater than
3.
Sometimes a unit starts with a rarity of greater than 0, but this still follows
the same system.
Rarity and weapon options: The system is really meant to create units
with genuine options and it is hoped that gamers will be allowed to use this
system for friendly play. When it comes to weapon options each unit with a
Rarity of 0 can have up to three close combat and/or missile weapon options and
up to two armour options, while units with a Rarity of 1 or higher can only
have one close combat or missile weapon option and up to one armour option.
Sounds simple?
Last updated 030611 by Avian | 