Warhammer 40K: Stratagems Should Be A Leadership Check
Leadership checks in 40k are pretty much non-existent. There’s way too many stratagems with no counters. I have a crazy idea.
The Leadership stat in 40k feels a lot like an Appendix in the biological sense. It’s not really that useful these days and whatever use it orginially had has long since been forgotten. But every now and then they come up in a big and dangerous way! See: Appendicitis. Leadership feels like a system from a bygone era that GW keeps trying to make happen in modern 40k but the implementation never seems to fit quite right.
Think about it. All the other stats on the statline come up all game long. But the Leadership stat? By the time you have to take a check with it in the morale phase the unit is probably dead already.
Or they have some other abilities that make them immune to checks anyhow.
On the flip side we’ve got Stratagems for days in 40k. Aside from the generic stratagems and mission stratagems, each new codex has added their own block of 20 or more to the game. There’s so many stratagems you could probably sneak in a few made-up ones during a game and your opponent might not catch you. Side note: Don’t do that.
Furthermore, most of these stratagems don’t really have any counter-play. The player just spends the requisite number of CP and the stratagem fires off. In a lot of ways Stratagems are just unit abilities that you have to pay for with a separate resource. This system also works fine — for the most part. But what if we combined the two?
Stratagems And Leadership
Here’s the idea — which is crazy and probably needs some testing:
To successfully activate a stratagem the unit must pass a Leadership check in addition to spending the CP to use it. If the check is passed with a double 1 result, the CPs are refunded. If the check is failed the CPs are refunded but the stratagem cannot be used for the remainder of that phase. If an Unmodified 12 is rolled on the check is failed and the CPs are lost.
Units could also use the Leadership of a nearby HQ choice if it’s higher than their own as well. Or maybe there’s a bonus or the check. That’s not the point. What this check does is add some randomness to the game in a very thematic way.
The Leadership stat is supposed to be a measure of how cool or responsive that unit is under pressure. Stratagems are supposed to be these big plans that are executed at the right time. But the battlefield is a hectic and unpredictable place. This rule would help add some of that chaotic energy to the (imo) too consistent to use Stratagems in the game.
You’re telling me that in the Grimdark, in the heat of combat, units always execute the stratagems perfectly, 100% of the time.
I know a lot of folks won’t like this idea. “It’s just another roll/check to make in an already busy game!” I know — and I don’t disagree! However, the few extra seconds this roll adds to the game clock also has the potential to stop a bunch of those time consuming re-rolls from triggering. Which could ultimately end up saving time. Additionally, it actually uses the Leadership stat which is the entire point!
Alternatively, we scrap the entire idea and give every army a generic version of Agent of Vect to add some counter-play to stratagems. I’d be cool with that, too.
TL;DR – make Leadership matter and give us some counter-play to stratagems in 40k.
