[40k house rules] Making Narrative more competitive and competitive more narrative

I've been using a set of house rules on my own games to enhance the competitive level of narrative play while also raising the narrative level of competitive play.

  1. Golden rule #1: Talk to your opponent before the game about using these rules. Agree on terrain rules, show some class and have fun! This is not intended for power gaming and competitive as it requires some abstraction.
     
  2. Golden rule #2: If any disagreements appear, just decide the ruling on a 4+ and move on with the game.
     
  3. Command point bidding: Instead of rolling to determine initiative, after deployment, both players choose a number between 0 and 6. The player who selects the lowest number gains initiative. Both players gain their bid as bonus command points. The player who finished deploying first gets an extra command point on top of that. If players bid the same amount, they then roll dice. They gain that many command points and the player who rolled lowest plays first, reroll ties then. 
    1. Mission command focus: If the mission provides a set of specific stratagems then these CP can only be used for those stratagems, until you either have used all the mission stratagems once or don’t have enough to pay for one (so a player may burn all mission stratagems to free any remainder bonus CPs wherever they’d like) 
    2. Seize the initiative: a player may attempt to seize the initiative on a roll of 6. The player who finished deploying first can sacrifice a command point to seize on a 5+.
       
  4. Army Faction and Battle Forged Army Construction - armies must share a keyword, detachments are only considered belonging to the keywords that every unit shares.
     
  5. Reinforcement Points - Reinforcements cost reinforcements points that must be part of the army list.
     
  6. Strategic Discipline - can only use 1 of the same stratagem per phase.
     
  7. Tactical Reserves - Must start with at least 50% of army on the table or more (unless a specific mission would require otherwise).
     
  8. Psychic Straining – Every new cast of the same power increases the casting target by 2, including smite, but players are otherwise free to repeat casting powers (the same psyker still cannot repeat a power). Models that use a single dice to cast their powers ignore this rule and cast them at their original casting target.
     
  9. Battlefield Terrain and cover 
    1. All terrain rules from BRB. 
    2. Obscured: Terrain and intertwining models obscures targets that are hiding behind it if the terrain covers 50% of the target’s mass. If an argument over what is or is not 50% obscured arises, decide it on 4+ roll. 
    3. Cover: If the shooting has to go through enemy models and/or terrain features that obscure the target, it gets the benefit of cover. 
    4. Dig in (cities of death): Infantry units that do not move when in cover within a terrain feature gain a +2 bonus to armor instead of +1. 
    5. Height Advantage (cities of death): Models firing from terrain that is 3’’ or more above their targets ignore the benefits of cover. 
    6. Fire In The Hole (cities of death): Throwing a grenade on a unit that is benefiting from cover within a terrain feature allows the user to re-roll all wounds rolls and the grenade always deals max number of hits. 
    7. Leaving Combat Airspace (death from the skies): Flyers that leave the table may return at the end of their next move phase: on a 3+ set them anywhere 6’’ from a table edge.
       
  10. Shooting and LoF 
    1. Visibility: Use 7th ed targeting: wings, tails, banners, antenna, and other decorative protruding elements cannot be used to draw LOS (You cannot aim from them and you cannot target them). Like 7th says, you shouldn't be penalized for putting your models in fun and epic positions. Neat decorative elements shouldn't impact the game play. So they don't. Decide with your opponent before battle and if argument arises, roll a 4+ and use that LoS for the rest of the turn (your and the opponents). 
    2. Vehicles and Monsters: Big Vehicles and monsters should block LoS to models hiding behind them.
       
  11. Charging ruins/structures with big models: Monsters, vehicles and similar units that cannot climb/access structures beyond the top floors can charge and fight with models if the miniature is big enough to fight on the other floors. It must be as tall as the floors it is trying to reach.
     
  12. First Strike vs First Blood: Change first blood so both players have the ability to score a First Strike, which is to “Kill an enemy unit on your first game turn.”


I've found that the narrative missions are way more fun with more abundant CPs so both players can use the stratagems in the missions. I've also found that a small nerf to Smite and some more freedom with LoS and Cover rules adds a lot more depth to the way the environment takes part in the battles.

I don't think these rules have a place on tournament play as they are still open for interpretation, but for casual-competitive games they have added back much of the depth for narrative play that I was missing.