Saving the Assault Phase?

In the Emperor's name, charge! I have always been a fan of assault based armies, from my first Blood Claw heavy Space Wolf list to my current quick striking Blood Angels, the unifying theme of each army has been connecting on the charge to win the day. It is safe to say  that close combat armies have been nerfed in 6th edition. New abilities such as snap fire, an abundance of weapons that ignore cover, and even the AP system for combat weapons has made it much more difficult for a charge to carry the field. This post may sound like a lot of wish listing but I think it will provide an interesting amendment of rules for a friendly game.

 

Armor Saves- My biggest fear is ap2 template and rapid fire weapons. These weapons cook my marines with no problem, and even make my terminators think twice. Don't get me wrong, I am perfectly fine with my marines dying. I would just like to see them be able to survive to see combat more often. To help with this I would like to see armor saves be modified based on what weapon they are hit with. Let's take a basic tactical marine with a 3+ save. Normally if he gets hit with an ap3 weapon he is dead unless he has feel no pain or a cover save. Instead of just removing the model he should take a -1 to his armor save. It should be that if the ap value is the same as the armor value the model still gets an armor save but with a -1 modifier to it. If he gets hit with an ap2 weapon his armor save become a 5+, and ap1 would make it a 6+. If this was done Heldrakes, while still dangerous, wouldn't make a power armor player leave the store. Before you scream how this only helps Space Marines and screws everyone else over, now those of you with 2+ saves won't have to fear thunderhammers and powerfists as much since you will now at least get a 3+ save instead of just getting splatted.

 

Tiered Saves- It has  always bothered me a bit that you can't take multiple saves in one turn from the same attack. If my marines are in cover and they are getting hit by ap4 and higher weapons it doesn't mean that they are going to be running around like fools trying to get hit and only staying in cover when a plasma round gets fired. Let us pretend that I have a squad of assault marines in wooded terrain that gives a modest 5+ cover save and they are getting shot at by a squad of fire warriors in rapid fire range. Wouldn't it be more cinematic if instead of the assault squad getting hit a dozen times and having to make a bunch of armor saves after getting wounded that I be able to take my cover save for the chance of those Tau guns hitting a tree instead of my guys. Don't tell me that is what a models ballistic skill is about. BS has everything to do how good of a shot the model is, even the best shot will miss if there is a forest in-between him and the target.

 

Invulnerable Saves- These saves are probably my least favorite saves to make in the entire game. What it means if you are making an invulnerable save is that if you don't make it you model is dead. For most players this means that your fancy expensive HQ is about to die. With the modified armor save in place you at least have a chance to survive getting punched by a powerfist so long as you have a natural 4+ save. Now let's say that you have a Lord Commissar with carapace armor (4+ save) and a refractor field (4+ invul) in a challenge with an assault squad sergeant with a power fist. The commissar is going to be swinging with his power sword first and hits twice, wounding once, but the sergeant makes his modified 4+ armor save. That's a damn bummer isn't it, normally the sergeant would have just died, let's keep going. The Sergeant swings back getting one hit and one wound, now the commissar gets to roll a 6+ armor save which he fails, and then his 4+ invulnerable save which is a 50/50 chance of surviving. 

 

To wrap this up, I am sure that there are a dozen reasons why my type of mechanic might break the game or something, to be honest I don't know enough about the other armies to be able to make a good enough argument to sway people my way. I think I could get a lot of people on my side just with the argument that if you have a 5+ armor save you will now no longer die to bolter fire since you will get a 6+. I would really like to see someone play a small point game, 500-1,000 points using my rules just to see how things go. Would terminators be insanely over powered now, maybe. For me I think it would start encouraging people to play with more lightning claw or ranged terminators since they would be more survivable and able to make a real impact besides being a joke for plasma veterans.  

Just to answer the title of the post, how exactly does this save assault based armies? It makes combats last a little longer which is usually a good thing. I tend to find myself killing a unit outright on my turn and then getting rapid fired on by the rest of the army on his turn. More models will actually survive against those Tau/Eldar gun lines. Yes it would make there Wraith constructs harder to kill but you may actually stand a chance to get into combat with them for once. 

As always your input is greatly appreciated on here in the comments section. Thanks for reading and have an Emperor Blessed day.