Shadow War House Rules

A few House Rules my group has come up with for Shadow War. Mostly they're just intended to tweak things more to our liking, but there are a couple that fix things that seem like they're actual game design flaws.

Shadow War: Armageddon House Rules

Points may be carried over from initial Team Creation and Recruit/Rearm actions.
(The system as presented in the book works fine for those Factions, but it gets really problematic for several of the additional Factions added on the Warhammer Community website, and the DeathWatch Kill Teams below)

Any Model that has access to a Power Sword may take a Power Maul or Power Axe for the same Points Cost
(This felt like a weird lack to us. They all have Rules, and the few places where more than one are available, they all cost the same.)

Plasma Pistols/guns:
- When fired on max power, make an Overheat Roll if your to-Hit result does not require an Ammo Roll. An Overheat roll is exactly the same as an Ammo Roll, except that if it is failed, the weapon merely needs to cool down, and cannot be fired in the next Turn, but is otherwise fine. This replaces the Unreliable Special Rule.
- Improve the low power Strength to 5, and the Save Modifier to -2
- Neither of these apply to Plasma Calivers or Plasma Weapons used by Chaos Space Marines.


Real Sustained Fire Dice:
In previous editions, instead of using a d3, there were specific Sustained Fire Dice. These can be duplicated with a d6 on the following table:
1-2:    1 shot
3-4:    2 shots
5:    3 shots
6:    Jam

If one or more Jam results are rolled, some sort of minor malfunction has occurred. Continue to work out the Shooting Attack as normal if there were other Sustained Fire Dice that did not roll Jams. However, the user may not fire in the next Turn as they clear the Jam. They can, however, Move normally, even if the Jammed Weapon is Heavy. They can also clear a Jam in the same Turn that a Plasma Weapon is cooling down.
(These two are more about getting closer to the feel of 2nd Ed Sustained Fire/Plasma, and it also felt weird to have low-power Plasma essentially be a Bolt shot)

Chaos Marines:
- Chaos Space Marine Models may be upgraded to Chosen, gaining the Burly skill for 25 Points when first Recruited.
(The Bolter/Bolt Pistol/CCW loadout is kind of a signature CSM thing. Felt like they should be able to actually take advantage of it without a bunch of luck on the skill tables)

Alpha Legion:
- Cultists count as half of a Model for all relevant purposes (number of Recruits allowed in a KT, total KT size, number of Models allowed in Missions that restrict this, etc.). The one exception is when they are Reinforcements in The Raid Mission, in which case they count as the full number of Models, to represent the difficulty of getting them all organized.
- Cultists may take Bolt Pistols and Bolters at the CSM prices. However, the Ammo Roll for these is worsened to 6+
- A Cultist who is given an advance may instead be upgraded to a Specialist, and may subsequently be given a Flamer or Heavy Stubber at the same prices as Genestealer Cultists.
(Just for fun, really. Word Bearers could do something similar.)

Tyranid Warriors :
- Change DeathSpitter to 12/24” Range, Small Blast, remove Sustained Fire, +5 Points
- Scything Talons/Rending Claws: Change the Paired Rule to apply if the Model has two sets of either, or one of each.
(The DeathSpitter change is again to bring them back to an older version, where they actually had a distinct role, instead of just being a bigger version of a Devourer. Might need to be even a bit more expensive. The change to ScyTals and Rending Claws is because otherwise, there's no reason to take one pair of each, and that's an awesome looking loadout.)

DeathWatch Kill Teams:
- Standard SM Veteran Profile
- Start with Bolter, Knife, and Special Issue Ammunition
- 250 for Leader, 175 for Trooper, 200 for Specialist. No New Recruits
Special Issue Ammunition: All modifiers are to normal Bolter profile
- Kraken - Save Modifier of -2, +3” Short Range, +6” Long Range
- Hellfire - See Shadow War Rulebook
- DragonFire - Reduces to-Hit Modifiers for Cover by 1
- Vengeance - Save Modifier -4, -3” Short Range, -6” Long Range, Unreliable
Limited Issue: All Special Issue Ammo types have an Ammo Roll of 8+. However, when failed, this generally only means that that specific type of Ammo has run out. The exception is if the Ammo Roll was failed on a 2-4, in which case, the Bolter itself has jammed or become damaged, and cannot be used for the remainder of the Game.
- Stalker Pattern Boltgun: +20 Points, +3” Short Range, +6” Long Range, Silenced, no to-Hit modifier at any Range. The range modification stacks with those for Kraken or Vengeance rounds.
- Infernus Heavy Bolter with Suspensor Web: 300 Points. Heavy Weapon. May be fired either as Heavy Bolter or Heavy Flamer, but never suffers the move or fire restriction. A failed Ammo Roll means that the portion that failed cannot be used again, but the other part may still be used as normal.
- DeathWatch Frag Cannon: 225 Points. Heavy Weapon, but never suffers the move or fire restriction.
* Frag:  Template, S6, no Save Modifier. Rolls of 6 to Wound have a Save Modifier of -3. Ammo Roll 7+
* Solid Shell: 0-12" Short, 12-24" Long. No to-Hit modifier for any Range. S8, Save Modifier -5, Damage d6, Ammo Roll 7+
- Otherwise, use the Chaos Space Marine Equipment List, with the exception that no Model may take Inferno Bolts, Blight Grenades, or an Autocannon.
(These guys have had zero playtesting. Just for fun.)