Counts As lists

For a long time, I have been a fan of 40k, and finally, I think I have hit upon the right mix of granularity and speed with this One Page 40k to allow for RPG and TT wargaming at the scale that I like (basically Necromunda with much bigger weapons).

To go along with this are the infinite codexes and rule updates and whatnot. My idea was to let all of those just sit and allow the generality of the the One Page 40k rules to give a framework for any and all secondary books out there from Rogue Trader days to the current 10th Edition. Since, I personally, do not care for the strategems and the Command Point minigame as it is currently implemented, I won’t bother with it, because I don’t want to.

One area that 40k shines, at least in the older editions, was the immense amount of “counts as” lists that were out in the wild. With my rules and the lack of focus on codexes and editions, I don’t think I need to do “counts as” lists. Instead, I think I can just make whole armies and lists as they exist without being tied to GW stats. I’ll just make up what I think it is so if I want to make Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars, I am not forced to squeeze them into some pre-existing stat line. This is precisely the level of freedom I was wanting when I started making games, and now I have unlocked that for 40k. That means I can just use my rules for any sort of army I want to make at the squad/platoon level.

This is good for me, since most other mini wargame rules that I have tried lack the intensity of 40k, even when it is supposed to be there, such as in modern warfare scenarios and other sort of close in, fast paced, life and death struggles.

A case in point is HeroScape. I love the minis, and the terrain, but the rules are lackluster and they keep trying to make every single unit have some special rule or ability that I find to be overly complicated and unnecessary. Therefore, I am going to start making my own army lists for 40k in the spirit, but not the letter of the “counts as” community.