VDR Designs

VDR stands for Vehicle Design Rules which appeared in the 2004 Chapter Approved book, the VDR rules are designed to allow gamers to derive WH40K statistics and point costs for models they happen to have on hand. All VDR designs have to be WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) and are subject to your opponent's approval prior to being used in a game. The current status of the VDR rules (which appeared most recently in Chapter Approved 2004) is unclear. They have never been officially revoked, though Jervis Johnson has backpedaled on them in his most recent comments on the Apocalypse rulebook. Nevertheless, they make a good start point to rate your homebrew creations for Warhammer 40,000.

To my way of thinking, VDR is really very exciting stuff about vehicle variants, scratch-built models and cool things that the VDR allow people to do in their Warhammer 40,000 games. As the VDR were written to stir up interest in this sadly neglected aspect of the hobby, I'm more than pleased with the response so far, and am quite happy to weather the occasional brick-bat from players who worry that the rules may unbalance the game. I generally start with a standard Warhammer 40,000 design and adjust it to my needs using the values in the VDR lists. I always round point costs up to the next value divisible by 5 (e.g. 36 points becomes 40)

The VDR rules can be downloaded here (7 MB PDF).

Some Designs I developed for my guards include:

The Maccabee Light Grav Tank

Basically a flying version of the Predator adapted for the needs of the Imperial Guard. Start with a Leman Russ tank, remove the Battle Cannon (-50pts) install an AutoCannon (+25pts), add a Skimmer suspension (+20) - all other upgrades are as for the Leman Russ (total of -5 pts to the Base Cost of 140 for the Leman Russ)

Name	Points/Model	Front Armor	Side Armor	Rear Armor	BS
Maccabee Light Grav Tank	135	14	12	10	3

Type: Grav Attack Vehicle

Size: Normal

Speed: Normal

Force Category: Heavy Support

Weapons: Turret Mounted AutoCannon

Options: Mandatory - Hull Mounted Heavy Bolter (+5 pts) or Hull Mounted LasCannon (+15 pts)
Optional - Heavy Bolter Sponsons (+10 pts) or Heavy Flamer Sponsons (+10 pts)

Upgrades: Cammo Netting (+1 pt), Extra Armor (+5 pts), Hunter Killer Missile (+10 pts), Improved Communications (+20 pts), Mine Sweeper (+5 pts), Pintle Mounted Heavy Stubber (+12), Pintle Mounted Heavy Bolter (+10 pts), Searchlight (+1 pt), Smoke Launchers (+3 pts)

Special Rules: Skimmer

The Shomir Medium Grav Tank

Basically a flying version of the Predator adapted for the needs of the Imperial Guard. Start with a Leman Russ tank, remove the Battle Cannon (-50pts) install twin linked LasCannon (+40pts), add a Skimmer suspension (+20) - all other upgrades are as for the Leman Russ (total of +10 pts to the Base Cost of 140 for the Leman Russ)

Name	Points/Model	Front Armor	Side Armor	Rear Armor	BS
Shomir Medium Grav Tank	150	14	12	10	3