Here is another ranged rule proposal that I came up with last week. Marcus and I have only played one game with it thus far.
0-7" range, no penalty
> 7" range, 0/-1/0
Firing at un-engaged +2/0/0
Firing at engaged 0/-1/0
Firing at cavalry -1/-1/0
Move and shoot 0/-1/0
Only pure ranged units get the +2 dice bonus.
Units that do not get the bonus: cavalry that has ranged attack
spell casters
skirmishers
pila
javelins
any ranged unit that does not have at least a 14" base range.
Have you tried a stand and shoot army with these? After I got over my "Why are you kicking Elementalists in the nads? And what the hell are you trying to do to Dark Elves (again?)" moment, the 3 things that stand out to me are:
1. firing at unengaged bonus,
2. firing at engaged penalty
3. the lack of a penalty for assigning a new target/unit objective modifier (so no penalty at all for concentrating fire which was to my mind a key component of previous proposals)
These really seems tailor made for stand and shoot armies. After playing 2 games with I think the 3rd to the last proposal, I would tweak it to the following as the next iteration:
1. There are 3 range bands for 14" or more, 2 range bands for 7" to 10.5", and 1 range band for 3.5" to 5". Extreme Range = more than 10.5" for 14" units, more than 14" for 17.5" units, more than 17.5" for 21" units (doesn't exist for 10.5" or less ranged units.) Long Range = more than 5" for 7", more than 7" for 10.5" units, more than 7" for 14" units, more than 10.5" for 17.5" units, more than 14" for 21" units (doesn't exist for 5" or less ranged units.) Short Range = anything under Long Range.
This would be much, much simpler if all ranges were multiples of 3.5" and 5" range did not exist!!!
2. (+0) -2/+0 at extreme range
3. (+0) -1/+0 at long range
4. (+0) -1/+0 the turn you change your target (whether you are assigning a new target or taking direct control and changing the target for the turn)
5. (+0) -1/+0 when moving and shooting unless you are moving one movement class slower than your top speed, this includes maneuvers (i.e. sideways, backwards, etc)
6. No bonus for firing on large/colossal units.
7. Units with 4 or more range dice get a (+1) +0/+0 bonus for shooting unengaged, except Lashmistress and low arc units (shooting at normal size units?).Low arc units probably shouldn't get this bonus since they can't shoot engaged units and they get a discount for that AFAIK (Low arc units might possibly get this bonus against large/colossal units,) but any other exceptions should be minimal.
Note that, in terms of rule bloat, 6 is a subtraction from existing rules not an addition, though it might be a good thing to note all rule changes in successive versions of rules. 1 is slightly wordier than previously. Also note 2, 3, and 5 are the same as most previous versions of the rules. So taken as a whole I think this creates less "crap would you guys stop changing the rules" effect than most other proposals, while also avoiding "Dark Elves was my favorite faction; now I quit" effect.
Also note that this is nerf for most skirmishers, a slight nerf to crossbowmen, between a slight cookie and a slight nerf for 7" units with more than 3 dice (Atlatlmen), and an unambiguous cookie for 17.5" and 21" units except low arc units.