People have very different metrics by which they judge complexity.
Granted, and to be fair the criteria are different, as in an rpg I'm looking for a system to aid in/not interfere with immersion, whereas in Warhammer how I view my troops is closer to the relationship of a GM to an NPC or monster than a player's relationship with thier character.
That said, I certainly found the system simpler and more intuitive than your list implies.
But let's break down the turn sequence. To look at Warhammer more clearly.
Start of Turn
Roll to rally fleeing troops.
Discontinue effects that end at the start of your next turn.
Like here, I'd hardly even call "discontinue effects" an action in the game per se. If something like magic gave you a special moodier for one turn, the next turn you don't get that modifier.
Movement
Move Fleeing Troops and other Compulsorary Moves
Declare Charges
Resolve Stand and Shoot and Flee Reactions
Move Chargers
Move Other Troops
This again seems an overly complex list to me.
A turn starts with movement. Compulsary moves first, which are rarer and generally either troops forced to flee at the end of the last round or certain specific rare or special models. So, before a unit flees the player can roll to rally the unit. Otherwise they move 2d6 plus thier movement.
Then the player whose turn it is nominated what each unit is doing: standing ground (nothing), moving, matching or charging. Then, going back thru the units, of the unit is moving, it moves up to its Movement rating. If marching, it moves up to twice its movement rating. If charging, the player rolls 2d6 + their Movement rating and is placed an inch away from the unit it's charging. And that's movement.
Magic is basically the simplest system this side of Risus, so skipping that, shooting and then Melee. Both follow the same procedure. Roll to attack, successes refilled to wound, and then the other player can make an armour or ward save. Any successes left are the amount of models removed ( unless specials or rares with extra wounds).
The main difference between Melee and shooting is Initiative, as you say, but again the list you made is just somewhat confusing to me
Melee
Resolve Attacks In Order Of
Elves
Always Strikes First
Initiative Score Order (Yes in any other phase than initiative score order strikes are similtaneous.)
Great Weapons
Always Strikes Last
Stomp Attacks
For Each Attack
Roll To Hit
Roll To Wound
Roll Armor Save
Determine Combat Results
Break Test
Flee
Pursue Or Attempt To Hold
Move On To Next Combat
Elves follow regular Initiative rules, they just tend to possess high scores. So do Skaven.
The order goes as follows:
Any characters with the Always Strike First note.
Highest to lowest Initiative rating
Any characters with the Always Strike Last note.
I'm not sure what you meant by Great Weapons or Stomping in your list other than as examples of the Always Strikes Last rule.
So Bullshit. Warhammer is a baroque mess that makes the excesses of Rolemaster, Phoenix Command, and GURPS Vehicles look sane and managible. But yes, the individual discrete steps are simple as long as you ignore the dozen odd volumes of army specific special case rules that apply to each ever so simple and reasonable little step.
Give me Chainmail any day.
Well you're certainly welcome to your own preferences , but 'baroque' sounds odd to me as I found the system easy, intuitive, and runs quite quickly. I'd draw the line of personal preference at a comparison to Phoenix Command, however, which is hyperbolic to the point of comedy.
For example, let's say I have an MP5 submachinegun.
Let's say I'm an average soldier. My target is average too, that means 10 for his stats. He's wearing standard body armor. The range is 30 yards. He appears, moving at a rate of 4 yards a second, running, with no cover (for simplicity). He is firing from a standing position, from a proper firing stance. Let's say it's mid-day, for simplicity.
I aim for 2 seconds and fire a burst of 7 rounds. I'll not use time of flight of the bullet, because I haven't learned how yet.
And scrap that body armor too. Too complex for here.
Here's the process:
Add up aim modifiers.
Aim time: 2
Range: 9
Target size: 14
Shooter motion: 0
_______________
Effective accuracy = 25
Now I look up 25 on a table.
My odds of putting the burst in the correct location are at 97%. I roll a 37.
The burst is at the correct elevation, so I look up my minimum arc.
It is .7, so the burst has spread over 1.4 yards. My rate of fire is *7, so I look up on another table the chance of hitting with a ROF of *7 and a MA of .7.
The full-page table says I hit with 1 round.
Now roll for the hit location. I roll a 292 and look up on the Side Hit table ( I hit him in the side ) and the bullet passes through the man's liver and stomach.
Now I look up on one of the 64+ damage tables ( yes, there's a specific table for a side hit to the hip socket ) and find the one for a side hit to the stomach-liver.
It turns out to be table S15 ( Lower Chest - Stomach - Liver ) and I look up my weapon's damage and penetration for the specific range. The table is a 10x26 table.
That's right, 260 numbers, only for this specific angle and location.
My weapon's damage at 30 yards is 3, and it's penetration is 2.3. This is for FMJ ammo.
My weapon does 1200 Physical Damage, according to the table.
The man fails his knockout roll with only a 2% chance of remaining in the fight. He recieves no medical aid and dies after 2 minutes 58 seconds.
That's an example for you. This has accounted for 0.5 seconds of gameplay.
I didn't use shock, time of flight, advanced movement, blunt trauma, ballistic accuracy, effective minimum arc, weapon reliability, visibility, recoil recovery, optical scopes, cover, sound detection, initiative, animals, etc.
There's a lot more rules too numerous to list ( what if your target is running away, at dawn, behind medium smoke coverage from 1,032 yards? ), and the ranges go out to 1,600 yards, which would take 66-1/3 feet of playing space.
If an RPG comparison is made, I'd say WH 8th is roughly as crunchy as
DC Heroes.