Beyond the Gates of Antares Outline Rulebook

Dark space corp Page 1

Outline Rulebook Work in progress

 

Turn Sequence

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Dice and Stats

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Fluid Combat Status

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Actions and Reactions

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Weapons and Armour

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Shooting Summary

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Movement

This document is a WORK IN PROGRESS OUTLINE RULEBOOK. It isn’t by any means finished or fully tested. We want to involve you in the process of GoA’s development so please feel free to play the game using this basic outline, you’ll need to use your own miniatures at this point of course and then get involved with the ongoing discussions we’re having on all areas of the rules in the forums. Thank you! Rick Priestley

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GAME TURNS The battle is fought in a series of rounds or turns which we call game turns. During each game turn, both sides work through the following turn sequence. Once both sides have completed the sequence another game turn begins.

TURN SEQUENCE Both sides work through each step of the sequence. In some steps both players participate, in other steps one or other of the players acts, depending upon the situation. 1. Combat Status Checks – units that are already broken or exhausted are obliged to make a combat status check at the start of the turn. 2. Roll for Combat Intensity Level – roll a D10 and add or subtract any modifiers that apply to establish the combat intensity level for that game turn. 3. Roll for Priority – the players each roll a D10 and add or subtract any modifiers that apply to establish which side chooses priority for that game turn. 4. First Combat Turn 4.1. The player with priority selects any one of his units and makes an action. An action by one unit can potentially trigger one or more reactions from opposing units, or supporting actions by other units on the same side.

4.2. Once the player with priority has completed his unit’s action and any consequent actions and reactions have been resolved, the opposing player selects one of his units and makes an action in the same way. 5. Subsequent Combat Turns –Play continues in this fashion, with players alternating combat turns until each player has taken the number of combat turns corresponding to the intensity level. 6. Turn over – once each side has completed all of its combat turns, the players make any checks, tests or adjustments required at the end of the game turn.

Okay – that’s the basic turn sequence, and as you can see there are elements within it that need to be explained in detail, but for now I’ll just describe these in broad terms as I go along. I’ll take you through the sequence and then I’ll make a few observations about how the sequence and elements within it impact upon play.

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To start with note we have game turns and combat turns, with each game turn comprising a number of combat turns – I’ll probably rename the latter ‘rounds’ to avoid any potential confusion for now that should be clear enough. At the start of the game turn both sides make combat status (CS) checks. There are four CS levels:  1 active  2 ready  3 exhausted  4 broken CS levels are likely to drop when you are shot at and when you take casualties, depending on a test. Units that have already dropped to either exhausted or broken must check their CS now at the start of the game turn. Neither exhausted nor broken units can take basic actions or make unit reactions during the game turn, and although they will automatically take part in fire fights and close combat if attacked, all their dice rolls are heavily penalised. Exhausted units that pass this initial test recover a CS step to ready if they are a good distance from any threat – if they are close to the enemy they remain exhausted (hunkered down sort of thing). Exhausted unit that fail this test remain exhausted if safely distant from the enemy, and drop a step to broken if under threat. Broken units are destroyed if they fail a test – but they can be given a ‘regroup’ action during play and this allows them to potentially step up one level to exhausted if they pass their following game turn’s CS test. Units don’t become either exhausted or broken until they have taken some damage, so it doesn’t affect the game in its initial stages. The next step is to establish the number of combat turns that you’re going to play in that game turn (CIL). This is basically a D10 roll but modifiers do apply – and these need to be firmed up with play testing – but the basic idea is that if opposing troops are close the CIL goes up:  +1 24”  +2 12”  +3 6” These are provisional working values – but they seem to be holding up at the moment. CIL is also capped by the total number of units in play. As we progress we might find other modifiers to apply, and this is a value that can be potentially adjusted by situational or technological factors. Once you have the CIL for the game turn each player rolls off for choice of priority – i.e. who will go first in the combat turn for the duration of that game turn. This is also a value that can be potentially modified, but for now we are sticking with straight roll-offs for choice of whether to go first or defer to your opponent. This is a level position for development purposes.

The combat turns are simple alternating turn – each player selects a unit and takes an action one after the other until each player have taken the number of actions equal to the CIL. I am treating this as a hard mechanic at the moment – i.e. we don’t apply exception to this sequence – and I think that is necessary to establish a good base for balancing purposes. The minute you allow players to double or treble action you introduce the potential for unbalancing the system – so although I won’t say never I certainly say not now! In fact, players can defer an action with a ‘support’ action which does allow units to move in concert – but as a deferred action it 1) alerts the other player beforehand, and 2) requires prior sacrifice – so there is a tension of choice built into this already. Okay – so what is an action? The two basic actions are engage and manoeuvre. Engage means move up to a basic move and either shoot or fight close combat, and manoeuvre means make up to a

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double move without shooting or fighting. Only active and ready units can make these basic actions. The other common action is rest, which takes a unit’s CS up one level so long as it is not already broken. Other actions come in to allow units to support or for broken units to regroup – but for now it’s important to know that actions are what move and shoot your units and allow them to recover CS. As you can see actions can trigger reactions – and whilst this sounds like it might get complicated |I’ve narrowed down the way units can react so that it flows naturally. Some reactions are triggered automatically – for example a fire fight. A fire fight happens when you shoot at an enemy who can shoot back at ranges of 12” and less. In this situation both sides get to shoot simultaneously – the shooter and target – and that’s basically what a fire fight is. Other actions are proactive and the player has to decide to trigger them or not. Only units that are of active CS can make these reactions. Reactions include returning fire if shot at from ranges greater than 12”, taking opportunity fire against moving targets more than 12” away, taking cover if shot at from more than 12” away, and withdrawing if enemy move within 12” without contacting. These types of actions require a test to be used successfully, and if this test is failed it can affect a unit’s CS negatively, so there is always a risk involved – but as only active units can make reactions the worse result is a drop one step to ready. Finally, I’ve added a tidy up phase at the end of the turn – this is when you figure out whether you’ve won the game by achieving the victory criteria, any temporary markers are removed, and any ‘end of turn’ checks made. This is simply a holding rule at the moment – but having the phase ready establishes a basic design principle for making periodic checks. So how does that work in practice – well there is the potential to move the same unit multiple times –as the number of actions a unit can take in a turn is unlimited (base value unlimited is a working hard rule but the potential for limits is obviously there). This tends to tempt first-time players into leaping forward with a single unit – and here you come across the first internal tension in the game play: do I concentrate at a point or spread my effort? It’s a genuine nail biter too – because if you go for the point and leave half your army out of the fight you will tend to get overwhelmed in the end. Then there’s the question of whether you use your actions to keep your CS levels up or risk committing ready units in the hope of knocking opposing units down to exhausted. As CS is calculated per unit there is an advantage to having smaller units – but smaller units have less hitting power and can do corresponding less per action. Again, we have a natural tension arising from the size of units, and expending actions getting stragglers back to active CS is hardly worthwhile compared to activating larger units. Overall, once players get the hang of the basic sequence, game turns are quite rapid. Of note is the fact that a player with many exhausted or broken units will always hope for a high CIL as it gives him enough actions to rest and regroup – conversely a low CIL will just bring the CS checks all the sooner and he risks losing a good chuck of his forces. The drop in CS levels resulting from enemy shooting means that the game gets increasingly edgy as vital actions are needed both to keep your own side together and knock the enemy about – so the game play gets increasingly tense and picks up in pace as actions are quickly expended on resting units in readiness for a push.

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I realise I have written a great deal about what is actually a very short section of rules, and I hope I have not given the impression that play is in any way complex or laborious – because it certainly isn’t! Rather, I wanted to give you all an insight into how these things are done, and why certain decisions are made in certain ways, and how you lay the foundations for a game in something as simple as the turn sequence. I hope you found it interesting. If this is the sort of approach you favour let me know via the forums – if not also let me know – and I can adjust these sections going forward so that they are as useful and as informative as I can make them.

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DICE AND STATS Before we can start to work with the initial game development we need to know how the basic dice rolling works, and how the stats of the models affect dice scores and game play. At this stage we do not need to flesh out the detail for dice roll modifiers, or restrictive qualifiers such as movement affecting whether a model can shoot or not. So, here’s the basics to get us started. This just leaves the descriptions of actions and reactions and we will have enough to play an outline game – sufficient to work with the overall dynamic and scope.

Types of Dice D10s are used to make tests against stats, and this includes the basic rolls to hit a target, to resist damage, to undertake reactions to enemy actions, and to check combat status. A number of D10s are required and it is helpful to have a few distinctly coloured dice as this helps greatly with hit allocation from weapons with different strike qualities, for example where a unit shoots plasma carbines and a plasma cannon at the same target. D4s, D6s, D8s and D12s are also used to generate random values, most commonly for weapons with blast effects. One of each will be enough – or values can be generated using D10s and working down, for example generate 1-8 by re-rolling 9s and 10s. We’ll also be using D3 (half D6 roll) and D5s (half D10 score) and such-like variations – but I’ll assume we are all familiar enough with that kind of thing.

Dice Tests The D10 dice is also used to make tests against a model’s stat or the stat of an item of equipment or weapon. In most cases these stat values will also be affected by situational and unit status modifiers, but for purposes of explanation we can ignore those for now. The basis stat test works as follows: To test against a stat value, roll a D10 and if the score is equal to or less than the value you are testing against the test is a success. We sometimes refer to this test as a ‘check’. For example, to make a check against a value of 5 simply roll 5 or less on a D10 for success. In this case a roll of 6 or more is a fail. Regardless of any modifiers applied to the stat under test, a D10 dice roll of a 10 is always deemed a failure. If the score required is less that 1 then it is still possible to succeed if you roll a 1, in which case roll the dice again and if another 1 is rolled the test is a success anyway. So, to summarise, a roll of a 10 is always a failure regardless, and if you need to roll any number less than 1 to succeed you need a 1 followed by another 1 ( a 1% outside chance). Another principle that will be applied throughout the rules is a dice roll of a 1 counts as a critical success. This rule doesn’t apply if the score required is 1 or lower, in which case it is impossible to generate a critical success result, but so long as you are testing against a value of 2 or greater any roll of a 1 on the D10 is considered a critical success. A critical success affects the results of some tests, and this varies depending on the test that is being made. In the case of shooting it affects how casualties are allocated. Some tests are binary and critical success makes no difference, they either pass or fail, but in general look out for the 1s as they often mean something special.

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GAMES VALUES AND STATS Every model has a set of associated game values representing its own skills and abilities. In the case of most troopers, henchmen, drones and other ‘grunts’ these will be basic values for their species, whilst leaders and heroic individuals are likely to have enhanced values that separate them from their more ordinary fellows. These values are commonly called ‘stats’ (statistics) and are written in a stat-line together with the description of the model and its designated type. For example, here is the work-in-progress stat-line for a standard human fighter – a Rever or basic Panhuman.

Unit

Type

Ag

Acc

Res

Str

Init

Cou

Tech

Com

Sp

Rever

Inf

5

5

5

5

5

7

1

2

*

The unit column just lists the model – an ordinary Rever fighter in this case – and the Type is a basic definition for rules purposes – in this case ‘infantry’. Different types have different rules in respect to movement, damage effects, and so on but we are only concerned with the standard fighter types at this stage. All of the stats are scored out of 10 with 1 being the lowest value possible and 10 the highest for this type. Values lower than 5 are relatively weak and values in excess of 5 are relatively powerful. Agility (Ag). The Agility stat is a measure of an individual’s ability to traverse terrain, climb, and bounce about in an athletic fashion. It is used mostly for movement tests in demanding situations. It is used by some individuals with special skills for close combat.

Accuracy (Acc). The accuracy stat is a basic measure of how capable the individual is when it comes to handling and shooting a weapon. The higher the value the better shot the individual is. This stat is used for all shooting included ranged shooting, fire fights and assaults.

Resist (Res). The resist stat indicates the individual’s ability to withstand a blow, weapon strike or physical trauma – the higher this value the tougher or ‘harder’ the individual is: the more easily the individual can resist damage. This value is affected by armour of various kinds as well as cover.

Strength (Str). This stat is a measure of brute strength. Brute strength is not an important consideration unless it comes down to grappling at close quarters when it is very important indeed! Strength is also important should it come to tasks requiring sheer power; such as lifting a heavy object or forcing open a heavy airlock seal.

Initiative (Init). The initiative stat is a measure of alertness and speed of reactions, and as such it is the key value that we test against when a unit reacts to an enemy’s action. Troops with high values will be more easily able to return enemy fire or go to ground quickly when shot at.

Courage (Cou). Courage is a measure of how cool the individual is under stress, how steady his nerves are, or how brave he is when things get tough. We test against this value when checking Combat Status, which means it affects a unit’s ability to fight in most situations. Courage is

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one of the most important stats in the whole game – because technology can compensate or augment other stats but there are few (safe) ways to bolster your courage!

Technology (Tech). This value is a measure of an individual’s technical skills – which may be innate or which may result from belonging to an IMTel Shard. This skill is used as a measure and test when it comes to operating some technological devices including some kinds of weapons.

Compute (Com). This stat is a measure of an individual’s facility with logical calculation, and it is far more important for machine intelligences than for living creatures. Although it is occasionally used where a test of pure intelligence is called for, the principle use is for WarDrones and other kinds of sentient machines, where compute is generally used instead of courage.

Special (Sp). This isn’t a stat – the column at the end of the stat-line is a placeholder used as a memory jogger for any special rules than might apply to that particular model.

Comment on Stats This is a work in progress stat line and it is intended to establish a base level for purposes of game balance and working out variable parameters. It seems to be holding up quite well at the moment in our games, although bear in mind that modifiers do generally tend to take the probabilities down a bit, and all the more so for units that have suffered reduction of their combat status.

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FLUID COMBAT STATUS The Beyond the Gates of Antares game makes use of a unit activation based turn sequence. At its core, this means that players take it in turns to activate one unit of troops or one vehicle at a time – which sounds rather simple – but in practice things get a little more involved. When units are activated they make actions, other units on the same side can make supporting actions, and opposing units can make reactions. This means that a unit advancing towards the enemy can suddenly trigger a fire fight involving opposing units, or troops dashing from cover to cover can find enemy troops taking pot shots at them as they do so. This is the basis on which the Beyond the Gates of Antares game works – and as you can imagine it is a very involving game where both players take an active part all the time. A unit’s ability to undertake actions, to support friendly actions, and to react to enemy actions, are all determined by its combat status. Combat status varies during play, and is affected by casualties, enemy fire, and sometimes by a unit’s own actions. There are six different status levels – four key steps and two subsidiary types. The key steps are: Alert, Ready, Exhausted and Broken. Alert units are able to act and react without penalty – they are prepared, equipped and fully motivated for combat. Ready units are degraded to some degree, either because of casualties, fatigue or demoralisation; Ready units can also undertake the full range of actions, but can only undertake a limited range of reactions, and suffer various penalties whether acting or reacting. Exhausted units can only undertake certain mandatory actions and reactions, and are otherwise unable to act or react at all. Broken units are effectively out of the game – badly shot-up or so fatigued as to be useless – they are unable to do anything apart from try and regroup. These are the four basic combat status levels – and I always think of them as like a traffic light – with Alert, Ready and Exhausted equivalent to Green, Amber and Red. Broken is practically out of the game – I think of this as black – lights out! The two subsidiary combat status types are Alert+Support and Broken+Regroup. As the names suggest these are variants of Alert and Broken respectively, Alert+Support allows a unit to make an action in concert with another nearby unit – it is a way of acting with more than one unit at once. This is an important part of the game’s tactics, as it allows a player to mount a coordinated attack involving a group of units. Broken+Regroup allows a Broken unit to try and regroup – and whether it does so or not will depend upon a Combat Status (CS)check. This is the only way Broken units can ‘come back’ so, once again, it is a potentially important part of the game. As you can see – a unit’s combat status affects its ability to fight – specifically its ability to make actions and reactions during play. In other words, Alert (Green for Go!) units can achieve a great deal, ready (Amber) units can also do well but are only one step away from being exhausted (Red) and effectively useless. Exhausted units also risk slipping to broken (black), and now you’re really in trouble! The important thing to realise is that exhausted (Red) and ready (Amber) units can improve their status by making a recover action. This means the player expends an activation to recover the unit’s combat status by one step. A single unit can be activated any number of times during a game turn – so players are presented with the choice of making moving or shooting actions with tired units, or taking the time out to recover their combat status. This is what we mean by a fluid combat

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status – combat status changes as units fight and can be changed again by the player – but it’s always a tough decision! The total number of activations a player can make each turn is limited, so if you spend all of your activations recovering worn out units you won’t be able to launch your own attacks against the enemy. The number of activations available each turn (the escalation level as it is called) is also not entirely predictable, although it is affected by the progress of the battle so far. It’s a careful balancing match between preserving your own troops and eroding the fighting ability of the enemy – and all within a limited number of turns.

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OUTLINE OF ACTIONS AND REACTIONS OK – this is going to be a bit of a long section as I’m going to try and cover the basics of actions and reactions in the game. One change I’ve made recently is to change the name of combat status green units from ‘active’ to ‘alert’ as this avoids confusion with units that are acting or taking actions – as discussed on the forums at one point and duly noted – so thank you those who contributed to that.

ACTIONS There are six actions in the game and some types of unit can only undertake a limited range of actions – but no need to worry about that for now. More importantly, a unit’s choice of action is also restricted by its combat status. Make sure you are familiar with the combat status system before reading this – as the two key together during play. These are the actions:

     

Rest Manoeuvre Engage Support Regroup Special

Rest The unit recovers its combat status by one step.

Manoeuvre The unit moves without attempting to engage the enemy.

Engage The unit engages an enemy unit either by shooting at it or by moving to close quarters.

Support The unit waits for another unit to make an action, and then makes its action.

Regroup A broken unit can make a regroup action to try and return to the fight.

Special The unit uses the action to set-up or activate a machine, attempt a repair, or otherwise do something specific to that unit. These kinds of special actions may be defined at the unit level or as part of the scenario being played. Examples include, to activate a med-drone, deploy a sizeable weapon such as a heavy fractal cannon, open a hatchway into an environmental module, focus a displacer dish, or initiative a launch sequence on a sphercraft. Don’t worry about these at the moment – ‘Special’ is a placeholder action that will cover a number of specific unusual or occasional actions.

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REST ACTION A ready or exhausted (i.e amber or red) unit can use its action to rest. The unit’s combat status is raised one step: ready units become alert, and exhausted units become ready. Units with other combat status (green/black) can’t rest.

MANOEUVRE ACTION An alert or ready (i.e. green or amber) unit can use its action to manoeuvre. When a unit makes a manoeuvre action it can move at up to double its Move Rate (use a base value of 6 inches Move Rate for now) without attempting to engage the enemy. This action is commonly used when a unit needs to move fast, and where it is in no immediate danger from enemy attack. Units with other combat status (red/black) can’t manoeuvre.

ENGAGE ACTION An alert or ready unit (i.e. green or amber) can use its action to engage with the enemy. This allows a unit to move up to its Move Rate and either shoot at an enemy unit or engage an enemy unit at close quarters. Units with other combat status (red/black) can’t engage.

SUPPORT ACTION An alert unit (i.e. green) can make a support action changing its combat status to alert + support. Place a support marker with the unit to show this. Such a unit is described as supporting or as a supporting unit. Note that only an alert unit can make a support action. When a unit makes a support action it does nothing during that player turn. Instead, it defers its action until an adjacent unit (within 6” base value for now) makes an action. A support action is used where you want several units to act in unison.

REGROUP ACTION Only a broken (i.e. black) unit can make a regroup action and this is the only action a broken unit is allowed to make. When it makes a regroup action, the unit’s combat status changes from broken to broken+ regroup. Place a regroup marker with the unit to show this. For convenience we describe such units as regrouping. For now all we need to know is that this affects the chances of the unit passing its combat status check at the start of the game turn. Broken units that fail their check are normally destroyed and those that pass their check remain broken. Broken+regroup units that fail their check remain broken and those that pass step up to exhausted (i.e red).

SPECIAL ACTION Special actions are often defined by a scenario, or as special rules for a specific troop type. When and how such actions are made are therefore not fixed. However, in most cases, units that are alert or ready can make a special action, whilst units that are exhausted or broken cannot.

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REACTIONS When a unit makes an action during the player’s turn it is possible for one or more enemy units to make a reaction in response. Reactions are triggered or declared at the moment when the acting unit has completed any movement it is going to make and before it does anything else. E.g. before it shoots. A unit can only make a single reaction in response to an enemy unit’s action. In some situations, two or more units may be able to each make a reaction in response to the same enemy unit’s action – for example during opportunity fire reactions. There are two kinds of reaction: combat reactions and unit reactions. The difference is that unit reactions are voluntary and require a test to be successful, where combat reactions are triggered automatically and override any unit reactions otherwise available to the player.

COMBAT REACTIONS A combat reaction is triggered when a unit makes an engage action and either shoots at an enemy that can shoot back within 12", or moves into touch with an enemy unit that can fight back. A combat reaction is triggered automatically, resulting in either a fire fight or an assault. If a unit’s action triggers a combat reaction no unit reactions are allowed. The assault or fire fight reaction ‘overrides’ all other reactions that might otherwise be possible.

FIREFIGHT A firefight is triggered if a unit makes an engage action and shoots at an enemy target within 12" that is capable of shooting back. A fire fight is triggered regardless of the combat status of the target unit, even if the target is exhausted or broken and therefore normally unable to shoot. If the target unit is supporting or regrouping then its status automatically reverts to alert (i.e. green) or broken (i.e black) and it loses its supporting/regrouping markers. We’ll deal with how fire fights work another time – but in summary a firefight is an exchange of fire – and generally of small arms only – both the shooters and targets fire and shots are worked out simultaneously. Once both sides have fired units that are hit must make combat status checks.

ASSAULT An assault is triggered when a unit makes an engage action and moves into touch with an enemy unit. An assault is triggered regardless of the combat status of the target unit, even if the target is exhausted or broken and therefore normally unable to move or shoot. If a target unit is supporting or regrouping then its status automatically reverts to alert (i.e. green) or broken (i.e black) and it loses its supporting/regrouping markers.

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Again we’ll cover assaults later – but in summary an assault is broken into two phases – the first ‘assault’ phase is an exchange of fire at point blank range worked out the same way as a firefight – the second phase is a grappling phase resolved using the opposing Strength or in some cases Agilty stats of the opposing units.

UNIT REACTIONS Only status alert (i.e. green) units can attempt a unit reaction. Other status units are affected by combat reactions (firefights and assaults) but cannot make unit reactions. This is an important distinction and one of the chief differences between alert (green) and other status units. A supporting unit can always revert to alert to make a reaction, if you do this the unit is no longer supporting and the support marker is removed. Remember – very importantly - unit reactions are only permitted where the acting unit’s action does not trigger a combat reaction (firefight or assault). It is always one or the other: combat reactions or unit reactions. Unit reactions can be made in response to enemy manoeuvre or engage actions only. Other actions, such as rest or support, do not trigger reactions. Because reactions are voluntary, the player must declare when a unit is reacting and must state aloud what reaction it is making. If more than one unit is reacting then the player must declare all reactions at once – you can’t react with a single unit and, if unsuccessful, try and react with another. Units can never make reactions to other reactions – in case you were wondering – a reaction can only be triggered by an enemy unit’s action.

TEST INITIATIVE FOR SUCCESS Make a standard check against the unit’s Initiative Value. If successful the reaction is allowed. If unsuccessful the reaction is not allowed and the unit’s combat status drops one step to ready (i.e. amber).

Return Fire – if a unit is shot at by enemy at over 12" range then you can attempt to return fire. If the test is successful both units shoot simultaneously – work out shooting for both sides.

Dash for Cover– if unit is shot at by enemy at over 12" range then you can attempt to dash for cover. This move has some specific restriction – like you do have to try and move into cover – which we won’t go into here. For now, it is sufficient to know that the dash to cover allows the unit to move up to double its Move Rate (2xM) into or behind cover or out of sight of the shooter.

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Go to Ground – if unit is shot at by enemy at over 12" range then you can attempt to go to ground. Again – for now just think of this as throwing yourself to the floor – this reduces the chance of being hit but means your next action cannot be engage – you have to get back up (manoeuvre) before you can start to shoot.

Opportunity Fire – if an enemy unit moves within the unit’s field of fire at more than 12" range and without shooting at an opposing target, then you can attempt opportunity fire. Test once the enemy unit has moved even if it has moved out of your line of sight – if successful you can shoot at the unit at the point where it was closest and within line of sight.

Close to contact – if an enemy unit moves to within two standard move distances (2xM) of your unit without triggering a firefight or assault, you can test to close to contact and trigger an assault– if successful immediately move into touch and an assault is initiated.

Withdraw- if an enemy unit moves to within two standard move distances (2xM) of your unit without triggering a firefight or assault, you can test to withdraw– if successful immediately move up to two standard moves away from the enemy unit you are reacting to.

NOTE: these various reaction moves are described in more detail in the rules for moving and shooting, but the outline versions given here should be enough to get you going.

REACTIONS FROM MULTIPLE UNITS If two or more units successfully react to the same enemy action, work out each unit’s reaction one at a time. Remember, all reactions have to be declared initially and tested for success, so only those units that pass their Initiative check will actually react.

REACTIONS AND SUPPORTING ACTIONS We’ll describe how supporting actions work in more detail later on, but for now bear in mind a supporting action can be any other action including manoeuvre or engage. That means supporting actions can also trigger reactions. However, because supporting actions are always made one at a time after each other, this doesn’t introduce any additional complexity in the process. The units act and reactions are made just as with any other action+reaction sequence.

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NUMBER OF REACTIONS A unit can make any number of reactions in the game turn so long as its status is alert (i.e. green). We place no limitations on reactions other than the requirement to make a successful Initiative check each time a unit reaction is attempted.

NOTES ON REACTIONS Combat reactions (fire fights and assaults) are an inherent part of game play and will happen in every game as opposing units close in upon each other. Unit reactions are options that involve a degree of risk – namely a drop in status – and that means you have to decide whether it is a risk worth taking. Reactions to being shot at, return fire and dash for cover/go to ground are doubly risky because if the test is failed your unit will be more vulnerable because of the status drop. This means it is only worth attempting these reactions if you feel your chances are pretty poor if you don’t take a chance: for example, if you have been caught in the open and are about to be shot up by a large, wellequipped enemy unit. Opportunity fire on the other hand is less risky, because you can always recover your status to alert (i..e green) in your following combat turn in which case all you will have lost is a shot. However, note that opportunity fire is less likely to hit than a normal ranged shot, so whilst it is best to pass the test and give yourself a possible two shots (opportunity fire followed by engage in your own combat turn), failing the test is still a poorer result than just sitting tight and taking the engage shot in our own turn. Decisions… decisions! Withdraw is a fairly safe option and can sometimes actually help you to complete a mission where you are attempting to move away from the fighting. However, on the whole battles are not won by running from the enemy!

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MAKING A START WITH WEAPONS This update introduces some basic weapon types and starts to put some flesh onto the bones of the mechanic. We have yet to described the rules for shooting and combat in any detail, although if you look at the example video footage you’ll get a fair idea of how these things work. I’m going to make a start by talking about the two most common weapons carried by troops, mercenaries, drones and most armed individuals: the Mag Gun or Plugger and the Plasma Gun. There are different version of these basic weapons and I’ve gone out on a limb by including the stats for all the mobile (i.e. ‘man’ carried) versions – these are all weapons carried by one man. You’ll notice that some weapons don’t have a point blank range listed – this is because only side arms have point blank ranges – heavier man-carried support weapons are restricted in their ability to move and shoot effectively – and I’ve included summaries of the full rules to give you an idea of how this works. I’ve also listed the more exotic Compression Gun as carried by our Hansa Nairoba model – this is a rare and expensive weapon and more of an individual armament. Ideal for our Freebooting hero!

STAT FORMAT This is the basic stat format I am working with – I may need an extra column for special rule annotations but for now I’ve just made notes beneath each stat bloc.

Type of Weapon: Shoot: The number of shots – in some cases also the multiplier for blast weapons but we’ll come to them some other time. The number shown is the number of dice rolled and therefore the potentially number of hits that can be scored each time the weapon fires.

Range: The range bands in inches – it is generally easier to hit at effective range than at long or extreme range – but the actual modifiers vary depending upon the type of fire (Firefight, Range, Opportunity, Return).

Strike Value: The modifier applied to the target’s Resist roll to avoid taking damage from the hit – e.g. SV 1, Resist stat is at –1. Type of weapon

Shoot

Plug Pistol

1

Range Point blank

Effective

Long

Extreme

6

12

18

36

Strike Value

0

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THE MAG GUN or PLUGGER The common everyday, effective, practical and adaptable weapon carried by most self-equipped troops is the Magnetic Carbine – or Mag Carbine. Magnetic guns propel a metallic or metallically coated projectile by means of a magnetic pulse. Pistol, Carbine, Rapid Repeater and larger General Purpose Support (GPS) versions are all common battlefield weapons. They are manufactured throughout the galaxy and there are many different designs reflecting local technology levels. The projectile itself takes the form of a spike, needle or plug – and it is the last of these that give weapons of this type the common name of Plug guns or Pluggers. Cheap versions are unitary designs with the shot fed from a magazine. Expensive version are composite designs that can be extended by adding sections together to create a weapon that is larger and more powerful, or smaller and handier. The best quality Mag Carbines carry their projectiles in a compression field built into the body of the weapon. These can hold thousands of rounds, and weapons equipped in this way can synthesise their own ammunition from an integral HCM core given a few hours. All Mag guns shoot a single plug or burst, but the rate of fire varies, with Concord and Isorian military manufactured weapons being more versatile, rapid firing and reliable in general. Rapid repeater Mag guns are sometimes called Zippers – a reference to the noise make by the spikes as they fly past.

Type of weapon

Shoot

Plug Pistol

Range

Strike Value

Point Blank

Effective

Long

Extreme

1

6

12

18

36

0

Plug Carbine

1

6

18

30

60

1

Plug Rapid Repeater

2

6

18

30

60

1

Plug GPS

3

NA

24

48

96

1

Special Rules: GPS. The General Purpose Support (GPS or ‘jips’) version is a large man-mobile weapon that follows the rules for man-carried support weapons. (Summary: the model cannot move and shoot during an engage action – the model has to be stationary to shoot. Exception: the model may attempt to move and shoot by passing a Strength text having moved, and then shoots at –1 Accuracy ((rapid fire on the move)) ).

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THE PLASMA GUN Plasma weapons are the most powerful mobile weapons available to the military of the Concord and other advanced forces. Plasma weapons are mostly likely to be carried by shock troops and WarDrones. Because they are high energy weapons their effectiveness depends on the individual gun’s conversion rate, which tends to decline with long use; and more rapidly so without routine maintenance. Plasma weapons fire a brief pulse of energy – most often in the form of a laser – causing an ionisation reaction turning the point struck to a plasma. A man-mobile support version the Plasma Cannon Heavy Support (HS) provides greater range and power, and is usually carried as a mobile support weapon by Concord strike units.

Type of weapon

Shoot

Plasma Pistol

Range

Strike Value

Point Blank

Effective

Long

Extreme

1

6

12

18

36

1

Plasma Carbine

1

6

18

30

48

2

Plasma Repeater

2

6

18

30

48

2

Plasma Cannon HS

1

NA

24

48

96

3

Plasma Cannon HS. The ‘Heavy Support’ or HS cannon is a large man-mobile or drone mounted weapon that follows the rules for man-carried support weapons. (Summary: the model cannot move and shoot during an engage action – the model has to be stationary to shoot. Exception: the model may attempt to move and shoot by passing a Strength text having moved, and then shoots at –1 Accuracy ((rapid fire on the move)) ).

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THE COMPRESSION GUN This particular weapon is something a little more unusual – and for that reason you have to consider this as an early draft in terms of the rules and stats – however I’ve included it as an example a more exotic weapon. It is also the weapon carried by our special Hansa Nairoba model (his pistol is a Mag Gun of primitive and antique construction – but effective in a tight spot!) Compression guns use the same technology that forms compression fields and hyper-compressed materials, in this case compressing everything within a pulsed beam projected by the weapon. The pulse rate is reactive to the density of the atmosphere and is calculated to allow the compression effect to advance as the initial pulses compress any air allowing the following pulses to reach progressively further forward. For this –and safety reasons – the weapon doesn’t function at short ranges and has a narrow range of effectiveness. It is most effective when the shooter is stationary. They are generally large carbine sized weapons – man-mobile if less convenient that a regular Mag Carbine or Plasma Carbine. They are commonly called Gripplers (General Purpose Light Compressor) and Compo Guns (Compressor Gun). There is a mobile heavy support (HS) version of the weapon, which effectively mounts several projectors together, giving it a rapid fire capability. There is also a version focussed for short range effect which is a development of the tools used for asteroid mining – this is the Mass Compactor.

Type of weapon

Shoot

Compression Carbine GPL

Range

Strike Value

Point Blank

Effective

Long

Extreme

1

Min 6

18

30

48

X/3/2/1

Compression Autocannon HS

3

Min 6

18

30

48

X/3/2/1

Mass Compactor

1

6

12

24

NA

3/2/1/X

Minimum Range. GPL and HS Compression guns have a minimum range of 6” and cannot be used during Assaults.

Compresion Autocannon HS. The ‘Heavy Support’ or HS autocannon is a large man-mobile weapon that follows the rules for man-carried support weapons. (Summary: the model cannot move and shoot during an engage action – the model has to be stationary to shoot. Exception: the model may attempt to move and shoot by passing a Strength text having moved, and then shoots at –1 Accuracy ((rapid fire on the move)) ).

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Strike Value. The Strike Value of a Compression Gun varies according to the range to the target as shown PB/E/L/Ex. HL Armours. Compression fields have negative energy emission signatures and are therefore invisible to HL armours – HL armour have 0 Resist value against a Compression Gun.

ARMOUR Protection is based around field defences rather than hard armour – but these field defences need a metallic base to hang around and for this reason most armours consist of metallic plates, strips or patches. As well as functioning as protective armour some of the battle suits worn by trooper of all factions have to function as atmospheric suits. Again – this can be achieved purely with an energy seal – but heavily militarised units prefer to employ a double sealed system with an encased armoured suit protected by an energy seal. At this stage it’s a bit early to introduce the various kinds of armour in any detail – so I’ll just give you an overview of the system we have been using for development purposes. Some of these values are speculative at this stage and require refinement. Most armed troops are equipped with a basic protective armour field – this is a field that is ‘on’ all the time and which absorbs energy whether that’s the kinetic energy of a solid object such as a plug from a Mag Gun or laser energy from a Plasma Gun. This type of armour increases the wearer’s Resist stat by +1 in all situations – e.g. from a Panhuman base of 5 to 6. Note that this effectively cancels out the Strike Value of a Mag Gun and reduced the Plasma Gun to and effective –1. The best equipped troops of the C3 (Concord Combined Command) wear a reactive armour that recognises an impacting shot and reacts directly against it – this is called a HyperLight armour as the reaction mechanic basically recognises the incoming energy signature and mounts a defence before even laser bases weapons can strike. Hyper-Light armours offer a variable modifier – the longer the range of the shot and the higher its energy signature the more effectively it protects the wearer. Hyper-Light defences make long range weaponry almost entirely ineffective, and this is one of the reasons why most combat takes place at relatively short distances. For initial purposes, this value is +2 where the weapon shoots at effective range or closer, +3 at long range, and +4 at extreme range. Some weapons can defeat HL armours, but these tend to be specialised short-ranged weapons such as Compression guns. Isorian phase armour utilises the silicon based bio-tech developed by the Isorian Shard during the Isori’s long war against the alien T’San Kiri during the long isolation prior to the rise of the Seventh Age. It is this strange alien-derived bio-technology that marks the Isori apart from other humans and places them and the Concord at odds – two rival but incompatible technologies, each driven by an Integrated Machine Intelligence that identifies the other as an invasive viral intruder. Some Freebooters manage to combine these technologies by using sterilisers to purge the respective nano-clouds and re-seeding with an isolate nano-technology. However, such isolates are prone to contamination upon contact with IMTel. Phase armour offers almost complete protection from all kinds of harm by shifting the wearer’s position in special reality – but at the same time it renders the wearer unable to fully interact with real space. Everytime the wearer moves, shoots or attempts to touch something the armour has to shift phase to allow him to do so, opening up a chink in the

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armour. When shot at without making or attempting any reaction in response the protective value is +3 at all ranges. When making a reaction it drops to +1.

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SUMMARY OF SHOOTING This is a summary of the shooting rules. It covers basic combatants and is very much work in progress –but it’s enough to play out some simple engagements and get a feel for the way the game plays.

WHO SHOOTS? Units that make an engage action can shoot – if they move they move and then shoot. Units can also shoot as a reaction: opportunity fire, return fire, fire fight or assault. We’ll cover assaults in the rules for hand-to-hand fighting – ignore this for now.

Shooting procedure Shooting is worked out using the following procedure.

      

Declare target Check line-of-fire and range Target declares any reaction it is allowed to make. Roll to hit Roll to damage Target takes casualties Target makes combat status check

An alert target is allowed to declare a unit reaction to an enemy unit shooting at it with an engage action. Where units shoot as a reaction no further reactions are permitted or caused. Units never react to reactions.

Declare Target A unit can direct all of its fire against a single target (generally an enemy unit) OR a unit can divide its fire amongst different targets, with different unit members shooting at different targets. A unit shoots most effectively when it shoots at a single target. When a unit divides its fire, its shooting will be less effective; the greater the number of targets the less effectively it will shoot. For purposes of explanation we will assume the target is a single enemy unit.

CHECK LINE-OF-SIGHT AND RANGE Only models that can draw a clear line of sight to their target and whose weapons are within range of the target unit shoot. LOS (summary) draw LOS from the centre of the model’s base to any model in the target unit – a clear LOS does not cross the base of any other model friend or foe.

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Note – there are exceptions where LOS is not required – we’ll cover these later. Range – individual shooters might be at different range bands – in each case measure shooter to the closest part of the target where the shooter has LOS. The shooter is shooting at the ‘unit’.

WORK OUT SHOTS Each weapon has a number of shots. This is the number of D10 dice rolled for the model or team firing the weapon. In most cases what we call a shot is actually a burst of fire rather than a single shot. Check the range from each shooter to the target to make sure the shooter is within range. Roll a D10 for each shot. To score a hit the shooter must make a successful test against his accuracy stat (Acc), modified by the following shooting modifiers. For example, if the shooter’s Acc is 6 the shot will hit if the dice roll is 1-6. Where the shooters are using the same weapons and require the same role for success, it is convenient to make all the dice rolls at the same time If a unit is armed with different kinds of weapons then it will usually be necessary to resolve the shooting from each type of weapon separately. This is most conveniently done using different coloured dice, and this also makes it much easier when allocating hits, as described below. If some shooters are at different ranges or where different modifiers apply to their checks, it will be also necessary to roll dice in separate batches. The shooting player can decide which order to shoot weapons in where he has different weapons in a unit. Any hits scored they are allocated against models in the target unit as you go along.

MODIFIERS TO SHOOTING In different circumstances it will be easier or more difficult to score a hit upon a target, and to reflect this we apply modifiers to the shooter’s Acc depending upon the shooter’s combat status, the weapon range, the type of fire, and the target size. Because we have four different kinds of shooting - from controlled ranged fire to frenzied fire fights, spontaneous return fire and sudden opportunity fire - different modifiers apply to each shooting mode. This is summarised on the table below. Don’t worry if this looks a little complex to start with: most of the common modifiers are fairly intuitive, whilst many apply only to specific types of shooting and soon become habitual. Rick Note. I’ve put this on a chart for now as it makes it easier to reference – but as you will see most of the modifiers could be handled as bonuses to the basic ranged shot; unit reactions are just –1 over all ranges for example. Don’t worry about the presentation too much at the moment. I will probably change this once we get the definitive modifiers worked out and make it friendlier.

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SITUATION

Shooter Combat Status Alert Ready Exhausted Broken Range Point Blank (small arms only) Effective Long Extreme Type of Fire Aimed (engage+stationary) Targetted per reticle marker Repeater 2+ shots Divided per divide Target Size Small/Gone to Ground/ Very Small Large Very Large

TYPE OF SHOOTING Ranged Firefight

Return Fire

Opportunity

Fire

0 -1 NA NA

-1 -2 -4 -6

0 NA NA NA

-1 NA NA NA

+1 0 -1 -2

0 0 NA NA

NA -1 -2 -3

NA -1 -2 -3

+1 +1 -1 -1

NA NA -1 NA

NA NA -1 NA

NA NA -1 NA

-1 -2 +1 +2

-1 -2 +1 +2

-1 -2 +1 +2

-1 -2 +1 +2

SHOOTER COMBAT STATUS For ranged shooting units with a combat status of ready (amber) lose 1 from their Acc value and therefore shoot less accurately than alert (green) units. As exhausted and broken units cannot make an engage action they cannot shoot ranged fire, so there is no modifier and this is shown on the chart as NA (not applicable). For fire fights a further –1 is applied to alert and ready units to reflect the frenzied nature of an intense exchange of shots at close ranges. As exhausted and broken units can also participate in fire fights they also have modifiers, and the penalties in these cases are greater again. Return fire and opportunity fire are unit reactions and so only apply to alert units. In this case the return fire is treated as a controlled shot with no modifier, and opportunity fire is treated as a fleeting shot and hence a penalty is applied.

RANGE Weapons have different range bands depending upon the weapon’s size and configuration. Only small arms have a point blank range at which distance (generally 6”) they get a bonus of +1 for ranged fire; however, this doesn’t come into play often as fire at such close range usually triggers a firefight or unit reaction.

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Otherwise the range modifiers are simple steps, with an extra –1 applied for unit reactions. Note that opportunity fire is effectively an extra –1 because of the standard penalty applied to alert units firing in this mode.

TYPE OF FIRE These modifiers allow for more unusual situations and are explained separately. They don’t come into every game and I suggest players accustom themselves with the game play before considering these options.

TARGET SIZE We also allow for target size – but note that this does not affect normal play where targets are more-or-less man sized throughout. These modifiers simply allow for the possibility that the target is a very large vehicle, a building, spacecraft or similarly large construction at one end, and perhaps a control panel, valve mechanism, or small drone at the other. We’ll cover this in more detail later.

OUTSIDE CHANCE If the D10 roll required to score a hit after modifiers have been applied is less than 1 then there is still an outside chance of scoring a hit. Roll a D10 anyway – if you score a 1 then roll another D10 – if this second D10 is also a 1 then you have hit!

CRITICAL SUCCESS If the D10 roll required for success is 2 or greater then any roll of a 1 indicates a critical success. In the case of a weapon shot this means the shooting player gets to allocate which of the models in the target unit is hit, rather than the player whose unit has been shot at, as is normally the case. See Allocation of hits below.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FIRE As shown on the table, there are four special types of fire: aimed, targeted, repeater, and divided. The most commonly occurring of these is aimed fire. These work as follows.

AIMED FIRE If a model carries a mobile weapon then it automatically counts aimed fire if the unit makes an engage action and shoots but does not move. The entire unit must remain stationary to count as not moving, and only those models armed with mobile weapons receive the bonus.

TARGETED FIRE Targeter drones and targeting weapons and devices can mark targets; we call all of these things targeters. This will be covered separately; in summary, instead of a unit making a shot at the target, a targeting reticle marker is placed next to one model in the unit. Any shots made against the target by any unit with a guided weapon add +1 to the Acc for each reticule. Guided weapons are covered in the section on weapons, but note that some weapons can have built in guidance systems whilst others can benefit from a guidance device carried by a member of the unit or by another unit they can ‘patch’ to. A target retains all of its reticle markers whilst it remains stationary. If the target moves so that it is more than 6” from the reticle markers all the markers are removed and the target is no longer targeted. If the target moves but not enough to remove all the markers then the

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number of markers is halved rounding up, and the marker stack is moved and placed next to one of the unit’s models by the targeting player. Targeting reticles can also be dispersed by some devices or certain types of model. Targeted fire can be combined with aimed fire – the bonus from each is added together.

REPEATER FIRE Some weapons have two, three or more shots – these have –1 penalty on all shots. Repeater fire cannot be combined with aimed fire or targeted fire.

DIVIDED FIRE A unit can choose to divide ranged fire onto different enemy targets if the player wishes, some models shooting at one target and some at another. This is called divided fire. A unit cannot divide its fire if this would result in a fire fight. If a fire fight is triggered then all of a unit’s models take part in the fire fight. To successfully divide its fire a unit must make an initiative check. If this is failed there is no penalty, but the unit cannot divide its fire and must select a single target in the usual way. If the check is passed the unit can divide its fire by shooting at two or more targets – the player must state which models are firing at which targets before working out shooting. Once you have done that work out the shooting against each target one at a time, in the order chosen by the firing player. As each shot can potentially trigger a reaction, work these out as you go along.

ALLOCATION OF HITS As hits are scored on a target it is, in most cases, necessary to allocate each hit to a model in the target unit. To do this, take the dice that scored the hit and place it next to one of the models in the target unit. Hits are allocated by the player whose unit has been shot at, unless a critical success roll is made when rolling to score the hit, in which case that hit can be allocated by the shooter. Regardless of which player is allocating a hit, hits must be spread out as evenly as possible, i.e. make sure every model in the target unit has one hit before allocating a second hit to any models. If the target comprises models that are armed and armoured in exactly the same way it make no difference where the hits are allocated, in which case it is easier to simply place the dice that scored hits against the unit. In most cases, however, there is likely to be a mix of armaments within a unit, so it is important to know which hits are allocated where. This is especially true where different weapons are shooting. This is why it is a good idea to use different coloured dice for shooting with different weapons, as it just helps to keep things clear. Note that it does not matter whether individual models are hit by a weapon that is within range, ranges are always calculated to the unit by measuring to the nearest model. So long as the unit is within range all models in the unit can potentially be hit by that weapon, regardless of whether they are within range or not.

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If the target unit includes some models that are out of the line of sight of all the models in the shooting unit, then these models cannot be hit by weapons that require line of sight to their target. In these cases hits are allocated only against those models that are within line of sight of the shooters. Hits scored must still be allocated as evenly as possible amongst models within line of sight. Note that some weapons do not require line of sight to shoot at their target, and in these cases hits are allocated between all models in the unit regardless.

RESIST CHECKS For each hit scored against a model the player whose model it is picks the dice from next to it and makes a resist check. For example, if a model’s resist stat is 5 any D10 roll of a 5 or less is a pass, whilst rolls of 6 or more are a fail. If the resist check is passed the model is unharmed. If the check is failed the model takes damage. In the case of most human-sized models this is sufficient for the model to immediately fall casualty. In the case of some larger models, vehicles, buildings and so on then we instead go on to resolve the damage result (still to be done). However, for now we need only concern ourselves with our regular fighting troopers, so we may assume that any model taking damage falls casualty and is removed from the game. A model’s resist stat will be modified depending on the weapon that has scored the hit, the target’s combat status, whether the unit is in cover or not, and what armour the unit has. These modifiers reduce or boost the model’s resist stat. See below for how these modifiers work. Note that the resist check represents the individual model’s chances of avoiding a hit on the unit as a whole. Many ‘hits’ will fall within the area occupied by the unit but not strike any individual trooper, or perhaps will strike only a glancing shot, or in some cases be repelled or absorbed by a trooper’s armour. For this reason most trooper models have a resist roll that is set fairly high – representing their chances of keeping to cover, avoiding exposing themselves to danger, and using their experience as fighters to minimise their personal risk. Better and more experienced fighters will therefore have a better resist roll than poor or untrained fighters, whilst civilians and non-combatants may have a substantially lower resist stat than a typical fighter of their species.

CRITICAL RESIST If the score needed to make a successful check is less than 1 once modifiers have been taken into account, then any dice roll of a 1 followed by another D10 roll of 1 will always pass the check and the model will survive. In this case the individual has flung himself aside or managed to put something between himself and his attacker that has deflected the shot.

AUTOMATIC FAIL A dice roll of a 10 always fails a resist check regardless of any modifiers that apply to the resist stat. 10s always fail.

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RESIST MODIFIERS Modifiers affect a target model’s resist stat, these include the strike value of the weapon, the target unit’s combat status, cover and armour.

STRIKE VALUE All weapons have a strike value (SV), in some cases this is constant and in others it varies over range or has a random element. This SV is deducted from the resist value of the target model. So, if a model has a resist stat of 5 and it is struck by a Mag gun with SV 1 it’s resist value is reduced to 4. TARGET COMBAT STATUS The target’s combat status reduces its ability to react to shooting, seek localised protection or avoid being hit, and we represent this by applying the following penalty to the resist stat of all the unit’s members.

Alert

0

Ready

-1

Exhausted

-2

Broken

-3

COVER We recognise three levels of cover in the game: light, dense and emplaced. A model is within cover if it is within terrain that offers cover – such as dense undergrowth (light cover) – or if it has been placed directly behind something that offers cover – such as a wall. Don’t worry too much about this at present.

Cover light

+1

Cover dense

+2

Cover emplaced

+3

Troops that have gone to ground increase their cover bonus by a further 1 and those who have no cover count +1.

ARMOUR Most troops are protected by some kind of armour – usually in the form of an armour field defence. Some armours offer a fixed value bonus and others vary depending upon circumstance.

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REMOVE CASUALTIES Remove casualties as they occur. If models have yet to shoot back, for example during a fire fight or with return fire, it is preferable to either lay the model down or turn it around to show it has fallen casualty until you have worked out all shooting.

Target checks STATUS Once all shooting resulting from an action has been worked out and any casualties removed, it is necessary for every unit that has suffered at least one hit to test its combat status. A unit that hasn’t been hit does not have to test. Note that it doesn’t matter whether hits cause casualties – units have to test even if they successfully resist all hits scored.

COURAGE CHECK The unit make a standard check against its Courage value, taking into account any bonuses to Courage that apply. These bonuses accrue from special rules that apply to individual leaders or to equipment, so we shall ignore them for now. Deduct 1 from the unit’s Courage value for each casualty it has suffered as a result of the action that has been completed. For example, if a unit has Courage of 7 and suffers 2 casualties it tests against a value of 5. If the test is passed there is no change to the unit’s status. There is no extra benefit to a critical success roll of a 1 in this case. If the test is failed the unit drops one combat status level, for example from alert (green) to ready (amber). If the unit is already broken it is destroyed if the test is failed: in this case remove the entire unit and all of its models count as falling casualty.

INDIRECT FIRE Some weapons do not necessarily need line of sight to a target in order to shoot. Either the weapon fires a missile that is self-guiding, or it relies upon another observer to guide it to the target, or the shooter simply lobs a bomb high into the air and the shooter trusts to luck that it will land on an enemy. In all cases we refer to any shot where the shooter cannot see the target as indirect fire. Only those weapons indicated as able to use indirect fire can do so. We won’t worry about indirect fire weaponry for now – as this would just add an extra level of complexity and we need to make sure the core direct shooting is solid to start with.

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RICK NOTES AND COMMENTS The rules for shooting do look quite complicated and I would suggest working through the ranged shooting and ignoring reactions for a run through. In general, the shooting rules are quite specific in terms of which models are shooting at what – which means it becomes necessary for individual shots to be assessed for range and LOS – and to allocate hits as described. This is not as fast as a more abstract system – but it allows for more a more detailed style of game – abstract systems have to be tailored to a specific size and type of game to work properly. We have found that in practice shooting can be worked out quite rapidly once you get the hang of it – but it does help to start out by allocating individual hits as you go along – you can easily short cut the process once you know how it works. Stats – we have used the base line stats for fighters – and the feeling so far is that you can go +1/-1 on these for variants of pan/sim but that is about it - +2/-2 is a big difference! With weapons and armour the same is broadly true – with +2/-2 representing quite a swing in capabilities. See the WIP I did on weapons – Mag guns and a basic +1 armour are the base line. I am trying to set the game up so that the numbers ‘do the work’ rather than having endless conditional rules affecting armour and strike values – but this needs stress testing.

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GETTING A MOVE ON! THE BASICS OF MOVEMENT When it comes to moving troops about the battlefield we will ultimately have to consider vehicles of all kinds, anti-grav troopers, and various kinds of machines and suspensors – but to start with we are only concerned with ordinary troopers – humanoid fighters and Wardrones. Of course, many of the same rules apply to all – so this is a good place to start.

Move distances Although we will no doubt wish to include some variation of movement rates, to start with all humanoid troopers and WarDrones move at the same pace – namely a standard move of 6”. Because a manoeuvre action is a double move this means troops can often move up to 12” at a time.

Measuring a move I’m not going to worry too much about defining how to measure moves– just measure from a point along the base edge and make sure no part of the base moves further than the maximum distance permitted.

Moving round other models on the same side When a model makes a move, its base cannot move over the base area of any other models belonging to different units on the same side. Models that begin their move in the same formation can move through each other as they move.

Moving round enemy models When a model makes a move its base cannot come within 1" of the bases of any enemy models at any point, unless the two units are engaging in an assault – i.e. hand-to-hand fighting.

Turning Troopers of the kind we are talking about can pivot freely about their midpoint as required as any time – they can pivot as they move and they can pivot to shoot either during an action or reaction. Pivoting in this way does not count a movement and models that pivot and do not otherwise move are counted as not moving (e.g. for purposes of aiming and shooting team-based and static weapons).

Area Terrain The playing surface can potentially represent different kinds of environments such as crowded urban areas, dense jungles, glutinous swamps, volatile ash-wastes, and much more besides. These kinds of terrain are defined by a delineated areas – for example an area of strewn boulders, an area of scrubland, an area of woodland or jungle, and so on. Players can agree to delineate these kinds of area terrain in anyway they wish. Different kinds of terrain have different move penalties associated with them, but to start with just treat movement within area terrain as half pace. All movement either wholly or partially made through terrain is doubled – i.e. 1” counts as 2” and so on. This applies to models that are either wholly or partially within the terrain and for so long as they remain so.

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Agility check The kinds of troops we are talking about can make a check to try and avoid the movement penalty for terrain - the test is made as soon as the unit enters the terrain, and then subsequently if the unit begins its move in the terrain. Make the check for the whole unit against its Agility rating. If successful the penalty is waived for that move – if fail the penalty is applied as described. This means troops can often avoid penalties for terrain, but cannot be certain of doing so.

Moving over obstacles We often include barriers or obstacles such as a wall, wire fence, brushwood stockade, or barricades built of barrels, boxes, or whatever junk is lying around. Such obstacles make excellent defensible positions. In general, a construction of this kind should be no wider that a model’s base, although we have to make concessions to whatever model scenery is at hand and allow up to double a model’s base width so long at these are pointed out before the game so that players are aware. Obstacles divide into two types for height – those that are low enough to form a defensive barrier or cover – generally lower than the height of a human sized trooper and therefore low enough to see over – and those that are too high to see over but which are not so tall as to be impassable. Once again, it is necessary for such obstacles to be clearly indicated before the game begins. Low obstacles form no hindrance to movement. The kinds of troopers we dealing with can move over them with penalty and can draw LOS over them. High obstructions – these are generally up to about double the height of a man – in these cases a unit can cross so long as –1 the unit is making a manoeuvre action, 2 the unit takes and passes an Agility check when it reaches the barrier, and 3 the unit gives up half of its total move that action (i.e. normally 6”). If the agility test is failed the unit does not cross and remaining movement is lost. Obstructions taller than this are generally impassable to troopers on foot.

Splitting or Amalgamating a Squad A unit can amalgamate with another unit by being within 6” of the unit and making a manoeuvre action – the unit can them move 6” so that its troopers form together with the merged unit – the remaining 6” of movement is lost. A unit can split with a manoeuvre action in the same way – the two parts separating so they are more than 1” apart and moving up to 6”. Merging units of the same combat status retain that status. If units are different status test courage for the lower status unit (it will be ready as exhausted and broken units cannot manoeuvre) and if it passes the whole unit is now the higher status, if fail the whole unit is the lower status. On the whole the maximum size a unit can be is 10 models and there is no minimum size. These are placeholder values for now – larger units might need some governing rules to make them less easy to control, but for now it is easiest to set the limit at 10.

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REACTION MOVES The following are moves that can be made as a reaction: dash for cover, go to ground, and withdraw. See Reactions.

Dash for Cover A dash for cover is a reaction move made in response to an enemy unit shooting from more than 12" away. A dash to cover is a move at double the unit’s move rate with the objective of reaching cover. As many of the unit’s models as possible must attempt to place themselves in or behind cover or out of LOS. Models already in cover will not move out of it unless they can reach alternative cover when they move. The move cannot be used to initiate an assault, and the unit must remain further than 1" from enemy units at all times as is the usual rule.

Go to Ground Infantry units can go to ground either during a standard manoeuvre action or as a reaction to being shot at a described in the rules for Reactions. Troops that go to ground drop to the floor and find what shelter they can: folds in the ground, street furniture, discarded or broken equipment, shell holes, and such other features as we care to imagine. This reduces the chances of taking hits from enemy fire, but it also makes it harder to move again – as troopers have to get up first! A unit making a manoeuvre action can go to ground by surrendering half of its total move distance. So, a unit with a Move rate of 6" can normally make a double speed move of 12" and can move up to 6" and go to ground. Once a unit has gone to ground a marker is placed next to it to show this. This marker remains with the unit so long as it remains gone to ground. A unit that has gone to ground cannot move except by making a manoeuvre action and surrendering half of its total move distance. The unit ceases to have gone to ground status as soon as it moves. The unit cannot otherwise move whilst it remains gone to ground, and cannot make any reactions that allow it to move other than assault (see below). Once a unit has gone to ground various modifiers apply when shooting at it as described in the Shooting section. In summary:

Target Gone To Ground

-1 to accuracy

Target Gone to Cover

+1 to resist

Hits from Blast Weapons

Total hits halved rounding down.

An infantry unit can go to ground whilst behind cover if you wish – basically ducking back out of sight or keeping a low profile. A unit in this position would benefit from the shooting modifiers that apply to targets behind cover as well as those applying because it has gone to ground. If a unit is assaulted whilst gone to ground it loses its gone to ground status and takes part in the assault as normal.

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Withdraw A withdraw move is a unit reaction made when a unit approaches to with two of your own unit’s standard moves (i.e. 12” as standard). Note that a unit cannot make a withdraw reaction if the enemy’s action triggers a firefight or an assault – as these are combat reactions and override all unit reactions. This means that withdraw reactions are only likely in situations where one or other side does not shoot. A withdraw move is up to two standard moves (12”) and cannot bring the unit closer to the enemy unit it is reacting to at any point – i.e. it has to be away from the triggering unit. The withdrawing unit must end its move at least one standard move further from the trigger unit where possible. Where this is not possible the withdrawing unit must move to as far from the enemy unit as it can.

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