Core Rules v2.1

From WarEngine

Contents 1 About Version 2.1 2 Introduction to The WarEngine 3 Setting Up the Game 3.1 Your Force 3.2 Setting the Stage 3.3 Placing Your Force 4 Playing the Game 4.1 Some Words We’ll Use 5 The Game Turn (Short Version) 5.1 Initiative 5.2 Conflict 5.3 Follow Up 5.4 Rout 6 The Game Turn (Long Version) 6.1 Initiative 6.2 Conflict 6.2.1 Remove Reserve 6.2.2 Check Control 6.2.3 Perform Actions 6.2.4 Move 6.2.5 Line of Sight 6.2.6 Cover 6.2.7 Attack 6.2.8 Figures with Hero Points 6.3 Area Effect Weapons 6.3.1 Close Combat Area Effect 6.3.2 Explosive Area Effect 6.3.3 Burst Fire Area Effect 6.3.4 Linear Area Effect 6.3.5 Massed Attacks 6.3.6 Firing into Close Combat 6.3.7 Leaving Close Combat 6.3.8 Reserve Attack 6.3.9 Check Control 6.3.10 Deactivate 6.4 Follow Up 6.5 Rout 7 Victory

About Version 2.1

Version 2.1 of the WarEngine is the equivalent of the system as presented in Shock Force Second Edition published by DemonBlade Games in 1999 with Shock Force specific material removed (to the Shock Force section of this site) and errata corrected, but no new material. For more details, look at the article on Versions.

Introduction to The WarEngine

A WarEngine game is a fast and furious battle between opposing forces that blaze away in dramatic firefights and desperate close assaults, complete with heroic leaders, grizzled veterans of countless conflicts, and terrified rabble troops prepared to run at the first opportunity. You determine the strategic and tactical maneuvering of your force, guiding them to either glorious victory or bitter defeat.

Players using The WarEngine control figures representing individual combatants, either heroic characters or their soldiers, minions, and followers. Following the rules presented in this book, each player takes turns moving groups of his figures and declaring their attacks. How far the figures can move, how strong their attacks are, and how likely they are to survive other figures’ attacks are determined beforehand by characteristics. Dice rolls made at the time of attacks add an element of chance and luck making it possible for the lowliest trooper to occasionally fell the greatest of heroes. Of course, the hero will almost certainly escape such inauspicious destruction, but that’s why there are other heroes, right?

For those of you that care about that sort of thing, this game is designed with 28mm figures in mind, the sort that puts a typical human at a little bit more than an inch tall. Dark Tortoise Productions don’t manufacture their own line of miniatures, but there are plenty of figure manufacturers out there so you should be able to put together the armies you want without too much trouble. The WarEngine is designed to be readily adapted to any genre so that the only barrier to infinite expansion of your games is your imagination. The dice we use in this game are always the normal six-sided kind. If you’ve never seen any type of dice other than the kind that comes in the typical game you buy at the toy store, don’t worry about it. That’s the kind we use.

We’re not really going to get into fiddly details about time and ground scale, but for those of you that find such things important, each figure represents a single combatant and a typical human figure stands about six feet tall. Each turn in the game represents about ten to fifteen seconds of real time, although that’s dependent on what you direct your force to do, rather than a hard and fast rule. The really important thing is that however long the game would have taken in real time, you’ve had the opportunity to have your force clash with your enemies and either roar with victory or slink away in defeat. With that basic explanation in mind, let’s delve right into the rules and show you what you have to do to play WarEngine!

Setting Up the Game

Like any game, there are a few things you have to do before you play. You each need to pick out figures to represent your force. You need to lay out some scenery on a playing surface over which your forces will fight. Finally, you need to place your forces in their starting positions. With dice and a tape measure readily at hand, you’re ready to go.

Your Force

How do you know what figures you and your opponent control? You could just each pick out a few figures that you think are particularly cool, making sure you each have roughly the same number, and go with that. The first couple of times you play, you probably ought to do just that to get used to the rules. Once you get the hang of it, though, you’ll probably want some way of making sure you each have forces that are about even so you can tell which of you really did a better job of controlling your force. For that, we have a point system.

Each figure in your force is worth a number of points. The Force lists elsewhere in the wiki give each figure’s basic cost in points. There’s also a way to further customize your figures by adding tweaks. Tweaks are edges and flaws that adjust the cost up or down according to how good or bad an effect the tweak has on the figure’s performance in the game. Each player picks out figures, adding up the point totals, until he has some set number of points. A decent sized conflict will have each player taking about 4000 points worth of figures, but the game can be played at most any size with anywhere from two to six players getting involved. An example of selecting a Force is given in the Force section so you can see how it’s done.

Setting the Stage

War games are different from board games in that there is no preset board on which you play, although for simplicity’s sake we’ll call it a board anyway. Instead, the players take a convenient flat place like a kitchen table, the floor, or whatever, and litter it with stuff to represent the scenery where the figures are fighting. You really need to use a space at least three feet in both directions so there’s room to move your figures around. Bigger games will of course be better with more space, but you’ll seldom need more than about six feet by four feet.

Veteran wargamers will have built model buildings and have all manner of scenery available, similar to that used by model railroad enthusiasts, but typically with more flat places so the figures have someplace to stand. If you’re new to war games, simply use your imagination and do things like use books for buildings and hills, toy cars, wadded up sheets for glacial ice floes and that sort of thing. The key to a good game is to have lots of scenery so figures can hide behind stuff as they move forward, establishing good firing lines and covering the advance of their assault troopers that will flush out the enemy. Proper use of cover is critical to the survival of your troops, so if you’re not sure whether to add one more building or clump of trees, go for it. Be creative!

Placing Your Force

Each player takes turns placing his figures on the board, the slowest figures being placed first. If you take a look at the chart in the WarEngine section, you’ll see that the Movement characteristic for each figure is a multiple of three inches, the minimum being zero for figures that can’t move (like bunkers or fixed weapons or gun turrets.) Movement is abbreviated like this: Mv 9”. That means the figure can move nine inches each turn. All the figures with Mv 0” get placed first. Then all the figures with Mv 3” get placed. And so on, until all the figures have been placed. If both players have figures that move at a particular rate, they should roll a die and the one who rolls lowest has to place his figures first. Here’s where we get our first example:

Example: Aaron has figures with Mv 6”, Mv 9” and Mv 15”. Dave has figures with Mv 9”, Mv 12”, and Mv 15”. The slowest figures are Aaron’s, with Mv 6”. Aaron places those figures first. Since they both have figures with Mv 9”, they each roll a die. Aaron rolls lower so he places all his Mv 9” figures, then Dave places all his Mv 9” figures. Aaron has no figures with Mv 12”, so Dave places those next. Finally, they roll again to see who places their Mv 15” figures first, this time Dave rolls lower. So Dave places his Mv 15” figures, Aaron places his Mv 15” figures, and they’re ready for Conflict!

In a typical game, players take opposite sides of the board as their starting location. Their figures may then be placed up to 12” from the edge of the board on their own side. For example, let’s say Aaron and Dave are playing on a table that’s four feet square. The diagram shows where they may each place their figures.

Playing the Game

Some Words We’ll Use

Characters 

Single figures that don’t necessarily have to stick close to other figures are called characters. WillowFire the Wizard, 006 the Secret Agent and Garrulous Spleen the Space Marine Commander are great examples of a character. Characters can move independently of other figures without penalty.

Troopers 

Some figures have to stick together as groups. Figures like this are called troopers. Particularly powerful troopers are called elites.

Unit 

A unit is the basic grouping in WarEngine. Your force will usually be made up of many units. Units are most often a number of troopers that all move and attack at the same time. A character operating singly is also a unit. Sometimes, a character will join up with several troopers to help them attack or keep them from running away. While the character is leading the troopers, they are all considered a single unit. A single vehicle or monster is considered a unit. Sometimes a group of like vehicles/monsters can be activated at the same time using another vehicle/monster – this group would also be considered a unit.

Leader 

Most units have a leader. To be a leader, the figure must have a Control Radius. Without a Control Radius no other figure in the unit would ever be close enough to be controlled.

For a figure to be considered controlled (more on this in the Check Control section below) they must within the control radius of a leader. There is a very specific way to determine the leader of a unit. The figure in the unit with the highest Mental is the leader. If there is a tie, then the one of those with the highest Control Radius is the leader. If you still have a tie, then the one of those who was closest to the previous leader before that leader was destroyed becomes the leader. If there’s still a tie, then you can pick whichever one of them you like. So to recap:

1. Highest Mental attribute
2. Highest Control Radius
3. Closest to Previous Leader When Destroyed
4. You Pick

The Game Turn (Short Version)

One full turn in WarEngine consists of four steps, followed in this order: Initiative, Conflict, Follow Up, Rout. Both players are involved in each step. By far the most involved step is the actual Conflict step. We’ll go over the basics of each of these steps now so you understand what happens and when.

Initiative

This step is simply the step of deciding who goes first. Each player rolls a die and the highest roll gets to decide who goes first. Sometimes, if your figures are all right where you want them to be, you might have reason to make your opponent go first. If that’s what makes sense, go for it.

Conflict

Conflict is the step when the players take turns activating units until both players have activated each unit in their force one time. Activating a unit simply means that you have the unit do all the moving and fighting it can do. As we said before, the Conflict step has other steps in it, but we’ll come back to that after we explain Follow Up and Rout.

Follow Up

During the Conflict step, sometimes things happen that either don’t take effect right away or are really nasty and affect their target more than once. For example, if a trooper uses his flamethrower to roast a mutant, he might burn to a crisp right away or he might light up and thrash around a bit before expiring. Or a soldier might toss a time bomb into a shack that won’t explode on impact, but will tick for a moment before setting off. When something happens in the Conflict step that has some such timed effect, you check the results during the Follow Up step.

Rout

Rout is a shorter way of saying running away. In the Rout step, you check to see if any of your units are too scared and run off.

The Game Turn (Long Version)

Now, we’ll cover the game turn in more detail so that you can refer back to the previous section to see exactly what happens when.

Initiative

To recap, initiative decides who goes first. Each player rolls a die and the highest roll gets to choose who goes first. In a game with more than two players, the highest roll gets to decide when he’ll go. He need not go first, but can choose to go later in the activation order. Then, the second highest picks when he’ll go, and so on until everyone has picked a spot in the activation order. This activation order is kept for the entire turn until you get back to the Initiative step on the next turn. As with any roll to see who goes first, in the case of a tie, simply roll again to resolve the tie.

Conflict

The Conflict is a big step. This is the step when most of the game is played. It is broken into several smaller phases that are handled repeatedly, unit by unit, until every unit on the board has had an activation. When it’s your turn to activate a unit, you will first pick the unit you are going to activate. This can be any unit on your side that hasn’t already activated this turn.

Remember that we defined a unit as either a number of troopers that start the game as a single group, a character acting alone, a single vehicle or monster, or a group of vehicles or monsters that are acting as a single group. There is one other special case: when a character activates with a unit of troopers as a single unit. If you have a character that hasn’t activated, and a unit of troopers that hasn’t activated, and the leader of the troopers is within the control radius of the character, you can activate them together as a single unit. They are then considered a single unit until the next time you want to activate the character, the unit, or the two of them together on the next turn. If the unit has no leader left on the board, the character only needs to have any single figure in the unit within his control radius.

This diagram demonstrates how that works.

Once you’ve picked the unit, you follow these steps for the unit, all of which will be explained in further detail below: Remove Reserve, Check Control, Perform Actions, Check Control, Deactivate.

Remove Reserve

As will be explained below, when a figure is done with his actions, he can put one of his unused weapons on reserve. This is shown on the board by placing a reserve marker next to the figure. In the Remove Reserve phase, any reserve markers that haven’t been used, are removed.

In the very first turn of the game, none of your figures will have reserve markers on them, but as you progress you will start to use them.

Removing reserve markers is the first thing you do when you activate a unit. It means that any unused weapon attacks you reserved in the unit’s last activation have been lost, and all weapons are now available for the unit’s current activation. Removing reserve markers is just a way of making sure that no figure can use the same weapon attack more than once from one activation to the next. In other words, you can’t ‘save’ an attack during this activation and use it in the next activation.

Check Control

Figures have a characteristic called Control Radius (CR). Troopers don’t usually have one unless the figure is a unit leader or you have figures that have a very strict pecking order.

Characters usually do have a Control Radius. This is a characteristic that shows how far away another figure can be and still be controlled. During this phase, you measure from the leader to each other figure in the unit and see if they are within the Control Radius of the leader. Figures that are not in the Control Radius are considered to be uncontrolled until the next time you check control. Uncontrolled figures aren’t as good at what they normally do. To reflect this, any time you roll dice for an uncontrolled figure, treat every six rolled as a five. So, if an uncontrolled figure rolls three dice to attack an enemy figure and rolls a 6, a 4 and a 2, the roll is added up as 11 instead of 12. This can make all the difference between destroying your enemy or not! Here’s diagram to demonstrate how you check this:

Characters acting alone, and all monsters and vehicles, never need to check control and are always considered controlled.

Perform Actions

One at a time, you perform all the actions for each figure in the unit. There are a few basic actions the figure can take: Move, Attack, and Reserve Attack. Each of these is explained below in more detail. You can take as many actions with that figure as you like in any order (except Reserve Attack, which always ends the figure’s turn) until you are unable to perform any more actions. For example, if your figure has 9” of movement and three weapons, you could move 2”, attack with one weapon, move 4”, attack with another weapon, move 3”, and reserve the attack of the third weapon. You need never use all your movement or all of your attacks for a figure. Sometimes, the best thing to do is simply to reserve an attack and do nothing else.

Move

To move a figure, tell your opponent where you are moving and measure the distance from where you are to where you are going. You can move the figure a number of inches up to the Movement characteristic every turn. You may move several shorter distances, stopping to perform other actions as desired as long as the total movement per turn for the figure does not exceed the total movement allowed for the figure.

If you are moving your figure in several stages, it can be difficult to keep track of how much movement allowance you have used and how much you have left. To make it easier, you must consider any ‘part inches’ moved on the table to count as a whole inch deducted from the movement allowance. For example, Let’s imagine I have a figure with a movement allowance of 9”. I move the figure 4.25” inches in order to make an attack. I must count this as using 5” of the figures movement allowance. I’ve only moved 4.25” inches on the table, but I’ve used 5” of the figures MV value. The figure only has 4” left to move during this activation.

If you are moving your figure in such a way that along the path of the movement one of your opponent’s figures can ‘see’ your figure, your opponent may require you to pause before your movement is complete while he attacks your figure with reserved attacks. For one figure to ‘see’ another, it must have what we call ‘line of sight’ to the target figure. This is explained more completely below.

By the way, don’t worry about which way the figure is facing during a game. Facing doesn’t affect a figure’s ability to make attacks. Just because a model is cast into a particular pose doesn’t mean you have to think about it being like a statue. We like to imagine that each figure is capable of looking around and turning to respond to threats as they arise. It’s OK for a figure to shoot at an enemy that is ‘behind’ them.

There are also two ‘special’ moves that you need to be aware of:

Fast Moves 

A figure can increase its movement allowance by one third, provided it does not

• Make any attacks
• Reserve any attacks
• End its move within 6" of an enemy figure.

Use this wisely! You can cover a lot of ground with Fast Moves, but your men may end up exposed to enemy attacks.

Charging 

A figure can increase its movement allowance by one third in order to enter Close Combat with the enemy. Close Combat attacks that are initiated by a Charge get a bonus for the first attack (+1k0 when attacking vehicles and monsters, and +1k1 when attacking other troop types). Only a single bonus can be added to massed CC attacks. If the defender survives the initial charge attack, the bonus is lost on the next round of CC.

Line of Sight

Line of sight is very important in making attacks. A figure has line of sight to another figure if the figure sighting is able to see the other figure. You check this by leaning down and looking past your figure at the target figure. If you can see any significant amount of the target figure, you have line of sight. There is a certain amount of judgement call in this. Many figures are sculpted so that a weapon is raised over the figure’s head or the figure is in a particularly flamboyant or heroic pose. In reality, the person would be crouching behind cover and staying out of sight whenever possible.

Generally speaking, if you can see the figure’s torso (in the case of a more-or-less human figure) the model is visible. Intervening terrain, like woods, buildings, walls, fences and so on, will block line of sight or provide defensive cover (explained further below). We’ll assume that your troops are not stupid enough to shoot each other in the back, so friendly figures (which aren’t vehicles or monsters) don’t block Line of Sight to enemy figures. Friendly vehicles and monster do block Line of Sight.

Cover

Cover is what we call all the “stuff” between a figure that is being attacked and the figure doing the attacking. There are four levels of cover: No cover, light cover, heavy cover, and entrenching cover.

No cover 

No cover is exactly that – if nothing significant is available for a figure to hide behind, the figure has no cover.

Light cover 

Light cover is considered to be either softer objects like bushes, trees, chain-link or wooden fences and so on, or heavy cover that obscures less than half the figure from its attacker.

Heavy cover 

Heavy cover is more solid objects, like a stone wall, rubble, cars and other similar objects.

Entrenching cover 

Entrenching cover is heavy cover that is a prepared defensive position, like a foxhole, a trench, or something similar.

Cover is critical to the survival of your figures because the defensive bonuses for being in cover are substantial. Before the game begins, you and your opponent should make sure you both understand which features of the board are what types of cover. The diagram below should help you understand how to interpret cover bonuses.

Attack

A figure may use any of its attacks at any appropriate point during its turn. Close Combat attacks are attacks with weapons that have no Range value. Ranged attacks are attacks that do have a Range value. Attacking with either kind of weapon is very similar, although there are some slight differences in certain modifiers that may affect the success of the attack.

To make a close combat attack requires that you have moved your figure such that the bases of the figures are touching, what we call "base-to-base contact."

To make a ranged attack, your figure must have line of sight to the target and be within range of the target. To determine if your figure is within range of your target, measure the distance from your figure to the target figure. If the number of inches is less than or equal to the Range value of your weapon, you are within range. You may not make ranged attacks if you are in base-to-base contact with an enemy figure.

You may target any unit within range and line of sight.

You must (where possible) target the closest figure in the unit. If there is a tie for the closest figure, the Attacker can choose which one to aim for. If you don’t have Line of Sight on the closest figure, or the closest figures are in cover, while the rest of the target unit are out in the open, it’s OK to target the closest figure that is in the open.

Assuming your figure is within range (or in base-to-base contact for close combat attacks) and that you have line of sight to your target, you look up your weapon’s Attack Value, adjust the number of dice according to the chart below and roll the dice. Your opponent looks up his figure’s Defense Value, adjusts the number of dice according to the other chart below, and rolls his dice. Comparing the two numbers, if your attack roll is higher than your opponent’s defense roll, the target figure is considered destroyed (unless the figure has Hero Points, a case we explain right after the charts) and is removed from the board. You may want to leave it on the board laid on its side where it was killed, as some Special Powers can affect killed figures. It can be fun to see the slain figures strewn before your victorious force, too! If your attack roll is less than or equal to your opponent’s defense roll, the target figure is considered unharmed and is left on the board.

Attack Adjustments Chart
Bonus	Description	Notes
+1k0	Did Not Move	Figure did not move since its last activation or has not yet moved during this game. Involvement in close combat counts as movement.
+1k1	Massed Attack	Added for each figure using a reserve marker to assist in an attack. (see text for full explanation)

Defense Adjustments Chart
Bonus	Description	Notes
+1k0	Did Not Move	Figure did not move since its last activation or has not yet moved during this game. Involvement in close combat counts as movement. Did Not Move may not be combined with Heavy Cover.
+1k1	Light Cover	The figure is behind light cover, such as trees or hedges.
+2k2	Heavy Cover	The figure is behind heavy cover, such as brick walls or boulders. Heavy Cover may not be combined with Did Not Move.
+2k2	Entrenching Cover	The figure is in entrenching cover, such as foxholes, trenches, or prepared fortifications.
1s to 2s	Type M Figure	Medium vehicles and monsters treat all 1s rolled as 2s
1s, 2s to 3s	Type H Figure	Heavy vehicles and monsters treat all 1s and 2s rolled as 3s

Although it is also discussed in the Builder section where we tell you how to build your own troops, it’s worth explaining now the difference between rolled and kept dice. Many attributes like Attack Value and Defense use values like 2k2 or 4k3. The ‘k’ stands for ‘keep.’ You roll the number of dice before the ‘k’, but keep only the number of dice after the ‘k,’ usually the higher ones. For example, if you have a Defense of 4k3 and roll four dice getting 6, 4, 3, and 1, you would keep the three best for a score of 13. Adjustments from the charts refer to values like +1k1 or -0k1. This means you add or subtract from the rolled or kept dice as appropriate. So if you have a Defense of 4k3 and are in light cover, a +1k1 bonus, you would actually use 5k4, rolling five dice and keeping the best four. While the adjustments may very well have you roll more than five dice, no matter how many you roll, the number of kept dice is never more than five.

Figures with Hero Points

Some figures are tougher, nastier, and more effective in combat than usual. Some can take hits that would outright kill another man and keep going. This is represented by Hero Points. As you will see in the Builder section, any figure can have Hero Points, although troopers will typically have less than characters, if any at all. Hero Points cost four points apiece when you buy them for your army, and besides the limit per figure, there is also a limit as to how many a force can have. This is because Hero Points make a figure significantly more survivable.

When a figure with Hero Points attacks or is attacked, you still roll the dice the same as you would in any other attack. The only difference is that the figure may use Hero Points to adjust his attack or defense roll upward in order to either survive an attack that would have killed him or take out an opponent that would have survived. The attacker applies Hero Points to his attack roll before the defender applies Hero Points to his defense roll, although both attacker and defender roll their dice before adding any Hero Points. Normally, this means the attacker can choose to increase his attack roll to higher than the defender is capable of increasing the defense roll, guaranteeing a kill.

Example: Lt. Wright (Df 4k4) is shot at by a Green Alien Warrior armed with an Earthshaker Cannon (AV 5k4). Lt. Wright rolls 6, 4, 2 and 1. Since he keeps all four dice, his total is 13. The Alien Warrior rolls 6, 6, 5, 3, and 2. He keeps four of these dice, so his total is 20. If Lt. Wright was any normal person, he’d be blown to pieces, but as a more heroic individual he has 10 Hero Points. The attack roll of 20 minus the defense roll of 13 leaves a discrepancy of seven, so Lt. Wright uses 7 Hero Points to increase his defense roll to 20 and survives, leaving him with 3 Hero Points for future conflict.

Another Example: Lt. Wright (Df 4k4, 3 Hero Points remaining) is attacked later in the game by Commander Di’Git (8 Hero Points,) a heroic Alien armed with an Assault Blade (AV 4k4.) Di’Git rolls a 13 on attack, and Lt. Wright rolls a 15. Di’Git chooses to enhance his attack by using 6 Hero Points, bringing his attack roll to 19. Since Lt. Wright has only 3 Hero Points left, he can only increase his defense roll to 18, which is still not enough to survive. Lt. Wright dies a horrible death at the hands of Di’Git, who still has 2 Hero Points remaining to use in future combats.

Area Effect Weapons

Generally, Area Effect weapons have a primary target and one, two or three secondary targets depending on whether it is a 2x, 3x, or 4x weapon. When attacking with an Area Effect weapon, the attacker selects an appropriate primary target. Secondary targets are selected according to the Area Effect characteristic (2x, 3x or 4x) and the Area Effect Type (CC, EX, BU or LI).

Once the targets are determined, the attacker rolls his attack dice as normal. Then each defender rolls his defense dice separately, all comparing their defense roll to the single attack roll.

Example: Dogboy gets the opportunity to use his plasma gun (AV3k3, AE 3x Ex) on a bunch of menacing Thugs (Df 2k2) in a dark alleyway. He targets the closest one in the group as required when shooting at a unit. This is his primary target. The other two are both within three inches of the first thug (necessary for an EX effect weapon), so they both become his secondary targets. Dogboy rolls a 9, kind of a weak roll for three dice. The Thugs roll 4, 7, and 11 as their defense rolls. The first two are killed, but the third survives.

If an Area Effect weapon has a primary target and no appropriate secondary targets, or less secondary targets than its usual maximum, the additional effect is lost. You may not apply the Area Effect multiple times to the same target. Except for Close Combat area effect, Area Effect weapons will affect as many targets as allowed. You may not, for example, fire an Explosive area effect weapon at an enemy figure and choose not to affect the friendly figure standing right next to him if the friendly figure is an applicable secondary target.

Close Combat Area Effect

Only close combat weapons, that is, weapons without a Range characteristic, can take the Close Combat area effect type.

• The attacker can target multiple figures in base-to-base contact with him. (So for a 3x weapon the attacker can designate a primary target plus 2 other figures that are also in base-to-base contact).
• The attacker may choose to affect less than the maximum number allowed by the Area Effect Characteristic, so he doesn’t have to target any friendly figures that are in base-to-base contact.

Explosive Area Effect

Explosive weapons only affect figures within a 3-inch blast radius of the target. Both close combat and ranged weapons can take the Explosive area effect type. For close combat weapons, this means that the effect is centered on the attacker.

• Explosive area effect weapons may not choose to affect less than the maximum number of targets, even if this means that a friendly figure will also get hit. (Explosions are impossible to control once they are set off).
• The primary target is the closest figure to the attacker for Ranged EX weapons or the attacker himself for close combat EX weapons, such as a suicide bomb.
• The secondary targets are the next closest figure or figures to the primary target, up to a maximum of three inches away as long as the primary target has line of sight to the potential secondary target. For example, a 2x Ex weapon can only affect a maximum of two figures, the primary target and one secondary target. If there are a number of figures within the 3-inch radius surrounding the primary target, the secondary target will be the closest figure and the other figures will be unaffected. If you can’t work out which figure is closest to the primary target, use a die roll to randomly determine which of the tied figures becomes the secondary target.
• Secondary targets not within line of sight of the attacker are treated as being in Heavy Cover for purposes of Defense Adjustments.

Example: The ever-popular Dogboy shoots off another round of plasma balls (AE 3x Ex) at another Thug. Within three inches of the primary target, there’s another Thug, but since they were advancing around opposite sides of an eight-foot-tall metal crate, they can’t actually see each other. Since the primary target can’t see the other Thug, the second Thug cannot be selected as a secondary target. However, if a third Thug was behind the crate in view of the primary target but not visible to Dogboy, he would still be a valid secondary target, but would get the Heavy Cover Defense Adjustment.

Burst Fire Area Effect

Burst Fire weapons are only available to ranged weapons and can only affect figures within a 3-inch radius of the target. Burst Fire weapons cause area effect damage by putting lots of ammo into the air all at once - enough to hit multiple targets if they are close enough to one another.

• Burst Fire weapons may not choose to affect less than the maximum number of targets, so friendly figures can be potential secondary targets.
• The primary target is the closest figure to the attacker.
• The secondary targets are the next closest figure or figures to the primary target, up to a maximum of three inches away as long as the attacker has line of sight to the potential secondary target.

Example: Frustrated by his inability to burn the Thugs with his plasma gun, Dogboy hauls out his newly discovered Mark IX Plasma Cannon that fires bursts of superheated plasma chunks (AE 3x Bu) and blazes away at the Thugs. The two Thugs on opposite sides of the metal crate are both visible to Dogboy and within three inches of each other, so one becomes the primary target, the other becomes the secondary target, and both are torn apart by the fury of his shots. The lurking third Thug that Dogboy can’t see behind the crate is ineligible as a secondary target even though the other Thugs could see him and he was within three inches.

Linear Area Effect

This type is also only available to ranged weapons. Linear weapons fire in a straight line, destroying all targets in the way until depleting their energy in multiple targets or reaching the limits of their range.

• Pick the primary target as normal.
• Secondary targets are the figures behind the primary target up to the maximum range of the weapon.
• Intervening terrain that would normally block line of sight to the secondary targets halts the linear shot, preventing any further secondary targets.
• Vehicles and monsters also will prevent the shot from affecting any further secondary targets.

Example: (Dogboy is very tired now, let’s leave him alone.…) Spike is carrying a Magneto-hurler (R 30" AE 4x Li) that propels two-foot-long, titanium-sheathed spikes through anything that gets in its way. In a very narrow corridor, a band of the seemingly endless supply of Thugs willing to throw their lives away attacking well-armed opponents rushes forward. Thinking back to what they witnessed with Dogboy, they have cleverly arranged themselves so there’s at least four inches between each of them. Unfortunately for the hapless Thugs, Spike’s Magneto-hurler is a Linear area effect weapon. He shoots the first Thug in the corridor. This is his primary target. The spike pierces the first Thug and slings down the corridor punching holes in the next three as well. Hearing a noise behind him, Spike whirls and sees a Thugnaught clomping down another corridor at him, huge pincers clicking menacingly. Behind the Thugnaught (incidentally a Heavy Vehicle) are more Thugs urging it forward. Spike fires at the Thugnaught, but because it is a vehicle, the Thugs behind it may not be selected as secondary targets, so the Area Effect of his weapon is wasted on the shot.

Massed Attacks

The Attack Adjustment chart shows bonuses for massed attacks, but requires a bit of extra explanation. A massed attack is when multiple figures team up to make a stronger attack than they could normally make. One figure is determined to be the primary attacker and the basic attack roll is based on that figure’s attack. The secondary attackers are friendly models in the same unit that have available reserved attacks. It’s worth repeating that all the attackers must be in the same unit. A character leading a unit of troopers may therefore participate in the massed attack as long as he activated with them in their last activation. All attackers involved in one massed attack must be attacking with the same type of weapon - either all ranged weapons or all close combat weapons. So a figure with a hatchet could help a figure with a sword attack, but a figure with a rifle could not.

The primary attacker makes his attack as normal, receiving all of the regular attack bonuses (Did Not Move, etc.), but for every secondary attacker assisting he gets an extra +1k1 on the attack roll. However, the most dice that can be kept is twice the number the attacker would normally get, or five dice if the attacker could already keep three or more.

Example: A unit of three Street Gangers (AV 2k2) and a Gang Leader (AV 3k2) are a few inches away from Mafia Enforcer Vertucci (Df 5k4) and want to have at least some chance of taking him out. The first Ganger moves into base-to-base contact with Vertucci, but reserves his attack. Next, the second and third Gangers do the same. Then, the Gang Leader moves into base-to-base contact with Vertucci (yes, it’s kind of crowded now) and attacks. The other three Gangers use their reserved attacks to assist. The Gang Leader would roll 3k2 + 1k1 + 1k1 + 1k0 = 6k4 for the attack. The first two Gangers each contribute +1k1, the third only contributes +1k0 because the Gang Leader may only double his number of kept dice.

Another Example: Four Juve Gangers with shotguns (AV 3k3) and an Juve Leader with a club (AV 2k2) have their attacks reserved when our friend Vertucci (Df 5k5) comes racing around the corner. One of the Gangers uses his reserved shotgun to shoot at Vertucci. The other three Gangers with shotguns assist by firing, too. The Juve Leader can’t help because his reserved attack is a close combat attack, not a ranged attack, although he presumably is yelling something like, “Get ‘em, boys!” and pointing. The Juve Gangers will get a single attack of 3k3 + 1k1 + 1k1 + 1k0 = 6k5. This time, the last Ganger only provides a +1k0 bonus because the attack may never keep more than five dice.

Firing into Close Combat

Sometimes it may be a great idea to shoot at two figures engaged in close combat, like when they are both enemies or if you don’t really care whether you kill your own man or not. It is perfectly acceptable to shoot at figures in close combat with one another. If you do, roll a single attack roll. The attack affects a number of figures in the combat up to the number of kept dice in the attack roll. If less dice are kept than there are figures in the combat, randomly determine which figures are affected. All affected figures roll their defense as normal. Figures in close combat may not benefit from the “Did Not Move” defense adjustment.

Leaving Close Combat

There is a special out-of-sequence time that figures may attack enemy figures. If you want to move your figure out of base-to-base contact with an enemy figure, you are allowed to do so as part of a Move action. However, the enemy figure will get to immediately use any and all of its close combat attacks on your figure. These are extra attacks – the enemy figure does not lose any of its attacks when it subsequently activates. If your figure survives these attacks, it may move away normally. If you are in combat with multiple opponents, they may not use a massed attack, but rather must use their attacks individually.

Reserve Attack

A reserved attack is an attack you have chosen to hold in case a better opportunity to use the attack presents itself between the time you reserve the attack and the next time the figure activates. A Trooper waiting with a rifle, watching for something to move, or a Thug with a blackjack lurking behind a corner ready to whack the next guy to peek around are both examples of a reserved attack.

A Reserve Attack action, if taken, must always be the last action a figure takes. If the figure has not used all of its weapons that turn, you may choose any one unused weapon to reserve. Place a marker of some sort next to the figure to show that it has a reserved attack and tell your opponent which weapon it is reserving. When this reserved attack is later used, the marker is removed.

To use the reserved attack, you simply interrupt whatever your opponent is doing and make the attack. If your opponent is attacking your figure and your figure has a reserved attack, you may use your reserved attack, but your attack is simultaneous with your opponent’s. You have to announce the reserved attack before your opponent’s attack is resolved – you can’t decide to use your reserved attack just because the other guy killed you! Two such simultaneous attacks could very well result in both figures being destroyed.

There are some limitations on when you may use a reserved attack. You may only use a reserved attack under two circumstances: When you wish to use the reserved attack against the currently active enemy unit, or during your own activation of the figure’s own unit. The first of these is a little simpler. Your opponent is moving and attacking with a unit. If your figure has line of sight and has an attack on reserve with enough range, you may attack that unit. You may not use reserve fire to attack some other unit at that time.

The second circumstance is used when it is still your own unit’s activation. You can move a figure up and put it on reserve, move and attack with another figure or figures in the same unit, then use the first figure’s reserve fire. The most common reason for this would be in preparation for a Massed Fire attack, but other reasons (like “Oops, I wanted to attack with this guy first!”) may present themselves.

Reserving Close Combat attacks is identical to reserving Ranged attacks with the exception of Lunging. This is a free move available to certain figures under certain conditions. The lunge movement is not deducted from a figure’s regular movement allowance.

If a figure has placed a CC weapon on reserve, and an enemy figure attempts to pass by him without coming into base-to-base contact, the figure may lunge 1 inch for every 9 inches of his movement allowance. So if a figure has a movement allowance of 18" it could lunge a maximum of 2“ to take it into contact with an enemy figure. This means that figures with a movement allowance of less than 9“ cannot lunge.

Example: Arizona Smith (MV 9”) is in the catacombs of Castle Albion searching for the sword Excalibur. He has already seen off two Nazi agents with his revolver and has now put his Bullwhip (CC weapon, Very long, Entangling) on reserve. Another agent, Werner, attempts to slip past Arizona and down the passageway in order to find the sword first. Arizona lunges 1" and attacks with his bullwhip (Very long weapons can attack up to 2" away). If he doesn’t kill Werner immediately, he will entangle him. He’ll probably shoot Werner during his next activation.

Check Control

After all figures in the unit have finished performing their actions, you check for control again exactly as before. Any uncontrolled figures will treat any sixes rolled on their behalf as fives until the next time control is checked. Since figures rarely move closer to their leader when inactive, the next control check will be on the next turn when the unit activates and uncontrolled models will probably still be uncontrolled. Because of this, you will likely want to have your figures end their turn within the leader’s control radius whenever possible.

Remember, Characters acting alone, and all Monsters and Vehicles, are always considered controlled.

Deactivate

This is pretty simple. Tell your opponent that you are done with that unit. It is then your opponent’s turn to activate a unit.

Follow Up

Once all units have been activated once, the Conflict step is complete and the game progresses to the Follow Up step. To recap, the Follow Up step is when any kind of timed or continued effect takes place: Figures set on fire continue to burn, thrown grenades go off, regenerating characters gain back Hero Points, and so on. Most things that happen in the Follow Up step have little to do with your opponent.

If there are any effects where order matters, use the same initiative order you determined in the Initiative step. Resolve the events, alternating just as you did with your units during the Conflict step.

You may not use reserve attacks during the Follow Up or Rout steps.

Rout

The last thing that is done each turn is to check for Rout. A unit is never required to test for Rout more than once per turn. A unit is subject to a Rout test under either of the following circumstances:

1. The unit has had half or more of its figures destroyed since the beginning of the game and lost at least one figure this turn, or
2. The unit has lost its leader this turn and there is no leader to replace it. See the section above about Leaders if you need to recall what’s required for a figure to be a leader.
3. Any unit with only one figure left where the remaining figure is either a trooper or an elite will rout automatically, regardless of its Mental attribute.

To perform a Rout test, roll the dice equal to the Mental attribute of the leader. If the roll is a 9 or less, the unit routs and is removed from the board. If the roll is a 10 or more, the unit is not frightened enough to run away and it remains in play without further effect.

A special case may arise where a Rout test is taken and the total is 10 or more for controlled figures and 9 or less for uncontrolled figures (because the sixes rolled counted as fives for those figures.) In that case, the uncontrolled figures will rout and are removed from the board while the controlled figures do not rout and remain in play. Characters acting alone, and all Monsters and Vehicles are considered to be units in their own right. They are never subject to Rout tests due to casualties or loss of leaders (though they may be subject to Rout tests due to Special Powers.)

Victory

The most straightforward way to tell if you’ve won the game is that you’ve destroyed all your opponent’s figures. This kind of "last-man-standing" game is probably the most common. Much more satisfying, however, is to set up a scenario of some kind where victory is not dependent on complete destruction of the opposing force. For example, possession of a particular piece of scenery for two full turns makes for a fine scenario.

Alternatively, try this victory point system. Check the number of points on each side at the end of each turn, and if one player has passed the target total, he wins. It’s a tie if both players pass the target total. In addition, it has been designed for games with between 750 and 1250 Points of Renown and between 2500 and 4000 Points of Force.

Each player totals the point value of their opponent’s casualties whether by kill or rout. In addition, each player receives 100 points for each enemy unit destroyed or routed. Therefore, an enemy special is worth its actual point value plus 100 points, while an enemy squad of five troopers is worth its total point value plus 100 points. Figures purchased with Points of Renown are always considered individual units, even if the figure was used in conjunction with another unit for the entire game. Finally, each player receives 250 points for each game objective he achieves. You can choose game objectives at the start of the game.

You can make up your own objectives for each game, but these might include:

• Specific terrain items each player has to fight over. These could be hilltops, buildings, a bridge, a copse of trees, and so on. You are considered to be in control of a piece of terrain if only your figures are on (or are surrounding) the piece of scenery.
• Specific enemy figures you have to kill/destroy. You can achieve this objective by having one of your figures killing the enemy figure in combat.
• Table quarters each player has to control. Possession of a table quarter is accomplished by having at least 250 more points of figures in the table quarter at the end of the game than your opponent.

Every player receives a minimum of 250 points for playing at all. If one player scores more than 250 points more than his opponent, he wins. If the totals are within 250 points of each other, the game is considered a draw.

Of course, you can create your own scenarios that have specific victory conditions, and are encouraged to add them to this site to share with others.