Overview

From WarEngine

Contents 1 Introduction 2 What is the WarEngine? 2.1 Using Dice 2.2 Opposed Die Rolls 2.3 Modifiers 2.4 Flexible Turn Sequence 2.5 Ultimate Adaptability

[edit] Introduction

The WarEngine is a miniature wargaming system that originally appeared as the core rules of Shock Force: Battles in the Remnants of America, written by Aaron Overton and published by DemonBlade Games. Later expanded through GWAR: Rumble in Antarctica and a second edition of Shock Force, both also published by DemonBlade, The WarEngine retains a small but loyal following on the Internet. This site puts forth the rules as they evolved through Shock Force Second Edition, but makes it both freely available to the miniature wargaming community in that form and sets it up for further modification to new, further expanded versions according to the needs of the players.

[edit] What is the WarEngine?

The WarEngine is the underlying rules engine that we developed to drive all our past publication of miniature wargames. It has a basic simplicity that makes it very easy for a new player to begin playing. However, features such as tweaks, which modify basic capabilities of a particular figure or weapon, and special powers, which allow for limitless possibilities for expansion, give WarEngine games a depth of character far greater than might otherwise be expected.

Below is some basic information about the system, but for more detail consider the Core Rules v2.1 and the Force Builder v2.1 sections.

[edit] Using Dice

Central to the WarEngine is a basic concept to resolving success or failure for any action, whether it is an attack with a weapon, the use of a special power, such as a psychic ability or magical spell, or testing for rout for units that have taken heavy casualties. Dice rolls are made by using multiple standard six-sided dice and adding them up. In some cases, more dice are rolled than actually kept, which is notated as xky, where x is the number rolled, k means keep, and y is the number kept. For example, a 3k2 roll means roll three dice, keep two. High numbers are always better.

[edit] Opposed Die Rolls

An opposed die roll, such as a weapon attack, compares the rolls of attacker and defender. To succeed, the attacker needs to roll higher than the defender. So if Sgt. Stone shoots a Dog Soldier Mutant, where his attack value is 3k2 and the Mutant's defense value is 2k2, it might go like this: Sgt. Stone rolls three dice (5,4,2) and discards the lowest for a total of 9. Dogboy rolls two dice (4,3) and gets a total of 7. Since the attack roll is higher, Dogboy is slain by the attack. If the attack roll had matched or been less than the defense roll, Dogboy would have survived.

[edit] Modifiers

Battlefield circumstances, such as intervening cover, moving or not moving on the part of the attacker or defender, tweaks, active special powers, and so on, usually affect either the number of dice rolled or how those dice are tallied. For example, hiding behind light cover, like bushes, would add both an extra die rolled and an extra die kept to the roll, notated as +1k1. Dogboy would have had a 3k3 defense and likely have survived due to cover in the previous example.

[edit] Flexible Turn Sequence

Along with a flexible system of unit by unit, figure by figure movement, where attacks can come any time before, during, or after movement, and many other simple yet flexible aspects to game play, this basic action resolution system allows simulation of most any type of battle. Small games can be played with only a dozen figures on each side, but the system works equally well at over 100 figures per force.

[edit] Ultimate Adaptability

The WarEngine can be adapted to any genre with a little work on the part of a designer. It has been our plan at Dark Tortoise for quite some time to work with other game designers to make the WarEngine a standard in wargaming. We hope this site will be an exemplary solution to the problem of how to let the game develop the way long-time fans of the game would like.