Hello! I'm currently working on a turn/round system for 2-6 players that keeps each player in the game fairly often, and morale system for the game with a rather disparate array of how certain units and creatures react when their morale is broken. The game is going to be mostly used as a war game, but I'm hoping to make the system diverse enough for other things should players choose to adapt it (what comes to mind immediately is something like Railroad Tycoon).
The turn/round system is fairly simple, as it's based on a solid principle (Phases and Active Players). My only worries for it are getting bogged down in the resolution phase - it has turned out to be a non-issue so far, as it only affects one or two small things, and really amounts to "a player rolls a couple dice for effects dice just before the next player starts."
To begin the game, players decide on (or roll for randomly) what sort of initial setup they'll have - anything from the classic "two lines run at each other," to more freestyle "put your forces in this area" like warhammer. Objectives will be based on another choice or randomization - This part doesn't really need help, as I can pull from the tried and true objectives that time has given us wargamers.
Once the initial setup is determined, Players roll off on
2D6's to see who goes first. This can be either at the beginning of the game, or at the start of each round in the beginning phase, depending on who has the fastest units available (as the if player 1 has the fastest character at the beginning of the game, there is no one to contest him until that character is dead!) and the winner of the roll-off gets to pick who goes first (himself for immediate play, or another if they want to sort of play the down-wind).
Players deploy their forces in activation order, and then the game begins with the first player.
In the beginning phase, players bring in resources from off-board if they have any, apply any blessings or curses if they have them, and attempt to regroup any of their units that have broken morale. Units can perform other actions, but this is the main schtick of the beginning phase.
The other phases (the tactical and Close Combat phases) provide similarly name-appropriate actions, such as shooting and moving and leading a charge - all that fancy warfare stuff - and then the Resolution Phase is something that was inspired much more by M:tG than wargaming.
The Resolution Phase happens between each activation - when the active player passes off, anyone whose assets changed during that players' activation goes ahead and resolves whatever morale (or other) effects have been applied to their units. This is intended to keep players' units from acting in a phase where they should be fleeing in terror, or charging in rage - i.e. it's used to update the game in pseudo-realtime.
The Damage System is somewhat inspired by Heroes of Might and Magic, and somewhat by Warhammer - though it's far more reliable, and can even be done without dice if players want. The attacking player rolls a
D6 for each 'attack', and depending on the target's ranged or close combat Defense, that attack will only hit on a certain result (usually 3 or 4, but in rare cases 2/5, and in extreme cases, automatically hits, hits on a 6+, or can't hit at all). Each attack profile has a certain damage listed, and all of the damage from attacks at the same Armor Penetration value is added together. So, if a unit with 3 big guns and 3 small guns shoots at a target they hit automatically (say, the broad side of a barn), you would add up the damage from the big guns and the damage from the little guns separately.
Afterward, the part inspired by HoMM, is the 20-Tic; damage is broken into chunks of 20, and compared to Armour - effectively making armour penetration and armour into direct 5% modifiers for the damage. Heavily armoured vehicles and knight-tropes will be practically immune to weapons like small guns (though 1 damage for each 20-Tic is guaranteed, to speed gameplay), while big guns will have their effectiveness reduced against lightly armoured targets, as Armour normally can't go below 0.
The damage that goes through this system is subtracted from the units' durability (Basically a Health buffer) and when durability reaches 0, that unit loses 1 Health (humans have only 1 health!) Of course, units with 0 health die.
To add to this, units can be composed of multiple parts, like an infantry platoon or a swarm of bugs - similar to warhammer and HoMM. So, as the unit loses wounds, its effectiveness goes down.
It's... not as clunky as it looks. Dividing into 20-Tics is fast, and comparing Armour to
AP is effortless. Most of the damages are in multiples of 5, as is durability, so what you end up with is a system that takes numbers like 345 (17 tics, we ignore the 5 unless
AP+Dmg>Arm, as it will otherwise be negated) and tells you how much actual damage you take from 35% of that (119, into a durability of 5, is 23 dead humans and 1 lucky survivor!) in a couple simple steps.
The real problem I've been having has been implementing a proper morale system; On the one side, I have wargamers from historical wargaming wanting heavy suppression systems, which would greatly favour players who like fielding lots of small units (who can thereby simply suppress everyone else and take over). On the other side, I have players who dislike any form of morale, preferring to have brave and fearless heroes who stride through gunfire and carnage without flinching.
I decided to look to tropes for a nice, round variety of what kind of morales to include, and came up with the following system: Each unit has a grade of morale, from cowardly, average, good, excellent, and Fearless. (C,A,G,E,F). This determines how easily a unit will FAIL a morale test, which is simple enough. But then there's also the issue of the disparity between creatures - You don't expect a Soldier to break morale in the same way as a Space Bug does - The Soldier will run towards friendly troops or a supply line, or find a bunker to dig-in. A Space Bug will charge the enemy lines, or simply burrow where it is and hibernate. So then I had to devise modifiers;
Normal (what you'd expect humans to do), Heroic (For those shining paladins of light), Predatory (for the space bugs, and other creatures that you'd expect to get all in a tizzy), Craven (they'll run away, but if you stop chasing them they'll stab you in the back), and Robotic (Pretty much just shuts down).
The problem is - I don't have an actual mechanic for it. Should I do it like Warhammer, where a value is compared to
2D6? Or like
FoW where it's on a single
D6? Should I introduce other dice sizes, and use a set "Morale!" value, with each better grade of Morale getting a bigger die to roll against it?
tl;dr - Does anyone have experience in dealing with variable morale penalties (and how to apply them) in a system where units will be taking a broad range of damages? The basic idea is that I'd like small amounts of damage or casualties to affect groups less, while larger amounts will affect them more and more. (If possible, I'd also like to develop a system where large amounts of incoming fire will demoralize a unit, even if they don't take much damage from it)
I'll probably be expanding this post to gain feedback on the activation and actions system, as well as the unit profile blocks I'm hoping to use if I can get past these initial humps. I don't really have any worries about the game becoming 'too complex' as the player base is mostly into games with mechanical depths to plumb (
mtg players and such). But I would like to make it feel somewhat warm and elegant, in comparison to the cold, sharp mechanics of
mtg's "Comp Rules."
Thanks for reading if you got through that!
Edit: The following definitions were going to be spoilered, but the spoiler on this forum simply invisible's it, instead of putting it into a neat little tab.
Each Model has its own Statistics profile, made up of 11 Stats. The easiest way to relate to these Statistics is by looking at those of a human – More specifically, a Guard.
Name: Guard
Mv:5
Cs:5
St:5 At:1 Rs:5 Ev:5
Ag:5 Du:5
Hp:1 Ar:5 Mr:A/N
The Guard represents a human after a strict training regime – he is strong, fast, and tough. He obeys orders. Further explaining these Statistics, the next few paragraphs will compare a Human to the various creatures and races present in WARGAME
MOVEMENT (Mv):When determining how far a creature can move in general, the Movement Statistic is consulted. The higher the Movement, the faster a creature or vehicle is. A Guard has Mv 5, meaning he can Move up to 5”. Something more faster, like a Horse, might have Mv 8, allowing it to rapidly out-pace and out-maneuver our ground-pounder. Different forms of movement, such as Flying or Teleporting, will be described in the Movement section.
COMBAT SKILL (
Cs): Combat Skill defines how skilled and vicious a warrior is with his weapons in close combat. The higher the score, the more likely the warrior will land blows on an opponent in close combat – and the more likely it is to dodge! Our Guard has
Cs 5, a product of constant practice and drilling, while a Barbarian with decades of battle and training behind him will have
WS 8!
STRENGTH (
St): Strength shows how physically strong a creature is.
St is mostly used for special rolls, such as escaping traps or moving objectives. For some creatures,
St even tells us how hard they can hit in close combat. Guards have
St 5, which, while not worthy of any awards, will let them escape a wrecked vehicle or wedge an axe into a foe!
ATTACKS (At): In the short amount of time each Close Combat Phase represents, most Guards only have time to let off a desperate chop or stab with whatever's at hand, or perhaps they're able to fire a couple shots with their pistols, or stuff a grenade down something's throat. The Attack value is how many attacks a creature makes in Close Combat.
RANGED SKILL (Rs): Ranged Skill shows how accurate a creature is with Ranged Attacks, such as bows, guns, or rockets. The higher this score is, the easier a creature finds it is to hit its target. The training provided to Guards with their Rifles grants Rs 5 – a deadly Elven Archer has much more of its training focused on accuracy, and much sharper eyesight – and so has
BS 10.
EVASION (Ev): Evasion dictates the ability of a creature to avoid detection on the Battlefield – and their ability to dodge heavy zones of gunfire, incoming mortars, and other hazards from afar. Guards, with Ev 5, have a fair chance at dodging gunfire – especially once they've hit the dirt! However, Wraiths move throughout the Battlefield as dancers, drifting insubstantially through gunfire and flame with their obscene Ev 10.
AGILITY (
Ag): A Model's Agility tells us both how agile and alert it is, and how quickly it reacts in the heat of battle. A Guard's
AG 5 lets him be wary of many foes, at least enough to chuck a grenade and duck before a horde of Wolves (with I 8) are upon him!
Ag dictates the order that Units are activated in, and the order Attacks are resolved at.
DURABILITY (Du): A creature's Durability tells us how much direct damage it can take before being injured. It's a combination of thick hide, stubborn willpower, and combat high – whether from adrenaline, or fouler substances. A Guard's Du 5 makes them great at protecting their Sergeant when present in numbers, as there's a lot of flesh to soak up any stray bullets that might happen his way! A Battle Tank might have Du 30, simply absorbing and ignoring most damage!
HEALTH POINTS (
Hp): Simply put, when a creature runs out of
Hp, it becomes a casualty. This doesn't always mean it's dead! It simply has no more fight left to give, and is removed from the Battlefield to reduce clutter. Some creatures, like Minotaurs, fight better when they've lost a number of
Hp, their blood and pain spurring them onward – but our poor Guards have only 1
Hp to give.
MORALE (Mr): A Model's Morale shows us how well trained and resolute it is. The most complex Statistic, Mr has many modifiers that will alter how your Models and Units interact with the variety of situations to be found on the Battlefield. Following the trend, a Guard's Mr of A/N means he has an Average Morale, and reacts Normally when his Morale breaks. A feral Savage might have a Mr of F/P, which means he's Fearless, and breaking his Morale will only result in causing him to become even more Predatory!
ARMOUR (Ar): The best defense is to not be in the way of whatever's coming to kill you, but failing that, a sturdy suit of Full-Plate will do just fine! Unfortunately, Guards are equipped only with Leather Vests, and sent directly to the front line to protect the cavalry. Their Ar 5 means that only a small portion of Incoming Damage will be blocked before it rips into them – the mighty Ar 18 of a Knight Errant will block almost all incoming damage!
ZERO-LEVEL STATISTICS: Some models will have 0 for a Statistic; this means different things for different Statistics, and will be discussed later. Having 0 is different from having '-' for Statistics; a dash indicates that that Statistic is simply not used, such as
Cs for a Bunker, or Mv for an outpost.
BRINGING
IT ALL TOGETHER: The end product of a Model's Statistics is its Unit Profile. The Unit Profile lists how big that Unit can be, what types of Models it can be built with, or upgraded into, and what Wargears, Special Rules, and Unit Types it contains. Sample Profiles can be found later on when we discuss building your Army.
UNITS: In WARGAME, Warriors must fight together, or be eradicated – individuals are usually hunted down for sport, or manage to flee towards friendly lines. It's heartening having comrades with weapons on either side of you!
This is represented by Models being grouped together into Units – Models and Units are affected differently by different things, but often things that affect Models count as affecting Units – after all, if the guy beside you gets shot, you could be next!
In the long run, though, this relative safety allows your Models the freedom and breathing room to follow your commands better than they would alone – It also helps them find cover, enemies, or treasure better – two sets of eyes are better than one, after all!
Units represent the range of places your Models can be, and not their exact locations. To represent this, Models in a Unit are allowed to spread out, to within 2” of each other, in order to better protect them from explosions and traps, as well as to give them better firing positions or set up path-blocking ambushes.
MEASURING DISTANCES: In WARGAME, distances are measured in Inches (“). You may measure any distance at any time, with any method considered accurate and unobtrusive by every player involved.
This allows you to see if you're in range before you Shoot or Charge; after all, your Models are Soldiers and experienced generals who can easily gauge such things in the heat of battle.
When measuring distances between two Models, or between a Model and a location, always use the closest points of the Models'For Models supplied without a base (like some large vehicles) use the Model’s Hull or Body instead. When measuring distances between two Units, use the closest Models in each unit as your reference points.
So, for example, if any part of the Base of any Model in one of your Units is within 6" of the Base of a Model in an enemy's Unit, your Unit is said to be within 6" of that enemy Unit.
Sometimes a Game Effect will call upon a Unit or Model to move “Directly Towards” something, be it a Table Edge or another Unit. In this case, draw an imaginary line from the rough center of the Unit or Model, and move it along the line in the direction indicated until it's met the request of the Game Effect.
DICE (
D6): In a Warhammer 40,000 battle you often need to roll dice to see how the actions of your Models turn out – how effective their shooting is, what damage they’ve done to a vehicle, and so on. Almost all of the dice rolls in Warhammer 40,000 use standard six-sided dice (usually referred to as ‘
D6’), but there are some exceptions as noted below.
ROLLING A D3: In rare circumstances you may be told to roll a D3. Since there’s no such thing as a three-sided dice, use this method for determining a score between 1 and 3: Roll a
D6 and halve the score, rounding up. Thus, a result of 1 or 2 is 1. 3 and 4 are 2 and 5 and 6 are 3.
SCATTER DICE: Some weapons are fairly random in their accuracy and require you to roll a scatter dice to determine where their shots land. The scatter dice is marked with arrows and special ‘HIT’ symbols, and is usually used to determine random directions for BLAST weapons or deepstriking.
DIVIDING RESULTS: Whenever you're called upon to divide a dice roll by some number, such as in half or by quarters, always round resulting fractions up. So, for instance, a roll of 3 halved is 1.5, rounding up is 2. 10% of 21 models is 2.1, rounded up is 3.
MODIFYING DICE ROLLS: Sometimes, you may have to modify the result of the dice roll. This is noted as
D6 plus or minus a number, such as
D6+1 or
D6-2. Roll the dice and add or subtract the number to or from the score to get the final result.
For example,
D6+2 means roll a dice and add 2 to the score, giving a total of between 3 and 8. Bases as your reference points.
You may also be told to roll a number of dice in one go, such as
2D6,
3D6, and so on. Roll the indicated number of dice and add the results together. So
2D6 would be rolled and added together, giving a result of 2-12.
Other methods may call for a number of
D6 multiplied by another number – such as D6x5, which would result in a number between 5 and 30.
RE-ROLL: In some situations the rules allow you a ‘Re-Roll’ of the dice. This is exactly as it sounds – pick up the dice you wish to re-roll and roll them again. The second score counts, even if it means a worse result than the first, and no single die may be re-rolled more than once regardless of the source of the re-roll.
If you re-roll a
2D6 or
3D6 roll, you must re-roll all of the dice and not just some of them, unless the rule
ROLL-OFFS: If the rules require Players to roll-off, this simply means that each Player rolls
2D6 and the Player that scores the highest result wins the roll-off. If the Players roll the same result, both Players' dice must be rolled again until one Player is the winner – an exception to the regular rule for re-rolling dice.
RANDOMIZATION: Sometimes you'll be called upon to randomly select something – often a model, but sometimes an item or psychic power, etc. When this is the case, simply assign a D3 value to each of the things to be randomly selected, and roll a die to make your random choice. If you have more than 3 things to select from, simply use
D6 values and a
D6 instead.
If you have more than 6 items, simply divide the items as evenly as possible into groups of 3, randomize between the groups, and then randomize again on the selected group! You may scale this process up as necessary.
COCKED DICE: It's generally good form to allow Cocked Dice to be re-rolled (counting as having been re-rolled!). This includes dice that have landed in any manner that prevents them from being properly read by either player.
If you find that a lot of dice are being cocked due to your terrain or Battlefield setup, it may be best to begin rolling in a tray or shoe-box lid. Cocked Dice include any dice which have fallen on the floor, though some player prefer to simply count floor-bound dice as automatic failures!
BLAST MARKERS AND TEMPLATE WEAPONS:
Some weapons are so powerful, or affect such a wide area that they don't just target a single Model, but many Models, or sometimes entire Units! To better represent these weapons, WARGAME uses the following:
- A 3” “Small” Blast Marker
- A 5” “Large” Blast Marker
- An 8” Teardrop Template.
Copies of these Markers and Templates can be found both online, and at the end of this document. They are used whenever you need to determine how many Models have been affected by a Blast or Template weapon.
When an Attack or Ranged Attack uses a Blast Marker or Template Weapon, the description of that attack will state how to properly position the Blast Marker or Teardrop Template, as well as how to alter its position due to Scattering or other movement that might occur.
To determine how many models are affected, simply hold the Blast Marker or Teardrop Template in place as immobile as possible, and count the number of Models underneath it (including Models only partially underneath!) This number is used for whatever Game Effect the Blast Marker or Teardrop Template was used for, be it Mortar, Flamethrower, or Battle Blessing.
SCATTER: Sometimes a Game Effect will call for an object to Scatter – this object can be anything from a Blast Marker, to a Model, to an entire Unit! When this occurs, follow this procedure:
1) Follow the Effect's instructions for how to place the Object.
2) Roll the Scatter Die, and the number of
D6 indicated by the Effect, to determine the direction and distance that your object must Scatter.
3) If a Hit! is rolled, normally the object is placed right where you've put it! Some Special Rules may interfere with this luck, however.
4) If an arrow is rolled, the object Scatters; it moves the indicated distance, ignoring intervening objects (unless otherwise stated).
5) Once the object has Scattered to its final position, resolve any additional Effects as a result of this Scatter.
VEHICLE PROFILES: WARGAME is home to all sorts of contraptions, ballistae, and other combat vehicles from every faction. To reflect the differences between creatures of flesh and blood and constructs, vehicles have many special rules that belong to them alone, which can be found in the Vehicles Section.
STATISTICS TESTS: During a battle, a Model might have to test one of its Statistics, normally its Strength, Durability, or Agility. For example, it might have to tests its
Ag to avoid being crushed in a Vehicle Wreck.
Situations that require Statistics Tests will have a number associated with them called a Target Score - In order to take the test, roll a number of
D6s specified by the test, and add the relevant Statistic. To succeed, your combined result must meet or beat the Target Score.
One thing to remember for Statistics Tests is that when a Model with a Statistic of 0 (or -) is called to make a Test on that Statistic, it always fails! Some Statstics Tests will have other Effects, which will be described by the Special Rules calling for them.
When an Effect calls for a Statistics Test to be made against an entire Unit, always use the highest value for that Statistic in the unit. It's assumed that the most suited for each task is there to lend a hand when needed!
MODELS WITH MULTIPLE PROFILES: When a Model has multiple values for a Statistic, it always takes Statistic Tests on the Highest value.
MODIFYING STATISTICS: Sometimes, Special Rules or Wargear will alter a Model's Statistics. One example is the Gauntlet of Power, which doubles its the Strength of a model who wields it – another is the Special Rule, Reckless Fury, which provides a set bonus to a Model's Strength, at the expense of its Combat Skill. Finally, there are Battle Powers, like Weaken, which set a Model's Strength directly to 1!
When applying modifiers to Statistics, or indeed, in general, follow the following rules:
1) Multiply first! Any Effects which Multiply a value are always applied immediately. Always round up unless a Rule specifies not to.
2) Add and Subtract! When multiple Effects grant positive and negative modifiers, they cancel each other out; only the remains of the largest modifier are left.
3) Finally, apply any Set Value modifiers, such as Weaken. Sometimes, there will be more than one Set Value wishing to apply to a Unit.
This is where Timing comes in – Once you've determined which Effects apply to each of the 3 steps above, The modifier applied Most Recently has priority in that step – it will be applied after all the others, and this will be the Effect we see used.
If two Effects are applied at the same time, the Active Player decides which Effect ultimately prevails. If, for some reason, this still doesn't resolve an issue, the modifier which is most beneficial to the affected Unit is applied.
If there's STILL any doubt as to which modifier is being used, simply Randomize between them.
Tests on Morale: Tests made on or against the Morale of a Model or Unit have many different names, as there are different ways to test a creature's resolve. These tests are explained in greater detail in the Morale section.
GENERAL VS. SPECIFIC: WARGAME is a game of allowance. The Rules enable your Models and Units to do things during the course of the game, such as Move and Shoot and Capture Objectives.
As such, there will occasionally be overlaps in the Rules, where it seems that a Model can or can't do something that might seem odd, or counter-intuitive.
When this is the case, remember that Specific Trumps General – If a Rule states that “Boys get Cake,” then all of your Boys will get Cake!
However, if the Rule states that “Good Boys get Cake”, then only the Boys you have that are Good get Cake – the rest are not entitled to any Cake because they do not meet the requirements for it.
Another, more counter-intuitive example of this is Shooting: Some Weapons may be able to Shoot Units their firers they can't see directly - Since the General rule is, “Units can't Damage Units they can't see,” even though there's a rule allowing these Weapons to Shoot them, they still won't Damage them without another supporting rule saying that they can.
To be fair, most of these Weapons will have such rules, but others might require Spotters and the like.
MAJOURITY STATISTICS: In some cases the majority of a certain Statistic in a Unit is used. If every Model in the Unit has the same value, the majority value is easy to determine – it's that value!
However, if the Unit consists of Models with different Statistics, an alternative must be used
- If at least half of the Unit’s Models have an equal or better value than the worst value in the Unit, this value can be used as the majority value of the Unit. If there are several such values, the Player controlling that Unit can choose any of them.
For Example: An Elven Unit consists of three Treants, with Du 15 and one Tree Singer, with Du 4. All Models have Du 4 or better, and 3 out of 4 have Du 15 or better. Both Du values would be eligible to be the Majority value of the Unit. The controlling Player chooses Durability 15, as it makes the Unit much more resilient.
UNIT TYPES: The abilities of a Model are not only described by its profile but also by its Unit Type. Most notably the Unit Type of a Model tells you in which ways the Model is able to move. In addition, it assigns a number of special rules to the Model. The Unit Types are described in detail later.
LINE OF SIGHT: Line of Sight is primarily determined by your Model; Non-Vehicle Models are assumed to be agile enough to get a good view around them at all times, and as such can see in any direction, any time.
The easiest way to determine roughly what they can see is to close in on the Battlefield for a Model's-Eye view; using a camera phone or even simply poking your head close to the angle of the Model to get an idea of what's blocking your Model's sight.
This Line of Sight is used to determine what Units can claim Cover from Battlefield debris and obscuring ruins, as well as other intervening Models and Units. Note, however, that a Model's own Unit never counts as obstructing its Line of Sight in any way – treat them as if they were invisible for this purpose!
A Model is Obscured if at least 25% of its Body or Hull can't be seen due to anything in the way. A Unit is Obscured if at least 25% of the Models in that Unit are Obscured.
GAME TURNS AND ACTIONS: Everything a Model does on the Battlefield is part of an Action. Actions are split up between the four Phases – Beginning, Tactical, Combat, and Resolution. This cycle is called a Game Turn, and as you might have guessed, starts at the Beginning. Phases will be described in this section, along with the main Actions that can be performed in them.
At the start of the each Game Turn is the Beginning Phase, and at the start of the Beginning Phase, you determine the Active Player, who proceeds to interact with the game in a process called Activation.
Activation passes Clockwise from the Active Player – In games with many players, canny Players will often place themselves later in the queue of Active Players, in order to gain tactical information at the cost of their Units' well-being.
During Activation, the Active Player chooses one of their Units that hasn't been Activated yet in the current Phase, and performs any available Actions with it. Each Phase has a number of available Actions to choose from, and any Actions not listed here will have a Phase associated with them for clarity. Once a Unit has no more available actions, the next Player becomes Active Player.
In the Beginning Phase, there are very few Actions available to most Units; Units in Reserve can attempt to come in from Reserve, and Units on the field can Wait, or End their Activation. A list of Actions that Units can perform each Phase will follow this summary of each of the Phases.
In the Tactical Phase, the Active Player may Move, Run, Shoot, and perform actions that are variations of these, such as Ramming or Diving for Cover.
In the Combat Phase, the Active Player can declare an Assault, or fall back, or even resolve special attacks or abilities – like Overwatch or Bracing.
The Resolution Phase is special – it happens after each Activation, right in the middle of the other Phases. It lets Players keep their Units up to date as the Turn goes by. After each Activation, a Resolution Phase allows players to assess any Effects applied to their Units, such as from casualties or Special Rules. No Actions are taken in the Resolution Phases – each Player simply applies any effects that happen “Upon Resolution” in Activation order, and then the next Activation begins!
Exceptions: Sometimes a Player may wish for a slower Unit to Activate before their Units with higher Initiative; in this case, the slower Unit makes an Initiative Test with a Target Score equal to the Initiative of their fastest Unit.
Alternatively, any Unit may perform a Wait action. Units that Wait are Activated dead last – as if their Initiative was 0.
Phase Timing: There are a many things which can happen over the course of each Phase, and certain Actions, Rules, or Effects will refer to things happening at specific times – such as the Beginning, the Start, the End, etc. For our purposes, the Beginning and Start of a Phase are considered to be the same thing.
If various Effects, Rules, or Actions would happen in the same timing, the Active Player resolves them in this order:
1) Static Unit Abilities or Effects which are not Psychic*
2) Blessings and Maledictions
3) Other Psychic Powers
4) Units entering the Battlefield from Reserves
5) All other Actions
If there are multiple Actions, Rules, or Effects which fall under the same category, the Active Player dictates which one happens first.
*A Static Ability is something that happens autoamtically, all the time – things like Characteristics Profiles and Special Rules that provide bonuses all the time are Static Abilities and Effects.
ACTIONS: Actions describe most of the activity your Units will be performing – whether they're Shooting or Falling Back. Actions are presented in the following format:
ACTION NAME
Phase: Which Phases this Action is available in. Members: Determines whether individual Models, or entire Units perform this Action.
Restrictions: All Members wishing to perform this action must not be affected by these restrictions.
Details: The rest of the Action's Details are described.
THE BEGINNING PHASE: The first thing Players do each Beginning Phase is Roll-Off. The victor of this Roll-Off chooses who will be the first Active Player during this Game Turn. The Beginning Phase provides the following Actions: End, Regroup, Reserves, Wait. Certain Special Rules and Unit Types will grant other Actions during the Beginning Phase.
END
Phase: Any Members: Entire Unit
Restrictions: None
Details: The Unit finishes its current Activation, and may perform no more Voluntary Actions this Phase
REGROUP
Phase: Beginning Members: Entire Unit
Restrictions: If Unit Morale is Broken, at least 25% of the Unit's original size must still be alive.
Details: The Unit immediately takes a Morale Check to remove Suppression.
RESERVES
Phase: Beginning Members: Entire Unit
Restrictions: Must be a Unit in Reserves
Details: The Unit enters the Battlefield according to its Reserves Type. It counts as having already Moved in the proceeding Phases.
WAIT
Phase: Any Members: Entire Unit
Restrictions: The Unit must not be Falling Back, Pinned, or have taken any other Actions yet this Phase
Details: The Unit takes the rest of its Actions at Initiative 0 this Phase
Explaining the Terms: Some of the terms above are new. Morale Checks, Reserves, Suppression Modifiers, Voluntary Actions – these have yet to be explained. After each Phase's description and Actions, we'll explain any new terms, or tell you where to find them.
Some of these terms have many of their own Rules and Effects, or are more appropriately explained elsewhere. If this is the case, a short summary of the term will be provided here, along with a Hyperlink to where you can learn more.
(So far, this is all I have; I've got the basic of which actions I'd like to have in each phase, as well as a few units ported over for playtesting.)
BoardGameGeeks wrote:
Dylan Green
(Jackhalfaprayer)
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Total shooting from the hip here:
What if there were a menu of morale failure effects that could happen to your units. Maybe it's on your faction's play-sheet. Maybe it's on the back of the unit card. A roll of the dice (I would recommend using the same core mechanic as you do for everything else) answers the question "Does this guy chicken out and panic" and, depending on how the roll went the "attacker" (The big scary space bug who is doing the frightening) would get to pick what the result was. If it was a mixed result, the defender (the noble space marine) could "reserve" an option (take it "off the table" for this exchange), and then the Space bug could choose one. If the defender won the roll, maybe he would have a "rally" effect that could come into play.
That's kinda messy... Let me try to explain it this way.
RUN COWARD!
When you want to frighten your enemy roll 2D6 + your SCARY - Target's BRAVE. On a 10+ pick 2. On a 7-9 Target removes an option and you pick 1. On a 6- Target may use it's Rally Action.
*Target cannot move.
*Target cannot attack.
*Target suffer DEFENSE -X
*Target cannot offer support fire
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Posted Today 2:58 pm
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Chris Mazur
(Chrisrawr)
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That's actually really nice; That way I could list all the common morale effects in the core rules, and simply state "Your Unit's Morale Type will tell you which ones to use."
With this, you can also have the modifiers all start really small, such as "Target's movement is reduced by 1" " instead of "target cannot move", and as more and more SCARY effects stack onto a unit (as it fails to rally and such), that unit becomes less and less useful.
So to run with your example,
RUN COWARD!
Your enemy is afraid of your attack! Enemies are afraid of attacks that hurt them (deal unsaved damage). Roll 2D6 + (SCARY modifier based on total damage done), and apply a number of effects to suppress your opponent.
And then have options such as,
Opponent's Morale:
Poor (You gain 1 SCARY if your roll is 7 or better, and another SCARY for each 2 your roll exceeds 7).
Average (You gain 1 SCARY if your roll is 8 or better, and another SCARY for each 3 your roll exceeds 8.
and so on; and then the Morale Types would list effects that you can spend SCARY on. Opponents then make Morale Checks of exactly the same type, with the modifiers switched - the better a unit's morale, the easier it removes scary effects.
I'll tool around with a few of these!
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