The 2nd edition of the Maelstrom’s Edge rulebook is on its way, and we're offering a sneak preview in the form of a downloadable Beta version of the rules. You can find the link at the end of this article, but you’re probably wondering: what’s changed? Is it a totally new game or just a sprucing up of the v1 rules? The answer is: a little bit of both.



If you’re a big fan of the v1 rules, then you’ll be pleased to know that the core pillars that comprise Maelstrom’s Edge are not only still there, but have been strengthened. It’s still an alternating activation, squad-based “skirmish” game (aka focused on small squads of 1-6 models) that features 6-sided dice (D6), multi-tiered mission objectives, a suppression mechanic, the ability to bring back destroyed units as reinforcements and a regenerating command point system that can be used for a variety of tactical functions.



If, on the other hand, you’re someone that liked the overall concept of the original Maelstrom’s Edge rules, but you thought that the rules were a little too fiddly, then we also have great news for you! The v2 rules have been totally re-written and highly streamlined: they are a good 30% shorter than the v1 rules as a result. While the v2 rules are undeniably simpler, they’ve also gotten more complex where it counts: giving you tons of new tactical decisions to make with your units during the game. On top of that, the dice rolling “engine” now feels really fresh: each round of shooting keeps both players involved rolling dice and utilizes a “dice flip” mechanic that adds an element of bad luck protection right into the core of the game.



Let’s run through some highlights of the major v2 changes:











SIMPLIFIED UNIT ACTIONS



The largest change in v2 is how unit actions work. The activation test is gone and a unit can now perform up to 3 actions, selected from: movement actions (Move, Dash, Charge), status actions (Aim, On the Move, Take Cover) and shooting actions (Fire, Suppressive Fire, CQ Fighting). While there are some additional caveats to this system (a unit can perform a maximum of only 1 movement and 1 shooting action per activation, for example), we’ve found during playtesting that by splitting the action rules into these smaller “bite-sized” chunks, it makes the whole system much easier to remember. In addition, decoupling movement, shooting and status rules from each other now gives players several new combinations of what to do with their units when they activate them.



SUPPRESSION THAT MATTERS



In v2, suppression is both much simplified and also a whole heck of a lot more deadly. Instead of utilizing tons of suppression tokens, each unit only has 6 suppression levels (which can be conveniently tracked with a D6 next to the unit). Not only does suppression still degrade a unit’s shooting and their ability to benefit from cover, but each time a unit already at max suppression is called upon to raise their suppression level again, one model in the unit instead suffers an injury (which is fatal for most standard infantry in the game). This means it is now entirely possible to ”suppress” an enemy unit to death, representing them fleeing from the battlefield due to the hail of firepower coming their way. This makes the new Suppressive Fire action (which trades-in a shooting unit’s ability to cause damage for a boosted ability to cause suppression) a deadly tool in certain situations.











A NEW DICE ENGINE



The new dice rolling engine in v2 is quite unique, but still based exclusively on 6-sided dice that most players prefer. It is both simple enough to quickly understand, yet nuanced enough to offer: built-in bad luck protection, having both players involved with each round of shooting and tactical player choice within the dice rolling process. Most importantly, when units shoot at each other, the amount of damage they cause now just feels right.



So how does the new system work? As a firing player, all you have to do is look to equal or beat the target’s Evasion characteristic (EVS) with your D6 rolls. For example, if the target has an EVS 4 (the standard EVS of most infantry units), you’d need results of 4-6 to successfully hit them. In addition, as the firing player you get to influence these results by making a number of “dice flips” (changing the result of rolls in your favor) up to the Skill characteristic (SKL) of your firing unit. For example, if your firing unit was SKL 3, you could add +3 to a single roll, +1 to 3 different rolls, or anywhere else in between. Where things really get interesting is that results of ‘1’ and ‘6’ are “critical” results. A “critical hit” (a hit roll result of ‘6’) provides that shot with extra lethality. But it also takes 2 dice flips to change a non-critical result into a critical result (a ‘5’ result into a ‘6’). This means sometimes you have to decide whether using 2 dice flips to change a single ‘5’ result into a critical hit will be more beneficial than just using those same dice flips to score two more standard hits.



And of course, once the firing player has determined how many hits they’ve scored on the target, the defending player gets to make an armor roll against each hit, looking to equal or exceed the Penetration characteristic (PEN) of the firing weapon. Similarly, the defending player gets to influence the results of these rolls with a number of dice flips equal to the Armor characteristic (AV) of their models.



FEWER SPECIAL RULES
With v2, we’ve realized that adding back a few more characteristics to the model/weapon profile means a big reduction in the amount of special abilities in the game. Plus, the abilities we have kept have been greatly simplified, all with the end goal of making each unit’s full rules (including all the text for their unit and weapon abilities) fit onto just a single page.



Here’s a quick rundown of the “new” model & weapon characteristics in v2:

• The model profile has lost its Mass characteristic (MAS), but has gained the Close Quarters Attacks characteristic (CQA) instead, rectifying the biggest point of negative feedback we got about the v1 rules: the much maligned ‘formula’ that was necessary to determine how many melee shots a model was able to make.


• The weapon profile has gained a Suppression characteristic (SUP), which is utilized when the unit makes a Suppressive Fire action.


• The weapon profile has gained a Weapon Type characteristic (TYPE), which helps set apart the archetypal weapon rules (like “AoE”, “Heavy” or “Short Ranged”) from true weapon special abilities.

MORE LETHALITY



One goal of the v2 rules has been to improve the level of lethality in the game. Allowing massive amounts of suppression to inflict damage to a unit was a good first step, but the real key to this change has been the removal of the Mass characteristic (MAS) from the model profile. Now, each point of damage a model suffers just reduces their Fortitude (FOR) characteristic by 1 (and when a model reaches 0 FOR, it is a casualty). The vast majority of standard infantry models only have FOR 1, which means that any hit which gets through their armor will cause a casualty. While this doesn’t suddenly mean that models are now dying in droves in v2, we can safely say that you will notice and appreciate the increase in lethality in the game. You’ll definitely want to start using the reinforcement rules more often to bring back your destroyed units!



QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS



The v2 rules are chock full of little improvements that make the game feel way better overall. Here’s a taste of them:

• Command points no longer need to be allocated to command models. They just stay in your command point pool until you decide to use them.


• More command models have powerful abilities that cost command points to use, giving you further options for what to use your command points on (besides the mainstays of bringing back reinforcements and lowering suppression on your units). But don’t worry, we haven’t gone overboard and given every unit a Command Point based ability, these are still quite special.


• When moving your units, you now only have to bother measuring and moving the unit’s squad leader. The rest of the models are just placed in coherency (within 3” of the squad leader) after their squad leader has finished being moved. This dramatically speeds up the process of moving units.


• The v1 rules deliberately syphoned almost every non-damage effect down to just generating additional suppression, which made special abilities feel, well, not so special. With v2, we’ve expanded the range of what special abilities can do (and we’ll eventually be releasing a set of plastic tokens to help facilitate this). Be prepared to be able to set units on fire, slow them down, freeze them and confuse them, just to name a few options.


• To promote unit movement, defensive fire in v2 has been reduced to just protecting a unit from being charged or shot by a hit and run attack. This means units equipped with Short Ranged weaponry can finally shine, being able to run up to enemy units and blast them at point blank range without fear of being decimated first.


• The way mission objectives generate victory points (VPs) has been simplified, making it much easier to calculate how many VPs you’ve earned at the end of each turn. In addition, the margin you need to be ahead of your opponent to end the game immediately has been widened for all missions, now requiring a +5 VP margin. This gives a little more breathing room for close games to go the distance while still allowing for blowouts to end without one player having to bite the bullet and concede.


• There are now 18 types of mission objectives (up from 12) and 6 different deployment maps (up from 2). There are also now 12 competitive missions and 6 narrative missions included with the core rulebook (up from 6 & 0 respectively). All this means there is now a whole lot more mission variety in v2!


• There is a fun new objective marker placement rule forcing you to place objective markers in the opposing half of the table (and your opponent is bound by the same rule). This helps create tense, interesting games where both sides are fighting over objective markers clustered near the centerline of the table, as opposed to one player getting lucky and having one random objective marker near their deployment zone granting them an easy victory.

IN CONCLUSION



As you can see, the new rules for Maelstrom’s Edge are chock full of improvements...and none of what we’ve presented above even covers the massive rules re-work we’ve done for every single unit in the game. Their rules are both far more streamlined but also laser-focused on allowing them to perform exactly how they’re supposed to.
It’s been an extremely long time coming, but we can’t wait for you to try out the new rules and let us know what you think!



The new rulebook will be coming along (hopefully!) in the first half of 2022, but you can get a headstart on the V2 ruleset by downloading a Beta version of the rules here. The Beta rules documents contains all of the rules for playing the game, but keep in mind that these are just 'preview' documents - some rules may be revised based on feedback, and the final layout including background material for the factions and the Maelstrom's Edge universe, artwork and other 'flavor' material is missing.



If you have any thoughts on the new rules, you can chime in here, or pop on over to the Comm Guild Facebook group. We welcome any feedback, and would love to hear how everyone's forces stack up in the new rules!

Well, with 2021 consigned to the scrapbook, it's time to look ahead at what the coming year will bring. We have a bunch of new stuff in the works, which we're really looking forward to showing off. So to get things started, here's a sneak peek at just some of the models in the production queue!











Along with the host of new models, there is also the ongoing Beta testing for the second edition of the Maelstrom's Edge rules. If you missed the announcement just before Christmas, you can find out about some of the changes and download a copy of the Beta rules, including force lists for all four current factions, from the article here.






Start building your 2nd edition force by heading over to the webstore here.






Then make sure you share your models, terrain and game reports in the Maelstrom's Edge section here on Dakka, or on the Comm Guild Facebook group!

With the second edition of Maelstrom's Edge on the way, some players have been asking how their existing forces will change in the new rules. So we thought it would be handy to put together some sample force lists to show what V2 forces might look like.











For this article, we're just looking at force composition, to compare force sizes with V1. We'll go into more detail on tactics and rules changes in future articles.



For the quick and dirty summary - most of the changes for force composition aren't huge. Forces are still built in the same manner as in V1, with a Command model for each detachment allowing you to make a number of unit selections from each of the different unit types - Core, Vanguard, Anvil and Hammer. Equipment selection is also mostly the same, although some options have been removed or changed slightly to fit with the new rules.



The biggest change is in the overall game size - in V1, the 'standard' game (the size game that we felt made for the best game experience) was 150 points, while in V2 this has been brought down to 120 points. Some tweaking of the individual unit costs across most factions, however, means that the actual size of the forces on the table potentially won't change a lot. See the below Epirian and Karist lists as an example:









Both of these lists are based on the 150 point V1 lists currently shown in the Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website, built from the original plastic models available to these factions. For the Epirians, removing a unit of Fireflies and swapping out the 1st Detachment Hunter's Cluster Missile Pod for a Strike Missile brings the force in at 119 points. The Karists received some more substantial points drops, and so their force list just gains two more Coriolis launchers on the Tempest Elites to switch from the 150 point V1 list to the 120 point V2.









To balance out their power level a little against the other factions, the Broken didn't receive quite as many points deductions and so their forces may wind up a little smaller in model count for V2. The below list is based on the 120 point V1 'all plastic' Broken list, assembled using just plastic Broken Infantry kits. It needed only a few minor equipment tweaks to fit neatly into the new 120 point limit.















These points changes mean that Broken forces remain significantly 'hordey' while not needing to collect quite as many models to put together a standard force.



Finally the Remnant, who came in a little later in the piece, and just needed a little rebalancing. The below 120 point list would clock in at 137 points in V1, so if you were using a 150 point Fire Team in V1 you may need to tweak some gear options or drop a rookie from your lineup to fit into the new points limit. If you were previously playing 120 point games, you may just need to add another couple of equipment options onto your suits, or consider upgrading a rookie to a full-fledged champion by removing his Mark of the Initiate:









Of course, building a list is one thing, but we also need to see how these play on the table! Stay tuned - Iain is putting together a new Epirian force based on the 120 point list above, and is looking forward to getting them into the action. Stay tuned!












Meanwhile, if you haven't already, check out the Beta version of the V2 rules, which you can download from the Trial Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here. The Beta rules documents contain all of the rules for playing V2 games, but keep in mind that these are just 'preview' documents - some rules may be revised based on feedback, and the final layout including background material for the factions and the Maelstrom's Edge universe, artwork and other 'flavor' material is missing.



If you have any thoughts on the new rules, pop on over to the Comm Guild Facebook group, or start up a thread in the Maelstrom's Edge section on the Dakka Dakka forums. We welcome any feedback, and would love to hear how everyone's forces stack up in the new rules!

Over the last little while, we've been running through a series of articles on the Comm Guild Blog looking at different aspects of the V2 rules for Maelstrom's Edge. This week, we're casting our eyes towards the Line of Sight rules!



In order to shoot at an enemy, a unit generally needs to be able to see it. Maelstrom's Edge uses simple rules to establish whether or not an enemy is a valid target. Read on for details!









CHECKING LINE OF SIGHT



Maelstrom's Edge uses a model's eye view for determining line of sight. This means checking from behind and just above the model to check if they could see their target. If you can see any part of the enemy unit, then you have line of sight to them. For units of more than one model, line of sight is only checked from the squad leader, as they direct the shooting of the rest of the unit. This helps to speed up gameplay - having to check from each individual model in the unit can get a little tedious. If the squad leader can see the enemy, then the whole unit has line of sight.







A Broken Sniper draws a bead on a squad of Epirian SecDef troops.




WIDE OPEN SHOTS



Generally on a battlefield, troops aren't actually just standing around in funky action poses waiting for their turn to move. With this in mind, Maelstrom's Edge assumes that models are making use of whatever cover is around them, and this is factored in to the Skill and Evasion stats that are used to resolve shooting attacks. (Check out the Sample Unit Activation article for more details on how that works!)



Sometimes, though, a unit will be caught completely in the open, and this can give an attacking enemy a boost to their shooting. Attacking units gain a +2 bonus to their Skill for that round of shooting if their target is completely visible, without being even partially obscured by intervening terrain or other models. This Wide Open Shot bonus can be negated by certain unit actions, however - units that are On The Move or Taking Cover will not confer the bonus. (See the Unit Actions article for details on what those actions do for your units!)







A Karist Alessi Novitiate gets a little caught up in the moment and breaks cover.



TAKING COVER



As mentioned above, units are generally assumed to be making use of whatever cover is available as they move. They also have the option of using the Taking Cover status action to maximise this protection by huddling up against obstacles or going prone in more open ground. This doesn't affect line of sight or attack resolution, but does give them a bonus to their defense before rolling for armor. We'll go into this in more detail in a future article.







A Remnant Longshot takes cover on the roof, waiting patiently for a target to present itself.






Check out the Beta version of the V2 rules, which you can download from the Trial Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here. The Beta rules documents contain all of the rules for playing V2 games, but keep in mind that these are just 'preview' documents - some rules may be revised based on feedback, and the final layout including background material for the factions and the Maelstrom's Edge universe, artwork and other 'flavor' material is missing.



If you have any thoughts on the new rules, pop on over to the Comm Guild Facebook group or the Maelstrom's Edge section here on Dakka. We welcome any feedback, and would love to hear how the new rules are working out for you!

As units come under fire, their ability to function effectively on the battlefield can be degraded. In games of Maelstrom's Edge, this is represented by Suppression. In V1, Suppression didn't wind up having a large enough impact on the game, as it primarily just affected whether your unit could behave normally, or had to take some pre-determined actions. In V2, we wanted Suppression to directly impact units without railroading them into specific behaviour. Read on to see how this worked out!









In Maelstrom's Edge V2, a unit’s suppression level starts at level 0, and can be raised to a maximum of 6. A unit's suppression level is raised due to various in-game effects, but the most common is from enemy units shooting at them - being hit by incoming fire will raise the unit's suppression level by one point, and if the unit suffers any casualties from that attack their suppression level goes up an additional point.









While a unit is suppressed, their ability to function effectively on the battlefield is degraded. The unit's SKL (used for making attacks) is reduced by -1 for each suppression level it currently has, and if this lowers their Skill (SKL) far enough they also start to reduce the number of shots they can make. The suppressed unit's ability to make use of available cover is also impacted, with the value of their cover reduced by -1 for each suppression level. Units can attempt to 'shake off' a level of suppression at the end of their activation by testing against their Willpower (WP). Alternatively, if they are in cover and did not shoot during their activation they can instead 'regroup' to lower their suppression back down to 0.









It pays to keep your units' suppression under control, as aside from the reduction on their shooting and cover, anytime a unit which is at the maximum suppression level (6) is required to further raise its suppression level, one model in the unit instead suffers an automatic injury. This means that even if your units have a tough time damaging the enemy, you can eventually whittle them down if you can throw enough bullets at them! To assist in this, attacking units can opt for a Suppressive Fire action instead of regular shooting. Suppressive Fire doesn't cause any direct damage but potentially raises the targets suppression level much faster than regular shooting - we'll cover exactly how that works in a future article.












For more information on unit activations in Maelstrom's Edge V2, check out the rules article page here, or grab the Beta PDF version of the V2 rules from the Trial Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here. The Beta rules documents contain all of the rules for playing V2 games, but keep in mind that these are just 'preview' documents - some rules may be revised based on feedback, and the final layout including background material for the factions and the Maelstrom's Edge universe, artwork and other 'flavor' material is missing.



If you have any thoughts on the new rules, pop on over to the Comm Guild Facebook group, or the Maelstrom's Edge section here on the Dakka Dakka forums. We welcome any feedback, and would love to hear how everyone's forces stack up in the new rules!