Information and Directions for Travellers of Eutheria
By Mariana Storke
Axony, 1824 AF
On the Lamb Games wrote:Brushfire is a skirmish war game in which animals fill the role of historical parodies. The Badgers of Aquitar, the Reptiles of Scyzantium, and the Dogs of Axony fight across the world in 19th Century warfare. This fast and easy war game plays great with between 10 and 50 models. Special rules for each soldier, heroes that level up, and a deep campaign system provide more content for players looking for a unique tabletop game.
The background is rich with historical stories that relate to our own modern history. In the world of Brushfire, humans never evolved, instead animals proceeded to gain human levels of intellect, eventually building societies and expanding over the continents. The year is 1825
AF (After Foundation), and the world is beginning to see how big it truly is, with each of the different countries and empires expanding their borders. Smack dab in their own Age of Imperialism, it is an ever changing time for the residents of the world, and with change comes conflict. So welcome to Brushfire, a game of parody, war, and cute hamsters with axes.
Useful Links for Beginners
Brushfire's Website - The website for all things Brushfire, news, painting articles, etc...
On the Lamb Games - The makers of Brushfire, On the Lamb Games. Here you can find information on their other games, such as Historia Rodentia, Endless Fantasy Tactics, and Legendary Realms
On the Lamb's Forums On the Lamb's forums, a small community. Any questions posed here should be pretty quick.
Historia Rodentia's Wiki - A wiki page written by
OTL that has information about major characters in the universe, as well as a brief timeline of modern history.
Brushfire's Quickstart Rules PDF
'Paperfire' paper cutouts for Brushfire PDF
Rulebook PDF
Mercenaries Rules PDF
Quick Rules Explanation
Dice:
The game uses several ten sided dice to determine the outcomes of attacks and abilities. When rolling the dice (
d10), a 1 is not an automatic miss, but the roll of a 10 (or 0 on some dice) is an automatic, critical hit.
Combat
In Brushfire, attacks are split into two different phases, the
Ranged Phase and the
Melee Phase. This means that a model can move, shoot, and attack in the same activation. To resolve an attack, the attacker rolls 1d10 per attack. This is not always 1 die, some models activate in units and others have multiple weapons. The Mole Tactician General has a sword and a pistol, which can be used in close combat. To make a melee or ranged attack, The attacker rolls 1d10 plus their relevant stat per attack during the activation, while the defender rolls a
Single d10 plus the relevant defensive stat.
Damage
To kill a model and remove it from play, you must apply damage to the model. After determining how many attacks hit, you stack the attacks against a single model. Starting with any model that has already been damaged, apply damage to that model's armor. Once the target no longer has armor, any remaining damage goes against the model's
Vitality. Armor returns to full at the end of an activation, so as a tip you must stack attacks from a unit, or have a single model chain attacks through the phases of activation (which will be discussed later).
Stacking and Combat Example: wrote:Three Mouse Conscripts attack with their 2 DE swords. Against a model with 2 Armor (AR), they deal 6 damage - 2 armor equalling 4 damage to the target's Vitality.
Attack Roll Over
When you succeed in killing a model and still have attacks left that have not done any damage, these attacks 'roll over' to the next eligible target. If this occurs during the
Tactical/Heroic or during the
Ranged Phase, then another model within the unit and within range of the attack takes the damage. If this occurs in the Melee Phase, then attacks can only 'roll over' to models that the attacker is in b2b with.
Phases of Play:
Brushfire uses an alternating activation sequence during play. Once the players determine who goes first via an initiative roll, the players take turns activating one model or unit at a time until every model on the board has been activated. Below you'll find brief overviews of each of the phases in Brushfire. For all of the rules, please see the full rulebook.
Squad Phase - Models of the same type and equipment (e.g Weasel Fusiliers w/Crossbows) that start within 3" of each other may activate as a squad, and are considered a squad after they activate for effect that apply to squads. You don't have to activate all of the similar models within 3" of each other, in fact you may want to split up groups activating as many or few models as you wish, or any number of models, up to 10. Remember, all models start in a squad in case they are attacked before they get a chance to activate, and you cannot have an activated model join another squad.
Movement Phase - After you select your squad, they can move across the table. There are two different types of moves, Walk and Rush. All members of the squad must choose the same type of movement.
Walk - May move their speed in inches in any direction
Rush - Models move up to double their Speed in distance, however you cannot add primary stats to rolls.
Tactical & Heroic Phase - Each hero that commands an army, and many of the elite soldiers under them. These models get special actions during their activation. Once during their action a hero may make a Tactical Action and a Heroic Action. Check the range if there is one listed. Remeber: If there no range is listed, the hero or exemplar may use it on any model that they have Line of Sight with. Some actions require a roll, remember that Tactical Actions require a
KE (Knowledge) roll and a Heroic Actions require a
CM (Charm) roll.
Tactical Actions - 1d10+
KE vs 1d10+
KE. These are special actions that might apply effects to a model, or make an attack without a weapon.
Heroic Actions - 1d10+
CM vs 1d10+
CM. These special actions are abilities that certain models that apply bonuses or effects to models under their command.
Ranged Phase - When you make a ranged attack roll, check line of sight. The only way to hide from ranged attacks in Brushfire is to duck down behind some cover. Attacks that are blocked by obstacles are said to not have Line of Sight and automatically fail. To make an attack, roll 1d10+GE(Grace) vs 1d10+
WS(Wits) to hit the targeted model. Ranged weapons can target a squad within the
RG (Range) listed on the weapon. If there are models in the targeted squad outside of the range of the nearest attacking model, these models cannot have damage applied to them. The attacking squad rolls for each attacker and the defending squad rolls once adding the most common
WS of the squad (If there is a tie, choose the highest
). Compare each attack to the
WS result. You can fire into close combat in Brushfire, but just be wared, if you miss the desired target, the attack will automatically hit the friendly squad. If there are multiple squads in b2b you may choose hot to allocate the damage.
Charge Phase & Reactions - To make a melee attack, you must have models in base-to-base(b2b) contact with their target. Every model has a 3 inch Charge range, that allows them to move up to that distance into base contact. This also means that charges aren't affected by movement penalties imposed by terrain. A model/squad can only charge if at least one model can make it into base to base. Any model that can't move into b2b can still move the charge distance (again, as long as you do complete the charge with at least 1 model). Charging models (those that end in b2b) get a +2MT(Might) bonus to their attacks.
Since warfare is fluid, models are always "moving around", and a model/squad being charged may make a Charge Reaction. If a squad hasn't activated and is not currently in b2b with something, they can activate immediately to react. If part of the squad is being charged, the defending player can choose to activate any number of models.
Counterattack - Defending models in b2b may attack after charging models finish their charge attacks.
Flee - Your defenders move full speed away from charging models. Charging models can move an additional 3 inches in an attempt to catch the fleeing models.
Counterfire - May attack the charging models with a ranged attack as though it was their normal Ranged Phase.
Brace - Gain an AR (Armor) bonus against attacks made in the following Melee Phase, and
AP is ignored, may only be used by models with shields.
Anti-Charge - Some weapons are tagged with Anti-Charge. These models may attack the charging models BEFORE the charging models and gain the +2MT bonus. Gain a bonus to
AP against charging Cavalry.
Melee Phase - Models may make melee attacks with their weapons against models they are b2b with. 1handed weapons may be paired with other 1handed weapons, and 2handed weapons will only be paired with themselves unless a model's stats say otherwise (Red Wu from Chugoku may pair a javelin or pike with a heater).
1d10+
MT vs 1d10+
WS.
Results Phase - Remove any deceased models, and then hand the activation over to the next player.
Army Construction:
While players are free to play at any resources and HLVL,
OTL recommends playing at 150 resources and 5 HLVL. With this in mind, I will be using this as the basis for Army Construction.
Building an army in Brushfire is different than other games. Brushfire contains three types of resources, Food, Lumber, and Gold. Food is the basic material with which you use to hire squads. Lumber and Gold are used for upgrades, exemplars, or used in addition to some units' Food costs. A resource limit is the highest number of
[i]each resource that you can take in an army. So in a 150 Resource game, an army may contain up to 150 Food, 150 Lumber, and 150 Gold.
There are several ways to go about building your army. The first is to decide on a faction, and Hero(es) to fill up your HLVL. Once that is done, some players like to use up all of their Food to get bodies on the table, while others like to outfit a squad and go from there. It really is up to you. Also remember that Mercenaries can be bought from other factions for a set Gold amount, and other armies have ways to turn 1 resource into another, allowing for all sorts of different styles of play!
Heroes - Heroes are the generals of your army, they cost 0 resources, and come with a set list of equipment that they gain based on their level. Brushfire provides you with the option of taking one of the many heroes and generals that walk across the world, or to create your own and blaze swaths of bloody conquest as you decimate your opponents. Once you've decided on a HLVL, you can allocate those levels however you wish. If you're playing at the recommended HLVL 5, then you can have any combination of heroes, as long as their levels equal 5. What this means is that if you're playing Aquitar, you can take any one of the named Heroes (generally HLVL 5), a HLVL 5 hero of your own, five HLVL 1 heroes, or any other combination that you can think of. Generic heroes also have the ability to upgrade their special abilities based on their level. Heroes can enter 1 rank of their talents per Hero Level, and at HLVL 5 they get a Boon rather than a 5th rank. So looking at Moleon II, he has 2 ranks in Endangered and 2 ranks in Entrenched, and his special boon is Stature (generic Mole Tacticians would choose from one of the boons listed under their entry). The make level any single hero can attain is HLVL 5.
Exemplars - Exemplars are more elite models or characters of the factions. Many of these are named characters like the Badger In the Iron Claws, or are a more advanced model in the army. Exemplars often attach themselves to a squad of their type, though they don't have to stay with that squad. They are not constrained by normal squad caps give bonuses to those models. Some non-unique exemplars are able to join squads and give some other support. Aquitar has a non-unique exemplar that can help keep models alive that you can attach to squads as you please.
Sample Army List: 150 Resources & HLVL 5
Hero - Moleon II, HLVL 5
Exemplars -
Badger in the Iron Claws
Marmot Medic
Grunts -
Weasel Fusiliers x5 w/ Rifles
Mongoose Legionnaires x10
Badger-At-Claws x5
Fortifications -
1 Trench
1 Gate
Selecting Models to Buy
The following list is to show what materials each model is made from.
Just remember, this is a draft and will be updated as I go along
Alf please do what thou wilt to this info to make it pretty.
