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More on "War on Terror: The Game"
16 years ago
I figured attacks would be resolved by rolling a d20 - an icosahedron, for you folks who like maths. Your chance to use one model to attack another - rather, the chance that such an attack will hit is resolved as 1 - (1/skill). So a trooper who has a ballistics skill of 4 will hit, on average, three quarters of the time. However, the lower end of the scale of ballistic skill is not "4, 3, 2, 1, 0", because that would mean a BS of 1 is an automatic miss and a BS of 0 is division by zero. Rather, any model with BS 1 hits by rolling a 16 or higher (without modifiers). A model with BS 0 may never fire a ranged weapon that rolls to hit. So thus the bottom of the scale is really more like "4, 3, 2, 4/3, 1".
Anyway, a model hidden behind trees or bushes or sand dunes or whatever would be able to take protection from cover and concealment (hereafter just referred to as cover), based on the density and complexity of the terrain. Thick bushes or other visually solid objects intervening might apply a -6 modifier to the to-hit roll; tank traps or building corners, -5; woods, -4; rail fencing, -3; etc. However, a natural 20 on the to-hit rolls is an automatic hit. Also, models equipped with certain gear may be able to ignore or reduce the effects of cover. For example, in Twilight conditions, when a Flare gun is fired over the battlefield, attacks made on models within 12" of the Flare receive a +3 modifier to their to-hit rolls. Thermal Imaging gear also allows an attacking model to minimize cover saves in low-light conditions; and certain weapons, such as Ordnance or Incendiary weapons, never allow cover saves in any case.
Rolls to hit in close combat work similarly, except that for each attack, two dice are rolled: one by the attacking player, one by the defender. The attacker rolls to hit based on skill; then the defender rolls, and if the defender's roll is greater than the attacker's roll, the attack fails. If the defender rolls twice the attacker's roll or higher, or rolls a natural 20, the attacker is struck by his own attack! Also, most armor provides even less protection against hand-to-hand attacks than it does against shooting attacks. Special case: powered armor still gets a fairly good armor save against hand-to-hand attacks. A model wearing plate armor can only be saved by a pretty high armor roll, and a model wearing flak armor or no armor may never take a saving roll against close combat attacks. Most models are not very effective at hand-to-hand range, so it is in your interest to avoid this at all costs.
Then for wounding, attacks with special properties notwithstanding, you'd roll Strength against Resilience. Foot soldiers will have a very low Resilience, of course, where monsters will have higher Resilience, and heavy armored vehicles' Resilience will be very high.
For infantry or creature models, compare the Strength of the attack and the Resilience of the target. The difference (Str - Res) is applied as a modifier to the to-wound roll. Hence, a Str 4 attack (a rifle, let's say) on a normal human being (Res 4) will receive no modifiers; a Str 2 attack (a Talon submachine gun) against the same Res 4 individual would have a -2 modifier applied to its to-wound roll.
Then, for the actual roll, the attacker rolls a die. Let's say a trooper with a Talon has fired at another trooper with Resilience 4. Because the Talon is Str 2, a -2 modifier is incurred. The attacker rolls a d20 and adds the modifiers - let us say that the attacker has rolled a 10. Hence, the modifier makes this roll into an 8. Then the defender (owning the target model) rolls a d20. If the defender's roll is higher than the attacker's roll, no wound is applied. Otherwise, a wound is applied. (Makes sense, right?) If a wound is rolled, the defender then rolls for an armor save. However, a natural 20 on a to-wound roll is always an automatic wound, and never allows armor saves.
Most models will have only one or two Wounds, and when these are exhausted, the soldier represented by the model should be thought of as incapacitated or killed. The model should be removed from the game (barring certain special rules).
Of course, armor provides protection against certain attacks, as determined by an armor-piercing rating. For example, if a rifle is fired at a trooper wearing ballistic plates, there's a roughly 1/2 chance for the bullet to bounce. The same is true of a heavy machine-gun round fired at someone in powered armor - and against rifle bullets, powered armor protects against roughly three-quarters of attacks.
In essence: most attacks will have an AP rating, and all body armor has an AV rating. Shrapnel and handgun rounds have an AP of 2, rifles have an AP of 3, and machine guns have an AP of 5. Flak armor has an AV of 4, ballistic plate armor has an AV of 6, and powered armor has an AV of 10. If the AP of an attack is equal to or greater than the AV of the model's body armor, the armor is ignored. Otherwise, the armor save for that model requires merely a saving roll that beats the AP value of the weapon. Close-combat attacks are considered AP 6 unless otherwise specified.
That said: remember, rolling a natural 20 on the to-hit roll is an automatic hit, regardless of all other circumstances, and no saves may ever be rolled for non-vehicle models against a natural 20 on the to-wound roll. (This goes for close combat as well.)
Vehicles are somewhat of a special case, as their hulls tend to provide some protection against attacks that cannot be provided by infantry armor, even the best powered armor. Recall that vehicles have a Resilience rating, just like troops, right? Well, the thing is, most weapons will have to get through the armor before they can roll Str. vs Res. And there are different Armor Values (AV) on different parts of the vehicles.
Let's look at a relatively simple example, an M-113 APC. This is a medium-sized battle-taxi, with a dorsal heavy weapon mount and a hatch for the passengers to fire out of. The thickness of its hull makes it invulnerable to machine-gun fire. However, weapons whose AP is 8 or greater - such as portable autocannons, and nearly all anti-tank weapons - have a chance to do damage. The attacker then rolls to do damage, by comparing the Strength value of the attacking weapon to the Resilience value of the M-113 - but the difference between AP and AV is added to the roll. That means an AP 8 attack against the front of the M-113 suffers a -7 modifier, making it considerably less likely to actually do damage. If, however, the APC's front armor were hit by a hypervelocity gun - AP 20 - the damage roll would receive a +5 modifier.
Damage to a vehicle is handled differently, as well. Instead of taking Wounds, if a damaging hit is inflicted, the attacker rolls a d6 to see what happens.
1: Nothing happens. The shot passes through the hull but fails to do any damage.
2: The crew is stunned by the attack. The vehicle may not move or fire any weapons during the next turn.
3-4: Critical internal systems take damage. On a 3, the owner chooses which one; on a 4, the attacker chooses.
5: Critical internal systems fail completely. The vehicle must be abandoned, and will remain more-or-less in place until the end of the game. If the crew can dismount, they do so, and remain on foot until the end of the game.
6: Critical internal systems fail catastrophically. At this point, you should flip a coin. If it comes up tails, the vehicle has become a firestorm. Anyone near it, as well as any crew members attempting to escape, take a Strength 4, AP 5 hit (fire ignores body armor), and this hazard remains until the end of the game. Furthermore, it counts as a Flare and defeats cover saves. If the coin comes up heads, the vehicle is annihilated in a massive explosion - nobody gets out alive, and anyone standing next to it is shredded instantly. Remove the vehicle from the board; if possible, replace it with a crater or other marker to indicate broken ground.
Due to the great bulk of armored vehicles, their cover saves are limited to anything that obscures at least half of the hull.
Let's see... what am I missing?
Oh yeah. Umm. Portable weapons come in three different categories: Assault, Rapid-Fire and Heavy. Assault weapons may always be fired; Rapid-Fire weapons fire fewer shots to full range, or the same number at half-range, when their bearers have moved in their turn's movement phase; and Heavy weapons may not be fired at all if their bearers have moved (barring special rules). If the models have run, no weapons may be fired.
On vehicles, though, Heavy weapons may always fire - if the vehicle has moved, treat the Heavy weapon as a Rapid-Fire weapon. In addition, vehicles can carry the largest class of weapons, called Ordnance. By default, Ordnance weapons cannot be fired in the same turn that the vehicle has moved, because they require careful aiming due to their relatively scarce ammunition. However, if the vehicle has an FCS (fire-control system), it may move and fire, including Ordnance weapons. The FCS also adds a +3 modifier to to-hit rolls using the Ordnance weapon or coaxial weapons, so it's probably worth the points.
Some Ordnance weapons can also be served by infantry crews, but these guns are immobile - they're simply too big to be manhandled. An FCS in this case simply improves the accuracy of the weapon. Treat these guns as vehicle models with Res 6, AV 4 for purposes of being shot at; a "Crew stunned" result means the gun may not be fired that turn because the crew have taken cover from the incoming fire. Any roll greater than 2 on the damage table means the gun is destroyed.
Such a gun requires that there be at least two crew members to fire it; if the crew is reduced to one model plus the gun itself, consider the gun destroyed and let the trooper fight on independently from it.
Anyway, a model hidden behind trees or bushes or sand dunes or whatever would be able to take protection from cover and concealment (hereafter just referred to as cover), based on the density and complexity of the terrain. Thick bushes or other visually solid objects intervening might apply a -6 modifier to the to-hit roll; tank traps or building corners, -5; woods, -4; rail fencing, -3; etc. However, a natural 20 on the to-hit rolls is an automatic hit. Also, models equipped with certain gear may be able to ignore or reduce the effects of cover. For example, in Twilight conditions, when a Flare gun is fired over the battlefield, attacks made on models within 12" of the Flare receive a +3 modifier to their to-hit rolls. Thermal Imaging gear also allows an attacking model to minimize cover saves in low-light conditions; and certain weapons, such as Ordnance or Incendiary weapons, never allow cover saves in any case.
Rolls to hit in close combat work similarly, except that for each attack, two dice are rolled: one by the attacking player, one by the defender. The attacker rolls to hit based on skill; then the defender rolls, and if the defender's roll is greater than the attacker's roll, the attack fails. If the defender rolls twice the attacker's roll or higher, or rolls a natural 20, the attacker is struck by his own attack! Also, most armor provides even less protection against hand-to-hand attacks than it does against shooting attacks. Special case: powered armor still gets a fairly good armor save against hand-to-hand attacks. A model wearing plate armor can only be saved by a pretty high armor roll, and a model wearing flak armor or no armor may never take a saving roll against close combat attacks. Most models are not very effective at hand-to-hand range, so it is in your interest to avoid this at all costs.
Then for wounding, attacks with special properties notwithstanding, you'd roll Strength against Resilience. Foot soldiers will have a very low Resilience, of course, where monsters will have higher Resilience, and heavy armored vehicles' Resilience will be very high.
For infantry or creature models, compare the Strength of the attack and the Resilience of the target. The difference (Str - Res) is applied as a modifier to the to-wound roll. Hence, a Str 4 attack (a rifle, let's say) on a normal human being (Res 4) will receive no modifiers; a Str 2 attack (a Talon submachine gun) against the same Res 4 individual would have a -2 modifier applied to its to-wound roll.
Then, for the actual roll, the attacker rolls a die. Let's say a trooper with a Talon has fired at another trooper with Resilience 4. Because the Talon is Str 2, a -2 modifier is incurred. The attacker rolls a d20 and adds the modifiers - let us say that the attacker has rolled a 10. Hence, the modifier makes this roll into an 8. Then the defender (owning the target model) rolls a d20. If the defender's roll is higher than the attacker's roll, no wound is applied. Otherwise, a wound is applied. (Makes sense, right?) If a wound is rolled, the defender then rolls for an armor save. However, a natural 20 on a to-wound roll is always an automatic wound, and never allows armor saves.
Most models will have only one or two Wounds, and when these are exhausted, the soldier represented by the model should be thought of as incapacitated or killed. The model should be removed from the game (barring certain special rules).
Of course, armor provides protection against certain attacks, as determined by an armor-piercing rating. For example, if a rifle is fired at a trooper wearing ballistic plates, there's a roughly 1/2 chance for the bullet to bounce. The same is true of a heavy machine-gun round fired at someone in powered armor - and against rifle bullets, powered armor protects against roughly three-quarters of attacks.
In essence: most attacks will have an AP rating, and all body armor has an AV rating. Shrapnel and handgun rounds have an AP of 2, rifles have an AP of 3, and machine guns have an AP of 5. Flak armor has an AV of 4, ballistic plate armor has an AV of 6, and powered armor has an AV of 10. If the AP of an attack is equal to or greater than the AV of the model's body armor, the armor is ignored. Otherwise, the armor save for that model requires merely a saving roll that beats the AP value of the weapon. Close-combat attacks are considered AP 6 unless otherwise specified.
That said: remember, rolling a natural 20 on the to-hit roll is an automatic hit, regardless of all other circumstances, and no saves may ever be rolled for non-vehicle models against a natural 20 on the to-wound roll. (This goes for close combat as well.)
Vehicles are somewhat of a special case, as their hulls tend to provide some protection against attacks that cannot be provided by infantry armor, even the best powered armor. Recall that vehicles have a Resilience rating, just like troops, right? Well, the thing is, most weapons will have to get through the armor before they can roll Str. vs Res. And there are different Armor Values (AV) on different parts of the vehicles.
Let's look at a relatively simple example, an M-113 APC. This is a medium-sized battle-taxi, with a dorsal heavy weapon mount and a hatch for the passengers to fire out of. The thickness of its hull makes it invulnerable to machine-gun fire. However, weapons whose AP is 8 or greater - such as portable autocannons, and nearly all anti-tank weapons - have a chance to do damage. The attacker then rolls to do damage, by comparing the Strength value of the attacking weapon to the Resilience value of the M-113 - but the difference between AP and AV is added to the roll. That means an AP 8 attack against the front of the M-113 suffers a -7 modifier, making it considerably less likely to actually do damage. If, however, the APC's front armor were hit by a hypervelocity gun - AP 20 - the damage roll would receive a +5 modifier.
Damage to a vehicle is handled differently, as well. Instead of taking Wounds, if a damaging hit is inflicted, the attacker rolls a d6 to see what happens.
1: Nothing happens. The shot passes through the hull but fails to do any damage.
2: The crew is stunned by the attack. The vehicle may not move or fire any weapons during the next turn.
3-4: Critical internal systems take damage. On a 3, the owner chooses which one; on a 4, the attacker chooses.
5: Critical internal systems fail completely. The vehicle must be abandoned, and will remain more-or-less in place until the end of the game. If the crew can dismount, they do so, and remain on foot until the end of the game.
6: Critical internal systems fail catastrophically. At this point, you should flip a coin. If it comes up tails, the vehicle has become a firestorm. Anyone near it, as well as any crew members attempting to escape, take a Strength 4, AP 5 hit (fire ignores body armor), and this hazard remains until the end of the game. Furthermore, it counts as a Flare and defeats cover saves. If the coin comes up heads, the vehicle is annihilated in a massive explosion - nobody gets out alive, and anyone standing next to it is shredded instantly. Remove the vehicle from the board; if possible, replace it with a crater or other marker to indicate broken ground.
Due to the great bulk of armored vehicles, their cover saves are limited to anything that obscures at least half of the hull.
Let's see... what am I missing?
Oh yeah. Umm. Portable weapons come in three different categories: Assault, Rapid-Fire and Heavy. Assault weapons may always be fired; Rapid-Fire weapons fire fewer shots to full range, or the same number at half-range, when their bearers have moved in their turn's movement phase; and Heavy weapons may not be fired at all if their bearers have moved (barring special rules). If the models have run, no weapons may be fired.
On vehicles, though, Heavy weapons may always fire - if the vehicle has moved, treat the Heavy weapon as a Rapid-Fire weapon. In addition, vehicles can carry the largest class of weapons, called Ordnance. By default, Ordnance weapons cannot be fired in the same turn that the vehicle has moved, because they require careful aiming due to their relatively scarce ammunition. However, if the vehicle has an FCS (fire-control system), it may move and fire, including Ordnance weapons. The FCS also adds a +3 modifier to to-hit rolls using the Ordnance weapon or coaxial weapons, so it's probably worth the points.
Some Ordnance weapons can also be served by infantry crews, but these guns are immobile - they're simply too big to be manhandled. An FCS in this case simply improves the accuracy of the weapon. Treat these guns as vehicle models with Res 6, AV 4 for purposes of being shot at; a "Crew stunned" result means the gun may not be fired that turn because the crew have taken cover from the incoming fire. Any roll greater than 2 on the damage table means the gun is destroyed.
Such a gun requires that there be at least two crew members to fire it; if the crew is reduced to one model plus the gun itself, consider the gun destroyed and let the trooper fight on independently from it.
Have you ever looked at Infinity (www.infinitythegame.com)? They have some pretty wicked rules involving the d20 that you can download for free.
My main problem is that if you're using 40k rules, those rules were built around the d6, the only die that (as far as I know) was needed to play the game itself. Using d6 rules on a d20 game can be a bit confusing in itself, but then there's the idea that one would have to use a d20 and a d6 to play. I personally would either make rules that are a bit more toward one set of polyhedron or another. Other than that, things look okay.
Honestly I see it as an improvement on 40k, just a few details don't rub me right. Overall, not bad.