Hot rule on rule action!!!!

Hi all, having played quite a few games with the kids using a rule set of my own making and having a blast doing so,  i thought i would post the rules here on Wronghammer for those of you who want to try some simple games with your own kids or just want some rules that are so simple you can get a game done in less than an hour!. Now im not pretending to be an experienced writer of such things so they are written in what im going to lovingly call 'splurge' and may well require a degree of common sense and maybe a little house ruling to run depending on what you want to get from them but hey, i wrote them for a 6+ age range so they need to be somewhat 'loose'!. Also after writing the rules out i also realized the wall of text is a little...erm...bland....so i have got the camera out and made a few dioramas to break it up a bit.

BLOOD, GUTS AND SEVERED HEADS

(A wargame for all the family)

Note: These rules were developed (in the loosest sense!) using 20mm minis on a playing area of roughly 1 meter square, if you are using a different scale or size table you may want to tweak distances and ranges to fit your game.

Battle is joined!

(minis by Reaper, Mantic, Dark alliance, Mini art and Gripping Beast)

Forces

 Each player will require a force to play the game. A force consists of between around 20-40 minis organized into groups of troopers called units who move and fight together and single miniatures representing leaders or monsters. Units are made up of between 5 and 15 minis and leaders and monsters are always made up of just one mini (you could use a few minis on one base such as a chariot or similar). A force can be made up of any number of these in any combination. The only hard rule is every force has to have at least one leader.

Each unit is defined by 2 important pieces of information: Its movement type and weather its made up of light or heavy troops.

Movement types are Foot, Cavalry or fly. The type will dictate how far the troops move.

Light and Heavy refer to how the troops will react in a fight and how well they will cope with the stress of a battle. Light troops tend to be lightly armored and irregular, Heavy troops are well trained combat troops with good armor and equipment.

 Light troops tend to be less organized and lightly armed

( minis by Dark alliance,  Revell and Zvesda)

Heavy troops are better trained and armored, braver and better fighters.

(minis by dark alliance, Zvesda and Red box)

Some troops can be given missile attacks. These represent shooting and natural abilities that allow the troops to attack from a distance. Missile attacks are either Light or Heavy which dictates how far they can fire.

Missile attacks can be many different types, such as javalins, bows and black powder weapons!

(Minis by Zvesda, Hat and Dark Dream studio)

You need to note down both pieces of info for all the units in your force (as well as any missile attacks they may have) . Leaders and Monsters need these pieces of info too but also require you to give them 2 more things:

Attacks: How many dice they roll in combat (between 1-10).

Wounds:How much damage they can sustain before they are too injured to continue fighting (also between 1-10). If they are reduced to 0 wounds they are removed from the battle as a dead Leader or  Monster.

Note these down for each Leader and monster in your force.

Turns

The game is split up into turns which are split into phases. I have found 5 turns to be about right to play a quick game if you are using a scenario.

The phases are played through in turn as follows:

1: Order of play

   All players roll 1d6. The player that rolls highest (re-roll ties) goes first in each of the following      turns.

2:Shooting

   Any troops that wish to fire with any troops with missile attacks do so now. The player that is going first completes all his shooting followed by the rest of the players.

3: Movement

    Players take it in turns to move their forces, the player that is going first moves all the troops he wants to move before the other player moves the troops he wishes to move.

   

4: Combat

   All combats are worked out. All troops fight at the same time so its best to work from one side of the table to the other. Let the player who is going first decide witch side to start from.

5:Rally

  Any troops that are Running away like a screaming girl may attempt to blimmin well pull themselves together in this phase. The player going first must try to rally any troops he has that need to before the other player does so.

A scout party keep tabs on enemy movement

(minis by Red box and Hat)

Shooting

Troops that can shoot are troops that are armed with a missile attack. Shooting is worked out as follows:

Troops can only fire at enemies they can see, check they can see the troops they wish to target by ensuring their is an unbroken line between the troops and the target (use a ruler to check this). Troops that are shooting are assumed to be able to see all around so you can turn them to face a target if you want. If the firing troops can see all of their target they may fire as normal, if they can see some but not all of the target (e.g. only some of the unit they wish to fire at) the target is assumed to be in cover (note members of a unit behind other members of the same unit are not in cover, it only applies to troops behind something other then themselves!).

Next check the range of the weapons the firing troops are using, these are as follows:

Light missiles have a range of 30cm.

Heavy missiles have a range of 50cm.

Troops can only fire at targets that are within the relevant range for their attack.

If they can see their target and it is within range roll a number of dice equal to the number of troops in the unit, or if firing with a leader or monster a number of dice equal to its Attacks. If the target is in cover you must half the number of dice you are rolling (round up). Any dice that rolls a 6 causes a hit. For each hit caused remove one member of a unit or reduce a leader or mosters hits by 1. If you hit the target they need to test for running away like a screaming girl as described later!.

Moving troops

 All troops follow these rules when moving:

Troops can turn as often as they wish and have no 'facing' so they can move in any number of directions during a move,

Troops move the following distances:

Move type                 max distance

Foot                                    20cm

Cavalry                               30cm

Fly                                      40cm

With the exception of flying troops no minis may move through any others. It is best to leave at least a 3cm gap  between units.

You may measure distances at any time.

Troops in a unit must stay within 1cm of at least one other member of the same unit at all times. When moving units measure the move of one member and then move all members remembering the 1cm distance as this speeds up play.

Terrain pieces slow down any troops moving over/through them. Troops moving through terrain are forced to half their whole move to take this into account. Troops may end their move inside terrain pieces if the minis can stand in/on them without support.

Any troops that come into contact with an opposing trooper during a move ends its move when contact is made. The troops are now in combat with the troops it has contacted.. In the case of Units all troops in a unit are moved to make it clear that they are in combat with the opponents.

FIGHT!!!!! (even though only some of the troops are in contact all the troops are fighting)

(minis by Itelari and Ceaser)

Flying troops can move over friendly troops and may also move over terrain without reducing the distance they have moved. They may finish a move purched in/on terrain if they can stay there without being supported.

Combat

Any troops that are in contact with enemy troops are in combat. When in combat each unit rolls the number of dice equal to the number of minis in the unit. Leaders and monsters roll a number of dice equal to their attacks. Heavy troops cause one hit for every 5 or 6 they roll, light troops cause one hit for every 6 they roll. For each hit caused remove one member of the opposing unit or reduce a leader or monsters wounds by 1. When rolling to hit both sides roll at the same time. The side that causes the most hits forces the enemy to test for running away like a screaming girl as described below.

Where troops are in combat with more than one enemy thy may split their dice between the enemies but must announce how many dice they are rolling against each target before rolling (use different coloured dice for each target if its easier).

running away like a screaming girl

 When you are required to test this roll 2d6. You need to roll equal to or less than the following number:

Light troops need 7 or less.

Heavy troops need 8 or less.

Leaders and monsters need 9 or less.

You may minus one from the dice roll if a Leader is within 20cm.

If you have been forced to test as a result of a combat you must add the number of hits the enemy caused minus the number of hits you caused to the dice roll ( for example if you caused 2 hits and the enemy caused 3 hits you must add 1 to the dice roll).

If you roll equal to or less than the number you need you pass the test and can continue as normal.

If you roll more than the number you need your troops that are testing will run away (screaming like little girls!). They must move their full move for their movement type directly away from the cause of the test in a way that brings them closer to the table edge they set up on than they were before the test. If such a move would take them over that edge then they have run off and are out of the game!.

'AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!! RUN AWAY!!!' ,the Light foot are sent packing!!!

(minis by Hat, B&M and Zvesda)

Rally

 In this phase any troops that are running away like a screaming girls must test to get back into the fight. To do this test for running away like a screaming girl again with those troops as described above. If they pass the test they turn around and are ready to use as normal next turn. If they fail they have run off for good and need to be taken off the table and are out of the game!. 

Ending the game

 The game ends when either:

 Set victory conditions are met by either side if playing a scenario (you should play a scenario, they are brilliant).

One side looses all their leaders or all their units.

When this happens the player that met the victory conditions or made the opponent loose all his units or all his leaders wins, and can do a victory dance around the table and force his opponent to either fetch snacks of his choice or sing a song of his choosing!. But if you all have fun then you are all winners and thats the point......yay gaming!.

Stuck between a rock and a shite load of horses!!

(minis by Red box)

Other gubbins
Listed below are some other bits and pieces that can be used to add a little bit extra to a game, its up to you and your opponents which (if any) you want to include.

Troop upgrades
 I have tried to hold back on the use of this type of thing to make the rules as simple as i can so below are a small selection of upgrades that can be given to any troops, make sure you make a note of any upgrades troops have been given.

-Scary
  This would be used for any troops that would turn a normal troopers bowels to water!. Big monsters, the undead, troops with a reputation for going above and beyond in the name of violence....that kind of thing.
 Any troops listed as scary that force an opponent to test for running away like a screaming girl may make the opponent add 1 to his dice roll for that test.

-Brave
  The opposite of scary. Troops with this ability are the stoic types that laugh in the face of danger....or are too stupid to know when death is about to claim them!.
 Any troops with this upgrade may reduce the dice by 1 every time they have to test for running away like a screaming girl.

-Charge
  This is best used by knights and other offensive horse or those super quick foot that rely on doing a ton of damage before the enemy know they are even there!.
 Troops with this ability may attack before an opponent if they move into contact with them during this turns move phase. The troops roll all their attacks as normal and remove troops from units or wounds from Leaders and Monsters, the enemy that are left may then roll their attacks. Any troops lost to the Charging enemy may not roll to attack!.

-Long reach
  This can be used to represent troops that can out reach an enemy if they can hold them at a distance, im thinking of troops like pike men (because pike men are cool!).
 This upgrade is just like charge but allows troops that are moved into by an enemy to roll their attacks before the enemy get to strike back!.

Wizards
 If you want you can include up to one Leader with the ability to use magic. A Wizard  acts just like any other Leader but may also cast one of the spells below during their sides shooting phase (if they cast a spell they may not fire missile attacks that turn). The spell takes effect right away.

Spells

'Ye will eat my ruddy great ball of flaming death you ungodly cads!'
 This spell allows the wizard to make a Light missile attack which rolls 1d6+2 attack dice. Cover is ignored by this spell!.

'Run, run to the hills ye wearers of frilly girls underwear!.'
 This spell counts as a Heavy ranged attack but instead of rolling to hit the selected target must test for running away like a screaming girl.

'Godzukes, i cannot suffer to see you bleed, i will heal thee goodly!.'
 This spell counts as a Light ranged attack and allows any Leader or Monster regain half their lost wounds (rounding down).

Any player wishing to cast a spell MUST point their finger as if casting the spell themselves and say the title of the spell in dramatic wizard style (i.e. your best Gandalf!). If you fail to do so the spell fails to work!.

AMBUSH!!, The orcs spring their trap!

(minis by Dark alliance, Games Workshop and Hat)

Points
 Oh alright you can have a point system to make your forces more ballanced. This system has not been tested much and there fore is bound to be open to abuse. (if an opponent fudges his force to gain as much advantage as he can with a disregard for flavor hes not the type of person you should be playing anyway!).

150 points worth of death!!

(minis by Ceaser, Zvesda and papo)

The basics
Units
The following costs are per man and once you have worked out the cost of one member of the unit you need to multiply the cost by the number of minis in the unit. Units must be made of identical troops.

  Types: Light 1pt       heavy 2pts  
               Foot 0pts     Cavalry 1pt   Fly 3pts

Missile attack: Light 1pt   Heavy 2pts

Upgrades:  Scary or brave 1pt        Charge or Long reach 2pts

Leaders and Monsters
 These are worked out differently. You use the costs above but do the following:
Once you have worked out the total cost for the above you then need to work out the cost of Attacks and Wounds.
For each of these the cost is the total already reached multiplied by the number of Attacks you wish to have. You then take the cost worked out above before you multiplied it for Attacks and multiply it by the number of Wounds.

Put simply it looks like this:
                                                                                       NUMBER OF ATTACKS 
(TYPES + MISSILE ATTACKS+ UPGRADES) x                        +                       = TOTAL COST
                                                                                       NUMBER OF WOUNDS

For example if i build the following  Leader it would cost......

Heavy + foot + Brave = 3pts. x 6 attacks = 18pts.
                                                x 8 wounds= 24pts + 3pts +18pts = 45pts.

Wizards cost an extra 15pts after the total cost has been worked out.

A small game can be played using about 100 points, 300+ points would make quite a large game.

Like i said, i am sure to have missed bits and stuff that happens on the table will not be covered but you are smart people (with a great taste in blogs) so im sure you can resolve stuff like that!. 

........Anyway, till next time........