Experimental Rules for Mass Tabletop Combat [Archive]

Analytical Engine

29-08-07, 04:38

Mass Combat Rule Modifications:

Models are activated in units. What makes up a unit is entirely dependant upon the fluff:

For example:
Clone Troopers operate in strict squads of nine, whilst stormtroopers operate in squads of nine, but 'bolt-on' specialists and heavy weapons for each mission. Rebels have few restrictions or rules on how to make up their squads, whilst Separtist droid squads are totally uniform.

Nine squad members is usually right or close enough - a commander and troops, possibly with a specialist squad member. Battle droids could function in squads of five, ten, fifteen or twenty, with a battle droid officer leading them into battle. Very powerful, large or rare droids could also work in units of three. Exact details on a factions organisation can be found on Wookiepedia.

An average squad comprised of standard troops and commanders is typically 65-120 points, depending on which faction they belong to. Rebels and Imperials tend towards low-cost squads, whilst the Yuuzhan Vong have quite high cost units. Units from the Clone Wars tend to be somewhere inbetween.

Squads fit into platoons. Platoons are made up of 3-5 squads and a command squad. The command squad comprises of a commander and three to nine squadmembers. Platoons usually possess a secondary commander who assists the platoon leader as well.

Example Stormtrooper Squad:
Stormtrooper Officer [13]
Stormtrooper x8 [40]
Heavy Trooper [13]
66 points

Example Clone Trooper Squad:
Clone Sergeant [10]
Clone Trooper x7 [63]
Clone Trooper Grenadier [9]
82 points

The universal restrictions on squad size is:
- Squads may be anything up to 200 points.
- Squads must adhere to established organisation.
- Squads may have two commanders max. They are not required to have a commander, however.

In the end, larger units tends to balance against more numerous but smaller units. The smaller units have more activations and can outmaneouvre the larger units, but the larger units have devestating attacks and can absorb a lot of punishment.

The core rules are mostly unchanged, with any alterations listed below. Building a Star Wars army for mass battles is like building a squad for the default miniatures game, with units instead of single figures.

The game tends to be very balanced in mass battles. Theoretically a pure Clone Trooper army will suffer very badly against an army of nothing but Stormtroopers, but in practice I have found that the many different abilities and options between the Republic and Empire usually make up for this. I do however advise players to discuss how many vehicles they wish to include in their games, since some factions do not have access to many vehicles (or vehicle-like creatures) and some Huges perfect for mass battles are tricky to acquire.

NEXT: The alterations themselves

Analytical Engine

29-08-07, 04:39

RULES
The additions and alterations to the rules are as follows:

Squares = inches.

Models are considered adjacent if they are within 1".

GRUNTS are any basic follower character (Rebel Troopers, Stormtroopers, Wookie Soldiers, Jedi Knights). Usually a squad will only have one type of grunt, but some squads might possess more. Grunts never have Commander Effects. Occaisonally a particularly elite grunt might be selected to lead a unit of lesser grunts (such as a Jedi Weapon Master leading a unit of Jedi Knights).

COMMANDERS are any characters with a Commander Effect. They are the same as commanders in the skirmish game. A squad may not have more than two in the same unit. A unique character with a Commander Effect is a commander.

SPECIALISTS are followers added to a squad to provide a special ability or different kind of attack. Usually a squad only has a couple of specialists in it, if any. Specialists sometimes form units themselves (like a Rebel heavy weapons unit comprised of Heavy Troopers, or a group of Republic medics) in which case they become grunt types.

UNIQUES are special named characters. They function as either commanders or specialists. Rarely, units can be comprised of nothing but uniques (usually in the case of Rebel heroes or bounty hunter squads). In this case the 2" targeting rule in the FORMATIONS AND UNITS section is ignored (but remember that cover rules still apply), and all attackers must pick their target individually.

SKILLS AND FORCE POWERS
Rapport only effects models if they are in the same squad as the character.

Army construction abilities only effect the squad that the character is in (however talk to your opponent if, for example, you wish to add Wookie Soldiers and Freedom Fighters to a Republic army in a Battle for Kashyyyk scenario).

Fire Control is considered to function as a Commander Effect instead of a skill. A figure with Fire Control and no other commander effect is still a follower (they can be affected by other Commander Effects) but counts as a commander for squad construction purposes.

Squad effecting abilities do not 'scale up' and only effect the squad the character is in.

Betrayal only has an effect if a model specifically targets the character with Betrayal. For example, if a unit opens fire on Emperor Palpatine and his bodyguards, it is assumed that the bodyguards will be removed first and any 1s do not cause the attacker to defect. Defected models activate with the character possessing Betrayal. If you are concerned about fairness, you may wish to have your squad attack individually if there is a chance you will destroy the unit and be able to attack the possesser of Betrayal directly.

Troops gained by Reinforcements, Reserves and Leia, Hoth Commander's Commander Effect should be placed anywhere in your the starting area. These troops activate as part of the squad that summoned them.

WEAPON AND COMMAND RANGES
PISTOLS are any small one-handed weapon. Pistols have a range of 10 inches.
(EXCEPTION: Clone Troopers from the Revenge of the Sith set, who are considered to have rifles)

SIMPLE WEAPONS are any non-projectile weapon that is not a gun, such as a rock or bow and arrow. They have a 10 inch range.

RIFLES are any two-handed shooting weapon that is not a pistol, simple weapon or cannon. They have a 20 inch range.

CANNONS are any weapon with the "Heavy Weapon" or "Mounted Weapon" special ability. They have a 30 inch range.

INNATE ABILITIES. Unlimited range abilities and line-of-sight attack abilities (such as Force Choke) now have a 20 inch range. Offensive but non-attack abilities (such as Dominate) count as innate abilities. This also includes Force Powers.
(EXCEPTION: Fire Control is considered a Commander Effect and is covered by those rules instead)

COMMANDER EFFECTS. Unlimited range Commander Effects now have a range of 12 inchs.
6 square commander effects are 6 inchs.

COMMANDER EFFECTS ONLY AFFECT THE SQUAD THAT THE COMMANDER IS PART OF.

GRENADES, ROCKETS, FLAMETROWERS and SPLASH weapons now have a 2 inch splash range. Splash weapons are usually cannons (AT-AT Heavy Cannon, Rebel Atgar) but not always (Death Star Gunner). A missile launcher is either a pistol, rifle or cannon just like any other gun. Concealed or backpack launchers (such as Boba Fett Enforcer's launcher) count as rifles. Flamethrowers and grenades have a 6" range. Firing restrictions apply as usual, including the new restrictions in the FORMATIONS AND UNITS section.

NOTE: Extending the blast radius was done because a 1" splash is rarely worth the points in tabletop, and because so many players wanted to use the larger one and a half Warhammer blast templates for these weapons anyway. 2" fits with the new unit formation rules and gives justification for the cost of grenades and rockets.

NOTE: The ranges were altered from 20/30/40 and 12/24/36 after feedback concerned about the effectiveness of Vong, generic melee attackers and Ewok Warriors. 10/20/30 also helps keep the close-quarters feel found in the films, computer games and in the skirmish game.

COVER
It's usually easy to see when models are in cover. To avoid confusion, you can designate terrian pieces as cover areas before the battle (so a model in any part of the terrian piece gets cover), or assume that a model has cover if it's lower waist is obscured.

Models are representations of troopers and are not considered to be static. If a model is in crouching position and behind a fence, it can still shoot over a fence. Replace it with a standing model if you like (or similiar model in the case of the Stormtrooper Commander). This is also the reasoning behind the 2" cover rule in the FORMATIONS AND UNITS section.

FORMATIONS AND UNITS
There are no formation rules. However the proximity on friendly models does have several effects:

- You must still be within 6" to benefit from a six square Commander Effect, and 12" for other Commander Effects.

- If two squadmates are within 2" of each other then that 2" area gives cover to friendly models behind it just like a single model would. In this way a squad in a tight formation can give cover to units behind them, just like a single model can in the skirmish game. Individual models still block line of sight as usual, but this doesn't mean much in the more open tabletop battlefields.

NOTE: unlike many popular tabletop games, there are no fire restrictions in Star Wars. However, much like the skirmish game, the cover rules generate fire restrictions in play.

- Squad members can fire at any unit they please, as long it is a legal target. No penalty for splitting fire (the only penalty is that you're less likely to do major damage to a full-strength enemy unit).

- Squads ALWAYS activate at the same time (and all share the same activation) but squad members do not activate as one. It's quicker to move your unit all in one, then roll for firing, but you may complete their actions in small groups or even individually if you wish.

- Individual models in a unit may be targeted freely UNLESS they are within 2" of a squadmate.

- It is possible for some models in a unit to be in cover and some not to be. This is important to remember when rolling to attack and the primary reason why players are allowed to roll to shoot one model at a time. Also see the REMOVING CASAULITIES section for more information.

NOTE: Commanders, specialists and uniques may be protected from targeting even if no squadmate is within 2" if they are within cover and are not the closest enemy.

- Characters with the Sniper ability can always target individual models regardless of unit coherency (but at -4 to attack if the defender has a squadmate within 2"). This is in addition to their normal Sniper ability to ignore characters for the purposes of cover.

- Attacking characters in melee may freely assign their attacks to anyone within melee range.

REMOVING CASUALITIES

- Normally, you can just say you're squad is 'firing at that unit over there' and remove casualities as you would in most miniatures games (defending player chooses which casaulities are removed). Moving and shooting a unit as one is usually the quickest way to resolve activations.

- If you kill more 'grunts' (not a unique, commander, or specialist) then are actually in the unit, then after removing the other casualities compare the remaining hits (remove the highest rolls first) with the defence of the remaining models. If the remaining hits beat anyone's defence then they take a hit (if there is a choice, defending player may assign the hits to whichever one he likes).

- If you kill more grunts than you can legally target (for example, firing at a unit with stealth that has half the members in cover and half not in cover) then you're out of luck. You should have done your squad's actions one at a time.

- It's usually conveniant to bring one card for each type of grunt, and assume that all non-specific damage affects the same grunt (in the case of multi-hit models like Vong and Jedi). Sometimes though, an attacker will want to split fire for some reason (like a Heavy Trooper attacking a Yuuzhan Vong Warrior - rather than kill a wounded Vong, the attacker may consider it better to attempt an instant kill on an unwounded character).

In other cases it is possible that every model in the unit might take some damage (usually due to splash weapons), which should be marked in some way. Players may wish to bring d6s to leave next to their models as a reminder.