Just trying to write out my idea for special rules
Pitch Black (X)
The following rules are in effect:
- Fighters can't see further than X", as in no drawing line of sight to anything further than that.
- A fighter's movement cannot be greater than half their line of sight.
- Blast scatters for 2D6 for long range shots and 1d6 for short range shots. Templates hit on a 4+
- At the start of their activation, a fighter gains the 'hidden' condition unless they meet the following conditions
- Ablaze.
- Refractor field.
- Photo-lumens.
- Holochromatic Field (while operational).
- Fighters lose the hidden condition if:
- Ablaze
- Have a Refractor Field or Photo-lumens
- Used a ranged weapon or Power Weapon
Fog of War (X)
If in an Attacker and Defender scenario, the specified group will use the following rules. If the Attacker and Defender special rules are not in play, all gangs use the following rules.
Set all crew members aside in a special reserves pool called "In Hiding". Instead of deploying fighters as normal, deploy X markers called "Blips". These can be represented with a 25mm to 30mm miniature base maybe with something to designate that something unusual is there (like a bloodstain or some shell casings). Blips receive ready markers just like a fighter normally would. For the purposes of stats, the blip has the worst characteristic of all fighters currently "In Hiding". When activating a blip, it has two actions like a normal fighter and can do any of the following and can interact with terrain as normal:
- Move (Simple): Move like a normal fighter would with a movement score equal to the slowest fighter currently "In Hiding"
- Break Off (Simple): Deploy a fighter currently "In Hiding" within their M" of the blip and remove them from the reserves pool. The fighter receives a pinned marker and a ready marker.
- Spring the Trap! (Double): Deploy fighters within their M" of the blip up to the number currently "In Hiding" and then remove the blip from play. The controlling gang can choose to activate any number of the deployed fighters as if part of a group activation. Any fighters not part of this group activation receive a ready marker and a pinned marker.
Blips can be removed through any of the following ways:
- If a blip ever comes within line of sight of an enemy fighter at the end of an action, the player whose fighter is within line of sight deploys 1d3 fighters from that blip's "In Hiding" pool as if making the Break Off (Simple) action. If this is the last blip that player controls, instead deploy all remaining fighters "In Hiding". After deploying these fighters, the blip is removed. If this interrupted a fighter's activation, they may continue their turn.
- If a blip is ever successfully hit with a "Blast" or "Template" weapon without the Smoke trait, the player who hit the blip deploys 1d3 fighters from that blip's "In Hiding" pool as if making the Break Off (Simple) action. If this is the last blip that player controls, instead deploy all remaining fighters "In Hiding". After deploying these fighters, the blip is removed. If this interrupted a fighter's activation, they may continue their turn. All fighters deployed this way count as being hit by the "Blast" or "Template" weapon.
- If a blip is targeted by something that would remove the Hidden Condition such as a Bio-Scanner, the player whose targeted the blip deploys 1d3 fighters from that blip's "In Hiding" pool as if making the Break Off (Simple) action. If this is the last blip that player controls, instead deploy all remaining fighters "In Hiding". After deploying these fighters, the blip is removed. If this interrupted a fighter's activation, they may continue their turn.
- If a player's "In Hiding" pool is ever empty, that player removes all of their blips from the board.
If a player receives reinforcements and get to deploy them while they still have blips on the board, they may choose to deploy those reinforcements "In Hiding".
Attacker and Defender (X)
This special rules designates that gangs will be split into two teams with different rules and win conditions. Usually the gang that chose the scenario is the attacker and the other is the defender but sometimes the scenario may designate an alternative method of choosing attacker. To simplify this, a keyword will be written in parenthesis next to the special rules. The keywords are as follows:
- Gang Rating - The gang with the lowest Gang Rating is the attacker the rest are defenders
- Crew Rating - The gang with the lowest Crew Rating is the attacker the rest are defenders
- Selector - The gang that selected the scenario is the attacker the rest are defenders
- Random - The attacker and defender is determined randomly
On The Clock (X)
After round X, roll a 4+ to continue the battle at each end phase or the game immediately ends. Any objectives left on the battlefield are left unclaimed.
Reinforcements (X)
1d3 Reinforcements arrive at the end of the End Phase of X round and in each subsequent End Phase. Reinforcements are determined randomly from the gang's remaining fighters. Tactics cards that equip a model with a piece of wargear at the start of the battle can be instead played when a model arrives as reinforcements. The scenario may specify a certain condition to be met for reinforcements to be deployed and which gang's receive reinforcements. If this is the case, the number in parenthesis will remain 'X' to signify that the scenario specifies certain conditions.
When a model is deployed from reinforcements, unless otherwise specified, deploy them as follows. Roll 1d6. On a 1-2, they are deployed by the enemy. On a 3+, they are deployed by the controlling player. Reinforcements may be deployed on any battlefield edge at least 6" away from enemies. If multiple gangs have reinforcements, take turns deploying one at a time starting with the gang with Priority.
For bottle tests, include all deployed models so far.
Home Turf Advantage
Any defending gangs gain the following special rules:
- They may reroll Bottle Tests
- They receive +1 to all Rally Tests
- When determining crews, roll 1d6 for each Hanger-On in the gang
- On a 1-3. the Hanger-On is included in the crew
- On a 4-6, the Hanger-On escapes in time and is not included in the crew
Something to Prove
The gang with the lower gang rating receives a bonus based on the greatest gang rating difference. All are cumulative.
- On a 0-100, Does not need to make Bottle Tests
- On a 101-250,
- The Leader can ignore the effects of Flesh Wounds
- From the second round onwards, The Leader must at least one action must be Shoot or Fight. If neither actions can be made, the Leader can only take a single action during this activation
- On a 251+,
- Fighters can re-roll one Injury Dice when injuring enemy fighters
- When making Recovery tests, the fighter must roll an additional Injury Die and apply any Out of Action results
Non-Player Characters (NPCs) (Inspired by Trashwizz)
Non-Player Characters (or NPCs as they will be referred to from now on) are fighters that are unpredictable and out of control of the players. Each NPC will include the following in their bestiary. If given the choice of multiple options for the following traits, the player deploying the NPC chooses which apply for the course of the battle.
- A Statline
- A Behavior Table
- A Loadout describing the NPC's wargear, threat range, special actions, and body mass
- Any additional special rules if any
Instead of activating a fighter and removing their ready marker, a player may instead activate an NPC fighter and remove their ready marker by rolling 2d6 and consulting their behavior chart. All ready markers must be removed before moving on to the End Phase. The activating player determines the correct moves following the written instruction on the NPC's behavior table. First check if the rolled position of the fighter matches the current board state of the fighter in question. If the position of the fighter is not valid move up the table (or down if they have a desperate marker). Possible positions are as follows:
- "Too Close” is when the NPC is closer than their Threat Range’s low value.
- “Too Far” is when the NPC is outside their threat range from visible enemies.
- “Within Threat” is when the NPC is at or within their threat range.
- “Engaged (non-melee)” refers to being within 1” of an enemy, but only applies to fighters with no E range weapons.
- “Hidden” is when no enemies can draw line of sight to the fighter
- “Open” is when the fighter has no cover against the closest viable target
- “Bloodied” fighters have either suffered a wound or a flesh-wound.
- “Any” fighters can be in any position for this action chain
Once an appropriate position is acquired, perform the actions in that row skipping any actions the fighter cannot make until the fighter is out of actions. If you reach the end of the row and the fighter still has actions left, move up the table (or down if they have a desperate marker) until another valid position is selected and continue taking actions down that row. Note a fighter will never aim if it is out of ammo and will never aim as its last action.
When placing ready markers, if a group of aligned NPC fighters can draw line of sight to twice as many enemy fighters (or more) than the Body Mass of all allied fighters within Line of Sight, they all become desperate and gain a desperate marker. Desperate markers are removed when an NPC fighter is activated. Do not count seriously injured fighters in either total.
Unless otherwise specified, NPCs consider all other fighters hostile. When resolving attacks, follow the steps below. NPCs will never attempt an attack that can not hit due to range.
- If it is within 1” of an enemy fighter, Attack will be resolved as a fight action. You as the activating player will get to decide how it will divide up its attacks in the event that there is more than one possible target. You’ll even get return attacks just like a normal fight action. If it is within 1” of a seriously injured fighter and no other enemies however, this will be a coup de gras action. Tough luck, NPC’s can be mean too.
- If its last non-scarce ranged weapon is out of ammo, it will attempt to reload. If it has another action left and it successfully re-loads with this action, its 2nd action will become an attack action instead of whatever the table prompts you to do.
- If you failed to re-load and have a 2nd action, do what’s next on the table.
- It will turn and attempt to shoot at its closest viable target. If it is using a blast or template weapon, it’ll center the blast or template on its closest viable target.
When determining viable targets, follow the hierarchy described below.
- First ignore seriously injured fighters. It will only attack a seriously injured fighter if there are no other viable targets.
- Next is the easiest target. NPC Fighters will attack the target that is easiest to hit over other targets (with the best to-hit modifier and least penalties from cover, etc). It does not matter how tough they are to wound or how good their armor is.
- If there are more than one target tied for easiest to hit, it will try to rule out fighters that are engaged in close combat.
- Then rule out any fighters that are pinned.
- Lastly any remaining ties are resolved by attacking whichever fighter is closest.
- If it is still unclear who should be attacked (because they seem to be equal distance for example), then the activating player may choose who is attacked.
When the NPC Behavior Table prompts you to move a fighter, it uses a keyword to describe how they should move. These keywords are described as follows. If there is any confusion about how a fighter should move, the activating player determines the NPC's course of action.
- Aggressive: moves the fighter as close to their nearest viable target as possible, or nearest enemy if there are no visible targets. This move effectively replaces the charge action, and can take a fighter within 1” of an enemy (and is treated as a charge for skills, tactic cards, and rules that care about charging). Moving aggressively within 1” does not grant it a free fight action however.
- Defensive: move the fighter as far away from as many viable enemies as possible with a single move. To determine the ideal end-point, you can measure a radius equal to the move value of the fighter and find a point within that radius that’s as far away from as many enemies as possible, without moving within 1” of an enemy. You don’t have to measure each and every enemy, you can estimate instead.
- Take-Cover: move this fighter as if they were broken, avoiding hazards and avoiding moving within 1” of an enemy model.
- Re-Group: move this fighter as close as possible to another visible COMP fighter (anything that this fighter would consider friendly). If there are no visible COMP fighters, the fighter treats this action as impossible (skip it on the card and move on to the next).
- Wander: move the fighter in a random direction as determined by the scatter die. It will avoid hazards still, and avoid going within 1” of enemy models.
Notes on movement
- A fighter will always take the fastest route over the most-direct route, but will also endeavour to avoid hazards. If moving in a straight line causes a fighter to hit a wall or obstacle, they will attempt to navigate around if that means being closer to their intended end-point. If the end-point is impossible to reach, the fighter will get as close to that point as they can. Fighters can even climb obstacles, leap over gaps (making appropriate tests), or attempt a jump-down action (but not a distance of greater than 6”) if it gets them closer to their target
- NPC fighters also have the ability to open doors, and attempt to hack or force a door that’s locked. In the event that a fighter’s end-point is on the other side of a closed door, their movement will end where the door can be opened. In the event that the character has an additional move action left that would take them to the same end-point, they will attempt to open the door instead of their move action, using whichever stat is best between INT or Strength.
Examples of behavior charts are listed below.
This seems like a lot but in reality it comes down to "do what is on the chart" and "shoot the easiest target". If there is confusion, the activating player decides the course of action.
Here is an example of an NPC
Hive Civilian
| 5" M | 5+ WS | 5+ BS | 3 S | 3 T | 1 W | 4+ I | 1 A | 7+ LD | 7+ CL | 7+ WIL | 7+ INT |
Behavior Table: Amateur
Loadout: Unarmed (Threat Range E"-E")(Body Mass 1)(Special Action Flee!/Scream!)
- If not desperate, Flee! (Double) - Move away from the nearest enemy and immediately become pinned
- If desperate, Scream! (Simple) - All fighters within 6" make a Cool Check or become pinned
Special Rules: Bystander - If killed by a gang fighter, that gang counts as completing an X = 2 Outlaw Subplot after this match.
