ScifiRules http://www.andy.watkins.dsl.pipex.com/wargames/scifi/scifirules.

htm

............... Last Updated August 15, 2002

If you are not familiar with these rules, please jump towards the bottom and read
them alongside the explanatory notes. The tables on their own will be almost
meaningless!

RANGED COMBAT WEAPONS FACTOR CHART

MAX TO HIT AND PENETRATE 1D20
WEAPON COST AP's
RANGE INS FM LA PA DN
Handgun 12 5 3 1 X 1 1
Machine Pistol 12 6 2 1 X 1 1
Assault Rifle 18 6 4 2 X 2 1
Auto Shotgun 10 10 3 1 X 2 1
Grenade Launcher
18 8/6 6/4 4/1 2/X 3 2
(+1 Area)
Bolt Pistol 12 6 5 3 1 2 1
Bolt Rifle 18 8 7 5 2 3 1
Missile Launcher 18 / 7 17 / 4 12/2 10/X
24 4 2
(+2 areas)** (L-10) (L-12) (L-14) (L-16)
Flame thrower (+1
8 12 9 5 3 4 2
Area)
Plasma Cannon 18 11 10 10 9 4 2
Chain Gun (+1
18 12 8 4 2 4 2
Area)
Vehicle Tri-Barrel
24 14/9 10/5 8/3 6/2 5 3
(+1 area)

RANGED TO HIT MODIFIERS Effect of hit chart

Wounded -2 Vets Scum Injury
Target Moving or Under Cover -2 1-3 1-2 Duck Back

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moving & Firing -1 per D6 4-5 3-4 Wounded

Don't count first -1D6 in Vehicles 6 5-6 Dead

CHARACTER POINTS
Each character has 9 points of skills and
experiences to distribute. Each fire arm
has a cost, in addition any armour has to
be paid for as per below, plus special
skills, medi kits and Stim Psycho
Enhancing drugs. The latter two both
cost 1 point each. The special skills cost
two points each
DRUGS
Psycho enhancing drugs may be taken
during the game. These add 1 AP for
two turns each time taken.
1st time taken a 1/3 chance get
battle lust and must move 2D6
towards nearest enemy for two
turns, attempt to enter close
combat, initiative class +3.

Flak Mesh Armour = 2 points. 2nd time use drugs in game a 1/3
Light Armour = 3 points chance of psychotic paranoia setting
Powered Armour = 6 points in, must use at least 2AP's firing at
Dreadnought Armour = 8 points nearest two targets regardless

Quick Draw INITIATIVE

ACTION POINTS
TABLE (1D10)
Each turn each character gets 3 action
points (before modification). Each of Flak Mesh 4
these can be used to move 1D6" OR fire Light Armour 2
a weapon once (except 2 AP weapons), or Power Armour 2
pick up something etc. Using a Medi Kit
Dreadnought Armour 0
also takes 2 AP's.
Hand Gun +2
Serious wounded lose 1AP until healed Heavy Weapon -2
for 1 whole turn with a medikit.
fast draw +4

SPECIAL SKILLS
SKILL DESCRIPTION
Martial Arts +4 for Close Combat throw
Fast Draw +4 initiative in fast draw situation
Marksman +2 on all ranged combat to hit dice rolls
Ambidextrous Can fire two hand guns at same target for one AP

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Enhanced Nervous
Can ignore Duck backs and 1st wound. No effect at all.
system
Shoot on the Move No modifiers for either you or target moving.

CLOSE COMBAT WEAPONS FACTOR CHART

TO HIT AND PENETRATE 1D20
WEAPON COST
FM LA PA DN
Hand Weapon 5 3 2 1 n/a
Shoulder weapon 3 2 1 1 n/a
Heavy Weapon 1 1 1 1 n/a
Power Knife & Aliens 10 6 3 2 1
Power Sword 11 11 9 7 4 2
Power Glove 12 12 10 8 5 3

Vehicle characteristics table

Crew /
Name Weapons Speed Armour To Hit Fire from
Vehicle
Tribarrels can fire
+2
Cougar 3X Power 40% / whatever the speed, but
4D6 because
APC Tribarrels Armour 60% deduct -1 to hit for every
large
D6 after the first.
Tribarrel can fire
Lynx 1X Light 50% / no whatever the speed, but
4D6
Jeep Tribarrel Armour 50% modifier deduct -1 to hit for every
D6 after the first.
-2 2 X Bolt pistol fire at any
1 X Twin
Bob's Light 70% / because targets directly on flight
firing Bolt 5D6
Skimmers Armour 30% very path. Normal -1to hit for
Pistol
agile every D6 after the first

Vehicle Damage Table 1D10

1D10 APC Jeep Skimmer
1-2 No effect
3 If moving veer left at full speed next turn

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4 If moving Veer Right at full speed next turn

Lose weapon nearest firer Lose Tribarrel. Gunner All weapons destroyed,
5 Gunner takes hit with a -1 takes hit with -1 crew take a hit with -1
modifier modifier modifier
Skimmer crashes.
0-2D6 speed crew OK.
6 Engine dead, stop.
Otherwise take a hit at
+1 modifier
Major Structural hit. 1
Major Structural hit.
crew takes a hit at -1 Major structural hit.
All crew members take
modifier. 2nd time this Skimmer crashes, crew
7-8 a hit at -2 modifier and
happens vehicle destroyed member takes a hit at
the vehicle comes to a
all crew take hit at -2 +1 modifier.
halt burning.
modifier
Reactor blows, no
Critical damage everyone Critical damage
survivors. Dog tags
9-0 aboard takes a hit at -1 everyone aboard takes
found several days
modifier. a hit with 0 modifiers
later.

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EXPLANATION OF RULES

TURN SEQUENCE - In it's simplest form, there are normally two sides, one side
makes all it's moves, both sides get an oppourtunity to fire and then the other
side makes all of it's moves and both sides get another oppourtunity to fire. To
try and avoid sneaky misuse of the phasing system I shall give examples of use :-

Team A may choose to fire some of it's men to wound kill the enemy. these are
declared together, and the non phasing player has the choice to return fire. If so
then go to fast draw initiative to determine who fires first.

Team A may then move some of it's characters into hand to hand combat with
team B. If this is the case any on team B's side who have AP's left may fire at
them on the way in. Note the target may normally shoot or draw hand to hand
combat weapon, if elect to shoot they normally have to fight hand to hand with
whatever weapon they were shooting with. (see later)
Any of team B who were unable to shoot because they had used all of their AP's
already can swap weapons as a free action.

Team A could now use any remaining AP's as they see fit so long as not a cheesy
move to try and fiddle system.

Example area effect weapons obviously inflict more damage when target is close
together. As such when a team are moving they must all move together before
opposing player fires. This is to avoid moving one team A player into range of a
missile launcher. Team B fires and kills the team A character. Then all the
remainder of team A are free to move at will at no risk to the missile launcher.

WEAPONS FACTOR CHART

Weapon - Skirmish scifi is the realms of many varied and strange weapons. I have
tried to stick to the fairly basic types, plus added in Hammers slammers universe
specific "Tri Barrels", use the bolt weapons as powerguns. Feel free to add your
own weapons types into my framework. They are classified as "Hand", "Shoulder"
or Heavy. Hand means pistols etc. Shoulder means rifles and heavy means large
cumbersome support weapons, and RPG type weapons.

Get a couple of circular blast radius counters. Games workshop do some nice
transparent plastic ones, get one diameter about 3-4 inches and one diameter 6-8
inches. The first is the +1 area, the second is the +2 area. When using an area
effect weapon like a missile launcher the left hand figure must be rolled to
damage the target you hit. BUT the right hand figure must be rolled to damage
any nearby figures under the blast radius. Grenade launchers, flame throwers
chain guns and tri-barrels have a small blast radius whilst the missile launcher has
the larger blast radius

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Max range - The range in inches the weapon can fire to. Realistically these should
all be longer, but then a hand gun is effective across most of the battlefield and
the game doesn't "feel" right, so you compress the ground scale. Hollywood you
fiddle with the facts to fit the illusion!

To hit and penetrate - I used to roll to hit the target and then roll for damage. I
have tried to incorporate both into one table. So some weapons have a relatively
high figure because they fire rapidly like machine pistols, whilst others have a
relatively high figure because they have considerable penetrating power.
Fortunately it doesn't all balance out and become boring though, you still get the
feel of the weapon. Roll 1D20 and score less than or equal to the figure to damage
the target.

The missile launcher is a special case, It has to "Lock on" to it's target to fire.
Rolle the L-xx number or less on 1D20 to lock on, big dreadnought suits emitting
lots of power are much easier to lock onto than an unarmoured infantryman. If
lock on is achieved the missile is fired and damage to target and surrounding
targets is resolved normally. note once locked on the missile is very dangerous to
heavily armoured targets. Think of it as a future Tow or Milan missile type system,
or intelligent RPG. If lock on is not achieved the 2AP's have been spent and the
missile is not fired which means no one in the blast radius can be hurt either.

Cost - Optionally whilst kitting out your characters in an RPG type style you can
pay for weapons, armour etc. If you take this approach this is the cost of each
weapon, it takes into account the real cost of the weapon and the scarcity factor.

AP's - Most weapons cost 1AP to fire, which means you could move 2D6 and then
fire once, or move 1D6 and fire twice etc.

Ranged to hit modifiers - Make deductions from the number required to hit. So if
to hit is 5 and the target is under cover it drops to 3. Note that assuming you
started with a chance of hitting the target (i.e. not X) then you always get a hit on
a 1.

Characters have the option to move and fire. Movement is at the rate of 1D6 per
AP expended, which makes actual distance moved rather randomn. Each D6 you
expend on movement causes an additional -1 modifier to your chance to hit. The
exception is that if firing from a moving vehicle that has moved for example 3D6
you only deduct -2 not -3 from chance to hit, this is because vehicles are have
cushioned suspension etc.

ACTION POINTS - This is the heart of the game. It can be varied for different
characters or vehicles. But basically everyone has a number of action points per
turn and everything costs a number to do. Most characters have 3 AP's and mostly
move and shoot. 1 AP buys you 1D6" of movement. roll the dice see how far you can
move up to, if not enough roll another dice etc until you get where you want to go

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or run out of AP's Remember that the more AP's you expend on movement the less
you have for firing and the less accurate your fire will be. Most guns cost 1AP to
fire a burst. So you could stand still and fire 3 bursts with a machine pistol. Most
heavy weapons take 2 AP's which mean normally only one shot per turn can be
fired. I do like terminator type cyborgs, treat as Humans but probably "LA Light
Armour" good weapons, enhanced nervous system, marksman etc and perhaps
4AP's instead of 3. Making them very effective killing machines. I like the look of
the new GW - Necrons they's work well in this way.

A wounded character losses 1 AP from their total each turn until they are patched
up with a auto medic.

Effects of hit - We differentiate between experienced veteran troops (most of

your characters) and poorly trained cannon fodder milita (the bad guys!) the vets
have a higher chance of survival.

Duck-Back means the target must spend the rest of this turn cowering behind
cover. If currently in the open they may run towards cover but not towards the
person who fired at them. The duck back target may not fire any weapons for the
remainder of the turn. If the duck back target has already had their turn then it
has no effect!

Wounded means a fairly serious wound, character may still move and fire but at a
reduced ability, until they have been healed with auto medic. This process takes
one entire turn.

Dead - self explanatory, this character is now a Norwegian Blue!

Special SKills - To add a bit of RPG skirmish flavour, your heroes may have special
skills, these may be pre allocated, bought etc.

Martial arts - Bruce Lee reborn. Chance to inflict a hit in close combat is
increased by +4. If started with an X then no effect

Fast Draw - In a fast draw initiative firefight +4 to your initiative. Spirit of Val
Kilmer as Doc Holliday

Marksman - self explanatory, if start with an X then can't improve it

Ambidextrous - Only applies to one handed handguns like pistols, machine pistols
etc. 1AP allows you to fire a burst from each weapon, very effective at close range
against unarmoured targets if you have 2 machine pistols

Enhanced nervous system - you've taken one too many drugs and no longer have
any fear and hardly any nervous system. Never take any notice of duck backs.
Ignore the 1st wound you have, but on 2nd wound collapse into coma, can't be
revived in length of averae game

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Shoot on the move - fantastic spatial awareness, no deductions if either you or

the target are moving. Still get deduction if they are under cover.

Character points - Another optional RPG type thing. Can allow your characters to
equip themselves with armour, weapons and special skills out of a central pool. Can
vary as you wish, but obviously you just don't want every character to be armed
with plasma cannon and powerglove in dreadnought armour and every battle skill,
very boring and silly game, worse than WH40K.

Drugs - These are optional, basically the plus is they speed you up and give you an
extra AP per turn, allowing you to move further or shoot more often. Very useful
for heavy weapons as it allows them to fire twice (2 X 2AP per shot). Down side is
you become a paranoid psycho, too many and you risk freaking out. Very funny
when this happens though counter productive to the fulfillment of the scenarios
objectives!

Quick draw initiative - Although the game is basically my turn then your turn for
movement etc, whenever two characters on opposing sides are able to fire at each
other it becomes irrelevant whose turn it is. The quick draw initiative takes
effect. Move all the characters on the phasing side to their final destinations for
the turn. If they are choosing to move then shoot then move again carry out all
the moves prior to shooting.

At this stage both sides determine who they are going to shoot at. You may only
use the number of AP's you have available to shoot, remember to deduct those you
have used moving. The non phasing player has all of his normal AP's available. Both
sides then roll 1D10 and add the appropriate modifiers. Basically hand guns are
faster than rifles which are faster than heavy weapons. Unarmoured characters
can react faster than those encumbered with armour, and those with the fast
draw skill are best of all.

You then carry out shooting in descending initiative sequence. When one
characters sequence comes up they may fire as many AP's as they wish. If they
kill or wound a target that has not yet fired then it will not return fire.

Examples - if the magnificent 7, armed with hand guns were lined up in an ambush
on a desert world all with fast draw skills, and a bunch of poorly trained mexicans
with rifles rushed into the killing zone to attack them, you would roll for the
initiatives, probably the magnificent 7 would outroll most if not all of the cannon
fodder mexicans and each fire all 3 AP's which means 3 bursts from their
handguns and shoot the crap out of them before they got to return fire. I've seen
a film that ends like this?

If the corridor was defended lightly armed rebels (flak mesh and power rifles)
and a squad of elite star wars storm troopers (Light armour and power rifles +
marksman + enhanced nervous system + fast draw skills) came around the corner,

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some of the storm troopers would probably fire first and kill, wound and duck back
many of the defenders whilst those that returned fire would have a reduced
chance of killing them because storm troopers were moving and wearing armour.
Likely result - acceptable losses to the storm troopers and a rapidly cleared
corridor, I've seen a film that started like this?

CLOSE COMBAT - If a character rushes into hand to hand combat, the target
being rushed may fire at them normally on the way in. (unless they have used up all
their AP's already this phase). Assuming the character is not stopped a round of
hand to hand combat is entered into. If the defender was armed with a bolt rifle
and carrying a light sabre (force sword) they could either fire the bolt rifle and
then fight the hand to hand combat with the rifle (ill advised but they may stop
the attacker before they get to them). OR they can put down the rifle and draw
the light sabre. They can not fire the rifle and then draw the light sabre for the
hand to hand combat. There are 2 exceptions, first is hand weapons. If carrying a
pistol in one hand you are free to carry a close combat weapon in other and may
then use hand gun to fire at target as they come in and the close combat weapon
for the hand combat. 2nd is if the person being assaulted used all their AP's
earlier in the phase shooting at enemy before movement took place, they have the
option to swap to an alternative hand to hand combat weapon.

Both parties roll normally for damage etc. It is possible though unlikely that both
attacker and defender will inflict a mortal blow against each other. It's a tough
universe!

Note there is a specific close combat weapons table. It includes specific close
combat weapons and "Aliens" with slashing claws. It also generically covers normal
ranged weapons by their size, with the implication the smaller the better. You may
be able to fire a hand gun in close combat, whereas a rifle weapon will only make a
club, and a heavy weapon is virtually worthless!

AUTHORS NOTE - We used to use variants of these rules back in the 80's with
15mm TTG laserburn figures. Then switched to 25mm figures and played a lot of
"Aliens" and colonial marines type games during the 90's. Most recently I have
painted up some Hammers Slammers vehicles and figures but have had little
chance to use them. Basically this game has been used for infantry battles. I
haven't properly play tested the vehicle rules sufficiently. I haven't even included
rules for real tanks it's just inappropriate, even a Tri barrel armed APC is a
devastating weapon aganst a squad of lightly equipped men. I have also always
avoided armoured womble warfare, and seldomn use anythig with more than light
armour. Not sure I have ever used dreadnought armour.

Return To SciFi Home Page

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