A Fantasy Skirmish Game by Chris Nicholls and James Aubury

Shortwars Playtest rules v0.01 07/12/2015

A fantasy skirmish game by Chris Nicholls and James Aubury.

Playtest rules version 0.01

Welcome to Shortwars!

Shortwars is a game where a Company of individuals, lead by a Champion, undertake daring raids and dangerous missions. They are hired by the lords of the land to attack neighbours territories and expand their empires.

You will be given a set amount of gold with which to recruit your Company and outfit them for war.

Each member of your Company will earn experience and advance in skills and stats as the games progress.

Your Company comprised of Soldiers, Marksman and raw recruits. You will have access to grizzled veterans in the form of Sargent’s, and powerful (ish) Mages and their Acolytes who can support your Company while zapping the opponents.

The game uses D20 Dice and distances measured in inches. You may pre-measure at any time during a game.

Stats

The basic stats for each unit are as follows.

Movement - The maximum distance the unit may move, measured in inches.

Fight - The amount added to your roll to hit.

Shoot - The amount added to your roll to shoot or cast.

Defence - The roll an opponent required to wound you.

Health - The amount of hit points a unit has.

Cost - The amount of GC to hire a unit or buy an item.

Damage Value - The amount of damage a weapon/unit inflicts.

Range – Maximum distance a weapon may shoot, or a spall may be cast from.

Constructing your Company.

You have 1000 GC to hire your Company.

Each Company must have 1 Champion and no more.

Unit / Move / Fight / Shoot / Defence / Health / Cost
Champion / 4 / 5 / 3 / 10 / 20 / 200
Sargent / 4 / 4 / 2 / 10 / 15 / 120
Mage / 4 / 2 / 3 / 10 / 15 / 140
Marksman / 4 / 0 / 2 / 10 / 10 / 40
Soldier / 4 / 2 / 0 / 10 / 10 / 30
Acolyte / 4 / 0 / 2 / 10 / 10 / 50
Recruit / 4 / 0 / 0 / 10 / 10 / 10

You may only hire Sargent’s during the initial construction of your Company. Additional Sergeants may be gained by levelling up Soldiers. You cannot have more Sergeants than you have Soldiers. For every 3 Soldiers you may have one sergeant in your Company.

You may only hire 1 mage during the initial construction of your Company. Additional Mages may be gained by levelling up Acolytes. For every 3 Soldiers you take you can take an Acolyte.

Racial Characteristics.

Each race has its own characteristic which is applied to each unit in the Company.

Race / Characteristic
Dwarves / +2 HP
Halflings / +1 Shoot
Goblins / +1 Move
Dark Dwarves / +2 HP

Starting territory.

Your Leader has been given an area of land to protect. This will be chosen from the list of initial territories. Further territories will be added to your roster if you meet certain conditions. You can never lose your starting territory and it cannot be changed once the campaign has begun.

MORE COMING SOON!

Game setup

1. Determine the Scenario and set up the board.

2. Check the weather by rolling a D20.

·  1-5 Heavy rain affecting shooting, all targets get an extra +2 Defence against shooting attacks.

·  6-14 Good weather, no effect.

·  15- 20 Blistering hot day, all fighting exerts a lot more effort; all targets of a fight get an extra +2 Defence.

3. Check the magical flux by rolling a D20.

·  1-5 Low flux, -1 to all casting rolls, scrolls may not be used and magic items lose their power in this game.

·  6-14 Normal flux, no effect

·  15-20 High flux, +1 to all casting rolls, scrolls may not be used for fear of explosion, magic items gain +1 to their bonuses

4. Agree what terrain is impassable, soft and hard cover and any other facets of the table.

5. One Company picks the table edge then deploys all of their units. The other Company then deploys and takes the 1st turn.

Game Turn.

Each individual unit is activated and used before moving on to another unit.

You can activate your units in any order.

Once all your units have been activated the turn passes to your opponent.

Turns can be interrupted by an opponent using the Lookout action (see actions).

The game lasts until the scenario objective is complete, or until the one Company routs.

Optionally, at the end of each turn you may roll for a random encounter. COMING SOON

Optionally, at the end of each turn you may roll for a change in the weather and/or magical flux.

Actions.

When activated, each unit may perform up to 2 actions as follows:

First action:

·  Move – Move up to the value of the unit’s Movement stat. Movement does not have to be in a straight line, any number of turns can be made. Crossing terrain will count as double the actual distance of the terrain. Climbing terrain will count as double the distance of the terrain, so a 1 inch wall will be 2 inches to climb.

·  Charge – Move into base contact with an enemy unit by the shortest possible path. You must have line of site to the target. You may move up to double the value of the unit’s Movement stat. If moving more than the units’ Movement stat plus 1 inch, add +2 to the units’ fight stat for the next action. Charging over terrain loses the charge bonus. A Charge action must be followed by a Fight action.

·  Aim – The unit prepares to shoot, grants +1 to shoot stat for the next action.

·  Focus – The unit prepares to cast, grants +1 to spellcasting for the next action (Mage/ acolyte only, non-magical units cannot Focus when using a scroll).

·  Hold position – Do nothing.

·  Lookout – The unit become vigilant, allowing it to use its second action in the enemy’s turn.

Second action:

·  Move – Move up to the value of the unit’s Movement stat.

·  Hold position – Do nothing.

·  Shoot – The unit makes a shooting attack against an enemy.

·  Cast – The unit casts a spell or uses a scroll.

·  Fight – Fight an enemy that is in base to base contact.

·  Use Potion – The unit uses a potion it is carrying.

Fighting

A fight is initiated when two units are in base to base contact. The player who has the initiative can strike an opponent. Roll a D20 and add the units Fight value plus any additional modifiers, if the total is greater than the opponent’s Defence value, and modifiers, you have won the fight. The opponent takes a number of points of damage equal to the damage value of the weapon. If the opponent is reduced to 0 hit points it must be removed from the battlefield.

Rolling a natural 20 on the dice will always hit regardless of targets defence. It will also deal double damage.

If you won the fight and did not remove your opponent from the table, you may choose to disengage and move up to half the unit’s moment away from your opponent. You must stop at least 1 inch from any other enemy unit.

If, however, you lost the fight, your opponent may choose to fight back or disengage. Fighting back is carried out as described above, but no further fight or disengage takes place regardless of the outcome. If they choose to disengage they can move up to half their unit’s movement away from you. They must stop at least 1 inch from any other enemy unit.

Shooting

In order to shoot at a target you must have line of site to it and also be within the range of the weapon.

Roll a D20 and add the units Shoot value plus any additional modifiers, if the total is greater than the opponent’s Defence value, and modifiers, you have hit the target. The opponent takes a number of points of damage equal to the damage value of the weapon. If the opponent is reduced to 0 hit points it must be removed from the battlefield.

Rolling a natural 20 on the dice will always hit regardless of targets defence. It will also deal double damage.

Magic & Scrolls

A Mage or Acolyte can choose to cast a spell that they have learned. This could either be a direct damage spell cast against an opponent, or a beneficial spell cast on an ally. They must have line of site to the target and be within the casting range of the spell.

An acolyte may only learn one spell at a time. A mage may learn 3.

Non-magical units may cast spells using scrolls, however they may never receive any bonus to casting rolls in any way. Also, a natural 20 will NOT deal double damage. The scroll is consumed when used.

Cover

Cover applies to shooting attacks.

A miniature is either in cover or it is not. If any part of the miniature is obscured treat is as in the cover. Imagine that the game is cinematic and by the time shots are taken the miniature has dived for cover.

Soft cover, such as trees and hedges, adds 2 to the defence value of a target.

Hard cover, such as walls and buildings, adds 4 to the defence value.

These values stack. So you are shooting over 2 hedges into a wood (all soft cover) the target will get +6 to its defence.

Routing and Withdrawing

When the Company is below half their starting number it might Rout. At the start of each turn roll a D20, on a 1-5 the Company routs, all units are immediately removed from the table even those in engaged in combat (no free strikes are made).

If your Champion is still fighting, he may call for a tactical withdrawal. This allows you to increase the Rout roll to 1-15. On a 16-20 the Company continues fighting too gripped with blood lust to heed caution.

Casualties

All units removed from the table must determine the extent of their injury. Roll a D20 for each unit and apply any modifiers, then consult the table below:

1 - 2 / Dead.
3 - 7 / Roll on the Injury table.
8 - 12 / Miss next game.
13 - 20 / Full recovery.

Injuries

Roll a D20 to determine the severity of the injury. Injuries may be healed between games by an Apothecary, if your Company has one (see Spending Money).

Result / Effect
1 / Trauma, Unit must roll D20 at the start of each game. 1-10 the unit fights as normal, 11-20 the unit refuses to take part and does not deploy.
2-3 / Body blow, -1 HP
4-7 / Arrow to the knee, -1 Move
8-11 / Broken arm, -1 Fight
12-15 / Blurred vision, -1 Shoot
16-19 / Weakened, -1 Defence
20 / It’s not as bad as we thought, full recovery

Experience

Units will gain experience during the games to spend in the post battle sequence.

·  Surviving game - 1XP

·  Causing damage - 1XP

·  Casting a spell – 1XP (In addition to XP for causing damage. NOT from scrolls)

·  Removing another unit from the game - 3XP (In addition to XP for causing damage)

·  Capturing an objective - 2XP

·  Removing an enemy Leader - 5XP (In addition to XP for causing damage)

Every time the unit has gained 6 experience it will gain a level. Once a soldier has earnt 30 XP he may become a sergeant. Once an Acolyte has earnt 30 XP he may become a Mage.

A level can be spent on one of the following:

·  Increasing a stat by 1 point

·  A roll on the random skill table

·  Select a spell from the common spells list (Acolyte & Mage only)

·  Reduce the cost of casting a known spell by 1 (Acolyte & Mage only)

·  Take an additional spell, up to a maximum of 5 (Acolyte & Mage only)

Each characteristic can be increased by a maximum of 3 from the starting level.

To gain a skill, roll a D20 and see the table below (each skill may only be taken once, re-roll duplicates):

1 / Surefooted / No movement penalty from flat terrain.
2 / Mountain Goat / No movement penalty from climbing.
3 / Deadeye / No shooting penalty from the weather.
4 / Rapid fire / May spend both actions to shoot twice but then cannot activate next turn.
5 / Let me try that again / Reroll a natural 1 when attacking.
6 / Walk it off / Flip a coin, if its heads ignore 1 point of damage.
7 / Second Opinion / May re-roll an injury roll, 2nd result stands.
8 / Just a scratch / Injury rolls are less severe (Dead becomes permanent injury, injury becomes miss next game, miss game becomes full recovery).
9 / Didn’t see that coming! / Inflict 1 extra point of damage if attacking from behind.
10 / Quick learner / The unit gains 1 extra XP for surviving a game.
11 / Specialist / Pick a weapon, gain 1 extra point of damage when you hit with it.
12 / Defensive / Always counts as in soft cover but can never claim hard cover.
13 / Evasive / If this unit loses a fight, the opponent may not fight back.
14 / Treasure hunter / Gain 10 extra gold if survives the game.
15 / Tough / Does not take double damage from any source.
16 / Fast / Plus 1 movement in addition to stat increases.
17 / Sneaky / Enemy must be within 12” to target.
18 / Blessed / Once per game can Re-Roll any dice, including opponents.
19 / Berserk / Gives and Receives critical damage on a 19 as well as a 20.
20 / Deadly / A unit removed from the table by this model suffers a -1 on their dice roll for injuries.

Mage spells

Casting rolls of a natural 20 inflict double damage.

Spell / Casting roll / Target / Effect
Heal / 10+ / Friendly unit in LoS / Heals D20 damage on target, up to starting health.
Energy Bolt / 12+ / Enemy unit in LoS and within 18 inches / Deals 8 points of damage to target.
Flamestrike / 14+ / Enemy unit in LoS and within 10 inches / Deals 6 damage to target and 3 damage to all units within 3 inches (inc friendly)
Wall of Flame / 12+ / LoS to area of clear ground within 18 inches / Creates a wall of flames 6 inches long. Any unit may move through it, but suffers 4 damage. The mage must always Focus as his first action and keep LoS to the original casting point in order to maintain the spell. The mage may cast other spells but they can gain no casting bonus.
Strength / 14+ / Friendly unit in LoS and within 6 inches / Unit gains +2 Fight until wounded
Sight / 14+ / Friendly unit in LoS and within 6 inches / Unit gains +2 Shoot until wounded
Guide / 14+ / Friendly unit in LoS and within 6 inches / May increase or decrease next dice roll by 1
Protection / 14+ / Friendly unit in LoS and within 6 inches / Unit gains +2 Defence until wounded

Scenarios