G. Movement

The Battlefield

The battle field will be broken into zones. Each zone represents a section of the battlefield. The size of the zone in feet or metres is not relevant, as the zone is merely a mechanism for breaking the battlefield up into sections for combat and movement purposes. If you don’t use a whiteboard or vinyl mat then I suggest just cutting up some squares of cardboard and throwing them on the table in some suitable pattern.

Distance

Is measured in zones, the actual distance in feet is irrelevant once the zones are pre-determined. You have to stop thinking in linear distances and simply accept that range and movement are zone based. Where the battlefield is open and flat a zone might be 100ft across in linear measures, where as in an urban environment it might only be 40ft, and in a house a zone might be only 10ft. What defines a zone are its limitations and boundries, the more restrictive the environment the smaller the zone becomes.

Range in zones is not restricted to simply linear factors, a small zone may restrict range due to visibility issues or natural obstacles, making it harder to hit. A zone may even have an extra modifier applied to it due to visibility restrictions, such as a room full of hanging sheets or a forest. In general however try to avoid small zones unless you have a specific reason (they upset archers).

Zones should always be large enough (in table top measures) to cater for a dozen figurines, with space to move around. I tend to use 6”x6” squares as my base zone size as a lot of commercial tile graphics come in this size. This can be a bit small, so either use them in pairs (zones can be any shape) or use a larger size.

Status

Each single individual within a zone will be classed as in one of three conditions, as follows.

Alone

The individual is NOT involved in a group melee, they are standing apart from any enemies in an attempt to perform specific tasks that require this. This is normally displayed with figurines by placing the individual out of contact with any other figurine.

Moving to Alone status from InContact requires the use of the Move (and risk an opportunity attack) or Withdraw action. On the first occasion you enter a zone you are Alone unless part of a Charge.

Friends may stand alone as a group, as long as no enemies are touching them. However if they do and one enemy does move into contact then they all immediately count as InContact. Standing alone as a group has advantages in Spell Targeting (a group costs more to target, see the Powers chapter).

InContact

The individual is involved in a group melee, moving amongst the combatants and attacking and defending normally. This is displayed with figurines by placing bases in contact. There may be several different groups InContact within a zone at the same time, they are NOT in contact with each other.

To be InContact there must be an enemy present in the group, otherwise everyone is Alone and just standing near each other and can optionally be separated if the owners want (as part of their action).

InClose

The individual is in Close Combat (hand to hand) with at least one other. This is normally displayed by placing those involved on their side and in base contact. Combatants InClose are considered to be prone unless they are 3x the size of their opponents. A standing opponent can still be brought down if the conditions are met.

Movement

Rather than go into the detail of working out movement rates of feet per round, or hexes per round etc, I have decided to try for simplicity and abstraction.

In essence most movement occurs around a fairly closed area where the opponents bash each other until one side wins. This area is pretty small in 90% of cases and effectively a creature can move from one point in that area to another within a single action. The only thing stopping them is usually the presence of enemies, but seeing they can do exactly the same thing it evens out. So the movement system that follows is based around this concept, that movement distances are not primary to combat, only the various combat areas are, and whether a creature can get from one area, or zone, to another within an action. Its more about what hinders you than what you are capable of.

Types of Movement.

Movement comes in three forms; Trivial moves, Battle moves and Zone moves.

Trivial moves are for Alone characters only, and can be done as part of any action that does not specifically prevent movement. A Trivial move allows the Alone character to change their position to anywhere within the zone, as long as they remain Alone.

Battle moves are performed as part of your actions during your turn and are limited to moves to and from combat or within combat. Another way of describing this would be moves into, out of or around InContact or InClose status. They can be performed in combination with other actions unless expressly denied.

Zone moves are moves from one battle zone to another and take up a whole action on their own. They must always start and end with the mover in Alone status, unless they are intercepted. You can only make one "zone move" per Round.

Movement Speeds

All humans have a movement rate (MR) of 1, and a movement pool of 4d+Body. This means they can move 1 zone during a Round using Zone movement, and a single Trivial or Battle move per action. They will roll 4d(+) when required to determine if they succeed at these moves.

A creature with a move rate of 2 would be able to move one or two zones, commonly still with 4d(+) (although they will tend to have more). They are still limited to one Trivial or Battle move (unless they are able to split move as noted below).

Trivial and Battle movement is generally done before an action, or after an action. Normally this means you can only make one move per action. Some Skills may alter this, some creatures may get more.

Trivial and Battle moves are performed as part of your action. Zone moves are an action in themselves and do not permit any other actions unless part of a Charge. Only one zone move can be made per round, regardless of how much is used.

Running

A character may Run to gain an extra +1d for their movement pool and should be marked as such. Running status is removed after any action where you only performed a single trivial or battle move. It can also be removed due to involuntary actions, such as a Knock Down. Running characters are harder to hit with Thrown or Fired attacks, discard one attack dice. Running characters are less capable of defending, discard one defence dice each time you roll.

Split Moves

Any creature with at least 6d in their movement pool (after mods) may elect to split it evenly into two pools and attempt to make two Battle/Trivial moves in the one action. This may have limited uses as you can normally still only perform one attack. You could however use it to move, perform an action, then move again to allow you to take advantage on some battlefield situation. You accept the risks of failed move rolls (if less than 4d), and issues with withdrawing from combat and triggering opportunity actions.

Move rolls

Everyone (normally) begins with 4d for movement plus their AGL level. Some creatures will have different sized movement pools (like horses might have 5d or 6d). The following modifiers may apply, along with the standard difficulty modifiers which can be used to represent the terrain.

+1d Running

-3d Stunned

Var Armour effects

Var Trauma effects

Var Rank effects (negative ranks)

Var Skills

Var Terrain penalties.

Var Magical effects

You only need to roll to make a Trivial or Battle move if you have less than 4d to roll. If a roll is made then any success indicates a Trivial or Battle move was completed successfully. A failed roll means your action is finished at that point, no further activities occur on that action.

A Zone move always requires a roll and needs 2 successes. If only a single success is made then the mover is placed on the boundary line between the two zones in Alone status. If no successes are made then they remain where they are and their turn is over. A roll must be made for EACH zone moved, so if a creature was capable for moving more than one zone in an action, then they roll to enter each zone. They would get their dice pool for each move however (it isnt split).

Terrain and Difficulties.

A zone may have terrain effects, either throughout the whole zone or maybe in parts of it. It may also contain difficulties (linear obstacles such as fences, crevasses etc) that need to be overcome to continue movement. Most difficulties should be placed along the boundary if possible.

Terrain will act to reduce dice and hinder movement. If the terrain occupies the entire zone then anyone moving into, out of, or around the zone will have less movement dice. If the terrain only occupies part of a zone it is only considered when characters deliberately move onto it. Partial zone terrain should always be considered an InContact area - that is to say that anyone on it is automatically InContact with it and anyone else on it, purely for simplicity.

Difficulties are generally linear obstacles that must be overcome to get from one side of them to the other. Because of this the logic requires that it block the entire boundary connecting two zones (or you simply go around it), or it dissects a zone from one boundary to another (or, again, you simply go around it). Linear obstacles will present a target number to overcome them. You must use movement, or movement related skills (climbing, jumping), to gain sufficient successes to get over the obstacle.

A difficulty can be 'Protected' as if it were another character, see below.

ZONE TERRAIN & CONDITIONS.

A zone can have dominant terrain and conditions that can be applied. The extent and degree of COVER is such a conditional. Movement effects are another that would have a big impact, such as saying that all Movement rates are 3/4 of normal due to rough terrain, or simply -1 to MA due to terrain. Lighting is a very common conditional that can apply to a zone.

Zone Traits

COVER: available max COVER mod (-1, -2 or -4).

LIGHT: general mod for light, effects all rolls that require visibility.

VISIBILITY: a mod to rolls relating to directional visibility (a straight line), reflecting restricted visibility. Eg Shooting, Casting, Notice rolls.

ENTRY: the max number of figures that each side (or one side) can enter combat with as a FRONT line.

WIDTH: the max number of figures that the environment allows as a FRONT line.

TERRAIN: modifier to Movement Allowances.

VEGETATION: both natural (plants) or artificial (furniture).

STACKING: the number of figures that can ENGAGE a single target is normally 5 (Teams=1, Assists do not count). Due to the confines of the environment, or obstacles, this can be reduced for the entire field setting a max number of 1,2,3 or 4. The Size of large creatures can be used to increase the number of opponents that can stack around it.

Some conditionals however are sporadic, they dont apply to the whole zone, so how do you implement something that may or may not randomly apply. For movement you just make every move make a dice roll, and if they roll a 1 they have encountered one of your sporadics. Ideally you should have a list of whichever sporadic you want to use, and advertise this to your players ahead of time, but keep it short (1-3 items). Unless your sporadics are moving themselves, then anyone who doesnt move cannot encounter one, so doesnt roll. If your sporadics are moving around then put them into the sequence of play and randomly target them on their action (include a few extra 'no target' options in the roll). A target is a group, so a bunch of figures that are engaged are all one target.

List of sporadics:

Pit - you fall down, AG to avoid, ST to get out of, count as permanently PRONE till you get out of it.

Wall - Your move option is stopped as you come up against a wall. You may be able to JUMP over it (set a target value), or you may not. Your turn ends and you are free to move next round. If anyone tries to engage you yu can adopt the wall as a Defencible 2.

Doorway - you come upon a closed doorway, ST to break down. It may be locked. Treat as a wall until it is unlocked or broken.

Window - Same as a door, but easier to break.

Furniture - counts as an obstacle, AG to avoid. Can be adopted as COVER -2 if you end your turn there. Could be thrown at opponents?

Debris - forces a AG or your turn ends.

Vegetation - may slow movement, may cause an AG roll, can provide cover, can give +1 or 2 to Stealth rolls.

Traps - Notice roll to spot, AG roll to avoid, inflicts 2d6+1 damage if not avoided.

Mines - Notice roll to spot, AG roll to avoid, inflicts 3d6 vs the target, and 2d6 vs 1d6 others as an AoE attack, but reversed so odds=friends etc.

Slippery - AG roll not to fall prone and end turn.

Slowing - decreases movement allowance by 1,2,3 or 4 points, causing a movement check.

Fire - may JUMP over it, AG roll to avoid or check for catching fire. You must MOVE this action or you DO catch fire.

Defencible - a location that restricts the number of opponents that can ENGAGE you at anyone time (vack into a corner etc). The number of opponents that can get at you at one time will be limited to 1,2 or 3. Once you adopt this sporadic you cannot move without losing it, and you cannot move while engaged (they have trapped you in it).

The Boundary

The boundary line between zones is used for partially successful zone move rolls, plus it can be chosen as a target location for a trivial, battle move or a zone move. To move to the boundary line you must begin in Alone status, or have a split move that allows you to gain Alone status.

The advantage of sitting on the boundary is that you count as being in either zone at the same time, and can then chose to make a battle move next action into either one. The disadvantage is that you count as being in both zones at once for missiles, and the first opponent who moves into contact with you drags you into their zone.

If two opponents are both sitting on the same boundary and one moves into contact then they get to chose which zone you both move into. You cannot conduct melee at a boundary.

Intercepts

Whenever someone tries to use a Zone move to leave or arrive into a zone others may be able to intercept the move. To qualify you must discard your highest dice (not a 1) and conduct a Move contest (Movement dice pool). If you win you move to InContact with the mover. If they were trying to leave the zone they are prevented. If the target wins they complete their move as normal and you wasted a dice.

Protections

You may announce on your action that you wish to protect another, preventing others from attacking them. You must both begin the action in Alone status. You expend your action dice as normal and move to InContact with the target you wish to protect (but because there are no enemy you both count as Alone).

Whenever anyone attacks or moves to attack the figure you are protecting you may announce you wish to protect them, stepping in front of the attack or the attacker. You expend your highest initiative dice and make a Move contest roll (using Movement dice pool). If you win you take your action first, otherwise you take your action after.

If the attack is ranged then you become the target of the attack. If the attacker was trying to move into contact then you may move into contact with them first, preventing them getting to the one you are protecting. Your action is completed immediately and can include any normally permitted action. Then the original attacker completes their action (they are not considered to have done anything yet) but in compliance with whatever the situation now is (if InContact and wanting to continue moving to the original target they would trigger an opportunity attack).

Evades

If you are Alone and an enemy wishes to move to contact you, you may try to evade them. You may only do this if you have an equal number of action dice as they have. You expend your highest action dice and make a DEX contest. If you win that completes both your actions, you remain Alone. If your opponent wins then they complete their action as normal (and you wasted a dice).

Bottlenecks

Movement is generally assumed to be unrestricted between zones, there are times however when natural or deliberate means prevent this freedom. Where movement between zones is restricted, by something like a passage or a door, a bottleneck is created. The GM should simply draw a square over the zone boundary affected and mark it with a score indicating the maximum number of creatures that may pass through it in a single round.

EG: (See the following image) The GM draws 7 large zones in a square, representing a small farm. One of the zones (bottom left) represents the farmhouse and has limited access points. The access points to and from the house (doors and windows) are all added together and considered one value, but this is a bottleneck. The GM draws a small square over the line joining the house zone to its three neighbouring zones and puts a value of 2, 3 and 2 on each. This means that only 2, or 3, creatures may pass through each bottleneck during a round.

Further, creatures may sit in a bottleneck and prevent passage through it. Generally the same number of people that can pass through a bottleneck can defend it. In the above example 2 people could defend the bottlenecks. This prevents anyone passing through until they are removed. As a defender is removed (killed or pushed out) of the bottleneck an attacker must move in to take up the spot. Once the attackers control all the spots then they can move through the bottleneck as normal. Once one person from your side enters the bottleneck then they are in the way of others until a defender is pushed out, limiting who can attack into the bottleneck (those with reach weapons might be allowed to). Timing of actions becomes very important.

A bunch of farmers are attacked by goblins. They hole up inside the farmhouse which has two bottlenecks of 2 size. The farmers fill the bottlenecks with 2 farmers each, thus blocking entry. The goblins must attack, one at a time, the defending farmers and defeat or force one out of the bottleneck before they can enter. As one defender is removed a goblin will rush into the bottleneck and take his place (assuming another farmer doesnt beat him to the spot). Once one goblin is in the bottleneck, along with one farmer, no others can get in or attack the defender. The goblin inside the bottleneck must defeat the last defender to free up the bottleneck and allow other goblins access, or withdraw and allow another goblin to move in before another farmer does.

A bottleneck will often come with a defensive advantage, so that those defending inside a bottleneck gain a cover bonus (either hard or soft). This advantage exists only to attacks from outside the bottleneck. Once an attacker has pushed into the bottleneck the advantage is lost in regard to that attacker. It would apply in both directions in many cases, but can be custom designed to work in specific ways.

You cannot sit on the other side of a bottleneck and claim to block exit from it. The bottleneck is the defence point. If you want to block the way in, stand in the bottleneck.

A good use for Knockback would be to push defenders out of bottlenecks, but at the same time you might give the defenders some sort of resistance bonus to being knocked back due to the nature of the defence.

Above is a more complex battlemap showing a possible farmhouse and barn, along with door ways and bottlenecks. There is no compulsion to use rectangles, you can quickly draw up any collection of shapes and sizes that you wish with lines connecting them.

If you use a white board or vinyl map you can quickly draw up battlemaps like the following: