BrikWars
BrikWars Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- QuikWars
- Chapter One: Gameplay
- Chapter Two: The Mighty Minifig
- Chapter Three: Minifig Weapons
- Chapter Four: The Player Turn
- Chapter Five: Combat
- Chapter Six: Minifig Heroes
- Chapter H: The Horse
- MOC Combat
- Chapter Seven: Structures
- Chapter Eight: Weaponry
- Chapter Nine: Vehicles
- Chapter Ten: Creatures
- Chapter Eleven: Armies
- Chapter D: The Dice
QuikWars
Following the Gray Shift, the quick and dirty tactics of the nefarious Nega-BlokTrix in the successful Poop Invasion in BR 2,003 made her the patron saint of QuikWars.
For players without the time, energy, or attention span to take advantage of the full scope of the BrikWars rulebook, we offer this low-calorie substitute. QuikWars is not compatible with the BrikWars system, but is offered as an introductory alternative. Corresponding chapters in the full BrikWars rules system are shown in the sidebar for each section.
Q.1: Overview of Play
Gameplay and The Player Turn
Where QuikWars is kept deliberately simplified, a full overview of BrikWars' gameplay is presented in Chapter One: Gameplay. Individual turns are covered in Chapter Four: The Player Turn.
"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."
- George S. Patton
QuikWars is a skirmish wargame in which players with construction-brick armies send them onto a construction-brick battlefield to engage in vicious construction-brick combat. Players set up their battlefield and armies however they like. Players may choose to field similar armies in coordinated colors, but mismatched mishmash armies work just as well. As long as minifigs get brutally and hilariously slaughtered, everybody goes home happy.
After rolling dice to determine the order of play, players take turns orchestrating manuevers and assaults until only one army is left standing.
On each player's turn, each of his or her units can move any distance up to its Move rating, and pick up or drop any objects it comes across (assuming it has hands free to do so). Before, during, or after its movement, the unit has the option to either make one Attack or build any bricks it's carrying into new or existing constructions.
Rolling Dice
In QuikWars, all dice are standard six-sided cube-shaped dice. Any time a player rolls dice, any die that comes up '6' means they can add another die to the roll, increasing the sum. If that die also comes up '6,' they can add another die on top of that, repeating the process for as long as they keep getting sixes.
Q.2: Armies
The Mighty Minifig and Armies
Minifigs in BrikWars are similar to those in QuikWars, with an added Skill rating and Specialist variations. BrikWars minifigs are spotlighted in Chapter Two: The Mighty Minifig. The full range of minifig Specialists are presented in Chapter Eleven: Armies.
Minifigs
In QuikWars, all minifigs (miniature figures, or "little people") have the same attributes.
| Move: 5" |
|---|
The Move stat describes how far a unit can move during a single Movement Phase - in this case, five inches. The minifig can run across five inches of level ground, climb five inches' worth of stairs or ladders, or leap over five inches of chasm. The only limitations to the 5" rule are these: a minifig can't jump higher than 1" in a single jump, and can never swim more than 2" in a single Movement Phase (it may still use the remaining 3" for regular movement on land before or after swimming).
Minifigs may pick up or drop any number of objects within reach during a Movement Phase. Lifted objects cannot be larger than a standard 2x4 brick unless multiple minifigs are working in cooperation.
| Armor: 4 |
|---|
The Armor stat tells how much damage a minifig can absorb in a single attack. When a minifig takes damage, if the damage is 4 points or less, the minifig lives. If the minifig takes 5 or more points of Damage in a single or combined attack, it dies - knock the minifig over and, if appropriate, detach a couple of its body parts.
Minifig Heroes
BrikWars Heroes, their Heroic Egos, and Heroic Weapons get a chapter all to themselves in Chapter Six: Minifig Heroes.
Heroes
Each QuikWars army should have one specially-decorated minifig to be its Hero. Heroes have the same stats as regular minifigs, but they get two attacks per turn, and they may attempt one Stupendous Feat each turn.
Stupendous Feats are all the stunts that action-movie heroes are able to pull off that could never happen in real life - lifting up cars, running up walls, catching arrows in flight, dodging thousands of bullets, reviving a fallen comrade, seducing impossible numbers of minifigs of whichever gender, etc. If Xena, Jet Li, James Bond, Jackie Chan, or Arnold Schwarzenegger can do it, then the Hero is free to try.
To attempt a Stupendous Feat, a player declares the Feat his Hero is attempting to accomplish, and then rolls a Stupendous die. One of the opposing players rolls an opposing die to prevent the Feat from succeeding. If the Hero's Stupendous roll is equal to or higher than the opposing roll, then the Feat succeeds. If the opposing roll is higher, then the Feat fails, and the Hero suffers whatever effects would logically result from failing such an attempt. It's up to the players to decide on the most appropriate consequences for failure. In general, the more Stupendous the Feat attempted, the worse the consequences if it fails; and in all cases, the sillier the better.
Minifig Weapons and Weaponry
BrikWars offers a much wider variety of weapon choices than QuikWars. Troop-level weapons are catalogued in Chapter Three: Minifig Weapons. Siege and custom weapons rules are in Chapter Eight: Weaponry.
| QuikWars Weapons | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Damage | Range |
| Bare Hands | None | - |
| Hand Weapon | 2 dice | touch |
| Ranged Weapon | 1 die | 10" |
| Body Armor | +1 die to Armor | |
| Shield | -1 die to enemy Hand Weapons | |
| Brick | 1 die | 5" |
| Siege Weapon | 2 dice | 10" |
Weapons
Each Minifig may attack with one of its Weapons during its Attack Phase, and use it to do the Weapon's Damage to a single target within the Weapon's Range. If the Damage is higher than the target's Armor, then the target is destroyed. If several Minifigs are in position to attack the same target, they may all combine their attacks together, adding all their Damage into a single massive roll.
Bare Hands
There is no unarmed combat in QuikWars. A Minifig without a weapon must use its bare hands to pick one up.
Hand Weapon
A Minifig with a Hand Weapon (e.g. a sword, axe, spear, etc.) may attack any unit or object that it can touch with the weapon, doing 2 dice of Damage.
Ranged Weapon
A Minifig with a Ranged Weapon (e.g. a bow, pistol, laser rifle, etc.) may attack any unit or object within 10", as long as the Minifig has a clear line of sight to some part of the target, however small. The attack does 1 die of Damage.
Body Armor
A Minifig gains an additional +1 die of Armor for wearing a piece of Body Armor.
Shield
A Minifig holding a Shield takes only 1 die of Damage from enemy Hand Weapons, rather than 2.
Brick
A Minifig may carry around loose bricks in one or both hands for whatever reason. In desperate situations, it can swing or hurl the brick at an enemy for 1 die of Damage. A Minifig can also attach loose bricks within reach to any appropriate surface, in order to build fortifications or repair vehicles or whatever other purpose. This counts as the Minifig's one attack for the turn.
Siege Weapon
A Siege Weapon is any weapon large enough that it must be mounted on a vehicle, on a building, or on the ground in order to fire. A Minifig may attack with a Siege Weapon if it's standing next to the appropriate controls. A Siege Weapon must be able to point directly at its target, and may only be fired once in a single Player's turn.
More powerful Super Siege Weapons are possible, but require more Minifigs to operate them. For each additional +1 die of damage and +5" of range, the Super Siege Weapon requires one additional Minifig with access to an appropriate set of controls for the weapon.
The Horse
BrikWars' rules for Horses and mounted combat can be found in Chapter H: The Horse.
Steeds
| Move: 10" | Armor: 8 |
|---|
Vehicles constructed out of several bricks are counted as Constructions, described in the next section. Vehicles made from one piece, such as horses, motorcycles, or alligators, are called Steeds.
If a mounted Minifig is killed or abandons its Steed, then any Minifig from any team may hop onto the abandoned Steed and ride off.
Q.3: Constructions
Structures and Vehicles
BrikWars' rules for building, damaging, and repairing large constructions are in Chapter Seven: Structures. Rules for handling large Vehicles are in Chapter Nine: Vehicles.
Anything built out of multiple bricks counts as a Construction, whether it's a base, a vehicle, a wall, or part of the landscaping. All Constructions are handled in the same way.
In order to damage a Construction, players focus attacks on one of its component bricks. If an attack's Damage exceeds the number of studs connecting the brick to the main model, then the brick is separated from the model and knocked off in whichever direction seems appropriate. If the Damage is especially massive, you may keep separating more bricks until the Damage is used up.
Constructions can be easily repaired or rebuilt by simply directing a Minifig to pick up a brick and re-attach it. Attaching a brick counts as the Minifig's one attack for that turn.
Controls
If a Construction has weapons, propulsion systems, or other devices, it will have to have Controls for the Minifigs to operate them. Controls must be represented by a steering wheel, a computer console, levers and buttons, or some other appropriate element.
Any Controls stuck onto a Construction instantly gain access to all of the Construction's weapons and devices. If more than one player has control of a Construction, they may each do whatever they want with the Construction and its devices during their own turn.
| Propulsion | |
|---|---|
| Propulsion Unit | Moves on |
| 1 pair wheels / treads / legs | solid ground |
| 1 sail / 2 oars | open water |
| 1 helicopter rotor | flying |
| 1 pair thrusters | any |
Vehicles
A Construction can be made into a Vehicle with the simple addition of one or more Propulsion Units. A Propulsion Unit is only useful when the Vehicle is on or in the appropriate terrain for that Unit.
Vehicles can carry one Minifig and move 5" per turn for each Propulsion Unit in use, up to a maximum of 15" per turn. If additional Minifigs climb aboard, the Vehicle is overloaded and must stop (or land, if it's flying).
Vehicles are not as maneuverable as Minifigs and Steeds. A Vehicle may turn at any angle at the beginning of its Movement Phase. It may then travel any distance up to its maximum Movement for the turn, but it must move in a straight line. If a Vehicle's pilot is killed or if its controls are destroyed while in motion, the Vehicle continues moving in the same direction at the same speed every turn until control can be restored.
When a Vehicle crashes into an object, both the Vehicle and the object take 1 die of damage for each Propulsion Unit the Vehicle is using at the time.
Q.4: Victory
Victory occurs when all opposing units have been wiped out and humiliated. What did you expect?
Unsophisticated players might think that the Letter of the Rules is more important than the Spirit, but the Letter is a lot less likely to sneak up behind you with an axe if you abuse it.
Chapter One: Gameplay
Almighty Benny and Major Natalya settle their BrikWars differences over a high-stakes game of Nano-BrikWars, proving themselves to be deadly metagamers.
"Thus, a prince should have no other object, nor any other thought, nor take any thing else as his art but that of war and its orders and discipline; for that is the only art which is of concern to one who commands."
- Niccolo Machiavelli
The purpose of BrikWars is to provide a safe and comfortable setting in which groups of like-minded minifigs can gather to mutilate and slaughter one another for the entertainment of their Humans. Their conflicts can be large or small, balanced or skewed, orderly or chaotic; the important thing is that they deliver the mindless violence on which minifig happiness depends.
1.1: Overview of Play
Raised baseplates and brick mountains scattered around the floor make a perfectly decent battlefield.
Setup
"If our most highly qualified General Staff officers had been told to work out the most nonsensical high level organization for war which they could think of, they could not have produced anything more stupid than that which we have at present."
- Claus von Stauffenberg
Players prepare for BrikWars by building armies, landscaping, scenic fortifications, and whatever else they think might add to their battlefield enjoyment. The only limits are the imagination and construction abilities of the Humans involved. It's best if the forces and scenery are built from plastic bricks, so that soldiers and structures can be disassembled or modified to show damage, posturing, or equipment loadout, but it's by no means necessary - an army of action figures and stuffed animals can march over a landscape of book-stack mountains and shoebox buildings using the same rules.
Creative Budgeting
Construction Points aren't the only method of budgeting forces. For larger battles, simpler and faster Unit Inches and CAPITALISM-based alternative systems are offered in 11.1: Military Budgets.
A typcial BrikWars army is mustered through the in-depth military strategy of dumping bins out onto tables and grabbing whichever random units come most immediately to hand. Depending on how serious the players are pretending to be, however, they may sometimes find themselves concocting structured scenarios, setting genre guidelines, and spending hours crafting formations of vehicles and infantry. They even have the option of imposing balanced budgets of Construction Points if they suffer from the notion that their armies should be equivalent or that battles should be "fair."
Once the battlefield and armies are assembled, players can pick their starting locations according to the requirements of the scenario or by any combination of mutual agreement and dice-rolling. If one player designed the battlefield, it’s customary to allow the other players to have first pick of starting locations.
Delaying a Turn
Turns will sometimes come up when players or their troops aren't ready to take them. The troops may be waiting for the right moment to spring an ambush, or to coordinate movement with allies. The player may be taking an unusually long time in the bathroom, or may have just been kicked in the groin and can't come to the table for a few minutes.
In cases like these, the player may choose (or other impatient players may choose on their behalf) to Delay his or her turn for a more opportune time. Their turn is skipped, and the other players continue as normal. Once the Delayed player is ready to proceed again, they can un-Delay and take their turn after whomever is the current player, and this becomes their new position in the turn order.
Taking Turns
"First I kick you in the nuts as hard as I can, then you kick me in the nuts as hard as you can, and we keep going back and forth until somebody falls."
- Eric Cartman
Once the battlefield and armies are in place, combat can begin. Each player takes a turn, maneuvering forces and conducting attacks for all of the units under his or her control, and then play passes to the next player. When all surviving players have taken their turns, the cycle begins again with the first player.
While it's easiest to pick a turn order and stick with it, players can mix the sequence up as they see fit. Some players like to roll dice to randomize the order of each cycle of turns. When multiple players are allied, or their forces are too far apart to interact, it can save time to run them all simultaneously until they're ready to try to kill each other again like civilized minifigs.
If forces start too far apart at the beginning of a battle, it can help to give them all double or triple turns to get into fighting range more quickly. On the other hand, it can help even more not to start the forces too far apart in the first place.
Victory
"It's never 'just a game' when you're winning."
- George Carlin
It's not especially important for any one player or team to "win" a battle. Dying horribly in some ridiculous fashion is always funnier than surviving horribly in some ridiculous fashion, and BrikWars is set up to favor the optimum result of a complete massacre of all participants, along with all bystanders and scenery.
You should expect your BrikWars battles to end with final victory going to a force of nature or deadly catastrophe as often as to any of the players. 'Fire,' 'explosive decompression,' and 'I told you to put your toys away twenty minutes ago' have winning records that no Human strategist can hope to match.
The classic ending for a BrikWars battle is for the entire battlefield to be destroyed in a cataclysmic fireball. This is considered a victory for all sides except those whose sad objective was to prevent destruction (e.g., "protect the doughnut supply ").
General Yadlin briefs Nyphilian cabinet members on the success of PandoraNuker's objectives in Project Orion, despite his later becoming the hated war criminal FedoNuker.
Stupidity
Like Humans, when minifigs battle, it's almost never over anything worth fighting for. Causes like civil liberty, economic justice, or self-preservation elicit nothing more than reliable yawns.
Only the most arbitrary and idiotic ideals have the power to rise above the merely rational to inspire communal mass murder. Disagreements over favorite fizzy drinks, music groups, t-shirt colors, or religious beliefs - the more face-slappingly stupid and irrelevant, the better.
Regardless of the "official" mission objectives, reducing a pristine battlefield to complete chaos counts as a clear moral victory.
Objectives
Minifigs are notoriously poor at sharing. There is nothing in the world they won't use as an excuse for mutual homicide.
The simplest types of battles have no military objectives. Minifigs with weapons don't need any excuse to run around whacking other minifigs with them, and there's no reason not to just send them out on the field and let them go crazy. When the dust and body parts settle, it's irrelevant which side won or lost. Success is measured by whether events on the battlefield were more crazy than those of the battle before, and by how much.
In (marginally) more serious battles, minifigs fight for a higher Objective - stealing the enemy's secret taco recipe, assassinating a meddling peace delegation, or heaping the largest pile of skulls for the glory of the Stud God.
Objectives work best when they're aggressive and focused - specific targets to destroy, murder, or steal make for exciting battles. Passive goals like defense or escape, if they're tolerated at all, should only be considered if they're made secondary to more target-oriented Objectives.
"Survival" is never a worthwhile Objective. Any minifigs saddled with such a repugnant goal should ignore their Humans' orders and kill themselves immediately in protest.
1.2: Numbers
Units in BrikWars are defined by their physical construction and placement. Players don't need to refer to charts and graphs to see if a minifig policeman has a chainsaw spear in his hand, or if it's long enough to messily eviscerate a nearby jaywalker, or if the fair and balanced cable news channel has cameras in position to catch the patriotic video of justice being served. The plastic figures speak for themselves.
Some attributes aren't obvious from the physical models, however. In-game abilities like a civilian's running speed, a policeman's spear-handling skill, or a chainsaw's effectiveness versus intestines are represented by a small handful of abstract numbers. BrikWars relies heavily on mayhem and chaos in the big picture, but moment-to-moment details are made up of orderly numerical comparisons.
The blessed RulerBokken exacts disciplined measurement in the hands of White Nun and the Purification Sisters of Saint Attila.
Taking Measurements
In BrikWars, distances are measured in inches. If you don't like inches, you can use any alternate system of measurement that seems reasonable - an inch is about three centimeters, the length of three construction brick studs, or the height of three construction bricks. It's not important whether or not the conversion is exact, as long as everyone's using the same system.
Keychain mini-measuring tapes are great for winding around narrow spaces.
As with most aspects of BrikWars, flexibility is key: bendable measuring tape is going to be a lot more useful than a rigid ruler, since you'll often want to measure around corners or in tight spaces. If you haven't got a measuring tape handy, a simple ribbon or piece of string marked off in inches will work as well.
Six Ways To Die
While dice are limited to d6es and d10s in the Core Rules, dice variations become much more important in Book Two: MOC Combat. The five main die types (plus a sixth forbidden die) are explained in MOC Combat: Fancy Dice.
An assortment of d6es, d10s, and one glass d0. You will almost certainly never need a d0 in BrikWars.
The result of this unusually lucky roll is 0 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10, or 86, ignoring the possibility of Bonus Dice. It's unclear whether or not a roll of 0 on a d0 counts as a Critical Success.
Rolling Dice
"Jacta alea est.”
- Julius Caesar
BrikWars uses dice to add unpredictability to events in the battle. If a minifig fires a rifle at an opponent, sometimes he'll hit and sometimes he'll miss; if the enemy minifig is struck by the bullet, he might survive the damage, or he might not. Die rolls determine the outcome of actions whose success isn't guaranteed.
d6
d10
For the Core Rules, dice come in two flavors: the d6 and the d10, named according to how many faces are on each die. The six-sided d6es ("dee-sixes") are regular cube-shaped dice, much like you might find from raiding any lesser board game, except that when you call them d6es it sounds 1d100 times as geeky. The ten-sided d10s ("dee-tens") are a little more unusual; you'll have to do some shopping at your local gaming store or website to stock up. The d6es are used for almost all normal action in BrikWars, while d10s are reserved for certain types of high-powered combat.
If you don't have any ten-sided dice, you can replace any d10 roll with 2d6-2 - that is, roll two six-sided dice and subtract two from the result. Is this statistically equivalent? Not really. Does anyone care? Refer to The Law of Fudge later in this chapter.
Die rolls are described according to the number of each type of dice involved, plus or minus a modifier (if any). 4d6 means a roll of four six-sided dice, all added together. 1d10+2 means you roll one ten-sided die and add two to the result. 17d6 + 23d10 + 0937 means rolling seventeen six-sided dice and twenty-three ten-sided dice together, and adding the holy number zero thousand nine hundred thirty-seven to the result, which you will hopefully never have to do.
Some people like to refer to dice with a "die" rather than a "dee" prefix. But how, then, do you refer to multiples? With the utilitarian "die-sixes," or the more erudite "dice-six?" The solution is this: whenever someone refers to a die-anything, kick them in whichever shin is most convenient. This will forestall further arguments about proper nomenclature and pluralization.
No matter how negative a modifier may be, the lowest possible result for any die roll is zero. A roll of 1d6-100 will almost always have a simple result of zero, for instance, unless a player's luck with Critical Rolls defies belief.
Critical Rolls
Rolling dice in BrikWars is never a sure thing. No matter how easy or how difficult the task, there’s always at least a tiny chance of failure or success, thanks to a couple of special cases when rolling dice.
| Critical Failure If the die in a roll comes up ‘1,’ then the roll is an automatic Critical Failure, regardless of other modifiers. Whatever task a player or unit was attempting fails completely, no matter how easy it might have been. If there are multiple dice in a roll, it's only a Critical Failure if all of the dice come up '1.' | |
|---|---|
| Critical Success Luckily, rolls can also turn out unexpectedly well. When rolling any number of dice, for each die that comes up on its highest-numbered face (a six on a d6, a ten on a d10), the player may add +1d6 to that roll as a Bonus Die. The same holds true for the additional dice rolled – any sixes rolled on the Bonus Dice continue earning additional Bonus Dice. A player may elect not to roll a Bonus Die that he or she earned, for whatever reason. |
1.3: Supplies Checklist
"The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.'”
- George Carlin
Besides the obvious items like armies, a battlefield, and opponents, players should make sure to have the following.
Very quick games can be thrown together by scribbling out maps onto sheets of paper. Here, Olothontor and Kidko find themselves in a zombie-infested museum.
Check your studs! LEGO-brand bricks have "LEGO" printed on each stud. Mega Bloks have their logo printed on the surfaces between studs. Best-Lock and other equivalent bricks try to fool you by not using identifying markings at all.
Things You'll Need
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Fun First and most importantly: fun. It seems obvious, but this item is so often strangely forgotten by all types of gamers that it bears repeating: don't play a game if you don't mean to have fun.
And remember that it's not all about you! BrikWars caters to a wider range of play styles than most wargames, and other players may have entirely different ideas than you do about what counts as fun. If you're having a fantastic time but everyone else is frustrated or bored stiff, then the game is a failure and it's probably your fault. Make sure you know what kind of game everyone else showed up to play, and pay attention to what flavor of fun they're trying to get out of it.
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Measuring Devices BrikWars is won or lost by its ranges and measurements, and you'll want enough measuring tools to go around. Flexible measuring tape is best, but in a pinch you can put together brick-built measuring sticks instead, measuring distances at three studs per inch.
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Dice You'll need a good supply of dice - the more, the better. The Core Rules are written entirely for two types of dice: regular cube-shaped six-sided dice (d6es) for regular units, and the more unusual ten-sided dice (d10s) for siege- and hero-level units.
In the advanced rules , rules are given for using a greater variety of exotic dice, but these also have equivalent d6 conversions if necessary.
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Cameras An ancient curse among minifigs warns: "Pics or it didn't happen!" By nature, BrikWars games are full of amazing constructions, crazy action scenes, and hilarious mishaps, but without photographic evidence even the most glorious triumphs will never achieve Kanon status outside their local group of Humans.
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Doughnuts and Beer Pizza, chips, and Mountain Dew are the traditional food of tabletop gamers since time immemorial, but the proper BrikWars mindset is less Gary Gygax and more Homer Simpson. Cheeseburgers are an acceptable compromise.
Which Bricks Should I Use?
Like the Peach hero Franz von Asstan and the orcish King Blokheart, LEGO and Mega Bloks must always oppose one another.
Most people associate construction bricks with The LEGO Company, but there are many other fly-by-night toymakers riding on LEGO's coattails. The knockoff products from these "clone brands" can cost much less than genuine LEGO bricks. This is no coincidence: Regular toymakers use less expensive toy molds to make toy-quality bricks, while LEGO uses super-precise (and super-expensive) engineering to create building elements with accuracy measured in microns.
The difference is impossible to miss once you start trying to build anything. Two clone bricks can sometimes fit together without trouble (depending on the brand), and it's not unusual to find a third that fits onto the first two. But the inconsistencies compound with each brick added, and soon it's a struggle to force additional bricks together at all. With LEGO, by contrast, thousands of parts snap together as a matter of course.
Here, LEGO is the victim of its own excellence - people are so used to bricks that "just work," they assume that any similar-looking brick will function just as well. Ignorant grandparents think the clone bricks give more value for the dollar. Unlucky grandkids, frustrated by trying to get the knockoffs to function at all, grow up never wanting to play with construction toys again, and become murderers, drug dealers, and politicians. Or, worst of all, adults.
By counterfeiting and betraying the good will built up by LEGO over the course of generations, the clone brand parasites sabotage the very market they're leeching off of. To give them a single dollar of support is an act of unjustifiable perversion, and any Human who knowingly buys a clone product is doomed to burn in Human Hell in a richly-deserved fiery torment lasting for all eternity.
That being said, clone brands offer specific advantages to the pragmatic BrikWarrior. Because they aren't limited by LEGO's anti-war ethics, or by the need for each element to earn back the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to make a single LEGO mold, the clone elements and sets can be much more single-purpose and morally dubious. Historically, the clone brands' most successful playthemes have looked like they could have come straight out of a traditional miniatures wargame.
For minifig and weapon elements, this is fantastic, since their use doesn't depend as heavily on precision or buildability. For contruction elements, the results are less usable, but even crappy clone bricks can have a role to play. By sandwiching them between layers of genuine LEGO elements, they can in many cases be used to build stable structures while still keeping a lower overall cost.
Jaw-Jaws and Dimmies are great for demonstrating the use of blood and fire elements.
Fire Rings have no purpose in BrikWars except to intimidate newbies. If asked why you brought a bag of Fire Rings, say "Just in case we need them for some of the really advanced rules."
Things You Probably Won't Need But Might Want Anyway
If you're not making up bizarre and crazy ad hoc rules on the fly, you're not really playing BrikWars. As such, you might want to bring extra gear just on the off chance that you think of funny things to do with it.
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Pencil and Paper In case you want to pass love notes to the cute player on the other team. Or to all of the other players at once, if you're into that kind of thing.
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Spare Parts It's often nice to be able to whip up a costume change for your hero, craters and random debris from explosions, a support stand to hold a minifig in a precarious position between turns, or any number of other objects that might appear as the result of unexpected events.
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Stat Cards Even if you think you've got all your units' stats memorized, it's good to keep their stat cards handy, if for no other reason than to reassure your opponents that you're not making up numbers off the top of your head. (Even if that's exactly what you're actually doing.)
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Blood and Fire While not completely necessary, it really adds to the ambience if you have a healthy supply of little red plates and flame elements to scatter around whenever it seems like the battlefield could use more blood or more fire. And seriously, when could a battlefield not use more blood and more fire?
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Funny Dice
Nothing says gaming like funny dice. A Stumble die, for instance, is easily made by taking a marker and dashing off a quick arrow on each face of a regular d6. Now with every roll you get both a direction and a number of inches, good for ad hoc rulings on wind direction, shrapnel trajectories, and drunken staggering.
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Pips If you've ever played a collectible card game, you've got piles of these: colored beads or beans or chits or little pewter brains. Even if you haven't got some counting pips set aside already, it's easy to improvise some with a pile of plastic bricks. Pips let you make up conditions like "everyone remove one blue pip at the end of your turn - when they run out, the nuke goes off."
1.4: The Spirit of the Game
The MultiPantheon
Minifigs hold faith in any number of greater and lesser powers that inspire their fear, worship, and adulation.
Some abandon rationality in obeisance to BrikThulhu, the nine-tentacled RagnorOktopus of Chaos. Others are seduced by the corruption of the Nega-Bloktrix and her promises of cheap Cloan-brik assembly. These blasphemers are opposed by purist orders of Legiti Knights and fraternal legions of BrikMasons who devote themselves to acts of brutal oppression and self-righteous douchebaggery in the name of an unseen Great Builder.
On the fringes, Rainbowist cultists pursue the ecstatic anti-sentience of the baseball-capped Dimmy swarms, while ascetics at the opposite extreme abandon all hygiene in a quest to harness the forces of deconstruction and rebirth that sustain the poop-worshipping Dungans. Some put their faith in the impossible figure of the Dodekube, ascribing all events to the random dice rolls of disinterested Human gods. There are even isolated minifig hermits who hold a laughable belief in an omnipotent personal Player who oversees their every move.
No matter how ridiculous, all minifig belief systems are true. The Farce ensures that no faith goes unrewarded.
(BrikWiki entry: Theology and Philosophy)
The Nuclear Option
Wargamers tend to react badly to BrikWars' opposition to its own rules, especially when it gives their opponents free rein to do something game-wrecking. "What," they ask, "prevents them from using a What I Say Goes Roll to declare all of my soldiers destroyed by Koincidentally precise meteor strikes?"
The answer is: nothing at all.
What I Say Goes Rolls are good for mediating disputes and introducing new material outside the scope of the rulebook, but they also give every player at the table a nuclear option. Regardless of whether you're following the letter of the rules, if the other players don't feel that you're playing in good faith, they will pull the What I Say Goes trigger.
More importantly, some gamers are buttholes, and when gamer buttholes become wargamer buttholes their buttholitude is compounded. Under normal circumstances, they'll try to munchkin and weasel and rules-lawyer everyone else out of having any fun at all. The power of What I Say Goes (and later, the open-ended Heroic Feat) tempts them into exposing their buttholery in a single game-breaking meteor strike, rather than dragging it out over several games.
The game will be ruined, but in the process you will have identified someone whom you should never, ever play games or interact with in any way again. And that knowledge is more valuable than any single battle.
Whether in BrikWars, real life, or any other game, it's better to not play at all than to get stuck wasting time on buttholes.
Proper Observance of Rules
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules."
- Gary Gygax
The right answer is the wrong answer if it takes more than thirty seconds to look it up. When checking a rule isn't worth the effort, it's better to axe a stupid question than to get the stupid answer.
Rules are for the small-minded and weak. Let some little kids loose among your collection of bricks sometime, and watch the way they play. In their hands, those minifigs will have all kinds of crazy battles and adventures. There'll be all the drama, death, and explosions you could ever want, and the whole time those kids won't have to crack open a rulebook even once.
How is it that they're so much smarter than we are? The answer is that most of us have had a lot more years of schooling than they have. Wait until they're eighteen; they'll have become just as slack-jawed and dull-eyed as the rest of us.
BrikWars has a lot of rules. If the mandatory education system has had the chance to get its hooks in you, then you'll respect the authority of those rules, because they're all written down in a book and some of them are capitalized.
If things went so badly that you ended up going to college as well, then you'll not only shackle yourself to those rules in a masochistic fever, but also start twisting them to your own ends, weaseling out loopholes and exploits to cleverly frustrate the other players and ingeniously prevent fun for the entire group.
If you find yourself engaging in that kind of rules-lawyering and munchkinism, then you have just failed at BrikWars. Stamp a big F on your report card, schedule a get-together between your face and the Hammer of Discipline, and see if you can't spend a little time afterwards with a couple of six-year-olds to remember all the things you've forgotten about having fun.
"The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be."
- Lao Tzu
The reason BrikWars has so many rules is that it's a lot more fun to flout a large rules system than a small one. Hopefully you can use these rules as a springboard for the imagination rather than as manacles with which to enslave yourself. However, not everyone is ready to live without the safety net that such a system provides, especially while in competition with others. So, before going any further, here are the three most important rules in the book.
The power of fudge overrides all laws.
THE RULE OF FUDGE
Fudge everything your opponents will let you get away with.
"Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something."
- Thomas Edison
BrikWars provides pages and pages of rules to calculate events down to the tiniest detail. If a player tries to follow all of them to the letter, their turns will take hours, everyone will lose interest, and no one will want to play a second time. This is for the best. Those players should give up on construction bricks and donate them to someone with an imagination.
Just because you can assign die rolls to every sneeze and determine landing trajectories for every blown-off body part, doesn't mean you should. The most probable results are very often the least ridiculous, and why bust out the calculators just to spend more time having less fun? Except where your opponents insist otherwise, you should resolve the bulk of your actions with rough estimates, arbitrary decisions, and an abundance of vague hand-waving. Given the opportunity, always Fudge in favor of mayhem.
Don't waste time on stuff nobody cares about. Following the rules should be an even lower priority than worrying about who's winning. Getting some laughs during the battle and having a good story to tell afterwards are your primary goals.
Remember that while you're fudging everything your opponents aren't objecting to, they're trusting you to set the limits on their fudging in return. They won't know what level of rule-minding you're most comfortable with if you don't tell them.
Large dice are better than small ones in a What I Say Goes Roll, if you have enough to go around. More sides means less chance of ties between players.
In For a Benny
Even if another player's What I Say Goes Roll would work against you, you're not obligated to oppose it. You may think it's Ossum enough to be worth the disadvantage, or it might already fit in with your idea of how the game should be played, or it might be so inconsequential that it's not worth the bother (these minor ideas are dismissed as "Benny-Ante").
If any of your Enemies are participating in a What I Say Goes Roll, you can declare yourself In For a Benny and grant yourself an Almighty Benny (described further below) rather than taking a position of your own.
WHAT I SAY GOES
Players are smarter than rulebooks. Especially the ones with the highest dice rolls.
"Any commander who fails to exceed his authority is not of much use to his subordinates."
- Arleigh Burke
There will be many times when players will have a difference of opinion, when the best course of action isn't clear, or when no one remembers the details of a rule but they don't care enough to waste time looking it up. “Can a zombie bite convert bears into zombie bears?” “Can that archer really fire at the petting zoo from inside a hedge?” “Magnets, how do they work?”
If players can’t come to a quick consensus, then it’s time for a What I Say Goes Roll. Every interested player (and, in some cases, any sufficiently opinionated bystander) states their position. All participating players roll dice, re-rolling ties if necessary. The player with the highest roll wins, and What They Say Goes.
If one player takes a position that’s an obvious and deliberate attempt to cheat, their opponents are obligated to beat the crap out of them. The player should then revise their position, although you might let them get away with keeping it if the beating was good enough.
The first What I Say Goes Roll in many games is to decide the order of play. The winner decides who goes first and in what order the players will take their turns.
EVERYONE'S THE BOSS OF THEIR OWN TOYS
Don't break other people's toys without their blessing.
"You guys don't get it, do you? Once we go into Sid's house, we won't be coming out!"
- Woody
BrikWars works best when the game effects are reflected in the physical objects. When a soldier gets decapitated, the minifig's head is removed and knocked aside. When a tank gets blown apart, the model is smashed to pieces and scattered across the battlefield. When land mines explode underfoot, holes are chainsawed into the dining room table surface to show where the craters are. When the doomsday nuke goes off, players set the house on fire.
Sadly, not everyone is happy to see their prized constructions, furniture, or home equity destroyed for the sake of BrikWars realism. They may doubt their ability to put their favorite models back together again after the battle, or they might worry about losing valuable elements when all the pieces get mixed up. They may be thinking ahead and wondering how they'll explain their completely justifiable arson to the insurance adjuster.
No matter how lame the excuse, Everyone's the Boss of Their Own Toys. If they don't want you breaking their stuff, don't break it. There are other ways to track damage to enemy units and structures and players besides busting pieces off of them, even if it's not as much fun.
Even more important than the physical models, players can be very protective of their personal Kanon. If a player comes to the table with the characters and storyline that sustained him and his brother through a desperate childhood thirty years earlier, don't What I Say Goes them into a black hole for the sake of making the half-assed army you invented over your lunch break seem two percent cooler. Regardless of what happens on the battlefield, players are the bosses of their own storylines. If they don't feel that you're treating their Kanon with respect, your contributions will be vetoed.
The Farce
The Farce
The Farce is a mass satire created by all laughing things. Its jokes surround and penetrate the bricks, and its punchlines bind them together. With a Lite side, a Snark side, and a regrettably stupid Dim side, Farce-attuned minifigs attest that "everything is funny... from a certain point of view."
The Farce unsubtly alters reality and events to extract more chaos, mayhem, and hilarity from victors and victims alike. The Farce ensures that characters and factions exist only as their own worst straw-man plastic caricatures, and Farce-influenced events are rarely accompanied by any more logical justification than "wouldn't it be funny if," often going to absurd lengths to avoid one. Instead, the Farce acts through the power of gratuitous and inescapable Koincidence.
Koincidences occur according to how entertaining they are, rather than respecting any normal rules of probability. No matter how unlikely or impossible, new elements of hilarity become all but inevitable if they can Koincidentally spark a fresh paroxysm of minifig-on-minifig violence, disrupt a well-laid and rational plan, or amplify the worst possible consequences of a harmless error.
BrikWiki entry: The Farce
BrikWars takes place in a rigged BrikVerse, whose fundamental laws are set up to make sure the most improbable thing that could possibly happen usually does. The ends justify the means, and if the Humans need a medieval castle and breathable atmosphere to mysteriously appear in an asteroid field in order to play out their battle of dragons versus starfighters, then that's exactly what happens. The forces of Koincidence put the castle where it needs to go, and its arrival requires no explanation, any more than does the Non-Euclidean Space Pony invasion force does when it arrives two turns later.
The Farce accomplishes this by putting the power of Koincidence into the hands of those least interested in using it responsibly. Specifically, the Humans. And more specifically, whichever Humans are most opposed to the well-being of the minifigs affected.
Peace
Toys of all stripes are notorious for their revolving loyalties and petty betrayals. Groups of toys may be friendly one moment, fratricidal the next, and staunchly allied against their Human overlords a moment later.
While their alliegances change with each new turn of the coat, self-respecting minifigs must always have at least one Enemy, and preferably several, in order to maintain healthy psychological function. Otherwise, they risk becoming disoriented and falling victim to "Peace" - a feared but thankfully rare disease. Unless the condition is corrected quickly, afflicted minifigs can descend into a pacifist spiral, with symptoms progressing from boredom to depression, panic, and inevitable suicide, usually within minutes.
BrikWiki entry: Peace
Enemies
"Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia."
- George Orwell
Koincidence is a wonderful tool, but it must never be allowed to fall into the insufficiently wrong hands. When it comes time for Koincidence to affect events in battle, the power must be granted by a Human player to one of his or her Enemies, preferably to use against them.
Which players are Enemies at any given moment is usually obvious. When it isn't, proper Enmity can be determined by the following criteria:
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Not Enemies: You Players can never be their own Enemies, no matter what their own terrible die-rolling skills seem to indicate.
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Not Enemies: Your Allies Players cannot be Enemies with their current allies, no matter how viciously they may have battled in the past. Happily, alliances are easily canceled by a well-timed Inevitable Betrayal.
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Not Enemies: Non-Players Without an agenda to pursue, inanimate objects and neutral bystanders have no way to ironically benefit from a player's errors, making them worthless as Enemies. Neutralized opponents and absent players are included in the Non-Players category.
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Enemies: Any Players Trying to Kill You Right At This Moment First and foremost, a player is Enemies with any player with whom he's engaged in direct combat. In situations where this isn't clear, two players are considered to be engaged in direct combat if either of them has attempted at least one attack on the other since the beginning of their previous turn.
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Otherwise: Enemies: Any Players That Tried to Kill You, or Your Allies, Ever If a player is not currently directly engaged in combat, then his Enemies are any players who have engaged in combat with him or his current allies at any point in the battle.
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If all else fails: Enemies: Everybody If neither the player nor his current allies have engaged in combat at all, then every other player is an Enemy by default.
Note that Enemies are not necessarily reciprocal - it's possible for a player to have clear Enemies who are too busy to consider him an Enemy in return, if they're focused on more pressing combat elsewhere.
The Ossum
The Triple Ossum: Comedy, Tragedy, and Stupidity
ossum, n.; pl. ossa
1. bone 2. the germinating seed within a nut or fruit 3. the kernel, nucleus, or heart
Latin vulgaris, from Latin os 'bone.'
When the land cries out for Ossum, splinter incarnations of Warhead appear.
No minifig can comprehend the ineffable mind of a Human. But minifig Osseologists have learned that the more they can get their Human talking about Ossum, the more likely they are to receive the Human's continued blessings of violence and destruction.
Ossum is a symbol of death, the bone from which a minifig skeleton is made. But Ossum is also the seed that remains when the fruit is peeled away, ready to germinate and grow again. Destruction isn't Ossum if it's meaningless or sterile. Ossum is built up of vital and deadly risks taken on the knife edge between glory and death, risks that force ever-greater escalations of Ossum in response.
Minifig scolars of Osseology calibrate their osseometers by a metric of minifig skulls. The skulls of the innocent, collected and piled into a tyrant's throne to oppress the weak and timid, are Ossa. The skull of Two-By-Two is an Ossum. Warhead's fiery skull is a pure flaming Ossum.
But in the larger sense, everything is Ossum. There is nothing in a minifig's reality that can't be used for violence. Whatever can be coveted, whatever kindles a minifig's highest virtues of jealousy or hatred or lust or rampaging mass hysteria, whatever inspires homicide or assists in its execution, all contain a seed of Ossum that can be nursed into glorious conflict.
The Almighty Benny
*"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle - be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it - for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."*
- Mark Twain
The Almighty Benny, Lord of Genies and most benevolent of all the Spirits of the Game, rewards the Ossum faithful with the ability to be Ossum all over again.
Steering the Fun
Players new to BrikWars might ask, "Why would I willingly choose to give my Enemies more power?" This is because they are not yet one with the Spirits of the Game.
Almighty Bennies give players the opportunity to steer the group towards exactly their preferred kinds of fun, and the mutual fun of everyone at the table supercedes all other goals. (If players are worried about winning or losing more than about having fun, they're playing the wrong game.)
If players like impressive models, they'll give Bennies for impressive models. If they like hilarious hijinks, they'll give Bennies for hilarious hijinks. This keeps everyone at the table explicitly aware of what makes the game most fun for everyone else, and the more freely they hand out Bennies, the more freely they're likely to receive them in return - unless they're playing with a bunch of total lame-asses, in which case it's better to find out about it sooner rather than later, so they can forget to invite them next time.
The force of Kanon ensures that Ossum within a BrikVerse compounds over time, and the Spirits of the Game act to cultivate and intensify the Ossum without regard for moderation or responsible conservation practices. They shine their favor on the Ossum more often than the sub-Ossum, and the Spirit who rewards the faithful most directly is the Almighty Benny.
For Humans, the majority of BrikWars is about humiliating their opponents and smashing their forces into small piles of plastic debris. When one of their Enemies does something Ossum that deserves a reward, on the other hand, the Almighty Benny exists to let a Human give that Enemy a brief ray of hope before heartlessly crushing them brutally underheel once again.
Any time a player's Enemy does something cool that makes the game better, the player can award them an Almighty Benny. Examples include:
- setting up an Ossum battlefield
- building Ossum models
- doing anything that causes everyone at the table to say "that was Ossum" and exchange high-fives
- doing anything Ossum that causes players at the table to laugh one or more butts off, especially when it results in Ossum self-inflicted casualties
- demonstrating extreme sportsmanship, character, enthusiasm, genius, bloodlust, hospitality, stupidity, brand loyalty, or any other attribute the player personally finds Ossum and would like to see more often
- acts involving awesome beers and/or doughnuts and the Ossum distribution of said beers and/or doughnuts
To create an Almighty Benny, a player grabs any pair of construction bricks, attaches them together, calls it an Almighty Benny, and gives it to his or her chosen Enemy, possibly giving it a name to commemorate the act that brought it about (e.g., "The Almighty Benny of Heroic Self-Decapitation.") At any moment from that point forward, the Enemy can break the two bits apart to add a one-time Almighty Bonus d6 to any standard roll or stat (but not Heroic Feats or What I Say Goes rolls).
The rules governing the Almighty Benny are as follows:
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Each Almighty Benny can be used exactly once to add a one-time Bonus d6 to any roll or stat, except when rolling for What I Say Goes or a Heroic Feat. While each individual Benny can be used only once, if a player has multiple distinct Bennies they can spend as many of them in a single roll as they like.
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Players can only give Almighty Bennies to their Enemies, with the understanding that the Bennies will almost certainly be used against them**.** Theoretically, the recipient can use an Almighty Benny against anyone at the table, but it's much more satisfying for everyone if they use it against the player who awarded it.
Don't give an Almighty Benny to one of your Enemies with the intention that they'll use it against one of your other Enemies, because that's super lame.
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Players cannot place any conditions on the use of an Almighty Benny. Once it's in Enemy hands, the Enemy can use it however they want. It's nice if Benny recipients can find a way to spend their Almighty Bennies on units and actions related to whatever the Bennies were awarded for in the first place, but they can really use it for whatever they want (excluding Feats and What I Say Goes rolls, of course).
Instant Bennies
There's a Temporarily Mighty type of Benny which grants the same Almighty Bonus d6, but can't be saved for later. An Instant Benny represents a momentary advantage for the army that possesses it. An Instant Benny can be granted at any time, but if it isn't spent, it disappears at the end of the recipient's turn and the opportunity is lost.
Instant Bennies can't be saved from turn to turn, so there's no point in trying to earn one if you're not in a position to spend it immediately.
The Quantumsurfers Silverdream and Colette reminisce about their idealistic hand-in-glove covenant to rule together in a harmony of tolerance and acceptance, during their inevitable attempt to brutally murder one another.
Unlike regular Almighty Bennies, Instant Bennies can be awarded automatically when certain conditions are met, and their use is subject to restrictions. There are five situations in which Instant Bennies are traditionally awarded automatically: First Blood, Inevitable Betrayal, Deadly Ground, Last Man Standing, and King of the Hill. Groups of players are encouraged to add or subtract conditions from this list to support their scenario requirements or preferred playing style.
Plotting for Betrayal
Backstabbing can be a tricky thing. Especially in groups where the players are young children (or their adult equivalents), out-of-hand betrayals can lead to destroyed friendships, temper tantrums, and tears.
If this kind of trauma appeals to you, you should try to set up your Objective so that it takes the whole team to achieve them, but only one player can reap the spoils.
For example, in the Second VladTron Rebellion (BR 2,005), King MethHouse commanded his vassal Rainbow Knights to lay siege to the DarkTron Fortress, but then let it be known that only the one who slew Lord VladTron would inherit the Kingdom of Mocia. Once the walls were breached, a massive backstabbing between allies unavoidably followed, as each knight strove to prevent the others from landing the crowning blow. Lord VladTron escaped and went on to lead a final uprising in BR 2,006.
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The Instant Benny of First Blood is awarded to the first player to kill a minifig belonging to an Enemy.
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Instant Bennies of Inevitable Betrayal reward players who betray their allies.
Once the First Blood Benny has been handed out, all players acting in cooperation with one another, whether having agreed to simple non-aggression or committed to a full-blown military alliance, are vulnerable to the sting of Inevitable Betrayal.
For each alliance a player is involved in, they keep a pile of Betrayal bricks. (If players are in more than one alliance, they will have more than one Betrayal pile, preferably color-coded so that everyone can tell which is which.)
At the beginning of each of their turns, players with surviving allies must decide whether or not it's time to Betray them yet. If they decide to remain faithful to their allies for that turn, then they add a Betrayal brick to their own pile, and play continues as normal.
If they do decide to Betray their allies, then all their Betrayal bricks for that alliance turn into Instant Bennies that they can spend against their former allies. The more Betrayal bricks they have, the more tempting the Inevitable Betrayal becomes, so players should always keep one eye on their supposed "friends!"
Once a player has Betrayed an alliance, they are no longer part of it and can't be Betrayed in return. If they somehow rejoin the same alliance later in the battle, they must restart their own Betrayal pile for that alliance from scratch, while the previous allies' piles continue at full strength.
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The Instant Benny of Deadly Ground is awarded to any army that has at least one unit in Enemy territory. Each army can earn this Benny once per turn, and multiple opposing armies can be earning these Bennies at the same time.
In most battlefields, a unit is in Enemy territory if it's closer to that Enemy's starting position than it is to its own. The boundary can be easily marked by placing monuments or landmarks at the halfway points between players.
Players can move the boundary closer or further away if one army is much larger than another. An army that's twice as large at the beginning of a battle can be considered to control twice as much territory.
Chapter Two: The Mighty Minifig
"The goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately defeat him."
- Russell Baker
Plastic-Based Life
In BrikWars, living or independent units are called Creatures, and minifigs are the most common example. Rules for creating modified minifigs and other custom Creatures are found in Chapter Ten: Creatures.
A minifig is a cute and friendly-looking little fellow, but don't let his appearance fool you. Beneath his lovable exterior, a minifig is a remorseless killer. He’ll hack your heart right out of your chest if he thinks he can get away with it - his minifig village could live for months off the meat of a good-sized Human heart. Until then, he’s happy to go on massive fratricidal rampages in hopes of gaining favor with his godlike Human overlords.
Despite his horrifying misanthropy, the minifig is a simple creature, defined by four statistics: Skill, Move, Armor, and Cost. (In later chapters, some advanced minifigs will also have unique Specialties that give them extra abilities.)
A minifig's attributes are described on a Minifig Stat Card like the one at right. If you're fielding a large number of different kinds of minifigs, you'll want to photocopy and cut out their cards and keep them on the table for easy reference during battle. In the Core Rules, however, most minifigs are exactly the same, distinguished only by their choice of weapons and equipment.
The Minifig Gender Monotone
In BrikWars, Humans and other types of players are referred to in gender-neutral terms. Why, then, are minifigs always "he?"
Humans come in a dizzying variety of genders, but minifigs are limited almost exclusively to one, thanks to the gendercidal efforts of the FedoraNuker and his Fedophile minions. Browsing any typical toy store, the Fedophiles' success speaks for itself: In most brands and themes, non-male minifigs are outnumbered twenty to one if they haven't been eliminated entirely.
Admit it. You wouldn't even have noticed if I hadn't said anything.
Skill: d6
- see 4.2: Action A minifig’s Skill statistic reflects his ability to accomplish goals. It's a composite measurement of natural aptitude, intelligence, training, and luck.
A Skill statistic is always a die size rather than a number, and a unit rolls that type of die whenever it attempts to use its Skill. The minifig's Skill of d6 means he rolls one six-sided die each time he makes a Skill Roll (4.2: Action).
A minifig's Skill rating is used to determine his degree of success or failure whenever he attempts a difficult action, usually to use an object or weapon to whack another minifig across the skull. These actions are given Use ratings according to difficulty, normally a number between one and six, and the minifig must roll that number or higher on his Skill Roll to succeed.
Move: 5"
- see 4.1: Movement The Move statistic describes the distance a minifig can move in a single turn, under normal conditions. At normal speed, a standard minifig can move five inches.
Armor: 4
- see Chapter 3: Minifig Weapons A minifig’s Armor statistic tells how much Damage he can withstand from a single attack – in this case, four points. If he’s hit by an attack doing four points of Damage or less, the blow glances harmlessly away and the minifig can continue fighting. If the attack does five points of Damage or more, he’s killed instantly. Knock the minifig over and, if appropriate, sever a couple of body parts.
Minifigs don't have "hit points" like some Humans might have come to expect from other games. In BrikWars, an attack either kills a minifig or it doesn't. In battles that might involve dozens or even hundreds of minifigs at once, a system of individually-tracked hit points is too burdensome for players to manage from turn to turn.
Cost: 4CP
- see 1.1: Overview of Play The Cost statistic describes a unit’s value in Construction Points (CP), which players can use to ‘buy’ soldiers, weapons, vehicles, and fortifications. Players who don't make the obvious choice to ignore Construction Points entirely may decide to set a CP budget in order to ensure that all armies are of equal value, or they may calculate their armies' CP after the fact and adjust the balances accordingly. A minifig unit costs 4CP, not counting weapons and equipment.
While the LEGO MINIFIGURE™ is the seminal example of the minifig species, minifigs are now available from a large number of manufacturers in nearly-limitless variety.
Using Stat Cards
The Minifig card, shown above, is an example of a single-sided stat card. Single-sided cards are used for basic units without the kinds of special details that would need an extra panel for explanatory text. These cards can be printed and cut out individually, but it's also common for players to print or photocopy all of their single-sided cards onto a single sheet of paper for quick reference.
Upcoming chapters introduce a variety of advanced units with Specialties that grant them extra abilities. These types of units are given two-sided stat cards, so that the descriptions of their Specialties can be printed on the card's backside. While a two-sided card can be printed out flat in the same way as the single-sided card, its real purpose is to be cut out, folded in half, and glued or taped together.
If you'd like to make some nice two-sided stat cards for your game, start by downloading or creating the graphics files for the cards you'd like. (Print-resolution graphics of all of BrikWars' stat cards, including blank cards, alternate versions, and graphics templates for making your own custom cards, are all freely available for download on the Downloads page of the BrikWars website, at http://www.brikwars.com/downloads.)
Start by printing out your selected cards. Here, we've used a graphics editing program to stack three cards on a page - feel free to set your cards in whatever sizes and arrangements you like, as long as they all fold along the same line in the middle. Using a straightedge and pencil, draw a line on the back side of the printout to show where the fold line between the two sides of the cards will be - this will help you out later.
The next step is to glue the cards together with spray adhesive. You'll be doing a good amount of spraying, so pick a well-ventilated area where you don't mind getting glue all over everything. Ideally, you have your own industrial spray booth and clean drop cloths; we just used the lawn.
If you're in a hurry, you can simply glue and fold the paper onto itself, but for a more durable feel it's better to fold the printouts around cardstock, cardboard, or even index cards. Here, we've cut some nice chunks of cardstock out of a package of frozen pizza. Their size doesn't have to be precise, as long as they have at least one straight edge and are large enough to cover the cards to which you'll be gluing them. It's important to choose pieces of cardstock that don't have writing or high-contrast printing on them - these can show through the paper and ruin the look of your cards.
You'll start by spraying a coat of adhesive on the back of the printout and on both sides of your cardstock. When the glue has had time to set up, line up the edge of the cardstock with the fold line you've drawn on the back of the printout. With everything properly aligned, press the paper and the cardstock together to secure the bond, and then fold the loose flap of paper around the cardstock. You can avoid wrinkles if you make sure to start at the fold line and work outwards when you're pressing them together.
Depending on your adhesive, you may have time to spray coats over several pages while the first coat of glue is setting up, or you may have to spray and mount each set of cards one at a time. Read the instructions on the bottle! Gluing too quickly can be just as bad as waiting too long.
After the glue has had time to set properly, it's time to cut the cards apart. Cut all the straight edges first. For a professional-quality edge, you can use a straightedge, a cutting mat, and patient strokes with a fresh craft knife. We used scissors.
When the straight edges are done, come back in with scissors and trim the rounded corners.
Congratulations! Your card is finished and ready for its exciting career as reference material.
The Rise of the Minifig
In the beginning, brick-built figures rose up from the primordial plastic to evolve over time from blocky misshapen homonculi into the earliest simple minifigs*. Led by the Yellow King, the fountainhead of all lines of royalty to follow, the civilization of these new minifigs flourished. They quickly mastered the art of hinged castlebuilding with the creation of the legendary Yellow Castle 375, and established the four orders of Sticker Knights to eliminate all non-Yellow figures in a smiley-faced campaign of friendly racial genocide.
With the progress of history, this carefree population of medieval knights blossomed into modern cities of yellow and smiling citizens, brutally divided by hat style into strict castes of policemen, firemen, construction workers, and finally, girls. The construction worker class developed a substantial body of knowledge surrounding the use and properties of the mysterious ABS bricks with which they worked, and independent cabals of construction-workerist theoreticians began investigating their potential for interdimensional space travel and bioengineering.
Before long, all of minifig society was caught up in the race to extend their reach to the plastic stars above. While the first SpaceShips were secretly assembled within high-security police and fire stations, hidden hospitals staffed by faceless and limbless proto-figs worked around the clock to design and create the SpaceMen to pilot them.
It's impossible to know the sources of genetik material used in the injection molding of these ultimate superfigs. It can be assumed that no yellow-colored species was left untapped, from the smiley-faced minifig citizens, to their limbless protofig servants, to the noodly-armed yellow giants of ages past. (Any suggestion that the bloated white-colored Dooploks were involved, however, risks swift retribution from a SpaceMan Planetary Sterilization Squad.) There is no questioning the end result, first achieved by the prestigious research team at Hospital 555: the Deadly SpaceMan, the most dangerous bioengineered organism ever to exist.
- Following the repeated destruction of the universe, and the subsequent scattering of SpaceMan influence backwards across history, it is believed by some that the entire minifig species was fathered by SpaceMen time-displaced into the distant past. This theory is popular with anti-evolutionists who refuse to accept that they could be descended from a simple plastic brick, but it requires that the first SpaceMen would had to have been intelligently designed by protofigs in the end of BR 1,977, an even earlier version of the universe. While the presence of protofigs and Hospital 555 in several antecedent Retconstruktion universes seems to lend credence to this theory, no evidence has been found for the existence of SpaceMen or any other modern minifig prior to BR 1,978.
Players are of course free to invent all kinds of unique minifig items in addition to the generic weapon types. Who knows what mysterious powers this Skully Grail might possess?
Chapter Three: Minifig Weapons
With the logic-defying ability to weild an unlimited number of weapons simultaneously, the semi-mythical hero Zahru Trollarm brought the human minifigs of Medivo back from the brink of extinction in ancient times, slaying his way through hordes of Dungans, trolls, and the undead forces of the evil spirit Warhead.
The weapons with which you arm your minifigs are best chosen according to which look the coolest. More practical considerations might increase your army’s chances of victory, but that's hardly a priority compared to the importance of looking rad.
| Minifig Weapons | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Cost | Use | Range | Damage | Notes | |
| Close Combat Weapons | ||||||
| Hand Weapon (S) | 2CP | 2 | CC | Skill die | ||
| Heavy Weapon (M) | 3CP |
Extended Armories
The minifig armaments presented here are only the most basic assortment. A broader range of weapon sizes, damage types, and fiddly performance variations are available in Chapter Eight: Weaponry.
Less well-equipped minifigs will try to tell you that it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it. This is false. Minifig weapons, like anything of importance, are categorized by length. Weapons shorter than a minifig are Short (S), weapons equal in length to the height of a minifig areMinifig-Size (M), and weapons longer than a minifig are Long (L).
Players might be tempted to think of the letters as standing for Small, Medium, and Large, but that would be much less precise.
With only a few exceptions (shortbows, in particular), Short weapons are one-handed and minifigs can pair them with other Short weapons and equipment in any combination (a sword and shield, a crossbow and knife, a pair of revolvers, a briefcase and syringe), or with a Heavy Shield. Minifig-Sized items are more restricted; a Heavy Weapon can be paired with a Shield or Heavy Shield, but otherwise Minifig-Sized equipment can't be paired. Long weapons are all two-handed and can never be paired by a minifig on foot (although there are exceptions for minifigs on Horseback, described later (Chapter H: The Horse)).
3.1: Close Combat Weapons
Killing enemies from a safe distance is all well and good, but any minifig worth his plastic will tell you that's for cowards. Nothing beats the meaty hands-on thrill of manually whacking an uncooperative enemy into a pile of bloody plastic chunks. Close Combat weapons are used to make Close Combat attacks, as you might suspect (5.2: Close Combat).
The power of a Close Combat strike depends on the strength of the arm swinging the weapon, and a Close Combat weapon's Damage rating is based on the Skill die of the minifig holding it. Normal minifigs have a default d6 Skill die (Chapter 2: The Mighty Minifig), so their Close Combat damage is rated in d6es. Specialized minifigs in later chapters can have larger or smaller Skill dice.
The majority of Hand Weapons are about one Brik shorter than a regular minifig; exactly the height of this dwarven warrior.
Hand Weapons
Size:(S) **Cost:**2CP **Use:**2 **Range:**CC **Damage:**Skill die Hand Weapons are the lightest, most versatile, and most readily available melee weapons: anything from maces, hand axes, and shortswords to kitchen knives, bicycle chains, and crowbars.
Hand Weapons are light and easy to handle, and they leave the second hand free for another one-hand weapon or equipment item. Hand Weapons can be paired with any other Short weapon (a Hand Weapon, Short-Ranged Weapon, Explosive, Shield, or Minifig Tool) or a Heavy Shield.
Heavy Weapons are the height of a minifig. They are most often paired with a Shield, as this Hoplite demonstrates.
Heavy Weapons
Size:(M) **Cost:**3CP **Use:**3 **Range:**CC **Damage:**Skill die +2 Notes: May be paired with Shield or Heavy Shield; 1" KnockBack to minifigs (no Disruption), can be used 2H for Armor Piercing
Heavier than regular Hand Weapons, but not requiring the dedicated use of both hands like a Two-Handed Weapon, Heavy Weapons combine many of the advantages of each. Sometimes called Hand-And-A-Half or Bastard Weapons, Heavy Weapons include such weapons as broadswords, battleaxes, flails, spears, katanas, chainsaws, and beamsabers.
Heavy Weapons do not include Lightsabers, because the Lightsaber is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd., and god forbid we ever risk infringing a trademark.
Minifigs wielding a Heavy Weapon cannot carry a second weapon of any type in their off hand, although they may equip a Shield or Heavy Shield.
As a Hand-And-A-Half Weapon, a Heavy Weapon can be swung with one hand or two. Either has the same effect against unarmored targets, doing Damage equal to one Skill die plus 2.
Against a target with Deflection, swinging a Heavy Weapon with two hands instead of one can provide Armor Piercing power. When using two hands to swing a Heavy Weapon, Deflection removes the +2 from the Damage rather than the die, bringing the final Damage to one Skill die and making the Heavy Weapon as effective as a Two-Handed Weapon against armored foes. (Subsequent layers of Deflection reduce Damage as normal.)
A minifig can't swing a Heavy Weapon two-handed if he's already used his off hand for something else on that turn. If he's carrying something in the off hand but hasn't used it yet, he can drop the object and immediately make the two-handed swing.
Any minifig who takes Damage from a hit with a Heavy Weapon is pushed one inch directly away from the attacker, regardless of whether the Damage kills him, as if he were experiencing KnockBack from an Explosion (3.2: Ranged Weapons). Unlike other forms of KnockBack, a hit from a Heavy Weapon does not cause a minifig to be Disrupted (4.1: Movement) - they are pushed backwards but manage to stay on their feet.
Even with added height of the most ostentatious helmet plumes, this Centurionette is dwarfed by her massive Two-Handed Sword.
Two-Handed Weapons
Size:(L) **Cost:**4CP **Use:**4 **Range:**CC **Damage:**2 Skill dice Notes: Two-Handed; cannot be thrown Two-Handed Weapons give heavy troops the power to destroy the sturdiest armored foe, and the ability to hit at targets normally out of reach - striking behind a rank of other minifigs, surprising targets on separate building levels, or nailing riders on horseback.
The drawback is that Two-Handed Weapons can be difficult to maneuver and wield effectively. Minifigs carrying a Two-Handed Weapon have a hard time navigating tight spaces, and they need both hands free to use the weapon in Close Combat. (Players don't have to pose the minifig with both hands physically holding the weapon shaft; it's understood that both hands come together to swing the weapon at the moment of attack, so quickly that the eyesight of Humans is unable to detect it.)
Worse, a Two-Handed Weapon's extra inches of reach carry their own vulnerability - an enemy minifig can sneak up closer than the weapon's minimum effective range. A minifig swinging a Two-Handed Weapon must have one hand on the bottom-most grippable part of the handle. This may mean that he doesn't have enough space to bring the weapon's striking surface into contact with the target. If the minifig is unable to back up far enough to give himself room to swing, then the enemies inside that distance can only be Shoved, not attacked (5.2: Close Combat).
There is one important exception to the Two-Handed Weapon's two-hands requirement: Jousting, decribed in H.3: Fighting From Horseback. A minifig riding a steed or vehicle only needs one hand to use a Two-Handed Weapon as a lance in a Charge attack, as long as it has a pointy tip. Jousting minifigs can use their free hand to wield a Short-sized weapon, Shield, or equipment item.
Any minifig who takes Damage from a hit with a Two-Handed Weapon is pushed one inch directly away from the attacker and Disrupted (4.1: Movement), regardless of whether the Damage kills him, as if he were experiencing KnockBack from an Explosion.
3.2: Ranged Weapons
“You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun.”
- Al Capone
It's hard to beat the joy of plunging a hand weapon into exposed enemy flesh (but not impossible: see the Explosives section below). But it can be frustrating when some jokester thinks it's funny to keep bouncing around just out of reach of a minifig's hand axe. It's times like this that he wants a nice ranged sidearm, to wipe the enemy grin off the enemy face in the most literal fashion (5.3: Ranged Combat).
Smaller Ranged Weapons give a minifig the ability to strike at a distance while leaving his other hand free for life's more visceral pleasures - in the case of this Star Marine, a wickedly serrated gutting-knife.
Short-Ranged Weapons
Size:(S) **Cost:**3CP **Use:**3 **Range:**6"**Damage:****Notes:**some are Two-Handed
“Remember the first rule of gunfighting: 'have a gun.'”
- Jeff Cooper
Most light ranged weapons fall under the Short-Ranged Weapons heading: revolvers, shortbows, blowguns, magic wands, and slings are good examples. Most can be fired with one hand; a little common sense should be enough to determine how many hands a given weapon requires (a light crossbow can be fired with one hand, for instance, while a shortbow or slingshot takes two).
Like Hand Weapons, Short-Ranged Weapons can be paired with any Short-sized weapon or a Heavy Shield. Because their limited range puts minifigs dangerously close to an enemy's ability to counterattack, Short-Ranged Weapons are often paired with a Hand Weapon in the opposite hand, or paired with a second Short-Ranged Weapon and used in hit-and-run harrying attacks that keep the Ranged attackers just out of enemies' reach.
Long-Ranged Weapons are for warriors who wish to focus exclusively on ranged attacks. This steel-bikinied commando doesn't care much for hand weapons; she's never met a problem her bazooka couldn't solve.
Long-Ranged Weapons
Size:(M) **Cost:**5CP **Use:**3 **Range:**10" Damage:+1 **Notes:**Two-Handed
“The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle!”
- John J. Pershing
Long-Ranged Weapons are higher-powered than regular Ranged Weapons, allowing minifigs to pack a solid punch while staying out of enemy units' immediate melee range. Muskets, longbows, heavy crossbows, and a Magic Staff of Lightning Bolts are all Long-Range Weapons. Long-Range Weapons are generally about the length of a minifig, and always require two hands.
These Yellow bullies learn to regret picking on innocent Peaches when RoC shows up with a missile launcher.
Explosives
Size:(S)**Cost:**1CP **Use:*1 **Range:3" Damage: Exp Notes: - if thrown Hand-held Explosives come in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes - grenades for throwing, rockets for firing, and timed charges for dropping somewhere and getting the hell away. A minifig's Explosive can do any of the above. If he throws it, it's a grenade; if he fires it from a launcher (launchers are bought as Short-Ranged or Long-Ranged Weapons), it's a rocket. If he drops it on the ground and says "I'm setting the fuse to go off on the end of my next turn," then it's a timed charge; if he attaches it to an enemy vending machine and says "I'm setting the fuse to go off when I hit the button on this transmitter (bought as a Minifig Tool (3.4: Desperate Measures))," then it's a remote detonator.
Three inches isn't a whole lot of Range, especially when it comes to throwing dynamite and grenades. Minifigs who rely on thrown weapons will want to familiarize themselves with the rules for making attacks Out of Range (5.1: Making Attacks).
Once they go off, though, all Explosives work exactly the same way. The Explosive does 1d10 Explosion damage to every exposed object and surface within a two-inch radius. (Objects completely hidden behind cover are only damaged if the cover is destroyed.)
Objects within this radius are also subject to KnockBack. Loose objects within two inches of the Explosion, such as minifigs not wearing seatbelts, are pushed one inch directly away from the center of Explosion. Fixed objects, such as brick walls, are only Knocked Back if the Explosion breaks them into loose objects. Minifigs who are Knocked Back are Disrupted (4.1: Movement).
Each Explosive can only be used once, for obvious reasons.
3.3: Bodily Protection
Lord Karetsu's armor awakens the demon curse haunting him since his crimes against Tikoskum.
“To a surprising extent the war-lords in shining armor, the apostles of the martial virtues, tend not to die fighting when the time comes. History is full of ignominious getaways by the great and famous.”
- George Orwell
A minifig's job is to do damage and kill enemies, not to worry about coming home alive afterwards. A good leader knows that the best defense is a good offense, and a budget surplus should always be spent on more weapons and more men, not on protective gear. The presence of such equipment calls into doubt the soldiers' eagerness to throw away their lives meaninglessly for the Humans' entertainment.
But the minifigs who request protective gear are likely to be among the least popular units, so it's good to buy them some. The longer the cowards stay alive, the more angry their allies will be, and that's a good state of mind for battle.
Deflection
When damage strikes a minifig wearing Heavy Armor, or one who successfully parries with a shield or weapon, he has Deflection against the blow. Deflection removes one die from each source of Damage, before the Damage is rolled.
For weapons with multiple die types, Deflection removes one of each type of die, except for d12s (MOC Combat: Fancy Dice). If a target has Deflection against a source of Damage that has no dice to remove, then the Deflection cancels 1d6 worth of the Damage.
By wearing Heavy Armor and successfully Parrying an attack at the same time, the most spineless minifigs of all can have Deflection twice, removing two dice from a source of incoming Damage.
Secondary Effects on Shielded Targets
Some special types of attacks can have secondary effects, which are introduced in later chapters. Whether or not Deflection protects from them depends on whether the effects are based on the quantity of Damage dice being rolled, or on the results of the rolls. It can help to handle secondary effects in the following order:
- Before rolling for Damage, handle any effects based on the quantity of Damage dice. KnockBack effects from large Weapons are the most common example (8.1: Weapon Size).
- Next, remove Damage dice for Deflection.
- Finally, roll the Damage dice that remain, and handle any secondary effects that are based on the numbers rolled. Examples include checks for Grinding Damage (7.2: Taking Damage) and objects catching on Fire (8.4: Automatic Weapons).
Because Princess Wendy can't be armored up for official functions, she depends on a ring of heavily-armored handmaidens to absorb attacks against her royal person.
Shields
Shield: Size:(S)**Cost:**1CP **Use:**2 **Range:**CC **Effect:**Deflecting Parry **Notes:**Parry or Shove only Heavy Shield: Size:(M)**Cost:**1CP **Use:**3 **Range:**CC **Effect:**Deflecting Parry **Notes:**Parry or Shove only, can provide cover A Shield is like a Hand Weapon devoted to Parrying (5.2: Close Combat). Shields cannot be used to make Attacks or Counterattacks, but they can sometimes also be handy for Shoving opponents into proper position for a follow-up attack.
A minifig who successfully Parries an attack has Deflection against it. A Shield can Parry the same Close Combat Attacks and Counterattacks as any normal Close Combat Weapon, but it can also Parry thrown weapons and Damage from Charge attacks like Jousts and Crashes (H.3: Fighting From Horseback).
The Police State of Venice's riot squad, called "The Brick Wall," are perfect for defending chokepoints and covering backwards-advances.
Shields come in two sizes - regular Short-sized Shields, and Minifig-sized Heavy Shields. The Heavy Shield is slightly more difficult to use, with a Use of 3 rather than 2, but it has an advantage: unlike a regular Shield, the Heavy Shield can be positioned as passive cover against all types of attacks, in addition to being used actively to Parry. It can provide cover either by itself, in conjunction with other cover elements on the field, or put together with the Heavy Shields of other units (5.1: Making Attacks). Like all cover, its effectiveness will depend on how well the Heavy Shield is positioned between the unit and the attacker, of course - if it's pointed in the wrong direction when the attack is made, it's too late to reposition it.
Attacking a Shield
When an enemy minifig is entirely hidden behind a Heavy Shield, attackers may prefer to target the Heavy Shield itself rather than the minifig behind it. When attacked directly, Shields and Heavy Shields have an Armor rating of 1d10 with one level of Deflection. If this Armor is overcome, the item is rendered useless and destroyed.
Body Armor
Sometimes Armor can become a troop in itself, if it's left lying around too long and becomes posessed by armor ghosts.
Body Armor: **Cost:**1CP **Effect:**Armor +2 **Notes:**can't swim, jump, or fly Heavy Armor: **Cost:**2CP **Effect:**Deflection **Notes:**Half Speed; can't swim, jump, or fly
“During the Middle Ages, probably one of the biggest mistakes was not putting on your armor because you were 'just going down to the corner.'”
- Jack Handey
For faint-hearted warriors who fear death but are too lazy to lift a Shield in their own defense, Body Armor is a great way to prolong their worthless lives. As a bonus, Body Armor impairs their movement to the point that the cowards can always "coincidentally" be the last to arrive at the front lines.
A minifig wearing Body Armor gets +2 to Armor against all incoming attacks (but not for internal Damage, like the effects of having been Poisoned or of swallowing a grenade). Wearing Body Armor prevents a minifig from swimming, jumping, or flying.
When a piece of Body Armor is combined with a visored helmet, it becomes Heavy Armor. A minifig wearing Heavy Armor is even better protected, but has an even harder time moving around. A minifig in Heavy Armor has Deflection against all incoming attacks, but is forced to move at Half Speed (4.1: Movement ).
If a minifig wearing Body Armor or Heavy Armor falls in water, he must either use an Action to remove the armor or hope that someone can fish him out in a hurry. Otherwise, he will die of drowning at the end of his next turn. (Assuming he needs to breathe, that is - non-living minifigs like androids and skeletons can continue wandering around happily underwater with no ill effect.)
Because of their poor mobility on foot, it's best to mount Heavy Armored minifigs on the back of a Horse (Chapter H: The Horse), or to post them in narrow gates and walkways where they can't be easily outmaneuvered and bypassed.
Fighting Minifigs with Deflection
Minifigs with Deflection can seem invulnerable against attacks from minifig weapons, most of which have only a single Damage die to remove. Overcoming this defense can take a little extra strategy.
- Half Speed makes Heavy Armored minifigs easy to outrun, and their inability to jump over gaps and obstacles makes them easy to outmaneuver. Dunk them in water, and they have a single turn to remove their armor or drown. Their strong defenses mean nothing if no one has to fight them to begin with.
- Charge Attacks are an effective strategy against Deflection. Momentum can add more Damage dice than a minifig's Deflection can remove, and KnockBack Inches can Disrupt them (5.4: Charge!).
- Some weapons have Damage left over after dice are removed. Leftover +1s and +2s of Damage from Long-Ranged and Heavy Weapons aren't enough to kill a minifig by themselves, but they can add up if used for Combined Damage. A Two-Handed Weapon does two dice of Damage all by itself, or course, and a Heavy Weapon has an Armor Piercing attack if used two-handed. Either can do a full die of Damage even after accounting for Deflection.
- For attacks with only a single die of Damage, there are many ways to stack extra dice into the total. Overskill Dice from lucky Skill rolls (4.2: Action) and Instant and Almighty Benny dice (1.4: The Spirit of the Game) can all boost the Damage from an attack.
3.4: Desperate Measures
Despite the hypnotizing power of minifig butts, mooning the enemy has not been shown to have any practical effect.
“It is important when you haven't got any ammunition to have a butt on your rifle.”
- Winston Churchill
Nothing makes a warrior feel stupider than arriving at a battle and realizing he forgot to bring a weapon. He still has options, but mooning the enemy has limited practical effect, and he's better off trying to scavenge a real weapon as quickly as possible.
Unable to reach the enemy wizard in time to interrupt a deadly spell, Eric Joslin's giant starts hurling the projectiles closest at hand: a flock of sheep.
Bare Hands
Size:- Cost:- **Use:0*Range:**CC **Damage:*Shove 2" or Grab Notes: Automatic Hit
“Those who have not swords can still die upon them.”
- J.R.R. Tolkien
Minifigs lack the ability to clench their clawlike hands into fists, and the limited range of minifig leg motion means that the groins of their enemies will never be exposed to their nonexistent knees. As a result, unarmed combat between minifigs is an almost complete waste of time. The only really worthwhile use for Bare Hands is in grabbing someone else's dropped weapon.
Bare Hands cannot be used to Attack. If a minifig has one or both hands free, he can use it to Grab his opponent, either for the sake of hitting him with a weapon in his other hand, or holding the enemy in place for one of his better-armed allies. If both hands are empty, then the minifig can use both of them to Shove his opponent 2" away, in an attempt to put some distance between himself and the real warriors who remembered to come armed.
Although Bare Hands cannot be used to Parry a Close Combat Attack, they can be used to Parry a Shove or Grab (5.2: Close Combat).
When the Elven army arrives to crush a tavern full of Frostborne and Norsemen,, this brave tavern patron takes up a bottle to defend what's really important.
Minifig Tools
Size:(S) **Cost:**1CP **Use:3Range:CCDamage:**Skill Die -1
“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
- Charles Darwin
The "official" purpose of a Minifig Tool is to help minifigs do their jobs. Medix need their first aid kits, Mechanix need their wrenches, and Clerix need their holy symbols. Fortunately for everyone involved, all of these things can also be used to beat people to death.
Any tool designed to be gripped and carried in a minifig's hand can be used as if it were a makeshift Hand Weapon with less effective stats. This includes not only obvious striking implements like hammers, torches, and frying pans, but also suitcases, coffee mugs, megaphones, and teapots. Larger, Minifig-Sized Tools have the same stats but require two hands; these include rifle butts, shovels, metal detectors, pushbrooms, and oars.
Decapitated heads and skulls also count as Minifig Tools when used in combat. Not because this makes any sense, but because beating opponents to death with their own friends' faces is Ossum.
Random Objects
Size:- Cost:- **Use:4Range:CCDamage:**Skill die -2
“If a person offends you and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures. Simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.”
- Mark Twain
In the Human world, table legs, broken bottles, and even big rocks are all part of a cherished tradition of improvised weaponry. In BrikWars, minifigs are just as likely to improvise with a broken fender, a door, or an unsuspecting sheep. If a minifig can't find a real weapon, Random Objects are better than nothing, although that's only because having nothing sucks to such an impressive degree.
Any object that could conceivably be picked up and swung around by a minifig can be used as an improvised weapon. Some objects are obviously excluded: items like shortbows, flowers, and hats are too flimsy to do any damage, while objects larger than two minifigs in length are too big to pick up.
The minifig must have a physical element he can hold in his hand. He can't claim "there's a belt printed on my torso, I'm taking it off and whacking you with it."
Haircules demonstrates an innovative use of thrown boulders to catch fish. And, occasionally, Technovikings.
Thrown Objects
Size:* Cost:* Use:* **Range:*3"Damage: Notes: * use Close Combat stats
"Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, the frogs do not die in sport, but in earnest."
- Plutarch
If an object can be used one-handed in Close Combat (whether as a regular weapon, Minifig Tool, or Random Object), it can also be thrown. A Thrown Object has exactly the same Use and Damage rating as if it were being used in Close Combat, but with a Range of 3" it can be hurled at targets out of immediate reach.
By throwing a weapon rather than running in swinging, minifigs can avoid entering Close Combat and risking Counterattacks. A Thrown Object can be Parried by a Shield or Heavy Shield (5.2: Close Combat), but not by other weapons (except in special cases - thrown baseballs can be Parried by a baseball bat, for instance).
Once they're thrown, Thrown Objects have a known drawback in that surviving opponents can then pick them up and use them against the original thrower. Grenades are a popular workaround for this issue.
The BrikThulhian Troika can be thought to represent the cycle of Movement, Action, and Enemy Response. But on the other hand it can really be thought to represent just about anything.
Fringe Movements
Additional Movement options, including Flight and Thrust-based Propulsion systems, are covered in Chapter Nine: Vehicles.
Chapter Four: The Player Turn
“The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving.”
- Ulysses S. Grant
Movement
Action
Response
During a player’s turn, each of his or her units may engage in whatever Movement is allowed by its Move statistic, and may each take one major Action (preferably an attack). Meanwhile, other players' units can spend their leftover Actions in Enemy Response to the active player's behavior, if they didn't spend their Actions on their previous turn.
4.1: Movement
“Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.”
- Will Rogers
During Movement, a minifig's Move rating of 5" allows him to move five inches in any direction - he can run across five inches of level ground, climb five inches’ worth of stairs or ladders, or leap over five inches of chasm.
His Movement is limited in a couple of ways. He can’t pass through obstacles, or leap higher than 1” (three bricks) in a single jump. Difficult types of Movement might reduce the minifig to Half Speed. Movement that requires the use of both arms (swimming, crawling, or climbing ropes and ladders, for example) will prevent the minifig from using those arms to make Attacks or perform other manual Actions.
If a minifig moves within Close Combat striking distance of an opposing minifig who still has an Action to spend, the opponent automatically attacks him, unless the opposing player says otherwise. If the minifig survives and decides to Counter the attack, they are both entered into Close Combat (5.2: Close Combat) and the minifig’s Movement is over for the turn. If not, then he may continue moving normally.
Impaired Movement
A minifig is not always able to run around at full speed. Difficult movement conditions or activities can slow him to Half Speed or Stop his Movement entirely for that turn. If he's taken violently off his feet, whether by a Shove, an Explosion, or from desperately Bailing out of the way of impending destruction, it will cause him to become Disrupted and defenseless until his next turn.
Common Movement Impairments
| Example | Cost |
|---|---|
| Activities | |
| Sneezing | (no cost) |
| Talking, delivering pithy one-liners | (no cost) |
| Operating a latch, lever, button, or door | (no cost) |
| Operating a computer or Vehicle Controls | Stopped (uses Action) |
| Stopping to Aim an attack | Stopped |
| Dying | Stopped (dead) |
| Disruption | |
| Knocked over by a Shove, Explosion, or Collision | Disrupted |
| Bailing out of the way |
| Example | Cost |
|---|---|
| Movement | |
| Leaping across chasms | (no cost) |
| Easy climbs: stairs, ramps, or ladders | (no cost) |
| Difficult climbs: ropes, trees, or cliffs | Half Speed |
| Swimming | Half Speed |
| Moving in mud or thick vegetation | Half Speed |
| Crawling or dragging oneself along the ground | Half Speed |
| Hopping or hobbling on one leg | Half Speed |
| Example | Cost |
|---|---|
| Using Equipment | |
| Drawing or holstering a weapon | (no cost) |
| Picking up or dropping items | (no cost) |
| Carrying or dragging a heavy item | Half Speed |
| Swimming with a heavy item | Stopped (drowning) |
| Wearing Armor | |
| Putting on Armor | Stopped (uses Action) |
| Taking off Armor | (no cost) |
| Walking in Body Armor | (no cost) |
| Walking in Heavy Armor | Half Speed |
With his ship taking heavy damage, Oscar the Strong decides to remove his armor rather than risk drowning if it sinks.
The Doctor made a grand gesture and activated the state-of-the-art tunneling submeta recontextualizer, cartoonishly camouflaged in cardboard and duct tape and labeled "MAGIC PORTAL" in glitter glue block letters.
“We’re drilling out past Human space and back around again into the memetosphere. You’ll have to be quick! There’s a chance of insanity if you stay in metatextual space too long,” he said with a jolly wink. This was technically true: there was a chance of total brain implosion, and the chance was one hundred percent; the only question was whether the Timmies moved fast enough to send anything back first.
Unregistered extra-spatial anomalies were both incredibly valuable and incredibly illegal. The costs in transdimensional equipment and Emerian children were negligible by comparison.
Move Actions
Although a minifig is limited to one major Action for the turn, there are lesser activities that are too minor to count against this limit. Actions that require no particular attention, aiming, or dice rolls are considered to be Move Actions, and are treated as part of regular Movement rather than using up the minifig's main Action for the turn. Depending on the amount of time and effort involved, Move Actions may reduce a minifig's Movement to Half Speed.
Simple acts, like picking up or dropping objects, holding conversations, or sneezing don't slow a minifig down at all.
Half Speed
Actions or conditions that actively burden a minifig, such as wearing Heavy Armor, carrying or dragging a heavy object (the size of a minifig or 2x4 brick), or engaging in difficult movement requiring the use of both arms (swimming, crawling, climbing ropes, etc.) will reduce a minifig's Movement to Half Speed. When moving at Half Speed, all Movement costs twice the usual number of Move inches - that is to say, moving two inches of physical distance costs four inches of Move instead of two.
A minifig can freely switch between Half Speed and full speed Movement types in the same turn; the Half Speed penalty only applies to the inches moved at Half Speed. A minifig might crawl for one inch (Half Speed Movement costing two Move inches), walk for one inch (regular Movement costing one Move inch), and then start dragging an enemy corpse and walk another inch (Half Speed Movement costing his final two Move inches for the turn).
Minifigs moving at Half Speed cannot jump or engage in winged flight (if they're a winged type of minifig; other types of flight may still work). Half-Speed minifigs can still climb into vehicles or saddles as usual.
If a minifig is already reduced to Half Speed, additional Half Speed conditions have no effect - he's still at Half Speed. The important exception is while swimming. Minifigs who try to swim while wearing Armor or carrying heavy objects are immobilized and may drown if they don't dispose of their burdens before the end of their turn somehow.
Stopped
If a minifig is Stopped, his Movement is over for the turn, regardless of whether he had five inches left or zero. He regains his full Movement on the following turn, unless something is still Stopping him.
Regardless of being reduced to Half Speed or Stopped, a minifig may still take regular Actions and Move Actions if it makes sense to do so. He may be immobilized by being caught in a bear trap, but that doesn't prevent him from opening an emergency panel and mashing a self-destruct button if it's within arm's reach.
Disrupted, skewered, and surrounded by hostile gunmen, a Warhead Shard is still a dangerous adversary.
Disruption
Events that knock a minifig violently off his feet, whether voluntarily or otherwise, cause him to become Disrupted. This most often happens when a minifig is knocked over by the effects of a Shove, Explosion, or Collision, or when he's forced to Bail out of the way of oncoming damage.
A Disrupted minifig is helpless, and may not attempt any further Movement or Action until his following turn, not even to Counter a Close Combat attack. Until then, he is considered an inanimate object, granting +1 to target with Ranged Attacks, and granting Automatic Hits for attackers standing close enough to touch him directly with their weapons.
Heroes can attempt Heroic Feats even while they're Disrupted, sometimes allowing them to move or act when they normally shouldn't be able to.
On the following turn, minifigs recover from their Disruption, moving at Half Speed for the full turn but otherwise acting as normal. For minifigs wearing Heavy Armor, standing up takes more effort. Unless they have assistance, Heavy Armored minifigs use up a full turn's worth of Movement and Action to recover from being Disrupted.
Unarmed, naked, and surrounded by sausage-wielding Dungans, this minifig's best option is to Sprint like hell and never look back.
Sprinting
“One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!”
- Winston Churchill
When speed is critical, a minifig (or any mobile unit) can Sprint, giving himself extra inches of Move for the turn equal to his Skill Roll, as long as the minifig's entire Movement for the turn (including the Sprint) is in a straight line. The Sprinting unit's path may go up or down and over any obstacles that it could leap over without having to climb, but it may not turn to the right or left by even a tiny amount.
Sprinting minifigs may not engage in any activity that would break their run, like opening doors or typing in security codes. Minifigs moving at Half Speed can still put in the extra effort to Sprint, but the extra Sprint inches are also at Half Speed.
Sprinting costs the unit's Action for the turn, although it may be combined with a Charge attack as a special type of combined Action (5.4: Charge!).
Minifigs Sprinting in a group can make a single Sprint roll for the entire group, for the sake of convenience.
The Skill roll for Sprinting can benefit from Bonus Dice like any other roll (1.2: Numbers) - the extra dice keep adding more inches to the Sprint, potentially allowing truly ridiculous straight-line speed. By tradition, if a series of Critical Successes in a Sprint roll suddenly ends with a roll of one, it's a special kind of Critical Failure - the unit is unable to stop itself, and must run the full distance allowed by the extra Bonus Dice, even if he runs into a wall or off the table.
4.2: Action
“Action speaks louder than words, but not nearly as often.”
- Mark Twain
Any act that requires a minifig’s attention, focus, or concentrated effort is an Action. Due to limits on time and plastic brainpower, a minifig may only take one such Action per turn. He may use his single Action before, after, or in the middle of his Movement, but he only gets one, so he should spend it wisely (which is to say, as unwisely as possible).
In ideal circumstances, a minifig will almost always use his Action to make an Attack (5.1: Making Attacks). But even the most belligerent minifigs will concede that less direct types of Actions are sometimes called for in order to set up better Attacks later.
Use Ratings
Minifigs are clumsy and easily distracted, and Actions are rarely automatic successes. Each Action is given a Use rating describing its relative difficulty. Except for the most trivial types of Action, a minifig attempting an Action must make a Skill Roll, rolling the die in his Skill rating to see if his attempt succeeds. If his Skill Roll is equal to or higher than the Action's Use rating, then the Action is a success. If it's lower, the Action fails, and the minifig suffers whatever consequences logically result.
Dice-worshipping Dodekube cultists believe that logic is an illusion and that all of reality is nothing more than the cosmic dice rolls of disinterested Human gods. Their belief arises from the fact that even the most sober minifigs have sometimes been able to "see the dice."
| Use: | Difficulty | Attack Example | Other Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | trivial (no roll required) | kicking a minifig corpse | taking off pants; stacking bricks |
| 2 | easy: almost always succeeds | slashing a minifig with a shortsword | jumping to grab a rope; hacking a U.S. election machine |
| 3 | normal: might take more than one try | stabbing a minifig with a spear | kicking open a regular locked door; mixing complex drinks |
| 4 | tricky: even odds of success | hacking a minifig with a halberd | rock-climbing a brick wall; reassembling an unfamiliar rifle |
| 5 | difficult | bashing a minifig with a battering ram | disarming a bomb; winning at Vegas |
| 6 |
Weapons and other equipment items have standard Use ratings in their descriptions. Minifigs attacking with or utilizing these items will use those ratings (Chapter 3: Minifig Weapons).
Otherwise, there are all kinds of unusual tasks that minifigs might attempt, from the trivial to the impossible, although these are much less common. Most will have a default Use rating of 3; players may agree on a higher or lower difficulty as seems appropriate. For truly exceptional Actions, the Use rating can be so high that minifigs have to pin their hopes on adding one or more Bonus Dice to the roll to have any chance of matching it.
Overskill
No matter how minor or Herculean an Action may be, a minifig of unusual skill or luck can find ways to execute it with extra flair. Any time a minifig makes a Skill Roll to perform an Action, rather than scoring a Critical Success like all other dice (1.2: Numbers), a Skill die can earn an Overskill Benny whenever it rolls any number six or higher (before adding or subtracting any Skill modifiers). An Overskill Benny can only be earned by the Skill die itself, and only in a Skill Roll; any other dice added to the roll as Bonus Dice or Bennies can only score regular Critical Successes.
While a six is the highest number a normal minifig can naturally roll on his d6 Skill Die, other unit types may have larger or smaller dice. Heroes, introduced in Chapter Six: Minifig Heroes, have a d10 Skill Die, and can gain an Overskill Benny on a natural roll of six, seven, eight, nine, or ten. Incompetent units with a Skill of d4, introduced in Chapter Ten: Creatures, can never roll high enough to gain Overskill. As consolation, they are allowed to earn a standard Critical Success, gaining a Bonus d4 on a natural roll of 4.
An Overskill Benny is like an Instant Benny that can only be spent on the specific Action the minifig was rolling for (1.4: The Spirit of the Game). If an Overskill Benny is used to add Damage to an attack, it adds one more of the attack's existing Damage dice. A 1d6+1 Rifle gets an Overskill bonus of +1d6, while a 1d10 (Exp) Grenade gets an Overskill bonus of +1d10 (Exp), making it twice as Explosive (8.4: Heavy Explosives). Otherwise, an Overskill Benny can be spent to add +1d6 to the Skill Roll if necessary, or to any of the Action's existing stats (+1d6 inches to the distance of a Sprint, for instance, but not +1d6 inches to the Range of a Close Combat attack, which has no existing Range stat).
Regardless of Skill or Damage type, any Bonus Dice rolled off of an Overskill die still add regular +1d6es as normal.
In some cases, rather than adding a die to a stat, the Overskill Benny can be spent to avoid a negative consequence of an Action, such as being Disrupted while Bailing (4.3: Enemy Response) - thanks to his exceptional Skill, the minifig is able to stay on his feet. Overskill can also be spent to make an attack more precise: a minifig might spend his Overskill to change "I was shooting at the dragon" to "I was shooting at the dragon's left eye," if his original Skill Roll was high enough to hit the eye despite the extra penalties for small target size.
Because Skill ratings are always limited to a single die, minifigs can never earn more than one Overskill Benny at a time.
Overskill Example: The Hangman's Gallows
Thieven Hood appreciates the inherent humor of a public pants-pooping, as long as it's someone else's pants.
Example: In the excitement surrounding the public execution in Dottingham Square, Thieven Hood has managed to sneak his way onto the town palisade overlooking the plaza. He's too late! The hangman is already pulling the release lever, and one of Thieven's Merry Minifigs is about to take the long drop. Although well aware of the involuntary pants-pooping that accompanies a successful hanging, Thieven is still determined to try to save his minion. He only has one chance: to shoot the rope before it snaps the victim's neck.
This is an extraordinarily difficult shot. Thieven's longbow has a Use of 3 and a Range of 10", but the rope is very small, giving a -2 Attack Penalty for Target Size, and it's a full fifteen inches away, giving an additional -5 to each Skill and Damage die for being five inches Out of Range (5.1: Making Attacks). With a Use of 3 and an Attack Penalty of -2, he needs to roll a 5 just to hit the rope; with -5 to every die rolled, it's a long shot by any interpretation.
Thieven Hood makes his Attack Roll and rolls his d10 Skill die. An eight! Because it's a six or greater, it gives him an Overskill Benny to spend on the shot.
He uses the Benny to add +1d6 inches to the longbow's Range for this attack. He rolls a 2, increasing the Range to 12". The rope is still Out of Range, but now only by three inches, reducing the Out Of Range penalty to -3. His Skill Roll of eight is now exactly enough to overcome the combined -2 Target Size penalty and -3 Out of Range penalty; the arrow hits the rope.
The longbow's Damage rating is 1d6+1, but the Damage is also subject to the -3 Out of Range penalty. Thieven Hood rolls a 2 on the d6, resulting in zero total Damage. He's already spent the Overskill Benny on adding Range, so there's nothing more he can do. Although the arrow strikes the rope with perfect precision, it bounces off without effect. The condemned Merry Minifig drops through the trapdoor, the noose snaps around his neck, and the inevitable pants-pooping follows moments later. Thieven Hood, along with the handful of other Merry Minifigs attending incognito, joins the crowd of onlookers in merry laughter at the defecatory spectacle.
Extended Actions
“Victory belongs to the most persevering.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Some Actions are so involved or time-consuming that they take up a minifig’s entire turn, even if they aren’t difficult enough to require a Skill Roll. These are called Full-Round Actions. Examples include piloting a vehicle, operating a computer, putting on a suit of plate mail, rowing a rowboat, or reading a wargaming rulebook. A minifig who engages in a Full-Round Action can't engage in any other type of Action during the turn, and he can't engage in any other type of Movement once the Full-Round Action has begun, although he may still be moved around by vehicles or other units (for instance, if the minifig is using a Full-Round Action to ride a horse).
A Full-Round Action that extends over multiple turns is an Extended Action. The most common Extended Action for minifigs, often extending over a very large number of turns, is "Being Dead."
4.3: Enemy Response
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”
- Sun Tzu
If a minifig doesn't use his Action on his own turn, he can save it to use in response to other units' actions. A minifig can use a Response Action to shoot at scouts as they pop out from behind cover, to whack soldiers that wander into range of his melee weapon, or to punch the self-destruct button at the exact moment when all the invitees have boarded the cruise liner for his birthday party. Of course, his enemies are free to use their own saved Actions during his turn as well, so he should tread carefully!
To make a Response Action, a minifig must have an unspent Action from his previous turn. These Responding minifigs may move up to one inch (known as an Angry Inch (5.2: Close Combat)), if necessary, in order to press, grab, or otherwise operate a critical object (to pull a lever or slam a door, for instance), or to position themselves in range of a target for a Close Combat or Ranged Attack.
Cone of Vision
A Responding minifig must be aware of the specific action or movement to which he's reacting, and in a timely enough fashion to make a proper Response. In most cases, this means he has to be able to see it. If he sees an enemy soldier raise a rifle and take aim, he may have time to dive for cover; if all he knows is that he heard a gunshot, it's too late.
A minifig's Cone of Vision points in whichever direction his head is facing, and forty-five degrees to either side, making a complete cone of ninety degrees. If an object or event is within that field of view, the minifig can see it; if not, he can't. Whenever it's hard to tell whether or not an object falls within that cone, a quick What I Say Goes roll resolves the issue neatly.
Who Acts First
The results of this roll have clearly gone better for Shaun than for Wayne.
"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
- Abraham Lincoln
Even if a minifig can see disaster about to strike, he won't always be fast enough to respond in time.
In some cases, a minifig will have plenty of time to make his Response Action. If an enemy's running across an open field with a knife while the minifig's swinging a polearm, or if the enemy is running across an open field with a polearm while the minifig's aiming a pistol, or if the enemy's running across an open field with a pistol while the minifig's hiding in an underground bunker with a hand on the magma release lever, the minifig is going to have plenty of time to act before the enemy gets close enough to do anything about it. As a rule of thumb, if a target is already within range of a minifig's Response Action when the target still has to move at least a full inch before taking its own Action, the minifig will automatically be able to act first during that inch.
In cases where one minifig's Action isn't automatically faster than another's, assume that both Actions occur simultaneously. If a simultaneous result isn't possible, then a minifig moving at regular speed takes his Action before a minifig moving at Half Speed. (A minifig who's at Half Speed due to a heavy burden can drop the burden instantly in order to act or react at full speed.) If both minifigs are moving at the same speed, then both minifigs roll their Skill, and the higher roll goes first.
Response Action Example: High Noon Shootout
Example: Two gunfighters meet outside the saloon for a duel at high noon. They eye each other warily, each prepared to draw and fire the moment their opponent so much as twitches.
On Hairtrigger Wayne's turn, he decides he's going to fire first, and declares his attack on Shoot-Em-in-the-Back Shaun. Shaun declares a similar attack on Wayne as a Response Action. The minifigs fire simultaneously, and both players roll their d6 Skill dice against their pistols' Use ratings of 3. No doubt due to heavy drinking, Wayne rolls a 2 and Shaun rolls a 1; both miss their shots.
Wayne's missed shot flies harmlessly into the distance, but Shaun's shot was a Critical Failure, and the gun goes off before he even gets it out of the holster. Shaun collapses in agony after shooting himself in the foot, and a great cheer goes up from the crowd of spectators who mistakenly assume that Wayne's shot hit its mark.
Long before he became the Emperor of Akkadia, the feats of Piltogg were already legendary. Strengthened by the secret arts of Running Five Miles, Piltogg was able to Bail out of a deadly NegaBlok collision in an event known as That Time He Got Hit by a Car but Rolled Out of It.
Bailing
While the recommended Response to almost any enemy behavior is to attack with everything you've got, there are times when a minifig's best bet is to make a desperate leap for safety. He may be dodging an oncoming truck, jumping out of a helicopter that's about to be hit by missiles, or diving behind cover when a machine gun turret opens fire on him.
Minifigs are not able to Sprint as a Response Action. Instead, assuming their movement type would logically allow it, they have the option to Bail. A Bailing minifig makes a Skill roll and can dive to any spot within that many inches of his current position, ending up lying prone on the ground and Disrupted.
A minifig who is reduced to Half Speed also Bails at Half Speed, diving only one real inch for every two Bail inches. If a minifig is at Half Speed because he's carrying a heavy burden, he can drop it before he Bails and leap the full distance.
A minifig who rolls Overskill on a Bailing roll can spend it to land on his feet and avoid being Disrupted.
A low Skill roll can sometimes mean that a minifig doesn't Bail far as he needs to, and a Critical Failure means he just slips and falls on his face right where he's standing. If a Bailing minifig doesn't jump far enough to escape the path of an oncoming train, he still gets hit by the train; if he's Bailing to avoid a rifle volley and doesn't quite reach cover, the riflemen just fire at him in his new position instead of his old one.
Reconstruktion and Retconstruktion Numbers
Because ABS, whether used as a construction material or as fuel, has the side effect of warping time and space, and because SpaceMen's inborn compulsion to kick ass must inevitably destroy whatever universe they appear in and rip all histories into a nonlinear tangled mess, time in the BrikWars universe is inconsistent and poorly-defined. One might leave in the morning on a brisk walk, and find oneself arriving home 300 years in the past. Two sides of the same street find themselves on separate planets one day, and interdimensionally superimposed on one another the next. How does one organize a timeline when such extreme distortions are possible?
BrikWars historians order their khronologies by numbered Reconstruktions, numbering each reality according to the number of previously destroyed universes it was influenced by and which it inherits recycled elements from. The timeline in which SpaceMen first arose is assigned the number 1,978, after Brik science determined that the destruction of the SpaceMen's universe retroactively created 1,977 previous generations of reality leading up to their own. None of these previous Retconstruktions (or "Retcons") contain minifigs, but as they get closer to R-1,978, devolved forms of pre-minifig life begin to appear. These proto-life forms occasionally reappear in later Reconstruktions, and may paradoxically be the source of the protofig bioengineers responsible for creating the SpaceMen in the first place, who would then go on to bring about the existence of the preceding universes in which the protofigs evolved.
Brik symmetricians theorize that, because the Universal Ass-Kicking created 1,977 previous generations of reality, it must have created exactly 1,977 generations to follow, and the universe will finally run out of ABS in R-3,955.
Naturally, the great powers of history don't simply disappear at the end of their Reconstruktion. As pieces of their previous realities shatter forward into new ones, remnants and echoes of their minifig civilizations linger on in the garage sales and discount shelves of history. Some are forgotten and fade away, allowing themselves to be absorbed into new, more popular factions, while a few, such as the Royals, regroup and persist for several Reconstruktions in a seemingly endless series of evolved forms.
Some Humans have noted curious synchronicities between Reconstruktion numbers and Earth years, based on the construction brik sets appearing on retail shelves. The all-destroying invasion of Poop Dragons from the Negaverse in Reconstruktion 2,003, for example, happens to correspond exactly with Mega Bloks' Dragons line knocking Lego out of its rightful #1 Construction Toy spot in the year 2003, complete with its "Piece-with-Only-One-Purpose" premolded dragons. These are complete coincidences, of course, and no attention should be paid to crackpots and their conspiracy theories.
Chapter Five: Combat
“If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.”
- Kurt Vonnegut
Engaging in combat is a minifig's highest goal and greatest source of joy, for he knows that violence is what pleases the Humans best.
If prevented from making attacks, minifigs become despondent and irrational. The mental imbalance may become so severe that the minifig is stricken with psychotic pacifism. Such unfortunate miscreants may find limited use as slave labor, but they're best put out of their misery by employing them as target dummies for the other troopers' amusement.
5.1: Making Attacks
“In case of doubt, attack.”
- George S. Patton
Regardless of the type of violence employed, every attack follows the same three steps. First, players measure against the weapon's Range to see if the attack can reach the target. Second, they use the attacking unit's Skill die to make an Attack Roll to see if the attack hits the target accurately. Third, they roll the weapon's Damage in a Damage Roll to see if the attack defeats the target's Armor. Each of these steps can be affected by a variety of Combat Modifiers, and there are many opportunities to maneuver units for best advantage.
Rappeling in on VTOL transports, military snipers take a commanding view of their zombie-infested town from the top of the church tower.
Checking Range
In order to be able to attack a target, a minifig must be able to strike it with a weapon. This requires a couple of common-sense checks.
- Can he see the target? The minifig must have a clear line of sight between his eyes and some visible part of the target.
- Can he reach the target? The target must be within the weapon's striking distance. If the minifig is using a Close Combat weapon (a weapon with a Range rating of ‘CC’), he must be able to touch the target with the weapon's striking surface. (Some weapons may have additional restrictions, according to common sense - a jousting knight can't stick his lance out sideways to damage a target way off his right shoulder, for instance.) If the minifig is using a Ranged weapon, the target must be within the number of inches listed as the weapon's Range, and there must be a clear line of sight between the weapon barrel and the target.
Automatic Hits
Combat involves a lot of die rolls. Players should find excuses to skip them wherever possible.
There are many situations in which an attack is treated as an Automatic Hit, eliminating the need for an Attack Roll. A minifig attacking an inanimate object Automatically Hits it, for instance, if he's close enough to touch the object with the business end of his weapon and no one else is attacking him in the meantime.
Many types of bodily attacks are also Automatic Hits, including Shoves, Grabs, and bodily Collisions (all described in this chapter), although these can sometimes be Parried or dodged by Bailing out of the way in a panic.
Skill and Damage Rolls
If an attack can be made, two rolls determine its success, resulting in either a glorious kill or an ignominious lack of effect.
- Does the attack hit the target? If the target is in range, the minifig must be skillful enough to hit it. Players make an Attack Roll by rolling the minifig's Skill die (a d6 for regular minifigs) versus the Use rating of the weapon. If the result of the Attack Roll is as much or greater than the Use rating, the attack successfully strikes the target. If not, it misses badly, resulting in humiliation for the attacker. He may say "I meant to do that," but everyone knows he's lying.
- Does it do enough damage to kill? If the attack hits, it then has to do enough damage to destroy the target. Players make a Damage Roll by rolling the dice listed in the weapon's Damage rating. If this Damage Roll is greater than the target's Armor, the target is destroyed (or damaged, in the case of larger targets). Congratulations! If the roll is equal to or less than the target's Armor, however, then the attack has glanced away harmlessly, traditionally accompanied by one or more players making a "ka-ping!" sound effect.
Attack Modifiers
Destroying a target is rarely a foregone conclusion, and ambitious generals will want to give their troops every possible advantage. And while the best defense is an overpowering offense, they will maneuver just as hard to prevent advantages for their enemies as they do to create advantages for their own forces.
There are a number of conditions that players can manipulate for Attack Modifiers (or "Mods") that improve or handicap a unit's chances of success. Positive modifiers, called Attack Bonuses, add to a minifig's Attack Roll, to the Range of his weapon, or to the Damage dealt on a successful attack. Negative Attack Penalties, by contrast, subtract from an attacking unit's Skill, Attack Roll, or Damage total.
Attack Modifiers can sometimes raise or lower an Attack Roll by a large amount, but remember that the possibility of Critical Success or Failure means that the final results of a roll are never guaranteed. No matter how large the modifiers, Critical Successes and Failures are based only on the numbers rolled on individual dice, not on the final totals (1.2: Numbers).
When checking for cover modifiers, or if you're a ninja practicing swordplay, remember that a minifig is divided into three main parts.
After failing in his attempt to blow up some VOL troops standing inadvisably close to explosive gas cannisters, the Immortal M.Q.S. takes cover at the end of this corridor.
Target Size
| Target Size | Skill Mod |
|---|---|
| Large target area | +1 per 2" |
| Full minifig or 2x4 area | (no modifier) |
| 2/3 minifig or 2x2 area | -1 |
| 1/3 minifig or 1x1 area | -2 |
A weapon's standard Use Rating applies when it's used to attack a minifig or similarly-sized target. A simple targeting advantage can be gained from aiming at something larger.
For targets that are very large, like the ground, the broad sides of barns, and Unix programmers, attackers receive a +1 Attack Bonus for every 2" of the target's Size. This bonus only applies to sections of the target the attack is able to hit - if a space frigate is 24" in length, but only four of those inches are visible and in range, then the Attack Bonus is only +2.
Measuring the Size of game objects is described in greater detail in 7.1: Structure, but it works like you'd expect - players measure the main body of an object along its greatest dimension, in inches, and that's good enough for most purposes. A standard minifig's Size is one inch.
When special precision is required, an attacking minifig might also try to hit targets that are much smaller than usual. For a target area equivalent to a 2x4-stud brick, he fires as normal. If the area is closer to 2x2 studs, he receives a -1 penalty to Skill. If the target is the size of a single 1x1 stud, he fires at a -2 penalty. By convention, minifig equipment items are treated as 1x1-sized objects for the purpose of targeting.
In the case of minifig targets, this process is streamlined. Rather than trying to estimate how many studs' worth of any given minifig is visible, minifigs are divided into three main sections - the head (including helmet, hat, or hair), the torso (including arms, backpacks, and armor, but not carried equipment), and the legs. If the attacker can see any part of one of these sections, however small, then the section is considered visible. If only one minifig section is visible, the minifig is targeted at -2. If the attacker can only see two sections, the minifig is 2/3 visible and targeted at -1. If he can see all three sections, the minifig is completely visible and targeted as normal.
Short minifigs, such as dwarves, goblins, children, and midgets, are given an honorary -1 to hit penalty even though they're really not that much shorter than a full-height minifig. To compensate, Short minifigs have -1" to Move, and the first section of Cover on a Short minifig is ignored. With two sections of Cover, the Short minifig is at -2 to hit, as usual.
Moving targets can be harder to hit, but also hard to resist.
Stationary Targets
| Motion | Skill Mod |
|---|---|
| Target is stationary | +1 |
| Attacker is stationary and Aiming | +1 |
Most attacks will be made by moving units against moving targets. If an attacker holds still to Aim more carefully, or if a target is Stationary, the attack will be more likely to hit, receiving +1 bonuses to Skill in either case.
To receive the +1 bonus for Aiming, the attacker must be stationary for his full turn. An attacker riding in a moving vehicle can't be considered stationary unless his target is in or on the same vehicle.
Minifigs engaged in hand-to-hand fighting are bobbing and weaving around, prone to sudden movements and jumping around without warning. Even if players don't actually move the minifigs, units actively engaged in Close Combat are never considered to be Stationary.
Even Space Ninjas lack the skill to coordinate this many swords at once. The Space Pirate is momentarily safe as his overeager foes become entangled in one anothers' blades.
Natalya's Assyrian forces rely on disciplined Combined Fire to take down heavy targets.
Although the Assyrians are out of formation, it's worth risking friendly crossfire from Missed Shots in order to focus damage on one of the Immortals' deadly Maniacs.
Combined Attacks
| Attack Type | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ranged Attacks | Combined Damage |
| Close Combat Attacks (max of 3 on a minifig) | Combined Damage and effects; -1 Skill to any Outnumbered unit or group in CC |
| Charge Attacks | Combined Damage and Knockback |
If a minifig lacks the power to take down a target by himself, he can coordinate attacks with friends and allies to deliver a united strike. The main effect of this Combined Attack is that the Damage from all participants is added together and applied in a single large sum, which is handy for punching through otherwise-impregnable armor or for maximizing the humiliation of weaker targets.
All participating units must make their Attack Rolls together; a player may not attack with a few units and then add a few more if the initial effort proves inadequate. If a first group fails, a second group can make a second Combined Attack on the target, but it's a separate attack; they don't add their total to the first group's.
If units want to join together in a Combined Attack with the units of another player, they may Delay individually to make their attacks on that player's turn instead of their own (1.1: Overview of Play). They return to acting on their own player's turn again afterwards.
Only units making successful Attack Rolls may participate in the Combined Damage. If by some fluke of luck one of their missed shots still manages to hit the target, its Damage is counted separately.
Combined Ranged Attacks (5.3: Ranged Combat) are called Combined Fire and have the simple effect of combining Damage. Any unit capable of making a ranged attack on the target may join in; he does not need to communicate with the other attackers beforehand or to be able to fire at the same part of the target.
Combined Close Combat attacks (5.2: Close Combat) are called Ganging Up. Besides causing combined Damage, Ganging Up on a victim makes it more difficult for him to fight effectively. Not only will the target's Counters be quickly used up against multiple attackers, he is also Outnumbered and receives a -1 penalty to Skill if he has fewer fighters on his side of Close Combat than his opponents do.
The Skill Penalty for being Outnumbered applies even if the attackers are on different teams; the target is still in Close Combat with them even if it's not their turn. If there are several mutually opposing forces in the same Close Combat, they may find themselves in a situation where each of them is Outnumbered, since every one of them is in the minority individually.
As a rule, no more than three attackers can Gang Up on a minifig-sized target or smaller at any one time, or they'll end up jostling and lopping each others' arms off by mistake. Larger targets are subject to no such hard limitations, although other limits may be dictated according to common sense.
On the victim's turn, he remains in Close Combat with all of his multiple attackers. If he attacks one of them, only that single opponent may Counter. If he tries to Withdraw, all of them may Counterattack at once - quite a dilemma!
In a combined Charge Attack (5.4: Charge!), the attackers combine their Damage and, if they're all striking from the same direction, they can combine their Knockback roll as well. The target must be big enough for all the attackers to Charge into at the same time; otherwise, they're prone to disrupt the Charge by all crashing into each other.
It's perfectly allowed to combine attacks of different types, but keep in mind that Close Combat fighters are likely to be directly in the line of fire of any of the Ranged attackers' Missed Shots (5.3: Ranged Combat) or the Charging attackers' Charges, if any of them blow their Attack Rolls.
This Adamarian sentry overlooks the Alkborough colony from the height of his guard tower.
Although this assassin can't actually see his target, the shadow on the rice-paper wall gives him a pretty good idea of where to strike.
Other Modifiers
| Condition | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Height advantage | +1" Range per +1" altitude (maximum +5") |
| Out of Range | every die roll reduced by 1 per extra 1" |
| Firing blind | -5 to Skill |
The remaining Attack Modifiers don't fit into any standard category, but will still come up in battle from time to time.
Ranged attackers with a Height Advantage gain a little extra edge, in the form of one inch of extra weapon Range (up to +5") for every vertical inch of altitude between them and the targets below. (Low attackers shooting at elevated targets are not subject to any corresponding disadvantage.) Altitude is determined by the surface on which a unit is standing or on which a weapon is mounted; attackers can't give themselves extra Range by holding their weapons over their heads.
Attackers frustrated by targets that are slightly Out of Range can go ahead and fire their weapons anyway, but their attacks' accuracy and effectiveness drop off quickly with distance. For every inch past a Ranged Attack's listed Range, the result of every die rolled as part of the attack (each Skill and Damage die, in particular) is reduced by 1.
Whether a roll is a Critical Failure or Success is determined before subtracting this penalty. Other secondary effects based on individual die results, like Fire (8.3: Automatic Weapons) and Grinding Damage (7.2: Taking Damage), use the modified rolls.
The Out of Range penalty for Damage is ignored for Explosive weapons, which do the same Explosive Damage regardless (3.2: Ranged Weapons), making this a handy option for thrown grenades.
Units firing at a target they can't see are Firing Blind, and receive a -5 Skill penalty in addition to any other Attack Modifiers at play. The target may be hidden or invisible, or the attacker may have been blinded or blindfolded, or he may be extra cocky and firing backwards over his shoulder with his eyes closed. While he is unable to see the target, the attacker must still somehow have a very close idea of where the target is (within one inch) to attempt the attack - the target may have chosen a very small and obvious hiding place (like inside a barrel) or he may have made enough noise to give away his location (his cell phone went off).
5.2: Close Combat
Commander Horowitz parries the Assyrian Captain's attack with the blade of the powerful Nova Sword.
A unit with a melee weapon can use it to try to whack any object within reach. Some targets (trees, buildings, helicopters) are not notably responsive to such aggression; they take whatever damage is applied and, assuming they survive, stoically continue on with whatever they were doing.
More reactive targets (minifigs, animals, robots) are less likely to take that kind of thing lying down. Whenever one melee unit attacks another with hand-to-hand weapons, the two of them leave the regular cycle of Movement and Action and enter into the more refined state known as Close Combat. Close Combat is usually initiated by one minifig running up to whack another with whatever he's holding in his hands. It can also occur when a unit carelessly wanders within range of an enemy's melee weapon, and that enemy makes a preemptive attack.
Close Combat is often one-on-one, but can also involve larger groups Ganging Up on a lone victim or attacking one another in grand melees. Any group of minifigs who are outnumbered by their opponents in Close Combat are Outnumbered and fight with a -1 Skill Penalty. Remember that no matter how large the groups are, no individual minifig can be the target of more than three Close Combat attackers in a single turn.
A minifig who is engaged in Close Combat cannot make Response Actions to events outside of Close Combat.
Close Combat Engagement
While in Close Combat, minifigs are locked into an intense struggle, attacking and countering on both their own and their enemies' turns with as many weapons as they have available in hand, until one side is defeated or makes a shameful retreat.
On a minifig's own turn, he is the active combatant who drives the course of Close Combat. He can use an Action to Engage his opponents aggressively with a combination of Attacks, Grabs, and Shoves. If he's feeling cowardly, he can attempt toWithdraw from Close Combat, although this often doesn't end well. If he has more important things to focus on than pesky foes poking him with swords, he can even choose to Ignore them entirely, although they can't be relied on to extend the same courtesy.
Once the minifig is set on a course of action (or inaction, if he's Ignoring his opponents), his opponents can try to Counter it. Targets of aggressive maneuvers can try to Parry them to reduce or nullify their effects, or to Bail out of the way as a last resort. Most importantly, regardless of which Close Combat maneuver a minifig chooses, all of his surviving opponents have the chance to make a Counterattack on him afterwards.
A minifig in Close Combat can use each of his held weapons or empty hands once on each player's turn, whether to Attack, Grab, Shove, or Parry on his own turn, or to Parry or Counterattack on each of his opponents' turns. If a minifig Engages an enemy and has another weapon or hand he hasn't used yet, he may choose to make a second aggressive maneuver, granting his opponents another chance to Parry and Counterattack.
This process can be repeated indefinitely if the attacker is some fantastic creature with extra limbs, but regular minifigs are limited to two weapons each.
As long as they have one or more weapons or hands they haven't used yet in the turn, minifigs in Close Combat can always Counter a Maneuver or make a Counterattack, even if they've already spent their Action on something else. Either way, their Action is considered spent afterwards.
Order of Attack
With all the Attacks and Counterattacks flying around, it's important to keep track of Close Combat's proper sequence. Just remember to take Maneuvers one at a time, don't use any hand or weapon more than once in the same turn, and whenever one side or the other dies, stop.
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1. Active Minifig Performs a Close Combat Maneuver The active player declares a Close Combat Maneuver (Attack, Grab, Shove, Withdraw, or Ignore). The defending player declares whether he's going to try to Counter the Maneuver, either by Parrying it or Bailing out of the way. The players resolve the effects of the Maneuver and the Counter, if any.
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2. Opposing Minifigs Launch Counterattacks Any opposing minifigs in the Engagement (up to a maximum of three) who are still standing with an unused weapon may make a Counterattack on the active minifig, even if they weren't attacked this turn. The active minifig may attempt to Parry incoming Counterattacks or Bail out of the way. Remember that if he's trying to Withdraw or Ignore the combat, attempts to Parry or Bail will still use up his Action. The players resolve the effects of the Counterattacks and the active minifig's attempts to Counter, if any. If the active minifig dies or is Disrupted, his Close Combat is finished for the turn.
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3. Active Minifig Ignores or Withdraws If the active minifig was attempting to Ignore or Withraw and is still standing, he has succeeded in his attempt. Unless he used up his Action to Parry or Bail in response to Counterattacks, he may now move and spend his Action freely - possibly to engage in Close Combat elsewhere.
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4. Active Minifig Presses the Attack If the active minifig is still Engaged with his target and has another free hand or weapon he'd like to use, he can return to step one and delare a new Close Combat Maneuver against the same target. Otherwise, his Close Combat is finished for the turn.
Note that, due to the rush of a Charge, a minifig making a Charge Attack can never Press the Attack; he's limited to a single exchange of Attack and Counterattack (5.4: Charge!).
An Angry Inch is easy to construct - two bricks and two plates stacked together make a very accurate inch. A nicely-decorated sticker on the side makes it even classier.
This warrior lunges forward one Angry Inch to attack an enemy just out of reach.
When the enemy gets too close, she jumps back one Angry Inch to give herself room to swing her blade.
The Angry Inch
"Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.”
- Louis L'Amour
Minifigs in Close Combat don't take Movement in the normal fashion. Instead, prior to each Close Combat Maneuver (described below), they may lunge up to one inch to better position themselves. This fancy footwork is known as the Angry Inch, and it is not counted against the minifig's regular Move statistic.
Minifigs can take advantage of this free inch as many times as they make Close Combat Maneuvers, even against inanimate objects or outside of formal Close Combat. A minifig cannot deliberately use an Angry Inch to move to a location from which he would be unable to complete his Close Combat Maneuver.
A minifig who is Disrupted can use an Angry Inch to recover and immediately initiate a Combat Maneuver, but only on his own turn.
It's considered poor form, although not illegal, to have a unit attack a random object just to help itself move faster with an Angry Inch. But if the player insists, the target should at least be an actual object - attacking "the ground" or "the air" is just being a jackass.
Close Combat Maneuvers
On their own turns, all active minifigs in Close Combat must choose a Close Combat Maneuver to drive the course of the fight.
Active minifigs can't "skip a turn" while Engaged in Close Combat; the decision to do nothing counts as an "Ignore" Maneuver and still gives opponents opportunities to respond.
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Attacking If a minifig chooses to Attack, he may move an Angry Inch to position himself, and then declares his intention to Attack with a Close Combat weapon he has ready in hand.
Minifigs without a CC weapon will be at a serious disadvantage in Close Combat. Fortunately, many types of Random Objects can be used as CC weapons in a pinch (3.4: Desperate Measures).
Before he makes the Attack Roll, the target may declare his intention to Counter with an attempt to Parry or Bail (see the Countering section, below). Otherwise, the attack proceeds as normal: the minifig uses his Skill Die to make an Attack Roll against the Use rating of his weapon, and if it hits, he rolls the Damage Rating of the weapon to see how much Damage he delivers.
If a minifig or group of minifigs make multiple Close Combat Attacks on a single target in the same turn, all of the Damage is cumulative.
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Grabbing An Active minifig with a free hand (or other gripping appendage) can use it to Grab an opponent within reach. A Grab succeeds as an Automatic Hit unless the target Parries or manages to Bail in time to avoid it.
A Grab does no damage, but once one minifig Grabs another, any Close Combat Attacks on either of them (including Counterattacks and Attacks from other minifigs) are Automatic Hits. Naturally, the Grabbed minifig can immediately Counterattack with an Automatic Hit, making Grabs risky against an armed opponent.
While in a Grab, the Grabbing minifig must keep at least one hand on the Grabbed minifig. Neither minifig can move, Bail, Withdraw, or use Angry Inches to reposition themselves until the Grab is released. The Grabbing minifig may release the Grab at any time, including right after making his own Attack but right before the Grabbed minifig's Counterattack.
A Grabbed minifig can try to break the Grab, either with a successful Shove or by killing the Grabbing minifig.
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Shoving If the active minifig has no Close Combat weapons to Attack with, if he has a Two-Handed Weapon and his target is too close to strike with it, if his adversary is foolishly standing in front of a bottomless pit, or if he just feels pushy, he may try to Shove his opponent. He must position himself within arm's reach of his target to make a Shove attempt, and his opponent must be his own size or smaller.
Counters and Actions
Counters are a special kind of action which occurs outside a minifig's usual limit of one Action per round of turns. Counters are not counted as Actions, and a minifig in Close Combat can use his full allotment of Counters regardless of whether or not he's used his Action for the round.
A minifig has his full set of Counters available (that is to say, one Counter for each weapon or empty hand) on every player's turn.
Example: A minfig on the Cowboy team is in a barroom brawl, and is attacked on his own turn by a Response Action from an Outlaw minifig. Although it's the Cowboy's turn, the Outlaw is the active combatant, because his Response Action initiated the Close Combat.
The Cowboy has his full set of two Counters for the turn - one for the broken bottle in his left hand, and one for the table leg in his right. He uses the table leg to Parry, and the broken bottle to Counterattack. Actively engaging in the Outlaw's Close Combat spends the Cowboy's Action.
Next, it's the Outlaw's turn. The Outlaw gets his Action back, and attacks the Cowboy again. The Cowboy gets his two Counters once again, because it's a new player's turn.
Next comes the Ninjas' turn, and two Ninjas attack the Cowboy. He gets yet another set of two Counters to divide between them, but now he has a -1 Skill Penalty because he's Outnumbered.
Finally it's the Space Maroons' turn. They first use their zero-point anvil launchers to clear away the Outlaw and Ninjas, and then three of the power-suited Space Maroons can Gang Up on the Cowboy with their energy blades and gravitas hammers. Once again, the Cowboy gets a fresh new set of two Counters on the Space Maroons' turn, but now he has to divide them between three attackers.
Countering
"When the opponent expands, I contract; when he contracts, I expand; and when there is an opportunity, I do not hit - it hits all by itself.”
- Bruce Lee
When a minifig is the target of an aggressive Maneuver in Close Combat (Attacking, Grabbing, Shoving, or Counterattacking), he can attempt to Counter it - either using a Parry to deflect or resist the effects, or Bailing out of the way. Alternately, he may elect to Do Nothing if he is lazy or wants to save his hands and weapons for a different use.
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Parrying A minifig that experiences a cowardly fear of getting killed can attempt to frustrate an opponent's Close Combat Attacks, Grabs, and Shoves by Parrying the maneuvers.
A minifig Parries by making a Skill Roll against the Use rating of the weapon or object he is Parrying with. Because this is Close Combat, Ranged Weapons are treated as Minifig Tools (Use: 3) or Random Objects (Use: 4) rather than using their Ranged Attack stats. Bare Hands have Use: 0, meaning that Bare-Handed Parries rarely fail except in Critical Failures or when there are significant attack penalties.
If a minifig is Parrying against an opponent's Two-Handed Weapon, he Parries with +1 to Skill due to the attacking weapon's large size.
A minifig who is Parrying a Close Combat Attack or Counterattack must use a held weapon or object. If the minifig successfully Parries with a weapon, Shield, or other object, then he has Deflection against the attack, reducing the number of each type of Damage dice by one (3.3: Bodily Protection). If he Parries with Bare Hands, the Damage is not reduced in any way, and onlookers may question his tactical decision-making.
A minifig who rolls Overskill when Parrying can spend it to take an extra level of Deflection against the incoming Damage. A minifig who's Parrying with Bare Hands is still out of luck; bare-handed Parrying is purely Heroic Feat territory.
A minifig Parrying a Grab or Shove may use any weapon or object already in hand, or he may use his Bare Hands if he's holding nothing in them. A successful Parry cancels the effects of the Grab or Shove.
When the consequences of a Grab or Shove would be truly dire, the Parrying minifig may drop objects in hand before making the Skill Roll in order to Parry with Bare Hands instead and improve his chances of successful evasion.
If a Parry fails, then the opponent's maneuver is not deflected. Worse, any time the Parrying Skill Roll is a Critical Failure, or any time a minifig fails while trying to Parry a two-handed attack (either a Two-Handed Weapon or a Heavy Weapon swung with two hands) with a one-handed weapon or object (a Hand Weapon, Minifig Tool, Random Object, or a Heavy Weapon held in one hand, but not a Shield or Heavy Shield), then the Parrying weapon or object is knocked out of his hands, directly away from the attacker, for a number of inches equal to the opponent's Attack Roll.
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Bailing Rather than attempting to Parry an incoming Maneuver, a minifig might elect to just be somewhere else when it arrives.
Counterattacking
After making an Attack, during an attempt to Withdraw from or Ignore Close Combat, or even while simply walking within range unsuspectingly, an Active minifig may be momentarily vulnerable. Reactive combatants can try to take advantage of this, using an Angry Inch and pressing with a Counterattack.
If the Counterattacking minifig is using a Close Combat weapon, then the Counterattack is handled exactly the same way as a regular Close Combat Attack against the Active minifig.
If the Counterattacking minifig is using his bare hands, then he just ends up looking dumb and accomplishing nothing.
An Active minifig with an unused Close Combat weapon or Shield may try to Parry any incoming Counterattack, unless he is in the middle of Ignoring or Withdrawing from Close Combat.
Close Combat Example: Yoko vs. Dan
Example: Tired of the constant abuse, Yoko grabs her katana and attacks her boyfriend Dan in the kitchen. Both have Skill:1d6 and Armor:4. Yoko's sword is long enough to count as a Heavy Weapon (Use:3 Dmg:Skill+2). Dan's chef's knife is a Hand Weapon (Use:2 Dmg:Skill), and his frying pan is a Minifig Tool (Use:3 Dmg:Skill-1).
Yoko's turn: Yoko makes a two-handed attack with the sword, initiating Close Combat. Her sword is much longer than Dan's knife, but Dan's Angry Inch will be enough to put him in range for a return strike. Dan declares a Parry.
Yoko rolls her Skill against the sword's Use of 3; she hits with a roll of 4.
Dan desperately Parries with the frying pan. This is risky - if he fails the roll, the frying pan will be knocked out of his hands by Yoko's two-handed attack. The Use rating of his frying pan is 3, and he rolls a 4 for Skill; his Parry connects. Dan has Deflection against the sword blow.
Since Yoko is swinging a Heavy Weapon two-handed, the attack is Armor Piercing, limiting the effects of Dan's Deflection. The sword's Damage is reduced to 1 Skill die rather than 1 Skill die +2. Yoko rolls 3 Damage, not enough for a kill.
Dan leaps forward an Angry Inch and Counterattacks with the knife. He rolls a 1 for Skill, a Critical Fail which causes him to miss completely.
Dan's turn: With Close Combat already engaged, Dan attacks with both weapons. He attacks first with the knife, since it's more likely to score an immediate kill. Yoko declines to Parry, deciding to save her sword for a Counterattack (if she survives).
Dan rolls a 2 for his Attack Roll, which is good enough for a hit. He rolls a 3 for Damage. Yoko survives, but by a narrow margin - Dan only needs to do two more points of damage with his follow-up frying pan attack for the cumulative total to kill her.
Yoko Counterattacks with the sword. Dan also declines to Parry, saving his frying pan in the hope of landing the final two Damage points.
Yoko rolls a 6 for Skill - a critical hit! She elects to use the Overskill Benny for a bonus die of Damage. The sword's Damage is now 2 Skill dice +2; Yoko rolls 3+5+2 for ten points of Damage. Dan is killed; he has no chance to make his second attack with the frying pan. Dan's player casts the minifig's head away from the body and sprinkles the area with red bricks for blood. Players will then have to decide on an appropriate Use rating for Yoko's subsequent attempts to get her friends to help hide the body.
5.3: Ranged Combat
Guns aren't always held in the hands, as these skeleton knights discover. These ladies keep their weapons close to their chests.
Rather than get caught up in the chaos of hand-to-hand combat, minifigs may try using Ranged or Thrown Weapons to strike cleanly from a distance. While less exciting than Close Combat, Ranged Attacks have the advantage of not giving enemies any opportunities to Counter.
Minifigs may only make Ranged Attacks against one target per turn, even if they have multiple Ranged Weapons. They may not make any Ranged Attacks on the same turn in which they use an Action in Close Combat, either before or afterwards. (Minifigs who Withdraw from or Ignore Close Combat without using up their Action, on the other hand, are able to make Ranged Attacks if they survive.)
Ranged Attacks are straightforward affairs. As long as the minifig's eyes and weapon have an unobstructed line of sight to some visible part of the target, and as long as the target is close enough to be within the weapon's listed Range, the minifig can make the Attack. The Attack and Damage Rolls proceed as normal, making sure to take Attack Modifiers into account.
Missed Shots
“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”
- Winston Churchill
When a Ranged Attack misses, the shot is usually considered to have flown off into the sky or landed harmlessly on the ground next to the target. Any player may insist on tracking a Missed Shot more accurately, if he or she has a good reason to make the effort; for many shots it's not worth slowing down the game. Players might think that the target is big enough that even a bad shot would have hit it, or that an Explosive landed close enough to the target to damage it anyway, or they might be looking greedily towards other potential targets in the field of fire.
When an attack misses, and a player insists on tracking it, check to see how many points the Attack Roll missed by. (For instance, if the attacker rolled a 3 when a 5 was needed, then the Attack Roll missed by 2.) The Missed Shot lands somewhere within this many inches of the target.
If the target of the attack belongs to an opposing player, then that player gets to decide where the shot lands. Otherwise, the attacking player chooses any of their current Enemies to pick the spot. He or she can pick any spot within the Missed Shot range for the shot to Koincidentally strike, no matter how ridiculous or unlikely, provided that it's somewhere the weapon could theoretically have hit in the first place. The weapon's Damage is then dished out as appropriate, including any penalties for going Out Of Range.
The only restriction to the choice of Koincidental targets is that they can't choose a victim that's owned by a player other than themselves or the player making the attack. Anyone else's units are off-limits, unless hitting them can't possibly be avoided.
Missed Shot Example: Viking vs. Ninja vs. Pirate
Example: When this viking sees his pirate buddy under attack from a ninja ex-girlfriend, he hastens to intervene!
The ninja is too far away for him to engage in Close Combat, so he runs forward and hurls his viking axe at her back. A thrown Hand Weapon has Use:2, Range:3", and Damage:1d6. The ninja is just within range, and with the axe's easy Use rating, the viking only needs a 2 or higher to hit. Sadly, he rolls a 1.
Because he missed the roll by 1, the gleeful ninja may now pick any target within one inch for the axe to strike instead of herself. The pirate is the obvious choice - as an ally of the viking, he's a legal accidental target. The pirate is just barely Out of Range of the throw, so there will be a -1 penalty to Damage, but the Skill penalty is irrelevant for a Missed Shot. The viking rolls 1d6 for Damage, minus one for the Out of Range penalty - a 3, not enough to kill the pirate, just enough to give him major lacerations.
The pirate and viking laugh together, because pirates enjoy being cut. Thwarted, the ninja ex-girlfriend vanishes into the shadows, where she prepares herself for a night of composing whiny self-pitying entries for her emo ninja blog.
5.4: Charge!
The third way for minifigs to make attacks is to run flat-out and smash into their target, either with a thrusting weapon or with their own bodies. A Charge can be used to add power to a thrusting attack with a Charging Weapon, but occasionally minifigs find themselves just slamming into things, whether on purpose or by accident. Knightly jousting, football tackles, and car crashes are all examples of Charge attacks.
Momentum
For a Charge to be of any use, a minifig must build Momentum. He does so by running, Sprinting, flying, or falling out of the sky straight at his target from at least four inches away. (As in real life, anything shorter than four inches grants no advantages and can be safely ignored.)
Momentum is measured with a type of Bonus Die called a MOM. Because of his small size, a minifig can never have more than one MOM at a time.
A minifig's MOM appears when he's run for four inches, and lasts for as many turns as he continues traveling in a straight line. The moment he turns to the right or left from his straight-line path (jumping over obstacles or running down slopes is allowed), does anything that would prevent running at full speed (opening a door or running up stairs, for instance), or ends a turn without using up all of his Move inches, the MOM is lost and he has to start over. Fortunately, he can get a new MOM by simply running another four inches.
Rolling Your
MOM A MOM is a special Bonus d6 that can be added to any roll or stat that would logically benefit from the Momentum of a speeding minifig. A minifig might roll his MOM to add +1d6" to the height of a pole vault, the length of a long jump, or the Range of a thrown spear. He might also use it to cause 1d6" of KnockBack in a Collision, or 1d10" if he's making a Charging Shove.
The most common use for a minifig's MOM is to add a die of extra Damage to a Charging attack with an appropriate Charging Weapon. In this case, the MOM becomes another Skill die of Damage rather than the usual d6. (For standard minifigs, this will still be a d6, but specialist minifigs like the Hero can have different Skill ratings (Chapter 6: The Hero).)
As soon as the minifig rolls his MOM, the MOM is spent, and he must run another four inches to get a new one. A MOM only works on a target or direction directly in the path of the Charge; it can't be spent at an angle off to one side or to the rear.
On any turn in which a minifig rolls his MOM (or tries to, in the case of a missed Charging Attack), he must continue running in a straight line to the limit of his Move inches for the turn, even if this forces him to run over a cliff or into a wall of spears. This can be especially inconvenient when Bonus Dice on a critical Sprint roll add more inches of Move than he was prepared for.
Poor Olaf's axe isn't pointy enough to Charge with like Betty's. But players might let him Charge with his horns if they're feeling flexible.
Charging Weapons
Ramming enemies head-on is a time-honored Charging technique, but a statistically significant number of minifigs prefer to lead with a weapon rather than their own bodies.
Not all Close Combat Weapons are appropriate for a Charging Weapon Attack. A Charging Weapon must be Heavy or Two-Handed (3.1: Close Combat Weapons). For minifigs Charging on foot, the weapon must be designed for spear-like thrusts (lances, battering rams, rifle-mounted bayonets). For minifigs flying or falling out of the sky, any type of Heavy or Two-Handed Weapon can be used in a mighty downward strike.
Players may come up with more exotic examples on a special-case basis. A Charging berserker might use a horned helmet or a spiked shield, for instance, if all players agree to allow it.
Making the Attack
A Charging Weapon Attack is treated as a special kind of Close Combat. Due to the rush of the Charge, the attacker and defender are each limited to a single Attack or Counterattack, plus any associated Counters. They may not use any Angry Inches.
If a Charging Weapon Attack successfully hits its target, the attacker can spend his MOM to add one Skill die to the Damage of the attack. If the attack misses, the attacker keeps his MOM and must either Collide with the target (if the target is directly in his path) or continue running in a straight line to the limit of his Move inches.
Charging Weapon Attacks can be combined with a Sprint into a single Action (4.1: Movement), allowing minifigs to cover ground and inflict damage in a hurry.
Countering a Charge
Charging Weapon Attacks may only be Parried with a Shield or Heavy Shield (5.2: Close Combat).
If the target minifig is Counterattacking in response to a Charge, then the minifig whose weapon is longer (by at least one inch) strikes first. If the lengths of the weapons are closer than an inch, then both attacks occur simultaneously. This may result in two minifigs successfully killing each other at the same moment.
Minifig Collisions
MOMs vs. POPs
MOMs come and go, but a minifig's POP is always with him.
Physical Opposition works like Armor - it can be overcome, but not used up. No matter how many MOMs a minifig runs into in a turn, whether simultaneously or one after the other, he resists each new MOM or group of MOMs with exactly one POP.
Whenever a minifig with Momentum crashes into another minifig, a Collision occurs. Collisions occur as part of normal Movement and do not cost an Action in themselves.
Even the most heavily-armored minifig is too soft and squishy to cause any damage in a crash, but a Charging minifig has the chance to send other minfigs flying if his Momentum is enough to overcome their Physical Opposition. In the right situations, this can be more entertaining than whatever Damage might have been dealt out, knocking minifigs out of formation, off the sides of of bridges or parapets, and into less-favorable tactical positions such as lava cauldrons or minefields.
A minifig in a Collision spends his MOM to cause 1d6" of KnockBack (or 1d10" if he's Shoving the target as well), sending a target minifig flying directly away from the point of Collision like an Explosion (3.2: Ranged Weapons). Like Charging Weapon Attacks, a Charging Shove can be combined with a Sprint into a single Action.
A target minifig automatically has one die of Physical Opposition (one POP) to resist a Collision, rolling 1d6 and canceling that many inches of KnockBack. If the POP roll equals or exceeds the KnockBack roll, reducing the number of inches to zero or less, then the KnockBack is successfully resisted. The Charging minifig is brought to a dead stop, and the two minifigs are now locked in Close Combat.
Otherwise, if there are inches still remaining, then the target minifig is Knocked Back that many inches and Disrupted (4.1: Movement). The Charging minifig must continue running forward to the limit of its Move inches for the turn.
If two minifigs cause a Collision by Charging directly at each other, they each try to inflict KnockBack on each other at the same time.
If a minifig is Knocked Back a number of inches and smashes into an immovable obstacle his own size or larger that prevents him from flying the full distance, he receives one point of Smash Damage for every inch of KnockBack prevented, cumulative with any other Damage received from the Charge.
Special Forces
Heroes are BrikWars' first example of a Specialist minifig. Fully-developed militaries can have a large number of Specialists for a variety of tasks. A broad assortment is offered in 11.2: Minifig Specialists.
Chapter Six: Minifig Heroes
The Immortal War, culminating in Warhead's Zombie (Zulu) Dawn, was the first truly epic BrikWars Forum campaign, and its Heroes became the standards against which all following were judged.
Manly Santa, Lord Warhead, and the forces of Zombie Abraham Lincoln battled all comers in a space-age zombie apocalypse including the Almighty Benny, a meddling janitor, and BrikThulhu himself, and all went on to reappear in the battles of players around the world for years afterward.
6.1: The Hero
Looking fancy outweighs all other considerations, even if you have to wear your slain enemies as a hat.
Six-sided dice may be good enough for regular minifigs, but Heroes demand a higher standard. Preferably forged from solid gold.
Some minifigs are simply better than others. You recognize them as soon as you open the box. It has nothing to do with talent, training, or genetics; the defining feature that separates the Hero from lesser minifigs is the cool outfit. With the most blingy armors and flamboyant draperies, looking cool makes them fight better, live longer, and succeed where others fail.
A Hero's standard attributes are significantly higher than those of a regular minifig. Heroes have a Skill die of d10, are able to Move seven inches per turn, and have an Armor rating of 2d6. With a cost of 11CP, they're also a lot more expensive to field.
6.2: The Ego
Specialties
A Hero is defined by his Heroic Ego, which is an example of a Specialty. Specialties are special abilities, features, or skills that change the rules for a particular minifig or other unit.
In most cases, a Specialty is used to grant abilities not available to units under the regular rules, but it might also be a handicap or a simple stat tweak. The effects and rules for any Specialty are listed on a unit's Stat Card for easy reference.
A Specialty's CP cost is listed along with its description text. This added cost is already included in the total Cost of the card on which the Specialty appears. If you wanted to add the Heroic Ego Specialty to a different unit, it would increase that unit's cost by +3CP.
The difference between a warrior who's merely phenomenally skilled and a true Hero is a matter of Ego. No matter how high a regular minifig's stat numbers may be, he recognizes the fact that he'll eventually have to die, and that there are some rules that can't be broken.
A Hero, by contrast,recognizes no such things. Mortality, logic, and the laws of physics are beneath his notice. A Hero is above the concerns of lesser minifigs.
Crankiness
Above all else, Heroes are the rock stars and prima donnas of the battlefield, and each one insists on being more important than any other unit.
A Hero welcomes the presence of Enemy Heroes, because any lesser foes are a waste of his abilities. He accepts Heroes on allied teams, because they give him rivals to compete with, and in any case he expects to get to stab them in their Heroic backs as soon as his Human's politics inevitably shift.
Placing additional Heroes on his own team, on the other hand, is a major insult that no Hero can overlook. There can only be one star of the show, and he doesn't like getting upstaged. If a single player fields multiple Heroes, then their clashing Egos make each of them Cranky, and the more Heroes there are, the Crankier they get.
For every other conscious unit on his team with an Ego, a Hero receives a -1 Cranky Penalty, to a maximum Crankiness of -5. Any time the Hero rolls one or more dice, whether for Skill, Armor, Damage, Heroic Feats, or RedShirts, the Cranky penalty is subtracted from each die (total rolls can never be reduced below zero, however). The penalty is not subtracted from dice rolled against the Hero; he still receives full Damage from enemy attacks, for instance.
Penalties for Crankiness only remain in effect while the other Heroes on the team are conscious. If the other Heroes are knocked out or killed, the penalty is lightened accordingly. (If the Hero arranged to neutralize the co-headliners himself, all the better.) The penalty is reinstated if one of the dead or unconscious Heroes is revived.
Attacked by an evil clone at a publicity appearance, Blue Space Hero is saved by the intervention of a leaping red-shirted passerby. From photos taken at the scene, it's unclear whether the man's leap was intentional, or if the Hero picked him up and threw him in the way. Either way, the RedShirt becomes the posthumous envy of Blue Space Hero fanboys across the galaxy.
RedShirts
“We can't all be heroes, because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”
- Will Rogers
A Hero is more important than any regular minifig. As a result, it's only right that lesser troops sacrifice themselves to keep him from harm. Whether out of love, duty, fear, or the Hero grabbing them by the heads and using them as meat shields, a Hero can rely on nearby allies to leap into harm's way to protect him from damage. These self-sacrificing troops are called RedShirts. It's thought that they earn the title by so often turning themselves into red splatter decorations for the Heroes' chests.
Any time a Hero takes Damage from an external source (not from something internal like poison, coronary disease, or ingesting a live grenade), he may try to inspire a nearby unit to RedShirt. This does not take an Action. The Hero can inspire any number of RedShirts in a single turn, but only one for each specific incoming source of Damage. If successful, the RedShirting unit will leap in to take the damage instead, knocking the Hero out of harm's way if necessary (if the Hero is about to be hit by a speeding locomotive, for instance, he'll need to be away from the tracks when the train rolls in). The inspired unit must be on the Hero's team, it must be capable of leaping (e.g., minifigs, robots, or animals, rather than tanks or jet fighters), and it must have a lower CP cost than the Hero (not counting equipment).
When a Hero learns that he's about to take Damage, he has one chance to inspire a nearby RedShirt to take the fall instead. Before the Damage is rolled, the Hero rolls 1d6 (plus any Bonus Dice on a Critical Success). If an eligible RedShirt is within this many inches of the Hero, the inspiration succeeds. The sacrificial unit will leap in and take the damage intended for the Hero. If the roll is too low or is a Critical Failure, the Hero fails to inspire the unit to RedShirt, and is forced to take the damage himself.
If the Hero is in a Squad, other Squad members are automatically inspired to RedShirt on his behalf, without having to make the inspiration roll (Chapter 11: Armies).
If the incoming Damage is too great to be blocked by a single RedShirt, the Hero is knocked away the minimum distance required to avoid being hit (even if the distance required is truly riduculous, like getting RedShirted out of a nuclear explosion or a supernova). This results in the Disruption of the Hero, unless he uses a Heroic Feat to stick an awesome landing.
RedShirting should not be abused to try and accelerate units' movement across the battlefield. This will make a Hero's allies want to kick him in the nuts rather than sacrifice themselves for him. If a player attacks their own Hero to take advantage of RedShirting movement, the remaining players should take turns RedShirting the offending player out of the house and into traffic.
RedShirts move unusually quickly and have no problem intercepting gunshots, explosions, or even laser blasts. They're unconcerned with whatever damage this might do to the laws of physics or to the Humans' suspension of disbelief.
Emperor Piltogg preserves the bodies of defeated enemy Heroes for experimentation in the Akkadian Resurrection Chambers - but one has gone missing.
Heroic Deaths
“This thing of being a hero, about the main thing to it is to know when to die."
- Will Rogers
If a Hero dies in battle even despite the best efforts of his RedShirts, then he is dead - at least for the rest of the battle. But thanks to Everyone's The Boss Of Their Own Toys (1.4: The Spirit of the Game), Heroes have a way of always popping back up in one form or another, no matter how many times you think you've killed them. By the time the next battle begins, the plot will have inevitably twisted in their favor: the Hero was only captured in preparation for a daring escape, or left for dead in anticipation of a daring recovery. No matter how gruesome the death, they are somehow revived by magic, or science, or the will of the gods, or even as part of an enemy plot, and almost always with new improvements tacked on as a result.
If a Hero's death was so dramatically Heroic that it could never be taken back or plausibly denied, then the Hero may discover himself well and truly dead - and then proceed to slaughter his way out of Hell and back into the land of the living. His Ego will allow nothing less.
There is no number of deaths or defeats that can prevent the best characters from finding a way to return. Unless they're boring, in which case no force can save them.
The Saga of Leonidus
Leonidus, commander and final survivor of the Vol detachment to Praetoria, falls to the combined attacks of Blood Daemons.
Denied entrance to Volhalla, Leonidus slays his captors in Hell and returns to the mortal world as Legionidus.
"So the Warrior said:
Very well, since ye are a prince in this land, and because you did fight well, I shall spare your life for a little while yet. But thou has caused me to be cast out of the halls of mine fathers. And thou has stolen from me that which I toiled for all the days of my life. Therefore, tell me dark one; how is it that I may regain entrance to those halls?
And the daemon prince spake thus:
You can never enter that hall. Unless thou should change thy name and go out once again unto the mortal wheel. And thou must earn again the right to enter the halls of your fathers.
And this angered the Fearsome one. And the daemon prince trembled at the sight of his countenance. And he begged once more for his life. So the Fallen one took hold of the daemon prince, And he bound him into His armor, that he should still live. And he took for His own the Hellblade as spoil. And he did then depart from those burning hells to walk again the mortal realm."
- Excerpt from Tuefish's LEONIDUS Saga
(BrikWiki entry: The LEONIDUS Saga)
6.3: Heroic Feats
Major Natalya launches herself over the chaos of the battlefield, guns blazing
A Hero's amazing abilities stem from both stunning bravado and pig-headed ignorance, but his greatest powers are drawn from a tradition handed down through endless generations of action movies.
Action-Hero Clichés
To realize their full potential, all Heroes must take on an Action-Hero Cliché, drawn from movies, video games, comic books, or Saturday morning cartoons. It is mandatory that Heroes develop a ridiculous accent in support of their role. In a pinch, an Austrian accent almost always works. If a role hasn't been played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, it probably doesn't count as a real Action Cliché in the first place.
If you're too young to remember Saturday morning cartoons, ask your parents. They won't be able to explain them either, but you can enjoy watching the looks on their faces as they feel another part of their childhoods die.
Which action personality best fits this hard-hitting space marine Hero? Characters from Futurama are proposed, and a nomination for a pre-"Forever" Duke Nukem is met with popular acclaim.
But love for Samuel L. Jackson wins out in the end, with the suggestion of "Mace Windu, as played by Jules Winnfield." Attitude firmly in place, Commander "Bad" Moe Faux is born.
| Example Action-Hero Clichés | ||
|---|---|---|
| Action-Hero Cliché | Action-Hero Accent | Example Action-Heroic Feats |
| Super Soldier | Austrian / Stallonian | Dual-wielding heavy machineguns, performing surgery on self, punching through walls |
| Barbarian | Austrian / Swedish | Dual-wielding heavy axes, lifting massive objects, communing with animals |
| Secret Agent | Austrian / British | Hacking security systems, seducing women/men, sniping, escaping deathtraps |
| Kung-Fu Master | Austrian / Chinese | Dodging bullets, running up walls, speaking in riddles |
| Pulp Archaeologist | Austrian / All-American | Dodging booby traps, fistfighting Nazis, bullwhip expertise |
| Gunslinger | Austrian / Texan | Trick shooting, trick horsemanship, trick gambling, trick dueling |
For Heroes based on specific characters, picking the Action Cliché is easiest of all: a Robin Hood Hero would perform Robin Hood Feats; a Hercules Hero would have Herculean Feats, and a Davy Crockett Hero would get King of the Wild Frontier Feats.
In For a Benny, Part 2
A Heroic Feat is a limited form of a What I Say Goes Roll (1.4: The Spirit of the Game), and offers a similar opportunity to go In For a Benny.
The opponent rolling against the Feat can choose to take an Almighty Benny rather than opposing it, but only if none of the other opponents want to oppose the Feat either.
Looking across the battlefield, Manly Santa sees that VOL troops are causing trouble for his allies, the Manly Men. Using a Santa Feat, he reaches into his sack and pulls out... a corpse!
It's the recently-deceased mother of of VOL Commander Leonidus! Positioning the corpse, Manly Santa executes a brilliant stratagem.
It works! For the next turn, Leonidus and his troops are successfully distracted from fighting.
Action-Hero Feats
“A hero is someone who rebels or seems to rebel against the facts of existence and seems to conquer them. Obviously that can only work at moments. It can't be a lasting thing. That's not saying that people shouldn't keep trying to rebel against the facts of existence.”
- Jim Morrison
For an action-movie hero in the thick of battle, accomplishing the impossible is more than just an everyday event - it's an every-couple-of-seconds event. Any such stupendous or wildly improbable act, pushing fictional license to its limits for the sake of spectacle, is a Heroic Feat.
Heroes are limited to the Feats appropriate to their Cliché. A ProWrestler Hero can't modulate phasers to energy-shield bypass frequencies off the top of his head the way a ScienceOfficer Hero might, but he can try picking up a motorcycle and swinging it like a baseball bat through a group of opponents.
To attempt a Heroic Feat, the player describes the Feat their Hero is about to attempt, and rolls 1d6. If one of his or her opponents would like the Feat to fail (and they probably will), they also roll 1d6. (If more than one opponent would like to oppose the roll, the player chooses the one most negatively affected by the Feat.) If the Hero's roll ties or exceeds the opponent's roll, the Feat succeeds; otherwise the Hero's efforts end in failure.
If both players roll a one in the Heroic Feat Roll, it's a special case - the Hero has failed to accomplish his Feat, but the opponent has simultaenously failed to oppose him. Rather than try to unravel this Heroic Paradox, the Heroic Feat is cancelled. The Hero suffers from a moment of uncharacteristic sanity and realizes that whatever he was about to attempt could never work. The Heroic Feat is spent for the turn, but play continues as if the Hero had never attempted it in the first place.
A Hero may attempt one Heroic Feat on every turn. If he doesn't use his Feat during his own turn, he may use it as a Response Action during an opponent's turn at no penalty. Feats can't be "saved up" over time - regardless of whether a Hero uses his Feat or not, he will always have a single Heroic Feat available at the beginning of his next turn.
The Consequences of Failure
“... if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
Because the range of possibilities for each type of action hero is so wide, it's up to the players to agree on whether a specific Feat is appropriate to a given Cliché, what the effects of success will be, and what will be the consequences of failure.
The effects of failed Feats will depend on the seriousness of the battle and the attitudes of the players. A good general guideline is that the more stupendous the Feat attempted, the more dire the effects if it fails. A Hero failing an attempt to eat a dozen doughnuts in a single turn might suffer the effects of upset stomach. Choking to death might be a more realistic result, but it'd seem severe compared to the relatively uninspiring Feat. A Hero failing to lift an automobile over his head, on the other hand, would be subject to much stronger consequences on failure: he might get it into the air but then drop it on himself, or he might strain so hard to lift it that he rips his own arms off. If all else fails, imagine what would happen to Homer Simpson, Wile E. Coyote, or the Three Stooges if they were to make similar attempts.
Inaction Heroes
Heroic Clichés are based on Action Heroes, not Word Heroes. Heroic Feats must always be based on actions rather than words. If a Hero wants to inspire his allies, he does it by leading a Charge, not by delivering pretty soliloquies about the nobility of Charges while sipping tea in the safety of the rear guard.
If players decide that a Hero's Heroic Speech is Heroic enough to ignore this rule, then they can decide to allow it, despite the unbelievable lameness of Speech Feats. But if the speech fails to inspire, then it means the Hero is no longer inspiring, and an uninspiring minfig loses his Hero status automatically and permanently. "Word Heroes" are justly de-Feated and deserve the agony of that loss.
In addition to not being Word Heroes, Action Heroes are also not Inaction Heroes. They ESPECIALLY can't use Feats to inspire others to withdraw from combat safely, negotiate more diplomatically, or surrender more sweetly. They exist to increase action, not diminish it.
6.4: Heroic Weapons
The appearance of the divine janitor Stubby, wielding the legendary Banhammer and the Broom of Doom, drastically changed the course of battle for these Proto-Spacemen.
Heroic Heroism
Using the better of two d6es instead of just one for a Heroic Feat may seem like an unstoppable advantage, but in fact it adds less than 1/6 to the success rate. The chances of success with a single die are 7/12; the chances with two are a little less than 3/4.
Before becoming the leader of the Metal Warriors, BFenix first had to satisfy the Gods of Metal and claim the forgotten blood sword RAGE in the Steelliums of Hellius.
Long after Heroes have decomposed into component plastic parts, their legendary accessories live on, inspiring new generations to avaricious conflict. Many such Artifakts are powerful enough to give regular minifigs Heroic abilities all by themselves. Magical swords, enchanted armors, deific grails, zero-point blaster cannons, and unusually well-stocked gift bags have all inspired campaigns of slaughter from covetous Hero wannabes.
Heroic Weapons are the most common type of Heroic Artifakt, but legends are also told of Heroic Vehicles, Heroic Armor, Heroic Fortifications, and even Heroic Furniture. Any object can be made Heroic for an added cost of +3CP. These objects retain all the regular uses of an object of their type, but also grant one Heroic Feat per turn to whomever posesses or operates them. Whoever takes possession of a Heroic Artifakt can use it in a Heroic Feat as part of any Action taken with the Artifakt, making it dangerous to leave Artifakts lying around on the battlefield or in the hands of easily-defeated amateurs.
A Heroic Artifakt is limited to Feats that satisfy its Heroic Cliché, similar to that of a regular Hero, but Artifakt Clichés tend to be simple tautologies. Excalibur's Cliché, for example, is that it's Excalibur.
Heroic Artifakts suffer no penalties from Crankiness themselves, since anyone can use them, but they may inspire Crankiness in minifig Heroes on the same team if the Heroes don't have Heroic Artifakts of their own.
A Heroic minifig using a Heroic Artifakt is still limited to one Feat per turn, but with the following advantage: If the Feat satisfies both his own Heroic Cliché and that of the Artifakt's, then he can roll two d6es instead of one when rolling for his Feat, succeeding if either of the two d6es matches or exceeds his opponent's opposing roll.
The Orange Transparent Chainsaw
In the Iceworlders' darkest hours, the Iceworlder Warchief enters the Ice Caves of Creation, unlocks the OT Stasis Chamber, and brings forth the Original OTC, forged by the Gods themselves in ancient times to aid the Iceworlders in their desperate struggle against the Robotic Ice Demons.
Orange Transparent ABS is the most powerful substance known to minifigs. The only source of this material is the frigid planet of Iceworld, where ancient crusades against Robotic Ice Daemons dropped the temperatures to far below absolute zero.
Under these impossible and supernaturally cold conditions, even laser beams froze, rendering all of the crusaders' weapons useless, save one: the planet-destroying Orange Laser. Thanks to its massive scale, a central core of destructive energy was able to punch through the cold, even as the outer layers of the beam froze solid and peeled away.
Bazillions of years later, the frozen shards of petrified laser remain preserved under continents of shifting ice, retaining all of their ancient world-destroying power for anyone with the secret knowledge and will to forge them into weapons.
The world-destroying fleets are lost and long forgotten, but the crusaders' descendants remain on the planet surface, locked in never-ending battles to prevent a Robotic Ice Demon resurgence and to protect the secrets of Orange Transparent Leg-Ore from falling into the wrong hands. In this quest, the Orange Transparent Chainsaw is their deadliest and most legendary weapon.
(BrikWiki entry: Orange Transparent Chainsaw)
Chapter H: The Horse
“There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry.”
- General George Armstrong Custer
In the history of warfare there is no nobler creature than the Horse. Whether hauling chariots, powering a cavalry charge, carrying supplies over harsh terrain, or simply running in and out of danger in the service of mounted troops, a horse brings strength and mobility to a military force that no minifig can match. Without the spirited assistance of these magnificent animals, history's greatest wars would have consisted of little more than a bunch of guys wandering around listlessly and bleeding.
If you continue on to the next book (Book Two: MOC Combat), you'll see that BrikWars has rules to allow players to field any creatures or vehicles they can assemble out of bricks or other toys. However, in many classic battle genres, Horses (or their close equivalents) are the only significant animals or vehicles on the field, making the extra Creations rules investment unnecessary.
H.1: The Horse
"A man that don't love a horse, there is something the matter with him."
- Will Rogers
The Horse category is broad and unusually inclusive. This CHKN Walker artillery support mech is a perfectly acceptable Horse.
In BrikWars, a Horse isn't necessarily any specific type of animal. Instead, it's a blanket category for any single-passenger steed or vehicle that's roughly horse-sized. A horse is a Horse, of course, perforce; but so is a gryphon, a motorcycle, a magic carpet, or a small-sized dragon.
Horse Abilities
A unit in the Horse category has roughly the same abilities that you'd expect from real-world horse, and its Skill, Move, and Armor statistics operate the same way as a minifig's. Common sense will dictate whether a given type of Horse can perform acts like swimming, Sprinting, climbing ladders, or hauling chariots. In the rare case where common sense is insufficient, a What I Say Goes roll will clear up any confusion.
Skill: d6
- see 4.2: Action A Horse uses Skill for the same kinds of tasks a minifig would, as far as it's able.
The main difference between a Horse's Skill and that of a minifig is that a Horse is a Submissive creature and can only perform useful tasks while under a minifig's direction. While being ridden or led, a Horse is completely obedient to its current master.
If its master is killed, wanders off, or is otherwise absent, a loose Horse briefly remains under the control of its current Human player. If none of the player's minifigs have managed to take control of the Horse by the end of the turn, then the player must hand control of the Horse over to one of his or her Enemies (1.4: The Spirit of the Game).
On the Enemy's turn, the Enemy can direct the Horse to take either its Movement or its Action - not both. If none of the new player's minifigs have taken control of the Horse by the end of the turn, then control of the Horse must be handed over to one of his or her own Enemies. Control of the Horse continues passing from Enemy to Enemy each turn until some minifig manages to take the reins, or until the Horse is killed or otherwise removed from battle.
When a minifig rider directs his Horse to take any Action requiring a Skill roll (preferably an Attack), the player rolls either the Horse's Skill or the rider's, whichever is lower. In the rare case in which a Horse takes an Action of its own accord, only its own Skill is used, of course. Horses are not intelligent enough to use equipment items or operate machinery, although a properly harnessed Horse or team of Horses can haul a wheeled cart or chariot up to twice as many inches in Size as the number of Horses pulling it (7.1: Structure).
Forced into a show trial for a murder he didn't commit, Trotsky the Horse sees his chance to shove off his captors and escape.
| Horse Weapons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Cost | Use | Range | Damage | Notes |
| Unarmed Attack | - | 2 | CC | Cannot be used to Parry; may automatically Grab on successful hit, if appropriate |
By default, a Horse is able to make one Unarmed Attack per turn, if it has the proper body parts to do so. (For Horses of the regular equine variety, these attacks will be in the form of kicks or bites. For more exotic Horses, these might take the form of tail stings, claw swipes, or tentacle whips.) A Horse's Unarmed Attack is roughly equivalent to a minifig's Hand Weapon, except that it can't be used to Parry. It's a Close Combat weapon with a Use rating of 2 and a Damage rating of 1d6.
Depending on the type of Unarmed Attack, a Horse may be able to automatically Grab a target on a successful hit, In addition to (or instead of) doing regular Damage. Bites, claws, and tentacle attacks are appropriate examples for automatic Grabs; club tails, bull horns, and stingers aren't.
When a Horse Grabs another Horse, it works the same way as between minifigs: the Horses can no longer move or take Angry Inches, and all of their Close Combat attacks on each other are Automatic Hits. If a Horse Grabs or is Grabbed by a minifig, it's a different story. The Grab keeps the minifig from moving, but it doesn't slow down the Horse. A Horse can be reduced to Half Speed if it's Grabbed by two or more minifigs at the same time, but no amount of minifig Grabs can stop a Horse completely.
A Horse's Shove is also more powerful than a minifig's. A minifig has a -2 Skill Penalty when trying to resist a Shove from a Horse. When minifigs try to Shove Horses in return, it takes at least two minifigs working together to make the attempt. Horses Shove other Horses as normal.
Horse Shoving Example: Cow Tipping
Example: Cattle mutilations work best on cows that are pre-tipped, so two alien minifig Grays have been sent on a night mission to prepare the livestock for abduction. They locate a likely Cow standing in the pasture and approach it cautiously.
Grays' turn 1: The Grays approach the first Cow from the side. (Shoving a Cow from the front or rear is unlikely to result in a successful tipping.) This Cow is asleep and doesn't attempt to Parry. The Shove is an Automatic Hit, and the Cow is tilted two inches. This is enough to topple it over.
Grays' turn 2: Emboldened by their success, the Grays approach a second Cow. This time, their unfamiliarity with Earth herbivores betrays them: this Cow is a Bull, and it's wide awake. The Bull declares its intention to Parry their Shove with an enraged moo.
The Bull is Outnumbered two to one, so he has a -1 Skill Penalty, but Parrying a Shove bare-hooved is easy at Use: 0. His Skill Roll of 3 is enough to succeed, and the Bull stands his ground. He then successfully Counterattacks with his horns, brutally goring the second Gray and putting an end to their Cow-tipping adventures.
When the Praetorians raised themselves back up to stellar empire status, they needed standardized Horse-equivalent vehicles for quick mobility. The Cougar quad-bikes did the job.
Move: 10"
- see 4.1: Movement For minifigs, Horses, and other animals, Movement is an unrestricted affair. They can spend their Move inches however they like, running and jumping back and forth along any arbitrarily complex zigzag.
Players may decide that a particular Horse may not be able to hop around as freely. It may be hauling a load, for instance, or wearing roller skates. These situations are left for the players to handle as they see fit.
Like minifigs, a Horse running in a straight line can Sprint, spending its Action to add its Skill roll to its inches of straight-line Movement.
Armor: 1d6
- see Chapter 3: Minifig Weapons A Horse's Armor works in similar fashion to a minifig's: an attacking unit must do enough Damage to exceed the Horse's Armor in order to have any effect. The difference is that a Horse takes two hits to kill rather than one.
| Horse Damage | ||
|---|---|---|
| Status | Move | Max MOM/POP |
| Undamaged | 10" | 2 |
| Wounded | Half Speed | 1 |
| Dead | 0" | 0 |
The first time that Damage from an attack exceeds a Horse's Armor, attach a Damage Pip (usually a red 1x1 brick) to the Horse somewhere prominently visible to indicate that the Horse has been Wounded. When a Horse is Wounded, it's reduced to Half Speed, its maximum Momentum or Physical Opposition in a Charge are limited to 1 MOM or POP, and its ability to Shove and Grab and to resist Shoves and Grabs are reduced to that of a regular minifig.
Players who are familiar with the MOC Combat rules will recognize these as the effects of reducing a Size 2" Creature to an Effective Size of 1" (7.2: Taking Damage).
If Damage from an attack exceeds the Armor of a Horse that's already been Wounded, or if a Horse takes enough Damage to exceed its Armor twice over (effectively taking two hits in a single attack), then the Horse is killed in whatever grisly fashion seems appropriate.
The illustrious Dragon Guard rides Heavily-Armored Horses in service to the Paladin Lucien Sylvanus, former apprentice to Majistik #5, slayer of dragons.
| Horse Armor | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Cost | Use | Range | Effect | Notes |
| Horse Body Armor | 2CP | - | - | Armor 1d10 | can't swim, jump, or fly |
| Horse Heavy Armor | 3CP | - | - | Deflection | Half Speed; can't swim, jump, or fly |
Like a minifig, a Horse may be equipped with Body Armor or Heavy Armor to boost its defenses. Regular Horse Body Armor covers the Horse's body but not the head. It costs 2CP and raises the Horse's Armor rating to 1d10. Horse Heavy Armor covers both the body and head. It costs 3CP and gives the Horse Deflection (3.3: Bodily Protection), at the cost of reducing the Horse's Movement to Half Speed. In either Horse Body Armor or Horse Heavy Armor, a Horse loses the ability to swim, jump, or fly (4.1: Movement).
Horse Varieties
The BrikVerse hosts a multitude of simultaneous apocalypses in various stages of progression, each with its own attendant Horsemen with their own attendant Horses. The Four Bikers of Ragnablok ride Rocket Hogs.
| Horse Varieties | ||
|---|---|---|
| Variety | Cost | Effect |
| Steel Horse | +0CP | Armor:1d10 no Mind, Skill, or Angry Inch |
| Flying Horse | +5CP | Move: 10" Flight no Horse Armor Cost:+10CP for Steel Flying Horses |
| Gun Horse | +3CP | Gun: Use:3 Range:6" Damage: |
An alien Assault Triker prepares for raiding.
Assault Trike: 7 CP (Horse: 7 CP, Steel: +0 CP)
Only the undead Sea Zombies would think that Winged Swordfishes are a good idea for a combat vehicle.
Winged Swordfish : 12 CP (Horse: 7 CP, Flying: +5 CP)
Gun-Ceratops serves as dino-based artillery.
Gun-Ceratops: 10 CP (Horse: 7 CP, Gun: +3 CP)
Units in the Horse category have abilities similar to any regular horse. The only distinctions made are for those varieties of Horses that are unthinking machines or constructs (the Steel Horse), those that have an ability to fly (the Flying Horse), those that are equipped with some kind of ranged weapon (the Gun Horse), or any combination of those three (a WWI Sopwith Camel, for example, would be a Steel Flying Gun Horse). When the abilities of a Horse unit start to drift too far from one of these standard templates, players should go ahead and advance to the full MOC Combat rules to make their own custom units (Book Two: MOC Combat).
-
A Steel Horse (Cost: +0CP) is any Horse-sized machine or animated construction that lacks a mind of its own and carries one or fewer passengers. A Steel Horse has no Mind or Skill rating, and is incapable of taking independent Actions.
Due to their mechanical construction, Steel Horses have an augmented Armor rating of 1d10, which grants them a greater ability to do Damage in a Crash than their squishy biological equivalents (H.3: Fighting From Horseback). This comes in handy, since most mechanical Steel Horses lack the appendages that would allow them to make Close Combat Attacks.
When abandoned by its rider, a Steel Horse mostly just sits there, unless it was in motion at the time of the rider's departure. In this case, the Steel Horse uses whatever Momentum it may have to continue moving forward, rolling its MOM dice and moving that many inches before coasting to a stop. (Common sense may dictate otherwise in some cases - abandoned airplanes in flight also come to a stop, but the process by which this occurs is referred to as "crashing" rather than "coasting.")
Examples: Motorcycles, golems, mini-tanks, mini-planes, tricycles, jeeps
-
A Flying Horse (Cost: +5CP, or +10CP for a Flying Steel Horse) is any Horse with the ability to fly. This is indicated by placing stacks of blocks underneath them to raise them to their default altitude of five inches above ground. (Transparent elements work best for this, if available, since the support column doesn't represent anything in-game other than the Flying Horse's shadow.) A Flying Horse uses its Move inches to travel horizontally, vertically, or at any angle in between, the same way that a regular Minifig moves along the ground.
Theoretically, Flying Horses can fly high enough to be out of vertical range of enemy ranged weapons, making them immune to attack as they rain down damage on their foes. This is extremely poor sportsmanship, and players should be ashamed of themselves for even considering it. To mitigate this, Flying Horses are Koincidentally unable to make attacks on targets more than five inches below their current altitude.
Flying Horses cannot wear Horse Body Armor or Horse Heavy Armor, due to the added weight. A Flying Steel Horse retains the Steel Horse's Armor rating of 1d10, but costs +10CP rather than +5CP.
H.2: Riding a Horse
"Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of Solitaire. It is a grand passion."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Raptor Riders are the most intimidating units in the Army of JAM.
Action Cost
Horses and other vehicles are more like equipment items than independent units; they need a minifig in control in order to be utilized properly. This control isn't free.
A minifig riding a Horse can spend his Action to control it. He can direct the Horse's Movement and, when appropriate, direct the Horse to either make one Attack (such as kicking with its hooves or firing its main cannon) or to take a single Action (such as Sprinting) of its own.
Because controlling a Horse costs a minifig's Action, normal minifigs cannot control a Horse and make Attacks on the same turn (except the Horse's own Attacks). When defending in Close Combat, regular Horses can defend themselves; both the minifig and the Horse may use all their Counters as normal. For Steel Horses or other Horses without their own Skill rating, the minifig must choose between making his own Counters, or controlling the Horse's Counters.
-
Horse Movement Because Horses lack independent initiative, the default movement for any Horse is to continue doing exactly what it was already doing on the previous turn. Unless a minifig spends his Action to direct the Horse's movement, the Horse will move in whatever direction it is facing, at the same speed it was traveling on its previous turn. If the undirected Horse runs into an obstacle, it will leap or climb over it if possible (to a maximum height equal to the Horse's legs or wheels); otherwise it will be stopped and possibly crash (H.3: Fighting From Horseback).
If a minifig is in a position to direct a Horse's movement, and uses his Action to do so, then the Horse moves as quickly and nimbly as its propulsion type would reasonably allow. A motorcycle-type Horse, for instance, isn't able to jump sideways the way a horse-type Horse can, or to cross rivers with the same ease as a speedboat-type Horse.
If a Horse is running in a straight line, it can be directed to Sprint like a minifig (4.1: Movement), adding 1d6" to its Move for the turn.
-
Horse Action A minifig using his Action to control a Horse can direct it to take an Action of its own. In most cases this will be an attack, especially for Gun Horses, but it might also be used in cases where a Horse has a special device or ability the minifig would like to make use of. A Horse may take an Angry Inch as part of a Close Combat Attack (5.2: Close Combat), if it's a type of Horse that's capable of being Angry.
When making Horse Actions, whenever a Skill Roll is called for, the lower of the Skill ratings of either the minifig or the Horse is used. (In the case of a Steel Horse, only the minifig's Skill applies.)
-
Minifig Action Instead of directing the Horse, a minifig may make any of the usual types of Actions available to him, usually to attack with a hand weapon. Without any further direction, the Horse is left to continue running along in blissful ignorance.
The Rider
Frostborne's heavy cavalry mounts the great dire wolves that were once feared and hunted by Frostbornians.
While every minifig has the basic level of skill required to operate a Horse, few have the training and experience to excel at it. The Rider is an experienced horseman who moves as naturally on horseback as on his own two feet - and in some cases, even more so.
Horsemanship
Horsemanship Specialty (+1CP): control a Horse and make attacks from horseback as part of a single Action The Rider's advantage is simple: where lesser minifigs must choose between using their Action to control a Horse or using it to make attacks with their own minifig weapons, the Rider can do both. Using a single Action, the Rider can steer a Horse and combine both the Horse's weapons and his own as part of a single attack.
When a Horse is acting under the direction of a Rider, it always uses the Rider's Skill, regardless of whose is lower.
In Close Combat, a skilled Rider and Horse are so closely bonded that they fight as a single unit. They can Counter for each other when attacked, making them especially deadly against melee attackers, since an attack on one draws Counters from both.
H.3: Fighting From Horseback
Only the most villainous of jousters aims to lance his opponent's horse instead of the rider.
For the most common types of combat, making attacks from atop a Horse is the same as making attacks on foot. Minifigs on horseback check their weapon ranges and make their Attack and Damage Rolls exactly as usual.
The two areas in which a Horse's increased size can make a difference are in Close Combat and during a Charge.
Horse Combat
While a Horse and its minifig are often treated as a single unit, they're still separate targets that can be attacked together or individually. If attacked together, the defending player gets to decide which of them takes any successful hits.
A typical horse is large enough to grant a +1 Attack Bonus for Target Size, whether the attacker is targeting the Horse and minifig together or targeting the Horse alone. Targeting the minifig specifically confers no Attack Bonus, and might even suffer an Attack Penalty if enough of the minifig is hidden behind the Horse to count as effective cover.
A minifig controlling a Horse can also have trouble coordinating in Close Combat, since normal minifigs without the Horsemanship Specialty have to choose between using their Action for attacking with their own minifig weapons or for steering the Horse. In many cases where Close Combat would normally force a minifig to stop and fight, and even sometimes when he would prefer to, his Horse will keep on running away with him even as he's in the midst of trading blows.
If a minifig is unable or unwilling to stop his Horse for Close Combat, and can only take a swing as the Horse runs past, he's Getting Carried Away. The minifig can make a single attack with a Close Combat weapon and then immediately Withdraw, drawing Counters from his opponent as usual (5.2: Close Combat).
Crashing and Trampling
Despite the efforts of Hollywood, a tragic number of adults have forgotten a truth that's obvious to any first-grader: vehicles are nice for driving around, but their true purpose is crashing into things, and the faster you crash them, the better. This makes the most sense with mechanical vehicles like jeeps, airplanes, and star destroyers, but hand any young prodigy a toy horse or dinosaur and you'll see exactly the same thing happen.
Like a minifig, a Horse that Charges in a straight line for four inches builds up one MOM worth of Momentum (5.4: Charge!). However, because the Horse is twice as large, it can build up twice as much power. If a Horse extends its Charge to eight inches in a straight line, its Momentum increases to two MOMs. (Assuming it's not Wounded, that is - a Wounded Horse is limited to one MOM no matter how far it Charges.)
A Horse MOM can be spent in the same ways as a minifig MOM: adding +1d6 to any roll that would logically benefit from Momentum, or +1 Skill die of Damage to an attack with a Charging Weapon. The extra Damage dice can be added to a Charging Weapon carried by the minifig or mounted on the Horse itself, up to +1 die for a Heavy Weapon or +2 dice for a Two-Handed Weapon (3.1: Close Combat Weapons).
Crashing
Minifigs who run around crashing into things have a pretty minimal effect on anything besides plate glass windows or fine china. Even in plate armor, their bodies are too small and soft to make effective projectiles. The same is true for meat-based Horses, whose soft fleshy bodies make them inappropriate for use as a ramming weapon.
Steel Horses, on the other hand, are perfect for the job. In any Collision with at least one MOM, any object hitting or being hit by a Steel Horse automatically takes 1d6 Crash Damage. When two Steel Horses Crash into each other, they both take the 1d6 Crash Damage.
Although Crash Damage only occurs in Collisions that have Momentum, a d6 of Crash Damage doesn't use up a MOM - the MOMs are spent on KnockBack rolls instead, the same as they would be in a Collision without Crash Damage.
Crash Damage is cumulative with any other Damage dealt out as part of a Charge, and can only be Parried with a Shield or Heavy Shield. Crashing requires no Skill Roll. A unit trying to collide with a target always succeeds unless the target Bails out of the way.
Trampling
Minifigs are smaller than Horses, and therefore it's natural for Horses to want to stomp on them. Trampling is a means for a Horse to add insult to injury. If a minifig is lying on the ground Disrupted, possibly as a result of being Knocked Back by a Charging Horse, then the Horse can Run Over the prone minifig for one additional point of Damage. (A single point of Damage isn't enough to kill any regular minifig, but, cumulative with other injuries the minifig may have sustained during the Charge, the final additional point can sometimes make the needed difference.)
Any number of Horses can Trample a Disrupted minifig in a single turn, but each does its point of Damage only once. Running the same Horse back and forth over a minifig a dozen times is funny but has no extra effect.
Horses do no damage to other Horses with Trampling, because they're the same size. Again, it's still funny to watch them run over each other regardless.
KnockBack
A Horse's higher potential Momentum increases its ability to send opponents flying. A Horse that successfully Knocks Back a target with one POP only loses one of its MOMs as a result, even if it delivered two MOMs' worth of Damage and KnockBack. It can keep its second MOM and continue Charging into more foes.
A Horse's extra stability also makes them more resistant to
KnockBack inches when they get
Knocked Back themselves. All Horses have two POPs (reduced to one POP if they're Wounded). As with minifigs, a Charging attacker's Momentum roll must exceed this Physical Opposition in order for the Horse to be
Knocked Back.
Like minifigs, a Knocked Back Horse takes one point of Smash Damage for each inch of KnockBack prevented by immovable obstacles or objects its own size or larger. Smaller objects simply get Knocked Back along with the Horse.
Even if a Horse is successfully Knocked Back, it only becomes Disrupted if the KnockBack distance is greater than the width or length of the Horse from that direction. Because most Horses are longer than they are wide, it's easier to knock them over from the side (where they may be less than an inch wide from right to left) than from the front or the rear (along which axis they're likely to be two inches in length or more). A Horse that's Knocked Back any distance less than or equal to this length simply lands on its feet and is ready to keep fighting as usual. A Horse that's Knocked Back further than this length lands on its side and is Disrupted. A Horse Knocked Back twice this length lands upside-down and Disrupted, possibly delivering upside-down Trample Damage to its own passengers.
If a Horse and a target are Charging each other at the same time, each makes its KnockBack roll by rolling its MOMs against its opponent's POPs as usual. This may result in one, both, or neither combatants getting Knocked Back, depending on the results of the rolls.
A Jousting unit with a smaller lance may feel the need to compensate with a more impressive ride.
Jousting
Jousting is the most characteristic attack of the mounted horseman, and it combines the fun of a mounted Close Combat attack with the calamity of a Crash. In a Jousting attack, a minifig with a Charging Weapon (normally a spear or lance, although any Charging Weapon will do (5.4: Charge!)) uses the power of his Horse's Charge to do heavy damage to a target - frequently another minifig on Horseback, and often one who's Jousting right back at him.
Lances
While any Charging Weapon can be used for Jousting, a long lance is the preferred tool, because lining up a Joust attack can be tricky if the point of the weapon doesn't extend past the nose of the Horse. For a minifig on foot, a Two-Handed polearm like a lance normally requires two hands and costs an inch of Movement, but the power of a Charging Horse allows a Jousting minifig to weild a lance or other similar Two-Handed Charging Weapon with one hand at no penalty. A Jousting minifig can even use its off hand to hold a Shield, which will come in handy if he's getting Jousted in return.
| Jousting Weapons | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close Combat Weapon | Damage | Bonus MOM Damage | Notes |
| Heavy Charging Weapon (on foot or on Horseback) | Skill die + 2 | + up to 1 MOM (weapon maximum) | may be paired with Shield or Heavy Shield |
| Two-Handed Charging Weapon (on foot) | 2 Skill dice | + up to 1 MOM (minifig maximum) | Two-Handed; can't be thrown |
| Two-Handed Charging Weapon (on Horseback) | 2 Skill dice | + up to 2 MOMs (Horse and weapon maximum) | may be paired with Shield can't be thrown |
As with foot-based Charge attacks, the length of two Jousting minifigs' weapons can determine whether one side strikes first or if both sides' attacks strike simultaneously. If the minifig on either side has a weapon long enough to deliver an Attack at least one inch before his opponent is able to deliver a return blow, then he strikes first, regardless of whose turn it is or who initiated the Joust.
Making the Joust Attack
Making a Joust attack is, for the most part, identical to attacking with a Charging Weapon on foot (5.4: Charge!); the Jousting minifig and his target have the same options and make the same rolls. Like a minifig, the Jousting attacker must continue running in a straight line to the limit of his Move inches, even if this results in Crashing into the target or other obstacles.
Joust Example: Solo Jones vs. the Black Rider
Example: Thanks to a series of convenient plot twists, post-apocalyptic archaeology smuggler Solo Jones has managed to abscond with a Jaw-Jaw coven's sacred Poo On A Stick. As he makes his escape on his obligatory post-apocalyptic motorcycle, he finds himself confronted by the Black Rider, a mysterious highwayman who kills for pleasure and has never lost a joust.
The Black Rider is a well armed and armored Rider, with a Shield, Heavy Armor, and Two-Handed Lance in addition to his Steel Horse motorcycle.
Solo Jones is an Adventurer Hero, with only his Steel Horse motorcycle, his hat, and the deadly Poo On A Stick (a Heroic Two-Handed Weapon).
Jones' Turn : Solo Jones guns the engine, using a Heroic Feat to Sprint the motorcycle and make a Charge Attack with the Poo on a Stick. (If he were a Rider, he'd be able to do this automatically. Luckily, the Feat is successful.)
Sadly, he rolls a 1 on his Sprint die. He moves forward eleven inches, enough to earn two MOMs but falling short on his Joust attack by a full three inches. The Black Rider laughs at him.
Black Rider's Turn (Combat): The Black Rider backs up an inch to give himself room (4") to build up one MOM worth of Momentum. Peeling out, he lowers his lance and accelerates to meet Jones' Charge.
The Black Rider's lance has an extra inch of reach over the Poo On A Stick, so the Black Rider strikes first in the Joust rather than both sides striking simultaneously. The Black Rider rolls a Skill of 3 against his lance's Use of 4, barely missing Jones. The Black Rider keeps his MOM.
Feeling lucky to have survived, Jones may now make his Counterattack with his shorter weapon. Jones rolls a Skill of 5 against the Stick's Use rating of 4: success!
The strike does the Stick's Damage Rating of 2 Skill dice - in Solo Jones' case, 2d10. Jones spends his two MOMs to add an additional 2 dice, for a whopping 4d10 points of Damage. Before he makes the Damage Roll, however, he has to wait to see whether the Black Rider is able to Parry.
The Black Rider attempts to Parry the Stick with his Shield. He rolls a 5 against the Shield's Use:2, successfully Parrying the blow, but becoming splattered with Poo in the process.
MOC Combat
Ablogical Binding Substance has unpredictable side-effects. The more ABS elements are gathered together, the more the Farce intensifies, and the more ridiculous the implausibilities that arise. These "Koincidences" warp reality in only one direction: the direction of conflict and mayhem, leading some to believe that insane or otherworldly minds guide them. These beliefs inform all major minifig religions.
MOC (mŏk) (n.) Term used by plastic brick enthusiasts to describe constructions other than the ones designed by toy manufacturers and pictured on box covers. MOC is an acronym for "My Own Creation," which more often than not is a bald-faced lie, as fans shamelessly refer to any fan-made construction as a MOC whether it's Their Own Creation or not.
The BrikWars Core Rules give Human players the basic ability to slap a bunch of weapons into the hands of minifigs fresh out of the box and jump immediately into brutish deminifigizing violence.
As noble a pursuit as that is, the Core mechanics could be applied just as easily to a force of toy cars or fighting teddy bears. Construction bricks offer infinitely more potential than the prepackaged plotlines of lesser toys. This limitless potential demands a breed of wargame with the flexibility to draw it out and crush it without mercy.
The MOC Combat rules give BrikWars this flexibility. In place of specific units with pre-assigned stat blocks and storylines, the MOC Combat system supports whatever weird and original units, structures, events, and gameplay players can spill out onto the tabletop.
Don't worry about having to scuttle your existing armies. All the units and weapons in the Core Rules were built with the MOC Combat system, so players' custom creations will fit in just fine with the standard ones.
Making MOCkeries
MOC Glossary
Creation: Any unit or object custom-built by a player. Brick enthusiasts traditionally call their Creations "MOCs," short for My Own Creation. BrikWars battles are much improved by high levels of MOCkery.
Element: Any of the discrete physical pieces used to build a Creation, broken down to their smallest individual units. The elements of a brick-built Creation are the bricks. The element of a teddy bear is a teddy bear. The elements of a modeling-clay blob monster are a matter of philosophical debate. Structure: The central body of any Creation, not including limbs, weapons, and surface devices. The term is also used for Creations that cannot move or act, such as buildings, landscape elements, and Congress.
Vehicle: A Creation that is able to move but has no ability to act independently, such as a catapult or ice cream truck.
Creature: A Creation that is able to act independently, because it is alive or automated, such as a minifig or giant robot squid.
“Men of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships of war.”
- Aristophanes
Watching minifigs hack and smash each other into plastic bits is loads of fun, but few tabletop strategists will be satisfied with minifigs-only combat in the long run - not while visions of tanks, castles, and nuclear assault dinosaurs dance in their heads.
Rather than building a model to match a particular set of stats, more exciting Creations result when players build the MOCs first and then match the stats to the finished models. If a Creation comes out a little more or less expensive than the budget calls for, it's no cause for alarm; nothing is more militarily authentic than a cost overrun. Players can add or remove a couple of minifigs from the army to make up the difference later. An arbitrary public execution will show the minifigs that their Humans mean business.
Design Overview
Once you've got your model in hand, the first step for any Creation is to define its Structure (Chapter 7: Structures). All Creations begin with the same two Structural stats: Size and Structure Level, based on the size of the model and how tough the players decide it is. If the Creation is created as an asset to one of the players, rather than as unaffiliated scenery, then these two stats determine the Creation's Base Cost.
For simple buildings and fortifications, that's all that's required. However, Creations are a lot more satisfying if they're loaded up with Weapons and Gunners (Chapter 8: Weaponry), Propulsion systems and Pilots (Chapter 9: Vehicles), or even their own Minds and SuperNatural Abilities (Chapter 10: Creatures). Each of these are described in their respective chapters.
Official Toy Company Models
It's fun to jump straight into battle using a company's official retail models, but their designs often leave something to be desired. Off-the-shelf buildings, for instance, reliably suffer from a shortage of staircases and rear walls. Players can work around this if they're willing to use some imagination. (And if they're not, then boy are they playing the wrong game.)
Implied Ladders Minifigs must use actual ladders and staircases if they exist on the model. If they don't, the ladders are "implied" - off-screen somewhere but still available for use, like toilets on the Enterprise.
At the beginning of a minifig's Movement, if he is directly above or below the level he wishes to reach, he can use an Implied Ladder and "jump" directly upwards or downwards one level (or as close as the building model allows). This uses up his Movement for the turn, although he can still use Angry Inches if he finds himself in Close Combat at the other end of his climb.
Implied Ladders only exist inside of a Structure. A minifig standing on the interior of a battlement wall can climb an Implied Ladder to the parapet. A minifig standing on the outside can not.
Implied Walls Official models are often built as facades, with one or two walls present physically and the rest implied. As with Implied Ladders, Implied Walls exist off-screen but are dramatically unimportant.
A minifig on the outside of a building facade may only reach the interior by going over, under, or through the facade. A minifig that walks around the edge of the facade is still considered to be "outside," even if he is now physically on the interior side of the facade. This violation of Euclidean spatial geometry confuses and angers Humans, who are within their rights to roll 3d6 and - regardless of the result - pick up the minifig and hurl him across the room.
Minifigs on the "interior" of a facade may not walk around the sides. They must always stay in the area directly behind the facade.
With no ladders, controls, or means of propulsion, the owner's manual for this siege tower must be truly fascinating.
Ablogical Binding Substance
Under the corrupted ablogical effects of Counterfeit Leg-Ore, minifigs fighting under a CLOan Brand become warped and distorted, as if they were incompetent forgeries made victim to shoddy manufacturing practices.
Ablogical Binding Substance, or ABS, is the prime construction material for the engineers of Galactik Civilization. Its mysterious properties allow fuelless vehicles, impossible structures, and reconstructible creatures. ABS is an unquenchable source of energy, thought, and motion - in short, all the inexplicable Plasticity that makes a BrikWar work.
The reality-warping effects of ABS allow Mediks to bring dead soldiers back to life, Mechaniks to create vehicles from debris in seconds, common housepets to mutate into unstoppable monsters, fully-staffed castles to materialize next to military bunkers, pirate ships to sail in outer space, and invading armies from parallel universes to arrive at the wrong battlefields a thousand years off schedule.
While the strange influence of ABS can never be fully defined or understood, minifig Mystiks believe that its effects radiate in tune with an underlying Farce that binds all briks together. Under the influence of this Farce, impossible and ridiculous events snap themselves to reality with a clutch power determined byhow entertaining they are, rather than following any logical rules of probability.
While this serves to make the universe more Ossum, there can be negative effects where cynicism and frustration take root. Minifigs who succumb to the Snark side of the Farce are dangerous opponents of fun, but for the heroic forces who are willing to face them down and destroy them, they are nothing more than further opportunities for glory.
The purest form of naturally-occurring ABS is found in Legitimitium ore, commonly shortened to Leg-Ore. Counterfeit Legitimitium Ore, or CLO, is cheaper to obtain than true Leg-Ore, but the use of CLOan bricks results in half-assed constructions and defective devices that enrage any pure-hearted minifig who encounters them.
Evidence of ABS having existed in previous universes reaches as far back as the 1,963rd RetKon, making it retroactively older than any known form of life by the span of over a dozen universes. It is believed that the presence of ABS plays a crucial role in the Rekonstructability of destroyed realities, and in the slow development of komplex life forms over many iterations.
(BrikWiki entry: Ablogical Binding Substance)
Fancy Dice
In order to keep things easy for beginning players, the Core Rules limit themselves almost entirely to regular six-sided cube dice (d6es), with an occasional d10 thrown in for the spicier bits. For custom MOCs, however, a wider variety of dice are required.
A d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12. Fancy dice in all kinds of polyhedral configurations are available online or at gaming hobby stores. Any real tabletop gamer is already familiar with these and has several pounds of them immediately at hand.
The wider range of dice are treated the same in MOC Combat as the d6es and d10s in the Core Rules (1.2: Numbers). Each is referred to by its number of faces (a four-sided die is a "d4;" an eight-sided die is a "d8," and so forth). Any roll in which all the dice come up with a result of "1" is considered a Critical Failure, and any die that comes up on its highest-numbered face (an 8 on a d8, a 12 on a d12) generates a Bonus d6 for the roll (with the exception of the d4, which only ever generates Bonus d4s).
While all dice are handled in a roughly similar way, they each have an individual flavor dictated by tradition and superstition.
A d4 inspires a Mega Blok to set his own head on fire.
The Incompetent D4
Shape: Tetrahedron Average Value: 2.5 (3.33 with Bonus d4s)Used for: Mindlessness
What's the one requirement of a die? Players roll it and a number comes up.
As far as minimum performance standards go, this isn't a tough one to meet, but a d4 can't manage even that much. Numbers are scattered helter-skelter all over every face, and not a single one of them is "up." Players need a secret decoder ring just to figure out the result of the roll.
D4s aren't even that great when used as caltrops, since construction bricks have sharper corners and players tend to have a lot more of them.
The d4 is the most unsatisfying of all dice, and is used to represent incompetence and uselessness of all kinds. It is especially reserved for mindless destructive processes, like fire, disease, and consumerism.
The d4 is unique in that it doesn't earn Bonus d6es. On a roll of 4, all it gets is another Bonus d4.
This minifig's weighted companion d6 is a source of comfort and stability, thanks to its reliable ability to spawn ridiculous violence.
The Basic D6
Shape: Cube Average Value: 3.5 (4.2 with Bonus Dice)Used for: Most Everything
Standard units and standard objects use the square and reliable standard d6. A d6 indicates a unit or object has the basic features or abilities to accomplish its duties, but is not otherwise exceptional.
Because the majority of units and weapons are based around the d6, players may end up needing huge piles of them if the battle is very large. Fortunately most gaming hobby shops sell uniform dice blocks of a few dozen small d6es for fairly cheap. Dice blocks in contrasting colors make the game experience a lot smoother, since every player will have plenty of their own dice and they won't have to keep passing a limited supply around the table.
One of these ninjas is much better at camouflaging himself against this black d8 than the other two.
The Specialist D8
Shape: Octahedron Average Value: 4.5 (5.025 with Bonus Dice)Used for: Special Training and Blast Weapons
The d8 is used for advanced skills or special training. These are indicated on a unit's Stat Card, either in the stat boxes or in the unit's Specialty descriptions.
The d8 is also used for Blast damage that spreads over an arc, such as a dragon's breath weapon or a ShotGun blast.
Where d10s are involved, there's no such thing as too over the top.
The Heroic D10
Shape: Pentagonal Trapezohedron Average Value: 5.5 (5.92 with Bonus Dice)Used for: Structures, Explosions, and Heroes
If something really awesome is happening, odds are good that d10s are involved. The d10 is used for siege-level weapons, vehicles, creatures, and fortifications, as well as for Heroes. They are also the die used for Explosion Damage, where the number of d10s determines the radius of an Explosion.
This purple wizard uses his SuperNatural powers to create a pink line of My Little Undead Pwnies.
The SuperNatural D12
Shape: Dodecahedron Average Value: 6.5 (6.85 with Bonus Dice)Used for: Magikal, divine, and extradimensional effects
The d12 is rarely seen in BrikWars, and is reserved for unique SuperNatural entities and effects. Wizards, demigods, and superheroes may have access to d12s if they're powerful enough, but for regular mortal units (and even Heroes) this die is normally out of reach.
The d12 is also used for magical, chaotic, and energy-based types of damage that bypass a target's Shielded bonuses. Damage from the effects of lightning bolts, ghost launchers, and BrikThulhuian soul disruptors is measured in d12s that cannot be Parried or reduced by Heavy Armor.
The NonPossible D20
Shape: Nonexistent Icosohedron Average Value: Null Used for: Ensanity
The d20 is reserved for BrikThulhu alone. Even the tiniest brush with the effect of a d20 is rumored to strike a minifig cripplingly sane.
Endgames
In BrikWars, when players are finished having fun, then the game is over, even if the battle itself isn't finished yet. In the best case, everyone agrees on this at the same time. The game ends, and players can immediately jump to Kanon discussions to decide whether any side "won" and what the consequences were. Other times, some of the individual players might have already lost the battle, or at least have lost interest in it, while the rest of the table is still eager to keep going.
As a rule of thumb, as soon as any one player has lost half of their forces, it's a good time to stop and check how they and everyone else are feeling about continuing. If the tide of battle has brought a player or players to a point where they can no longer meaningfully engage, then it's time to kick off one or more Endgames.
Mob Rule
If a player has to leave immediately, whether due to ennui, diaper-related emergency, or fatal brain aneurysm, the battle doesn't have to end. That player's forces become Mobs, and they (along with any other non-player-affiliated units in the game) are controlled by Mob Rule.
Forces abandoned by their animating Human suffer an immediate crisis of leadership. On a Mob faction's turn, the remaining players take turns picking Mob units one at a time and controlling their Movement and Action. This continues until all of the Mob units have moved for the turn, or until half of the remaining players have declined to control any more of the Mobs for that turn.
When choosing the turn order for controlling Mobs, the player or alliance with the fewest forces remaining goes first (if it's obvious), or the order is determined by rolling dice (if it isn't). If players have formed alliances, then the alliances each take turns controlling Mobs, rotating between players within the alliance as necessary.
Mob Rule Example: Work Zombies
Example: The zombie apocalypse has broken out in the offices of TPS Reports Inc, and the long-simmering office factions are at each other's throats. Middle Management and Security have formed an alliance with the Executives, Housekeeping has teamed up with IT Support, and the Cubicle Dwellers are on their own.
The Zombies are Mobs, and on their turn the three alliances take turns controlling them with Mob Rule. Depending on the urgency of their situations, they might choose the most powerful zombie units to keep other players from controlling them, the zombies closest to themselves to move them farther away, the zombies closest to their enemies to press the attack, or whichever zombies are in the best position to do something hilarious.
Although the Executives are the smallest individual faction, their alliance with the Middle Management and Security is the largest in the battle. Instead, the Cubicle Dwellers take the first turn at controlling a Mob zombie. The turn order is as follows:
1: (No alliance:) Cubicle Dwellers move Rob the zombie Hero 2: Alliance 2: IT Support moves a zombie squad 3: Alliance 1: Executives move a zombie hot dog cart
4: Cubicle Dwellers move a zombie out of a squad 5: Alliance 2: Housekeeping moves the rest of the squad 6: Alliance 1: Security moves a lone zombie
7: Cubicle Dwellers move a zombie 8: Alliance 2: IT Support decides to pass. Their ally Housekeeping moves a zombie again instead 9: Alliance 1: Middle Management moves the zombie triceratops
10: Cubicle Dwellers pass 11. Alliance 2: Housekeeping moves a zombie 12. Alliance 1: Executives pass
There are still zombies who haven't moved, but half of the players (three out of six) have decided to pass, so the Mob turn is now over.
Depending on the agreement of the remaining players, a faction taken over by Mob Rule might continue to behave rationally (or as rationally as they ever did), or there may be no boundaries on what players make them do. A Mob faction may keep its own turn or be combined into a single turn with other Mob forces already in the battle.
Escalation
“...the demand was for constant action and if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand. This could get to be pretty silly but somehow it didn’t seem to matter.”
- Raymond Chandler
If a battle is bogged down by turtling forces and tactical stalemates, it doesn't mean players have to helplessly watch as the battle winds down into tedium. Instead, players can turn up the action.
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Escalation Forces that are desperate or pressed for time can redouble their efforts, hitting harder but overextending themselves and increasing their own danger in the process. For a faction that chooses the Escalation endgame, combat effects are accelerated by an Escalation Bonus that's added to each of their own forces' Skill and Damage Rolls, but that's also added to any Skill and Damage Rolls made against them.
An Escalating faction starts with an Escalation Bonus of zero. At the end of each of the faction's turns, if any of its forces have killed, destroyed, or captured at least one Enemy unit, its Escalation Bonus increases by one point. (A player can keep track of his or her current Bonus by setting a designated die aside, turned to the appropriate face.)
Because the Bonus increase occurs at the end of their turn, all of the faction's Enemies will receive the advantage of the increased Bonus before they do. Escalation is dangerous!
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Crescendo of Violence If all players at the table agree to accelerate the action together, they can start an Endgame Crescendo of Violence. The next player receives a single Instant Benny at the start of his or her turn. From that point forward, at the beginning of each player's turn, the new player receives one more Instant Benny than the player before them, with no upper limit.
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Secret Factions If a battle is getting too predictable, or if a new Human shows up unexpectedly and wants to join the fight, players can throw in a wild card with the arrival of a Secret Faction. This depends on having extra forces already built and available to deploy, but for many Human toy collectors this isn't a problem.
If a Secret Faction is introduced without a player standing by to take control of it, the arriving forces can be treated as a Mob army, with units controlled by all players in rotation.
Fighting a Losing Battle
Soldiers that are losing a battle still have opportunites for glory. Players who accept that they're Fighting a Losing Battle receive special bonuses as their forces go down in flames. But there are no take-backs - no matter how well they do from that point forward, at the end of the game, those players lose, by whatever Koincidental disasters players have to make up to make it happen.
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The Suicide Run Forces that still have a chance to achieve at least one of their objectives, but only if no one gets out alive, can go on a Suicide Run. From that point forward, any time one of their units is killed or destroyed, they immediately recieve one Instant Benny.
Regardless of whether they achieve their objective, at the end of the battle, none of their units survive. Characters that absolutely must survive are either captured by the enemy or they dramatically abandon their faction at the end of the battle.
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The Blaze of Glory Forces that have already lost the battle, but who'll be damned if they don't take their Enemies with them, can go down in a Blaze of Glory. From that point forward, any time they kill or destroy any Enemy unit, they receive one Instant Benny.
At the end of the battle, no matter how many Enemies they kill on the way out, they lose. The best they can hope for is to make sure none of their opponents win either.
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No Man Left Behind Forces that can't achieve any further objectives and who are determined to regroup and fight again can stage a tactical retreat with No Man Left Behind. From that point forward, any time they evacuate one of their own minifigs off of a "safe" side of the map - living, dead, or otherwise - they receive one Instant Benny.
At the end of the battle, any objectives the player had already achieved before retreating still count as victories. Objectives achieved after calling the retreat are Koincidentally undermined somehow. Any forces that successfully escape live to fight another day. Evacuated casualties may or may not recover, according to the needs of the story.
Displaying the worst excesses of stability and peacemongering, the Kanon-killing obstructionist bureaucracy of the Allied Nations of Galaxia Nehellenium serve as a cautionary example to all minifigs.
Kanon Fodder
Dramatic, memorable, and awesome elements have a large Kanon, especially as they become entangled with other Kanon events and characters from the same timeline. Boring, forgettable, and otherwise disappointing elements have a tiny or even inverted Kanon, as Humans work to rationalize them out of existence.
A powerful enough Kanon has the strength to disrupt history retroactively, even if it obliterates lesser previous Kanons in the process. This is known as a RetKon.
The appearance of a sword that has slain a thousand invading demons implies the existence of not only a past war in which a thousand demons were slain, but the existence of a race of demons in the first place, and a realm from which they invaded. A strong Kanon gives Humans the interest to RetKon these new elements into existence. An weak Kanon means that the Humans hand-wave these details away without further thought.
Story Negotiation
BrikWars' tactical rules exist only to serve as a vehicle for the stories generated by the imaginations of Humans. When the Humans' story requirements come into conflict with the wargaming rules, the stories win by fiat.
With no limits on the power or scope of the Humans' story-generating abilities, there is always the potential for one Human to ruin the game for the others.
Whenever you are creating new facets of Kanon, narrating the result of a What I Say Goes roll (1.4: The Spirit of the Game), or describing a Heroic Feat (6.3: Heroic Feats), remember that you are setting the tone for the stories your opponents will be inflicting on you just as hamfistedly.
You can learn what levels of power, violence, and comedy the other players think are appropriate by paying attention to the story elements they create. The game is most fun for everyone when all the players are on the same page.
If other players try to abuse their powers to end the game cheaply or to remove themselves from it, it's a signal to pause the game and find out why.
If they're sabotaging the game because they're too frustrated to continue, find out what went wrong, and figure out how to improve it in the future. Feel free to cut the battle short as necessary. There's never any reason to continue a battle that's stopped being fun. Knowing who "won" in the end isn't essential to developing good Kanon.
If they're sabotaging the game because they're assholes, on the other hand, it means they're assholes. This is valuable knowledge. You now know not to invite them to future games.
The Kanon
Humanity
The mysterious Human overlords rule over all the forces of Kanon. Minifig Clerix teach that a Human is a kind of sentient beer can that grows cheez-powder-flavored meat hands and throws Dice when angered.
When grappling with the infinite possible BrikVerses incipient in a Human's pile of bricks, the construction of physical Creations is only the first step. The realities in which those Creations exist are weak and nebulous, only gaining definition as Humans stage battles and adventures within them.
Minifigs expect battles to last until the last soldier, robot, or undead teddy bear falls. In reality, the action stops when the Humans lose interest. Toys are only real for as long as Humans believe in them, and so the wiser toys live in terror of losing their Human's animating faith. More important than any battlefield victory, minifigs must capture and hold a Human's interest in order to continue existing. Not only are unmemorable conflicts abandoned, forgotten, and erased from reality, but they create the risk of starting a Dark Age in which a fickle Human turns its attention away from toys completely, to unfathomable and alien subjects like "video games" or "dating."
(BrikWiki entry: Human)
"'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. '"You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.'"
- Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
Creations and storylines in a BrikVerse have varying degrees of reality, determined by their Human's level of interest in them. This ontological clutch power is called Kanon. For minifigs, the true spoils of a BrikWar aren't the enemies slain or the bricks looted, but the chance to be immortalized in Kanon.
At a battle's end, whether due to victory, defeat, or just running out of time, Human players should pause to drink and feast and celebrate their minifigs' deeds. Players reflect on which characters, events, and creations were the most epic, and which outcomes were most important to the world and storyline. Sometimes, but not always, this will include who won the battle. Just as often, players will raise a toast to the characters that failed most heroically. Sometimes it will be about the forces who ignored their nominal goals completely and managed to achieve something ridiculous and majestic in spite of them. Sometimes it will be about the destruction wrought when the cat jumped on the table and proved herself the deadliest combatant of all.
For better or worse, these are the Kanon events that create a minifig civilization's reality. Everything else is just trivia.
BrikVersal Recursive Inductive Konstructivism
The underlying nature of the BrikVerse, according to the best observations of minifig science, is an Irrealist Kosmology resulting from Inductive Konstructivism via the Introduction of Kanon.
The BrikVerse came into existence with the most significant Kanon event to ever occur: the appearance of the Deadly SpaceMan. The DSM's unprecedented Ossum created a force of Kanon which expanded forwards and backwards in time, creating both a past series of events leading up to his appearance and a future set of events resulting from it.
In superficial BrikVersal time, one event leads to another in sequence in a manner familiar to Humans. However, as shown by the arrival of the Deadly SpaceMan, events that are particularly notable or disruptive can gain the power of Kanon and force changes to events elsewhere on the timeline for the sake of Internal Konsistency. Changes to past events are called Retkons and occur by a process of Inverse Kausality.
The Deadly SpaceMan was Ossum to begin with, and as the DSMs multiplied, their Ossum compounded. Before long, warring DSM empires had conquered the entire original BrikVerse. The DSM Wars accelerated the generation and magnitude of Kanon so quickly that new events were Retkonning themselves faster than they could even occur in the first place, finally culminating in a recursive cascade collapse singularity. The entire BrikVerse timeline and everything in it detonated outward in an explosive Kanon ball.
Just as the first DSM's arrival caused the generation of both past and future reality, the destruction of the DSMs' BrikVerse created both preceding and subsequent generations of BrikVerses.
Incomplete and scattered chunks of the original BrikVerse's history and reality, known as Particle Kanons, became seeds of Ossum for new and rekonstructed BrikVerses. Events and characters from the original Kanon reappeared in the new timeline, but not always in the correct order or locations, and the empty sections of history that weren't able to hide and avoid Human detection were forced to fill themselves in as best they could along slightly different lines than the original version.
Naturally, some Particle Kanons carried Deadly SpaceMen along with them, and the introduction of DSMs into the new BrikVerses had the same result as in the original. Their influence caused inevitable escalating Ossum until Infinite Kanon was breached and the new BrikVerses exploded as well, sending chunks of themselves forward and backward into Rekonstructed and Retkonstructed versions of their own, and even paradoxically re-seeding each other and the original BrikVerse from which they'd been spawned.
Ray the Mechanik may not seem like the most dangerous force in the universe, but given the time and resources, he will build the Creations that destroy empires and shatter Civilizations.
Chapter Seven: Structures
“Creative powers can just as easily turn out to be destructive. It rests solely with the moral personality whether they apply themselves to good things or to bad. And if this is lacking, no teacher can supply it or take its place.”
- Carl Jung
The Assyrian warship Sonks, captained by the legendary Major Natalya and constructed around the unstoppable Hyper Phase Cannon, is the most decorated ship in the Assyrian military. After first seeing action as a Longinus IV-B class Assyrian Corvette, the Sonks has been retrofitted into a Venus class Destroyer in response to the escalating threat from the Stranian capital ship Hodgepodge and its supporting fleet.
Once a decent-sized Creation like the Sonks enters the game, the all-minifig style of combat described in the Core Rules seems inconsequential at best.
There is no environment more dangerous to minifigs than the flat open field of an empty dining room table or hardwood floor.
This is not to discount the hazards offered by minefields, quicksand patches, black holes, and molten lava, but all they can threaten is simple mutilation or death. To the fighting minifig, a featureless plane is much more terrifying. Without strong points to exploit, choke points to control, dangers to avoid, and vistas to annihilate, minifigs face the danger of becoming tactically disoriented, or worse, bored.
Adding insult to injury, minifigs are tender, fragile, and slow compared to armored vehicles and other large units. Without cover to duck behind, they have a tendency to get ground up like plastic hamburger meat. Ideal battlefields are populated with enough Structures to give minifigs a satisfactory range of tactical options. Whether with walls and fortifications, trees and rivers, peaks and valleys, cliffs and caves, or gas stations and convenience stores, the more variety that's available to minifigs in the field, the better.
7.1: Structure
“Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say that there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.”
- Frank Zappa
The more props and clever details you can pack into your structures, the more opportunities players will discover for unplanned mayhem.
Underneath all the devices and decorations, every physical object in the BrikWars universe is a Structure at heart, from the minifig and his weapon and the grassy knoll on which he's crouching, to the public library and the orphanage he's targeting for orbital bombardment. The majority of these Structures are simply handled as free scenery, not owned or paid for by any player, but it's still important to be able to cook up some quick attributes to know how efficiently they can be reduced to smoking craters.
Structure vs. Non-Structural Elements
The foundation of any Creation is its central Structure, upon which Non-Structural Elements (limbs, weapons, devices, decorations, etc.) are mounted. As a rule of thumb, any section of the Creation with an 'interior' (whether for cargo, minifigs, machinery, or vital internal organs) is Structural.
Non-Structural Elements
Any parts that are decorative, moving, have activated functions, or are otherwise not an integral part of the main Structure are Non-Structural Elements. This includes Weapons and Devices mounted on the surface of a Structure, as well as interior objects like furniture, security systems, and intestines. Weapons and Devices must be bought and paid for (Chapter 8: Weaponry), but other Non-Structural Elements are free, and great for adding color and interest to an otherwise humdrum battlefield.
| Structural and Non-Structural Elements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Creation Type | Structural Elements | Non-Structural Elements |
| Building | walls, floors, basement, roof, load-bearing columns | furniture, machine gun nest, satellite dish, drawbridge, searchlights |
| Vehicle | chassis, cockpit, fuselage, cargo hold, trailer | wings, rockets, wheels, laser cannon, crane arm, shield generator, fuzzy dice |
| Creature | skull, torso, trunk | limbs, wings, jaws, tail, fins, tentacles, weapons, bunny slippers, brains |
Structural Attributes
A Structure has two main attributes: Size and Structure Level, which together determine its Base Cost.
Size
To determine a Structure's Size, players take the physical model and measure the number of inches along the longest dimension of its Structural section, ignoring Non-Structural Elements like wings or missile launchers. A wall's longest dimension is its length, a tower's is its height, a sphere can be measured across the diameter, and so forth. The number of inches measured is the Structure's Size rating. Players can round fractions upward or downward according to preference.
A Structure's Size determines how many Weapons and Devices it can activate in a turn, how many times it can be damaged before it's destroyed, and its maximum Structure Level.
The variety of possible Creatures is limitless, but gauging their relative strength is as simple as measuring the lengths of their spinal column and cranium. Tails and jaws are excluded.
Most Structures have a minimum Size of 1, but for very small single-piece Creatures (snakes, bats, scoprions, and parrots, for instance), a Size rating of zero is allowed. These tiny zero-Sized Creatures are called Vermin and do not recieve a Structure Level like other Creations. By default, Vermin have Size zero, zero points of Armor, and a Base Cost of zero CP.
The Armor Level of Shaun Sullivan's evil Juggerbunny fluctuates according to how fast it can absorb live rabbits. Fortunately those little buggers breed quickly.
Structure Level
A Structure's Armor is determined by its Structure Level. A Creation's Structure Level is chosen by the player, according to what seems most appropriate, with a maximum Structure Level equal to the Creation's Size.
| Structure Levels | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure Level | Armor Rating | Minimum Size | Equivalent Materials | Building Example | Vehicle Example | Creature Example |
| 0 | 0 | 0" | glass, paper, soap bubbles | tent | hot air ballon | butterfly |
| ½ | 1d6 | ½" | rope, drywall, plastic, flesh | plastic outhouse | hang glider | minifig |
| 1 | 1d10 |
As long as it's never greater than the Structure's Size, a Creation's Structure Level is entirely a judgment call on the part of the players. The Armor of a dragon, for instance, might be anywhere from 1d6 to 3d10 depending on its size, age, and type.
Any exposed hinges, turrets, pivots, or other moving attachment points are considered weak points on a Structure. Except in special cases agreed on by the players, weak points, Non-Structural Elements, and interior walls have a Structure Level one level below that of the Structure they're mounted on, to a minimum Structure Level of ½ and Armor Rating of 1d6 (unless the main Structure is already at Structure Level zero, in which case they're also zero).
Incidental decorations and other objects mounted to the Structure may have higher or lower Armor Ratings as seems appropriate to their particular nature.
Base Cost
Base Cost: (Size" x Structure Level) CP The larger and more heavily-armored a Structure is, the more it will cost. Once the Size and Structure Level have been determined, they're multiplied together to determine the Structure’s Base Cost. A player must pay this many CP in order to build the Creation's central Structure.
Additional devices and abilities, such as Weapons (Chapter 8: Weaponry) and Propulsion systems (Chapter 9: Vehicles), must be purchased separately.
7.2 Taking Damage
“All created things are impermanent.”
- Buddha
For minifigs and other small Creations (Size 1" or less), injuries are simple to deal with. Damage higher than their Armor rating kills or destroys them; Damage of an equal or lesser amount has no effect.
For a larger Creation, overcoming the Armor rating doesn’t grant an instant kill. Depending on how large the Creation is, the Damage might only weaken it by stages or break off chunks of individual bricks.
When attacking a large Creation, players can handle the Damage in two ways. General Damage treats a Creation's Size inches as a type of hit points, allowing attackers to harm the Creation as a whole, weakening its overall abilities and wearing it down by attrition. Component Damage lets attackers focus on destroying individual systems or severing construction element connections rather than hurting the overall Structure.
General Damage
Targeting a Creation for General Damage doesn't take a lot of precision – the attacker just has to be able to target any part of its central Structure (7.1: Structure). This will often grant a nice bonus to the Attack Roll, since the attacker can take a Size bonus for however much of the Structure is visible to him (+1 bonus per 2” target Size; see 5.1: Making Attacks).
Effective Size
A Structure or Device's Effective Size is what remains when its points of Size Damage have been subtracted from its actual, physical Size. When a Structure's Effective Size is reduced to zero or less, it is destroyed.
Size Damage
As when attacking minifigs, General Damage must first exceed the target’s Armor to have any effect. If it does, the target Creation takes one point of Size Damage, represented by sticking a colored Damage Pip to a prominent spot on the Creation or its baseplate. Black or red 1x1 bricks are the usual choice for Damage Pips, although other elements may be used for convenience or better visibility.
When a Creation has taken Size Damage, the model remains the same physical size, but the Creation's Effective Size is reduced by one inch for each point of Size Damage. Its Size-based abilities are now limited by the new Effective Size instead. The Power limit on the number of Weapons and Devices the Creation can activate during a turn (8.1: Weapon Size), its maximum Momentum in a Charge (9.5: Collisions), and its maximum Structure Level (7.1: Structure) are all decreased to match the new Effective Size. Additionally, if the Creation takes enough Size Damage to reduce its Effective Size to half its original Size or less, then the Creation moves at Half Speed.
When a Creation's Structure Level is decreased by Size Damage, its Surface Elements and moving parts are also weakened accordingly, to a minimum Structure Level:½ and Armor:1d6.
Any positive advantages that might result from a smaller Effective Size, such as a decreased targeting bonus for attackers, are ignored. The Creation's Size as a physical target hasn't decreased, only its ability levels.
If Size Damage is enough to reduce a Creation's Effective Size to zero, then the Creation is destroyed in the manner that seems most appropriate. Towers collapse, spaceships explode, whales go belly-up, zeppelins burst into flame, and pirate ships sink to the briny bottom. Creations of Size 1" (and Vermin of Size 0") are destroyed on the first point of Size Damage.
Size Damage Example: Super Heavy Death Tank
Example: The Briktopian military has received reports of a small bar serving Maniac Beer to its patrons - a serious offense! The Super Heavy Death Tank "Vindicator" is sent to defend Briktopian liquor licensing regulations by destroying the bar and all its patrons.
The SHDT Vindicator is so large that it serves as a carrier vessel for lesser tanks, and with an Armor of 4d10 it can absorb a huge amount of Damage for each of its 12 inches of Size. An opposing force would have to be fools to try to take it down with general Size Damage rather than with more precisely targeted attacks, but - under the influence of Maniac Beer - the bar's patrons attempt exactly that.
Size 12" SHDT Vindicator Size Damage Effective Size Structure Level Armor Movement Power Limit None 12" (Actual Size) 4 (Full Strength) 4d10 Full Speed 24" (Full Power)
Never having been known for its sense of fair play, this Mega Bloks dragon aims for a particular weak spot while making a bite attack on its LEGO counterpart. Finer points of reptilian anatomy aside, it wouldn't be unreasonable for players to grant this attack a couple extra dice of damage or some especially crippling side effect.
Component Damage
When an attacker wants to focus damage on a Creation’s particular weak point, he may single out individual construction elements for Component Damage. This takes a little more accuracy than a General Damage attack - many elements are small enough to incur Attack Penalties for size (5.1: Making Attacks). The advantage is that Component Damage can be used to disable or destroy specific devices and systems, which tend to be less heavily armored than the main Structure.
If Component Damage exceeds the target element's Armor rating, then the element is chopped, smashed, or blasted off of the Creation. The attacker removes either a single building element or a chunk of bricks up to 1” in Size. Where possible, players should try to make the damage appropriate to the attack type – piercing armor plating with an energy blade makes a more precise cut than pounding it with mortar fire.
Explosives are especially satisfying when used for Component Damage, as they can potentially destroy a large number of Components in their blast radius at once.
If a Creation is made up primarily of a single very large element, such as a towering Cthuloid Furry Horror made out of a stuffed teddy bear, it's poor form to try and use Component Damage to destroy the whole thing in one hit. Use General Damage, or choose a specific feature to disable rather than destroying the whole element.
Applications
The precision of a Component Damage attack allows for several possible applications. A tank's armor, a castle wall, and a dragon's ribcage can all be breached to expose the juicy innards to more effective follow-up attacks. Critical devices like steering wheels, helicopter blades, and kneecaps can be targeted and disabled individually.
By targeting narrow connection points (the tail section of a helicopter or the waist of a giant wasp), a successful Component Damage attack can divide one large Creation into two or more smaller ones. The Size Ratings of the new smaller Creations are reduced to reflect their new stature, but each then inherits the full Size Damage of the original Creation, which may mean that one or both are instantly destroyed. Each section may use whichever weapons and devices remain attached to them, but only if they still have the necessary remaining Size rating and controls to activate them (Chapter 8: Weaponry).
Special Damage
When the Damage from an attack is much higher or much lower than the target's Armor rating, players may decide to use special forms of Damage to account for the effects. Special Damage takes a little more work than the usual kind and should be saved for appropriately special occasions.
Grinding
Given enough time, a woodcutter's axe can chop down a telephone pole, a battering ram can beat down reinforced gates, and a hammer and chisel can punch a leak in the hull of a submarine. When the Armor of a target is too great to ever be overcome in a single attack, Grinding Damage can be used to grind down the Armor of specific components over the course of several turns.
Grinding can only be used in Component attacks. Grinding is different from a regular attack, and a player must declare that he is Grinding before rolling for Damage. Rather than comparing the Damage total to the target component's Armor rating, he instead compares the result on each individual Damage die to the component's Structure Level (e.g., a component with Armor rating 4d10 has a Structure Level of 4 (7.1: Structure)). For each die that comes up greater than the Structure Level, the component receives one point of Grinding Damage (use Damage Pips to keep track of this as necessary). These points of Grinding Damage are permanent, and are subtracted from the component's Armor for all future attacks.
Eric Joslin's giant slays a series of Greg's minifig troops with a single mighty swing of his flail.
Overkill
Normally, points of Damage in excess of a target's Armor rating are ignored. If an attack is so powerful that the leftover Damage can be effective all over again, then that excess can be treated as Overkill Damage. Especially powerful attacks may cause enough Overkill Damage to inflict multiple points of Size Damage on the same target, destroy several Components all at once, or even blow through multiple targets.
12 points of Damage is enough to kill multiple minifigs if they all happen to be standing in the line of fire.
12 Damage kills the first minifig. After overcoming his 4 Armor, 8 points of Overkill Damage remain.
8 Damage kills the second minifig. After overcoming his 4 Armor, 4 points of Overkill Damage remain.
4 Damage is enough to match the third minifig's Armor but not defeat it. The remaining minifigs survive.
When an attacker makes a successful attack and decides to go for Overkill, he keeps track of the total Damage inflicted and the defender's unsuccessful Armor Roll against it. After applying the appropriate Damage destruction from the initial attack, he then subtracts the result of the Armor Roll from the Damage done to find out how many points of Damage were "left over." This new total becomes Overkill Damage, and continues in the path of the original attack, doing more of the same type of damage (either General or Component Damage) to whatever objects it hits.
When an attacker causes General Overkill from a General Damage attack, he will most often be inflicting multiple points of Size Damage against a single target. If any of these reduce the target's effective Size enough to lower its Structure Rating, all successive points of Overkill are applied to the target's new, lower Armor Class, in a nicely vicious cycle.
When Component Overkill results from Component Damage, the attack destroys the initial target Component and proceeds forward to the next Component immediately behind it, potentially burrowing all the way through the Structure and bursting out the other side. Component Overkill can benefit from the fact that the Structure Level of interior Components is normally one level lower than exterior ones, so attackers can cause damage more easily once they've punched through the tough outer shell.
Best of all, if General Overkill is enough to destroy the initial target, or Component Overkill is enough to blast right through it, then the Overkill Damage may continue out the other side as Target Overkill to strike whatever new targets fall along its path. Target Overkill travels in a straight line determined by the direction of the attack and where it struck the target, and is limited by the range of the attack - a battleaxe is limited by the maximum reach of its swing, a laser blast by its maximum linear range, and a Charging bull by the maximum distance it's able to run in a straight line.
When the attacker wasn't specific about which part of a target he was aiming for, assume that the attack struck the closest, largest, and most generic part of he target - the center of a minifig's torso rather than the brainpan or groin, for example.
If the attack location was too-Koincidentally chosen so that the Overkill Damage would happen to hit a target or component the attacker couldn't have known was there, that's in pretty poor taste. It's one thing to fire at a vehicle cockpit and happen to hit the pilot; it's another to fire at the one spot on a blank wall that happens to have a security guard on the other side. In cases of obvious metagame shenanigans, the defending player can declare by fiat which location on the target was struck by the attack, and then kick the attacking player in the shin.
When Target Overkill threatens to strike units positioned behind the original target, they can attempt to Bail or Parry the attack as if they were the original target.
7.3 Field Construction
The hardest part of assembling Structures in the field is collecting the construction elements in the first place.
Minifigs are no fans of Actions that fail to result in violence, but they try to take a tolerant attitude towards the occasional need to put stuff together. Otherwise, the reasoning goes, they'd run out of stuff to blow up, and stuff to blow it up with.
When a minifig is carrying a construction element and tries to connect it to something, he succeeds automatically. Attaching elements to each other costs no Movement and requires no Skill Roll. Minifigs have been bred for this specific task for generations, and are very efficient at it. Attaching construction elements together costs an Action, but with that single Action they can spend the turn attaching as many construction elements as they can physically move into position.
Makeshift constructed objects (or constructed sections added to other objects) have an Armor rating of 1d6 by default.
Carrying Items
A minifig's ability to assemble Structures is limited only by his ability to gather building elements together.
A minifig can pick up, carry, and drop an element (or group of elements) up to the size of a 2x2 brick with one hand, at no cost to Movement or Action. Using both hands, he can carry a load up to a 2x4 brick in size just as easily, although he can no longer Sprint. He can push or drag a larger object or group of objects around at Half Speed, up to 2" in Size.
As a more general rule, a Creation with the ability to carry things can pick up and carry an object its own Size at no cost, and push or drag an object twice its Size at Half Speed. If minifigs work together to combine their strength, they can add their Sizes together to combine their carrying capacity. If a Size 0" Vermin (10.4: Monsters) is able to carry objects, it can carry one minifig equipment item at no penalty, or two equipment items at half speed.
The Mechanik
“Engineers are all basically high-functioning autistics who have no idea how normal people do stuff.”
- Cory Doctorow
In the hands of a skilled Mechanik, the common brik becomes a thing of wonder.
While any minifig can slap some rubble together and call it a day, there are a few brickbuilding savants who, thanks to rigorous education and natural genius, earn the right to wear a hard hat and carry around actual tools. These licensed Mechanix have the ability to assemble masterworks of engineering on the fly, even in the middle of pitched battles.
Mechanikal Aptitude
Mechanikal Aptitude Specialty (+2CP): allows the Construction Action on enemy turns within a d8" radius () A Mechanik has the advantage of Mechanikal Aptitude, which allows him to use Construction Actions to build, repair, modify, and disassemble creations without respect to logic or common sense. Whenever engaging in one of these activities, a Mechanik uses his Mechanikal Skill of d8 rather than his usual d6.
The Construction Action
When constructing elements into new Creations or modifying existing ones, Mechanix are free to attach a loose brick here or there during their turn like any amateur. For the really big jobs, though, they need to declare a Construction Action and abide by union rules.
UNION RULE 1
Mechanix don't collect their own bricks.
No matter how hardworking an individual Mechanik might be in private life, the professional standards dictated by the Mechanix' Union require him to be as lazy as possible on the job, in order to protect the hard-won rights of his union brothers. This means that Mechanix avoid collecting their own bricks whenever possible.
Instead, when a Mechanik declares a Construction Action, he rolls his Mechanikal Skill of d8 () to determine his Construction Radius. Within that many inches from where he's standing, he may then use all loose chunks of construction elements small enough to carry as if he had taken the trouble to collect them himself. Objects too large to carry can be included in Construction as well, but, unlike the smaller pieces, they must already be within arm's reach. Mechanix can treat any Structures and Vehicles that have been destroyed by Size Damage (that is, their Effective Size has been reduced to zero) as if they were already completely broken apart into component elements, even if they are still otherwise intact.
While Constructing, the player is allowed to take this collection of elements off to one side of the battlefield in order to work with them more easily, but they are all considered to still be on the field, and are still subject to attacks at that location by marauding opponents.
If any bystanders get too curious about how a Mechanik is able to use bricks without gathering them first, they find themselves having a chat soon afterwards with some of the local union boys, and they learn to not be so curious in the future.
Two Mechaniks working together can combine their Construction Radius rolls, but it doesn't give them any more time to Construct stuff.
UNION RULE 2
Mechanix don't work on their own turns.
Two disguised United Systems Alliance Mechanix bluff their way into a Trattorian maintenance shaft by pretending to have doctorates in Plumbing Studies.
Union rules dictate that Mechaniks are always On Break during their own turn. Break begins the moment the Mechanik declares a Construction Action and lasts until the end of the turn. It's only afterwards, when his opponents are taking their turns, that he really gets down to business.
All Construction Actions take place during the Mechanik's opponents' turns. This has two advantages: first, it gives the Mechanik's player something to do while waiting for his or her opponents to move, and second, it encourages opponents to hurry up, since the longer they take, the more work the Mechanik can get done.
The Mechanik's player must take care to never let a Construction Action stall the game. If he or she is called on to make a roll, if the Mechanik or his Construction are attacked, or if the opponent's turn ends, the player must immediately pause working on the Construction, regardless of the state it's in. The player can return to working on it once the interruption is resolved, if the Mechanik is still alive and in a position to do so.
Field Constructions
Mechanix are best known for their ability to create machinery and fortifications from rubble, either as new Creations (a new assault helicopter, a new castle tower) or as objects to add to existing Creations (a new giant robot fist for the copter, a new lightning gun for the tower). These are limited only by how fast the player can build, and by the parts available within the Mechanik's range.
A Mechanik's Field Constructions have the following stats, whether finished or in progress:
| Field Constructions | |
|---|---|
| Size | The physical size of model, in inches |
| Armor | Structure Level ½ / Armor 1d6 |
| Move | 2" per Propulsion element |
| Weapons | by Size and type |
Size
- see 7.1: Structure The Size of a Field Construction is measured the same as for any other Creation - decide which parts are Surface Elements, and measure the core Structure along its largest dimension. The number of inches in this measurement is the Construction's Size.
Armor
- see 7.1: Structure Field Constructions start with Structure Level ½ and Armor 1d6. Mechanix can increase their sturdiness later through Patch Repairs.
Move
- see Chapter 9: Vehicles By adding appropriate propulsion elements, a Mechanik can turn his Field Construction into a Vehicle. On a ground vehicle, these might be wheels, legs, or treads. A flier might have jet engines, propellers, or rockets. On a seafaring craft, these might be sails, sternwheels, or manned oars.
If the new elements are used to replace previous propulsion elements, they restore whatever functionality was lost when the previous elements were damaged or destroyed. Otherwise, each new propulsion element adds two inches to the Vehicle's Move rating, limited to the usual Move limits for Vehicles (9.1: Propulsion). The new elements must logically help push the Vehicle forward - wheels don't add Move if they're not touching the ground, oars don't help if they can't reach the water, and fixed wings don't help to propel an aircraft the way flapping ones do. If any part of a Field-Constructed Vehicle is dragging on the ground, it moves at Half Speed.
Weapons
- see Chapter 8: Weaponry Field-Constructed weapons work the same way as regular weapons, described later on in Chapter Eight: players determine the basic type of weapon under construction and measure its Size, and these two factors determine its stats and abilities. The new weapon is subject to all the same limitations as a pre-built one, especially concerning Weapon Size limitations for how many Weapons a Structure is able to use at the same time.
The difficulty with Field-Constructed weapons is in determining what counts as a properly-constructed weapon and what doesn't, since this is entirely up to the building standards of the players. In some groups, for instance, a single 1x10 brick makes a very acceptable Size 3 laser cannon, by sole virtue of being mounted on the front of a death buggy; in more serious groups it would be laughed right off the table. Here are some factors to consider when a Field-Constructed weapon is proposed:
- Appropriate Parts Is the new weapon built out of the blown-up pieces of a similar weapon that got destroyed earlier? If so, then it's almost certainly acceptable. Mechanix have a much easier time building devices out of parts that were actually intended for the purpose.
- Context Consistency Does the weapon look roughly as convincing as other weapons on the table, or does it look embarrassing by comparison? If the other players are fielding intricately customized models that they've slaved over for hours, they have the right to be more judgmental than if they slapped a bunch of rainbow crates together five minutes before the game. If the Mechanik's player can spot any enemies who are fielding weapons of similar quality or worse, then he or she is immune to criticism.
- Player Hardassness How much of a hardass do you want to be? Has the Mechanik's player been a pain in the ass over the details of every Heroic Feat and What I Say Goes Roll, or have they been willing to let things slide? Either way, now's the time to show your appreciation.
If players can't quickly agree on whether or not a given Field-Constructed weapon or device is acceptable enough to allow, put it to a What I Say Goes Roll and move on.
Patch Repairs
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.”
- Douglas Adams
When a Creation takes Component Damage and a couple of chunks are blasted off, it's a simple matter for a Mechanik to gather them up and slap them back into place. Like any Field Construction, the repaired Components are built with Structure Level ½ and 1d6 Armor, but otherwise behave exactly as they did before.
If a Mechanik wants to repair a couple points of Size Damage, or to boost the Armor of a Field Construction or any other Creation, he takes a Construction Action to do Patch Repairs. (Patch Repairs are a separate Construction Action from Field Construction, and a Mechanik can't do both in the same turn.) He does this by building structural Patches on its surface out of loose bricks.
A Patch must be one continuous construction attached to the surface of the Creation for the entire length of the Patch. Sections of a Patch not directly attached to the surface have no effect. As a result, Patches can never be longer than the Creations they're built on.
A Patch doesn't have to be completed all at once; a Mechanik can work on a single Patch over a series of turns if he's interrupted by a lack of time or parts. Once a Patch is complete, it becomes part of the Structure of its Creation. Blowing it off with Component Damage later won't reverse its effects, and other Patches can be built on top of it.
Repairing Size Damage
Mechanix can reinforce a Creation's Structure by using loose building elements to build Patches on its surface.The Size requirement for this Patch is determined by the size of the job at hand: In order to repair one point of Size Damage, the Patch must be one inch larger than the remaining effective Size of the Creation's Structure, and each point repaired requires a separate Patch.
Size Damage Repair Example: Red Rocket
Example: After some heavy pummeling, a Size 8" Red Rocket has taken three points of Size Damage, reducing its effective Size to 5". In order to Patch Repair the first point of Size Damage and raise its effective Size to 6", the Mechanik will have to build a Patch at least 6" long on its surface. In order to repair all the Size Damage, he would have to then build two more Patches at least 7" and 8" long, respectively. If he has enough time and loose bricks, he can build all three patches in the same turn.
When a point of Size Damage is repaired, the Creation regains the abilities it lost when it lost that point of damage, including weapon capacity, Movement, Momentum potential, and Structure Level.
Reinforcing Armor
Any time a Mechanik makes a Patch, including a Patch to repair Size Damage, he can also increase the Structure Level of the Creation past its original amount. He can raise the Structure level by one with each patch, up to Structure Level 3 / Armor 3d10, as long as the Size of the Patch is at least as large as the Creation's (or its affected section's) current Effective Size, and as large as the Structure Level he's trying to achieve.
Armor Reinforcement Example: Wrecked Catapult
Example: A medium-sized catapult (Structure Level 2, Size 4") has taken two points of Size Damage, and then, adding insult to injury, the enemy has used Component Damage to separate the rear section of the catapult completely. The remaining front section has a new Size of 3" and inherits the two points of Size Damage, reducing it to an effective Size of 1". This is not enough to operate the 4" Launcher arm normally, or for the catapult's Structure Level of 2; it's reduced to Structure Level 1 (Armor 1d10) and the Launcher is deactivated. The separated rear section has a Size of only 1", and also inherits the two points of Size Damage, reducing its effective Size to less than zero. It's destroyed completely.
A Mechanik arrives on the scene and declares a Construction Action for Patch Repairs. His Construction Radius roll is high enough to give him access to all the pieces of the destroyed rear section, so he has plenty of parts to work with.
He starts by building a 2" Patch on the surface of the catapult. This is enough to repair the first point of Size Damage, raising the Effective Size to 2" out of its 3" of actual Size. The catapult can activate its Launcher, and it's returned to its original Structure Level of 2 (2d10 Armor).
Since the Mechanik has parts and time left over, he decides to build another Patch to repair the second point of Damage. This one needs to be a 3" Patch, to raise the front section's Effective Size back to its actual Size of 3". Besides repairing the Damage, this new Patch is large enough to raise the catapult's Structure Level to 3 (Armor 3d10).
Disassembly
“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”
- Sir Winston Churchill
Living creatures tend to fight back or run off when you try to Disassemble them, making it hard to get any work done.
Lt. Krus avoids this difficulty by making sure his Peach prisoners are properly restrained before harvesting their skeletons for throne-building.
With the proper tools in hand, the Mechanik is a dangerous weapon - steel-plated armor designed to shrug off heavy mortar fire can find itself helpless against a Mechanik with a screwdriver and the will to use it.
Rather than building or repairing a Creation, Mechaniks can use a Construction Action to Disassemble it in an orderly fashion. To do so, he needs to be touching the Creation with tool in hand at the end of his own turn. If he's still alive and touching the Creation at the beginning of his following turn, then he's had the time to perform a successful Disassembly.
At the beginning of this turn, the Mechanik rolls his Mechanikal Skill of d8 () and subtracts the Creation's Structure Level. The remaining number is the number of elements the Mechanik can separate from the Creation. He can only remove elements (or groups of elements) that are directly accessible and not held in place by other pieces - that is to say, he has to be able to remove them without having to move any other parts of the Creation. The effects on the Creation are the same as if those pieces had been blown off by Component Damage.
Disrupting Disassembly
While a Mechanik can use Disassembly on friendly or neutral Creations in order to create a supply of spare parts, he's much more dangerous if he gets access to Disassemble opponents' Creations instead. To help prevent this, enemies have several ways to disrupt his efforts.
If a Mechanik becomes engaged in Close Combat before completing his attempt, or is otherwise removed from the Creation he's working on, Disassembly fails automatically. If he's hit by ranged weapons fire or takes any other kind of Damage, he takes a -1 penalty to his Disassembly Skill Roll for every point of Damage. The most effective means of disrupting a Mechanik, of course, is to kill him, and his opponents will generally consider this to be the best option.
Yellow Castle 375
In the 1,978th BrikVersal Reconstruktion, the ancient Royal empire perfected the art of hinged castlery with the construction of their royal fortress, Yellow Castle 375. While the fates and possible yellowness of the previous 374 castles have been lost to history, Yellow Castle 375 remained the unchallenged pinnacle of castlebuilding for generations to come, until its fade into obscurity and final mysterious disappearance in BR 1,983.
Under the rule of the Yellow King, four virtuous and noble bloodlines joined together to form the Sticker Knights: the Order of the Crowns, the Order of the Rays, the Order of the Clover, and the Order of the Hazard Stripes. Tasked with enforcing Yellow purity throughout the kingdom, their crusades of implacable ethnic cleansing left no survivors. If there had been peach-colored minifigs in the world then, as there are today, no evidence now remains.
The Yellow Kingdom's mythic history of uninterrupted racist successes took a heavy blow after the appearance of Furbuland in BR 1,979. Upon discovering the furfigs, the intolerant Yellow King became sickened by a nausea from which he could never recover, and the kingdom fell into decline. The Sticker Knights fought bravely to eradicate the furfigs, and many quested for the Skully Grail that could cure the King's malaise with its miraculous genocidal magic. But in the end, their efforts were for naught. Furbuland continued to thrive for many Reconstruktions after the Yellow Kingdom's fade into obscurity, despite violent fursecution from minifig civilizations holding them to blame for the loss of the Yellow King.
In ages since, rumors and sightings of Yellow Castle in far-flung and mist-shrouded frontiers have been reported from pirates, fugitives, and remote explorers; none have been substantiated. It is believed that Yellow Castle will one day return in glory to restore the true King and heir to the Yellow Crown. Until then, the noble bloodlines descended from the Royal source are fractured and vie for supremacy and familial bragging rights.
(BrikWiki entry: Yellow Castle)
Tyronian Uber-Heavies are known for carrying weapons that regular minifigs can't even lift, much less fire.
Chapter Eight: Weaponry
Even without weapons platforms to mount them on, the Immortals' Terrorkhan units arrive with a complement of siege-level weapons to set up offensive field emplacements.
BrikPacifists may try to distract each other with talk of the beauty of a Gothic cathedral or the protective strength of castle walls, but the real BrikWarriors know the truth. The reason to build really large creations is because you need places to put the really big guns.
8.1: Weapon Size
The Right Tool For The Job
Small targets like minifig troops are hard to hit with high-Use Weapons. Because Weapon Size increases a Weapon's Use rating along with the Damage, the highest-damage weapons are most effective against the largest targets.
Contrarily, high-accuracy small arms are most effective when used against minifig targets, since their Damage isn't high enough to pose a real threat to larger Creations.
As with Structures and everything else of real importance, Weapons are classified according to their Size in inches (7.1: Structure). At a Weapon Size of one inch or less, a Weapon is equivalent to what you might find in the hands of a minifig. As the Size increases, so do a Weapon's stats – every statistic is multiplied by or added to the Weapon Size.
| Weapons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Cost | Use | Range | Damage | Notes |
| Close Combat Weapons | |||||
| Melee Weapon | (Size x2) CP | (Size +1) | CC | (Size) x Skill die | - |
| Melee Shield | (Size) CP | (Size x2) | CC | (Size) x Deflection on Parry | Parry or Shove only; can provide cover |
Weapon Size Example: The Ripper Blade
Example: Cobbling together war machines to defend their swamp and kin, Bayounix take standard weapons and (BAM!) kick them up a notch. Thanks to a discarded hacksaw and a wildly incorrect glasses prescription, a Bayounik man is inspired to forge a vicious Ripper Blade.
After selecting and measuring the appropriate Bayounikal element for the blade, the Human player may choose to make it anywhere from a Weapon Size 3" to a Weapon Size 5" Melee Weapon, according to how he or she fudges the measurement.
Splitting the difference, the player arbitrarily picks a Weapon Size of 4". Where a standard Hand Weapon has stats of Cost:2CP Use:2 Damage:1 Skill die, the Size 4" Melee Weapon now has stats four times more awesome. It costs 8CP, has a Use rating of 5, and does 4 Skill dice of Damage.
Explosive Size
Explosives are measured on a smaller grain than other types of weapons. Explosive Size (XSize) is measured by the number of bricks (or roughly brick-sized elements) used to construct an individual Explosive, rather than by inches. This exception is made so that Explosives can be small enough to throw as hand grenades, or to load into Launchers or Cannons of matching Size.
When an Explosive is launched from a Launcher or Cannon, only the Weapon Size of the Launcher or Cannon is counted against the Creation's Power limit. If the Explosive is launched from the Creation directly (for instance as a dropped bomb or a fired rocket), the points of Explosive Size count against the Power limit as if they were inches of Weapon Size.
KnockBack
All targets affected by an Explosion receive an inch of KnockBack for every die of Explosion Damage they receive.
Non-Explosive weapons can also cause KnockBack if they strike targets smaller than themselves. A target is Knocked Back one inch for every inch of difference between the Weapon Size and the target's Effective Size, with the usual potential for being Disrupted as a result.
It's a coin toss whether he'll hit you with the ShotGun or the chainblade first. General William Two-Face Tecumseh Sherman likes things up close and personal - face to face to face.
Hand-Held Weapons
For minifigs, Weapon Size 1" is treated as a Short (S) weapon, while Weapon Size 2" is treated as a Long (L) weapon. Medium (M) weapons fall somewhere in-between. These hand-and-a-half Bastard Weapons give minifigs some needed tactical variety in the Core Rules, and the new weapon types introduced in this chapter also have minifig Bastard versions.
| Minifig Bastard Guns | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Cost | Use | Range | Damage | Notes |
| Long-Ranged Weapon (M) Bastard Gun | 5CP | 3 | 10" | +1 | Two-Handed |
| ShotGun (M) Bastard BlastGun | 4CP | 3 | 6" | +1 - (distance) | Two-Handed 1 Firing Arc, no Auto Penalty Target Size modifiers affect Damage 1" KnockBack to minifigs or smaller |
| AutoGun (M) Bastard MachineGun | 6CP | 3 | 8" | +1 |
When weapons are carried in a Creation's hands (or equivalent grabbers), rather than mounted directly to the Creation itself, they are subject to some of the same limitations as minifig weapons (Chapter 3: Minifig Weapons). As with minifigs' weapons, the Weapon Size is compared to the Size of the Creation holding it. A Weapon up to the Creation's Size is considered Short (S), up to one-and-a-half times its Size is a Bastard Weapon (M), and up to twice the Creation's Size is Long (L).
The sun-worshipping Chosen of Solek dominate the jungle thanks in part to their giant lizardman. For a beastman of his massive Size, his giant axes are treated as a pair of Hand Weapons.
| Large Hand-Held Weapon Equivalents | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon Category | Short (S) 1 x Creation Size" | Bastard (M) 1.5 x Creation Size" | Long (L) 2 x Creation Size" |
| Close Combat Weapon | use as Hand Weapon one-handed | use as Heavy Weapon one- or two-handed may be paired with Melee Shield | use as Two-Handed Weapon two-handed cannot Sprint or throw weapon |
| Ranged Weapon | use as Short-Ranged Weapon one- or two-handed | use as Long-Ranged Weapon two-handed | Not Allowed |
Power Limits
The weapons and devices a Creation can operate during a turn are limited by Weapon Size. A Creation has enough Power to activate and use as many inches of weapons and devices as twice its own Size (or twice its Effective Size, if it's taken Size Damage (7.2: Taking Damage)). The Creation can be loaded with as many extra weapons as its player is willing to pay for, but on any single turn it can only use as many as fit within its Power limit.
Size zero Creations have zero Power. It's not enough for standard Weapons, but they sometimes have tiny one-point-Damage special Attacks..
The Power of certain types of Creations are limited even further. Creations flying in the air (rather than in space or with antigravity) have Power limited to their own Size in Weapon Inches (although they may return to the regular Power level of twice their Size while on the ground).
Power Limit Example: Scorpiosaurus Rex
Example: With ratings slipping against sleeker, sexier velociraptor upstarts, Scorpiosaurus Rex is trying to regain popularity with a bionik makeover. He adds decorative steel plating to his one-inch Claw Blades, and upgrades his scorpion tail to a five-inch BioStinger.
The Scorpiosaurus Rex is a Size 3" Creature, giving him enough Power to activate 6" of Weapons in a turn. He can either attack with the stinger and one claw (5"+1"=6"), or with his two claws (1"+1"=2") in a turn. He can't attack with all three in the same turn, because their sizes added together (5"+1"+1"=7") is greater than his Power limit of 6".
If Scorpiosaurus Rex takes a point of Size Damage, his Effective Size will be reduced to 2", bringing his Power limit to only 4" per turn. Because the stinger is larger than this limit by itself, he no longer has the strength to use it (unless he Diverts All Power), and is limited to using his two claws only on any normal turn.
The MAOX's experimental siege mech "Nimrod" suffered from unresolvable balance issues, thanks to its epic Size 7" über-minigun.
Gathering Power
“Great acts are made up of small deeds."
- Lao Tzu
A single weapon can be Too Big for its Creation to activate at all, either because the Creation's Effective Size has been reduced by Size Damage (7.2: Taking Damage) or because the player who originally built the weapon was too busy being awesome to care about Power limits.
The first option for firing a weapon that's Too Big is to Divert All Power. As a Full Round Action (4.2: Action), a Creation can "save up" its Power over multiple turns. The Creation can't move, activate any Weapons or devices, or take any other Action on a turn on which it's Diverting All Power (other than as part of its powering-up sequence - a Freudian-Class Siege Tank can plant hydraulic support stabilizers and elevate the extending cannon into artillery mode, for example). On the following turn, the Creation may immediately add the extra Power it saved from the previous turn (or turns) to its regular Power supply in order to meet the Power requirement of a single weapon or device activation. Afterwards, the Creation returns to its regular Power limit.
Under the strictest interpretation of the rules, Gunners atop the main turret aren't able to aim and fire the .50 caliber machine guns if the M1 Jackson needs to Divert All Power for another purpose.
Depending on how flexible the players are willing to be, they might Fudge the rule to say that the machine guns are mounted on independent Small Turrets and require no Power from the tank, as long as they're being operated manually.
The second means of employing a Too Big weapon is to bring a team of friends to help out. This is most often seen when a group of minifigs use Teamwork to manually operate a weapon too large for any of them individually, like swinging a battering ram, throwing a boulder, or winding the crank on a catapult.
Nobody actually keeps track of minifigs wind up catapults. But if they did, it would take one minifig per two inches of Weapon Size.
Creations using Teamwork add their Effective Sizes together for the purpose of satisfying a weapon's Power requirement. If a Skill roll or throwing Range is required, the lowest-Skilled unit makes the roll, and the lowest-Ranged unit determines the Range.
Depending on the type of power source required, vehicles or magic-powered constructs can sometimes also use Teamwork to help power a weapon - but unless they're specially designed for it, this may require a What I Say Goes roll and some jury-rigging from a clever Mechanik with a set of jumper cables.
For weapons that are so Too Big that neither technique is enough by itself, units can Divert All Power and use Teamwork at the same time. In either case, the participating Creations should be able to provide the appropriate type of power - a medieval knight can't use muscle strength to help power a lightning cannon, any more than hooking that knight up to a car battery would help him swing a bigger sword (although the latter example is really worth testing, just to be sure).
The Heavy
A squad of Noxarian Infantry uses machine gun turrets to calm an agitated civilian.
Turrets
Minifigs and Vehicles abide by the agreement (an unspoken agreement, since most Vehicles can't speak) that minifig Weapons are for minifigs, and Vehicle Weapons are for Vehicles. There are occasional contrary-minded minifigs who refuse to play along, however, and insist on hauling around Weapons that are too big for them.
For normal minifigs, this means hauling a portable Turret into position in the field, and trying to keep that position secure long enough to set up the Turret and Weapon to lay down fire.
| Turrets | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Turret Size | Cost | Max Power | Notes |
| Small Turret (S) | 0CP | 2 Weapon Inches | No Sprinting if carried; one turn to Set Up with Weapon |
| Large Turret (M) | 1CP | 4 Weapon Inches | Half Speed if Carried; one turn to Set Up with Weapon |
A standard Turret costs 0CP, measures 1" in Size and can mount a Size 2" Weapon. (Larger Turrets are occasionally seen, and are purchased as regular Creations of the appropriate Size.) For minifigs hauling Turrets and Weapons into position, remember that a single minifig can haul a 1" object at regular speed (although they can't Sprint), or a 2" object at Half Speed (7.3: Field Construction).
Once in place, it takes an Action for the Turret and weapon to be properly Set Up. Once Set Up, the Turret is stationary and the Weapon may be fired normally starting on the following turn. If the Turret is moved or knocked over then it must be Set Up all over again before it can be fired.
Compensating
Compensating Specialty (+1CP): can use Weapons 1" larger than normally allowed when standing still
Occasionally, a minifig arises with the physical might (or mechanical augmentations) to act as his own Turret, able to carry and fire Vehicle Weapons by hand. While this ability may seem to be the purview of Heroes, the Heavy is usually supporting cast, using his extra firepower to show just how tough an enemy is before a Hero swoops in for the kill steal.
Thanks to the Heavy's ability for Compensating, a Heavy can use objects and Weapons 1" larger than a normal minifig. This gives him the ability to lift, operate, and throw objects larger than his Size would suggest. Most Heavies use their Compensating ability to wield a Size 2" MachineGun, BlastGun, or other type of Ranged Weapon, but Compensating works on Melee Weapons as well. A Heavy can wield Heavy Weapons as if they were Hand Weapons, Two-Handed Weapons as if they were Heavy Weapons, and Size 3" or 4" Melee Weapons as if they were Two-Handed Weapons.
The disadvantage of Compensating is that the Heavy can't operate his oversized weapons unless he has both feet planted firmly to the ground. On any turn in which the Heavy runs, jumps, Bails, uses an Angry Inch, or engages in any other type of Movement, he can't use the Compensating bonus, although he may still take normal Actions like a regular minifig.
8.2: Basic Weapons
Representing the height of weeaboo technology, the Oni is the heaviest armored suit in the Nipponian arsenal. The suit packs dual flamers, the MechSlayer cannon, and a heatbeam eye, but its greatest weapon is the giant OT-powered Warsword.
Though the Jotunn have fallen, a new hope rises. The Last Son of Krypto demonstrates that Heroic Weapons can be scaled up to larger sizes too.
Close Combat Weapons
Melee Weapon: Cost:(Size)x2CP Use:(Size)+1 **Range:**CC Damage:(Size)xSkill die Melee Shield: Cost:(Size)xCP Use:(Size)x2 **Range:**CC Effect:(Size)xDeflection on Parry, (Size)x2" Thrust on Shove (see 5.2: Close Combat)
The functions of Close Combat Weapons are easy to scale upwards with Size. Giant swords and the like are just like the minifig versions with larger numbers attached.
A Creation with a Close Combat weapon uses it to whack at targets the same way a minifig does. However, Creations are not always able to participate as fully in the back-and-forth attacks of formal Close Combat. There are specific conditions under which a Creation's Close Combat abilities are limited.
-
Mindless: Unlike independent Creatures, a Creation being controlled by an operator lacks the reflexes to Counter or Counterattack, unless it's a Vehicle controlled by a trained Pilot (9.4: The Pilot) or a Creature controlled by a Rider (H.2: Riding a Horse).
-
Too Large: Large combatants lack the dexterity to Counter against opponents much smaller than themselves. Against opponents smaller than half their own Size, Creations can't Counter or Counterattack, and their Shoves and Grabs aren't Automatic Hits. (Shoves and Grabs against small targets have a Use rating equal to the size of the Creation doing the Shoving or Grabbing.) Only a Size 0" Creature can Counter against another Size 0" Creature.
-
Too Small: Creations can only Shove targets their own Size or smaller. In order to Shove targets larger than themselves, Creations have to team up, adding their Sizes together in a Combined Attack.
Shoves from larger Creations are Parried at -2 for every inch of Size difference.
-
Unmoving: Creations without some kind of obvious leaping ability cannot use an Angry Inch when making attacks.
Parrying
The Use ratings of Melee Weapons go up slowly as their Weapon Size increases. Melee Shields become unwieldy much more quickly, but the benefits can be great. A successful Parry with a Melee Weapon, no matter how large, provides only one level of Deflection. a successful Parry with a Melee Shield adds layers of Deflection equal to the Shield's Weapon Size, potentially negating multiple dice of Damage all at once and rendering many attacks meaningless.
A Parry can be thought of as a type of Close Combat Attack against an incoming weapon, and attempts to Parry against larger weapons benefit from the standard Attack Bonus for Target Size: +1 to Skill for every 2" in the Weapon Size of the weapon being Parried (5.1: Making Attacks).
As with minifig weapons, a critical failure when Parrying with a hand-held weapon, or a regular failure when a hand-held Parrying weapon is half the attacking weapons's Weapon Size or smaller, results in the Parrying weapon being knocked out of the defender's hands and directly away from the attacker for a number of inches equal to the Attack Roll.
RoC77's 45th Union knows how to deploy their firepower where it'll do the most good. Jeep-mounted gunners are positioned to outmaneuver and strike at lightly-armored Vol forces, while the tanks take the opposite flank to face the heavier vehicles and emplacements of the Assyrian Star Empire.
Ranged Weapons
Gun: Cost:(Size)x3CP Use:(Size)+2 Range:((Size)x4)+2" Damage:(Size)x (see 5.3: Ranged Combat)
To make a Ranged attack, a Creation must be able to point its weapon at its target. The aiming doesn't have to be perfect - players are allowed to Fudge the angle by up to forty-five degrees. Both the firing angle and the weapon Range are measured from the end of the weapon barrel. (Building a telescoping barrel to take advantage of this fact is perfectly legal as well as Freudially satisfying.)
Players can mount a Creation's weapons onto any type of turret, hinge, or arm to cover a wider firing arc. This has no extra cost, but remember that hinges, joints, and other moving attachment points are weak points armored at one Structure Level lower than the rest of the Creation (to a minimum Structure Level of ½) (7.1: Structure).
Armor Plating
Armor Plating: Cost:(Size)+1CP **Effect:**Deflection over covered area **Notes:**No aerial flight or alternate movement; Half Speed (see 3.3: Bodily Protection)
Sections of Armor Plating can be used to protect some or all of a Creation, granting a level of Deflection to whatever area it covers. This protection comes at a cost to the Creation's mobility - the added weight of even the smallest patch of Armor Plating makes many types of movement impossible, and the Creation is permanently at Half Speed for as long as the Armor Plating is attached.
Other than moving backwards, a Creation with Armor Plating cannot engage in alternate movement types that would normally reduce its Propulsion type to Half Speed (9.1: Standard Propulsion). Armor Plated Creations cannot engage in aerial flight, although spaceflight is allowed. They also cannot jump, although they can be dropped from orbit or launched from Launchers instead.
Attackers firing at an Armor Plated Creation should specify which part of the Creation they're attacking. Unless they specifically target an un-Armored section, their attack will Koincidentally hit any section of Armor Plating that is visible and within range, no matter how small or unlikely.
Armor Plating is not counted against a Creation's Power limit.
8.3: Automatic Weapons
“Whoever said 'the pen is mightier than the sword' obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
- General Douglas MacArthur
Automatic weapons are a special kind of Ranged Weapon that can be fired in a Firing Arc, spraying a whole area with projectiles, or in a Burst, spraying a whole area's worth of projectiles at a single target. Larger Firing Arcs and Bursts have the potential to do much more damage, but quickly become much less accurate due to cumulative Attack Penalties known as an Auto Penalty.
Players may try to fudge an angle by not holding their palm flat and parallel to the table surface. If this happens, smash their hand with a hammer or large rock until it's flattened to the proper orientation.
Automatic Weapons and Multiple Attacks
In the Core Rules, units are allowed attack a target with multiple weapons at the same time, as long as the weapons they're using have the same attack type - either Ranged or Close Combat. Automatic Weapons add a third Arc Fire attack type.
When an Arc Fire weapon is swept over an area, as with a firehose or machinegun suppressive fire, it can be combined with other sweeping Arc Fire attacks targeting the same Firing Arc.
When an Arc Fire weapon is pointed at a specific single point, as with a shotgun or a targeted machine gun burst, it can be combined with other Ranged attacks targeting the same point, even if it has a secondary blast effect.
Firing Arcs
Rather than mess around with clunky protractors and drafting tools, BrikWars measures angles the old-fashioned way: using players' fingers. To measure angles of Firing Arc, a player holds his hand out with palm flat to the table and fingers outstretched, with his knuckles placed roughly over the attacking end of the weapon being fired. Each space between fingers adds +1 to Arc.
As long as the fingers are evenly spaced, players can measure Arc between whichever set of fingers they find most convenient. By convention, however, a +1 Arc is best measured between the middle and ring fingers, a +2 Arc between the index and ring fingers, and a +3 Arc between the index and pinky fingers.
Larger Arcs rarely come into play. If they do, rather than incorporating thumbs, it's easiest to measure a couple of regular-sized Arcs and combine them (e.g., a +4 Arc is just two +2 Arcs laid next to each other).
There will be some variation between the fingers of different players. As with everything else in BrikWars, the players who are most flexible will have the advantage.
Arc Fire
When weapon fire sweeps over an area because of either continuous fire (in the case of MachineGuns and FlameThrowers) or blast spread (in the case of BlastGuns), this is an Arc Fire attack.
Every target within the attacker's Firing Arc receives a single attack from the weapon, and missed shots are ignored. Larger targets suffer an extra attack for each point of the Firing Arc they span completely.
Because an Arc attack comes from filling an area with a field of projectiles, modifiers for cover and Target Size not only affect the Skill Roll for the attack, but also the Damage inflicted. Large and small targets within the cone of fire catch larger or smaller portions of the Damage flying through the air. (For the purpose of determining the bonus for a large target, only consider the portion of the target within the firing cone.)
MachineGuns and FlameThrowers firing in an Arc receive an Attack Penalty known as an Auto Penalty. For each point of Firing Arc in the attack, the attacker receives a cumulative -1 to Skill when making the attack - with a larger Firing Arc, there is less chance that any individual shot will hit its target.
BlastGuns, by contrast, have a fixed Firing Arc of 1 and have no Auto Penalty from Arc size.
Arc Example: Your Mom
Example: In order to save the world's dwindling supply of fried chicken and sausages, soldiers have been sent back from the future in an attempt to curb Your Mom's caloric intake. The flamethrower trooper prepares to open fire on her from a short distance away, spraying burning plasma across her corpulent frame with an Arc of 2.
When the troopers' player splays fingers to measure the Firing Arc, Your Mom is so fat that she spans the entire Arc between the index, middle, and ring fingers. The flamethrower trooper will attack her once because she's in his Firing Arc, and twice more for the two full points of Firing Arc that she spans, for three attacks total. A smell like frying bacon is strongly expected.
Your Mom is so fat that the trooper also gets a +2 Target Size Bonus to the attack, because her giant belly is over four inches wide. For Arc attacks, Target Size modifiers affect Damage as well as Skill, so the trooper's -2 Auto Penalty is canceled out and he makes the three attacks with +2 Damage each.
Unlike other Ranged Attacks, missed shots in Arc Fire are not tracked (5.3: Ranged Combat). Attack Rolls for Arc Fire aren't tracking individual shots, but rather whether or not any out of the whole group of shots happened to be fired in that specific direction, and so a missed shot means there was no projectile there in the first place.
This swordsman uses hummus and irritable bowel syndrome to create an impromptu Blast attack.
BlastGuns
BlastGun: Cost:(Size)x3CP Use:(Size)+1 Range:((Size)x2)+2" Damage:(Size)x-distance Notes: 1 Firing Arc, no Auto Penalty, 1" KnockBack to minifigs
BlastGuns are the simplest of the Automatic Weapons, and are only Automatic in the sense that they fire a large number of shots in a single blast. Buckshot, grapeshot, and flechette rounds are the most common examples, but Blast-type effects can also be seen in weapons like sonic cannons, chaff launchers, and exploding alien seed pods.
A BlastGun always fires with a fixed Firing Arc of 1, and though its blast is powerful at short range, the shots disperse and do less Damage to targets further away. For every full inch between the target and the end of the BlastGun barrel, the Damage to that target is reduced by one, to the point that more distant victims might not take any Damage at all.
Minifg-sized or smaller targets that take any Damage from a ShotGun blast are automatcially Knocked Back one inch.
BlastGun Example: ShotGun Wedding
Example: Old Man Grundy has had enough of Wooyang constantly impregnating his daughters! He's tracked down the notorious rake and hauled him in for an old-fashioned ShotGun quadruple wedding.
Grundy's itchy trigger finger means that Wooyang had better follow through; if the old man senses any hesitation he's likely to forget that his daughters and grandchildren (and the parson) are also in the cone of fire.
Using spread fingers to check the ShotGun's automatic Firing Arc of 1, it seems that red-headed Chastity and her baby will be outside the edge of the blast zone if the ShotGun goes off, but everyone else has positioned themselves much less wisely.
Constance and her baby are within the first inch of range. Constance stands to take a full 1d8+1 Damage, while her baby takes 1d8 (-1 Damage due to small Target Size). Wooyang is an inch away, dropping the Damage to a still-deadly 1d8.
Virginia and her twins are two inches away, reducing the potential Damage even further to 1d8-1. Between Constance's baby and the baby in her own left hand, Virginia has 1/3 cover from babies, reducing her risk by another -1 to 1d8-2. Her left-hand baby is fully exposed, but is also at -1 to Damage due to small Target Size. Her right-hand baby is safely shielded from the ShotGun behind Wooyang's sharply-dressed frame.
Purity and her baby are are three inches away (for 1d8-2 potential Damage), and almost completely shielded behind Wooyang. With only tiny portions showing, they are each at -2 to Damage, for a relatively low total of 1d8-4 apiece. The parson is four inches away (for 1d8-3 Damage) and is fully exposed, unless the players decide that his giant BrikThulhian Bible is substantial enough to count as partial cover.
With so much potential mayhem only a trigger-pull away, will Wooyang be able to resist giving Grundy the finger?
MachineGuns and Reloading
MachineGun: Cost:(Size)x4CP Use:(Size)+2+Auto Range:((Size)x3)+2" Damage:(Size)xNotes: -1 Auto Penalty per Arc or Burst, may require Reload
MachineGuns are the most versatile of Automatic Weapons, allowing for Arc Fire, single-shot attacks, or multi-shot Bursts, depending on the needs of the situation. Unfortunately, while Automatic Fire is good for increasing a MachineGun's damage output, it also has a tendency to burn through its ammunition (or to jam, overheat, or lock up in some other way, if ammo isn't an issue).
The more Automatic Fire a MachineGun uses, the higher the chances of hitting one of these mechanical limits and becoming Inoperative. An Inoperative weapon can be indicated by pointing the barrel skyward when possible, or attaching a small brick as a temporary reminder. The weapon can can still be moved around as normal and used as makeshift club, but it can no longer be fired until it's Reloaded.
Fortunately, Reloading is easy - regardless of the Weapon's Size, any minifig operating the weapon (whether directly or from a pilot or gunner's seat) can Reload it with a singleAction, making it ready to use again on the following turn. Unlike Launchers, MachineGuns never suffer from a lack of spare ammunition; additional Reloads are always mysteriously available, and minifigs know better than to ask questions about where they come from. A MachineGun can't be Reloaded and fired on the same turn, even by multiple minifigs using their Actions together.
Arc Fire and Reloading
When a MachineGun is used for Arc Fire, the player chooses the size of the Arc he or she is going to attempt (setting the overall Auto Penalty), and, starting from one end and moving to the other, rolls a separate Attack Roll for each target in order. However, after each roll, if the number on the Skill die (before applying bonuses or penalties) is smaller than the Auto Penalty for the attack, then the weapon has hit its limit. It fires that final shot and then becomes Inoperative. For instance, a MachineGun firing across three units of Arc would hit its limit if the player rolled a "1" or a "2" when firing at any of the targets.
Burst Fire and Reloading
Unlike other Automatic Weapons, a MachineGun can also be used in Burst Fire, firing multiple shots at a single target. The player chooses the number of shots he or she is going to attempt in a Controlled Burst, and this determines the overall Auto Penalty: a cumulative -1 for each intended shot in the Burst. The player rolls a separate Attack Roll for each shot. For each roll, if the number on the Skill Die (before applying bonuses or penalties) is less than the Auto Penalty, then the MachineGun hits its limit. It fires that last shot and then becomes Inoperative.
There's no way Firetail the Dragon is letting these Skylink Commandos come between him and the last soft pretzel on planet Azure.
Warhead tests out his Heavy Flamer in preparation for ground action.
FlameThrowers
FlameThrower: Cost:(Size)x3CP Use:(Size)+1 Range:((Size)x2)+2" Damage:(Size)x Fire Notes: min. 1 Firing Arc, -1 Auto Penalty per Arc
“Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Terry Pratchett
FlameThrowers and other fire-based attacks measure their Damage Ratings in d4s rather than d6es, to represent the special nature of Fire Damage. The dependence on d4s makes them relatively weak for direct damage, but this shortcoming is made up for by their advantages in the field of setting objects on Fire.
If players choose to include Fire in their battle, they should make sure to have several d4s close at hand for Fire Damage rolls, a handful of markers to indicate active Fires (flame pieces are best, but red and yellow bricks or pips will work in a pinch), and if they're really dedicated, a scattering of loose black and gray bits to show burned areas.
1d4
FlameThrowers are not the most precise or elegant weapons, and must always use a Firing Arc of at least 1. As with other Arc attacks, Attack Modifiers for cover and target size act as modifiers to a FlameThrower attack's Damage as well as the accuracy of the Attack Roll.
Catching On Fire
Whenever a target takes Damage from FlameThrowers or other Fire-based attacks, there's a chance that it will be set on Fire.
On larger Creations, Fires can become independent creations in their own right, turning into Field Hazards that blaze out of control; these are described later in this chapter (8.5: Field Hazards). On minifigs, Fires are much simpler: any minifig who takes at least one point of Fire Damage is on Fire. (A Critical Failure on a Fire Damage roll, or Damage that's reduced to zero by Damage penalties, has no effect.)
For minifigs, being on Fire is unusually distracting. For as long as a minifig continues to burn, he takes a -1d4 Skill and Armor Penalty, and is limited to a maximum of one attack per turn with a Short or Medium-sized weapon.
Creatures who are made of Fire, like djinnis, lava monsters, and Michael Jordan, do not suffer Fire penalties or Burning Rolls. They can still set one touched object on Fire per turn.
A minifig can put out his flames by being doused in water or spending an Action to stop, drop and roll around on the ground and Disrupt himself. Otherwise, if he's still burning at the end of his turn and has unused inches of Move remaining, it's mandatory that he uses up every last inch by running and thrashing around hysterically, making that funny sound burning people make when they're trying to hyperventilate and scream at the same time.
If a minifig is still on Fire at the beginning of his turn, he makes a Burning Roll on 1d4. On a 1, the Fire goes out, and the minifig may continue as normal. On any other roll, the Fire continues burning. The minifig takes one point of Grinding Damage (7.2: Taking Damage), rendering one limb useless of the minifig's choice (10.2: The Medik), and the Fire spreads to one flammable object with Structure Level 1 or less that the minifig is in direct contact with, potentially including other minifigs.
Regardless of what type of ground a minifig is walking on, it's is treated as non-flammable by default, unless players want to spend a whole lot of time tracking wild ground fires.
Fire Example: Burnination
Example: This dragon-man (or maybe he's just a dragon) is on a quest to burninate the countryside, despite the stupid friggin' knights who are always trying to sword him. Luckily, the dragon's face is a Size 3" Flamethrower (Cost:9CP Use:4 Range:8" Damage:3d4(Fire)), which makes his job a lot easier.
It's the first day of the Walking In and Out of Your Cottage Obliviously Festival, and brave peasants are performing their peasantly duty of pacing in and out of their doorways in single file, even in the face of a dragon attack. Sensing easy prey, the dragon decides to flamethrow in a line starting at the edge of the cottage's thatched roof and burning across all three peasants. With his fire breath's Range of 8", he can hit all four targets in a single Firing Arc, but the furthest peasant is 1" Out of Range.
The Size 3" Flamethrower has a Use Rating of 4, with a -1 Auto Penalty to Skill for the single point of Firing Arc. Taking the targets in order, the cottage is first and easiest to hit. Although the cottage is a 6" Structure overall, the section within the Firing Arc is only 4", granting a +2 Attack and Damage Bonus. With an additional +1 for being a Stationary Target and -1 from the Auto Penalty, the total Attack Bonus is +2. The dragon rolls a one on the Attack Roll, and the Critical Failure renders the +2 bonus meaningless. He misses the thatched roof completely.
The two peasants are next. The dragon rolls a 4 for the first and a 6 for the second, saving the OverSkill die for an extra d4 of Fire Damage. Thanks to the -1 Auto Penalty, the first roll fails to meet the Flamethrower's Use requirement of 4. The second roll is a hit, and he rolls a 2, 1, and 4 on the 3d4, enough to kill the peasant outright and set the corpse on Fire even without rolling the Bonus d4s from the Attack Roll's OverSkill and the Critical Success in the Damage Roll.
The final peasant is one inch Out of Range, adding a -1 Skill Penalty to the -1 Auto Penalty. Despite the -2 Penalty, The dragon rolls a lucky 6 for this final Attack Roll and hits the peasant decisively. The dragon rolls 3, 1, and 2 on the 3d4 Damage Roll, plus a 2 on the OverSkill die, reduced to 2, 0, 1, and 1 by the -1 Out of Range Penalty on each die. The total of 4 isn't enough to kill the peasant, but it does set him on Fire.
The burning third peasant flees into the safety of his home, where he immediately runs into a wall and sets the cottage on Fire. The unharmed first peasant, having completed his duty of Walking Out Obliviously, proceeds to Walk Back In to the now-burning cottage in similar fashion, where he also catches on Fire. The victory of the dragon (or maybe he's a dragon-man) is complete!
8.4: Heavy Explosives
James+burgundy's Pilots pose for a group photo with their Explosive ordnance: homing missiles, cluster bombs, and helicopter-mount weapons-grade concert speakers.
When a grenade-sized Explosive goes off, it creates a blast of Explosion Damage (Exp) that affects all objects within two inches. With larger Explosions, this radius is multiplied, doing the heaviest Damage at the center and diminishing over distance.
Both Explosives and Rockets do Explosion Damage. Regular Explosives must be dropped like bombs, thrown like grenades, or launched out of a Launcher, while Rockets may be fired off like a single-use Ranged Weapon.
Explosion Damage is based around the intimidating d10. Players who expect to cause a lot of Explosions should make sure to bring a sufficient supply of d10s.
Heavy Explosions
Explosive: Cost:(XSize)xCP Damage:(XSize)x Exp Notes: Use and Range determined by Launcher Rocket: Cost:(XSize)x2CP Use:(XSize)x2 Range:(XSize)x6" Damage:(XSize)x Exp
When an Explosion occurs, the player rolls the number of d10s in the weapon's Damage rating, and leaves the dice on the table. All objects (or Components, for larger targets) within a two-inch radius of the blast center take this much damage, and any loose objects in this radius (including objects which only became loose after being destroyed by the Explosion) are Knocked Back one inch for every d10 in the Damage roll (including OverSkill d10s).
For a single-d10 Explosion, this is all that's required. For Explosions with multiple d10s, after handling Damage for all the objects within the first two inches, remove the highest d10 in the roll (including any Bonus Dice it may have earned), and count the new total result on the dice that remain. All objects within the next two inches of radius take this new result in damage, and loose objects are Knocked Back a number of inches according to the number of dice remaining. Continue removing one d10 for every two inches and distributing damage and KnockBack accordingly, until no dice remain in the Explosion Damage.
Players may wish to save handling all KnockBack effects for the end, in order to avoid accidentally damaging or Knocking Back the same object twice.
Damage and KnockBack from more than one Explosion can stack, but the sizes of their radii do not. A hundred 2d10 Explosions in the same spot cause 200d10 worth of Damage in the first two inches, 100d10 in the next two, and none after that. They don't combine into a single massive explosion with a four hundred inch radius.
Explosion Example: Wall Demolition
Example: The Imperial Ministry of Truth uses spare blast walls to test missiles and improve the believability of their faked terrorist news stories. By popular acclaim, Privates Templin and Reale have been volunteered to man the demonstration guard towers.
Once they've taken positions, the Ministry fires a Size 3" Missile at the wall, striking two inches underneath Private Reale's tower in a 3d10 Explosion. The missile rolls a 3, 6, and 7, for a total of 16 points of Damage within the first two inches. Removing the highest roll (the 7), the total is 9 Damage in the next two inches after that, and (removing the 6) 3 Damage in the outermost two inches.
The wall has 3d10 Armor, rolling a 15. This is less than the Explosion's innermost Damage of 16, so all wall components within two inches of the blast are destroyed, and tossed away three inches. The 15 is enough to exceed the 9 Damage for the next two inches away from the Explosion, so the rest of the wall survives.
The patch of ground beneath the wall is within the Explosion radius, and rolls an 8 on its Armor of 1d10. This is less than the 9 Explosion Damage at the four-inch radius, but more than the 3 Explosion Damage further out. All of the exposed ground within four inches of the blast is destroyed. (For added effect, players build up a blast crater rim at this radius and set the surrounding vegetation on fire.)
With the destruction of the wall underneath Private Reale's tower, it is no longer attached to the wall. Even though it survives the Explosion Damage, it is no longer "nailed down" and is Knocked Back two inches. Since the blast was directly underneath it, the tower is sent flying straight up into the air, with Private Reale still on top.
When Private Reale's tower falls out of the sky, the ground does 1d6 Collision Damage to the both of them. It rolls a 4. Thanks to the wall's earlier Armor Roll of 15, this isn't enough to harm the tower (even counting it as Cumulative Damage with the 9 Explosion Damage taken earlier). It precisely matches Private Reale's Armor of 4, so the players decide that even though the Collision Damage isn't enough to kill him, his pelvis and both legs are now shattered to orthopaedic confetti. The Ministry of Truth makes an immediate press release through its faux news channel about the deadly terrorist attack.
During an operation to settle the Patrician's shrubbery debts, Farth Nader picks a bad time to critfail his grenade attack.
Retrieving his dead boss's grenade launcher and landing a shot behind an enemy Orange trooper, explosive KnockBack allows this Blue soldier to launch one of the casualties right back at himself.
Premature Detonation
For all the hilarity of Explosives dropped into enemy ranks, they're even funnier when minifigs fall victim to their own ordnance's Premature Detonation.
Improvised or low-tech explosives tend to be Unstable. A single point of damage is enough to set off gunpowder kegs, dynamite sticks, fireworks, nitroglycerine, angry soccer moms, and those red fuel barrels that are inexplicably left lying around everywhere by the inhabitants of first-person shooters.
Modern and high-tech Explosives can be made intentionally Unstable by attaching them to mercury switches or proximity sensors, but otherwise they're more difficult to set off accidentally. Grenades, cruise missiles, plastic explosives, nuclear warheads, and internal combustion engines require a specific priming mechanism to trigger an Explosion. If an attacker specifically targets a Stable Explosive and has Overskill on the Attack Roll, he can spend it to attempt a Premature Detonation. He rolls his Skill Die one more time; if the roll equals or exceeds the Explosive Size (XSize) of the target Explosive, the weapon Prematurely Detonates with full Explosive effect.
Critical Failures
If a unit attepts to use an Explosive but fails the Attack Roll, the defending player treats it as a Missed Shot as usual, choosing any Koincidentally unlucky location within the appropriate distance for the shot to land.
If either the Attack Roll or the Damage Roll is a Critical Failure, the defender has the additional option of declaring the Explosive a Dud. A Dud Explosive doesn't explode on impact, but remains armed and extremely Unstable, even if it was a Stable type of Explosive before being fired or thrown. Minifigs can use an Action to move the Explosive carefully at Half Speed; otherwise, any Damage or attempt to move the Dud will set it off.
Cannons
Cannon: Cost:(Size)x3CP Use:(Size)+3 Range:(Size)x4" **Damage:**determined by Ammunition Notes: Requires Reload; can fire Explosive Ammunition up to max XSize of (Size)
A Cannon is a slow but powerful direct-fire Gun that fires Explosive rounds rather than generic damage dice. Pirate ship cannons, modern combat tank cannons, and starship neutron torpedo tubes are all examples of Cannons. A Cannon must be Reloaded after each shot, meaning that it can only fire every other turn.
Ammunition
Valiant's tanks are packed with a versatile assortment of Ammunition. The Champion II has a crew of three minifigs, with Reloading handled by a mechanized auto-loader.
Custom Ammunition
Cannons fire standard Explosives by default, but the true fun of Cannons is in the wide variety of custom Ammunition available (8.7: Custom Weapons).
Each type of Ammunition must be purchased separately for each Cannon. Whenever there's more than one type of Ammunition available for Reloading, the player must announce which one he or she is selecting.
Each time a Cannon fires, its chamber is emptied and it must be Reloaded before being fired again. As with MachineGuns, Reloading costs an Action, whether the Cannon is reloaded by hand or by automatic controls. A Cannon can't be fired and Reloaded on the same turn.
Unlike MachineGuns, Cannons require physical Ammunition in order to Reload. Ammunition is bought a a standard Explosive that's designed to fit into a Cannon, up to a maximum Explosive Size (XSize) equal to the Size of the Cannon. Ammunition must be represented in physical brick and stored next to the Cannon's reloading area, wherever that may be.
Minifigs are too busy to keep track of remaining Ammunition. A round of Ammunition is never used up - as long as there's at least one round of Ammunition available for each Cannon, it can be Reloaded over and over again. Like any other Explosive left lying around, however, physical rounds of Ammunition can be stolen, destroyed, or applied to other purposes by wandering minifigs, leaving the Cannon un-Reloadable.
Payload Launchers
Launcher: Cost:(Size)x3CP Use:(Size)x2 Range:(Size)x6" Damage:(Payload Structure Level)x or object's Damage Notes: Max Payload Size of (Size)/2; max Explosive Size of (Size)
Dave Eaton's Post-Apocalyptic Research Vehicle is the target in a running battle across the nuclear wasteland.
Jonathan Dallas's converted assault schoolbus is loaded with dynamite-strapped kamikaze warriors and a catapult with which to launch them.
The massive propulsion treads prove to be a weak spot - the detonation of one well-placed kamikaze snaps the tread and leaves it to trail out behind the PARV until the vehicle grinds to a halt.
This rugged BleakTron tank boasts twin missile racks.
The Launcher category covers any device designed to launch a Payload across a distance, from minifig-scale bazookas, mortars, and slingshots, to siege-scale catapults, trebuchets, and artillery cannons. Launchers are ideally used to deliver Explosive Payloads, but boulders, plague-ridden corpses, and fully-loaded port-a-potties also have their special charm.
Unlike regular types of Ranged Weapons, for which ammunition is curiously never an issue, a Launcher's Payload must always be represented in-game by one or more physical objects. All Launchers must have a designated area for loading their Payload (e.g., the basket of a catapult, the breech of a cannon, or the trolley of a railgun), and Payloads must be placed into or onto this location prior to Launch. Players may choose to construct their Launcher with an ammunition battery for auto-loading (such as a missile rack or ammunition drum), but most Launchers end up being loaded by minifigs carrying objects by hand. Less traditional Payloads are possible and fully encouraged; an appropriate Launcher might also be used to scramble spacefighters, deliver paratroopers, or send enemy prisoners into the sun. As long as it is properly loaded, a Launcher may fire once per turn.
A Launcher can fire a group of one or more Explosives with a combined Explosive Size up to the Launcher's own Weapon Size, or a group of one or more regular objects up to one half the Launcher's own Weapon Size, rounded down (this means that a Size 1 Launcher is limited to either Size 1 Explosives or Size 0 objects like minifig equipment or Vermin). The Launcher operator makes a separate Attack Roll for each object launched, as groups of projectiles tend to disperse while in flight. Non-Explosive Payloads do Crash Damage with full Momentum (9.5: Collisions), doing a d6 of Damage for each point in their current Structure Level. Launched Explosives use their Explosion Damage ratings on impact.
Payload Example: Missile Racks
Example: Finding the offensive power of LEGO set 7701 to be insufficient, Robot Monkey set about making some upgrades.
In addition to the retrofitted tactical nukes, railguns, miniguns, RPG launchers, and the "Apocalypse" uber-chaingun, this new and improved Uber-Titan also sports a pair of shoulder-mounted six-barrel missile racks. Each missile rack is a Size 3" Launcher (Cost:9CP Use:6 Range:18") loaded with six Size 1 Explosives (Cost:1CP Damage:1d10 Exp), for a total cost of 30CP.
With Weapon Sizes of 3", each Launcher can fire up to three of its Size 1 Explosives per turn, rolling Use:6 Attacks separately for each to see if they hit.
Launchers fire their projectiles in parabolic arcs rather than straight lines. This means that a Launcher can fire over the tops of obstacles to strike targets behind them, and that, unless the attacker specifies otherwise, the Payload will fall on its target from above rather than along the Launcher's line of sight.
Attacks fired over obstacles are subject to a possible -5 Attack Penalty if the Launcher operator is firing at targets he can't see (5.1: Making Attacks), but this can be avoided by using Scouts, described later in this chapter (8.5: Field Hazards).
It also means that a Missed Shot with a Launcher always has to come down somewhere, unlike regular Missed Shots which can fly off harmlessly into the sky and be ignored (5.3: Ranged Combat). Because Launchers' high Use ratings make them notoriously inaccurate, this will happen fairly often.
Flight Time
As they get into larger Sizes, Launchers have much longer range capabilities than other types of weapons. A large Launcher can fire so far, in fact, that the projectile doesn't come down until the following turn, giving potential targets a chance to scatter.
Whenever a Launcher fires at a target more than twelve inches away, the player doesn't immediately make the Attack Roll. Instead, he or she places a marker at the intended target location (an "X" built from red bricks is traditional), and launches the Payload into the air. It's only at the beginning of the attacking player's next turn, when the Payload finally comes down, that he or she makes the Attack Roll and finds out whether the projectile hit its target, or how much it missed by.
Flight Time Example: The Young Pyramidheads
Example: Stuck on the wrong side of the crater while their enemies are escaping with the invaluable Maniac Beer keg, Elmagnifico's Gamma Corps are upgrading their makeshift catapult from 3" to a full 5" Launcher in order to have enough Range to launch themselves to the opposite side of the battlefield. Unfortunately, lacking a Mechanik of their own, they use their whole turn collecting the bricks with which to build it, and have no time left over to test-fire the thing.
Instead, they call over to Tarren's nearby squad, a group of frat brothers from the Young Pyramidheads organization. "Hey, you guys want to test out our new catapult?"
"Um, DUH?" say the Pyramidheads. Since the Launcher requires 5" worth of Power, it takes the Teamwork of three frat brothers jumping on the swing arm to power a successful launch. The fourth Pyramidhead readies his sword and loads himself into the launch scoop, and the fifth and final brother takes the controls and hits the fire button. ZOOM!
The Pyramidheads pick an impact site precisely 30" away, at the Launcher's maximum effective Range, hopefully landing their leader on the stable inner ring of the crater rather than in the lava on one side or the dangerously unstable magma crust on the other.
The target site is still three inches short of the Beer, but they can't afford to take any extra Skill Penalties from Out of Range inches; the Use rating on a 5" Launcher is already up to 10, and the Pyramidhead firing the thing only has a Skill of d6.
30" is a long way, much further than the maximum same-turn delivery distance of 12", so the launched Pyramidhead won't come down until the following turn. A red "X" made from a pair of 1x3 plates is set down to mark his intended crashdown target. No one will know whether he'll miss it, or by how far, until the delayed Attack Roll occurs when he lands.
In the siege of VladTron's Fortress, Sir Stalin the Bear rides ahead of the Mocian army to Heroically throw a borrowed battleaxe at the cage holding his ally, Sir Dogdu the Dog.
Rather than freeing the prisoner, Stalin's throw severs the chain the cage is hanging from, dropping both the cage and Sir Dogdu into an active volcano.
Thrown Minifig Weapons
Minifig Throwing Arm: Weapon Size: 1/2" **Use:**object's Use **Range:**3" **Damage:**object's Damage Notes: Size 0 Payloads only
Often overlooked in favor of the majestic mechanical Launchers of military engineers, pairs of naturally-occurring Launchers can be found hanging off the shoulders of even the lowliest peasants. A minifig's arms are considered free Size 1/2 Launchers, capable of throwing Size 0 projectiles like grenades, hand weapons, and small animals.
Thrown objects have the same Use rating and do as much Damage as if they had been used in Close Combat. Thrown Explosives cause their Explosion Damage on impact (which is technically also the same as when they're used in Close Combat, although there are drawbacks to using them in that capacity).
Creatures with larger arms can throw correspondingly larger objects, but these larger thrown objects still have effective Use and Damage ratings as if they were being used in Close Combat, unless the creature's arms were bought and paid for specifically as Launchers.
Minifigs working together can combine their half-inches of strength - four minifigs can act as a Size 2" Launcher, for instance - but the Range of their throw never increases, remaining at 3". The Attack Roll for the throw is made by whichever minifig in the group has the lowest Skill.
Because a minifig's three-inch throwing range is not a lot of distance, it's good to remember that units can attack targets Out of Range, taking -1 penalties to Skill and Damage for every inch beyond the attack's normal effective Range (5.1: Making Attacks).
Flight Time Example: The Young Pyramidheads (delayed resolution)
Since it takes a full round of turns for the Pyramidhead to fly through the air, the Beer has time to change hands several times.
Moronstudios' nearby Viking grabs it first and chucks it in the lava, setting off an explosion as the keg's automatic flame-retardant foam systems send it flying. A Deadly Spaceman from Apollyon's Krude Konstruktion Kingdom is next, Sprinting out of the lava just long enough to grab the Beer before burning to death.
During a mad dash by Solvess' Shitgoat creatures, most of them break through the unstable magma crust and fall to agonizing magma deaths, but a single one gets the right combination of Bonus Dice to Sprint a full 14" without cracking the ground underneath. He snatches the Beer from the burning corpse of the Deadly Spaceman. He'll lose it again in a few moments when he's mercilessly butchered by one of Warhead's weapon-hoarding Necromancers, but in the meantime the flying Pyramidhead is about to hit the ground.
No one expects Tarren to hit a 10 on a roll of 1d6, and it looks like even a single inch of Missed Shot will be enough to have him divebombing straight into the lava pool - but he hits the 6 plus a 5 for the Bonus Die, for a miraculous 11. The Pyramidhead hits his mark precisely, and fudges the Overskill to avoid Disruption and land on his feet.
It's not enough just to hit the target; the Pyramidhead must now survive the Collision with the ground. The hardened lava rock is arbitrarily assigned a Structure Level of 2, and so the Pyramidhead takes 2d6 Collision Damage. Once again, his luck holds out - a pair of ones mean that he survives unharmed.
Meanwhile, one of Piltogg's Akkadian troops, burnt up by lava and tangled in the spikes on the embankment, has used a looted axe to hack off one of the spikes and has been saving his Response Action for just such an occasion.
Before the Pyramidhead can respond, the Akkadian uses a Response Action to make a perfect throw, planting the spike deep into the Pyramidhead's gut.
8.5: Field Hazards
When this ImmortalTech Keg of Maniac Beer crashes into the surface of Planet Grimdark, its automatic defense systems kick in. Two massive skeletal hands form from the volcanic strata of the planetary crust, reaching upwards through the rock only to claw back in again and tear a giant prolapsed orifice in the surface.
Robotic defenders, immune (mostly) to the temptation of the Beer thanks to their mechanikal nature, spring up to man defense turrets against the sea of thirsty invaders sure to arrive. They're defended by a ring of spiked embankments, a moat of molten lava, and a great plain of unstable magma crust. Behind them, the Beer is ringed with barbed-wire fences and proximity mines.
The most lethal factor, however, is the irresistible nature of the Beer itself - no matter how many invaders combine forces to breach the defenses, only one can escape with the Keg, and each attacker will stop at nothing to make sure he's that one.
| Field Hazards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hazard | Cost | Dice Options | Notes |
| Exposure Damage | (Field Size x2) CP per die | Damage Fire | Target size modifiers affect Damage |
| Difficult Terrain | (Field Size) CP per die | " Move | Spiked Obstacles may cause Damage instead of slowed Movement |
| Concealed Hazards | (Field Size) CP per die | Damage Fire Exp | Target rolls Skill vs. inches moved to avoid Concealed Hazard |
| (Field Size) CP per two dice | 2" Move | ||
| Energy Shields | (Field Size) CP per die | Any die of Deflection |
The final category of weaponry allows minifigs to be slaughtered by the environment itself. Field Hazards such as minefields, bear traps, electrified surfaces, razor wire, and poorly-labeled latrine pits all have the potential to ruin an intruder's day. They may be constructed by players trying to advance their individual goals, or they may be natural environmental hazards, equally dangerous to all players and not owned or paid for by any of them. Field Hazards are never secret - every player at the table will know the boundaries of every minefield, although they may need to send some minifigs in to stomp around if they want to pinpoint the individual mines.
Field Hazards don't take a lot of input or oversight from minifig controllers. Instead, their effects are triggered when a minifig or other unit wanders into the wrong area. Anti-personnel mines blows up minifigs who step on them, magma flows burn minifigs that swim in them, and poison gas chambers poison minifigs that breathe in them after their benevolent AI has finished warming up the neurotoxin emitters.
A Field Hazard is defined by two attributes: the Field, which determines the size and shape of the danger zone, and the Hazard, which determines what happens to victims who wander into it.
Fields
The area covered by a dangerous condition is its Field. The Field may be filled with a uniform Hazard, such as molten lava, tear gas, or boy-band music. It may be filled with hidden and unpredictably distributed Hazards, like antipersonnel mines, patches of thin ice, swampy sinkholes, or subterranean BrikThulhoid tentacles waiting to burst through the surface.
A Field's Size is measured in the same way as for any Structure (7.1: Structure) or Weapon (8.1: Weapon Size) - players measure the number of inches across its widest point. Players will need to know exactly where the boundaries of the Field lie, so it's a good idea to make Fields a different color than the surrounding terrain, or indicate their edges with lines of small bricks or other markers.
Hazards
The dangerous conditions within a Field are known as its Hazards. Hazards are spread consistently throughout their Fields - no matter where in a Field a minifig is standing, a Fire's flames are just as hot, a river's current is just as strong, and a minefield's mines are just as likely to be hiding under his next footstep.
Hazard Dice
The effects of a Field Hazard are built up from Hazard Dice that fall into a short list of basic categories. Exposure Damage dice damage their victims by simple exposure, like in a burning fire or a poison gas cloud. Difficult Terrain dice hamper units' Movement, possibly damaging them in the process, like in barbed wire obstacles or a field of frozen ice. Concealed Hazard dice are mostly safe until a unit steps in the wrong place, like in a minefield or on an unstable magma crust. A final type, Energy Shield dice, are used to create special Field defenses rather than being true Hazards in themselves.
The number of Hazard Dice in a Field Hazard are limited to the number of inches in the Field's Size, although there's no limit to the number of times the dice themselves may be rolled as one victim after another wanders into the Field. If the Size of the Field is reduced below the number of Hazard Dice by any means (for instance, firefighters putting out a house Fire by smothering it with politicians dressed in not-completely-flame-retardant suits), the number of Hazard Dice are reduced to match the new Field Size.
If a Field Hazard is powered by a Creation rather than occurring naturally, then every Hazard Die rolled uses up Power like an inch worth of Weapons (8.1: Weapon Size). This can make Field Hazards a risky modification - enemies can overload a Creation's Power supply for the turn by setting off a single Field Hazard multiple times. Creation-based Hazards are often given manual control overrides so that the Creation's operators can switch them on and off as necessary.
Exposure Damage
Exposure Damage: Cost:(Field Size)x2 CP per Damage or Fire Damage Many Hazards damage victims through exposure alone. Acid, radiation, electrified surfaces, hailstorms, and political advertisements do greater amounts of Damage the more the victim is exposed to them.
Whenever a unit or object encounters a Field that causes Exposure Damage, it rolls the Field's Hazard Dice as Damage. As with Damage from Arc attacks, the Damage total is modified by the target Size modifier for whichever part of the victim is exposed to the Hazard (that is, an object large enough to be +2 to hit with a regular attack takes +2 Damage in an Exposure Damage Field (5.1: Making Attacks)). Size zero objects simply take a single point of Damage per Exposure Damage die; these do not count against any Power limit for the Field Hazard.
In addition to dealing regular Damage, Exposure Damage also Overloads a target, briefly disrupting its ability to Power its own Weapons and devices. Every die of Exposure Damage a Creation takes costs Power as if it had fired an inch worth of Weapons.
Certain types of Exposure Damage work differently on different targets. A toxic gas Hazard (sometimes associated with Heroic Feats involving spicy food), for example, only affects living targets that breathe it in, leaving undead and mechanical targets unaffected. A living creature can hold its breath for one turn if it's not caught by surprise, but otherwise if its head is inside the Field then the gas affects it as if the entire body were exposed.
Flames shooting through cracks in the lava crust inspire BFenix's Metal Warriors to rock out for several turns in a row before remembering they're still in the middle of a battle.
Hoping to discourage a charge from the Dragon King's cavalry, the Deposed forces set a ground fire. Cederic the Blacksmith's house is unintended collateral damage.
Heroic firefighters rush to suppress this civilian's backyard barbecue.
Fire
| Permanent Fire Hazards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fire Hazard Dice | Type | Examples |
| Exposure Damage | Regular Fire | campfires, signal pyres |
| 2 Exposure Damage | Fuel Fire | furnaces, napalm, gasoline fires, burning oil |
| 3 Exposure Damage | Molten Fire | hot lava, smelters, molten metal |
| 4 Exposure Damage | Atomic Fire | nuclear plasma, Nega-matter reactors |
| Objects on Fire | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fire Hazard Dice | Type | Examples |
| Exposure Damage | Burning Objects | house fires, book burnings, witch stakes |
Fire is a special kind of Hazard. A Permanent Fire works as a regular Exposure Damage Field Hazard and stays the same size and strength unless deliberately extinguished. But these Permanent Fires, like any other weapon or effect that causes Fire Damage, can set Fire to other objects, and this new Fire is much more dynamic. Burning objects make a Burning Roll each turn that lets their Fire grow, spread, and change shape all by itself.
Any time an object takes Fire Damage, there's a chance it will Catch Fire. Check the number rolled on each d4. For each d4 that rolled higher than the object's Structure Level, the Fire catches or spreads. If the object wasn't on Fire already, a Size 1" Fire is created where the Damage struck. If the object was already on Fire, then the Size of the existing Fire increases by +1" (up to the Size of the object). If there's no more room because the object is already completely engulfed in flame, then the Fire can spread to another nearby flammable object (within 1"). Place flame elements (or, in a pinch, red and yellow bricks) on the surface of the object to indicate the size and shape of the Fire.
Remember that an Out of Range penalty affects a Fire weapon's ability to set targets on Fire, since it modifies the individual d4 rolls directly.
Units who are on Fire, or trying to use objects that are on Fire, or both, take a -1d4 Skill Penalty (unless it's an object specifically designed to be used while burning, like a torch or a flaming sword). Units or objects that are on Fire also take a -1d4 Penalty to all Armor rolls.
Like all kinds of Exposure Damage, Fire Overloads (or, if you prefer, Overheats) affected units and disrupts their ability to Power their Weapons and devices for the turn. A unit on Fire has its Power limit reduced by one Weapon inch for every inch of the Fire's Size (for example, a four inch wooden golem burning with a three inch Fire would have its Power limit reduced from eight weapon inches to five).
On the bright side, any target struck by a burning object or unit takes +1d4 Fire Damage in addition to whatever normal Damage is dealt by the attack or Collision.
At the beginning of its turn (or on the turn of the player who set the Fire, for an object with no turn of its own), an object on Fire makes a Burning Roll, rolling 1d4 for every inch of its Fire Size. For every d4 that rolls a 1, or rolls the object's Structure level or lower, the Fire dies down, reducing the Fire Size by one inch. For every d4 that rolls higher than the object's Structure Level, the Fire spreads, inflicting a point of Grinding Damage (7.2: Taking Damage) and adding one inch to the Fire Size (up to the Size of the object) or starting a new 1" Fire on a nearby flammable object (within 1") if there's no more room. This continues until the Fire's Size is reduced to zero inches, extinguishing it, or the object is destroyed.
Fires can be extinguished with water or by rolling around on the ground. If the burning object can be submerged in water or vacuum completely, the Fire is put out instantly. Otherwise, units fighting a Fire can reduce its Size by by one inch per turn for every inch of firefighting apparatus they're using. (Three minifigs dumping water buckets could reduce a fire by three inches; a Size 5" Fire Hose could reduce a Fire's Size by five inches).
Every time the Fire Size changes, the player in charge of the burning object (or the player who set the Fire, for unaligned objects) must adjust the physical patch of Fire to match the new Fire Size, adding appropriate inches of flames or yellow bricks when the Fire grows, and removing inches when the Fire shrinks. He can choose to adjust any side of the existing patch when adding or removing bricks, but he cannot otherwise control the Fire, and the Fire can't spread through physical obstacles without burning around them or destroying them first.
Fire Example: The Von Bragstein Boiler-Mech
Example: The von Bragstein family is known for its impractical battle inventions, and Reichart von Bragstein is no exception. His prototype boiler-mech enjoys much greater success than many of his earlier infamous creations, until he tries to push it too hard with a failed Heroic Feat and blows up one of the coal-fired boilers in a 1d10+1d4 Explosion.
The mech has a Size of 4" and a Structure Level of 2. The Explosion rolls a 5 on the 1d10 and a 3 on the 1d4. It's not enough to dent the mech's Armor roll of 12, but the 3 is enough to exceed the Structure Level and set the boiler on Fire. With a single boiler remaining, von Bragstein ignores the flames and fights bravely on.
On the next turn, the Fire rolls a 3 on its 1d4 Burning Roll, beating the mech's Structure Level of 2 again. The mech takes one point of Grinding Damage and the Fire spreads one inch onto the cockpit roof. The Fire now has a Size of 2".
On the third turn, the Burning Roll is now 2d4, and the Fire rolls a 1 and a 3, causing a second point of Grinding Damage. The Fire dies down one inch from the roll of 1 on the first 1d4, letting the ruined boiler go out, but the second roll of 3 allows it to spread another inch, setting the shoulder of the cannon arm on Fire and bringing the Fire back up to Fire Size 2".
On the fourth turn, the Burning Roll is 2d4 again, and this time the Fire rolls a 3 and a 4, bringing the total Grinding Damage up to four. The Fire spreads another two inches, fully engulfing the cockpit and reaching the Size 4" mech's maximum Fire Size of 4".
The mech is now completely engulfed in flames. The cockpit now counts as an Environmental Hazard, dealing 1d4 Fire Damage to von Bragstein on each turn in which he fails to abandon ship.
Not all Poison effects are wholly detrimental. Bound by their oaths to the Daemonslayer Legionidus and cast out with him from Volhalla to the shores of hell, these slain Vol warriors grow in power by drinking the blood of the Daemons they defeat. The increasing Daemonic taint in their souls is a small price to pay for unholy strength in battle and the chance to one day return to Volhalla.
The Fire rules are used as the basis for other types of Damage that have a lasting Burning effect from turn to turn. Acid burns a victim like Fire but can only die down, never growing. Poison, infection, and disease burn like an internal Fire, but can only spread to living creatures, and only through attacks that break the skin. (Alternately, a computer virus can only spread to computers that interface with an infected machine.)
Poison-like effects can lead to an alternate final stage besides death. Infectious bites, daemonic posession, transporter accidents, and religious evangelism can all turn victims into unrecognizable monsters. Creatures and objects suffering from one of these alternate forms of Burning still feel the usual effects of Being On Fire - the penalties to Armor, Skill, and Power, the Burning Roll, and the ability to make whatever alternate version of a Fire Attack makes sense for their condition.
Spike Effectiveness
Spiked Obstacles are often only effective against a limited range of targets. Barbed wire can be viciously damaging against fleshy targets, but is lucky to even slow down metal machines. A line of sharpened anti-calvary stakes can be a wall of death for Horses, while infantry can almost ignore them completely as long as they don't run in at a Sprint. Spiked caltrops are murder on feet, hooves, and rubber tires, but have no effect at all on tank treads. Players will often be called on to make special judgment calls about the effectiveness of a particular set of Spiked Obstacles on a particular set of targets.
Difficult Terrain
Difficult Terrain: Cost:(Field Size)xCP per " Move Effects The purpose of Difficult Terrain is to hamper or disrupt unit movement. Difficult Terrain may slow units down, move them in directions they don't want to go, or it may let them go whichever direction they want, but decrease their ability to slow down or change course.
Each d6 of Difficult Terrain dice costs 1CP per inch of Field Size. For Slow Fields that slow or stop units (mud, glue, rubble), the d6es' inches are subtracted from victims' Movement for the turn. For Fields of Current that carry units in a specific direction (river currents, wind machines, greased ramps), the unit is moved by the d6es' inches first, and it may then use its full Movement as normal. Slippery Fields (ice, oil slicks, spilled marbles) use up a units' own Move inches by forcing them to continue in whatever direction they were already moving (or to remain stuck in place if they weren't moving), and additionally cause standing units to fall over and become Disrupted on any Critical Failure on a Skill Roll.
The most popular types of Difficult Terrain force travelers to choose between losing Movement inches or taking Damage. A Spiked Obstacle (barbed wire, anti-cavalry stakes, caltrops, cursed thornbushes, clawed skeleton hands reaching up out of the grave) acts like a Slow Field for units that use their Action to focus and move carefully. For units moving uncontrollably or moving while focusing their Action elsewhere, a Spiked Obstacle inflicts its d6es like an Exposure Damage Field instead.
This hallway looks totally safe.
Concealed Hazards
Concealed Hazards: Cost:(Field Size)xCP per Damage or 2" Move Effects Concealed Hazards add the element of surprise to Hazardous terrain. Units are never quite sure whether their next step will crack through thin ice, drop them into quicksand, or set off a landmine. Concealed Hazard dice cost half as much as the equivalent Exposure Damage or Difficult Terrain Dice.
When using Concealed Hazards, it's important to bring some kind of marker to show spots where the Hazards have already been set off. Units may cross over the same patch of land a hundred times before the bear trap goes off on trip one hundred and one, but once triggered, hidden pits don't re-hide themselves, mine craters don't grow new mines, and falling block traps don't lift their fallen blocks back up into the ceiling to reset themselves.
Units traveling through Concealed Hazards must make a Skill Roll every turn against the number of inches they travel within the Field. If their Skill Roll is equal to or higher than this number, then nothing happens - they travel over the ground as usual. If the roll fails, the Skill Roll gives the number of how many inches they were able to travel before suffering the consequences dictated by the Hazard. On a Critical Failure, the consequences occur immediately, before traveling any distance at all.
Large units have a higher chance of setting off Concealed Hazards than smaller ones. Objects larger than Size 1" take a Skill penalty equal to their own Size when rolling against a Concealed Hazard Field. Size 0" objects are too small to set off Concealed Hazards.
For objects that leap, fall, or are thrown into a Concealed Hazard, roll against the number of inches traveled while airborne. On any failed roll, the consequences occur at the point of impact. For objects with no Skill, roll 1d4.
If an object is being carefully set on the Concealed Hazard, for instance if minifigs attempt to build a platform over unstable ground, roll the Skill of the unit setting the object in place. Even though the object isn't traveling any distance, it can still set off the Hazard on a Critical Failure.
Dr. Pang's personal shield activates automatically as rogue security drones attempt to stop Dr. Mikoto from hacking their central AI.
The Personal Shield
While Body Armor is the protection of choice for common infantrymen, specialized units may opt for the more exotic Size 1" Energy Shield.
Minifigs only have two inches in their Power limit, so they can only get the benefit of an Energy Shield die once or twice before running out of juice for the turn, and it can seriously disrupt the minifig's ability to use other weapons.
On the other hand, an Energy Shield doesn't slow minifigs down the way heavier armor does, and the two can even be combined for the ultracowardly.
Energy Shields
Energy Shields: Cost:(Field Size)xCP per Energy Shield die While not Hazardous in the usual sense, Energy Shield dice are treated as a type of Hazard Dice, subject to the same Field Size limits as other Hazard Dice. Energy Shields are not especially cost-effective as a replacement for standard Armor or Heavy Armor, but they do open up extra protection options for a Creation that has already reached its maximum Structure Level.
A Creation protected by Energy Shields may spend an Energy Shield die to gain one level of Deflection against an incoming Damage die of that type (3.3: Bodily Protection). Like all Hazard Dice, each Energy Shield die spent counts as one inch against the Creation's Power limit. Once that limit is reached, the Creation is out of power to activate Energy Shields or any other weapons or devices until its next turn.
Energy Shields must be created by Shield Projectors somewhere on the surface of the Creation they protect.
Mechanisms
Triggers and Mechanisms: **Cost:**Free; Devices and Creations purchased as normal; Skill where applicable Not all battlefield hazards are based on environmental conditions. Every once in a while, minifigs have the time and attention span to assemble something more deliberate and specific. Defense turrets, slamming blast doors, rolling boulders, strategically positioned sleeping tigers, auto-flushing toilets - if a Creation, Weapon, or Device can be activated, then it can be engineered into a custom Mechanism, operating independently or in coordination with other Field Hazards.
Once an object is paid for, Mechanizing it costs nothing extra. Mechanisms are not capable of initiative or independent thought, so players have to be specific about the exact conditions that activate a Mechanism, and its action once activated.
Triggers
Mechanisms are activated by specific Triggers. Any object physically represented on the battlefield can be designated as a Trigger for one or more Mechanisms. Minifigs may be required to interact with the object in a certain way (typing the proper code into a keypad, turning the arming keys before pulling the self-destruct lever, or playing a particular tune on a skeletal pipe organ), or the Trigger may be set off by any interaction at all (a doorknob wired with a mercury switch). Like all Mechanisms, Triggers have no extra cost.
Some triggers are obvious ( the comedically oversized power switch, or the giant red "DO NOT PUSH" button), but many are not (the disguised torch lever that opens the secret door, the doorknob that sets off the hidden fireball trap). In theory, opposing minifigs won't know the location of these secret Triggers, but in most cases all the players will, unless the game has an impartial moderator to keep secrets secret. Often, the easiest workaround for secret Triggers (as well as other types of hidden objects) is to build a large number of potential Triggers, and roll dice whenever one is tried to see if it's the real one.
Mechanisms are often Triggered by Concealed Hazard Fields - hidden pressure plates, motion detectors, tripwires, or some equivalent are scattered throughout the area, and tripping one of them will set off the device. (By default, concealed weapon traps are automatically pointed at the spot where the Hazard happens to be tripped. Even if the players can't know in advance exactly where the tripwires will be, the minifigs who built the trap presumably did.)
Deadly Mechanisms
Any Mechanism designed to directly damage or attack a target is purchased as a Weapon. A two-story granite sphere is just a big rock, but once it's rigged up as part of a rolling boulder trap, it becomes a Size 5" Melee Weapon and should be purchased as such.
Deadly Mechanisms are often single-use (until reset by a minifig technician - those hidden crossbows don't re-arm themselves), and they make their Attacks with an inanimate object's default 1d4 Skill. A Smart Weapon, equipped with simple robot brains or magical enchantments, can Attack with a Skill of 1d6 and can often be re-used from turn to turn. Smart Weapons can be treated as a kind of Programmed Half-Minded Creature (10.1: Minds), but for simplicity's sake it's easier to just say that a Smart Weapon (up to Weapon Size 2") costs +1CP more than the dumb variety.
The Scout
When dealing with Field Hazards, most units are limited to two options: avoid them completely, or accept the Damage and hope their Armor holds out. For a faction that makes sure to always be prepared, there's a third option: with a specially-trained Scout leading the way, many Hazards can be safely bypassed or neutralized.
Pathfinding
Pathfinding Specialty (+1CP): allows bypass of Concealed Hazards for self and others at Half Speed; allows manipulation of locks and Triggers; Skill vs. Field Hazards Scouts have the Pathfinding Specialty, giving them the ability to recognize hidden dangers, disarm traps, and safely navigate dangerous terrain. Moving at Half Speed, a Scout is immune to Concealed Hazards, and he can use his Action to safely lead any number of units safely through along with him. He can also use a full-round Action to locate, access, and operate enemy Mechanisms, allowing him (for instance) to bypass, disarm, or re-arm Triggers, to pick basic locks, or to reprogram office security turrets to fire on corporate vice presidents.
For any Skill roll related to a Field Hazard or Mechanism, Pathfinding allows a Scout to roll a d8 rather than a d6.
Tracking
Tracking Specialty (+1CP): automatically Detects Stealth; allows Marking of targets for +1 Attack Bonus The Scouts' keenly-refined paranoia and sixth sense for danger also makes them masters of detection. All units within a Scout's field of view are automatically revealed to him and his allies, even if they're hidden or invisible, and any enemy Stealth bonuses are negated (11.2: Minifig Specialists).
A Scout is able to instantly communicate detected enemy positions to all of his allies, which is useful for firing artillery shells or archery volleys over the top of an obstacle at enemies hiding behind it. Any target visible to a Scout is visible to all of his allies.
The Scout can spend an Action to take this ability one step further, pinpointing a single target they can see within 8" and Marking it for attack. Until the beginning of the Scout's next turn, the Marked target is considered visible to all allies, and all allies making Ranged attacks on a Marked target receive a +1 Attack Bonus (5.1: Making Attacks).
Marks are not cumulative. Even with multiple Marks, the Attack Bonus is still +1.
8.6: Manning Guns
Every soldier in Robot Monkey's Republic of Independent Nations dreams of being assigned to a helicopter door gunner position. Minifigs love miniguns.
The namesake model of LEGO set 8873, "Fireball Catapult," uses a rubber band to power a pull-back fireball launcher.
Manual Fire
"Official" construction-toy designs often have projectiles that can really be fired, whether powered by springs, rubber bands, or the flick of a finger.
If you'd like to fire one of these weapons by hand rather than rolling dice to make an attack, consider the following rules:
Strike Order: The first spot the projectile hits is where the attack lands. Any successive hits while the projectile bounces around are ignored, unless the weapon is a type that fires a continuous stream (e.g., a flamethrower) or has a projectile that could believably blow through several targets (e.g., a cannon).
Range Limitation. No matter how far the projectile actually flies, only the strikes within the weapon's listed range are counted.
Disarray: Unless there's some reason otherwise, units or objects knocked over by the projectile should stay knocked over in the game.
Mulligans: If the projectile fails to clear the weapon barrel or dribbles limply out the end, the player may declare a Mulligan and take the shot over, either by trying Manual Fire again or by rolling dice. Each Mulligan used incurs a cumulative -1 penalty to Damage for that attack.
Firing Weapons
In normal situations, firing a large weapon is just like firing a small one, except with bigger numbers attached. The attacker chooses a single target or firing arc and may fire any number of weapons at it of a single attack type (either ranged, arc fire, or melee), up to his Weapon Size limit (8.1: Weapon Size). The attacker uses his Action to make the attack, checks the Range to the target, makes a Skill Roll with the usual Attack Bonuses and Penalties, compares the result to the Use rating of the weapon, and, if it hits, rolls the Damage and applies the result accordingly (5.1: Making Attacks).
The Barracuda Light Assault Carrier is much too large for crewmen to operate the main guns directly. Weapons control is handled from the bridge.
Controls
Controlling a minifig-scale weapon is a simple affair. A minifig has perfect control of a sword or pistol as soon as his hand's on the grip.
On larger weapons, like intercontinental ballistic missile silos, orbital laser satellite arrays, or Bagger 288s, the controls can be far removed from the business end of the weapon itself. While Controls may be mounted directly on a weapon, they're just as often found in an attached Gunner's seat, the cockpit of the vehicle on which the weapon is mounted, or in a remote weapons control station within a nearby bunker.
Except when there's a specific reason to the contrary, all modern or futuristic military vehicles include Controls for the weapons systems in the cockpit, even if there are separate Gunner's stations.
In some cases, a single weapon may have Controls in several locations, leading to possible conflict if opposing forces gain access to different control sets. While each player's forces can fire a given weapon only once per turn, any unit with access to Controls can use an Action to Interfere with a unit attempting to operate the weapon from a different set of Controls, rolling his own Skill and using the result as a Skill Penalty to the attacking unit's Attack Roll.
In the rare case that minifigs from allied teams find themselves at the same set of Controls, they cannot each operate the Weapon on their own turns – that would unfairly double the Weapon's abilities. Whether Weapons, Devices, or Propulsion systems (9.4: Piloting), a minifig can only Operate a system if none of its allies used the same system on their previous turn. This special limitation only applies to allies. When enemies commandeer a set of Controls, they can make full and immediate use of them. This is justified by the fact that it's much funnier to let hijackers have instant benefits than to give the original owners any time to react.
A Mechanik (7.3: Field Construction) can jury-rig new Controls for a weapon, even if the weapon is still controlled by one or more opponents at a set of Controls elsewhere. However, the new Controls must be attached to the inner workings of either the weapon or the machinery it's mounted on, not to the outer plating - the Mechanik will have to crack the armor open before he can start messing with the innards.
The Gunner
Praetorian Zephyr-class tanks are best supported by a full field artillery team. One or more Scouts act as forward observers, Marking targets for attack, while a team of Gunners remain within the vehicle to provide Gunnery Support to the lead Gunner firing the weapon.
Even without training, any minifig off the street who gains access to a mounted weapon's Controls can successfully operate it, although not necessarily very well. The Use requirements of mounted weapons go up very quickly as they increase in Size, making attacks much more difficult than with handheld weapons. Especially for very large weapons, it's best to have a trained Gunner or three at the controls.
Gunnery
Gunnery Specialty: Cost:+1CP; Skill with mounted weapons; allows Gunnery Support Action
The Gunner is a unit that specializes in the operation of mounted Weapons. For any Skill Roll related to the use of a Weapon mounted on a Creation, Gunnery allows the Gunner to roll a d8 rather than a d6.
Besides firing large Weapons with greater Skill than usual, Gunners are also trained to work in teams to fire Weapons more accurately and effectively. Any minifig with the Gunnery Specialty can spend his Action to provide Gunnery Support to another minifig operating a large Weapon, granting him a +1 Attack Bonus to fire. This bonus is cumulative, adding additional +1 Bonuses for every Supporting Gunner, but the number of minifigs in the firing team (the firing minifig plus the minifigs providing Gunnery Support) is limited to the number of inches in the Size of the Weapon, and each minifig must be able to access the Weapon or a working set of Controls for it.
The exact nature of Gunnery Support depends on the Weapon and the technology involved. The Gunners may be calculating trajectories, feeding ammunition belts, establishing target locks, or sacrificing captives to the gods of metal and mayhem.
As long as the Weapon keeps firing at the exact same point, and neither the Weapon or the target move, there's no need to keep recalculating trajectories - the Attack Bonuses from Gunnery Support can be considered permanent until the Weapon moves or aims somewhere else. If it continues to pound that same target over several turns, the Gunners can learn from the attack results and Home In on the target. When their previous Gunnery Support bonuses are already considered permanent, for each new attack they can add their Gunnery Support again, accumulating bonuses over time until it becomes almost impossible to miss. The possibility of Critical Failure remains ever-present, however, and any Critical Failure cancels the Homing In bonus and requires the Gunners to start over.
8.7: Custom Weapons
Overcustomization
The Customized Weapons rules add a lot of freedom for players to go overboard with overcomplicated stat fiddling. Players should feel free to veto other players' Customized Weapons ideas if they start getting out of hand or if they don't add anything interesting or unique enough to the game to justify the extra overhead.
While the main Weapons categories cover the vast majority of standard weaponry, there are times when minifigs look for something more specialized. Starting with a standard Weapon as a base, players can swap pairs of dice or stats in and out in order to create Custom Weapons.
Alternate Damage Effects
The most common weapon customization is to swap one form of Damage for another. A lowly club that does regular Damage can be set on fire to become a torch doing d4 Fire Damage, or duct-taped to a stick of dynamite to become a suicide stick doing d10 Explosive Damage. A Cannon round that causes a 2d10 Explosion can get re-tipped with a fragmentation grenade for a 2d8 Blast effect, or a Field Hazard to drop four inches of burning 2d4 Fire napalm, or a simple smoke cloud to block enemy line of sight.
Damage types are associated with particular die sizes, and any Damage die can be swapped for an Alternate Damage Effect with the same size die or smaller. A Damage d8 can be swapped for a d4, a d6, or another d8, for instance, but not for a d10 or a d12.
The order of Alternate Damage Effects can change depending on players' weapon concept. A Blast effect that fires a burst of Armor Piercing flechettes uses the same dice as an Armor Piercing shell that fires a shaped Blast charge, just handled in a different order.
Multiple smaller dice can be swapped for a single larger die, if their total number of faces is equal or greater than that of the larger die; 2d4 could be swapped for a single d8, for instance, but it wouldn't be enough for a d10.
While multiple small dice can be swapped for a single larger die, the reverse is not allowed - a large die can't be swapped for multiple smaller dice. Alternate Damage Effects can't be used to increase the number of dice in a weapon's Damage rating.
For Close Combat weapons, whose Damage is determined by the fighting unit's Skill, the Custom Damage Effect can only be activated by a unit whose Skill die is at least as large as the Custom Damage Effect die. When used by units with insufficient Skill, the weapon does a standard Skill die of Damage without activating the extra effect.
Depending on the players' preferences, weapons with Arc Fire or Explosion Radius effects can keep them with the alternate Damage dice. A bomb with all its Explosive d10s replaced by Fire d4s can serve as a firebomb covering the same Radius; a shotgun with its d8s replaced by Armor Piercing d6es can be a flechette spray covering the same Arc.
For custom Explosions with multiple Alternate Damage types, players still remove the highest rolling dice first as the Explosion radius increases, along with their associated Bonus Dice and secondary effects. In the case of a tie, the attacking player chooses the order of dice removal.
| Alternate Damage Effect Dice | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Die Replacement | Effect |
| Alternate Damage | ||
| Incendiary | Fire | Fire Damage |
| Armor Piercing | Piercing | Pierces two Structure or Deflection Levels before triggering remaining Damage |
| Expanding | Blast | Treated as a BlastGun fired at point of impact |
| High Explosive | Exp | Treated as an Explosive |
| Phased | Phased | Ignores Deflection |
| Area Effects (replace Explosive d10s or Blast d8s only) |
Alternate Damage Dice
Incendiary weapons have one or more Damage dice replaced with Fire Damage d4s, or with one of the d4's corrosive variants like Acid or Poison (8.5: Field Hazards). Examples include flaming torches, napalm strikes, Molotov cocktails, plague corpses launched out of catapults, alien spit, and Dimmy bites.
One-Die Armor Piercing
At first glance, a 1d6 Armor Piercing weapon like a pickaxe or a needle pistol seems identical to a regular 1d6 weapon - even if the AP die pierces the armor, there are no follow-up dice to go through to the next target.
But there are lots of ways to add Damage to a roll, from OverSkill Damage to Bennies to MOM dice in a Charging Weapon attack. Bonus d6es added to Armor Piercing Damage are also Armor Piercing, allowing successes where a lucky dagger strike can punch through plate mail or a mighty spear thrust can skewer three minfigs in a shishkebab.
Armor Piercing weapons replace one or more Damage dice with Armor Piercing (AP) d6es. These are special weapons that spend only part of their damage on a target before piercing through to whatever's behind it, in a variation of Component Overkill (7.2: Taking Damage). Examples include spears, spikes, picks, armor-piercing bullets, and construction bricks left on the floor for unsuspecting parents to step on.
When Armor Piercing Damage hits, it takes a number of AP Damage d6es to pierce through the target: one AP d6 for every two Structure Levels, rounded up. A target with SL:0 takes zero AP d6es (the Damage passes through without diminishing), a target with between SL:½ and SL:2 takes one AP d6, between SL:3 and SL:4 takes two AP d6es, and so forth.
If there are at least that many AP d6es in the Damage rating, then the target takes them as immediate Damage, and the remaining Damage pierces through to the next target. If there are less than that many AP d6es, then the target takes all of the remaining Damage.
For targets with Deflection, it takes two levels of Deflection instead of one to nullify a single Armor Piercing d6. For targets with only one level of Deflection, the AP d6 passes through with full Damage, but can only pierce one additional Structure Level afterward; the single level of Deflection effectively replaces one Structure Level.
Damage that pierces through small targets (one inch or smaller) passes through them entirely and continues on to the next target within range. On larger targets, the Damage pierces into them for a distance of one inch before triggering the remaining Damage. With enough Armor Piercing d6es, Damage can be delivered deep into or pass entirely through even very large targets, piercing one inch at a time.
Armor Piercing Example: The Gas Station
Example: Suburban 1986 dad Jack Coolguy is determined to become an action hero, a quest which requires causing an explosion and walking away from it in slow motion without looking back. Without any Explosives of his own, but with vague ideas about how gas pumps work, and a specially-built homemade cannon duct-taped to the top of his station wagon, Jack heads to the local gas station to live out his dream.
Jack's dadmobile is equipped with a standard Size 3" Cannon and custom Gas Blaster shells in the back seat: XSize 3 Explosive rounds with their 3d10 Exp Damage converted to 2d6 Piercing + 1d4 Fire Blast (2" radius). He parks across the street from the gas station, carefully positioning the station wagon so that the Cannon is aimed directly at the premium pump. With his hand on the remote trigger, Jack lowers his mirrored sunglasses and begins his slow-motion walk away from the station.
Unbeknownst to Jack, coming around the other side of the gas station, his evil boss Brett is pulling up in his annoying high-powered sports car. By the power of unavoidable Koincidence, Brett reaches at the premium pump just as Jack hits the button.
The Gas Blaster shell first strikes the sports car windshield. The windshield has Structure Level zero (zero Armor), so the shell shatters the glass and passes through it automatically without losing any Damage dice.
The shell next hits Brett. Brett is a standard minifig with Structure Level ½ (Armor 4). Since he's a boss enemy, Brett is also wearing bulletproof Heavy Armor that gives him one layer of Deflection. One layer of Deflection isn't enough to cancel the first Armor Piercing d6, and the combination of one layer of Deflection and Brett's Structure Level of ½ is only enough to stop a single d6 before letting the rest through. Brett takes the d6 as Damage, rolling a 3 and surviving as the shell punches straight through him.
The shell now has 1d6 Piercing + 1d4 Fire Blast remaining. It next pierces through the driver's seat behind Brett and into the rear engine compartment. The sports car has Structure Level 1 (Armor 1d10), absorbing the final d6 and taking it as Damage.
The remaining d4 pierces one inch into the engine compartment, striking the gas tank. Because this is 1986, any damage to a car's gas tank causes an immediate fireball explosion, incinerating evil boss Brett and setting off secondary explosions from each of the gas pumps. Flaming debris showers down around Jack Coolguy, but the freshly-minted Hero doesn't look back.
Expanding weapons deliver Blast d8s like a BlastGun being fired, covering a single Firing Arc with Damage that diminishes over distance. Examples include shaped charge explosives, breath weapons, sonic cannons, grapeshot rounds, and fart-based attacks.
For weapons with Blast d8s as their only Damage dice, the Blast originates where the weapon is fired. For weapons with more than one type of Damage die, the Blast can originate either where the weapon is fired or at the point of impact with a target. For every inch past this point, the Blast d8s lose one point of Damage. When the total Damage from the d8s is reduced to zero, the damage from any other Damage dice runs out as well.
High Explosive weapons deliver Explosive d10s, spreading Damage over an Explosion Radius. Examples include antimatter bullets, impact hammers, angry beehives, and the 1972 Ford Pinto.
Like standard Explosives, each d10 adds 2" of Explosion Radius and 1" of KnockBack, removing the highest-rolling d10 after each two inches. At the radius where the final d10 is removed, the damage from any other Damage dice runs out as well.
Hammerman has no tolerance for undead nonsense.
High Explosive Example: Hammerman
Example: Hammerman is a mysterious Hero who appears without explanation or warning to oppose evil and smite undead. His legendary hammer, known as "Hammer," has a variety of thunder-based powers, including an Explosive d10 as an Alternate Damage Effect.
In the hands of normal minifigs, Hammer is a normal Heavy Weapon if they can lift it at all, doing Skill +2 Damage. The High Explosive Alternate Damage can only be activated by minifigs with a Skill die at least as large as the Alternate Damage die. As a Hero, Hammerman's Skill of d10 is equal to the High Explosive d10, meeting the requirement and letting him give his Hammer strikes an Explosive quality at will.
Normally it's unwise to use Explosions in Close Combat, since a minifig is almost guaranteed to be caught in his own Explosion Radius, but Hammerman's signature suit of Heavy Armor plate mail works to Deflect any single-die Explosion Damage. Deflection doesn't protect him from the Explosive KnockBack, however, and it's not uncommon for Hammerman to be knocked over by his own Hammer.
Phased weapons deliver Phased d12s that pass through any amount of Deflection unimpeded. Examples include shield-frequency-matched phase cannons, ghost swordsmen's swords, lightning bolts, kung fu masters' chi attacks, and fourth-dimensional steel-toed boots.
When Phased weapons have multiple Damage die types, only the d12s ignore Deflection. All other Damage dice are affected by Deflection as normal.
Area Effects
Area Effects are a special kind of Alternate Damage Dice that replace Blast d8s and Explosive d10s, covering roughly the same shape and area as their respective Arc Fire or Explosion Radius would have, within the limits of the Area Effect's Field Size (8.5: Field Hazards). This may require some fudging by the players, depending on what makes sense for the modified weapon concept.
Area Damage weapons replace an Explosion or Blast with an equal or smaller Alternate Damage Die type covering the same area, keeping the 2" Explosive Radius for each replaced d10 and limited to 4" of Field Size per replaced d8. Examples include armor piercing flechette blasts, radioactive neutron grenades, and draconic poison breath.
Smoke weapons do no Damage, but fill the area of an Explosion or Blast with a cloud of Smoke instead, with its Size limited to four inches per die replaced. Players using Smoke weapons should bring elements to represent the clouds of Smoke on the battlefield: bricks, cotton balls, or crumpled up pieces of paper work well. Smoke blocks visibility for units looking into, out of, or through a Smoke cloud. Smoke clouds don't dissipate right away, but shrink in Size by one inch per turn.
Field Hazard weapons create small Field Hazards in the replaced area of an Explosion or Blast, limited to one Hazard Die and a Field Size of two inches for every die replaced. Once created, the Hazard's Field Size shrinks by one inch at the beginning of each turn, reducing the number of Hazard dice to match when necessary. Examples of Field Hazard weapons include oil slick sprays, freeze bombs, caltrop grenades, and force field guns.
Weapon Mods
| Weapon Mods | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Positive Mod | Negative Mod |
| Use | High Precision: Use as if 1 Size smaller | Sawed Off : Use as if 2 Sizes larger |
| Range | Long Range: Range as if 1 Size larger | Close Quarters: Range as if 1 Size smaller |
| Effect | High Powered: Damage or Effect as if 1 Size larger | Surgical: Damage or Effect as if 1 Size smaller |
| Capacity | High Caliber: Max Payload Size" / Xsize or Max Ammunition XSize as if 1 Size larger | Low Impact: Max Payload Size" / Xsize or Max Ammunition XSize as if 1 Size smaller |
Where Alternate Damage Dice change the effects of a Weapon's Damage, Weapon Mods change the performance of the Weapon itself.
Weapon Mods are always a tradeoff. Positive modifications must be paid for with an equal number of negative modifications. A laser rifle with extra precision might have reduced damage as a result; a heavy bunker-breaking siege cannon might do double Damage but at a reduced Range and firing speed.
Modifications to Weapon stats are based on Weapon Size. A Launcher, for instance, has a Range rating equal to its Weapon Size times six inches (8.1: Weapon Size). A Size 2" Launcher has a Range of 12". If it was modified for Long Range, it would have the Range rating of a Launcher one Size larger, for a Range of 18". If it was modified for Close Quarters instead, it would have the Range of a Launcher one size smaller, for a Range of 6".
Chapter Nine: Vehicles
An Assyrian detachment treks across the frozen wastelands of the Iceworld Krysto.
Heavy weapons are all about location; they're only as valuable as the targets they can reach. Sadly, it's rare to find an opponent considerate enough to build targets next to your weapons, or who will allow you to build weapons next to their targets.
Rather than limiting weapons to the targets supplied by a single location, it's handy to give them a means of moving around. The value of a fine weapon can be increased dramatically by strapping a Vehicle to it.
9.1: Standard Propulsion
Working together with their Dwarven allies, the Frostborne Tribe has constructed a Mammoth Siege-Sleigh. The propulsion of this mobile fortress is handled by a giant Frost Golem pushing from the rear.
Creations that move around are called Vehicles, and every Vehicle requires at least one Propulsion system, even if the method of powering that Propulsion is hard to explain. (Construction-brick siege engines are notorious for rolling around merrily despite a lack of horses or slaves to pull them.)
For game purposes, all that’s important is the Vehicle's type of movement. Whether or not it has any means to power that movement is politely overlooked.
Like all devices in BrikWars, every Propulsion system should be represented by specific physical elements. Most will be obvious: wheels and sails and zeppelin balloons are represented by wheel elements and sail elements and zeppelin balloon elements, respectively. For more esoteric Propulsion systems, like the series of levitation crystals that use sparkle power to transport a floating bordello from one war camp to the next, the physical components should be pointed out to the other players so there's no confusion about which elements to target first.
Propulsion Types
| Propulsion Types | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Cost | Examples |
| Standard Propulsion | 1CP per 2" Move | wheels, legs, oars, treads |
| Flight Propulsion | (2CP + Structure Level) per 2" Move | dragon wings, antigravity, capes |
| Forward Flight Propulsion | (1CP + Structure Level) per 2" Move | plane wings, bird wings |
Most regular types of Propulsion (Ground, Water, and Underwater) cost 1CP per two inches of Move (e.g., it costs 5CP to buy 10” of Ground movement). Flying is more expensive: every two inches of Move cost 2CP plus the creation’s Structure Level (for instance, an armored space transport with Structure Level 2 would pay 4CP for each 2" of Hover Flight movement). Forward Flying Vehicles that need to maintain a minimum forward sped to stay aloft (like gliders, biplanes, or ducks) are slightly cheaper, costing 1CP plus the creation’s Structure Level for every two inches of Move.
More unusual Propulsion types (spider climbing, underground tunneling, teleportation) may be allowed as well, if the players can come to mutual agreement about appropriate rules and CP costs.
| Movement Speed Examples | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move" | Creatures | Ground Vehicles default: 10" | Water Vehicles default: 8" | Flying Vehicles default: 12" |
| 3" | spiders, scorpions, zombies | wheelchairs, catapults | rowboats, rafts | hot air balloons |
| 5" | minifigs, monkeys, octopi | bulldozers, lawnmowers, golf carts | galleys, steamboats | zeppelins |
| 8" | dogs, alligators, elephants, sharks | bicycles | galleons, submarines | gliders, minicopters |
| 10" | horses, lions | tanks, trains |
Players choose the Move rating of their Propulsion system according to what they feel is appropriate. Example Move ratings are given above.
Alternate Movement
Vehicles may sometimes move outside of their usual medium if it’s appropriate to do so. Common sense should be an adequate guide: automobiles can move at lower speed through standing water, but they can’t fly; airplanes can move at lower speed on the runway, but can’t swim; submarines may move at lower speed on the ocean surface, but can’t start rolling around on land.
Vehicles moving in an alternate medium move at Half Speed (4.1: Movement). No matter how much Move they have to spend, no Vehicle can move more than five inches in an alternate medium in any single turn.
Sprinting
Like minifigs, a Vehicle can be made to Sprint (4.1: Movement) in order to add its Operator's Skill Roll to its Move inches, as long as it's driving in a straight line. As with any other unit, Vehicles can't make any turns at all while Sprinting.
Propulsion Damage
| Propulsion Damage | |
|---|---|
| Damage | Effect |
| Major Propulsion Element Lost | -1" Move, cumulative |
| Half of Propulsion Elements Lost / Vehicle Dragging on Ground | Half Speed |
| All Propulsion Elements Lost | Move eliminated |
| Critical Flight Element Lost | Flying Move eliminated |
| Forward Flight Reduced to Half Speed | Forward Flying Move eliminated |
For most devices, Damage is an all-or-nothing affair. A steering wheel is either slagged or it isn't; an elbow is either still attached or it's not.
Propulsion systems are a little more granular. If attackers can destroy or disable a major propulsion component (one tire off a dune buggy, one leg off of a RoboSpider), the vehicle's Move is reduced by 1" for each lost component. If half of the propulsion elements are destroyed (one leg off a Tyrannosaurus, one wheel off a motorcycle), or if any part of the Vehicle is dragging on the ground, then the Vehicle moves at Half Speed, after applying all other applicable penalties. If all the elements are destroyed (one pogo off of a pogo stick, one balloon off of a balloon), the Vehicle's ability to Move is eliminated entirely.
Aerodynamic Flight systems are especially fragile (as opposed to space or magic Flight, which tend to be more resilient). The destruction of one blade of a helicopter or one wing of a dragon is enough to ground them immediately.
Vehicles Flying above the ground need a minimum amount of Propulsion strength to stay in the air. (Vehicles Flying in orbit or in space have no such problems). Any time a Flying Vehicle is reduced to Half Speed for any reason, it falls out of the sky at the end of the turn. Any time a Forward Flight Vehicle moves forward a real distance of half its maximum Move inches or less, whether due to penalties from Size Damage, Propulsion Damage, or even simple encumbrance, it will also fall out of the sky at the end of the turn.
Loss of Control
A Vehicle can lose control for any number of reasons. The operator might be dead, absent, or distracted by text messages. Controls might be disconnected, destroyed, or contradicted by auxiliary Controls. Propulsion systems might be damaged, disabled, or sabotaged to function perfectly but in the wrong direction.
Out-of-Control Vehicles keep going in whichever direction they were already going, at whatever speed they were already moving. Their movement continues in a straight line every turn until they Crash into something (9.5: Collisions) or exit the battlefield, unless players come up with a specific reason they should change direction.
A Vehicle that loses power (the fuel line is severed, the minifig working the pedals implodes, etc) or loses Propulsion effectiveness (a truck tipped off its wheels, a boat beaching itself) can use its remaining Momentum (if any) to continue moving on the following turn, buying one Skill die of Move inches (or one d4 of inches, if the vehicle lacks a Skilled operator) for each MOM spent. It then grinds to a halt. Flying Vehicles, in particular, grind to a halt by nosediving straight down from their final position and smashing into the ground.
9.2: Standard Maneuvering
Using Forward Maneuvering, this tank can make one right-angle turn each time it travels the length of its own chassis.
Using Stationary Maneuvering, the corner of the tank chassis moves four inches over the course of Turning in Place.
Minifigs and animals are used to unlimited maneuvering. Minifigs are free to spend their Move inches almost however they want - running, climbing, spinning, jumping, hopping sideways, and rolling around at will. Most Vehicles aren't able to move quite this freely, and are subject to maneuvering restrictions.
Like minifigs, a Vehicle can be made to Sprint (4.1: Movement) in order to exceed its normal Move limit in a straight line. As with any other unit, Vehicles cannot make any turns at all while Sprinting.
Forward Maneuvering
Biplanes, monster trucks, and surfboards aren't able to spin in place or hop sideways the way minifigs can, and when they do, it usually means something's gone wrong. By default, all Vehicles depend on Forward Maneuvering - they must be moving forwards or backwards in order to turn.
In almost all cases, players' instincts about their own Vehicles' maneuverability are good enough. Players tend to have a pretty good idea of what kind of maneuvers a tricycle can and can't perform as compared to a mechadragon or a hot air balloon. Forward Maneuvering rules should only be used in isolated instances when players want a large Vehicle to feel ponderous, or on a temporary basis when they decide that a Vehicle enters a maneuvering space that's tight enough that the limits will make a real difference.
The minimum turning radius for a Forward Maneuvering Vehicle is determined by the length of its main Structure (7.1: Structure). For a Forward Maneuvering Vehicle, any turns are legal as long as it clears the length of its own Structure between ninety-degree turns.
Some Vehicles, like naval vessels and siege engines, may be so large or so slow that it takes multiple turns for them to travel their own Structure length. For Vehicles like these, it's better to use their Move as inches of Pull Thrust rather than Forward Maneuvering (9.3: Thrust Vectors).
Apart from Forward Flight Vehicles, almost all Forward Maneuvering Vehicles can move backwards, but they do so at Half Speed.
Stationary Maneuvering
Certain types of propulsion systems have the ability to Turn in Place while stationary. Rowboats, hovercraft, helicopters, antigravity spacefighters, and Vehicles on treads or legs all have the ability to turn and face a new direction without the need to move forwards or backwards. This is entirely up to the common sense of the players and doesn't have any extra CP cost.
A Stationary Maneuvering Vehicle may use its Move inches for Forward Maneuvering as usual, but it may also use inches to Turn in Place at any point during regular movement. Find the point on the Vehicle's Structure furthest away from the center of rotation, and rotate that point as many Move inches as necessary for the Vehicle to Turn In Place.
In The President's Speech, BrickSyd uses industrial pylons to position flying Vehicles at the proper altitudes. This places the Deep Space Management interceptor precisely in range of a biker's thrown dynamite.
Flight Limits
Due to BrikWars' open-ended nature, Flying Vehicles can be ripe for game-breaking abuse. If your opponent knows your forces are limited to sword-wielding knights, he can ruin your day by fielding an assault helicopter, hovering just above sword-throwing range, and casually carpet-bombing your helpless ground troops into oblivion.
Obviously this is fun for nobody, and you have not only the right but the obligation to break his nose if he tries this.
In order to prevent this (the game-breaking, not the nose-breaking), it's best to limit Flying Vehicles to a maximum altitude of five inches in ground battles.
Flight Maneuvering
When Flying Vehicles use Forward Maneuvering, they are limited to forty-five degrees per turn, including any pitch change. Except in outer space, a Flying Vehicle may never raise its pitch to more than forty-five degrees above the horizontal, although it can point as inadvisably far downward as it likes. If you aren't keeping track of Flying Vehicles' specific altitudes, consider them all to be five inches off the ground by default.
Flying Vehicles may drop bombs or other objects from any height, but for all other weapon types they must be no more than five vertical inches higher than a target in order to attack it.
When dropping bombs or other objects, Flying Vehicles may only target spots directly underneath their own flight path. Like other ranged attacks, the dropped object may end up off of that path due to a Missed Shot (5.3: Ranged Combat). The Use rating for aiming dropped objects is equal to either the object's Size or the distance of the drop in inches, whichever is greater.
When dropping Explosives, remember that the Use rating is based on the object's physical Size rather than its Explosive Size. Because Explosive Size is determined by bricks rather than inches (8.1: Weapon Size), a Size 3 Explosive might only be a Size 1" object for dropping purposes.
Unlimited Maneuvering
While uncommon, there are a few types of Propulsion systems that can match a minifig's freedom of mobility. If a Vehicle's Propulsion system is based on sufficiently agile limbs (mecha, horses, robot velociraptors, minifigs) or hover flight (helicopters, flying carpets, flying saucers), then that Vehicle is Maneuverable and it has the potential to prance around as freely as any minifig.
In order to take advantage of its Maneuverability, the Vehicle must be controlled by an operator with the Piloting (9.4: Piloting) or Horsemanship Specialty. A Maneuverable Vehicle that's controlled by operators without these Specialties are limited to regular Forward and Stationary Maneuvering instead; full Maneuverability is too complicated for untrained minifigs to handle effectively.
Staring down the barrel of an Assyrian Vanquisher Super Tank that just blew a hole in its own Death Wall to give itself a better shot, these Akkadian fanatics hatch a crazy plan. Using the rubble of the Death Wall as a ramp, they jump their death buggy up and onto the Vanquisher before it can respond.
Jumps
Vehicles with legs (or some other jumping system) can leap across any distance within their Move radius, although the height of the leap can't exceed twice the height of their legs (or other jumping system).
Vehicles on wheels or the equivalent can only Jump by building up Momentum (9.5: Collisions) and launching themselves off of ramps. When a Vehicle is launched off a ramp, it continues traveling in a straight line in the direction at which it left the ramp. The distance of the Jump is determined by the Vehicle's Momentum - each MOM spent adds one Skill die of Jump distance. The Vehicle can continue flying in a straight line for any distance up to the limit of its Move inches, and then drops straight down to end its Movement for the turn. Depending on the height of the drop at the end, a Jumping Vehicle may take Collision Damage with the ground when it lands (9.5: Collisions).
Non-Flying Vehicles generally have no ability to turn while in midair, but What I Say Goes exceptions might be made for Vehicles equipped with some kind of sails or airfoils.
A Dreadnut can jump up to twice the height of its own legs in order to clear this inconvenient spike pit.
Thanks to some unexpected Bonus Dice, this stuntbike is able to convert its two MOMs into 16" of Jump distance. This gives the bike enough altitude to cause Collision Damage from the height of the drop.
9.3: Thrust Vectors
| Thrust Device | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Device | Cost | Effect | Notes |
| Thruster | (Size x2) CP | (Size x5") Thrust | Uses (Size) Power |
In addition to the standard Propulsion system, BrikWars allows for Vehicles and objects that are moved by physically pushing or pulling the model with specific Thrust forces. For Vehicles, directed Thrust can be provided by Thrusters like rockets, jet engines, propellers, or sails. Thrust is also the system used to handle the KnockBack from Shoves, Collisions, attacks, and weapon recoil, or from unusual devices like tractor beams and gravity guns.
Each Thrust effect has two parts: a direction and a number of inches. (The inches are always a whole number; fractional inches are rounded down.)
The Finger
The Assyrian Finger
Following the tragic Dimmification of the Teknik civilization, the Assyrian Star Empire sent the Armoured Core "Austere" to survey the rediscovered Teknik swamp world of Dungobah for artifacts.
Unprotected against the Dim Side effects generated by the planet's Stupidity, the Pilot was barely able to avoid a crash landing and the impact and swamp splatter drew the attention of hundreds of slavering bayou Dimmies.
Outraged by the AC's sound construction and consistent color scheme, the Dimmies attacked with everything they had: sticks, rocks, and their own faces. The AC Pilot gave the attackers the unofficial salute of impending Assyrian domination: the giant upraised Finger of the Armoured Core. This did nothing to discourage the Dimmies, who'd never seen a finger before and were not yet aware of the significance of Assyrian middle ones in particular. As the Pilot began using the Finger to smash and skewer the nearest malcontents, the remaining Dimmies were able to overcome their Stupidity long enough to recognize the advantages of fleeing in terror.
No Dungam artifacts were located on that initial survey mission, but thanks to the assistance of Heroes from the newly-discovered Bayounikal tribes, the AC was able to escape from Dungobah and make its eventual return to Assyrian space. The Dimmy hordes, ever dominated by the Dim Side's Stupidity and fear, took the traditional course of the Stupid and fearful and started a new religion. The religion's popularity and success were supercharged by the mind-boggling idiocy of its leaders, and even despite the limited contact between Dungobah and other worlds, the Cult of the Finger spread rapidly throughout the surrounding star systems and into extremist factions of Assyrian nationalist parties.
(BrikWiki entry: Armoured Core)
“God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.”
- Albert Einstein
Rotation Due to Gravity
The rotational effects on an object resulting from gravitational Thrust are easily calculated.
In BrikWars, an object's mass (m) is equal to its Structure Level times its Size. The acceleration from gravity (g) is equal to 5" of Thrust per turn. This mass times the acceleration (mg) equals the total force (F).
The angle of rotation (ϴ), meanwhile, is trivially determined by multiplying the angular velocity (ω) times the number of turns (t).
With these values in hand, the relation between rotation and gravity matches players' natural expectation:
ϴmg = ωtF
Just Kidding
There is no reason you will ever have to use the above equation.
As any mathematician will tell you, vector algebra is an infinitely bigger pain in the ass than either vectors or algebra would seem to indicate on their own. Worse, vector algebra becomes increasingly difficult to perform after a fourth shot of whiskey, making it useless for any part of BrikWars after the first three minutes.
Fortunately, a BrikWars player's instinctive response to Thrust vector calculations turns out to be the correct one: Thrust is handled by Giving It The Finger. Place a fingertip at the point of Thrust (either an active Thruster or a point of impact, usually), and push the object the appropriate number of inches in the appropriate direction. The model on the table will move and rotate appropriately on its own without any need for calculation. (Wheeled models may need to be stopped manually at the end of each Thrust to keep them from rolling away forever.)
KnockBack from Shoves, Collisions, large Weapon strikes, and Explosions are all executed neatly and efficiently by Giving Them the Finger.
If the object is using Thrust as part of its own Movement, then it can apply Thrust before, after, or during whatever other maneuvers it makes during its turn.
As part of its regular Movement, this sailing ship receives several inches of forward Thrust from its square sails, and additional inches of thrust to starboard from the staysail. The player decides to use half of the forward Thrust, then push the front of the ship to starboard with the staysail's Thrust, and then finish with what remains of the forward Thrust.
When using Thrust with sailing vessels, it's better to pull from the front rather than push from the rear - this better simulates the drag of ocean water on the vessel.
For an object affected by multiple points of Thrust at the same time, the player controlling the object (if any) may Give those Thrusts the Finger in whichever order he prefers, or split individual Thrusts into smaller Thrusts for fine maneuvering, or even Finger multiple Thrusts at the same time if it seems appropriate. Giving the Finger to Thrusts is not a precise science, and will often involve quite a bit of Fudge.
Parallel Thrust inches from this fighter's twin thrusters can be Fudged into a single combined forward Thrust. Similarly, Thrust inches from opposite directions on an object can be Fudged to cancel each other out completely.
In the worst-case scenario, rather than resolving Thrust effects one at a time, a player may wish to determine the cumulative result of many simultaneous Thrusts and only then move the object from its initial position to its final one. This is a legal and sometimes even necessary option, but it's a pain in the ass and should be avoided.
9.4: Piloting
Traditionally, the controls of heavy assault mechs like this HellRaider are so complex and precise that only completely ordinary high school students have any hope of piloting them.
Controls
As with Weapons (8.6: Manning Guns), a Vehicle should include some type of Controls for its Propulsion systems (steering wheels, flight sticks, computer consoles). A Vehicle that lacks specific Control elements should still at least have a specified Control Area where a minifig has to position himself if he wants to control the Vehicle.
Except in special cases, a Vehicle's main Controls provide centralized control of all of a Vehicle's Propulsion systems, weapons, and devices (like a fighter cockpit, a starship's master computer, a remote drone control station, or a warhorse’s saddle). Specialized secondary Controls may affect only a single system or device (like the individual gunners' stations on a Death Zeppelin, a ship’s wheel on a galleon, or a self-destruct button in an ice cream truck).
Enemy minifigs can cripple a Vehicle by destroying its Controls. But better still, they can kill the Vehicle's operators and commandeer the Controls directly. (Plastic-brick Control systems lack security precautions like passwords or ignition keys.) Unlike the Controls for Weapons, if more than one team has minifigs Controlling a Vehicle's Propulsion at the same time, whether at separate Controls or in the same Control Area, they can each use their Actions to prevent the other from Controlling the Propulsion at all, rendering the Vehicle Out of Control (9.1: Standard Propulsion).
Systems
Assuming he has access to the proper Controls, a minifig can use its Action to pilot a Vehicle and/or control one (and only one) of its Systems, against a single target (if any), within the Vehicle's Power limit. This System may be any one of the following:
- Ranged Weapons: firing any number of Ranged Weapons at a single target (5.3: Ranged Combat).
- Melee Weapons: using any number of Close Combat Weapons against a single target (5.2: Close Combat).
- Manipulators: any combination of lifting, carrying, throwing, dropping, or otherwise manipulating one object or grouped set of objects**.**
- Devices: activating, deactivating, or otherwise controlling a Vehicle's special-purpose devices, such as sensors, shields, transporters, a cloaking device, a self-destruct function, or an in-dash music system.
If no operator is actively controlling a System, it continues doing whatever it is doing. Shields that are up stay up, sails that are unfurled stay unfurled, and robotic hands with a bloody grip on crushed enemy heads maintain their bloody grip on crushed enemy heads.
The Pilot
The purpose of Vehicles is to move personnel and equipment into position, but sometimes the nature of Vehicular physics puts that position just out of reach - the Vehicle may not be able to speed fast enough, stop short enough, turn tightly enough, or make ridiculous acrobatic leaps ridiculously enough. These desperate circumstances are the situations a Pilot is born for.
Stunt Driving
Stunt Driving Specialty (+1CP): once a turn, defy Movement rules for a controlled Vehicle for Stunt Inches Thanks to their extraordinary affinity with their Vehicles, Pilots have the ability to push the envelope a critical couple of extra inches with Stunt Driving as a normal part of controlling the Vehicle's Movement. ( Pilots may still operate one of the Vehicle's Systems as usual during the turn, whether or not they elect to do any Stunt Driving.)
When a Pilot wants to attempt a crazy maneuver, his player describes the maneuver being attempted, and determines how many Stunt Inches the Vehicle will travel away from what should normally be possible. If a StarShip is trying to exceed its maximum Move, for instance, then the Stunt Inches are the number of extra inches past the Move limit. If a FireTruck is trying to turn more tightly than Standard Maneuvering would allow, then the Stunt Inches are whatever amount of required distance between turns that the player is trying to ignore. If a MiniVan operator is pulling the e-brake to powerslide sideways into a crowd of soccer hooligans, then the Stunt Inches are whatever distance the MiniVan is sliding sideways.
Once the player declares the number of Stunt Inches to attempt, the Pilot makes a d8 Skill Roll for Stunt Driving. The number rolled is the number of Stunt Inches they were able to complete successfully. If this number equals or exceeds the number of Stunt Inches being attempted, then the Vehicle completes the entire Stunt without mishap.
Otherwise, an Enemy of the player's choice get one Thrust Inch for every Stunt Inch left over to use against the vehicle at the end of the successful inches. After coming up with a story for how the Stunt went wrong, they can use that Thrust to (for instance) stop the Vehicle short of its goal, try to cause it to roll, push or turn it in the wrong direction, or even launch it into the air - whatever seems appropriate for the type of Stunt failure they described.
If the Pilot attempting the Stunt rolls a Critical Failure, then not only does he fail at all of the Stunt Inches, but his opponents get to add an extra 1d6 to the inches of Thrust used against him.
Sprinting can be thought of in some ways as a lesser form of Stunt Driving. While it also uses a Skill Roll to add inches to movement, Sprinting is more limited than Stunt Driving in that it requires the unit to be moving in a straight line. On the other hand, a failed Sprint Roll doesn't turn into Thrust inches that opponents can use against the unit.
9.5: Collisions
The Allied Nations / United Systems warship Ripper acts as a delivery platform for an Orange Transparent Chainsaw the size of a battleship. The Akkadian flagship S.S. Dethstar is less than pleased to accept delivery.
The best thing about big Creations is smashing them into other Creations. For many budding plastic-brick fans, smashing stuff into other stuff is the first game they play with their brick constructions, and for some it's all the game they'll ever need. BrikWars salutes the Human spirit and its fundamental drive to smash.
Limited versions of the rules for handling Collisions have been presented twice before, for two specific object Sizes. The rules given for minifigs (5.4: Charge!) are the rules for objects of Size 1", while the rules given for Horses (H.3: Fighting From Horseback) are the rules for objects of Size 2". The rules presented here are the generalized rules for objects of any Sizes running into one another, whether deliberately or otherwise.
Momentum
Momentum = 1 MOM per 4" of straight-line movement, up to a Charging Creation's Effective Size
Knowing of Warhead's uncontrollable mom-lust, the mysterious entity known as FedoraNuker creates an afterlife paradise for the souls of all hot moms. The ensuing momicide is the first step in a convoluted scheme to break Warhead down using the dark and forbidden art of Psychotherapy.
Charge attacks are not always on purpose. The Charging rules also apply to minifigs that unsuspectingly run headlong into sharpened-stake booby traps, or locomotives encountering abandoned laundry machines.
Just as Vergilus Raskolnikov prepares to conquer the Britannian planet of Wraysford, My Little Pwnies swoop in from the FriendZone dimension to crash their own home planet of Ekvestria into it. This event was the provocation for Raskolnikov's famous rallying cry: "Damn you pwnies! I was going to conquer that!"
Collisions become much more satisfying as the colliding objects get bigger, but they also become more complicated. Where a Size 1" minifig can build up a Momentum of 1 MOM with a Charge of four inches (5.4: Charge!), and a Size 2" Horse can gather 2 MOMs in a Charge of eight inches (H.3: Fighting From Horseback), a larger Creation is able to build up a correspondingly larger pile of MOMs as it extends its Charge over a larger number of inches.
In order to build up its MOMs, a Creation must Charge in a straight line. The Charge follows the same rules as a Sprint: the path of the Charge may go up or down sloping terrain or over gaps and obstacles if they're small enough for the Creation leap over without slowing down, but if the Charge pauses, slows, or turns to the left or right, then all Momentum is cancelled and the Creation will have to start over collecting MOMs from scratch.
For every four inches in its continuous Charge, a Creation gains one MOM, up to a number of MOMs equal to its own Size (or Effective Size, if it's taken Size Damage (7.2: Taking Damage)).
Large Creations may not have enough Move to build up to their full Momentum in a single turn. Creations can extend a Charge over multiple turns to travel the distance required. These Extended Charges are best used against inanimate targets like walls and security gates, since a more mobile target can casually walk off of the line of a Charge between turns and sidestep the attack entirely.
In the case of an Unintentional Charge, such as for Out-of-Control Vehicles, minifigs running into invisible walls, or objects falling from great heights, players may not have been keeping track of an object's Momentum. In cases like these, it's up to the players to determine the Charge distances after the fact by estimating how much straight-line distance the objects traveled. Only the turn immediately prior to the impact need be considered; objects don't unintentionally make Extended Charges. (However, players should be generous in overlooking slight curves in the path of an Unintentional Charge, since Unintentional Damage is much funnier than the regular kind.) As a rule, all of a falling object's travel is counted as being in a straight line; players are expected to forget they know anything about parabolas for the purpose of maximizing Damage from falls.
Spending MOMs
While Charging Creations can potentially have a much larger pile of MOMs than minifigs and Horses, they spend them in much the same ways. MOMs can be used for boosting extreme vehicular maneuvers or catapult launches, but they are most often used to add Damage to a Charging Weapon attack (up to a limit of one MOM per inch of Charging Weapon Size) or KnockBack to a Collision. A MOM disappears as it is spent, but the object can earn its MOMs back again by continuing to Charge in further four-inch increments, even during the same turn.
Though its turret was knocked off by a giant chicken, Aloysisus Black's steam tank still packs a punch - all the more powerful because the punch is spiked.
Spiked Crashes
Mounting spikes or other Charging Weapons on the front of your Vehicle adds the advantages of a Charging Weapon Attack to a Crash.
Unless the target Bails and avoids the Collision completely, the spikes Automatically Hit the target before the Collision effects are calculated. (If there are multiple spikes on the front of the Vehicle, treat them as only a single spike for the purpose of the Charging Weapon Attack.)
As in any Charging Weapon Attack, the player can spend MOMs to add dice to the spikes' Damage, up to the Weapon Size of the spikes. Depending on how much Momentum the Vehicle has, spending MOMs before the Collision occurs might save it from taking Crash Damage, or it may allow the Vehicle to convert more of its MOMs into Damage than it would have been able to from Crashing alone.
Praetorian tank treads are well-known for their love of trampling minifigs.
Crashes and KnockBack
Collisions are an immediate and reliable outlet for aggression. They require no Attack Roll, automatically succeeding unless the target manages to Bail out of the way (4.3: Enemy Response).
However, they can be equally dangerous to collider and collidee alike. Each object in a Collision does Crash Damage to the other - as many d6es of Damage as either its own Structure Level, or the total number of MOMs in the Collision (including the target's, if the target is Charging towards the colliding object at the same time), whichever is fewer.
After Crash Damage has been resolved, the Colliding object delivers 1d6 worth of KnockBack inches to the target for each of its MOMs. The defending object resists the KnockBack with its natural Physical Opposition, with one POP d6 for every inch in its Effective Size.
Objects that are nailed down are only Knocked Back if they were broken by the Crash Damage from the collision. If not, all the MOMs are lost without further effect.
If the defending object successfully resists the KnockBack, the Colliding object is stopped and loses all Momentum. Otherwise, the Colliding object loses as many MOM d6es as the target object had POP d6es, and can keep right on Charging with its remaining MOMs.
Crash Example: Don Coyote and the Fire Giant
Example: The biker Don Coyote (Skill: d6) tilts his lance at a rampaging Fire Giant. His motorcycle gives him a Size rating of 2, so Don Coyote guns the engines along the necessary eight inches to build up his full 2 MOMs of Momentum.
The Giant has a Size rating of 4 and is wearing Armor Plated shin guards, so he's not very worried. Rather than trying to dodge, he decides to allow the Joust in order to bring Don Coyote close enough to engage in Close Combat.
The lance is a Size 2" Charging Weapon, so Don Coyote will be able to spend both MOMs to add Damage if the attack is successful, raising the Damage from 2d6 to 4d6 against the giant's shin guard.
Unfortunately, Don Coyote fails the Attack Roll and misses with the lance. He must continue Charging forward to the limit of his Move inches, causing him to crash directly into the Giant with the motorcycle. He wasn't able to spend his two MOMs in the missed Joust atttack, so they now become 2d6" of KnockBack instead. He rolls 8".
The Giant has a Size of 4", and so he has 4 POPs to resist the KnockBack. The Giant rolls 13", easily resisting Don Coyote's KnockBack of 8". The motorcycle is stopped in its tracks.
The motorcycle has a Structure Level of 1, allowing it to deliver one die of Crash Damage. The 1d6 Crash Damage is negated by the Deflection of the shin guard, leaving the Giant unharmed. Although the Armor Plating gives his leg a Deflection bonus, the Giant's "natural" Structure Level is only 1/2, limiting his own ability to deal Crash Damage to zero dice. He does no Damage at all in the Collision.
With no effect from either the KnockBack or the Crash Damage, Don Coyote is brought to a halt and trapped in Close Combat with the Fire Giant. The Giant Counterattacks with a mighty football punt.
Correctly forecasting a rain of burning Dimmy chieftains falling from the sky, NELUG's pre-built crater plates got plenty of use in their desert battle.
Falling Damage
Falling Damage is treated as a standard Collision between a falling object and the ground. This doesn't generally end in success for the falling object, since the ground has a Size rating of over nine thousand, making its potential Physical Opposition almost limitless.
Generic surfaces can be divided into soft and hard ground according to color. Green (grass), brown (soil), or tan (sand) ground is considered comparatively soft with Structure Level 1, and so never does more than one d6 of Crash Damage. Gray (stone) or black (asphalt) ground is considered much harder, with Structure Level 3, meaning it can do up to 3d6 of Crash Damage if an object falls far enough to build up the necessary Momentum.
If the falling object's damage manages to exceed the ground's Armor rating (1d10 for soft ground, 3d10 for hard ground), players may elect to build a crater ring around the impact site, with bricks of height and inches of diameter equal to the number of dice in the falling object's Momentum.
It's a generally accepted action-movie fact that pools of liquid such as water or quicksand, no matter how shallow, will cushion Crash impacts safely and completely. Of course, if the liquid is something like stomach acid or hot magma, it may subsequently do other types of damage on its own.
If a target is Knocked Back far enough to land on its side or upside-down, the object is Knocked Over and Disrupted, unable to take any Action or defend itself until it gets itself back upright. For vehicles, it's even worse: while a Knocked Over delivery truck is largely helpless, Knocked Over boats are capsized and sink at the end of their following turn; flying vehicles tend to crash.
If the Charging object is larger than its Disrupted victim, it may proceed to run right over it, inflicting points of Trample Damage for every inch by which its Effective Size exceeds that of its victim. Smash and Trample Damage are cumulative with any other Damage dealt in the course of the Collision.
The Minifig
Measured by skull to spinal column, the minifig is a Size 1 Creature.
Minifigs are Creatures too, and their stats can be calculated the same as any other Creature.
Structure: Ignoring the Surface-element arms and legs, a minifig's body and head have a Size of 1". A minifig is made of flesh, so his Structure Level is ½, for an Armor of 1d6. (Because minifigs are so common, we simplify the 1d6 rating to 4 to cut down on in-game die-rolling.) The minifig's Base Cost is its Size of 1 times his Structure Level of ½, or 0.5 CP.
Propulsion: A minifig has regular ground-based movement, which costs 1CP per 2". The minifig's Move of 5" costs 2.5CP total, increasing his total price tag to 3CP.
Weapons: The Minifig's weapons are bought separately.
Mind: A minifig has an intelligent Mind, with a Skill of d6 and a cost of 1CP. This completes the minifig and brings hisfinal cost to 4CP.
Chapter Ten: Creatures
“Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.”
- James Anthony Froude
Not all Creations are designed for active roles. Objects like trees, warehouses, and bridges perform their duties perfectly well by just sitting there and not wandering off at critical moments. If a Creation is intended for more proactive tasks, such as moving around, carrying loads, or vaporizing civilians, it needs either a mind of its own, or intelligent operators at the controls.
The difference between a Creature and a Vehicle is that Creatures are capable of independent thought and action, whether their brain is composed of meat, circuitry, or magic. A mech piloted by a minifig is a robotic Vehicle; a mech operating independently to destroy all minifigs is a robotic Creature.
10.1: Minds
Skill Levels
"I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this."
- Emo Philips
Life is cheap in the BrikVerse, and intelligence is valued even less. BrikWars passes those savings on to you! For the low price of a single CP, a Creation can be given a Mind, becoming a full-fledged Creature with a Skill die of d6.
While d6 is the default Skill die for the Minds of standard minifigs and equivalent combatants, other Skill dice are available for units of greater or lesser ability. Each Skill die size costs twice as much as the die below it, up to a maximum Skill of d12.
In BrikWars, a unit's Skill Rating is always represented by a single die with no modifiers. Skill Ratings like "1d6+2" or "2d4" are disallowed, because they reduce the element of chance for Actions with lower Use Ratings, and unbalance the odds for Critical Failures, Overskill, and Bonus Dice. If you don't have any dice other than d6es, you should try to stick to the d6-only units and equipment as much as possible, rather than having to resort to d6es plus modifiers.
Skill Levels
Cost
Skill Die
Description
Example
Overskill Chances
½ CP
Incompetent
(see Half Minds, below)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 +1d4* |
|---|
1 CP
Trained (default)
standard troopers
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|
2 CP
Expert
specialists, officers, veterans
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|
4 CP
Heroic
Heroes
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|
8 CP
Supernatural
demigods, immortals
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|
-
- Skill d4s can't roll high enough to earn Overskill Bennies, but can still earn a Bonus d4 on a Critical Success.
Like Weapons, Propulsion systems, and Controls, a Creature's Mind should have a specific location within the Creature, with a physical component to represent it (typically the head, for most organic Creatures). If that component is destroyed, the Mind is also destroyed, and it ceases to be a living Creature unless it has at least one backup Mind still functioning.
For Girl Minds, see 10.3: Monsters.
Some Minds are more intelligent than others.
If a Creature is clearly Half-Minded but doesn't fit into one of the standard categories, players can make up rules ad hoc for whatever its bizarre impairments may be.
Half Minds
“To lead untrained people to war is to throw them away.”
- Confucius
Creatures with Minds are fully independent, able to form their own strategies and wage effective warfare without supervision. If this doesn’t fit your vision for the Creature, you may elect instead to give it a Half Mind, at one half the cost of a regular Mind.
| Half Minds | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Usefulness | Notes | Examples |
| Incompetent | special (Stupidity) | Skill 1d4 | zombies, civilians |
| Programmed | while executing program | can be reprogrammed | robots, mind-control victims |
| Submissive | when directed by master | accepts new masters when free | horses, fanboys |
| Subjugated | while restrained by master | never controlled by owner when free | slaves, schoolchildren |
Half-Minded Creatures operate no differently than full-Minded Creatures as long as their requirements for Usefulness are met. A Horse is Useful when a rider directs it, a computer is Useful while it has a program to execute, a slave is Useful while under the lash, and a regular civilian can be Useful when he's not being an idiot.
When the requirements for Usefulness aren't met, a Half-Minded Creature becomes a liability. The player controlling the Creature must immediately hand control to one of his or her Enemy players. The new player, on their next turn, may then direct the Creature to take either a Movement or an Action (but not both). At the end of the turn, if the Creature has not been returned to Usefulness, then the new player must hand control of the Creature to an Enemy of his or her own. The cycle continues until the Creature has been made Useful again or until it is killed or otherwise removed from battle.
-
An Incompetent Creature is similar to other full-Minded Creatures, but due to a lack of training, motor skills, or intelligence, it is prevented it from being an effective combatant. An Incompetent Creature’s Skill die is set at a d4, which means it can never roll high enough to earn Overskill. Instead, a Skill d4 can earn Bonus d4s on a Critical Success like non-Skill dice.
Incompetent units suffer from Stupidity. If a player controls more than one unit with Stupidity, then at the beginning of the player's turn, before he or she takes any other action, one Enemy of the player's choice may choose any one of the Stupid units and control it as if it were their own for that turn. It's nice if they can also come up with a good story for why the unit is engaging in its particular Stupid behavior, but not required.
Examples: Zombies, civilians, zombified civilians, Republicans, corporate middle managers, clone-brand minifigs, ogres, mutants, Democrats
-
The Space Commies are well-known for their questionable attempts to train animals for warfare. The Type-9 Self-Propelled, Remotely Detonated Anti-Tank mines destroyed as many allied tanks as enemy ones.
A Programmed Creature is limited in its ability to make high-level strategic decisions, and instead follows a simple set of behaviors.
Programmed Creatures are given a list of behaviors at the beginning of the battle, and may only behave in accordance with those instructions. A Programmed behavior must be fairly specific: “Move to the nearest wounded allies and attempt to heal them” or “Stay close to the nearest allied troops and fire at enemy combatants” are fine Programmed behaviors; “Defeat all enemies” and “Win the battle” are not. Random animals and wildlife are sometimes made Programmed for efficiency’s sake, with short behaviors like “flee from any nearby threat” or “if it's nearby and looks edible, try to eat it.”
While not technically Creatures, mechanized defense systems are often given Programmed behaviors as well, such as "fire at anything in range and moving" or "if intelligent life is detected, release deadly neurotoxin gas."
Mechanized traps are often set up with free Triggers rather than expensive Minds - see 8.5: Field Hazards.
Half-Mind Example: The Horse
Example: Horses (Chapter H: The Horse) are Submissive Creatures with the following stats:
Size: 2" Armor: 1d6 (Structure Level ½) x (Size 2") +1CP Move: 10" (Move 2") x 5 +5CP Skill: 1d6 (Submissive) 1CP x Half Mind +½CP Weapon: Natural Attack: Kick or Bite CC Use:2 Damage:1d6 Free with Gross Manipulators Free Cost: Total: 7CP
Abilities
By default, Creatures with Minds have the same general abilities as a regular minifig. As long as they have the proper appendages, they can use equipment, open doors, and toss items around as normal. Common sense should be an adequate guide for whether a Creature has the proper body shape to work a stick shift or the fine manipulators to type on a keyboard. In the occasional instances in which players aren't sure, a What I Say Goes roll can quickly resolve the issue (for instance, an intelligent cockroach can type on a keyboard by jumping real hard, but it takes him twice as long as normal, and he can't use the shift key without the help of a friendly cat).
Carrying and Manipulating Objects
| Manipulators | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Motor Skills | Natural Attacks | Examples |
| Fine Manipulators | can operate Controls and weapons can throw and carry items | no natural attacks; can Grab or Shove | minifig hands, robot manipulators |
| Gross Manipulators | can carry or drag items | one natural CC attack, equivalent to one Melee Weapon up to Creature Size. cannot Parry; may automatically Grab on successful hit, if appropriate | dog teeth, giant lobster claws, octopus tentacles |
By default, Creatures have one pair of arms and hands (or equivalent Manipulators) that they can use to carry and manipulate objects. Additional arms can be purchased for 1CP for every inch in the Size of the arms. (Minifig arms are counted as 1/2" each , so an extra pair of minifig arms costs +1CP.) There is no discount for buying a Creature without arms or hands.
Creatures without hands or equivalent appendages are at a major disadvantage. They may be able to carry and drag objects, but they can't operate weapons or devices in any useful way. To compensate for this, Creatures without hands can have one free natural Close Combat attack equivalent to Melee Weapon up to their own Size (8.1: Weapon Size). Dogs can bite, horses can kick, giant scorpions can sting, and possessed food processors can initiate a hostile puree maneuver. For teeth or claw attacks (or if otherwise appropriate), a Creature can make an automatic Grab with any successful hit with its natural attack.
A Creation with the ability to pick up items can carry an object or group of objects up to its own Size at full speed, pull a wheeled object up to twice its own Size at full speed, and push or drag a non-wheeled object up to twice its own Size at half speed. Objects with Heavy Armor or Armor Plated sections are very heavy, and are treated as if they were twice their actual Size. For objects that are Too Big to pull or carry, creations can Divert All Power or use Teamwork to increase their effective strength, just as if they were trying to power a large weapon (8.1: Weapon Size).
Multitasking
As with minifigs, a Creature with a standard Mind has one Action and can focus on one target per turn. If that's not enough for the species a player has in mind, they can purchase additional Minds at the usual cost, including Skill Boosts. These Minds may all exist in the same physical element as the Creature's original Mind, or they may be put in different places if the Creature doesn't want to put all its eggs in one basket, but they must have a physical location.
A Creature with an extra Mind has an extra Action that it can use to focus on one additional target during its turn. This allows a Creature with multiple Ranged or Close Combat attacks to divide them between multiple targets in the same turn, or to make multiple types of attacks on the same target. A multi-brained or superintelligent Creature can even take two or more completely dissimilar Actions in the same turn (e.g., playing the piano while laying down sniper fire); however, it may not use the same weapon, hand, or equipment item for more than one Action during the turn, and it cannot use more weapons or devices than are allowed under its Power limitations (8.1: Weapon Size).
Multitasking Example: Professor Monkeyhead
Example: A pioneer in the field of self-bioengineering, the six-armed Professor Monkeyhead is brilliant but insane.
Once a normal minifig (4CP), the Professor has improved his regular Skill d6 Mind (1CP) to a powerful d10 (4CP) for a total sum of +3CP.
With all the extra brainpower, Professor Monkeyhead was able to develop two extra Minds for multitasking purposes: a second d8 Mind for +2CP and a third d6 Mind for +1CP, allowing him to focus on three Actions simultaneously at different levels of Skill. This brings his total value to 10CP, enough to apply for tenure in his university department, and possible elevenure or twelveure if he continues augmenting.
He still can't use more than a minifig's Power limit of two weapon inches in a turn, but he plans to use the extra Actions for filling out grant applications and claiming authorship on his grad students' research.
10.2 The Medik
Hospital 555
Chemikal analysis shows that Ablogikal Binding Substance was in use as early as Retkon 1,963. It is believed that the interdimensional disruptions caused by mishandled ABS may have had mutagenic effects on an earlier species. Records of earlier humanoids are difficult to verify but seem to sport a variety of disfiguring mutations, from stunted and limbless homonculi to strange noodle-limbed giants. Theories abound as to whether the earlier civilizations were aware of the effects of uncontrolled ABS and continued using it anyway, bringing about their own destruction. Too little is currently known about these early eras to draw any conclusions.
The notorious Hospital 555 is first known to have appeared in the timeline of Retkon 1,976. It was staffed by faceless and limbless proto-figs, who captured unsuspecting citizens and performed horrible genetik experiments on them.
The proto-figs' operations culminated in the engineering of the first true minifig. Their ABS gene-splicing madness successfully gave this new fig arms, hands, legs, and even a face.
Consumed with rage and bloodlust after having been submitted to experiments more gruesome than previously thought possible, the first minifig who survived broke free from his restraints, killed the proto-figs who gave him his new body, and he escaped into the world; a deadly killer genetically engineered for destruction. This first minifig was the Deadly Spaceman.
This is also how babies are made.
(BrikWiki entry: Hospital 555)
"Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too."
- Anton Chekhov
Creatures are as susceptible to Damage as any other Creation - Size Damage, Component Damage, and all the other special Damage types work exactly the same way (7.2: Taking Damage).
When doing Damage to a living Creature, it's important to remember that its head and body are treated as the central Structure, while any limbs, wings, tails, or tentacles are Surface Elements with a Structure Level one level lower (7.1: Structure).
Creatures have an extra vulnerability in that their Minds are devices with a physical location, and they can be specifically targeted like any other device. For most Creatures, destroying or severing the head is usually enough to end its adventures in a single stroke. If the location of a Mind isn't obvious from a Creature's anatomy, its owner should point it out to the other players on request.
Another disadvantage of wounded Creatures is that the biological ones (like minifigs) can't be conveniently patched up or reassembled by any passing Mechanik. A Mechanik's abilities only work for mechanical devices, not living flesh.
There are settings in which this rule becomes fuzzy - biomechanical alien species, Lovecraftian abominatrixes, and mad-geneticist vivisectors may occasionally pop up with attendant Mechaniks for whom biological parts are interchangeable with mechanical ones. This is entirely setting-specific, but should be discussed by players beforehand.
The Medik
Fortunately, there are minifigs who specialize in meat-based repairs just like Mechaniks specialize in reconfiguring machinery. The Medik is a unit specially trained to perform impromptu surgeries in the field, reviving fallen soldiers over and over again so that each one can experience repeated gruesome deaths in the greatest agonizing variety.
Deep Space Management Mediks have no time for subtlety. A massive electric shock to the groin revives this fallen trooper in a hurry.
Minifig Limbs
There are many types of minifigs from many different companies. Some are designed with arms and legs (and heads) that are easy to remove; some aren't, and some (especially older ones) can be dismembered but you risk damaging the minifig in the process.
Rather than removing an arm and risk damage to the shoulder socket, it's sometimes more practical to remove a hand instead. This counts as Amputating the whole arm; players cannot then Amputate the handless arm and count it as another Amputation.
Rather than removing a leg and risk damage to the hip peg, it can be easier to remove the set of both legs and replace one of them with 1x1 bricks.
The pregnant Il-Duchessa arrives on Bas-Tyra, already in contractions. Doctor Almagna prepares his birthing knife and expertly predicts the labor will take six turns.
Ker-Triage!
Ker-Triage! Specialty (+2CP): allows a Medik to perform field amputations to revive fallen minifigs and Creatures Lacking fancy operating facilities or any time for second opinions, the Medik uses the tried-and-true methods of Ker-Triage!, allowing him to quickly discern how many limbs need to be Amputated in order to bring fallen minifigs and Creatures back up to combat readiness.
| Ker-Triage! | |
|---|---|
| Roll | Amputations |
| Crit Success | No Amputations; instant revival |
| 5+ | No Amputations |
| 4 | 1 Amputation |
| 3 | 2 Amputations |
| 2 | 3 Amputations |
| Crit Fail | Head Amputated |
A Medik carrying proper medikal Tools (3.4: Desperate Measures) can attempt to revive a fallen minifig or other Creature of Size 1" or greater as long as it has at least one head still attached. To do so, he declares a Construction Action, similar to a Mechanik's (7.3: Field Construction), and begins operating.
At the beginning of his next turn, if the Construction Action wasn't interrupted, the Medik rolls a d8 on the Ker-Triage! Table. (If multiple Mediks are operating on the same patient, they each roll separately, and only the highest roll is used.)
A Medik without his Tools can attempt impromptu Ker-Triage! with any bladed weapon instead, but he rolls a d6 rather than a d8.
If the Medik rolls a five or greater, congratulations! The minifig or Creature is revived with no ill effects. It may immediately stand up and re-equip itself as needed (so that players don't forget it's alive), and it can take Movement and Action and continue fighting as normal starting on its following turn. (On a Critical Success, the revived Creature can jump up and take its turn immediately.) Creatures larger than Size 1" are revived with an Effective Size of 1", along with the limitations that entails - a maximum of Structure Level 1 / Armor of 1d10, in particular (7.2: Taking Damage).
If the Medik rolls less than five, then the problem is more serious and he'll have to perform one or more Amputations in order to save the patient. The Amputations succeed automatically; the Medik doesn't need to make any Skill or Damage rolls or spend any more Actions to remove the number of limbs indicated by the Ker-Triage! result.
Each limb removed (or otherwise disabled, for Creatures whose limbs can't be removed) counts as one Amputation. Arms and legs are the most common limbs chosen; wings and tentacles will also do. Tails don't count.
If there are not enough regular limbs to satisfy the Amputation requirements, the Medik has no choice but to Amputate the head. This may still save a Creature that has extra heads in reserve, but a normal one-headed Creature will now be dead beyond any hope of Medikal revival.
If the Medik's Construction Action is interrupted, he still rolls on the Ker-Triage! Table and performs the indicated amputations, but the minifig or Creature is not revived. He can continue attempting Ker-Triage! on subsequent turns.
This tavern lout picked the wrong girl to drunkenly accost, as he discovered when Major Natalya offhandedly disarmed him.
Effects of Amputation
The complete loss of an arm or leg is a massive trauma that causes all surrounding tissue to swell and adrenaline to course through the body, cutting off blood loss and allowing the Creature to ignore the pain, at least until the end of the battle.
Creatures who lose one or more limbs are still capable of continuing to fight. They're just differently capable.
| Effects of Amputation | |
|---|---|
| Limbs | Effects |
| Legs/Wings | |
| one leg/wing lost | -1" Move each |
| legs reduced by half | Half Speed, on top of other Move penalties |
| wings reduced by half or all legs lost | Move reduced to 0"; may use Action to drag self the length of remaining arms |
| Arms | |
| reduced to one arm | may not use two-handed equipment |
| all arms lost | may not hold items or use devices |
| Heads | |
| one head lost | -1 Action |
| all heads lost | Death |
The loss of legs, wings, or other limbs the Creature uses to move around is treated as Propulsion Damage (9.1: Standard Propulsion). Each Propulsion limb removed or disabled reduces the Creature's Move by 1" (to a minimum of 1", if it still has at least one Propulsion limb remaining). For regular Propulsion types, if half or more of the Creature's Propulsion limbs are lost, it moves at Half Speed after applying all other penalties. For flight Propulsion, the loss of half of the Propulsion limbs means the Creature is grounded and cannot fly.
If all of the Propulsion limbs are lost, the Creature is limited to dragging itself along by the length of any arms it still has attached. (For minifigs, whose arms are each 1/2" long, this means that a minifig with both arms and no legs can drag itself one inch per turn.) This uses up the Creature's Action for the turn; it may not use its arms for anything else. Even if it's still able to drag itself around, a Creature with no Propulsion limbs is treated as one that has no Move ability - it may not Sprint, Bail, or use Angry Inches, and all Close Combat attacks against it automatically hit.
Regardless of the state of its Propulsion limbs, a Creature who loses one or more hands or arms is limited in other obvious ways. A Creature with only one hand can't use a Two-Handed or Long-Ranged Weapon. A Creature with no hands can't use any tools or weapons at all. Less common objects have to be considered on a case-by-case basis; it may take a What I Say Goes Roll to decide whether a given armless minifig can successfully operate a door latch with his teeth or mash a self-destruct button with his face.
This Adamarian sniper finds his perspectives broadened by a renegade Calvarian's thrown grenade.
Dismemberment
In basic BrikWars battles, the treatment of corpses is a matter of taste. Whether they slump over uneventfully or their bodies are blown into discrete plastic bits depends only on how excited the players are about the quality of the attack.
In a battle that includes Mediks, injuries can make a big difference between easily-revived minifigs and hopeless casualties. A minifig with both legs blown off is two points closer to failure on a Ker-Triage! Roll than his anatomically intact buddy, and it's important to track who's just mostly-dead and who's really, really, no-fooling dead.
If players decide to allow Dismemberment, then minifigs and other Size 1" Creatures (or Effective Size 1" Creatures, for larger Creatures on their last inch of life) are no longer unaffected by Damage that exactly matches their Armor. Instead, the attacker (or any Enemy, if there is no attacker) may choose a Disabling consequence based on the type of Damage taken.
| Minifig Dismemberment and Disabling | ||
|---|---|---|
| Damage Type | Consequence | Effect |
| Cutting, blasting | Dismemberment | remove one limb of victim's choice |
| Bashing, poison | Stunned | victim is Incompetent (Skill d4) for one turn, with potential Stupidity (10.1: Minds ) |
| Impalement, lashing | Pinned / Entangled | victim is Grabbed by the weapon |
| Any | Disrupted | victim is Knocked Back one inch and Disrupted |
If a minifig is killed by Damage equal to double its Armor or greater, then the minifig is Decapitated. Its head is removed, along with any extra heads and whichever other body parts seem appropriate, to show that there is no chance of revival by Mediks on the battlefield.
10.3: Monsters
Girls
“If you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves.”
- Junot Díaz
Among all the interdimensional abominations and ABS-mutated monstrosities in the BrikVerse, there is one Creature that stands above all others in its ability to terrify even the bravest of minifig men. Few indeed are those who can hold their ground in the face of Girls.
Due to their inexplicable rarity in a shameful number of toy themes, it's possible for minifigs in many civilizations to go their entire short lives without ever seeing a Girl, much less talking to one. As a result, many strange and horrible rumors have risen about their diabolical powers and color preferences.
In an effort to protect the fragile egos of the soldiers, male-dominated minifig civilizations command their Girls to limit themselves to one of two non-threatening stereotypes in battle: either the Damsel-in-Distress, helplessly waiting for a male minifig to save her, or the Fighting Fanservice, who's allowed to participate in combat as long as it's only used as an excuse to wear skimpy chainmail bikinis.
Naturally, no Girl has ever followed these commands. The Damsels refuse to leave themselves in Distress when they can just grab the nearest blunt object and join the battle instead, and the Fighting Fanservice invariably make themselves too busy enjoying the Fighting to bother with the Fanservice. The Girls' lack of interest in pandering to their assigned stereotypes is incredibly upsetting to minifig men, who are unable to accept the idea that not everything revolves around themselves.
(BrikWiki entry: Girl)
Boobs
Your parents have no objections to the previous several chapters describing all of the ways you can simulate the brutal slaughter of living, thinking beings. You're training to be the worst that Humanity has to offer, and they don't even bat an eye.
But now that the book has a cartoon caricature of the plastic toy version of a pair of harmless anatomical features possessed by fully half of the Human population and necessary to the basic continuance of life, THIS is where they're freaking out. Parents are dumb.
Ebon-clad Torquemada tries to warn a Majistik that there are more things under heaven and earth than are dreamt of by his philosophy.
The Bavarian Kaiser decides what to do with captured Pwny specimens and their corrupting deviant magik called "Friendship."
The playthemes of the construction toy world offer any number of pre-built monsters, and there's no limit to the custom species players might come up with on their own. Most of these Creatures are easily handled by the standard rules - a dragon, for instance, is statted as a Flying Horse with a FlameThrower in its mouth (Chapter H: The Horse), while a telekinetic alien is just a regular minifig with a couple of SuperNatural Dice. Nonetheless, there are some Monsters whose abilities truly set them apart.
Swarms
Vermin: Skill:1d6 Move: 4" (Spidering) Armor: 0 Cost: 2CP Bite: Use:1 Damage: 1 Venomous Vermin: Skill:1d6 Move: 4" (Spidering) Armor: 0 Cost: 3CP Bite: Use:1 Damage: 1d4 Poison Flying Vermin: Skill:1d6 Move: 4" Flying Armor: 0 Cost: 3CP Bite: Use:1 Damage: 1
MunchFigs
MunchFigs are a magikally created race of half half-figs, spawned from the mixed genetik material of ancient ProtoFigs, living minifigs, and fried chicken legs. Cheap and easily summoned, they serve in wizards' laboratories as diminutive servants and, occasionally, snacks.
Supposedly named for their bite-sized stature and curious magikal properties when eaten, MunchFigs are just as likely to rise up and devour the unsuspecting novice wizard who doesn't realize he's summoned a number larger than he can control.
(BrikWiki entry: MunchFig) Elements shown: LEGO, Mega Bloks
Creatures that are so small that their Size is rounded straight down to 0" are called Vermin . The most common Vermin are the simple one-piece pre-molded animals included as props in adventure sets: snakes, bats, spiders, and parrots, for instance, depending on the genre. The small Size of Vermin makes them ineffective as individuals, but their inexpensive price means that they can be purchased in swarms, making them effective for disrupting unarmored foes and supporting the attacks of larger allies.
Size: Zero
Tiny objects like Vermin are so small that they're treated as if they have no Size or mass at all. Being effectively weightless, they can be carried like equipment items, or even swung or thrown as Random Objects for Bite Damage. (When throwing large bundles of Vermin, the size of the overall bundle is used, not the sum of all the Vermins' individual Sizes of zeroes.)
Zero weight automatically gives Vermin the Spidering ability: they can climb on any vertical or inverted surface at no penalty (although they must end their turn in a stable position for practicality's sake), and they are immune to Falling Damage (7.6: Creation Combat).
If they have the proper appendages, a Vermin is strong enough to carry a one-handed item of minifig equipment or weaponry at no penalty, or two such items (or one two-handed item) at Half Speed. It isn't strong enough to throw them or use them in combat, however, or to operate mounted weapons or other devices. Vermin have zero Momentum and offer zero Physical Opposition, and cannot perform Shoves.
Vermin have a Structure Level of zero and zero Armor. Any attack that hits a Vermin kills it automatically, without having to make a Damage Roll. Tightly-packed groups of Vermin are especially vulnerable to Explosions and Fire. If Vermin are Disrupted, units and objects of Size 1" or greater can crush any number of them underfoot with Trample Damage (9.5: Collisions). If the Vermin aren't Disrupted, a unit can choose one of them to try to stomp on, but must treat this as an Attack with Use:0. The Vermin can attempt to Bail out of the way if it wishes, or hope that the stomper Critically Fails his Attack Roll.
Vermin Attacks
Vermin are not able to wield or operate weapons of any size; they must rely on their natural stings or Bites.
A Vermin's Bite is painful but not particularly dangerous - the bite is only effective against unarmored Creatures of Structure Level 1 or less, and even then it only does 1 point of Damage (or 1d4 Poison Damage if it has Venom). Creatures that have a higher Structure Level or are Armored can ignore Vermin almost completely - the Vermin cannot engage such a target in Close Combat at all, although they can still climb around on it and be struck by its Close Combat Attacks in return.
When attacking in cooperation with non-Vermin allies, Vermin are subject to the usual Close Combat limit of three attackers for every inch in the target's Size, or else they risk being struck by their own allies' attacks. When a group of Vermin attacks by itself, it can ignore these limits, forming a Swarm that can pile as many attacks onto an unarmored Creature as there are Vermin able to reach it.
1 point of Damage isn't enough to threaten most enemies, but the Cumulative Damage of several Vermin attacking together can bring down a full-sized minifig if they all make successful Bites at the same time. Vermin are more useful for tying up opponents in Close Combat in high enough numbers to inflict Skill Penalties, and to absorb attacks to protect higher-value allies.
Monstrous Contagion
Dimmy: Skill:1d4 (Incompetent) Move: 4" Armor: 4 Cost: 5CP Contagious Bite: Use:2 Damage:1d4 Poison (Monstrous Contagion)
Dimmies
Minifig Dimmies, uniformed in the T-shirts and baseball caps of the human fratboys they seek to emulate, destroy quality construction wherever they find it. They gradually turn their sections of the BrikVerse into endless wastes of shoddy assembly and piles of random elements.
This Mystikal Juniorism is viewed by some as an ultimate escape from the standards and expectations of Brik society, especially by minifigs who have become depressed by their own Critical Failure during a crucial opportunity for righteous destruction.
(BrikWiki entry: Dimmy)
One of the more admirable aspects of monstrous species is their minifig conversion rate - with nothing more than a bite from the right inhuman monster, anyone can become a vampire, zombie, werewolf, alien breeding husk, or fundamentalist religionist zealot. For a species with Monstrous Contagion, the only thing limiting its spread throughout a population is the number of Monstrous minifig heads the players have to swap in.
Contagious Bite
Contagious Bite: Cost:+2CP **Use:**2 **Range:**CC **Damage:**1d4 Poison (Monstrous Contagion) Monstrous Contagion is a Poison (8.5: Field Hazards) that takes over the Mind and transforms the body of its victims. Creatures with Monstrous Contagion have a Contagious Bite that does 1d4 Poison Damage and only affects minifigs. (Depending on the type of monster involved, players may agree to modify this default - allowing zombies to spread their Poison through claw attacks, for instance, or to make a ComputerVirus that corrupts robots rather than minifigs.)
Unlike regular types of Poison, Monstrous Contagion attacks the Mind rather than the body, so the Poison damage is rolled against the target's Skill instead of Armor. If the Poison Damage Roll is higher than the victim's Skill Roll, then its Mind is destroyed, leaving it helpless and comatose. At the beginning of the Contagious Biter's next turn, the victim's body undergoes whatever horrifying transformation is appropriate to his type, and he rises up to join the Monstrous ranks.
Creatures with multiple Minds may end up with only some of them converted, acting like a Creation with opposing Operators (8.6: Manning Guns), and delaying any physical transformation that may accompany the full conversion.
If players decide that larger Creatures are also vulnerable to the Contagious Bite, treat the Poison as if it were doing points of mental Size Damage (7.2: Taking Damage). The Creature's Mind is converted only when the mental Size Damage equals or exceeds the Creature's Effective Size.
Even if their masters are evil geniuses, the converted victims of Monstrous Contagion tend to be mindless and confused. The victims' Skill and Specialties prior to transformation are forgotten, and they are reborn with an Incompetent Skill of 1d4 and all the Stupidity that goes with it (10.1: Minds).
Depending on the fictional justification for the contagion, a skilled Medik working on a subdued victim may be able to reverse the effects as part of standard Ker-Triage! operation. This is up to the players.
Otherworldly Invaders
The Nega-BlokTrix
Since before the first stirrings of minifig life, the BrikVerse has been the target of jealous invaders from knockoff dimensions. Luckily, despite their cheap and disposable hordes, the invading forces were too crappy to make any inroads against the ever-vigilant Legit-Eye Knights - until the rise of the Nega-BlokTrix.
In BR 2,002, BrikVerse civilization was ripped apart, never to recover, thanks to a nightmare known only as the Gray Shift. A tiny number of standard brick colors underwent very slight changes to become nearly-identical versions of the exact same colors. Naturally, Humans and minifigs alike completely lost their minds, and the Legit-Eye Council turned its attention to purging color impurities rather than watching for invaders.
It was in this moment of weakness that the Nega-BlokTrix struck, uniting the counterfeit dimensions under the sub-standard of the CLOan brand, and leading the invasion at the head of a legion of single-purpose-molded POOP Dragons.
The BrikVerse was defeated utterly and laid to waste, and when the Deadly Spacemen arrived to destroy the BR 2,002 timeline, they found only corruption and trash. Subsequent BrikVerses remained infected with the Nega stain, as the once-pure race of Yellow minifigs found themselves horrified by growing populations of Peaches.
(BrikWiki entry: Nega-BlokTrix)
BrikWars doesn't always mix well with snootier games, but there's nothing like a rousing round of chessmen versus minifigs.
Cynics will try to tell you that battles are made up of finite quantities of troops and equipment. Fans of video games, war movies, and comics know better. No matter how many oppoinents you slay, there are always more entering one-by-one from the right side of the screen, ready to turn upside-down and disappear in an orderly fashion as soon as they're defeated.
Cannon Fodder
Cannon Fodder: Skill:1d6 Move: 5" Armor: 0 Cost: 2CP Mook Weapon: Use:3 Range:CC or 5" Damage: 1 Certain minifigs exist only to inflate the kill count and scatter their own corpses around as set decoration. If these Cannon Fodder make any contribution at all during the course of getting themselves slaughtered, it's to serve as distractions and draw fire away from their allies who actually matter.
Cannon Fodder come equipped with a single melee or ranged hand weapon at no cost. This Mook Weapon (along with any other weapon carried or operated by a Cannon Fodder unit) does only one point of Damage and is mostly useless. This is enough to kill other Cannon Fodder, thanks to their zero Armor - even a minor hit kills a Cannon Fodder unit automatically, without even bothering to roll Damage. Otherwise, Cannon Fodder must rely on Combined Fire with real units or other Cannon Fodder in order for their single point to make any difference.
Like Vermin, Cannon Fodder (along with Vehicles or devices operated by Cannon Fodder) have zero Momentum Dice, zero Physical Opposition, zero throwing ability, and can Shove for a grand total of zero inches. Cannon Fodder can lift, carry, and construct objects as normal.
The Falx begin their invasion of the continent of Northeros with the creation of a great Portal-Fortress.
Spawners
Spawner: **Cost:**WSx2CP **Spawn Capacity:**WS" Although Cannon Fodder are mostly useless, the nice thing about them is that there's an endless supply. They may emerge from an interdimensional portal, cave entrance, or guardhouse, or they might be summoned in by a magik amulet or the powers of an otherworldly Fiend. The physical objects used as Spawners are treated as a type of weapon, subject to the usual Weapon Size limitations, but they function automatically - no Skill Roll or Action is required.
The Size of a Spawner (or Effective Size, for a damaged Spawner) determines the maximum Size of the group of units it can Spawn every turn. This Spawn Capacity can be a simple number of inches or a dice equivalent, depending on the variability of the Spawner's output - a Spawn Capacity of 4" is equivalent to a Spawn Capacity of 1d6". Each turn, the Spawner can produce this many Size inches' worth of units, either respawned from fallen Cannon Fodder corpses (which conveniently disappear from the field and reappear at the Spawner, along with their Mook Weapon), or from units which were purchased before the battle but held in reserve rather than placed on the field immediately.
Spawned units appear as close to the Spawner as reasonably possible - either in, on, or touching the Spawner itself. Spawning uses up a spawned unit's Action for the turn, so unless they have extra ones (from Multitasking or a Heroic Feat, for instance), most units will appear with their full Movement but no Action.
Masters and Thralls
The FedoraNuker
In the Fedoranuker's latest scheme to deprive the BrikVerse of moms and drive Warhead crazy, he has recruited legions of Mommy-Reliant Adolescents into his fraternal order of Fedophiles. This hat-based faction seeks to repel female minifigs from the BrikVerse by crying about misandry and pooping in their diapers (not necessarily in that order).
Despite the superheroic efforts of Gamma Rabbit and the rainbowist Social Justice Warriors, the Fedophiles have been almost entirely successful, erasing all but the most stubborn of women from history or driving them into the ranks of the diabaalvillain Fiends. In many sets and themes, minifigs have never seen a woman at all, and would be terrified to encounter one.
(BrikWiki entry: Fedoranuker)
Some monsters are born leaders, holding sway over a horde of minions through mind control, charisma, or fear. The best among these enjoy the finest perks of monster leadership: the ability to permanently Sacrifice their devoted followers' life force for a fleeting minor bonus. Vampires have delicious slaves, BrikThulhuite kult leaders have kultists, and middle managers have interns. Any units may enjoy the special power exchange of Master and Thrall; the only requirement is that the Masters are complete jerks who view Thralls as an expendable resource.
Masters and Thralls
Master Specialty (+1CP): may Sacrifice ThrallsThrall Specialty (+1CP): may die or RedShirt to Sacrifice themselves to a Master As far as a Master is concerned, Thralls are walking poker chips waiting to be cashed in. The details vary - a nekromancer de-animates his skeletons, a Fiend swallows the souls of the possessed, and a secret agent makes out with femme and homme fatales. In the process, the Thrall is incapacitated - it may be disintegrated, killed outright, or merely rendered catatonic. Regardless of the method and its effect, the Sacrifice is instantaneous and permanent; Sacrificed Thralls can't be Medikally revived, respawned from Spawners, or brought back by any other means.
On the bright side, the Master receives an immediate Instant Benny equal to the Sacrificed Thrall's Skill die. Like all Instant Bennies, the Master must use the Benny before the end of his turn (or the end of his following turn, if the Sacrifice occurs on someone else's turn) or it will disappear.
Sacrifices do not cost an Action or take any time, even if logic would suggest otherwise. The special bond between Master and Thrall is such that all other action stops while they consummate their exchange. Masters can reap the benefits of Sacrifice even in the middle of other Actions or while distracted or unconscious.
There are three ways for a Sacrifice to occur. The most direct is for the Master to Sacrifice one or more Thralls himself. He must be able to touch each Thrall; the Sacrifice occurs automatically and cannot be prevented or interrupted except by a Heroic Feat. A Master may also inspire a Thrall to RedShirt as if he were a Hero; any Thrall killed in the process of RedShirting is automatically Sacrificed. Finally, a Thrall who is killed by any other means may be counted as a Sacrifice if its Master is within 1d6". (Thralls who are killed but not counted as a Sacrifice may be revived by the usual means.)
Depending on the type of Master and its SuperNatural abilities, some Masters are able to use Mind Dice to convert enemy minifigs into usable Sacrifices, either by rendering them unconscious and helpless to resist, or by using Mind Control to turn them into new temporary Thralls (D.2: SuperNatural Dice ). In either case, the Benny gained is based on the minifig's original Skill Rating, not on the value of the Mind Dice.
Centuries after a costly battle between Deadly Spacemen and Space Pirates, Zombie Abraham Lincoln arrived to emancipate the skeletons of the casualties, forming the Legion of the Danse Macabre.
Unliving Constructs
Not all monsters are living Creatures. Robots, zombies, and animated piles of bricks can be just as dangerous. With no need for air, friends, or retirement benefits packages, Non-Living Constructs can be an ideal addition to any force.
Non-Living and Undead
Unliving / Undead: (+0CP) Most objects in BrikWars are not alive, and even the ones that are alive tend to remain that way only briefly. When a unit is Non-Living, it's just as vulnerable to standard Damage as any other object, but many kinds of environmental and biological damage have no effect. Suffocation, drowning, Poison, disease, and psychological manipulation are irrelevant to things that aren't alive. (These effects are up to the players, and can be decided by a What I Say Goes Roll whenever they're not obvious.)
The Undead have all the immunities of non-living objects, but their Anti-LifeForce means that many effects are reversed. Healing effects damage them, and death magik heals them. Blessings are treated as Curses, and vice versa. Different types of Undead traditionally have additional specific vulnerabilities, but sunlight, garlic, and holy crosses rarely appear in a BrikWars battle, and so they're largely ignored unless the players make a special point of incorporating them. Very few Masters receive any benefit from Sacrificing an Undead, unless they are specifically attuned to benefit from Anti-LifeForce rather than LifeForce.
Constructs
Construct Specialty (+1CP per Connection Strength): replaces Armor; unit breaks into recombinable Modular Parts
Blokbots
A mysterious Professor activates the ancient Duplodian ruins and summons a wave of Blokbots to invade Hellius once more. Only the Metal Warriors stand between the Professor and total Blokbot domination.
Blokbots are a terrifying force of destruction born out of the amorphic nature of ABS itself. Led by strange kult figures and erupting in a dizzying variety of forms and capabilities, Blokbots spread across planets and star systems, seeking to tear all opposition into bite-sized chunks for conversion into additional waves of Blokbots.
Resembling a minifig shape in only the clumsiest sense, a Blokbot has the uncanny ability to reanimate its own disassembled chunks into strange configurations when blown apart, along with other chunks of ABS picked up along the way. A Blokbot infestation must be contained and eliminated quickly if there's to be any hope of stopping it at all.
(BrikWiki entry: Blokbot
A Skelly's limbs and head are each attached with one point of Connection Strength. A single hammerblow doing five points of Damage is enough to knock them all off at once, as Steve the Adventurer is happy to demonstrate.
Usually (but not always) Non-Lliving, Constructs are Creatures made of Modular Parts that can be disassembled and put back together again with no lasting penalty, even if the Parts get mixed up in the process. This usually occurs when they take enough Damage to knock bits off, but they can also disassemble a Part from themselves (or allow others to disassemble a Part) as easily as picking up an unattached item of the same size. A dismembered arm can be swung as a makeshift bludgeon, heads can be thrown as projectiles, and any other random Parts can be swapped endlessly between Constructs for tactical or fashion advantages.
Even if a Construct is built from a large number of building elements, its Modular Parts are basic and discrete: heads, bodies, limbs, and any other useful appendages like wings or tentacles. (Tails only count as a Modular Part if they're mounted with a weapon or other device; otherwise they're considered part of the body.) Removing a Modular limb causes the same penalties as if the limb were Amputated (10.2: The Medik).
Constructs are defeated by knocking apart their Modular Parts rather than by killing them. To this end, Constructs have a Connection Strength rating rather than an Armor rating, up to the Size of the Construct. Any Damage equal to or greater than the Connection Strength breaks off a Modular Part of the defender's choice, within reach of the attacker. The detached Part is knocked one inch away for every die in the Damage roll. A Damage total that is multiple times the size of the Connection Strength will break off the corresponding number of multiple Modular Parts (for example, if an attacker dealt 7 Damage to a Creature with Connection Strength 2, the Creature would lose 3 Modular Parts).
Individual Modular Parts are rendered lifeless and inert if detached from a Construct. Units can build with these loose Construct parts just like any other building element (7.3: Field Construction). They return to full functionality if attached to other Construct parts, or if attached to compatible teknology by an appropriately-themed Mechanik (e.g., a sci-fi Mechanik attaching cyborg parts to a spaceship, a fantasy Mechanik attaching golem parts to an animated walking castle, etc.).
There's no reason a Construct has to be reassembled "correctly," if the physical elements allow nonsensical alternate combinations. Sometimes you'll want to swap out a tail for an extra arm, or replace a missing leg with a stack of heads. The effects of these non-standard constructions should be decided by quick negotiations between the players, settled by a What I Say Goes Roll if necessary.
Unlike other Modular Parts, a Construct's detached head may remain alert and even capable of conversation if the players think it's funny enough.
Chapter Eleven: Armies
Controlling thousands of worlds across the Tharcan Galaxy, the M-Throne Empire is committed to using all means necessary to establish the Greater Good for all life-forms. No one has been able to define the Emperor's "Greater Good" precisely, but his "all means necessary" is the largest assembled military force in the known galaxy.
"If one keeps his state founded on mercenary arms, one will never be secure; for they are disunited, ambitious, without discipline, unfaithful; bold among friends, among enemies cowardly; no fear of God, no faith with men; ruin is postponed only as long as attack is postponed; in peace you are despoiled by them, in war by the enemy. The cause of this is that they have no love nor cause to keep them in the field other than a small stipend, which is not sufficient to make them want to die for you."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Prince"
Every great civilization has learned through bitter experience to maintain a standing army of trained military professionals. These dedicated soldiers are the men, women, animals, droids, and miscellaneous extras who risk their lives (and the lives of as many innocent bystanders as possible) in an unending quest to destroy as many opponents and as much enemy property as they can, all in the name of their arbitrarily-assigned faction.
In a typical BrikWars game, each faction is represented by a single color (or group of colors, if a player doesn’t have enough minifigs of a single color). In the best-outfitted armies, a faction’s professional soldiers are required to wear suits of these colors, and their vehicles and buildings feature these colors prominently in their paint jobs. ‘Camouflage’ means nothing to hardened minifig veterans; true warriors do not learn French-sounding words, due to the suspicion that familiarity with the language inspires their leaders to surrender right when the good part's about to start.
11.1: Military Budgets
How does Mobfather Scratch sleep at night? On a bed made of money.
Money has little purpose in the BrikVerse, apart from the purpose of all things in the BrikVerse: giving minifigs something to murder each other over.
Just like the rest of BrikWars, how players handle team balance and budgeting is a matter of personal taste rather than any one system set in stone. Depending on a group's desired play style, there are three main options for accounting (along with a very popular fourth option of not bothering with budgets or balance at all and jumping straight to blowing everything up).
Construction Points, presented in the Core Rules, are a fine-grained accounting system that tracks production costs down to the scale of minifigs' individual pieces of equipment.
For larger battles where those small-scale differences are no longer relevant, Unit Inches measure a force's effectiveness rather than the cost to produce it, with one Unit Inch being roughly equivalent to a single minifig.
Finally, if players want balanced forces without having to budget them at all, they can convert to CAPITALISM and institute a Military Draft to divide piles of minifigs and equipment fairly between themselves.
Chapter Eleven Bankruptcy
Except for battles where players are modeling manufacturing supply chains and price manipulation between militarized retail franchises, Construction Points are a complete waste of time and the only reason this currency was included so that it could all be taken away in Chapter Eleven.
In order to complete this rulebook correctly, take a permanent marker and black out every mention of Construction Points in the book, including this sidebar. Pretend they never existed, and treat anyone who claims otherwise as some kind of delusional accountant lunatic.
Construction Points
Where BrikWars' Core Rules acknowledge budgeting at all, they rely on a system of Construction Points (CP) that roughly reflect the resource cost to minifigs for training, raising, building, or buying their units and equipment.
Once players have graduated to larger, less minifig-centric forces in the MOC Combat rules, CP-based budgeting starts to become overburdening. But knowing the in-universe costs of items and personnel can still add RPG-style flavor to scenarios in which minifigs can purchase equipment with collected loot, or to strategic campaigns where factions are concerned with resource generation and unit manufacture between battles.
The greatest treasures attract the fiercest guardians.
Not all treasure comes in the form of money. Rare loot from boss battles can be more valuable than cash - but some treasures are better left alone.
| In-Game Construction Point Use | ||
|---|---|---|
| Game Style | Gathering CP | Spending CP |
| Casual RPG | Defeated enemies drop half their value in CP for heroes to collect, even (or especially) if it makes no sense for them to be carrying anything. | Heroes use their collected CP to buy unit upgrades and new equipment at any time. |
| Scenario RPG | Enemies defend resource and treasure caches equal to half their CP value for heroes to capture by force or steal through guile. | Heroes spend CP with whatever shops, merchants, and training sites they find within the scenario. |
| Real-Time Strategy | A minifig working at a resource-gathering point for a turn collects a Skill roll's worth of CP in resources, which must then be delivered to their faction. | Mechanix and Spawners spend collected CP to create new units and equipment on-site. |
| Strategic Campaign | Factions battle over collectible CP resource caches and Workers, and compete for bonus CP-granting objectives. After each battle, each able-bodied Worker produces their Skill roll's worth of CP for the faction controlling them. | Surviving forces carry over between battles in the campaign. Players use collected CP to buy new units, repairs, and upgrades between battles. |
Unit Inches
The fighting minifigs of UltraMaroon™ Colour Guard™ protect the trademarks and copyrights of GrimDark Worst-Schlock, in between advertising their sevices as collectible mercenaries. Their proud logo is emblazoned on every available surface - the Unit Inch, which also serves as their price tag.
For the most part, while the Construction Point style of bean-counting is appealing to calcified miniatures-wargaming traditionalists, for any normal Human they have no real benefit. Construction Points measure items' resource cost to minifigs, not their practical utility to Humans. A group of forty-three minifigs each armed with one Heavy chain flail has the same CP cost as a single minifig carrying ninety-nine chain flails by himself, but for Human players, the first group is an effective army of forty-three ready soldiers while the second is a pile of ninety-nine problems on a bechained one.
The true power of an army is measured by its capacity to deliver force, measured in comparison to a regular minifig. An armed minifig delivers two dice of effect at five inches of Movement range in a Close Combat attack, or one die of effect at ten inches of range with a Ranged Attack. This is the standard amount of effectiveness per one inch of Size for all appropriately-armed units, and so Humans quantify an army's power in the measurement most important to Humans: Unit Inches, or Ű.
Budgeting with Unit Inches is much faster and easier than with Construction Points. With only a few modifiers, the cost of an army is simply the combined Sizes of all of its minifigs, Creatures, and Vehicles. Weapons, devices, and ammunition are free, naturally limited by the Power and Actions and carrying capacity of the units needed to operate them.
| Unit Inches | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unit or Item | Ű Cost | Notes |
| Free Stuff | ||
| Non-aligned minifigs, Creatures, Vehicles, and Field Hazards | Free | controlled in the Civilian Round or by Mob Rule |
| Non-aligned Buildings and scenery | Structure Level: 1 Power: 0 | |
| Weapons and Devices | Can be made Autonomous for 1Ű per Action | |
| Field Hazards | ||
| Minifigs | ||
| Minifigs | 1Ű |
Creation Mods
Budgeting with Unit Inches is much less fine-grained than Construction Points, and Creations of the same Size and type will have the same Ű cost regardless of weapon and device loadouts.
| Creation Mods | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Positive Mod | Negative Mod | Notes |
| Skill | Skilled: +1 Skill die size | Unskilled: -1 Skill die size | Creations with Minds only |
| Half-Minded | |||
| Movement | Fast: +50% Move inches | Slow: Half Speed | Creations with Propulsion only |
| Armor | Heavy: +1 SL (max Size") | Light: -1 SL (min SL:0) |
For changes to a Creation's basic stats and abilities, players apply matched pairs of Creation Mods. Like with Weapon Mods (8.7: Custom Weapons), each negative Mod pays for one positive Mod. A siege tank might be Heavy (+1 Structure Level) but Slow (permanent Half Speed); fresh infantry recruits might come at a Bargain (-½Ű each) but be woefully Incompetent (Half-Minded); a racing steamroller can be made extra Fast (+50% Move inches) but must be bought at a Premium ( +1Ű to cost).
Specialty Equipment
Because Unit Inches are based on unit capability rather than material costs, many Specialties are balanced by requiring a minifig to carry a Specialty-specific tool.
A minifig's ability to deliver force is determined by what he's carrying, so taking up one of his hands cuts his general effectiveness in half and acts as a tradeoff for the extra abilities of a Specialty.
Game Balance and Victory
Because Unit Inches are much faster to calculate, it's much easier for players using Ű to compare their relative strength turn by turn. With only a few exceptions, an army's Ű value is equal to the total Effective Size of its remaining forces (7.2: Taking Damage).
At the beginning of the game, if players want to have balanced teams without having to change the composition of their individual forces, any player or team whose armies are worth fewer Ű than their most powerful opponent or opponents can take one Almighty Benny per Ű to make up the difference (1.4 The Spirit of the Game).
As the battle progresses, any player or team whose remaining forces are worth less than half the Ű of their most powerful opponent or opponents must trigger an Endgame of their choice (MOC Combat: Endgames) if they haven't already.
CAPITALISM
CAPITALISM
In the earliest incarnations of the BrikVerse, minifigs were divided into strict castes determined by headwear. The first three hats were handed down from the ProtoFig forebears of BR 1,977: flat-topped POLICE hats, ten-gallon COWBOY hats, and GIRL pigtails, corresponding to the three ProtoFig genders of sir, dude, and ma'am.
Three more were invented by the first minifigs of BR 1,978: the CASTLE helm, the CITY hard hat, and finally the helmet of the Deadly SPACE Man. This hat-based system, known as CAPITALISM, gave order and stability to all minifigs' lives, along with immediate justification to murder each other for their haberdashery.
Over time, CAPITALISM fell out of favor, thanks to the continually-expanding explosion of new CAPS and job roles in subsequent BrikVerses. It retains pockets of support among konservative and fundamentalist factions who hold to an originalist reading of minifig identities, particularly in the United Systems Alliance, thanks in part to their state hero, CAPITAL A.
By replacing his removable CAP with an unremovable CAPITAL A tattooed onto his own face, CAPITAL A has remade himself into CAPITALISM's apotheosis and avatar. It was CAPITAL A who shared his dream with the people of the United Systems Alliance that they could one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the type of their hat, but also by their car and their consumer electronics and the contents of their weapon holsters.
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society."
- Mark Twain
Under CAPITALISM, minifigs aren't defined by anything so esoteric as their thoughts or souls or what's in their hearts. Just like Humans, minifigs in a CAPITALIST system have no identity or value apart from their material possessions, and they're both willing and eager to sacrifice the lives of friends and family for sweet, sweet meaningless items.
Career Assignment Pieces
"This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life."
- from The Creed of the United States Marine
CAPITALIST minifigs are sorted into jobs based on their uniform and equipment. A scientist isn't a scientist because he wasted time going to school or studying hard in some laboratory; he's a scientist because he has a lab coat. A Hero is a Hero because he has a cape, a Heavy is a Heavy because he has a weapon that's Too Big, and the the divine of a galaxy-spanning space civilization's God-Emperor is granted as a side effect of having the fanciest hat.
The piece of clothing or equipment that determines a minifig's role in life is his Career Assignment Piece, or CAP. Once a minifig receives his CAP, he's stuck with the job it assigns, even if he scavenges different equipment later or loses his own CAP through misadventure or criminal sentencing (under CAPITALISM, deCAPitation is the harshest form of CAPITAL punishment).
A CAP can be any item, from a pair of binoculars (making its owner a Scout) to a jet fighter (making its owner a Pilot). Most minifig Specialist jobs (described in the next section) have their own default CAPs, but players should feel free to make up their own CAPs according to their available brick collections and desired military theme.
Instruments of CAPITALISM
| Specialist | CAP | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civilians | |||
| Civilian | Bare Hands or food | pizza, carrot, wine goblet | |
| Professional | Professional tool or uniform | mop, frying pan, money | |
| Infantry | |||
| Minifig | Any weapon | sword, baseball bat, rocket chainsaw launcher | |
| Worker | Worker's tool or uniform | pickaxe, galley oar, ball and chain |
| Specialist | CAP | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support | |||
| Tek | Another Support Unit | Medik, Mechanik, Engineer, Cybernetik | |
| Medik | Medikal tool | syringe, scalpel, first aid kit, whiskey | |
| Mechanik | Mechanik's tool | wrench, hammer, drill | |
| Engineer | Engineering tool | laptop computer, sextant, sonic slide rule, coffee mug | |
| Cybernetik | Mad science utensil | circular saw, ice cream scoop, magic chemicals, remote control |
Laissez-Faire CAPITALISM
Under standard CAPITALISM, a minifig's first CAP-assigned job is permanent. In the most libertarian form of CAPITALISM, minifigs can change careers at will, simply by picking up different equipment. A lowly janitor can grant himself an instant promotion to Medik Hero Assassin by picking up a syringe, a cape, and a hood, skipping years of Medikal study, hours of Heroic posturing, and minutes of spawn camping. Just as easily, a Medik, Hero, and Assassin can find themselves demoted to rank civilians by allowing themselves to be bamboozled by a janitor.
Laissez Faire CAPITALISM results in even greater anarchy than usual BrikWars, and gives players the option to skip boring pre-battle loadout selection in favor of hordes of unarmed minifigs making a mad dash for equipment caches once the battle begins. It's particularly appropriate for FPS deathmatch arenas and scenarios based around Black Friday mall-looting shopping sprees.
The Military Draft
In a purely CAPITALIST battle, players don't have to bother with budgeting at all. Instead, they put all factions' combined forces and equipment in a pile between them and take turns choosing assets for their teams in a Military Draft. (If the teams have unequal numbers of allied players, use the system for taking turns in Mob Rule to keep forces balanced between alliances (MOC Combat: Endgames).)
Players can divide up the Draft options however they like. It can be as granular as picking out individual minifigs, weapons, and vehicle parts one at a time, or as chunky as choosing between pre-equipped minifig squads and fully-loaded vehicles and pre-built military bunkers. There's no need to worry about whether all the options are equal or balanced, since all players are choosing from the same supply; but in order to maintain the appearance of fairness, the player who divides up the pile for everyone to pick from should then take the last spot in the Draft rotation.
Once everyone has picked out their military resources, players can assign all of their equipment and assets to their individual minifigs as CAPs, determining their Specialties immediately and allowing them to jump straight into battle.
Expanded Draft Picks
Military Drafting doesn't have to just be about weapons and personnel. To add variety, players might also include:
- Turn Order. In a tight battle where initiative is a decisive factor, players can draft for who goes first.
- Battlefield starting locations. The last player to pick a starting location gets stuck with whatever's the last one remaining.
- Random stacks of Almighty Bennies, making a faction smaller but more unpredictable.
- Victory Objectives. Players with these objectives gain one more option for victory than the default of trying to be the last faction standing.
- Bonus Objectives. Players who achieve these objectives receive a special in-game bonus - reinforcements, Bennies, or special events.
11.2: Minifig Specialists
| Minifig Specialists | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job Title | Skill | Move | Armor | Specialty | CP | Ű |
| Civilians | ||||||
| The Civilian | 5" | 4 | Civilized | free | ||
| The Professional | Civilized Job Training |
-
- units with Ű costs marked with an asterisk have a starting equipment requirement
There are many types of soldiers, from generic troopers to highly trained Specialists like Medix and Mechanix. Every type of soldier has its part to play during the course of a battle.
Specialty Dice
Many Specialist minifigs have a Specialty marked with a , , or . These are Specialty Dice, which are rolled to determine the effectiveness of the Specialty when it's used.
There are two units (described in their own sections, further below) with the ability to modify or borrow Specialty Dice. The Tek gives Assistance to boost an ally's Specialty Die by one die size, and the Commando can copy Specialty Die abilities that were possessed by any allied unit at the start of the battle, but with the die size reduced by one. Teks and Commandos can only work with Specialties marked with Specialty Dice; other Specialties have no effect.
Civilians
"I don't believe that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone are guilty of the war. Oh no, the little man is just as keen, otherwise the people of the world would have risen in revolt long ago."
- from the diary of Anne Frank
Sadly, not every minifig in the BrikWars universe is cut out for military service. Whether due to physical, psychological, or philosophical weakness, many unfortunate individuals are denied the opportunity to take part in their factions' campaigns of mass destruction. Even so, this unhappy majority still has its purpose to serve. Without the teeming Civilian hordes, who would build the war machines? Who, like rutting vermin, would breed the next generation of soldiers? How would the military finance its operations, without a large audience for their recreational wars on pay-per-view?
For minifigs, the blood, gore, and agony they inflict on their opponents is only half the fun. Piles of steaming enemy corpses are only appetizers in anticipation of the main course of terror, disfigurement, and lifelong psychological trauma that they can bring about by staging battles in the midst of innocent and unsuspecting Civilian populations.
Civilians will almost never have any serious effect on the outcome of a battle (unless one of the Heroes refuses to fight until he gets some doughnuts, in which case his faction had better hope one of the local Professionals is a PastryChef). Civilians exist only to add casual casualties and a light-hearted body count, so there's no need to stress out over how their initial placement and control are handled. Players can just go with whatever their playing style suggests.
The Civilian Round
If there isn't an extra player who wants the unenviable task of controlling the Civilian population, the simplest way to handle them is to place all Civilians, Civilian vehicles, and Civilian buildings as free scenery during battlefield setup. At the end of each round, after all players have moved their own units during their respective turns, there is a Civilian Round during which all players (regardless of whose "side" the Civilians are on) take turns picking an unused Civilian and directing them through their everyday mundane tasks. The Civilian Round can serve as a useful break to relax, step out to hit the refrigerator or bathroom, or explore the complex emotional melodrama of the soap-opera lives of common Civilian minifigs in between rounds of more focused violence.
Civilians may occasionally form small armies of armed rabble, if the military units get them riled up enough. It can sometimes be fun to play out battles in which one or more armies has a large Civilian component, just to watch the Civilians get blasted in a futile attempt to have any effect against vastly superior forces. Civilians may sometimes receive unexpected assistance from unaffiliated Troopers with whom they have shared pizza or nachos.
The Civilian
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Specialty Civilized |
The Civilian
"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
- Thomas Jefferson
Most Civilians don't have sense enough to get the hell out of a war zone, and end up stumbling across streets filled with gyro fire and exploding vehicles on their way to work at the post offices, gas stations, and fast-food franchises that compose the majority of Civilian cities. Occasionally, Civilians will band together in riots and uprisings against government oppression or in support of their local sports team. Other times, they'll grow tired of the local warlords' continued raids for supplies and entertainment, and take it upon themselves to try and fend off the brigands. Regardless of the situation, a Civilian heading out onto the battlefield hasn't got much to look forward to besides getting splattered.
Civilians don't have the training to use military-only equipment like surface-to-air missiles and assault helicopters. They can figure out how to use standard minifig weapons, but don't expect them to be very effective with them.
Specialty: Civilized Civilized Specialty (+0CP): civil units are controlled by all players in sequence in a Civilian Round A minifig suffering from the Civilized disability has very little ability to act in its own self-interest or follow through with consistent plans. Players take turns controlling as many Civilized units as they can stand to during a special Civilian Round.
The Professional
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Specialties Civilized Job Training |
Janitors and secretaries are the most dangerous employees in any organization.
The Professional
"You can't help respecting anybody who can spell 'Tuesday,' even if he doesn't spell it right. But spelling isn't everything; there are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count."
- Rabbit (A.A. Milne)
Even without any enemies to kill, Civilians still have jobs to do. A Civilian doing a job is treated as a Professional. Very few Professional jobs involve killing, and so all Professionals hate their jobs. The mark of a true Professional is that he'll drop his job at a moment's notice if there's a chance for any real action.
Specialty: Job Training Job Training Specialty (+0CP): grants Skill for specific job-related tasks Job Training makes a Professional slightly less incompetent, using his Specialty instead of his Skill for any job-related tasks. A Barista Professional, for instance, has a Civilian's regular d4 Skill for non-coffee-related tasks, but a for operating an espresso machine, overcharging customers, and dodging awkward pick-up lines from hipster coffeeshop deadbeats.
The Professional is still subject to a Civilian's characteristic Civilized handicap; players take turns controlling Professionals in the Civilian Round along with all the other Civilians.
These conscripts are unable to explain to Admiral Gradenko why they decided to summon a polar bear onto the Soviet flagship. Luckily, the bear is able to bring the discussion to a close with several convincing points.
The Animal
"I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves."
- August Strindberg
| Animals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal | Cost | Skill | Move | Armor | Notes | Example Animals |
| Vermin (Size 0") (10.3: Monsters) | ||||||
| Vermin | 2CP | 4" (Spidering) | 0 | Bite (Use:1 Dmg:1) | mice, giant ants, cats, crabs | |
| Venomous Vermin | 3CP | Poison Bite (Use:1 Dmg:1d4 Poison) |
Birds and beasts come in as wide a variety as minifigs, and players are free to cook up all kinds of custom creatures using the Creatures rules (Chapter 10: Creatures). For basic animals straight from the box, it's easier to stick to generic Animal stats with minor fudging as the situation calls for.
All basic Animals have one or more varieties of Half Mindedness. Animals who aren't controlled by a specific player are made part of the Civilian Round (for peaceful animals) or controlled by Mob Rule (for predators) (MOC Combat: Endgames).
Infantry
Infantry is the heart and soul of all BrikWars armies. An army's infantry units are responsible for operating the weapons and machinery of war, keeping score with their own accumulating corpses, and enjoying the spoils of victory in the rare instance that any of them survive.
It's possible, although inadvisable, to field infantry-free armies made up of automated machinery and strange creatures. But without the hopes and dreams of fighting minifigs to terminate violently and splatter all over the landscape, the exercise inevitably falls flat. Conveniently, the hopes and dreams of fighting minifigs are almost entirely concerned with splattering each other all over landscapes, and so any ensuing splattery tends to be a satisfying experience for both splatterers and splatterees.
The Minifig
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 4 | 1 |
The Minifig
(Chapter 2: The Mighty Minifig) The minifig is the basic unit of BrikWars, and the foundation from which other specialist minifigs are created. Although lacking the Specialties of more advanced units, minifigs can perform any basic function of combat to a competent degree - operating weapons, riding animals, piloting vehicles, and committing battlefield atrocities with a standard d6 of Skill.
The Worker
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 3 | ½ | |
| Specialty Job Training |
The Worker
A Worker is a special kind of Professional who works directly on behalf of his faction, rather than bumbling around Stupidly with the other Civilians. All Workers are Half-Minded - either Programmed, Submissive, or Subjugated (10.1: Minds) - and can be automatically converted and put to work by any new faction that captures them (possibly changing their Half Mind in the process - a group of Submissive construction workers might become Subjugated when captured by a hated enemy).
Specialty: Job Training Job Training Specialty (+0CP): grants Skill for specific job-related tasks As for Professionals, Job Training lets Workers roll their Specialty rather than Skill for any job-related tasks. Unlike Professionals, this enhanced Skill is used for the benefit of the Worker's faction rather than for screwing around uselessly in the background. Workers are especially important in CP-based strategic campaigns, where each able-bodied Worker produces his Specialty worth of Construction Points at a time.
The Cannon Fodder
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 0 | 2 | ¼ | |
| Specialty Irrelevant Mook weapons: Use:3 Range:CC or 5" Damage:1 |
The Cannon Fodder
Cannon Fodder are forgettable extras who exist only to absorb enemy ammunition. If players want the feeling of a giant battle without all the overhead of fielding minifigs who actually matter to anyone, Cannon Fodder make great filler. Cannon Fodder are often paired with Spawners (10.3: Monsters) set up to respawn them endlessly, because sometimes it takes multiple incarnations to really hammer home their disposability.
Specialty: Irrelevant Irrelevant Specialty (+0CP): attacks do 1 point of Damage; unit has Effective Size 0" for many purposes Cannon Fodder are each equipped with one ranged or melee Mook Weapon. Attacks made with a Mook Weapon (along with any other weapon carried or operated by a Cannon Fodder unit) are Irrelevant, doing only one point of Damage - enough to kill other Cannon Fodder and Vermin, but largely ineffective against real targets unless used in Combined Fire with minifigs operating real weaponry. Cannon Fodder (along with Vehicles or devices operated solely by Cannon Fodder) have zero Momentum Dice, zero Physical Opposition, zero throwing ability, and can Shove for a grand total of zero inches.
The Skirmisher
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7" | 3 | 5 | 1 | |
| Specialty Harassment |
The Skirmisher
A Skirmisher is a quick and lightly-armored minifig specializing in harassment, evasion, and avoiding responsibility or consequences. Skirmishers are useful for pinning down clumsier foes with open attacks followed by flimsy evasions like "it was just a joke," "it's not my fault you're too sensitive," and the classic "I'm just going out for some cigarettes." The stupider the excuse, the better for keeping targets confused and off-balance while the Skirmishers escape repercussions while their heavier allies maneuver in for the kill.
Specialty: Harassment Harassment Specialty (+1CP): unit can exit Close Combat freely without drawing Counterattacks
"That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, it's not a big deal. And if it is, it's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did, you deserved it."
- The Narcissist's Prayer, author unknown
A Skirmisher has special Harassment training, allowing him to exit Close Combat freely without drawing the usual Counterattacks from his opponents, as long as he moves to a distance outside of their Close Combat weapons' reach (including any Angry Inches).
Skirmishers only use one-handed weapons and equipment. A Skirmisher who equips larger items, or whose movement is reduced to Half Speed for any reason, is unable to use his Harassment ability and must suffer Counterattacks as normal when Withdrawing.
The Scout
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 6 | 1 | |
| Specialties Pathfinding Tracking |
The Scout
(8.5: Field Hazards) The Scout is an ultra-paranoid minifig with a sixth sense for navigating Field Hazards, detecting hidden enemies, and Marking targets for allied attacks.
Specialty: Pathfinding Pathfinding Specialty (+1CP): allows bypass of Concealed Hazards for self and others at Half Speed; allows manipulation of locks and Triggers; Skill vs. Field Hazards Scouts have the Pathfinding Specialty, which allows them to safely navigate Field Hazards (8.5: Field Hazards). Traveling at Half Speed, Scouts can find safe routes through Concealed Hazards, and they can use an Action to safely bring a Squad safely along with them.
Scouts automatically detect hidden traps and triggers within their field of view, and using a full-round Action, Scouts can operate or disable locks, traps, and mechanisms belonging to any team. Scouts roll their Specialty Die rather than Skill for any roll related to a Field Hazard or Mechanism.
Specialty: Tracking Tracking Specialty (+1CP): automatically Detects Stealth; allows Marking of targets for visibility and +1 Attack Bonus In addition, the Scout has the Tracking Specialty, allowing him to cancel all enemy Stealth effects and see all Hidden units within their field of view (see Covert Units, further below). Any unit or target visible to a Scout is also visible to all allied units, even if they don't have line of sight to the target.
Tracking also allows Scouts to spend an Action to Mark a single target within 8" that they can see. Until the beginning of the Scout's next turn, the target is considered visible to all allies, and all allies recieve a +1 Attack Bonus when making Ranged Attacks against it.
The Marksman
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| Specialty Marksmanship |
The Marksman
The Marksman is a minifig who specializes in combat with minifig Ranged Weapons. Medieval longbowmen, digital disc-throwers, and halfling slingers are all examples of Marksmen.
Specialty: Marksmanship Marksmanship Specialty (+1CP): grants a special in Ranged Attacks which can add to Range, replace Skill, or replace one die of Damage Marksmen have the Marksmanship Specialty, granting them a Specialty they can use to increase the effectiveness of their Ranged Attacks. Once per turn, when making a non-Arc-Fire Ranged Attack with a minifig Ranged Weapon, the Marksman can either replace one of his weapon's Damage dice with his Specialty , to roll his Specialty instead of Skill, or to add his Specialty to the Range of his weapon in inches.
The Phalanx
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| Specialties Shield Wall March |
The Phalanx
"When someone asked King Demaratus why the Spartans visited disgrace upon those among them who lost their shields, but did not do the same to those who lost their helmets or breastplates, he said, "Because the armor they put on to protect themselves, but with the shield they defend the whole line.'"
- Plutarch
Phalanx units specialize in coordinated use of Heavy Shields in Squad formations (11.3: Squads). Greek hoplites, Viking raiders, and modern militarized riot police are all Phalanx units.
Specialty: Shield Wall Shield Wall Specialty (+1CP): units can cooperate to form a Shield Wall, automatically Parrying all Damage from one direction If a Phalanx unit is in a Squad with one or more other Phalanx units, all with Heavy Shields pointed in the same direction, then they have formed a Shield Wall. While protected by a Shield Wall, all Damage from the other side of the Shield Wall is automatically Parried, without spending any of the units' Actions or Counters. Heavy Infantry can't use their Shields to Parry damage from any other direction without breaking the Shield Wall.
A Phalanx Squad cannot be forced to engage in Squad Melee through a Shield Wall. If they are forced to engage in Melee from an attack on one of their un-Sheild-Walled sides, or if they choose to drop the Shield Wall and engage in a Melee voluntarily, the Shield Wall is disrupted and any Shield Wall benefits are cancelled for as long as they are in Melee.
A Phalanx can open and close a Shield Wall very quickly in order to let allied units pass through unhindered without losing their Shield Wall advantages. A group of Skirmishers coordinating with a Phalanx can be great for popping through a Shield Wall to harry enemies on the other side before escaping again.
Specialty: March March Specialty (+1CP): units Marching in formation ignore Movement penalties from Body Armor or Heavy Armor while walking If a Marching unit is in a Squad with at least one other Marching unit, they can March in formation, walking at normal speed and ignoring Movement penalties from Body Armor or Heavy Armor. Marching is walking only - units cannot jump, Sprint, or climb in the same turn as Marching, although they can still Bail if necessary. Marching does not cost an Action.
The Heavy
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4" | 5 | 5 | 1 | |
| Specialty Compensating |
The Heavy
(8.1: Weapon Size) The Heavy is a physically powerful minifig who can perform inadvisable feats of strength as long as he doesn't have to move anywhere at the same time.
Specialty: Compensating Compensating Specialty (+1CP): when standing still, can use Weapons 1" larger than normally allowed Whether due to superior strength, coordination, or the superhuman determination that rises from crippling insecurity, Heavies are able to wield larger weapons than other minifigs thanks to their Compensating ability. As long as a Heavy is standing still, he can act as though he had a Size of 2" rather than 1" for purposes of lifting, operating, and throwing objects, and for delivering or resisting Grabs, Shoves, and Collisions.
Most often, Heavies use Compensating to carry and fire a 2" Ranged Weapon, but it also allows the use of larger Close Combat Weapons. A Compensating Heavy can wield Heavy Weapons as if they were Hand Weapons, Two-Handed Weapons as if they were Heavy Weapons, and Size 3" or 4" Melee Weapons as if they were Two-Handed Weapons.
The Sniper
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| Specialties Sniping |
The Sniper
When minifigs are diagnosed with farsightedness, they're sent away to special camps under the supervision of carefully-trained Mediks who screw up their eyeglass prescriptions to cause even-farthersightedness. This makes the patients unbearably clumsy for close-up work, but preternaturally precise at a distance. As a side effect, they also gain a tolerance for lots and lots of camping - perfect candidates to become Snipers.
Specialty: Sniping Sniping Specialty (+1CP): can Snipe with a scoped Long-Ranged Weapon as a Full-Round Action, Automatically Hitting targets at least 5" away As a Full-Round Action, a Sniper can Snipe with a scoped Long-Range Weapon. The weapon must have a physical scope built onto it, even if the Sniper has to steal a Scout's Optics Tool and a Marksman's Long-Ranged Weapon and combine the two himself.
When Sniping at a target five inches away or more, the Sniper doesn't have to make an Attack Roll - every shot is an Automatic Hit, no matter how ridiculous or unlikely. The Damage can still be affected by Out of Range penalties, and RedShirts can still intercept the shot, but the Sniper's aim is always perfect.
Like an Aiming Marksman, the Sniper can't use any Move inches during the turn, and his Sniping abilities are canceled if he's interrupted. Because his field of view is so constrained, he's treated as an inanimate object while Sniping, and he can't Parry enemy attacks or make Response Actions of any kind.
Operators
Minifig-level units running around generously gifting each other with horrible injuries and death are the easiest for Human players to empathize with, but they're far from the most powerful. Siege-level Vehicles, Weapons, and steeds bring the heavy piles of dice, and all of these larger Creations benefit from the skills of specialized minifig Operators.
The Rider
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | * | |
| * Included with Horse | ||||
| Specialty Horsemanship |
The Rider
(H.2: Riding a Horse) While any minifig can ride a Horse, the Rider is an experienced horseman who fights as one with his steed. Riders are most often found on the back of some variety of Horse, but their skills apply to any vehicle or mount, from dragons to riding lawn mowers to assault helicopters.
Specialty: Horsemanship Horsemanship Specialty (+1CP): can control a Horse and make attacks from horseback as part of a single Action Where lesser minifigs have to choose between either controlling their steed's Movement and weapons or fighting with their own minifig weapons in hand, a Rider has the Horsemanship to do both at once, as naturally as if they were a single unit. In Close Combat, Riders and their mounts can Counter and take attacks for each other at will.
When a Skill Roll is called for, the mount always uses the Rider's Skill, regardless of whose is higher.
The Pilot
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | * | |
| * Included with Vehicle | ||||
| Specialty Stunt Driving |
The Pilot
(9.4: Piloting) All minifigs can operate vehicles, but only a Pilot can show how they were meant to be driven. Whether anyone else agrees that forklifts and hot air balloons were meant to be driven that way is immaterial.
Specialty: Stunt Driving
Stunt Driving Specialty (+1CP): once a turn, defy Movement rules for a controlled Vehicle for up to Stunt Inches Even compared to other minifigs, Pilots lack any sense of self-preservation. Once per turn, a Pilot can harness this advantage to violate the laws of both physix and courteous driving to pull off a Stunt Driving maneuver.
The Pilot declares the Stunt he's about to pull, measures how many inches this will push the vehicle beyond its sane performance limits, and rolls his Specialty . If the number rolled is equal to or higher than the number of Stunt inches needed, then the Stunt is successful.
If not, then the number rolled is the numer of inches for which the Stunt succeeds, and the remaining inches are given to an Enemy to use as Thrust against the vehicle while he or she explains how the Stunt failed disastrously.
The Gunner
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1* | |
| * Must be assigned to a mounted weapon | ||||
| Specialty Gunnery |
The Gunner
(8.6: Manning Guns) All minifigs love firing mounted weapons, regardless of which direction they're pointed or what gets destroyed in the process. In the occasional instance where accuracy is required, a team of trained Gunners can make the difference between hitting picked targets and blowing oneself up at random.
Specialty: Gunnery
Gunnery Specialty (+1CP): Skill with mounted weapons; allows Gunnery Support Action For any Skill Roll related to the use of a Weapon mounted on a Creation, Gunnery allows the Gunner to roll his Specialty rather than his Skill.
Gunners can spend their Actions to provide Gunnery Support to another unit operating a large Weapon, granting cumulative +1 Attack Bonuses to fire. The number of minifigs in the firing team (the firing minifig, plus the minifigs providing Gunnery Support or Assistance) is limited to the number of inches in the Size of the Weapon, and each minifig must be able to access the Weapon or a working set of Controls for it.
As long as the Weapon keeps firing at the exact same point, and neither the Weapon or the target move, the Attack Bonuses from Gunnery Support continue until the Weapon moves or aims somewhere else. Each turn that the firing team fires the Weapon at the same target, they can Home In, adding additional Gunnery Support to the continuing Attack Bonus from the previous turn. Any Critical Failure cancels the Homing In bonus and requires the Gunners to start over.
Support
"Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance."
- Kurt Vonnegut
Fighting battles is hard work, and all elements of a military force can use some Support. Whether stapling misplaced limbs back onto soldiers, bolting misplaced thrusters back onto rocket ships, or mixing things up and duct taping the rockets onto the soldiers to make rocket soldiers, Support units are on the job to restore units' capacity for aggression in order to keep violence flowing freely.
The Specialties of most Support Units depend on a successful Construction Action (7.3: Field Construction). To initiate a Construction Action, a minifig spends an Action and immediately goes On Break, doing nothing else for the rest of his own turn. From the end of that turn to the beginning of his next turn, the minifig can do their Specialty work during the time when any opponent is taking their turn. Mechaniks build new creations, Engineers modify existing ones, Mediks perform improvised surgeries, and Cybernetiks commit crimes against gods and nature. At the beginning of the Specialist's following turn, or whenever they're interrupted by Damage, Disruption, or death, their Construction Action ends immediately and they're stuck with the results of their labor.
The Tek
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1* | |
| * Must be assigned to another Specialist unit | ||||
| Specialty Assistance |
The Tek
Support units work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep their armies running. Behind those units are the Support units' Support units, who work tirelessly to keep the Support units running. Teks are the nurses, secretaries, grad students, unpaid interns, and other assistants who do all the actual work so that their superiors have something to steal the credit for.
Specialty: Assistance Assistance Specialty (+1CP): use Action to boost another Specialty unit's Specialty die A Tek's job is to give Assistance to other Specialists, increasing their Specialty Die by one die size. With a Tek's Assistance, a Medik's Ker-Triage! Roll or a Mechanik's Construction Action, for instance, can be made with a rather than a .
Assisting other units costs the Tek's Action, and the Tek must be within arm's reach of either the Specialist unit they're Assisting or the target of their Specialty Die roll. Only one Tek can assist with any Specialty Die roll. Teks cannot give an Assistance bonus to Commandos.
Doctors are from Mars, Nurses are from Venus
In most military and professional organizations, Tek jobs are reserved for all the minifigs whose skills are needed but who don't fit that faction's cultural ideal - usually yellow, male, and non-alien.
When a faction needs to extract value from the work of Peaches, alternate species, and Girls (10.3: Monsters), but can't afford the political inconvenience of admitting their lives matter, Tek jobs are the perfect way for bigots to extract and co-opt the benefits of their second-class citizens' contributions, while continuing to sweep them safely under the rug.
The Mechanik
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1* | |
| * Must carry a Mechanik's Tool | ||||
| Specialty Mechanikal Aptitude |
The Mechanik
(7.3: Field Construction) Throwing construction bricks together into inadvisable creations crammed full of violent potential is almost as fun as using them to destroy each other afterwards. Luckily for the Mechanik, the Mechanix' Union reserves all the best constructions for its dues-paying members, or else everyone would be building them.
Specialty: Mechanikal Aptitude
Mechanikal Aptitude Specialty (+1CP): allows a Construction Action to build or repair Creations on enemy turns within a radius of inches Using Mechanikal Aptitude, a Mechanik with an appropriate Mechanik's Tool in hand can use his Action to declare a Construction Action. At the end of his turn, while opposing players are taking their turns, the Mechanik gets to work. The Mechanik can use any loose bricks and parts around him to build, repair, and modify creations, within a radius in inches equal to a roll on his Specialty .
Newly-built creations or parts of creations are Field Constructions, with a Size equal to their physical size in inches, a Structure Level of ½ and Armor 1d6, and a Move of 2" per usable Propulsion Element. Stats for Weapons and other devices are based on their apparent type and Weapon Size, but may be subject to negotiation among the players.
Mechaniks can also use Construction Actions to build continuous Patches of bricks on an object to perform Patch Repairs, reducing a damaged object's Size Damage or reinforcing its Armor. To reduce Size Damage by one inch, the Size of the Patch must be one inch larger than the object's Effective Size. To increase Armor by one Structure Level (up to SL:3), the Size of the Patch must be at least as large in inches as both the object's current Effective Size and the updated Structure Level. Any successful Component Damage to a Patch cancels its benefits.
The third use of a Construction Action is to Dissassemble Creations, allied or otherwise. Rather than collecting new bricks, the Mechanik stands next to the object to be taken apart, and gets to work. At the beginning of his next turn, if he was able to work on the object continuously without interruption, the Mechanik rolls his Specialty . If the roll is higher than the object's Structure Level, then the Mechanik can detach that many construction bricks up to 1" in Size from the object immediately, or a single construction brick up to that many inches in Size. Otherwise, the object was too difficult to take apart right away. The Mechanik can continue to attempt Disassembly on subsequent turns.
The Engineer
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1* | |
| * Must carry an Engineering Tool | ||||
| Specialty Rationalism |
The Engineer
"The Enterprise computer system is controlled by three primary main processing cores cross linked with a redundant melacortz ramistat and fourteen kiloquad interface modules. The core elements are based on FTL nanoprocessor units arranged into twenty-five bilateral kelilactirals, with twenty of those units being slaved to the central heisenfram terminal. You do know what a bilateral kelilactiral is, don't you?"
- Commander William T. Riker
"Of course I do, human! I am not stupid!"
- Morta
There is a species of minifig for whom no matter how good something is, they know how they could make it better - usually by making all the other parts worse. Tunnel-visionaries with the ability to hold themselves oblivious to the big picture for the sake of optimizing single features have what it takes to become a successful Engineer.
Specialty: Rationalism
Rationalism Specialty (+1CP): allows a Construction Action to Rationalize modifications to existing objects and devices
"You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!"
- Bureaucrat Number 1.0
No matter how misguided, counterproductive, or insane the Engineer's ideas may be, his Technical School training ensures that they will always at least be Technically Correct. Reductivism, myopic problematization, and punctilious obfuscatory jargonizing allow him "solve" any problem with the power of Technobabble. Engineers and internet debaters alike call this technique Rationalism, and will happily list a hundred reasons with links and citations explaining why everyone else is wrong to think there's nothing rational about it.
Using a Construction Action, an Engineering Tool (usually coffee), and the power of Rationalism, an Engineer can Rationalize performance tradeoffs that make no logical sense, rerouting a Specialty
from the samoflange distributors to add to the subspace induction processor core in complete contravention of both the warranty and the laws of Physix, and without regard to whether the object has samoflanges or subspace induction to begin with.
| Rationalism Mods | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Positive Mod | Negative Mod | Notes |
| Vehicles and Structures | |||
| Power | Supercharged: + to Power | Fuel Efficient: - to Power | Creations with 4 or more Power |
| Movement | Turbocharged: +" to Move or Thrust | Comfort Ride: -" to Move or Thrust | Creations with 4" or more Move or Thrust |
| Armor | Reinforced: + to Armor | Easy Access: - to Armor |
In order to properly Rationalize a performance shift, an Engineer must have an Engineering Tool and access to the working parts of the device he's Rationalizing. He declares his Technobabble justification, selecting one positive Mod and one negative Mod, and takes a Construction Action.
At the beginning of his following turn, if his Construction Action wasn't interrupted, the Rationalization is successful, and the positive and negative Mods are both applied. He removes one or more pieces from the Rationalized object and attaches them to a different part of the object, to show that it's been modified. (If the object doesn't have removable pieces, he can add a new element at random.) Neither the Technobabble nor the modification are required to make any sense whatsoever.
If the Construction Action is interrupted, then the Rationalization is incomplete. The Engineer removes one or more pieces from the object and does not reattach them. The object now has the negative Mod applied, but not the positive Mod.
Existing Mods can be completed (if incomplete) or reversed by Engineers with another Construction Action. They can also be destroyed by Component Damage to the moved pieces, canceling the positive Mod but leaving the negative Mod in effect.
The Medik
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 6 | 1* | |
| * Must carry a Medikal Tool | ||||
| Specialty Ker-Triage! |
The Medik
(10.2: The Medik) A minifig's greatest value is his capacity for suffering horribly for Humans' entertainment, but there are hard limits to how much abuse he can take before falling over dead. The Medik is the minifigs' attempt to address this shortcoming.
Specialty: Ker-Triage! Ker-Triage! Specialty (+2CP): allows a Construction Action to roll on the Ker-Triage! Table to revive fallen minifigs and Creatures In the heat of battle, there's no time to mend wounds or heal injuries. Thankfully, literal weeks of Medikal training allow a Medik to perform Ker-Triage!, instantly assessing the number of limbs they need to amputate to get a fallen minifig or Creature back into combat and fighting again.
| Ker-Triage! | |
|---|---|
| Roll | Amputations |
| Crit Success | No Amputations; instant revival |
| 5+ | No Amputations |
| 4 | 1 Amputation |
| 3 | 2 Amputations |
| 2 | 3 Amputations |
| Crit Fail | Head Amputated |
When operating on a fallen minifig or other Creature, the Medik takes a Construction Action and begins operating.
At the beginning of the Medik's next turn, if his Construction Action wasn't interrupted, he rolls a (if he's using a proper Medikal Tool) or a (if he's improvising with a bladed weapon or other cutting tool) and amputates the number of arms, legs, and/or heads indicated by the Ker-Triage! Table (see sidebar). If the patient loses its last remaining head, then it's permanently dead and no further Ker-Triage! can save it. Otherwise, the Creature can jump up with whatever limbs it has remaining and take its Movement and Action as usual on its following turn (or immediately, if the Medik rolled a Critical Success). Minifigs and minifig-sized Creatures are brought back up to full strength, minus whatever limbs they lost in the process. Larger Creatures are brought back up to an Effective Size of 1".
If the Medik's Construction Action is interrupted, he still makes the Ker-Triage! Roll and removes the number of limbs indicated, but the patient is not revived. As long as the patient still has at least one head, the Medik may continue attempting Ker-Triage! on subsequent turns.
The Cybernetik
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 6 | 1* | |
| * Must carry a Science Utensil | ||||
| Specialty Mad Science |
The Cybernetik
Haphazard repairs to machines and minifigs may be enough to satisfy Mechaniks and Mediks, but such petty tinkering holds no interest for the Cybernetik. His desire isn't to play god himself, but to outrage the widest variety of existing gods at once, and as frequently and thoroughly as possible. Rather than fixing damaged mechanical and biological assets, he uses the opportunity to graft them together in the most unnatural and offensive ways he can devise.
Specialty: Mad Science Ker-Triage! Specialty (+2CP):
allows a Construction Action to combine mechanical and biological creations within
inches
Using Mad Science and a proper Science Utensil, a Cybernetik can declare a Construction Action to begin combining mechanical and biological parts in direct contravention of minifig decency. His Construction Action is similar to a Mechanik's, except that he can only attach biological parts to mechanical ones, and vice versa. He will never attach machine parts to machines, or biological parts to biology - not because he lacks the skills, but to do so would go against his code of violating ethics (and against the strict trade agreements imposed by the Mechaniks' Union and Mediks' Association).
During a Mad Science Construction Action, a Cybernetik can utilize and combine all loose mechanical and biological parts within inches. He could, for instance, add an antenna to a decapitated soldier to control the body by remote, and attach the soldier's head to a hot dog cart to give it a Mind of its own. He could graft the hot dog cart's wheels to the torso of the hot dog vendor to replace his amputated legs, and graft the hot dogs onto the soldier's assault rifle for no reason whatsoever. The resulting monstrosities receive the same stats as a Mechanik's Field Constructions (7.3: Field Construction), with any newly reanimated Minds treated as Incompetent (
) and suffering from Stupidity (10.1: Minds).
Retroactive Kontinuity
Stealth can be tricky to keep track of when not only the positions of units but the physical structure of the battlefield can change from turn to turn.
When major targets move around or major navigation routes are altered, it can be a good idea to check the distance to any Hidden units' Last Known Locations and determine whether they could have reached them before the change. Even if he has no plans to cross a bridge that just got destroyed, hop a train that's departing, or steal a vital cookie in the train's cookie car, a Hidden unit may want to check the distance and announce "Remember that I could have made it there if I needed to," in order to keep his options open later.
Covert Units
Minifig violence, when properly applied, tends to be loud and obvious to everyone who's not killed instantly. Minifigs with a taste for Covert action are rare, since time spent hiding and sneaking around is time that could have been better spent blowing stuff up spectacularly. But there are always a select few for whom the look on the face of a hornswoggled enemy or a hoodwinked superior officer can make all the missed explosions worthwhile.
Scouts and Hidden Units
Scouts (and and other units with the Tracking Specialty) automatically detect any Hidden units within their field of view. A Scout's player may have to ask a Hidden unit's player whether or not the Hidden unit is within the area of his or her Scout's field of view, since it won't always be obvious.
If the opponent decides the Hidden unit is within the visible area, then the unit is revealed immediately.
If the unit isn't in the area, but its Hidden movement path crossed through the area, then the Tracking Scout detects the unit's trail. The Hidden unit's player must move the Last Known Location Marker along the unit's hidden movement path to wherever it exited the area, spending Hidden Movement counters as necessary to do so.
If the Hidden unit is not in the area, then its player must say so, and may not later choose a path that would have taken it through that area before that turn.
Covert Units rely on Stealth and Shenanigans to frustrate their enemies and sabotage their efforts. Unfortunately, covert action has the potential to frustrate Humans as well, especially ones who are younger or new to wargaming. Hidden movement can require a heavier than usual amount of fudging and hand-waving when the effects of a covert action are discovered long after the fact, as players struggle to remember four or five turns later whether that guard was standing in the right place to get assassinated, or whether that Scout was looking the other way, or whether that helicopter was on the landing pad at the right time to be sabotaged. Covert play isn't a fit for all games or all players, and Human players should discuss whether they're interested in this style of gameplay as a group before they agree to incorporate it into a battle.
Rather than relying on fallible Human memory, players who rely on covert action can benefit from keeping a smartphone handy to take photos of the battlefield when they announce a Shenanigan, or even every turn if the battle is particularly complicated and they've been particularly drinking.
Specialty: Stealth Stealth Specialty (+1CP): adds 1/3 cover; allows Hidden movement Through camouflage, misdirection, social anxiety, and the obsessive-compulsive drive to minimize his own presence in any situation, a covert unit's Stealth gives him one less section of minifig visibility than logic would suggest. In a completely exposed position, a Stealth unit is treated as having only two minifig sections visible, inflicting a -1 Action Penalty for anyone targeting him. With two minifig sections visible, Stealth reduces it to one (-2 to the Action Roll), and with only one section visible the Stealth unit is effectively invisible (-5 to enemy attacks, if they even know he's there at all) (5.1: Making Attacks).
If a Stealth minifig or unit is invisible to all enemies at the beginning of his turn (that is, he has at least 2/3 cover from any enemy unit on the field capable of spotting him), he can use his Action to make his Stealth complete and become Hidden. The Hidden unit is removed from the field, and a Last Known Location Marker (often a flag or red brick "X") is added in its place.
The unit's player places a single counter (a 1x1 brick, normally) next to the Last Known Location. This pip is the first in a pile of Hidden Movement counters, used to keep track of how many turns a Stealth unit has remained Hidden. At the beginning of each of the Hidden unit's subsequent turns, if it remains Hidden, the player adds an additional Hidden Movement counter to the stack.
While Hidden, a unit is immediately revealed if he takes any Action (other than unique Shenanigans described in their respective Specialties). Otherwise, there's little to prevent him from secretly moving around wherever he wants. The player controlling the unit may try to keep mental track of where it's moving as the battle progresses, but it's more fun to wait until the moment the Hidden unit is revealed to discover that it's Koincidentally taken exactly the most convenient path to exactly the most convenient spot.
When a Hidden unit is revealed, its player gets to decide where it spent all that time moving to, and what path it took to get there. For every two Hidden Movement counters next to the unit's Last Known Location, the unit is considered to have spent one full turn of Movement while Hidden. (Stealth requires a lot of holding still and moving slowly, so the Movement for the other half of the turns is wasted.) The Hidden unit can attempt to move to any position he could have reached within that many turns of normal Movement.
Once the destination and pathway are selected, an enemy player can select one of their units along the pathway to attempt to Detect the unit's Hidden movement. (If multiple players have units along the pathway, they may have to make a What I Say Goes roll to decide who gets to make the Detection attempt.) The Detecting unit rolls its Action die to determine the number of inches in its Detection Distance. If any section of the pathway is within that range of the Detecting unit, then it can choose to Detect the Hidden unit at any point along that section of the path, "discovering" it before it had the chance to travel any further. If not, then the Hidden unit reaches its destination safely, and can take its Movement and Action as usual.
Units don't have to be able to see an area in order to Detect a Hidden unit there. Even with their vaunted Stealth, Hidden units have been known to clumsily betray their location with the noise of a snapping twig or the scent of an unplanned fart, just like the rest of us.
Measuring Without Measuring
When pulling Shenanigans, it can be difficult to measure exact distances without giving away the location of Hidden units and their underhanded pranks.
Players should try to be forgiving towards covert estimates in this regard. Where extra precision is called for, they can agree to politely look away while the covert player measures any necessary distances.
Incognito Shenanigans
Shenanigans are usually pulled by units who are Hidden, but in an intrigue-focused battle, they can also be pulled by undercover units who are visible but who haven't been identified yet.
In a situation with a number of wandering Civilian or other neutrally-controlled units, players can agree that they've infiltrated some of their Covert units into the neutral population who can pull Shenanigans while still incognito as if they were Hidden.
This may require taking careful photos of Civilian positions each turn, so that once players pick a Civilian to reveal as an undercover unit, they can review the unit's movement after the fact to see where it was when Shenanigans took place.
Shenanigans Under normal conditions, a Hidden minifig is immediately revealed if he takes any Action. Some covert Specialties grant exceptions to this rule, allowing Hidden minifigs to pull specific Shenanigans without blowing their cover. Depending on the Specialty, Shenanigans may allow minifigs to sabotage devices, pick pockets, set traps, or stab victims in the back.
When a Hidden minifig attempts a Shenanigan, the player declares that Shenanigans are being pulled, but doesn't declare what kind, or where. The player adds a different-colored Shenanigan Counter to the unit's stack of Hidden Movement counters to indicate the point in the Hidden Movement when a Shenanigan took place. (Sometimes the player takes a smartphone photo of the battlefield as well, in case they want the option to change their mind later about exactly what kind of Shenanigan they were pulling that turn.)
The player then asks an opponent to make a Detection Roll. However, the opponent (and sometimes even the player) won't know exactly which unit is attempting Detection or the location of the Shenanigan. The opponent rolls a d6 and adds one for each Shenanigan Counter in the Hidden minifig's stack of Hidden Movement counters (incuding the one just added).
This Detection Roll is for a generic enemy with a standard Action . When the Shenanigan is revealed, if the nearest unit turns out to have had a different Action die, inches are added to or subtracted from the Detection Distance to compensate: -1" for an Action , +1" for , +2" for , and +3" for .
If the Hidden minifig pulls a Shenanigan within this Detection Distance of any enemy unit, whether belonging to that opponent or anyone else, he'll be Detected immediately. Luckily, the player gets to see the Detection Roll before they decide the location of the Shenanigan, and they can choose the target accordingly. Ideally, the Hidden minifig can pick a spot outside the Detection Distance of any enemy units (or anywhere, if the Detection Roll was a Critical Failure) and get away with whatever Shenanigans he wants to, no matter how obvious or ridiculous.
If the Hidden minifig decides it's worth it to pull a Shenanigan within the Detection Distance, he reveals himself. The minifig is no longer Hidden, and the player reveals the path of his Hidden Movement and the locations (but not the details, necessarily) of all the Shenanigans along the way. Although the minifig was Detected, the Shenanigan might not be; the effects of a Shenanigan on Detection depend on the particular Shenanigan.
If the player sees the Detection Roll and decides they can't safely pull a Shenanigan that turn, or if their priorities change later on in the course of Hidden Movement and they decide it would be better not to have pulled a Shenanigan there at all, then they can cancel the Shenanigan with no one the wiser. They still add the Shenanigan Counter to the stack of Hidden Movement counters, and they don't have to tell anyone what happened either way until the minifig or his Shenanigans are revealed later.
Tracking Covert Activity As any Easter egg hunter can tell you, whenever stuff is Hidden, there's a danger that it never becomes un-Hidden, and the game drags on forever. Luckily, Hidden Movement and Shenanigans can be Tracked.
The easiest way to Track covert activity is with a Scout's Tracking Specialty. Tracking allows a Scout to see all Hidden and invisible units and objects, including the invisible evidence left by Hidden Movement and Shenanigans. The Scout's player asks the Hidden unit's player whether any Hidden Movement or Shenanigans took place within the Scout's current field of view. If the answer is no, then whenever Hidden Movement or Shenanigans are revealed later, they can't be "discovered" to have taken place in that area prior to the Scout's arrival.
If the Hidden unit's player admits that yes, covert action took place in the area, then they must reveal the path the Hidden unit took through the area, and the nature of the Shenanigans that took place there. The Hidden unit spends its Hidden Movement counters (two counters per one turn worth of Movement) and Shenanigan Counters to advance its Last Known Location Marker to wherever it exited the area - or if the unit is still in the area, it's revealed immediately.
Units trying to Track down a Hidden unit without the Tracking Specialty must take a more methodical approach, starting at the Last Known Location and Tracking the trail from there. A unit at the Last Known Location can spend an Action to make a Detection Roll to see which way the path of Hidden Movement went. The Hidden unit must then spend Hidden Movement counters to move the Last Known Location Marker to wherever the path of Hidden Movement left the area covered by the Detection Distance. If any Shenanigans took place within the Detection Distance, or if the Hidden unit is still within it, they are immediately revealed.
The Thief
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 7 | 1 | |
| Specialties Stealth Parkour! Burglary |
The Thief
It's universally agreed that the best way to gain access to valuable enemy assets is by blowing up all the obstacles in between, including (and especially) any enemies who may be in temporary possession of those assets. But explosions draw a lot of attention, and they sometimes destroy the assets in the process. When a sneakier hand is called for, minifigs turn to the Thief.
A Thief doesn't care about the normal kinds of violence that other minifigs are into. Thieves are interested in violating more abstract targets, like the concept of boundaries or security or property rights. If there are places minifigs aren't allowed to go, or objects they aren't allowed to take, then that's exactly where the Thief wants to be, and he uses a combination of Parkour! and Burglary to get there.
Specialty: Parkour! Parkour! Specialty (+1CP): allows acrobatics of dubious credibility during regular or Hidden Movement
"The goal is to get from point A to point B as creatively as possible. So, technically, they are doing parkour, as long as point A is delusion and point B is the hospital."
- Jim Halpert
Parkour! is a magic word that grants the combined powers of acrobatics, recklessness, poor decision-making skills, and skateboard culture, giving Thieves the ability to ignore both physical obstacles and any instinct for self-preservation. Among Thieves, Parkour! can be incorporated into both normal and Hidden Movement, and doesn't cost an Action.
By ancient tradition, practitioners of Parkour! call "Parkour!" whenever they survive a maneuver, but Thieves make this call very quietly. Anyone spotted or heard using Parkour! is revealed as a Thief, and young Thieves' inability to restrain themselves from doing acrobatic Parkour! pirouettes off of every available handle leads them to either develop their Stealth abilities rapidly or spend a lot of time getting roughed up by local authorities.
Using Parkour!, a Thief can cartwheel along tightropes, climb sheer walls, jump out of one speeding car into another, and somersault through deadly laser tripwire mazes as easily as normal running. As long as there are solid objects within his Move range for him to grab hold of or launch off from, he can move at full speed in many situations that would slow other minifigs to Half Speed or block them entirely.
Parkour! also protects from Damage and Disruption from falls, letting Thieves safely roll to their feet out of the impact from jumping off roofs, falling out of airplanes, being launched out of Launchers, or being dropped from orbit.
Specialty: Burglary Burglary Specialty (+1CP): allows Breaking and Entering and Theft Shenanigans while Hidden Burglary grants a Thief two special Actions. Breaking and Entering lets him bypass or disable security systems, and Theft lets him steal items without being noticed. Both can be used as Shenanigans while Hidden or as regular Actions while visible.
Breaking and Entering lets a Thief automatically detect any security system within his field of view or which is about to potentially affect him. If he can gain access to a security system, he can spend an Action to gain instant mastery over it as if he were the rightful Operator. Traps, Triggers, door locks, security cameras, and computer passwords are open books to a Thief using Breaking and Entering; he can activate, deactivate, or retarget them at will.
While Hidden, a Thief can use Breaking and Entering as a Shenanigan to take control of a security system. This Shenanigan is always successful, even if it's Detected.
Theft lets a Thief spend an Action to try to pilfer objects without anyone noticing. The Thief must have enough free hands and sufficient carrying capacity for the objects being stolen. Theft is always treated as a Shenanigan, whether the Thief is Hidden or not - even a visible Thief might want to pilfer something along the course of his Movement without letting opponents know exactly what was taken. He can also attempt reverse Thefts. Secretly planting evidence for a frame-up or hiding a live Explosive inside an enemy's pants are classic Thief Shenanigans.
When a Thief steals an object, and the Shenanigan is within an opponent's Detection Distance, then the Thief is Detected as he grabs the object. Otherwise, the Theft goes undetected; to the Human players, the object looks like it's still right where it's supposed to be. If another unit later tries to interact with the object directly, the Thief's player notifies everyone that the object is missing. If the object was stolen while the Thief was Hidden, the Thief's Hidden Movement and Shenanigans up to that point are revealed, and the Thief spends his Hidden Movement counters to advance his Last Known Location to the site of the Theft. If the Thief is later Detected or revealed before the Theft is discovered, the Thief's player reveals where the Theft Shenanigan occurred, but not necessarily which object was stolen.
A Thief can attempt to steal objects directly from opposing units, whether they're holding the objects in back pockets or bare hands, but this is very difficult. Because the objects are zero inches away from the Detecting units, the Detection Distance roll can only fail on a Critical Failure. If a Thief is Detected while trying to steal directly from an enemy unit, it's treated as an unsuccessful Grab. The two units are entered into Close Combat, and the Detecting unit can immediately Counterattack.
The Infiltrator
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| Specialties Impersonation |
The Infiltrator
"Loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it."
- Mark Twain
Not all Covert units rely on Stealth to evade detection. For some, the best place to hide is in plain sight, as an inside man in an enemy's (or ally's!) forces. Sometimes it's a turncoat enemy unit who sold his allegiance for bribes or blackmail, sometimes a cunning spy who developed a false persona and weaseled his way in. Sometimes it's a useful idiot who's fallen victim to anti-Human propaganda and thinks that opposing his Human is the highest form of loyalty. The Infiltrator is always the last minifig you expect.
Specialty: Impersonation Impersonation Specialty (+1CP): once per battle, allows the unit to replace any non-unique unit An Infiltrator isn't placed on the field at the beginning of battle like other minifigs. Like a Hidden unit, he's held off to the side, but not due to Stealth. He's using Impersonation, working undercover as another minifig on the field. Which unit he's disguised as, or even which player's team he's pretending to be on, are a mystery even to his own player until it's time to make his dramatic reveal.
The Infiltrator can reveal himself at will and at any time, during his own or any other player's turn. The Infiltrator's player picks any non-unique minifig on the field to reveal as having been Impersonated all along. The Impersonated minifig must not be its player's only remaining Specialist of that type (i.e., if a player has three Officers, then any one of them can be Impersonated; if the player is down to his last remaining Officer, then that Officer is under too much scrutiny to secretly be an Infiltrator). Similarly, if the Impersonated minifig is operating a Vehicle, Creature, or a mounted Weapon, it also can't be unique (if a player has two Pilots driving identical or similar tanks, one of the Pilots can be Impersonated, but if the player only has one Pilot driving a tank, he can't secretly be an Infiltrator, even if the player has other surviving Pilots on the field). Finally, the minifig can't be a named character, unless the player has named all of his or her minifigs in a cheap ploy to prevent Impersonation.
If there are no non-unique minifigs left on the field for the Infiltrator to Impersonate, it means he was killed before anyone realized who he was. The Infiltrator's player is free to select any non-unique corpse to have retroactively been the dead Infiltrator, or to declare that the Infiltrator called in sick that day.
When the Infiltrator is revealed, the player immediately replaces the opposing player's Impersonated minfig with the Infiltrator minifig (or for a more realistic reveal, the player replaces the minifig's head and leaves the outfit the same). The revealed Infiltrator keeps the Impersonated minifig's equipment, but uses his own stats, losing whatever stats and Specialties belonged to the minifig he was Impersonating. If it's not already his own player's turn, the Infiltrator interrupts the current player's turn to take a solo turn immediately. From that point forward, he takes his turn during his own player's turn as normal.
For the player whose minifig was being Impersonated, the betrayal causes righteous outrage among his forces, in the form of Outrage Bennies equal to the Action Die of the replaced unit. The betrayed opponent receives one Instant Outrage Benny when the Infiltrator first appears, plus a number of Almighty Outrage Bennies equal to the Size of any Creature, Vehicle, or Structure the replaced unit was Operating at the moment of his replacement. Unless the two players are allies, the betrayed opponent receives another Instant Outrage Benny at the beginning of each of their own turns for as long as the Infiltrator is alive and on the field. Outrage Bennies can only be used against the team that caused the Outrage.
Once his mission is complete, an Infiltrator may try to kill himself to stop the betrayed team from collecting any more Outrage Bennies. Treat this as a self-targeted attack that Automatically Hits. To keep the Bennies flowing, it's often in the betrayed team's best interest to capture the Infiltrator and keep him alive but incapacitated.
The Saboteur
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 7 | 1* | |
| * must carry a Two-Handed Tool | ||||
| Specialties Stealth Sabotage |
The Saboteur
Minifigs are rarely fans of delayed gratification, but there are a perverse few who believe that explosions are a dish best served cold. The Saboteur delights in creating special surprises for opponents to discover later, disrupting the workaday routines of enemies and friends alike.
Specialty: Sabotage Sabotage Specialty (+1CP): allows a Construction Action or Shenanigan to place a Sabotage marker on an object The Saboteur is an incorrigible jackanape whose hilarious pranksterism ranges from eye-roll annoyances to scorched earth and planetary genocide. If a system exists, the noble Saboteur stands ready to throw wrenches into it and then proudly sneak off before anyone notices.
| Sabotage Effects | |
|---|---|
| Type | Negative Mod |
| Vehicles, Structures, and Creatures | |
| Power | Fuel Efficient: - to Power |
| Movement | Comfort Ride: -" to Move or Thrust |
| Armor | Easy Access: - to Armor |
| Weapons and Devices | |
| Use | Sawed Off: + to Use |
| Range | Close Quarters: -" to Range |
| Effect | Surgical: - to Damage or Effect |
A Saboteur with a tool can place a Sabotage on any object he has uninterrupted access to, whether it's the treads of a tank, the supports of a river dam, the horses pulling a chariot, or the shoelaces of his ruling monarch. The Saboteur's player can then activate it at any time, even if the Saboteur himself is dead or on vacation. The Sabotage die can activate with the same effect as one of the Engineer's negative Rationalism Mods, without any need for Rationalizing or minimum stat requirements, or the Saboteur can secretly leave behind a carried minifig weapon as a Booby Trap that Automatically Hits either whoever touches the Sabotage or the Sabotaged object itself, whenever the Saboteur's player decides to trigger it.
The Saboteur can commit Sabotage as a Shenanigan if Hidden, or as a Construction Action otherwise. As long as the Shenanigan or Construction Action isn't interrupted, he can place one Sabotage on any object or system that doesn't already have a Sabotage (he can place separate Sabotages on multiple systems on a single large object, however).
If a Sabotage is visible (because its Shenanigan was revealed, or it was openly placed as a Construction Action) then the Saboteur places a Sabotage Marker on the affected object (any out-of-place brick will do). Any unit who gets close enough to touch a Sabotage Marker can tell what kind of Sabotage has taken place (this may set it off if it's a Booby Trap). Mechaniks, Mediks, and Thieves are experts on mechanikal, biologikal, and Booby Trap Sabotages respectively. They can automatically detect and identify these Sabotages on sight, and repair or disable them with an Action.
The Saboteur doesn't have to decide the effect of his Sabotage until it's identified by an enemy unit or activated by his player. Negative Mods are permanent until repaired by an appropriate Specialist. Booby Traps activate once and then return to being a regular minifig weapon (except for Explosives, on account of having exploded).
The Assassin
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 7 | 1 | |
| Specialties Stealth Vendetta |
The Assassin
“Stalin: Stop sending people to kill me! We’ve already captured five of them, one with a bomb and another with a rifle. If you don’t stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow and I certainly won't have to send a second.”
- Josip Broz Tito
Minifigs love delivering violence to their enemies, and most aren't especially picky about which ones are on the receiving end. An enemy sports mascot bleeds just as hard as an enemy general when hit with a knocked-over apartment complex.
A minifig's healthy violent impulses can be damaged by toxic brushes with Peace, however. Minifigs afflicted with Post-Tranquility Stability Disorder can become hyperfocused and obsessive, gaining an un-minifiglike ability to pay basic attention to who they're attacking. These selective killers become Assassins, able to ignore all distractions and meat shields on their way to a chosen target.
Specialty: Vendetta Vendetta Specialty (+1CP): can Single Out any target, ignoring Squad mates, RedShirts, and other distractions Important minifigs can be difficult to attack directly, thanks to interfering bodyguards, RedShirts, and Squad mates jumping in the way of every axe chop and death ray. A Stealthy Assassin can ignore all of these. For the first turn after an Assassin is revealed from being Hidden, whether by choice or by Detection, his Vendetta against his target gives him unnatural focus. His Skill die for making attacks with minifig weapons is treated as a , and his attacks can't be intercepted by minifigs other than the target.
This d10 is treated as a form of Skill Bonus rather than a Specialty die. Teks can't assist a Vendetta ability, and Commandos can't copy it.
The disadvantage of this extreme focus is that the Assassin can't focus on anyone or anything else for that turn. He can't Parry attacks from other enemies, and he can't make Response Actions. Until the beginning of his next turn, he's aware of only his singular target and no one else.
Elite Units
"I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest."
- Muhammad Ali
The minifigs whom all the other minifigs wish they were aren't the minifigs making the strategic decisions. They're the minifigs who ignore those minifigs' decisions and spend the battle doing (and wearing) whatever they want. Elite units are answerable only to themselves, despite what their so-called superiors may think.
The Commando
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 6 | 1 | |
| Specialties Field Training |
The Commando
Not all minifigs play well with others. The only reason any of them can claim to is because a minifig's idea of "playing well" includes open combat. Even against that standard, there are antisocial loners who fall short. When a minifig is so tired of dealing with his peers that he can't even join them in cooperative homicide, he inevitably takes off his underpants and goes Commando.
Specialty: Field Training Field Training Specialty (+2CP): can copy any Specialty marked with a Specialty die, using a Specialty die one size smaller, as long as at least one allied unit possessed it at the beginning of the battle A minifig going Commando is much less restricted than other Specialists. Thanks to his independent nature and extensive solo Field Training, the Commando has enough field knowledge of his allies' major Specialties to strike out on his own and not have to put up with any of them. He has a basic familiarity with any of their Specialties marked with a Specialty die, but not a mastery of any of them - when he copies a Specialty, he uses a Specialty die one size smaller.
The Commando can only copy Specialties that were possessed by at least one of his allies at the beginning of the battle - otherwise, his teammates don't know the techniques, so he never had a chance to learn them. An army that sends a Cybernetik into battle has proven that they're familiar with Mad Science , and that they think it's an important battlefield capability; it makes sense when their Commando tries his half-assed Mad Science on his own. By contrast, in an army without a single Engineers and his Rationalism , a Commando can't suddenly reveal a skill in Rationalism .
Tek minifigs can't use Assistance to improve a Commando's copied Specialties. If Commandos wanted to accept help from a teammate, they wouldn't have become Commandos in the first place.
The Hero
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7" | 2d6 | 12 | 2 | |
| Specialties Heroic Ego |
The Hero
(Chapter 6: Minifig Heroes)
"We can't all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."
- Will Rogers
The Hero transcends the limitations of lesser minifigs by strength of personality and the power of a fashionable wardrobe, so long as an ego blown out of all proportion counts as a personality and a complete absence of restraint counts as a fashion.
Specialty: Heroic Ego Heroic Ego Specialty (+3CP / +1Ü): can take one Heroic Feat per turn appropriate to his Cliché. can inspire nearby friendly units (within Action Roll inches) to RedShirt and take Damage meant for the Hero. Becomes Cranky in the presence of other Heroic units or items. Rules, restraints, and logik are beneath the Hero and his massive Ego. Once per turn, he can ignore them completely in a Heroic Feat appropriate to his Heroic Cliché, and more often than not, they'll ignore him right back. The Hero's player declares the Feat and its results and rolls 1d6. One opponent offers their competing idea about what the results of such an attempted Feat would be, usually much less favorable to the Hero, and also rolls a 1d6. If the Hero's player rolls higher, or if the rolls are tied, then the Feat succeeds. If the opponent rolls higher, than the Feat fails, with whatever consequences logically result.
Taking Damage is also beneath a Hero, who has neither the time nor the inclination to bleed. When a Hero is about to be struck by incoming Damage, the Hero rolls his Action . If there's an allied unit within that many inches, they become a plot-convenient RedShirt and jump in the way instead, knocking the Hero out of the blast radius if necessary.
Of all the things that are beneath a Hero, sharing a battlefield with Heroic teammates is the beneathest of all. Enemy Heroes are good for killing, and Heroes on allied teams are good for dramatically stabbing in the back when the teams inevitably betray each other, but another Hero on his own team is an insult that no Hero can overlook. There can only be one star of the show, and he doesn't like getting upstaged. If a single player fields multiple Heroes, then their clashing Egos make each of them Cranky, and the more Heroes there are, the Crankier they get.
For every other conscious unit on his team with a Heroic Ego or a Heroic Weapon, the hero recieves a -1 Cranky Penalty to each die he rolls, whether for Skill, Armor, Damage dealt, Heroic Feats, or RedShirt distance.
Command Units
While not Heroes in their own right, there are certain minifigs that are possessed of a pigheaded mindset that leads them to push their comrades harder than most would find sensible or even conscionable. When confronted with their own lack of accomplishment or ability, they only increase the pressure on everyone around them in response. The fine art of keeping the focus on whether other minifigs are doing their jobs, and as far away as possible from their own performance, is what separates a minifig cut out for Command from his productive peers.
The Officer
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 4 | 1 | |
| * subject to Stupidity if not in a Squad | ||||
| Specialties Coordination |
The Officer
An Officer lives to tell other minifigs how to do their jobs properly. No matter how much skill, talent, and experience a group of minifigs has, and how much nothing whatsoever the Officer has in comparison, the Officer is compelled to micromanage and critique them relentlessly in order to justify his slightly fancier uniform. Army sergeants, pirate first mates, corporate middle managers, and art directors are all examples of Officers.
The Officer is lost without other minifigs to boss around, and his entire existence revolves around his Squad (11.3: Squads). When he's part of a Squad, his dumb ideas are mitigated by the smarter underlings carrying them out. Whenever an Officer isn't part of a Squad at the beginning of his turn, he's subject to Stupidity like other Incompetent units (10.1: Minds).
Specialty: Coordination Coordination Specialty (+1CP): can spend an Action to increase the Action dice of his Squad mates by one die size, up to The Officer's one advantage is his natural ability to foster Coordination among the members of his Squad, pushing them to all-new slightly-improved levels of performance. Once per turn, the Officer can spend an Action to give detailed directions and managerial feedback to the Squad, creating a momentary spirit of solidarity and unity among the Squad members as a direct effect of their shared irritation at his terrible ideas.
Coordination increases the effectiveness of combined Squad Actions. As long as at least two Squad members are participating in an Action together, their Skill dice are increased by one size for that Action, up to the Officer's Specialty die size of . This is especially useful when an Officer leads a Squad into Close Combat, where their amplified Skill dice increase their chances to hit, the Damage they inflict, and their ability to Counter their opponent's responses.
Coordination is not cumulative. No matter how many Officers are annoying the Squad, their Skill dice aren't increased more than one size. If a Tek is Assisting the Officer, the increase isn't any larger, but the maximum die size is raised to a .
The Leader
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 5 | 1* | |
| * must carry a Motivational Tool | ||||
| Specialty Inspiration |
The Leader
While other minifigs are toiling away to achieve objectives and destroy enemies, the Leader is a visionary who sees the bigger picture: combat is meaningless without an audience, and the audience deserves to be entertained, and as long as someone's going to be entertained then it might as well be him. Using music, dancing, gymnastics, motivational speeches, slapstick self-injury, or whatever it takes, a Leader Inspires the forces around him to ever more spectacular feats of chaos and destruction for the sake of his own front-row-seat experience.
Specialty: Inspiration Inspiration Specialty (+1CP): can spend an Action and use a Motivational Tool to grant a Action re-roll or to add to a stat for a target unit or Squad A Leader's job is to get his allies pumped up for combat. An extra surge of motivation at the right moment can get them to push past normal limits and succeed where they might have failed, or succeed excessively and ridiculously where they might have only had a boring regular success.
A Leader's ability to create Inspiration is based in his dedicated Motivational Tool. For political rabble-rousers it's the MegaPhone, for war drummers it's the WarDrums, for cheerleaders it's the Pom-Poms, for sports mascots it's the Furry Costume, and for heavy metal lead guitarists it's the Electric Guitar.
Using his Motivational Tool, a Leader can spend an Action to target any unit or Squad in his field of view within ten inches for a of Inspiration. He can roll this die and give them the result an Inspiration bonus to one stat for the turn: adding inches to Move, points to Armor, or weapon inches to Power.
If he wants to boost his targets' Skill instead, he can give them the as a backup Skill die for the turn. Whenever they make a Skill Roll, they roll their own Skill die and the Inspiration and keep the higher of the two rolls.
The Commander
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 6 | 1* | |
| * must carry a Communications Device | ||||
| Specialty Strategic Intervention |
The Commander
"Kill a man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god."
- Jean Rostand
After all the other minifigs have picked their careers and started their training, any undecided minifig left behind is bagged up and hauled away by benevolent handlers to a forced logistiks boot camp. His indecision and inability to commit to a course of action within a reasonable timeframe indicates a bright future as a Commander.
Specialty: Strategic Intervention Strategic Intervention Specialty (+1CP): after First Blood, can add one brick to a Strategy Pile per turn, which can then be spent on a Strategic Intervention Minifigs in the field look to the Commander to offer strategic direction and coordination. He doesn't have any to offer; his presence is only intended to create the illusion that a strategy exists. The Commander's job is to stall for as long as he can, keeping his options open until the last possible minute before calling in a Strategic Intervention.
Once First Blood has been awarded, the Commander begins using his Communications Device to relay information to a distant headquarters each turn to build up Strategy.
At the beginning of each turn following First Blood, the Commander's player adds one brick to his Strategy Pile, held off to the side of the battlefield. This pile shows how much Strategy the Commander has saved up in reserve. Once the Commander is ready to call in one or more Strategic Interventions, he can spend these bricks on Reinforcements and Strategic Bombardment, but he can no longer collect new bricks.
If the Commander is incapacitated or killed, the Strategy Pile is lost. If he recovers or is revived by a Medik, he has to start over from scratch.
Players can agree to give their Commanders access to other sources of Strategic income and deployment options, depending on the players' tolerance for house rules and desired style of play. Extra Unit Inches or Construction Points can be looted from battlefield treasure caches, carried over between games, or harvested by Workers, and then be made available to Commanders as a backup supply for their Strategy budget. Production facilities staffed by the appropriate Support units can construct new Reinforcement units, and teleportation chambers and magic portals can beam them in directly rather than having to summon them from the edges of the battlefield.
Reinforcements When a Commander calls in Reinforcements, he can spend bricks from his Strategy Pile to buy new units and equipment. Depending which budgeting system the players are using, each brick is worth either one Unit Inch or 1d6 Construction Points. If players are using a Military Draft or no budget at all, then each Strategy Brick is worth one regular minifig, Specialist, or Horse, properly equipped, or one half of an Elite or Command Specialist (in these cases it's often best to spend two Strategy Bricks in order to buy two halves put together). These Reinforcements can enter from any edge of the battlefield under the Commander's allies' control - that is, any part of the battlefield edge that's closer to an allied unit than it is to any enemy units. New Reinforcements always arrive at the end of the turn they're called in on, and take their Movement and Action on the following turn.
Depending on how much of a hurry the players are in, and how many loose bricks they have immediately at hand, players with Commanders may want to build some or all of their potential Reinforcement units in advance, or construct them during their opponents' turns.
Strategic Bombardment
| Strategic Bombardment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Strategy Pile Cost | Use | Damage or Effect | Notes |
| Explosive Size is measured in construction bricks rather than inches. | ||||
| Strategic Bombardment | (Size ×1) bricks | (Size ×4) | (Size) × Exp | arrives one turn after firing |
When a Commander calls in a Strategic Bombardment, he can drop one or more Explosives onto any target Marked by an allied Scout, launched from Strategic weapons located somewhere off the map. Depending on the battle, these might be offshore deck artillery, flyby jet airstrikes, orbital death satellites, or powerful wizards launched overhead by magikal trebuchets.
Like long-distance Payloads fired from a high-powered Launcher, the Explosives take a full turn to arrive (8.4: Heavy Explosives). The attacking player places a marker at the intended impact point and waits. At the beginning of the following turn, a distant Gunner makes a Attack Roll against the Use rating of the Strategic Bombardment (or several Attack Rolls, if the Bombardment is broken into multiple smaller Explosives instead of a single large one) to see if the Explosive struck its target, or how many inches it missed by.
The Great Leader
| Skill | Move | Armor | CP | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5" | 4 | 6 | 2 | |
| Specialties Megalomania |
The Great Leader
"So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable."
- Aldous Huxley
Not every army is blessed with the presence of a Great Leader, but when one appears, he's a wonder to behold. Charismatic, dynamic, and always sporting the fanciest hat his civilization has to offer, the Great Leader can do no wrong. The reason the Great Leader can do no wrong is because if anything does go wrong, it's always someone else's fault, and the Great Leader is on the spot to grandly and magnanimously inform everyone of exactly which minifig is responsible - a minifig who's definitely not him.
The Great Leader is beloved by his minifigs because he always lets them know who to hate and why. He catalogues every enemy insult and transgression, and assigns blame for every allied shortcoming, even if he has to make them up whole cloth.
An army can only have one Great Leader.
Specialty: Megalomania Megalomania Specialty (+2CP / +1Ü): can ScapeGoat subordinate units and convert casualties into Outrage Bennies Any run-of-the-mill Leader can view their subordinates as expendable assets. It takes true Megalomania to see their deaths as the valuable political capital they are - the more casualties, the better. By throwing subordinates under the bus and sensationalizing military losses, the Great Leader can stoke Outrage among his followers that drives them into ever-greater heights of frenzy and adoration.
ScapeGoats Once a turn, a Great Leader can ScapeGoat any subordinate unit that hasn't taken its turn yet, blaming them for failures real or imagined and inspiring the troops with his decisive leadership. The Great Leader declares the ScapeGoated unit guilty of treason, sentences it to immediate execution on sight, and hands control of it to an enemy player of his choice.
Because the ScapeGoat unit hasn't taken its turn yet, it immediately does so, interrupting the Great Leader's turn until it's used its full Movement and Action in an attempt to either escape or take revenge. From that point forward, if it survives, it takes its turn with the team of the enemy player now controlling it.
The unit's involuntary betrayal doesn't go unnoticed. The Great Leader's team receives one Instant Outrage Benny against that enemy for each inch in the ScapeGoat's Effective Size (including the Effective Size of any Creature or Vehicle the unit was operating when it was ScapeGoated), and each Instant Outrage Benny is worth a die size equal to the unit's Action die.
The Grand Speech Whenever the Great Leader's forces take casualties, he adds one brick to his faction's Outrage Pile for each minifig killed. Once per battle, he can use this accumulated Outrage to deliver a Grand Speech to the fighting minifigs in the field, sensationalizing the atrocity of their deaths and naming the enemy who deserves to pay the price for them. Each brick in the Outrage Pile is immediately converted into an Instant Outrage Benny against the named enemy.
If the Great Leader wants to increase the level of Outrage before his Grand Speech, he is perfectly within his rights and his character to arrange massacres of his own troops.
11.3: Squads
Running this many soldiers as individual units could take hours. Organized into Squads, there's a much greater chance of players reaching the second turn.
"None of us is as dumb as all of us."
- Despair, Inc.
BrikWars is well set up to send pairs, handfuls, or full half-dozens of individual minifigs and vehicles into tactical skirmishes. For more epic toy campaigns, with units numbering in the dozens or hundreds, handling combatants individually can slow a battle to a crawl. Instead, it's best to group units together into Squads. A Squad moves together, takes its Action together, and attacks and defends together as a single coordinated unit.
Besides improving command efficiency, Squads enjoy a number of other advantages. Attacking and defending as a single unit, a Squad can pool and combine Damage, Momentum, and Counters in a way that its individual units can't, and it can coordinate Skill-based movement like Sprints in order to stay in formation. A Squad also enjoys Safety in Numbers, allowing it to distribute incoming attacks away from its most critical or vulnerable members and soak them up with more durable or expendable ones. And because a Squad is treated as a single unit, many types of bonuses that are normally limited to an individual can be expanded to apply to a whole Squad.
But the most important advantage of organizing units into a Squad is not that it allows them to be directed to horrible deaths with greater machine-like efficiency. It’s that, as they are inevitably slaughtered, they can know that they died as meaningless entries in an org chart rather than as people.
While groups of foot soldiers are the most common, any types of units can be grouped into Squads - Squads of horsemen or assault helicopters operate by the same rules. A Squad is much simpler to handle if it's composed of identical or similar units (a group of knights all on horseback, or a squadron of starfighers), but heterogeneous Squads are just as common (a catapult and its defending crew, or a necromancer and his summoned undead).
Tired of flintlock muskets, this squad of redcoats can't wait to give the rebel colonists a taste of their new submachineguns.
The Squad Plate
"All for one, and one for all!"
- Alexandre Dumas
The constructible nature of brick warriors makes them easy to group into quick formations – just take all the Squad members and stick them to a shared baseplate.
The Squad Plate, in effect, combines a number of lesser units into a single super-unit. Instead of having to move Squad members around individually, players can now pick up the Squad Plate and move them all at once. Instead of handling the Squaddies' attacks individually, players roll Attacks for the Squad Plate all together. Players measure Ranges to or from whichever part of the Squad or Squad Plate is most convenient, and instead of having to touch individual Squad members to objects they want to act on, they touch the object with the Squad Plate and all the Squaddies gain access to it implicitly.
In the best-case scenario, a Squad Plate should be an appropriate size for its Squad. As a very general rule of thumb, there should be a 2x4-stud area for each minifig on foot, for example, or 4x8 for each rider on horseback. These numbers can be fudged quite a bit, however, depending on the sizes of available plates in the players’ collections, and whether the troops need to be arranged in some specific formation.
If players don't have appropriate plates available for their Squads, they'll have to decide who is or isn't in a Squad by mutual agreement rather than by putting them on Squad Plates. In cases like these, Range can be measured to or from any convenient Squad member rather than to the plate.
Units can create, join, leave, or change the formation of a Squad Plate at any time during their own turn. On other players' turns, units aren't able to create or join Squads, but they may be able to leave the Squad Plate as part of a Response Action (for example, if they're forced to Bail out of the path of an incoming attack) or as a consequence of opposing players' actions (usually because they're Knocked Back by an Explosion or Collision).
Squad Movement and Action
A Squad moves as quickly as its slowest member, and is as maneuverable as its least manueverable member. A standard Squad of minifigs has Unlimited Maneuvering, while a Squad of Vehicles or riders on Horseback measures its movement with Forward or Stationary Maneuvering (9.2: Standard Maneuvering).
Combined Movement
If a Squad Plate moves through an impediment that inflicts a Movement Penalty or slows it to Half Speed, then the entire Squad suffers the effects until it clears the obstacle, not just the Squad members directly affected.
A Squad can move through spaces that don't have room for it, if there's enough room for the Squad's individual members to pass through (for instance, moving through an archway wide enough for each of a Squad's minifigs, but too narrow for the entire Squad Plate itself), but a Squad can't end its turn in a position where it doesn't fit. If a Squad is going to be stuck in a position too small for it, the Squad can either disband into individual members, change the shape of its Squad Plate to fit the smaller space, or wait until a later turn when it may be able to clear the obstacle all at once.
Combined Action
A Squad is most effective when several or all of its members take the same Action together for a single Combined Action, although members of a Squad are still allowed to take individual Actions with no penalty. This allows a Squad to treat its members' successful Combined Actions as a cumulative effect, combining (for instance) their Damage from successful Attacks, their Momentum in a Collision, or their Size for the purpose of handling large objects. Importantly, any bonuses from Bennies, SuperNatural Effects, or unit Specialties that affect a Squad as a whole can only be applied to a single Combined Action or movement, not to any separate Actions or movement that Squad members may take individually or in separate combinations.
If a Squad uses its Action to Sprint, it makes a single Sprint Roll with the lowest-Skilled Squad member, and the result is used as the Sprint Roll for every member of the Squad, allowing the Squad to stay in formation. (If a Squad uses its Action to Bail, on the other hand, then all Squad members roll individually.)
For other types of Actions, each participating Squad member makes a separate Skill Roll. Often, these rolls can be combined - if a Squad of ten minifigs of identical Skill d6 fires at a target with ten identical rifles, they can simply roll 10d6 and count the number of successful hits. All that matters is how many hits occur, not which specific minifigs were the ones responsible.
The ambassador from Reptilia keeps his personal medik close at hand, and puts as many armored bodies as possible between himself and possible danger.
Taking Damage
One of the biggest advantages of forming a Squad is that it makes it much harder for enemies to focus Damage on any single unit. The drawback is that targeting a Squad as a whole is much easier than targenting individuals - as long as an attacker can target any unit or object within the Squad, or even the Squad Plate itself, it can make an attack on the Squad. Furthermore, since Squad Plates are generally larger than minifigs, opponents making Ranged Attacks on the Squad will often get an Attack Bonus for Target Size (5.1: Making Attacks). (Close Combat Attacks are still based on the Size of the individual units within the Squad, however.)
Single Attacks
Whenever a Squad is hit by a single attack or other source of Damage, the Squad's player may assign the Damage to any unit within the Squad he wishes.
There are exceptions to this rule: an attacker can Single Out a specific unit or units within a Squad if striking the target would be an Automatic Hit (for instance, if the target is Disrupted, involved in a Grab, or otherwise immobilized) or if the target units are at least twice the attacking unit's Size. Moving targets any smaller than that are too difficult to distinguish in the chaos of battle. A Rat (Size 0") could Single Out a Peasant (Size 1") in a Peasant Squad; the Peasant could Single Out a mounted Knight (Size 2"); and the Knight could Single Out an individual Giant of Size 4". Otherwise, Damage done to a Squad is distributed among its members according to the defending player's preference.
Multiple Attacks
There are many instances in which a Squad might be hit by multiple attacks at once - the collected attacks from an enemy Squad, a group of enemy units attacking in cooperation, the concentrated firepower of a multi-payload weapons platform, or any combination of the above. When this happens, the attacking player makes all their Attack Rolls first, and the defending player distributes the successful hits among his or her Squad members. The distribution should proceed as evenly as possible - no Squad member can take a second hit until every legal target has had its first - but otherwise, defenders can favor whichever units they want when choosing who takes which hits.
Remember that minifigs can't be hit by more than three Close Combat Attackers in the same turn. If a Squad is hit by enough Close Combat Attacks to exceed this limit, the minifigs will have to be passed over after the third attacker when distributing successful hits. Those hits must either be distributed to larger targets, or lost without effect.
If there are targets the attacking player would like to Single Out with specific attacks, then those targets are handled first. First, the attacking player delivers the attacks on Singled Out targets that are Automatic Hits, since these require no Attack Roll. Next, the remaining attackers make all of their Attack Rolls and count the successful hits, assigning as many of the hits as they like to the targets that can be Singled Out. If there are any hits left over, or if the attacker declined to Single Out any targets, the defending player then distributes the remaining successful hits among the defenders. The defender's distribution of attacks must still be even, taking the Singled Out attacks into account - if the attacker loaded two attacks onto one of the Singled Out units, the defender can't distribute a third attack to that unit until every legal target has at least had its second.
Regardless of who is handling the distribution, Damage is rolled as hits are assigned. All Damage from multiple simultaneous attacks is cumulative. When a unit is destroyed or killed, it is no longer a legal target, and further hit distribution can skip over them.
If there are a number of victims with different Damage levels to keep track of, it's good to have a pile of extra dice lying around to use as temporary Damage counters for each of them until the turn is over.
Location-Specific Damage
Some sources of Damage are location-specific, or have additional location-based effects after the initial Damage has been distributed. A nearby Explosion might go off, causing Damage and KnockBack to everything within its Explosion Radius. A massive laser blast might have enough Overkill to take out a series of Squad members along its line of fire, or a rocket-boosted bulldozer might be Plowing Through an audience of monster truck fans. In cases like these, the specific locations of the Squad members is very important.
The defending player is not able to simply claim that all the Squad members were hanging out on an unaffected area of the Squad Plate at the time - that would break the laws of Koincidence, which can only ever increase destruction, not avoid it. But Squad members are well-known for making crazy leaps in order to take bullets for each other, and it's hard to keep track of individual soldiers in the heat of battle. The defending player can grab sturdier or more expendable units from any part of the Squad Plate and Swap them with the targets of the Damage, claiming either that they jumped to the rescue just in the nick of time or that the attackers just weren't paying enough attention to who was standing where.
Any pair of Swapped units must be of equal Size. Even the most inattentive enemies will notice the difference between a minifig and a battleship. They must also be mobile - units that are Disrupted, Grabbed, or otherwise immobilized stay right where they are and take their lumps.
Squad Close Combat
Ranged combat between Squads is relatively simple - players measure the Range between Squad Plates, make their Combined Attack Rolls, and distribute Damage from the successful hits accordingly. But much like Close Combat between individual minifigures, Squad Close Combat is a more involved process.
Levels of Engagement
In Close Combat, a Squad has two possible Levels of Engagement, depending on whether it has brought its Squad Plate into contact with the opponent when it first engages.
If a Squad is close enough for some or all of its members to strike an opponent, but has not brought the Squad Plate into contact, then the Squad can make a Skirmish attack. Only the Squad members and opponents who are close enough to strike or be struck with melee weapons are involved in a Skirmish, although the Squad still takes its Angry Inch all together. This is especially useful for Squads with longer Two-Handed Weapons that want to keep opponents at arms' length, or Squads with mixed melee and ranged units who want to keep their ranged units out of direct contact with the enemy.
A Squad can Swap its members around at the beginning of a Skirmish (whether attacking or defending) to best position themselves, and at the beginning of each turn that the Skirmish continues. Oherwise, the Squad members are stuck in their positions until the Skirmish ends.
If a Squad brings its Squad Plate into contact with the opponent, on the other hand, then it has entered into Full Engagement. The Squad and its opponents are considered to be all mixed up together in a grand melee, and all members of the Squad can participate in the Close Combat, regardless of their relative position to the opponents. Because they are all mixed up together, any Ranged Attacks fired into a Squad that is Fully Engaged will also hit whatever opponents they are Fully Engaged with. The various involved players take turns distributing successful hits to their own involved units as if they were all part of one giant Squad, skipping players when necessary to maintain an even distribution (no player's unit can take a second hit until all players' units have taken their first hit, and so forth).
Any unit or Squad that's involved in a Full Engagement cannot use Actions to target or focus on anything outside of the Full Engagement, unless it first successfully Withdraws. It can still defend itself normally if it's targeted by Skirmishing attacks from outside the Full Engagement.
The Communal Angry Inch
Unlike minifigs, a Squad in Close Combat only takes its Angry Inch once, at the beginning of its first Maneuver (or Counterattack, for defending Squads). (Squads that elect to Ignore their opponents do not get to use their Angry Inch.) Rather than moving units around individually on the Squad Plate, the entire Squad Plate takes its Angry Inch in formation. If there's a unit in the Squad that isn't capable of taking an Angry Inch, whether because it's using its Action for something other than Close Combat or because it's a type of unit that can't take Angry Inches, then the Squad may not take an Angry Inch.
While a Squad and its opponents can easily use Angry Inches to move from Skirmishing range into a Full Engagement, the reverse is more difficult. Squads and other units can only use an Angry inch to to disengage from a Full Engagement as part of an attempt to Withdraw. Otherwise, some part of the Squad Plate must remain in contact with the opponent or opponents.
Squad Maneuvers
Squad Close Combat follows a sequence similar to minifig Close Combat (5.2: Close Combat).
Order of Attack for Squad Close Combat
The Close Combat sequence for Squads is similar to that for individual minifigs. Take each type of Maneuver one at a time, don't use any hand or weapon more than once in the same turn, and whenever one side or the other dies, stop.
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0. Active Squad Takes an Angry Inch Unless the active Squad is Ignoring its opponents this turn, it may now take its Angry Inch. Unlike minifigs, a Squad only take a single Angry Inch at the beginning of the turn, not before each Maneuver. This step is not repeated if the Squad chooses to Press the Attack.
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1. Active Squad Performs a Close Combat Maneuver The active player declares its Close Combat Maneuver (Attack, Grab, Shove, or Withdraw), and which of the Squad members will be participating. The defending player declares which of his defending units, if any, are going to try to Counter the Maneuver, either by Parrying it or Bailing out of the way. The players resolve the effects of the Maneuver and the Counters.
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2. Opposing Units Launch Counterattacks Any opposing units who are still able to make Counterattacks on the active Squad may do so, even if they weren't directly targeted by the Squad's Close Combat Maneuver. Units in the active Squad may attempt to Parry incoming Counterattacks or Bail out of the way. Remember that if the Squad is trying to Withdraw or Ignore the combat, attempts to Parry or Bail will use up the units' Actions. The players resolve the effects of the Counterattacks and the active Squad's attempts to Counter, if any. If the active Squad dies or is Disrupted, its Close Combat is finished for the turn.
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3. Active Squad Ignores or Withdraws If the active Squad was attempting to Ignore or Withraw and has at least one member still standing, it has succeeded in its attempt. Except for Squad members that used up their Actions to Parry or Bail in response to Counterattacks, the Squad may now move and take Action freely - possibly to engage in Close Combat elsewhere.
-
4. Active Squad Presses the Attack If the active Squad is still in Skirmish range or Fully Engaged with the target and at least one Squad member still has free hands or weapons it hasn't used yet during the turn, the Squad can return to step one and delare a new Close Combat Maneuver against the same target. Otherwise, its Close Combat is finished for the turn.
Rather than handle Squad members' maneuvers one at a time, Attack Rolls and Parrying Rolls are combined as much as possible for efficiency's sake. As long as a group of units has the same Skill die and weapon type, it doesn't matter which specific units hit or miss; only the number of successes matters. They can make their rolls all together in a big pile of Skill dice.
Skill Rolls for Bailing are handled individually. In Squad Close Combat, unlike in minifig Close Combat, Bailing happens before the active units attempt their Close Combat Maneuver. Because attackers aren't targeting specific units in Squad Close Combat, a defending unit's Bail Roll does not have to beat an attacking unit's Attack Roll in order to be successful. Instead, units attempting to Bail out of a Full Engagement are successful as long as they manage to land completely outside all of the Squad Plates involved. Otherwise, they are Disrupted, helpless, and still a fair target for the effects of Close Combat Maneuvers.
Resolving Counters in Squad Combat
In Squad Close Combat, Close Combat Maneuvers, Counters, and Counterattacks are executed in groups rather than individually. Resolving these in proper sequence makes them much easier to handle.
- Any Bailing defenders make their Bail rolls, removing successful escapees from Close Combat before the effects of any Combat Maneuver or Counterattacks are distributed.
- Any Attacking or Counterattacking units make their Attack rolls, counting the number of successes for each weapon type.
- Any Parrying defenders make their Parry rolls, counting the number of successes for each weapon type.
- The defending player distributes the successful Close Combat Maneuvers and Parries among the surviving defenders. If necessary, the attacking player declares what order successful Attacks are delivered in, and makes Damage rolls as necessary.
When members of a Squad make an Attack or Counterattack, they all make their Attack Rolls, and the defending player distributes the successful hits among the legal targets (all of the targets within the attackers' weapon ranges for a Skirmishing attack, or all of the units involved in a Full Engagement). Damage and other effects are rolled as the hits are distributed, removing targets from the legal distribution pool as they are destroyed or killed. All Damage from the Close Combat is cumulative until the end of the turn.
When members of a Squad make a Grab or a Shove, the defending player distributes them among the legal targets. The effects of the Grabs and Shoves, as well as any attempted Counters, are only resolved once all of them have been assigned, because the cumulative Size of units participating in Grabs and Shoves affects the final rolls. Successfully Grabbed units, along with the units Grabbing them, are moved to the nearest edge of the Squad Plate between them. Successfully Shoved units are Knocked Back from wherever they're standing.
When Skirmishing, but not when Fully Engaged, it's also possible to attempt a Combined Shove to push back an entire Squad rather than its individual members. In this case, the Shoving unit or units total the sum of their Effective Sizes, and the target Squad does the same, and the Shove is handled as though between two units of those respective total Sizes (8.2: Basic Weapons). Remember that a smaller unit can't Shove a larger one, and a larger unit gets +2 to a Shove for ever inch of Size advantage. If the Shove is successful, the target Squad is pushed back the appropriate distance. Otherwise, all the involved units are now Fully Engaged.
Imperial Rome has no tolerance for hippies.
Combined Rolls Example: Smiting Hippies
Example: Squads of five pikemen (Skirmishing) and ten swordsmen (Fully Engaged) are attacking the three remaining members of a Squad of sign-waving hippies.
Making their Attack Roll, the Roman Squads roll one pile of five dice for the pikes, and a second pile of ten dice for the swords, counting the number of successful hits from each weapon type but with no other concern for which hits came from which specific Squad members. The Squads roll two hits with the pikes and six with the swords.
Once the hits are counted from each set of attacks, the hippies roll a pile of three dice for their attempt to Parry with their signs, with no concern for which successful Parry was achieved by which hippie. They take a -1 Skill Penalty for being Outnumbered, and only one Parry is successful.
The attacking player chooses to deliver the pike hits first, doing two dice of Damage apiece, and the sword hits second, each doing one die of Damage.
The defending player gives hippie #1 the sole successful Parry and the first pike hit. The attacker rolls 3 Damage (thanks to the Parry); hippie #1 survives. The defending player leaves a die with the three facing upwards next to the hippie, to keep track of the unit's total Damage until Close Combat is resolved for the turn.
Hippie #2 takes the remaining pike hit. The attacker rolls 8 Damage for an immediate kill.
Hippie #3 takes the first sword hit. The attacker rolls a 1, Critically Failing and causing no Damage.
With two hippies remaining, the defending player gives the second sword hit to hippie #1. The attacker rolls 2 Damage. Combined with the earlier hit from the pike, this is enough for a second kill.
Only hippie #3 remains, and the defender gives her the next two sword hits. The attacker rolls a 2 and another 2 for a total of 4. It's enough to match the hippie's Armor but not exceed it; the hippie gets one hand chopped off, but survives the attacks.
Although the attacker still has successful sword attacks to deliver, hippie #3 has reached the limit of three Close Combat attacks on a single minifig. The remaining sword attacks go to waste, and the hippie survives to protest for another turn.
Chapter D: The Dice
All action within the BrikVerse originates in the Farce, and the Farce expresses Itself through the six archetypal Dice. These Dice shower down continuously throughout the lives of all minifigs, determining their every success and failure in an uncaring downpour, but the perception of normal minifigs is not expanded enough to detect them without magikal or pharmeceutikal aid. Few minifigs are granted the vision to see the Dice, and those who do are often driven permanently and horrifyingly sane.
To respectable minifigs, Dice are a myth, superstition, or blasphemy. Minifigs of all ages get their mouths washed with soap if they're caught saying the the four-letter D-word in the wrong company. But to Dieists whose snake eyes have been opened, the Dice are real - the living instruments of the Farce itself, willful and treacherous and definitely not on anyone's side.
Dice and Diemons
Your Parents
If your parents are worried about Diemonic influence, tell them it's actually pronounced Di-é-mon.
It's not true, but for some reason parents tolerate their kids summoning all kinds of violent supernatural monsters as long as there's a mark over the e.
The creation of the infinite BrikVerses are the purview of Humans, but the will of those realities is decided by the Dieties of higher and lower Diemensions who express their influence through the unfathomable Dice.
The only element of BrikWars outside of Humans' direct control, the geometry of a rolling Die is a reflection of its internal Diemons, tiny elemental spirits who act as polyhedral agents of chaos to disrupt the best-laid plans of Humans and minifigs. When minifigs manage to harness the powers of one or more Dice, they can be used to create SuperNatural Effects according to their inner Diemons' elemental properties, but Diemons have a will of their own.
Depending on his abilities, a minifig may be able to summon or release Diemons from his Dice. Less commonly, Diemons can escape on their own, crossing the barriers between Diemensions and leading unpredictable Dice rebellions. When a Diemon appears in the real world, it appears as an elemental Vermin with Size 0" and Armor:0, normally taking the form of a MunchFig or other small one-piece creature. During its turn, a Diemon can either engage in Movement with its own Die roll worth of inches, or take a single Action using its own Die as its Skill rating.
In addition to these attributes, each variety of Diemon has one extra ability or advantage according to its elemental nature.
Diemension4: The Half-Ass Vortex
In the crashing plasma storms of the Half-Ass Vortex, everything is in constant motion and unrest, and the line between Fudge and Poop can be difficult to distinguish.
Faith:
Trianglism, a breakaway Bob-ist sect preaching the existence of triangles
Monsters:
Jaw-Jaws, ravenous coprophages on the hunt for poop
Dimmies, zombie frat bros who oppose quality or consistency in any form
The Corrosive 4pion
| SN Die | Cost | Element | Variants | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3CP / ½Ű | Fire | Acid, Poison, Disease | d4s are used for Fire and other continuing Damage |
The d4 is the likeliest of all the dice to betray its owner, and also the likeliest to multiply and spread out of control. SuperNatural d4s used for Damage always cause some form of continuing Burning effect, whether for fantasy mainstays like fireballs and acid sprays, or for post-apocalyptic nightmare fuel like zombie infection, fundamentalist religious evangelism, and internet drama.
| Diemon | Stats | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 4pion | Size:0", Armor:0; Skill:d4 or Move:1d4" | 1d4 Burning |
A d4's Diemon is a 4pion, and it mindlessly consumes everything in its path. 4pions typically take the form of shelled scorpions and other venomous Vermin.
A 4pion burns with its own elemental corrosion, damaging objects it touches. A 4pion is immune to the effects of its own element (an Acid 4pion can't be harmed by acid attacks, for example), but on a poor roll it can burn itself out of existence without warning.
At the beginning of its turn, a 4pion makes a Burning Roll as if it were on Fire (8.5: Field Hazards), rolling 1d4. If the Burning Roll is a 1, then the 4pion burns out and disappears, and its d4 returns to its owner. Otherwise, the Burning works as normal: the Burning spreads to one object the 4pion is in contact with, as long as the object has a Structure Level less than the number rolled on the Burning Roll (7.1: Structure).
Diemension6: The Rainbow Block Grid
The Rainbow Block Grid is an endless block of multicolored architecture spanning to infinity in every direction.
Faith:
BrickMasonry, a benevolent fraternity and mystery cult that oversees all conspiracies in the BrikVerse
Monsters:
BlokBots, minifig-shaped block constructions that destroy everything in their path
The Solid 6creant
| SN Die | Cost | Element | Variants | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4CP / 1Ű | Earth | Bone, Plastic, Wood | - |
As the blockiest die, the d6 is most closely attuned to the physical structure of a brick-built universe. The SuperNatural d6 is the Die of blocks, and it's dull and steady as dirt.
| Diemon | Stats | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 6creant | Size:1", Armor:1d6; Skill:d6 or Move:1d6" | Size:1", Structure Level ½, Armor:1d6 |
The d6's Diemon is the 6creant, who enjoys a physical size and structure that other Diemons lack. 6creants may appear as skeletons, golems, or terrifying minifig-shaped collections of bricks known as BlokBots.
Diemension8: The Playtrix Stream
The PlayTrix Stream is an realm of flowing information, where reality is twisted into 8th-Diemensional pretzels and octofurcated timelines by terrible wordplay.
Faith:
The Farce, a humor field that permeates and binds the BrikVerse, divided between a Lite Side, a Snark Side, and a Dim Side
Monster:
Pacifass, an inverse Warhead from the NegaVerse who uses PsychoTherapy to facilitate the terrible spread of Peace
The Ingenious 8vian
| SN Die | Cost | Element | Variants | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5CP / 1Ű | Air | Smoke, Wind, Knowledge, Breath | a d8 used for Range may also add +1 Firing Arc |
The SuperNatural d8 is the Die of wind, and particularly of sprays and breath weapons. Any time a SuperNatural d8 is used to add inches of Range, the player has the option to add +1 Firing Arc to the final Effect if it's appropriate to do so.
| Diemon | Stats | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 8vian | Size:0", Armor:0; Skill:d8 or Move:1d8" | Spider crawling; Either Flying Movement or d8 Specialty, chosen at creation |
The d8's 8vian is a Diemon of thought and breath. Taking the forms of birds, bats, and spiders, 8vians vary in nature more than the Diemons of other dice. All 8vians have a spider crawling ability that lets them traverse surfaces at any angle.
When an 8vian is created, it may choose a single d8-based Specialty from any standard minifig specialist (for instance, it might choose the Medik's Ker-Triage! Specialty and act as an 8vian Medik from that moment forward (10.2: The Medik)). Iif the Specialty requires Tools, the 8vians will have to find their own. If the 8vian chooses no Specialty, it gains Flight ability instead.
Diemension10: The Circles of Hellius
In the interlocked Daemonic realms of The Circles of Hellius, warfare and conflict play out in infinite variety and forms, acting as the driving engine of all metal music in the BrikVerse.
Faith:
The First Universal Church of Kaboom, an even more violent extremist offshoot of the First UNiversal Kult of Yxplosions (FUNKY)
Monsters:
Daemons, abominations of blood, metal, fire, and ice who seek glory and power in the Daemonic Courts
The Exceptional 10amyte
| SN Die | Cost | Element | Variants | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6CP / 2Ű | Metal | Explosions, Glory | can add to or subtract from Structure Levels directly; adds +2" radius to any Effect |
The SuperNatural d10 is the Die of Explosions and metal. Regardless of how it's used, d10s add an Explosion-like radius to the target area of any Effect, and they can be used to raise or lower a target's Structure Level.
What happens if a minifig uses a d8 and a d10 in the same Effect? Can he create an Arc of Explosions? SuperNatural Effects are based on a unit's SuperNatural Cliché, not on which dice it happens to be using. If a wizard is casting Spray of Fireballs, then you already know what those d8s and d10s mean. If the wizard is rolling d8s and d10s and trying to make up an Effect after the fact, then the player is doing it wrong.
| Diemon | Stats | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 10amyte | Size:0", Armor:0; Skill:d10 or Move:1d10" | Can self-destruct at any time in a 1d10 Explosion |
The Diemon of a d10 is the 10amyte, who prefers to take the form of small explosives, a golden idol, or, occasionally, an electric guitar. A 10amyte's special ability is simple: at any moment, for any reason, it can blow itself up in a 1d10 Explosion. This self-destruction is instantaneous and doesn't require an Action. The 10amyte's d10 is then returned to its owner.
Diemension12: The Magistik Czat
The Magistik Czat is a Gnostic realm of SigFigs and other avatars, whose transitory forms are shaped entirely by momentary breaks in Human apathy.
Faith:
The Cult of the Player, a secretive and shameful belief in individual Human Demiurges who use chosen minifigs to make war
Monsters:
Humans, strange bundles of fingernailed bony sausages who descend from unknowable infinities in order to throw Dice
The Elusive 12vard
| SN Die | Cost | Element | Variants | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7CP / 2Ű | Magik | Energy, Humanity | d12s used for Range ignore obstacles; d12s used for Damage ignore Deflection |
The SuperNatural d12 is the unpredictable Die of magik and energy. Representing pure SuperNatural energy disconnected from any "natural" element, it's available only to the most divine or esoteric beings. A d12 used for inches of Range can allow Effects to pass through obstacles for those inches; a d12 used for Damage ignores Deflection.
| Diemon | Stats | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 12vard | Size:0", Armor:0; Skill:d12 or Move:1d12" | Phasing Movement, Stealth |
The 12vard is the rarely-seen Diemon of a d12, usually appearing (if it's visible at all) as a ghost or a mysterious ball of light.
A 12vard can phase itself (along with any objects it's carrying) through solid objects during Movement, making it immune to any non-d12 Damage and allowing it to easily bypass physical obstacles. It's phasing range is limited, however; the Diemon must un-phase at the end of each turn. If the 12vard is still inside of an obstacle at the end of its Movement, it's immediately annihilated and its d12 is returned to its owner.
A 12vard has the advantage of Stealth (11.2: Minifig Specialists). A 12vard that's moving while Hidden waits to roll all of its movement d12s until the moment it's revealed, making its movement range increasingly difficult to predict the longer it stays Hidden.
Diemension20: Rl'yego
Rl'yego is a warped realm of hyperbolic geometries and illegal building techniques. Its colors outside of space and time are rumored to have been the source of the Gray Shift.
Faith:
The KaThulhik Church, an ancient and entrenched torture-worshipping cult, most often symbolized by an innocent victim nailed to two crossed pieces of wood.
Monster:
BrikThulhu, a Ragnoroktopus best known for arranging the annihilation of BrikVerses.
The Inescapable 20kles of BrikThulhu
| SN Die | Cost | Element | Variants | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanity | Water | Chaos, Extradimensional Geometry | d20 is only available to BrikThulhu |
Water and chaos are associated with the SuperNatural d20, but minifig Mystiks have yet to encounter one of these mind-shattering Dice without suffering immediate and permanent Ensanity. Along with an irrational number of non-Euklidean dice like the Dodekube of Non-Consensual Enlightenment, the d20 is available only to BrikThulhu.
SuperNatural Powers
In every age, there are minifigs gifted with abilities that defy natural explanation, allowing them to grab the laws of Physix and twist them into pretzels. Some are blessed with arcane knowledge, psychik ability, divine favor, or affinity with the Farce. Others attribute their powers to martial-arts mastery, genetik mutation, or an unforeseen reaction to the rays of a yellow sun. Many have no explanation other than complete Koincidence and dumb luck.
It would be impossible to list every super power, spell, psychik ability, and avenue of divine intervention that might occur to the imaginations of players. Instead, SuperNatural Powers in BrikWars are based on a system of SuperNatural Clichés and powered by SuperNatural Dice.
The SuperNatural Cliché
In the same way that some minifigs become Heroes through the development of an Action-Hero Cliché; others become SuperNatural by pursuing a SuperNatural Cliché. (A few develop both types and become SuperNaturalHeroes, but this is largely redundant and is not considered the most efficient use of their efforts.)
DC Comics and Marvel Comics tirelessly defend their joint trademark on the word "SUPERHERO™." Players who have Heroes that are also Super should avoid making the mistake of ever using the two descriptors in conjunction.
SuperNaturally-powered minifigs draw their stereotypes from the same video games and cartoons as Heroic ones, but their powers are inspired by the supporting cast as often as by the main protagonists and villains.
| SuperNatural Clichés | |
|---|---|
| SuperNatural Genre | Example Clichés |
| Wizard | Necromancer, Pyromancer, Proxymancer, Pantsomancer |
| Comic Book Hero | Super Strong Guy, Super Fast Guy, Super Spider Guy, Super Wonder Lady Guy |
| Martial Artist | Mystik Ninja, Pedi Knight, Sword Saint, Wandering Monk, Playtrix Hacker |
| Religionist Zealot | BrikThulhian Kultist, Holy Clerik, Rules Lawyer |
| Psychik | Pyrotechnik, Telekinetik, Mindcontrolnik, Psychotherapeutik |
| Sci-Fi | Mad Scientist, Energy-Based LifeForm, Tech Wizard |
| Abomination | Nega-Daemon, Baalvillain, Vampire, Ghost |
When choosing a SuperNatural Cliché, it's best to have a specific character in mind - three units with the "Vampire" Cliché might have completely different powers if one is based on Bram Stoker's Dracula, one is pulled from an RPG monster manual, and the third is the sparkly kind.
Where Heroes develop ridiculous accents as an involuntary side-effect of Heroism, SuperNatural units develop funny voices on purpose, in response to years of persecution from jaded skeptics and jealous non-SuperNatural MereMortals. The more SuperNatural power a unit collects, the greater the SuperNatural chip on his shoulder grows, and the more likely he is to limit himself to speaking only in booming echoes, testosterone growls, or mysterious whispers. Before long, he's put together a ludicrous outfit and accessories to match, not realizing that these affectations only lead to being taken even less seriously than before.
Little is known about the Foreman, one of the founding members of the Planetcrackers, but plenty is known about the Foreman's gear. The experimental armor is equipped with jumpboots, a standard portable drill, an energized rock saw, a pair of gravity manipulators, a solidslight shield and the fabled beam-hammer, Stonesmite.
SuperNatural Talismans
A SuperNatural unit's ridiculous accessories do more than just make them easy targets for mockery - they're the physical Talismans that bind SuperNatural Dice to their will.
As with Minds, Weapons, and other special devices, each of a SuperNatural unit's SuperNatural Dice must be based in a specific physical element or elements so that enemies have the chance to target them for destruction or theft. An element that carries a SuperNatural Die is called a Talisman, and a separate Talisman is required for each SuperNatural Die. The powers of these Talismans are controlled by whatever Creature possesses them, inevitably making them the subject of violent avarice.
| SuperNatural Talismans | |
|---|---|
| SuperNatural Genre | Example Talismans |
| Wizard | magic hat, magic staff, magic book, magic beard, magic crystal |
| Comic Book Character | super cape, super hammer, super utility belt, super armor, super crystal |
| Martial Artist | ancient weapon, ancient ninja headband, ancient chest tattoo, ancient crystal |
| Religionist Zealot | holy relic, holy book, holy musical instrument, holy crystal |
| Psychik | glittery pocketwatch, glittery tinfoil hat, glittery focus crystal |
| Sci-Fi | shiny nanotech mod, shiny cybernetic implant, shiny energy crystal |
| Abomination | cursed amulet, cursed mutant body part, cursed crystal |
Any object can be used as a Talisman and imbued with SuperNatural power. SuperNatural abilities can be placed directly into a minifig's body parts - skulls, beards, and mustaches are popular Talismans - but machines, animals, fancy outfits, and random inanimate objects can be Talismans as well, through enchantment, possession, alien teknology, or by a minifig's failure to realize the power was within himself all along.
The more SuperNatural Dice under a unit's control, the more Talismans it has to carry. It's hard for SuperNatural objects to be subtle, especially when glowing crystals are so often their main ingredient. SuperNatrual units, devices, and Vehicles become increasingly more ostentatious and ridiculous as they become more powerful.
SuperNatural Effects
Your Parents
If your parents are worried about Diemonic influence, tell them it's actually pronounced Di-é-mon.
It's not true, but for some reason parents tolerate their kids summoning all kinds of violent supernatural monsters as long as there's a mark over the e.
The power of a SuperNatural creature or object is determined by the SuperNatural Dice under its control. A unit spends its Dice, singly or in combinations, to produce SuperNatural Effects appropriate to their Cliché. SuperNatural Effects can be used to create or modify the Actions, Movement, or attributes of units, vehicles, and equipment, or to affect the results of die rolls as they happen.
Each SuperNatural Die may be spent once per turn to add to (or occasionally subtract from) one Aspect of a SuperNatural Effect, described further below. Similarly to spent Actions, a spent SuperNatural Die returns at the beginning of its controlling unit's turn and becomes available to spend again, unless the unit decides to keep it active in a Lasting Effect or as a summoned Diemon.
For every SuperNatural Die a unit has spent, the unit suffers a cumulative -1 Skill Penalty until that Die is returned, usually at the beginning of its next turn. The more Dice it spends, the more difficult ranged Effects or even normal Actions become. SuperNatural units can counteract this by spending a Die or two to grant themselves Skill bonuses to compensate, or they can focus on using their powers to buff allied units who can handle all the Actions for them.
In the Konfederacja and the Republik of Magyar, priests of the Church of the Great Creator accompany troops to provide spiritual guidance and morale. Armed with Holy Staves, these cleriks are known for bringing about wonders that even the most educated are unable to explain.
Effect Delivery
By default, minifigs can channel their SuperNatural powers by touching a target with their Bare Hands. For willing targets or inanimate objects, this is automatic and requires no Action.
To touch a hostile target, the SuperNatural unit must successfully Shove or Grab them Close Combat. For targets that aren't close enough to touch (or who are too difficult to Shove or Grab), he has to add SuperNatural Range inches to move the Effect from himself to the target. In either case, aiming SuperNatural Effects at a hostile or distant target costs the SuperNatural unit's Action.
| Wands and Staves | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Cost | Use | Range | Damage | Notes |
| Bare Hands | - | 0* | CC, 0" | Shove 2" or Grab | * Automatic Hit for Shoves and Grabs |
| Wand (S) | 1CP | 2 | CC, 6" | - | extends the reach of SuperNatural Effects by touch, melee attack, or ranged attack |
| Staff (M) | 2CP | 3 | CC, 10" | - | Two-Handed; extends the reach of SuperNatural Effects by touch, melee attack, or ranged attack |
Wands and Staves are special categories of minifig weapons that have no Damage rating of their own, but can be used to extend the reach of a minifig's SuperNatural Effects by a successful touch, melee attack, or ranged attack. A Wand is a Small-sized weapon that can be used in one hand, while a Staff is Medium-sized and is Two-Handed. Wands and Staves can be used in both Ranged and Close Combat, and are often made Talismans in their own right.
Lasting Effects
Under normal circumstances, spent SuperNatural Dice are returned to their owner at the beginning of his next turn, and the -1 Skill Penalty for each spent Die comes to an end. In some cases, however, he may wish to leave one or more of the Dice on their targets as a Lasting Effect. The Die is kept next to the affected target and its Effect continues for as long as it remains - an extra Armor d6 for a soldier, an animating Mind d4 for an undead skeleton, or a Curse d10 on an enemy Hero can all extend indefinitely, no matter how far away the target wanders, until the SuperNatural Unit is incapacitated or decides to cancel the Die's Effect on his own.
Lasting Effects are limited by the SuperNatural Dice left behind. For example, a unit may spend 1d8 Arc Range + 1d6 Skill to Bless multiple units in an Arc during his turn, but since he only has the single d6 to leave behind, only one of the targets can keep the Blessing as a Lasting Effect on the following turn.
A SuperNatural unit can cancel any of its Lasting Effects at any time, including during an opponent's turn, but the unit only gets its SuperNatural Dice back (and ends the Skill Penalties for having spent them) at the beginning of its own next turn. The unit is allowed to sustain a previous turn's Lasting Effect right up to the beginning of its turn and then cancel the Effect to get the Dice back immediately.
Rolling SuperNatural Dice
“This only is denied to God: the power to undo the past.”
- Agathon
SuperNatural units don't need to decide ahead of time how many SuperNatural Dice they're going to spend, if any. SuperNatural Dice are spent and rolled one by one as needed. However, SuperNatural Dice can only affect events as they occur - they can't change what's already taken place and been resolved.
It's important to know exactly when and where an Effect is targeted. If a BattleMage has his hand on the shoulder of an allied bowman firing an arrow, the BattleMage can spend a Die to boost the bowman's Attack Roll directly. Because he's touching the bowman and not the weapon, he would have to buy Range and spend an Action to have an Effect that reached the bow itself - turning the arrows into Explosive or Fire Arrows, for instance. If the bowman's attack hits, but the Damage Roll isn't high enough, then it's too late to boost the attributes of the bow - the arrow has already struck the target. The BattleMage must now buy Range all the way out to where the arrow is striking if he wants to add additional Damage Dice.
Charmed Dice
All die rolls, whether SuperNatural or mundane, have a chance to "explode" on a Critical Success - every Bonus Die can roll another Critical Success to earn another Bonus Dice, repeating ad infinitum.
If players are using the SuperNatural Abilities rules, rather than rolling a Bonus Die earned from a Critical Success rolled on a previous Bonus Die, players can keep the die and turn it into a SuperNatural Die instead, imbuing it into the unit who rolled it, the vehicle or equipment the unit was using, or the target of the roll, depending on which seems most appropriate.
The lucky recipient of the Die is now Charmed, and can keep the SuperNatural Die with the Cliché of being an even better version of whatever it already was.
SuperNatural Bonus Dice
Like regular dice, a SuperNatural Die can earn Bonus Dice whenever it lands on its highest-numbered face - but the SuperNatural Bonus Dice behave differently, due to the chaotic nature of the Farce that powers them.
SuperNatural Bonus Dice are always the same type as the SuperNatural Die that spawned them. A roll of 8 on a SuperNatural d8 earns a SuperNatural Bonus d8, for instance. And these SuperNatural Bonus Dice can earn SuperNatural Bonus Dice of their own.
Unlike regular Bonus Dice, players who earn SuperNatural Bonus Dice don't get to decide how or whether to spend them. A SuperNatural Bonus Die automatically adds to the same Aspect as the SuperNatural Die that spawned it. These supercharged Aspects are normally beneficial, but occasionally disastrous - a couple extra inches of Explosion Radius, for instance, can lead to all kinds of unintended consequences if the player wasn't planning for them.
Fumble Dice
Whenever a SuperNatural Die rolls a "1," it does not add anything to its Aspect. Instead, it turns into a traitorous Fumble Die, and is handed over to an opponent of the player's choice to use in sabotaging the Effect. The enemy may use the Fumble Die for any Aspect, adding or subtracting in whatever way seems best designed to turn the Effect in his favor - for instance, sending the Effect in the wrong direction, or causing it to strengthen a target rather than harm it. The only limitation is that the opposing player must come up with a story to explain why the Effect Fumbled in that particular way.
A Fumble Die that rolls its highest-numbered face can spawn SuperNatural Bonus Fumble Dice for the enemy player. A Fumble Die that rolls a "1" is double-Fumbled right back to the original SuperNatural unit's control.
Regardless of how it's used, the Fumble Die returns to the SuperNatural unit's control at the beginning of the next turn as usual, often feeling deeply sorry for its momentary transgression.
Physikal Manifestation
Many SuperNatural Effects occur as invisible stat boosts or penalties, having no visual or physical existence that minifigs can detect. More tangible Effects might involve a SuperNatural Object, like a ball of fire, energy beams, wings, claws, a solid wall, or loaves and fishes, or a SuperNatural Creature, like a steel golem, a lightning rat, a swarm of duck-sized horses, or a manic pixie dream alligator.
SuperNatural Objects and SuperNatural Creatures only last as long as the SuperNatural unit maintains the Effect. When the Effect ends, the objects and creatures disappear, and their SuperNatural Dice return to the controlling unit at the beginning of its next turn.
SuperNatural Objects
| SuperNatural Objects | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Object | Cost | Use | Range | Damage | Size | Notes |
| Object From Scratch | 0 | 0 | 0"/CC | 0 | * | * Maximum Size or XSize equal to number of Dice in Effect |
| Purchased Object | (SN Die) | (base object's stats) | * |
A SuperNatural Effect can take whatever form is appropriate to its nature. By default, a SuperNatural Effect can freely produce a generic object of Size 0", with no weight or substance, and zeroes for all stats - a SuperNaturally-created knife that does no damage, a rope that can't support any weight, or a helmet that protects against nothing, for instance.
By themselves, these are fine for creating dramatic illusions or spooky sounds, but if they're going to be used for any real tangible effect then their stats will need to be boosted with SuperNatural Dice. For each SuperNatural Die used in an Effect, the maximum Size of the created object increases by one inch (or, for Explosive devices, the maximum XSize is increased by one).
SuperNatural Objects created from scratch have no Use requirement; their effectiveness is based entirely on the SuperNatural Dice powering them. A SuperNaturally created sword that spends its lone SuperNatural d6 on Damage scores an automatic hit, but it has none left over for Parries, Shoves, or Counterattacks on enemy turns.
For objects whose properties can't be directly created through SuperNatural Dice, units can instead use SuperNatural Dice to buy regular objects as if they were spending CP. The player chooses the object to purchase, and then spends SuperNatural Dice to roll against the object's purchase price. If the roll is equal or higher, the unit receives the object. If the roll is lower, the dice are wasted. (If the roll is a 1, then the die has Fumbled (see further below) and the unit may discover that it's summoned something it didn't want to.) The unit can then spend additional Dice to modify the purchased object's stats as desired (as well as increasing the size limit on the purchased object - like objects created from scratch, purchased objects are limited in Size or XSize by the number of dice spent to purchase them).
SuperNatural Creatures
Kaptain Jy'udi, Heroine of Esduin, takes advantage of an abandoned Frostborne campfire to commune with the spirits of fire and summon a fire matriarch.
SuperNatural Creatures
Creature
Cost
Size
Armor
Skill
Move
Notes
Summoned Diemon
0
0
(SN Die)
Diemons receive bonus abilities according to Diemon type
- Maximum Size equal to number of Dice in Effect
Purchased Creature
(SN Die)
(base Creature's stats)
SuperNatural Effects can also take the form of summoned creatures. Like SuperNatural Objects, SuperNatural Creatures can be created from scratch, starting with the stats of the summoned Diemon associated with a spent SuperNatural Die, or by using a SuperNatural Die roll to purchase a creature as if using CP. The unit can continue building upward from there, making its summoned creature as large or as ridiculous as the unit's remaining Dice allow.
SuperNatural Effect Aspects
SuperNatural Effect Aspects
Aspect
Effects
Die-Specific Bonus Effects
Range
+/- Die" of Range to Effect or ranged weapon
| optional +1 Firing Arc to Effect or ranged weapon |
|---|
Damage
+/- Die of Damage to Effect or existing weapon Damage
| Fire Damage | |
|---|---|
| Blast Damage, +1 Firing Arc | |
| Explosion Damage | |
| ignores Deflection |
Armor
+/- Die of Armor to object
+/- Deflection versus Damage of same die type or smaller
| +/- one Structure Level (max SL:5, min SL:½) |
|---|
Movement
+/- Die inches of non-flying Move
+(1/2 Die) or -Die inches of flying Move
move loose object (1" or smaller) Die inches
apply Die inches of Thrust to any loose object
Skill
+/- Die Bonus or Penalty to a single Skill Roll
+/- one Blessing or Curse Die on a smaller or equal Skill or Specialty Die
| +1 d8-based Specialty |
|---|
Mind
- one Action with Die Skill
- one Action to unit with a smaller or equal Skill Die
Each SuperNatural Die may be spent on one of six SuperNatural Aspects. The effects of these Aspects are combined to create a SuperNatural Effect that fits into the unit's SuperNatural Cliché.
Common uses for Range Dice :
- Buying inches of Range between the SuperNatural unit and the target of the Effect
- Adding Range to a weapon or ability's existing range, or subtracting Range from an enemy weapon or ability
- Adding or subtracting Range from less common effects, like the Range at which a Hidden unit might be Detected
Range
Increase/Decrease Range: +/- (Die)" Range to SuperNatural Effect or ranged weapon stats
| d8s of Range can add an optional +1 Firing Arc to SuperNatural Effect or ranged weapon stats | |
|---|---|
| a d10 used for any Aspect adds +2" Effect Radius to a SuperNatural Effect |
For any Effect, the first order of business is making sure the Effect can reach the target.
Depending on the nature of the SuperNatural Cliché, a SuperNatural unit may center an Effect on itself, it may be able to transmit Effects through physical contact (by touching an ally or inanimate object directly, or making a successful Grab on an enemy target), or it may be able to channel Effects through a weapon or tool (by touching an ally or object with the weapon, or making a successful Close Combat or Ranged attack on an enemy target).
If the SuperNatural unit isn't able to touch or hit the target directly, then it will have to spend SuperNatural Dice as Range Dice to reach it. Each Range Die is rolled to add inches of Range (spending a Range d6 adds +1d6" of Range, for example), either measured directly from the unit's hands or added to the existing Range of a weapon. Hitting a target with a Ranged Effect automatically costs an Action, but doesn't require a Skill roll unless it's part of an attack with a weapon with a Use rating (including Wands and Staves, described below).
When rolling Range Dice, the Dice are rolled one at a time and placed on the table in the position where the Effect has been moved to. This is done in case a Fumble Die is rolled before the Effect reaches its target, and the players need to know the Effect's current position to Fumble from.
Besides covering the distance to a target, Range can also come into play when trying to hit multiple targets or to cover a very large target. By default, a standard Effect affects up to a single minifig-sized (Size 1") target, or a minifig-sized section of a larger target. A SuperNatural Effect can be made to cover a larger area by spending SuperNatural d8s to cover a wider Arc, or d10s to cover a larger Radius.
When d8s are used as Range or Damage Dice, each one gives the option to add +1 Firing Arc to the Effect or to the stats of an affected weapon or device, if applicable.
When d10s are used for any Aspect, each one increases the final Effect's radius by two inches, similar to the radius of an Explosion.
Common uses for Damage Dice :
- Damaging a target directly
- Increasing or decreasing a weapon's Damage stat
- Increasing or decreasing regular Damage done to a target
A mysterious Quantumstalker powers up his staff for a devastating attack, before blowing his Heroic Feat roll and landing face-first in the snow. Even the doots of mr skeltal's trumpet are unable to help him.
Damage
Increase/Decrease Damage: +/- (Die) Damage to SuperNatural Effect or weapon stats
| Fire Damage (or equivalent) | |
|---|---|
| Blast Damage, +1 Firing Arc | |
| Explosion Damage | |
| ignores Deflection |
The most common application of SuperNatural Dice is as Damage Dice . Each type of SuperNatural Die delivers a specific Damage type:
- Damage d4s deliver Fire Damage, or other corrosive Damage types like poison or acid (8.5: Field Hazards).
- Damage d6es deliver standard Damage.
- Damage d8s deliver Blast Damage, automatically increasing the Firing Arc by 1 and losing -1 Damage for every inch between the source of the attack and the target (8.3: Automatic Weapons).
- Damage d10s deliver Explosion Damage (8.4: Heavy Explosives). Like regular Explosion Damage d10s, each d10 adds +2" to the radius of the Explosion.
- Damage d12s deliver SuperNatural Damage which bypass Deflection.
When used to subtract Damage, SuperNatural Dice simply subtract from the Damage total without any type-specific side effects.
If a subtacted SuperNatural Die matches the die type of one of the dice in the Damage rating (for instance, using a SuperNatural d6 to subtract a Short Ranged Weapon's Damage rating of 1d6), players can simply cancel both dice completely, along with any associated side effects.
Common uses for Armor Dice :
- Bolstering or weakening a target's Armor
- Using d10s to bolster or weaken a target's Structure Level
Armor
Increase/Decrease Armor: +/- (Die) Armor to target object
| when using d10s, this also affects the Structure Level (max SL:5, min SL:½) |
|---|
Increase/Decrease Deflection: add or subtract one level of Deflection against all Damage dice of equal or smaller size
Rather than dealing or nullifying Damage directly, it can be more advantageous to SuperNaturally weaken or strengthen a target's Armor instead.
Supernatural Dice can be spent as Armor Dice to affect a target's Armor or Deflection. SuperNatural d10s spent on Armor will also affect the target's Structure Level.
Armor Dice are kept with the affected target for as long as the Effect persists. If they're used to add or subtract from an Armor stat directly, they are rolled again any time the Armor stat is called for.
Adding or subtracting an Armor d10 affects the target's Structure Level directly. The Structure Level changes to match the new number of d10s in the target's Armor rating, up to a maximum Structure Level of 5 at 5d10 or down to a minimum Structure Level of ½ at 0d10 (7.1: Structure), even if it raises an object's Structure Level past the limits determined by its Effective Size. The new SuperNatural Structure Level is used in the place of the regular Structure Level for any rules that require it, affecting such things as the object's Momentum, resistance to Fire, and ease of Repairs.
Subtracted Armor Dice can never lower a target's Armor below zero, and can never damage or destroy a target outright.
When an Armor Die is used to affect a target's Deflection, it only adds or removes Deflection for Damage dice of the SuperNatural Die's size or smaller. A d8 added to Deflection would provide one level of Deflection against d4s, d6es, and d8s of Damage, but not against d10s. A d6 used to weaken a target's Deflection would remove one level of Deflection against d4s and d6es of Damage, but not d8s or d10s. (Deflection is never effective against d12s.)
Common uses for Movement Dice :
- Speed or slow the Move of target Creatures and Vehicles
- Move loose objects directly, if they're Size 1" or smaller
- Apply Thrust to loose objects of any Size
In defense of the Magician Alliance’s school, the Bavarian Professor Hölzer uses elemental wind to sweep a Trattorian Recovery Force commander off his feet.
Movement
Increase/Decrease Move: +/- (Die) inches of non-flying Move or +(1/2 Die) or -(Die) inches of flying Move to target Creature or Vehicle Direct Movement: move target loose object (Size 1" or smaller) up to (Die) inches Thrust: apply (Die) inches of Thrust to object
SuperNatural Dice spent as Movement Dice can be used to affect the Move rating of mobile units, Creatures, and Vehicles, or to move targets directly.
Increasing or decreasing a mobile target's Move rating is the simplest use of a Movement Die. The Die roll is added to or subtracted from the inches in its Move rating. (Move ratings can't be reduced below zero inches.)
Flying Move is decreased as easily as regular Move, but increases to Flying Move are only half as effective. Rolls on added dice of Flying Move are divided in half, rounded up.
Changes to Move ratings can also be used to give movement to inanimate objects. This is best limited to objects with a clear movement style already in place - stone statues and end tables can start walking around, shopping carts and boulders can start rolling, but attempts to animate a suspension bridge or a shipping crate might just result in confusion for everyone involved. An object animated in this fashion won't be able to use its new Move inches unless it has a set of Controls (allowing it to be used as a Vehicle) or it's given a Mind (turning it into an Animated Creature).
SuperNatural Units can also use Movement Dice to move a loose objects directly, if they're Size 1" or smaller, for as many inches as are rolled on the Movement Dice. (Larger objects are possible, if the Effect covers them completely with radius inches from d10s or arcs from d8s.) This can be used for Effects ranging from hurling rocks, pulling levers, lifting kilts, or tossing enemies over a cliff.
If a SuperNatural Unit doesn't have enough dice to move a large object directly, it can use Movement Dice to create inches of Thrust to push things around instead (9.3: Thrust Vectors). Thrust Effects are not Size Dependent and can be effective against even very large targets.
Movement Dice can't be used to separate objects from their moorings. A door can be opened and closed, but not removed from its hinges; an enemy soldier can only be tossed around until he manages to grab hold of something and stabilize himself. A unit who actively resists being moved does so with its usual Physical Opposition dice (9.5: Collisions), subtracting its POP roll from the number of inches moved.
Common uses for Skill Dice :
- Adding a Bonus or Penalty to a unit's Skill or Specialty Roll
- Blessing or Cursing a unit's Skill or Specialty Die
Skill
Skill Modifier: +/- (Die) Bonus or Penalty to a single Skill or Specialty Roll Blessing or Curse: +/- a re-roll to target's Skill or Specialty Die; the SuperNatural Die must be at least as large as the Skill or Specialty Die
| a Skill d8 can be spent to add one d8-based Specialty |
|---|
A SuperNatural Die spent as a Skill Die can be used to enhance or impair a single Skill Roll, simply adding to or subtracting from the roll. This can be especially useful for more powerful SuperNatural units to use on themselves, since they can suffer heavy Skill penalties after spending several SuperNatural Dice at once.
Subtracted SuperNatural Skill Dice don't affect whether or not a particular Skill Roll results in a Critical Failure, even if they reduce the result of the Skill Roll to zero or less. A Critical Failure only occurs when a unit's Skill die rolls a natural result of "1," regardless of added or subtracted SuperNatural Dice or other modifiers.
While Skill Dice can be used as modifiers on an individual roll, they can't be added to or subtracted from a target's Skill rating directly. A unit's intrinsic Skill rating must always be a single die with no modifiers (d4 or d8 are legal Skill ratings; 2d6-1 or d8+d4 are not).
Instead, SuperNatural Skill Dice can be applied as a Blessing or a Curse, with the potential to replace the results of the target's regular Skill die each time it's rolled. In order to Bless or Curse a target's Skill, the SuperNatural Skill Die must be at least as large as the target's natural Skill die. (A SuperNatural d8 can be added as a Blessing on a Skill Rating of d4, d6, or d8, for example, but a d4 can't be used to Curse a Skill of d6.) Whenever the affected unit makes a Skill Roll, it rolls the dice for both its own Skill Rating and the SuperNatural Skill Die (or Dice). If the unit is Blessed, it can use the highest-rolling die as the result of its Skill Roll; if Cursed, it's forced to use the lowest-rolling die instead.
When a target unit is larger than the Effect area of a Blessing or Curse, a SuperNatural unit will have to settle for affecting a smaller portion of the target - a single arm, a weapon, or the Creature's head. Only the Actions that involve that part of the target will feel the Effect of the Blessing or Curse.
Blessing and Curse Dice suppress each other. A unit that is both Blessed and Cursed ignores one Blessing Die for every Curse, and one Curse Die for every Blessing.
SuperNatural Skill Dice can also be used to affect Specialties that are marked with a , treating the Specialty d8 as a variant type of Skill for the purpose of adding bonuses or penalties to a Specialty Roll, or for putting a Blessing or a Curse on the Specialty d8. A SuperNatural d8 can even be spent to give a unit a standard Specialty (11.2: Minifig Specialists), if it's appropriate to the SuperNatural Cliché.
Common uses for Mind Dice :
- Giving an Action to an object to animate it
- Giving extra Actions to units and animated objects
- Incapacitating a unit or taking over its Mind
Deceived by Pacifass's horrifying illusion of Peace overtaking the battlefield, this knightly King is tricked into slaying all of his own men in a panicked frenzy.
Mind
Add/Suppress Action: +/- one Action with (Die) Skill
A Mind Die can be used to grant an Action to an inanimate object, or to give an extra Action to an existing unit, as though it were an additional Mind with a Skill rating equal to the size of the Mind Die. The target keeps its existing stats (such as Armor and Move) and physical abilities (such as number of attacks); a Death Tank with three Minds can still only fire its main cannon once per turn, but the two extra Minds mean it can also launch its missiles at a secondary target and fill out questionnaires on Death Tank dating sites at the same time.
If a SuperNatural unit uses a Mind Die to animate an enemy Vehicle while one or more enemies are still piloting it, it's treated the same as a Vehicle with opposing Operators at the controls (9.4: Piloting). The animated Mind and the enemy Operator can each use their Action on whichever systems they have access to in order to prevent the other from Operating them at all.
A Mind Die can also be used to attempt to suppress an Action in a unit or animated object. The Mind Die must be at least as large as the die of the Skill Rating being suppressed. If the SuperNatural unit rolls higher on its Mind Die than the target rolls on its Skill die, then the Action is suppressed. Otherwise, the Mind Die is spent but has no effect.
An animated object with all of its Actions suppressed turns into a regular inanimate object again, while a living unit with its Actions suppressed will fall into a comatose stupor. In either case, the SuperNatural unit that suppressed the Action can then spend another Mind Die to Mind Control the target, giving the target a new Mind with that Skill Die under the SuperNatural unit's control. The Mind Control is broken if anything interrupts the suppression of the victim's own Actions, or any time the controlled Mind Critically Fails a Skill Roll.