BRIKWARS 2005: Chapter 7: Special Creations

7: Special Creations

Glossary

Creation: any unit or object custom-built by a player. Brick enthusiasts traditionally call their Creations "MOCs," short for My Own Creation. BrikWars games are much improved by high levels of MOCcery.

Structure: The central body of a Creation, not including limbs and surface devices.

Building: Any Creation that doesn't move.

Vehicle: A Creation that is able to move but has no independence or life of its own.

Creature: A Creation that is able to act independently, because it is alive or has artificial life.

Chapter Seven: Special Creations

Construction bricks can be assembled into an infinite variety of crazy contraptions. Assembly is much safer when on the ground than while the contraption is in flight, but sometimes minifigs don't have a choice in the matter.

Mike Rayhawk, 2006

Watching minifigs hack and smash each other into plastic bits is loads of fun, but few generals will be satisfied with minifigs-only combat in the long run - not while visions of tanks, castles, dinosaurs, and nuclear assault sleighs dance in their heads.

Rather than attempt to describe and give stats for every possible construction and creature an enterprising player might field, BrikWars provides a quick and simple framework for classifying any Creation you might come up with.

Design Overview
Once you've got your model in hand, the first step for any Creation is to define its Structure (7.1: Structure). All Creations begin with the same two Structural stats: Size and Structure Level, which together determine its Base Cost.

If the Creation is a simple Building, then the Structure stats may be all that are required. Otherwise, the next steps depend on what type of Creation is being made. If the Creation moves as a Vehicle, it needs one or more types of Propulsion (7.2: Propulsion). If it’s equipped with weapons or other devices, these will need to be purchased separately as well (7.3: Weapons). Lastly, if the creation is a living, robotic, or magical Creature, then it will need to be given the appropriate level of independence (7.4: Taking Action).

While it's possible to start with a set of stats and try to build a model to match, you will usually come up with more exciting Creations if you build the model first and then base the stats on the model. If the Creation comes out a little more or less expensive than you budgeted, you can usually just add or remove a couple of minifigs from your army to make up the difference.

7.1: Structure

Official Toy Company Models

It's fun to jump straight into battle using a company's official models, but their designs sometimes leave a little to be desired. Construction-toy buildings suffer from an unfortunate 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, you'll have to assume that ladders are "implied," off-screen somewhere but still available for use.

At the beginning of a turn, if a minifig is directly above or below the level he wishes to reach, he may sacrifice his Movement for the turn to use an Implied Ladder and "jump" directly upwards or downwards one level (or as close as the building model allows). Implied Ladders only exist inside of a Structure - a minifig standing on the inside of a battlement wall can climb an Implied Ladder to the parapet; a minifig standing on the outside can not.

Implied Walls
Companies' official models are often built as facades, with one or two physical walls 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. He may not interact with interior units and objects as if he were inside. Because of the potential confusion, it is considered poor form for exterior units to walk around the sides of facades.

Minifigs on the "interior" of a facade may not walk around the sides. They must always stay in the area directly behind the facade.

Structure vs. Surface Elements

The more props and clever details you can pack into your structures, the more opportunities players will discover for unplanned mayhem.

Photo: Shaun Sullivan
NELUG's "VersaillesPunk," Dec. 2005
Winners: British delegation

The foundation of any Creation is its central Structure, upon which the non-Structural Surface Elements (limbs, weapons, devices, etc.) are mounted. As a general rule, any section of the Creation with an 'interior' (whether for cargo, minifigs, machinery, or internal organs) is Structural.

Surface Elements
Any parts that are decorative, moving, have activated functions, or are otherwise not an integral part of the main Structure are Surface Elements. Non-Structual Objects in the Structure's interior, such as furniture, security systems, or intestines, are also considered to be Surface Elements. Surface elements added for a tactical purpose are purchased as Weapons or Devices (7.3: Weapons); otherwise they are free, and great for adding color and interest to an otherwise humdrum and dreary battlefield.

Creation Type	Structural Elements	Surface 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

A Structure has two main attributes: Size and Armor Level, which are used to calculate its Base Cost.

Size

To determine a Structure's Size, take your model and measure the number of inches along the Structural section's longest dimension. For a wall this would be its length, for a tower this would be its height, for a sphere you would measure its diameter, and so forth. Ignore Surface elements when making this measurement, and round fractions upward or downward according to preference. The number of inches measured is the Structure's Size rating.

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.

Elements shown: LEGO

Vermin
Most Structures have a minimum Size of 1, but for very small Creatures (snakes, bats, scoprions, and parrots, for instance) a Size rating of zero is allowed. These tiny Creatures are called Vermin and do not recieve an Armor Level like other Creations. By default, Vermin have zero points of Armor and a Base Cost of zero CP; additional Armor can be bought at +0.5CP per +1 Armor.

Structure Level

The Armor Level of Shaun Sullivan's evil Juggerbunny fluctuates according to how fast it can absorb live rabbits. Fortunately those little buggers breed quick.

Photo: Shaun Sullivan
NELUG's "T.E.A.M. Rebirth," June 2005
Winners: not the civilians

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.

Structure Levels
Structure Level	Armor Rating	Equivalent Materials	Building example	Vehicle example	Creature example
0	1d6	rope, drywall, plastic, flesh	tent	hang glider	minifig
1	1d10	wood, sheet metal, steel cables, kevlar	outhouse	motorcycle	troll
2	2d10	brick, log walls, wrought iron	brick building	pirate galleon	dragon
3	3d10	concrete, mortared stone, armor plating	castle	armored tank	stone giant
4	4d10	heavy steel, reinforced concrete, titanium	nuclear bunker	space warship	steel golem
5	5d10	adamantite, force fields	Illuminati pyramid	Dungam mobile suit	Olympian god

This is entirely a judgment call on the part of the player. The Armor of a dragon, for instance, might be anywhere from 1d6 to 3d10 depending on its size, age, and type. Keep in mind that the larger and more heavily-armored a Structure is, the more it will cost.

Surface Armor
As a rule of thumb, all Surface elements, interior walls, weapons, or devices have a Structure Level one level below that of the main Structure (to a minimum Structure Level of zero). Any exposed hinges, turrets, or other moving parts are considered "weak points" and are two Structure Levels weaker.

Incidental decorations and other objects mounted to the Structure may have higher or lower Armor Ratings as seems appropriate.

Base Cost
When the Size and Structure Level have been determined, multiply them together (for Structure Level zero, multiply Size times 0.5). The result is the Structure’s Base Cost. A player must pay this many CP in order to build the Creation's central Structure.

7.2: Propulsion

Dave Eaton's magnificent 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.

Photos: Wayne McCaul
NELUG's "The Post-Apocalyptic Research Vehicle," Sept. 2005
Winners: Omics (PARV)

Any Creation that moves around requires a Propulsion system, even if the method of that Propulsion is hard to explain (construction-brick siege engines, for instance, are notorious for rolling around merrily despite a lack of horses or slaves to pull them). All that’s important is the Creation's type of movement; whether or not it has any means to power that movement is politiely overlooked.

Propulsion Types
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 (for 2d10 Armor Rating) would pay 4CP for each 2" of Flight movement.

Speed Examples
2"	spiders, scorpions, hot air balloons, rowboats
5"	minifigs, alligators, monkeys, blimps
8"	tanks, dogs, submarines
10"	horses, bicycles, boats
12"	cars, birds, trains, helicopters
16"	sports cars, planes, motorcycles
16"	(upper limit for regular propulsion types)
20"	fighter planes, spaceships
24"	rocket jets, starfighters, superheroes
24"	(upper limit for flight propulsion)

Very advanced or unusual Propulsion types (spider climbing, underground tunneling, teleportation) may be allowed as well, if the players can come to mutual agreement about an appropriate CP cost.

Alternate Movement
Creations 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 crawling around on land.

Creations moving in an alternate medium move at half speed. No matter how much Move they have to spend, no Creation can move more than five inches in an alternate medium in any single turn.

Propulsion Damage
For most systems, 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 resilient. 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) then the vehicle's Move is immediately reduced to 1". 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. Flight systems are especially fragile - the destruction of one blade of a helicopter or one wing of a dragon is enough to ground them immediately.

7.3: Weapons

Glossary

BrikWussy: A wannabe player with a weak stomach for destruction. This lily-livered pansy values survival over glory, and cries when a few bricks get knocked off of his precious constructions.

BrikWarrior: This lord of the battlefield makes every model as awesome as possible so that their destruction will be all the sweeter. His priority list starts and ends with "Kicking Ass." If he stops to consider survival at all, it's with disapproval; every surviving unit is a chance for destruction wasted.

BrikWussies (see sidebar) may try to distract you with talk of the beauty of a Gothic cathedral or the protective strength of castle walls, but in their hearts the real BrikWarriors know the truth. The only reason to build the really large creations is because you need a place to put the really big guns.

Weapons
Weapon	Cost	Use	Range	Damage	Notes
Close Combat Weapons
Melee Weapon	2x	2x	CC	xd6	-
Jousting Weapon	2x	2x	(Ram)	+xd6*	* - Damage added to impact
Ranged Weapons
Gun	3x	3x	6x"	xd6	-
Launcher	3x	3x	xd6"	xd6*	* - or payload's Damage rating max payload 1/2 Size
Explosive	1x	3x*	0" *	xd10 exp	* - or determined by Launcher
Rocket	2x	4x	6x"	xd10 exp	-
Protection
Armor Plate	2x	2x*	CC	+xd6 Armor to area Shove 2x" *	* - if swingable, it may be used to Parry or Shove
Note on Weapon Size: Wherever x appears, multiply the stat by the the Weapon's Size level.

Weapon Size

As with Structures and everything else of real importance, Weapons are classified according to their Size in inches. At Weapon Size 1 (one inch or less), a Weapon is equivalent to what you might find in the hands of a minifig. However, as Size increases, so do the Weapon's stats – every single statistic is multiplied by Size, up to the maximum Weapon Size of five inches.

Because Weapon Size increases the Use rating just as fast as the Damage rating, the highest-damage weapons are most effective against the largest targets - minifig troops are just too hard to hit with such a high Use rating. Contrarily, high-accuracy small arms are best used to target minifigs, since their Damage rating isn't high enough to pose a real threat to larger Creations.

Element shown: LEGO

Weapon 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 player may choose to make it anywhere from a Size 3 to a Size 5 Melee Weapon, according to how he fudges the measurement. He splits the difference and arbitrarily picks a Weapon Size of 4. Where a standard Hand Weapon has stats of Cost:2 Use:2 Damage:1d6, his Size 4 Melee Weapon now has stats four times greater. It costs 8CP, has a Use rating of 8, and does 4d6 Damage.

Elements shown: LEGO

Size Limits
Size is also important because it determines the limit on the number of Weapons a Creation can have equipped. All Creations are limited to equipping twice as many inches’ worth of Weapons as the Creation's own Size rating. Creations flying in the air (rather than in outer space) are limited even further, to their own Size. If a Creation has more Weapons than its Size Limit, the Weapons must be 'down-powered' - the physical weapon model may be five inches long, for instance, but only be given stats for Weapon Size 3.

Size Limit Example: Scorpiosaurus Rex

Example: With ratings slipping against sleeker, sexier velociraptor upstarts, Scorpiosaurus Rex is trying to regain popularity with a bionic makeover.

The Scorpiosaurus Rex is a Size 3 Creature. With a four-inch Scorpion Tail and two one-inch Claw Blades, it is at its Size Limit of six inches' worth of Weapons. If its owner wants to install a Size 1 set of Eye Lasers in its head, the Scorpiosaurus will have to either lose one Claw Blade or downgrade its Scorpion Tail to Size 3 stats, in order to stay within the six inch limit.

7.4: Taking Action

The Minifig

Minifigs are Creatures too, and their stats can be calculated the same as any other Creature.

Structure: Ignoring the Surface-element limbs, a minifig's body and head have a Size of 1". A minifig is made of flesh, so his Structure Level is 0, 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 one half for its Structure Level of zero, 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 the minifig's total price tag to 3CP.

Weapons: The Minifig's weapons are bought separately.

Mind: A minifig has an intelligent Mind, with a cost equal to its Size rating, or 1CP. This completes the minifig and brings its final cost to 4CP.

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.

Elements shown: Sullis, doughnut
Photo Credit: Todd Lehman

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 active tasks, such as moving around, carrying loads, or vaporizing civilians, it will need to have either a Mind of its own, or intelligent Operators at the controls.

Minds

Some Creatures are more intelligent than others.

The difference between a Creature and a Vehicle is that a Creature is capable of independent thought and action, whether its brain is composed of meat, circuitry, or magic. If a giant mech requires a minifig to pilot it, then it's a Vehicle; if it can operate independently, it's a Creature.

Giving life to a Creation is cheap and easy. For a CP cost (minimum 1CP) equal to the Creation's Size, it develops a Mind, becoming a full-fledged Creature with a Skill of 1d6. Additional Skill boosts of +1 Skill level (or +1 die size, if players have the appropriate dice) can be purchased for the same price.

Skill Levels
Level	Skill (standard)	Skill* (superior)	Description	Example
1/2	1d6-2**	1d4* **	Incompetent	(see Half Minds, below)
1	1d6	1d6	Trained (default)	standard troopers
2	1d6+1	1d8*	Expert	specialists, officers, veterans
3	1d10	1d10	Heroic	Heroes
4	1d10+1	1d12*	Supernatural	demigods, immortals

* - Although BrikWars' Core Rules are designed to rely on d6es and d10s as much as possible, if you also have d4s, d8s, and d12s handy, it's good form to use them instead when their associated Skill levels call for them.
** - Incompetent creatures never get Bonus Dice on their Skill rolls.

A d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12. If you've read this far, you almost certainly already have these.

Elements shown: dice

Creatures with Minds have the same mental abilities as regular minifigs. 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 with an ad hoc edict or special rules (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).

Half Minds

“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

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. +1 Skill boosts can still be purchased at the full regular price.

An Incompetent Creature is similar to other full-Minded Creatures, but due to a lack of training, skill, or intelligence, it is prevented it from being an effective combatant. An Incompetent Creature’s Skill is set at 1d6-2 (or 1d4, if you have d4s handy) and cannot be raised any further with Skill boosts or Bonus Dice.

Examples: Zombies, civilians, zombified civilians, Republicans, corporate middle managers, clone-brand minifigs, ogres, mutants, Democrats

A Simple Creature is limited in its ability to make complex strategic decisions, and instead follows a simple set of behaviors. Simple Creatures are given a list of behaviors at the beginning of the battle, and may only behave in accordance with those instructions. A Simple behavior must be fairly specific: “Move to the nearest wounded allies and attempt to heal them” or “Stay close to allied troops and fire at enemy combatants” would be fine behaviors; “Defeat all enemies” and “Win the battle” would not. BrikWars animals are often made Simple 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, traps are often given Simple behaviors as well, for instance "fire at anything in range and moving" or "if the pressure plate is activated, release poison gas."

Examples: Kill-bots, golems, summoned elementals, guard dogs, mind-control victims, AOL users, sheep

A Submissive Creature may have a limited ability to think on its own, but prefers to obey the commands of a master. Under an intelligent minifig’s direction, the Creature may act as intelligently as if it had a full Mind, but if abandoned, the Creature reverts to whatever animal-like behavior seems appropriate: milling around aimlessly, running and hiding, or attacking everything in sight. If another intelligent minifig can catch a masterless Creature, regardless of whether he’s on the same team, the Creature accepts him as its new master.

Examples: Steeds, androids, grad students, trainees, housepets, work animals, targeting computers, football players, fetishists, cultists

Subjugated Creatures are restrained or harnessed somehow and forced to cooperate against their will. They may in fact be completely intelligent, but have Half a Mind to break free and run amuck. As long as they are kept in their restraints, they must follow the orders of their captors; if they can be released, they will do whatever they can to prevent being enslaved again. This usually means attacking their captors or fleeing the battlefield, but can also be as simple as just attacking everything in sight, regardless of allegiance.

Examples: galley slaves, schoolchildren, chain gangs, draft bulls, conscripts, berzerkers, retail employees

Elements shown: LEGO

Half-Mind Example: The Warhorse

Example: Horses are Submissive Creatures with the following stats:

SIZE: 2
ARMOR: 1d6 (Structure Level 0 x Size 2 = +1 CP)
MOVE: 10" (2" x 5 = +5 CP)
SKILL: 1d6, submissive (Size 2 x Half Mind = +1 CP)
WEAPON: Kick or Bite CC UR2 1d6 (Size 1 Melee = +2 CP)
COST: 9 CP

This horse's plate mail costs +2 CP, adds +1d6 to Armor, and -1" to Move.

Enhanced Abilities
As with minifigs, a Creature with a standard Mind has one Action per turn and can attack with one ranged weapon or two melee weapons. If that's not enough for the species you have in mind, you can purchase additional levels of capacity for the cost of the Creature's original Mind. There are two types of mental capacity:

Multidexterity
Appropriate for Creatures with multiple arms or several natural weapons, Multidexterity increases the number of weapons the Creature can use in a single attack, provided it has enough hands to use them. The Creature can attack and Counter with two additional Close Combat weapons, use one additional weapon in a Ranged attack, or use one additional set of tools for other special actions. The Creature is still limited to one Action against one target during its turn, unless it has also purchased the Multitasking ability.

Multitasking
Appropriate for Creatures with multiple heads or an advanced multiprocessing brain, Multitasking (or "Extra Action") allows a Creature to focus on one additional target during its turn. A Creature with multiple Ranged or Close Combat attacks may divide them between multiple targets in the same turn. 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. It may not use more than two hands or weapons for Actions unless it has also purchased Multidexterity.

Elements shown: LEGO, Little Armory

Enhanced Abilites Example: Professor Monkeyhead

Example: A pioneer in the field self-bioengineering, the six-armed Professor Monkeyhead is brilliant but insane.

Once a normal minifig (4CP), the Professor has spent a further +2CP to raise his Skill to 1d6+2, +2CP on Multitasking to engage in three Actions at once, and +1CP on Multidexterity to use any four of his six hands at the same time. His total worth is now 9CP, enough to apply for tenure in his university department.

Operators
Any Creation can be loaded up with systems and abilities, but if it lacks the intelligence to use them then it’ll need an Operator to take control.

Controls
Ideally, such Creations should include some type of Control Element (a steering wheel, a flight stick, a computer console), but if not, they should at least have a specified Control Area where a minifig has to be if he wants to act as an Operator. Different types of Controls may be able to control the entire Creation (a vehicle’s cockpit, a building’s nerve center, a space station’s bridge, a horse’s saddle), or simply a single system or function (a gunner’s chair, a ship’s wheel, a missile silo's Big Red Button).

Enemy minifigs can cripple a Creation by destroying its Controls. But better still, they can kill the Operators and commandeer the Controls directly. (Plastic-brick Control systems lack security precautions like passwords or ignition keys.) If more than one team has minifigs in a Control area at the same time, they can each use their Actions to prevent the other from Operating the Creation at all.

In the rare case that minifigs from allied teams find themselves at the same set of Controls, they cannot each Operate the Creation on their own turns – that would effectively double the Creation’s abilities unfairly. A team can only Operate a system if none of its allies used the same system on the allies' previous turn. This special limitation only applies to allies; when enemies commandeer a set of Controls they can make immediate use of them, for the sole reason that it’s much funnier to let them have instant benefits than to give the original owners any time to react.

Systems
Assuming he has access to the proper Controls, an Operator can use its Action to control one (and only one) System on a Creation, against a single target. This may be any one of the following:

Propulsion: driving the vehicle – any combination of steering, accelerating, decelerating, etc. Charge attacks are allowed as part of Propulsion (5.4: Charge!).

Ranged Weapons: firing a single weapon, or a paired set of identical weapons, at a single target (5.3: Ranged Combat).

Melee Weapons: using a single melee weapon to attack a single target or parry a single attack (5.2: Close Combat).

Manipulators: lifting, carrying, throwing, dropping, or otherwise manipulating one object or grouped set of objects.

Devices: activating, deactivating, or otherwise controlling one special-purpose device, such as sensors, shields, transporters, a cloaking device, or a self-destruct function.

If no Operator is actively controlling a System, it continues doing whatever it is doing – shields stay up, sails stay unfurled, robotic hands maintain their bloody grip on crushed enemy heads. This is most frequently a factor when steering Vehicles. If the driver of a moving Vehicle switches his attention to firing weapons or operating other devices, the Vehicle continues moving in its current direction, at whatever speed it was traveling at the end of its last turn.

The Pilot

(Download the Pilot card)

Any minifig can drive a Vehicle or direct a Steed, but if they try to do anything else at the same time (applying makeup, talking on a cell phone, targeting enemy airfields with roof-mounted artillery pieces, etc.), then disaster is almost guaranteed. Steering a Creation and operating its weapons or devices are separate Actions, and a regular minifig can only do one or the other in any given turn. Armed Vehicles will often have separate minifigs acting as drivers and gunners; if the driver of a moving vehicle switches to gunning or some other task, the vehicle continues moving in a straight line at its current speed until the minifig returns his attention to driving.

The exception to this rule is the specially-trained Pilot, who can steer and take a regular Action at the same time. Pilots will usually use this ability to make attacks: a helicopter Pilot might fly in and open up with machine guns, a gangsta Driver might perform a drive-by spraying handgun rounds out the window, and a horse-mounted Rider might charge past and cave in your skull with a spiked mace. Less belligerent Actions are just as easy, although less destructive: a starship Pilot might use his mid-maneuver Action to recalibrate shields, warm up a cloaking device, or activate the passenger compartment ejection system.

7.5 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 them; Damage of an equal or lesser amount has no effect.

A larger Creation takes a little more work. Overcoming its 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 weakens a target Creation's overall abilities and wears it down by attrition. Component Damage lets attackers focus on destroying an individual system or construction element.

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 the Creation’s 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). If the attack strikes Surface rather than Structural elements of the Creation, it damages the Surface elements specifically rather than doing General Damage (see Component Damage, below).

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 takes a point of Size Damage, its Move is decreased by 1" (to a minimum of 1") and its abilities are reduced as if its Size were one inch worse. The weapons and devices it can activate during a turn and the Creation's maximum Momentum in a Charge attack are decreased as if it were one inch smaller.

If a Creation's Size Damage is enough to reduce its effective Size to zero, 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.

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.

Elements shown: LEGO, Mega Bloks

Component Damage
When an attacker wants to focus damage on a Creation’s particular weak point, he may single out an individual construction element or a small area (Size 1" or less) for Component Damage. This takes a little more accuracy than a General attack - many elements are small enough to incur Attack Penalties for size, although a rare few are large enough to confer a bonus (5.1: Making Attacks). The advantage of Component Damage is that the targeted sections will often have much lower Armor ratings than the Creation’s main Structure – one Structure Level lower (minimum Structure Level zero) for Surface elements and exposed hinges, and possibly lower still for other decorative features.

If the Component Damage exceeds the target Component's Armor rating, then the Component is chopped, smashed, or blasted off of the Creation as seems appropriate. 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 much smaller hole than pounding it with mortar fire.

If a Creation is made up primarily of a single large element, it's poor form to try and use Component Damage to try and 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 small ones. The Size Ratings of the new smaller Creations are reduced to reflect their new stature, but each inherits the full Size Damage of the original Creation, which may mean that one or both are instantly destroyed. Each section may only use whichever weapons and devices remain attached to it, and only if it has the necessary remaining Size rating and controls to activate them.

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 kinds and should be saved for appropriate special occasions.

Grinding

Eric Joslin's giant slays a series of Greg's minifig troops with a single mighty swing of his flail.

Photo: Eric Joslin
"NELUG Gets Medieval," Nov. 2000
Winners: a flock of sheep

Given enough time, a woodcutter's axe can chop down a redwood, 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 statistic over the course of several turns. Grinding can be used in either a General or Component attack. The weakened Armor rating only applies to future attacks of the same type against the same target or component.

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's Armor rating, he compares the result on each individual Damage die to the target's Structure Level (e.g., a target with Armor rating 4d10 has an Structure Level of 4 (7.1: Structure)). For each die that comes up greater than the Structure Level, the target receives one point of Grinding Damage (use Damage Pips to record this if necessary). The Grinding Damage is added to the Damage of all future attacks against that target.

Overkill
Especially powerful attacks may cause enough Damage to inflict multiple points of Size Damage or destroy several Components all at once. Normally, attack Damage in excess of a target's Armor rating is ignored. If players think the excess would be enough to overcome the target's Armor again, then the excess amount can be treated as Overkill Damage.

When an attacker decides to go for Overkill, the defender must roll its Armor once again versus the remaining Overkill Damage to see if the target takes another point of Size Damage or loses another Component. If the Damage is high enough, there might even be another round of Overkill from the Overkill; the process may repeat until there is either no more Overkill Damage or the target is destroyed.

Besides doing multiple Damage levels to a single large target, Overkill can also be used to blast through a group of smaller ones. With enough Damage and lucky positioning, the Overkill from a single attack might blow through several targets in succession. Normally, Overkill Damage is applied to the same target (or a different part of the same target) as the original Damage. But if the target is broken through, blasted aside, or destroyed, then the Overkill continues on in the direction of the attack, striking whatever new targets fall along its path, to the attack's maximum range. 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 he's able to run in a straight line. Overkill Damage past the attack's maximum Range has no further effect and is lost.

7.6 Creation Combat

Manual Fire

A recent trend in the "official" construction-toy model designs is to have projectiles that can really be fired, whether powered by springs, rubber bands, or the flick of a finger.

If you would like to fire one of these weapons by hand rather than rolling dice when you make an attack, consider the following rules:

Strike Order: The first spot the projectile hits is where the attack lands. Amy successive hits 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: Players should discuss whether any 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 inflicts a -1 penalty to Damage for that attack.

In combat, Creations follow the usual attack sequence, choosing between Ranged, Close Combat, or Charge attacks, making Attack Rolls against their weapons’ Use ratings, and rolling for Damage against their targets’ Armor.

Depending on its Mind, a Creature might do all of this as independently as any minifig. If a Creation lacks a Skill rating of its own, it will need a minifig or other intelligent Operator at the controls (7.4: Taking Action) whose Skill rating can be used instead. If a Creature has both a Mind and an Operator, then the Operator gives the commands but the Creature uses its own Skill Rating when making attacks.

Close Combat
(see 5.2: Close Combat)
A Creation with a Close Combat weapon can use it to whack at targets the same way a minifig might. However, Creations are not always able to participate fully in the back-and-forth attacks of formal Close Combat. There are specific conditions under which Creations may have their abilities limited.

Mindless: Unlike independent Creatures, a Creation being piloted by an Operator lacks the necessary reflexes to Counter attacks.

Too Big: Larger combatants lack the reflexes to Counter against opponents much smaller than themselves. A Creature can Counter against an opponent with half its Size rating, but no smaller. Only a Size 0 Creature can Counter against another Size 0 Creature.

Unmoving: Creations without a leaping ability cannot use an Angry Inch when making their attack.

Ranged Combat
(see 5.3: Ranged Combat)
Minifigs are able to change facing instantly and swing their arms to point weapons in any direction. Depending on their type of Propulsion system and the way their weapons are mounted, some Creations may be much less flexible.

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, however - 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, but the Weapon Size must be measured at the barrel’s shortest length.)

Players can mount a Creation's weapons on any type of turret, hinge, or arm to cover a wider firing arc. This has no extra cost, but remember that any moving parts involved are automatically at two Structure Levels lower than the rest of the Creation (7.1: Structure: Structure Level).

Charge Attacks
(see 5.4: Charge!)
Charge attacks are much the same for Creations as they are for minifigs, paying special attention to the proper Momentum limits according to Size.

A very large Creation making a Charge attack may be able to plow through several smaller targets before grinding to a halt. Overkill (7.4: Taking Damage: Special Damage) works slightly differently in a Charge than in other types of attacks. It doesn’t matter whether the target is destroyed as much as whether it's knocked away; Overkill from a Charge is limited by Momentum rather than by Damage. The Charging unit rolls its Momentum (MOMd6) only once; the total is whittled away by the Physical Opposition (POPd6) of each target that it strikes, until there is not enough left to knock a target out of the path of the Charge.

Trampling
An attacker can’t Charge the same unit twice; if a unit is Knocked Back into the path of a Charge, the attacker is stopped rather than Charging the unit again. However, if the target has been Knocked Over and is low enough that the Charging unit can run over the top of it without having to jump or climb, then the Charging Unit has the option to Trample the target and continue onward. A Trampling unit does its own Size in bonus Damage, added on top of whatever Damage had already been done in the initial impact.

The maximum range of Charging Overkill only extends as far as the attacker's stright-line movement. If the attacker stops, swerves, or turns from its course, the Overkill ends.