| 8: Weaponry |
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Close Combat Weapons |
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Ranged Weapons |
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Firing Arcs |
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BlastGuns |
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MachineGuns and Reloading |
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FlameThrowers and Fire |
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Heavy Explosions |
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Payload Launchers |
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Hazard Dice |
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Mechanisms |
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The Scout |
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Firing Weapons |
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The Gunner |
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The Heavy |
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| The Tyronian Uber-Heavies are known for carrying weapons that regular minifigs can't even lift, much less fire. |
Photo: Lt. Krus
from "Tyronian Army Reform"
Elements shown: LEGO |
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Chapter Eight: Weaponry
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 reason to build the really large
creations is because you need a place to put the really big guns.
8.1: Weapon Size
 As
with Structures and everything else of real importance, weapons are
classified according to their Size in inches. At a Weapon Size of one inch or less (WS:1), 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 statistic is multiplied by or added to Size.
| Weapon |
CP Cost |
Use |
Range |
Damage |
Notes |
| Close Combat Weapons |
| Melee Weapon |
WS x2 |
WS +1 |
CC |
(WS)d6 |
- |
| Melee Shield |
WS |
WS x 2 |
CC |
(WS) x Armored Parry |
Parry or Shove only |
Ranged Weapons
Note: Minifig Ranged Weapons are limited to WS 1". |
| Gun |
WS x3 |
WS +2 |
(WS x4) +2" |
(WS)d6 |
- |
| BlastGun |
WS x3 |
WS +1 |
(WS x2)
+2" |
(WS)d8 - (distance) |
1 Firing Arc
no Auto Penalty
Target size modifiers affect Damage |
| MachineGun |
WS x4 |
WS +2
|
(WS x3)
+2" |
(WS)d6 |
-1 Auto Penalty per Arc or Burst
may require Reload |
| FlameThrower |
WS x3 |
WS +1 |
(WS x2)
+2" |
(WS)d4 Fire |
min. 1 Firing Arc
-1 Auto Penalty per Arc
Target size modifiers affect Damage |
| Launcher |
WS x3 |
WS x2 |
WS x6" |
(PS)d6 |
max Payload Size (PS)
of WS/2
max Explosive Size (XS) of WS |
Explosive Weapons
Note: "XS" is a special size rating used for Explosives, which are measured in bricks rather than inches. |
| Explosive |
XS |
* |
* |
(XS)d10 Exp |
* -
determined by Launcher |
| Rocket |
WS x2 |
WS x2 |
WS x6" |
(WS)d10 Exp |
- |
| Armor |
| Armor Plating |
WS +1 |
- |
- |
+Armored to area |
No aerial flight or alternate forms of Movement; cost of Move inches doubled |
| "WS" refers to inches of Weapon Size, the natural basis for all Weapon stats. |
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| 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 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 more awesome. It costs 8CP,
has a Use rating of 5, and does 4d6 Damage. |
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Because Weapon Size increases the Use ratings along with the Damage, the highest-damage weapons are most effective against the
largest targets - minifig troops are just too hard to hit with high-Use weapons. Contrarily, high-accuracy small arms are mainly effective against minifig targets, since their Damage isn't high
enough to pose a real threat to larger Creations.
Size Limits
Weapon Size is also important because it determines the limit on the number
of Weapons a Creation can operate during a turn. Due to power limitations, a Creation can only use as many inches of Weapons as twice its own Size. The Creation can be overloaded with as many Weapons as its player is willing to pay for, but on any given turn it can only use a selection of them that fits within this limit.
Certain types of Creations are limited even further in their weapons use. Creations flying in the air (rather than in
space or with antigravity) are limited to their own Size in Weapon Inches. Size Zero Creations are allowed a single Hand Weapon or equivalent at most.
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| Size
Limit Example: Scorpiosaurus Rex |
Example: With ratings slipping against sleeker, sexier velociraptor
upstarts, Scorpiosaurus Rex is trying to regain popularity
with a bionik makeover.
The Scorpiosaurus Rex is a Size 3 Creature. He adds decorative steel plating to his one-inch Claw Blades, and upgrades his scorpion tail to a five-inch BioStinger. With an operational limit of six inches' worth of weapons per turn (twice his Size of 3), he can either attack with the stinger and one claw (5"+1"=6"), or with his two claws (1"+1"=2") in a given 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 Size Limit of 6."
If Scorpiosaurus Rex takes a point of Size Damage, his effective Size will be reduced to 2, limiting his weapon usage to only four inches per turn. Because the stinger is larger than this limit, he no longer has the strength to use it as all, and is limited to using his two claws exclusively. |
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Explosive Size
While full inches are the standard of Size measurement for Weapons and everything else in BrikWars, Explosives are measured on a much smaller grain. This exception is made so that Explosives can be small enough to throw as hand grenades or launched out of Launchers of matching size. Explosive Size (XS) is measured by the number of bricks (or roughly brick-sized elements) used to construct an individual Explosive, rather than by inches. In game terms, measurements of Explosive Size are treated exactly the same as inches of Weapon Size when counting against a Creation's Weapon Size limit.
KnockBack
Whenever large weapons successfully hit a small target, there's a potential for KnockBack similar to a collision (5.4: Charge!). In most cases this can be safely ignored, and players are encouraged to forget about this rule except in special instances where it would be sufficiently awesome and/or funny. In those instances, any time the Size of a weapon is larger than the Size of a target it strikes, the target is Knocked Back one inch for every die in the weapon's Damage rating, with the usual potential for being Disrupted as a result.
Hand-Held Weapons
When Weapons are carried in a Creation's hands (or the equivalent), rather than mounted directly to the Creation itself, they are subject to some of the same limitations as minifig weapons.
Comparing the stats from Weapon Size chart above to the Minifig Weapons table (Chapter 3: Minifig Weapons), a minfig's Short (S) weapons (the Hand Weapon, Shield, and Short-Ranged Weapon) have WS:1" stats, while the Long (L) weapon (the Two-Handed Weapon) is roughly equivalent to WS:2". The stats for Minifig-Sized (M) weapons (the Heavy Weapon and Long-Ranged Weapon) don't have such close equivalents, falling somewhere in between the two Weapon Sizes. 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" |
1d6+1 |
Two-Handed |
ShotGun (M)
Bastard BlastGun |
4CP |
3 |
6" |
1d8+1 - (distance) |
Two-Handed
1 Firing Arc,
no Auto Penalty
Target size modifiers affect Damage |
AutoGun (M)
Bastard MachineGun |
6CP |
3 |
8" |
1d6+1 |
Two-Handed
-1 Auto Penalty per Arc or Burst
may require Reload |
FlameGun (M)
Bastard FlameThrower |
4CP |
2 |
5" |
1d4+1 Fire |
Two-Handed
min. 1 Firing Arc
-1 Auto Penalty per Arc
Target size modifiers affect Damage |
Bazooka (M)
Bastard Launcher |
4CP |
3 |
8" |
(PS)d6
or (XS)d10 Exp |
Two-Handed
max Payload Size (PS) of 1
max Explosive Size (XS) of 2 |
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For a larger Creation's hand-held weapon, as with minifigs' weapons, the Weapon Size is compared to the Size of the Creation. 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).
| Hand-Held Weapon Equivalents |
| Weapon Category |
Short (S)
1xSize" |
Bastard (M)
1.5xSize" |
Long (L)
2xSize" |
| Close Combat Weapons |
Hand Weapon
one-handed |
Heavy Weapon
one-handed if paired with (S) Shield
two-handed otherwise |
Two-Handed Weapon
two-handed
cannot Sprint or throw weapon |
Ranged Weapons
limit one |
Short-Ranged Weapon
one- or two-handed |
Long-Ranged Weapon
two-handed |
Not Allowed |
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A Creation with a large number of hands can carry a correspondingly large number of weapons, but keep in mind that Hand-Held Weapons are still subject to Weapon Size limits just like regular ones. While it could Divert All Power to attack with more than its usual limit of weapons for the turn (8.6: Manning Guns), in most cases it's more efficient to limit Creations to one or two hands.
A Creation can only fire one Hand-Held Ranged Weapon per turn, regardless of how many it's carrying.
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. |
Photo: Zahru II
from "Nipponian Battle Armor"
Elements shown: LEGO |
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Close Combat Weapons
Melee Weapon: Cost:WSx2CP Use:WS+1 Range:CC Damage:WSd6
Melee Shield: Cost:WSxCP Use:WSx2 Range:CC Armor:WSxArmored Parry Shove: WSx2"
(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 fully in the back-and-forth attacks of formal Close
Combat. There are specific conditions under which Creations may have
their abilities limited.
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Mindless: Unlike independent Creatures, a Creation
being piloted by an Operator lacks the necessary reflexes
to Counter attacks, unless the Operator has the Piloting Specialty (H.2: Riding a Horse ). |
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Too Big: Larger combatants lack the reflexes
to Counter against opponents much smaller than themselves.
A Creature or Pilot-operated Creation 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. |
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Too Small: Creations can only Shove targets their own Size or smaller, and Shoves from larger Creations are Parried at -2 for every inch of Size difference. In order to Shove targets larger than themselves, Creations have to team up, adding their Sizes together in a Combined Attack. |
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Unmoving: Creations without some kind of obvious leaping ability
cannot use an Angry Inch when making attacks. |
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While the Use ratings of Melee Weapons go up fairly slowly as they get larger in Weapon Size, large Melee Shields become difficult to weild much more quickly. However, the benefits can be great - a successful Parry with a Melee Shield adds a number of levels of Armored status equal to its Weapon Size, potentially negating multiple dice of Damage all at once and rendering many attacks meaningless.
| 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. |
Photo: Natalya
Models: RoC77
from "The Peach Massacre of G.R. 2,010"
Elements shown: LEGO |
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Ranged Weapons
Gun: Cost:WSx3CP Use:WS+2 Range:(WSx4)+2" Damage:WSd6
(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, 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 as well as symbolically 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 any hinges, joints, or other moving parts are automatically armored at two Structure
Levels lower than the rest of the Creation (7.1:
Structure: Structure Level).
Armor Plating
Armor Plating: Cost:WS+1CP Effect:+Armored to area Notes:No aerial flight or alternate movement; cost of Move inches doubled
(see 3.3: Bodily Protection)
Sections of Armor Plating can be used to protect some or all of a Creation, granting a level of Armored status to whatever area it covers. This protection comes at a cost to the Creation's mobility, however - the CP cost for all Propulsion inches are doubled (9.1: Standard Propulsion), and the added weight of even the smallest patch of Armor Plating makes many types of movement impossible.
Other than moving backwards, a Creation with Armor Plating cannot engage in any
form of movement that would occur at Half Speed (4.1: Movement, 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 are careful to specifically target an un-Armored section, their attack will automatically hit any section of Armor Plating that is visible and within range, no matter how small or unlikely.
8.3: Automatic Weapons
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| “ Whoever said 'the pen is mightier than the sword' obviously never encountered automatic weapons." |
| - General Douglas MacArthur |
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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 the Auto Penalty.
| Players may try to fudge an angle by not holding their palm 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. |
| Elements shown:
digits |
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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. These tend to give the most uniform angles.
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.
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 penalty from Arc size.
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| 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 his fingers to measure the Firing Arc, your mom is so fat that she spans the entire Arc between his 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 Flamethrowers, Target Size modifiers affect Damage rather than Skill, so the trooper keeps his -2 Auto Penalty for the Firing Arc of 2, and makes three attacks with +2 Damage each. |
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| Elements shown:
LEGO, Mega Bloks |
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| 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. |
Photo: Silent-Sigfig
from "Operation: HEAVY METAL"
Elements shown: LEGO |
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BlastGuns
BlastGun: Cost:WSx3CP Use:WS+1 Range:(WSx2)+2" Damage:WSd8-distance Notes: 1 Firing Arc, no Auto Penalty
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.
What makes a BlastGun unique is that it 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.
Because a BlastGun's attack comes from filling an area with a field of projectiles, the usual modifiers for cover and Target Size work differently. Instead of acting as modifiers to the attacker's Skill, they affect the Damage instead. Large and small targets within the cone of fire are not any more or less likely to be hit, but they will catch larger or smaller portions of the shot 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.)
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| 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 Chastity and her baby will luckily 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.
Prudence 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, Prudence has 1/3 cover from babies, reducing her risk by -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? |
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MachineGuns and Reloading
MachineGun: Cost:WSx4CP Use:WS+2+Auto Range:(WSx3)+2" Damage:WSd6 Notes: -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 single Action, 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 fired in Arc Fire, the player chooses the size of the Arc he's going to attempt (which determines 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 current number of Arcs that the MachineGun has swept through, then the weapon has hit its limit. It stops firing immediately and becomes Inoperative. For instance, a MachineGun firing across three units of Arc would have no problems when firing at targets in the first unit, but would hit its limit if the player rolled a "1" for any of the targets in the second unit of Arc, or a "1" or a "2" when firing at any of the targets in the third unit of Arc.
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's going to attempt in a Controlled Burst (which determines the overall Auto Penalty; he receives a cumulative -1 for each shot in the Burst he plans to attempt),
and 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 current shot number , then the MachineGun hits its limit and becomes Inoperative. A MachineGun will never become Inoperative on the first shot in a Burst, but it will if the player rolls a "1" on the second shot, or a "1" or a "2" on the third shot, and so forth.
FlameThrowers and Fire
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| Flames shooting through cracks in the lava crust inspire BFenix's Metal Warriors to rock out for several turns before remembering they're still in the middle of a battle. |
from "Assault on Goatse Bunker"
Elements shown:
LEGO |
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FlameThrower: Cost:WSx3CP Use:WS+1 Range:(WSx2)+2" Damage:WSd4 Fire Notes: min. 1 Firing Arc, -1 Auto Penalty per Arc
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| “ 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 |
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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 and negates any chances for Bonus Dice, but these shortcomings are more than made up for by their overwhelming advantages in the area 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 (red and yellow bricks or pips work fine, although actual flame pieces work better), and
a scattering of loose black and gray bits to show burned areas.
FlameThrowers are not the most precise or elegant weapons, and must always use a Firing Arc of at least 1. Like with BlastGuns, modifiers for cover and target size affect a FlameThrower attack's Damage rather than Skill.
Catching On Fire
Whenever a target takes Damage from FlameThrowers, Explosions, or other Fire-based attacks, there's a chance that it will be set on Fire. A target's resistance to Fire is determined by its Structure Level (7.1:
Structure). Flimsy objects like peasants (Structure Level ½) and thatched-roof cottages (Structure Level 1) tend to go up like matchsticks, while sturdier objects like freeway overpasses (Structure Level 4) are all but impervious to normal flame.
When Fire Damage occurs, compare the number rolled on each d4 (or d10, for an Explosion) to the Structure Level of the target. For each die whose number is higher than the target's Structure Level, the target is set on Fire and its Fire Size is increased by one inch. Place an appropriate blaze of flame pieces on and around the target, or red and yellow bricks when flame pieces aren't available. Ideally, the size of the blaze should be equal to the Fire Size, but the number of Fire Size inches can also be indicated by a specific number of Fire pips or discrete clumps of flame if this is more convenient.
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A spray of Fire disperses quickly. Past its effective Range, it becomes much more difficult for a Fire attack to ignite targets. In addition to the usual Skill and Damage penalties, for every inch by which a target is Out of Range, the number needed for any of the Fire Damage's d4s to set the target on Fire is increased by one. |
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An object can only be on Fire up to its own Size (use the object's actual Size rather than Effective Size; Size Damage (7.2:
Taking Damage) doesn't decrease an object's maximum Fire Size). If a burning object's Fire Size is equal to the object's own Size, the object is completely engulfed in flames. Rather than adding any more to the Fire Size, any extra Fire inches past this limit instead deal 1d4 Fire Damage to a single other object the burning object is touching, as chosen by the player in control of the burning object. This Fire Damage has the possibility of setting the new object on Fire, as usual.
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| 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 Arc, but the two closer peasants are 2" Out of Range, and the furthest is 3" Out of Range.
The Size 3" Flamethrower has a Use Rating of 4, with a -1 Arc Penalty to Skill for the single point of Firing Arc. Taking the targets in order, the cottage is first and easiest to hit - it's a 6" Large Target (+3 to hit) and Stationary (+1), for a total Attack Bonus of +3 after the Arc Penalty. The dragon rolls a one on the Attack Roll, and the Critical Failure renders the +3 bonus meaningless. He misses the thatched roof completely.
The next two peasants are each two inches Out of Range, adding another -2 to the -1 Arc Penalty for a total Skill Penalty of -3. The dragon rolls a 5 for the first and a 6 plus a Bonus Die of 3 for the second. Thanks to the -3 Skill Penalty, the first roll fails to meet the Flamethrower's Use requirement of 4. The second is a hit, and he rolls a 2, 1, and 4 on the 3d4. After subtracting the -2 Damage Penalty for being two inches Out of Range, the peasant takes five points of Damage and is struck down.
Any roll on 1d4 is normally enough to exceed a peasant's Structure Level of ½ and set him on Fire, but being two inches Out of Range increases the needed roll by 2. The first two rolls of 2 and 1 were not enough for a successful ignition, but the 4 does the job - the peasant's corpse is now On Fire.
The final peasant is three inches Out of Range, adding a -3 Skill Penalty to the -1 Arc Penalty. Despite the difficult -4 Penalty, The dragon rolls a lucky 6 plus a bonus die of 5 for this final Attack Roll and hits the peasant. The dragon rolls 3, 2, and 2 on the 3d4 Damage Roll, and subtracts a -3 penalty for the distance Out of Range. With a total of four damage, the peasant barely survives. Even worse, because the required numbers to set the Out of Range peasant on Fire are increased by three, none of the d4 rolls were enough to do the job.
Singed but unharmed, the panicked peasant flees to the safety of his home, trampling over the burning corpse along the way and taking 1d4 Fire Damage in the process. The roll of 2 succeeds in setting him On Fire, and as soon as he dashes into the cottage he sets it On Fire as well. The final 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! |
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Being On Fire
Being on Fire has a number of disadvantages.
For as long as the object continues to burn, it suffers an Armor Penalty against all incoming Damage. (This Armor Penalty does not apply to Damage from a Burning Roll, described below.) Whenever a burning object takes Damage, it takes a -1d4 Armor Penalty for each inch of Fire Size. (For Component Damage, only consider the Size of the Fire that fits on that Component; when attempting Grinding Damage, the object is penalized one Structure Level for each inch of Fire Size.)
If a living creature is on Fire, it has a difficult time focusing on anything else. (Undead and mechanical units are not bothered by Fire, and diabolic units are known to even enjoy it.) If a burning creature is trying to do anything not directly related to putting itself out, it suffers a -1d4 Skill Penalty for each inch of Fire Size. At the end of each turn, if it has unused inches of Move remaining, it's mandatory that it uses up every last inch by running and thrashing around hysterically, doing its best to hyperventilate and scream at the same time.
If a burning object is successfully used in an attack, it becomes a Flaming attack, adding a simple +1d4 Fire Damage to the regular attack Damage regardless of its Fire Size.
A magic fire sword becomes a +1d4 Flaming Hand Weapon, a burning hippie can deliver a +1d4 Flaming Shove, and a burning police car can be involved in a +1d4 Flaming Collision.
When minifigs work to extinguish a Fire, most methods reduce the Fire Size by one inch per turn per minifig involved. A burning unit that spends a whole turn rolling around on the ground (using its entire Movement and Action) will extinguish one inch worth of Fire Size. So will tossing a bucket of water on a burning object, spraying it with a fire extinguisher or hose, or wrapping it with wet blankets. Submerging a burning object in water or in airless space extinguishes a Fire completely. If an object is only partially submerged, then the Fire Size is limited to the size of whatever part of the object is still out of the water.
The Burning Roll
Once an object has been ignited, the Fire takes on a life of its own. At the beginning of the burning object's turn (or, for unaligned objects, the turn of the player who set the Fire), the Fire makes a Burning Roll to determine its effects and to see whether it dies down or grows larger. This will continue for however many turns it takes for the Fire to go out (when it is reduced to Fire Size 0"), or for the burning object to be destroyed (at which point the Fire burns itself out for lack of fuel).
When making a Burning Roll, roll a number of d4s equal to the inches of Fire Size. This roll is immediately applied as Fire Damage, with the usual effects: every die that comes up higher than the object's Structure Level increases the Fire Size by one inch. However, during this Burning Roll only, there is also a chance that the Fire will die down: each d4 that rolls a 1 causes the Fire Size to be reduced by one inch, possibly reducing the Fire Size to zero and causing the Fire to go out completely.
Large Objects On Fire
For small objects, there's no point in worrying about which parts are or are not on Fire - it's safe to assume that the Fire is distributed evenly over an object's surface. For very large objects, such as pirate galleons, orphanages, or the ground, even a very large patch of Fire might occupy only a small portion of the object, and it can easily end up with multiple unrelated Fires in separate areas.
On these larger objects, it's important to properly maintain the size and shape of Fires. 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.
When large objects catch on Fire, they become a danger to other objects sitting or traveling on top of them. Objects moving through the Fire treat it as a Field Hazard causing 1d4 Fire Environmental Damage (8.5: Field Hazards).
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| 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 boilers in a 1d10 Explosion.
The mech has a Size of 4", a Structure Level of 2, and 2d10 Armor. The Explosion rolls a 3 on 1d10, not enough to dent the mech's Armor roll of 12, but enough to exceed the Structure Level and set the boiler on Fire with a Fire Size of 1". With a single boiler remaining, von Bragstein ignores the flames and fights bravely on.
On the next turn, the Fire rolls a 4 on its 1d4 Burning Roll, still too low to beat the Armor Roll of 7, but enough to beat the Structure Level of 2 again and spread one inch onto the cockpit roof. The mech now has a Fire Size of 2".
On the third turn, the Burning Roll is now 2d4, and the Fire rolls a 1 and a 3. An unlucky roll of 3 on the 2d10 Armor is not enough to protect the mech from the 4 Damage; it takes an inch of Size Damage, reducing its effective Size to 3". 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, now setting the shoulder of the cannon arm on fire; this brings it 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. The mech rolls 14 for Armor, but the Fire still spreads another two inches, fully engulfing the cockpit and reaching the Size 4" mech's maximum Fire Size of 4". The cockpit now counts as an Environmental Hazard, dealing 1d4 Damage to von Bragstein on each turn in which he fails to abandon ship.
If players have been keeping track of Fire Grinding Damage, the cumulative total after three Burning Rolls is now 8 (2+2+4). The mech won't last much longer with that kind of penalty against its Armor; von Bragstein's best bet is to get out while he still can. |
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| Not all Poison-like 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. |
Photo: Tuefish
from "A Vol saga."
Elements shown: LEGO (modified) |
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Acid, Poison, and Disease
Because Fire is the most common type of continuing damage in BrikWars, the Fire rules (with a few tweaks) are used as the basis for other types of Damage that have a lasting Burning effect from turn to turn.
A d4 of Acid, for instance, burns a victim like Fire but can only die down, never growing.
D4s of Poison, infection, or disease burn like internal Fires, but can normally 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.) Poisons, curses, and other unusual types of Continuing Damage may lead to an alternate final stage besides death - Poisonous bites that turn their victims into monsters are especially popular.
Creatures and objects suffering from one of these alternate forms of Burning still feel the usual effects of Being On Fire - the weakening from Armor and Skill Penalties, the Burning Roll, the ability to make whatever alternate version of a Flaming Attack makes sense for their condition. Characters burning with Acid will still tend to run around hysterically, while Characters whose uncomfortable Burning is the result of Poison or disease have an easier time sitting still.
8.4: Heavy Explosives
| James+burgundy's Pilots pose for a group photo with their Explosive ordnance. |
Photo: james+burgundy
from "Army, new(ish) "
Elements shown:
LEGO |
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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.
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Explosion Damage is based around the intimidating d10, so players who expect to cause a lot of Explosions should make sure to bring a sufficient supply of d10s. |
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Heavy Explosions
Explosive: Cost:XSxCP Damage:XSd10 Exp Notes: Use and Range determined by Launcher
Rocket: Cost:WSx2CP Use:WSx2 Range:WSx6" Damage:WSd10 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 (Chapter 5.4: Charge! ).
For a 1d10 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 die in the roll, 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 die for every two inches and distributing damage and KnockBack accordingly, until no dice remain in the Explosion Damage.
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Players may wish to save handling all KnockBack effects for the end, in order to avoid accidentally damaging the same object twice. |
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Damage 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.
Craters
Whether the battleground is made of baseplates, tabletops, or carpeting, i's almost never practical to carve divots or bust holes in it when Explosions go off. Instead, make a single roll for the ground's Armor (1d10 by default, although different ground materials may have higher or lower Structure Levels as seems appropriate), and then roll the Explosion Damage against it. Explosion Damage decreases the further it gets from the center of the Explosion, so there will be maximum circular radius at which the Explosion Damage no longer defeats that Armor roll. At this radius, instead of digging a hole into the ground, use spare bricks to build the edges of a crater upward. The crater edges should be one brick high for every two inches of radius; an eight-inch-radius crater will have edges as tall as a minifig.
Fire
If players are allowing Fire in their battle (Chapter 8.3: Automatic Weapons), Explosions can be a very effective way of setting Fire to otherwise fireproof objects. As with a FlameThrower, if the roll on any individual die in an Explosion Damage roll is higher than the Structure Level of the object taking damage, it adds +1" worth of Fire Size to the object. Unlike a FlameThrower, Explosions roll d10s rather than d4s, so they will ignite almost everything they touch - at least for a while. Once the Fires have been set, they still roll regular d4s for the Burning Roll at the beginning of each turn, and so objects of Structure Level 4 or greater will go out before long.
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| Explosion Example: Wall Demolition |
Example: The Imperial Ministry of Truth uses spare blast walls to test missiles and improve the believability of their faked plane crashes. By popular acclaim, Privates Templin and Reale have been volunteered to man the 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 Structure Level 3. It rolls 5, 2, and 8 on its 3d10 Armor for a total of 15. This is less than the Explosion's innermost Damage of 17, so all wall components within two inches of the blast are destroyed, tossed away three inches, and the rubble is set On Fire with a Fire Size of 2" (thanks to the rolls of 6 and 7; the 3 wasn't enough to exceed the wall's Structure Level).
The Armor Roll of 15 is enough to exceed the 9 Damage for the next two inches away from the Explosion, so the rest of the wall survives, although it's still set On Fire (from the remaining rolls of 6 and 3, the 6 is enough to exceed the Structure Level, while the 7 has been removed).
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 still 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.
While the wall won't take any more damage, the ground it's resting on has a Structure Level of only 1. It rolls an 8 on its Armor of 1d10, less than the 9 Explosion Damage at the two- to four-inch radius, but more than the 3 Explosion Damage further out; all of the ground within 4 inches of the blast is destroyed. (The ground directly underneath the wall is protected, since the base of the wall survived to shield it). Within that area, any "ground" bricks on the surface of the baseplate are torn up and sent flying two inches outward, and a two-brick-high crater rim is built out of black bricks raised up at the edge of the destructive radius.
Within the outermost four- to six-inch radius, the Explosion Damage is only 3, not enough to tear up the wall or the ground, but easily enough to destroy the nearby foliage (Structure Level 0) and set it On Fire.
Now that the explosion and its effects are handled, 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 (unless considered as Cumulative Damage with the 13 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 immediate press releases through its faux news channels about Private Reale's heroism in the face of a terrorist attack. |
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Payload Launchers
Launcher: Cost:WSx3CP Use:WSx2 Range:WSx6" Damage:PSd6 or object's Damage Notes: Max Payload Size of WS/2; max Explosive Size of WS
| 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. |
Photos: Wayne McCaul
from NELUG's "The Post-Apocalyptic Research Vehicle" |
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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 sewage-filled dumpsters raining onto enemy formations also have their special charm.
Unlike regular types of Ranged Weapons, for which ammunition is mysteriously 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 all 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 orbit. 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 its 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 multiple projectiles tend to disperse while in flight. Non-Explosive Payloads do Crash Damage with full Momentum (9.3: Vehicle Combat), doing a d6 of Damage for each point in their current Structure Level ((PS)d6 Crash Damage). Launched Explosives use their Explosion Damage ratings on impact.
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| 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. |
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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 (subject to a possible -5 Attack Penalty if they're firing at targets they can't see (5.1: Making Attacks)), 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. 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 are 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 Payload is launched, but the player doesn't immediately make the Attack Roll. Instead, he places a marker at the intended target location (an "X" built from red bricks is traditional). It's only at the beginning of his next turn, when the Payload finally comes down, that he makes the Attack Roll and finds out whether the projectile hit its target or how much it missed by.
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| Long Range 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 a Size 5" Launcher requires at least 2.5" worth of Creations to power it, 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! |
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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 1d6.
30" is a long way, much further than a Launcher's 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. |
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Thrown 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 in Close Combat, although they're used in that capacity only infrequently).
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 effective Range (5.1: Making Attacks).
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| Long Range Example: The Young Pyramidheads (continued) |
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 their 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. |
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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. (The ground also takes ½d6 Damage from the Pyramidhead, but no one cares enough to bother rolling it). 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.
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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. |
from "Assault on Goatse Bunker"
Elements shown:
LEGO |
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| Field Hazards |
| Hazard Dice |
CP Cost per Die |
Die Options |
Notes |
| Exposure Damage |
FS x2 |
d6 Damage, or d4 Fire |
Damage multiplied by Size" Exposure |
| Difficult Terrain |
FS |
d6" Move |
- |
| Concealed Hazards |
FS |
d6 Damage, d4 Fire, or d10 Exp |
Skill vs. inches moved to avoid |
| 1/2 FS |
d6" Move |
| Energy Shields |
FS |
d6 Armor,
or d10 Specialized Armor |
- |
| Mechanisms |
(Free) |
- |
Devices purchased separately |
| "FS" refers to inches of Field Size, the basis for Field Hazard costs. |
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The final category of weapons allows minifigs to slaughter one another using 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.
A Field Hazard is defined by two attributes: the Field, which measures the size of the danger zone, and its Hazard, which determines what happens to the victims who wander into it.
Fields
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 blow you up when you step on them, magma flows burn you when you swim in them, and poison gas chambers poison you when you're unlucky enough to still be standing in them after the computer’s warmed up the neurotoxin emitters.
The area covered by a dangerous condition is its Field. The Field may be filled with the Hazard itself, such as molten lava, tear gas, or boy-band music played at high volume. It may also be an unpredictable area filled with hidden and scattered Hazards, like antipersonnel mines, patches of thin ice, swampy sinkholes, or subterranean BrikThulhoid tentacles waiting to burst through the surface and drag the unwary to their doom.
Fields are defined by their Size”, which is measured in the same way as for any Structure (7.1: Structure) or Weapon (8.1: Weapon Size). Players will need to know exactly where the boundaries of the Field lie, so it’s a good idea to indicate a Fields’ edges with lines of small bricks or some other markers if they’re not otherwise obvious.
Hazards
The dangerous conditions within a Field are known as its Hazard. Unlike specifically-targeted Attacks from weapons and devices, Hazards are spread consistently throughout their Fields - no matter where in a Field you’re 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 your next footstep.
Hazard Dice
While it's impossible to list all the types of Hazards that might appear in a BrikWars battle, their effects are built up from Hazard Dice that fall into a short list of basic categories. Exposure Damage dice cover effects that damage their victims by simple exposure, especially Fire. Difficult Terrain dice are for areas that hamper Movement in some way, particularly water Hazards and barbed wire. Concealed Hazard dice are for areas that are mostly safe until you step in the wrong place, especially minefields. A final type, Energy Shield dice, 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 somehow reduced below the number of Hazard Dice, Hazard Dice must be removed to adhere to the new limit, chosen by either the Field Hazard’s owner or, for Field Hazards that have no owner, by mutual agreement or a What I Say Goes roll.
If a Field Hazard is powered by a Structure, then every Hazard Die rolled uses up one inch of the Structure’s Size Limit for Weapon use for that turn (8.1: Weapon Size). This can make Field Hazards a risky modification - enemies can quickly overload a Structure’s power supply for the turn by setting off a single Field Hazard multiple times. Most such Hazards are given manual control overrides so that a Structure’s Operators can switch them on and off as necessary.
Exposure Damage
Cost: Size"x2CP per 1d6 Damage or 1d4 Fire Damage
Many conditions damage victims through exposure alone - Hazards like acid, radiation, electrified surfaces, hailstorms, and open flames 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, measure the Size” of whatever portion or portions of the object that spend time in the Field during its turn. The number of Exposure Damage dice are multiplied by the number of exposed inches of Size” and inflicted on the victim all at once (for instance, a six inch FireTruck with bad brakes, accidentally driving four inches into a 2d4 Fire, would take 8d4 Fire Damage that turn on the exposed section). Size zero objects simply take a single point of Damage per Exposure Damage die; these do not count against any Size Limit for the Field Hazard.
| Fire Level |
Examples |
| 1d4 |
Regular fire - house fires, campfires, book burnings |
| 2d4 |
Fuel fires - furnaces, napalm, gasoline fires, burning oil |
3d4
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Molten fires - hot lava, smelters, molten metal |
4d4
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Atomic fires - nuclear plasma, antimatter reactors |
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Fire Exposure Damage, in particular, is broken into specific dice levels according to type. All regular Fires do 1d4 Fire Damage. Burning fuel, like gasoline fires or napalm, are 2d4 Fires, while molten lava does 3d4 Fire Damage. Even hotter fires are possible in sci-fi settings - nuclear plasma and antimatter reactors may have Fire Damage levels of 4d4 or higher. Unlike Fires that arise naturally during the course of battle, Fires bought as Field Hazards are assumed to be relatively permanent features and do not make Burning Rolls at the beginnings of turns to see if they change size or shape (8.3: Automatic Weapons).
Certain types of Exposure Damage work differently on different targets. A toxic gas Hazard, for example (often created by Heroic Feats involving Mexican food), only affects living targets that breathe it in, leaving undead and mechanical targets blissfully 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 acts as if the entire body is exposed, multiplying by the full Size” of the creature.
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| Tzan's Old Dudes use Shoves to send a pair of Zahru II's Mandalorks over an embankment to land on the deadly spikes below. |
from "Assault on Goatse Bunker "
Elements shown: LEGO |
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Difficult Terrain
Cost: Size"xCP per 1d6" Move effects
The main purpose of Difficult Terrain is to hamper 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 stop or turn.
Each d6 of Difficult Terrain dice costs 1CP per inch of Field Size”, regardless of what the d6’s Move effects are. For Slow Fields that slow or stop units (mud, glue, rubble), the d6es’ inches are subtracted from victims' Move” for the turn. For Current Fields that move units (river current, wind machines, greased ramps), the unit is moved by the d6es’ inches first, and it may then use its full Move" as normal. D6es for Slippery Fields (ice, oil slicks, spilled marbles) use up a units’ Move" inches by forcing them to continue in whatever direction they were already moving, up to their own Move ratings, or by holding them still if they weren't moving already; if they still have Move inches left over afterwards, they can use them to continue as normal.
The most popular types of Difficult Terrain force travelers to choose between losing Move inches or taking Damage. Spiked Obstacle d6es (barbed wire, anti-cavalry stakes, caltrops, cursed thornbushes, clawed skeleton hands reaching up out of the grave) act like a Slow Field for units that use their Action to move carefully. For units in a hurry or moving uncontrollably, the Spiked Obstacle d6es act as Exposure Damage instead, doing d6es of Damage for every inch of Size” that a victim exposes to it.
Concealed Hazards
Cost: Size"xCP per 1d6 Damage, 1d4 Fire Damage, or 1d10 Explosion Damage
½ Size”xCP per 1d6” 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 (8.4: Heavy Explosives) don’t grow new mines, and falling block traps don’t lift their fallen blocks back up into the ceiling.
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.
Timid units traveling through a Concealed Hazard Field can use an Action to move very carefully, moving at half speed and gaining +1 to their Skill Roll against the Hazard.
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. Except in special cases, 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 a 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, use the Skill of the unit setting the object in place - the object isn't traveling anywhere, but will still set off the Hazard on a Critical Failure.
Energy Shields
Cost: Size"xCP per Energy Shield die or Specialized 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, 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 spends an Energy Shield die to be Armored against incoming Damage (3.3: Bodily Protection). An individual Energy Shield die may be triggered repeatedly by multiple attacks in the same turn, but only once for each attack. Creations with multiple Energy Shield dice can spend a number of them at once to gain multiple layers of Armored status against attacks that do multiple dice of Damage.
However, like all Hazard Dice, each Energy Shield die spent counts as one inch against the Creation's Weapon Size 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. Opponents may take advantage of this limit by using Opportunity Attacks to overload a heavily-shielded Creation on its own turn, before it's able to bring its weapons to bear.
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Even in very simple battles, Creations with Energy Shield dice should have some means of showing how much power they have left available in their Weapon Size limit for the turn (usually with a series of pips on some surface), or, at the very least, some indicator of whether the Energy Shields are up or down (with a switch element or any other removable piece used as an Energy Shield indicator). |
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Energy Shields are "up" by default - incoming Damage dice automatically trigger the appropriate number of available Energy Shield dice. A Creation's Operator may spend his Action to activate or deactivate some or all of the Energy Shield dice in order to budget inches for its Weapon Size limit, or he may spend his Action to take direct control and decide how many Energy Shield dice to spend on each attack individually - a useful way of conserving limited Energy Shield defenses for when they're most important, or to save Weapon Size inches to spend on other weapons.
Regular Energy Shields work against all kinds of incoming Damage, but certain campaign settings or strategies can call for Specialized Shields which are super-effective against a specific attack type but completely ineffective against other Damage types. In sci-fi settings, starships often have separate Specialized Shields for energy weapons and for physical projectiles, while a fantasy setting may have separate Specialized Shield enchantments against melee weapons or against ranged projectiles. A Specialized Shield die works like a regular Energy Shield die, but each one grants two levels of Armored status against its designated Damage type rather than one.
Energy Shields are created by Shield Projectors extruding from the surface of the Creation they protect. Any elements or objects can be used as Shield Projectors, as long as they're obvious to all players; these have no extra cost beyond what was already paid for the Energy Shield dice. Shield Projectors can't project through solid objects, so only the elements with immediate line of sight to one or more Projectors can be protected. If any part of an individual element has line-of-sight to the Shield Projector and is within the Field Size, the whole element is protected, including sides of the element facing away from the Projector. If a larger Creation has exposed surfaces facing in multiple directions, it'll need multiple Shield Projectors if it wants to cover all of them. Shield Projectors can be vulnerable to Component Damage attacks, and are always one Structure Level weaker (minimum Structure Level zero) than the Creation they're mounted on, although they are also protected by their own Energy Shield dice while activated.
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| The Personal Shield |
While Body Armor is the protection of choice for common infantrymen, specialized units may opt for something more exotic: a minifig-sized Energy Shield.
An Energy Shield has several drawbacks compared to standard Body Armor.
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Weapon Size Limit
Minifigs only have two inches in their Weapon Size limit, so they can only get the benefit of an Energy Shield die once or twice before it runs out of juice for the turn, and this can seriously disrupt the minifig's ability to use other weapons. Although the minifig may still hold and carry Two-Handed Weapons or a pair of smaller weapons as usual, he may only use a single one-handed weapon or device of Bastard size or smaller while the Shield is active. |
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Controls
It takes an Action to change the settings on an Energy Shield. If the minifig wants to activate it or deactivate it, or take active control to focus its defense against a specific incoming attack rather than whichever attack hits first, he'll have to dedicate his Action for the turn, rendering him mostly useless for other tasks. |
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It has a few advantages as well, although these counterbalance the disadvantages only in rare circumstances.
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Unencumbered Movement
Standard Body Armor drastically impairs a minifig's movement, slowing them badly and preventing them from Sprinting or Swimming. Energy Shields don't affect a minifg's movement in any way. |
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Higher Armor Limit
Most personal shields are FS:1" Energy Shields (1CP, 1 Energy Shield die) equipped in place of Body Armor (2CP, +Armored). However, the Energy Shield can also be used in combination with Body Armor (3CP, +Armored, 1 Energy Shield die), or even made double strength as FS:2" Shields (2CP, 2 Energy Shield dice) for minifigs who have to be protected at all costs. Players should note that Energy Shields in most cases are triggered before the effects of Body Armor, which may not be ideal. |
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Hideable
In battles that incorporate roleplaying, a deactivated Energy Shield is much easier to hide than a suit of Body Armor. An assassin disguised as a harmless civilian, for example, might be hiding a mystical Amulet of Laser Deflection or a Pocket Force Field Projector until the moment he's ready to strike. |
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Mechanisms
Devices and Creations purchased as normal, default 1d4 Skill where applicable
Triggers and Mechanisms free
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 - any Creation, Weapon, or Device that can be activated can be engineered into a custom Mechanism, operating independently or in coordination with other Field Hazards.
Mechanizing an activatable object costs nothing extra - once the object itself is paid for, the Mechanisms are free. 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 behavior once activated.
Triggers
Mechanisms are often attached to 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 don't know in advance exactly where the tripwires are, the minifigs who built the trap presumably did.)
Other 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.
Multiple Mechanisms
Mechanisms can be bought in multiples, and, depending on the Hazard concept, the multiples can be handled in different ways. If a player buys three tigers for his Field of Concealed Hazard pit traps, then all three might be waiting in the first pit an enemy falls into, there might be one in each of the first three pits encountered, or the player might roll randomly for each pit until all three tigers have been located. This is largely up to the player setting the trap, but should be spelled out in advance of starting the battle.
Alternately, the same Trigger might activate a series of different Mechanisms each time it's set off. For example, the first pull of a suicide lever might slam the doors and lock you into the chamber, while the second deploys a row of motion-tracking rifles from the wall. The third pull extends a mechanical arm to offer a cigarette and a blindfold, and so forth.
Deadly Mechanisms
Any Mechanism designed to directly damage or attack a target should be 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, for the most part, 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 Simple Half-Minded Creature (10.1: Minds), but for simplicity's sake it's easier to just say that a Smart Weapon 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. Luckily, there's a third option: with a specially-trained Scout leading the way, many dangers can be safely bypassed or neutralized.
Pathfinding
Pathfinding Specialty (+1CP): allows bypass of Unstable Ground for self and others at 1/2 speed; allows manipulation of locks and Triggers; 1d8 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 or less, a Scout is immune to Unstable Ground 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 access and operate enemy Mechanisms, allowing him (for instance) to bypass, disarm, or re-arm Triggers, and to pick basic locks.
For any Skill roll related to a Field Hazard or Mechanism, Pathfinding allows a Scout to roll 1d8 rather than 1d6.
Stealth
Stealth Specialty (+2CP): adds 1/3 cover; allows Invisibility
A Scout's abilities in avoiding danger extend not only to environmental Hazards, but to active enemies as well. Through camouflage, misdirection, and the obsessive-compulsive drive to minimize his own presence in any situation, a Scout's Stealth gives him one more point of cover than logic would suggest. In a completely exposed position, a Scout has an effective 1/3 cover (-1 Attack Penalty for anyone targeting him). In 1/3 cover, Stealth makes it 2/3 (-2 to be attacked), and in 2/3 cover the Scout is effectively completely invisible (-5 to enemy attacks, if they even know he's there at all).
If a Scout 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 be considered Hidden. The Hidden Scout is removed from the field, and a Last Known Location Marker (often a flag or red brick "X") is added in his place. His player places a single pip next to the Marker (a 1x1 brick, normally), used as the first in a pile of counters to keep track of how many turns the Scout has remained Hidden. At the beginning of each of the Scout's subsequent turns, he may use his Action to remain Hidden, and his player will add an additional turn counter next to the Marker each time.
While Hidden, a Scout may not use his Action for anything except staying Hidden, but otherwise there's nothing to prevent him from secretly moving around the whole time. The player controlling him may try to keep mental track of where he's moving as the battle progresses, but it's more fun if he doesn't. It's better to wait and reveal that Scouts have coincidentally taken exactly the most convenient path once they become visible again.
When a Scout decides not to use his Action to remain Hidden at the beginning of a turn, the player controlling him gets to decide where he spent all that time moving to. For every two turn counter pips next to the Scout's Last Known Location Marker, the Scout 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 player can move the Scout from the Last Known Location Marker to any position he could have reached within that many turns of Movement.
When the Scout's location is revealed, the nearest enemy unit able to see him in the new position may attempt to Detect him, making a Skill Roll against the number of inches between himself and the Scout. If the Skill Roll is less than that number of inches, then the Scout was not Detected and arrives safely. If the Skill Roll equals or exceeds the number of inches, then the Scout was Detected before he reached the position where he planned to appear. Look back along the path of his Hidden Movement and find the spot that's exactly that many inches away from the unit that Detected him; this is where the Scout appears instead. Whichever spot he appears at, he begins his turn from that
position with his full Movement and Action available to him as normal.
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| Stealth Example: Silaqui the Stealthy |
Example: Silaqui the Stealthy needs to sneak past the Peach Pasha's guards in order to infiltrate the palace.
Luckily, there are alcoves at both ends of this hallway which offer convenient hiding places. Hiding in the alcove to the left, Silaqui can't be seen by any of the guards, so she uses an Action to become Hidden. Placing a green flag to mark her Last Known Location, she waits for her chance to sneak to the other alcove.
After a number of turns, there's a disturbance outside! Silaqui's friend, Svetlana the Strumpet, was strolling past the windows and has caught her dress on a cactus spine. Somehow Svetlana is unable to prevent the cactus from pulling her dress off repeatedly, and the guards rush to assume close observational roles in case she needs any assistance.
Six turns have passed since Silaqui became Hidden, and so she has three turns of Hidden Movement to spend. Her regular Move is 5", so three turns' worth is 15". This is more than enough for her to reach the opposite alcove 13" away. Because the guards are grouped around the window, none of them has a line of sight into the alcove where Silaqui plans to arrive, so none of them will have a chance to Detect her.
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Much to Silaqui's surprise, the guards aren't the ones she needs to worry about. Her plan-wrecking foe, Trollface, has already snuck in through a secret passage!
Waiting only three inches away from the point where she hopes to arrive, Trollface has a good chance of Detecting her on his 1d6 Skill Roll. He rolls a 6, plus an additional 1 on the Bonus Die, for a total of 7. Trollface detected Silaqui when she was seven inches away from him, so she never reached the alcove. |
The players look backwards along Silaqui's path to find the point exactly seven inches away from Trollface when he Detected her. Unfortunately for Silaqui, this means she was smack dab in the middle of the four Peach guardsmen when she was discovered, and now they'll be even more angry than usual because she's interrupted an important observation mission. She still has her full Movement and Action to spend to try and get out of this tricky situation, but four against one makes for difficult odds.
Note that Silaqui can be Detected next to the guardsmen even though Trollface can't see that location from his position. He undoubtedly recognized the smell of her perfume, and once one unit Detects a Hidden minifig, they all do. |
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Tracking
Tracking Specialty (+1CP): automatically Detects Stealth; allows Marking of targets for +1 Attack Bonus
Besides being masters of Stealth, the Scouts' keenly-refined paranoia and sixth sense for danger also makes them masters of Detection. Except when the Scout is busy with remaining Hidden himself, the Stealth bonuses of any enemies within his field of view are canceled, and hidden and Invisible units and objects are automatically revealed to him and his allies.
A Tracking Scout's player may have to ask a Hidden unit's player whether or not the unit is within the area of his Scout's field of view, since it won't always be obvious. If the opponent decides his Hidden unit is within the area, then the unit is revealed immediately. If it 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 turn counter pips 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.
A Scout is able to instantly communicate detected enemy positions to all of his allies. The Scout can use an Action to take this ability one step further, pinpointing a nearby target precisely and Marking it for allies to attack. The Scout must be within 8" of the target and able to see it. The Marked target is considered visible to all allies, which is useful for firing artillery shells or archery volleys over the top of an obstacle at enemies hiding behind it. 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. The Mark lasts for as long as the target remains still, although the Scout is free to re-Mark it every turn if it tries to move elsewhere.
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. |
Photo: Robot Monkey
from "The Republic of Independent Nations"
Elements shown:
LEGO |
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| The Barracuda Light Assault Carrier is much too large for crewmen to operate the main guns directly. Weapons control is handled from the bridge. |
Photo: fredde
from "Barracuda light assault carrier"
Elements shown: LEGO |
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| The MAOX's experimental siege mech "Nimrod" suffered from unresolvable balance issues, thanks to its epic Size 7" über-minigun. |
Photo: BFenix
from "MAOX "Nimrod" HWM7"
Elements shown: LEGO |
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 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 and may fire any number of weapons of a single weapon type (either ranged or melee) at it, 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).
These "normal situations" depend on
two factors normally taken for granted with a minifig-size weapon. First, the attacker has to have control of his weapon, and second, the weapon has to have sufficient power to operate.
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.
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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. Remember however that minifigs can't steer a vehicle and operate weapons in the same turn unless they're trained Pilots (H.2: Riding a Horse). |
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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, subtracting his own Skill 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.
Gathering Power
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| “Great acts are made up
of small deeds.” |
| - Lao Tzu |
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As discussed earlier, the number of weapons and devices a Creation can activate over the course of a single turn is limited to two inches of Weapon Size for every inch of the Creation's own Size (8.1: Weapon Size). As long as Weapon Sizes and Creation Sizes are well-matched in the design stage, this rarely becomes an issue. However, there are times when a single weapon becomes Too Big for its Creation to activate it, either because the Creation's Effective Size has been too deeply reduced by Size Damage to power the weapon (7.2: Taking Damage), or because the player who originally built the weapon was too busy being awesome to care about Size limits.
The first option for a Creation that wishes to fire a weapon that's Too Big is to Divert All Power. By using a full-round Action, it can "save up" its Effective Size over multiple turns to meet the Size requirement of a single large weapon. While Diverting All Power, the Creation cannot move or activate any weapons or devices (apart from cosmetic devices to indicate its powering-up sequence - a Freud-Class Siege Tank plants hydraulic support stabilizers and elevates the extending cannon into artillery mode, for example).
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Creations can Divert All Power to build up to an attack with an oversized Melee Weapon, but this works better on stationary targets than moving ones. Even with a possible Angry Inch, it's easy for a target to step just out of range of a swing before the Creation finishes powering up. |
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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, tossing a boulder, or winding the crank on a catapult. Creations using Teamwork add their Effective Sizes together for the purpose of satisfying the weapon's Size 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.
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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 proper set of jumper cables.
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For the rare weapon that's so Too Big that neither technique is enough by itself, groups of Creations 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 to help power a lightning cannon any more than hooking him up to a car battery would help him swing a bigger sword (although the latter example is really worth testing a few times, just to be sure).
The Gunner
| Praetorian Zephyr-class tanks are best supported by a full field artillery team. One or more Scouts act as forward observers, using Stealth to approach targets closely enough to Mark them for attack, while a team of Gunners remain within the vehicle to provide Gunnery Support to the lead Gunner firing the weapon. |
Photos: dilanski
from "Praetorian Vehicles (Tank Quad-Bikes and assault Jeep)"
and "V4 Zephyr Class Heavy Tank"
Elements shown: LEGO |
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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 at the controls.
Gunnery
Gunnery Specialty (+1CP): 1d8 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 1d8 rather than 1d6.
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 unit with the Gunnery Specialty can spend its Action to provide Gunnery Support to another unit operating a large weapon, granting it 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 (including the firing minifig as well as all minifigs providing Gunnery Support) is limited to the Weapon Size of the weapon, and each minifig must be able to access the weapon or a working set of Controls for that weapon.
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 offering prayers 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 (ignoring the ever-present possibility of Critical Failures, of course).
The Heavy
Turrets
Most minifigs and vehicles abide by the agreement (an unspoken agreement, since few vehicles can 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 and lay down fire.
A standard Turret costs 1CP, 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 minifigs 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, whether the Turret and Weapon were transported separately or already attached, it takes a Full-Round Action for the Turret to be properly Set Up. Once Set Up, the Turret is stationary and the Weapon may be fired normally starting on the following turn. It doesn't take an Action to pick up the turret, move it, or detach the weapon, but 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): When standing still, can use weapons 1" larger than normally allowed
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 the Hero swoops in for the kill steal.
Thanks to the Heavy's ability for Compensating, a Heavy can act as if he had a Size of 2" rather than the 1" of most normal minifigs. This gives him the ability to lift, carry, operate, and throw objects twice as large as a regular minifig might. 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 the Compensating Specialty is that the Heavy can't fire his oversized guns and hand 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 any ability that requires the extra inch of Size from Compensating, although he may still take normal Actions like a regular Size 1" minifig.
Because the Heavy can't use Compensating while moving,
heavy weapons and objects slow him down, although not quite as much as they'd slow a regular minifg. A Size 2" object slows a Heavy's Movement like a Two-Handed Weapon (-1" to Move, and no Sprinting). Size 3" and 4" objects must be dragged on the ground and reduce him to half speed.
A Compensating Heavy's extra inch of Size also makes him more resistant to Size Damage (7.2: Taking Damage). Just like any other Size 2" Creation, a single point of Size Damage will reduce a Compensating Heavy to an Effective Size of 1", weakening him to the abilities of a regular minifig again. If the wounded Heavy tries to start moving again, however, then his Compensating ends and that single point of Size Damage is enough to kill him immediately.
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