BRIKWARS 2010: MOC Combat

Ablogical Binding Substance, the strange material from which minifigs and building bricks take form, has unpredictable side-effects. The more that is gathered together, the more ridiculous the improbabilities that arise. These "Koincidences" warp reality in only one direction: the direction of warfare and mayhem, leading some to believe that evil or unworldly minds guide them. These beliefs form the basis for all major minifig religions.

Glossary

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

Structure: The central body of any Creation, not including limbs and surface devices. The term is also used for Creations that cannot move or act, such as buildings and lanscape elements. (7: Structures)

Vehicle: A Creation that is able to move but has no independence or life of its own, such as a catapult or ice cream truck. (9: Vehicles)

Creature: A Creation that is able to act independently, because it is alive or automated, such as a minifig or giant squid. (10: Creatures)

MOC Combat

MOC (mŏk)
(n.) Term used by plastic brick enthusiasts to describe constructions other than the ones designed by the toy manufacturers and pictured on the box covers. MOC is an acronym for "My Own Creation," which more often than not is a bald-faced lie, as fans shamelessly refer to any fan-made construction as a MOC whether it's Their Own Creation or not.

The BrikWars Core Rules give players the basic wargame rules and resources to slap a bunch of weapons into the hands of toy figures fresh out of the box and jump immediately into brutish dehumanizing violence.

As noble a pursuit as that may be, the Core mechanics could be applied just as easily to a fighting force of toy cars or teddy bears. In order to truly do justice to construction bricks and the creative potential they represent, players have to be able to field the whole variety of magical constructions and creations their imaginations let them scrap together, for the purpose of smashing them into one another and demolishing them in the most retarded ways possible.

To make this possible, players need an entirely different kind of ruleset - rather than presenting specific units with pre-assigned stat blocks, the MOC Combat rules give players a system to calculate custom stats for whatever original units and structures they come up with. All the standard units, weapons, and abilities in the Core Rules were calculated using this system, so players' new creations will fit in just fine with the existing ones.

Making MOCkeries

“Men of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships of war.”

- Aristophanes

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

While it's possible to try to build a model to match a particular set of stats, you will come up with more exciting Creations if you build the MOCs first and then base the stats on the models. If the Creation comes out a little more or less expensive than you budgeted, don't feel bad; nothing is more militarily authentic than a cost overrun. You can add or remove a couple of minifigs from your army to make up the difference later; an arbitrary public execution or two will show your forces that you mean business.

Design Overview
Once you've got your model in hand, the first step for any Creation is to define its Structure (Structures). All Creations begin with the same two Structural stats: Size and Structure Level, based on the size of the model and how tough players decide it is. If the Creation is an asset to one of the players, rather than free scenery, then these two stats determine the Creation's Structure Cost.

For simple buildings and fortifications, that's all that's required. However, Creations are a lot more satisfying if they're loaded up with Weapons and Gunners (Weaponry), Propulsion systems and Pilots (Vehicles), or even their own Minds and Creature abilities (Creatures). Each of these are described in their respective chapters.

Official Toy Company Models

With no ladders, controls, or means of propulsion, the owner's manual for this siege tower must be truly fascinating.

Elements shown: LEGO Set 8875: "King's Siege Tower," slightly modified

It's fun to jump straight into battle using a company's official retail models, but their designs sometimes leave a little to be desired for wargames. Off-the-shelf buildings, for instance, suffer from an unfortunate shortage of staircases and rear walls. Players can work around this if they're willing to use some imagination. (And if they're not, then boy are they playing the wrong game.)

Implied Ladders
Minifigs must use actual ladders and staircases if they exist on the model. If they don't, you just have to assume that ladders are "implied," off-screen somewhere but still available for use.

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

Implied Walls
Official retail models are often built as facades, with one or two walls present physically and the rest implied. As with Implied Ladders, Implied Walls exist off-screen but are dramatically unimportant.

A minifig on the outside of a building facade may only reach the interior by going over, under, or through the facade. A minifig that walks around the edge of the facade is still considered to be "outside," even if he is now physically on the interior side of the facade. He may not interact with interior units and objects as if he were inside. Because of the potential confusion, it is considered poor form for exterior units to walk around the sides of facades.

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

Fancy Dice

In order to keep things easy for beginning players, the Core Rules limit themselves almost entirely to regular six-sided gaming dice (d6es), with an occasional d10 thrown in for some of the spicier bits. For custom MOCs, however, a greater variety of dice are needed to cover the possibilities presented by custom player creations.

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

Elements shown: dice

Fancy dice in all kinds of polyhedral configurations are available for purchase online or at your neighborhood gaming hobby store. Any real tabletop gamer is already well familiar with these and, if he's worth his salt, will already have several pounds of them immediately at hand.

In BrikWars, the wider range of dice are treated the same in MOC Combat as they were in the Core Rules (1.4: Rolling Dice). Dice are referred to by their number of faces (a twelve-sided die is called a "d12"), any roll in which all the dice come up with a result of "1" is considered a Critical Failure, and any die that comes up on its highest-numbered face (an 8 on a d8, a 12 on a d12) generates a Bonus d6 (with the exception of d4s, which never get Bonus Dice because they're "special.").

While all dice are handled in a similar way overall, they each have an individual flavor dictated by tradition and superstition, described in the boxes below.

And You Thought Algebra Would Never Come in Handy

Along with the fluff text, we've also included conversion info for nerds who get turned on by dice math. In each of the boxes at left, you can find numbers for the average of a die's rolls, both with and without potential Bonus d6es factored in. There's also a generic "Points" equivalent, if you want to spice up your regular stats: a Move of 5" converts nicely to 1d8" or 1d6+1", for example. Finally, there's an entry for roughly approximating each die with d6es, for players who want to use the advanced rules but don't have the fancy dice to do it.

Some mathematical-minded players have asked how the average Bonus Dice are calculated, if they can theoretically earn an infinitely long series of Bonus d6es. It's so nice of them to ask!

The average roll on a die is a straightforward calculation: it's the sum of the die's highest and lowest numbers, divided in half. For a standard die, If (d) is the number of sides on a die, and av(d) is the die's average roll, then:

Calculating the potential Bonus d6es takes a couple of extra steps.
If av_b(d) is a die's average roll including Bonus d6es, then:

Solving for the basic d6, we get:

Substituting 4.2 into our previous general equation for all dice, we reach the following result:

...which is trivially solved for any standard die size (d).

A d4 inspires a Mega Blok to set his own head on fire.

Elements shown: Mega Bloks, LEGO, d4

The Retarded d4

shape: tetrahedron

used for: uselessness

Average Roll: 2.5

with Bonus Dice: (N/A)

Points Equivalent: 3

D6 Equivalent: 1d6-1

What's the one requirement of a die? You roll it and a number comes up.

As far as minimum performance stadards go, this isn't a tough one to meet, but a d4 can't manage even that much. Just look at that thing: numbers are scattered helter-skelter all over every face, and not a single one of them is "up." You need a secret decoder ring just to figure out the result of your roll. D4s aren't even that great when used as caltrops, since construction bricks are pointier and you have a lot more of them.

The d4 is the most retarded of all dice, and is therefore used to represent incompetence, uselessness, and retardedness of all kinds. The d4 is unique in that it never earns a Bonus Die, no matter how well it rolls; it will never exceed its low natural limit of 4.

This minifig's weighted companion d6 is a source of comfort and stability, thanks to its reliable propensity for spawning ridiculous violence.

Elements shown: LEGO, d6

The Basic d6

shape: cube

used for: most everything

Average Roll: 3.5

with Bonus Dice: 4.200

Points Equivalent: 4

D6 Equivalent: 1d6

Standard units and objects use the reliable d6. D6es are used for regular units and objects that have the basic training or features to accomplish their duties, but are not exceptional in any way.

Because the majority of units and weapons are based around the d6, you may end up needing huge piles of them if you're playing a very large battle. Fortunately most gaming hobby shops sell dice blocks of 36 small d6es for fairly cheap. A couple of dice blocks in contrasting colors will make your game experience a lot smoother, since every player will have plenty of his own dice and you won't have to keep collecting them and passing them around the table.

One of these ninjas is much better at camouflaging himself against this black d8 than the other two.

Elements shown: LEGO, Mega Bloks, d8

The Expert d8

shape: octahedron

used for: trained professionals

Average Roll: 4.5

with Bonus Dice: 5.025

Points Equivalent: 5

D6 Equivalent: 1d6+1

The d8 is used when a unit is not quite Heroic, but has special training or advanced skills. These are indicated on its Stat Card, either in the stat boxes or in the unit's Specialty descriptions.

Where d10s are involved, there's no such thing as too over the top.

Elements shown: LEGO, Brickarms, d10

The Heroic d10

shape: pentagonal trapezohedron

used for: constructions, explosions, and Heroes

Average Roll: 5.5

with Bonus Dice: 5.920

Points Equivalent: 6

D6 Equivalent: 1d6+2

If something really awesome is happening, odds are good that d10s are involved. The d10 is used for siege-level weapons, vehicles, creatures, and fortifications, as well as for Heroes. They are also the die used for Explosion Damage, where the number of d10s determines the radius of an Explosion.

This purple wizard uses his supernatural powers to create a new line of My Little Undead Horses.

Elements shown: LEGO, d12

The Supernatural d12

shape: dodecahedron

used for: magical effects and super powers

Average Roll: 6.5

with Bonus Dice: 6.850

Points Equivalent: 7

D6 Equivalent: 1d6+3

The d12 is rarely seen in BrikWars, and is reserved for unique supernatural entities and effects. Wizards, demigods, and superheroes may have access to d12s if they're powerful enough, but for regular mortal units (or even Heroes) this die is usually out of reach.

The d12 is also used for magical, chaotic, and energy-based types of damage that bypass a target's Armored status. Damage from the effects of lightning bolts, ghost launchers, and Brikthulhuian soul disruptors is measured in d12s and cannot be Parried or reduced by a target's Armored bonuses.

Ablogical Binding Substance

Under the corrupted ablogical effects of Counterfeit Leg-Ore, minifigs fighting under a CLOan Brand become warped and distorted, as if they were incompetent forgeries made victim to shoddy manufacturing practices.

Ablogical Binding Substance is the material from which the engineers of Galactik Civilization build all important constructions. Its mysterious properties allow fuelless vehicles, impossible structures, rebuildable lifeforms, and completely unexplained sources of energy, thought, and motion - in short, everything that makes a BrikWar work. The reality-warping effects of ABS allow Mediks to bring dead soldiers back to life, Mechaniks to create vehicles from debris in seconds, common housepets to mutate into unstoppable monsters, fully-staffed castles to materialize next to military bunkers, pirate ships to sail in outer space, and armies from parallel universes to arrive at the wrong battlefields a thousand years early.

While the strange influence of ABS can never be fully defined or understood, minifig Mystiks believe that the effects radiate in tune with an underlying Farce that binds all briks together. Under the influence of this Farce, impossible and ridiculous events occur according to how entertaining they are, rather than respecting normal rules of probability. While this serves almost exclusively to make the universe more awesome, there can be negative effects where cynicism and frustration take root. Minifigs succumbing to the Snark side of the Farce are dangerous opponents of fun, but for the heroic forces who are willing to face them down and destroy them, these enemies represent nothing but further opportunities for glory.

The purest form of naturally-occurring ABS is found in Legitimitium ore, commonly shortened to Leg-Ore. Fake or corrupted Legitimitium Ore is lumped under the derogatory acronym CLO, short for Counterfeit Leg-Ore. CLOan bricks are cheaper to obtain than Leg-Ore, but result in half-assed constructions and defective devices that enrage any minifig that witnesses them.

Evidence of ABS having existed in previous universes reaching as far back as the 1,963rd Retcon, making it retroactively older than any known form of life by a tremendous amount. It is believed that the presence of ABS plays a crucial role in the Reconstruktability of destroyed universes, and in the slow development of complex life forms over many iterations.

(BrikWiki entry: Astro-Binding Substance)