------------- BRIKWARS 2001 ------------- Copyright (c)1995-2002 Mike Rayhawk -------------------------------------------------------- Note: Due to the limitations of this format, the text version of the BrikWars Manual is necessarily less complete than versions in more advanced formats. Specifically, hyperlinks, illustrations, sidebar commentaries, and some clarifying and explanatory comments have been omitted. For proper formatting, you must view this document in a monotype font such as Courier. -------------------------------------------------------- BOOK ZERO: INTRODUCTION Legal Disclaimer (Abridged) -------------------------------- Disclaimer Fair Use Policy In a Nutshell -------------------------------- BrikWars Hyperabridged Foreword -------------------------------- The Enlightened BrikWarrior Don't Be an Anorak! - A Cautionary Overview Optional Rule: The Hammer of Discipline Chapter Zero: Introduction -------------------------------- 0.1 A Brief Prelude 0.1.1 Rules The Rule of Fudge Smiley Ratings 0.1.2 Depth Book Divisions 0.2 Some Assembly Required The Things You Will Need List 0.3 A BrikWars Glossary 0.3.1 Plastic Brick Terms 0.3.2 Game Terms The TekLevel Chart 0.3.3 Some Notes About Points and Pips ------------------------------- LEGAL DISCLAIMER (ABRIDGED) ------------------------------- "Thus, you must know that there are two kinds of combat: one with laws, the other with force. The first is proper to man, the second to beasts; but because the first is often not enough, one must have recourse to the second." - Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Prince" This is an abridged version of the BrikWars Legal Disclaimer. If you are perversely fascinated by long disclaimers, the complete text is available for viewing at www.brikwars.com. Disclaimer ---------- The concepts, rules, information, and general philosophy presented or linked to in this text (which material shall hereafter be referred to as "This Stuff") are completely unauthorized and unsanctioned by anyone, anywhere, with the possible exception of Mike Rayhawk, who pledges to authorize and/or sanction them only half-heartedly and on a very occasional basis. This Stuff is especially unauthorized by the LEGO Group, TYCO, Ritvik, or by any producer of any type of plastic construction toys, or in fact by anyone even remotely connected with any producer of any type of toys, plastic or construction or otherwise. The original edition of BrikWars was largely based on the games 'Lego Wars' and 'Lego Wars II,' copyright (c)1991, 1995 Eric O'Dell and R. Todd Ogrin (which persons shall hereafter be referred to as 'Our Divine Ancestors'). A small and ever-decreasing amount of material in This Stuff is still based on ideas and philosophies presented in these games. Any such material may still be under the copyright of Our Divine Ancestors, and is used without their explicit permission (our apologies to you two guys, but you stopped responding to e-mail six years ago). Lego Wars and Lego Wars II were not authorized or sanctioned by the LEGO Group. The word 'LEGO'(R) is a registered trademark of the LEGO Group, and its inclusions in the titles of Lego Wars and Lego Wars II were quite specifically protested and prohibited by the Lego Group. LUGNET(tm) is a trademark of Todd S. Lehman and Suzanne D. Rich, and is mentioned in several pages throughout the rulebook without their permission. Their website at http://www.lugnet.com is an incredibly rich resource for plastic-brick enthusiasts and we could never recommend it highly enough. All material contained in or related to the BrikWars rulebook or made available at www.brikwars.com that can't be proven to belong to one of those entities mentioned above is created by and copyright (c)1995-2001 Mike Rayhawk. If you have any further questions, please visit www.brikwars.com or e-mail the author at rayhawk@artcenter.edu. Fair Use Policy --------------- You may print out and distribute unaltered copies of this rulebook for private or public use. If you create a modified or abbreviated copy of the rulebook, you may print it out and distribute it as long as the following guidelines are followed: 1. Any modified or abbreviated version of the rulebook must be clearly labeled as being a modified or abbreviated version. 2. The name and contact information of the individual or group by whom the rulebook was modified should also be included in the label. 3. Be sure to prominently include the following text: "BrikWars is Copyright (c)1995-2001 Mike Rayhawk. For more information and the complete rules, visit http://www.brikwars.com." 4. If you include material that falls under the copyright of any other individual or group, be sure to add the appropriate copyright notices. 5. You act in general good faith and do not try to find some perverse way to get the author ticked off at you. Please do not use BrikWars or BrikWars-related materials for illegal or felonious purposes without consulting us first. If you would like to create a link to the BrikWars home page from your own web site, please link directly to the main page at http://www.brikwars.com. ----------------- IN A NUTSHELL ----------------- The hundreds of pages of rules available for BrikWars can often be intimidating to new or casual players, so we've boiled down the game to its simplest form. Using this BrikWars Hyperabridged version will allow you to safely ignore the entire remainder of this rulebook. +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | BrikWars Hyperabridged | |--------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Step 1: Setup | | ------------- | | Each player gathers together an army of minifigs and equips them | | with minifig weapons (army size is left to the discretion of the | | players). They then establish a battlefield (which might be a | | complex construction of plastic bricks, or simply a bare patch of | | tabletop or floor). Each player sets up his army on his side of | | the battlefield. | | | | The players need to decide the order in which they will take their | | turns. Traditionally, all players roll dice; the highest roll | | goes first, the next highest goes second, and so forth. | | | | | | Step 2: Gameplay | | ---------------- | | During a player's turn, each of his minifigs can move up to five | | inches, and make one attack on an enemy minifig. | | | | If a minifig attacks with a hand-to-hand weapon, he must be close | | enough to the enemy minifig to touch it with the weapon. The | | attacking player rolls one six-sided die. On a five or a six, the | | enemy minifig is killed. | | | | If a minifig attacks with a ranged weapon, he must be within ten | | inches of the enemy minifig and have a clear shot at some part of | | the enemy's body (he can't shoot through walls). The attacking | | player rolls one six-sided die. On a six, the enemy minifig is | | killed. | | | | If for some reason a minifig has no weapons, he will have to | | borrow one from an ally or loot one off a dead minifig. | | | | When a player has moved and attacked with all the minifigs he | | desires to, his turn is over and the next player can go. | | | | | | Step 3: Endgame | | --------------- | | If the players continue fighting long enough that only one player | | (or team) has surviving units left on the field, then he is the | | winner and the game is over. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ That's all there is to it. The best way to begin playing BrikWars is to start with this condensed version and then add whatever bits and pieces from the rest of the rulebook seem cool. Good luck! ------------ FOREWORD ------------ "Play well, not nice!" - Chris Phillips, in a post to news.lugnet.com/org/us/nelug/ BrikWars, in its current form, would never have been possible without the ideas, suggestions, praise, and criticism that have been e-mailed to us or posted to LUGNET(tm) newsgroups (http://www.lugnet.com) by fans and well-wishers from around the globe. We greatly appreciate the input of this dedicated legion of BrikWars players, who have allowed us to exploit their efforts and cynically use them as an unwitting and unpaid playtesting, editorial, and promotional staff. Our thanks to all of you; we owe you a great debt. However, some players cause us nothing but pain. Whether we hear from them directly or hear about their exploits from the players who have encountered them, it is clear that they misunderstand BrikWars' basic philosophy. BrikWars is not intended as a cerebral exercise or a 'serious' wargame. There are plenty of games available at your local gaming store which are realistic, accurate, logically vigorous, and numerically intense; if that is the type of game you're looking for then you're encouraged to go and shell out a few bucks and buy one. We have worked hard to make the BrikWars rules consistent, balanced, and detailed enough that it would be possible to play it as a 'serious' wargame, but to do so would be missing the point entirely and you would be likely to offend and alienate any true BrikWars players in your group. A BrikWars game is a social event more than a competition, designed for people who love to play with plastic building bricks. BrikWars games give players the opportunity to share their enthusiasm and show off and compare plastic-brick creations. Many BrikWars games have become showcases for the talent and originality of groups of plastic-brick enthusiasts from around the world. These enthusiasts, by and large, are of a superior breed. They don't need to be told that fun and creativity are much more important than such petty concerns as winning and losing. They tend to view rules and restrictions as they would a physical building-brick construction; while they can appreciate and respect the systems' design and structure, they can't resist the urge to creatively improve, transform, or demolish rules to suit their particular taste. We have spent an inordinate amount of time and effort trying to design the rules to support this type of play. The BrikWars rules are flexible (easy to change in order to adapt to new game types), modular (small or large sections of the rules may be included or omitted at any point in the game like so many plastic bricks), and robust (no matter how loosely the rules are interpreted or how intricately they are modified, they still tend to be balanced and functional). The Enlightened BrikWarrior --------------------------- "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt Because you will be playing with plastic-brick enthusiasts, the standard of behavior is much higher than if you were associating with mere wargamers (a superstitious and cowardly lot). Your goal is to make sure that everyone involved enjoys themselves so thoroughly that people reading about it on your webpage months later will turn green with envy. If you get in an argument, make concessions. Take time to appreciate the craftsmanship of your opponents' constructions. Be a cunning and challenging adversary, but when your opponent blows your prize creation into its component bits, share in his excitement and the sheer glory of destruction. Play as if you were drunk (many players will not need to fake this); when faced with difficult decisions, ask yourself what Homer Simpson would do. If at any time you become angry or bitter, don't blame it on your opponents; take responsibility for having taken the wrong attitude towards the game. If you become confused and frustrated on the other hand, then it's probably our fault; it means there is some glitch in the rules that needs to be addressed. Make sure you tell us about it. We take our responsibility in this regard very seriously. Wargamers, by and large, tend to be Anoraks - inflexible, detail-oriented, possibly semi-autistic, and happy to have a tightly-constructed box of rules in which to hide themselves so they will be protected from ever having to use the right half of their brain. When organizing and preparing for a game, Anorak skills are invaluable. The Anorak will research all the possibilities offered by the rules, and write out explicit lists of his statistics and unit capabilities so he will never have to delay the game by looking up charts and tables in the rulebook. Anorak players will discuss which optional rules will be allowed and what overall modifications and restrictions will be made, and their decisions will prevent arguments and frustration during the game. For a large group, an Anorak will secure the gaming venue, set the schedule and make sure all the players have accurate directions. There is usually at least one Anorak who has the rulebook nearly memorized, and this facilitates gameplay tremendously. Even if he remembers everything wrong, it's worth it not to have to be flipping pages every few minutes. Diehard Anoraks take the time to reflect on the implications of every line in the book and send us critical analyses of details that should be clarified and changed, and that's where ninety percent of our ideas come from. Hopefully, all this preparation will satisfy the players' Anorak impulses, because once the game has begun NO ANORAK BEHAVIOR IS ALLOWED. No matter how innocent it seems, Anorak thought crimes impair and can even destroy a group's enjoyment of the game and must be swiftly and severely punished. If you haven't prepared a punitive Hammer of Discipline, you might try having all players tackle the Anorak to the ground and giving him painful noogies or grinding the knuckles of their thumbs in the spaces between his ribs. To deliver a sharp kick to the offender's shin or groin is satisfying but should be reserved for especially egregious offenses. Even in extreme cases, resist the urge to shoot the Anorak or to cleave him with a hatchet or sword. Any minifigs or vehicles that get knocked over during a procedure of Anorak Thought Correction are considered to have clumsily fallen over without taking any damage. While physical violence is by far the best remedy, it may be inappropriate in certain situations; in these cases, anything quick and anti-cerebral will do. Non-violent retribution might involve forcing the Anorak to drink a significant quantity of beer, compose symbolist poetry on the spot, listen to a series of brick-related Zen koans, or remove articles of clothing and perform a short song and dance routine. --- DON'T BE AN ANORAK! A Cautionary Overview ----- The unrepentant Anorak will experience only frustration and disappointment in a BrikWars game, and will tend to make such an ass of himself that he ruins the fun his opponents might otherwise have had. In order that players might gird themselves against this tragedy, we have created this list contrasting the behavior of the insipid Anorak with that of the heroic BrikWarrior: THE PLODDING ANORAK carefully reviews his options each turn and takes the most conservative actions; he knows they will best advance his position and offer him the greatest chance of eventual victory. THE DASHING BRIKWARRIOR's actions are daring and even suicidal; he knows they are likely to have the most comedic and entertaining results for the highlights reel. Victory is an important concern, but victory without glory is no victory at all. If he discovers that his opponent has no units to field except a couple dozen swordsmen, THE UNSPORTSMANLY ANORAK builds assault helicopters, knowing foot soldiers have no way to attack air units. THE CHIVALROUS BRIKWARRIOR always finds a way to give his opponent a fighting chance - either he also restricts himself to ground units like jeeps and dune buggies, or he generously allows his opponent to capture and commandeer some of his advanced war machines prior to the start of the game. THE GUTLESS ANORAK abuses his detailed familiarity with the BrikWars rules, deliberately trying to find or create loopholes that will allow him to create invincible units. If his supposedly invincible unit gets destroyed, he throws a tantrum like you wouldn't believe. If THE ENLIGHTENED BRIKWARRIOR were given an invincible unit, he would immediately invent clever and creative weaknesses for it, because he knows that a unit's entertainment value is primarily based on its ability to get blown into a million tiny plastic bits. THE OBSESSIVE ANORAK wastes everyone's time by double-checking statistics and rules on every turn, making sure everything is done By The Book. He debates every last point, inch, and degree, trying to advance his position by the evil and insidious technique known as Rules Lawyering. THE LIBERATED BRIKWARRIOR contents himself with a lot of hand-waving, estimation, and group consensus. If he finds out after the game that everyone did everything completely wrong, it is a source of amusement to him and nothing more. Exposure to Rules Lawyering causes him to writhe in pain. If THE INFANTILE ANORAK finds out his army is a few points smaller than his opponent's, he whines and cries and throws a fit, demanding reparations and using phrases like 'no fair' and 'cheater.' THE PRINCIPLED BRIKWARRIOR pays so little attention to points that he never notices the disparity, and takes no interest in it when it is brought to his attention. 'No fair' and 'cheater' are not in his vocabulary. THE UNIMAGINITIVE ANORAK wants everything spelled out to the last detail and refuses to build vehicles or bases until their specific statistics and building instructions are provided to him! THE SMARTER-THAN-A-PILE-OF-DUNG BRIKWARRIOR finds it impossible to believe that anyone would behave in this bizarre manner, even when witnessing it first-hand. The opportunity to build vehicles and bases of his own invention is what attracted him to BrikWars in the first place. THE HYPOCRITICAL ANORAK refuses to allow himself to be whacked upside the head with the Hammer of Discipline (described below) for being an Anorak. THE SAGACIOUS BRIKWARRIOR has respect for divine justice and will always allow the Anorak to get whacked on the head for being an Anorak. THE SOULLESS ANORAK has no sense of humor and cannot cope with the fact that we just proponed whacking people with mallets. THE FUN-LOVING BRIKWARRIOR takes it all in stride. Besides having a healthy sense of humor, he secretly agrees that the disease of Anorakism is best treated with a repeated application of blunt force to the cranium. THE INCONSIDERATE ANORAK takes no interest in the comfort of his fellow players and will disregard the importance of taking showers or brushing his teeth for days or weeks at a time. THE COURTEOUS BRIKWARRIOR remembers to attend to any outstanding hygiene issues before associating with others. The best BrikWarriors go the extra mile by bringing doughnuts for everyone. If he brings doughnuts AND beer, he can be as much of an Anorak as he wants. When happening across an infestation of Jaw-Jaws or Dimmies, THE GODLESS ANORAK never allows them to distract him from his primary objectives. He may even have sunk so low as to have a secret affinity for these creatures of pure evil. THE RIGHTEOUS BRIKWARRIOR cannot tolerate such an affront to good taste and will drop everything to eradicate the Jaw-Jaw and Dimmy species. ----- BrikWars is a very flexible game and will accommodate the playing style of any group that does not include Anoraks, Jaw-Jaws, or Dimmies. A game of BrikWars may even provide the useful function of revealing one of these infidels hiding in your midst. As long as everyone keeps an open mindset and a creative attitude, you can have a great deal of fun fighting almost any type of plastic-brick battle scenario. +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Optional Rule: The Hammer of Discipline :) | | --------------------------------------- | | "For, besides the things that have been said, the nature of | | peoples is variable; and it is easy to persuade them of | | something, but difficult to keep them in that persuasion. | | And things must be ordered in such a mode that when they no | | longer believe, one can make them believe by force." | | - Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Prince" | | | | Way back in the summer of 1993, we developed an invention that | | came to define all subsequent gaming experiences: the Hammer of | | Discipline. Created to promote philosophical purity through a | | systematic application of physical abuse, it became a symbol for | | the highest standard of chivalry and sportsmanship. It was | | eventually brought into play even in non-gaming situations, when | | the group agreed that the behavior of one of its members had been | | inappropriately callous, inconsiderate, or unfair. | | | | To make your own Hammer of Discipline, head on down to your local | | hardware store and pick up a two- or three-pound rubber mallet, at | | least one foot in length but no longer than one and a half feet. | | Make sure it has a wooden handle so you can carve it with a dremel | | tool. Engrave the word 'DISCIPLINE' in large block letters along | | the handle, and fill in each letter with a permanent ink stain. | | Now you're ready to go. The mere presence of this tool at the | | BrikWars table is usually enough to prevent Anorak thought-crimes; | | however, do not hesitate to use it on any player who refuses to | | respect its authority. Lacking a hammer, you may substitute an | | appropriately-decorated wooden hockey stick. | | | | There is one caveat: it would go against the very ideals | | symbolized by the Hammer to use it to whack someone appreciably | | smaller or weaker than yourself. To attempt to do so is itself a | | Hammer-worthy offense. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ ----- BOOK ZERO: INTRODUCTION ----- ------------------------------ CHAPTER ZERO: Introduction ------------------------------ "Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the path to survival or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed." - Sun-Tzu, "The Art of War" 0.1 A Brief Prelude -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This game is the product of many hours spent playing with plastic building bricks. As such, it is pretty building-intensive - you are likely to spend at least twice as long assembling your vehicles, buildings and scenery as you will spend actually playing the game. Creations you spent days or weeks constructing will get blown to pieces in the first thirty seconds of battle. The plastic-brick enthusiasts among you enjoy those hours of construction for their own sake, and recognize that destruction is nothing more than an opportunity to build again. If the thought of having to build and design all your units from scratch frightens you, take heart - there are plenty of other wargames available that will more closely fit your style. Checkers, for instance. Paradoxically, the true BrikWarrior considers BrikWars itself as nothing more than an afterthought, merely icing where the process of construction is the glorious cake. BrikWars provides a context for construction ideas to germinate, a social venue for models to be shown off and appreciated, and an entertaining way to return completed models unto the mess of component parts from whence they sprung, facilitating the return to that blessed intital phase of construction. Players who come to BrikWars for the wargaming aspect alone experience an early period of darkness, but if their exposure to the Brick can be prolonged they will become enlightened. 0.1.1 Rules ----------- "Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it." - Henry David Thoreau There are an awful lot of rules in this manual. Many players feel that this runs contrary to the spirit of playing with plastic building bricks. This is not actually the case. This opinion stems from a mistaken belief about the nature of rules. Almost any person involved with the creation and enforcement of rules will try and convince you that you are obligated to respect and obey them - whether they are the rules to a typical board game, the local traffic laws, the Ten Commandments, the laws of physics, your national tax code, or the Geneva Convention. This is simply not the case; rules have no inherent authority and human beings have no inherent obligation to respect them. Which rules you choose to follow, and to what degree, are entirely a matter of personal choice (although most people choose to remain blissfully ignorant of this fact). The consequences of breaking rules may be quite severe (which is why, for example, most people elect to continually abide by some form of the Laws of Gravity), but in many cases the crime is more than worth the punishment. The only danger when breaking a rule in BrikWars is the possibility of angering the other players; as long as you can keep them happy then you're encouraged to break and ignore as many rules as you like. When you go to a restaraunt, do you order one of every item on the menu? Unless your name is Russel Agdern, the answer is no! You make a selection of items based on taste, budget, appetite, and whatever fad diet you currently follow. When you crack open a phonebook or dictionary, do you try and memorize every page? Of course not! You go straight to a specific entry, put it to whatever use is required, and more likely than not, forget all about it within a few minutes. If you're going to play BrikWars, you have to treat the rules like your collection of plastic bricks. Get a feeling for which pieces are available, choose the ones that best suit the model you are trying to build, and go. The pieces you're not using are best left in the box, but keep the box handy in case you need to make modifications later. When you were a small child creating plastic-brick cities and castles, you didn't need any rules at all; your natural imagination was enough to keep things running. This is the aesthetic height to which BrikWars aspires. Unfortunately, as life progresses our minds are subjected to a steady bludgeoning from such things as public "education," gainful employment, bureaucracy, legal disclaimers, and tax forms. Our brains atrophy and we become dependent on the rules and regulations that are imposed on us. This is the only reason this rulebook is provided at all; it is a set of mental training wheels. The less you need to use it, the prouder you should be. We've designed the system so that you can (and should!) safely ignore ninety-nine percent of the rules ninety-nine percent of the time. This is especially important for first-time players, for whom the rules in the later chapters of this book are simply too intensive to be appropriate. A group's first few battles should be simple and straightforward, in order to give players the chance to decide which of the Optional Rules they enjoy and which are a waste of time, and to establish the group's gaming style. Players that try to take all of BrikWars in one bite tend not to play a second time. The majority of the rules are included to resolve arguments that may arise in unusual situations. If you can find quick and easy ways through less-conventional situations without heated debate, then you can avoid having to deal with these rules. Only the most foolhardy player will try to use all the rules, all the time; it will quickly become apparent which rules are essential, which will be reserved for occasional use, and which are never likely to be used at all. In BrikWars, only one rule is absolute: --- THE RULE OF FUDGE ----- Fudge everything your opponents will let you get away with. For instance, if two of your minifigs are playing catch, you could go so far as to calculate modifiers for range, posture of catcher, movement of thrower, the weight of a baseball, etc., and then make Skill Rolls for both the thrower and the catcher, but why bother? Unless one of your opponents raises some objection, just toss the ball from one minifig to the other and move on to something more important. For some rules, like splitting turns into phases or limiting how sharply a vehicle can turn, it's better to decide before the start of the game how or whether you are going to use them (but there's nothing stopping you from changing your mind mid-game if the group so wishes). For most rules, such as calculating NearMiss damage or Skill Modifiers, you will decide whether to employ or ignore them on a case-by-case basis, depending on whether any player thinks that the rule would make enough of a difference to be worth the extra effort. While all BrikWars rules (except the Rule of Fudge) are optional to a certain extent, some rules are more optional than others and are separated into their own Optional Rules boxes. Players may pick and choose from these in order to best accommodate their particular gaming style. Some optional rules come highly recommended, while others will only be fun occasionally, or for players with unusual tastes. We have developed a rating system for Optional Rules, so you can tell which are fun for almost everyone and which are included only for completeness' sake or for unique situations - look for a face in the upper right corner of the Optional Rules box. These ratings are often subjective, and you should expect to disagree with a few of them. ---- SMILEY RATINGS ------ "For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like." - Abraham Lincoln :) - Happy Face An Optional Rule marked with a Happy Face is highly recommended. This rule is fun for almost all game types and playing styles and you should look for excuses to use it. :P - Indifferent Face Optional Rules marked with an Indifferent Face do not tend to make the game more or less fun. Playing the game using these rules may be almost equivalent to playing the game without these rules, or it may be that the benefits of these rules are counterbalanced by the extra effort involved to use them. :( - Surly Face Optional Rules marked with a Surly Face are usually more trouble than they are worth. These rules are included only to cater to unique playing styles or game types, or to solve arguments in unusual circumstances. You should try to avoid situations which would require you to use these rules. If you have an argument over something for which we haven't yet created rules, make up new rules yourself and roll some dice. If you come up with some new rules that you're especially proud of, be sure and tell us about them and we'll be glad to steal your ideas. 0.1.2 Depth ----------- "In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." - Orson Welles BrikWars is designed to quickly accommodate many levels of depth. The manual is divided into a series of Books, each book adding a layer of complexity. While you are encouraged to change, ignore, and make up new rules however you like, it can be a lot of work to wade through pages and pages of information, checking off exactly which rules to keep and which to toss. The Book divisions make it very easy: each Book represents an incremental jump in complexity, so by choosing a Book at which to stop, you can find your comfort zone very quickly. ---- BOOK DIVISIONS ------ BOOK ONE: SKIRMISH introduces you to basic combat and a selection of infantry weapons and equipment. This gives you the freedom to set up a landscape and toss a few squads of Troopers at each other. BOOK TWO: BATTLE gives rules to let the Troopers interact more fully with their environments. It also gives guidelines for the construction of buildings and vehicles, and the heavy siege weapons you can use to arm them. BOOK THREE: WAR details the many types of specialized combatants, civilians, and other creatures which may become involved in your battles along with the generic Troopers. BOOK FOUR: CAMPAIGN steps back and discusses the practical and real- world aspects of running a BrikWars game, and some of the stylistic decisions that can be made to change the overall nature of the game. SUPPLEMENTS can be used or omitted at any level of depth; they are optional chapters intended to cater to specific battle scenarios. They are not included with this rulebook, but are or will be made available separately. 0.2 Some Assembly Required -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You will need more than just this rulebook to play BrikWars. Fortunately, everything else you do need is something you ought to have anyway. If you don't have some of these things, go out and get them. --- THE THINGS YOU WILL NEED LIST ----- PLASTIC BRICKS. It just isn't much fun to play BrikWars without a good supply of plastic bricks. If your collection is limited, you can supplement it with soldiers, vehicles, and bases built out of paper, cardboard, clay, or any number of other materials. You can even use non-constructible units like green army men. However, none of these work quite as well as a really nice supply of plastic bricks. If you do go out and buy plastic bricks just to play BrikWars, make sure you get the high-quality ones and not some inferior clone brand or you'll be kicking yourself later and all the other BrikWars players will laugh at you. DICE. You will need some dice. Specifically, d6's, d10's, and d20's. If you are any kind of a wargamer, you will have no problem coming up with these. If you are a normal human being, you only have regular six-sided dice (d6's). You can buy the more exotic dice at your local gaming store. (If you really don't want to have to go out and buy special dice, you can convert any 1d10 to 2d6-1, and any 1d20 to 3d6, although this will screw up the odds to some extent. For more information on converting between different types of dice, see 0.3.3: Some Notes on Points and Pips.) PAPER AND PENCILS. We've done everything we could to make BrikWars a 'paperless' wargame, but these are still handy to have around if you need to do some quick math, pass secret notes, or draw mean pictures of the opposing general. You will especially need paper if you have designed heavily-customized vehicles, weapons, or troopers. If you draw up a sheet of paper with the important stats of all your unit types before the game begins, you won't have to re-calculate them or constantly refer back to the rulebook charts while the game is in progress. A TABLE or some other playing surface, like a floor. Large battles have been known to range from table to floor, up and down bookshelves, and from room to room. If you are playing on an uneven playing surface such as shag carpeting, your soldiers will have a hard time standing up even if you mount them on 4x4 or 6x6 plates. (If they fall over frequently, you may rule that it's because the terrain is so rough and they are constantly tripping.) If you don't have a table or a floor, you can build one out of plastic bricks. TERRAIN. Terrain provides cover and scenery for the battle. Sometimes you'll want to build this out of plastic bricks, because it makes it a lot easier for your minifigs to stand up. You will often want more terrain than you can conveniently build with plastic bricks - fortunately, almost anything can be used for terrain. A pile of books makes a good mountain, a couch makes impassable cliffs, a blue sheet makes a fine ocean, a bookshelf makes a great bombed-out skyscraper, and your dog can be the terrifying 10-story Dogzilla monster. Set up pockets of plastic brick forests and plastic brick buildings and you're good to go. If you don't build any terrain, and just play on a flat field, your infantry units will be at a severe disadvantage versus vehicle units. If you build extremely dense, rough terrain, like a jungle or ruined metropolis, infantry units will have a great advantage over vehicle units. The type of terrain you create will significantly affect game balance. A MEASURING DEVICE. You can measure distance by counting the dots on the plastic bricks: three dots is about one inch. When you're checking to see whether the enemy CoffeeShop is within range of your ICBM or measuring the turning radius of an AircraftCarrier, it can be tedious counting all those dots - see if you can't get a tape measure or even a string marked off in inches. It's much better to have a flexible measuring device that can bend around obstacles than, for instance, a wooden ruler. If you're not big on measurement, there are alternatives to using strict inches - see "Inches" under 0.3.2: Game Terms. You may also want a specially prepared 30-60 triangle, if you decide you want to try some of the more advanced optional rules in Chapter Three: Advanced Combat. ANOTHER PLAYER. You will need at least one opponent, unless you are really bored and want to play by yourself. If you do not have another player, you can construct one out of plastic bricks. SOME FREE TIME. You should not play this game at work because you are supposed to be working. If you are in tech support or are a network admin it might be okay. If you are an airline pilot or a neurosurgeon, please wait until your shift is over. If you can find a way to build free time out of plastic bricks, be sure and let us know. 0.3 A BrikWars Glossary -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.3.1 Plastic Brick Terms ------------------------- If you have been playing with plastic bricks for awhile, you know what a pain it can be sometimes to try and describe a specific piece to someone else. To avoid confusion later, we'll define some of the terms we'll be using throughout the rulebook: PBB, PLASTIC BRICK, or PLASTIC BUILDING BRICK. A name for any kind of piece. We use this term in order to avoid using the copyrighted name of any specific company's plastic brick; the last thing we need is for them to get angry and set in motion a sequence of events that would require us to go through all the trouble and administrative overhead of arranging the deaths and maimings of an entire corporate legal department. DOT. Dots (some people call them 'pegs' or 'studs,' although 'studs' is a word more appropriately used to describe BrikWars players) are those little circular pegs on the top of most bricks. A minifig has one dot on the top of his head. Dots are often used to measure horizontal distance in BrikWars. Three dots are approximately equal to one inch. Bricks are defined by their Dot dimensions; a 2x4 brick is one with two rows of four dots on its top. MINIFIG (or 'FIG' for short). Short for 'miniature figure.' A minifig is one of those little people with the yellow, smiling faces. Don't let their small size and cheery disposition fool you - they'll cut your heart out and eat it if you let them. A good-sized human heart can feed a minifig village for months. BRIK (not 'brick'). A Brik is the fundamental plastic building brick. Any rectangular brick of 'normal' height (about three eighths of an inch) is a Brik. The height of Brix are often used as a unit of vertical measurement in BrikWars. A regular minifig, with no hat or backpack, is exactly four Brix tall. BLOK (not 'block'). A Blok is the classic 2x4 Brik. Because it is the most stereotypical plastic brick, it is used as the standard unit of mass. A regular minifig weighs one Blok. PLATE. A plate is a much flatter version of a Brik. It takes several plates stacked atop one another to equal the height of a single Brik. POOP. Short for 'Piece with Only One Purpose.' Some PBB components are so specialized that there is really only one purpose you could put them to - for instance, a Jaw-Jaw head will never be anything but a Jaw-Jaw head. Many minifig equipment items are POOPs. (This definition is different from 'POOP' as it it slung about on LUGNET(tm), where it is used to describe a Piece made Out of Other Pieces.) CYLINDER. A cylinder is like a 1x1 Brik except that it's round. If you end up using a lot of them as Pips (see below), you may end up calling them 'Sillies' for short. Don't worry. This doesn't make you any less of a man. ANTENNA. An antenna is a long pole with a one-dot base, four Brix high. The pole can be gripped by minifigs, and the base can be stuck to things. 0.3.2 Game Terms ---------------- Many of these game terms will be explained again at greater length in the chapters in which they appear, so don't worry too much about memorizing them right off the bat. ANORAK. A player who allows his compulsive fixation on mathematics and legal semantics to detract from his own and other players' enjoyment of the game. The best known cure for this behavior is a continued exposure to plastic bricks. For a more immediate remedy, you will need the Hammer of Discipline, the shining beacon of truth and justice. Nothing induces the Anorak to reevaluate his mode of thought more quickly than a quick whack on the head with a shining beacon of truth and justice. (Foreword) SLING. "I think he just got too attached to the power of BrikWars' ultimate weapon, the Sling." - Eric Joslin, NELUG member BrikWars' point statistics for slings were once severely unbalanced. Although they have since been repaired, the word 'Sling' has come to stand for any glitch in the rule system which can become an object of abuse and fixation for Anoraks. (If you think you have found an unaddressed Sling in the rulebook, it is vital that you send us an email at rayhawk@artcenter.edu.) WHAT I SAY GOES. Any argument in BrikWars that appears as if it may become significant may be quickly and easily resolved with a What I Say Goes Roll. This is a ritual of the gravest solemnity and should be preceded by a moment of silent meditation. All players in the game, regardless of whether or not they are involved in the argument, roll one die. Whoever has the highest roll is granted unilateral authority to dictate the proper course of action. No further dithering or delaying is allowed at this point; it's more important that the decision is quick than whether it is "correct" or "fair." This ruling is inviolable until at least ten minutes past the end of the game, at which point players may resume any debate which still seems important. Anyone suspected of abusing the What I Say Goes rule may be subject to a whack with the Hammer of Discipline, but this does not change the inviolability of the ruling. (The authority conferred by the What I Say Goes Roll may not be used to extort money, pizza, services, or other considerations or valuables from other players, because then you are gambling and may be subject to federal prosecution.) TURN. A period of time in which a single player moves all the units he wishes to move and resolves all the attacks he wishes to make. (1.2: Game Cycle) ROUND. A longer period of time in which all players in the game have each completed one turn. Try not to confuse rounds with turns, or many of the rules will make even less sense. (1.2: Game Cycle) INCH. The distances in this rulebook are described in inches, but any other standard unit of measurement will do. You may choose to convert an inch into some number of centimeters or dots (three being the usual number, although you can experiment with larger or smaller numbers, depending on how large your playing field is). You might decide that the distance between the tips of your thumb and forefinger is six inches, and make estimates based on that measuring tool (thus giving the advantage to players with bigger hands). You can even veto all forms of measurement and simply make rough guesses if you are feeling especially lazy. UNIT. Any person, machine, or installation that has the power to perform actions in the game. A soldier, a robotic tank, a computer- controlled machine gun emplacement, and a monkey are all units. A tree, a coffee mug, an assault rifle, and a dismembered corpse are not units unless magikally animated. The rulebook will occasionally make distinctions between a 'unit' (an actor in the imaginary game-reality) and a 'model' (the PBB construction that represents the unit in physical reality). In the same way, a distinction will also be made between a 'PBB' (a physical brick) and a 'component' (the chunk of an imaginary construction that the PBB represents). SKILL. The number of dice in a unit's Skill rating determine its chances of success in any endeavor the unit is able to attempt. Non-trivial actions are given a Usage Rating (UR), and a unit must roll this number or higher on his Skill dice, or suffer ignominious failure. This roll is called a Skill Roll. Different situations might add bonuses or subtract penalties from the unit's Skill Roll in a given attempt; these bonuses or penalties are called Skill Modifiers. The Skill Roll that you make when attacking a target is also called an Attack Roll. (1.3: The Trooper) ARMOR (or AV for Armor Value). This number, often a number of dice, tells how much damage a unit can take before being injured or destroyed. Every attack causes a certain number of dice of Damage. When struck by an attack, if the defending unit's Armor Roll is as much or higher than the attacking unit's Damage Roll, then the defending unit suffers no harm. (1.3: The Trooper) MOVE. This number describes the maximum number of inches a unit can travel in a single turn. Certain actions and situations will increase or decrease the speed at which a unit can move. Any effect that decreases a unit's Move is called a Movement Penalty, which is either expressed in inches (-MP") or as a percentage of total Move (-MP%). Some effects increase a unit's Move by a percentage; these are called Movement Bonuses (+MB%). A Movement Penalty incurred by an item carried by, mounted on, or stuck to a unit is called a Cargo Movement Penalty, or -CMP". Movement Bonuses and Penalties are cumulative. (1.3: The Trooper) COST (or CP for Construction Points). Every unit, object, ability, or advantage in BrikWars is assigned a point cost, measured in Construction Points. By comparing CP values, you can see the relative value of different types and groups of units. (1.3: The Trooper) CRITICAL ROLL. Any time a player makes a Skill Roll or an Armor Roll, if all the dice end up on a one then the roll is an Automatic Failure. If all dice end up on their highest-numbered face (all sixes when rolling d6's, all tens when rolling d10's), then the roll is an Automatic Success. These are called Critical Rolls. (1.4: Basic Combat) TEKLEVEL (TL). "You can't say that civilization don't advance ... in every war they kill you in a new way." - Will Rogers TekLevel is a number that refers to an army or unit's teknological sophistication. A unit can make effective use of any weapon or equipment from its own TekLevel or earlier. One TekLevel later and they can use the equipment at -2 Skill Penalty. Anything more high-tek than that cannot be used for its intended function. TekLevels in BrikWars are as follows: ---- THE TEKLEVEL CHART ------ TL0: StoneAge CaveMen - clubs, big rox Dimmies - juniorizing zombie venom, stupidity, freckles TL1: ToolAge TribalMen - spears, shortbows, horses, ziggurats, tikimasks JawJaws - explosive breeding, poisonous slime, the word 'meesa' TL2: MetalAge BronzeAge AncientMen - chariots, pyramids, agriculture AncientGods - thunderbolts, sky fortresses, earthquakes IronAge ClassicalMen - phalanxes, marble columns, mounted archers Faeries - pixie dust, pastel colors, faery magik SteelAge CastleMen - halberds, catapults, castles, heavy cavalry TL3: RennaisanceAge PirateMen - galleons, muskets, cannons, modern major generals NapoleonMen - dragoons, artillery, musketeers, funny hats FrontiersMen - wooden forts, minutemen, steam engines, rodeos TL4: ModernAge WorldWarTwoMen - machine guns, tanks, hydrogen bombs S.W.A.T.Men - sniper rifles, armored trucks, headset radios PostModernMen - stealth aircraft, cruise missiles, the Internet TL5: SpaceAge SpaceMen - phasers, spacefleets, force fields, holograms TL6: StarAge StarMen - death guns, energy blades, citystars, battlemeks TL7: HyperAge InterDimensionalMen - time machines, sentient planets GodMen - omnipotent continuum, ability to understand women NEARMISS. An attack that misses its target tends to strike in the neighborhood of the missed target. If there is a friendly unit in that general vicinity, it almost always gets hit. NearMiss rules are used to determine where the missed shot lands. (3.1.2: NearMiss Rules) EXPLOSION DAMAGE. Any Damage Roll measured in d10s or d20s causes Explosion Damage. Explosions damage everything within their blast radius, and tend to set things on fire. (3.4.2: Explosions) BURN LEVEL. When an object is on fire, the Burn Level tells how violently the fire is burning. You can tell an object is on fire because fire-colored Brix will be piled all around it. (3.4.3: Fire) STORY. A Story is a measure of height equal to six Brix (or 2 and 2/8 inches), and is used to measure larger vertical distances like the altitude of planes, the height of buildings, and the splatter radius when your minifig falls off a cliff. BLOK-INCH (or b"). The unit of force in BrikWars (more accurately called Blok-inches per turn per round or b"/tr). One Blok-Inch is the amount of force required to accelerate an object weighing one Blok by one inch per turn, per round. (4.3.4: Shoving and Dragging Objects) POWER. The measure of a unit's strength. One point of Power is equal to five Blok-Inches (5b") of force potential. All minifigs, except where otherwise noted, have 1 point of Power. PLATFORM. Any large construction. Stationary Platforms are called buildings. Mobile Platforms are called vehicles. (Chapter Five: Large Targets) SIEGE WEAPONS. Weapons that are too big to be troop-portable. Siege Weapons are designed to be mounted on vehicles or buildings, in order to blow up other vehicles and buildings. (Chapter Seven: Siege Weapons) CIVILIZATION. BrikWars armies are fielded by Civilizations of one form or another; most are fairly generic. Over time a player's Civilization may come to be associated with specific attitudes, strategies, personalities, and characters. (10.3.9: Campaigns and Diplomacy) CHARACTER. Most BrikWars units fit into certain generic categories. A Character is a unit with personality, with unique stats and abilities, who would be able to advance and improve over the course of several battles if it weren't for the fact that the mortality rate in BrikWars is extremely unforgiving. 0.3.3 Some Notes About Points and Pips -------------------------------------- Every unit statistic (Skill, Move, Power, etc.) is rated with a certain number of points (some combination of numbers and dice). In later chapters, you will be given the option to buy or sell points from each of these statistics. If you want to know how many points a die is worth, in order to purchase more dice, or to convert between different types of dice, divide the number of faces on the die by two and add one half point. This will give you the average roll on that die. For instance, 1d6 is worth three and a half points, 1d10 is worth five and a half, etc. After all the dice's point costs have been added together, any fractions must be rounded up in the final total. In general, when buying multiple points, buy dice whenever possible (e.g., buy +2d6 rather than +7 or +1d6+4). Skill Ratings, especially, should never include a number higher than +3; convert them to d6's. Remember that d10's and d20's are usually only used for weapons causing Explosion Damage, or for the Armor ratings of vehicles and buildings. For everything else, use d6's. In order to avoid having to write things down, you can use a system of 'Pips' to keep track of changing point values. 1x1 Brix or Cylinders make good Pips, since they are small, easily stackable, and common in every color. However, you can use anything you feel is appropriate. For vehicles or buildings, Pips are stacked on or next to the affected components. For minifigs, place the minifig on a 4x4 or 6x6 plate, and then stack the Pips behind the fig on this stand. We've listed our preferred color choices for Pips below, but you may choose to assign any color Pip for any purpose. BLUE. Blue Pips stacked next to a Flyer indicate its altitude in Stories. When keeping track of acceleration (4.3.2: Acceleration), a stack of blue Pips next to an object indicates the direction and velocity of its movement. RED. Red Pips are stacked next to Platform or landscape components that have suffered Structural Damage. If you decide to use a system of HitPoints for one or more of your Characters, you can keep track of them with a stack of red Pips. Whenever your Character loses a HitPoint, remove one Pip and leave it on the ground next to it, to give the battlefield a pleasing blood-stained appearance. WHITE. White Pips indicate time limits, such as a bomb that will go off or a spell effect that will run out in a certain number of turns. GREY. A gray Pip is placed next to a unit that has been Stunned or Exhausted. A stack of gray Pips on or next to a Platform component indicate Functional Damage. BLACK. A black Pip is placed on a Platform component that has been disabled, or two black Pips if it has been damaged beyond repair. YELLOW. Rather than having to keep track of all the different colors of fire, stacks of yellow Pips can indicate Burn Levels in different areas. GREEN. Green Pips indicate the Poison Level of a unit that is feeling the effects of disease or venom.