Battlestorm

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Battlestorm is the first product in the Fables system, which will eventually provide an integrated set of role-playing and tabletop combat rules. This game is the combat module, covering everything from gladiatorial duels to the fighting of massed armies. Future volumes will cover role-playing, magic, psionics, and clerics/healing.

Battlestorm takes place on a world called Lharna, which in many ways is similar to Earth. Its history consists of the following ages:

The rulebook also provides brief descriptions of selected lands on the continent of Tolaria:

• Dagmokk is the neo-Nazi, expansionist Dwarven Empire which may have over-extended its reach.
• The trolls were once the servants of the giants, but now they dwell in Trollmarch and dream of their former glories.
• Elvas Minor is a High Elf nation. Its policies are long-term, entangling alliances are avoided, and humans are looked upon with distrust.
• Sinepaxia is a loose confederation of human feudal states. (Other humans live as barbarians and reavers, or dwell in lands not detailed in this book.)
• The goblins once ruled a mighty land (the Goblands), but climate changes have turned them into clans of nomadic merchants.
• Orcroft is the arid homeland of the orcs, a warrior people who have formed an alliance with humans against the Necrozona.
• Adjacent to an oceanic trench where lies a rip in reality, Necrozona is the land of the Undead - zombies, skeletons, and ghosts.

Before play can begin, each player must have an army. Together they decide the points available for the fight, then spend those points to buy their armies, figure-by-figure.

Certain guidelines apply to army design:

• Half of the points must be spent on common troops
• Only a third of the army can have projectile weapons
• No single character can be worth more than half the total points available (optional rule)
• Only a fourth of the army can consist of mercenaries or allies
• Limits apply to the amount of points which can be spent on dragons, monsters, and war machines

There are no "army lists" to constrict players' choices, but the reference charts act as a practical limit to what any army may contain. Seventeen pages of charts list the stats of the defined troop types.

Figures are formed into Units of one or more figures. Players are free to organize their units as they please (though the Advanced Rules sometimes penalize units of mixed troop types).

EXAMPLE: Let's say that I want to put together a High Elf army. The chart on pg. 118 tells me my choices are: High Elf Irregulars with bow (17 points) with polearm (12 points) with spear (11 points) with sword (20 points) female with bow (21 points) High Elf Regulars with bow (19 points) with spear (13 points) with sword (19 points) with axe (21 points) female with bow (20 points) Plus there is an available character, Fenth Gallinir, worth 74 points. (It is also possible to spend points to convert any common troop into a minor leader.) So suppose that I have 750 points to make an army. I could spend those points to buy: Fenth Gallinir (74 points) [within my character allowance] 20 x regular spearmen (20 x 19 = 380 points) 11 x irregular female bowmen (11 x 21 = 231 points) [within my ranged weapon allowance] 1 x poison wyvern (65 points) [within my allowance for monsters] I can organize these troops into units any way I want - for instance, I could split my 20 spearmen into four units of 5 spearmen each. With an army deployment scheme in mind, I decide to have only three units - the spearmen (plus my leader) in the center, the bow-women unit on one flank, and the wyvern on another flank.

Terrain for the battle may be set up freely. Afterwards, the players dice for selection of their "home" table edge.

Players then divide their forces into an equal number of Placement Units of roughly the same point values. They then take turns placing these groups onto the tabletop. There is no connection between actual units and placement units, and figures in the same placement unit can be placed in different parts of the playing area.

During deployment, figures may be placed anywhere on the tabletop, within these limitations:

• Can't place troops within 1" of enemy troops
• Most common melee troops must be within a double-move of the center of the table
• Most common missile troops must be within range of the center of the table
• Flying creatures cannot be higher than 6"
• Must place all troops on player's side of the table

Prior to the battle, an equal number of figures on each side (usually 2 or 3) must be designated as Champions.

The object of the "standard" game is to drive the opposing army from the table or to receive their surrender.

At the start of the turn, players roll to see who has the Initiative. The player who wins the roll must Activate one of his units. After that unit takes its Actions, the players again roll to see who must activate the next unit. The turn continues until all units have been activated once.

A unit may take more than one Action per activation round, depending on the rules for the different actions involved. The possible Actions include:

• move
• declare an attack, or fire projectile weapons
• brace [ready to attack targets of opportunity]
• stand ready [as above, but for projectile weapons]
• disengage
• divide up (split the unit)
• join another unit
• search
• hide
• hold [do nothing]
• recover/reload [applies to war machines reloading, or troops with slow or awkward weapons]
• rally [attempt to restore a routing unit]

An activated unit must perform its actions according to a strict sequence of play:

1. Search
2. Declare Melee Attacks
3. Change Formation
4. Move
5. Check for Fear
6. Resolve Combat
7. Resolve routs and pursuits

During the "Declare Actions" step, the currently activated unit may declare a melee attack on any enemy unit. The unit does not have to follow through on its declaration, but it cannot later in the round attack any enemy which it did not declare against. An enemy unit upon which an attack has been declared has the option of immediately activating (if it has not already activated this turn). If it in turn declares an attack, the target of that attack also has the option of activating.

Thus one attack declaration can set of an entire chain of declarations and activations - a chain reaction called a Battlestorm.

A previously unactivated unit may also choose to activate if an enemy unit comes too near, interrupting the moving unit with its own Actions.

There are two forms of combat -- Projectile and Melee. All combat is worked out on an individual vs. individual basis.

Projectile Combat

Projectile weapons are anything that can attack at a distance, such as a bow or firearm.

Each weapon type is assigned to one of seven range classes, which determines its minimum and maximum effective ranges. The class also determines the penalty for shooting at targets beyond maximum effective range. A figure can attack any target within range, and to which it has a clear Line of Sight.

To resolve the attack, a target number must be determined. This is done by adding together the attacker's Combat Error Rating (C.E.R.) and the defender's Evasion rating. To score a hit, the attacker must roll this number or higher with a 30-sided die.

Rolling a "30" is an automatic hit (except when attacking beyond effective range). If the target number was 30 or less, the hit bypasses armor as well. Rolling a "1" is a Fumble (an automatic miss). When powerful characters fumble, they must roll on the Fumble Chart to determine what happened (weapon broken or dropped, attack hits friend or self, attacker loses footing, etc.).

If a hit is scored, damage is rolled for. The reference charts list how many and what types of dice are thrown for the damage roll. If the attacker rolls the maximum possible on any die, he may keep the score and re-roll the die.

The defender then rolls to determine his Absorption - due to armor, natural toughness, magical protection, etc. - according to the formula provided on the reference chart for that troop type. Absorption is subtracted from damage, and any remaining damage counts against the defending figure.

Melee Combat

Combat involving figures at close range - melee combat - is resolved using the same system as for projectile combat, though some special rules apply.

First, due to the Battlestorm system, it is possible for more than one unit to be resolving combat at the same time. If so, the Order of Attack must be determined. The general rule is that if figures are in base-to-base contact, shorter weapons attack first; if figures are separated, longer weapons attack first; if both figures are equivalent, then combat is considered simultaneous. If two units have just come into contact, combat begins at the longest weapon range.

Second, just as projectile weapons have effective ranges, melee weapons also have maximum (and sometimes minimum) ranges. There are five classes of melee weapons, with ranges varying from 0" (figures must be in base-to-base contact) to 1". However, the rules suggest refering to the miniatures themselves for a more accurate determination of melee range. Unlike projectile weapons, melee weapons cannot attack beyond their range.

Third, certain figures may have a choice of attacks (as shown on their reference chart). Some figures have multiple weapons. Other figures can use the same weapon in different ways, such as using a bow as a projectile weapon or as a club in melee, or a spear that can be thrown or used with one or two hands. A few figures can opt between making one powerful attack per round, or two weaker attacks per round.

Proportional Reduction

There is a technique called proportional reduction which can be used when any combat is resolved. The rules suggest using this method to reduce die rolling when large combats are being resolved. The basics are:

• if a figure has multiple attacks, rather than rolling for each attack, roll once and apply the results for each attack
• if a unit has many attacks, the attacker can decide to reduce the number of attacks by a chosen factor, then multiply the results by that factor (for instance, instead of resolving 20 attacks, the player could resolve 5 attacks, each of which count 4 times)

Proportional reduction is used to determine the total number of hits, but damage may still be rolled individually.

Damage

As a result of combat, some figures end up with unabsorbed damage points. What happens next is determined by whether the figure is Common, Hero, or Champion:

• The reference charts indicate the number of Fate points any figure has. Common figures are those which start with no Fate points. Any unabsorbed damage kills them.
• Heroes are, loosely speaking, those figures with one or more Fate points. Each point of damage removes one Fate point; when all the Fate is gone, the figure is dead.
• Champions are designated prior to play, and can originally be Commons or Heroes. Whenever a champion receives damage that would kill him (if he were not a champion), he instead suffers the result of a roll on the Critical Hit tables.

A basic battle can be played using the standard rules. The advanced rules are intended to be added, one at a time, as the players desire. They cover: