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Flying LeadModern Skirmish Rules for Guns, Guts and Glory

Based on the Song of Blades rules engineFirst Edition

Written by Rich Jones and Andrea SfiligoiEdited by Cort Esch and Enrique Durand

Illustrations by Andrea Sfiligoi and Pedro TorradinhasWeapon and ammo illustrations created with Pimp My Gun 2.0 (http://pimpmygun.doctornoob.com)

Copyright©2009 Rich Jones/Andrea Sfiligoi

Many thanks to the people who tested Flying Lead during its growth: Rich’s gaming group, the ‘Enfield Gamers,’ and Andrea’s group: Massimo Moscarelli, Sergio Laliscia, Paolo Pierini, Carlo Bandini,

Luca Ceriola, Marco Coccia, Antonio Termini; thanks to the real-world soldiers and models whose photos we used as reference for the illustrations; and thanks to the Song of Blades Yahoo! group.

Special thanks to Ray Forsythe for the invaluable Java-based builders available on our website.

Finally, the rules would not have happened if it wasn’t for the nightly suffering that Rich’s gaming mate, Shaun McTague, was put through!

www.ganeshagames.net

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Table of ContentsTable of Contents 2Introduction 3SUPPLY DEPOT – What You Will Need to Play RECRUITMENT OFFICE 4BOOT CAMP - Basic Rules Before the Action Begins Attacker or Defender Let the Shooting Begin

Moving Out - Actions the Characters Can Take 5On the Ground Movement Moving into Contact with Enemies 6Moving through Friendly Characters Encumbered Characters Terrain Broken Terrain Dense Terrain Woods, Forests and Jungle Terrain Obstacles Hindering Terrain Moving Through Doors 7Bashing Down Doors Shooting Down Doors Stairs Climbing Falling Damage Crewed Weapons 8

COMBAT ZONE Ambush Hand-to-hand Combat Melee Modifiers to Combat Value 9Better Weapon Modifier Close Combat Specialists Weapons in Ambush Situations Hand-to-hand COMBAT Mechanics Killed in Action Out of Action Knocked Down 10Recoil Leaving Hand-to-hand Combat Ranged Combat Line of Fire Targeting Restrictions Shooting into Combat Ranged fire Modifiers 11Cover

Results of Firing Killed in Action Out of Action 12Shaken Goes to Ground Aimed Shot “MEDIC!”

WEAPONS LOCKER 13Some Science Fiction Weapons 14Weapon Special Rules 15Malfunctions and Out of Ammo 16Grenades Overwatch Overwatch Weapon Distance Priming Weapons 17Grenades and Rifle GrenadesThrowing Grenades through Openings Throwing Grenades over Obstacles Effect of Grenades Non-lethal Grenades

Group Actions 18RegroupConcentrated FireGroup Actions Without a Leader

Morale 19When to Test Morale Modifiers to Morale Checks

SPECIAL RULES 20

After the Game 24Out of Action characters Coup de Grace “He Who Runs Away...” Campaign Rules Victory Conditions PASSING OUT PARADE – get playing!

RECON – where to next? 25Infantry Anti-tank weapons Visibility Smoke Grenades/Dispensers Fires Explosions Vehicles

Dispersal Alternative Targeting Rule Vehicles 26Drivers Armored and Soft vehicles Vehicle Activation Vehicle Movement Reverse 27Collisions and Overruns Tracked Vehicles Tanks and Buildings Bikes 28Optional rule: Stunts Firing Tank Guns and Large Crewed Guns 29Firing High Explosive Rounds Modifiers to HE fire High Explosive Fire Results Firing Anti-tank Rounds Range Modifiers for Infantry Firing Anti-tankAnti Tank Fire Results 30Lucky Shot Anti-tank Value Table Armor Value Anti-tank Combat results Brew Up Out of Action Stunned Bail Check Recording Damages on Vehicles 31Firing Vehicle Small Arms Vehicles and Morale Firing at Buildings

“AND IF YOU WANT TO DO …” 32Low Light and Poor Visibility Bang Goes the IED Tasks

Building your Force 34Rosters

Squad Advances 44

Quick Reference Sheets 45

Ganesha Games Presents 47

Profile Sheet 48

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IntroductionFlying Lead is a set of core rules which allows you to

play tabletop action using projectile weapons where close-in fighting is often a last resort. Cops vs. crooks, gang warfare, gangsters, military operations, espio-nage, counter-terrorism, pulp style adventures – if your gaming genre revolves around guns and guts, these rules will be of use! Coolness under fire and the odd heroic moment is needed to succeed in a world where an armed fanatic, or a street punk who gets lucky, can blow you away as effectively as a trained soldier.

Flying Lead was designed to be used with a wide range of genres without having to learn lots of dif-ferent rule sets. My local group, for example, will be playing near-future skirmish one week, gangsters the next, followed by some WWII action. Flying Lead allows us to give a different ‘feel’ to each genre with-out using different rules. People who are interested mainly in one genre will find easy–to-add detail. Addi-tional genre-specific weapons and equipment will be covered in our planned supplements, in our webzine Free Hack and through our Yahoo group (all the info is available at www.ganeshagames.net).

The area covered by a game would, in reality, be fairly small. Therefore, weapons such as larger mor-tars, bombs and items of similar destructive power aren’t included, as their blast would affect most of the board.

Are you up to the task?Players of Song of Blades and Heroes will feel at ease

with a lot of the mechanics as these rules are based on the original set. However, there are differences (mainly to cater to the emphasis on ranged combat), some of which are subtle, so please take nothing for granted!

Throughout the rules you will find Captain Sfiligoi point-ing out the major differences for SOBH players. Meanwhile, Sgt. Jones will be giving you helpful play pointers and tips.

SUPPLY DEPOT – what you will need to play the game

Once you know the rules, a standard game will take around 50-60 minutes to play. You will need either to-kens or miniatures to represent your ‘group’, ‘squad’, ‘cell’ or ‘gang’ (within the rules it will be referred to as a ‘squad’) normally numbering from 8 to 15 figures. The table size depends on the scale of the miniatures used. Players can use anything from 12mm to 36mm figures to play, perhaps the most popular scale being 28mm. Figures below 20mm require a minimum of

a 60x60cm (2’ square) playing area, while larger figures require a minimum of a 90x90cm (3’ square) area. Use a table as big as you like, but bear in mind that because of the way Morale works, it is suggested you increase the players’ base edges rather than the depth.

Miniatures can be mounted on bases of any shape (typically square or round), although it is advised that bases are not overly large compared to the figure. Bases prevent the figures from falling over and help measure movement and close combat contact. Vehicles can be mounted on a base or not. If not based, measure move-ment from the middle of the vehicle’s front to the middle of the vehicle’s rear.

You’ll also need three six-sided dice (d6) per player, and a set of three measuring sticks labelled Short, Me-dium and Long as outlined below.

M e a s u r i n g Sticks

12-18mm figures

20-36mmfigures

Short 50mm 75mmMedium 80mm 120mmLong 120mm 180mm

Sometimes the rules ask you to use a “base width” or an “infantry base width” as a measure. This is simply one of the bases that you use for a standard infantry model. You can build a measuring tool by gluing a “handle” to a spare base. It will come in handy to measure the spread of shotgun pellets, movement of recoiling figures and such.

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RECRUITMENT OFFICEcharacters to use in the game

Every model is described in game terms by a pro-file. Below is an example of an average WWII US squad member with the Marksman ability. Cpt. McTague grew up in the woods helping his ‘Pa’ hunt deer:

Cpl. (Rifleman) McTaguePoints 72 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Semi-automatic rifle, Pistol, Fragmentation grenades, Crack Shot/Marksman

An average trained, or untrained but experienced character will have a Quality of 4+ and a Combat of 2. Veterans will have abilities to enhance their fighting ca-pability while elite trained troops will have either their starting Quality or Combat Values as one better (Q3+/C2 or Q4+/C3).

Points – This is the cost of the model. The higher the point cost, the more powerful the character is.

Quality – This represents the overall willingness and ability of the character to do his ‘job’. It encompasses training, morale and reaction speed. Quality plays a major part in determining how many actions the char-acter gets to take when activated. The player needs to roll equal to or better than this value, so the LOWER the value the better. When rolling on Quality, a roll of 1 is always a failure and a roll of 6 is always a success, regard-less of any modifiers. Quality is abbreviated as Q.

Combat – This represents the character’s skill in com-bat on the table top. This score is added to a die roll to determine the effectiveness of the attack, so the HIGH-ER the value the better. The same score, with different modifiers, is used for both close combat and shooting. Combat is abbreviated as C.

Special Rules -- The Quality and Combat Values can

be influenced by Special Rules. These are the extra abili-ties and special characteristics which allow the char-acters to do something above and beyond their basic profile. In the example profile above, the special ability Marksman gives the character a +1 to Combat when taking an Aimed Shot, so Cpt. McTague is effectively C3 when taking Aimed shots. The character’s equipment and weapons are also listed as special rules.

BOOT CAMP basic rules and how the game

works

Before the Action BeginsThe first thing the players must do is recruit their

squads. The total point value of all models in the squad is agreed to beforehand – a standard game is 600 to 800 points and for this amount the player will get 10-15 “average Joes” or 5-10 “heavies.” Games featuring armored vehicles and heavy weapons should add ap-proximately 200 points.

Attacker or DefenderBoth players roll a d6 with the highest roller decid-

ing if he wants to be the attacker or defender. The de-fender then prepares the terrain. It is suggested that players use enough terrain to make the table top look ‘realistic’ – the characters will need quite a lot of cover. If the game uses ‘missions’ or is a specific scenario, any specific rules regarding terrain placement must be ad-hered to. The attacker then decides which table edge he will be using. Unless dictated otherwise by the mis-sion or scenario, the defender places his group within a Medium distance of his table edge. The attacker then places his forces within a Short distance of the oppo-site table edge.

Let the Shooting BeginBoth players roll a die to determine who has the ini-

tiative and starts the game. This player is called the ‘ac-tive’ player. The active player then nominates one of his characters to activate. No character can be activated more than once per turn. The player can choose to roll one, two or three dice for the character that he is trying to activate; for every die which is equal to or greater than the character’s Quality, the character can perform one action. However, if the character fails with 2 or 3 dice, then the player’s turn is over (after that character’s action, if any, is taken) and the opposing player’s turn begins. The opponent is now the ‘active’ player and can choose to try to activate any one of his or her charac-ters.

Sgt. Jones says:This seemingly simple mechanism for activating figures is

actually very subtle. The player can ‘play it safe’ or ‘risk it’ and the game often hinges on knowing when to ‘risk it’. The thing to remember is that TWO OR THREE FAILURES cause a turn

over … choose the number of dice to throw wisely, based on the character’s Quality.

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When the turn passes to the opponent (whether this is because a character has failed 2 or 3 dice in his at-tempt to activate a model, or the player has completed activating his entire squad), there is no restriction as to which character the opponent may try to activate.

All of a character’s actions must be performed before trying to activate another character. This means that you cannot generate three actions with character A, let him perform two actions, then activate character B, and finally go back to perform A’s third action (there’s only one small exception to this rule: see Group Actions on p.18).

Play continues until one force is no longer combat effective (either they have all been killed or forced/cho-sen to leave the table) or until the specific mission or scenario requirements/victory conditions are met. The game is then over, and the players calculate their Vic-tory Points. The player with the highest total wins.

If players are in a campaign (a connected series of scenarios), the Victory Points gained carry over and may be used to buy Advances (see p. 44).

Moving outactions the characters can take

An activated character will be able to perform zero, one, two or three actions depending on the success of his activation rolls. Actions can be used to move, attack with a ranged projectile weapon or perform a melee attack (hand-to-hand combat). However, only one at-tack can be made during the character’s turn (unless the character has a special ability that lets him perform multiple attacks), although that attack may include multiple targets in the case of some weapons.

A character may use an action to enhance his attack. If a character spends two actions to perform an attack, the opposition’s Combat Value is decreased by one. This can be thought of as the character carefully taking time to aim a weapon in ranged combat (Aimed Shot) or using all his strength in an all-out hand-to-hand at-tack (Powerful Blow).

Sgt. Jones says: Giving -1 to your opponent’s Combat score is better than

having a +1 on your score, because a reduction in the oppo-nent’s score means it’s easier to double him and put him out of action (see combat results in the Combat section).

Characters can ‘spend’ their actions as follows:

Move 1 action (up to 3 move actions a turn)Open a door 1 actionShort move through denseor hindering terrain 2 actionsCrawl (short move) 1 actionAttack (either ranged or melee) 1 action Aimed ranged shot/burst 2 actionsPowerful melee attack 2 actionsDisengage from melee 2 actionsRecover from being ‘shaken’ 2 actions Note: Character is still proneRecover from ‘knocked down’ 1 action Note: Character is now standingStand up from prone 1 actionPrime a weapon 1 actionReload a weapon (within a turn) 1 action ( Automatic at turn’s end)Swap or pick up equipment 1 actionClear a jammed weapon 2 actionsGo into Overwatch 2 actionsAny other action you can think of X actions just use the actions above as a guide

On the Ground A character may be on the ground because he chose

to “hit the dirt,” was knocked down in melee or fell down shaken as a result of being shot. The former is a ‘voluntary’ state, and the character is said to be ‘prone’. The latter are involuntary states, and the character is said to be Fallen or Shaken. You can show the figure’s status by laying the figure on the table top. We use fig-ure front down for prone, on its back with head facing opponent’s table edge for Knocked Down/Shaken and on its back with head facing own table edge for Out of Action. Alternatively, you can use tokens or even ap-propriate figures to show the status.

Movement Most models (including most vehicles since it is

presumed they would be moving cautiously) have a Medium distance move and use the Medium measur-ing stick. This means that they move from one end of the Medium movement stick to the other by spending one action. Players move a model from the front of its base to the back of its base (which means vehicles ap-pear to move further due to the length of the base or model). Not all movement allowance has to be used, and up to three movement actions may be performed in any activation phase. However, the movement for a given action must be made in a straight line. A player can not break the Medium movement rate up into smaller steps. The only way to go around a corner, ob-stacle or opponent is to use two or more actions.

Prone characters can crawl 1 x Short distance.

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Moving into Contact with Enemies If at any point during a character’s movement his

base touches the base of an opponent, the two figures are said to be adjacent and in melee contact, and the movement of the figure stops there.

Sgt. Jones says:Some players play that movement must

stop if a figure comes within a base width of an enemy figure. They are not in combat but the move action must stop. This simulates a fig-ure ‘jinking’ past an opponent.

Moving Through Friendly CharactersA figure may move ‘through’ a friendly

‘foot’ character that is not in melee or in a “cramped” situation. If the movement does not allow him to completely clear the friendly base, the character must stop before crossing it. A character may be able to recoil through a friendly character so long as they are on the same size base and are in contact at the point of recoil. “Cramped” conditions as mentioned above can include situa-tions such as vehicles, smaller doors, very narrow corridors and hindering terrain. We suggest that players specify these areas be-fore the game begins.

Encumbered CharactersA character carrying a load, a wounded com-

rade or a heavy weapon for example, moves at one measuring stick size less (i.e. Medium instead of Long or Short instead of Medium). This may be offset by two characters sharing the burden and being given a Group Move. A character with the Strong special rule counts as two characters for purposes of this rule (so he can carry a load with-out a reduction in movement).

Terrain We use five classes of terrain in the game. Clear (no

special rules), broken, dense, obstacles and hindering.

Broken TerrainBroken terrain (such as piles of rubble, waist-high

walls or marshy ground) reduces movement by one measuring stick size. A character who uses a Medium stick in open terrain would use a Short stick when any part of his movement crosses broken terrain. This may mean a character moves up to the broken terrain using most of his Medium move and then, using another ac-tion, moves over or through the broken terrain using the Short stick. A Short moving model needs to spend

two actions to move 1x Short over broken terrain. Rooms in buildings are classified as broken ter-

rain. A figure inside a room is always deemed to be ‘in cover’ although the inside of the building may not be modelled on the table top.

Dense TerrainMovement though ‘dense’ terrain such as bocage

(thick country hedgerow), or waist deep water takes two actions to move one Short stick. Models already moving a Short stick are not penalized any further.

Woods, Forests and Jungle TerrainW o o d e d areas can be classified as ‘bro-

ken’ or ‘dense’ terrain. Orchards and light woods are broken ter-

rain, while thicker woods and forests are dense terrain. Also, in

dense wooded areas visibility is limited to 1 x Long. Characters more than 1 x Short from the edge of the wooded area cannot be seen and can only ‘see’ 1 x Long out of

the woods. Troops within 1 x Short of the edge of the woods can be seen normally, although they count as

being in cover.

Sgt. Jones says:We use a template to show our wooded area (in the

same material as the playing surface). This enables us to see exactly where the edge of the wood is and also

means the model trees can be ‘moved’ when mov-ing characters through the woods.

ObstaclesSome obstacles (such as large rocks

and most vehicles) will simply be impass-able. Some others may be climbed over

by infantry and some vehicles. Use common sense and real-world information about vehicles to decide before the game what counts as an obstacle. See also Climbing below.

Hindering Terrain This is a catch-all category that we use here in the

core rules. In the supplements, you will find detailed terrain guides for specific ‘genre’ terrain. Hindering terrain represents a wide range of different situations, all of which slow the characters down. This can be a line of barbed wire which has to be cut, mines that have to be found and marked with a bayonet, or even ‘laser beam’ security measures protecting a museum piece which have to be avoided.

Two actions are required to enter one base width

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into hindering terrain, and then two actions per Short distance moved. Movement actions cannot be saved between turns. Negotiating hindering terrain requires the characters’ utmost concentration and therefore actions can be used ONLY for movement.

Players must decide when laying out the game if any specialized equipment can be used to negate the hindering terrain. For example, wire cutters may leave a base-wide gap in the barbed wire. Special goggles may mean that the ‘laser beam’ area can be moved through at normal speed by spending two actions.

Sgt. Jones says:You can also use these mechanics for characters that are

waiting for objects to ‘activate’ such as transport ‘rings’ or automatic doors.

Moving Through DoorsA character must always stop at a closed door, even

if it is unlocked. Some doors may be classified as being locked or stuck, and this will normally be specified in the scenario. If it is not, then you should specify any such conditions at the beginning of the game. The default condition is that exterior doors are locked and interior doors are unlocked.

Bashing Down DoorsIf a character comes across a locked or stuck door,

he may try to ‘bash’ it down. Attempting this costs one action. The character rolls a die and adds the following modifiers:

Character is Strong +1Character is using specialist equipment +2Door is a ‘heavy’ door -1Door is reinforced -2If the door is large enough, more than one model

may aid in the ‘bashing’ if they are in base-to.base con-tact with the door. Each extra character adds +1 to the roll. If the total is 5 or more, the door is bashed down. If the roll is unsuccessful, the character/s may try again later.

Characters on the other side may try to keep a door shut. Treat this as an individual combat between the characters. The winner decides if the door remains shut or not.

Shooting Down DoorsDoors can be shot open – use the same method

as above but add the weapon’s Combat Value to the roll. Ignore the other positive modifiers. Any explosion within a room will blow anything but a locked, rein-forced door open.

StairsStairs are treated as broken terrain. Moving up or

down takes one action per level of the building. If the stairs are in a derelict or bomb-damaged house, roll a die when moving on them (once per staircase). On a 1, they will collapse and the figure will suffer falling dam-age and an additional Combat 2 attack from the rub-ble.

ClimbingCharacters can climb on some obstacles. This re-

quires a Quality Check roll on three dice. Two or three successes will allow the character to move at his normal movement rate. One success means the movement rate is reduced by a category (Medium becomes Short, etc.). Zero successes means the character falls and may suffer falling damage (see below).

The following modifiers are applied to the Q Check roll:

Over vertical (more than 90 degrees) or very smooth surfaces: -2

Vertical surface: -1 Using specialist climbing equipment: +2Character is an Acrobat: +1Character has the Climber rule: No roll needed

Characters may not melee while climbing (if engaged in hand-to-hand, they count as ‘fallen’). They may, how-ever, shoot at -2. If a model fails a Morale roll while climbing, he will fall.

Falling DamageIf a character falls, he must make a Quality Check. This

is taken on one die if the distance fallen is Short, two dice if Medium and three dice if Long or more. On any failure, the character is Out of Action. Success on all dice leaves the character ‘on the deck’ requiring an action to stand, but otherwise unharmed.

Sgt. Jones says:More specific effects of outdoor terrain, including such

goodies as ‘rope bridges’ and ’snow’ may be found in the Song of Blades and Heroes supplement, ‘Song of Wind and Water’. More will be added in specific Flying Lead sourcebooks.

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Crewed WeaponsMachine guns, static anti-tank guns, light mortars

and similar weapons have a ‘crew’ which keeps them operating as smoothly as possible. They may activate as a ‘crew’ without having to be given a group action. This means they roll one set of dice (the player choos-ing how many actions to try for) and each crew mem-ber gets that many actions. However, unlike ordered group actions (see later), all the actions are used for the weapon they are crewing. In this way, crews can lose efficiency when they lose crew members. For example, it takes 3 actions to set up a belt-fed light machine gun (LMG) for firing. The machine gun has a crew of two and the crew rolls two actions on activation. This means the crewmembers have a total of four actions to spend, al-though neither crewmember can spend more than two actions. The LMG is set up using two actions from the assistant/loader and one of the LMG gunner’s actions. This leaves the gunner with one action to fire.

If they had rolled three actions each (for a total of six) they could have moved 1x Medium (two actions in total), set up the machine gun (three in total), again leaving one action to fire. Most of the time when the weapon is set up there will be left over actions (remem-ber the gunner can only attack once an activation – al-though this may be an aimed burst). An aimed burst has to use two actions from the GUNNER, not one from each.

Captain Sfiligoi says:This is unlike anything in SOBH as the Crewed Weapons

need not be given a ‘group action’ to act. Obviously, the crew must stay together (within a Short distance), and in order to be counted as ‘helping’ they must be touching bases with other crew members or with the base of the weapon they are ‘crewing’.

COMBAT ZONE how the characters fight

AmbushA character counts as launching an Ambush if he

starts the turn in cover that blocks line of sight to him and then attacks during the action in which the oppo-nent appears, whether by opening fire or jumping out to hit. Ambushing characters receive +1 on Combat for the first attack. This can be from a melee or ranged at-tack, and an Aimed Shot or Powerful Blow is possible. This simulates a character waiting until the opportune moment to ‘pounce’. A character on Overwatch can fire from an ambush position.

Hand-to-hand CombatIn order to fight, a character must be in base-to-

base contact with its target. Hand-to-hand combat is simultaneous and either model involved may be killed, pushed away or knocked down. If the attacker has two actions available, he may perform a Powerful Blow which gives -1 to the opponent’s Combat.

Getting into hand-to-hand combat with someone armed with ranged weapons is a dodgy proposition at best. If the target has a ranged weapon of any kind, he may get to use it as the attacker closes in.

Sgt. Jones says:Sometimes a well dug in enemy can only be finished off

by resorting to hand-to-hand combat. Get in close and use your auto fire weapons to keep their heads down while the rest of the squad rushes in. Many a combat mission has been won by getting up close and personal and using the flashing steel.

As the attacker reaches base-to-base contact, the target rolls 3 dice against his Quality. Use the guide-lines below. Make the target’s Quality rolls at -1 if the charger is Fanatic. The character may use a Leader bo-nus if within range.

3 successes: Character melees with charger using full weapon bonus. In the case of a projectile weapon, it is deemed the charger was shot at on the way in.

2 successes: Character melees with charger. Short ‘range band’ weapons add their bonus to the Combat Value.

1 success: Character does not add any ranged weap-on bonus but fights normally.

0 successes: Character is FAZED in first round of me-lee. If any of the dice are a 1, then the character must make a Morale Check on 3 dice (see Morale, p. 19).

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For characters armed with both a ranged weapon and a melee weapon, the player chooses the best weapon depending on the outcome of the test. The character knows what is best for him at that point in time.

Melee modifiers to Combat ValueIn contact with more than one enemy -1 per extra enemy (including those knocked down)Mounted vs. non-mounted +1Attacking knocked down/shaken opponent +2 and any hit is LethalAttacking prone opponent +1Defending obstacle or higher ground +1Ambushing +1 Better weapon +1Fazed -1Powerful Blow -1 on opponent’s Combat Value

Better Weapon ModifierHand-to-hand weapons can be specialized or im-

provised. Obviously, some weapons are better than others, and this is reflected by ruling that if beaten by a ‘better’ weapon, a character will be Knocked Down even on an odd die roll. However, if the character with the better weapon loses the combat, his Combat Total for that attack is reduced by a further -1, making it more likely that he suffers damage from a failed at-tack. This represents the attacker being unable to take advantage of his weapon’s reach, and the defender slipping into his guard.

The following is a guide to which weapon is better, from best to worse:

1) Specialized, long-reach martial arts weapon (three-section staff, yari, naginata);

2) Fixed bayonet (bayonet on rifle), specialized mar-tial arts weapon (nunchaku, tonfa), police baton, most swords, spear;

3) Knife or similar hand weapon;4) Rifle, spade, police truncheon, ‘black-jack’;5) Improvised weapon (chair, bottle, etc.);6) Empty hand.Sourcebooks will contain genre-appropriate hand-

to-hand weapon lists. Assume all the profiles in this book to be armed as the miniatures used to represent them on the tabletop.

Close Combat SpecialistsCharacters with the Close Quarters Battle (CQB)

Specialist ability move up the weapons guide 3 levels (see Better Weapon Modifier above), e.g. a CQB Spe-cialist with an empty hand will be on par with an op-ponent with a knife in hand.

Weapons in Ambush SituationsAny non-improvised weapon will count as a ‘better

weapon’ for the ambusher in the first combat phase after the ambush is triggered.

Hand-to-hand COMBAT MechanicsEach player rolls a die for the character involved in

hand-to-hand combat. The attacker gets to choose which opponent he is fighting. However, if in base-to-base contact with more than one figure, he will re-ceive a negative modifier (-1 per extra opponent be-yond the first). Even Fallen enemies give this -1 as they could be clinging onto the character’s legs, grabbing his weapon arm, etc. Add any modifiers to the score to get the Total Combat Value.

Combat Total = die roll + Combat Value + HTH modifiers

The figure with the highest total wins the combat. The effect depends on how many points he won by and/or the number rolled on the die:

Winner tripled the loser’s score:loser is Killed in Action

Winner doubled the loser’s score:loser is Out of Action

Winner’s die roll is an even number : loser is Knocked Down

Winner’s die roll is an odd number:loser Recoils one base width

The actual number rolled on the die, and not the final modified total, is used to determine Knocked Down and Recoil results. In other words, you inflict a Knocked Down result if you win any combat in which you roll a 2,4 or 6 on the die, and you inflict a Recoil result if you win rolling a 1, 3 or 5.

Killed in Action No use calling for a medic. The character takes no

further part in the game and counts as defeated for Victory Points purposes. If the winner’s die roll is a 6, then it is also a Gory Death which may affect the Mo-rale of nearby characters.

Out of ActionThe character is wounded and falls to the ground.

The attacker is still deemed to be in contact with the figure.

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Knocked Down The character is stunned. The winning character is still

in base-to-base contact with him. While most players will lay the model down to represent this state, in reality the figure could just be reeling under the onslaught, and not actually on the ground.

RecoilThe losing character is pushed back away from the at-

tacker one base width in any direction the losing player wants. The winning character may choose to follow up and stay in base-to-base contact if he wishes. If the recoil takes a character into any other enemy character, the en-emy character will get a ‘free hack’ at the recoiling fig-ure. Resolve the Free Hack like a normal combat, but the recoiling character can not affect the figure performing the Free Hack. If there is no space for the recoil, the mod-el is Knocked Down. If the recoiling model is standing in a precariously balanced position, such as the edge of a roof or cliff, the model falls and suffers falling damage.

Captain Sfiligoi says:Note that, unlike in SBH where there is no follow up, in FL

the winner always has the option to follow up and remain in hand-to-hand contact. This is different from other Song games, and is the Recoil system used in Song of Spear and Shield.

Leaving Hand-to-hand CombatCharacters may leave hand-to-hand combat dur-

ing their activation. However, disengaging from hand-to-hand combat will give all enemies in base-to-base contact with the figure a ‘free hack’. Characters with the ‘Slippery’ rule will not suffer this ‘free hack’. Mounted characters and characters on bikes automatically have the Slippery rule when disengaging from opponents on foot. Similarly, in science fiction/pulp games, flying char-acters (such as those equipped with a jet pack, anti-grav-ity belt, or winged aliens) will count as Slippery against non-flying opponents.

Ranged Combat

Line of FireCharacters can fire a weapon with an attack action.

The target must be within the maximum range of the weapon and the firer must have a ‘line of fire’ to the tar-get. In other words, they must be able to see the tar-get and this view must not pass through any figures or obscuring scenic item. This can be checked by drawing a straight line from any point of the firer’s base to any point of the target’s base. If the line goes through a sol-id object that would fully obscure the target, the attack cannot be made. Some players use pieces of string or laser pointers to check line of fire. The only exception to this rule is when the firer is attempting to fire ‘through’ a friendly character and is in base-to-base contact with the friendly figure. In this case, it is presumed one figure is crouching and the other is “firing over his shoulder.” To fire between two friendly figures there must be a gap of at least a base width between them.

Targeting RestrictionsThe firer must always shoot at the closest target un-

less that enemy character’s point value is less than half of the firer’s value. The firer may also opt to fire at a model in the open as opposed to one in cover or lying down. Anti-tank weapons can always ignore unarmored vehicle targets to fire at armored targets. Some abilities allow the firer to ignore targeting restrictions.

Shooting into CombatA character may not shoot out of hand-to-hand

combat unless his opponent is Knocked Down. He may not shoot into hand-to-hand combat unless the target is standing and the other (usually friendly) character is Knocked Down. Optional rule: There may be times when a particularly evil character may open up at char-acters in hand-to-hand combat. In this case, random-ize which character gets hit BEFORE rolling the Combat dice.

Captain Sfiligoi says:The randomizing procedure slows down firefights, so use

it with discretion. In most cases, soldiers are taught NOT to shoot into melee where they could hit a friend. We apply a Morale Check when a character is hit by friendly fire. In some settings (pulp and modern special-ops) some characters will have access to special rules allowing them to shoot into hand-to-hand combat.

A ranged attack is made in much the same way as a melee attack but the Combat Total is equal to:

Combat Total = die roll + Combat Value + Weap-on modifier (shooter only) + Ranged fire modifiers

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Ranged fire modifiersTarget is in effective range (up to 2x range band) No modifierTarget is 2-3x range away -1Target is 3-4x range away -2Target is 4x to max range away -4Firing and moving in same action -1Firing from Overwatch -1Speculative fire (target hidden) -3Target behind cover (obscured) -1Target prone (no modifier if within Short range) -1Target is Knocked Down/Shaken or Out of Action +2 and any hit is LethalFiring from ambush position +1 on first attack onlyTarget is bigger than man-sized +1Marksman taking Aimed Shot +1 Anyone taking an Aimed shot -1 to the opponent’s Combat ValueSniper scope/laser targeting on Aimed Shot +1Using unfamiliar weapon -1Firing at a target with the Acrobat skill -1

CoverIf a target is partially obscured by any terrain fea-

ture, it counts as being in cover. If the target is fully obscured by non-bulletproof terrain or is hidden (a character is ‘hidden’ if placed in cover at the start of the game and has neither moved nor fired) it may only be fired at using the ‘speculative fire’ modifier.

A target may claim ‘cover’ if there are any inter-vening obstacles between firer and target. If the firer is in base-to-base contact with an object, that object is not counted as intervening.

Cpt. McTague is firing at Pvt. Hendrik. There is a wall be-tween them about midway. Hendrik can claim cover for the intervening object and it counts as hard cover.

If McTague was up against the wall (in base-to-base contact), then Hendrik could not claim cover.

Target behind Hard cover: If the combat results in a win by only 1, it is treated as a miss; the cover has been hit instead.

Target behind Fortified cover: If the combat re-sults in a win by only 1 or 2, it is treated as a miss; the cover has been hit instead.

The firer hits the target if his Combat Total is high-er than the target’s. The target’s roll is purely de-fensive (he can’t affect the shooter) and he adds no weapon bonus. The exact effect depends on the number of points by which the combat is won and/or the number rolled on the dice:

Results of firing Firer tripled the target’s score: target is Killed in Action’

Firer’s doubled the target’s score:target if Out of Action

Firer won and his die roll was an even number:target is Shaken

Firer won and his die roll was an odd number:target Goes to Ground

Sgt. Jones says:Always try to suppress the opponent’s auto fire weapons

by making them go to ground before moving in the open. Re-member the training manual: Fire and maneuver!

Killed in Action No use calling for a medic. The character takes no

further part in the game and counts against the Victory Points for his side. If the winner’s die roll was a 6, then the kill was also a Gory Death which may affect the Mo-rale of nearby characters.

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Out of ActionThe character is wounded and falls to the ground. In

game terms, he can play no further part in the action. However, in a campaign it is important to know that the character is NOT Killed in Action.

ShakenThe character falls to the ground due to the shot.

It may have grazed his arm or temple; it may have glanced off his helmet or he could be fumbling under his clothes trying to see if he is hit! A figure that is Shak-en from combat takes TWO actions to recover. These actions cannot be split between activations. When the character recovers, he is still prone.

Goes to GroundThe character has a sudden longing to find cover. He

may move into cover that is within a Short distance. This is an automatic movement and happens immedi-ately. It does not require any expenditure of actions. If this is not possible, the target hits the dirt and goes prone. If the figure is already in cover, he must go prone. A figure who has already Gone to Ground will ‘crawl’ a Short move into cover (further away). If this is not possible, he will be Shaken.

Cpt. Sfiligoi says:Shaken simulates the effect of being

pinned or suppressed without resorting to record keeping. Get someone in cover to become Shaken or go to ground and they drop down out of sight. A character can then place this area on Overwatch. When the character recovers and ‘pops up’, he can be fired upon by the Overwatch figure!

Sgt. Jones says:Use your Leaders to get over and kick

some butt to get people moving after they have Gone to Ground or are Shaken… move the Leader in range so he can use the Leader’s modifier on Quality rolls.

Aimed ShotA model may spend two

actions to perform an Aimed Shot, giving -1 to his target’s Combat To-tal.

“MEDIC!” what hope has an Out of Action

character got?

Medics are any characters with medical training. In most cases this will be a specialized character with the Medic or Combat Medic special rule. In some modern army lists, any Quality 4 or better figure will have a limited medical ability. Add the medic rules to smaller games to add some detail and suspense!

A Medic may spend two actions to check and treat an Out of Action figure. Roll a Quality Check on three dice. Professional Medics use Q3 or their own Q if better. Models with Combat Medic use Q5. The Leader bonus does not apply to these rolls.

0 successes – Character is KIA (Killed in Action);1 success – Character is patched up but immobile

(check at +1 to post-game roll);2 successes – Character is patched up and can

move 1 x Short, but is incapable of combat unless engaged in melee, in which case he suffers -2 to Combat Value (check at +2 to post-game roll);

3 Successes – Character is back in the fight.

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WEAPONS LOCKER

what do the weapons do?Most weapons give an additional modifier to the

Combat roll in ranged fire. This reflects the lethality and accuracy of projectile weapons. The range band dictates which distance stick they use to determine range modifiers. The other rules (detailed below) determine details such as auto fire capacity, loading time and other special effects.

An example of the weapon type is sometimes giv-en in parentheses.

Single chambered rifle (e.g., rifled musket)C+2, Long range, Slow Reload

Bolt-action rifle (e.g., Lee Enfield or K98)C+2, Long range

Semi-automatic rifle (e.g., M1 Garand)C+2, Long range, Move and Shoot CarbineC+2, Medium range, Move and Shoot

Fully automatic select fire rifle(“assault” rifles, e.g., AK47, M15/16)C+2, Long range, Select Fire, Move and Shoot

Pistol (e.g., Beretta)C+ 1, Short range

Large-Caliber Pistol(e.g., .44 Magnum)C+2 , Short range.

Machine pistol (e.g., Uzi)C+1, Short range, Auto Fire

Submachine gun (e.g., Thompson, Sten, MP40)C+1, Medium range, Auto Fire, Move and Shoot

Light machine gun, clip-fed (LMG)(e.g., B.A.R., Bren)C+2, Long range, Auto Fire, Option: May be a

Crewed Weapon

Light machine gun, drum-fed (LMG)(e.g., GPMG SAW)C+3, Long range, Auto Fire, Option: May be a Crewed

Weapon

LMG, belt fed / Medium machine gun (MMG) (e.g., MG34/42)C+3, Long range, Select Fire on most weapons post-

1945, Auto Fire and Stable, 3 actions to set up, Crewed Weapon

Heavy machine gun (HMG) (e.g., MG42 on tripod, .50 cal)C+3, Long range, Auto Fire, Stable, Armor Piercing,

Lethal against soft (non-armored) targets, 4 actions to set up, Crewed Weapon. Note: an HMG has a 180 de-gree field of fire to its front. To shoot in its rear arc, it must be moved. This takes 3 actions.

Shotgun C+2 in first two range bands, C+1 in third range

band, Medium range, maximum range of 3 Medium, Spread

Sawn-off shotgun C+3 in first range band, C+1 in second range band,

Medium range, maximum range of 2 Medium, Spread

RPG (e.g., disposable anti-tank weapon, Panzerfaust)C+2, Anti-tank +8, Medium range, One Shot

Bazooka Anti-tank +7, C+2, Priming Needed, Long Range

Flamethrower C+4 (C+10 against vehicles), Medium range, maxi-

mum range of 2 Medium. Vehicle flamethrowers have Long range. Can hit any character up to its maximum range as long as the path crosses any part of the character’s base. Additionally, any model adjacent to the target is attacked as well. If a model armed with a Flamethrower suffers a Gory Death (a roll of 6 on the attack die), the flamethrower pack explodes and anyone within one Short distance radius suffers a C3 attack. Targets Knocked Down by the flamethrower attack count as On Fire (mark the model with a bit of cotton wool sprayed with red paint.) The model needs to spend 2 consecutive actions in the same turn to douse the flames by rolling on the ground. Roll at +1 if a friend is adjacent. A model On Fire receives a Com-bat 4 Free Hack at the end of his turn, regardless of whether it activates or not. Anyone attacking a model that is On Fire does so at +2. Any Flamethrower attack

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against a target in an asbestos suit or other material with similar properties, including some NBC suits and laser-proof high-tech suits, is at -2. A flamethrower can be used against vehicles at +10. Targets in open-topped vehicles (including bikes) are hit separately. Bikers and drivers who suffer a Knock Down result automatically lose control of the bike.

Sgt. Jones says:Some players use a ‘flame template’ to determine which

figures are hit by the flamethrower. You can use a strip of red paper with a width of one infantry base. Any model touched by the template MAY be hit – roll for each one separately. Note that some games use cone shaped templates for flamethrow-ers, but we think a straight template better reflects the “reality” of flamethrowers.

Other ranged weapons

Shuriken/Small throwing knivesC+0, Short range, Light Weapon, Silent

LongbowC+0, Short range, Slow Reload, Silent

Modern compound bowC+0, Medium range, Slow Reload, Silent

Modern crossbow with laser scopeC+0, Medium range, Slow Reload, Sniper Scope, Silent

Thrown javelinShort range, One Use Thrown Weapon, Move and Shoot

Blowgun with poison coated dartsC +0, Short range, Light Weapon, Stun Only, Silent

TaserC+3, Short range, Stun Only, Single Shot, Affects Only Living Targets

Non-lethal grenade(Flash Bang, Stun or Sting Grenade)Grenade with Combat 2, Stun Only

Pistol with Silencer and Laser ScopeC+1, Short range, Silent, Sniper Scope

Some Science FictionWeapons

Stun pistolCombat +3, Short range, Stun Only, Affects Only Living Targets

Stun rifleCombat +3, Long range, Stun Only, Affects Only Living Targets

Stun cannon3 action set up, Combat +3, Crewed, Long range, Stun Only, Affects Only Living Targets

High speed needler pistolAuto Fire, Combat +2, Short range, Spread

Low speed needler pistolAuto Fire, Combat +2, Light Weapon, Short range, Silent

Lowspeed needler carbineCombat +2, Long range, Select Fire, Silent, Sniper Scope

More weapons will be covered in future supplements. For weapons of your own creation, use the weapon

builder on www.ganeshagames.net.

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Weapon Special Rules

The following rules define advantages and disad-vantages of weapons. Their point values are shown in the Weapon Builder (see www.ganeshagames.net).

Affects Only Living TargetsThe weapon has no effect on non-living targets and

cannot be used to shoot vehicles or to shoot down a door. In science fiction settings, the weapon will not affect robots or other artificial targets.

Anti-tankThis weapon has an Anti-tank value, a number

used to determine the effect of hits against armored targets. Against other targets, the shot counts as High Explosive. Anti-tank weapons ignore Body Armor.

Armor PiercingShots from this weapon ignore Body Armor and

have an Anti-tank value of -4.

Auto FireWeapons with this rule may make a single attack or

fire a burst. A burst allows additional attacks against other targets within 1 Short distance of the original target. This represents the weapon sweeping or track-ing targets. However, for each target after the first, the firer is at -1 to his Combat Value. This effect is cu-mulative, so the second target is at -1, the third at -2, etc. The next target is the next nearest character. An Aimed Shot with an Auto Fire weapon only affects the first target. If the player chooses to use a burst, anyone within 1 Short distance of the target is at-tacked, including friendly models. If a model is killed by friendly fire, all models within 1 Long distance with a line of sight to the killed model must make a Morale roll (Fanatics are exempt from this rule).

High Tech AmmoA weapon with this rule increases its Anti-tank

score by 1.

Light WeaponThe weapon is not capable of inflicting large

wounds. Any attack performed with this weapon is limited to a maximum of C2 regardless of modifiers.

Move and ShootCharacters armed with a “Move and Shoot” weap-

on can move and shoot as one action. Shooting must take place at the beginning or at the end of the ac-tion, and is at -1 to Combat.

One Use Thrown WeaponThe model has one use of the weapon (like a thrown

javelin, knife or axe). Once the weapon has performed an attack, it can’t be used any more for the duration of the scenario.

Optional rule: In small games with fewer than 10 figures per side, a thrown weapon gets stuck in the target if it scores an Out of Action or better result, and may be picked up from the body by spending one action adjacent to it. If the attack didn’t score an Out of Action or better, the weapon flew past its target. The target’s player places the fallen weapon up to 1 Short distance away from the target.

Select FireWhen firing a Select Fire weapon, the player can

choose to fire it at one target at the normal Combat modifier OR use it as an Auto Fire weapon. However, if used as an Auto Fire weapon, the range is reduced by one range band size, for example Long range becomes Medium.

SilentThe weapon is Silent. See Stealth, p.23.

Single ShotThis weapon can be fired only once per game.

Slow ReloadThe weapon is not automatically reloaded at the end

of the turn. Reloading the weapon takes one action.

Sniper ScopeA laser or optical scope gives a +1 to the firer’s Com-

bat Value when taking an Aimed Shot.

Spread Shotgun pellets spread and may hit any characters

within a two base-width distance of the original tar-get. Roll separately for the intended target and for any other models, including friends, within two infantry bases of him. Ignore this if the target is closer than one Short distance away – the pellets need some distance to spread. See Auto Fire, above, for Friendly Fire rule.

StableMMGs and HMGs have the Auto Fire rule and are Sta-

ble. This means that the negative modifier is ignored for the first additional target. They fire at -1 on the third target, -2 on the fourth, and so on.

Stun OnlyThe weapon cannot score any combat result better

than Shaken.

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Very Slow ReloadReloading the weapon takes two actions and the

weapon cannot be reloaded in the same turn it is fired.

Malfunctions and Out of AmmoIf a character rolls a 1 when firing, his weapon is Out

of Ammo. An Auto Fire weapon that is Out of Ammo is not able to fire on another target. Being Out of Ammo will be rectified automatically at the end of the char-acter’s activation. However, if needed, the weapon can be reloaded during the activation at the cost of one action. In other words, the character automatically re-loads when his turn ends OR when he spends one ac-tion doing so.

Furthermore, if a 1 is rolled, the character must roll another die. If this die is also a 1, the weapon has jammed/broken instead of running Out of Ammo. This requires 2 actions to try to repair. After the 2 actions have been ‘spent’, a Quality check on one die is needed to fix the malfunction. If it fails, the weapon is out of action for the rest of the game.

Sgt. Jones says:We always roll a different colored die when rolling the fire

dice. If a 1 is rolled on the normal fire die, the other is then checked. This speeds up checking for malfunctions. You just look at the dice and you know if the weapon has run Out of Ammo (the main die rolled a 1) or the weapon is broken (both dice have rolled 1’s).

Assistant gunners/loaders reduce the risk of running Out of Ammo or the weapon jamming. If a Crewed Weapon rolls a 1, the assistant may make a Quality Check on one die – if successful, the weapon is not Out of Ammo and thus the crew can continue firing AND can ignore malfunctions.

RevolversRevolvers do not jam. When you roll a 1, roll anoth-

er die: on a 1-3 the revolver is broken and cannot be repaired, on a 4-6 the revolver is fine and no action is needed to repair it.

GrenadesFor grenades fired by grenade launchers, mortar

shells, and missiles for personal anti-tank weapons, rolling a 1 followed by another 1 means there are no more available for the rest of the game.

Overwatch Any character armed with a projectile weapon is ca-

pable of ‘watching’ an area and reacting to any enemy movement in that area. This is called “being on Over-watch.” Any character of Quality 4 or better, armed with a ranged weapon, may go onto Overwatch during his activation. Going onto Overwatch costs 2 actions. The player places an Overwatch marker within the char-acter’s Line of Sight and in an area which has no vis-ible enemy. During the enemy’s next activation, any enemy figure that moves (or becomes visible) within the weapon’s Overwatch distance of the marker may be shot at by the figure on Overwatch. This is at -1 to the character’s Combat per target shot. Auto Fire and Select Fire weapons can fire at multiple targets that enter the area throughout the turn, with the cumula-tive -1 penalty for multiple targets. Other weapons can only fire at one target.

The Overwatch marker is removed if the character on Overwatch moves, is caught in a blast, enters hand-to-hand combat, is Knocked Down, killed, or forced to go to ground. It is also removed if non-Auto Fire weap-ons fire. It is removed at the end of the opponent’s turn if the character has fired Auto Fire weapons. In other cases, the marker stays active until the player chooses otherwise.

Overwatch weapon distanceTripod-mounted weapons: 1x Long distance from the marker;

Crewed, belt-fed weapon: 1x Medium distance from the marker;All other Ranged weapons: 1x Short distance from the marker.

A character on Overwatch MUST fire at a target which enters his field of fire unless he makes a Quality check on one die to resist doing so. This also includes friendly figures, civilians, and other “unintended tar-gets.”

Sgt. Jones says: Use colored Overwatch markers matching a colored

dot on the figure’s base to distinguish whose is whose, or place micro dice and use the numbers. Overwatch is a very useful tactic. Use it not only to give your opponents a nasty surprise, but also to channel them away from areas so that they have to move where YOU want them to. In large games, some players stipulate that only Auto Fire weapons may go on Overwatch.

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Priming WeaponsGrenades, rifle grenades, grenade-throwing weap-

ons, RPGs, bazookas and other personal anti-tank weapons all take an action to ‘prime’.

Grenades and Rifle GrenadesGrenades have a maximum throwing distance of

3x Medium (rifle grenades have 3x Long). The play-er identifies the exact point on the board he wants the grenade to land, then makes a Quality roll on the number of dice corresponding to the distance: one die if one range band away, two if two range bands away, and three dice if three bands away. The roll is at +1 if the model has the Chucker special rule. If all the rolls are successful, the grenade is placed on the point chosen by the player. If the Check is failed with one die, the opponent gets to place the grenade up to one Short distance away from the intended point of impact. If it is failed by 2 dice, the opponent can place it up to one Medium distance away. Three fail-ures means the opponent can place it up to one Long distance away.

Throwing Grenades through Openings Throwing a grenade through an opening is au-

tomatic if the thrower is adjacent to the opening. In other circumstances, the character must make a Quality roll as detailed above, at -1 if trying to get the grenade through an opening smaller than a normal- sized door. If a missed grenade hits any solid object, it ‘bounces’ back along the thrown path by 1 x Short.

Throwing Grenades over ObstaclesA grenade can be thrown over an object as high

as the figure with no penalty, an object twice as high at -1, and three times as high at -2. This increases the chance of the opponent moving the grenade’s placement back towards the thrower, which mod-els the grenade ‘not making it over’.

Effect of Grenades A model within 1 x Short distance of the point

of impact is automatically Knocked Down and re-ceives a Combat 3 attack. A model beyond 1x Short but within 1x Medium receives a Combat 1 attack. Any model beyond the 1 x Medium but within 1 x Long re-ceives a Combat 0 attack. High-power grenades add +1 or +2 to these Combat Values. Out of Action char-acters are affected as normal (the grenade receives -1 due to the target being prone but also +2 for Fallen/Shaken). The blast may cause a Gory Death on a roll of a 6 as normal. Grenades thrown into enclosed spaces receive +2 on their Combat score. The explosion auto-matically knocks open any non-reinforced door and

shatters all glass and frames of standard windows.

Non-lethal GrenadesFlash Bang, Stun, and Sting Grenades are Combat 2,

Stun Only weapons. In an Ambush situation, the user can add an Ambush bonus to the grenade’s Combat (if you don’t know that a Flash Bang is coming, it’s harder for you to look away and protect your ears, and it’s more likely you’ll be stunned). Flash Bang Grenades have no effect on models inside closed armored vehicles unless thrown through a hatch or window. In enclosed spaces, they have +2 to their Combat score just like regular gre-nades.

Sgt. Jones says:Grenades are great weapons but use them carefully, as

misses can be lethal to unintended targets.

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Group ActionsA Leader can use one of his actions to give a Group

Order to up to five figures. At least one member of the group must be within the Leader’s command ra-dius at the time of giving the Group Order. Regular soldiers must be within 1 x Short of each other to be counted as a group. Most other characters with no military training have to be within base-to-base contact with each other. Non-combatants (terrified civilians, hostages, etc.) can be part of group moves only if at least one military-trained model is part of the group. Rescue scenarios will have specific morale and group action rules for non-combatants.

Modern communication devices such as helmet radios/comms allow a group to be formed even if the figures are out of Line of Sight as long as they are within the device’s distance. Unless specified other-wise in the roster, this is 1 x Medium.

After the Leader spends his action to give the or-der, the group rolls one set of activation dice using the worst Quality of any member of the group. Each character then receives that number of actions. Each character can act in any way the player wants – they need not do the same actions as each other.

Sgt. Jones says:Don’t forget that the Leader increases the Quality of the

figures within his command range. A Leader in Flying Lead is very important to the overall effectiveness of the force. Make sure you protect him!

The Group Order does not have to be the Leader’s final action. However, if the Group fails two or three activation dice, the turn passes to the opponent as normal and any unused Leader actions at that point are lost. Leaders can give more than one Group Or-der per activation, although obviously an individual group can only be activated once per turn. A well-placed leader might give orders to two or three dif-ferent groups (one per action).

A Leader is the only figure that can split his ac-tions.

Example: a Leader activates on three dice and scores three successes. He uses the first success to give a Group Or-der, then the player moves to activate the group and per-forms any actions with that group. Next, the player goes back to the Leader and uses the Leader’s two remaining actions.

Captain Sfiligoi says:This is a major difference from Song of Blades and He-

roes in which models cannot split their actions.

Leaders can also give the following special Group Orders at the cost of one action:

RegroupAny characters (which have not been activated in

the current turn) within the Leader’s command range can be activated with a group activation roll as above. However, all the actions must be spent moving into (or as close as possible to) base-to-base contact with the Leader or to an established rally point such as a flag, getaway vehicle, transportation device, terrain feature, or another member of the group. During a Regroup, the characters may not attack. Remember that a char-acter can only activate once per turn. He can’t move within the Leader’s range and then take part in a Re-group action in the same turn.

Sgt. Jones says:The Regroup action is very useful with troop-carrying ve-

hicles. Get the Leader into the vehicle and then ‘Regroup’ the squad into the vehicle. The driver then drives away!

Concentrated FireA group of shooters may concentrate fire against a

single target. A Leader must spend an action to give the order to fire, and the firers must be within the Leader’s command range. Up to five figures can be given the order, and they activate as a group as explained above. The combat is worked out as normal, but rolling only one die using the worst Combat Value of the group’s characters and the worst set of modifiers (if the target is in cover from one of the firers’ positions, the -1 must be taken by the Concentrated Fire shot). However, the Combat Total of the target is reduced by 1 per addi-tional firer in the group. Aimed Shots cannot be used in Concentrated Fire. If the die roll for Concentrated Fire causes a weapon to jam, break, or run out of ammo, the controlling player chooses a single model whose weapon has run out of ammo or has jammed.

Sgt. Jones says:Leaders are very useful since they can activate groups,

which are powerful as they can lay down a good amount of lead! However, Leaders are vulnerable to a sniper’s bullet and remember, if they are put Out of Action, it will trigger a Morale test!

Group Actions without a LeaderGroup actions that involve carrying weights (such

as a wounded comrade or a heavy weapon), or tear-ing down/erecting a barricade, can be performed even without the order of a Leader.

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MoraleA Morale Check is a special type of Quality check

rolled on three dice. It represents a test of the charac-ter’s willingness to ‘hang about’ in the face of adversity. Some special rules will have a bearing on when and how to take the test.

When to Test Morale Loss of a Leader – when he suffers an Out of Action

or Killed in Action result, all squad members must test, regardless of their distance from the Leader.

Witnessing/hearing a Gory Death of a friend: all characters within a Long distance from the death must test.

All characters witnessing the death of a friend killed by Friendly Fire within Long distance must test.

Party reduced to less than 50% of its starting amount of figures (you can use point totals instead of number of troops. It is more ‘realistic’ but requires more book-keeping). In other words, when the dead or fled char-acters outnumber the living, the remaining characters in the squad must test.

Sgt. Jones says:Keep your Leaders near your characters to give them a

better chance of passing Morale Checks.

How to Check MoraleThe character rolls three dice trying to equal or bet-

ter his Quality value. On three Successes, the character may continue as normal.

1 Failure : The character must move a full move away from the enemy.

2 Failures: The character must move two full moves towards the nearest table edge.

3 Failures: The character must move three full moves towards the nearest table edge.

Characters must not go nearer to any known enemy than they were at the point of taking the Morale test. If this is impossible, the figure will surrender.

A fallen character failing a Morale check must use the first of his Morale-induced movements to stand up. If he is in melee contact with an active opponent, he is automatically killed.

In specific scenarios, characters will run towards cover or specific areas of the battlefield as dictated by the scenario or the common sense of players.

Modifiers to Morale ChecksNo friend within Medium distance -1 Within Leader command range +1Fearless/Fanatic +1Lone man/last man standing -3

Sgt. Jones says: Players may agree to make Morale checks in other situa-

tions, depending on the scenario, training of characters, or unpredictable events taking place on the battlefield.

Some players require the ‘last man standing’ to test for Mo-rale every turn.

Optional Outgunned rule: for additional realism you can add a -1 modifier to Morale Checks if the opponent has heavier weapons or superior technology than your group has. This must be judged on a scenario or campaign basis.

Optional Stockholm Syndrome rule: in hostage res-cue scenarios, any civilian hostage who rolls 3 failures on his first Morale Check sides with the kidnappers/terrorists and is controlled by the opponent for the remainder of the game!

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Special Rules

AcrobatAn acrobat will have +1 on Q rolls when testing for

falling damage and Climbing. Firers targeting an Acro-bat will do so at -1.

ArmoredA vehicle with this rule can only be damaged by am-

munitions with the Armor-piercing or Anti-tank rule.

Body ArmorA character wearing Body Armor ties any Combat

he loses by 1 point (in some science fiction settings, characters may have body armor that will protect them from energy weapons as opposed to projectile weap-ons). In any case, if the character is on the ground, fall-en or otherwise incapacitated, Body Armor does not protect from bladed or piercing hand-to-hand attacks (e.g. combat knives).

Born DriverThe character may drive or pilot any vehicle. Normal

characters without this rule are assumed to be able to drive non-military vehicles of up to SUV size without penalty.

ChuckerThe character has spent substantial time practicing

his throwing skills. The range of any thrown object or weapon is increased by one distance stick. The charac-ter also gets +1 on Q rolls for grenade deviation.

ClimberThe character is a climbing specialist. He doesn’t

have to check for falling when climbing obstacles.

Close Quarters Battle SpecialistA character with CQB will move up three levels in

the category of ‘better weapons’ during hand-to-hand combat.

Combat Fiend The character thrives on adrenalin, and uses his

heightened combat awareness to make multiple at-tacks. He may, so long as he has available actions, make more than one hand-to-hand or ranged attack per activation. If he is in contact with more than one opponent, he can direct his attacks at separate tar-gets. The player does not have to declare which target he will be attacking beforehand. He can decide after performing his first attack. A Combat Fiend may make multiple attacks of mixed type, for example kicking away a character in hand-to-hand combat with him and then gunning him down with his rifle –all in the same turn!

Crack Shot/Marksman The character receives +1 on Combat when taking

an Aimed Shot.

Danger SenseOpponents do not get any Ambush bonus against

this character, unless the character is Fazed (see p.8).

DashingA Dashing character may move into hand-to-hand

combat and make an attack as one action. Note that if the character is armed with a Move and Fire weapon, he CANNOT fire prior to movement and then close and perform an attack in hand-to-hand combat.

EagerThe character is eager to please his Leader. He re-

ceives a further +1 to Quality rolls if within line of sight

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of the Leader (a roll of a 1 is always a failure).

EliteElite characters do not suffer from Morale modifi-

ers for not having a friendly character within Medium distance as long as at least one other friendly model is on the board. This ability should be used only to represent regular soldiers with intensive training and combat experience. It is not available to police, insur-gents or criminals.

FanaticThis character will give everything, even their life,

for ‘the cause’. His Q will be at +1 for any Morale Check and he gets a +1 bonus to his C in hand-to-hand combat. Fanatics do not make Morale rolls when a friend is killed by Friendly Fire.

FearThis character or weapon instils

fear in opponents. When charging (or if a weapon, firing at) enemies, the target must check Morale on two dice. Any failures mean a Short move must be made away from the charger. This may mean the charged (or fired upon) character must ‘run off’.

A Morale Check on one die must be passed to en-able a character to move into hand-to-hand with an opponent with the Fear rule. If the roll fails, the char-acter may not move in contact this turn (he can try again in another turn).

FearlessThe character does not have to take Morale checks

for Gory Deaths or when facing weapons or charac-ters with the Fear rule.

GreenNew to combat, a Green character does not know

how he will react in his baptism of fire. When he sees a friendly character Out of Action or Killed for the first time, a Green character must take a Morale Check (two checks if it was also a Gory Death!). After the first Morale Check, as long as at least one roll was success-ful, the character is not considered Green anymore.

GrenadesThis character has grenades at his disposal. A roll of

a 1 on the grenade’s Combat Die (not the aiming Qual-ity roll) means that the character is ‘out’ of grenades for the rest of the game (if multiple targets are in the blast area, only a 1 rolled on the FIRST Combat roll in-

dicates that the character is out of grenades). Availabil-ity of Grenades will often be dictated by the scenario.

HandcuffsThe model is equipped with police handcuffs. With

one action, he can handcuff a Fallen/shaken model by winning a Combat roll against him. The hand-cuffed character cannot move or stand up as long as the model is adjacent to him. If the model is no longer adjacent, the handcuffed character can stand up and move, but doing this requires two actions. In any case, a handcuffed character cannot perform any attacks. His Leader bonus, if any, applies only if he is standing. A handcuffed model can be tied to an appropriate scenic item such as a lamppost, gate or railing.

Hatred The character hates certain other

members of society. This may be op-posing ‘sides’, ‘religions’, ‘gangs’ or

e v e n races. The character must attack its h a t e d enemy before all others and gets +1 on his Combat Value when fighting his hated enemy. This is a variant of the Fanatic rule and a character cannot have both.

Hero Everyone loves a hero – so long as they are on their

side. A Hero always automatically passes one die dur-ing Activation and Morale rolls. A Hero may also reroll ANY one set of dice or make the opponent reroll ANY set of dice (once per game).

Hit ManThe character is a professional assassin. Any Aimed

Shot/Blow from the Hit Man is Lethal to the target (see Lethal, below).

Jungle-craftThis character suffers no movement penalty when

moving through wooded and jungle terrain.

LeaderA Leader will keep the whole group together. Any

friendly character within line of sight (or within com-munications range) and within command range (this is normally 1 x Long) of a Leader has his Quality increased by one for the purposes of Activation and Morale Checks. Multiple Leaders have no cumulative effect. The Leader’s bonus will not count if the Leader is Fallen/Shaken or Out of Action. A Leader can also give Group

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Orders to up to five characters per order (see Group Ac-tions, p.18). However, the loss of a Leader (Leader killed, permanently incapacitated, or moved off the table) forces every character in the squad to take an immedi-ate Morale Check.

LethalCertain attacks are said to be Lethal. These attacks

put the target Out of Action by just beating him in com-bat. A target that is beaten even by one point by a Le-thal attack is Out of Action. If the target is a vehicle it is Destroyed and, if the die roll is a 6, the vehicle Brews Up.

Light / Bushwhacker A Light/Bushwacker-trained character treats Broken

Terrain as Regular Terrain, and Dense Terrain as Broken Terrain for move-ment purposes.

Long MoveCharacters, ani-

mals and vehicles with Long Move use the Long stick when moving.

Medic (Professional)The character is

a medical profes-sional and can af-fect a character’s Recovery Roll. Be-ing attended to by a Medic is the only way an Out of Ac-tion character can rejoin the game. A professional medic makes this test with Q 3.

Medic (Combat)Some professional modern soldiers are trained in

‘battlefield medical techniques’. The character’s chance of getting an Out of Action character back in the game is lower than a Professional Medic. However, they can have a big effect on the character’s after-battle Recov-ery Roll. They test on a Q 5.

Mook/Extra/Cannon FodderThe character is an inferior combatant who will go

down with the first scratch. Mooks cannot have a Q bet-ter than 4 and are automatically Out of Action if beaten, even by one point, in combat. This rule should be restrict-

ed to genres where powerful heroes face countless inferior foes. In campaigns, Mooks will NOT improve with experience, and cannot use squad advances.

MountedMounted characters may use the Long distance

stick ONCE per activation when moving and gain a +1 to hand-to-hand combat with un-mounted oppo-nents on their first attack due to their impetus and position. After this, the +1 is lost. Mounted characters are treated as a single model with their mounts for the sake of simplicity.

NCO/Right-hand Man/Second in CommandThis character is the Leader’s ‘right hand man’. If the

Leader is Out of Action or Killed in Action, the NCO will take charge and will get the same abilities as a

Leader. Until their moment comes, an NCO increases the Q of any friendly figure (not a Leader) within his command range (usu-ally 1 x Short). In some army rosters, the NCO will be able to give Group Orders to his desig-nated ‘team’ if they are within 1 x Short.

Poor ShotThis charac-

ter suffers -1 on his Combat Value when firing. This re-duces the model’s point value. It is used in scenarios where the ‘bad guys’ are numerous but hopeless, and is often combined with the Mook rule.

Personnel CarrierThe vehicle may carry passengers. The number on

the roster is the maximum number of passengers the vehicle is allowed to carry.

Reluctant This character always counts as one worse Quality

for the purpose of Activation. This rule can be used to represent a character that is the object of a rescue mission, or a drugged/ill/extremely tired person.

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Running BlowA character with Running Blow need not stop his

movement when in hand-to-hand combat as long as he draws or wins the combat. In effect, he may ‘run past’ while hitting. He still needs to spend an action to strike the opponent as normal. If the target wins the combat, the attacker must stop and apply the results. A character with Combat Fiend and Running Blow can make multiple attacks along his path – this is a power-ful combination.

Short MoveCharacters with Short move use the Short measur-

ing stick when moving.

SlipperyThe character does not suffer a Free Hack when he

disengages from hand-to-hand combat.

SlowSlow characters or vehicles can only take one move-

ment action in a turn, regardless of how many avail-able actions they have.

SniperThe character’s attack is Lethal against any target

when taking an Aimed Shot with a specialist sniping weapon. A Sniper may disregard any targeting restric-tions.

Specialist This character has specific knowledge of a subject

area. The player may specify the area of knowledge. The character has a +1 or +2 bonus to Q rolls when at-tempting tasks that involve his area of knowledge (the areas will be defined in genre supplements).

Sprinter Once a turn, the character can double one of his

move actions, so a character using two actions to move will move a total of three sticks. A Sprinter can-not use a Move and Fire weapon in the same turn he uses this ability.

StealthThis character is an expert at hiding and sneaking. If

the character is adjacent to any terrain feature, he may not be targeted unless he is spotted or gives away his position by firing. The first attack from a Stealthily-hid-den character will always enjoy an Ambush bonus un-less targeting an active (non-Fazed, see p.8) character with Danger Sense.

Not all weapons will give away the Stealthy char-acter’s position. Firearms and long thrown weapons

(spears, axes) will automatically give away the charac-ter’s position, but the character can gain the “hidden” status once again by moving immediately after firing into another terrain piece at least one Short distance away from his current position.

Example: A spy is hiding behind a fence. He rolls three ac-tions, uses the first two actions to perform an Aimed Shot with his gun and then uses his third action to move behind a rock 1 x Short away. At the end of the turn, he is still benefiting from Stealth even though he has fired a gun.

Small thrown or missile weapons, including silenced handguns, blowguns, darts, shuriken (throwing stars), thrown knives, and arrows shot from bows and cross-bows, will not give away the character’s position unless an enemy figure spots the character. These weapons will have the Silent rule in their profile. To spot the char-acter, an enemy figure must be within 1 x Long, have a line of sight to the character, and pass a Q test on two dice (two successes on two dice).

In science fiction settings, some weapons (like micro-wave projectors) are completely silent and without a flash, and will never give away a Stealthy character’s po-sition. Gadgets like motion detectors and bio-scanners will always negate Stealth but NOT the Ambush bonus from the Stealthy characters.

Characters with Stealth can hide beside or behind stationary vehicles. Bikers and mounted figures can benefit from Stealth ONLY if they dismount. A Stealthy character landing on top of a vehicle such as a truck or car CAN use Stealth against the occupants of the vehicle, but could be seen by other characters on the tabletop, depending on their relative positions and the shape of the vehicle.

A Stealthy character can throw a grenade and remain hidden (make a spotting check for all enemies within 1 x Long and in line of sight when the grenade is thrown). A Stealthy character caught in the blast of a grenade is au-tomatically revealed unless the terrain piece being used for hiding also provides hard cover.

Example: Spy A and Spy B are caught in the blast radius of a grenade. A is hiding behind a low wall and B is hiding be-hind a bush. B’s position is automatically revealed as he rolls out of the bush, while A keeps his head low and is not seen.

Steady Under FireThe character has +1 on Morale Checks caused by

shooting, including Gory Deaths. This +1 also applies when the character must make Morale Checks because of the Fear rule, for example when fired upon by fright-ening weapons. If you use the Outgunned Morale modi-fier (see Morale, p. 19), the character is immune to that.

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StrongThe character is unusually strong. He receives a +1

in hand-to-hand combat against any enemy who is not Strong himself. The character’s movement is not re-duced when carrying a load or a wounded comrade. He has a +1 when attempting to bash down a door.

Weapons ExpertThe character does not suffer the negative modifier

for using unfamiliar weapons, like those picked up from dead enemies. Weapons using unfamiliar (e.g., alien) technology in some sci-fi settings will normally give a -2 modifier, however the Weapons Expert will only suf-fer -1.

After the game

Out of Action charactersCharacters that are Out of Action and are with friendly

characters at the end of the game (either winning-side figures or losing-side figures that have walked or were carried off the table) may test to see how they recover after the combat. This test is a Quality roll with 3 dice. Don’t forget to increase the roll by any modifier gained from the Medic roll.

3 Successes The character recovers fully.2 Successes The character recovers but will miss the next game.1 Success The character will miss the next two games.0 Successes The character didn’t make it.

Characters who suffered Gory Deaths are automati-cally dead.

Coup de GraceDuring the game, an armed model (or an unarmed

model with QCB) may spend one extra action to give the coup de grace to an Out of Action character. He must be adjacent to the target and not engaged in melee in order to do so. A character who suffered a coup de grace will not recover in the post-game phase.

“He Who Runs Away...”Characters who ran off the table are automatically

safe. In some campaigns, these characters will have to roll a die, and on a 1 they deserted. In scenarios set “behind enemy lines” (including a gang attacking a ri-val gang on their turf ), characters do not desert but are automatically killed on the roll of 1 or 2.

Campaign RulesThe Flying Lead sourcebooks will have campaign

rules for characters’ experience, replacement of dead characters, reinforcements, support, and advances for the whole squad as appropriate to the genre or histori-cal period. As a default rule for generic campaigns, you may increase a single model’s Q or C by one every time you win a scenario, OR you might remove the Reluc-tant or Green rule from a character. Mook/Extra mod-els may NEVER gain any experience in a campaign, and you cannot remove the Mook rule. Only the victor of a scenario may boost a character, and no character may receive more than one Q or C boost in the whole cam-paign.

A more satisfying way to enhance your characters is to buy Advances with Victory Points (see p. 43).

Victory ConditionsThe winner of a scenario will usually be evident, as

most games end with one force fleeing the table. As a rule of thumb, players score 3 to 5 points for reaching a scenario objective (e.g., securing a building, stealing a briefcase with documents, capturing the leader of a terrorist cell, and so on), plus 1 point for every 50 points of enemies/vehicles killed/fled off the table/neutral-ized. The player with the highest total is the winner and keeps the difference in points. The loser receives no points. So if player A totals 8 points and player B totals 5 points, A wins with 3 Victory Points and B loses with no points.

PASSING OUT PARADE – get playing!You now know everything you need to know to play

the basic game.

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RECON – where to next?

This section contains rules that will add detail to your games. Some will only be of use in certain genres so it is important that all players agree to which rules are to be used. Rules adding ‘realism’ will necessarily slow the game down slightly.

Infantry Anti-tank weaponsThese include any infantry portable weapons such

as the bazooka and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades). If firing at armored or unarmored vehicles, use the anti-tank firing rules below. If the target is infantry or terrain, use the HE firing rules. The ‘blast’ effect is Combat 2 with a Short diameter blast area.

VisibilityVisibility on the field of combat can be reduced by

a variety of factors, including amount of daylight and atmospheric conditions such as fog, rain or even heat haze. It can also be reduced by smoke grenades or the smoke from buildings on fire or burning tires (think of the movie “Black Hawk Down”). In dusty conditions, explosions and moving vehicles will produce dust clouds. Smoke and dust clouds obscure vision. Any ranged attack whose line of fire goes through smoke or dust will be at -1 to the firer’s Combat.

Smoke Grenades/DispensersThe area of the smoke cloud caused by a smoke

grenade is a round base one Medium in diameter. Use normal grenade rules to determine the landing

point and use the dispersal rules below.

Fires Use the base of the fire to determine the size of the

smoke cloud. Do not use dispersal rules.

ExplosionsExplosions will cause a dust/smoke cloud if the

terrain is dry and dusty. Players are to determine this before the game. The cloud is one Short distance in diameter. Use the dispersal rules below.

VehiclesAny vehicle bigger than Jeep-sized operating in

dusty, dry conditions (e.g., desert) will produce a cloud of dust behind the vehicle. This will stay behind the vehicle while it is moving. Use the width of the vehicle as a guideline to how far the cloud stretches behind the vehicle.

DispersalTest to see if the smoke has dispersed at the end of

the responsible player’s turn. Roll three dice and if there are ANY doubles, the smoke is dispersed and the marker is removed.

Sgt. Jones says:We use colored cotton wool (white for smoke and white

sprayed with black for tire fires) stuck onto Short diameter bases. This gives a good visual effect while the base gives a well defined area.

Alternative Targeting RuleSome players think that targeting restrictions are too

limiting. Others think they are open to abuse. As an al-ternative, use the following rule:

A character can shoot at any figure and may disre-gard all targeting restrictions if he passes a Q check on one die.

This rule may slow down large games considerably, and makes Snipers less useful.

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Vehicles

The tabletop represents a fairly small area. Vehicles entering this area will often be at the mercy of the char-acters on the table – a tank commander’s nightmare is an area of close terrain with the threat of infantry with personal anti-tank weapons hiding around every cor-ner! Likewise, driving a Jeep or bike near a rival gang armed with automatic weapons is probably not a good idea.

We cannot possibly give you rules for all vehicles in the scope of this rulebook, but the following rules will let you use real-world information (the internet is your friend here) to “stat-up” any civilian or military vehicle.

DriversIf a vehicle is ‘bought’ in the initial recruitment pro-

cess, it has a dedicated crew, or else one of the group is capable of driving it. For soft (unarmored) vehicles that may be found at random in scenarios, anyone of Qual-ity 4 or better is deemed to have the ability to drive it, but he may only use two move actions per turn if the vehicle is bigger than an SUV, and the driver is at -2 on Quality rolls for Dangerous Cornering checks (see Ve-hicle Movement, below). Ignore these restrictions if the character has the Born Driver rule.

Armored and Soft-skinned vehiclesVehicles are classed as Armored or Soft-skinned.

Soft-skinned vehicles have a Combat Value that they use when running into/over an object or when hit by projectiles. This will be shown in the rosters and ranges from 0 for a bike to +3 for a large truck or lorry.

Vehicles may move and fire with integral weapons as one action. Vehicles fitted with small arms weapons such as an HMG will fire at -2 if they move and fire.

Any passengers firing from a moving vehicle do so at -2.

Armored vehicles can only be damaged by weap-ons with the Armor Piercing rule or an Anti-tank rating in their profile, or if rammed by a vehicle of the same ‘armor class’ or better.

Soft-skinned vehicles which have their Combat roll doubled are destroyed. A destroyed vehicle continues 1 x Short movement without changing its orientation, then stops. The driver suffers a C4 attack roll.

If beaten on any other result, the operator must make a Quality check on one die to remain in control of the vehicle. If he fails, the vehicle moves 1 x Short forward immediately (this models the driver panick-ing and ‘flooring’ the accelerator/throttle, or slumping over the steering wheel.) This may of course result in a collision!

Vehicle ActivationTanks and non personnel-carrying soft vehicles ac-

tivate as individual entities. Roll their activation as nor-mal using the driver’s Quality score.

Personnel-carrying vehicles activate as a group – roll one set of activation dice, the crew and occupants have that many actions each.

Debussing (dismounting) or bussing (mounting) counts as moving on Broken Terrain and must be made from the normal exit points. Occupants can leap over the side, etc., but in this case one action is required to ‘land’.

Vehicle MovementA vehicle is deemed to be moving if it moved with

its last action in its previous activation (mark this with a small ‘cloud’ of dust off the back of the vehicle).

If a vehicle is moving, it MUST use at least one if its actions from its next activation to move or stop (if it fails to get any activations, it gets a ‘free action’ which must be used to move in a straight line the full move-ment distance or stop). This is important when the crew is Stunned. If the crew only manages to roll one

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action it MUST be used to move or stop, and not to recover from being Stunned.

A vehicle can be stopped at the end of its activation if the player so wishes. However, for a vehicle to stop during its activation, it takes one action.

Vehicles which begin the game as stationary use

one less length category on their first movement. This models acceleration.

Vehicle movement will generally be a Medium or a Long distance. Wheeled vehicles use the next stick down (e.g. from Long to Medium) when travelling off-road unless they have the Off-Road rule.

Vehicle movement is the same as normal move-ment. However, at end of the movement stick, wheeled vehicles can position themselves up to 45 degrees off the line. If more is needed, this is Dangerous Corner-ing and the driver must roll a Quality check. One die is rolled per extra 45 degrees turned (or portion thereof ), and any failure sees the vehicle ‘slip’ out a base-width per failure. If two or more dice are rolled, and all failed, the vehicle will roll! If the vehicle rolls, it is destroyed and all occupants are Shaken and take a C3 attack.

Sgt. Jones says:Movement for vehicles is easy after a couple of games. If it

would be hard for a normal driver to do a maneuver in real-ity, expect it to be difficult in the game.

ReverseIn reverse movement, the vehicle loses one catego-

ry of speed (from Medium to Short for example), and all driving Quality rolls are at -2.

Collisions and overrunsCollisions can be deliberate or accidental and may

cause damage to vehicles and the objects with which they collide. Treat as normal combat using the Combat Values noted in the profiles.

Overruns are deliberate collisions with objects. If the target character or vehicle is smaller or faster than the vehicle attempting the overrun, they may move out of the path (move as far as is needed to the side) of the vehicle if they pass a Quality roll on one die. If move-ment is not possible or the Quality roll fails, treat as a collision.

Combat Values of objects:A person or animal +0Bigger animal (horse, deer, moose) +1Hedge (soft cover) +1Harder cover (lamppost or tree) +2Brick or stone wall +3Building or high wall +4Anything harder! +5

If the target object loses the roll, it is destroyed. An animal or person is Out of Action.

If the vehicle loses the roll, it is immobilized. All crew and passengers receive a Combat 2 attack.

If the vehicle’s roll is doubled, it is destroyed and catches fire. The crew and passengers receive a Combat 4 attack.

If the vehicle’s roll is tripled, it explodes and all pas-sengers and crew are instantly killed.

Tracked VehiclesTracked vehicles can turn up to 90 degrees at the end

of the move but cannot turn any further in a move ac-tion. Tracked vehicles may turn up to 180 degrees on the spot at the cost of one action.

Tanks can destroy objects by crushing them. They can also move over obstacles such as banked hedge-rows (bocage). However, to do this they must make a ‘bog’ check (a Quality roll made by the vehicle crew on one die). If they fail, they remain on the object (or in the space if knocking down a wall or the like) and must spend another action trying to unbog. This is another bog roll as above. The vehicle will remain bogged until it makes a successful check. If a vehicle fails any attempt to unbog on a roll of a 1, it is severely bogged and will need to be towed out.

Some of the late WWII tanks with wide tracks and all modern Main Battle Tanks may re-roll any bog check, giving them two attempts to unbog per check. This will also be the case for vehicles with specialist equip-ment (e.g., ‘Cullen’ equipped tanks moving through ‘bo-cage’).

If a tank is ‘bogged’ while going over (not through) an obstacle, such as bocage, it will likely expose its under-belly or its top to an attacker. Any hits are treated as on side armor and are Lethal.

Tanks and buildingsIf a vehicle plowing into a building fails a test on a 1,

this indicates that there is a cellar and the floor will not take the weight – the vehicle is lost!

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BikesBikes without sidecars are treated as non personnel-

carrying soft-skinned vehicles even if they have a pas-senger since the passenger will be doing nothing but holding on. All normal cornering rules apply. If control is lost, the bike drifts out sideways, and the driver MUST make another Q roll to avoid ‘dropping the bike’. If he fails, the bike and driver are down and the driver will count as Fallen.

Once down, the biker can fight as a foot figure or may remount his bike. Getting on a bike takes an action. A bike that is ‘downed’ due to any circumstances must roll a d6. On a roll of a 1 it is dam-aged and takes no further part in the game.

Depending on the setting and their training, bik-ers may have spe-cial rules such as Dashing and Run-ning Blow. In this case the driver, not the vehicle, has the special rule, and is capable of performing hand-to-hand attacks on foot models or other bikers as he zooms by. If the driver is Knocked Down in combat, he also suffers a Combat 2 Free Hack, with +1 per movement action performed before the attack as “fall-ing damage.” Roll a d6. On a roll of a 1, the bike is damaged and takes no further part in the game.

Firing from a bike is at -3. A biker may fight in melee as a normal figure and the bike is deemed to be station-ary.

A biker caught in a blast area is automatically thrown and counts as Fallen. Roll a d6. On a roll of a 1, the bike is damaged and takes no further part in the game.

OPtional rule: StuntsThis is an optional rule and both players must agree

to its use before the game.Drivers with the Born Driver rule and anyone on a

bike/motorbike can attempt stunts. A Quality roll with three dice is taken, with the difficulty of the stunt af-fecting the driver’s Quality. Stunts are classified accord-ing to difficulty:

Easy stunt - Such as a handbrake turn in a car or a small ‘gap leap’ on a bike. Quality of the driver is nor-mal.

Medium stunt - This will be more serious such as a car driving down steps, larger leaps on a bike, etc. Quality of the driver is lowered by one.

Hard stunt - Most people would think of these as impossible; cars tipping onto two wheels to fit down alleyways, leaps in cars over open-ing bridges, driving into a moving truck, riding along a narrow ledge on a bike, etc. Quality is low-ered by two.

‘You have to be joking’ - These stunts will only be possible on a triple 6!

The stunt is successful on two successes. How-ever, if the stunt fails, there are severe conse-quences. Outlining every possible result to a failed stunt is beyond the scope of the rules. We suggest that the players decide on a consequence before the stunt is attempted, or use a third player as

an impartial game master to determine the outcome. Obviously, a leap stunt which fails will result in Falling damage, and a failed stunt to avoid a crash will result in a crash. The damage is an attack roll with the Combat Value being:

Easy C2 Medium C3 Hard C4 ‘Joking’ C5

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Firing Tank Guns and Large Crewed Guns

Larger guns are fired much the same way as normal ranged combat. The target must be visible to the firer. There is a distinction between firing High Explosive (HE) rounds, which have an area of effect, and Anti-tank rounds, which for game purposes do not have an area of effect.

Vehicles and crewed guns may use Overwatch rules.

Firing High Explosive Rounds First, the player must place an aiming point. This is

the point where the player wishes the shell to land. Roll normal ranged fire (no range modifiers) with a Combat Value of the firer plus the following modifi-ers. The target point rolls a die and counts as having a Combat Value of 2:

Modifiers to HE fireFirer has advanced sighting equipment +1Firer has high tech sighting equipment +2Target point is stationary +1Aimed Shot Target point’s Combat becomes 1Tanks without gyro stabilization firing while moving -4WWII US tanks with gyro stabilization firing while moving -2Target is obscured -1Opportunity fire -1

High Explosive Fire ResultsDouble the target’s Combat Value - shot lands on the target point

More than target’s Combat Total on even die roll – Opponent moves the aim spot a Short stick away in any direction.

More than target’s Combat Total on odd die roll – Opponent moves the aim spot a Medium stick away in any direction.

Equal or Less than target’s Combat Value - no effect on game (a dud shell, severe overshoot, etc.).

Once the hit point has been determined, work out the effect as for a grenade blast. However, all charac-ters in the blast area are automatically knocked prone, moving one base width from the impact point, before any other result is applied.

Sgt. Jones says:Tanks and guns are deemed to be loaded at the start of

every activation. However, if they need to be loaded during activation (if they have Combat Fiend they are allowed to

fire twice) then it may take an action to load (for pre-WWII vehicles and all modern, non self-loading guns). Some play-ers mark if the gun is loaded with an HE or AT shell. This adds a deal of tactical decision by the player.

Firing Anti-tank RoundsUnlike area effect shells, we do not need to worry

where a near miss goes, as in game terms it has no effect. Any overshot will disappear off the table! Anti-tank fire uses the same mechanics as normal ranged fire. Use the firer’s Combat Value plus the value of the weapon (this will be +3 for most tank and static guns). Do not use range modifiers (for point cost purposes, count them as having Long range).

The target always uses a Combat Value of 2 – it is hard for a vehicle to ‘dodge’.

The firer uses the following modifiers:

Target is concealed -1Firer has advanced sighting equipment +1Firer has high tech sighting equipment. +2Target is stationary +1Static gun (not vehicle mounted) +1Aimed Shot (affects the target) -1No gyro stabilization, firing while moving* -2Turret turns more than 90° to have LOS -1Overwatch fire -1

* Tanks that moved or will move in the current acti-vation which do not have gyro stabilization fire at -2. WWII US tanks with gyro stabilization fire at -1.

Modern tanks fire while moving at no penalty.

A hull down tank or 75% obscured by hard cover counts as being in hard cover.

Static Anti-tank guns can only fire to the front arc without actually moving. This is the 180 degree line off the front of the model. To shoot outside this range, the crew must ‘pack’ and move the gun. It takes 3 actions to ‘pack’ and then 3 actions to ‘unpack’. These can be split amongst the crew as normal.

Infantry firing personal Anti-tank weapons (e.g. ba-zookas) use the standard range modifiers below.

Range Modifiers for Infantry firing Anti TankTarget at 2-3 range bands = -1 Target at 3-5 range bands = -2 Target at 6+ range bands = -3

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Anti-tank Fire ResultsTriple the target’s Combat Value Target hit, AT value increases by +3

Double the target’s Combat Value Target hit, AT value increases by +2

More than target’s Combat Total on even die roll Target hit, AT value increases by +1

More than target’s Combat Total on odd die rollTarget hit; use normal AT value

Equal or Less than target’s Combat TotalNo effect on game.

Lucky Shot A 6:1 on the die result for the firer against the target is

a lucky shot and the AT value of the shell is tripled.

If the target is hit, adjust the AT value as above and then work out damage (if any) as follows. Firer rolls a die and adds the values below, based on the length and bore of the barrel.

Anti Tank Value TableHMG fire or Armor Piercing rule -4High Tech Ammo * +1Small +2Short +4Medium +5Long +6Extra Long +8Bazooka type weapons +7RPG type weapons +3 to +8 depending on type

If the unmodified AT value is more than double the unmodified armor value, the hit is LETHAL.

* +1 to Anti-tank value if the gun is using High Tech Ammo (most late WWII US and Allied tanks, late WWII German and all modern Main Battle Tanks).

Armor is calculated on thickness, angle and manufac-ture.

Armor ValueArmored +0 Thin +1Medium +3Thick +5Extra Thick +6

+3 is added to Combat Values for collisions with unarmored objects.

A side/rear shot gives -2 to armor value. To make a side/rear shot, draw an imaginary 180 degree line off the front of vehicle. To count as a side/rear shot, the firer MUST be completely behind this line.

Modern ablative armor and side armor against shaped-charge WWII projectiles treat any damage re-sult winning by 1 as no damage.

Anti-tank Combat resultsTarget value is tripled Brew Up, explosion.

Target value is doubled Vehicle is Out of Action.

Target value beaten with even number Crewmembers take a Bail Test; they are Stunned if

they remain in vehicle.

Target value beaten with odd number Crew is Stunned

Target beaten by Lethal attack Vehicle is Out of Action; on a roll of 6, it Brews Up.

Brew UpThe vehicle explodes and all crewmembers are

Killed in Action. Any characters within a Short dis-tance take a hit with a Combat Value of 2.

Out of ActionCrew will bail out and leave the field. The vehicle

counts towards losses. Note: In supplements where vehicles play a larger part,

(WWII, modern Middle East conflicts), we’ll add more de-tailed Out of Action results.

StunnedThe crew must spend an action to recover. If a vehi-

cle is moving and the crew only achieves one action, the action must be used to move in a straight line or stop, and cannot be used to recover.

Bail checkThe crew makes a Quality Check roll on two dice. If

they fail on both dice, the crew must Bail Out of the tank. Post-1980 tank crews roll at +2 when checking for Bail Out. Crews may re-enter the vehicle if they roll

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three successes on a Quality roll on three dice. One try per turn is possible. Either individual crew figures or counters can be used to represent them. Crewmem-bers can be targeted by fire as normal, and may use the tank as cover.

Recording Damage on VehiclesVehicles with a Stunned crew can be marked with a

little bit of cotton wool to represent the damaging hit. Out of Action vehicles can be marked with a bigger, or differntly-colored, piece of cotton wool.

Firing Vehicle Small ArmsMounted machineguns and other weapons firing

in the same action as the vehicle moves do so at -2. This is in addition to any other applicable modifiers.

Armored vehicles with more than one MG may fire the main gun and the extra MG in the same action. MGs must follow individual targeting restrictions and apply all modifiers. Co-axial MGs cannot be used when the main gun is used to fire.

MoraleWhen to test Morale for vehicles:

Party reduced to 50% (count vehicle crews as one figure, and vehicle as many figures as the vehicle’as Armor Value (see “Armor” above), so a Medium tank counts as four figures (1 for crew + 3 for Medium).

When a vehicle Brews Up within LOS.

Friend fired on by personal Anti-tank weapon within 1 x Long and no friendly infantry within 1 x Medium.

Morale test procedure for vehiclesVehicles roll three Quality dice.3 successes Vehicle and crew carry on 1 failure Vehicle Falls Back one move away from enemy fire2 failures Vehicle Falls Back two moves away from enemy fire3 failures Vehicle Falls Back three moves away from enemy fire

Falling Back includes any stopping/turning move-ment the vehicle requires. In most cases, it can be thought of as doing a sharp turn and heading for the hills! Tracked vehicles will do this moving in reverse.

Firing at BuildingsUse normal firing rules. All buildings are targeted

at +1. If the building is hit, work out damage using the building’s Structure rating (see below) against the High Explosive value of the shell, just like a normal Combat roll. Split large structures into sections, each

about the size of a Short ‘cube’. Players are encouraged to use common sense and

agree on the strength of structures before the game.

Structure RatingWooden structures 0Brick/sandbag 2Stone 3Concrete 4Fortified 5

HE rating Grenades 0Personal Anti-tank 2Small High Explosive 4Medium High Explosive 5Large High Explosive 6Special 7

Effects:Triple: Total collapse of structure; anyone inside is

Out of Action.

Double: Partial collapse; in a multi-story building, the upper two floors collapse. Anyone inside takes a Qual-ity check – if they pass, they fall down. If they fail, they are dead. The structure is downgraded by one point, which means it is easier to damage the structure the next time.

Beaten with an even result on the die: Occupants are all Knocked Down.

Beaten with an odd result on the die: Occupants move one Short distance out of the structure.

Other results: the building receives only cosmetic damage - windows shatter, paint comes off, but the ba-sic structure stands undamaged.

Fires: on any beaten result, roll a die: on a 6, a fire starts within the structure (ignore this for concrete for-tifications). Roll 1-3 additional dice for various levels of incendiary devices.

Example: a building loses its roll against an incendiary shell hit with an incendiary value of 2; 3 dice are rolled and the results are 2, 3 and 6. The 6 means that a fire has erupted in the building.

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“AND IF YOU WANT TO DO …”Some suggested rules for scenarios of your design

Flying Lead covers a huge range of genres and the upcoming supplements will allow players to hone the rules to their preferred game. However, many players want general rules that can be used for a wide variety of situations. Here’s a collection of rules that can be useful in many genres and periods.

Low light and poor visibilityWhile simple weather effects/rules can be gleaned

from Song of Wind and Water, technology may negate the effects of bad or no light (including fog, smoke, off world atmospheres, etc.) in various guises, ranging from ‘light intensifying’ technology through infra-red, and onto ultra-modern and futuristic targeting/sight-ing methods aided by computer/satellite technolo-gies. To simulate low light or night-time when all sides are equally affected, characters hiding in the shadows get a bonus. To spot them, a character must be within a Medium distance and must pass a Quality check on two dice. This can be made even harder in lower light areas, where the spotter must be within a Medium dis-tance AND pass a Quality check on three dice.

For long distance firing, the light around the target is more important than the light around the shooter. A sniper hiding on a roof at night would have no trouble shooting someone standing at a window in a well-lit room. Ignore any modifiers in this situation.

Sgt. Jones says:Some players reduce the Line of Sight in low light situa-

tions. For example, saying that a LOS can only be drawn to 2 x Long distance or similar, and that any other firing must be done with ‘speculative’ fire modifiers. Be warned though, this will channel your games into very small areas and will in-volve a lot more close quarters combat. Of course, this may well be great fun!

The above method falls short when one side is us-ing technology which enhances their ability to func-tion in low visibility situations. Again, this is too large an area to go into in too much detail. The range of technologies and associated pros and cons of each is just too vast. For instance, light enhancing goggles will not give much help in murky/foggy conditions, where infra-red equipment will. So, in our games we leave visibility ranges normal, but give characters with ap-propriate equipment a +1 to Quality rolls to spot and a +1 on their combat OR we give a -1 to spotting and Combat to characters without equipment. We do BOTH only in extreme circumstances, where one is playing a

‘collaborative’ or ‘same side’ game against a foe run “on automatic” by scenario rules or by a game master.

Sgt. Jones says:Some players argue that the range of Line of Sight

should be cut for all characters in night-time/low visibility games. However, it is rarely pitch black (think of room and street lights, and the phase of the moon if the sky is clear!). In a night-time firefight between two forces where one is equipped with night vision goggles, nothing is going to stop the force without the goggles from shooting at almost nor-mal ranges. Darkness will make it harder for them to be ef-fective at normal ranges and to spot stealthy movement.

Bang goes the IEDModern style warfare and counter-terrorism are

marked by the use of the Improvised Explosive Device (IED), often in the form of a roadside bomb triggered by movement or ‘remote’, or a suicide bomber. While it is up to the individual player to argue about the eth-ics of using either of the above in a ‘fun’ game, they do feature in our games even if just for blowing up the hordes of carnivorous plants or zombies descending upon the good guys.

The easiest way of dealing with any booby trap (in-cluding a random suicide bomber) is to treat the de-vice as a character in Ambush which has to be spotted. However, this either means that the enemy can easily see the device and avoid it, or the owning player has to use some mechanic to keep it ‘hidden’. You can keep a written note or a mobile phone picture of where the device is on the table, but this makes the opponent very suspicious of any terrain and bogs the game down. We suggest that the device is marked with a counter or ob-ject but that there are also two dummy markers on the table. In this way, the opponent will not search every piece of terrain but will still be very wary when near the markers. If the device is a suicide bomber, then the owning player must activate the character as normal, and then move each of the markers accordingly. If, in the scenario, the target characters are forbidden by the rules of engagement to open up on anyone, the bomb-er can only be fired upon once spotted. A marker is not revealed until ‘eliminated’ with an Out of Action result or dealt with as a Level 2 task (see below). Once ‘spot-ted’, the device is treated as a ‘task’ with the value of 2-4 depending on its complexity (see tasks, below). The owning player may detonate the device whenever he wishes (including during the opponent’s turn), treating it as a blast area weapon.

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Tasks A task is an activity which a character cannot do

easily without any danger, or an activity which needs to be done with haste. Examples include activating the ‘star portal’ mechanism while being fired upon, cutting through a barbed wire fence in a hurry, opening a door without setting off an alarm, ‘crack-ing’ the code on a safe, defusing bombs in order to save the world, and so on.

In basic games, characters use their Quality for de-termining how well they succeed art the task in front of them. In genre supplements or specific scenarios, characters may have a positive modifier for specific tasks. For example, an archaeologist adventurer who is normally Q 4 trying to solve an Egyptian riddle to open a secret passage may count as Q 3 or 2 for the task. This is covered by the Specialist special rule.

Characters may attempt a task as soon as they are able, even if reaching the task point was their final action available. However, they may add the number of unused actions to any of their Quality dice when trying to succeed at the task. See example later.

Tasks are classified according to difficulty:Easy: This is something the character would nor-

mally be able to do easily but may still fail when do-ing it under pressure. Examples of an easy task in-clude dialing in a known code to a door/portal while under fire, and a civilian reaching for a cell phone to call the police with an armed terrorist in Line of Sight. The check is taken on the normal Quality value of the character.

Medium: This is a more se-rious task. For example, trying to solve a riddle or puzzle to open a treasure chest, trying to activate an unknown object or weapon, or repairing some damaged equipment. The Qual-ity check is taken on one worse Quality than the normal value of the character.

Hard: This is something that most people would think of as impossible. However, our char-acters are sometimes capable of success. Defusing a bomb to save the world or operating some kind of alien technology

would be just two examples of the type of tasks one could use in a game. Quality rolls are at -2.

‘You gotta be joking’: These tasks will only be pos-sible rolling a triple 6!

The character must perform a Quality check on

three dice and the task is successful on two or more successes. If the task fails, there are consequences. Outlining every possible result is beyond the scope of the rules so the players should agree on a conse-quence before the task is attempted. Obviously, most of the time a failure will mean that the task has not been done.

Example:Cpt. McTague ran back to the DBD (dialing base device),

blasts from the enemy weapons exploding around him. He reached out to start pushing the correct sequence on the pad, the only sequence that will allow the team, who were close behind him, to enter through the portal and home. One symbol to go and McTague reached out and thrust his hand down … just as a blast exploded against the device’s side, throwing him to the side. He shook his head clear, hoping he had hit the right symbol.

McTague is only 1 x Medium away from the device when the player activates the character. The character has Q 4. The player decides to go for just two activations (McTague is the only one close enough to activate the device and it is imperative that it is activated, or else the group may be

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overwhelmed by the enemies), because he does not want to risk 3. The player rolls 2 actions, which allow McTague to move to the DBD where he can automatically attempt the task. However, the player can use his one additional action to add one to one of his die rolls. The task is deemed to be Easy and a 3, 3 and 5 are rolled. This would normally only give one pass (the 5), but the player can use the extra action to add +1 to one of the dice. 3+1 gives a result of 4 and this means that the task is passed…

McTague pushed himself to his feet, the round frame of the portal began to vibrate ending in the WHOOSHHhhh as the wormhole appeared … if he had had time he would have given a sigh of relief!

Building your Force

The first thing any aspiring Leader/Boss needs to do is to recruit his force. The following section contains examples of characters for some genres that can be played with Flying Lead. The lists are not exhaustive. Future supplements will give detailed lists, scenarios and specific campaign rules. Free Hack and the Song of Blades Yahoo Group will also be sources for charac-ters and scenarios. You can also use the weapon and squad builders on www.ganeshagames.net to create your own.

The average soldier/group member has the follow-ing profile:

Average Group MemberPoints 21 Quality 4 Combat 2Special Rules None

For elite Troops, either Q or C may be bettered by one. For raw Troops, either Q or C must be made worse by one.

For an average game, your squad will have a total point value of 600 points. If you want to use armored vehicles, the point total should be increased by 150-200 points.

Unless otherwise stated by the scenario, a squad may only have half of its points spent on ‘personal-ity’ characters. A personality is a character with any of the following rules: Combat Fiend, Crack Shot/Marksman, Fear, Hero, Leader, Medic (professional), NCO, Sniper, Hit Man. Civilians and models costing 10 points or less are best used only in special scenarios.

RostersChoose the genre which fits your game and then

pick characters and vehicles up to the required point total. Fill in the roster sheet and then get those figures on the table and have fun!

Hedgerows and HeroesWWII Late War, North West Europe

The following rosters let you pit the might of the US Liberation forces against the best that Hitler could muster against them. Grenades in these lists are C 3. Vehicles can be purchased from the list on page 43.

US Rifle Squad, June 1944Fresh from training in the US and the north coast of Dev-

on, the troops are ready for their Baptism of Fire on the Euro-pean mainland. At full strength the squad numbers 12 with two officers, a B.A.R (really an automatic rifle but treated as a clip-fed LMG) operator and assistant, and 8 riflemen, one of whom will probably be a Marksman. However, even just after D-Day, casualties had been high on Omaha Beach, so the squad is likely to be under strength. The squad may also include some veterans of the Sicily campaign who have been reassigned through the despised ‘Repple Depple’ sys-tem.

Sergeant - PersonalityPoints 86 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules: Carbine, Leader

Sergeant (Heroic) - PersonalityPoints 116 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Carbine, Hero, Leader

Corporal - PersonalityPoints 114 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Carbine, Submachine Gun,NCO/Second In Command

Corporal (Heroic) - PersonalityPoints 144 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Carbine, Submachine Gun, Hero, NCO/Second In Command

Corporal (Heroic/Combat Fiend) - PersonalityPoints 184 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Carbine, Submachine Gun, Combat Fiend, Hero, NCO/Second In Command

BAR Gunner Points 50 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Light Machine Gun

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RiflemanPoints 48 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Semi-automatic Rifle

Rifleman (Heroic) - PersonalityPoints 71 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Semi-automatic Rifle , Hero

Veteran RiflemanPoints 56 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Semi-automatic Rifle

Veteran Rifleman (Close Combat specialist)Points 60 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Semi-automatic Rifle , CQB Specialist

Veteran RiflemanPoints 59 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Fragmentation Grenades, Semi-automatic Rifle

Rifleman (Sniper) - PersonalityPoints 84 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Semi-auto Rifle w/ Scope, Crack Shot/Marksman, Sniper

Rifleman (Bazooka Crew 1) - PersonalityPoints 86 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Bazooka, Crack Shot/Marksman

Rifleman (Bazooka Loader Crew 2)Points 42 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Carbine

.30 Cal Gunner Crew 1Points 57 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Crewed Light Machine Gun

.30 Cal Assistant Crew 2Points 48 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Semi-automatic Rifle

Medic - PersonalityPoints 16 Quality 3+ Combat 1Special Rules : Medic (professional)

German Panzer Grenadier Squad, June 1944The last thing that the division expected when they ar-

rived on the Normandy coast in early June 1944 was to fight. They were pulled off the Eastern Front for ‘invasion exercises’ and some R&R. Veterans of the vicious conflict against the Russians, they were billeted behind Omaha Beach when the shelling started … they were the first to defend the hedge-rows, determined to push the invaders back into the Chan-

nel. At full strength the squad numbers 10 and will have a majority of veteran members with some newly trained mem-bers as replacements. The Kar98 rifle is not as effective as the US Garand semi-automatic, but their MG42 belt-fed LMG (and the squad has two of them, plus one on their armored transport) was to become feared by the Allies.

Unteroffizier - PersonalityPoints 88 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Submachine Gun, Leader

Unteroffizier (Heroic) - PersonalityPoints 118 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Submachine Gun, Hero, Leader

MG42 Gunner (crew 1)Points 100 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Belt Fed Light Machine Gun pre 1945

MG42 Assistant (Crew 2)Points 41 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Bolt Action Rifle

Gefreiter - PersonalityPoints 88 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Submachine Gun, NCO

Gefreiter (Heroic) - PersonalityPoints 118 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Submachine Gun, Hero, NCO

GrenadierPoints 48 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Bolt Action Rifle

Veteran GrenadierPoints 70 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Bolt Action Rifle, CQB Specialist

Veteran Grenadier with rifle grenadesPoints 59 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Bolt Action Rifle, Grenades

Grenadier with PanzerschreckPoints 74 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : RPG

Grenadier with Panzerschreck - PersonalityPoints 78 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : RPG, Crack Shot/Marksman

Medic - PersonalityPoints 16 Quality 3+ Combat 1Special Rules : Medic (professional)

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“BLACK HAWK DOWN, WE HAVE A BLACK HAWK DOWN”

Somalia 1993 - The Day of the RangersThe following rosters allow players to recreate the ac-

tion described in Mark Bowden’s outstanding book and later in the film of the same name. It represents small bands of US Rangers, either holding out ‘Alamo’ style against the Somali Warlord’s forces, or fighting their way back to base. The rosters can also be used to fight fictitious actions, ranging from ‘personality’ grab raids to ‘elimination’ raids as well as protecting food convoys, etc. The terrain should include white stucco buildings, many of which are in ruins, wrecked cars, piles of rub-ble, and burning tires.

In 1991, Somalia had been thrown into a brutal civil war when the dictatorship crumbled. Warlords fought for power, the internal infrastructure of the whole country collapsed, and famine ensued. UN help was routinely hampered by one warlord or another, and they were close to pulling out when the US launched its own relief efforts alongside those of the UN. This again met with failure even though, in 1992, UN troops were sent in. In December 1992, the UN authorised the US to employ its Marines and Rangers using whatever means were at their disposal to restore order. Pakistani peacekeeping troops were brutally ambushed and killed by the main war-lord, named Aidid, which led to the US trying to ‘eliminate’ his influence. However, he remained very elusive and it was not until October 1993 that the US got its first real chance. They were to storm a ‘meeting’ in an area of fanatic support for Ai-did known as the ‘Black Sea’ … when an RPG brought down ‘Super Six One’, the operation’s nature changed to a rescue mission and the next 17 hours saw the Rangers fighting for their lives.

The Rangers were organised in ‘chalks’. Opposing them were Somali militia and armed civilian mobs.

US Ranger ‘Chalks’, Mogadishu 1993The Rangers had left their base ‘light’, expecting a 30 min-

ute to an hour mission. Once it turned into a prolonged res-cue mission, many were left with insufficient amounts of wa-ter and ammo. Night vision equipment had been left at base, so they were going to have to do it ‘the hard way’. A chalk was the number of troops that could fast-rope down from a Blackhawk helicopter and consisted of a chalk leader, an M60 MG team, and two Ranger fireteams.

A 500- to 700-point force would represent the fluid situation once the mission turned into a rescue mission, where an entire chalk would not be operating together. Also included is a ‘D-Boy’ from the ‘don’t officially exist’ Delta Force. Grenades are Combat 4.

Chalk Leader - PersonalityPoints 166 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Body Armor, Fearless, Hero, Leader, Medic (combat), Personal Communication Device

Fire-Team Leader - PersonalityPoints 140 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Grenades, Body Armor, Fearless, Medic (combat), NCO/Second In Command, Personal Communication Device

SAW Gunner - PersonalityPoints 111 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Drum Fed Light Machine Gun,Grenades, Body Armor, Fearless, Hero, Medic (combat)

Ranger (M204 grenade Thrower) - PersonalityPoints 89 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Grenades, Body Armor, Crack Shot/Marksman, Medic (combat)

RangerPoints 89 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Grenades, Body Armor, Fearless, Medic (combat)

M60 Gunner (Crew 1)Points 99 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Grenades, Body Armor, Crewed MMG (M60), Fearless, Medic (combat)

M60 Assistant (Crew 2)Points 89 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Grenades, Body Armor, Fearless, Medic (combat)

D-BoyPoints 170 Quality 2+ Combat 4Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Grenades,Body Armor, Fearless, Medic (combat), Personal Communication Device, Stealth

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Somali Militia and Civilian Mobs, 1993The average Somali militia member in the pay of the

local warlord probably had seven years of fighting behind him, most militia being veterans of the war with Ethiopia and the civil war.

Scenario rule: Life was seen to be cheap. Often the militia had been chewing khat (a narcotic plant) all morning, and were hyped up in the afternoon when the action kicked off. Militia don’t take Morale tests for Gory Deaths or loss of Leader.

Armed civilians take Morale tests normally. A 500- to 700-point force can be made up from any

of the following, with a maximum of 15 civilians:

Militia Squad Leader - PersonalityPoints 116 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Leader

Militia NCO - PersonalityPoints 102 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Hero, NCO/Second In Command

Militia MemberPoints 57 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Assault Rifle

Militia Member with RPGPoints 108 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Assault Rifle, RPG

Armed CivilianPoints 8 Quality 5+ Combat 1Special Rules : Pistol, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder

Armed CivilianPoints 30 Quality 5+ Combat 1Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder

Technical truck with HMGPoints 105 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: HMG, Personnel Carrier 6 passengers, Vehicle. Cost includes Q4 driver.

“IT’S WHAT WE DO…”Near Future Sci-fi

The following rosters let you play games set in the near future. Numerous T.V. shows and films can be used as a setting. The ‘Star Portal’ in our scenario could be any manner of interplanetary travel device. The ‘off-worlders’ are often led by a Leader bent on ruling the universes. Their forces usually consist of some Strong army Leaders and a plethora of tough-looking forces with big weapons who, luckily for our earth defenders, couldn’t hit a barn door at 10 paces. Our intrepid band of earth defenders normally consists of 4-5 very strong main characters, or a couple of main characters with a group of typical ‘army’ types to provide cannon fodder just in case one of the baddies actually learns to shoot.

A typical episode sees the intrepid ‘goodies’ worm-holing into a situation where they have to rescue/kid-nap/destroy/save some object or person from the ma-niacal grip of the ‘baddies’. They then normally have a fight on their hands to get back through the portal, hotly pursued of course.

These episodes give rise to some excellent games if played all on one side with the ‘baddies’ being run as automatic, on the presumption that they all just run to the action and open fire with little regard for personal safety. Use the Never Ending Cannon Fodder mechanic found below.

Rescue on ET-XL5Intel had come through to Space Portal Defence (SPD)

HQ that the G’Ori had obtained some technology left from the age of the ‘Elders’. The technology could have dire effects on the Earth’s defense system, and the president had ordered Team 1 from the SPD to go to retrieve or destroy the technol-ogy before the G’Ori could beam it up to their orbiting space-ship.

The Space Portal should be located in the middle of the SPD player’s edge. The Space Portal acts as a ral-lying point for the team in Regroup actions, and any movement due to failed Morale is towards the Space Portal and not the nearest table edge. SPD-T1 will make their first move through the Portal which will then ‘shut’ behind them (the wormhole is one-way only).

The G’Ori force starts in the middle of the opposite table edge with the technology carried by one of the members of the force. The technology is briefcase-sized and that force member can only use one-handed weapons. The rest of the table can be filled with what-ever scenery the players have on hand.

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Victory is simple … SPD-T1 must either destroy the technology or, better yet, retrieve it. The G’Ori must take the technology to a designated point on one of the side edges of the table to be ‘beamed’ up onto their mothership orbiting ET-XL5. Activating the Portal or messaging readiness to be beamed has the same me-chanics. Once at the ‘Dial Base Device’ or the ‘Beam’ po-sition, it is an EASY task to activate either. Obviously, this gets harder if under pressure, where it becomes a MEDIUM task.

SPD-T1 consists of 4 members. The G’Ori are 10, but most are Poor Shots.

SPD-T1 uses an SMG called a P-90. One member (Dr Leyand) can carry a single-handed

energy pistol called a BLAT (C+1, Stun Only, Move and Fire, Short Range). The G’Ori warriors carry a Spear Blast-er, an energy blast weapon which looks like a spear. It is C+2, Long range, and on a roll of a 1 when shooting the energy battery is temporarily depleted and it takes an action to recharge the weapon. It counts as a spear in melee (See “Better Weapon” modifier).

The leader of the G’Ori and one other warrior can carry a BLAT.

The G’Ori begin the game with the forces listed be-low. In a standard game, the force will be as on the list. However, players may decide to play the SPD-T1 and take one or two characters each. In this case, the G’Ori will be run on ‘automatic’ or by a Gamemaster. If run on automatic, one of the SPD players decides what the G’Ori will do and rolls the dice when the figures are not likely to affect his own characters … gamers have no problem trying to ‘stick’ the other players even if they are on the same side! The G’Ori warriors get the Mook/Extra rule and use the Never Ending Cannon Fodder mechanic.

Never Ending Cannon FodderFor every player turn in which firing occurs, roll a D6.

On a roll of a 6, d3 new G’Ori warriors will be flooding to the action. Roll a random table edge for them to appear on as below:

1: They appear from the edge with the space portal.2/3: They appear from the table edge opposite the

space portal.4/5: They appear from one of the other table edges.6: They appear from the ‘beam down’ spot.

SPD-T�

Colonel Dalling SPD-T1 Leader - PersonalityPoints 136 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Submachine Gun, Fearless, Hero, Leader, Personal Communication Device

Major Monroe SPD-T1 member - PersonalityPoints 126 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Submachine Gun, Fearless, Hero, NCO/Second In Command, Personal Communication Device

Dr. Levand SPD-T1 member - PersonalityPoints 90 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : BLAT, Hero, Personal Communication Device, Specialist

Sgt. Drell SPD-T1 member - PersonalityPoints 124 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Submachine Gun, CQB Specialist, Danger Sense, Dashing, Fearless, Hero, Personal Communication Device

Sgt. Drell with Spear Blaster - PersonalityPoints 120 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Spear Blaster, CQB Specialist, Danger Sense, Dashing, Fearless, Hero, Personal Communication Device

G’Ori

G’Ori Leader - PersonalityPoints 78 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : BLAT, Leader

G’Ori Prime NCO - PersonalityPoints 114 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Spear Blaster, Hero, NCO/Second In Command

2 x G’Ori Veteran WarriorPoints 41 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Spear Blaster

6 x G’Ori WarriorsPoints 33 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Spear Blaster, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder, Poor Shot

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Generic Crooks

Apartment ThiefPoints 38 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Shuriken/Small Thrown Knives, Acrobat, Climber, Specialist, Stealth

SnatcherPoints 21 Quality 4+ Combat 1Special Rules: Acrobat, Slippery, Sprinter

MuggerPoints 20 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Strong

Tough Street ThugPoints 15 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder, Strong

Young Street ThugPoints 5 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Green, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder

Hired Gun - PersonalityPoints 39 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Machine Pistol, Crack Shot/Marksman, Green, Steady Under Fire

Martial ArtistPoints 38 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Shuriken/Small Thrown Knives,Acrobat, CQB Specialist, Strong

Drug Dealer/ChemistPoints 24 Quality 4+ Combat 1Special Rules : Pistol, Medic (combat), PersonalCommunication Device, Reluctant, Specialist

Serial Killer - PersonalityPoints 84 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules: Pistol, Dashing, Fanatic, Fear,Slippery, Stealth, Strong

Armed ThugPoints 17 Quality 4+ Combat 1Special Rules : Pistol

The Mafia

Capo di tutti Capi (Supreme Boss) PersonalityPoints 128 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Pistol, Sawn-Off Shotgun, Danger Sense, Leader, Personal Communication Device, Steady Under Fire

Don (Boss) - PersonalityPoints 122 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules: Pistol, Sawn-Off Shotgun, Leader, Personal Communication Device, Steady Under Fire

Consigliere (adviser to the Don) - PersonalityPoints 88 Quality 2+ Combat 2Special Rules : Pistol, Leader, Personal Communication Device, Stealth

Underboss - PersonalityPoints 90 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Pistol, Leader, Personal Communication Device, Steady Under Fire, Strong

Capo - PersonalityPoints 112 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Large-caliber Pistol, Leader, NCO/Second In Command, Steady Under Fire

Picciotto (Little man, “Soldier”, runner)Points 56 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Large-caliber Pistol, Sawn-Off Shotgun, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder

Mafia Hit Man - PersonalityPoints 150 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Large-caliber Pistol, Semi-automatic Rifle , Small Thrown Knives, Danger Sense, Hit Man, Slippery, Sniper, Stealth,

Strong, Weapons Expert

Mafia EnforcerPoints 24 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Small Thrown Knives, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder, Strong

Mafia Driver/ChaffeurPoints 48 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Large-caliber Pistol, Born Driver, Personal Communication Device

Armored CarPoints:39 Quality:4 Combat:2 Special rules: Armored, Personnel Carrier 3 passengers, Vehicle

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

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Cops and SWAT Teams

Beat Cop (Rookie)Points 20 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Pistol, Green, Handcuffs

Beat CopPoints 26 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Pistol, Handcuffs

SWAT “entry team” memberPoints 80 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Flash Bang Grenade, Pistol, Shotgun, Body Armor, Handcuffs, Personal Communication Device

SWAT sniper team member - PersonalityPoints 94 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Semi-auto rifle with Scope, Body Armor, Crack Shot/Marksman, Personal Communication Device

SWAT sniper specialist - PersonalityPoints 134 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules -Semi-auto rifle with Scope, Body Armor, Crack Shot/Marksman, Personal Communication Device, Sniper

SWAT with assault riflePoints 88 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Body Armor, Personal Communication Device

SWAT close combat specialistPoints 84 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Machine Pistol, Body Armor, CQB Specialist, Handcuffs, Stealth, Strong

SWAT Armored VanPoints: 45 Quality:4 Combat:2 Special Rules: Armored, Off-Road, Personnel Carrier

12 passengers, Vehicle

Police CarPoints:47 Quality:4 Combat:2 Special Rules: Long Move, Personnel Carrier 3passengers, Vehicle

Civilians

Average CivilianPoints 1 Quality 5+ Combat 1Special Rules : Green, Reluctant

War VetPoints 23 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Steady Under Fire

Martial Artist/BoxerPoints 20 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Strong

ChildPoints 1 Quality 5+ Combat 0Special Rules : Green, Poor Shot, Reluctant, Short Move

AthletePoints 1 Quality 5+ Combat 0Special Rules : Green, Reluctant, Sprinter

Doctor - PersonalityPoints 17 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Medic (professional), Reluctant

ScientistPoints 9 Quality 4+ Combat 1Special Rules : Poor Shot, Reluctant, Specialist

MotorcyclePoints:23 Quality:4 Combat:1 Special Rules: Vehicle

Dirt BikePoints:27 Quality:4 Combat:1 Special Rules: Off-Road, Vehicle

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

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Pulp Characters

Pygmy WarriorPoints 12 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Blowgun w/ Poison-coated Darts,Jungle-craft, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder, Short Move

Pygmy Chief - PersonalityPoints 41 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Thrown Javelin, Jungle-craft, Leader, Short Move

Inscrutable Chinese Villain - PersonalityPoints 156 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Shuriken/Small Thrown Knives, Acrobat, CQB Specialist, Combat Fiend, Danger Sense, Hero, Hit Man, Leader, Slippery, Steady Under Fire, Stealth, Strong

Chinese Martial ArtistPoints 29 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Acrobat, Dashing, Strong

Tong MemberPoints 29 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Shuriken/Small Thrown Knives, CQB Specialist

Mobster with Tommy-GunPoints 33 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Submachine Gun

Vigilante - PersonalityPoints 234 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Flash Bang Grenade, Large-caliber Pistol, Acrobat, Body Armor, Born Driver, CQB Specialist, Chucker, Climber, Combat Fiend, Fearless, Hero, Sniper, Stealth, Strong, Weapons Expert

Masked Crimefighter - PersonalityPoints 184 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Large-caliber Pistol, Acrobat, Born Driver, CQB Specialist, Climber, Combat Fiend, Danger Sense, Hero, Stealth, Strong, Weapons Expert

Boxer/Adventurer - PersonalityPoints 82 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : CQB Specialist, Combat Fiend, Strong

Great White Hunter - PersonalityPoints:96 Quality:4 Combat:2 Special Rules: Large-caliber Pistol, Semi-auto Rifle w/ Scope, Climber, Crack Shot/Marksman, Danger Sense, Jungle-craft, Stealth Savage WarriorPoints:18 Quality:4 Combat:2 Special Rules: Thrown Javelin, Jungle-craft, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder Elite Savage WarriorPoints:27 Quality:4 Combat:2 Special Rules: Thrown Javelin, Dashing, Jungle-craft Savage Warrior ArcherPoints:21 Quality:4 Combat:2 Special Rules: Longbow, Jungle-craft, Mook/Extra/Cannon Fodder, Stealth Savage Warrior Chief - PersonalityPoints:66 Quality:3 Combat:2 Special Rules: Thrown Javelin, Jungle-craft, Leader, Strong Archeologist Adventurer - PersonalityPoints:196 Quality:3 Combat:2 Special Rules: Carbine, Large-caliber Pistol, Acrobat, Born Driver, Chucker, Climber, Danger Sense, Hero, Light/Bushwacker, Medic (professional), Specialist, Stealth, Strong, Weapons Expert Soldier of FortunePoints:96 Quality:4 Combat:3 Special Rules: Fragmentation Grenades, Large Calibre Pistol, Semi-automatic Rifle , Medic (combat), Steady Under Fire, Weapons Expert Ninja Master - PersonalityPoints:134 Quality:3 Combat:3 Special Rules: Blowgun w/ Poison-coated Darts,Shuriken/Small Thrown Knives, Acrobat, CQB Specialist, Climber, Combat Fiend, Hit Man, Slippery, Stealth NinjaPoints:62 Quality:3 Combat:3 Special Rules: Shuriken/Small Thrown Knives, Acrobat, CQB Specialist, Climber, Slippery, Stealth

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

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Terrorist cell

Terrorist with Machine PistolPoints 39 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Machine Pistol, Fanatic

Terrorist Leader - PersonalityPoints 82 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Machine Pistol, Fanatic, Leader

Terrorist with AK-47Points 63 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Fanatic

Terrorist with AK-47 (variant)Points 63 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Hatred

Terrorist HackerPoints 32 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Pistol, Specialist

The A-Squad

John Caesar Smith - PersonalityPoints 202 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Combat Fiend, Fearless, Hero, Leader, Medic (combat), Personal Communication Device, Weapons Expert

Mister Attitude - PersonalityPoints 204 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Born Driver, CQB Specialist, Combat Fiend, Dashing, Hero, Specialist, Strong

Richard “Angelface” - PersonalityPoints 134 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Submachine Gun, Acrobat, Danger Sense, Fearless, Hero, Light/Bushwacker, Slippery, Sprinter, Stealth

The Madman - PersonalityPoints 138 Quality 3+ Combat 2Special Rules : Submachine Gun, Born Driver,Climber, Crack Shot/Marksman, Danger Sense, Hero, Slippery, Stealth

Small Armored VanPoints 44 Quality:4 Combat:2 Special Rules: Armored, Off-Road, Personnel Carrier 3 passengers, Vehicle

Special Operations forces

These profiles represent the supermen of special covert operations, with superb training, armed to the teeth and ready for anything. Use them for Foreign Legion, Navy SEAL, Sayarot and the like, for 700-1000 points scenarios with no point limit on personalities.

Special OpsPoints 194 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Fragmentation Grenades, Large-caliber Pistol, Body Armor, Climber, Elite, Fearless, Light/Bushwacker, Medic (combat), Personal Communication Device, Steady Under Fire, Stealth, Strong, Weapons Expert

Special Ops Team Leader - PersonalityPoints 224 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Fragmentation Grenades, Large-caliber Pistol, Body Armor, Climber, Elite, Fearless, Leader, Light/Bushwacker, Medic (combat), Personal Communication Device, Steady Under Fire, Stealth, Strong, Weapons Expert

Special Ops Sniper - PersonalityPoints 220 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Fragmentation Grenades, Pistol,Semi-auto Rifle w/ Scope, Body Armor, Climber, Crack Shot/Marksman, Elite, Fearless, Light/Bushwacker, Medic (combat), Personal Communication Device, Sniper, Steady Under Fire, Stealth, Strong, Weapons Expert

Special Ops Assault Specialist - PersonalityPoints 248 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Assault Rifle, Fragmentation Grenades, Large-caliber Pistol,Shuriken/Small Thrown Knives, Body Armor, CQB Specialist, Climber, Combat Fiend, Dashing, Elite, Fearless, Light/Bushwacker, Medic (combat), Personal Communication Device, Steady Under Fire, Stealth, Strong, Weapons Expert

Special Ops DriverPoints 122 Quality 3+ Combat 3Special Rules : Large-caliber Pistol, Body Armor, Born Driver, Elite, Fearless, Light/Bushwacker, Medic (combat), Personal Communication Device, Stealth, Strong

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

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Vehicles

The following is a generic list of vehicles that could be utilised in Flying Lead. Players are encouraged to ‘point up’ specific vehicles using the vehicle builder found at www.ganeshagames.net and share them with other players on the forum.

Passenger CarPoints 24 Quality 4+ Combat 1Special Rules : Personnel Carrier 3 passengers, Vehicle

Sports CarPoints 39 Quality 4+ Combat 1Special Rules: Long Move, Personnel Carrier 3 passengers, Vehicle

JeepPoints 36 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Off-Road, Personnel Carrier 3 passengers, Vehicle

Small TruckPoints 36 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Off-Road, Personnel Carrier3 passengers, Vehicle

Medium/LargeTruckPoints 44 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules: Personnel Carrier 12 passengers,Vehicle

Light Halftrack (WW2 US M3 Halftrack)Points 89 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Armored, Drum-fed Light Machine Gun, Off-Road, Personnel Carrier 9 passengers, Tracked, Vehicle

Heavy Halftrack (WW2 German SdKfz 251)Points 89 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules: Armored +1 (Thin), Drum-fed Light Machine Gun, Off-Road, Personnel Carrier 9 passengers, Tracked, Vehicle

Armored Humvee (US Army)Points 87 Quality 4+ Combat 2Special Rules : Armored +1 (Thin), Drum-fedLight Machine Gun, Off-Road,Personnel Carrier 6 passengers, Vehicle

WW2 Light TankPoints 128 Quality 4+ Combat 3Special Rules : Armored +1 (Thin), Gun (Anti Tank +3, C +3, Medium range), Drum-fed Light Machine Gun, Tracked, Vehicle

WW2 MediumTankPoints 158 Quality 4+ Combat 4Special Rules: Armored +3 (Medium), Gun (Anti Tank +5, C +3, Long range, Drum Fed Light Machine Gun, Tracked, Vehicle

WW2 HeavyTankPoints 188 Quality 4+ Combat 5Special Rules : Gun (Anti-tank +6, Combat +3, Long range) Armored +5 (Thick), Drum Fed Light Machine Gun, Tracked, Vehicle

WW2 Super Heavy TankPoints 210 Quality 4+ Combat 6Special Rules: Armored +6 (Extra Thick), Gun (Anti Tank +7, C +3, Long range),Drum Fed Light Machine Gun, Tracked, Vehicle

Post WW2 LightTankPoints:141 Quality:4 Combat:3 Special Rules: Armored +1 (Thin), Gyro Stabilization, Drum Fed Light Machine Gun, Tracked, Vehicle, Main gun (Anti Tank +6, C+3, Long range, High Tech ammo)

Post WW2 Medium TankPoints:179 Quality:4 Combat:4 Special Rules: Main Gun (Anti-tank +6, Combat +3, Long range, High Tech Ammo), Armored +3 (Medium), Gyro Stabilization, Drum Fed Light Machine Gun, Tracked, Vehicle

Post WW2 Heavy TankPoints 221 Quality 4+ Combat 5Special Rules: Armored +5 (Thick), Gyro Stabilization, Drum Fed Light Machine Gun, Main Gun (Anti-tank +8, Combat +4, High Tech Ammo), Tracked, Vehicle

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

Squad Advances

Advances are special rules that apply to your squad. Each Advance costs 10 Victory Points, can be bought only once (exception: Perfect Aim can be bought mul-tiple times), and used only once per scenario.

The Advances listed here are pretty generic and should work in all settings. Specific genre supplements will add advances specially suited for that setting.

AssaultYou get a +2 bonus to any one hand-to-hand Com-

bat die roll performed by one member of your squad. Use this advance only once per scenario.

SharpshooterYou get a +2 bonus to any one ranged Combat die

roll performed by one member of your squad. Use this advance only once per scenario.

GunsmithsOnce per game, you may ignore one “out of ammo”

or malfunction result for one of your weapons.

Badge of CourageOnce per game you can re-roll one Morale roll for

one of your models. You must re-roll all three dice and the result of the re-roll is final, even if it is worse.

Fog of WarOnce per game, you can negate the activation bonus

of a Leader character. The effects can be played at any point of the opponent’s turn. Note that this does not prevent the Leader from issuing a Group order, it just negates the +1 bonus to the Quality of models under his command.

Like the Back of my HandOnce per game, you can ignore the effect of rough

terrain (reduced movement and modifiers to Combat score) for one of your characters. Note that hindering terrain and obstacles are unaffected by this ability.

Retaining the InitiativeOnce per game, when you roll two failures while ac-

tivating a model, play does not pass to the opponent. You decide when to use this ability.

Strategical BonusUse this advance at the beginning of a scenario. You

get a +1 on your initial die roll to determine which play-er is the defender and which is the attacker.

Tough as NailsOnce per game, you can ignore one Out of Action

result rolled against one of your models. The model ig-nores it and falls instead. Note that a Gory Death can-not be prevented by this ability.

UnpredictableOnce per game, you can switch two models’ Q val-

ues before rolling for their activation. This lasts until the end of your turn and is used for all Quality rolls in that turn, including Morale rolls, and not only for pur-poses of activation.

BlitzkriegYour models get +1 on their activation roll on the

first turn of a game.

Act of HeroismOnce per game, you can give the Hero rule to one

of your models for the duration of one turn. Models already possessing the Hero rule cannot benefit from this.

Perfect AimOnce per game, one of your models can make a

ranged attack ignoring the modifiers for range and cover. You can purchase this advance multiple times, but you can apply it only once per character per game.

Combat VeteranYou may increase the C score of one of your models

by 1. This modifier is permanent. No model can be as-signed this advance more than once.

Higher ResolveYou may increase the Q score of one of your models

by 1, for example lowering his Q target number from 4+ to 3+. This modifier is permanent. No character can be assigned this advance more than once.

Battle HardenedOnce per game, one of your characters may ignore

a Morale roll caused by a Gory Death.

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

Activation ProcedureRoll Quality or more on 1,2 or 3 dice. Every success= one action. Two or more failures = turn over. 1 always fails, 6 always succeeds.

Action Costs1 move = 1 action1 attack= 1 action1 power attack or aimed shot= 2 actionsstanding up= 1 actionrecover from shaken = 2 actions

HTH Combat Procedure Adjacent models roll 1d+Combat factor. + modifiers. Both combatants may affect

HTH Combat ModifiersFighting multiple enemies:-1 per extra enemy (including those knocked down)Mounted vs non-mounted: +1 on first attack, see Mounted ruleStrong model vs non-strong: +1Fanatic: +1Attacking knocked down/shaken opponent: +2 and any hit is LethalAttacking prone opponent: +1Defending obstacle or higher ground: +1Ambushing : +1 Better weapon: +1Fazed: -1Powerful attack: -1 on opponent’s Combat Value

HTH Combat ResultsWinner tripled loser’s score: loser Killed in Action Winner tripled target’s score and rolled a 6= Gory DeathWinner doubled loser’s score: loser Out of ActionWinner’s die roll is an even number : loser Knocked Down Winner’s die roll is an odd number: loser Recoils one base width

Ranged Combat ProcedureShooter and target roll 1d+Combat factor + modifiers. Target’s roll is purely defensive (he can’t affect the shooter); target does NOT add any weapon bonus.

Ranged Combat ModifiersTarget up to 2x range bands away: No modifierTarget is 2-3x range away: -1Target is 3-4x range away: -2Target is 4x to max range away: -4Firing and moving in same action/Move and Shoot: -1Firing from Overwatch: -1Speculative fire (target hidden): -3Target behind cover (obscured): -1Target prone (no modifier if within Short range) -1Target Knocked Down/Shaken or Out of Action: +2, any hit is LethalFiring from ambush position: +1 on first attack onlyTarget bigger than man-sized : +1Marksman taking Aimed Shot: +1 Anyone taking an Aimed Shot: -1 to the opponent’s Combat ValueSniper scope/laser targeting on Aimed Shot: +1Using unfamiliar weapon: -1Target has the Acrobat special rule : -1

Target behind Hard cover: If the combat results in a win by only 1, it is treated as a miss; the cover has been hit instead.Target behind Fortified cover: If the combat results in a win by only 1 or 2, it is treated as a miss; the cover has been hit instead.

Results of Firing Firer tripled target’s score: target ‘Killed in Action’, Firer tripled target’s score and rolled a 6= Gory DeathFirer’s doubled target’s score: target ‘Out of Action’Firer won with even number on die:target ‘Shaken’Firer won with odd number on die: target ‘Goes to Ground’

Overwatch Weapon DistanceTripod-mounted weapons: 1x Long from marker;Crewed, belt-fed weapon: 1x Medium from marker;All other Ranged weapons: 1x Short from marker.

When to test MoraleLoss of a Leader Party reduced to less than 50%Gory Death of a friend within 1 x LongFriend killed by Friendly Fire within 1 x Long Wanting to charge Fear-inducing opponent (see Fear)Shot by/charged by Fear inducing weapon or opponent (see Fear)Green character seeing friend Out of Action or Killed (test twice if it was also a Gory Death)

Modifiers to Morale ChecksNo friend within Medium distance -1 Within Leader command range +1Fearless/Fanatic +1Lone man/Last Man Standing -3Steady under Fire +1 (see rule)

Morale Check ProcedureRoll Q+ on 3 dice; 3 successes= model stands1 failure= 1 fleeing move away from enemy2 failures= 2 fleeing moves towards the nearest table edge.3 failures = 3 fleeing moves towards the nearest table edge.

Character must not go nearer to enemy during fleeing move. If this is impossible, the figure will surrender. A fallen character failing a Morale check must use the first of his Morale-induced movements to stand up. If in melee contact with an active opponent, he is automatically killed.

TasksEasy: normal Quality checkMedium: Quality check at -1Hard: Quality check at -2Joking: Succeeds only on a triple 6Modifiers: Specialist adds +1 or +2 as per scenario

Task procedurePerform a Q check on 3 dice; task is successful on 2 or 3 successes.

Flying Lead Quick Reference Sheet

Permission granted to photocopy this sheet for personal use only

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

HE Fire ProcedureFirer places an aiming point. Roll one die + Combat value of firer+ modifiers. Ignore range modifiers. Target point rolls a die +2

Modifiers to HE fireFirer has advanced sighting equipment: +1Firer has high tech sighting equipment: +2Target point is stationary: +1Aimed Shot: Target point’s Combat becomes 1Tanks without gyro stabilization firing while moving: -4WWII US tanks with gyro stabilization firing while moving: -2Target is obscured: -1Opportunity fire: -1

HE Fire ResultsDouble the target’s Combat - shot lands on target point.More than target’s Combat on even die roll – Opponent moves aim spot 1 S away in any direction.More than target’s Combat on odd die roll – Opponent moves aim spot 1 M away in any direction.Equal or Less than target’s Combat - no effect

HE Fire effects: Treat as grenade hit, all targets in blast area are auto-matically knocked down

Firing Anti-tank Firer rolls 1 die + Combat Value + weapon (+3 for most tank and static guns). Do not use range modifiers. Target rolls 1 die +2.

Modifiers to AT fireTarget is concealed -1Firer has advanced sighting equipment +1Firer has high tech sighting equipment. +2Target is stationary +1Static gun (not vehicle mounted) +1Aimed Shot (affects the target) -1No gyro stabilization, firing while moving* -2Turret turns more than 90° to have LOS -1Overwatch fire -1* Tanks that move and have no gyro stabilization fire at -2. WWII US tanks with gyro stabilization fire at -1. Modern tanks ignore this modifier.Hull down tank/ 75% obscured by hard cover counts in hard cover.

Static AT guns only fire to front 180° arc.

Range Modifiers for Infantry firing Anti-tankTarget at 2-3 range bands = -1 Target at 3-5 range bands = -2 Target at 6+ range bands = -3

Anti-tank Fire ResultsTriple the target’s Combat Value : Target hit, AT value increases by +3Double the target’s Combat Value: Target hit, AT value increases by +2More than target’s Combat Total on even die roll: Target hit, AT value increases by +1More than target’s Combat Total on odd die roll: Target hit; use normal AT valueEqual or Less than target’s Combat Total: No effect.Lucky Shot On a 6:1 result, AT value is trebled.

AT Fire Effects: If target is hit, Firer rolls a die + modified AT. Target rolls a die + armor value. If unmodified AT value is more than double unmodified armor, hit is LETHAL.

Anti-tank ModifiersHMG / Armor Piercing rule -4High Tech Ammo * +1Bazooka type weapons +7RPG type weapons +3 to +8 depending on type* (most late WWII US and Allied tanks, late WWII German and all modern Main Battle Tanks).

Side/rear shots: -2 to Armor value

Anti-tank Combat resultsTarget tripled: Brew Up.Target doubled: Out of Action.Target beaten with even number: crew must take Bail Test; Stunned if they remain in vehicle.Target value beaten with Odd number: Crew StunnedTarget beaten by Lethal attack: Out of Action; on a 6, Brew Up.

Brew Up: vehicle explodes, all crew KIA. Characters within 1 Short take C2 hit.

Out of Action: Crew will bail out and leave the field.

Stunned: crew must spend an action to recover. If vehicle is moving and crew only has one action, it must be used to move or stop, and can’t be used to recover.

Bail check: crew make Q Check on 2 dice. If they fail both, crew must Bail Out of the tank. Post-1980 tank crews roll at +2. Crews may re-enter vehicle with 3 successes on a Q roll. One try per turn is possible.

Firing Vehicle Small ArmsMounted weapons fire at -2 while moving. Armored vehicles with more than one MG may fire the main gun and the extra MGs in the same action. MGs must follow their own targeting restrictions and modifiers. Co-axial MGs cannot be fired when the main gun is fired.

Flying Lead Quick reference sheetvehicles and support weapons

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

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Song of Gods and HeroesMythic Greece standalone miniature rules

Song of Shadow and HonorMythic and historical Japan stand alone rules

Song of Tide and WaveNaval rules for pirates and fantasy

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34

Dan Peel (order #3543254) 75.19.161.34