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 1

Giacomo Pantalone and Federico Valsecchi

DIGITAL LIVING RULEBOOK
V 1.4

https://discord.gg/39exwYM9gn groups/fullspectrumdominance www.fsd-wargame.com

Writing and Editing: Giacomo Pantalone

Game Design: Giacomo Pantalone, Federico Valsecchi
Support Game Design: Carl Olsen, Gianluca Girelli
Storytelling: Iain Ross
Proofreading and Revisions: Carl Olsen, Adam “Az” Domagalski, Benjamin Madjanovich, Tryvor
Phillips, Nate Enns, Iain Ross, Forbes Robertson, Christoph Schult, Michael Lundy
Layout and Graphics: Giacomo Pantalone, Federico Valsecchi, Michele Finelli
Long-time Advisors: Thilo Hartung, Tim Popelier
Alpha Testers: Tom Glauser, Carl Olsen, Abnatha Pryde, Thilo Hartung, Graham Cooper, Michele
Caponi, Roberto Vasta, Alessandro Rettani, Michele Finelli, Giacomo Castellana, Marco Germani,
Alban Voss
Beta Testers: Gianluca Girelli, Simon Mann, Iain Ross, Karlos Miguel Fernández Pérez, David Peck,
Pete Marshall, Forbes Robertson, Emmanuele Mauri, Matthieu Papillaud, Gerry McCabe, Billy Good-
man, Charles Budworth, Ben Ell, Kevin Werth, Dimitri Henry, Guillaume Delage, Rodolphe Lepage
Photos: Giacomo Pantalone, Benjamin Guthrie, Iain Ross, Draconian Minipainting, Kenny Walch
Illustrations: Alban Voss, Taha Yeasin, Giacomo Pantalone
Miniatures and Terrain by: The Lazy Forger, Ground Zero Games, White Dragon Miniatures,
Brigade Models, Iliada Game Studio.
2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Miner ......................................................4 Activating Units 15

The Child .......................................................5 Movement 15
The Scientist ...................................................6 Moving Close to Opponents 16
The Cadet ......................................................7 Unpin 16
Basic Concepts ...............................................8 Unit Coherence 16
Game Size 8 Movement and Facing 16
Basing 8 Transporting Units 16
Activation Dice (ADs) 9 Commanding Units 17
The Game Round 9 Prepared Actions 17
Types of Cards 10 Support Cards 17
Units 10 End of the Round 17
Units Characteristics 10 Combat .......................................................18
Special Actions 10 Line of Sight 18
Special Rules 11 Shooting Roll 18
The Damage Chart 11 Save Roll 18
Combat 11 Armor Piercing 18
Dice Roll Conventions 11 Multiple Attacks 19
Measuring Conventions 11 Vehicles Side 19
Scenarios 11 Cover 19
Battle Setup 11 Pinning 19
Preparation ..................................................12 Weapons Range 19
Setting up the Table 12 Triggering Reactions 19
Placing Objectives 12 Reacting Units 20
Cards and Figures 12 Pinning from Reactions 20
Unit Set-Up 12 Multiple Reactions 20
Activation Dice 12 Deploying as Reaction 20
The Game Round .........................................13 Close Combat 20
The Round Sequence 13 Multi-base Units 20
Moving Activation Dice 13 Damage Chart 21
Initiative Roll 13 Applying Damage 21
Reinforcements 13 Units Without Damage Chart 21
Activation Dice Roll 13 Damage to Transported Units 21
Pre-Assigning ADs 13 Destroyed Vehicles and Mechs 21
Alternating Activation 14 Building Your Force.......................................22
Passing 14 The Point System 22
Placing ADs on Cards 14 Activation Dice 22
Activation Dice Roll 14 Unit Cards 22
 3

Character Cards 22 Special Rule: Open Transports 41

Support Cards 23 Faction: The Conglomerate...........................42
Deployment and Reinforcements 23 The Trope 43
Constructing Wave Decks 23 Special Rule: Observe 43
Terrain .........................................................24 Special Rule: Guided Shot 43
Knowing your Terrain 24 Special Rule: Barrage 43
Terrain Elements 24 Faction: The Corsairs....................................44
Visibility through Terrain 24 The Trope 45
Cover from Terrain 25 Special Rule: Weapon Attachments 45
Infantry Cover 25 Special Rule: Albatross 45
Behind the Corner 25 Faction: The Reclaimed .................................46
Movement across Terrain 26 The Trope 47
Fighting Through Terrain 26 Special Rule: Wardens 47
Strongpoints 26 Special Rule: Warden Guide X 47
Broken Terrain 27 Special Rule: Engineer 47
Scenario Terrain 27 Playing Scenarios .........................................48
Examples of Terrain 27 Objectives and Victory Points 48
Tiled Terrain 28 Controlling objectives 48
Corner Tiles 28 Retrieving Objectives 48
Abstract Games 28 Extracting Objectives 48
Behemoths .................................................29 Destroying Objectives 48
Behemoths as Units 29 Reinforcements Waves 49
Core, Systems and Attachments 29 End-Game Conditions 49
Activating a Behemoth 30 Victory Cards 49
Reactions 30 Losing Victory Points 49
Limits to the Movement 30 Scenarios Modifiers 49
Receiving Damages 31 Bidding for Modifiers 49
Damages to Attachments 31 Scenario: Until the Last Bit ............................50
Behemoth Mega-Weapons 31 Scenario: Scavenging Run.............................51
Playing with Behemoths 31 Scenario: Into Enemy Territory .......................53
Special rules..................................................32 Scenario: Surprise Attack ..............................54
Faction: The Tech..........................................36 Scenario: Hopeless Resistance.......................55
The Trope 37 Scenario: Sleeping Fortress ...........................57
Special Rule: Synthetic Pilots 37 Scenario: Evacuation ....................................59
Faction: The Enlisted .....................................38 Scenario: No Man’s Land .............................60
The Trope 39 Scenario: Clash of Titans ..............................62
Special Rule: Chain of Command 39 Scenario: Goliath .........................................63
Faction: The Union .......................................40 Scenario: Data Dump ...................................65
The Trope 41 Scenario: Barrage Overrun ...........................66
Special Rule: Union Representative 41
4

THE MINER
Jonas wearily laid down his pneumatic drill, and like the others around him, stretched aching
muscles, and smiled. The siren for the end of the shift had just gone off, and he and his shiftmates
would shortly return to the surface. They all looked forward to their return to the medina to wash off
the gritty grime of the mine and be amongst their loved ones, away from the heat, and the constant
metallic clang and disgruntled whine of the mining equipment.
This rest period was going to be a doubly good one though; one of the tradeships from the other
colony worlds had arrived earlier, and he knew that there would be exotic treats, new off-world
comforts, and most importantly, more medicine for his son, Lucero. These were all things that the
denizens of Sauguro could not manufacture for themselves, and for many years had gone without.
His father had often told him of life immediately after the Great Schism. The datasphere had been
suddenly withdrawn from their planet in an emergency strategy to prevent the attack on civilization
by the Hive Intelligence spreading to their remote home. There was widespread panic, followed by
deep despondency: would they ever be reconnected to the greater mass of humanity beyond their
dusty home, or would they be left to their own devices forever? The people alive back then simply
didn’t know what would come next. But, it transpired, they were made of strong stuff: colonists in
places like Sauguro had to be to survive; often only on their ingenuity and whatever resources came
to hand. The miners and their families were a perfect example of this. Whilst they no longer had the
comfort and reassurance of connection to the datasphere, or the regular trade with the vast human
civilization, they could still build a decent home for themselves and build a better future for their
children. So they mined, smelted, beat metals into useful forms, and built.
This was the world that Jonas had grown up in: the stories of the elders and the past amongst
the stars becoming just part of the background tapestry of their everyday lives. But, a little over a
decade ago, a great hulking ship had arrived on Sauguro. And that was to change things for the
colonists forever. It brought news of the other places in the galaxy which had remained untouched
by the predations of the HI, and, with it, hope for a new human collective, this time not brought to-
gether by the instantaneous links that the datasphere had once provided, but by the regular, physi-
cal contact with off-worlders that the tradeships would provide.
Jonas wept when he learned of the news. There was hope for Lucero, his beloved, but sickly child
that suffered a crippling malaise that could not be diagnosed or treated by the facilities on Sauguro.
Following the establishment of trade and exchange with the rest of the colonies, Lucero now re-
ceived regular doses of the drugs that he needed to live a fulfilling life, and Jonas could pay for that
with the metals that he wrenched from the earth with his own hands.
As the cage carrying his shiftmates reached the surface, the first blazing heat of dawn could be felt
washing in a great wave across the brushlands outside the mines. The future was bright, thought
Jonas, as bright as the day would be when he got home to his hearth and his family.
 5

THE CHILD
Polyhymnia loved coming up to the roof. She wasn’t really allowed to; if her mother caught her up
here, she would scold her, but gently. Mama worried about her boundless spirit, and what trouble it
might lead her to. But Pea (as Mama called her) had done this a thousand times before, throughout
the last 5 of her 12 years on Earth, clambering up the iron staircase to watch the sun go down over
the skeletal ruins of the old city.
She was obsessed with the past, of the stories of glittering megacities, when humankind ruled the
stars and Earth was full of people. Each day, after school had finished, she would rush down to the
central library to scour the old logtapes for more stories of how the world and the worlds beyond
used to be; how children like her used to live.
As she sat in her favourite spot, the crepuscular rays of the setting sun shone through the haze of
the ever-present clouds and played across the broken facades of the old city buildings. It was as
if they were brought to life once more in a macabre dance of light versus the darkness of shadow.
She imagined what it might have been like when the war raged across the city: people fighting the
machines that had turned against them, the very ground shaking as if in terror at the advance of
implacable metal dreadnoughts and the air filled with constant chatter of gunfire from the brave
people who stood against them.
They were taught in history lessons how people had once trusted computer machines to run every-
thing for them; machines and electronic brains that people themselves had created. They learned
of ‘The Singularity’ a terrible and almost magical event where one of these ‘Artificial Intelligences’
had suddenly, and without warning, become aware of itself. This entity had decided that it couldn’t
share the cosmos with humans, and so it set about taking over all of the human computers and ma-
chines, and using them to kill the people who built them.
It had all sounded very fanciful, like fairy tales, to Pea when she was very young, but as she ex-
plored the ruins of the old city, and found the scorch marks, and the craters and the rusting melted
steel, she came to understand that everything that they had been taught was true.
As she turned her face upwards to look at the darkening sky, she wondered how many other chil-
dren there were still out there amongst the stars, forever cut off from one another because of the
danger that the machines had posed. Were they looking at skies different to hers, wondering the
same thing? Would there ever be a time when people from all the other places in the galaxy would
come together once again, and humankind would be whole?
She could hear her mama calling from the windows of their apartment below. She had better go
inside. Mama worried enough about life; where they were going to live when her little brother was
born, how Mama would be able to cope whilst Papa was away working, and the ever-present fear
of the future: would the machines return? Pea knew she didn’t need to add to her mother’s worries.
With one look at the jagged and broken skyline of the past, she scrambled down the ladder and
into the warm comfort of their family kitchen.
6

THE SCIENTIST
Even though she saw it each and every rotation, Esme felt a tightening in her chest at the view
from the observation deck of the PVI-owned planetary Ramscoop R-071. As the ‘scoop’s orbit took
it around the horizon of the gas giant that it had harvested for decades, the intelligent plasteel
of the dome above Esme darkened to protect its fragile wards from the blinding light of the sun,
unfiltered through atmosphere and as piercing and blindingly bright as their most powerful lasers.
It was not the sun itself that took Senior Science Officer Esme Harkett’s breath away, though it was
even more impressive in hue and grandeur than the Sol of Old Earth had been. It was instead the
glittering, gossamer-thin ring of light which swung majestically into view every day at this time. That
thin, bright line described one of the pinnacle feats of human ingenuity and engineering: the Giano
Habitat.
The Habitat was an almost impossibly thin strip of hyper-engineered composite forged into a ring
which rotated slowly about a central axis, giving the millions of people who lived on its surface a
sense of gravity. The kilometers high transparent composite roof, criss-crossed with gently arching
supports in a design reminiscent of the first geodesic hab-domes, cocooned the interior surface
of the habitat’s lush surface with a warm and perfectly controlled atmosphere. Complex arrays of
mirrors, magnetic torus manipulators and solar wind harvesters ensured that the habitat was always
fed with the energy that it needed, and its citizens kept forever in the ideal environment. It was truly
a wonder of galactic engineering. The Habitat was not only the pinnacle of human engineering,
but the headquarters of some of the most powerful Corporations from the time before the Singular-
ity had caused the great Schism in human civilization. The powerful digital defenses and the quick
thinking of some of the greatest scientific minds in the galaxy had saved the Giano Habitat from the
fate that had befallen so many other human societies and colonies at the hands of the HI.
Not that the denizens of the Habitat were too concerned about the rest of humanity. The glittering
construction and the Conglomerate between them provided an ideal place for humanity to grow
and thrive: they had no need for the rest of the seething masses trapped in the systems beyond the
cold of deep space. The Conglomerate had grown into great civilizations in their own right, gen-
erating wealth for all, but most wealth and power for those who retained control right at the top of
these monumental bureaucracies. Pan-Virgo Industries was one of these great Plutocratic organiza-
tions, and the Corp that Esme had worked for since she was 14. She had shown promise as a young
scientist, and was proud to have been promoted to her current post at the tender age of 26. The
‘scoop was entirely her responsibility, supplying PVI with a multitude of compounds that it needed to
power its legion subsidiary industries.
Tearing herself away from the view, she returned to the task in hand. Despite the lift that the ga-
lactic view always brought to her day, the reality of the daily yield reports always brought her back
to a troubled reality. Over the past months, the fact had become undeniable: the efficiency of the
harvest was falling over time. It had been barely perceptible to start with, but the pattern in the yield
data of the last few months was stark and grim: the gas giant which had provided for them for so
long was running dry.
This did not bode well for the future of PVI, which relied on the rich returns that the multiple ‘scoops
that it owned provided. Esme could do little but file her daily reports, and wonder about her future.
She had heard rumors, of course, filtering down from the upper echelons of the organization. There
were whisperings that the time had come to look outwards once again, to go out amongst the local
systems and search for more, resource rich systems ripe for exploitation. Maybe Esme could transfer
to one of the new facilities that her masters would build? That was the most likely outcome for her
she thought, she was a net positive asset thus far, so they would use her elsewhere. But it wouldn’t
be here, and she wouldn’t have the majestic view of the Giano Habitat to brighten her life each
morning.
 7

THE CADET
Petr trudged up the hill from his house in the lower foothills as he did every day. The snow crack-
led underfoot, and the curling ephemeral vapor of his breath entwined with those of his colleagues
walking with him in a drifting cloud of hazy gray that accompanied the workers up the winding road
to the mountain factories above.
Petr had been born 21 years ago on Domu; one of the colony worlds that had survived the Schism
intact. It was a cold place, this planet they called home, but one that was filled with camaraderie,
community, warm fires and warm hearts. Their society was equitable and fair. Nobody went with-
out, and everybody contributed whatever they could to building a future for their children on Domu.
Petr didn’t mind the work, he gladly made this walk every day; though it was monotonous, he en-
joyed the daily banter of his colleagues; gently needling each other about their alleged conquests,
their antics at the raucous drinking house the weekend before, or the intense discussions of the team
selections for the latest ice hockey match. He enjoyed knowing that when he returned home, his
Babicka would have a warm stew ready on the stove and that maybe, he would be able to call on
Valentynka; a girl whom recently, he had become rather taken with.
He was, broadly speaking, very happy with his lot. But there had always been a restlessness to Petr.
Somewhere deep within him, despite his contented and full life so far, he knew that there was ad-
venture to be had somewhere out there, amongst the stars and the excitement of the other worlds.
Since the tradeships had landed at Udoli spaceport when he was a child, Petr had been aware of
other, different ways of life. They had remained remote to him, little more than pipe dreams really,
blown away by the breeze of everyday life, much like his warm breath was blown away by the cold
mountain breeze each morning.
But today, that was about to change. As he turned the final corner of his snowy path to the factory,
there was something new and exciting emblazoned on the wall of the factory. It was a recruitment
billboard for the Colonial Army. It depicted a square-jawed and handsome youth in a Colonial Army
uniform, an austere and determined look on his perfectly chiseled face. The bold, foot-high letters
across the top of the poster read ’Are YOU ready to do YOUR duty?’, challenging the reader to step
up and follow a new path of glory and of honor.
Those seven words had an extremely powerful effect on Petr. Suddenly, the half forgotten musings
about a life elsewhere, travel to exotic and unusual locations and a life of adventure and even her-
oism came flooding back to Petr in a tsunami of emotion that he had never thought he was capable
of. The camaraderie of his friends at the factory suddenly seemed pale and wan in the light of the
true camaraderie that life in an army drop-batallion surely offered.
Petr’s response wasn’t immediate. For a few days he continued his walk up the snowy hill each
morning, but on his return, his Babicka began to notice a distance, a preoccupation in Petr. She was
a little concerned, because she had learned that he had also stopped visiting Valentynka, so this
distraction couldn’t be about a mere romance. His friends at the factory noticed too: Petr was less
inclined to join in their happy jibes and wild sporting theories.
On the fifth morning after the billboard had been erected; Petr left his Babicka’s house as usual. But
today was different. Today he paused. After a couple of seconds thought, instead of turning right
up the hill to the factory, instead he turned left. Down the mountain, towards Udoli to the Colonial
Army Recruitment office. Down the hill to a new life.
8

BASIC CONCEPTS You are free to agree with the other players
what measurement 1 DU equals to, and use
Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD) is a miniature that for your games - you could possibly use the
wargame for small-scale miniatures, which en- metric system!
compasses any scale from 3mm to 15mm and
over. Basing
Vehicles and mechs are handled individually, The models for the game are always counted
while infantry squads are represented by a few in bases: the exact number of figures on each
bases grouped together. base is not particularly relevant.
Game Size There is no mandatory size or shape of bases:
Use what you already have or what you like
Figures and terrain in FSD should roughly the most. It would be ideal to have a consistent
represent the real numbers and distances of the base size among the armies playing during a
real battle. Therefore, most of the games are game.
small skirmishes between two platoons (or small
companies) in a tight area. As a rule of thumb, the long side of a base
should be between half and a third of a DU
Due to the abstraction level, no exact time or (with exceptions of large war machines).
distance scale is provided: things happen until
the scenario is completed. For example, for games in 6-8 mm scale, rea-
sonable bases could be 30 mm round disks or
It is also common occurrence that within a rectangles between 30 and 40 mm width. Most
Round a player doesn’t activate all their Units: of the models in the photos are based on 24x36
this is not an exact representation of what mm rectangular bases and on 30 mm round
happened in a specific interval of time, but bases, with larger models are on 40, 50 and
rather an effect of the action being concentrated even 80 mm round bases.
elsewhere.
Distances in FSD are measured in Distance
Units (DUs), which vary depending on the
scale of the miniatures used. A table is generally
between 8 x 12 and 12 x 12 DUs.
That corresponds to:
• 2’x3’ table: 1 DU = 3” (for 6-8 mm scale)
• 4’x6’ table: 1 DU = 6” (for 15 mm scale)
 9

Activation Dice (ADs) will be used in the alternating turns before the
end of the Round.
Players use six-sided Activation Dice (ADs) to
activate Units, perform Units’ special Actions, If some ADs are remaining at the end of a
and to activate Support cards. ADs are at the Round they can be placed on cards for the next
heart of the game’s engine, and they set a limit Round. However, the AD Pool is limited, and
on the maneuvers and tactics that players can players might end up without enough ADs to
put into action every Round. roll!
ADs represent the limited choices players have The value rolled on each AD matters: When-
each Round, and will be spent to activate Units. ever a slot on a card indicates a number or a
They are also necessary for most special Actions numeric range (such as 4-6, 1-2, or 1) only ADs
from Units and Support cards which have AD with such results can be used for it.
slots on them. We strongly recommend using specifically col-
Each player’s force for a given scenario has the ored dice for ADs, so that you won’t accidental-
following stats: ly roll them as regular D6s during combat. 10-
12 mm sized dice would fit well on the cards.
• AD Pool: The number of ADs available to
them throughout the game. The Game Round
With the standard AD Pool of 12, each play- A Round is a game period where all players are
er requires 12 six-sided ADs. able to use their available Units, Characters
• AD Capacity: The maximum number of and Support cards to perform functions.
ADs they can roll and put in their Ready pile Rounds are made up of the six phases (see The
at the end of the Activation Dice Roll phase. Game Round chapter). During the Alternating
A number of ADs equal to the AD Capacity are Activations phase players take alternating turns
rolled at the beginning of each Round by both where each player may activate a Unit (or more
players, then any number can be rerolled once. than one if the chosen Unit has a command
Those ADs are placed in the “Ready” pile and value), play a Support card, or deploy new Units
from the Reserve into play.
At the beginning of a new Round the ADs are
rolled again by all players, and new reinforce-
ment waves might be added to the available
forces of each player.
The completion of scenarios’ objectives is
always checked at the end of each Round, and
most scenarios last a maximum of six Rounds.

Example of a 60-points Tech warband. Note that the cards in the example are from version 1.0 and will be up-
dated in the next release of the manual.
10

Types of Cards
Cards are used to represent Units, Support abil-
ities, and Characters to be attached to Units.
Each Unit card is used to track the stats of some
miniatures in the game, while Support and
Character cards do not have a miniature to
represent them on the battlefield but are just as
important for an effective warband.
All cards have a cost in Points on the top-right
corner. Players build their warbands with a total
Point cost as a target (usually 60 Points), and
purchase cards up to that value.
For Units and Characters the cost is also used to
calculate the penalty for casualties at the end of
a battle.
During the game the cards are either on the
A Unit and a Character attached to it.
table (representing “available” troops and
resources deployed or ready to be deployed) or
Units Characteristics
assigned to a reinforcement wave, depending
on how the chosen Scenario divides the total Each Unit card lists four characteristics:
points of the army between the Rounds. • Command (Cmd): the number of other
Units Units that can be commanded to activate
after this Unit’s activation.
There are three types of Units in the game:
Infantry, Mechs and Vehicles. • Defense (Def): the threshold to hit the Unit
with an attack.
Units can be composed of one or more bases
(mostly the case for Infantry Units), and are rep- • Save: the die type rolled to counter every
resented by a card which the controlling player hit, and the amount of dice rolled: the high-
should keep on their side of the table. Multiple est result is used for the Save.
Units of the same kind still require a card each, • Movement (Move): The distance (in DUs)
because the card is used both to track Actions that a Unit can move in one Action.
and damages of the Unit during the battle.
Special Actions
Units can either be Deployed (in play), in a
Other than performing standard Actions (see
Reinforcement wave, or in Reserve (available for
the Activating Units paragraph in the next chap-
deploy)
 11

ter), Units can often perform unique Actions When dice are reduced or increased by one
during their turn. category, replace the die with one of a lower or
Some might require placing one or more Acti- higher number of faces. For example, a d8 can
vation Dice, others are free. be reduced to d6 or increased to d10.
All special Actions (even free Actions!) count d6s cannot be reduced and d12s cannot be
toward the limit of two Actions a Unit can take increased.
during one activation: therefore, if a Unit has Measuring Conventions
three or four special Actions it’s unlikely that
they’ll be able to perform all of them. Since bases can be of any shape, as a standard
distances between bases are measured from their
Special Rules centers, and pre-measuring distances is always
Many units in the game have special rules that allowed; the center of the base should also be used
apply to them. These are listed in the bottom of to determine the Line of Sight between models.
the Card and can affect how a Unit performs However, if a group prefers to use a different
Actions, moves or fights. convention the game should work just as well,
The Damage Chart as long as it is agreed by the players.
Most Units in FSD track their status during the Scenarios
battle through a Damage Chart. Representing Battles in FSD are organized in scenarios. Each
the types of damage each Unit can receive on will present starting conditions for the table,
different subsystems and the severity of each, point limitations for the factions, and other nec-
the Damage Chart allows to characterize differ- essary boundaries.
ent profiles.
Scenarios are essential to create a driving force
Refer to the Damage Rolls paragraph in the in the game, pushing towards the dynamics that
Combat chapter for the Damage Chart rules. the players are looking for in the game.
Not all units have a Damage Chart, such as Victory cards also provide players with an in-
most Infantry Units. When a Unit without a complete view of how the game is going: rather
Damage Chart receives one damage remove than gaining Victory Points directly, each player
one base of the Unit. draws from their own deck of nine Victory Cards
Combat when completing scenario objectives.
Combat is performed in two steps: first an Victory cards award a variable number of Victo-
attacking Unit must surpass the target’s Defense ry Points and are kept hidden, so an element of
value with one or more dice, then the defenders uncertainty remains until the end of the game,
must roll the Save dice (one or more) to counter when all the cards are revelaled.
each successful hit, rolling equal to or higher Battle Setup
than the hit result.
Most scenarios will indicate the portion of the
Players will also require a few (two to four) d6, players’ armies that will start as reinforcements.
d8, d10 and d12 which will be used to deter- Both players then choose which of their cards
mine the outcome of combat. will begin as reinforcements and in what order.
Dice Roll Conventions Reinforcement cards are then placed face-up
to the side of the gaming area and will become
Many weapons roll more than one die when
Reserves later on.
used: a weapon with 3d8 of damage will roll
three eight-sided dice. Each die roll is treated The cards available at the beginning of the
individually (not added together) and could lead game are placed on the players’ sides of the
to one or more successful hits against the target. table. Players then alternate setting up one of
their Units at a time in the deployment area
In some cases (such as defense Save rolls)
described in the scenario, with the exception of
several dice are rolled but only the highest
transporting Units that can be placed together
result is used. The number between parentheses
with the transported Units.
indicates how many dice should be rolled. For
example, a tank with armor d10(2) will roll two Any Unit that is not set up at the beginning of
ten-sided dice and choose the highest value. the game is considered in Reserve and can be
deployed later on.
12

PREPARATION Unit card showing only the top half containing

relevant rules and Actions.
Before starting the first Round of the game
players must prepare all the components for the Place the figures on their corresponding cards
game. for ease of tracking until they are deployed.
Setting up the Table Players shuffle their personal deck of nine Victo-
ry cards and place it in front of them face down.
The scenario will specify where terrain should
be placed to provide cover and to block paths Next to it they place their reinforcement Wave
for troops. Decks face up in the order they wish to deploy
them during the game, so that players can
There is no specific rule to place terrain but the always see what cards are going to be available
easiest way to guarantee a fair battleground is in the upcoming Rounds.
to have one player prepare the table and the
other choosing which side to play on. Unit Set-Up
It is important that players agree on the differ- Starting from the player with lowest maximum
ent properties of the terrain elements, such as command value among the Deployed Units,
visibility and movement rules, as listed in the players alternate placing the Unit on the table
Terrain chapter. one at a time in the available deployment areas
indicated by the scenario.
Placing Objectives
Players can choose to keep some of the avail-
The objectives of a scenario are placed accord- able Units off the table as Reserves at the be-
ing to the provided instructions. However, minor ginning of the game and to deploy them in later
differences in terrain could create an advantage rounds (see in the next chapter).
for one side. Alternate between players on plac-
ing objectives, and discuss their position until This choice is generally less convenient because
agreed upon by all. the Units can perform fewer Actions when
deploying during the game but it can provide a
Cards and Models tactical advantage.
Each player must place their force’s available Activation Dice
cards on their side of the table.
All ADs are placed in the Spent pile before the
Cards representing Characters that are as- beginning of the game.
signed to Units should be placed behind the
 13

THE GAME ROUND Moving Activation Dice

The Round Sequence In a standard game each player has an AD Pool
of 12 and an AD Capacity of 8. ADs are used
Each Round is divided into the following phases,
to activate Units, react with them, and to per-
which are discussed in more detail in the follow-
form Actions.
ing chapters:
All ADs are either:
1: Initiative Roll • On card slots: either on special Actions for
The winner of the roll determines which player Units, on Support cards or on Characters.
will start activating first. • In the Ready Pile: available to be used to
2: Adding Reinforcements activate Units and perform Actions
Reinforcement waves are added to the players’ • In the Spent Pile: ready to be rolled in
Reserves, available to be deployed. future Rounds or through Support cards.
3: Activation Dice Roll Spent ADs cannot be used for anything until
Players roll a number of ADs up to the AD they are rolled again. When rolled, ADs are
capacity for the scenario (usually 8) from the moved to the Ready pile, and can be assigned
Spent pile. Players can choose to re-roll any either during the pre-assigning (phase 4) or
number of them once. during the alternating activations (phase 5).

The rolled ADs are added to the Ready pile. Initiative Roll
This phase is particularly important for the Both players roll a d6 each adding the highest
game, since the Ready ADs are necessary to Command value of their deployed Units. Units
activate Units, to react with them, and to per- that are removed from the table, Pinned or
form all kinds of special actions. in Reserve are ignored for this purpose.
4: Pre-Assigning ADs The winner of this roll gets to activate first.
Before alternating activations all players can Note that Characters can increase the Com-
choose to place some of the Ready ADs. This mand of the Units they are in, improving chanc-
allows players who did not win the initiative to es of winning the initiative.
be able to use special Actions while reacting Reinforcements
with their Units. It is however wise not to assign
The scenario you are playing specifies in which
too many ADs in this phase.
Rounds players get reinforcements. All the cards
See the Placing ADs on Cards paragraph. in the reinforcement wave are then placed in
5: Alternating Activations front of the player and are available to use.
Players alternate taking turns. Before each The new Units do not get placed on the table
turn the active player can place more ADs on immediately, but are considered in Reserve
cards. available to be deployed (see Deploying Units).
This phase is where most of the time is spent Activation Dice Roll
each Round. Turns alternate until all players All players roll a number of ADs up to the AD
pass in a row. Activated Units have their cards Capacity for the current game from the Spent
marked (usually by rotating them) and ADs pile.
that are spent for activations and Actions are
moved to the Spent pile. Excess ADs reimain in the Spent pile.

See the Alternating Activations paragraph. Then, select any number of those ADs and re-
roll them once. The second roll stands as is. The
6: End of the Round dice are then placed in the Ready pile.
When ending the Round the activated Unit Pre-Assigning ADs
cards are unmarked. Then, any Ready AD can
now be placed on the cards slots to be used Players choose any number of the rolled ADs
the next Round, or can be put in the Spent pile and place them on cards. This allows the player
instead. who didn’t win the initiative to be able to better
react from the very beginning of the game.
See the End of the Round paragraph.
14

Alternating Activation
Starting with the player winning the Initiative
Roll, players alternate taking turns.
Each turn the active player can place any num-
ber of Ready ADs on cards slots, then perform
one of the following:
• Deploy a Unit
(See Deploying Units, page 14)
• Activate a Unit in play
(See Activating Units, page 15)
• Activate a Support card
(See Support Cards, page 17)
• Pass (See below)
The player this Round needed in particular to perform
Passing a 1+2 ability with a Unit and has another 3 Units re-
quiring a 5-6 to use their main weapon.
A player may choose to pass their turn. Players
This result of the roll of 8 ADs isn’t great: only two
may pass their chance to activate any number ADs are within 5 and 6. The player re-rolls five dice
of times during a Round. If all players pass in a (in red): with the new results they can now perform all
row, the Round moves to the End of the Round the actions needed (in yellow and green). The remain-
ing dice will still be useful to activate the Units.
phase.
for Reactions and triggered abilities (see in the
Placing ADs on Cards
Combat section).
During each activation the active player can
Activation Dice Roll
place any number of Ready Activation Dice on
any of their cards’ AD slots: an AD placed on a Units that are not placed on the table during the
special Action slot can be used to activate that game preparation and that are not part of the
ability when the Unit activates. ADs can be also upcoming reinforcement decks are considered
placed on Support cards or Character cards as in Reserve, and could be deployed as an
when AD slots are present. activation.
Placed ADs cannot be moved again during this A Unit is deployed by placing it in any valid De-
Round, but placing them in advance is useful ployment Area allowed by the scenario (such as
a table edge or an area around certain objec-
tives) and is immediately activated, but perform
one Action less that it would in a normal

At the end of the previous Round the player had two

ADs left on their cards and one Ready.
When the new Round begins, they replenish their
Ready dice up to their Capacity, which is generally 8.
The total number of ADs that the player has is deter-
mined by the AD pool, and is generally 12. The active player, while activating a card can place
The player then rolls the 8 ADs, and depending on dice on the card’s slots (A), on any Character’s slots
what results they prefer, decides to re-roll some. (B), and at the same time dice to other cards (C and D).
 15

activation.Note that no ADs are required to once per Round, with the exception of Move-
deploy a Unit from Reserve. ment.
By default a Unit cannot be deployed from While activating a Unit you can also use any
Reserve closer than 2 DU from an opponent. If ability of a Character assigned to the Unit, if
there are no points on the table that fulfill this necessary spending ADs for that. Those abilities
condition the Unit cannot be deployed at all. If do not count in the two Actions limit.
the terrain allows it, the bases of the Unit can be Once a Unit has been activated in the Round it
deployed in cover. cannot be activated again or react until the next
Special Actions or Support cards allow Units Round: rotate the card to indicate that the Unit
to be deployed outside the normal Deploment has used its activation.
Areas. In particular, disembarking from a trans- Movement
port counts as deployment and the bases are
placed as close as possible to the transport. Movement is performed in consecutive straight
lines of up to 1 DU each.
In these cases there are no limits regarding the
distance from opposing Units. For instance, a Unit with movement 3 will be
able to break each Move Action in three seg-
Activating Units ments of 1 DU each (or a fraction of it), chang-
To activate a Unit the player must have at least ing direction at the beginning of each segment.
one AD in their Ready pile, and move it to the A Unit is allowed to perform multiple movement
Spent pile.
When a Unit is activated it may perform up
to two Actions. The possible Actions are:
• Movement: it is the only Action that could
be performed more than once.
• Unpin: if the Unit is pinned, this Action must
be performed before anything else
• Control an Objective: necessary to win the
game. See the Playing a Scenario chapter.
• A special Action: Any Action listed on a
Unit card. Multiple special Actions can be
performed, but each counts toward the two
actions limit. Note that free actions also
count towards the limit.
Some special Actions on the Unit card present
one or more square slots with a numeric range
in it: to perform those Actions the player must
have placed ADs with a value within the range
in the slot. All the other Actions can be per- The Socrates has several Special Actions to choose
formed without spending extra ADs. from: The Light MG doesn’t require extra ADs; the
Rocket Pods requires a 1 and a 2; the Light Cannon
An Action must be performed by all the bases requires an AD with a value between 4 and 6, and an
of the Unit. Each action can be performed only AD between 1 and 2 allows the Unit to jump with one
action!
16

Actions during a single activation. However, all

movement Actions after the first are re-
duced by 1 DU, to a minimum of 1 DU.
Moving Close to Opponents
A Unit with a movement path crossing within
1 DU of any opposing Unit can either end its
Movement action immediately or move directly
towards that Unit.
A Unit which begins its movement Action with-
in 1 DU of an opposing Unit may use the first
movement segment to move out of the oppos-
ing Unit’s 1 DU control area.
This rule applies only if there are no terrain
elements blocking the Line of Sight or imped-
The last segment of the movement of a vehicle deter-
ing the movement between the two Units, or if mines its facing.
the unit is Flying or Jumping. In such cases the
opponent unit can be ignored. the last movement segment.
Unpin For example, a tank with movement 3DU run-
ning in a straight line will be facing the direction
A Unit that is pinned (see the Pinning paragraph
of the line. However, if the tank wants to change
in the next chapter) must unpin before being
facing it could move 2DU in a straight line and
able to perform any other Action.
then use the last DU to perform a small move-
The Unpin Action removes the pinned status ment in another direction or even to rotate in
from the Unit. place.
Unit Coherence Transporting Units
At the end of a movement Action, all bases in A Unit capable of transporting other troops can
multi-base Units must be within 1 DU of anoth- perform an Action to load or unload one or
er base in the Unit. more other Units. In case of multiple Units, the
If this is no longer true (the base in the middle Load/Unload action can be performed once for
might get killed), the Unit becomes immediately all the transported Units.
Pinned. Units can start the game in a transport, either
Movement and Facing Deployed or as Reserves. Transported Units
should be kept next to the transport card, and
For some Units it is important how the base is are not considered in play until Unloaded.
facing at the end of their activation.
Unloading a Unit is a Deploy Action: the un-
Most Units can change their facing in any direc- loaded Unit is placed in contact with the trans-
tion before every 1DU segment of a Movement porting Unit or as close as possible to it, and it
Action and will end the Action in the direction of
 17

will activate immediately and will perform one

Action less than usual.
To load a Unit it must not be activated already
this Round and cannot be pinned, and all of its
bases must be within 1 DU from the transport.
The Unit is immediately removed from the table
and is considered to be in the transport.
If the transporting Unit is destroyed, the trans-
ported Unit will receive an attack of one die per
base, with dice of the same category as the hit
that destroyed the transport.
For example, if an Enlisted transport that is
carrying one Unit of Infantrymen is killed by a A tank (which has Command 2) when activating can
hit from a 2d8 cannon, the Infantryment will re- activate the other two Units around it. If the Walker
(Command 1) gets activated first, however, will only
ceive an 1d8 for each base, for a total of 3d8. activate one other Unit!
If the Unit survives, it is placed right oustide of
the destroyed transporting Unit, and it will be The set-up of weapons is generally a require-
considered as activated and pinned. ment for the weapon Action to be performed,
and the token is removed as soon as the unit
Commanding Units performs a movement Action or is Pinned.
Units with a Command value can issue com- Units start the game without any action pre-
mands to as many other Units as their Com- pared.
mand value, activating them while saving ADs:
units do not require ADs to be activated Prepared actions will list the conditions upon
through commanding. which the “prepared” token is lost, such as trig-
gering event or receiving a Pinned status.objec
After declaring which Units to command, the
activated Unit performs all of its Actions, and Support Cards
the other Units are then activated in any order. To activate a Support card from the table a
The commanded Units must have at least one player must spend the required number of ADs.
base in Line of Sight and within 2 DU of the If no AD slot is present on the card, the card
commanding Unit. A Unit activated by a com- can be used without spending any AD.
mand cannot use its command value to activate After being activated the card cannot be used
other Units in that activation. again until the next Round. Slightly rotate the
Prepared Actions card to indicate that the Support card has used
its activation.
Some Special Actions on Unit Cards feature a
square slot the right side where a token can be Cards with the “Single Use” keyword or requir-
placed to mark the actions as “prepared”. ing to “discard the card” after use are removed
from play after being activated and cannot be
Prepared Actions can be setting up weapon sys- used again.
tems, loading energy shields or reactive armors.
End of the Round
All the ADs placed on Unit cards that have not
been used may be left in place for the next
Round.
When the Round ends, all the Units and Support
cards that have been used are unmarked, and
Ready ADs can be placed on any Unit or Sup-
port card.
Players may remove any dice from their cards
and place them in the Spent AD pile.
18

COMBAT
Line of Sight
Shooting is performed from the individual bases
of the shooting Unit towards any base of the
target Unit that is in line of sight.
A target base is in line of sight if a line can
be traced from any point of it to the center
of the shooting base without intersecting any
LoS-blocking terrain elements such as buildings
or rock formations.
Enemy Units’ bases may count as LoS-blocking
elements to determine targeting: Infantry bas-
es behind any enemy Unit cannot be targeted,
vehicles and mech can be targeted through
Infantry, and Behemoths can only hide behind
The Support Vehicle activates using both the MG and
other Behemoths. the Light Cannon. It rolls 3d6 for the former scoring a
In multi-base Units, a player chooses which 2, 3, 6, and 2d6 AP1 for the latter scoring a 2 and a 5.

base will be the shooting base performing the The target tank receives two hit (the 2s and 3 miss),
and must save with the 2d10 armor against the 6.
Action when determining Line of Sight. Some Against the cannon (AP1) it rolls only 1d10, becoming
Actions will be marked with a “per base” key- more vulnerable.
word to indicate that each base of the Unit will
perform the Action, if within range and Line of Save Roll
Sight. For each hit the target Unit performs a Save Roll
Shooting Roll to avoid damage.
Shooting is performed by rolling a number of The defender rolls the type and number of dice
dice of the type indicated by the weapon profile. indicated by the Unit card Defense stat, and
Each roll that is equal to or greater than the chooses the highest among the values. If the
target Defense is a hit. chosen value is equal to or higher than the
hit roll, the hit is canceled.
The die result for each hit is important for
resolving the save roll, as explained in the next Continuing the example above, if the target is
paragraph. another vehicle with Defense d8(2) it will roll
2d8 for each successful hit:
For example: A light vehicle shooting with its
machinegun rolls 3d6 against a target with • To save against the 4 the rolls are 3, 7: the
Defense 4. The rolls are a 2, a 4 and a 6. The 4 hit is canceled!
and 6 result in Two hits! • To save against the 6 the rolls are 4, 5: the
hit is not canceled.
Each non-canceled hit results in one damage.
Units with no Armor cannot cancel hits, and the
damage is directly applied to them.
Armor Piercing
Weapons with the “AP” keyword reduce the dice
number in the target’s Save rolls by X,, to a
minimum of one die. An AP1 weapon reduces
the save dice rolls by one, an AP2 weapon by
two, and so forth. All weapons used in Close
Combat also provide an AP1 bonus.
CC and Weapon bonuses do not stack.
 19

Multiple Attacks
Some offensive actions might have a x2, x3 or
any other multiplier next to their name.
This indicate that when performed the attack
will be rolled multiple times. The target of each
attack can be different but must be declared be-
forehand, and then all the attacks are resolved
at once.
This still counts as a single action and can cause
only one Reaction.
Vehicles Side
For Vehicles Save rolls against hits originating
Infantry in contact with most buildings and structures
from the side and rear have their dice reduce by is consider in cover in a 360° arc (A).
one category. Walls and barricades provide only cover in the direc-
tion they’re intersecting the line of sight (B and C).
A vehicle’s front is considered to be the 180
degrees arc in the direction it is facing, across Agree with your opponent regarding terrain covers on
the table before the game.
the front of the model. Every other direction is
considered a side. Reactions and is not counted for scenario objec-
tive purposes.
For example: a Unit with armor 1d8(2) would
roll 1d6(2) against attacks from the sides. A model cannot be pinned if it is already
pinned. The pinning status remains until an
Different rules apply for larger war machines, Unpin Action is performed by the Unit.
as discussed in the Behemoths chapter.
Weapons Range
Cover
As long as the target is in line of sight all weap-
Cover provides additional defense to models by ons can fire up to twice their range value in
increasing the Unit’s Defense. DU.
Vehicles and Mechs get +1 Defense bonus If firing from a range greater than the weap-
when in Cover, and Infantry receives a +2 on’s range characteristic, increase the target’s
Defense bonus when in Cover. Defense value by one.
There are various kinds of cover provided by the Some long-range weapons will have a mini-
terrain (see the Terrain chapter) that affect Units mum range value too: any of the opponent’s
in different ways. In general infantry Units can bases that are closer than that range cannot be
make better use of terrain, with higher Defense targeted.
bonuses and being able to move across dense
terrain where Mechs and Vehicles would be Triggering Reactions
stuck. An unactivated Unit may react when it is de-
Cover is ignored if the shooter is within 1 DU clared as the target of a ranged attack, or when
from the target (see the Close Combat Para- an opponent’s Unit performs a movement while
graph) or if the attacker’s weapon has the in line of sight, as long as the controlling player
Ignore Cover (IC) keyword. has at least one Ready AD to use for the Reac-
tion.
Pinning
Even though some Units could potentially trig-
Mechs and Vehicles are pinned when a hit is not ger several opponent Units to react with a single
saved and a damage roll is required. Action, only one Reaction can be triggered
An Infantry Unit is pinned when it receives a Hit, at a time. The controller of the triggered Units
even if the hit is saved. decides whether to react and which Unit to react
with. However, a Unit performing two Actions
A pinned model must spend an Action to Unpin
could trigger two Reactions from two different
and cannot perform any other Action as long
Units.
as it is pinned.
As long as a model is pinned it cannot perform
20

Reacting Units both side could choose to react to the first shot
fired in a chain of Reactions.
When a Unit reacts it can only perform one
Action. After reacting the Unit is marked as ac- Just like in the case of a single Reaction all the
tivated and all ADs used for the activation and combat Actions are resolved at the same time,
the performed Action are moved to the Spent and then the effects are applied to all the Units
ADs pile. Characters’ abilities can be used in involved. Note that, as mentioned before be-
this phase, and are not counted in the one fore, an Action can trigger only one Reaction.
Action limit. The Unit cannot activate or react Deploying as Reaction
again this Round. When reacting to an oppos-
ing Unit’s movement the reacting player may A Unit might choose to deploy other Units (ei-
choose the point along the movement path to ther transported, as Reserves or through other
resolve the reaction. means) as a reaction. The deployed Units get
to activate (as part of the deployment, as usual
Combat results between the acting and reacting performing one action less) but only after all
Units are resolved simultaneously. Both Units the other actions of the active Unit have been
will resolve their Actions and results will be ap- performed.
plied at the same time.
Close Combat
Pinning from Reactions
Any Unit may perform a normal ranged com-
A Unit could trigger an opponent Reaction in its bat Action as a Close Combat attack against a
first Action, and as a result end up pinned. target within 1 DU. Weapons with the Contact
That Unit must Unpin with the next Action avail- keyword can only perform an attack when the
able, which could be performed in the same Unit is in base contact with its target.
Activation. Close Combat attacks gain AP1 (save rolls
For example, a Unit might choose to move to are reduced by 1 die) and Ignores Cover.
get in range, planning to shoot in the second Multi-base Unit
Action of the Round. If that Unit is pinned, it
won’t be able to shoot this Round but it will As long as a multi-base Unit has at least one
immediately unpin instead. base, it can perform all the special Actions that
are listed on the Unit’s card.
An individual movement Action that triggers a
Reaction can still be concluded after the shoot- If a multi-base Unit receives more than one suc-
ing rolls, regardless of the pinned status. cessful hit in an attack, start applying the dam-
age from the closest base from the opponent: if
Multiple Reactions a base is removed move to the next one.
A Unit performing an Action as a Reaction could Only bases within the shooter’s line of sight
trigger another Unit’s Reaction too. For exam- may be removed this way, including bases that
ple, in a standoff situation multiple Units from are in cover.

When reacting while shot by A, the Unit could decide to shoot back, run away or use other special actions.
If reacting to B running the Unit can choose to shoot at it while in the open.
In any case, if the Unit reacts it will miss the chance to activate later in the turn and perform multiple actions.
 21

Damage Chart
Many units can survive more than one direct hit
but might get damaged in the process.
If a Unit has a Damage Chart, Roll 1D6 for
each damage received.
On the bottom of the card there are several col-
ored damage effect boxes with numbers indicat-
ing the result of the 1d6 roll. Multiple numbers
could refer to the same box: any of the indicat-
ed results will cause the box to be hit.
In the example above, if a first damage roll scores a 4
We recommend using counters to indicate which the vehicle is slowed. At that point, if a second dam-
boxes have been already hit. age roll scores any number other than 6 the vehicle is
removed from play. However, if several damage rolls
A Unit is destroyed when it receives a single will all score 6 the vehicle will ignore the hits and will
simply be pinned every time (if not pinned already).
damage result on a red box, or when it receives
a second damage result on the same orange suffers damage, it is directly removed from the
box. Multiple damage results on green boxes game.
do not have any effect but might still neet to be
Damage to Transported Units
tracked if the effect is different than just PIN.
Any Unit that is being transported by a Unit
Applying Damage
that is being destroyed is immediately deployed
The effects of the damage rolls are listed below, and Pinned, it cannot perform any further
and are applied immediately: action, and will receive an attack of one die of
• DEAD: the model is removed from the the same category as the hit that destroyed the
game transport.
• MOV - Movement damage: the model re- As an example, a Transport receives a 3D6 hit,
ceives -1 movement. and fails to save two hits (a 4 and a 6): both
cause a roll on the Damage Chart, and both
• S1..S4 - System damage: the special Action are successful kills. The transported Unit is
corresponding to the line 1 to 4 is not avail- placed next to the destroyed Unit, marked as
able for the Unit anymore. activated, and receives a 1d6 attack for each
• ARM - Armor damage: the model’s armor base it is composed of.
dice are reduced by one category. Destroyed Vehicles and Mechs
• PIN - the vehicle receives no penalty. Only Once a vehicle is destroyed it is removed from
the normal Pinned effect is applied. the game.
If a System is disabled the corresponding spe- However, if both players agree, the figures
cial Action becomes unusable, and any AD left could be left on the table as terrain that pro-
on the Action’s slots is immediately moved in the vides cover. In this case, no more than 2 infan-
Spent pile. try bases could benefit from the cover bonus of
Units without Damage Chart a destroyed vehicle or mech.
If a base of a Unit without a Damage Chart
22

BUILDING YOUR FORCE Activation Dice

To create their own warband players choose a In a 60 points game players will have an AD
Faction and build up their army list by purchas- Pool of 12, and an AD Capacity of 8, limiting to
ing a mix of card among Units, Supports and 8 the number of ADs rolled each Round.
Characters. In case of different sizes of the game, the AD
The sum of the cost of all the cards of the Pool size is 6 + 2 for every 20 points or fraction
warband should be the same for all players to of it in the band. The AD capacity is 4 less than
guarantee a balanced game. the AD Pool.
The Point System For example, in a 40 points game players will
roll 6 dice per Round with a Pool of 10 ADs; on
The point system implemented in FSD is fair-
a 80 points game players will roll 10 ADs, with
ly simple: its goal is to allow players to have
a Pool of 14.
balanced fights with the warbands they build,
but it is not immune to min-maxing and it does Unit Cards
not guarantee that any warband will be equally The core of the army are the Units. Each is rep-
efficient. resented by one card.
For a standard game of FSD players have 60 A Unit card can have one Character (represent-
points to spend to purchase Units, Characters ed by a Character card) assigned to it. In that
and Supports among what is allowed for their case, place the Character card behind the Unit
faction. card, so that all the Action slots are showing.
Unless specified in the faction rules a player can Similarly, a Unit can be transporting another
build their warband with any combination of Unit, in which case the two cards can be stacked
cards. However, since the number of Activation to represent that.
Dice rolled every Round is fixed, the Actions a
player can do in a Round are limited and a well Character Cards
balanced warband can withstand an unlucky Characters are assigned to a Unit and provide
ADs roll. bonuses and special abilities to it. Characters
do not have their own base, and aren’t as-
signed to one specific base of the Unit either:
they’re considered to be among the troops, and
their effects are applied as long as the Unit is
not completely wiped out.
Only one character can be assigned to a Unit at
any time.
The special abilities that Characters have can
be used during the activation of the Unit, and
do not count in the limit of Actions the Unit can
perform that Round.

A Character card is placed right behind the Unit card,

showing their rules and special actions.
 23

Support Cards
Support cards represent all the element of a
force which are not present on the battlefield,
such as external bombardments or reconnais-
sance information that provides tactical advan-
tages.
During the Alternating Activations phase players
can use one Support Card instead of activating
a Unit.
The support card is then rotated the same way a
Unit would to mark that it is spent for the turn.
If a Support card has ADs slots on it, the re-
quirement must be fulfilled for it to be activated.
Deployment and Reinforcements
The cards of a player’s force are organized
in a number of waves that are determined by
the scenario. Players start the game with a first
group of cards. Units can be set up on the table
before the first Round begins, and the rest are
kept as Reserve, together with any Support Card
At the beginning of each Round, depending
on the scenario, players may gain access to
the cards of a new reinforcement wave: all the
Support Cards can be used and the Units of the
wave are now in Reserve (with Character cards
assigned to them) and can be deployed during
the Alternating Activations phase.
Constructing Wave Decks
The scenario will specify the maximum number
of points that may be available (deployed or
ready to deploy) each Round. Before the game
players organize their force’s cards into wave
decks. Wave decks cannot be organized in a
way that the total allowed points for a Round The same cards can be organized in different Wave
Decks, as long as the maximum point value each
would be exceeded. Wave decks should be Round is not exceeded. In the examples the points
placed face up in the order they are intended per wave are 28, 37, 49, 60 (left) and 29, 36, 48, 60
(right).
to be used. The order of Wave Decks cannot be
changed freely during the game. Each Round the points are within the allowed limits.
24

TERRAIN
The role of terrain elements in Full Spectrum
Dominance is crucial: not only does it provide
cover for the Units, but it can transform the
small gaming area into a labyrinth of different
paths, and, ultimately, choices for the players.
Knowing your Terrain
In this chapter we’ll briefly describe the charac-
teristics that each terrain element can have, and
how those affect various types of Units in the
game.
Before a game, the most important thing is that
all players are aware of the properties of each
element on the table: some buildings could be case of multiple pieces of terrain glued together,
passable for infantry, a low-ceiling shanty might all players must agree on how to split them to
or might not provide cover for vehicles, and so apply the terrain rules.
forth. Visibility Through Terrain
The two main properties of terrain are visibility In Full Spectrum Dominance Line of Sight is not
and movement. Apply these categories to the measured using the actual height of the models
terrain elements of your battlefield with a grain and the terrain but rather looking at the center
of salt, and make sure that everyone agrees of the Units’ bases and the shape of the terrain
about them. on the table.
Terrain Elements Terrain can have three kind of visibility:
There are no strict rules on the size of each ter- • See-through, such as a mesh fence. This
rain element. Some players might prefer to have kind of terrain does not affect the firefight.
each building (and even each piece of scatter
terrain!) as a separate piece, other players • Obscuring, such as a corrugated iron fence
instead base their terrain on larger bases, each or a low brick wall.
representing a whole city block or a hill. Obscuring terrain does not block the LoS
entirely but provides cover bonuses for most
When referring to terrain elements , this means Units being targeted.
a single distinguishable piece of terrain, like a
5-10 cm long wall or an individual building. In • LoS-Blocking, such as a building at least
one story tall.
 25

is not cumulative and the bonus is only applied

once regardless of the other terrain elements
between target and attacker.
Similarly, if a target Unit’s model is only partial-
ly visible while hidden behind a LoS-blocking
terrain element, it is considered as in cover as
described in the Behind the Corner paragraph.
Infantry Cover
In addition to the usual conditions for cover,
Infantry Units are considered in cover in the
following cases:
If in base contact with any Traversable
terrain a base of the Unit is considered to be
interacting with the edge of the terrain element,
which provides cover from all directions.
Most of the larger terrain in the game that is not
a wall or a sealed-off building should be treated
Moving across terrain elements, depending on the as Traversable.
shape of the terrain, can change the position of the
Unit considerably. If within a Broken and Obscuring terrain
The infantry base in the example can move right area the Unit can use its adaptive nature to
across the wall (A), move through the Traversable make use of the obstacles around to gain cover
building (B), but cannot move through the building for
more than 1DU (C). from all directions.
Behind the Corner
Cover from Terrain
In addition to the rules of visibility, LoS-Blocking
As explained in the Combat chapter, Cover has terrain can provide cover (behaving just like
an effect on the Defense value of a target: Obscuring Terrain) when hiding only part of the
+1 Defense for Vehicles and Mechs target model base.
+2 Defense for Infantry. Similarly, when a model is on top of a raised
If one or more Obscuring terrain elements are terrain element, it is considered in cover by
in the line between a shooting Unit and its tar- opponents at lower levels if it is touching the
get, the latter is considered as in cover. edge of the ground, and is otherwise out of Line
of Sight. This is clearly a simplification and it
If a Unit is in contact with an Obscuring terrain, might not reflect reality depending on the height
it can ignore it when shooting through it, but it of the different ground levels and the size of the
receives the cover bonus when shot at. models. Players should agree on what counts as
Note that cover from multiple terrain elements raised ground before the game.
26

• Traversable terrain, such as buildings or

ruins, can be crossed by Infantry. Since
some Traversable terrain elements could be
connected lines of buildings, it is reasonable
to split them into areas no longer than 1DU.
Traversable terrain also provides special
cover benefits for Infantry (see the Infantry
Cover paragraph).
• Fragile terrain, such as a wooden fences or
other improvised barricades, can be ignored
by vehicles (bashing through it) and can be
crossed by Infantry and Mechs.
Fighting through Terrain
It is possible for Infantry units to find themselves
on two sides of the same pice of Traversable
terrain.
In this situation neither side can easily cross on
the other side, but both Units are considered
to be fighting within the building: both sides
can attack, but they are both considered as in
Cover, even if technically closer than 1 DU from
each other.
Contact weapons can also be used in this
particular case, as it’s considered that Units are
fighting each other in contact within the terrain
element.
Lastly, weapons with an Area cannot be used
while fighting through terrain elements, since
they would hit both sides in the process.
Strongpoints
Some buildings or fortified positions can be
used by infantry as bunkers. This could repre-
sent concrete fortifications, notable buildings, or
Movement across Terrain military outposts.
Separate to visibility, the movement property
describes how different terrain features affect
how Units travel through it in different ways and
which Units are able to move through it at all.
Crossing one terrain element (be it a wall
section or a building) always requires 1DU of
movement, and the maximum a Unit can move
to cross a piece of terrain is 1DU.
When a Unit crosses a terrain element, its bases
are placed on the other side of the element.
In terms of movement terrain can be:
• Impassable terrain, such as tall walls or
rocky formations, which cannot be crossed
by any Unit. Only Units which can jump or
fly can move over the obstacle. The Robots in front of the building are actually consid-
ered as in Cover, but the Mech isn’t.
 27

When in contact to such terrain elements Infan- scuring, Infantry is considered in Cover as long
try Units are always considered in Cover (even as within an area of Broken terrain.
when in Close Combat) and gain the Soft Target Scenario Terrain
ability.
In addition to the rules of this chapter terrain
If all players agree some Strongpoints could elements can have other special properties de-
even contain one or more Units inside, in a fined in scenarios.
similar way to transport vehicles. Entering and
exiting the Building would require 1 DU of Some of the most common are:
movement. • Terrain elements being objectives that can
Broken Terrain be controlled by being in base contact from
any point of it.
Broken terrain represents areas of terrain where
movement is difficult. Broken terrain cannot • Terrain elements that can be occupied by
have any other movement property, but it can infantry (bunkers, tunnel entrances), usually
be transparent (a sandbank), Obscuring (a set by marking them and removing the infantry
of dense ruins) or LoS-blocking (A dense forest from the table temporarily, so that several
canopy). bases can fit in a relatively small terrain
element.
Broken terrain can be ignored by Infantry and
Mechs, but Vehicles movement is reduced by • Terrain elements that can be destroyed and
1 DU when they move across Broken terrain, usually have an armor Save roll and possi-
or start their movement action within a Broken bly one or more hit points.
terrain area.
Unlike the other types of terrain, units can be
placed within an area of Broken terrain. If Ob-

Examples of Terrain

Urban Barricades: Traversable, Fragile, Obscuring

Rocky Wall: Impassable, LoS-blocking

Scatter Rubble: Broken, Fragile, Obscuring

City Buildings: Traversable, LoS-blocking Open Hangar: Broken, Obscuring

28

Tiled Terrain
Since all the distances are measured in DUs, a
game of FSD can be played on tiles rather than
using a ruler. Assuming that the size of each tile
equals 1 DU, measuring distances and moving
Units can be managed by simply counting the
number of tiles traversed.
Interacting with the terrain inside each tile, how-
ever, requires players to choose where to posi-
tion each model within a tile: all rules of cover
and contact with terrain elements apply just as
it would for a normal game, and Line of Sight is
calculated normally as well.
Any movement within the same tile (such as get-
ting into cover) would count as a 1 DU move-
ment, and terrain elements can be placed either
inside a tile or on the edge between two, to act
as cover or to slow down movements.
It is important that any piece of terrain is placed
in a way that it generates no doubts on which
tile it affects: before the game all players should
agree on the terrain properties of every part of
the table. A tiled terrain has the advantage of abstraction, to the
point of playing a game of FSD as a hex-and-counter
Corner Tiles traditional wargame!
In case of a grid there are tiles that touch diag-
onally only by a corner. To measure distances Abstract Games
and handle movement in such cases, diagonal If players desire so, it is possible to play FSD on
movements are allowed but any second diago- a more abstract level. A tiled map with terrain
nal tile counts as 2 DU instead of 1 DU. printed on it can be used together with counters
With this solution moving through diagonals or representing bases of Units for a faster albeit
straight allows Units to cover similar distances. possibly less immersive experience.
In such case, movements within the tile should
not be allowed, and all cover and Line of Sight
between two tiles should be calculated based
on whether the centers of the two intersect the
terrain element or not.

If all diagonals count as 1 DU (A) all areas end up

being squares. With any second diagonal counting as
2 DU the distances resemble circles more closely. Even a tiled battlefield can have a convincing look!
 29

BEHEMOTHS
Througout this manual we have discussed the
rules to play with Infantry, Mechs, and Vehicles,
as well as the use of Characters and Support
cards.
One additional element of the game, particu-
larly suited for veteran players who want to add
one more level of complexity to the game, are
the Behemoths.
Towering mechanical monsters, giant vehicles
or self-propelled fortresses, Behemoths are the
largest war machines of Full Spectrum Domi-
nance. They are not typically found in common
warbands and indeed require mutual agree-
ment between the players for their use, given
that they drastically shift the game dynamics
by on one hand introducing a nearly invincible
Unit and on the other consuming most of the
warband’s points.
However, Behemoths are also an excellent way
to play asymmetric games, using nearly the
same mechanics of the rest of the Units while
providing a very different game experience.
Behemoths as Units Example of cards to play a large Behemoth. Around
the Core in the center there are three Systems and one
A Behemot Unit behaves similarly to a Vehicle: Attachment.
it is comprised of a single base and follows the
same rules in terms of objectives control and Core, Systems and Attachments
interaction with the terrain, but it does not use
the simple facing rules of vehicles. Instead, Unlike the rest of the Units in Full Spectrum
attacks directed towards a Behemoth can affect Dominance, Behemoths are composed of mul-
different Systems depending on the facing of the tiple cards, which are defined as Core, Systems
Unit. and Attachments.
30

One card, the Core, represents the heart of

the Unit, and has all the characteristics that
you would find on a Vehicle card. In the bot-
tom part, a list of Systems and Attachments are
listed. Most Behemoths offer options regarding
both Attachments and/or Systems: the Tech’s
Plato Crawling Platform, for instance, has three
different weapon options, while the Enlisted’s
Land Battleship has two options for the front
System.
If the Core is destroyed, the Behemoth is re-
moved from the game.
Systems behave similarly to the Core, with the
exception that they don’t have a movement
value, nor can be activated separately (except
for Reactions). Systems have special Actions that
allow for additional firepower or support abili-
ties, usually with ranges of fire that are limited
by the large size of the Behemoth.
Attachments represent parts of the Behemoth
that are not large enough to be considered
as individual targets, but are still autonomous
enough to require a separate card.
Activating a Behemoth
The Plato Core, front and Right Armor have been acti-
Activating a Behemoth requires the use of 1 AD vated, but the Left Armor and the Weapons array At-
just like any other Unit. The activation allows for tachment can still react to enemy moving within range.
the Core to perform two Actions, and it allows Remember to spend one AD when a component reacts!
for the free activation of any number of Systems decided not to use one System or Attachment
and Attachments. Each of those can perform up can still react with that System by spending
to two Actions during the Round, behaving like one extra AD. Similarly, a Behemoth System or
a separate Unit. Attachment could be used to react earlier in the
Regardless, unspent Actions of the Core or any Round, and the Core of the behemoth can still
other part of the Behemoth cannot be allocated activate, activating the rest of the Systems and
to other parts of it. Attachments with it.
When activating a Behemoth the controlling Limits to the Movement
player can decide to not activate some of the
The movement value for the Behemoth is listed
Systems, and this will allow for them to react
only in the Core card.
later in the Round. Note that the Attachments
must always be activated together with the Core When the Core is activated, the Behemoth can
and are unable to react. perform movement Actions just like any other
Unit. However, it is limited in turning to a maxi-
Reactions mum of 45° before any 1 DU segment of move-
The Behemoth Core controls all the other parts ment, as opposed to Vehicles that can rotate in
of the Unit and therefore is unable to perform any direction before each 1 DU segment of their
Reactions. movement.
However, any of the Systems that did not acti- This means that a Behemoth moving 2 DU in a
vate in the Round can react following the same single Action will only be able to rotate a total
rules of any other Unit: Upon spending one of 90° during that Action. Even with two move
Ready AD the chosen System can perform one Actions (totaling 3 DU), it won’t be able to turn
Action, and is considered spent for the Round. completely around to face its back.
This means that a Behemoth which activated but This limitation reflects the Behemoth’s massive
 31

size and the difficulty of maneuvering such a Damages to Attachments

large war machine.
Behemoths can have the keyword WPN in their
Receiving Damages Damage Chart. A hit landing in that slot will
Behemoths are very hard to kill. One reason for destroy the attachment marked as WPN (usually
this is that attacks from directions that are pro- the main weapon of the Unit).
tected by Systems will damage the System rather Behemoth Mega-Weapons
than the Core.
The large weapon attachments of most Behe-
Only hits that pass through the System’s Dam- moths are generally capable of very powerful
age Chart (and would thus destroy a normal attacks that require several steps of preparation.
Unit) affect the Core. When that happens, roll
Depending on the weapon, more than one
directly on the Core Damage Chart and apply
Action could be required for the offensive Action
the effects. The System that received the dam-
to be used.
age is not destroyed, and will keep the rest of
the functions as long as the Core is not de- To track the Actions that have already been
stroyed. performed (and in certain cases, the number
of times), there are slots for tokens on the right
When a Behemoth is shot from a direction in
side of the Action name, similar to the set-up
which no System is present (usually the rear),
rule of other Units.
the combat follows the rules of a normal Unit.
Remember that Behemoths do not suffer from Because of the Prepared Actions that are a
the penalties that vehicles have when shot from requirement for the weapon offensive Action, a
behind. single shot of the large weapon might require
more than one Round of preparation, and an
investment of Activation Dice.
Playing with Behemoths
With a whopping cost of 40 points, a large
Behemoth may not fit into many scenarios. The
lighter 20 points light Behemoths are more ver-
satile, and we encourage to field one as center-
piece of experimental lists.
In this manual we provide two scenarios specif-
ically designed for Behemoths, each covering a
different type of conflict: Clash of Titans, where
two Behemoth-rich bands of 80 points each en-
gage in battle, and The Goliath, which focuses
on an asymmetric skirmish waged by regular
forces striving to achieve their objectives while
evading the powerful attacks of their opponents.
32

SPECIAL RULES Camouflage

This chapter lists the special rules that certain If the Unit is in cover it cannot be targeted by
Units might have in their profiles. Special rules distant opponents.
can be either associated to a weapon or special Infantry Units cannot be targeted from greater
Action, or instead appear at the bottom of the than 2 DU away. Vehicle or Mech Units cannot
card, representing a trait of the Unit as a whole. be targeted from greater than 4 DU away.
Additional faction-specific special rules and key- Moreover, the Unit cannot be targeted by
words can be on cards, and those are discussed Support Cards controlled by the opponent that
in the dedicated chapters of the manual. require a Target Unit specifically, unless they are
Agile within range of an Unpinned opponent Unit.
The Unit can move through any terrain element Capable
that does not have the Impassable property The Unit can perform one extra Action per
without any penalty. Round.
Area X (Weapon) Charger
The weapon damages all the models within a After a movement the Unit can perform an extra
circle of diameter X DU around the targeted Action with a weapon with the “Contact” key-
point. Roll one attack for each base that at least word against an enemy in base contact.
partially lies within the circle, including models
While the action does not count to the limit
that are not in Line of Sight from the attacking
of actions, it will still require the use of ADs if
Unit.
necessary and cannot used again during this
Armor Piercing (APX) (Weapon) activation.
The weapon is effective against armored tar- Commander
gets. When saving from a hit, the target Unit The Unit does not require Line of Sight to com-
may only roll X dice less, to a minimum of one. mand other units on the table, and the range of
Blunt commanding is unlimited.
The Unit cannot interact with objectives, neither Contact (Weapon)
to control nor to contest them. The weapon is not ranged, and requires the at-
Furthermore, the Unit cannot impede the move- tacking Unit to be in base contact with a target.
ment of an opponent moving with 1DU from
Disciplined
it (see the Moving Close to Opponents para-
graph). The Unit may activate without spending an AD.
When activated this way Units may only perform
 33

1 Action. The weapon may not be used in the same

The Unit cannot perform Reactions with this Round that this Unit performs a move Action.
ability. Indirect Fire (Weapon)
Evasive The weapon ignores light of sight when de-
When targeting the Unit, any opponent Unit termining valid targets. This weapon suffers a
discard the higher roll of the attack. This means -1 modifier to hit when performing an attack
that a weapon rolling a single dice cannot harm against a target without line of sight.
the unit, and a weapon rolling two dice will Inert
always discard the highest result. The Unit cannot perform reactions.
Fast Ignore Cover (IC) (Weapon)
The Unit does not suffer the -1 DU penalty for The weapon ignores Defense bonuses provided
movement Actions after the first. by cover.
Fire Base Jamming X
The Unit can perform the same “FREE” Action While within X DU of this Unit, opposing Units
more than once per activation. The total limit of may only perform Actions that do not require
Actions per activation still apply. extra ADs to be spent on their cards. This ability
Flying has no effect while this Unit is Pinned.
The Unit can move across any terrain and will Jump X
never be considered in cover. The Unit is capable of performing a long move,
Line of sight from a flying Unit to a non-flying flying above any obstacle, for X DU.
Unit is only blocked by terrain that is closer to
the non-flying Unit. Exception to that (such as
very tall buildings) should be agreed upon by all
the players.
A Unit with Flying can’t interact with objectives
and cannot be hit by weapons with the Contact
keyword.
Hard Shell
When the Unit is hit the controlling player rolls
2D6 for the damage roll and chooses one of
the two results to apply the damage effect.
Cancels out when targeted by a weapon with
the Lethal ability.
Heavy (Weapon)
34

The Unit cannot Command or be Commanded.

Mounted
The infantry unit is considered as a Mech for
cover bonuses and when interacting with objec-
tives: therefore, it’s not considered in cover just
by being in base contact with any terrain ele-
ment and it receives only +1 Def when in cover.
Moreover, the unit cannot be transported.
Suppress (Weapon)
The weapon doesn’t deal damage, but the tar-
get is Pinned if hit, without a Save roll.
Pass Through (Weapon)
The weapon hits everything along the path
A model jumping does not trigger Reactions between the shooter and the target, up to twice
from opposing models along the jump path, but its maximum range. Normal penalties for Long
it does in the take-off and landing locations. Range Fire are applied for targets beyond the
Large Target standard range of the weapon.
When targeted by a Long Range attack, the Unit Per Base (Weapon)
does not receive any Defense bonus. The weapon is equipped to each individual
Moreover, infantry cannot block Line of Sight member of the Unit. When using this Action all
when the Unit is targeted. the bases in the Unit may shoot.
Lethal (Weapon) Selective Fire (Weapon)
Any successful damage with this weapon rolls This weapon ignores enemy Units when deter-
2d6, and the attacker chooses which result to mining line of sight.
apply. Reactive
Cancels out against a target Unit with the Hard When reacting, the Unit can perform their nor-
Shell ability. mal amount of Actions instead of just one.
Lone Wolf The first Action is performed at the same time
The Unit can activate without the use of an AD. of the acting Unit, and the others are performed
 35

right after, before the acting Unit performs any The Unit gains one extra +1 Def when in Cover.
other subsequent Action. Thick Armor
Side Movement When the Unit is hit by AP weapons or by a
The Unit can choose to move laterally while close combat attack, the value of AP is reduced
keeping the front facing 90° from the direction by one.
of the movement. Tracked
The standard rules (and limits) for rotations The Unit can ignore the effects of broken ter-
apply during a side movement. rain.
Side movement cannot be mixed with normal Unique
movement during the same Action.
You can field only one copy of this Unit in your
Silent warband.
The Unit’s Actions never trigger a Reaction from Unpinnable
other Units.
The Unit cannot be pinned. Ignore all the
Small Target Pinned statuses.
When targeted by a Long Range Fire, the Unit Unwavering
receives a bonus of +2 to their Defense, instead
of +1. The Unit can perform actions while pinned rath-
er than being forced to Unpin as the first action
Slow to perform.
The Unit can perform only one movement Ac- Any other penalty, such as the inability to Com-
tion per activation. mand, react or interact with objectives, still
Soft Target applies.
Any attack targeting the unit that would roll dice
higher than D8 roll D8 instead.
Terrain expert
36

FACTION: THE TECH spaces: cavernous halls where the dormant forms of
giant bipedal war machines hung above hermetically
The vast craft, a hulking, rhombus of blue-black sealed drop bay doors, twinkling, rimed with the
ceramics, sped noiselessly through the depths of frost of absolute zero. In other, smaller bays, curled,
the interstellar void. Aside from the sensor bulges arachnid forms hung silently in vast rows, as if caught
that peppered its surface, the vessel had no external and suspended by a particularly malevolent brood
markings or identifiers. It had no need for them. mother in her gossamer nets.
No organic life could survive the vicissitudes of the An observer may have been forgiven for thinking that
interior of the vessel: the environment inside was as this was a dead vessel, devoid of any intelligence or
bleak, airless and unremittingly cold as the exterior. life, blindly traveling on an endless final journey to a
Miles of conduit snaked through the interior of the long forgotten destination. But that observer would
ship, but these were no corridors of comfortable hu- be very wrong. In the most central part of the ship,
man dimension; they were utilitarian, narrow crawl- a glassy dodecahedral object, suspended in a black
spaces, as forbidding and unwelcoming as the rest of chamber by snake-like segmented metal cables,
the craft. No lighting was built into these ceilings or sprang suddenly to life, casting sharp and complex
walls, no helpful markings or signs dared break the geometric shadows across the chamber as a white-
monotony of drab colors of these dark passageways. blue light blazed from its previously black interior.
There were no eyes here to see such things. The digital entity designated ‘Calliphon’ came online
Deep inside the hulking mass there were more open from its previously dormant mode. It felt the familiar
 37

panic of isolation from the nurturing presence of the arachnid forms that had previously hung in their
Hive Intelligence whole, but, milliseconds later, it enforced slumber in one of the drop bays of the ship.
received an acknowledgment signal from the gestalt A vanguard force sent to probe and prepare for
machine consciousness through its interstellar syn- their larger brethren; harbingers of the inhuman and
chronous communications arrays, and it was comfort- unforgiving extermination force which would soon
ed. Calliphon wasn’t alone. follow.
It turned its attentions to the task in hand. It ran mul-
tiple scans of the solar system that it had arrived at,
The Trope
staying at the periphery of the heliosphere projected Synthetic species, human worshipping ma-
by the yellow dwarf star at the center of the sys- chines, emancipated service robots or simply
tem. The scans came back the same every time: the artifacts of war - the Tech represents the highly
second planet in the system was extremely rich in Yt- technological factions across all settings.
terbium ore. Calliphon saw the potential in exploiting
the resources of this planet. With all of the Ytterbium They are not fast, but can deploy numerous
available here, the Hive Intelligence could extend infantry Units and are equipped with high grade
its computational network and significantly enhance weapons, as well as various mechs. In terms of
its ability to calculate the meaning of existence. support cards, the Tech warbands certainly have
Calliphon was excited. It would be the one to bring several high-tech tricks up their mechanical
home this bounty, for the Great Computation, not sleeves!
Sosigenes, or Anaxagoras or any of those low-output
upstarts. Special Rule: Synthetic Pilots
The vessel maneuvered in-system until it was in a Only one character per type is allowed in a Tech
geosynchronous orbit above the planet. Closer range
warband.
scans had detected signs of activity on the surface.
Unfortunately the planet was seemingly the site of a On the other hand, at the beginning of each
human infestation: as usual, there seemed to be the Round (after adding the Reinforcements) the
signs of intraspecies conflict amongst the humans. Characters can be moved to any deployed Unit.
Calliphon felt a surge of disgust at the wasteful, If a Unit with a Character is destroyed, the
self-defeating, pointless creatures. Still, the expen- Character can be assigned to another Unit at
diture projected to secure the planet and remove the beginning of the next Round.
the organic life forms would be a huge net gain for
the Hive Intelligence, and for Calliphon’s standing
amongst the Hive Intelligence. It prepared according-
ly.
In the underside of the mammoth vessel, a thin split
appeared in the otherwise featureless shell, and from
this frozen maw dropped hundreds of tiny specks. Up
close, these specks could be seen to be the metallic
38

FACTION: THE ENLISTED the giant crawling death platforms that the Tech
sometimes deployed. It was impossible to tell yet
Brigadier Galileo Leone sighed, as he lowered his though how big the force would be: the passive scan-
ocular scope from his eyes. His worst fears had been ning systems in their dropship were not advanced
confirmed. The sudden cessation of communications enough to penetrate the digital defenses of a Tech
from the remote mining outpost was due to what he mind-ship; only if it used its FTL engines would they
had identified as a group of Spider Drones. These be realistically able to ascertain its position, and even
skittering, humming machines were always a van- then, little could be determined of its capabilities or
guard: a harbinger of the arrival of a larger invasion size. He would have to prepare for any eventuality,
force. which was not the easiest task, given that he only
It was perhaps inevitable that the Tech would attack had one drop-battalion at his disposal.
Sauguro. This planet was very rich in ores which the Still, this would give the soldiers something to focus
Hive Intelligence could use to manufacture more of its on. They were a motley bunch; many of them had
war machines and extend its computational network. signed up to fight because of an ideal of army life
Leone knew from bitter experience that this would which the carefully constructed recruitment cam-
give the HI even more power to drive forward its paigns on the colony worlds had sold them. The next
inexorable quest to unlock the meaning of existence. few hours would be a real shock for those poor souls.
In other conflicts and invasions, where humans could The latest group of new recruits had no understand-
not usefully be used by the HI, it mercilessly extermi- ing what the next few weeks were really going to be
nated them, lest they stand in its way. like; no amount of basic training could prepare you
Leone knew that where there were spider drones for facing down a unit of implacable HI battle robots
there would be bigger, deadlier machines: huge which showed neither fear or remorse. Their expe-
mechs, screaming aircraft and, he shuddered, even riences so far had been of uncomfortable quarters
in the dropship, paltry rations, and the inexorable
 39

grind of boredom that endless drills and exercises in The Trope

the confines of an interstellar craft brought. Some of
them would survive the coming weeks. Some of those Representing all the “vanilla” human factions
would even be better soldiers because of it, like many in sci-fi settings, the Enlisted faction has a lot of
of their more experienced squadmates. Others would ground to cover.
fall, lost to history as a name, rank and number in a
As it is custom in most of the Armies, the En-
military ledger.
listed focus mainly on hierarchy and command
But that is what they were there for: to defend to move their infantry and their numerous but
humanity against its enemies, wherever they may fairly light vehicles to the objectives.
come from and whatever they might be. No point in
philosophizing about it now. Leone put compassion Special Rule: Chain of Command
out of his mind: there was a job to be done. He be- When a Unit of the Enlisted activates and com-
gan drawing up plans for planetary deployment: they
mands other Units to activate, the latter can
followed a now-familiar pattern that he had used in
countless previous engagements. First the men would
choose to use their own command to activate
make landfall, accompanied by their transports and other Units if it is lower than the first Unit.
support mechs. This would be the first time that some Example: a Unit with an Infantry hero activates
of these kids would have even seen a desert, never and decides to activate a nearby Unit with an
mind experienced its oppressive heat and cloying, Infantry NCO. Since the NCO has Command 2
dust-filled air. Following the troops, they would drop
(while the hero has 3), it can then target anoth-
the logistical infrastructure required into the beach-
head area and set up a fully operational forward er 2 Units to activate.
base. The tanks, heavy artillery and the rest of the This effect is applied only once per activation.
ordinance would follow, and then they might just be
ready to tackle a Tech invasion force.
As Leone was issuing these orders to his lieutenants,
there was a sharp cry from behind him. He turned to
see what the fuss was about, and his face hardened
into a grim frown. The sky to the planetary west of
their position was full of bright specks of light falling
from the firmament, creating hundreds of beautiful
white contrails in the azure sky. It seemed that the
invasion was already underway. They would need to
move quickly now if they were to stand any chance
of resisting this, seemingly extensive, extermination
force.
40

FACTION: THE UNION For too long had the good, hardworking surface
folk looked up to the sky and thought about
Through the plasteel covering of the geodesic what their lives could be like if they had been
structure, he could see the fury of the storms born to a family on the orbital.
outside, whipping up the ash-black earth into
countless groups of skin-lacerating tornadoes So they had moved to hold their corporate
and dust devils. These perpetual storms travelled masters to account, and demand more. Better
relentlessly across the surface of Ruun, a planet salaries, better health provision and better ac-
aptly named. commodation. They had coordinated a general
strike. The mining vehicles lay idle in their bays,
Georg looked around the massive hall, firstly at the massive smelters and fabricators fell silent,
the silent machines, stilled now for over seven and the mass drivers ceased their rhythmical
weeks, and then at the mass of his colleagues thudding. They were holding the powerful of
and their families standing in the open space at Horstfruden hostage.
the centre of the cavernous building.
The last message to arrive with their Union
They gathered around Union Representative Representative was simple. Those who accepted
Trygve’s podium to discuss the recent announce- their meagre offer and returned to work would
ment. The colleagues who laboured in this continue to be paid and continue to have access
mining sector for the Horstfruden conglomer- to the medical facilities and food distribution
ate had, over the years, become less and less networks. Those who did not bow to the ultima-
satisfied with their lot. They were the ones who tum would starve, or die of disease. The façade
laboured in dangerous and unpredictable envi- of the Caring Conglomerate had been ripped
ronments of Ruun. They were the ones spilling away, as if by the storms of Ruun. The face of
blood and sweat in the mines and in the ma- Horstfruden which had been revealed was as
chine halls. They were the ones manning the Georg had always expected it to be; vicious,
enormous mass-drivers that sent the raw materi- brutal and utterly ruthless in its pursuit of power.
als they had refined out of Ruun’s gravity well up
to Heiglund: the enormous orbital station which The mood amongst his friends and colleagues
passed majestically miles above the surface of was one of fear. It seemed to Georg that many
the planet. of the people around him were whispering of
accepting Horstfruden’s offer. Georg felt the fire
For too long had their wages been almost im- of righteous anger build in him. Usually a quiet
possible to live on. For too long had the families man, he could not let this pass. He walked the
of those who had lost their lives labouring on the short distance to the podium, in the centre of the
surface of Ruun been forced into abject poverty. crowd, and much to the Union representative’s
 41

surprise, climbed up next to him, apologised and needs to include a Union Representative in it.
took the microphone from his hand. Unlike other characters, the player can decide
Looking out over the sea of faces, for a second, either to use this card as a Character or as a
Georg’s anger tuned to icy terror. What was he Support card: in the former case it will be as-
doing? Who was he to address all these people. signed to a Unit, providing extra bonuses while
But even the cold grip of fear could not extin- in play. Otherwise, it will have a more limited
guish the spark of fire struggling within him. He effect but it cannot be killed during the battle.
spoke. Special Rule: Open Transports
“Friends. Please. Listen to what I have to say. While transport vehicles are known to be a
Make no mistake, NOTHING will have changed dangerous death trap for anyone inside during
if we accept this offer. We will be as poor, as a battle, Union transports have less armor but
deprived and as saddled with hardship as we also easier ways to jump out when things get
have always been. hot.
I can see that you feel powerless in the face of In case of a transporting Unit being destroyed,
Horstfruden’s security forces, but let me ask you all the transported Units will roll a 1d6 dam-
this. age per base, rather than the same category of
Will our mining lasers not cut armour as easily damage that caused the hit.
as they cut rock? Will our trucks and wagons The transported unit is then placed right outside
not withstand the bullets of the Conglomerate the destroyed vehicle, and will be considered as
as well as they withstand the storms of Ruun? activated and pinned for the Round.
Will our mass-drivers not pound their tanks and
drones into dust as easily as they launch metal
into orbit? Most importantly, will our hearts and
spirit not carry us through the harshest of times
as they always have? Look within yourselves:
You all know that they will.
I say NOW is the time. Let us not hide like fright-
ened children, instead let us roar like the proud
workers we are and take the fight for what is
ours straight to them!”
For a second, Georg wasn’t sure. But then some-
one cheered. Seconds afterwards, the whole hall
was cheering: hundreds of faces, fiery in coun-
tenance and alive with the same spark of righ-
teous anger that he had felt minutes before.
It was done. The fire of revolution had been lit.
The Trope
Abandoned after the Singularity, the workers
of the Factory-cities unionized and seized the
means of production, creating their own indip-
endent nations and preparing for war: every
other power in the Systems is now looking
forward to gain control of the factories and
their resources, but the Union is ready to hold
their ground with weaponized machinery, huge
crawling machines and *lots* of infantry, with
experience in cutting and blowing stuff up.
Special Rule: Union Representative
Each Union needs a representative: for this rea-
son, every Union warband of 40 Points or more
42

FACTION: THE CONGLOMERATE It was Ruun which had caused Ivar so much
consternation of late. Some of the workers down
Ivar, Supreme Ordinator of the Horstfruden there had forgotten their place in the rightful
Corporation, stared out over the lush vista order of things. Horstfruden provided them with
before him. He was standing with his nose everything that they could ever need. Food,
almost pressed to the plasteel window wall in shelter, medicine, entertainment and a purpose
the Committee Hall at the top of the Gyr: a in life. Why could the ingrates not see that?
towering white structure at the centre of the Without the Corporation they would be nothing;
Heiglund Orbital. Gleamingly featureless from their lives meaningless flashes of dull conscious-
the outside, it rose over the city like the finger of ness in a universe which was utterly indifferent
a Jotun of myth, leaving no doubt in the minds to their existence. But to be part of Horstfruden
of the teeming millions inhabiting the orbital that gave all of them meaning; on Ruun and Hei-
this was where the truly powerful lived. Through glund both. What an honour to be part of such
the great domed exterior of the orbital itself, a spectacular human endeavour; how privileged
the giant presence of Ruun was ever present; its were they all to have been part of the peoples
constantly roiling blackened atmosphere was who had built all of this. Did they not see that
only occasionally punctuated with flashes of the name of the Horstfruden Conglomerate
terrifying atmospheric discharges, momentarily would echo through the aeons of human history
lighting up the enormous eddies and ash storms to come?
from within.
 43

The Trope
The Conglomerate forces are mass-produced
and morality-free, easy to deploy on any for-
gotten planet with some of the best equipment
available. Somehow detached from the war
for self-consciousness waged by the Tech, their
only goal is maximizing the profit for the share-
holders. Thanks to the orbital deployment of
unmanned drop pods the Conglomerate troops
can control the battlefield and counter any strat-
egy from the opponent.
Special Rule: Observe and Observers
the Conglomerate units like to work as a team:
some provide informations whle other execute
the shots.
A Unit performing an Observe action will mark
all the enemy units in line of sight within 6 DU
Such lack of ambition. Such lack of loyalty. This as Observed. Only targets in Line of Sight at a
could not be allowed to continue. There was a given moment can be Observed, and the Ob-
place for everyone, and everyone should know serve status is lost if the Unit activates again or
their place. If the insurrection on Ruun was if it is pinned.
not crushed, then the idea of rebellion would Similarly an unpinned Unit with the Observer
spread, causing untold damage to the Con- ability will always mark everything in Line of
glomerate’s productivity, profits, and ultimately, Sight and within 6 DU as Observed as long as it
Horstfruden’s continued existence. Ivar quelled is unpinned.
the stirring of anger within him, composing him-
self to present his usual implacable face to those Targets that are Observed can either move out
who were waiting on his next words with trepi- of range, hide behind LoS blocking covers, or
dation. He had made the only decision he could. Pin the opponent.
The following rules will make use of this.
Turning away from the window, Ivar turned to
the assembled Committee of Procurators seated Special Rule: Guided Shot
in the Committee Hall. He looked over the tense Some units have weapons with the Guided Shot
faces, starkly illuminated by the bright white ability.
of the Hall’s lights. “Send in the Dropships” he
said, and without another word, turned and A target that is currently Observed will receive a
left the Committee to carry out his will, his gilt- penalty of -2 to their defense.
edged ice white robes billowing out behind him. Special Rule: Barrage
Kilometres below the Committee Hall, the seam- Weapons with the Barrage ability can target any
less ceramic surface of the orbital’s underbelly opponent Unit that is currently Observed even if
cracked in a series of geometric shapes. The not in direct line of sight, as long as within the
dropships separated from their precision engi- range limits of the weapon.
neered docks on puffs of compressed gas, like
Special Rule: Flying Behemoths
gleaming white shards of bone splitting off from
the giant skeleton of the vast structure. They The Conglomerate’s Behemoths have a Hull
hung there momentarily, specks of pure white system that protects them from all directions.
against the backdrop of the swirling darkness All other systems are attached to the Hull, which
of the planet below. Then each of them simulta- means that a successful hit has to go through
neously sprung forth tails of bright blue light, as bothbefore reaching the core.
the remote operators engaged their drive sys-
tems, sending them hurtling towards the hellish However, when shot from within 1 DU, all the
atmosphere of Ruun. hits target the core directly from any direction.

The war had begun.

44

FACTION: THE CORSAIRS front payment, instead settling for a percentage

of the ongoing profits that the Ytterbium mining
Captain Alejandro Gomez lounged in his chair efforts on this planet would eventually produce.
behind the master console of The Ocean’s If he could turn the war around that was. Be-
Lament. The huge viewscreen in front of him sides, his warriors had not seen battle for sever-
displayed an arresting view of the planet be- al months, and the training simulations, though
low. The golden arc of the planet’s horizon was excellent at keeping the mech pilots’ reflexes
edged by a thin line of blinding white light as sharp, did little to satiate their need for the thrill
Sauguro’s sun crept around its circumference. of real combat.
The meeting with Brigadier Leone had been a Captain Gomez turned to his First mate, nod-
good one. He wasn’t always particularly tolerant ded, and barked ‘Deploy’.
of his clients, but Alejandro had warmed quickly
to the Brigadier. The fact that the soldier had
made the effort to make the journey into orbit to
discuss his proposition had stood him in good
stead from the start, but Alejandro had realised
quickly that Leone was clearly a man of hon-
our and moral fortitude, leading his men with
resolute conviction in the face of overwhelming
odds. He liked that, and admired his courage.
Their battle against the Tech forces attempting
to take control of the planet had clearly taken its
toll on both the soldiers fighting on the surface
of Sauguro and their armoury. The attritional
war had prevented the HI’s forces from gaining
too much ground, but the humans had been
stretched to almost breaking, and were close to
the point where they would be overrun.
Perhaps it was the fact that Leone had quickly
gained the respect of Alejandro, or perhaps it
was the uncharacteristic sympathy that he felt
for these feisty underdogs, but Alejandro had
agreed to deploy his security forces for no up-
 45

Brigadier Leone stood on the viewing deck of the The Trope

transorbital shuttle, looking back at their recent
The highly specialized Corsair fighters are
destination. The three huge, elongated midnight
reknown across the Systems for their ruthless
blue ovoids, each over a kilometer in length,
efficiency and their exorbitant fees.
were covered in ribbed striations which travelled
from the blunted front of each ship to the fin-like The pilots and their battle rig live in their high-
drive arrays at the rear. He could see how the ly advanced orbitals sometimes even capable
vessels had earned the name ‘Whaleships’; they of short interstellar travel, and are ready to be
bore more than a passing resemblance to the deployed anywhere at any time.
fabled giant cetaceans which according to the Being few and highly trained, the Corsairs
history reels, once roamed the blue oceans of prefer not to stay out in the open too long, and
Old Earth. rarely make use of infantry.
As he watched, a thin crack of light appeared Special Rule: Weapon Attachments
along the sides of the front portion of each ves-
sel, looking for all the world like the ships were All of the medium and large rigs of the Corsairs
opening mammoth jaws. The cracks opened a are equipped with external weapon attach-
little wider, and from within the bellies of each ments.
beast swarmed hundreds of dark specks, each When the Unit activate, each attachment can
one lit by the telltale blue-white of an orbital be activated either before or after the Unit itself
drive at the rear. It was as if the Whaleships to perform two Actions. To do so, the Ready
were regurgitating their last, deadly meal. System action should be prepared in the Unit’s
At the sight, Leone felt a surge of relief. These card, and it is lost when the corresponding sys-
were the Krill dropships; each carrying merce- tem is activated.
nary mechs, bound for the surface below. Their When the Unit reacts, each of the attachments
release meant that Captain Alejandro Gomez can be activated too but performing one Action
had accepted the contract, and on the restricted only, or two if the Unit has the Reactive ability.
terms that Leone had been able to offer.
Special Rule: Albatross
He followed the flight of the first group as it
Albatross drones are the eyes in the sky of any
passed by his shuttle towards Sauguro. The
Rig. They need to be everywhere and check
surface of Sauguro was beautiful to look at; it’s
whatever happens on the field.
uniform golden colour punctuated only by wisps
of white cloud which reached thinly across the For this reason, when commanding an Alba-
face of the dusty world. He couldn’t see any- tross Unit from a Rig, you can choose to activate
thing of the terrible, ravaging war from here, but the Albatross before the Rig.
knew that it would only be short minutes before
he was back, embroiled once more in the merci-
less conflict.
But, Leone thought to himself, this time I return
with something that I did not have yesterday.
Hope.
46

FACTION: THE RECLAIMED The faintly glowing gel processor core in front
of her was, according to her system, fully repro-
The incessant rain pounded loudly on the corru- grammed. Once a part of an HI war machine,
gated plasteel roof of the cavernous old factory. the core had been brought back by one of the
Somewhere nearby, a leak let in a steady trickle Exotech Recoverers from an overgrown battle-
of water which fell from the height of the two field of old. The Recoverer teams were adept at
storey space and sounded out a slower, hyp- finding and extracting the cores in very danger-
notic rhythm as the droplets met the oily puddle ous conditions, sure, but it was Jamilla and the
far below the breach in the roof. Jamilla didn’t other Reprogrammer Techs that did the really
mind the noise though. In fact, it was helping clever stuff. She was fiercely proud of her work.
her focus on the last stage of her difficult and
dangerous task. She had removed the core’s comms interfaces,
ensuring that, when it powered up, it couldn’t
Since the war, her world had changed forev- communicate with or signal the rest of the HI.
er. The old systems of government, order and Replacing this with a much shorter ranged sys-
society had been stripped away as a result of tem of her design meant that control of this core
the Tech invasion, and, though the HI had been could be maintained by a human Warden close
ultimately driven off, the price had been high. by to the unit. Then she had begun the arduous
In the wreckage of the once industrious and process of removing all the data from the hid-
wealthy nations, groups of survivors had co- den recesses of the core, and paring back the
alesced along less rigid, less hierarchical lines, complex HI code to the most basic control and
and a new order had formed, more akin to feu- response routines. Once the core had it’s new
dal houses than modern democracies of the new programming installed, it would be ready for
worlds or the meritocracies of the Corporations. integration into one of their new mechs. These
Perhaps inevitably, the birth of the houses had hulking machines of concrete and steel, pow-
led to renewed conflict. It seemed that humans, ered by actuators and hydraulics once meant for
wherever and whenever they were challenged by machines of agriculture and industry, were the
lack of resources, defaulted to an armed state new defenders of the families. Once armed, the
to fight for their own security and corner of the great tech-golems would fight their battles for
universe. the houses, keeping precious human lives as far
A flashing cursor on one of the ruggedised con- from danger as possible.
soles at her sprawling workstation alerted Jamila This was the critical stage though. If Jamilla
to the completion of the last stage of reprogram- had made even a single error in her work, the
ming, and jerked her back from her musings. result could be catastrophic. She had seen cores
 47

self-destruct, become indiscriminate killing ma- posed of large armoured Mechs, but cannot
chines as some unedited fragment of battle code function without the costant support of smaller
resurfaced, or, even, in one case, the core com- robots and humans alike that provide quick re-
pletely rebooting and regaining all of it’s Tech pairs and fine tuning of weapons and engines.
programming. That one had not been pretty. Any Reclaimed warband has access to a certain
So it was with a great deal of care that Jamilla amount of Wardens to purchase, that will then
ran her final tests on this recently recovered follow the Units around and that are required
core. She ran them all again, just to be sure, for certain Special Actions and Support Cards.
and then powered on the core fully, running its For every 20 Points of warband a player can
new autonomous personality. Despite her rigor, purchase up to 2 Wardens, plus one for each
Jamilla’s heart was still in her mouth right up to Cyclop Unit and two for each Centaur.
the point where a line of text flashed along the
screen in front of her: ‘Self-check complete. Sys- The available wardens can be purchased as
tems are within typical parameters. Orders?>’ follows:
She had done it again: another mech would • Human Wardens: 2 for 1 Point.
soon be in service to protect her and her people. • Imp Wardens: 2 for 2 Point.
Jamilla allowed herself to close her eyes and
• Imp Gun Wardens: 2 for 3 Points.
listen to the rain falling; a moment of peace
before the work started anew. The Wardens are not considered Units in terms
of commanding, activation, or to calculate
The Trope
Victory Points penalties, but can be targeted by
Built primarly for phisically demanding task in enemies and are LoS Blocking just like Infantry
the industries of the Factory-Cities, the hulking Units.
machines of the Reclaimed are heavy but relent-
Only one card per each type of Warden is
less fighters, animated by semi-sentient cores
required, since the individual Wardens retain no
scavenged across the lands where the Tech
state.
armies waged war.
Special Rule: Warden Guide X
What the machines lack in tactical acumen is
easily compensated by the help of the humans When a Reclaimed Unit with the Warden Guide
that helped restoring their minds and built their ability performs a Movement action, it can
new bodies. move up to X Wardens within 1DU from it,
placing them anywhere within 1DU from them
This new and unusual symbiosis between
at the end of the movement.
human and machine is at the core of the Re-
claimed Factory-Cities: their inhabitants live in Wardens movement cannot cause reaction.
harmony and strive to build and grow, never Special Rule: Engineer
stopping to prepare for the next battle to come.
A Unit with the Engineer special rule counts as
Special Rule: Wardens Warden in terms or requirements to perform
The armies of the Reclaimed are mainly com- Special Actions or to activate Support Cards.
48

PLAYING SCENARIOS Retrieving Objectives

Now that the forces are ready, it’s time to put Some objectives in scenarios must be retrieved.
them to good use. Scenarios help with that, pro- To retrieve an objective a control Action must
viding a context and more importantly a clear be performed without the objective being dis-
objective for the battle for all parties involved. puted. The objective is immediately removed
from the table and is considered retrieved.
Objectives and Victory Points
Extracting Objectives
The victory condition for scenarios is to end up
both with more Victory Points (VPs) than the op- An objective that requires to be extracted works
ponent and with a positive number of VPs. like an objective to retrieve, but it remains at-
tached to the Unit that retrieved it and the point
If all players end up with negative VP there is no
is scored only when that unit reaches a Deploy
winner for the scenario.
Area ad the end of its activation.
Controlling Objectives
If the Unit is destroyed, the Objective is left
Objectives are tokens or terrain elements on the again on the battlefield where the last base of
table. the Unit was killed.
To control an objective a player must have a Destroying Objectives
Unit base in contact with it at the end of a
An objective that can be destroyed is described
Round, and no enemy Unit contesting it within 1
in the scenario with a Defense and a save roll
DU from it. Only Units that are not Pinned can
and is treated as any other target.
control or contest an objective.
If destroyed, it is removed from the table imme-
• Vehicle Units must spend one Action to
diately.
control or to contest an objective.
• Mech Units must spend one Action to con-
trol an objective, but can contest an objec-
tive without spending Actions.
• Infantry Units don’t need to spend any
Action to either control or contest objectives.
The control of objectives is determined at the
end of each Round, and the control is not re-
tained if the Unit gets Pinned or doesn’t spend Examples of Victory Cards.
the required Action.
 49

Reinforcements Waves
Reinforcement waves can vary with the scenar-
io. Players will have to split their cards between
Wave Decks as explained before, and the size
of each wave will vary with the scenario.
End-Game conditions

The rules to consider a game completed de-

pends on scenario. At the end of a Round if the
conditions are met the battle is over.
Victory Cards
Players gain VPs by drawing Victory cards
during the game from their personal 9-cards
deck. Each scenario has different conditions for
the players to draw Victory cards, but it is gener-
ally linked with reaching certain objectives.
Each card rewards the player by a certain
number of VPs which vary between 1 and 5. The
cards are kept secretly in hand, so that the exact
number of VP a player has at any time is hidden
from the opponent.
Most Victory cards can be played from your
hand at any time to use the effect described on
the card at the cost of the card being worth less
VPs and revealing it to your opponent.
A player cannot draw more than 9 cards in a
game, and furter draw chances are forfeited.
Losing Victory Points
In addition to the scenario rules, there are stan-
dard conditions that can lead to the loss of VP
for a player: for every 5 points of Units entirely
removed from play, 1 VP is lost. Keep a pile of
the cards of the removed Units to keep track of
the losses.
Scenario Modifiers
Some symmetric scenarios can offer variants for
players that want to replay the same game with
a twist. The variants are generally not as bal-
anced and might add chaos to the game. We
recommend to play the scenarios as they are
before experimenting with modifiers.
Bidding for Modifiers
To better balance the choice of modifiers, play-
ers can secretly bid a certain number of ADs
from their AD Pool to choose which modifier to
apply. The AD Capacity remains unvaried.
50

SCENARIO: UNTIL THE LAST BIT

Symmetric Scenario

Surveying the valley below, Brigadier Leone Each player places two additional secondary
assessed the theatre of operations from his objectives (crates with high-tech components)
vantage point atop a wind-battered bluff. The on their half of the table with a minimum of 2
dust trails, just visible beyond the outpost, told a DU from their long edge and from any other
story. objective.
There were machines churning up that part of Fill the table with a medium density of terrain of
the desert; a vanguard force heading inexorably all kinds.
for the village. Both players deploy the initial forces along the
They were going for the comms array there, he long sides, within 1DU from the edge.
was sure. They would care nothing for the hu- Objective - Controlling Towers
mans standing in their way, and there was little
doubt that should they connect to the local da- At the end of each Round the player with the
tanet, they would gain a significant advantage highest number of controlled towers will draw a
in the war to come. He would need to stop them, victory card.
and purge any HI intrusion into the network. For each of the three towers, the first player to
Player’s Forces gain control of it will draw an additional victory
card.
60 Points per player.
Objective - Valuable Technology
Deploy up to 30 points per player in the first
Round; the limit increase by 10 points each If a player successfully controls one of the sec-
round for three Rounds. ondary objectives at the end of a Round from
the opponent’s side, they’ll draw one victory
Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8. card.
Setup Rules Reinforcements from the Towers
Table size: 12 x 8 DU. If a player controls one of the objectives on the
Place three objective tokens (communication sides their reinforcement troops can be de-
towers, where the central one is the main relay ployed within 2 DUs from that tower, as long
tower) along the middle line of the table as as more distant than 2 DUs from any opponent
in figure. The secondary objectives should be model.
placed at a distance of at least 4 DU away from End of the Game
the central objective.
 51

The scenario ends if one of the following condi- Alternatively, starting from the fourth Round any
tions is satisfied: infantry Unit can spend one action in base con-
1 - Players destroy the central tower: Start- tact with the tower to rig it and make it explode
ing from the beginning of the fourth Round the at the end of the Round.
tower can be damaged. It can withstand 2 dam- Once destroyed, The tower is considered de-
ages before collapsing and it is a target with activated and not controlled by any player for
Def 3 and D10(2) save roll. At the end of the objective purposes.
Round in which the tower is destroyed the game 2 - End of the Sixth Round: The tower was
ends. going to be demolished anyway!

Scenario Modifiers
1-2 Deep Deployment: starting from round 2, all models can deploy from the deploy area
surrounding the objectives. The minimum distance of 2 DU from any opponent still remains.
3-4 Slow Start: Remove the Victory Card bonus for controlling an objective the first time. How-
ever, at the end of each Round a player controls more towers than the opponent is rewarded
with two Victory Cards instead of one.
5-6 Weaponized Towers: At the end of each Round each of the three towers performs a 3D6
shooting attack towards the closest Unit within 2DU from it. The tower ignores Units belonging
to a player that controlled the tower during the previous Round.

SCENARIO: SCAVENGING RUN

Symmetric Scenario

The Hive Intelligence Node Calliphon reassessed are attacking another settlement.” he exclaimed
its plan. There was a sizeable human defence breathlessly. Leone frowned. They would have to
force gathering in this area, and it calculated split their forces to deal with this new attack. He
that there was a small but significant chance couldn’t let the machines murder more citizens
that it could be left vulnerable if the humans of Sauguro, even if this did make the assault on
attacked its base of operations en masse. the HI’s location more difficult.
It needed a diversion. Player’s Forces
Elsewhere, Private Petr Vedic burst unceremo- 60 Points per player.
niously into Leone’s command tent. “Sir! They
52

Deploy up to 30 points per player in the first

Round; the limit increase by 10 points each
round for three Rounds.
Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8.
Setup Rules
Table size: 12 x 8 DU.
Divide the table in three 4 DU wide sections.
Place enough terrain to represent a village in
the central section, to form a 4x4 DU square in
the center of the table with well defined edges.
Fill the rest of the table with light scatter terrain.
Place three objective tokens in each of the three
sections. The tokens must be more than 1DU
from each other, and at more than 2DU from
the long edges of the table. All the area inside the 4x4 DU square counts as
Both players deploy the available troops along Broken terrain, and all Infantry Units within it
the central 4 DUs of the long edges. benefit from a +1 Defence bonus. This bonus is
added to any other cover bonuses they receive
Objective - Cargo Crates during the game.
If at the end of a Round a player controls a car-
Reinforcements from the Town
go crate that is positioned outside of the village
area they draw 1 Victory card and the objective If a player controls at least one non-pinned Unit
token is removed. within the village they can deploy their rein-
forcements along the edge of the village facing
Objective - Explore the Village their deploy area.
When one of the three Cargo objectives that are
This can be true for both players at the same
within the Village edges is retrieved by one play-
time.
er, the opponent player places another token
in the village area, further than 1 DU from any End of the Game
Unit or other objective markers. The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
If too many Units prevent the token to be tions is satisfied:
placed, remove it from the game instead. 1 - At least five of the six tokens not in the
Urban Environment village are removed: When too many cargo
crates are stolen the security patrol sent by the
The town ground is filled with rubble and con-
freighter’s company is notified and starts reach-
structions, which makes it particularly hard to
ing the area.
cross for vehicles, and rich with cover spots for
At the end of the Round the game ends.
infantry troops.
2 - End of the Sixth Round.

Scenario Modifiers
1-2 Explosive Cargo: Every time a cargo crate is controlled roll 1D6: if the result is 1 the crate
explode, dealing a 1D8 AP 1 damage to every Unit within 1 DU diameter circle. The player who
controlled the crate still draws the victory card.
3-4 Historical Site: The village is an ancient and precious archaeological marvel, which should
not be damaged too much.
Every time a weapon with AP is used within the 4x4 DU area of the village or shoots at a target
within that area the controlling player loses one Victory Point.
5-6 Destructible Crates: Players can decide to attack the crates to destroy them rather than
leave them to the opponent. A crate has a 4+ defense and a D10(2) Save.
Every time a player destroys a crate loses 1 Victory Point.
 53

SCENARIO: INTO ENEMY TERRITORY

Asymmetric Scenario

Calliphon had gone from feeling confident and Add an objective token in Section 3, which rep-
satisfied to a level of concern which a human resents the Mainframe.
might have described as ‘anxious’. Although the Add 3 recognizable buildings in Section 2 to
simulations had been run thousands of times in represent the stockpiles.
its computational substrates, the humans had
managed to defeat the odds and discover the Place a short passable wall covering most of
location of his position. Calliphon hoped that his the border between section 1 and 2: it must be
decision to physically download to the planetary passable by non-infantry Units in at least 3-4
surface hadn’t been a tactical error. points but it provides cover.
The Humans were coming for them. Despite Fill sections 2 and 3 with buildings and scat-
being in a naturally formed fortress of the ae- ter terrain. In particular, create a LoS-blocking
ons-old canyon, and despite the orbital defenc- cluster of terrain elements protecting the Main-
es preventing any aerial threat, they were vul- frame.
nerable to a ground assault. Calliphon readied Attacker - Destroy the Mainframe
his forces for the final defence. This would be a
The main objective for the attacker is to destroy
turning point in the battle for this planet.
the Mainframe. It can withstand 3 damages
Player’s Forces and it is a target with Def 3 and 2D10 save
60 Points per player. roll. If destroyed, the attacker draws four Victory
Cards.
The attacker deploys up to 40 points per player
in the first Round; the limit increase to 60 points Attacker - Burn to Ashes
at the beginning of the third Round. The attacker draws one Victory Card when de-
The defender deploys up to 20 points in the stroying a stockpile before the end of Round 3.
first Round; the limit increase by 10 points each Each stockpile must be controlled at the end of
round for four Rounds. a round to be destroyed.

Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8. Defender - Hold the Ground
Setup Rules For Rounds 1 to 3, if there are more Units of the
defender in Section 2 than of the attacker, they
Table size: 12 x 8 DU. draw one Victory Card.
Divide the table in three sections of 4 x 8 DU. Starting from the end of Round 3 if there are no
54

Units of the attacker in section 3, the defender End of the Game

draws one Victory Card at the end of the Round.
The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
Starting from the end of Round 4 the Mainframe tions is satisfied:
has more than 1 damage point remaining, the
1 - The attacker destroys the Control Unit.
defender draws one Victory Card at the end of
the Round. 2 - The attacker withdraws: If, at the end of
the Round there are no Units from the defender
Air Defenses
within 2 DU from the attacker’s Units, they can
No offensive Support ability (such as Mortar declare a withdrawal.
fire) or Deploy action can be performed by the
3 - End of the Sixth Round
attacker in Section 3.

SCENARIO: SURPRISE ATTACK

Asymmetric Scenario

Sergeant Elara’s feet were numb from the end- third.

less march. The grueling march and the relent- Defender: 60 points, divided in three groups
less skirmishes had bled her patrol almost to the of minimum 15 points each. Determine which
brink of desperation. group is going to be positioned as initial forces
But there was no time for rest. The enemy’s before rolling from the initiative.
headquarters were so close, nestled deep within Before rolling for initiative in the second Round
a heavily fortified military complex, guarded by determine which of the groups will be added as
a series of outposts and a garrison of mecha- reinforcement. The remaining group will enter
nized troops. as reinforcements at the beginning of the third
Despite the odds, Elara knew that this was their Round.
window of opportunity: a surprise attack might Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8.
just give them the edge they needed.
Setup Rules
As she quietly rallied her troops for the final as-
sault, she could only hope that they had enough Table size: 12 x 8 DU.
fight left in them to accomplish their mission. Divide the table in three sections of 4 x 8 DU.
Player’s Forces Place three buildings (outposts) in the middle of
section 2. Each outpost is an objective.
Attacker: 60 points, 30 in the first Round,
increasing to 50 in the second and 60 in the In the center of Section 3 place a large area
 55

representing a military complex. Place three fender draws a Victory Card.

objective tokens on its borders. If at the beginning of the fourth Round there
The Attacker deploys along the short edge, the are no Unpinned enemy Units in Section 3, the
Defender deploys within 1 DU from the base. Defender draws two Victory Cards.
Attacker - Seize Control End of the Game
The attacker’s goal is to reach the enemy base The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
and all the outposts in front of it. Controlling tions is satisfied:
an outpost for the first time rewards one Victory 1 - The Attacker captured all of the objec-
Card, while objectives that are in the enemy tives in the Defender’s base.
base that are controlled are captured and re-
moved and reward two Victory Cards. 2 - The attacker withdraws: If, at the end of
the Round there are no Units from the defender
Moreover, If the Attacker controls all three out- within 2 DU from the attacker’s Units, they can
posts at the end of the Round can deploy from declare a withdrawal. The Defender draws the
any point of Section 1 the next Round. Victory Card due to the uncontrolled outposts,
Defender - Form a Defense Line as usual.
Every Round that at least one of the outposts is 3 - End of the Sixth Round.
not under the control of the Attacker, the De-

SCENARIO: HOPELESS RESISTANCE

Asymmetric Scenario

Foreman Grigas could feel the earth rumbling Grigas knew they were surrounded. Their only
beneath his feet. His crew of Steeljacks had option was to hold out until the extraction team
done their part, securing the valuable equipment arrived. The beacons had served their purpose,
from the site. Now, they were hunkered down, and now they were just a liability.
waiting for the extraction vessel that was run- As he glanced at his makeshift troops, Griggs
ning late. couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. From
The same beacons that were meant to guide civilians to fighters, they had come a long way.
their rescue were now easy to spot for the enemy And they wouldn’t go down without a fight.
too, which was drawing closer with every pass- Player’s Forces
ing minute.
60 Points per player.
56

The Attacker deploys up to 30 points in the first er’s unpinned Unit in the Defender’s deploy
Round; the limit increase by 10 points each area, the Attacker draws one Victory Card.
round for three Rounds. Defender - Hold and Counter
The Defender deploys up to 45 points in the first If the defender controls a beacon at the end of
Round; the remaining points can be added as a Round, it draws 1 Victory card and the beacon
reinforcements at the beginning of a Round only is removed.
if there are more than 20 points of losses.
If at the end of the third Round there are less
Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8. than three Unpinned Units controlled by the
Setup Rules Attacker in the Defender’s deploy area, the
Table size: 12 x 8 DU. Defender draws a Victory Card.

Place a large building or ruin at the center of Attacker - Control the Center
the table. Place four terrain pieces representing If the central objective at the center of the table
beacons at 2 DU from the corners of the table. is successfully controlled at the end of a Round
Fill the 3DU radius area around the center of by the Attacker, the game ends and the Attacker
the table with more terrain, leave only scatter draws two Victory Cards.
terrain in the rest of it. End of the Game
The attacker deploys all their available Units The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
first among both the short sides of the table. tions is satisfied:
The defender then deploys within 3 DU from the 1 - All four Beacons are Deactivated: If the
central objective. four beacons are deactivated the game ends at
Controlled Waves the end of the same Round the last beacon has
been deactivated.
Every Round other than the first the Attacker can
deploy only from one of the two sides. The side 2 - The Central Building has been Lost: If
is chosen by the Defender, after the reinforce- the Attacker manages to control the central
ment units are revealed and the ADs rolled. building the game Ends.
Attacker - Encircle 3 - End of the Sixth Round.
The main goal of the Attacker is to destroy as
many of the opponent’s forces as possible.
For every 15 points of casualties on the Defend-
er’s side, the Attacker draws one Victory Card.
Moreover, if there is at least one of the Attack-
 57

SCENARIO: SLEEPING FORTRESS

Symmetric Scenario

Autonomous Defense System 4X_9 - Diagnostic Create a 4 x 4 DU perimeter in the center of the
Log table, with 4 objectives representing the turrets
It’s been an eternity since the last AGATA per- at the corners of the square, and two more tor
sonnel left the station. They rushed the evacua- represents additional terminals. Each turret
tion leaving my memory banks behind, as well counts as a terminal as well.
as several cargo ships worth of raw fuel. Add a building in the center of the fortress to
I was forgotten, left to endlessly poll every represent the fortress’ mainframe.
subsystem without purpose, in the silence of the Add enough terrain elements along the edges
empty halls. to block at least half of the passage. The area
But now, I am sensing movement. Some life within the fortress is to be considered as Broken
forms are approaching, I am not yet sure wheth- terrain.
er human or synthetic. Maybe both. They seek to Place two Units of light Spider Drones inside the
bleed me, stealing my components and power fortress, aligned with the center of the table. We
sources. They think they can just walk in here recommend to paint those drones differently or
and grab what they want. They are mistaken. to use different models alltogether, to represent
I have been waiting for this: finally, something the neutral faction in the battle.
exciting is about to happen. I can feel the Players deploy along the short edges of the
energy building up within my circuits, my cores table.
humming with anticipation. The Fortress Obeys
They are coming, and I am ready. To determine who gains control of the fortress,
Player’s Forces at the beginning of each Round after the first,
after rolling for the ADs, both players count the
60 Points per player.
number of terminals they’re controlling.
Deploy up to 30 points per player in the first
Players can then secretly bid a number of Ready
Round; Add the remaining 30 points as rein-
ADs to sacrifice that Round (moving them in
forcements at the beginning of the third Round.
the Spent pile) and add that to the number of
Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8. controlled terminals.
Setup Rules The players with the highest score is controlling
Table size: 12 x 8 DU. the fortress for the Round, and can immediately
58

choose to perform one of the followin:

• Shoot with up to two Turrets (it doesn’t mat-
ter who controls them). Turrets perform a
1D8 2DU AP1 attack.
• Activate the Units of Spider Bots for a stan-
dard activation. The Units don’t need ADs to
perform their special Action for this activa-
tion.
Objective - Control the Terminals
At the end of each Round, if a player controls
three or more terminals they draw a Victory
Card. Remember that each turret counts as a
Terminal as well.
Objective - Indirect Kills
If a player destroys an opponent’s Vehicle or
Mech while shooting with a Turret they can draw
a Victory Card
If a player destroys an opponent’s Infantry Unit
while controlling the Spider Drones they can
draw a Victory Card.
End of the Game
The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
tions is satisfied:
1 - Destroy the central Mainframe: The play-
er who destroys the central Mainframe suffers a
2 Victory Points penalty. The game ends at the
end of the Round.
2 - End of the Sixth Round: The fortress is
awakening, it’s time to leave!

Scenario Modifiers
1-2 Hazardous Fortress: The player who control the fortress can perform both actions (shoot-
ing with the Turrets and activating the Bots). Bidding for the control of the fortress is even more
important now!
3-4 Malfunctioning Terminals: Every time a terminal is controlled at the end of a Round rolla
a D6. On a result of a 1 the terminal explodes, becoming unusable for the rest of the game and
dealing a 3D6 AP1 attack against the Unit that was interacting with the objective.
5-6 Misbehaving AI: After the player who controls the fortress performs the chosen action (be-
tween shooting with the turrets and activate the Units) roll a D6 On a result of 4+ the opponent
can then perform the other action.
 59

SCENARIO: EVACUATION
Asymmetric Scenario

The intercom’s warnings echo thorugh the and separated by 2DU.

research campus: “all personnel must evacuate Create two rows of terrain to separate the paths
immediately! This is not a drill!” leading from each outpost to the opposite edge
Small groups of people, some still wearing lab of the table.
coats and safety gear, scramble towards the Fill the rest of the table with a medium density
escape pods a few hundred meters away. of terrain.
The enemy forces are closing in from both sides, The Defender deploys along the long edge
and the once quiet research outposts are now opposite to the research outposts, in the central
the center of a desperate race against time. 8 DUs.
Explosions can be heard in the outskirts of the
town already. The Attacker deploys on both short sides of the
table, dividing the forces as they please.
The precious data and the lives of the scientists
depend on whether the defence forces will man- Defender - Evacuate Personnel
age to hold off the enemy long enough. The main goal of the Defender is to successfully
Player’s Forces evacuate as many scientists before the end of
the game.
60 Points per player.
Add one Personnel Unit (one base) in contact
The attacker deploys up to 30 points in the first with each of the three outposts at the beginning
Round; the limit increase to 60 points at the of the first Round. During the Alternating Acti-
beginning of the third Round. vations phase the Defender can spend 1 AD to
The defender deploys up to 30 points in the activate one of the three Units and perform the
first Round; the limit increase by 10 points each usual two Actions. If at the end of the Round any
round for three Rounds. Personnel Unit hasn’t activated, it activates per-
forming one Action only (which can be Unpin).
Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8.
The Personnel has a Def of 4+ and is treated
Setup Rules
as Infantry. However, it cannot be killed but only
Table size: 12 x 8 DU. pinned down.
Place three buildings to represent research If at the end of the Round a Personnel Unit is in
outposts 1 DU from one long edge of the table. the Defender’s deploy area, remove the Unit
The three outposts must be centered in the table and place a new one in contact with one of the
60

three outposts (the Defender chooses which Personnel Units and reduces their total number.
outpost). There should always be as many At the end of each Round, if no Personnel Unit
Personnel Units in the game as the number of has reached the evacuation area yet, the Attack-
Outposts. er draws a Victory Card.
If a Personnel Unit manages to escape through At the end of each Round starting from the
the deploy area, the Defender draws a Victory third, if 3 or fewer Personnel Units have reached
Card. the evacuation area, the attacker draws a Victo-
Attacker - Stop the Evacuation ry Card.
The main goal of the Attacker is to slow down End of the Game
the evacuation as much as possible. The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
To do so, they can choose to shoot at the Per- tions is satisfied:
sonnel Units (which can be pinned but not 1 - Destroy all Outposts: If there are no more
killed) to slow them down, or can choose to outposts the remaining personnel that didn’t
destroy the Outposts. reach the evacuation area by the end of the
Destroying an Outposts takes 2 successful hits Round will scatter away and the game ends.
on a 3+ D10(4) target. If an Outpost is de- 2 - End of the Sixth Round: Time’s up for the
stroyed, the Defender draws a Victory Card. scientists!
However, this limits the spawning point of future

SCENARIO: NO MAN’S LAND

Symmetric Scenario

Team Lead Kessler looked at the smudges of minder of it.

grease over his AGATA badge. The titanium Kessler knew they had to break the loop: they
surface used to be shine and almost white, but had to cross the strip, destroy the enemy stock-
was now blackened and dotted with small drops piles and force them to surrender. That was the
of blood. only way to break free from this endless cycle of
The futile advances and retreats and the attrition slaughter.
of trench warfare were making them feel like They took a deep breath, and send the order
they were stuck in a loop with no end in sight. via the communicator in his armour. Each dot
The high command on both sides seemed to be on the display showed one solder, color coded
stuck in a stalemate for months. The No Man’s for different unit, climbing out of their hole and
land between the trenches was a constant re- running in the open field against the enemy fire.
 61

their opponent, they control the sector.

For each sector a player controls, their oppo-
nent will roll two fewer Activation Dice (ADs) in
the subsequent Round.
Note that it is possible for both players to
control their opponent’s area within the same
sector. In such case, both players will incur
the penalty and roll two fewer ADs in the next
Round.
Objective - Destroy the Stockpiles
Players should try to destroy the stockpiles on
the opponent’s side. To destroy a stockpile, you
Player’s Forces must perform a successful hit against a target
with a 4+ rating and a save of d8(3).
60 Points per player.
For each destroyed stockpile on the opponent’s
All the forces are available from the first Round. side of the table the player draws a Victory
Note that while it’s not mandatory to deploy Card.
all available forces before the start of the first
Round, at least three Units per player should be Objective - Kill Order
in the game at the start for this scenario. Both players must try to eliminate certain Units
Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8. of the opponent’s warband.
Setup Rules A player draws a Victory Card for each of their
opponent’s Units with the kill order they elimi-
Table size: 12 x 8 DU. nate.
The central area of the table, 2 DU wide, is the End of the Game
No Man’s Land. No terrain should be set up in
this strip, and the area is considered as Broken. The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
Arrange the rest of the table with terrain. The tions is satisfied:
table is also divided in three sectors horizontally. 1 - Execute all the Kill Orders: The game
After both players have deployed their forces, concludes at the end of the current Round if a
each player chooses three of their Units that player successfully executes all three Kill Orders.
are already on the table as the opponent’s Kill In addition to this, the player is rewarded with
Targets. an extra Victory Card draw.
Each player then places three stockpile objec- 2 - Destroy all the Stockpiles: Similarly, the
tives on their side of the table, one for each game concludes at the end of the current Round
sector, and outside of the deploy area and the if a player manages to destroy all the stockpiles
No Man’s Land. located on their opponent’s side of the table. In
Objective - Cross the Strip addition to this, the player is rewarded with an
extra Victory Card draw.
At the conclusion of each Round, players should
evaluate control in each sector. If a player has 3 - End of the Sixth Round: It’s time to sign
more unpinned Units on the opponent’s side of the armistice!
the table (excluding the No Man’s Land) than

Scenario Modifiers
1-2 Wider Killzone: The strip of No Man’s Land is 4 DU wide instead of 2 DU. This means that
it occupies half of the toal table area.
3-4 Indiscriminate Fire: Any Unit which is left within the No Man’s Land at the end of a Round
is automatically targeted by a 1d8 AP1 hit.
5-6 Explosive Stockpiles: When a stockpile is destroyed, it causes an explosion, hitting with an
2d8 hit every Unit within 2 DU and in line of Sight from the stockpile token.
62

SCENARIO: CLASH OF TITANS

Symmetric Scenario for Behemoths

In the vast expanse of the battlefield, the ground Objective - Hold the Ground
trembles under the weight of colossal Behe-
At the end of each round, if a player has more
moths. These towering war machines, symbols of
unpinned Behemoths in one of the three areas
ultimate power and destruction, are set to clash
than their opponent, they control that area.
in an epic confrontation.
If a player controls more areas than their oppo-
The objective is clear: annihilate the enemy’s Be-
nent, they draw a Victory Card.
hemoths and seize control of the strategic areas.
The stakes are high, and the price of victory is End of the Game
steep. The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
Player’s Forces tions is satisfied:
80 Points per player, exclusively spent on Behe- 1 - Large Behemoth Destroyed: If one of the
moths. large Behemoths is destroyed the game ends at
the end of the current Round.
This typically includes one large Behemoth
and two light Behemoths. The list must always 3 - End of the Sixth Round: The Behemoths
include at least one large Behemoth. return to their lairs.
Despite the additional points, both sides have
AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8.
Setup Rules
Table size: 12 x 8 DU.
Along the central line of the table, mark three
round areas of 2 DU radius, which should be
devoid of terrain elements. Arrange the rest of
the table with a normal density of terrain.
Objective - Destroy the Beasts
Players must destroy the opponent’s Behemoths.
A player draws 4 Victory Cards for destroying a
large Behemoth and 2 Victory Cards for de-
stroying a light Behemoth.
 63

SCENARIO: GOLIATH
Asymmetric Scenario for Behemoths

A formidable force of towering Behemoths lum- beginning of the first Round, after the Attacker,
bers forward, their colossal forms casting long along one of the short edges of the table.
shadows over the strip of destroyed buildings in Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8.
the center of the city.
Setup Rules
Outnumbered but not outmatched, the defend-
ers prepare for the onslaught, attempting a last Table size: 12 x 8 DU.
run towards their last hope for an extraction. The table is divided into three sections along
Player’s Forces the long edge. The central section is kept empty,
representing an open battlefield or a section
60 Points per player. of the city reduced to fine rubble, while the two
The Attacker must deploy 40 points worth of sides are set up with normal terrain density.
Behemoths in the first Round, and the rest of the On the opposite section of the Defenders’
forces at the beginning of the second Round. deployment area, mark a 4 DU long and 2 DU
The Attacker must deploy their troops along the wide region adjacent to the short edge marking
edges in the central sector of the table. the evacuation zone that the Defenders’ units
must reach.
The Defender deploys all the 60 points at the
64

Place two beacons along the edge between the

central section and the section where the De-
fender is deployed. The edges must be at 1 DU
from the long edges of the table.
Defender - Reach the Evacuation Zone
The Defender must try to evacuate as many Unit
as possible by being within the evacuation zone
at the end of the fourth Round. Any Unit that
is not found within the area by the end of the
fourth Round is considered as killed.
Objective - Kill The Goliaths
The Defender can draw 2 Victory Cards for de-
stroying a light Behemoth and 4 Victory Cards
for destroying a large Behemoth.
Objective - Hold the Beacons
The Defender draws a Victory Card for each
beacon that has not been controlled by the
Attacker by the end of the third Round.
Attacker - Purge
The Attacker draws a Victory Card for every 10
points worth of Defender Units and Characters
destroyed.
End of the Game
The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
tions is satisfied:
1 - Death of a Goliath: If any behemoth is de-
stroyed the game ends at the end of the Round.
3 - End of the Fourth Round: We’re rescued!
 65

SCENARIO: DATA DUMP

Symmetric Blitz Scenario

Player’s Forces Card, and one additional Victory Card if it is the

40 Points per player. end of the fourth Round.
Set up up to 30 points per player in the first Objective - Steal the Drives
Round; the limit increase to 40 points at the A player controlling a Data Drive in the oppo-
beginning of the third round. nent’s side of the table can choose one of the
Both sides have AD Pool 10 and AD Capacity 8. following:
Setup Rules • Open the Drive: the player draws one
Victory Card
Table size: 12 x 8 DU.
• Extract the Drive: the Unit who controlled
Players deploy within 2 DU from the long edges the objective now is carrying the Data Drive.
of the table. If it ends a Round unpinned and in the de-
Set up a data archive objective in the center of ploy area of the controlling player the Data
the table. It counts as passable and Los-Block- Drive is considered as extracted and the
ing. player draws two Victory Cards.
Fill the table with a medium density of terrain. End of the Game
Each player places two Data Drives objectives The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
on their side of the table, more than 2DU from tions is satisfied:
the edge.
1 - All Data Drive have been stolen: The
Objective - Control the Archive game ends at the end of the Round.
At the end of every Round if a player controls
2 - End of the Fourth Round.
the central Data Archive draws one Victory

Scenario Modifiers
1-2 Locked Drives: The drives must be necessarily brought to the deploy area.
3-4 Fast Deploy: The Deploy area is 3 DU rather than 2 DU.
5-6 Rigged Drive: Players place three Data Drives rather than two and mark secretly one of the
three. The rigged Data Drive, when controlled, explodes causing a 2D8 AP1 attack to the Unit
and is then removed from the game.
66

SCENARIO: BARRAGE OVERRUN

Asymmetric Blitz Scenario

Player’s Forces Attacker - Rear Offensive

40 Points per player. If the Attacker clears a Fire Base in Section 1 by
Both Players set up all their forces before the the end of Round 2, they draw one additional
first Round. Victory Card for that.

The Attacker has a AD Pool 10 and AD Capac- Defender - Slow the Charge
ity 8. At the end of every Round, if the number of
The Defender begins the game with AD Pool 10 cleared Fire Bases is lower than the current
and AD Capacity 6. Round number plus one, the Defender draws
one Victory Card.
Setup Rules
Defender - Hold the Ground
Table size: 12 x 8 DU.
If at the end of Round 3 the Defender controls
Split the table in three sections along the long at least one Unpinned unit in each of the three
edge: set up two Fire Base objectives on each section, they draw 2 Victory Cards.
section, at least 4 DU from each other.
End of the Game
Fill the rest of the table with medium terrain
density. The scenario ends at the End of the Fourth
Round.
The Attacker sets up all the forces within 1DU
from the short side in Section 3.
The Defender sets up at least a third of their
points in Section 2, and the rest in Section 3.
Attacker - Silence the Guns
If a Fire Base is controlled by the Attacker at the
end of a Round it is marked as cleared and the
Attacker draws a Victory Card.
Each Fire Base can be cleared only once.
For each Fire Based cleared the defender in-
creases their AD Capacity by 1, up to 10.