Rules

Game Structure

  • Army Builder (Forge App) – Use the Forge app to create balanced armies with similar points (within 5%) and number of units ( 1 off is fine)
  • The game lasts 4 rounds.
  • Determine First Player – At the start of each round, both players roll a die; the highest roll decides who goes first.
  • Alternating Activations – Each round, players alternate activating one unit at a time.

Table Setup

  • The board must have a hex grid
  • Terrain, buildings, obstacles are places to aligned with the hexes
  • Use one of the board layouts in the app as an example.
    • lines are buildings or walls
    • octagons are objectives
    • ellipsis are line of site blocking features
    • attacker deploys in red area, defender in blue
  • If the board seems congested then remove some walls if it seems sparse then add some, Players can take turns placing items so that it is fair.
  • Place any objective markers

Missions

  • Use the app to select a mission, if you use the app to run the game it will choose a random board and mission that go together.
  • Each mission has a guide on how to play the game and how you score points.

Starting the Game

Each player rolls a D6, highest roll chooses who goes first.

The player chosen to go first places a unit in their deployment area. Place only one model per hex. If the model is too big to fit in one hex, align it to fit in as few hexes as possible. Once it is placed, consider that number hexes its “footprint”.

The other player then places a unit.

Continue alternating till all units are placed on the board. Each player can hold ( not place ) up to 2 units to come onto the board at round 2.

Once all units are placed then the player going first can activate a unit.

Unit Activation

If your opponent attacked in melee last activation you must fight back with your unit that was attacked for your activation.

Otherwise on each activation, choose one unit and do of the following actions:

  • Double Move – Move the unit twice.
  • Move and Shoot – Move the unit and then make a shooting attack.
  • Charge and Melee – move with +2 to movement, then make a melee attack

Once you have activated a unit, place a token by it so both players know which have activated.

Continue activating units till both armies have activated all units. If one army has more units than the other, then the player with less units can re-activate any unit for their turn.

Movement

  • Model Cohesion – all models in a unit have to be in adjacent hexes for two other models in the unit
  • Movement Process
    • look at the movement stat of the unit
    • each model in that unit can move up to that many hexes
    • at the end of moving all models must be in cohesion

Combat Resolution

  • Attacking
    • The attacker rolls to hit based on the unit’s weapon stats.
  • Defending:
    • The defender rolls a defense roll, subtracting the attacking weapon’s AP (Armor Penetration) from their defense value.
  • Damage
    • Any successful hits are resolved by subtracting the weapon’s damage from the defending unit’s health.
  • Melee Combat
    • Engagement – models can fight if they are in adjacent hexes
    • Ranged Attacks – Models cannot fire ranged attacks if they are in melee with an enemy unit. If firing at a unit engaged in melee, hits are alternated between the units in combat starting with the enemy unit.

Ability Tokens

  • All units have 1-3 abilities that help them or their allies in combat.
  • The abilities add flavor and distinction to the armies.
  • Gain Tokens – Each player gains four ability tokens at the start of each round.
  • Using Tokens – Ability tokens can be spent to activate an ability on one of your units that has not yet been activated that turn. Abilities can also be activated if it’s not your turn.

Terrain

  • Line of Sight – If a model is visible, it can be shot. If it is partially obscured, the attacker receives a -1 to hit penalty.
  • Small Walls – The -1 to hit penalty only applies if the defending model is next to the wall.
  • Treacherous Terrain – Models moving through treacherous terrain suffer a -2 penalty to their movement.
  • Climbing – if a model can fit on top of a structure, they can climb it. It counts 2 movement to climb
  • Fortress Terrain – Defenders inside a fortress are -1 to be hit and +1 to hit when firing ranged attacks.

Leaders

  • Unit Attachment – Leaders in the hex next to another unit are considered part of that unit. Attacks must be resolved against the unit before the leader.
  • When activating a unit that is attached to the leader, you activate them together, counting as one activation.
  • If moving a unit with an attached leader, use the lesser of the movement stats
  • Unit Loss – If the unit is destroyed, the character can attach to another unit.

Points and Winning

  • Each mission dictates how you gain points.
  • Objective control is decided at the end of the round.
  • If an objective is contested ( units from each force touching it ) then no one scores points.
  • At the end of the 4th round, whoever has the most points wins.
  • If one army losses all its units then the game ends and they are declared the looser.