Rules: Target Selection (Ver. 0.52)

Ooops! Had to re-do this post because I accidentally deleted it by hitting Ctrl-Z. Stupid blogger!

Infantry, Tanks, & Evasion

Let's break up the relentless rules updates with something that's more fun to talk about. TANKS! Or, at least, one way in which they're going to be quite different from infantry.

Rules: Moving Infantry (Ver. 0.52)

Here's the update for Infantry Movement. BTW: We'll be working on Tank Movement and damage next week. CaulynDarr and Eriochrome are currently working up some ideas that I'll share once all these updates are done. :)

Rules: The Close-Combat Phase (Ver. 0.52)

The pre-IndyOpen rules update deluge continues. :)

Here's the updated rules for the Close-Combat phase. I've removed the bonuses for higher ground, and reworked the language on suppression to mesh with the new rules.

Rules: The Reaction Phase (Ver. 0.52)

It's amazing how simple it gets to write/edit these rules when I only have to reference the suppression rules section instead of writing bits of them all over the place. :)

Here's the 1 page of rules for the Reaction Phase.

Rules: The Action Phase (Ver. 0.52)

Here's the Action Phase update. With suppression removed and relocated to the Reaction Phase that follows it.

Rules: The Starting Phase (Ver. 0.52)

Here's the updated Starting Phase rules. The suppression parts have been removed and are moving to the Reaction Phase instead.

Rules: The Turn Sequence (Ver. 0.52)

Here's the updated Turn Sequence rules with the reaction phase added back in to accommodate the changes to the suppression rules.

Rules: Unit Characteristics (Ver. 0.52)

Here's the updated introduction to Unit Characteristics. Which also replaces the old 'model characteristics' section. Since the new unit cards have made model-specific characteristics obsolete.

Rules: Models, Units, & Task Forces (Ver. 0.52)

Here's the Models, Units, & Task Forces Update. Slightly changed wording, and a new chart.

Rules: Leadership & Suppression (Ver. 0.52)

Ok, I've stripped out the 'shaken' status from these rules. So that we're back to adding nerve markers for every 6 hits a unit receives.

Note: After I finish running the paint judging at the Indy Open GT this weekend, I'm going to be running WarStrike walk-throughs and demo games for anyone who's interested in the project. Spag (the TO) is interested enough in what we're doing that he's already talking about having a WarStrike event for next year's Indy Open. Huzzah!

Rules: Leadership & Suppression (Ver. 0.5)

Ok, here it is finally. All of the rules for suppression gathered together into one place. I expect that I'll be writing another version of it tomorrow after Eriochrome pokes it full of holes. :)

Yesterday's Brainstorming Session

Explorer Picture, Andree Wallin

CaulynDarr came over yesterday for a quick brainstorming session, so that we could quickly work out some of the issues that have been raised lately. We also came up with some initial ideas for vehicles that I want to seed everyone's thinking with.

So Let's Talk About The Close-Combat Sequence

Well, it seems that there's some desire out there to re-think the close-combat sequence. So let's do it!

Rulebook Chapter Organization

Book of Art, Timothy Ely

So I've been going round and round on how the chapters of the book should be organized, and I think I finally have an outline that will work.

Testing: Broken Arrow

CaulynDarr and I had a nice little test game yesterday, where we took another go at the Broken Arrow mission.

New iBook/PDF Layout

I've been kind of quiet lately, but that's because I've been working on the iBook layout for the rules. Thanks to a new version of iBooks Author, we can finally have a portrait page layout. So everyone who wasn't all that crazy about the horizontal layout (including me) can rejoice!

Rules: The Close-Combat Phase (Ver. 0.5)

Pirates Boarding Party, Michael White

Ok, here it is finally. The complete rules (all 6.3 pages worth) for the Close-Combat Phase. Have a look, and let me know what I missed. :)

Still Working On Close Combat

Bathroom construction, sick family, and all the ridiculous obligations of Valentines Day have slowed down my progress on finishing up the CC rules. But I'm still working on it.  As soon as I can get 2-3 hours to myself again, I'll get 'em done. :)

Some Vehicle Movement Ideas

I recently got into a discussion with Stelek and Local Ork over on YTTH about tanks, play time, and improvements that could be made to how they work on the table. Which churned up a bunch of ideas within me for how tanks, wheeled vehicles, skimmers, and walkers might work in our game. I figured I'd bring those ideas over here for discussion. Vehicles are something that's not going to be worked on for the first alpha release in a few weeks. But we do need to start thinking about them now.

Rules: The Close-Combat Phase (Part 1)

I'm not done writing up the entire Close-Combat phase yet, but here's the first 3 pages of what will probably be 6. Which describe who's in combat, defensive fire, consolidation moves, etc. Comment away!

Testing: Broken Arrow

I had a test game tonight at the GP North with Evan, who chose Broken Arrow as our mission from the choices I gave him. Cool! Here's how it went...

A Name For The Game

I've been pondering what to call our game for over a year now. Since 'M42' was only ever the name of the project to create the game. Various ideas came and went. But now... I've finally decided on one. A name that's short, memorable, and which helps convey the game's focus on smaller, platoon-sized forces. While also having the near-obligatory 'War' as part of the name.

Rules: The Action Phase (Ver. 0.5)

Well, it took an almost complete re-write. But here's the updated Action Phase rules. Which also cover suppression, fall-back moves, and Officer orders.
 

Some Snap Fire & Awareness Ideas

I'm working on updating the Action Phase rules. So I want to run some ideas past you guys to see if they sound interesting/viable.

Rules: Moving Infantry (Ver. 0.5)

Well, the kids are less sick, and the workmen aren't here today banging around the upstairs bathroom. So here (finally) are the updated Movement rules. I'm sure they'll need some more expansion/cleanup later, but I wanted to get them out to everyone so that I can get back to the Shooting rules.

Rules: The Starting Phase (Ver. 0.5)

Here's the updated rules for the Starting Phase.

Rules Introduction: Welcome To M42! (Ver. 0.5)

Much as I'd like to concentrate on the Visibility/Shooting rules right now, it's pretty much impossible. The Wife is out of town, the kids are sick, and I've got workmen (finally) banging around fixing the bathroom flood damage from 4 months ago. So instead of getting frustrated every time I'm interrupted, I'm going to instead update some of the easy stuff. The old rules that just need some tweaks to update them to the current mechanics. Then I can get them up on the list of links at right, so that folks who are new to the project aren't totally lost. :)

Testing: Exfiltration & Bridgehead

After having been cooped up with the kids all week while Mrs. Sandwyrm was out of town; I ran screaming from the house today and over to Games 2 Die 4 for some gaming/testing. There I ran into John. Who, now that Farmpunk has officially quit 40K, is our only regular Sisters of Battle player here locally. Since there were no 40K players at the store until 5:00 or so, he decided to try out a couple of games of M42 with me.

Shooting: Visibility & Ground (Ver. 0.5)

Here's the visibility rules for Open Ground, Hills, and what happens when other terrain is placed on top of a hill. I think this is the most time that I've ever spent on a single rules section, double and triple-checking all of the interactions. As it turns out, hills and elevations are way more complicated to explain than Area Terrain, which I'll finish up the rules for next.

The Basics: Terrain (Ver. 0.51)

Pic From Adepticon 2011

Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday. But I started writing the Terrain rules for Shooting Visibility, and then realized that I was spending a lot of time on low-level descriptions/definitions that really belonged in the basic introductory chapter. So I broke those definitions out into their own section. But since those definitions also affect the movement chapter, I ended up working on 3 sections at once! Whew!

Anyhow, here's those definitions. The Visibility rules will follow shortly. :)