Errata

Fan German Translator Questions
After the game was released, the designer Christopher Taylor answered some questions a fan Christian Skupin, had when translating it into german.

1. Q) Do you have an idea of average map sizes? All there is in the rules is the min distance of 24 inches to an enemy unit on setup. I wondered if you had any table dimensions in mind. A) Standard table sizes. 6 feet by 4 feet.

2. Q) Army construction. It wasn't actually mentioned under 3.3 Build Your Army itself, but from a special rule for Beastlord squads I figured squads are supposed to be each made up of one grunt unit type and lead by the matching squadleader or hero unit type. Confirmed? A) Confirmed.

3. Q) Restricted weapons. Is the 3 to 1 distribution ratio for grunts to be calculated within each single squad or for the army as a whole? The special rule for Paladins on the BoS army list refers to the ratio within their squad while everywhere else in the book it just says army, so that's why I'm asking. A) Restricted by army as a whole. The Paladins are an exception to that rule.

4. Q) Heroes and skills. From the skill point use example of 8.2 Advancement I figured a level 1 Hero is supposed to start with a skill of his choice. Is that right and if so how are heroes handeled who start with a specific skill as mentioned in their army list? A) Specific skills mentioned in the army list are bonus skills in addition to the skills provided by being a Hero.

5. Q)So can you confirm that heroes are meant to start with a skill of their choice? I thought 8.2 Advancement implied that, but it isn't specified in the rules. A) Yes, Heroes are meant to start with a skill of their choice.

6. Q) Roll for initiative. If one player had the initiative in the previous round he gets a bonus of +2 to its roll. So here a higher roll is supposed to be better? And what is the reason behind giving the player who had the advantage in the previous turn the additional advantage for regaining it for the coming turn? A) Yes. The player with initiative has momentum and finds it easier to keep the initiative.

7. Q) Knocked down characters are not able to act until they stand up again in the Environmental Effects phase, right? Do knocked down or unconscious units affect the ability to act of the squad they're in? A) Yes. No.

8. Q) Characters can be radioactively contaminated, but what should that actually do to them? My idea would be a stats decrease to affect their combat abilities, like -1 to ST and AG for each radiation marker on a unit. A) Sounds good. There is/was supposed to be some effect, but for the life of me, I can't find anything.

9. Q) Dissipating smoke clouds. Does the 5+ stand for the usual 5 and higher? So is the probability meant to be 60% (same goes for the test if the repair kit runs out of supplies)? A) Yes. Yes.

10. Q) Squad actions. Do all squad members have to perform the same action? A) Yes.

11. Q) It's stated that heroes can take the use skill action. Since the limitation to heroes is an error, how does using a skill work on a squadlevel? What action, if any, do grunts perform when their leader uses a skill? A)If a Hero or character with a skill uses it in a group, the rest of the group can take one other action. If you have a Hero and another skilled character in the group, the Hero could perform one skill action, the skilled character can perform another skilled action and the rest of the group could perform another action (like attack). The group still has to satisfy the requirements of the other actions (like the 2" distance for Move).

12. Q) Close combat. Are units engaged in a close combat supposed to stay bound in it until one side dies or makes a successful escape roll? Should knockdowns or unconsciousness break the combat? How do bound squadmembers affect the actions a squad can take? A) Yes, or until one side is not capable of taking actions. Yes. Members of the squad that are not bound can make ranged attacks or move to melee as long as they remain within squad coherency distance.

13. Q) Template weapons. The phrasing of how to place the template implies that the player is not allowed to direct it on its own, but that he must place it so that a maximum number of targets is covered, including its own units. That can't be intended, right? A) Actually, it was intended. This was known as the Ian Rule (he was the NPC that liked to shoot me in the back with a SMG).

14. Q) Additionally the phrasing of how to make the hit roll implies that there is only one roll with modifications applied to all targets. Unless that is supposed to mean that there should be only one d10 roll wich will be then used to determine if each target with its own modifiers gets hit, wich armor and terrain modifiers should apply to the one for all hit roll? A) The latter.

15. Q) I find the rules for area of effect weapons odd in that department: the ability of the attacker, in my mind, should influence the scatter of the projectile rather than the effectiveness of its impact once the targets are determined. A) I think it was an influence of early Warhammer 40k.

16. Q) Morale check. How do squads check for morale when their leader is dead? A)Roll against the Charisma of one of the squadmembers.

17. Q)Do broken squads flee of the map or do they stay at an edge of the table until they rally? A) Broken squads retreat off the map.

18. Q) At what exact point in the environmental effect phase do squads check for morale, since additional losses could occur during that phase that trigger a morale check as well? A) End of the environmental phase.

19. Q) Another phrasing discrepancy: first a morale check should be triggered by losses over 50% of the squadsize, then it is specified to be 50% or over. Wich one is it definitively? A) It's over 50%.

20. Q) Sneak skill. How is that one to be used exactly? It seems to be that once a unit starts sneaking it is considered to stay sneaky until it stops using the skill. How and when does a unit stop to sneak? How does that affect its ability to act? A) A character not using another Skill may Sneak; Sneaking characters are harder to hit in ranged combat. A character stops sneaking if it attacks (ranged or melee) or uses a skill besides Sneak. Sneaking characters cannot make ranged attacks without stopping the Sneak; other than that, they are not limited.

21. Q) Turning vehicles. Are vehicles supposed to do just one turn per movement? A) Yes.

22. Q) Vehicle speed. How and when does a player declare/change the speed of a vehicle? A) At the moment of movement.

23. Q) Mines. A player can purchase 3 mines plus decoys per hero with Traps skill. Well, at what price and do they take up item spots? A) 3 points each and they do not take up item spots.

24. Q) Scribes/Elders of the Brotherhood get skills right from the start by their special rule. Does that apply to the grunts as well? A) Yes.

25. Q) Raider and Reaver pay 3 points less for Dunebuggies. Based on what armyconstruction concept? Tourney armies with 75% of the points spent on Raider and Reaver units (including the buggies?)? A)I was originally going to say that any Dune Buggy driven by a Raider/Reaver hero costs 3 points less.

26. Q) Dogs and squad coherency. Dogs don't count towards coherency of another dog or another squadmate? (see army lists, Beastlords) A)Hmmm. Another dog, probably.

27. Q) Dogs and melee combat special rule. They throw 2 dice for the hit test and that would usually mean to add them together, but the idea seems to be for the player to pick one. Right? A) Yes, should be roll two dice, pick one result.

28. Q) Giant Wasp. Is it meant to just poison its targets and do no actual damage on its own? A)Correct.

29. Q) Robots have no point costs attached and no army construction rules. How about that? A) Yep! They were the last army to be worked on, and my bosses changed the schedule on us at the last moment. I'm not even sure where to begin.

30. Q) The tank track robot. It says "4d10" for his close combat. Does that mean, by the dice rules, the player has to roll 4 dice and add them up to see if his attack is successfull? The poor bastard has only strength 6, he will never hit anything. A) That's broken. I think it was supposed to be 4 separate attacks, but that seems broken as well.

31. Q) Same question for the range attack of the behemoth robot. At least he might be able to hit something, theoretically. A) Probably supposed to be multiple attacks, like the tank track robot.

32. Q) I couldn't make sense of this part: It can use most normal human equipment, with any sort of RS-231.5 interface required by most robotics. "Without" maybe? (see army list Robots, Humanoid Robot fluff) A) Without.

33. Q) Grenades. Grenades are part of the weapons table, but not of the list of items like the other 2 types of nades. I guess they are still meant to be treated as items and are only in the table for the statistics, right? A) Correct.

34. Q) Smoke grenade. I would like to alter/specify the use of this one. It's supposed to be used like a grenade, but why would you want to target a unit with it? To block LOS it should target a spot on the field rather than a character, wich brings me to the to hit roll. Smoke grenades shouldn't require one for other purposes than to figure out if there will be 3 clouds or just 2. A) Okay.

35. Q) On the weapons table knives and spears get a range attack as well. Do you roll to hit against ST for those too or against AG like for the rest of range attacks? I can see how their effectiveness could depend on both so I want to clear that up. A) Looks like ST was my intention.

36. Q) Items. Squadleaders are limited to one, heroes to two items. Do these limits apply beyond army construction? Meaning: can squadleaders and heroes pick up or steal a number of items beyond that limit within a scenario or campaign? A) Hmmmm. I can't remember if this ever came up, but off the top of my head, I would say that the limits only apply to army construction.

37. Q) The overwatch action is only mentioned in the rules summary sheet. Is it supposed to be part of the ruleset? A) Yes.

Foolster41's Questions
1.When you do a check to move out of melee, do you roll your highest AG character in a squad, and it applies to the whole squad, or do you have to roll for everyone? What happens if one doesn't succeed, since you have to do the same action, does this mean it's all or nothing?

A)Hmm. Probably was intended to be roll for everyone. I'd feel free to change this.

2.The rules say "Squads that move together move at the slowest rate of any squad-member." So does this mean all units must move to move at all (i.e. you can't have someone not move, even if at the end he's within the coherency area)?

A: No, it should read "move up to" the slowest rate. A figure doesn't have to move if they stay within the coherency area.

3.Should you be able to double move while sneaking? I'd think no, but perhaps there's a balance/mechanical reason to allow it.

A: No sounds right.

4.One of the ideas I had was adding perks, to help make building closer to exact number army builds easier. Are there any design formulas with units and weapons you can share? I'd help with designing new weapons as well as some of these feats. I tried to break it down mathematically but it's really difficult.

A: Sorry, I don't have my old notes. It was probably jury-rigged to begin with.

5.If someone is already in melee range, and another is not, what happens if you do charge attack? Will only the non-engaged unit get to attack (at -4)? Then the other one can position so they can both do a regular attack next phase, as long as the enemy doesn't move out of range?

A: The non-engaged unit gets to attack. Correct.