Quirkworthy

Grenades are a lot of fun in Deadzone, but the way they work in 3D is not very well explained in the Alpha. So, here I am to expand on that.

Firstly, a general note on 3D LOS. When attacking an square that is on a higher level with area fire you count as being able to see that square if you can see the edge or the corner of the floor.  Assuming, of course, that there isn’t a solid wall blocking that side.

In terms of grenades, the Alpha already explains how to resolve explosions in 2D. Let’s add the third dimension.

This diagram is a side-on view of a grenade exploding on top of a single level block (B). Yes, it’s not a pretty sight, but them’s the dangers of dealing with Alphas 😉

The effect it has on adjacent squares (really cubes as we’re talking 3D) is as follows:

A: No effect. Grenades explode sideways and up, but not down. As the grenade will be lying on the floor, the blast will be blocked from damaging either square marked A.

B: No effect. If there was a hole in this square then there should be a chance of it falling through the hole (for the Alpha ignore this chance). If it does not then it can be assumed to be too far away for the blast to go down in much the same manner squares A are protected.

C: These adjacent squares on the same level as the explosion take the normal effect from the blast as adjacent squares.

D: If we assume that these squares are open on the side facing the explosion and that they are one level higher then they too are adjacent and subject to the normal rule for blast effecting adjacent squares. Remember though that as any potential targets will be higher than the source of the attack they will count as being in cover and so will get an extra dice.

The scale of Aggression mentioned in the Alpha rules includes Berserk at the top, but it omits the equivalent at the other end: Suppression.

This follows from Pinned and is an even less happy state. Mechanically it works identically, being another step along the Aggression continuum. However, because Pinned can be removed in a single short action it is a very temporary effect. This is a good modelling of real reactions to enemy fire: targets are only impressed for very slightly longer than you are actually shooting at them. It takes more effort to persuade them to keep their heads down longer.

Because Pinned isn’t long-term it makes it hard to stop enemy attacks and makes Breaking Away a problem unless you have friends nearby to help out and shoot the enemy while you bug out. I rather like the fact that this encourages teamwork among your forces, but it needs to be possible to discourage attackers more thoroughly.

If you’re interested, try using Suppressed as the next step down from Pinned. As you’re only allowed to Get Mean once per turn this makes it work very differently in practice.

Give Suppressed models a -2 in melee and otherwise treat it as Pinned. It’s a tiny change in rules, but adds rather more to the tactics.

Let me know how you get on 🙂

Something I haven’t talked about yet is how to select a force. In the Alpha rules you’re given a fixed set of models on each side to get you going quickly. In the full rules you will be picking a force from your collection of models, and you may decide to take different combinations of models against different opponents or in different scenarios. The basic principles are as follows:

Each type of model is represented by a specific card that shows its stats, equipment and skills. You’ve already seen mock-ups of these. The final version of the card will also show whether that model is classed as a leader, specialist or trooper and how many points it is worth. More powerful models cost more points as you’d expect.

The scenario you are playing will give you a maximum budget of points to spend on your force. The total value of all the models in your force cannot add up to more than the budget for that scenario.

In addition, there is a simple structure to follow. After all, the forces in the Deadzone are either military organisations or style themselves that way. The structure is based on who is leading the force:

• If you take no leaders then you are allowed a maximum of one of each type of specialist and two of each type of trooper.
• Each normal leader allows you to take up to two of each type of specialist and six of each type of trooper.
• Each leader with the Elite skill allows you to take up to four of each type of specialist and four of each type of trooper.
• Each leader with the Legion skill allows you to take up to four of each type of specialist and eight of each type of trooper.

This simple and open system allows you a great deal of flexibility, but still stops silly armies of nothing but snipers or engineers.

Whilst this system is very straightforward, I also intend to list example forces in the rules, and the narrative campaign will include the historical units that fought in it. Not everyone enjoys building armies, and having sample forces to get you started makes it easier to get over that initial hurdle of picking an army when you haven’t played and don’t know what anything does.

To make real sense of this you also need to know which models will be in which category. The first 4 factions look like this:

Enforcers

• Leader: Captain
• Specialists: Sniper, Engineer (with sentry gun), Missile Launcher
• Troopers: Tac, Assault

Plague

• Leader: Stage 1A
• Specialists: Stage 2A, Stage 3A with HMG
• Troopers: Stage 3A, dogs (Stage 3D)

Rebs

• Leader: Commander
• Specialists: Grogan Heavy, Teraton, Drone
• Troopers: Human, Sorok, Yndij

Marauder

• Leader: Captain
• Specialists: Sniper, Exo suits, Maw Beasts
• Troopers: Commandos

Overall, this should allow you to take a wide variety of models based on what looks cool or what you think works well in the game. Whilst not wanting to get in the way of you guys having fun and collecting whatever you please, it’s only sensible to include a few limitations on the specialists particularly as they are likely to be the ones that will cause trouble if someone maxes out on one kind. That’s what usually causes trouble in other games. Let’s see if we can avoid that here 🙂

Tried out the variant turn sequence I was talking about and it works very nicely. It retains the ability to act as co-ordinated groups whilst adding to the interactivity of the turns and also scaling better across different sized games. I think it’s a bit of a win/win.

The only fly in the ointment is that it requires counters to mark what has and has not yet activated in the turn, but that’s a small price to pay for the benefits.

I’m going to keep the details under my hat for a day or two while I test them again and write up a bit more of the linking mechanics (as this is all integrated with the command system you haven’t seen yet).

More mid-week when I’m back from visiting the Beasts of War.