General principles
The most important rule. Where the rules are unclear, use common
sense and whatever the table prefers.
Quality test. Roll one d6; the model’s Quality or higher is a
success. A 6 always succeeds and a 1 always fails, whatever the modifiers.
Setting up
Armies. Equal points — 1000pts to start, 2000pts for a full match.
Battlefield. 6′×4′ with 15+ pieces of terrain. Smaller is
fine so long as the armies deploy at least 24″ apart.
Objectives. D3+2 markers, placed alternately outside the deployment
zones and over 9″ from each other.
Deployment. Roll off; the winner picks a long edge. Alternate placing
units within 12″ of your own edge.
The round
Players alternate activating one unit each. Whoever finished activating
first last round goes first this one. The game ends after 4 rounds,
and whoever holds most objectives wins.
Seizing. At the end of a round, a unit within 3″ of a marker with no
enemy there seizes it. It stays yours after you leave, but goes neutral
again while both sides contest it. A Shaken unit can do neither.
| Action | Move | |
|---|
| Hold | 0″ | May shoot |
| Advance | 6″ | May shoot after moving |
| Rush | 12″ | No shooting |
| Charge | 12″ | Into melee |
Coherency. Every model within 1″ of one other member and 9″ of all
of them. Stay 1″ clear of other units except when charging.
Shooting
Fire every ranged weapon in range and line of sight; a unit may split fire
across two targets if the weapon types differ. One Quality test per attack,
each success a hit. The defender rolls one die per hit against its Defense
to block, and each failure is a wound.
In Grimdark Future each wound removes a model outright
— there is no wound-effect roll. Tough is what makes a model absorb
more than one.
Melee
Chargers move into base contact, or as close as they can; defenders may
move up to 3″ to meet them. Every model within 2″ horizontally and 4″
vertically strikes with all its melee weapons, resolved like shooting.
Defenders may strike back but need not.
Who lost. Compare wounds caused; the lower total loses and takes a
morale test. Units in melee do not also test for wounds taken.
After. If one unit is destroyed the other may move up to 3″.
Otherwise the chargers pull back and separate by 1″ where they can.
Fatigue. Having charged or struck back, a unit only hits on an
unmodified 6 in melee for the rest of that round.
Morale
A test is owed at the end of an activation where wounds leave a unit at
half or less of its total size — or half or less of its Tough
value, for a single model — or when it loses a melee. Take a Quality
test; failure means Shaken.
Shaken. Must stay idle, may strike back but counts as fatigued,
automatically fails morale tests, and cannot seize or contest objectives.
One full activation spent idle clears it.
Losing a melee and failing the test while at half
or less is not Shaken — the unit routs and is removed as destroyed.
Terrain
Cover. +1 to Defense rolls against shooting when most of the unit is
fully inside cover or behind a sight blocker — or mostly, for a single model.
Difficult. A unit touching it at any point may not move more than 6″
in total.
Dangerous. Moving across it, or activating in it, rolls one die — or
as many as its Tough value — and every 1 is a wound.
