Producing and Moving Obstacles

If a car loses a wheel (not just a tire) or takes 20 or more hits during one phase, or loses one or more points of metal armor, an obstacle is placed as described above for debris In some scenarios, debris or ob- stacles may be thrown from buildings, ve- hicles, etc Note that an obstacle is bulky, equivalent to one space in size, and no ve- hicle will be able to carry very many

A pedestrian may move any obstacle that can be moved; potholes, for example, can’t be moved It takes one turn to pick an obstacle up and a pedestrian may move one square per turn while carrying it A pedestrian cannot use a weapon while car- rying an obstacle It takes one turn to drop an obstacle A typical obstacle will weigh between 50 and 100 lbs

 

Off-Road Duelling

Many of the most demanding combat sit- uations take place away from roads and are- nas A beach battle, with cycles and buggies flying over the dunes... a cat-and-mouse hunt in a Louisiana swamp a Badlands raid, with pickups swooping down from the hills to intercept a convoy all of these are possible in off-road duelling

All maneuvers (but not hazards) off-road are at an additional D1 difficulty All Crash

Table rolls are at a −3, due to the vehicles’ tendency to slide and skid while off-road

 

Off-Road Hazards

Off-road suspension (see p 49) is avail- able for 4- and 6-wheeled vehicles, to lift the underbody off the ground and cushion it from shocks

Any vehicle can go off-road without modifications – but the handling class of an unmodified vehicle is reduced:

Motorcycle (with or without sidecar):

−2 HC

Trike: −1 HC

Car (4 or 6 wheels): −3 HC

 

The handling bonus for radial tires does not apply while off-road Special off-road (OR) tires are available (see p 50)

In addition, most vehicles are subject to damage when going off-road At the begin- ning of every turn a standard car, pickup, or van is off-road and traveling faster than 10 mph, roll 2 dice On a 2 or 3, the underbody takes 1 point of damage On a 4 or 5, one tire (roll randomly to see which one) takes 1 point of damage If the vehicle is going over 30 mph, roll twice per turn; over 50 mph, roll 3 times; and so on Once the un- derbody is gone, the internal components take no damage

Exceptions: solid and off-road tires take no damage

Vehicles with Off-Road suspensions, as well as all cycles and trikes, are built higher off the ground and do not take underbody damage

 

Off-Road Terrain

Off-road should not be taken to mean the dirt on the edge of the road; the shoulder is usually no great hazard “Off-road” means open country – fields, desert, or park

Grass and open fields: This is the stan- dard off-road terrain No extra penalties apply – just the normal + D1 difficulty for off-road travel

Trees: Small ones are a D2 or D3 haz- ard Larger ones would be fixed barriers and could have 8 to 20 DP, or even more

Boulders: Small ones (about a foot across) should be treated as obstacles Those 1 to 2 feet across are fixed barriers with up

to 25 DP Boulders are usually knocked out of the way (rather than destroyed) if they take more than their DP value from a col- lision Larger boulders would have even greater DP values – a four-foot boulder would be worth at least 50 DP

 

Ditches and Gullies

Small ditches (less than 2 feet across) are a D3 hazard at 20 mph or less, but only a D1 hazard at greater speeds – vehicles fly right over them Ditches between 2 and 4 feet across are impassable at less than 20 mph

– if a vehicle tries to cross one, it will fall in and collide with the far wall at full speed, taking full damage for its speed At 25 to 40 mph, such a ditch is a D3 hazard At 45 mph or greater, it is a D1 hazard again; you fly right over. Wider ditches should not be jumped without a ramp (see above) Very wide gullies, unless they are full of water, can be crossed by driving down one side and up the other

Water

Vehicles without off-road (OR) suspen- sion cannot cross water deeper than 1 1/2 feet Vehicles with OR suspension can take on water up to 3 feet deep Vehicles in deeper water drown out and stop work- ing – the effect is the same as if the power plant had been destroyed The plant takes no actual damage, though – once the vehicle is out of the water (how you get it out is your problem), it will dry out and be usable again in 1d hours

Hitting standing water deeper than 1/2 foot is a D2 hazard Traveling in water de- celerates a vehicle by 5 mph per turn per 1/2 foot of water – you must accelerate by 5 mph just to stay at the same speed Vehicles with OR suspensions decelerate 5 mph per turn per 1/2 foot of water over 1 1/2 feet deep

Radical maneuvers are impossible in water – no maneuver with an original, unmodified difficulty over D3 can be per- formed There is no additional penalty for those maneuvers which can be performed

Dropped weapons may be used in water, to mixed effect Oil will not be effective; flaming oil will ignite, but it will also dis- perse and be ineffective; spikes and mines will be hidden under the water Every time a dropped weapon is used in water, roll 1 die On a 1 or 2, water backs up into the system while the port is open, and the weapon takes 1d−3 points of damage.

Tires cannot be targeted in over a foot of water; they are at an additional −2 to hit when in over 6” of water

 

Jumping Out of Vehicles

Anyone jumping out of a vehicle, or off a cycle, when off-road will take reduced dam- age Figure the damage as though the driver has been hit by a sideswipe from a car trav- eling 30 mph slower than the speed at which he actually hit the ground

 

Rolling

When a vehicle rolls in an off-road situ- ation, each side that hits the ground takes 1d−2 damage, instead of 1d of damage. Tires, likewise, take 1d−2 damage in an off- road roll It is quite possible to roll a vehicle on soft ground and drive it away afterward

– if you can get it upright

Pedestrian Movement

Pedestrians move at 1 square per phase; they can move every phase Pedestrian movement is covered on p 43

Combat

Combat may occur during any phase, after movement To attack, a player simply announces that he is firing, and names the weapon being fired and its target

Results of all attacks during a phase are applied simultaneously The referee may wish to have players declare fire secretly, by writing their fire/no fire order down on a slip of paper and handing it to him, or by some other method

A given weapon may never fire more than once per turn A given character may never fire more than once per turn, unless he does so by triggering linked weapons

 

Rate of Fire

Usually, the above restrictions mean that each vehicle will only fire once per turn Exceptions occur when (a) a weapon is on “automatic,” (b) a vehicle has additional occupants, such as gunners, who may also fire, or (c) linked weapons are used

 

General Combat Procedure

Briefly, the procedure for resolving a normal weapon attack is (a) make sure that there is a line-of-fire from the weapon to the target; (b) roll 2 dice to see if the weapon hits (see Determining Hits, below); (c) if the weapon hits, determine damage location and amount (see Damage, p 28); (d) alter the vehicle’s handling status and/or place debris or obstacle counters if required Dropped weapons are an exception to the above and are discussed on pp 32-34 All damage for the phase is resolved simultaneously at the end of the phase

 

Line of Fire

To fire at a given target, there must be a line of fire (LOF) from the firing coun- ter’s center (for a turret weapon) or middle of the side where the weapon is located (for other weapons) to some part of the counter representing the target Buildings, vehicles, pedestrians, etc, block LOF; debris and obstacles do not Smoke and paint reduce

 

chances of hitting but do not block LOF ex- cept for lasers

Furthermore, the LOF must be traced within the arc of fire for that weapon posi- tion Arcs of fire for vehicle weapons are shown in the diagram below Pedestrians and turret weapons have a 360-degree arc of fire Hand weapons fired from a car, truck, or sidecar have a right or left arc of fire, de- pending on which side they’re fired from; hand weapons fired by a cycle driver have a 360-degree arc of fire

Left Weapons Only

Rear Weapons Only

Front Weapons Only

Right Weapons Only

Car Targeting

Targeting is choosing what you’re going to shoot at – whether it’s the side of a vehicle or a specific part, like a tire

A car has front, back, right, left, top, and underbody “sides ” When you fire at a ve- hicle, you can only hit a side that is facing you Unless the target car is lined up exactly perpendicular to you, you will be able to choose between two sides However, only if you are in a particular side’s arc of fire may you attack that side with no penalty If the firing vehicle is on the dividing line be- tween two of a target vehicle’s arcs of fire, it may target either side without penalty If you target a side on which you have line of fire without being in the target side’s arc of fire, you suffer a penalty of −2 to your to-hit roll You may choose which side you wish to target If you score a hit, any damage you do will be taken by that part of the vehicle (see Damage Location, p 28)

You can never target a vehicle’s under- body with normal weapons (note: under- body is a relative term – if a car has rolled

and is sitting on its left side, that side is now the “underbody”) The underbody is auto- matically the target of a mine

A vehicle’s tires may be targeted Each tire is a separate target; subtract 3 from the to-hit roll when shooting at tires

A vehicle’s turret may be targeted All top armor protects weapons in the turret If a vehicle has no turret, the top can only be hit if something is dropped (or fired) from above or if the vehicle rolls Targeting a tur- ret is at a −2.

 

Cycle Targeting

Compared to a car, a cycle is a small tar- get, but every part is exposed Therefore, af- ter firing on and hitting a cycle, roll on the table below Only one component of a cycle can be hit in each attack – the rest of the damage passes through the cycle and has no effect, unless it has a sidecar on the opposite side In this case, roll 1 die If the number rolled is equal to, or less than the number of spaces the sidecar has, it is hit Otherwise the damage passes out harmlessly

Attacking from front or rear – Roll 2 dice On 2 to 10, you hit armor (if the armor is gone, roll again on the “side” table below for remaining damage) On an 11 or 12, you hit the exposed wheel

Attacking from the side – Roll 2 dice On 2 to 5, you hit the driver; 6 or 7, the power plant; 8 to 10, a weapon Roll randomly if the cycle has more than one weapon; roll again if there are none On 11 or 12, you hit a tire – roll randomly to see which one

Sidecar targeting – A sidecar can only be hit from the side on which it is mounted Imagine a line running lengthwise down the center of the cycle counter – if you’re on the same side of the line the sidecar is on (or on the line), you can shoot at it If you’re not, you can’t Targeting a sidecar carries a

−2 penalty to your to-hit roll. If you’re just shooting at the cycle as a whole and you are on the sidecar side, roll 1 die On a 1 to 4, the cycle was hit; use the tables above On a 5 or 6, the sidecar was hit Treat a sidecar as a tiny automobile, with armor in front, back, underbody, and both sides It has one wheel (plus some small coaster-type wheels for stability if it ever rolls free), maybe one or two weapons, and possibly a rider Once armor on part of the sidecar is lost, any fire

hitting the exposed area has an equal chance of hitting each of the interior components

 

Trike Targeting

Because trikes are low to the ground, their tops can be fired upon Any attacker can choose to fire at the top of a trike if he has a line of sight on the front or either side (A trike’s top cannot be hit from behind, but its turret can be targeted) Because the top is steeply sloped, any attack at the top is at an additional −2 to hit. Thus, for example, a shot at the top of a light trike (see table,

p. 27) from the front would be at a −5, plus or minus any other modifiers that may be in effect However, if a trike has a turret, any successful hit on the top armor strikes the turret automatically with no further penalty When a trike is struck in the front by weapon fire, roll 2 dice On an 11 or 12, the front wheel is hit Any remaining dam- age is lost On a 2-10, the front armor is hit Any remaining damage after the armor is destroyed will affect internal components in the same way as cars are affected (see Dam-

age Location, p 28)

For reversed trikes, all the above holds true – just reverse “front” and “back ” The only exception is that an attacker still can- not hit the top of a reversed trike from be- hind, as the back is still the highest part of the trike

Rolling to Hit

When a normal weapon (anything but a dropped or gas weapon) is fired, the attack- ing player rolls 2 dice to see if he hit his target He must make the to-hit roll, or bet- ter, for that weapon (see Chapter 6, or the Weapon Table on the insert sheet) Thus, to hit with a machine gun, a player must roll a 7 or better on 2 dice The lower a weapon’s to-hit roll, the more accurate it is

 

Targeting Modifiers

Accuracy is affected by a number of fac- tors, including the skill of the firer, range, weather, and size and speed of the target Consult the following list, and add all the factors that apply to the to-hit roll All modi- fiers are cumulative

For example, a machine gun has a base to-hit roll of 7 If the firer was using a tar- geting computer (+1) at point-blank range (+4) and was trying to hit the tire (-3) of a cycle (-2) at night (-3), there would be a total modifier of −3; the firer now has to roll a 10 or higher No matter what the roll needed, a roll of 2 on the dice is an auto- matic miss A roll of 12 is not an automatic hit If, after all modifiers, a player needs a 13 or higher to hit, he cannot hit the target, but may still fire for sustained fire bonuses If a driver has made a maneuver or suffered a hazard in the phase he fires a weapon, the difficulty of the maneuver or

hazard is subtracted from his to-hit roll When trying to hit a vehicle with  a

weapon’s burst effect, or trying to place a burst of fire in front of a vehicle, the attacker gets the bonus for targeting the ground, plus all applicable speed modifi- ers for both vehicles Use common sense; the referee has the final say If the to-hit roll is missed while attempting a shot at the ground or wall near an enemy, use the grenade scatter rules (p 34) to determine where the shot actually hit

Targeting Modifiers

Range

Point Blank (less than 1” away): +4 Long Range: −1 for every full 4”:

4” to 7.99” is −1

8” to 11.99” is −2

12” to 15.99” is −3, and so on

Movement

Firer is in            Target is in Firer’s Target’s        Front arc Back arc Side arc

 

Front arc 1/2 Target 1/2 (T Speed −1/2 Target Speed       F Speed) Speed

 

Back arc 1/2 (T Speed − 1/2 Target 1/2 Target F Speed)  Speed   Speed

 

Side arc    Target      Target T Speed -

Speed       Speed  F Speed*

 

* If cars are moving toward each other, the modifier is the target speed If a vehi- cle is in more than one arc, rule in the defenders’ favor

Target is not moving: +1 Firer is not moving: +1

Firing pedestrian is braced against solid object: +1

 

Target is moving 30 to 37.5 mph: −1

Target is moving 40 to 47.5 mph: −2

Target is moving 50 to 57.5 mph: −3

Target is moving 60 to 67.5 mph: −4

Target is moving 70 to 77.5 mph: −5 Target is moving 80 mph or faster: −6

 

Vehicle Targets Compact or Subcompact: −1 Car: −1 from front or rear

Motorcycle or Sidecar: −2 from side, −3 from front or rear

Trike (any size): −2 from top

Light Trike: −3 from front/back, −2 from side

Medium Trike: −2 from front/back, −1 from side

Heavy Trike: −1 from front/back, −1 from side

X-Heavy Trike: −1 from front/back, no pen- alty from side

 

Specific Target

Pedestrian: −3, or −4 if prone.

A pedestrian cannot be hit if he is prone and fully behind solid cover If he is ful- ly behind solid cover but has his head up to fire, the penalty is −6. If he is fir- ing out a door or window, see p 37

Vehicle Tire: −3

Turret: −2

Motorcycle Rider(from side only): −3 Lamppost: −6

Building: +10

Searchlight: −3

Ground: +4

 

Visibility

Firing through smoke or paint: -1 per 1/2" of smoke or paint, rounded up Rain: −2

Heavy rain, fog or night: −3

Target in rubble area (see p. 37): −4 Firer blinded by searchlight: −10

 

Miscellaneous

Targeting Computer used: +1 Hi-Res Computer used: +2

Cyberlink used: +3

Gunner Skill: equal to skill level bonus Handgunner Skill: equal to skill level bonus Firing while on Oil, Gravel or Bad Road: −1 Sustained Fire: second consecutive shot  in

as many turns at same target with same weapon: +1; third and subsequent shots:

+2

Attacking vehicle does a Trivial Skid or Minor Fishtail: −3 for the remainder of the turn

Attacking vehicle does a Minor or Moder- ate Skid or Major Fishtail: −6 for the re- mainder of the turn

Attacker not in arc of fire of target side: −2 Hazard or maneuver in same phase: penalty

equal to D rating

Damage

When a weapon hits, calculate the amount of damage by rolling the number of dice shown on the Weapon List (insert sheet) The result is the number of hits taken by the target

 

Burst Effect

Weapons that do additional burst-effect damage are identified on the Weapon List Any weapon with a “radius” shown in the Effects column is a burst effect weapon

In addition to the listed damage to what- ever is hit, burst-effect weapons do 1d dam- age to any pedestrian in the weapon’s burst radius Pedestrians under cover (behind an intact wall or vehicle) are not affected

A grenade does full damage to any pe- destrian within its 2” burst radius, and half damage to vehicle components (armor, tires, etc) in a 1/2” radius No other burst- effect weapon will affect walls or vehicles (including tires) with its burst effect Rea- son: The other burst-effect weapons are shaped charges, exploding upward (in the case of a mine) or into the target (in the case of other weapons), and the burst effect is merely a bonus, not strong enough to harm armored vehicles or vehicular components

 

Area Effect

Weapons which may be used against pedestrians in an area effect are identified on the Weapon List These are weapons

that can sweep an area When using such a weapon against several pedestrians within 1” of one another, the firer may attempt to hit several at once He must make as many to-hit rolls as there are intended victims This determines how many he hits, but not who – that is determined by the defender, who must pick pedestrians who are standing next to each other If the potential victims belong to more than one player, they must agree which ones are hit If they cannot agree, the attacker chooses the victims!

Those who are hit take half the damage rolled for the weapon (round up) Excep- tion: Flamethrowers do full damage against all targets!

Example: Four pedestrians are standing in a line 1” long; as people this dim should be removed from the gene pool, an intrepid duellist decides to deep-fry them with his laser He fires, and rolls two hits and two misses The player controlling the pedes- trians designates the two on the right The duellist rolls a 13 on 3 dice, so each victim receives 7 points of damage (half of 13, rounded up) and is torched

 

Recording Damage

Each vehicle component can take a cer- tain amount of damage, shown as “DP” (damage points) on the Weapon List, Ac- cessories List, and vehicle design charts Armor is lost a point at a time; if you start with 12 points of armor on the front of your car, and it takes 7 hits, you have 5 points left Other components work at full efficiency until they take their full amount of DP – then they’re gone A machine gun (3DP) can take 2 hits and still work, but the hits are recorded in the boxes on the Vehicle Record When that gun takes a third hit, it is destroyed You can repair damage yourself, using the Mechanic skill (see pp 41-42), or you can pay for repairs (see p 52)

 

Damage Location

The location of weapon damage is con- trolled by the part of the vehicle that was hit Damage is taken by the components in that part of the target, outermost first Armor is destroyed first When all armor is gone, the next component inward is hit,

and so on Components in each area of a car or truck, in the order they are hit by an attack from that side, are:

Front: Front armor; (front-firing weap- ons); front motor; (driver or gunner); cargo; back motor; (back-firing weapons); back armor

Back: As above, but in reverse order: Back armor first, etc

Right: Right armor; (right-firing weap- ons); (gunner, driver, cargo, or motor); (left-firing weapons); left armor

Left: As above, but in reverse order: Left armor, etc

Underbody: Underbody armor; (motor, driver, gunner, or cargo); turret weapons; top armor Tires may also take damage

Top: As above, but in reverse order

Turret: Top armor, then turret weapons If the turret was targeted from the side, “leftover” damage will pass above the car, hitting nothing else

Tires: Targeted tire/wheel only “Left- over” hits have no effect

Many vehicles will not have every com- ponent listed If a component is not present, just skip it! Few cars will have both front and rear power plants (motors); many will have no gunner, turret, or cargo Passengers count as cargo For a more complete guide, refer to the Vehicle Record Sheet example on p 6, which has components in most of the possible locations In case of a dispute, the referee’s decision is final

After going through armor and weapons mounted to the appropriate side, there are three (and only three) possible internal loca- tions These are crew compartment, power plant, and cargo Power plant is your prima- ry power plant Crew compartment is any driver, gunner, or passenger – any human being in the car Cargo is everything else These three locations may be placed in any order from front to back (not side by side) The locations of drivers, gunners, and pas- sengers must still be stated for determining their firing arcs

When a weapon penetrates from the front or back, the damage goes to each internal location in order Only one actual item in each location can be damaged by a single shot When a weapon penetrates from the side, roll randomly to see which of the three locations is hit Re-roll for any

nonexistent location A location that is de- stroyed (such as a destroyed PP) is still a location which damage can hit and pass through A car with unused space does have a cargo location, even if it doesn’t have any actual cargo

Note that some weapons cannot be hit by certain attacks There is no way, for ex- ample, to damage a front-firing weapon by an attack from the right – though you can hit it from behind by shooting through the car Where two or three components are list-

ed in parentheses, only one will be hit by each attack Roll randomly for each sepa- rate attack to see which one is hit

Example: A mine explosion that pen- etrated the underbody armor would affect either the motor, driver, gunner, or cargo

– but only one If that component took enough hits to destroy it completely, fur- ther damage from that explosion would go directly to the turret weapon or, if there was no turret, the top armor A subsequent mine explosion might get a previously-unhit tar- get, or hit in the same place, bypassing the other internal targets, and hit the turret or top again

Similarly, if a vehicle takes “front- weapon” damage and has two or more front weapons, roll randomly for each attack to see which of the weapons is hit If there are two or more front weapons, each attack will hit only one Leftover damage from that attack goes “inward,” not “sideways” to other front weapons

 

Collision Damage

Damage from a collision is handled dif- ferently It is divided evenly among all ex- posed (i e, “outside”) components on the affected side For instance, if a car with two front MGs had no front armor left, and took 3 points of damage from enemy fire, you would roll randomly to see which MG took the 3 hits However, if that same car took 3 points of collision damage to the front, it would be divided evenly between the exposed systems (the weapons) – 2 hits on one and 1 on the other Thus, collision damage cannot penetrate to the interior of a vehicle until all armor on that side, and all components “outside” the one to be af- fected, have been completely destroyed

Metal armor is 3 times more effective than its listed value against collision dam- age; 1 point of armor is lost for every 3 points of damage absorbed (rounded up), and the most points the armor can lose on that side is half the total on the side in- volved in the wreck (rounded up)

Example: A vehicle with 8 points of front metal armor hits a brick wall at a pret- ty good clip, and 7d of damage are rolled, yielding 29 The front armor will stop up to 3 times its value, which is 24 (3 × 8) The remaining 5 points of damage go to the interior of the vehicle and are distributed in the normal way for collisions If the car survives, it will still have 4 points (half the original value) of armor on the front

In a collision from the front or the back, all damage is divided by the number of individual items in that internal location (power plant, crew, or cargo) and applied separately Any remaining damage goes on to the next location In a side collision, the damage is first divided by the number of internal locations and then is divided equally among the items in each location Empty cargo space (or a previously de- stroyed location) still counts as a location

– all of its damage just passes through to the opposite side

Combat Results

Injury to Drivers

Humans have 3 DP; they are wounded by the first hit, knocked unconscious by the second, and killed by the third Standard body armor, when worn, also has 3 DP Body armor takes damage first, effectively doubling a character’s hit points Hits taken by a driver’s body armor are no hazard, but if a vehicle’s driver is wounded or killed, it is a D2 hazard A wounded crew member’s skills are at −2. When a vehicle’s driver is unconscious, dead, or stunned, all Driver skill and reflex bonuses are lost until the driver recovers (if possible)

Uncontrolled Vehicles

If a motorcycle’s driver is killed or knocked unconscious, the cycle goes to

Crash Table 1 immediately, adding 4 to its roll Any passengers must jump or suffer the consequences of the roll Any other ground vehicle (including a cycle with a sidecar) will continue in a straight line if the driver is incapacitated It decelerates 5 mph each turn, moving in a straight line until it stops or hits something

 

Substitute Drivers

If a cycle’s driver is incapacitated, a sidecar passenger can steer the cycle, but cannot use the brakes or accelerator He can fire any weapon, but not on any turn that he steers the cycle

If a larger vehicle’s driver is incapaci- tated, a front-seat gunner or passenger may attempt to take control (Note: No vehicle may have more than two seats in front) He may operate all vehicle controls, or the weapons, but not both in the same turn Each maneuver he makes has an extra D2 of difficulty

If a driverless vehicle can be stopped, it will take 5 turns (5 seconds) to push the late driver out or off and move any other occupant of the vehicle in as a new driver On the 6th turn, the new driver may start to accelerate and/or fire

 

Fire and Explosion

A vehicle which crashes may catch fire (see Crash Tables, Chapter 2) A vehicle hit in combat may also catch fire from certain weapons (see below), or on a 2 in 6 chance on any turn that the vehicle’s power plant, flamethrowers, or flaming oil jets are hit by enemy fire; a 4 in 6 chance if those items take damage from laser, flamethrower, or flaming oil jet fire.

If a vehicle has a fire extinguisher, there is a 3 in 6 chance the fire will go out at the end of each turn (4 in 6 if the vehicle has an improved fire extinguisher) If the fire is not put out at the end of the turn, the fire does one hit of damage to each occupant (body armor will take damage first), each vehicle component (including tires), and the armor on each part of the car

A burning vehicle may explode if it contains any type of flamethrower, flam- ing oil jet, any type of rocket or mis- sile weapon, or AT gun If the fire is not

extinguished, roll 1 die at the end of each turn On a roll of 1 the vehicle explodes, scattering debris All occupants are killed Pedestrians or vehicles within 2” take 1d damage to the exposed side (if there are two exposed sides, the owner picks which side takes the damage)

If a vehicle’s tire catches on fire, but the vehicle has FP armor, the car will not catch on fire The tire will continue to burn, how- ever, and fire extinguishers (except a PFE) have the normal chance of putting it out

The sequence of rolls is as follows If the vehicle has taken damage that could cause a fire, roll at the end of the turn to see if fire breaks out If fire breaks out, and the vehi- cle has a fire extinguisher, then roll to see if the fire extinguisher puts out the fire If the fire extinguisher succeeds at this point, no damage is taken from fire If it fails (or the target didn’t have one), each vehicle com- ponent takes one hit of damage as outlined above If the fire is still burning after the roll, then make one more roll for possible explosion as outlined above

Starting Fires

Every weapon that has a chance to set a vehicle on fire is rated on the Vehicular Fire Table (above) for two factors: “Fire Modifier” and “Burn Duration ” Fire Mod- ifier is the number the attacker must roll (or roll under) to set the target vehicle on fire Burn Duration is the number of turns after the initial hit the Fire Modifier is in effect All Fire Modifiers are cumulative

Example: On turn 1, our intrepid duellist gets hit by a single flamethrower shot. The FT has a fire modifier of 4, so the attacker needs a 4 or less on 2 dice to set the target vehicle on fire He rolls an 11, which isn’t even close. The next turn, the flamethrower misses, but our hero gets hit by a laser The laser has a fire modifier of 1, but this is also the first turn of the flamethrower’s 3-turn burn duration – that’s 4 more for a total of 5 The attacker, needing a 5 or less to start a fire, rolls a 6 – tough luck

On the third turn, the flamethrower misses again, but the laser hits for the sec- ond time, and our hero drives through some flaming oil. The fire modifiers are 1 (for the laser) plus 3 (for the flaming oil) plus 4 (for the second turn of the FT’s burn duration),

 

1

2

Burn Duration 3 2 0 0 0 0 1

2

Thermite Grenade White Phosphorus Grenade

Vehicular Fire Table Weapon           Fire Modifier Flamethrower      4 Flaming Oil Jet    3 Light Laser          0 Medium Laser     1 Laser                    1 Heavy Laser        2

 

for a total of 8 The attacker, needing only to roll an 8 or less, comes up with a 7 Our hero’s on fire – let’s hope he has a fire ex- tinguisher

Fireproof armor remains just that – fire- proof – under these rules If fireproof ar- mor is breached and damage is taken by a power plant, flaming oil jet, or flame- thrower, determine the chance of fire as above

Odds & Ends

Automatic Fire

If a weapon is placed on “automatic,” it will fire each turn until it runs out of ammo or is taken off automatic Putting a weapon on automatic is a firing action, as is taking it off automatic Letting it fire during the intervening turns is not a firing action If you have a weapon on automatic, you may fire an additional weapon that turn

This advantage, however, is offset by the inaccuracy of automatic fire A weap- on on automatic is not being aimed by the driver or anything else It fires straight ahead (or behind, or to the side, depending on where it’s mounted) A weapon in a tur- ret cannot be put on automatic A weapon on automatic cannot target an opposing vehicle’s tire, turret, or any other specific target, nor does it benefit from targeting computers Putting a weapon on automatic breaks sustained fire, and subsequent auto- matic-fire shots do not get a sustained fire bonus

When a vehicle lays down automatic fire, calculate the attack from that weapon at the end of all movement for that turn Draw an imaginary line straight out from the middle of the side the automatic weap- on is on If a target (vehicle, pedestrian, building) crosses that line, figure all the standard modifiers and roll the dice Put- ting a weapon on automatic is very effec- tive for doing property damage and dealing with large groups of opponents; if you’re duelling with just one or two other vehi- cles, automatic fire is probably a waste of ammo Dropped and gas weapons are very useful as automatic fire (see below)

 

Dropped Weapons

Minedroppers, Spikedroppers, Oil Jets, and Flaming Oil Jets are dropped weap- ons Dropped weapons do not require to-hit rolls If a car is moving and fires a dropped weapon, the counter is aligned with the car Where the front of the counter is placed depends on where the weapon is mounted

Front: Centered, aligned with the front of the car

Underbody: Centered, with the counter front in the center of the car

Top: Same as underbody

Side: As underbody, but 1/2” off to the side

Back: Centered, aligned with the rear of car

If the car is moving in reverse, reverse the “front” and “back” designations above If the car is stationary, rear-mounted weapons remain the same, side-mounted weapons are placed straight out from the side of the car, front weapons are placed straight out from the front of the car, and top/ underbody weapons are centered on the car

If the weapon is in a turret, the counter may be placed as if it were mounted in any of the above locations

The smoke cloud from the flamethrower is always aligned along the line of fire

If a dropped weapon is put on automatic, a counter of the appropriate type is placed behind the vehicle every phase the vehicle moves It will continue to do this until it runs out of ammo or is taken off automatic If a vehicle is not moving, a dropped weap- on on automatic will fire once per turn

The counters for mines and spikes show approximately where they are If a vehicle crosses a tire-spike counter, roll 1 die On a roll of 1 to 4, each tire takes 1d damage If a vehicle crosses any square adjacent to the counter (see diagram below), roll 1 die; on a 1 or 2, the tire takes 1d damage Spikes will stay on the road indefinitely Solid and plas- ticore tires take half damage from spikes

Mine counters work the same way, ex- cept that if any wheel of a vehicle crosses the counter, the mines will go off on a roll of 1 to 4 If the vehicle only crosses an adja- cent square, the mines explode on a 1 or 2 Each tire within 1” of any edge of the mine counter takes 1d damage, and the underbody of the vehicle that set the mines off takes 2d damage The Spear 1000 mine works the same way, except that tires only take 1d−3 points of damage, while the underbody takes 2d+3! After a particular set of mines has been set off, the counter is removed

Mines may also be remote controlled, either by radio or by cable Setting off mines in this way counts as a firing action, but the mines go off when you want them to If you want mines that will go off either by remote control or when they’re run over, double the cost

An oil slick is defined by the edge of the counter When any part of a vehicle crosses an oil slick counter, it adds D2 to the dif- ficulty of any maneuver attempted; it also adds D2 to the severity of any hazard en- countered (such as enemy fire) It is not a hazard in itself Flaming oil slicks are a D1 when driven over and add a D2 to any ma- neuver or hazard and also cause damage to the underbody and tires, as described in the individual weapon descriptions Oil slicks last indefinitely, but flaming oil disappears after five turns

Each vehicle checks only once for each counter – on the phase it first runs over the counter, or (if it’s just going to touch the ad- jacent square area) the first phase it enters

 

 

an adjacent square Of course, if the vehicle returns to the counter’s location, it will have to roll again

For dropped liquids and dropped gases that do damage to a vehicle, roll for damage to the vehicle every five phases that the ve- hicle remains in contact with the damaging substance

 

 

Paint and Smoke

Paint and smoke may be produced by rear-mounted or side-mounted weapons (see diagrams above) Do not try to line up a cloud with the grid lines Orient it accord- ing to the vehicle’s position Smokescreens and paint clouds remain stationary The life of a smoke cloud is one minute (longer than most battles will take) The life of a paint spray is one second Remove it at the end of the turn after the one in which it is fired Any vehicle trying to trace a line of fire through paint or smoke must subtract 1 from its to-hit roll for each 1/2” of cloud in the way, rounded up Lasers cannot fire

through smoke or paint at all

When a smokescreen or paint spray is placed on automatic, it fires once every phase the vehicle moves This produces a continuous line of paint or smoke counters It will continue to do so until it runs out of ammo or is taken off automatic If the ve- hicle is not moving, a smokescreen or paint spray on automatic fires once per turn

Tear gas can be loaded in a smokescreen (CPS 50, WPS 1) Tear gas affects targeting the same way regular smoke does, as well as having serious effects on any unprotect- ed pedestrians (for a full description of tear gas, see the grenade rules on p 36)

Any vehicle which comes into contact with a paint cloud gets paint on its windows The vehicle will make all to-hit rolls at a −2 for the rest of that turn and the next three turns; after that, the windshield washers will have cleaned it off Both paint and smoke are available in just about any color

Linked Weapons

Another way to get more firepower per turn out of your vehicle is to link weapons A weapons link costs $50, and has no space or weight requirements Two or more iden- tical weapons firing from the same side (or in a turret) may be linked, aimed, and

fired together It is not nec- essary for linked weapons to be fired together – a link is essentially a third button, in addition to the first two, that fires both weapons simulta- neously You can still press one of the first two buttons to fire a single weapon, if you want

When linked weapons are fired, make a separate to-hit roll for each linked weapon All modifiers – negative or positive – that affect one linked weapon affect them all, including targeting computers, gunner skill, and range

Links can themselves be linked, pro- vided all the weapons are identical Four heavy rockets, linked in pairs that are also linked, gives the firer a number of options – fire any one, fire either of two pairs, or fire them all – at any time Only identical weap- ons may be linked and aimed together

Weapons that are not identical can be linked, but only one can be aimed The other weapon(s) are treated as if they are on automatic (except they fire when the button is pushed, and not at the end of the turn) The firer can pick which weapon he wishes to aim, and which one will be treated as au- tomatic (see above for rules on automatic fire) If two identical weapons are linked with a third, different, weapon, then the two identical weapons may be aimed to- gether and the third is treated as if it were on automatic Weapons with a turret can- not be linked and aimed with weapons in the main body of the vehicle, or in another turret, unless the weapons are smart-linked ($500) Any type of dropped weapon or paint/smoke weapon can be linked with anything with no penalty, since they do not require to-hit rolls A common tactic is to link a number of minedroppers and smoke- screens together and fire them together to discourage pursuit

Any number of weapons can be linked together with one link For example, a pair of rear-mounted minedroppers can be linked to a pair of spikedroppers mounted on the sides, all to fire at the same time as the turreted machine gun This is one link; when it is triggered, all five weapons must fire If you just want the two spikedroppers to fire, that requires another link The same is true for the two minedroppers

Hand Weapons

Any character (driver, gunner, passen- ger, or pedestrian) may use a hand weapon any turn he or she does not fire a vehicle weapon For game purposes, hand weapons take up no weight or space However, no character may carry more than six grenades or grenade-equivalents of equipment A pis- tol counts as a grenade-equivalent; a rifle, shotgun, or SMG counts as two As cargo, a box of 12 grenades weighs 50 pounds and takes up one space (it takes 1 turn to get a grenade from cargo space) For complete stats on hand weapons, see p 47

Hand weapons do not get bonuses for computer aiming, but all other modifica- tions for vehicular weapons apply Hand- gunner skill is used with hand weapons, instead of the Gunner skill

Hand weapons have full effect on tires Most will not affect other vehicle com- ponents except at point-blank range (see Hand-to-Hand Combat on p 45) A few hand weapons will work (either half effect or full effect) against vehicles; see p 47

 

Range

A grenade may be thrown up to 5” (see below for more on grenades) Other hand weapons have a maximum range of 20” for game purposes