I was looking through Infinity N5 (for use with my kids - my son has Star Wars and my daughter Necromunda). I must commend any company that releases free rules - if they are about selling minis, they should stand on their own. And they do - I own 100+ Infinity models because they are good models. Playing with them does not require $300+ of rulebooks (cough Necromunda cough).
While efforts seem to have been made to streamline the rules, they are still very chunky. Since my other rules I like (Zone Raiders) require adaption for anything but their rather niche game world, I decided it was homebrew time.
I thought I'd post it up my ideas as I play to do a battle report later and serve as an example of how to make a game without being original. Something I think isn't at all necessary for a good, fun game. Things like "strategic" "gives lots of decisions" "easily explained" "don't need the rulebook much" "has the right feel:" they are all good describing words for a game.
But "original?" "unique?" nah - pah! Not important. Shakespeare was a hack.
Another +30 minis puts me at 96 for the year. My secret: I stop when I get bored. These Vostroyans need another wash and more highlights, but I'm tired of them and they are table-ready. I'll come back later sometime...
Mechanics
Basically roll a d12 vs a stat (target number). If it rolls under the stat, it succeeds, if it rolls exactly equal the stat, it is a critical success. A natural '12' is a fumble or auto fail and a '1' succeeds. I'm pretty blase about this as dice are just RNG and as long as the probabilities make sense, I don't care as long as the method is reasonably consistent.
If a roll is opposed, you only count the rolls that succeed (equal or under TN).
1.Highest crit wins or
2. Highest roll (under stat) wins
Modifiers change the target number not the dice roll.
Stats are pretty basic: Move, Shoot, Melee, Agility (alert/nimble), Physique (bulk/strength), Defence, Willpower (moral/magic). The human average is '6' i.e. 1-6 = 50%. Which aligns with say a STR3 T3 etc Imperial Guard.
For example, an Imperial Guard (Shoot 6) fires at an Eldar (Shoot 7, Dodge 8). The Eldar has not acted yet so may choose to shoot back or dodge. Although a dodge is more likely to succeed, the Eldar shoots back. They roll d12s. IG player gets a 3 and the Eldar a 4. Both succeed (under their stat) so the highest crit wins. There is no crit, so the Eldar wins with the highest score.
Activation
Each side alternates one model. It may move + take an action - the action can be shoot, or move again, or charge (move+melee), reload etc. Pretty standard. You can hold actions (overwatch) for later.
You may reposition your model (move a base length/rotate the mini) without counting as a move.
You can react to enemies in line of sight who have acted or at least moved half their movement. Enemies outside the front 180 are -2 to react to.
Re-action
If you have a hold action you can interrupt an enemies activation. You can also react if you are shot at - if you haven't activated yet (forfeiting your action later) by shooting back or dodging up to half a move.
Shooting & Fighting
Either an opposed or unopposed roll against the correct stat. Three range bands - effective, long, and CQB.
Few modifiers: -2 if attacked from rear, -2 long range, -3 if target in cover.
The loser takes any hits first, if he survives, he shoots/fights back. A critical success would cause 2 wounds. If the winner dodged out of sight, then he might avoid all return fire.
Damage
The player rolls against his Defence to save each hit. A critical success cancels two wounds. If all hits are blocked the defender is still pinned - losing his action next turn. Most human-sized targets have 1 wound unless they are a monster/mech/hero.
A human is base Defence 6 but say for 40K comparisons, can add +1 each armour level; i.e. an IG with T3 and a '6+' save would be 6+1 = 7. A Space Marine T4 Save 3+ would have 7+4 = 11 Defence.
Weapons have a Defence roll modifier.
A lasgun (STR3) would have 0. A std bolter (STR4, -1AP) would have -2. A Space Marine would resist 90% of lasgun shots and 75% of bolter rounds; which would make him a walking tank. An IG would resist only 58% of lasgun shots and 42% of bolter rounds; making him more realistically squishy.
Converting from other systems (KT, Necromunda, Infinity)
As you can see the stats above are (imprecisely) based on the typical 40Kesque wargame of d6 4+ 50% chance to hit, d6 4+ 50% chance to wound which should make melee somewhat viable, albeit less than 40K where reactive fire is not so powerful.
These base numbers will be tweaked and I may make Armour Piercing/Armour into its own thing. I can revise stats up or down depending on how I want the game to play - reducing base defence to 5 as the base would make players take cover more as they are squishier.
Basically, I have picked math that 'works' already; just adapted it to my d12 system. It also means I can quickly import stats and abilities etc without extensive playtesting if it is based on well-used mechanics.
Using a 1-6 (50%) on d12 to hit, with -2 (17%) penalties for cover, range etc is just like a 4+ on a d6 (50%) with -1 (17%) penalties. In addition using d12 can fit more "on the dice" allowing me to do away with extra rolls AND allow a wider range of abilities without recourse to special rules.
Rifle range on most 40K-style games is 24" max (kinda ridiculous) so I have decided to make effective range 2/3rds that (16" effective range for rifle) with extreme range being double that at 32".
Whilst this is a major change and makes guns significantly more powerful than 40K, it aligns with Infinity's medium range (16-18") for a rifle, so I still have an existing frame of reference for how the game will 'feel.'
Special rules/abilities can be pretty 1:1 if the underlying math aligns. For example a weapon with rapid fire or sustained fire may 2 rolls at effective range. A heavy bolter (sustained 2) might get a hold action after it fires if it did not move: 2 extra free shots which to be used in overwatch? An assault weapon might get a +2 to hit in CQB range or maybe allowed a hipfire move+fire action at say -2.
Anyway, this is an example of how being unoriginal can be fast and convenient.
It took me less time to "invent" the rules than it did to type this up. More time was spent looking at my Infinity, Necromunda, KT books to see what the stats where that give the underlying math. I'm confident the game will work OK-ish - and just require tweaking i.e. make defence 1 weaker or make cover -2 not -3, decrease base move from 6" to 4" etc.
I'm confident it will play very differently from Kill Team and Necromunda despite using the core math %. The generally higher defence stats and greater unit speed means it will also be different from Infinity despite the similar opposed rolls/dice mechanics. Original yet unoriginal. And to a time-poor dad with limited playtesting time, it's very convenient...
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