FMA Draft part 1C

DEFINITIONS:

GROUNDSCALE:  1" on table = 2 yards/metres.
TIMESCALE: Flexible. One action (such as firing a shot, or moving a few
metres) may occupy only a few seconds, while another (say, treating a
casualty) may take considerably longer and is assumed to be going on while
other things are happening around it. ACTIVATION: The process of choosing a
figure and taking one or more actions with it. ACTION: A single function
performed by a figure during its Activation, such as moving or firing a
weapon; most figures may make up to TWO actions each time they are activated.
ACTIVATION MARKER: The coloured marker placed by a figure and flipped over to
indicate when the figure has been activated; COLOUR of marker denotes figure's
QUALITY grade, and NUMBER on marker is figure's MOTIVATION LEVEL.

QUALITY GRADES: NOVICE: YELLOW marker; QUALITY NUMBER 4 (QUALITY DIE
D4).
GREEN: GREEN marker; QUALITY NUMBER 6 (QUALITY DIE D6). REGULAR: BLUE marker;
QUALITY NUMBER 8 (QUALITY DIE D8). VETERAN: ORANGE marker; QUALITY NUMBER 10
(QUALITY DIE
D10).
ELITE: RED marker; QUALITY NUMBER 12 (QUALITY DIE D12).

MOTIVATION LEVEL: Number on marker shows figure's nerve, coolness in combat
etc: 1 = HIGH motivation, very gutsy and confident. 2 = AVERAGE motivation,
typical normal level. 3 = LOW motivation, nervous and easily shaken.

ACTIONS AND ACTIVATIONS: Each player takes it in turn to ACTIVATE ANY ONE of
his figures and make that figure perform actions. Once that figure has
completed its activation, it may not normally perform any further actions in
that game turn; the opposing player now activates one of his figures, and so
on. Each player
has a free choice of activating ANY one of his as-yet-unactivated
figures when it is his turn to do so.

When a figure is ACTIVATED, it may normally perform up to TWO ACTIONS. The
most common actions are listed here, but players should feel free to use other
more specialised actions in specific circumstances IF their opponents
and/or the umpire agree.

Basic Actions: MOVE: figure may move up to allowed distance.
FIRE: figure fires once at any target in range and line-of-sight
AIM: if used immediately before a FIRE action (in the same activation), DOUBLE
each range band of the weapon fired.
ENGAGE IN CLOSE COMBAT: figure may fight hand-to-hand if in direct
contact with an enemy figure. COMMUNICATE (by voice or radio) TRANSFER
ACTIVATION TO ANOTHER FRIENDLY FIGURE ("Leader" characters only)

REACTION TESTS: The REACTION TEST is one of the most important mechanisms in
FMA, but is also one of the simplest. Reaction tests are taken whenever
something nasty happens (or threatens to happen) to a figure, or when the
figure tries to
do something that has an element of skill or luck involved - it is a
simple die roll to see whether the action is successful, or how the figure
reacts to the threat. to do this, the player rolls the character's QUALITY DIE
with the aim of scoring MORE than the total of the character's MOTIVATION (the
number on
his/her marker). If the die roll is GREATER than the motivation number,
then the character has PASSED the test successfully; if, however, the roll is
equal to or less than the required number then the test is FAILED. In some
circumstances there may be modifiers that increase the needed
number to pass the test - these are added to the figure's Motivation to
give the total target number for the test. This is noted as, for example,
"Reaction Test +1" - in this case, add 1 to the figure's Motivation
number for the purpose of this test only.

Examples: if a REGULAR trooper with a Motivation of 2 (hence a Blue/2
marker) is required to make a Reaction Test, roll a D8 - a roll of 1 or
2 is a failed test, 3 or more is a success. If the circumstances required a
"+1"  reaction test, then add 1 to the Motivation to give a target
number
of 3 - so a 4 or better would be needed to succeed in the test.

MOVEMENT: A figure may move any distance up to its BASE MOVEMENT VALUE for
each MOVE
action it takes - thus if a figure uses BOTH actions for movement it may
move up to double the base distance.

BASE MOVEMENT VALUES: Heavily encumbered character (eg: carrying wounded
comrade): 4" (D4) Encumbered character (eg: carrying heavy weapon, or wearing
heavy unpowered armour): 6" (D6) Typical normal character, or "Slow" power
suited character: 8" (D8) Very lightly equipped or very agile character, or
"Medium" power suited character: 10" (D10) "Fast" power suited character or
typical Combat Cyborg etc.: 12" (D12)

Heavily encumbered character (eg: carrying wounded comrade) Encumbered
character (eg: carrying heavy weapon, or wearing heavy unpowered armour)
Typical normal character, or "Slow" power suited character Very lightly
equipped or very agile character, or "Medium" power suited character "Fast"
power suited character or typical Combat Cyborg etc.

Evrey inch moved through any DIFFICULT TERRAIN counts as two inches of normal
movement. Crossing a linear obstacle (eg: a wall) takes half of the available
movement of that action.

"COME AND SEE THE VIOLENCE INHERENT IN THE SYSTEM - HELP, HELP, I'M
BEING SUPPRESSED..."

SUPPRESSION MARKERS: A figure which receives a SUPPRESSION result when fired
at is given a SUPPRESSION MARKER. Any figure may only have ONE Suppression
Marker at any
one time - if it already has one, then any further suppression results
on it are ignored. Suppression Markers have the effect of reducing the
figure's abilities by forcing the expenditure of actions to attempt to remove
the suppression. When it has a Suppression Marker, a figure may not make ANY
action except for an attempt to remove the suppression (exception: see
"Suppressed Figures in the Open", below)

REMOVING SUPPRESSION MARKERS:
A figure may use an action to attempt to remove a suppression marker -
roll the Quality die, and if the score exceeds the figure's Motivation level
then the suppression marker may be removed. If the roll fails to remove the
supporession marker, then a second attempt may be made with the figure's other
action if the player desires (this will usually be the case, since otherwise
the second action is wasted anyway, as the figure can do nothing else with it
while still suppressed).

SUPPRESSED FIGURES IN THE OPEN: If a figure becomes suppressed while it is in
the open, he is very unlikely to simply "freeze" on the spot, exposed to
further fire. When the figure is next activated and tests for removal of the
suppression, if the roll FAILS then the figure must immediately roll a COMBAT
MOVE die. If there is any cover of any sort (hard or soft) within the rolled
move distance of the figure, even if it is towards an enemy figure, then the
suppressed figure immediately sprints to the cover, taking with him any
suppression marker(s), which remain in force until successfully removed. If
the combat move roll is too short to reach any available cover, then the
figure must instead RETREAT directly away from the nearest visible enemy, by
the distance rolled. If the roll is sufficient to reach more than one area of
cover, the figure will move to whichever cover is nearest. Once the figure
is in cover, he may use his second action to re-attempt removal of the
suppression as normal.

SUPPRESSION LIMITATIONS ON HEAVILY ARMOURED TARGETS: Any target that is
sufficiently heavily protected that its armour rating is expressed as a
MULTIPLIER rather than a straight die type will not suffer suppression effects
when fired on by light weapons. If the Armour multiplier is LARGER than the
Impact Multiplier of the weapon, then the target will not be suppressed (note
that it CAN still be damaged or destroyed by a lucky shot from the same
weapon). Example: a trooper in Heavy Powered Armour has an armour rating of
D12x2 (ie: a multiplier of 2). A Gauss Rifle (Impact D12) will NOT be able to
suppress the PA trooper, because he will not feel sufficiently vulnerable to
its effect (even though it could actually kill him with a good hit!). If fired
on by a 20mm Cannon (Impact D12x2) then a suppression WOULD be effective, as
the PA wearer would be shaken by coming under fire of such a heavy weapon.