Eye of the Warp

Epic Ogre: Optional Rules

by Kenneth Peters

 

These rules are intended to give added depth to a game of Epic Ogre. They are all RECOMMENDED but not required to play a game of Epic Ogre. Note that some optional rules reference other optional rules, so read through them all before deciding which ones to use.


Size Class

This is an abstract measure of the unit’s size and weight; see the Size Table, below. Size is mainly used to determine how hard it is to push an inert unit around, and what a unit can hide behind. It is also used as a measure of an units damage capability if it attempts to Ram another unit. Size is not important for buildings.

Size Table

This table is to be used as a guide for the relative sizes of units and the number of infantry (where applicable) it takes to move them off of a road. Building Sizes are given later for determining what can be hidden behind them, but of course infantry cannot move buildings. They can be blown up however….

SIZE TABLE

Size

Example

Infantry
to Move

1

Land Speeders, Infantry

1

2

Dreadnoughts, light tanks (Predators), APCs

3

3

Heavy tanks (Land Raider)

5

4

Artillery, Missile Crawlers

6*

5

Superheavies, Mk I Ogre, Knights

9*

6 Mk II Ogre 15
7 Mk III, III-B, Ninja Ogre, Warhound -
8 Mk IV, V, Fencer Ogre, Reaver -
9 Mk VI, Doppelsoldner, Warlord -

* indicates that a conventional infantry squad cannot move the unit by themselves; at least one squad of infantry with the Combat Engineer ability is required. Combat Engineers count triple for moving units, so one CE squad could move a Rhino, and three could move a Shadowsword.


Blocking and Damaging Roads

Roads and highways are very advantageous to movement but can be blocked by disabled vehicles and hulks. They can also be damaged by enemy fire. Small roads are blocked by one model, while larger highways and roads are blocked by either two disable models/hulks or one Ogre size classed vehicle.

No units except infantry may continue along a blocked road. They must move around the obstacle. This takes them off the road thus they lose the road movement bonus. Terrain on the side of the road is ignored however, unless it is absolutely prohibited. For instance, a Land Raider may detour around a wreck in the road and move into forest terrain. The unit must pay the usual movement penalties for moving into the terrain.

If a road runs through prohibited terrain, the unit may not leave the road. The most obvious example of this is a bridge. No unit can drive off the side of a bridge except Ogres or Titans willing to undergo falling damage!

Clearing Roads by Fire

A hulk may be cleared from a road by any successful attack made on it. There is no need to see if the unit "saves", it is removed normally. Disabled units get their usual saves unless it is a friendly disabled unit in which case the crew evacuates and the unit is removed with no save.

Clearing Roads by Shoving

Large units can shove much smaller ones off the road. This is not considered a "ram". It costs the shoving unit 2x the distance the shoved unit is moved (3x if it is shoved off a bridge). For sizes see the Size Table above.

Infantry and Engineers Clearing Roads

Power-armored (battlesuited) infantry and Combat Engineers can move disabled vehicles or hulks to clear blocked roads. The number of squads required depends on the size of the unit to be moved, with Combat Engineers counting as three infantry squads for moving purposes. See the Size Table.

To move a wreck or hulk, the infantry must begin the turn within 5cm of the wreck and move to the wreck. At the end of the movement phase, the vehicle or hulk is moved to the side of the road. The infantry are then placed anywhere adjacent to it.

Additional rules will be found in Epic Ogre: Battlesuit, appearing in a future issue of Incoming!

Damage to Roads

Roads may be attacked either intentionally or as a result of spillover fire. When a unit on a road is attacked with a weapon with a template (artillery or tacnukes), check for road damage separately.

Roads are assumed to have a save of 3+ on a D6 unless they are specifically noted as being reinforced roads (highways, military roads, etc) in which case they have a 4+ save on 2D6. Normal target save modifiers apply. If the roads fails its save the attacking player puts one damage marker on the road. This marker is a 2cm circle of rubble. Use the rubble counter provided or use some pieces of gravel to represent the rubbled area.

This damage does not cut the road but does block it as if a hulk was in the road. This is handled as noted under Roads Blocked By Vehicles.

A squad of Combat Engineers can remove a rubble marker by spending one full turn stationary adjacent or on the marker. This does not result in the roads being fully repaired, but enough debris is removed and craters filled to allow military traffic to continue.

Cratering the Road

An Engineer squad noted as carrying Demo Charges may attempt to permanently cut the road. The unit must spend two turns stationary and undisturbed (i.e. attacked) on the road. At the end of the second turn the nuke goes off at the spot where the stand was located. The Engineers are immediately moved 5 cm away (in actuality they hotfooted it out of there before the explosion). The charge creates a 2cm crater that cannot be repaired. Thus the road is permanently cut. Any unit touching the 2cm template when it goes off is destroyed.

Unlike a cruise missile crater it is not impassable terrain.

The charges may also be used for the destruction of buildings; one charge will destroy any structure. However, they cannot be hidden for use as mines; they are very easy to detect.

Each Engineer squad noted to carry a Demo Charge carries only one charge. For game purposes all the charges carried by Engineers may be in a "pool" from which any Engineer may use. Or a marker can be used to keep track of which squads have charges.


Infantry in Buildings

When troops enter a building they are assumed to be at Ground Level. While at ground level they trace line of site from the bottom of the building and may not be targeted except by units that have a line of site to the buildings base.

On the following turn the infantry may elect to move to the Top Level and any stands that do so are placed on the buildings roof to represent this. These stands have a line of sight traced from the buildings top and may be targeted by any unit that can see them. Units may move from the Top Level to the Ground Level and vice versa during the players turn and does not affect their orders or movement. (i.e. infantry on First Fire can move to the Top Level from the Ground Level.

Infantry in buildings may not be Close Assaulted except by stands on their same level or units with Jump Packs. Vehicles, Dreadnoughts, and Titans may not Close Assault infantry in buildings (too big) unless specially noted (i.e. Corvus Assault Pod)

If the building that the infantry are in is destroyed they are not automatically assumed to be killed unless they were on the Top Level. For all stands in the Ground Level roll a D6 with a +1 modifier if they have a saving throw (Terminators, Space Marines, etc). On a 1-4 they survive and are placed in the rubble of the building but lose their orders.


Ranging Fire

When a barrage template weapon is fired and the target does not prove to be in range place the weapons template (in the case of tacnukes use the smallest) is placed at the maximum range directly towards the targeted unit to see if anything was hit. No marker of where the shot landed (except craters) may be left on the battlefield. The template must be removed before any other units fire.


Disabling Vehicles

When a unit is successfully hit and fails its armor save, there is a chance that it is not destroyed and instead is disabled for a period of time. Attacking units can also state that they are intentionally trying to disable a vehicle, in which case they get a +1 on the disable roll.

Weapons with a modifier for damage against large vehicles (such as volcano cannons) also receive that bonus as a NEGATIVE modifier on the Disabled table.

Vehicles with damage templates do not use this table.

DISABLED RESULTS TABLE

Roll

Result

1

Destroyed

2

Destroyed

3

Destroyed

4

Destroyed

5

Disabled

6 Disabled

Recovering From Being Disabled

A unit that becomes disabled may attempt to recover during the end phase of the turn following the one it was disabled in. During this phase the player rolls a D6 for each disabled vehicle. On a 1-4 result the vehicle remains disabled but gets a +1 modifier to its roll the next turn.

Unit Coherency and Disabled Vehicles

Disabled vehicles count as being destroyed for coherency purposes. But should a disabled vehicle become active again it must move to rejoin its group. The unit must move AT A MINIMUM on Advance Orders – using its full movement allowance to move directly towards its group. Moving the unit 1cm forward then back again and saying it "moved towards the unit" is not allowed.


Destroyed Units

When a unit is destroyed it is not removed from the table just yet. Instead it becomes a hulk – the burned out remains of the unit. Only Size 1 units do not leave hulks.

A hulk may be attacked in an overrun (see below). For this purpose it has a save of 6+. But even a successful overrun only destroys the hulk on a 5+. Any other result just means an even more beat-up looking hulk.

A hulk has few uses other then to block roads and terrain, serve as cover, or draw fire from enemies trying to destroy the cover or obstruction.

A destroyed counter or black smoke may represent hulks.

Hulks as Cover

A unit counts as being in cover (-1 to hit) if it is behind the hulk of a unit of its own Size or larger. A large hulk can shelter several smaller units totaling its own Size Class (a Size 8 Ogre hulk could shelter four Size 2 GEVs). If the sheltering unit(s) add up to less then half the hulks Size they gain an additional –1 to hit bonus, giving them a cumulative bonus of –2 to enemies to-hit rolls.


Overrun Attacks

During their movement, vehicles may overrun infantry stands that are in the open. The vehicle must have Charge orders, and must move into base-to-base contact with the infantry stand it wishes to overrun.

The player controlling the vehicle rolls 2D6 and adds the vehicle’s CAF. The player controlling the infantry rolls a 2D6 and adds the infantry’s CAF. The player with the lower score must make a saving throw; if the saving throw is failed, the unit is destroyed or takes an automatic hit if it has a hit template.

Vehicles that are not destroyed may carry on moving after an overrun if the player wishes.


Ramming

An armored vehicle with Charge orders may ram another vehicle by moving into contact with it (i.e. so that the models end up touching) and declaring he is ramming. Its move ends with contact.

Move the vehicle model into contact with the enemy. Then both players roll a D6 and add the opposing vehicle’s Size to the score.

If the scores are tied, both vehicles are disabled.

If a player beats his opponent’s score by 1 or 2 points, his vehicle becomes disabled and the opposing vehicle is destroyed.

If a player beats his opponent’s score by 3 or more points, his vehicle is undamaged and the opposing vehicle is destroyed

Kamikaze Ram

Flyers may attempt to ram ground units in lieu of conducting a ground attack. Move the unit as if it were making a strafe attack as normal. But at any point on its move it may ‘kamikaze’ into an unit beneath it. For ramming purposes the flyer counts as two Size levels greater then it actually is.

Skimmers

Skimmers may only be rammed by other skimmers or by flyers.

Ogres Ramming

Ogres are treated somewhat differently in a ram. Their mass and size usually allows them to come out unscathed from most encounters.

An Ogre that rams a vehicle of equal or greater Size class loses 5 of its own tread units. An Ogre that rams a smaller or equal Size loses 2 tread units.

Ogres lose 5cm of movement from a ram but otherwise may move normally.

Crushing Units

An Size 7 unit will completely crush anything Size 3 or below if it makes a successful ram; not even a hulk will be left.

The largest units (Size 9) will completely crush a Size 5 unit (including Knights) or smaller.

Riding on Vehicles

Troops may ride on top of vehicles. The amount of squads that may ride on a vehicle are noted in the units description. Troops mount and dismount a vehicle in the same manner as an APC.

Troops riding on top of a vehicle are separate for orders purposes and may attack normally depending on their orders.

If the vehicle carrying the infantry is attacked in any way the infantry riding on it may also be attacked at the same time. Roll a D6 when the unit comes under attack. On a roll of 1-3 the infantry take a hit as if they were struck with the exact same weapon. Essentially this is a ‘free’ attack by the opposing player.

Spillover fire is treated differently and covered in its own section.

If the unit the infantry are riding on is destroyed roll a D6. On a roll of 1-4 the unit is destroyed. Other wise it survives and may be placed next to the destroyed unit. It is treated as having No Orders for that turn.


Tacnukes

A near miss by a tactical nuclear weapon is almost as dangerous as a direct hit. To represent the tactical nuclear warheads fired by vehicles in the Ogre universe a special tacnuke template is used to determine the exact area of a particular attack’s effect.

These rules are optional, and if used supplant the rules for tacnukes found in Epic Ogre: Heavy Metal Cybernetic Warfare - see Incoming! #1

Using the Templates

All weapons that use the tacnuke template are noted with a (T) on their attack dice column. Following the (T) is a number denoting the template size that is used for the attack. Some very large or rapid firing weapons use larger templates to represent saturation of an area with nukes or a few very powerful explosions.

Each template has two circles. The inner circle – or strike zone – shows the area that receives the full strength of the attack. The outer circle determines the area that is hit with spillover fire.

To use the templates, the firing player places the center of the template on the center of the target miniature. The template may not be placed between units to get more of them into the strike zone. When the template is centered on the target unit, the target, and any other unit visible within the inner circle (even partly), are attacked normally at full strength. All units under the outer circle, even partly, are hit by spillover fire.

For each attack, each unit beneath the template receives either a full strength attack or spillover fire – never both.

Infantry Riding on Tanks

Infantry that are riding on top of a unit are attacked by the same die roll. The player calculates the effect of a hit separately for each target. Saving throws are also made separately for each target.

Example: A battlesuit squad is riding on top of a Heavy Tank. The tank is hit by a tacnuke round. One roll is made to hit. The battlesuits make their save while the tank does not. The infantry survive but suddenly find themselves without a ride.

Spillover Fire

Units in the spillover zone, as shown on the template, suffer a half-strength attack. This means that half as many attack dice are rolled and all target saves are at half. For purposes of fractions round down with a minimum of 1 attack die being used.

Units defend against spillover fire as for a normal attack, except that units without a save receive a 6+ save if in some sort of cover.

Buildings ignore spillover fire unless the attack was aimed at a unit that is actually in or on the structure. In that case, the building is affected as if it were the target (full strength attack).

Scatter

If an attack with a tacnuke misses the shot will scatter 2D6 cm in a random direction, up the maximum range of the weapon.

Craters

The Size 2 and 3 tacnuke templates both leave a small crater. If the target is not destroyed by the nuke it is placed on top of the resulting crater marker.

Friendly Fire Isn't

Friendly units can be affected by spillover fire if they are close enough. This is conducted as normal.


Falling

A Size 5 or larger unit that falls from a collapsing bridge, drives off a cliff, or falls off a building (!) may survive where a smaller vehicle would be automatically destroyed. The height that a vehicle falls I represented by ‘levels’, with each level representing about 2cm of height.

No vehicle can survive falling over 3 levels.

Use the following table to calculate damage from the fall. The number given is in attack dice of damage the unit takes. This attack is applied to the lowest hit location if it has a hit template.

The "d" number indicates the number of dice rolled to determine the number of lost treads by an Ogre.

FALLING TABLE

Size

1 Level

2 Levels

3 Levels

5

2D(4+)

6d, 3D(4+)

X

6

5d, 1D(4+)

11d, 2D(4+)

14d, 3D(4+)

7,8

4d, 1D(4+)

9d, 2D(4+)

15d, 3D(4+)

9

3d, 1D(5+)

7d, 1D(4+)

12d, 2D(4+)


Terrain

Water

Water terrain has some additional notes that need to be used in a game of Epic Ogre.

Few units can enter water, however, units that can move underwater may only be attacked by other underwater units, or by artillery (with a –3 to hit penalty) or by nearby cruise missile impacts.

Ogres
While an Ogre cannot float, it can crawl along the bottom of any body of water at half movement. An submerged Ogre may not attack, not even other submerged units.

GEVs
GEVs treat water as roads, and get the appropriate movement bonus if its entire movement is spent on water. However, a GEV approaching the edge of a body of water must end its movement at the edge of the water, and may neither move onto nor leave the water until the following turn. A GEV that is destroyed while on the water never leaves a wreck; if anything survives it sinks to the bottom. GEVs may not submerge.

Battlesuits
Non-Marine battlesuits must skim over the waters surface and cannot submerge.