HAVOC

“ Cry ‘Havoc’, and let slip the dogs of war, that this fouldeed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial.”

- William Shakespeare

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Designed, created, & inscribed by Brent Spivey All grammatical, spelling, & formatting errors by Brent Spivey

Thanks to Ed and Kaitlynn @ Reaper Miniatureswww.reapermini.com

andeBob, sculptor of the Rebellion miniature line that can be seen at

www.ebobminiatures.com

Special thanks to Eric Sack for:being there at the beginning, all the playtesting, brutally honest feedback,

Tuesday night meetings, and helping to make the cannon rules what they are today.‘Well played, sir... well played indeed!’

And to Carrie...Thank you for your patience, belief, encouragement, and support.

But most of all... thank you for being hot.

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Any artwork that I have not created myself comes from Public Domain sources. A good portion of the works (& most of my favorites) are by

Gustave Dore, Edmund Dulac, and Arthur Rackham. Thanks guys!

To ‘The Three Gamers’...Evan, Will, & Perry remember: don’t leave without first getting your stuff from under the mattress, stay away from anything that ‘begets darkness’, nobody wants to be at the

back of the party, and the immortal words of Quin... ‘Oh, I’ve seen scarier.’

visit voodooink.wordpress.com for information and updateson Voodoo Ink Publishing products & releases

HAVOC© 2007-2009 Brent SpiveyISBN: 978-0-9843037-0-0

All Rights Reserved

HAVOC, The HAVOC Game System, HAVOC: Tactical Miniature Warfare,Voodoo Ink Publishing, the Voodoo Ink logo, and all likenesses of

Phineas Giles (the Voodoo Doll) are all Trademarks of Brent Spivey.All Rights Reserved

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A Beginning............................... page 9 Introduction to HAVOC....... ......... 10 O.D.D.S. ..................................... ........ 11 Heuristic Balance............................... 14 ‘The Three Law’................................... 17 ‘The Rules of Form’............................ 18

Characteristics........................... page 19 Base Sizes.............................................. 20 Size and LOS .............................. ........ 21 MAD & RAT....................................... 22 ARM & Damage Reduction............ 25 DMG: Damage................................... 26

CONTENTS

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Rules of Engagement.................. page 29 Turn Overview............................. ......... 30 The Opening ..... ................................... 31 Phase I & II .................................. ........ 34 The Actions............................................ 37 Movement..................................... ........ 38 Move-to-Melee................... .39 Cavalry & Chariots............ 41 Impact Hits................. ....... .42

And Terrain.......................... 46 Crossing Obstacles..... ........49 Ranged Attacks..................................... 53 Ranged Attack Modifiers.. 56 Concentrated Fire............... 58 Mixed Weapons.... .............. 61 Volley Fire............................. 63 Artillery....... ........................................... 65 Reload ............................................ ........ 73 Take-a-Knee........................................... 75 Scuttle, Sabotage & Raze..................... 78 Burning!.................................................. 82 Sound the Maneuver!.......................... 84 The Game of Activations............... ........ 86 Arcane Actions...................................... 87

The Assault............................................. 88 The Pendulums Swing........ 96 Combined Assault.............. 98 Standard Bearers ............................ .... 101 Melee & Terrain................................... 106 The Hazards of Water......................... 109 Cut Scenes............................................ 111

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Barracks & Stables.............................. page 113 Constructing an Army......................... ............ 114 ‘The One List’ .................................................... 116 Infantry... Spearman .................................. .......................... 118 Spear & Shield.................................................... 120 Melee aka ‘The Skirmishers’ .............................121 Melee & Shield....................................................122 Two Melee Weapons aka ‘Dual Wielder’ ......123 Two Handed Weapon aka ‘Great Weapon’ ..124 Musician............................................................... 126 Standard Bearer....................................................127 Artillery Crewman.............................................129 Ranged Infantry... Archer.................................................................. 130 Crossbow........................................................... 132 Musket/Rifle...................................................... 133 Cavalry... Heavy Cavalry................................................... 134 Heavy Cavalry with Lance............................... 136 Light Cavalry aka ‘Anti-Cavalry’ .................. 138 Heavy Chariot ................................................. 140 Mounted Musician .......................................... 144 Mounted Standard Bearer............................... 146 Ranged Cavalry... Light Cavalry-Ranged .....................................147 Regulator .......................................................... 148 Beast... The Behemoth ................................................. 150 Artillery... Artillery aka ‘Cannon’ or ‘Bolt Thrower’ .... 152

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‘The Named’........................................ page 153 HAVOC Tokens & ‘Arrow Time’.................... 155 Challenge!............................................................ 158 ‘Wreaking HAVOC!’ ............. .......................... 160 HAVOC Tokens In Review.............................. 162 The Way of the ‘Exploding’ Six ..........................164 ‘The Named’.......................................................... 165 Skirmishers as ‘Named’ ..................................... 176

The Giant............................................. page 179 Some truths about Giants................................. 180 The Giant.............................................................. 181 Unbelievably Large............................................ 182 Flinging aka ‘Teeing-Off ’................................... 183 Smashing............................................................... 187

Magicks & Arcanum............................ page 189 The Magus............................................................ 191 Augmentation..................................................... 192 Intervention......................................................... 195 Masteries & Enhancements.............................. 198 Spells...................................................................... 200 Elevations ............................................................ 205 The Magus: An Overview................................ 206

Scenarios & Situations............................ page 207 Prideful Observances aka POINTS................................. 210 The Beginning........................................................ 211 Edges, Quadrants, & Corners.............................. 214 The Scenarios... Open Field................................................ 215 Parley.......................................................... 216 Raid, Pillage, & Raze.............................. 218 Dangerous Crossing................................220 Dusk or Dawn...........................................222

Hunter’s Moon......................................... 224Scavenge, Salvage, & Scuttle...................226

Terrain Review........................................... 228

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Some Options........................................ page 229 Fantasy versus History....................................... 230 Terrain: Optional Rules & Variants................231

The Appendix....................................... page 233 Rules of Form....................................................... 235 The Three Laws.................................................... 236 Turn Overview.......................... .......................... 237 The Opening........................................................ 238 The Actions of Phase I & II.............................. 239 The Assault........................................................... 240 The Pendulums Swing........................................ 241 Cut Scenes............................................................ 242 ‘So, you’ve taken-a-knee...’.................................... 243 Ranged Attack Modifiers................................... 244 ‘Talk of Terrain and Obstacles...’......................... 245 ‘The One List’....................................................... 246 HAVOC Tokens in Review............................... 247 Challenge!............................................................. 248 Augmentation, Intervention, & Spells............ 249 Thanks & Parting Thought................................ 250

And so it begins...

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A Beginning...

“The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time.

But it was a beginning.”- Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World

“Beginnings are always messy.”- John Galsworthy, Nobel Prize winner 1932

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here to begin? Perhaps a formal introduction is in order. Welcome, gentle reader, to HAVOC, a tactical miniature war game that allows you to conduct both historical and fantasy battles on your tabletop. If you’ve stumbled across this rule set somehow, having never played a miniature tabletop game before, well... ‘you’re not in Kansas anymore’. But, stick around, read on, grab some minis, make some mistakes, kill some stuff, and have some fun- it’s what war gamers do!

In this section of the book, for both the tabletop veteran and novice alike, we will highlight some of HAVOC’s defining characteristics, The Rules of Form, and review

The Three Laws. Not all of this, to be sure, will make perfect sense at this time, but will hopefully serve to make the rules easier to understand as you read on.

-Introduction to the HAVOC system-or, ‘The hopefully helpful highlights of HAVOC...’

1. Any Mini Welcome (not ‘a small hello’)2.. O.D.D.S

3. ‘Chain Reaction’ Activations (featuring Organic Formations)4. Simple Elegance & Self Limitation

5. Heuristic Balance6. ‘The Named’

7. The Three Laws8. The Rules of Form

Any Mini WelcomeAny mini. Any manufacturer. One of the best aspects of the miniature war game hobby,

is well... the miniatures. HAVOC uses a force creation tool known as The One List, that is built for the express purpose of allowing you to use any miniature you like.

Ideally, these are 28-30mm in scale. However, if you have miniatures of another scale (be it 10/15/20mm) the system is more than flexible enough to accommodate.

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O.D.D.S. The Opposed Dice Determination System (O.D.D.S. for short), is the

basis of the HAVOC game system. The concept is simple. For every roll that a player makes, his opponent will make an opposed roll. A comparison of the results of the two

rolls will determine the outcome. There is only one rule to remember in the system and only one exception to it.

-The Rule-No matter how many dice are rolled, the player may

keep three, and only three, dice of their choosing.

-The Exception-When rolling damage, the player keeps all dice rolled.

That’s it! Pretty simple, right? You see, thing is, O.D.D.S. is, oddly enough, all about playing the odds. Four dice will most likely beat two dice. A roll of three dice should beat two dice... but will it? One die versus one die... you are trusting your fate to luck (or destiny, perhaps). Just remember, even if you play the odds ‘correctly’, the dice may have

other plans- that’s what keeps it interesting; that’s what creates war stories.

‘Chain Reaction’ ActivationsModels in the game of HAVOC are Activated by ‘Chain Reaction’. I’m not going to detail

what that means here. That will require a rules explanation that would go beyond the scope of the discussion that we are conducting here and is better left for

the section entitled Rules of Engagement.

What I will say here, is that if you choose to use formations in HAVOC (and I say choose, because you do not have to use any formations if you prefer), then they will not be lifeless blocks, squares, or rectangles moving around the tabletop. Instead, they will be Organic.

This means that they can move in a line formation, ‘morph’ to engage and engulf an enemy in melee combat, scatter and break apart to avoid a cavalry charge (or volley of arrows), or even join another formation. They are like living things- changing moment to moment on

the battlefield as you (or your enemy) directs.

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‘Chain Reaction’ Activations continued...

So, what can you do with the ‘Chain Reaction’ Activation system and Organic formations?

Even though there are no formal formations in HAVOC, you can simulate any formation seen historically.

Do you want to have a force that is comprised of mostly spearmen in traditional phalanx formations? You can do it. Want to have lots of heavy cavalry in wedge

formations? Go ahead. Use the schilitron formation of the Scots for your spearmen? Sure. Can you combine spearmen, swordsmen, and handgunners in a single formation like the

Spanish did at the end of the Middle Ages? Absolutely.

In HAVOC, there are no ‘static’ blocks of troops. Any formations that you create are ‘Organic’. They can march in ranks, disperse to attack an enemy, join other units, or

reform in a new formation.

In HAVOC, you are only limited by your imagination (and available points!) as to the

type of force and style of play you can use and, since no formal units or formations exist, you can even change things ‘on the fly’ during a game to tactically suit the ever changing

battlefield conditions.

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Simple Elegance & Self Limitation

The design concept that drives the game of HAVOC is summarized this way: Simple Elegance & Self Limitation. But what, exactly, does that mean? Many war games

insist on having a ton of complex rules (that many times seem complex for the sake of being complex), to try and take into account every single situation, and ‘spell out’, in

written terms, the advantages/disadvantages they create. While this is a noble effort, there is quite simply no way that you can account for every situation that may arise during play.

This usually leads to holes in the game design, in the form of overlooked situations, as well as confusing and ineffective interactions when different rules collide that the designer didn’t plan for. In HAVOC, there are a good variety of rules, that are kept as simple as

possible- to keep interactions ‘clean’. When these rules are coupled with the architecture of the game turn, the effect is that players have a huge amount of options available to them at any one time. So, complexity comes in the form of properly (and timely) applied tactics,

not in the form of obscure and convoluted rules.

As well, once you get in to the actual rule set, you will notice there are no complicated modifiers/rules for charges, running, move-and-fire, fire-and-move, flank charges, or

marching. Don’t worry! It is possible to simulate all of these, and the benefits/drawbacks of doing so will be dictated by the situations presented on the field, not the text of a rule. In this way, the rules don’t have to plan for every situation. They quite simply occur. The

system - self limiting; benefits and drawbacks within it - self evident.

So, any time that a rule or situation seems to give you a problem during game play, you should just look at the simple and systemic application of the rule and NOT read too

much in to it. If by doing this you are able to do something that may seem a little ‘outrageous’ ( like with The Ultimate Chain Reaction) , then I have tried to anticipate this

and expound upon it in italics (within the step-by-step rules) or address it in a call-out box.

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Heuristic Balance One topic wargamers love to debate endlessly is that of balance. ‘Perfect’ balance, in a game where players purchase their own forces is impossible to achieve, as there are just too many variables. HAVOC has been designed to give players the best possible mix of flexibility, fun, strategy, and tactics while maintaining a reasonable balance.

If two players can agree at the beginning of any game, that the outcome of the engagement is unknown, then a reasonable

balance has been achieved.

The ‘value’ of a model in HAVOC is measured in a ‘heuristic’ sense, much like that of a chess piece. That value is summarized like this:

The ‘cost’, or points value, for a model in HAVOC, represents how valuable it is when used to its maximum potential, in the optimal situation.

This means that even if two different models have the same points value, they are not necessarily equal in ability or purpose. It means that they have the same strategic value but

not the same tactical value. Let’s look at a chess example to make this clearer.

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Pieces in the game of chess are assigned a points value. Since the board is already set, and players do not purchase their forces, these values are used to represent how valuable they are strategically.

Queen= 9 Rook= 5 Bishop= 3 Knight= 3 Pawn= 1

So, are two Rooks actually more valuable than a single Queen? It really depends on a lot of factors. Whose turn is it? What is the location of the pieces on the board? Where is the King? If any of these circumstances is unknown, it is impossible to calculate which is most powerful at the time. If any of the answers to these questions change, the relative value of the pieces may change. Does this mean that the heuristic values of the pieces is incorrect? No! What it does mean, and the whole reason I bothered with this discussion of balance, is just this:

Points values, and hence game balance, do notexist in a vacuum.

So, when constructing an army, remember expensive heavy cavalry models can be taken out by cheaper spearmen. Point values are relative to the situation; they are not absolutes! In the right situation, even a pawn can take a queen...

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‘The Named’Instead of having the customary ‘General’ or ‘Leader’, HAVOC employs a system of

‘Naming’ your models that allows ANY model to become a figure of importance. Being named is not always equated with leadership; it is, however, always equated with renown.

These are the models in your force that are known to all- both friend and enemy alike. Their exploits on the field of battle have earned them titles, legends, stories and

reputations... their feats have earned them ‘Names’.

‘So, do they get anything besides a ‘cool’ Name?’, you ask. You bet they do!Models that have the distinction of being ‘Named’ gain abilities that allow them to change

the flow of battle- to bend and break rules. These include, but are not limited to:

1. gaining HAVOC tokens2. the ‘Challenge!’ ability

3. ‘Wreaking Havoc!’ in Cut Scenes4. the ability to act in ‘Arrow Time’

5. changes to base characteristics

This is your chance to take your favorite sculpts and conversions and use them like you’ve always wanted to. It is also a way for you to reinforce the theme of your army.

‘Hey, check this out!’Anytime you see the little guy to your left, there will be some unique

information in a call-out box like this one. It may be: a useful game tip, a reminder, a philosophical question, a clarification, a movie

recommendation, some pointless rambling, or just a bit of ridiculous nonsense. Yeah, I guess it could be just about anything...

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The Three LawsBefore riding off in to battle, there are many things that a would-be general should know.

Of all the things that are helpful to know, The Three Laws are at the core; remember these, and all game interactions should remain relatively simple.

The First Lawaka ‘The Law of Odds’ or ‘Damage is King’

No matter how many dice are rolled, the player may keep three, and only three, dice of their choosing. The ONLY exception to this is when rolling damage; when rolling

damage, ALL dice are kept.

The Second Lawaka ‘The Law of Concentration & Combinations’

Concentrated Fire and Combined Assault Maneuvers are NEVER modified in any way. -Not for Terrain, Taking-a-Knee, Augmentation, range, nor by HAVOC tokens-

The ONLY exception to this rule is a Combined Assault Maneuver gaining dice for Standards and/or Captured Standards.

The Third Lawaka ‘The Law of Multiples’

There can only be multiples Engaging on one side of a melee combat at any given time.Models acting in Support DO NOT count as multiples.

There is NO exception to this Law!

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entleman Gamer (or Lady Gamer, as dictated by the player’s gender) is a term that is embodied in The Rules of Form. You see, even though battle is a brutal, dirty, violent business, it does not have to be totally uncivilized. In HAVOC, you will be rewarded in real gaming terms for ‘sporting’ play; likewise, you will be penalized for breaches of form and forgetfulness. The Rules of Form that follow are absolutes- not options. However, if you feel a situation warrants recognizing your opponent with a ‘Well played!’ or a ‘Good Show!’ that is not included in the letter of the rules, but is embodied in the spirit, then by all means... do so. You can even penalize yourself if it seems appropriate!

The Rules of Form

-‘Poor form!’ or “Bad form!’-If a player commits one of the following breaches of form or etiquette, then the opposing

player may decry ‘Poor Form!’. Once this has been done, the offending player may either 1) end their turn on the spot OR 2) right the infraction and continue with their turn BUT

give their opponent a die that may be used on a future Momentum Roll.

1. Players army/force is not completely painted.- there is no way to right this on the spot, and as such, is always a penalty-

2. Player begins to Activate a model BEFORE declaring how many, and which.- one cannot touch or move models until declaring which will be Activated-

3. Purposefully avoiding a model with which you are engaged in a ‘Challenge!’.- this is a ‘one time’ penalty per ‘Challenge!’-

- ‘Well played!’ or ‘Good Show’-I believe it was Napoleon who said, ‘Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a

mistake.’ Well, in HAVOC you may actually want to- depending on the situation. If your opponent has forgotten a benefit of some sort, or a special ability, then you may remind them. Your opponent may then 1) forgo the benefit and play on OR 2) apply the benefit

or ability as is appropriate BUT give the noticing player a friendly ‘Good Show!’ and a die that may be used on a future Momentum Roll.

1. Having a fully painted army/force.- If both players have a fully painted force, then they would exchange Momentum die-

- Benefits do NOT ‘cancel’ each other!-2. Reminding a player of a beneficial ability/rule after they have forgotten it.

3. If a player does anything that you feel is especially sporting or ‘above-and-beyond’ the call of duty, then recognize them with a ‘Well played!’ or ‘Good Show!’.

- of course, you would give them a Momentum die as well!-

- As always, it should be noted that most of the above will not be clear as you have not been immersed in the Rules of Engagement... yet. However, I wanted to introduce the concepts

here and later reinforce them in the actual text of the rules.

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