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Sidebar: Firearms..................................................23Other Characteristics..........................................................24Levels and Personalities....................................................25

Sidebar: Marking Wounds...........................................26Troop Quality......................................................................26Units..................................................................................27Basic Rules............................................................................28How to Move.........................................................................29Movement Rates...................................................................31Terrain Effects.....................................................................32How to Shoot........................................................................33How to Melee........................................................................34Saving Throws.....................................................................35Morale...............................................................................35Magic.................................................................................39Magic Weapons and Armor..............................................41

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QQQQQuactica is a game that’s been brewing for a long,long time. Even before Aesop’s Fables and theancient Greeks, Egyptians were telling “funny

animal” stories with their hieroglyphics. There are funnyanimal references to the Aesopica in the margins of theBayeaux Tapestry, the designer’s editorial comments on themotives and actions of King Harold and Duke William. Myown duck persona goes back more than 40 years to the timein high school when I taught myself to make a duck call byblowing into my fist the way a trumpet player blows into hismouthpiece.

While I served aboard the USS Pogy, one of my nicknameswas “the Dink Duck,” and I wrote pieces and drew cartoonsunder that nom-de-plume for the ship’s paper. At the sametime, I was first exposed to Dungeons & Dragons through myhistorical miniatures contacts. It wasn’t long before I begandeveloping my own set of fantasy miniatures rules, publishedas Perilous Encounters by Chaosium Inc. in 1978.

Ducks came into my miniatures experience when NevilleStocken of Archive Miniatures released an anthropomorphicduck figure that looked remarkably like the originalincarnation of the Marvel Comics character Howard theDuck. Greg Stafford put Duck Point into Dragon Pass,inhabited by Neville’s ducks, and I came up with the rationalefor their existence. It would seem that during the DragonKillWars, a minor hedge wizard decided that the best way tofight fire was with fire, so he conjured a horde of fire-Sam

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breathing drakes. Unfortunately, his klutz factor was highthat day, and what he got was a bunch or cigar-smoking ducks.

I glued shields to a number of the sword-waving duckfigures and converted one into a banner bearer, and that wasmy first funny animal miniatures unit. In the mid-’80s, I usedto sit around with my good friend Ken Fletcher, art directorfor Adventure Games Inc. and one of the moving forcesbehind Rowrbrazzle, Vootie, and Spontoon Island, discussingthe possibilities of designing a funny animal role-playinggame (RPG) tentatively titled “Far Pig,” from Funny AnimalRole Playing Game (FARPG). In that game, pigs had not yettaken on the aura of evil that would shroud them as “Porks”in Quactica.

In the late-’80s, I began sculpting a broad range of “CritterCommandos” for Crunchy Frog’s game of the same name.Lance & Laser Models Inc. produced the figures. Thecommandos were anthropomorphic spoofs of Warhammer40K miniatures. When Lance & Laser needed rules to supportthe sales of some fantasy duck figures, I extracted a simplifiedversion of my Perilous Encounters system and coupled itwith a more extensive development of my medieval fantasy,funny animal musings. Thus, Quactica was born!

The intent behind the Quactica miniatures game is toprovide a set of skirmish rules (one-on-one combat betweencharacters) streamlined enough that games can be played toa satisfactory conclusion, in a suitably brief amount of time,with considerably more figures than the usual fantasy role-Sam

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playing game encounter. In many ways, Quactica is a militaryadjunct to a Middle Aesopian role-playing campaign,allowing the players to engage in actions larger than a simpledungeon crawl. Even though the basic rules are bare-bonedand straightforward in order to help achieve these ends, theyprovide a solid foundation for the addition of house-rulesand additional material.

Although its roots go back a long way, the mythos ofMiddle Aesopia is a living story that continues to grow onthe Skirmisher Publishing LLC interactive Forum and in itssoon to be released Quactica role-playing game. Enjoy thegame, and share your stories with us!

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