Special traits & abilities

Amateurs get none, Practiced one, Old Soldiers two and Audacious three, from options such as A Captain's Advice (change or add an order), Energetic (regenerate an approach/attack), A Wary Eye (detect bushments), Inspiring (restore Courage), Master Gunner, Forethought (prickers), Stout Ensign (absorb a commander casualty), Artifices, Good Timing (sharp archery), Far Sighted and Feint.

Stratagems represent certain tactical abilities and choices that are available to commanders, depending on their attributes and experience.

Murmillo: Resolute (Defence/Respite dice interchangeable), Strong (+1 wound), Impetus and Shield Lunge. Thraex: Dominant (Manoeuvre/Special interchangeable), Thracian Sword (ties hit), Elusive Strike (no parry) and Outflank. Common special attacks are Aimed Strike, Driven Attack, Heavy Strike and Rush; each may be used once per turn.

There are two types of Special Attacks: Common Special Attacks, available to all gladiators, and Class-specific Special Attacks, unique to certain gladiator classes.

E.g. French infantry +2 maneuver column, +2 field column, +2 charge in column; British +1 fire in line and +1 column/+1 line on defence; Austrian cavalry +4 in line. Optional date-based changes reflect Austrian/Prussian/Russian reforms and post-1812 French decline.

Summary of National Modifiers MANEUVER COMBAT Maneuver Column Field Column Line Fire Combat/Charge Combat

If an enemy unit must take a melee morale test while it has more fatigue points than the cutthroat soldiers it fights, it adds 1D6 to the test as though it had suffered an extra casualty.

If an enemy unit is forced to take a morale test from melee while they have more fatigue points than the cutthroat soldiers they are fighting, they must add 1D6 to the test

Field Squares are never flanked but cannot move after a Ready facing change; Light treats Very Difficult as Difficult; Large removes Wear on each 5+ when Resisting; Brigade units of one regiment can share a single Order Card and activate sequentially, though a reaction by one reveals the shared order; Extended Arc lets a unit fire from side Centres; Dragoons only shoot with Fire!. Weapon rules: Pikes, Halberds, Firearms.

A single Order Card can be used, if so desired, for all or some of the units of the Brigade.

Drilled units must form in two or three ranks with models touching and gain +1 Armour against attacks and missiles to the front even after moving, losing it at half strength, when Battered or in rough terrain. Massed cavalry units have ten models and roll twelve attack dice, dropping to six at five or fewer models. Other keywords (Evade, Ferocious, Wild charge, Counter-charge, Fleet-footed) follow Lion Rampant.

When fighting or defending against missiles to the front they gain +1 to their Armour value even if they have moved.

Scythed chariots are destroyed if they fail to destroy their opponents in the first round. A sparabara-and-archer block is impervious to shooting but moves 2BW and cannot attack. Horse archers in 'circle of death' formation (3 skirmishing bases 3BW ahead of 3 supports) shoot 2d6 per base at 4BW in both shooting and move phases with a 360-degree arc, and get a free 'Parthian shot' evade when attacked.

When a unit is in this "circle of death" formation they get to shoot in both the shooting phase AND the movement phase.

Silent Kill: approaching directly from behind gives an unopposed Kendo roll with the target saving at -2 (heroes turn and defend instead). Riposte: if an attacker fails his Kendo roll the Ninja may strike back. Items include grapnel, poison, smoke bomb (2" cloud, spotted only on 6+), caltrops, poison rice, bomb, disguise, blowpipe, shuriken, bow (two items), ninja armour and healing potion.

Silent Kill. If the Ninja approaches a target directly from behind (not to the side), they may make an unopposed Kendo roll (only the Ninja rolls). The target saves at -2.

Abilities at 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000 XP etc.: pilot (Cannot Be Tailed, Maneuver, Spin Skill, Spin Recovery, Tailing at 4 hexes, Stability), gunnery (+1 die, Unjamming 3+, ignore Deflection), observer (Observing, Bombardier); ace abilities (Concentrated Fire on a hit-location table, Fire Value column shift, Range).

One ability is received whenever the pilot or observer reaches 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500 points, etc.

Keywords include Bunker Buster, Fast, Slow, Man-Portable, Light Mortar, Limited HE, Unreliable, Overloaded and Wide Tracks. Optional national characteristics include British Mike Target and Stubborn Defense, German Mission Tactics and +1 Order Point, Soviet Artillery Saturation, Massed Assault and Follow The Leader, and US Semi-Automatic Firepower and Time on Target.

Unreliable: If any movement die shows a 1, roll 1d6 per Unreliable Team in the Unit; a roll of 1 suppresses that Team.

Epilektoi may once per turn add or subtract 1 to any roll, declared before rolling. Hamippoi are psiloi attached as a marker behind an ile, giving +2 in othismos only, +1" move, and are lost if the ile routs or moves/evades more than 7".

Effect: Any unit designated as Epilektoi may, once per turn, add or subtract one to any roll that it chooses to. This must be declared before the roll is made.

The codes are A1/A2 armour, HT hard target, G gunpowder (ignores armour), C crossbow (reduces armour), H/AH horde or aggressive horde, E1/E2 evade, F flee and S shield wall. Army lists add special rules such as elephants recoiling 1 hex in a random d6 direction, combined arms units, dismounting cavalry and chariots shooting on contact.

E1, E2 - Unit can evade 1 or 2 hexes respectively, when contacted by an enemy unit. (1 or 2 points respectively.)

Reflecting early-war Confederate cavalry superiority, Union cavalry cannot dismount.

only C.S. cavalry may fight dismounted.

Codes include 'P' (personnel: blocks LOS only to personnel, defence halved when not in firing posture), 'R' (restricted firing arc), 'I' (indirect-fire capable), 'S' (smoke capable), 'U' (open-topped), 'D#' (depletion number) and [R]econ (no +3 for independent movement, +10 points).

Stands with this designation do not suffer the +3 cohesion die roll penalty when attempting to move without an order.

Civilians gain Auxiliaries and Cowardly; militia have Natives; the Terrified option makes Recoil, Recoil or Shaken, and Recoil & Shaken results count as Flight; Mounted Volunteers gain Light Cavalry. Civilians with agricultural weapons have Aggression and Defence of 6+.

Gain the Cowardly trait, i.e. count Recoil, Recoil or Shaken, Recoil & Shaken results as Flight (page 56).

Mighty reduces the enemy's Armor by 1 in melee; Fated figures make a free attack on each enemy in contact when killed. Norman Ride-By Attack lets mounted figures finish their move after melee without free attacks; crossbows cannot move and shoot, range 14", -1 Armor.

Mighty (+5 points): A man of legendary strength. Enemy figures reduce their Armor rating by -1 when hit in melee by a Mighty figure.

Traits include Defensive (chargers cannot attack immediately), Raid (bent movement, MOVE-ATTACK-MOVE), Heavy Armour (enemy rolls one fewer die), Armour Piercing (ignores Heavy Armour), Powerful (+1 die), Poor (6+), Elite (4+) and Close Combat Zero (no dice in close combat unless flanking).

Heavy Armour: Reduce the amount of dice rolled by an enemy ATTACK by one (often to zero!) Armour Piercing: Ignore an enemy unit’s Heavy Armour rule.

Special troops are exempt from the single-stand retreat rule (as are all troops in Carthaginian or Roman armies), but cavalry, chariots and elephants can run over a single stand of legionaries, velites, hypaspists, phalangites or peltasts. Cavalry cannot charge into a square of 4 stands of legionaries or phalangites; heavy chariots have 2 shots per stand; legionary fire represents pila; peltasts, velites and Numidians may split and reform.

Cavalry cannot charge into a square containing 4 stands of Legionaries or Phalangites.

Traits include Bowie Knife, Cool Hand (ignore first failed Toughness test), Dirty Cheat (swap a card with another player), Drunk, Expert Rider, Greenhorn (-2 shooting), Gunfighter (+1), Law Dog (cannot shoot until enemy fires), Loud Mouth, Lucky (one re-roll), Marksman, Stealthy, Tough as Nails, Trigger Finger (+1 snap shot cards), Yella Belly and others. One or two per character recommended.

“DIRTY CHEAT” Once per turn, can pick any card from his hand and swap it with a random card from any other player

Skills include Agile, Ambidextrous, Bossman, Brawler, Charmed, Crack shot, Deadeye, Drunk, Hard as nails, Lucky, Nerves of steel, Quick shot, Stealthy, Tough, True Grit, Wildman and Yellow. Asterisked skills can be gained twice for double effect. Skills are rolled, drawn from chits, or given by the GM to fit a model's look. Indians have their own list, including Mystic Warrior visions.

“Double” skills: those skills marked with an asterisk can be gained twice, the second time doubles the effect (Very Strong, Very Terrifying etc).

Upgrade: fierce foot made drilled, eliminating Wild Charge, for 1 point, with counter-charge against cavalry. On a successful movement order French mounted men-at-arms dismount (replaced by foot men-at-arms) or two foot units merge (max six models); they cannot remount or split.

Upgrade: Mercenaries (drilled): eliminate Wild Charge @ 1 point Special rules Counter-charge vs cavalry

Rebel Yell gives Confederate infantry +1 to charge home (v4.4: reroll a failed or falters charge); Elite +1 charge home and -1 morale; Green -1 charge home; Independent ignores distance from commander; Stubborn rerolls failed morale. v4.4 adds Large/Small Unit, Tough Fighters (+2D6 melee), Marksmen, Skirmishers and Seen the Elephant (must reroll a successful charge).

Stubborn – Unit can reroll a failed morale test (a test that results in the unit becoming Shaken or Broken).