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About
Pilgrim Cell
Pilgrim Cell is the 76 page base action rule set which all RKE Skirmish
Games use. Pilgrim Cell is the foundation in a multi-tier platform that
will let you function with action of violence and adventure or the lack
thereof on the game table.
The customer
only needs to buy one rulebook to play any RKE Skirmish Games. Pilgrim
Cell wholly encompasses elements common to any miniature game RKE makes.
That is to say Pilgrim Cell covers all non-genre specific rules. Anything
else concerning in-depth world mechanics and action is covered in that
specific games World Rules.
This way the core foundation of all RKE games is not reprinted time
and again and may be universally referenced.
Game
Play
Pilgrim Cell uses a modified "I go, You go" game turn system. One
player moves a unit, then the opposing player moves a unit. This allows
players regular game play without lengthy pauses waiting for an opposing
player to move all of their units and also allows for incremental reactive
game play.
Once a
player has activated all of thier units turn by turn, the player has
completed one Force Cycle. You may not start a new Force Cycle until
the opposing player has activated all of their units. If one player
has cycled through all of their units and the opposing player has more
than one unit left to activate then they may activate all remaining
units to finish their Force Cycle.
This allows
for several strategies like grouping unit attacks together at the end
of Force Cycles. Pending which units you cycle through, you may have
units leftover that may move in tandem with overall better combat results.
Although this generally benefits the player with the most units, those
with less units yet superior command may utilize the Command Interrupt
rule and move their units in tandem as well.
This overall
style of game play allows for great variety of unit activation which
may be custom tailored to a players overall strategies or feel for the
game. IE the player may react with more flexibility and less foreseen
action from the opposing player. Also this allows for the faster IGOUGO
game turns yet allows for the more traditional mass movement of units
if the player builds their army in such a way.
Pilgrim Cell Condensed Overview
Pilgrim Cell is a skirmish rulebook that attempts to combine some of
the elements from Role Playing Games (RPG) to make the games more interesting
and to some extent more realistic. Each miniature in a game will utilize
several stats to facilitate game play and allow for different rolls
of a die to determine the outcome of the game play. Pilgrim Cell rules
utilize a d10 dice for all game rolls.
Stats that are utilized are as follows:
ACT (Action) - The number of actions a miniature may perform during
their activation.
MOV (Movement) - The number of inches a mini can move in a single movement.
BAL (Ballistic) - The proficiency skill of the mini for ranged weapon
use.
MAR (Martial) - The proficiency skill of the mini in hand to hand combat.
MEN (Mental) - The measure of abnormal psych of the mini to use mental/magical
powers.
ARM (Armor) - The amount of damage a mini's armor may sustain.
BOD (Body) - the amount of damage a mini's body may sustain.
FOR (Fortitude) - The measure of a mini's resolve to stay in combat
and follow orders.
PER (Perception) - The mini's awareness in any environment .
There is a measure of bookkeeping involved in a game in that you must
track the damage a miniature sustains against their armor and or body.
However there are never more than 10 points of damage to track for the
armor or the body.
Activation is basically the IGOUGO method i.e. you move a unit, I move
a unit, with an occasional exception in the case of Command Interrupt
which is a leader ability that allows for a set amount of additional
units that have not been activated in a Force Cycle to be simultaneously
activated with the leader.
Combat whether it is ranged or hand to hand is handled in such a way
that all weapons have a classification. It should be noted that all
armor and body are also classified. When combat occurs you compare the
class of the weapon versus the class of the armor or body. All weapons
have a full damage amount and a reduced damage amount, so when comparing
weapon class versus armor/body class, if the weapon is equal to or higher
than the armor/body class, then the full damage amount is used. If the
weapon class is one class lower than the armor/body class, then you
would us the reduced damage amount. If the weapons class is more than
2 classes lower than armor/body, then no damage is allocated.
Quick Combat Example:
So the basis of combat goes something like:
Unit A is activated. Unit A spends 1 ACT on MOV and moves out from a
wall to shoot an opponent. Since MOV can be split up, Unit A will move
back into cover after firing. Unit A proceeds to fire at Unit B. You
may not measure your range until after you have chosen a target unless
you have a special ability (Marksman etc) so if you fall short, you
fall short. So if the enemy is within range you would then roll your
BAL or under since all rolls, lower is better. Let's say for the sake
of my sanity Unit A rolled his BAL or under. Great. Now simply compare
the weapon class VS the BOD or ARM class of the target.
Class is approached in an easy way:
There are five class levels:
A, B, C, D, E.
A is the highest with E being the lowest.
Class Rules:
If your weapon is an equal class or higher you do your full listed weapon
damage.
Example:
Weapon: C6/3. C is the class. 6 is the full damage and 3 is the reduced
damage.
So if a weapon C6/3 attacked a guy with C7 ARM (Armor) then the weapon
would do its full 6 damage leaving the enemy with 1 damage left over.
If your weapon class is one lower you do reduced weapon damage. So if
a weapon C6/3 attacked a guy with B7 ARM (Armor) then the weapon would
do its reduced 3 damage leaving the enemy with 4 damage left over.
If your weapon class is two or more lower you do no damage at all. So
if a weapon C6/3 attacked a guy with A7 ARM (Armor) then the weapon
would do no damage.
Back to the fight:
Unit A pops out and shoots unit B. Unit A kindly asks Unit B what Armor
Class do you have? They compare and the result is: Weapon: D4/2 VS ARM
C2. In this case the weapon would do reduced damage of 2. However it
is still enough to take out the armor with reduced damage. Now unit
B has no armor. All further hits will be against the unit's BOD (Body)
which typically is less fortified than ARM.
Now that Unit A is done firing it can use the rest of its movement.
Remember I said earlier you can split up movement. This means if you
have a base movement of six inches, you can split that however you like
as long as you keep track of it. So since Unit A moved three inches
to move from Hard Cover and shoot his enemy, he now opts to move three
inches back into cover.
And that is how ranged combat works in a nutshell.
Close combat is similar except when you go to strike an opponent you
roll your MAR (Martial) or under. However if you succeed then your opponent
rolls their MAR or under. This represents you making a successfully
aimed attack, but also your opponent reacting with their speed and ability
to see if they can block it. So hand to hand combat in Pilgrim Cell
can be very fun and nail biting with back and forth action.
Ending:
Of course there is a bunch of rules for engaging enemies with ranged
weapons, who you may target, how to split your attacks between multiple
units and for hand to hand combat there is all sorts of rules for engaging,
disengaging, multiple opponents, running assaults, back attacks etc.
Give the contents of Pilgrim Cell a quick read over and you can see
what exactly is covered in the book most with illustrated examples.
There are additional rules that go into details regarding combat and
command and even covers things such as jumping, falling, flying, and
many others than are listed here as well.
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