FMA Draft part 1C

DEFINITIONS:

GROUNDSCALE:  1" on table = 2 yards/metres.
TIMESCALE:  Flexible. One action (such as firing a shot, or moving a few
metres) may occupy only a few seconds, while another (say, treating a
casualty) may take considerably longer and is assumed to be going on
while
other things are happening around it.
ACTIVATION: The process of choosing a figure and taking one or more
actions
with it.
ACTION: A single function performed by a figure during its Activation,
such
as moving or firing a weapon; most figures may make up to TWO actions
each
time they are activated.
ACTIVATION MARKER: The coloured marker placed by a figure and flipped
over
to indicate when the figure has been activated; COLOUR of marker denotes
figure's QUALITY grade, and NUMBER on marker is figure's MOTIVATION
LEVEL.

QUALITY GRADES:
NOVICE: 		YELLOW marker; QUALITY NUMBER 4 (QUALITY DIE
D4).
GREEN:			GREEN marker; QUALITY NUMBER 6 (QUALITY DIE D6).
REGULAR:		BLUE marker; QUALITY NUMBER 8 (QUALITY DIE D8).
VETERAN:		ORANGE marker; QUALITY NUMBER 10 (QUALITY DIE
D10).
ELITE:			RED marker; QUALITY NUMBER 12 (QUALITY DIE D12).

MOTIVATION LEVEL:  Number on marker shows figure's nerve, coolness in
combat etc:
1 =  HIGH motivation, very gutsy and confident.
2 =  AVERAGE motivation, typical normal level.
3 =  LOW motivation, nervous and easily shaken.

ACTIONS AND ACTIVATIONS:
Each player takes it in turn to ACTIVATE ANY ONE of his figures and make
that figure perform actions. Once that figure has completed its
activation,
it may not normally perform any further actions in that game turn; the
opposing player now activates one of his figures, and so on. Each player
has a free choice of activating ANY one of his as-yet-unactivated
figures
when it is his turn to do so.

When a figure is ACTIVATED, it may normally perform up to TWO ACTIONS.
The
most common actions are listed here, but players should feel free to use
other more specialised actions in specific circumstances IF their
opponents
and/or the umpire agree.

Basic Actions:
MOVE: figure may move up to allowed distance.
FIRE: figure fires once at any target in range and line-of-sight
AIM: if used immediately before a FIRE action (in the same activation),
DOUBLE each range band of the weapon fired.
ENGAGE IN CLOSE COMBAT: figure may fight hand-to-hand if in direct
contact
with an enemy figure.
COMMUNICATE (by voice or radio)
TRANSFER ACTIVATION TO ANOTHER FRIENDLY FIGURE ("Leader" characters
only)

REACTION TESTS:
The REACTION TEST is one of the most important mechanisms in FMA, but is
also one of the simplest. Reaction tests are taken whenever something
nasty
happens (or threatens to happen) to a figure, or when the figure tries
to
do something that has an element of skill or luck involved - it is a
simple
die roll to see whether the action is successful, or how the figure
reacts
to the threat.
to do this, the player rolls the character's QUALITY DIE with the aim of
scoring MORE than the total of the character's MOTIVATION (the number on
his/her marker). If the die roll is GREATER than the motivation number,
then the character has PASSED the test successfully; if, however, the
roll
is equal to or less than the required number then the test is FAILED.
In some circumstances there may be modifiers that increase the needed
number to pass the test - these are added to the figure's Motivation to
give the total target number for the test. This is noted as, for
example,
"Reaction Test +1" - in this case, add 1 to the figure's Motivation
number
for the purpose of this test only.

Examples: if a REGULAR trooper with a Motivation of 2 (hence a Blue/2
marker) is required to make a Reaction Test, roll a D8 - a roll of 1 or
2
is a failed test, 3 or more is a success. If the circumstances required
a
"+1"  reaction test, then add 1 to the Motivation to give a target
number
of 3 - so a 4 or better would be needed to succeed in the test.

MOVEMENT:
A figure may move any distance up to its BASE MOVEMENT VALUE for each
MOVE
action it takes - thus if a figure uses BOTH actions for movement it may
move up to double the base distance.

BASE MOVEMENT VALUES:
Heavily encumbered character (eg: carrying wounded comrade):
			4" (D4)
Encumbered character (eg: carrying heavy weapon, or wearing heavy
unpowered
armour):		6" (D6)
Typical normal character, or "Slow" power suited character:
				8" (D8)
Very lightly equipped or very agile character , or "Medium" power suited
character:			10" (D10)
"Fast" power suited character or typical Combat Cyborg etc.:
			12" (D12)

Heavily encumbered character (eg: carrying wounded comrade)
Encumbered character (eg: carrying heavy weapon, or wearing heavy
unpowered
armour)
Typical normal character, or "Slow" power suited character
Very lightly equipped or very agile character , or "Medium" power suited
character
"Fast" power suited character or typical Combat Cyborg etc.

Evrey inch moved through any DIFFICULT TERRAIN counts as two inches of
normal movement.
Crossing a linear obstacle (eg: a wall) takes half of the available
movement of that action.

"COME AND SEE THE VIOLENCE INHERENT IN THE SYSTEM - HELP, HELP, I'M
BEING
SUPPRESSED..."

SUPPRESSION MARKERS:
A figure which receives a SUPPRESSION result when fired at is given a
SUPPRESSION MARKER. Any figure may only have ONE Suppression Marker at
any
one time - if it already has one, then any further suppression results
on
it are ignored. Suppression Markers have the effect of reducing the
figure's abilities by forcing the expenditure of actions to attempt to
remove the suppression.
When it has a Suppression Marker, a figure may not make ANY action
except
for an attempt to remove the suppression (exception: see "Suppressed
Figures in the Open", below)

REMOVING SUPPRESSION MARKERS:
A figure may use an action to attempt to remove a suppression marker -
roll
the Quality die, and if the score exceeds the figure's Motivation level
then the suppression marker may be removed. If the roll fails to remove
the
supporession marker, then a second attempt may be made with the figure's
other action if the player desires (this will usually be the case, since
otherwise the second action is wasted anyway, as the figure can do
nothing
else with it while still suppressed).

SUPPRESSED FIGURES IN THE OPEN:
If a figure becomes suppressed while it is in the open, he is very
unlikely
to simply "freeze" on the spot, exposed to further fire. When the figure
is
next activated and tests for removal of the suppression, if the roll
FAILS
then the figure must immediately roll a COMBAT MOVE die. If there is any
cover of any sort (hard or soft) within the rolled move distance of the
figure, even if it is towards an enemy figure, then the suppressed
figure
immediately sprints to the cover, taking with him any suppression
marker(s), which remain in force until successfully removed. If the
combat
move roll is too short to reach any available cover, then the figure
must
instead RETREAT directly away from the nearest visible enemy, by the
distance rolled. If the roll is sufficient to reach more than one area
of
cover, the figure will move to whichever cover is nearest. Once the
figure
is in cover, he may use his second action to re-attempt removal of the
suppression as normal.

SUPPRESSION LIMITATIONS ON HEAVILY ARMOURED TARGETS:
Any target that is sufficiently heavily protected that its armour rating
is
expressed as a MULTIPLIER rather than a straight die type will not
suffer
suppression effects when fired on by light weapons. If the Armour
multiplier is LARGER than the Impact Multiplier of the weapon, then the
target will not be suppressed (note that it CAN still be damaged or
destroyed by a lucky shot from the same weapon).
Example: a trooper in Heavy Powered Armour has an armour rating of D12x2
(ie: a multiplier of 2). A Gauss Rifle (Impact D12) will NOT be able to
suppress the PA trooper, because he will not feel sufficiently
vulnerable
to its effect (even though it could actually kill him with a good hit!).
If
fired on by a 20mm Cannon (Impact D12x2) then a suppression WOULD be
effective, as the PA wearer would be shaken by coming under fire of such
a
heavy weapon.