Quick Intermediate Level Skirmish

8/11/2019 Quick Intermediate Level Skirmish

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Overview: QILS is a generic tactical skirmish game optimized for quick play with small force

sizes (1-20 figures), that still presents a decent amount of strategic depth in decision making and

team design. Abstract and simple, it works with many genres, but doesnt focus on high levels of

detail for any genre. You will need some miniatures, six-sided dice, markers, and a flexible ruler.

The Dice: Play in QILS is driven by the dice. You use regular six-sided dice, but you will color

in the pips, so it is good to get dark dice with white pips. Pips get colored either red (closecombat attack points), yellow (ranged combat attack points), or blue (defense points).

The Combatants: Dice will be assigned to combatants, represented by miniature figures. Dice

may be unique to a combatant or sets of combatants may all share the same design of die.

The Unit (Measuring Distance): Each combatants standardunitdistance is the size of its base.

This will be used for movement and range calculation. If it makes for a better or more convenient

game, you can change the size of the standard unit for individual combatants or all (such as justusing a 1 standard unit for all for 28mm figures) figures in the scenario definition.

Terrain: Terrain on the playing makes the game more interesting. It may be as elaborate or as

basic as you like. Just two things: (1) it must have a definitive border; (2) you must assign each

piece a hindranceand obstructionvalue. These values affect movement and combat.

Taking a Turn: Players alternate turns. On his turn, a player gets to use each combatant once.

The combatant can either move and attackor attack and move. You cant move or attack with

one combatant, use other combatants, then come back and finish the first combatants use.

Movement: Each combatant can move up to four units per turn, measured from the edge of thebase at the start and end positions. Movement doesnt have to be in a straight line.If any part of

a movement is within the border of a piece of terrain, the combatant must subtract the terrainshindrance from his total movement for the turn. This is cumulative across multiple pieces of

terrain. A combatant cant move between other combatants if its base doesnt fitbetween the

other combatants bases. A combatant may use a die to move an extra two units. Dice usedfor movement may not be used for attack in the same turn (so save them up if you attack first!).

Attacks: Before rolling, an attacking player chooses close combat or ranged combat. Closecombat can only happen when some part of the targets baseis one unit (using the attacking

figures base) from the center of the attacking figures base. If the base isnt round, use the

smallest diameter. For ranged combat, measure range in units as a straight line between any partof your attacking combatants base to any part of the targets base. You cant shoot through yourcombatants. You cant shoot through other combatants.Attackers roll their unused dice for the

turn. Defending figures roll all their dice.

Close Combat: The attackers attack strength is the largest number of red pips rolled on any oneof its dice. The defenders defense strengthis the largest number of blue pips rolled on any one

of its dice.

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Grappling:Before rolling, a player may designate a close combat attack as a push. If the attack

strength is bigger than the defense strength, the difference is the base push. Modify the push by

the ratio of the base sizes (if the attacker is twice as big, the push is double; if it is half as big,push half, etc.), rounding down. Move the defender that many units directly away from the

attacker. The attacker cant push the defender in another direction. If one combatantsrolled

strength is lower than the other, that combatant cant use one of its dice on itsplayers next turn.

Ranged Combat: The attackers attack strength is the largest number of yellow pips rolled on

any one of his dice. The defenders defense strength is the largest number of blue pips rolled on

any one of his dice. If any part of the line of fire crosses terrain add its obstruction value to therange. Subtract one from the attack strength for each six units range between the combatants,

rounded up.

Splitting Your Attack: If you are rolling more than two dice in an attack, you may splitthedice by assigning subsets of the dice to different targets. You cant assign two attacks to the same

target. You cant split your combat type(mix close and ranged), just the dice.

Pain and Death:If the attack strength is greater than the defense strength, the defendingcombatant looses one die of its players choice.A combatant that has no dice left is dead and

removed from the board.

The Finger of Fate:If an attack or defense strength is six or more greater than an opponents

strength during an attack, that opponent is automatically killed. Bye, bye.

Hostile Terrain: If a combatant is on a piece of terrain that was designated hostile in the

scenario (underwater, lava, radioactive, etc.) at the end of his players turn, he is attacked by it.

Have the player and an opponent roll one die each, counting all pips. If the opponent rolls higher,that combatant looses one die. A piece of terrain may also be designated exceptionally hostile, in

which case the opponent will roll a larger, specified number of dice.

A Splash of Color:Here are some additional color pips beyond red, yellow and blue:

The scenario you are playing may allow secondary colors on your dice. When rolled,

orange, green, and purple pips counts as either of their primary color components,whichever is better for the combatant at the time.

A scenario may also require a certain number of white pips. White pips dont count for

anything in combat. Scenarios should give you extra combatants if they require whitepips on your dice.

With a metallic paint marker, you can add gold pips. When gold pips are rolled in a

ranged combat attack, attack all figures within that many units of the target figure, usingthe rolled ranged combat attack strength (not counting the gold pips).

Tricked Out:A scenario may assign tricked outpoints to the players armies. For each tricked

out point assign a combatant one sentence from the rules with the word cant; that combatant

now treats that rule as if it had the word can instead of cant.

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QILS Page Two some optional rules to add some different flavor to QILS.

Elevation:Elevation, like distance is measured in units. Terrain may have an elevation assignedto it (otherwise it is elevation 0), even a dynamic one, in the scenario. When two units are on

different elevations, line of fire and close combat distance are measured from the base of the

higher figure to the head (designated before the game starts) of the lower. Obstruction only

counts if the line of fire crosses the volume of the terrain. You will need to apply a little commonsense about how multiple elevation changes affect line of fire (e.g., you can shoot across a crater,

but not through a peak).

If terrain has infinite obstruction, it can be stood on by a figure. If you are using 3d terrain, a

figure must also be able to balance on it to stand on it. To change elevation in a move, measure

the distance along starting terrain, then vertically up the terrain, then (possibly) continue along

the ground of the second terrain.Square the number of vertical units (rounding up) beforeadding the three measurements together to get the total distance. It helps to work this out

beforehand. A combatant cant end a movement on a vertical part of a move. Combatants can be

given one of two types of special vertical movement: flying and hovering.

A flying combatant can change elevation without standing on terrain. Its movement is measured

from point to point, but the horizontal component must be greater than the vertical. A flyingcombatant not standing on terrain must move at least four inches per turn.

A hovering combatant can change elevation without standing on terrain, but must measure each

vertical and horizontal component separately. Vertical components of movement are not squaredfor hovering combatants.

Conditions may be designated before the game starts for a combatant loosing their ability to flyor hover. If this happens while a combatant is in the air, or if a combatant is pushed off elevated

terrain, it falls. A character that is pushed into blocking terrain stops its movement and conductsa fall equal to the additional distance it would have moved. When a combatant falls, it changes

its elevation to the terrain it lands on. Roll one die for every two units fallen, rounding up. Thefalling figure defends against each die as a separate attack. A combatant that falls looses its next

move/attack action.

Opportunity Attacks: Each figure must have a spot defined as the front of their base. If a

combatant moves within one unit of the front of another figure that didnt attack on its last turn,

the other figure can choose to immediately do a close combat attack on the moving combatantwhere both players only roll one die. If a combatant crosses directly front of another figure and

that didnt attack on its lastturn, the other figure can choose to immediately do a ranged attack

on the moving combatant where both players only roll one die.

Command and Control Net:The scenario will specify a type (link, hub) and range for

command and control nets. For link nets, a combatant is in netwhen it is within range of another

combatant on that net. For hub nets, a combatant is in net when it is within range of the

combatant designated as the hub for that net. Each team may have multiple nets and combatantsmay be in different nets. Scenarios should scale up the cost of doing this accordingly.

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When attacking, a combatant that is in net may force a defender to reroll one die for each other

combatant in net (same net) who has unobstructed line of sight to the target, or for each pair of

other combatants in net (same net) who have obstructed line of sight to the target.

Combatants may allocate grey pips to their dice. If an attacker rolls any grey pips while attacking

a network capable target in a linked network, that target cannot be in net for a number of turns

equal to the number of grey pips rolled. If an attacker rolls any grey pips while attacking the hubof a hub network, no combatants are in net for that network for the next turn.

Magiq: Black pips may be put on dice to represent magiq from one of six sources: earth, air, fire,water, supernatural, and thaumaturgy. A supernatural source must also designate an entity. A

combatant cant have more than one source of magiq.When rolled, a black pip can count as any

other color showing on that face.

Earth and air are in opposition; fire and water are in opposition. Earth and air are in antagonism

with fire and water. Supernatural magiq can be declared to be in opposition or antagonism to

earth, air, fire, water, or other supernatural magiq from a different entity in the scenario. When

both combatants roll black pips from sources in antagonism, the (attack or defense) strength ofthe combatant with the most dice showing black pips is one more than its opponents strength.

When both combatants roll dice with black pips from sources in opposition, the (attack ordefense) strength of the combatant with the most black pips total across all dice is one more than

its opponents strength. If neither condition applies no advantage is awarded; just count pips.

Teams: A group of combatants within a force may be designated as a team before the gamestarts. Each team must have one leader designated. Combatants cant be part of more than one

team. If all remaining members of a team are within one unit of another team member and the

team leader is alive, the team may be given an order to move, attack, and defend as describedbelow. Combatants in a team may still only be used once per turn.

When a team moves, move the leader as normal then place all team members within one base of

another team member abreast of or behind the leader, based on a straight line between theleaders start and end positions.

To attack with a team, select either close or ranged combat. The attacker rolls one die for eachteam member who could have attacked the target. In ranged combat, the attacker measures range

from the leader to the target. When a team is targeted, roll one die for each member of the team

and count range to the farthest team member.

The defending player pairs each die rolled for his combatant or team with one of the dice rolled

by the attacker. Each pair is evaluated as a separate attack. Attack dice with an attack strength ofat least one that are not paired with a defense die count as hits. The defending player decideswhich dice are lost based on the number of hits. The defending player doesnt have to loose dice

that were actually rolled in combat.

When a team member is targeted as a combatant (it is targeted, not its team), it may reroll onedie if within one unit of another team member; two if within one unit of the team leader.

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Some QILS Scenarios

Mosh it Up!: Each player gets 8 dice of combatants, but can only use red and blue pips on theirdice. Play is in a 3x3 area with 1:72 or 28mm figures.Each player gets to bring two terrain

pieces of up to 12each. No optional rules in effect. Players start in opposite corners of the board

and play until only one team is left.

The Gauntlet: The Escort player gets 9 dice of combatants and one combatant with one die with

all blue pips, the mark. The Intercept player gets 20 dice of combatants with only blue or yellow

pips. Play is on a 1mx2m area with 1:72 or 28mm figures. The Intercept player gets to place 12buildings (/ terrain) of up to 50cmx50cm as long as there is a path connecting the two short

sides of the board. The Intercept player gets to hide his combatants inside the buildings.The

Escort player then selects one of the short edges of the play area to start all his combatants. If an

Escort or Intercept player combatant moves within six units of a building, the Intercept playercan move all his units inside the building on to the playing area adjacent to that building,

where they are now available for use. The Escort player wins if the mark gets off the opposite

edge of the board; the Intercept player wins, if it doesnt.

A Shot in the Dark: Each player gets 8 dice of combatants. Each die must have more yellow

pips than red pips on it. Play is on a 3x3 area with 1:72 or 28mm figures.Each player gets tobring up to a total of 3

2of any size mix of sedge grass (hinder 1/obstruct 2) or ruins (/)

terrain. Optional cross rules are in effect. Players start in opposite corners of the board and play

until only one team is left.

Romancing the Ark: Up to six players play on a 2m diameter area with 6 dice of combatants

using 1:72 or 28mm figures. Players (roughly) evenly contribute a total of 1m2of terrain of any

type. Teams are evenly distributed around the edges at the start. An objective is placed in thecenter of the play area. If a combatants movement path goes adjacent to the objective (even if it

is adjacent to another combatant), that combatant places it adjacent to itself at the end of itsmove. The player who places the objective on the outside edge of the board at the end of a move

wins.

Turf War: Each player brings a 30cmx30cm square for playing area with a building (/

terrain) of up to 15cmx15cm on it and 8 dice worth of combatants. If a player is the only playerwith combatants on a square at the end of his turn, he may move all combatants in that square to

or from the top of the center of the building. A combatant on a building with its base touching its

edge can shoot out of or be shot from outside the building and gets a one added to his defensivestrength against ranged attacks from the street. All figures on buildings can shoot each other at

range. After two hours of play, the player with only his figures on the largest number of squares

wins.

Circus Circus: Up to 8 players with one combatant with 5 dice, of which only two may have

yellow pips, play on a 3 diameter area using 1:72 or 28mm figures. Combatants are evenly

distributed around the edges at the start. The last combatant standing wins!

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Some QILS Dice and Teams

SwordsmanOne of your basic close combatants

SpearmanBasic close combatant with a little range

BerserkDoes this need explanation?

ArcherMostly ranged capability

BlasterJust shoot me

Power ArmourTwo dice per figure

GoblinNot much hurt, giving or taking.

Army Points:This is a rough guide for building equal forces.Each combatant is worth a

number of army points equal to its number of dice squared. Add one army point for each orange,green, or purple pip. Add one army point for each tricked out point. Subtract one from army cost

for each pair of combatants with at least six white pips.

20 point Viking SquadFive figures, 2 with 2 swordsman dice, 2 with a swordsman and a

spearman die, and one two berserk.

10 point BarbariansTen single die figures: 4 swordsman, 4 spearman, 2 berserk

30 point Goblin WarteamTwo teams of four goblins (1 goblin die) and one leader goblin (2

goblin dice). One war beast with two all red and two all blue dice on a two unit diameter base.To simplify, you could just use red and blue dice without coloring the pips for all red and all

blue dice.

10 point Roman GuardEight figures: two with one archer die, 2 with one swordsman and, 2

one spearman, and one (captain) with one spearman and one swordsman.

40 point Power Armour SquadTen troopers with two power armour dice each. With twoidentical dice, you can just put a marker chip on combatants to mark the ones with one hit (the

ones that are only rolling one die now), so you only need 2 dice to play.

10 point Orc Death PatrolTen figures each with one berserk die.

10 point Shichi no SamuraiSix figures, each assigned to one of the non-goblin dice above;

one assigned two goblin dice.

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Copyright Irrational Numberline Games, LLC 2011

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Quick Intermediate Level Skirmish