Rulebook, 2nd Edition ... bare bones/ A game by Werner Klocke with fabulous support from Jochen Heidersdorf, Hendrik Mell, Franz Sander, Fabian Schneider and Dorothe Poll ‘Translated splendidly by Trina and Hendril Contents Contents and Impri i 2. B. 4.8 5. 6. i: 8. ‘The Rules, Prepare for boarding Characters and cards ... 2.1. Characters .. 2.2. Fate cards 2.3. Hit location cards 2.4, Other gaming cards Setting up the game .. tart of play and sequence of play 4.1. Deploying the crews 4.2. Rounds and active phases 4.3. Outnumbered ? 4.4, Games with more than two players .5. Duration and end of game Basic terms .. Movement 6.1. Movement types 6.2, Hazard test and falling . 6.3. Swimming... Terrain 7.1. Terrain types 7.2. Building terrain type 7.3. Bric-a-DIAC oer trai ng and under water 7.6. Pieces of scenerie .. Combat .. 8.1. Ranged combat . 8.2. Close combat 8.3. Hit determination .. 8.4. Damage determination Critical hits Effects of critical hits ... Freebooter's Fate is © copyright Wemer Klocke 2010 - 2019, Freebooter Mini Mell 9. Mysticism 9.1. Choosing and hiring Loas invocing and expelling Loas 10. Morale 10.1. Panic 10.2. Rallying ... 11. Possible actions .. 11.1, Standard actions 11.2. Special actions 12. Traits 12.1. Weapon traits 13. Other gaming card 13.1. Event cards 13.2. Equipment cards 13.3. Secondary objective cards . 14, Boat 15. Choosing a crew 15.1, Amazons .. 15.2. Brotherhood 15.3. Debonn 15.4, Goblins 15.5, Imperial Armada .. 15.6. Cult 15.7. Pirates. 15.8, Mercenaries 15.9, Large creatures 16, Scenarios 16.1. Scenario items 16.2. Additional rules for scenarios 16.3. Water creatures... 16.4. Introductory scenarios . res is © copyright ‘Wemer Klocke 2002-2019. All rights reserved. Article number: FF 024-B Freebooter’s .»- bare bones - online edition First published in Germany in November 2019, We look forward to you visiting www,freebooterminiatures.de e main rulebook 72 B 74 74 74 15 15 16 see main rulebook 76 78 79 see main rulebook 81 81These are just the bare bones of the rules for those of you who cannot wait until the full version or who think they can do without vibrant background stories, witty commentary, 1. Prepare for boarding! Freebooter s Fate. Or rather, a freebooter » fate. What is it? Enough rum to bathe in it every day and then drink it? Enough gold for a throne with cutlass motif? The wideness of the open sea and true freedom? Or just your own seat in the local pub and nothing but a tonne of stories and the shirt on your back? Or a cushy retirement in the Gobernador palace with a view across the city? It’s up to you. Freebooter’s Fate is a fast, tactical skirmish tabletop game with pirates and fantasy elements. The characters’ attributes and the surrounding terrain determine how the miniatures can be moved; the exact distances are usually measured with a tape measure in centimetres. The game is played by two or more players and their respective crews. A crew consists of around 6 to 12 miniatures, the characters, who all have different strengths and weaknesses and are led into battle by an experienced leader. The aim of the game is to achieve a specific goal, called a victory condition, set by the scenario being played. The game proceeds over several rounds, during which characters are activated in turns and can then carry out various actions in their active phase. The special thing about Freebooter’s Fate is that all events involving chance, such as hitting things and characters, damaging them and other contentious issues, are resolved using cards! Because no self-respecting pirate with fire in their belly and rum in their cup would trust such an unreliable random element as d... di... dirgfn... dice! In Freebooter’s Fate, players know what’s on the cards for them. Literally. Come on then! Grab an opponent, hire a crew, and get stuck in! Your fate awaits you! “ARRRR! What do you need for a game? You will need the following things in addition to this rulebook, a set of Freebooter’s Fate gaming cards and the miniatures for each player’s crew: © A table as battlefield; a size of 90 cm x 90 cm is ideal. You might want to use 120 cm x 120 em for larger battles, though. © Games such as these are especially fun and engrossing when played on a table with self-made terrain. However, a gaming mat, some bits of e.g. felt to represent forests | _ and lakes, books as hills, and upturned mugs as buildings will do fine in the beginning. © A tape measure or similar device with a scale in centimetres. It’s best to go all-out and have one for each player. Loooxury. A few markers to track some states and actions such as wait, reload, panic, and similar. © Templates for character size, high-angle-fire weapons, and similar. ¢ Transparent card sleeves for the character cards and a non-permanent marker pen to mark off damage on them. You might also want to have something with which to take notes during the game. It always pays to keep a record of unusual situations, heroic deeds, sneaky tricks, and house rules for future games. © And most importantly: being prepared to have fun! and maybe a bottle o’rum! Reece Pre ea pata eee mec eee F)s| Fate ® is) © Werner Klocke, Frechootsr Miniatures 2010-20192. Characters and cards 4 Freebooter’s Fate is played using various gaming cards. Using them is what gives the game its unique flair. Miniatures from the Freebooter Miniatures range are accompanied by character cards, which show all the values and traits relevant for the game. Success or failure in combat is determined using hit location cards. Fate cards introduce, the random element, and are used to determine damage, initiative and lots more. Event cards trigger, wait for it, events during the game which can be good or bad. There are also equipment cards with which characters can be upgraded. Loa cards are similar to character cards in that they describe the denizens of the spiritual realm and their uses. Boat cards are the character cards for boats which, as even landlubbers know, are ideal for crossing lakes and rivers. Safely-ish. Provided the opponent doesn’t ram and sink you! Secondary objective cards can be used to uncover additional goals during a game. These can throw up nasty surprises for the opponent(s) and turn around a game which looked as though it was in the bag. 2.1. Characters = Character’s name Each character has a personality, which is 7 is described by various attributes, values. Allegiance and rules, traits, and equipment on their character card. All players are allowed to inspect any character card at any point during the game. This includes those of their Berorent(s): > Attributes Vitality & morale Front of the character card values me The character’s name. cee Ranged weapons Doahe nace Maio Allegiance Fe. Henry owed me Each character belongs to a crew for pig ond, erat Vitality starting hich they fight. So far, there are the Rae So value rates, the Imperial Armada, the Goblin ca ‘ yecial rules the Brotherhood, the Amazons, the Cult, S Debonn, and the Mercenaries. A character’s allegiance is indicated by the badge on their character card. ‘There are also characters who can be hired for more than one crew. Their card features the two corresponding badge halves. Rank Each character has a rank within their crew. There are leaders, specialists, deckhands, and mercenaries. Each crew is commanded by an experienced leader. Specialists are rough, tough, windswept, sea-bitten veterans who can only be hired once per crew and in limited numbers. Deckhand characters, on the other hand, are numerous and form the backbone of each crew. Mercenaries are special characters who can be hired by crews in addition to its usual members. They can also fight as a crew in their own right under a mercenary captain, however. Authority This represents the radius in cm of an area around the character, Within this area, other characters of the same crew can, for example, use that character’s morale for tests. can be small, medium or large. This mainly determines how well they can be! cen behind terrain and what kind of obstacles they can overcome. PO ee eee teh Mera eee ete nee IC)Attributes: ‘The characters’ attributes are MOVement, Attack, Defence, STrength of right arm and Jeft arm, and Toughness. The higher a value, the more experienced and powerful the character is. Each attribute has two values; the left-hand value is the respective base value. Moreover, each attribute is linked to a body location. Ifa character should suffer damage in the form: of a critical hit in that location, the respective attribute’s value decreases. “Current” value he current value is the remaining value which has not been marked off. In the case of attributes, this is the rightmost remaining value. In the case of morale, this is the topmost remaining value on the V-bar. In the following rules and in the game itself, it is always the current value which is referred to, unless a rule expressly refers to a different value. MOV, movement rate MOY shows the distance which a character can move on the battlefield. Basically, one point of movement rate gives a character a movement of 1 em on the battlefield. This can be modified by movement types and different types of terrain. A character’s movement rate is linked to their legs. A, attack This attribute indicates how skilled the character is at hitting an opponent, i.e. how many hit location cards the character gets to attack with. A character’s attack is linked to their head. D, defence This attribute indicates how skilled the character is at avoiding being hit, ic. how many, hit location cards they can defend themselves with. A character’s defence is linked to their abdomen. ST, strength This attribute mostly indicates how good the character is at dishing out damage in close combat. A character’s strength is linked to their left arm and their right arm. It is listed separately for both body locations because the character can wield a different weapon in each hand. T, toughness ‘Toughness is the measure of the character’s physical stamina and resistance. A high level of toughness can save the character from sulfering excessive damage in combat. A character’s toughness is linked to their torso. Y, vitality Vitality iS shown in the form of a vitality bar: one box for each point of vitality. These boxes are marked off when the character suffers damage. The grey boxes show the area in which the character is grievously wounded. M, morale A character’s morale reflects their fighting spirit and their bravery. Morale is numbers in the vitality boxes. Damage to the character reduces both their vitality and also their morale. The more damage a character sustains, the less likely they are to want to keep going. Equipment and special rules The text at the bottom shows the character’s special rules and the equipment they are carrying as standard. Each of the three possible entries has its own little icon, which is only present if the character actually possesses that piece of equipment or is subject to- \ose special rules. eae ee erect Frecbodiet's Fate ® is) © Werner Klocke, Frechooter Miniatures 2010-2019First in the list are any ranged weapons with which the character may be equipped. Ranged weapons can be of three types: black powder weapons, high-angle fire weapons, and other ranged weapons. The entry starts with the name of the ranged weapon. RAY, or Ranged Attack Value, is a measure of the weapon’s firepower. Just like for the, attributes, there are two values for RAV. The left-hand value applies to targets at short range, the right-hand value to targets at long range. Right behind RAY, separated by a “~”, the maximum possible range of the weapon is listed in em. This is followed by any applicable weapon traits as well as the hand(s) with which the character wields the weapon, Next in the list are any melee weapons the character has, with their name, any special weapon traits, and the hand(s) with which they are wielded. At the end of the list are all of the character’s special rules and characteristics such as special actions, traits, or equipment cards, Back of the character card Chareté's nae Rules and equipment : The most important of the character's ~ Hire fee in special rules and equipment are described rinao laos in more detail on the back of the charaeter’s card. cG Special rules Hire fee aoe The amount of doublons you have to pay ¥ in order to recruit the character for your crew. 2.2. Fate cards Fate cards are used to determine who has the initiative at the beginning of each round, to work out hazard tests and morale tests, and to determine damage. They are also used in all other cases where the outcome is uncertain and which are subject to the fickleness of fate and just plain (mis)fortune. There are 40 fate cards, with values ranging between 1 and 10 to represent the influence of fate. Before the game, the fate cards are shuffled and placed face down in a pile. All players in the same game draw their cards from this one pile. However, the player controlling the currently activated character always gets to go first when drawing fate cards, before any other players. A fate card should be placed face up so that all players can see which card was drawn. Fate cards which have been drawn and played are placed face up on a separate discard pile. If all fate cards have been used, the discard pile is reshuffled and used to make a new fate card pile. Players may not look through the discard pile. Fate cards have either a white or a black background, and some of them also have one or more symbols in addition to the numbers. These symbols are: the treasure chest, the voodoo doll, the pistol, the skull, and the doubloon. A card’s background colour or its symbol can have special significance when the card is drawn. For example, drawing a card with a treasure chest on it means you get to draw an event card Halved values It is possible that values such as that of a fate card or a distance must be halved. Because iends of half measures, the result is always rounded up. earring segs renter sey Basie ea outed dts sucrose arate CaN)2.3. Hit location cards The hit location cards are required to determine hits when attacking an opponent and when defending against that attack. Each player has six hit location cards at their disposal. They show the different body locations which can be hit. These are head, torso, right arm, left arm, abdomen, and legs. To help players easily tell them apart, the two sets o} 6 cards each have different colour backgrounds, light and dark. 2.4. Other gaming cards Other gaming cards, such as event cards, equipment cards, loa cards, boat cards, and secondary objective cards, are dealt with in later chapters. This is because a lot of rules apply to them and these are only explained later. Event cards, see chapter 13.1. “Event cards”, page 70 Loa cards, see chapter 9. “Mysticism”, page 30 © Equipment cards and boat equipment, see chapter 13.2. “Equipment cards”, page 71 © Boat cards, see chapter 14. “Boats”, in the main rulebook © Secondary objective cards, see chapter 13.3. “Secondary objective cards”, page 72 3. Setting up the game To prepare for a game of Freebooter’s Fate, the players first choose a scenario. Next, each player hires a crew. Finally, the battlefield is set up according to the chosen scena- rio, the cards are laid out and the game can begin. Choosing a scenario The scenarios tell short stories in which the players have to achieve certain goals or carry out certain tasks in order to win the game. Scenarios can be chosen by agreement or randomly by using fate cards. Of course, players should feel free to come up with their own scenario ideas. Chapter 16 “Scenarios” on page 76 contains some scenarios, including their set-up and special rules. More scenarios will be published in the Book of Crews, in | extension books, and online. Hiring a crew Characters are organised in erews and demand a hiring fee before signing up. Before the game, the players agree on a fixed sum of doubloons which is used by each of them to hire their crew. The characters from the crew lists must be “paid for using these doubloons. Ahire fee of 300 doublons per crew is best suited for those at the beginning of their ing career. Our standard value is $00 doublons. If you feel up to it and have a bit more time, games with hire fees of 1,000 doubloons or more per crew are easily possible as well. Many scenarios set a fixed hire fee per crew and sometimes even special rules for hiring crews. A crew is assembled by hiring characters and paying their hire fees until all the doubloons have been spent or the desired crew has been assembled Further detailed rules for hiring characters are set out in chapter 15 “The Crews” on page 72 and in the Book of Crews, Setting up the battlefield and other preparations Once the crews have been hired, the battlefield is set up in accordance with the scenario description. Further detailed rules for terrain and for setting up the battlefield are set out in chapter 7 “Terrain” on page 16 and chapter 16 “Scenarios” on page 76. ‘The fate cards and event cards are shuffled and placed face-down in separate piles on the table. Each player receives a set of 6 hit location cards. Il that is left now is to make sure that measuring tapes, tokens, marker pens, and other potentially required items are within reach. And then you're ready to start... Permission granted to copy this page for personal, non-commercial use only Basie ea outed dts sucrose arate CaN)4. Start of play and sequence of p! play F Once the preparations have been dealt with, the players choose a role, such as attacker or defender, or a table edge in the scenario to be played, in or from which they want to begin the game. The crews are set up in their respective deployment zones, and the first round begins. All these decisions can be made either by agreement or by testing for initiative. Initiative ‘The players draw a fate card each and add the morale value of their crew’s leader or the Jeader’s stand-in. The crew with the highest total value gains the initiative. In the event of a draw, the crew whose leader/leader’s stand-in has the highest morale value wins. If this still doesn’t resolve it, new cards are drawn. Repeat this until a clear winner emerges A player who has the initiative has the right of first decision or first choice. They can, however, also decide to pass on the right of first choice or first decision to another player. A player who has the initiative can, for example, be the first to activate a character at the beginning of a round, or leave this to their opponent. ‘The same principle applies to decisions not related to the first activation of a round. Such as choosing a table edge to start from, deploying the crew and similar choices. In all further rounds, the player who did not have the initiative in the previous round draws the first card to determine initiative. 4.1. Deploying the crews When deploying the crews, characters are placed in their deployment zones individually and one after the other, alternating between crews. Unless the scenario or a special tule says something else, of course. The crew which has the initiative may place the first character. 4.2. Rounds and active phases A game of Freebooter’s Fate is played over several rounds. A game usually lasts 8 rounds, but this can vary depending on the scenario being played. At the beginning of each round, initiative is determined first of all. Next up are any effects and/or events which are described as happening at the beginning of a round, Any doubts about the exact sequence are resolved by the player who has the initiative. Each character has exactly one active phase in each round and can execute actions which are available to them in that phase. ‘The player who has the right of first action chooses any of their characters, thus activating them. The actions within an active phase can be executed in any sequence the player chooses, Compulsory actions are an exception to this; these must be executed before any others when the character is activated. Once a character has finished all the actions of their active phase and cannot or does not want to take any further ones, their active phase is over, and the right of activation is passed to the opponent. The opponent then chooses any of their characters which haven’t been activated in this round yet and activates them. In this way, all characters taking part in the game act one after the other, alternating between crews. If a player has no more characters which can be activated, the opposing crew’s characters can all take their unused active phases, character by character. Unused active phases expire at the end ofa round. They cannot be split, saved or carried over to the next round in any way. A character whose active phase is over should be appropriately marked to keep track of things, for example by turning their character card by 90 degrees or placing some sort of marker on it Once all characters of all crews taking part in the game have taken their actions, the current round ends and a new one begins. Pearce Pate ets tht treet ere teenie F)s| Fate ® is) © Werner Klocke, Frechootsr Miniatures 2010-20194.3. Outnumbered ‘A crew is outnumbered if it has at least 3 fewer characters on the battlefield at the beginning of a round than the next most numerous crew. In such a case, the outnumbered crew can pass activating a character once in that round without using up that active phase. The outnumbered crew can do this at any time in that round, even if it is no longer outnumbered later on in the round, when, for example, some opposing characters have ‘been taken out of action. 4.4. Games with more than two players Freebooter’s Fate is designed to be played by two players with one crew each. It is possible to play with more than two players, though, for example by splitting a crew among two players. This way, even very large crews can be played. However, it is also possible for two players and their crews to ally against two other players so that everyone gets to lead their favourite crew into battle. But even playing with three or more crews who are all fighting against each other is possible, and offers a lot of new tactical challenges. The sequence of play remains the same except for a minor variation of how initiative works. The player with the highest initiative can decide whether or not they start the round by activating one of their characters. If they decide to pass on the right of first activation, the player with the next highest initiative gets to decide whether they want to start or not. [fall players decide to pass on the right of first activation, the player with the lowest initiative must start the round. The other players then act clockwise and not by sequence of initiative 4.5. Duration and end of game ‘A game of Freebooter’s Fate usually lasts 8 rounds. Of course, players can always agree to slug it out to the bitter end. The victory conditions and the end-of-game conditions are listed for each individual scenario. See chapter 16. “Scenarios”, page 76. 5. Basic terms and concepts This section contains explanations and rules which cover certain situations in the game. For example, the concept of line of sight, or LOS, from the point of view of the character, who does not have the same overview of the battlefield which the player enjoys. Some basic rules are far-reaching and contain many new or changed rules, such as those for movement or combat. We suggest that you read through this section once, get your head round the basic concepts, and maybe come back later for the details “Current” value The current value is the remaining value which has not been marked off. In the case of attributes, this is the rightmost remaining value. In the case of morale, this is the topmost remaining value on the V-bar. Unless a rule expressly states otherwise, it is always the current value which is referred to. Prone ‘A prone character is defenceless. Even though they are lying down, prone characters are still considered to be in base-to-base contact with other characters. However, they cannot tie down opponents in close combat, even if they have a suitable trait. A prone character cannot provide support to allied characters in combat. Prone characters cannot perform any actions by themselves, apart from the compulsory action of getting up. If a character is prone in a piece of deep terrain, they are under water instead Decreasing and increasing attribute values Special circumstances can temporarily change values and/or attributes. +1 A means that ie attack attribute is increased by I. This only ever increases the attribute’s current alue. eee ent cree eect heer42/+2 ST means that both strength values are increased by 2 each. ' 42/-1 RAV means that the left-hand value, the one for short range, is increased by 2, while the right-hand value, the one for long range, is reduced by 1 The first critical hit to a location causes the associated attribute value to be decreased to the left-hand value. An attribute which suffers another critical hit has its value decreasedy to 1, unless the character is taken out of action by the hit. Traits, loas, or non-permanent effects of event cards can cause an attribute value to temporarily decrease to zero or below. Base-to-base contact Bete Two characters are in base-to-base contact if their bases touch along a distance of at least half the length of the smaller base’s edge. A character can only be in base-to-base contact with one other character along every full 25mm of their base length. Example: Revlugg is in base-to-base contact with the Teniente and with Moby Dugg. Not, however, with Rosso. Not only do the edges of their bases not touch along more than half their length, but Revlugg is already in base-to-base contact with the Teniente along that edge. Beginning of. The beginning of a round or active phase is the time in which no tests or actions have been announced yet. Various things whose exact sequence is not important can be dealt with in this bit. Allied characters These are all the characters from a character’s own crew as well as those from allied crews. Free action Such an action does not cost the character anything. It does not count towards the number of actions available to the character. Opponent These are all the characters from opposing crews and crews allied to them. Size and size template Strip for gripping For reasons of aesthetics and sheer awesome fabulousness, Freebooter’s Fate miniatures are usually modelled in . _, Area with the four dynamic poses. Some raise their arms in triumph, some quarters are caught mid-jump, while others take a spectacular swing with their cutlass To prevent this artistic exuberance having an effect on Dattlefield effectiveness, the characters are represented ‘on the field by size templates when it matters. There are three size categories: small, medium, and large. A character’s size is listed on their character card. Rats and goblins, for example are small, humans are medium, while E! Grandulon is large. Each size template is divided into quarters and is always as wide as the character’s base. When checking for LOS, the size template is held in front of the miniature in such a way that it touches the niniature’s base along its entire width, The template eee ee ee eee rere eee Soin Gre esas enisa te PTT)may not be moved past the base’s corners. ' In the example above, the template is placed between the arquebusier and the possible cover to be absolutely certain whether he receives the cover bonus or not. Size of characters and their bases Small and medium characters have square bases with a footprint of 25 x 25 mm. Animal mounts and some other animals have a rectangular base with a 25 x 50 mm footprint. Large characters have square bases with a footprint of 50 x 50 mm. ‘Arc of vision, range of vision, and line of sight (LOS) Each character has an are of vision of 180°. They can draw lines of sight to other characters, objects, etc. only within this arc. The arc of vision encompasses the character’s entire front, which consists of the front, the left-hand side, and the right-hand side of the character’s base. If required and possible, a character’s are of vision also extends above and below them, Characters cannot see anything outside their are of, vision The area behind the imaginary line along the rear edge of the character’s base is the character’s hack Within their arc of vision, the character has an unlimited range of vision across the entire battlefield. This range can be limited due to types of terrain (such as a wood) or by the weather conditions (rain, twilight, night, etc.) which the character has to look through or into. A character can see another character if they can see part of the size template held in front of the other character from one of the upper two quarters of the size template held in front of them. If such a line can be drawn without interruptions (such as terrain), then there is a line of sight (LOS) to the other character or target. The LOS is not interrupted by other characters, neither by allied nor by opposing ones. Examples of LOS and are of vision The Imperials on land and aboard the Yola (3), as well as the three fusiliers in the Barkaza’s prow are in Lieutenant Krud’s arc of vision. However, he cannot actually see all of them and has the following lines of sight: 1. He can see Arrequin and the El Mastin on land. 2. He can also see the arqeubusier behind the wooden cover He can see Tipo Duros, even hough that character is standing behind his El Mastin 4. He can see the three fusiliers in the Barkazza’s prow. $. He cannot see the arquebusiers aboard the Yola, because the rocky outcrop completely blocks his LOS He cannot see the fusiliers in the middle row because they are in his back and thus outside his arc of vision. The same goes for Potée, Armond, and Clisson in the Barkazza’s stern Rosso’s front with 180° are of vision Rosso’s back eae nese eh eg see ee eer Basie ea outed dts sucrose arate CaN)Movement A character can usually move a distance of up to lcm per point of their MOV across the’ battlefield. This maximum distance can be affected by the type of movement, the number of actions spent, the terrain, various special rules, traits and event cards, as well as loas | and other circumstances. The entire amount of MOV available for movement and thus the resulting maximum’ distance in cm must not be exceeded. However, a character does not have to be moved the maximum distance possible. An exception to this is a compulsory action, such as a fleeing move. Jovement is measured from the back edge of the miniature’s base in the starting position to the back edge of the miniature’s base in the final position. Of course you can also_ measure from front edge to front edg. Whenever a character moves up or down, their movement is always measured horizontally and vertically, never diagonally. This is particularly important for the various types of movement and the different terrain types with their terrain traits. Examples 1. and 2. In both cases, Arrequin mov 10cm. Movement is measured from the back of the base to the back of the base, or from the front of the base to the front _ of the base. Well done! 3. If Arrequin measured her movement from the front of her base to the back of her base, she would move 12.5em. And that’s not on! 4, Revlugg, sneakily trying to get away with it, is pushing things a bit here. H announced movement is “only” 7 cm, but he measures so cunningly that his base’s width of 2.5em is added three times. For a total of 14.5cm. That is just a smidgen more than his MOV of 8cm allows for. Keelhaul the little chancer! Solid footing A character can only be ned on the battlefield somewhere where the miniature can be placed upright without falling over. If this is not po: sible, the character does not have solid footing and cannot get to that particular place. The miniature is moved along its announced path to the last point at which it has solid footing. Overcoming small obstacles During their movement, characters can move across small obstacles without any problem Obstacles which are no deeper or taller than the longest edge of the character base can be overcome with an advance action without additional penalties They are treated exactly like the terrain urrounding them. Permission granted 10 copy this page for personal, non-commercial use only, Tassie fe NEE A Vaated Atay cero tsa Taisho CoN)Ifa character has to use a special movement type before or during overcoming a small P obstacle, then this obstacles counts as part of ihe distance to be overcome. See also the: climbing example on page 13 Allied characters are also treated like small obstacles if they are the same size as or smaller than the character. 6.1. Movement types The different movement types are turn, jump, climb, jump down, and swim. They are part of move actions and are integrated into these if the move action allows it. Several types of movement can be used during a move action. The type of movement can ‘be performed any number of times and at any point together with a move action as long. as the character’s total MOV is not exceeded. For example, by using a simple or complex advance action, a character can walk across the battlefield, climb up a wall, turn and jump across a ditch, as long as the required MOV points do not exceed the character’s current total. The character could also run along the beach, swim for a short stretch and heave themselves into a boat at the end of it Sometimes, a movement action contains partial stretches with movement types which can become risky, such as climbing, or which cross dangerous terrain, In such cases, the individual stretches must be measured separately, because they might require a hazard test. This will be shown in more detail in the examples of the movement types further down. Unless specific combinations are explicitly forbidden by the rules, use your common sense when assessing valid combinations of movement types. And please remember to announce your intended movement as precisely as possible Turn A tum does not use up any MOV, but is always part of a move action. The character can be tuned any number of times during a move action. The character is simply turned on the spot so that they face a new direction. The character turns around the centre of their base, not around the centre of the edge of their base, If the character remains where they are but turns on the spot, then this is a movement action which does use up a simple action. Reorienting A character can reorient themselves immediately after they have © taken all their melee opponents out of action and are now free from opponents, or @ successfully ended their panic To reorient themselves, the character can immediately turn on the spot for free. This is not an action and costs no MOV points. While reorienting is really a movement type, it can be executed on its own and outside a character’s movement. Because this is visible, an opponent can react to it, e.g. when waiting. Jump The jump movement type is used to overcome obstacles such as chasms, or the gap between two roofs. The character must spend 1 MOV on each cm which they want to jump. A character can easily jump over obstacles which are no wider than half of the ‘character’s MOV in cm. This is the safe distance when jumping. If the distance jumped is greater than the safe distance, the character must take a hazard test. Once begun, the jump has to be carried out in a straight line. The character can turn around their own axis during the jump, but they must not change their orientation when. doing so. A jump can be “interrupted” like this, for example for an assault shot. A jump can be combined with a charge or a sneak attack. Characters can also jump into or through forests. However, the thick vegetation impedes movement so much that the character is subject to the forest’s difficult terrain penalties even during a jump. These penalties only apply to the part of the jump which actually occurs in the forest. Peace tres ecg eas eer ee hm Basie ea outed dts sucrose arate CaN)PN AL qh lot every type of difficult terrain impedes jumping, however. For example, characters can jump across water without any penalty. mples juin of the Imperial Armada has 10 MOV and would like to jump across two obstacles, in this case two chasms. She announces her movement towards the doorway: “One complex advance action including two jumps.” Her total move is more than sufficient. The first stretch is 7 em wide. She has to take a hazard test, and passes it with flying colours (see chapter 6.2. “Hazard test and falling” on page 14). She moves the 4 cm across the walkway before tackling the second jump of 4 em. This is a safe jump and so her fmal 5 cm take her through the doorway. Hooray Arrequin is plain unlucky in the second example. She would like to execute a complex advance action combined with a jump. To do cm to the end of the bridge and attempts to jump across the 10 cm chasm. Her MOV would easily cover the total distance, but unfortunately she fails the hazard test. The safe distance for the jump is only 5 cm; she has to test for the distance beyond that. Having drawn a 4, she falls and splashes into the water, directly undemeath the point which’ she was trying to jump to. Climb limbing is used to overcome steep obstacles, such the sides of buildings. Characters can climb up as well as down. The character must spend 2 MOV on each em which they want to climb. A character can easily climb over obstacles which are er than half of the character’s MOV in em. | This is the safe distance when climbing. If the distance climbed is greater than the safe distance, the character has to take a hazard test. Examples. Defty Jim is a bit of a geezer and would like to “organise” a few things while he’s here. His MOV of 12 should be more than enough to climb to the balcony with a complex action. He must climb up 8.5 cm. The balcony railings must also be climbed up in thi While they are “only” as high as Jim’s base is wide, Jim is noi standing in front of them on level ground Rounded up, this is 3 cm more than the safe distance. Sounds doable. If successful, Jim will be placed the balcony and will then have used up 19.5 MOV Permission granted to copy this page for personal, non-commercial use only. Weise iprocrarehinea aris) carta Verret en eTO"climbing the 8.5 cm uses up 17 MOV, and he needs 2.5 MOV 10 achieve secure footing on the balcony. E Right: Detty Jim has lofty aims. Not least because Gront is hard on his heels. Jim’s MOV of 12 is just about enough to reach the platform on the second floor. Climbing up there uses up his entire MOV of 24 and is thus a complex action. ‘The risk of failure is significantly greater here. He is trying for 6 cm beyond the safe distance. That's pretty brave of him! Jump down ‘A character can easily jump down from a position which is no higher than the character’s MOV in cm. This is the safe distance when jumping down, If the distance jumped down is greater than the safe distance, the character has to take a hazard test. The character must spend only % MOV on each em which they want to jump down. When jumping down, the character’s movement is not restricted by terrain. The movement is treated as though the character were in open terrain. Jumping down can be combined with a charge or a sneak attack. Example: Pirates are patrolling the harbour. Akondo would like to get out of sight sharpish, and jumps off the roof to get inside the building. Due to his MOV of 10, a simple advance action is sufficient for that. The 9.5 cm which he jumps down uses up only 5 MOV rounded up, and moving through the door costs him another 5 MOV. Best of all: the distance he jumps down is less than Akondo’s safe distance of 10 cm. 6.2. Hazard test and falling Hazard test A hazard test is required and has to be taken as soon as © the distance which a character is trying to overcome by jumping, climbing, or jumping down is greater than the safe distance for that movement type, or © a terrain trait requires it, or © other circumstances expressly require it. A hazard test is taken immediately at the end of the (partial) stretch of the character’s movement which triggered the hazard test. The hazard test thus interrupts the current movement and prevents the character from continuing if they fail the test. ‘A character passes the hazard test when the value of a drawn fate card is greater than or equal to the distance which the character moved beyond the safe distance, in cm. They fail the hazard test if the value of the drawn fate card is smalller than that distance. A failed hazard test always results in a fall or sinking (see also chapter 7. “Terrain traits”, page 19), Of course, even a passed hazard test does not enable a character to move farther than their J currently remaining movement distance allows. Attempting to do that always leads to a fall. nen Souris"A fall is the consequence ofa failed hazard test when jumping, climbing, or jumping down. ‘Characters will also fall when they are shoved over the edge of a chasm. A fall starts _¢ when jumping: at the endpoint of the hazardous (partial) stretch which the character" wanted to reach - but no farther than the character’s MOV allows ‘* when jumping down or climbing down: at the starting point of the hazardous (partial) stretch along which the character wanted to move. ‘* when climbing: at the endpoint of the hazardous (partial) stretch which the character wanted to reach. ‘* when being shoved: at the point at which the character is being shoved over the edge. The character’s miniature is placed directly vertically underneath the place from which they started to fall. That is also where the fall ends. A fallen character is prone on the ground and thus defenceless unless they have fallen into water. A fall always immediately ends a character’s active phase. Falling damage In addition, a fall causes damage and possibly a critical hit as well, if the character fell from a great height. The possible damage is the height in cm of the point where the fall started, from the ground. The character’s T plus the value of a fate card are deducted from this. The resulting damage and its consequences are resolved as usual. See chapter 8.4. “Damage Determination” on page 28. Falling into water A character falling into water or into a swamp does not suffer damage. The character is not prone, they are pushed under water instead. See also chapter 7.5. “Sinking and under water” on page 21. 6.3. Swimming The movement type swimming must be used to move through all terrain types with the deep terrain trait. See “Terrain types” on page 16. The character must spend 2 MOV for each cm which they swim. A character can swim for several rounds - as long as they aren’t sinking. Swimming has some additional special rules: A swimming character counts as being in cover when targeted by a ranged attack. ‘© A swimming character cannot themselves attack in ranged combat. Any character which swims receives a penalty of -1 A when making a close combat attack, ‘© A swimming character with a current Toughness of 4 or more must test to see whether they might sink. See chapter 7.5. “Sinking and under water” on page 21 Example: \ Canita must make it to the other bank of the river, what with Akando being after her. # Unfortunately, she is already in the water and so has to start by swimming. She announces: a complex assault shot action including the swimming and jumping movement types. J Assault shot is only featured in chapter 11.2. “Special actions” on page 40, but ‘anita has read ahead and this opportunity is too good to let pass. eee een er Re eer heey ee ecrea Crete tee)She has a total of 24 MOV. She needs a whopping 12 of those to swim the initial 6 em (1). After that, she moves 4 cm along the rickety remains of the quay, where she fires her assault shot (2). Regardless of whether she hit anything or not, she attempts the 8 cm F jump at the end (3). Easily passing the hazard | test, she turns around at the end to face the Debonnese so as not to present her back as an easy target. 7. Terrain Freebooter’s Fate differentiates between various types of terrain which has specific terrain traits and comes in various sizes. Types of terrain are e.g. plains, forest, or bodies of water. A terrain trait of, e.g. a forest is difficult terrain, which means that a character can only move at half speed in that terrain. The forest can cover the entire battlefield or just parts thereof, or it can be restricted to a single, clearly delineated piece of scenery. Terrain is represented on the battlefield by models of. different terrain types and pieces of scenery. All rules and traits correspondingly refer to the physical features and the size of the actual model. For example, a swamp can be represented by a realistic-looking, detailed model, by a piece of brown felt, or by a printed mousepad. Itis important that the size and shape of the piece of scenery be such that its borders are clearly recognisable. Settle any cases of doubt unanimously before the game begins, ideally when setting up the scenery. 7.1. Terrain types A terrain type always covers a clearly defined area and has specific traits. A character which is inside a type of terrain or moves into it for the first time is immediately subject to all of its special rules The traits are listed separately for characters and boats for each terrain type. Because while bodies of water are no great obstacle to a boat, a character must not only swim, but rather also runs a risk of sinking. The terrain types listed here are merely the most frequent ones and are meant as examples. It is perfectly possible to create your own terrain types with specific traits, such as a house whose ground floor has sunk into a swamp and which thus combines the difficult terrain and the treacherous traits. The effects on boats are listed here as well for completeness’ sake. The rules for boats are featured in the main rulebook chapter 14. + “Boats”. ins s is a flat terrain type which does not impede sight or movement in any way. This includes’ eadows, forest clearings, floors in houses, roads, bridges, and cobbled areas. For most scenarios, this is the basic terrain type of the battlefield without pieces of scenery. Trait for characters: Open Trait for boats: Impassable Forest This is a densely grown, tall type of terrain. This includes jungle and all kinds of vegetation which are taller than a large character NW Traits for characters: Difficult terrain, Restricted visibility (10) Trait for boats: impassable et Se etre Bare sere r wrceh ered dee cay ee rats CreIn addition, a forest has the following extended rules: Tn contrast to all other terrain types, a forest’s traits are not determined by the actual model J "on the battlefield. Only the outline and the area covered are relevant, any trees on the piece 4 ‘of scenery are ignored. It is also assumed that the forest is uniformly 20 cm high. ‘A characier whose entire base is on the forest piece of scenery and/or behind it, receives a, cover bonus against ranged attacks. Forest does not count as a defended obstacle. Low-hanging branches, undergrowth, ete. hinder all combatants equally and thus negate any benefits. This also holds true even if only one of the combatants is inside a forest. Fields This includes, for example, sugarcane plantations or fields of com. They are treated like “low” forests. This terrain type provides cover and/or restricted visibility (10), depending on the size of the piece of scenery. For example, a sugarcane plantation is of medium height, a field of corn is small. Thus, only characters of that or a smaller size are affected by the restricted visibility (10) Traits for characters: Difficult terrain, Restricted visibility (10) and/or Cover, depending on size Trait for boats: Impassable Rugged ground This is a flat terrain type which seriously impedes movement but does not completely obscure a character who is behind or inside it. This includes e.g. tidelands, heavy morass, mudflats, rubble fields, freshly-ploughed fields, ruins decaying into heaps of debris, shal- Jow hills and mountains covered in rubble, and shallow water such as shallow lakes, ponds, and brooks. Trait for characters: Difficult terrain Trait for boats: Impassable Water This terrain type can only be moved across by swimming through it. This includes deep lakes, roaring rivers and the sea. A character who is swimming through water counts as being in cover against ranged attacks, even if the miniature is not physically submerged in the water. The miniature is used the way it stands on the battlefield for LOS purposes, however. Traits for characters: Deep, Difficult terrain, Treacherous, Trait for boats: Open Mangroves This is a terrain type which consists of two others: dense forests which are located in water. This includes high reed fields. Traits for characters: Deep, Difficult terrain, Restricted visibility (10), Treacherous Traits for boats: Difficult terrain, Restricted visibility (10) Driftwood Sunk ships often leave behind fields of driftwood, which get in the way of characters as well as boats. This terrain types only occurs on water and also includes dense fields of seaweed or water lilies. Traits for characters: Deep, Difficult terrain, Treacherous Trait for boats: Difficult terrain Raging river This terrain type is a body of water with a strong current. Traits for characters: Current (), Deep, Difficult terrain, Treacherous Traits for boats: Current (), Open ee een booter’s Fate ® is) Werner Klocke, Frecbooter Miniatures 2010-2019is is a very treacherous terrain type which may swallow characters whole. This includes 4 quicksand. Traits for characters: Difficult terrain, Treacherous “Trait jor boats: Difficult terrain Reefs These are barely visible and unfortunately very solid obstacles which can appear suddenly in water. ey are part of the water terrain type and the area in which they can appear should be clearly marked Traits for characters: Deep, Difficult terrain, Treacherous Trait for boats: Dangerous () Islands Islands can be open or overgrown with forest, they can be built on or consist of just one massive rock Traits for characters: depends on the island’s surface Trait for boats: Impassable Bank of fog A bank of fog can be found over solid ground as well as over bodies of water. The traits of the base terrain apply in addition to that of the bank of fog. Trait for characters: Restricted visibility (10) Trait for boats: Restricted visibility (10) 7.2. Buildings terrain type Buildings are solid pieces of scenery. This includes ships, ruins, castles, towers, and steep- sided hills. Their common feature is that they all consist of several components with va- rious terrain traits. Walls This includes freestanding high walls and mountain sides. They can be steep or impassable, or even both. Roofs Depending on their angle, they can be open or steep. Ladders, stairs and similar This includes rigging. They can be crossed without restriction. The distance moved is measured along the stairs or ladder. This is an exception to the standard rules for measuring movement distances. Open doorways, gateways and windows, holes in walls or hould These can be crossed without movement penalties, depending on their size. LOS can be drawn through them even by characters not in tbase-to-base contact with them, A character can move through any ‘opening which is at least as large as a quarter of their size template. Example: ‘The size template is held behind the window in such a way that a quarter of it is visible if possible. The template does not have to touch the model for this. In this example, the medium-sized Arrequin can move through this opening without restrictions. A small character would, of course, also fit through this window, be- cause they are, you guessed it, smaller. A large character, however, would not fit. ee Ween:al ; is is the collective term for all pieces of scenery which are small-ish but act as solid horizontal) E ot vertical obstacles. This includes walls, railings, hedges, fences, bushes, barricades, 4 stacks of crates, sacks, chests or barrels, furniture, tombstones, heaps of debris, lone trees, " masts, pillars, and statues, to name just the most important ones. Depending on their actual, size, they can be overcome without penalties, afford cover to a character behind them, or hide them from sight altogether. Bric-a-brac can be overcome without penalties to movement if it is not higher or deeper than the longest edge of the character’s base. If it is higher or deeper than that, it has to be crossed using the climbing and/or jumping down movement types. Or the character simply has to move around it. 7.4. Terrain traits Each terrain type has certain traits which have various effects on movement and vision. If a terrain type has several traits, they all affect the character who is inside it, wants to move through it, or simply wants to look through the terrain. Current () An current can affect an piece of scenery, such as a vortex or an entire river. The strength () and the direction of the current are set at the beginning of the game by the players or by the scenario All characters and boats which end their active phase even partially within such a terrain type are moved the number in brackets in em in the pre-defined direction, This additional movement always takes place in the direction set by the current, irrespective of the direction in which the character or the boat is facing; the character/the boat keep facing in the same direction, they are not tured by the current. Example: The yola comes out from behind the island and moves 10 cm ahead (1). This was the last action of its boat active phase. Because there is a current (4) in the river at this point (white arrow 2), the yola is moved 4 em in the current’s direction (3) Dangerous () Ifa character moves through a dangerous stretch of terrain, they must take a hazard test if they move farther through the terrain than its safe distance allows. The safe distance is listed in brackets after the dangerous trait. Dangerous (Severe, 5) means that the character can move through up to 5 cm of this terrain type without having to take a hazard test. They only have to test if they move more than 5 cm. The consequences of a failed hazard test are severe in this instance. A character must take a hazard test as soon as they @ leave the dangerous terrain, or © want to execute a different type of action inside the terrain after a movement action (in the case of'a charge, for example, the test is made after moving but before attacking), or © end their active phase with a movement action inside the terrain. If the character passes the hazard test, they move through the dangerous terrain without hindrance. If the character fails the hazard test, they suffer the following consequences, depending on the level of danger: © Mild - the character is knocked over. © Medium - the character suffers damage. 'e Severe - the character is knocked over and also suffers damage. } The potential damage is the total distance moved through the dangerous terrain in that lactive phase in cm. The character’s T plus the value of a fate card are deducted from this. cL cr cee Sea RNa ee ayes erase Utne Set Ce C)