Experimental Rules #5 - Zero Dark: FEAR

 (Fighting in Enclosed AReas)

Zero Dark: FEAR will eventually be a mini supplement for Horizon Wars: Zero Dark.  I'm going to include these rules free in Zero Dark: Operation Nemesis to allow you to play one of the missions.  But in due course it will also be released as a standalone supplement, with its own narrative, missions and a terrifying new take on the Red Force (prepare for them being properly scary).

I'm not giving you a mission for these experimental rules.  I reckon my patrons can probably make up their own, for now.  The rules that follow are good for traditional "Space Hulk"-style corridor tiles, but also for more open grid-based play using things like Core Space or old grid maps from the WizKids Star Wars CMG.  The only real requirement is that, instead of playing on an open table with a tape measure, you play on a map divided into squares ~1” per side for 28mm play (you can reduce it to ~½” per side for 15mm play or, y'know, just stick with the 1" squares if you don't have a ½” grid map).

You will also be able to adapt these rules to play Zero Dark on a hexgrid with a little tweaking.

Distance & Range

Distance and range in  Zero Dark: FEAR simply replaces inches with squares.

Line of Sight & Field of View

In Zero Dark: FEAR, LOS is drawn from the square occupied by the active character or bogey to any corner on the target square.  If you can draw such a line without it passing through a wall or through a square occupied by a bogey, character or item of terrain of the same Cyl or greater than the active bogey or character, then you have LOS.  Otherwise, you do not.  Remember that down bogeys and prone characters are Cyl1

On a table marked with squares, a bogey or character’s default field of view is any two adjacent sides of the square they occupy.  The model should be oriented to show which two represent its current field of view.

MOVEMENT

Movement may be in any direction, including diagonally, as long as it doesn’t pass through a wall or other impassable obstacle.

Moving Through Characters & Bogeys

Characters may move through down bogeys and other friendly characters without obstruction but may not stop in a square occupied by one.  Characters treat bogeys and enemy characters as impassable.

Bogeys may move through other bogeys and OOA characters without obstruction but may not stop in a square occupied by one.  Bogeys treat all characters as impassable.

In addition to the rules given in the core rulebook, not that “impassable” also means that characters or bogeys may not move diagonally past them, as shown below.

<example images here>

Advanced Movement

Jumping and climbing often isn’t possible in games using the  Zero Dark: FEAR rules but, if they are, the rules are unchanged and whether you use inches or squares will depend on the resources you have to hand.

SHOOTING

Range

The range to a target is measured in squares and counts the squares between the active character or bogey and the target, plus the square occupied by the target.  The range is the fewest number of squares it would take to move from the square occupied by the active character or bogey to the square occupied by the target.

STATES

Engaged  A character or bogey that is in any adjacent square to another character or bogey, including diagonally adjacent squares, is engaged.

Entirely Obscured  A character or bogey is entirely obscured if there is no way to draw LOS to any of the corners of the square it is occupying or any part of its cylinder.

Obscured  A bogey is obscured if the active character cannot draw LOS to all four corners of the target’s square without at least one such line passing through a square containing an obstacle - including another character or bogey - or through a wall.  A character is obscured under the same conditions, but ignoring obstacles and walls with which the character isn’t engaged.

Note that the target itself doesn’t count as an obstacle for the purposes of determining obscured.

THE TEAM

Cylinder

Cylinder 1-5 characters and bogeys occupy a single square in Zero Dark: FEAR.  Cylinder 6-7 characters and bogeys will often be excluded from participating in missions using these rules.  However, if they are accommodated, they must occupy four adjacent squares.

THE RED FORCE IN FEAR

The Red Force is deployed slightly differently in Zero Dark: FEAR to the core rules.

The locations of bogeys in Zero Dark is always something of an approximation but in Zero Dark: FEAR, without the benefit of overhead satellite imagery or close-support intelligence drones, the heroes are literally operating in the dark.  As a result, their intelligence is even less helpful.

Pings

You will need a selection of counters - called “pings” - marked from 1 to 3 on one side (check out the tokens sheet I posted on Monday 8th June 2020).  Take a “1” ping for each Grunt, a “2” ping for each Elite and a “3” ping for each Boss.  You may want one or more “S” ping for any special bogeys in the mission.

Turn the pings number-side down and mix them up then place them on the mat according to the rules for the mission.

Activating Pings

For the purposes of determining which bogey activates, a ping counts as a Grunt, so while there are only pings on the table, any flips of a face card or Ace will generate a complication.

Revealing Bogeys

As soon as a character has LOS to a ping OR is engaged with a ping, turn it number-side up and replace it with the relevant type of bogey.