A Frame's Turn

A frame is either activated by its controlling player or by coming under attack from another frame. When activated, play out the turn in sequence.

Turn sequence:

  • If you want, declare attack range and target.
  • Roll the entire dicepool at once.
  • Assign a value to defense.
  • Assign the rest of the dicepool accordingly.
  • Move, then attack or attack, then move.
  • Spot.

Target Designation

Name a hostile frame as the target of your attack. You can name no target, if you prefer not to make an attack. Cover can also be targeted, instead of a frame. Stations and your own frames cannot be targeted.

When you designate a target, you need to declare which weapon system at what range is used for the attack. You can declare a target that is currently out of range, but you must immediately move your frame within the declared range or forgo the attack.

Roll Dicepool

Pick up the dicepool as per a frame's loadout and roll them all at once. Assign dice to defense, movement, attack and spotting. You can only assign one die per action. And each die can be assigned only once.

You can substitute any colored dice for white dice, as they are wildcards. You can look at your dicepool results before you swap white dice in. Swapping is optional. A frame without a defense/spot/movement/hand-to-hand systems must use its white dice for those functions.

If you do not have enough dice to fulfill an action, this unassigned action counts as 0. Once all dice are assigned to actions, discard any leftover dice.

This includes dice that cannot be assigned, such as a leftover red die, which cannot be assigned to Defense, even if Defense is unassigned.

Example : A frame with WWRdRd rolls:

  • Red 3, 5
  • White 3, 4 Blue, Green, Yellow have no system left, so Whites need to be assigned. If no white die is assigned to Spot, the Spot is 0. Likewise for movement or defense.

Defense 0 makes for easy pickings!

Defense

Assign a blue die or a white die to your defense. If you don't have any defensive systems, you didn't roll any blue dice, so choose a white die or forgo your defense, making it 0 for this round. Place a blue die on the battlefield next to the frame, turned to your defense value. This is this mobile frame's defense for the entire round, it won't change it until next round.

If you rolled your frame's dice because there is attack lined up against your frame, resolve the attack now. Wait for your attacker to finish its turn before you continue yours.

Move or attack

You may choose whether to attack before you move or move before you attack. But even if you move out of range of your attacker, their attack will resolve normally.

!!!You cannot run away from bullets that are already on their way!

Moving

When you move: Assign a green die or a white die to your movement. If you didn't roll any green dice, choose a white die or forgo movement, making it 0. Move a number of ruler units equal to or less than the result of your movement die. If you have any movement systems or the bonus d8 for carrying no ranged weapons, you can pass through cover as though it weren't there; otherwise, you have to go around it. Any frame with a movement system can also stand atop of cover.

Any structure on the battlefield at least 3 bricks high counts as cover, including frames but excluding stations.

Attacking

When making your attack, check whether the target you designated is within the range you declared. If not, you forgo the attack. If it is in range, assign a red die or a white die to your attack. Whites can only be swapped in for ranged attacks in if you have a weapon at that range. You can voluntarily abort your attack by choosing to assign no die to it. If you abort the attack, the target does not get activated. If your target is at 1 unit range, you do not need red dice and can use whites.

If it is within range, resolve your attack now against its standing defense.

If the target has no defense die because none was assigned when it had a turn, count Defense as 0. If it doesn't have a defense die because it has not been activated yet, switch to combat order. Put your turn on hold until your target has a defense value assigned, then resolve your attack normally.

If you are attacking cover directly, count its defense as 0. Cover cannot be in cover itself.

Once you've assigned an attack die and told it to your target, it is too late to abort.

Spotting

Assign a yellow die or a white die to your spot. If don't have any spotting systems, you may still spot by assigning a white die. Declare the target of your spot, based on your spotting systems. Place a yellow die next to your spotted target, turned to the value of your spot die.

If the declared target is already spotted, you can only replace the die if yours would be higher. Otherwise, forgo your spotting. You cannot spot first and follow it up with your own attack. If you attack, you spot after it has resolved. You cannot spot cover or stations.

Without spotting systems

The target must be:

  • within direct fire or hand to hand range
  • out of cover.

With one system

The target must be:

  • within direct fire or hand-to-hand range
  • can be in cover.

With two systems

You can spot everything.

Resolving Attacks

If there is a spot on the target, you may choose to add its value directly to your attack value. If you do so, remove that spot die from the field. It doesn't matter who placed the spot, you can use anybody's spot, and anybody can use yours.

While this may seem odd, there is no effective downside to sharing spots. An opponent using your spot effectively helps your case by attacking another opponent for you!

Calculate your damage dice.

Damage Dice = Spot + Attack – Defense

Resolving Damage Dice

Roll one six-sided die for every damage dice, and check the table for damage.

Weapon Cover Damages on...
Melee Ignores cover 4, 5 & 6
Ranged In cover 4 & 5 damages cover, 6 damages target
Ranged Not in cover 5 & 6
Ranged Covered by frame 5 damages cover frame, 6 damages target
Any Is cover 4, 5 & 6 damage cover

Apply damage to the cover first, 4s before 5s. If the cover is destroyed mid-process, treat the target as out of cover. Any remaining 5s blow through and damage the targeted frame. 6s always damage the target.

Apply damage to a covering frame first. If the covering frame is destroyed mid-process, treat the target as out of cover. Any remaining 5s after the cover frame's destruction damage the targeted frame.

If the covering mobile frame has two defensive systems it is not damaged by stray shots. A second defensive system allows a frame to provide cover without risking damage!

Cover cannot be spotted. Structures fewer than 3 bricks high do not count as cover. If you hit cover, every confirmed damage roll removes 6 bricks, attacker's choice.

You can effectively raze your enemy's cover by leaving them with less than 3 brick tall ruins!

Resolving Damage

For each point of damage a frame takes, it loses one of its systems. The owner chooses which system it loses. Pop off a representative part of the frame and drop it on the field. Since that system is gone, it doesn’t provide its die or dice in any future turns. If it has no systems left, it loses one of its white dice. Once both whites are gone, the frame is destroyed.

If the frame is within 1 unit range of a station, its owner can choose to have it ignore 1 damage and instead abandon its position, moving the mobile frame 1 unit away from the station, out of contesting range.

Taking damage doesn’t affect the dice you’ve already rolled unless the frame is destroyed. They’re yours to use until the end of this mobile frame’s turn.

When a frame is destroyed, the owner loses points accordingly — recalculate the score.