Positional Effects

Combat in What's OLD is NEW is a highly positional, tactical affair. Using crossfires and avoiding getting pinned down or falling into the enemy’s crossfires, combatants move about the battlemap in an attempt to gain an advantage over their foes.

Facing

The direction you face can matter when using miniatures in combat. It determines whether somebody is attacking you from the rear, and which directions certain attacks can be used in.

You can change which direction you face at any time while moving. If you don't move in your turn, you can still change your facing for free at any point turing your turn. This is not an actual action or a free action.

Most attacks can be used in any direction. However, occasionally an attack will only be valid in a particular direction - a xenomorph's tail swipe affects a cone to its rear, for example. If this is the case, the attack (or exploit) will specify that direction.

The four important positional effects are range, higher ground, cover, and crossfires/flanks.

Range

In ranged combat, every weapon has a range increment. Any ranged attack which exceeds that range increment suffers a -1d6 die penalty for each range increment beyond the first. Unless otherwise noted, weapons can only fire out to five range increments.

Higher Ground

Combatants on higher ground than their targets gain a +1d6 bonus to attack them. Higher ground is defined as at least 5' for melee attacks or at least 10' for ranged attacks.

Cover

Cover is very important. Targets without cover are very vulnerable to enemy bowshots and spellcasting. A target in cover inflicts a -2d6 penalty to attack rolls made against him (although this can be alleviated by the “pinned down” rule, below).

It's important to distinguish between cover and a blocked line-of sight. A character cannot be completely immune to fire and simultaneously able to fire himself, and cannot be in a position where line of sight is completely blocked except for when he pops up to fire.

There are three positions which require a move action to switch between:

OPEN. A character without the benefit of any cover is considered in the OPEN.

COVER. If a character can fire on an enemy without expending a move action, he is IN COVER; line of sight is not blocked.

BLOCKED. If a character must expend a move action in order to fire upon an enemy, line of sight is BLOCKED. The move action need not involve leaving the square, but it is important that the move action is needed to move to a firing position, and another one is needed to move back to the fully blocked position.

Crossfire/Flank

In an exchange of ranged bowshot and spellfire, every soldier dreads being caught in a crossfire. Avoiding missiles from multiple directions is extremely difficult. A crossfire is also known as interlocking fire, as each bowman's arcs of fire mutually support one another.

A crossfire exists if two attackers are positioned at 90-degree or greater angles to each other with respect to the target. Each of the attackers beyond the first grants a cumulative +1d6 bonus to ranged attacks against that target (making a maximum bonus of +3d6 for four attackers).

A flank is the melee equivalent of a crossfire.  It requires two diametrically opposite attackers, and grants a maximum of +1d6 to melee attacks against the target.

Other Modifiers

Other things can affect an attack roll.

• It is harder to shoot someone engaged in melee combat without endangering your ally. Such attacks take a -2d6 cover penalty, although some exploits can reduce this.

• Similarly, in darkness or under cover of obscuring fog or smoke, a -2d6 cover penalty is inflicted.

• A prone target is harder to hit at range (a penalty of -1d6) but easier to hit in melee (+2d6).