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Avatars of War presents

Fantasy miniatures gladiatorial combat

Avatars of War SLNE. Mare de Deu dels Angels, 37 Sta. Coloma de Gramenet - 08921 Barcelona - Spain Tel (+34) 933 850 326 Website: www.avatars-of-war.com Email: info@avatars-of-war.com
All contents herein, including all artwork, images, places, things and character names are and/or 2006-2011 Avatars of War, SLNE. Avatars of War, Arena Deathmatch, The Avatars of War logo, the Arena Deathmatch logo, are registered trademarks and/or 2006-2011 Avatars of War, SLNE Copyright Avatars of War SLNE, 2006-2011. All rights reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
iNTRoDuCTioN . . . . . . . . . . .4
WhAT iS AN ARENA? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 WhAT iS A DEAThMATCh? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 WhAT iS ARENA DEAThMATCh ABouT? . . . .4 WhAT Do you NEED To pLAy ThE GAME? . . .4
MiNiATuRES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 GAMiNG SuRfACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 DiCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 CouNTERS & TokENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

RuLES pRioRiTy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 EffECTS & RouNDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 STAT ChECkS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
MANEuvER ChECkS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

RESoLviNG CoMBAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 SiMpLE CoMBAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33


AppLyiNG DAMAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 BLoW EffECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

TERRAiN fEATuRES . . . . . . . . .48


TypES of TERRAiN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
opEN TERRAiN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 DiffiCuLT TERRAiN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 iMpASSABLE TERRAiN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

BLoWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 ChECkS BETWEEN EquAL STATS . . . . . . . . . .16 oRiGiNAL & CuRRENT STAT vALuES . . . . . . .16 DiRECTioN & SCATTER RoLLS . . . . . . . . . . .16 MEASuRiNG DiSTANCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 pENALTiES AND BoNuSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 RouNDiNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

MuLTipLE CoMBAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 CLoSE CoMBAT SpECiAL SiTuATioNS . . . . . . .38


CoMBAT fACiNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 fLANkiNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 LoSiNG ThE REARGuARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 CLoSE CoMBAT MoDifiERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 DiSARMED! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 fRiENDLy CoMBAT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

ELEvATioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
SMALL ELEvATioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 STANDiNG oN ELEvATioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 fALLiNG DoWN & DRoppiNG fRoM ELEvATioNS . . . .49

A WoRD ABouT SpoRTSMANShip . . . . . . . . .5

MoDELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
TypES of MoDELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
AvATARS of WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 SuppoRTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 BEASTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
ACTioN TypES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
TACTiCAL ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 MAGiC ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 ShooTiNG ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 CoMBAT ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

ThE poWER WiThiN . . . . . . .40


CoNTExT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 ThE SAGiAN GoDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

pLATfoRMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 STAiRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 piTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 SCALE REfERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

SouL ShARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41


uSES foR SouL ShARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 DECLARiNG AND RoLLiNG SouL ShARDS . . . . . . . . . .41

MoDEL DESCRipTioN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
STATE TABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 fEATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 CoMBAT ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 DAMAGE & STATE of A MoDEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 MiNiATuRE BASE zoNES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

ACTioN DESCRipTioN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 pERfoRMiNG AN ACTioN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18


WhAT if AN AvATAR STAT iS 10? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 ShoWiNG off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

STEALiNG SouL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41


DAMAGiNG ThE SouL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 DRAiNiNG ThE SouL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 fiLLiNG ThE SouL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 kiLLiNG AN AvATAR of WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

ALphABETiCAL iNDEx . . . . . . .52 CRoWD MooD TABLE . . . . . . .54 quiCk REfERENCE ShEET . . . .55 CREDiTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

CouNTERACTiNG ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 oppoRTuNiTy ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22


DECLARiNG oppoRTuNiTy ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . .22 oppoRTuNiTy ChECk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 WhEN DoES ThE oA TAkE pLACE? . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 iNfLuENCE ovER ThE TRiGGERiNG ACTioN . . . . . . .23

ALiEN SouL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42


SouL iNSTABiLiTy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 uSiNG ASSiMiLATED SouL ShARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

CREATiNG youR BAND . . . . . .10


fACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 RECRuiTiNG, TRAiNiNG & EquipMENT . . . . .10
STATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 TRAiTS & fEATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 WEApoNS & ARMoR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 iTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

REGENERATiNG ThE SouL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

TACTiCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
CoMMoN TACTiCAL ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . .24
MovEMENT ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 fACiNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 fiRST AiD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 MAGiC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

pSyChoLoGy . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
fEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
fEAR EffECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

hATRED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
hATRED EffECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

vALiDATiNG youR BAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

WoRShip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
WoRShip EffECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

GAME pREpARATioN . . . . . . . .13


NuMBER of pLAyERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 GAME DuRATioN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 DEAThMATCh LEvEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 hoME oR AWAy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 SETTiNG up ThE GAMiNG SuRfACE . . . . . . . .14
SELECTiNG BEASTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

CASTiNG A SpELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26


EMpoWERiNG SpELLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

BLiND RAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45


BLiND RAGE EffECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

DiSpELLiNG MAGiC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 CouNTERACTiNG A SpELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

pSyChoLoGy pRioRiTy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

ShooTiNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
LiNE of SiGhT (LoS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 ATTACk RANGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 LoS MoDifiERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 MAkiNG A RANGED ATTACk . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 TARGETiNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 SpoRTSMANShip AND RANGED ATTACkS . . . .31

ThE CRoWD . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46


CRoWD MooD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
RECoRDiNG ThE CRoWD MooD vALuE . . . . . . . . . .46 CRoWD MooD MoDifiERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 AppLyiNG CRoWD MooD MoDifiERS . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

ENTERiNG ThE ARENA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

GAME MEChANiCS . . . . . . . . .15


ThE RouND phASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
BEASTS phASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 SouL phASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 TACTiCS phASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 MAGiC phASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 ShooTiNG phASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 CoMBAT phASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 TokENS phASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

CRoWD EvENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47


GENERATiNG CRoWD EvENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Who RoLLS ThE CRoWD EvENT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 BEASTS ENTERiNG ThE ARENA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

CLoSE CoMBAT . . . . . . . . . . . .32


ENGAGED iN CLoSE CoMBAT? . . . . . . . . . . . .32 CoMBAT ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
CoMMoN CoMBAT ACTioNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

CELEBRiTiES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
ThERE CAN oNLy BE oNE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 CELEBRiTiES SpECiAL RuLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

INTRODUCTION
Avatars of War: Arena Deathmatch is a 28mm miniatures game that depicts the bloody clash between two or more bands of heroes facing off on the floor of the arena, in front of a raucous crowd that is thirsty for action, violence and even death. This deadly contest is known as a deathmatch. The most powerful heroes among the mortal races are known as the Avatars of War heroes chosen by the gods themselves. These Avatars, in addition to being fierce combatants, are able to draw upon the sliver of divinity within their souls for the power to expand their already awesome combat abilities.

of War miniatures to enact memorable deathmatches. The outcome of these clashes depends on your ability to think fast, use sound tactics and take advantage of your Avatars strengths to overcome the Avatars controlled by your opponent. Do not underestimate the importance of having supporters in the stands. having the crowd on your side often makes the difference between victory and defeat! The perils of the Arena stand against you. Traps, hazards and even savage beasts stand between you and your opponent. only the most skilled combatants can hope to be victorious. The door to the Arena opens, and the shouting crowd is eager to see their favourite heroes fight to the death. Will they be cheering your victory... or your death? Theres only one way to find out!

WHAT IS AN ARENA?
An arena is a structure designed to host public spectacles. The arena floor, covered in sand, is surrounded by gradually ascending stands where spectators closely follow the event. Arenas vary in size, from small town arenas that hold a hundred spectators to colossal arenas that can hold thousands. These coliseums, like the Drumminor Arena, are located in the largest and most important cities of the realm. The word arena comes from the Latin for sand. The sandy floor of the arena is where the action takes place, perfectly absorbing the blood which is spilled during the brutal contests known as deathmatches.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PLAY THE GAME?


youll need the following to play a game of Arena Deathmatch: -This rulebook -Miniatures to represent your Avatars of War -A table or gaming surface to represent the arena -Ten sided dice (each player may need up to ten dice) -Something to measure distance (6 inch and 12 inch rulers) -A handful of tokens to indicate effects affecting your Avatars -A handful of counters (small d6 are perfect to this end) to indicate the number of action dice spent by your Avatars -The Avatars of War record cards -A printed or photocopied quick reference sheet and crowd events table

WHAT IS A
DEATHMATCH?
A Deathmatch is the term used to define a deadly game of combat between teams of two or more combatants which takes place in an enclosed area. The goal of the combatants is to kill as many opponents as possible during the deathmatch, while avoiding death themselves. The enclosed areas where deathmatches take place are the great arenas of the Darklands. The combatants are the legendary Avatars of War, the greatest warriors the world has even known.

MINIATURES
Each Avatar of War, beast or supporter that appears in a game of Arena Deathmatch must be represented by a miniature. Avatars of War produces highly detailed metal miniatures especially designed to represent the Avatars of War, beasts and supporters that appear in this rulebook. Every Avatars of War miniature is sculpted to the scale of 1/62: an average human (5,7 feet) measuring 28mm high to the top of the head. Avatars of War miniatures look even better when painted; in this rulebook there is a painting guide that shows you how to achieve stunning paint jobs for your Avatars. you only need to paint around six miniatures to play Arena Deathmatch, so you can afford to spend lots of time on each one to make them look great on the arena floor and show off your painting skills!

GAMING SURFACE
Arena Deathmatch does not come with a board; all you need to play is a flat surface at least 20x20 inches (up to 30x30 inches). This surface represents the arena where the Avatars clash. An Arena Deathmatch game looks great if you play over a brown mat (to simulate the sand of the arena). you can go even further by building walls, stands and other scenery elements. Take a look at the Building an arena section in this book for quick and easy instructions for creating a great looking gaming surface.

Sometimes youll need to roll as many as 10d10 for a particularly powerful attack or action!

COUNTERS & TOKENS


youll need counters to keep track of the number of action dice spent by each Avatar. in addition, youll need some tokens to remind you of different effects such as those caused by spells and psychology. you can easily make your own action dice counters. Small sixsided dice are perfect for that end. While gaming, place the dice next to the miniature; the shown face will indicate the action dice spent by that Avatar.

Orc Warlord Avatar of War

DICE
Goblin Hero Avatar of War Arena Deathmatch uses ten sided dice (d10) to determine the outcome of actions. in this rulebook, youll find 1d10 indicates the rolling of one ten sided die while 6d10 would indicate the rolling of six ten sided dice. When rolling a d10 in Arena Deathmatch, regardless of the type of roll, a result of 1 is always successful while a result of 10 (0) is a failure. The only exception to this rule is when an Avatar has a stat score of 10. This exception is explained further in the section on Actions.

A WORD ABOUT SPORTSMANSHIP


on some occasions your opponent may ask you for information about your band of Avatars (traits, stats, feats, their current state, etc). you must share that information whenever your opponent asks for it.

WHAT IS ARENA DEATHMATCH ABOUT?


in Arena Deathmatch, each player controls a band of Avatars of War as they face off on the arena floor in front of a cheering (or jeering) crowd. in this book youll find the rules to use Avatars 4

At the end of the day, Avatars of War are well-known celebrities and their abilities and strengths are no secret to fans of the arena. A lot of testing went in to creating these rules and they have been carefully designed to cover as many situations as possible. Sooner or later, a situation may pop up where how to correctly apply the rules is not completely clear. in these situations, try to find a quick solution. Dont argue with your opponent for a long time, as that breaks the pace of the game. if you cant find a common position quickly, you should both roll a d10. The highest roll decides the outcome.

When the game is finished, there is plenty of time to discuss the rule and what to do if the situation comes up again. you can even check the forums on the Avatars of War website to ask for advice

MODELS
Every combatant that appears in Arena Deathmatch is represented by a miniature which is referred to as a model for rules purposes. Miniatures can stand on dierent base types: small (20x20 mm), medium and large (25x25 mm), huge (40x40 mm), beast (25x50mm). on the record card of each model, youll nd which the appropriate base for that model is.

TYPES OF
MODELS
There are three types of models used in Arena Deathmatch: Avatars of War, supporters, and beasts.

This description is available through the models record card . The record card is composed of the models description (size, homeland, ...), the state table, and a description of its traits, feats, and actions.

on the arena deathmatch website (www.avatars-of-war.com) youll nd the record cards for each released Avatar of War, beast and supporter. e record card is all you need to control a model in a game of Arena Deathmatch.

Example: Dark Elf Prince Dark Elf Prince Ag 3 4 St 3 4 Mi 3 4 Mov 1 2 Pop 3 4 CS 3 4 RS 3 4 Arm 3 4 AD 4 6 7 6 7 6 7 3 3 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 CD 4 8 9 8 9 8 9 3 4 8 9 8 9 8 9 8 9 Cost 139 gc Soul Alien 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6

AVATARS OF WAR
The Avatars of War are the greatest heroes that the world has ever known. An Avatar is a dangerous opponent who has highly trained skills and a long history of combat. To honour their martial skill, they have been granted a sliver of immortality by the gods themselves.

5 5 5 2 5 5 5 5

10 10 10 4 10 10 10 10

Traits Windwalker Hatred (Light Elves) Feats Precise Strike Precise Shot Deflect Arrows Tactical actions Running Thrust Throw Sand Shooting Actions Crossbow Shot Combat actions Flank Win Rearguard Feint

SUPPORTERS
Just like any fans at a sporting event, supporters are heavily invested in their Avatars of choice. So invested, in fact, that they might even jump out of the stands and on to the sands of the arena itself! The supporter probably wont stick around long (after all, even the greatest frenzy wont last when face to face with someone like a 1200lbs orc Warlord) but while theyre running around the arena under your control, they can be quite useful.

BEASTS
Beasts are monstrous animals that are thrown into the arena for the enjoyment of the crowd. This normally happens when the crowd gets bored of the fight taking place. Beasts are not controlled by players, as they are bloodthirsty, hungry creatures that attack almost any combatant they find in their way. Every beast has a description in this book. There youll find guidelines on how to generate its actions in the arena. Beware! Some beasts are powerful enough to pose a challenge for even an Avatar of War.

STATE TABLE
The state table gives a numeric description of the models different statistics (stats). it also records the current state of the models statistics, as these change throughout a game of Arena Deathmatch. The higher the value (on a scale of 1 to 10), the better the stat. These values are used on several types of rolls throughout the game. The header of the statistic table lists the number of action dice and combat dice as well as the recruiting cost.

MODEL DESCRIPTION
Every model has a description listing its stats, feats, actions and special rules that may or not improve its performance on the arena.

Header
Action Dice (AD): Action dice are used to perform and counter actions. This is the number of action dice a model can spend each 7

round. When all action dice have been spent, the model cannot perform or counter any more actions until the next round. Combat Dice (CD): Combat dice are used to perform and counter combat actions. This is the number of combat dice a model can spend each round. When all combat dice have been spent, the model cannot perform or counter any more combat actions until the next round. Recruiting cost (Cost): indicates the amount of gold coins (gc) required to include an Avatar in your band. The more powerful an Avatar is, the more gold coins he charges for his services.

popularity (pop): Measures the respect and admiration that the crowd and other combatants have for a model. Combat Skill (CS): Measures how skilled a model is in close combat. Shooting Skill (RS): Measures how skilled a model is using missile weapons in ranged combat. Armour (Arm): indicates the type of armour a model wears. The higher the number, the better the protection from damage. This stat includes both normal and magic armour.

FEATS
feats are notable abilities that give models particular benefits. feats are always in effect. Examples of feats include Mighty Blow and Precise Shot.

The miniature case is a three dimensional box measured from the square base up to the top of the miniatures head. When specified that a miniature contacts or touches something (like another miniature, or a blast template), it means that any part of its case contacts or touches the miniature or the template.

ACTIONS
Almost everything a model can do is called an action. Common actions are available to all models (e.g. walking, running, charging) while special actions are available only to specific models (e.g. Warcry, Provoke Crowd). Actions are classified as tactical, magical, shooting or close combat. Favoured actions An Avatar's favoured action is highlighted on the models record card using the following symbol: . When no favoured action is indicated, the Avatar favoured action is Charge.

Soul stats Physical stats


Agility (Ag): Measures the quickness, coordination and reflexes of a model. Strength (St): indicates the physical power of a model. The stronger a model is, the harder it attacks. it is also a reference for the models physical size and weight. Mind (Mi): indicates the mental capacity of a model. it is especially important for magic-users, as it directly affects the power and range of spells and the ability to dispel others magic. it is also used to resist the effects of a spell. Soul: Measures the power of an Avatars immortal soul. Alien Soul pool: indicates the number of obtained soul shards the Avatar has (taken or received from other Avatars of War).

TRAITS
Traits are characteristics or abilities that modify rules for a model. Traits are always in effect. Examples of traits include Hatred and Toughness.

COMBAT ACTIONS
Almost everything a model can do in close combat is called a combat action. Common combat actions are available to all models (e.g. standing up while in close combat) while special combat actions (e.g. flanking or feigning) are available only to specific models.

Descriptive stats
Movement (Mov): The distance, in inches, that a model can move by walking.

DAMAGE & STATE OF A


MODEL
Damage in Arena Deathmatch is reflected directly on the model state table. Every time a model suffers damage one of its stats is affected, decreasing in value. This means that damage taken by a model directly affects its performance in the arena as its stats decrease during the deathmatch. When all three physical stats (Ag, St, Mi) decrease to their lowest value, the model is dead or too wounded to carry on fighting and is removed from play.

Base zones and case of a miniature

MINIATURE BASE ZONES


Miniature bases have four sides: the front, rear and two flanks. The front is the side of the base where the miniatures head faces forward. The rear is opposite this. The other two sides are called flanks.

CREATING YOUR BAND


The possibilities offered by Arena Deathmatch when creating a band and customizing your Avatars is extremely wide: you can choose from more than 500 different options for their feats, traits, actions, weaponry and armor, and every combination works in a particular way in the arena. To make the process more enjoyable, we have created a free software for this purpose. With the Arena Deathmatch Cardmaker you can create and customize your Avatars of War, recruit them in one or more bands, and print their record cards with all the information needed to control them it in the arena. furthermore, the Cardmaker will indicate if your band meets all the rules and is therefore legal. you can download the Cardmaker on our website (www.avatarsof-war.com). periodically, new types of Avatars, new feats, traits, actions and objects are added to the game (many of them suggested by players in the Deathmatch Arena forum). The Cardmaker updates automatically by downloading the new lists and new available Avatars.

time considering the vast possibilities and combinations available. you can recruit several Avatars with less training, or you may want to recruit fewer but better trained ones. The Deathmatch level (see page 13), will determine the total amount of gold coins (gc) available for each player to train and recruit his Avatars of War. There is only one rule to follow when creating your band: the sum of the cost of your Avatars should be equal to or less than the amount of gold set by the Deathmatch level.

Avatar can be trained can not exceed his number of Action Dice. The number of combat actions in which an Avatar can be trained can not exceed his number of combat dice minus one.

WEAPONS & ARMOR


you can arm and equip your Avatars of War to your liking. Each combination of weapons and armor will be reflected in the game. Each combination of weapons and armor have a specific purchase price. Each Avatar of War can equip certain weapons and armor, according to his profession, stats, race and worshiped God. The Cardmaker will display the available weapons and armor to the Avatar you are training. An Avatar of War can equip two types of weapons, and one armor type.

STATS
Avatar training offers a chance to improve some of its features, but in exchange for valuable gold. The record card of each Avatar of War specifies which stats can be trained, showing an x in the maximum value that the stat can naturally reach (without magic items, ...). A stat can be trained at a cost equal to the new value multiplied by two for physical stats, and at a cost equal to the new value for descriptive stats. The Soul stat can not be trained. you can also decrease the value of an attribute as much as you wish, lowering the cost of the Avatar, but also his performance in the arena.

VALIDATING YOUR BAND


in the event that a band does not comply with the rules (eg exceeds the availability of a type of Avatar, or of an item, or have too many allies), you'll see an exclamation mark next to its icon in the Cardmaker. you can analyze the band to discover what the problem is and correct it. When the band satisfies all rules, the exclamation will disappear.

FACTIONS
Before you create a band, you must choose the faction to which it will belong. The chosen faction will determine which Avatars of War can be recruited. At least half plus one of your fighters must be followers of one of the Gods of War that form the faction. The other fighters in your band can be followers of ally Gods of War. on the record card of each Avatar game you will find which God of War the Avatar is a follower of. The table below lists all factions and the Gods of War that form them, as well as the ally Gods for each faction. you can refer to "The power within" section of the rulebook for more information regarding the Gods of Saga.

ITEMS
you can equip your Avatars of War with different and multiple items. Each item has a specified purchase price. Each Avatar of War may equip certain items, according to his profession, weapons and armor, stats, race and worshiped God. The Cardmaker will display items and magical properties available to the Avatar you are training. An Avatar of War can equip as many items as the Soul stat original value minus one. finally, some special items can not be repeated in a band, or can be repeated only a certain number of times.

TRAITS & FEATS


Each trait and feat has a certain training cost. An Avatar of War can be trained in certain feats and traits, according to his profession, race, stats and worshiped God. The Cardmaker will show you the feats and traits available to the Avatar you are training. The number of traits and feats in which an avatar can be trained can not exceed the original value of its popularity stat (pop) minus three.

ACTIONS
Actions (except magic actions) have no training cost. Each Avatar of War can be trained in certain actions, according to his profession, stats, weapons and armor, race and worshiped God. The Cardmaker will show you the actions available to the Avatar you are training. The sum of the tactical, magic and shooting actions in which an Ally Gods Ezevriel Rayviel, Elythrias None khorvas Gllnir, Tyr, Galanion, yssidra None Rayviel Ezevriel

RECRUITING, TRAINING &


EQUIPMENT
Recruiting, training and equipping your Avatars of War is a very important part of Arena Deathmatch. you should spend some Faction Drakojia Gllnir Loyranna Ezevriel Rayviel urok Galanion khorvas 10 Faction Gods
(bold: faction leader)

Drakojia Gllnir, Bjrn, Loki, Tyr Loyranna, Nemesis Ezevriel Rayviel, Elythrias Urok Galanion, yssidra Khorvas

Arena Deathmatch Cardmaker screenshot 11

GAME PREPARATION
Before starting the game, players agree on a Deathmatch level which determines the size of the arena and the gold coins that each player has to hire and train their Avatars. There are also particular scenarios which state their own Deathmatch level (you can download several from the Arena Deathmatch website). players can now create their band with the given gold coins. Next, set up the gaming surface that represents the arena where the deathmatch takes place. players then deploy their Avatars and the match begins! The deathmatch finishes when a player destroys all his opponents Avatars, when a predetermined number of rounds or a set amount of time has been played, when the objectives of a scenario have been met, or even if the crowd becomes so frenzied there is no option left but to end the fight!

in the event that you reach the end of a deathmatch played with a time duration, the current round must end before finishing the deathmatch. you cannot end a deathmatch in the middle of a round.

DEATHMATCH LEVEL
Before a game, agree to a Deathmatch level or special scenario with your opponent. if you choose to play a scenario note that the special scenario rules have priority over the Deathmatch level rules when creating your band. Each Deathmatch level assigns a number of gold coins that each player can spend on hiring and training their Avatars and attracting supporters. The table below shows the different Deathmatch levels and the number of gold coins available at each level. Note that this table is provided as a guideline; you can choose any amount of gold coins youd like for you deathmatch as long as your opponent agrees.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
Arena Deathmatch is normally played by two players. however, all the rules work perfectly with three or more players divided into two teams. Whatever the number of players, each player controls one band of Avatars. When there are more than two bands of Avatars in a deathmatch, all bands are organized into two teams. players on the same team play cooperatively against the other teams players. Gold coins are split evenly amongst the players on a team. one of the teams is the home team, while the other is the away team.

HOME OR AWAY?
Before setting up the gaming surface, decide which player represents the home team and which represents the away team. if there are more than two players, there should be an equal number of players on each team. if that is not possible, then the odd player should play on the away team (to offset the home advantage). There are several ways to determine which player is playing at home. The players can agree amongst themselves who is playing home and who is playing away. A good rule of thumb is that whoever built the Arena is fighting at home. Alternatively, you can randomly roll to determine the home team. once it has been determined how many player should be fighting at home and how many away, every player rolls a d10. The players with the highest results are fighting at home. in the case of a tie, the tied players reroll until teams are established. Example: Five Players are Taking Part in a Deathmatch. Two players play at home and three players are away. The five players each roll a d10, resulting in 9, 7, 7, 3 and 3. The two highest rolls play at home, so the player who rolled a 9 is on the home team. The two players who each rolled a 7 reroll, since only one of them can play on the home team. They reroll a 6 and a 4. The player who rolled a 6 is on the home team. The player who rolled a 4 is on the away Arena size 25x20 inches 25x25 inches 25x30 inches 30x30 inches Scenery pieces 5-7 6-7 7-8 8-10

GAME DURATION
Arena Deathmatch games have a predefined game duration. Select a number of rounds to play, or a deathmatch duration (e.g. 2 hours). At the end of the deathmatch, if no player has won by eliminating the other players band of Avatars or by meeting scenario objectives, the crowd mood value (see The Crowd) determines the winner. if the crowd mood has a positive value, then the home players have won the deathmatch. if the crowd mood is a negative value, the away players have won. if the crowd mood value is zero then the result of the deathmatch is a draw. Deathmatch level village (Local Deathmatch) Town (Regional Deathmatch) City (Mark Deathmatch) Capital (National Deathmatch) Total gold 600-800 801-1000 1001-1200 1201-1500

Avatars of War per band* 4-5 4-6 5-7 6-8

* e number of Avatars of War per band is just an indicative number e arena size is an indicative size for two player games. If there are more than two bands arenas should be bigger. Dierent shaped arenas (such as a circular one) should be of the largest size that still ts inside the indicated arena size. 12 13

team. The players who tied at 3 do not need to reroll because there is only room left on the away team. The crowd reacts different towards away Avatars. The crowd is fickle though, and their support can shift based on the performance of the Avatars. See The Crowd for more information on how this affects a deathmatch.

SETTING UP THE GAMING SURFACE


it is now time to set up the gaming surface. The players fighting at home will deploy the arenas basic structure: the gaming mat, the arena walls and the scenery elements where the different bands and beasts will enter the arena (normally a door or pit for each band and one door or pit for the beasts). There must be at least one entrance element for each band involved in the deathmatch and one entrance element for the beasts. home bands can choose their entrance element, only after all scenery pieces have been placed, while away bands entrance elements should be randomly assigned to the different away bands. The Deathmatch level states a range specifying the number of scenery pieces (apart from the entrance elements) allowed. The home players will choose the final number of scenery pieces from that range. it is time now to deploy these scenery elements on the sand. players fighting at home may choose up to two scenery pieces to place where they choose, before any other piece of scenery is placed on the sand. in case the arena is already modelled and has some fixed scenery pieces, subtract those pieces from the two the home players can choose to place. Next the rest of the scenery pieces are placed. our recommendation is to place the different elements to try to recreate a strategically and visually appealing arena. All players

should be collaborative on that task and these pieces shouldnt be placed to disadvantage any of the players. if youd like to place them randomly you can follow this procedure: for each scenery element roll a scatter roll and measure the distance and direction indicated from the central point of the arena. Alternatively you can create your own method for randomly placing the scenery elements. Note that scenery elements cannot be placed over entrance elements.

GAME MECHANICS
Arena Deathmatch is played in a sequence of game rounds. Each round is divided into six different phases. Each player goes through the round phases alternatively (except the close combat which take place for all players simultaneously). When all players have gone through all of the round phases, the round ends and the next round begins. At the beginning of every round, you have to determine the round initiative, which player goes first on all the current rounds phases. Each player rolls a d10. The highest number goes first, the second highest second, and so on. Remember, before advancing to phase two, all players have to have gone through phase one in the order established by the initiative rolls. The same applies for all phases except close combat, which is taken simultaneously by all players involved in combat, and the tokens phase, which is taken simultaneously by all players.

Models can be activated in any order desired. A model does not need to perform all of its tactical actions at one time. players can go back and reactivate a model that has already been activated to perform more tactical actions as long as it is still that players turn in the Tactics phase.

MAGIC PHASE
During this phase, each player can order his models to perform magic actions using their action dice. When all action dice have been used, or the player states he is done, the next player (in initiative order) goes through the Magic phase. Models can be activated in any order desired. A model does not need to perform all of its magical actions at one time. players can go back and reactivate a model that has already been activated to perform more magical actions as long as it is still that players turn in the Magic phase.

SELECTING BEASTS
unless otherwise specified by a specific scenario, freely select which beasts are available for the game.

ENTERING THE ARENA


home bands can choose their entrance element, while away bands entrance element should be randomly assigned. The Avatars fighting away are the first to enter the arena. Each away Avatar enters the arena from their designated entrance element by performing a Walk action. As youll discover while reading this rulebook and playing deathmatches, the crowd plays a very important role in Arena Deathmatch. At the beginning of the game, the crowd mood has a value of 0. After all the away avatars have entered the arena, the crowd welcomes the away team with boos and jeers (or even worse!). This gets the crowd excited and its mood goes up to 1 and the first crowd event has to be generated. This crowd event will be generated by the home player. See The crowd for more details on the crowd mood and crowd events descriptions. Next, the Avatars fighting at home enter the arena from their designated entrance element by performing a Walk action. The deathmatch has begun!

SHOOTING PHASE
During this phase, each player can order his models to perform shooting actions using their action dice. When all action dice have been used, or the player states he is done, the next player (in initiative order) goes through the Shooting phase. Models can be activated in any order desired. A model does not need to perform all of its shooting actions at one time. players can go back and reactivate a model that has already been activated to perform more shooting actions as long as it is still that players turn in the Shooting phase.

THE ROUND PHASES


The round is divided into six different phases: 1. Beasts 2. Soul 3. Tactics 4. Magic 5. Shooting 6. Combat

BEASTS PHASE
During this phase each player generates the actions of one beast (the one he chooses to). if, after all players have gone through this phase, there are still unactivated beasts, the players will alternate activating beasts and generating their actions based on the rounds initiative until all beasts in the arena have been activated.

COMBAT PHASE
During this phase, all players order their combating models to perform combat actions using their combat dice. When all combat dice have been used, or all combats have been resolved, the phase ends.

TOKENS PHASE
During this phase all players remove action dice and combat dice counters. Remove any token that refers to an effect or spell that expires this turn. update, if necessary, any effect or spell tokens.

SOUL PHASE
During this phase each player can regenerate their Avatars souls if they wish to. Also, each Avatar who has alien soul shards must make a soul stability check. Soul instability effects are applied immediately after each check has been made.

RULES PRIORITY
Whenever two rules conflict because both describe a different resolution for the same circumstances, apply the following rule: the more specific rule is the rule which has priority.

TACTICS PHASE
During this phase each player can order his models to perform different tactical actions using action dice. When all action dice have been used, or the player states he is done, the next player (in initiative order) goes through the Tactics phase. 14

EFFECTS & ROUNDS


Some effects, like magic or psychology, last for one or more rounds. 15

Effects are always applied immediate in Arena Deathmatch. An effect that lasts for one round is active for the rest of the current round only. An effect that lasts two rounds is active for the rest of the current round and the entire following round. Example: Applying Effects A Goblin Hero throws sand in the face of a Barbarian Hero. As a result of the action the Barbarian Hero suffers a -2 penalty for one round. As effects are applied immediately, the Barbarian Hero suffers the penalty immediately and until the end of the current round.

BLOWS
During a deathmatch, several different types of blows take place. All blows in Arena Deathmatch (as a result of close combat actions, magic actions, shooting actions and all other types such as a slam actions or a collision) have an associated blow strength, damage inflicted and a blow effect. When applying ANy blow, follow this sequence: 1. Determine the blow strength. 2. Apply the inflicted damage to the victim. 3. Apply the blow effect to the victim.

PENALTIES AND BONUSES


When applying a penalty or bonus to a model, you modify its available action and combat dice. for example, a penalty of -1 subtracts one action die and one combat die, while a penalty of -2 subtracts two action dice and two combat dice. A bonus of +1 adds one action die and one combat die, while a bonus of +2 adds two action dice and two combat dice. unless otherwise specified a penalty or bonus lasts for one round.

STAT CHECKS
in some game situations a model makes a check against a given stat. Stat checks involve rolling 1d10 and comparing the result to the checked stat. if the roll is equal or less than the current value of the stat, the check is passed. if the roll is greater than the current value of the checked stat, the check is failed. Example: Combat Skill check A Dwarf Thunderlord makes a Combat Skill check to detect a Goblin Hero who is attacking him from his rearguard. The check stat is Combat Skill (CS). The Dwarf Thunderlords CS stat current value is 5. The player rolls 1d10 obtaining a result of 4. This means that the Dwarf Thunderlord passes the check and detects the Goblin Hero. He can then turn to face his opponent. In case the check would have failed, the Dwarf Thunderlord would have been surprised and attacked from his rearguard during this round close combat phase.

CHECKS BETWEEN EQUAL STATS


on some occasions you will compare two models stats to make a decision. for example, the Agility stat is compared to determine close combat initiative. if both stats are equal, each player should roll a d10 to break the draw. The player who rolls highest wins initiative. in case of a tie when rolling, roll again.

ROUNDING
When required to divide a number to make a decision, unless specified to the contrary, always round any results with a fraction up.

ORIGINAL & CURRENT STAT VALUES


When called on to make a decision based on a models stat values, unless otherwise noted use the current stat value (the value that stat has at the moment and updated with any active modifiers), not the original value (the value that stat has at the beginning of the game). When the original stat value is to be used for a check, it is explicitly stated.

DIRECTION & SCATTER ROLLS


When you need to determine the direction of an event, you make a direction roll. To make a direction roll, roll a d10. The result of the direction roll is whatever way the pointed end of the top of the d10 is facing. The die score itself is not used; only the direction the top of the die is facing is important. When called on to determine a move with a random direction and a random distance, you make a scatter roll. This is the same as a direction roll, but the die score indicates the distance moved while the direction the die is pointed indicates the direction moved. A direction roll

MANEUVER CHECKS
Maneuver checks (MC) are a particular type of stat check (against the Agility (Ag) stat). A maneuver check involves rolling up to 3d10 and looking for the result on the manoeuvre check table.
Failed check rolls (Ag) 0 1 Maneuver check (over open terrain*) result The model keeps the position. The model moves 1 inch in a random direction, and faces in a random direction.

MEASURING DISTANCES
in Arena Deathmatch, distances are not measured until after declaring an action (the outcome which depends on a target being in range). When measuring the distance to or from a miniature, measure to or from any edge of the miniature case. This means that a miniature is considered to be within a distance when any part of its case is within that distance.

2+ The model is knocked down. *All maneuver checks over difficult terrain will be taken with one more die than they would over open terrain.

A scatter roll

16

17

ACTIONS
Almost everything a model does in Arena Deathmatch takes place in the form of an action. Walking, running, charging and shooting are all actions. Some actions are available to all models. These are called common actions. They are described in different areas of this book. Most actions are available only to specific models and are known as special actions. Special actions are described in the models record card. Whenever a special action rule conflicts with a common action rule, the special action rule has priority over the common action rule. An action is performed rolling action dice (AD). The more action dice used to perform an action, the greater its chances of success. After performing an Note that no action can be action do not forget to successful unless at least one place the required AD action die is rolled to perform it. counter next to the A model can spend all of its action dice every round to perform and counteract actions. miniature, to update the number of action dice spent during the round by this model.

unless stated to the contrary in the action description, shooting actions cannot be performed while engaged in close combat or against a model engaged in close combat.

COMBAT ACTIONS
Combat actions are performed during the Close Combat phase. These actions differ from other action types because they are performed by spending combat dice rather than action dice.

Count the total number of successful rolls, look for the action outcome that corresponds to that number of successful rolls, and apply that action outcome immediately: any text that appears in CApS on the outcome of an action, must be applied as many times as successes obtained when rolling dice to perform the action. When the number of successes is zero, the action is automatically failed, and no effect or outcome is applied. in other words, to apply the outcome of an action, the player must at least obtain one success when rolling dice. Example: Performing a provoke the crowd action A player wants his Goblin Hero to try to encourage the crowd in his own interest. He then chooses to perform the action provoke crowd using two AD. The actions description is as follows: Popularity (Pop) Vary Crowd mood TWO points in favour of the Avatar The Goblins Hero Popularity stat is 6. The player rolls 2d10 obtaining the following rolls: 4 and 5. The first roll is a 4: a successful roll as it is less than the Goblin Hero Pop. The second roll is an 5: a successful roll as it is less than the Goblin Hero Pop. Thus, the total number of successful rolls is 2. Looking at the action outcome we see that the result is that the Crowd Mood goes varies by four points. once a model starts performing an action, the AD allocated for that action are spent, even if the model does not complete that action, voluntary or not. Example: An Unfinished Action A player wants to move his Orc Warlord to slam a Necromancer. He starts to move the Orc Warlord, but then realizes that a slam would be a mistake. He can stop the Orc Warlords movement at any time, but the three action dice he allocated for the Slam action are lost. When an action requires the use of a specific weapon (e.g. Running Thrust, which requires the Avatar to be waving his sword) it is automatically supposed that the Avatar is waving that weapon. in Arena Deathmatch there is no need to specify the changing of weapons.

if the dice result is an odd number the roll is considered a nonsuccessful roll. This rule is applied to all types of actions, including combat actions.

SHOWING OFF
Sometimes Avatars are so confident in their actions that they try to impress the crowd by adding a flourish or other attractive but unnecessary movements. To perform a show off action the Avatar has to perform the action as normal with a modifier of -1 to the action stat. A show off action must be declared when the player declares the number of action dice to be used. if the action outcome or an event which is a direct consequence of the action (like an Avatar death) modifies the crowd mood, then the crowd mood is modified by an additional point. if the outcome modifies the Avatars popularity (pop) stat, increase that stat by one additional point. Example: Showing off A Barbarian Hero is fighting in close combat against an Orc Shaman. The Barbarians strength is so overwhelming that he decides to show himself off with his next combat action: the Barbarian Hero performs a show off knob hit action. For example, he draws a full circle before hitting the Orc Shaman with the knob of his axe. The Barbarian Hero CS is 6, thus he will perform the action with a value of 5. The player controlling the Barbarian rolls 2d10, scoring a 2 and a 5, obtaining three successful rolls! As a result of the action, the Orc Shaman is knocked

ACTION DESCRIPTION
on a models record card youll find a description for each special action the model can perform. An action description is composed of:

The stat used to perform the action Additional information about the action (if required) The actions range (if any)
The outcome of the action.

PERFORMING AN ACTION
To perform an action, declare the number of action dice (AD) the model is going to spend to perform that action. Stating which action the model is going to perform and how many action dice are going to be used is called declaring an action. The more action dice the model uses, the more successful the action tends to be. Roll 1d10 for each AD used to perform the action and compare the results of each roll to the action stats current value. Each roll that is lower than the action stats current value is successful. Each roll that is equal to the action stats current value is doubly successful and counts as two successful rolls. Each roll that is higher than the action stats current value is a failed roll.

This means the number of actions a model can perform in one round depends directly on how many action dice it spends on each action. The more action dice a model spends on each action, the fewer action dice it has to perform other actions. Alternatively, you can choose to spend action dice on more actions, but each action is less likely to be successful with fewer action dice devoted to that action.

ACTION TYPES
in Arena Deathmatch there are four different types of actions.

TACTICAL ACTIONS
Tactical actions are performed by models to develop tactics during the round. Tactical actions are performed during the Tactics phase. unless stated to the contrary in the action description, tactical actions cannot be performed while engaged in close combat or against a model engaged in close combat.

WHAT IF AN AVATAR STAT IS 10?


Sometimes Avatars become so powerful that one or more of his stats has a value of 10! upon performing an action or check, rolling a 10 (0) on the die can mean a non successful roll (as a result of 0 is always considered a failure) or a doubly successful roll (as the roll is equal to the Avatar stat). in these cases, for each obtained result of 10, roll another d10. if the dice result is an even number, the roll is considered a doubly successful roll. 19

MAGIC ACTIONS
Magic actions involve casting spells. Magic actions are performed during the Magic phase. unless stated to the contrary in the action description, magic actions cannot be performed while engaged in close combat or against a model engaged in close combat.

SHOOTING ACTIONS
Shooting actions involve the use of ranged combat weapons. Shooting actions are performed during the Shooting phase. 18

down, event that modifies the crowd mood by one point in favour of the Barbarian Hero team. However, as the Barbarian Hero was performing a show off action, the crowd mood modifying value will be of two points instead of one. The crowd was very impressed with the Barbarian Heros performance!

the attackers successful rolls. The total number of successful rolls is the attackers successful rolls minus the defenders successful rolls. After counteracting an it is important to note that both action do not forget to place players must state how many AD the required AD counter are being rolled before any roll is next to the defender(s) made. The player declaring the miniature(s), to update the action chooses how many AD he number of spent AD by the spends on his action, and then model(s). the defenders can declare how many AD they wish to use to defend, if any. The dice are then rolled. Also note that to counteract an action, the defender must be aware that the attackers action is taking place. unless otherwise specified in the action description, this means that the attacker must be in line of sight (LoS) of the defender. Any action dice that are allocated by a defender to counteract an action are spent for the current round, even if it is not yet that players turn in the current phase. Actions that can be

countered show an action stat of the form "stat used by the attacker vs. stat used by the defender, to specify both the stat to perform the action and the stat to counter it. When multiple attributes separated by a slash ("/"), the player can choose which stat to use from among those mentioned, to perform or counteract the action. Example: Counteracting a Throw Sand Action A player wants his Goblin Hero (before moving into combat) to throw sand to the eyes of his opponent to get a slight advantage, as his opponent, being a Dwarf Hero, is much powerful than the Goblin in combat. The player controlling the Goblin Hero decides to use two dice for performing the action. The player controlling the Dwarven Berserker can use at most two dice to counteract. He decides to use only one dice to defend from the Goblin Hero action. The actions description is: CS vs. CS Defender looses ONE CD and ONE AD for the rest of the round The Goblin Hero CS stat is 5. The player rolls 2d10 obtaining the following rolls: 4, and 6. The first roll is a 4: a successful roll as it is less than the Goblin Hero CS. The second roll is a 6: an unsuccessful roll as it is greater than the Goblin Hero CS. Thus, the total number of the Goblin Hero successful rolls is one. The Dwarf Hero CS stat is 6. The player rolls 1d10 obtaining the following roll: 6. A lucky roll! A double successful roll as it is equal to the Dwarf Hero CS. Thus, the total number of the Dwarf Hero successful rolls is two. As the Goblin Hero has rolled one successful roll, and the Dwarf Hero has rolled two successful rolls, the final result is 0 successful rolls (we subtract the two Dwarf Hero successful rolls from the only successful Goblin Hero roll). Looking at the action outcome we see that the result is quite negative for the goblin! His action does not affect the Dwarf Hero at all and he has lost two valuable AD with no benefit! In some situations, several combatants can counteract the action of the attacker simultaneously. in these cases subtract the total number of the successes rolled by the defenders from the number of successes rolled by the attacker. Example: Several Avatars Counteracting a Disengage Action In a combat situation, a Dark Elf Prince is fighting against an Orc Warlord and a Goblin Hero. The player wants his Dark Elf to abandon the combat because the Dark Elf Prince is badly wounded.

The player controlling the Dark Elf Prince speaks first: hell use three dice to perform the action. It is very important to him abandoning the combat. The opponent player can now counteract not only with the Orc Warlord, but also with the Goblin Hero, as this model is involved in the same combat. He chooses to roll three dice with the Goblin Hero and one dice with the Orc Warlord. The actions stat is Combat Skill (CS). The Dark Elf Prince CS stat is 7. The player rolls 3, 8 and 6. The first roll is a 3: a successful roll as it is less than the Dark Elf CS. The second roll is an 8: an unsuccessful roll as it is greater than the Dark Elf CS. The third roll is a 6: a successful roll as it is less than the Dark Elf CS. Thus, the total number of the Dark Elf Prince successful rolls is two. The Orc Warlord CS stat is 5. The player rolls 1d10 obtaining the following roll: 9. Thus, the total number of the Orc Warlord successful rolls is zero. The Goblin Hero CS stat is 5. The player rolls 3d10 obtaining the following rolls: 4, 0 and 3. Thus, the total number of the Goblin Hero successful rolls is two. As the Dark Elf Hero has rolled two successful rolls and the Goblin Hero and Orc Warlord sum a total of two successful rolls, the result is zero (we subtract the two Orc Warlord and Goblin Hero successful rolls from the two successful Dark Elf Prince rolls). The action is then void, and no outcome is applied. The Dark Elf cannot flee! in other situations, several combatants are affected by the action and thus can counteract, but not simultaneously. in these cases, each defender must counter the action independently and the outcome of the action will apply to each combatant separately. unless the contrary is specified in the action description, all tactical, magic and shooting actions are counteracted independently. Example: Several Avatars independently countering an action An Orc Shaman casts a Rolling boulder spell against a High Elf. This spell creates a rock that rolls across the floor, crushing any combatant on its way. Behind the Elf is standing a Barbarian Hero who is also in the path of the spell. Both combatants will counter the spell independently. Maybe the High Elf counters successfully the spell (dodges the rock), while the Barbarian hero fails to counters and is crushed. When the attacker obtains at least one success, and the defender obtains as many or more successes than the attacker, we say that the action has been neutralized (the end result is zero success because of the counter, and the action is then void).

COUNTERACTING ACTIONS
Several actions affect two or more models. for example, Throw Sand requires a check from the model performing the action but it also affects the actions target. in this case, the model who is performing the action is the attacker and the models affected by the action are the defenders. The defenders can use their action dice to modify the actions outcome. This happens during the attackers tactical phase, on the attackers turn. Counteracting the attackers action can be done by the defender during the attackers turn. Every successful roll obtained by the defenders is subtracted from

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ACTIONS RANGE
Some actions require a target to be into a determined range for the action to be successful. only after declaring the action (including the number of action dice used) do you measure the distance to a target. if the target is out of range, the action can not be performed regardless of the results of any action dice rolled. There is no need for the defender to counteract the action and does not spend the action dice allocated to counteract it. Actions range is always specified in inches.

opportunity actions may never be taken as a reaction to another opportunity action. opportunity actions can not be counteracted. Each player can only declare one opportunity action or advanced action each round. Choose wisely when to use them, as they can change the outcome of a round or even an entire deathmatch.

WHEN DOES THE OPPORTUNITY ACTION TAKE PLACE?


if you are able to perform an opportunity action, it takes place at any moment during the performance of the opponents triggering action. The opponents model must start performing its triggering action until you decide to start performing your models opportunity action. your opponent then immediately pauses his models action while you perform your opportunity action. The opportunity actions effect is applied immediately. if still possible (that is, the effects of the opportunity action still allow it) the opponents model can choose to continue its triggering action or decide to not resume the action. Either way, all action dices allocated to perform the triggering action will be spent. for example, if the triggering action contains movement, your opponent moves his model until you decide to perform your opportunity action (e.g. when the enemy model is in range to be affected by your opportunity action). perform the opportunity action and apply its effects immediately. if still possible, your opponent can choose to resume his models movement.

cast as an opportunity magic action. Example: Opportunity action A player controlling a Light Elf Prince speaks that his Avatar is going to shoot his eagle bow at his opponents Necromancer with three AD. The opponent player has his Dwarf Berserker very close to the Light Elf Prince. He decides to perform an opportunity action to try to prevent the Light Elf Prince from shooting. He then declares his opportunity action: The Dwarf Berserker is going to throw sand at the Light Elf Prince using one AD. The Dwarf berserker makes an Opportunity check and as a result can perform his opportunity action. The Dwarf Berserker performs his action immediately (only an instant after the Light Elf Prince starts loading his bow), and as a result the Light Elf Prince looses one AD. The Light Elf Prince will still be able to shoot, but only rolling two AD instead of three AD (although all allocated three AD are spent!). Note that the Light Elf Prince could not counteract the Throw Sand action, as it was an opportunity action.

DECLARING OPPORTUNITY ACTIONS


After your opponent declares his models action but before he starts performing it, declare that youd like to perform an opportunity action. When declaring the opportunity action, it must be explained in full to your opponent. once an action has started you cannot declare an opportunity action against it. Be sure to declare your opportunity action immediately after your opponent has declared his triggering action.

OPPORTUNITY ACTIONS
An opportunity action (oA) gives a model a chance to act when it is not its controllers turn. opportunity actions temporarily break the turn sequence; they cannot, however, be performed during the close combat phase. An opportunity action may only be taken as a direct reaction to a declared action by an enemy player. This declared action is called a triggering action. An opportunity action can be of any type (tactical, magical or shooting action) regardless of the current phase, but its outcome must directly have some influence (if successful) on the model performing the triggering action or the triggering action itself. opportunity actions do not allow for extra movement, so an opportunity action involving movement cannot be taken if a movement action has already been performed during the same round. Combat actions can not be performed as opportunity actions.

OPPORTUNITY CHECK
An opportunity action can be performed if the model is quick enough to perform its action before the opponents model starts performing the triggering action. To determine it, the model must perform an Agility check. . The model trying to perform the opportunity action can spend one soul shard to add one extra point to its Agility stat on the opportunity check. if the model attempting the opportunity action passes the opportunity check, it is able to perform the opportunity action. otherwise, the model is unable to perform the opportunity action and automatically loses one action die. Note that no matter the opportunity check results, the player has declared his opportunity action for the current round.

ADVANCED ACTIONS
An advanced action gives a model a chance to perform an action, during its controllers turn, that should usually be performed in a later phase. for example, an advanced action allows a model to perform a magic action during the tactics phase, or a shooting action during the magic phase. Advanced actions temporarily break the round sequence and can be counteracted as normal. Combat actions and close combat attacks can not be performed as advanced actions. Advanced actions can be counteracted as usual and can trigger an opportunity action Advanced actions can not be taken during the Compulsory phase. Each player can only declare one advanced or opportunity action each round. Example: Advanced Action A player wants his Orc Warlord to charge an enemy Dark Elf Sorceress. The Orc Warlord can not reach his target with a charge as of now. However, if the Orc Shaman was casting a successful teleport spell on the Orc Warlord, he could get him close enough for a charge. The player needs to do the magic action now, during the tactics phase, so he decides to take an advanced action to cast now the teleport spell.

INFLUENCE OVER THE TRIGGERING ACTION


how the opportunity action influences your opponents triggering action is sometimes obvious, but other times may allow for different interpretations. in that case, try to agree to the most common sense result with your opponent. if you are unable to agree, roll a d10 and the highest roll determines the influence of the opportunity action. if the outcome of the opportunity action results in action dice being lost by your opponents model, these action dice have to be removed from the dice allocated to perform the triggering action. if due to losing action dice the triggering action no longer has the action dice to take place, it must be stopped immediately. Example: Opportunity action A player controlling a Dark Elf Prince speaks that his Avatar is going to charge the opponents Goblin Hero. The opponent player has his Orc Shaman quite close to the Goblin Hero. He decides to perform an opportunity action to prevent the Dark Elf Prince charge. He then declares his opportunity action: The Orc Shaman is going to cast a Provoke paralysis spell on the Dark Elf Prince using two AD. The Orc Shaman passes the Opportunity check and as a result can perform his opportunity action. The Shamans controller asks the player controlling the Dark Elf Prince to start making his charge. The Dark Elf Prince starts making his charging movement, until his opponent asks him to stop (when he believes the Dark Elf Prince is in range of his spell). At this point the player controlling the Dark Elf Prince has to stop his Avatar. The Dark Elf Prince is effectively in range, so the spell is cast. If the spell is successful, the Dark Elf Prince will loose at least one AD and CD and the charge will be frustrated as he will not be able to run anymore. Otherwise the charge will take place. Note that the Dark Elf Prince can not counteract the spell as it was

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TACTICS
Tactical actions involve actions that develop strategies and plans for the current round. Tactical actions are performed using action dice during the Tactics phase. There is no limit to the number of tactical actions that a model can perform during a round as long as the model has action dice to perform them. The same tactical action may be performed as many times as desired by a model in the same round as long as it is not a movement action and as long as it does not target the same objective more than once.

Walk
A model walking may move up to its current Movement (Mov) stat in inches. Walking costs one action die, but there is no need to roll. This action has only one outcome (movement). A model that walks and ends its movement in case to case contact with an enemy model (already engaged in close combat or not) enters close combat. A model that moves into combat by walking must assail its enemy on the closest free base zone.

A model cannot end a sprint in case to case contact with an enemy model.

FIRST AID
An Avatar trying to heal himself has to spend all his action dice for the current round to do so. The actions description is: Mind (Mi). The Avatar recovers oNE damage point from any chosen stat (except Armour).

Stand up & knocked down


A model that is knocked down can only stand up. To stand up, the model spends two action dice, but there is no need to roll. This action only has one outcome (standing up). When a model is knocked down, determine the direction of the fall with a direction roll. place a marker next to the knocked down miniature indicating the direction it has fallen to. if you prefer to lie over the miniature, make sure the base stays in the same place. A knocked down model can be declared the target of any action (such as a charge or a launch) unless the action specifies the contrary. A knocked down model does not have flanks or rearguard. Example: Knocked down An Avatar has a pit trap to his left and is knocked down due to a failed maneuver check. Upon making a direction roll, the Avatar falls to his right. He is lucky and avoids falling into the pit!

After performing a tactical action do not forget to place the required AD counter next to the models miniature, to update the number of spent AD, during the round, by the model.

Run & charge


A model may run to move at least its current Movement (Mov) stat and at most double its current Movement (Mov) stat in inches. To run, the model spends two action dice, but there is no need to roll. This action only has one outcome (movement). A model that runs and ends in case to case contact with an enemy model (already engaged in close combat or not) enters close combat and is making a charge. The model must charge its enemy on the closest base zone. A model charging uses its inertia to unleash a powerful attack: wins combat initiative and adds one point to the blow effect (if any) of its first action after charging.

COMMON TACTICAL ACTIONS


Common tactical actions can be performed by all models and do not appear on the models record card.

MOVEMENT

ACTIONS

Walk, Run, Charge, Sprint and Stand Up are movement actions. it is very important to note that movement actions are exclusive, meaning a model can only do one movement action each round (including actions performed as advanced or opportunity actions). All movement actions are tactical actions. Note that in order to move through a space, the models base has to fit in that space, otherwise the model can not move through that space.

Sprint
A model may sprint to move at least double its current Movement (Mov) stat in inches and at most triple its current Movement (Mov) stat in inches. To sprint the model spends three action dice and there is no need to roll. This action only has one outcome (movement).

Free & Extra Movement Actions


A free movement action is a movement action that does not cost any action dice to perform. An extra movement action is a movement action that can be performed even if another movement action has already been or will be performed. Example: Free & Extra Movement Actions An Orc Warlord receives, due to a spell effect, a free run action. The Orc Warlord can perform a Run action now (provided he has not performed a movement action on the current round) without spending two action dice, but he will not be able to perform another movement action during the same round. A Light Elf Prince is forced, due to the effects of a provoke enemy action, to run towards the provoker with an extra Run movement action. The Light Elf Prince must perform a Run action now, spending two action dice as usual, even if he performed another movement action during the same round. Also, he will be able to perform another movement action during the same round. A Dark Elf Hero receives, due to a crowd event effect, a free extra Run action. The Dark Elf Hero can run now without spending two action dice as well as perform another movement action during the same round.

FACING
facing consists of rotating a model without moving. facing costs no action dice and can be done at any time during a players Tactics phase as many times as desired.

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MAGIC
Some models are able to perform magical actions. These models may have gained their magical power through the intensive study of spells or through the use of a magical object. Magical actions involve casting a spell. There is no limit to the number of spells that a model can perform during a round as long as the model has action dice to perform them. The same spell may be cast as many

times as desired by a model in the same round as long as it does not target the same objective more than once.

Example: Casting a Spell An Orc Shaman wants to cast a Rolling Boulder spell. The actions description is: Mi vs. Ag The victim suffers a blow of strength 7 + ONE Upon reaching his Magic phase he still has three remaining AD. The controlling player decides to use two AD to cast the spell (he prefers to keep one AD just in case he later needs to dispel). The shaman obtains 2 successful rolls, inflicting a blow of strength 9 to his victim!

magical power for more than one round as it is extremely difficult to manipulate. The Avatar cannot perform any action or counteraction before casting the empowered spell once it has been allocated or he loses concentration. All allocated dice are lost immediately. if the Avatar is damaged or forced to make a maneuver check he loses concentration. All allocated dice are lost immediately. Example: Empowered Spell The player controlling a Dark Elf Sorceress decides she wont cast any spells during the current Magic phase, and instead accumulates the remaining AD (three out of four) to empower her next spell. On the following round, the Dark Elf Sorceress controller decides to cast the spell, as an extra advanced action, before the Magic phase. The Dark Elf Sorceress can only use the three accumulated dice to cast the spell. If instead the controller had waited until the Magic phase, she would have been able to cast the spell with up to seven AD! (Using the three allocated to empower the spell plus the four available on the current round).

CASTING A SPELL
Spells are special magical actions. Their descriptions appear in the models record card. The most common magic action stat is Mind (Mi). Spells can only be performed during the Magic phase.

EMPOWERING SPELLS
After performing a magic action do not forget to place the required AD counter next to the miniature, to update the number of spent AD. An Avatar of War can accumulate magical power between two consecutive rounds (the current round and the following one) to cast an empowered spell.

To do so, the player announces during the Magic phase that the Avatar is empowering a spell. All that rounds unspent action dice are then allocated to empower the next spell cast by that Avatar. place a d10 next to the miniature to indicate the number of action dice allocated to the empowered spell. The Avatar starts the next round ready to cast a spell, and is able to cast it at any moment, using all of the allocated action dice (and no more). Resolve this as if it was an extra advanced or extra opportunity action, depending on whether it is the controllers turn. To take full advantage of an empowered spell, the player has to wait until his next Magic phase to unleash the spell. if the spell is cast during the controlling players next Magic phase, is empowered by adding the last rounds allocated action dice to the action dice the player uses to perform the spell. ere is no need to specify which spell is if the spell is cast before the being empowered. in players next Magic phase, it is Arena Deathmatch magic performed using only the power can be allocated dice. An empowered accumulated before spell cannot be combined with deciding which spell is an advanced or opportunity going to be the recipient action. There is no way to gain of that power. more action dice to cast the spell if cast before the players next Magic phase. After the spell is cast, the Avatar can perform actions as normal during the remainder of the round with any unspent action dice. if the empowered spell is not cast during the round after it is allocated, all allocated dice are lost. The Avatar cannot accumulate 26

DISPELLING MAGIC
Dispelling magic is type of counteraction available only to magic users. Every model that can cast a spell is able to dispel magic if it is Note that not in close combat. Models empowering a spell is the who cannot cast spells cannot last action the avatar does dispel magic. on the current round, so The stat used to dispel magic is be sure to perform any the Mind (Mi) stat. spells you wish to cast this round before announcing When a magic user casts a spell the empowering of a one or more enemy magic users spell. can try to dispel it. To dispel magic, the spell effect or the magic user casting the spell must be in range (can be measured prior to allocating dices for dispelling). The range of dispel magic is equal to the current value of the dispelling magic users Mind (Mi) stat in inches. As with countering other actions, subtract the number of successful action dice rolls by the dispellers from the action dice rolls by the magic user casting the spell. Some spells effects remain in effect one or more rounds after they are cast. A magic user can dispel these remaining spell effects during his Magic phase. Each successful roll will remove one successful AD from the effects of the spell. Example: Dispelling a spell An Orc Shaman wishes to paralyze an enemy Shadowdancer. The Orc Shaman casts the spell with four AD. As the enemy magic-user is in range of dispel, he will try to dispel it using two AD. 27

The Orc Shaman rolls three successful AD. The enemy magic-user rolls one successful AD. So the total number of successful rolls is two. Looking at the Provoke paralysis spell outcome we see that the Shadowdancer will suffer a -2 penalty for the rest of the current round. Example: Dispelling the Effects of a spell Carrying on from the last example, the Shadowdancer suffers now a penalty of -2. As this penalty is caused by the effects of a spell, it can be dispelled. On the Shadowdancer controllers Magic phase, the player decides that his Necromancer will try to dispel the effects of the spell using two AD. He then rolls 2d10 and scores one successful roll, which automatically affects the effects of the spell. The penalty applied to the Shadowdancer is now -1 instead of -2, and so the Shadowdancer gets back one AD and one CD!

Beastman Warchief will try to counter the effects of the spell using all of his four AD. He rolls 4d10 and scores only one successful roll, which is removed from the effects of the spell. The Beastman Warchief is cursed one less round than before (only one round remains, the current one, now). Next, during his Magic phase, the player decides that his Orc Shaman will try to dispel the effects of the spell using two AD. He rolls 2d10 and scores one successful roll, which is automatically removed from the effects of the spell. The Beastman Warchief is free of the effects of the Curse spell, as the spell effect is again reduced by one successful AD (which translates again into one round), thus reducing the number of rounds to zero!

SHOOTING
Shooting actions (or ranged attacks) are special actions. Their descriptions appear on the models record card. The shooting action stat is usually Shooting Skill (RS). Note that even if a shooting action involves two models, these actions cannot be counteracted unless it is specifically stated so on the actions description. Shooting in Arena Deathmatch takes place during the Shooting phase. Generally, any model that carries a ranged combat weapon (bows, crossbows, or guns) can make ranged attacks during this phase. A ranged attack is a shooting action. To perform a shooting action, the model must spend action dice. There is no limit to the number of ranged attacks a model can perform during a round, as long as it has the action dice to continue attacking. The same ranged attack can be performed as many times as desired during a round, but can only target the same objective once. A ranged attack can be made against any model that can be selected as the target of an attack. Normally that means the model is within line of sight of the attacker. however, there may be exceptions such as ranged weapons which do not require the

attacker to have line of sight to its target. on the models record card there is a description of each shooting action a model can make.

LINE OF SIGHT (LOS)


A model can see anything in its field of view. The field of view is 180 extended from the front of their base as shown below. To determine if a target is in line of sight, image a line from any point of the attackers case front face (and into the models field of view) to any point of the targets miniature case. -if you can draw a line to any part of the targets case without going across an obstacle or miniature case, then the target is in full line of sight of the attacker. -if you can draw a line to only 50-99% of the targets case without going across an obstacle or miniature case, then the target is in partial line of sight of the attacker. -if you can draw a line to less than 50% of the targets case without going across an obstacle or miniature case, then the target is in minimal line of sight of the attacker. -if you can not draw a line to any part of the targets case without going across an obstacle or miniature case, there is no line of sight.

COUNTERACTING A SPELL
As with other actions that affect two or more models, some spells can be counteracted by their target. Counteracting spells work as counteracting any other action; each successful action dice roll is subtracted from the casters successful action dice rolls, and the result is used to determine the effects of the spell. Some spells remain in effect a number of rounds after they are cast (e.g. Cause Fear). The victim of the spell can counteract the spells effects in the remaining rounds during the Tactics phase. Each successful Mind (Mi) roll made with action dice removes one successful AD from the effects of the spell. Example: Dispelling and counteracting a spell A Necromancer tries to curse an enemy Beastman Warchief. The Necromancer casts the spell with four AD. An enemy magic-user, a Dark Elf Sorceress, is in range to dispel; she tries to dispel it using two AD. The Beastman Warchief also tries to counteract the spell using three AD. The Necromancer rolls five successful AD (as he obtained a double successful roll). The enemy magic-user rolls one successful AD. The Beastman Warchief rolls one successful AD. Looking at the Curse spell outcome we see that the Beastman Warchief is cursed for three rounds (the current round plus the two next ones). Example: Dispelling and Counteracting the Effects of a Spell Carrying on from the last example, on the next round the Beastman Warchief is still under the effects of the Curse spell (and will be on the following one as well unless some measures are taken by his controller). On the Beastman Warchief controllers Tactics phase, the player decides that his 28

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ATTACK RANGE
for a ranged attack to hit its target, the target must be in range of the attack. if the target is out of range, the attack automatically misses regardless of the results of any action dice rolled. on the models record card there is a detailed descriptions of each shooting action (including its range, in inches) a model can make. Attack range is always specified in inches.

Beastman Warchief using his Thunder pistol. He declares his target (the Beastman Warchief ) and declares that he is going to perform the ranged attack using three AD. Remember that the attacker cannot measure the distance now, he must guess that his target is in range. Both players determine if any LoS modifier should be applied. In this case, the dwarf has a partial view to the Beastman Warchief, so he looses one of the allocated AD to perform the ranged attack. The Beastman Warchief cannot counteract the attack, so his controller has no need to declare a counter action. The player controlling the Dwarf Thunderlord proceeds to measure to see if the Beastman Warchief is in range. It is! He then rolls two AD (one is lost due to having only partial LoS to the target) and obtains two successful rolls. Looking at the Thunder pistol outcome we see that the outcome of the action is that the Beastman Warchief suffers a Strength 7 attack! If the Beastman Warchief had been out of range, then the ranged attack would have missed automatically and the Thunderlord would have lost all three allocated AD.

as normal during the remainder of the round with any unspent action dice. An Avatar can target the same objective for only two consecutive rounds. The allocated dice for a targeted ranged attack are always those from the preceding round. The Avatar cannot perform any action or counteraction before making the upgraded ranged attack, or he loses concentration and as a result loses all extra allocated action dice. if the Avatar is damaged or forced to make a maneuver check, he immediately loses concentration and as a result loses all extra allocated action dice. if the line of sight to the target becomes minimal or the Avatar loses line of sight to the target, the targeting Avatar immediately loses all targeting allocated action dice. Example: Targeting The player controlling a Dark Elf Hero decides to target an enemy Dwarf Berserker, to make a powerful shot during the next round. He uses his remaining AD (three out of four) to concentrate on targeting his victim. During the following round, seeing that the Dwarf Berserker is going to move into cover (thus causing the Dark Elf to lose all dice allocated for targeting), the Dark Elf Heros controller decides to shoot as an extra opportunity action, before the Shooting phase. The opportunity action Agility check is taken, resulting in the Dark Elf being able to shoot (only with the allocated dice) before the Dwarf Berserker moves into cover.

If the Dwarf Berserker hadnt moved, the Dark Elf Hero controller would have waited until his Shooting phase, and then been able to shoot the Dwarf Berserker with up to 7 AD! (Using the three targeting allocated AD plus the four available on the current round).

SPORTSMANSHIP AND RANGED


ATTACKS
Determining the modifiers to a ranged attack may on occasion be unclear. in some situations determining line of sight to the target or even range may be unclear as well. in situations like these, try to find a quick solution. Do not argue with your opponent; it only slows down the game. instead, try to find a common agreement. or, each of you can roll a d10 and the highest roll can determine the results.

LOS MODIFIERS
unless the contrary is specified, apply LoS modifiers when performing any Shooting action.

LoS modifiers partial LoS to target Automatically loses one of the AD allocated to perform a shooting action against a target in partial LoS Automatically loses two of the AD allocated to perform a shooting action against a target in minimal LoS Ranged attack not possible

Minimal LoS to target

TARGETING
An Avatar of War can target his ranged attack objective through two consecutive rounds (the current round and the following one) in order to take a precise and extremely damaging shot. To do so, the player controlling the Avatar must announce during the Shooting phase that the Avatar is targeting a specific objective. That entire rounds unspent action dice are then allocated to upgrade the next ranged attack. place a d10 next to the miniature to indicate the number of action dice allocated. Note that targeting is the last action the Avatar does during the current round, so be sure to perform all desired shooting actions before declaring you are targeting an objective.

No LoS to target

Example: Minimum LoS A Dark Elf Prince has minimum LoS to a Light Elf Prince hiding behind a column. The Dark Elf Prince wants to shoot the Light Elf Prince anyway, allocating three AD for the attack. He finally shoots the Light Elf Prince rolling only one AD, as he automatically loses two of the allocated AD.

MAKING A RANGED ATTACK


To make a ranged attack, use the following procedure: 1. The attacker declares attack, specifying a target and how many action dice are to be spent performing the attack. 2. if required, apply any LoS modifiers to the attack. 3. if there is the possibility of the target counteracting the action, the player controlling the targeted model declares how many action dice are to be used counteracting. 4. Measure to see if the target is in range. if the target is in range, perform the ranged attack and apply the outcome. if the attack results in a hit, apply damage effect and blow effect as explained in the chapter on Close Combat. if the target is out of range the attack automatically misses and the attacker loses the declared action dice. There is no need for the defender to counteract the attack and does not spend the action dice allocated to counteract it. Example: Ranged Attack A player wants his Dwarf Thunderlord to shoot his opponents 30

The Avatar starts the next round ready to make the ranged attack and is able to shoot at any moment using all the allocated dice (and no more). Resolve this as if it was an extra advanced or extra opportunity action, depending on if it is the Avatar controllers turn. To take full advantage of targeting an objective, the player must wait until the next rounds Shooting phase to unleash the ranged attack. if the ranged attack is made during the players next round Shooting phase is upgraded by adding the last rounds allocated action dice to the action dice declared to perform the ranged attack. if the ranged attack is made before the players next round Shooting phase, it is performed using only the allocated dice. A targeted ranged attack cannot be combined with an advanced or opportunity action. There is no way to gain more action dice to make a ranged attack if made before the players next Shooting phase. After the ranged attack is made, the Avatar can perform actions 31

CLOSE COMBAT
Close combat is characterized by a quick and dangerous exchange of blows accompanied by all kinds of swift movements, attacks and defences. Arena Deathmatch close combat is not composed of a static succession of predetermined dice rolls, but instead by players actions and ability to exploit his Avatars fighting style and strengths. in Arena Deathmatch, every combat is different not only because of dice rolls but because of the different combat actions taken by Avatars of War.

A combat action is performed the same way as other action, but uses combat dice instead of action dice. As with other actions, the more combat dice spent to perform a combat action usually means a greater chance of success. There is an important difference between combat dice and action dice however: successful combat dice rolls do not count as spent by the model and are kept to perform more combat actions. unless the contrary is specified in the action description, combat actions are countered simultaneously by all enemy models in case to case contact with the attacker. This means the attackers combat dice are counteracted by the sum of all defenders combat dice. A model in close combat can spend all of its combat dice every round to perform combat actions. The model can perform as many combat actions as desired while it still has combat dice left. Each combat action can only be performed once against the same target during the same round. When a combat action requires the use of a specific weapon (e.g. Knob Hit, which requires the Barbarian hero to be waving his axe) it is automatically assumed that the Avatar is waving that weapon. There is no need to specify the changing of weapons. As with other actions, common combat actions are available to all models and are described in this section. Special combat actions are only available to certain models and are described in the avatar record cards. Whenever a special combat action rule conflicts with a common combat action rule, the special combat action rule takes priority.

COMMON COMBAT ACTIONS


Common combat actions can be performed by all models and do not appear on the models record card.

Attack (Hit with weapon)


The Avatar attacks his enemy with his weapon. CS vs. CS victim suffers a blow of the Avatars Strength plus oNE plus the weapons Strength modifier. This action can only be counteracted by the victim of the attack, even if there are other Avatars in contact with the attacker.

becomes the attacker: The controller declares its first combat action (including how many combat dice he uses to perform that action). if neither or both models have charged, the model with the highest Agility stat (Ag) becomes the attacker. The controller declares its first combat action (including how many combat dice he uses to perform that action).

CD counters it is very useful to use d10s as CD counters. place 1d10, for each available CD, next to each model involved in combat (simple or multiple). When one CD is spent, remove 1d10 from the ones next to the corresponding miniature base. is way you will always know how many dice each model has to make its combat actions.

Disengage
Disengage is now a combat action, and must then be performed using Combat Dice in the Combat phase. A model engaged in combat can leave combat by the use of this action. CS vs. CS Can use oNE of the available Combat Dice to perform now an extra movement to abandon combat (walk with 1CD, Run with 2CD, Sprint with 3CD). Combat Dice used to escape are spent for the turn.A model engaged in close combat can leave combat at any point during the Tactics phase. opponent(s) can counteract that action. A model cannot perform a disengage action on the same round that it enters combat.

ENGAGED IN CLOSE COMBAT?


All models that are in case to case contact (even if only the smallest part of the case) with one or more enemy models at the start of the Close Combat phase are considered to be engaged in close combat. When engaged in close combat a model should touch as much of the enemy miniatures case as possible. At the start of the close combat phase, if asked by a player, combatant positions should be corrected (by shifting their bases) to touch as much of the enemy miniatures case as possible.

The opposing player (the defender) then decides if he would like to counteract the attackers first combat action and declares how many combat dice he is going to roll. As with other actions, the defender can at most use only the number of combat dice the attacker uses to perform the action. once the attacker has declared its combat action and the defender has declared its counteraction, the combat action is immediately performed. The outcome is applied immediately. The roles are then reversed: the attacker becomes the defender and the defender becomes the attacker. This process is repeated until there are no more combat dice to spend or both players cannot or decide not to perform any more combat actions. Example: Simple combat A Dwarf Berserker (four CD) is fighting against an Orc Warlord (four CD). The Dwarf Berserkers current Agility is the highest, so the Dwarf Berserker acts first. Its controller declares that the Dwarf Berserker will perform a flank combat action using three CD. The Orc Warlord controller wishes to counteract this action, as he does not want to end up flanked, and declares he will use two CD. The Dwarf Berserkers controller gets two successful rolls, and the Orc Warlord controller gets two successful rolls as well. Looking at the flank action outcome we see that the Dwarf Berserker moves to the Orcs flank but the Orc faces him again. The Dwarf Berserker has lost the non-successful CD rolled, so he has three CD left. The Orc Warlord has lost no CD, as all its rolls were successful. He still has all of its four CD. Now is the Orc Warlords turn to act. Its controller decides to launch the Dwarf Berserker through the air. He declares a Launch action using all four CD (he really goes for it!). The Dwarf Berserker counteracts the action using only two CD (a bit risky, but he has only three CD left!). The Orcs controller obtains only two successful rolls while the Dwarf s controller obtains a doubly successful roll. Looking at the Launch action outcome we see that the Orc catches the Dwarf, but the Dwarf escapes! 33

COMBAT ACTIONS
Close combat is resolved by performing combat actions. Everything a model can do in close combat is called a combat action. All combat actions affect two or more models, so all combat actions can be counteracted.

Stand up (in combat)


A model that is knocked down and is engaged in close combat can try to stand up during the close combat phase. opponents currently engaging that model can counteract this action. The actions description is: CS vs. CS Model stands up and faces at will (with two successes or more) or faces randomly (with only one success). Note that close combat modifiers for performing a combat action from the ground against a standing enemy do not apply when performing the Stand up combat action. The model is not performing an action against its enemies, but rather just trying to stand up, so it can always use up to all of its CD for performing this action.

RESOLVING COMBAT
All combats are resolved during the Close Combat phase. The player that has round initiative chooses the order in which combats are resolved. if, for any reason, a new combat is created during the Close Combat phase, that combat is resolved during the same phase using the combatants remaining combat dice.

SIMPLE COMBAT
All models in this picture are engaged in close combat. Note that even if the elf and goblin bases do not contact, their cases do. 32 A simple combat involves only two engaged models. if one of the models has charged this round, it automatically

The Dwarf Berserker still has three CD left, while the Orc Warlord now only has two CD left (as he lost the other two while performing the Launch action). Things look better for the Dwarf now! Its the Dwarf Berserkers turn to act again. The controller decides he wants to attack (perform the action Attack with weapon) using all three available CD. The Orc Warlord counters the attack using his two CD. Both players roll their CD: the Dwarf s controller obtains four successful rolls while the Orc Warlords controller obtains only one successful roll. The dwarf wins by three successes, and looking at the action outcome we see that the Orc suffers a blow of strength 9. Effectively, the Dwarf s Strength stat is 5, and uses a one-handed weapon (+1 to blow strength). Blow strength is thus 5+1+3 successes =9. once weve determined the blow strength, it is time to find the inflicted damage. To find the inflicted damage points, subtract the defenders Armor stat (Arm) to the blow strength.

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9,0 Mov pop CS RS Arm Ag St Mi So

if a stat has already reached its lowest value, you cannot decrease that stat further. instead, apply the damage point to the next stat on the record card state table. if that stat cannot be decreased, move on to the next non empty descriptive stat (downwards, returning to the top if necessary, and never switching from a descriptive stat to a physical stat or vice versa, thus from Mov we go to Arm, and from Mi to Ag).

<0 0-1 2-3 4-5

Blow effect Attacker is pushed 1 inch at random direction. Attacker must make a maneuver check with 1d10* victim keeps position victim is pushed 1 inch at blow direction. victim must make a maneuver check with 1d10* victim is pushed 2 inches at blow direction. victim must make a maneuver check with 2d10* victim is thrown 3 inches through the air at blow direction, and is knocked down. CM 2. Crowd event.

more enemies is less than or equal to one inch, these close enemies (if not engaged in combat) can automatically be relocated to gain contact and proceed with combat as usual. Example: Blow effect The Dwarf Berserkers blow strength is 8. We subtract the Orc Warlords original Strength, 7, obtaining a blow effect of 1. Looking at the blow effect table we find out that the Orc Warlord keeps his position. It is very difficult pushing such a big and strong Avatar. If the blow strength would have been only one point greater, the Orc Warlord would have been forced to make a maneuver check and likely be knocked down as hes not an agile creature. It was close!

6+

* if victim is knocked down then CM 1

if the Soul stat of an Avatar reaches zero or is zero because the combatant is not an Avatar of War, the soul damage is applied to the first physical stat in the Avatar record card state table that can be decreased one point. Example: Combat damage Getting back to the Orc Warlord and the Dwarf Berserker combat, the dwarf inflicted 4 damage points to the Orc Warlord. The Dwarf Berserker rolls 4d10, 1d10 for each damage point, obtaining 6, 3 and 8 and 8. This means the Orc Warlords Agility, Combat Skill and Mind (twice) are immediately reduced by one point.

Does not apply in ranged attacks. Does not apply to blows resulting when dropping from or falling down an elevation.

MULTIPLE COMBAT
When there are three or more models engaged in combat, a multiple combat occurs. in these cases the procedure to resolve combat is as follows. All models involved in the combat act in the following combat order: 1. Models that have charged that turn sorted by descending Agility (Ag). 2. Models that have not charged that turn sorted by descending Agility (Ag). The model that acts first becomes the first attacker to declare its first combat action. A model can perform combat actions against any enemy in case to case contact. Each model affected by or able to neutralize that action (again those in case to case contact with the attacker) becomes a defender and can counteract the combat action using combat dice. This means the attackers combat dice are counteracted by the sum of all defenders combat dice. once all models involved in that action have declared their combat dice, perform the combat action and immediately apply its outcome. The second model to act becomes the attacker and can declare a combat action, then the third model, and so on. This procedure is then repeated, strictly following the combat order established earlier, until there are no more combat dice to spend or all models involved are finished or cannot perform more combat actions.

Example: Calculating damage As the Orc Warlords Armor stat is 5, and the Dwarf s blow strength is 9, the Orc suffers a total of 9-5=4 damage points.

BLOW EFFECT
Close combat is not a static exchange of blows; fighters move many times involuntarily while in combat. The strength of a blow my make a victim lose position, be knocked down, or something even worse. To reflect this, once damage has been applied, subtract the victims original Strength (St) stat (not the current stat, as here the Strength stat is used an indication of size and weight) from the blow strength and apply the result indicated on the following table. Whenever a model is thrown through the air due to a blow effect, it may collide with an obstacle during the flight. if the obstacle is another model, the model collided with receives a blow of the flyer's original Strength (St). The flyer carries on through the air if the collided model is pushed or is knocked down, otherwise it is knocked down next to the collided model and suffers a number of damage points equal to its own original Strength (St) minus its current Agility stat (Ag). if the obstacle is a rigid scenery element, the flyer suffers a number of damage points equal to its own original Strength (St) minus its current Agility stat (Ag) plus two points, and is knocked down in front of the obstacle. if no rigid scenery element is collided, the flyer suffers a number of damage points equal to its own original Strength (St) minus its current Agility stat (Ag) plus one point when colliding with rigid ground. The model will be knocked down on the collided spot. A pushed model automatically stops upon colliding with a rigid obstacle or another model. Collided models are not pushed back. A pushed combatant can lose contact with all his enemies: -if, after being pushed, the model is at a distance greater than one inch from all its enemies, then the model is not in combat anymore and thus cannot perform combat actions until it regains contact with an enemy. -if, on the contrary, after being pushed, the distance to one or

Applying damage
Damage in Arena Deathmatch is reflected directly on the model state table. Every time a model suffers damage, one of its stats is affected, decreasing by one point. for each damage point roll 1d10 and subtract one point from the stat indicated on the following table.

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Example: Multiple Combat A Dark Elf Sorceress and a Dark Elf Prince are fighting against Krork Toadgobbler the Goblin King and another Goblin hero. The Dark Elf Prince has charged this round to help the troubled Dark Elf Sorceress against such a renowned enemy!

dice are declared for that action, before any dice are rolled. Example: Aggressive action A Barbarian Hero is fighting against a Light Elf Prince. After performing some combat actions the barbarian has still four CD left. Hes now going to perform an Attack action. As the Elf lost all his CD performing combat actions, the Barbarian Heros controller believes that by rolling only one CD (his CS is 7) the odds are hell hit the Elf Prince. The other option would be rolling more CD, to make sure to obtain at least one successful roll. However, he also risks obtaining unsuccessful rolls and losing blow strength. Finally, the Goblin King gets his turn. He wants to launch the Dark Elf Prince as far as possible performing a Launch action. Krork rolls all his CD. The Dark Elf Sorceress counteracts with two CD and the Dark Elf Prince with three CD. Krork obtains four successful CD rolls, while the Dark Elf Sorceress obtains two and the Dark Elf Prince only one! Krork catches the Dark Elf Prince and throws him away! The barbarians controller decides to make a risky but aggressive move, converting three out of four CD to strength points, and rolls only one CD. The player rolls a 3. The attack hits, and a strong one it is!

however, if your Avatar suffers a blow from the action outcome, he will be in a good defensive position and is likely to take less damage. Action dice must be converted to armour points when dice are declared for that counter, before any dice are rolled. Example: Defensive counter A Goblin Hero is close to a Dark Elf Hero. Both Avatars have four CD left. The Dark Elf Hero wants to perform a Running thrust action. The Dark Elf Heros CS is much higher than the Goblins CS. Odds are the goblin will be hit even if he rolls all four CD; instead, his controller decides to convert all CD to armour points. The Goblin will be hit almost for sure, but his Armour is raised by four points (to a value of 9). The Dark Elf hero has to hit really hard to damage the Goblin!

DEFENSIVE COUNTERS
A counter can be made more defensive by converting action dice to armour points. These armour points are automatically added to the victims Armour (Arm). An Avatar can convert as many action dice as desired to armour points. Note that the more action dice an Avatar converts to armour points the less probable it is that the counter is successful.

CLOSE COMBAT SPECIAL


SITUATIONS
Close combat is chaotic and gives rise to exceptional situations. There are some special situations that need a description.

The acting order is as follows: First the Dark Elf Prince acts as he charged this round, next is the Dark Elf Sorceress (Ag 7), followed by the Goblin Hero (Ag 6) and followed finally by Krork (Ag 3). The Dark Elf performs a feint action against Krork, taking advantage of Krorks low Ag stat. Both the Goblin Hero (even if not directly affected, he can influence on the Dark Elf as there is case to case contact) and Krork can counteract the action. The player decides to counteract with three CD from the Goblin Hero and only one CD from the Goblin King, as the low Krork Ag will very probably make losing all allocated rolls to counteract.

CD counters it is very useful to use d10s as CD counters. place 1d10, for each available CD, next to each model involved in combat (simple or multiple). When one CD is spent, remove 1d10 from the ones next to the corresponding miniature base. is way you will always know how many dice each model has to make its combat actions.

The Dark Elf Prince and the Goblin Hero are both forced out of combat (all enemies are further than one inch), so it is now time for the Dark Elf Sorceress to act again. Krork follows. Well now repeat the process for each model until all of them have spent all CD or until players decide they do not want or cannot perform any more combat actions.

The Dark Elf Prince obtains three successful CD rolls, while the goblin obtains two and Krork one. The number of successful rolls is zero (we subtract the Goblin Hero and Krorks successful rolls from the three Dark Elf successful rolls) so the actions is void, and does not affect Krork at all, thanks to the Goblin Hero being a nuisance! Next the Dark Elf Sorceress acts. She decides to try to flank Krork. The Goblin Hero cannot help Krork this time, as hes not in case to case contact with the Shadowdancer. Only Krork can counteract. Upon resolving the action Krork gets flanked by the Dark Elf Sorceress. Its the Goblin hero turn to act now. the controller decides his Goblin to attack the Dark Elf Prince using all 3 CD. The Dark Elf will use all his 3 CD to counter the Attack action. We resolve the action and apply damage and blow effect. The Dark Elf Prince suffers one damage point but keeps his position.

AGGRESSIVE COMBAT ACTIONS


An action can be made more aggressive by converting action dice in to strength points. Strength points are automatically added to the blow strength. An Avatar can convert as many action dice as desired in to strength points. Note that the more action dice an Avatar converts to strength points the less probable it is that the action is successful. however, if your Avatar does win the action, the blow (if any) is especially strong. Action dice must be converted to strength points when action

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COMBAT FACING
A model in close combat always strives to keep its enemy to its front, except for the first combat phase after a successful surprise assault (see below). At the start of the close combat phase, and only at the start, before resolving any combat, models automatically and immediately rotate to face enemies (as chosen by the models controller) if there are no enemies to their front.

to use them, but only after leaving the current combat, that is after losing contact with any enemy that might be in combat with him at the moment of being disarmed.

if more than one opponent player wishes to control the fighting Avatar, the highest roller takes control of the combatant. The player keeps control of this Avatar until the combat ends for any reason (combatants lose case to case contact) or the effect provoking the Avatar to attack his allies expires.
flanked

Close combat modifiers Automatically looses 2 of the CD allocated to perform/counter a combat action against an enemy in its flank Can use no CD to perform/counter a combat action against an enemy in its rearguard Can only use one CD to perform/counter combat actions against a standing enemy. Automatically looses one of the CD to perform/counter a combat action against an enemy in higher position

FRIENDLY COMBAT!
on few occasions, due to a psychology effect or the effects of a spell an Avatar may enter close combat against an ally Avatar. in these situations, the player controlling both Avatars only controls one of the Avatars involved in the combat (the one he wishes to), while the other Avatar is controlled by his opponent.

Rear lost

FLANKING
When a model already in close combat with an enemy to its front is attacked by a model on one of its sides, the model cannot turn to face the new opponent and is now considered flanked. A model can also lose its flank as a result of an action outcome, like the Flank action.

fighting from the ground

fighting from lower position

LOSING THE REARGUARD


When a model that is already in close combat with an enemy to its front or flanks is attacked by a model from its rear, the model cannot turn to face the new opponent and has lost its rearguard. A model can also lose its rearguard as a result of an action outcome, like the Win rearguard action.

Surprise assault
A model that is not in close combat can be attacked from its rear as long as the attacker has not been in line of sight of its target at any moment during the approaching movement. This attack is called a surprise assault. The model being attacked must make a Combat Skill (CS) check, and if successful detects the attack. if the model detects its opponent, it turns to face the attack. if the check is unsuccessful, the model cannot turn and loses its rearguard during the next close combat phase.

CLOSE COMBAT MODIFIERS


The following table lists all combat modifiers that apply in special combat situations. These modifiers have to be applied when performing a combat action. Example: Flank attack A Dark Elf Prince is flanked by a Light Elf Prince. The Dark Elf Prince wants to attack the Light Elf Prince anyway. The Dark Elf Prince allocates five CD for the attack, so he rolls only three CD to attack the enemy on his flank. The other two CD are automatically lost, as if they were unsuccessfully rolled.

DISARMED!
A disarmed combatant (for example due to the outcome of a Disarm action) loses the current weapon for the whole game. if no more close combat weapons are available, he will have to fight unarmed. if equiping other close combat weapons, hell be able 38

Remember that all blows in Arena Deathmatch (due to combat actions, ranged actions, magic actions, and any other possible blow types like a slam action) have an associated blow eect. When resolving a blow youll always have to follow this sequence: Determine the blow strength, apply the inicted damage to the victim and nally apply the blow eect to the victim.

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THE POWER WITHIN


year 47 before the foundation of the Ward. The Saga Gods are at war. Their heralds, the Avatars of War, command mighty armies which, under the banner of his God, devastate the land with death and destruction. When a mortal displays unimaginable prowess with the sword, a God of War can not ignore the message. Will offer the hero a new great power to recruit him for his cause. When the hero accepts, the God of War will imbue the chosen one with a part of his divine soul, changing the warriors nature forever. it is this new, immortal soul that makes the difference between a mortal hero and an Avatar of War. An Avatar of War can draw on the sliver of divinity in his immortal soul to increase his already awesome combat skills. however, the Gods of War are whimsical beings. Their gift is accompanied by an insatiable thirst for divinity; the ultimate goal of an Avatar of War is to accumulate the divine power necessary to achieve the highest state of evolution, that is, to become a God of War himself. There is only one way to achieve this goal: increasing the size of the divine soul that lies within. To do so, the Avatar needs to absorb soul from other Avatars. When an Avatar harms another, will absorb part of the divine soul of his
God of War Drakojia, Lord of Chaos and Aberrance Gllnir, father God of the Dwarfs Loyranna, the harlot Ezevriel (Cirlea) or hades (Athlea), Emperor of the Netherdome Rayviel (Cirlea) or Theos (Athlea), The one God urok Galanion, Supreme God of the Elves khorvas (Cirlea) or Tanathos (Athlea), Lord of the Dead Nemesis, Goddess of vengeance Thera, Goddess of nature vesna, Goddess of agriculture Loki, Dwarven God of fire and deception Elythrias (Cirlea) o Titan (Athlea), God of Battle

victim. That process is a dangerous one though: a misstep, a bad move, and the Avatar soul could be corrupted and die horribly. in case of success, however, his soul will be amplified allowing the Avatar to evolve. it is a mortal roulette, but to a herald of the Gods, just adds more excitement. As their thirst for divine power grows, an encounter between two or more Avatars of War usually ends in a violent bloodbath. There is no room for mercy. There is no room for emotion or weakness. There is only room for more power!

SOUL SHARDS
To measure the power of their souls, each Avatar of War has a number of Soul shards (Soul stat). This number appears on the Avatars record card.

Boost spell
By burning one soul shard, an Avatar can add half the current value of his Mind (Mi) stat in inches to the range of a performed spell. A player boosting the range of a spell must state so when declaring the magic action. further soul shards can be used, An action cannot each adding half the current value be performed using of the Mind (Mi) stat in inches to only AD or CD the spell range. however, for each generated from soul soul shard burnt from the second shards. At least one onwards a Mind check must be natural AD or CD must made. if any of the Mind checks be spent. fail, the Avatar loses all soul shards used to boost that spells range and the spell range is not increased at all. Example: Boost spell range A Necromancer (Mi 6) casting a Ray of Death decides to dramatically increase the range of the spell by burning three soul shards. If successful, the range is increased by nine inches, allowing for a spectacular Ray of Death fifteen inches long! The player has to roll a Mind check for the second and third soul shards used. The rolls are 1 and 3, so the necromancer is able to cast his spell with the increased range! If either the first or second roll had failed, the Necromancer would still have been able to cast the spell, but with no increased range.

USES FOR SOUL SHARDS


Soul shards can be used to improve an Avatars performance. unless otherwise specified, an Avatar can burn as many soul shards as desired to improve an action or counteraction.

CONTEXT
During the Avatar Wars (47 Bf- 3Af), the Sagian Gods created many of these warriors to command their armies, but most perished in that bloody conflict that inundated Saga of death and violence for half a century. The few surviving Avatars roam the land in search of others of the same lineage with the sole purpose of absorbing their souls to placate their insatiable thirst for power. This search leads many of them to the infamous arenas of Saga...

Boost movement
By burning one soul shard, an Avatar can add half his Movement (Mov) stats current value in inches when performing an action involving movement. A player boosting movement must state so when the action is declared. Example: Boost movement A Beastman Warchief (Mov 3) wants to Slam an enemy. The controller is not sure of the Beastman reaching even by sprinting. He decides to burn a soul shard to add one and a half inches to the movement range to make sure the Beastman impacts his victim.

THE SAGIAN GODS


in the table below you can find information about the Gods of Saga.
Gods domain The Ashlands Any Dwarf settlement isle of Banishment The Netherdome Cirlean Empire and The Ward (mark of Cirlea) Athlean Empire The Darklands Galanor The Gravelands (old Athlean mark) isle of Banishment Cirlean Empire and The Ward (mark of Cirlea) Cirlean Empire and The Ward (mark of Cirlea) Any Dwarf settlement Cirlean Empire and The Ward (mark of Cirlea) Athlean Empire forstlands of krnd Athlean Empire Galanor Any Dwarf settlement Any Dwarf settlement

Boost action
for each soul shard burnt, an extra action die or an extra combat die may be rolled when performing or counteracting an action. All action types can be boosted. A player boosting an action must state so when the action is declared. Example: Boost action A Necromancer wants to cast a spell but has only one AD left. To make the spell stronger the controller burns two soul shards to win two extra AD to cast the spell. The player rolls then three AD.

Worshipped by Aberrant races and other races with affinity to chaos. Dwarfs Dark Elves (Banir) Daemons humans, halflings orcs, ogres, Goblins, Lycanthrope Light Elves undead, Necromancers Dark Elves (Banir) humans, halflings humans, halflings Dwarfs

Healing
A soul shard can be burnt to heal two damage points. Those two points may be divided between two different stats. Armour stat can not be healed. healing by the use of soul shards can be performed at any point during a controllers turn, including while the Avatar is in close combat.

Boost opportunity action


By burning one soul shard, an Avatar can add one point to the current value of his Agility (Ag) stat for performing the opportunity check.

DECLARING AND ROLLING SOUL SHARDS


Soul shards are usually used in conjunction with action dice combat dice. The number of soul shards being burnt when boosting an action must be stated when the action is declared and cannot be changed later. When performing boosted combat actions, use a die of a different colour to represent dice generated by soul shards, as these rolls are not kept if successes are rolled.

Boost blow
for each soul shard burnt, an extra blow strength point may be gained when hitting an enemy in close combat. A player boosting a blow must state so when the action is declared. Example: Boost blow A Barbarian Hero is going to attack and has three CD remaining. As the controller is very confident about hitting his enemy, to make the attack stronger, he decides to burn two soul shards for two extra blow strength points. The player rolls his CD and hits his enemy with blow strength of 7. Thanks to the use of the two soul shards, the final blow strength will be of 9!

STEALING SOUL
The only way for an Avatar to increase his power permanently is to steal soul shards of another Avatar. Avatars of War have an unmatched thirst for divine power, and any encounter between two Avatars of War is likely to result in a fatal combat. There are several ways an Avatar can obtain soul shards from another Avatar of War.

humans

vathos, Athlean God of the Seas yssidra, The Sentinel of blades Bjrn, Dwarven God of fury Tyr, Dwarven God of wisdom and crafts

humans and some sea aberrant races. Light Elves Dwarfs Dwarfs

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DAMAGING THE SOUL


Soul shards can be stolen from an Avatar of War by damaging his Soul (So) stat. Every time an Avatars Soul stat is decreased one point from any type of damage, the Avatar that caused that damage absorbs that soul shard adding it to his pool of alien soul shards. The immortal soul of an Avatar of War never disappears entirely. Even if the Soul stats current value has reached zero, a small portion of his soul remains. A damage point made to a Soul stat always generates one alien soul shard. When an Avatars Soul stat has reached zero, the sliver of divinity in an Avatars soul drains physical health to stay alive. once the Soul stat of an Avatar reaches zero, the damage is applied to the first physical stat on the Avatars state table (going downwards) that can be decreased one point .

shards - Alien soul shards). if the result is equal to or less, the soul stability check is successful and the Avatar can then use those alien soul shards for his own profit. otherwise, the Avatars soul becomes unstable, and the player must roll on the soul instability effects table below, adding one point to the rolled result for each alien soul shard the Avatar has. Soul instability effects are applied immediately after the roll is made. Example: Soul stability check A Dark Elf Sorceress has two alien soul shards at the start of her controllers Soul phase. She has to pass a soul stability check in order to use these alien soul shards. Her Mind stat value is 6, and she has three soul shards left, so the roll has to be equal to or less than 7 (Mi 6 + 3 own soul shards 2 alien soul shards) in order to be successful. The player rolls a 0! The roll was unsuccessful. The Sorceress has then to roll 1d10 on the soul instability effects table, adding two points to the result, as she has two alien soul shards. The roll result is a 6, so the result to look for in the table is 8. The Dark Elf Sorceress enters in a catatonic state for the entire round. Alien soul shards remain throughout rounds and are of no use to the Avatar until a successful soul stability check.

Example: Alien Soul Absorption Suppose that the Sorceress from the last example rolls a 3 when checking for soul stability, thus passing the soul stability check. The player decides she wishes her Dark Elf Sorceress to absorb the two alien soul shards. The Sorceress now has five soul shards.

The actions description is: Mind (Mi) The Avatar regenerates oNE soul shard Note that the Warpray action can be performed during the Tactics phase, as all tactical actions, and during the Soul phase as well. if this action is performed during the Soul phase, it must be performed before making any soul stability check. The spent AD

Avatar Evolution
By burning an own soul shard and an alien soul shard an Avatar of War can increase a stats original value by one point and up to a maximum value of 10. Also the boosted stat is automatically set to that value (all damage in that stat is automatically healed). During one evolution, several stats can be boosted, or the same stat can be boosted multiple times (if more than one own and alien soul shards are available) increasing its original value repeatedly. finally, all effects (of any source) disappear immediately. A knocked down Avatar automatically stands up as a free extra action. Example: Avatar Evolution Suppose once again that the Sorceress rolls a 3 when checking for soul stability, assimilating the two stolen soul shards. The player decides she wishes her Dark Elf Sorceress to evolve. She can choose to boost one of the Sorceresss stats twice, or boost two different stats. She decides to boost her Mind stat twice, increasing it to 9. It is healed to its original value, which was 7 and increased twice: once for each combined own soul shard and alien soul shard. As the Sorceress had three own soul shards before the evolution process, she now has only one soul shard left and no alien soul shards left. This is the only way an Avatar of War can become more powerful. An Avatar evolution is a quite notorious spectacle. The Avatar acquires a triumphant god-like aspect for a few seconds, while changing to the new higher state, surrounded by an aura of powerful expanding energy. The crowd just loves it!!! Every time an Avatar evolves, his popularity (pop) stat is raised by two points. The crowd and other Avatars see the spectacle, and as a result their respect, fear or admiration for the Avatar increases!

DRAINING THE SOUL


Soul shards can also be stolen from an Avatar by magically draining the soul through the use of a spell or magical item. Each drained soul shard is captured by the opposing Avatar and added to his pool of alien soul shards. Any soul shard an Avatar obtains (by any means) from another Avatar of War (opponent or not) becomes a alien soul shard.

FILLING THE SOUL


Soul shards can be given to an Avatar by magically filling the soul through the use of a spell or magical item. Each given soul shard is captured by the target Avatar and added to his pool of alien soul shards.

USING ALIEN SOUL SHARDS


Alien soul shards must be used immediately after a successful soul stability check, during the same Soul phase, and can be used under any effect (no matter the source) or while engaged in close combat. Alien soul shards can be used in two different manners.

KILLING AN AVATAR OF WAR


Soul shards can also be stolen by killing an Avatar of War. An Avatar that kills another Avatar automatically captures the entire victims remaining soul shards and adds them to his pool of alien soul shards.

Alien soul absorption


The alien soul shards are automatically added to the soul of the Avatar. By absorbing alien soul shards an Avatar can increase his number of own soul shards beyond the original value.

ALIEN SOUL
Manipulating alien soul shards for an Avatars own gain is a dangerous matter. Sometimes even an Avatar of War cannot cope with such power the energies stolen from another soul may conflict with the divine powers that dwell within an Avatars own soul. The reward, however, is worth the risk to an Avatar of War!
1-5 6-7 8 9

Soul instability effects (+1 for each alien soul shard) The Avatar looses all alien soul shards. The Avatar looses both all his soul shards and all alien soul shards. The Avatar enters in a catatonic state during the current round. Looses all AD and CD. The Avatar enters in blind rage (see page 53) The Avatars soul explodes. The Avatar loses all his own soul shards (but not the alien ones) and suffers 1d10 damage points. if rolling a natural 10 (a 0 on the dice roll) the Avatar dies of painful brain shock.

REGENERATING THE SOUL


An Avatar can pray to the Gods of War to regenerate his soul. Regenerating the soul does not give the option to gain soul shards beyond the original number, only to recover burnt or lost soul shards. To regenerate his soul an Avatar must perform the Warpray action. The Warpray action is a tactical action common to all Avatars, so no description is given on the Avatars record card.

SOUL INSTABILITY
An Avatar of War that has one or more alien soul shards at the start of the soul phase must make a soul stability check in order to assimilate the alien soul shards. The player controlling the Avatar rolls 1d10 and compares the result to the Avatars current Mind stat value, plus his own soul shards but minus the number of alien soul shards (Mind + Soul 42

10+

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are lost for the round as normal. it is a good idea to regenerate the soul before making stability checks and also for the Avatar to be able to merge the required soul shards to evolve. Example: Regenerate soul As a result of combat during the past round, a Barbarian Hero has two alien soul shards at the start of his controllers Soul phase. He must pass a soul stability check in order to use for his profit the alien soul shards. His Mind stat value is 4, and has only one own soul shard left, so the roll must be equal or less than 3 (Mi 4 + 1 own soul 2 alien soul) in order to be successful. Things do not look good at all for the barbarian. The player decides to perform a Warpray action using all four AD, in order to regenerate some very valuable soul shards. He rolls, obtaining three successful rolls. The Barbarian Hero regenerates two soul shards. His number of soul shards is now increased to three. With his Mind stat value of 4, with three soul shards left now, the roll for a successful stability check must be equal to or less than 5 (Mi 4 + 3 own soul 2 alien soul). Things look quite better now!

it is highly recommended to regenerate soul shards during the Soul phase, before making any soul stability check, in order to easier pass this check. furthermore, the Avatar will need to have at least one own soul shard in order to be able to evolve when passing the stability check.

PSYCHOLOGY
Even if all Avatars of War are extremely experienced and awesome combatants, in some situations, even the hardest Avatar does not act as you might normally expect. for example, under the effect a spell, an Avatar might have a distorted vision of reality, affecting his behaviour. hatred between races also affects the way Avatars fight and some terrifying creatures might be too much of a challenge for even some Avatars of War! psychology effects are special rules that determine those situations in which the mental strength of an Avatar is put to the test.

WORSHIP
Some Avatars of War are such renowned characters that they are worshiped even by other Avatars of War. These Avatars are more courageous when close to their admired Avatar of War.

WORSHIP EFFECTS
-An Avatar of War in running distance from an ally worshiped Avatar can use the worshiped Avatars popularity stat for any popularity check. -A model must pass a popularity check to move into close combat against a worshipped Avatar. The check can be taken multiple times, but each time is failed one AD is lost.

FEAR
Just because the Avatars of War are the greatest warriors the world knows doesnt mean they cannot feel fear. fear can come in many forms: the effect of a spell can cause fear or an especially dangerous and terrifying creature can be feared even by an Avatar of War.

BLIND RAGE
Sometimes due to the effects of drugs or magic, an Avatar of War can enter a very extreme state of mental agitation known as a blind rage. A model in a blind rage enters a destructive frenzy dominated by uncontrollable fury and mindless violence, even to the point of ignoring his own safety. Blind rage is normally accompanied by hallucinations of all kinds.

FEAR EFFECTS
-A model must pass a popularity check to move into close combat against a model it is afraid of, unless the source of fear is already in combat with an enemy. The check can be taken multiple times, but each time is failed one AD is lost. -A model fighting, on its own, against a model it is afraid of will fight defensively, and must then convert at least half its CD to armour points when counteracting any combat actions. Cannot make aggressive or show off combat actions.

BLIND RAGE EFFECTS


-A model under the effects of blind rage at the start of the tactics phase must make a Mind check. if successful, the model is no longer under the effect of blind rage. if not, the model must move into close combat (charging or not) with the closest model. it will only be able to perform the Attack action, and using only one CD (the rest are converted to strength points). if it can not reach the closest model, will run towards its victim.

HATRED
hatred is a very intense and quite common feeling between Avatars of War. An Avatar of War might hate another Avatar for several reasons. Without a doubt, the most common type of hatred between the Avatars of War is racial hatred. Many tragedies, conflicts and wars have taken place between the different races of the Darklands, culminating in deeply rooted hatred between members of those societies. hatred might be an advantage in some situations, but can easily become a disadvantage as well!

PSYCHOLOGY PRIORITY
When two psychology effects apply on the same situation, use the priorities to know which psychology effect prevails. if more than one psychology effect with equal priority apply, select randomly the one prevailing. psychology effects sorted by descending priority: -Blind rage -Worship -hatred -fear on a same priority level, psychology effects related to enemy models will prevail over those related to ally models. Example: Hatred and Fear A Goblin Hero is fighting in close combat against a Dwarf Berserker. Goblins hate Dwarves, but are as well afraid of Dwarf Berserkers. Hating the Dwarf Berserker prevails over his fear for Dwarves, so only hatred effects should be applied on the Goblin in this case.

HATRED EFFECTS
-A model in close combat against a hated enemy gains an extra action die when performing combat actions against the hated enemy. -An Avatar in close combat against a hated enemy cannot make show off combat actions. -A model able to charge (by running or walking) one or more hated models (enemies or not) must pass a Mind check, at the start of the Tactics phase, or perform its favoured action against one of those hated models. The controlling player can choose the target if more than one available. 44

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THE CROWD
in Arena Deathmatch, the crowd plays an important role. The crowd quite often takes part in the deathmatch in several different ways. Do not underestimate the importance of supporters. having the crowd on your side often makes the difference between victory and defeat!

CROWD MOOD MODIFIERS


Crowd mood varies throughout the course a deathmatch. The actions the Avatars take in the arena directly affect the mood and behaviour of supporters on the stands. players have many ways to affect the crowds mood. Crowd mood can be directly affected, in a limited way, through the use of special actions like the Provoke Crowd action or a show off action. The outcome of other actions may indirectly affect the crowd mood. very successful actions are to the liking (or not!) of supporters, and leave the crowd never indifferent. Actions outcome descriptions state how the crowd mood is affected. Some events, such as Avatar evolution or Avatar death also change the crowds feelings towards the deathmatch and the heroes participating. The following table lists how these events affect the crowd mood.
Crowd mood modifiers Avatar evolution. Crowd mood 2 Avatar death. Crowd mood 3 Celebrity Avatar death. Crowd mood 4 Celebrity Avatar enters the arena. Crowd mood 1 Away Avatars enter the arena. Crowd mood + 1

CROWD EVENTS
The supporters watching a deathmatch let their emotions guide their actions. This is represented in Arena Deathmatch by the use of crowd events. Crowd events can be triggered randomly or as a consequence of the actions and events taking place on the arena.

WHO ROLLS THE CROWD EVENT?


Determining which player rolls a crowd event is important, as a result of 0 allows the rolling player to choose a crowd event. To determine which player roll the crowd event apply the following guidelines: -Action triggered crowd events are rolled by the player who performed the triggering action. -Event triggered crowd events are rolled by the player whose actions the crowd event is a consequence of. -All other crowd events, including randomly triggered crowd events, are rolled by home players if the crowd mood has a value equal or greater than zero, or rolled by away players if the crowd mood has a value lower than zero.

Action triggered crowd events


Spectacular actions trigger a big reaction from the crowd, translating in to a crowd event for gaming purposes. Action outcome descriptions state if a crowd event is triggered.

CROWD MOOD
The crowd mood is a very important concept and factor of Arena Deathmatch. it is a numeric number describing how the home supporters are feeling towards the home heroes fighting on the arena. Crowd mood has a numeric value that can vary from -12 to 12. All positive values indicate that the home supporters are happy with what their adored Avatars are doing on the arena. The higher the value, the happier the supporters are. All negative values indicate that the home supporters are unhappy with what their not so adored at the moment Avatars are doing on the arena. The lower the value, the unhappier the home crowd is. A negative crowd mood value is a positive for away Avatars. Numeric crowd mood values have an associated crowd mood state as follows: -frenzied within crowd mood values of 9 to 12 -inflamed within crowd mood values of 6 or 8 -Excited within crowd mood values of 3 to 5 -Calm within crowd mood values of -2 to 2 -unhappy within crowd mood values of -3 to -5 -Raged within crowd mood values of -6 to -8 -infuriated within crowd mood values of -9 to -12 on some occasions, you must compare a die roll to the crowd mood value (e.g. for opportunity actions against a crowd event), or use the crowd mood value as a modifier to a roll (e.g. when an Avatar performs a Provoke Crowd action). in these cases use only the crowd moods absolute value (ignore the sign) even if the crowd mood has a negative value. Example: Provoke Crowd A Goblin Hero wants to provoke the crowd with the use of the provoke Crowd action. The crowd mood value is -2, and the Goblins Pop stat value is 6. To successfully provoke the crowd the Goblin Hero must roll 4 or less on a d10, as we subtract the absolute value of the Crowd mood (2) from the Goblin Heros Pop value (6).

Event triggered crowd events


important events also trigger a big reaction from the crowd, translating in to a crowd event for gaming purposes. Events that trigger a crowd event are: -Avatar death -Avatar evolution (multiple evolutions from Avatars of a same player only generate one crowd event. Resolve the crowd event at the end of the players Soul phase). -Away Avatars enter the arena

SUPPORTERS JUMPING IN THE ARENA


When a frenzied supporter jumps in the arena youll have to determine the spot where the supporter enters the arena. To do so, the player controlling the frenzied supporter makes a direction roll in the center of the arena. Draw an imaginary line, following the indicated direction, to the arena perimeter. The location where the supporter jumps in the arena is the point where the line intersects the arena perimeter. unless otherwise specified by a specific scenario or rule, the supporter jumping in the arena is a Common supporter.

Randomly triggered crowd events


Whenever a double 0, is rolled while performing any type of action (including any soul generated dice used to boost the action or attack), a crowd event is triggered. This rule is reflects that the more extreme actions on the arena, the more probable is the crowd getting excited enough to wish to influence the spectacle. Effectively, the more dice you roll to perform an action or attack, the higher the odds to obtain a double 0.

BEASTS ENTERING THE ARENA


Beasts are monstrous creatures that are let loose in the arena to spice up the fight. This normally happens when the deathmatch is not entertaining enough. unless otherwise specified by a specific scenario or beast rule, randomly select which beast enters the arena and from which entrance element from those available for the game.

APPLYING CROWD MOOD MODIFIERS


All actions or events that affect the crowd mood change its numeric value by adding or subtracting a number. When a - symbol precedes this number, subtract the number from the crowd moods numeric value. When a + symbol precedes this number, add the number to the crowd moods numeric value. When a symbol precedes this number you may have to add or subtract the number to the crowd mood numeric value. To know when to subtract or add the number, just follow this simple rule: when the action or event affecting the crowd mood should benefit away players or please away supporters, subtract the number. When the action or event affecting the crowd mood should benefit home players or please home supporters, add the number. Example: Modifying Crowd Mood An Orc Warlord hits a Goblin Hero, launching him through the air (a blow effect of 8!). The blow effect table states that the crowd mood is modified by two points. If the Orc Warlord is fighting at home, add two points. If the Orc Warlord is fighting away, subtract two points. A crowd mood modifier is applied immediately after resolving the action that has generated it. An action can only modify the crowd mood once. if two or more crowd mood modifiers are generated by the same action, apply only the highest of them.

GENERATING CROWD EVENTS


Whenever a crowd event must be generated, roll 1d10 on the crowd events table. Combine the die result with the crowd mood state to find out which crowd event to apply. on a result of 0, the player who is rolling the crowd event is allowed to choose a crowd event (in the corresponding crowd mood state column). Crowd events take place immediately after finishing resolving the action or event that has triggered it. When a crowd event is triggered, place a crowd event marker on a visible place and carry on resolving the current action or event. once the action or event is resolved, generate the crowd event and immediately apply its result. finally, remove the crowd event marker. The same action can only trigger one crowd event. if two or more crowd events are triggered by the same action, then place only one crowd event marker and generate just one crowd event. in other words, a new crowd event can not happen (simply ignore it) when there already is a crowd event waiting to be generated.

CELEBRITIES
Some Avatars of War are particularly recognized and admired by the fans. Their extense career as a fighter in the arena has made them famous and unique. The public reactions to the actions and events that affect a celebrity are even more extreme. you can add celebrities to your band the same way you add generic Avatars of War.

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE


if a same celebrity is repeated in a game, all of them except one are impostors trying to look like the celebrity. Before deploying the scenery, each player that has recruited the celebrity must roll 1d10. Whoever gets the highest score, has recruited the true celebrity. The rest are impostors and will see the original value of the Soul stat decreased by one. Will also lose some skills as specified in the celebrity Avatar of War record card.

RECORDING THE CROWD MOOD VALUE


on the printed quick reference sheet there is the crowd mood/crowd events table. use that table to update the crowd mood value when necessary. 46

CELEBRITIES SPECIAL RULES


-A celebrity Avatar of War can perform the action "inflame the 47

crowd" with up to three AD, and may also count double successful rolls. -Add one point to all CM modifiers resulting from actions performed or suffered by a celebrity Avatar of War (both in his favour and against). -The limit on the number of traits, feats and actions do not apply to celebrity Avatars of War.

A model that wishes to run across difficult terrain needs to make a maneuver check with 3d10 and obtain at least two successful rolls. otherwise, the model must stop running and suffer the effects of the maneuver check upon contact with the difficult terrain. A model that wishes to sprint across difficult terrain needs to make a maneuver check with 2d10 and obtain at least two successful rolls. otherwise, the model stops sprinting and suffers the effects of the maneuver check upon contact with the difficult terrain. All maneuver checks over difficult terrain are taken with one less die than over open terrain, but at least 1d10 is always rolled.

move two inches along the wall top, as the Barbarian still has two inches of movement left. In this case though, the wall top is not wide enough for the Barbarian to stand on it. As the Barbarian Hero still has two inches of movement left, he can cross the top of the wall. However, he can not climb down during this same Run action (he has already spent all of his allowed climbing movement) so he must stop right before climbing down. The Run action ends, and as the Barbarian cannot stand on the wall,

IMPASSABLE TERRAIN

STANDING ON ELEVATIONS
A model that has climbed or moved atop an obstacle can stand over it if there is enough room for the miniatures base to be placed entirely over the obstacle. otherwise, the model is allowed to cross the top entirely, but not to stop over it. if the model does not have enough movement left to completely cross the top of the obstacle, it must stop before reaching the top of the obstacle. Note that in some occasions the obstacle may be wide enough for the Avatar to stand over it, but there may not be enough room because there are already other miniatures taking up the available space. Example: Climbing A Barbarian Hero wants to charge a Goblin Hero that is hidden behind a wall three inches high and half an inch wide. The Barbarian does not want to go around the wall, as it is a ten inch long obstacle. He decides to climb up and over the three inch wall. The Barbarian Hero's Movement stat is 3, and is his Agility stat is 6. The Barbarian performs a Run action and spends one inch to move into contact with the wall. He has five inches of movement left, of which three (Agility divided by two) can be spent for climbing the wall. The Barbarian reaches the top of the wall and still has two more inches of movement left. Note that if the wall was higher, the barbarian should stop climbing here: he can not climb any further as hes only allowed to climb three inches at once. If the wall was wide enough for the Barbarian Hero to stand on it, his controller could decide to place the miniature standing on the wall top, and the Barbarian would no longer be climbing. He could even

TERRAIN FEATURES
Any scenery element that is placed on the arenas surface is called a terrain feature. Terrain features can be natural elements such as snow, ponds, rocks, or mud as well as artificial elements such as platforms, pits, or walls. The deployment and position of terrain features has a huge influence on the outcome of a deathmatch. With a bit of thinking you can use scenery elements to the benefit of your Avatars. There are an immense number of scenery elements that can appear in the arena; creating specific rules for each is impossible. instead, we provide you with a set of guidelines to easily create rules for your scenery elements by the use of a few distinctive attributes. Generally, agree with your opponent whether each scenery element should be classified as a type of terrain, if it is rigid or not, and to any specific rules that a scenery element might have prior to commencing the deathmatch.

Models cannot move across impassable terrain. Examples of impassable terrain are a big crack, a trap pit, a wall or a column.

ELEVATIONS
Some terrain features provide elevations above (e.g. a wall) or below (e.g. a pit) the arena floor level. Most elevations cannot be crossed unless they are quite small. however, this does not mean the model is forced to go around!

SMALL ELEVATIONS
A model can climb up freely, without spending any movement, any elevation up to half an inch tall. A model can climb down freely, without spending any movement, any elevation up to one inch tall. Note that even if climbing up and down a small elevation is free, the distance covered horizontally when crossing the top of the elevation counts as spent movement.

he is considered to be climbing. Place the miniature where it will touch ground. Place a d10 to indicate he has climbed down zero inches. Since the Barbarian Hero starts the next round climbing, he cannot perform any actions other than running or walking to carry on climbing or to jump down. He performs a Run action, and spends three inches to climb down the wall. The barbarian can still move his remaining three inches towards his target. As the Goblin Hero was in line of sight of the Barbarian at the start of the current round (he could see the Goblin as he climbed down from the top of the wall), the Barbarian is charging his victim!

FALLING DOWN & DROPPING FROM


ELEVATIONS
Some game situations can result in a model falling down or dropping from a high elevation or into a pit.

CLIMBING ELEVATIONS
Climbing up or down an elevation is done with no penalty to movement while performing a Walk or Run action. however, a model can only climb, on a single round, a number of inches equal to its Agility stat divided by two. A model sprinting cannot climb up or down a scenery element and must stop upon contacting an elevated scenery element. if there is not enough movement left to climb an obstacle entirely during the current Walk or Run action, the Avatar can continue climbing during the next round. position the miniature short of the climbed obstacle, on the spot where the model started to climb (if climbing up) or the spot where the model will touch ground (if climbing down) and place a d10 next to the miniature to indicate the number of inches climbed up or down. A model that is climbing cannot perform any action other than the Walk or Run action (to continue climbing or dropping down) and falls down if, for any reason, it suffers a blow effect of 2 or more. An Avatar that is climbing can use only one combat die if engaged in close combat, and has no flanks or rearguard.

TYPES OF TERRAIN
All terrain in the arena should be classified by the players as one of the following types before starting the deathmatch.

Falling down
A model immediately falls down from an elevation when more than half its miniature base is not touching the ground. A model that falls down from a distance higher than one inch and collides with a rigid obstacle or solid ground suffers a blow of its own original Strength stat plus two points for each whole inch traveled while falling down. Resolve the blow as usual (damage effect and blow effect), but use the Agility stat instead of the Armour stat when calculating damage effect. if the falling model lands on top of another model, the blow is suffered by the collided model as well. use the collided model's armour as usual for determining the damage effect.

OPEN TERRAIN
open terrain is the most common type of terrain. Most of the arena surface should be open terrain. Models move normally (with no penalties) across open terrain. A typical flat arena surface consisting of sand is open terrain.

DIFFICULT TERRAIN
Models can move across difficult terrain, but with more difficulty as the name implies. Difficult terrain can be any type of terrain that slows down movement such as snow, brushes, rocky areas, or muddy areas. A model is moving across difficult terrain if any part of the miniature base crosses difficult terrain. While moving across this type of terrain the models movement is reduced by half. 48

Dropping from an elevation


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Dropping from an elevation can be done by performing a Walk or Run action. Distance covered while going down is ignored when calculating spent movement. upon contacting the ground, position the miniature short of the obstacle, on the spot where the model touches ground. A model dropping from a distance higher than one inch that collides with a rigid obstacle or solid ground suffers a blow of its own original Strength stat plus one point for each whole inch covered while going down. Resolve the blow as usual (damage effect and blow effect), but use the Agility stat instead of the Armour stat when calculating the damage effect. if the dropping model lands on top of another model, the blow is suffered by the collided model as well. use then the collided model's Armour as usual for determining the damage effect. Example: Dropping from an elevation From the last example, the Barbarian Hero could have dropped from the wall (after crossing the top of the obstacle). He would suffer a blow of his own original Strength (5) plus 3, as the distance covered while going down the wall is three inches. As his agility is 5, the Barbarian Hero would suffer three damage points. He would suffer as well a blow effect of 3. If the Goblin was two or less inches away, after dropping from the wall, the barbarian would still be able to engage the goblin during the same round(if not prevented by the blow effect). If an Orc Hero was dropping from the same height, he would suffer a blow of strength 10 (his original Strength is 7). As his agility is 4, the Orc Hero would suffer six damage points. He would suffer as well a blow effect of 3. If, for whatever reason, the Barbarian Hero falls down (after crossing the top of the obstacle), he will suffer a blow of his own original Strength (5) plus 6, as the distance covered while going down the wall is three inches. As his agility is 5, the Barbarian Hero will suffer six damage points. He will suffer as well a blow effect of 6.

WATER
Water terrain features in Arena Deathmatch can be classified as deep or shallow. Shallow water can be crossed by any model, but should be considered as difficult terrain. Deep water can not be entered voluntarily. A model may fall into deep water, however, for several reasons such as a blow effect or a teleport spell. Models must swim across deep water and cannot perform any action other than swimming as part of a Walk action. Swimming over normal water has no penalty applied to movement. however, muddy water, for example, could be treated as difficult terrain when swimming. A model that is knocked down while swimming across deep water is drowned and as a result is removed from play. Not all models are able to swim due to the weight of their equipment. Models whose original Armour stat (ignoring magically enhanced armour like the war tattoos of a Barbarian hero) is greater than their current Strength stat are not able to swim, and drown (and as a result are removed from play) if they fall into deep water. When placing a water scenery element, declare if it is deep or shallow. if shallow, classify it as a type of terrain.

OPEN GAME
visit the Arena Deathmatch website at www.avatars-of-war.com to download the following material: -Cardmaker -quick reference sheet -Crowd tables -Beasts record cards -Supporters record cards -Rules fAq & Errata -Special sceneries -Tournaments and leagues rules -Scenery tiles -Game templates you can also access the Saga interactive map, to know more about the world of the Avatars of War. finally, do not forget to join the Avatars of War forums where youll be able to discuss everything Arena Deathmatch related with other players, and find events and tournaments.

PITS
pits are perhaps arenas most common terrain feature. Some pits may contain water or acid, while others may be line with deadly spikes. When placing a pit scenery element, declare its depth and agree on any special rules that may affect a model falling into the pit. for example, declare if any extra damage is inflicted by the spikes or acid at the bottom of the pit. A model can drop into or climb down a pit to get to the bottom of it, or climb up a pit to get out.

PLATFORMS
platforms should generally not be higher than half an inch and wide enough for several models to stand over them. if a platform is high enough to affect a models movement, treat it as an elevation.

SCALE REFERENCE
Avatars of War miniatures are sculpted at 1:62 scale; to convert real world feet to Arena Deathmatch scale (in inches) perform the following operation : multiply the number of real world feet by 12 and divide the result by 62. for example, a pit 10 feet deep is 10 x 12 / 62 inches in gaming scale: 2 inches deep.

STAIRS
Normally stair steps should not be higher than a quarter of inch and wide enough for models to stand over them. if some steps are high enough to prevent a model climbing them freely, treat them as a succession of elevations (each step would be an elevation).

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ALPHABETICAL INDEX
A Action Dice (AD), 7 Action, 18 Advanced action, 23 Aggressive combat action, 36 Agility (Ag), 8 Alien soul pool, 8 Alien soul shard, 42 Armour (Arm), 8 Avatar evolution, 43 B Beasts phase, 17 Blind rage, 45 Blow effect, 35 Blows, 16 Bonus, 17 Boost action, 41 Boost blow, 41 Boost movement, 41 Boost spell range, 41 C Casting spells, 26 Charge, 24 Climbing, 48 Combat action, 18 Combat phase, 15 Combat Dice (CD), 8 Combat Skill (CS), 8 Cost (recruiting), 8 Counteracting, 20 Counteracting (spells), 28 Crowd event, 46 Crowd mood, 47 Current stat value, 16 D d10, 5 Deathmatch level, 13 Deathmatch, 4 Defensive counter, 37 Difficult terrain, 48 Direction roll, 16 Disarmed, 38 Dispelling, 27 Doubly successful roll, 18 Dropping from an elevation, 49

Duration (game), 13 E Elevations, 48 Empowering spells, 27 Evolution, 43 f facing, 25 factions, 10 falling down (from an elevation), 49 favoured action, 9 fear, 45 feats, 8 first aid, 25 flanking, 38 G Game duration, 13 h hatred, 45 k knocked down, 25 L Line of sight (LoS), 29 M Magic action, 18 Magic phase, 15 Maneuver check, 16 Measuring (distance), 16 Mind (Mi), 8 Miniature base zones, 9 Miniature case, 9 Movement (Mov), 8 Movement action, 24 N Neutralized action, 21 o open terrain, 48 opportunity action, 22 original stat value, 16

p penalty, 17 pits, 50 platforms, 50 popularity (pop), 8 priority (rules), 15 priority (psychology), 45 R Rearguard (losing), 38 Record card, 7 Recruiting cost (Cost), 8 Rounding, 17 Run, 24 S Scale, 50 Scatter roll, 16 Shooting action 18 Shooting phase, 15 Shooting Skill (SS), 8 Showing off, 19 Soul phase, 15 Soul shard, 41 Soul stability check, 42 Sprint, 24 Spells (casting), 26 Spells (counteracting), 28 Spells (dispelling), 27 Stairs, 48 Stand up, 25 Stand up (in combat), 23 Stat check, 16 State table, 7 Strength (St), 8 Surprise assault, 44 T Tactical action, 18 Tactics phase, 15 Targeting, 30 Training, 10 Training cost, 10 Traits, 8 W Walk, 24 Warpray, 43 Water, 50 Worship, 45

Crowd events table


-12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Infuriated
e home Avatar with the highest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a -3 penalty.

Raged
e home Avatar with the highest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a -2 penalty.

Unhappy
e Avatar with the lowest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a -1 penalty.

Calm
e away Avatar with lowest or highest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a -1 penalty. Cheered by the crowd, the home Avatar* with the highest pop must pass a Mi check or run now (free extra movement) towards his closest enemy (and charge if possible)

Excited
e Avatar with the lowest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a -1 penalty.

Inamed
e away Avatar with the highest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a 2 penalty.

Frenzied
e away Avatar with the highest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a -3 penalty. e crowd asks the home Avatar with highest pop* to run now (free extra movement) towards his closest enemy (and charge if possible). if he does: CM+1. if he doesnt: pop-2, CM-1. Two home supporters jump frenzied into the arena! ey stay for three rounds then leave the arena. ey move immediately. CM +1

Cheered by the crowd, the away Avatar with the highest pop receives a +2 bonus.

Cheered by the crowd, the away Avatar with the highest pop receives a +1 bonus.

e crowd asks for a beast to be released!

his name echoes through the stands! e home Avatar with the highest pop receives a +1 bonus.

Cheered by the crowd, home Avatar with the highest pop in close combat must pass a Mi check or make his next action showing o .

An away supporter jumps frenzied into the arena! he moves immediately and stays for ve rounds; then leaves the arena. CM+1

Cheered by the crowd, the away Avatar with highest pop in close combat has to pass a Mi check or make his next action showing o.

e home Avatar* closest to the stands is heavily booed. pass a Mi check or hurl a stone to the crowd. if he fails the check: loses 2 AD, pop+1, CM+1 e home Avatar with the lowest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a -1 penalty. An away supporter jumps frenzied into the arena! Stays for three rounds then leaves the arena. CM+1

e Avatar with the lowest pop is heavily booed by the crowd and receives a -1 penalty.

e crowd asks for a beast to be released!

Cheered by the crowd, the home Avatar with highest pop receives a +2 bonus.

A very big stone is hurled from the stands! e home Avatar* closest to the stands receives three strength 6 blows. CM-1

Riot on the stands! Away supporters charge home supporters! CM-2. Reroll!

his name echoes through the stands! Choose one home Avatar; he can make a free extra movement now (run or walk).

e away Avatar closest to the stands is heavily booed. has to pass a Mi check or hurl a stone to the crowd. if he fails the check: loses 2 AD, pop+1, CM+1 A home supporter jumps frenzied into the arena! he stays for three rounds then leaves the arena. CM+1 e crowd asks the home Avatar with highest pop* to run now (free extra movement) towards his closest enemy (and charge if possible). if he does: CM+1. if he doesnt: pop2, CM-1.

Riot on the stands! home supporters charge away supporters! CM +1. Reroll!

A very big stone is hurled from the stands! e away Avatar* closest to the stands receives three strength 6 blows. CM+1

Global boo!! All home Avatars receive a -1 penalty.

his name echoes through the stands! e away Avatar with the highest pop receives a +2 bonus.

e crowd asks for a beast to be released!

his name echoes through the stands! Choose one home Avatar; can make a free extra movement now (run or walk).

Global boo!! All away Avatars receive a -1 penalty.

A rain of objects is hurled form the stands! All models suer a strength 5 blow.

e crowd asks the home Avatar with highest pop* to run now (free extra movement) towards his closest enemy (and charge if possible). if he does: CM-1. if he doesnt: pop2, CM+1.

e crowd asks for a beast to be released!

his name echoes through the stands! e home Avatar with the highest pop receives a +1.

his name echoes through the stands! e home Avatar with the highest pop receives a +2 bonus.

A rain of objects is hurled form the stands! All models suer a strength 5 blow.

Crowd invasion! Each away avatar suers two wounds. Each home Avatar suers four wounds.

Global boo!! All home Avatars receive a -1 penalty.

A stone is hurled from the stands! e home Avatar* with lowest pop receives two strength 5 blows. CM-1

e away Avatar* closest to the stands is heavily booed. pass a Mi check or hurl a stone to the crowd. if he fails the check: loses 2 AD, pop+1, CM+1 A stone is hurled from the stands! e away Avatar* with the highest pop receives 2 strength 5 blows. CM+2

A stone is hurled from the stands! e away Avatar* with the lowest pop receives two strength 5 blows. CM+1

A rain of objects is hurled form the stands! Each model suers a strength 5 blow.

Crowd invasion! Each home avatar suers two wounds. Each away Avatar suers four wounds.

Surrender! e home Avatar with the lowest pop abandons the deathmatch! CM-2

Magic, magic! e away spellcaster with highest pop* receives two extra AD for his next magic action.

An away supporter jumps frenzied into the arena! Moves immediately. Stays for three rounds then leaves the arena. CM+1 A stone is hurled from the stands! e home Avatar* closest to the stands receives two strength 5 blows. CM-2

A home supporter jumps frenzied into the arena! Moves immediately. Stays for three rounds then leaves the arena. CM+1

Magic, magic! e home magic-user with the highest pop* receives two extra AD for his next magic action.

Surrender! e away Avatar with the lowest pop abandons the deathmatch! CM+2

e home supporters abandon the deathmatch! e deathmatch ends, and the away players are the winners.

A big stone is hurled from the stands! e home Avatar* closest to the stands receives three strength 5 blows. CM-1

An away supporter jumps frenzied into the arena! Moves immediately. Stay for three rounds then leaves the arena. CM+2

A big stone is hurled A stone is hurled from the from the stands! stands! e away Avatar* e away Avatar* closest closest to the stands to the stands receives two receives three strength strength 5 blows. CM+2 5 blows. CM+1

e away supporters abandon the deathmatch! e deathmatch ends, and the home players are the winners.

Crowd events eects are applied immediately. if a crowd event conditions can not be met, then the crowd event has no eect. *if Avatar is engaged in combat, then select the rst matching Avatar not engaged in close combat.
You can photocopy this page for personal use, or alternatively, you can download it from www.avatars-of-war.com

CREDITS
Avatars of War SLNE, Direction

Johanna Acquah Avatars of War SLNE, Creative Direction felix paniagua Game design ignasi ferrer felix paniagua Rulebook written by felix paniagua Editors Matthew Dyer, Denis Maddalena Graphic design & layout huc Egea, felix paniagua Miniature sculptors ignasi ferrer, Sergio Garca, Marc iglesias, felix paniagua, Edgar Ramos

Miniature painters Adam Benesz, Alfonso Girldez, Ali Mcvey, Mike Mcvey Adam Skinner Cover art Des hanley Interior art
Matt Dixon, Wayne England, imaginary friends Studios, Diego Gisbert, David hammond, Des hanley, Randy humphries

Concept art
Daniel Daz heredia, Wayne England, Diego Gisbert, Des hanley, felix paniagua Arena Deathmatch Cardmaker felix paniagua Metal miniatures moulding Luis Alemany, Jeff Rodman, Ben Rodman Plastics miniatures tooling & production Renedra, Ltd. Metal miniatures casting Jaume perna, Daniel Daz heredia

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