
                                     Chapter 6 - Rules
                                     =================

 The major part of the game mechanisms of WFRP (Tests, Movement, etc.) are 
quite sound for the WH40K universe.  The most drastic modifications, 
obviously, regard the combat: new rules are necessary in the RPG to simulate 
the extremely more advanced available weapons.

 * You can overwatch, performing no action when your character, according to 
the normal I order, should act.  (Actually, this has always been in WFRP, it 
just wasn't given a name!)  At any moment in the round you can declare your 
character fires; if this happens while an opponent is shooting at you, you 
have to make an I test to determine if you shoot before (if you succeed) or 
simultaneously (if you fail).

 * Sustained Fire: Weapons with Sustained Fire are indicated by a number in 
the "S.F." column in the equipment tables.  If you fire at a single target 
with a Sustained Fire weapon, the attacker has a +10 bonus to BS; besides 
this the attack behaves as normal.  In the case of multiple close targets, 
first you roll the dice to determine the number of shots (and possible jam 
- dud shots, malfunction, overheating, etc.), then you distribute the 
available shots among the targets, making an unmodified To Hit roll for each 
target.  In the case of a jam, the character can make a Dex test each round 
to unjam the weapon. To determine the number of shots a Sustained Fire weapon 
makes, and the number of jams, roll a number of D4's equal to the number of 
sustained fire dice indicated in the Wargear tables.  The number of hits is 
equal to the sum of all rolls 1-3, while the number of jams is indicated by 
the number of times a 4 is rolled on any of the dice.  Up to one jam is 
automatically cleared by the weapons own systems, and the weapon is ready 
for use again next round.  Further jams indicate more significant problems 
and the user must roll on Dex as described above to clear each one before 
the weapon can be used again.

 * Area Weapons: For the area weapons (the effect radius is indicated in the 
column "Blast", following the criterium 1" = 2 yards) the rule is very simple: 
you make a single unmodified To Hit roll and all the targets within the area 
suffer the full effects of the weapon.  Each half inch can be taken as one 
yard.  If there're doubtful situations on the inclusion within the area of 
effect, you can always halve the effect of the weapon on the target, to 
simulate the incompleteness of the shot.  The Area Weapons and those with 
Sustained Fire are also more difficult to dodge (see Dodge and Hide, 
following).
 When a weapon with an area of effect misses the target, use the normal rules 
on the shot dispersion (see WFRP or the WH40K rulebook, p.36-37).  In the 
case of Flamers, if the To Hit roll fails, the targets within the area of 
effect automatically have a chance to Dodge, even if they do not have the 
skill.

 * Armour and Damage: The damage inflicted by the weapons was obtained 
calculating 1d6 for each point of damage inflicted on average from the weapon 
in WH40K (for example: Las Cannon, damage 2d6, average 7, therefore in the 
RPG damage is 7d6), adding the strength and finally the Save Modifier.  
Since a character has, on average, from 6 to 10 wounds, and since a Boltgun 
causes, on average, 8.5 damage, you immediately understand how lethal the 
weapons are.  As in WFRP, armour no longer gives a Saving Throw, but they 
absorb damage.  The field forces instead still give a Saving Throw, 
expressed in percentage terms, minus the total damage inflicted by the weapon.  
If the roll succeeds, the damage is completely absorbed.  The psychic aurae 
give a number of additional Armour Points equal to the level of the aura.  
In the case a character wears more than one kind of protection, the order in 
which they offer resistance to the shot is the following: force fields, 
armour, then psychic aurae.  Light armour, such as Mesh and Flak, can be 
worn under heavier armour, such as Carpace or Power Armour (never under 
Terminator Armour), with penalties of -10 to BS, WS and I and -1 to M.  
In this case the protections of the two armours add to each other.  
Remember also that, in the case characters find armour during an adventure, 
this armour will have a precise size, which must not diverge too much from 
the size of the character who would wear it.  The different proportions of the 
races are, for example, insurmountable limits: see also the Smith skill and 
the Repair (weapons and armours) skill.

 * Dodge and Hide: Since the ranged weapons of WH40K are much more lethal, 
with respect to the bows and crossbows of WFRP, it has been necessary to 
introduce a proper skill which allows to dodge also the shot of lasers, plasma 
weapons, etc.  (see Dodge Ranged Weapons in the skill section).  Moreover, 
each character can choose to throw himself down (at the time determined by his 
I) without doing anything else during that round, to defend himself from the 
enemy fire which follows his I; if he has cover at hand (such as a wall) 
behind which he can hide, he can't be hit, otherwise he's considered as 
protected (-20 to the BS of the attacker).  In the following round the 
character will have a -10 modification to the I if he wants to get up (see 
also the paragraph Prone and Static Targets, in WFRP, p.0, for more penalties 
of a prone character).

 * Parry: A character involved in a melee combat can also parry, wasting one 
of his Attacks, as in WFRP.  The weapons with which you can parry are 
indicated with a number in the column "Parry", while you can't parry with the 
ones indicated with a "No".  Any melee weapon absorbs, parrying, 1d6 damages.  
If the attack damage exceeds the parried damage, the weapon which has parried 
has a chance to be damaged equal to 5% for each exceeding damage point.  The 
damaged weapons are useless until they are repaired; if the exceeding damage 
is more than 20, the weapon is utterly destroyed.

 * Heavy Weapons: For what concerns the Heavy Weapons, to simulate the 
encumbrance and also to limit the extreme fire power, we apply, as a base, a -20 
penalty to the BS, if the weapon is used at short range; if used without 
Suspensors, apply an additional -10 to the BS and halve the Movement of the 
carrying character.  The Slow factor, for the weapons difficult to load, is 
simulated with a penalty to the I.  If a character, using a weapon, drops to 
zero or less of I, he can fire only once every other round, at his normal I.
 Additionally, a number of heavy weapons are subject to M penalties for 
characters carrying them.


