CHARACTERS

Character Creation

Player character creation works as follows:

If points remain in point budget, player elects to make a new charater.
Player rolls core stats, 4d2 in order: ATK, AIM, DEF, IQ.
Player picks class, within point budget.
From class features, make note of this soldier's class stats: #attk. #def, etc.
If points remain, create additional soldier(s) as above.

The above steps may occur in any order that makes sense.

Once a player's point budget is met, he may no longer elect new soldiers.

The meaning of these terms will be explained in what follows.

Point Values

In a usual wargame, players are constructing entire armies, so the point budget for buying soldiers is much higher. In Brigandine, players need only a handful of soldiers, so the point budget is 12.

Within this point budgets, players are allowed to (and inded encouraged to) control as many characters as they wish.

Whenever a player loses a soldier, the player regains those lost points. Players may also voluntarily drop a soldier from their control, also freeing those points. These points may be used at a later (reasonable) time to attempt to recruit additional characters, within the point budget.

Soldiers who are dropped from control are assumed to be exhausted from adventuring, and will not assist in either exploration or battle. They will assist in depleting rations, as they still require upkeep until they can return to town. As soon as reasonably possible, these former soldiers will return to civilization and remain there. They can rejoin the party later, if desired.

Through continued play, the players may build up a "stable" of soldiers residing in some basecamp area (such as town, or a fortress controlled by the players), all of whom can be swapped in, out, and between players as needed, within the limits of the point budget.

Even though players are working cooperatively, no player should use his point budget to buy soldiers that are controlled by another player. This defeats the play dimension of choosing a good squadron.

Character Classes

Below are the available character classes, along with their point-buy values. Each will be explained separately.

The Knight (10)
The Infantryman (4)
The English Longbowman (8)
The Artillerist (6)
The Scout (3)
Peasant Levie (1 each)

Character class determines the type of arms and armor that can be used, how effectively the soldier can attack, how many blows in combat the player can survive, and any other special abilities.

Character Stats

Character Rank

As characters continue to adventure, they gain battlefield experience. As they continue gaining experience, they will fight with greater ferocity, become more impervious to blows, or otherwise increase in effectiveness. All soldiers begin at 1st rank, but gradually progress. Character classes have a max rank, after which they stop improving.

Core stats: ATK, AIM, DEF, IQ, etc.

In a usual wargame, soldiers are described only in terms of the sort of damage they perform, what weapons they are vulnerable to, how they fare against calvary charges, how far they can move, and other tactical factors.

In Brigandine, the individual soldiers of your squadron require greater description. To this end they are given "statistics" or "stats." Each "stat" is a die, usually a d6, and is generated by rolling 4d2, in order. The stat is the die that has that many sides. Any time the game requires rolling dice to resolve a situation, you will roll dice corresponding to one of your stats. The principal stats are:

ATK: Attack, representing physical ability and prowess. Almost always the die rolled in melee combat.
AIM: Aim, representing the ability to target individuals. This accounts for good eyesight and hand-eye coordination. Against very small opponents, the AIM die must be used instead of ATK die.
DEF: Defense, representing ability to avoid or withstand damage. Can be rolled during an attack to parry an opponent's blow.
IQ: Intelligence, representing mental ability and ease of solving technical problems. Includes perspicaciousness, alertness, and ease of noticing details.

The exact order of these stats on the character sheet is not important, but the order they will be rolled must be written down before rolling.

If your play group does not have the special dice, the referee is free to set any other dice, as convenient.

Taking d6

If a player so chooses, and before rolling for a stat, the player may elect to simply take d6 in a stat.

Flattening the chain

Most gamers do not even have one d5 or d7, much less pools of them.

One option to maintain stat die, but sticking to Platonic solids, is to roll 4d2 as normal, but treat 4-5 as d4 and 7-8 as d8.

This will significantly flatten the histogram of results, as shown.

Since this might be overly punishing to players, you could flatten it by instead treating 3-7 as a d6, with 4 as d4 and 8 as d8

Class stats: #attk, #def, attk type, def type, morale, etc.

In addition to the core stats defined above, the soldiers will also have the usual tactical factors familiar from wargames.

type attk: The classification of the soldier in melee attacks: LF, MF, HF, LC, MC, HC. This is necessary for determining how many attacks the soldierreceives. The value is determined by class and equipped weapon.
type def: The classification of the soldier in melee defense: LF, MF, HF, LC, MC, HC. This is also necessary for determining how many dice the attacker receives. The value is determined by class and worn armor.
#attk: For a powerful warrior who fights with the strength of several men; this characterizes exactly how many men he fights with the strength of. If 1, fight as single man; if 2, fight as 2 men; etc. Is necessary for determining how many dice to roll on skirmish combat. The value is determined by class and level. Will be listed with type attk as, e.g. attk 2LF for types which attack as 2 light foot.
#def: For a stalwart champion who shrugs off enemy blows to fight on; this characterizes exactly how many times he may be struck before dying. Decreases with each successful enemy hit ("taking damage"). When the soldier has taken cumulative hits equal to this number, the soldier is defeated in combat. The terms "hits" or "hits remaining" may be used interchangeably. This value is determined by class and level. Will be listed with type def as, e.g. def 1HC for types which defend as 1 heavy cavalry.
simul.: The number of simulataneous hits (i.e. in same combat phase) needed for the soldier to take damage; if the soldier takes fewer hits than this, no damage is received; if the character takes this many or more hits, only then does he take damage. E.g. if the figure has 4 hits and simul. of 2: if in melee he takes 1 hit, then he does not take damage; if he takes 2 hits, then he is damaged for 2 with 2 hits remaining; if he takes 3 hits, then he is damaged for 3 with 1 hit remaining; if he takes 4 hits, then he is damageed for 4 and is defeated. This value is determined by class and level. When different from 1, will be listed togther with type def and #def as, e.g. def 4HF/4, for a type which defends as 4 heavy foot, requiring 4 simulataneous hits to be damaged.
morale: The willingness and resolve of the soldier to fight on in the face of near-certain death. On a morale check, a soldier must roll at least this value on 2d6 to continue fighting. Determined by class and level.
#firing: A measurement of how capable the character is at missile fire.
½mv: How far the soldier can move in a single movement phase of combat. Since there are two movement phases in combat, this is also half the distance the soldier can move in one combat round.

In any combat, it is necessary to know:

type attk and type def
#attk and #def (and simul. where applicable)

which will be listed, e.g. attk 2HF, def 3LC, for short. These are determined by class, level, and equipment worn:

class (type and #)
level (#)
equipment (type)

	determined by
	class	level	equipment
#attk	X	X
#def	X	X
attk type	X		X
def type	X		X

Fantasy Combat Type (FC)

Some creatures (such as dragons or demons) are exceptionally powerful and cannot be fought by mere mortal men. Such monsters can only be vanquished using the Fantasy Combat rules. Certain character classes are able to advance onto the Fantasy Combat tables, and if so are given an FC type. This only occurs for some classes and only at higher levels.