Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game
 

Rules and Miniature Abilities

Disclaimer - Most of this page is based on messageboard posts; it is unclear to me how much is accurate, so take it all with a grain of salt!

Set-up

Each Entry kit comes with (I think) 8 different terrain cards of about the same size as Chainmail's terrain cards. I only saw one Entry pack, so I don't know if all packs have the same assortment of terrain cards.

The terrain cards are divided into two categories: assembly tiles and feature tiles (Like sacred circle, abbatoir, statue room, treasure room).

In a two player game, each player takes one assembly tile and three feature tiles. The first player puts his assembly tile in one corner of the battle mat so that the squares marked "exit" overlap the corresponding squares on the battle mat. The second player puts his assembly tile in the opposite corner (measured the long way) of the rectangular battlemat. The players then alternate placing their feature tiles anywhere they wish, subject to: no tiles can overlap, and walls or other impassable areas on tiles must be 2 squares or more away from the walls of the battlemat. basically, they don't want you to have to deal with squeezing rules for Large creatures.

Once all the tiles have been placed, put all of you minis in legal spots (i.e. not in walls or on top of statues) on you assembly tile.

As you may have inferred from the description, the default setup rules assume you are fighting an indoor battle. All the terrain cards are indoor tiles. I guess this makes sense, as the game is not called "Wide Open Spaces and Dragons".

When setting up, any one player may not use more than one copy of the same feature tile.

Basic Rules

For the most part the game used normal D&D 3.5E rules. Each mini comes with a stat card, one side for the game (some things have been altered like damage, it is not rolled is is just assigned a number like 10) and on the other side are the stats from the RPG.

Damage and hit points are in multiples of 5.

Turn Sequence

1. Every player rolls for Initiative on 1d20, adding your best Commander's rating. The player with the highest initiative chooses who goes first.

Each player Activates two of his characters. This choice can have strategic benefits in the long run. For example, by allowing an opponent to go first you could possibly force them to move to you and thus lose an extra attack. Play continues clockwise with each player activating two characters.

2. You can move a number a spaces equal to your speed. If you want to move diagonally it cost more. The first space is 1 the second 2 and so on. To be honest we didn't mess with moving diagonally too much.

All Characters can do two actions. You can move your Speed, Make a Melee Attack(if adjacent to target), Make a Range Attack(if you have a clear Line Of Sight), Use a Feat, etc. You can also move double your speed if you forego an attack. Also, if you have more than one attack you can take them all if you don't move.

Play continues in that fashion until everyone has activated all four characters.

3. After all four of your characters have been activated it is a new turn and everyone rolls a new initiative and the game goes on.

4. At either a set time or when there is a last man standing the game ends. At a set time game each remaining player adds up his captured pieces point values. The player with the highest point value captured wins.

Charging, cover, and movement rules are as per D&D 3.5--including the excellent "corner" rule for determining ranged combat cover.

A Character can only be activated once per a turn.

Attacks

You Attack just like you do in D&D 3.5(3.0 as well). Roll your D20 and add in your bonuses. If this meets or beats your opponents Armor Class you hit and do your Damage. If the damage done is half or more of your hit points you must make as Morale check.

Most Ranged weapons do not have range limitations. As long as you have line of sight you can shoot. A few ranged weapons list a maximum range on the stat card.

If you roll a 20, you score a critical hit (x2 damage), there is no confirmation roll.

Ranged attacks and spells MUST be targeted at the nearest visible enemy (there is no "attack anywhere" order).

When an enemy mini is in melee contact with one of your minis, he receives a +4 bonus to AC against your ranged attacks. According to PHB rules, you would receive a -4 to attack roll, but the enemy would not get an AC bonus.

Soft cover (from another mini) and flanking are handled exactly like the PHB.

Creatures that have Melee Reach (2 square reach) must still close to base to base contact in order to make a charge.

There is no concept of being "downed" like there was in Chainmail. All models die when reduced to 0 hp.

Attacks of Opportunity

A figure that breaks contact with another figure suffers an Attack of Opportunity (AoO), but need not make a Morale check as in Chainmail.

Troops can make as many AoO a round as present themselves (but only one per round against the same enemy model).

Saving Throws

Saving throws are d20 + Level. You must roll greater or equal to a target number (DC) to succeed.

Spells have standardised saving throw DCs listed on the cards.

Morale

If a figure drops to half its hit points or fewer, it must make a morale check.

A morale check is a d20 roll + the figure's level + the Commander's Command Rating. If you roll 20 or higher (a DC 20 roll), you succeed.

If you fail, you must exit the board as quickly as possible. A commander may try to Rally you if you're within range next turn, allowing another Morale save. A miniature that leaves the board is eliminated.

If a Routing creature finds itself under Command (or if it's a Commander) it can attempt to Rally (another Morale Save) if it succeeds it stops and does nothing more (but is no longer Routed).

You add your Command rating (or the highest Command rating from Commanders you are under) when you make a Morale Save. So yes, Commanders can rout like anyone else.

Commanders

Every warband has a Commander who has a Commander rating that comes into play throughout the game. Commander's also have Special Abilites or Bonuses they can bestow upon the other characters as long as they are all within 6 squares of each other.

All command auras of different types stack on any mini that is affected by them. For auras that are the same type (e.g. attack + 1 and attack +2), only the strongest applies.

Commanders allow allies to move in a directed fashion (rather than just move slowly toward the nearest enemy) and give a bonus to allies within 6' (such as +2 Attack bonus, or +2 AC bonus). If your Commander is lost your characters are reduced to attacking the closest enemy piece.

Unlike the description of the new Marshal base class, D&D Mini commanders are not affected by ANY command aura - neither their own or that of any other commander.

Command and Movement:

A creature under command can move using its listed speed, unless that creature is routing or helpless.

A creatures that is out of command moves much slower, and it is considered to have a speed of 2.

Exception: An Out Of Command creature CAN rush toward the nearest enemy it can see and reach during its turn. It moves up to double its NORMAL speed toward that enemy and can take any path, so long as it ends its movement adjacent to that enemy (It can even Charge if it meets those conditions). Being Out Of Command limits a creatures options, it can move really slow, or it recklessly rushes into combat.

A mini that starts its turn out of command stays out of command will stay that way the entire turn, even if it moves to where it would be in command. A mini that starts its turn in command stays in command will stay that way the entire turn, even if it moves to where it would be out of command. Minis that move into the range of a command aura immediately benefit from that aura.

Playing Time

A game with 4 people with 6 creatures was resolved in about 30 minutes.

Figure Cards and Abilities

Each character has a Level, Speed, Armor Class, Hit Points, Point Value. The character also has Attack Values, # of Attacks and Damage Values. Damage is done in increments of 5.

Any Special Abilites(Feats) are also on the character card.

Saving throws are consolidated into a single number - the figure's Level.

Playing Surface and Terrain

The game comes with a 3'x3'(?) playmat, marked it 1" squares.

The game also has Terrain Cards, that add a little flair to the game board. They also add some strategic elements such as cover and hiding. The Terrain cards also have Exit written in the far corner of 4 of the cards.

Commander Effects

Commanders have a special effect on all your figures within 6 inches.

• All your figures within 6" get Cleave (Cleric of Gruumsh)
• All your figures within 6" get +2 melee attack (Half-Orc Fighter)

Spells

Spells get short shrift in the rulebook- there are not even any specific spell descriptions in the book. For a given spell, all the description you get for a spell you get right on the card. For example: cat's grace: +2 ranged attack, +2 armor class

The rule book does go into some detail about the general mechanics of spells, which includes things like:

when in a theatened area of an enemy model, you cannot cast a spell, unless you have cover against all threatening enemies. When you have cover, I don't think you even take an AoO for casting.

You can always cast a spell of range touch, even if you are threatened and have no cover.

At least some spells will have a range of "Your Warband", although I don't know if any such spells show up in Harbinger.

Spell resistance has been abstracted to a simple "roll 11+ to defeat an enemies Spell resistance" There is no Spell Resistance XX. Or if you like, the only Spell Resistance XX is exactly Spell Resistance 11.

Models with Spell Resistance can suppress their resistance in order to receive beneficial spells. Models with Spell Immunity can never be affected by spells, and can NOT suppress the ability in order to receive beneficial spells

As in chainmail, "wizard" types get a certain number each of specific spells (there is no mechanism for swapping them out for different spells), while "sorcerer types" get a number of spell casts per level, and a small choice of spells of each level. The sorcerer with 4 uses of 1st level spells and 2 spells of 1st level can cast those two spells in any combination that adds up to four castings. They can use a higher level slot for a lower level spell.

There are rules for summoning spells. When the summoner dies, the summoned creature disappears. If a summoned creature is killed, the enemy who killed it gets no credit for the points.

When a model has ENERGY Vulnerability, for every 10 points of damage it would take from a spell or ability using that energy type, the model takes an extra 5 hp damage. So 5 would stay 5, 10 would turn to 15, 15 would turn to 20, 20 would turn to 30, etc.

For ranged spells, you must target the closest enemy that you can see. For spells that use cones though, I think you can position the cone however you like, as long as you include the closest model in the blast. That is, you don't have to center the cone on the target.

The back of the included battlemat includes handy templates for two directions of cones, and a 2" and 4" area effect.

Figure Abilities

• Beast Master - Animals and Magical Beasts in your warband that are of equal or lower level than the creature's Beast Master rating are treated as if they didn't have the Difficult Special ability.
• Conceal #: When attacking a mini with Conceal #, first make your attack. If successful on the attack you must roll # or higher to actually hit the mini. The text for the Conceal ability mentioned the Blur spell as a way for a mini to acquire Conceal
• Confused (I suppose this is what the Umber Hulk does to minis): If a model is confused, roll on the following table to see what happens (numbers approximate):
  1-5 your model is controlled by an enemy (don't remember how this is chosen). You can kill your model while under enemy control, but they get the credit for it.
  6-15 your model does not act
  16-20 you control your model normally.
• Countersong: Countersong has a radius of six squares. Any enemy mini in the radius of Countersong may not receive auras from any of its commanders. A commander within the Countersong radius may not give its aura to any of its models.
• Improved Countersong: Like Countersong, but in addition: enemy mini in the radius of Improved Countersong may not be put under command by any of its commanders. A commander within the Improved Countersong radius may not put any of its models under command
• Energy Vulnerability - For every 10 points of damage the model would take from a spell or ability using that energy type, the model takes an extra 5 hp damage. So 5 would stay 5, 10 would turn to 15, 15 would turn to 20, 20 would turn to 30, etc.
• Faction Building - an ability possessed by the Cleric of Yondalla figure. Any halfling figure can be in the warband regardless of faction. (Thanks to RamblingScribe on the Wizards' boards. this thread)
• Fearlessness - an ability possessed by the Human Paladin. This figure does not need to make morale checks.
• Requires (X) - This ability can be anything from requiring a specific mini to requires commander (like the Earth Elemental has).
• Tyrannical Rally #: In addition to his commander rating, a commander with Tyranical Rally can also add # to any attempts to rally a routed ally. However, if the routing mini fails to rally even with the help of the Tyranical Rally, the routing mini is immediately destroyed.
• Undead - includes a lot of other abilities like immune sleep, immune critical hits etc, but I can't remember if it includes immune fear. Undead can definitely rout when turned.
• Unique - You can only have one Krusk in your warband. Your opponent(s) may also have Krusk in his warband. As for fighting each other, yes, the rulebook says to assume yours is the real Krusk and the other(s) is/are dopplegangers or clones. Prove that yours is the real thing by winning the battle. ;-)
  
  The game definitely anticipates progression of the iconic characters. The description for the "Unique" ability mentions that what must be unique is the "given name" of the character. They specifically mention as an example that if you have "Tordek, Dwarven Fighter" and "Tordek, Dwarven Champion", only one of them can be in your warband.
• Whirlwind Attack - an ability possessed by the Sister of the Axe. This figure can attack all adjacent enemy figures with an attack.

Figure Stats

Incomplete, but should give you an idea - MB

• Goblin Sneak - 5 hp, 5 damage, +2 Attack, +4 Ranged Attack, 6 speed, 15 AC, Sneak Attack 5, slow ranged attack
• Half-Orc Fighter - 20 HP, Speed 4, Attack +8, Damage 10, AC 18, Commander 2, allies within 6' get +2 Attack.
• Human Blackguard - 70 HP, Spd 4, AC 20, Lvl 9, Melee Attack +14/+9, Damage 10 magic, Spec: Tyrannical Morale, Commander 4, Sneak Attack +5, Smite Good +10 []; Spells 1st-cure moderate wounds [] (touch; heal 10 hp); doom [] (sight; attack -2; DC 13).
• Human Executioner - 30 HP, 10 Damage, +6 Attack, 6 speed, 14 AC, Executioner's Axe: +10 Attack & +15 damage to enemies that are fleeing or out of command
• Half-Orc Monk - 20 HP, 10/10 damage, +6/+6 Attack, 8 speed, 16 AC, Deflect Arrows
• Sister Of The Axe - 50 HP, Speed 8, Damage 10, Whirlwind Attack.

You can find more statistics here.