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Giacomo Pantalone and Federico Valsecchi

version 0.13
Beta Release
(Don’t share it around)

Writing and Editing: Giacomo pantalone

Game Design: Giacomo Pantalone, Federico Valsecchi
Support Game Design: Carl Olsen
Proofreading: Carl Olsen, Adam “Az” Domagalski, Benjamin Madjanovich, Tryvor Phillips
Layout and Graphics: Giacomo Pantalone, Federico Valsecchi, Michele Finelli
Long-time Advisors: Thilo Hartung, Tim Popelier
Alpha Testers: Tom Glauser, Carl Olsen, Abnatha Pryde, Thilo Hartung, Graham Cooper, Michele
Caponi, Roberto Vasta, Alessandro Rettani, Michele Finelli, Giacomo Castellana, Marco Germani,
Alban Voss
Beta Testers: Simon Mann (more to come!)
Photos: Giacomo Pantalone, Benjamin Guthrie
Miniatures and Terrain by: The Lazy Forger, Ground Zero Games, White Dragon Miniatures.
2

BASIC CONCEPTS drawing from the reinforcements deck is an

important part of the game dynamics.
FSD is a miniature wargame for small-scale
miniatures, which encompasses any scale from During the game the cards are on the table
3mm to 15mm and over. Vehicles and mechs (representing “available” resources deployed or
are handled individually, and infantry troops ready to be deployed) or in one of the reinforce-
move in small teams, either as grouped figures ment piles.
or multi-based stands. Units Characteristics
Game Size Each Unit card lists four characteristics:
Troops and terrain in FSD should roughly rep- • Command (Cmd): allows units to activate
resent the real numbers and distances of the in coordinated groups.
real battle. Therefore, most of the games are
• Defense: the threshold to hit the Unit with
small skirmishes between two platoons (or small
an attack.
companies) in a tight area.
• Save: the armor save rolls to cancel hits.
Due to the abstraction level, no exact time or
distance scale is provided: things happen until • Movement (Move): The movement (in DUs)
the scenario is completed. the Unit can perform in one action.
Distances in FSD are measured in Distance The Game Round
Units (DUs), which vary depending on the A Round is a game period where all players are
scale of the miniatures used. A table is generally able to use their Units and Support Cards to
between 12 x 8 and 12 x 12 DUs. That corre- perform functions.
sponds to a 2’x3’ table if 1 DU = 3” (for 6mm
miniatures) or a 4’x6’ table where 1 DU = 6” Rounds are made up of the six phases (listed
(reasonable for 15mm miniatures). on page 5). During the Alternating Activations
phase players alternates turns where each
As long as the value of 1 DU is agreed upon, it player may activate a Unit (or more than one if
is absolutely fine to change it at will (and possi- the activated Unit has a command value), play
bly use the metric system as well). a Support Card or deploy new Units from the
Basing reserve into play.
The models for the game are always counted Objectives in scenarios are always considered
in bases: the exact number of figures on each at the end of each Round.
base is not particularly relevant. Activation Dice (ADs)
There is no mandatory size or shape of bases: Players use six-sided Activation Dice (ADs) to
Use what you already have or what you like activate Units, perform Units’ special actions,
the most. It would be ideal to have a consistent and to activate Support cards.
base size among the armies playing during a
game. As a rule of thumb, a base side should Each player’s force for a certain scenario has
be roughly a third of a DU (with exceptions of the following stats:
very large war machines). • AD Pool: The number of ADs available to
Units and Cards them throughout the game. With the stan-
dard AD Pool of 12, each player requires 12
There are three types of Units: Infantry, Mech six-sided ADs.
and Vehicles.
• AD Capacity: The maximum number of
Units can be composed of one or more bases ADs they can roll and put in their Unspent
(mostly Infantry), and are represented by a card pile at the end of the Activation Dice Roll
which the controlling player should keep on phase.
their side of the table.
Some ADs are rolled at the beginning of each
Players create their force from a selection of Round by both players and those will be used
cards, representing Units, Support abilities and in the alternating turns before the end of the
Characters that can be assigned to Units. Round. If some are remaining at the end of a
The use of cards is not purely cosmetic: parts Round they can be left on cards for the next.
of the force will start the game in reserve, and However, the AD Pool is limited, and players
 3

might end up without enough ADs to roll! be reduced to d6 or increased to d10. d6s can-
ADs represent the limited choices players have not be reduced and d12 cannot be increased.
each Round, and will be spent to activate Units. Scenarios
They are also necessary for most special actions Battles in FSD are organized in scenarios. Each
from Units and Support Cards which have AD will present starting conditions for the table,
slots on them. point limitations for the factions, and other nec-
The value rolled on each AD matters: When- essary boundaries.
ever a slot on a card indicates a number or a Scenarios are essential to create a driving force
numeric range (such as 4-6, 1-2, or 1) only ADs in the game, pushing towards the dynamics that
with such results can be used for it. the players are looking for in the game.
We strongly recommend using colored dice for Victory cards also provide players with an in-
ADs, so that you won’t accidentally roll them as complete view of how the game is going: each
regular D6s during combat. card contains a number of Victory Points (which
Combat Dice determine the winner of the scenario) and once
Players will also require a few (half a dozen) d6, received are kept hidden from the opponents,
d8, d10 and d12 which will be used to deter- so players won’t have certainty of the result of
mine the outcome of combat. the battle until the end of the scenario when all
the cards are revealed.
Dice Roll Conventions
Battle Setup
Many weapons roll more than one die when
used: a weapon with 3d8 of damage will roll In most cases, each scenario will indicate the
three eight-sided dice. Each die roll is treated portion of the players’ armies that will start in
individually (not added together) and could lead reserve. Both players then secretly choose which
to one damage to the target Unit. of their cards will begin in reserve and in what
order. Reserve cards are then placed to the side
In some cases (such as defense save rolls) sev- of the gaming area.
eral dice are rolled but only the highest result is
used. A number between parentheses indicates Choosing the order of the waves of cards in
how many dice should be rolled. For example, reserve is very important for a battle strategy:
a tank with armor d10(2) will roll two ten-sided players must anticipate when and where rein-
dice and choose the higher value. forcement Units will be needed.

When dice are reduced or increased by one The remaining cards are placed face-up on the
category, replace the die with one of a lower or players’ sides of the table. Players then alter-
higher number of faces. For example, a d8 can nate placing one of their Units at a time in the
deployment area described in the scenario.
4

PREPARATION Unit card showing only the top half containing

relevant rules and actions.
Before starting the first Round of the game play-
ers must prepare everything that is needed for Place the figures on their corresponding cards
the game. for ease of tracking until they are deployed.
Setting up the Table Players shuffle their personal deck of nine
Victory Cards and place it in front of them face
The scenario will specify where terrain should down.
be placed to provide cover and to block paths
for the troops. Next to it they place their reinforcement Wave
Decks face down in the order they wish to
There is no specific rule to place terrain but the deploy them during the game. The number of
easiest way to guarantee a fair battleground is cards in each deck should be visible to the op-
to have one player prepare the table and the ponent but not their composition.
other choosing which side to play on.
Units Placement
It is important that players agree on the differ-
ent properties of the terrain elements, such as Starting from the player with lower command
whether they provide cover bonus or if they’re among the available Units, players alternate
passable by infantry or vehicles. placing the Unit on the table one at a time in
the available deployment areas indicated by the
Placing Objectives scenario.
The objectives of a scenario are placed accord- Players can choose to keep some of the avail-
ing to the provided instructions. However, minor able Units off the table at the beginning of the
differences in terrain could create an advantage game and to deploy them in later rounds (see
for one side. Alternate between players on plac- in the next chapter). This is generally less con-
ing objectives, and discuss their position until venient because the Units can perform fewer
agreed upon by all. actions when deploying during the game but it
Cards and Figures can provide a tactical advantage.
Each player must place their force’s available Activation Dice
cards on their side of the table. All ADs are placed in the Spent pile before the
Cards representing Characters that are as- beginning of the game.
signed to Units should be placed behind the
 5

THE GAME ROUND Moving Activation Dice

The Round Sequence In a standard game each player has an AD Pool
of 12 and an AD Capacity of 8. ADs are used
Each Round is divided in the following phases,
to activate Units, prepare Units to react, and to
which are then better discussed in the following
perform actions.
chapters:
All ADs are either:
1: Initiative Roll • On a card: waiting to be used to activate
The winner of the roll determines which player the Unit (as an activation or a reaction)
will start activating first. • Unspent: ready to be used to activate Units
2: Adding Reinforcements and perform actions
Reinforcement waves are added to the players’ • Spent: ready to be rolled in future Rounds.
deployable forces Spent ADs cannot be used for anything until
3: Activation Dice Roll they are rolled again in a new Round (unless a
Players take Spent ADs and roll them, adding special rule or a Support Card states otherwise).
them to the Unspent pile. The number of ADs When rolled ADs are moved to the Unspent
can be up to the AD Capacity value for the pile, and can be assigned either during the
current scenario. pre-assigning phase or during the alternating
activations.
After rolling the ADs players can choose to re-
roll any number of them once. Initiative Roll
This phase is particularly important for the Both players roll a d6 each adding the highest
game, since the Unspent ADs are necessary to Command value of their deployed Units.
activate Units, and to perform special actions Any Unit that is out of combat or not deployed
with them. yet does not count for that. Characters can
4: Pre-Assigning ADs increase the Command of the Units they are in,
improving chances of winning the initiative.
Before alternating activations all players can
choose to place some of the Unspent ADs. This Reinforcements
allows players who did not win the initiative to The scenario you are playing specifies which
be able to react with their Units. It is however Rounds players get reinforcements. When a
wise not to assign too many ADs in this phase player receives reinforcements they place all the
since it’s possible to do it later. Unit cards from the next available Reinforce-
See the Placing ADs on Cards paragraph. ment Wave Deck into the active Unit card area.
5: Alternating Activations The newly added Units do not get placed on the
table immediately, but become available to be
Players alternate taking turns. Before each turn
deployed (see Deploying Units).
a player can place more ADs on cards.
Activation Dice Roll
This phase is where most of the time is spent
each Round. The turns alternate until all play- All players roll a number of ADs from the Spent
ers pass in a row. Activated Units have their pile which is up to the AD capacity for the cur-
cards marked (usually by rotating them) and rent game and places them in the Unspent pile.
ADs that are spent for activations and actions Then, select any number of those ADs and re-
are moved to the Spent pile. roll them once. The second roll stands as is.
See the Alternating Activations paragraph. Pre-Assigning ADs
6: End of the Round Players choose any number of the rolled ADs
While ending the Round the cards of the Units and place them on cards. This allows the Units
that activated are unmarked. Then, any Un- the player who didn’t win the initiative to be
spent AD can now be placed on the cards to able to react from the very beginning of the
be used the next Round, or can be put in the game (see the Reactions paragraph in the next
Spent pile instead. chapter).
See the End of the Round paragraph.
6

Alternating Activation
Starting with the player winning the Initiative
Roll, players alternate taking turns.
Each turn the acting player can place any num-
ber of unspent ADs on cards, then perform one
of the following:
• Deploy a Unit
(See Deploying Units, page 6)
• Activate a deployed Unit
(See Activating Units, page 7)
• Activate a Support Card
(See Support Cards, page 8)
• Pass. (See below)
The player this turn needed in particular to perform a
Passing 1+2 ability with a Unit and has another 3 Units requir-
ing a 5-6 to use their main weapon.
A player may choose to pass their turn. Players
Rolling 8 ADs the results aren’t great: only two ADs
may pass their chance to activate any number are within 5 and 6. The player re-rolls five dice (in
of times during a Round. If all players pass in a red): with the new results they can now perform all
row, the Round moves to the End of the Round the actions needed (in yellow and green). The remain-
ing dice will still be useful to activate the Units.
phase.
special action cannot be used to activate or to
Placing ADs on Cards
react with the Unit.
During each activation a player can place any
Placed ADs cannot be moved again during this
number of Unspent Activation Dice on any of
Round, but placing them in advance is useful
their cards:
for Reactions and triggered abilities (see in the
If it is placed on the top area of the card it can Combat section).
be used to activate or to react with the Unit.
Deploying Units
If an AD is placed on a special action slot it
Units that are not placed on the table during
can be used to activate that ability when the
the game preparation and that are not hidden
Unit activates. Note that an AD placed on a
in the upcoming reinforcement decks could be
deployed as an activation. Deploying is the way
Units are added on the table during the game.
A Unit is deployed by placing it in any valid

At the end of the previous turn the player had two ADs
left on their cards and one unspent.
When the new turn begins, they replenish their Un-
spent dice up to their Capacity, which is generally 8.
The total number of ADs that the player has is deter-
mined by the AD pool, and is generally 12. The active player, while activating a card can place
dice on the card’s abilities (A), and at the same time
The player then rolls the 8 ADs, and depending on dice to other cards (B), and/or ability slots (C).
what results they prefer, decides to reroll some.
 7

deploy area allowed by the scenario (such as

a table edge or an area around certain objec-
tives).
No ADs are required to deploy a Unit.
By default a Unit cannot be deployed closer
than 2 DU from an opponent. In case there
are no points on the table that do not fulfill this
condition the Unit cannot be deployed at all. If
the terrain allows it, the bases of the Unit can be
deployed in cover.
Special actions or Support Cards allow Units to
be deployed in different points of the table. In
particular, disembarking from a transport counts
as deployment and the bases are placed as
close as possible to the transport. In these cases
there are no limits regarding the distance from
opposing Units.
Units that are deployed activate immediately but
perform one less action than usual. The Gun Platform has several Special Actions to choose
from: The Light MG doesn’t require extra ADs; De-
Activating Units ploying the Spider Drones requires a 6 and a 1; the
Heavy cannon requires an AD with a value between 4
To activate a Unit the player must have one AD and 6, and to shoot both barrels at once it requires an
additional 6.
placed on the top area of the respective card.
That dice is moved to the spent pile as soon as Some special actions on the Unit card present
the Unit activates. one or more square slots with a numeric range
in it: to perform those actions the player must
When a Unit is activated it may perform up
have placed ADs with a value within the range
to two actions. The possible actions are:
in the slot. All the other actions can be per-
• Movement: it is the only action that could formed without spending extra ADs.
be performed more than once.
An action must be performed by all the bases of
• Unpin: if the Unit is pinned, this action must the Unit. All actions of a Unit can be performed
be performed before anything else only once per Round, with the exception of
• Control an Objective: necessary to win the Movement.
game. See the Playing a Scenario chapter. Once a Unit has been activated in the Round it
• Special Actions: Any action listed on the cannot be activated again or react until the next
card, either free or with a cost in ADs. Round: slightly rotate the card to indicate that
the Unit has used its activation.
8

Movement
Movement is performed in consecutive straight
lines of 1 DU each.
For instance a Unit with movement 3 will be
able to break each Move action in three seg-
ments of 1 DU each (or a fraction of it), chang-
ing direction at the end of each straight line.
A Unit is allowed to perform multiple movement
actions during a single activation. However, all
movements after the first are reduced by 1
DU, to a minimum of 1 DU.
Moving Close to Opponents The last segment of the movement of a vehicle deter-
mines its facing.
Units cannot move close to opposing Units then
move away. In other words, A Unit with a move- Commanding Units
ment path crossing within 1 DU of any oppos-
When activating a Unit with a command value
ing Unit can either end its movement or move
you may also activate a number of Units up to
directly towards that Unit.
the command value.
A Unit which begins its activation within 1 DU of
The commanded Units must have at least one
an opposing Unit may use the first movement
of their bases within 2 DU of the commanding
segment to move out of the opposing Unit’s 1
Unit. A Unit activated by a command cannot
DU control area.
use its command value to activate other Units in
Unpin that activation.
The Unpin action removes any pinned status Units do not require ADs to be activated
from the Unit. through commanding.
A Unit that is pinned (see the Pinning paragraph
in the next chapter) must unpin before being
able to perform any other action.
Unit Coherence
At the end of a movement action, all bases in
multi-base Units must be within 1 DU of anoth-
er base in the Unit.
If this is not possible, the Unit becomes immedi-
ately Pinned.
Movement and Facing
For some Units it is important how the base is
facing at the end of their activation.
A tank (which has Command 2) when activating can
Units can change their facing in any direction activate the other two Units around it. If the Jeep
at the beginning of a Movement action and will (Command 1) gets activated first, however, will only
activate one other Unit!
end the action in the direction of the last move-
ment segment. Triggered Abilities
For example, a tank with movement 3DU run- Triggered abilities have the “Trigger” keyword in
ning in a straight line will be facing the direction their description.
of the line. However, if the tank wants to change
facing it could move 2DU in a straight line and Some Unit abilities are triggered by certain con-
then use the last DU to perform a tiny move- ditions during the game (for example, Reactive
ment in another direction or even to rotate in Armor provides a Defense bonus against one
place. attack when shot at by spending the AD).
If the required dice are placed on the ability, the
 9

player may decide to activate the ability spend-

ing the AD.
This does not require the Unit to activate, and
may be used even if the Unit has already acti-
vated this Round.
Support Cards
To activate a Support Card from the table a
player must spend the required number of ADs.
If no AD slot is present on the card, it can be
activated without spending ADs.
After being activated the card cannot be used
again until the next Round. Slightly rotate the
card to indicate that the Support Card has used
its activation.
Cards with the “Single Use” keyword or requir-
ing to “discard the card” after use are removed
from play after being activated and cannot be
used again.
End of the Round
All the ADs placed on Unit Cards that have
not been used may be left in place for the next
Round.
When the Round ends, all the Units and Sup-
port cards that have been used are unmarked,
and unspent ADs can be placed on any Unit or
Support card.
Players may remove any dice from their cards
and place them in the Spent AD pile.
10

COMBAT
Line of Sight
Shooting is performed from the individual bases
of the shooting Unit towards any base of the
target Unit that is in line of sight.
A target base is in line of sight if a line can
be traced from any point of it to the center
of the shooting base without intersecting any
LoS-blocking terrain elements such as buildings
or rock formations.
Enemy Units’ bases count as LoS-blocking ele-
ments.
In multi-base Units, a player chooses which
base will be the shooting base performing the The Light Mech activates using both the main MG and
the shoulder cannon. It rolls 2d6 for the former scoring
action when determining LoS. Some actions will a 3 and a 6, and 1d8 AP for the latter scoring a 7.
be marked with a “per base” keyword to indi-
The target tanks receives two hit (the 3 misses), and
cate that each base of the Unit will perform the must save with the 2d10 armor against the 6. Against
action. the cannon (AP) it rolls only 1d10, becoming more
vulnerable.
Shooting Roll
Armor Piercing
Shooting is performed by rolling a number of
dice of the type indicated by the weapon profile. Save rolls against weapons with the “Armor
Each roll that is equal to or greater than the Piercing” keyword, or against attacks from less
target Defense is a hit. than 1 DU of distance (see the Close Combat
paragraph), may only roll 1 die.
The die result for each hit is important for
resolving the save roll, as explained in the next Vehicles Side
paragraph. For vehicles save rolls are reduced by 1 die cat-
For example: A light vehicle shooting with its egory against attacks from the sides.
machinegun rolls 3d6 against a target with A vehicle’s front is considered to be the 180
Defense 4. The rolls are a 2, a 4 and a 6. The 4 degrees arc in the direction it is facing, across
and 6 result in Two hits! the front of the model. Every other direction is
Save Roll considered a side.
For each hit the target Unit perform a Save Roll For example: a Unit with armor 1d8(2) would
to avoid damage. roll 1d6(2) against attacks from the sides.
The defender rolls the type and number of dice
indicated by the Unit card Defense stat, and
choose the highest among the values. If the
chosen value is equal to or higher than the
hit roll, the hit is canceled.
Continuing the example above, if the target is
another vehicle with Defense d8(2) it will roll
2d8 for each successful hit:
• To save against the 4 the rolls are 3, 7: the
hit is canceled!
• To save against the 6 the rolls are 5, 6: the
hit is not canceled.
Each non-canceled hit results in one damage. The same cover elements provides a 360° arc cover
to any infantry in contact, but only a directional 180°
Units with no Armor cannot cancel hits, and the cover for vehicles. Agree with your opponent regard-
damage is directly applied to them. ing terrain covers on the table before the game.
 11

Cover Units fired on from a range greater than the

weapon’s range increase their Defense value by
Cover provides additional defense to models by
one.
increasing the Unit’s Defense.
Some long-range weapons will have a mini-
Infantry models in contact with any terrain are
mum range value too: any of the opponent’s
considered in cover from all directions and
bases that are closer than that range cannot be
increase their Defense by two.
targeted.
Mechs and Vehicles only benefit from cover
Reactions
when in direct contact and the terrain is be-
tween it and the firing Unit. Cover for Mechs An unactivated Unit with an AD placed on it
and Vehicles increases their Defense by one. may react when it is declared as the target of
a ranged attack, or when an opponent’s Unit
Cover is always ignored if the shooter is within
performs a movement while in line of sight.
1 DU from the target (see the Close Combat
Paragraph). When a Unit reacts it can only perform one
action. After reacting the Unit is marked as ac-
Pinning
tivated and all ADs used for the activation and
When an infantry Unit receives a Hit it becomes the performed action are moved to the Spent
pinned (even if the hit is saved). ADs pile.
Mechs and Vehicles are pinned when a hit is not The Unit cannot activate or react again this
saved and a damage roll is required. Round. When reacting to an opposing Unit’s
A pinned model must spend an action to Unpin movement the reacting player may choose the
and cannot perform any other action as long point along the movement path to resolve the
as it is pinned. attack.
As long as a model is pinned it cannot perform Combat results between the acting and reacting
Reactions and is not counted for scenario objec- Units are resolved simultaneously. Both Units
tive purposes. will resolve their actions and results will be ap-
plied at the same time.
A model cannot be pinned if it is already
pinned. The pinning status remains until an Pinning from Reactions
Unpin action is performed by the Unit. A Unit could trigger an opponent reaction in its
Weapons Range first action, and as a result end up pinned. That
Unit must Unpin with the next action available,
As long as the target is in line of sight all weap- which could be performed in the same Round.
ons can fire up to twice their range value in DU.
For example, a Unit might choose to move to

When reacting while shot by A, the Unit could decide to shoot back, run away or use other special actions.
If reacting to B running the Unit can choose to shoot at it while in the open.
In any case, if the Unit reacts it will miss the chance to activate later in the turn and perform multiple actions.
12

get in range, planning to shoot in the second base, it can perform all the special actions that
action of the Round. If that Unit is pinned, it are listed on the Unit’s card.
won’t be able to shoot this Round but it will Infantry Units receiving more than one dam-
immediately unpin instead. age from an attack must remove one base
An individual movement action that triggers a per damage, starting with those closest to the
reaction can still be concluded after the shoot- shooter. Only bases within the shooter’s line of
ing rolls, regardless of the pinned status. sight may be removed. Bases that are in cover
Multiple Reactions or partially hidden can still be removed, as long
they are in line of sight.
A Unit performing an action as a reaction it
could trigger another Unit’s reaction too. For Damage Rolls
example, in a standoff situation multiple Units When a vehicle or a Mech receives damage it
from both side could choose to react to the first becomes pinned.
shot fired in a chain of reactions. Roll 1D6 for each damage received. On the
Just like in the case of a single reaction all the bottom of each card there are several colored
combat actions are resolved at the same time, damage effect boxes with numbers indicating
and then the effects are applied to all the Units the result of the 1d6 roll. Multiple numbers
involved. could refer to the same box: any of the indicat-
Close Combat ed results will cause the box to be hit.

Any Unit may perform a normal ranged com- We recommend using tiny counters to indicate
bat action as a Close Combat attack against a which boxes have been already hit.
target within 1 DU. Weapons with the “contact” A unit is destroyed when it receives a single
keyword can only perform an attack when the damage result on a red box, or when it receives
Unit is in base contact with its target. a second damage result on the same orange
Close Combat attacks gain Armor Piercing box. Multiple damage results on green boxes
(save rolls are reduced to 1 die) and ignore do not have any effect and do not need to be
cover bonuses. tracked.

Infantry Damage The effects of the damage rolls are applied

immediately and are as follows:
Every time an Infantry Unit receives one dam-
age it must remove one base from the game. • DEAD: the model is removed from the
game
As long as an Infantry Unit has at least one
• MOV - Movement damage: the model re-
ceives -1 movement.
• S1..S4 - System damage: the special action
corresponding to the line 1 to 4 is not avail-
able for the Unit anymore.
• ARM - Armor damage: the model’s armor
dice are reduced by one category.
• RST - Resetting: The model must perform a
full activation rebooting before being able
to activate again.
• PIN - the vehicle receives no penalty. Only
the normal Pinned effect is applied.
Destroyed Vehicles
Once a vehicle is destroyed it is removed from
the game. However, if both players agree, the
In the example above, if a first damage roll scores 2 figures could be left on the table as terrain that
the vehicle is slowed. If a second damage roll scores
1, 2 or 3 the vehicle is removed from play. However, provides cover. In particular, no more than 2 in-
if several damage rolls will all score 6 the vehicle will fantry bases could benefit from the cover bonus
ignore the hits and will simply be pinned. of a destroyed vehicle or mech.
 13

BUILDING YOUR FORCE The special abilities that Characters have can
be used during the activation of the Unit.
To create their own warband players choose a
Faction and build up their army list by purchas- Support Cards
ing a mix of Faction and Universal cards among Support cards represent all the intangible parts
Units, Supports and Characters. of the band, such as external bombardments
The sum of the cost of all the cards of the or reconnaissance information that provides
warband should be the same for all players to tactical advantages. The Support cards can be
guarantee a balanced game. used during the alternating activation, applying
effects on the game just like Units would.
Point System
Deployment and Reinforcements
The point system implemented in FSD is fair-
ly simple: its goal is to allow players to have Units are deployed in a number of waves
balanced fights with the warbands they build, determined by the scenario. The first wave is
but it is not immune to min-maxing and it does deployed by both players before beginning the
not guarantee that any warband will be equally first Round. At the beginning of each Round,
efficient. players reveal the cards in their next wave deck
and the revealed cards become available for
For a standard game of FSD we recommend deployment.
playing with 60 points per side.
Constructing Wave Decks
Activation Dices
The scenario will specify the maximum number
In a 60 points game players will have an AD of points that may be available (deployed or
Pool of 12, and an AD Capacity of 8, limiting to ready to deploy) each Round. Before the game
8 the number of ADs rolled each Round. players organize their force’s cards into wave
In case of different sizes of the game, the AD decks. Wave decks cannot be organized in a
Pool size is 6 + 2 for every 20 points or fraction way that the total allowed points for a Round
of it in the band. The AD capacity is 4 less than would be exceeded. Wave decks should be
the AD Pool. placed face down in the order they are intended
For example, in a 20 points game players will to be used. The order of Wave Decks cannot be
roll 4 dice per Round with a Pool of 8 ADs; on a changed during the game.
80 points game players will roll 10 ADs, with a
Pool of 14.
Unit Cards
The core of the army are the Units. Each is rep-
resented by one card.
Universal Cards and Faction Cards
The Universal cards act as a pool of Units and
Support Cards that every faction can use. They
represent the most standard type of troop and
support Units which fit in any army trope.
In addition to the Universal Cards each Faction
has unique cards (the Faction Cards) that char-
acterize the band and lead to unique gameplay.
Character Cards
Characters are assigned to a Unit and provide
bonuses and special abilities to it. Characters
do not have their own base, and aren’t as-
signed to one specific base of the Unit either:
The same Units can be organized in different Wave
they’re considered to be among the troops, and Decks, as long as the maximum point value each turn
their effects are applied as long as the Unit is is not exceeded. In the examples the points per wave
not completely wiped out. are 28, 37, 49, 60 (left) and 29, 36, 48, 60 (right).
Each Round the points are within the allowed limits.
14

PLAYING SCENARIOS Retrieving Objectives

Now that the forces are ready, it’s time to put Some objectives in scenarios must be retrieved.
them to good use. Scenarios help with that, pro- To retrieve an objective a control action must
viding a context and more importantly a clear be performed without the objective being dis-
objective for the battle for all parties involved. puted. The objective is immediately removed
from the table and is considered retrieved.
Objectives and Victory Points
Destroying Objectives
The victory condition for scenarios is to end
up both with more Victory Points (VPs) than the An objective that can be destroyed is described
opponent and with a positive number of VPs. If in the scenario with a Defense and a save roll
all players end up with negative VP there is no and is treated as any other target.
winner for the scenario. If destroyed, it is removed from the table imme-
End-Game conditions diately.
The rules to consider a game completed de- Losing Victory Points
pends on scenario. At the end of a Round if the In addition to the scenario rules, there are stan-
conditions are met the battle is over. dard conditions that can lead to the loss of VP
Victory Cards for a player:
Players gain VPs by drawing Victory Cards • For every 5 points of Units entirely removed
during the game. Each scenario has different from play, 1 VP is lost as well. Keep a pile of
conditions for the players to draw Victory Cards, the cards of the removed Units to keep track
but it is generally linked with reaching certain of the losses.
objectives. Reinforcements Waves
Each card rewards the player by a certain Reinforcement waves can vary with the scenar-
number of VPs which vary between 1 and 5. The io. Players will have to split their cards between
cards are kept secretly in hand, so that the exact Wave Decks as explained before, and the size
number of VP a player has at any time is hidden of each wave will vary with the scenario.
from the opponent.
Most Victory Cards can be played from your
hand to use an effect described on the card at
the cost of the card being worth less VPs and re-
vealing it to your opponent. Victory card effects
may be used at any time including during an
opponents turns.
Controlling Physical Objectives
Objectives are tokens or terrain elements on the
table.
To control an objective a player must have
a Unit base in contact with it at the end of a
Round, and no enemy Unit contesting it within 1
DU from it. To control or contest an objective a
Unit must not be Pinned or Rebooting.
In order to control or contest an objective,
Vehicles and Mechs must be in base contact
and spend one action to claim it. It is helpful to
use a token to indicate Vehicles and Mechs that
performed a claim action.
At the beginning of each Round players lose
control of all objectives: to control one in subse-
quent Rounds Units must remain in contact with
it.
 15

UNITS Command ability.

Units are characterized by the values contained Disciplined
on their Unit card. The Unit may activate without spending an AD.
In the top area there is the Unit name, type (ei- When activated this way Units may only perform
ther Infantry, Mech or Vehicle) and if necessary 1 action. The Unit cannot perform reactions with
the number of bases the Unit is made of; below, this ability.
the values of Movement, Defense and Armor Fast
Save; lastly, the available actions for the Unit The Unit does not suffer the -1 DU penalty for
(including the free shooting action, if present) movement actions after the first.
and the Unit skills.
Fire Base
The Unit can perform more than one shooting
action per Round. This refers to the standard
shooting, which is otherwise limited to once per
activation.
Flying
The Unit can move across any terrain and will
never be considered in cover.
Line of sight from a flying Unit to a non-flying
Unit is only blocked by terrain that is closer to
the non-flying Unit. Exception to that (such as
very tall buildings) should be agreed upon by all
the players.
A Unit with Flying can’t interact with objectives.
Hard Shell
When the Unit is hit the controlling player rolls
2D6 for the damage roll and chooses one of
the two results to apply the damage effect.
Jamming X
While within X DU of this Unit, opposing Units
Example of a Unit Card. may only perform actions that do not require
extra ADs to be spent on their cards. This ability
Units Special Rules has no effect while this Unit is Pinned or Reset-
Agile ting.
The Unit can move over any terrain that does Jump X
not block the line of sight without penalties.
The Unit is capable of performing a long move,
Camouflage flying above any obstacle, for X DU.
If the Unit is in cover it cannot be targeted by A model jumping does not trigger reactions
distant opponents. from opposing models along the jump path, but
Infantry Units cannot be targeted from greater it does in the take-off and landing locations.
than 2 DU away. Vehicle or Mech Units cannot Large Target
be targeted from greater than 4 DU away.
When targeted by a Long Range Fire attack, the
Capable Unit does not receive any Defense bonus.
The Unit can perform three actions per Round. Load/Unload
Command X A Unit capable of transporting other troops can
The Unit can activate X other Units within 2 DU perform an action to load or unload another
without the need of spending extra ADs. Unit.
Unloading a Unit is a deploy action: the un-
Units activated with this ability may not use their
16

loaded Unit will activate immediately and will

perform one action less than usual.
To load a Unit it must not be activated already
this Round and all of its bases must be within 1
DU from the transport. The Unit is immediately
removed from the table and is considered to be
in the transport.
If the transporting Unit is destroyed, every Unit
contained inside is removed from the game as
well.
Lone Wolf
The Unit can activate without the use of an AD.
The Unit cannot Command or be Commanded.
Reactive
When reacting, the Unit can perform their nor-
mal amount of actions instead of just one.
Silent
The Unit’s actions never trigger a Reaction from
other Units.
Small Target
When targeted by a Long Range Fire, the Unit
receives a bonus of +2 to their Defense, instead
of +1.
Slow
The Unit can perform only one movement ac-
tion per activation.
Thick Armor
When the Unit is hit by AP weapons or by a
close combat attack, the number of save dice is
reduced to two instead of one.
Un-pinnable
The Unit cannot be pinned. Ignore all the
Pinned statuses.
 17

WEAPONS AND ABILITIES Heavy

Most of the special Actions of the Units involve The weapon may not be used in the same
the use of a certain weapon. Being a wargame, Round that this Unit performs a move action.
this should come as no surprise to most readers. Indirect Fire
Weapons have a few characteristics: range (ex- The weapon ignores light of sight when de-
pressed in Distance Units), Damage, and then termining valid targets. This weapon suffers a
special rules. -1 modifier to hit when performing an attack
Nomenclature against a target without line of sight.
The more common weapon special rules are Ignore Cover (IC)
usually abbreviated: in the following section the The weapon ignores Defense bonuses provided
abbreviations are shown next to the damage by cover.
and range. Pass Through
For instance, if a weapon is defined as: The weapon hits everything along the path
Light Mortar between the shooter and the target, up to twice
its maximum range. Normal penalties for Long
1d8 4DU IC Area 1 Range Fire are applied for targets beyond the
Then it will roll 1d8 for damage, up to a range standard range of the weapon.
of 4DU (and up to 8 DU with the Long Range Per Base
Fire penalty). The attack has the ignore Cover
and the Area 1 special rules. The weapon is equipped to each individual
member of the Unit. When using this action all
It’s also important to remember that the acti- the bases in the Unit may shoot.
vation dice value for a certain action is not a
characteristic of the weapon. Different Units will Selective Fire
be able to use the same weapon with a wider This weapon ignores enemy Units when deter-
range of dice than others. mining line of sight.
Non-Weapon Abilities
Units will often have some special actions
available that do not strictly refer to a weapon.
Among these there are Jumps, deployment of
drones or reactions.
All actions (excluding reactions) must be per-
formed during the Unit Activation: instead of
performing an attack roll the Unit will do some-
thing different!
Actions Special Rules
Area X
The weapon damages all the models within a
circle of diameter X DU around the targeted
point. Roll one attack for each base that at least
partially lies within the circle.
Armor Piercing (AP)
The weapon is effective against armored tar-
gets. When saving from a hit, the target Unit
may only roll one die.
Contact
The weapon is not ranged, and requires the at-
tacking Unit to be in base contact with a target.
18

THE TECH Special Rule: Synthetic Pilots

Synthetic species, human worshipping ma- Units of the Tech can only have up to one char-
chines, emancipated service robots or simply acter assigned at any time. On the other hand,
artifacts of war - the Tech represents the highly at the beginning of each Round the Characters
technological factions across all settings. can be moved to any deployed Unit.
If a Unit with a Character is destroyed both
They are not fast, but can deploy numerous
cards are destroyed.
infantry Units and are equipped with high grade
weapons, as well as various mechs. In terms of
support cards, the Tech warbands certainly have
several high-tech tricks up their mechanical
sleeves!
Troops
The various Battle Rigs are definitely the most
characteristic types of Units of the Tech. Zeno
and Socrates rigs cover the role that most fac-
tions would leave to tanks. Larger, slower ma-
chines are available too: equipped with heavy
armor the Plato can crawl in the battlefield
receiving hits like any other vehicle.
On the lighter side, there are options for hu-
man-like droids and four-legged and less au-
tonomous spider droids: the former will always
be necessary to reach the objectives on the
battlefield, while the latter can provide heavy
firepower while exploiting the terrain for cover.
Flying above the battlefield, the Thales Fighters
are equipped with levitation technology that
allows them to stand still in the air and pick the
opponent tanks one by one.
Lastly, humans sometimes join the robots in
their battles. They provide tanks and other
tracked vehicles, especially useful as transports
and infantry-supporting gun platforms.
 19

THE ENLISTED Example: a Unit with an Infantry hero activates

and decides to activate a nearby Unit with an
Representing all the “vanilla” human factions Infantry NCO. Since the NCO has Cmd 2 (while
in sci-fi settings, the Enlisted faction has a lot of the hero has 3), it can then target another 2
ground to cover. Units to activate.
As it is custom in most of the Armies, the En- This effect is applied only once per activation,
listed focus mainly on hierarchy and command and therefore cannot form an endless chain of
to move their infantry and their numerous but Units activating in series.
fairly light vehicles to the objectives.
Troops
Infantrymen are the backbone of the army.
Fighting alongside scouts and heavier power
armors, they all rely on the command of their
NCOs and heroes to activate in groups to reach
their objectives.
Infantry transports and support vehicles are just
as important, compensating for the slow move-
ment speed of infantry.
Continuing with the vehicles, the Enlisted has
several options between Battle Tanks and other
artillery pieces, providing both firepower against
enemy armour and suppression fire against
artillery. Groups of tanks can be guided by the
expert commanders across the table, but alone
are not very effective to control objectives.
The larger bipedal rigs carrying heavy weapon-
ry are less sophisticated than the Tech ones but
are harder to kill and provide solid support to
infantry when crossing rough terrain.
Special Rule: Chain of Command
When a Unit of the Enlisted activates and com-
mands other Units to activate, the latter can
choose to use their own command to activate
other Units if it is lower than the first Unit.
20

THE WASTELANDERS (IN PROGRESS)

Scouring the desert with a mix of ork-ish and
industrial equipment at their disposal the Waste-
landers are a highly mobile and aggressive
faction.
With light armors and few heavy calibers they’re
easy targets as long as they’re far enough.
Their force is in the numbers, speed and in
an impressive close range offensive power. If
enough Units reach their targets, they’ll swarm
the opponent into submission.
Special Rule: Expendables
The Wastelanders suffer no penalty in Victo-
ry Points when losing Units on the table. They
however receive the penalty as usual for the
Characters lost.
 21

SCENARIO: UNTIL THE LAST BIT

Symmetric Scenario

Hold as many towers for as long as possible to Additional Objectives

get hold of precious encrypted data! Be warned,
Each player places two additional objectives on
though: rather than having our enemy steal-
their half of the table with a minimum of 2 DU
ing them from us you should blow up the relay
from their long edge. If a player successfully
instead!
retrieves an objective from the opponent’s side,
Player’s Forces they’ll draw one victory card.
60 points per player, 30 in the first Round which End of the Game
increase by 10 per Round for three Rounds.
The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8. tions is satisfied:
Setup Rules 1 - Players destroy the central tower: Start-
Table size: 12 x 8 DU. ing from the beginning of the fourth turn the
tower can be damaged. It can withstand 2 dam-
Place three objective tokens (ideally antenna ages before collapsing and it is a target with
towers, where the central one is the main relay Def 3 and 2D10 save roll. At the end of the turn
tower) along the middle line of the table as in in which the tower is destroyed the game ends.
figure.
Alternatively, starting from the fourth turn any
Both players deploy the available troops along
infantry Unit can spend one action in base con-
the long sides.
tact with the tower to rig it and make it explode
Objective - Controlling Towers at the end of the turn. The tower is considered
For each tower, when a player controls it for the destroyed and not controlled by any player for
first time they’re rewarded with a victory card. objective purposes.

At the end of each turn the player who controls 2 - End of the Sixth Turn: The tower was go-
the most towers draws a victory card. ing to be demolished anyway!

Deploying Reinforcements
If a player controls one of the objectives on the
sides their reinforcement troops can be de-
ployed within 2 DUs from that tower, as long
as more distant than 3 DUs from any opponent
model.
22

SCENARIO: SCAVENGING RUN

Symmetric Scenario

The last cargo freighter didn’t make it through Objective - Explore the Village
the landing. Fortunately some of the crates did,
When one of the three Cargo objectives that are
and landed over that abandoned town. Grab as
within the Village edges is retrieved by one play-
much as you can, there is a fortune to be made
er, the opponent places another token in the
there!
village area, further than 1 DU from any Unit. If
Player’s Forces this is not possible the token is simply removed.
60 points per player, 30 in the first Round which Deploying Reinforcements
increase by 10 per Round for three Rounds.
If a player controls at least one non-pinned Unit
Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8. within the village they can deploy their rein-
Setup Rules forcements along the edge of the village facing
their deploy area.
Table size: 12 x 8 DU.
End of the Game
Divide the table in three 4 DU wide sections.
Place enough terrain to represent a village in The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
the central section, to form a 4x4 DU square in tions is satisfied:
the center of the table with well defined edges. 1 - All the six tokens not in the village are
Fill the rest of the table with light scatter terrain. removed: When too many cargo crates are
Place three objective tokens in each of the three stolen the security patrol sent by the freighter’s
sections. The tokens must be more than 1DU company is notified and starts reaching the
from each other, and at more than 2DU from area.
the long sides. At the end of the turn the game ends.
Both players deploy the available troops along 2 - End of the Sixth Turn.
the central 4 DUs of the long sides.
Objective - Cargo Crates
If a cargo crate is controlled at the end of a
Round the controlling player draws 1 Victory
card and the token is removed.
 23

SCENARIO: INTO ENEMY TERRITORY

Asymmetric Scenario

The enemy Mainframe is in sight! Destroying it Draw one Victory Card when destroying a stock-
will deal the final blow. However... getting there pile before the end of Round 3. Each stockpile
won’t be easy. can withstand 1 damage it is a target with Def 3
Player’s Forces and 2D10 save roll.

Attacker: 60 points, 40 in the first Round in- Defender - Hold the Ground
creasing to 60 on turn 3. For turns 1 to 3, if there are more Units of the
Defender: 60 points, 20 in the first Round in- defender in Section 2 than of the attacker, they
crease by 10 per Round for four Rounds draw one Victory Card.

Both sides have AD Pool 12 and AD Capacity 8. Starting from the end of turn 3 if there are no
Units of the attacker in section 3, the defender
Setup Rules draws one Victory Card at the end of the turn.
Table size: 12 x 8 DU. Divide the table in three Starting from the end of turn 4 the Mainframe
sections of 4 x 8 DU. has more than 1 damage point remaining, the
Add an objective token in Section 3, which defender draws one Victory Card at the end of
represents the Mainframe. Add 3 recognizable the turn.
buildings in Section 2 to represent the stock- Air Defenses
piles. Place a short passable wall covering most
of the border between section 1 and 2: it must No offensive Support ability (such as Mortar
be passable by Units in at least 3-4 points but it fire) or Deploy action can be performed by the
provides cover. Fill sections 2 and 3 with build- attacker in Section 3.
ings and scatter terrain. In particular, create a End of the Game
LoS-blocking cluster of terrain elements protect-
The scenario ends if one of the following condi-
ing the Mainframe.
tions is satisfied:
Attacker - Burn to Ashes
1 - The attacker destroys the Control Unit.
The main objective for the attacker is to destroy
2 - The attacker withdraws: If, at the end of
the Mainframe. It can withstand 3 damages
the turn there are no Units from the defender
and it is a target with Def 3 and 2D10 save
within 2 DU from the attacker’s Units, they can
roll. If destroyed, the attacker draws four Victory
declare a withdrawal.
Cards.
3 - End of the Sixth Turn.
24

QUICK REFERENCE SHEET

TURN SEQUENCE Modifiers
Reinforcements Draw • Vehicle/Mech in cover: +1 Def
If required, players draw the next wave from the • Infantry in cover: +2 Def
reinforcement piles. All the cards are placed • Target in long range: +1 Def
in front of the player with the others.
• Vehicle Sides (180°): Lower dice type for
Initiative Save
Players roll opposed D6, adding the highest Close Combat / Contact
Command value among their Units in game.
The winner begins the alternating activation. • One dice only for Save rolls (AP)

Activation Roll • Ignore cover

Both Players roll ADs up to their AD Capacity. Vehicles and Mechs Damages
They can choose to roll less if some are placed Mark the model as Pinned. Roll 1d6 and check
on cards already. on the Unit’s Card.
Players then choose any number of ADs and • DEAD: Destroyed
re-roll them. They can then place unspent ADs • MOV: -1 move
on cards.
• S1..S4: Disable the corresponding system
Alternating Activation
• ARM: lower dice type for armor Save
Players alternate in their actions.
• RST: the model cannot activate for 1 Round
First the active player can place ADs from the
unspent pile on Unit cards (for activating a Unit) • PIN: the model is pinned (no other effect)
and/or on special actions slots on any card. If the same damage box is yellow and is hit
Then they can perform one of the following: twice during the game, the Unit is destroyed.
• Activate a Unit already in game, spending If the damage box is green, ignore the effect
the AD that was placed on the card and any the second time.
other AD used special actions.
SCENARIO RULES
Other nearby Units (< 2DU) can activate
through the Cmd value of the activated Unit. Victory Cards
• Use a Support Card, spending the ADs There are 3 cards with 2 VP, 3 with 3 VP, 2 with
placed on it if required. 4 VP and one with 5 VP.
• Deploy a Unit that is not on the table yet, Victory Cards alternative effects can be used at
without activating it now. any moment in the game.
• Pass. Victory Points Penalty
If both players pass in a row, the turn ends. • Every 5 points of Units lost: -1 VP
Objectives
COMBAT
At the end of the turn if a Unit is in contact
Attack
with an objective and no unpinned opponent
For each attacking action: base is within 1 DU from it, the objective is
• The attacker rolls the Damage dice. Each controlled.
roll greater than the target’s Def is a hit. Mechs need to spend 1 action to control an
• The target rolls their Def dice for each hit. objective.
• If the higher result among the Def rolls is Vehicles need to be in base contact and spend
equal to or greater than the attacker’s 1 action to control or dispute an objective.
result the hit is saved. A previously controlled objective with no more
Units in contact at the end of the turn is lost.