Invisible Enemy



This is a game of combat in the realm of miniaturized warfare, which re-creates the struggle between hunter-killer groups of tiny fighting vehicles called MGVs. In MGV, the heavy fighting is over or far away. On this battlefield, there are only a few units and they must hunt each other down and clear the field; targets must be secured, gauntlets run or a final swipe at launching a surgical strike. No matter what the original mission was, things have surely changed and now the remaining units must finish things. Despite their microscopic size, it is the MGVs that always end up doing the heavy lifting. NOTE: These rules are currently in development, users should have some miniature gaming experience. Some sections of the rules are still in notation/outline form.

« 1.1 Gaming Figures
The miniatures used to play MGV are the Eylau MGV line of sci-fi figures sold at WTJ, which publishes The Eylau Sequence and these rules. In real life, a large formation of MGVs might be quite visible to the human eye were it not for their active camouflage which imitates surrounding surfaces. Because of that and the irregularities of many environmental surfaces, MGVs frequently operate without being seen.

« 1.2 Equipment
The standard gaming equipment of tape measures and six-sided dice will be needed for game play – for MGV it will be best to have three different colors of dice. For purposes of explaining game play, standard dice colors of black, white and red are used. Players may actually use any colors they wish so long as all participants in a game are using the same standard.

Beginning players should note that two dice are called "dice" but that one of them is called a "die." A single six-sided die is commonly abbreviated to "1D6." Two six-sided dice are abbreviated to "2D6." Also needed for play is the combat chart and the MGV hit log (of which several will be needed for each games). These can be printed out directly from chart links on the main MGV rules page. E

Players may also want to use markers to indicate the locations of various actions on the playing area. Most any round marker can be used, such as coins, metal rim tags or golf tees. We have found the best markers are made from plastic dart tips which have had their threads snipped off. The remaining portion of the cut-down markers can then be painted white or yellow (most dart tips are already colored red and/or black). These four colors; white, yellow, red and black can be used for the four main actions needed to be marked on the board:

White: Marker beacons (range of 5" from marking MGV)
Yellow: Vehicle fired
Red: Ranged fire target point
Black: Vehicle immobilized

« 1.3 MGV Bases and Units
Miniatures used for game play are part of the Eylau Sequence line of MGV science fiction miniatures, which are specially designed to depict the miniaturized combat described in The Eylau Sequence stories. Please note that within the stories and also within these rules, both MGV and MEK mean the same thing. "MGV" is the official terminology (Miniature Ground Vehicle) and "MEK" is commonly used slang.

The only formation used in MGV is the pairing of two identical MGV models, somewhat like a wing leader/wingman relationship in combat aircraft. This pairing only matters in a handful of situations and for many games MGVs operate in scattered groups. There are no limits on distance between friendly bases.

« 1.4 Game Board and Terrain
Combat at a miniature level is influenced by an unusual range of obstacles and threats. Everything from dust and debris to mold, ice and dead insects (not to mention live insects) can get in the way of the progress of a combat unit on the move. On the other hand, these same obstacles can offer cover to units under fire. Below is a list of possible terrain features and their corresponding effects on game play.

General Terrain Effects
Terrain feature	Recommended Material
Terrain feature	Recommended Material	Move Effect	Cover Class	Trap Roll (2D6)	Blocks LOS?
Rough surface (mold, ice, CO²)	Small plastic crystal Flat Moss	½	-	12	N
Slime	Shiny black/green plastic	-	-	11,12	N
Oil Residue	Glass, orange/red	¼	-	9 -12	N
Chemical residue	Glass, Frosted Blue	¼	-	7 -12	N
Fungus Tower ²	Mahogany pods	Impassable	x1 (hugging,between)	-	Y (behind) N (between)
Sand	Small light rock (<½" tall)	½	x1	-	Y&N ¹
Rock/Gravel	Large/Medium light rock	Impassable	x1 (hugging vertical face)	-	Y
Shrapnel	Large dark rock	Impassable	x2 (hugging vertical face)	-	Y
Small Insect, Dead ³	Model insect (1")	½	-	-	N
Large Insect, Dead ³	Model insect (2"+)	¼	x1	-	Y&N ¹

Chart Notes:
¹ — Y&N. Offers cover for an MGV immediately behind (base touching) a Y&N feature, and such vehicles may fire through the cover and be fired upon. Vehicles and prospective targets beyond a Y&N feature have blocked line of sight (LOS).
² — Fungus towers in MGV all are considered dead due to combat action, bombardment and iChem application (intelligent chemicals). They do not present the same danger as in the assault/combat rules Invisible Enemy.

³ — Some live insects may present a threat to MGVs, although it is uncommon due to the nature of most miniature battlefields. This is decided by specific scenario requirements where the key threat will usually be vehicles becoming trapped and immobilized by clinging ants, etc.

Chart Key:
Terrain Feature = Gives name of the terrain feature in question. Recommended Material = Suggested materials which may be used to re-create that terrain type on a scale gaming board. Move Effect = Indicates the movement reduction when travelling across that terrain type (if allowed, some terrain is impassable). Trap Roll = Indicates the die roll for an MGV to become trapped and immobilized in that terrain type while passing over it. Die roll check for entrapment is conducted during movement in middle of transition through obstacles. Cover Class = Indicates the cover class level for that terrain type. Block LOS? : Indicates whether that terrain type will block the line of sight of a base on the same level.

« 1.5 Set-up
Game play represents mixed "task forces" of various MGVs from the same side, engaging similar elements on the opposing side. Once players have agreed upon the vehicles that will fight on each side, they will fill out the MGV hit logs . Important: Once players have filled out data from the vehicle stats sheet, they must choose which weapon type they will use for the main and secondary armament (if they have any secondary) on each vehicle. This is entirely up to player discretion, who may assign different weapon types even to the different MGVs of the same model (IE - One L35 may have a photon main armament and its L35 wingman may have a kinetic main armament). Here are a few general pointers about each of the three available weapon systems:

Kinetic: Cross reference table, entirely dependent on results of two dice (most predictable). Pros: Relatively effective against average vehicles, excellent at close range. Cons: Lacks ability to score those big strikes against larger or better protected MGVs.
Missile: Dice competition, requires player to predict how the opposing player will react (marginally unpredictable). Pros: devastating against already damaged vehicles. Cons: Near useless against larger, more undamaged vehicles.
Photon: Range estimation, requires specific physical skills on the part of the player (potentially very unpredictable). Pros: players with good spatial skills can score hits regardless of enemy armor, sometimes offers only chance to score serious damage on more powerful MGVs. Cons: missing by too much is disastrous, least efficient cost/result ratio against light targets.

The Applying Damage section at the bottom of the page includes a sample hit log entry which show how weapon system preference is entered on each vehicle's log.

« 1.6 Turn Sequence

TURN SEQUENCE

1) X Roll - Winner moves or fires.
2) Y Roll - Winner moves or fires.
3) Z Roll - Winner moves or fires.
4) F Action - Conduct final move or fire not yet executed.
5) Reset - Remove all board markers

We recommend using the Set-up Sheet to setup a game, although experienced players may also prefer to create their own scenarios without using the setup sheet. In either case, once all players have completed setup, placed their units and arranged their formations, game play is ready to begin. At right is an outline of the turn sequence and its basic phases and steps. Below are more detailed outlines of each phase and its steps (if any).

1. X Roll: Each side rolls 1D6. The side with the highest roll (ties roll over) may either move or fire all of their bases.

2. Y Roll: Each side rolls 1D6. The side with the highest roll (ties roll over) may either move or fire all of their bases, with the exception that the player who moved or fired in Phase 1 (X Roll) may not conduct that same action again on this phase. For example, a player who wins the X Roll and moves all of his MGVs, must then conduct direct fire if he also wins the Y Roll, he may not move again.

3. Z Roll: Each side rolls 1D6. The side with the highest roll (ties roll over) may either move or fire all of their bases, with the exception that player who moved or fired in phases 1 or 2 may not conduct those same actions again on this phase. If the same side won both the X and Y rolls, there is no need to conduct a Z roll because the only remaining candidate for moving or firing is the other side. That side must then decide which of those two actions they will carry out first.

4. F Action: There will now be only one side that has no conduct one basic action type (move or fire). That side now conduct that action.

5. Reset: Remove all white, red and yellow markers from the playing area. Black markers remain.

General turn actions – Any base with one or more B hits must roll for sudden death at the end of that phase if it suffered any fire hits or damage during the course of that phase. This includes damage unrelated to the original B hit in cases where such a hit came from previous phases or turns. Units with B hits are vulnerable to complications and sudden death as a result of any ensuing damage.

Figure 1.
The L63 Whiptail in the example below has moved two inches forward and then turned right equal to or less than 45º at an extra cost of one-half inch. It then moved four inches forward and turned right equal or less than 90º (but more than 45º) at an extra cost of one inch. At the end of this move sequence, it has one-half inch of movement remaining.

« 4.0 Movement
Once a player has designated a phase as being for movement, he may then move all of his MGV bases up to their movement allowance. All undamaged vehicles in MGV have the same movement allowance of 8" and there is no need to check, roll or generate orders before moving; each base is automatically able to expend its entire movement allowance. Bases with P hits suffer reduced movement allowances up to and including complete immobilization (immobilized bases should be marked).

All base movement is conducted in straight lines, no "drifting" to the right or left is allowed. Turning is done by clearly changing a base's facing and reducing movement allowance accordingly. Each 45° of facing change made by an MGV base (and each increment thereafter) costs ½" of movement. This means that facing change of 90° cost 1" of movement, and a full 180° reversal of facing costs 2" of movement. Friendly bases may temporarily overlap during movement, which may happen when closely adjoining MGVs turn away from each other.

Marker Beacons – An MGV able to fire marker beacons may mark the position of an enemy MGV within a 5" range at any time during its movement. The beacon gives all friendly missile units firing on that base a +1 on attack during the rest of the turn (This does mean that if you have already fired this turn, marker beacons are a waste of time)

Movement Modifiers – For each P hit an MGV has suffered, it loses one inch from its available movement. Once the "1" is marked off the Speed box sequence on the MGV log, that base become immobile (Exceptions are the Japanese J90 "Pythons" which are more resistant to hits).

« 5.0 Direct Fire
Once a player has designated a phase as being for direct fire, he may then fire all of his MGV bases that are able. All weapon ranges in MGV are unlimited and line of sight is measured from the center post of each MGV base. Kinetic and Photon weapons must have a direct line-of-sight to their targets, Missile weapons may fire up to 30° off the line of fire, including around blind corners and obstacles.

Arcs of fire – Each Type K and Type P weapon is limited to firing forward on targets within a 60° combined arc-of-fire anchored on the unit's centerline (within 30° of centerline). Each Type C weapon is limited to firing forward on targets within a 120° combined arc-of-fire anchored on the unit's centerline (within 30° of centerline and then up to 30° off-line). Note that a missile unit using the extra arc-of-fire capability will always suffer the corresponding minus modifier even if line-of-sight to the target is not blocked.

« 5.1 Kinetic Fire
Kinetic weapons have the most predictable results and employ a basic cross-reference table that compares the attack and defense ratings of the MGVs involved. A die roll of two six-sided dice decides the results, which may vary somewhat but not often dramatically. See the combat chart's "Kinetic_" table for more information.

« 5.2 Missile Fire
Missile weapons rely on a player's ability to predict (or guess) how his opponent will attempt to defend his vehicle. Each side is allotted a total number of dice based on attack and defense ratings, and each side then divides their available die total into a mix of three colors that correspond to different hull depths. All dice are thrown; the attacker totals indicate the number of circle hits scored on the target for each of the respective circle types. The defender totals indicate the number of attacker points blocked to the respective die color. This leave the possibility that a defender may completely block attacks against two hull layers but fail to block some other layer attack, resulting in the vehicle's partial gutting.

Combining Fire – Missile armed MGV pairs (wing leader and wingman) maybe combine their missile attack dice into a single group (double firepower).

« 5.3 Photon Fire
Photo weapons rely on a player's ability to accurately estimate the physical range between the firing base and target base on the playing area. The distances may not be pre-measured and the attacking player may not examine a tape measure off to one side - the range guess must be made "on the spot" and without scale, rulers, tape measured or other aids. Photon weapon ranging (guessing the range to target) is recorded on that MGV's log before general target declaration.

« 5.1 Modifiers
The direct fire table contains a list of die roll modifiers. As indicated, each of these modifiers will change the direct fire die roll to which they apply, by the amount indicated for the corresponding effect. Modifier effects which to not apply to the direct fire case being rolled, are ignored.

Attack Number Modifier Definitions
Target fired last phase – Add one point to basic attack value if the targeted base fired on the phase immediately preceding the current phase.
Target move 2" or move last phase – Add one point to basic attack value if the targeted base moved 2" or more on the phase immediately preceding the current phase.
Position marked – Add one point to basic attack value if the targeted base's position is illuminated with a marker beacon.
Each target cover class – Subtract one point from basic attack value for each cover class currently applying to the targeted base.
Each ½" of ranging error – Subtract one point from basic attack value for each full half-inch of error in the guessed range to the targeted base. Partial increments of a half-inch do not count (E.G. - Missing by 1¾" results in a -3, not a -4). This means that any range guessed with ½" receives no penalty.
Each 3 Interception (blocking) points – Subtract one point from basic attack value for every three missile attack points used in defense of a friendly MGV base. The screening unit (including units protecting themselves) must not have fired the missile weapon in question this turn. A screening action counts as that weapon's fire for the turn and it may not fire until the next turn.

« 5.2 Applying Damage

CURRENT NOTES:
Hits are applied to circles on the corresponding MGV's log.
Multiple hits do not need to be contiguous.
Interior circles not adjoining any outer circles with hits may not be marked off.
Photon and Kinetic hits may not be marked off on side of MGV facing away from attacker.
Outside-in: Surface hits may not begin at or "bump down" to interior circles until the target base has six or fewer unmarked surface circles.
X+1 means applied damage must taper inward (3 surface, 2 core, 1 heart, etc.) per group of hits.
A vehicle's defense rating can never go below 1.
All S hits scored from the rear vehicle arc are counted as P hits instead (flanking matters).

Hit log sample at right shows how damage can be applied to a vehicle. Also note how weapon types (Missile & Kinetic) have been manually entered before start of game. These are player selections before play starts.

Before game, players with missile firing MGVs must decide whether a) multiple hits on just the core layer must balance surface losses as they are removed, or b) multiple core layer hits may "eat" their way around the inside of the vessel beneath the intact surface circles.