Using a piece
Occupying a square
A piece (we'll start with a Marine) occupies one square at a time. Only one piece
can occupy a square at once. It has a facing -
up, down, left or right. This piece is facing up:
Facing is important because a piece cannot attack things it cannot see. An example of a Marine's
line of sight arc is shown below:
The coloured area (front 180°) is the LOS arc. (It extends indefinitely as
far as there are squares.) The piece can see things in this arc
but can never see behind him. The pink area (front 90°) is where the marine can both see and shoot (his fire arc).
He can shoot pieces which lie on the edge of the fire arc (at exactly 45°).
Arc is also important for close combat. Pieces can only initiate close combat against
things that lie in the square in front of them:
Activation
When you start to move a piece it is activated. This means you are using its Action Points to make it act. When you run out of action points to use the piece with, you must stop using it and activate a different piece. The first piece cannot be activated again.
While activated a piece can make actions such as turning, moving, attacking and shooting. Each action costs a number of APs and can be repeated as long as you have enough APs.
Turning and moving
Pieces can turn on the spot to change their facing. They can turn 90° or 180°.
Pieces can move in different ways depending on what type they are. They move one square at a time. Moving backwards and sideways generally costs more APs than moving forwards.
Using doors
Generally pieces can open or close doors that lie in their front 3 squares:
This piece cannot use the door on the left. It can
use the door on the right.
Close combat
Here a Stealer is attacking a Marine.
In close combat each piece has a certain number of dice, with or without a
bonus to each roll. The winner is the one with the highest score on an individual
die (if any). The loser (if any) is destroyed.
However if the Marine wins in this case, the Stealer is not destroyed because the Marine is not facing the Stealer. The Marine may instead turn for free to face his attacker.