Bang!
by Avian
A mini game for two or more players (the more the merrier - two is the absolute minimum, three is better and 4+ is ideal)
Unlike, say, the game Runtspike, which is only barely mentioned in the Ogre background, Bang! is fairly well described in the Gnoblar army list (UK WD 310), which makes coming up the rules for it rather more simple. The mechanisms in this case are cobbled together from a variety of sources.
Background
Ogre Leadbelchers frequently bring with them frightened, scorched and thoroughly deaf Gnoblars whose job it is to help load and ignite the cannons the Ogres carry. Traditionally, Leadbelchers find the Gnoblars most suited to this task by putting the eligible greenskins through a game of Bang! A bunch of Gnoblars are rounded up and tossed into an arena. Each with a small keg of gunpowder strapped to his back and a torch in his hand. Initially the Gnoblars will mill around and have little clue to what is going on, but before long one bright little git will get the idea of lighting the fuse of another Gnoblar's keg with his torch, making him go Bang! The Ogres who watch the game naturally find this greatly amusing. The game quickly escaltes, as the other Gnoblar's catch on and soon start trying to make each other go Bang! Sadly (for the Gnoblars) the game frequently ends with all the Gnoblars having gone Bang!
What you will need
- One Gnoblar per player
- Some sort of token to show who's First Git.
- Dice (a handful of D6 and a Scatter dice)
- Measuring tape
The following characteristics are used for Gnoblars. Characteristics not mentioned here are either not important or not used.
| M | S | T | W | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Setting up the game
Mark out an area about 24 x 24" to be the arena. The Gnoblars may not move out of this arena, if they try they are pushed back in by the Ogres - halt them at the edge of the arena. Players may wish to scatter some small pieces of terrain - barrelels, smal piles of rocks, etc - around the arena, to make it more intersting, though this is not strictly speaking necessary.
All players roll a dice; the high roller taking the First Git token and placing his Gnoblar anywhere inside the arena. Continuing clockwise around the table, the other players do the same. Each Gnoblar must be placed more than 6" away from all other Gnoblars on the table, if at all possible. If this is not possible they must be placed as far away as possible. All Gnoblars start the game without a clue - the poor gits.
The turn
Each turn follows a strict schedule, with each step being finished before continuing with the next. Thus all Gnoblars move before any Gnoblars fight. This is different from normal Warhammer, where one player would move and fight with his Gnoblar before the next player moved and fought with his, in Bang! there is only one Movement phase and one Combat phase per turn.
Step 1 - Change the first player
The first thing that happens in a turn (including the first one) is that the player with the First Git token passes this to the player on his left. This makes the player order change from turn to turn. In the Movement phase the player who received the First Git token will move his Gnoblar first, then going clockwise around the table the other players will do the same.
Step 2 - Movement
Starting with the First Git, each player goes through the Movement phase before the turn continues with the Combat phase. First, a player whose Gnoblar does not have a clue must take a Stupidity test to see if he realises what is going on. This works as normal in Warhammer, except that there is a +1 Ld modifier for each Gnoblar that has been killed so far in the game. Gnoblars who fail to get a clue will move D6" in a random direction (roll a Scatter dice, using the little arrow on the HIT symbol if you get that result). If this would bring it into contact with another Gnoblar, the clueless wandering Gnoblar is halted 1" away. If the wandering would take the Gnoblar out of the arena, it is halted at the edge instead.
Gnoblar who get a clue may act normally that turn and in all later turns.
They may move, if there are no non-fleeing Gnoblars within 8" they may
march and they may charge other Gnoblars. Clueless Gnoblars who are charged may
only hold, while charged Gnoblars who have a clue may hold or stand & shoot
if the charger started more than 4" away. Gnoblars who stand and shoot
will roll two dice, hitting on 6s with a Strength of 2. Charge reactions are
resolved immediately after the charge is declared and if the charger is not
killed he then makes his charge move.
Note that the Gnoblars may not flee from a charge, though with a Leadership of
5 this would almost certainly have been a bad idea anyway.
Players are allowed to charge already engaged Gnoblars, in which case they must declare which Gnoblar they are attacking. Since this may result in quite complex multi-Gnoblar combats, players should place their Gnoblar so that it is facing their intended victim.
The (lack of a) Shooting phase
The game would probably have been very dull if the players could sneak around and throw rocks at each other - therefore the Gnoblars may only throw sharp stuff as a charge reaction and there is no separate Shooting phase.
Step 3 - Combat
Once all Gnoblars have moved, it is time for the combat phase. All clueless Gnoblars who are now engaged in combat will immediately get a clue and fight for their lives. If there are several combats going on the First Git decides which is resolved first. In each combat, the chargers strike before their victims. So if Gnoblar A was charged by Gnoblar B, who was in turn charged by Gnoblar C, C will strike first, followed by B and then A. If two Gnoblars charge the same victim (a quite effective tactic and highly recommended!), the one who charged first strikes first. Charging Gnoblars must attack the model they charged, while Gnoblars who did not charge may attack any model in base contact when their turn comes.
Each Gnoblar only has one Attack and will need a basic score of 4+ on a D6
to hit. However, if your victim has already been attacked that turn by another
Gnoblar attacking before you do, you may add +1 to your to-hit roll for every
other Gnoblar who attacked your target. Thus if three Gnoblars gang up on the
same target, the first attacker will hit on a 4+, the second on a 3+ and the
third on a 2+.
Note that a to-hit roll of 1 will miss regardless of modifiers.
If you roll an unmodified 6 when rolling to hit, you have cleverly set off
the victim's powder keg without exposing yourself to too much harm. The victim
goes Bang! and is automatically killed
without needing a to-wound roll while you take a Strength 1 hit and all other
Gnoblars in base contact with the exploding Gnoblar take a Strength 2 hit.
If you hit but did not roll a 6, roll to wound as normal and if the victim is
killed he'll go Bang! in a less controlled
manner. All Gnoblars in base contact with him take a Strength 2 hit, including
the attacker.
If a Gnoblar is killed by another Gnoblar in base contact going Bang! then all Gnoblars in contact with the second
exploding Gnoblar take a further Strength 2 hit. In complex mass-combats this
may lead to chain reactions where all involved greenskins perish, leading to
much hilarity amongst the spectators.
Gnoblars are quite quick learners within a few specialised areas and making
other Gnoblars go Bang! is one of those
areas. If you have managed to kill another Gnoblar in close combat (pelting
them with sharp stuff does not count), then you will only need a 5+ to make
your victim go Bang! when rolling to hit.
If you have killed two Gnoblars you will need a 4+ to make your victim go
Bang!, and so on.
Note that if the roll needed to make the victim go Bang! cannot ever be better than the roll you need
to hit, regardless of how many you have killed. Thus if you have killed three
other Gnoblars and need a 4+ to hit, a roll of a 3 will miss and not make the
victim go Bang! To keep track of the score
you need to make a victim go Bang! it can
be convenient to place the Gnoblars you have killed in front of you.
Once all Gnoblars in the combat have attacked, the survivors are moved 1" apart, with no combat result worked out and no Break or Panic tests taken. After all combats have been resolved it is time for the next turn.
Winning the game
A Gnoblar is the winner if he is the only one alive at the end of a turn. If the last surviving Gnoblars all go Bang! during the same turn, everybody loses and the Ogres go round up some more Gnoblars to have another go.
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