Rules Variant
Submitted By: Sheila Davis
Rules
Variant
Submitted By: Sheila Davis
When I was a guest at BenCon 2001, I ended up meeting Sheila Davis, an extremely nice lady that everyone kept telling me I had to meet. It ended up being that she is the biggest Battle Cattle marketing tool I have in the Denver, Colorado area. Even the retailers knew who she was. Though the variant below is not formatted wonderfully (my fault), I wanted to let people check out the intense work put forth by her to further the joys of bovine barnyard battles! - Aldo, Owner, Wingnut Games
Battle
Cattle Rules Variant
By: Sheila Davis
Tractor
rules:
The tractor acts as an extra-heavy BC
with a moo-vement of 10.
It has ** HP, no armor and cannot be
tipped. It tramples at
extra-heavy +1, and rams on extra
heavy +1 on ramming chart.
[** For 10,000 point cows the tractor
has 75 points. For 15,000
point cows it has 125 points]
A BC must spend 3 MP to board the
tractor then lose one turn
to get it started. It takes 2
MP to leave a tractor intentionally,
and 1 MP to shut it down (if
desired).
The tractor moves like a BC, except
you must go 1" forward for
every forward turn. It takes 2
MP to reverse direction, but
after that the tractor moves
normally.
When targetting a BC ridden tractor,
either the tractor or the
BC must be targetted. The
tractor offers -2 cover for a
BC riding it. A grenade that
hits the target does 1d less damage
to a BC riding it (ignore the highest
die).
A BC tipped while riding the tractor
falls out of the tractor.
If the tractor is driverless (tipped
or unconcious rider), it
continues at 1/2 speed for 1 turn
then stops.
When the tractor "dies",
roll 2 dice. On a 8+, the tractor explodes.
A BC riding it takes 6d6 internal
damage and is flipped somewhere
on the field.
Cover rules:
If over 1/2 the target can be seen
-1 dice
If less than 1/2 can be seen
-2 dice
A flamethrower will ignite any
flammable cover. Any BC closer than
1" to burning cover at the end
of its move will take 1d6 damage
internal as long as it remains there.
If using a live animal as cover, any
shot that misses the target
has a chance to hit the cover.
Roll again at +1. All animals
have 10 HP.
Stampedes:
Killing any member of an allied
animal group will cause them
to stampede away from the dead
animal. All animals move at 7.
When a stampede approaches, a BC in
the way must lose a turn or
roll TDN 2 times. If tipped,
the BC takes trample damage from a
light BC for each cow&horse that
will hit it. Pigs will not stampede.
[County Fair Rule] The fences holding
the animals are temporary,
a stampede will move through it
rather than around.
Pigs underfoot:
When moving through milling about
pigs, the BC must move 1/2 MP
or make a TDN roll.
[County Fair Greased Pig] The pig
moves randomly at speed 7. It
cannot be targetted by any weapon,
nor can it be trampled by a
tractor. It can only be
trampled by a BC. Each turn trampled
gains the side 20 points each.
Four turns
of tramples smushes the pig further
trampling will not gain points.
As with any other pig, the BC must
move 1/2 MP or make a TDN.
Targetting:
+1 to hit on the sides.
Points:
+1/2 for each enemy BC armor damage
done (rounded down).
+1 Point for each enemy BC internal
damage done.
-1 Point for each allied BC internal
damage done.
-20 Points for dead allied animals
(cows, horses).
+15 Points for dead enemy animals
(geese, chickens).
[Farmer Brown's Apples] +25 Points
for each turn munching. There
are 4 available bunches of munching.
It takes at least 2 MP to
munch and the BC can do nothing else
that turn.
Fowl:
Move at 9 MP. They have 5 HP
and a -1 modifier to hit.
Ramming:
Only total of last movement forward
(45 degree turns do not
interrupt the forward movement)
counts towards the ram.
Trampling:
Damage is on up side only.
Armor & weapons:
Weapons are *not* destroyed when
armor is.
Firing:
BC move during their turn, but may
fire any time up until their
next movement phase. The player
receives a chit at the beginning
of movement. When the BC fires,
the chit is expended.
Starting Position:
Roll dice, pick starting position in
order from highest to lowest.
[County Fair]:
Ferris Wheel:
It takes 3 MP to board the Ferris
Wheel, and 2 to get off. The
Wheel can only be boarded from the
loading area at the bottom.
On the Ferris Wheel, the BC may only
face towards one of the
two sides. To change direction,
it must get off, turn, and reboard.
The Ferris Wheel moves 1/2 rotation
each turn.
A BC on the bottom half of the wheel
is treated as standing in
the open, no benefits. If
tipped it falls off the Wheel with
no extra damage.
A BC on the top half has its range
doubled in each catagory.
This range is measured from under the
center of the Wheel
at the ground level. A BC on
the top half also has a cover of -2.
Multiple BC on the Ferris Wheel may
not shoot each other (their
weapons cannot be brought to bear).
If a BC is tipped while on the top
half of the Wheel, it falls
off the wheel and takes 3D6 internal
damage.
Carousel:
It takes 3 MP to board the Carousel,
and 2 to get off. Once
on the Carousel, position the BC with
one side facing outward.
The Carousel moves 1/2 rotation each
turn.
The Carousel is considered to be
moving throughout the turn. Thus
a BC on it will have its outwardly
facing side trace a fire arc of
270 degrees measured from the center
of the Carousel. A BC on
the Carousel has a cover of -1 at all
times.
A cow tipped on the Carousel falls
off with no extra damage.
However, if the roll to hit/tip was a
natural 12, the
BC falls on the controls to the
Carousel. This speeds it up
causing all BC on it to fly
horizontally outward 2D6 inches.
The shooter may specify exactly where
the Carousel is when he
shoots, thus directing any possibly
flight.
On landing, the BC takes 1D6 internal
damage. If the BC
hits an object in its flight, treat
as a "cow-tapult". The Carousel
will return to normal speed the
following turn.
Midway: Should a cow find
itself flung for any
reason (exploding tractor, sped up
Carousel, etc), the owner
may try to flip it so as to hit one
of the midway games. The
cow must come down onto the game
(direct shots are disallowed).
If successful, the flippee earns 25
points.
Tractor displays: Only 2
tractors in each display have the
keys in them. Roll a die to
determine if the keys are present.
A BC must board the tractor to see if
it has keys.
===================================================
As promised, here's the recap of the
great Buttercup rescue,
AKA Battle Cattle game at the
Gathering. I apologize for
any errors in attribution and missed
events. As I mentioned
before, I wasn't all there.
We had 8 players sign up for the game
on Friday and when
we made the general call to start,
another 8-10 showed up.
Unfortunately, we only had room for
12, so some interested
players were forced to be spectators.
Background for those who've not heard
it: Sometime in the near
future, the Army experiments with
cybernetic implants on cows
to create the ultimate battlefield
weapon. When funding is
dropped, the Military sells the still
equipped cows as military
surplus. Farmer Brown is
thrilled to get prime cattle at
rock bottom prices.
Unfortunately, every time Farmer
Brown heads off into town, the
Battle Cattle take advantage of his
absence to playfully blow
each other up with heavy weaponry.
The scenario: Continuing destruction
at the farm has wreaked havoc
with Farmer Brown's finances.
Sadly, he's forced to sell beautiful
Buttercup, the barnyard sweetheart.
The Battle Cattle will have
none of this, so they plan a midnight
raid at the sale barn.
Everyone knows, however, that
Buttercup is a fickle heifer, and
she'll only truly love the cow that
actually rescues her. So
there's incentive for the BC to, um,
hinder any rivals.
With that introduction, the players
selected the starting positions
for their bovine assassins.
Before even starting, several groups
recognized the advantage of working
together. On one corner
of the field the IH Tractor Possee
began their stealthy
approach to the nearby display, while
on the opposite corner,
the John Deere of Death crowd picked
their vehicle of choice.
In the corner closest to where I sat,
the concept of cooperation
hadn't quite worked its way into the
large bovine heads of the
BCs. Consequently, before
anything else could happen, they
all shot at Cow Tse Tongue. A
huge firefight erupted
as endless Balkanesque revenge
motivation overwhelmed any
thought of rescuing or even finding
Buttercup.
Sanity prevailed, though as the Deere
'o Death league lead
by Moohatma started firing into
the melee.
It's amazing what a common enemy will
do, and Tongue, Sir Loin
and Moo-nie formed a quick alliance.
About this time a small flock of
chickens took refuge behind
the Dodge parked in front of the
barn. Spot
astutely noticed that the pickup had
a tank for some sort
of liquid on the back. He asked
if the liquid was flammable.
Well, it wouldn't be any fun if it
weren't so I said yes.
Every cow within firing range
immediately opened up on the
truck. The brand new 98 double
wide was converted to Swiss
Cheese before a lucky shot ignited
the liquid and sent the
chickens off to visit that big
Colonel Sanders in the sky.
While everyone was busy frying
chickens and smoking beef,
no one noticed that Tewbie Inabun had
worked his way to
the barn and was sneaking inside.
As soon as this was
spotted, though, efforts were quickly
made to beat him
to the punch. Al and Tipper
Gore along with Wellington,
all started a pack of IH tractors and
headed after the
Tongue alliance. Moohatma, Spot
and Rambovine opted for the
single Tractor-tank and all climbed
the same vehicle, also
heading for Tongue and company.
The alliance beat a hasty retreat to
the (relative) safety
of the barn.
Inside, Tewbie was having a hard time
finding Buttercup.
The stalls were each clearly marked
with the name of the
heifer inside. Unfortunately,
cows can't read. So Tewbie
had to check each stall looking for
his beloved bovine.
Tongue and Moo-nie managed to slip
into the barn behind
Tewbie and started taking pot shots.
Through another
door came Rambovine hoping to take
advantage of Tewbie's
work and lead Buttercup away with his
obvious studliness.
This is the point where one player
(Wellington) proved what
an evil man he is. He casually
wandered over to where I
was sitting and pointing to a tank
like thing I had set
up next to the barn asked, "Is
that a gas tank, by chance?"
I replied "I dunno, what do you
think it looks like?"
"I think it looks like a gas
tank. If I shoot it what happens?"
I thought for some quick rules,
"Let's see, if you hit it, and
then if you roll an 8 on 2 dice, it
will explode".
He did and he did and it did :-)
A turn later the barn was in flames.
The BC trapped inside
realized this was no time for petty
arguments and heavy
machineguns and called an immediate
truce in an effort
to rescue Buttercup.
Several players asked if the roof
would collapse. That sounded
like fun too, so I made up some more
rules. I randomly rolled
1 die, looking for a result from 4-6.
This would be the
number of turns before the roof
collapsed. I rolled a 4 but
didn't tell anyone. The BC in
the barn located Buttercup
and chewed frantically at the ropes
to free her.
Meanwhile, the tractor aficionados
outside decided the best
way to win fair Buttercup's hoof was
to wipe out all opposition
outside the barn and then pick off
the stragglers as they
exited. Grenades and machinegun
bursts were exchanged when
the Deere 'o Death discovered the
wonders of driving very
heavy farm machinery over rival
cattle. Several BC were
ground before Moohatma was shot from
the driver's seat
and the tractor crashed into the
still burning pickup.
The would-be Buttercup rescuers
finally managed to free
their distressed love and beat a
hasty retreat out of the
conflagration. Rambovine
couldn't pass on tossing off one
last concussion grenade, though,
knocking over not only his
rivals, but Buttercup also.
They managed to struggle to
their hooves and head for the door.
Moo-Nie and Rambovine
made it out safely but then, tragedy
struck.
Just as Cow Tse Tongue reached the
exit with Buttercup a
few feet behind, a terrible crash
sound through the barnyard.
The roof of the barn collapsed,
burying the valiant hero and
his love in pile of burning timber.
A silence fell across field as the
remaining BC realized what
had just occurred. Sadly, they
lowered their weapons and their
heavy heads and slunk off into the
night to grieve the loss
fair Buttercup.
Actually, I called the game at that
point or they would have
shot at each other all night :-)
When points were totaled, the John
Deere contingent came away
with the Phyrric victory, and I
laughed a great deal.
=======================================================
Battle Cattle! We had 9 players
show up this year, 3 of which
were sub-10 yr olds, so I was very
pleased with the turnout.
The scenario: Farmer Brown was
perplexed by the destruction he'd
find at his farm every time he
returned from town ("Dagburned Kids!").
But the Military understood. It
seemed the retired Battle Cattle
were not quite read to be put out to
pature. And what better way
to remove troublesome BCs that with
more Battle Cattle? They
chose as their battleground the
Filmore County Fair where
Farmer Brown was showing his prize
cows. Complicating the operation
was the matter of the secret plans.
It seems that when Farmer Brown
bought the retired BC, he got a lot
of paper work with them. Mixed
up in the papers were the plans for
the next "secret weapon" (tm).
Unfortunately, Pinky the pig, ate the
plans. The Military couldn't
allow the plans to fall into the
wrong hands, so the military cows
had as a secondary objective to stomp
Pinky. Pinky being the agile
little greased pig he was
required 4 stomps to completely squish.
For their part, Farmer Brown's cows
always liked to stomp pigs,
so they had the same objective.
With that setting, the game
began.
The military cows quickly showed
their training and organization
as they headed for the most useful
terrain at the fair. Veal
McCoy started for the John Deere
display and Moo-nie for the Carousel
while High Steaks started hunting
down Pinky. Farmer Brown's
cows were a little less certain,
taking cover behind the various
hay bales and midway games. The
Military started the carnage when
a few well placed shots from across
the fair convinced Farmer
Brown's cows that hiding wouldn't
save them. Accordingly, Tewbie
Innabun made a dash for the
International Harvester tractors and
Wellington headed for the Ferris
Wheel.
Veal McCoy was having a heck of a
time finding a tractor with keys
in it and she kept receiving pot
shots from Wellington each time the
Ferris Wheel would carry him to the
top. Moo-nie took his place
next to a carousel horse and
commenced spraying the fairground
with a circular hail of heavy machine
gun fire. For his part, Pinky
was doing a good job of avoiding
being stomped (considering the
movement was random, I was impressed
by how well the pig succeeded
in running away from approaching
hooves). Finally, however, an
unlucky roll cornered Pinky against
the Future Farmers' concession
stand where High Steaks took
advantage and trampled.
Meanwhile a melee erupted near the
Grandstand as Tipper and Al Gore
(both Military) started a
fire-ram-trample attack against poor
Spot. It seemed Spot would be a
goner, but at that moment Tewbie,
got his IH started and came roaring
to the rescue. Through the
fence, over the chickens and into
Tipper, Tewbie blasted across the
Fair. Al Gore beat a hasty
retreat, but Tewbie revved the engine
into reverse and pointed the tail
hitch at Al. In a last great
act of defiance, Al charged the
tractor imprinting the Army logo
on the side door. He died with
a valiant cry of "Semper Bovis!"
on his lips.
Back at the carousel, Moo-nie
unveiled his secret weapon just as
Wellington decided to step off the
Ferris Wheel and go after Veal.
Adrenal boosts rocketed Moo-nie
across the fair and into Wellington.
I ruled that Wellington re-entered
the atmosphere somewhere over
Iowa.
Pinky was being thoroughly mauled by
High Steaks, but not willing
to let the Military have all the fun,
Spot revealed he also had Adrenal
boosts. Blasting the full
length of the fair, he squished Pinky for
the fourth and final time, tripped on
the ensuing bacon and ended up
piled against the entrance gate.
Most of the cattle had been squished,
zapped, stomped or mauled
by the time Veal McCoy finally found
a tractor with keys and
got it going. The two moving
tractors started a death run
at each other. Tewbie had a
great idea of lobbing a grenade at
Veal, knocking her out of the tractor
and then running over her.
Unfortunately, the dice failed him
and he couldn't hit the broadside
of a tractor, so to speak.
There were a few final shots and rams,
but by then the result was obvious.
Tewbie was the last of Farmer Brown's
cows standing. He pointed
the tractor for home and drove away.
Farmer Brown will no doubt
be dismayed by the loss of his prized
cows, but pleased by the
sudden appearance of a brand new 9730
tractor (less a few bullet
holes).
Their objective obtained, the
remaining military cows regrouped
and after a hearty
"Moo-rah" disappeared into the night. The
Fair officials were stunned by the
damage they found in the morning,
and sadly had to cancel the
much anticipated "Tony Orlando and
Dawn" concert scheduled for that
evening.
Final result--Military victory by 100
or so points, Moo-nie
won the individual prize and was
promoted to Cowporal.