To preface, these rules are not meant to be a wargame/simulator, but a way to play large battles using the established Wizards Star Wars Miniatures system. Thus, many of the rules will not be "realistic" to true military doctrine or battlefield conditions, and as such, decisions have been made in order to allow the game to flow quicker rather and be more abstract.

These rules have not been professionally tested nor balanced for competitive play, so most likely there are loopholes that one can exploit. That leads to the most important rule: Play with good sportsmanship and common sense, avoid nitpicking stuff and just have fun.

1. Rules Overview

Unless otherwise stated, you will be playing with the exact rules/errata from SWM. The specifics of the rule changes are detailed below:

* Play will occur on a gridless battlefield, and scale translates to 1 grid square to 1 inch. There will be no additional penalties for "diagonal" movement/ranges due to this freeform nature.

* Adjacency equates to any unit within 1 inch.

* The majority of your units will be formed into squads, and you will activate the entire squad as one of the two activations per phase (Section 2).

* Commander effect range have been redefined (Section 3).

* Range attacks now have additional modifiers such as range and new targeting rules (Section 4).


2. Unit composition

Non-unique figures in the following classes must be organized into squads as specified below:

Irregular units (1pt - 4pt) have a squad size of 10-20.

Regular troops (5pt - 10pt) have squad size of 8-10.

Elite units (11pt – 15pt) have a squad size of 5-10.

Special Forces (16pt+) have squad sizes of 2-8.

Each squad may also add:
1 special/heavy weapon per 5 troops.
1 medic per 10 troops.

An officer/NCO (unit with with a commander effect or an elite) or unique may be one of the troops. Any number of additional uniques may be part of the unit, but only one of the uniques may have a commander effect (so a unit can have at most 2 commanders).

Each member within a squad must remain within 1” of another member.

Activation

When activating a squad, all figures must activate at the same time. You still roll individually for each figure. The entire squad counts as one activation.

Terrain Effects

Conditions such as cover bonus, difficult terrain, etc. apply to the entire squad if over 50% of the units are subject to this condition; otherwise, the entire squad does not experience it.

Exception: Abilities which completely hide a unit from line-of-sight only occur to individual figures and not the entire squad, even if more than 50% of them are subject

For example, Stealth: in a squad where only some figures are in cover, only those exactly in the cover terrain gain this ability; the other figures still gain the terrain cover bonus but not stealth.

Independent Characters

Uniques, savage, non-combatants, and large/huge base figures may act as indepedent characters and do not need to join a squad, or may form a squad of any size with each other.

Independent characters may choose to join/leave squads at anytime during their movement as long as the player announces it.

3. Commander Effects

Commander effects of figures in squads only affect the unit the leader is attached.

Independent characters' commander effects affect other indepdenents within 6" (even if the range specified on the card is greater). They also affect entire squads where 50%+ of figures in the squad are within 6" of this character.

Exceptions and other rules:

Mas Amedda's Booming Voice still grants unlimited range, but one to 1 commander, and Mas must remain within 1" of him.

Effects that only target 1 figure (i.e. Revan’s) still have whatever range, be it unlimited, is specified on the card.


4. Ranged Attacks

All figures in a unit must target the same enemy unit when shooting.

Only the first 2 "ranks" of troops in a squad that face that target may shoot and combine fire at it. The second rank of a unit does not suffer cover penalties/bonuses by the front rank.

Individual figures within a squad may not be targeted except by Accurate Shot or Sniper equivalents (even if they are in the front rank), and it also adds a -8 modifier to attack.

Any unit/squad size of 3 or less may not be targeted unless unit is the closest enemy or by another unit of same/smaller size, except by Accurate Shot or Sniper equivalent. Large base figures count as 2 units and huge as 4 for unit size purporses.

Units and squads adjacent to the enemy may not shoot at another enemy.

Vehicles may always be targeted if a reasonable part of their structure is in LOS, but still get cover bonuses.

Modifiers

Units with blaster rifles/pistols, and other small arms:

Short Range (up to 6”): no penalty.
Medium Range (6”-12”): -4 attack.
Long Range (12”-24”): -8 attack.
Extreme Range (24”+): automatically miss.

Vehicles and units with heavy weapons, missiles, etc:

Short Range (up to 12”): no penalty.
Medium Range (12”-24”): -4 attack.
Long Range (24”-36”): -8 attack.
Extreme Range (36”+): automatically miss.

Units that have moved and fired: -2 attack (does not apply to vehicles and units possessing Mobile Attack or Charging Fire/Assault).

Targeting a unit with a squad (if applicable): -8 attack.

Targeting an independent character: -4 attack (does not apply to Snipers and Accurate Shooters).

Combined Fire

Combined fire bonuses are at +2 per figure giving up its turn to combine.

Figures in the same squad may only combine fire with each other. The bonuses gained can be distributed in any way the player sees fit.

An entire squad may choose to combine fire with another squad (or independent character) during that other unit’s activation. The bonuses gained can be distributed in any way the player sees fit.

Casualties

Only the first 2 ranks of a squad – dependent on the direction of the fire -- may be hit (non-area effect damage). The squad owner takes casualties from these ranks as they see fit.

Area Effect Damage

When a unit is subject to area effect damage, count from wherever the maximum amount of figures may be hit, then roll the save (if appropriate) for each figure.

“Look out Sir!” – if an officer or unique or unique in a squad is within range of the splash damage and there is at least one other figure in the squad not affected by this, that figure may switch positions with the officer or unique before the save is rolled.

4. Melee Attack

A figure adjacent to another figure is able to make a melee attack.

When a figure kills another figure in melee attack, they may move up to half their normal movement after the attack (i.e. 3” for most figures).

Within a squad, this movement is taken after all the attacks made the squad are completed; the squad must move as a whole and maintain 1” coherency. What this means is that sometimes figures in a squad not engaged in melee can gain a free move also.

5. Misc rules

All huges and vehicles (excluding bikes) gain Damage Reduction 10. If the unit already possesses that ability, it is upgrade to DR 20.

Deflect 11 is now a free ability (no Force cost) available to all Force users with Lightsabers. For figures that already have this ability, it is upgraded to Deflect 6.

Lightsaber Reflect is now reduced in cost to 1 Force point, and the Force user needs to roll a 6 save to activate, while the recipient of the damage has save 16.

The bonus move costing 1 Force point is now upgraded to 6”, and all Master Speed powers are increased by another 6”.

6. Even more experimental rules and not tested at all: Morale

Morale tests only apply to squads, and are taken at the beginning of the round after they reach below 50% size. It is taken again at the beginning of each round after the round they take casualties.

To check morale, take the highest point cost figure in the squad and roll a d20. If it is equal or less than the point value, the unit passes morale. A roll of 1 is still an automatic failure, so it is possible, but very unlikely, for high point value units to fail.

“Stand fast!” – a named character’s point value may be used for the morale roll of any squad where over 50% of its units are within 6” of the character.

Morale save success: Squad may activate normally and does not need to make a save again unless it takes more casualties.

Morale save failure: When this squad activates, it must make an immediate full speed move straight towards the friendly starting zone. It may not make any attacks. In the next round, it must make another morale save if it is still on the battlefield.

The unit may deviate its movement slightly to avoid an enemy unit in its path. If this unit’s maximum move forces it to end in contact with an enemy character squad or unit, it is destroyed immediately.

During this move, they will pass through friendly units with no restriction. However any friendly squad that this fleeing unit passes within 1” must also make a morale save at its activation (if it has not activated this round), or the beginning of the next round.

Morale save modifiers:
Named characters with point values over 20 within 6” (when a unit is not subject to “Stand Fast”): -4 bonus to save roll
Squad is at 25% size or less: +4 penalty to roll

=====================

Comments/critiques welcome.