Tournament Rules

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These rules are designed to provide a quick and dirty version of the main rules, generally this sort of game is only used as a tutorial for new players or to enjoy a quick (relatively) game taking less time to set up and play than full games or Campaigns.

## Setting Up

There are a number of things you will need for a Tournament game, first of all you will need some Track Sections generally it is best to start with 3 Straight Sections in a row, after the third track section is laid you should place a further 5 or 6 Track sections. Once your basic track is placed each player will need a vehicle or two, for the sake of simplicity each player can select a renegade with the same armament as the other or an interceptor each with the same armament, alternatively for a slightly more interesting game you can build a [[Gang] or Ops Team using the Force Creation Rules.
each player will need a few D6 (Six sided Dice) at least 1 of them to roll during game, and 1 for each vehicle they control, and one for keeping tract of the Phase, as well as some paper and pencils for each player.

## Starting Positions

Once the Track and vehicles are organized each player must roll a D6, the player with the highest result places their vehicles anywhere on the first track section and act as the chase cars, the next highest then places their vehicles on the second track section, and so on until each player has placed their vehicles (in the case of a draw on the dice roll each drawn player rerolls their die to determine which of the drawn players is first.
Now that the vehicles are placed each player secretly selects the speed of each of their vehicle's from zero to six and makes a note of it this determines how many phases each vehicle will move in.
Each player beginning with the Vehicles furthest to the back of the track then reveals their speed using their vehicles current speed die to mark these factors until every vehicles speed has been revealed.
after this play can begin starting with the fastest vehicle (in the case that more than one vehicle is moving at this speed then the furthest forward on the track is moved first), each vehicle can make Manoeuvers, Change Speed, Shoot or lay Mines.

## Turns & Phases

Each Turn in Dark Future is composed of a number of Phases of activity and once each phase has been completed the Turn ends and a new one begins, this continues until a victory is won or all players are unable to continue.
There are 6 Phases in the basic Tournament Rules as the Pedestrian Phases are not used in this game, the Phase Die is placed on 1 at the beginning of the turn and is increased by 1 each new phase until it reaches 6 and the last Phase of the Turn. each Phase is played out in the same manner as all other phases with a basic order of action.

**The Phase Sequence**
Each Phase should be kept to this order where possible.

1. Determine which car is moving the fastest (or in the case of a draw which car is furthest forward) if that vehicles speed is equal to or greater than the current Phase they then move on to the next step otherwise their turn is over.
2. The Driver of the Car then declares what Action if any they intend to use, they then move their car one space forward and execute their Action if any was declared.
3. The next fastest (or furthest forward) vehicle then performs the same process and so on until each vehicle has moved.
4. Change the Phase Die and begin the process again unless there are no vehicles moving fast enough to take action in that Phase or Phase 6 has ended in which case the Turn ends and the next begins at Phase 1.

## Moves and Actions

**Moves**
Any vehicle that has a Speed of 1 or more must Move each Turn and they will move a number of times equal to their Speed, a move is one space forward without changing lanes or 8cm for those not using marked board sections, as a part of any Move the vehicle can declare that it is Accelerating or Braking in which case during the Move they may either increase their speed by 1 or reduce it by 1 to a maximum of 6 or a minimum of 0
A vehicle with a Speed of 0 is stationary and makes no moves during the phases of the turn, but they may choose to start moving during Phase 1 of a Turn by declaring an Accelerate Action.

**Actions**
When a Vehicle has declared an action and made their move they may then complete their Action and then the Phase moves on, each vehicle declaring and completing just one Action each Phase.

*Drift* actions allow the vehicle to change lane left or right from their current position by 1 lane (2cm for unmarked boards).
*Shoot* actions are used to fire a weapon or lay a mine from the vehicle.
*Sideswipe* is used when your vehicle is beside another (within 2cm) and you wish to deliberately slam into the side of their vehicle.
*Shunt* occurs when a moving vehicle is directly behind another (within 8cm) and its move would cause it to occupy the same space.

## Basic Actions

**Drift**

A Drift is executed after the vehicle moves forward one space, when they are then moved one lane to the left or right of the vehicles current position, once this action is completed the vehicle has made their Drift successfully. If a Drift would cause the vehicle to physically come into contact with another vehicle by occupying the same Lane or is within 2cm then treat the Drift as a Sideswipe instead.
If Corner Sections are used the Drifts can be more complex, When drifting outward on a corner the vehicle counts Lanes from the outer lane from their vehicle to determine their final position rather than their current lanes, equally when drifting inward on a curve the vehicle counts the lanes on the inside of the vehicles current lanes to determine their final position.

**Shooting**

When a vehicle makes a Shoot action it must first select which weapon it wishes to use, depending on the type of weapon that is declared the process can be different. Guns are fired along a corridor of lanes directly in front of the firing vehicle occupying the same lanes as the shooting vehicle and moving forward from the vehicle as far as the weapons range, any vehicle that shares a lane with the fire corridor can be shot at though a vehicle that occupies a lane of the fire corridor prevents that lane from being targeted beyond the vehicle.
if a target is within the fire corridor the vehicle may be shot with a gun, the player then selects a Gun from those the vehicle has and makes a To Hit roll, this is done by rolling a D6 and adding the Weapons Accuracy to the result, if the total is equal to, or greater than the Range between the two vehicles then a Hit is scored, otherwise the shot misses. the Range is determined by counting the number of spaces from the shooting vehicle to the target including the space occupied by the target but not the Shooter.
If a Hit is scored then the shooter rolls their damage, this is done by rolling a D6 and adding the weapons damage to the result, the target vehicle then subtracts its armor from the damage and marks down how much damage has been taken.
If the damage total would reduce the Vehicles Wounds to 0 or less it is destroyed and leaves play (unless you are using the Main Rules where more complex rules exist for the destruction of vehicles).

Passives work differently that Guns as they do not require a To Hit roll to use, when a Shoot action is used for Passives the player Makes their Move as usual and then places the Passive marker in the Space the vehicle previously occupied (The Space directly behind the vehicle, once placed the marker remains until the end of the game (though Smoke has depletion rules in the Main Rules section), unless it is a Mine then it remains until it is used.
Smoke, Oil, and Spikes are placed face up and affect any vehicle that enters the same space as the Passive counter, and remain in place after the vehicle moves on.
While Mines activate only once when a vehicle enters the same space as the Mine, when a Mine is laid on the road the vehicle may choose to lay either a Mine or a Dummy counter, when a vehicle enters the same space as the face down counter they flip it, if its a Dummy then it is removed and the player continues without taking damage, if the counter is an Explosion Marker then the player who laid the mine rolls damage as if firing a weapon but it automatically hits the vehicle.

**Sideswipe**

A Sideswipe can be declared as an Action or result from a Drift that takes a vehicle into side by side contact with another vehicle, in either case they are resolved in the same manner, the Ramming vehicle (The vehicle that moves) rolls a D6 and adds +1 to the result, the victim of the ram also rolls a D6, then both players compare results, the vehicle that loses the roll takes 2 damage, if the roll is a draw then both vehicles take 2 damage.

**Shunt**

A Shunt occurs when a vehicle that would move is obstructed by another vehicle directly in front of it occupying at least 1 lane in common, when this happens the ramming vehicle is not moved and effectively loses its Move, when this happens both vehicles roll D6 and the rammer adds +1 to their roll, if the rammer wins the roll the target vehicle takes 2 damage, in the case of a Draw both vehicles take 2 damage, if the rammer loses the roll they reduce their speed by 1 but no damage is taken.

## Optional Rules

There are a number of additional Rules that you can add to the Basic Tournament Rules to better accustom yourself to the Main Rules of the game.

**Hazard Rolls**
For more detail on Hazard Rolls see Hazards
Things can and often will go wrong while driving like a Maniac on the open road, especially when your shooting each other at the same time, Hazards represent the challenges at cornering at high speed, rolling over a Sand Bar, or pretty much any other dangers on the Highways of the Dark Future.

*Drifts* can be dangerous at high speed, when making a Drift add +1 to your hazard test.
*Explosions* will often result in some difficulty in keeping on the road whether from Tube GL, Missiles, or Mines.
*Sideswipes* can result in both vehicles making Hazard rolls.
*Shunts* will often result in the victim having difficulty keeping control.

If a Hazard roll is required then roll a D6 and add any bonuses you may gain (Such as for Drifts) if the result is equal to, or greater than the vehicles current Speed Factor then the Driver maintains control of the vehicle, if the result is lower than the vehicles Speed Factor then the Driver panic's and puts their foot on the brake loosing 1 Speed Factor immediately.

**Critical Hits**
For more detail on Criticals see Critical Hits
7using a critical hit chart can add more flavor to the combat and using this simplified system can result in a quick but fun system.
when a To Hit roll comes up a 6 on the die (not including bonuses for weapon accuracy) then the shooter has scored a critical hit on the target vehicle.
when this happens roll a D6 and consult the chart below

1. Shaken, the Driver must make a Hazard roll immediately.
2. Brake Failure, the vehicles brakes have been damaged and the driver must now make a Hazard roll when they wish to brake.
3. Weapon Hit, one of the vehicles weapons has been damaged and will no longer function (Roll Randomly or determine by direction of attack.
4. Tyres Hit, the vehicles Tyres have been shredded and the vehicle loses some of its speed, after this the vehicle cannot gain a Speed greater than 4, if its already moving faster than that it loses 1 Speed each Phase until its speed is 4.
5. Disabled Engine, the Engine doesn't work any more and the vehicle cannot accelerate and at the beginning of each turn its speed factor drops by 1 until it is stationary.
6. Fuel Hit, the fuel explodes and immediately destroys the vehicle, Bye Bye.

## See Also

On the Road

On Foot

Vehicle Design

Main Rules

Index