Underhive Formula X

Introduction

In the darkest depths of the Underhive or the Necromundan Hive Primus, rivals gangs battle for supremacy over pitiful spoils. Once every planetary cycle, an event is held that captures the attention of all the Underhive. This is the ultimate tourney, a contest to determine the greatest driver in the Lower Hive - The Formula X. All those gangs who can afford it, or lone wealthy individuals attempt to make their mark in the legends of the Underhive by constructing or buying a vehicle to compete in this contest, so that their names will be remembered, and their achievements discussed in the holes through the hive for years to come.

This game is based on the racing sports of Old Earth, but it is a more debased and violent form of it. It is raced with small, fast moving bikes and buggies overloaded with guns, bombs, flame-throwers and all manner of weapons and equipment, all racing to earn creds and the greatest prize of all - true fame. Underhive Formula X can be played as a stand-alone series of games, or as part of an ongoing Necromunda campaign.

In Formula X, there are three basic ways to win;
1, finish the required number of laps ahead of the other vehicles;
2, destroy all the other vehicles by blasting them apart;
3, killing all the judges and unfriendly spectators so that no-one can prove you lost.

Starting the Race

Tooling Up

If you are playing Formula X as a stand-alone game, you start the series with 300 credits, which you can use to buy a vehicle, crew, weapons and extra equipment.
If you ar playing as part of a Necromunda campaign, you gang must save up for a vehicle or else buy one when starting. Every vehicle MUST have a driver when it is bought. The price lists and rules can be found below.

You must also determine the house of your racing team. If you are playing as part of a campaign, the house will, naturally, be your own house. If you are playing Formula X stand-alone, you must choose. for yourself. Any house or outlander group may be the owners of a vehicle, but outlander gangs cannot accompany their vehicles into a racing arena as spectators, unless it is an outlaw or illegal arena.

Setting up the Terrain

The arena can be as big as you want, and can contain as much or as little terrain as you wish. There must be a clearly defined racing track running through the course, with at least 1 judges tower situated with a good view of as much of the track as possible. The tower may take any form you wish, but is usually at least 5" high with heavy, forbidding walls and armoured windows.The track itself should be walled in by lights walls, tyre barriers, embankments and suchlike, with a few gaps to allow for extra mayhem when vehicles go out of control, or just find those enemy gangers too tempting to resist flattening. There should be a clearly defined start/finish line and a small side-lane, which is the repair lane. The track should be clear of all obstacles, but may be overhung by gantries/ walkways, etc. The track itself should all be on the same level, but if you're feeling ambitious you could have a track that goes along the gantries and walkways on one, or even multiple levels! The start line should be wide enough to fit all the vehicles in a line at the start of the race. The track should not be any narrower at any point than the width of the widest vehicle. You may include one or more spectator boxes at the edge of the track.

Setting up the Models

All vehicles are set up beside each other on the start line. If you are playing as part of Necromunda campaign, place the gang leader of each competing gang in the arena, at least 16" away from any other gang leader. Place D6 other members of each gang no further than 6" away from the leader. If you are'nt playing as part of campaign, place D6+1 random ganger models from your vehicle's house in the same way as above. These are your loyal fans, and act as a gang for the puposes of fighting other people, etc. Each model is armed with the equipment and weapons shown on the model. Heavy weapons are not allowed into the arena except on the vehicles. If you want, you can place any number of non-aligned spectators scattered anywhere in the arena at least 6" away from any gang member. Each judges tower contains D3 judges. Models may not be set up on the race track itself(unless they're feeling particularly suicidal).

Now decide how many laps are in the race(normally about 2-6), and you're ready to go!(A lap should typicaly take between 2 and 4 turns)

The Turn

Each turn is divided up into five phases.

1. Start Phase: Determine racing order and resolve effects.
2. 1st Racing Phase \
3. 2nd Racing Phase --Vehicles move and Shoot
4. 3rd Racing Phase /
5. End Phase: Resolve effects, damage, and fires.

Start Phase

After this is done, resolve all effects that take place in the start phase, according to the racing order. Also in the start phase, if a lap was just completed by the vehicle in the lead at any time in the last turn, roll 2D6 on the Lap Table below.

Racing Phases

At this stage, the player decides if they want to accelerate this turn or not. Each player determines his speed by adding(or not adding) any number of inches up to his acceleration value to last turn’s speed. That players vehicle MUST move this distance every racing phase of that turn. This splitting of movement represents the fact that all vehicles are moving simultaneously. The distance that a vehicle moves in all 3 racing phases is called the vehicles total speed.

Acceleration and Speed bands

Every vehicle has an acceleration value and slow, cruising and fast speed bands. Every vehicle starts the race at 0” movement (stopped). On the first turn, vehicles move a distance equal to their acceleration value every racing phase, on the second, twice that, on the third, triple and so on. So every turn, you add your acceleration value onto the distance you moved last turn. Players may wish not to accelerate, and, if so, may stay at the same speed. Deceleration works in the opposite way, the vehicle subtracting their acceleration from last turn’s movement. If you go over the value of one speed band, you move on to the next, e.g. a bike at 4” accelerates, and so moves from slow speed to cruising speed. A vehicle may never go faster than its fast speed value.

Turns and skid turns

Each vehicle has a certain number of 45° turns every racing phase, depending on its speed. At slow speed, a vehicle may make an infinite number of turns, at cruising speed 2, and at fast speed 1. Once the vehicle has used up all of its 45° turns, it my make extra turns known as skid turns at a greater risk.. When attempting a skid turn, roll a D6 on the following table.

A vehicle that skids when attempting a turn is first angled 45° in the desired direction. Then rotate the rear of the vehicle, keeping the front stationary, the number of degrees skidded. Press the play button on the image to the right for an idea of how skids work. Every time you make a skid turn, whether it is successful or not, roll a D6. On a 1, the wheels or your vehicle have been damaged by the heat friction. Roll a D6 on the wheel damage table below.

Shooting

Shooting takes place during the racing phases either before or after the shooter's vehicle has moved. Each weapon may only be fired once every turn, not once every phase, as the weapon is reloading, recharging, reeling in, or whatever. Shooting is exactly the same as in the Necromunda. Front weapons have 90° fire arcs to the front, rear weapons 90° to the rear, and side weapons 180° to each side. Heavy weapons have variable fire arcs, shown on the vehicle datafaxes. However, the faster vehicles are moving, the harder it is for them to hit, and to hit them. When shooting at or from fast moving vehicles, the shooter gets -1 to hit for every 10” of the difference in theirs and the victims total speed. Models on foot count as having a total speed of 0". If any number of mounts are given as linked, they must be fired at the same tim, at the same target.

Armour and Armour Penetration

Ramming and Crashing

If any vehicle comes into contact with another, both vehicles inflict a hit with a strength, damage, and save modifier as shown on their datafax, Depending on what kind of collision it is. There are four basic types of collision; shunts, side scrape, t-bones, and head-on.
Shunt: A shunt is a ram from the front of one vehicle to the rear of another. In a shunt, the attacker takes no damage and the defender takes damage according to 1/2(damage+ram strength+D6). A vehicle shunted by another is immediately pushed D6" forward.
Side Scrape: A side scrape is when a vehicle moves at a light angle into the side of another vehicle. In a side scrape, the defender takes damage according to 1/2(damage+ram strength+D6) of the attacker and is moved D3 " to the opposite side it was rammed on. The attacker takes damage at 1/4(damage+ram strength+D6) of the defender.
T-Bone: A T-Bone collision is when the front of one vehicle rams the side of another so that the two vehicles are no more than 30° from absolute perpendicular. In a T-bone, the defender takes damage at (damage+ram strength+D6) of the attacker and is moved D6" away from the attacker. The attacker takes damage at 1/2(damage+ram strength+D6) of the defender.
Head-On: In a head-on collision, both sides take full damage according to the (damage+ram strength+D6) of the other vehicle.

 

Ohhhhhh...you know that'll cost a few creds to fix.

A ram attack will always hit a vehicle’s hull, and never the crew. If a vehicle hits a spectator, they may dive out of the way by rolling under their Initiative on a D6 (a 6 always fails). If they fail to dive out of the way,

Mounting, Dismounting and Falling off Speeding Vehicles

If any model falls off or jumps off a vehicle that has a total speed of more than 10" per turn, it will take a hit according to the table below.

A model on foot or on a vehicle may jump onto and board another vehicle up to 1" away. The model takes a hit on the Fall Damage table, the distance being the difference in total speed. Foot models count as having a total speed of 0". For example, a crewman of a buggy going at 30" jumps onto a trike going 18". The difference in this case is 12, so the boarding crewman takes a hit at strength 2. Once the model has boarded the vehicle, they must take an initiative test(roll under their initiative in 1D6) to remain on it. If the test is failed, they fall off and take damage according to the vehicle they just fell off's total speed. Boarding vehicles is a dangerous buisness! A boarding model may attack any other crew on the vehicle in close combat. Each model trying to fight a round of close combat on a moving vehicle must take an initiative test. Failure means they fall off. A driver that is engaged in close combat from a boarding model cannot control the vehicle for the rest of the turn. The vehicle goes out of control for the rest of the turn. A boarding model may only close combat 1 model each turn.

Spectators Phase

This phase allows the spectators to move and shoot. Only gangs which are active can move in this phase, but if a non-active gang member is shot at or injured, that ganger’s whole gang becomes active. Treat this as an normal turn of Necromunda, with the gang whose vehicle won the racing order going first. Spectators may go onto the track (suicidal Redemptionist Zealots, for example), shoot at the vehicles, and be shot at by the vehicles.

End Phase

In this phase, resolve effects, damage, and fires by normal racing order. For every fire on a vehicle, roll once on the Fire! table. In the end phase, all vehicles that can no longer race are removed along with their crew and accompanying gang/fans.

The Repair Lane

Any vehicle that spends a full turn in the repair lane can repair any damage to its hull on a 4+. All fires are automatically extinguished(before they can do damage) and all damaged wheels are replaced.

Loss of Crew

Vehicle crew roll for injury the same as normal, but a roll of 1 or 2 indicates a flesh wound. If a vehicles driver goes down or out of action, then the vehicle goes out of control until the driver is replaced by another crew member. If a gunner is taken out, then he can no longer operate his weapon.

Buildings

Buildings over 4" square count as very large targets(+3to hit). Smaller buildings and walkways are merely large targets(+1 to hit). Buildings are easy targets but are mostly solidly built and hard to damage. Buildings have an armour value in the same way as vehicles. As most people will make up their own buildings you may prefer to tailor each building's values to its appearance. This is entirely up to you.

Generally, buildings and walkways in the underhive are made of stone, concrete or plascrete, depending on local conditions. Fortifications and bunkers will be steel, plasteel or rockrete. Most Judge's towers also fall into this category.

Weapons that penetrate the armour value of a building roll to dmage it in the same way they would a vehicle. Roll a D6 on the table below.

If your buildings are very large it may not be appropriate to have weapon hits affecting the entire structure. You may prefer to divide it up into component parts which are damaged seperately. For example, you may have a bunker with a main portion and small structures linked by platforms, each structure and platform counting as a seperate structure for damage purposes.

A building cannot collapse if rammed or engaged in close combat unless it is an especially flimsy structure. Instead, a successful penetration will knock a hole in the wall as wide as the attacker's base, or wide enough to fit the ramming vehicle. If holes are knocked alone the length of an entire wall in this way, then the building will automatically collapse. Vehicles equipped with ram bars, smash hammers or similar attachments add +1D6 to their armour penetration of buildings, and subtract 1D6 from the penetration value against the vehicle.

Going Out of Control

If a vehicle goes out of control, Roll a D6 on each of the following tables.

Winning the Race

When all the vehicles have either finished the required number of laps, been destroyed, had drivers killed, or if all the judges and neutral spectators have been killed, the race is over. The winning vehicle gets a cash prize of 4D6 X 10 credits, second place gets 2D6 X 10. All other positions don’t get anything at all. To win, your vehicle must cross the line first. If all the judges are killed, there is no-one to witness who won, so no prize is given. All participants get +D6 experience if their vehicle survived, and +5 for every damaging hit inflicted. The winner’s driver gets +10 experience points, second place driver gets +5. Furthermore, if you are playing as a standalone game, the winner's success has been noticed, and you may add +1 to the dice for the number of spectators that show up to watch you race each race. This bonus is cumulative, so as long as you keep winning races, you will accumulate more and more fans. However, if you come 3rd or lower in any race, your fan dice will revert to D6+1.

After the Race

When the race is over, the players may forage, work territories, etc. as normal. The driver of a vehicle counts as a heavy, so cannot work territory(he is too busy maintaining the vehicle). Instead of visiting the normal trade post, the gang leader visits the garage. Roll up D3 items on the Garage Rare Trade Table, +1 for every ganger sent to search for items. If you are playing as a stand-alone game, you get D6X5 creds for each supporter who turned up to watch you race that survived the race(i.e. - didnt go out of action)..

Repairs & Upkeep

If a vehicle was sent out of the race by a fire, critical damage, etc, then it must pay 50+2D6 credits to be repaired. The vehicle cannot be used until repaired. Also, after every race, 20 credits must be paid to hammer out the dents, refuel, and repair minor damage.

Judge’s Rules

These are the official rules of Underhive Formula X:

1. No killing Judges
2. No head-on ramming
3. Vehicles are not allowed shoot at spectators unless provoked
4. No killing the engineers in the pit lane or damaging their equipment
5. No boarding other vehicles
6. No using high explosive weapons to damage the course
7. No violence before the start
8. No weapons are to be fired at the Judge’s tower
9. No nukes
10. No ramming an incapacitated vehicle
11. No side-crushing(ramming a vehicle against a wall)
12. No leaving the arena before the race is over
13. Prizes are only awarded to vehicles crossing the line under their own power
14. The Judges reserve the right to disqualify any vehicle they feel appropriate to

Any vehicle breaking any of these rules within sight of a Judge's Tower must roll a D6, on a 1, 2 or 3 they are disqualified. A Judge's Tower has a sight range of 24" in all directions unless obscured by something. Players may bribe the judges before a race for D6X10 creds, and may re-roll any one disqualification dice for each bribe.

Formula X is copyright© WarlordQueek 2000.
Any material in this site cannot be reproduced without permission of the author.
Permission is given to print this material for the purposes of playing the game only.