I. Introduction
S.A.B.O.T. stands for Simple Armored Battle in Oversized
Terrain. It's a fast-moving futuristic land battle, meant to be played on a big
game map. Each player spends his/her build points on various vehicles and soldiers,
sets them up on map tiles from my M8 Map System, and fights until his/her foe
has been wiped off the face of the earth.
This game's movement and combat rules are set up for large-scale battlefields with dozens
of vehicles and soldiers. Ever want to fill a ping-pong table with game maps? This is your game.
Got a door-sized folding table for game day? Play with a wide front and a shallow battlefield.
Better yet, make a big square table from two folding tables.
You can play this game on a small map, but it won't be as much fun.
S.A.B.O.T. is a complete game, with counters, markers, and maps. All you supply is a
couple of d10's (ten-sided dice). I've finally learned some international manners -- the
counters and markers will print on an A4-sized sheet, as well as the usual letter-sized page.
II. Vehicles, Soldiers & Weapons
Soldiers are bought in platoons of four squads -- two Infantry, one Heavy-Weapons, and one
Jump Troops. Special tracked vehicles are bought in platoons of four, one of each type.
All other vehicles are bought in platoons of four of the same kind of vehicle.
Some vehicles have special rules for movement or combat that are different from
the "regular" rules. In all such cases, the vehicle's rule takes precedence.
General rules for vehicle types:
- Tracked vehicles are the "base line" for combat vehicle abilities.
They move relatively slowly, give reasonable cross-country performance,
carry good weapons and armor, and don't cost a mint.
- Wheeled vehicles are similar to tracked vehicles except they're faster
and carry lighter armor.
- Hover vehicles ride on a cushion of air. They can move just about anywhere, and
get there pretty fast. But they have to be lightly armed and armored,
and they are more susceptible to damage than ground-moving vehicles.
- Anti-grav vehicles use advanced science to float a few meters off the ground.
They combine the terrain flexibility and speed of a hovercraft with the armor and weapons
of a tracked vehicle. Their drawbacks are high cost and poor maneuverability.
- Rotary-wing vehicles are helicopters. The move very fast and can fly anywhere,
but are lightly armored and easier to destroy than other types.
- Soldiers get around on foot, as they have from time immemorial, or they can grab
a ride on certain troop-carrying units. Some types of soldiers can fly with jet-packs.
Each vehicle has the following characteristics, which are spelled out in the Vehicles &
Soldiers Table:
- Symbol is an abbreviation for the vehicle, which appears on its counter.
- Unit is a description of what kind of vehicle it is.
- Cost is how much you pay, in build points, to acquire a platoon of that vehicle.
- Type is how the vehicle moves around (tracks, wheels, etc.).
- Move is how many move units the vehicle gets each turn. High numbers mean faster movement.
- Toughness (shown on the table as Tough) is a measure of how robustly the unit is
built. Higher numbers mean thicker armor or better construction.
- Range is how far the vehicle's weapon can shoot.
- Damage is how much harm the weapon does to the target.
- Special means extra weapons, unusual rules for movement, or anything else that
makes this vehicle different. These special features are spelled out in the vehicle
descriptions below.
Name: | Main Battle Tank (MBT) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle |
The MBT is your basic tank. It resists damage well, and can dish out quite a bit in return.
Name: | Heavy Tank (HVT) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle |
This tracked vehicle is the slowest thing in the game (aside from foot soldiers),
but it's also the heaviest-armored, and has one of the most powerful guns.
Name: | Missile Tank (MSL) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle |
Missile tanks carry four big GP (general-purpose) missiles instead of a cannon.
They can launch these missiles one per turn.
The missiles don't have to have a line-of-sight to their target.
They benefit from laser designation. If firing without line-of-sight and not laser-designated,
the missiles scatter just like artillery shots. An MSL can't move and fire in the same turn.
The problem with MSL's is that, once the missiles are gone, the tank is close to useless.
You can reload them from a missile-reloader vehicle, though.
Name: | Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle |
The ICV allows foot soldiers to keep up with the tanks.
It can carry one squad of soldiers in relative safety.
It also carries an auto-cannon and a single anti-tank missile, which it can fire into any
hex, not just the front three.
Name: | Self-Propelled Artillery (SPA) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle |
The big guns of the artillery can shoot further than anything else in the game, and they don't
have to have a line-of-sight to their target to do it. Their shots are prone to scattering,
though, and don't fare well against armored targets. If the target is within 5 hexes and
in a clear line-of-sight, SPA shots don't scatter. They cannot move and fire in the same turn.
Name: | Recovery Vehicle (RRV) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle (special) |
The "special" tracked vehicles aren't combat tanks, but support vehicles that earn their keep
without fighting. The recovery vehicle is a tank body with cranes, jacks, tools, and spare
parts. It can repair one disabled vehicle each turn if it ends its move next to that vehicle,
if neither vehicle gets shot at during that turn, and if a die roll comes up 5-10.
Name: | Bridging Tank (BRV) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle (special) |
If a bridging tank enters a river hex and stops there, other vehicles can treat it as a bridge
across the river, starting on the following turn. It can fold itself up and move on as long as
no vehicles have crossed it in the current turn. Treat it as an amphibious vehicle for
movement purposes in river hexes.
Units cannot pass through friendly units in a hex where a bridging tank has deployed itself.
Name: | Engineering Tank (ENV) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle (special) |
The engineering tank carries a large-bore, low-velocity demolition cannon, which gives it some
emergency fighting power. Its real value is its bulldozer blade, which lets it make a
prepared position for any unit. It takes two move units to make a prepared position,
after which you put a "Prepared Pos'n" marker in that hex.
Prepared positions help protect a unit when it gets attacked.
Only your own units benefit from your prepared positions, since they will be facing the wrong
way to help the enemy. Prepared positions can be made in Grassland, Desert/Beach, or Hills,
or in roads running through such hexes.
Name: | Missile Reloader (MLV) |
Type: | Tracked vehicle (special) |
The missile reloader can completely reload one missile tank in one turn (up to 4 GP missiles),
as long as the reloader ends its move next to that missile tank,
and as long as neither vehicle gets shot at in the current turn.
The MLV never runs out of missiles.
Name: | Scout Car (WSC) |
Type: | Wheeled vehicle |
Scout cars are fast, lightly-armored, lightly-armed vehicles. Their main function is to
identify enemy units. They can't move as well as other scout units, but they're inexpensive,
they add +1 to their scouting die rolls, and they're very, very
fast when moving on roads or in towns. They are also amphibious, so they can cross rivers
by themselves.
Name: | Hover Light Tank (HLT) |
Type: | Hover vehicle |
The hover light tank is similar in concept to the scout car, except it's a hovercraft instead
of a wheeled vehicle. It has all the advantages of hovercraft (high speed and the ability to
ignore most terrain), and all the disadvantages (light armor and vulnerability to damage).
It adds +1 to its scouting rolls.
Name: | Hover Tank-Destroyer (HTD) |
Type: | Hover vehicle |
The only effective way to put a big gun on a hovercraft is to fix it so it's firing forward.
This is a tactical drawback when attacking, since you have to turn the whole vehicle to aim
the gun. Hovercraft make poor defensive weapons, too. But when you need to move some heavy
firepower a long distance in a hurry, you'll appreciate the HTD.
Name: | Hover Personnel Carrier (HPC) |
Type: | Hover vehicle |
This is the same big hovercraft body as the HTD, but left open inside so it can carry two
squads of soldiers. It can't protect them as well as an ICV, but it can move a lot faster.
So when your troops absolutely, positively have to be there now, send them by HPC.
Name: | Agrav Tank (AGT) |
Type: | Anti-gravity vehicle |
Take a main battle tank, replace its engine and tracks with an anti-grav system, and you've
got the ultimate mobile-warfare weapon. Fast, well-armed, well-armored, and able to move
anywhere, the only real problem with AGT's is that you can't afford to buy many of them.
Name: | Scout Copter (RSC) |
Type: | Rotary-winged vehicle |
This helicopter is the fastest thing on the battlefield. Its machine gun is effective against
light units, and it carries two anti-tank missiles for the bigger stuff. It also has a laser
designator to assist the missiles of other units.
But its vulnerability to damage means it's not meant for a pitched battle.
It adds +1 to its scouting rolls.
Name: | Infantry Squad (INF) |
Type: | Foot soldiers |
Grunts. Dogfaces. Tommies, GI Joe, Poilu's, call 'em what you will, but when the glamorous
tanks have come and gone, it's the humble foot soldier who takes the ground and holds it.
Their firepower isn't much compared to a battle tank, but there's a lot they can do,
including using their laser designators for other units' anti-tank missiles.
Their low cost means you can have a bunch of them.
Name: | Heavy-Weapons Squad (HVY) |
Type: | Foot soldiers |
The heavy-weapons squad is an infantry squad armed with machine guns and four shoulder-launched
anti-tank missiles. They're a tanker's worst nightmare, because they can't be "disabled"
and because the battlefield will often be crawling with them. An infantry squad's main
contribution to battle is often just keeping the enemy HVY's at a distance.
Name: | Jump-Troop Squad (ABN) |
Type: | Foot soldiers |
These are foot soldiers with jet packs on their backs. They can't attack while in the air,
and they can't fly and move on land in the same turn. But there are times when even a small
unit can be worth its weight in platinum if they can get to a trouble spot fast enough,
and jump troops excel at this.
If you air-drop them, they will always land exactly where you want them (no scattering).
Name: | Anti-Tank Missile |
Type: | Weapon |
These missiles are carried by several types of units. They enable a small vehicle to take on
a much bigger foe. But, unlike the GP missiles of a missile tank,
these missiles cannot be reloaded. Once used, they're gone.
They are much more effective if used in conjunction with a laser designator.
They take a -1 penalty on attack rolls when fired at flying units.
They can't be aimed at soldiers. Unlike GP missiles, a vehicle can fire more than one in a turn.
Name: | Laser Designator |
Type: | Weapon |
A laser designator does no damage to its target. Instead, it "paints" the target so that a
missile has a better chance of hitting. A unit that uses a laser can't make any other attack
in that turn. A missile aimed at a laser-painted target adds +2 to its attack roll.
The effects of more than one laser are not cumulative. Soldiers cannot be painted.
III. Map Terrain
The following terrain symbols are used on the M7 maps:
- Grassland is green. Movement and combat are unaffected.
- Desert/Beach is yellow. Movement and combat are unaffected.
- Forest is green with tree symbols. Only soldiers can enter forest (flying units
can fly over it).
To scout a unit in forest, the scouting unit must be within 2 hexes of the unit to be scouted.
A unit in forest that gets attacked, adds +1 to its defense roll.
A unit completely surrounded by forest cannot be attacked, except by an adjacent unit
or by weapons that don't require line-of-sight.
- Depression is green (or yellow in desert) with dark wavy lines around its edge.
It takes one extra move unit to enter or exit a depression (this does not apply to vehicles
or soldiers that have only one move unit). Units in a depression are treated as though they
were in a prepared position, unless the attacker is in another hex in the same depression.
- Hillsides are beige with contour lines that run from edge to edge.
It takes one extra move unit to enter a hillside from ground level (this does not apply to
vehicles or soldiers that have only one move unit). Hovercraft cannot enter hillsides.
A unit on a hillside adds 1 unit of range to its weapons. Vehicles at ground level do not
block the line-of-sight of a unit on a hillside.
Units on a hillside add +1 to their defense rolls if the attacker is at a lower height.
- Hilltops are beige with contour lines that form complete circles.
It takes one extra move unit to enter a hilltop (this does not apply
to vehicles or soldiers that have only one move unit). Hovercraft cannot enter hilltops.
A unit on a hilltop gets the same benefits to combat as a unit on a hillside.
- Swamp is aqua with weed symbols.
Tracked and wheeled vehicles cannot enter a swamp hex, even if amphibious; hover, anti-grav,
and flying vehicles can treat swamp as normal terrain. Soldiers trying to leave a swamp hex
must roll an even number first; an odd number means they're stuck and can't move this turn.
Any soldier squad that gets attacked while in a swamp adds 1 to its defense roll.
- Shallow Water is aqua with ripple marks.
Only hover vehicles, anti-grav vehicles, and flying units can enter a shallow-water hex,
which they treat as normal terrain. Amphibious units can enter such a hex, but it costs a
full turn's move-unit allowance to do so. Combat is not affected, except that any unit that
gets Disabled in shallow water is counted as Destroyed.
- Deep Water is blue with ripple marks.
Only hover vehicles, anti-grav vehicles, and flying units can enter a deep-water hex,
which they treat as normal terrain. Combat is not affected, except that any unit that gets
Disabled in deep water is counted as Destroyed.
- River is a blue stripe running through a hex of another type.
Hovercraft, anti-grav, and flying units can ignore river hexes.
Amphibious units can enter such a hex, but it costs a full turn's move-unit allowance to do so.
A unit that gets Disabled in a river hex is counted as Destroyed.
- Bridge is a brown box over a river. Treat it as normal terrain, except that units
cannot pass through friendly units on a bridge.
- Road is gray with yellow dashed lines. Wheeled vehicles pay only 1/2 of a move unit
to enter a road hex from another road hex. Tracked vehicles that spend their entire move on
roads get 1 extra move unit. Hover units get 1 extra move unit if they spend the entire move
on roads and if they don't turn, but only move straight ahead.
Other units treat roads as normal terrain.
Combat is not affected. If a road crosses a river or other water hex on a bridge, units cannot
pass through friendly units while moving in that hex, just like a normal Bridge.
If a road crosses another road on a bridge, a unit moving from one road
to the other must leave the road and move cross-country to get to the other road.
- Town is tan with various little buildings on it.
Treat it as Road for movement purposes.
When scouting a unit in a town, the scouting unit must be adjacent to the unit being scouted.
Attack rolls are at -1 when the defender is in a town hex.
- Buildings are gray boxes, used only in urban maps.
Only soldiers can enter a building, although flying units can enter the hex to fly over it.
A unit in a building cannot be scouted, except by adjacent units in that same building.
Units in a building add +2 to their defense rolls when attacked from outside that building,
or +1 when attacked from within the building.
Entering a hex with a friendly "Prepared Position" marker takes only 1 move unit,
regardless of terrain.
IV. Setting Up the Game
Print and mount at least one sheet of counters and one sheet of markers.
You'll probably need more than one of each, unless you stick to small games.
The counter sheet gives each player two platoons of MBT's and ICV's,
three platoons of soldiers, and one platoon of each of the other unit types.
Print the M8 map tiles you want, and lay them out to form the battlefield you desire.
A good map will have varied terrain, with a few "choke points" that will have to be
fought over. Each player chooses an opposing side of the map on which to set up.
Here are two sample map layouts. The first uses seven tiles to make a mix of terrain,
with a road and a river meeting in the middle.
The second map uses ten tiles to make a very hilly landscape.
All have a set-up depth of 3 hexes.
Set these up with the corners, not the flat sides, facing the players:
Now imagine what a 500-point army could look like!
Set up your troops on your side of the map.
For each tile of map depth, you get 1 hex-row of initial starting depth.
In other words, if your map is 5 map-tiles from your side to the enemy side, each of you
can set up in the first 5 rows of hexes. This allows you some depth in your initial set-up.
Using the first example map above, player 1 would set up in the first three rows of maps 040
and 027 on top, and player 2 would set up in 027 and 040 on the bottom.
If you bought a platoon of special vehicles, you can create four prepared positions for each
Engineering Tank you own. Soldiers can start the game inside personnel-carrier vehicles.
Each unit with limited shots gets a numbered marker stacked with it, to show how many
shots it has left. For example, missile tanks (4 shots) get a "4" marker.
Use the same markers for missile-tank missiles and for AT missiles.
Keep these markers under the counter to conceal them.
Turn every counter upside-down, so the enemy won't know what they are. Make sure to keep
them facing in the desired direction. I strongly recommend putting a yellow or blue mark on
the back of each counter, so you can tell who owns which units.
The counter sheet includes four blank counters. Each player gets two of these, and can put
them on the map as decoys to deceive the enemy. They cannot move,
and once scouted, they must be removed from the map.
V. Playing the Game
Each game turn goes through the following phases:
- Player-1 Determination Phase: roll a die to see who is Player 1 this turn.
- Reinforcement Phase: if playing with reinforcements, buy new units and place them on the map.
- Player-1 Movement Phase: player 1's units move. Scouting takes place during this phase.
- Player-2 Movement Phase: player 2's units move. Scouting takes place during this phase.
- Player-1 Attack Phase: player 1's units attack.
- Player-2 Attack Phase: player 2's units attack.
- Special Action Phase: special vehicles on both sides can repair disabled
vehicles, unfold into bridges, make prepared positions, or reload missile tanks.
- Victory Phase: see if one player has won the game.
VI. Movement
VI-a. Basic Movement
Each unit can use some, none, or all of its move units each turn.
The cost (in move units) to enter a map hex depends on the terrain.
Units can pass through friendly units while moving, as long as they end their move
in an empty hex. Unused move units cannot be saved from turn to turn.
VI-b. Zones of Control
Every unit exerts a zone of control (ZOC) in the six hexes surrounding it.
Any unit that enters an enemy unit's ZOC must stop moving for that turn,
regardless of how many move units it has left.
A unit that starts its turn in a hostile ZOC cannot move into another hex
in the same enemy unit's ZOC unless it first moves out of that zone.
The only exceptions are flying units, which have no ZOC and ignore other units' zones.
VI-c. Stacking
Units cannot end their turn in the same hex as another unit.
The only exceptions are described in the section on Loading and Unloading Soldiers.
VI-d. Facing
A unit can move only in the direction its counter is facing.
A counter can turn one or more hex-faces during a turn, depending on what kind of unit it is:
- Tracked vehicles can turn 2 hex faces per turn.
- Wheeled vehicles can turn 2 hex faces per turn (3 if moving on roads).
- Hover vehicles can turn 3 hex faces per turn.
- Anti-grav vehicles can turn 1 hex face per turn.
- Rotary-wing vehicles can turn 4 hex faces per turn.
- Soldiers can turn 3 hex faces per turn.
A unit can turn at any point in its move, unless it is in an enemy unit's ZOC.
VI-e. Loading and Unloading Soldiers
Personnel-carrying units can take squads of soldiers into themselves.
Such soldiers must be next to the personnel carrier and have one move unit left,
and the personnel carrier must be in a hex that the soldiers can enter.
The carrier can't come to the soldiers. As soon as a soldier enters a personnel carrier,
that's the end of the carrier's move for the current turn, whether it has moved yet or not.
To remove soldiers from a carrier, the carrier must done with its move.
The soldiers leave the carrier and enter an adjacent hex which they are capable of entering.
This ends their move for the turn.
Jump troops must be moving on the ground to enter and leave a personnel carrier.
VI-f. Flying Units
Flying units ignore all terrain and can enter any unoccupied hex.
They can pass through (that is, fly over) hostile units as well as friendlies during their move.
Jump troops can move on the ground, or in the air, but not both in the same turn.
They cannot attack while flying. They are not considered flying units while on the ground.
The player must announce whether a jump-troop squad is flying or walking each time it moves,
takes off, or lands.
VI-g. Camouflage and Scouting
All units start the game upside down, to conceal their identity.
The counter goes right-side-up under the following circumstances:
- The unit moves while in the line of sight of, and within 8 hexes of, an enemy unit.
- The unit tries to attack an enemy unit.
- The unit is successfully scouted.
- The unit's owner chooses to reveal it.
Just attacking a unit won't tell you what it is.
To scout an enemy unit, you must bring one of your units within 4 hexes of it and roll a die.
Some units can add to their scouting rolls.
If the roll is 5 or higher, the scouting is successful and the enemy's counter goes right-side-up.
A unit can scout multiple enemies in the same turn, but can scout each unit only once per turn.
It can scout enemy units that fall within the four-hex limit at any point during its move,
not just at the end of the move. This means a scout copter could fly down a line of concealed
enemies and scout every one of them in one move.
Soldiers who get out of an infantry-carrier vehicle can turn their counters hidden
if they don't meet condition #1 (above) when they disembark.
VII. Combat
VII-a. Basic Combat
No unit ever has to attack during a combat phase. Units that carry multiple weapons (such as
AT missiles) cannot fire them at more than one target in the same turn.
Units can attack enemy units that are within the attacker's range. Also, most units must
have a clear line-of-sight (LOS) from the center of their hex to the center of the target's
hex. The following obstruct line-of-sight if halfway or more across that line:
- other enemy units
- friendly vehicles (not soldiers)
- terrain: forest, hills, town, building, 2 or more swamp hexes
An anti-grav vehicle's line-of-sight is not broken by friendly vehicles.
The only thing that breaks a flying unit's line-of-sight is a building.
Most vehicles can fire in any direction, regardless of which way they are facing. Exceptions:
- Anything that fires a missile can fire it only into the front three hexes.
- Artillery and Howitzers can fire only into the front three hexes.
- Rotary-wing vehicles can fire only into the front three hexes.
- Hover Tank-Destroyers can fire into the front three hexes if they did not move this turn.
If they did move, their firing arc is the front three hexes, starting in the hex just in
front of them, not in their own hex.
If Disabled, an HTD can fire at a target only if facing straight at it.
- Soldiers can fire only into the front three hexes.
- Laser designators work only in the front three hexes.
If a unit enters a hostile unit's attack range and then leaves it again in the same turn,
the hostile unit cannot attack it. The target unit moved too quickly to draw a bead on it.
A unit that did not move in the current turn can ignore this rule and attack the moving
unit during the movement phase; put the moving unit back in a hex where it was still in range,
resolve the shot, and if the moving unit is unharmed, it finishes its move.
This is called an overwatch attack. A unit that makes such an attack cannot fire during the
combat phase.
Artillery, and GP missiles fired without a line of sight, may miss the target hex.
For each such shot, roll a d10. If the roll came up 7-10, it hit the target.
If it comes up 1-6, it hit an adjacent hex, as determined by
the Scatter Table (use the attacker's facing as the reference point).
If that hex is empty, the shot missed everything; if a unit is in it,
that unit becomes the target. This can be a friendly unit.
Missiles will never hit a friendly unit; such a shot would hit nothing.
Units with a weapon Damage of 4 or higher cannot attack flying units.
Neither can GP missiles.
The attacker rolls a d10 and adds the attacking unit's Damage.
The defender rolls a d10 and adds his/her unit's Toughness.
Add the following modifiers if applicable:
- Attack roll +2 if defender is painted by a laser
- Attack roll +1 if defender is already Disabled
- Defense roll +2 if defender is in a friendly prepared position (or +1 if the attacker is flying)
- Terrain effects (see the section on Terrain)
If the adjusted defense roll is greater than the adjusted attack roll,
the attack missed or did no damage. If the rolls are equal, the defender is Disabled.
If the attack roll is higher, the defender is Destroyed.
Disabled vehicles cannot move. Soldiers ignore combat results of "Disabled."
Flying units that get Disabled are Destroyed, since the effects of hitting the ground
are often worse than the weapons damage. If a personnel-carrier unit is destroyed with
soldiers on board, roll for each soldier squad. An odd number means the soldiers were also
destroyed, while an even number means they got out in time; they must exit the carrier
immediately. Put a "Disabled" marker on each disabled unit.
Destroyed units get a "Destroyed" marker on them. All weapons fire is assumed to be
simultaneous, so if a destroyed unit hasn't already attacked, it can still shoot its
weapons when it's that player's turn.
Once a unit with limited shots has fired, replace its marker with a numbered marker
showing how many shots are left. When all shots are gone, use a "0" marker, both to remind you
that you used all your missiles, and to keep the other player from knowing at a glance
that your missile tank is out of ammo.
Remove all "Destroyed" units from the map at the end of combat, or immediately if the
unit has already fired its weapons.
Sample Combat:
Two Scout Copters get into missile range of an enemy Heavy Tank. One of them uses its laser
to paint the target, and the other fires both its missiles. The laser painting means the
attack rolls will be at +2. The attacker rolls a die for the first missile, gets a 2, and adds
the anti-tank missile's Damage of 4 and the laser bonus of 2, making an adjusted attack roll of 8.
The defender rolls, gets a 5, and adds his tank's Toughness of 6, for a defense roll of 11.
This is higher than the attack roll, so the first missile did no damage.
The second missile's die roll is a 5, plus the same modifiers, gives an adjusted attack roll
of 11. The second defense roll is a 3; adding the toughness of 6 gives a defense roll of 9,
which is lower than the attack roll. The Heavy Tank is destroyed.
VIII. Winning the Game
The simplest game is a fight to the death.
When one player has lost all his/her units, the other player is the winner.
If you make up scenario rules, then the first person to meet their victory conditions wins.
IX. Game Tables