The Loste Worlde
by Matthew Hartley

Some of the tables and images in the original printed version of this article contained errors which are corrected here.

"The jungle was hot, close and steamy. The constant chittering sounds from all around played on the nerves of the elves. Sweat flowed from their brows and their uniforms stuck uncomfortably to their bodies.

Fusilier Jardine Amant flicked the irritating black flies that circled his face from his brow and peered into the stygian vegetation. Gripping his musket tightly in his sweaty hands, Amant resumed his march forward. To the rear he could hear the awkward stumblings and cursing of his comrades.

Pushing his way through the fronds blocking his path, he glanced carefully to his sides. Since the start of this expedition to the Darke Continent, the Elves had found themselves with serious problems. The harsh climate, inhospitable terrain, disease and the fauna of the land had ravaged the ranks of Mordred's force. Bramble vines tore at Amant's face and not for the first time, the fusilier silently cursed his Emperor's foolhardiness at sending a force into this largely unexplored lands. No trace had been found of the expected treasures or rumoured civilisations. Just death.

Amant paused and raised his hand for his comrades to stop behind. The chittering that seem ever constant had stopped. Straining his hearing, Amant bemoaned his indiscipline in not noticing the noise stop initially. Silence in the jungle only spelt one thing: trouble.

Carefully Amant pulled back the hammer on his musket and prayed that the damp air had not corrupted his priming powder.

Starting to raise his musket to his shoulder, he froze. There a few feet to his left stared two of the most intently evil eyes Amant had ever seen. Fixed into a scaled large leathery head, the eyes pierced Amant's soul. The creature was about six foot high and a bi-pedal lizard type, but quite unlike the Dracii Lizardmen the Elf had seen before.

Suddenly the forearm of the beast swept speedily forward, a huge claw catching Amant in the stomach. As his disembowelled intestines slid from his stomach fell in a steaming mess to the jungle floor, the Elf started to scream. Mercifully this was cut off as the creatures powerful jaws enveloped his head and snapped shut..."

These rules cover the many and varied beasties of Valon's Darke Continent. Whilst many of the creatures described in 'Wylde Thinge' (see Orcs in the Hills 5) still exist in isolated pockets of the Knowne Worlde, it is on the Darke Continent where the reptile beasties reign.

Beasties:

Beasties come in three different sizes - Small (Orc to horse sized), Large (rhino to elephant sized), and Huge (well... Huge). They are either bi-peds or quadrupeds (two or four legs), and either hunters or grazers/scavengers.

All beasties are defined by size, number of legs and attitude. Thus a Tyranosaurus Rex is a large bi-ped hunter; 'raptor is a small bi-ped hunter and a Brontosaurus is a huge, quadruped grazer. These definitions determine how fast the beastie moves, how much damage it can take and how aggressive is in combat.

Movement Speeds:

The Speeds a beastie can move depends on its size and the number of legs it has:

Type	Prowl Speed	Run Speed	Charge Speed
Small Biped	10	38	58
Small Quadruped	10	42	64
Large Biped	7	28	42
Large Quadruped	8	32	48
Huge Biped	3	12	18
Huge Quadruped	4	16	24

The speed with which a beastie moves in a turn will depend upon its reaction roll (see Reaction below).

Combat and Damage:

Small beasties are treated exactly like normal figures in close combat, with all the normal modifiers applying. Large and Huge beasties ignore the Attacked in Rear and Attacked in Side modifiers. Small beasties fight with a +6 modifier in Close Combat, Large beasties have a +8 modifier and Huge beasties a +10 modifier.

The beastie can only fight figures within 2cm of its base as per normal close combat.

Not only are beasties big, but with small brains they are also very resistant to pain. Rather like undead, the only way to stop one is to literally blow it to pieces. Each beastie has a number of body boxes corresponding to limbs and the creatures main body (trunk). Small beasties have 5 boxes, Large beasties have 6 and Huge beasties have 7 (see diagram). bi-pedal beasties have two arm boxes instead of the two forward leg boxes on quadrupeds. Each box has a Defence Factor and Wounds rating in the same manner as a normal figure in Flintloque. In addition, each beastie has a total wounds score.

When a beastie is hit in combat, roll a D10 to determine the location of a hit (unless the shot or blow was aimed (see below) ).

Location	Effect
Head	Dead.
Body	Dead.
Arm	-3 modifier to Close Combat.
Leg	-50% maximum movement for Biped beastie. -25% maximum movement for Quadruped beastie.

Wounds are then worked out as normal based on the Defence Factor of the location hit. any wounds achieved are also removed from the beasties total wounds score.

A specific location may be targeted for missile or close combat. There is a -20% to hit for missile combat and a -2 modifier for close combat. If the attacker hits, then no damage location roll is required, and the specified area is automatically hit.

If a location is reduced to zero wounds, it has been shot off or at least horribly mangled. The effects of this depend on the limb (see table above). In addition, if the beasties total wounds falls to zero it keels over dead.

The Defence Factor/Wounds for each box is:

Type	Total Wounds	Head	Body (per part)	Arms (each)	Legs (each)
Small Biped	4	3/1	3/1	2/1	2/1
Small Quadruped	4	3/1	3/1	n/a	2/1
Large Biped	16	4/4	5/5	3/2	4/3
Large Quadruped	16	4/4	5/5	n/a	4/3
Huge Biped	32	4/6	5/8	3/4	4/5
Huge Quadruped	32	4/6	5/8	n/a	4/5

The number before the slash is the Defence Factor, and the number after the slash is the number of wounds that limb can take.

Reaction:

Beasties are not controlled by players by an action table, which determines the actions of the beastie depending on the circumstances it faces.

Each turn, immediately before the movement phase, one D6 roll is made on the relevant action table for Each beastie, depending upon whether it is a Hunter or a Grazer/Scavenger. The table columns are read from left to right. The result of the roll in the first relevant column applies. The column headings refer to both current events or, in the case of the "wounded", "shot at" and "fired at" columns, events which happened on the previous turn. In all cases however, it is the first relevant column which is rolled on.

For example, a beastie with an enemy within maximum movement range, which was fired at last turn would roll on the "fired at" column for this turns action, as this is the first relevant column. Similarly, a beastie which was wounded last turn, but is currently in melee combat will roll on the first column, "melee" for this turns action.

Any actions which are required by the table results occur in the relevant movement, firing and melee phases as normal.

Any figure who is charged by a beastie, must make a morale check as if charged by cavalry, but with a -2 modifier on the dire roll if the beastie is small, -4 if it is Large, and -6 if it is Huge.

Hunter:

Roll	In Melee	Wounded Last Turn	Shot at Last Turn	Firing/Fire Within Run Speed Distance	Enemy Within Charge Speed Distance	Enemy Beyond Run Speed Distance
1	R	R	R	R	H	H
2	A	P	H	R	P	P
3	A	A	H	H	P	P
4	A	A	A	P	P	P
5	A	C	A	A	A	P
6	A	C	C	C	C	C

Grazer/Scavenger:

Roll	In Melee	Wounded Last Turn	Shot at Last Turn	Firing/Fire Within Run Speed Distance	Enemy Within Charge Speed Distance	Enemy Beyond Run Speed Distance
1	F	F	F	F	R	H
2	R	R	R	R	H	P
3	R	R	H	R	H	P
4	H	R	H	H	P	P
5	H	H	P	H	P	P
6	A	A	C	P	C	P

Results:

A - Attack: Move at run speed towards nearest opponent and engage in melee.

C - Charge: Move at charge speed towards nearest opponent and engage in melee.

H - Halt: Make no movement, defend itself if in melee.

F - Flee: Move at half Charge speed away from opponents. If this is impossible then treat this result as an attack (A) result.

P - Prowl: Move in a randomly determined direction (roll D12 and use a close face) at Prowl speed, fight if in melee.

R - Retreat: Move at 75% run speed away from nearest opponents. If this is impossible then treat the result as an attack (A) result.

Ed Note: Flintloque is a set of Black Powder Fantasy wargames rules produced by Alternative Armies and was reviewed in Ragnarok 23. Flintloque won both Best New Fantasy/SF Rules and Best Fantasy Rules in the 1996 SFSFW Awards and Alternative Armies also retained the Best Fantasy Figure Manufacturer category as well. For further details regarding price and availability, send an SSAE to Alternative Armies, Unit 6, Parkway Court, Glaisdale Parkway, Bilborough, Nottingham, NG8 4GN.