Unit Cards — Battle Rules

Tactical hex-grid wargame rules for use with generated unit cards and the hex map generator. Two players build armies from randomly generated units, then fight on procedurally generated terrain.

Overview

Players: 2 (hot-seat)
Scale: Each card is one unit. Each hex is one position.
Goal: Destroy the enemy force or break their spirit.
Terrain: Generated by the hex map generator (Dustbowl theme).

1. Army Building

Each player builds an army within an agreed points limit (e.g. 500 or 1000).

Use the unit card generator to create cards.
Each unit costs its cost value.
Side colour (Blue / Red) determines which player controls which units.

2. Terrain Effects

Terrain	Move Cost	Cover Bonus	Blocks LOS
Open	1 MOV / hex	0	No
Road	1 MOV / 2 hexes	0	No
Building Zone	1 MOV / hex	+2 DEF	No
Hill	2 MOV / hex	+1 DEF	Yes
Blocked / Impassable	—	—	Yes

Cover: A unit in a building zone or on a hill receives a Cover Bonus (shown in the table above). This bonus is subtracted from the attacker's to-hit roll — making the unit harder to hit. Cover applies only to the target's hex, not the attacker's.

Hill advantage: A unit attacking from a hill hex gains +1 ATK.

Road movement: MOV cost is halved (round up). Moving 2 hexes on a road costs 1 MOV total.

3. Turn Sequence

Initiative

At the start of each turn, both players roll 1d6. The winner chooses which player activates first this turn.

Activation

Players alternate activating one unit at a time. When activated, a unit may perform:

Move — up to MOV hexes (paying terrain costs for each hex entered)
Attack — fire at one enemy unit within range and LOS

The two actions can be performed in either order (move then attack, or attack then move). Once both are resolved, the unit's activation ends and the other player activates one of their units.

End of Turn

After all units have acted, remove destroyed units and check victory conditions. Start a new turn.

4. Movement

When a unit moves, it may enter up to MOV hexes. Each hex costs:

Terrain	Cost
Open	1 MOV
Road	½ MOV (round up, so 2 hexes cost 1 MOV)
Building Zone	1 MOV
Hill	2 MOV (1 for scouts)

Scout Squad units ignore the hill movement penalty — hills cost them 1 MOV per hex like open ground.
A group that contains only Scout Squad units also ignores the hill penalty. If the group has any non-scout member, the normal hill cost (2 MOV) applies.
A unit cannot enter a hex occupied by an enemy unit.
A unit cannot enter impassable terrain.
Remaining MOV at the end of movement is lost.

5. Combat

Requirements

To attack a target, all three conditions must be met:

Range: hex_distance(attacker, target) ≤ attacker.RNG
LOS: hex_distance(attacker, target) ≤ attacker.LOS AND no blocking terrain between them
Line of sight uses the hex map generator's terrain LOS rules (hills block LOS; elevation is considered)

To-Hit Roll

2d6 + floor(ATK / 4) - floor(DEF / 4) - cover ≥ 8

Example	ATK	DEF	Cover	Roll needed
Infantry Squad vs Infantry Squad (open)	4	4	0	8+
MBT vs Scout Squad (open)	14	4	0	5+
Field Gun vs Infantry in building	12	4	2	6+
Heavy Mech vs Light Tank (open)	22	10	0	3+
Scout Squad vs Heavy Mech (open)	3	20	0	impossible

Damage

On a hit, roll damage dice:

damage dice = attacker's steps
each 4+ = 1 damage point

Armour

If the target is armoured, reduce total damage by 1 (minimum 1 if any damage was scored).

Example: An Infantry Squad (steps 3, not armoured) takes 2 damage → steps reduced by 2. A Main Battle Tank (armoured) takes 2 damage → armour reduces to 1 → steps reduced by 1.

6. Groups

A group is a set of cards combined into a single unit using the Group button on the unit cards page.

On the Map

A group occupies one hex.
It uses the group's combined ATK, RNG, DEF, MOV, LOS, and Steps.
The group card's stats are displayed as one unit.
A group attacks as a single unit — when it takes the Attack action, it uses its combined ATK for the to-hit roll and its combined Steps for damage dice. The group's most powerful weapon system provides the attack (highest ATK), while other members support by spotting targets, calling out weak points, and coordinating fire — their steps add to the damage even if their own ATK would be ineffective alone.

Group Damage

When a group is hit, resolve each damage point as follows:

Filter eligible targets: members whose DEF < attacker.ATK.
If no members are eligible, the damage point is absorbed (the attack cannot penetrate any member's defence).
Random pick: choose one eligible member uniformly at random.
Armour save: if the picked member is armoured: true, roll 1d6. On 4+, the damage point is negated.
Apply: reduce that member's steps by 1. If steps ≤ 0, the member is removed from the group.

After all damage points are resolved, recalculate the group's stats from remaining members. If the group has no members left, it is destroyed.

Tactical effect: High-DEF units in a group protect low-DEF units by being ineligible targets. Low-DEF units absorb damage first and die off before high-DEF units are threatened.

Example: A group contains an Infantry Squad (DEF 4, steps 2) and a Heavy Mech (DEF 20, steps 4). The group is attacked by a Light Tank (ATK 10). - Eligible targets: only the Infantry Squad (DEF 4 < 10). Heavy Mech (DEF 20) is ineligible. - Both damage points hit the Infantry Squad, killing it. - The Heavy Mech survives untouched.

APC Carry

When an APC is grouped with infantry, the group's MOV uses the APC's MOV (infantry ride inside). The infantry are still separate members for damage purposes.

7. Deployment

Before the first turn:

Determine which player deploys first (roll 1d6).
Players alternate placing one unit at a time on their half of the map.
Units must be placed within 3 hexes of their own board edge.
Units cannot be placed on impassable terrain.
After all units are deployed, the first turn begins.

8. Victory Conditions

Condition	How to win
Annihilation	Destroy all enemy units.
Breakthrough	Destroy at least 50% of the enemy's total points value.

If neither condition is met after 12 turns, the player who destroyed the most points value wins. If equal, it's a draw.