Playtest Traits ( Feb 2020 )

P.1 Martial Traits

Combined arms
(requires mixed hand weapons and loose order, affects Attack)
These troops take advantage of the mixed weapons that different members of the group are carrying.
While not specializing in the advantages of any weapon the added flexibility can be useful in man to
man combat.
When executing an attack action, troops with this characteristic can re-roll any ones and twos they
got on their to hit roll.

Hack
(requires hand weapon and loose order, affects all-out attack)
For some troops, the one-handed axe is the preferred weapon of choice. These weapons are particularly
good at slashing through armor.
When executing an all-out attack action, the enemy will suffer a -1 modifier to their save rolls.

Main Gauche
(requires loose order & either additional hand weapon or buckler, affects Defend)
Troops with this trait are trained to use their off-hand weapon in a defensive manner.
When selecting defend as their combat response these troops may re-roll any failed attempts to
cancel hits.

Massed charge
(requires close order and lance, spear or kontos/xyston, affects attack)
Troops that charge in a massed formation can have a significant impact on enemy morale due to the
sheer image of massed horses and riders charging. In addition, the sheer inertia of the close order
formation can help drive the charge forward in situations where the troops would normally hesitate,
like for example when facing a wall of spears.

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A unit with the massed charge trait that executes an attack action while in loose order gains the same
benefits as units with the charge trait.
When a unit with massed charge executes an attack in close order they can execute an 8” move as
long as this move is done straight in the facing direction without any turns or shifts thus ignoring the
4” move restriction for mounted units in close order. In addition, if attacking in close order with a
higher weapon initiative than the enemy they will gain the following benefits:

• If the enemy unit selects counter attack as a combat response the attacking unit will roll their
attacks first and only surviving enemies will get to strike back.
• If the unit is armed with cavalry spear or kontos/xyston then the target will suffer a -1 save roll
modifier.
• If the unit is armed with lance then the target will suffer a -2 save roll modifier.
• If the enemy unit has to make a morale test as a result if this melee then they will add an additional
D6 to their morale test dice, just as if they had suffered an additional casualty.
However, if the enemy unit has equal or higher weapon initiative than the attacking unit then those
effects are modified as follows

• If the enemy unit selects counter attack as a combat response then the melee rolls will be
simultaneous as normal.
• If the unit is armed with cavalry spear or kontos/xyston then both the attacker and the enemy
will suffer a -1 save roll modifier.
• If the unit is armed with lance, then both the attacker and the enemy will suffer a -2 save roll
modifier.
• If the enemy unit has to make a morale test as a result of this melee then they will suffer a -1 roll
modifier for that test.

Overhead shot
(close order, affects shoot action)
Some missile troops are trained to fire in a parabolic manner acting more like artillery by firing over
troops in front of them. Although at this scale the effect is not quite as devastating the troops can still
sometimes leverage their training under certain conditions.
When executing a Shoot action while in close order these troops can shoot over friendly troops within
4”. The unit can trace line of sight over any friendly troops within 4”.
As long as at least one of the shooting models has to trace line of sight over the friendly unit treat the
shot as a long range shot thus only rolling half their normal shooting dice as explained under the
shoot action rules. Alternatively, you can choose not to have those models participate in the shooting.

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Parry riposte
(requires hand weapon sword & open formation, affects defend)
The sword is a reliable weapon that never fails, and troops well trained in swordsmanship can be very
difficult to defeat in melee
When this unit selects the defend combat response while in open order the following modification
takes place.
After rolling the D6s vs the melee stat to cancel the attacker hits count the number of hits canceled in
this manner. Then roll a D6 for each canceled hit and if the result matches or exceeds the melee stat
of the defending unit a hit is scored on the attacking unit.
As usual, both units will get to roll their saves and any remaining hits will cause wounds. However,
the attacking unit will not have to take a morale test due to any hits or wounds caused in this manner.

Puncture
(requires hand weapon & loose order, affects enemy save stat)
Hammers and picks are excellent hand weapons that can easily get through armor if the wielder is well
trained in their use and is able to fully take advantage of it in personal hand to hand combat.
When executing an attack action an enemy attempting to save hits resulting from this attack will
count enclosed, enclosed plate or full armor as partial armor.

Rain of Blows
(requires loose order and additional hand weapon, affects all-out attack)
Using two weapons simultaneously in hand to hand combat is not an easy task but troops well trained
in this disciplined can benefit from their added offensive capability.
When a unit with rain of blows executes an all-out attack in open order they may re-roll any ones
rolled in the to hit roll.

Shield breaker:
(requires double-handed weapon and loose order, affects enemy morale under attack)
Some troops developed the use of the double-handed weapon with the specific task of breaking through
an enemy wall of shields.
When executing an attack action if the enemy needs to do a morale test as a result of this action, they
will add an additional D6 to their morale test dice, just as if they had suffered an additional casualty.

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Thrust
(requires any type of spear or pike and loose order, affects attack)
Some troops develop effective skirmishing tactics with the use of spear allowing them to attack the
enemy while preventing them from closing in with their shorter reach weapons.
Before the defender selects a combat response the unit can announce it will use thrust. In that case,
enemy cannot select counterattack as a combat response but they gain a +1 modifier to any morale
tests resulting from this melee.
If using their Thrust trait the attacking unit will always retreat instead of the attacking unit,
regardless of which unit gained more fatigue or even if the target enemy selected defend as a combat
response. In addition, the unit retreats 3” instead of 1”.

P.2 Disposition Traits

Cutthroat
(affects morale)
These troops are particularly aggressive in hand to hand combat and, to the enemy, it might seem that
they never get tired and they always have the upper hand in the melee.
Enemy units engaged in melee with units with this trait, and that currently accumulate more fatigue
points that the unit with cutthroat, add an extra D6 if they need to test morale just as if they had
suffered an additional casualty.

Disruptive
(affects morale)
These troops have a disruptive effect on enemy troops making it difficult for them to keep their morale
when engaged in melee.
This trait will usually indicate what type of enemy troops are disrupted, for example disruptive
against horse mounted troops.
Enemy units that need to test morale due to melee actions with these troops will add an additional
D6 to their morale test dice, just as if they had suffered an additional casualty.

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Elusive
(requires loose order, affects defend)
These troops have a superior capacity at disengaging from the enemy when facing unfavorable
conditions.
When selecting defend as combat response the unit may re-roll any ones rolled.

Fearsome
(affects morale tests)
These troops are notorious for the psychological effect that they can inflict on the enemy.
Enemy troops with unmodified Guts of 4 or higher that have to test morale due to melee with a unit
with the fearsome trait will have to add an additional D6 to their morale test dice, just as if they had
suffered an additional casualty, unless they have the fearsome trait themselves.

P.3 Physical Traits

Warhorse
(affects attack action)
Mounted troops with the warhorse trait are considered to be riding mounts of great size and adequately
trained for melee combat.
Troops with the warhorse trait may re-roll any 1 in to hit rolls while executing an Attack action
against infantry, this represents the additional trample or similar attack of the mount contributing to
the rider’s action.

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Playtest Weapons

Mixed weapons
(initiative 1, save mod 0)
This category covers troops that are armed with a mix of weapons including hand weapons, spears,
and others. No special rules apply but it enables special martial traits.

Halberd
(initiative 2, save mod -1)
Halberds are a special kind of weapon that combines elements of polearms and double handed
weapons.
Soldiers armed with these weapons can never benefit from any shields they carry while in melee
since it is assumed that they will be using their halberds. Note that this applies to melee
independently of whether the troops are attacking or executing a defensive action, as it is simply
assumed that in melee they will use their halberds.
Also, while in melee these troops cannot benefit from any other trait that requires the use of shields.
For example, troops in close order with the shield overlap trait and armed with halberds will not
benefit from the shield overlap trait while in melee, they will benefit from this trait when attacked
with missile weapons.
Enemy units will suffer a -1 save modifier to their rolls when attempting to save any attacks against
halberd armed troops.

Lance
(initiative 2, save mod 0 )
We consider the lance to be equivalent to the cavalry spear in general terms meaning that we expect
both weapons to have similar initiative. With stirrups and saddle developments mounted troops
were able to transfer more kinetic energy to their weapon when charging. In CLASH, the Lance
weapon characteristic is used to reflect the better penetration of this weapon. This will include the
knightly lance but also the lance of earlier mounted troops.

Additional hand weapon

(initiative 1, save mod 0)
Some troops choose to be armed with two hand weapons.

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Soldiers armed with these weapons can never benefit from any shields they carry while in melee
since it is assumed that they will be using their additional hand weapons. This applies to melee
independently of whether the troops are attacking or executing a defensive action, as it is simply
assumed that in melee they will use their additional hand weapons.
While in melee these troops cannot benefit from any other trait that requires the use of shields. For
example, troops in close order with the shield overlap trait and armed with additional hand weapon
won’t benefit from the shield overlap trait while in melee, however they will benefit from this trait
when attacked with missile weapons.
The additional weapon does not grant any special benefits however some troops will have special
skills training that will require the use of an additional hand weapon.
Longbow
(eff. range 10”, long-range 20”, save mod 0/+1)
These types of bow usually required more skillful soldiers to maintain and to use effectively but they
benefit from longer range and better damaging capabilities. Longbows have an effective range of 10”
and a long range of 20”.
Longbow armed troops use the Shoot action when attacking with their missile weapons.
At long range the enemy benefits from a +1 to the saving rolls.

Crossbow
(effective range 10”, long-range 20”, save mod 0)
This category will include most variants of the heavier crossbows which generally take longer to
reload but also benefit from better damage capabilities.
Crossbows have an effective range of 10” and a long range of 20”.
When a unit shoots their crossbows add an unloaded condition token next to the unit. The unit will
have to execute a ready action to remove that condition before they can shoot again.
Crossbow armed troops use the Shoot action when attacking with their missile weapons.
Crossbows execute Shoot actions with a Fatigue +0 modifier rather than the normal Fatigue +1
modifier, which means that they only gain the fatigue indicated in the fatigue

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Playtest Armor

Enclosed Armor (armor points 3)

This represents full coverage of the body, usually with chain mail overlaid with metal plates for
additional protection and combined with a helmet. This category can represent cataphract armor or
early medieval knights for example.

Enclosed Plate Armor (armor points 3*)

The development of metallurgical technology allowed soldiers to start wearing enclosed armor made
entirely of metal plates while still maintaining the mobility of prior enclosed armor. The classical
example being the later medieval knight.
This category still only provides 3 points of armor yet to reflect the better quality of those armor
points the model may re-roll any 1 rolled on their saving throws. Save modifiers are still applied to
the base stat.

Example: a knight wearing enclosed plate

armor is attacked by a weapon with save
modifier -1. This knight can roll to save on
a 5 or better ( 4 for his armor -1 for the save
modifier ) but can re-roll any 1s rolled.

Barding/Half Barding (armor points 1/1*)

Some mounted troops protected their mounts with barding or half barding.
Mounted troops with barding gain an additional armor point, while mounted troops with half barding
only gain an additional armor point when engaged in melee.

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