IntroduCtIonGrace Flynn - Tides of Forever is a tabletop miniatures

game where players try to help Grace and her stalwart crew survive in the hostile underground world of the Shadow Sea. The rules for the game are based on the game system for ShadowSea - Conquest of the Underground World, using dice and tactical choices to complete different battle scenarios.

The game is designed for solo play, with rules for the environment, wild creatures, enemies and special game effects. Multiple players may take part if they wish, running the enemies or playing one of the four main personality characters from the Grace Flynn stories of Phil Lee McCall.

The main character is Grace Flynn herself, the notorious pirate with her sword Tyrfrost and magical Bloodsilk sash. Her first mate is Seaton, a strong and stalwart ally. Bloody Brona, the savage warrior of the Scottish Isles, is a powerful fighter who uses her massive claymore sword to hack through enemies. Finally, Nereus Neptune, a scholar, scoundrel and deadeye shot with a pistol, rounds out the cast of personalities. The players can also control pirate crew members that are trying to stay alive in this deadly new world. There is only one of each of the adventurers, so players need to keep as many alive as possible through the scenarios in order to escape at the end.

This book contains a complete rule set showing how models (the miniatures or markers for each character or enemy) move, fight and do actions in the game, such as searching for artifacts or swimming through shark-infested waters. There is also a small section on the flora and fauna of the Underlands, the subterranean region of a hollow Earth where Grace and her crew must escape. The Underlands are filled with glowing clouds of ethereal energy that provide perpetual light but can also produce powerful storms that whip the surface of the underground ocean, known as the Shadow Sea.

The core rules in this book are based upon the Song of Blades and Heroes (SOBH) game engine by Ganesha Games and are designed for fast and furious play with plenty of heroic action, ethereal magic and advanced technology, all handled with a few rolls of 6-sided dice.

The rules have been designed for battle using 28 mm “heroic scale” miniatures, with one figure representing one character or creature. Typical round bases sizes are 30 mm for man-sized or smaller models, 40 mm for bigger models, such as large dive suits, and 50 mm for huge models. Some exceptionally large models, such as dragons, may be mounted on larger oval bases. The nominal ground scale is roughly 15 mm per 1 meter, so most man-sized models are approximately 30 mm tall.

Game scenarios are played on a tabletop and require an area of 24 by 24 or 36 by 36 inches with scenic materials

for terrain such as water, ruins, trees, and other obstacles added. Each scenario in the book has a map layout that shows where players and enemies start and where scenery can be placed. Players must provide their own scenery, such as craft store flock for bushes and trees, or purchase printed mats from AntiMatter Games.

The overall goal of Grace Flynn - Tides of Forever is to have a fun and fast game that players can enjoy for an hour or for many hours. The rules are designed to be modular, easy to learn but with deceptive complexity that allows multiple gaming styles to be successful. Whether just starting out with tabletop gaming or playing with an experienced group, this game will provide a fun way to spend an evening with friends and we at AntiMatter Games hope you enjoy adventuring in our underground world.

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PrologueJuly 14, 1889

- the gateway -A cannonball tore through the main sail with a

searing crack, adding to the many holes that left it a tattered ruin. Grace Flynn maintained her poise at the wheel, a figure of icy calm amid the storm of lead flying around her ship, and shouted orders to her stalwart crew. “Bring down the main sail! There is no use getting it torn to shreds.” The crewmen hesitated momentarily, but sprinted to work as soon as Grace’s eyes found them with a look as sharp as a razor blade while her Bloodsilk sash danced around her like an angry cobra.

The wind was in her favor, but this was a gamble that Grace knew she must take in order to have any chance at escaping from the pursuing force. Her ship, the Lokothea, had been spotted by a lone frigate two weeks earlier while moored off a small island near Gibraltar, taking on supplies. It was a small and innocuous ship but Grace had been too distracted by the fine wines that were available in the island tavern and let the craft pass on

by after it was spied by one of her lookouts. She believed the Lokothea to be disguised well enough to avoid notice, having taken down its sails and notorious flag with skull and crossed flintlocks, and that attacking what looked like a minor target could cause more trouble than it was worth. Unfortunately, this was one of the more recent additions to the Spanish Navy, a fast and nimble scout ship that quickly relayed its findings to nearby warships on maneuvers.

Five heavily armed frigates now steamed after the Lokothea near the Turks and Caicos, firing explosive shells from their massive chase guns, smoothbore sixty-eight-pounders. Grace had been able to evade her pursuers for two days, taking advantage of the winds and narrow channels of the islands, but with the loss of her main sail she was now willing to risk the new propulsion system that was installed by the enigmatic Doctor Daedalus. The design was meant to give the Lokothea the capabilities of the more modern warships that were not at the mercy of the winds but without the conspicuous plume of steam that would reveal their position.

The mysterious inventor had been cryptic in his descriptions of the device at the heart of the engine but showed Grace crystals inside it that glowed with an eerie blue light and instructed her on its general operation.

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Grace learned that the engine utilized a form of ethereal energy inherent in the crystals and channeled the flux to create powerful magnetic forces that drove the multi-bladed screw propellers now installed at the stern of the ship. The new engine had a secondary capability that Dr. Daedalus cautioned against using, as it was not tested fully, but he did give Grace some basic training on its operation. As another shell struck the foredeck and blasted it and two crewmen into oblivion, Grace felt she had little choice. “Take the wheel, Seaton, and hold steady, and pray that Daedalus has not given us something that will send us to the gallows or the bottom of the sea!”

The ebony-skinned first mate was left wide-eyed as he held the wheel with an iron grip as Grace sprinted down to the subdeck level. Seaton continued on course, steering through the deep channel which was becoming choppier as the wind picked up pace. Ominous dark clouds began to form up ahead and Seaton called to their navigator and notorious scoundrel, Nereus Neptune, who had stumbled out onto the deck with charts in hand. “Ay dog of the seas, what make you of the clouds ahead?” asked Seaton over the relentless noise of cannon fire. Nereus stared for a moment, “Keep your course between the shoals and head for that storm, perhaps it will conceal our location and we can steal our way through the reef to the west and double back.”

Down below deck, Grace raced into the engine room that held the new propulsion system, a cramped chamber where the air was heavy and charged with an energy field that caused Grace’s hair to stand on end. Cursing under her breath, she struggled to follow the complicated instructions that she was given when shown the functions of the device in front of her. The Lokothea shook as another shell exploded on the deck above, causing dust to fall from the timbers overhead, while Grace fumbled with a small panel of crystal and gold that Dr. Daedalus had shown her. His word echoed in her ears still, “Shift the green crystal to the left and rotate one half turn, then connect the golden wire to the blue crystal to enable the power of flight and take to the skies. But keep the flux of energy low from the main crystal unit and avoid locations with highly charged energy fields for God’s sake!”

Grace rearranged the crystals, then connected the wire and closed the panel as the ship was rocked yet again by a tremendous blast that threw her off her feet and tore a gaping hole in the wall. Shrapnel ricocheted around the room and a chunk of glowing iron lodged into the engine with a dull thud. Unbeknownst of this, Grace regained her feet and scrambled by up to the top

deck as the ship heaved and waves splashed over the bow. “Damn you Seaton, have you forgotten how to navigate the straits here!” she shouted out while the ship lurched from side to side. “Nay Captain, my hands are steady but a thunderstorm came up without warning.” He retorted, one hand gripping the wheel while the other pointed towards the swirling clouds above, a storm in a sky that had been clear and bright minutes before.

Bolts of purple and blue lightning shot through the storm and the waves around the Lokothea rose up like mountains as Grace regained the wheel from Seaton. Her hands desperately searched the wheel mount as the ship pitched about and found a lever within a hidden compartment. She quickly pulled it, awaiting the glorious moment that her ship would lift up from the stormy seas.

Agonizing moments passed and the pursuing armada continued their shelling. The sheer size of the warships allowed them to force their way through the waves and they did not want to lose their prey, even if it meant steaming into the heart of this strange and unnatural storm. Grace pounded her fist on the wheel in fury and her Bloodsilk sash cracked like a whip. “Take the wheel again Seaton!” she yelled to him while leaping down the stairs once again to reach the engine room. The ship rolled and swayed as she reached the bottom the stairs and her breath was taken from her as she viewed the scene before her. Glowing azure light filled the engine room and spilled out, moving like a living fog with tendrils that snaked across the floor and ceiling. The engine was vibrating and appeared to be fading in and out of view, along with parts of the floor and walls around it. Grace saw the glowing chunk of metal lodged in the device and grabbed at nearby tongs on the floor to begin desperately pulling on it.

Grace strained to pull out the metal shrapnel and felt it begin to move when the Lokothea abruptly heaved from a massive wave crashing into the bow. Grace was tossed across the room and dashed against a wall, sending the tongs clattering out the doorway into the darkness of the hold. Stars swirled in her eyes, and Grace struggled to regain her footing as the glowing light surrounded her and permeated through the ship, filling it and flowing outwards into the storm. Bright lights sprang along all of the metal fittings like ghostly Saint Elmo’s Fire and the terrified crew stood with mouths agape as the storm clouds closed in upon them, merging with the liquid light that poured from their vessel. A sudden, intense light flashed throughout the sky and then all was silent.

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- the storm of shadows -All aboard the Lokothea were suspended in mid-air,

as if they were falling downward through an infinite hole, their minds blasted by a riot of colors and sounds around them. One of crew drifted off the vessel, his hands vainly grasping at the rigging. His cries for help were soundless in this ghostly realm but something sensed his fear in the void. Glistening tentacles of a nauseating shade of violet reached out from the walls of color and light, snaking their way towards him and wrapping around his legs. The other crewmen watched helplessly as the tentacles dragged him into a ghastly, toothy maw that emerged from in the void, surrounded by a foul black mist.

The captain of arms, Bloody Brona, swung madly with her claymore at other tentacles that erupted from the nightmarish void, slicing off those that came close as she spun around in mid-air, while Nereus held onto a railing with one hand and calmly picked off approaching tentacles with his Colt revolver. Seaton continued to grip the wheel, trying in vain to keep from flying from the deck and hoping to somehow steer the ship. The situation appeared to be hopeless, then in an instant the crew were sent tumbling back onto the deck and the tentacles

dissolved into nothingness. The Lokothea crashed down into a dark sea in the midst of a massive thunderstorm with bolts of purple and blue lighting all around them.

Grace lurched from below deck, dazed but still cognizant of the danger of the pursuing armada. She looked off the stern but strangely could see nothing following their ship. Towering waves smashed the Lokothea from all sides and Grace stumbled across the deck to reach Seaton, who was holding onto the wheel still, but had a grim look upon his face. “The rudder is shattered Captain, we are at the mercy of the storm now…” he said despondently.

Then, from the bow, Nereus shouted down to them “Best to take hold, rocks ahead!” All aboard looked in horror as spires of jagged rock appeared before them, shaped like the teeth of some monstrous creature. A huge wave lifted up the ship and then dropped it down onto the rocks with a sickening crash. The rocks penetrated the hull and split through the cargo deck like a massive spear, impaling the ship and sending many of the crew tumbling off into the roiling waters below. The Lokothea remained on the rocks for a few moments, then with a horrible rending and snapping sound she broke free and was pushed beyond the deadly reef by a mountainous wave. Though loosed from the reef, the ship was mortally

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familiar motion of some of the shadows swimming above the reef and quickly swam to the surface, kicking off her heavy boots.

The wind and waves echoed in her ears as Grace swam through the choppy waters and called vainly to her crew struggling to stay afloat. “Make to shore if you value your lives! The devil swims below us!” Her words were heard by three of the floundering pirates who held on desperately to a bit of floating wreckage and they began kicking in the direction the waves pushed them, hoping that it would lead to the shore. Two of them kept their eyes focused ahead but one of the swarthy brigands glanced behind them and gestured frantically to his mates, pointing at the triangular shape that cut through the surface as it approached them before submerging when it was only a few feet away.

Grace knew she could do nothing for her helpless crew and began swimming along with the waves, allowing them to help push her forward and conserve strength. Her hat was gone and with it the Bloodsilk sash, lost in the swirling waters, but they would provide no protection from the horrors lurking below. She kept her head up while her swimming stroke was even and strong, scanning through the storm clouds to see any bit of safe shoreline. A

wounded by the rocks, a gaping hole now in her hull below the waterline. Another wave crashed into her and the Lokothea came to a stop, run aground and battered by the howling winds and relentless seas. Water rushed in and those not tossed over the side by the rocks were now swept out into the dark waters as the vessel sank slowly to the seafloor, leaving only its masts and tattered sails visible above the waves.

Grace gripped vainly to the railing of her stricken ship, her fingernails digging into the wood, but the force of the waves was too great and she was dragged off the deck and into the churning waters below. She twisted her lithe body to strike the water feet first and spread her arms wide to avoid going in too deep and becoming a victim of the sharp coral below. While under the surface, she was momentarily stunned by the clarity of the water and the colors surrounding her. The lights from the searing bolts of blue and purple lightning lent an eerie glow to the reef, casting dancing shadows all around her. Patches of soft corals and gorgonians glowed with a ghostly blue-green light that intermixed with the shimmering lights from above to create a hypnotic pattern that Grace had never experienced in all her sea travels. Entranced as she was for this brief moment, Grace became acutely aware of the

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piercing shriek came from behind her and Grace stopped to call out to her mates, only to see all three of the pirates pulled down off of their flotsam and the splashes from multiple tails and fins.

Panic welled up in her gut but Grace steeled herself and redoubled her effort to get to shore, her arms cutting through the water and her head down in a full sprint to safety. Each moment her feet kicked she imagined razor-sharp jaws about to rip and tear into her legs and her eyes jerked from side to side as shadows danced around her, some from the storm lights and others moving closer and closer. Her stroke was labored now and she took more breaths at the surface, her muscles burning as if hot pokers were stabbing into them, but Grace could not relent.

Something brushed up against her leg and Grace pulled both legs up to her body, coiling up and then kicking backwards with one bare foot. She felt something cold and unyielding and her foot scraped painfully on its rough skin but the kick sent it twisting away. A massive wave suddenly caught her and tumbled her body like a rag doll, for what seemed like an eternity, until her hands felt soft sand below her. Grace raised her head up above the water and dragged herself along the sandbar with her hands, kicking frantically with her feet to get into the shallows. The storm clouds were even lower here and she could see nothing, save for flashes of color from lightning bolts, but she could faintly hear the shouts around her from crew than had survived. Another wave threw her off the sandbar, rolling her exhausted body into a shallow lagoon, and Grace spent her last few ounces of energy to head towards the sounds of life.

Grace could make out some of the shouts now and heard the voice of Nereus calling out her name but she was too weak to call back. Her arms were like lead and her legs were dead weight but she used all of her remaining energy to make a desperate push for the shore. She felt a wave begin to pull her backwards and planted both feet on the sandy bottom before pushing forward as the wave crashed. The force of the breaking wave crushed the air from her lungs and Grace bounced along the seafloor in the whitewater until darkness finally enveloped her.

- A lost World -Grace awoke slowly as if from a dream. Her eyes

flickered and she could sense faint light through her encrusted lashes, light of a strange hue tinted with magenta and gold. She was lying on her back and shifted her weight, feeling soft sand beneath her as she slowly lifted

her head up and propped herself on her aching arms.Nereus stood above her, grinning in the ethereal light.

“Hello Luv…You looked like death for the last few hours but you have a tenacious desire to live. We found you a short time after the storm ended, having washed up in the breakwater. Your man, Seaton, wrung the water out of your lungs. I did place a bet on your survival, so don’t take it personal. The Lokothea is still there on the reef, visible clearly now that the storm has passed, but I daresay that she will not be seaworthy any time in the near future” Nereus stated while pointing over to the masts that jutted out above the calm waters of the bay.

Grace shook her head and forced her bloodshot eyes open, looking upon an otherworldly scene. The ocean and shoreline in front of her were wholly unfamiliar, clearly nowhere near the Turks and Caicos and far from any earthly place she knew of. The sky was filled with magenta and blue mists that swirled in random patterns and the air was permeated with charged energy, such as one senses during a thunderstorm, yet there was no lightning or thunder and the air was still. Strangely, the sky was darker directly above and grace squinted while looking up and could see no sun at all. As her eyes tracked across the sky she noticed that there were large, dark shapes jutting downward in some places and to her shock she realized that the dark sky was actually the ceiling of an unimaginably vast cavern with enormous stalactites growing down from eons of accumulating mineral deposits.

Seaton leaned over and Grace gripped his powerful hand to help herself to her feet, groggy at first but quickly recovering her wits in this new and alien environment.

“We recovered some empty water casks that floated ashore, Captain, and a few kegs of powder and some rifles and cartridges. The rations and full casks are likely still in the ship hold, tied down as they were, and are now underwater.” Seaton said somberly, staring out across the reef while handing Grace a water skin.

Grace took a quick sip from the skin, feeling life flow back into her and looked at Seaton. “How many of the crew have survived?” she asked. Seaton wearily replied, “So far, we have found only eight survivors, including us, Nereus and Brona, who managed to kill one of the sharks that took so many of our men. The shark washed up ashore some time ago, though it is hard to track time in this accursed land without a sun”. He started walking down the beach and motioned for Grace to follow. “Take a look at this strange fish. It’s like nothing I have seen before.” he said.

Grace strode through the fine white sand up to where

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the carcass was washed up on the beach and where the remaining crew members were collecting supplies. The shark’s head lay on the sand while its tail rolled in the waves, a creature easily as long as two men. It was split open by a gaping wound in its belly and had chunks of flesh ripped out of its body, no doubt by other sharks. Brona stood in the shallow water, examining her handiwork and grinned as Grace approached. “What do you make of this monster?” Brona questioned, as Grace examined its terrible jaws filled with jagged teeth.

“It came at me right when I fell off the deck but I was able to gut it with my knife. The rest of the sharks there swam past me to feast upon this one.” Brona added with excitement.

Grace looked closely at the creature but did not recognize it as a shark at all, as its entire body was covered in thick scales with many horn-like spikes, and its head had a long, pointed snout filled with sharp teeth and saucer-sized eyes. The coloration of the scales was a vibrant orange, blue and gold and it appeared to be more like a lizard than a fish. Grace’s head throbbing from dehydration and she took another swig of water and then motioned for Nereus with a wave of her hand.

“Did my trunk wash ashore? I need to find a book that Daedalus had given to me to study years ago” She asked him with a hushed voice. Nereus understood the gravity of the situation and that an appearance of uncertainty in this terrifying new world would result in panic among the remaining crew.

“Yes…Luv, it did come ashore and was still sealed tight. Follow me,” he said, walking up along the beach past a pair of wretched looking pirates, their eyes filled with confusion.

As they walked to the Captain’s locker, Grace turned to look across the expanse of land beyond the shore, a brooding landscape of red and purple vegetation and trees of peculiar shape, with wisps of glowing blue mist and motes of pulsing light. Far off in the distance she could make out the stone towers of a city, and possibly a place they could find food and shelter. She stumbled nearing the trunk and looked down to see she had stepped into a recessed area, which strangely was near to another one of roughly the same size and shape, the length of the man, half as wide and about two feet deep. Looking along the beach, more of these depressions were visible in a pattern that was most disquieting. Hulking shipwrecks with hulls of an odd design were also visible, and Grace noted that they looked more like those from paintings and mosaics of ancient Greece than modern vessels, though some had the

appearance of dull and corroded metal.Reaching the trunk, Grace was relieved to find it

intact and dug the key from her soggy pocket. The lock contained a small crab inside that fought to keep its new home but it eventually retreated to the beach and Grace opened the trunk. She rooted around inside and dragged out a musty tome covered in tattered leather, closed the trunk and lay the book on top. Flipping through page after page, she finally found the section that she was looking for, a chapter describing the bones of creatures of antiquity. In the chapter was a sketch of a skeleton encased in stone, labeled a “fish-lizard” by Doctor Daedalus, that was very similar in appearance to the creature that was now a rotting carcass on the beach. Grace showed this page to Nereus, who examined it closely and then flipped a few more pages to sections with sketches of stone with imprints of strange and exotic plants. Nereus was well versed in the study of Archaeology and recognized many of the same plants that grew at the edge of the beach, cycads and ginko-like leafy plants that were commonly discovered fossilized in stone during his research.

Nereus looked up at Grace and whispered “I am not sure how it is possible, but we have somehow traveled into an underground realm that has been lost to history. This land, these plants and animals, all should not be from our present time but they are clearly here.”

A knot formed in Grace’s gut as she recalled warnings of Doctor Daedalus about his new device. She had little time during their precarious flight to dig through his notes, and she hoped she had remembered all of them. Clearly, some of the instructions were not followed. Flipping to the pages with Daedalus’ diagrams and schematics, the equations and descriptions of the engineering of the device were incomprehensible to her. Nereus peered over her shoulder and pointed to small page of notes fastened to the last page of Daedalus’ design chapter. He plucked it off and frowned will reading it.

“Bah, Just a bunch of meandering thoughts of his on the nature of the ethereal realm. Hmm, he does mention something about how this device utilizes energy fields from the crystals in the power unit to create a resonance with forces of the earth and when tuned properly can create a bridge between the material and ethereal worlds. There is some other nonsense here about time being a dimension that can be traversed and... clearly Daedalus is mad. I believe we were washed into some cavern below the islands of the Caribbean; something I have heard can occur near the blue holes that pocket the shallow shelf here. We simply need to repair the ship, find the exit to

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the caverns and make our way out.” he said with an air of faux confidence.

Grace had known Nereus long enough to see through his show of braggadocio, but he was the only one with any sort of scientific qualification. Still, she could not shake the feeling that the blue holes in this region were nowhere near as powerful as Nereus implied, based on her experience with the local sailors here. A maelstrom whirlpool could take a whole warship like the Lokothea, but not a blue hole. And how did the ship stay intact if it was sucked down below the ocean?

Turning to face the Lokothea once again, Grace noticed that the tide was dropping and her proud, wounded ship was aground on a shallow sand bar. Her spirits picking up, Grace said “Nereus, It could be possible to patch the hull and raise her off this sandbar if we had the machinery or raw physical power, then bring her ashore and make a dry dock for more complete repairs. What would we need for this?”

Nereus pondered the question for a few moments, then replied “I have seen salvage engineers in Scotland raise a grounded barge a few years back. They used wooden planks and a fast-curing cement to patch the hull and then pumped out the water and raised her to the

surface. If we could do something similar it could work. The problem I see is that we have none of the cement but we could use tar as a sealant if we can find some here and then turn longer bits of metal into hookbolts to secure the patch.”

He then paused and shook his head “But they also had specialized suits with diving helmets and air compressors, something we do not have also. The work would need to be done by those able to hold their breath for minutes at a time and brave enough to get back into waters filled with scaly devils like the one Brona killed. At low tide, it could be possible. We would then use the bilge pump to drain the lower decks and the ship would rise once again so we could get her to a safe harbor for repairs.”

Grace walked up to the top of the beach line, pondering the plan, then strode purposefully back to the trunk and pulled out a box of cartridges for her pepperbox pistol. “Gather the crew!” she shouted out to Seaton and Brona, who were standing among the morose pirates. “It’s time to salvage all that we can from the wreck and then move inland to find fresh water and shelter from any more of these storms. Then we repair the Lokothea and find a way out of this accursed land”...

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gAme rulesTides of Forever uses a basic set of the ShadowSea rules

and some new rules designed specifically for the scenarios here. The game is intended for solo play, where the player controls a “warband” of Grace Flynn and her crew and fights through a campaign of battle scenarios. Warbands are composed of different models with statistics in their Profiles that describe their in-game capabilities.

Model ProfilesEach model has a set of statistics, weapons, special abilities and special items that determines what it can do in a game.

Points: The cost of the model. This is used when having 2-player games to make sure warbands have even points.Quality: Base Statistic indicating the model’s willpower, reactions and intelligence. It is used for activating the model, assessing morale and casting spells. Success is determined by rolling above the quality statistic, so lower is better. Combat: Base statistic used in combat rolls.Armor: The Armor Value (AV) is the is the amount of armor on the body of a model. Enemies need to win in combat by this value or higher in order to cause a wound.Wounds: The number of body wounds the model may suffer before being disabled or killed.Str / Res / Will: Strength, Resistance and Will check stats.Weapons & Attacks: These are ranged and H2H attacks with bonuses and effects. Attack bonuses (e.g., +2) are added to the base Combat stat when attacking. Ranged attacks show the range stick used for measurement.Special Abilities: These are abilities and special powers from the Special Abilities section.

Special Items: This includes tech items or magical items.

special AbilitiesSpecial Abilities add to the basic rules and distinguish

different characters and creatures from each other. All Special Abilities are listed in the model profile with descriptions of their effects. Some Special Abilities are reserved for Personalities, experienced warriors and adventurers, and have their names underlined. Personality models can have only one of these abilities.

Personalities and troopsGrace’s warband starts with four Personality Character

models and four Troops. Personalities have their name and “Personality Special Ability” underlined. Troops are basic pirates with regular abilities, none underlined. A player must keep at least one Personality Character alive to finish all the scenarios and complete the game. The profiles of each model of Grace’s warband are found at the end of the book.

enemy ForcesThe underground world of the Shadow Sea is inhabited

by many deadly enemies. Each scenario has different enemy types that have specific movement and attack patterns. (page 26). The player controls enemies following their AI pattens, using all of the regular rules for activation and combat. Enemy profiles are at the end of the book.

shadowsea game CardsGame cards come with miniatures for ShadowSea and

contain all of the information from a profile, including advanced statistics for subsystem targeting used in the full ShadowSea game. Players may download cards for the models in this book from the download section of the AntiMatter-Games.com website.

Grace Flynn (Sample Model Profile)Points: 129 Quality: 2+ Combat: 3 Armor: 1 Wounds: 4 Str: 5+ Res: 5+ Will: 2+Weapons & Attacks:Ranged (+1 / Medium) Pepperbox pistol (CL 1) Projectile, Armor Break (1)H2H (+2) Tyrfrost Sword (CL 0) Armor Break (2), Unbreakable (never suffers damage)

Special Abilities: Leader, Bombard, Ether Tech (1), Shooter (medium)Leader - Allies within one Long stick get +1 to Activation Rolls, Quality Checks and Morale Checks. Can call for Group Activation and Group Attacks. Grace’s death requires a Morale Check for living allies. Personality model. Bombard - Can load and fire Artillery and Scenic Weapons. Gets +1 to roll when shooting at Scenic Terrain.Ether Tech (1) - Can use only CL 1 Ether Tech devices. Activate salvaged device with Quality Check with successes equal to CL of the item. 3 failures damages the item.Shooter (medium) - Shoots using the Medium range stick.

Special Items: Bloodsilk - A magical crimson sash. When Grace kills an enemy, she recovers 1 wound and gains +1 to her Combat stat, up to a maximum of 3 killed enemies. The bonus lasts until the end of the scenario.

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game Play & turnsGames are played using 6-sided dice, a few miniatures

and a tabletop with scenery. The game is designed for Solo Play with a specific order of play. Each Game Turn follows this order. Each Scenario has 10 Game Turns.

1. Grace’s Warband (The Adventurer’s side) activate a. Choose Quick Activation or Roll b. Move c. Attack, shoot d. Use item / pick up item

2. Enemy side activates a. Free Activation or Roll depending on enemy b. Move c. Attack, shoot

3. Roll on Event Table for the Scenario a. Spawn enemies b. Environmental effects

4. End of Game Turn - start over at Step 1

Every Game turn, activate models for a side until each one gets a chance or a model fails an Activation Roll

Quick ActivationA player may choose to activate a model with one free

action point for any activity.

Activation rollsA player picks a model and rolls two or three dice. The

model gets 1 Action per roll greater than or equal to the its Quality. Rolls below Quality are “failures”. An unmodified 6 always succeeds and a 1 always fails. If the roll is three successes and two or more 6’s, the model is an Action Hero and gets four actions. However, if the activating model rolls two or three failures, that side’s turn ends.

group ActivationA Leader can order a group of non-Artificial, Animal

or Warbeast allies to activate by spending one action when within one Long stick of the group. Ordering for group activation ends a Leader’s turn. The group must not have acted this turn and must have visual contact. The group makes one activation roll using the highest Q stat (the worst model) in the group. Each model in the group gains the number of actions from successes and gets to use the actions independently of the other models. It is not mandatory that all models in a group perform the same action.

Activation Roll ResultsRoll result Possible actions1 success, 1 failure

1 action, then player nominates another model and rolls to activate it

1 success, 2 failures

1 action, then the turn passes to the Enemy Force

2 or 3 failures

No actions, then the turn passes to the Enemy Force

2 successes 2 actions, then player nominates another model and rolls to activate it

2 successes, 1 failure

2 actions, then player nominates another model and rolls to activate it

3 successes 3 actions, after that the player nominates another model and rolls to activate it

3 successes &two 6’s

Action Hero - 4 actions. If rolled three dice & got three successes with two+ 6’s.

using ActionsAn activated miniature can use actions for different

activities, but models can only make one attack per turn unless they have Special Abilities such as Combat Master or Combo Attack. Example activities are shown below.

Example ActivitiesAction Cost Move once (walk, crawl, ooze) 1 action

Move twice (run) 2 actions

Move three times (sprint) 3 actions

Start Physical Activity 1 action

Change altitude or depth (per level) 1 action

Attack in hand-to-hand combat 1 actionMighty Attack in hand-to-hand combat - Defender gets -1 CS for 2 actions, -2 CS for 3 actions.

2 or 3 actions

Shoot a ranged weapon 1 action

Aimed Shot with ranged weapon Defender gets -1 CS for 2 actions, -2 CS for 3 actions.

2 or 3 actions

Reload a ranged weapon 1 action

Heal injured ally 1 action

Step & Attack or Step & Shoot 1 action

Recover after being fallen or transfixed 1 or 2 actions

Charge into combat & attack 2 actions

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movement and rangeModels can move up to one range stick per action.

Range sticks are: 75 mm (Short), 120 mm (Medium) and 180 mm (Long). Movement distance is measured from the front of the base, effectively measuring where the front of the base starts and ends the move.

A typical model has a “medium” move rate, moving in a straight line the distance of the Medium stick per action spent. Each move in a different heading requires a separate action. Some models have Short Move or Long Move abilities and use the Short and Long move sticks respectively. A model can move less than the full distance or not at all

Ranged combat uses the same measurement sticks. Shots are measured from the front edge of the shooter’s base to the nearest base edge of the target model. Zone effects (e.g., Leader’s activation bonus or a Blast radius) are measured from the center of a Leader or the center of a blast template.

step & AttackA model with one action may move (step or swim) its

base width and attack using one total action. This cannot be used to Charge into combat.

Difficult TerrainIf movement passes through Difficult Terrain, such as

ruins or forests, the model’s speed is reduced by one stick (i.e., Medium becomes Short). Models with Short Move require two actions for one move in Difficult Terrain.

Facing & Field of ViewA model has a distinct front and back side that

determines its field of view. The simplest way to determine the front side is where the eyes or other visual detection systems are located. From that point, the field of view is a half-circle extending out to the edge of the map. Models can face in any direction after they activate or end their turn.

turningTurning around takes no actions and a model will

automatically turn to face an enemy once it has been attacked. When surrounded, the model can only turn to face one side at a time, so some attackers will always get a rear attack. If the model has armor that makes it Sluggish it must activate and spend one action to turn.

line of sightIn order for a model to interact with another model

or scenic item it must be able to trace a line of sight to the

target from the front of the base of the acting model to any part of the base of the target model in the Field of View. The line must not pass through obstacles or enemy models. Adjacent allies do not obscure the line of sight.

It is assumed that an acting model can see larger models behind smaller ones. As such, Big models are not obscured by medium sized models and Huge models are not obscured by medium and Big models.

Cover or obstacles may block line of sight unless the acting model is above the cover/obstacle. A model hiding behind a large rock may be covered from attack by a model on the ground, but not by one flying up a number of Altitude Levels or standing on a piece of tall scenery. For these models, each Altitude Level or Medium stick of height allows an attacker to see models hiding behind scenic cover that is one Medium stick in height or shorter.

Huge models that are tall, such as giants, can also see over cover that is one Medium stick in height. If cover is two Medium sticks in height, an attacker up two Altitude Levels or on scenery two Medium sticks in height would be able to see the defender, although it would still have Partial Cover. An attacker shooting at a model in Partial Cover gets -1 to its roll, while hand-to-hand attacks from a model outside the cover cannot cause recoil, so the defender is not affected by the attack unless it causes a fallen result or worse.

Complete CoverIf a model is completely obscured from an attacker’s

field of view, behind a boulder or some other large scenic object, it is in Complete Cover and cannot be attacked.

Field of View & Visibility

FrontBack

Grace Flynn can see models out past the semi-circle in front of her to the edge of the map. �e red semi-circle indicates the rear of the model where she cannot see. Models on the green side are in the �eld of view, unless behind scenic objects for Complete Cover.

Complete Cover

in view

out of view

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