CORE RULES OVERVIEW

Gameplay overview
Greathelm is a tabletop miniatures agnostic skirmish game played with dice and hand-painted
miniatures. Each miniature represents a ‘knight’, a heroic and heavily armored warrior ready for
combat. In every game, you and your opponent each control a team of six knights who face off in
intense, close-quarters fights. Rather than depicting an entire battlefield in the conventional standards
of tables sized 2"x2" to 4"x6", Greathelm focuses on a much smaller play area. This represents strategic
slices of a much larger battlefield—think of it as the camera zooming in on key moments that decide
the course of a battle happening off-screen. The gameplay reflects pivotal moments like breaking
through enemy lines, toppling castle gates, or seizing control of a siege weapon. Games are fast-paced,
easy to learn, and deeply tactical.

The Play Area

Games of Greathelm are designed to be played within small play areas. The standard size for games is
that of the commonly found paper in your home printer, no matter where you are in the world.
Common sizes are US letter 8.5"x 11" or A4 8.3"x 11." If you favor a more traditional approach, an
alternative standard for games is a 12"x 12". Pick one of the sizes to be your standard for all of your
games. Physically playing on a piece of paper is the easiest way to start, but soon you’ll want your
knights to battle on beautifully modeled 3d play areas!

Scenes
The play area represents a zoomed in view of a battlefield, where the most important action is taking
place. In game terms, the play area is referred to as a 'scene'. Scenarios can feature several scenes.
Victory in one scene will move play to a new scene, progressing the narrative to the next pivotal
moment or the battles’ climactic end.

Game components
These are the things you need to play:
• Play Area: 8.5"x11" battlefield.
• Dice: About 10 six-sided dice per player for gameplay, and a set of polyhedral dice for rolling
on different charts.
 • Miniatures: 6 knights per player.
• Tokens: Markers for momentum, damage and other effects.
• Measurements: Measuring gauges or measuring tape marked in inches.

What miniatures do you bring?

Greathelm is written with consideration of how miniatures are collected. No matter what your
miniature knights are made of, or where they come from, you can bring them to the battlefield. There’s
no need to stress over list building—each player only fields six knights! Creating your list is simple:
grab 6 models and identify the weapons they are holding. This will dictate what they use in game.

Damage Limit
Valiant as they may be, each knight has their limit. Each time your knight suffers damage, place a
damage marker on them. When a knight has accumulated 3 damage, they are removed from the play
area.

What you see is what you get!

The details of this game are built on the classic foundation of “what you see is what you get.” The
weapons represented on the actual miniatureare what the miniature will use in the game.

Arming your knights

There are no point values assigned to different weapons or items. This makes it easy to jump into the
game—either by using miniatures you already own and matching them to in-game equipment, or by
creating entirely new miniatures based on your own unique vision.

The Armory
Before deploying your knights, they visit the armory to equip themselves for battle. The armory
contains all of the weapons, armor and items that knights may equip. The restrictions on what you may
equip will be listed in the appropriate equipment list.
Knights may leave the armory equipped with:
• A set of Armor and...
• Any one handed weapon, a shield and an item.
or
• Any two handed weapon and an item.
Determine Initiative
The initiative roll establishes a strict flow of action for the upcoming round. The number of dice you
roll is always 1 plus the number of knights currently under your control, to a minimum of 3 dice. After
the dice are rolled, organize them into rows of matching numbers, ordering from highest to lowest. If
you and your opponent both roll 6s, then the player with the most 6s decides who will activate a knight
first in this turn. Otherwise, if only one player has 6's, they must activate a knight first.
Initiative ties
If players are tied with 6's, then the player with the most 5's will decide who activates first. If there is
still a tie, then the player with the most 4's will decide, etc... Continue as necessary to find out which
player decides who activates first for the round.

After initiative phase is complete, play progresses into the battle phase, where you and your opponent
alternate taking turns spending initiative dice on actions.

Initiative steps
Initiative dice are spent in a strict order. The highest value die in play is the current initiative step.
When all dice of the current initiative step are spent, the next highest die value in play immediately
becomes the new initiative step.

Spending dice to perform actions

The player going first begins the round by spending one die from the current initiative step and setting
it aside. They then choose one of their knights to perform the action associated with that die. After
completing the action, play passes to their opponent. Continue alternating actions until all dice have
been spent. A knight may perform multiple actions in a round, or none at all—there is no limit on the
number of actions a single knight can take.

The turn opens up in initiative step 6 with the run action, these actions move knights far across the play
area and reward you with crucial momentum!

Initiative step 5 is still about movement, being the walk action step. Knights don't move as far, and
don't get as much momentum (they're not running fast!) But it is still crucial to getting your knights
into position for the upcoming turn.

Movement actions are interrupted at initiative step 4 by the bash action. This is the first chance at
resolving a clash test during the turn, and is a crucial action for eliminating momentum from enemy
knights and positioning them where you want them to be.
The 3rd initiative step is the last chance your knights have to make an adjustment, or step away from
harms way, because now the turn is going to turn deadly!

Initiative step 2 is where the swords start swinging, and quickly! Results of 2 are fast attacks and your
knights will lash out with whatever weapon they're equipped with quickly, hoping to deal 1 damage to
their enemy.

Initiative step 1 is the last step of the turn, and is where all the patience and timing come to a deadly
crescendo. Results of 1 are heavy attacks and your knights will lash out with whatever weapon they're
equipped with hoping to deal 2 damage to their enemy!

Adjusting dice
On your turn, instead of taking an action, you may choose to reduce the value of one of your current
initiative dice by 1. Since each action is linked to a specific initiative step, adjusting a die can be a key
tactical move to create opportunities with future actions.
Movement in Greathelm is pretty standard if you're familiar with most table top miniatures games. All
measurements are in inches.
In Greathelm, models cannot move through other models, whether friend or foe. The positioning and
control of the small space is really important.
What is momentum?
Momentum represents knights’ speed, aggression, angle of attack, and footing. It is an important
resource that you gain and spend continuously throughout the battle to add bonuses to actions.
You gain momentum...
• When you perform an action that grants momentum.
• Every time you win a clash.

Spending momentum
Attacking knights can spend their momentum to gain bonuses during clash tests. When performing an
action that requires a clash test, and before rolling any dice, you can choose to spend any available
momentum. For each momentum you spend, add +1 to the result of the dice roll. Defending
knights cannot spend momentum to gain bonuses during clash tests.
Performing Clash tests
Certain actions require a clash test to resolve. A clash test is a roll-off between you and your opponent
to see which of your knights wins a fight. The knight performing the action is the attacker, and their
target is the defender.
• The attacker wins the clash by rolling equal to or higher than the defender's die roll. The
attacker gains momentum and applies the effect of the action.
• The defender wins the clash by rolling higher than the attacker's die roll. The defender gains
momentum and applies the effect of the chosen clash defense.

Clash test bonuses

Knights can improve their clash test results by gaining bonuses from various factors. These bonuses are
added to the number rolled on the die to determine the final the total of the clash test. The knight with
the highest total wins the clash. The maximum bonus a knight can have during any clash test is +6.
Defending in clash tests
Knights are trained to react to incoming attacks. Defending knights must choose their defense from the
list below, before dice are rolled. The equipment a knight brings to battle can change the defenses
available to them.
Dealing damage
Attack actions deal damage to knights as an effect. When the attacker wins the clash using an action
that deals damage, the defender rolls on the armor table to see if they suffer the damage, or if their
armor saves them from damage.
Damage limit
To apply damage from an attack, place one damage marker next to the knight for each point of damage
it suffers. Damaged knights continue to act normally and are not otherwise affected. Knights have a
damage limit of 3. If a knight accumulates 3 or more damage markers, they are immediately removed
from the play area—representing the knight being too injured, exhausted, or demoralized to continue
fighting.

After all dice have been spent on actions, play progresses to the courage phase. The player whose
knights have the most total damage takes all of their courage tests first. Every damaged knight that is in
base contact with an enemy must take a courage test. If two players are tied for the most damage, the
player with fewest remaining knights tests first. If still tied, the player with the fewest momentum tests
first.

Courage test difficulty

• +1 for each allied knight removed from play.
• +1 for each damage marker on the knight taking the test.
 • +1 for each allied gruesome marker.

Taking courage tests

After finding the total difficulty, roll a d6. You must roll equal to or higher than the difficulty to pass
the test.
• If the knight passes, they remain on the battlefield.
• If the knight rolls a 6, regardless of modifiers, they remain on the battlefield.
• If the knight fails the courage test, they immediately flee the battlefield and are removed from
play.
• You may choose for a knight to fail a courage test.