Lock ‘n Load Tactical in 10 minutes

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Copyright © 2020, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Rev 11
 Lock ‘n Load Tactical in 10 minutes
Lock ‘n Load Tactical: Note: We highly recommend you make
an account in our Community area to be

How to Play the Game in able to access our forums, download re-
sources or open a support ticket. This ac-

Ten Minutes count is in addition to creating a store ac-

count. Our staff will need to approve your
Lock ‘n Load Tactical (hereafter LnLT) account, once that is done you will have
is not a complicated game to play. This access to our Community.
quick guide is to get you playing quickly.
This is a light overview of the LnLT Core General Scale and Counters
Rules but you will still need to read the The Lock ’n Load Tactical (LnLT) game
complete LnLT Core Rules to get the full system is played on a Map, or Maps, com-
features of the LnLT system. This guide prised of hexes. Each hex is approximate-
will help you start playing the basic in- ly 50 meters wide. Most modules use
fantry-only scenarios from the Starter standard geomorphic Maps. Each mod-
Kit right away. ule’s Terrain Effects Chart (TEC) and
Player-Aid Card (PAC) contains images
Learning any game system can be daunt- and significant details about the differ-
ing, but don’t be dissuaded; Our LnLT ent terrain types. Though a turn in LnLT
Core Rules use a large font-size, to accom- lasts about two to four minutes, it’s best
modate the eyes, and have lots of exam- to conceptualize all actions in a turn as
ples—including in-depth examples—to il- occurring, more or less, at the same time.
lustrate the mechanics. Further, the best
way to learn is to have another person Stacking
show you how to play, but that’s not al-
In a hex, each side can have up to:
ways an option. We encourage new play-
ers to read the two gameplay narratives • Three Squads (or their equivalent)
(for infantry and vehicles/ordnance)
• Two SMCs
found at the back of our LnLT Core Rules
booklet before reading the rules, to famil- • Two Half-Squads are the equivalent of
iarize yourself with how a scenario plays one Squad.
in an intuitive and observational manner. • One Weapon Team is the equivalent of
one Squad.
Most importantly: Have fun!
These stacking limitations apply at ALL
Community & Support TIMES. You can always look at your op-
ponent’s stacks.
Check out the LnLP Forum if you have
any game questions, or if you are just
looking for other gamers with whom to
Dice
chat, you can find quick replies: http:// The game uses a pair of six-sided dice.
forums.lnlpublishing.com. 1d6 means one die is rolled. 2d6 means
two dice are rolled.
You can also find additional game re-
sources such as scenarios, counters, spe-
cial rules and other community-design
ideas in our Resources section: http://fo-
rums.lnlpublishing.com/ resources.

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Copyright © 2020, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Rev 11
 Lock ‘n Load Tactical in 10 minutes
What You Need to
Know About the Game
Counters Half-Squad Hero Sniper

Multi-Man Counters (MMCS) MMCs, including WTs, and

SMCs are also referred to as
These include Squads, Half- either Leg units or infantry
Squads, and Weapon Teams. at times in the rules and on
The three numbers across the Terrain Effects Chart
the lower front of a MMC Leader (TEC), which delineates the
represent, from left to right, Movement Point (MP) cost
its Inherent Firepower (IFP), Range and to enter each type of hex terrain or cross
Movement Factor (MF). Its MF rep- hex side terrain.
resents the number of Movement Points
(MPs) a unit has. Its Morale is the num- Support Weapons (SWs)
ber in the circle in the upper-right cor-
ner. A Squad represents 8-12 men and is These are individual weap-
depicted by a 5/8” counter displaying ons that must be Fired by a
two men. A Half-Squad represents 4-6 Squad, Half-Squad, Crew or
men and is depicted by a 5/8” counter eligible SMC. A Squad can
with one man on it. carry two SWs, a Half-Squad
can carry one SW, and a Leader/Hero can
Weapon Team (WT) carry one SW but forfeits two movement
points while doing so. A squad can fire
These counters represent one SW and retain its IFP, or fire two SWs
3-5 men and a heavy weapon and forfeit its IFP. A Half-Squad can fire
and are depicted by a 3/4” one SW, forfeiting its IFP in the process.
counter showing the weapon A Leader/Hero can fire a SW, but does so
and two men. at half the SW’s FP (fractions rounded
up).
Single-Man Counter (SMC)
These represent a single man or woman Event Markers
and are depicted by a counter displaying Some scenarios include
an individual, or in the case of Leaders Event markers. These mark-
— a face. Leaders have a rank and name ers, when activated, initiate
on the counter, and Heroes have a name. special events (such as
Leaders differ from other SMCs and unexpected reinforcements,
MMCs in that they do not have an IFP story-telling elements, etc.) that bring
or range on their counter; instead they the scenario to life. There are two types
have a Leadership Modifier (LM) on the of Event markers in LnLT: Occupation
right side between their Morale and MF. and Line of Sight.
SMCs, including Leaders, Armor Lead-
ers, Heroes, Snipers, Medics/Corpsmen
and Scouts, to name a few.

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Copyright © 2020, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Rev 11
 Lock ‘n Load Tactical in 10 minutes

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Copyright © 2020, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Rev 11
 Lock ‘n Load Tactical in 10 minutes
How a Turn Works in What Can Be Done in the Operations Phase?
When it’s your impulse, you can do 3
LnLT things. First of all, you can always try to
spot the enemy; this does not use up your
A game turn of LnLT consists of three
impulse, though it does take the turn of
phases. Each phase happens the same
the unit trying it. After this, you have
way each time and in the same order.
a choice – you may (1) activate one or
First up is the Rally Phase. The first step more units to do stuff or (2) pass. If you
in the Rally Phase, you roll initiative. pass, the other player gets to go.
Each player rolls a die, the high roll wins.
Whoever had the initiative from the last Activating One or More Units?
turn wins in the event of a tie. Then, You can activate some or all units in a
shaken units try to recover – but you’ll hex (to do one or more things) on your
need an individual to help shaken units impulse. A leader, when activated, may
recover. A hero or a leader is enough to also activate units in adjacent hexes.
do the job. You roll two dice and try to
get equal to or less than the morale of the What Can an Activated Unit Do?
shaken units in the hex. You get to sub-
Each activated unit may do one of the fol-
tract 2 from the die rolls if you are in ter-
lowing: (1) move, (2) shoot, (3) attempt
rain with a positive terrain modifier. You
to lay smoke and also provide opportuni-
can also subtract the leadership modifier
ty fire.
of one Leader stacked with rallying unit.
Medics can also rally units, with some ex- How to Move A Unit?
ceptions, in this Phase.
Units spend movement points to move.
Next comes the Operations Phase, where Each hex entered costs some of these
all the “stuff” happens. The players alter- points. A unit may enter a number of
nate impulses moving, firing, or passing, hexes whose cost is equal to or less than
starting with the player who has the ini- its movement factor. A unit which moves
tiative. Each unit may normally do one with a good order leader may move an
thing during a turn. This continues until extra two movement points. Units must
there are three passes in a row. move together.
Last comes the Administrative Phase, Note: units which move are automatical-
where players clean-up the board. Mark- ly spotted and are vulnerable to opportu-
ers for moving, firing, etc. are removed. nity fire. A unit may choose to low crawl,
Also, all units in degrading and blocking in which case it only moves one hex but
terrain automatically hide and will need does not give away its position (unless it
to be spotted in the next turn before they is in the open).
can be fired at.
Note: How do I tell if a hex has a positive
target modifier? Look at the Terrain Ef-
fects chart & figure out what kind of ter-
rain surrounds the center dot of the hex.
Now cross-reference that with the “tar-
get modifier” column.

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Copyright © 2020, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Rev 11
 Lock ‘n Load Tactical in 10 minutes
What Enemy Units Can My Units Fire At? (3) The hex must be within range of the
weapons to be fired at it.
Units in LnLT are either spotted or hid-
den. A unit is spotted if (1) it is in an open My Units Are Firing, What is the
hex, (2) it has moved/fired this turn, (3)
it is next to one of your Good Order units Procedure?
or (4) it has a spotted counter on it! The basic concept for resolving all small
arms fire in LnLT is straight forward –
How do I Spot Enemy units you and your opponent each roll a 1d6.
For a unit to spot a hex with enemy units The die rolls are then modified for fire-
in it , the hex must first be in LOS of power, terrain, etc.
the spotting unit. Then make a spotting Direct Fire Summary:
check, roll 1d6:
1. Attacker rolls 1d6 + Firepower +/- DFT
• Blocking-terrain hexes are spotted Modifiers
with a 1d6 roll of two (2) or less.
2. Defender rolls 1d6 + Target Modifiers
• Degrading-terrain hexes are spotted (Sometimes refered to as Terrain Tar-
on a 1d6 roll of three (3) or less. get Modifiers)
• One is added (+1) to the unit’s die-roll 3. Compare the Attacker’s result vs the
for every hex of degrading terrain its Defender’s result.
LOS passes through en route to the
target unit’s hex. Note that the LOS 4. If the Attacker’s result is higher, all
must actually pass through a piece of units in the target hex conduct a Dam-
the degrading terrain in the degrad- age Check. If not, the result is no ef-
ing-terrain hex. fect.
• One is also added (+1) if it passes Note: You can find these modifiers in the
through the silhouette (artwork) of Direct Fire Table and the Terrain Effects
degrading terrain that is in part of an Chart.
otherwise open hex.
Leadership Modifiers apply and are sub- Enemy Units HIT, How Do I Figure Out
tracted from the die-roll. Damage?
Note: How do I tell if a hex is clear, de- To figure out what happens to infantry
grading or blocking? Look at the Terrain units, leaders or other personnel units in
Effects chart and figure out what kind of LnLT, you roll 1d6 for each affected de-
terrain surrounds the center dot of the fending unit and add the difference be-
hex. Now cross-reference that with the tween the Attacker’s modified 1d6 and
“type” column. the defender’s modified 1d6. You then
compare your Damage Check (DC) roll
How Can My Units Fire At the Enemy Units? to the target’s morale. If you rolled less
than or equal to the target’s morale, you
In LnLT, you can shoot at hexes which accomplished nothing. If you rolled above
your units know contain the enemy. the target’s morale, then you look at the
Thus, to be able to fire at a hex, you need Direct Fire Table.
3 things: a unit (1) capable of seeing and
firing into a hex that (2) contains spotted
enemy units.

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Copyright © 2020, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Rev 11
 Lock ‘n Load Tactical in 10 minutes
Once there, you need to know three things Special Module Rule: Viet Cong can am-
(1) how far you rolled above the target’s bush. If they move into melee from out-
morale (is your roll more than twice his side the attacker’s line-of-sight (whether
morale? triple?), (2) whether you shot a they are hidden or not does not matter),
squad (called an MMC on the table) or an their firepower is tripled –and– they get
individual (called an SMC on the table) the first strike.
and (3) whether that target was in Good
order or already Shaken. How Do Leaders Work?
A Good Order Leader of the same nation-
HELP My Units Are Under Fire, How do I get ality/color/IB is present, his Leadership
some cover? Modifier is subtracted from the DC roll of
To lay smoke: nominate a squad or half- the other units in the hex (not himself).
squad as placing smoke and roll 1d6. For The Leader must survive his own DC
the Vietnam Scenarios: American units first, and be in Good Order, before aiding
need a 3 or less, NVA a 2 or less and Viet the other units in his or her hex. Lead-
Cong a 1. For WWII scenarios: American ers not under a Moved, Low Crawl, Fired
units need to roll 2 or less and German or Ops Complete marker can aid ALL at-
units need to roll 2 or less. Smoke may be tacks conducted by same nationality/
placed in your hex or in an adjacent one. force/IB units in their hex during their
See the terrain effects chart. impulse.

Note: The maximum Target Modifier Specifically, their Leadership Modifier is

(TM) for any hex is +4. This means that added to a unit’s total FP that is using the
cumulative TM from the result of setup DFT, including Weapon Teams. A Leader
and/or gameplay (Smoke, Wreck, Fox- firing a SW does not add his LM to attacks
holes) cannot exceed +4 in one hex. Thus, by other units in his hex.
a Forest hex (+2 TM) with a Bunker in it
(+2) and a Smoke marker (+1) still only How Do Heroes Work?
has a +4 TM, not +5. Heroes are the most dynamic units in the
LnLT system. They can change the tide
Melee Combat. How to Proceed? of a battle. Heroes either begin a scenario
To engage in melee, move into an enemy as part of it or, more frequently, they are
hex. Melee is normally simultaneous. created/spawned due to combat results.
(both sides fight) The attacker’s fire- There is a chance that a Hero is created
power (both units and machine guns) is during play whenever a Squad or Half-
compared to the defending units attacked Squad (even if Shaken) MMC rolls a 1
and a kill number determined from the during a Damage Check. If a 1 is rolled,
melee table. 2d6 are rolled. If your roll is roll another 1d6 and if the result is even,
equal to or greater than the kill number a Hero is created, if odd no Hero is creat-
and the other forces units are eliminated. ed.
Note: Shaken units and SMCs without Heroes have a single figure and name on
firepower ratings are eliminated auto- their counter. Heroes never Shake—they
matically if all other units stacked with are too busy being heroic! They can be
them die. wounded though, and the back side of
their counter is its Wounded side.

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Copyright © 2020, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Rev 11
 Lock ‘n Load Tactical in 10 minutes
Heroes when they are spawned/created
during play are granted a special Skill. Additional Ways to
The traits of each Skill, and who can use
them, are listed on the Skills Player-Aid Learn LnLT
Card At LnLP we want you playing our games
Note: Skills are limited in the LnLT Start- and NOT reading the rules. All of our
er Kit links with download are all free. The
Hardcover and Audible link does have a
Here are some Heroes attributes: fee to them. These editions are full com-
plete editions of the LnLT Core Rules.
• They always use their full IFP during
multi-unit attacks. • PDF Download: - http://bit.ly/Ln-
• Allow Shaken units in their hex to LT-CoreRulesv5
make a rally attempt. • EPUB Download: - http://bit.ly/Ln-
• They shift Melee odds one column in LT-EPUB
their side’s favor when “attacking”, in • MP3 Audiobook Download: - http://
addition to adding their IFP. bit.ly/LnLT-MP3
• They can possess Skills. • Audiobook Download: - http://bit.ly/
LnLT-Audiobook
• Hardcover and Audible: - http://bit.
ly/LnLT-Amazon

LnLT Bootcamp Training Videos

We have created a series of videos de-

signed to enhance the learning of the
LnLT Core Rule concepts. These videos
are not substitute for reading this rule
book but should be considered a video
player aid for the manual. You can view
these videos at the links below.
• Bootcamp - LnLT: http://bit.ly/Ln-
LT-Bootcamp

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Copyright © 2020, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Rev 11