Foxholes & Slit Trenches

All characters can build foxholes and other defensive works for personal defence. The level of defence the character gains from a foxhole depends upon how deep the character is able to dig it - and this depth is determined by the amount of time the character can spend on digging.

The amount of time required to dig a foxhole is worked out as follows:

Time = (8 – STR Bonus) x (environment + tools modifiers)

The resulting number equals the number of minutes the character will have to dig in order to reach each subsequent level of depth.

Environment	Mod
Soft Soil or Sand	-1
Normal Dirt	0
Compact Dirt or Gravel	2
Very Rocky Ground	3
Frozen Ground	4
Tools
Shovel or Pick	0
No tools, bare hands only	2
Help from another	-1

For example if a character with a strength bonus of +2 was to start digging in compact dirt with a shovel, it would take him 12 minutes ([8-2]x[2+0]=12) to dig out his foxhole to provide One-quarter cover, a further 12 minutes to dig deeper for One-half cover, etc.

A foxhole takes up one character square (5ftx5ft) and is large enough to accommodate one character. A slit trench is a line of foxholes connected together down which characters can pass and gain the bonus of being in cover according to the depth the section the character is presently standing in.

Dugouts for gun emplacements and cannons can be made by digging several foxholes together side by side.

Level of Cover	Cover Bonus to Defense	Reflex Save Bonus
One-quarter height in depth.	+2	+1
One-half height in depth.	+4	+2
Three-quarters height in depth.	+7	+3
Nine-tenths height in depth.	+10	+41
Total height in depth.	-	-

¹ Half damage if save is failed, no damage if save successful.