Miscellaneous Equipment: Expand Your Armoury

With live ya stupid welps! Keep the edge bright and shiny... and sharp like a blood drinker's fang! Well maintained weapon will keep you all alive in this part of a shithole called Mordheim!

Fellow Wyrdstone seekers,

You may wander what do i mean by 'Expanding Your Armoury'. Well, in a game based on gaining experience, leveling models and purchasing new weapons and armour for a warband it is sometimes wise to prepare a backup equipment for the heroes. Some players prefer to represent weapon options with whole substitute models. I find it rather undesirable as i like to create a bond with some of my miniatures. Hours spent on painting and converting a model just to throw it away in favour of a new equipment option? It sounds to me like a betrayal. With use of some pins and magnets you will be able to switch weapons at a whim. More so, you will probably find converting more options for already painted heroes quite thrilling.

As an example here's one of my heroes: the Undead Vampire armed with different weapon options. Some of them classic, others you may find unorthodox but quite effective. 

 Classic Sword & Shield

Spear & Shield or Halberd

Two Handed Weapon or a Flail

 'King Kittan Giga Drill!'

Hope you found some inspiration. It is awesome to switch weapond between games depending on which warband you will face next and it's important to represent weapons as they are.

Nazroth,

Hired Swords: Part one

We have earned quite a bunch of coins at our last raid. As we have all the gear we need for now, it would be wise to use an additional pair of fighting arms. Let's head back to the Cutthroat's Den and see what remarkable new alliances we can buy with this gold... 

Playing in a Campaign usually leads to a moment when you have more gold than you can spend. At some point new weapons and armour are useless, you have reached the maximum number of fighters in your warband and the only good way to spend surplus gold is to buy a Hired Sword. There is plenty of Hired Swords to choose from. Some of them are powerful fighters while others are dead eye shooters. Some can even cast spells, earn gold or boost the number of warband members. The Hired Swords are too numerous for just one post so i will start with which is in my opinion the best fighter, best tank, best shooter and the best caster among them.

 Pit Fighter

The Pit Fighter happens to be a best bully there is. With medium hire fee and average upkeep we will get some potent stats including S4 (5), T4, A2 and a very good set of gear. In single combat this warrior will overpower almost any foe. He may recoil when facing a Vampire, Possessed or an Ogre Bodyguard, but will make a bloody pulp from all other enemies.I recommend that you unleash the Pit Fighter on to your opponent's thoughest models. In worst case scenario he will keep them busy for long time.

On my private list of Hired Swords he comes in the second wave of recruitment, as i prefer tricks over force. For those of you that would like to get eye to eye, the Pit Fighter should be a top priority.

 Ogre Bodyguard

Ogre Bodyguard is the best tank in the game. High Toughness of 4 comes in a pair with 3 Wounds. With 2A and Cause Fear special rule, the Ogre is a formidable wall of meat that would turns out to be impassable for most of fighters. Use this one to keep enemy killers out of your softer fighters.

Ogre Bodyguard is my wave one Hired Sword and joins my Warband each time i am able to afford it.

Warlock

There aren't many Spellcasters in Mordheim. That single fact puts the Warlock above other low stat Hired Swords. Once more for a medium fee we can hire a more than decent fighting force. Warlock's ability to use Lesser Magic will 'make a difference' in most games. Try to keep him close to your main force so that his spells would prove to be most effective at all times.

This Wizard comes in a wave zero, or wave one depending on which warband i'm playing at the moment.

Tilean Marksman

Best Shooter in Mordheim, threatened only by the Roadwarden's move and shoot 'sniping' ability. Tilean Marksman is a must have in all warbands which puts distance above close quarters. A 3+ hit is formidable and if you roll a +1BS advancement you will have a sniper like any other. Just put him in a good spot so that he can see most of the battlefield and won't be fired upon too often.

The Tilean Marksman is my zero wave choice. I always recruit him with my warband if possible. 

So now you know my choice of the best fighter, best tank, best shooter and the best casteramong Hired Swords. Next time i will present to you the best seeker, best sneak, best trickster, best buff that you can hire. 

Nazroth,

Warband: the Middenheimers

The land of Middenheim breeds warriors cold as ice. Personally i find their behaviour a little bit savage, yet do not mistake them for merely barbarians. Man of Middenheim are proud people that respect old ways. They venerate Ulric, God of wolves and winter. Watch yourself lad, try not to cross blades with them. Otherwise you may find yourself chased by a pack of angry wolves one day...  

Warband: Middenheim Mercenaries

Fellow Mordheimers. Today i present you the Middenheim Mercenaries: one of three basic Human Mercenary warbands. The Middenheim warband is flexible and possess all merits of a human band so i will concentrate on what makes them different from other warbands.

Advantages:

- All speed ahead,

Every single hero of Middenheim warband has the option to choose Speed skills. Imagine this howling ang powerfull mashine of war as it covers half of the table in a blink of an eye. Now imagine the look on a face of your opponent as he find himself facing a full compliment of hand to hand monsters in less than three turns.

- Strong arms, 

Other warbands need some fancy gear to start the campaign with S4 / S5 models, but not Middenheim. Middenheim Captains and Champions start with S4 and can be further pumped up to 5 or 6 with use of common weapons. After couple of fights you will add some Strenght skills and just unleash your wolves against the foe. They will do the rest.

Weaknesses:

- Lack of Shooting skills, 

Lack of shooting skills on most heroes sets up your way of gaming from the start. You will have to get close and you will have to get your hands dirty. Thank the Ulrik that there are Blunderbusses in your armoury so that your warband may still generate some punch while racing to bit crap out of your foe. 

Mercenary Captain

Champions

Youngbloods

Swordsman / Warriors

Marksman

Warband: Middenheim Mercenaries
Cost: 500gc,
Rating: 101,

Captain 70gc,
Sword, Dagger, 

Champion 45gc,
Halberd, Dagger,

Champion 41gc,
Hammer, Hammer, Dagger,

Youngblood 18gc, 
Hammer, , Dagger, 

 
Youngblood 18gc,
Staff, Dagger,

Swordsmen (2) 90gc,
Sword, Dagger,

Marksman 57gc,
Blunderbuss, Dagger,

Marksman (2) 76gc,
Bow, Mace, Dagger,

Marksman (2) 70gc, 
Bow, Dagger,

Halfling Scout 15gc,

Nazroth,

Miscellaneous Equipment: Random Encounters

Can you feel it? It's all in the air. Like a smell of something foul from afar. I have a bad feeling about this. Let's make haste lat. We don't want to bump into something are we?

Mordheimers! Most of you had already encountered 'Random Hapenings' presented in Town Cryer, and then once more in Mordheim Annual 2002. Each of thirty four events is a tribute to the randomness of Mordheim, and every single one of them is worth mentioning. To all of those that had never used 'Random Hapenings' rules before i must say that you have never truly played Mordheim up to now. Below you will find my representation of all twelve 'appearance' encounters that you'r band may bump into.

11 - Ogre Mercenary

Most players have one or more Ogre Mercenaries in their collection. Same goes for me so i choose this one to be at hand if needed. The miniature is from my Witch Hunters warband and is an allegory to marriage in addidion to it's main role as a fighter.

12 - Swarm of Rats (Ghosts?)

Six bases of rats are hard to get. I use six Spirit Hosts from my Warhammer: Vampire Counts army as proxy. It is easy to imagine the wave of wailing ghosts rampaging the streets of Mordheim and it looks cool too.

15 - Blood for the Blood God

This Hereald of Khorne miniature looks just like it would burst into action at any moment now. Model has been handpicked and prepared just for the task of being a Random Happening encounter.

21- Restless Spirit

As i used all of my the Spirit Hosts to replace Rat Swarms i just had to use the Wraith conversion to represent the Restless Spirit. The Spirit itself is almost harmless but the psychological effect this miniature exerts on my fellow gamers is worth the efort of converting it.

23 - Man Eater

This is the one that i'm most proud of. In the original plan the so called Man-eater is a tree but i couldn't stop to try something completely different. Can you feel the horror of a warband member captured unawares by writhing tentacles of a privy?

24 - Skeletons / 46 - Plague Victims

I do not like the concept of skeletons in Mordheim. There's just to many fresh corpses in Mordheim to even think about fielding bone shiny skeletons. I use these zombies to represent both the Plague Victims and the Sceletons.

26 - Spawn

Ever watched "The Thing"? I did and it had distorted my mind.

35 - Dog Pack

What can i say? Mordheim is a perfect game for those with a big Warhammer: Vampire Counts army. 

45 - Pit Fighter

I love this old school Warhammer: Quest miniature. With its bulky frame, overgrown musculature, big clown-like boots and nasty look on it's face. Damn, there was a time when miniatures looked so cool!

54 - Last Man Standing

In my opinion it should be named 'Last Maam Standing". GW made us the courtesy of sculpting not one but two astonishing Sisters of Sigmar Matriarch miniatures so there is always one to spare for the encounter. 

66 - Itsy-Bitsy Spider

My last addition to the collection of Random Happenigs miniatures. I was happy to paint this converted mini with use of a different colour sheme than most of my Mordheim models. Now it's an ugly, hairy, toxic spider.

Nazroth,

Miscellaneous Equipment: Mordheim Rulebook(s?)

Mordheim may seem like an utter chaos lad, but it is a city of the Imperium in all it's rights. If you wish to live throughout this little journey of ours, you've got to stick to some rules...

Most of us - Mordheim gamers - had a real Mordheim rulebook in hands for more than couple of times. I personally own such a rulebook and am a happy possessor of the original Mordheim Annual 2002. But there is a plenty of additional rules that Mordheim rules review added to the game, not to mention changes wrought upon the primary book. In order to keep all the rules in check and avoid tons of paper i have created three pdf files containing the Rulebook as i see it needed. Basic rules, Mordheim Annual 2002, some rules from Empire in Flames, and Errata. All of whom i have sorted into three smaller books ready to be printed and binded. As these rules were initially free to download at GW's site - feel free to download the files and make your own copy of the book. A copy where all magic is in the same place, warbands are placed in alphabetical order and 'ye olde curiosity shope' is right behind miscellaneous equipment.

Book one: Rules, including all usable magic and equipment,
Book two: Warbands, including Hired Swords and Dramatis Personae,
Book three: Campaign, including Scenarios and post battle sequence,

Nazroth,

Warband: 'Holy Crusade' the Sisters of Sigmar

You want to hear about the Sisterhood? Let me tell you this you miserable fool: You do not want to hear about them, or talk of them, or see one of them. You certainly do not wish to be hired by them and you are dead if you ever find yourself pursued by them. This is all you need to know. 

Warband: Sisters of Sigmar

'Holy Crusade'

The Sisters of Sigmar is one of the strongest warbands there are. Easy to play and hard to master, this warband combines a lot of hand to hand combat punch with some decent short range firepower and typical human flexibility. I have faced the Sisters on many occasion as they are my mate's favorite band. Each of those fights was a bloodbath regardless of the outcome. Let us have a look at their's pros and cons.

Advantages:

- Praying Matriarch,

Prayers of Sigmar are very powerfull, but even more so when cast by an already formidable fighter. A Sigmarite Matriarch is a fighter, shooter, spellcaster and may be armed with Sisters of Sigmar exclusive weapons.

 

- Holy S. . . Sister Bertha,

Bertha Bestraufrung, high matriarch of the sisterhood is a hell of a killer. Sisters of Sigmar are the only warband to have acsess to so many Dramatis Personae plus a one reserved especially for them. It does not have an impact on early stage of the campaign but given some time you will find yourself backed up with Bertha with no hire fee spent, and it means a lot of trouble for your opponent. 

- Slings & Hammers,

Sisters of Sigmar is a warband of close to short range effeciency. Slings can produce a lot of dakka to soften your foe and Hammers of Sigmar can open up an Ogre in no time (not to mention what do they make of some unholy creatures). 

- Novices,

There are plenty of ways to field a Sisters of Sigmar warband. You can go for equipment, but you can also choose to take strenght in numbers. Easy to buy 13 starting models with Novices woth 15gc each. Did i mention that they can use slings and can be armed with two weapons? Not like Zombies or Warhounds if you know what i mean. 

- Augur,

The Augur is a cheap hero that advances fast and can reroll characteristic tests, to hit rolls in combat and pick one of two dice rolls on exploration table. It is a 'must have'.

Weaknesses:

- No long range firepower,

Sisters do not have access to any long rande weaponry except hired swords. Even if you hire a Tilean Marksman or a Kislev Ranger they will be quickly outgunned. 

Sister Matriarch: Onslaught

Sister Superiors: Lagherta, Bernadette, Siggy

Augur: Valca

Sisters

Novices

Warband: Sisters of Sigmar 'Holy Crusade'
Cost: 500gc,
Rating: 109,

Matriarch: Onslaught 97gc,
Sigmarite Warhammer, Steel Whip, Sling, Dagger, 

Sister Superior: Lagherta 62gc,
Sigmarite Warhammer, Steel Whip, Sling, Dagger, 

Sister Superior: Siggy 62gc,
Sigmarite Warhammer, Steel Whip, Sling, Dagger, 

Sister Superior: Bernadette 52gc,
Sigmarite Warhammer, Hammer, Sling, Dagger,

Augur: Valca 37gc,
Steel Whip, Sling, Dagger, 

Sisters (2) 60gc,
Hammer, Sling, Dagger,

Sisters (2) 60gc,
Hammer, Sling, Dagger, 

Novices (3) 60gc,
Hammer, Sling, Dagger,

Halfling Scout 15gc,


Nazroth,