Rules: Alliances

Must say that our Dwarven friends have proved their worth. Standing here, basking in the sunlight and shooting to these pitiful zombies below is kinda fun. Hopefully these bearded bastars won't figure out that while we're here, having fun, our true comrades are plundering their stash...

Fellow warband leaders. Have you ever found yourself in a multiplayer game full of ridiculous, totally out of flavor alliances? Well i had more than once. Dwarves and Orcs as a team? Really? It's about time to do things right. Hereby i pronounce to you a set of rules that will ( i hope) once and for all clarify the alliances in multiplayer games. Remember that these rules are optional and experimental as well. 

ME - all Human Mercenaries,
WH - Witch Hunters,
SOS - sisters of Sigmar,
DTH - Dwarf Treasure Hunters,
UN - the Undead,
CU - Cult of the Possessed,
SKA - Skaven,
OG - Orcs & Goblins,
COC - Carnival of Chaos,

In multiplayer games two or more warbands may form an alliance using the rules introduced in the Mordheim Annual 2002, "Chaos in the Streets" article. Each time a player pronounces an alliance refer to the table above to see the type of the alliance.

 

No simbol - 'Almost friendly'

These warbands are friendly to each other as much as it is possible in Mordheim. The warbands probably hate but will not move against each other until provoked.

Members of allied Warbands:

- Do not count each other as enemies. 

- May freely run within 8" of each other. 

- Are not forced to charge enemy models due to some special rules. Note however that Orc or Goblin failing an Animosity test counts allied models as friendly Hired Swords, therefore will shoot or charge on a result of '1'.

- Will automatically break from close combat with each other as soon as the alliance is pronounced. Simply place the models 1" apart. They can move as normal in their next Movement phase. Models knocked down or stunned follow the normal rules for being knocked down or stunned, etc.

- Charging, shooting, throwing non-helpful spells at a member of an allied warband will automatically break the alliance with that warband. Note that this includes attacks caused by failed Animosity test. If that happens it is still possible to form an alliance once more, but this time it would have 'Not in a thousand years' status.

/ - 'Watch your back'

Sometimes these warbands will find themselves in an alliance, although they will never truly fight back to back. Alliance would be temporary and fragile so stay aware.

Members of allied Warbands:

- Do not count each other as enemies. 

- May freely run within 8" of each other.

- Are forced to charge enemy models due to some special rules.

- Will automatically break from close combat with each other as soon as the alliance is pronounced. Simply place the models 1" apart. They can move as normal in their next Movement phase. Models knocked down or stunned follow the normal rules for being knocked down or stunned, etc.

- Will be subject to the Animosity rule so long as they will start the turn within 8" from the 'Watch your back' allies.

- Charging, shooting, throwing non-helpful spells at a member of an allied warband will automatically break the alliance with that warband. Note that this includes attacks caused by failed Animosity test. If that happens it is still possible to form an alliance once more, but this time it would have 'Not in a thousand years' status.

After the battle that ended while in a 'Watch your back' alliance, test your warband leader LD. If the test is failed one randomly selected non-leader hero will miss the next game as he refuses to fight alongside suspicious ally.

X - 'Not in a thousand years'

These warbands hate each other so zealously that they will never form an alliance. Each form of cooperation will end drastically. Some circumstances may force these warbands to fallow the same goal and form an alliance for the purpose of the game (to eliminate greater foe and then split the treasure?), but i will not happen without consequences.

Members of allied Warbands:

- Count each other as enemies. 

- May not run within 8" of each other.

- Are forced to charge enemy models due to some special rules.

- Will continue to fight each other in close combat when and after the alliance is pronounced.

- Will be subject to the Animosity rule so long as as they will stay in the 'Not in a thousand years' alliance.

- Note that charging, shooting, throwing non-helpful spells at a member of an allied warband is OK so both players agrees to keep the alliance going. These warbands are not in an alliance as your warband leader sees it.

After the battle that ended while in a 'Not in a thousand years' alliance, but before genereting income test your warband leader LD with a -2 modifier. If the test is failed the warband revolts and land frustration on the warband leader. If the leader went OOA during the battle roll for the infury table with a -1 modifier to both dice, otherwise threat the leader as OOA instead.

Multiple Alliances.

In the multiple alliance treat the alliance status as the worst possible status between allied warbands. For example an alliance between Marienburg Mercenaries, Dwarf Treasure Hunters and the Possessed will have the 'Not in a thousand years' status. 

If an already allied warband join another alliance all members of the previous alliance are considered to be in the new alliance and must accept or leave it at once. If they decide to stay in the alliance they will be counted toward the new alliance status with all it's consequences.

I hope these rules will make your games more realistic and more funn as well. I will test the rules and probably change them a little bit in the future. 


Nazroth,

Rules: Footbridges (how to build and then destroy)

To move at the ground level is to ask death for a dance. If we're going to survive this mess we've got to use gangplanks. Let's head up and see if these wretches will follow our example...

Today i'm going to show you a fast & furious way to make your own footbridges. As for the reason of why you should be willing to create some gangways, it is obvious: they will present you with more movement options and strategies. Mordheim is all about simple rules and a lot of gaming options to choose from. Catwalks, gangplanks and footbridges will take your game higher and exert impact on the way you play.  Later on i will also present you with all the new rules for footbridges to use in Modheim.

For those of you who already knows how to make a Mordheim footbridge, please skip to the bottom of the post to see the rules and photos. 

Modellin footbridges

Here is what you'll need: wood / basing glue, super glue, sharp modelling knife, scissors, cutting line, brush, watter pot and some water, weights (or something heavy),

fruit basket, thin wooden planks,

Start with dismantling the basket using knife and scissors. Cut all the wood into large base* planks and a bunch of small texture** planks.

* Base planks will be used as a main body of the footbridges.

** Texture planks will be used to give the footbridges a wooden texture.

 

Prepare the base of a footbridge by adhering some texture planks to the lower parts of the base planks, so that they would look much more solid when looked upon from the miniature's eye of view. It will be quick if you use super glue for the task.

 

Now it is time to texturise your footbridges with a lot of texture planks. Fruit basket is made up of very thin planks, which are perfect to the task. Carefully apply the adhesive to the surface of the bridge, put some planks on it.

 

Now  quickly turn the bridge over so that the upper side is lying on the surface of your workbench. Texture planks are very thin and they will probably absorb some water from the glue and bulge a little. You can prevent that by putting some waight onto the drying bridge.

 

It won't take long before you will be able to relievie the completely dry footbridge. Now you can add some balustrade or ornamentation to it. Once more use the super glue to save some time. Remember to paint the complete product of your work with a mix of basing glue and water. It will harden the wood and prevent it from sheding splinters.

After all the bridges dry up, you can udnercoat and the paint them. The complete set of footbridges may look like this:

Rules: Footbridges

Footbridges and catwalks are a common sight in Mordheim as well as in the other cities of the Imperium. Some of these gangplanks are just a bunch of randomly placed planks while others are more like a full scale bridges. Whilst not a one have the same length or size, all possess a single common feature: they're all made from wood. 

For the purposes of the game please apply the following rules to all the footbridges:

Destructable object: 

It is possible to destroy a wooden footbridge. Any model able to fight in close combat phase may attack a footbridge which is in base contact. If the model is in hand to hand combat with enemy model, it may still redirect some attacks to the bridge if you wish. The hits against a bridge will auto hit and you will need a roll of '6' to wound. Models armed with axes or flaming weapons will need a roll of '5+' to wound the bridge. Small bridges (up to 6" length) have 3  Wounds, while Large bridges (more than 6" length) have 5 Wounds. You do not roll for the Injury, also Critical Hits do not apply to the bridges. Simply remove the bridge that has 0 Wounds left and perform 'Falling' for all the models that were on the bridge. 

Pit Fighter: 

The Pit Fighter skill applies to the model fighting in hand to hand combat while on the bridge. 

Regards,

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,

Rules: Renown

There are a lot of warbands that search through Mordheim. Some of them are known for their numbers, while others are famous of martial prowess or cruelty. It all comes to renown. Renown provides influence, which can be used as an advantage to beat competing bands and in this find more Wyrdstone. More wyrdstone means more gold and gold is what rule in the Empire. More gold the better, yet as I said 'it all comes to renown'...

Fellow gamres, I hereby provide you with set of additional campaign rules called 'Renown'. You can use them throghout the campaign to determine the winner. This set of rules is far more reliable than determining the winner via Rating. Hope you will enjoy.

THE RENOWN: The Renown is an additional parameter of the Warband just like Rating or Wyrdstone shards in the stash. The Renown represents not only how the Warband is being feared and known, but also a magnitude of it's influence. In a campaign's game terms the Warband which accumulates the bigest amount of Renown becomes a winner.

Remember to make a note on the Warband's roster each time it gains some Renown Points.

Renown Points (RP) falls into two categories:

          ***         

 

LINKED: A player may count these each time his Warband fills or looses any of the requirements listed below.

Rating ratio. Each 3 points of Warband's Rating are worth 2RP.

Lead by example. Each advance on the Warband's Leader is worth 2RP.

Duel of spellcasters. Each spell/prayer known by a Warband's member is worth 5RP.

Wyrdstone keeper. Each Wyrdstone Shard hold by the Warband and above 5 is worth 3RP.

Chest full to the brim. Each 100gc hold by the Warhband is worth 5RP.

Raging monsters. Each Warband member that has more than 2 Wounds and 4 Toughness is worth 20RP.

Monster under the bed. Each Warband member that cause fear is worth 2RP.

Know no fear. Each Warband member that is immune to fear (models that cause fear or are immune to psychology do not count) is worth 3RP.

Tough lads:. Each group of fully advanced Henchmen is worth 2RP per member.

Bunch of dudes. A Warband with maximum number of warriors reached is worth +7RP.

Raging Heroes. Each full 30 Experience points on a single Hero is worth 3RP.

          ***         

RESULTING: A player must permanently add/substract these each time his Warband fills any of the requirements listed below.

Proud victor. Each time the Warband wins a game it gains +1RP for each defeated opponent.

Leaders slayer. Each time the Warband's member takes enemy Leader OOA it gains +1RP.

The Duelist. Each time the Warband's Leader takes enemy Leader OOA it gains +2RP.

It's time to play a hero. Each time a Henchman advances to be a Hero the warband gains +3RP.

Big Spender. Each time the warband spends more than 100 gold in a single Exploration Phase it gains +1RP.

Sorrow looser. Each time the Warband looses a game it looses -1RP.

Run for your life. Each time the Warband looses a game by voluntary failing the Rout Test it looses additional -1RP.

Uncaring parent. Each time the Warband's Leader is taken OOA it looses -1RP.

Inevitable end. Each time the Warband's Leader or a Hero dies (HSIC roll 11-15) it looses -10RP.

          ***         

The rumour is loud about those who spilled blood and shown no mercy! Much is told of those who have chests filled with gold and Wyrdstone shards! Those which avoid good fight are soon forgotten...



Nazroth,

New/additional rules

I have told you once that to keep alive in this hell of a city, one must fallow some basic rules. Survival is about getting ahead of all dangers that Mordheim could provide. What i haven't told you lad, is that basic rules does not cover all possible situations and sometimes one must be cunning enough to act on his own. Such circumstances result in the creation of rules for the future and thus you live to fight another day...

I have always seen Mordheim Rules as little bit underdeveloped. They are awesome as a whole, yet you can find some understatements here and there. As a conservative i assume that the basic principles of Mordheim should not be change too much. One mistake can cross the border between a good Miniature game and a selfish creation. There are no judges to decide what is fair and balanced, and what is not. But gaming Mordheim led to the situation at issue more than once. Some rules needed revision desperately while others needed to be extended. Here are some ideas of mine that can somehow improve gameplay. Remember that all rules described below are unofficial and optional.

key: this was added to the original rule.

New/additional rules: 

          ***         

Page 27, terrain 

I find that difficult ground and very difficult ground rules allow players to place their warriors on sloping and dangerous surfaces so that models chave a chance to fall and sustain damage in the process. I use fallowing rules to prevent such situations. 

DIFFICULT GROUND
Difficult ground includes steep or treacherous slopes, bushes and the angled roofs of buildings. Models move at half speed over difficult terrain.

VERY DIFFICULT GROUND
This is really dangerous terrain, such as narrow crawlholes through the rubble. Models may move at a quarter rate, so if the model moves 4" over open ground it can only move 1" over very difficult ground.

Add the following rule:

DIFFICUL TERRAIN TEST

Models that wish to move through a difficult or very difficult terrain must take a difficult terrain test just before entering the terrain piece. Simply test the initiative of a warrior and add the following to the result:

+1 a warrior is charging or running, 

+1 a warrior is moving through a very difficult terrain,

If the test is passed a warrior may continue his movement unabaited. If the test is failed a warrior must stop his movement just before the terrain piece and may not move any further. Make a note that many difficult and very difficult terrain pieces stack and a warrior is required to take only one difficult terrain test when moving but must take all the modifiers to account. 

          ***         

Page 35, fighting with two weapons

The option to fight with two weapons and suffer no actual penalties, favors power gaming. There is a lot of overpowered builds which consist of warriors armed with nothing but two hand weapons. It is not the way Mordheim gaming should look like and thus comes another home rule.

Some maniac warriors carry two weapons, one in each hand, so they can rain a flurry of blows on their enemies. A warrior armed with two one-handed weapons may make 1 extra attack with the additional weapon, in which case all attacks will suffer a -1 to hit, unless the attacking warrior has more WS than his opponent. Note that the extra attack is added to the total of the warrior’s attacks after other modifiers, such as frenzy, have been applied. If he is armed with two different weapons (sword and dagger, for example), he will make a single attack with whichever weapon he chooses, and all others with the remaining weapon. Roll to hit and wound for each weapon separately. 

          ***         

Page 41, sword 
Parry rules are bad. Less WS the warrior have - better the chance to parry a hit. I don't feel like i have to give any further explanation. 



Change the 'Parry' rule to:

Parry: Swords offer an excellent balance of defence and offence. A model armed with a sword may parry blows. When his opponent rolls to hit, the model armed with a sword may roll a D6 and apply the fallowing modifiers:
+1 if the warriors WS is higher than his assailant,
+1 if the warrior has the 'Master of Blades' skill,

-1 if the warriors WS is lower than his assailant,
-2 if the hit was an unmodified roll of '6',
If a '5' or more is scorred than the model has parried one blow, and that attack is discarded. A model may not parry attacks made with double or more its own Strength – they are simply too powerful to be stopped.

          ***         

Page 51, shield

Because of low save and less bonus than provided by additional hand weapon, the shield needs some tweak. 

Add 'SPECIAL RULE
Additional protection: In close combat a model that is equiped with a shield and a one handed meele weapon has a basic save increased by 1. For example a model equiped with a shield, a piece of light armour and a sword will have a save of 4+.

          ***         

Page 116, unarmed combat

Some weapons are not listed in the critical hit charts on page 116. For many years we have argued as to which critical hits do apply to daggers. In my opinion this particular weapon qualifies for the unarmed combat. The reason is that the dagger does not possess any decend cutting edge, speartip, or waight to use as a club. Furthermore this particular critical hits chart fits this weapon.

Add 'daggers' to the list of weapons to which these rules apply.

          ***         

Page 122, combat skills, ambidextrous

This skill should be added to the rules only if you decide to use new  'fighting with two weapons' rules described above.

Add 'Ambidextrous. The warrior possess abhuman abilities of fighting with both hands. The warrior will not suffer the -1 to Hit penalties for fighting with two hand weapons.'

          ***         

Nazroth,