Druchii warband, XP version

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Loflar
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Druchii warband, XP version

Post by Loflar »

Druchii warband for Mordheim

XP

(This list is not intended as a development from Beta 2.2., althought it contains
some fixes Beta 2.2 needed. It is meant as a compilation of ideas to try to see,
if they are usable. XP means eXPerimental here.)

Changelog from Beta 2.2


  • Slavehounds do not use Noble's Ld
  • Slavehounds can also charge enemies uncovered by other slavehounds
  • Fey Acuity adjusted - when all heroes are out, there is no shard at all.
  • Prisoners got mercy.


1.0

  • Changed starting XP of Beastmaster and Sorceress
  • Maximum T set to 3
  • Warband special rules - Excelent Sight moved among special skills
  • Warband special rules - Fey Acuity introduced.
  • Warband special rules - Frail but Fey deleted.
  • Noble's Feared and Respected rule deleted.
  • Witch Elves - Sect Enmity among Sorceress and Witch Elf deleted.
  • Witch Elves - Witch Elf's Offering rule deleted as unnecessary and superfluous.
  • Witch Elves - Witch Elf's Maibd Poison changed. Consequently, Black Lotus added among equipment.
  • Corsair's Underdeck Fighter rule deleted
  • Slavehounds' Beastmaster rule updated, to allow them to use Beastmaster's Ld
  • Slavehounds' Take Down and Guard the Quarry rules replaced by Setter rule for testing.
  • Special Skills - Combat Movement skill deleted
  • Special Skills - Survival of the Fittest skill introduced
  • Special Skills - Counter Attack skill deleted to make space for other skills
  • Soul Stealer spell slightly reworded to clarify its usage.


There are none living who know the
ways of the elves, save perhaps the mighty lizard-priests of the South
whose knowledge and power is rumoured to grow far beyond that even of
the High Mages of the College of Magic of Altdorf. Those few elves who
roam the lands of the Empire are mysterious, their ways impenetrable to
us.

There are those who, like Finubar the Proud, openly declare
themselves Manfriend and help defend our glorious Empire from the
encroaching forces of Chaos - too few of them, unfortunately. Of those,
we know what they would have us know - their history and that of their
families, and a little of the history of their land - the fabled island
of Ulthuan. There are those who stalk the night, warriors who come
cloaked in darkness and wielding bows, the death in their eyes revealed
in their prey as their life is snuffed out like a candle atop Brass
Keep by one, well-placed arrow shot - of those we know little, save
that they name themselves "Shadow warriors of Nagarythe" and, as their
kindred of Ulthuan reassure us, they seek to do us no harm.

There are those who protect the forests, defending them from touch
of Chaos and Man alike. There are also rumours of a fourth breed of
elves - a grim race, ruthless and sadistic. They come at night in their
low ships with sails of midnight-black, craving the poison that lurks
within the now-ruins of Mordheim, the Weyrdstone of which all those who
go to the Cursed City and return speak. They leave no witnesses, taking
prisoner those who are able-bodied enough to toil under them in
slavery, murdering the others.

Of course, such nonsense is only that - rumours, and nonsense, the
delusional affabulations of crazed minds that have seen the taint of
Chaos from too close. It may be that some elves are more ruthless than
others, but they are just that - elves, and their ways are closed to
us.


Choice of Warriors

A Druchii warband must include a minimum of three models. You have
500 gold crowns to recruit your initial warband. The maximum number of
warriors in a warband may never exceed 12.

  • Heroes
    Noble Each Druchii warband must have one Noble to lead it - no more, no less.
    Lordlings Your warband may include up to two Lordlings.
    Sorceress Your warband may include one Sorceress.
    Beastmaster Your warband may include one Beastmaster.
  • Henchmen
    Corsairs Your warband may include any number of corsairs.
    Shades Your warband may include up to five shades.
    Witch Elves Your warband may include up to three Witch Elves.
    Slavehounds Your warband may include up to three Slavehounds if it also includes a Beastmaster.

Starting Experience

  • A Noble starts with 20 experience.
  • Lordlings start with 8 experience.
  • A Sorceress starts with 8 experience.
  • A Beastmaster starts with 8 experience.
  • Henchmen start with 0 experience.


Maximum Characteristics

Characteristics for Druchii warriors may not be increased beyond the maximum limits shown here:

Elven racial maximum:

Code: Select all

 M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
 5   7   7  4   3  3  9  4  10 


May Hire

A Dark Elf warband may employ the following Hired Swords:

  • Official - Pit Fighter, Ogre Bodyguard, Warlock, Imperial Assassin, Tilean Marksman, Highwayman
  • Unofficial, but published by SG - Duelist, Witch, Emissary of Chaos, Human Scout, Old Prospector
  • Lustria - Dark Elf Assassin, Pathfinder
  • Khemri - Nomad Scout, Thief
  • Completely unofficial - Shade Scout

Special Rules

Kindred Hatred
The Dark Elves have been fighting the High Elves for many
centuries. The wars between these two races have been very long and
bloody affairs. Dark Elves Hate any High Elf warriors including High Elf Hired Swords.

Fey Acquity
An Elf's senses are far beyond those of other races. During the Exploration phase when checking for artifacts or wyrdstone at the end of the game, add +1 to the number of pieces found by a Dark Elf warband,
as long as at least one hero was searching
.

Disdain
Dark Elves may never use black powder weapons, as they find them too crude,
noisy and unreliable.


Druchii equipment lists

The following lists are used by Druchii warbands to pick their weapons and armour:

Druchii Heroes Equipment List

Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons

Code: Select all

Dagger...............1st free/2 gc  
Axe...........................5 gc 
Sword........................10 gc 
Halberd......................10 gc 
Spear........................10 gc 
Double-handed weapon.........15 gc 
Beastlash (Beastmaster only)..10 gc 
Darksteel blade..........3 x price 


Missile Weapons

Code: Select all

Repeater Crossbow *..........20 gc  
Crossbow Pistol..............35 gc 
Throwing Knives..............15 gc 


Armour

Code: Select all

Helmet.......................10 gc  
Light Armour.................20 gc 
Shield........................5 gc 
Buckler.......................5 gc 
Sea Dragon Cloak.............30 gc 


Miscelaneous Equipment

Code: Select all

Dark Venom...................15 gc 


Corsairs Equipment List

Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons

Code: Select all

Dagger...............1st free/2 gc  
Axe...........................5 gc 
Sword........................10 gc 
Halberd......................10 gc 
Spear........................10 gc 


Missile Weapons

Code: Select all

Repeater Crossbow *..........20 gc  


Armour

Code: Select all

Helmet.......................10 gc  
Light Armour.................20 gc 
Shield........................5 gc 
Buckler.......................5 gc 
Sea Dragon Cloak.............30 gc 


Shades Equipment List

Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons

Code: Select all

Dagger...............1st free/2 gc  
Axe...........................5 gc 
Sword........................10 gc 


Missile Weapons

Code: Select all

Repeater Crossbow *..........20 gc  
Bow..........................10 gc 
Throwing Knives..............15 gc 


Armour

Code: Select all

Helmet.......................10 gc  
Light Armour.................20 gc 


Witch Elves Equipment List

Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons

Code: Select all

Dagger...............1st free/2 gc  
Axe...........................5 gc 
Sword........................10 gc 
Halberd......................10 gc 
Spear........................10 gc 


Armour

Code: Select all

Helmet.......................10 gc  
Light Armour.................20 gc 


Miscelaneous Equipment

Code: Select all

Black Lotus **................5 gc 



* These special prices represent the lower rarity of these items in
Naggaroth. When attempting to purchase these items in Mordheim, Dark
Elf warbands pay the same prices as other warbands and must roll to
find them as normal. No roll is necessary to find these items when
first starting a Dark Elf warband.

** See Witch Elves entry below for details.


Druchii skill table

Code: Select all

          Combat  Shooting  Academic  Strength  Speed  Special  
Noble       x          x        x                  x      x 
Lordling    x          x                           x      x 
Sorceress                       x                  x      x 
Beastmaster x                                      x      x


Heroes

1 Noble
75 Gold Crowns to hire

Dark Elf leaders are typically drawn from the Dark Elf nobility and
lead the warband in search of gold, slaves and arcane artifacts to
bring home to Naggaroth. They are cold and ruthless killers and they
command the respect of their troops through assassination and terror.
They have attained their position of leadership by eliminating those
rivals who stood in their way and through their remarkable cunning,
they are dangerous foes who embody the merciless traits of the Druchii
race.

Code: Select all

 M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
 5   5   4  3  3  1  6  1   9 


Weapons and Armour
A Noble may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Druchii Heroes Equipment list.

Special Rules

Leader
Any models in the warband within 6" of the Noble may use his Leadership instead of their own.


0-2 Lordlings
45 Gold Crowns to hire

Lordlings are would-be commanders of the Druchii forces, and often
serve under a Noble as page or lieutenant. Lordlings accompany raiding
parties to the Old World to further their career, seeking to acquire
fame, riches and status in the Witch King's court.

Code: Select all

  M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
  5   4   4  3  3  1  6  1   8 


Weapons and Armour
Lordlings may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Druchii Heroes Equipment list.

0-1 Dark Elf Sorceress
45 Gold Crowns to hire

Dark Elves are strange in that apart from the fell Witch King there
are no other male sorcerers - all the other practitioners of magic in
the Dark Elf race are female. It is rumoured that any males who do
develop an affinity for magic amongst the Dark Elves are immediately
put to death to prevent the fulfilling of some dark prophecy.

Dark Elf Sorceresses are mysterious, raven-haired beauties who are
grudgingly respected even by the powerful Nobles, and their services
are high in demand.

Code: Select all

 M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
 5   3   3  3  3  1  5  1   8 


Weapons and Armour
A Sorceress may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from
the Druchii Heroes Equipment list, but may not cast spells if wearing
armour.

Special Rules

Wizard
The Dark Elf Sorceress is a wizard and uses Dark Magic, detailed below.

0-1 Beastmaster
40 Gold Crowns to hire

Whereas the High Elves have a great affinity with Dragons and
Griffons and other noble creatures their malevolent kin have infamous
Beastmasters, Dark Elves of particularly cruel renown who breed many
vicious beasts and lead them into combat. Unlike the High Elves who
treat their beasts as companions, the Dark Elf Beastmasters are very
spiteful masters.

Code: Select all

 M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
 5   4   3  3  3  1  5  1   8 


Weapons and Armour
A Beastmaster may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Druchii Heroes Equipment list.

Special Rules

Slavehounds
The Beastmaster may be accompanied by up to three Slavehounds.
These are bought as henchmen and follow all rules listed for them.

Henchmen

Bought in groups of 1-5.

Corsairs
35 Gold Crowns to hire

The Dark Elves are cruel and fierce fighters. This is especially
true of the Corsairs - the Black Ark Raiders. They are skilled with
sword and axe, as well as the repeater crossbow, the distinct missile
weapon of the Dark Elves. Whenever Druchii ships reach foreign shores,
the Corsairs are the first to launch raiding parties.

Code: Select all

 M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
 5   4   3  3  3  1  5  1   8 


Weapons and Armour
Corsairs may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the
Corsairs Equipment list. In addition, they may wear Sea Dragon Cloaks
even though they are not Heroes.


0-5 Shades
35 Gold Crowns to hire

The stealthy Dark Elf Shades rely on their repeater crossbows to
harass and snipe at the enemy, rather than engaging them head on, as
ambush is their preferred style of fighting. These Shades are young and
inexperienced scouts that see the expeditions to the Old World as a
valuable training opportunity.

Code: Select all

 M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
 5   3   4  3  3  1  5  1   8 


Weapons and Armour
Shades may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Shades Equipment list.

Special Rules

Natural Stealth
The first thing that Dark Elf scouts master is the art of moving
without being seen or heard. If a Shade is Hidden, enemy models halve
their Initiative value for determining if they can detect it or not.

0-3 Witch Elves
45 Gold Crowns to hire

Witch Elves are the lethally beautiful followers of Khaine, the
Bloody-Handed god of murder, vengeance and war. Those amongst the
devoted who seek to become full-fledged priestesses of Khaine and learn
His holy canons are sent on missions for the Temple, to prove their
worth in the eyes of their god, and also serve to spy upon those Nobles
who are temporarily out of the King's grasp.

Code: Select all

 M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
 5   4   3  3  3  1  5  1   8 


Weapons and Armour
Witch Elves may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Witch Elves equipment list.

Special Rules

Frenzy
Witch Elves, being intent on proving their battle prowess
in Khaela Mensha Khaine's all-seeing gaze,
follow the Frenzy special rule.
Maibd poison
Witch elves often anoint their weapons in various poisons, for both martial and religious purposes. They are able to prepare their poisons and they know where to get needed ingrediences. As a result, a warband, containing Witch Elves, may purchase Black Lotus as Common item for reduced price of 5 gc per dose. However, Black Lotus, purchased in such a way, may only be used by Witch Elves.

0-3 Slavehounds
25 Gold Crowns to hire

The Dark Elves capture and breed many exotic creatures to fight for
them, and fights between pets are often staged as a form of
entertainment amongst the Dark Elves. Myriads of such animals can be
discovered in the Chaos Wastes. Among them is the Slavehound, a fierce
breed of wild hounds that resemble wolves more than dogs. The Dark
Elves capture and train these creatures to help them in their slave hunting
missions all over the Warhammer World.

Code: Select all

 M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  
 7   4   0  4  3  1  4  1   5 


Weapons and Armour
Slavehounds are animals and do not need any weapons, save their claws and massive jaws.

Special Rules

Animals
Slavehounds are animals, and all animal rules apply to them. They never gain experience.
Beastmaster
Slavehounds are vicious creatures that are barely kept under control by their beastmaster. As long as Beastmaster is not knocked down, stunned or out of action, slavehounds may use his Leadership instead of their own for any Leadership test, provided that the Beastmaster is within 6" of the slavehound in question. But, since Beastmaster is the only authority they respect, they can not use Leadership of warband Leader. Consequently, if the Beastmaster is unable to participate in a battle, then neither will the beasts. If the warband does not contain a beastmaster, there is no one able to control slavehounds, so they have to stay in warband's camp (and when feeding time comes, it has to be done from a safe distance).
Setter
Slavehounds are trained to detect hiding slaves and show them to their masters. If a slavehound knows about enemy model (has a line of sight, has unhided it etc.), Beastmaster and all other slavehounds of the same warband can declare charge on this model even if they do not see it. No roll for Initiative is necessary.


Special Equipment

Darksteel Weapon
(3 x Price/Rare 9)


Darksteel weapons are forged in the city of Hag Graef, the Dark Crag.
They are fashioned from black steel, a rare form of steel found deep
within the mountains around the city and are forged using an ancient
technique known only to the Dark Elves. Weapons with Darksteel blades have wicked protrusions and serrated edges, which inflict serious damage on an
opponent. Any Druchii hero can use a close-combat weapon with a Darksteel
blade. Getting it, however, is not that easy, and it costs three times
more that usual steel weapon of the same type. Darksteel weapons
have all abilities of their usual counterparts (i.e. swords can parry, double-handed weapons strike last).

  • Range - Close Combat
  • Strength - The same as its standard version
  • Special Rules - Critical Damage, Wicked Edge

Special Rules

Critical Damage
Darksteel weapons inflict serious damage on their opponents.
When rolling on the critical hit chart, a Darksteel weapon will add +1
to the result.
Wicked Edge
Darksteel weapons are set with sharp protrusions and serrated
edges which inflict serious damage on an opponent. A roll of 2-4 on the
injury table is a stunned result.

Beastlash (Beastmaster only)
(10+D6 Gold Crowns/Rare 8)

The Beastmaster make good use of their whips to goad their hounds and creatures into combat.

  • Range - Close combat
  • Strength - As user
  • Special Rules - Beastbane; Whipcrack; Cannot be parried; +1 Enemy armour save.


Special Rules

Beastbane
The Beastmaster wielding a Beastlash causes Fear in animals.
Any animal charged by or wishing to charge a Beastmaster with one of
these weapons must first take a fear test as mentioned in the
psychology section of the Mordheim rules.
Whipcrack
When the wielder charges they gain +1A for that turn. This
bonus attack is added after any other modifications. When the wielder
is charged they gain +1A that they may only use against the charger.
This additional attack will "strike first". If the wielder is
simultaneously charged by two or more opponents he will still only
receive a total of +1A. If the wielder is using two whips at the same
time then he gets +1A for the additional hand weapon, but only the
first whip gets the whipcrack +1A.
Cannot be parried
A Beastlash, being a very flexible weapon and used with great expertise
by the Beastmaster wielding it, cannot be parried.
+1 Enemy armour save
Whips are not made for penetrating an enemy model’s armour. An enemy
wounded by a beastlash gains a +1 bonus to his armour save,
and a 6+ armour save if he has none normally.

Sea Dragon Cloak
(30+2D6 Gold Crowns/Rare 10)

Dark Elf Corsairs use special cloaks fashioned from the skin and
scales of the sea monsters that dwell deep in the oceans depths. These
cloaks are tough and resilient, and offer Dark Elves a very good amount
of protection.

Special Rules

Scales
The wearer of the Sea Dragon Cloak receives a +2 bonus to his save
against shooting (or in the event where he has none, a 5+ save)
and a +1 bonus to his save in close combat (or, if he has none, a
6+ save). A Sea Dragon Cloak may be combined with other pieces of
armour (shield, light armour) with no penalty.


Druchii Special Skill Table

Dark Elf Heroes may use the following Skill table instead of any of the standard skill tables available to them:

Fury of Khaine
The Dark Elf is infused with an intense raging thirst for blood and
is a whirlwind in hand-to-hand combat, moving from opponent to
opponent. The Druchii may make a 4" follow up move if he takes all of
his opponents out of action. If he comes into contact with another
enemy, this starts a new combat. This
new combat takes place in the following turn and the model counts as charging.

Fey Quickness
Few can ever hope to match an Elf's inhuman quickness and agility.
An Elf with Fey Quickness can avoid melee or missile attacks on a roll
of 6. If the Elf also has Step Aside or Dodge, this will increase
to a 4+ in the relevant area. For example,
an Elf with Fey Quickness and Step Aside avoids melee attacks on a 4+
and missile attacks on a 6.

Infiltration
The Dark Elf can Infiltrate. This skill is exactly the same as the Skaven skill.

Master of Poisons
The Dark Elf is proficient in concocting different poisons. If the
Hero doesn't search for rare items, he may make D2 doses of Dark Venom
instead. The poison must be used in the next battle and cannot be sold
or traded to other warbands as the Dark Elves guard their secrets very
carefully.

Uraithen Master
Eyes of this hero are so keen and hands so steady that he can completely omit the penalty for long range if using a crossbow type weapon. Further, if he did not move this turn, he can shoot from repeater crossbow twice per turn without penalty or three times per turn with -1 penalty to hit.

Survival of the Fittest
Naggaroth is a harsh land with harsh inhabitants and weaklings are shown no mercy. This elf is able to survive by pure strength of will. If the model gets out of action and result of the Serious Injuries roll is death, make a Leadership test against unmodified Ld of the model (no holy relics etc.). If you succeed, the model will survive but will miss D3 battles instead.

Excellent Sight
There are numerous legends detailing the excellent eyesight of the Elves,
both Druchii and Asur kin. Elves can spot Hidden enemies from twice as far
away than normal warriors (i.e. twice their Initiative value in inches).


Dark Magic

Like their hated Asur kin, the Dark Elves are accomplished
practitioners of magic. However, whereas the High Elves essentially use
magic defensively and for the power of good, the Dark Elves utilise the
evil powers of Dark Magic - a very destructive force indeed.




D6 Result
1Doombolt
Difficulty 8
Whispering an ancient incantation, the Sorceress conjures a bolt of
pure dark energy and unleashes it from her outstretched hand.
The Doombolt may be targeted at any enemy model in line of sight.
The bolt has an 18" range and causes a Strength 5 hit. If the target
model is wounded, then the next closest model within 6" is also hit on a 4+, at -1 Strength from the previous hit. The bolt will leap a maximum of four times or until there are no more targets within range. A model may only be hit once by a single casting of the spell. Take armour saves as normal.

2Word of Pain
Difficulty 8
The Sorceress calls down the wrath of Khaine upon her enemy, causing his resolve to disappear.
The spell may be cast at an enemy model within 12". The victim must
re-roll all successful hand to hand or missile attacks and all to wound
rolls. If the victim wishes to charge, he must pass a successful
Leadership test first. Lasts until the beginning of the next Dark Elf
turn.

3Soul Stealer
Difficulty 9
At the Sorceress's touch, the essence of life is drained from her
enemy and absorbed into her body, giving her renewed strength and
vigour.
Once successfully cast, the Sorceress has to succeed in at least one to-hit roll in close combat phase against a model in base contact. If the attack is successful and her opponent is struck, he suffers a wound with no armour save possible. The Sorceress feeds on this life-force and adds one wound to her current total.
Note: the Sorceress can never have more then one extra wound on
her profile from the use of this spell (she may cast it as many times
as she wishes to regain lost wounds) and the extra wound is lost once
the battle is over.

4Black Blade of Khaine
Difficulty 8
Summoning Dark Magic, the Sorceress engulfs a weapon in twisted black flames.
The Sorceress may choose the hand-to-hand combat weapon of a member
of her warband within 6" to be engulfed in flames. A weapon with these
flames acts as a normal weapon of its type, but adds a +2 bonus to the
user's Strength. Hits inflicted from the weapon ignore armour saves.
Lasts until the Sorceress' shooting phase.

5Deathspasm
Difficulty 9
The Sorceress channels Dark Magic into her enemy, causing him to writhe in excruciating pain.
The Deathspasm has a range of 6" and must be cast on the closest
enemy model. The affected model must roll on the injury chart. If
successfully cast, the casting Sorceress is immediately knocked down.
This cannot be prevented by using the Jump Up skill.

6Witch Flight
Difficulty 7
The Sorceress bends the winds of magic to her will and flies through the air.
The Sorceress may immediately move anywhere within 12", and may
count as charging. If she engages a fleeing enemy in the close combat
phase, she will score 1 automatic hit and then the opponent will flee
again.

Post-Battle

Some post-battle rolls clarifications.

Rolling multiples on Exploration Chart

333 - Prisoners
Druchii may choose to follow the rules for Skaven.
Last edited by Loflar on Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:16 am, edited 5 times in total.
User avatar
Malman
Trainee Warrior
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:31 pm
Location: Prague

Post by Malman »

These are my first thoughts about the introduced rules.

The XP version is IMHO a step better than 2.2, but there are introduced some features I do not like. That is not very bad, perhaps it is impossile to think out a warband where I will see everything as perfect, and if there is such warband, somebody else will object and his right to see the warband as he wishes it to be is as good as mine. But let´s stop talking about the philosophy of agreement and start discussing the XP warband.

I do not like the Fey Acuity rule, as it has my hated Dwarf warband, but for the test it is OK. I would perhaps reword or house rule the rule, that it applies only when you roll at least one die. I have seen dwarves reduced to no one, who were saved from consequences of having no money to pay their HS by this rule and I didn´t like it.
Corsairs for 35 without special rule are now again the worst option from the henchmen range. I would or change their price to 30 (as I wrote before) or make some change to justify their price, perhaps change their WS to 3 and S to 4, or perhaps give them built in Fey Quickness.
When the witches are without their poison which they have to buy for 5 gc I sugest to reduce their price by that amount.
I would explicitly state, that the dogs cannot use leades Ld, only the beastmasters. From the wording it is not clear.
The setter rule will be good to work for the whole pack. tj one dog sees the enemy and all the others need not to roll for I.
I would give to somebody the excellent sight skill from the beginning, perhaps to the leader as to compensate him for the loss of feared and respected special rule.
I do not like the rule for 333, I would like to have possibility to take prisoners as henchmen instead as most warbands do.
Last edited by Malman on Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Loflar
Warband Noble
Warband Noble
Posts: 613
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:06 am
Location: Praag

Post by Loflar »

Malman wrote:I do not like the Fey Acuity rule, as it has my hated Dwarf warband, but for the test it is OK. I would perhaps reword or house rule the rule, that it applies only when you roll at least one die. I have seen dwarves reduced to no one, who were saved from consequences of having no money to pay their HS by this rule and I didn´t like it.

Of course. Done.

Corsairs for 35 without special rule are now again the worst option from the henchmen range. I would or change their price to 30 (as I wrote before) or make some change to justify their price, perhaps change their WS to 3 and S to 4, or perhaps give them built in Fey Quickness.

On the other hand, now, when dogs are not stupid, they can cover corsairs better so corsairs might be more useful as they are. In our campaign, I often entered combats outside buildings (because enemy did not want to go inside) and I think that corsairs did their share of work.

If they now prove to be weak, I would consider Fey Quickness, but I don't want to alter their stats (which now at least resemble corsairs of Warhammer) or price (IMHO gap of 10 gc between them and dogs is just about right).

When the witches are without their poison which they have to buy for 5 gc I sugest to reduce their price by that amount.

I would consider that, but I think that the important question here is, if WE were so much better then corsairs because of the paralyzing poison or because of their frenzy.

I would explicitly state, that the dogs cannot use leades Ld, only the beastmasters. From the wording it is not clear.
The setter rule will be good to work for the whole pack. tj one dog sees the enemy and all the others need not to roll for I.

Both done.

I would give to somebody the excellent sight skill from the beginning, perhaps to the leader as to compensate him for the loss of feared and respected special rule.

I guess that from gaming point of view, it would be better as a skill. The difference is small, in fact it is only useful on one, or at most two heroes, and probably not on Noble, who should not be scouting.

I do not like the rule for 333, I would like to have possibility to take prisoners as henchmen instead as most warbands do.

I will wait for opinions of others on that.
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Post by Kal'el »

1) Fey Acuity: I'm not sure I like this rule. I doubt that the Druchii would be any better at finding Wyrdstone than the Shadow Warriors (and I personally think that their warband list is pretty balanced) so I don't think it really fits here. I actually really liked the Frail but Fey rule from 2.2. Shouldn't they all still have the Elven senses, too?

2) Corsairs: I say, keep their stats the way they are, and either keep them at 35 GC (I think they're worth it with the extra rules all elves get, the superior WS and extra movement, not to mention the SDC taking ability) but if you absolutely must change them, reduce them to 30 gc and reduce the Slavehounds to 20.

3) Slavehounds: While I like the idea of the Setter rule, I have to honestly admit that I would probably never think to use it (I'm not great at keeping what I consider "fiddly" rules in my head whenever I play). If the options are to keep them pretty much as they are, but remove the rules and reduce them to, say, 20 GC, then I would go for the point and complexity reduction, but that is just me. I do, however, like that they are dependent on the Beastmaster (ie. they use his LD and cannot fight if he is not present).
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Post by Loflar »

1. I have no experience with Shadow Warriors, so I can not comment on their balancing. I see that this will be a long and difficult one ;-)

Generally considered, elves are expected to have some attributes. They should have high WS, BS, I and Ld, but T4 is generally viewed as too much. As a result of their high stats, they should also be expensive and limited in numbers. Strength skills are considered inappropriate. This means that to compete, they need some racial skills to help them. (Because in Mordheim, more then in Warhammer, numbers count and with no bonuses for flanking and no combat resolution mechanism, elves suffer - they have to shoot at S3 or meet their T4 resilient foes head on.)

For a long time, Excelent Sight was considered The Elven Rule (probably because Elf Ranger HS has it). However, many people find this rule annoying from gaming point of view, and for Druchii, it is not that much helpful anyway (OK, so they detect the hidden model 12" away, shoot at it, and in response, they get fired back from a crossbowmen and longbowmen who are safe out of RXB range).

So there was the idea to drop Excelent Sight and replace it with something which would actually help while not spoiling the game. So that is why Fey Acuity. It does not influence the actual game and it helps elves with one of their weakneses - everything they buy is expensive.

Frail but Fey was an attempt to force the T3 while not touching the official maximum elven stats published in Mordheim rulebook. Personally, I think that simply changing the maximum stats is a cleaner approach.

It would be nic if there was generally accepted set of elven traits, and I hope that after some years, we will get to that point. But we will get there by slow, iterative aproach. I hope that this step is in a good direction.

2. The basic problem with corsairs now is balancing them against Witch Elves. I would like to test them as they are now, to see if they work. There is also another reason why I am worried about lowering their price - after that I can see the next requirement: Shades are too expensive...

3. So, do you think that the dogs with their stats, without the special rule, for 20 gc would be a viable choice? But how to ensure their in-game dependence on Beastmaster?
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Re: Druchii warband, XP version

Post by El_jairo »

I'm playing this warband for 5 games now and I'm liking it.

In our campaign we fiddled a little with Armour Saves (light and heavy went 1 up) and Parry rule. We also reduced the chance of exploding missfires (2d6 instead of 1d6).

Now I'm at the point that I can give my heroes armour as I saw what it did for my Noble. He became very hard to hurt with S3 shooting of Amazons.

I was lucky enough to have a Shade TLGT and choose Speed and Special skills as he has BS5. He also gained an attack. My plan is to aim for high snipers. I already have 2 Uraithan Masters: Noble and Lordling with BS5.

So far I'm not winning that much in scenario's because one lordling got to miss 3 games and lost 1 WS.
For now I don't use Corsairs because my Witch Elf has 2 attacks and always needs a sister to preserve this stat. I would really like to make her into a CC hero. Is it viable with Combat and Speed skills? I really like speed skills: sprint, Lightning Reflexes, Jump Up, Dodge.
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Re: Druchii warband, XP version

Post by Loflar »

Yes, changing parrying (in our group we have tested parrying by to-hit roll) makes parrying useful and game better. Instead of raising AS, we tried to lower armour price and lower number of armour ignoring critical hits, and it also helped.

Since Strength skills are not available for elves, combat + speed is not a bad combination for CC hero. I would avoid giving Sprint and Leap to a frenzied character, but Lightning Reflexes combined with elven Initiative and Witch Elf's number of attacks are quite good.
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Re: Druchii warband, XP version

Post by Cuban eight »

Hey Loflar, my playing group are making noises about getting into Mordheim again so the plan is to start another DE warband. Should I use these XP rules or the 1.0 version?

Cheers,

C8
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Loflar
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Re: Druchii warband, XP version

Post by Loflar »

Hi, 1.0 is the "official". XP is eXPerimental. 1.0 is newer (although it does not look like it from forum index).
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Re: Druchii warband, XP version

Post by Cuban eight »

Ah, yes I see looking at the post dates this thread has been resurrected somewhat. I will use the 1.0 rules then if I can. There is some debate about using the coreheim rules, although I'm sure we will develop some of our own mods as we go. Is there a thread or list somewhere of what 'modern' Mordheimers are using these days? Our quorum all like warbands not listed in coreheim.

Druchii, Orcs and even Dwarfs... (Ugh!)
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Loflar
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Re: Druchii warband, XP version

Post by Loflar »

You might try asking at http://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/ , but personally, I don't know. Our group plays our own campaigns with our rule modifications. We have never tried Coreheim, so I have no experiences with that.
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