Mordheim

By Tuomas Pirinen - Rules in progress for skirmish games of Warhammer

Greetings, Wyrdstone hunters! This month's White Dwarf includes an experience system for Mordheim. As with other Mordheim rules, you should remember that the experience system is still under development, so feel free to change it to fit the games you are playing. If you start using the Experience system, make sure that any two warbands fighting against each other have roughly the same amount of experience, or give the warband with a lower experience some advantage, like extra gold to spend on more warriors and equipment.

As an extra bonus, over the page you'll find two new, Mordheim-inspired illustrations from the talented hands of John Blanche and Alex Boyd. Enjoy! <NB: Illustrations omitted, because I couldn't be bothered to scan them in :P>

Experience

As warriors take part in fights, those who survive become more experienced and improve their battle skills. This is represented in the game by 'Experience'.

Warriors earn Experience when they take part in a battle. Once a warrior has enough Experience points, he gains an 'Advance'. This takes the form of an advanced characteristic or a skrill. Warriors who survive long enough may progress to become great heroes, with many skills they have picked up during their long and glorious careers.

When warriors are recruited they start with 0 experience.

Earning Experience

Your Heroes gain 1 Experience point for every warrior they put out of action, and 1 Experience for each battle which they survive (i.e., are not put out of action). Henchman groups gain 1 Experience for each game they take part in.

Experience points earnt are added to a fighter's total after the game is over.

Experience Advances

As warriors earn more Experience points, they are entitled to make Advance rolls. To gain their first Advance, a Hero or Henchman group must accumulate 2 Experience. Each further Advance will require the Hero or the Henchman group to gain 1 more Experience than the advance before (i.e., 2 for the first, 3 for the second, 4 for the third, etc.). When they accumulate enough Experience, they may make an Advance roll. The roll must be taken immediately after the game when the Advance is gained, while both players are present to witness the result. Note that Henchman groups gain experience as a group, and consequently all the warriors in one group gain the same Advance.

Advance Roll Tables

Make any Advance rolls that are due immediately after the battle so that both players ca witness the result. Roll 2d6 and consult the appropriate table, below.

Hero Advance Table

Heroes gain a maximum of 1 extra point of Strength, Toughness or Wounds, and 2 extra points of Initiative, Attacks, Weapon Skill or Ballistic Skill. If your dice roll indicates an increase in a statistic which is already increased to this maximum, roll again on the table. Heroes may have a maximum of 15 advances.

2-5: New Skrill. Randomly select one of the Skill lists and pick any skill from it.
6: Characteristic Increase. Roll again: 1-3: +1S; 4-6: +1A.
7: Characteristic Increase. Choose one: +1WS or +1BS.
8: Characteristic Increase. Roll again: 1-3: +1I; 4-6: +1Ld.
9: Characteristic Increase. Roll again: 1-3: +1W; 4-6: +1T.
10-12: New Skill. Randomly select one of the Skill lists and pick any skill from it.

Henchman Advance Table

Henchmen may gain only 1 extra point on any of their initial characteristics. If your dice roll indicates an increase in a statistic which is already at this maximum, roll again on the table. All the warriors in the group gain the same Advance. Henchmen may have a maximum of 4 Advances.

2-4: Advance. +1I.
5-7: Advance. Choose one: +1WS or +1BS.
8: Advance: +1S.
9-10: Advance: +1A.
11-12: Advance: +1Ld.

Skill Lists

D6 Roll

1-2: Combat
3: Speed (Dwarves cannot have Speed skills)
4: Strength
5-6: Shooting

The following Skill lists detail the skills that may be earned as Advances. Roll on the chart above to see which list of Skills you can pick your Skill from.

Descriptions of the Skills are printed below.

Combat Skills

Strike to Injure: The warrior can land his blows with uncanny accuracy, hitting the most vulnerable spots. Add +1 to all Injury rolls caused by the model.
Combat Master: The Hero is expert at taking on several opponents. If the warrior fights against more than one warrior at once, he will gain 1 extra attack as long as he is engaged by two or more opponents.
Web Of Steel: Few can match the skill of this warrior. He fights with consumate skill, weaving a web of steel around him. The model gains +1 to all his rolls on the Critical table.
Expert Swordsman: The warrior has been schooled in the art of swordsmanship to an excellent degree. He may re-roll all missed hits with a Sword during the turn he charges.
Step Aside: The warrior has a natural ability to avoid injury in combat. Each time he suffers a wound in hand-to-hand combat he may make an additional saving throw of 5+ on a D6. This save is never modified, and is taken after all armour saves.

Speed Skills

Leap: The warrior may leap D6" in the movement phase in addition to his normal movement. He may move and leap, run and leap, or charge and leap, but he can only leap once per turn. A leaping warrior may jump over man-sized models, invluding enemies, and obstacles 1" high without penalty. The leap may also be used to leap over gaps, but in this case you must commit the model to make the leap before rolling the dice to see how far the model jumps. If the model fails to make it all the way across, then it falls through the gap.
Sprint: The warrior may triple his movement rate when he runs or charges, rather than doubling it as normal.
Acrobat: The warrior is incredibly supple and agile. The model may fall or jump from any height without taking damage if he makes an Initiative test, and can re-roll failed Diving Charge rolls. He can still only make a Diving Charge from a height of up to 6".
Lightning Reflexes: If the warrior is charged, the order of attacks is determined by comparing Initative values instead of the charger striking first automatically.
Jump Up: The warrior can regain his footing in an instant, springing to his feet immediately if he is knocked down. The warrior may ignore 'knocked down' results on the Injury table altogether.
Dodge: A warrior with this skill is nimble and fast as quicksilver. The warrior has an unmodified 5+ save against missiles. Note that the save is taken as soon as a hit is scored, to see if the warrior dodges.

Strength Skills

Mighty Blow: The warrior knows exactly how to use his strength to the maximum effect. The model has a +1S bonus in hand-to-hand combat. As a warrior's own Strength is used as the basis for calculating the Strength of hand-to-hand combat weapons, the bonus will apply to all such weapons.
Pit Fighter: The warrior has leanred his craft in the insanely dangerous fighting pits of the Empire. He is an expert at fighting in confined spaces. The model adds +1 to his WS and A if he is fighting inside a building.
Resilient: The warrior is covered with old battle scars. Deduct 1 point of Strength from all hits made against him in hand-to-hand combat.
Strongman: The warrior is capable of great feats of strength. He can use a double-handed weapon without the usual penalty of always striking last. Determine the strike order as you would with normal weapons.
Fearsome Charge: The charge of the warrior is almost unstoppable. He adds +1 to his WS when he charges.

Shooting Skills

Quick Shot: The warrior may fire twice per turn if he doesn't move. Note that you may not fire twice with blackpowder weapons or crossbows.
Eagle Eyes: The warrior's sight is exceptionally keen. He gans +6" to the range of any missile weapon.
Nimble: The warrior may move and fire with weapons which usually can only be fired if a warrior stays completely still.
Trick Shooter: The warrior can shoot through the tiniest nook or cranny without it affecting his aim. The model ignores all modifiers for cover.
Hunter: The warrior is an expert at getting his weapon loaded and ready. The model may fire each turn, even with weapons which can be fired only every other turn.
Knife-Fighter: The warrior is an unrivalled expert at using throwing knives and throwing stars. He can throw up to three of these missiles in his shooting phase, and divide his shots between any targets within his range as he wishes. Note that this skill cannot be combined with the Quick Shot skill.

Well, that's it for Mordheim, City of the Damned. Tuomas is busily collating all of your comments about the rules we've published over the past few issues and who knows, we may even release this as a full game in the future...