Fear
of the Dark
Rules for Night Fighting in Mordheim
In the Night
Most people take it for granted that battles are fought
during daylight hours, and so get a clear view of the
battlefield, thereby giving them plenty of unrealistic
reconnaissance in order to move troops into certain
positions and launch pre-emptive strikes. In reality,
there were, of course, battles fought in daylight and for
very good reasons, troops could see what they were
fighting and their comrades-in-arms could also see them
fighting, thereby allowing them to heap up large amounts
of glory and honour in the eyes of their peers. But night
attacks were not altogether uncommon and in the Warhammer
World this is even more the case when there are so many
races that are naturally nocturnal. The Chaos Dwarfs live
in dark caverns and lava pits, the Dark Elves relate to
the night as their element, Vampires and most active at
night as are Necromancers and Skaven have perfect night
vision. Even Dwarfs, working in deep mines, feel quite at
home in the dark. The elements of surprise, Fear
and Terror are enhanced many times in the dark and
so, armies such as Skaven, Undead and Dark Elves would
choose generally to arrange night attacks when their
enemies are at their most vulnerable (especially Humans
and Elves).
This article suggest additional, optional rules for
battles by night, a few scenarios with objectives, Night
Stalkers who haunt the battlefields after dark, and for
the criminally insane, away of simulating night on the
actual battlefield tabletop.
The Old World after Dark
The night holds many terrors for the inhabitants of the
Old World. In the provinces of the Empire, mothers tell
stories to their children of the fiends who stalk their
human prey after dark, of Vampires and Ghouls who roam
cemeteries and cross-roads preying upon travellers. The
High Elves recite tales of Night Trolls and restless
spirits while the Orcs speak of 'Woodz Wachez'. Almost
every race is unsettled during the hours of darkness.
Travellers stop at inns for the night, whilst those who
must continue on their journey usually do so in large
numbers, carrying talismans of purity and light and
avoiding those places where nocturnal creatures wait to
drag their screaming prey into their lairs. But there are
those who greet the night with celebration; the Dark
Elves, the Skaven and the forces of Undead to name but a
few. Battles often occurred by night, during the wars
against the Skaven, the Bretonnians had to withstand
countless night raids and so created weapons and armour
which glowed with radiance, while during the wars of the
Vampire Counts, the battles were fought mainly at night,
this time for attack chosen by the Vampire Lords, who
were strongest during the hours of darkness.
These are the rules that I've used to simulate night
battles:
The Rules of the Dark
1) Terror: Because it is difficult to see,
the range for the effects of Terror is reduced to
4", but because of the sounds associated with Terror
causing creatures (e.g. the flapping of a Dragon's wings
or the hiss of a malevolent Wraith) and the natural
eeriness of being in the dark, there is a modifier of -2
Ld for Terror tests. Although this quite obviously
makes anything which causes Terror pretty nasty
indeed! I felt that monsters, such as Manticores, should
be even more frightening charging out of the gloom or
silhouetted in a murky half-light.
2) All missile weapons firing at standard range
are at -1 to hit, and at long range -2 to hit.
3) All psychology tests - Panic, Fear, etc.
- are taken with a -1 modifier to Ld. This represents the
increased unease of combatants in the dark (note Terror
is at -2 Ld).
4) Fighters with all types of bows have the option
of using Flaming arrows. However some restrictions
do apply. The model moves at -1 to its movement since
braziers have to be carried in order to light the arrows.
Each model using flaming arrows costs an additional
point. All attacks from flaming arrows count as flammable
attacks and will cause double wounds on flammable
creatures. Any arrow that hits a Skaven Warpfire thrower
will cause it to blow up on the roll of a 4+ on a D6,
even if no wounds have been caused, as the fuel tank is
ruptured and ignites.
5) Creatures immune to psychology will be
unaffected by darkness modifiers for Ld tests and will
not flee faster. They simply shrug off the eerie effects
of the darkness.
6) The range of Line of Sight spells is a
maximum of 20". Wizards attune their eyes by magic
to the dark and so can see more clearly when spellcasting
than other troops. Wizards can still see beyond 20"
but the accuracy of their spells would be in question and
so they do not risk casting spells too far in fear of
hitting their own troops or setting fire to a few trees,
thus giving themselves away.
7) All cavalry charges may add +1 to combat
resolution, representing the visual and psychological
impact of a cavalry charge from out of the gloom.
8) Some troops are nocturnal creatures and have
excellent night vision and so are not affected to
these rules. Skaven, Night Goblins, Trolls, Vampires and
Dark Elves can all see in the dark naturally. Dwarf
miners and Chaos Dwarfs have adapted their eyes to
darkness and acquired a form of night vision and undead
has supernatural sight. Some monster have night vision,
including Manticores, Griffons, Hippogriffs and Swarms.
Daemons can see in the dark as if it was day! These
races/creatures are able to ignore the effects of the
dark which are concerned with psychology, spells and
missile fire. It is suggested, when fighting a race that
is not hampered by the dark, that an allowance of 100 GC
be made to the player disadvantaged, to maintain the
balance (unless, of course, it is a specific scenario).
Battles by Moonlight
The Scenarios presented in the Mordheim Rule Book can be
used with the above modifications, but here is a short
list of some others which relate more to battles at
night.
1) THE VIP
One warband has been given the commission to escort an
important Dignitary to a certain destination. A Reikland
warband may be escorting a Priest of Sigmar to an
important shrine, the Skaven may be escorting a disabled
Grey Seer to a Wyrdstone mine. However, because the enemy
is close behind and shadowing them, the warband must
continue to travel without rest, by night, even through
dangerous territory to reach their destination. Before
arriving there, they find that their way is blocked by a
large part of the pursuing warband. Battle begins at
nightfall and to the defending warband it is paramount
that the VIP survives.
Objective: The VIP should be represented in an
appropriate way. He must be taken to the opposite side of
the battlefield. He may only be represented on foot and
cannot ride a mount of any kind. The VIP must pass
through to the other side of the battlefield and survive
in order for the objective to be completed. The enemy
must obviously prevent this from happening. The VIP may
be any type of character apart from the warband leader.
Deployment: As usual, but the side escorting the
VIP sets up last, as opposition is already deployed
blocking the escape route the VIP's warband was
following.
Game length: 5 turns to complete.
Victory: Unless the VIP is killed or escorted
safely to the other table edge, then use the standard
Victory points system otherwise, it's quite obvious!
2) SNEAK ATTACK
One warband with an affinity to darkness has decided to
attack the enemy while it slumbers. Of course, the
sentries will spot their mass deployment and the planned
attack but it will be too late. The attacker deploys
after the defender and the attacker takes the first turn.
Deployment: As usual.
Scenery: Will be the same as usual - but the
defender may place D6 makeshift huts or tents within his
deployment zone to represent his camp, after all Scenery
has been placed.
Game length: 5 turns.
Victory points: Use the standard system.
3) DAWN RAID
One warband decides to march on an enemy settlement
during the night. The opposing warband is residing within
a abandoned church and has not posted any guard. The
attacking warband arrives somewhat exhausted after a long
march but charges in immediately. The defenders hear the
warband approaching and are able to prepare themselves.
Deployment: 12" from flanks, 24' from
defender's deployment zone. The attacker deploys first
and takes the first turn.
Scenery: The scenery is determined in the usual
way.
Game length: 5 turns. However, because the
attackers spent most of the night travelling, the attack
comes near dawn and so only the first 3 turns of each
side are fought under night-time conditions. The last 2
turns are fought under standard conditions.
Victory points: These are as usual, plus there is
+ 1 victory point for each attacking unit within the
boundaries of the village at the end of the last turn.
Stalkers in the Darkness
The Old World is haunted by many strange and fabulous
beasts. Many are bound by sorcery to fight in battles,
many are allied to a just and noble cause and others to
the forces of Chaos. There are those, however, who owe no
allegiance to any master and who simply exist to plague
the living. Joyless beings devoid of remorse and full of
hatred, such denizens stalk the moonlit moors, the
darkened, dusty roads and the foreboding forests
throughout the Old World. Little is known of such
creatures, many are shadows of the past when the world
was still young and in its primal state.
However, they have remained enshrined in the legends and
fairy tales of the Old World and when battles are fought
in the dead of night these creatures are lured to the
smell and the sounds of the wounded and the dying.
If you wish to include Night Stalkers in your night
battles, roll a D3 at the start of the battle to
determine the number that are attracted to the
battlefield.
Then roll a D6 to determine which Night Stalkers are
present:
1-2 Night Troll
3-4 Nightmare
5 Black Hag
6 Grendel
Randomly select a piece of scenery for each Night Stalker
to start within 2" of.
Every movement phase, the Night Stalkers will move
2D6" in a random direction (in a similar fashion to
Chaos Spawn, using the scatter dice). The exception is
the Nightmare which moves 3D6". Upon contact with
any model (with the exception of each other), each Night
Stalker has special rules about the consequences...
A Night Stalker may end up moving through an entire unit,
in which case every model it touches is affected! The
Night Stalkers are so sudden, not to mention terrifying,
that they cannot be attacked by any means and simply
blend back into the darkness, so they cannot be targeted
by missiles or spells.
Night Troll
These terrifying creatures are similar in appearance to
their kin the Stone Trolls but of a much darker
complexion, Clad in tattered rags and adorned in the
bones of their victims, these Trolls seek the flesh of
the living on which to feed. They are attributed in myth
to utter a deep guttural sound, akin to mocking laughter
before they tear their Prey to pieces. Should any
man-sized model be unfortunate enough to stumble across a
Night Troll it seizes its victim with large brutish
clawed hands, bellows a laugh and rends its hapless prey
to pieces. The model must roll under its Strength in
order to break free or else be torn limb from limb and
suffer D6 wounds with no save! Only the strongest and
most durable opponents will survive but if they do they
will have to take a panic test. The Troll, after
attacking the victim, will not stop but will continue to
move and eat until or unless the victim can break free.
I used a Troll model on a standard base, painted dark
brown and grey (alternatively you could use a Chaos Spawn
template).
Nightmare
The first sounds that are heard are the thundering of
hooves and then out of the gloom a ghostly steed emerges,
spitting fire from its nostrils, eyes blazing with
incandescent light and snorting a terrible, haunting cry.
Charging recklessly at anything in its path, the steed
vanishes into the darkness as suddenly as it appeared.
Anyone charged by the steed suffers a S5 hit which counts
as a chill attack (see Wraiths), the effects of which
last until the end of the next turn. Units hit by the
Nightmare must take a panic test. I used the model of a
black steed and painted it with glowing red eyes (or you
could use the template).
Black Hag
Known by many names, the Black Hag has an unquenchable
hunger for flesh. Straggly hair as black as pitch
contrasts with pale skin and the flayed hides of her
victims that hang about her in the parody of human
clothing, the Hag stalks her victims and attacks with a
piercing, shrill cry. Units attacked by the Hag must take
an immediate panic test. Should anyone be unfortunate to
run into the Hag, she will attempt to wrench the head off
of her victim. The model in question must roll under
Toughness, failure results in instant death regardless of
wounds. No armour saves are allowed. The Undead Banshee
makes a fairly good Black Hag.. painted with black hair,
of course (or use the template).
Grendel
The Norse speak of this creature with dread for it has
been the plague of the Northern wastes for centuries.
Shaped like a hideous Ogre but with long. grappling arms
and razor sharp talons and teeth, Grendel, like the other
Night Stalkers, comes out to feed in the lonely dead of
night. Stalking its enemy like a determined predator, its
victims are unaware of its presence until the moonlight
catches on its teeth and talons and by then it is too
late. Any unit suffering casualties from Grendel is
broken automatically and flees (unless it is either
immune to Break Tests or Psychology it can rally in the
next turn in the usual way. Any model hit by Grendel must
roll a D6 for each wound it has. On a 4+. a wound is
caused. No armour saves are allowed. The old Chaos Ogre
is an ideal model to use as Grendel (or the template).
Simulating Darkness
Warning: I have not tried any of these methods out,
because they're far too silly!
For those of you out there who go for realism, here are
some suggestions for creating a nighttime atmosphere:
1) Play in the evening - you will feel as if it is
night and you can even dim the lighting.
2) If you have a spare set of white Christmas tree
lights, you can spread them over the board, placing each
bulb within a piece of scenery (a rest, a bridge. etc.)
and then by dimming the lights get an 'illuminated'
effect on the board.
3) If you want to simulate pitch darkness, keep a
screen in the middle of the battlefield until one unit
reaches the screen and then remove it, piece by piece, as
units reach it at different parts of the battlefield.
4) Have units moving their full movement in a
random direction. Collisions with other units count as
charging.
5) Light the board up from the edges with weaker
bulbs. Attach portable lights to the sides to light up
dimly the best of the four quarters of the board.
|
