Mordheim

RAIDS

'Don't think with your heart; think with your empty purse!'

-Jon Wittfeldt, Mercenary Captain

In the outskirts of the major city districts of the Empire, countless small towns, villages and other settlements pop up, usually around a farm, a mill or a trade station.

Their inhabitants are poor, and they cling to each other in a desperate attempt to survive the harsh winters without starving or freezing to death. They have little, if any, treasures or artefacts that are worth anything, and what they have is guarded by their lives.

Meanwhile, treasure hunters, robbers, warbands and gangs of aliens that are stuck by unluck may be forced to leave their settings and attempt to raid one of the nearby settlements for all its treasures or to capture some slaves. The outcome of such a raid shall be determined by the luck of the warriors and, even more important, how well they fight.

The time, however, is not unlimited. Definetely not all townsfolk are willing to flee in panic just at the sight of a group of weather-beaten outlaws, and more often than not warbands have been forced to retreat after having felt the wrath of the angry inhabitants. If they delay, then the neighbor villages might have discovered what is going on, and if they do not cleanse their tracks proper then they might be traced and ambushed by the crazed townsfolk.

Even though a warband manages to overrun the settlement they will sometimes discover that the village is completely empty, with nothing of value, and the raid has been pointless.

THE RAID SCENARIO

A Raid scenario recreates a situation that is very common in the Warhammer World. The warbands lack of money or treasures, and thus they may attempt to plunder a poor settlement. A warband may go for a raid once it has fought five consecutive battles.

A warband cannot raid two settlements in a row as they will need to go back to their camp in Mordheim and defend it against desperados, enemy spies etc.

THE TOWNSFOLK

Any player may take control over the defenders of the settlement. To determine how many townsmen are participating in the clash roll a D6 on the table below.

The Townsfolk table

D6	Result
1	The townsmen are in wild panic. Even their men are fleeing. The Campaign Manager may set up 3D6 Inhabitants as described below. The warband captain may add +2 to any rolls on the Search table.
2	A small group of townsmen have grabbed their weapons and will attempt to defend their village. 2D6 Inhabitants and D6 Townsmen are set up. The warband may add +1 to any rolls on the Search table.
3	The townsmen of the settlement have hidden their women and children in the buildings while they themselves attempt to defend the village. 2D6 Inhabitants are set up in any of the buildings while 2D6 Townsmen are deployed outside.
4	The women and children are already fleeing from the village. 2D6 Inhabitants may be deployed outside the buildings while 2D6 Townsmen man the stockades and battle the raiders.
5	Only a few women and children are left in the settlement. D6 Inhabitants are deployed in the village while 2D6 Townsmen are defending the settlement. The warband captain must subtract -1 from any rolls on the Search table.
6	Only the townsmen are left in the town. 3D6 Townsmen are deployed - all the women and children are supposed to be off the stockade of the settlement. The warband captain must subtract -2 from any rolls on the Search table.

The inhabitants of a settlement are divided into two types: Inhabitants and Townsmen. The Inhabitants are representing the women and children that used to live in the settlement while the Townsmen represent the brave men and youngbloods that are willing to face a band of hard core robbers just to defend their homes.

The profiles of the Inhabitants and Townsmen are given below.

Profile	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Save
Inhabitant	4	2	2	3	2	1	2	1	5	None

Weapons and armor: Inhabitants do not wear armor, and the only weapons they carry are their most important inventories which actually can be quite monsterous sometimes. In close combat they work exactly like daggers, i.e. the user fights with his or her own strength minus one.

SPECIAL RULES

Attack: Inhabitants are by far not fighters, and it requires more than a burning will to engage a cold, ruthless raider in close combat. To represent this, Inhabitants must always take an Initiative test before they may attack. If the test is failed, then the model may do nothing that turn.

Profile	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Save
Townsman	4	2	2	3	3	1	3	1	6	None

Weapons and armor: Townsmen wear no armor, but they will fight with appropriate weapons such as pitchforks, spades or other tools that means that they will use their initiate Strength in close combat.

SETTING UP, DEPLOYING AND STARTING

The settlement is represented by D3+3 buildings that are set up within the deployment zone of the townsfolk. You can use ruined buildings if you wish, but other card buildings will do it too. Keep in mind though that some of the ruined buildings from the Mordheim boxed set are quite big, and one building might count as two or maybe three buildings depending on your agreement with your opponent.

If you have any other appropriate terrain such as hills, trees, woods, maybe a little stream or anything similar this is fine. Fences and walls are excellent to represent the stockade.

The warband always sets up first followed by the townsfolk.

The raiding warband deploy within their deployment zone as shown on the map. The townsfolk may set up anywhere else, though within the following restrictions: All Townsmen must be set up on the battlefield itself. No townsfolk may be set up closer than 10" from either a table edge or the raiding warband's deployment zone.

Unless mentioned on the Townsfolk table the Townsfolk player is free to set up Inhabitants inside or outside the buildings.

Once both players have set up the raiding warband will get the first turn.

HOW LONG DOES THE RAID LAST

The raid will last for D6 + 2 turns. Within this period of time the warband must be off the table again, or the neighbor townsmen may arrive and reinforce the inhabitants.

If the warband is not off the table within the specific turn limit then the townsman player may roll to see if the reinforcement arrives. The townsman player rolls a D6 in the beginning of his turn. If the result is 6, then 3D6 extra Townsmen have reached and may enter from any table edge. The townsman player may add an additional +1 to this roll after the first roll - the modifiers are cumulative. So that means the first turn after the turn limit the townsman player must roll a 6, the next turn 5 or 6, the third turn 4+ and so on.

Once the reinforcement has arrived then the Townsman player can begin to roll again in the same way: On a 6, 3D6 additional Townsmen arrive adding extra +1 to each further roll. That means it is not neccessary for the warband to get off the table within their turn limit, but if they do not then they risk to be overrun by a whole lot of Townsmen that they cannot defeat. Remember, if they get into close combat they must knock down all their opponents before they can get away!

All reinforcements appear from one table edge, and all models must be set up with their bases adjacent to the edge. They may move the same turn they entered.

SEARCHING

The objective of the raiders is to search the entire settlement for treasures. The raiding warbands can search a building in two ways: Either one Hero or two Henchmen must enter. The warriors must spend their next turn on searching, but only if the building is empty. If not, then the inhabitants must be driven out first.

To search a house simply roll on the table below adding any modifiers that may apply from the Townsfolk table. Note that regardless of the final result a roll of "1" will always cause "failure". The result of the search can be negative, but otherwise the raiders might find all manners of goodies which are represented by Jewelleries.

The Search table

D6	Result
1-2	Failure: The building is completely empty. Apparently the inhabitants have brought with them everything that was of value. The raiders find nothing.
3	Worthless inventories: The raiders find a couple of worthless inventories such as old, useless paintings and necklakes with worthless pearls. The warriors take nothing with them, but if they search another house they may add an additional +1 to the roll.
4	Little luck: The warriors find a chest where in which a couple of rather valuable trinkets are saved. Add 1 Jewellery to the total of the warband.
5	Jewelleries: The raiders have found a bureau full of different kinds of jewelleries. Add D6 Jewelleries to the total of the warband.
6	Treasure chest: The warriors found in a trapdoor in the floor a great treasure chest. This is fully packed with gold and treasures - add 2D6 Jewelleries to the total.

Of course one building can be searched only once.

BURNING

The raiders always bring with them torches that are used to burn down the settlements and cover their tracks. The torches can be represented by special counters if you wish.

A warrior with a torch may attempt to put fire on a house in the beginning of his Movement phase. This is done by rolling a D6: On a result of 4+ the building breaks out in wild fire, otherwise the warrior may try again next turn.

A warrior that is putting on fire may neither shoot nor fight close combat.

Another way to use a torch is by throwing it. This is much less effective, but it may be useful in the last couple of turns where the warband must just try to get away again. A torch is thrown in the Shooting phase of the warband, and it is thrown 2D6 inches - neither more nor less. If the torch ends up in a building then the building will be set on fire on a D6 roll of 6, otherwise the torch has been blown out while in the air. Of course a torch is not dumped over a building - if, say, a 10 is rolled and a building is only 4" from the warrior then the torch is supposed to be thrown in through a window, an open door or anything similar.

Warriors as well as townsfolk that are within burning buildings must leave as soon as possible. Once they are out of the building no more models may enter.

CAPTURING SLAVES

The raiding warband may also try to capture some slaves while raiding a settlement. Slaves may be useful for many things in the warband's camp, but on the other hand if some of the slaves manage to flee from the camp then it may prove to be quite dangerous for the warband.

The raiders may try to capture either Inhabitants or Townsmen. To capture a Townsman or Inhabitant the warriors must simply putting it out of action. Townsmen count as normal.

The Inhabitants, that are representing the women and the children, are supposed to be less effective and much weaker than Townsmen. Thus you must capture three, and not one, Inhabitants before you may add 1 Slave to your warband camp.

Note down the number of Slaves you have in your warband. The Slaves can be used in the post-sequence of one of your future battles while your surviving warriors are searching for Wyrdstone and other goodies. Each Slave can add 1 die to the total amount of dice you are allowed to use, and afterwards the Slave must be crossed off your roster.

ENDING THE GAME

The game is ended once the whole warband is off the table. If some of the warriors are still left on the table but are engaged in tough and deadly combat with the inhabitants and are unable to flee, then they may choose to surrender.

Warriors that has surrendered are chained to the pillary for the next week, but afterwards they are forgiven and may leave the settlement.

Thus a surrendered warrior may not fight the next two battles but will arrive to the camp before the third battle so that he is ready to fight. Note down this on the warband roster.

RAIDING RESULTS

The townsfolk have a huge passion for their homes, and their wrath is unsurpassed if someone hurt their women or attack their settlements. Many a warband has been ambushed in their own camp after a raid, and therefore they do whatever they can to cover their tracks.

When having played out a Raid scenario the raiders must roll a D6 to see what happens. The player subtracts -1 for each Slave they captures (three Inhabitants count as one Slave) and add +1 for each building that was burnt down. If the result is 1 or less then the warband has been traced and ambushed by angry townsfolk. D6 randomly selected Henchmen are injured in the fight - roll on the Injury table straight away.

SELLING THE JEWELLERIES

After a raid the raiders will try to sell their Jewelleries in a nearby town. Count together the total number of Jewelleries that were captured to see how many Gold Crowns the warband has been payed. Multiply the total by five, the result being the number of Gold Crowns that the jewellery dealer has payed them.

RAIDS IN WARHAMMER FANTASY

These rules can easily be included in Warhammer Fantasy campaigns. Why not include raids in your next Warhammer campaign? It is really easy, and it adds a great lot of fun to the games. For example, raiding a village might give an army an extra amount of points that they can spend on troops, or additional hand weapons to the core fighters. In siege campaigns raids might provide extra crops so that the siege can last longer. There are plenty of possibilities.