YE MORDHEIM LEGENDS GAZETTE
18 Angestag, Erntezeit .................................................................................. 2 Groats

Voluntarily Routs
By Tuomas

I have followed the discussions about Mordheim games where one side only plays to Voluntarily Rout in the earliest possible opportunity. I can see how frustrating this can be if you want to play games and not just put your scenery and miniatures on table for 5 minutes. This was a less of a problem in our Dark Moon Campaign, as the only way to advance in the storyline was to WIN games, not to run away. Not to mention that such players would have been laughed out of the Design Studio. :)

I am sure that you all see why the voluntary Rout rule is in place: You might have lost 2/3 of your warband while your opponent is still at the full strength, but you keep on passing your Rout tests. In such circumstances it is only fair you can retreat voluntarily. But it certainly was NOT written to allow cowards to try to get lots of experience as quickly as possible. Of course this tactic does not always work. Your opponent might have to play a Surprise attack, for example, where his heroes will be at risk. But even at it's best such playing style is irritating.

Perhaps these guidelines below can be helpful if your campaign is detoriorating because of cowardly players whose only mission in Mordheim is to run away as quickly as possible. If you are running a campaign, you might want to try these to make people playing Mordheim, instead of acting like frightened rabbits. These rules are probably too harsh in the long run, but should force people to try their best when playing.

Lastly, it is good to remember that if someone wants to play a game in an unsportsman-like fashion, there is little you can do to stop it. Even in a games of chess (where the rules allow you no room for 'gittishness') you can still be impolite and rude to your opponent. In such case the only way to enjoy your games is to find new opponents. Unfortunately.