Mordheim

DISCOVERED TREASURE
By Roy Cowan

A wounded Elf ranger has stumbled out of Mordheim with a tale of a fantstic new find -- An old jewelry shop in the ruins. There are also left-over weapons from the shop's armory, and some of the jewels have been changed to warpstone in the wake of the comet's crash. The news spreads quickly, and the scattered warbands (running errands, visiting the Sisters of Sigmar Charity Brothel, etc.) rush to claim the site.

TERRAIN

As usual

SET-UP

Each warband must divide itself into groups of two to three models each with the following restrictions:
* No more than one Hero OR DP per group.
* Each large model (ogre, rat-ogre, etc.) counts as two models for this purpose.
* There may be an odd left-over, in which case a group of one is allowable.

INITIAL PLACEMENT

Each table edge is divided into two equal-sized deployment zones. Each player rolls to see who sets up first. Then, each warband selects a group at random, rolls for a random deployment zone, and sets up within 8" of that edge. If a warband rolls the same zone as another previously-placed group for initial set-up, re-roll until an empty zone comes up.

STARTING THE GAME

Each player rolls and goes in order form highest to lowest.

GAME

Play as a standard Skirmish with the following exception:
* There are no warband rout tests, due to the importance of the find. The warbands fight until they voluntarily rout or all members of the band are taken out of action (see Reinforcements, below). Individual rout tests (Fear, Stand Alone, etc.) are taken as usual.

REINFORCEMENTS

At the start of each turn after the first, each player rolls a D6 at the start of the turn. On a 4+, the player selects a group at random, then rolls for a random deployment zone. The group comes in from that edge whether or not there are already others there, whether from their warband or a different one. (If you want the game to go a little faster, Have a group come on on a 5+ on the first turn, then have the target number drop by one each turn thereafter.)

There may come a time where all of a warband's forces on the board are taken out of action, but some reinforcements remain. In this case, the player may opt to either automatically send in a random reinforcement group at the start of the next turn or voluntarily rout; the player cannot wait until another turn to decide (in other words, no cheese-heads waiting out the other warbands).

ENDING THE GAME

The last warband left after the others have routed or been taken out wins. This warband can now collect treasure from the find as if they rolled the Hidden Treasure result in the exploration phase (six 2s). For multi-player games, calculate the underdog rating by averaging the ratings of the warbands involved and comparing it to each warband's rating.

Alternate rewards: This requires a bit more work, but you can also scatter counters for the looting warbands to collect in lieu of the Hidden Treasure roll. In this case you need ten counters with marked bottoms -- 1 counter with 1D3 warpstones, 1 counter with a magical artifact, 2 counters with gems equaling D6x5 gc, 2 counters with weapons (treat as the Armourers find on the exploration chart), and 4 counters with monsters (I suggest 2 with Chaos Beasts - use Warhound stats - and 2 with Dire Wolves). To collect a counter, one or more models must end their movement phase touching it. The counter is revealed at the start of the shooting phase. If it is a treasure counter, use the standard rules and any hero picking up the counter gets +1 experience (only one can get this point no matter how many heroes were touching it when revealed). The monster counters immediately attack the person exposing -- treat them as engaed in close combat, with the monster charging (assume it had a hidden warren exposed by the models' explorations). The monster moves into base-to-base contact with all models touching the counter. The monster should be controlled by the moderator (if there is one) or by a player whose models are not in close proximity to the battle.

Notes: Two players during playtesting decided to ally their warbands. I couldn't force them to shoot one another, so I (as moderator) just made sure they understood that this was a gentleman's agreement and in no way binding. Sure enough, one player used this opportunity to ambush his ally (the one who had suggested the alliance). As moderator, I took the opportunity to laugh at the ambushed party and to tell him, "Welcome to Mordheim!"