Welcome back to my series on homebrew. I got delayed a day, Eldest Child had a paper due for school, so the internet ready computer was being used to email homework to avoid missing deadlines. So my deadline gets pushed back. So here's part two, with some more thinking.
As I had stated earlier, I really wanted to make a High Elf warband that was really characterful. Now, I was unable to obtain a copy of the HE army book. Which is unfortunate, since I wanted to do some really characterful special rules, much like the Dwarf Treasure Hunters warband. The first thing I did was some research on the relative different stat lines of all the warbands.
Now, I would love to put my research on my blog, however, I'm not to sure what the exact GW rules on it would be. All it is each warrior's stat line and cost in gold crowns. It's information that is freely available for download from their website, so you can do the research yourself. I found some interesting things about the stat lines from that I would not have noticed. One thing that was almost near univerisal is that the 'leaders' of the warbands were not exactly created equal. Sure, the Vampire is a god-awful killing machine, but it was more surprising to me that the Skaven Assassin Adept was as cheap as the Mercanary Captain, or the Witch Hunter Captain, but with MUCH better stats and special abilities. This research has made me realize that I'm going to have to do some heavy lifting when it comes to figuring out what the cost of each model will be.
The easier part was deciding what to have as the Heroes and Henchmen. I did some preliminary work on the Heroes, and now I've thought about the Henchmen as well.
Heroes:
1. High Elf Captain
2. High Elf Mage: Now, I'm going to cheat a bit with this one. It's basically going to be the hired sword with the same spell list (since HE get the same lores), but with the stat line of the elf.
3. Sword Master of Hoeth; Now, this will be the standard stat line from the regular elf, but with the Strong Man skill. Normally a Sword Master has two attacks, but it is a bit over the top for a starter in Mordheim.
4. Shadow Warrior: Again, quick cheat, the same hired sword.
Henchmen:
1. Elf Warrior: Standard Stat line for Elf, and basically acting like the warrior, zealot, or brethren from other warbands. Cheaper and plentiful compared to the rest.
2. Elf Archer: Standard Elf statline, but really replacing the marksmen of other warbands.
3. Great Eagle: Yeah, I went there. I love the idea of monsters in warbands. I think this is a good fit, because most other warbands have a rare choice from the army book as a henchmen. Skaven have Rat Ogres, Orcs and Goblins have the Troll, Witchhunters have Flagellants (er, special, but STILL). The Great Eagle is on pair to Ogres, Rat Ogres, Vampire, and Trolls. I'll have a few rules about flying, not entering buildings, and not gaining experience.
That's all I got so far. Next week, I'll be posting a bit more. Hopefully, I'll get my hands on the HE armybook so that I can work on more special rules along with the base experience and skill sets.
Showing posts with label Warbands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warbands. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Monday, December 12, 2011
Monday Night Mordheim: Warband Construction
Well, it seems I'm on a roll here. Two weeks. Its good to be back at work. Or rather having work back to the way it was. Now, I wanted to take a moment to talk about warband construction. There are something things that are big 'duh' like taking the maximum amount of Heroes.
I want to talk a bit more about the more ephemeral things that go into warband construction. Some of these are best used as heroes with some skills, and others are better as henchmen.
Throw Away: Normally, you don't want to Rout. However, there is a bit of wiggle room in that. That's what the throw away member is. Something that can act as a meat shield for retreating people. These are best to use with cheap henchmen and animals.
Monster Slayer: You want to get at least one person who takes a high strength weapon to deal with things like Ogres or Trolls. These guys often fall into the same category as the throw away, because they often get taken out of action after one or two big hits.
The Quick: This is one of the guys you want to build up from skills for one of your heroes. If one of them gets an initiative boost, take skills (if you are able to) to increase that model's speed and climbing abilities. Many of the scenarios require collecting wyrdstone, so having a quick guy is a must. Someone who can get to the places others can't, or quicker then the others.
The Mud: Personally, I love the mud. Or maybe its tar. Whatever, according to your region and/or personal preference. The mud is a warband member who may not necessarily deal the most damage, but can TAKE the most. Ogres, Trolls, Possessed, and things like that generally lean toward the mud, but often a well equipped henchmen with a sword and buckler for parrying can do it. The mud is excellent for getting your opponent's models stuck in combat before your own killer units come in.
Hunh. I just realized something, these types aren't just for Mordheim warbands, they apply across the whole spectrum of wargaming. Perhaps there's a lesson in that. I think that I might need to elaborate on that on some later point.
I want to talk a bit more about the more ephemeral things that go into warband construction. Some of these are best used as heroes with some skills, and others are better as henchmen.
Throw Away: Normally, you don't want to Rout. However, there is a bit of wiggle room in that. That's what the throw away member is. Something that can act as a meat shield for retreating people. These are best to use with cheap henchmen and animals.
Monster Slayer: You want to get at least one person who takes a high strength weapon to deal with things like Ogres or Trolls. These guys often fall into the same category as the throw away, because they often get taken out of action after one or two big hits.
The Quick: This is one of the guys you want to build up from skills for one of your heroes. If one of them gets an initiative boost, take skills (if you are able to) to increase that model's speed and climbing abilities. Many of the scenarios require collecting wyrdstone, so having a quick guy is a must. Someone who can get to the places others can't, or quicker then the others.
The Mud: Personally, I love the mud. Or maybe its tar. Whatever, according to your region and/or personal preference. The mud is a warband member who may not necessarily deal the most damage, but can TAKE the most. Ogres, Trolls, Possessed, and things like that generally lean toward the mud, but often a well equipped henchmen with a sword and buckler for parrying can do it. The mud is excellent for getting your opponent's models stuck in combat before your own killer units come in.
Hunh. I just realized something, these types aren't just for Mordheim warbands, they apply across the whole spectrum of wargaming. Perhaps there's a lesson in that. I think that I might need to elaborate on that on some later point.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday Night Mordheim: A Thought On Returning
So...I'm back, well and truly back. I'm going to leave the last thoughts alone. Man, I got some wicked invective there, didn't I? Some would say it shows great passion for the game, or rather games I was talking about. That is a point, but I find it to be something else. Sometimes I get very angry. I don't like being angry. That's something I like about Mordheim, its a rare jewel in the wargame market. It doesn't piss me off every time I play it. There's a number of different reasons for that, and I'll probably get into them all eventually, but first off I want to talk about one in particular.
The Uniqueness Factor
The thing is that in a good wargame, every distinct group of warriors plays sightly differently. At first glance this does not seem to be the case in Mordheim, almost all of the human warbands are remarkably similar. That is true for a bit. What makes Mordheim different, though is not what you do like the others, but what you do that's different. HA! Bit of faux-zen there for you.
At the end of the day, everything in Mordheim should balance out. That's the thing, every game has a base line, a standard so to speak. Everything should be built up or deconstructed from that base line. In Mordheim that base line is the Human Mercenary. So it stands to reason that the majority of things in Mordheim are remarkably similar.
However, its the deviations from that baseline that make the differences in the warbands. It's the models and rules that are unique to a warband that makes it fight so differently. There are similarities, but that is as far as it goes, similarities.
Warbands are each unique, not just from each other warband, but after the first game, each warband is unique from others of its same type. I love that uniqueness. I know that if I play Jim with his undead, it would be a completly different game then if I were to play someone else with the undead. That is what makes the game one of my favorites.
On the other hand most other games don't have that. While I love me some 40K, most lists are fairly similar, and they play in an almost identical way. WHFB is worse, 'Line up and march Forward!', at least with 40K there's something more tactical then just putting down a list. I've played Maulifaux, and I've enjoyed it, but the list is pretty much dictated to you, and you can't really even customize a particular model. Don't get me started on other games. Mainly cause I don't have enough information or play time under my belt to really make comments (I could if I wanted to though).
The Uniqueness Factor
The thing is that in a good wargame, every distinct group of warriors plays sightly differently. At first glance this does not seem to be the case in Mordheim, almost all of the human warbands are remarkably similar. That is true for a bit. What makes Mordheim different, though is not what you do like the others, but what you do that's different. HA! Bit of faux-zen there for you.
At the end of the day, everything in Mordheim should balance out. That's the thing, every game has a base line, a standard so to speak. Everything should be built up or deconstructed from that base line. In Mordheim that base line is the Human Mercenary. So it stands to reason that the majority of things in Mordheim are remarkably similar.
However, its the deviations from that baseline that make the differences in the warbands. It's the models and rules that are unique to a warband that makes it fight so differently. There are similarities, but that is as far as it goes, similarities.
Warbands are each unique, not just from each other warband, but after the first game, each warband is unique from others of its same type. I love that uniqueness. I know that if I play Jim with his undead, it would be a completly different game then if I were to play someone else with the undead. That is what makes the game one of my favorites.
On the other hand most other games don't have that. While I love me some 40K, most lists are fairly similar, and they play in an almost identical way. WHFB is worse, 'Line up and march Forward!', at least with 40K there's something more tactical then just putting down a list. I've played Maulifaux, and I've enjoyed it, but the list is pretty much dictated to you, and you can't really even customize a particular model. Don't get me started on other games. Mainly cause I don't have enough information or play time under my belt to really make comments (I could if I wanted to though).
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