ship battles for mordheim

Subject: ship battles for mordheim Thu 27 Aug 2009 - 19:24

I had a look at the ship battles in the Sartosa campaign and the ones further down the page. These both looked very good but both said that they didn’t want to make rules for maintaining a ship in the campaign which unfortunately (for me) was my main reason for including ships.
So after a lot of pondering confused

I made my own. If you don’t want to include maintenance costs these are not the rules for you. What the rules probably need is for some people to look over it and point out anything that looks odd or is completely incomprehensible.

Ships for Mordheim

Basic rules

All ships must be between 8 and 14 inches long and no more than half as wide as they are long.

Ships must have sail based movement (to make rules easier).

Starting ships

Each warband starts with one basic ship which must be large enough to hold the entire warband. A basic ship has 5, toughness 6, wounds and is strength 5. A warband may only have one ship at once. New ships cost 100gc. A warband may spend 10% of its starting money on improving the ship. A single hero in the warband starts with the steer ship skill. Any member of the warband may take this skill instead of one from their usual skill list.

Starting a sea battle

When fighting a sea battle roll a scatter dice and a d6 at the beginning of the battle before rolling for first turn. The scatter dice is the wind direction the d6 is the wind speed.

Moving a ship

Ships move 8 inches per turn and may make one 45 degree turn once every 4 inches. A ship moving with the wind gains the wind speed in movement a ship moving against the wind loses the wind speed in movement. Ships are moved by the player which has a model with the steer ship skill at the wheel. If a ship does not have a model with the steer ship skill at the wheel it is adrift and moves the wind speed in inches in the wind direction.

Attacking ships

You attack a ship as you would any other model. Ships cannot fight or be fought in close combat and do not roll on the injury table. Handheld misile weapons have -1 S when wounding ships.

Boarding and ramming

To ram another ship move your ship into contact with it. Your ship then causes a hit at its strength. It will cause an additional hit if you rammed the opposing ships rear and an additional 2 hits if you rammed its side. You will also take a hit at the opposing ships strength. To board a ship just move the models onto the chosen ship using the Mordheim rules.

Models in the water

Models in the water that are knocked down or stunned immediately come round. You do not take falling damage for falling into water from a height under 5 inches. Models in the water may only act in the movement phase. They may not run because they are swimming.

Ships at 0 wounds

Ships do not roll on the injury table when they reach 0 wounds. They roll on the boat damage table below. The damage rolled on the table is applied until it is repaired even into other battles. The points cost is how much the damage costs to repair. For each “wound” caused beyond 0 roll again on the table. It is possible for ships to have negative wounds because they can still operate at 0 wounds. Each effect on the table can only be applied once.

2) Sinks! The ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean. You must buy a new ship!

3) Crippled. The ship cannot move. 20 points to repair.

4) Mast cracked. The ship has one less wound next battle and has no wind advantages or disadvantages. 30 points to repair.

5) Leaky hull. The ship now only moves 6 inches per turn. 15 points to repair.

6) Unsteady. All models shooting from the ship have -1 to hit. 15 points to repair.

7) Cursed. Your ship has a reputation for being unlucky. All models onboard have -1 LD and hired swords will charge an extra 5gc on top of their initial hire cost. You must win two battles to repair this.

8] Damaged rudder. The ship may not turn! 20gc to repair.

9) Damaged sails. Your ship cannot gain movement due to wind. 15gc to repair.

10) Unresponsive. The ship now turns 30 degrees instead of 45. 15gc to repair.

11) Weakened structure. The ship has -1 strength and toughness. 25gc to repair.

12) Ghost ship. The ship has a ghostly appearance striking fear into your foes. Models which are not part of your warband must pass a leadership test to move onto the ship. All models in your warband who have not yet fought a battle must take a LD test or they will refuse to fight. This does not include your starting warband or any models imune to phsychology. 15gc to repair.

Upgrades for ships

Light cannon 25pts: range 24, S5. The light cannon may not me moved or turned and only fires in a straight line. It takes two warband members to fire a cannon use the highest BS. Canons add 2 to injury rolls.

Armour plates 15pts: the ships gets an armour save which is increased for each set of armour plates you have to a maximum of 4+.

Reinforced ram 25pts: the ships strength is increased by 1 when ramming but not when being rammed.

Sturdy 20pts: the ships toughness is increased by one.

Landing craft 30pts: the ship caries a smaller ship which moves 1 inch for every 2 models in it rowing. It is toughness 4 with 3 wounds and is S0. It may not receive upgrades. Rowing models may do nothing else. Models in combat may not row. When the landing craft reaches 0 wounds it sinks.

Swivel mount 10ps: a handgun, crossbow, Hotchland long rifle or blunderbuss may be fixed to a point on the deck. Any model in contact with this point may use the weapon. The weapon must be bought specially.

Improved rudder 20pts: the ship may make a 45 degree turn every 3 inches rather than 4.

Ghostly appearance 10gc: as the ghost ship damaged result. May only be bought by undead warbands.

Lucky 20gc: your ship has a lucky reputation. Hired swords will knock 5gc of their initial hire price. This may not be bought if you have the unlucky damage result.

Silk sails 25gc: you gain d6 movement for moving with the wind.

Nautical skills

Any hero in a warband with a boat may take nautical skills as well as their usual skills.

Steer ship: this skill allows the model to control a ship by standing at the wheel.

Sea legs: the model has +1 movement on ships.

Rigging expert: the model may reroll failed climb tests on ships.

Strong swimmer: the model may “run” in the water.

Powder monkey: the model may crew a cannon alone.

Pirate: the model may be hired to other warbands so long as they are not fighting you. You may set the rate.

Things I am not sure about are close combat atacks on ships and the price of some of the upgrades. the cost to repair damage has nothing to do with the effect of the damage its just done fluff wise. is this OK?

phew long post!

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Thu 27 Aug 2009 - 19:35

At T5 ships are gonna be fimsy as hell. Regular weapons should not be able to do significant damage to a ship.

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Thu 27 Aug 2009 - 19:50

I second that. Small ships should have at least the Toughness of a cart, which is 7. A gate (i.e. a somewhat reinforced structure) is T8, so that might be an option as well. After all, you don't want your ships to be sunk by a few guys with great weapons.

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Thu 27 Aug 2009 - 20:09

Welcome aboard! Always glad to see some one interested in ships!

Ships! Cool. I'm the one who doesn't want to deal with ship repair and buying. Having played 2 campaigns with that caveat has worked for us. Otherwise a warband that loses its ship is pretty much out of luck.

Also just because you want to include rules for buying and maintaining is no reason to have to write all of your own rules for other things. Warhammer Ahoy! rules are free on line--

http://www.spiritofthegame.org.uk/warhammerahoy/index.htm

They start their ships at T6. Rowboats are T5.

Also there are Mordheim rules for small boats and ships up to 12 inches in length (or something like that) in TC#24.

I do applaud the helmsman idea.

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Fri 28 Aug 2009 - 4:49

If I were going to play a campaign with ships no weapon wielded by a figure would be able to damage the boat. Cannons, yes. Hammers, Axes, Swords, no.

Sure a guy with an axe might be able to do some damage if left to his own devices for a while, but in the swirl of melee, no one is going to do more than surface damage to a ship with a hand weapon.

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Fri 28 Aug 2009 - 7:04

I have a few questions.

--Are points the same as gold coins?
--Why would you repair a ship that causes fear?
--Are the ships rules intended to be used with the existing rules and warbands or warbands of your own devising? (I ask this because of similarities to existing equipment in some unofficial warbands. Would you allow Pirate Swivel Guns to be used?)

I think the consensus would be that melee weapons and small arms (bows, crossbows and handguns) should not be allowed to damage a ship. (Rowboat, yes) Also the prices of your upgrades and of the ship itself are very cheap. A cannon costs the same as a crossbow for example. The price of 2 ships is equal to one Hochland Long Rifle.

Legends of the High Seas has many similar rules to those you propose above. If you have access to a copy of those rules you can get an idea of the cost of things within that system and compare it to Mordheim as a guide.

All that said I am eager to hear of your naval battles and adventures!

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Fri 28 Aug 2009 - 21:32

I see what you are saying about melee weapons and etc not damaging ships. It would take someone quite a while to do any real damage to a ship.

I agree, only large weapons (cannons and etc) would be allowed to do any real damage.

I have always like the Warhammer Ahoy rules.

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Sun 30 Aug 2009 - 21:51

right ships are now toughness 6 and cannot be hit in close combat. misile weapons have reduced strength. I dont want to limit the amount of things that can damage ships or the damage table might never get used affraid

!

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Sun 30 Aug 2009 - 23:26

I am still pretty adamant about melee not hurting a ship. Nor should hand held range weapons. That doesn't mean that there can't be a slew of other things that can hurt a ship.

For example: Cannon, Power keg (used as explosive), Ballista, Burning pitch, Fire, Large creatures, Magic, etc.

Subject: Re: ship battles for mordheim Mon 31 Aug 2009 - 1:13

When we started this ship battle craze, a hit from an Empire Great cannon sank an enemy ship with one shot. On the first turn of the game. Boy that was fun. Since then we have reduced the strength of cannon to make it less likely that one lucky round will end the game.

Also since we be pirates, weez not too interested in sinkin' da loot, if ya ken. Force da lubber ta strike hiz colors, an takes da prize. Dats where da money's at!

With your damage table sinking is not likely so you could just up the caliber of your available guns and have at it! Legends of the High Seas rules also require a player to pay an amount of gold per damage point to repair ships between fights. Fail to spend the gold and your ship starts the game damaged

One of the things I love about a Warhammer Ahoy! ship battle is the possibility of starting an enemy ship on fire. Nothing like a good ship board fire to distract your enemies!

» Duel on the High Seas--Ship battles w/ Mordheim rules
» Ship Battles - Closest Target
» naval battles for mordheim?
» Are there rules for ship battle for Mordheim?
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