Sand Warrior Mercenary

Sand Warrior Mercenary 3-Feb-2012
By Balrog The Buff
40 gold crowns to hire +20* gold crowns upkeep

* = Sand Warriors cost an additional 1 gc for every point of Exp they have

Sand Warriors are killers-for-hire from an odd sub-cult from Araby. They are true believers in their cause, the only problem is no one outside their organization knows what they actually believe in! What rumors do confirm is they are available as mercenaries and will fight to the death as long as the money is sent back to their secret masters.

May be Hired: Any non-good human warband other than Carnival of Chaos may hire a Sand Warrior Mercenary
Rating: An Explorer increases a warband's rating by +18 points, plus 1 point for each Experience point the has.

The Sand Warrior is Human.


M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Sand Warrior 4 4 4 3 3 1 4 1 8

Weapons/Armour: Light Armor, Helmet, Throwing Knives and choose one of the following:
- Al Maut (rules below)
- Two Desert Rose (rules below)
- Two Sand Blades
- Sword, Axe, Bow, Shield
- Two Daggers, Black Lotus Poison on all weapons

SPECIAL RULES
Swirling Sands: Sand Warriors may give up their normal attacks to make a single attack against every enemy in base to base contact.

Independent: Sand Warriors cannot benefit from another model's Leadership.

Infiltrate: As per the Skaven special rules.

Sand Warrior Mercenaries may choose from the Combat, Shooting, or Speed skill lists

Sand Blade – 15 gc – Common (Sand Warriors only)
Sand Blades are special scimitars often used by Sand Warriors in their exotic fighting style.
Strength: As User
Special Rules: Parry, Whirling Blades.
Parry: Sand Blades may be used to parry and grant a re-roll if two are used per sword and buckler.
Whirling Blades: Sand Blades add +1 to the Critical Hit table.

Al Maut 25 gc – Common (Sand Warriors only)
Al Maut, or “Death” is the name given to the strange set of contraptions the Sand Warriors sometimes use. They are odd elongated boxes worn on the forearms, and sometimes other locations on the body, with blades protruding. The Sand Warriors store large numbers of throwing knives in these and are trained at using them with great skill and speed.
Strength: As User
Special Rules: Parry, +1 Armor Save in melee, Numerous Blades
+1 Armor Save in melee: as the blades are like daggers the target adds +1 to their armor save as if the Al Maut was a pair of daggers, this penalty only applies in melee combat.
Numerous Blades: A Model armed with an Al Maut counts as being armed with two daggers, throwing daggers and gains the Knife Fighter Skill as long as the Al Maut is equipped due to the great ease of access to throwing knives. In addition a Sand Warrior using them adds their Strength in inches to the range of their knives. The model may not be equipped with any other weapons.

Desert Rose 15gc – Common (Sand Warriors only)
The Desert Rose is a name given to a deadly chain wielded by Sand Warriors. The deadly barbs along the whip make it a dangerous weapon to learn, but undeniably effective.
Strength: As User
Special Rules: Whipcrack, Length
Whipcrack: This is the same as the Steel Whip’s rule, although the Desert Rose may gain 2 whip attacks if dual wielded.
Length: A model armed with a Desert Rose may intercept charges from 3” rather than 2”.

The sand warrior looks interesting, I like the cultish mercenary background but perhaps some hints of what they believe in could be in order. Do they wait for the great old one sleeping beneath the desert or perhaps for something else?

Reminds me of Assassin's Creed...

At the time i'd never played any of the AC games. Since then i've played a bit of Brotherhood. So none is intended, although that would be a fun way to paint one up.