Torturer warband

First time poster and first time visitor in this nice forum.
Hopefully my little topic wont get lost among all the others here.

So why am i posting?

Ive made a warband!

I got this idea after reading the berserk manga where a strange group of torturers appeared and i got hooked and thought... I have to make something out of this!

Anyway im just gonna toss a few ideas around and see what people think of them.

So lets start with some heroes.

The leader of the band is a holyman called Father Mozgus. A devout follower of the one true god. His aim in Mordheim is to get rid of the heretics and blasphemers that live there. With the help of the small remains of the town guard, Witch hunters, and of course his own loyal men he will deal a serius blow to the scums of Mordheim!

The stats and cost for father Mozgus is the same as for the warrior priest in the witch hunter warband. They are identical except of two things. The leader ability of course and that he use chaos magic... As prayers. So sorcery wont work nor would anything that would make it easyer to cast spells. They are prayers and thats that.
The reason for this is that being able to heal this team would be abit too good and i want this team to... Be alittle human atleast. Even if chaos magic are really good it cant heal or protect its members in the same way as prayers of sigmar. Eye of the god also fitted to good for just this warband.

Well then. His men then. Starting with the heroes.

Well. They are torturers! A small band of induviduals that Father Mozgus have meet during his travels and now taken under his wing. The reason? They dont look normal. Not mutations really but misshapen bodies, skulls and bones that have grown wrong. had they been found by anyone else they would surely been burnt on the stake.

To symbolize this you may if you want roll a d1 for each torturer.
1: You use the halfling stat line (cant use shooting, academic or strength skills)
2-3: You use the dwarf stat line (Cant use speed, academic or shooting skills)
4-5: You use the human stat line (cant use academic or shooting skills)
6: You use the orc stat line (Cant use speed, academic or shooting skills)

This means you will have a very uniqe warband composed of very different characters. Ive also made a rule though that should one of the torturers die. You can buy a new one but from now on they will all have the human stat line. It should hurt to lose them:)

You can have 4 torturers from start.

As you have noticed now this wont be a very shooty warband. Well there is more. None of the torturers use any armour. Only the henchmens and the priest can do that.
However during alot of playtesting it has worked out pretty well anyway.

First time poster and first time visitor in this nice forum.
Hopefully my little topic wont get lost among all the others here.

So why am i posting?

Ive made a warband!

I got this idea after reading the berserk manga where a strange group of torturers appeared and i got hooked and thought... I have to make something out of this!

Anyway im just gonna toss a few ideas around and see what people think of them.

So lets start with some heroes.

The leader of the band is a holy priest. A devout follower of the one true god. His aim in Mordheim is to get rid of the heretics and blasphemers that live there. With the help of the small remains of the town guard, Witch hunters, and of course his own loyal men he will deal a serius blow to the scums of Mordheim!

The stats and cost for this holy priest is the same as for the warrior priest in the witch hunter warband. They are identical except of two things. The leader ability of course and that he use chaos magic... As prayers. So sorcery wont work nor would anything that would make it easyer to cast spells. They are prayers and thats that.
The reason for this is that being able to heal this team would be abit too good and i want this team to... Be alittle human atleast. Even if chaos magic are really good it cant heal or protect its members in the same way as prayers of sigmar. Eye of the god also fitted to good for just this warband.

Well then. His men then. Starting with the heroes.

Well. They are torturers! A small band of induviduals that Father Mozgus have meet during his travels and now taken under his wing. The reason? They dont look normal. Not mutations really but misshapen bodies, skulls and bones that have grown wrong. had they been found by anyone else they would surely been burnt on the stake.

To symbolize this you may if you want roll a d1 for each torturer.
1: You use the halfling stat line (cant use shooting, academic or strength skills)
2-3: You use the dwarf stat line (Cant use speed, academic or shooting skills)
4-5: You use the human stat line (cant use academic or shooting skills)
6: You use the orc stat line (Cant use speed, academic or shooting skills)

This means you will have a very uniqe warband composed of very different characters. Ive also made a rule though that should one of the torturers die. You can buy a new one but from now on they will all have the human stat line. It should hurt to lose them:)

You can have 4 torturers from start.

As you have noticed now this wont be a very shooty warband. Well there is more. None of the torturers use any armour. Only the henchmens and the priest can do that.
However during alot of playtesting it has worked out pretty well anyway.

HEROES
1 Holy priest - 60gc
The heretics have a fortress in the empire now! Its called Mordheim. With god by his side. This holy man will do his best to cleanse the streets of Mordheim. Humanity will never give up the struggle for survival!
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 3 3 3 3 1 4 1 8
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the knights equipment list.
Special Rules: Leader, prayers (Chaos magic)
Revered: Should the holy priest be taken out of action, the tortures will hate the model that is responsible for the rest of the game.


0-4 Torturers - 30gc
Devout followers of the holy priest. They would do anything to please him as they see him almost like a god. Armed with different weapons and the body they was born with they will do his will.

Torturers with Halfling stats:
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 4 2 2 1 4 1 8

Torturers with dwarf stats:
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
3 4 4 3 4 1 2 1 8

Torturers with orc stats:
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 3 2 3 4 1 2 1 7

Torturers with himan Stats:
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Torturer equipment list.

HENCHMEN
0-5 Knights -35gc
With such a dangerous mission. The church have sent some of their knights to guard the holy man. They are not as devout as his own torturers but will protect him with their life.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 4 4 3 3 1 3 1 7
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Knights equipment list.
Expert swordmen: Knights are so skilled with their weapons that they may re-roll any failed hits when charging. This skill only works when they are armed with normal swords. Not 2-handed ones or other weapons.

Guards - 25gc
With the knights come soldiers. These men have sworn to protect the holy priest at all costs. They fear his closest men though.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 3 2 3 3 1 3 1 7
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Knights equipment list.

Followers- 20 gold crowns to hire
Common men wich have lost everything. Blinded by devoution and madness they follow the holy priest to Mordheim.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 2 3 3 1 3 1 6
Weapons/Armour: None
SPECIAL RULES
Faithfull sheeps: Must stay within 10 inches from the holy priest or they will have to make a ALL ALONE test. Should they fail they will run as fast as they can towards him. SHould the priest be taken out of action and they fail their test, they will run towards the closes table edge

Torturers equipment list
Hand-to-hand combat weapons
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Mancathcer* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 gc
Double-Handed Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Tongs* . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Flail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Hooks and chains* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc

Miscellaneous Equipment
Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc

Knights equipment list
Hand-to-hand combat weapons
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Double-Handed Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc


Missile weapons

Short Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Crossbow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Armour
Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Light Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc
Heavy Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 gc

The weapons marked with a * is some that i thought could fit them Here is a short description!

Mancatcher (Common when the warband is created, after that they are rare 9)
It works exactly like a spear but if the wearer strikes a 6 when to hit it also closes around the targets neck. Every time the victim tries to make a attack he has to do a initiative test. If he passes he can fight that round of combat normaly, if he fails he get 1 str 4 hit that hits automaticly. If he still stand up after that he are free to make his attack.

Tongs (Common when the warband is created, after that they are rare
Works exactly like daggers but if a target is taken out of action with these weapons the torturer can adjust his serious injury roll with +-1. (Note you can only change the result so that the targets get a damage or are killed, If you cant adjust to any of these options the first roll stands)
It also works when using the torturer skill on captured enemies to change the roll result.

Hooks and chains (Common when the warband is created, after that they are rare

To be honest i dont really know a good rule with this one but im thinking about using the same rule as the flail has but with added effect like the rest of the weapons.

Well, first thing first; Welcome aboard!

Second, i like this warband! You have some nice bits like the different beginner stats well mixed up with some drawbacks that make the warband as a group seemingly well balanced.

-With that said i should mention that ive only played ONE game of Mordheim, so im not the one to judge!-

Only one bit of criticism, Why not make Father Mozgus a Dramatis Personae? That way a player can make his own leading Warrior Priest with his own goals and the dear holy man isnt used all the time.. (not sure that my point gets throu here but english isnt my mother language either so explanation might fail...)

Overall I like where you are taking this warband! May you have good luck with your merry mens and hope that you stay far away from the Witch Hunters wrath!

Soulblight wrote:

Well, first thing first; Welcome aboard!

Second, i like this warband! You have some nice bits like the different beginner stats well mixed up with some drawbacks that make the warband as a group seemingly well balanced.

-With that said i should mention that ive only played ONE game of Mordheim, so im not the one to judge!-

Only one bit of criticism, Why not make Father Mozgus a Dramatis Personae? That way a player can make his own leading Warrior Priest with his own goals and the dear holy man isnt used all the time.. (not sure that my point gets throu here but english isnt my mother language either so explanation might fail...)

Overall I like where you are taking this warband! May you have good luck with your merry mens and hope that you stay far away from the Witch Hunters wrath!

Hey hey!

Thanks for your point of view i did understand very well what you meant with the warrior priest.
Of course it can be another warrior priest with a differant name and goal:)

Ive came up with the following skills for this warband aswell. I will log in later today when i have more time to try and make my first post a little better and write up stats and such and costs.

Here are the skills then!:

Torture (Torturers only)

In the city of Mordheim a torturer is never short on work.
Instead of looking for rare item, the torturer can sell his work to various warbands.
Roll 2D6:
2-3: Betrayed ambushed: Either the customers that hired him betrayed him or some horrors from the streets of mordheim ambushed him on his way there. Either way the torturer must miss the next match.
4-5: Earns 1 gold
6-7: Earns 1D6 gold
8-9: Earns 2D6 gold
10-11: Information about the surroundings minor (+-1 on 1 dice the next time you roll for exploration)
12: Information about the surroundings major (+-1 on 1 dice the next time you roll for exploration) Also you may choose to deploy your warband last next time you play a scenario.

Also if you manage to capture a enemy hero or another warband manage to do this during a multiplayer scenario/campaign and there is a torturer warband present. You can instead for looking for rare items torture this poor soul. One time only after each game until he is either released or saved.
Roll 2D6 for his injury:
2: Madness
3: Leg wound
4: Chest wound
5: Blind in one eye
6: Arm wound
7: Smashed leg
8: Deep wound
9: Broken mind (The hero will now fear everything. Count any model he face as fear causing) Note: This can make even slayers and flagelants fear targets.
10: Old battle wound
11: Hand injury
12: Warpstone infusion ( Only If you play with the Power in the stones extra rules ) The torturer inserts a useless but deadly warpstone inside of the poor soul. Count this model should he return to the battlefield as carrying a warpstone. Roll after each battle if he gets affected by it or not. It grants no power.

Next skill then!

Exitement: (Torturers only)
In their extreme will to serve the holy man nothing will stand in their way to reach his goals.
When a torturer lose 1 wound or is knocked down/stunne he will gain 1D3+ 1 movement for the rest of the game. Roll this die after you have moved normaly. This is a weaker version of leap but even the hulking torturer with the orc stats or the ones with dwarf stats can benefit from this.

Powerfull precence: (The priest only)

With his complete faith in the one true god not much can make this priest to loose faith.
You can use the leader ability 8 inces and any enemy in close combat with his followers will fight with -1 initiative.

Feel no pain (torturers only)

The priest is like a god to them and even with deep cuts and broken bodies they will keep on fighting to the bitter end just to please him.
You ignore the first wound taken

The last ability is just in use if you play with critical hits. Wich we dont.

Terrible blow
You gain the ability to do critical damage.

its our house rule now that only heroes with this skill can do critical damage. Just tought i could put this up aswell:)

Well then! Time for lunch! More to come later!

Berserk? In a Mordheim? Next you need a Dramatis Personae called the 100 Man Slayer!

Like Soulblight, I welcome you! Happy to have you here!

As for the warband, I think it might make sense to iron out some of the fluff. I know of berserk, but not everything, so it might make sense to include a clearer description.

For example, are they good? Are they evil? Are they like the witch hunters, in that they're pretty nasty, but believe they are doing it for righteous reasons?

Another possible angle is to look into Slaanesh. The chaos god Slaanesh is all about pain and pleasure, sadists and masochists. He might fit with this group wonderfully.

After you've figured out some of the story, it might be clearer if you post the prices and stats. Look at some of the other fan-made warbands, and you'll see what I mean. Generally, I open a document, copy / paste one of the warbands that is closest, save it, and post it in a thread. That way, you can check spelling, and have a saved version if you want to.

As for this warband, it has a lot of potential fun. The knights are the only things that seem a little out of place. And the fanatics could be a lot of fun, although the balance will depend on the stats.

The only thing I'd add is that on the Torture chart, instead of having "Madness", have it: "Frenzied Escape!"
2 - Frenzied Escape - The tortured hero's mind snaps in half! He permanently gains Frenzy. This result was so unexpected, that he broke free, and joins his former warband.

You could also stick, in one of the lower rolls, "hardened (immune to fear)" and or "scared (causes fear)", as it reflects that a few unlucky rolls can HELP the poor soul. After all, if you've survived torture, that wimpy zombie may not hold as much terror for you.

Thanks for all the tips StyrofoamKing! I will try and make the first post abit more clearer!

Well for the description.

I would say then see themself as righteous and that they are humble servants to the one true god. (Sigmar in this case)

However people in their proffessions are most likely not like by the normal citizen and since they have *mutations* They are probably seen as chaos followers by some. But i would like to say that they should be treated as neutrals...

I dont want to add any chaos powers to the warband. They are just humans after all.

However i forgot to mention in my last post a thing that... Would be fitting for not just only this warband but for some others aswell. You will see what i mean.

I use this special rule when i play with them:

Bad reputation: -1 when rolling to find rare items. Couse of their work they are feared and in some cases hated and few merchants want anything to do with them.
Hired swords also costs 2D6 extra to hire but they have the same upkeep.

The knights then. I just thought since he is a man of the church he should have some guards. The torturers are not soldiers but they will gladly sacrifice themself if it is to protect the priest.

I was thinking about giving the Followers could be given the same stats as zealots. Since they are not soldiers either. Just normal people with a little to much faith:p

I will think about what you said about the torturing chart aswell:)

Frezdaner wrote:

Bad reputation: -1 when rolling to find rare items. Couse of their work they are feared and in some cases hated and few merchants want anything to do with them.
Hired swords also costs 2D6 extra to hire but they have the same upkeep.

This will mean they will never find Rare 12 items with out taking the skill that reduces the Rarity by 2.
I think a better thing would be to have a price hike on all rare items or all items. This would give you the same result but not lock out any items from them that they should be able to use.

Pervavita wrote:

Frezdaner wrote:

Bad reputation: -1 when rolling to find rare items. Couse of their work they are feared and in some cases hated and few merchants want anything to do with them.
Hired swords also costs 2D6 extra to hire but they have the same upkeep.

This will mean they will never find Rare 12 items with out taking the skill that reduces the Rarity by 2.
I think a better thing would be to have a price hike on all rare items or all items. This would give you the same result but not lock out any items from them that they should be able to use.

Well thats right i guess. Hmm i will have to think about that. Maybe i should just add 3T6 to the price?

Updated the first post. More will come! I did not however like the name: Holy priest and foot soldiers...

Maybe i should just rename the foot soldiers to guards?

Small changes done!

Hopefully it will all make sense in the end!:p

Any other thoughts about the skills or the new changes?

got an idea for the bad reputation rule just make all heroes take a Ld test before searching for rare items or they are shunned by all the traders.

And not sure if i missed it or not but does it say what skill lists the heroes can choose from?

one last thing I'm not really sure if the torturers are worth it considering that you siad none of them could use shooting skills and yet the Halfling and to a lesser extent the dwarf seem to be shooters.

Edyy wrote:

got an idea for the bad reputation rule just make all heroes take a Ld test before searching for rare items or they are shunned by all the traders.

And not sure if i missed it or not but does it say what skill lists the heroes can choose from?

one last thing I'm not really sure if the torturers are worth it considering that you siad none of them could use shooting skills and yet the Halfling and to a lesser extent the dwarf seem to be shooters.

Thats is a good idea. Will try that one!

As for the skills and the heroes. Good you mentioned it. The torturers is given specific skills depending on what... hmm... form they take? Its mentioned in the first post.
The priest i guess will use the same skills as a normal warrior priest.

The halfling and the dwarf stats are good at shooting but they cant use ranged weapons. Just thought they could still have their BS the way it is. Who knows... I might get them some nets or vials of holy water

The shooting part now then
I also guess it depends on how much scenario pieces you are using when playing Mordheim. My group are filling up as much pieces as we can when playing so if you play it smart you can try and avoid the enemy archers. My team only had problems with skaven slings at the start of the game when they where young and did not have as much experience:)
I like the idea to have to focus on melee combat.

If you're playing them as the good guys, the chaos magic doesn't really work. The Lesser Magic chart might, but it might be more interesting to try something new.

I've taken a peek at the manga picks, and see what you mean. An inspirational group.

I think they need a name and a focus. Maybe the "redeemers", or the "confessors."

They are Sigmarites, but a heretical group- they believe that even the mutants or followers of Chaos can be redeemed into the light. Of course, they enforce said conversions by torturing people until they "see the light", but it's still more humane than the "burn them all" witch hunter approach.

My recommendations is that you take a look at the Carnival of Chaos warband. I think that model would work much better than the witch hunters.

Heck, if you used the heroes from the Carnival and the henchmen from Witch Hunters, you'd have the freaky warped heroes, with fanatical followers. Instead of using the normal mutations, you could write your own.

Ex. Hunchback - -1S & -1 T, but gains +2 Initiative, Dodge, and Scale Sheer Surfaces. Cost: Free.

StyrofoamKing wrote:

If you're playing them as the good guys, the chaos magic doesn't really work. The Lesser Magic chart might, but it might be more interesting to try something new.

I've taken a peek at the manga picks, and see what you mean. An inspirational group.

I think they need a name and a focus. Maybe the "redeemers", or the "confessors."

They are Sigmarites, but a heretical group- they believe that even the mutants or followers of Chaos can be redeemed into the light. Of course, they enforce said conversions by torturing people until they "see the light", but it's still more humane than the "burn them all" witch hunter approach.

My recommendations is that you take a look at the Carnival of Chaos warband. I think that model would work much better than the witch hunters.

Heck, if you used the heroes from the Carnival and the henchmen from Witch Hunters, you'd have the freaky warped heroes, with fanatical followers. Instead of using the normal mutations, you could write your own.

Ex. Hunchback - -1S & -1 T, but gains +2 Initiative, Dodge, and Scale Sheer Surfaces. Cost: Free.

My own magic list maybe...
Its just the spells taken from the chaos spell list. They just counts as prayers instead. Powers given to you by the one and true god:) I just think that chaos magic is the one that fits the team the most. I dont really like the idea to be able to heal my followers or that the priest can protect himself with armour from the gods.
Heck you can just rename the spells into something else and it will work out fine:)

Its funny that you mentioned Carnival of chaos since i in the beginning used the strong man as a henchmen and like you said witch hunter henchmen:)
I just liked the idea to try and make my own warband. There are many nice fanmade warbands out there and i just want to contribute with something little.
Maybe someone somewhere like the idea and try it out!

My own mutations that aint really mutations but deformalities (Dont know if this is a real word or not) Sounds like a plan...

I Think i will fit right in, in this forum:)

"In the cursed city of Mordheim all manners of creatures and monsters alike fits in, the true legends stands out!" -famous saying among the more lightfearing dwellers of the Old World..

In saying that you fitted in the moment you decided to type the first post. And, reading what you are up to, you can go far!

So just keep working! I myself will try to get my thoughts together and create my little own piece of that damnable place.
Cult of Cobra, im looking at you!!

(wanders of with inspiration, determindness and an goal!)

Soulblight wrote:

"In the cursed city of Mordheim all manners of creatures and monsters alike fits in, the true legends stands out!" -famous saying among the more lightfearing dwellers of the Old World..

In saying that you fitted in the moment you decided to type the first post. And, reading what you are up to, you can go far!

So just keep working! I myself will try to get my thoughts together and create my little own piece of that damnable place.
Cult of Cobra, im looking at you!!

(wanders of with inspiration, determindness and an goal!)

Thanks for your kind words:)

First post is updated with the equpment lists. I Really need some help with the special torturer wepaons. I want them balanced but still unique.
So any suggestions or ideas are most welcome! Especially with the Chain and hook weapon:)

There we go, managed to get my hands on some (good) internet. Been visiting this site on my 3DS the last 7-9 days:p

I am however at a loss now. What more is missing? I know i need to check over my spelling and clear out a few things but are there anything else that ive forgot to mention?

Help!