My first Warband

Hallo, grizzled veterans.

I am new to Mordheim and Tabletop Miniature Gaming in general. After ten years of Pen&Paper Roleplaying, some new additions to our Dark Heresy group got me to try out Mordheim. During our test games I had lots of fun playing a band of Marienburgers against Chaos Marauders and Dwarven Treasure Hunters. Now, that we have agreed to play a campaign I have decided that I want to use the Druchii List from Mordheimer.com, which can be found here.

This is my first build for the Warband.

Noble + Axe + Dagger 80 GC

Lordling + Axe + Dagger 50 GC

Lordling + Axe + Dagger 50 GC

Sorceress + Sword + Staff 58 GC

4 Shades + Repeater Crossbow + Sword + Dagger 260 GC

498 GC

What do you guys think? I will be up against Beastmen, Restless Dead and Bretonian Knights.

Axes will be represented by big scimitiars, in accordance to the rest of the group.

Hey Seeric,

I don't know much at all about any of the Warbands that are not in the original rulebook or Empire in Flames expansion. but I'll give you my views.

First of all, squeeze some gold out to get your Beastmaster hero. Heros = Income.

I would get some of this money by removing a Shade and his gear whihc gives you 65gc
replace the other 3 shades swords for axes which gives you 15gc
Replace the sorceress's Sword with an axe as well. which will give you 5gc.
I cannot see the staff on the equipment list.

Which gives you 87gc to spend which you should be able to get the beastmaster and a slavehound.

I would be tempted to fiddle around some more and get a second slavehound by replacing the shades repeater crossbows with bows.

Or you could go entirely repeater crossbow crazy and give every hero a repeater crossbow and a axe and spend the rest on shades with either repeater crossbows or bows and sit back and be a very defensive warband.

or you could do the repeater crazy and for henchmen get as may slave hounds as you can, sit back shoot the opponents hopign to force route tests before they get to you and if they do get to you, rush in with your slavehounds. if the hounds die then route with all heroes intact for maximum exploration rolls.

Well those are my quick thoughts on how I would play this warband from the start. Sorry if they are badly constructed and unclear.

Skip

Hey Skipspence,

thanks for your input.

When I first thought about which models I would use I included the Beastmaster and 3 Slavehounds. Then I realized that I would be able to get Repeater Crossbows for half the normal cost only during warband creation. So I decided I wanted a reasonable number of shades with Repeater Crossbows and would buy the Beastmaster later on.

I equipped the Shades and the Sorceress with swords because they have only 3 WS and a parry might come in handy. Also I intend to place the Shades in front of the heroes in loose formation to harrass and provoke the enemy. I expect them to get charged sooner or later, then the Parry will come in handy. After the initial enemy charge I will be able to countercharge with my heroes. But maybe I could exchange the swords for spears, so that I could strike first even when I get charged?

The staff is a mistake I made, I gave it to my Sorceress after I chose a miniature for her and just assumed it would be on the Equipment list, which it is not. Will exchange it for a dagger. Too bad, I would have prefered building my sorceress with a staff. This is the model I got for her.

I don`t really like the idea of giving my heroes Repeater Crossbows for style reasons. The Repeater Crossbow seems more like a typical "soldier" weapon, not something a Druchii noble would use. I think I might give them handcrossbows later on.

Welcome to the forum! I have no advice except to echo 'buy the Beastmaster' and give heroes the expensive repeaters.

Soo, here is the Druchii Warband 2.0.

Noble + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 100 GC

Lordling + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 70 GC

Lordling + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 70 GC

Sorceress + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 75 GC

Beastmaster + Repeater Crosbow + Beastlash + Dagger 70 GC

3 Slavehounds 75

3 Doses of Dark Venom for the Noble and the Lordlings 45 GC OR Sea Dragon Cloak + Shield for the Noble and Sword instead of Axe for the Sorceress 45 GC



What do you think?

sell the venom, sell one hound
Get a corsair with a crossbow and an axe (60g)
(He gets exp and can be promoted for hero - the hounds don't)
annd for the 15g get an additional sword for one of your heroes and a adittional axe or trade an axe for a sword. I like sowrds more than axes because of the parry opportunity and you can get the swordmaster skill to make them even better. As at the beginning of a campaign there won't be that much armour around so the axe special isn't getting you much benefit.

So the Venom isn`t worth getting? Strength 4 Hits on Repeater Crossbows sounds pretty neat to me...

So, here is your variant:

Noble + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 100 GC

Lordling + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 70 GC

Lordling + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 70 GC

Sorceress + Repeater Crossbow + Sword + Dagger 80 GC

Beastmaster + Repeater Crosbow + Beastlash + Dagger 70 GC

Corsair + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 60 GC

2 Slavehounds 50

495 GC

I gave the Sorceress as Sword because with WS 3 it might pay of to be able to parry. One Question though... Why a Corsair and not a Shade? Shooting will be my big theme and the Shade has BS 4...

Seeric wrote:

So the Venom isn`t worth getting? Strength 4 Hits on Repeater Crossbows sounds pretty neat to me...

All poisons last only the duration of one game, so it would be quite expensive for your first one to spend 45gc right from the start

Seeric wrote:

One Question though... Why a Corsair and not a Shade? Shooting will be my big theme and the Shade has BS 4...

You're right, of course a shade fits better. My idea was to point out, you've had no henchemen gaining xp. Your shade could get an increase after 2 battles if he doesn't die and if you're lucky he gets a +1 BS

Allright, so this will probably be my final build.


Noble + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 100 GC

Lordling + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 70 GC

Lordling + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 70 GC

Sorceress + Repeater Crossbow + Sword + Dagger 80 GC

Beastmaster + Repeater Crosbow + Beastlash + Dagger 70 GC

Shade + Repeater Crossbow + Axe + Dagger 60 GC

2 Slavehounds 50

495 GC

Found something nice to use for Slave Hounds. More like hunting lizards I think. Fits the Druchii better than some canines.

That list looks much better.

Nice models for Slavehounds, could use a variety of animals due to their tendency to like capturing just about anything and putting it to servitude!

Seems like a great build I'm looking forward to see the mini's once you get to work.
There will be pictures right?

I don`t know how the paintjob will turn out, after all this is the first time I will do something like this. But what I can promise you are battle reports.

I like battle reports.

I like the last version of your warband too. It depends strongly on your heroes, does have a very good range combat department is fast, but can not take much damage.

But your first version was also playable.

Yes there were only 4 heroes, but it can work too. The playing style was different than what is now.

But in the end experiment with your warbands, try different playing styles and you get to now them better over time.

I have a question concerning this warband. If my Noble should die, the Lordlings and the Sorceress have the same amount of experience and the same Leadership value (in theory). So if I radomly determine that the Sorceress takes over, can I get another Sorceress?

No, your sorceress, is still a sorceress class who just gains the "Leader" skill. So she still fills the 0-1 Dark Elf Sorceress slot.

Its the same with henchmen who get "lads got talent" of there is a number limit on the henchmen, the one who became a hero is still included in that count.

Hey everybody, today I had my first test game with this warband and I wanted to thank you all again for your input.

I faced a band of Chaos Marauders and it went quite well. I started out with 4 inch tall building in my deployment zone and chose to claim it for my own. I placed my Noble, the two Lordlings and the Beastmaster on top of it and had the Slavehounds patrolling on the ground. The Sorceress had rolled up Witch Flight for her spell and so I deployed her and the Shade on the ground to harrass the Marauders as they moved on me between the buildings. While the Chaos force was still outside of the reach/line of sight of my main force the Shade and the Sorceress took some potshots at them and took out two Chaos Marauders. So far so good. I managed well staying out of charging distance but then the Chaos Seer made his casting check (Difficulty 10!) and hit everything within 12'' with a strength 3 hit (Sorceress, Shade, 2 Slavehounds). Only one of those rolls wounded, but that one took the Sorceress out of action. Emboldened by that my opponent moved her warriors into charging position and also into my line of fire. I reacted with trying to charge her Chieftain with my Slavehounds, which where intercepted by her Marauders. Then my Shade decided to heroically stand his ground and opened fire on the Chieftain, who was within 4''. Two hits and one wound later the enemy leader was out of action. My elevated heroes focused their fire on the Seer and took him out of action too. Close combat between the Slavehounds and Marauders was resolved, one knocked his opponent down, the other failed to hit and was subsequently stunned. On the next turn the enemy warband routed.

Now I have a rules question. If a warband has lost enough models to make a rout test, must it test leadership only once or each turn after that?

It must test at the start of each turn.

I forget if this is a real rule or a house rule, but in my circle we will roll the test and *then* decide whether or not to voluntarily rout just to save a bit of time. It avoids the situation where someone can't decide whether or not to flee, finally decides to stay, and then fails the test anyway.

Lord 0 wrote:

It must test at the start of each turn.

I forget if this is a real rule or a house rule, but in my circle we will roll the test and *then* decide whether or not to voluntarily rout just to save a bit of time. It avoids the situation where someone can't decide whether or not to flee, finally decides to stay, and then fails the test anyway.

Yeah we play it the same way. It spares some time.

Rulebook page 22 (Leadership and psychology)

"A player must make a rout test at the start of his turn if a quarter or more of his warband is out of action."

=> every own turn