Starting warbands - Post them here! (Read first post, plz)

The halberd is a bit of an excess (your champion), and I find a spear is often better as it can be combined with a shield for the same price. I do like halberds though, as they can allow you to take down some pesky strong units (heroes!) better than most other weapons, but still be able to strike first (unlike two handed weapons or flails).

Flails do not lose strike first, only the strength bonus after the first round.

Yes, but then you rely on causing enough damage on the first round of combat, only to have ones combat abilities critically damaged after first round, where you are stuck with a two handed weapon with no bonuses at all. Though I do think it also has some good uses. A character who already has high strength can very well insta-kill

When I said Two handed weapon, I didnt mean weapons with the rule Two Handed, but the actual "Double handed weapon", which do have strike last. Thanks for making me aware though.

Though if we do some Reiklander fluff, maybe you should keep the Halberd

thanks for some insite. I do plan to do some fluff. I'm trying to show the new recruits all the possibiltys mordheim has to offer. Fluff being one of them. I plan to have the champion with two swords be the trainer of all my future swordsmen. The hero with the halberd would be my monster slayer of sorts. Plan to have him take one my the youngbloods under his wing once they level up a bit. But fluff aside I want a warband that isnt so powerful it is hard to beat like how i had it set up before but is still good enough to win. I don't want to look like a chump

I use a halberd on my warrior that I specialise in squashing things. He starts with a halberd and keeps in until he gets +1S, Mighty Blow, and Strongman. Strongman is the last skill he gets and until he does get it, the halberd works quite nicely. S6 attacks cannot be parried by any S3 dwarf, no matter how many rabbit's feet, dwarf axes, or Master of Blades they may have.

Once he gets strong man though, he upgrades to a DHW. No reason you couldn't keep the halberd for background reasons and take things like Strike to Injure and so forth.

Lord0: Yeah, getting Strongman makes you pretty much an all-time slayer of most enemies

blindrage19: I also like to play my warriors more fluffwise. In my Marienburger warband, one of my champions is a Duelist (sword & pistol and buckler) getting a lot of good skills that handle accuracy in both close and ranged combat. He will lack armour, though, as a duelist prefers manouverability.

Thus, having a Halberd "specialist", who takes skills like lord01 sugested (strike to injure, mighty blow, etc) is something I would do if I were you

thanks for the advice. Ill keep the champion geared that way. any other suggestions on my list? pro? cons?

Personally, I like to give my heroes at least a bow - even the youngbloods. Granted, a 6+ to hit is not very likely, but some chance at xp is better than no chance at xp.

Hello, I'm not new to Mordheim, but quite new to this forum.

We're going to start a campaign soon and I intend to start with a Orc and Goblin Warband. So I'll present the list here and would be glad about any comment.

Lordz of da Flais

Boss: Sword, Light Armour, Shield, Helmet
115

Shaman: Club (According to our house rules, the first spell can be chosen freely. I'd propose "Clubba" Any other suggestions?)
43

Big'Un 1: Club, Light Armour, Shield
58

Big'Un 2: Club, Light Armour, Shield
58

Boyz: club
28

Boyz: club
28

Boyz: club
28

Boyz: club
28

Boyz: club
28

Goblin: Club, Short Bow
23

Goblin: Club, Short Bow
23

Squig
15

Squig
15

total: 490 gc

Still 10 gc left in the treasury, as I'm undecided how to invest them atm.




BTW: In case you wonder: We got several house roules that might clearify why i made the warband like this:

*light armour is only 10gc
*we introduced the additional +1 bonus of shields in close combat

Therefore I thought it worthwile to equip all heroes (who can) with shield and light armour and by taking 5 Boyz i hope that i will have a fair chance to get a LGT soon, hopefully.

This way I have 13 people so exactly enough that i can lose 4 models until i must take rout tests. I wonder if this is good or bad, though. The first games one might be glad to be able to leave after only 3 casualties... (especially when goblins and squigs only count half...)

anyway.. thanks a lot in advance for your comments..

Not Orcs only counts for rout tests. You only have to lose 3 goblins or squigs or combination thereof - not 6.

Hello all,
I am starting a possessed warband and wanted any feedback before I go out and buy the minis. I tried to make something that looked good to me but I am not sure how well it will during gameplay. Thanks for the help.

Magister:70
Axe: 5
dagger: free

Possessed: 90

Possessed: 90

Mutant: 25
Extra Arm: 40
Mace: 3
Axe: 5
Dagger: free

Mutant: 25
Extra Arm: 40
Mace: 3
Axe: 5
Dagger: free

Brethren x 3: 75
Hammer x 3: 9
axe x 3: 15

I guess you would want to buy some mutations for your possessed as they
cannot be bought later, if I recall correctly.

One way some people do it, is buying one possessed only instead of two. Thus you can
rather buy one possessed with mutations instead of two without any.

Later in the game you can buy the second possessed with mutations (which may
take a while until you get there money wise...)

But I must confess that I never played possessed myself, so a experienced player
might want to add something to my point...

Rulewise the band looks pretty strong, even if they miss a model to get the Magical 9 members (better Rout test and income ratio) 8 members is a lot for posessed starting warband.

Fluffwise its a very poor warband, no mutations at possesed, equal mutants and only the boring Brethren henchmen.

No crasy Darksouls nor Beasts.

For me a possesed band should start with few very characterfull models, but thats sort of taste.

may I please get some (more) remarks/suggestions to my Orc-Warband, that would be awesome

hi all. im gonna go on a mordheim campaign next week and im gonna play as an orc player. i already made a list and thought bout the rout test in the rulebook.
heres the list:

orc boss
two handed axe
light armour
shield (i know it doesnt give bonus in melee with the axe, but i got ranged in mind with the shield)
helmet

orc shaman
spear

orc big 'un 1
axe
shield
light armour
helmet

orc big 'un 2
crossbow
shield
light armour
helmet

orc boys mob 1
axe
shield

orc boys mob 2
bow

goblin mob 1
club

goblin mob 2
club

2x cave squig mobs

tactics:
i plan to get the strongman abillity for the boss when i roll the advance rolls for him so he dont strike last in combat. one of my big uns helps boys mob 2 with the shooting and the rest attacks the enemy. i would change the other boys axes and shields with bows if i want so its only goblins and squigs that charges at the enemy.

for dahag: try to remember that you could lose twice the amount of goblins and squigs than other orcs before you have to take a rout test. just to remind you.

Dahag,
with the improved shield houserules your light armour + shield combination is quite viable. I would only drop the gobbo´s clubs to buy a third squig (i love squigs - and you can use them as cannon fodder). For the spell i would choose fist of gork - it gives you some much needed ranged firepower and is able to hit two enemies.

teh orc player,
unless you have also houseruled armour i would drop the light armour. It is nearly useless within the normal mordheim rules. Without strongman or two attacks i am not a fan of two handed weapons, a smaller weapon in each hand gices a much higher probability to hit something. Maybe you could use the money you save from the light armour on giving your boss some additional weapons or buy two orc boys.

can the boss have 2 extra axes?

You can have two close combat weapons and two ranged weapons plus your free dagger (MH rules review). So you could give your boss either two axes (or words or whatever one-handed weapon you like and is on your list) or one axe and one two handed weapon and the free dagger, depending on your preferences....plus two ranged weapons. One should be enough for almost any occasion, though .

i found the rules for black orcs. should i go with them instead of normal orcs?

thanks a lot for your suggestions teh orc player and horatius!

actually, I did change my list in the meantime to the following variant:

Boss: Sword, Light Armour, Shield, Helmet, Bow
125

Shaman: Club
(According to our house rules, the first spell can be chosen freely. So: "Clubba" or "Fire of Gork", any other suggestions?)
43

Big'Un 1: Club, Helmet,
Light Armour, Shield
68

Big'Un 2: Club, Helmet, Light Armour, Shield
68

Boyz:
club
28

Boyz: club
28

Boyz: club
28

Boyz:
club
28

Boyz: club
28

Goblin: Short Bow
20

Goblin: Short Bow
20

Squig
15

-----
499 gc, 12 members

So i changed the following:

*bow for the captain (to make use of his BS4) Variant: Halberd instead of a bow.
*helmets for the Big Uns (to hopefully survive "more probably", so more wyrdstones for my orcs)
*dropped the clubs of the goblins (let them be mere shooters for the first game at least, but plan to soon buy that clubs for them!)
* drop one squig

@horatius: I know, you suggested exactly the opposite (get one more squig). But i thought i want try to optimize my money income, because i only got 4 heroes at the start, so i want to make as sure as possible, my heroes dont get ooA the first few games until i get some money.

And i do think that helmets really help a lot to save them, as an average model at strength 3 still must roll a 5+ to wound a orc lying knocked down in front of them, which the helm helps to achieve. if it is stunned instead its dead meat regardless of any other attributes.

@teh orc player: This way i also get down to 12 members and thus i can be a real coward if necessary and bail after a loss of only 3 models (or more if goblins/squigs are among the casualties.) Thus again, hopefully minimizing potential financial losses at the beginning of their career.

---> so what do you guys think about my contemplations are they realistic and justified or am i rather completely off track at some points?

btw: fire of gork seems to be a nice starting spell indeed. 8 is not too difficult to acheive and d3 s3 might do quite a lot of damage. good suggestion, thanks!

btw. I'm facing the following warbands:
*dark elves
*skaven
*undead
*beastmen

that might influence the choice of my desired starting spell significantly. As most of my enemies have t3 at the beginning, "fire of gork" might work out well it seems.

But what about "Zzap!" instead? S4 would be a big enhancement, but difficulty 9 is a bit high, isnt it?

erm.. sorry for the lenghty post!

@teh orc player: i like your list. also that you have some shooting.

But you might want to get more orc boyz to maximize your chance to get 1-2 heroes via LgT as soon as possible.

And i'd rather give your captain a halberd instead of a DHW. S 5 is still a lot and thus he does not strike last. (and its cheaper )


btw: a rules question: can "fire of gork" and "zzap!" be cast into close combat? and what about if the shaman is in cc himself and shoots it at his enemy in base-contact?

I have a feeling Zzap doesn't even need line of sight, that's why it has a high casting value.

I understand the reasoning behind all the armour and shields but I'm not convinced of their actual effectiveness in-game. Can you let us know after a few games if you felt they were worth while?

if i recall correctly, every spell needs line of sight since an errata in annual 2002 (i guess).

I will love to report on my impressions on the armour use in our group, but i just like to restate that we don't use the normal rules for armour, in case it has slipped your attention. So we might find (hopefully) using armour worthwile with our house rules but we possibly would not according to the original rules, though.

our house rules concerning armour are roughly as follows (identical with a variant as it was proposed in the old mordheim forum on specialist-games.com as you might happen to have seen it there also):

*shield: 6+, 5 gc, grants an additional +1 in close combat if used together with a handweapon (only if model is on foot).

*buckler: same as before. additionally: grants a 6+ save, if used with a handweapon.

*LA: 6+, 10 gc

*HA: 5+, 20gc

*Full armour: 4+, rare 8, 50 gc

*Ithilmar armour: 90 gc, rare 11, 4+.
additionally: 5+ save when rolling "death" on serious injury chart in post-battle phase. If failed, the model is still dead, if passed, "dead" changes to the result "full recovery".

*Gromril armour: 150 gc, rare 11, 4+.
additionally: same additional rule as with Ithilmar armour, but on a 4+ save.


Full Armour, Ithilmar Armour and Gromril armour all count as heavy armour.

I'm getting a new campaign going again after a few years off. Looking for some feedback on my initial warband.

Vampire - Free Dagger, Sword, Mace, Bow - 133GC
Necromancer - Free Dagger, Mace - 38GC
Dreg - Free Dagger, Mace - 23GC
Dreg - Free Dagger, Mace - 23GC
Dreg - Free Dagger, Mace - 23GC

2 Ghouls - 80GC
1 Ghoul - 40GC
5 Zombies - 75GC

Imperial Assassin - Free Dagger, Sword, Xbow Pistol, Xbow - 65GC

Total - 500GC

Haven't done spells yet but if i don't get Re-animation may lose a few zombies. Also what are your thoughts on taking the assassin from game 1. I will use him for some great fire support as he can poison the crossbow and dish out S5 shots at BS4. However, i have also considered the warlock/witch or just more ghouls/wolves/zombies.

JC: As it stands you've made a very strong warband list, a few points though.

- A sword would do much better on a dreg than on a vampire as most models will be hitting them on a 3+ compared to the 4+ on vampires.
- I would snatch a witch up as soon as possible and warlocks come in second for most worthwile hiredsword. In my wargaming group we've deemed witches so powerful that they've become banned.