New Warband: Gnoblar Scrappers

For anyone who has a handful of these charming, little gits lying around collecting dust, I thought I'd make a gnoblar horde viable in Mordheim.

This warband was designed in response to one of my friend’s idea to use a Halfling warband to represent gnoblars mob.  While the two groups have definite similarities, I felt that Gnoblars deserved a tailored list that reflected their unique qualities.  The design lies somewhere between Skaven and Mordheim Fanatics with obvious references to the all goblin warbands.

I would like to thank the following people and gaming groups for the inspiration and precedents they provided:

Makers of the Forest Goblin, Night Goblin, and Halfling warbands
Ogre Warband ~ Ogre Stronghold forum
Swords of the Empire ~ Lieber Malefic
Gnoblar Fighter – Bordertown Burning Supplement

Hope you all find this to be a promising warband.  The design was conceptually discussed and peer reviewed with my gaming group.  We have hundreds of encounters under our belts, but this has not yet been fully play tested.  Hope to provide battle report soon.

Comments and criticism are always appreciated.  Let me know if link doesn't work.

Link to Warband PDF

Thanks for reading.

-Timid post bump-

I plan to use this army this weekend. Any chance that I could get some feedback, so I can make changes before I start a campaign with them. I'd like to have as balanced and edited a warband design as I can before the swords and insults are bared.

Thanks.

I had a very quick skim through it and it looks very nice. I made my own Gnoblar Warband (Blood Gnoblars) so if i can find it I'll show you, but yours looks very fleshed out and detailed. I'll give it a proper look when I can and report back in full detail (hopefully with a game under its belt if I can).

Grubbi wrote:

I had a very quick skim through it and it looks very nice. I made my own Gnoblar Warband (Blood Gnoblars) so if i can find it I'll show you, but yours looks very fleshed out and detailed. I'll give it a proper look when I can and report back in full detail (hopefully with a game under its belt if I can).

I'd love to see your goblar band, and of course, any help play testing would be much appreciated.

Other contributions

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t4236-gnoblar-crap-seekers?highlight=Gnoblar

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t5318-experimental-gnoblar-warband?highlight=Gnoblar

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t4542-wee-warband-gnoblar-horde?highlight=Gnoblar

I've had a good look through it and I've made some notes:

I do really like the "Cowardly" and "Strength in Numbers" rules. I think they captivate the Gnoblars very well and makes they both interesting to play as and makes them a resonably strong warband. I'm not a fan of the Hoarders rule. I can see what is trying to be achieved but I a worried it will punish them in the long run. I can just imagine them having a very large stock pile of treasures which are no use. I don't think getting rid of it becuase it is a good balance, but the only advice I can give is to mayeb put a cap of 10 or so treasures in it so you don't end up with 20+ treasures

For your skill table it says "Ogre Scrappers" - just thought i'd point that out.

I am a fan of all the special skills. They capture the essence of the Gnoblars and are very solid all ground. I'm worried Lucky Git will be overpowered but I think play testing will solve that. I'd suggest making that a leader only skill but it's up to you.

Now I have some problems with the weapons:
For the fiery brands, I'd suggest making the fire identical to Border Town Burning fire rules. This may be the case - I didn't check. If it is the same then don't worry.

I'm not too keen on the fire bomb, I understand interesting and different weapons would make Gnoblars more fun but I feel lots of confusing weapons will just slow the game down.

This is the same with the scum minoin. I didn't really understand it and felt it was just very cluttered.

I like all the heroes. I'm not always a fan of adding a wizard to a non magical warband but I feel this one fits. One suggestiong is a feel you could make him stupid due to the wyrdstone Influence. Or maybe if he fails to cast a spell he cannot do anything the next turn. I'm not sure, just to make him more represenative of a Gnoblar using magic.

It might be a good idea to define the "adversaries" for Bullies a bit clearer as that word isn't used often/at all in the mordheim warbands I've seen. I'm not sure if hatred to everyone is very fluffy and/or balanced. I'm not sure a Gnoblar bully would be a 'bully' to a maraduarer. Maybe if you do it to people they think they can pick on, 'i.e. other Gnoblars or Gnbolins".

One last thing is under the Gnoblar Manbiter you said "and Chaos warbands may hire a Gnoblar Trapper".

I think it's quite solid and looks quite interesting. I would love to play them in my coming up Border Town Burning campaign as Scourge. I mean, Gnoblars defiently could beat the chaos leader

Edit: Found my old list: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OBb7hIuCJ9kwKpbiM8jMJk4dbmGfP5iiAAV5WioHIeI/edit

Von Kurst.  This is most excellent.  I had googled and searched for Gnoblar bands.  Why it hadn't occurred to me to sift through old posts I will never know...

As I figured, my build for the warband is in a similar spirit and vein with others.  One thing that I would like to ask the fine folks here, is what do you think the racial maximums should be for my gnoblars.  I handicapped them in that department, but I see that others have more of a goblin max stat line (usually with -1 Str).  That may be better than my severe stats with only 2 wounds and toughness 3.

I also will consider altering my list a bit to have 5 starting heroes and give one a 'roll two exploration dice' rule.  This is simply because I like promoting from the ranks.  Perhaps, I will combine the extra die ability into the army's Hoarder rule.
____

Grubbi. Good insights. Thanks for the typo catches.

I think you made a good point about the Hoarders rule. My intent was to head-off a common problem that I've seen with cheap mob warbands, which is that you quickly run out of things to spend gold on. I will dwell on this.

The fire equipment was just pulled out of Town Crier issues, but I'll look at the comparison with BTB. The fire bombs certainly don't have to be included.

You are right about scum minion also. I knew when I was writing the rule that it was cumbersome. I think I will include the piggyback riders as a unit type similar to some of the other Gnoblar bands that Von Kurst pointed out.

You are right that the Wyrdstone Mystic needs some Gnoblar flare. I just didn't necessarily want to make a whole new Lore for him to tailor it, but you offer good suggestions.

Looking at your list. I like the Lucky Little Gits rule. This does capture the Gnoblar luck in an easy, fair manner. Your list seemed to be Gnoblars with a bit of experience, rather than my pitiful mob.   

I appreciate the comments.

I had a chance to play a game with my Gnoblar band verses Clan Mor Skaven.  The mission was a homemade scenario called Book Burning where both sides approach a library or noble's house being set alight by a mob of peasants.  You can kill the mob for experience and go into the building to snatch a rare book or two before they are engulfed.  I may post our scenarios later when I get them formatted properly.

But the Gnoblar performance was the main spectacle for me.  What I found during the game was that the Cowardly rule was too debilitating and that gnoblars were every bit as weak as their meager profile suggests.  I lost the fight, but took numerous villagers and Skaven with me.

After some deliberation on your comments and reading over the assortment of other lists, I revamped my warband design.

The main changes to Version 7 are as follows:

- Updated the Cowardly rule to make it simpler and less restrictive, while maintaining its character and intent.
- Changed Hoarder rule to streamline it.
- Dropped starting heroes to 5. Mobs often have 6 but these guys are cheap, so it will help balance other aspects of the army.
- Altered maximum stats and skill access chart
- Gave all gnoblars Initiative 4 to counteract low strength
- Modified Sharp Stuff entry to make them compatible with Knife Fighter skill.
- Gave Mystic a little flare by increasing difficulty of his spells.  I considered having adding Stupidity or something similar but the Bicker rule already adds the possibility of him losing turns, so I didn't want him do nothing all game.
- Removed Flinger henchmen type in favor of Pig Knight entry to add some extra 'power' to list
- Made numerous minor adjustment and fixed typos.
- Added Grubbi and this forum to references

Check out the list.

Link to Warband PDF

Thanks again for your help.  I will post a battle report next time they play.

Neat warband idea. Gnoblars are goofy yet cool at the same time. I look forward to your battle report.