Slayer Cult Warband Rules

My third attempt at making this warband work. Half-tested, awaiting further attempts. Feedback welcome as always.

SLAYER CULT WARBAND
EXPERIMENTAL FORM!
By Dave ‘Styrofoam King’ Joria
Design based on Mark Havener’s Dwarf Treasure Hunters
Rememberers based on the Karak Azghal Slayer Warband
Additional Help from John Rust

It is a fallacy to assume that every Slayer acts the same. There are many reasons that Slayers join the Cult of Grimnir, and to seek their deaths facing monstrous creatures. For those who have failed their clan and their family, it is the only way to recover honor to the family name… a martyr for the sake of their living relatives. Others are dwarfs that have been disowned, betrayed by loved ones, and seek the solace of a gathering of embittered souls. For a few more ignoble dwarfs, it is the Foreign Legion, a chance to escape past mistakes.

But the greatest, grimmest, and the most memorable of all Slayers are the ones who have lost everything. No clan members will be there to remember them when they die, no family members to mourn them. These grim slayers have steeled their nerves, and teeter on the brink of madness. In any cult, they long for death the most, and as a testament to the cruelty of fate, often survive the longest. They seek stronger foes, fiercer monsters and more desolate lands to wander. Younger Slayers gravitate them, gleaning what they can from the wizened warriors. The Giant Slayers are silent and direct in their instruction. Indeed, sometimes the only sound a Giant Slayer is heard making is the singing of his own Deathsong when heading into battle.

Special Rules
All Slayers are subject to the following special rules:
Hard to Kill. Dwarfs are tough, resilient individuals who can only be taken out of action on a roll of 6 instead of 5-6 when rolling on the Injury chart. Treat a roll of 1-2 as knocked down, 3-5 as stunned, and 6 as out of action.
Hard Head. Dwarfs ignore the special rules for maces, clubs, etc. They are not easy to knock out!
Grudgebearers. Dwarfs hold an ancient grudge against Elves from the days when the two races fought for supremacy in the Old World. A Dwarf warband may never include any kind of Elven Hired Sword or Dramatis Personae.
Damnable Luck: While Slayers SEEK death, it often eerily avoids them. All Slayer heroes add +1 to all Serious Injury rolls- they will never roll a result higher than 66.
Deathwish: Slayers seek an honorable death in combat. Unless stated otherwise, all members of this are completely immune to all psychology and never need to test if fighting alone. This includes Frenzy & Stupidity. In addition, they will never voluntarily or involuntarily leave combat.
No Toys! Slayers may never use armor of any kind (does not include Lucky Charms), and may not use any missiles that aren’t thrown. Also, Slayers may never learn magic.

SLAYERS & EXPLORATION
Slayers do not explore for riches in the traditional sense- most of them are so overwrought by their past sufferings that it overpowers even their love of gold! Rather, it is not uncommon for a successful slayer band to receive aid from a generous patron… maybe from the Slayer King of Karak Kardin himself!
Reward for Recklessness
A slayer hero that survives a game without getting taken out of action does NOT, sadly, get any exploration dice- their goal is to die, not to wait around doing nothing! Instead, if a Slayer is taken out of action by means of an enemy attack (ex. Attacked by a enemy warrior, falling off a cliff after a crossbow bolt, taken out by a friendly model that’s under an enemy’s control), then and ONLY then does the Slayer gain an exploration dice. If a Slayer is taken out of action without any opposing influences (ex. deliberately walking off a cliff, failing a climbing down roll), he does not gain an exploration dice. This only applies to heroes that are Slayers, however, so the Rememberer still gains an Exploration Dice as per the usual rules.
To Drive Your Enemy Before You
If all opposing warbands have routed from the board and your warband still remains, you may, instead of gaining exploration dice as the above rules state, gain exploration dice equal to the number of enemy heroes still on the board when that opponent routed. (Ex. If you have two Slayers taken out by enemies [2 Dice] and have a Rememberer still in play [1 dice]. This would give you a total of 3 exploration dice. However, you caused an opposing Skaven Warband to rout, when he still had 4 heroes left on the board- you may instead receive 4 exploration dice [1 for each enemy hero] with +1 for the Remember. If you won the scenario, you gain +1 dice for winning too!) Note that you do NOT gain any bonuses or modifiers that your opponent would receive from skills, hired swords, or items, nor may you gain more Exploration dice than the number of Slayer Heroes in your warband (so if you only have 3 Slayer Heroes, causing a Skaven opponent to rout with 6 heroes on the board will only grant you 3 dice, with an additional dice if your Remember is still in play). If facing more than one opponent, you may choose which warband to “steal” your dice from, but may not gain them both (ex. If a Skaven warband of 5 heroes and a Dark Elf warband of 3 heroes both rout, you may gain 5 or 3 exploration dice… NOT 8!) You may wait until the end of the game to choose whether you want your “Reckless” dice, or your “Driven Before You” dice (we suggest you go with whichever amount is greater!)


SLAYER CULT SKILLS
Giant Slayer - Combat, Strength, Special
Doomseekers - Combat, Strength, Special
Dwarf Remem. - Combat, Shooting, Acad, Special
Human Remem. - Combat, Acad, Speed, Special


SLAYER EQUIPMENT LIST
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Mace/Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Dwarf Axe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 gc
Double-handed weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Gromril weapon* . . . . . . . . . . 3 times the cost

Missile Weapons
Throwing Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15gc

DOOMSEEKER EQUIPMENT LIST
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Mace/Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Dwarf Axe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 gc
Double-handed weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Flail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 gc
Whirling Blades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 gc
Gromril weapon* . . . . . . . . . . 3 times the cost

Missile Weapons
None

REMEMBERER EQUIPMENT LIST
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Mace/Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Dwarf Axe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 gc (Dwarf only)
Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 gc
Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 gc
Double-handed weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Gromril weapon* . . 3 times the cost (Dwarf only)

Missile Weapons
Throwing Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15gc
Pistols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15gc/30 brace
Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10gc (Human Only)
Crossbow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25g

Equipment
Light Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20gc
Helmet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Shield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Buckler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc

*Any weapon a Dwarf may normally purchase may be bought as a Gromril weapon instead. This multiplies the cost of the weapon by 3. For rules on Gromril weapons see the Mordheim rulebook. Note that this price is only for a starting warband, as it represents the Dwarfs outfitting themselves at their own stronghold. Later purchases of Gromril weapons are done using the price chart in the Mordheim rules (or the campaign setting).

Choice of warriors
A Slayer warband must include a minimum of 3 models. You have 500 gold crowns which you can use to recruit and equip your warband. The maximum number of warriors in the warband is 12.

Giant Slayer: Each Dwarf warband must have one Giant Slayer – no more, no less!
Doomseeker: Your warband may include up to 2 Doomseeker.
Rememberer: Your warband may include up to 1 Rememberer.
Troll Slayers: Your warband may include any number of Troll Slayers.
Stubbles: Your warband may include any number of Stubbles.
Axe Hurlers: Your warband may include up to 5 Axe Hurlers


Starting experience
A Giant Slayer starts with 20 experience.
Doomseekers start with 8 experience.
Rememberers start with 8 experience
Henchmen start with 0 experience.

Heroes
1 Giant Slayer
85 gold crowns to hire
The most experienced and battle-scarred of all Slayers in the warband. Having dipped his hands in the blood of giants, he is off to Mordheim is search of the next big hunt: Demons.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
3 5 4 3 4 1 3 1 9
Weapons/Armor: A Giant Slayer may be equipped with weapons chosen from the Slayer equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Leader: Any models in the warband within 6" of the Giant Slayer may use his Leadership instead of their own.

0-2 Doomseeker
50 gold crowns to hire
Doomseekers plow recklessly into the enemy, whirling their weapons madly around their heads. They are armed with axes on the end of chains, which they spin about themselves, slicing through their foes with surprising speed.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Weapons/Armor: A Doomseeker may be equipped with weapons chosen from Doomseeker equipment list.

0-1 Rememberer
40 gold crowns to hire
When hired, choice a Human or Dwarf Rememberer – he follows the stats accordingly
The one sane member of the warband, the Rememberer is a bard charged with the task of recording each Slayer that falls in battle.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Dwarf 3 3 2 3 4 1 2 1 8
Human 4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7
Weapons/Armor: A Rememberer may be equipped with weapons chosen from the Remember equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Grim Account: The Rememberer’s task is to record the doom of each of the slayers. When he is close by, the slayers will fight even harder to make their death more honourable. Once per game, any Slayer Hero fighting within 6” of the Rememberer and is fighting against a Large creature or a creature with Toughness 5 or greater may re-roll any failed To Hit rolls, accepting the second result.
Pick up the Slack. If he was not taken out of action, the Rememberer may make an additional rarity or Dramatis Personae roll for every two Slayer heroes that were taken out of action this game. (Ex. If you lose two heroes, he may make 2 rare rolls- if you lose four heroes, may make three rolls, etc.)
Not a Slayer: A Rememberer is not a Slayer, and does not gain the benefit of slayer rules such as “Deathwish”, “Good Day to Die”, “Damnable Luck”. Also, he may not learn “Slayer Only” skills, and may never be warband leader.
Humans: If you choose to have a Human Rememberer, he does not gain the benefits of being a dwarf. He does not gain “Hard to Kill,”, “Hard Head”, or learn any “Dwarf Only” skills.

Henchmen (Bought in groups of 1-5)

Troll Slayers
40 gold crowns to hire
Trollslayers are the most numerous part of a slayer cult, a collection of solitary souls, who have pushed them themselves beyond fear. They have whetted their blades in the blood of Trolls, Sea Trolls, Ogres, or similarly large beasts, and have found the experience exhilarating. The only thing to sate them now is bigger game, or death itself.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Weapons/Armor: Troll Slayers may be equipped with weapons chosen from the Slayer equipment list.

0-5 Axe Hurler
40 gold crowns to hire
In a past life, they were probably Thunderers or Rangers. No one dares ask, but their skill with throwing axes is more than enough to prove their worth.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
3 3 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Weapons/Armor: Axe Hurlers may be equipped with weapons chosen from the Slayer equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Running Start: The Axe Hurler is able to run and throw a single Throwing Axe in the same turn, suffering an additional -1 to hit. If he gains the skill “Axe Thrower” (see below), he may run and throw two axes, but both suffer a-2 modifier to hit.
Born Marksmen: If an Axe Hurler rolls a “That Lad’s Got Talent” as an advancement, he may always choose Shooting skills as one of his two skill list choices. He may do this even if there are no heroes with Shooting Skills in the warband. Reminder: Even with Weapon Mastery, he may not use any missile weapons that aren’t thrown.
Skittish: As newly crowned Slayers, Hurlers do not have the skill ‘Death Wish’, and suffer psychology like normal. When a Hurler gains ‘That Lad’s Got Talent’, instead of making an immediate roll on the Hero Advance Table, he MUST learn the skill ‘Death Wish.’ Death Wish may be learned even if the Hurler does not choose Special skills as one of his two skill lists.

Stubbles
25 gold crowns to hire
Stubbles are new Slayers, their shaven heads still covered in stubble and the ink in their beards still wet. They are not all young and brash dwarfs… some are mature adults, still shaking from the breakdown of their past life.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
3 3 2 3 4 1 2 1 8
Weapons/Armor: Stubbles may be armed with weapons chosen from the Slayer equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Skittish: As newly crowned Slayers, Stubbles do not have the skill ‘Death Wish’, and suffer psychology like normal. When a Stubble gains ‘That Lad’s Got Talent’, instead of making an immediate roll on the Hero Advance Table, he MUST learn the skill ‘Death Wish.’ Death Wish may be learned even if the Stubble does not choose Special skills as one of his two skill lists.



TROLL SLAYER SKILLS
Deathwish: The hero is completely immune to all psychology and never need to test if fighting alone. In addition, they will never voluntarily or involuntarily leave combat. [Stubbles and Axe Hurlers Only. See ‘Stubbles’ and “Axe Hurlers” for details.]

Ferocious Charge: The Slayer may double his attacks on the turn in which he charges. He will suffer a -1 ‘to hit’ penalty on that turn. Slayers Only

Monster Slayer: In close combat, the Slayer always wounds any opponent on a roll of 4+, regardless of Toughness, unless his own Strength (after all modifiers due to weapon bonuses, etc) would mean that a lower roll than this is needed. Slayers Only.

Berserker: The Slayer may add +1 to his close combat ‘to hit’ rolls during the turn in which he charges. Slayers Only.

Deathblow – If the Hero is taken out of action in hand-to-hand, he may immediately make the remainder of his attacks before being removed, if he hasn’t made all of his attacks already this turn. He may use this skill if he is knocked down or stunned. Slayers Only.

Relentless – If the Hero charges a model but the charge fails, the Hero may still move the full distance of his move. This skill may only be used against enemies within sight or that the Slayer can detect. Slayers Only.

True Grit Dwarfs are hardy individuals and this Hero is hardy even for a Dwarf! When rolling on the Injury table for this Hero, a roll of 1-3 is treated as knocked down, 4-5 as stunned, and 6 as out of action. Dwarves Only.

Thick Skull The Hero has a thick skull, even for a Dwarf. He has a 3+ save on a D6 to avoid being stunned. If the save is made, treat a stunned result as knocked down instead. Dwarves Only.

Songster: A Bard's rousing war songs steel the hearts of all those around him. Any friendly model within 6" of a Bard may re-roll any failed Leadership test with a +1 to Leadership, to a max of 10. This includes rout tests. Rememberer only.

Song of Honor: Any time a Slayer in your Warband dies, you may grant +1 Experience to any Slayer Hero in your warband. Rememberer only.

Special weapons
DWARF AXE
15 gold crowns
Availability: Rare 8 (Dwarfs only)
Dwarf axes are smaller-hafted weapons made of lighter (but stronger) materials than normal axes. Dwarf Warriors are specially trained in their use and are able to use them as deftly as a Human warrior might wield a sword.
Range: Close Combat Strength: As User Special Rules: Cutting Edge, Parry
SPECIAL RULES
Cutting Edge: Dwarf axes have an extra save modifier of -1, so a model with Strength 4 using a Dwarf axe has a -2 save modifier when he hits an opponent with the axe in close combat.
Parry: Dwarf axes offer an excellent balance of defense and offense. A model armed with a Dwarf axe may parry blows. When his opponent rolls to hit, the model armed with a Dwarf axe may roll a D6. If the score is greater than the highest to hit score of his opponent, the model has parried the blow and that attack is discarded. A model may not parry attacks made with double or more its own Strength – they are simply too powerful to be stopped. A model may not parry more than one attack in a single Close Combat phase; a model armed with two Dwarf axes (or a Dwarf axe and a sword, etc) does not get to parry two attacks but may instead re-roll a failed parry.

THROWING AXE
15 gold crowns
Availability: Slayers-Common, (Non-slayers, Rare 5)
A smaller axe specially weighted for hurling from dangerous distances.
Range: 6”; Strength: As User ;
Special Rules: Thrown Weapon, Axe Thrower
SPECIAL RULES
Thrown Weapon: Throwing axes suffer no penalty for throwing over half range, or for moving and shooting.
Axe Thrower: All heroes armed with Throwing Axes and have access to Shooting Skills may learn the following skill, Axe Thrower: “The warrior can throw a maximum of two axes in his shooting phase, both of which gain +1 Strength, and may divide his shots between any targets within range as he wishes. Note that this skill cannot be combined with the Quick Shot skill or the Knife Fighter skill.”
The skill Knife Thrower does not allow the user to throw multiple Throwing Axes.

WHIRLING BLADES
30 gold crowns per pair
Availability: Rare 9 (Slayers only)
The signature weapon of the Doomseeker, the Whirling Blade is an axe on a chain. Even expert slayers have trouble mastering such a difficult weapon, but once mastered, the damage dealt can be staggering.
Range: Close Combat Strength: As User
Special Rules: Pair, Cannot be parried, Cutting Edge, Whirlwind of Death
SPECIAL RULES
Pair: Whirling Blades are traditionally used in pairs, one in each hand. A warrior armed with Whirling Blades gets an additional attack.
Cannot be parried: The Whirling Blades is a flexible weapon and a Doomseeker use it with great expertise. Attempts to parry its strikes are futile. A model attacked by a whirling blade may not make parries with swords or bucklers.
Cutting Edge: Whirling Blades have an extra save modifier of -1, so a model with Strength 4 using a Whirling Blade has a -2 save modifier when he hits an opponent with the blade in close combat.
Whirlwind of Death: When the wielder charges they gain +1A for that turn. This bonus attack is added after any other modifications (like ‘Ferocious Charge’ skill). Likewise, when the wielder is charged, if he is not already in combat, then he gains +1A that they may only use against a charging model. This additional attack will ‘strike first’. If the wielder is simultaneously charged by two or more opponents, the wielder will still only receive a total of +1A. The user also gains +1A for the additional hand weapon (the other whirling blade) but only the first Whirling Blade gets the ‘Whirlwind of Death’ +1A (like having two whips). (Example: A Deathseeker has a Stat of 1 Attack. If he is charged, he gains +1 Whirlwind Attack {which strikes first}. When the order of initiative allows the Deathseeker to attack as normal, he gains 1 attack for his base Attack stat, and 1 attack for the additional hand weapon {as the Whirling Blades count as two hand weapons}. This equals 3 attacks in the first turn, and 2 attacks for every turn after it.)

TACTICS
The most effective strategy I've encountered can be aptly called the 'move-in-a-clump-&-hammer-to-death' strategy. In a perfect situation, find yourself a gate or an archway to bottleneck your opponent. Your guys won't be the strongest fighters on the board, but they’ll probably the strongest with a 20mm base, meaning you can screen the front line with stubbles and countercharge the snot out of him. While the strike-first Doomseeker axe is nice on defense, a charge from a leveled up Doomseeker will claw it's way through nearly any henchmen, making mince of THEIR screens. If you’re lucky, your Doomseeker will bounce from henchmen to henchmen each turn. Stubbles are amazing for the cost, so don’t underestimate their worth in the early campaign.

In long-term campaigns, your Slayers will start feeling the hurt from lack of armor. A few friendly alternatives: Lucky Charms, defensive skills (Thick Skull, Step Aside, etc.), and remember- Two Dwarf Axes gets you a parry AND a reroll. Luckily, the dwarves themselves are pretty tough, and nearly every weapon they wield has a -1 AS modifier… if you can’t have armor, no one can! Also, with such limited equipment available to them, you’ll have extra money to spend on henchmen and hired swords.

As your band gets tougher, the clump formation will remain the only strategy you have. Resist the urge to divide your forces too much… if one half gets in trouble, your other half won’t get there in time! A nice alternative is to invest in some speedy third party help; a Wardog can harass your opponent long enough to disrupt their Sprinty Youngblood, and if you can afford the money, an Ogre Bodyguard can move TWICE what your dwarves can. A Tilean Marksmen definitely helps put your opponent over the edge into rout level (although, I’ve never personally used one… hardly the ‘Slayer’ style.)

Shooting Battle: Sadly, in a shooting battle, you WILL lose. Sad truth. However, with their Toughness 4 and ‘Hard to Kill’ rule, your Dwarves will be much harder to kill than most warbands (though constant stuns will slow your warband even more so.) Stay behind cover in early campaigns, hide in later campaigns, and hope you can get a shot or two in with your Hurlers. If you’re lucky, they can act as counter-snipers, but their biggest use is helping when the terrain is rough, and for being the wings on your V- formation. Have them stay close by your chargers, and picking off models just out of your charge range, or their heroes hiding behind their henchmen screen. Don’t forget, while he can’t learn any Shooting skills, your Giant Slayer can take a Throwing Axe too, adding a small 6” boost to your warband’s deadliness.

Remembers are the newest part of the warband, and they are the most drastically different of the group. The Human version gives you tremendous speed (a great way to snatch up a shard you otherwise couldn’t get.) However, they are surprisingly squishy, and you have to remember to keep them out of harm’s way. If you’re not playing against a warband with Large models (so you can use the Grim Account ability), or you’re not playing a treasure scenario, I recommend you keep him back with a crossbow and use him as sniper.
The Dwarf Rememberer comes with shooting skills, but with BS2- it’ll take a while before he’s he can put that crossbow to good use. Load him up with armor, and keep him huddled around your Leader. If he rolls skills early, give him bard skills like Songster, effectively making your stubbles never fail a Ld test, and leader never fail a rout. If he rolls WS/BS early, give him ballistic skill, and start training him as a marksman.

Thanks to “Reward for Recklessness” and “Drive Your Enemy”, you can expect that Slayers to behave radically different than any other band. “Reward for Recklessness” means you will gain more exploration dice if your opponent beats your warriors into a pulp- if your heroes start dropping, it might be worth it to go all out and take stupid risks. Don’t rout until the only thing left on the board is your Rememberer and your henchman- you’ll get a bunch of dice, despite the fact that it felt like you “lost”. Resist the normal instinct to run until you got at least 2 slayer heroes on the ground- it doesn’t pay to be cowardly. If your opponent is FAR stronger than you, do not deploy as many henchmen screens- put your Whirling Blades up front, and meet the first wave of chargers with your heroes. Sure, they’ll go down, but they’ll go down fighting, and they have a much lower chance of dying than your henchmen. If you end up doing this a lot, take the skill “Deathblow”, which lets you dish out one last attack, even as you fall.

“Drive Your Enemy Before You” does the opposite- it pays off if your ENEMY is cowardly. If your opponent matches you in warband rating or is lower, see if you can shoot for the “Drive” bonus, which gets you beaucoup Exploration dice without putting your heroes in danger. Make sure you use a henchmen screen, and try to pick off their henchmen. Remember, you want to bring them to rout level with as many heroes as possible on the board. If you’re playing a multiplayer game, run at the player with the lower leadership. If you start massacring their troops, but your opponent refuses to rout (something a slayer could admire,) you might have to settle for the fact that you may not get many exploration dice this game. Keep your Rememberer safe (so you get at least one die- two, if you win the scenario), and try to get as many “kill” experience points as you can.

For additional advice on Dwarves, read Ian Davies’s article on Dwarf Treasure Hunter tactics, “Axes All Areas”. So go out there, and share the hurt. Spike that hair and take the oath!
-Dave Joria, aka the self-proclaimed ‘Styrofoam King’

JP mentioned playing with Dwarves, so I thought I'd post the latest version. It's been posted on the Yahoo group (minus a few tweaks), but it's new here. Look at the "Reward for Recklessness" /"Driven before you" rules, they TOTALLY flip the normal way of playing around.

"All heroes armed with Throwing Axes and have access to Shooting Skills may learn the following skill, Axe Thrower: "

What aboutchanging it so that any hero with Throwing Axes in their equipment list and access to Shooting Skills. That way a model can learn Axe Thrower even if they lose their equipment or for some reason have not been able to afford them yet.

Or did you intend for a model to need the equipment in order to practice or something?

HA! Never realized it came out sounding like they needed to physically hold the axe.

How about:
"have access to both throwing axes and shooting skills may learn".

This lets players who have Weapons Training learn it too, as they can access items not on their warband list.

Thanks for the keen spotting, Balrog.

Anytime! I love this list!

I like to see the old Doomseekers, I was also wondering why the leader is a Giant Slayer rather than a Daemon or Dragon Slayer? I can understand a Daemon Slayer being to high in rank to be wondering around small fries in Mordheim but I could see a Dragon Slayer as a leader.

It might be a bit of an odd title but you could call Remembers; War-Mourners instead.

Giant / Daemon / Dragon : Well, two reasons. One, in Mord, the band is generally on the small side. My favorite Leader names reflect a low level leader, like "captain", as it's not something too big. Daemon slayer is out, 'cause it would the equal of having a General... and most generals would have more than 11 other guys to control. Dragon Slayer would work too, but the stats are closer to a normal giant slayer's than a dragon slayer.

I don't think it matters too much which rank you stop at, so long as you don't mix up the hierarchy (as in, having Dragon Slayers serving UNDER a giant slayer.)


Rememberer - An awkward name, I will confess, but it is the official term in GW lore. Established in the Gotrek & Felix books. (Also the reason why you can have a dwarf or HUMAN rememberer.)

I didn't know that Remember was an actual term used in fluff. I think this an awesome warband and I am going to play testing it in the next day or two.

The only major thing I see thats kinda out of place is the 'Songster' Special skill, I am guessing that you were going to rename it or something? The idea of a Bard Dwarf Slayer would be awesome :I

So, here is the Dwarf Slayer warband I wrote up to face off against Night Goblins.

Heroes:

Hrul Ironfist; Giant Slayer
- Two-Handed Axe

Grol Bronzebeard; Doom-Seeker
- Whirling Blades

Trohl Bloodhammer; Doom-Seeker
- (x2) Gromril Hammers

Jerick Steelkeeper; (Dwarf) Rememberer
- Shield
- Sword

Henchmen;

(3) Troll Slayers
A. (x2) Axes
B. Dwarf Axe
C. Axe, Throwing Axes

(1) Stubbles
- (x2) Hammers

Total cost : 499

I think I made a pretty fierce warband. I know that the enemy they will be facing (Night Goblins) will have a Troll in their ranks and it will be interesting to see how well the fair off against it.

This makes me want to buy a pile of the old Marauder Slayers... and that's no bad thing!!

Campaign: Hrul's retribution
Place: Mordheim
Warbands: Dwarf Slayer Cult (myself) vs Night Goblins
Scenarios in Campaign: 5

1st Scenario: Street Fight
2nd Scenario: Defend the Find (Slayers Defending)
3rd Scenario: Treasure Hunt
4th Scenario: Skirmish
5th Scenario: Wyrdstone Hunt

the reports are soon to come.

"Hear the lamentation of their women" - Whenever an opponet's hero you took OOA dies this model gains 1 exp - Rememberer only

You had to have something to go with Drive your enemy before you...

Well, after play testing this warband, I can say that this warband is pretty balanced. Against Night Goblins they just tore into them and wrecked the goblins in close combat and obviously had a major problem against Bows and Magic.

The major thing that happened with this warband (it happened with myself and my friends who play-tested the warband aswell) is that you end up buying swords or dwarf axes for everyone just to get that parry save.

As for Whirling Blades, I loved them. They were a storm of hits that just destroyed everything in their path.

Glad to see they worked out for you!

Parry: I agree, when I took my first band, I was a little heavy on the sword side. (However, I used to have a slayer model with 2 swords, so it was justified... slightly less so now, as I have no clue where it went.)

If you play them further, let me know how it goes! (I'm especially curious about the "Reward for Recklessness" and the "Drive your enemy" rules, as those are the least tested and most unorthodox parts of the warband.)

I like the rules you have here. I was wondering. Does anyone have the slayer rules from the Khemri supplement ? I have been looking for them for some time now.

Um, don't think khemri had one. The Karak Azghal site had one (which I based the Remember on), but it wasn't what I'd call perfect. Most of the warbands on the website had leaders with A2, some with W2 as well. Some fun ideas, but not what I'd call completely balanced.

I've just had the Avatars of War Dwarf Berserker box set arrive that I bought especially to make a warband using these rules!

Wow, those guys look awesome! (and also look like TOTAL rip-offs from Slayers! )

I'm glad you're excited... I'm always eager for feedback, so let me know how they play for you!

Anyone play test these since? Curious to know how it worked.

I've tested the second to latest version (which included "Reckless" & "Drive the enemy"), and it seemed a blast to play. I ran them for for about 8-10 games.

The only thing I haven't really done is try out the Axe Hurlers- the old version was 0-2 heroes which added +3 to their range. The current version has them as 0-5 henchmen, with the "run & throw" rule. In theory, they still get the same distance, but it brings them closer to the enemy (mixed blessing), and adds -1 to your to hit roll (definite penalty.) Combined with the lower WS (another new feature), I'm not sure if I've made them TOO weak, but they look good on paper.

I really miss the option for slayer pirates in this list.

Maybe instead of axe hurlers?

A dwarf rememberer with BS 2? That is in comparison to the human rememberer really bad. Slow and can not shoot? Like a beardling?

The rules for generating exploration dices are cool. I hope they are balanced.

And i also would love to integrate a Malakai Makaisonish slayer. There is such a great mini with a repeat handgun on the market. This needs to be used,

I really love the whirling blade rules ( and the existing minis)

Hmm maybe i will tweek your list to integrate pirate slayers and a Malakai Makaison option.

Games against shooty warbands seems to be less fun. I think there is a need for some shooting options.

Haha! Foolish mortal... you honestly thought I wouldn't have prepared for such a thing?

https://sites.google.com/site/styroheim/sartosa

Master and I wrote a Slayer Pirate list based on (an earlier version) of the same list. They can use pistols, and the gunners and the master gunner can use Blunderbusses.

Also, I have the link for the SG approved Slayer Pirate HS that Myntokk wrote, in case you want to add just a dash of pirate to your existing cult band.


Dwarf Rememberer: Yeah, BS2 sucks. However, I wanted to have the 4th hero to be a weaker hero, like a youngblood. He's not a warrior like the others. Therefore, he's about 25gc worth of stats, before you add in the bonuses and the hero status. So, for cost of 40gc, you get 2 equal choices: an average human who can sprint and use missiles, but can't learn shooting skills, or a weak dwarf that can use missiles and gain missile skills, but sucks at hitting anything? ( Maybe I'll be merciful and add blunderbuss to the remember equipment list, so he can at least hit SOMETHING. )

I've played a handful of games with both- the human is the easier to play by far, providing a decent cover from afar and nabbing up objectives when you need him to. He helps overcome some of the weaknesses the Slayers face.

The dwarf rememberer, however, is a little bit more challenging- he helps the slayers do what they already do, but BETTER. A human sniper on a tower can't use his "Grim Account" ability, he's too far out of range... but a dwarf rememberer can, and is tough enough to be in the middle of it without dying too easily. I recommend you build up some support skills on him, and base his role based on what he rolls- if he advances with BS, give him a crossbow. If he rolls Strength, give him a throwing axe and put him into the fray!

Shooty games - no much you can do, although I hope the axe hurlers help. I might increase their range by +3 again if they are completely useless.

Ohhh yeah i totally forgot this list.

And it does include Malakai, yeah that is great.

Maybe a rememberer is missing but i can include a bard HS for this function.

And this list will not totally be outshot like the one above.

And with the current stats i would always choose the human remeberer because of its mobilty and better shooting capability. The dwarven one would only be an option if he has BS 3.

But this is only my opinion.

And one more question:

Stubles are Slayers?

Therfore you would also use Slayer models?