Merchant Caravan?

Hello,

I'm trying to figure out how a Merchant Caravan works. As far as I can tell from comparing it to my Orcs&Goblins warband, or to other bands from the BTB, all members of the caravan are - sometimes vastly - inferiour with regards to their WS, BS, S and T. While we are not powergamers or numbercrunchers, and fluff etc. is fine, I'm fearing that unless there's some secret I'm missing, the result from most encounters will be bloody.

Anyone care to point out my error?

Thanks!

Being merchants, they earn a lot of money. That can be quite a strength. Lets compare them to the Marienburgers (albeit a weak warband).

Both start with 600 gold. 20% bonus over other bands right there.

MC Pros:
With reputation rule, can gain huge rare rolls bonus (MB stuck with +1). Basically, each 50 gold invested = +1 rare rolls early on.
Amazing speed from trade wagon & ride warhorse skills. Can easily win many objective-based scenarios before other warbands get mounts.
MC gets BS 4 crossbow henchmen.
MC gets a spellcaster.
MC has better melee henchmen.
MC knights are better than MB champions.
Only warband which can trade directly with other warbands.
Can BUY artifacts in BTB setting
Amazing money earning possibilities:
-Ld 9 merchant with "dubious income" can be ridiculously profitable.
-Wholesale comboed with reputation and trade and deal breaker. You can sell that long rifle for 100 gold in profit every other attempt (average of 3 attempts per post-game). Searching for the rifle can reasonably be rare 9 or less. [Edit: I just noticed opulent coach would be one less rare and 25 gold extra profit].

MC Cons:
3 fewer max warband size
Can lose items in trade wagon (and must initially invest 180 for one)
Less equipment options

The biggest problem with the warband (max size of 12 with squishy units) can be overcome with hired swords, easily funded by the additional revenue. I think looking at the above lists, you can come to the conclusion that the merchant caravan is stronger than the marienburgers, and I believe it should be, as the marienburgers are regarded as rather weak. The main difference is in character though. In comparison to the merchant caravan, the marienburgers are just plain dull.

Well, each warband has its advantages and disadavantages. There are two occasions where people posted their concerns with the Merchants (one of them being on this board, the other on another forum). One was fearing that the warband was too weak (like you now), the other one was fearing that the warband was too strong. It is really interesting to see how differently people evaluate warbands.

The first thing you should probably do is NOT compare the warband to what I like to call the "power races" (=Beastmen, Orcs, Dwarfs). These are races who have stats (and skills) which are way superior to humans and their sheer bruatlity in close combat is balanced (well, that's the idea at least) by giving them a lack of shooting or a lack of versatility in other ways. So comparing them with those warbands will never work.

The caravan consists of humans so you should compare them to other human warbands (Mercenaries). You will then see that the caravan has access to some of the best quality warriors you can wish for as a human captain. They have the great marksmen from the Reiklanders (WS4), some above average close combat types and even a wizard as a starting Hero. The options are very strong and should probably look like "too strong" at first sight when compared to other human warbands. The downside (and flavour) of the merchant lies in that they have to buy and maintain the Trade Wagon (note that they start with 600gc), which makes them even more prone to ambushes from enemy warbands. Also you may need some experience with wagons (see Empire in Flames rules) to see how easily they get out of control.

The warband has some excellent model choices, from strong Heroes (Vanguards, WIzard) to the feared Marksmen and strongman-warriors. I would choose them any day over a normal Mercenary warband because of their more interesting models and the flavourful and cool trade wagon. All in all I think they compare quite well to other human warbands.

EDIT: Nice, Identity. You, once again, beat me to it.

Just to clarify, I was not proposing that they are too weak (since I never even played them or saw them played).

Identity explained it well - thanks for the analysis. I have not much experience with the item system (we have so far only played single-shot standalone games without even buying or rolling for stuff afterwards), and are now setting off for our BTB campaign, still figuring out who takes which warband.

But what you say makes perfect sense.