New Warband - Barrow Lords

So I stumbled across those fancy new Grave Guard models recently, and decided I would make a warband of them. However, looking through the undead rules, none really appealed to me. I don't know why, but I would rather not tote around a mage of some kind. Anyhow, I decided to write up my own warband frankensteining the various undead warbands with the Bretonnian warband.
Things that I think could use improvement:
Skills (Mine are just a handful of Brettonnian ones with two of my own.)
Henchmen variety (I think the skeletal theme of the warband is important, but this seems like the most elegant way to handle them.)
Without further adieu:



The Barrow Lords

Secreted away in the countless hills of the Old World are the burial halls of ancient times. These secluded catacombs, lost to the mists of time, house the remains of great lords and heroes of times long past. Such champions lived exceptional lives, and who knows what manner of sorcery they may have been exposed to.

The restless souls of those long forgotten warriors linger on in the dark places of the Realm. Through a variety of means, these spirits can be returned to their earthly remains. Gifted with all of the abilities of their mortal life plus the benefits of undeath, these warriors are terrible foes. However, even if their appearance may inspire fear, they bear no specific ill will against the living.

They style themselves as Barrow Lords, resurrecting those comrades and servants that shared their former grave. Though occasionally they may look back wistfully at their living years, it makes no difference to them that they are dead. Together they set out to do what they did best: adventure in the pursuit of glory and wealth!



Special Rules

Terrifying: Merchants catering to those who adventure in Mordheim cater to some of the oddest clients in the Realm, but even they find it disturbing to deal with skeletons. Roll a d6 before you begin purchasing items. On a 3+, the warband finds a merchant willing to trade. Otherwise, you may not buy or sell anything this round. You may still recruit as usual.

Arcane: The nature of the Barrow Lord's existence has given him keen insight into the manipulation of magic. Whenever a spell is cast at one of of the warband's models, roll a d6. On a 5+ it is dispelled.



Choice of Warriors

A Barrow Lord's warband must include a minimum of three models. You have 500 gold crowns to recruit your initial warband. The maximum number of warriors in the warband may never exceed 15.

Barrow Lord: Your warband must have one Barrow Lord: no more, no less!

Fell Knights: Your warband may include up to two fell knights.

Grave Guards: Your warband may include up to three grave guards.

Skeletons: Your warband may include any number of skeletons.



Skill Tables

Barrow Lord: Combat, Strength, Speed, Special

Fell Knight: Combat, Strength, Special

Grave Guards: Combat, Strength, Special



Barrows Equipment List

Lords

Dagger.....................................1st free/2 gc

Mace........................................3 gc

Sword......................................10 gc

Double-handed weapon.......15 gc

Morning star...........................20 gc

Lance.......................................20 gc

Light armour...........................20 gc

Heavy armour........................50 gc

Shield......................................5 gc

Helmet.....................................10 gc

Nightmare...............................95 gc

Barding...................................50 gc




Skeletons

Dagger......................................1st free/2 gc

Mace........................................3 gc

Axe..........................................5 gc

Sword......................................10 gc

Spear.......................................10 gc

Halberd.....................................10 gc

Double-handed Weapon...............15 gc

Bow.........................................10 gc

Longbow...................................15 gc

Light armour..............................20 gc

Heavy armour............................50 gc

Shield.......................................5 gc

Helmet.....................................10 gc



Heroes

1 Barrow Lord (100 gold crowns to hire)

A Barrow Lord is a great hero of old who just would not die. Whether risen by the touch of the winds of chaos, ancient and incomprehensible magicks, or just a product of their own indomitable willpower, this unliving champion seek adventure and glory. They retain many of their abilities from life, though the years have taken their toll.

M WS BS S T W I A Ld

4 4 3 4 3 2 3 2 8

Weapons/Armour: A Barrow Lord may be equipped with weapons and armour from the Lords section of the Barrows Equipment list.

SPECIAL RULES:

Cause Fear: Barrow Lords are a terrifying entity and so causes fear.

Immune to Poison: Barrow Lord are not affected by poison.

Immune to Psychology: Barrow Lords are not affected

by psychology and never leave combat.

“My Will Be Done”: Barrow Lords are able to use their will to motivate their skeletal troops. Any allied unit within 6” that “May not Run” may run. This movement may carry the unit outside of the 6” radius. This does not apply to mounted models.

No Pain: Barrow Lords treat a stunned result on the injury chart as knocked down.




0-2 Fell Knights (60 gold crowns to hire)

Fell knights were once a Barrow Lord's close companions: mighty and talented warriors. Considered worthy by him (or her), they have been returned to life to join him in adventure.

M WS BS S T W I A Ld

4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7

Weapons/Armour: Fell knights may be equipped with weapons and armour from the Lords section of the Barrows Equipment list.

SPECIAL RULES:

Cause Fear: Fell Knights are a terrifying entity and so causes fear.

Immune to Psychology: Fell knights are not affected

by psychology and never leave combat.

Immune to Poison: Fell knights are not affected by poison.

No Pain: Fell knights treat a stunned result on the injury chart as knocked down.

May not Run: Fell knights are slow undead creatures

and may not run (but can charge normally).




0-3 Grave Guards (35 gold crowns to hire)

Grave guards are the loyal retainers and huscarls of the Barrow Lord. Having served him in life, it is only natural that they continue to do so in death. Skilled combatants in their own right, necromancers often seek out their remains.

M WS BS S T W I A Ld

4 3 2 3 3 1 2 1 6

Weapons/Armour: Grave guards may be equipped with weapons and armour from the Skeletons section of the Barrows Equipment list.

SPECIAL RULES:

Cause Fear: Grave guards are a terrifying entity and so causes fear.

Immune to Poison: Grave Guards are not affected by poison.

Immune to Psychology: Grave Guards are not affected

by psychology and never leave combat.

May not Run: Grave guards are slow undead creatures

and may not run (but can charge normally).

No Pain: Grave guards treat a stunned result on the injury chart as knocked down.




Henchmen

Skeletons (20 gold crowns to hire)

Skeletons are deceased warriors held like puppets by the Barrow Lords will. Skeletons are easily replaced by the warband, being able to use any manner of bones. They lack the sentience that is found in the higher echelons of this band, but can be useful in numbers.

M WS BS S T W I A Ld

4 2 2 3 3 1 2 1 5

Weapons/Armour: Skeletons may be equipped with weapons and armour from the Skeletons section of the Barrows Equipment list.

SPECIAL RULES:

Cause Fear: Skeletons are a terrifying entity and so causes fear.

Immune to Poison: Skeletons are not affected by poison.

Immune to Psychology: Skeletons are not affected

by psychology and never leave combat.

No Pain: Fell knights treat a stunned result on the injury chart as knocked down.

No Brain: Skeletons may not gain experience.

May not Run: Skeletons are slow undead creatures

and may not run (but can charge normally).




Barrow Lords Special Skills

Valourous: This hero has vowed to confront the biggest and strongest foes. The more awesome his enemy, the more valorous are his efforts. If fighting a model with higher strength characteristic, the hero may re-roll any failed to hit rolls in hand-to-hand combat.

Noble Disdain: the hero has nothing but contempt for enemies who hide behind weapons of dishonour. The hero is subject to Hatred of all enemies armed with shooting weapons.

Impetuous: The hero is eager to get to grips with the enemy. He charges into combat with reckless enthusiasm. The Knight may add +D3” to his move when charging. Roll the dice each time you wish to charge and before moving the model.

Soul-searcher (Barrow Lord only): The Barrow Lord has discovered how to return the minds and souls of the long deceased, though it is very taxing. Separate one skeleton and place it in it's own henchmen group. This skeleton may gain experience as a normal henchman would. If the henchman dies or is promoted, the Barrow Lord may select another skeleton in a similar manner. This skill may not be taken multiple times.

Controller (Barrow Lord only): The Barrow Lord has discovered a more efficient method of controlling his skeletal warriors. The maximum warband size is increased by 1.

Awesome idea! I always wanted a undead warband that didnt have zombies (cos i always thought skeletons looked cooler! argonaut style!). Few suggestions though:

I strongly suggest adding a spellcaster to this list. Maybe the barrow lords once loyal magician-friend? Or maybe a human necromancer that follows the warband around.

This gives you your 2 mains heroes (barrow lord and a spellcaster) now you can fill the rest of the heroes out with fell knights. Or because the fell knights are quite hard, maybe 1 fell knight (the barrow lords most closest ally in his previous life) and 2 grave guards. Either way i suggest reducing the cost of the fell knight a bit. 60gc is a lot for a heroe that isn't your leader.

I'd suggest maybe having the grave guard as henchmen, or changing their names to wights ala the restless dead list. This will make sure all your henchmen slots are not skeletons, which will be quite boring and potentially limit your strategys.

Alterativly just give yourself some more henchmen, maybe in the form of banshees (can't believe these havnt been seen in a mordheim list yet), ghouls or wolves or something. Look at the restless dead list (BTB) for more ideas.

Overall this appears to be a good start mate. As i said earlier i always liked the idea of a barrow themed list. Think of the barrow-wights from LOTR!

A few things:

At the moment, none of your henchmen (which is only one group) can learn experience. This means you'll have no "That Lad's Got Talent", thus no replacement heroes. You NEED exp learning henchmen!

Some possible ideas:
~Spirits - Give them M6, move through terrain, and ignore all (non-magical, non-Gromril, non-ith) attacks on 4+. They can't gain exp, but they'll provide the "flankers" for your warband, sweeping ahead and disrupting the opponent. Maybe add in the stipulation that they can't carry any physical objects, like Wyrd shards or treasure chests.

~Move the Grave Guard (or a version of) to the Henchmen. They'll be the elite, 0-5 undead equal to the Swordsman. Higher WS, some special combat bonus, and can gain exp. That way, most of your men won't advance, but with 0-5, you'll have enough to replace your dying heroes.

HEROES
~I agree, a spell caster would be great. How about a Wraith or Banshee?

~Fell Knights- great name, but there are already skeletons units called "Black Knights". Speaking of which, why not give them the skill ride, and access to a "Skeletal Steed?" This would counter-act the "may not run" quite nicely- on foot, they only move 4", but on a horse they can move 9", sweeping the board and snatching up scenario objectives. (Of course, alter the "My Will be Done" so it DOESN'T affect horses... running 18" is too much for Undead.) Also, 60gc for a Skeleton with base human stats and no abilities is ridiculous. Even with WS4 and the ride skill, you can prob birng him down to 50.

You have them start with 6 heroes. NEVER start with more than 5 unless it's a team of weaklings, like Halflings or Goblins. The Skaven start with 6, and players are STILL fighting over how "balanced" it is or not 10 years later.

I suspect you were looking at the Bret warband as a base... don't. Few people play them, because they are too different to be trusted, too similar to be fun, and have no chance of variety. Oh, and the point cost is all wonky (on the brets, not yours).

Don't think you should be able to hire up to 6 heroes to start. Very few warbands can start with six, and when they can two or more of the heroes generally are pretty terrible.

Move the grave guard to henchman status, and find a rationale to explain why they can earn experience.

Allow three fell knights. That way you can start with four heroes (like dwarves and orcs). I agree with you that you can do without a spellcaster.

Oh, and drop the "knightly virtues". Undead are seldom emotional, making "hatred", valor, and impetuousness kinda seem silly.

I missed the "Soul Searcher" thing, though... that makes it so you can have ONE exp gaining henchmen... but that's still not very much. A henchmen has a 1 in 6 chance of becoming a hero, and can only learn 4 advancements... meaning, you can take a hench through 15 games and still have a 33% of having no hero. With at least half of your heroes out each game, and a 1/6 chance of dying each Serious Injury roll, your heroes will be dying faster than you can replace them.

Even if you decide to keep it (which I wouldn't recommend), you should probably switch it from "Barrow Lord Only" to "Leader only", just in case the barrow dies.

Possible reason the Grave Guard can advance- maybe they're magically bound to the Barrow Lord (or, if he dies, another hero). As he grows more powerful in strength and willpower, so do they absorb some of his strength and consciousness.

Quote :

I strongly suggest adding a spellcaster to this list. Maybe the barrow lords once loyal magician-friend? Or maybe a human necromancer that follows the warband around.

I hesitate to add a spellcaster hero to the bunch, just because that is the route that all of the other notable undead lists have taken (Restless Dead, Tomb Kings, Undead).

Quote :

~Spirits - Give them M6, move through terrain, and ignore all (non-magical, non-Gromril, non-ith) attacks on 4+. They can't gain exp, but they'll provide the "flankers" for your warband, sweeping ahead and disrupting the opponent. Maybe add in the stipulation that they can't carry any physical objects, like Wyrd shards or treasure chests.

I like this idea. They could be... Manifested. (I feel like this thing has way too many special rules.)

Code:

 
0-1 Manifested (55 gold crowns to hire)
In some cases the Barrow Lord is able to call upon the spirits of those whose bodies have simply crumbled way into dust. These beings are known as the Manifested, and are a woeful terror. Undeterred by walls or corporeal weapons, these spirits are a valuable aid.


M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 3 2 4 3 1 4 1 5


Weapons/Armour: Manifested may appear to be armed or armored, but these weapons are merely part of their spiritual form. They carry no equipment, but suffer no penalty for this.


SPECIAL RULES:
Cause Fear: Manifested are a terrifying entity and so causes fear.
Ethereal: Whenever attacked by a non-magical weapon, the blows may pass right through. Roll a d6: on a 4+ the blow is ineffective. Gromril and Ithilmar count as magical for these purposes.
Immune to Poison: Manifested are not affected by poison.
Immune to Psychology: Manifested are not affected
by psychology and never leave combat.
Incorporeal: Manifested may move through any pieces of terrain freely, as long as they end their movement in a place they could normally stand (e.g. They may not end their movement halfway through a wall). Manifested may not pass through enemy models and may nor carry any scenario objectives (wyrdstone shards, treasure, etc.)
No Pain: Manifested treat a stunned result on the injury chart as knocked down.
No Brain: Manifested may not gain experience.

Quote :

~Move the Grave Guard (or a version of) to the Henchmen. They'll be the elite, 0-5 undead equal to the Swordsman. Higher WS, some special combat bonus, and can gain exp. That way, most of your men won't advance, but with 0-5, you'll have enough to replace your dying heroes.

I quite like this idea and have made such changes. I hesitate to strip that Wight Blade rule from the Restless Dead, but it seems like what you describe.

Quote :

~Fell Knights- great name, but there are already skeletons units called "Black Knights". Speaking of which, why not give them the skill ride, and access to a "Skeletal Steed?" This would counter-act the "may not run" quite nicely- on foot, they only move 4", but on a horse they can move 9", sweeping the board and snatching up scenario objectives. (Of course, alter the "My Will be Done" so it DOESN'T affect horses... running 18" is too much for Undead.) Also, 60gc for a Skeleton with base human stats and no abilities is ridiculous. Even with WS4 and the ride skill, you can prob birng him down to 50.

A skeletal steed was already in existance: the Nightmare (see Blazing Saddles for details). I included it in the list, but it is prohibitively expensive at 95 gc (the normal price). I could decrease it when bought at the start I suppose.
"My Will be Done" already does not affect mounted units.
I was wondering if I should increase the price thanks to all those nifty undead traits, but that does seem better.

Quote :

Allow three fell knights. That way you can start with four heroes

This sounds like a good fix for the too many heroes problem, once I have moved the grave guards.

The knightly virtues seemed much cooler on the undead late two nights ago. I included Soul Searcher as a unique solution for the unpromotable henchmen thing and for flavor, but yeah, it is a bit cumbersome and inneffective. Having taken all those out, I need a lot of new skills.

Sorry for the double post, but...

Version 0.2 is completed! This version promises to be an actual, playable warband! Check it out here.

Change Log
Version 0.2:
- Listed starting experience
- Lowered price of nightmares slightly
- Fell Knights numbers and price adjusted
- Grave Guards become henchmen
- Added manifested
- Replaced skills (almost) completely

Looks a lot better. Personally, I'd raise the WS on the Knights to 4, but that's just me.

Also, you give the Graveguard "Wight Blades", but no one else. Why not make "Wight Blade" a special Equipment item (50 cred?) that people have to buy, and give the Grave Guard a different item ability. Maybe they gain +2 Initiative in combat when wielding a Sword or Wightblade. Or a defensive skill: they are immune to the weight of heavy armor + shield. Also, a Grave Guard armed with a shield and a single handed weapon gains +1 Armor save in combat AND against shooting (making it +2, instead of +1).

I guess since there are less heroes total, that is a good idea.

That's how wight blades are "distributed" in the Restless Dead warband. I think it is more of a power on the grave guards part. However, since all the heroes could manifest that kind of energy... alright, 40gc Rare 10 sound good with parry and that effect?

That initiative bonus makes a lot of sense, bringing them about on par with the Mercenaries' warriors.I guess one shouldn't account for house rules, but that common rule gives shield users a 5+ save. Push that to 4+ makes them very very resilient... I think that fits better with the warband. Would you recommend both this and the weight immunity thing?
EDIT: On closer inspection, I have decided to give the Grave Guards the  +1 to armor save when equipped with a shield and hand weapon. The other recommended abilities have become skills.