Alternative take on Reikland/Middenheim/Marienburg

So we all know that the old Reikland/Middenheim/Marienburg setup: Middenheimers don't really do anything and are widely considered a weak faction, Marienburgers with their 600gc are by far the best warband the first few games of a campaign but then run out of steam and underperform. And Reiklanders simply snipe everything with their BS4 Marksmen. So, while the setup isn't game breaking, it sure isn't perfect either and I think it could be improved via some easy and simple fixes.

About the fluff, we're now used to thinking of Reiklanders as shooty, but in fact, their fluff was never shooty. If you look in the Mordheim rulebook their fluff isn't even shooty there. Reiklanders are known for their strict military disciplin and high morale. So that is what they should do in Mordheim, instead of just castling up and sniping. Also, what many don't know about Marienburg is that they, besides being rich brats, are also loathsome types, that are not afraid of using poisons or drugs to give themselelves and edge. So with that, on tomy post:

In the new version of the Coreheim rules there is an interesting take on Reikland/Middenheim/Marienburg:

Marienburg
City of Gold: May choose what experience
advances they want for their Hired Swords,
rather than rolling for them, and their Hired
Swords are only Lost on D6 rolls of 1. (Rather
than the normal 1-2.)
Ruthless Dealers: Captains and Champions
have access to Rogue Skills in addition to
their other skill lists. (This allows promoted
henchmen to choose Rogue skills as one of
their two skill lists.)

Middenheim
Wolf Fighters: Captains and Champions have
+1 to Injury Rolls vs. Animals, in both
Shooting and Close Combat.
Strongmen: All heroes can take Strength
skills in addition to their other Skills lists.
(Including henchmen promoted to heroes.)

Reikland
Superior Drill: Do not take Rout Tests until 5
or more warriors are out of action.
Champion Officers: Champions start with
Ld8 and warriors within 6” can use their Ld
as if they had the ‘Leader’ rule.

Now some of these things are not directly applicable to GW-Mordheim. But they could be made so. How about:

Marienburg
City of Gold: May choose what experience
advances they want for their Hired Swords,
rather than rolling for them, and their Hired
Swords are only Lost on D6 rolls of 1. (Rather
than the normal 1-2.)
Ruthless Dealers: Captains and Champions
have access to a Special Skill List in addition to
their other skill lists. (This allows promoted
henchmen to choose Rogue skills as one of
their two skill lists.)

MARIENBURG SPECIAL SKILLS
Master of Poisons: If the hero does not search for rare items, he has the time to brew up 3D-1 portions of dark venom or black lotus. He can come up empty, but those are the hazards of trying these intricate things on the move. Cannot be stored or sold, but must be used the battle. Other warriors in the warband may use them.
Seen the World: Warrior gains access to two new skill lists of your choice, in addition to his existing skill lists. Thse must be chosen from the five standard lists (Combat/Shooting/Academic/Strength/Speed).
Swashbuckler: Warrior may make a Leadership Test at the end of any Hand to Hand phase (yours or enemy’s turn). If he passes he may make a normal movement away from the enemy (he may not run or charge), without the enemy striking any blows on him. If he fails the test he remains in hand to hand combat.
Shade Fiend: If the hero does not search for rare items, he has the time to brew up 3D-1 portions of Crimson Shade. He can come up empty, but those are the hazards of trying these intricate things on the move. Cannot be stored or sold, but must be used the battle. Other warriors in the warband may use them. Side effects apply as normal.

Middenheim
Wolf Fighters: Captains and Champions have
+1 to Injury Rolls vs. Animals, in both
Shooting and Close Combat.
Strongmen: Captains and Champions
have access to a Special Skill List in addition to
their other skill lists. (This allows promoted
henchmen to choose Rogue skills as one of
their two skill lists.)

MIDDENHEIM SPECIAL SKILLS
Crushing Blow: +1 to all Injury Rolls inficted with Two-Handed Weapons
Barbarian Constitution: Warrior treats Critical Wounds as normal wounds.
Battle Cry: When warrior charges, take an Ld test: If passed, he gains +1A on profile and ignores fear this turn.
Unshakable: Warrior treats stunned as knocked down in close combat. (No effect vs. shooting or spells.)

Reikland
Superior Drill: Do not take Rout Tests until at least 5
or more warriors are out of action (even if 25% or more of your warriors are Out of Action).
Champion Officers: Champions start with
Ld8 and warriors within 6” can use their Ld
as if they had the ‘Leader’ rule. In addition, Reiklander Captains and Champions have access to a special Officers' skill list that can never be learned by other warriors in the warband.

REIKLANDER OFFICERS SPECIAL SKILLS (May never be learned by anyone but Reiklander Captains and Champions)
Fencing Master: +1 to Parry rolls. This may take a Parry roll to 7.
Cool under fire: Warrior treats stunned as knocked down versus shooting. (no effect vs. spells or close combat attacks.
Mark taget: If warrior does not shoot in the shooting phase, he may mark any enemy within 24". (Requires Line of Sight) Friendly warriors within 12" of him that shoot at the designated enemy gain an additional +1 BS to their shots this turn.


So there are my humble suggestions for at better Reikland/Middenheim/Marienburg. I do not kid myself that they are perfect, but I sincerely believe that they will be more fun to play with, as the advantages of each will be more equally balanced, and better spread out over the course of a campaign (as opposed to now where Marienburgers start strong and end weak). I am sure that you can come up with better ideas, and of course I expect some of you to dismiss this out of hand as you are already satisfied with the game as it is. For the more adventoures and novelty-seeking of you, however, I hope that you appreciate the effort and give these rules and try, or at the very least, some feedback. Thank you.

Hi shotguncoffee,

I have had a quick look at what you wrote and at first glance it does look good and quite interesting. I like how you have taken the concepts from Coreheim and tried to adjust them to make the work with Mordheim. I'll try to have a deeper look later to see if I have any feedback.

Cheers

Thanks

I haven't ever actually played a mercenary warbad ..err I mean warband for the reason that I have never quite agreed with the way they were written in the original rules. They just seem ...lacking. Which really seems to be a shame since I loved my WFB Empire Army.

When playing against warbands with all types of crazy going on, a vanilla mercenary warbad ..(there I go again) just doesn't excite me.

I do really like the idea of tweaking mercenaries to have a bit more apeal, and to be more in line with fluff. The thing I would worry about is tweaking them to much.

Stuff like
Crushing Blow: +1 to all Injury Rolls inficted with Two-Handed Weapons
Barbarian Constitution: Warrior treats Critical Wounds as normal wounds.

seem like they are only useful sometimes, and to an already lacking warband I wolud prefer something that might be a bit less powerful but useful more often.

Playtesting of course would be the deciding factor

I also think that
Superior Drill: Do not take Rout Tests until at least 5
or more warriors are out of action (even if 25% or more of your warriors are Out of Action).

would be better written if it was an increased percentage rather than a set number.

Wolf Fighters: Captains and Champions have
+1 to Injury Rolls vs. Animals, in both
Shooting and Close Combat.

Skills like this while good for fluff, seem like they would get more use

Not being crit seems like a very strong ability combined with high armor.

hero: Nah, Armour is easily negated and Crits are only less than 16,7% of the time, anyway

Code:

Armour is easily negated

Most of the time its negated by crits, also for many moddels like animals, crits are the only way to hurt high armored units at all

Code:

Crits are only less than 16,7%

Thats no good calculation, u should compare sucessful wound rolls. on average 33.33% of all sucessfull wounds are crits. Thats quite a lot