Which Equipment / Weapons - and WHY?!

Which Equipment / Weapons - and WHY?In my last two games I had the joy of playing against first Orcs and then Elves ...who apparently all believed in the virtue of Double-handed weapons - which was great ...for ME ...since I got to strike first even when they charged me !! Anyway, this prompted me to think about why people reason as they do about "whatever" equipment and weapons ....

Personally I believe that Double-handed weapons are great ONLY in the following situations (in no particular order)
a) your opponents has so high toughness that you would otherwise only wound on a 6 - and so would not have a chance to inflict a critical hit. AND/OR have very good armour save !
b) the model armed with a double-handed weapon has 3+ attacks ....
c) Have 2+ attacks and strongman skill (so they dont strike last when charging).
d) have 2+ attacks and only use the double-handed weapon as a backup vs. characters that strikes last anyway ei. they just "got up" from being knocked down ...or to finish off knocked down/stunned characters ...
e) combinations of above ...ei. model w. 2 Attacks no strongmanskill fighting a guy w. armor save of 4+

What do you guys think?

EDIT: This user is a bot and has been deleted since.
- cianty

2H weapons are amazing at feeding a hero exp. Have him charge along with another model who will likely knock down/stun the enemy, giving the 2-hander the exp point. Similarly, charge a knocked down model with them.

Another use for 2H weapons is a tough hero. Something with 4 or 5 toughness and some armor or step aside will likely get to use it.

Also, many of the more experienced Mordheim players houserule elements of the game. Two of the most common modifications are penalizing dual-wielding and improving armor. The net effect of these changes greatly improves 2H weapons.

Lastly, 2H weapons are immensely fun, both to play with and to model.

If you really want your opponents to help you out, you should recommend the blowpipe to them.

Double-Handed Weapon + Strongman is a good combination, but only if you can't use Halberds (ie Witch Hunters). Mighty Blow + Halberd has same effect, but Mighty Blow is still useful should you decide to switch up your weapon selection.

Double-Handed weapons by themselves (without Strongman skill) have very little practical uses, though. There is almost never a circumstance to take them. The one I can think of is if you're fighting warbands who like to take the Lightning Reflexes skill and also have high Initiatives so you'll be hitting last anyway, even if you charge. It's very rare you have to fight someone with high armor, and rare to fight someone who's toughness is so high you would need an extra +2 strength just to wound.

Flagellant heroes might be the one exception, since they can only naturally have a three weapon option anyway, and one of them is a Double-Hander. May as well get them Strongman and go to town. Wounding on 2+ is nice.

To sum up, battles are often finished in the first full-on charge of a warband. Striking last in that charge usually leads to a loss.

I'm a pretty big fan of 2 handed weapons myself, especially for Heroes. I'm a believer that it's all about high strength when it comes to close combat, as all the big tough enemy heroes and monsters will either have high Toughness, lots of armor, or both. Remember, if your strength is high enough, then people cannot parry your attacks (ie S6 vs. S3).

I usually keep my heroes with 2 handed weapons in the back, charge with my henchmen, and then join in with the heroes next turn.

Halberds are good as well, and in our games it has the Strike First rule like the spear. Flails and Morning stars look cool, but I'm not a fan of their advantage disappearing after the 1st round of combat. Swords and bucklers are great for warriors with low Weapon Skill because you're more likely to pull off a parry when people can hit you on 3's.

One thing to consider is that some warbands like Orcs or Dwarves have low Initiative and will pretty much always strike last, so no harm in giving them 2 handed weapons, especially if they'll be going against spear-wielding enemies.

I tend to have a hero with a double handed weapon since -

1) If they're taken out they probably won't croak thus losing me the weapon and the man
2) They can pick up the advances to use it well
3) I only ever seem to need one for taking on especially tough models

All of these comments applied to my Averlanders as their first hired sword is usually a Troll Slayer with a double handed weapon. My possessed don't seem to need one as I have the possessed itself for rending things limb from limb.

A use I have for someone with S4, DHW, Strong Man, Mighty Blow *and* acrobat is punching through S4 dwarf slayers that think it is funny to go around parrying all the time. It is also funny for wounding T5 models with resilience on a 2+ and punching through 1+ armour saves.

I don't use them very often unless it is for a hero who has taken the skill Strongman. Too many times when I have broken that habit I have seen the champ/younglblood whatever whacked in melee before he gets his swing.

I've seen flagellants be effective because of their T. In the last campaign I was thinking about equipping an orc or 2 with one but never did.

It all depends on your opponents, really. We ran a campaign which had half of the players running T4 warbands (Orcs, dwarves, & beastmen). Once their heroes started getting toughness upgrades and/or resilient, it became IMPOSSIBLE to wound them without 2-handed weapons.

i like to use them.
If you have a Henchmen with WS 4 and T3 then your opponent hits normaly with WS 4 or lower and S3 only with 25%. This way they have a good chance to fight back.

additionally we have a houserule that 2-handed-weapons strike during their charge in initiative order. So they are a good piece of equipment for Henchmen.

Strongman is the first skill my heroes take, unless they are shooters. Any melee warrior instantly becomes a killing machine with Strongman and a doublehanded weapon.

In the group we play most people take Strongman on at least 1 or 2 of their heroes. When I played Orcs, Lizardmen, Marauders and even my Reiklander each warband I had at least 2 or more guys. Usually you want at least 2 brutes that can take down a tough guy, or make quick work of little guys.

If I already had a guy with a strength bonus and I really wanted the extra attack then I would consider Mighty blow. The thing that a high strength does it also lets you ignore armor, or reduces it's effectiveness, and it can make a blow unparryable.