Eye for an Eye, or Bungle in the Jungle

This was the first test game for the Zamula and Mu'au'ri tribe warbands. My wife (Who wants the handle of 'Lovesguineapigs' but shall just be called 'Guineapig') played the Zamula. We played a slightly modified game of wyrdstone hunt. There were 4 chunks of treasure, but the terrain was very flat. Made for a brutal fast paced game. (Yes every model was proxied, most the animals were Squigs and the Mu'au'ri were mostly Marauders, the Pouakai was played by Slugdrool the Troll). For now We just used the normal Mordheim exploration charts as the Southlands lists are barely started due to replaying Mass Effect 2...

Mu'au'ri Warband:
Chief 'Aperahama' Jade Mere, Stingray Spear, Axe, Throwing Clubs
Warrior-Dancer 'Hohepa' Stingray Spear, Club, Dance of Strength
Warrior-Dancer 'Tanemahuta' 2H Weapon, Dance of Death
Pouakai Handler 'Ruru' 2 Clubs
Heart-Eater 'Hunapo' Taiaha
Pouakai 'Tui' None
2 Youth 'Haimona' and 'Arana' Club, Free Dagger

Zamula Warband:
Packmaster "Ajani" Jungle Claws, Shortbow
Beastmaster 'Nyack' Spear Thrower, Javelins, 2 clubs, Combat Bird
Beastmaster 'Gure' Spear Thrower, Javelins, 2 clubs, Jungle Cat
Medicine Man 'Jabilo' Beast Lash, Shortbow, Mending the Soul
Stalker 'Ammon' Sword, Club, Spear Thrower, Javelins
Bonded 'Tenan' Net, 2 daggers, Tree Snake
Bonded 'Yaro' Net, Club, Trained Monkey

The Zamula has first turn and rushed forward in two main groups.

(The small dice were the treasure)
The Mu'au'ri Warrior-Dancers began their dances while the rest moved up focusing on the middle and left.


The Zamula Jungle cat charged Chief Aperahama while the Combat Bird charged Heart-Eater Hunapo.

The Chief was stunned by a claw to the face while the Combat bird was demolished by a hard blow from Hunapo's Taiaha.

(White Paper markers are our 'Shrouds of Death' and indicate OOA)
While that was going on the Monkey grabbed one of the Treasures. (Monkeys are the only pet that can carry items)


The Mu'au'ri continued to advance and pile in to combats. The Pouakai Handler Ruru grabbed a Treasure for himself while the Youth charged Beastmaster Nyack.


The Pouakai swooped screeching down onto the poor monkey, stunning it with sharp talons.

The Heart-Eater took out the Jungle Cat and the Youth took down the Beastmaster.

On their Turn the Zamula Stalker and Medicine Man each grabbed a Treasure and the Packmaster charged and took out Chief Aperahama who was still knocked down. A Bonded and the Tree Snake charged the Heart-Eater.
And the other Beastmaster charged and took out one of the Mu'au'ri Youth.

the other Bonded charged Warrior-Dancer Hohepa. The Bonded hit but couldn't cause enough damage to slow the crazed dancer. The Stingray Spear did nothing to the Bonded, but the club in Hohepa's other hand stunned the Zamula.

The pouakai shredded the poor monkey...

Warrior Dancer Tanemahuta charged the tree snake and appropriately rolled snake eyes to hit.

Nothing happened in that fight.

The Pouakai swooped onto the Packmaster and took him out with a Beak to the face while the broken Stingray Spear wielding Warrior-Dancer beat the poor Bonded into the dirt.


Despite their heavy losses the Zamula had managed to pick up two of the four treasures, while the Mu'au'ri had one. (The treasure the monkey had picked up was dropped and never got recovered. The Zamula voluntarily routed. carrying their injuried off before the crazed cannibals could cause any more damage.

The Mu'au'ri Chief lost an eye while the Youth managed to survive unhurt. They gained a total of 4 treasures. But the Pouakai Handler got a mouthful of dieseased water when exploring a well inside of some old ruins and has to miss the next game. (This does not mean they cannot use the Pouakai)


The Zamula Packmaster also lost an Eye to the Pouakai and the Monkey and the Combat Bird died from their wounds. They gained a total of 4 treasures as well.

Thoughts on Warbands after first test:
Zamula:
- Will end up being very weak due to reliance on no-exp earning animals. Considering raising size to 15 from 12 to allow for more human models.
- Pet prices need adjustment, and clarification on base sizes. Combat Bird is too expensive and fragile. Consider dropping the Fragile Boned and Difficult to Train rules and lowering cost to 30. T2 is very weak for a 35 model.
- Low skill on heroes makes for some difficult fights, more use of ranged weapons and more multi-level terrain should help.

Mu'au'ri:
- War-dances are weak right now. Consider major revamp on method of dancing. Will wait for several more games to make final changes. Possible options include allowing Mu'au'ri to automatically give up first turn to allow all models to dance and any with the related skills to gain bonus for entire fight. Similar to Bretonian prayers.
- Pouakai may be low costed, but more testing required.
- Stingray Spears are good, but my rolls are so bad it is hard to test properly...
- Should add axes to wargear as they were rather common among Maori peoples.

It's good to see your Southlands project progressing. Have FUN with all the modeling & tweaking!