Southlands Warband: Araby Slavers

Edit: 3-Feb-2012 - Corrected cost typos for some items.

I know there is already one for the Relics of the Crusades. But I wanted something a little different for Southlands to really represent a truly evil set of villains willing to travel south of Araby to find a new stock of slaves. I tried to go for a really strong central leader, with medium to strong heroes. But mostly weak henchmen.

I gave them a big strong leader who I tried to make them reliant upon and then a handful of good, but expensive henchmen to balance out the horde of slaves. My first thought is this warband is TOO powerful however. Let me know what you all think!

Araby Slavers
v 0.1 2-Feb-2012 by Balrog the Buff

SPECIAL RULES
Broken – Any model with the Broken special rule uses the Leader’s Ld value as long as he is still on the table.

Slaver: All heroes in a Slaver warband gain the Slaver special rule.

Iron Grip – When the Leader is taken OOA the warband begins to roll for Rout Tests. As long as the Leader is still on the table any model with the Broken special rule counts as ½ a model for Routing.

Slave Taking – Every time a Henchmen is taken Out of Action during the game and then lost from their original Warband (not your own!) for good (a 1-2 was rolled for them post-game) they have a chance of being enslaved. Roll another D6 for each: on a roll of 4+, the model is Enslaved and added to the warband as a slave! If the Slaver Warband won the battle they are enslaved on a 3+. These may be Elves, Humans, Dwarfs or Greenskins. Slaves are added with only a free dagger and no matter the race use the profiles given below and the Human Maximums. In addition prisoners, stragglers etc. found via exploration may be attempted to capture rolling as above. A number of enslaving attempts may be may up to the number of models in the warband with the Slaver special rule.

Selling Slaves: Araby slavers may remove up to D3 Slaves from the warband when selling Treasure. Each slave sold counts as 1 Treasure. Any equipment the Slave had is added to the warband’s stash. Your warband size remains unaffected until after the sale is complete (i.e. you can’t sell a slave to get a category lower of prices)

Every Man for Himself: If the Slaver Warband wins a battle roll a D6. On a 3+ a Slave decides he would be better off joining the Slavers and is removed as a slave and any group of Loyal Slaves gains one model provided you can pay for their gear. Otherwise they may start a new group.

Chance for freedom!: If the warband Routs and there are more models with Broken than Slaver (after for rolling serious injuries and Slave Taking) D3 Slaves run off (removed from warband) each stealing his gear and D6 gc from the stash when he does. If there is not enough gold in the stash they take what they can and run.

Choice of warriors
An Araby Slaver warband must include a minimum of three models. You have 500 gold crowns which you can use to recruit and equip your warband. The maximum number of warriors in the warband is 20.

Slave Master: Each Araby Slaver warband must have one Slavemaster: no more, no less!
Slave Drivers: Your warband may include up to two Slave Drivers.
Slavers: Your warband may include up to two Slavers
Slaves: Your warband may include any number of Slaves.
Loyal Slaves: Your warband may recruit up to five Loyal slaves, but more may be gained through the Every Man for Himself rule.
Sand Warriors: Your warband may include up to three Sand Warriors.

Starting experience
A Slavemaster starts with 20 Experience.
A Slave Driver starts with 8 Experience.
A Slaver starts with 4 Experience.
All Henchmen start with 0 Experience.

Skills:
Slavemaster: Academic, Combat, Shooting, Strength, Speed
Slave Drivers: Combat, Strength, Speed
Slavers: Combat, Shooting, Speed


Slaver equipment list
Hand-to-hand combat weapons
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Desert Rose* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Double-Handed Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Slave Lash (Drivers Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Flail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Sand Blades* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Al Maut* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 gc

Missile weapons
Javelin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Short Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Pistol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Throwing Knives . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Handgun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 gc
Al Maut* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 gc

Armour
Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Light Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc
Heavy Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 gc

Miscellaneous Equipment
Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc

* = Sand Warriors only

Slave Equipment list
Hand-to-hand combat weapons
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Double-Handed Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc

Missile weapons
Sling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 gc
Short Bows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc

Armour
Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Toughened Leathers (Loyal Slaves only) . 5 gc
Slave Collar (Slaves only) . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Light Armor (Loyal Slaves only) . . . . . . . 20 gc


HEROES
1 Slavemaster - 110gc
Sadistic, Cruel, Evil, and Greedy, and those are a Slavemaster’s virtues! These men are the worst of the worst. They have headed south in search of slaves to sell in the bazaars and black markets of Araby (and sometimes farther north). They have no qualms about almost anything as long as it brings them profit.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 4 4 4 4 2 4 1 8
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Slaver equipment list.
Special Rules: Leader, Causes Fear, Callous, Twisted Greed, Slaver
Callous: As long as the Slavemaster is on the Table the number of models required before Routing is increased by 1.
Twisted Greed: The Slavemaster may choose to ignore a Serious Injury result by missing a game and lowering his W statistic by 1. If this causes him to go to zero wounds he is fully dead.
Slaver

0-2 Slave Drivers - 40gc
It takes cruel men to take and sell slaves. These men have cruelty to spare.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 4 3 4 3 1 3 1 7
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Slaver equipment list.
Slaver

0-2 Slavers - 30gc
It takes a special greed to sell a man. Few people have the evil in them to do so. This means less competition!
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Slaver equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Slaver

HENCHMEN
0+ Slaves -10gc
Slaves, broken and beaten they are forced to fight for their masters.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 2 3 3 1 2 1 5
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Slave equipment list.
Broken: See Warband Special Rules
Disheartened: Slaves do not earn XP and suffer from Stupidity.
Every Man for Himself
Chance for freedom!

0-5 Loyal Slaves - 20gc
These slaves have proven their loyalty to their master and are considered part of the warband, rather than property. In time they may even earn an equal share of the profits!
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 2 3 3 1 3 1 6
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Slave equipment list.
Earned their keep: Any Loyal Slave who becomes a hero gains the Slaver Special rule and may now use the Slaver Equipment list in addition to the Slave List. Your warband may recruit up to five Loyal slaves, but more may be gained through the Every Man for Himself rule.

0-3 Sand Warriors - 45 gold crowns to hire
Highly skilled warriors-for-hire, fanatically loyal as long as the contract is valid…
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 4 4 3 3 1 4 1 8
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Slaver equipment list. They may be given poisons and drugs from the stash as if they were a hero.
SPECIAL RULES
Swirling Sands: Sand Warriors may give up their normal attacks to make a single attack against every enemy in base to base contact.
Independent: Sand Warriors are only 1 model per group and cannot benefit from another model's Leadership. No two Sand Warriors may be armed identical.
Infiltrate: As per the Skaven special rules.
Mercenary: Re-roll any Lads Got Talent results.


SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
Sand Blade – 15 gc – Common (Sand Warriors only)
Sand Blades are special scimitars often used by Sand Warriors in their exotic fighting style.
Strength: As User
Special Rules: Parry, Whirling Blades.
Parry: Sand Blades may be used to parry and grant a re-roll if two are used per sword and buckler.
Whirling Blades: Sand Blades add +1 to the Critical Hit table.

Al Maut 25 gc – Common (Sand Warriors only)
Al Maut, or “Death” is the name given to the strange set of contraptions the Sand Warriors sometimes use. They are odd elongated boxes worn on the forearms, and sometimes other locations on the body, with blades protruding. The Sand Warriors store large numbers of throwing knives in these and are trained at using them with great skill and speed.
Strength: As User
Special Rules: Parry, +1 Armor Save in melee, Numerous Blades
+1 Armor Save in melee: as the blades are like daggers the target adds +1 to their armor save as if the Al Maut was a pair of daggers, this penalty only applies in melee combat.
Numerous Blades: A Model armed with an Al Maut counts as being armed with two daggers, throwing daggers and gains the Knife Fighter Skill as long as the Al Maut is equipped due to the great ease of access to throwing knives. In addition a Sand Warrior using them adds their Strength in inches to the range of their knives. The model may not be equipped with any other weapons.

Desert Rose 15gc – Common (Sand Warriors only)
The Desert Rose is a name given to a deadly chain wielded by Sand Warriors. The deadly barbs along the whip make it a dangerous weapon to learn, but undeniably effective.
Strength: As User
Special Rules: Whipcrack, Length
Whipcrack: This is the same as the Steel Whip’s rule, although the Desert Rose may gain 2 whip attacks if dual wielded.
Length: A model armed with a Desert Rose may intercept charges from 3” rather than 2”.

Slave Lash – 15 gc – Common (Slave Drivers only)
Strength: As User
Special Rules: +1 to Armor Save, Whipcrack, Remember the Lash
Whipcrack: This is the same as the Steel Whip’s rule
Remember the Lash: Any Slave within 3” is immune to Fear and ignores Stupidity.

Slave Collar – 10 gc – Common (Slaves only)
Heavy Iron collars used to mentally dominate as well as to tie up slaves.
Provides a 6+ save that cannot be combined with any other armor.
May never be sold or traded. In addition if the Slave is ever promoted to Slaver the Collar is destroyed.
Models wearing a Slave collar count as ½ towards Chance for Freedom!

Can you share the fluff reasons for the Sand Warrior cultists joining up with a Slaver band?

Just curious...

My thought was the Slavemaster has set up a contract with the Sand Warriors and since the Sand Warriors are a brutal warrior sect they would relish the chance to train their younger recruits against new fighting styles.

OK, that clears it up - although I think the Sand Warriors deserve their own warband rather than being slipped in with these guys, they are too cool to play supporting roles!

On to the rules then!

I'm not sure that the Twisted Greed or Every Man For Himself rules are needed.

Twisted Greed doesn't make much sense to me - why would a Slavemaster be more likely to be able to do that than anyone else?

Every Man For Himself seems a little too strong. Maybe if it involved a Leadership test like the Relics version, with failure being a whipping so bad it reduces the outspoken slave's T by 1 and becomes separated from his fellow slaves (ie a new henchman group) or you could have it cause death, which is what I'd plump for as it seems more fitting for a truly evil band of slavers.

Anyway, just some toughts based on a quick read through.

Hmmm Sand warriors could make a good elite warband...

I do not mind pulling the Sand Warriors out, I really like their concept, but I agree it is a little off from the Slaver. But Slavers need a third type of henchmen. Maybe I could toss in an Ogre Slave or Slaver? Ogre Slave henchmen who if he rolls LGT becomes a Slaver and hero?

I do like the idea of EMFH being a Leadership test or death. So on a 3+ a slave gets uppity. Boss rolls Ld then pass = Uppity slave is loyal, fail then uppity slave is used as a lesson in knowing one's social status?

I like the idea of an Ogre Slaver henchman that can become a hero. Of course it may be due to the fact that I'm currently playing Osterlanders!! A large henchman that can become a large hero is a rarity in Mordheim (large heroes in general are a rarity) so I like that idea even though obviously it's been done by Osterlanders and Pit Fighters. Essentially the warband would just have 'expendible' slaves (loyal or not) as henchmen except for an ogre who is not very clever anyway but which can prove his worth. Makes sense to me. I would add that the ogre gains the 'Slaver' special rulen when he becomes a hero just like the loyal slaves but I would imagine that it would continue to use its own Ogre Slaver equipment list. Is the Ogre Slaver warband available to this warband. That may be the only concern having two ogre slavers (one a warband member and the other a hired sword).

I like 5pointer's idea about using the slave as an 'example' to the others by killing him when the leadership test is failed. You want a truly evil slavers warband so we need to be extreme.

Can loyal slaves be sold as treasure or just slaves? I see no reason not to be able to sell either as they are all slaves (of coures it would be rare that a loyal slave was sold as they are move valuable to the warband).

Why not just use the Slaver Warband from Relics? It has the ogre henchman, for example, and is pretty balanced.

Leader: No no no. The stats are way too high. That's one of the first things I look at to see if a warband is balanced- kind of a litmus test for the warband in general. If it has A2 or W2, it's probably broken. Of course, there are exceptions (vampires, for example), but those are based on race and fluff, and have lots of other balances in place (ex. for undead, 3 or the 5 heroes suck and 2/3rds of the henchmen can't run or learn experience.)

If he's a human, give him approximately the same stats as a Captain. If you raise a stat, lower something (ex. S4, BS3.)

With talk of the Ogre, you COULD try the Ogre Slaver as the leader. If so, give him only 3 other heroes, and a few handicaps (look at the Maneater warband for a few ideas.) That would give you the same punch, but fits racially, and have some big drawbacks ready.

Broken: I don't like the "can use the leader's leadership anywhere" rule. If anything, it should be the OPPOSITE. If the slaves aren't directly under the watchful eye of a slaver, they're too scared / disinterested to do anything.

Option A: The slaves count all enemies as causing Fear. Any model within 6" or a Hero may use his leadership. Any model within Ld range of the Leader is immune to fear. (Maybe add a skill that lets slave drivers reroll failed Fear tests for slave... only usable if he owns a whip, scourge, or cat.)

Option B: All slaves that aren't within 6" of a slave driver or Ld range of the leader suffer stupidity. It's not that they're stupid, but rather they will do as little as possible unless someone is near.

Option C: Make your own chart. May use Slave Driver's Ld if he's within range.
Disobidence Chart
During each movement phase, Make a Leadership test for the Slave.

Natural 2 - The slave is converted to your side! He now counts as a Loyal Servant, and never has to rol Disobidence ever again! (if using this, get rid of the 3+ per game rule.)

Passed - The Slave is more afraid of the Slave Driver than of anything else! He moves and shoots as you wish (within legal rules), and ignores Fear for the rest of the turn.

Failed - The slave is reluctant to agree. If he is within 6" of a slave driver or within range of the Leader, he may walk and/or shoot, but may not charge or run this turn. If there is no slaver within range, he may not move or shoot at all this turn. If already in combat, he will fight back as normal.

Failed on a 12 - The slave becomes a Rebel and fights back! If he is in combat with an opponent, he is moved 1" away. He is immediately taken control by a random opponent, and may make immediately free move before your movement. Afterwards, the model is controlled by that player. If the slave escapes off of the board, he is removed from your warband. If the slave is knocked down, stunned or taken out of action, he immediately returns to your control.

Optional: Uprising! If you have a Rebel slave on the board that is not knocked down or stunned, all other slaves now become rebels on one less- thus, if there's one Rebel, they will revolt on a failed leadership test of 11-12. Likewise, each rebel lowers it one more- so 3 equals 10+, 4 equals 9+, and so on. Rememeber, this can ONLY happen on a failed leadership test, so the number will never drop lower than the Leadership of of the roller.


Of course, this means that a Slave Driver with the ability / skill to reroll a failed Obediance test is risking making his model attack him! Half the reason the "passed" rule includes the "immune to fear" is that it reduces the number of tests you have to roll on any given turn.

The ogre as the slaver would fix the stat line issue as well as forcing the warband to be very hero centric. Which was the goal. I like the idea of the pockets of slaves being driven by the leader. Also I like the chart replaceing the loyal servant after battle thing. Might even drop the Araby part and make it more just a Ogre Slaver band.

Currently I had slaves all be stupid but use the leaders ld until he dropped. So only about 1/3 times slaves would respond if the leader fell.

Maybe slave lashes would give the reroll.

So possibly:
Ogre Slaver
0-3 Slave Driver
0+ Slaves
0+ (only buy up to 5) Loyal Servants
0-5 Dogs? Or just give the Slave Drivers access to my beastmastery skills so they can get pets.
This has some good potential and would further make it to expendable and downtrodden slaves.

Thank you!

If you are going to have a 3W 2A Ogre then consider giving it slow-witted or maybe just more starting exp (at 32 exp you only get advancement every 5 exp instead of every 4) or you are going to end up with a ferociously powerful hero (better than vamp to start and in a faster progressing warband).

Again, I recommend some of the fixes from the Ogre warbands. Ex. taking out a normal sized model only gives him 1/2 an experience. Also, like the Maneaters, he doesn't start with a dagger, and cannot buy any weapon worth less than 5gc. That way, you have to pay more for his second hand attack.

Maybe you could also give him an upkeep. He gobbles up 10gc a game, or fail that, one of the warband members (better have some slaves handy!)

One "nerf" I gave the Ogre Hunting Party is that the Ogre leader couldn't explore or search for items. (Of course, that warband also starts with four weedy gnoblar heroes, so it's less of a handicap. A warband with 4 starting heroes that only rolls 3 dice would be at a huge disadvantage.)

Animals make sense, but the awkward thing is, I don't see dogs running loose. Whenever you see a movie with slavers or prison guards with dogs, they're always on a leash. If that dog gets off the leash, BAM, it's running for that slave, even if he's not escaping.

Maybe have a monster base that's a "dog team" - several dogs with a handler, all with one profile? Same stats as a Wardog, but with M4 (same as hadnler) and 3 wounds. If it dies, it instead permantly loses a wound (cannot be rebought.) Maybe have max 0-2 Dog Teams.

Or, make it a dog team of 2 of 2 wounds, in which case they would be similar to Beastman. Use a cavalry base.

And again I recommend just using the existing Slaver warband.

Slaver warband has
-An ogre henchman who gains experience at 1/2 rate.
-0-3 dogs who make it less likely that slaves will escape
-the scourge
-rules for promoting slaves to heroes
-rules for slaves
-rules for capturing slaves
-a strong character that intimidates slaves
-a mechanic to represent income from the sale of slaves

Evil slaver warbands are Dark Elves and Chaos Dwarfs or perhaps a Slaver warband that follows the path of the Worm...

The unique part of the warband is the Sand Warriors which as mentioned above don't seem to belong. Maybe developing this original idea further as a band of thier own?

I like the idea of the evil slavers, but VK is right. This is an unneccesary warband. I like it, but it is no longer Araby Slavers. It needs a full overhaul or replacement with Chaos Dwarfs (or what is it now? Fire Dwarfs?) or even Dark Elf Slavers as the Dark Elfs have legitimate fluff reasons for being in the southlands anyways.

I am developing the Sand Warriors as a warband as well as currentling working on Khornate Cannibals. I'm really trying to make sure the Southlands is well represented as it is a large area and it makes sense to have a diverse set of warbands. Plus it is always fun!