Guards! Guards!

I realize this is a specialized topic.

Our group spends a good deal of time in places other than Mordheim. Currently we are using the city of Al--Haikk as a base to explore the surrounding desert. While in the city the warbands can get into all sorts of adventures that will bring them into conflict with the city's rulers, who send in the Watch.

The rules we use are based on the Relics of the Crusades campaign rules.

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Bribes. A warband may chose to spend 5 gc to add +1 to the D6 roll determining how many turns it will take the Guards to arrive in a scenario with the special rules Guards! and/or Barred. The fee may be paid in any multiple of 5 gc to add additional +1 per 5 gc. Either or both warbands may offer bribes.

Guards! The Merchant Quarter employs town guards who are charged with enforcing the peace. Any combat, magical attack or missile attack by either player will breach the peace. If any of the above occurs, roll a D6. The result is the number of turns it will take for a Sergeant and D3+2 Marines to make their way to the area. The Guards will enter on the appointed turn as per the rules from Surprise Attack. They will always move toward the nearest melee combat, no line of sight is needed. The Guards will charge the nearest warrior if in range. The Guards will remain until all warbands have routed or the Guards themselves are all OOA or rout.
See also Bribes and Barred.
The squad consists of one Sergeant and D3+2 Marines, half of which will be marine marksmen and the other half assault marines.
Profile Sergeant M4 WS5 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 L8
Special: Halt Villain!
Equipment: The Sergeant is armed with a sword, a brace of pistols and a dagger. He wears helmet and light armor. (For scenarios using the Darkness rules the Sergeant carries a lantern.)
Skills: The Sergeant has the skills Strike to Injure, Leader and Step Aside.

Profile: Marine Marksmen M4 WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I4 A2 L7
Special: Halt Villain!
Equipment: Each Marksman is armed with a sword, a handgun and a dagger. Each wears a helmet.
Skills: The Marksmen all have the skill Trickshot.

Profile Assault Marine M4 WS4 BS3 S4 T3 W1 I4 A2 L7
Special: Halt Villain!
Equipment: Each Marine is armed with a sword, a halberd and a dagger. Each also wears a helmet and Toughened Leathers.
Skills: The Assault Marines all have the skill Strike to Injure.

Halt Villain! Any hero taken OOA by a Sergeant or Guard must roll on the Serious Injury table as normal. Rolls of 11-15 result in death. Rolls of 16-61 result in the hero’s capture. “He will be kept in the dungeons for 2D6 games, then he will meet his fate. If a warband does not rescue him through the Dungeon Raid scenario within this time then remove him from the warband roster.”
In addition, any warband that is involved in close combat with a Sergeant or Guard is considered barred from the Quarter for D3 games.

Imperial Justice. If a hero is the victim of a Halt Villian! special rule, he has the option of dueling his accuser rather than awaiting execution. Only melee weapons may be used. The duel is fought as a Pit Fight from the Serious Injury table. If the hero loses, the victorious Judicial Champion (Pit Fighter) kills him. If the hero wins he gains D3 experience.

The above rules are intended to make the guards less of a cannon fodder encounter for tough warbands. I am still dissatisfied with how the rules work or how they should work.

Should the guards attack any warrior in their path?
The way the rule is written they should concentrate on melee, but we often play that they just come in and start busting heads. In my last game the guards came in amid a missile duel with a melee fight going on inside a building across the way. My opponent routed before the guards reached either of us, but it felt wrong to have the town guard march through a missile duel to reach a melee.

Could warbands who do not wish to fight the guards surrender in some way? Game results in a draw?

We don't have many role-players in our group and we don't play cooperative games, but I would like to find some mechanic that applied to a hack and slash style of play. If possible...

Suggestions?

It does seem odd that the original rules mean the guards would trot, unperturbed, through a sleet of arrows the brawling warbands are winging at each other in order to apprehend two youngbloods playing fisticuffs by the fruitstand. They would head toward the nearest melee, but after they enter the board, if any member of a warband fires a missile weapon, they should either (a) move toward that warrior, or (b) shoot that warrior.

If a warband surrenders to the Guard, without having taken a guardsman out of action, roll a d6:
1: All warriors in the surrendering warband who were present at the point of surrender (including those taken out of action) are stripped of all weapons, then released.

2 - 3: the warband is fined d6 gold crowns per member arrested (including those taken out of action), and then released. The authorities will except equipment instead of cash - at half the value of the equipment. Warband members are released once the fine is paid.

4 - 5: The warband is held for questioning, and then is released; the warband misses the next scenario.

6: the warband is let off with a stern warning.

For every turn the warband fought after the guard arrived, subtract one from the above roll. For every 5 gold the warband pays as a bribe before rolling on the above table, add +1 to the roll.


I think it might be good to add a rule that allows the possibility of guard reinforcements as well. On the first turn after the guards arrive, more guards arrive on a 6+, the turn after that more guards arrive on a 5+, then on a 4+, etc. You roll for six turns after the initial guard deployment, which would allow for a maximum of seven batches of guards. Or, if you want them arriving more slowly, every time a fresh unit of guards arrive you reset the reinforcements roll - so the turn after batch two arrive more guards would only arrive on a 6+, etc.

Thanks mweaver! I was hoping you would have some ideas. I left out our rules for barred.

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Barred. All Evil warbands and any outlaw or pirate warbands (except Wasteland Privateers) are barred from the Merchant Quarter. At the start of each barred warband player turn the warband’s leader must take an Initiative test. If the test is passed the warband has avoided detection. If the test is failed* roll a D6. The result is the number of turns it will take for D3 Assault Marines to make their way to this part of town. The Guards will enter on the appointed turn as per the rules from Surprise Attack. They will move during their own turn and will always move toward the nearest barred warband member no line of sight is needed. The Guards will charge a barred warrior if in range. They will ignore the other warband(s) unless attacked by them. The Guards will remain until the barred warband has routed or the Guards themselves are all OOA or rout.
See also Guards! and Bribes.
*Any combat, magical attack or missile attack by either player equals a failed initiative test.

If a normal warband becomes involved in a brawl, can they be "barred" as a result. You could add "barred" to the table I suggested above, or maybe "barred" for a number of campaign turns.

Speaking of that table:

"If a warband surrenders to the Guard, without having taken a guardsman out of action, roll a d6:
1: All warriors in the surrendering warband who were present at the point of surrender (including those taken out of action) are stripped of all weapons, then released."

As written, warband members would actually be stripped of their free daggers! Shock and horror!

In my circle we have explicitly made a house-rule that warriors have a dagger slot in addition to their two weapon slots that can be filled with any dagger you like.

Under those circumstances if you get stripped of all your weapons then you do indeed lose your free dagger, but it is only 2 gold to replace so not a big deal.

It also means that one can upgrade the dagger with, say, an ithilmar dagger, gromril dagger, stiletto, or some other dagger-like weapon. Adds a bit more variation in weapons.

That is a nice little house rule.

Thanks; we like it .

In any case, I agree that the original A.I. on the guards needs tweaking from just the simple 'head towards the nearest close combat' although I do think that is a good starting point.

Marines that start their turn within 2" of each other must stay within 2" of each other. If the marines are seperated due to involuntary movement, failed charges, etc. they must try to regain <2" of seperation in subsequent turns.

If the marine is within charge-range of a combat they must charge the nearest combat.
If the marine is within charge-range*2 of a combat they must run towards
the nearest combat (sergants and assault marines only - may break the
2" rule).
If a marine sees a warrior with a ranged weapon it must move into range and shoot until ooa or out of sight (marksmen only).
Head towards the nearest combat.

If they are within charge range they must charge.

I don't think arming the marksmen with either crossbows or giving them Hunter would make them too powerful.

Thanks for the ideas gentlemen.

I've also been thinking about using BTB's alignment:

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alignment
Not all creatures and warriors the warbands possibly come across are necessarily hostile – even though most are! Some might even join one side for theremainder of the battle.
Unless specified differently (e.g. in the scenario description where a certain alignment might be specified) roll on the following table to determine the models’ alignment. For a group of non-player models roll once only.

D6 Result
1 Passive: The model remains stationary until it is attacked and hit by any warband. From then on it is hostile.

2-5 Hostile: The model is hostile and moves as described under “monster turn” below.

6 Allies: If the model is of the same race as a member of one of the warbands (including Hired Swords) it will serve them for the duration of this battle. e.g. Gors may be allied with a Beastmen warband. If the model could join more than one warband, determine which it joins at random. Otherwise it is hostile.

At present it is a trick of placement as to who the guards encounter first. Sometimes a Barred warband will be assisted by an attack by the guards on their opponent's flank. Anyway, perhaps changing the guards brief to read that they attack barred warband members first?

In our first week of these rules only one Barred warband had to play at a location that they were Barred from. Otherwise the Barred warbands are sticking to the Thieves Quarter until greed or a lucky die roll pry them out.

Ohoy Von Kurst et al!

Some really good ideas here, and the rules suggested by mweaver are about what I was to suggest.
We have a simular setting for our Eisende games, the guards are heavily armed and armoured professional Tilean mercenary soldiers. They live for fighting, and hence train/exersice/practise their skills and have a great deal of morale and stamina along with superior dicipline. All this to disencourage players to do anythign stupid in town, if you want to fight, be stealthy or take it outside the walls.
This might seem to be harsh, but its the setting we have choosen for now. We might change the rules for play in the future, but only if its what will happend due to the actions of the participants of the campaign.