Possessed Warband - First time player

a few things you should note about your mutants/possessed and mutations. These stat boost they get from mutations can take them above there racel max.
Also an extra arm/Tail on a mutant can be a huge bonus early game. The Tail gives you +1 attack at Strength 5; on a mutant that can be huge as you can't get that kind of boost for 3 advancments and that requires 2 strength and 1 attack boost. The Tail has been in the past for me a huge boost to my mutant being able to take out some guys early to gain kills=advancements.
an extra arm is yes an extra attack only but can be a huge deal for you on a possessed (not so much on Mutants as a Tail is better I think for them).
Granted the Tail loses a lot of punch when faced off against undead or others immune to poison but those are few.

I am a fan of a small warband of 4 for the first game with Possessed. Take Magister, 2x Mutants, 1 Brotheren. Send your brotheren out to die and then run away... you can try to get a cheap kill in (but odds are you won't) or grab an objective but thats not your goal.
you will enter the battle with a Warband rating of 40... this will give you an underdog bonus almost from the start. Most starting warbands will have around 100 in rating. That means your survivors all get 2 exp... or an advancement for each mutant after the first game (and your brotheren if he survives).
you can then take the gold you earned from exploration (not much) and that saved and upgrade your warband buying equipment, possessed (1), and Beastmen.
It's not a fun start but it gives you a small edge after the first game. your opponans will most likely win the first game anyway and this just wraps it up sooner and gets you some more experiance and advancments sooner.

over all the outline of your warband is good. Brotheren should also get some bows later to help thin out the enemy or at the least make them take some cover so you can get into posission better.

I agree with Pervavita... smaller warband...

Pesonnaly I'd choose Magister, Possessed x 2, Mutant.

98 Magister - Sword, Mace, Bow,
130 Possessed (extra arm)
140 Possessed (hulking brute)
103 Mutant (Scorpion tail) Sword, Mace, Bow, Helmet

471 Total... keep the 29 for your next mutant or take a Brethen with a mace ...

the problem i see with 2 possessed is your warband rating becomes much higher with this build.
4 models= 20
2x Possessed= 16
Magister=20
56 warband rating.

yes this can get the underdog rating too but it's closer to not getting it as you just have to face a relativly small warband with a rating of 95 or less.
maybe dump one possessed and grab the 2nd mutant on this build.
you get a Warband Rating of 48 and that will be vary hard to not get underdog and both mutants will get a level up.

The Possessed is an interesting Warband. In my opinion, one of the most strategic Warbands to make. Building a strong Possessed Band could take a long time. Meaning, if you’re group plays a relatively small set number of games in a campaign, this could be difficult. My group plays an unending campaign. We have warbands that are years old. My strategy for building Possessed comes from that. My Magister is a basic start. Just a dagger for a game or two. He’ll never see combat until much latter anyway. After the first game or 2, I’ll get him a bow and shoot after that. My Possessed (only one for startup) has no mutations. He’s vicious enough starting. If and/or when he dies latter, I’ll have saved up gold to buy mutations on the next one. I tend to splurge on my mutant. He gets 2 new arms (sword, mace, free dagger, and fist. Or 2 handed sword, sword, and free dagger.) Being mutants start with no XP, they advance quickly. Then another mutant, usually with just a scorpion tail. The rest is spent on Brethren with basic weapons as fodder while I build up my heroes list. Of course, it all depends on the Dice Gods during the games for how long it’ll take to build up. But I usually have more fun with Possessed than most other Bands, because of the strategic band building. Plan out your band and prepare to lose a bunch of games until the skills and Heroes get built. I always save some gold after each game for the next Mutant or Possessed to get.

Good Luck.

I am playing possessed right now in our current campaign (Empire of Wolves over in batreps) and have a few suggestions. I started out with max heroes - Magister, 2 naked possessed, and 2 mutants with an extra arm apiece ( I think its a little easier to have 5 already than to try and save up for one later. Plus, you have more opportunity to get more wyrdstone and better exploration early if you keep them alive). I think with that theres enough for maybe a henchmen or 2....which I usually try to afford beastmen to get them promoted quickly.

My plan was to build up some gold reserves and eventually kill off a possessed so that I could rebuild a monster with as many xtra arms as I could afford. The possessed are so bad-ass though, even without the upgrades, thats now become unnecessary.
I would drop the sword from the magister....he shouldnt see much combat early....if you want him to participate, give him a bow for his slightly above average BS.
Demon soul....dont think its worth it at all and you have 60gc tied up in it. This warband is more offensive oriented, and demon soul is really situational (we have 3 or 4 players running around spouting off prayers and after 14 games this wouldn't have helped me a single instance). Go for the extra arm or scorpion tail if theres not a lot of undead.
Thats a lot of maces. I wouldn't give the brethren anything other than daggers...maybe not even 2 daggers. Theyre just there to take charges and hold people up. I would save the clubs for just the mutants.

As far as playing goes, you may have to take a couple of voluntary routs early on by getting your brethren killed off, but thats what they do best. Try not to risk your heroes early....I always keep the 2 possessed together and charge them in tandem, never send them off alone and without support. Not much is going to stand up early to 4 strength 4 / WS 4 attacks. Using them like that has worked out really well for me. When they start getting skills and stat increases they can really mow stuff down.
The mutants usually have someone around in front to intercept for them so they dont get charged.
As far as equipment, get some lucky charms, rabbits feet, helmets, more henchmen, swords, etc. etc. after first game and build up your heroes before you start giving henchmen anything other than daggers.

Thanks for the responses guys, it's been really helpful!

The consensus seems to be that more heroes, more money, fewer problems. I understand the theory, although I'm still a bit concerned about that practice!

How do you guys tend to run the first few games? Is it more a case of going solely for the objective, or do you just try and survive, and pick off strays when you can for extra XP?

When you're first starting out, survival is WAY more important. Scenario objectives are nice, but in general, it's just best to live to fight another day. Replacing fallen heroes is always harder, so don't risk them unnecessarily. Also, as you progress, it's always best to have as many different henchmen groups as you can, to increase your chances of rolling "lads got talent" when they advance. Again, more heroes, more gold.