JFanososo5 6/9/04 3:37 pa Page 5 Swarf Treasure Gunter By Jake Thornton, 55 gold Crowns to hire + 30 gold crowns upkeep Darts ate famed for thee love of gold, ae and adventure, not necessaiy in that order. Since the disaster at Mordhcim they have come 10 the ruine in everincreasing ‘numbers, some seeking riches, but many Justaftera good fight. They're well know as tough wartiors and are very: much ‘sought after as hired muscle by other ‘warbands, but the Treasure Hunters have other benefits to. Dwarf Treasure Hunters afe specialists i finding eches that, ‘other people have tied to hide and, as such, can add ‘considerably to a warband’s purse May be Hised: Mercenaries and Witch Hunters may hire a Dwarf Treasure Hunter, Warhands of Dwarf Treasure Hunters are considered rivals to these individual prospectors and 40 may not hte them, Warbands tha include Elves may hice Dwarf ‘Treasure Hunters, but must pay double che notmal upkeep after each bale. Dwarfs won't put up with poingveared folk Unless they have to, oF are adequately compensated for their sutferance Rating: A Dwarf Treasure Hunter increases the warhand’s rating by +24 points plus one point for each Experience Point he has Profile _M_WS BS_S tWwiau 35 43 4 9 21 Equipment: Gromril armour, helmet, mining plck, dagger, hammer, easure maps and lantern ig (se below). Sls: A Dwarf Treasure Hunter may choose from Combat of Strength skills when he gains anew sill SPECIAL RULES Hard to Kill: Dwarfs are tough, resilient individuals who are ‘only taken out of action on a fol of 6 instead of 546 when rolling oa the laury char. Teat 2 roll of 1-2 as knocked down, $5 as stunned, and 6 as Out OF Acton, Hard Head: Dwar ignore the special rules for maces, clubs, ‘ete They ate not easy to knock out Hates Ores & Goblins: See the Psychology section ofthe rues for deals on the effect of hated ‘Mining Pick: This sa tworhanded weapon and uses the same rules a8 a doubleshanded axe, hammer, et. Lantern Rig: The lantern gallows the Teeasure Hunter use ‘he lantern and stil Keep och hands fee for weapons. (Otherwise follows the normal rules fo lanterns. ‘Treasure Maps: Over his ime inthe rus, the Treasure Hunter has acquired 4 number of treasure maps Call greed if you ‘must, professional intrest f you're more polite. Some of these ae obvious fakes, but there are many that seem promising. AL leas, on fs glance. Each bate the Dwarf Treasure Hunter wll, choose one map and see where it leads, Roll D6 at the end of cach bate which the Dwatf Treasure Hunter survives without going Out OF Acton, 1 Ambusht: The Dwatf Treasure Hunter is ambushed by DS brigands who planted the fake map co lure the unwary to thee doom, Immediately fight a close combac herween the brigands and the Treasure Hunter with che brigands going fist and ‘counting as charging. The Brgands have the stats of a Human, Mercenary Watior (page 71 of the eulebook) and are armed with a club and dagger. 2 Poor Fake: It quickly hecomes obvious that this ia feeble forgery and is uceely worthless. The Teasure Hunter uses ico igh ie pipe: 4 Looted Hoard: I¢ was a good map, but someone heat you ro {Mind you, there's enough left to add +1 to the number of shards collected by your warband this game 4 Cellar: When Dwats say "treasure, they don't always mean gold. This map leads to a forgoten cellar of 2 ruined pub and contains smal barel of Bugman's finest ale treasure indeed! ‘This works like the one inthe rules, but there's only enough to {give to D6 warriors. Decide when you want them to drink itand soll t0 see how many i'l go ound, The fest warioe co drink feo the barrel must he the Dwar Teasute Hunter himselé The barrel cannot be sold, and ifthe Treasute Hunter i not reained ‘hell manage to take this with io when he goes. 5 Real Treasure Map: Roll one extra Exploration dice 6 Jackpot! You get one extra Exploration dice. However, do ‘ot roll this along with the fest of them. Instead, roll the Exploration dice you'd normally be entiled 10 fis. Then choose the result of the extra dice instead of rolling i (potently making doubles into qiples, ete) Once you've one this, resolve the results ofthe exploration as normal [Note that these results are not cumlatine. The Treasure Hunter consults 2 diferent map each bate, and so the fesults only applrto tha bate (or, more accurately, to the actions herween that are and the nex) earanos_oe_2i 6/9/04 3:37 pa Page 6 CALL TO ARMS A Gang Bars Report By Terry Maltman, Ian Davies & Nik Harwood ‘They arrived feom all points of the compass. Some crossed the sea. Some made the arduous journey from the Deep South where strange creatures roam, fetid of odour and ‘communicating only in guttural snarls (hello Somerset) Other more hardy souls braved the chaos known as Friday hight rush hour in Nottingham. Bue arive hey di So ie was chat Harrald, lan, Nik and Terry assembled in the hallowed halls of Warhammer World (ok, ok, Bugman's Bar if you want to be specific). It was the night before Gang Wars, the GW Mordheim Campaign weekend, and ‘there was much plotting to be done. Steategies needed to be drawn up, tactics thrashed out and practice games, et, practised. And maybe we'd grab a quick drink to sharpen, us up. So... several quick drinks later we were all feeling as sharp, as a new, Unfortunately we'd managed no games at al although, on the strategy front, we had successfully managed to talk Balrogs for most ofthe evening. Ah wel ‘there was always good old-fashioned luck to fll back on the following day. ‘The campaign started in earnest on Saturday morning ‘with the traditional coffee and doughnuts (s0 now you know why we are so keen). lan and Nik, having carelessly found themselves locked inside a local Nottingham pub ‘the previous aight, were particularly keen on the coffee aspect. an was noticeably less enthusiastic about the prospect of an early-morning doughnut though, presumably more a result of that reassuringly expensive lager than any last-minute healthrive on his part. A total of eight players assembled for the Mordheim ‘campaign. Joining the four of us, and looking decidedly more fresh-faced, were Michael Simpson, green-haired Al fom Bedford, Bryan the Possessed and Terry's son David ‘The objective of the Mordheim campaign was to accumulate as much wyrdstone as possible over 9 games ‘while tying to cesist the gold-draining lure of the shiny ‘trinkets and Hired Swords on offer from Busty Gwen, no- nonsense landlady of the Stoat & Pitcher. The warband that had amassed the most wyrdstone by the end of the ‘weekend would be the winner. Berween the eight players It turned out we had seven. different watbands: ‘Terry: Middenheimers Nik; Kstevites Ian: Dwarves David: Orcs & Goblins Harrald: Skaven (led by the infamous Oldelaw) Brian: Possessed, Al: Slaven Michael: Witch Hunters Before the games began we were allocated a further 100g¢ to spend on equipment and Hired Swords. The Hired Sword and equipment cards were provided by Busty Gwen and sold, frstcomerstserved, at The Stoat & Picher. We were not allowed to recrult new warband, members then of later, but we could re-hire to replace losses provided we didn’t go above the starting number. Aftergame injuries, income and trading were done as normal ee TT—E ranos_oe_ 23 3:04 pe Page 7 ‘We could choose one of three strategies hefore each game ‘with the player posting hs sip frst achieving his chosen strategy. We could () Ambush’ a nominated warband and play Defend The Find, (i) "Pick a Fight” and play Chance Encounter or (ii) “Scavenge” and play cither Hidden “Treasure of Wyrdstone Hunt as directed by the GW crew Over the course ofthe fist day many shards of wyrdstone were found and lives lost, The match of the day was almost certainly the tle unification bout berween current EuroGT Mordheim champion Harrald Faessen and. ‘current UK Mordheim GT champion Nik Harwood. The Dutchman claimed the spoils on this occasion with a cagey display of ratinkery and outstanding dicerolling Of course, there's the ald excuse about everyone wanting to ambush Rodion the Bear, which led to him being parked in a central building for six games ipa row. St ‘there's always next year's EuroGT and Call to Arms t0 defend the honour of Blighty. Mind you, Nik was following England's long and proud history of inventing ‘games, exporting them abroad and then being thrashed soundly at them by all and sundey. By the time we reached Bugman’s Bar on Saturday night Michael's Witch Hunters, The Seckers, were strongly placed having won their first four straight battles Unfortunately for them, by Sunday morning, following the Iniquities ofa night at Bugman's Bar, Sigmar had forsaken, ‘them, resulting i them losing every battle of the final day. Somewhat unfairly lan and Nik, having later become "unlucklly locked insde the same local pub forthe second, right running, were to fare far better on the second day. Clearly Grungni and Uric have very diferent standards from Sigmar. 6 [Che wall Buy || one of the great aspects of Mordheim is sts never ‘ending capacity for dramatic comedy moments. This ‘event as no exception, Picture the scene Gilbert Fetlesmith, the esteemed if somewhat creaky | Dwarf Enginces, has positioned himself on the upper storey of a ruined inn that his warband are intent on “defending from the clutches of a demented Cult of the Possessed warband. With its enhanced 36° range, Gilbert's crossbow is proving troublesome for the encroaching Cultists However, theie leader, an evil Magister, has a plan Without warning he caste Wings of Darkness and is suddenly propelled upwards and into base contact with Gilbert whereupon he proceeds 0 land a {ferocious attack on the started Engineer. Surely the Magister will finish off the now:prostrate Gilbert during the following turn. But no. Gilbert, being adjacent toa low wall, fais his! Initiative test and tumbles over the edge. He lands in 4 crumple at the bottom but, being of hardy Dwarfen stock, merely dusts himself down while muttering to himsel, "Now what was I doing? Ah yes remember" he chuckles as he raises his trusty crossbow take aim at the ever so slightly miffed Magister. now Staring bemusedly down at Giller from the second | storey of the inn, erry en "ranos_oe_ 22 6/9/04 3:38 pa Page § Another fll day of diving charges, crucial Armour Saves and general belligerent wandering followed. The moment ‘of the day was undoubtedly Rodion, che Kislevites’ Beat, atempting a diving charge against a disbelieving Orc Boss. Despite having an Initiative of only 2, the Bear successfully pulled off his charge, soared majestically from. ‘the frst oor, arms and legs akimbo and roaring forall Kisley, to land emphatically on top of the startled Orc leader and end up with a "lookatmy-impression-of ‘easpet” grin on his furry face, A-welcome face over the course of the event was that of Fanatic's "Mr Mordheim" Jake Thornton. Jake spent much, ff the weekend chatting t the gamers and answering _questions (we're a demanding loc us gamers}. In fact he ‘00k the time to specticaly schedule ina Q&A session on Sunday afternoon in which he waxed Iysical about the fucure of both Mordheim and Necromunda. No doubt Jake's plans have been covered in other editions ofthis magazine, but suflice to say that everyone was very Impressed with both his vision and his enthusiasm, As mentioned earlier, the ultimate winner ofthe campaign ‘was to be the warband that managed to accumulate the most wyrdstone. Apart from the need to replace those ‘warriors who perished along the way there were also Busty Gwen's wares 0 resist, temptingly displayed to separate those less disciplined warbands from theie hoaed ‘Te those who resisted the lure of these trinkets the glory ‘would fall. And no one is better at hoarding treasure than Dwarfs. By a remarkable display of cightfistedness, Morgan the Moon's Stag Party managed to accrue an astonishing 51 shards of wyrdstone over the wo days. Impressive displays of meanness were also shown by Harrald’s Skaven and Terry's Middies who finished second, and thied respectively Ouicf Save So we're playing Defend The Find. Terry’s Middenbeimers need to ave more of bis men | standing thn mine tthe nd of my thr, onder | to win the game. At the start of my turn be bas four | more Middies than Dwarfs on ther feet. I bave one ‘Crossbouman ready 10 sboo!, witb Lord Broad, Spike the Slayer and Cloth Thomas, a lowly Beardling, |\ involved in close combat. The mathematically || sndowed will bave calculated that cach ofthese four warriors needs to. down an opponent, with || tbmces renaming standing sate ibe game, | OK, deep breath, bere goes. Morgan the Thunderer ings off a crosshow bolt, bits bis man and sends | ‘him sprawling tothe ground. One down, three to go, Spike the Slayer charges. He's got two attacks. They both bit. The Middie's a goner. Two down, too to go, Lond Broad's charges 10, And bes got two pistols Blam, Blam! Tbrecdown, one fo go | unfortunately poor old Cloth, being a Dwarf te not the quickest off the mark As a result be needs to survive wo attacks from bis opponent before be even _gets a chance to have a go himself Terry rolls is two >| ¢ ‘attacks, one of which bite I comment this wounds | then the game's over”. Unperturbed by my attempt at | 50 it's all down to litle Cloth Thomas, Now | Alex Ferguson-style psyebology Terry prompily rolls a 5, winning the game. As I proffer my band, trying to § | ut a brave face on things, Terry ‘suddenly a a a a ‘tnd dearly Jou ve Cte Tamas poncoeinvpipind ape sienna | sw at ba 1 do ts wound opponent Hatng Sea a en cnc aca | Cloth ‘Thomas doesn’t blow it, despatching his foe tet plom® the cheers of bit combate gn it | bis ears. And the game continues. Legendary stuffPanos_oe_2i 6/9/04 3:38 pa Page $ —E in AoroGein Tightife | 11 bas to be said that you can't keep a good gamer down. What do you do given a spare few minutes? You get | the miniatures out and improvise a game of "Flying Monkey Poo" ~ you know, the one where Jantary warriors dash around a fighting arena trying to ae aed ev ih inte ar Ear th a rong wate rte ana Mike | ‘avoid the, abem, waste products of a demented fying monkey ~ always granny’s favourite. Then, as Bugman's Bar bas a chess table, we decided to use that whilst the otbers were fintsbing a Mordbeim | eersion of Bris Bulldog Between us, Michael bad Al's Rat Ogre and ik bad Rodion, bis now infamous bear Gf there bad been an award {for the character of the tournament the bear would have won paws down). Terry whistled up an Ogre Hired Sword from the bottom of bis model case. Although the Ogre doesn't normally suffer from stupidity we assumed that be bad taken a few to0 many blows to the bead (suggestion ~"..ce assumed be had partaken of too many _glasses of Bugman's XXXXXX"). So the plan ~ what plan? In the best tradition of improvisation we made tt up fas we wont along. Each turn the models bad to pass a Stupidity test 10 act or react If they failed they either stood drooling or shusfted off | or-course that meant the Ogre with his great weapon tested to attack then waited whilst bis opponent tested to. | strike firs. Confused? The Ogre certainly was. Having stunned the Rat Ogre he was i a position to take stout | | |) of action. No be didn't be chose that moment to forget the plot and wander off bumming a little tune. Not onc, lof course. Not even twice He performed that trick no les than tree times. No wonder we called tt the stupid Dit fight Inthe end no one could even remember who bad won. We were all so busy laughing at the antics of | ‘our gladiators thatthe result didn't matter | | | l Si An honourable mention should also go to Skaven playet, AL. Despite never having before fielded a ratboy warband this didn’t stop him from collecting a prestigious award, Unfortunately, asthe poor fellow had finished the wrong, ‘end of the rankings, the award was a not-so-subtle hint in the form of a Necromunda rulebook, received in the same ‘good spirit that he had played all his games. Allinall we had a great weekend, with 2 great deal of ‘camaraderie in evidence between the players. As Jake ‘commented, no one plays to lose ~ that would have been silly ~ bus there were stil plenty of smiles when things dda’e quite go according to plan ‘We'll certainly be keeping our eves open for furure events So if you fancy meeting up for some limb-temoval related activities interspersed with a healthy dose of talking Balrogs, munching doughnuts and ducking from fying monkey poo then well ee you there And finaly, having collected enough shards over the weekend for the Dwarfs to triumph, only one problem ‘remained... what to do with all that wyrdstone when they got back home? Well the Slayers ate already looking forward to a two-week break in the Chaos Wastes, Lord Broad is looking forward to his Gucci-designed gromril armour and there'll soon be a luxury swimming-pool for the Beardlings to enjoy On second thoughts, better make that a paddling pool| “Closing Time Me THe Stoat s Pitcher Forte final games ofthe weekend we though that we should go out witha blast. o with a quick bit of improvisation ! | W unpied tbat ie final round wold const of aleplaser gamer wis pats of alles portable Wi he | | ‘tpproval of Boot Organaer Nick Apleby,alances were quiciy drain up. 1 a decided that my gram, bigoted | | trearfs would be the perfect partners for Michael Simpson's grumpy, bigoted Witch Hunters. Togetber we would || |] esi ot of ama’ eins By ao te cd Hl Pra | trom the top storey ofa central inn, the eosshows of Engineer Gilbert Fetlesmith and bis son Morgan bad the north- | test secton of the board covered. Now by a happy coincidence the northwest section ofthe board jst bappened 0 | Simao the Cu tno he Clits «bran plan Yo ote the Ds ala prose || tied end tad i] | Sern thie impel of elevation, the Daf an te Wich Hunters promptly deed “lan 8 Ti socalled qui gangig pn Daa Ore, king nh stint corner forth ta Posted ould come ‘Shia rth big con go orton wot an ped andr fort for Of aot eet | Sur falcon ban | So one inspired and heroic effort later, our twin-pronged attack bad become completely buckled At one stage, two \ | Santi ot tye charged cnutencosty te a nary lf at would ba ben rade not) oy fr bats | | Ste toed prorat ter bgore te round out Ob he some! | It wasn't long before both Dwarf and Witch Hunter warbands were completely masbed by the Greenskins with the Cult } || sat, as bey sa, 1 not all about winning No i's about grabbing mast o be treasure \|fan08_0621 6/9/04 3:38 pm Page 12, Settfing the Grudge Jake: Having watched the fun and carnage a¢ Gang Wars I chought that s would be a good dea to carry on some of, that story in a bate report. In a moment fof rare cunning, 1 decided 0 also. use this opportunity «0 Introduce a couple of members of | the Mordheim — Rules ‘Commitee to all you folks out in the Big Wide World, So here they are: “Terry Maleman and }) tan Davies, veteran Mordheimers, wit Py raconteurs and al round gentlemen abou town, The following report is mostly le Terry and Ian's own words, though Ive buted in Fevery now and again for larty’s sake. At Least, that's sy excuse, and I'm sticking 0 ‘Terry: When Jake invited me to take part in a Mordheim battle report for Fanatic Magazine I was delighted to find ‘that my opponent was my old friend and fellow member ‘of the Mordheim Rules Committee, Ian Davies. Now lan and I have been chatting about Mordheim for several years through the Mordheim Yahoo e-mail lst, but as [ive ln the Midlands and he inthe West Country we rarely get 10 play each other, s0 this was a great opporcunity to get together for a bash. As we are *ahem* macure gamers, Jake left us to develop the continuing story between our ‘warbands and decide upon a scenario based on that Our last encounter over the gaming table had been at che Gang Wars campaign weekend. My Middenheim warband, had defeated lan’s Dwarfs who were ‘Defending the Find’ Now if | know Dwarfs they wouldn't let something like ‘that go ignored, s0 to give them an opportunity co sete the grudge we agreed to play ‘Surprise Atack’. I would be the defender and lan would ambush me. ‘The innkeeper threw another log on the ft. The log looked suspiciously like a wooden leg, but nobody cared to remark on it. Most ofthe customers in the Stoat & Pitcher were used to minding their own ‘usiness. Young Kurt squirmed on bis stool, be would bave to do sometbing about the fleas in bis wolf cloak. He could never figure why the otbers didn't have the same problem. Trying to distract himselffrom being slowly eaten alive be turned to Heinrich, the leader of thetr band, and leaned towards bien. "That Dwarf keeps staring at us", be said in as controlled a wbisper as be could manage in the nolay taproom. Hetnrich would bave looked quite distinguished if someone bad trimmed his beard and given kim a ‘good scrub, Even s0 be bad a quiet commanding ‘air’ “lf you had been paying more attention lad, you'd have noticed that be bas been following us {for the last two days.” The leader gave Kurt indulgent smile like an uncle to a favi nepheu: He wasn't, of course. Nobody ‘knew who Kurt's father was. "tae ph et Ube 9 nga Dieter, Hetnrich’s second tn coimmand {for bin, "Don't you remember back ty ‘ound a bouise boing defended by D them out, but i took some doing. ‘pickings to be bad there. We made. Dieter looked after the warband's Kurt looked surprised, “That was, what ts their problem?” Heinrich intervened,” «much to learn about Dir la They fa slight or an inal" He shook bis be loaty/ that sono (Bonedy Merbcre: 4 MMMM dost Arte tah of i ba ee oe {from now on.” The big Middenbetmer drained bis tankard and slowly stdod jup turning to bis * companions. “Drink up lad! I think you will need 4 clear bead tomorrow” When be turned back the Dwarf bad goneJPanoe_0622 6/9/04 3:39 pm Page 12 + “Goad to see you again my old friend. It's been too long, Pipe?” said Gilbert Fettlecmith, the esteemed engineer, as be welcomed is gues into bis study. * % “Don't mind sf I do”, replied the guest, Lord Broad of Karak Thron. “Now then Gilbert? Tell me more about this expedition” x bs i eee ae Gilbert sida brimming bowl ofpipesweed along bis deck: “Well, first of al, thank you for rovcame Rong ‘on this barebrained venture. I'm afrald that young Morgan fs as stubborn as Iam. He won't take udotce {father on this. He's going on tis trip with or without me. What especially troubles me is that the whole scheme bas been conjured up by Morgan's best friend Spike a° ‘Gnuttreion the Slayer, no doubt assisted by bis equally unstable brother Razor.” “other than thatthe party will consist only of Morgan's fiends, the Beardlings Gutlym, Malduyn, Tecwin and ‘young Cloth Thomas. Barely shaving, the lt of them" he growled “Pabt Not one of them bas so much as a hammer or an axe about them. Instead they'll each be bringing a spear.” He spat this last word. A § eka seni2080621 6/9/04 3:39 pm Page 13 | a TT ane ne SKILS, INJURIES “einrich The Wolf Captain Teader ©, Wyrdstone Hunter, Horrible ‘Sears, Hardened, Bitter Enmity, ct | aay Abreck Champion ‘Sigbty Blow, Resilient, Tightning Reflexes Step Aside Dieter Champion Strongman, Resilient ur Youn Broken eg. Sep Avid ‘Maria Younes {ight Blow “Apparently i's all the rage with the under-80s these days “So you see, old friend, these young fellows could use our experience to guide them through tebat could prove to ‘bea challenging trip. Again, thank you for agrecing to accompany us. I'm sure a couple of old warhorses such ax ‘ourselves can show tbese youngsters a thing or two. < = ; “Not at all” smiled Lord Broad. “ts been to long since Iwas last involved inthis hind of exeapade. Fo lodking forward to seeing {can remember a few of my old tricks." — “But you haven't yet told me Gilbert, where is our destination?" a ¥ ae Gilbert Fettlesmith besitated. “A city by the name of Mordbeim. You may bave beard of t. Morgan hasn't stopped talking about it since the plans were drawn up. He telle me that the streets of the city are completely wild. Apparently most visitors are slaughtered within hours of arriving at the gates.” Lord Broad raised a quizzical eyebrow: “Mordbeim?” be chuckled, “I suppose that's what you get when you ask a Troll Slayer to organise your stag weekend. A NM SALIJPanoe_0622 6/9/04 3:39 pm Page 14 Geenaso rufe amendments ‘This battle took place midway through the 2004 Mordheim Rules Review. One item thac was on the agenda for the review was looking at balance of the Defend The Find scenario (which i$ notoriously hard for the defenders), but given the combined history of the two ‘warbands, this seemed like the most appropriate scenario ‘to play. Rather than shying away ftom i, we decided to take this as a good opportunity (0 try out some of the proposed seenario modifications. For several years Ian's group had made the simple change of allowing the defender the first turn. This allows the defenders the opportunity to regroup, ide or maybe just to say their prayers before the action begins. In addition 1 this, Terry and lan also allowed the defenders to roll for reinforcements on the fist (rather than the second) turn (a the other hand, co prevent the balance from swinging too far in favour of the defenders, Terry sportingly suggested that the newly ariing defenders shouldn't be allowed to charge i the first ruen “The above changes are what were played on the day: The final version of any changes will be presented with the full report of the Rules Committee in a later issue of this, ‘magazine, and on the website ‘he AnwPenBeimes’ Ten ‘Terry: ‘Surprise Attack’ is generally considered very dificule scenario for the defenders to win. They tart with an average of haf their warband off the able, and those ‘who are on i€ are scatered aver a wide area. In contrast, ‘the attackers wl all come on together and can pick off he defenders one at a time, As we were using experienced ‘warbands we thought that there were a number of factors ‘that would help even che game up. My Middenheimers ‘ounumbered the Dwarts $ to 2 and with their superior movement should be able to regroup quickly once knew ‘where the Dwarfs would arrive, We also agreed that ‘contrary tothe scenario the defenders would take the first ‘turn but any reinforcements who arrived that turn would rot be able to charge. One final addition, we were both, allowed to use one of the new Hired Swords from the Fanatic Studio collection, I chose the Kislevite Ranger (see Fanatic isue 6) a8 she seemed to go with the wild and. hairy men of the north bette. She isa good allrounder and a bit ofa monster killer. So how do you formulate a battle plan when you don’t know how many men you will have on the table and you don't know where the enemy will come from? What's mote, your men have to be scattered at least 8" from each, other. I need then to be feady to be atacked from any side, and will therefore place whatever bow-armed men. ae available to cover as much of the table as posible. The scenery has been set up fairly densely with a lot of walkways and mult+level buildings just how 1 like it. The lother warriors will ill in the gaps between the shooters and consolidate once I know where the enemy Is Hopefully I will get a good proportion of my men on the table from the start Sef Canning Tan: My plan against most warbands would be to avoid hand-to-hand combat for as long as possible inorder t0 maximise the Dwarfs’ innate advantages in a firefight However, I am very aware that the Surprise Attack scenario places the defender ata big disadvantage iniialy Not only does he begin with, on average, hal his warband ‘elsewhere but he also has to contend with the serious headache of his men being scattered over the batlfield All of this means that as the battle develops more and mote Middenheimers will pear on the streets. As well as, ‘this I expect Terry, a seasoned old wathorse, to do all he ‘an to gather his existing troops together. The chances are hell wy to avotd combat until he has a decent number of ‘wartiors on the table. Fm co make the most of my inital numerical advantage | therefore want to initiate combat as quickly as possible, ‘concentrating if possible on four isolated models ~ just ‘enough to force a Rout test. Sefopment ‘Terry: As the defender I get to deploy fist. have to roll foreach Hero and Henchmen group and on a.4+ they will ‘urn up. Iso again for the remainder at the beginning ‘of each subsequent turn, The warriors that I can place on the ble are Crazy Albrecht, Wolfgang, young Kurt, Natasha the Kislevite and the two "Thugs’ (you have t0 hire whoever you can in Mordheim — however unsavoury). The others must still be chatting up Busty Gwen in the Stoat & Pitcher Inn (see the Gang Wars report). ‘That doesn't exactly give me many bowmen t0 form a _guard around the others who are busy looting. Hopefully the Drakwald Hunters will turn up soon. I place Natasha ‘on the top of the central tower where she can target the ‘widest area ofthe table. She as the shooting ably Heart Strike which can kill large creatures, but as the Dwarfs don’t have any that is not much use. However, her Hunters’ Cloak will allow her to hide and shoot without being automaticaly spotted (as usual I promptly forgot albout this fr the rest ofthe game). The other two Heroes and wo warriors are distributed evenly over the table around the centeal tower. Did I just heat a pistol being, cocked? Tan: My plan iso get into combat and take out as many 25, possible of Terry's men before his reinforcements areive ‘The problem is that, with my limited movement of 3— f JPanoe_0622 6/9/04 3:39 pm Page 15 é | | al all ‘Terry's troops would likely be able to keep far enough away ifthey chose. In this ease, my best hope would be to ‘yt comer his men. This could take some time, perhaps sx oF seven turns 0 run to full length of the board However, if I could start along the centre of my board ‘edge then I might be able to pin some unwary Middenheim warriors against my left or sight edges ‘within, maybe, three turns. If this isto work my Dwarfs ‘wll need to fan out into a wide “net”. With this in mind I placed my hand-to-hand combat troops centrally along my table edge and the maximum 8" sp. The Heroes are ‘concentrated slightly tothe lft, Henchmen slightly t0 the right. Ive noticed thatthe Ranger, Natasha, is positioned at che top level of a central building. While I don’t fancy my Dwarls' chances of scaling that building in a huery, 1 do fancy my chances of oucshooting her ina firefight. I place ‘both crosshowmen, Gilbert the Engineer and his son Motgan The Moon, on an elevated walkway which will allow them to freely target the Kislevite Ranger. Ill keep ‘them close to the main group though as their numbers may be needed at a later stage. While I'm considering the possibility of using Jack Buckbarrow’s Inflate skill 1 get in an early attack, 1 decide against i, With a mere T2 it's important not to let him become isolated and thereby allow the Middies t0 lalm a cheap scalp. Instead, I place him within a reasonable proximity of the hand-to-hand fighters. He can. ‘uy some sneaky knifethrowing and ifthe enemy begin to [get abit t00 close for comfort he can dash back t the fold for protection, Iwill be interesting to see where the Middenheimers fest ‘wave of reinforcements arrive till eA if{—1-06.22 6/9/04 3:39 pm age 16 ‘Terry: As we have tinkered with the scenario I have the first turn. This, 0 my opinion, is one of the stengths of Mordheim. If you don’t like something then just agree ‘with your opponent to change it. The Dwarfs have arrived. lose to the two Thugs, but well away from Albrecht and Kurt. They are going to have a Jong run t0 get into ‘combat. Fist though I need to see who is going to enter the fray this turn. Rolling a dice for each gives me the remaining three Heroes ~ Heinrich the captain, Dieter and Maria the other Youngblood. Much to my lief che ‘three Drakwald Hunters join them. At least now I have a ‘decent amount of both combat and shooting power. The final dice roll brings the reinforcements on right behind Jan's Dwarfs. The ambushers become the ambushed. As I can't charge this turn (a per the modified scenario) after positioning the new arrivals I just back the Thugs ‘off. Next I wy my luck a shooting. My Huntsmen already have a Ballistic Skil advantage so they are presty good at hitting their arget, tI know that Dwarfs are novoriously ‘ough. Natasha the Ranger tiesto prove that her eye is a5, keen as the men from Middenheim, but just misses Morgan the Moon by a whisker. The fist two Hunters pprove that they are no better by missing Razor the Slayer and Gwilym the Beardling. The honour of the Drakwald hunters les with the last shot. A cheer goes up when he hits the Beardling Tecwin and kills him. First blood to the Middenheimers! Then lan reminds me that Dwarfs are "Hard co Kil! and a roll of $ ts only stuaned. Bab! Sel, it Peery Y ee Tan: Ah, I see. So we have six Middenhelmers suddenly appear right ip amongst my warband. If I don’t react ‘quickly, the Middies could quickly charge me before I've decided what I'm doing. I could easily find myself theee Dwarfs down i no time and thus on the dreaded Rout I need to regroup my Dwarfs and gain the charge ‘wherever Ica. My hastly modified plan is now to target the six models who have suddenly appeared behind me. “This strategy will have the added bonus of shifting the ‘combat marginally away from Terry's already deployed men, which should help keep them out of combat for that litle bic longer. With this in mind Lord Broad and his Trol Sayer retinue, although they can’t yet charge, will move as close to the newcomers as possible. Jack Buckbarrow doesn't seem to be under any immediate threat s0 he can chance a thrown knife from his lofty position. Another important consideration is that Tecwin is already stunned from how-fire and s0 is very vulnerable. I must get him as far away from the enemy as possible. He will also need his Henchmen friends to come to his rescue ‘There are two Middenheim Henchmen in the immediace lini chat need tying up. One of these can be charged by Cloth Thomas. The other is not reachable, but I can still, ‘ty to tempt him away from Tecwin by placing Maldwyn and Gwilym within his charge range ~ their spears should help them survive any resulting charge—5, The biggest decision of all is what to do with the crossbow-t0ting Dwarfs up on the walkway The sensible ‘option may simply be to make use oftheir Quickshot skill, by having them stay put and fire. Then again I could seize the initiative and have them attempt unlikely diving charges onto the pair of Middenheim Heroes right below There would be several advantages to this. It would get more bodies into the thick of combat, which is always a good plan, If successful, € would allow me to gain the charge ~ a rare treat for a Dwarf Then there's the cat- amongstthe-pigeons effect. { doubt very much that Terry would be expecting this and so may be theown off his steide While each of these is a worthy consideration, the one thing that’s really swaying my decision is the preposterousness of two Dwarfs flinging themselves off a walkway. That setles it, Barz! Jake: To nobody's great surprise the Dwarf tumblers aren't entirely unscathed by their acrobatics and Morgan. tends up on the floor. Gilbert, on the other hand, steams {nto combat against young Marla. His attacks are Inetective, but her return blows are only saved by his lucky charm. Meanwhile, Cloth Thomas charges up 0 Dieter and slips a dagger between the Middenheimer's tbs. He goes down too. Terry: The loss of Dieter to a sneaky dagger atack was 2 blow. His Strongman skill combined with a double- handed hammer and a basic Strength of 4 means that ven the chance he can crush skulls without trying. Sadly he never got the chance. Lam rather more proud of Mara, Although only a Youngblood she has learned a lot whilst {tn Mordheim (14 Experience Points) and managed to fend, off che Dwarf Engineer. She would have wounded him if ‘ot for his lucky charm. Meanwhile, Heinrich is creased ‘with laughter atthe groaning Dwarf lying at hs feet. will have to do something about the Jack Buckbarrow, the annoying Halfling. He Is ina postion to keep throwing, ‘daggers and sooner of later he may actually hit me, [My remaining warriors (The Hammerers) finaly cura up. Now I have my entire warband to play with. The bad news, however, is that they have come on fom the far table edge. They will need atleast another four turns to {et to where the action is I suspect too much ale n the Stoat & Pitcher. Seeing Marla being assaulted by the Dwarf Engineer, Heinrich charges into help her He tries to tke care of her like the father she never knew. So he says anyway. The Thugs don't seem keen to get involved in the Fighting just yet. They are waiting for some of the others 1 join them before geting stuck in. IF am co make any Impact on Ian's Dwarfs I had better be hucky with the shooting this time. Natasha the Ranger moves across the top of the tower for a better view, (very thoughtful, and much appreciated by the onlookers below). In response Pere rErnaryJPanot_06_21 6/9/04 3:40 pm Page 18 Perr! to is rude gestures she shoots at Tecwie and hits him, but the arrow just bounces off his tough skin, The Hunters also try their luck and hit without wounding, I start to strongly suspect that I have been sold a batch of rubber arrows. There is just one combat to resolve this cura, Heinrich charged Gilbert Ferlesmich, the Dwarf Enginect and thea Maria will get to strike with her faster reactions. My top man hits Gilbert, who makes a vain attempt to parey the blow with his Dwarf axe. Heinrich is frustrated ‘though as even with Strength 4 his hammer fas to injure the Dwart Can a mere Youngblood do any beter? She bits ‘with one of her hammers and with her Mighty Blow skill sends the Toughness 6 Engineer Out of Action. She may look sweet and innocent, bus this is the wrong lady t0 mess with, lan: Note to self Dwarfs aren't renowned for theis diving charges. Must get more practice in fucure games. “There area few missiles flying my direction but for now 1ilignoce them, placing my tust in my tough hide and the Hard To Kill rae, {Pm slighty nervous that Jack could become an easy target. He isa least protected by his elevated position. Ifanyone ‘comes for him he can dash away, but I musta't leave that 100 ate. Until thea though he can chance another thrown ete. ‘Pm somewhat disconcerted by Gilbert the Engineer going ‘Out OF Action 50 early. The good news i that Lord Broad, Spike and Razor are now in a position to back up the ‘outnumbered Morgan The Moon. This is essential. ve also managed to take the Henchman, Dieter, Out Of Action puting the casualty score at 11. ideally like £0 target another three Middenheimers this turn if Tm to make Terry face Rout tests. Let's see ‘Teewin has just got back on his feet and so can't charge. He'll move a litle towards his buddies for comfort while bracing himself to receive the inevitable charge. Lord ‘Broad and Razor will charge Captain Heincich. This will result ina leader versus leader confrontation, which always adds spice to a battle. Spike can back up Morgan ‘The Moon against the deceptively strong Maria. Further afield, Maldwyn, Gwilym and Cloth Thomas can gang-up fon the nearby Hunter. Some good charges in this turn and Terry could be looking at an early Rout tes. Jake: The game goes into is ‘braw! phase in earnest and the results are well in the Dwarfs favour. The lone hunter, ‘Maria and the Captain all end up sprasiled on the floor in various states of disarray as the Dwarfs gang up on their foes. I looks lke Ian's (hastily revised) plan is working Sums ‘Terry: Ouch ~ three of my models Out of Action and my ‘Captain stunned in the same turn, Iflan can get one more then L wll nced to take Rout tests Heinrich ison the flor and surrounded by enemy models. He will recover to Knocked Down this turn which will help, but it looks bleak for him. My only chance to save him is Wolfgang. If hhe can join the fight then laa willbe forced to fight him Instead. Unfortunately, Wolfgang proves to be out of range so his charge fils I thought that st was going to be close, bbut I had to risk «Albrecht at last is close enough and charges Tecwin, risking the Dwart's spear which will trike thi fest. Kut is also getting closer, But he is not yet near ‘enough to join in. Over on the fa side of the table the Hammerers ace still slogging along, Shooting once again demonstrates the rubber arrow syndrome, but this time a shot does succeed in wounding Spike the Slayer: That'll teach him to run around halt 5 eam aeranos_oe_ 23 — f i904 naked in Mordheim. Better stll (for me) the Injury roll i a 6 50 the Slayer achieves his doom and goes (ut of Action, lan has lost two now, s0 one more and hhe will need to take Rout tests Close combat stats poorly with Crazy Albrecht geting stunned after running onto Tecwin's spear. It was always a calculated risk [Next the inevitable happens and Lord Broad takes my Capain Out of Action whilst he is down. I thought that these Dwarfs were meant to be honourable? Jan: Following an excellent set of charges ia the previous turn I ‘now have Terry on Rout tests Unfortunacely my cunning plan to laugh off his missiles has resulted in. Spike going Out OF Action, One more casualty and 1 t00 vill be facing Rout tests. I'm feeling ‘Teowin, with the Thugs bearing down on him, is looking particularly vulnerable. I'm sue Terry will ave noticed this too and willbe ey concentrating all his charges on the litle fellow Even if ‘Tecwin ignores the prostrate Albrecht at his feet and leaves combat he'l sill be within the Thugs’ charge range. He may as well put Albrecht out of his misery and set his speat to receive the charge. ‘Morgan The Moon can try to reduce the threat to Teewin by pinging off a couple of crossbow bolts at one of the ‘Thugs. Lord Broad, if he shifts his postion slightly, can fire 4 pistol at another Thug although hell have to incur a penalty for having moved. If my shooting is true Tecwin, ‘may yet avoid being charged ‘Wolfgang the Middenhelm Watrlor, having failed a charge the previous turn, is now within spitting distance of my Hero group. In sicuations like this the best form of defence is atack It's charge of be charged, and so Razor ‘will duly oblige2080621 6/9/04 3:40 pm Page 20 ‘The remaining Beardlings are all out of charge range Instead they can moved forward, toa position out of sight ‘of the sniping hunter, and form a spear wal just short of ‘Tecwin’s position. This will st them up nicely for the Neutall 56 Hostile 3. Giant {A Giant is laying up In che area, small counter should bbe eandomly placed to represent his rest place. 13. Join 4 “Neutral 5 Hosule 6 Defend #Opees {A camp of the evermetcenary Ogres isin the atea (equwalent of one unit of Ogres), € should be randomly placed on the cent line ofthe ble 14 Join 5 Neutral 6 Hostile 5. Handitsbeigands ‘There are dhrce small camps, fandomly placed in the area of the battle, Parley results 13, Join 45. Neuwal 6 Hostile Roll D6 per camp: 143. Number of units of Bretonnian spearmen equal to the dice roll 45. One (on a score of 4) oF two (on a score of 5) units of Archers @ One unit of Mounted Squires 6. Locals ‘One centrally placed, bull-uprarea of app. 20320 em. 12 Jom 34 Neutral 5 Hostile 6 Defend “Teoops i the camp ate (retonian stats for reference ‘Two units of spearmen, “Two units of archers ‘One unit of Mounted Squires Evl armies will find it easier to recruit some populations then others, they can adjust their secrustment toll by -I for population options 1-4, they do however also sufer a +1 for options Sand 6. = a Good armies can add 1 to their roll to determine the type of settlement (which should effecuvely ule: out ‘them teaficking with Orcs and thet likes. usPanot_42_55 6/2/04 3:58 pm Page 50 6, Chaotic incursions “The weave of the Warp i highly unstable in several areas ‘of the battlefield. With all the energies coming fee in the battle alot of denizens of the Warp will be drawn to i. At random moments during the battle they may be able t0 push through, into the mortal realm and che bate. Thet feeding frenzy will not make any distinction between the armies locked in combat, they will simply assall che nearest targets) D6 Unit 12 NoUnie 3 Flyer 4 Swarm 5 Spawn 6 Greater Daemon Daemons suffer from Instability as per the rules in thet army selector. At the beginning of each turn after the first casualties have fallen frst unit destroyed!) before any activities are done, roll 1D6. + On a 34 the appropriate Daemonic unit will appe (Gee able), + itis placed in the centre ofthe table and Scatter Dice ae rolled to determine where twill move. + The Daemonic unit will atack any unit it contacts daring that move, or that it ends within $ cm off (in ‘which case will move ino contact with that unit using the normal rules of engagement) + Ac the start of a player turn the active player rolls a Scatter dice for any surviving Daemonic unit. + Note that Dacmonic units will fight other daemonic unite Killing Daemons will give you their victory value, unis lalled by Daemons count against your Break Point Minor Effects 146 Unstable Magic On any spel applied: roll made the following rule is + Any ‘recasting’ ability, be i inane or begotten through the use of artefacts, will still work, but spells will be one level more dificult than before. + Should the result be a 1, the magic user in question will sufer a magical backlash and aot bbe able to cast more spells during the game! + Should the spell normally need a result of 3+, 44 oF 5+ on a 6 i will be doubly effective (effect ro units where it normaly effects one, last until YOUR next curn where «usually last ‘until your opponent's etc). 245. Plague Avinulent plague has stricken many of your troops ‘down, you barely managed to get them to take up position on the line of battle. On the first ruin (only) all woops are at an additional +1 co ‘command (as if taking second orders) 344 Motivation Your general has given a highly motivation speech t0 the toops. The first turn (only) ‘oops will automatically pass thet first order! 6. Deploy Armies In this stage thé players actually deploy the armies on the table. This will be depended on the type of engagement ‘we determined earlier: Pitched Battle ‘The players both roll 1D6 (ee-oll ties). The player with the highest score determines if he setstup fist, of forces his opponent to deploy. Start with deploying the Vanguard, (if applicable) one unit at atime and alternating, Aer the Vanguard) have been placed we roll off again for the ‘Main forces and subsequently for a Rearguard, In each of the 3 phases of deployment the player that finished placing his unit fist, gains a +1 modifier on the roll for firs turn (see 8.) After all troops have been deployed players that have nominated a Vanguard can elect to make one move forward with each Vanguard uast. Should they forgo this, ‘option they can add an adaltional +1 on the dice roll for firs turn,Panoe_42_55 6/9/04 3:59 pm Page 51 ig —.— Deployment summary Engagement type ‘Vanguard Main Force Rearguard Pached Battle (any) Deployed together ‘Meeting Engagement ‘Move on fest (soy) Move on second Assault I Defender Deployed together Reserve Tesault I Avacker ‘May fan Deployed together ‘Assault 243 Defender Deployed together Reserve ‘Assault 245 Avacker Deployed vopether Mecting Engagement ‘The players both roll D6 (ee-oll ties). The player with ‘the highest score chooses an entry point to denote where his army i arviving from. He then makes a move onto the ‘able witha unit from his Vanguard. At his stage note that no move may bring troops into contact with an enemy. “This process continues until both players have moved all ‘Vanguard units onto the table Starting with the player that won the dice roll, now alternate moving units of your Main Force onto the table. Should one player be done before the other, he is allowed to take an addtional move with any unis of his Vanguard for each movement the other player stil needs todo. @ Units tp the Rearguard are not deployed, the can be placed at the table edge atthe start of their 2nd turn and bbe moved normally ‘The player that finishes deployment frst (Including any advances with his Vanguard!) adds +1 to their dice coll or secur Assault Assaults are prety straightforward, the defender deploys firs, placing all units of his Vanguard and Main Force in ‘the designated deployment zone. The attacker then places all his troops in his deployment area(s). ‘The defender’s Rearguard can come onto the table as reserves (see point 5) in the second turn. They deploy on. the edge of the table and then play as normal. In Assault deployment 1, the attacker may send his Vanguard to flank the enemy, in this ease they are not deployed onto the table. From the 2nd turn on roll 1D6, ‘0p a 44 the Vanguard is placed on the short able edge of ‘their choice and then play as normal. In Assault deployment 1 and 3, the defending player ‘chooses which long table edge he is defending Determine Game Length and lest Tarn ‘To determine the number of turns to be played, roll 1D6 and check the table below: ‘To derermine who gets fist turn both players roll 1D6 (te roll ties) Inan Assaule scenario, the Attacker roll 2D6. The player who scores highest may choose whether to have the first tur, of force his opponent to go first. The roll for first tun may be modified by earlier steps in the Generator (eg, see 7. Deployment) 7. Fight the Battle ® ‘Well! What i keeping you! Get your game on. D6. 5 turns Gruens Random length | foil 106 atthe end ofthe Sth vara, On all of Piched Bae T 6 the bate ends. Imo, roll again atthe end ofthe Meeting Engagement 1 56 Sth tam, ending on 21.2 oF § Aller that you Resale i S rol the bate ends on anything other than 3 6JPanos_42_55 6/3/04 3:53 pm Page 52 6 a Wes MASTER STRATEGIST ADJUSTMENTS Once you have tried generating some Random Scenarios STRATEGY RATINGS {YoU might try your hand at playing the pre-game Master For having more Heroes 2 Strategy Points Strategy game. As the Art of War tells us, there is much to then your opponent be gained in proper preparation and setting the stage for {you battle can offen win i, before you actually ight For having more Wizards. 4 Steategy Point ‘then your opponent After calculating the strategy eating for your selected army, ‘we will allow you to spend these points to adjust some, of For having more Cavalry uasts 1 Strategy Point maybe all of the results in our basic steps. But be aware then your opponent that overspending them early on may trap your army in an unfavourable position once the battle stars, For having more Artillery units 1 Strategy Point ‘then your opponent For having more Infantry units 4 Steategy Point ‘then your opponent Determining Your Force's For having more Terorcausing 14 Strategy Point Strategy Rating ‘options then your opponent “There are several options of looking athe strategy easing General Command 9 1 Strategy Point ofa fore. Whatyou wl ind below isa working algorithm {hat is based on playing games atthe 1,000 poincor 2,000 General Command 10 1 Strategy Point point minmax values, What we tied to fake ino onsideraion when determining values is the added Having atleast one each of ALL... Strategy Point fexbilty tha choosing some toop types will ge a toop ypesin your slecior @ ‘general. In effect this means that infantry, being able to © Perform in several batiefield roles, wil have a higher Forhavinga yer unitorSyer mount 1 Suatepy Point {ating than heary cavalry, which basically hasone purpose. in your army st A further distinction 4s made for toops with missile ‘capably. Including a Vanguard 2 Seaegy Points our tol strategy rating will be comprised of one part Including a Reatard 1 Strategy Point that is determined comparing your army to that of your ‘opponent. The second part ofthe rating will depend on Including both a Vanguard 41 Strategy Point your own army's troop choices and when playing at2,000, _& Rearguard. should be divided by two to get the actual score. For each unit of infancy. 1), Strategy Point Both players should arrive at a strategy rating that is somewhere between 10 and 20 points. We found that the For each unit of cavalry or monster....0 Strategy Point ‘easiest way (0 Keep track of these points (and «0 keep ‘rack of spending them!) is by piling a corresponding For each unit with ballistic capability... Stategy Point number of dice together! Note: To amend for the special rules for Undead and Skaven those armies calculate thei infantry units against a base, instead of using the value given above! Some examples have been added tothe back of the article 1 allow you to see how to work calculating your eating For the final eating Ys are rounded down, sand "ratings ate rounded up.panoe_42_55 6/9/04 3:59 pm Page 53 A [Effecting Changes: For some of the steps ofthe Random Scenario Generator there wil be very specific uses for the Strategy Points you just determined. In general, you can use a Strategy Point to rezoll ay Ds called for inthe steps ff the generator, unless otherwise noted below Any Strategy Point used should be clearly removed fom your cally, 1. Choose Armies Obviously you already determined your army (otherwise ‘we would not know your sating 8), however, after you determined that, the frst issue you can spend points on is ‘opting to use Battle Honours. You can have a maximum of tions that each, 3 Bartle Honouts, with the normal rest must bea diferent one and each must be give to another ‘The frst Honour will cast you 1 SPA subsequent one 2 %, and flelding a 3rd unit with Battle Honours costs an additional 3pts. 2. Determine Engagement type ‘The way o spend any SP in ths step Is in what we calla Bid, You can (secretly) select 1-3 dice from the SP pile ‘When both players have done this they reveal the number of dice, and roll to find the highest result. The player rolling high determines the Engagement type. Incase of te, determine the Engagement type as per the standaed rules! ‘When rolling off to find who is attacker / defender in the ack engagement, either player can e-oll using an SP 3. Determine Objective(s) Both players can opt to modliy the 206 dice by re-rolling ‘one oF both dice. 4. Determine Terrain Player can opt to use 0-4 SP For each $P used you can move one piece of terrain (OTHER then rivers) no more ‘then 15 em from its original location (and NO rotating it!) (OR place one of his own features (a0 bigger then 20x20 ‘m), Should both players want ro move the same piece (ot ‘either one NOT want a plece moved or placed!) they use the dice to determine what happens, with the highest rolling player having the choice Eg, Iwill spend 1 $P to move a wood that is blocking LOS ‘on the centre of the battlefield, if my opponent is OK, then I simply registate the use of the SP and move the piece. Should my opponent choose to oppose my move then he also spends an SP and we both rall our dice. Should I in or drav I stl get to chance the position of the piece. 5. Determine Deployment Simalar to step 2, this ss another 1-3 D6 bid. The player rolling high determines the Deployment type. In case of aie, determi lon is per the standard rules! Any other rolls called for can be re-olled using an SPJPanoe_42_55 6/9/04 3:59 pm age 54 ae 6. Determine Special Circumstances Both players can elect to spend Strategy Points to Influence the Special Cicumstances rol, + Each player can opt to roll Lor 2 additional dice from the SP pile. + Doubles of 7's rolled only count between the players NOT in your own rall! + should there be more doubles on che table then simply apply all excumstances. + Should there be both doubles and 7's then doubles have priory should there be more 7's chen apply all In addition to the SR points spend determining circumstances, you can elect to reroll any dice rol called for in the specific circumstances found. Eg, when you “determined weather influences you could reoll the 1 you rolled (High Winds, which would seriously hamper your fiers), hoping for a beter result. Note that you can ONLY re-oll dice called for DETERMINING scenatio parameters, eg, should you find yourself on an Ancient Battlefield thea the dice-rolls described ace PART of the battle, and thus not eligible for reroll, 7. Deploy Armies Any dice rolled io ths step can be reolled spending SP 8. Determine game length and First Turn Game length is determined as per the basic rules. Fest tum however is done similar to step 2 and 5, this is another 1-3 d6 Bid. The player rolling high determines if he will take first turn oF not. However, take into ‘consideration that ANY modifiers on Ist urn as ‘determined in eatlier steps (ike during deployment) will sill he taken into consideration! In case of a Ue, determination is per the standard rules! Any other rolls called for can be resolled using an SP poiat. 9. Fight the Battle Any Strategy points left over atthe stage (with maximum ‘of SSP) can be spent during the game to adjust (one or more of your command dice rolls (using SP-ice to reroll, ‘one of both of the dice!) Character [Number] Type | SP | Total Character [Number] Type | SP | Total of units SP lof units SP “General T Gen fa ft General T Gen Hero 2 ner |. |e Hero 4 ner | > fo: Enchantress | we | > |: Shamans 2 |we | - |: Flying mounts FM ‘wivern 1 m fa] oa Unit Unit Bowmen 4 int fun) 4 Goblin 4 int Jura) 4 Men-atarms | 2 m | foo Ores 5 me |_| 2m Peasants 2 me | > foo Black Ores 1 on Grail Knights | 1 cov Boar Boyz 5 cov Knights 4 aw | 2] i wolt Riders | § Gay wh Squires 5 ay | a | am Ranaing Total 9 Running Total 10% All eooprypes : All troop types} 1 | am more Heroes 2 | ou more Heroes . more Wizards 1 |e sore Wizards : smore Cavalry : sore Cavalry 1 | 2% sore Artillery sore Artillery - smote Infancry 1 fos sore infantry ‘more Terror 1 | ‘more Terror : Vanguard 2 | 6 Vanguard 2 | we Rearguard : Rearguard Both oth : Total 16 Total 15 (Rounded Up) Example of Caleulation: Lets look at Strategy Point calculation with some real lie examples. I will pit my Bretontan forces against an O&é é force run by Martyn Dorey. And then, to show the difference, offset the Bretontan against the Chaos troops that my youngest spawn Roel played at Euro TX, wbilst the Ores face off against Gene, the stage tower's Undead.Now lets make the same calculation when the Brelontans face Roel's Chaos army, Roel has successfully run this list at tarious events. He prefers to keep bis forces together +o declined to field a Vanguard (realising that to do so be would be obliged 1o bave bis General command them!) Character [Number | Type | SP | Total Character [Number] Type | SP | Total of units SP lof units SP General 1 Gea fa ft General T Ga fr] Hero 2 er | - |= Hero 4 Her Enchantress wie sorceror 1 wz | - Flying mounts | - mm fo fe chaos Dragon | 1 ex fa] oa Unit Unit Bowmen 4 int [itn] 4 Chaos Warriors] 3 Inf VY Men-avarms | 2 we | | ot Marauders 5 Inf ¥ Peasants 2 Int 1 “Trolls 1 mr | 2] Grail Knights | 1 caw . Ogres 1 Inf ‘% Knights 4 av | 2] 7 Dragon Ogres] 1 on fof _ Squires 5 ew | | 2 Harpies 1 es |i] 7 Running Total 10%, Running Total 7 All woop types rf All troop types: sore Heroes 2 | as tore Heroes sore Wirards sore Wizards 1] os sore Cavalry 1 fue sore Cavalry sore Arillery ‘more Arillery : ‘ore Infantry sore Infantry 1} 9 ‘more Terror : ‘more Terror 1 | 10 Vanguard 1 | as ‘Vanguard Rearguard - Rearguard Both Both : ‘otal 16 Total 10 (rounded tp)BUST FALLS By John French & ‘Harry’ Harrington This isthe first ina series of articles on a cool Necromunda campaign by Harry and John, 's got new background, mad scenarios and even some modelling lunacy. But first a few words from our sponsor. WHAT HAVE WE HERE? Jake: One of my pet belies about both Necromunda and ‘Mordheim is that they're both sul widely played, but only by secret covens, each of which have sworn never to speak 1 outsiders. Wel I've various plans afoot (some of Which, may even have borne fruit by the time you read this) to bring you all out kicking and screaming into the burning sunlight. And no, you're not melting. Honest An example of the cool stuff that’s quietly going on behind closed doors is tis lite campaign which is being ‘when you ring up GWA secret coven right under my nose, “They've decided to add detail (one of the locations mentioned in the main rules, and I think they've done a really nice job of i On top of that they've decided 10 return to the old Idea of using movies, comics and s0 08, as the inspiration for ‘cinematic’ scenarios, and this has produced some real crackers. The fists Included in this, fssue, along with an introduction to one of the gangs that's king part. Over the next few issues we'll come back to this campaign to introduce the rest of the gangs and some more oftheir scenarios, so stay tuned run by some of our Hobby Specialist guys from Direct Sales ~ the helpful fellows who answer all your queries Meanwhile, ack inthe hive. eae ey Sree een er ere oar ern eee es Pra eee ee ce ean aT eer ae ace ere rece ee carer oss his face was getting more unpleasant by the second, but it was better than breathing in the fine purtcles that tured every light in Dust Fils into 4 haloed orb that lowed with «bile yellow luminsceace Two figures coalesced out of the dust a yard in (oat of him, and he had to swing to one side as they pasted by this beat heads. swathed in dust soaked cloth ther goggle covered eyes fixed on the ground just to thet front) He ee ee er eee eee eens Ee oa aT areas liked about the plies: how cary it was to be nothing, to be jst another faceless “aller wripped up aguinst the dust Apirt from this benefit he despised the place more thin almost any other sei hole below the wal. but there wie ee ee eee eee er) een eee er cee nore Ree ee eee rae eee eee Eonar see reson door clamped shut in the hole benesth the light bracket. There wis po en eae eee ee ne eer ee rere Paar eer eran er ae ene er re te Pen rr a ea ee er ane eee a ce poner eee ceoeg eres ee ee ec cee ee ee ene) ee sh eee ee ee ee eet ey ‘begun to vibrate the si 26 the Isgun came up and fired 2 cracking bolt of caegy. fonising the dust around the muzzle in + puogeat tang He stepped over the lip of the doorfeame, the gun whining aod cracking at it spat out ce er ec ee ee ene ee re a ae eee pour into the tom and settle over everything, its dull powdery odour masking the steach of burned flesh. The mas Se eee ee een eee Oe ee ers atre anes Tens eetWFD ee a John: No one knows exactly where it came from, but in a ‘ume now long pasta thread of dust dribbled down into the Underhive and began to pile above a dome. Grain by -rain that pile grew until the dome beneath it gave way in a cascade of debris, More dust fll and was added roby the detritus of collapsing domes, until the dust had driven path down into darkness, That time is long past, but che ‘dust sll fills in a tickle into the Abyss i opened grain by grain Ie was not long before men came to the opening of the Abyss, but like the Abyss itself the setlement that would bbe Dust Falls grew by degrees. It began as a clutch of bulldogs let as base camps for the fist few to go down Inco the Underhive in search of fortune, Then a few more, perhaps as defence against those that returned, changed men. Then guilds smelt profit and opportunity and came and set up camp, and in their wake came their Watchmen, and the gangs who come to any centre of Humanity ike ‘wasps to honey So Dust Falls was born. Spreading a fest along the fim of the Abyss, where the fist dome had collapsed, and then down into the twisted structures of the tunnel’s walls beneath the rim, When it became known as Dust Falls is not known, but at some point it acquired the name and it has been so ever since. ‘The physical focus of Dust Falls, and the reason for its ‘existence, is the ragged, plunging shaft that is known as the Abyss. It begins some distance below the wall, blooming out of nothing like a worm-burrowed hole in 2 spotless feu. It is at the point where the shaft begins that the settlement of Dust Falls is located, From this beginning the Abyss goes straight down to the hive bottom. The width ofthe Abyss varies from between half a mile on some stretches to only fifty yards at others. The rim of the Abyss around and beneath which Dust Falls is built was pethaps a hundred and fifty yards in diameter (Over time though the constructions of the inhabitants has ‘contracted the diameter of the hole to pethaps a hundred yards. ‘The main bulk of Dust Falls is centred on the Abyss spreading both outwards fom the rim and downwards for a fluctuating distance bellow it. While much of Dust Falls 's simply the persistent ype of scratched together slum that makes up almost all Underhive setlements, there are two areas which have an importance and character all of their own and so have names. These areas are ‘The Gater and the ‘Haggle MarkerPanot_st_67 6/2/04 4:13 pm Page 60 ‘The Gates ar, strangely enough, not on the periphery of Dust Falls but right atts empty heart. The Gates is the area ‘which directly borders onto the Abyss, and this area is spiked with ganties,jeties and cranes that juc out soto it Huge coils of plastecl cable le on drums that are turned by alcohol powered engines. These belch caustic fumes out as they coll and un-coll thousands of feet of cable, polluting ‘even more the aleeady clogged air For it is here that many fortune seekers come to buy their passage down into the Abyss aboatd one of the welded cages that dangle below ‘every jetty. The ‘Gates’ themscives are the gates chat stand at the landward end of every jetty: Most have no physical Darier as such, just a crude ffame daubed with the owner's name and the tags of the gangs he pays for protection. Anyone passing through a gate into the Abyss ‘must pay a cll to the owner ofthe gate, a cll that includes 4 commission to the guild for being allowed to charge the ‘oll. The colls ae often for both entry and exit through the _c, but some charge a recur tll payable ifand when the ‘uaveller returns. Returning 2nd failing to pay because of an unprofitable expedition results in the feturnce being, hung from the underside of the jery. There are many fragmenting. corpses grinning warnings at those who “descend past them in the swaying cages. OF course, no single cage can take a treasure seeker all the ‘way to the bottom of the Abyss ina single drop, but there ate several waypoints at various depths, formed around, ‘convenient protuberances from che Abyss wall, From these points a treasure seeker can set off to plunder whatever deep level they are on, of begin the treacherous descent tothe hive bottom itself. Those that are foolhardy ‘enough for the second option must tavel down through the twisted wreckage that makes up the Abyss's honeyeomb-like walls. Such a journey can take along time and so the high prices charged by the gatekeepers of the deepest travelling cages is offen willingly pald by fortune seekers who wish to keep theic journey to the depths of the Underhive as brief as possible On returning, anything of value found since passing through the gate must have a tanff paid on it to the Gullders whose representatives assess the tariff required based on the value which they place on the items. There are, of course, many gates, and only so many Guilders, making bribes to lec explorers passa gate with undeclared, booty a common source of profit for gatekeepers. The penalty for passing through a gate without paying the tariff on ieems of value i to be summarily thrown into the Abyss and gatekeepers found to be taking bribes are hung from their own gate until there is nothing left hanging ‘This makes the bribes they require fairly steep, but even so i's offen cheaper than paying the Gullders. The Guild also reserves the right to purchase any archeotech at the price they assign. Fallure to comply results inthe long fall, Inco the Abyss Haggle Market, or simply “the Haggle” as i's often known, 1s a‘small area centred on the open space next to the Guild House. Here, licensed traders barter and sell, and profit flows (mostly into the Guild coffers). Some i the Guild controlled tading of items brought up ftom the Abyss. The ‘overwhelming majority of the wade though is to those about co venture into the Abys, All manner of equipment, ln varying states of tepals ison offer — fom Van Sane made ‘envirosuits to luminescent snake venom sticks. Again, the Gulld dominates Haggle Marker, but taders offering other Services such as surgery, writing, fortune telling and the ubiquitous booze sellers, thei huge crazed glas jas lashed ‘onto their shoulders, also ply their trade inthe Haggle WER S AUTHORITY Dust Falls 4s a place of wild dreams and crazed ventures, Dbuc i is also a place of great potential wealth and as such has always be dominated by ewo power blocks; the Guild and the Underworld. The Guild keeps as ight a hold on, Dust Falls a5 it can using i licensing of gates and conteol ‘of tadable goods brought up fom the Abyss as a means to keep the settlement ia hand. Not that this control is ‘easy of without conflict, The Guild relies heavily on agreements with local gangs over protection rights to the ‘ates to maintaa their authority If this relationship were ‘ever co fall the Gullders' grip would sip, as their means of ‘enforcement became less keen to carry ou their duties.‘The other major power in Dust Falls are the networks of smugelers, legal traders and extortionists who fun theie ‘operations like a shadow ofthe official Guild operation In fact the two worlds of Guild and Underworld feequendly intermvine and become difficult to distinguish Usually both sides tolerate each other as long as the one ‘does not threaten the continued existence of the other. If the Guild clamps down too harshly on smuggling of ‘goods from the Abyss, a violent and usually shore wa will result, in which gates will be destroyed, Guid property smashed and goods stolen. Ifthe Underworld begins to bypass the gate tariffs to such an extent that Guild profit ls reduced, killteams will be dispatched and the Underworld will be culled until che equilibeium is re established. It is an unlikely, but symbiotic, celationship bought in blood over many decades, and the details of exactly what each side can do within its boundaries have been honed fo a fine ar ‘The oficial keepers of the peace are hited by the Guild from local gangs and are divided into wo types: Watchmen, and Gateguards. The Watchmen are charged with keeping the peace within the settlement boundaries (though they care itl for what goes on its margins or outside) and i is 4 position that is hartered for ferociously herween the ‘gangs and the Gulld as the benefice of enforcing the peace lp Dust Falls can turn a gang's fortunes inthe Undeshive ‘The Gateguards are unique to Dust Falls and are charged with ensuring that gate tarifs are paid. They are also charged with the defence of Dust Falls from anything chat might decide to creep up out of the darkness below; hence ‘angers fcom the Gateguatd gangs man the weapons that are mounted on antes extending out over the Abyss, their muzzles tained on the depths Gangs from all the major houses are present in Dust Fall, many function as Guild of Underworld muscle (somesimes both). Others come in the hope of buying passage down lento the Abyss and returning wealthy. Whatever draws them, the aumber of gangers in Dust Falls is huge with each conttolling territory in and around the main sertiement. The amount of cfeds and goods that pass through the empry-hearted town s such that war between, the gangs és almost constant. Much of this conflict takes place on the margins of Dust Falls, bu it is not uncommon, fora dispute over gate protection rights t0 result in raids ‘on the gate in question, or gunfights in the streetsPanot_st_67 6/9/04 4:14 pm age 62 THE BASICS Setting a Necromunda campaign in and around Dust Falls ives players the opportunity to experience a slightly dlfferen campaign from what they might be used ro, but a the same time can be run without having to convert loads of new miniatures or scenery. It can also serve as a Jumping-off point into a very much more demanding Hive Bottom campaign. I you do decide to run a campaiga in and around Dust Falls the following modifications are made tothe relevant sections of the rulebook Starting a Gang: All gangs may buy fugs/respirators at the initial point of ‘gang creation. These are essential for Ife around Dust Falls, ‘Territories: Subsucute the Waterstill and Spore Cave teeetories with the ‘Gate into The Abyss! territory. This terrizary earns the ‘gang D6 x10 creds and has no special rules, Scenarios: Al scenarios remain unchanged with the exception of "The Rald’. A Raid is automatieally a raid on 2 gate, even if the defending gang does not have agate territory ~one of their other territories includes the vital approaches to ‘The set up for the game is diferent from normal: + One third of the table is covered with a black cloth This represents a portion of the Abyss. Any model falling into the Abyss i automatically killed + AG" by 3° gantry must be placed extending out into the Abyss. This s now the objective of the raid FALLING BUST FALLING QUST: Dust pervades everything in Dust Falls, as you might ‘expect, and the fine grains that cleaved the Abyss stl fll from above. To represent unique conditions of Dust Falls roll D6 oa the following table before each game: 1.2 Settled Dust: Everything is coated in a thick layer of dust, but the aif Is clear and so no special conditions apply 3 Lighe Fall A recent fll has filled the aie with swirling dust, exposing a -1 to all ranged To Hi rolls. 4 Heavy Fall: A large cascade of dust has plunged down into the Abyss filling the air ‘witha thick cloud of dust that clogs up and shortcircuits machinery. There is 2-1 To Hit fon all ranged attacks and all weaponry decteases its Ammo roll value by 1 (a las pistol, for example, goes from passing an ‘Ammo roll on 2+ to passing on 2 31). 5 Dust Devils: Air currents have whipped up the dust into small vortices chat Dustfller's call devils, Place DS standard Blast markers fn the table, Each moves 2D" in a random direction at the start of each player's turn. ‘Any miniature touched by a marker is pinned find must make an Ammo roll for any ranged ‘weapons they have. A miniature touched by multiple markers must make an Ammo roll for each maker, Dust devils do not obscure line of sight but do impose a-1 penalty co hit fon any ranged attacks that pass through them. 6 Dust Avalanche: A great surge of dust has exploded into the upper sections of the |Abyss, turning It into a land populated by steange, haglimpsed shapes. All anges and line of sight are reduced to a maximum of 8 all weapons reduce their chance of passing fan Ammo roll by 1, and all weapons must ‘make an Ammo roll before the game begins. Note: The conditions above are always rolled before a ame in a Dust Falls campaign and if treacherous conditions are being used (sce Fanatlc Magazine Issue 4) they are taken in addition to the conditions imposed by the table above,é Part of Harry's Delague Gang, known around these parts as The Regulators THE LOCALS Jake: This month we're looking at just one gang: Harry's Delaques, knowin to the locals as The Regulators THE REGULATORS Harry: As Jake already mentioned, when we started 10 ‘organise our campaign we decided that 2 ‘cinematic’ ‘theme would be cool a game where larger than life heroes and dramatic set piece showdowns would be the ‘order ofthe day. Buc to play in this dramatic environment ‘we needed dramatic gangs to0, 50 when It came (0 my ‘turn to start one I searched high and low for a good Image. I found i in the Old West. My Necromunda gang will look strangely familar 10 anyone who's ever seen a Western movie as the generic ‘ang of gunslingers who roll in out ofthe dust to cause ‘wouble. Sounded just right for me! I really liked the idea fof the gang of selfstyled marshals (or maybe real ex marshals) who upheld whacever law paid them the mos, s0 the long duster coats and cowboy hats was the uniform, of choice (Delaques with some Green Stuff hats would do nicely) All they needed was a name, and ater rummaging, around in the Old West abit more, "The Regulators” were born. These hired gunmen hide thelr tue colours behind the silver stars on their chest and a hook of law in theit breast pocket. The Delaque skills also fitted really well ‘with the background idea; using stealth and secrecy ‘coupled with good shooting skills really felt right for my low-down dirty wannabe lawmen. ‘With the overall idea in place 1 now had to work our the decals, and this i where I slide away from the norm, I ‘decided early on that I didn’t want to have a Heavy in my ‘gang ~ it did't sit well with the theme and not taking one also freed up some points for a few more men (quantity has a qual all of ts own) 1 also steered away from exotic weaponry; lasguns and shorguas are reliable as well a packing enough punch for most guys. Of course, my leader has a couple of bolt Pistols for show, buc overall it's a prety hase force ‘The only twist to this basic moxto is my Ratskin Scout Hired Gun who I think fits the theme wel, as well as helping in the game. So here they are, The Regulators, ready to chew gum and kick ass (and guess what ~ they're all out of gum). A note about WYSIWYG. In both Mordheim and Necromunda, gangs that have a strong theme look relly [great as marks them out as much mote than just a bunch ff individuals. Even so, the figures themselves are a lot mote varied and changeable than in our other game systems. Over the course of three of four games a Juve ‘may well change his weapons a couple of times, reach the rank of Ganger and end up with a bionic eye, Personally I make sure that fa guy has 2 lasgun on the page, there's a lasgun on the model, but I'm not as stringent about the scar on his left cheek, two frag ‘grenades and a pet ferret called Cecil he keeps in his lett pocket. If you point out that ‘Big John’ ss carrying ‘grenades and that the Juve figure with ewo handguns is actualy only carrying one I don't think that's a problem. ‘The beardy “oh by the way that Juve figure is actually ny second Heavy and the pistol he is carrying transforms into 2 lascannon” halfway through the game should be frowned on (and by frowned on I mean “hit repeatedly then forced to eat the figure in question’). With the Introduction of the individual weapon hands for some ‘gangs, converting has become even easier. But in skirmish ‘games a figure has a high probability of dying every other ‘week and as long a8 they look the pat I don't see the Gaming Police coming to take you away if something's less ‘than completely perfectPanot_sb_67 21/3/04 21:45 rage 65 THE REGULATORS Furst is my leader, Nathan Suyker, equipped with twin bolt pistols and frag grenades 1 eal lke the look of the Scum with cin bole pistol and, with the addition of cowboy ha, he fits in well with the rest of The Regulators. [As I don't feet chat a Heavy fits in with the background ‘of my gang I can afford afew extra Gangers. 1 prefer to start with a “uniorm look and feel to my gang and let the colour and a deuall fill itself over the campaign. For this reason, all my Gangers are either carrying lasguns or shotguns with hotshoe rounds. Four fof each of these form the core of my gang The Juves also follow the ‘uniform feel of my gang with ‘either a stub gua oF autogun and their free knife. If these guys survive a few bates os then I may star giving them some more expensive equipment. These five walling victims are the up: lose-and:-personal section of the force (along with my leader), so they're either soing o get lots of experience for die tying. Either way 1 don't intend to splash out on. loading them up with expensive gear uacil they've proven their worth Finally, to finish of the gang, I have taken a Ratskin Scout. I really like the look of the crouching Ratskin, ‘with the shotgun and I think having a Scout fie well with the background of my gang as well as giving the ‘opportunity of gaining free territory and assisting before the bate. ‘With 15 figures io my staring gang I should have the advantage of numbers over most of the guys I'm facing and therefore be less likely o bottle ‘Once I start winning afew games Iwill spend the cash ‘on upgrading the gang's equipment rather than adding to their numbers. This also means that If some of my ‘guys start geting skills that make them stand out I can ‘equip them as they require. PAINTING THE REGULATORS. finished | decided on a very uniform feel to my gang, s0 except for a few bandanas they are all wearing jeans, grey T-shirts and sandy (dusty) dusters. This made for an easy painting scheme that was quick to do and looked good when I'd ‘After a quick addition of a hat made from green stu The jeans were painted dark blue with codex grey added to highlight. The Tshirts were 50/50 codex grey and chaos black with a highlight of codex grey. The dusters, hats and ‘other leather sections on the model were painted scorched brown and then highlighted up. Boots and leather were done with a 50/50 scorched brown and snakebite leather mix. The dusters and hats were highlighted up chrough to bleached bone with 2 final sll white dry brush to really give that dusty Took. Finally, the entire figure was given a wash of chestnut ink to dry Lup their look and give some shading and contrast.PRECINCT 1313 - LUCKY FOR SOME The sergeant founged tn bis chat, idly belcbing smoke from bis cheap Ibo stick, both feet resting on the edge of ‘bis desk, “Told ya not to come back into my territory,” be ‘floated, turning to look through the bars of the bolding ‘cage at the gangers be bad imprisoned. "Warned ya twice, yet ya still thought ya could get past sergeant Rosco Leaning back even further the chair creaked ominously, straining against the pressure of bis bulk. “Guess you _suyt are just gonna sit there and rot till the Judgement Wagon rolls through, then we're gonna bang the lot of you’, Rosco glanced across at bis deputies who all Jaughed on cue At this last verbal sally, the leader of the Bxecuttoners ‘pped back bis bat and whispered a retort. ‘Don't you Dave bigger fish to fry than us? Rosco rocked with laughter, almost losing bis balance “What could be bigger than taking down Nate Krieger land the infamous Executtoners?” be said, the grin splicing bis face ear to car “Well. maybe they would be a bigger problem than little ‘old us!" Nate nodded towards the securtty monitor on the table and as be saw wbat 1 showed, Rosco’s grin froze on bis face. Plague Zombies, dozens of them, ‘climbing from the sewer grates and beading for the Precinct House. "You know’, said Nate, “this might be a “good lime for you and me to come ta some sort of a deal = unless you and your three deputies think you're up to the task on your oun. ‘This scenario represents the local law and one or two ‘gangs of ne'erdowells fighting side-by-side against a horde of slobbering Zombies. For the gangers, holding the Zombies off will make their names in the area and hopefully gee the Law off their backs. For the Enforcers i's all about saving their own necks GANGS One player (or the Campaign Arbitrator) is the Zombie Master controlling the horde of Plague Zombies ~ see below for numbers. The other players control one of the _gangs atthe Precinct House and are equipped as normal, having been re-armed for the fight by the nervous Enforcers. The scenario is designed to be played with multiple gangs The Gangers start anywhere in theie deployment zone ‘There ate only 4 Eaforcers present, including Sergeant Rosco, These can either be conteolled by one of the players not already involved, or by the Campaign Arbitrator. The Enforcers start in (oF on) their Precinct House, EEEPanos_st67 6/3/04 4:15 pm Page 67 A TERRAIN ‘There is 12" square deployment zone against one table ‘edge that must only have one building ia i (a0 walkways ‘or barricades). This is the Precinct House where, until a few moments ago, the gangs Were imprisoned, Against the ‘opposite edge place three Sewer markers (I use 2 diameter circles of black paper), which are the objectives, ‘Then one gang player and the Zombie Master take turns placing terrain. For this game is suggested that you use 4.6 x4 table, as it will cc crowded very quickly zoMBIes ‘Total up the number of non-Zombie models involved including Eaforcers) chen muluply by five. This is the ‘otal number of Plague Zombies allowed on the board at any one time (60 you will need a shed-load of Zombie models). The Zombies start with D6 + number of enemy -eangs (including Enforcers) at each entry point. ‘You may either use the rules below forthe Zombies, ofthe more complete ones that come with the Scamy gang in ‘Weapons: Plague Zombies do not have any wargear; they are armed with a variety of spikes, sharpened bones, claws and teeth, M ows esos T wor a uw we 20 +3 3 1 at Ss Special Rules ‘Zombie Shuffle: To represent cheie unpredictable galt Plague Zombies move 2D6" in the Movement phase. Each Plague Zombie is rolled for individually and the ‘controlling player may move them a he wishes up to the distance rolled on the dice, Plague Zombies may not run oF charge, they always move 206". However, Plague Zombies always count a charging, Inco hand-to-hand combat if they manage to move into ‘pase-to-base contact with an enemy model No Pain: Plague Zombies ignore being pinned and are ro afected by flesh wounds. No Feat: Plague Zombies ignore all Psychology rules and never have to roll Leadership tests to see whether they lose their nerve STARTING THE GAME ‘The Zombie Master goes fist, at the end of each of his ‘ums he places D6 more Zombies at each entry point RESERVES ‘When a Plague Zombie is taken out of action rolla D6. On 44+ he goes hack into the reserves and can be used again ENDING THE GAME AS the gangs are desperate to hold against the ude of Zombies they reroll any Bottle tess. Ifa gang does bottle for any reason then the word goes round that they ran, as, ‘such they only gain half che income fom their territories next turn, and run the risk of losing terccory. The only ‘way to win the game is fr the defenders to seal the sewer grates and stop mote Zombies coming through. To do this they need tobe in base-to-bate contact with the grates and at least 6" away from any Zombie not in combat. At the fend of the turn roll a D6. On a 4+ the grate is sealed ‘Once al the grates are sealed the game is over EXPERIENCE Fighters who take part in the game earn Experience as follows “4¥D6 Survives: Ifa fighter survives the batle then D6 points are earned. Even fighters taken out of action receive Experience for taking pa 42 per Zombie killed 410 per sewer grate closed: Each model who ‘successfully closes a grate gains 10 Exp. +10 Winning gang leaders: If the defenders win, any ‘gang leaders left on the table gain 10 Experience (out of action doesn’t count as the other gang leaders take the credit SPECIAL, Ifa gang bottles and che defenders sil win, then the word. ‘goes round that they're chicken. Each winning gang rolls 2.D6. On a roll of a6 chey gain one of the borting gang's territories as ifthey had defeated them 3/1 ina gang fight == ay pear eate aaron ae rere Pear caren So tater racer at ee Pearce yore ner tet er Ptr re oa ad Parshae WARRERGTIER PICK A CARD, ANY CARD... Part 2 By the Warmaster Players Society “This is the second part of our article on the use of cards to randomise magic Ktems and tactcs in games of Warmaster, This Is system based upon the Warhammer Player Society's own campaign system, and has been used succesfully in several ‘events to date. Last month we presented the magic stem deck, this month we complete the series with the tactics cards. Fall details on using these cards can be found in issue 7 of Fanatle magazine, so check there (or download the article from, ‘wunwarmaster:com) for more information, Also, dont forget that ‘Warmaster scale. Aernatively you can use the cards presented on page one. the card missing from the deck and card back are presented here in true \/ \ { 3 - Se a > | = = — ie sie | | |p on nan Tayo apctrices mount! || Anaemia | | sens» 'Cmeibesy| | Fe eas wc it for dance em thc commanding | | | anes pat oa bags fo ava ering + mbes 4 fharscter, Doss nee apply un || +} | \ieucae a8 aoe). hoyle ® paar || | Screed by Rar ay 1] I ramet |} yd | | 4 2 ; | ‘ \ 3 2g LESS \ J “oe i Leesa ase stan TM | Rell -toeaeyoken, ead ese OR Raat meni hl nit | rom antares moun Payot any ones moun: ee ee wiaed At Raley ioe Cae] dance Bi Fema tocx eel Yalue sequiedspels aocmaly| ‘The unit ay punueadeace af TPiideg Ne to Bik aonb | niet Caiatons | x | y \ A0 - : —— || ry Rees / ped ier | Cost: -30 points || | ptayon any infantry or Cavalry Cost: 0 points | ar abi | | [any bone pick contmoves oe yo| | | mayoh anyanit Rul rceapthen Punsiees| | [fomemen nme my eel | Pelee | ‘and shana ie eam per | | | Pring them. ini combat hie | | el Jnave less than 2 Bits pe stn ‘units stilrconfused on a roli of | | | | sed Fada 't6 opal, Troop formally sever driven back are | | pmatectes Cg RTT a ( — a brn | WET STRINGS | rt Ae trae | og 1 [toe seonoue | ceavatoeene Td | Ve Senaalieaen | Par oatnenry or Corie | |_| Play any shooting unit | my on, any. shooting wait or oeréase units hits by +1 per stand Allshooring fomthisuniinat-teo | | [AMER | | tot maximum of (his per stand | | hit tor the entire game ‘The untne +40 the To Mego A for the ence bale j [whee shoodog Minimum coll of @ vg Setohe | A | | g 3 Y ° AS ed @ = - Y r Y —— | an | eon Roan oN | erator he fame ‘Remove all Tactics cad played on | Cost: -28 points ing Gris nex charciey bs Spponent imay nor play any | | | STamE Gut Met see ape || | Pay on tntaney ar cavalry | Thais cars ths ime. Mage vem’ | fone yh | points vales a ignored but the | | [The unit may not pursue or | cards ace played as normal (| Feards count towards the -toral Laas mi } | | | mumber pays |} ag Cost: 8 pois f Ps [eoeietioerliccas Pestana taco Fee enlace hae [ibe me aoe Sy, 3 4 Cost: 0 points i (J | } | | Pay on any monster mount | tse this card to megate any Tactic card already played on the. ‘character rey Rind (Cost: 5 points Play on any monster mounted U emaracter | so eutieuteed conto is this mount [that ie disersety ate rider The fae i} ‘character's Command. value is | } reduced by 1 aad) any spell sump ar abo att f a | | : : ¢ , | eras | Se \ Cost: +15 points Cost: +10 points 7 | f Cost: -$0°points, | Pay on sap dving character moune | | | Pay on any mounted characte. Play on any monstee mount ‘This mount f 30 vicious it gains +1 fe contacted by the encmy this | | This monster's a bit small Does esl ‘moat ie aolawit can fllbsek | | | not eae tem ‘60cm to friends, } f SP } roy Oren t Cost: +50VPs 4 Play face down on any wood. Play face down of any unoccupied Play on any terrain more than 206m Revealed when a unit enters the » from any Woops and not in a] | iwood.Soderseisthe undergrowth | Hg. vested when 4 unit moves onto | deployment area or is impassable, fp ins oh epee: ‘the hill: This hill is so. bares here ‘confers no defended. status in echelon pec Combat. Sull counts defended ‘the end of the game gains. tee ere \ ANand_60_75 22/9/06 11:46 Page 71 Pr ‘TERRAIN ay tieldenec ty taf pnocounial 2 aidonal-t ta stmmand have eh terrain feature sera when/a vit ener whe | | ft Paci ser co feature. Bvi pis inabic hs pce | | [CAC counts as foriied and gains sry unit pany ihe festre ser | |_| +L AagS. Benet ow she Unit 1 i |} i aa read Cost: 15 points ‘One use only play. of any) chariot mountéd Fenaracer “Any wizard within 20cm of the |(eganot may add 4.10 the easing | foil ofa spell ‘Cost: -10 points ‘Cost: 18 points Play on any chariot_mounted Play on amy monstrous mount or ming B or cory oy he ‘ebaracer “chariot mount very tum the characte rolis a6 | | | The riders soimepeshat ny misses ‘on a roll of! oF 2 the wheels fall they maken combat or from.| ‘off The charsetr na counts avon’ | | |/shooting are fesolted a+ attacks foot gaint theie own unit Brecon) Cost: 0 points [play om angen 1 /the units ratios have been spiked they stat the game confused May | pot move on Turn 1 s eens ¥ Cost: ovPs | | alay immediately ater an opponent Play on any teeta feature after | | | Newher cand counts towards the solling for'table edge and belore | | tora number of eards that may be ‘deployment, You may move any 1| | | Priya y terrain plece that not occpted || | bby aunt, up te 20e, thas paved 2 card to remove it | > ——— Lori ened ost: +19 points Play of any character “the chacacter thay temove any 1 “Tacit catd played on your army“a 21/3/08 11:6 Page 72 Pim | [lay fc owe ofan’ od. eyeshed tient lior cae a -yood thle Wood is an orchatd ‘Counts a open terran for command tnd confers no delendes! satus Line | ofsightss increased 0 106m. Play an any character ‘No eect, eae Cost: 410 points ) Ply face dawn on 2ny unoccupied, _ dense tern fearure, | Revealed when 4 unit enters the feature: The ftt uni enrering his eerain. does pot fuller the oA Command for dente terrain. Add this cand othe unie ry pra Cost: +10 points | rlay on anycharacter Fegan by thi fender subtracts Jem ffom a push back distance in’ combat "(possibly making 4 deleatsa draw) and reduces deve backs by 1 dee. eng po 5 cost 0 pois | lay on any hero or wizard | Osaracer blunders on 4 roll f 11 ori v i CAVALRY Corns Cost: +5 points [Phy on anyhero. ithe hero addi 41 (0 command fonce per eitni when ordering ‘ally or chatiots Only. But always sullerd 44 to command monsters - eer) ost: +10 points Pray face down on any unoccupied | dense terrain feature Revealed when 3 unit enters the feature. The frst wnt entering thie terrain does’ not'jauter the Command for dense terrain. Add [phis card to the uni Progr ttd Pe Cost: 0 points | Mlay on a General. Firms Genera nis’ ss ie tas no eles l § f } rates’ Cost: +15 points m ‘The characer may roll one extra aice once per game to command or beast magié and choose which one Ne diac Fe ipance_s0_i5 22/9/08 11:47 Page 73 Os ; f Cost: +13 points ‘One use only phy on any athe 1 a waza may ad to esting rll [A Runesmigh: addt FL co. dispel | shea +1 the easing vale TTY oe 4 ‘Cost: +18 points [Ply on any character Declare before vsing. ‘The Command fll oul i edéed byl Cost: -15 points Counts as 2 cards | Play on any he or wizard, ‘The chatactek mast move to Jol 2 ‘combat if thete leone within coh ofthe, 7 ecole k hy A = 7 ae) Gf 7 Y ges 7 > Perens 2 <: RAISED FROM Cee eat’ ; | ESTHET! Dra CO Lcd f ‘Cost 0 points © | fest #20 pein | Cost0 points rete aoe Play on. any Hero except 2 character dt 21040 command | pla on ay castes bP onet Piste selene pariah dy No eee © | coarse ha antonace 5 aligned | | | Beavanssuesa-t to command © | orca he aed once et u ; L fA “ : Ero Vf : 5 wa | Beko cue, «=F OUNCIL OF WAR Cost: +9 points, | Mi ‘Cost: +5 points, Cost: +15-points, Phy on an hero | Puy on general Play on any unit Frtne hero adds <1 t0 command | once per furn when ordering fenealey of chasiots oa but always sullers 31 to command monsters (be ‘immediately, femove one “etic ‘ard played on your army and daw. nother irom the deck ‘This unit is of dubious Joyaty st ‘cannot Be ofdered. if more than ‘20cm fons the eieacter even part of larger brigadear aa a 4 po een 4 Prete f Cost: +10 points j I Cost: -15 points 5 Cost: +20 points ; aroha ay aa a 4 | | may on-aey une Padiatr eeicoseaagee! | Paldtuas ania atte dames | Pidliice acabhtete x aasy faances kom aie commanding | |-sbic uel tnend pe tc inite | | | per songwtce pasting iSececl De nttieteoniteag, | | Shockoe pone Ne tarher es ota ‘ier eamg abe eneiny 3; k , 7 yk ea <> < ee 1 Cont: 10 points fie Sleek dihpolas, 70 Cot: $3 pols Pay on pag Pay on aun ria fie da, Ay ae Ami ult mavis"use iddresag | | [ti euters, AME 1 Scobwand’| | Restated when’ Gnu {sanded A ching thisepiiaigasd ainsear, | | pescntsctfeeatin, to ena] | [combat foes ine, coun ae @ pose Phin 40cm not 20em. Does not.) | |idelended. Doce Wot eount Jor ect Undead ‘hooting Or magic = F a {9 > - ~ bani 5 aaa | zk Cost: -15 points, 7% Cost: -15 points. a Cost: +20 points, 7 aya apo Taysn Capit Se Choris Ha Soo The! unit counts, all Command [[oeeiants Sag sali tel ie SAG Unit counts as defended for the ist ci i walran atc owe oe ee we range Penallsf move fewer | | Maktran a ued at foeat en, he ‘unless part of a brigade, cg. -1 at a ‘open. adem 2920-400,f Cost: 15 points | Payot any yt sarees k Play on seyunit alec Undead. F Uni always rolls once eit, dice lesan back The uni capsot be gived Orders 5 when within 20em of the enemy } but may use Initatiye Does not Bor 4 ‘Cost: 415 points [Flay on aun ‘Unie gains +1 tacks per sind in the 1¥¢ fond) of each conbat Incuing advances f Cost: 420 points bnaiaiae | Cost: 15 points tne ine wit comatety pass i [stoner tom the General within 22cm of thems. Couns 38 Lt order | | | I U {or subsequent Command rolls | Cost: 449 pola) Play on Infanery or aaller, ‘The unit has Ii aps, every stand atackiagthic unin combat sullers 1 shooting attack with no save alowed. Any oll of 6 co hit wil Tesult in the whole stacking unit becoming contused. a Cost: +20 points Play on anyntantry or Cavalry Ft 9° fas! stod | shen ishing monte Ay A Z io a rn : Rg i nen Petersen Cost: 420 points | (Cost: -10 points, | Cost: +20 points, | Phy on apy-unit | Play on any uni Play on any unit ‘Unie docs not suller drive backs The unst does nor receive the +1 Tynores -1 Command penalty for from shooting, Rol for confusion ‘tacks for charging, Chariots and rowimisyto enemy 8 se notmal Monsters still eceie the additional (a | F i I \ a J6/3/08 5:05 pm Page 16 TYRANID TACTICS By Owen Barnes Since first appearing in Batteflect Gothic Magazine, the Tyranid fect has undergone a number of evolutionary leaps until at last arriving in its finished form in Armada. Those of you that have followed this journey will have no doubt cvolved your playing styles, as Thave to match the varied nature of the hive fet, This article covers my own experiences using Tyranids in Batteflect Gothic as well a lessons I've learned using this very versatile and unique race. ‘TYRANIDS IN BATTLEFLEET GOTHIC Of all the fleets chat battle herween the stars of the 40k universe none are quite like the Tyranids. Fechaps che ‘most significant difleence Is that unlike the other races of ‘the 4st millenncum Tyranids are a void dwelling species, ‘only approaching planets to feed and then continuing ‘their Iong hunt through across stars. Rather than the huge ‘technological constructions of most races, Tyranid ships are themselves living vessels, ranging from small ‘organisms to mighty hive ships, vast creatures that have been grown rather than bullt Ip Batlefler Gothic, this living, growing flect is reflected in the varlety and choice players have, when not only constructing thelr ships for play but also in creating their own unique models. While other fleets are limited with ship types and classes, a ‘Tyranid player can talor thelr ships to face their opponent ‘oF fo sult their on style of play. I is this ability to create your own hive fleets that characterises the Tyranids and defines them as a potent force to both play and face ‘The fighting style of Tyeanids throughout the 41st millennium makes them ideally suited, closing with thet foes and tearing them apart in close quarters, and hive fleets in Batlefleet Gothic are no exception, armed with an array of nasty short ranged weaponry such 26 bio plasma, feeder tentacles and massive claws. These factors ‘combined with special rules, such as doubling. the boarding value and adding #1 to their hitand-run attacks make chem all in all arguably the deadliest of the races when it comes to close ship to ship combat. The relatively slow speed and poor manoeuvrability can seem at odds with the ability co close and catch enemy vessels. As we wll examine below; however, when your vessels are amongst the enems, the slower speeds of Tyranid ships ‘can be a valuable asset. We begin our look at the hive fleets by examining the ‘organisation and how they differ from those of more ‘mundane’ races. We will also go through the building Dlocks ofthe feet lis itselt, coving weapons, vessels and Dlo-upgrades. Finally delving into tactics, we will look at the flets strengths and weaknesses as well as how they fair against the different races ofthe 40k universe. leet Organisation While Tyranids are essentially 2 single galaxyspanning ‘organism, in Batlfleet Gothic they fll into two distinct formations: The Hive Fleet and the Vanguard Fleet. While they share many of the same special rules and sever ships, these two kinds of flets are different indeed, offering their own range of strengths and weaknesses, The hive fleet, which could be considered the main kind of ‘Tyranid fleet, is what we will mostly be exploring in this article. This kind of fleet offers the complete range of ‘Tyranid vessels, from the largest hive ships to the smallest drone escorts, as well as the broadest array of tactics and ‘options. The vanguard flet on the other hand is just what It sound likes: 2 scouting fleet consisting of those ships that the Hive Mind sends forth to find fresh sources of food. This kind of force is very different to that ofthe main fleet and as such we will have a look at is tactics as wel as some tps for creating halanced vanguard fleets later6/3/08 5:05 pm Page 17 ‘yranids ate also unique in the way their fleets are ‘organised. Whereas the fleets of other races must work fom the bostom up, meeting 4 required number of cruisers to allow them to take battle cruisers, grand ‘cruisers and battleships, Tyranids are limited instead by ‘the amount of hive ships they field. This structure means ‘that when constructing your fleet, how many hive ships you choose and how many points you decide to spend on ‘them becomes very important. It might be tempting to put all your fath in a massively expensive hive ship, bristling ‘with weapons and biowupgrades, however, as we'll ake & look at in the tactics, this kind of onestick pony can prove very lining and lacking in versatility. have found the key 10 constructing Tyranid fleet is always versatliy, creating rot s0 much a fleet of ships asa single organism designed. fora single purpose: destroying your enemies. ‘TYRANID WEAPONS ‘To understand how the Tyranid fleet ceally works the best place to start isto gett know their weapons. While some ‘of the Tyranid weapons are comparable to those of other fees, chey ae all diferent enough to warrant some close ‘examination and will be important when it comes to deciding how to best use your vessels in battle. Each of the ‘Tyranid’s weapons has its on ments and flaws. Some of these weapons are highly specialised in their application, ‘excelling ata single ask; while some are so different to ‘those of other fleets they ate totally unique tothe Tyranids themselves. Here we take a look at each of the weapons and theie varied uses: Bio-plasma ‘The Tyranid version of lances comes in the form of short ranged but deadly blo-plasma, While bio-plasma only has a2 range of 15cm, ts ability to ignore shields can be devastating when used in large numbers, either from the massed spines of a hive ship or a large shoal of escort. Blo-plasma is also well suited to destroying escorts, where its bypassing of their shields robs the small ships of half their durabiliy: It can be tempting to take as much bio plasma as possible in your fleet, especially after seeing what i¢ can do in the sight circumstances; this will probably mean you will spend 2 lot of your time tying t0 et your vessels into range and a deceat fring arch, and Invariably not doing a lot of shooting. Bioplasma is defiantly something to include in your fleet, But not atthe ‘expense of having a variety of weapons Pyro-acid ‘This weapon is, more than anything else, the mainstay of the Tyranid fleet, offering the equivalent of most other races’ weapons batteries. The real value of pyro-acid to ‘Tyranids is its range, 30cm on most ships and 4Scm on hive ships, granting the fleet the ability to compete with most other ships of the line. Tyranids can also take prodigious amounts of pyroracid in their fleets making up for their ack of uly log range weapons batteries with ¢ volume atclose range, someting the Tyranids excel a Pyroacid i aso ‘haractersed by is ably to into dddivonal ‘Fiera then inflicting normal Creal This ably can Seem subtle at fs, but nemies will underestimate iat their peri especialy when Tranids target damaged ships where thor for txt points of damage caused bya Pie ‘tcl can ean les destruction Feeder Tentacles ‘This weapon is totally unique to the ‘Tyranid fleet and offers an interesting range of tactical possibilities. As 1 will talk about later, often you will want {et i extremely close to your enemies with Tyranids and feeder tentacles are a weapon that encourages this, Theie ably of a vessel armed with feeder tentacles to deliver hivand-run attacks as well as score damage by touching an ‘enemy ship's base during its move is among the most reliable way to deliver damage, destroy escorts and knock ‘out key systems on larger vessels. When used on fast and manoeuvrable vessels like vanguard drones, this weapon, becomes a true terror to face Massive Claws Another weapon exclusive to the Tyranids is massive laws. Once again these weapons require the Tyranids to {et into base contact, making them tricky to use on the larger less manocuvrable vessels lke cruisers and hive ships, However they make the perfect compliment to boarding, where the extra damage caused by the claws reduces the enemy's boarding value as well as offering the chance the Tyranid vessel with latch on, allowing it to ‘continue consuming is enemy in successive turns. Kraken ‘especially can be effective when armed with claws, where their speed allows them to chase down escorts and other ‘mall vessels, brushing past their prey and literally eating them! ‘yranid Ordnance (One of the undoubted strengths ofthe Tyranid fleet is ts ‘ordnance. The ability to send out clouds of fighters, assault boats and boarding torpedoes means that theit ‘enemies will often be struggling to cope. Tyranids also have the ability to purchase ordnance before the game,further boosting the numbers they can field. The only downside of Tyranid ordnance sis slow speed, however ‘when you consider the relative speed of the Tyranid vessels as well as ts endless supply then this becomes of less importance. The first two kinds of Tyranid ordnance, boarding torpedoes and assault boats are geared toward destroying escorts and crippling langer vessels with hit: and-run attacks. As such, the best time (0 use them isin lose once they can make it to their targets in a turn oF two, Tyranid ordnance that is forced to craw across the board will inevitably be either avoided of destroyed, Something that is worth remembering is hoarding torpedoes can be used to destroy both normal and other boarding torpedoes, useful when no fighters are handy. “The other kind of ordnance available to the hive fleets is fighters. These are very important if you're going to be facing any kind of enemy ordnance, which invariably you ‘will. Early in the game is the best time to spawn fighters, Using your hive ships to pump them out ia swarms as you. close the distance. As Tyranids are not limited with the amount of ordinance they may have at one time, a8 other races are, you can create a thik cloud of fighters to shield your ships. Slower than other kinds of fighters, Tyranid fighters are best suited to staying close to their own ships, ‘either in contact, oF close enough to form a wall against Incoming torpedoes, bombers and assault boats ‘Two of the things lacking for the Tyranids ordnance arsenal are normal torpedoes and bombers. The absence of these weapons isnot really much ofa disadvantage for the hive fleets. Bombers favour longer range ‘engagements, something Tyranids at not ideally sulted 10, ‘While normal torpedoes can become as much a hindrance for their own side asthe enemy when battle lines hecome ‘enmeshed, Spores While not technically a weapon, spores are worth a mention due to their ability to inflict damage. As both, shields and turrets spores are a mixed blessing. for ‘Tranids, offering the abiliy co defend against bombers and torpedoes inthe same turn, but conversely becoming, ‘weaker when reduced by Blast markers, However theit least used ability would have to be that of inflicting damage to unshielded ships in base contact. OF most use against the Eldar and Necfon fleets, allows a squadron, fof escorts to swarm around an unshielded cruiser of Datceships dealing significant damage without rolling 2 single dice. Even against shielded vessels, smaller Tyranid vessels can use their spores to knock down the enemy's defences for their larger cousin's volleys or give them ‘extra bonuses in boarding ‘TYRANID VESSELS Because of the Tyranids ‘ability to pick and choose theie ships’ weapons itis dificult ro make a comprehensive list ‘ofall che possibilities and their uses. However, cegardiess ff their weapons, Tyranid ships tend to suit particular roles in the flees. There are also a number of common, ‘weapon combinations worth mentioning for each of the major vessels6/3/08 5:05 wm Page 19 Hive ship Without question hive ships wall form the heart of any Tyranid feet, offering the broadest range of weapons and bio-upgrades combined ‘with their innate toughness and synapse node ably Hive ships are also the only vessels in a Tyran flet capable of, taking launch bays. As such I always make sure I take at least one of two on each hive ship. The other ‘must? ‘weapon I find for hive ships is pyroacid, offering the longest ranged firepower available to the fleet at a respectable 45cm. Weapons such as feeder tentacles and mattve claws are less useful on hive ships simply by virte of their sluggish movement. I would also always advocate spending a ile extra on hive ships by adding a bio-upgrade or two. However, be careful that you don't spend too much on any one of your hive ships, especially Afby saving 2 few points you could include a second hive ship a, afterall, wo hive ships are better than one. Cruiser ‘yranid cruisers can sometimes be a forgotten class ‘of vestel for the hive flet. After alli doesn't pack the firepower ofa hive ship, nor is itas quick or inexpensive as an escort. However, like most Tyranids, its strength lles in is versatility, combined with its expendability. Unlike your important hive ships, ‘yranid cruisers can be happily hurled into the fray. Two of the specialised roles which I've found cruisers can excel at are as either a rammer and a boarder, armed with a set of massive claws, using All Ahead Full orders «0 hunt down enemy cruisers, oF alternatively asa torpedo boat, armed with twin Strength, 4 torpedoes laying down a curtain of ordnance. Cruisers are also usefl for drawing fire away from your hive ships, as you enemies will often overestimate thei effectiveness. Vanguard drone In my opinion escorts of all kinds ate the Ieblood of any Tyranid fleet. The vanguard drone is very cheap for what it can offer and is also among the fastest and most manoeuvrable ofall the Tyranid vessels, Ifyou arm your vanguard drones with pyro-acid you will probably be using them more for thei ability to “highlight” ‘enemies (allowing the Tyranids co overcome their normal restrictions on targeting ordnance and any by the closest enemies) as the Strength 2 weapons battery is of iced use unless you take large squadrons, which is only really advisable In a vanguard fleet. In a regular hive fleet 1 ‘would take vanguard drones in single ship squadrons, -iving them the greatest possible freedom, and would arm them with feeder tentacles where they can do some Serious damage fitting in and out of your enemy's ships. Feeder tentacles are also unaffected by special ‘orders, giving the drones even more freedom to make sudden turns and frightening bursts of, speed#5 22/9/04 2:48 Page 40 Escort drone Ifyou are taking hive ships, and ifyour using the regular hive fleet then you are, you should think seriously about taking escort drones. Point for point there ace few escorts that are beret. For the price of only moving 15cm, something that is of lice importance if they are used alongside hive ship, chey can pack a tering amount of firepower. 1 usually include at least 6 for each hive ship, favouring Pyro-cid (that’s a combined firepower Strength of 24 from just 6 escorts}. Escort drones are also surprisingly manoeuvrable, retaining the ability to make a turn before moving like other escorts, This manoeuvrability means that the above mentioned 6 escorts can effectively use CCome To A New Heading to turn 90 degrees and stil fre at Strength 12, something that Is useful against quick ‘enemies that will try and out flank your slow and ponderous hive ships Kraken “These unusual vesels are another example ofthe strength ‘of Tyranid escorts. Like vanguard drones, they ate often best used on their own unless part of a vanguard fleet ‘Two of the tasks I have found kraken very effective ais either as escort hunters, armed with pyro-acid of massive claws, of as rammers and boarders. In the latter case ‘group of independent kraken can gang up on a cruiser, ot ‘even better a cruser damaged by hit and run attacks, and simultaneously ram it, using their massive claws to do ‘extea damage and then boarding in the End phase. Kraken make idea rammers, wth their 6+ Armour and constant Brace for Impact for protection. BIO-UPGRADES “The Tyranid bio-upgrades offer a range of modifications to add to your ships. Most of these modifications are best suited t0 the hive ship, such as reinforced carapace and ‘exira spore cysts for creating incredibly tough, 14 hit, 6 spore monsters, of solar vanes, adrenaline sacs and more discharge vents for increasing the speed and manoeuvrability of these behemoths. Tyranid cruisers can ‘often benefi¢ as well from some of these upgrades, especially an extra spore cyst or hit. Escorts I would probably never give upgrades, simply because in most ‘eases the escort is worth as much as the upgrade itself ‘The only exception co this would probably be Kraken, ‘which henefit rom any of the upgrades that increase theit speed as well as the mucous membrane upgrade for protection against bombers. The drone link upgrade is ‘worth a special mention as i offers a left shift on the Gunnery table for pyro-acid batteries, something that can ‘be very significant when you consider the large amount of firepower hie ships can have at their disposal. ‘TYRANID TACTICS Instinctive Behaviour and Synapse Control ‘The first thing that any new Tyranid player needs to tackle Is how to deal with synapse control and instinctive behaviour, These two factors are what makes Tyranids unlike any other flect in the Battletieet Gothic game. The frst thing I realised after playing a few games with a hive fleet is that instinctive behaviour is actually more of a benefit than it isa drawback. Once you understand how Your ships will react if you either fal to control them with Your hive ships, or choose not to, you will find that you ‘an get them to go onto the special orders you want. Until ‘you get quite close to you enemy, however, the adds are you will mect very few of the conditions on the Instinctive Behaviour table, and often end ‘up moving half speed straight ahead. ‘An easy solution to this for crulsers and hive ships is making sure they hhave either launch bays or torpedoes, this way they make surethey fire off their payloads each turn and can happily be lef to instinctively eload the following turn, leaving thems free to move and shoot as normal ‘When you get close to your enemy you will need to be much more aware of what you want your ships to do, though ip most cases the ones you want to lock on wi While the ones you want t9 Innate boarding will as well and you can save your Leadership test for those that aren't © doing what you want them to. Taking Leadership "upgrades for your hive ships as well as re-olls and even. Hive Mind imperatives offers some defence against Instinctive Behaviour, however, once you get the hang ‘of making instinctive behaviour work in your favour, would say these ae points best spent elsewhere ‘The final thing l would suggest when dealing with Instinctive behaviour is to choose the order of your Leadership tests wisely, as afterall exch ‘might well be your last for that urn, , ED yEMIES OF THE HIVE MIND “The adaptability ofthe Tyranidflet allows you to tallor your force to face your enemies more easly than many of the'ofher races, Here we will 4 t6uch briefly on some things } Sto bear in mind when Aghcing diferent fleets. Imperials, Space Marines and Chaos: By the standards of the Hive Mind these Fleets are fairly similar and form what is pretty much the ‘standard? eype of fleet to face. The core — Bh Ga LN Smal tacte of getting in close and using Tyranids close range nastiness to tear the enemy apart works equally well with ‘each of these foes, though there are a few points worth mentioning. When facing Chaos fleets, if they try and use their superior speed to outlank your vessels don’t be afraid to use All Ahead Full and Come To New Heading t0 ‘hase them down as itis always better to sariice a few turns shooting (© get into optimum range. While with Imperials, I would say be careful of massed torpedo waves. Always have a fighter of two handy as these can really do some damage, especially at short range. The only thing I'll say about Space Marines is don’t underestimate their hieand-eun astacks or their bonuses in boarding, of all the fleets you might face these will give you the strongest opposition if you want to se foot on the ships Eldar and Dark Eldar: Once again these two fleets are pretty much the same from the Hive Mind’s point of view and can be dealt with in the same fashion, Don't bother ‘with bio-plasma, as you will seldom be in range to use it and when you do holo or shadow flelds with most Mkely negate It. Assault boats and fighters can stil be useful but ‘don’t put too much faith in them. The real bane of any Eldar is pyro-aci. A single hit or wo with is special ablty to inflict a fire erical (on 24+ against Eldar) will put paid to most of theie ships. As for closing, wait unail you have their leet between your ships and a near table edge and then Al Ahead Full, They shouldn't be able so move ‘completely out of range and even at half strength your pyrorcid will be able ro do its work Orks: This leet can be a tcky one to face by vitue ofthe fact that their effeciveness is 30 random, However, the basic tactic of closing, hammering with firepower and then boarding i sll sound. I would only say asa word of ‘aution, don’t uy and board a space hulk unless «is almost desvoyed, as even Tyranids will find this a losing bate!Necrons: There are two simple tactics I have found t0 ‘work against thi ancient race, the frst is to target a single vessel oF squadron at 2 ime, pouring on fire ued itis ‘rippled or destroyed. Necrom players tend co get a bit nervous as soon as they lose a ship of swo, no doubt ‘thinking about al the Victory Points you have just scored ‘on them, The second tactic i to shower them with assault boats, as without ordnance of their own they must rely solely on theie turrets to protect them. This is another ‘thing that seems to make Necton players nervous and they ‘will often waste valuable firepower shooting down your assault boats and hoarding torpedoes, Tau: When facing the Tau you will find a leet that can. match TVranids, pound for pound, with ordeance. Tau bombers especially can be a significant threat, especially ln the large numbers they are produced. However the one advantage Tyranids have over Tau is they can start che ‘ame wit the fleet lst. This is often a good idea as it can be all the cdnance already In play by purchasing from~~ i I ‘edge you need to win an ordnance race (especially if you start with 20 fighters already protecting you from those Pesky manta bombers!). Once you close with Tau you will, also be pleasantly surprised to discover they halve thete boarding value making it even easier for you t0 consume these lite blue-skinned aliens. ‘Tyranids: Well all I can say abous this is i€ is very, very messy, especially considering spores don't stop Tyranid ‘ordnance. ‘TYRANID TACTICS I you ate using the scenario modifications for Tyranids presented in Armada you shouldn't run lato any significant problems as, with the changes, these all work, prety well. The one scenario that you wil find Tyranids excel at of course Is planetary assault. Next to Space Marines tis scenario more than any other showeases thee abilities SUMMONING THE SWARM ‘When building your fleet there are a number of things ‘worth noting, depending whether you are making either 2 vanguard flet of a regular hive leet. If you're making vanguard fleet you are restricted co only a handful of ‘weapons, two types of escort and no fighters oF assault boats what so ever. Asa result you will need to make sure you have a lot of escorts. As such I would say steer ‘completely clear of bio-upgrades, and limit the more ‘expensive weapon options such as torpedoes and pyro: acid bateries on your kraken. you're building a hive fleet the first thing you will peed \s of cours, hive ships. When constructing hive ships I generally try and avoid going over board, Afterall, making your hive ship Leadership 9, adding a re-ol, four extra his and an extra spore is worth 120 points, for which you. ‘could have 6 escort drones armed with Strength 4 pyro- acid each, which I feel is sounder protection. Extra vessels, also always add extra options for you during your game, something that can Ikerally make the difference between, victory and defeat. After hive ships I always fil up on ‘escorts, making sure each of my hive ships has an escort screen and then adding the odd Kraken or vanguard drone for good measure Finally include a cruiser oF to, ‘though seldom more than the number of hive ships I have, ‘Well hope that some of the information presented here will give Tyranid players afew ideas they can use in theyr games, or ifyou ve never played with che hive fleet before Perhaps the incentive to give ita go. The final thing Iwill, say is: The best way to master any fleet i to play with ia lot! Once you know what your own ships are capable of and what {0 expect from them once they engage the ‘enemy, the testis aot all that hard, isJpanot_s4_90 6/2/04 5:12 pm Page #4 ie eens ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS by Stephen Pearson. Following on from my article about scenario generation, I would like to discuss and expand upon one of the more underused aspects of the Inquisitor system, awareness modifiers. I have noticed most scenarios of Inquisitor take place in temperate, wel dimension to your scenarios. ‘The source of my inspiration for this arcticle comes from two quarters, 2 small mention given to the effects of terrain and weather in che Rulebook (pages 80 & $8) and the Treacherous Conditions table for Necromunda Awareness modifiers: ‘The purposes of awareness modifiers are, like terrain pieces, 0 give the location an atmosphere. Think about the time of day, weather and environmental conditions you ‘would expect to find ip the area where the scenato i et. Having one to three awareness modifiers to represent this ‘an really set the atmosphere. It is wise to use the modifiers sparingly otherwise they wil be forgotten in the heat ofthe game or slow the game down to 2 snail's pace Limiting their area of effect and duration are two ways of doing that Instead of affecting the entire battlefield these specific ‘environmental conditions could easly be tex environments and I hope the following ideas will serve to bring a more realistic [No longer will that old dilapidated building be just another building, now it could be infested with spiders oF termites, or covered with vines. With minimal alteration the awareness modifiers listed below can represent almost any environment you care to imagine I have arranged the eavisonmental conditions in a series lof tables to make them easier to use. Ifyou would like to randomly generate an environmental condition roll a D6 and consult the table below to decide which ‘environmental table to roll on, Stormy Conditions Fog Surface Effects*Stormy Conditions eerie ror ee ee Per ear pemeecrerees Te eee Pree ony aeenerniee nny Jnto dH fain again untl they have recovered their nerve. Dea eee ee ec ee eee eae ee round. Ifthe roll 8+ then lightning strikes the hoard, To work ous the point a which the lightning strikes, choose a corner of the board to measure from and roll swo D100s. The first tells you the percentage across the board and the second the percentage up the board, Any character within 2 yards ofthis point suffers a hit equivalent to both a frag and a haywire grenade. (lf play i taking place at night then anyone looking at the point ofthe lightning strike i affected as ia photon Pa ener) ‘The effects of the haywire grenade lasts D3 rounds. In addition the thunderclap produced will reduce all heating ranges co’ tenth of what they are usually for the duration of this round Ee ne ee ee ee ae Perera ntn rec ceeot cette a eet ee ene eee Serene eer a ee ete ene ee eee) ee ge ere parent) arene repre eer Sete kite Ree ee eee Pine Sime ae. Nnenirnni ania en aera Light Rain: Light rain is falling across the area making ic harder to see. All range modifiers are doubled, Heavy Rain: Rain clouds have set in and itis raining heavily All range modifiers are tripled and all hearing sanges are reduced by a quarter.Lighting Characters who have appropriate equipment (such as infra-red auspices, etc) can double the reduced vision’ ranges duc to the poor light. pe Result Seg reeea oats een seta ec eset Secs) Ce eee ae eee eae eo eee eet at Renee eee ee te ee eee ence Parenter ‘Mbonlit: I a clear night ad the area is luminated by the moon and stars. Vision ranges are reduced t0 ne eee ts ‘Dusk: The sun has nearly set and visibly is down to only $0 yards. Vision range is reduced by 5 yards per Penne ts ee ee eee Ree aceon Cee eoeeerer sonst! ol = Ce ee ene ee ee te eee Ree ee eee) ecioaod eles eee Ce ee ee eg eee eg eee ee LS fog they must pass 4 Toughness test or be afected by Hallucinogen (see Rulebook page 89) ‘Thick Fog: The vdion range is reduced to only 10xD3 yards (roll atthe stat of the game) and the dense fog, Petr ne eer sy In addition sills such as Deadeye Shot and Rocksteady Aim cannot be used. Morning Mist: The area is shrouded in mist, which is cold, damp and hangs in the alr When a character ee ee tee eee ee Se eeneecntins Drifting Fog: Thick banks of fog arc deiting across the board occasionally obscuring characters from view [At the end of each character's tum roll aD, and on a 4+ they are hidden from the other characters on the eos Ic is hard to hold a bead on the target so sille such as Deadeye Shot and Rocksteady Aim cannot be used, Pe ec eee a ee eee ed ‘that shoots from cover jnd theis To Hit roll ends in 5 sets off a pocket of gas (ie, 5). Treat the explosion as ee ed Choking Gas: The fog consists of a choking mixture of gases. At the start of every turn spent in the fog, Pere het ett a herrea eeeernet sy esWinds Ce eee ee er een eco gece? [= eee ‘Twister! A powerful vortex af wind & yard in dlatherer moves randomly round the board (atthe end of each, round/foll 206 and a Scater dice to determine the number of yards and dicection i travels) Any character ‘cayeheje the vortex is flung 206 yards ipa random direction and will take damage from falling or impacts Pee Peter eae eee ec ere ee eee ee eet Blown Away: Gale force winds are sweeping through the area making it hard to stay on your feet At the end. fof each round anyone above ground level must pass a Strength test or be knocked prone. Those characters. Pee nearer ir eee eee ee tre ee Pe eee ter ee eet reer Howling Winds: The windy conditions make it much more dificult ro make an accurate shot. There is an reer ed ley Blast: A cold arctic Wind is blowing through the area and the wind chillis reducing the temperature considerably: Those characters that are unused to the cold oF are not wrapped up warmly will be ‘chilled t0 the bone’. The characters afected (GM's discretion) must passa toughness test in each Recovery phase oF ‘add D6 to their injury total, asthe cold lowers thels body temperature, Perr cn ese a ern oe ce ee All charactets moving against the tection ofthe wind suffer -1 ro all movement rates (except crawling) and those moving with the wind gain +1 to all movement rates (except crawling)Surface Effects Remember sprinting across or through difficult terrain is a risky action. DS, ees ‘Snow: A lajer of fesh snow has formed dri scross the hatleild, hindering movement. The disance Ce en ee (Over Halt 2 Yard deep Maximum movement is down to 6 yards per action, Running isa risky action and if Pen wrest eet ns ‘Over 1 yard deep: Maximum movement is down to only 4 yards per action. In addition any damage from. piers ‘Over 1.5 yards deep: Maximum movement is down to only 2 yards per action. In addition characters halve damage from falling onto the snow and for the purposes of knockback, ‘Snow is, homever, very cld, and prolonged exporure can cause frostbite, hypothermia and even death, For {every round a character spends in the snow without the correct protection (GM's discretion) they must pass 2 See ere ee een eee ee eet ose eden eee et et ee eee ee ee Tce? peer neer they mess up the character wl ill prone and skid a number of yards equal to half the movement rate they were just using (le, f they were walking, they will skid 2 yards). Damage is doubled forthe purposes of knock re en ee ee ee ee erry ision-based tests are at an extra -10%, range modifiers are doubled and hearing ranges are halved. Rene ee ee eee eee ee ‘of 12 yard per round (The GM should secretly roll a D10 o see how high twill go!) Ce ee eee ce eee oe Sec page 31, for the effects of dtferent depths of water. Ce ee oe eee ee Laney powerful surge ll those characters that are on the ground level must pass a Strength test or be washed D10 es ee ee Soe eo Gravel: The area Is covered in loose gravel resulting in any movement faster than a sneak producing a loud. crunching sound. This means that movement can be heard an extra 50% away: Damage is doubled for the ene eee eee ian nt eT a» Flora and Fauna | ost ofthe conditions in this table have limited areas of effect, which shouldbe decided upon before starting Co eee [eave ire Free eae Pete eee ers ee befofe commencing the game. Alternatively randomly choose a toxin from the rulebook (pg89). eee oe Ree en er et ee ae ce See ere et ates Dee ee ee eee rs Fungus can take 10 points of damage hefore being destroyed. ‘Vines: Many ancient buildings are covered in vast growths of vines making the original structure Indistinguishable under the dense growth. For any building covered in vines all verucal surfaces can be Sree eet en ce Cee cee eT Fe eee te ee prosserneretemeerh cree Ree a ee Rar feereniirn yrs 5 mh Saree agente arene peer reer Sate isco Soa eee one ena TIN ee eee arent rae eee eee eee et eee ae {na random direction. If they land on more rubber moss they are bounced a further 206 yards ina random. Ct ee tee rt kes ee ee etcetera! distance they tavelled and fall prone. [A patch of rubber moss can take 10 points of damage before eing destroyed. eee oe ee eee ee Sete ay etree ee ere ett erate netirs at Spiders: Spiders have covered the area in thick cobwebs that hang from every surface. They hinder ‘movement and are areal nuisance. In areas covered with cobwebs sprinting is a risky action and iffalled che character must spend their next ewo actions disentangling themselves and regaining their bearings (pause for breath) ‘Termites: The whole area has been ravaged by termites, leaving it very unstable, At the end of every round, roll D10 for each model on an upper storey. On score of 8+ the floor gives way beneath them and they fall eect eee eenrance_s4_s0 22/3/08 11:51 Page 90, o Creating an Envirenment [A Brave New World: As the sun rises on this alien world, By combining 4 few of the above suggestions you can will ou survive the harsh landscape tha s being revealed ‘reate some feal atmosphere. Try 9 ensufe they afen't 10 you! (Lighting 6, Surface Eflects 6, Flora and Fauna 3) ‘contradictory and don't involve alot of dice eoling in one go. Here are a few suggestions for you ‘The environmental conditions listed here are far ftom comprehensive (my original set of tables had 100 ‘Tropical Storm: Wind, heavy rain, thunder and lightning _cnttes!). I hope they will saspire you to come up with [A storm is brewing, and that's just the weather. (Stormy your own ideas to add variety to your scenarios. Conditions 2 & 5, Winds 6) ‘Whatever you decide, remember that the sun doesn’t Arctic Outlook: Drifing snow and icy winds. How will always shine on the battlefield {you cope inthe arctlc wastes? (Stormy Conditions 3, Winds 5, Surface Effects 1) Sewer: I's pitch black with pockets of methane and hordes of rats. This stinks! a aoe ROS (lighting 1, Fog 5, Flora and Fauna 4) Poe heoretraL ce Pane RU nIe TP] Desert: Dust devils, blinding sun beating down and miles ce area fof sand. Is that an oasis in the distance? (Winds 1 & 5, EeerEninntanny Lighting 2, (The effect of heat is very similar to chat of ar a cola) ees