Advanced Rules
The rules described in this chapter extend some of the campaign rules set even further. They have been sectioned off here because they are either not part of the core supplement or because they overwrite existing rules sets rather than expanding them.
Blackpowder weapons
If you are using the optional rules for blackpowder weapons as described in the Mordheim Living rulebook (see page 120), we make the following suggestions in order to highlight the difference between the capabilities of the weapon builders of the Old World and those from Cathay.
All pistols, duelling pistols and handguns bought during a Border Town Burning campaign get one reroll when rolling on the blackpowder weapon misfires chart. All other blackpowder weapons such a warplock pistols, blunderbusses, Hochland (hunting) rifles do not receive this bonus.
For convenience, here is a table for the various blackpowder weapons with a 20% discount factored in as suggested in the rulebook’s optional rules.
| Item | Cost | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Blunderbuss | 24 gc | Rare 9 |
| Duelling Pistol/brace | 24 gc / 48 gc | Rare 10 |
| Handgun | 28 gc | Rare 8 |
| Hunting Rifle | 160 gc | Rare 11 |
| Pistol/brace | 12 gc / 24 gc | Rare 8 |
| Warplock Pistol/brace Skaven only | 28 gc / 56 gc | Rare 11 |
Blackpowder weapon misfires
| Roll | Result | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BOOM! | The shooter suffers a S4 hit (this does not cause critical hits) and the weapon is destroyed. |
| 2 | Jammed | The weapon is jammed and useless for the remainder of the battle. Usable as normal next battle. |
| 3 | Phut | The weapon fails to fire; remove the shot. The shooter must wait one extra turn to fire again. |
| 4-5 | Click | The weapon fails to fire, but there is no additional effect. |
| 6 | KA-BOOM! | The shot hits the intended target and counts as having +1 Strength. |
More on carts and wagons
This section widens the scope of the rules for Vehicles of the Empire from the Empire in Flames supplement.
opulent coach
Since the opulent coach (see Mordheim Annual page 16) was written long before the rules for wagons, we suggest that it is treated as a wagon with two draft horses, where the additional 70 gold crowns (100 gc wagon + 2 x 40 gc horses = 180 gold crowns total) spent grants the +3 bonus for finding rare items. With respect to the previous rules whereby an opulent coach must not be placed on the table, we suggest the following. The warband may choose either to leave the opulent coach at their camp or to use the coach in battles. The warband may always use the coach when visiting the merchants after the battle.
Note that a merchant caravan may not buy an opulent coach to replace a destroyed trade wagon with. They must have the trade wagon to transport goods and offer their specialist services. They can always buy a stage coach, wagon or opulent coach in addition to the trade wagon. That would be sure to impress!
draft animals
The draft animals required when pulling a wagon or a coach depends on the warband. It will not necessarily be horses. e.g. Undead warbands should be allowed to buy Nightmares to pull their wagons, Dark Elves should be able to use Cold Ones, Goblins should be able to use Giant Wolves. A warband can use any ridden animal that is available to them (or that they can get hold of) as a draft animal for pulling wagons and coaches. You may wish to improvise by allowing other animals to pull wagons. A pair of Wardogs or Chaos Hounds will struggle to pull a wagon but it should be no problem for Ice Bears or Rhinoxen!
Shield house rules
This section describes a simple additional rule for shields. This can increase the diversity of weapon combinations in your games while also balancing the power of fully mounted warbands. The rules are based on the shield rules from the current edition of Warhammer. They provide an effective and simple alternative to more complex attempts of making armour more useful in games.
shields
Combat defence: An unmounted warrior armed with a single-handed weapon (sword, spear, hammer, etc.) and a shield gets an additional +1 bonus on his armour saving roll in hand-to-hand combat. Note that this applies to unmounted warriors in hand-to-hand combat only, since they can combine their shield and weapon to create a flexible defence against enemy blows in close combat.
Fighting individual battles
Individual battles are run using the rules described in the Mordheim Living rulebook on page 121. In addition, you may use the following rules if you wish to use artefacts in your battles.
artefacts
Players can buy one lesser artefact for 50 gold crowns. They may choose freely which artefact they purchase but cannot buy more than one artefact of the same type.
chaos artefacts
Before the battle begins the chaos artefacts are distributed among the participating warbands. Each player rolls a D6 and modifies the result as described below. The highest scoring player gets the Chaos artefact for his warband.
+1 Chaos follower: Marauders of Chaos, Beastmen Raiders, Norse, Cult of the Possessed, Carnival of Chaos and other Chaos worshippers gain +1 on their roll.
+1 per 50 gold crowns: Any warband may spend 50 gold crowns to get a +1 bonus on their roll. This must be spent before rolling.
–1 Chaos artefact: A warband suffers –1 on their roll for each Chaos artefact already in their possession.
Distribute each of the four artefacts in this manner.
We advise players to handle the distribution of the Chaos artefacts before building their warbands so that they can properly prepare for the upcoming battle.
Beastmen and the Dark Gods
This section describes rules intended for adding some Chaos flavour to the Beastmen Raiders warband from the Empire in Flames supplement.
marks of the dark gods
There is no reason why heretics (followers of Chaos) should not have access to the marks of the Dark Gods as described in the Marauders of Chaos warband list. Example: For an additional +10 gold crowns to the Beastmen Shaman’s hiring cost he gets the Mark of Chaos special rule allowing him to pick one of the following marks: Mark of Chaos Undivided, Mark of Tchar the Eagle, Mark of Onogal the Crow and Mark of Shornaal the Serpent. Note that the Mark of Chaos Undivided will then give the warband access to 0-3 Chaos Marauders instead (see Marauders of Chaos warband list).
If you prefer then the marks of the Dark Gods can be applied to the spell-casters of the following heretical warbands: The Possessed, Carnival of Chaos (Mark of Onogal only) and Dark Elves (Mark of Shornaal only).
eye of the gods
If you choose to use the marks of the Dark Gods for your Chaos warband, you may also wish to use the Eyes of the Dark Gods special rule. Add +15 gold crowns to the warband leader’s hiring cost and apply the Eyes of the Dark Gods rule as described in the Marauders of Chaos list. If the leader is ever transformed into a Spawn of Chaos, the warband may keep the Spawn even though it is not a choice normally. Treat the Spawn as a henchman following the rules described in the Marauders of Chaos list.