Scenario 2: Horrors of the Underground
The warbands hear of a powerful treasure lost in the tunnels beneath the Cathayan borderlands. One warband is already exploring the dark underground caverns by lantern light.
The network of corridors links to the mines of a border town. Another party has arrived at the mineshaft entrance and is hastily preparing to follow their rivals into the gloomy depths. Precious metals were once mined here by men blasting passageways by exploding blackpowder kegs. That was until so many workers had disappeared underground that the mines had to be closed. To this day no one knows what evil consumed the unfortunate miners because no one wanted to know the truth...
terrain
This underground scenario uses special 8” x 8” floor tiles supplied specifically for this scenario. Floor tiles can alternatively be represented by using the ones from Warhammer Quest if you have them available.
- 1x start
- 5x corridor
- 4x corner
- 5x junction
- 1x crossroads
- 4x cavern
Use the start tile, a corridor tile, a junction, and a crossroads to create the opening configuration as depicted below. This is the tunnel area already explored from where the warbands start. Players are encouraged to design their own tunnel layouts.
warbands
The attacking warband starts at the entrance to the tunnel on the start tile (position A).
The defending warband deploys on the crossroads tile (position B).
Note that caverns are effectively dead-ends.
starting the game
The defending player takes the first turn.
special rules
Going Underground: Ridden animals and wagons never enter underground tunnels. If either warband owns any of these, they miss this battle.
Tools: There is a lot of old equipment from the miners left. Thus, all warband members capable of using equipment may get a free torch at the beginning of the game. In addition, all models using bows get free fire arrows for this game. These items can be used in this game only and are lost after the battle.
Unexplored: A floor tile with path edges that have no adjacent tile yet placed counts as an unexplored area. Models may not double their Movement when crossing into an unexplored tile.
Exploring Tunnels: When a model moves into base contact with the edge of a floor tile with no adjacent tile yet placed, determine at random which floor tile is placed there. In the case of corners and junctions, the player whose model explored this part of the mine gets to choose how the new tile is placed.
After each tile is placed, roll 2D6 on the following table to determine whether anything special happens:
| 2D6 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 2 | Tunnel Collapse! The tunnel caves in. |
| 3-4 | Wyrm! The Wyrm appears. |
| 5 | Spiders: Place D3 Giant Spiders on the tile (Empire in Flames, page 27). |
| 6 | Rats: Place D3 Giant Rats on the tile (Mordheim Rulebook, page 95). |
| 7 | Nothing happens. |
| 8-9 | Powder Kegs: Place D3 powder kegs anywhere on the floor tile. |
| 10-11 | The Egg! You found the Wyrm’s Egg! Place a marker for the egg anywhere on the floor tile. |
| 12 | Exit! You have found another exit out of the mines. Place a dungeon door marker alongside the floor tile. Any model that moves into base contact with the marker counts as having moved off the board. |
Tunnel Collapse: Part of the tunnel roof crashes down, creating a barrage of boulders which block the way. Place a marker directly before the exploring model to indicate this route has been blocked off.
The block can be cleared by non-animal models. This is represented by attacking the barrage of boulders in the close combat phase (Toughness 6, Wounds 4). The barrage has a 3+ save that is affected as usual by Strength modifiers.
The Wyrm’s Egg: A model that carries the Wyrm’s Egg has embarked on a dangerous task. Whenever a model carrying the egg enters an unexplored area, treat all results of 3-6 as the effect for Wyrm! Additionally, whenever the model enters a previously explored tile, roll a D6: on a result of 1-2, the Wyrm appears.
The Egg is worth D6x10 gold crowns when taken off the board. Alternatively, instead of selling the egg, the player may choose to crack open the eggshell and roll on the following table to see what it contains:
| 2D6 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 2-7 | Slime! This would’ve become a baby Wyrm had it not been cracked open before its time. The remains are worth nothing. |
| 8-10 | Young Wyrm: The baby Wyrm within the egg is old enough to survive the warband’s curiosity. A spell-user may use the young animal as a Familiar (Mordheim Annual 2002, p. 61). Alternatively, the Wyrm can be sold for D6x10 gold crowns. |
| 11-12 | Artefact: The Wyrm must have eaten the wearer, including their magical item. Roll on the Lesser Artefacts table to see what the egg contained. |
The Wyrm: This huge monster that lives in the forsaken mines is the reason why so many miners disappeared. If the Wyrm hasn’t been placed already, place it anywhere on the newly explored tile.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyrm | 6 | 4 | – | 6 | 5 | – | 5 | 3 | 9 |
Weapons/Armour: Teeth and claws!
Special Rules:
- Fear: The Wyrm is a terrifying monster that causes fear.
- Scale Armour: The Wyrm is covered with scales that grant it an unmodified 5+ armour save.
- Wounds: Whenever a model causes the Wyrm to lose a Wound, the monster digs a way out of the tunnel and disappears. Remove the Wyrm from the game. It will reappear as soon as the Wyrm event is rolled again.
ending the game
The warband who manages to take the Wyrm’s Egg off the board wins the game. If a warband fails its Rout test, it automatically loses the game and the opposing warband wins. If the egg has been found when one warband routs, the winner automatically acquires it.
experience
- +1 Survives: If a Hero or a Henchman group survives the battle, they gain +1 Experience.
- +1 Winning Leader: The leader of the winning warband gains +1 Experience.
- +1 Per Enemy Out of Action: Any Hero earns +1 Experience for each enemy he puts out of action.
- +D3+1 for the Wyrm’s Egg: The warband that manages to take a Wyrm’s Egg off the board gains +D3+1 Experience, which may be distributed freely among the warband’s heroes.