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103. Scripts of Sigmar

Source: Archive Pestilen
Setting: Mordheim
Author: Paul Smith, proof-read and commented upon by Tuomas Pirinen

Before the devastation wrought by the comet, a beautiful convent stood overlooking the city from an island in the river. The convent is owned by the Sisters of Sigmar, an all-female religious sect that worships Sigmar, much to the despair of the Grand Theogonist. There has long been arguments between the Sisterhood and the Church of Sigmar, often leading to bloody conflict. During the fall of Mordheim, the question of the Sister's purity was finally brought into open question when the only building left completely intact after the catastrophe. The church of Sigmar started spreading rumours about demonic pacts.

The Convent in Mordheim was supposedly the centre of the Sister's belief system and held all their holy manuscripts written by priests and martyrs throughout the ages. One of them is supposedly written by Sigmar himself. The Grand Theogonist decided that now that the general populace was questioning the right of the sisterhood, he would force a return of the most important document for his study. Of course... like the chaos spawn they are, they refused. What else was to be done? Deacon Avaris was sent to reclaim the manuscript at whatever cost... total extermination of the sisterhood could do no harm. Thus, the Witch Hunters came to Mordheim en masse.

Witch Hunters Vs Sisters of Sigmar​

Either of the two sides could be replaced, all you need to do is change the aim of the mission. i.e. change the script to a stash of wyrdstone or gold instead. In addition to the Mordheim rules, some floorplans such as those from Warhammer Quest will be needed. Until Mordheim is released, you will have to use another gang to represent the Sisterhood.

This adventure has been written as a small campaign for Mordheim, but it could easily be translated into a Warhammer Quest scenario using a party of Witch Hunters and their hirelings. Yes Tuomas... I'll get around to writing that one up when I finally get to see what the rules for the Sisters of Sigmar are.

Mission One - The Bridge; Not Too Far​

Deacon Avaris has decided that the best time to assault the Convent is in the middle of the night when they rely on raw recruits to guard the bridges, leaving the more seasoned veterans to deal with the day-to-day warfare in the city.

This part of the mission is to be a stealthy operation. Any cries from the guards and the others will be awake and aware of the raid.

Setup​

For this mission, you need to set up the table with a large river down the centre of the table with a large bridge across it. On one side of the table, you need to have the entrance of the Convent; the other will have ruins of Mordheim. The rest I leave up to you... (Do they really need more information? River, bridge, ruins one side... clear ground and temple other... seems fairly simple to me).

River​

The river is counted as impassable terrain (unless they are using a boat or are skinks) for the mere fact that it is so deep and fast-flowing. Anyone falling in is lost for this game as they have been washed down the river. All equipment must be dropped to enable the model to swim to safety, and if they were wearing heavy armour, they (after much debate and argument on the Mordheim list) drown outright. End of character. He is no more. Dead. Gone. Finished. Ka-put.

Night Time​

In the dark, people's vision is severely impaired (Dwarves, elves, and skaven can ignore the following rules if you decide to use different gangs). Ranged attacks (bows, crossbows, pistols, rifles, bags of explosives, and ranged magic) have their range halved. Movement is limited to walking speed on the Mordheim side of the river... would you want to run across ruins at night? You'd quickly catch your foot and break something. Once across the bridge, the ground is clear, flat, and faintly illuminated by light pouring from the doorway into the convent, so movement is returned to normal, though ranged weapons are still limited.
(Adjustments anyone?)

Sides​

The Sisterhood has 5 basic non-"gang" member warriors, the player’s actual team is considered asleep inside the convent. The Sisterhood can set up anywhere on their side of the table or on the bridge. These models do not count as part of your gang and nor do they gain experience. This is to represent the fact that there are more than one gang's worth of Sisters in the city of Mordheim, but your lot live in the area around the script.

If you really want to, you can use five actual members of your gang to patrol around outside, but these cannot be used in the second mission. If you do use your gang members, they do gain experience as normal.

The Sisters are randomly patrolling the area around the bridge, so each turn they move D3 inches in a randomly determined direction (a scatter dice is useful for this) until one of the enemy is spotted and the guards are alerted. Sentries can attempt to spot the enemy if they are within 12". Witch Hunters in the open will be spotted on a 2+ on one D6; in partial cover, they are spotted on a 4+ and in solid cover, it takes a 6+. If a Witch Hunter is within initiative range of a sentry, they will be spotted on a 2+. If a guard is standing on the bridge, there is a 2" zone either side of the bridge that they cannot see into... counts as solid cover for detecting the enemy from the bridge.

Once the enemy is detected, the guards can move freely under the control of the Sister’s player. The guards can alert those inside if one of them reaches the door. In effect, the Sisters win the scenario, but it doesn't end until all the guards are dead/off the table or the Witch Hunter leader has decided he has enough men through the door to carry on to the next mission.

The Witch Hunters may take as many of their gang as they wish, with the exception of the wardogs, chariots, carts, and horses because they are too noisy for a stealth mission. They must come on the Mordheim side of the table, starting at the very edge of the table. If powder weapons or visible magic (i.e. fireballs and the like... what are the magic rules anyway?) are used before the guards are alerted, they automatically become alerted. Wouldn't you be?

The Witch Hunters may use boats to try and sneak across the river.

Objectives​

The Witch Hunters must reach the door to the temple with as little resistance as possible, preferably avoiding the guards completely. Obviously, the Sisters hope to stop any intruders, or at least call out to those inside.

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. A Hero earns +1 Experience for each enemy he puts Out Of Action.
Original Experience

In the original source, the following experience was used:

  • +D6 Survives
  • +5 per wounding hit
  • +10 Sisterhood gang leader if the alarm is raised
  • +10 to each surviving Witch Hunter gang member who makes it to the door
  • +10 to the Witch Hunter leader if they reach the door unmolested.

It is assumed a different XP tracker was used from the one found on the warband sheet

Mission 2 - Unto the Temple, My Brothers​

This mission varies wildly depending upon whether or not the alarm was raised by the guards. If the alarm was raised, the Sister’s player may set their entire gang up wherever they want. Otherwise, three will be randomly patrolling (as with the previous scenario) the corridors while the others sleep.

Sides​

The Sisters will have their entire force. Witch Hunters may use any who made it from the first scenario (this means no wardogs, Tuomas). There has been no time for the injured to rest unless they were healed by the Warrior Priest.

Layout​

Randomly generate an entire floorplan with the Warhammer Quest floor tiles (NB: the only objective room tiles to be used are the crypt and the fountain... all else isn’t really viable for a convent), or get someone else to place it for you before the game. Using the idea of 1 square = 1 inch, it is easy to translate to the boards. It is well lit inside the convent, so weapon ranges are normal.

The Sister’s player may secretly mark one room down as the library where the scroll is stored and places the rest of their troops anywhere on the map. Those asleep may not move until awakened. The Witch Hunter should be told that this is the library when he enters the room. He now has the scroll and must now fight his way out again.

The sleeping gang members can be awoken when one of the guards reaches the room where they are. If the Witch Hunter player reaches the sleeping chambers before the guards, the troops within are unprepared and are not wearing any armour, although the attackers do have to pass a LD test, else they receive a -1 to hit in H-T-H (scantily clad women will sway all but the most devout).
The Warrior Priest, dogs (if they could be used... which they can't), and Witch Hunters automatically pass the test because they are convinced of the foulness of these harlot women.

Objectives​

  • The Sisters must repel the invasion, or at least stop the Witch Hunters making off with the scroll.
  • The Witch Hunters must first locate the scroll then escape back to the entrance.

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. A Hero earns +1 Experience for each enemy he puts Out Of Action.
Original Experience

In the original source, the following experience was used:

  • +D6 Survives
  • +5 per wounding hit
  • +10 Winning gang leader

It is assumed a different XP tracker was used from the one found on the warband sheet