Skip to main content

25. The Script of Sigmar

Source: Town Cryer #9
Setting: Mordheim
Author: Paul Smith
Broheim notes: Witch Hunters vs. Sisters of Sigmar. Two linked scenarios involving burgling the Sisters' Abbey. First get across the River Stir and up to the gates without raising the alarm, then find & make off with the goodies.

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 Sigma, an all-femaler religious sect that worships Sigma, much to the despair of the Grand Theogenist. They have 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 was the convent. The Church of Sigmar started spreading rumours about demonic pacts.

The convent in Mordheim was supposedly the center of the Sister's belief system and held their holy manuscripts written by priests and martyrs throughout the ages. One of these was supposedly written by Sigmar himself. The Grand Theogenist decided that now that the general populace was questioning the right of the Sisterhood, he would force them to return 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, and total extermination of the Sisterhood could do no harm. Thus, the witch hunters approached the convent under cover of the night.

This set of scenarios has been written for Witch Hunters vs Sisters of Sigmar. But with a little modification it can be made to fit anyone you wish.

All you need to do is change the aim of the mission. For example you could 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 for the second scenario.

special rules​

River​

The river is counted as impassable terrain unless they are using a boat 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 river. All equipment must be dropped to enable the model to swim to safety and if they were wearing heavy armour, chainmail or Gromril, They, after much debate and argument on the more time list, drowned outright as there is no time to cut off the heavy armour. End of character. He is no more. Dead. Gone. Finished. Kaput. Sorry!

Boats​

To transport the boat to and from water, it must be carried by four models. These four models are reduced to a maximum move of 4” And they may not fight or use missile weapons while carrying the boat. Once in the water, two models may row the boat with two passengers. No need to declare who as they can swap positions easily enough, only two can fire bows or powder. Weapons are turn though.

At the start of the game, determined the direction of the waters flow. If it is a shoreline, it will be alternate directions each turn as it laps in and out. Rivers will run the One Direction all game. Roll an artillery dice and a scatter dice. Subtract the artillery dice roll from the strength of the rower or the combined strength if two are rowing, treating misfire as zero. This is to stimulate the eddies and currents of river. If the Strength score is higher than the Artillery dice score, then the boat moves a distance equal to the difference in score in inches in a direction as desired by the player. If the artillery dice roll is higher than the strength, then the boat drifts distance equal to the difference in the score in the direction of the waters flow for that turn. If the two scores are equal, then they manage to hold in place fighting the wild currents. There is no movement penalty for turning. A boat that drifts off the edge of the table is counted as out of the game, and nothing bad happens to anyone in the boat. They just drifted a bit.

For example,two Strength 4 warriors are trying to row across a southern flowing river, and the artillery dice rolls a 10. The boat drifts 2” to the south (whichever direction you deem that to be). Next turn the artillery dice rolls a 3. The boat moves 5” in the direction desired by the player.

Night time​

In the dark, people’s vision is severely impaired (Dwarfs, Elves and Skaven can ignore the following rules if you decide to use different Warbands). Ranged attacks (bows, crossbows, pistols, rifles, bags of explosive and ranged magics) have their range halved.

Mission 1 : 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 the sisters 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.

terrain​

For this mission you need to set up the table with a large river down the center 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 more time. The rest is up to you.

special rules​

Movement is limited to walking speed on the modum side of the river because of all of the treacherous terrain. Once across the bridge, the ground is clear, flat and faintly illuminated by light pouring from the doorway into the convent, so movement has returned to normal, though ranged weapons are still limited.

sides​

The Sisterhood has 5 basic non gang member warriors, The players actual team is considered asleep within 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 warband, and nor do they gain experience. This is to represent the fact that there are more than one warbands 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 game members, they do gain experience as normal.

The sisters have randomly patrolling the area around the bridge, so each turn they move D3 inches and 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 2+ a 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 counts as solid cover for detecting people 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. The scenario 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 warband as they wish, with the exception of war dogs, 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) 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 Henchmen group survive they gain +1 experience.
  • +1 Per Enemy Out of Action. Any Hero gains +1 experience for each enemy he puts Out of Action.
  • +1 Sounding the Alarm. The Sisterhood Warband leader earns +1 experience if the alarm is raised.
  • +1 Reaching the Door. Each surviving Witch Hunter Warband member who makes it to the door earns +1 experience.
  • +1 Alarm not Raised. The Witch hunter leader earns +1 experience if they reached the door unmolested (suggestion: without being attacked).

Mission 2 : Into 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 Sisters player may set their entire gang up wherever they want. Otherwise, three will be randomly patrolling (as with the previous mission) 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. There has been no time for the injured to rest unless the Warrior Priest healed them before entering the doorway.

terrain​

Randomly generate an entire floor plan with the Warhammer quest floor tiles (Note: the only Objective room tiles to be used are the crypt and the fountain. All the other objective rooms aren'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” it is easy to translate more time to the boards. It is well lit inside the convent so weapon ranges are normal.

The Sisters player may secretly mark one room 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. Hunter should be told that this is the library when he enters the room. He now has the scroll and must 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 armor. The attackers must pass a Ld test, else they receive –1 to hit in hand-to-hand combat (scantily clad women will sway all but the most devout).

The Warrior Priest 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 from making off with the scroll.

The Witch Hunters must first locate the scroll then escape back through the entrance.

experience​

  • +1 Survives. If a Hero or Henchmen group survive they gain +1 experience.
  • +1 Per Enemy Out of Action. Any Hero gains +1 experience for each enemy he puts Out of Action.
  • +1 Winning Leader. The winning Warband leader earns +1 experience.