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60. The Thing In The Woods

Source: Town Cryer #25
Setting: Mordheim
Author: Mark Havener, et al. Broheim notes: An Empire In Flames scenario. At least 1/2 the terrain is spooky fear-inducing woods. For each warband there is one Thing in the Woods (no details until TC28 but is presumably pretty scary) which will move randomly until within charge range then charge nearest model. Last to rout wins.

Your warband is travelling to the next town when suddenly you notice that the woods you have been walking through have taken on a distinctly more ominous feeling. The shadows are much deeper here, and strange sounds may be heard. Some of your warriors report seeing something moving just out of sight as well. You had heard rumours about the woods in this area of the Empire being haunted by malevolent spirits and creatures of the night, but you dismissed them as old wives’ tales; until now. Then a piercing howl breaks. the silence...

terrain​

Each player takes it in turn to place a piece of terrain, either a building, set of hedges or walls, hill, section of forest, section of swamp, river or stream, or similar item or terrain appropriate for Empire in Flames. At least half of the terrain pieces placed should be sections of woods.

special rules​

Fear of the Dark — These woods are seriously rattling the warbands. Any warband member in a Wood section must take an A// Alone test every turn (even if there are other friendly warband members nearby). Failure means that the warband member flees 2D6" toward the nearest table edge (warband members who flee off the board are out of the game, though they will not have to roll for Serious Injury after the battle).

Thing in the Woods — There is one Thing in the Woods for every warband involved in the game (so a two-player game would have two Things, a four-player game would have four, etc). The Things are placed within randomly selected forest sections and start the game Hidden. At the end of every game turn (after all players have taken their turns), there is a special ‘Thing turn’.

A Thing will automatically charge any warband member that strays into its charge range. Otherwise, they move 2D6" in a random direction unless there is another forest section within range in which case they will always move into that. Just like any other player, the Things have their own Hand-to-hand Combat phase, and a warrior who is “engaged in close combat with a Thing will fight during his turn and the Thing’s turn, just as if it were engaged with a warrior from ahother warband.

set-up​

All players roll a D6 to see who deploys first, with the player rolling highest choosing a table edge and setting up first. If there are two players, then the next player sets up on the opposite board edge. If there are more than two players, the remaining players choose sides and set up their warbands based on the order of their dice rolls, highest to lowest. A player must set up his warband within 8" of his table edge, but not within 4" of a side edge, and not within 10" of another player’s warband. Keep in mind that more than four players should be accommodated with a larger battlefield than normal (see the “Chaos in the Streets” article on multiplayer games in the Mordheim 2002 Annual, page 26).

starting the game​

The players each roll a D6 to determine who goes first. Play proceeds clockwise around the table (based on where players placed their warbands) from there.

ending the game​

The game ends when all warbands but one have failed their Rout test. Warbands which Rout automatically lose. If one or more warbands have allied when the other warbands have all routed, they may choose to share the victory and end the game, or they may continue the game until one warband is victorious.

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.
  • +1 Takes a Thing in the Woods Out of Action. Any Hero who takes a Thing Out of Action gets +1 Experience (yes, this is cumulative for the +1 for taking an enemy out of action!).

(Note: The rules for the Thing in the Woods will be featured in issue 28 of Town Cryer. In the meantime, players are advised to simply substitute the Thing for a Troll from page 11 of the Mordheim 2002 Annual.)