103: The Wizard's Tower
Author: Christian Ellegaard
Source: Archive Pestilens (PDF)
Since the mighty catastrophe of Mordheim in the Year of Our Lord 2000, the once proud city has become a forum of evil.
Not to mention a forum of treasures. This, after all, is the reason why hundreds of warbands have flocked to the outer borders of the Empire, leaving their settings and their families in the favor of gold.
But the warbands are not the only visitors. All creatures of evil seem to go there, apparently attached by the chaos and darkness that rules in the inner ruins, as well as some of the mighty Wizards of Darkness. Here and there the purple flag of Shyish, the Scythe, waves in the wind high above a mighty tower rules by an Amethyst wizard, and the wizards of the Dark Gods establish their chambers there too where they can study their evil books and magic in the right atmosphere. The myths that are connected with these Wizard's Towers tell about gold, silver, magical items and other treasures that appear only in the wildest dreams of the craziest Dwarven Treasure Hunters, and once in a while it happens that a warband finds its way to one of the few infamous Wizard's Towers that are located in Mordheim.
However, it is not that easy just to go and open the door into the tower itself. More often than not warbands lie hidden in the ruins around the tower, waiting for the next warband that appears.
terrain
The scenario is fought on a table roughly 4' times 4'. Exactly in the middle should be the Wizard's Tower itself. This can be represented by a cardboard tower (for example the one from the old Chronicles of War set, or the tower from the Warhammer Fantasy boxed set), but if you do not have any cardboard towers then you must make your own! This is really easy indeed - the only thing that's a bit tricky about modeling is putting it together yourself!
The rest of the battlefield should be covered by ruined buildings, terrain and obstacles that the ambushers can hide behind. Check out the map and see my version of the battlefield!
set-up
The warband that has just explored the Wizard's Tower is deployed beneath the tower itself. Note that only the Henchmen are deployed - not the Heroes!
The ambushers must be deployed adjacent to the table edge and out of line of sight of the treasure carrying warband. They may be deployed in buildings too, if any buildings are adjacent to the table edge. The ambushers must deploy first followed by the treasure carrying warband.
special rules
Heroes: After the ambushing warband has moved, the treasure carrying warband must roll a D6. The result is the amount of Heroes that may leave the Wizard's Tower that turn. Choose randomly which models appear.
Chests: Roll a D6 for each Hero that appears: On a roll of 6 that model has brought with him a smaller chest of treasures that is represented by a counter. You could use one of the plastic chests from the Mordheim boxed set, or you can make your own.
A model carrying a chest gets a -1 Initiative modifier, and he cannot fight with two weapons. Chests can be swapped between models if they are in base contact with each other. The new model gets the above mentioned penalties for carrying a chest as normal, while the model carrying it before loses this penalty.
If no Heroes appear to bring any chests with them, then pick one random Hero that is given a chest. This means that there will always be at least one chest in the game, which makes it all much more interesting! Chests are dropped if a warrior become knocked down, stunned or out of action. Place the chest counter on the battlefield. Any models that enter the chest may pick it up and carry it as normal, and a model who defeats an opponent in close combat in any way may overtake the chest of that enemy model.
Magical Curses: All the Heroes that have searched the Wizard's Tower for treasures are carrying an evil kind of magical curse from the tower. Place a Curse counter beside each Hero as they appear. If a Hero is Knocked Down or Stunned, roll a D6 on the table below.
| D6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Blind: The eyes of the Hero begin to glow white, and he cannot see anything. For the rest of the battle the Hero will move D6 inches in a random direction (use a Scatter die to decide the direction). If he crashes into an enemy, then he will attack him or her, and if he crashes into a building, then he will get knocked down. His Initiative will count as being 1 for the rest of the battle too, but he will cause Fear to all enemies. |
| 2 | Bound: Suddenly some mystical, half transparent lightning arms in different colors appear from the earth and grab the Hero's legs. He cannot move anymore for the rest of the battle! |
| 3 | Drained: The Hero is drained for power, and his Strength will count as being 1 for the rest of the battle. |
| 4 | Teleported: The Hero is teleported into the Wizard's Tower and will appear in the warband's next turn. The Hero will then be standing up. |
| 5-6 | No effect. |
The Heroes can shake off their curses by defeating an opponent. If either they Knocked Down, Stun or put an opponent Out Of Action then the curse will be given to the opponent instead! If the model is suffering from any curses then (such as the Bound curse), then they will immediately lose it. This is the only way of getting rid of a curse - neither priests nor wizards can help on this point!
starting the game
The ambushers will get the first turn. This represents the surprise that will meet the treasure carrying warband once they leave the tower.
ending the game
The battle ends once all the chests are off the table. A model with a chest can leave the table edge, and then the chest will be under that warband's possession. The warband with the most chests are the winners of the battle. If both warbands have the same amount of chests, then the warband that caused most casualties has won.
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.
treasures
In the post-battle sequence both players must see how much their treasures are worth. For each chest, roll a D6 on the table below:
| D6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Illusions!: The treasures were simple illusions that the wizard had made. As the warband returns to their camp the treasures simply vanish like if they had never been there! |
| 3-5 | Valuables!: The chest contains some valuable items that can be sold for a considerable amount of GC. Roll 3D6, the result being the amount of GC that the items are traded for. |
| 6 | Gold, Gold, GOLD!: The chest contained some really expensive golden items that are worth a lot of money. Roll 6D6 (yeah, it's quite a lot of dice!) and add the result to your Treasury. |
After the battle it is not possible to search the ruins for any useful things. No one dares to enter the cursed fields of the Wizard's Tower anymore! So no Exploration rolls are made.