60. The Thing In The Woods
Source: Town Cryer #25
Setting: The Empire
Author: Mark Havener, et al.
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 another 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!).
The Thing in the Woods
Profile
| M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2(3) | 7 |
SPECIAL RULES
Large Target: The Balewolf is a Large Target as defined in the shooting rules.
Fear: The Balewolf is a terrible and frightening creature that causes fear.
Forged by Chaos: A creation of Chaos; the Balewolf was born from some nefarious yet unknown origin. The power of Chaos knits its form together when it is wounded and as such the Balewolf has the ability to supernaturally heal itself. At the start of each of its turns roll a D6 if the Balewolf is wounded. On a roll of 5+ one Wound is restored as its skin miraculous knits back together.
Flesh of Iron: The Balewolf’s skin is thicker than toughened leather, wholly capable of turning aside blades and arrows alike. The Balewolf has an Armour save of 4+ which is reduced by the Strength of the attack as normal.
Vicious Jaws: The Balewolf’s massive jaws are capable of crushing a man’s body in two. The Balewolf has an extra Attack from its jaws (as denoted in its profile) which is always its first attack. If this attack hits, it causes a critical hit on a roll of 5 or 6.
Lycanthrope: The blood of the Balewolf contains a terrible and powerful curse. Any model taken out of action from an attack from the Balewolf risks the taint of its dark blood (note that this only affects man-sized creatures and non-mutants). After the battle, if the model survives the attack, roll a D6. On a roll of a 6 any injuries the model is currently suffering are cured but they are now cursed!
In each subsequent battle whenever the cursed model is wounded they must take a Leadership test. If they fail they transform horrifically before the eyes of their comrades into the Balewolf! The model now has the same statline as the Balewolf. Any armour or equipment it was wearing is destroyed and any weapons the model was carrying are lost but may be recovered after the battle. The Balewolf will always charge the nearest model, friend or foe, if it can, otherwise it will move at maximum speed towards them. It may try and restrain itself from attacking a comrade by taking a test against his own Leadership (he may not use the leader’s). If passed, the Balewolf will ignore friendly models.
Roll a D6 after the battle. On a roll of 2-6 the model returns to normal (albeit without attire…) but still carries the curse. On a roll of 1, the Balewolf takes hold completely and in his feral state disappears into the wilderness lost forever in myth and legend (remove from roster).