House Rules
House Rules are not official rules. Rather, they are rules agreed upon by the 'house' (your gaming group) to make the game fairer and/or more enjoyable. These should be discussed and agreed upon by your gaming group before you start a campaign.
This collection of house rules is listed here for consideration - they're not meant to be used in their entirety. Some of these rules here have a variety of options presented, so it is up to your gaming group to decide which ones to use them (if at all).
Equipment
- Shields give +2 to armour save (instead of +1) when in combat (when wielded with a one-handed weapon).
- Bucklers give a +1 to armour save when in combat (when wielded with a one-handed weapon).
- Increase the cost of Hammers/Maces/Clubs to 5 gc.
- Slings are STR 2. Could also reduce range (to 16"), and/or raise the price to 5gc.
- Armour is 50% cheaper, or some variant thereof.
- Crossbows cannot use Quickshot.
- Handguns cause +1 to injury rolls.
- Helmet treats an injury roll of 1-3 as stunned (instead of the additional 4+ roll against stunned)
- Introduce a new item, Beat Stick. It costs 3 gc, and is like a Hammer/Mace but without the Concussion special rule. Alternatively, separate Clubs from Hammers/Maces and remove the rule from clubs (while increasing the cost of Hammer/Maces).
- Ranged Weapons: equipped by max 50% of your warband. Some playgroups restruct this further to 25%.
- Spears will always Strike First the first round of combat, even when charged.
- Blackpowder weapons: reduce prices by a third, rounding up.
- Lucky Rabbits Foot, Lucky Charm, & Holy/Unholy Relics are limited to 1 per warband.
- Short bows: Range increased to 20".
Combat
Dual wielding
- Either the offhand weapon, or both weapons, have -1 to hit. Alternatively, the offhand has -2 to hit.
- Offhand weapon cannot crit.
Strikes First
- Compare Initiative, then WS, before rolling off
Parry
Parrying adds WS to roll. For example, a skeleton parries a vampire. The skeleton rolls 4, adds +2 WS so results in 6. The Vampire rolls a 3 and adds +4 WS, so wins with a 7
Critical Hits
A roll of a 6 to wound no longer causes a critical hit. Instead, if you have wounded the target, roll another d6. On the result of a 6, a critical hit is caused – use the advanced critical tables from the main rulebook. Skaven with the Art of Silent Death skill will cause critical hits on a 5 or 6 as usual on this roll.
Magic Miscasts
Magic is very dangerous! The roll of a double one when casting a spell will result in a miscast – roll on the miscast table below. You may never re-roll a miscast with any skills or items, however you may use the Rabbits Foot to re-roll a single dice when rolling on the miscast table.
Arabyan Nights miscast table
This table was created for the Arabyan Nights event (thanks @ntdars).
| 2D6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | Cursed by Nagash: The wizard taps into ancient, deadly, necrotic magic as their flesh withers and their soul is sucked from their body to serve the ancient necromancer Nagash. The wizard is killed instantly with no saves allowed. |
| 3 | Bleeeeuurgh! The wizard is turned into a toad and is now stupid. Roll a D6 after the battle, on a score of 2+ the effect ends, otherwise it is permanent and they must leave the warband. |
| 4 | Power Drain: The winds of magic abandon the wizard. They cannot cast spells for the rest of the game. |
| 5-6 | Shifting Sands: The winds shift at the wrong moment, and the spell is cast successfully upon the wizard themselves! Any additional decisions about the spell are made by the opponent of the wizard’s controller. |
| 7 | Explosion! All models, including the wizard, are blown backwards d6” from directly in front of the wizard. This may cause models to take falling damage. |
| 8-9 | Necrotic Blessing: The spell is successfully cast, but the necrotic energies of the desert inflict one S4 hit on the wizard with no armor saves allowed. |
| 10 | What were the words? The wizard hears ancient whispers as they mumble an incompressible phrase. The attempted spell fails, but instead roll a D6 on the Necromancy spell list and cast that spell automatically. |
| 11 | Genie’s Wish: A friendly genie looks kindly upon the wizard. The spell fails, but the wizard learns one new spell at random from their spell list until the end of the game. Roll a D6 after the battle, on a score of 2+ the spell is permanent. Otherwise, it is forgotten as the wisdom of the genie fades from the wizard’s memory. |
| 12 | Mummy’s Blessing: The wizards makes magical contact with a Tomb King of Old, learning the secrets of Undeath. As the power flows through them, the spell succeeds and they may also choose one Undead spell (see Tomb Guardians). |
Hull UK miscast table
This table is used by the Hull bi-annual event.
| 2D6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | The fibre of reality itself is torn apart as a pass to the Realm of Chaos opens. A gigantic taloned hand emerges from the gate, seizes the screaming wizard and drags him through the rift, disappearing with a chuckle in a flare of multi-coloured light. The Wizard is gone and immediately removes as a casualty, and taken off the roster! Modesl in base contact, friend or foe, suffer one strength 10 hit. |
| 3-6 | The Wizard's body is wracked by a discharge of pure magical energy, warping and burning everything in his close proximity. The Wizard and all models within 2" of him suffer a strength 6 hit, with no armour saves allowed. |
| 7 | The Wizard struggles to keep the magical energies in check. The caster suffers one Strength 2 hit (no armour saves allowed). |
| 8-9 | The caster's mind is ravaged by the attention of a hideous Daemon. The caster suffers one Strength 8 hit (no armour saves allowed) and will flee a random 2d6". He will continue to flee at the start of each recovery phae unless he passes a Ld test. |
| 10-11 | The caster mispronounces one of the secret words of power binding the power of the spell, triggering an anomaly. The spell he attempted to cast is not successful and the caster forgets how to cast the spell and will not be able to cast it again this battle. |
| 12 | A massive vortex of power drains away the sorcerous energy. The caster suffers one Strength 4 hit (no armour saves allowed). In additrion all spells currently in play on the battlefield are automatically dispelled and no magic can be cast for the rest of the game. Any demons in play must pass a Ld test at the start of their recovery phase or are removed as a casualty. |
Skills
- Weapons Training negates any penalty for dual wielding
- Alternatively, a new common skill, Ambidextrous, avoids this penalty, and can be taken by any hero during advances. Hired Swords & Dramatis Personae that come with two weapons automatically have this skill.
- Nurgle's Rot (Carnival of Chaos) is often banned/removed entirely
Campaign
- If a warband falls below it's starting value, it immediately receives GC to bring it back to 500 gc (or 600 for Marienburgers).
- Armor: Light, Heavy, Ithilmar and Gromril suits of armor confer an additional post game save for characters who were taken out of action. If the save is passed the character may choose to not roll on the serious injury chart.
- Instead of exploring, you can tell your heroes to bring back a body of a fallen friend (all wargear remains to your Warband unless robbed or captured). You roll a D6, on a 4+, it is successful and the fallen comrade is taken out and buried. For each additional hero sent for the one specific fallen, you get +1 to the roll. On a natural roll of 1 it fails.
Common House Rules Lists
Listed Here are a couple of common House Rule combinations.
Hull House Rules
These are the house rules used by the big UK event that happens twice a year.
The following house rules will be in effect alongside the main Mordheim rulebook + 2005 Errata.
Ranged Weapon Limitations: Only half of the models in your warband, including hired swords, can be armed with missile weapons, rounding up (e.g., 6 members in a 11-man warband may have missile weapons).
Bulwark: A warrior using a single-handed weapon with a shield gets an additional +1 bonus on their armour saving roll in close combat.
Spears: will always Strike First the first round of combat, even when charged.
Dual Wielding: Warriors using two weapons in handto-hand combat suffer a -1 modifier to hit with their offhand weapon. In addition to this, a new Common skill, “Ambidextrous”, has been created to avoid this penalty, and can be taken by any hero during advances. HS & DP that come with two weapons automatically have this skill.
Black Powder Sale! Black Powder weapon prices are reduced by a third, rounding up, and will be using the Advanced Blackpowder Rules (A result of a 1 on a to-hit roll incurs the misfire chart).
Silver Arrows of Arha will follow all normal shooting penalties, such as long range, cover, & moving, but they may also cause critical hits (see critical hits below).
Critical Hits: A roll of a 6 to wound no longer causes a critical hit. Instead, if you have wounded the target, roll another d6. On the result of a 6, a critical hit is caused – use the advanced critical tables from the main rulebook. Skaven with the Art of Silent Death skill will cause critical hits on a 5 or 6 as usual on this roll.
Lucky Rabbits Foot, Lucky Charm, & Holy/Unholy Relics are limited to 1 per warband.
Miscasts: Magic is very dangerous! The roll of a double one when casting a spell will result in a miscast – roll on the miscasts table. You may never re-roll a miscast with any skills or items, however you may use the Rabbits Foot to re-roll a single dice when rolling on the miscast table.