Starting a Warband

Before you begin to play you must recruit a warband to take part in the battle for Mordheim. The warbands are represented by a whole range of Citadel models available as boxed sets and blister packs. The boxed sets are designed to form an ideal starting point for your collection and further models can be added as your warband grows and thrives.

In this section of the book we take a detailed look at each of the warbands and provide the information you need to recruit a warband of that type.

about warbands

Use the lists that follow to recruit and equip your warband (an example warband has been included at the back of the book.) You have 500 gold crowns to spend. Each model and their equipment (if you choose to buy any) costs a set amount of money. As you make your choices, subtract the money you have “spent” from your total until you have bought all you can. Any unspent gold crowns are put into the warband’s treasury and can be used later or hoarded to buy something more expensive.

To start with you must recruit at least three warriors including a leader. The weapons, armour and mutations you choose for your warriors must be represented on the models themselves. The exceptions are knives and daggers, which you may assume are tucked in boots or concealed in clothing if not represented on the model.

skill tables and starting experience

The warband lists also include information about the starting experience of the warriors and which skills they can choose as they progress in the game. Some warbands also include separate skill lists unique to the warband.

The rules about experience and skills will be fully explained in the Campaign section, so don’t worry about them for now.

heroes and henchmen

For game purposes the warriors in your warband are classified as Heroes and Henchmen.

heroes

These are exceptional individuals who have the potential to become legends. Heroes can be armed and equipped individually and may carry any special equipment they might pick up during the campaign.

leader

Every warband must have a leader. He represents you, the player. He makes the decisions and leads your warriors through the dark streets of Mordheim.

other heroes

Apart from its leader, your warband may include up to five other Heroes, who form the core of your warband. A warband may never include more Heroes of any specific type than the number given in the Warband list. This means that some warbands can only get the maximum of six Heroes by gaining experience with their Henchmen (see the Experience section).

henchmen

Henchmen typically fall into two groups. There are Henchmen such as the Brethren of the Possessed, Skaven Verminkin and Mercenary Swordsmen. These Henchmen gain experience and become better as time goes by. They are bought in groups of one to five models.

The other type of Henchmen are those such as Warhounds and Zombies. These are too dim or too primitive to gain experience.

Henchmen may never use any special equipment you acquire during their adventures (unless otherwise noted); only Heroes may do so. Henchmen can include potentially powerful warriors, but Heroes always have an edge over them with their potential to gain extra experience.

All Henchmen belong to a Henchmen group, which usually consists of between one and five individuals. Henchmen groups gain experience collectively and gain advances together.

weapons and armour

Each warrior you recruit can be armed with up to two close combat weapons (in addition to his free dagger), up to two different missile weapons and any armour chosen from the appropriate list. For these purposes, a brace of pistols counts as a single missile weapon. Warriors may be restricted in regard to which types of weapons they can use. The warband’s equipment lists tell you exactly what equipment is available. Note that you may buy rare weapons and armour when starting a warband, as indicated by the list in the warband’s entry, but after playing the first game the only way to get further rare weapons and armour is to roll to see if you can locate them (see the Trading section).

You may buy additional equipment between battles, but your warriors can only use the weapons and armour listed in their warband entry. As they accumulate experience and gain skills, Heroes may learn to use weapons other than those initially available to them.

Every model in each Henchman group must be armed and armoured in the same way. This means that if your Henchman group has four warriors, and you want to buy them swords, you must buy four swords.

warband roster

You’ll need a warband roster sheet to record the details of your warband. Blank roster sheets can be found printed at the back of this book, one for Heroes and one for Henchman groups. We suggest that you photocopy or copy as many sheets as you need, so that you can keep a neat and accurate record of your warband as it changes from game to game.

When you choose a warband, take a warband roster sheet and write down the details of each Hero and Henchman group in the appropriate places. You’ll notice that Heroes and Henchmen have slightly different spaces provided to reflect the different ways in which they gain experience and use weapons, armour and equipment.

It is a good idea to work out the warband on a piece of scrap paper first, as you will have to juggle the weapons and fighters to get as close to the maximum permitted value of the warband as possible. If you have any cash left after choosing your warband write this down in the space marked as ‘Treasury’. At the end of the book you’ll find an example warband; you can use this if you want or choose your own – it’s up to you.

The warband roster is a record of your brave group of warriors and is useful to keep beside you as you play. During a battle you may wish to make notes on the sheet itself, to record details such as extra experience, equipment used, etc.

You will need to give your warband a name, and also name all your Heroes and each Henchman group. It’s up to you to invent suitable names, though you’ll find plenty of inspiration throughout this book.

calculate the warband rating

Each warband has a warband rating – the higher the rating, the better the warband. The warband rating is simply the number of warriors multiplied by 5, plus their accumulated experience.

Large creatures such as Rat Ogres are worth 20 points plus the number of Experience points they have accumulated.

ready for battle

The warband is now ready to start its fighting career!