questions -Eagle Eyes+blackpowder wpns, healing herbs, armor, mutations (edit)

[kael]

Hi guys! Recently my gaming group decided to restart our Mordheim gaming, and as it was to be expected, right at the very beginning some rules questions occured. Maybe You guys can help us out?

1, The Eagle Eyes skill says that i have +6" to "all missile weapons" range. But there is actually some confusion about what is and what is not a missile weapon. The thing is, that in the trading section Price Chart all range weapons are in one common box titlet "Missile Weapons". But on the other hand, in the part of the Rulebook that describes various equipment, there are two separate chapters for range weapons: "Missile Weapons" (page 44 of the Rulebook), and "Blackpowder Weapons" (page 47 of the Rulebook). The question is than, do the blackpowder weapons count as "missile weapons" and have +6" bonus from the Eagle Eyes skill, or do they not?

2, The second question is about healing herbs. The description is not very cler about it. So:
        -> Can I use them only 1 time and they vanish?  
or     -> Can I use them 1 time per battle, but in multiple battles?
or     -> Can I use them as many times as I want but in one battle only?
or     -> Can I use them as many times as I want, through multiple battles?

The item description would suggest the fourth possibility, but than the herbs seem to us a bit too powerfull.
Oh, and one more thing. Can undead (like the vampire) use healing herbs? It seems against the fluff, but rules don't specify it. How do you play it?

3, Third question is about armor. I suspect the gromril armor is a heavy armor type and ithilmar armor is a light armor? It doesn't state so anwhere, i just assume it because on the Price Chart gromril is next to heavy and ithilmar is next to light armor, but this is only a clue. So I would like to make sure if my skaven can wear Ithilmar armor or not?

4, (edit) Here goes another one: If a Mutant form Possessed warband has a tentacle mutation, can he still use 2 weapons for an extra attack, or a weapon and a shield/buckler, or a two-handed weapon? Fluffwise he probably shouldn't, but on the other hand, the mutation description does not specify it, as it does in case of the great claw mutation. So how do You play it?

Cheers!
kael

[RationalLemming]

Hi Kael,

I hope your gaming group enjoys coming back to Mordheim.

1) The bonus given by Eagle Eyes does apply to blackpowder weapons.

2) The rules as written imply that they can be used as many times as you want through multiple battles because the rules do not say otherwise. Many people use a more restrictive interpretation of the rules though and play the first or second option that you suggested.

3) Gromril and Ithilmar are actuall both types of Heavy Armour. Some people do play that Ithilmar can also be a type of Light Armour (because in many ways that makes more sense from a fluff perspective).

4) I agree that from a straight fluffwise perspective it should not be possible to use the tentacle for anything but grappling. However, some people play that it is still OK to use a weapon or shield in the tentacle and then you can choose each close combat round whether to grapple and lose the benefit from the equipment for that round or to use the equipment that round and lose the ability to grapple. Some people even treat the tenacle as a separate growth even though it goes against the wording simply because they see the mutation as being too expensive to be worth losing the use of equipment.

I hope that helps!

[kael]

Hi! Thank you very much for your answers. However, I would appreciate if you could point me some specific statements in the rules that say that ithilmar and gromril armor are both heavy armors (or that allow us to think so...). Personally I couldn't find any information in the rules that would specify it, I've found only one clue -the Price Chart I've mentioned before. Is it an actual rule, or is it just how most of the groups play? (or maybe even tournaments are played this way? -I've never been to any official tournament...). The same goes with eagle eyes & blackpowder -I am grateful for your answer, but still I would like to know based on what you say that. Sorry to bother you like this, but my group is actually quite strict with the rules. 

I have also another question:
5, If a mutant has the third hand mutation, and he is armed with a sword, and a two-handed weapon, than we assume he strikes with the normal sword normally (by the initiative), and than with the two-hander at the end of the combat phase. Does it mean that a mutant armed this way can for example charge an opponent, stun him with his normal attack, and than automatically take him OOA with the two-handed attack at the end of the combat phase? We play it like this, but actually we are not sure if this is correct with the rules? (The same situation would go with scorpion tail and 2-handed wpn, and also with spines and any other weapon, right?).

Thanks again for your answers! Cheers:)

[RationalLemming]

Sometimes getting 'official' answers are hard even if they are the official rules. However, I think that I can help you.

1) The Q & A in the 2002 Annual (which is official) says this...

Q
The rulebook states that you can arm a warrior ‘with up to two close combat weapons, up to two different missile weapons and any armour chosen from the appropriate list.’ How do pistols count?
A
Pistols (which is under blackpowder weapons special kind of shooting weapon), in the price list they are listed under missile weapons. According to rules, pistol is a missile weapon, brace of pistols counts as two missile weapons (although some clubs play it that a brace counts as one missile weapon only). It doesn’t take ‘slots’ for your hand-to-hand weapons.

This FAQ answer specifically says that pistols are missile weapons.

3) I currently cannot find this specifically mentioned but the offcial ruling is that Gromril and Ithilmar are types materials for Heavy Armour.

5) On page 21 of the Living Rulebook (from the GW web site) in the "attacking stunned and knocked down warriors" section says...

Note that a model with multiple attacks may not stun/knock down and then automatically take a warrior out of action during the same hand-to-hand combat phase.

Therefore it is not possible to auto-OOA an enemy with a second attack. You can, however, roll to hit, roll to wound and roll for injury as normal for that second attack but you cannot bypass the roll to hit.

[kael]

Great, this is just the kind of answer I was hoping for! Thanks!