This may be an old idea, but I'd like to see what people think. I also posted this on the Tom's Boring Mordheim site, so for some of you, this is not new.
MORDHEIM LEGENDS
The premise: Rather than controlling an entire warband, what if you controlled a single, strong hero of epic strength, cunning, and brilliance, aided by one or two loyal companions?
How it'd work: I suspect that 'every man for himself' games would work terribly, but multiplayer games with three players vs. three players would work great. Likewise, creep-kill scenarios (ex. Night of the Living Dead, 'Ones that got away' scenarios) would work wonderfully. If a GM wanted to really get into the rich roleplaying of it, it would be possibly to combine the players into a single party of allies facing a unified threat, much like a DnD campaign. Also, it could probably make for a fast 'lunch-heim' challenge.
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MORD LEGENDS BASIC:
Given that the Mordheim Legends variant lends itself very well to tutorial games and quick pick-up games (perhaps during a small lunch break, I give you:
QUICK-START RULES - When you have exactly 90 seconds to make a warband!
Rules: Each player picks a warband. They have 350gc to purchase a Hero (the new leader), and 1-2 henchmen. They may replace a henchmen with a wardog or mount if the player wishes. The rest of the money may be spent on equipment in the trading list. The hero may be equipped with any item he is qualified to use.
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ADVANCED START RULES
BUILDING A TEAM
Each player starts with a total of 350 gc to buy their starting team, split as follows: 150 for the Legendary Hero, 100 for Companions, 100 for Equipment.
BUYING A LEGENDARY HERO
You have a 150 starting gc amount to buy a single Hero. Whatever is not spent on the hiring fee may be used to buy Upgrades for the Hero (see the 'Fighting Individual battles' section in the rulebook). Each are considered to have the 'Leader' skill, which applies only to your companions. Your legendary hero may be chosen from any warband accepted by your gaming group, and may be a Hero, a Henchmen, or a Hired Sword. See the rules below for hiring each:
Heroes: Follow the same rules as normal. Learn skills as normal, start with the same starting experience. They roll for injuries on the modified 'Serious Injury chart' below.
Henchmen hired as Legends: Immediately pick 3 skill lists to choose from, that they would be able to take from their normal warband skill lists. For every 5gc in their hiring cost, the Legend starts with 1 point of starting exp. (Ex. A 25gc warrior starts with 5 exp.) They roll for injuries on the modified 'Serious Injury chart' below. You may not promote animal or non-experience-learning henchmen to be your legendary leader.
Hired Swords as Legends: Hired Swords may be hired, and cost is equal to Hiring Fee + 3 Upkeep costs. Hired Swords start with no equipment, and have starting Exp equal to their Upkeep fee. Hired swords gain experience exactly like heroes, and roll for injuries on the modified 'Serious Injury chart' below. When they purchase equipment. pick the most appropriate Equipment Warband list available (ex. Dwarf Trollslayers use Dwarf Treasure Hunter weapons, Elf Scout may use Shadow Elf equipment, etc.) See Equipment section below for more rules on buying starting equipment.
LEGENDARY INJURIES
When a Legendary hero (who is the head of your group) is taken out of action, roll 1D6: on 3+, they suffer no injuries. If you roll a 1-2, roll on the Serious Injury chart in the book, with the few following substitutions:
11- Death -same rules as always.
12-15 - Multiple Fractures - The hero starts the next game with all stats reduced by -1. This will not lower a stat below 1.
12-16 - Compound Fractures - The hero starts the next game with 1D3 random stats reduced by -1. If this would lower a stat below 1, randomly pick a different stat.
23 - Arm Wound - Roll again - 1- severe arm wound, arm is amputated. 2-6 - the warrior may only use one arm next game, after which he is fine.
25 - Smashed Leg - Roll again - 1 - the warrior may not run anymore, but may still charge. 2-6 For the next game only, the warrior may not run anymore, but may still charge.
32 - Old Battle Wound - at the Start of each battle, roll 1D6: on a roll of 1, the hero starts with fewer wound than normal. If the warrior has only 1 starting wound, his toughness is reduced by -1 for this battle.
35 - Deep Wound - The warrior has a random stat reduced by one for the next game. If this would lower the stat below 1, roll for a different stat to be reduced.
BUYING COMPANIONS
At start-up, you have 100 gc, with which you may choose to buy up to 2 additional models. These may be chosen from the Heroes & Henchmen from the same warband as the Legendary Hero, or in the case of a Hired Sword Legend, may be chosen from any warband that is able to hire the Hired Sword. There are two additional options for companions:
~You may choose any 'Equipment' model with a stat-line (like mounts, wardogs, slaves).
~All Legendary Heroes except for skaven, orcs, beastmen and lizardmen, may choose Human Warriors from the Mercenary list for Companions. There certainly an abundance of those human-things!
All of these models start with 0 experience, even the models that used to be Heroes.
COMPANION EXPERIENCE
Non-animal Companions: Gain exp exactly like a Hired Sword, meaning they use the Henchmen experience bar, and roll for experience upgrades on the Heroes chart. This will mean that Henchmen may learn skills. When the henchmen are hired, choose two skill lists that they would be able to learn from, they they would legally be able to choose from if they had been promoted in their warband. This only applies to Henchmen that could normally learn experience.
Animal Companions: With careful training and care, an animal may grow stronger and tougher. Any animal companion gains experience just like a Henchmen, and rolls for experience upgrades on the Henchmen upgrade table, rerolling any result of 'That Lad's Got Talent'. This table also applies for any companions that may not normally learn experience. In the case of Zombies, it is not the Zombie that grows stronger, but the necromancer's skill of manipulating the corpse that grows more adept.
COMPANION INJURIES
When a companion is taken out of action, roll for it on the Serious Injury table (note: this is the original Injury chart, not the altered one above.) For the purposes of animals, treat 'Blinded in One Eye' as -1 WS.
STARTING EQUIPMENT
Each warband starts with 100 gc to purchase equipment for their legendary hero and any companions. This equipment may be bought from the warband's starting equipment list, or from the Trading List. The Main Hero may purchase weapons that he is not able to use, but cannot use them till he has bought or learned the 'Weapons Training' or 'Weapons Expert'.
Companions may only start with items from their warband's Starting equipment list that they may legally use, although all Companions may use Misc items they later acquire. Animals are not allowed to use any equipment, barding for mounts being the exception.
SET-UP - WRAPPING UP
Any gold crowns left over may not be transferred from one area to another (ex. from Companions to Equipment), but are instead saved as GC, which are added to your Hero's treasury. These may be spent after future games as normal. After game start up, you may not purchase more than two companions or henchmen at a time. Mounts count as 'companions' for the sake of maximum companion limit. The minimum warband size is changed to 1.
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ROUTING & 'WITHDRAWING'
For the purpose of this variant, there are no involuntary rout checks, meaning a player may stay in the game as long as he desires, or until all of his models have been taken out of action. At the start of any turn, a player may choose to Voluntarily rout, and are removed from the game. If they do so, they do not gain any experience for surviving the battle, and leave any treasure, shards, or whatever behind them when they flee. This represents the models immediately hiding themselves in a dishonorable manner, stowing away into a hollow tree, or diving into the mud of a ditch.
Another way for warband to retreat is the slightly more honorable approach, known as 'Withdrawing'. By withdrawing, a player may have his remaining models physically leave the board, by traveling off of a table edge. Once a model has left the board, it may not return. A warband may only withdraw under the following conditions:
Scenario Specific: In certain scenarios, like 'Breakthrough', the object of the game is for the model to leave via a specific table edge. This may be carried out without any other conditions (and, in certain scenarios, may also win you the scenario to boot!)
Treasure: If your model has picked up or started the game with a treasure or scenario objective (wyrdstone shard, treasure chest, a lost prince), the model may exit the board (again, possibly winning you the scenario, depending on the victory conditions.) Any treasure item removed this way is kept by the player.
Broken Warband: If your Warband has a companion taken out of action, the player may withdraw from the board. This may only be done if the Legendary Hero was within 12" of the Companion that was lost, (for any leaders has keeps to the back lets his minions die afar is no honorable leader at all!) If your Legendary hero is taken out of action, your Companions may ALWAYS Withdraw, regardless of if they were within 12" of the hero when he was taken out of action or not.
Note: With Withdrawing as a viable strategy, it is recommended to use the optional 'escaping from combat' rule found in the optional rule section of the Mordheim Rulebook.
ROLLING OFF
In the event that a game is ended before all player have left the board, and the group is playing a Rout-Based Scenario, the game will result in a roll off. Use the following rules to eliminate players, one by one:
1. Removes any Warbands that have had their Legendary Heroes taken out of action will immediately withdraw. The companions are loyal, but their bravery without their leader is limited.
2. Remove any warband that did not do at least one of the following: leave their deployment zone by 6" or more; get into hand to hand combat; fire a shot or spell; declare a charge; have a warrior taken out of action. Campers who do nothing but hide in the corner do not have the guts to stick it out to the end.
3. If any players remain, roll off Leadership checks, deducting -1 Leadership for every companion taken out of action. Each player rolls simultaneously with the other remaining players. If all players simultaneously pass or simultaneously fail, all players reroll; however, if any player(s) fails while at least one other player passes, the players that failed are removed from the Roll Off. All players continue the roll off until one one player remains (or, if two players were allied during the game, until only the allied players remain.)
EXPLORATION RULES
Whether rolling for 'solo' or 'party' exploration, the following rules apply:
REROLLING AND MODIFIERS
Any Hero that has an item, rule, or skill that modifies or rerolls an exploration dice may use this modifier ONLY if the Hero lasted the entire game without going out of action. This means he either lasted on the board until the end of the game, or until he 'withdrew' (see above.) Heroes that routed may not use modifiers, as they used all their luck and cunning to escape alive!
Henchmen modifiers: If a henchmen has any skill or modifier that affects that modify any Post-Game rolls ('Wyrdstone Hunter', rabbit's foot, 'Streetwise', etc), he may use it; but only if the hero or another companion in the same party hasn't used it already. Any effects to do not stack, and the same item or roll (such as a rabbits foot) may only provide one reroll TOTAL, not one reroll per dice nor one reroll per item. Just like the paragraph above, a companion that has been taken out of action cannot use any postgame modifiers.
Ex. One of the three members of your warband has an unused Rabbit's Foot by the end of the game; you may use it to reroll one of the two exploration dice you receive in the post game. However, even if all three rabbit's feet are unused, you may receive only one reroll of ANY dice; not one reroll per dice, nor three rerolls.
EX2. A Elf Ranger Legend hero has the skill Streewise. He has in tow two Marienburg Warriors. both of which have the Marienburg bonus of +1 to rare items bonus, and one of whom also has the skill Streetwise. If the Legend survives the game without going out of action, he receives +2 to looking for rare items. If either of his Marienburgers survived, he receives an additional +1, for a total of +3. However, the Marienburger's Streetwise does not stack with the Rangers, so it does not have any affect this post game sequence. Likewise, both Marienburgers surviving without being taken out of action only provide +1 for the search total, not +1 per man. If the Ranger had been taken out of action, the Marienburger with 'Streetwise' would have been able to use his +2 bonus from the skill, and +1 for being a Marienburger, for a total of +3 to his search.
SOLO-PLAYER EXPLORATION DICE
Using the rules and restrictions above (under REROLLING AND MODIFIERS), the following number of dice are rolled for players in a game that is either 'every-man-for-himself' or for games with loosely joined players forming an alliance, but disbanding after the battle. For players that are joined into 'parties', see 'PARTY EXPLORATION DICE' below.
After playing a Mord Legends game, consult the following chart for how many exploration dice each player receives:
1 - You receive one exploration dice automatically, even if your warrior was taken out of action or routed.
+1 Exploration Dice if your hero lasted the entire game without being taken out of action. This does not benefit heroes who routed, but does apply to heroes that Withdrew.
+1 Exploration Dice if your warband, or your alliance, won the scenario.
PARTY EXPLORATION DICE
Depending on how many members are a part of your party, consult the following two sections. It should be noted that each player rolls for his dice, and may only reroll or modify the dice that his character generates. You may not use a skill, rule, or item to modify another player's roll, even if he belongs to your party. Any special events found on the Exploration Chart are experienced by all of the members of the group together, and any decisions or treasure must be dealt out by consensus among the players.
3 or Fewer Party Members: Your party receives 1 exploration dice for each Hero, an additional dice for each Hero not taken out of action, and if you won the scenario, the entire group receives an additional dice on top of that. It is impossible for the group to generate more than 6 dice in this manner.
Four or More Party Members: Your party receives 1 dice for each Hero not taken out of action, and if you won the scenario, the entire group receives an additional dice on top of that. If your GM believes that your group did particularly well (or is just taking pity on you), he may grant your group +2 dice for winning the scenario instead of the normal +1. It is impossible for the group to generate more than 6 dice in this manner, unless the number of players in the party is greater than 6.
Note: It is perfectly allowed, nay, encouraged for a GM to hijack the Exploration Chart in order to form a cohesive plot, or to lead it towards the next game. Maybe the Straggler or the Prisoner has a mission for the group, or a dismantled shop may bear clues as to the monster the group is hunting. If the requires substituting the actual Exploration Chaart result with a result of similar worth, so be it (if you do, it'd be a good idea to scramble the results a little, so the players don't know which result they'll get next!)
TRADING
In each post game, a hero may search for one Rare Item if he was not taken out of action this turn. Whether or not the hero was taken out of action, the player may sell items, and may buy common items, with no restrictions at all.
Barter: Once per post game, if you sell a rare item, you may make an additional Rare Item search at the trading post (if your Hero was not taken out of action this game). Costs and rarity values remain the same as they normally would for your Hero.
ADDITIONAL RULES AND NOTES:
~Any item or skill that relocates multiple people far outside the deployment zone may instead only relocate 1 friendly Hero or companion. (Ex. 'Hunch', catacomb map.) Obviously, a rider cannot be moved without his mount, and a mount may not relocated without its rider, so a mounted model may not be relocated as such. Relocating both the rider and the mount is just wrong!
~In an Alliance or Party, models in your warband may not use the Leadership of other friendly warband leaders. The exception is in a Party that, before the game begins, votes upon a single Leader. The companions in the respective warbands still use their own Hero for leadership, but any model within Leadership range (default 6") may defer to the chosen Leader's leadership value.
