Welcome, Guest. Please 
May 17, 2024, 12:06:44 PM
Recent Posts1
Fantasy Adventures / Re: Mordheim house rules that work well? (Our house rules added)
« Last post by Hobgoblin on Today at 11:55:16 AM »Well, I got a five-game mini-campaign in last weekend. That helped crystallised some thoughts on house rules; we're going to keep the campaign going with new players coming in (the established players will have secondary and even tertiary starting warbands to give the new players the chance to catch up).
The thing that's become really clear is that boosting armour can't ruin the game: there are just too many opportunities to reduce or bypass armour saves (high-strength attacks, critical hits and so on). And my fighting retreats and forced retreats add dynamism and tactical interest without costing anything.
So, I'm proposing these rules for the rest of our campaign:
With more than a dozen games under our belts now, I'm fairly confident that these house rules will work well. I think the armour adjustments should have several positive effects: they balance dual wielding, make two-handed weapons more attractive (especially if you're wearing heavy armour!). And they make the myriad light-armour+shield Citadel miniatures I own much more viable (hooray!).
At the same time, these rules should preserve the swashbuckling feel of the game. Yes, you can advance your armoured orcs down a street with a reasonable hope of standing up to bow fire or even crossbow fire. But if you're going to have to climb up buildings after the archers, you're less well placed. And you're still vulnerable to failed saves and criticals.
I think the criticals are going to be more interesting now, because the 3,4 and 5,6 results will matter more: very often, it doesn't much matter if you roll 1 or 4 because your strength/weapon has removed the save anyway. With more and better armour, there will be more resting on the critical roll.
The 'fighting retreat' rule will, in rare cases, allow fast-moving creatures (e.g. dire wolves) to move out of combat without penalty. But in those rare cases, the unsuccessful follow-up will still allow the opponent to be in pole position for a charge in the next turn (to the dire wolf's disadvantage) - although it might allow a vampire or drag with a bow to get a shot in first ...
The thing that's become really clear is that boosting armour can't ruin the game: there are just too many opportunities to reduce or bypass armour saves (high-strength attacks, critical hits and so on). And my fighting retreats and forced retreats add dynamism and tactical interest without costing anything.
So, I'm proposing these rules for the rest of our campaign:
- Armour saves are boosted by one increment except for toughened leathers. So toughened leathers 6, shield 5 or 6, light armour 5 or 6, light armour + shield 3, 4, 5 or 6, heavy armour 4, 5 or 6, heavy armour and shield 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6
- Toughened leathers can be combined with a shield but not other armour (it's assumed that light or heavy armour have a jack or gamebeson involved.
- Full plate - with a 2+ save - can be bought for 150 crowns. Gromril full plate would have a 1+ save.
- Saves don't stack past 1+ (so a knight in Gromril plate on a barded warhorse still has a 1+ save).
- Shields and heavy armour impose a -1 penalty to initiative for climbing; full plate has a -2 penalty (not easy climbing in gauntlets and sabatons!). This is cumulative, so a man in heavy armour with a shield has an initiative of 1 when it comes to climbing.
- Heroes and henchmen can drop shields as a free action; getting out of armour takes an entire movement phase.
- Anyone can pick up a dropped shield as a free action during the movement phase (as long as they pass over it).
- A character in combat can make a 'fighting retreat' of up to a full move during the movement phase; opponents can follow up up to their charge distance or opt to end the combat by staying put.
- If one melee combatant scores a hit on an opponent who remains standing and the opponent does not score a hit, the successful attacker can force a retreat of up to half a move (following up in the process - no follow-up, no retreat).
- When it comes to equipment, WYSIWYG trumps the official lists. So if you want to use one of that old Citadel goblin with a crossbow, you just pay for the crossbow. And if you want to field one of Ruglud's armoured orcs, you can just pay for heavy armour.
- Spears trump charges when it comes to initiative in the first round. So a spearman always strikes first in the first round of combat - unless the opponent also has a spear, in which case initiative is used.
With more than a dozen games under our belts now, I'm fairly confident that these house rules will work well. I think the armour adjustments should have several positive effects: they balance dual wielding, make two-handed weapons more attractive (especially if you're wearing heavy armour!). And they make the myriad light-armour+shield Citadel miniatures I own much more viable (hooray!).
At the same time, these rules should preserve the swashbuckling feel of the game. Yes, you can advance your armoured orcs down a street with a reasonable hope of standing up to bow fire or even crossbow fire. But if you're going to have to climb up buildings after the archers, you're less well placed. And you're still vulnerable to failed saves and criticals.
I think the criticals are going to be more interesting now, because the 3,4 and 5,6 results will matter more: very often, it doesn't much matter if you roll 1 or 4 because your strength/weapon has removed the save anyway. With more and better armour, there will be more resting on the critical roll.
The 'fighting retreat' rule will, in rare cases, allow fast-moving creatures (e.g. dire wolves) to move out of combat without penalty. But in those rare cases, the unsuccessful follow-up will still allow the opponent to be in pole position for a charge in the next turn (to the dire wolf's disadvantage) - although it might allow a vampire or drag with a bow to get a shot in first ...
