Glad we are getting started
Just wanted to discuss a few last minute details;
Duncoman wrote:
We will be using the Exploration Table and rules from the Empire in Flames supplement(i.e. Treasure instead of Wyrdstone, 'Lost' instead of 'Sold to the Pits' ).
I feel obliged to protest to the use of the Empire in Flames exploration table,
IMO it's pretty terrible. My first problem with it is the encounters that cause any warband member to go OOA on a d6 roll of 1 or 2 and have to roll for serious injuries. There are a few;
(1 1 1) Orc Encampment; Non greenskins (and potentially greenskins) MAY attack orcs but warband members go OOA on a 1 or 2.
(6 6 6) Empire Patrol; Evil or chaotic bands are attacked and warband members go OOA on a 1 or 2.
(1 1 1 1 1) Large Farm; Evil MAY attack (only go OOA on a 1 this time)
(2 2 2 2 2) Halfling Rangers; Evil or chaotic bands are attacked and warband members go OOA on a 1 or 2.
(Note; choosing not to attack means getting nothing at all... not to mention is very out of character in most cases)
This applies to any members of the warband that didn't go OOA in your actual battle. Now, my arguement is that on average a third of your remaining warband is going to go OOA without protest. It makes no difference whatsoever whether the member going OOA is a hound or a hard as nails, campaign leading, 50+ experience warband leader that everyone is aware of. To see that sort of character die from exploration is just plain criminal! I'm all for there being a chance for heroes to die, but let it be in actual games were players have more sway over how it might happen. The rewards from the above aren't great. They're definitely not worth the associated risks.
In the standard Mordheim exploration table there's two results that can potentially cause "damage" to your warband;
(1 1) Well - Choose one of your Heroes and roll a D6. If the
result is equal to or lower than his Toughness, he
finds one shard of wyrdstone at the bottom of the
well. If he fails, the Hero swallows tainted water
and must miss the next game through sickness.
(One chosen hero potentially misses a game... not a big deal and note it is the worst place to find (1 1))
(1 1 1 1 1 1) The Pit -If you wish, you can send one of your Heroes to
search for any wyrdstone hidden here. Roll a D6.
On a roll of 1 the Hero is devoured by the
guardians of the Pit and never seen again. On a roll
of 2 or more he returns with D6+1 shards of
wyrdstone.
(One hero of your choice MAY be sent, and has a 1/6 chance of getting eaten. Great if you want to risk Bob the one legged, one eyed accident prone youngblood. Plus the reward is pretty good, an average of 4.5 wyrdstone shards!)
My second grumble is to do with curses...
(4 4 4 4) Gingerbread House - The warband may take some of the
gingerbread to re-supply. If they do this they
are considered to be two sizes lower when
selling back Treasures (ie. a warband of 10-12
members is considered to be 4-6 members),
and any hirelings only charge the warband
half their normal upkeep. However, there is a
chance that the old hag who lives in the
house will see this and cast a powerful curse
at the warband.
Roll a D6 – on a 1-2, the hag
has cursed the warband. Until the curse is
removed, members of the warband must
re-roll all successful hits in close combat or
shooting.
(This is just crazy, way to ruin someones campaign... this is supposed to be fun right?)
(5 5 5 5 5) Faerie Ring
An Undead or Chaotic warband may
destroy the faerie ring and receive D6
Experience Points that may be divided among
their Heroes. However, such wanton
destruction carries a price – the faeries will
place a powerful curse on the warband. From
now on until the curse is lifted, whenever any
members of the warband are taken out of
action, roll twice for Serious Injuries for each
warrior and apply the lower result.
(d6 experience in exchange for instagib warband members!?)
(4 4 4 4 4 4) Chaos Icon
Choose a Hero to place the amulet around his
neck (yes, one of them has to!). That Hero is
affected by the rules for frenzy from now on
and this frenzy is not removed if the Hero is
knocked down or stunned. At the start of each
game roll a D6 for the Hero – on a roll of a 1,
the Hero has heard the call of the Dark Gods
working through the amulet and heads north
for the Chaos Wastes (remove him from the
warband roster). This amulet carries a
powerful curse, which must be lifted for the
Hero to remove it from his neck (see earlier
for removing curses).
(A hero that can die (effectively) on a roll of 1 every single game...)
Third point, (sorry for going on) there doesn't seem to be much balance in the results... There are certain rolls that can earn you nothing depending on which warband you play;
(5 5 5 5 5 5) Holy Man
If the warband is not Undead or Chaotic in
nature, the old man reveals himself as a priest
of Sigmar and offers to help the warband on
their next adventure. He can either remove
any curses afflicting the warband, or bestow
upon them a powerful blessing – after the
next battle, any injured warband members
roll twice for Serious Injuries and the player
may choose which result affects the warrior.
(So... nothing if you ARE undead or chaos (two of the current players)Plus it's a six of a kind roll)
(6 6 6 6 6 6) Familiar
If the warband includes a spell-caster, they
may take the familiar as an item of equipment.
The familiar acts as a power focus and
whispers secrets into the spell-caster’s ears as
he sleeps, increasing his power greatly. The
spell-caster gains an additional spell and a +1
to the roll when casting his spells (this is
cumulative to the Sorcery skill) while he
retains the familiar. A warband without a
spell-caster does not interest the familiar, and
it quickly hops away as soon as it determines
this.
(So... nothing if you don't have a spell-caster (ironically another two warbands in the campaign, dwarves and witch hunters (prayer caster)) This is the best result you can get too!)
In terms of balancing it's quite harsh on evil warbands, both in the differing results and this;
Note also that there may be
additional consequences for attacking
in any of the following encounters:
Empire Huntsmen, Empire Patrol, Halfling
Rangers, Holy Man, Large Farm,
Lost Children, Merchants, Mordheim
Refugees, Peddler, Pilgrims, Priests
of Sigmar, Small Farm. If a warband
attacks one of those encounters,
roll a D6: on a roll of 1-3 the
warband has been careless and left
witnesses! If the warband rolls that
Exploration roll again, treat the
encounter as 1 1 Abandoned
Farmhouse (word has got out about
the warband and they are avoided
like the plague!).
(Basically ruins half the table for evil warbands and is a pain in the backside to remember)
Four, there are no artifacts. Which is a bit boring really.
Sorry for going on, but I must say I much prefer the original table. There are a number of mechanics in place to help people get better exploration results (rerolls, +/- 1 modifiers etc) so it makes sense to try and get as high as you can, not to have to avoid results that can cripple your warband. Exploration results should be a good thing.
Duncoman wrote:
The exploration dice rolled at the end of the game will be equal to the amount of Heroes you started the game with (minus any who die post-game). Additional dice for skills/winning the game etc. are calculated as normal, but you can still only roll a maximum of 6 dice.
You can roll as many dice as you have, but can only count 6 of them.
Exploration Procedure
1. Roll 1D6 for each of your Heroes who survived
the battle and one extra dice if you won, plus any
extra dice allowed by skills or equipment. Note,
however, that you must pick a maximum of six
dice out of all the dice you roll, even if you are
allowed to roll seven dice or more.
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