My Mordheim or Maybe AoS Project

Off-Topic Discussion
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A friend and I have launched a new project this year, primarily to get him to do more than just sitting on the couch and watching the telly now he’s retired on disability. Given his overall level of finances and the fact his modelling skills have atrophied over the years (along with his eyesight) we settled upon doing Mordheim (low model count), as we both have the basic rules set, and I’m taking up the banner of Hashut’s favoured. Taking a page from another poster here, Ozymandias (his work is just awesome), I’m using the Reaper dark dwarves as the basis for my own warband, however I’m using the minitaurs instead of the human mercs he used as Informants and the Black Dwarves warband rules from the Broheim website.

What I’m finding missing is there aren’t any rules for the Fireglaives, Naphtha Bombs, or Hashut’s Fire, and I would appreciate any guidance any of you might have coming up with Mordheim compatible rules for those items. I’m also of a mind to find/build Bull Centaurs which aren’t the classic big hat versions (I have those), which will look more in theme with the Reaper Dark Dwarves, so any help I can get there sourcing models or bits will also be appreciated. In my plans, I want to construct that Engine of Chaos, and I’m planning to create a hireling wizard whom looks suspiciously like a D&D Mind Flayer.

I’m also looking for guidance in creating my initial force, as I am two decades out of practice creating Mordheim warbands, and having to refresh myself on the rules (any more, I’m playing AoS, and like it better). I know I’m starting with a Sorcerer, and at least a couple of the hero-types (Gaolers), and I’d like to field a starting force of about nine, in order to keep the Rout number to a relative safe number of three (two is just too fragile). So any help the community can offer to this ol’ High Hat would be appreciated.

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I can’t promise any advice as I’ve never ran a chaos dwarf warband (despite making one haha). So following this thread to observe and steal
Any advice I see!

Sounds like a good project and for a decent reason. Mordheim is a beautiful little system great for telling stories. I wholly recommend using the random
Encounter and subplot tables . Lead to some funny situations on my last campaign.

Best of luck with this. Gonna be following closely. Hope this is really good for your mate - sounds like it could be just what he needs too :slight_smile:

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Sad to hear about your friend, nice to hear you are trying to find ways to work with the situation.

My first thought when reading about his eye sight was: could it be a good idea to scale up and use bigger models, Inquisitor style? Might make the painting easier as well as following the game on the bord?

I haven’t played Mordheim yet so sadly I can’t give any rules tips :frowning:

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I have never played Mordheim, although it is still on my agenda, so I can’t help you with the rules. However, I do know one or two BC models. Like from Gaspez-Arts, Knightmare Games, Macrocosm and MOM-Miniatures. Also MIndflyer models from Krakon Games and Excellent Miniatures. :skull2:

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I haven’t had much chance to do more than a little groundwork here. The project now has a title ‘Drothgar’s Chosen’, so huzzah there; my Sorcerer has a name, at least, and I’ve purchased enough Dwarfs to cover the project. We’ve decided to up the size of the warbands by 50%, allowing me a total force of 23 models, including three Gaolers, up to two Bull Centaurs, and I’m leaning toward the Gaspez-Arts figures, as they look really close to what I’m looking for (and beats me trying to do a conversion), and up to eight Chaos Dwarfs.

I’ve also done a first pass on figuring up the new gear I wanted to add. Basically I’ve just copied the rules from the old hardbound Forge World book they first appear in, and figured up a gold coin cost.

Additional Equipment:

Fireglaives: (45 gc; Chaos Dwarfs only, 9+) A weapon both cunning and brutal, the fireglaive is a compact, heavily constructed repeating handgun. Unusually the weapon also incorporates a single-edged chopping blade allowing it to be wielded in close combat by a skilled fighter, much like a halberd. Fireglaives are complex to make, their mechanisms far beyond the inferior arts of mankind to imitate and are difficult weapons to master. As a result, their use is largely limited to the elite and the Daemonsmiths that fashion them.

Fireglaive Range Strength Special Rules
Ranged 18” 4 Move or Fire, Prepare Shot, Save Modifier
Melee +1 Two-Handed

Special Rules:

Move or Fire: You may not move and fire a fireglaive in the same round, other than to pivot in place or to stand up.

Prepare Shot: A fireglaive requires a whole turn to reload, so can only be fired every other round.

Save Modifier: The fireglaive is even better at penetrating armour than its Strength 4 would otherwise indicate. A model wounded by this weapon must take its armour save at -2.

Two-Handed: A model armed with a Fireglaive may not use a shield, buckler or additional weapon in close combat. If the model is equipped with a shield, he still gets a +1 to his save.

Naphtha Bombs: (20 gc.; Chaos Dwarfs only, 9+, One-Shot) Containing sorcerous concoctions of sulphurous chemicals and the filtered essence of fire- daemons sundered as a by-product of the Chaos Dwarfs’ dark arts, naphtha bombs are unstable explosive flasks which break apart into masses of seething flame.

Special Rules: These bombs are thrown weapons per Warhammer rules, with a maximum range of 6”. If an enemy model is struck, it suffers d3 Strength 3 hits, with armour protecting at a -1 penalty. Should a ‘1’ be rolled, the thrower suffers an automatic wound. This is a one-shot weapon, and must be purchased over if used in a game.

Blood of Hashut: (30 gc.; Chaos Dwarfs only, Sorcerer only, 10+, One-Shot) The so-called ‘Blood of Hashut’ is a powerful alchemical substance saturated with daemonic magic that ignites metal on contact, bursting it into molten flame. although precious beyond mere gold, the favoured of the Dark God sometimes carry a vial of this liquid into combat to the devastation of the most heavily armoured foe

Special Rules: Each vial of Hashut’s Blood is a one-shot item, and is used in lieu of the model’s melee attack, and used against a single model in base contact (in the case of a mounted model, the attack must be declared against either the mount or the rider). The item activates on a roll of 2+, with a one indicating the item is wasted and cannot be used.

If the attack succeeds, the target is receiving a d6 of automatic hits, with the Wound roll equal to the unmodified armour save of the target. A one is an automatic failure, and a model with a 1+ armour save is always wounded on a 2+ roll. No armour saves are allowed when resolving this attack.

This is a one-shot item, and must be purchased over again after use in a game.

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If you want the warbands to be larger maybe start with more gold? It’s rare that you can even afford the
Max number of warriors in mordheim and in my experience that restriction doesn’t always affect players because they don’t have a chance to reach it haha

Equipment looks very cool btw!

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Starting with more gold is a nice thought, it would give me the ability to better equip the guys I have, and add more dwarfs, which is never a bad thought. In this case though, my friend will be doing well to get a standard sized starting force to the table in anything like a reasonable time.

He is something of a hobby butterfly, and his interest span doesn’t always favour a long-term project. While I’ve nailed down an army and purchased troops and started figuring up my initial warband, he’s still trying to find something which appeals to him. Heck, he’s considered factoring up a force based on the Egyptian figures from Crocodile Games (very cool stuff, check them out, you won’t be disappointed), and even doing SPQR from Warlord Games.

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I’ve actually cobbled together my first pass at an initial warband roster. It looks like this:

Drothgar’s Chosen

Heroes:

Drothgar (Sorcerer): (128) Base Character (85), Free Dagger, Brace of Pistols (30), Hammer (3), Helmet (10).

(Gaoler): (65) Base Character (50), Free Dagger, Two-Handed Hammer (15)

(Gaoler): (95) Base Character (50), Free Dagger, Fireglaive (45)

Henchmen:

Chaos Dwarf: (48) Base Dwarf (40), Free Dagger, Hammer (3), Shield (5)

Chaos Dwarf: (50) Base Dwarf (40), Free Dagger, Axe (5), Shield (5)

Mini-Taurs (x4) (100) Base Mini-Taur (15), Free Dagger, Spear (10)

Warband Rating: 81

Total Number of Models: 9 (Rout Test: 3)

Total Warband Cost: 486

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Interesting- you’ve forgone the prison thing, the demon engine. Isnt it needed to keep prisoners which you use to gain experience?

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Yeah, it is, and you need it to haul your new slaves back to the Dark Lands, and it requires sending a Hero along to operate it. I’ve decided I want to either kitbash or scratch-build my own Daemon Engine, only I haven’t finalized a design in my mind, much less sourced parts for whatever contraption I dream up. The thing costs somewhere in the vicinity of 40% of my starting points to even field it, leaving me without enough points to field a decent warband to contest for those slaves.

195 points is a lot for one model that only comes into play in certain circumstances, and I’m not sure how closely we’ll hew to the scenarios in the book. I’m fairly sure my friend isn’t all that enthused with the idea of just hunting for Warpstone in a bombed out city, and in which case, I don’t know what he wants to do in terms of a campaign setting, and he didn’t care for the alternate Khemri or Lustria settings from the old Town Cryers. As wobbly as he is on the subject of hobby commitments, I’ll be happy to get a game in with what I have initially planned. I may yet build my daemon engine, if only because I want to get my end of the project done.

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Well, my friend has definitely gone all wobbly. I’m looking at taking my force, and adapting it to my solo AoS Skirmish campaign format, as he dithers about. I had to create my Mini-Taurs as a unit, and so with a bit of work cue up one warscroll for the Mini-Taurs.

Mini-Taurs

Bred in the slave pits of the Darklands, Mini-Taur share the characteristics of their larger cousins, though they do not share in their more savage habits are more controllable as a result.

Move: 6” Missile Weapons Range Attacks To Hit Wound Rend Damage
Wounds: 1 Bow 18” 1 4+ 4+ - 1
Save 6+ Sling 16” 1 4+ 5+ - 1
Bravery: 4 Melee Weapons
Hand Weapons 1” 1 5+ 5+ - 1
Spears 2” 1 4+ 5+ - 1

Description: A unit of Mini-Taur has any number of models, each armed with either a Hand Weapon and Shield or a Bow or a Sling.

Halfhorn: The leader of this unit is a Halfhorn. Add 1 to hit rolls for attacks made with a Halfhorn’s weapons.

Brayhorn : 1 in every 10 models in this unit can have a Brayhorn. A unit that includes any Brayhorns can run and still shoot later in the same turn.

Banner Bearer: 1 in every 10 models in this unit can be a Banner Bearer. A unit that includes any Banner Bearers can move an extra 1" when it runs or piles in.

Abilities:

Skirmishers: Mini-Taurs tend to range ahead of the Chaos Dwarf armies, killing the enemy’s sentries and positioning themselves for sudden ambushes.

After armies are set up, but before the first battle round begins, this unit can move up to 6".

Shower of Arrows: When assembled in large numbers, Mini-Taur are capable of unleashing devastating volleys of arrows from their short bows.

You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by this unit with missile weapons while it has 20 or more models, or re-roll hit rolls of 1 and 2 for attacks made by this unit with missile weapons while it has 30 or more models.

And thus with that, I took my initial model selections and created the following AoS Skirmish force:

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar

Warband Battle Roster

Player: G Ironshield Allegiance: Chaos (Chaos Dwarfs)

Campaign: Drothgar’s Mordheim Expedition

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
General: Drothgar- Daemonsmith Renown Cost: 20
Command Abilities: Artefacts of Power:

Rewards of Battle: Magic of Shadefire-Spells

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Warscroll Models Renown Cost:
Infernal Guard Ironsworn 3 6
Infernal Guard Fireglaives 1 2
Mini-Taur 4 4

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Renown Points Spent: 32 Triumphs:
Renown Points Saved: 0
Total Renown: 32
Underdog Bonus:

Now, I’ve done more than simply create rules, I have actually constructed the initial force of models, with the lot of them mounted on 25mm square bases, and the Bones minis having a fender washer cemented on the underside of the base to keep them from tipping over. I am using some vintage Skaven spears to arm my Mini-Taurs, along with shields taken from my bitz box.

Rather than try free-hand painting the symbol on the Dwarfs’ shields, I’m creating a decal to place on the shields used by my Mini-Taurs, using an image I pulled from their forums to duplicate the icon (and so tie the disparate elements of the warband together), and print it out so I might create the image I need for the decal. At that point, I’ll print up however many shield decals I require. I’m also using that image to create a suitably impressive banner for my burgeoning warband to carry.

The Dark Dwarves I’ve assembled straight out of the blister and mounted them on their bases, adding in model railroading ballast to hide the integral bases the figures already have. As for creating my lone Fireglaive, I cut away the two-handed hammer the Dark Dwarf Pounder had, and opened up his hands (thank goodness he’s a Bones fig), and used a spare plastic musket, with the head of a Dwarf skeggøx (thirty years of collecting means I have a lot of spare Dwarf parts) forming the new muzzle and the ax head for the Fireglaive.

Assuming I don’t decide to get a Bull Centaur or two for the warband (or more since I’m not bothering with the Mordheim force limits), I may simply use the Enlarged Dark Dwarf mini instead, making these guys more like Duergar from D&D, and less like my usual Chaos Dwarf legion.