Dwarf warband

[Catferret]

As Tulkas said, Dwarves frequently strike last anyway with their Initiative of 2. There were times I wish I'd had great weapons in there for the bonus strength (I was using a pirate themed warband with pistols and swords). Having everybody working with a buddy or 2 is good. Couple of multiple weapon guys, and a great weapon guy for killing rival dwarves, or monstery things.

If you get a henchman promoted, give him access to Strength and Special lists and get him Strongman, Resilient and a few of the good Dwarf skills and have him wail on stuff with his great weapon. The survival skills will keep him functional while strongman will occasionally let him strike first (when he charges). Alternatively, give him a pair of pistols to fire when he charges and then switch to the great weapon afterwards when he'd probably strike last anyway. Then you can focus on just taking survival skills.

[Tulkas]

On a side note, we've always made the 'Special/ Racial' skills a bonus list of skills to choose from. Eg, a Thunderer that gets promoted would get Shooting, Combat and Special in my group. Though, in reflection, it doesn't say anywhere Dwarfs can't choose Speed skills.....


*D'oh*

[Catferret]

The skills for promoted henchmen say you can choose skill lists available to your warband. Nobody in the dwarf warband has Speed or Academic skills therefore you couldn't choose those. I'm away from home just now so can't give you rulebook page numbers or FAQ quotes just now. Background wise, being able to have a Dwarf Runner (the messengers who travel between dwarf holds) would be fine. Speed skills are perfectly reasonable for the occasional dwarf.

The official ruling on Special skills is they count as a choice, but there are lots of groups who choose to house rule that to have them as free choices. Can't say I blame them as I used to believe that was the way it was meant to work before the FAQ said otherwise.

[roirin]

Personally i would never take clansmen, after slayers i d say they are our worst choice, though we are stuck with slayers as they are heroes (for some reason). Never quite understood why two warriors sworn to seek death in battle as soon as possible are given the responsibility to find our money.

I d go for something like this

Noble Two axes, Helmet 105
Engineer, Crossbow 75
Slayer Great Weapon 65
Slayer Great Weapon 65
Thunderer Crossbow 65
Thunderer Crossbow 65
Beardling Axe 30
Beardling Axe 30

Beardlings are great as their cheap, t4 and you don t care if they go out of action or die. Once their both dead you can choose to rout to. Slayers want the great weapons to pick on the knocked down guys to get easy experience.

[Tulkas]

The skills for promoted henchmen say you can choose skill lists available to your warband. Nobody in the dwarf warband has Speed or Academic skills therefore you couldn't choose those. I'm away from home just now so can't give you rulebook page numbers or FAQ quotes just now. Background wise, being able to have a Dwarf Runner (the messengers who travel between dwarf holds) would be fine. Speed skills are perfectly reasonable for the occasional dwarf.

The official ruling on Special skills is they count as a choice, but there are lots of groups who choose to house rule that to have them as free choices. Can't say I blame them as I used to believe that was the way it was meant to work before the FAQ said otherwise.

Thát was it. Thanks ferret. *goes back in the corner*

[TheWarmaster]

Alright, I'm going in with the list I mentioned before, but I was wondering if my first order of business should be recruiting more members or upgrading the current warband's equipment?

[Tulkas]

Guess that'd depend on how much cash you got away after that first battle. If it's enough for reinforcements, do that if it's not near enough, buy gear. In my opinion it's better to spend money than hoard it up, unless you've got something specific you're saving up for. Specially in the beginning.

[Royals]

I love Dwarf Treasure Hunters. I remeber hating to play against them since they were so hard to route. I agree that great weapons are good way to go with Clansmen.

As far as what to do after your first battle, it's going to depend on what happens after the game. If you lose some models, you'll definitely want to replace them. If you come out with a decent sum of money, make sure everyone is comfortable equipped and look to buy additional henchmen. I think starting with Beardlings instead of Clansmen may be a good way to go. Keep them in a grouping of three and odds are they'll survive long enough to be as useful as Clansmen for a cheaper price and cost less to replace.

[TheWarmaster]

Well I might also start a Bretonnian warband (it's looking like our campaign is gonna have 4 Dwarf players counting me ) and I was wondering if this is a good list, to me it looks like it's got quite a few models and quite a lot of heroes:

Questing Knight 80
Sword 5
Sword 5
Helmet 10


Knight Errant 50
Sword 5
Axe 5
Helmet 10


Knight Errant 50
Sword 5
Axe 5
Helmet 10


Squire 15
Long Bow 15


Squire 15
Long Bow 15


Squire 15
Long Bow 15


2 Men-at-Arms 50
Halberds 20
Helmets 20


2 Bowmen 40
Long bows 30


Warband total: 470 crowns

I'm not sure if the horses are worth it in the beginning since they're so expensive, but I guess I could throw some henchmen out and get a (barbed?) mount for the questing knight.
Also I heard bretonnians might be underpowered in Mordheim?
It's not gonna be a big problem at our club since we play very casually, but anyway.

[Tulkas]

Luck factor put aside, I'd only play Bretonnians if I really love the models/ background/ warband. You see the trick is, if one of your Knights dies, you also have to remove the Squire. Goodbye two heroes! So be aware of that beforehand, so it doesn't come up on you and smacks you on the bottom in hindsight. (which is a horrible place to get smacked).

[TheWarmaster]

I'm in luck then, since my most long-standing Warhammer army is Bretonnians and I do like the infantry models.
I might even be able to get my interpretation that the squire doesn't commit seppuku if his knight dies through at my local club.
Unless it's stated in a faq that the squire leaves if a knight dies?

[Lord 0]

Giving them the DHW isn't so bad, especially if it is only for the first game. Then you can buy them another axe each and they use the DHW when they are charged and dual wield axe and dagger if they need to strike, um, well, as best as their I2 will allow them .

In my group we have a house-rule that you can swap your free dagger with any other dagger that you come accross. We have a dwarf player who has a few maxed-out I5 dwarfs and they take great delight in stabbing elven henchmen with ithilmar daggers.

[Tulkas]

Unless it's stated in a faq that the squire leaves if a knight dies?

It goes like this:

Squires: Your warband may
include up to three squires. You
may not have more squires in the
warband then you have Knights.

So....

On the other hand, the fluff part of the warband says this about them:

If a squire performs some great deed or
service to his master he may even be raised to
the ranks of knighthood!

So you could try to convince your mates that this squire has done so admirably that he should be the replacing 'knight' and that you'd just have to get a new squire. But I would only try to convince them if said Squire has indeed amassed a bit of experience (and his loss would sorely be felt by all).

[roirin]

You should just house rule it that the squire steals the knight's armour and pretends to be him, as he doesn't want to get fired ala Knight's Tale. Roll a die at the end of each match on 1 or 2 the other knights figure him out. Depending on his experience he's gained as a knight he's either flogged and thrown out or allowed to become a knight. Make a story out of it.

[Brother Fenix]

Or just do something like this:

• Remove the “Squires” rule in reference to the number of knights, squires may NOT select “special skills”

A little give and take

[TheWarmaster]

Well I guess I won't be getting any house rules, but here's the two final lists:
First, this was recommended by a person who had played Bretonnians before, it works by getting the underdog bonus every game so you can expand your warband later

Questing Knight 80
Warhorse 80
Heavy armour 50
Mace 3
Shield 5
Helmet 10

Knight Errant 50
Heavy Armour 50
Mace 3
Shield 5
Helmet 10

Knight Errant
Heavy Armour 50
Mace 3
Shield 5
Helmet 10

Squire 15
Mace 3

Squire 15
Mace 3

500

And here's a more traditional list

Questing Knight 80
Sword 5
Mace 3
Helmet 10


Knight Errant 50
Sword 5
Mace 3
Helmet 10


Knight Errant 50
Sword 5
Mace 3
Helmet 10


Squire 15
Mace 3


Squire 15
Mace 3


Squire 15
Mace 3


2 Men-at-Arms 50
Halberds 20

Man-at-Arms 25
Mace 3


Man-at-Arms 25
Mace 3

Bowman 20
longbow 15

Bowman 20
longbow 15

[Dribble Joy]

The underdog bonus starts at a difference of over 50. If Knights Errant are 8 xp, that means your starting rating is 61. Starting warbands will not be 112+. Your best bet is to pull the slightly cheap trick of routing voluntarily whenever the opportunity arises for the first few games. Without henchmen though, this means at least two heroes have to go OoA.

[Brother Fenix]

My personal opinion is that there is not a big enough benefit for being mounted to be worth 80gc for the warhorse. Scrap that and you can get two sacraficial henchman, and a third squire if you are really cheap.

[TheWarmaster]

My personal opinion is that there is not a big enough benefit for being mounted to be worth 80gc for the warhorse. Scrap that and you can get two sacraficial henchman, and a third squire if you are really cheap.

The underdog bonus starts at a difference of over 50. If Knights Errant are 8 xp, that means your starting rating is 61. Starting warbands will not be 112+. Your best bet is to pull the slightly cheap trick of routing voluntarily whenever the opportunity arises for the first few games. Without henchmen though, this means at least two heroes have to go OoA.

I was gonna go with the 12 member starting warband in the beginning.
These Bretonnians are very troublesome, almost makes me wish starting some other warband.

[roirin]

Max size 12 is a massive problem for them. They aren t one of the elder races and they don t have an ogre. My club house rules all armour as half price and you can take your suit's armour save (no shield or horse) against injuries (except getting robbed). That almost fixes them but i wouldn t really bother with them with normal rules.