Reikland / Middenheim / Marienburg troop types

[Asp]

Hi I am working on a project to differentiate these three warbands for Mordheim.
I hope some background-fiends can help suggest more different troop types.

REIKLAND
Leader: Captain
Champion: Sergeant
Youngblood: Cadet
Caster: Priest of Sigmar
5th hero type: Pistolier
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Free Company: Free Company
State Troops: State Troops
Marksmen: Reikswald Marksmen (0-3)
Heavy Infantry: Reiksguard / Greatswords / Blazing Sun (0-4)
Misc. Henchmen: Halfling Skirmishers (0-3)

My thoughts on Reikland:

• With 6 shooty troops (3 halflings and 3 marksmen) Reikland will still be the most shooty faction, but the halflings have to get up close which prevents gunline tactics.
• For the 5th hero type I was thinking about a Witch Hunter, which would fit well, but if they have both a Priest of Sigmar and a Witch Hunter, I fear they encroach too much on the Witch Hunter warband.

MIDDENHEIM
Leader: ??
Champion: Drakwald Freeholder
Youngblood: Youngblood
Caster: Wolf Priest of Ulric
5th hero type: Shield Maiden
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Free Company: Free Company
State Troops: Wolfbrothers (0-8)
Marksmen: ??
Heavy Infantry: Middenheim Dwarves (0-3)
Misc. Henchmen: Hunting Hounds (0-4)

My thoughts on Middenheim:

• Having no Marksmen type henchmen for Middenheim would stress their close combat prowess and set them apart from the other two warbands. With M6 dogs and T4 dwarves they can survive being less effective at ranged combat.
• The Middenheim leader could be called a Captain, I guess, but I would prefer something more colorful.

MARIENBURG
Leader: Paymaster
Champion: Blade of Manaan (Immunity to Flaming hits.)
Youngblood: Merchant Prince
Caster: Gold Wizard
5th hero type: Arabyan Assassin
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Free Company: Buccanneers (0-10)
State Troops: State Troops
Marksmen: Westerland Swamp Skimmers (0-3)
Heavy Infantry: Norse Huscarls (0-4)
Misc.: Western Elves (0-2)

My thoughts on Marienburg:

• For the 5th hero type I'm thinking maybe something like a Brother of Manaan (Heavy Infantry with immunity to flame attacks).

[Asp]

Marienburg: Arabyan Assassin

[Lord Zarkov]

Reiksguard are I think more likely to be heroes then henchmen at the Mordheim level - that would give you your 5th hero for Reikland, but leaves you short the Heavy Infantry. Perhaps Duellists or something?

I would also leave off the "Prince" on the Marienburg Youngblood, Merchant Princes are more a Tilean or Border Princes thing, especially as Mordheim is set pre independence. Perhaps also change Paymaster to Burgomeister, the former again being a bit more tilean.
Gold Wizard's also not really right as the concept doesn't exist in the Empire yet (colleges of Magic are not founded until much later, and wizards are still burnt at the stake). Priest of Mannann is probably best for the wizard option, and the goes well with the other two (and the other Empire sub-lists which have Priest of whatever as their spellcaster).

[Asp]

Cool, thanks!

Greatswords / Reiksguard don't have to be heroes. In the vanilla Mordheim, the Swordsmand type (WS4 + Expert Swordsman) is a henchman and better than Champions.
Prince & Gold Wizard & Paymaster: All of your suggestions are correct, of course, its kind of a trade-off between appealing to newcommers and appealing to the hardcores.

[Lord Zarkov]

Cool, thanks!

Greatswords / Reiksguard don't have to be heroes. In the vanilla Mordheim, the Swordsmand type (WS4 + Expert Swordsman) is a henchman and better than Champions.
Prince & Gold Wizard & Paymaster: All of your suggestions are correct, of course, its kind of a trade-off between appealing to newcommers and appealing to the hardcores.

Greatswords could be henchmen, but Reiksguard are different - being the sons of minor nobles and the most prestigious knightly order they don't really fit as henchmen, not so much due to their skill, but due to their prestige. Thinking about it however, they didn't exist either at this point as they were founded by the House of the Second Wilhelm (much, much later) - that said they did have predecessors (although of slightly lower status) such as the Reilsknect who were disbanded by Emperor Boris (long before Mordheim) and the Reikslanderguard who were Great War Against Chaos era (long after Mordheim).

Edit: Still though, as Knightly Orders, more Hero material than Henchmen (for prestige reasons).

[Athelassan]

Some sort of knightly order would be a good idea as a Reikland hero, even if the Reiksguard specifically are out. The Knights of Sigmar's Blood, perhaps? Or a Knight of the Fiery Heart? Even a Knight Panther, given that they have a chapterhouse in Carroburg, which was Reikland-aligned at this point in history, but that might come across as a little obtuse. A Carroburg Greatsword as the heavy infantry with a knight as the hero might work, though, especially as the CGs are famously associated with Reikland.

A Knight of the White Wolf, meanwhile, would make a good Middenheim hero. For the Middenheim commander, "captain" is such a universal rank that it's difficult to look past it. "Junker" might work, though, and the Germanic title fits with the kind of old-fashioned nature of Middenheim. "Midden Marshal" would be an alternative, although canonically there are only three of them at any one time, so they're probably a bit high-ranking (unless there were more in the 20th century).

As suggested by Lord Zarkov, I'd leave off on the "merchant prince" for Marienburg. That's the sort of person who would be leading or financing an expedition, really, and it's a little early in Marienburg's history for them to be playing a major role anyway. A Marienburg-specific knightly order could fill a hero slot: the Sons of Manann, or the Knights Mariner. I'm not sure about the elves, either, since I don't think they'd returned to the Old World (officially) at this point. Perhaps some weird Tilean or Estalian troop type would fit.

If you wanted to differentiate further you could specify the permitted type of state troop, though that might be a little restrictive: halberdiers for Reikland, swordsmen for Marienburg, and spearmen for a putative Talabaclend list (since the Middenheimers have their own troop type already).

[Asp]

Thanks again for your replies. you guys' knowledge of knightly orders is impressive!

In the official mordheim material there is actually a "merchant prince's son" for marienburg. that is what i am aiming at. He is a youngblood hero (ws2 bs2) - hopefully will be fun to roleplay a spoiled brat. so ideally he should be called merchant prince's son, i guess.

are there any special rules for knights of the white wold? white wolf hammers and cloaks are already there as warband unique equipment

junker is cool, just the right feel for middenheim - any idea for a special rule? if reikland can use special officer skills and marienburg paymaster / burgomeister can put bounties on enemies, what would the junker do as a little gimmick?

as you say, the free company / state troops are supposed to be versatile so no restrictions on armour at that.
though marienburg bucaaneers will be barred from polearms, bows and crossbows

i see by all of this that ill have to update the timeline to IC 2500

[Asp]

WITCH HUNTERS
Leader: Inquisitor
Champion: Witch Hunter
Youngblood: Surgeon
Caster: Lector of Sigmar (starts with 2 Prayers)
5th hero type: Hangman
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Free Company: Zealots
Stealth Infantry: Cloaked Brothers
Shock Infantry: Flagellants (0-5)
Misc.: Wardogs (0-5)
5th Henchman Type: Augurs (0-3) Inner Sight (Augur, and any friendly model within 2" of Augur, may charge and shoot at hidden enemies within 6" of themselves. They are still hidden to anyone else. If a hidden enemy is succesfully charged, he is immediatly un-hidden.)

[Sheena Easton]

In Mordheim, none of those groups would have "caster" types. The colleges of magic weren't founded and magic was something not to be trusted, something dangerous, something Chaotic - so while some desperate warbands might hire a Warlock or Witch, they would be rather rare. Warrior Priests weren't common enough to be with every single warband but would be found alongside the Witch Hunters scouring Mordheim of the Witch, Mutant and Heretic, which they already are.

Of course Skaven, Possessed, Undead etc have no problems with their own magic users which is why they have (and in the case of the Undead need) "caster" types.

[Asp]

thanks.

my first priority is to make a fun skirmish game so ill update the time to IC 2600

[Athelassan]

Hmm... well, bear in mind though that the further you update it, the less distinctive and relevant the different Imperial warband types become. Modern Middenheim is still different to Reikland, but less so than it was 500 years ago, since it's had two hundred years of sustained friendly contact and cultural interchange. Marienburg might be more different, though.

You can't win, basically

[Asp]

Hmm yes -- well I want to make something that features 5 different heroes for each faction and well - elves for Marienburg will certainly help differentiate it. Here is the skill setup I am contemplating...