Druchii warband for Mordheim - beta version

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Loflar
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Druchii warband for Mordheim - beta version

Post by Loflar »

Today, I sent the following rules to Andy Hall of Fanatic:

Mordheim : Druchii warband
Beta version



There are none living who know the ways of the elves, save perhaps the mighty lizard-priests of the South whose knowledge and power is rumoured to grow far beyond that even of the High Mages of the College of Magic of Altdorf. Those few elves who roam the lands of the Empire are mysterious, their ways impenetrable to us.

There are those who, like Finubar the Proud, openly declare themselves Manfriend and help defend our glorious Empire from the encroaching forces of Chaos - too few of them, unfortunately. Of those, we know what they would have us know - their history and that of their families, and a little of the history of their land - the fabled island of Ulthuan. There are those who stalk the night, warriors who come cloaked in darkness and wielding bows, the death in their eyes revealed in their prey as their life is snuffed out like a candle atop Brass Keep by one, well-placed arrow shot - of those we know little, save that they name themselves "Shadow warriors of Nagarythe" and, as their kindred of Ulthuan reassure us, they seek to do us no harm.

There are those who protect the forests, defending them from touch of Chaos and Man alike. There are also rumours of a fourth breed of elves - a grim race, ruthless and sadistic. They come at night in their low ships with sails of midnight-black, craving the poison that lurks within the now-ruins of Mordheim, the Weyrdstone of which all those who go to the Cursed City and return speak. They leave no witnesses, taking prisoner those who are able-bodied enough to toil under them in slavery, murdering the others.

Of course, such nonsense is only that - rumours, and nonsense, the delusional affabulations of crazed minds that have seen the taint of Chaos from too close. It may be that some elves are more ruthless than others, but they are just that - elves, and their ways are closed to us.



Choice of Warriors

A Druchii warband must include a minimum of three models. You have 500 gold crowns to recruit your initial warband. The maximum number of warriors in a warband may never exceed 12.

  • Heroes
    Noble Each Druchii warband must have one Noble to lead it - no more, no less.
    Lordlings Your warband may include up to two Lordlings.
    Sorceress Your warband may include one Sorceress.
    Beastmaster Your warband may include one Beastmaster.
  • Henchmen
    Corsairs Your warband may include any number of corsairs.
    Shades Your warband may include up to five shades.
    Witch Elves Your warband may include up to three Witch Elves.
    Slavehounds Your warband may include up to three Slavehounds if it also includes a Beastmaster.


Starting Experience

A Noble starts with 20 experience.
Lordlings start with 12 experience.
A Sorceress starts with 12 experience.
A Beastmaster starts with 8 experience.
Henchmen start with 0 experience.

Maximum Characteristics

Characteristics for Druchii warriors may not be increased beyond the maximum limits shown here:

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
5  7  7 4 4 3 9 4 10


May Hire

A Dark Elf warband may employ the following Hired Swords: Pit Fighter, Ogre Bodyguard, Warlock, Imperial Assassin, Tilean Marksman and Dark Elf Assassin.

Special Rules

Kindred Hatred The Dark Elves have been fighting the High Elves for many centuries. The wars between these two races have been very long and bloody affairs. Dark Elves Hate any High Elf warriors including High Elf Hired Swords.

Excellent Sight There are numerous legends detailing the excellent eyesight of the Elves, both Druchii and Asur kin. Elves can spot Hidden enemies from twice as far away than normal warriors (i.e. twice their Initiative value in inches).

Disdain Dark Elves may never use black powder weapons, as they find them too crude, noisy and unreliable.

Long-Lived Elves, as a race, can live right through dozens of human generations, with a lifespan spanning centuries rather than decades. Due to this, they take longer to advance through the ranks, as they do not have the short human lifespan to push them to great deeds before they die. As such, the first time any Dark Elf henchman rolls "The Lad's Got Talent", you must re-roll the dice. The second roll stands (even if you roll "The Lad's Got Talent" again). This represents the fact that elves must do much more than a member of the "lesser" races to gain the respect of their commander and comrades. Any later results of "The Lad's Got Talent" count as normal; only the first result rolled for each henchmen group must be re-rolled.

Druchii equipment lists

The following lists are used by Druchii warbands to pick their weapons and armour:

Druchii Heroes Equipment list
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons

Code: Select all

Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Sword  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Double-handed weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Halberd  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Spear  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Beastlash (Beastmaster only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc


Missile Weapons

Code: Select all

Repeater Crossbow* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc
Crossbow Pistol  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 gc


Armour

Code: Select all

Helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Light armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc
Shield  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Buckler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Sea Dragon Cloak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 gc


Special Equipment

Code: Select all

Dark Venom  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Darksteel Weapon  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 x Price


Corsairs Equipment list
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons

Code: Select all

Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Sword  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Halberd  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Spear  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc


Missile Weapons

Code: Select all

Repeater Crossbow* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc


Armour

Code: Select all

Helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Light armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc
Shield  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Buckler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Sea Dragon Cloak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 gc


Shades equipment list
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons

Code: Select all

Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Sword  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc


Missile Weapons

Code: Select all

Repeater Crossbow* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc
Bow  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc


Armour

Code: Select all

Helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Light armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc


* These special prices represent the lower rarity of these items in Naggaroth. When attempting to purchase these items in Mordheim, Dark Elf warbands pay the same prices as other warbands and must roll to find them as normal. No roll is necessary to find these items when first starting a Dark Elf warband.

Druchii skill table

Noble Combat - Shooting - Academic - Speed - Special
Lordling Combat - Shooting - Speed - Special
Sorceress Academic - Speed - Special
Beastmaster Combat - Speed – Special


Heroes

1 Noble
75 Gold Crowns to hire
Dark Elf leaders are typically drawn from the Dark Elf nobility and lead the warband in search of gold, slaves and arcane artifacts to bring home to Naggaroth. They are cold and ruthless killers and they command the respect of their troops through assassination and terror. They have attained their position of leadership by eliminating those rivals who stood in their way and through their remarkable cunning, they are dangerous foes who embody the merciless traits of the Druchii race.

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
5  5  4 3 3 1 6 1  9


Weapons/Armour A Noble may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Druchii Heroes Equipment list.

Special Rules
Leader Any models in the warband within 6" of the Noble may use his Leadership instead of their own.

Feared and Respected Dark Elf Nobles are known to their troops for their cruelty and ruthlessness. As long as the Noble is not Out Of Action, the Druchii warband will only have to test for routing if it suffered more than a third of casualties instead of the normal quarter.

0-2 Lordlings
45 Gold Crowns to hire
Lordlings are would-be commanders of the Druchii forces, and often serve under a Noble as page or lieutenant. Lordlings accompany raiding parties to the Old World to further their career, seeking to acquire fame, riches and status in the Witch King’s court.

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
5  4  4 3 3 1 6 1  8


Weapons/Armour Lordlings may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Druchii Heroes Equipment list.

0-1 Dark Elf Sorceress
45 Gold Crowns to hire
Dark Elves are strange in that apart from the fell Witch King there are no other male sorcerers - all the other practitioners of magic in the Dark Elf race are female. It is rumoured that any males who do develop an affinity for magic amongst the Dark Elves are immediately put to death to prevent the fulfilling of some dark prophecy.
Dark Elf Sorceresses are mysterious, raven-haired beauties who are grudgingly respected even by the powerful Nobles, and their services are high in demand.

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
5  3  3 3 3 1 5 1  8


Weapons/Armour A Sorceress may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Druchii Heroes Equipment list, but may not cast spells if wearing armour.

Special Rules
Wizard The Dark Elf Sorceress is a wizard and uses Dark Magic, detailed below.

Sectarism (Convents) A Sorceress and a Witch Elf do not count as friendly models for the purposes of an All Alone test taken by a warrior of the other sect.

0-1 Beastmaster
40 Gold Crowns to hire
Whereas the High Elves have a great affinity with Dragons and Griffons and other noble creatures their malevolent kin have infamous Beastmasters, Dark Elves of particularly cruel renown who breed many vicious beasts and lead them into combat. Unlike the High Elves who treat their beasts as companions, the Dark Elf Beastmasters are very spiteful masters.

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
5  4  3 3 3 1 5 1  8


Weapons/Armour A Beastmaster may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Druchii Heroes Equipment list.

Special Rules
Slavehounds The Beastmaster may be accompanied by up to three Slavehounds. These are bought as henchmen and follow all rules listed for them.

Henchmen
Bought in groups of 1-5.

Corsairs
35 Gold Crowns to hire
The Dark Elves are cruel and fierce fighters. This is especially true of the Corsairs - the Black Ark Raiders. They are skilled with sword and axe, as well as the repeater crossbow, the distinct missile weapon of the Dark Elves. Whenever Druchii ships reach foreign shores, the Corsairs are the first to launch raiding parties.

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
5  4  3 3 3 1 5 1  8


Weapons/Armour Corsairs may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Dark Elf Equipment list. In addition, they may wear Sea Dragon Cloaks even though they are not Heroes.

0-5 Shades

35 Gold Crowns to hire
The stealthy Dark Elf Shades rely on their repeater crossbows to harass and snipe at the enemy, rather than engaging them head on, as ambush is their preferred style of fighting. These Shades are young and inexperienced scouts that see the expeditions to the Old World as a valuable training opportunity.

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
5  3  4 3 3 1 5 1  8


Weapons/Armour Shades may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Shades Equipment list.

Natural Stealth The first thing that Dark Elf scouts master is the art of moving without being seen or heard. If a Shade is Hidden, enemy models suffer -1 to their Initiative value for determining if they can detect it or not.

0-3 Witch Elves
45 Gold Crowns to hire
Witch Elves are the lethally beautiful followers of Khaine, the Bloody-Handed god of murder, vengeance and war.Those amongst the devoted who seek to become full-fledged priestesses of Khaine and learn His holy canons are sent on missions for the Temple, to prove their worth in the eyes of their god, and also serve to spy upon those Nobles who are temporarily out of the King's grasp.

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
5  4  3 3 3 1 5 1  8


Weapons/Armour Witch Elves may be armed with weapons and armour chosen from the Druchii equipment list, barring all missile weapons.

Fervour Witch Elves, being intent on proving their battle prowess in Khaela Mensha Khaine's all-seeing gaze, follow the Frenzy special rule.

Sectarism (Temple) A Witch Elf and a Sorceress do not count as friendly models for the purposes of an All Alone test taken by a warrior of the other sect. Note that for a Witch Elf this will only apply should she lose her Frenzy.

Maibd poison Witch elves, in battle, carry sacred weapons anointed in holy poisons traditionally used to paralyse slaves before their sacrifice. As such, any model Stunned or Knocked Down will only recover on a roll of 4+. This effect lasts until the Dark Elf player's next turn.

0-3 Slavehounds
25 Gold Crowns to hire
The Dark Elves capture and breed many exotic creatures to fight for them, and fights between pets are often staged as a form of entertainment amongst the Dark Elves. Myriads of such animals can be discovered in the Chaos Wastes. Among them is the Slavehound, a fierce breed of wild hounds that resemble wolves more than dogs. The Dark Elves capture and train these creatures to fight in battles all over the Warhammer World.

Code: Select all

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
7  4  0 4 3 1 4 1  5


Weapons/Armour Slavehounds are animals and do not need any weapons, save their claws and massive jaws.

Special Rules
Animals Slavehounds are animals, and all animal rules apply to them. They never gain experience.

Beastmaster Slavehounds are vicious creatures that are barely kept under control. If the Beastmaster dies the beasts will immediately escape from the warband - remove them from the warband roster. If the Beastmaster is unable to participate in a battle, then neither will the beasts.

Trained Slavehounds are wild creatures who have a ferocious fighting spirit, trained to take orders from the cruel Beastmasters. If within 6", the Slavehound may use Beastmaster's Leadership instead of its own for any Leadership tests. If the Beastmaster is in range of the Leader ability, the Slavehound can use the increased Leadership value.

Stupid Unless they are within 6" of a Beastmaster at the start of their turn, Slavehounds are subject to the rules for Stupidity. Until a Beastmaster comes into range, the Hounds are as likely to attack an enemy as stop to gnaw on a stray bone or wander off randomly.

Take down Slavehounds are trained to catch fleeing slaves and drag them to a halt as fast as possible. On the turn a Slavehound charges, any result of 6 on the To Hit roll will result in one model in base-to-base contact being immediately Knocked Down. Since the Slavehound forgoes a more damaging attack to bring its prey down, it does not roll to wound this close combat phase.


Special Equipment

Darksteel Weapon
(3 x Price/Rare 9)
Darksteel weapons are forged in the city of Hag Graef, the Dark Crag. They are fashioned from black steel, a rare form of steel found deep within the mountains around the city and are forged using an ancient technique known only to the Dark Elves. Darksteel weapons have wicked protrusions and serrated edges, which inflict serious damage on an opponent. Any Druchii hero can use a close-combat weapon made from Dark steel. Getting it, however, is not that easy, and it costs three times more that usual steel weapon of the same type. Weapons made from the Dark Steel have all abilities of their usual counterparts (i.e. swords can parry, double-handed weapons strike last).


Range Close Combat; Strength As user; Special Rules Critical Damage, Wicked Edge.

Special Rules
Critical Damage Darksteel weapons inflict serious damage on their opponents. When rolling on the critical hit chart, a Darksteel weapon will add +1 to the result.

Wicked Edge Darksteel weapons are set with sharp protrusions and serrated edges which inflict serious damage on an opponent. A roll of 2-4 on the injury table is a stunned result.

Beastlash (Beastmaster only)
(10+D6 Gold Crowns/Rare 8 )
The Beastmaster make good use of their whips to goad their hounds and creatures into combat.


Range Close combat; Strength As user -1; Special Rules Beastbane; Whipcrack; Cannot be parried.

Special Rules
Beastbane The Beastmaster wielding a Beastlash causes Fear in animals. Any animal charged by or wishing to charge a Beastmaster with one of these weapons must first take a fear test as mentioned in the psychology section of the Mordheim rules.

Whipcrack When the wielder charges they gain +1A for that turn. This bonus attack is added after any other modifications. When the wielder is charged they gain +1A that they may only use against the charger. This additional attack will ‘strike first’. If the wielder is simultaneously charged by two or more opponents they will still only receive a total of +1A. If the wielder is using two whips at the same time then they get +1A for the additional hand weapon, but only the first whip gets the whipcrack +1A.

Cannot be parried A Beastlash, being a very flexible weapon and used with great expertise by the Beastmaster wielding it, cannot be parried.

Sea Dragon Cloak
(35+2D6 Gold Crowns/Rare 10)
Dark Elf Corsairs use special cloaks fashioned from the skin and scales of the sea monsters that dwell deep in the oceans depths. These cloaks are tough and resilient, and offer Dark Elves a very good amount of protection.

Special Rules
Scales The wearer of the Sea Dragon receives a +2 bonus to his save against shooting (or in the event where he has none, a 5+ save) and a +1 bonus to his save in close combat (or, if he has none, a 6+ save). A Sea Dragon Cloak may be combined with other pieces of armour (shield, light armour) with no penalty.


Druchii Skill Table

Dark Elf Heroes may use the following Skill table instead of any of the standard skill tables available to them:

Fury of Khaine
The Dark Elf is infused with an intense raging thirst for blood and is a whirlwind in hand-to-hand combat, moving from opponent to opponent. The Druchii may make a 4" follow up move if he takes all of his opponents out of action. If he comes into contact with another enemy, this starts a new combat. This
new combat takes place in the following turn and the model counts as charging.

Fey Quickness
Few can ever hope to match an Elf ’s inhuman quickness and agility. An Elf with Fey Quickness can avoid melee or missile attacks on a roll of 6. If the Elf also has Step Aside or Dodge this will increase to a 4+ in the relevant area. For example, an Elf with Fey Quickness and Step Aside avoids melee attacks on a 4+ and missile attacks on a 6.

Infiltration
The Dark Elf can Infiltrate. This skill is exactly the same as the Skaven skill.

Master of Poisons
The Dark Elf is proficient in concocting different poisons. If the Hero doesn’t search for rare items, he may make D2 doses of Dark Venom instead. The poison must be used in the next battle and cannot be sold or traded to other warbands as the Dark Elves guard their secrets very carefully.

Counter Attack
An experienced fighter can anticipate the moves of his enemy to avoid his attack while performing an attack of his own. If any enemy model in base contact with the Hero fails at least one to-hit roll, the Hero gets an additional attack.


Dark Magic

Like their hated Asur kin, the Dark Elves are accomplished practitioners of magic. However, whereas the High Elves essentially use magic defensively and for the power of good, the Dark Elves utilise the evil powers of Dark Magic - a very destructive force indeed.

D6 Result
1 Doombolt
Difficulty 8
Whispering an ancient incantation, the Sorceress conjures a bolt of pure dark energy and unleashes it from her outstretched hand.
The Doombolt may be targeted at any enemy model in line of sight. The bolt has an 18" range and causes a Strength 5 hit. If the target model is wounded, then the next closest model within 6" is also hit on a 4+, at -1 Strength than the previous hit. The bolt will keep leaping until there are no more targets within range or until its Strength drops to a one. Take armour saves as normal.

2 Word of Pain
Difficulty 8
The Sorceress calls down the wrath of Khaine upon her enemy, causing his resolve to disappear.
The spell may be cast at an enemy model within 12". The victim must re-roll all successful hand to hand or missile attacks and all to wound rolls. If the victim wishes to charge, he must pass a successful Leadership test first. Lasts until the beginning of the next Dark Elf turn.

3 Soul Stealer
Difficulty 9
At the Sorceress’s touch, the essence of life is drained from her enemy and absorbed into her body, giving her renewed strength and vigour.
Once successfully cast, the Sorceress has to make a to hit roll against a model in base contact. If the attack is successful and her opponent is struck, he suffers a wound with no armour save possible. The Sorceress feeds on this life-force and adds one wound to her current total.
Note: the Sorceress can never have more then one extra wound on her profile from the use of this spell (she may cast it as many times as she wishes to regain lost wounds) and the extra wound is lost once the battle is over.

4 Black Blade of Khaine
Difficulty 8
Summoning Dark Magic, the Sorceress engulfs a weapon in twisted black flames.
The Sorceress may choose the hand-to-hand combat weapon of a member of her warband within 6" to be engulfed in flames. A weapon with these flames acts as a normal weapon of its type, but adds a +2 bonus to the user’s Strength. Hits inflicted from the weapon ignore armour saves. Lasts until the Sorceress’ next shooting phase.

5 Deathspasm
Difficulty 9
The Sorceress channels Dark Magic into her enemy, causing him to writhe in excruciating pain.
The Deathspasm has a range of 6" and must be cast on the closest enemy model. The affected model must roll on the injury chart. If successfully cast, the casting Sorceress is immediately knocked down. This cannot be prevented by using the Jump Up skill.

6 Witch Flight
Difficulty 7
The Sorceress bends the winds of magic to her will and flies through the air.
The Sorceress may immediately move anywhere within 12", and may count as charging. If she engages a fleeing enemy in the close combat phase, she will score 1 automatic hit and then the opponent will flee again.
Last edited by Loflar on Mon Sep 10, 2007 11:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Cat-the-odd
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Post by Cat-the-odd »

Take down Slavehounds are trained to catch fleeing slaves and drag them to a halt as fast as possible. On the turn a Slavehound charges, any result of 6 on the To Hit roll will result in one model in base-to-base contact being immediately Knocked Down . Since the Slavehound forgoes a more damaging attack to bring its prey down, it does not roll to wound this close combat phase.

Just for clarification for me, since I have no Dogs, but think of getting some:
If I"m attacking with a dog and something else, can I knock down the enemy immediately and profit then from it with the second attacker, or does it count for the combat that the enemy will be knocked down at least and thus cannot attack back?

Nice to see it beta, at least. (Is it the reason for your new avatar, Loflar?)
Now I just have to finish painting my shades and then I'll chop some orcs.
../¨¨¨|
.|ô/ô 9..Real sportsmen hunt with arrows and fish with flies.
.~~ /|...Real gentlemen play games which require skill, not tools.
.|__/\...Extraordinary gentlemen even win with them.
.[>o<]...Welcome to the League of Extraordinary Druchii Gentlemen
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Loflar
Warband Noble
Warband Noble
Posts: 613
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:06 am
Location: Praag

Post by Loflar »

Before answering, I will post my email to Andy Hall.

I wrote:Dear Mr. Hall,

by the autumn of 2004, there was an email exchange between Joel Stewart
(aka Kitrik, webmaster of Druchii.net) and Jervis Johnson, which
resulted in Jervis Johnson stating, that:

"...if you can come up with a Dark Elf warband that works well for
Mordheim, and which uses the *Warhammer* miniatures range to represent
the members of the Warband, then I'll be happy to consider making it an
official addition to the game."

These words started an initiative on druchii.net to develop dark elven
warband usable in Mordheim. During the development, some people,
including original leaders, left (which among other problems led to me
not having email of Jervis Johnson), so it is now my duty to present you
with results of our work. The rules for Druchii in Mordheim are in
attachment.

Unfortunately, we also experienced some delays. The original target date
was summer 2006, so the rules could be submitted to Mordheim rules
commitee. I hope it is not too late now.

Please, pass this email to the approprite people, so they could review
the rules and possibly make them official.

Thank you.

Pavel Kraus
(Loflar on druchii.net)


Designer's notes:
=================
=================
The warband was based on dark elven warband for Lustria, with general
aim to weaken it a bit and make it work with available miniatures. This
meant replacing cold one hounds.

Maximum characteristics are taken directly from Mordheim LRB.

Available hired swords are those hired swords, official after last rules
review, who
1) do not explicitly name warbands they will work for
2) do not disallow dark elves somehow (i.e. will not work for evil etc.)
3) may not be that official, but are Dark elf assassin. This one was
taken directly from Lustria rules, and playtesting showed that he is
quite expensive, but also quite good. Generally worth his money.

Long-Lived:
-----------
This rule was introduced to restrain dark elves from gaining power too
fast. However, playtesting showed that it can make the warband quite
weak in long-term, as heroes in limited numbers produce limited
resources after battle, which is problem, because their henchmen and
some equipment are somewhat expensive. We were unable to reach agreement
on this rule, but this is the rule we tested so it is included in the
rules in attachment.

You might want to consider replacing it with another rule. We are now
experimenting with

Frail but Fey: Elves have a sort of delicate, but magical constitution.
Elves may never permanently increase their Toughness attribute beyond a
value of 3 (treat their Toughness as having reached its maximum value).
However, their Toughness can never be permanently lowered (treat any
injuries that would result in such a decrease as a Full Recovery
instead). Thus, their Toughness must always be equal to 3.

This one is, however, untested by druchii.net team. But it seems to be
popular among various unofficial elven warbands.

Skills:
-------
Powerful Build from Lustria was dropped to deprive elves of any access
to strength skills. Master of Poisons was made a bit more reliable. A
new skill, Counter Attack, was included. Playtesting showed that it is
quite useful, somewhat similar to Combat Master. This makes five skills.
If a sixth one was needed, you might want to consider this:

Combat movement: Skilled Druchii warrior can circle around his opponent,
dragging him out of reach of his comrades. If, in any close combat
phase, Druchii model with this skill fights in close combat one-on-one,
Druchii player may move the fighting pair 2" in any direction he
chooses, following normal movement rules (i.e. no flying etc.).

However, this one is completely untested.

Dark magic:
-----------
Was generally left as in Lustria, only Flamesword was renamed. We do not
think that it needs further changes.
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Loflar
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Location: Praag

Post by Loflar »

Cat-the-Odd wrote:
On the turn a Slavehound charges, any result of 6 on the To Hit roll will result in one model in base-to-base contact being immediately Knocked Down . Since the Slavehound forgoes a more damaging attack to bring its prey down, it does not roll to wound this close combat phase.

Just for clarification for me, since I have no Dogs, but think of getting some:
If I"m attacking with a dog and something else, can I knock down the enemy immediately and profit then from it with the second attacker,

Yes, that is how I use it. IMHO it would not have much use otherwise.

Nice to see it beta, at least. (Is it the reason for your new avatar, Loflar?)

No, the reason is that I downloaded a dark elf campaign for Battle for Wesnoth. So now I have some dark elves to choose from. The previous one was an old version of elf captain, this one is dark elf stalker (i.e. 3rd level hunter).
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Loflar
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Post by Loflar »

A month passed with no reaction from SG, so I decided to post another mail:

I wrote:Dear Mr. Hall,

on October 20th, I have sent you rules for Mordheim Druchii warband as
created by people at druchii.net and asked you to forward it to the
person responsible for Mordheim. Unfortunately, I have still not
recieved any reaction, so I even don't know if the email reached you.

Could you please confirm that you have recieved my email with rules for
Mordheim Druchii warband and tell me what is its current status?

Thank you.
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Post by Cat-the-odd »

No answer yet? I supposed SG reacts quite fast.
Anyway, I'm on the way to implement the DE in AB2 and I started to make an AB3 file as well.
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Post by Loflar »

My friend told that he tried to send them some his works twice, and never recieved any reaction. I hoped that we will get the answer since I emphasized that this is work of community, already negotiated inside SG etc.
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Post by Loflar »

I got response from Andy Hall, asking me to send the original mail again. Which I did.
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Post by Loflar »

Another month has passed.

I wrote:Greetings and Happy New Year.

A month has passed since the time I have sent you the Druchii warband
rules for the second time, and still no reaction. Did you recieve it? If
yes, what fate has met it? Are the rules waiting in a queue? Were they
silently forgotten and discarded? Are they considered bad and unusable?
An if yes, then why? (Knowing that, we could try to make them better.)
Or are they worshipped as a work of a genius?

Knowing what happened with the result of our work would certainly make
us feel better. If the rules get refused, we could try to make
appropriate changes.

Thanks in advance for answering.
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Post by Havock »

You know, there should really be an assassin option...
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Post by Holt »

I thought that there was going to be one. I was looking at it somewhere in the Warband Revision setcion the other day.
Want some tips on controlling those frenzied units? http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=71791&highlight=
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Post by Loflar »

Which assassin option? Having an assassin as a hero? That idea appeared during development, but why should a noble going to some middle of nowhere hire assassin? Assassins are being sent to assassinate. A single mission. They would be hardly be available as members of warband.
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Post by Havock »

Loflar wrote:Which assassin option? Having an assassin as a hero? That idea appeared during development, but why should a noble going to some middle of nowhere hire assassin? Assassins are being sent to assassinate. A single mission. They would be hardly be available as members of warband.


Hmm, maybe, on the other hand, assassins are disciplined fighters used to operating alone.
And if they are like ninja's, they are scouts and spies as well ;)

Well, we have shades, but they are assassins-lite :)

An alternative is that it's one of the shades romaing the empire that has become quite adept at the art of silent death.
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Post by Loflar »

Well, we left the assassin from Lustria available as a hired sword. So nobles, who really need a pro, have the option.
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Post by Iano »

Hey, we're currently organising a MORDHEIM campaign and I've got participant who wants to use your rules. I was just wandering if I may use them for our campaign.
Furthermore, I think it is better to leave the assassin a hired sword choice instead of a hero choice.

Grtz Iano
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Post by Loflar »

Of course, use them, and if you have any comments, post them here. Playtesting and feedback - that is what we need.
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Post by Cat-the-odd »

Loflar wrote:Of course, use them, and if you have any comments, post them here. Playtesting and feedback - that is what we need.
Seconded.

Furthermore you are highly encouraged to use the Armybuilder2 data file from me. (see this topic.
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.~~ /|...Real gentlemen play games which require skill, not tools.
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.[>o<]...Welcome to the League of Extraordinary Druchii Gentlemen
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Post by Loflar »

Today, I got reply from Andy Hall.

Andy Hall wrote:Hi,

I've had a good look at your warband article - it is very good. However, I don't think I can use this as it doesn't fit within the Mordheim game system. The Mordheim background is very specific about which forces were present during the time of The Three Emperors and the Dark Elves were not one of them.

The list could be used as a standard Warhammer Skirmish Dark Elf list or in the Cities of Gold alternative setting.

Cheers
Andy @ Fanatic
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Post by Lordofthenight »

Haven't there already been published rules for Druchii in Mordheim though?
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Post by Angel of algebra »

Yes, they are very easily abused though, and were for the Cities of Gold setting.

So basically, they'll publish rules for Bretonnians (if not officially), and make them horrifically underpowered when it was specifically stated that the Bretonnians did not go to Mordheim, but publishing a far more balanced Dark Elf warband is a no-no? Even when an agreement was made that the warband would be published? I'll refrain from commenting...

AoAlgebra :lol:
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Post by Chedds »

i 'm new to dark elves i've only collected since early last month, but it seems trange that the situation with the hound is strange in the citties of gold they list the hounds and then are telling us we have to souce the model from the range to make it offical so why put the option in the rules in the first place? :?
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Post by Loflar »

Lustria setting was not made by Specialist Games and is unofficial. Or warbands published as part of Lustria, including Druchii are unofficial. Yes, they have Cold One hounds. However, the Druchii warband created here was made to be official, and one of the conditions was that official warbands have to use readily available GW miniatures.
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Post by Chedds »

do you think they will every do the warbnd offical as one of the reply letters you recieved was basically you sort it and we will think about it

Rork edit: Grammar is your friend. And a spell checker, oh and capitalisation:

"Do you think they will ever make the warband official? As one of the reply letters you received was basically you sort it and we will think about it."

Take your time in future.
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Post by Loflar »

"Ever" is very strong word. They will not make it official now. They might change opinion later, though. Interviews with armybook writers do not indicate presence of any long-term concept in GW creations...
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Post by Luk-arth »

I might play mordhiem now thanks
Ave Ceaser!
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