The Bridge- A Mordheim Scenario

By Rowan Coupland//CF

The River Stir runs through the centre of Mordheim, it's polluted and acidic waters proving an impregnable barrier for warbands attempting to cross to the other side of the city. Most warbands are happy in their own side of Mordheim, but occasionly, the need to venture over the river arises- generally due to rumours of a wyrdstone deposit or some hidden jewel. If this happens, the warband will head to the nearest bridge (although there aren't that many remaining intact) and hope to pass to the other side before any opposing warbands hear of the riches, for there are many a warband eager to block an enemy's attempts to cross the river stir!

Terrain

Place a river through the centre of the battlefield, with a bridge- preferably wooden, over it at some point. Apart from this, each player takes turns in placing a single piece of terrain on the board. The battle should be fought on a roughly 4x4 area.

The Bridge

The bridge may be attacked in close combat as normal (although all attacks hit automatically), unless the attacking warrior is already in combat with an enemy, in which case he defends himself as normal. Shooting attacks gain an +1 to hit modifier when shooting at the bridge, as it is a large target. The bridge has a toughness of 5 and 5 wounds. Crossing the bridge, or flying over in special circumstances, is the only way to enter the other side of Mordheim, as the water is so acidic- warriors may not swim across using a special skill, or even if they are aquatic.

If the bridge is destroyed while there are warriors on it, then those warriors must pass an initiative test to jump to the nearest river bank, or be taken out of action. If a warband is split up, ie- 6 warriors on one side of the river, 8 on the other, the side which has no leader must take a rout test. If they pass, they may stay on that side and aid support through shooting. These warriors will search for wyrdstone, look for special characters etc. as normal, and will be reunited with the rest of the warband in time for the next battle.

Warbands

The battle takes place with two warbands, although it could probably be adapted to multiplayer. The warband with the lower warband rating is the defender. The defending player starts the game with D6+3 randomely determined warband members missing. If this brings the number of members below 1, then the leader, or if he/she is not available, the hero with the most experience points is placed on the table. On a roll of 5+ on the defender's second turn, 4+, 3+, 2+ and 1+ on subsequent turns the player may bring D3+1 reinforcements of his choice onto the board, which are placed in the normal defender's deployment zone. The reinforcements may not perform any actions in the turn they arrive, unless they are placed in combat, in which case they count as charging. Each player sets up on an opposite table edge, each on one side of the river. All warband members must set up within 8" of their board edge.

Starting The Game

The Attacker has the first turn.

Ending The Game

The battle ends when one warband fails a rout test, in which case the routing warband loses, when one warband is completely wiped out, OR, if the bridge is destroyed before any of the attacking warband crosses it, then the attacking warband automatically loses. If a warband is completely destroyed, with all members out of action, the result is self-explanatory. If the bridge has been destroyed and the only attacking members left were unable to get across the river, they have also lost (prevents the end-game turning into an endless shootfest across the uncrossable river)

Experience

  • +1 crossing the bridge. If a hero or henchman group crosses the bridge they gain +1 experience.
  • +2 destroying the bridge. If a hero or henchman group destroys the bridge they gain +2 experience.
  • +1 survives. If A hero or henchman group survives they gain +1 experience.
  • +1 winning leader. The leader of the winning warband gains +1 experience.
  • +1 per enemy out of action. A hero earns 1 experience point for each enemy he puts out of action.

Resources

Resources and Materials for use with our Mordheim Campaign.