Topic: Campaign special characters

[rufus sparkfire]

New special characters, fresh from the forges of the campaign team!

All of these are the result of many months of painstaking playtesting... oh, OK - actually the team scrawled them on the back of a napkin over lunch.

Now, since we don't have a buch of shiny miniatures to sell to the kiddies, these aren't Valten/Archaon-type characters that will dominate a game with their awesome eliteness. But they are characterful and amusing to play with (hopefully). None of them are heroes, most of them aren't even very good leaders...

Comment away with any comments! Sling mud, sing praises, anything you like.


Stirland

Martin Volker, the Graf von Stirland

http://www.warhammer-empire.com/wos/DP%20Stirland.htm

Graf Martin can be taken in a Stirland army. He counts as a lord choice, and must always be the general, even if another character with equal or higher leadership is present. He must be fielded exactly as presented, and may not have any additional equipment.

M   WS   BS   S   T   W   I   A   Ld
Graf Martin      4   5   5   4   4   3   5   3   9
Warhorse      8   3   0   3   3   1   3   1   5

Cost: 160 points

Equipment: Runefang, hand weapon, shield, full plate armour, barded warhorse

Special Rules:

   Magic Banner: One unit of Halberdiers, Spearmen or Swordsmen may carry a magic banner costing up to 50 points.

   Slayer of Vampires: Whatever the truth behind the myth of Hel Fenn, Graf Martin is revered by his men as a hero. A unit of knights joined by Graf Martin can reroll any failed psychology tests.

   Disdain for the commoner: Graf Martin has little regard for the common grunts of the infantry, often leading to questionable decisions in the heat of battle. For this reason, friendly units using the general’s leadership must include a penalty of one to the score – they count the graf’s leadership as 8 instead of 9. Units of knights, pistoliers and greatswords can use the graf’s leadership of 9 without penalty.

___________________________

Talabecland

Marshall Huppert Gernot

http://www.warhammer-empire.com/wos/DP%20Talabecland.htm

Marshall Huppert Gernot can be taken in a Talabecland army. He counts as a lord choice, and must always be the general, even if another character with equal or higher leadership is present. He must be fielded exactly as presented, and may not have any additional equipment.

M   WS   BS   S   T   W   I   A   Ld
Marshall Gernot   4   4   4   4   4   3   4   3   9

Cost: 160 points

Equipment: Great weapon, Full plate armour, Fang of the Winter Wolf

Special Rules:

   Magic Banner: One unit of Halberdiers, Spearmen, Swordsmen or Handgunners may carry a magic banner costing up to 50 points.

   Iron Discipline: Marshall Gernot has absolute control over his troops. Any friendly unit within 12” of him may reroll all failed rally tests. This does not apply if Marshall Gernot is himself fleeing, but he may still reroll his own failed rally tests (even if he has joined a unit).

   Fang of the Winter Wolf: An ancient and powerful relic normally kept at the High Temple of Ulric in Talabheim, the Fang grants Marshall Gernot a 4+ Ward Save. In addition, any time he is reduced below one wound, immediately roll a dice. On a roll of 5 or more, he is restored to one wound and the wounds suffered do not count towards combat resolution.

__________________________________________


Middenland

Herzog Adalbert Richter

http://www.warhammer-empire.com/wos/DP%20Middenland.htm

Herzog Adalbert Richter can be taken in a Middenland army. He counts as a lord choice, and must always be the general, even if another character with equal or higher leadership is present. He must be fielded exactly as presented, and may not have any additional equipment.

M   WS   BS   S   T   W   I   A   Ld
Herzog Richter   4   5   5   4   4   3   5   3   7
Warhorse      8   3   0   3   3   1   3   1   5

Cost: 160 points

Equipment: Wiesel, hand weapon, shield, full plate armour, barded warhorse

Special Rules:

Magic Banner: One unit of Halberdiers, Spearmen or Swordsmen may carry a magic banner costing up to 50 points.

   Wizardly Connections: Herzog Richter is one of the primary patrons of the Magician’s Guide in Middenheim, and as a result has unusually easy access to sorcerous artefacts. One character in the army, including Herzog Richter, may take a single magic item costing up to 50 points. This item is free – you do not need to pay the points cost to take it – and it may be chosen either from the Empire army book or from the Cult of Ulric army list. It counts towards the character’s magic item allowance as normal.

In addition, one Illusionist in the army may take up to 50 points of magic items instead of 25 points as normal. You must still pay the points for these items however.

   Wiesel: This finely-crafted sword has been in Herzog Richter’s family for generations, a gift from the Magician’s Guild in return for a particularly generous donation. It grants its wielder +1 Strength, and is Armour Piercing.
 
   Utter Fool: Herzog Richter has absolutely no talent for command, and his staff know it all too well. The Middenland player suffers –1 to the rolls to determine choice of table edge, order of deployment and first turn.

   Keep him busy!: After determining which army will take the first turn, but before beginning the game, roll a dice. On a roll of two or more, Herzog Richter has been persuaded to delegate the role of general to one of his aides instead. Choose any friendly character – that character now has Ld 9 and is considered to be the general for all purposes, instead of Herzog Richter. However, on a roll of one Herzog Richter will not listen and remains as the army general.


______________________________________


Kislev

Knyaz Makari

http://www.warhammer-empire.com/wos/DP%20Middenland.htm

Knyaz Makari can be taken as the commander of a Kislev Allied contingent in a Middenland army, or as the general of a Kislev army. He counts as a hero choice, and must always be the contingent commander/general as appropriate, even if another character with higher leadership is present. He must be fielded exactly as presented, and may not have any additional equipment.

         M   WS   BS   S   T   W   I   A   Ld
Knyaz Makari   4   6   4   4   4   2   5   4   8
Warhorse      8   3   0   3   3   1   3   1   5

Cost: 90 points

Equipment: Lance, hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, warhorse

Special Rules:

   Impetuous: Makari, and any unit he joins, is impetuous. After charges are declared, if any Impetuous units did not declare a charge but are within charge range of an enemy, then they must take a Leadership test to restrain themselves from charging. If this test is failed, they are forced to charge. If the test is passed, they may move normally.

   Glory Hound: Makari, and any unit he joins, must always pursue, and must roll an extra dice and chose the highest three (or two if the unit would normally pursue 2D6).

[Demonslayer]

They all look like very nice characters, though I don't really agree with the point costs...
Graf Martin is an Elector Count with two special rules, the advantage being compensated for by the penalty. However, though these rules balance each other out, Martin costs about 50 points less than a normal Elector Count.
I'm not sure about Marshall Gernot... He's not as good a fighter as an Elector Count, but he can hardly be killed. I think his cost is well-balanced.
Herzog Adalbert looks good to me   . I like the special rules for him, I think he's a balanced character.
Knyaz Makari is way underpriced, in my opinion. The "I have to charge" rule can be dealt with (besides, don't you want a fighter that good to charge?), and rolling an extra dice when pursuing actually sounds great when he's leading a hammer unit. I'd make his point cost a lot higher.

Apart from the costs, I really like the characters, though I don't think I'll be using them. I fight for Stirland, and I think it is well known by now that I don't really like Martin . Still, very nice characters .

[MixnMash]

Excellent new characters! - Can Middenland/Talabecland characters be taken as a character slot in the Middenland SoC/ Ulrican lists if these are being used? - maybe just the Middenland list?

- I would suggest that all of these characters are slightly underpriced, this is a good thing as they do not allow flexibility or the element of surprize and low cost encourages their use...

How many of us use the Runefang on a regular basis?

[rufus sparkfire]

Can Middenland/Talabecland characters be taken as a character slot in the Middenland SoC/ Ulrican lists if these are being used? - maybe just the Middenland list?

Middenland SoC list but not Cult of Ulric - the Cult list is not a proper army, and will not be led by the Middenland/Talabecland supreme commander.

Martin has a 'Runefang ist Suck' discount included.

Makari is kind of fragile (3+ armour save), and with Ld 8 he will fail his impetuous tests fairly often. He can also only join Kislev units, which aren't that good. But yes, he is a bit of a badass.

These characters aren't especially balanced, but nor are the Campaign army lists. They are meant to be fun - so feel free to adjust the points costs to whatever you and your opponent feel they should be.

[Midaski]

- the Cult list is not a proper army,

I resent that - it was certainly 'proper' yesterday afternoon when it dealt mayhem and carnage to some nasty Talabeclanders.

Makari is kind of fragile (3+ armour save), and with Ld 8 he will fail his impetuous tests fairly often. He can also only join Kislev units, which aren't that good. But yes, he is a bit of a badass.

Maybe I ought to resent the "aren't that good" as well, but my chance will come

Seriously though - if I can ever be - Can I take Makari as my contingent commander with CoU as the main army?
What do you think honourable Scrivener?

This is the way my 'Campaign Day' planning is going - it meets the 'alliance' factor, and may well add a slightly different flavour to straight Empire v. Empire.

[rufus sparkfire]

I meant that it's just a rabble of religeous fanatics rather than a modern and disciplined army - thus it doesn't reflect the composition of the Talabecland and Middenland forces.

But sure: Makari can command a Kislev contigent in a Cult of Ulric army if you want. So long as you don't have Richter as well.

[Midaski]

So if our faction wanted to, and we ran the fluff campaign Middenland list or an SoC Army of Middenland, we could have Richter and Makari

[rufus sparkfire]

Yes. That is why Makari is only a hero choice.

You could use Richter's special rule to make Makari Ld 9.

[WARRIOR2006]

Everyone forgot the ostermark characters.  The main character of my story im gng to finish in roughly 20 hours, will be one of ostermark

[AldebrandLudenhof]

Only just saw these rules. Most impressed, as in, nice and characterful and fun, this is exactly what I like special character rules to be like. The points costs are roughly right I think, they could be tweaked but only after testing. The point on kislev units being poor is good and correct, sadly. Though if I take any kislevite allies I'll be using RGBs much nicer kislev list