Topic: [Experimental] Characters for the Campaign

[Michael W]

I was a little bored, so I drew up short descriptions, names, and rules for characters (and a possible war machine).  I'm not sure what people were thinking for a forest-clearing flamethrower, but a personally-toted version seemed too...modern.  So I thought, how about the Empire's take on the Flame Cannon?  Anyway, here it is. 

Chief Engineer Archarius Tulenborg
   Archarius Tulenborg is an elderly engineer with a short temper, who considers himself a genius (and there are few who can deny it).  He takes his inventions into the field more often than other engineers, but is smart enough to keep his distance when he does, relying on more traditional and reliable weaponry on his person.  He is a canny old gent whose constant barking and grumbling, comparative with the best of the Dwarf Longbeards, can actually prove useful to those around him.
   Tulenborg may be included in an Empire army.  He uses up a Lord choice.
                 Cost     M     WS     BS     S     T     W     I     A     Ld
Tulenborg   315     4       3       5      3      4      3      3      1      9
Equipment:  Tulenborg carries a Hochland long rifle, a repeater pistol, and a hand weapon.  He    wears light armour.
SPECIAL
   Master of Ballistics, Extra Crewman
   Marksman Extraordinaire:  If Tulenborg has joined a handgunner unit and does not fire his own weapon, that unit recieves a +1 bonus to hit during the shooting phase.
   Pre-primed Artillery:  Any war machine joined by Tulenborg may move and fire in the same turn.
   Barrage Fire: Before the game begins, if Tulenborg is on the field, D3 Empire war machines may fire at the enemy.  This occurs after any other pre-game activity (ie, Bretonnian prayers, etc) All normal restrictions (range, line of sight, etc) still apply.

Archmagos Brachart of the Grey College
   Brachart has risen far within the ranks of the secretive Grey College, but as with most members of his order, few know he exist at all.  However, when secrecy is called for, Brachart is the man for the job.  He carries with him an ancient black seal, capable of suppressing or dispelling the effects of enemy magic completely.
   Brachart may be included in an Empire army.  He uses up a Lord choice.
                 Cost     M     WS     BS     S     T     W     I     A     Ld
Tulenborg   280     4       3       3      3      4      3      3      1      8
Equipment:  Brachart carries a dagger (hand weapon) and carries The Obsidian Seal.
Magic: Brachart is a Level 3 wizard.  He rolls as normal for spells of the Lore of Shadow.
SPECIAL
   Poisoned Blow: Brachart's dagger is Poisoned.
   The Obsidian Seal: This is treated exactly as a Seal of Destruction, from the Empire army book, except that it has D3 charges (roll at the beginning of the battle).
   Unobtrusive: Brachart is a member of the most secretive and silent of all Imperial magical orders.  He will never volunteer to be the officer in charge.  As a result, Brachart can never be an army general.

Tulenborg's Spectacular Tormentor of Annihilationistic Incineration
   (aka, Dragon's Maw)
   The Dragon's Maw is Tulenborg's wild new invention for clearing forests by burning them out.  Based on the study of a Dwarven flame cannon and observations of such instruments in action, the Dragon's Maw is a mobile artillery piece, designed to move forward with the main battleline and sow destruction amongst enemy ranks.  With some foresight, Tulenborg saw fit to both outfit the machine with an arrow-deflecting shield and to request that the crew be issued armour, due to their expected close proximity to the enemy.  While destructive, Tulenborg's Dragon's Maws are expensive and notoriously difficult to maintain, and are not likely to be seen in large numbers any time soon.
   A Dragon's Maw may be included in an Empire army.  It uses up a Rare choice.
                      Cost     M     WS     BS     S     T     W     I     A     Ld
Dragon's Maw   85      -       --       --      -      7      3      -      --      -
Crewman          --      4       3       3      3      3      1      3      1      7
Unit Size:  Dragon's Maw and three crewmen.
Equipment:  The crewmen carry hand weapons and wear light armour.
SPECIAL
Pavise: The front of the Dragon's Maw is armoured, to deflect enemy fire as it advances.  This    grants a +2 armour save to the crewmen against enemy missile fire.
Mobile Artillery: The Dragon's Maw is a war machine, but may move and fire in the same turn.
New-fangled Invention: Like the Helblaster and the Helstorm, the Dragon's Maw may not benefit    from an Engineer's Master of Ballistics rule.
Firing the Dragon's Maw:  The Dragon's Maw may be fired in one of two ways - either a long-range burst or a short range blast. 
   If firing a blast, place the flame template so that the narrow end is touching the end of the Dragon's Maw's barrel.  Roll a D6; on a roll of 1, consult the misfire chart.  Otherwise, any enemy models completely under the template are hit automatically; those partially under are hit on a 4+.  The hits are resolved at S4, with a -2 armour save.  These are Flaming attacks.
   If firing a burst, guess a range at any target within sight, up to 24".  Mark that spot, and then roll the artillery die and the scatter die.  If a misfire comes up, consult the misfire chart.  If it does not, halve the number on the artillery die and scatter the shot in the appropriate distance and direction.  Once the point of impact has been determined, place the 3" template on the point.  Models completely under are hit       automatically, models partially under are hit on a 4+.  Hits are resolved at S4, with a -2 armour save.  These are Flaming attacks.
Misfire Chart:
1-2 - The Dragon's Maw explodes, sending gouts of burning fuel in all directions.  Place the large (5") template directly on the war machine.  Models fully covered are hit automatically, and models partially under are hit on a 4+.  Hits are resolved at S4, with a -2 armour save, and    are Flaming.
3-4 - A pressure leak prevents the weapon from firing.  Hoses must be replaced, so the weapon will not fire this turn or next.
5 - The lever jams; the Dragon's Maw does not fire this turn.  It may be fired as normal in the following turn.
6 - An overpressured explosion tears out of the barrel.  Trace a line 6d6" long.  All models touched    by the line suffer a S4 hit with a -2 armour save.  This damage is Flaming.  The Dragon's    Maw will not fire in the subsequent turn, as parts must be hurriedly replaced.

[Wyzer1]

Great ideas, but I think that the characters are way overpriced and the artillery piece is underpriced

If I were to stick a price on them, it would be ~200 for the engineer, ~175 for the wizard, and 95-110 for the war machine

Besides points cost, very well written and thought out

[Michael W]

The wizard has a d3 use 50-pt magic item...I figured give him the middle price (100 pts) and hope one gets lucky.

The engineer's price is way up due to the barrage thing - otherwise, yes, he'd be way less.

Do you think the war machine is really that pricey?  It's only S4, and very limited in its range...

[Wyzer1]

Actually, I think you might be spot on with the war machine. I thought about it a bit, and I think your right. Is it a rare choice?

The engineer is still too pricey. Lots of his abilities clash with one another to, meaning that even though he has a bunch of abilities they cant all be used. I also don't know about the pre-game artillery thing. Its kind of a hokey sorta rule... would be useful, but its not something GW would do

The wizard is still IMO too expensive. Since hes level 3, I'm assuming hes a lord. He lacks the hard-hitting nature of a level 4, so you really wouldn't want to take him in a magic heavy army (is he on foot?)

Next is the fact that since hes a lord, you forfeit other (cheaper and IMO better) lord choices

I love your ideas though, don't get me wrong. Maybe instead of d3 scrolls you could do something else... Maybe lower his points abit, and give him the option to cast 1 spell per game with irresistible force, or something cool like that. Maybe some "Grey" themed bound spell

BTW, where did you get the "Dragons Maw" idea from? Wasn't that on Medieval total war or something, sounds awfully familiar

[Michael W]

True about the Engineer's confliction, but I don't like characters who are just good at one thing.  The whole army is then built around him.  The pre-game artillery is...eh, it is potentially overpowered ("Okay, before the game I...*dice are rolled*...Kill your giant, shatter your lord's chariot, and drop a mortar shot into your massed T3 infantry.  Okay, shall we roll for turn?").  They're all just suggestions, so I appreciate the feedback.

The wizard is, by definition, 175 points base (Level 3, no upgrades).  I figured, nobody ever fields level 3's...why not make a special character out of one?  He's near the top, but not quite there.  Yes he's on foot, and yes he's a lord (as is the Engineer).  I added 5 pts for poison and 100 for his item (which is more than just a scroll, it also has a 50/50 chance to destroy a spell).  I was trying to give him an item that fit his mission - to limit the Nemesis Crown's power long enough to return it to Altdorf.  So to replace (or change) the Obsidian Seal, I'd prefer to make it some sort of anti-magic item.  But what about a grey-themed ability - something to do with secrecy and stealth?

Dragon's Maw?  Just made it up...never played Total War, I'm afraid (the Comp's a bit slow). 

[Jerok]

I really like these! I'm glad you started off the Engineer thing (if you don't mind i'll be using it as influence on my 'full' write up for him.) but the Wizard isn't really decided yet. Also, I was thinking that the Flamethrower idea would be more like a Skaven Gun Team (aka. small Warmachine with 2 crew), but i'm still thinking on it. I like the Dragons Maw idea for a name as well. I'll be sure to consult with you before I post up my rough draft.

Jerok

(P.S. - I edited the title of the thread with an [Experimental] because, well, they are.)

[Oss]

Mages of the Grey College are supposed to be Masters of secrecy and illusion, so why not give him an ability that reflects that and supports his army?

Maybe he grants scouting to a unit normally unable to do so, or you get to redeploy one of your units at the end of deployment (i.e. he casts a magic illusion of the unit, while it gets into another position)?

The basic Idea is to have something like Skarsniks sneaky schemes, though maybe not as powerful and rather supporting your own plans than disrutping the enemy's.

[Michael W]

Oss, I like the second suggestion - redeploy.  That's a great example of the battlefield uses of a Shadow Wizard.  However, it would have to come with the restriction that this could not be used on a parent unit with detachments - that's three units instead of one and such problems.

Jerok, they're all just suggestions.  If we decide we want a bright wizard or a jade wizard or whatever instead, that's fine.  I just noticed a surpring amount of support for the idea of our own wizard in the survey section and figured, hey, let's start talking about who this would be.

I don't like the idea of the flamethrower being the size of a Skaven gun team - those units are too easy to just destroy in Turn 1 with any missile troops with 30" range, or they spend all but one turn hiding behind an infantry unit.  I figured a full war machine fit better with gameplay feasability (after all, we Empire players often complain about useless units, like our Engineer - why would we create another one?) and with Empire style (we have 4 full war machines already, but no little ones - seems like another full-sized one is in order).  And hey, if it's a decent (but not overpriced) creation, maybe Empire players will have something to use their rare slots on besides DoW...

Thanx for the [Experimental]. 

[offroadfury88]

or perhaps you could do something like the tomb kings banner for the wizard. on unit is not deployed and then an time during the game they can be deployed withen like 10 inches of the wizard. the would have to be unit strength 10 at the most and they would have to make a leadership test or go completly insane from the magic hiding them. hows that?

i never like the forest burning idea so i dont like the flame thrower.  and besides the skaen have flame thrower and th dwarves have a flame thrower. why not give them somthing new and unique, or just not give a new war machine, we already got a new rocket launcher.

the master engineer is good, i like him.  the barrage is a good idea though, just like the elven sea guard list. but i would drop every thing else give him the same stats as an engineer but keep the BS 5, give him the barrage special rule and make him a special, or two specials at most

[Veldemere]

Good work Michael, that has really sparked some discussion as to the characters.

The engineer- Seems fine, some interesting ideas (not quite sure fluff wise how being in a unit would give +1s but I suppose there are other things like that), one thing is for sure there is no way I would take him at that point cost, empire is not about expensive characters.

Arghmagus- Like the idea of grey order, like the idea of redeploy or hidden unit (maybe just allows 1 unit to be deployed in front of the deployment zone eithin 8" of him, similar to suggested before). Do not like the idea of the Archmagus of an order being lvl 3, either he should be level 4 or maybe he should be a member of the order trying to boost his chances of becoming Archmagus by assisting the Counts and Nobles during this campaign to garner support.

Flamethrower- I still do not like the mass deforestation idea either. Flame cannons exist, if there is to be one it should be almost the same rules, although I don't think it should be allowed in Empire list. I would prefer it if it were more of a lightweight fragile skaven-like machine as it would show how this terrible plan had been hastily thought up by loonies bent on destruction without any finesse.