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I've started to write up a Reikland Mercenaries list, and this being my first warband I was hoping someone could clear up a few points for me:

When purchasing henchmen (in this case marksman) is it possible to buy them in multiple seperate groups (say 5 groups of 1) so that I could arm them differently? Or is it that I am only allowed to buy one group of Marksmen which must be armed the same?

Is there a distinct benefit to buying henchmen in larger groups or is it for the sake of simplicity/warband roster space?

You can buy them one in a group, or buy them in groups of up to five per group. Buy buying in groups of five will allow you to have more warriors to keep you heroes safer.

Not sure what the above poster is getting at, really. 5 group of 1, 1 group of 5, its still the same number of henchmen to protect your heroes?

Its as much for simplicity as anything. When your henchmen gain experience and you get 5 different rolls? Good luck keeping exact track of who has what over a long campaign not too hard, but not as convenient as it could be.

Its also a question of whether or not you get lucky with advancement rolls. If you have a group of 5 and roll say, an extra attack, then that group will be awesomesauce. If you roll 5 groups of 1 you could get a WS, a Ld, some I etc. and that wouldn't be as useful as 5 more attacks. In the end its down to what you want

Also, if your henchman goes out of action, you have a 1/3 chance of him not getting back up. So having them in groups of 1 or 2 means that you have a good chance of losing all that experience, whereas if you have 3-5, chances are at least 1 will survive so you can purchase more guys for that henchman group at the experience level they have. Costs a little extra gc to do so, but it can be worth it.

Since I tend to arm mine differently (bow, longbow, crossbow, handgun etc) I think that this not only brings more tools to the game, but also mitigates risk regarding advancements. I'd rather not end up with all the bows gaining +WS or +I because of fudged rolls.

Keeping all of your henchmen in 1 man groups also allows you greater opportunity to get 'that lads got talent' to get you up to 6 henchmen, and/or replace youngbloods.

Further, after the first or second upgrade, you can buy more experienced guys (if available) to add to those groups that rolled bs upgrades.

Cruentus wrote:Keeping all of your henchmen in 1 man groups also allows you greater opportunity to get 'that lads got talent' to get you up to 6 henchmen, and/or replace youngbloods.

Further, after the first or second upgrade, you can buy more experienced guys (if available) to add to those groups that rolled bs upgrades.

For that exact same reason I see that having many groups of 1 are more effective. More experience rolls for survival = more chance of getting a 10-12 and more chance of +1BS.

This brings me to my next question:

For the triple 3 result for exploration in Mordheim, it states:
"Other warbands can escort the prisoners out of the city. For their trouble, they are rewarded with 2D6 gc. In addition, one of the prisoners decides he wishes to join the warband. If you can afford to equip the new recruit with weapons and armour, you may add a new Henchman to any of your human Henchman groups (with the same stats as the rest of the group, even if they have already accumulated experience)."

Does this mean the new henchman must be added to an existing henchmen group or is it possible to create a new group? I am looking to flesh out my force with some more warriors to slow down the enemy/cause rout checks before the enemy gets to my ranged henchmen. Since at the moment I have no warriors I'm looking for ways to make the most out of my treasury.

Good question. It does say "add to one of your henchman goups" so go with that. Alternatively, ask your opponents if it would be OK with them to have him be a new group of one.
Adding this guy to a group with advances is the real bonus of this.

Normally it costs extra gold to hire henchmen into a group with experience, getting a free experienced henchman is pretty good. So I would have no problem if I were in your campaign and you wanted to instead make a new group with the guy, since you'd lose the free advances and experience.

After playing Tomb Guardians, the strangest thing happened which caused me to question the relation between Undead and injuries.

Does it strike no one else as odd that a Tomb King can be 'Captured' given he is undead, same as a Vampire?

Also how is it possible for a Tomb Guard, Acolyte, Liche Priest or Tomb King to be Blinded in one eye or Blinded in both and forced to leave the warband? This is mainly because being skeletons they have no eyes.

Since we're playing straightforward Mordheim with no houseruling at the moment, this is of some concern...

Also: am I right in thinking that Tomb Guard can get experience because only Skeletons as specified in the Undead rules cannot gain experience? Since Tomb Guard are not 'Skeletons' (only Skeleton Warriors are by name) they should be capable of gaining experience as per regular.

Well with captive if its another undead warband, they can kill the captive and gain a zombie.. Here is where I would either give a zombie or a skeleton warrior as a house rule..

Now for the eye part.. Even though undead do not have eyes, treat the heroes as if they do based on the rules as written in the book.. Now I have not looked for a FAQ to see if its been FAQ'ed or if the living mordheim rulebook states the necessary rules for this scenario..

About your first questions, a good point about having big groups is that they share experience.
example :
- if two of your "one man groups" kill an enemy, each of these groups will have one kill added to their experience but unfortunately, only two characters will be concerned.
- if two characters of your "five men groups" kill an enemy, this group will have two kills added to his experience and all the five members of the group will gain the benefits of having killed two enemies (i.e. bigger groups gain experience faster and therefore, have more often occasions to get the 'that lads got talent' result)

Just a quick point, henchmen don't get experience for kills, unless you've house ruled it.

Thejokerguy wrote:Just a quick point, henchmen don't get experience for kills, unless you've house ruled it.

There are some scenario's that allow henchmen to gain extra points of experience. I believe they were the community made scenario because its not in the book.. Your right by gw rules henchmen do not gain xp for killing only just for surviving a scenario, but then again I could be confused seeing I have had three days of finals lmao..

You guys must be right, I don't have any occasion to play so i didn't read the manual for a long while.

I believed there was a way for henchmen to get XP for some kind of achievements which would encourage the player to use big groups instead of individual groups, I don't really remember, I'll have to look at it again.

PS : sorry for my poor english and for using inaccurate names for game related stuff but I only read the rules in french...

edit : I was both right and wrong. Indeed only heroes earn XP from killing enemies. But on the other hand, with the scenarios 3 and 4 from the official rulebook, henchmen can obtain XP for special achievements (rule "Wyrdstone Counter" for scenario 3 and "Breaking through" for scenario 4).
Anyway, the possibility of purchasing new henchmen with the same experience as the rest of the group is the biggest benefit.

This is why I buy henchmen in groups of 1 with 1 experience after warband creation. It means in the next encounter, simply surviving means a level up and with a greater variety of possible outcomes it means I haven't invested too much into marksmen with +1I, +1WS and +1Ld.

Buying in large groups also means naming them becomes ridiculous in Army Builder.

Henchmen can never gain additional XP in general unless we're talking unofficial scenarios. The only XP they gain is +1 for surviving.

Another question: I know that ornaments/decorations on the model such as feather etc do not count for the purpose of line of sight, however do weapons such as daggers or larger weapons such as halberds/spears count for LoS?

Except you can't buy henchmen with experience unless you're adding them to an existing henchman group.

Seeing as how the henchman track is pretty quick to gain advancements compared to the heroes in the game, gaining xps is a moot point, it happens quickly, even of just surviving, plus the two scenarios specified above.. I've never played a campaign where most of my henchman weren't eventually maxed out.

Oh, and weapons and spears/halberds also don't count for LOS purposes, I think it's mentioned under 'the models are static' discussion.