Night Fighting (Fear of the Dark).pdf

Fear of the Dark

Rules for Night Fighting in Mordheim

By Donato Ranzato

In the Night

Most people take it for granted that battles are fought during daylight hours, and so get a

clear view of the battlefield, thereby giving them plenty of unrealistic reconnaissance in

order to move troops into certain positions and launch pre-emptive strikes. In reality,

there were, of course, battles fought in daylight and for very good reasons, troops could

see what they were fighting and their comrades-in-arms could also see them fighting,

thereby allowing them to heap up large amounts of glory and honour in the eyes of their

peers. But night attacks were not altogether uncommon and in the Warhammer World

this is even more the case when there are so many races that are naturally nocturnal. The

Chaos Dwarfs live in dark caverns and lava pits, the Dark Elves relate to the night as their

element, Vampires and most active at night as are Necromancers and Skaven have perfect

night vision. Even Dwarfs, working in deep mines, feel quite at home in the dark. The

elements of surprise, Fear and Terror are enhanced many times in the dark and so,

armies such as Skaven, Undead and Dark Elves would choose generally to arrange night

attacks when their enemies are at their most vulnerable (especially Humans and Elves).

This article suggest additional, optional rules for battles by night, a few scenarios with

objectives, Night Stalkers who haunt the battlefields after dark, and for the criminally

insane, away of simulating night on the actual battlefield tabletop.

The Old World after Dark

The night holds many terrors for the inhabitants of the Old World. In the provinces of the

Empire, mothers tell stories to their children of the fiends who stalk their human prey

after dark, of Vampires and Ghouls who roam cemeteries and cross-roads preying upon

travellers. The High Elves recite tales of Night Trolls and restless spirits while the Orcs

speak of 'Woodz Wachez'. Almost every race is unsettled during the hours of darkness.

Travellers stop at inns for the night, whilst those who must continue on their journey

usually do so in large numbers, carrying talismans of purity and light and avoiding those

places where nocturnal creatures wait to drag their screaming prey into their lairs. But

there are those who greet the night with celebration; the Dark Elves, the Skaven and the

forces of Undead to name but a few. Battles often occurred by night, during the wars

against the Skaven, the Bretonnians had to withstand countless night raids and so created

weapons and armour which glowed with radiance, while during the wars of the Vampire

Counts, the battles were fought mainly at night, this time for attack chosen by the

Vampire Lords, who were strongest during the hours of darkness.

These are the rules that I've used to simulate night battles:

The Rules of the Dark

1) Terror: Because it is difficult to see, the range for the effects of Terror is reduced to

4", but because of the sounds associated with Terror causing creatures (e.g. the flapping

of a Dragon's wings or the hiss of a malevolent Wraith) and the natural eeriness of being

in the dark, there is a modifier of -2 Ld for Terror tests. Although this quite obviously

makes anything which causes Terror pretty nasty indeed! I felt that monsters, such as

Manticores, should be even more frightening charging out of the gloom or silhouetted in

a murky half-light.

2) All missile weapons firing at standard range are at -1 to hit, and at long range -2 to hit.

3) All psychology tests - Panic, Fear, etc. - are taken with a -1 modifier to Ld. This

represents the increased unease of combatants in the dark (note Terror is at -2 Ld).

4) Fighters with all types of bows have the option of using Flaming arrows . However

some restrictions do apply. The model moves at -1 to its movement since braziers have to

be carried in order to light the arrows. Each model using flaming arrows costs an

additional point. All attacks from flaming arrows count as flammable attacks and will

cause double wounds on flammable creatures. Any arrow that hits a Skaven Warpfire

thrower will cause it to blow up on the roll of a 4+ on a D6, even if no wounds have been

caused, as the fuel tank is ruptured and ignites.

5) Creatures immune to psychology will be unaffected by darkness modifiers for Ld tests

and will not flee faster. They simply shrug off the eerie effects of the darkness.

6) The range of Line of Sight spells is a maximum of 20". Wizards attune their eyes by

magic to the dark and so can see more clearly when spellcasting than other troops.

Wizards can still see beyond 20" but the accuracy of their spells would be in question and

so they do not risk casting spells too far in fear of hitting their own troops or setting fire

to a few trees, thus giving themselves away.

7) All cavalry charges may add +1 to combat resolution, representing the visual and

psychological impact of a cavalry charge from out of the gloom.

8) Some troops are nocturnal creatures and have excellent night vision and so are not

affected to these rules. Skaven, Night Goblins, Trolls, Vampires and Dark Elves can all

see in the dark naturally. Dwarf miners and Chaos Dwarfs have adapted their eyes to

darkness and acquired a form of night vision and undead has supernatural sight. Some

monster have night vision, including Manticores, Griffons, Hippogriffs and Swarms.

Daemons can see in the dark as if it was day! These races/creatures are able to ignore the

effects of the dark which are concerned with psychology, spells and missile fire. It is

suggested, when fighting a race that is not hampered by the dark, that an allowance of

100 GC be made to the player disadvantaged, to maintain the balance (unless, of course,

it is a specific scenario).

Battles by Moonlight

The Scenarios presented in the Mordheim Rule Book can be used with the above

modifications, but here is a short list of some others which relate more to battles at night.

1) THE VIP

One warband has been given the commission to escort an important Dignitary to a certain

destination. A Reikland warband may be escorting a Priest of Sigmar to an important

shrine, the Skaven may be escorting a disabled Grey Seer to a Wyrdstone mine.

However, because the enemy is close behind and shadowing them, the warband must

continue to travel without rest, by night, even through dangerous territory to reach their

destination. Before arriving there, they find that their way is blocked by a large part of the

pursuing warband. Battle begins at nightfall and to the defending warband it is paramount

that the VIP survives.

Objective: The VIP should be represented in an appropriate way. He must be taken to the

opposite side of the battlefield. He may only be represented on foot and cannot ride a

mount of any kind. The VIP must pass through to the other side of the battlefield and

survive in order for the objective to be completed. The enemy must obviously prevent

this from happening. The VIP may be any type of character apart from the warband

leader.

Deployment: As usual, but the side escorting the VIP sets up last, as opposition is

already deployed blocking the escape route the VIP's warband was following.

Game length: 5 turns to complete.

Victory: Unless the VIP is killed or escorted safely to the other table edge, then use the

standard Victory points system otherwise, it's quite obvious!

2) SNEAK ATTACK

One warband with an affinity to darkness has decided to attack the enemy while it

slumbers. Of course, the sentries will spot their mass deployment and the planned attack

but it will be too late. The attacker deploys after the defender and the attacker takes the

first turn.

Deployment: As usual.

Scenery: Will be the same as usual - but the defender may place D6 makeshift huts or

tents within his deployment zone to represent his camp, after all Scenery has been placed.

Game length: 5 turns.

Victory points: Use the standard system.

3) DAWN RAID

One warband decides to march on an enemy settlement during the night. The opposing

warband is residing within a abandoned church and has not posted any guard. The

attacking warband arrives somewhat exhausted after a long march but charges in

immediately. The defenders hear the warband approaching and are able to prepare

themselves.

Deployment: 12" from flanks, 24' from defender's deployment zone. The attacker

deploys first and takes the first turn.

Scenery: The scenery is determined in the usual way.

Game length: 5 turns. However, because the attackers spent most of the night travelling,

the attack comes near dawn and so only the first 3 turns of each side are fought under

night-time conditions. The last 2 turns are fought under standard conditions.

Victory points: These are as usual, plus there is + 1 victory point for each attacking unit

within the boundaries of the village at the end of the last turn.

Stalkers in the Darkness

The Old World is haunted by many strange and fabulous beasts. Many are bound by

sorcery to fight in battles, many are allied to a just and noble cause and others to the

forces of Chaos. There are those, however, who owe no allegiance to any master and who

simply exist to plague the living. Joyless beings devoid of remorse and full of hatred,

such denizens stalk the moonlit moors, the darkened, dusty roads and the foreboding

forests throughout the Old World. Little is known of such creatures, many are shadows of

the past when the world was still young and in its primal state.

However, they have remained enshrined in the legends and fairy tales of the Old World

and when battles are fought in the dead of night these creatures are lured to the smell and

the sounds of the wounded and the dying.

If you wish to include Night Stalkers in your night battles, roll a D3 at the start of the

battle to determine the number that are attracted to the battlefield.

Then roll a D6 to determine which Night Stalkers are present:

1-2 Night Troll

3-4 Nightmare

5 Black Hag

6 Grendel

Randomly select a piece of scenery for each Night Stalker to start within 2" of.

Every movement phase, the Night Stalkers will move 2D6" in a random direction (in a

similar fashion to Chaos Spawn, using the scatter dice). The exception is the Nightmare

which moves 3D6". Upon contact with any model (with the exception of each other),

each Night Stalker has special rules about the consequences...

A Night Stalker may end up moving through an entire unit, in which case every model it

touches is affected! The Night Stalkers are so sudden, not to mention terrifying, that they

cannot be attacked by any means and simply blend back into the darkness, so they cannot

be targeted by missiles or spells.

Night Troll

These terrifying creatures are similar in appearance to their kin the Stone Trolls but of a

much darker complexion, Clad in tattered rags and adorned in the bones of their victims,

these Trolls seek the flesh of the living on which to feed. They are attributed in myth to

utter a deep guttural sound, akin to mocking laughter before they tear their Prey to pieces.

Should any man-sized model be unfortunate enough to stumble across a Night Troll it

seizes its victim with large brutish clawed hands, bellows a laugh and rends its hapless

prey to pieces. The model must roll under its Strength in order to break free or else be

torn limb from limb and suffer D6 wounds with no save! Only the strongest and most

durable opponents will survive but if they do they will have to take a panic test. The

Troll, after attacking the victim, will not stop but will continue to move and eat until or

unless the victim can break free.

I used a Troll model on a standard base, painted dark brown and grey (alternatively you

could use a Chaos Spawn template).

Nightmare

The first sounds that are heard are the thundering of hooves and then out of the gloom a

ghostly steed emerges, spitting fire from its nostrils, eyes blazing with incandescent light

and snorting a terrible, haunting cry. Charging recklessly at anything in its path, the steed

vanishes into the darkness as suddenly as it appeared. Anyone charged by the steed

suffers a S5 hit which counts as a chill attack (see Wraiths), the effects of which last until

the end of the next turn. Units hit by the Nightmare must take a panic test. I used the

model of a black steed and painted it with glowing red eyes (or you could use the

template).

Black Hag

Known by many names, the Black Hag has an unquenchable hunger for flesh. Straggly

hair as black as pitch contrasts with pale skin and the flayed hides of her victims that

hang about her in the parody of human clothing, the Hag stalks her victims and attacks

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