1. Playing the Campaign

Playing the Campaign - Full Rules

The Warband That Makes History!

Designed for 4–10 warbands, our story begins in the early spring of 2000 I.C., the 25th of the month of Nachexen, some 3–4 weeks after the comet struck the city (which locals call The Doom). You can play a short campaign of 10 turns or a long campaign of 20 turns which climaxes on Geheimnistag, the Night of Mystery.

The objective of the Mayhem in Mordheim campaign is to lead your warband to become the most consequential company of warriors from the era. History will forget the former glory of the city only to remember its destruction, the evil forces that arose in the aftermath, and the mad rush to reap wyrdstone. The warband which wins the campaign becomes a legend in their own time, the exploits of which are told far beyond the borders of the Empire. They will leave an indelible mark in the tragedy of Mordheim which future scholars, bards, and chroniclers will hold as the personification of these troubled times.

The warbands in our story, however, harbour no thoughts of legacy. They are obsessed by far more banal desires, namely that of becoming rich! In addition to looting valuables left behind by fleeing Mordheim citizens, wyrdstone (later known as warpstone) becomes the most sought after prize as rumours quickly spread of its shards being sold for extravagant sums in the Empire’s larger cities of Altdorf, Marienburg, Middenheim and Nuln; or to powerful masters elsewhere such as Skaven’s Blight, the Chaos Wastes or Castle von Carstein. The value of wyrdstone in the immediate region pales in comparison. Thus warbands try to gather as much of the glowing rock as they can for the day they leave the doomed city. Unbeknownst to them, this success will be noted in the history books, along with any involvement (planned or happenstance) confronting the dark powers arising in the region.

A warband’s notability is represented by Mayhem Victory Points (MVPs). The player with the most MVPs at the campaign’s end wins Mordheim Mayhem. In the basic campaign MVPs are earned through wyrdstone and rare dark artefacts warbands possess in their treasury. Other optional sources for victory points, described later, can be added should your gaming group wish to use them.

• 1 Wyrdstone shard = 1 MVP

• Dark Artefact = 1–3 MVPs

• Optional MVPs

Mayhem Victory Points

Each wyrdstone shard is worth 1 mayhem victory point. Warbands gather most of their wyrdstone from post battle exploration rolls, as described in the Mordheim rulebook. The challenge of Mayhem in Mordheim is to find a balance between selling wyrdstone to upkeep and improve your warband while still amassing a trove of wyrdstone to achieve campaign victory.

To compensate the revenue losses from stockpiled wyrdstone, most scenarios offer rewards in cash or services to warbands that complete their missions. Many secondary objectives within games and optional Side Quests also provide alternate means of fortune for those who can claim them.

Wyrdstone

There are four unique Dark Artefacts that can be discovered during the course of our story which give mayhem victory points to warbands possessing them. Each is infested with dark magic. Using them spreads tales of their powers and tragic consequences. All dark artefacts begin with zero mayhem victory points, but as our story progresses MVPs increase to a maximum of three. More on this in the Dark Artefacts section of the rules.

Dark Artefacts

Some optional campaign rules include the possibility of earning MVPs if your gaming group wishes to use them, including Warrior Accolades and rewards from Side Quests. Each is detailed in it’s own section. It is easy to add these victory conditions later in the campaign, so you can start with just the basics.

Optional MVPs

Warbands need to do more than just find sources of MVPs, you need to keep them! The entire treasury of your warband is carried with you on to the table top (warbands begin the campaign with a free treasure chest). This gives both you and your opponent the opportunity to rob each other’s treasury during battles. It is also possible to lay an Ambush against other warbands in the hopes of having a better chance to steal their valuables.

In short, the roads to renown are many. Plotting the course between your warband’s immediate needs and its long term goals is the challenge all leaders face. Many warbands will hoard their valuables, others attempt to steal it from opponents, while some manipulate the individuals and factions in our story to leverage triumph. Winning a scenario may not be as important to campaign victory as earning a secondary objective or snatching an unguarded treasure chest during a battle.

How will you guide your warband to be forever remembered in the annals of the Old World?

Warband Treasury

Mayhem in Mordheim needs someone to run the campaign. While most gaming groups have one or more organisers to gather players and arbitrate rules, the complexity of the Mayhem story and the mechanics of the campaign itself require a dedicated Campaign Administrator (CA) to make it function. Examples of the many things a CA needs to carry out are; resolving which warbands play one another each turn, recording the progress of plot lines, and maintaining the standing of warbands so players know at all times who is winning.

The campaign administrator need not be a single person. Folks can take turns sharing the responsibility or a number of people can get together to prepare and resolve campaign chapters. All CAs should be very familiar with the Mordheim game, both its table top and campaign rules, as well as acquaint themselves with the mechanics of Mayhem in Mordheim. CAs can fully participate in the campaign with their own warband.

How to run a Mayhem in Mordheim campaign is fully explained in the Administrator guide. If you wish to run the campaign, read the player’s section first before going on to the CA’s section.

The Campaign Administrator

Campaign Chapters

Campaign turns in Mayhem in Mordheim are called chapters. They represent seven to ten days of time during which warbands explore the ruins for wyrdstone, sell loot, gather information, buy equipment, and find new recruits. During their excursions in and around Mordheim warbands will encounter or hear of tasks/missions that someone (or something) is willing to pay to have accomplished. As warbands are routinely strapped for cash, most eagerly undertake such errands to earn extra gold and supplies. These operations form the bulk of the campaign’s scenarios.

At the start of each chapter your campaign administrator should publish all the information needed to play the current chapter, a “document” we call the Turn Chronicle. Turn Chronicles can come in many forms from dedicated websites, to pdfs, or even just links to the relevant pages here on the MiM-website. Details include the turn’s scenarios, warband standings (who’s winning), and any special/optional campaign rules in effect during the turn.

  Turn chronicles can contain more than just chapter information. Battle reports, pictures from your games, or articles detailing the backgrounds of warbands, etc. can all be great additions to turn chronicles. More on the Turn Chronicle and details of how to prepare it in the Administrator guide.

Turn Chronicle

For every chapter of Mayhem in Mordheim four unique scenarios have been written representing jobs/missions issued by one or more factions from the camps surrounding Mordheim: Sigmar’s Haven, Brigandsburg, Cutthroat’s Den, and the Black Pit. The number of scenarios presented to players each turn is determined by the number of warbands in the campaign: two scenarios for a campaign involving 4 or 5 warbands, three scenarios for 6 or 7, and all four scenarios for 8 or more warbands. Your warband will only take part in one of these missions. Any turn scenarios not presented by your CA should be disregarded and removed from the campaign.

  Should your gaming group have the full 10 warbands playing MiM (first, congratulations!), a 5th Down-On-Their-Luck scenario, will also be available each turn. Down-on-their-luck games are not unique missions like the chapter scenarios, but rather familiar ones from the Mordheim rulebook touched up to better fit Mayhem in Mordheim.

Scenarios

Once you receive the turn’s scenarios you must rank them in order of which you would like to play most. Scenario Ranking is the strongest influence a player has to land the mission they want for their warband. The first scenario in your list is given top priority and receives the most mission points from ranking. This is followed by the second scenario in your list and so on. Ranking represents the effort that your warband puts into getting a commission. If your warriors spend more time convincing a Cutthroat’s Den guild boss of your bona fides than they are listening around the Black Pit for rumours of work, your warband has a far better chance of acquiring the Cutthroat’s Den mission over a Black Pit errand.

You then inform your campaign administrator of your choices. We suggest using the Player Start of Chapter Worksheet to record your rankings in the Scenario Rankings table. The table has the following columns:

• Rank

• Scenario Name

• Issuing Settlement(s)

• vs New Player

Write the scenario name of your top choice into the box next to Rank 1, followed by your next choice to Rank 2, etc. until all the scenarios sent to you have a rank. There are 4 levels of ranking which equals the maximum number of written scenarios each turn (your gaming group may or may not use all of them).

Next record the names of the issuing settlements listed in each scenario in the Issuing Settlement(s) column.

The last vs New Player-column is optional. It can be used to indicate to your CA your preference to play against warbands you have rarely encountered over involvement in that specific scenario. On a scale of 1–5 record your degree of preference, where 1 equals a slight inclination and 5 a strong wish. In other words, what is more important to you; playing this very game or giving up that game in order to play against somebody you haven’t played against very often (perhaps at all). You can record a different number into each rank if you so choose. Leaving the box empty indicates that you in no way want to give up the opportunity to play that scenario, even if you would play against a same opponent again.

Ranking Scenarios

The start of turn worksheet has several other tables to record many actions you can perform at the beginning of a campaign chapter. Each of these actions will be fully described in their own section. When you have finished filling out the worksheet, return it to your Campaign Administrator so they can award scenarios to players.

Other Start of Turn Actions

Upon receiving the scenario rankings of all players, the CA resolves which warbands will play which missions and against whom. Scenarios are awarded to warbands with the most mission points. Very often this is a player’s first choice from their scenario rankings unless several warbands also rank the same scenario as their top choice. If you do not get to play your first choice, next best in line is your second choice, then third, forth, etc. Campaign administrators break ties in mission points randomly.

Scenario mission points are calculated from a combination of the following:

• Scenario Ranking

• Mission points that come from Settlement Loyalty

• Reputations and other influential factors (like Loyalty Symbols) earned/found within the campaign.

Your top ranked scenario receives 4 mission points, the second rank 2 mission points, the third 1 mission point, and the fourth zero points. This holds true even if your campaign is not using all scenarios. In a turn with only two games, your top choice gets 4 points and your bottom choice (rank #2) gets two points.

Settlement Loyalty is fully explained in its own section, but briefly as warbands succeed in scenarios they gain prominence in the camps that hired them. Each point of loyalty generates a mission point for all future scenarios issued by that settlement.

Finally, the actions or even blind luck of warbands can result in gaining a Reputation (for good or ill). Each reputation has a score that generates positive or negative mission points depending upon the gossip told of warbands. A reputation effects the mission point scores of all settlements as rumours and canards quickly spread throughout the region. Reputations can also be lost. Each reputation is fully explained in the scenario or campaign chapter in which it appears.

Exact details on how scenarios are awarded can be found in the Campaign Administrator Guide of Mayhem in Mordheim.

Mission Points

Playing Scenarios

Once the CA has informed players of their game and opponent, you can get to gaming! Beyond some optional rules, the only change to the pre-battle sequence from the Mordheim rulebook is obviously how scenarios are selected, which has already been done. The only new rules which directly affect game play are carried items, which are fully explained in their own section. In short, since your treasury is now brought on to the table each game, these rules cover how to move, protect, and possibly steal the treasury of opposing warbands.

Mayhem in Mordheim scenarios typically use a standard 6 sided die (D6) for most dice rolls. At times D2, D3, D100 and Scatter Dice are also used. If you do not have access to scatter dice you can use other methods to randomly select a direction (like clock directions by rolling a D12 or make your own scatter dice by marking sides with arrows).

Dice

Rolling Off

Many scenarios have times when players need to randomly determine the order in which they make choices. In these cases a Roll Off is often called for. Each player involved rolls a D6, re-rolling any ties. The order of choices/events is determined by the player(s) rolling from the highest to the lowest rolls.

For example, proper wargaming etiquette states that players should roll off if they cannot come to an agreement over a rules dispute, the winner making a temporary ruling that you can fully resolve after the game.

Post Battle Sequence

At the end of your game go through the normal post battle sequence in the Mordheim rulebook with only two additions: recovering uncontrolled carried items (fully detailed in the carried items rules) and earning settlement rewards.

Each game pays a settlement reward to warbands that complete the mission as explained in the scenario. This is most often the winner of the battle but some scenarios have other requirements to earn payment. Rewards vary from recompense in gold or equipment, to valuable services such as helping your warband search for wyrdstone. Most scenarios have rewards from two different settlements. Unless otherwise noted, winning warbands can choose which of the rewards they want, but not both. This represents the warband delivering the objective of the mission to the settlement they accept the reward from.

Additionally, warbands often receive recognition in the form of settlment loyalty points. Loyalty represents the various factions within a settlement having a positive view of a warband. The higher your loyalty, the more benefits a camp will bestow on you, including being awarded missions from that settlement in future turns. The winner of a game most often earns loyalty, but not always. More on Settlement Loyalty in its own section.

Settlement Rewards

A few missions are labeled as versus scenarios. Such missions represent factions that are diametrically opposed to each other in that battle. Warbands begin the game representing one of these settlements. Winning warbands need not accept the rewards of the settlement which sent them, of course, and can opt to delivering the mission’s objective to the opposition, earning that reward. However, betraying one’s benefactor does have consequences. You loose a point of loyalty (if you had any) in the settlement you represented if you accept the reward of the opposing camp during versus scenarios.

Settlement Rewards in Verses Scenarios

Beyond the rewards that a settlement offers many scenarios include extra prizes (like random fortune) that can be obtained during a battle. Each scenario will detail how such rewards are acquired.

Other Rewards

Full Post Battle Sequence

1. Recover uncontrolled carried items remaining on the table.

2. Earn settlement rewards.

3. Roll for Serious Injuries.

4. Allocate experience and make advance rolls.

5. Make Exploration Rolls.

6. Sell Wyrdstone.

7. Check for available Veterans.

8. Make Rarity Rolls and buy rare items.

9. Recruit Hired Swords and/or  look for Dramatis Personae*.

10. Pay Hired Sword upkeep.

11. Hire new recruits and buy common items.

12. Reallocate equipment.

13. Update your warband and record turn & campaign data.

*If you are using the optional Mordheim Mercenary Market rules, remove Hired Sword recruitment from the post battle sequence (it joins the beginning of campaign chapters).

It should go without saying that all post battle rolls should be made with your opponent or campaign administrator present to keep things fair. Alternatively, if your gaming group uses an online forum or social platform with dice bots, rolls can be made publicly there.

Sometimes you will have the opportunity (or misfortune) of playing Special Scenarios. These are extra games outside of normal campaign chapters. Special scenarios can be played at any time and do not have to be completed in the turn they are made available. Most, however, should be played within a reasonable amount of time to be of value or relevance to players (for example, Ambushes).

  Special scenarios are played normally, but the post battle sequence is limited to resolving only #1–4: uncontrolled carried items, earn rewards, serious injuries and experience & advance rolls. The full post battle sequence (exploration, selling wyrdstone, etc.) in most cases should only be completed after your games for each campaign chapter.

Special Scenarios

Recording Chapter & Campaign Data

After scenarios have been played, post battle sequences resolved, and warband rosters updated, players must send the campaign administrator their Turn Data. To help you do this, your CA should provide you with two additional worksheets, the Post Battle Worksheet and the End of Chapter Data Sheet. Both are fully described in the Scenario Structure & Recording Data pages.

Once you have updated your roster, filled out both turn data worksheets and sent them to your campaign administrator, you are ready for the next chapter of Mayhem in Mordheim.