6. Ambushes

Ambushes in a comet-shell

Ambushes are an attempt by one or more players to target the treasury of an opponent with a raid. Successful ambush attempts give access to the Ambuscade-scenario with you as the attacker and your target as defender. 

  • Warbands need at least one Ambush Point (AP). APs can be purchased for 50 GC each during any post battle sequence and kept until needed. Other sources of APs exist from scenario rewards to benefits from Loyalty. AP cannot be sold back or exchanged.

  • Only one ambush attempt can be made per campaign chapter. Inform the campaign administrator which warband you are targeting at the start of the chapter along with your scenario rankings.

  • If no other player attempts an ambush at either you or the warband you are targeting, the ambush succeeds. If other players are involved, the warband with the most Ambush Points succeeds. Ties result in everyone failing. Warbands which defended against an ambush on the previous campaign turn cannot be ambushed.

Making an Ambush Attempt

Cost of an Ambush Attempt

The Ambuscade Scenario is a special scenario that is played outside of normal campaign chapters. The Mordheim post battle sequence is limited to resolving only #1–4: uncontrolled carried items, earn rewards, serious injuries, and experience & advance rolls.

Ambush Scenario

Ambushes - Full Rules

While battles often provide timely moments to help oneself to an opponent’s property, any warband worth their wits quickly learns to protect their treasury during missions. But as fortunes rise for some and fall for others, rivals will become interested in finding more effective means to relieve adversaries of their wealth. As no one can perfectly safe guard themselves each and every minute of every day, enterprising opponents look for opportunities to waylay warbands in an Ambush.

Ambushes are an attempt by one or more players to target the treasury of an opponent with a raid. Unfortunately, knowledge of when targets are vulnerable to attack is not easy to come by. Members of your warband are primarily preoccupied with hunting wyrdstone, searching for jobs and supporting their compatriots, not the surveillance of other warbands. For the right price, however, you can hire agents to do the spying for you.

Whenever you buy equipment you can also hire spies that will let you know when opposing warbands are ripe for ambush. 50 Gold Crowns buys the services of such an operative in the form of one Ambush Point (AP). You may buy as many ambush points as you can afford. APs need not be used immediately and can be saved until needed. In addition to buying ambush points, some scenarios, campaign events and Loyalty benefits award AP to warbands. Ambush points cannot be sold back or exchanged.

Ambush points grant the attempt to access the special Ambuscade Scenario, which gives you a strong opportunity to plunder the treasury of another warband. If successful, the warband making the attempt plays the Ambuscade scenario as attacker against their chosen target as defender.

Ambush Points

Ambushes attempts are made at the beginning of any campaign turn along with your scenario rankings and other start of turn decisions. You need at least 1 ambush point. Only one ambush attempt can be made per campaign turn. Using the Player Start of Chapter Worksheet find the Ambush Target–box and write in the name of a single warband you wish to ambush. Next to the target’s name list the total amount of AP you currently have in the box provided. Your campaign administrator will determine if you succeed or fail as well as the cost of the attempt in ambush points.

Making an Ambush Attempt

In most cases, your ambush will succeed if no other player attempts an ambush against your target or against your warband. If you or your victim are targeted in the same turn, the warband with the most ambush points succeeds. If ambush points are tied all attempts normally fail (warbands get in each other’s way tipping off any targets).

Example

Two warbands are making ambush attempts this turn. The Sisters of Cersei with 2 Ambush Points target the Burgher Kings. The Skaven warband, Skitter, Scatter, Injure, Die with 1AP also targets the Burgher Kings. The Sisters of Cersei with the most AP succeed and will play the Ambush scenario as attacker against the Burgher Kings as defender. The Skaven fail in their attempt.

A successful ambush will cost you up to D3 AP plus the value of your highest competitor for the ambush (if any). Successful ambush attempts often use up most, if not all, of your ambush points. The cost of successful ambushes will never be higher than the AP you have.

Example

Prospero’s Spears with 1AP targets the Knights of the Living Dead with an ambush attempt. As no one else targets either warband with an ambush, the Spears succeed. To determine the cost, the CA rolls a D3 but adds nothing as there is no competitor to the attempt. A 2 is rolled, but as the Spears only had a single ambush point this is ignored and the CA informs the player their ambush is successful and their AP is now 0.

Cost of a Successful Ambush Attempt

Cost of an Unsuccessful Ambush Attempt

If you fail in your ambush attempt you may or may not loose ambush points. Loosing AP reflects your operatives considering their intel accurate and the failure of the ambush as your mistake and not theirs. Should warbands with the most ambush points in an attempt fail for any reason (such as AP being tied) they loose half their ambush points rounded down. Failing warbands with less AP than their opponents or which only had one ambush point to begin with have only a 50% chance of loosing 1AP. Your campaign administrator will inform you of any costs.

  Warbands with the loyalty reward for Cutthroat’s Den: Informants, never lose ambush points for failed ambush attempts.

Example

Prospero’s Spears, again with 1AP targets the Knights of the Living Dead with an ambush. But so does Blair WitchHunter’s Project (2AP) as well as both the Sisters of Cersei (3AP) and the Follypop Guild (3AP). As the warbands with the highest AP are tied, all ambush attempts fail. Both the Sisters and the Guild must pay 1AP for the failed attempt and the Spears and WitchHunters have a 50% chance of loosing 1AP.

If an ambush attempt is successful, your campaign administrator will inform the players involved that they will play the Special Scenario: Ambuscade, with the ambushing warband as attacker and the target warband as defender. Special scenarios are extra games outside of normal Mayhem in Mordheim chapters and can be played whenever convenient for the players. As with other special scenarios in Mayhem in Mordheim, the post battle sequence is limited to resolving only #1–4: uncontrolled carried items, earn rewards, serious injuries, and experience & advance rolls.

If possible, try to play ambushes during the campaign turn the ambush attempt was made. Often the target is being waylaid due to their wealth or a specific item in their treasury. Should the game be postponed to a much later date, the target warband has the opportunity to profit from these assets as well as prepare for the ambush (not very thematic). If warbands play any campaign game before the ambush scenario, we suggest players agree not to perform certain post battle actions, such as selling wyrdstone, gifting Loyalty Symbols, buying new equipment, or even hiring more warriors until after their ambush has been played.

The defending player gets to choose whether to play the game within Mordheim or in the surrounding countryside. This determines the terrain which will be used for the battle, urban or rural. Full details of setting up and playing the game can be found in the Ambuscade Scenario itself.

Playing the Ambuscade Scenario

Finally, any ambush attempt against a warband that suffered an ambush on the previous campaign turn automatically fails. Warbands which play the Ambuscade scenario as defender are extra vigilant for a week or so after the attack and do not let their guard down. Too bad this prudence does not last longer!

Waylay Vigilance