Warhammer Quest

Henchmen for Warhammer Quest

By T. Jordan "Greywolf" Peacock
15 Jun 95

In _Advanced HeroQuest_, it was possible to hire Henchmen such as Men-at- Arms, Sergeants and even Captains, Wardancers or Trollslayers to join your Hero on a quest into the dungeons. My players in these campaigns made frequent use of this option. For one thing, it was very handy to have someone along who could carry extra treasure that your Hero could not, and there was a certain degree of pride that could be taken from being able to field your very own Henchmen who bore shields with your Hero's coat of arms. One of my players even went to the trouble of making up a personalized standard for one of his henchmen to carry, for just an added degree of flair, even if it seemed a bit unlikely for a dungeon expedition.

This feature did have its drawbacks, though. For one thing, Henchmen were completely controlled by the Heroes, and were often treated as no more than cheap guinea pigs or human shields, sent ahead to take the blows from monsters or trigger traps before the characters that "really" counted. For another, when a Hero was rich enough to have several Henchmen, it became a bit odd to wait for not only the Hero but all of his Henchmen to act before going on to the next player. Lastly, there were some Henchmen -- particularly the "special" ones, such as the Trollslayer and Wardancer -- who were quite capable of overshadowing the Hero who was supposedly employing him. (The only exception to this was the hapless Apprentice, who was perpetually vulnerable to attack, and quite frequently an early casualty despite the mentor Wizard's best attempts.)

So, why bring this headache into _Warhammer Quest_? Why, indeed. If your games are going just fine, I don't have any expection that this will guarantee that you'll suddenly have more fun. However, some of these ideas might possibly be worth considering -- Even if you don't wish to have such characters easy to hire in the Settlements, it could be possible that some such character might be encountered somewhere in the dungeon, and become an impromptu addition to the party.

Another aspect (although somewhat of a surreptitious one) is that if you are playing _Warhammer Quest_ as a role-playing game with a GM, then the addition of NPCs (not under player control) for the PCs to interact with could be a prime opportunity; you could actually have more role-playing, and not just a case of "Explore dungeon, find monster, kill monster, get treasure". NPCs provide a handy tool for encouraging players to /explore/ their characters' personalities, and furthermore for the GM to sneak in some hints if the Warriors appear to be stumped in the current adventure.

* PCS AND NPCS *

Henchmen are essentially NPCs who are loyal to one or more of the PCs. In case you aren't familiar with these acronyms, a "PC" is a Player Character -- this refers to a player's Warrior character, his or her "alter ego" of sorts. An NPC, however, is a NON-Player Character. Technically, all of the monsters that the Warriors encounter could be considered "NPCs", though this term is more often used with characters that actually have some sort of displayable personality. If you have a major monster who actually gets to deliver some lines of dialogue, or might show some sort of cognitive ability besides "Approach Warrior, Attack Warrior, Try to Kill Warrior or Die Trying" then this might be closer to qualifying as an "NPC". Basically, this is a character that is presumably under the GM's control.

When you have a GM in the game, you have a greater deal of freedom in determining the actions of NPCs and monsters. You needn't necessarily randomly draw tokens to see that each of the monsters fairly distributes among the Warriors. The GM might well reason that if the monsters have advance warning of the Warriors (or perhaps have heard of them before), they might try to be more tactical, and focus on the member of the party who presents the most threat, such as a Wizard who is capable of bringing the Warriors back up with Healing Hands each turn. Or, perhaps they might take patently illogical steps, being deathly afraid of a particular Warrior or focusing on a member of the party who has the misfortune of looking like a leader (under the presumption that if you kill the leader, the followers will simply rout). Perhaps they might ask to surrender if things are going badly ... or perhaps if they're doing rather well, they might give the Warriors the option of surrendering! There are countless options depending on what seems the most reasonable for the personalities you have in mind.

* HENCHMEN *

Despite the previous section on the particulars of using a GM with NPCs, these following rules assume that you'll be just playing the board version of the game. In order to convert these rules for role-playing instead, you simply transfer control of the NPCs to the GM, and the GM may alter or ignore any of these following rules as the situation dictates.

Henchmen are hired help who come along for an adventure after being paid in advance, and for a promise of a fair cut of the treasure. Their fee must be paid before the adventure, while in a Settlement, and is sufficient to hire that Henchman for one excursion into the dungeon, after which he will part ways. Henchmen do not carry their gold into the dungeon, and while they keep any gold earned from monsters that they slay, there is no need to keep record of this -- Henchmen are hired only on a temporary basis, and keeping track of their progress into further Battle-Levels is unnecessary. They do not need to be considered when dividing up special Treasure items or caches of gold that are found other than from defeating monsters. Like Warriors, if a Henchman is slain, all of his equipment and gold is gone -- It simply is not hero-like to go pilfering bodies of one's fallen comrades. Henchmen furthermore are a bit easier than Warriors to kill -- If a Henchman is reduced to 0 Wounds, he is dead. He is not saved simply by receiving normal healing before the end of the turn, though Resurrection can be used on a Henchman normally.

Henchmen act under the control of their hiring Warrior in order to fight Monsters or to help in certain menial activities, but they will not go prodding into magical artifacts, poking around dead bodies, or such. (i.e. When an Event comes up such as the Dead Barbarian, a Henchman can't be forced to search the Barbarian's body.) If their employer is killed, they will only remain long enough to complete the current battle (still under the control of the Warrior player) and then will part ways, being removed from play immediately. If the Portcullis is in play, they part ways anyway, finding some other way out, or perhaps meeting an untimely fate in a vain search for an escape; whatever the result, they're gone. If there is some way of Resurrecting the Warrior, the Henchmen will only stay around until the end of the current battle, waiting for the resurrection process, but will immediately flee if any other Events come up, or if the Warriors just press on. If a Warrior is brought back to life promptly, then the Henchmen may certainly stick around now that their employer is in good shape (although mysteriously missing all the gold he got from those monsters).

Henchmen may not be forced to take suicidal actions. This is largely a matter of discretion of all players concerned, but having your Henchmen leap headlong into the Firechasm in order to make a bit more elbow room in the Objective Room would most certainly be uncharacteristic.

When determining who monsters will attack, it is only necessary to determine which Warrior will be attacked. The Warrior player may choose to have that monster focus on either his Warrior or any of his Henchmen, though he may not elect to have a monster without any ranged attacks focus on one of his Henchmen who is not in base contact with any space where the monster could be placed.

* HIRING HENCHMEN *

Henchmen may only be hired in Settlements. In order to do so, your Warrior needs the requisite gold, and needs to successfully /find/ a suitable Henchman. The maximum number of Henchmen your Warrior may employ is equal to your Warrior's Luck characteristic (though in the event of any future released Warrior types who have exceptionally high Luck, the number of Henchmen may also not exceed your Warrior's Battle-Level).

If Henchmen have died on your Warrior's last expedition, word gets around that your Warrior is dangerous to be around. The result of this is that willing Henchmen will be harder to find.

Each of the four basic Warriors may hire Henchmen, though the Slayer may not (He is a solo sort of guy, and not anxious to hire followers to share in his death wish.).

To find a particular type of Henchman, you must roll a certain number of dice depending on whether you are in a Village, Town or City. You must roll the listed number or higher to find that particular type of Henchman. Your Warrior may search for one Henchman per day, instead of visiting any Special Locations or shops. If at any time you fail to find a Henchman, your Warrior may not continue searching for further Henchmen while in that Settlement, as he will only be wasting his time.

For a Village, roll 1D6. For a Town, roll 2D6. For a City, roll 3D6.

If you have had any Henchmen die in your last expedition, deduct the number of deceased Henchmen from any of your die rolls to locate Henchmen. (If you simply don't hire any for this expedition, then come back with none deceased for your previous expedition (because none WENT), then you're back to normal. Enough time has elapsed for the rumors to die down.)

Elf Warrior

Weapon: May either be armed with Spear (1D6+3 Wounds, may Attack in Ranks) or Bow (1D6+3 Wounds, ranged attack).
Armour*: Light Chain (+1 Toughness); Shield (+1 Toughness, only for Spearmen)
Pinning: May never be pinned.

May only be hired by the Elf.

NOTE: These two options (Spearman or Archer) can be easily represented with one of the plastic models included with the WFB boxed set. The statistics, except for Wounds, possessions and special rules, are pretty much equivalent to the beginning Elf character.

Man-at-arms

Weapon:   Sword, causing 1D6+4 Wounds
Armour:   Studded Leather, giving him +1 Toughness.
Pinning: Breaks from pinning on a roll of 6+.

May be hired by any Warrior but the Slayer.

NOTE: The statistics here are based off of the Barbarian, minus special abilities. This character can be represented with one of the plastic Man-at- Arms pieces from _Advanced HeroQuest_, or some generic warrior type.

Peasant

Weapon:   Farm Implement, causing 1D6+3 Wounds
Armour:   None
Pinning: Escapes from pinning on a roll of 6+.

NOTE: The Peasant is a very unlikely candidate for heroism, but might possibly be of some use in role-playing situations where someone could be used to carry extra equipment, gold, etc. or to help with menial tasks (such as trying to lift a heavy portcullis).

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_Warhammer Quest_ and _Advanced HeroQuest_ are trademarks of Games Workshop. Their use here does not constitute a challenge to their legal status.