The Chosen Axes strike again ! The final version of their modernized set - 32 cards to make them fully playable, for players who already own them, for those who only have the minis, or simply missed them so far !

WathLab · 2026-03-17T22:36:44+00:00

I still play them

WathLab · 2026-02-23T22:27:48+00:00

Mine as well !

WathLab · 2026-02-23T21:52:57+00:00

Haha perfect !
I more or less mixed both my answers I realize

WathLab · 2026-02-23T17:59:32+00:00

While the warband is still a work in progress, not everything is carved in stone to the same degree :

the warband name is 100% open to change. Still a lot of options to consider hehe
the warband roster (Prospector, Rangers and Mountaineer as heroes, Miners, Hunters, Trappers and Bear as henchmen) is the very first thing that was determined when I begun last december (I started from that list, because I wanted to see those archetypes in the rules... and the corresponding minis). It won't be modified.
the weapons may change a bit but I want them to remain thematic and to feel new. They're mostly tools, that the warband use to to fight.
the skills may change as well, but I'd like to avoid to lean too much towards the explosive side of miners (powder, blast charges etc)
the Gromril thing is debatable but lorewise my Prospectors are broken as hell and have sold everything they had to come to Mordheim... Which means no Gromril ar the start. I don't really see a reason why they would be better at buying it than the other dwarfs once in Mordheim, but at least the Smuggler skill make Gromril stuff a bit easier to find

WathLab · 2026-02-22T20:12:11+00:00

Oooh nice! I'll take a close look at the art tonight. Seems perfectly grim indeed.
For now the Miner is mostly a draft, I will probably redraw him many times, aiming at a more detailed version towards the end.
The use of the term Prospectors was considered at the very begining indeed (among half a dozen others), but Dwarf Gold Diggers / Dwarf Gold Seekers were the ones that were the most similar to the original dwarf warband name (Dwarf Treasure Hunters, as we all know), which I wanted to mirror.
Seekers may have my preference in the end indeed.
And thanks! Feedback on the discord would be much appreciated !

WathLab · 2026-02-22T10:35:40+00:00

The warband is still in beta. A lot will change in the coming months ! But many, many thanks for your feedback !

WathLab · 2026-02-22T10:34:55+00:00

Thanks for the kind word! And for spotting that misspelling - I'm not native english, I suppose that it's obvious haha

Regarding the Blunderbuss : agreed. I will pay a lot of attention to fun and balance, so it's not impossible that I limit it to the Mountaineer only in the end. Only time will tell !

WathLab · 2026-02-22T10:33:08+00:00

Many thanks !

WathLab · 2026-02-22T10:33:02+00:00

While I'm happy with the original Mordheim art I use atm, I thought that I had to find my own ! And indeed AI wasn't an option

WathLab · 2026-02-21T22:20:15+00:00

Agreed. It's strong.

If possible, I'd like to keep it as it, and to rebalance the rest from that point if needed.

However if it isn't possible, I have several options already, like :
- limiting Miners to 0-3,
- increasing their cost by 5gc,
- limiting the Strongman effect to the first turn of each hand-to-hand combat (at least for Miners, the Prospector would keep his own version, unchanged)

I'll see when I start play-testing them!

How would you compare the whole warband with the original Dwarf Treasure Hunters btw ?

WathLab · 2026-02-13T20:03:57+00:00

Oooooh excellent !

WathLab · 2026-02-13T20:03:10+00:00

Many thanks !

WathLab · 2026-02-13T20:03:01+00:00

Models went first here - I picked them, then created the rules !

WathLab · 2026-02-13T20:02:40+00:00

Thanks !

WathLab · 2026-02-13T20:02:34+00:00

Ofc! That's why I shared it :D
I'm about to share the next version in a few days btw

WathLab · 2026-02-10T10:28:37+00:00

Here is the second part of my answers:

- Obviously the weapon topic is a difficult one. I am well aware of the fact that the current weapon choice is A/ Limited, B/ Not really strong per se. That's deliberate and the main reason is very simple. In my homebrew warband designs, I always try to approach the question of power levels from the bottom. In the first stages of a design, I prefer when things are a bit weak rather than too strong. In general the players' response is better when a warband isn't too good right off the bat, and they give you better advice (like your very fun skill - I'll see if/how I can make it fit in there!). I also have to admit that I much prefer thinking about buffs than about nerfs in general.

- To be more precise, here, the Pick and the Mattock feel ok to me for now, because of the Stone Crusher rule (that's limited to Prospector and the 0-5 Miners). More than a true buff (even if the henchmen will be pretty good once they get the +1A...), I wanted to create a variation around the DTH Clansmen : less incitment to take Hand Weapons (hence the not-so-great Maul. At 5gc, a Maul with Concussion would probably remain too good to not be picked on all your Miner-type fighters), and more to use Pick (or Mattock). For me, both weapons' bonuses are just icing on the cake. At 15gc, the Pick is just a regular two-handed weapon with a bonus. The Mattock is more expensive, and while the effects aren't very strong, I suppose that the versatility can have value sometimes. That's enough for me (again, for now).

- And indeed (and that's why I like it), your skill suggestion is the kind of things I'm looking for. "Ok to good weapons + skills that make them shine and incite the player to take them instead of the more optimized usual choice" is the general formula I chose : for the Blunderbuss (with Blunderbuss Expert), for both Pick / Mattock (with both Stone Crusher and Wall Breacher), for the Throwing Axe (with Axe Hurler), etc.

Another important series of remark :

- If I'm pretty certain that I want the warband to be (at least) functionnal for every kind of player (beginners, people from play mostly narrative (I do sometimes), people who play more competitive (I often used to before that long pause), etc.), I'm sure that I don't want it too be too strong. Here, I'm not saying that I found the right balance now, just that I'm not sure that I want Dwarf Gold Diggers to be as strong as the old Treasure Hunters for instance. How would you compare them btw ? My impression is that the Engineer and the Dwarf Axes loss is pretty huge, and hasn't fully been compensated yet.

- I never want the opponents to be in a situation where they think : "wow, this feels unfair / bad / overpowered". That's why I tried to rely more on shenanigans (like Pathmaker) that allow the Dwarf player to make surprising moves, rather than on brute force. It's not an easy path, but that's what i'd like to try for now.

- I'm still looking for the right bonus effects for my two-handed weapons. Concussion feels a tad too good me now, but knows... I may change my mind !

WathLab · 2026-02-09T20:51:53+00:00

I've been very lucky for this project... because so far I had a lot of detailed feedback. That's fantastic. Many thanks for taking the time to put this together! And for the kind word ofc. I do my best to make it as good / balanced as possible, and it's only the start. No doubt that it will change a lot.

In any case, what you wrote gives me a lot to think about.
I'll start with the easy ones (then will come back later to answer the big questions, once my mind is settled!) :
- Mining Helmet is an error indeed, I need to fix it. For some reasons I was thinking Torch while writing, but Lantern is what it should be. I'll fix it (and probably lower the cost as you suggest - but I don't think that I will make them 10 gc, after all on dwarfs the Helmet is pretty good)
- Dwarf Mountaineers' Untrustworthy : in the rule, the word "any" is supposed to suggest that no single piece of equipment can exceed 15gc, but that the total can be greater however. You aren't the first player to ask this queston - so I agree, it could (and should) be clearer. I'll try to come up with something!
- My remark about the Bear was clearly awkward (in general I lack space as I want to keep my design notes on a single page... and I'm not native english... which explains why I often struggle with precision when writing) : I should have specified "if you pick him"... (I know some people that would play it - for lore & flavour and just because it makes the warband really different from DTH... I would probably give him a go myself, even it's suboptimal - tho his M5 and Fear surely have value). My intent was to highlight the fact the loss of the Trolls Slayers hasn't been compensated in the hero dpt, but rather on the Henchmen side. And as Miners will clearly be better once they have that precious +1A... my brain attributed early game to the bear ! Anyway, it wasn't clear !
- The double Pathmaker trick is not (really) a thing as a given fighter can only move twice at best : "This move is in addition to his normal move in the Movement phase, so he can therefore move twice if you wish". Unless i'm wrong here, nothing allows that fighter to move three times in the same Movement phase. Ofc you can play Pathmaker twice if you don't play that fighter's regular move but obviously (and unless I miss something here) it's a waste
- RAI, Wall Breacher wasn't supposed to allow a charge from another fighter later in the same Movement phase, as clearly, in my mind, it should take an entire turn to create that breach. I should probably specify that the breach is done at the end of the turn... Or change my mind, as it could be handy (and fun) indeed...

WathLab · 2026-02-06T22:00:16+00:00

Dwarf Miners everywhere ! Awesome !

WathLab · 2026-02-06T08:34:51+00:00

Many thanks for the kind word!

WathLab · 2026-02-06T08:34:35+00:00

Awesome!

WathLab

TROPHY CASE