Creating A Warband Roster
Before your warband's campaign can begin, you will need to complete your warband roster. This is a record not only of the fighters in your warband but also of their encampment, their reputation and glory, the artefacts of power they have earned, and many other details. During the campaign, your warband roster will constantly be updated as new fighters are added, artefacts of power and other items are discovered, and fighters suffer injuries or are killed.
The warband roster comprises 4 pages, each with various sections. As the information that you need to record on your roster will change frequently, we recommend filling in the entries in pencil so that you can rub them out and re-fill them as necessary.
Warcrier's warband builder is not designed to track a narrative campaign.
I have created a roster template in Google Sheets (ideal if being used to house multiple rosters across a gaming group), or your can use the free app over at Warhammer Community instead.
To prepare your warband for its first campaign battle, follow these steps:
Step 1 - Choose Your Faction And Fighters
The first step is to choose a faction for your warband and note it down on your warband roster. You can find a list of the different factions in Warcry and their faction runemark in the Warbands section. Once you have chosen your warband's faction, you can start adding fighters to your warband roster. When doing so, you must follow these restrictions:
- You must add at least 3 fighters and no more than 15.
- All fighters you add to your warband roster must have the faction runemark of your warband (allies, thralls and monsters cannot be added at this stage).
- There must be l, and only l, fighter with the Hero runemark (). This fighter is your leader.
- The total points cost of the fighters added cannot exceed 1000 points.
Step 2-Pick Your Leader's Heroic Trait
Once you have finished adding fighters to your warband roster, the next step is to pick 1 heroic trait for your leader from the table below. Your leader also starts with 1 level of renown: note this on your warband roster too. You will find the rules for levels of renown and heroic traits later in this section.
Heroic Traits
Ferocious Combatant
As battle is joined, this warrior rains a flurry of blows upon any foe in their path.
Add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of melee attack actions made by this fighter.
Agile Warrior
With heightened reflexes and a swift pace, this fighter can race across the battlefield.
Add 1 to the Move characteristic of this fighter.
Hardy Constitution
This warrior draws upon reserves of strength to stand defiant in the face of the enemy.
Each time this fighter activates, you can remove D3 damage points allocated to them (including when they are activated for a second time after waiting).
Resourceful
With a keen mind, this quick-thinking warrior can help turn the tide of battle.
If this fighter is included in your warband, you gain 1 additional wild dice at the start of the battle.
Thick-skinned
This hardy fighter shrugs off wounds that would lay low most warriors.
Each time an attack action scores any critical hits on this fighter, 1 of those critical hits becomes a hit instead.
Skilled Commander
The warriors of this warband look to this fighter to lead them in battle.
Once per battle, this fighter can use the 'Inspiring Presence' ability without needing or using any ability dice.
Step 3 - Choose Your First Quest
The next step is to choose your warband's first quest. A quest is the goal your warband is currently striving to achieve, and you will be able to complete it by doing certain things either in campaign battles or during the aftermath sequence.
You can find a host of quests to choose from later in this book. There are universal quests - that is, a quest that any warband can choose, and quests specific to each of the Grand Alliances on the following pages:
If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices, a good first quest to pick is 'Treasures of the Gnarlwood' above. Completing this quest will grant your warband its first artefact of power, a mighty relic one of your fighters will be able to use in battle. Once you have chosen your quest, make a note of it on your warband roster.
Step 4 - Finishing Touches
Your warband is almost ready to start fighting campaign battles. There are a few finishing touches to be made that are explained below.
Encampment Location And State
On your warband roster, note down your encampment location as being the 'Outskirts of the Gnarlwood'. As you fight campaign battles, you will be able to venture further into the Gnarlwood and establish your encampment in different locations. You can learn more about this later, but for now, you need only know that your warband is encamped outside of the Gnarlwood, ready to take its first steps within.
In addition, on your warband roster, there are 3 states that your encampment can be in. At the start of the campaign, your encampment is secure. Note this on your warband roster.
Warband's Glory
During your campaign, a record of your warband's glory is kept on your warband roster. Glory is gained through fighting campaign battles, and is a currency you can spend that represents both your warband's material wealth and standing with their allies. Glory can be spent on upgrading your warband in a number of ways, as detailed later in this section. Your warband begins with O glory.
Warband's Reputation
In a similar vein to glory, you also keep track of your warband's reputation. This represents their growing notoriety and how feared they are by their enemies. Page 112 details how your warband's reputation is calculated. At the start of a campaign, every warband starts with a reputation of 2 (1 for your leader and 1 for their heroic trait). Note this down on your warband roster.
Your warband roster is now complete, and you are ready to begin fighting campaign battles!