The WHITE TOWER Centre of Knowledge - Dwarven Wargames or Capture the Beer Cart!

Gunter Kragbraw, King of Zhufbar, decided that with all of the trouble occuring in the Empire and surrounding lands he would needed to train more troops for his army. He came with the idea for a wargame with his forces to further train them in battle. The battles must be non-leathal so Gunter asked the engineers of Zhufbar to devise a way for this to happen. After much testing the various warmachines and methods of attack the Zhufbar Wargames are ready to begin.

Rules:
The sides are even in the fight. Each side is lead by a thane. The forces should start no more than 12" apart. Two models representing Beer Carts are placed 18" from the closest enemy unit at the set-up. All of the weapons have been modified to be non-leathal. The hand weapons are mock-ups that are diped in paint or charcoal to mark the opposing soldier for a kill. When a wound is caused in H-t-H then the trooper is "dead"( or is he?).

Gunter knew that attacking was not something his forces excelled at so he needed a reason for the troops to go forward. Thus the Beer Carts. These turned out to be double edged weapons for the games. Any unit with in 8" of the enemy's beer cart will charge it on a 2+. Any unit within 6" of their own beer cart will go back and get a drink on the roll of a 5+. This is rolled at the beginning of the movement phase.

Magic: There are no Anvils of Doom in this fight. There is also no real magic in the fight. No rune items or any magic item is needed.

Warmachines:
Cannons: These are loaded with paint balls or bags. They are made to burst open on impact so there is no bounce with the cannonballs. Instead they are treated as am area-effect weapon. Any dwarf hit by the paintball is knock out cold, but the paintball will also splatter. Treat the hit like a stone thrower for saves aginst splatter for the dwarves around the hit.

On any misfire the paintball explodes in the barrel covering the crew with paint and "killing" them.

FlameCannons: A special modified Flame cannon was made for each side( one each). These shoot paint and in great quanities. Fire the cannon just like normal. All dwarves under the template are knocked out and the unit must make a panic test. Because they are kitbashed cannons they may only fire every other turn. Treat mistfires normally subsituting paint for fire.

Bolt throwers: These shoot big padded bolts into the ranks. Any dwarf hit will be knock out. Roll to would at -1 STR for the second rank( just like a regualr boltthrower). This simulates the dwarf in the front rank flying into the second rank. continue until it stops.

Cheating:
With the prize for the winning side being a wild three day party on King Kragbraw's tab there are some liberties being taken with some of the rules.

Armor saves(in tribute to the SCA): All of the dwarves have great confidence in their armor and since they must reconize the blow for it to cause a wound this will cause some rhino-hiding. Add +1 to all armor rolls.

Slayers: Slayers tend to get worked up in any fight and this is no exception. At the start of EACH close combat phase any slayer or group of slayers must roll a 3+ to continue to obey the rules. If they fail then the slayers will not die( unless an umpire tells them to or they are knocked out).

Wounds: Since wounds are done with paint or charcoal they can be wiped away and some are. At the end of each magic phase roll a die for each would your side took. On a 5+ the Dwarf will get up and rejoin his unit. Roll a die for each Dwarf that got up. On the roll of a 1 the dwarf was spotted by an umpire and is told to be dead again. Slayers will never cheat like this.

Umpires: Kragbraw saw very quickly that he would need some stout level-headed fellows to watch the fight and make sure everyone obeyed the rules. Unfortunately the umpires do not quite grasp all of the rules and there were not many of them. At the end of each players turn the player that has just gone rolls 2d6 on the umpire decision table.

Umpire Decision Table:

2	One of your units (chosen by your opponent) is declared dead. All of them.
3	One of your units (chosen by your opponent) is declared broken.
4	roll a d6 and take that many wounds to the figs of your choice
5-9	Nothing.
10	roll a d6, non-rolling player distrubes that # of wounds to his figs.
11	One of your opponite's units(choosen by you) is declared broken.
12	One of your opponite's( choosen by you ) is declared dead. All of them.

Optional rule: If you really can not play without magic weapons your thane can have a "rune weapon". He declares what runes he has painted on their weapons and shout them out when they strike. If your opponent listens then you will have a rune weapon and he (the honorable player) will take the damage or recognize the ability of the weapon. If your opponent chooses to ignore you yelling "AUTO-WOUND AUTO-WOUND" every time your hero strikes then tough luck. Maybe you'll find an honorable opponent.

We find this scenario is best played if a six-pack of your favorite beverage is at stake:)

Written by: Jon Bricker