So to add some variety and tactical options to Khand, I borrowed from the mercenary aspect of previous lore, and simply added a pair of useful 3Might Heroes with thematic army-buffing rules. See what you think, and feel free to suggest what you think would help out the Khandish players.
WARRIORS
Khandish Mercenary Warband 35pts
Variags are a harsh and unforgiving clan of warriors, where skill in combat determines the hierarchy of the males. But such things are always entwined with jealousy, bravado, and the willingness to be followed by the members. Those cast out of their Variags often travel far in search of riches, fighting as a warband for the highest bidder.
A Khandish Mercenary Warband consists of 6 Khandish Mercenaries, with any combination of optional upgrades. One Warrior takes on the role of the warband’s Captain for the purposes of deployment. A Mercenary Warband may be included in a Khand Army List, or as a Green Ally to any Army List that has Khand as a Green or Yellow Ally.
Khandish Mercenary
F4/4+ S3 D4 A1 W1 C2
Armour, Dagger, Hand-and-a-half Axe or Bow.
Enforcer upgrade: 20pts (once)
The Enforcer of the Mercenary Warband assumes the role of the Captain of the Warband, becomes a Minor Hero, and gains 1M, 1W, 1F, Fv5, C3, and the Burly rule.
Horse: 5pts each
Loyalty is fleeting: If the Leader of the Army is slain, the Mercenaries immediately count as Broken.
Deleted rule (too Battle Companies and too much headache to keep track of):
Complimentary fighting skills: (10pts)
Each of the five members of the Mercenary Warband which are not the Captain of the Warband may each choose one of the following Characteristics to improve by 1 in their respective profile: Fight Value, Shoot Value, Strength, Defence, Courage. The Captain of the Warband allows friendly Mercenaries within 3” to re-roll 1s in Duel Rolls. (This variety may be confusing for an opponent, so it would be encouraged that you give individual paint schemes and suitable names to your Mercenaries).
Khandish Informant 20pts Horse 5pts
So renowned for loyalty based on currency and the frequent ejection of individuals from the Variags are the Khandish, that individuals seeking vengeance by fighting alongside their enemies are not uncommon. A select cunning few see this as an opportunity for subterfuge and, should they survive, they will be well compensated for their agency in enabling the Khandish victory.
F4/4+ S3 D4 A1 W1 C3
Independent Hero
Hand and a half Axe or Bow, Dagger, Armour.
A Khandish Informant takes up a slot in the warband of one of your Leader. At the beginning of a game, allocate one enemy Hero to be the Target of the Informant. The Informant then deploys with that enemy warband, placed by the controlling player. The Informant is moved immediately by the controlling player after the Target has moved and may partake in Heroic Moves or Marches called by them. Enemy models may not target the Informant with magical powers, shooting attacks, or charge the model.
Spy in the camp: Up to three times in a game, when the Target declares a Heroic Action, the Informant may signal to his Leader (line of sight), who may then call the same Heroic for free even if he would not normally have that Heroic Action. After the third time this action has been used, the opponent realises the duplicity and may target and attack the Informant as normal. Additionally, if the Informant voluntarily charges or shoots an enemy model, or voluntarily moves more than 12” away from his Target, the cover is blown. The Informant may move through one enemy model per turn.
Nobody’s on nobody’s side: When making strikes against the Target, the Informant gains the Backstabber rule. Additionally, whilst under cover, an Informant may elect to Charge, make Strikes against, and Shoot at, his friendly Khand models under the rouse of remaining under cover. (This may allow you to, for instance, shoot into the Target’s combat and either deal a Wound or remove their ability to call a Heroic Combat!).
HEROES
Ghazan the Ravager 90pts
Thundering through villages on horseback to wreak destruction and making it safely far away before help can arrive, Ghazan’s expertise is in the swift, glancing blow.
Hero of Fortitude
F5/4+ S4 D5 A2 W2 C5 3M 1W 1F
Armour, Dagger, Hand-and-a-half Axe, Horse
Heroic Strike
Horselord, Weapon Master
Hit and Run: If Ghazan charges an enemy model whilst mounted, Ghazan, mounted Khand Models, and Chariot riders within 6” of Ghazan that have charged that turn may declare a free Heroic Combat with the following restrictions: The subsequent movement may not be used to charge enemy models, and participating models may only move up to half of their movement value. Ghazan’s combat is resolved first in this instance.
Temuulen the Raider 90pts
Raised in the saddle of a speeding horse, Temuulen has an almost unnatural ability to correct for the relative motion between his bow and any target. With speed of thought and word, his reflexes help guide the archers around him and have built the Khandish reputation of the deadliest mounted archers around.
Hero of Fortitude
F5/3+ S4 D5 A2 W2 C4 3M 1W 1F
Armour, Dagger, Longbow, Horse
Heroic Accuracy
Horselord
Stable Aim: Whilst mounted, Temuulen and Khandish Horsemen 6” of Temuulen do not increase their shoot value when moving up to half of their movement.
Khandish Bounty Hunter 30pts
When a Khandish Mercenary who has skill with ranged shots survives enough encounters and elevates this accuracy to a unique selling point, they often transition into a more straight-forward assassin. For the right price, a Bounty Hunter will use the distraction of battle to bring down any individual from range, before setting off back to collect their payment.
Horse 5pts
Morgul Poisoned Arrows 5pts
Independent Hero
Mv8 F4/4+ S4 D5 A1 W2 C4 M2 W6 F1
HDef
Poisoned Crossbow
Stalk Unseen
Who do I have to kill?: At the beginning of a game, select one enemy Hero to be the Bounty. A Bounty Hunter may only voluntarily charge their Bounty or target them with shooting attacks. Once their Bounty has been slain, remove any assigned Bounty Hunters.
Just a Hired Bow: A Khandish Bounty Hunter does not count towards your army model count, models slain for the purposes of Breaking, nor models remaining on the board for scenarios which end at 25%. Additionally, the Bounty Hunter does not take Courage Tests for being Broken, and cannot hold Objectives, Objects, or earn their player VPs with the exceptions of Leader Wound/Kill and Kill Tally for eg Lords of Battle. The Bounty Hunter is always deployed last, either within the Controlling Player’s deployment zones, or within 6” of any board edge.
Target acquired: A Bounty Hunter may reroll failed To Hit rolls. If the Head and Body of the Target can be seen, the Bounty Hunter does not need to roll In the Way tests when making Shooting attacks. Terrain pieces will only ever provide a 3+ In the Way against a Bounty Hunter. If the Bounty is engaged in combat but no friendly models obscure the shot of the Bounty Hunter, reroll failed Wounds.
Dead or Alive: Instead of making Strikes, a Bounty Hunter may handcuff the Bounty, in which case they count as being under the Paralyse Magical Power and may be moved as a Heavy Object.
Will you share in the treasure?: If charged by an opponent, the Bounty Hunter may expend a Will point in order to force the charging model to take a courage test. If failed, the model succumbs to greed, flees, and is removed as a casualty.
Designer's Commentary: If you want to encourage an all-mounted faction with mounted bowmen and chariots, I think that one of the ways you can achieve this without a Gamling Banner can be to apply pressure to Might points in a similar way to how Angmar does to Will. If you can use an Informant Grima-style to grant you effectively free Heroic moves, you gain an advantage. If a Bounty Hunter is sniping away enemy Heroes you can force them to spend Might for fear of dying without using it. This should help a player to engineer being the one left with Might in the endgame, and then get the charges needed or the Chariots doing their lawnmower impressions. To aid with this, Ghazan's Hit and Run can be used not only for added mobility (balanced by not allowing a 2nd charge and only half movement), but also screening off your Heroes with the cheaper troops. This not only allows Ghazan to "reload" his rule, but also give Chariots an extra trampling movement (doesn't count as charging!), or line them up for the following turn. In the case of a Khandish King in Chariot, it is also an opportunity to move your banner effect to cover more combats in a single phase. Temuulen is a little more straightforward, but giving that volume of bows the capacity for better shooting as well as Heroic accuracy should help in removing spears which will blunt your cavalry charges. The Bounty Hunter is somewhat rule-heavy, but with nothing else filling a similar role in the game I've had to make some guesstimates. Chinese were THE crossbow inventing and implementing nation but on horseback would be very unwieldy. A dedicated sniper requiring armour piercing capabilities though seemed a good fit. They would also poison their bolts, which is referenced here. Finally the mercenary warband felt like a flavourful nod to the prior rules about Khandish mercenaries and could be a way to sneak some horses into ally-able lists such as the Corsairs or even Moria. But with a low courage and a propensity to flee, I'm not sure they'd be an autoinclude in everyone's lists!
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