Halflings are dispersed throughout the lands of larger folk and usually dont trouble themselves overmuch with the going-ons of their larger neighbors. However some Halflings have an adventuring or entreprenurial bent, particularly veterans who have served in the Empirial armies for a short stint. Some few have found their way to Mordheim, lured by the promise of fat rewards and dreams of a comfort filled retirement to some sleepy Halfling village.

Starting Funds

The warband starts with 500 gc to spend as it wishes following unit numbers and weapons restrictions.

Choice of Warriors

A Halfling Adventurers band must include a minimum of 3 models, and can have a maximum of 20 models including 5 Heros and 1 leader. A starting warband must be lead by a Burgomeister, but should he be killed they may not acquire another; a new leader will step forth from amongst the members of the band.

Halfling Maximum Profile

Recruitment

Halflings are fewer in numbers than many of the other groups staking their claims in Mordheim. To represent this, it is harder for them to recruit replacements than other warbands. When a Halfling warband wishes to employ new members a Hero of the band must look for other Halflings in the area, in a similar manner to and instead of looking for rare goods. Use the following chart for finding new recruits:

Hirelings

The following Hired Swords will work for the Halflings:

• Pit Fighter
• Warlock
• Freelancer
• Troll Slayer
• Elf Ranger

Dramatis Personae

Of the Dramatis Personae listed in the Mordheim rulebook, Johann the Knife and Aenur will work for a Halfling band. Player created and future supplemental Personae will have to be adjudicated on a case by case basis as appropriate to their background. In general all non-evil/chaotic people will work for Halflings unless they are dedicated to a specific cause or group (like Bertha Bestraufrung). Of the Dramatis Personae presented on this site, the following will work for a Halfling band:

• Esmerelda
• Lysander the Red
• Pipa, the Chickenhawk of Moot
• Rufio du Hastur

Heroes

Henchmen

Special Abilities

The Halflings favor Kitchen tools and implements as weapons as they serve a dual purpose and are readily available. As to Armor, the small statured Halflings can only wear light armor. However, most detest the restricting properties or Armor and therefore abstain from wearing any. Therefore, only Heroes may wear Light Armor but all Halflings may wear a Helmet. Should a Hero ever find Ithilmar Armor, he may wear that as well.

Special Equipment

The Halfling Hot Pot: The Halfling Master Chefs often experiment with new recipes in their search for good food. However occasionally an experiment will not measure up to their demanding palates and must be disposed of. This is usually accomplished by putting the offending pot of food in a giant sling and launching it as far away as possible. If launched into the midst of a group of enemies, the hot concoction often excites quite a stir.

Starting Experience

Special Skills

Halfling Heroes have access to the Halfling Skill List.

Heroes

Henchmen

Playing a Halfling Force

A Halfling Adventurers band has several obvious disadvantages, but these are balanced by some significant advantages. The Halflings are obviously a shooting force, with almost no HtH capability at all. Additionally, they are extemely wimpy physically. However, they are the best shots in the game when taken as a force, and are very cheap, with a high model limit and high leadership.

Pros of the Halfling force

1. Excellent shots. The Snipers and Sharpshooters allow a starting band to hit consistantly at range even if the opponent makes heavy use of cover.

2. The Halfling Special Skills. A very solid mix of skills allowing them to become very good at avoiding the enemy and being sneaky. BTW, the Smiled Upon Fate refers to the old WHFRPG wherein Halflings got the most Fate Points, allowing them to avoid death more often than other races.  

3. Very cheap Hirelings. With the Master Chef the Halflings can feasibly have every type of standard hireling, allowing the band to fill in its gaps and get very large. It also makes the force interesting from a modeling perspective as more models are available to choose from.

4. High Leadership. The Halflings are used to being the smallest guys around and are less easily intimidated than might be readily apparant. They are as stalwart as Dwarves, and more numerous.

5. Cheap units. The Halfling units are very cheap, allowing a large and well equipped band to be assembled.

6. Large unit max. Everything counts in large amounts.

Cons of the Halfling force

1. Weedy. The Halflings are unquestionably the wimpiest guys around. Physically they rival an unruly pack of cub scouts for ferocity. Just about any other unit in the game could waltz through a group of Halflings in HtH and do fairly well.

2. Difficult Recruitment. The Halflings will have trouble growing, preventing them from building up too fast and making it a little more diffucult for them to hit max size.

3. Limited HtH options. They have fewer weapons, nothing that gives Strength bonuses, no access to Strength Skills, a starting Strength of 2 and a max Strength of 3. In short, they cant wound diddly in HtH.

4. Not taken seriously. This is actually both an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time. On the up side your foes will likely underestimate your force. On the down side they will mock you fiercely behind your back and sometimes even to your face.

The Method behind the Madness

The Halflings are a fun and humorous force to play. They are most effective early in a campaign before opponents get too many Toughness raises as their attacks are all below a Strength 4. However, a Halfling band that finds a good balance between accurate shooters and outsourced HtH fighters can scale very effectively.

The typical Halfling band is most effective when they can set up on or near an objective in a postion with nice clean lines of fire and a lack of occluded approaches. They favor open space where they can see the bad guys coming, in other words. In tight confines or situations that require high mobility they suffer and in any situation where the enemy overruns their position the Halflings are in deep trouble.

It is technically possible to make a Halfling force without a Master Chef. It is also possible to walk uphill barefoot on broken glass while lit on fire. However, neither courses of action are adviseable. That's all we're going to say about that.

The Find Weakness Skill from the Halfling list is easily overlooked, but a very significant ability for Hero archers, particularly as a campaign ramps up and Toughness and Wound ratings hike up. It's also why the Sniper Hero and Sharpshooter Henchmen types are key, since they start with it.

Wise and frugal management of Hirelings, taking advantage of the combination of the Master Chef's cost reduction ability and the wide range of Hired Swords willing to work for the congenial Halflings will be an important factor in the hands of a canny player.