Marienburg Mercenaries

*Marienburg is the largest and most prosperous trading city in the Old World. Warbands sent to Mordheim are sumptuously dressed and armed.*

**Marienburg Mercenaries** are one of the many Factions you can play in Mordheim: Warband Skirmish, to constitute your Warband.

## Marienburgers Traits

Marienburgers are part of Human Mercenaries group, and thus share many common characteristics:

* Average Stats, but high Leadership.
* Their Captain has access to all Skills (except Special Skills), plus Lesser Magic.
* Two choices of Henchmen:
	+ Warriors, with slightly higher WS and Advanced Weapon Training.
	+ Marksmen, with slightly higher BS, Bow and Blackpowder Training.

* Very wide range of weapons and armours.
* Very much inclusive, as they'll accept most all Hired Swords except the exclusives ones.

Compared to other Mercs, Marienburgers have 3 specific advantages.

* +100 starting gold crowns.
* Higher quality Equipment: +10% to item rarity in the Store.
* Up to 20% discount on items' price in the Store.
* Henchmen can combine Combat, Shooting and Speed skills. After some development, they become better range units than Reiklanders. Extra speed allows for better positioning, Ambush grants a free extra attack and Dodge means natural resistance to opposing fire. They lack access to Strength Skills, however, and are thus pretty poor tanks or melee units.

## Leader: Marienburg Captain

*Mercenary Warbands are led by tough professional warriors who will fight for almost anyone against anything, so long as the price is right. Mordheim offers such a man the chance to become rich beyond his dreams, though at great risk...*

Leader: Leadership Range 6

## Henchmen: Marienburg Warriors

*These dogs of war are grim, seasoned fighters, fearing no man as long as they have their weapons and armour. Some are mad, some are bad and some aspire to be champions of renown.*

 Known skills

## Henchmen: Marienburg Marksmen

*Bows and handguns are classic weapons of the Empire and it is said the best imperial archers and hunters cna hit a coin from 300 paces. In the savage street fights of Mordheim they snipe at the enemy from the windows of ruined buildings often killing without beeing seen.*

 Known skills

## Marienburg Weapons & Armours

Marienburgers don't have access to special weapons, but they get a general access to some of the best out there. Their lack of Strength Skills generally means that the best armour they'll wear is Pit Armour (Def +10, Wt 0) or very expensive Ithilmar (Def +25, Wt 0).

Marksmen will want to get an Elf Bow ASAP, before getting a Hochland Long Rifle & Sight. I love dumping two skill points in Weapon and Advanced Weapon Training, to equip an Ithilmar Short Sword on my Marksmen. That way, you get the same bonus as 2 x Initiative Increase, with the added benefit of a better melee weapon if it comes to that.

Warriors should generally be avoided. Their lack of Strength Skills is too much, IMHO. But I must admit I've always wanted to build a swashbuckling team, and Marienburgers are probably the best for that.

## Lesser Magic

Mercenary Captains can learn to use Lesser Magic, or can hire Warlocks.

* Flight of Zimmerman is one of the most useful spell in the game. It can be used before charging into combat, or after attacking to get to safety. It is also very useful to loot the map. Max it out.
* Silver Arrows of Arha is only good for a very skilled shooter. Max out BS, Shooting Skills and Quick Shot before investing skill points in that spell. Warlocks should just ignore it.
* Sword of Rezhebel is quite OP. A melee trained Captain with this is very hard to beat. Warlocks can also benefit from it, but should max out WS first (and get 90+ Ld).
* Luck of Shemtek is ok to cast when you have nothing better to do, but only then.
* Dread of Aramar is one of the most useless spell in the game. Target usually just succeed their Leadership test when manage to cast it successfully. Only useful against Skaven and Sisters.
* Fires of U'Zhul is the main weapon of Warlocks, and a nice finisher for Captains (otherwise, they'll usually prefer flying in or out of battle).

## Hired Swords

Marienburgers can hire all non-exclusive Hired Swords, but they work better with some:

* Warlock is very popular for extra mobility and magic support.
* Elf Ranger and Halfling Scout are very good options for Marienburgers built for range. I prefer Elves, but Halflings are cheaper.
* Pit Fighter's access to Speed skills means they're theoretically a good fit with Marienburgers. With proper training, they can move at the same speed and hide in shadows. Consider them as already trained Warriors that can access Strength Skills. They may not synergize well with your range units, however (disabling targeting system when in melee).
* Ogre would have been a good choice if Marienburgers did not naturally develop sneaky tactics (thanks to Hidden in the Shadows and Ambush). Ogres in such Warbands are generally a hinderance (magnets for ennemy fire while also revealing your position). For this reason alone, you may want to avoid them.
* Dwarf Troll Slayer, Freelancer, Duelist and Dwarf Ranger are there for flavour only. There are other better choices.

## Why choose Marienburgers?

* Because you love snipers and range tactics (actually the best to set up an Alpha Strike).
* Because you want an easy way to manage Rating. Shooting and Speed Skills are notoriously good with low impact on Rating. You can thus spam Ambush and Lightning Reflexes on all units and double/triple your attacks at a very low cost.
* Because you hate losing to failed Leadership tests.

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