Mordheim: Where tabletop wargame meets RPG.

Hi all

Towards the end of last year, one of our play groups started talking about starting a new campaign for one of my favorite games from way back, Mordheim.

Mordheim is a table top skirmish game created by Games Workshop based on their popular fantasy game Warhammer. Players take control of small warbands consisting of several heroes and henchmen and fight in the streets of Mordheim in search of the valuable Wyrdstone. Warbands can be made up of a number of Warhammers fantasy races (giant ninja rat men your thing? Skaven are the answer).  

The great thing about this game is that after each mission, your characters earn experience and can learn new skills or find/purchase new items (or on the flip side, sustain injuries) which means you can maintain your own personal war band and develop characters adding flavor to each of your games. The game uses warband ratings to allow for more experienced groups (who will have more members or better items) to compete with fledgling bands looking to blood themselves for the first time. You may womp on them, but the ratings ensure that experience is weighted based on the different power level between bands.

The main problem with Mordheim is that Games Workshop stopped supporting it several years ago and so does not produce new material or figures for it. Thankfully, it is still listed as one of their specialist games so you can download all the rule books directly from their website for free ( kinda odd considering Games Workshop isn't exactly known for being super charitable) and has a large following online of dedicated fans who maintain the game.

Most warbands can be made up of existing Warhammer figures (with some small conversions). Luckily for yours truly, I know someone who happened to have some classic official Mordheim figures hiding away in storage. After some tough negotiations (basically me clutching the figures to my chest wimpering like a child asking them to name a figure) I had the start of two new warbands!

Classic Witch Hunters and Sisters of Sigmar

Last night was spent cleaning models and gluing them to bases in time for a quick learning game to be played at the shoppe. I haven't painted the models yet (sacrilege, I know) but we managed to get in a quick game to brush up on my rules knowledge. Much fun was had with the Sisters of Sigmar taking down the Witch Hunters leader in the first few rounds with some finesse and subtle tactics (basically dual wielded warhammers to the face). A brutal counter attack from the Witch Hunters saw two Flagellants (crazy old men with flails and not much else...) return the favor and pull the game back in their favor. Both warbands were at their breaking point (after 25% of your warband is out of action through combat, you need to take a rout test to see if your warriors flee like whipped dogs) but it was the Sisters of Sigmar who broke first giving the Witch Hunters their maiden win.

You don't need paint or expensive terrain to have fun

I heartily recommend Mordheim to anyone interested in tabletop gaming or roleplaying as it mixes both elements remarkably well. We will be starting our own campaign in early March and anyone in the Durban area is more than welcome to join in (pop into the shoppe or drop me a message). Ill be posting updates as the campaign progresses for anyone interested in such things to give an idea on how the game progresses with time as that is truly the best way to play Mordheim.

If you are looking for more information regarding Mordheim, try checking the below links:

Games Workshop - Specialist games page for Mordheim (rule books found here)

Mordheimer - Fan made website with heaps of information and updates

Until next time, keep the dice rolling.

Enjoy!