Mordheim

Mordheim is a tabletop game published by Games Workshop in 1999. It is a skirmish variant of the company's Warhammer Fantasy game but set on a warband or "skirmish" scale.[1] Mordheim was designed by Alessio Cavatore, Tuomas Pirinen and Rick Priestley.[2] Besides being a typical miniature skirmish game, Mordheim also features a campaign system. Warbands gain experience and equipment as the campaign progresses, in a similar nature to role-playing games.[1]

This article is about the tabletop Warhammer Fantasy variant. For the computer game adaptation, see Mordheim: City of the Damned.

Mordheim
The Mordheim rulebook
Players2 or more
Setup time10 minutes
Playing time45 minutes - 1.5 hours
Random chanceHigh
Skill(s) requiredStrategy, Arithmetic

The game is set in the Empire city of Mordheim, from Imperial Year 1999, some 500 years before the present day in the Warhammer Fantasy time line.[1] The game is set during a time of chaos and civil war in the Empire after a comet struck the city of Mordheim destroying it and scattering a material called wyrdstone throughout the ruins.[1] Mercenary warbands from all over the warhammer world battle with one another for the wyrdstone.[1]

Warbands

The official rulebook which was released in 1999 introduced several warbands which players are able to use. These included human mercenaries from the Empire provinces of Reikland, Middenheim and Marienburg, cult of the possessed, witch hunters, the sister of Sigmar, the undead, and skaven.[3]

A Mordheim Annual was released in 2002, increasing the number of officially available warbands. The expanded set of warbands introduced orcs and goblins, dwarf treasure hunters, human mercenaries from the Empire province of Ostland and Averland, high elves and Kislev.[4]

Reduction in official support

Games Workshop ceased releasing updated rules and material for the game in 2004. Preliminary suggestions for official rules were last released in 2006 though official moves in support of the game have been non-existent for even longer. In February 2008 Games Workshop amended their mail-order indexes, removing numerous Mordheim models from their online store. In February 2010 Games Workshop stopped supplying the Mordheim rulebook for purchase as a physical book. In April 2014 the previously available digital downloads of rulebooks and other materials were removed from the Games Workshop website.

Computer game adaptation

A computer based adaptation of the game titled Mordheim: City of the Damned was released for personal computers in November 2015 [5] and consoles in October 2016.[6]

There is also a version for mobile devices, Mordheim: Warband Skirmish, by Legendary Games.

Unofficial material

Mordheim continues to enjoy a cult following and fans of the game have suggested further developments to the rules. Border Town Burning is the biggest post 2004 development in Mordheim. It contains detailed expansion rules for campaigns in the Cathayan borderlands, detailing the merchant travels along the "Silk Road" from Cathay to the Old World. Relics of the Crusades (refer to external links below) is another expansion set, this time set in Araby during the Crusades. The setting is very detailed and was originally published through official channels and so can be said to be semi-official. The Coreheim rules modification that streamlines and balances the original Mordheim rules so that play progresses faster and more weapons options are viable. The name 'Coreheim' is a play on words which signifies that the designers thought that the setting, featuring only a handful of warbands, had been diluted by the introduction of so many later warbands.

As a Games Workshop "Specialist Game" Mordheim receives only very limited official support regarding both gaming products (such as models) and rules tweaks/updates.

References
  1. "Getting started with Mordheim". games-workshop.com. Games Workshop. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  2. Pirinen, Tuomas; Priestley, Rick; Cavatore, Alessio (1999). Mordheim Rulebook. Games Workshop. p. 2. ISBN 9781841540078.
  3. Pirinen, Tuomas; Priestley, Rick; Cavatore, Alessio (1999). Mordheim Rulebook. Games Workshop. p. 76. ISBN 9781841540078.
  4. Johnson, Jervis (2002). Mordheim Annual 2002. Games Workshop. ISBN 9781841543772.
  5. Interactive, Focus Home. "Mordheim: City of the Damned celebrates release with the Launch Trailer". Mordheim: City of the Damned. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  6. Interactive, Focus Home. "Mordheim: City of the Damned arrives on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 18th 2016!". Mordheim: City of the Damned. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  • Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum The largest online community.
  • Border Town Burning: The homepage for Border Town Burning which is a new, balanced supplement for Mordheim
  • Relics of the Crusades (part 1 & part 2): a supplement set in Araby during the Warhammer Crusades.
  • Coreheim: A smooth and competitive Rules Modification and a large gallery of Mordheim miniatures and terrain.
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