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Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





I have always wanted to play Mordheim, and finally have a group of folks, in the spirit of non-powergaming pure fun, ready to take the journey with me. The question is... where do I begin (and end)? I have downloaded just an obscene amount of content, and obviously while I assume we start with the newest iteration of the Living Rulebook, there are then 28 "Town Cryers" with official content, several campaigns, and a mountain of content I cannot tell if it is fan-made, or "official".

I LOVE my games to be as expansive as possible when they include RPG elements, so the biggest range of gear/items, adventure/encounters, scenarios, etc... is something important to me, but sometimes this content also even within official releases seems in direct conflict with itself, like three different shop/merchant lists, spread across three documents.

Help?

Oh, and as a simple to answer P.S. Is there a Dwarf warband list anywhere?

11527pts Total (7400pts painted)

4980pts Total (4980pts painted)

3730 Total (210pts painted) 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut







The Dwarf Warband exists in the Mordheim Annual 2002. Dwarfs are probably one of the more unique armies to play, due to their assorted restrictions.

They don't have access to Speed or Academic skills, meaning that they will be slow, and have a harder time initially searching for Rare Items. However, they get +1 Wyrdstone in between battles just for being Dwarfs, and they can learn a Wyrdstone Miner skill to modify exploration rolls by +-1, making it easier to acquire Doubles.

They are *slow*. Move 3 means that enemies can hang 7-8 inches away and prevent them from Running, while still being out of Charge Range. However, they get better weapon range via their Engineer, and are more resilient to missiles due to being Hard to Kill.

As for starting, find players, experiment some, build terrain and decide on a campaign. Also, check out Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





What are the different campaigns, and what sets them apart? In my giant blob o' downloads I see at least four... but apparently some Town Cryers have whole Campaigns like a Tomb King one?

11527pts Total (7400pts painted)

4980pts Total (4980pts painted)

3730 Total (210pts painted) 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut







NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
What are the different campaigns, and what sets them apart? In my giant blob o' downloads I see at least four... but apparently some Town Cryers have whole Campaigns like a Tomb King one?


The core campaign takes place in Mordheim itself.. Although in theory, any army could show up there, many of them don't have a fluff justification. For example, the Bretonnian Warband was only added simply because of fan demand, despite many Bretonnians viewing the city as a den of sin hardly worth saving!

The other campaigns are side-settings, and usually come with their own mix of special charts, warbands, hired swords, weather, etc. Khemri and Lustria were "unofficial canon" in that they were considered experimental yet had rules in Fanatic. Empire in Flames is official, and deals with adventuring in the areas surrounding Mordheim and other forested dangerous parts of the Empire.

Most campaigns don't actually have a "endgame" so they usually end at the agreement of all players involved. Check out:
http://www.specialist-arms.com/fanatic/

Issue #91 has expanded rules for running Map Campaigns, where the first player to control 50% of the map wins. Relics of the Crusades is also worth considering, since it gives your army leader a secondary goal, to obtain "enlightenment" in a particular Path, whether its serving Sigmar, serving Ormazd (the One True God), becoming a master Crimashin (Crimson Shade Assassins), mastering the Dark Arts, or becoming a legendary Scholar.

Finally, Border Town Burning as a Campaign is designed to have its own Endgame. At the start of BtB, you choose a goal for your Warband (defend Humanity, acquire profit, become the Champion of Chaos, etc), with accomplishing certain objectives advancing your Campaign Points, and the first person to reach that goal wins.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/11/15 20:10:13


 
   
Made in gb
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General




We'll find out soon enough eh.

Good to see folk still getting in to IMO GW's best game.

One of the best things about Mordheim is the massive wealth of expansions and fan additions that are out there, but despite your preference for having a huge range of stuff available, I'd recommend that your first campaign be "stock", ie just original rulebook and the content within it.

It doesn't have to be a long campaign - a set number of games or however many games you can cram in over a weekend, for example - but I think that people are better equipped to choose which of the many house rule tweaks to the core rules they prefer, and which additions to the game are balanced to the level you're comfortable with, once they've experienced the regular game with the basic setting and the "core" set of warbands & hired swords.

Once you have that grounding, I'd say you can confidently expand things to include the Town Crier warbands(Dwarfs, Beastmen, Carnival, Orcs & Gobbos etc, leave the Elves out of it though they're proper wonko) in regular games, and that overall you can play the Empire in Flames, Lustria Cities of Gold, and Border Town Burning campaigns as they're written and have just as much fun as with "normal" Mordheim. Khemri, IMO, requires a bit of work to get it functioning properly - some of the warbands are a bit anemic, and a few items need tweaking - so I'd leave that until you have a better handle on the system(plus that way you have time to build appropriately unique terrain for it, which is always cool). Many of the other settings require some degree of rewriting or curation IMO, but other folk disagree - again, something you'll be best placed to judge once you know the system and what you like & dislike about it.


I need to acquire plastic Skavenslaves, can you help?
I have a blog now, evidently. Featuring the Alternative Mordheim Model Megalist.

"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Is it true that Vampires also fall a bit into the "unfair/unfun" end of the spectrum? I am inclined to use some of the mountains of unbuilt, undead, I own from WHFB, but don't want our first try at a game to have any of that goofiness in play.

11527pts Total (7400pts painted)

4980pts Total (4980pts painted)

3730 Total (210pts painted) 
   
Made in gb
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General




We'll find out soon enough eh.

The Undead warband in the core rulebook is fine - the Vampire will absolutely become a beast over a campaign, but the rest of the warband is either slow, weak, can't use gear, or don't gain experience, so the warband overall remains manageable for opponents. You can make absolutely sure the warband isn't a pain to face off against if you don't take the absolute most "optimal" build, but personally I think Undead are more fun to play when you don't minmax as well - having a bit of everything rather than just spamming Ghouls means you have to think & plan a lot more to get the most out of them since most of your stuff will be moving at different speeds and require different support to function at their best. It's a rewarding warband to play.

Under no circumstances allow anyone to use the Bloodlines rules that are floating around, they are atrociously unbalanced.

I need to acquire plastic Skavenslaves, can you help?
I have a blog now, evidently. Featuring the Alternative Mordheim Model Megalist.

"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal 
   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

I think Yodhrin is right - use the core book and only the core book for your first campaign. Once you understand the baseline really well, then you can season it to your preference with all of the additional material.

   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut







 Manchu wrote:
I think Yodhrin is right - use the core book and only the core book for your first campaign. Once you understand the baseline really well, then you can season it to your preference with all of the additional material.


More for pickup games really.

If there's any band from the core rules that generates more hate than others, it's Skaven. This is because they get to start their campaign with the full complement of 6 Heroes (while others only start with 4 or 5, waiting for Lad's Got Talent rolls). This means they can get an early leg-up on other warbands while exploring. They have superior Initiative, making it harder to Hide from them, and giving them an easier time maneuvering around Mordheim's vertical terrain.

The real kicker however is their access to Slings. Slings are cheaper than Bows, with range 18". However, their main selling point is that if a slinger is stationary, it may fire 2 shots up to 9" with -1 to hit. Given most charge ranges are 8", and armor is notably overpriced and weak in Mordheim...
   
Made in ca
Resolute Ultramarine Honor Guard






Vancouver, BC

Witch Hunter or burn, clearly.

Witch Hunter Captain with sword/mace, witch hunters with sword/mace, warrior priest with a big hammer, a couple dogs to die for you to bug out, a couple flagellants, and an elf mercenary for some ranged support. Buy xbows asap on the four witch hunters.

If you Have a bad matchup, sacrifice a couple 15g dogs and bottle. Easily replaced, and you still get Wyrdstone when you lose, and with the elf buffing +/-1 to your exploration roll you should be able to at least get doubles or triples.

 warboss wrote:
Is there a permanent stickied thread for Chaos players to complain every time someone/anyone gets models or rules besides them? If not, there should be.
 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






I always find that you need to be interested in the specific settings of Necromnda, Mordheim and Gorkamorka. Mordheim isn't "Warhammer skirmish". It's very specifically set in one place at one time, and the game works best if you embrace that.
   
Made in nl
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General




We'll find out soon enough eh.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
I always find that you need to be interested in the specific settings of Necromnda, Mordheim and Gorkamorka. Mordheim isn't "Warhammer skirmish". It's very specifically set in one place at one time, and the game works best if you embrace that.


Strongly disagree. Mordheim is an incredible setting certainly, and if playing games in that setting you absolutely should embrace it, but one of the great strengths of the system is that it IS basically "Warhammer skirmish" once you add in all the supplementary and fan content - you can use the Mordheim rules engine to visit almost any part of the Warhammer World, from the New World to Far Cathay and just about everywhere in between, indeed I'd argue it's a better vehicle for exploring the Warhammer *setting* than WHFB was(and a more accessible way than the RPG).

The rulebook and Mordheim are the best place to begin, but the system has far more to offer.

I need to acquire plastic Skavenslaves, can you help?
I have a blog now, evidently. Featuring the Alternative Mordheim Model Megalist.

"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






I suppose so. But in each of those cases, the settings were pretty tightly defined - there was s story behind the settings, and the warbands presented in each one were thematically appropriate.

It's like having Space Marine Scouts or Kroot or something in Necromunda - I know there was a list in the Journal, but it just didn't feel like Necromunda.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Honestly, I know shockingly little Old World fluff, and yet I love WHFB, its races, etc... Mordheim appeals to my love for RPG-advancement/story-telling/progression based miniatures games, while letting me use all these models I lovingly collected. :-)


11527pts Total (7400pts painted)

4980pts Total (4980pts painted)

3730 Total (210pts painted) 
   
Made in nl
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General




We'll find out soon enough eh.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
I suppose so. But in each of those cases, the settings were pretty tightly defined - there was s story behind the settings, and the warbands presented in each one were thematically appropriate.

It's like having Space Marine Scouts or Kroot or something in Necromunda - I know there was a list in the Journal, but it just didn't feel like Necromunda.


I must be missing something - I'm not advocating for Lizardmen vs Cathayan Monks on the mean streets of the City of the Damned, I'm saying there's no need to limit yourself to *just* Mordheim(or *just* the rulebook bands once you have a handle on the rules and what fits into Mordheim thematically). Your initial comment seemed to be suggesting people should stick to Mordheim and only Mordheim, as in the place.

I need to acquire plastic Skavenslaves, can you help?
I have a blog now, evidently. Featuring the Alternative Mordheim Model Megalist.

"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






It did suggest that, but on second thoughts I agree that the other settings they introduced work just as well.
   
 
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