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Hi

A friend of mine plays Mordheim and I am looking to build my first warband (and buy him a new army) as a birthday present.

For me, I am looking to build an Undead warband

For him, I am looking to build him a Skaven warband.

Having never played the game, I am currently starting to read up on it. My ask for today is:

1) Where is a good place to buy original Mordheim minis (as i might go down that route and a quick google wasn't much help). So far I am looking on eBay and Merlin Miniatures

2) If I wanted to buy cheaper newer minis, what ranges work as good substitutes?

3) I am looking to get a physical copy of the rulebook, prices seem to be about £80-£100, is that a good price, or should I hold out?

As I said, I am just starting to look at this, so if anyone out there has any pointers for someone just starting out, please shout

Once I have the Warbands, I am sure I will have more questions, including painting ones

Hey Deconstruction,

Welcome to Mordheim! Sorry there isn't as much activity here about Mordheim as I remember.

Here is a link to a thread which I think should be helpful regarding thinking about how to build your warband, regardless of which warband you choose:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/713397.page

I've posted in that thread (from many moons ago), and played in my fair share of Mordheim games, but our games were just one way to play the game.

With regard to your questions about rulebooks and such. I think 80-100 GBP is outrageous for a Mordheim rulebook. I'd be patient and see if you can find one cheaper. You could also put a listing in the Trade forum here on Dakka and see if anyone has one they'd like to trade or sell. There is also a lot of activity on places like Facebook Marketplace where a lot of warhammer trading and selling has moved to.

Warbands and models. So, depending on how much of stickler you would like to be (or that your opponents are), you have a lot of options. The old Mordheim Warband sprues are like hen's teeth nowadays. I have two full sets of them on sprue, and am trying to decide whether to sell them on ebay, or keep em and use em. That being said, any era of warhammer model that you like the look of can work for a Mordheim warband - like Empire soldiers? Get 'em cheap on ebay if possible, and then use those. Pick up some character models for your Heroes, arm your henchmen all the same, and Bob's your uncle.

Or, if you don't mind going "off brand", Wargames Atlantic has Conquistadors in 28mm plastics that would work great as Empire treasure hunters in Mordheim. They also have other historical minis that in a pinch can be drafted into your band, as does Oathmark (Humans, Elves, Dwarves), Victrix (Knights, light infantry), Frostgrave, etc. After all, Mordheim is a fantasy world, and so any look, suitably "warhammered up" can work. I use alt zombies, skeletons, and vampires in my Undead Warband, for instance. And am planning to use Wargames Atlantic knights, Dark Age Irish, and some Oathmark light infantry as a Bretonnian warband. Likewise, Frostgrave Cultists work great as cultists in a Possessed Warband. The only important thing, and one of the elements we always abided by was arming the models with the correct weapons. Once you do that, so that there are no surprises, then you can use any model to proxy for an "official" Mordheim Warband.

Fortunately, there are a lot of Mordheim blogs, YT channels, and other resources that you can check out to see what the community is doing with the game. Its amazingly invigorating to see all the terrain, warbands, and such.

Undead Warbands: using GW minis - grab some of the new zombies, ghouls, and a vampire from ebay. You only need a couple of each. Any GW minis from the empire or bretonnia could work as Dregs in the list. You might also need a wolf or two, but I'd look to DnD minis for those. I'm not familiar with GWs current offerings.

Skaven Warband: again, ebay for the recent Skaven half of the starter box has very nice skaven troops. Paint one up fancier as a Hero/Leader type, and maybe grab an old metal assassin from the skaven range. Its really all what your budget allows. Slings in a skaven warband are worth their weight in gold, but I don't think there are skaven slingers available from GW. Here is where I kitbash using a historicals kit with slingers to grab hands and slings.

Feel free to ask any other questions you might have. Good luck!

Hi Cruentus

Thank you so much for the reply, I will check out the pages mentioned. I am not a massive fan of going "offbrand", but I feel I might need to do that short term here, but we shall see how I get on.

If you do pop your sprues on eBay, feel free to drop me a PM to let me know

Thanks again

Oldschool rules? Cheap skaven with clubs and slings (watch the warband size for income) and take all six heroes.

They don't have the same top-end power as other warbands but they can be oppressive early on and rake in the cash.

The heroes can also hit pretty hard - a black skaven with art of silent death skill and weeping blades roll a lot of nasty looking dice, sorcerers have decent spells, the pistols are reliable (if short ranged).

Avoid running into spears or assaulting fortified towers full of elves :p And moral is not a strong suit of the rats.

In a bad match-up you can always bail out. Bodies are cheap and cashflow is high - skaven make as much from a loss as other teams make from a win.