Mordheim Fantasy Skirmish Game, Why It’s Legendary
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ย. 2024
- Join us for another visit to the post-catastrophe city of Mordheim, the setting for Games Workshop’s classic Warhammer Fantasy skirmish game. #Mordheim #Oldhammer #GamesWorkshop
Given that anecdote about what inspired Mordheim, someone should make a parody skirmish game set in an alternate universe where Y2K caused societal collapse. You run bands of late 90s stereotypes (mall rats, biker gangs, preppers, office workers, etc), looting the blasted remains of shopping malls, suburbs, car-choked highways, and the like for supplies.
Make that game! Y2Kaos! Boom! Take that one for free, you're welcome ; D
@@zechwheeler5939 That IS a great name. Thank you.
@@zechwheeler5939 A GREAT idea & a GREAT name for it! You two should team up! 😂👍
Now I want to make unit profiles for OPR's Grimdark Firefight - we just need some special rules. I would say Impact (automatic hit when charging into melee) for Bikers, Strider (treat difficult terrain as open) for Mall Rats, Phalanx (counters Impact, and the charging unit must test for dangerous terrain) for Preppers, Office Workers get nothing (which makes them cheaper)
You mean Necromunda?
Got a 10 person league running strong in Canada! Long live mordheim.
Where in Canada?
@@SiliconSicilian Calgary, alberta
~~Praying that James Workshop forever keeps his avaricious hands off this game~~
Glad you mentioned the Gwar Skirmish game, I wanted to make a Gwar warband but holy hell those minis are expensive.
My theory is that Mordheim embodies the punk aspect of Warhammer that has since withered and died. It was DIY, loud, dark, and brutal. Now it's corporate; buy a plastic house for $70 rather than make the same damn thing outta literal trash and show you how to do it.
Mordheim feels like a response to current GW philosophy and I theorize that is part of what makes it popular. My oldest game store refuses to carry GW stuff anymore because it's so outrageously expensive. That should tell you everything.
Considering that the new IP "warhammer the Old World" is set in the period of time during the war of the three emperors (when the comet hit the city) they might give a supplement of rules for skirmish games played in the city. A player can always hope, no?
Mordheim actually was my introduction into wargaming not too long ago. Last year a friend (who I've played pen and paper RPGs with before) asked me if I was interested in playing Mordheim with his group. My first few sessions I was playing with minis from another member of that group because I didn't have any.
Now I have my own 3D printed warband and also my first models for a 40k army (original GW minis mostly with some 3D printed bits).
So without Mordheim, I probably never would've discoverd this hobby (but would've saved a lot of money).
Holy crap! Somebody else remembers Gwar's miniature game!
More than that. We played it on the channel: th-cam.com/video/aowGrTy4JGs/w-d-xo.html
As for Mordheim itself, I think what helped endear it to so many people was the milieu of Mordheim itself. A crowded collection of demolished buildings, with bands of treasure hunters picking through the ruins for loot. Much like Necromunda's iconic underhive interiors, there's something iconic about the medieval urban decay that is Mordheim's titular city.
Such terrain pieces are fairly simple to scratch builds as well, and provide plenty of verticality.
@Bluecho4 is spot on. GW even actively supported the true hobby aspect of the game back then. Multiple stores held contests for literal cereal box buildings. One store I frequented even had one of their employees cutting cereal boxes into tiny squares for a full shift to make flagstone and shingles. Their painting table was converted to a building table for those interested in joining the store campaign where entry "fee" was a starter and a building.
And probably also because you could use almost any model to play with. Probably one of the reasons it's still popular (before any misunderstanding, not the only reason, but one of the reasons)
@@gamerman782 Definitely. There are players that still seek out the eBay originals but I’m p happy playing with or against any representative band. LEGO Mordheim is fun too.
@@SiliconSicilian LEGO Mordheim? I'm listening. I don't play Mordheim, but I have two models (Averlanders I think. They got big hats) that fit perfectly as captains or sergeants because they stand out compared to the other models and thanks to 6th Edition, it isn't that hard to kitbash an empire warband to fit the game, especially thanks to the Free Company having so many spare arms..
Play Mordheim with my group regularly. It's one of the main games we play. Easily one of the best GW games ever made.
The fish. We always joked in the store back in the day about all the fish in the book and even the zealots holding them from the witch hunter warband.
I am 3d printing buildings for restarting Mordheim. I still have the original rules and supplements.i had mates who worked in GW and the way they were talking it was shelved as it was never going to make enough money. 10 miniatures and home made terrain, won't ma,e a lot of money. We still use Mordheim rules at the club for various other skirmish games.
Love the sisters of sigmar minis I've been using mine as proxies for sisters repentia.
I've been keeping an eye out on ebay and the like since 2020 and I've collected a nice size of the old minis. My thought was to add them to my 40k Sistles army but I haven't yet. They are great looking minis.
As for why it may not have sold well, I remember as a kid, 2003-ish, going to my GW store and the specialist games were not very well promoted. The only options for the range on display were a few Mordheim figures that for those not in the know could easily be mistaken for just a selection of regular Warhammer figures and then a couple of the large Inquisitor figures. I didn't know what those figures were until I stumbled across the specialist games section of their website in 2005 after seeing references to it in Black Gobbo.
I did play the Lord of the Rings version, Battle Companies, which was a lot of fun despite the number of my orcs who ended up becoming lame from injuries and were unable to fight half the time. I think they just saw one guy get out of combat for being badly wounded and started faking their injuries.
Still have the box set. I think a supplement came out after it's death about a Dwarven Warband, which I created.. someday I may play it again.
Love Mordheim, just as cool now as it was back in the day..
Years before Mordheim or Necromunda there was 'Chaos Warbands' skirmish game. The rules were in the 'Realms of Chaos' books.
Very entertaining and great to see the old minis. Thanks for taking the time to research and film this. Fingers crossed for a remake!
Back when I played my witch Hunters, when this game first came out, I painted my Zealot with the puppet as mr. Garrison from South Park, he then became brother Garrison warband hero, along with my hero flagellants, Trugore and Kilgore. It was a bloodbath whenever I would feed the madcap mushrooms
I remember reading a lot of white dwarf articles around when this came out. I mean I was about 6 but still!! Seems awesome
Awesome, recently got into the world of Mordheim and played a game only last week. It's a great game ☺️. Thanks for the video I did not know about the history of the game and where to get minis from for it 🙌
This reminds me of one of my favorite old games that was pure chaos and pure fun. HOL: Human Occupied Landfill. Thanks for the info. I love Warhammer FRP. This looks like a blast.
Fantastic run-through! Here is hoping GW comes out with a Mordheim rerelease!!
If it does, it'll be an add on to warcry most likely. And most definitely set in the mortal realms. It may come out with Old World but thats not looking like it'll come out until 2025 at the soonest (10th edition 40k in 23, 4th edition AoS in 24)
You think you want that, but you'll realize you actually didn't when they inevitably ruin it. Current GW isn't capable of producing anything good.
@@demonstructie You are probably right. Mordheim is better left to the fandom.
Given modern GWs track record and practices, best it be left as it is
@@Mrkabrat 😂😂😂
I didn’t know they had a fantasy skirmish game. This is very fun to learn about.
With GW's marketing, they could convince people to buy a glass of sand thinking it is ice water, so it wasn't a sales issue. I think Mordheim just didn't have the internal backing for it to continue. It will be back some day. :)
The problem with all specialist games at the time was GW’s agreement with New Line Cinema that reserved space was to be made for Lord of the Rings product and games. Initially, it actually boosted terrain options for Mordheim until HQ had to stop players from playing Mordheim on the LotR terrain in stores.
@@SiliconSicilian Stop them? God, playing at an actual GW store sounds like being monitored by the cops. What a bunch of nonsense.
@@zechwheeler5939 They were all terrified of losing their license for LotR.
@@SiliconSicilian Sure, but between this and what I've heard of them monitoring people for using proxy minis it sounds like being monitored by the fun police. Bunch of crap, let people play with the goddamn toys. Madness.
Man, I'd love to see a release of the old rules in an anniversary set or maybe a one-off reboot like Space Hulk got. Maybe that's what Cursed City was supposed to be?
Only problem is they would bring in the modern scale creep and old minis would look like halflings.
Best game ever released by GW or anyone else.
I still have my Possessed and Orc warbands.
Thank you for putting this excellent presentation together. I really enjoyed it, just as I enjoy everything that your excellent (& inexplicably undersubscribed 🤷🏻♂️) Channel uploads.
I never played Mordheim, but I’ve always loved that higgledy-piggledy, cobbled street, Tudor era style Town setting. So much so that - over the years - I’ve amassed more than enough such buildings to cover an entire 9ft x 5ft Gaming Table, with lots more to spare. My buildings are a mixture of PMC Games Medieval(ish) Buildings with removable roofs, a number of beautifully scratch built houses that form the “expensive” quarter of the town, quite a number of purpose built, multi storey ruined buildings, with the obligatory rickety gangplanks of various lengths, forming perilous pathways over the streets & across the upper floors, in order to reach the various treasure chests & other valuable items that lie abandoned but tantalisingly almost beyond reach… & at the risk of falling to the ground below, where the Undead & other horrors interminably shamble, or lie in wait for just such an eventuality…..
The Undead themselves rise up & stream forth at random intervals, from the numerous beautifully modelled graveyards that I purchased from the same talented modeller back in the day & I also have several churches, crypts & an entire hand built Monastery, set in its own grounds - with many members of the clergy on hand - to minister to the traumatised citizens who still dwell in the intact & habitable portion of the town, while also battling the legions of the Undead & other Demonic horrors, with the unfaltering courage & steely resolve that only those who have a stalwart Faith in a Power far greater than these abominable spawns from Hell can muster… There are also a dozen or so sewer grates that grant access to the dank network of sewers below, which allow one to take short cuts across the city - avoiding the many perils that stalk its cobbled streets - but at the risk of falling foul of the lurking horrors that infest those putrid passages down below. (The “Sewers” pack that comprises one of the themed options available from the creators of the excellent & highly convenient “Tenfold Dungeon” terrain, is an ideal choice for anyone wishing to transfer the action down below…. ).
There’s lots more immersive scenery to this Town, including streams & bridges to divide it up into various quarters & much else that I’ve even forgotten that I own & have stored away. Yet - alas - in all the Years that I’ve had it & all the time that it’s taken to amass it, I’ve never once gamed with it… ☹️ Various real life issues, career obligations & matters of circumstance conspired against me & it’s only now, in my retirement years, when my health has taken a gradual turn for the worse, that I’m finally about to be able to use the recently transformed Games Room in our house - that offers all the space one could ever want - to permanently set up such a tableau & create the Tabletop Adventure that I originally envisaged, when I started to collect all of the scenery, buildings & miniatures that will bring it to life. I’m really looking forward to it - & watching your video has rekindled my desire to put it all together as soon as I’m able to (my health permitting….. ). Thank You for that & keep up the great channel content! 😊👍 Best Wishes & Kind Regards ~ LOUIS C.
Great video. I'd love to know where to find those push together ruined buildings
That’s Green Stuff World Broken City terrain, mixed in with the old Mordheim stuff.
Still my favourite minis game ever. Tried a couple of times to get campaigns going locally but most of my local wargame players aren't interested in anything that isn't super competitive list building.
Even if GW don't relaunch, the old World will provide some fresh minis.
I believe I read somewhere that, in addition to Y2K, the inspiration also came from a comet and the cult(s) that thought the comet would mean the end of the world - this must have been the Hale-Bopp Comet in 1997. There were similar ideas related to a solar ecclipse in 1999, but that might have been too late to have inspired the game.
Hale-Bopp was incredible.
Great video
Love mordhiem
I was always a big fan of Mordhiem and played it a lot in the early 2000's ...unfortunately it was lost or destroyed in a "move" of address 😪
2:19 More Popular than EVER!!!
we have 8 players so far for the 2nd campaign this year
The best game ever made.
Man, great video as always, you're easily one of my favorite channels, BUT what the hell is this chaos bulldog marauder miniature? Who made it?
I can't find the exact name of the model, but it's a Chaos model from GW from the 80s. Might actually be a Chaos Marauder, Chaos Warrior or a Beastman. And I think there are actually two different models with a bulldog head. I don't collect Chaos, but I might buy it some day and paint it just for fun :)
Thanks Pedro. I believe the bulldog might be a Realm of Chaos era Khorne Beastman. Not sure if he's Citadel or Marauder.
Gonna watch this soon!
4:32 WORRIER NUNS!!!! OH JEZUUUUZ....
Hey man, do you mind me asking what game mat you’re using for your cityscape shots? It looks brilliant
I believe that is a dungeon floor mat from Tablewar.
@@oldhammered awesome thanks! Found it. You’re a legend.
It's still the best damn skirmish game out there.
Mordheim and Warhammer Fantasy were discontinued because of the non-possibility of putting copyright and trademark on part of those games. All fantasy universe have some things in common, mostly the name of the races. So GW made a brand new line of product with names like Sylvaneth for Wood Elves, Ogor for Ogres, Orruk for Orks, Seraphon for Lizardmen and so on. That would be the most logical reason I think.
Where is this cementry and this nice mat from?
Hi Hans. The Mordheim city section is made up of Mordheim cardstock buildings and Green Stuff World Broken City buildings on a Table War dungeon floor mat. The other photos also feature Table War mats I believe, and terrain pieces from all over the place.
Holy Crap those are my painted figures so glad they went to a good home
Hi Zach. Which ones?
@@oldhammered the Empire models and witch hunters, sisters, warlock, Ogre, etc.
That's awesome. We're really chuffed to have those figs in the collection. Plus now they get to live forever on TH-cam.
@@oldhammered SO awesome plus now I'm subscribed lol... Ill feature this video on my page
I feel like they don't support because you need less minis, ie, less money for them. But I think they would find people would invest a lot in these type of things
Oddly, both Necromunda AND Gorkamorka came out before Mordheim. I think the reason Mordheim has stayed more popular than either is because of how easy models from Mordheim transferred to regular WHFB. Have a Vampire Counts army in 6th. Edition Fantasy? You have a Vampire Counts warband in Mordheim. Skaven army? Skaven warband. Chaos army? You can make a Chaos warband using your marauders. Empire? You can probably build multiple warbands out of your existing collection between Reiklanders (swordsmen, spearmen, handgunners), Sisters of Sigmar (flagellants), and Witch Hunters (characters and flagellants). That's probably part of why GW axed it. People with existing collections weren't buying new models.
While 40k has Kill Team, Necromunda requires an entirely different set of minis for most people. You have Genestealer Cults and Imperial Guard, but you need completely different models for Goliath, Escher, Corpse Grinders, and so on. You can use options in Necromunda that aren't available in 40k, mainly regarding characters and special wargear (shock whips, heavy bolters not in a weapons team, etc.). And Gorkamorka can only be played by Ork players with the occasional Digganobz player thrown in. There's no real reason for Necromunda players to cross over into regular 40k and vice versa.
Even today, you can still make most of the original Mordheim warbands using exclusively GW models still in production. Until the release of Underhive Wars, a lot of Necromunda was off limits unless you found second-hand gangs on Ebay or Craig's List.
What brand of mat is that being used in the video? The one that looks like a cobblestone pattern?
That’s a Dungeon floor mat from Tablewar.
Thank you!
We want mordheim back dammit
Lord of the rings happened to Mordheim along with all the other fanatic games. There just wasn't enough support for it all and so, as companies do, GW had to curtail costs 😞
Hey guys a small question. Do you think that a free alternative to mordheim would get populair if everuthing was free but you had to 3d print it?
Hi Sem. I don't know the answer to that. I suppose it would depend on the rules and the sculpts. The Mordheim rules are already free, so price isn't really an issue there.
@@oldhammered Tnx man, i suppose it would be better if the community was to playtest the whole thing and help with changing and adding to the rules.
I think they're doing that already. Check out Broheim.net.
I'm a 3D sculptor and I often wondered what would be the copyright issues to creating custom Warbands for Mordheim, considering the rules are freely available online?
@@musashidanmcgrath as long as you don't say it's for mordheim specificly and they look mostly original.
Where did you get the bulldog with axe?
I believe that is an old Citadel beast man from the Realm of Chaos era. Late 1980s probably.
@@oldhammered thanks!
I loved the game but the chaos band becomes way too powerful to fast, at least the way the players in my area played them.
NICE
i have no evidence and no clue, but i strongly believe Mordheim will come back one day. As with nearly all other GW Games, they will launch a new edition, as soon as the see a good opportunity.
No post-Y2K Warhammer models, rules, or lore will ever be valid in any way. It is eternally 999.M41 in 40k and eternally 31 December 1999 in the meta-setting.
How dare you say it's clunky? Compared to what exactly? It is elegant and miles above Warcry, which is only good for the figures and terrain.
Well for example I think the combat sequence of Roll to Hit, Roll to Wound, then maybe Roll on the Critical Hit Chart, then maybe Roll for Armor Save, then maybe Roll on the Injury Chart, could be streamlined. But hey that’s just my opinion. If the ruleset works for you, that’s all that matters. Rock on.
@@oldhammered it's ok man, I was teasing, but I have tried Warcry, and it doesn't make any sense, it's too abstract. After the autistic level detail of WFRP or even WFB, Mordheim feels just right.
We actually bought Warcry when it first came out but never played it. I am very tempted to try to homebrew a faster version of the Mordheim rules, simply because we’re leaning toward quicker games these days.
@@oldhammered I just pillage it for the faction abilities. I use Mordheim as the skeleton for our rpg in the Warhammer world. When I feel it's lacking some resolution somewhere I glue on a poiece from WFRP or Necromunda.
Those metal Zombiea came several years later - for the first years it was the WHFB plastic Zombies..
It´s legendary becuase it is GREAT! :)