Mordheim Campaign Starter

I mentioned that I would post some links to assist in running your own Mordheim Campaign. Here are the simple answers, the links:

The Rules for Mordheim
The Mordheimer's Campaign Aid 
Along with tons of other downloads at the same site, here.
And a great Mordheim Forum with which to interact with others at Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum.

Now those are great places to start. There quite a few more that I am sure you can search for and find. The biggest hurdle for everyone when it comes to Mordheim is terrain. If you are lucky and have the money, then you can buy quite a bit from sites on the internet, such as:

4Ground
MBA
WorldWorks Games
Hirst Arts
of course Games Workshop

Other wise you may have to make your own:
TerraGenesis
Works in Progress
Really all you need is some poster board and a good knife. Design some walls, cut them out, glue them down, and paint it up. This is really the best way as you can create some great terrain this way.
Need inspiration? Gidian Gelande and his their Mordheim table...AWESOME!!

You really do not have to go so far at first. Build up your collection over time. Have a building party at your house or your local gaming store. Even better, see if the store would be interested in hosting. What you really want to do is get the rules down, so the games will flow better. Run a few games, get your feet wet, hash out ideas, and think about what extra warbands could be used in a campaign.

The most difficult part is getting other players involved. This is an old game. This is not the latest version of Warmachine or Infinity. The system is very forgiving and it's easy to get started. Just buy a box of generic warriors from what ever race you want to play, and you have most of your starting war band right there. You can split the cost with a friend, as there's usually more than enough for a single band in a box. Admittedly, some of the figures are not as customizable as they used to be. You may have to be creative in modeling a great weapon, a bow, or other bit. Remember you can always substitute or even use Elmer's Poster Tack, found at your local grocery store/office store, to attach other weapons and items with.

A bit of background on my part, I created the first campaign set back in 2003 and have used it several times since. I posted it online at various forums for others to use. There really wasn't anything out there like it then. Each time it gets tweaked a little bit. The Mordheimer's Campaign Aid was the latest version. The biggest change to that was the actual Mordheim map.

This map is much nicer than the one I created. He really did a great job. I searched for old world maps that would be conducive to editing, i.e. quick fixes due to laziness and/or lack of Photoshop ability, and used a map for the city of Arnhem, famous from the Second World War.

Feel free to use any or all of the links provided. Grab some friends and get started. Visit and use Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum. Just be sure to post pictures. We all like to see pictures. Most of all, if you find this post helpful, have questions, or find it to be utter nonsense, let me know.

Mordheim...

So what ever happened to the campaign? Well, it was tight just to get the eight weeks in. Real life interrupted and more important things got in the way. 

It was planned to get another six weeks in. Since then I think we have all met up again three to four times since late July. The overall winner went to the Wolves of Winter, Christina's Middenheimers. So that's that. 

Maybe, this Spring, I will run a Vampire Campaign based on Mordheim rules. The rules can be found here: The Vampire Hunters

The best part is the campaign is cooperative. The GM runs the undead with the players working to defeat the bad guys. 

Soon I will post what I've been up to the last few months. 

Thanks. 

Mordheim Warbands

We have been on another hiatus since June began. More real life has interrupted us. We are planning on resuming on the 29th of June. Since then I have taken a few pictures of some of the warbands that are involved. Most of these are the NPC warbands, except for the Night Goblins. That band belongs to my wonderful wife. So you know, the photos were taken with my iPhone so they may not be the best.

As for making the warbands, I make a generic list to start then proceed to create the warband. I always over make models to cover for WYSIWIG or injuries along the way. So you will see the Undead has four Dregs, but you can only have three in your band. Also, if you don't like how a particular weapon type performs, you can switch it out for one of the extras that have been created.

As for painting, all but the Elves and the Goblins have been done in the last 6 months to a year. I follow the same simple process of base, wash, then highlight with the base again. I will also add some extra highlights here and there or an extra wash if I want it to be darker or have a different tint to it. The dwarves were exceptionally easy as they are mostly armor and hair. Send me questions if any.

Dwarf Treasure Hunters (wife's new warband?)

Beastmen Raiders

The Undead. The Dregs are on the level before the Vampire.

The Possessed. The Chaos Warrior hired sword alongside Father Rex.

Night Goblins. A bit blurry upon second glance

The Shadow Elves

Coach for the Stagecoach Ambush scenario.

Mordheim Week Seven

Town Cryer Week 7 click here

We are now halfway through our campaign. Many of the map hexes are now occupied and the NPC warbands are being squeezed out. From here on, there will be many player versus player battles taking place. I am afraid there may be some bad feelings to grow as the players re-battle each other. Especially as warbands begin to separate themselves in ability and might. As the Campaign Organizer, I have to limit that and nip it in the bud as quickly as possible. 

Not all warbands are created equal. The Night Goblins of my wife are fighting an uphill battle every week. Knowing ahead of time they were created mainly as an NPC warband, she bravely chose to lead them. They really are held back monetarily by the Fanatic, and the low stats they all have. I didn't even mention the Animosity rule that she has come across several times at bad moments. She did hire a Black Orc and he has mitigated some of the damage, still low strength, short range, and lots of early casualties have hampered here fromt he start. On the other hand there is the Shadow Warriors. They are very expensive, low numbered, and have high stats but have trouble wounding. It doesn't' really help that many of the scenarios have few buildings, but there are many open ranges for them to shoot across. I really have not bought into the Shadow Elves being overpowered. They still have a strength and toughness of three unable to get crossbows, halberds, flails, etc. Finally, the Pit Fighters also suffer from some of the same problems of the Elves, very expensive and low numbers. Now they do have great benefits from being in buildings. Yet they are hard to find in Empire in Flames. Even so, their low numbers really hamper them no matter their elite status.

We are taking off the month of May. Some of us have to deal with real life. In the down time, I am painting up some more Hired Swords and some more terrain that I have plans for. I have told the players what the next three scenarios are: Wild Wood, Stagecoach Ambush, and Last Order. I have plans to take photos of the NPC warbands to post in the upcoming weeks.

Defend the Find: Classic Mordheim scenario with lots of buildings. The 'find' is the central pond not the building.

Mordheim Week Six

Town Cryer Week 6 click here

We have concluded our sixth week. There are another eight scheduled missions to go. We have one more session with the three current missions (Warmachine, Bounty Hunting, Defend the Fine) before we take a month-long hiatus. Real life is stepping in for most of the month of May. This works out fine for me. It lets me set up some more terrain items, build more scenario pieces, and apparently more Hired Swords

Speaking of which, I am supplying the Hired Swords that are available. I have many, if not most, of the standard Hired Swords that are out there, painted and ready to go. The main ones being seen are the Tilean Marksman and the lycanthropic Ogre Bodyguard. The other ones available are found in the first Town Cryer. Since there are a limited supply of Hired Swords, I have incorporated a bidding system for them. I have the players send me their single bid. It must be at least the minimum required to hire the guy. The highest bidder then gains their services at standard upkeep prices. If for whatever reason a warband has to drop the Hired Sword, I keep the stats and make them available for other warbands. 

I understand that not every campaign manager can provide the Hired Swords for all players or even NPC warbands. Why do I do this? Why not just have the players go at it? I am trying to get a narrative to the whole campaign. If for some reason an NPC warband starts to grow into a real nemesis for the players they may get a real desire to avoid/destroy the warband. This can also give me a branch to follow and cultivate as well when it comes to the campaign. It also gives the players a chance to try out another warband that may be different from their own. Player X may get tired of running a 'shooty' warband and see what it's like to use a close combat oriented warband. In addition, I am rotating the opponents, the players and the warbands. Everybody will play against everybody at least once, NPC warbands too. Although, the Reiklanders have been retired, so not everyone got to play them. It can get to be really frustrating or boring to play against the same opponent every turn. Unfortunately, the map is filling up with player victories, and the unclaimed NPC locations are dwindling fast. Soon, the players will be going up against each other weekly. We are about half way through the campaign. I do have some particular missions that will have everyone involved.

Bounty Hunting Mission: Next time, I would not use Forest area terrain...Just trees

Mordheim Week Five

Town Cryer Week 5 click here

Our second set of three missions started this past weekend. The ones I selected this week are the basic, Defend the Find, Bounty Hunting from Empire in Flames, and Warmachine from the Nemesis Crown scenarios. There is quite a bit of money and booty to be gained for successful warbands. 

We also had our first player vs player battle this weekend. The Lizardman 'Temple Guardians' of Ed went up against Judith's Norse 'Sea Wolves' in the Bounty Hunting mission. As I am using forest area terrain, the Norse band hid amongst the trees afeared of the skink missile fire. In the end the Norse voluntarily routed after losing several wolves and a henchmen, to hand to hand combat. In her defense, several of her models were down as well when her turn started. She could have lost more.

My wife's Night Goblins brought out her brand new River Troll! Me, playing the NPC Beastmen with the Mortar perfectly guessed the ranges each time. Each time it scattered too, but I was pleased with myself. I was until I got a critical '6' with a club. Using the expanded critical chart, a '6' with a club is the most powerful weapon in the game. I was able to take out the troll with a single swing after avoiding the troll's charge. Needless to say, if the troll had died, I would have had to sleep in a hotel.

As the Games Master for this campaign, there are several things I would like to mention for others. First, the Games Master should know the rules very well. This goes for almost any campaign or tournament. If, on the off hand chance something does come up that you do not have an answer for, you as the GM must make a quick but good decision to keep the game going. Especially, if researching the question can slow or stop the game. This is the main thing you want to avoid, game stoppage! Second, you want to challenge your players. Give them something that makes them think, or work hard to defeat/accomplish. You know how after playing John Madden Football so many times you get bored of beating the computer 77-0. That's when you ignore the game and go on to something new. That is what I am talking about, boredom, old-hat. The best games you ever remember are the ones where it comes down to final play or move that wins the game. Being down 17 with scant time remaining, yet you still pull it off. That is how you want the game to go. Admittedly, as a GM I have upped the player's opponents once in a while to make it tougher. Don't tell them, but I even doubled the hit points of several monsters at times. I sorta hope my wife got that feeling of accomplishment of winning after I brained her troll. Fortunately for me, the troll as a henchman can never die. He just regenerates. Which saved my skin!

Warmachine Scenario: the mortar sits in this Ebay bought Hirst Arts castle.

And the Troll, just before he got his head smashed! I felt like high-fiving everyone,  wife very upset!

Mordheim Week Four

Town Cryer Week 4 click here

Our fourth week concluded this past Saturday. Our fifth week begins this next Saturday with new maps and new missions. With the 'Thing in the Woods' mission, we finally had a continuing casualty (lycanthropy) after 5 battles. The NPC Reiklander band that I was controlling got royally mauled by one of the bale wolves. It took out 6 members by itself. Every henchmen suffered a fatal wound. The only exception was the Ogre bodyguard. 

I was on the verge of retiring the warband due to them losing half of their warband and them being an NPC band. But from the very first week, the players requested I continue the NPCs and let them grow, good or bad. Since then, I have been tracking their history. Originally the filler warbands were created using 400gc. This made them weaker from the start. I wanted the players to have an opponent if they moved into an open hex, but I didn't want them to run into a brick wall. Yet, with the dice gods, things have gone wrong for a player warband. The plan was to have generic warbands set up at 400gc levels, 500gc levels, 600gc levels, and even 1000gc levels. This would make it easier to set up a Boss warband. Once the map fills up, the non-player bands will fall away. I will pull them out one by one based on their strength, with the Reiklanders currently looking to be the first to face 'sequestration'.

At the end of each week, I have the winners select a location they wish to move into for the upcoming week, no win equals no move. The order of movement depends on the warband ratings. The band with the highest rating can choose to have the higher ratings choose first or the lower ratings choose first. Think of it from A to D or from D to A. This gives a reason to have a high rating since I have removed some of the choices with regards to mission. In my other campaigns I had the players email me where they would like to move to next. This incorporated a 'Fog of War' element to it. This time I do not have a numbered map. It used to matter before as there were specific sites that had point values or other benefits for warbands or certain locations led to certain missionsi.e. Undead and cemeteries, Wizard's Tower. Since I am not utilizing map terrain to determine battles, this isn't too big a problem. When I get more ruined buildings, I may switch back to the original idea and Mordheim map.

The Thing in the Woods: The trees are made from PVC pipes covered in plaster tape supported with thick wire and insulation at the base.

Mordheim Week Three

Town Cryer Week 3 click here 

The third week of our campaign concluded some days ago. I used the same three tables and scenarios. I did have the players rotate though. Each person faced a new opponent and warband. The players are still going up against the NPC warbands as none of them have moved into an opposing players territory yet. I'm not sure if it's due to fear or respect though. 

What I have the players do is play two games on each meet. On one game Player A will control their warband against an NPC band controlled by Player B. They then switch with Player A running an NPC warband against Player B's warband. This accomplishes many goals. It gives everyone a chance to try out a new warband. This also keeps the campaign moving without having to 'waste' moves waiting for players to meet up. The NPC warbands are sort of a filler, a wandering monster if you will. Finally, it lets the player warbands grow and gain experience as they would otherwise get bored if they had nobody to confront each week.

Why didn't I change the scenarios from the previous week? Well, I want every player to go through the same missions when the campaign ends ultimately. Everyone will all go through the same gauntlet. They may not always get the same opponent though. That will be the randomness of it. This will change once the players start to confront each other. Then I will have the two players utilizing the same mission. Basically, I will do this three board/mission rotation three more times at least. As I have expanded the campaign list to fourteen, maybe fifteen total missions. It also allows for me to plan and prepare the board ahead of time. If I do not yet have the specific models or terrain yet, this give me a few weeks to get them ready. Best of all, my wife lets me keep the boards set without having to clean up each week!! She's awesome!!

For each post I will explain another game mechanic. Some of them I have used before, others for the first time. Most of what I am using I put together years ago and was modified some and posted on the Mordheimer website as the Campaign Aid. Finally, my players are heading into week five and eventually the blog will catch up with the campaign. More than likely this will happen next week. Feel free to comment or ask questions.

Lost in the Bog: There is a cemetery in the middle surrounded by boggy terrain.

Lost in the Bog: Game play from week 3, the Wolves of Winter caught in a pincer move by Count Victor von Bargen

Mordheim Week Two

Town Cryer Week Two click here

For this campaign I have selected a few missions ahead of time to use that all players will go through eventually. This way, everybody plays the same mission, but they may not have the same NPC opponent. Our second week completed some time ago. The second through fourth weeks, the players will rotate through the same three missions: The Thing in the Woods, Lost in the Bog, and The Frenzied Mob. These are all from the Empire in Flames sourcebook. To make it easy for me the GamesMaster and fair for the players, all three mission tables remain the same for each of the players.

For the players, I have provided everything except their own warbands. They are all pre-painted and ready to go. I even have some henchmen that they can hire too. If for whatever reason, a henchmen has to be released from a warband they would keep the experience they had already gained. I am also going through the extra effort to grow the NPC warbands as well. I had them start out with lower GC, but I give them the benefit of a doubt if they need an extra point of experience sometimes. I want the NPCs to be challenging, but not a walk over either.

Mission Info that we have come across. The Thing in the Woods needs another objective beside beating the other warband. Otherwise, one can just sit back as we saw happen with a couple of the games. Maybe force the player warband to make it to the other side similar to Breakthrough. Lost in the Bog worked fine, not much to change there. The Frenzied Mob needed something in the center of the board as a goal as well, possibly even make the townsfolk not worth any experience points otherwise it becomes an exp trove.

Frenzied Mob: Four buildings with four townsfolk each

Mordheim Week One

We have started up another Mordheim campaign. This will be my fourth such campaign I have managed. All except for the third campaign, I have run at our home using my own terrain. Anyway, this one is different than the rest. I am utilizing the Empire In Flames almost exclusively. Most of the scenarios and rules are being incorporated throughout. I have also thrown in some other missions that I have come across from the Nemesis Crown worldwide campaign or other sites.

There are five players involved with seven NPC warbands that they may encounter during the next few weeks. The player warbands are as follows:

1. Middenheimers: Wolves of Winter
2. Averlanders: The Krewe
3. Lizardmen: The Temple Guardians
4. Norse: The Sea Wolves
5. Night Goblins: Gurk's Gang

The NPC bands are:

1. Beastmen Raiders: led by Chief Bloodtail
2. Undead:  led by Vampire Victor von Bargen
3. Shadow Elves: Shadow Master Aldalome
4. Pitfighters: Pit King Mungus the Unbowed
5. Cult of the Possessed: headed by Father Rex
6. Clan Eshin Skaven: with Assassin Adept Rurduk Redeyes
7. Reiklander Mercenaries: Prokop Draken is the Captain

A few words about the setup. I am using the Mighty Empires set of tiles to represent the area outside Mordheim in a giant hexagon. This leaves an extra corner unoccupied by a player. I then set up several tables that are similar to the locations on the map. When or if the players win, then they can move into a new tile. This then lets me set the tables for next week according to the locations on the tile. After each week ends, I write up a newsletter covering the previous turn and possibly setting upcoming turns as well. 

The first Town Cryer is here.