First Two Games of Mordheim

I played my first two games of Mordheim this week.

Both were 3-way battles. Treasure Hunt first, then The Pool.

Warbands:
The Killer Krocs – Lizardmen
The Woofang Clan – Skaven
The Caledonians – Pirates

The lizardmen and pirates were both played by first-time players.

https://jburns272.deviantart.com/art/Battle-Report-Game-1-Treasure-Hunt-733525966
https://jburns272.deviantart.com/art/Battle-Report-Game-2-733525959
Edit: Download the word docs for the pictures.

Some reflections on my first two games:
1. Kroxigor + Tinci’s Rage = a bad day for everyone else. That thing was almost single-highhandedly responsible for routing 3 warbands.
2. Swivel guns & blunderbusses are better psychological weapons than actual weapons. In the second game, the swivel gun's presence kept me safe from the lizardmen until the last minute.
3. I initially thought black powder weapons won’t be worth their prices since armour is expensive and easily negated. If you’re likely to be going up against lizardmen though…
4. Keep a little gold handy for when you lose someone.
5. Keep in mind who can get what XP in a scenario. Also, let your heroes do the killing.
6. Slings appear to be stupidly cost-effective.

Great reports! Admirably ambitious too, with multi-player games & some tricky warbands. Although there's still something almost impressive about losing four Skaven to failed initiative tests...

2. I find most long-ranged weapons in Mordheim are more psychological than practical. They can be great for frightening opponents, forcing them into cover, & controlling ground, but when it comes to actually killing anyone... Unless you're really spamming missile weapons, actually wounds by shooting are freak chances.

3. Black powder is expensive, but also fun & characterful. & the blunderbuss' template attack helps balance the usual ineffectiveness of shooting.

4 & 5. Good tips. But also remember to keep your heroes alive for exploration!

6. This is why 'sling-spam' is an established phrase. But they're also the only missile weapons available to most Skaven & all Sisters of Sigmar, & can't be taken by most other warbands, so they're only sometimes a massive hail of problems.

Look forward to seeing more reports!

Thanks a lot. More games/reports should hopefully be coming soon.

I'm generally not a fan of multi-player games. We felt it was a good idea though, since it would give everyone the chance to play and learn how things work. Lizardmen probably wasn't the best choice for someone who didn't really know how to play, but it was one of the better options available. That player wrote up the warband from scratch and got plenty of advice, especially in the first game. Rolling Tinci's rage for the Skink priest's spell may have helped too.

I was wanting to make up a Reiklander warband since I tend to favor shooty armies in most games I play. Like you said though, that sounds difficult for raking up kills.

Woo Hoo battle reports! Thanks for posting

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Some reflections on my first two games:
1. Kroxigor + Tinci’s Rage = a bad day for everyone else. That thing was almost single-highhandedly responsible for routing 3 warbands.
2. Swivel guns & blunderbusses are better psychological weapons than actual weapons. In the second game, the swivel gun's presence kept me safe from the lizardmen until the last minute.
3. I initially thought black powder weapons won’t be worth their prices since armour is expensive and easily negated. If you’re likely to be going up against lizardmen though…
4. Keep a little gold handy for when you lose someone.
5. Keep in mind who can get what XP in a scenario. Also, let your heroes do the killing.
6. Slings appear to be stupidly cost-effective.

Interesting.
I am intrigued by what rules you are using if shooting is ineffective. Generally shooting warbands ruled our early (1999-2005) games of Mordheim. And despite rules changes and a few house rules, shooting heavy warbands still scare the beejeezus out of most opponents. (The Blunderbuss and Swivel gun are accurately portrayed as threats rather than actual killers, but the crossbow...shudder!)

Maybe the Dice Gods are just kinder to your marksmen... Because I've spent games watching BS5 crossbowmen fail to put a single Goblin out of play. Another group of Reikland Marksmen spent a whole game in a shooting duel with two cultists with bows. One cultist fell off his tower & died, but the other was still there at the end of the game...

I'd put that down to the number of negative modifiers in Mordheim (-1 for shooting at long range, -1 for any cover at all, -1 if you moved...), which makes shooting difficult-- & introduced the challenge of setting up snipers to get good hits & control territory. But it could just be a quirk of my experience.

That said, the threat of a missile weapon actually working does usually keep people scared!

You are off to a SPLENDID start. Have FUN!

Rhydderch wrote:

I'd put that down to the number of negative modifiers in Mordheim (-1 for shooting at long range, -1 for any cover at all, -1 if you moved...), which makes shooting difficult-- & introduced the challenge of setting up snipers to get good hits & control territory. But it could just be a quirk of my experience.

My experience too but I have been using black powder weapons exclusively with my dwarves so when they do hit they usually do some damage.

Rhydderch wrote:

I'd put that down to the number of negative modifiers in Mordheim (-1 for shooting at long range, -1 for any cover at all, -1 if you moved...), which makes shooting difficult-- & introduced the challenge of setting up snipers to get good hits & control territory. But it could just be a quirk of my experience.

There do seem to be more negative modifiers than positive ones for shooting. We play with +1 to hit Large creatures but I'm sure that's not in the rule book. We also ruled that if you shoot someone who is down or stunned you need to roll again on the injury table to send them OOA.

I was also thinking that when you wound someone by shooting, you only have a 1/3 chance of sending them OOA (not counting them falling off things which could help send them out.) Whereas if you knock someone down or, better, stun them in close combat, you can send them OOA in the next turn. If you rule that shooting down or stunned models sends them OOA (or makes it easier to do so,) then shooting might be stronger.

The +1 to hit large targets is in the rulebook -- but so far, I haven't had a chance to use it (curse my tiny opponents!).

That's not a bad idea to boost the effectiveness of shooting -- & by 'not bad' I mean 'very good'. It stands to make shooting more lethal & adds the tactical decision of choosing whether to put one opponent OOA or multiple opponents down. I might try that (or something like it -- maybe a +2 injury roll modifier when shooting a down or stunned opponent) in future.

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There do seem to be more negative modifiers than positive ones for shooting. We play with +1 to hit Large creatures but I'm sure that's not in the rule book. We also ruled that if you shoot someone who is down or stunned you need to roll again on the injury table to send them OOA

Um, well both of those would be in the rulebook as how the game is supposed to work...

Von Kurst wrote:

Quote :

There do seem to be more negative modifiers than positive ones for shooting. We play with +1 to hit Large creatures but I'm sure that's not in the rule book. We also ruled that if you shoot someone who is down or stunned you need to roll again on the injury table to send them OOA

Um, well both of those would be in the rulebook as how the game is supposed to work...

True. Though there does seem to be a tradition of confusion about shooting at down/stunned targets -- I'm sure it's addressed in one of the original FAQ -- because of how down/stunned fighters are handled differently in HtH & shooting.

One more game; this time a four-way battle. This is a couple of weeks old because I haven't had much time recently.

Street Brawl:

Warbands:
The Killer Krocs – Lizardmen
The Woofang Clan – Skaven
The Twistfire Coven – Possessed
Assorted Dead Guys – Undead

https://jburns272.deviantart.com/art/Battle-Report-Game-3-737327786
https://sta.sh/01mwgh7j9na0
Pictures in the Word Doc.

Reflections:
1. That bloody Kroxigor! Was actually tar-pitted well by zombies.
2. Daggers always hit and at this point are accounting for more kills than swords.
3. My possessed need some bows.
4. Fear causing models, such as undead, can be a real problem in close combat.
5. Double-team heroes and henchmen if you can. Henchmen knock your enemies down so the heroes can get the kills (and xp!) This was attempted a lot this game.
6. Based on the above, it may be better to have heroes with low initiative. I see a use for double handed weapons now.
7. (Not necessarily from this game) Multi-player battles take way too long.

Lizard Lads in Mordheim seems strange to me, but different strokes & all that.

DeafNala wrote:

Lizard Lads in Mordheim seems strange to me, but different strokes & all that.

Yeah, they were used partially because they were available. I them to use and my possessed warband wasn't ready in time for the first game. And so, my mate who didn't have any minis of his own got to use my Lizardmen. It gave him the chance to make a warband of his own (if my possessed had been ready, I'd have given him the pirates warband I made) and see how things can change from game to game.
He now has his own orcs & goblins and tried them out last Friday.

Lizardmen in Mordheim makes about as much sense as Lizardmen fighting Bretonnians in the 5th Ed. box, so who's to complain?

Grand battle report there! I like the manoeuvre-by-manoeuvre account, & hearing with quite how little dignity each warrior goes out (like the Magister pelted with stones by a Skaven henchrat).

& yes, the undead's fear-causing effect is one of their great strengths -- especially against the cowardly skaven.

Thanks a lot! I think I'm getting the amount of detail right. I should remember after-battle rolls too, though in this case the Skaven & Undead disbanded after poor roles for exploration & injuries (the Undead player lost his necromancer, and several zombies and didn't get enough cash to replace them.) The Lizardmen got a heap of advances and my mutant did too.

The Undead crushed the Skaven pretty quickly, thanks to fear tests. The Skaven player lamented that the only XP he got that game was from killing his own henchrat.
The Skaven's low leadership is why that player also hates my magister.

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5. Double-team heroes and henchmen if you can. Henchmen knock your enemies down so the heroes can get the kills (and xp!) This was attempted a lot this game.
6. Based on the above, it may be better to have heroes with low initiative. I see a use for double handed weapons now.

My henchmen always take the enemy ooa. Or else no one hits or wounds. Have fun!

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7. (Not necessarily from this game) Multi-player battles take way too long.

Amen! We go to great lengths to avoid them except as a special event. Since you have 4 players I recommend splitting into 2 two player games as soon as you can.

Von Kurst wrote:

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My henchmen always take the enemy ooa. Or else no one hits or wounds. Have fun!

Knowing my luck, I'll have the same result.

Von Kurst wrote:

7. (Not necessarily from this game) Multi-player battles take way too long.

Amen! We go to great lengths to avoid them except as a special event. Since you have 4 players I recommend splitting into 2 two player games as soon as you can.

I played way too many 4-way games of 40K back at uni. The only reason we've been doing multiplayer ones here is because we have new players each week. Last week, we didn't have anyone new so we got four games in a little more than the time it took to do the 4-way one.

One thing I've also found useful with a limited number of players is running three game mini-campaigns instead of open campaigns. Two players play three games with a narrative through-line, after which they can switch warbands, disband any that have stopped being fun to play, & generally mix things up a bit. If the warbands at the beginning of a mini-campaign are unbalanced (like if one player has a new warband & another has already done one or two mini-campaigns), the underdog might be given a boost (an extra 50-100 gc to buy new warriors & equipment) to level the playing field.

This has been especially useful for players with lots of warbands they want to use (three games then switch!) while still giving a chance to use campaign mechanics.

& then maybe multi-player games become big events tying different narratives together.

That might be a thing to try.

At the moment, we each have 2 warbands. My thinking was that we could allow curious bystanders to pick one up and play a game or two (and hopefully get interested in buying their own warbands, as happened with the lizardmen player.) At least, that's what I want to do with the pirates & lizardmen.

Rotating these warbands should keep them up to strength with the others in the campaign.