Wishing's Adventures in Mordheim

Hooray, finally found a Mordheim forum! I love forums for the ability you have to maintain an ongoing log of your stuff that you can read through at any time. Like a blog, but that people might read. Posting on facebook is fun, but not the same.

So I will use this topic to post pictures of things I am working on and finish for the city of the damned. Mostly finished, since they look nicest.

Introduction-wise I will start with a bunch of painted models from warbands I am currently working on, and which I will update on once more models get finished.

First up, Marienburgers!

Colourful yet gritty. Very nice.

You don’t tend to see many shields in Mordheim. Do you play with house rules that encourage their use?

P.S. Welcome aboard.

Thank you very much! Full disclosure is that I have never played Mordheim before, this my first foray into it. I mainly model and paint, and when I play, it's generally with friends who use my models, and I might try and play solo too. So whether something is effective or not isn't likely to be of great concern in terms of the models I build, as long as it is legal.

Though I have seen mention of a house rule that the point of save that a shield gives is unmodifiable, which I would definitely not be against.

Here are some pictures of the terrain I am building. It is meant to be a small modular board that can be combined in any number of ways. Not all the tiles are ready, but I'm getting there.

Here are some more shots. Starting up Kislevites:



Some Pit Fighters, which are actually all done now, but I think I will work on their paint job some more:



And the finished waren haus building.

One of my conversions I am happiest with so far is the Sigmarite matriach in this photo.

Sometimes I feel like my choice of models for my warbands is a little random, but I think I overall try to follow a principle of using GW models from various Warhammer ranges, usually converted, and occasionally original Mordheim models like the Pit Fighters, but normally not.

I tend to only go non-GW in three situations I suppose.

1. Appropriate GW models don't exist.
2. Appropriate GW models are expensive/rare.
3. Appropriate GW models are really ugly.

The Sisters of Sigmar (and amazons) to me fall into the last two categories. The official ones were sculpted by Gary Morley, and thus to me are really not nice. These ones I posted are based on Mantic models, which aren't great either, but they are easier to convert, plastic, and cheap. Therefore they win for me.

It all looks great. I think that your painting style really suits Mordheim.

A common shield house rule is that they offer +2 to saves in hand-to-hand combat. My group has experimented with only allowing heroes and hired swords to use two weapons at once which makes heroes more heroic and encourages the use of shields and bucklers by the henchmen.

Those Kislev cavalry torsos work very well as infantry. Whose legs did you use on them?

You’re building the terrain and warbands for everyone? Your friends are very lucky to have you.

Thank you for replying, it really is great to have some people to chat with and show pictures to. Normally I would have more smilies in what I type for friendliness, but the smileys in the software are so terrible that I have to skip... just pretend I am smiling all the time!

I like that shield suggestion. So +1 save against shooting and +2 save against melee?

I have noticed on facebook that people say that two weapons is by far the best option, is that your experience too?

For the Kislevites I mostly used the legs I had most of, which are plastic bretonnian archer legs... had a bunch of those models lying around. And I could recycle the heads and bows from them for other models. Works! Almost all the models for my Kislev band are cavalry torsos with plastic legs, the exceptions being the bear, two plastic bretonnian archers where I kept the upper body, and two youngbloods that I am using Frostgrave soldiers for (because they are a bit smaller than the GW models).

I do think my friends are lucky, but I can't really say that I am building it all *for* them so to speak. Rather than the traditional GW approach, I see these games as board games, not wargames, if that makes sense. So if I were to play a board game like Zombiecide or Kingdom Death with my friends, we wouldn't all bring our own stuff - one person would own the game, and we would play out of that box. Because my friends I play with don't paint or collect, I see the GW games the same way - if I ask my friends if they want to play Mordheim, then they say OK, and I bring my "game" and we play.

You get what I mean? This way the game experience isn't as collective as Warhammer games usually is, where you have to bring your own army if you want to play... but I get to live out my love for the hobby of building and painted, and also use it to game with once in a while. Building terrain and painting models isn't a chore for me, it is a super awesome and enjoyable hobby.

Wishing wrote:

I like that shield suggestion. So +1 save against shooting and +2 save against melee?

Yes, exactly.

Two weapons (often called dual wielding) is widely accepted to be the best option if you are playing competitively. Personally, I prefer narrative games where the story is the most important thing. We sometimes play collaborative Mordheim narrative games with all the players on the same side with the enemy controlled by the umpire. This approach might work for you and your friends too.

Yes, your approach makes sense. I think it’s good when friends take turns to organise games and provide everything necessary to play.

Keep up the good work. As long as you’re still enjoying it, of course!

OUTSTANDING scenery & BEAUTIFULLY painted miniatures...that is as close to Heaven as I will probably get. VERY WELL DONE!

I love your work man! The Marienburgers are really nice, fit the theme properly and are an unique take on them I also like your pitfighters and Sisters of Sigmar, the paintjobs are really well done! And before I forget, excellent take on the Kislevites! These are some well done conversions!

I agree on your take on miniatures that are not from GW aswell, I always try to keep things only from GW which sometimes is kind of stupid... but I simpy like the fact that they're all from the same brand. Sadly sometimes it's just impossible so I have to look for other brands. I really like the MoM Miniatures as some of them fit the GW style pretty decent, I used a female human for my own Warband and it looks good next to the GW miniatures if you ask me

Cheers! And yes, when it comes to miniatures, sometimes there is a difficult to define sense of style in different companies (or even within ranges within a company) that make them clash somehow. It's a question of personal taste, but if you take models from another model range and put them into Mordheim unaltered, they can easily end up breaking my feeling of consistency in thematic style.

As examples, Avatars of War have a very cool dwarf pit fighter, but to me he looks too exaggerated and World of Warcraft so I couldn't bring myself to get him. On the other hand, to my eyes the forest goblins from Shield Wolf look quite close to the GW style... even though I would prefer the originals, a whole warband of them feels too expensive considering they are vintage, so I ordered the Shield Wolf ones to mix with the originals for warband creation. I am also planning to order the Tilean mercenaries from Grim Forge, because they look really GW style as far as I can tell.

The main other Mordheim warbands I am working on just now is Undead and Skaven, which will probably get some pictures here soon. The forest goblins and Tileans are for Lustria obviously. : )

Citizen Sade wrote:

A common shield house rule is that they offer +2 to saves in hand-to-hand combat.

Just a thought - wouldn't it make more sense if the shield offered +2 against shooting attacks? If someone was shooting at me with a bow, I feel like a shield would be super handy, more so than in melee...

City scenery coming along.



The tiles in the background still need painting and building, but they are prepared and I know what they will look like. This board is 60x60cm, but I have another "base board" that is 60x80cm, so I can expand the city with another "layer" of 20x60cm tiles.

For that, I have a tall ruined house planned, but I was also thinking of making a larger tile with a fence around it, like a graveyard. I think that could be really nice.

Using these square tiles makes the city look a bit blocky and artificially "straight", where a more traditional non-tile non-modular "table with terrain on it" looks more organic and naturally billowing. But I really really like that the buildings and features are connected to the ground properly, so I will have to live with that, or think of a solution. Maybe just make larger tiles with more tilted features in the future.

It's a small table, but hopefully the density of features will make it fun to play on still.

It is, indeed, coming along SPLENDIDLY!...love the walkway. Your attention to detail & choice of colors are OUTSTANDING. VERY WELL DONE!

That's a very nice looking table Wishing It's always a trade off with building terrain between usefullness and looks. I'm having the same 'problem' with my own terrain as sealing terrain bases that are flocked and sanded with PVA makes it stronger for example, but looks less good than non sealed terrain... Than again I chose for the sealing as it makes the terrain more durable

Totally agreed. In this world of model gaming, things can't both look super realistic and detailed, and also be sturdy and practical to use on the table. It's about finding a balance that suits you.

The thing about shields is interesting actually. It's true that when you look at pictures of Mordheim models in the rulebook and Town Cryer, almost no models carry shields. In the colour section of the rulebook, the only shields I see are on the sister matriarch and one converted witch hunter. And there are a few bucklers too.

The reason I use them extensively is simply that to me, they look good. If a model has an empty left hand, I find it more aesthetically pleasing for them to carry a shield than have it empty. It provides space to have a design that can unify a warband, and looks striking.

But I guess it does make the models look more like soldiers on a battlefield, and less like adventurers hunting for treasure, which is presumably why they don't have them in the rulebook. Heavy armour, cavalry, shields etc. are protections for the clash of armies in battle, not for rummaging through ruins for wyrdstone. So shields being sucky in Mordheim makes sense from a fluff perspective I suppose. It is part of what makes Mordheim different from WHFB.

But... I am only realising this now. And I still like shields. So I will probably still use them, just a bit less than before maybe. Not all models without bows need to have shields. (Which is almost the case for my kislevites.)

I have seen various house rules suggested that should make armour and shields more useful in Mordheim, which I might consider adopting for when I play solo.

- as Citizen mentioned, shields give +2 save against close combat.
- Armour saves aren't reduced by high strength, only by weapon special rules (like axes).
- Body armour costs are halved, rounding up to nearest 5gc.

Using all of these could give warriors with light armour and shield a 4+ CC save that is harder to modify and more affordable, so could be worth it perhaps...

No shields just now though - last night I got a burning desire to make more Empire mercs, because I want to paint an Averlander warband. I have a bunch of random plastic Empire and Bretonnia parts from various Warhammer starter kits, so chop chop and build build! I love this so much.

That's a really cool start of an Averlander warband Especially love the left one, reminds me of the older Warhammer Fantasy artwork!

The Averlander Lads are a SPLENDID start to a fine looking War Band. Have FUN with the crafting/painting!

Regarding House Rules: as you're playing in a 'board game' style, where you provide the game & other players use your warbands, I'd recommend you just declare youself "Gamemaster" (or whatever title you like -- King of Mordheim? Emperor of the Damned? the Wishlord?) & announce that you'll be playing with whatever house rules & adjustments you like. Especially because you've modelled a lot of armour, because it looks good & comes on a great many fantasy models anyway (it's difficult to avoid! In one of the first Mordheim battle reports, the human player admits he didn't want to spend all the points on heavy armour, but the miniature had it so he was obliged...)... But you've used so much armour it'll be difficult to make up good warbands with the Rulebook lists -- feel free to make adjustments.
Oh yes, & the extra attack of dual wielding tends to be dominant. Introducing house rules to rebalance things can be very satisfying.

Otherwise, this is all beautiful work (again), & I am somewhat jealous of your abilities. The Sigmarite matriarch is outstanding -- while I like the Gary Morley sisters, your replacements are damned good work, at least as good to my mind.

The Kislevites are awesome. I really like the more Mediaeval look you've gone for with them, rather than the Renaissance/17th Century Russian-Polish look they often get. It's distinctive looking, brutal & appropriate for Mordheim, & just plain cool.

The Marienbergers are classic-looking, which I like, & are really good conversions.

Regarding GW official miniatures: I have no particular loyalty to GW now, because so many of their miniatures are expensive or ugly or just plain don't fit the Old World. But I definitely agree with the issue of different makers having different styles that often don't match each other. Finding combinations that work is a challenge itself!

Thank you so much Rhydderch for your detailed and encouraging reply! : )

I quite agree about the house rule thing - the people I tend to play with are usually a-OK with any house rules I suggest, since they just enjoy playing without delving into the nitty-gritty, so I should be able to gamemaster them without any need for tyrannical dictates.

I am working on an Averlander colour scheme just now for the new conversions, and they should be ready very soon...

First Averlanders are painted and ready to serve as an inspiration for those yet to be finished. : ) Still need to check ebay for a halfling or two...

The Averlanders turned out WONDERFULLY. VERY WELL DONE!