Mordheim Tactica: The Opening Gambit

Mordheim is a very fun game, and right now it seems to be gaining some traction on the forum I frequent: Astronomican. There's a bunch of reasons to get into Mordheim, and they are the same reasons that I find myself getting into the game over and over again.

First off is the expense. While many of Games Workshop's games are very expensive to get into with some armies getting into hundreds of dollars. Mordheim's rules are free from GW's website, and it is possible to get everything you need for certain warbands for under $35. If you happen to play one of the many armies that has an associated warband, you might be able to play with everything you need with stuff you already own.

Second is that it is a campaign based system, and makes it great for a game club or regularly meeting groups. Most other skirmished based systems (Maulifaux comes to mind) have no way for improvement of your models, but Mordheim has that built right in! Although it does hurt it for one-off games, but it more then makes up for it.

Third, there's a lot of conversion opportunity. If you ever joined a full WYSIWYG league, then, man is this game for you! One of the great things about Mordheim is that it can be done with straight models pulled from their appropriate lists, OR you can really get into the weird and wonderful Mordheim look. Either way, you might just want to model someone with things that the normal model doesn't have.

However, there is a lot of easy to make mistakes that beginners make. However, there are more easy fixes then problems! So I present to you one of my favorite things, a numbered list of things to consider when creating your warband and running your first few games.

1. Armor in the opening gambit, and even well into the middle of a campaign, light armor even when coupled with a shield doesn't provide much protection. The 6+ (or 5+) save is negated half the time either by strength or by weapons with the cutting edge or piercing rules.

2. Numbers, numbers, numbers! The bigger the warband the less likely it is that you will suffer rout checks. This is especially true for warbands like Undead or Skaven who have lots of cheap expendable troops.

3. Ranged weapons rule far more in Mordheim then in the regular game of Warhammer. Any time you can possibly hit an opponent without them getting a returning hit is a benefit that cannot be over looked.

4. The best ranged weapon by far is the humble crossbow. With strength four, it will eliminate most armor, and wound most models on a 3 or better. Its main drawback is that it is move or fire. This seems much worse then it actually is, because you take a penalty to hit if you moved, and you don't want your ranged weapons anywhere where they can hit back.

5. Mordheim is far more of a three dimensional game then your standard Warhammer game! Remember the upper floors and roofs. If you can set up a ranged weapon guy on the top floor, they can choose their target instead of just the closest person. And the upper floors have an added benefit that some (zombies) models have a low initiative have a difficult time to try to climb up to get you.

6. Remember to stick to cover. This seems like a no-brainer, but there is nothing worse then a high cost model getting sniped by a Reiklander Crossbowman from a rooftop!

7. Animals and other things that do not get experience are only good in the opening games. Use them to fill out your warband in the beginning, but replace them as soon as you can. Things that can gain experience are preferable, even if they start out worse then an animal (or zombie), they can and WILL get better.

8. If you ignore every other piece of advice that I give, take this one to heart. Take every hero you can, and don't allow them to get into combat unless they are a monster! Heroes are how you make money in the exploration phase. Keep them safe at first. Let them get into it later, but at first keep them back, let the henchmen and animals do the work. Even if you lose a game, if all of your heroes survive you still make money in the exploration phase. Sometimes its better to lose then win. There are times when even those unbreakable warbands should cut and run. Unless there is a lot of wyrdstone or treasure in the offering, run before you end up costing yourself men and equipment that is expensive to replace. Weigh each victory before not running.

9. Remember that the club/mace/hammer is cheap and very effective! For many warbands, its the best weapon to take in the beginning. With the expanded stun range, it can help you knock down someone so that they stay down. Then when stunned, you can automatically take them out of action. Great thing to do is charge with your henchmen, and then use a hero to finish someone off. In almost every scenario heroes get XP for every person they take out of action. The henchmen don't get that bonus!

10. Don't underestimate the value of a helmet! A 4+ save on being stunned can often be the difference between a free curb stomp out of action or a roll over toughness!

So ten tips, and if you guys want, post and I'll continue with more tactica. Maybe some specific warband ideas, or middle/late game ideas.

What's the Story Morning Glory?

Well, now the blog is well and truly off.

However, it seems like I might want to do a mission statement to kind of declare my intentions here. Right now, the followers are just my old friends from Astronomican and elsewhere. However, I hope that it doesn't stay that way. I hope to become the premier Mordheim blog on the internet. Which probably isn't going to happen, since I do not have mad art skills.

Oh, I can paint, and I'm a halfway decent converter, but I have no illusions about where I am in the hobby line, strongly in the middle. Nor do I have any delusions about the acumen of my tactical ability. However, I like to share.

And that is what this blog is about, sharing the information that I've gained over the years and passing it on to whoever is listening. So what is it that I am going to share? I suppose that's the real reason for this post.

Tactical Advise: Some of the things that might be well known, some of which might be unknown, and some might be a different idea then what other people have.

Battle Reports: Right now, I'm in a Mordheim campaign of varying activity, and I will post pics and post battle results. The individual battles themselves may be shaky, because I like most of us am concentrating on giving my opponents (or those I am refereeing) the best possible game.

Hobby Stuff: I like modelling, and painting. I'll post what I am working on, and possibly some tutorials on how I've done some stuff, or general good hobby advice.

Guest Stuff: I might, and I stress might put some stuff on here that other people have done and critique it or just post it for you all to oh and ah over. This might also be a part where I answer questions that other people post. Speaking of questions, Tallarn, I have some buildings that are partially done. I might get some more work on them done this weekend. If I come close to finishing one or more, I might post them up. No promises. I'm not going to embarrass myself for content (not that it has ever stopped me before).

I guess my mission statement can be summed up like thus: Cobblestone Chaos is a blog dedicated to providing the best tactics, battle reports, and hobby stuff that I possibly can to help those getting into Mordheim in any way that I can.

Nerd Rage, Starter Boxes, and Mordheim

Like most of us who play any of Games Workshop's games, I was angered by the latest round of price increases and the way that GW is treating their different retailers. I mean I was really ticked off. Super mad.

Some people weren't that upset, since there has basically been an annual price increase for several years now. Others took it in stride with the finecast models. And still others didn't see the big deal.

I've talked about this other places, and vented my rage all over the internet. So I'm not going to do so further here.

The issue though is that it spurned me to make a final decision. I'm pretty much done with GW. I had been on the edge since the latest Imperial Guard codex nerfed my points from 2000 to a mere 1500 (including the new stuff I had bought!). The latest price increase priced me out of the market for the big games of 40K and WHFB.

In the past I would typically buy about $200 worth of stuff in one go, once a year, across a couple games. Can't really afford that now. It isn't enough bang for my buck. However, you might have noticed I said "pretty much done", not done completely.

The reason for that is because I am a starter box nut. I love starter boxes! It doesn't matter what kind or game they are, I'll buy them. I love starter boxes! WOOOO! Even crappy ones like the Isle of Blood. That's one of the big things that will keep me buying GW models, god I love those starters! The GW ones are really great though, and they keep getting better. I swear half of the Isle of Blood models are better sculpts then the regular models.

Enough, I could spew about starter boxes all day. Not really the point though, is it? Getting back on track, the thing is that I bought the Isle of Blood, and unsurprisingly, I went from having 4 Mordheim warbands, to having five. There was enough stuff in that box to cover almost everything for a Skaven Warband (no giant rats, though). That's when I made a decision.

I already have a Possessed Warband, a Dwarf Warband, an Orc Warband, Undead Warband, and now a Skaven Warband. Which is almost all of the official warbands out there. So I decided that I would buy all of Mordheim. I want everything for it. This is not an unattainable goal. Soon I'll really start in on it.

In the meantime, this is my list of things I have and/or need. From what is currently official. After I finish painting the Skaven, I might start to look at the other things (although, I do have all of those lovely High Elves to paint as well). Some I might hold off on, since there is always a chance that

Random Happenings:
Bloodletter: 1
Skeletons: 12
Spawn: 1
Giant Spider: Research!
Dogs: 6

O&G:
Boss
Orc Shaman: Need
Orc Boys: 19 (have some, need to research)
Goblins: Have
Squigs: 5
Troll: Have

Dwarfs:
Noble: Have
Engineer: Have
Trollslayers: Have
Dwarfs: Have

Reiklanders:
Mercanaries: 15

Middenheimers:
Mercanaries: 15

Marienburgers:
Mercanaries: 15

Possesssed: Have (complete)

Undead:
Vampire: Have
Necromancer: Have
Dregs: 1 of 3
Ghouls: 4 of 14
Zombies: 10 of 14
Dire Wolves: 5

Sisters of Sigmar
Matriarch: 1
Sister Superior: 3
Augur: 1
Novices: 10
Sisters: 14

Witch Hunters:
Captain: 1
Witch Hunters: 3
Warrior Priest: 1
Flagellents: 5
Zealots: 11
Warhounds: 5

Skaven:
Assassin Adept: 1
Eshin Sorceror: 1
Black Skaven: Have
Night Runners: Have
Verminkin: Have
Giant Rats: 19
Rat Ogre: Have



Hired Swords:
Ogre Bodygaurd; have, needs assembly
Pitfighter: Have
Warlock: Needs Assembly
Halfling Scout: 1
Elven Dude: Have, needs painting
Troll Slayer: 1
Free Lancer
Imperial Assasin
Tilean Marksmen

Monday Night Mordheim: Tuesday Night Special

Monday Night Mordheim: Tuesday Special

Well, if you are observant, then you are probably realizing that this isn't Monday, its Tuesday. You probably realized that it was the Fourth of July, Independance Day, a major holiday here in the US. Had a lot to do, parade in the morning, picnic at my sister-in-laws for lunch, and then over to my wife's aunts where we could have a big BBQ dinner and watch fire works off the back porch. Needless to say, I didn't have time to do a piece of Mordheim tacitca.

I wasn't just telling you that to make you jealous of how great my holiday was, there was a point. Mordheim is a campaign game, which means you have to play a series of games over time for it to go from an okay game to an amazing one. Today, I'm going to talk about the campaign side of things. I thought about this for two reasons, because I didn't get to post a tactica yesterday, and the fact that my normal weekly game didn't happen. So this is an excellent time to talk about it.

Most of you should be familiar with the term campaign, its one that us wargamers appropriated from the real military. In short a campaign is a series of connected battles. Which is exactly what Mordheim is, each battle represents your warband in another skirmish against different foes, but it is the same group. There are some significant differences from playing a campaign and playing a short one off battle. For one thing, your tactics have to change and evolve as your and your opponents warbands change. For the other, a campaign requires a bit more logistics and thought then just walking into your FLGS throwing down your warband and taking on all comers.

The logistics are what really keep the game going, and without proper logistics, your campaign isn't going to continue. The first part of it follows the standard journalism questions, of who, what, when, where, and how. So lets break them down a bit.

Who do you get to play? This seems like a really easy question, most of us have friends, or a constant game club to play with. However, there is a bit more then that to it, especially if you have no friends. One of the key considerations for who you want to play are not the same as who you want to play in a one off game of 40K or WHFB. The people you want to get to play are people who are ready to play the same thing over a long period of time. So many players you may otherwise enjoy playing with may not be able to participate due to the time that is required. The main thing you should do when inviting someone to play a campaign is make sure that they are aware of how much time it will take to play out the campaign. While it might not seem like a big deal now that they spend the entire month of August in a cloistered monastic retreat communing with the cosmos, when July 30th comes around it becomes a much more important thing.

What do you play? Mordheim, duh! Well, yes, but to a point. There is a lot more considerations to ponder then that. While Mordheim is in and of itself a self contained game, there are a lot of extras out there that you might want to consider. Most of them have to do with the different rules out there floating around on the internet. First and foremost, is what do you want to allow? Do you use just the main book, or do you expand it to all of the information currently available on GW's Mordheim website? Do you allow Dramatis Personae, or just hired swords? Do you allow the experimental warbands or unofficial warbands that can be found out there? These are just a few of the questions that need to be answered before you can start your campaign.

When do you play? I think this is the most important of all the questions. There are really two parts to this question. First is the actual time to play, and I've found it best if you use a consistent day of the week and time. That way everyone can plan around the campaign, instead of trying to campaign around plans. Our group, we play Saturdays from 8:45 am to 5pm. The second part is almost as important, which is how long the campaign is going to last. I love to play Mordheim in the summer. For me, that's the best. I like to start right after the kids get out of school and go until school starts back up. That's me, a good 11 weeks, and at 2 games a session, its 22 games which is just perfect if you ask me. You might want to go differently, and that's fine, but the key thing is that you have to have a definitive start and end date for the campaign. Playing forever is nice, but like all things, you will get tired of it and you might want to go to another warband.

Where do you play? Ah, this is a tricky one, and almost as important as the ones above. It's great if you have someone's house to play, because you don't have to worry about anything. However, most of us aren't lucky enough to have a game room, so you might end up playing at your FLGS. This is not a bad thing, but you may have to contend with 40K Tournaments, Magic Drafts, tables being taken by Flames of War, or that creepy guy with the beard (oh, wait, that's me). So if you intend on running a campaign at your FLGS you may want to speak to the manager/owner to see if you can reserve tables or make sure that you aren't running into tournaments or the Harry Potter Re-enactment Society's annual Muggle Awards. My group, we play on an improvised table at work, but for some of you that probably isn't an option.

How do you play? With dice, models, and tape measures! Of course, but it is a bit more then that. This is the really labor intensive part for someone that wants to run a campaign. Besides taking care of everything that appears above, it also determines how the campaign is to run. There are several hard decisions to make in this phase. Part of it is to gather the decisions of the above and put them out to your players so that everyone is on the same page with the other stuff. Another important bit is to determine how the campaign is going to be run, is it a round robin where everyone faces everyone else, rinse and repeat? Or is it going to be a map based campaign and who goes to what area determining what games are being played? Or is it going to be the most labor intensive where warbands of the same rating are matched up each round? Besides just the way that the campaign is run, you also have to determine what will happen if someone can't play a game? Do they forfeit, and their opponent gets a free win? Do you re-arrange the game schedule to accommodate them? Or do you move the game time so that everyone gets to play? The last decision is either the easiest or the hardest, depending on your game group, how do you handle rules disputes? That is something that should be set in stone before the campaign ever starts. It will save you alot of headache later!

So let me show you how my group handled this:

Mordheim Campaign!

When: Saturday 8:45 am-5pm Saturdays from now, until we return to Ravenloft in September.
Where: At Work
Important Stuff: Only rules from the main book, Best of Town Cryer, and Empire in Flames are allowed. This will be a round robin campaign, with everyone facing everyone and a big Chaos on the Streets match at the end of each round. If someone is missing we will re-arrange the matches of that round. Rules Disputes will be handled with fisticuffs until the boss yells at us.
Matches Taking Place per round:
1-2: Jim vs. Tom
3-4: LAZ vs. Megan
2-3: Tom vs. LAZ
4-1: Jim vs. Megan
3-1: LAZ vs. Jim
2-4: Tom vs. Megan
Chaos On the Streets

If you notice, I did leave out a few things, like who was going to play. That's because our game group has been pretty stable for quite awhile now, with the same people. So I didn't need to think about that. However, these are just the basics of the things you need to think about before starting a Mordheim campaign, and possibly at a later time, I'll come back to something that I touched on here later.

Like a Phoenix

Hello all!
To those of you who don't know me, I'm LAZtheinfamous, moderator at The Astronomican. For those of you who don't know me here's a brief breakdown;

1. I like numbered lists. They make the world a neater place.
2. I use the word However, far more then it was ever intended to be used.
3. I can always think of a third thing when making a numbered list.
4. I like wargames. I like wargames alot. Especially miniatures.
5. I like to convert, sculpt, and paint models.
6. I REALLY like Mordheim.

Which brings us to this new blog. I've been doing a running thing on Astro about my favorite Games Workshop game, ever, Mordheim. I don't get a huge response for it. Which makes sense, since it is a Warhammer 40K forum. I'm hoping to get a bit more of a following here. Much of it, if not most of it will be repeat information from over there. Some of it will be. However, (see there's that word again!) I will probably be throwing more half baked ideas over here. Unformed ideas, ramblings, and the such.

I plan on posting here simultaneously as what I post there. So expect at least one post a week. I'm not going to say that is the ONLY post I am going to do, for instance, I'll be posting another one right after I post this one. Then I have a bit of a backlog to get through, and I might just post some other stuff up here when I have some time.

Also, if anyone has some free art that I can use for this, it would be great. Let me know. Especially since I really am not an artist!