One Man Warband

The school year is back in full swing, and seeing as my day job is teaching, that leaves me with very little time or mental capacity for the physical aspects of my hobbies. Not to say that I don't engage in any hobby-related stuff anymore, but the projects I do take on tend to be more portable, and ones I can pick up and put down at a moment's notice. It's difficult to find the time of day to sculpt or paint, as those require sitting down with materials that have a fixed point where they become unusable and blocking out a chunk of time to work with them (though I have had some painting inspiration lately and plan to pick up some more primer and dive in as soon as my school routine settles). Writing, on the other hand, is easy to find time for. I can do a bit here and there between classes, on breaks, and in the afternoon and evening, and while ideas might get fuzzy if I wait too long without getting them down, writing projects themselves aren't at risk of drying out...

The Problem with Shields Shields are a perennially unpopular choice in Mordheim, which seems strange considering what they do. For the low price of 5 gold crowns, a warrior can improve their armour save by 1, which admittedly doesn’t sound like much. Consider, however, what one would normally pay for this benefit. Toughened leathers offer a 6+ save for 5 gold crowns, but inexplicably prevent the use of a shield to improve this save. Following those, the next cheapest option for an armour save of any kind is light armour, which comes in at 20 gold crowns, four times the price of a shield. If you want to improve your save from there, you’ll need to fork over an extra 30 gold crowns for heavy armour (with a total cost of 50 gc), and from there it’s another 100 gc to get to a 4+ save with gromril. Compared to these increments, a shield seems downright economical. So what’s the catch? It takes one hand to use. To someone unfamiliar with Mordheim, that may not sound like a huge ...

A couple of years back, I backed a game on Kickstarter called The World of SMOG: Rise of Moloch. It wasn't a smash hit in the same way that many other projects by the same company (Cool Mini or Not) have been, and continue to be, but the theme and setting hold a special place in my heart, which I have to travel about ten years back in time to explain. Promo image from the original line of miniatures. Rewind to me, a teenager, just getting into the hobby of miniatures painting and gaming, and devouring all the related content I could find. I came across a line of miniatures called SMOG 1888 (interestingly enough, on CMON's website), and was immediately intrigued. As I recall, they were 54mm resins without a set of rules behind them, geared towards collectors. (A ruleset for a game called SMOG, The Thirteenth Hour would come out later, but the high price point and nonstandard size of the miniatures was a huge entry barrier, from what I read.) I was already interested in the...

In spite of not having actually played Mordheim in 8-10 years (weird when I consider it), I think about it and watch it played quite a lot. Recently, as a result of a number of videos from Guerrilla Miniature Games (definitely worth checking out if you aren't familiar), I've been considering how to use models from Warhammer Underworlds as viable Mordheim warbands, as an accessible way for someone who's familiar with the former game to try out the latter without having to invest a lot of time and money. Luckily, it almost feels like some of these warbands are purpose-built to cross over. All of the lists I've come up with use at least two Underworlds warbands as a base, and while a handful also require some extra pieces, they're easy enough to proxy (as you'll see from one of my pictures) if you have a handful of other miscellaneous miniatures lying around. I have, however, been almost as fixated on Underworlds as Mordheim lately, so I've amassed a colle...

Now and again I get fixated on a game, and do an inordinate amount of thinking about it in my spare time. I theorycraft while I walk to work, daydream about mechanics, and fill my phone with notes about gameplay and lore. Recently, that game has been Mordheim, and one topic in particular that’s been occupying me is handguns. The Crossbow Comparison Judging by most of what I’ve seen online, handguns are the red-headed step-child of Mordheim ranged weapons. The most common comparison I see is between them and crossbows, since outwardly, they fill similar niches, and in WHFB they were the two “default” Empire ranged options. Understandably, if the two weapons are equated like this, the crossbow consistently comes out on top, with longer range and lower cost. The handgun is armour-piercing, but the generally-accepted meta doesn’t seem to favour armour, so that’s a less valuable quality than it otherwise could be. The damning feature of the handgun, however, is the fact that it takes a...

Today's post is a bit different from the others, showcasing an idea and some interesting models rather than intensive conversion work (which isn't to say I haven't done a little conversion with this group). The full starting warband I developed a mild obsession with Border Town Burning over the summer. I think it sets a gold standard for fan-made Mordheim content, and fan-made content in general, through the sheer level of care and detail put into the project. The writing is fantastic and well-proofread, the warbands are flavourful, and the campaign, random elements, bestiary, and so many other peripheral factors elevate it even further. I've been reading Mutiny in Marienburg lately, another excellent supplement that has the marks of BtB all over it, though it hasn't yet managed to "wow" me in the same way. The Emissary, front view But I digress. I'm not as hooked on BTB now, but it did lead me to setting a (pretty lofty, if I'm hone...

After about four years away from actively engaging in the hobby, I decided to dip my toes back into Warhammer this past fall. I can't remember how it started, but by mid-summer I was religiously re-reading the Mordheim rulebook, and seeking out any supplements I could for it. Mordheim itself first came onto my radar about ten years ago though, when a local gaming club was holding an all-comers game at a convention I had been attending for a couple of years. The appeal was instant: it was at once so similar and so different from Warhammer Fantasy, the main version I played at that point. I immersed myself in Mordheim, downloading and printing off rules, warbands, and supplements, and eventually feeling confident to write some of my own. Times changed though, and I had less and less time on my hands. By the time I went to university, my Mordheim obsession was dormant, though I still had all of my old homebrew rules and documents. I intend to share some of those over time; for now, h...