If you're a fan of tabletop wargaming and the Warhammer Fantasy world, the name Mordheim is probably not entirely unfamiliar to you. This now-legendary game, created in 1999 for Games Workshop by Tuomas Pirinen together with Alessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley, offers a dark, atmosphere-soaked experience set in the streets of a forgotten Imperial city.
If you play Warhammer: The Old World, Mordheim is the ideal way to experience combat in this dark world from a completely different perspective — through the eyes of individual warriors risking their necks amid the ruins.
City of the Damned: What is Mordheim about?
The game's story takes place roughly 500 years before the events of classic Warhammer Fantasy, at the start of the Imperial year 2000. A destructive comet struck the thriving city of Mordheim, turning it into burning ruins. Yet immense wealth lies hidden within the city's wreckage — wyrdstone. This mysterious, greenish glowing magical stone is more valuable than gold.
Bands of adventurers, mercenaries, fanatical witch hunters, Chaos worshippers, the undead, and skaven pour into the devastated City of the Damned from every corner of the Old World. Each faction craves the wyrdstone for different reasons — some seek gold and power, others magical strength or the favor of their dark gods.
Armies versus a small band: How does Mordheim differ from The Old World?
While Warhammer: The Old World depicts massive battles between entire armies, where you field large ranks of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, Mordheim is pure skirmish — a game of small-scale clashes.
Instead of a hundred-strong army, you command a small band, a so-called warband, usually made up of just 10 to 15 warriors (though more numerous skaven warbands can be larger). Each model represents a single specific warrior who moves across the battlefield entirely on their own.
Although the scale is different, the core mechanics will feel instantly familiar to Warhammer players:
- The same character characteristics: Warriors have the classic profile of stats — Movement (M), Weapon Skill (WS), Ballistic Skill (BS), Strength (S), Toughness (T), Wounds (W), Initiative (I), Attacks (A), and Leadership (Ld).
- Six-sided dice (D6): To-hit, to-wound, and Leadership tests all use the traditional system of odds based on the models' characteristics.
- Turn phases: The game unfolds in clear phases — Recovery, Movement, Shooting, and Close Combat.
How does a warband and its individual characters work?
When building your band, you start with a budget of 500 gold crowns. You use this to buy your warriors and their equipment — swords, daggers, crossbows, armor, or special items.
Heroes
At the head of the band stands the Leader, joined by other unique characters — such as Champions, Youngbloods, Wizards, or Priests. Heroes are the heart of the band — they can carry special equipment, search ruins, and improve their skills more quickly.
Henchmen
Rank-and-file fighters — such as Empire soldiers, archers, dogs of war, or zombies — are recruited in groups of one to five models. Henchmen improve their characteristics together as a single group.
Campaigns, experience, and injuries
Mordheim's greatest strength doesn't lie in one-off battles, but in a long-term campaign. After every scenario played, a "post-battle" phase kicks in, giving each of your warriors their own individual fate:
Experience and advancement
Heroes and Henchmen alike earn experience points for surviving a battle or taking out an opponent. These let them advance to new levels, improve their characteristics, or learn powerful combat, shooting, or academic skills. Over time, an inexperienced Youngblood can grow into a feared swordsman.
The hunt for wyrdstone
After a battle, Heroes search the ruins of Mordheim and roll on the exploration table. The shards of wyrdstone you find are sold for gold crowns, which you then use to buy rare weapons, armor, healing herbs, or to hire mercenaries (Hired Swords).
Serious injuries
If a model is taken out of action during the game, that doesn't automatically mean death. After the battle, injured Heroes are rolled for on the dreaded serious injury table (D66) — a Hero might recover, but could also lose an eye, break a leg, be driven mad, be captured, or succumb to their wounds forever.
It's precisely these unexpected twists, battle scars, and personal stories that make Mordheim such an incredibly immersive experience.
Give your The Old World miniatures a new lease on life
For Warhammer: The Old World players, Mordheim has one huge advantage: it doesn't require buying a whole new army.
Many miniatures from existing The Old World collections can be put to immediate use to build a full warband. Rank-and-file Empire soldiers, archers, swordsmen, Skaven Clanrats, skeletons, or fearsome vampires are perfectly suited to forming a band. Mordheim is the ideal way to give older and current miniatures from your shelf a new dimension, and breathe into them a name and personality of their own.
Where to find the rules? (And in Czech, too!)
One of the game's biggest strengths is how easily accessible it is. The community has kept the rules and all its supplements alive and updated for over twenty years now:
Broheim.net
Complete rules, warband overviews, and a system for rating their balance — maintained by the community for many years.
The New Mordheimer (mordheimer.net)
Clearly presented rules, warbands, and campaign settings, free to download and browse online.
Quick rules in Czech (rychlopravidla available for direct download)
The author is unfortunately unknown, but perhaps they'll get in touch. This is a summary of the essentials for playing Mordheim — a great refresher, or a handy rules reference for players just starting out.
You might not realize it, but you already have everything you need
If you have a box of spare parts at home, or a few unused miniatures from The Old World, chances are you already own everything needed to play. Just pick out 10 to 12 models, download the rules, set a few books or some homemade ruined terrain on the table, and head into the darkened streets.
Try a game or two, and you'll see the atmosphere of the City of the Damned pull you in right away!
Summary
- Mordheim (1999) is a skirmish game from the creators Tuomas Pirinen, Alessio Cavatore, and Rick Priestley, set 500 years before classic Warhammer Fantasy.
- Instead of armies, you lead a small warband of 10–15 warriors, where each model is a unique character with their own fate.
- The core mechanics (characteristics, D6, turn phases) will feel instantly familiar to Warhammer players — with added elements like climbing, leaping, and parrying.
- A campaign with lasting consequences — experience, injury, and death turn every warrior into a personal story.
- You don't need a new army — miniatures from The Old World work perfectly well; all you need are the rules (available free, even in Czech).
Getting ready for your first trip into the streets of Mordheim? Drop by our shop in Plzeň at Zbrojnická 116/2, open Mon–Fri 1pm–6pm — we'll help you pick out miniatures for your first warband.
obchod@coloursofwarriors.com · +420 737 281 727