"Thus was gathered into Mordheim on the eve of its destruction all the sins of men together, as a boil gathers the poisons of the body ready to be lanced by the surgeon’s knife."
—Bernhardt Hal, Witch Hunter General

The setting for the game is in what is called The End of Times (or "End Times") for the Warhammer Fantasy world that lasted 30 years with Games Workshop, attracting millions of Tabletop players, and enthusiasts who simply enjoyed the era and lore. Mordheim, otherwise known as The City of the Damned after being judged by the God-King Sigmar to be corrupt beyond salvation. This occurred, when a twin-tailed comet, the representation of Sigmar and much heralded as salvation instead fell into the city destroying it and all living within. Warpstone, a precious though dangerous crystal that made up the comet, has become the object of treasure-hunting, or looting for many factions, always warring with one another facing down the dangers within the city. These are, in the game referred to as Warbands.

There have been several games over the decades based upon this time, starting first on the original Playstation with Shadow of The Horned Rat and Dark Omen, and some brave attempts on the PC that were met with lukewarm responses (Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and the Massively Online Multiplayer game Warhammer Online).
Rogue Factor, the developers of this title decided on taking a more immediate and different approach to all that had come before.

Mordheim: City of the Damned is a Turn-based (TB) offering placing you, the player in charge of a 'warband', a group of warriors either intent on pillaging or, like the "Sisters of Sigmar" out to bring justice to a befouled city...while dabbling in a bit of looting on the side (shh, don't tell the Inquisition).

When you first boot up the game, you are presented with several menu options, including the by now usual list of visual Tutorials, Campaign, Settings, Multiplayer etc. Strongly recommending the Tutorials is the least a reviewer can suggest, as learning as you play will have the gamer scratching his/her head wondering what this action was and what it means, and why suddenly your warband is either dead or in deep trouble. The interface is not intuitive, in other words so the Tutorials are where all gamers, even veterans of TB games might as well start. The sheer volume of information each turn can be overwhelming.

In the Campaign, your first move is to create a warband, and there are several on offer in the base game (with two other as Downloadable Content, or DLC). You appoint a Leader, a Champion and fill out the rest with other troops of that particular faction. There are many options here in changing the looks of your warriors to their weaponry and there is a base camp with a store where you can spend your hard-earned warpstone to buy new items for your band of looters, or warriors as I like to call them.

Once out-fitted it's into the game and here is where the player will learn to love or hate the game. The presentation is in the third person, so the camera places you behind the warrior whose turn it is (only yours...you never get to see what the enemy is doing unless in battle or view of your warrior). If you have played through the Tutorials, which I again emphasise are a must, movement will be a simple matter of first observing the overhead map, with a keystroke to locate where all of your warriors are, and of course more importantly where the warpstone is. Back into the game proper and you move your character by using the keyboards (WASD or arrow keys) up to the limit of their movement allowance. The player then sets the warrior to a stance (guard, defensive, offensive etc.) with a mouse-click and the turn ends. The AI then makes it's move, which as stated you the player cannot see.

The goal is to gather the warpstone, and return it yo your handy horse cart, and/or kill off the enemy and if truly blessed, capture the enemy's cart into the bargain. Lose your cart, or your warband and it's mission over with all of the penalties that involves (lost investment, wounded or dead warriors and the like). Win the mission, and you upgrade and improve your warband, and it's a hearty brew and grand tales all around the camp fire.

What the map does not tell you, is on what level the warpstone, or your warrior is as this is a three dimensional (3D) game, moving up and down buildings etc. The green glow of the treasure can be seen in the game, but this is only a rough guide. when in battle with the enemy, it is once again a to-and-fro of attacking, blocking or striking back performed in turns with weaponry. magic and all that Warhammer Fantasy offers. This is also where the player will learn to love or hate this game. As with many a title in the RTS/TBS genres, the tutorials are generally very fair, and even forgiving of the player taking their first steps in the game. This leads the player into sometimes a false sense of fairness and balance, as when the campaign begins the player's troops/armour starts perishing very quickly and the difficulty seems to spike alarmingly.
That is what occurs here.

The player's warriors will perform as they did in the tutorials, but the Random Numbers Generator (RNG) behind the outcomes will seem to always be in the favour of the enemy warband. This is not an occasional matter, either as frustration may build as your warrior's sword or hammer strikes miss endlessly, or arrows continually fly over the foe's head, while warrior(s) is the subject of brutal punishment every single round. That alone places this game in the "Hard" basket where gaming is concerned, and not for the right reasons. RNG is the bane of every Tabletop gamer in Warhammer, and in many other videogames. It has to be stated, in this reviewer's eyes that it is unfairly balanced in this game. Fighting the enemy and the game's mechanics themselves is an arduous task, yet of you persist, watch some gameplay videos the winning of a mission even aginst the odds is a welcome flood of both relief and accomplishment.

Once the mission ends, for ill or good you are returned to camp, to upgrade, heal, replace warriors and even recruit mercenaries. Mercenaries are available from smaller DLC's to the two extra warbands mentioned above and make a great addition for the player and the game. It brings an added flavour to your chosen warband by bringing in say a "Wolf-priest" to spice up your merry band of mostly hard-hitters if that is your bent. Some magic always goes a long way in high fantasy.

The distinctly different gameplay on offer in this style of TB game is a style that won't appeal to all, even if a strong Warghammer Fantasy enthusiast, but it is worth trying just to see what is on offer. Whether that is by trialling the game for under two hours, that Steam allows for or simply watching videos on Youtube is up to each individual. There are many hours to be enjoyed, immersed in this game, with solid Role-playing elements such as the creation and upkeep of your warband and the graphics, while not strikingly beautiful are more than suitable for this style of game and lend it a crisp, yet 'dirty' feel; much like Mordheim itself.

While Creative Assembly have taken the reigns of the large scale Warhammer campaigns and battles, there are few that keep to the immediacy of this title. It is a challenging game, as stated but in the end the time spent with the game, even if it means replaying tutorials or watching videos, will be worth the player's while if they find it a captivating setting. Entering the doomed city of Mordheim is something you do at your peril, but the rewards can be great.

[i] "Thus was gathered into Mordheim on the eve of its destruction all the sins of men together, as a boil gathers the poisons of the body ready to be lanced by the surgeon’s knife."[/i] —Bernhardt Hal, Witch Hunter General [h1]INTRODUCTION[/h1] The setting for the game is in what is called [b]The End of Times[/b] (or "End Times") for the [b]Warhammer[/b] Fantasy world that lasted 30 years with Games Workshop, attracting millions of Tabletop players, and enthusiasts who simply enjoyed the era and lore. [b]Mordheim[/b], otherwise known as [i]The City of the Damned[/i] after being judged by the God-King Sigmar to be corrupt beyond salvation. This occurred, when a twin-tailed comet, the representation of Sigmar and much heralded as salvation instead fell into the city destroying it and all living within. [b]Warpstone[/b], a precious though dangerous crystal that made up the comet, has become the object of treasure-hunting, or looting for many factions, always warring with one another facing down the dangers within the city. These are, in the game referred to as [b]Warbands[/b]. There have been several games over the decades based upon this time, starting first on the original Playstation with [b]Shadow of The Horned Rat[/b] and [b]Dark Omen[/b], and some brave attempts on the PC that were met with lukewarm responses ([b]Warhammer: Mark of Chaos[/b] and the Massively Online Multiplayer game [b]Warhammer Online[/b]). Rogue Factor, the developers of this title decided on taking a more immediate and different approach to all that had come before. [h1]REVIEW[/h1] [b]Mordheim: City of the Damned[/b] is a Turn-based (TB) offering placing you, the player in charge of a 'warband', a group of warriors either intent on pillaging or, like the "Sisters of Sigmar" out to bring justice to a befouled city...while dabbling in a bit of looting on the side (shh, don't tell the Inquisition). When you first boot up the game, you are presented with several menu options, including the by now usual list of visual Tutorials, Campaign, Settings, Multiplayer etc. Strongly recommending the Tutorials is the least a reviewer can suggest, as learning as you play will have the gamer scratching his/her head wondering what this action was and what it means, and why suddenly your warband is either dead or in deep trouble. The interface is not intuitive, in other words so the Tutorials are where all gamers, even veterans of TB games might as well start. The sheer volume of information each turn can be overwhelming. In the Campaign, your first move is to create a warband, and there are several on offer in the base game (with two other as Downloadable Content, or DLC). You appoint a Leader, a Champion and fill out the rest with other troops of that particular faction. There are many options here in changing the looks of your warriors to their weaponry and there is a base camp with a store where you can spend your hard-earned warpstone to buy new items for your band of looters, or warriors as I like to call them. Once out-fitted it's into the game and here is where the player will learn to love or hate the game. The presentation is in the third person, so the camera places you behind the warrior whose turn it is (only yours...you never get to see what the enemy is doing unless in battle or view of your warrior). If you have played through the Tutorials, which I again emphasise are a must, movement will be a simple matter of first observing the overhead map, with a keystroke to locate where all of your warriors are, and of course more importantly where the warpstone is. Back into the game proper and you move your character by using the keyboards (WASD or arrow keys) up to the limit of their movement allowance. The player then sets the warrior to a stance (guard, defensive, offensive etc.) with a mouse-click and the turn ends. The AI then makes it's move, which as stated you the player cannot see. The goal is to gather the warpstone, and return it yo your handy horse cart, and/or kill off the enemy and if truly blessed, capture the enemy's cart into the bargain. Lose your cart, or your warband and it's mission over with all of the penalties that involves (lost investment, wounded or dead warriors and the like). Win the mission, and you upgrade and improve your warband, and it's a hearty brew and grand tales all around the camp fire. What the map does not tell you, is on what level the warpstone, or your warrior is as this is a three dimensional (3D) game, moving up and down buildings etc. The green glow of the treasure can be seen in the game, but this is only a rough guide. when in battle with the enemy, it is once again a to-and-fro of attacking, blocking or striking back performed in turns with weaponry. magic and all that Warhammer Fantasy offers. This is also where the player will learn to love or hate this game. As with many a title in the RTS/TBS genres, the tutorials are generally very fair, and even forgiving of the player taking their first steps in the game. This leads the player into sometimes a false sense of fairness and balance, as when the campaign begins the player's troops/armour starts perishing very quickly and the difficulty seems to spike alarmingly. That is what occurs here. The player's warriors will perform as they did in the tutorials, but the Random Numbers Generator (RNG) behind the outcomes will seem to always be in the favour of the enemy warband. This is not an occasional matter, either as frustration may build as your warrior's sword or hammer strikes miss endlessly, or arrows continually fly over the foe's head, while warrior(s) is the subject of brutal punishment every single round. That alone places this game in the "Hard" basket where gaming is concerned, and not for the right reasons. RNG is the bane of every Tabletop gamer in Warhammer, and in many other videogames. It has to be stated, in this reviewer's eyes that it is unfairly balanced in this game. Fighting the enemy and the game's mechanics themselves is an arduous task, yet of you persist, watch some gameplay videos the winning of a mission even aginst the odds is a welcome flood of both relief and accomplishment. Once the mission ends, for ill or good you are returned to camp, to upgrade, heal, replace warriors and even recruit mercenaries. Mercenaries are available from smaller DLC's to the two extra warbands mentioned above and make a great addition for the player and the game. It brings an added flavour to your chosen warband by bringing in say a "Wolf-priest" to spice up your merry band of mostly hard-hitters if that is your bent. Some magic always goes a long way in high fantasy. [h1]CONCLUSION[/h1] The distinctly different gameplay on offer in this style of TB game is a style that won't appeal to all, even if a strong Warghammer Fantasy enthusiast, but it is worth trying just to see what is on offer. Whether that is by trialling the game for under two hours, that Steam allows for or simply watching videos on Youtube is up to each individual. There are many hours to be enjoyed, immersed in this game, with solid Role-playing elements such as the creation and upkeep of your warband and the graphics, while not strikingly beautiful are more than suitable for this style of game and lend it a crisp, yet 'dirty' feel; much like Mordheim itself. While Creative Assembly have taken the reigns of the large scale Warhammer campaigns and battles, there are few that keep to the immediacy of this title. It is a challenging game, as stated but in the end the time spent with the game, even if it means replaying tutorials or watching videos, will be worth the player's while if they find it a captivating setting. Entering the doomed city of Mordheim is something you do at your peril, but the rewards can be great.