Mordheim: City of the Damned

I really want to play this because the character development mechanics and the tactics are pretty cool, but between the janky controls and the bad design decisions this is too frustrating to play. I got to the first story mission and gave up on the game...who designs missions like this, did they not play this before release? With a map feature (so you know where your guys and the mission objectives are) I think I could play this - without it this game is unplayable for me.

I never played Mordheim but I used to play Necromunda. In a tabletop campaign, I don't mind it being RNG if one of my guys dies - since everyone has the same risk. Against computer teams that are generated for each mission, it becomes a huge imbalance. If I manage to kill the leader of an AI warband, that faction should have a long-term structural disadvantage but they don't. All the jeopardy is on the player. I played as Skaven, and with that faction your troops are quite weak in combat. They need to gang up to be effective, and the randomized deployment with no tactical map or overview means each game a couple of them won't make it back to the group so they will get taken out, so they will get permanent injuries. The looting is also excruciating - it's not a race to find the warpstone, it's a race to regroup followed by a big fight. So you end up also having a resource disadvantage. There didn't seem to be any options for stealth, ranged combat is ridiculously underpowered, and the game penalizes any attempt to climb with damage - and there is an artificial limit on how many troops you can put in a street/corridor/passage - meaning the weak ratmen are forced into a conspicuous race to regroup in an open square, and then have to hope the AI attacks them piecemeal. It strikes me that they've used the UI from a quad-based tactical game (it's very similar to the UI of that 2010s X:Com reboot) but the mechanics are those of a tabletop skirmish wargame. It doesn't work. Even though I got it in a giveaway I actively resent the hour or two I spent watching it load the AI's moronic moves.

BACKGROUND: I absolutely adore the setting of Mordheim & the nostalgea and fantasy skirmish games, and have played seveal kinds on the tabletop so already this game floats my boat. Also, it seems I'm one of few reviewers to have played the Android equivilant (of sorts) "Mordheim Warband Skirmish" which had good gameplay but got erased from existence and you can't even download it to access your purchases! THIS GAME: Sadly there seems to be a CLEAR disconnect with the development & maybe GW's motives, because I did not find the RNG to be sincere, and heavily suspect that being purposefully to drive DLC purchases. Heeaaavvvily. I've thought about this: the controls may be the worst controls of any game I've ever played when combined with the obligatory super-long waits to even play. I WANT to love this game, but it was mostly disbelief at how (seeming purposefully?) crooked the RNG is- all the reviews you hear (about it being broken) are true- and there's zero saves so dozens of hours can disappear in the twinkling of an eye. Not just if you make a very slight error in executing commands awkward controlled commands, but even if you don't- the AI seems to have magic dice, and you don't. If you can get past all of this, there's a game underneath to love. But I will end by reiterating the fate of the semi-beloved App version- if that got 'disappeared' from existence, I can't fathom how this game exists because it's sadly worse as far as my play experience,. They are basically giving it away for a reason, sad to say. Most of all everything I have said is in the shadow of Games Workshop being notoriously profit-driven at times, and that's frankly (and sadly) the only way I can make sense of what ended up in front of me on the screen. I am really, really sad to write this review. I hope they take this clearly underdeveloped game- fix some fundamental issues, and another developer with more than a brief period of time develops this game.

I got this on Steam years ago and had a great time. It's not a carbon copy of the tabletop, but it really captures the feel and flavour of Mordheim. If you go in knowing that you'll really enjoy it. Think of it as a film version of the book or vice-versa. The movement system can take a bit of getting used to. Instead of inches (like the tabletop), you have circles (think of them as bases) of movement that you can undo by going back on yourself into the last circle you were in - this can be cheesed a bit by allowing you to walk somewhere, have a look and then walk back on yourself, which is a bit of an issue. You also can't undo certain actions and movements (like walking into a trap or jumping down to somewhere else), which can be a bit of a surprise when you have just been wandering around the map for a while in your first game. These circles are also used to determine charges and attacks, so you can't move into an enemy circle without attacking them. This means it's very easy for a road or hallway to become blocked by a few warriors fighting and you'll be forced to think about how to squeeze more of your guys in around an enemy by making sure you put your first warrior in right at one edge. There were some minor issues with gaps in models at certain angles, but I imagine these have been fixed now and they didn't affect gameplay as you could only see them at unusual views. The games can be quite long as you are running guys around individually - which might be a bad thing if you don't enjoy slower-paced games. But it also means you get to explore a vision of Mordheim more thoroughly. I would say that I think there was a lack of walkways to fall off and the game's vision of Mordheim is very conservative compared to the stuff you see people make for the tabletop. The way the level layouts are always different and interesting was very interesting, but it would have been nice to have a way to control the level layout. Saying all that I would still recommend it

I've spend 55 hours in Mordheim. I've left due to the fact that AI is rather dumb and predictible, all its strenght lies in better stats. Ergo, there is one tactic which you have to follow through each encounter and it is boring after some time. I think it is main problem with that game. *Game is a little bit hardcore experience, which is rather good in my opinion. *Progress is slow. And game itself is pretty slow, because waiting for opponent's move takes a bit too long. Also interface is a little clunky. *Maps are rather interesting with some verticality and grim WH atmosphere. *Graphically it is acceptable. *Customization of characters is basic, but enough to distinguish units. *AI always play the same game. It is always on aggresive mode and will attack on sight, even outnumbered. *Sidequests are very often impossible to accomplish: My warband has around 96% success rate during 55 hours of gameplay, but only once I achieved stealing enemy idol, and it happened only because two enemy units with the highest morale did not know how to run around a building and were stuck (one of them was an ogre with 530hp, when my ogre has only 350hp). Another example: you have to gather three tags of specific enemy units. One of them being usually a leader. You managed to kill those three, even in one round; but didn't have chance to pick up last tags, because enemy routs instantly after slaying enemy leader. So, battle ends with this last tag lying down at feet of your unit and the sidequest is not complited. *Units do not differ very much in their functonality. *There is magic, but I do not know really why I should use it. It is rather weak, and generally more dangerous to casting unit than enemies. *There are many skills for your units... *...but most of them do not give much... *...and usually you do not have gold to learn them.