Gitz and Glory

How To Stop Worrying and Run Your First Mordheim Campaign

Mordheim is that one game that makes people appear from all the nooks and crannies of your local community. It's that game that everybody knows, but probably didn't play. If you are one of these people, and can't get your mind off this game, you should probably start your first Mordheim campaign for your local tabletop community.

You, yes you. I know it might sound scary, but it actually isn't that big of a deal. Running a campaign from a notebook in your gaming backpack is enough to get the ball rolling. The most important part is that you take on the mantle of the game master. But how do you start?

Gauge Interest and Create a Communication Channel

If you have a local hobby group, you most likely also have some sort of Discord server or WhatsApp group, where people hang out. Ask around, or make a poll. If you find at least 4 people, that's already enough to start a small campaign.

When you find some people who are interested in your campaign (I promise you, you will find some people who want to play Mordheim) create some sort of communication channel. You will need a way to talk to everyone participating, and the players will want to schedule games, ask questions etc. I used WhatsApp when I started since it's the preferred app in my local club, but you can use whatever your group prefers.

Organising the Campaign

First write a document for general information about the campaign. In there you should write down any information about the campaign itself:

Also write down which warbands are allowed in your campaign. The broheim grading system is a good way of gauging how good these warbands fit into regular campaigns. When starting out I would stick to the core warbands from the book or only 1a graded warbands.

I would also recommend telling everyone to use the same source for their rules. I like to use The New Mordheimer) for this. You can also add helpful links and FAQs so your players have an easy time finding information about the game.

Here is a basic template for the campaign pack: Basic Mordheim Campaign Template

Step two: Have some sort of registration process and set a deadline. I used Google Forms, but you can also just keep a list of players in a notebook or an Excel sheet. But for this step keep it simple:

Advertise your campaign! People will forget about registering to your campaign. I announce the start of my campaign about 1-2 months in advance, so people have time to build and paint their warbands. Also post about the campaign every once in a while. When it's only a few days left until the registration deadline, make a final post and make sure to mention the deadline. Most people will register in the last few days.

Modes of Play

The next step is figuring out a mode of play. It's a good idea to talk to your players about this. Get an idea of their schedules and how often they can get games in. Depending on your group, different modes of play can work better than others.

Playing Round by Round

In this mode you create random (or not so random) pairings for each round and let everyone play their game in a certain time frame. Most people should have time for one game in two weeks but your mileage may vary. This mode works well with groups that get together often.

Pros: Every warband has the same amount of played games each round, making for more balanced games.

Cons: All players need to play their games to keep the campaign going. Players who have trouble scheduling games can stall the campaign if you let them. You might need to be strict and tell players if they can't schedule their game, then tough luck: no progression for you.

Pre-Paired Rounds

My preferred way of running campaigns at the moment: Set a certain amount of rounds you want to play for your campaign. 6 is a good start, but you can always do more if everyone is up for it. If you have your amount of games decided you determine a deadline for the games to be played. If in doubt use the one game per two weeks metric. So 6 games can be a 12 week campaign.

After everyone has registered for the campaign create pairings for each round. This way every player should have an appropriate number of opponents to get some games in. They can now start scheduling their games against each of their opponents in any order they wish.

This mode works well if you have a lot of people in your campaign.

Pros: No campaign stalling. People can schedule their games more flexibly. Underdog bonus XP actually gets used.

Cons: No late joiners. Possibility for unbalanced games for people who start playing later in the campaign.

Open Play

The group is used as a sort of matchmaking system and people just play whoever they might find and can schedule games with.

Pros: Less work for you, the campaign organiser.

Cons: Some people might have a hard time finding people to play and can't progress their warband at the same pace as others.

House Rules

Mordheim is a (probably intentionally) broken and unbalanced game. Some warbands or items are broken as hell: running around with 2 clubs is the most optimal weapon load out, and Skaven with slings is busted as well. The thing with house rules is that they might mess with the entire feel of the game.

The most often talked about "fix" is halving the price of armour. The problem with that is, that even at a lower price, armour doesn't do much. Especially if you run into warbands with axes or even just models with Strength 4 or higher. It gets negated that easily, and for 5gc more I would just get another Goblin Warrior who can shank a guy with his free dagger instead of trying to get a 6+ save that will be negated by the Strength 4 Possessed anyway.

One thing I would recommend regarding house rules is not changing anything, that messes with the list-building process. I always expect my players not to read the information document. If there are rules that change item prices or otherwise create illegal starting warbands when overlooked, it can lead to feels-bad moments, when you have to tell players that their warband is built wrong.

Here are the house rules that I use in my campaigns as an example:

If you want to read more about house rules check out this document on The New Mordheimer

As the game master of a campaign, you also have the authority over any rules disputes that might come up during play. If they come up, have a conversation with the players. Read the rules that are relevant in this situation, and then read them again and make a ruling. You might even want to solve these issues democratically if you want to. It's your campaign after all.

What About This Cool Map Campaign?!

Running complicated map campaigns with locations to control which offer bonuses and can be fought over by the warbands sounds cool and all, and if your group is down to play this game you can certainly go for it.

Problems can arise when you are running a campaign with more and more people. The more people you want to include in your campaign the simpler the whole campaign setup has to be. In my experience, just calculating the updated warband rating after each game and sending that to me was never done after each game.

Keep your processes as simple as possible. If you are lucky enough to have really dedicated group to pull off a map campaign then go for it. But for your first go at running a campaign: keep it simple.

A Starter Campaign Template

Here is an example of a campaign structure you could copy, to get your group playing some Mordheim:

People Just Want To Play

You don't need deep lore or complicated campaign systems. People just want to have an excuse to play Mordheim. Even just a list of opponents is enough.

Now go out there. Be a river to your people. The children yearn for the City of the Damned.