History TabletopGame / Mordheim

For the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' equivalent game see ''TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}''

* DropTheHammer:
** Hammers are one of the basic weapons available to most warbands. While no stronger than other basic close combat weapons, hammers have the Concussion special rule that makes it easier to stun and enemy fighter.
** The hammer is one of the signature weapons of the Sisters of Sigmar due to the weapon's association with the founding god of the Empire. The warband also has access to a unique type of hammer, the Sigmarite Warhammer, created in imitation of Sigmar's mighty weapon Ghal-Maraz and heavily sanctified to that it is more effective against Possessed and Undead fighters.

* ZergRush: The Skaven. Their bands tend to be very large, which makes them harder to rout (you have to lose a quarter of your men... pardon, rats before being forced to test for routing). Borders on GameBreaker when you are faced with a 20-rat Skaven band, and they'are ''all'' armed with slings, which can fire twice in the same turn. Enjoy being stoned to death.

A video game adaptation, ''VideoGame/MordheimCityOfTheDamned'', is currently available [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/276810/ for purchase]] on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.

* PestController: The Gnawdoom spell, available to [[RatMen Skaven]] magic users, allows the sorcerer to summon a swarm of rats to attack an enemy [[DeathByAThousandCuts doing multiple, low strength wounds]].

* ShoutOut: The Carnival of Chaos preforms such tales as ‘The Emperor’s True Face’, ‘Orfeo and Pustulate’, ‘Papa Noigul’s Festering Children’ and ‘[[Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream A Midsummer Nightmare]]’.
** The introductory story for the Carnival includes the lines:
-->“[[Theatre/RichardIII A horse, a horse, the Emperor is a horse!]]”\\
“[[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} Is this an icon of Sigmar I see before me?]]”\\
“[[Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice if you prick us, do we not bleed?]]”\\
“[[Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor Your stomach is mine oyster,]]” he continued as a sudden silver flash from a dagger caught Demitri’s eye, “[[Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor which I, with sword, shall open,]]”

* WhipItGood:
** The Sisters of Sigmar have steel whips as a unique weapon available to members of the warband. Made from lenths of barbed chain, these whips are impossible to parry and tie into the Warband's fanatically religious visual theme with images of chastisement and flagellation.
** Regular whips were introduced in the ''Mordheim Annual 2002''. Although not very effective as weapons, giving a -1 modifier to the wielder's Strength and +1 to the opponent's armour save, whips can be used to disarm the opposition instead of attacking.

** Averlanders - Practical trappers and mountain men from a prosperous province known for sheep farming. Finely made and colourful uniforms with cloaks and hoods are dress code, bows and arrows are the WeaponOfChoice and traps are often employed to great effect in the urban warfare. Halflings tend to follow them in employ too.

* KnifeNut: Johann The Knife. He has a special rule called Knife Fighter Extraordinare that allows him to bypass the limit of three knives thrown during his turn, allowing him to throw six knives per turn if he doesn't move. He's so good with knives that they count for swords during battle.

** Basically the whole Cult of the Possessed hero roster. The Magister? He's your Captain and only Mage mixed together, meaning that he can't wear armor and cannot be re-hired. Have fun trying to protect him while having him use his (short-ranged) magic. The Possessed? Expensive as hell (a minimum of 110 gold crowns when your starting budget is ''500'', and every mutations past the first one costs ''double'' the normal price, making a multiple-mutations Possessed ''insanely'' expensive). The Mutants? Glorified henchmen with mediocre stats. Their only "edge" comes from having access to (usually stupidly expensive) mutations.

** Rat ogres. Sure, they cause Fear and their profile is impressive... but they are Huge (everyone gets +1 to shoot them), cannot use equipment, are Stupid (which means they have a good chance to lose turn after turn by standing where they are and drool) and cost a whopping ''210'' gold crowns (for reference, that's pouring roughly 40% of your starting budget in ''one warrior''). Also, the fact that Rat Ogres cannot gain experience makes them fairly useless in campaigns, as other units will eventually outclass them.
*** It gets particularly offensive when you confront the Rat Ogre with the Ogre Bodyguard. The latter has -1 to S, T and A... but has a much higher Leadership of 7 (the Rat Ogre gets 4, which basically means he's doomed to fail any Leadership roll when on its own), can use equipment, can gain experience and costs ''80 crowns'' (with an extra 30 to be paid after each battle, but still). A sufficently experience and equipped Ogre will murder any Rat Ogre most of the time.
** Elven bows. Their range is mostly overkill (on crowded city streets, it's rare to get an opportunity to use all of it), and they still hit with S 3. -1 to enemy armor saves is nice... but all black powder weapons do that and are much cheaper (considering that black powder weapons are relatively expensive, that says a lot about how much the Elven bow costs).
** All Blackpowder weapons have have high costs(one Hochland Long Rifle takes as much as 8 henchmen), long reloading periods, usually cannot move-and-fire, and can only be used by certain characters, usually Heroes with access to a specific skill so only certain warbands can make any use out of them. Crossbows lack the armour piercing bonus, but have better range and a higher rate of fire because you don't have to waste a turn every time they shoot.

*** Can go into pure Awesome territory when comboed with the Strongman skill, which removes the "always strike last" penalty. A Stength 6 Middenheimer Captain who strikes in Initiative order with high Weapon Skill and heavy armor? Now ''that's'' scary.

** Middenheimers - Big, mean, practically half-Norscan men from a city with a big martial tradition. They wear wolf pelts to distinguish themselves as worshippers of Ulric, god of wolves and winter - custom is the wearer must kill the wolf himself, with his bare bands. Tend to prefer BaldOfAwesome and large beards for hair styling.

** Middenheimers - Big, mean, practically half-Norscan men from a city with a big martial tradition. They wear wolf pelts to distinguish themselves as worshippers of Ulric, god of wolves and winter - custom is the wearer must kill the wolf himself, with his bare bands. Tend to prefer BaldOfAwesome and BadassBeard for hair styling.

* EliteMooks: Some warbands have these at a higher costs and sometimes drawbacks like inability to gain ANY experience and therefore stuck with default stats.

* TheIgor: The {{Undead}} warbands can recruit the Dregs, the hunch-backed and deformed human survivors of the comet strike. They serve their undead masters faithfully since [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe they are the few who showed them kindness.]]

Set several centuries before the "present day" of Warhammer, it revolves around a city called Mordheim, once the jewel of TheEmpire, now flattened after being crushed under a meteorite of wyrdstone. This magical substance can, among other things, turn lead into gold, and so the ruins now crawl with adventurous treasure seekers. However, the wyrdstone also causes rampant mutation and corruption, and so the ruins are crawling with monsters, maniacs and mutants.

* TheAlcoholic: Ruffian Henchmen from the Ostlander Mercenary warbands have taken their fellows love of alcohol to the extreme and are never sober, in fact they are rarely ever conscious. While their constant state of inebriation make them near fearless in battle, their base combat abilities tend to be compromised somewhat and are unable to use missile weapons.

** Elven bows. Their range is mostly overkill, and they still hit with S 3. -1 to enemy armor saves is nice... but all black powder weapons do that and are much cheaper (considering that black powder weapons are relatively expensive, that says a lot about how much the Elven bow costs).

** The humble sling. "Mordheim" being an urban combat game, the limited range on this weapon isn't much of an issue, and it hits with "Strength as user", which means ''as hard as any bow''. Also, the ability to fire twice if the shooter doesn't move in the same turn is ''insanely'' useful, essentially doubling your chances of one-hit killing someone.

* SupernaturalFearInducer: Human Warlocks can use the lesser magic spell Dread of Armar to make their living opponents feel uncontrollable dread, forcing them to take a [[MoraleMechanic Leadership test]] or run screaming from the magic user.

* ExpansionPackWorld: The ''Empire in Flames'' expansion introduced rules for taking warbands out of the City of the Damned, and into the wildernesses of the Empire as a whole. This expansion expanded the rules for terrain (introducing forests, swamps, etc.) and vehicle (including boats), as well as introducing scenarios, hired swords, and warbands that are more likely to be encountered in the countryside than in the city.