Mordheim: City Of The Damned

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Mordheim: City Of The Damned is a video game based on the popular Warhammer Fantasy specialist game called Mordheim that was released in 2014 as an early-access game, and continued to receive updates (unlike most games in the early-access trend) throughout 2015 and into 2016.

Setting

The storyline is the same as the tabletop: Mordheim was a city in the Empire, as well as one of the primary centers of the Church of Sigmar and contained the bulk of the Sisters of Sigmar, militant nuns dedicated to their god Conan McZeus. A prophesy stated that Sigmar would return to the world in Mordheim, and in the year it was supposed to happen (specifically in the year of 1999, making this a potential alternate universe where Y2K meant something) the city population EXPLODED with travelers. It quickly turned from a standard Empire city (which tend to already be a mix of faithful, Chaos cultists, and redshirts fated to be the skulls on every surface in Games Workshop landscape design) to a den of hedonism and debauchery, with quickly established slums. Daemon sightings were reported towards the end, and the city became a powderkeg where something awful was bound to happen. To make matters worse, the Empire was in a civil war at the time between three claimants to the position of Emperor.

The Augurs of the Sisters received a vision that shit was about to go down on New Years Eve, and rather than joining the assembled celebrants in the city square to wait for their god they hid in the solid rock catacombs beneath their cathedral. When they emerged, they found that Mordheim had been fairly well destroyed, partially by riots, partially by Daemon slaughter, and partially by a HUGE FUCKING COMET MADE OF WARPSTONE CRASHING INTO THE CITY. They quickly decided that Sigmar had simply found the city wanting and punished it instead.

The Warpstone comet had shattered and its fragments spread throughout the city. These fragments, called Wyrdstones, caused massive corruption to everything around them.

Multiple factions converged on Mordheim, every single one looking to secure the Wyrdstone for themselves.

• The Sisters of Sigmar hunt for them in the interest of securing the damned corruption-causers within The Rock, their fortress vault that lies in the middle of the river south of the city. They want to see the city cleaned and restored to its former glory, although they've been labeled as witches and possibly the cause of the destruction by the more fanatical members of their faith. They lack ranged attacks, diverse magic, or a heavy option but are the most disciplined fighters and are the most durable force. They also have easy access to buffing and healing magic.
• The Mercenaries are the men of Reikland, where Mordheim is located. They support Grand Prince Siegfried for the position of Emperor, and came to Mordheim to loot the city for either his cause or their own wallets. They want the Wyrdstone to sell to eccentric nobles (both Chaos worshiping and just plain fucking stupid) in other regions of the Empire. They're the jack of all trades group, having access to a Mage as well as an Ogre. They also have the most ranged options.
• The Skaven came to the city seeking the Wyrdstone because...well, it's fucking Warpstone. Skaven culture revolves around it as everything from currency to ammunition to a flavorful spice to sprinkle on your lunch (probably a living human baby). Clan Eshin, as the spies and assassins of the Skaven race, arrived to Mordheim before any others and work both to keep other Skaven away from the city and to steal the Wyrdstone to increase their own power within Skaven society. Also, a chance to kill-kill a manthing is always a plus. High damage, high evasion. This is balanced by absolutely shitty morale, meaning you need to actually keep the upperhand or your minions will run. The Rat Ogre is hard to kill, but comes with Stupidity default so it's less reliable than other heavies.
• The Cult of the Possessed are the Chaos cultists of Mordheim. They believe a Chaos God has come to their city, and gather the Wyrdstone to the site of a possible rift into the Warp called the Pit. The Cult also took in all the mutants, who are cursed and destroyed by all other factions, and gave them a newfound sense of purpose in their horrible fate. They strike the balance between Skaven and Mercenaries, with a decent heavy (Chaos Spawn), good access to magic, but aren't very durable and lack the evasiveness of Skaven.
• The Daemons of the city are not playable. They simply rampage through the ruins, killing anyone they meet regardless of affiliation. A Bloodletter is as quick to eat the heart of a Skaven as he is a human, Plaguebearers as interested in defiling a Cultist's body as much as they are a nun's, and Daemonettes...it's better left unsaid. Daemons only appear in the upper difficulty levels, and only if a warrior is above a certain level (spawning at the start of the map near that warrior). They are damn near impossible to kill and simply kill the shit out of whatever they feel like.

No other factions have been added to the game yet, although it's likely coming.

If going by the original Mordheim, everyone and their mum is going to come to the city and turn it into an ultimate clusterfuck. Be'lakor is the identity of the "Chaos God", and his plan was to establish a little kingdom for himself free of the touch of the real Chaos Gods although when he realized he had simply traded one prison they laugh at him for looking so tiny and stupid in for another he fucked off back to the Warp and left Mordheim to fend for itself. In the end canon of Warhammer Fantasy, Mordheim takes place 500 years prior to the "present day" and by the current year is just a ruin still being fought over by warbands and forgotten by everyone else. That is anyway until End Times happened and the world blew up and then the Winds of Magic became worlds to themselves with each and every one just being a giant Mordheim LALALA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU, LALALA!

The City

Mordheim itself is a complete mess. The riots must have been interesting because rather than complete swathes of destruction, you have entire buildings reduced only to a charred wooden skeleton while the building next door remains intact (and rather spiffy, being the current nicest house on the block). The streets are covered in paper debris that seemingly came from nowhere, and some homes are almost cozy inside. Even more telling is the signs of madness everywhere. Carriages that have skinned horses placed on the cab while kneeling corpses of men in bridles are hitched to the front. Fenceposts which have two "knights" made up of corpses dressed up in wooden armor and impaled on a stake, one of which is crowned with a fish, riding a "horse" made up of multiple pieces of dead animals, which are set on opposite sides holding lances as if jousting. Blood everywhere. Random limbs strewn about and hung from banners declaring the city's allegiance to Sigmar or grasping onto masonry and woodwork as if belonging to an otherwise invisible human. Dead men and women with their arms and legs chopped away with a bloody smear indicating they managed to crawl some distance after being rendered a torso before bleeding to death. Bodies hung from windows and roofs, not being clear whether they were strung up before or after death. Some bodies appearing as if they were killed only moments before despite being covered in a layer of undisturbed dust, some bodies stripped to a clean and polished skeleton laying just beside.

Giant glowing blue maggots crawl on any surface in the city in clusters, seemingly having no interest other than their meandering path. Masses of flesh, spiky bone-like protrusions, eyes, and mouths like lazy Gibbering Mouthers (or more Warhammer-appropriate, flattened Chaos Spawn) are found almost everywhere with some granting blessings or curses to those who stray too near, others doing...something (playing, eating?) to human corpses they've picked up, some rearranging the entire landscape such as appearing to grow from the bottom of a well with a psuedopod lifting the top of the well in the air and inspecting it while a jet of infected water shoots from below and tickles their soft bits, and some just not giving any fucks what's going on and watching the bipeds with disinterest as they RIP AND TEAR each other to pieces.

Of course, not everything is completely destroyed. Raven skull-headed men made of stone pour urns in elaborate fountains dedicated to Morr, the roofs of buildings adorned with Sigmar's Twin-tailed Comet rise proudly and still look pure when seen at dawn, from the roof of a Cathedral, bronze statues to Sigmar hoist their hammers proudly.

Most fights take place either in the Merchants District, the Noble Quarter, or the Docks while once in a blue moon a battle occurs at one of the Cathedrals of Sigmar.

Gameplay

The video game basically plays like the tabletop. Pick your warband, equip them, train them, pay them, tend to their medical needs. Skirmish in the city going by Initiative.

Movement during a character's turn is based on their allotment of movement and attack points with certain actions taking one or more of those. Each character can move a certain distance based on things like how heavy their armor is, allowing you to wander freely although you can retrace your steps to take a different route using your movement points. You can't redo your steps if you set off an environmental effect (usually walking on or by one of the Chaos growth things) or a waiting foe sees and charges you. You can perform movement actions like climbing or jumping on/off things although there is a chance of failure in which the character is unsuccessful (jumping across gaps or climbing) or takes damage if they fail. Some actions, like praying using a Rosary or shouting encouragement to a teammate also take movement points. A large chunk of any skirmish is between gathering Wyrdstone, looting dead bodies and other sources of goods like chests and piles of rubble, and getting into position for combat. At the end of each turn characters unless they overexert themselves characters can select if they are going to go into an Ambush stance (they'll rush and made an immediate attack on the first thing they see), a Dodge stance, or a Parry stance (if they have a Shield equipped). Characters with ranged weapons can use Overwatch, which is Ambush except for using Dakka rather than WAAAGHing.

In combat, characters take turns bashing each other, with some having special abilities like an extra hard smash or a debuff attack. Sometimes characters can make a counter-attack. Spellcasters cast spells. Pretty straightforward.

When characters are outnumbered, they have to pass an All Alone check based on their Leadership. If they fail, they will attempt to flee and earn a free attack from everything they're in combat with until they dart in the opposite direction as controlled by the AI, attempting usually to hide in a building (although smart players can set up an ambush character nearby who will charge them and give them a whap the second they start to run). Characters who fail their All Alone but are engaged in combat from all sides and don't have a place to flee to simply lose their turn.

The map is lost or won when one team Routes, based on having their warriors put out of commission.

When the battle ends, the results screen will say which characters advanced. More importantly, will say who among those who were knocked the fuck out managed to make it back and with or without their gear, and whether they simply dropped dead upon returning home or if they suffered some kind of injury. Sometimes a redshirt who was gored to death by a Chaos Spawn in the skirmish can even make it back with all their gear, completely unhurt and having only gained experience points from the process. Permanent injuries show up on a character, and can be anything from a cracked skull giving them permanent Stupidity, a lost limb, a lost eye, and so on. While it may look absolutely badass for you to have a Sister Superior with a peg-leg, a missing eye, and a permanent crazy fucking look on her face while she swings around a giant mace, the longterm injuries are usually debilitating and unless you're really attached to a warrior (or not expecting them to survive much longer) you may want to consider replacing them with a new recruit unless they are so experienced you can't bring yourself to let them go. Or keep them in emergency reserve, maybe bring them a heretic home to bludgeon to death afterwards if they sweep while you're gone.

A story mode exists in the game, although it's fairly bare-bones and just gives you the basics of who your faction basically is. During those, you can get access to a "Dramatic Personae" which is a named hero character. Players of Mordheim will recognize favorites like Bertha Bestraufrung when they get access to these special characters (who unless you REALLY fuck up can almost solo most maps by themselves).

Most characters have a lot of customization options for their appearance, with more on the way.

==Gallery+