Game Magazine: Mordheim: City of the Damned brings turn-based strategy to a doomed city

This passed me by somehow, but it’s still worth a mention. There’s going to be a Mordheim game! Mordheim is one of Games Workshop’s more obscure Warhammer Fantasy spin-off projects. It’s a turn-based strategy game set in a city obliterated by a magic meteorite. Precious fragments of said meteorite, called Wyrdstone, have drawn bandits and adventurers from every corner of the world. Giant rat-men face off against heroes of the empire, Elves, pirates, mercenaries, Witch Hunters and chaos demons. It’s like the end of the Hobbit, except the armies are 1000 times smaller, and prone to incurring terrible injuries and mounting psychological damage from battle to battle.

Focus Interactive note that “if you fail, some of your units might lose a limb… or worse. Keep in mind that in Mordheim: City of the Damned, a dead unit is lost forever!” which suggests that the game will realise the morbid comedy of your squad’s gradual dismemberment. It’ll also have “RPG elements, fast-paced tactical combat” and, importantly, “intricate unit customization”.

Much of the fun of Mordheim lies in tailoring each character’s skills and inventory. Imagine XCOM without the world-defending meta-game, but with loads of individual character customisation, set in a gothic city full of poisoned blades, weird magic and warband leaders that’d sooner sell you to the fighting pits than pay you a fair share of the booty. Will you give your ordinary mooks helms and shields, or spend all of your stolen money on a pair of wall-melting Warplock pistols for your big boss?

A while back, I pondered what the perfect Warhammer game might look like, and mentioned that Mordheim could make a great hook for a videogame. Hopefully Focus and the folk at recently formed Montreal studio, Rogue Factor, can do the Mordheim name justice. The first screenshots certainly have the gothic atmosphere I’d expect from the City of the Damned. Also there’s a rat dual-wielding flintlock pistols, which sums up Mordheim quite nicely.