Mordheim: City of the Damned

Mordheim: City of the Damned

This post is way overdue. It's been over a year since I've played it.

Mordheim is a genre that I really like. A few technical flaws prevent this game from being fantastic but it's still very enjoyable.

Overview

Mordheim is a tactical squad-based RPG with a strong storyline set in the Warhammer universe. It has a lot going for it.

Story and Setting

If you like the Warhammer fantasy setting, this game is spot on. Each of the campaigns capture the flavor of that race.

Campaign

The strongest feature is playing a campaign. It is so much fun to level up your units or watch them get scars and injuries. There are meaningful decisions about how to spend gold and who to train and when.

Tactical Combat

Perhaps the weakest element of this game is the tactical combat, but even so it's pretty good. The AI is smart enough to not do too much obviously stupid stuff. You have warriors, archers, mages, etc to put together combined strategies. Scenarios often start you off scattered so you must make decisions about whether to regroup, ambush the scattered enemy, or collect the loot that dots the map.

Flaws

The biggest flaw is that scenarios take too long. Maybe there is a setting to turn off animations and such, but even then there is a fair amount of fiddling around to maximize the use of your action points.

Another flaw is scenario end conditions. There is a lot of loot scattered around to pick up, but the scenario ends when the enemy fails a morale check. Sometimes you want to avoid beating the enemy too quickly so you have time to pick up more loot. It is very unsatisfying to me.

The third biggest flaw is that some scenarios can be buggy or just too large. One mission was huge and had teleport puzzles. I hated running around trying to map colors of teleporters to figure out what still needed to be explored. When the scenario bugged out and I had to start from the beginning, I rage quit.

Worth Buying?

To me, yes, absolutely. I'm not a total Warhammer fanboy but I do like the setting. This game is faithful to the RPG/Boardgame. It does a good job implementing my favorite features in one of my favorite genres. Unfortunately, because of some of the flaws I haven't finished a campaign. It just takes too long to play, at least the way I like to play.

Compare to Other Games

XCOM: This is a tough one. They have a lot of similarities. The campaign features of Mordheim are simpler but more enjoyable. The tactical combat in XCOM is cleaner, and ultimately I am willing to play an entire XCOM campaign but not a Mordheim one. To me, XCOM feels more snowbally -- if you win a lot you are likely to keep winning, but if you lose a few missions your game might become impossible. I suspect Mordheim has a better middle ground where you can still come back after losses. Ultimately I would recommend XCOM unless you prefer fantasy over sci-fi.

Civilization: Civ 4 was the last Civ that I really enjoyed. It's not exactly a campaign of squad based combat, but it has both tactical and a strategic elements. As king of the 4X genre, it's hard to recommend any game over it. If you don't care about exploration and city planning and want more squad based combat, Mordheim is a better choice.

Heroes of Might and Magic, Total War, or any other Squad Based Tactical Combat

For me most of those games miss the mark. I can't think of any game of this type I would recommend over Mordheim or XCOM.