Mordheim 2022 Invitational

Howdy! And welcome to my first official blog post.

Back in November of 2022, I'd held a small Mordheim Invitational in Houston, Texas, gathering together a small group of passionate Mordheim artists and hobbyists from around the world. It was an incredible experience that was as rich as it was rewarding, but required an immense amount of work. In my first ever blog post, I'd like to take the time to document some of its origins.

In the late days of 2017, I had started listening to a podcast called 'Dragged Into Turbo Lasers'. This was a relatively new media venture by the Wier brothers who were behind the hobby blog, 'Between the Bolter and Me', (which recently celebrated its ten year anniversary!). Eventually, I decided to get an Instagram, and discovered the Mordheim 2019 Event. This was a gathering that was orchestrated by Alexander Winberg, bringing together a number of exceedingly talented artists and luminaries from around the world, including the Art Director from Games Workshop John Blanche, and Mordheim's creator, Tuomas Pirenen, to celebrate the game's 20th anniversary.

Having very little of my own terrain-making or painting skill, I felt off-put by such a global collaboration of exceedingly talented artists. Truly, the warbands and terrain were jaw-dropping, and the creator and art director of such an (in)famous game were attending. Their talents pushed me to even bring paints and classic Mordheim miniatures to my stint in the Middle East to paint. I reached out anyway to one of the participants on Instagram, asking how I could get involved - and heard no reply.

*NOTE: To extent, it is understandable. This event was a gathering of friends who had shared experiences at other events, had been communicating on forums for years and was NOT an open invitation. More on that later.*

For more information, visit the Wier's blog here: https://www.betweenthebolterandme.com/2019/07/mordheim-2019-recap.html

This put me in a bit of a 'funk', and made me feel a little invalidated with all of the time and effort I'd put into my (admittedly) mediocre painting or terrain-making in the past. Even having been following Games Workshop games for almost 20 years, I felt a little left out in the cold. All I could do was drool on the sidelines.

Fast forward a few years later, and life had changed. I was a father now, and was permanently shore-side (not working on ships). I was in the winter of my graduate studies and in the thick of an internship when I rediscovered Alexander's wonderful blog Echoes of Imperium (which may not be online anymore). Here I re-read all of the amazing blog posts from participants of the Mordheim 2019 event, and re-listened to the Mordheim 2019 Interview on the Dragged into Turbolasers podcast.

Throughout the conversation, both the hosts and their guest, Alexander, all prompted the listeners to reach out to event organizers to see how they can get involved – to quote, “we think you would be surprised with the responses that you get.”

So, I thought to myself, why don’t I organize my own version of a ‘small’ narrative Mordheim event?

First up: Why?

Why? Why did I do this to myself?

The short answer was because I was Goblin Green with envy of the Mordheim 2019 Event, as mentioned earlier. The longer answer is a bit more difficult to talk about. Without getting too much into the specifics, in early 2022 my (unbeknownst) PTSD reared its head for the first time in my life, and my mental health took a nose dive. I feel that as humans, we sometimes retreat to what is familiar in difficult times - and so I turned back to re-reading old blogs and re-engaged with the miniature hobby in more earnest. This helped to distract me, and take my mind away from other things.

Somewhere in that early spring, I became committed to the idea of holding an event. Originally, I simply wanted to have a small gathering of Mordheim players for a short weekend of gaming, and I just wanted to have fun. After getting no responses on the internets (more on that in WHO?), I had to turn to Instagram, and invited a about two dozen people that I knew genuinely loved the game of Mordheim and whose work I had admired for a long time. What was the worst thing they could say - no?

After more and more people said yes to the invitation, my view of 'why' shifted to prioritizing a narrative focus over a casual weekend of gaming. I wanted it to be within the same vein of passion, talent and love for Mordheim as the Mordheim 2019 event, but with my own twist and touch to it.

Why Mordheim?

For real? Mordheim rules.

Mordheim was the very first Games Workshop 'big box' game I saw, in 1999. I had seen blisters of Warhammer models and those few small cartoony boxes of troops at game stores, but nothing like the box art for Mordheim.

Seriously, this box art is metal as hell

I asked my parents to get it for me for Christmas, but they settled on the (subjectively) less violent Warhammer Fantasy Battles box set. I had always wanted to play Mordheim though, and as a kid I read and re-read the October 1999 White Dwarf announcing Mordheim's release, poring over the miniatures discussion and reading the Mordheim battle report almost every night before bed. I had played a few games with one of my close friends from the Academy who similarly loved the game, but he'd moved in 2017 - and I'd no one to play with. Poor me.

Additionally, Mordheim is such a beautiful project. The artwork, the macabre and allegorical themes, the writing, the genius of the setting. It allows enough creative freedom for any artist willing to take the plunge into the weird sliver of the darker side our hobby - to tap into that Jungian shadow. To quote 'Mordheim Paul' (wyrdstoned), "Once you read that book, it grabs hold of you and doesn't let go."

Why dost thou return?

Next, I needed to give a reason for why warbands would be foolish enough to return to Mordheim in the year 2023. I believe one of the attendants of M19 pushed that the event should be held in the Imperial Calendar year of 2019, and the city should be reflected as such. I chose to echo that, but I needed come up with a compelling reason for people to still care about the City of the Damned in 2022, and give them a sense of urgency.

To get inspiration, I watched the trailer for the Mordheim computer game. In the trailer they mention the comet falling and killing the Count Steinhardt, the Elector Count of Ostermark. An idea jumped out to me - what if the Count really wasn't dead? And what would the last 22 years have done to him?

Alex and Mark (moshartz) duke it out in the Steinhardt Memorial Gardens.

Secondly: How?

Before I began to put anything into action, I needed more information to see if it were something I would be able to pull off alone, or if I needed additional resources. Since it was my first time organizing an event, I wanted to make sure I did not get in over my head.

I began by asking Alexander Windberg to a brief Zoom call to pick his brain, and he generously obliged. After almost two (!) hours, he gave me wonderful insights on things he thought went well, and things he’d do differently.

Some key takeaways:

·       Veterans: The warbands started with an additional 20xp and an extra 100 GC, to represent veteran warbands entering Mordheim

·       Cost: Alexander made every effort to make his event as financially accessible for those attending as possible.

·       Theme: he created, alongside Tuomas Pirenen, an interesting reason for warbands to enter Mordheim in the I.C. year of 2019, 20 years after the comet fell.

·       Form over Function: warbands were not constricted by the confines of WYSIWYG, but they were limited to choose the original Rulebook’s warbands. There was also an implied ‘rule of cool’, and an enforced bias towards a narrative theme over competitive play.

Throughout the conversation, he disclosed that he wish there had been more time to play games of Mordheim, and that some tables were too large. We both came to the conclusion that 4’x4’ is just too large for quicker games, and that the first turn or three usually revolve around maneuvering around the board. While some may find that tactically pleasing, I was more interested in creating quicker games for my event – and so I decided to limit the size of the boards to 3’x3’ or 1mx1m, if possible.

What if the Count really wasn't dead?

And what would the last 22 years have done to him?

After the call, I reached to a spooky gentleman named Sturmgard on Instagram (dark_ages_workshop). I had seen that he had conducted his own Mordheim events in Italy that year, and I  had seen his own unique macabre take on the game. After our meeting, he’d this to share with me:

·       Make it your OWN: do not try and run a Mordheim event at a larger convention, or it may be overshadowed.

·       Atmosphere: love the occult, make it dark

·       Participation: he encouraged me to let people participate in whatever way they could.

Alessandro also put me in touch with one of the nicest people out there, retromunda, or Jon Hickey. Jon had recently commissioned Alessandro to create a unique Cult of the Possessed warband, and not only was he passionate about the game, he also lived in Houston!

Last on my list was Ana, from the incredible (and renowned) blog, Gardens of Hecate. I had been reading her blog for only a few years, but I had fallen in love with her battle reports. Everything was hand crafted from the cards she uses down to the props. In our short Zoom chat, she advised me to stick to a strong narrative theme, create props and utilize LED candles, and have dungeon synth playing to really stick with the immersion.

What stuck out to me, however, was her Svnhold event. For Svnhold, she had created a ‘mood board’ – or a document gathering together pieces of artwork for the participants to draw inspiration from, and to help set the tone for the event.

All three artists gladly and generously shared their own documents they created with me, which I myself have purloined in one shape or fashion. You can access them for the different events I have held in the Downloads tab (or HERE in the meantime). Thank you again Alexander, Alessandro and Ana!

"Once you read that book, it grabs hold of you and doesn't let go."

-Mordheim Paul

Thirdly: Who?

This was a difficult topic for me to wrestle with. Initially, I wanted to have an open invitation and have any and all comers. I tried posting on several gaming group Facebook pages in Texas - including the global Mordheim page - posting in Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum, and calling around to the four or five LGS’s in the Houston area. I even left my name and contact information with the store owners, and bided my time.

And I heard nothing.

After several weeks of waiting around, I only received a single response from someone in Indiana – who had never played a tabletop game before, but was interested in Mordheim. After messaging back and forth, he decided it was not worth it for him to travel down to Houston – understandably so!

I was a little disheartened at first, but not put out. Clearly my 'local scene' was dead for a dead game, barring a few outliers. Combing through the #mordheim hashtag on Instagram, I took the Wier brother's advice and began commenting on people's work, asking questions and generally engaging with others - this made me think critically about who to invite, the passion involved, etc, and so I began asking individuals whom I thought had enough talent and passion to want to travel to Houston to play a dead game.

After a few days of messaging back and forth, I'd found Jon and his game group in Houston, and Alex van Allen all of the way in New York. Incredibly, Alex also agreed to ship down his amazing MS Terrain Labs board he'd recently acquired.

credit: MSTerrainLab

With Jon and Alex's encouragement (and of course, the allure of playing on an MST board!), I began reaching out to hobbyists I admired to invite them down - some were in America, some in Europe. Incredibly, one by one they all began saying yes!

*I think it is important and rather poignant to highlight in ‘Who?’ about who I am during all of this. Short and simple, a colloquial ‘nobody’. I did not have (nor have) a lot of followers on Instagram; I am not a luddite creative, nor am I a particularly talented or creative artist; I have not met John Blanche, nor have I been a part of anything larger than myself in our hobby before. This was my journey as someone in their garage who loves people as much as they love the creative hobby, and who wanted to meet new people.*

During this process, I began to start to consider how to ‘nudge’ those who were on the fence about making the flight all of the way down to Houston – and how to be respectful of what I was asking them to do: fly down to play with a general internet stranger (let's be honest). And so I put myself in their shoes – what would make this event unique or cool? What would make it 'worth it' to them to do so?

So I came up with the idea of making custom invitations, and researched how to make the them closely model what I would think an Imperial communique would look like in the Warhammer universe. This was a fun side project, because I learned how to Greenstuff sculpt for the first time, how to make wax seals, and how to naturally distress paper.

Lo and behold, it worked!

credit: Craft Fair Games

Throughout the lead-up to the event, we all collaborated to decide who to add to the list of attendees, and it grew and grew. I took the time to meet almost every person invited virtually to see if they would be interested in coming, and by proxy to ensure they were on the same narrative page as us all. The last thing I wanted was a 'power gamer' bringing 20 slings to the table.

By the summertime we had 23 total signed up to come. Unfortunately, as life happened, more and more people dropped out until we only had 15 people left. As it turned out, this was the perfect amount of people for the event! Not too large, not too small, and it allowed us to develop a close rapport and friendships in the lead up to November. Additionally, it allowed us to keep a tight focus on the narrative theme and the reason for investigating Mordheim in 2023.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about the entire event was having our 'hobby hangouts' - people hopping onto Discord whenever they were hobbying for the event (or on other projects) to share their enthusiasm and give feedback on their warbands with others. Even today, we occassionally get onto Discord to keep in touch, and it has been the most rewarding end result of putting in all of the effort for the event.

In keeping with trying to make the event 'worth' coming to for those invited, I reached out the creator of Mordheim, Tuomas Pirenen, himself to see if he would be interested in giving a short virtual presentation about Mordheim to those attending. Not only did he agree, but after describing the theme of the weekend's Hunt for the Lost Count Steinhardt, he chose the location for the final scenario!

Tuomas answering our Mordheim and game design questions. Thanks again!

Some, like the Wier brothers or Jimmy Henriksson, had already been privy to a similar presentation at M19, but it certainly was an absolute blast picking the creator's brain, with some others who joined virtually. Thanks again, Tuomas!

The Mordheim 2022 gang all assembled!

Fourthly - What

One of the largest barriers to holding an event is terrain - and Mordheim certainly is chock-full of it! To this end, I immediately looked into how I could cut down on construction time while also creating interesting areas to play on. The last thing I wanted for my event was to have a dozen boards of ruined buildings, all looking the same. While it is a great place to start, I wanted to have variety! 

Having played a few games in the past, the recommended Mordheim board size of 4’ by 4’ always seemed excessive to me. The first turns seemed to revolve around maneuvering around the board and did not add to many of the scenarios. Since we only had three days to play, it made sense to minimize the size of the boards down to 3’ by 3’, with some even being 2’ by 3’. This would allow games to proceed quicker and - in some instances - be even bloodier! While it took a lot of effort to create the five tables I brought to the event, each had their own distinct feel and look; including a city harbor board on the river Stir, a sinister sewers board, another capturing the claustrophobic feel of the catacombs of royalty, a royal memorial gardens board, as well as one depicting the decrepit settlement of Sigmar Haven! 

Skeletal wraiths haunt the baleful streets of Mordheim. Created by Eric Wier. Photo Credit: Eric Wier

To help paint the picture of Mordheim and the greater part of the Empire in the year of Imperial Calendar (I.C.) 2022, I created several digital newsletters to distribute to the players - and anyone interested - showcasing their warbands, backgrounds and even short fiction that was submitted. This helped to immerse the players in not only Mordheim, but the misery that accompanies a country simultaneously embroiled in two wars - one against the undead and another pitted against itself. Additionally, this created a venue for the participants to expand on the stories of their warbands, building to an ultimate culmination in November.

 

To add to the macabre feel of Mordheim a selection of Ian Miller’s Grim Tarock deck cards were pooled and drawn on the first day to initiate player and board selections. When players arrived at their assigned board, many of them had optional custom scenarios that I had created to give them a unique sense of danger and reward.

Ian Miller’s Grim Tarock Cards were drawn to decide the players and placements for the initial games. Photo credit: Eric Wier

The scenario for the hunt for the Lost Count Steinhardt. Photo Credit: Moschartz

While there was no conventionally competitive feel to the event, the player’s impetus for diving into Mordheim in 2022 was to locate the Lost Count for their own ends. Each victory in a game would allow them a greater chance to participate by locating ‘clues’ to the Count’s whereabouts. The final scenario involved the Lost Count and his retinue, with artists from all over the globe sending models representing the deranged and maddened courtiers and sycophants of his Court. While fought on the last day, it was a nail-biting affair with a lot of ‘1’s rolled and a few serendipitous ‘6’s that Mordheim is known for. 

In retrospect, I have found that my event - initially with the intent to just have fun and remove barriers - ended up, ironically, coming off as exclusive. While I tried initially to make it an open event, it just did not work for my limited local social circle - nor was I aware of open discord servers at the time, like 28's, Between the Bolter and Me or the wonderful and enthusiastic haven that is the In Rust We Trust discord server (seriously, click here <----). Had I known of more places to look or been involved in meeting new people, or had the local help to make it a larger event I'd like to think I would have. But we all have to start somewhere.

Thanks for checking out my first post. These take quite a long time to type out, and while it appears to be a bit rambling, I hope you enjoyed the Who, What, Why and How regardless!

Till next time.

-Bill