Mordheim is a 28mm skirmish game fought between opposing factions in the ruins of a once-great city.

Five hundred years before the current time, the Empire was divided and the forces of Chaos prepared to invade. It was a dark era known as The Time of the Three Emperors. In the 2,000 years since Sigmar Heldenhammer had purged the lands that would become the Empire, the race of Man had become arrogant and largely corrupt. There was, of course, those that remained pure of heart and soul, men such as Magnus the Pious who would eventually rise up and reunite the Empire, but that was still three years away.

Mordheim, was once a great city capital of the Empire's most northern realm, Ostermark, and often referred to as the 'brightest star of the North' in its heyday. But as the years wore on, the corruption slowly enveloped the land and Mordheim in particular, like a over-ripened fruit, seemed to spoil. The only beacon of goodness and sanity in Mordheim was the Convent of the Sisterhood of Sigmar. The madness and depravity that now gripped the city was not to remain unpunished. Weeks before the end of the year 1999, the symbol of Sigmar himself - the twin-tailed comet - had appeared in the sky. It grew closer as the new year approached and a festival atmosphere grew in the corrupt city. As midnight of the final day of the year fast approached, it is said that Daemons crept from the shadows and mingled with the throng, crying joyously and cavorting with man and woman alike.

As the new year arrived and city was crammed and the prancing throng was at its zenith, the comet impacted upon the city. Sigmar had judged Mordheim lacking and all over the Empire the land shook! Only the Temple of Sigmar's Rock, home to the Sisterhood of Sigmar, who had locked themselves away weeks before the comets arrival, remained unblemished.

The city burned for weeks, those not instantly vaporised by the comet were slowly mutated and died in withering agony. Mordheim had become a crater of death. The comet had left one final gift, the ruins of Mordheim were now covered in shards of solidified Chaos, soon to become known as wyrdstone. When Mordheim finally stopped burning many mercenary warbands from all over the Empire and beyond came in search of the stuff, for it was said that wyrdstone could do anything; change your luck and fortune and turn lead into gold. Of course, Man was not the only race interested in wyrdstone, and many other creatures also now prowl the City of the Damned. It is also said that something stirs in the area known as The Pit a place where the comet struck deepest.

It is in this setting that players create and model rival warbands to fight over the spoils hidden within Mordheim. This is known as a campaign. As your warbrand progresses it will become more experienced and affluent, allowing you to buy better armour and weapons, gain skills and characteristic increases, and even recruit more mercenaries to your banner to replace fallen comrades.

In this setting, the Empire is fractured and as a player you can take a mercenary warband from one of the major warring provinces. The Reiklanders are good all-rounders, the berserkers of Middenheim excel in close-quarter fighting and the affluent Marienburgers have the best armour and weapons. As well as the mercenaries there are others that take to the deserted streets. The Witch Hunters are in Mordheim in force, the Sisters of Sigmar have strayed from their island-temple to reclaim the city, the Skaven covet the wyrdstone as do the Undead of Syvania, and the Possessed seem to follow their own agenda as dictated by the Shadowlord - he who now dwells at the bottom of The Pit.

The Mordheim range is comprehensive and covers all the major warbands. Players can also use the massive Warhammer range of Citadel miniatures to further personalise their Warbands.

The Mordheim boxed game contains the rules, innovative plastic and card buildings and two plastic gangs to get started. The Empire in Flames supplement expands the background of The Time of the Three Emperors into the wilderness and includes new Warbands such as Beastmen.

The City of the Damned setting is just one of many to use the Mordheim Skirmish and campaign rules. Since Mordheim has been published there have been many alternative settings and new warbands, and a good few are published here in the Alternative Settings section.