Mordheim: City of the Damned

Im an old fan of the warhammer universe (wheres my Tomb King warband?), and I never imagined this would be made into a vidya game, but it happened and its rad! Its brutal like the table top version, and yes, sometimes RNG f**ks you, but ive had physical dice do the same in the tabletop version. But I think an important thing most players should know is that the Dodge and Parry % of your enemy are calculated separately from your To Hit %. So, you can be amazing at hitting things but if your opponent has a decent save, it doesnt matter (ask anyone who brought Wood Elves against Warriors of Chaos), and i think thats why some may feel the RNG might be unfair. Dual wielding daggers is a decent way to get around this problem, they negate a nice portion of their Dodge & Parry %, and if you hit them once while they're in it, they lose their Dodge & Parry stance for that turn, also a dude (or lady) whose lost an arm can still make good a ambusher if built right... Anyway, buy it, its fantastic.

It does have a steep, and often brutal, learning curve. Once you've gotten it down though, it's a lot of fun. Some tips: 1.Wyrdstone is your best friend. Collect all of it you can get a hold of. Don't turn in your shipment until the last day. Remember, you can sell it to the other 'factions' for more than your Patron usually pays. Gold will be a deciding factor. 2.Spear/Shield (or Dagger/Shield) are a good start for Warrior types. Yes, it's lower dmg, but those weapons cut through a lot of Parry/Dodge %, and any dmg helps. At the start, you're trying to get out of the mission alive. 3.Ranged Dmg is key. Seriously, if you can get the 600hp Rat Ogre down to 200hp before it gets into melee range, why wouldn't you? If you're playing the Sisters, hire a Smuggler or two. 4.Head Shot (ranged) & Overpower (melee) are both stun attacks, useful in the extreme later on. Get them when you can. Good luck!!

It is with much regret that I must rate this game so low (2.5/5 if it were possible). It is a wonderful platform, with unparalelled depth and room for the most varied strategy I've seen in turn based strategy games. That room is never realized, and the AI often overpowers not by way of smart tactics, but by exploiting predetermined advantages, many of which are not apparent until it's too late. Conversely, at times the AI is dumb as dirt when it can't calculate a path to your weaker party members, so they stand there and let you range attack them to death. So the tactical depth available in the game gets dumbed down to "out-exploiting" the AI. The game touts itself as "hardcore", meaning high difficulty and permadeath, which is true. But the way they implemented the difficulty needs a major overhaul. I loved everything else about it. The good things keep me playing. But it doesn't justify a shining fanboy review when it desparately needs a reworking. I'm hoping for a better sequel.

If you liked any X-COM game there is a good chance you'll enjoy this one. Isn't necessarily the easiest game to master after playing an hour or two but once you get the hang of it , it's extremely addicting & fun. Perma death, risk of permanent injuries, and no difficulty setting(it's locked to hard ;] ) make this one even more brutal than XCOM. You are constantly tasked with "making the best of the situation" in this gritty , unforgiving game. Overall , once you pop that learning curve the replayability is high & it's well worth the money. If you buy and end up reluctant to keep playing, either play one of many, in-depth tutorials or watch some gameplay on Youtube. Hope this helps ✌

Casual need not apply. Very stat heavy and unrelentingly tense where every movement matters. Permadeath and injuries to your warband makes every skirmish tense. But that intensity also makes it huge fun with big payoffs and full on rage quits. Little details like a more varied environment or a few extra bgms would make 5 star easy.