Mordheim might not currently be around on the Tabletop, but how about if you fancy your fix of Old World skirmish based action? I take a quick look at Mordheim: Warband Skirmish on Nintendo Switch!
As the first Warhammer-based game on the Switch, I was quite keen to give it a try and see how it plays. I’m aware that this started life as a free-to-play mobile game but I never really had a decent phone until recently, so I’d deliberately held back in the hopes of a Switch port of this one.
After booting it up, the game can initially seem a little daunting. There’s a bunch of options and different races you can choose from (including the Empire, Skaven and the Undead (although some of them are DLC packages). Thankfully, helpful pop-up hints appear in the top right corner throughout to guide you through.
Graphically, I like the comic book style of the characters. They’re given bold outlines and clearly resemble the miniatures they are based on. You can imagine them mounted on a Square Base. The arenas of Mordheim in which you fight are also suitably dark and gritty, although thankfully they are still full of colour.
If I had to nitpick, I’d say the presentation does still feel like that Free-to-Play sort of game. It can seem slightly clunky navigating menus and there’s not really any transitions between screens or animations for menus and pop-ups. I feel perhaps it could do with a bit of polish in that area.
The game itself is a top-down, turn based skirmish, with character actions occurring in order of initiative. Winning or losing rewards you with XP points and shards, as well as any bonus items such as gold which you’ve picked up during the battle. These can be used to level up your characters to learn new skills, or use the gold to purchase better equipment.
I like that you can customise your fighters to a good degree, even choosing the colour of their clothes to make them easy to identify in the swirling melee of battle.
Battles are quick too, the areas are generally pretty small and you’ll bump into the enemy before long by just moving towards the objective. Mostly you’ll be wanting to either defeat the enemy outright or force them to run away – there’s a meter at the top of the screen showing how close both parties are to dropping from the battle.
It’s not the deepest combat in the world, but it is clearly not trying to be. It’s fast and you can play a battle in a couple of minutes, earning a little XP or gold each time. I feel it’s the sort of game you’ll dip into for a few minutes a day rather than one that befits huge multi-hour sessions.
