Printheim - Just another Mordheim Project

Ever since I was able to play Mordheim a few times on Goatmörser's fantastic gaming board a little over ten years ago, I've always been intrigued by the idea of creating my own gaming board that captures the dark atmosphere of the City of the Damned.

Such a project always seemed too intimidating and time-consuming. Many Mordheim projects drag on for years and then somehow never get finished. I can't rule out that not happening here, but I will take a few shortcuts.

That's why I decided to take a different approach and will be focussing on 3D printing (FDM). Hence the name for this project:

I hope to complete this project in the next three to four months.

The first step was the rough planning of my game board. To start with, I will build four individual boards measuring 60x60 cm. I roughly sketched out how I imagined the cityscape, with narrow alleyways, dilapidated ruins and dark corners inhabited by sinister characters. Then I started looking for suitable 3D print files. Fortunately, there are plenty of free and reasonable prices Mordheim terrain files online, such as these from MINIATURELAND.

I've completed a few larger terrain building projects like my Sororitas Shrine, Retro Orc Killteam board, Combat Arena Board or a Blitz Bowl Pitch. But that's precisely why I know what a huge task it can be to build a board like this. So kudos to all those who do it completely by hand!

To further enrich the gaming board, I will use prefabricated terrain such as from the "Terrain Crate" series from Mantic Games. The status of the first board currently looks like this:

As you can see, it will be a temple plus three ruined houses, some trees and a wall. While this first tile is still at ground level, I will also use platforms on the upcoming tiles to make the playing field a bit more interesting vertically. However, I won't be using cellars or bodies of water. They look great, but I don't see any real added value in terms of gameplay. For me, they are simply dead areas.

By the way, I won't be printing the platforms, but building them myself. They will be roughly in the style of my Blitz Bowl Pitch.

I'm looking forward to your suggestions/tips and hope that "Printheim" won't be boring despite the printed terrain. Hopefully the matching paint job will bring everything together nicely and make the terrain look unique.