Nearly two years old, Mordheim, City of the damned, Games Workshop skirmish game placed in the World of Warhammer is still one of the best games they ever published. Although Mordheim was already taken out from GW's actual product-palette, there is a live after death... Taken over by Fanatic Games, who take care about the "old" GW-games, the game gets a strong support by a regular published magazine called Town Cryer. There fans can find new rules, new warbands, new scenarios, modelling tips for terrain and miniatures, and many, many more. Although Fanatic is a branch of Games Workshop, most of the articles in Town Cryer are written by Fans. And this makes the magazine interesting and likeable because not all articles are written with economical interests in mind.

The greatest problem with the Town Cryers is that it is very hard to get them. Firstly, you have to order it directly at Fanatic Games or get a one-year-subscription (which is the best decision). IF, and that is the major problem, it is in stock. Because of the great number of fans or the low number of printed TC-exemplars, most of the time the Town Cryers are not available. This has changed a little bit during the last months, as Fanatic really tries hard, but it is still almost impossible to get an older issue of Town Cryer.

For this reason, the team around chief fanatic Jervis Johnson decided to publish a "Best of Town Cryer" in which the best articles of the older issues should be re-released. Unfortunately, all of the re-released articles are just from issues 1 - 6, which were firstly released as supplements in White Dwarf magazine. So all those, who hoped to get hold of the new Rules published in the out-of-print/out- of-stock Town Cryers 7 -10 and 12 would be really disappointed. Nevertheless, Best of Town Cryer is still a good deal if you don't have all of the old White Dwarfs.

But what will you really find within the 96 pages thick supplement for Mordheim?

After a short editorial by Mordheim-creator Tuomas Pirinen the book starts with the rules section. There you can find the Table for Random Happenings, which make the skirmish battles within the ruins Mordheim even more thrilling and eventful. Also, two new warbands, the Ork Mob and the Dwarf Treasure Hunters are introduced to the game. Rules and scenarios for multi-player battles and two new Hired Swords, the Imperial Assassin and the Tilean Marksman make the rules section perfect. The next part, the modelling section is the worst. As the whole magazine is printet in greyscale, much of the photos presented in the modelling Workshops are useless. If you have seen the original photos in colour, you will understand what I mean… Nevertheless, the articles are good and can give you much inspiration. The last part of the magacine consists of two battle reports: Skaven vs. Reiklanders and Possessed vs. Witchhunters. Although both reports are good, there is again this problem with the greyscale photos. Anyway, they give an good idea about the game and how to play it. Especially beginners can learn much about Mordheim and its playing techniques by reading it. But even Mordheim veterans will like the epic stile of both Reports.

All in all "Best of Town Cryer" is a good supplement for Mordheim, of great use for every fan of the skirmish batlles within the ruins of the city of the damned. A drop of bitterness is that it merely consists of re-released White-Dwarf articles. But perhaps the guys at Fanatic Games are planning a second part in which the articles of the sold out Town Cryer issues will be rereleasd. I can recommend "Best of Town Cryer" to every fan of Mordheim, as it provides good materia and inspiration, alll within one booklet, but if you own all the white dwarfs with the Town Cryers in it, it is doubtful if buying is really necessary. Of course, unless you ain't a hardcore Mordheim-fanatic… (nc)